These are the hottest SP and RP in MLB from the past week:
Starting Pitchers:
Merrill Kelly, Arizona Diamondbacks: Week’s Line: 14.0 IP, 0.64 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 19 K, 12.21 K9, 2 QS
Merril Kelly had himself a week! Not generally known as a strikeout maestro, Kelly cooked this week with the changeup, generating 51.2% whiffs (20/39) and racking up the Ks. Yes, it was the Rockies on the road, but it was also the Giants.
Bryan Woo, Seattle Mariners
Week’s Line: 13.1 IP, 0.68 ERA, 0.68 WHIP, 11 K, 7.56 K9, 2 QS
Woo has been really good this year, working at least 6.0 innings in every outing, and turning quality starts in all but two of them. And real quality starts, not the ones that result in a 4.50 ERA. And these were big boy starts this week – Yankees and Padres.
Framber Valdez, Houston Astros
Week’s Line: 15.0 IP, 2.40 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, 15 K, 9.00 K9, 2 QS
Steady. All season. That’s Framber for you. Seven to eight innings (very efficient with his pitch counts), seven to eight punchouts (all his breaking stuff just drops), and a win here and there. 15 innings this week of decent work against the Royals and Rangers.
Jeffrey Springs, Athletics
Week’s Line: 13.2 IP, 1.32 ERA, 0.73 WHIP, 9 K, 6.14 K9, 2 QS
Springs has really evolved into a reliable guy in the Athletics starting rotation, and is generally good for six innings and a quality start. True, the strikeouts are sporadic, but he limits the damage through soft contact. Don’t love the LD% or the FB%, but it’s working for him so far.
Tyler Mahle, Texas Rangers
Week’s Line: 12.1 IP, 1.46 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 8 K, 5.95 K9, 2 QS
Crazy thing about Mahle this season – the Statcast profile is sort of meh, but it’s translating to fantastic results (98th percentile in pitching run value and fastball run value). His four-seamer isn’t fast (92.0), but man, does it move. And yes, one of the gales was the Rockies on the road (notice a trend here), but the other was Houston.
Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh Pirates
Week’s Line: 14.0 IP, 1.29 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, 15 K, 9.64 K9, 2 QS
It’s about time I featured Skenes in this column. Obvs we all know who he is, and the pitch profile is just insane (Pitching+ @ 115). Check Statcast if you don’t believe me – zero blue indicators. Two big boy starts on the road this week – the Mets and Phils – cement the stones on this kid even further.
Jacob deGrom, Texas Rangers
Week’s Line: 8.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 7 K, 7.88 K9, 1 QS
My second Ranger to feature this week (they’ve got a solid rotation, btw), deGrom seems to have put the injuries behind him. Sure, the load management is there (has only finished six innings three times in nine starts), but hey – we’ll take whatever we can get when it comes to deGrom. Rivalry Weekend (yawn), and Jacob showed up and out with eight innings of hold ‘em down baseball.
Andrew Abbott, Cincinnati Reds
Week’s Line: 11.0 IP, 0.82 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 12 K, 9.82 K9, 1 QS
Best mustache in the bigs? Debatable. What’s not debatable is Abbott’s ability to control runs – he’s given up one run or less in all but one of his starts. And that changeup? And the curve that looks just like his four-seamer until it drops off a table? From a lefty? Yeah, it works.
Joe Ryan, Minnesota Twins
Week’s Line: 6.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.50 WHIP, 9 K, 13.5 K9, 1 QS
Still swooning over that sweeper that Ryan dropped on Kyren Paris a few weeks back. 30 inches of horizontal break. Thirty.My god. Anyways. Ryan was masterful again this week, more so with the four-seamer than the splitter, cooking the Brewers in Milwaukee.
Corbin Burnes, Arizona Diamondbacks
Week’s Line: 6.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.83 WHIP, 10 K, 15.00 K9, 1 QS
Is Corbin back? Like back back? I mean, it was the Rockies (yes, on the road), so the 10 strikeouts come with an asterisk. But last week he handled the Dodgers and Mets in his previous two starts, so maybe he’s back. He’s still walking too many batters, contributing to the unsightly WHIP. But he’s pitching deeper into games, so we don’t hate that.
Relief Pitchers:
Jordan Romano, Philadelphia Phillies: Week’s Line: 0.00 ERA, 0.33 WHIP, 6 K, 18.00 K9, 3 S/H
Romano’s season-long numbers don’t dazzle, but they’re really only inflated by two terrible outings. Jordan sizzled last week against the Cardinals and Pirates, allowing only one baserunner in 3.0 innings. Both his slider and four-seam were cooking, as evidenced by his 73% CSW rate (8/11) as he pounded the zone against Pittsburgh on Sunday.
Luke Weaver, New York Yankees
Week’s Line: 0.00 ERA, 0.00 WHIP, 6 K, 16.22 K9, 2 S/H
Big boy games for Weaver this week, and he didn’t allow a single baserunner while doing it. The fastball/changeup overlay is sick, and the elite movement profile of each pitch seems to have hitters guessing (41% whiff on the change).
Kevin Ginkel, Arizona Diamondbacks
Week’s Line: 0.00 ERA, 0.30 WHIP, 4 K, 10.81 K9, 2 S/H
On the season, Ginkel has been brutal. Or maybe better stated, had been brutal. Maybe something clicked last week, because it was his best seven days all year. Two holds, and only one baserunner in 3.1 innings. Granted, it was the Rockies for three of those appearances. But still.
Matt Brash, Seattle Mariners
Week’s Line: 0.00 ERA, 0.50 WHIP, 3 K, 13.50 K9, 2 S/H
Filthy. Matt Brash is filthy. And while the velocity isn’t quite back (although he touched 96 MPH this week), the drop and run stuff is. The slider was on full display Tuesday against the Yankees, going 80% CSW and generating whiffs on 4/5 swings. Just ask Aaron Judge, who sat down swinging at all three sliders Brash served him.
Anthony Bender, Miami Marlins
Week’s Line: 0.00 ERA, 0.33 WHIP, 1 K, 3.00 K9, 2 S/H
Bender has been a bright spot in one of the most dumpster fire bullpens in baseball. The strikeout stuff is lacking, but he’s rarely barreled and induces a ton of groundballs. This week, he earned two holds against the Cubbies, one of – if not the – hottest offense in the bigs, allowing only one baserunner total in his two appearances against them.
Nick Mears, Milwaukee Brewers
Week’s Line: 0.00 ERA, 0.38 WHIP, 0 K, 0.00 K9, 2 S/H
Nick Mears is a versatile arm for the Brewers, and he’s got closer-level stuff. But he’s mostly called upon as the set-up, and he has seven holds to show for it. This week he earned two against to AL Central teams playing damn good baseball – the Twins and the Guardians.
Cade Smith, Cleveland Guardians
Week’s Line: 0.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 5 K, 22.50 K9, 0 S/H
Cade is one of my favs, so it’s nice to be able to feature him again. I’ve waxed poetic before about his delivery and pitch shape, so I’ll spare you here. And he’s gotten knocked around a bit here lately, with hits allowed in five straight. And the walk rate is higher than you’d like to see from a high-leverage reliever. But the strikeout stuff remains intact, he’s rarely barreled, and his extension is absolutely dreamy.
Emmanuel Clase, Cleveland Guardians
Week’s Line: 0.00 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 4 K, 22.50 K9, 1 S/H
Staying in Cleveland, Clase seems to have put his rough start behind him. He hasn’t given up a run in six straight, including his two appearances last week. The cutter looks divine and is still absolutely one of the best pitches in baseball. He was a little shaky against Cincinnati on Saturday (with a hit allowed, a walk, and a wild pitch), but he still came through unscathed.
Brock Stewart, Minnesota Twins
Week’s Line: 0.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 7 K, 21.00 K9, 1 S/H
Save for a couple outings in late April/early March, Brock Stewart has been exceptional this season. He’s a key contributor in one of – if not the – best bullpens in baseball, along with Louis Varland, Griffin Jax, and Jhoan Duran. He mainly lives on his four-seamer, but the sweeper and sinker are money pitches (85.7% and 71.4% whiffs, respectively). He even earned a win this week to go along with his hold.
Justin Slaten, Boston Red Sox
Week’s Line: 0.00 ERA, 0.00 WHIP, 4 K, 18.00 K9, 0 S/H
I don’t think Justin Slaten gets enough credit. Same as Stewart, if you took just two outings off his register, we’d be looking at him as one of the best in the business. Peep this – if you took out the three bad (disastrous, actually) games, Slaten has surrendered only two hits in 16 appearances. Two. Oh, and zero walks in those 16 also. That’s incredible to me. Oh, and he did it this week against true contenders – the Tigers and the Mets.
