Lou Trivino
Louis Albert Trivino is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball for the Oakland Athletics, New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. He was drafted by Oakland in the 11th round of the 2013 MLB draft, and made his MLB debut with them in 2018.
Amateur career
After graduating from Upper Bucks Christian School where he played for the baseball, basketball and soccer teams, Trivino played college baseball at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania. In 2013, his junior year, he went 7–5 with a 1.83 ERA in 13 games. After the season, he was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 11th round of the 2013 Major League Baseball draft.Professional career
Oakland Athletics
Trivino signed and made his professional debut that same year with the Vermont Lake Monsters where he was 3–4 with a 3.12 ERA in 14 games. In 2014, he played for the Beloit Snappers where he compiled a 7–11 record and 5.28 ERA in 27 games, and in 2015, he pitched for the Stockton Ports, going 10–5 with a 3.91 ERA and 1.27 WHIP in innings pitched. Trivino spent 2016 with both Stockton and the Midland RockHounds, pitching to a combined 2–4 record and 2.85 ERA in 45 combined relief appearances, and 2017 with Midland and the Nashville Sounds where he was 8–3 with a 3.03 ERA in innings pitched between the two teams. The Athletics added him to their 40-man roster after the 2017 season.Trivino began the 2018 season with Nashville, but was promoted to Oakland on April 17, making his MLB debut that night against the Chicago White Sox. He allowed two hits and a walk but no runs in one scoreless inning, picking up his first MLB strikeout against Omar Narváez. The next day, also against the White Sox, he earned his first MLB win pitching three shutout innings in extra innings and allowing two hits and striking out four. For the season, Trivino appeared in 69 games, collecting an ERA of 2.92 in 74 innings with a record of 8–3 and four saves. In the 2018 AL Wild Card Game, Trivino pitched three shutout innings against the New York Yankees, while only allowing one hit and one walk.
In 2019, despite a strong start, Trivino was temporarily demoted from his role as the primary setup man after a stretch of four appearances in which he gave up nine runs in innings, causing his ERA to balloon from 2.42 to 4.40. Trivino did not find the same success as the previous season, ending with an ERA of 5.25 in 61 games. In 2020, he recorded an ERA of 3.86 in 20 games during the pandemic shortened season. In the postseason, he pitched of an inning in the Wild Card Series and two innings in the Division Series, allowing only one run.
Trivino began the 2021 season as part of a closer-by-committee arrangement before taking over the role full time. For July, he was selected as the Reliever of the Month Award in the American League. He lost the closer role in August after a rough stretch and was replaced by Sergio Romo. He finished the season with a 7–8 record, 4.53 ERA and 11 saves in 32 innings over 39 games. In 2022, he pitched in 39 games with a 1–6 record, 6.47 ERA and 10 saves in 32 innings.
New York Yankees
On August 1, 2022, Athletics traded Trivino and Frankie Montas to the New York Yankees in exchange for JP Sears, Ken Waldichuk, Luis Medina, and Cooper Bowman. He made 25 appearances for the Yankees down the stretch, posting a 1.66 ERA with 22 strikeouts in innings pitched. He also pitched scoreless innings for the Yankees in the postseason.On November 18, Trivino signed a one-year, $4.1 million contract, avoiding arbitration. However, he suffered a right elbow strain prior to the start of the 2023 season, and was transferred to the 60-day injured list on April 29, 2023. Following a setback in his recovery, it was later announced on May 2 that he required Tommy John surgery and would miss the remainder of the season. He was non-tendered and became a free agent on November 17.
On February 14, 2024, Trivino re-signed with the Yankees on a one-year contract that included a club option for 2025. After returning from surgery, he made 11 appearances split between the Double-A Somerset Patriots and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, in which he accumulated a 4.91 ERA with 11 strikeouts. On November 3, the Yankees declined the team option on his contract, making him a free agent.