Will Brad Ziegler Ever Allow a Run?

On May 30th, the Oakland Athletics called up relief pitcher Brad Ziegler from their Triple-A affiliate Sacramento River Cats. He was brought up to the team just to give a new look from the right side of the bullpen thanks to his side-armed delivery, and hopefully get a few outs as well.

I'm pretty sure it's safe to say nobody within the Oakland organization was expecting to get what Ziegler has given them so far. Over the last two and a half months, Ziegler has appeared in 29 games and pitched 38 innings. During those 38 innings of work, Brad has given up 21 hits. You know what he hasn't given up during those 38 innings? A single run. Hell, he hasn't even given up an extra-base hit.

"I honestly thought I'd have success when I got up here," Ziegler said Tuesday in a telephone interview, "but this is ridiculous."

"I understand that most baseball statistics even out over time," said Ziegler, 28, a former mathematics major at Southwest Missouri State. "I know it's not going to last. But after I do give up a run, I'm hoping to bounce back and reel off another 20 or 30 scoreless innings, just because I think that's my job as a reliever. To me that seems very possible if I just go and execute pitches."

Ziegler has already surpassed the record for most consecutive scoreless innings to start a career, which was 25 innings. That record was set by Phillies George McGuillan back in 1907.

Obviously, it's a pretty remarkable way for a player to start his career, and it's unfortunate that it's going to come to an end at some point. Still, it's a pretty nice story for Athletics fans to follow as they don't have much left to play for this season.

Of course, Ziegler might want to end the streak soon. After all, if you pitch too well in Oakland it just means you're going to get traded for a boatload of prospects sooner or later.