Frankie Montas, Oakland Athletics
2018 fWAR: 0.9
2019 fWAR (so far): 2.0
Montas is another player who didn’t spend the entire 2018 season in the majors (he tossed 65 innings for the A’s), but his current performance is noticeable enough that I couldn’t ignore it.
He’s tossed 64 innings for Oakland over the last couple months and he’s already more than doubled last season’s fWAR. That’s a good start to the season, I’d say. His strikeout rate has jumped nearly 10 percentage points, but the 26-year-old’s batted-ball profile looks incredibly different.
After surrendering hard contact at a 46.1% clip in 2018, that number has dropped all the way down to 35.4%. It’s also been accompanied with an elevated ground-ball rate (43.7% to 51.7%). This seems to be a result of a shift in pitch mix, too.
Montas is currently throwing his fastball at a 56.9% clip, which would be a single-season career low (it was 72.4% last year). He’s incorporated a split finger, which he’s thrown at a 17.4% rate. That pitch has generated a 42.9% strikeout rate, 22.0% swinging-strike rate, and a 52 wRC+.
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