Matt Koch, SP, Arizona Diamondbacks
Injuries to the Diamondbacks’ rotation has forced them to call on some arms they probably didn’t expect to at the start of the year. Matt Koch is definitely a part of that group.
With just 18 career big-league innings under his belt heading into 2018, Koch has performed admirably through 66 frames, producing a 4.09 ERA and 5.6% walk rate. It’s a far from the 1.93 ERA and .232 wOBA he put together through 14 April innings, though.
Koch came back down to reality hard in May, as he finished last month with a 5.29 ERA in 34 innings. Part of it can be blamed on sample size, but he also watched his line-drive rate (10.8% to 26.1%), ground-ball rate (56.8% to 37.0%), and hard-hit rate (35.1% to 49.2%) all get significantly worse.
He’s rebounded so far in June to the tune of a 3.50 ERA in 18 innings. Depending on the health of Arizona’s rotation moving forward, Koch may continue to be a cog in this pitching staff as spring officially turns into summer.
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