Phil Maton

Cleveland acquired Maton's services from San Diego in July of 2019 in exchange for international bonus pool allotments. His 2020 season appears underwhelming at a glance, but below the surface Maton looks like a potential stud reliever in the making. The right-hander struck out exactly one-third of the 96 batters he faced, with his four-seamer, cutter and curveball all registering whiff rates north of 32%, per Statcast. While they should not be taken as gospel, the estimators all agree Maton deserved an ERA of 3.00 or lower. His velocity is not overpowering, but regardless Maton gets enough strikeouts to profile as a late-inning arm for Cleveland. James Karinchak looks like a shoo-in at closer. If that does not work out for whatever reason, Maton may even be considered for the ninth.

Outside of a 5.5-week stretch on the disabled list with a lat strain, Maton spent most of last season in the big leagues, tossing 47.1 innings with a 4.37 ERA. He struck batters out at a 25.7% clip, but his walk rate was high at 10.8%. Maton benefited from good luck in some areas (5.6% HR/FB) while being hit with bad luck in others (.359 BABIP). Taken altogether, he looks to be a capable but not particularly fantasy-relevant middle reliever. His fastball is notable for having a very high spin rate, but it averaged just 91.8 mph and has been squared up easily enough in his first two major-league seasons. Maton has already exceeded expectations for a 597th overall pick, but the Padres now have a large number of more interesting bullpen arms who popped up last season, so the odds of him ending up in a high-leverage role this season are low.

Through Maton's first 10 appearances out of the Padres' bullpen, he looked the part of a future high-leverage arm. His high-spin 93-mph heater carried him to 11 strikeouts, zero walks and zero runs allowed over 8.1 innings. Then he came crashing back to earth, allowing six runs on two home runs over his next four appearances. He was up and down over the rest of the season, continuing to miss bats at a solid clip while giving up too many home runs. His control is adequate, but his command in the zone was what got him into trouble. Maton's slider isn't a wipeout pitch, but when he is locating his fastball, he can look filthy. The Padres will continue to groom him for a late-inning role, with Brad Hand, who is under control for two more years, taking the saves over the first half of the season. San Diego will look to shop Hand again at the deadline, and if they find a suitor, it could be Maton or Kirby Yates in the ninth inning the rest of the way.