Well Hurston Waldrep may have arrived, for real, folks. Its still early for the 23 year old, but he has put together one of the best four start stretches in the majors this season in terms of ERA if you count that speedway classic appearance as a start, which it effectively was. More impressively than the ERA is his 1.90 FIP and 3.02 xFIP over his 24.2 innings so far. He has gotten better with each start and has struck out a batter per inning over his last three starts, has done well to limit walks, had been getting about 15 whiffs per outing, and has put up a strong 50% ground ball rate. That will certainly play if he can keep anything like that up. Hurston has done a great job reinventing his arsenal around that fantastic splitter in a pretty short amount of time and is now looking like he could be a real piece in the major league rotation for years to come just a year after looking lost in the majors. Waldrep continuing anything close to this level of success (with FIP and xFIP, not ERA) for the rest of the season, would be a tremendous sign for next year.
