Kevin Slowey’s won four of the five games he’s started without posting gaudy statistics by any stretch of the imagination. When you’re Kevin Slowey and your fastball tops out at 90mph, you have very little room for error. With that said, Kevin Slowey knows how to get people out and that’ll go a long way in the big leagues and on your fantasy squad.
Other than his 4W in 5GS, Slowey has been average across the roto-board: 5.17 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, and 23 strike-outs. However, Slowey’s advanced statistics make him an intriguing trade-target at this juncture.
Of the pitchers that have pitched at least 20 Innings, Slowey leads the pack with an 11.50 K/BB rate. The next guys on the list? Halladay (7.6) , Haren (7.2), Greinke (5.5), Johnson (5.33), Bedard (5.33) and Vazquez (5.25) — Good Company.
Unlike the majority of the pitchers in the top-15 in K:BB, Slowey doesn’t achieve his gaudy number as a result of a high K-Rate. Slowey has great control and he knows how to use the defense behind him.
In 31.1 Innings, Slowey’s walked two batters which is good for a 0.57 BB/9. Slowey won’t keep this up, but he relies on control and should at least be able to maintain a BB/9 of around 1.50. Slowey’s currently striking out just over six and a half batters per nine, which is right in line with league average. If Slowey ever notched his K/9 over 7ish, he’d be treading the fine-line between fantasy-steal and top of the rotation stud.
So long as you don’t have to watch Carlos Gomez and Denard Span chase down those deep fly-balls, finding a way to trade for Kevin Slowey is probably a safe bet. If you’re a Twins fan, I’d recommend drinking Peptobismol prior to watching Slowey record some of the longest outs in baseball.
If Kevin Slowey ever started walking people, it’d be almost impossible to recommend a career 0.71 GB/FB pitcher in the AL Central. Thankfully, Slowey tends to keep the damage to a minimum when hitters do take him yard.
With all of these caveats in mind, now’s the time to acquire Kevin Slowey. Slowey’s BABIP is currently sitting at .374 and should eventually drop to league average or below. This has lead to a hit-heavy 1.44-WHIP and .332 BAA and hopefully opened up a trade-window in your league.
Slowey’s inducing more swings outside of the zone and less contact on those swings. Slowey’s achieved this by getting more horizontal movement on both of his off-speed offerings this year, and I’d expect these numbers to continue which could lead to that magic-mark of 7+ K/9.
Kevin Slowey is always going to be hittable, but batters are currently making contact with 93% of pitches they’ve swung at inside of the strike zone. I would expect this to trend towards the Major League average of 87% with the possibility of Slowey matching or bettering his 2008 number of 85.7%. I get the feeling that this is a result of Slowey throwing more strikes ( Zone percentage up 2 percent,) and making mistakes in early April.
With all of that said, Kevin Slowey is a much better pitcher than his 5.17 ERA would indicate. Slowey’s Fielder Independent Pitching ERA tends to agree as it sits at a cozy 3.99.
I’d go out of my way to acquire him, and a 3.60ish ERA, with 6.90-7.00 K per 9, and a great WHIP (1.12-1.15 range) should be in store for Slowey.
