Grading SPs - NL East
A fast paced series to grade and re-rank SPs for fantasy leagues
I would do A-F grades for this, but if you sort in Excel, it puts A- in front of A, which doesn’t work. And I’m not going to do this in a way where I can’t use the auto sort function. I’m not a psycho.
So we’ll do 1-10 grades, with 10 being the highest. And then by the end of it, we’ll have some ranks to use for the near term.
Braves
Chris Sale - 10
23% K-BB%, 2.61 JA SIERA. One of the best in the game
Bryce Elder - 4
In no way do I believe in his performance this year. A 2.02 ERA with a 14.9% K-BB%, doesn’t make a lot of sense. But he’s up four points in K% from last year. He’s led with the slider, which has been great. I just think the fastball is going to start getting lit up, and his 11% SwStr% and 4.27 JA ERA make me think we won’t be talking much about him in a month or so.
Spencer Strider - 6
We’ve seen him once, and it was in Coors. Need a lot more information. I didn’t like him much coming into the season, and the extra injury doesn’t help that. But it’s Strider, and he did have whiffs going in the first start.
Grant Holmes - 4
Lefties continue to hit him, and he’s another guy with no pitcher but a slider. An 18% K% with a 10.6% BB%. I think he’s destined for the bullpen. Maybe Fuentes and Ritchie will turn out to be their guys. And there are some other options they could try out from the minors.
Martin Perez - 2
He has a 2.38 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP now, but this guy was DFA’d like a month ago. And isn’t that something? A team DFA’s you, gets in trouble with an injury, asks you to come back, and you go out and shove for them for a few weeks. Nice guy, that Martin is. He doesn’t hold a grudge.
But he’s bad. He’s under a 10% K-BB% for a fourth straight year, currently.
JR Ritchie - 3
It’s been three outings, but it’s a 17% K%, a 16% BB%, and a 4.91 JA ERA. Miserable numbers. His four-seamer looks terrible, and the curveball and changeup aren’t enough to save him. You have to have hyper elite breakers to make a bad fastball work, so I’m not thinking Ritchie is a big league starter right now. He gets the D+ just because of the unknown element. He’s brand new, maybe the numbers will change in a hurry.
Didier Fuentes - 5
69% four-seamers, but a 13.6% SwStr% and 54% Strike% on the pitch. And the slider has been nasty as well.
Maybe he can learn a thing or two from Spencer Strider about throwing a bunch of fastballs and sliders. But largley, I don’t think it will work.
The C+ great puts him in the conversation, though. The stuff is legit and the command has been good so far.