SPECULATOR: Finding this year's Cristian Javier
Mar 8 2023
This time last year, Cristian Javier (RHP, HOU) was on the outside looking in as a sixth starter on HOU's rotation.
Quick aside—what a call by Stephen Nickrand to not only get Javier, but to nail the article's cover boy, Spencer Strider, and Tyler Anderson. Lesson: never miss Stephen's SP Buyers Guide.
Nearly 150 innings of a 2.54 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, and 194 strikeouts later, Javier is a consensus Top-75 pick who is currently shooting up draft boards.
The purpose of this column is to find this year's version of Javier, looking back on Javier's pre-breakout skills to see which pitchers in this year's pool check similar boxes:
- An above-average strikeout-minus-walk ratio (15% K-BB%).
- Ability to miss bats (= 12% swinging-strike rate...
Almost!
You’re just a few clicks away from accessing this feature and hundreds more throughout the year that have a singular goal in mind: Winning your league. Subscribe to BaseballHQ.com here!
Already a subscriber? Sign in here
More From Speculator
An early look at who is changing their pitch mix the most... and whether or not it's working.
May 6 2026 3:06am
May 6 2026 3:06am
With skills so bad, we can only speculate on an underlying injury. We hope we're wrong!
Apr 29 2026 3:05am
Apr 29 2026 3:05am
Our annual "draft skills, not roles" using projected skills and year-to-date playing time.
Apr 22 2026 3:05am
Apr 22 2026 3:05am
With most pitchers 3-4 starts in, we dive into the sub-indicators to see who's rising and falling.
Apr 15 2026 3:06am
Apr 15 2026 3:06am
Using our Quality of Batted Ball (QBaB) metric to make some speculative hitter snap judgments.
Apr 8 2026 3:06am
Apr 8 2026 3:06am
