3. SP Brandon Finnegan – CIN
Brandon Finnegan carried a no-no into the seventh inning of his last start against a pretty potent lineup in the Cubs. With two outs, catcher David Ross laced a single to center field off Finnegan and his bid for a place in the history books came to an end. Sure, he walked five batters before giving up that hit, but retiring that many Cubs hitters was still impressive.
Through two outings, the 23-year-old southpaw has logged two quality starts and compiled a pretty decent strikeout total of 14 in 12.2 IP. Finnegan flashed some potential at times in 2015, but his 2.84 ERA right now won’t hold up for much longer. His career BB/9 rate of 3.7 in the minors was a bit high.
Hitters in the show have much more discipline and fine tuned vision. Finnegan’s BB/9 in 2015 was 3.9. Eventually those will come back to hurt him. His command should get better with time, but he’s still young.
Next: Daniel Murphy