RADIO
Kirby Yates 2020 Outlook: Can He Maintain Elite Closer Status?
5 years agoSan Diego Padres closer Kirby Yates put up video game numbers in his age-32 season. He led the majors in saves (41) and ERA (1.19) while his 101 strikeouts helped him finish with the third-best K-rate (41.6%). This number set a career-high, and he also established a new best in walk rate (5.4%) to help him own a terrific 0.89 WHIP. Yates scrapped his slider in 2019 and focused on a two-pitch approach with his four-seamer and splitter. Each of these offerings were equally as lethal, holding whiff rates of 34.9% and 34.4%, respectively. The All-Star was virtually unhittable with this approach allowing just five barrels (4.1% Barrel%) and two long balls on the season with a top-three finish in xBA (.171). Locked into the closing role again for 2020, it’ll certainly be difficult for Yates to repeat these exceptional numbers a second time. He kept his elusiveness as the season wore, which was encouraging, so we can at least expect the strikeout and walk numbers to stay in the same neighborhood. Even if his ratios fall back to 2018 levels (2.14 ERA/0.92 WHIP), Yates’ 86.3 ADP can still be profitable with some anticipated negative regression.
