If you like what you’re reading then you will like my 2015 Fantasy Baseball Guide! Last year’s fantasy guide was more than 150,000 words and had 440 player profiles (of hitters and pitchers). My approach to player evaluation is to ask questions about what the player has done in the past and what he may do in the future. I certainly provide a narrative on how I feel a player will perform, but I also ask a lot of open ended questions that I hope will get you thinking about the information I’ve provided.
Before Spring Training Mike Minor had trouble getting ready. On 12/31/13 he surgery on his urethra and subsequently was a few weeks behind his normal training regimen because he had to rest for the month of January. Then he aggravated his shoulder by pushing to make up for his late start to spring training. Specifically this resulted in him having shoulder inflammation and he missed the first month of the season. On September 23, 2014 he was shut down for the rest of the season with an inflamed shoulder.
He struggled for the first three months of the season, but after a strong August (3.24 ERA and 1.02 WHIP) I believed he was back to the pitcher he was in 2013. However, he had an awful September and was shut down.
On the whole, it was a terrible season for Minor especially when you compare his numbers to 2013. Throughout most of the season he didn’t have good command of his secondary pitches, specifically, the changeup and slider. In 2013 he was very good at keeping them down in the zone, but so often last year he left them up, in the middle of the zone. That’s why he threw the fastball much more than the previous year.
Last year he started to throw a two-seam fastball and his ground ball rate increased five and half percentage points. It’s possible he’ll throw it less if he has better command of his secondary pitches, but I think this trend will continue.
With an injury offseason I’m expecting Minor to bounce back to the numbers he put up in 2013. The ERA will probably be in the 3.30-3.40 range, but he’s generating more ground balls with the two-seamer and I expect the command of the secondary pitches to improve because he’ll have a full amount of time to prepare for Spring Training.
My 2015 projection for Minor is 200 IP, 180 Ks, 12 wins, 3.35 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP
