Yency Almonte

Almonte struggled in 2019 with a 5.56 ERA, but the right-hander turned things around in 2020. He posted a 2.93 ERA, along with a 4.18 xFIP and 3.74 SIERA, all of which greatly improved from the year before. Almonte was much better at limiting meaningful contact, as he had a better groundball rate in 2020 (56.3%) compared to 2019 (32.1%). He also had a hard-hit rate of 37.0% and an above-average 3.9% barrel rate. Almonte's average fastball velocity dipped to 94.8 mph in 2020, and he became more reliant on his off-speed pitches. Even with the changes in his pitch selection, he saw a slight increase to a 20.4 K%, and his BB% improved from 8.9% in 2019 to 5.3% in 2020. He was used in some late-game situations, converting on one of his three save chances while recording three holds. Almonte could be used as a setup man in 2021, but he's unlikely to be a significant contender for the closer's role.

Almonte has been a popular trade piece early in his career as he's bounced from the Angels to the White Sox and finally to the Rockies all within his first five professional seasons. The young righty features a four-pitch repertoire with his fastball and slider being his most effective offerings. His fastball typically sits around 93-95 mph, but he can reach back for a little more. Almonte spent the majority of his 2016 campaign with High-A Modesto before being promoted to Double-A New Britain. In 138.1 innings with Modesto, the 22-year-old posted a 3.71 ERA with a 23 percent strikeout rate and 6.7 percent walk rate. The 2012 17th round pick safely projects as a back-end starter or late-inning reliever, but would improve his outlook if he were able to deploy a consistent third pitch.