WEST SACRAMENTO -- For Jack Perkins, it felt like a Major League debut all over again.
Upon receiving his first call to the big leagues, Perkins, rated the Athletics’ No. 7 prospect by MLB Pipeline, got his feet wet in a relief role to begin his career. A starter dating back to his college days at Indiana, Perkins thrived in the bullpen, posting a 2.75 ERA and even notching three saves as a multi-inning weapon.
“I’ve really enjoyed him in the reliever role,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “The vast majority of the games that he’s pitched in out of the bullpen, we’ve had success in. … But we need to see him in this [starting] role at the Major League level. This gives us a little window to do that.”
Of course, that bullpen stint was always meant to be temporary. Perkins projects as a key member of the A’s rotation beyond 2025. After a brief cameo as a reliever, the 25-year-old right-hander finally got his shot, making his first Major League start in Sunday’s 6-4 loss to the D-backs at Sutter Health Park.
The circumstances were a bit peculiar. Perkins was on three days’ rest after pitching two innings of relief on Wednesday, which meant his workload was going to be limited. Given that context, it made sense that his first start was on the shorter side, as he was pulled after just 62 pitches, allowing four runs on five hits and three walks with four strikeouts across three innings.
“I felt really comfortable,” Perkins said. “Luckily, being in that relief role, I got to experience a lot of different situations. … I think all the adrenaline side of things as far as being new was kind of out of the way. But I was excited to be out there and get my first start. I’ll just build from here and get better.”
Perkins started out strong with back-to-back strikeouts of Corbin Carroll and Blaze Alexander on fastballs in a scoreless first inning. He encountered some problems in the second, issuing a bases-loaded walk for the first of three runs that would score in the frame.
There wasn’t a ton of hard contact allowed by Perkins, as the average exit velocity on the 10 balls hit in play against him was only 78.3 mph. But the walks made those weak-contact hits hurt more.
“I thought I made a lot of really competitive pitches today,” Perkins said. “I got guys in good counts. It just came down to finishing them. I let them hang around a little too long with a bloop hit here and a bloop hit there. Next thing you know, the inning was kind of spiraling out of control.”
Receiving a mound visit from Kotsay in the third following a two-out walk to Tyler Locklear, Perkins was allowed a chance to remain in the game even with his pitch count approaching the hard limit of 65. Though he would allow one more run on a single by Alek Thomas, Perkins walked off the mound on a high note with a popout of Connor Kaiser to end the inning.
“He just wanted to make sure I felt good enough to finish that inning,” Perkins said. “It meant a lot that he left me out there to get that last guy and finish that inning off.”
While Perkins would have preferred a better end result, both he and the A’s considered getting his pitch count up to around 65 a success. His next start will likely come next weekend in Baltimore against the Orioles, where he hopes to increase his workload to about 80 pitches.
Even in defeat, Perkins still showed off the qualities that make him a promising arm. His fastball maxed out at 96 mph, while his sweeper generated two of his seven whiffs on the afternoon and served as the putaway pitch on his strikeout of Alexander in the second.
“When I look back at my career through the Minor Leagues, I’m a guy that’s going to rise to the occasion,” Perkins said. “If you look at how I started in Double-A and Triple-A this year, I’m going to take my bumps. But I’m a big believer that failure isn’t really a thing for me.
“I’m going to learn. That’s exactly what I’m going to do here. I’m going to continue to learn and grow. As long as I keep going back out there here in the next few weeks, you’re going to see a lot of success come my way.”