Athletics' Kendall Graveman: Focusing on cutter as Opening Day nears

Graveman, who notched his second victory of spring against the White Sox on Friday by striking out seven over seven innings of five-hit, one-run ball, has been working on refining his cutter, Joe Stiglich of CSN Bay Area reports.

Analysis:

Oakland's Opening Day starter has looked up to the task this spring, as he now has a 2.29 ERA and sparkling 0.81 WHIP over 19.7 innings across five starts. Graveman has shown excellent control, as evidenced by a 16:3 K:BB, and a large part of that has been due to his trademark sinker hitting on all cylinders thus far. The 26-year-old has been focusing on getting his cutter up to the same level and was able to deploy it effectively on multiple occasions against a White Sox lineup that included Tim Anderson, Avisail Garcia and the hot-hitting Tyler Saladino.