Josh Staumont (RP, KC) - Week 6 Waiver Wire Pickups

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ANALYSIS: The Kansas City Royals have had quite an interesting year when it comes to bullpen management, as we have seen Trevor Rosenthal blast out of the gates with six saves as the Royals primary closer and longtime veteran Greg Holland has picked up a save himself as one of Kansas City's main setup men. While Rosenthal and Holland may have grabbed most of the attention for the Royals relievers in 2020, it is actually Josh Staumont who leads Kansas City in holds with four, while the next closest are Holland, Scott Barlow, and Ian Kennedy with two a piece.

Staumont, the 26-year-old alumnus of Azusa Pacific University, holds a 0.79 ERA and 1.15 WHIP through 11.1 IP. While he still walks the opposition at a sub-par clip of 4.8 BB/9, his HR/9 falling from 1.9 to 0.8 and his K/9 rising from 7.0 to 18.3 from last season have helped to drive down his 6.06 FIP of 2019 to a much more encouraging 2.63 at this point in the season. Now, his LOB is considerably frightening at 95.9%, and his hard hit rate and allowed hard contact on batted balls of 47.1% and 70.6% make his .375 BABIP appear all the more sustainable (and his LOB all the more frightening).

However, Staumont has also lowered his barrel rate from 8.1% to 5.9%, and he has increased his rate of forced soft contact on batted balls from 12.9% to 17.6% while allowing just 11.8% line drives and pumping up his swinging strike rate from 9.2% to 17.6%. Going from an average fastball velocity of 95.9 MPH to 98.5 MPH makes a huge difference, and with his BABIP actually looking a bit on the unfortunate side and his overall contact rate down from 77.3% to 59.8%, Josh Staumont is built to leave runners on base even in the trickiest of times. That trait bodes extremely well for his chances of picking up more holds or even an occasional save down the line.