2025 Athletics Season In Review: Gunnar Hoglund

The A’s are desperate for starting pitching right now and they have plenty of arms that at one point were considered top prospects. None of them have panned out as hoped so far but there’s still plenty of time for most of them. In today’s Season In Review we take a look at one of those arms in right-hander Gunnar Hoglund, who was once considered one of the more under-the-radar potential aces in the Athletics’ farm system but has seen his star dim a bit in recent years. He was still able to finally make it to the big leagues this past year though!

How Was He Acquired?

Hoglund was considered one of the top pitching prospects in the 2021 MLB Draft but unfortunately an ill-timed Tommy John surgery right before the draft hurt his stock. That didn’t make him fall out of the first round completely as he was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays with the 19th overall pick, ahead of guys like James Wood, Colson Montgomery, and A’s draft picks Max Muncy and Mason Miller.

Less than a year later, the Athletics acquired Hoglund from the Blue Jays in the trade that sent former All-Star third baseman Matt Chapman to Toronto. Hoglund, as a recent former first rounder, was considered the prize of the return, and none of the other return pieces in the trade (Kevin Smith, Kirby Snead, Zach Logue) are with the organization anymore.

What Were The Expectations?

The acquisition of Hoglund was always a long-term play. Coming off a Tommy John surgery the A’s were careful with the big right-hander, who never got a chance to pitch in Toronto’s minor league system. He made just three starts in his first year back from surgery, and then the organization slowly bumped that up to 16 starts in 2023, mainly at Low-A.

2024 finally saw the team take the training wheels off for Hoglund and he impressed in his first extended action in Double-A before a quick five starts in Las Vegas with the Aviators to end the season. That put Hoglund on the cusp of the major leagues for the first time in his career and with the state of the A’s rotation there would almost certainly be an opening at some point in the coming season. As the last remaining piece of the disastrous Chapman trade, the A’s would like to have something to show for that swap, and Hoglund was beginning to show why the Athletics made him a primary target in trade talks. The A’s added him to the 40-man roster in the offseason to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft so 2025 was hopefully the year he would make his debut and begin getting the righty’s feet wet in the big leagues.

2025 Results

Now 25, Hoglund got his first invite to big league camp this past year and made it into three games for the A’s. It didn’t go horribly as he racked up nine punchouts but he also allowed four runs in 4 2/3 innings before getting reassigned to minor league camp. He didn’t impress enough to make a case for an Opening Day roster spot (which was always a tall order) but he was high up on the list of the first reinforcements the A’s would eventually need to turn to during the long season.

The Ole Miss product began the year in Triple-A with the Aviators and was arguably their best pitcher during the first month-plus of the season. In six starts Hoglund pitched to an exciting 2.43 ERA in the very hitter-friendly PCL, which had A’s fans clamoring for a promotion for the former first-rounder.

A’s fans got their wish on May 2nd when the A’s officially brought him up for his big league debut, giving him a starting assignment with a chance to earn more. The right-hander did not disappoint in his big league debut as he went six full frames against the Miami Marlins, allowing just one run on six hits while collecting his first seven career strikeouts. That got all of us in a hoot that we had possibly found another young arm that was ready for the next step and the coaches agreed, keeping him in his spot in the rotation for at least another few turns.

Hoglund followed that up with another fine outing when he pitched into the sixth against a much harder lineup in the Seattle Mariners but then began getting hit around. He again pitched into the sixth against the eventual champion Dodgers but allowed four runs in an eventual loss, then got hit hard for five runs against the other LA team. A semi-bounce back outing earned him another start but the leash was growing shorter. Then in his sixth (and what would be his final) start of the year, Hoglund gave up eight earned runs against the very team that traded him to the A’s several years ago, getting knocked around by the Blue Jays in six full innings of work.

A demotion was expected but the team instead announced an IL placement for their young starter, placing Hoglund on the 15-day IL with a left hip impingement on June 2nd, exactly one month after his promotion. Just over a week later it was announced that he’d need season-ending hip surgery, which he had on June 22nd, officially ending 2025 campaign. Not the way you want to see your rookie season come to a close.

2026 Outlook

The hope is that the hip issue that plagued Hoglund is what caused his rough final four appearances. We haven’t gotten any official word that his rehab is going well or poor but no news is good news, right? The right-hander had his first season in the majors cut short by an injury, an issue that has plagued Hoglund for most of his professional career. Should Hoglund be deemed healthy and ready to go when pitchers and catchers report he should have a chance to get back on the mound and remind the coaching staff just what he can do when healthy.

If his goal is to break camp with the team in the starting five he’s got a massive hill to climb. There remain questions in the Athletics’ starting rotation (Will Lopez be healthy/effective? Can Morales/Medina contribute? Do Sevy and Springs stick around all year?) where it wouldn’t be a shock to see the A’s need Hoglund’s services sooner than later. At the moment though it seems he’s ticketed to begin the year back in Las Vegas, looking to both prove his health and show that he hasn’t lost anything on the bump. If he can do both of those things we’ll see him suit up in the Green & Gold in no time next year. And maybe have something to show for the Chapman trade. No pressure!