University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Ryan Dull Impressive in First Month of MLB Season
04.28.2016 | Baseball
Former UNC Asheville baseball player Ryan Dull has had an impressive first month of the season with the Oakland Athletics, not allowing a hit or run in his first seven appearances this April for the Major League team.
Dull has been one of the many bright spots in a revamped Athletics bullpen, as he opened the season with seven consecutive hitless appearances, the first A's pitcher to make that claim since at least 1913.
Dull, who was named to the Athletics' opening day roster after finishing the season at the big league level last September, has appeared in 11 games to date, racking up 12 strikeouts out of the bullpen with his 12.2 total innings of work.
His first seven appearances were nearly perfect, as Dull hit just one batter, but did not allow any hits, walks or runs through his first 8.1 innings out of the bullpen. Overall in the month, Dull has allowed just five hits and three runs, two of which came in 2/3 of an inning in an appearance at Toronto back on April 22.
“It is about enjoying coming to the field every day and competing with my teammates,” Dull said before the start of the season. “I want to try and do as well as I can to stay up here all year.”
This time last year, he was in Double-A Midland, the launching point of a summer that saw him pitch in 35 games as the closer for the Double-A team before a stop-over at Triple-A Nashville for a dozen games and then being called up to Oakland for the final month of the season.
Athletics manager Bob Melvin and the team have become increasingly aware of Dull's ability to strand runners on base.
“We saw it last year. When we target situations, we want to bring him in with guys on base like that. He's got the ability to get lefties and righties out” Melvin said. “He throws strikes, he can use all three of his pitches, and he is not afraid of those situations.''
Dull and the Oakland Athletics are 11-12 through Wednesday's action, sitting in fourth place in the American League West standings.
