SPECULATOR: Finding this year's Cristian Javier
Mar 8 2023
This time last year, Cristian Javier (RHP, HOU) was on the outside looking in as a sixth starter on HOU's rotation.
Quick aside—what a call by Stephen Nickrand to not only get Javier, but to nail the article's cover boy, Spencer Strider, and Tyler Anderson. Lesson: never miss Stephen's SP Buyers Guide.
Nearly 150 innings of a 2.54 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, and 194 strikeouts later, Javier is a consensus Top-75 pick who is currently shooting up draft boards.
The purpose of this column is to find this year's version of Javier, looking back on Javier's pre-breakout skills to see which pitchers in this year's pool check similar boxes:
- An above-average strikeout-minus-walk ratio (15% K-BB%).
- Ability to miss bats (= 12% swinging-strike rate...
Almost!
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