Tyler Glasnow, Tampa Bay Rays
Although he’s certainly a work in progress on a number of fronts, 25-year-old Tyler Glasnow took some significant strides after the Tampa Bay Rays acquired him at the trade deadline. It’s like comparing apples and oranges since he spent the first half of his year pitching out of the bullpen before returning to the rotation, but the young righty maintained his strikeout rate (29.6% to 28.4%) while drastically cutting his walk rate (14.0% to 8.4%).
If that walk rate with Tampa Bay was sustained over a full season, it would’ve been the first time Glasnow had it finish under 10.0% since reaching the majors. He did allow 1.62 home runs per nine innings with a 40.3% hard-hit rate, but let’s not forget about the adjustments he had to make — not only from the NL to the AL, but also from the bullpen back to the rotation.
Glasnow turned into mostly a two-pitch hurler because of his time as a reliever, but it also revealed some big steps forward in his curveball. After that offering posted a 9.2% walk rate, 38.2% strikeout rate, and 104 wRC+ in ’17, those numbers improved to 5.0%, 50.7%, and 51, respectively, this past year.
His lack of proven production aside, it’ll be easy for him to sneak up on the competition if he enjoys a breakout campaign. After all, that’s similar to what teammate Blake Snell did last year en route to winning the award himself.
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