December 31, 2018

In all the conversation about the historic 2018 Cleveland rotation, Clevinger was almost the forgotten man, and for fantasy purposes, might have the most long-term upside in the bunch. In 2018, he pitched 200 innings, with a 3.02 ERA, and 13 wins to boost a breakout year. The stuff was there with 9.32 K/9, and with this number being down in 2018, regression to the mean can help push this number back over 10 per nine again. The best news was the walk rate, which was over four in past seasons, and dropped to 3.02 per nine last year. The walk rate will be the key factor in 2019 for owners seeing if Clevinger is a real top fantasy pitching option, and if sustainable, will show a marked improvement in control. The other good news for Clevinger owners was opponent batting average, which even at .222 in 2018, was up from .210 in 2017. This means that even with some additional contact, Clevinger was able to make enough other adjustments to stay ahead of most hitters in the league. A significant reason for this success was adding three points to his batter-chase rate, up to 30.4%. For a pitcher in a weak division, with a decent offense behind him, Clevinger looks to be one of the sleepers with a loud track record to target, and that is why Rotoballer has him as the 20th ranked starter heading into 2019. Target him in the sixth round of your drafts.--Jon Denzler - RotoBaller