Two Start Pitchers, Week 22: This Justin For H2H Playoffs

No Doubt

Pretty…Pretty Good

Would not have thought we would see Sonny Gray quite this high during the pre-season, but it’s hard to ignore what he’s been doing. His season long 2.92 ERA is stunning and is bested by his 1.68 ERA in the 2nd half. He’s also bumped his K rate jump 4.3% over the first half. He’s throwing the slider more than ever and it’s lead to positive results.

Serviceable

Three pitchers that have shown us some periods of nice production that also have blow-up potential, but with positive match-ups this week. 

There was some hesitation to put Pineda on this list. He doesn’t offer the strikeout potential that either of the other guys in this group do, but he has the best ERA of the three in the 2nd half at 3.47 and gets to face the White Sox and Tigers, so, felt like he deserved the promotion to serviceable. 

Riding a Heater

Every pitcher in this group has a 2nd half ERA under 3.20, but each has their own concerns. A few bad match-ups along with a couple pitchers that I don’t trust, and this is how they end up falling down to the gambling tier. 

So You’re Saying There’s a Chance

Free Streamonator Pick of the Week: German Marquez gets 2 starts at home with one against Boston. Can’t say that I want to throw Marquez given his 6.26 home ERA for the season with an 8.56 ERA since the break. The strikeout rate has seen a 3.1% bump in the 2nd half at least to get him closer to that pitcher some of us thought we were getting on draft day.

I Immediately Regret This Decision

Notes

• Padres fooled me again last week. Just when I thought it was safe to think they may use a 5 man rotation, they got me again. 6 man rotation/5 man with bullpen game, so, I had to remove Cal Quantrill (and the write up I had already made) from the ranks.