BALLER MOVE: Target in drafts ~pick 241
CURRENT ADP: ~256 overall
ANALYSIS: The Rays traded for Stephenson to kick off June and promptly unlocked his next form. The 31-year-old started to show more life in June before becoming untouchable in July. His final 28 games saw 26 IP supply a 43:3 K:BB with four earned runs allowed on nine hits.
The 47.8% strikeout rate and 0.46 WHIP led many fantasy teams to the promised land. His 44.4% K-BB% in this window blew away second place, who just happened to be teammate Pete Fairbanks (34.7%). (Trevor Megill’s 32.5% ranked fourth since I know he’s suddenly quite interesting!)
Stephenson revamped his arsenal with a cutter that he threw 41% of the time. This yielded a lowly .101 batting average against (.121 xBA) as batters struggled to square it up. He also had a splitter that devastated left-handed hitters, with only two hits coming off of it (81 thrown).
Let’s hope his shoulder soreness can be shaken off. Even a couple of missed weeks in April are worth a full season of 100% Stephenson after what we saw last year.
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