A’s Kendall Graveman finds his style, ready for next level

A’s Kendall Graveman finds his style, ready for next level

MESA, Ariz. —

Kendall Graveman had something of an identity crisis in the first half of the 2016 season, at least in terms of his baseball life.

After coming over to Oakland the previous year in the high-profile Josh Donaldson deal, Graveman stumbled through his rookie season and even was demoted at one point.

[...] as his second year got under way, Graveman wasn’t finding the consistency he wanted.

[...] he became almost purely a sinkerballer.

In the first half of the season, Graveman threw 53 percent fastballs — meaning his sinker — and in the second half 72 percent.

In some starts, he was wielding his sinker at nearly Bartolo Colon-esque levels, more than 90 percent.

“I really think he grasped what his game was the last half of the season — almost similar to Bartolo Colon, where you’re going to get a lot of fastballs, you’re going to get a lot of movement, you’re going to get a lot of grounders,” A’s pitching coach Curt Young said.

Kendall is really just getting into that.

“If the game presents itself where I can throw one pitch, I’ll do that,” said Graveman, who will start Sunday’s game against the Angels at Hohokam Stadium.

There are days I’ll have to mix it up, but you saw toward the end of last year, there were days I could use 80 to 85 percent fastballs for seven innings.

With his transition to sinkerballer, Graveman solidified his status as the A’s No. 2 starter in making a team-high 31 starts, and with Sonny Gray underperforming and dealing with an injury, Graveman really was the team’s ace much of the second half.

“His last 15 starts, he was lights out, and he’s made himself into a legitimate top-of-the-rotation-type starter,” catcher Stephen Vogt said.

[...] to be able to fight through that and find his identity, that’s a big corner he turned in his career and you saw it.

Graveman, 26, was 1-6 with a 5.36 ERA in his first nine starts, then went 9-2 with a 3.33 ERA over his next 16 starts as he shifted the way he pitched.

“The goal is to continue that upward trend,” he said.

Last year, the goal was to get to 180-plus innings and this year, it’s to get to 200, and to just continue to throw strikes.

Graveman points not to Colon as an inspiration, but Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks, a Cy Young finalist who also throws a sinker as much as 70 percent of the time.

Locate with the sinker and mix in a few offspeed pitches with it and it will take you a long way, Graveman said.

If you locate 85 to 90 percent of your pitches, you can look back and you’ve had a pretty good season.

Manager Bob Melvin has taken note of Graveman’s focus on location this spring, from the first bullpen session on.

There are a lot of things he’s doing differently from a year or two ago and I think the confidence is extremely high at this point.

Graveman now looks back on his rough rookie year, when he went 6-9 with a 4.05 ERA, as a necessary step in his development.

Be a better fielder, make a better pitch, hold runners better.

The game is always evolving; we have to evolve also.

Susan Slusser is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.