3 years agoIt was an up-and-down rookie season for Manoah, but the end results paint an attractive picture. He finished the year with a 3.22 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP over 112 innings. He did not get there in very consistent fashion, giving up five or six earned runs on three occasions and throwing six or more shutout innings five different times. He added four starts with double-digit strikeouts, displaying a very high fantasy ceiling. His four-seam fastball was great with a 15% SwStr% (six points above the league average for a four-seamer), and his slider was quite good as well with a 16.6% mark. He also features a sinker and a changeup, so there are a lot of different ways he can attack hitters. There may be a bit of work for him to do in controlling walks (his walk rate was right around league average at 9%), but overall the 2021 season is a hugely positive indicator for his future. He threw just 129.2 innings between AAA and the Majors last year, so he is unlikely to go for 170+ innings this year, but he seems more than capable of being a very good fantasy pitcher when he is on the hill. The price does take away some of the upside (he's going in the top 90 picks), but there's more upside than downside here; he's a fine arm to add to the front of your fantasy rotation.--Jon Anderson