Starting Pitcher: Gerrit Cole, Houston Astros
2019 fWAR: 7.4
Phew boy, Gerrit Cole is going to become a very, very rich dude this winter. Getting traded to the Astros two years before hitting the open market increased his market value 10 times over. In five years with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he had produced 15.5 fWAR through 782.1 innings. After tossing just 412.2 frames in Houston, he produced 13.4 fWAR.
Before getting traded, he had never thrown his fastball less than 60.0% of the time during any season. In each of the past two seasons, he’s set new career-low marks in that category (56.3% and 54.0%). The one offering that’s consistently gone up was his slider, which jumped to 19.0% in ’18 before jumping again to 23.2% this past year.
Cole’s slider was his most effective pitch in 2019 when looking at wRC+, as opposing hitters could only muster a 41 mark against it. That included a .506 OPS and .118 ISO, along with a 2.6% walk rate and 38.3% strikeout rate.
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