Jerad Eickhoff

It was a lost season Eickhoff. He missed five months while recovering from a lat strain, returning in September to pitch just 5.1 innings. The fact that he returned at all gives at least some hope that he can be a member of the Phillies' rotation in 2019, though that's far from a guarantee. Vince Velasquez, Nick Pivetta and Zach Eflin all took steps forward last year, so Eickhoff may be the Phillies' sixth or seventh starter on Opening Day, and there's always a chance the team decides a full-time bullpen role is best for him as he's now battled injuries for two straight years. The risk is high and the reward is moderate at best, as Eickhoff's one good full season (back in 2016) contained a below-average strikeout rate and a good-not-great 3.65 ERA. Owners in all but the deepest leagues can safely watch from afar and make Eickhoff prove himself before investing.

Eickhoff took a step back in 2017, failing to build on the promise he showed the year before when he looked like a solid mid-rotation arm. His walk rate almost doubled, going from 1.9 BB/9 to 3.7 BB/9, and his ERA jumped from 3.65 to 4.71. It's possible that some of Eickhoff's poor performance can be attributed in part to injury -- he made two trips to the disabled list and was limited to just 24 starts -- and bad luck (.328 BABIP, .278 in 2016). Eickhoff added to his strikeout rate (8.3 K/9), and his 4.30 FIP gives reason to believe he could be a bounceback candidate, as that mark was slightly better than league average and just a shade worse than his 4.19 FIP from 2016. A pitcher who puts up a 4.30 ERA is not a great asset in most fantasy formats, but it's enough to keep him in a major-league rotation.

Eickhoff established himself as a reliable, mid-rotation starter last season. He made 33 starts and fell just short of 200 innings in his first full season in the majors. Eickhoff works in the low-90s with his fastball to set up an excellent curveball that averages 75 mph and which limited batters to a .158 average against in 2016. He also added a slider last season to help keep hitters off balance, as he had become too predictable with a fastball-curveball combination. Eickhoff doesn't strike out a ton of batters, but he is able to generate enough strikeouts to be effective. He doesn't walk many batters and he gets groundballs at a solid clip. He does have a tendency to give up home runs, but if he continues to limit free passes he can mitigate some of the damage from the homers. A 4.24 FIP last season indicates Eickhoff might have been a little lucky, but there is still some room for growth, especially if he can discover a pitch to more effectively deal with left-handed batters.

Eickhoff surprised by delivering early returns on the Cole Hamels trade for the Phillies. He improved both his strikeout and walk rates upon reaching the majors, capping the season with a 33:7 K:BB in his final 28 innings. It’s a small eight-start sample, but his 13 percent swinging-strike rate in those final four starts backed the strikeout surge. Even still, a fourth/fifth starter profile doesn't transform into a frontline profile overnight. The fact that he was so dominant against righties obscured the fact that he was pretty bad against lefties. He had one of the worst right-handed fastballs against lefties and it overshadowed the fact that his changeup isn't ready, either. Meanwhile, he was unsustainably good against righties so without improvement against lefties, he's going to be that back-end starter everyone expected initially. He raised the ceiling of what he can be, but he shouldn't yet be valued as a mid-rotation option.