Deep League Starting Pitchers (Meyer, Howard, Anderson, & Quintana)

Dual role pitcher profiled at RotoWire.

• Alzolay, Quantrill, Suarez (x2), Thompson (x2), C Hernandez ($)
• Javier, Lamet, Rasmussen, Steele, M. Perez, Cortes, Espino, Stripling, Long, Houck ($)

Deep League Starting Pitchers

• Kaprielian, Taillon, Carrasco, and Ober
• Bauer, Plesac, Kikuchi, Gonsolin, and Greinke
• Matz, Megill, Sanchez, and Walker
• Lauer, Hernandez, Heaney, and Flexen
• Pivetta, Strasburg, Paddack, and Singer
• Patino, Cobb, Luzardo, and Gibson
• Kluber, Greene, Dunning, and Pineda
• Germán, Corbin, Pearson, and Houser
• Hill, Hudson, Miley, and Detmers
• Weaver, Bumgarner, Bundy, and Mikolas
• Kelly, Minor, Odorizzi, and Eflin
• Contreras, Wacha, Brubaker, and Lynch
• Rodriguez, Cabrera, Yarbrough, and Gil
• Bubic, Manning, Gomber, Lodolo, and Sanmartin
• Irvin, Beede, Keller, and Lorenzen

Max Meyer (496 ADP)

Meyer’s was drafted in 2020 and zoomed through the minors up to AAA last season. Right now scouting reports have his fastball sitting in the mid-90’s with a devastating slider. The slider might be graded as the best of any prospect. Reports have him with average control and might be a little generous after posting a 3.6 BB/9 in 101 AA innings. I see his profile as similar to Huascar Ynoa.

With several injury risks in Miami’s rotation (i.e. Pablo López, Elieser Hernandez, Jesús Luzardo, and Sixto Sánchez), Meyer is likely to get a major league shot this season, it’s just impossible to know when. If he was guaranteed a rotation spot, his ADP should jump 200 spots.

Spencer Howard (519 ADP)

Howard has not come close to living up to the expectations when he was a highly-touted prospect. In 74 IP over the last two seasons, he had a 6.93 ERA and 1.62 WHIP. Most of his struggles are because of his 4.5 BB/9. He had walk issues coming throughout the minors and they continued in the majors. After being traded to Texas mid-season, his walk rate did improve from 5.4 BB/9 to 4.2 BB/9. He has to get the walks under control to take any step forward.

It’ll be tough for him to that step forward since he can barely throw his non-fastballs in the strike zone.

Hitters know to sit on the 4-seamer and cutter. He might be getting hit around (1.6 HR/9, .329 BABIP) for being predictable.

With Texas, they messed with his pitch mix by having him throw more sinkers and cutter and fewer four-seamers and sliders. And his results got worse (1.78 WHIP, 9.70 ERA).

I just can’t get behind rostering him. Several changes need to happen.

Tyler Anderson (529 ADP)

I’m a fan of Anderson for the simple reason I think he’s just one simple change away from being a damn good pitcher. He needs to dump his sinker. Here are the results of his four pitches.

If he could push his 7.2 K/9 up a point or more, he could take a decent step forward. This was after taking a major step forward last season by raising his strikeout rate (6.2 K/9 to 7.2 K/9) and lowering his walk rate (3.8 BB/9 to 2.1 BB/9).

His 13.7% K%-BB% was similar to Aaron Civale (13.7%) and Dane Dunning (13.9%) who are being drafted at least 200 picks earlier. Anderson isn’t someone to count on week-to-week, but depending on the team he signs with and that week’s opponent(s), he’s a reasonable streaming option.

José Quintana (538 ADP)

In my opinion, I think Quintana should be going a lot higher. I’ll just start with the good. In 35 inning as a starter, he had a 13.1 K/9 last season. That rate ranks as second among all starters with 30 IP. It drops to 22nd if K% is used.

The reason for the disconnect was that the only way he can get an out is via a strikeout since he walked (15% BB%) and allowed hits (.305 vsAVG) at an alarming rate. He didn’t always have a high walk rate, but he just couldn’t find the strike zone this past season.

His struggles came down to his inability to throw his non-fastballs for strikes (curve with 32% Zone%, change with a 21% Zone%). Once behind in the count, he was forced to groove in his fastballs that get crushed. Or he walked the batter.

There was some improvement with the walks in the second half (2.7 BB/9) when he was moved to the bullpen. He might have finally been healed from a shoulder injury that sent him to the IL in late May.

While there is a ton of ugly in his profile, it seems like he’s just one change away from taking a major step forward. He just needs to trust his stuff and throw more strikes. If tough to know if he’ll get that control, but with last season’s strikeout rate, he has the highest upside for a pitcher going this late.