MLB rookies are mimicking the historic class of 2015

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Anthony DeSclafani may have had the most WAR among rookie pitchers last season, but there is no question Noah Syndergaard was the brightest star. His 5.35 strikeout-to-walk ratio was the highest for a rookie in MLB’s modern era (since 1900) and his walks and hits per innings pitched (1.05) was 18th. Now he is a CY Young candidate.

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ Jameson Taillon nearly lost his top-100 prospect label after missing nearly two years to injuries, but that hasn’t stopped him from posting a Syndergaardian 5.78 K/BB, 3.00 earned run average and 3.39 fielding independent pitching – Syndergaard had a 3.24 ERA and 3.25 FIP last season. Hitters have a .289 BABIP against Taillon this season and hit .282 against Syndergaard.

The similarities are even more striking when considering their repertoires. Check out this table of pitch usage (average velocities in parenthesis):

Sinker

Changeup

Curveball

Syndergaard ‘15

37.98% (97.69) 23.74% (97.67) 14.21% (88.81)

22.01 (81.20)

Taillon ‘16 29.57% (95.06) 33.06% (94.89) 10.68% (87.61)

26.59% (80.78)

Those numbers come from Brooks Baseball. Taillon relies on his sinker more than Syndergaard does – resulting in a groundball rate almost eight points higher – while Syndergaard throws with more velocity and strikes batters out at a higher rate. But in general the magazines carry the same bullets.

Syndergaard dropped his curveball usage this season in favor of his slider. As a result, his groundball rate (50.3 percent of batted balls) is now closer to Taillon’s (53.8).

Next: Rookie shortstop tandems