4 years agoPhiladelphia Phillies right-handed pitcher Aaron Nola has seen his strikeout totals increase each year of his big league career. While that won’t happen in 2020, Nola has spiked his K/9 ratio all the way up to 12.4 through his first five starts. Opposing batters are hitting nothing that he throws with consistency well -- his fastball is averaging a .130 BA and .261 SLG. An increase in usage on his changeup (29.5% this year, 18.6 last year) has spurred his K% (36.4) into the top sixth percentile of all pitchers. Batters are whiffing particularly on the change at a 46.2 Whiff%, which is helping to spur Nola into an elite strikeout pitcher. His next projected start comes against Washington, whom he has amassed 123 K’s against in 108 ⅔ career innings, giving him a ton of DFS upside.--Jesse Borek
Source: MLB