After a preseason lauding Jordan Hicks , he not only broke camp with the Cardinals in 2018, he emerged as a high leverage option during the season. Hicks logged 77.2 innings winning three of his seven decisions with six saves, 24 holds, 70 strikeouts, 45 walks, a 3.59 ERA, 4.26 xFIP and 1.34 WHIP. While the numbers do not leap off the page, remember, Hicks pitched at High-A the previous year.

For the first time in a long time, a reliever other than Aroldis Chapman finished with an average fastball above 100 MPH. Hicks accomplished this, while struggling with command issues at times. He generated a 9.4 swinging strike percentage and 26.1 chase rate while ceding a 77.1 contact percent. Along with his high octane fastball, Hicks owns a nasty slider as evidenced in the attached tweet:

 

 

Hicks slider and sinker combined to yield a 60.7 ground ball rate last year and kept his hard hit percentage at 28.2-percent. Yes, he did allow too much traffic by issuing walks, but when locked in, Hicks proves tough to hit. Courtesy of Statcast, here’s his pitches in a plot map:

Relying mostly on his sinker, which Hicks can elevate, he induces swinging strikes with his wipeout slider. When viewing his pitch chart, note the launch angle against his sinker along with the strikeout and whiff percentages with the slider:

Although manager Mike Shildt will not name a closer, he intimated Hicks should not be surprised to get a phone call when the Cardinals face high leverage situations. Even if Hicks works as the primary closer in a shared save situational bullpen, he could be worth owning in fantasy. Especially if he trusts his arsenal and attacks hitters. Depressing walks will fuel a breakout if Hicks takes the next step. This resonates in his projections:

According to Statcast, Hicks allowed 216 batted ball events last year and only three barrels among them. Combine this with a 0.8-degree average launch angle and a .290 expected slugging percentage against. Jordan Hicks averages over 100 MPH with his sinker and four-seam fastball, breaks off nasty sliders at 86 MPH. If he cuts down his walk-rate, Hicks could finish the year as a top-10 reliever in fantasy. It will require patience, but if the strikeouts improve, the walks dissipate and he remains healthy, Hicks could surge in the second half.

With so many committees and question marks about talent late in games, taking Jordan Hicks as a second closer with first tier upside makes perfect sense.

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Statistical Credits:

Fangraphs.com

BaseballSavant.com

THE BAT courtesy of Derek Carty

ATC courtesy of Ariel Cohen

ZiPS courtesy of Dan Szymborski