Bats/Throws: Right/Right
Position: RHP
Date of Birth: 2/13/1990
He is arguably one of the most confusing pitchers in baseball. His stuff rivals that of Noah Syndergaard but his strikeout rate rivals that of Jason Vargas. Eovaldi is coming off a season in which he pitched to a 3.81 ERA and 3.60 FIP over 111 innings between the Rays and Red Sox. His adjusted ERA and adjusted FIP were the bests of his career.
His strikeout percentage was 22.2% last season, the highest of his career by a pretty good margin.His swinging strike rate and chase rates were also the highest of his career.
The most likely reason was due to a huge increase in usage with his cutter. He developed a cutter in 2016 and threw it 7.3% of the time. Last season, he threw it 32% of the time.
It is fair to say that Eovaldi is still improving and developing a feel for his breaking pitches. But on the nights that he has them working, he can be electric. A perfect example of this would be his postseason showing.
Eovaldi has undergone two Tommy John surgeries which is something to keep an eye on.
Contract
Fangraphs has Nathan Eovaldi getting a three-year deal worth $48 million. Jon Heyman of FanCred expects him to land a three-year deal as well worth $45 million while his expert expects him to get a four-year contract worth $64 million. It seems like the general idea is a three-to-four year deal worth somewhere between $14-to-$16 million.
Recommendation
Eovaldi is a solid number three or four starter on a good team. If the Mets plan on trading Noah Syndergaard and signing Eovaldi to replace him, they would really be putting a lot of faith in Zack Wheeler to step up and be their number two starter. Eovaldi is interesting but I only see the Mets going after him in the event that they trade Syndergaard.
