A polarizing player in the off-season was Lance Lynn, who missed all of 2016 with TJS and many stayed away from him because he was such an unknown. After his first two starts didn't breed confidence, his last four have been stellar including Friday's 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks against the Braves. That's a four start run of 25.0 IP, 23 Ks, 0.72 ERA, and 0.92 WHIP. Soft contact at 23.2% in that span and 50.8% grounders. Now, the teams haven't been the strongest (@ATL, PIT, @MIL, CIN) and there may be rougher times ahead as he's slated to face the Red Sox, Cubs and Dodgers (twice?) across the next month. Still, I'm riding this one out for all it's worth and Lynn could be definitively Top 35 by the end of the year. That's beautiful stuff for a guy drafted at the end of your drafts.
Let’s see how every other SP did yesterday:
Love your articles every day. Don’t want to nitpick, but in the Fulmer paragraph – “Taillon looking unimpressive against the Pirates.”
Also quick Q if you are up for it:
I have been tanking my pitching categories and don’t know what to do because my squad should be good for a 12 teamer, but we are talking consistent 5+ ERA, bad whip.
Do I hold tight, or trade for a low key top 20 arm like Taillon?
Verlander, DeGrom, Lynn, Bundy, Nola, Harvey, Devinski, Neris, Bud Norris.
I’m also holding JC Ramirez, ERod, and Berrios, but don’t consider them part of the core yet.
I’d say Berrios can be swapped if you need the help. I’m not sold he’s going to be a major splash prospect after what we saw last year.
Oh lord, thanks for the catch! Fixed.
I think you do need another arm here, though Verlander and Harvey could be picking it up in a big way soon.
appreciate it!!
Keuchel was cruising until they sent him back in the 9th inning. After a couple got on base, his relief gave up the runs. Only so many times you can run through the order effectively.
That’s a good point, I should have caught that!
Nick. You killed Paxton. Please never joke. Sincerely, a proud Paxton owner.
For Ks, would you go with Glasnow v. MIL, Chaill v. LAD or Bauer v. KC?
Bauer vs KC.
Salazar’s start last night was super weird. Even when KC was grounding out, Salazar had to throw at least 4-6 pitches for it to happen, and not because he was constantly falling behind in the count.
KC just would end up spoiling good pitches instead of putting them in play, taking the ball, or whiffing. This along with Salazar’s 7 K’s were what drove his pitch count up by the 4th and 5th innings. KC’s batters are dead last in the league in walks drawn.
Salazar also threw 63.3% of his pitches for strikes last night, and other than a double and Hosmer’s HR he only gave up singles throughout the night. In fact, up until the 5th inning Salazar had only given up FOUR hits; 3 singles and a double.
Normally Salazar gets his pitch count driven up because of his wildness and walks, but I think the outing against KC had more to do with Royals batters being free swinging and in protect mode for most of the night. Unfortunately, KC happened to foul off some good pitches before sitting them down.
Good stuff Colin, definitely something to monitor with Salazar.