Chris Archer, Pittsburgh Pirates
6.61 ERA, 1.59 WHIP, 24.5% strikeout rate, 7.5% walk rate in 32.2 IP
Although it happened at the non-waiver trade deadline last year, Archer gets the benefit of starting this season in a place that likely still feels new. As mentioned with Rizzo and the Cubs, the Pirates hold residence in a loaded NL Central. The only difference? They didn’t make any significant acquisitions to move their performance needle like some of their divisional foes did.
A number of projection models have them hovering around .500 and not being in the playoff picture, which isn’t surprising. If they want to catch people off guard, they need to milk as much value out of their roster as possible. That starts with Archer, who is the oldest of Pittsburgh’s projected starting five, and he’s certainly a hurler that brings plenty of experience to the table.
The 30-year-old right-hander will be looking to bring his hard-hit rate back down to what he did earlier in his career — after never going higher than 32.8%, it’s been 39.4% each of the last two seasons. That’s also been paired with an elevated line-drive rate (22.0% in ’17, 23.0% in ’18).
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