Late-Round Evaluations: Barria, Loaisiga, DeSclafani, Wood, & More

I’m continuing my attention on fringe starters. They are the starters who once the season starts, managers are going to have to make a quick decision on adding or dropping. These pitchers will be in play all season. I’m using NFBC’s ADP and starting at the bottom and selecting any starter drafted by half the teams. Here is an evaluation of the six more starters (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6).

#596 Jaime Barria

Barria is a steady below-average MLB starter who should be streamed in half his starts. Here is what  is known about him.

• His 7.5 K/9 wasn’t ideal, it was at least paired with a 2.5 BB/9.
• His fastball velocity increased just a bit (91.7 mph to 92.1 mph).
• He’s flyball prone (34% GB%) so he could give up a decent number of home runs (1.6 HR/9 on his career).
• He’s got an average four-seamer (8% SwStr%) and slider (14% SwStt) and an ineffective sinker (3% SwStr%) and changeup (9% SwStr%). He needs to ditch or improve the last two (22% usage).

The same upside exists with him with just about every other pitcher. Throw harder. Improve or add a pitch. Ideal pitch mix. Until he shows an improvement, just stream him against weaker opponents.

#594 Jonathan Loaisiga

Loaisiga has shown the potential to take a step forward at times. He just hasn’t consistently used the right mix of pitches. Here are the career stats on his four offerings.

An average fastball (97 mph) and two above-average breaking pitches should produce decent results. Maybe he could ditch the four-seamer and go for groundballs especially in Yankees Stadium.

The Yankees have limited his usage the second time through the order (6.92 ERA), but with three pitches, he should be fine. He may continue to struggle but the skills are there for a major step forward.

#593 Alex Wood

Wood had a formula that was working and then ditched it to “improve”. The change starts with his fastball. While the pitch tracking services still have him throwing a sinker, it just has a 28% GB% over the last two seasons. Here are the pitch’s stats over of the past few seasons.

The key takeaway is to remember that Wood has changed his approach from a control-orientated groundball pitcher to one with more strikeouts and flyballs (i.e. home runs). While he hasn’t thrown many innings (48 IP) during his transformation, the home runs have been substantial (2.4 HR/9).

As for Wood’s value going forward, the first key is the team he signs with and his role with them. Also, he’ll just be 30-years-old, so he might be productive considering his past injuries. I could see taking a chance on him, but I think it would be in a league where I could drop him if he continues to struggle (5.96 ERA) with his new fastball.

#584 Anthony DeSclafani

DeSclafani fell apart last season. His strikeouts were down (9.0 K/9 to 6.7 K/9) and his walks were up (2.7 BB/9 to 4.3 BB/9) and all the surface stats followed (1.70 WHIP, 1.9 HR/9, 7.22 ERA, 5.63 xFIP). He just couldn’t find the strike zone with his Zone% dropping from 50% to 46% and two main pitches (four-seamer and slider) saw close to a 7% point drop. The wildness could have been from an early-season back injury that never healed.

So how to value him going forward? I’m in at his cost for the simple reason that he signed a decent ($6 mil) contract with the Giants. The Giants have shown over the last couple of seasons the ability to get the best out of castoffs (e.g. Kevin Gausman and Drew Smyly) and I’m guessing they believe DeSclafini is healthy and can contribute once “fixed”.

I’d not be surprised if they ask him to go four-seamer, curve, and slider and drop his sinker and change. Here are his career numbers on the pitches.

He could just throw his better pitches more while staying healthy and be solid

#579 Kyle Freeland

Simply, Freeland is a best ball specialist and maybe a road streaming option. It’s about impossible to consistently start a Colorado pitcher at home knowing a blowup could happen at any time. In a best-ball league, only the good starts count and those starts aren’t great with just a career 6.8 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 (a Jaime Barria clone in Colorado). Even in a normal park, he’s just a streaming option.

For the fantasy game, why delve into the specifics when he’s just not going to be used much.

#577 Corbin Martin

Martin is ready to pitch in 2021 after recovering from Tommy John surgery. Right now he’s fighting for the last rotation spot in Arizona with Merrill Kelly 켈리 and Alex Young. It’s nearly impossible to put a value on Martin after being out for a season. And he wasn’t pitching the best before getting hurt with a 5.6 BB/9, 3.7 HR/9, and 5.59 ERA.

All of this value is based on his prospect pedigree. Right now, no one knows if he’s any good. He’s a dart throw that I’d rather take in a league with a waiver wire so he’s not taking up a roster spot if/when he struggles and/or gets demoted.