Jordan Lyles: 2014 Player Grade
It’s hard to say who Jordan Lyles might have been if he’d been given a full season to find out. But he has potential to be a major contributor in the future.
The bottom line about Jordan Lyles is that he ended up being one of my favorite acquisitions by the Rockies in the 2013-14 offseason. He was a surprise, too. Dan O’Dowd seemed to feel that he needed to unload Dexter Fowler due to “attitude problems,” “lack of hustle,” “funny smells,” or some other such vague and confusing complaint. Most people were not thrilled about the trade, which brought Lyles and outfielder Brandon Barnes over from the Astros. Both Lyles and Barnes had yet to prove themselves at the major league level, and Barnes especially had languished in the minors for a long time. But he proved a solid role player, and Lyles emerged as one of the few reliable options out of the starting rotation.
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Lyles outperformed expectations in the first half especially, posting a 3.91 FIP, a .284 BABIP against (the lowest first-half number in his career, despite the Coors Field effect), and a 1.30 WHIP. His walks-per-9 were a little high, but he still struck out more than he walked, and kept the ball down to the tune of a 53% groundball rate. In other words, Lyles was a Coors Field success story, not something we’ve had much of in recent years, especially with non-homegrown pitchers.
Of course, then he broke his non-throwing hand while covering the plate, and the Rockies’ freak-injury streak continued.
Luckily, Lyles’s injury was not of the Tyler Chatwood or Jhoulys Chacin variety, and he was able to return after only a couple of months. Unluckily, his numbers in the final 8 weeks of the season were not so good: a 4.59 FIP, a .308 BABIP against, a 1.44 WHIP, and a 49.7% groundball rate. His K’s per 9 actually improved, but that’s all. It’s easy enough to wonder if Lyles’s first half was a flash in the pan.
We’ll find out for sure next season, but given the overall instability of the Rockies’ pitching staff and Lyles’s ability to adapt to a very hitter-friendly park, I give him a B- for 2014.