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ANALYSIS: Zach Eflin entered the 2018 season with 22 MLB starts spanning 128 innings on his ledger. In those games, he went 4-10 with a 5.85 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, 4.65 K/9, and 1.97 HR/9. Hard-hitting expert analysis incoming: Those numbers are bad! But since being recalled from the minors at the beginning of the month, Eflin has made two starts and posted a 0.71 ERA, 0.79 WHIP, and 13 strikeouts. Good fortune? There's some of that here, absolutely - note the .200 BABIP and 100% strand rate. Low quality of competition? Sure, the Giants and Marlins both rank in the bottom third of MLB in runs scored so far.
So why advocate for him? Perhaps in part, as a Phillies fan, I'm just excited that Ben Lively (who Eflin replaced) has been banished to the minor leagues even though he's healthy now. But Eflin's performance in his first two starts doesn't appear to be just smoke and mirrors. Rather, it's supported by a significant jump in velocity as he's added nearly two miles per hour to his fastball. Eflin has always been a command-first guy with fringy stuff, but if these gains hold, he could be worth rostering in deep leagues.
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