4 years agoPhiladelphia Phillies starting pitcher Spencer Howard is slated to start the first game of the team's doubleheader on Thursday. A consensus top-50 prospect, Howard has pitched poorly so far over his MLB career with a 7.88 ERA over his first two starts. Notably, Howard has struggled to generate strikeouts after striking out a whopping 12 batters per nine innings over his minor league career, taking a weak 14.6% strikeout rate and more solid but still underwhelming 11.3% swinging-strike rate into Thursday’s matchup with the Blue Jays. The Toronto offense has been roughly average so far this season with a .743 OPS, but they’ve hit home runs at a high rate with 36 over their first 21 games and represent a risky matchup for Howard, who’s struggled to contain home runs this season with a 9.8% home run rate.--Sam Chinitz
Source: Todd Zolecki