Player Profile: Justin Duchscherer

The Oakland A's must feel pretty good about Justin Duchscherer's transition from the bullpen to the starting rotation. The reliever-turned starter leads the Majors with a 1.82 ERA at the All-Star break, along with 10 wins, and he has become the A's ace starting pitcher with the departure of Rich Harden.

The rest of the league must have felt pretty good about Duchsherer's performance, because he was selected to this year's All-Star team. Justin isn't going into completely unfamiliar territory, in fact he made it as an All-Star back in 2005, as a reliever.

He was a virtual unknown to many fans in baseball besides A's fans who watched him dominate AL hitting for the first half of the year. In fact, even though he was the only pitcher in the bullpen that wasn't a closer, he had the second-best ERA of the group, with his 1.49 ERA just below that of Yankees closer Mariano Rivera (1.01).

Now as a starter, his ERA will be the lowest of every starter that attends this All-Star game.

"Duke" relies on his pinpoint control, and a painfully slow curve ball that averages around 70 mph.

Duchsherer was originally a starter in the minors, and even though he was carving up minor leaguers, the A's at the time were stacked at the big league level with the Big Three starters.

With a rotation of Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, Barry Zito, young phenom Rich Harden, and veteran Mark Redman in the rotation, Justin was pushed to the bullpen. Now that none of the Big Three remain, the A's have room in their rotation for Duke.

He hasn't disappointed this year, turning in a performance that would make the Big Three proud. Now that Harden has been traded, Duchsherer is now the ace of the rotation, just as he was the go-to guy in the bullpen.

If the A's decide to continue the rebuilding process this offseason, Duke could be an extremely attractive trading chip for GM Billy Beane, who is obviously not afraid to trade talented pitchers. 

Since Duke has become a fixture on the A's, Beane has traded almost every ace starting pitcher he has had. Names like Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, Dan Haren, and his latest victim Harden have fueled the A's seemingly constant rebuilding process. 

But, if the A's decide that they can compete, you can be sure that Duke will be a huge part of the A's plans to retake the AL West.