Entering the season, I was pretty high on Jharel Cotton with a solid FB/CH combination that should be amplified with O.Co as his home field, mixed with a good Curveball and a Cutter/Slider that had plenty of whiff potential. I think it's time to do a full-on review after his 5.0 IP, 7 ER, 8 Hits, 1 BBs, 7 Ks night against the Angels. A 5.68 ERA, 1.53 WHIP and 3.79 BB/9 is atrocious to say the least, but man this is still so much to like! His heater is getting whiffs at a whopping 11.6% rate while pounding it for strikes 58.4% of the time, he can throw his Slider for strikes as well with solid movement, and boy has he been unlucky - 61.3% LOB rate and a .319 BABIP despite over 20% soft contact and being a flyball pitcher (flyball heavy pitchers should have lower BABIPs than the average pitcher). I think this is a situation where Cotton needs some time to keep his confidence afloat and not try to do too much. I'm willing to buy that he had some bad luck, then tried to do too much to compensate and got himself into more trouble. The skill set is here, his BB/9 was over 3.00 just once across his minor leagues seasons, K/9 could easily be 8.00+ with upside for more and a 3.50 ERA season is within his grasp. I'm not saying hold onto that now, just don't be hesitant to grab him if he starts performing.
Let’s see how every other SP did yesterday:
