6 years agoWashington Nationals starting pitcher Patrick Corbin topped 200 innings for the first time since 2013 last season, finishing 11-7 with a 3.15 ERA and 246 strikeouts in 200 innings pitched. Corbin has also seen his walk rate drop in each of the last three seasons and his ERA was supported by a 2.47 FIP. Finishing fifth in the NL Cy Young race, Corbin was due for a big payday and the Nationals were the team to pay him. There were a lot of good things about Corbin's 2018 season, but it all started with a 24.8% K-BB% that was the best of his career. While the boost in strikeouts and a better pitch selection led to his breakout season (and a 15.6% swinging strike rate that only trailed his new teammate Max Scherzer), batted-ball statistics do not paint as pretty of a picture. After posting a strong 31.6% hard hit ball rate and career-best 18.5% soft hit ball rate in 2017, Corbin allowed a 41.7% hard hit ball rate and 16.4% soft hit ball rate in 2018. For a pitcher that struck out 30.8% of batters, a 48.5% GB rate is still elite, as Aaron Nola was the only pitcher in baseball that struck out at least 25% of batters and had a better GB rate. Looking at Corbin, his 2018 season appears to be a bit of an outlier; this does not mean that he will fall back to Earth completely in 2019. While the move to Nationals Ballpark is not great for Corbin, his combination of ground balls and strikeouts is very enticing. Although Corbin has had walk issues in his career, this rate has dropped in each of the last four seasons and seems to be less of a problem. It is wise to look at Corbin as a low-end SP2 in 2019, with his strikeout upside covering for any issues.--Chris Zolli