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The Numbers
10-13, 163.1 IP, 4.13 ERA, 2 CG, 129 K, 48 BB, 1.347 WHIP, 1.5 fWAR
The Good
Zach Eflin’s 2019 was a tale of two seasons. The first half of the season was good, though not great. The second half was a disaster.
Focusing on the good first, he threw two of the Phillies’ three complete games this season, including the only complete game shutout.
Eflin incredible, Zach. #RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/Hxo7BQH86n
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) April 28, 2019
This is also a pretty impressive stat.
Yesterday was Zach Eflin's third time pitching a complete game w/o giving up a walk. That's the most by a @Phillies player thru age-25 since Curt Schilling, who had four thru age-25 https://t.co/6njTv7mLD8 pic.twitter.com/yvv5suq7oV
— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) April 29, 2019
The Bad
Late June through late August was especially rough for Eflin. In ten appearances between June 29 and August 17 he went 0-4 and the Phillies lost all ten games. He gave up a combined 29 earned runs in 31 innings. In August, he lost his rotation spot. While he did eventually get his starter status reinstated by September, he only managed to get three wins after the All-Star break.
The Future
Eflin is arbitration eligible for the next three years, which means the Phillies will need to come to some sort of agreement with him. Besides Aaron Nola, he has been the most successful and most reliable starter in the rotation for the past two years. Which is really sad, considering how inconsistent he’s been.
What Eflin really needs in order to take the next step is for the Phillies to acquire two better starters this winter. He isn’t a second or third starter, he belongs on the back end of the rotation. If the Phillies can add two more arms at the beginning and middle of the rotation, the expectations for Eflin will become more appropriate for his skill level. A 10-win fourth or fifth starter looks a lot better than a 10-win second.