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Nick Pivetta 2019 Outlook: Third-Year Pitcher Is A Strong Breakout Candidate
Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Nick Pivetta took several encouraging steps forward after a disappointing rookie campaign in 2017, but still settled for a 7-14 record with a 4.77 ERA and 1.30 WHIP. Considering he won’t get saves, that made him subpar in four-of-five standard pitching categories for traditional fantasy formats. But we can’t ignore his 188 strikeouts in 164 innings, good for a 27.1% clip that ranked 22nd out of starters with at least 100 innings, and that his underlying metrics point to more. That 4.77 ERA had a 3.80 FIP, 3.42 xFIP and 3.51 SIERA lying beneath it, as Pivetta cut his walk rate down from 9.8% to 7.4% while gaining in strikeouts and trimming his HR/9 from 1.69 to 1.32. While he succumbed to several “implosion” starts and needs to be able to tourniquet a bad inning, the defense behind him was a disgrace. Fangraphs gave the Phils a -45.6 DEF score, good for 28th overall and worst in the NL. This also highlights why Pivetta and teammate Vince Velasquez are the only two SPs within the top-30 strikeout rate leaderboard to have an ERA a full run or more above their FIP. Now with Jean Segura at shortstop and Rhys Hoskins at first and no longer manning the OF, Pivetta holds top-25 SP upside as the 39th starter off the board in our staff rankings.
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