6 years agoA hard-throwing lefty, with closer potential, but an injury history to consider, A.J. Minter will be one of the top names entering draft season for owners not wanting to pay full price for saves. While there are still questions on the ultimate role that Minter plays this season, the stuff is there to make this an exciting target. Even with some early career struggles, the stat line was reasonably consistent in 2018 for Minter. In the first half, Minter posted an ERA of 3.20, and it only ticked up a bit to 3.27 in the second half. As expected he is much better versus lefties with a .222 average, as opposed to .252 versus righties. Still, for Minter to be an elite bullpen option, he needs to keep the walks down, as he did post 3.23 BB/9 last year, which hurt the overall effect of using him late in games. The stuff was also down from a bright 2017 debut but still sat at 10.13 K/9. The recommendation is to hold off on drafting Minter as a closer, as his ADP is placing him there at 258, but rather, as a low-end Josh Hader. While he will not match the gross innings totals, he will snipe a save here or there, and be worth the ratios as well. This is why Rotoballer has him as the 21st overall reliever entering 2019, and he does not need to be a closer to return that value.--Jon Denzler - RotoBaller