FML can mean many things, usually of the negative variety. Here at Razzball, though, we turn those frowns upside down and spew nothing but positivity, unless you submit rankings at you know where by you know whom. FML at Razzball is short for Fantasy Master Lothario, which is another name for the man, the myth, the legend, Grey Albright, our fearless leader. Too many acronyms and commas are making my head spin. Anyways, we are now branching out in the FML game: Frankie Montas Love.
Let’s see, 5.95 K/9 and 15.2% K% last season do not seem inspiring. Mike Leake, though, is giddy inside because he now has someone to be best buddies with. So, what’s there to love?
First off, prior to last season, Montas did have excellent K% rates. In 2015 with the White Sox, he posted a 30.3% rate. With the Dodgers AA club in 2016, that number was 41.2% and 31.9% with the AAA team. Now, for a little hate. Since joining the Athletics in 2017, the K% rate has decreased from 31.1% to 23.7% to 20.1% to last season’s 15.2%. He’s also had walk rates in the 13% range. Now back to our regularly scheduled program of FML.
Montas possesses a fastball in the mid-to-high 90s with a slider to complement it. The weird thing is that, over the past three years, the fastball usage has increased from 59.5% to 72.4%, while the slider percentage has gone from 39.1% to 24.6%. Hmmm, so he was essentially a two-pitch pitcher that became a pitching cyclops. Fortunately for Montas, he’s grown a third eye and incorporated a split-fingered fastball to the arsenal this season. The spring training stats have been promising, as he’s sporting a 0.69 ERA over 13 innings and struck out 13 batters. The WHIP has been 1.08! Small sample size for sure, but this is not “best shape in my life” type stuff. Montas has added a pitch to an arsenal that includes a potent fastball.
We know that Oakland Coliseum is a pitcher’s park, but the final aspects of the FML: Oakland Edition are that Montas is out of minor-league options and there’s a spot or two in the Athletics starting rotation. He’s only 25 years old and I’d imagine another team would scoop him up if he went onto waivers. NFBC ADP is at 703. Who doesn’t like free?! TREASURE
