Mike Clevinger, Cleveland Indians
The Indians disappointed in the postseason again, but their rotation was the first in baseball history to boast four pitchers with 200 strikeouts. Of that group, the most unheralded one of all is likely Clevinger, who racked up 207 punchouts.
His 4.3 fWAR through 200 innings nearly doubled what he did in 2016 and 2017 combined. It’s not as if his first half was all that bad (3.47 ERA and .300 wOBA against in 122 innings), but his second half was that much more impressive (2.31 ERA and .268 wOBA against in 78 innings).
Some themes that have been trending in the right direction are his rising workload (53 to 121 to 200 innings), a decreasing walk rate (12.5% to 12.0% to 8.3%), and an increased first-pitch strike rate (60.9% to 63.4% to 64.1%).
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