31-year old righty submarining righty reliever Brad Ziegler burst onto the scene for the A’s back in 2008. He was awesome that year but in 2009 and 2010, he was merely ordinary for the A’s. This season though, Ziegler is back to dominating. He has pitched in 37 games (0 starts) for the A’s so far this year and he is 3-1 with 1 save, a 1.82 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP. Ziegler has now pitched in 217 games (0 starts) in his first four years with the A’s and he is 11-12 with 19 saves, a 2.40 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. It will be interesting to see if some team comes calling about Zieger at the trade deadline.

25-year old lefty starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez will be the A’s only representative in next week’s All-Star game. Gonzalez broke through in 2010 with the A’s. He started 33 games for the A’s last year and he was 15-9 with a 3.23 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP. There were a lot of skeptics thinking that Gonzalez’ 2010 was a fluke as it literally came out of nowhere. But, Gonzalez has been pitching even better in 2011 for the A’s. Gonzalez has started 17 games for the A’s so far this year and he is 8-5 with a 2.31 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP. He only has given up 85 hits in his first 109 innings this year and he has 106 whiffs, which shows how nasty he can be. His only weakness is his control as he has walked 49 batters already this year. If Gonzalez could tighten his control up a little bit, he would be even more dominating than he is right now.

26-year old lefty starting pitcher Josh Outman missed the entire 2010 season due to Tommy John Surgery. He then started this year in the minors before getting a chance due to injuries and he’s running with it. Outman has started in 4 games so far this June and he is 2-1 with a 3.32 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP. He has now pitched in 6 games (all starts) for the A’s and he is 3-1 with a 2.86 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP. With the way that Outman is pitching, the A’s won’t be able to take him out of the rotation when the other guys come off the D.L.

27-year old righty reliever Joey Devine was electric for the A’s back in 2008. He pitched in 42 games (0 starts) for the A’s in 2008 and he was 6-1 with 1 save, a 0.59 ERA and a 0.83 WHIP. Devine then missed the 2009 and 2010 seasons due to injury. He worked hard and that work is paying off this year. He has pitched in 9 games (0 starts) for the A’s so far this year and he is 0-1 with 3 holds, a 2.16 ERA and a 0.72 WHIP. He has only given up 3 hits in his first 8 1/3 innings this year as his stuff looks nasty once again. Devine will make a deep and talented A’s bullpen even better.

When lefty starting pitcher Dallas Braden went down to injury, it opened up a spot in the starting rotation. The A’s decided to give 24-year old righty Tyson Ross a chance to start and he has done well. In his 4 starts for the A’s this year, Ross is 1-1 with a 2.28 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP. He has now pitched in 7 games (4 starts) so far this year for the A’s and he is 2-2 with a 2.51 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. Ross is really making a good impression on the A’s and he might get to keep his starting gig even when Braden is ready to return to action if he keeps pitching like he is right now.