Joe Boyle (baseball)

Joseph Patrick Boyle (born August 14, 1999) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2023.

Amateur career
Boyle attended North Oldham High School in Goshen, Kentucky, where he played baseball. As a senior in 2017, he earned All-State honors. He opted out of the 2017 Major League Baseball draft, and enrolled at the University of Notre Dame to play college baseball.

As a freshman for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball team in 2018, Boyle pitched two innings in which he gave up four earned runs and eight walks. That summer, he played in the Northwoods League for the Kalamazoo Growlers. He also briefly played in the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Cotuit Kettleers. In 2019, as a sophomore, Boyle made 18 relief appearances and went 3–3 with a 5.96 ERA, 39 strikeouts, and 27 walks over $25 2⁄3$ innings. After the season, he returned to the Cape Cod Baseball League and played for the Harwich Mariners where he posted a 2.14 ERA and 39 strikeouts over 21 innings and was named a league all-star. Boyle pitched $8 1⁄3$ innings for the 2020 season in which he posted a 3.24 ERA with 17 strikeouts and 13 walks before the remainder of the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the fifth round of the 2020 Major League Baseball draft.

Cincinnati Reds
Boyle signed with the Reds and made his professional debut in 2021 with the Daytona Tortugas, posting a 3.55 ERA over $12 2⁄3$ innings while missing time due to injury. He opened the 2022 season with the Dayton Dragons. He was named the Midwest League Pitcher of the Month for May. In early August, he was promoted to the Chattanooga Lookouts. Over 23 games (22 starts) between both teams, Boyle went 3–6 with a 2.86 ERA, 153 strikeouts, and 84 walks over $100 2⁄3$ innings. He returned to Chattanooga to open the 2023 season.

Oakland Athletics
On July 31, 2023, Boyle was traded to the Oakland Athletics in exchange for Sam Moll. He posted a 2–1 record and 2.08 ERA in 3 starts for the Double–A Midland RockHounds before he was promoted to the Triple–A Las Vegas Aviators. In 3 starts for Las Vegas, he recorded a 2.25 ERA with 18 strikeouts in 16.0 innings of work.

On September 17, 2023, the Athletics selected Boyle's contract to the 40-man roster and promoted him to the major leagues for the first time. He made his MLB debut as Oakland's starting pitcher that night at Oakland Coliseum versus the San Diego Padres, throwing three scoreless innings in which he struck out four and walked two in a 10–1 Athletics loss.

Boyle was named the 5th starter for the A's prior to the start of the 2024 season. In his first start, Boyle lasted only 2.2 innings, giving up 8 runs. The A's defense made five errors while he was on the mound.