Athletics pitching prospect Adam Oller got the best news of his professional baseball career on Friday when first-year manager Mark Kotsay informed the 27-year-old that he had made Oakland's 2022 Opening Day roster.
Oller, who was acquired along with fellow pitching prospect J.T. Ginn on March 12 from the New York Mets for Chris Bassitt, has had a long and eventful journey to breaking camp with the A's and ultimately making his MLB debut once the regular season starts next week.
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The Conroe, Texas native was selected in the 20th round of the 2016 MLB Draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates out of Northwestern State University of Louisiana. He was released following the 2018 season and signed a minor league contract with the Giants early in the 2019 season.
After an independent ball stint in the Frontier League and winter ball in Australia, Oller caught a big break when the New York Mets selected him in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft after the 2020 season.
Oller had a breakout 2021 season in the Mets' organization, earning the distinction as their Minor League Pitcher of the Year thanks to a 3.45 ERA and 138 strikeouts in 120 innings. Then the Mets used his newfound success and Ginn's stature as a top prospect to acquire Bassitt.
As Oller told MLB.com's Martin Gallegos in March, he had never been invited to the big league portion of spring training by the Pirates, Giants or Mets. So when the A's invited him to major league camp, that was another big step in his career.
MLB Pipeline's Sam Dykstra and CBS Sports' Danny Vietti were able to sum up the road Oller has taken to get to this point.
Oller was pretty excited about making the A's Opening Day roster, sending out a pair of tweets shortly after he had been told.
His agent, Matthew Gaeta, even posted a screenshot of their video call from earlier in the day.
Oller has made three appearances (two starts) for the A's during spring training in Arizona, posting a 9.95 ERA with nine strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.
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Oakland Athletics
The spring training numbers don't matter, though. Oller will be with the A's when they open the 2022 MLB season next Friday against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Whenever he steps on the mound for his major league debut, it will be the culmination of years of hard work and perseverance.