The Oakland Athletics' number-one starter has never been much of a prototypical ace, but if Kendall Graveman's strong showing against the Los Angeles Angels this week is any indication, he could go from streaming fodder to must-own player in short order.
Graveman showed significant added velocity on all of his pitches on Monday, and as a result, the once contact-heavy hurler with a career 5.65 K/9 submitted a dominant swing-and-miss performance, with a 11.7 percent swinging strike rate that dwarfed his sub-8 marks from the previous two seasons.
It remains to be seen if this new, more overpowering Graveman is here to stay or a flash in the pan, but owners in need of starter depth could certainly do worse than to speculate. After all, even if Graveman's strikeouts prove a mirage, his spacious home ballpark offers him a fair amount of floor.