Athletics' Mitch Spence: Making case for fifth starter role

Spence gave up two runs (one earned) over 3.1 innings with three strikeouts and two walks in Sunday's Cactus League loss to Arizona. He has a 1.13 ERA with a 6:2 K:BB in eight innings this spring.

Spence may be the leading candidate for the fifth starter role and has outperformed Joey Estes and Osvaldo Bido so far this spring. However, the final two spots in the Oakland rotation are uncertain at this point. While Spence had a subpar strikeout rate last season (19.4 percent), he did have an above-average groundball rate (48.4 percent) and swinging-strike rate (10.4 percent).