Tanner Roark

Roark began the year in the Reds' rotation before being traded to the A's at the end of July. The final numbers were far from good from a fantasy perspective, but he was capable in real life, providing 2.0 fWAR in 165.1 innings. The sinkerballer saw another dip in groundball rate -- he's lost 12 percentage points off his GB% over the past two seasons -- and the balls that got up did more damage. The long ball was especially problematic late, with Roark surrendering nine homers in his final 18.1 innings. Despite the poor finish, Roark's ability to eat innings (30 or more starts in five of the last six seasons) landed him a two-year, $24 million deal with the Blue Jays this offseason. His breakout season in 2016 is firmly in the rearview mirror and the floor his durability provides is not particularly high; gamble on upside instead as there will be a million Roarks available on the wire.

Roark posted sub-3.00 ERAs in 2014 and 2016, but his HR/9 has increased the past two years, and in 2018 his groundball rate was a career-low 40.7% -- bad news for a sinkerballer. Roark stayed afloat for stretches by riding his surprisingly effective slider, and before the All-Star break, he looked like he fixed his mechanics and revived that sinker, though those improvements didn't stick late in the year. The right-hander limped to an 8.4% swinging-strike rate in 2018, and his already-weak fastball velocity dipped again. As he enters his age-32 season, Roark is increasingly dependent on limiting walks and good fortune from the BABIP gods. With a ton of job security following a December trade to the Reds, Roark still warrants some consideration in the later rounds, but the lack of strikeouts means a lot is left up to chance from start to start.

During his breakout 2016 season, Roark compensated for shaky command with a high rate of soft contact. In fact, he ranked third among starting pitchers in soft contact percentage (23.1). That number tumbled to 16.7 percent in 2017, and in turn his BABIP returned to league average and his ERA climbed nearly two full runs. Roark also lost confidence in putting away batters early in the season, perhaps due to his spring preparation being corrupted by the World Baseball Classic. Deeper into 2017, the right-hander gradually regained trust in his two-seam fastball, which led to a return of the weak batted balls that carry his game and allowed him to post a career-best 10.1 swinging-strike rate and 9.6 second-half K/9. The 31-year-old has five useful-to-great pitches, hurls for one of the National League's best teams and will probably be discounted a little more than he should coming off the disappointing year, so this a decent buying opportunity.

After a rough season bouncing between the rotation and bullpen in 2015, Roark returned to a full-time starting gig last year and picked up right where he left off in 2014, posting a career-best 20.1 percent strikeout rate and again significantly outperforming his FIP (3.79). The secret to his success is not an overpowering fastball but a deep five-pitch arsenal anchored by a plus sinker. In fact, the 30-year-old right-hander was one of just four pitchers last season to get positive value from all five of his pitches. The other three names on that list (Madison Bumgarner, Jake Arrieta and Johnny Cueto) sit among the game's elite. Fatigue may have been an issue late in the season, though, as Roark topped 200 innings for the first time, and his 10 percent walk rate in the second half was a far cry from the 7.4 percent mark he posted in the first half. He's never going to be mistaken for an ace, but he will help fantasy owners cautious enough not to treat him like one. View him as a solid depth piece for a mixed pitching staff, but brace for a bit of negative correction in 2017.

The decision last offseason by Nationals GM Mike Rizzo to spend $200 million on an apparent luxury item like Max Scherzer shut Roark out of the rotation despite his impressive 2014, but injuries to Doug Fister and Stephen Strasburg still allowed him to make 12 starts as he bounced between a starting spot, long and short relief throughout the year. The constant role changes didn't do the 29-year-old any favors, though, and Roark's numbers were well off his breakthrough performance. The main culprit was a HR/FB rate that nearly doubled from the year before, soaring from seven percent to 15.5 percent, and as a pitcher who relies more on command and control of a four-pitch repertoire than on overpowering raw stuff, there's no guarantee the increase is going to simply fade away. The departures of Fister and Jordan Zimmermann in free agency put Roark back in the rotation, but don't expect another sub-3.00 ERA from him.

After a breakout season at Triple-A and impressive effectiveness as a swingman for the Nationals at the end of 2013, Roark didn't miss a beat in locking down the fifth starter role for the club last year. He finished with a 2.85 ERA and 1.09 WHIP, numbers which seem baffling given his relatively pedestrian raw stuff. Right-handers with low-90s fastballs and a merely OK assortment of breaking pitches don't impress the scouts much, but his excellent control (1.8 BB/9 so far in his big league career) and the late movement on his pitches prevent hitters from doing much damage off him despite his lack of big-time strikeout numbers. The league might yet figure him out, although his second half splits don't show any sign of it, and his .270 BABIP will probably rise to some degree, but given the defense behind him and the offense supporting him, Roark isn't necessarily a lock to regress the way it might seem at first glance. The Max Scherzer signing bumps him from the Nationals' rotation, but Roark's just a trade or injury away from being back in the fifth starter role.

Roark wasn't on anybody's prospect radar coming into 2013, even going unclaimed in the Rule 5 draft the previous season, but after putting up a superficially solid line at Triple-A he got the call to the majors when injuries wrecked the Nationals' staff down the stretch. Roark promptly shocked the world with a 1.51 ERA. While he doesn't have the strikeout rate of an elite pitcher he does limit walks and home runs, both very useful traits, but the Nats' rotation seems full up heading into the spring so Roark will likely have to head back to Triple-A to prove his September performance wasn't entirely a fluke.