Joey Estes

Estes opened the 2024 season with Triple-A Las Vegas. He was called up in early May, then spent the rest of the season in the bigs. He experienced the ups and downs of most rookie hurlers, finishing with a 5.01 ERA, corroborated by his 5.29 xFIP and 5.04 SIERA. Estes 5.0 percent walk rate was excellent, but his 16.9 percent strikeout rate was the sixth lowest among pitchers tossing at least 120 innings. Home runs were a bigger problem. Estes fly-ball rate was 55.5 percent, so even with a below average 10.1 percent HR/FB mark, Estes 1.62 HR/9 was sixth highest among pitchers compiling 120 frames. Easier said than done, but perhaps a change in pitch would help induce more grounders and swinging strikes. Based on his pitch performance, lowering his 51.7 percent four-seam usage while upping his 33.2 percent slider deployment could be the elixir. For now, Estes is a risky streamer with a low strikeout rate.