Ian Hamilton
After an extremely strong 2023 campaign with the Yankees, Ian Hamilton hasn't really missed a beat. All of his statcast numbers jump off the page and the results continue to show in games. He isn't quite as effective as last season, as his slider has seen less success with a much lower run value, but he's still dominant. Expect him to grab tons of holds for the Yankees, and if Clay Holmes becomes erratic or injured at any point, Hamilton will become the closer. Tyler Holton
Tyler Holton was one of my huge sleepers coming into the season after posting an absolutely beautiful statcast last year, and he's certainly doing everything I expected him to do. With a 2.25 ERA and 0.75 WHIP that has been dragged down by one bad showing, Holton has displayed incredible stuff with high K ability. Though the statcast isn't quite as red as last season, that will surely improve as we go forward. Expect him to grab lots of holds for a sneaky good Tigers team.
Hunter Gaddis
With a 0.0 ERA and .79 WHIP, Gaddis has been nothing short of incredible thus far. At no point through the 2023 campaign did Gaddis show the ability to make hitters swing and miss. He's been excellent at that. Doing some digging, I found out why.
His changeup has become an absolutely lethal pitch, and is much more effective than last season Somehow, he added 2.2 inches of horizontal break to his changeup and an inch to the vertical break. This has turned it into a put away pitch. As long as he has this changeup, expect him to be a dominant force in the bullpen. Joey Wentz
Already included on the watch list for starting pitchers, I also have to included him here as a RP. Let me get this out of the way: he has zero holds and zero saves on the campaign. He's currently not getting high leverage work, But that could very quickly change with how well he's been pitching, and with the underlying numbers suggesting he's quite good. Keep an eye on him as bullpens are extremely volatile, and the best pitchers often find themselves getting high leverage work at some point. Keegan Akin
Akin has been phenomenal and his beautiful statcast page shows this. What has changed for him?
We can see he's changed his pitch mix. After throwing his 4-seam 60% of the time in 2023, he's only throwing it 47.7% of the time in 2024. He's throwing an improved slider 41.4% of the time up from 25% of the time. His pitching coach has done a good job.
Fernando Cruz
Another pitcher who had a fairly rough 2023 season but has emerged as an important piece in the Reds' bullpen. How exactly has he managed to improve this much at the ripe age of 34?
His cutter is a much better pitch in 2024 as evidence by break vs average. Though oddly enough, the average break in the MLB seems to have decreased this year. His cutter is now a -1 run value pitch instead of being a -9 run value pitch. Cruz has some nasty off speed stuff and is worth an add.
Austin Adams
Yet another guy who struggled in 2023 but has been off to a blistering start in 2024. What exactly has changed, and is it sustainable?
He's improved the break on both his fastball and slider. The extra horizontal break on his 4-seam fastball has made it a much better pitch this year, where it was a liability in 2023. His slider has added 3 inches of horizontal break, giving it more of a sweeping action than ever before. He's definitely improved and we'll see if this is sustainable. Ryan Thompson
He was filthy in 2023 and the trend continues in 2024. He is an absolute beast at limiting quality contact, boasting a 91st percentile hard hit percentage and 81st percentile Barrel %. But what makes him even better this season? Thompson has never been particularly good at making players chase out of the zone, being around league average or worse throughout his career. This season, he's making people chase a wild 36% of the time. Is this a fluke?
Nothing really stands out as being a massively improved pitch, but again, he was also good last season. He has changed his pitch mix a bit, throwing slightly less sinkers and slightly more fastballs.
Jordan Weems
Jordan Weems is off to a torrid start, boasting a top-tier K% and Chase %. Is the 31 year old breaking out after a relatively modest 2023 season?
His 4-seam fastball has notably improved, going from 7.4 inches of horizontal movement to 8.9 inches. That's a solid increase. He's also using his now above-average fastball slightly less, while throwing his best pitch - a slider - slightly more, to the tune of about 5%. He showed nice potential last season and has refined his pitch mix while improving a pitch he uses nearly half the time. Grab him.
Bryan Hudson
A shiny 1.35 ERA to go with a .90 WHIP. A nice statcast. Is this the real Bryan Hudson, after struggling mightily in 2023?
Hudson has always had an absurd amount of vertical break on his sweeper, but he's improved the horizontal movement on the pitch considerably, going from 14.7 inches of break to 16.5. Horizontal break is vital to a sweeper's success, and if he keeps this up, it will continue to be one of the best pitches in the MLB. This is a really nasty sweeper. He's also throwing it 26% of the time, where he threw it only 3% of the time in 2023. Essentially, he's an entirely different pitcher with a dominant pitch in his arsenal. Grab him.
Jorge Alcala
Alcala is absolutely filthy and you should grab him as soon as possible. Not much else to say.
Bonus: Jose Butto (SP)
Unfortunately I didn't discover Butto until yesterday, when I was looking for last-minute streaming options and saw he had a nice debut before being sent back down to AAA. So of course, I took a peek at his statcast. It looks nice. Then I looked into his pitches:
Jose Butto added a new pitch to his arsenal, a sweeper. And boy is it a good one, with a whopping 48.7 inches of drop, 8.7 more than league average. How this man went years without a sweeper and then develops one of the better ones you'll ever see is beyond me. He got me 9 Ks today, which unfortunately still left me short in the K category, but it was a valiant effort. Pick him up, the Mets will be hard pressed to send him back to AAA after such a spectacular performance.
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