This story was excerpted from Mart¨ªn Gallegos¡¯ A¡¯s Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Kyle Muller and his 6-foot-7, 250-pound frame are easy to distinguish whenever he takes the mound. Once you see him throw a pitch, however, he is hardly recognizable from last year.

Coming off a down 2023 campaign, Muller revamped his delivery this offseason by raising his arm slot and adjusting his windup rotation from east-to-west to more of a north-to-south motion. The change came on the suggestion of the A¡¯s baseball operations department.

The mechanics are similar to the ones Muller employed while in the Braves¡¯ Minor League system in 2022. He switched up his delivery after joining the A¡¯s last offseason as part of the return from Atlanta in the Sean Murphy deal.

¡°Our baseball ops group and Kyle were in contact starting in November,¡± A¡¯s manager Mark Kotsay said. ¡°There was some arm angle difference for Kyle last year. I think he¡¯s really worked hard on getting back to the slot he was in, and has a lot of confidence in that right now, so it¡¯s exciting to see what it looks like.

¡°Every bullpen he¡¯s thrown, all the numbers have been more in line with the numbers from [2022], both velocity and fastball efficiency.¡±

Muller was receptive to the idea and has been implementing the new approach on the mound all spring. Debuting it in his first Cactus League game in Sunday¡¯s 4-2 loss to the Dodgers at Camelback Ranch, the left-hander worked two innings of one-run ball with three strikeouts.

¡°I¡¯m getting behind the ball a lot better,¡± Muller said. ¡°I was very pleased with the fastball. ¡­ I think I got more swing-and-misses on my fastball [Sunday] than I did in any game last year, so that¡¯s encouraging.¡±

Muller is hopeful that the changes can help him distinguish his slider and fastball again, which he said he felt were starting to blend together last season and led to a lot of his ineffectiveness. After being named Oakland's 2023 Opening Day starter as a rookie, Muller posted a 7.60 ERA in 21 games (13 starts).

¡°There wasn¡¯t a whole lot of separation between the two pitches,¡± Muller said. ¡°Going into the offseason, the goal was to really try and get both of those pitches back to where they¡¯ve been. We put in a lot of good work and it¡¯s been a great adjustment.¡±

Kotsay liked what he saw from Muller¡¯s revamped look on the mound.

¡°Good downhill action and a little bit of a different arm angle,¡± Kotsay said. ¡°He got a lot of swing-and-miss [potential] against lefties. ¡­ Overall, I thought that was different than what I saw last year. He mixed all his pitches, too, which was good.¡±

Muller finds himself in an interesting predicament this spring. He is out of Minor League options, which means that if the 26-year-old does not make the Opening Day roster, he must be placed on waivers and become available to the 29 other Major League clubs.

¡°It¡¯s definitely different,¡± Muller said of his situation. ¡°The only options you have are either to be on the team or go somewhere else. But I want to be here. I want to be with this team, with all these guys. ¡­ I want to be here and help this team win.¡±

Muller is part of a large group of starters vying for the A¡¯s final rotation spot. Kotsay also mentioned him as a candidate to join the bullpen as a long-relief option should he come up short of a spot in the rotation out of camp.

The competition is stiff, but Muller firmly believes that if he can get back to his 2022 form, when he was rated Atlanta¡¯s top overall prospect, he has a strong chance to earn a spot.

¡°I¡¯d be the first to say that last year was a bad year and nothing I expected,¡± Muller said. ¡°If I make the adjustments that seem to be working and get back to being the guy Oakland traded for, I know when I¡¯m at the top of my game, I¡¯m pretty good. I just want to get back to being that guy. Wherever they want me to be, I¡¯ll go throw.¡±