Virgin Island' pitcher Jharel L. Cotton was traded from the Los Angeles Dodgers to the Oakland Athletics at the Major League Baseball trade deadline on Monday August 1, 2016. Photo: Provided

The Oakland Athletics are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. Photo: Internet Source

Cotton and fellow pitching prospects Grant Holmes and Frankie Montas were sent to Athletics in return for starting pitcher Rich Hill and outfielder Josh Reddick.

Cotton was ranked the 13th-best prospect in the Dodgers' organisation by MLBPipeline.com. Holmes and Montas ranked fifth and eighth, respectively.

A 2009 Menchville graduate and member of that year’s state championship baseball team, Cotton, 24, has gone 8-5 with a 4.90 earned-run average in 22 games with Class AAA Oklahoma City this year. A Virgin Islands native, he was the winning pitcher for the World team in the MLB All-Star Futures Game in July.

Jharel L. Cotton slid from 16th in the pre-season to 21st in the mid season rankings, partly because of incoming draftees and breakout performers in the system, but also partly because of his own uneven performance. While Cotton’s rates have held steady, he’s bounced between starting and relief and has surrendered an alarming number of home runs.

In the bullpen, Cotton would benefit from less looks at the changeup, and could worry less about refining the command or shape of the pitch. Additionally, the bullpen might allow Cotton to pitch more consistently at the top of his velocity range, which was 95 mph last season.