Cole Irvin was purchased by the Oakland Athletics from the Philadelphia Phillies in early 2021. Irvin saw some time with the Phillies in both 2019 and 2020, but he didn’t pitch particularly well in either the starter or pen roles he was handed.
But the A’s inserted him into their 2021 rotation and he is having a very solid season: 8-11 with a 3.52 ERA/1.273 WHIP/116 ERA+ over 135.1 innings. With the loss of both Mike Fiers and Chris Bassitt to injuries, Irvin’s importance to the contending A’s rotation is even more important.
I got this autograph while Irvin was playing at Oregon. He was happy to sign his first time visiting Hawaii, though by the time he rolled through here in 2015 or 2016, he was a lot tougher to get.