This will probably will be a somewhat controversial article as I know there are still mixed feelings on Osuna http://www.diamondbacksfanproshop.com/authentic-zack-greinke-jersey , but it warrants a discussion to me. I’m asking us to stay strictly to the baseball..."This will probably will be a somewhat controversial article as I know there are still mixed feelings on Osuna, but it warrants a discussion to me. I’m asking us to stay strictly to the baseball side of the equation for this discussion as the other side has been discussed ad nauseam.Last year, in a controversial move, the Astros acquired Roberto Osuna. What was surprising, is that the 2018 season was a “down” season for Osuna, with some wondering if he had lost a step and should still be considered the closer, although he continued to improve as the season went by.Now for some clarification, for most relievers in baseball, a 21 save season with a 2.37 ERA could be a career best. But there was a notable drop in strikeout rate from a career K/9 of almost 10 to 7.58, makes people wonder if something was off, or if he was just rusty and distracted. Then the clock struck 2019. Now it’s an extremely small sample size, all of 8.1 IP so far this season, so there’s a huge grain of salt that goes into this evaluation, but he has simply been dominant enough to warrant a second look. He’s currently converted all 19 save opportunities in the regular season since joining the Astros. His K/9 has jumped back to 9.72, and while he has always had excellent control (1.52 BB/9 for his career), he has yet to walk someone this year. His current ERA is a sparkling 1.08 Shelby Miller Jersey , his WHIP? A ridiculous 0.24 (0 walks and only 2 hits through his first 9 appearances).On the good side, his fastball has regained a tick in velocity, throwing the hardest he has since 2016. It’s easy to forget that Osuna is only 24 years old. He’s the youngest player on our team edging out Carlos Correa by abouta half a year. There’s a strong possibility that Osuna has not hit his peak yet.So it’s easy to think, it’s a small sample size and Osuna just got lucky. I mean his BABIP is .111, which is generally indicative of pure luck. Which could very well be true, but some of the advanced stats seem to support his utter dominance. Utter dominanceBaseball Savant / StatcastFor those of you who don’t frequent baseball savant, they have a simple slider at the top which gives you a quick glimpse at how the player is performing. The further to the right and the darker the red, the better the player is doing (or blue for poor performance). Doing a quick look, obviously, Osuna looks dominant. But when you look closer, he gets even better. K%? He’s in the top 11% of the leagueExit Velocity? Top 20% of the leagueHard Hit %? Top 1% of the leaguexBA? Top 1% of the leaguexSLUG? Top 1% of the leaguexwOBA? The best in baseballI’m a huge fan of xwOBA. For those who aren’t familiar, xwOBA looks at the launch angle, exit velocity, sprint speed etc of every ball that was hit and based on a percentage of plays that were made at that same type of contact assigns a value to it. It removes the “luck” of a diving play or jump over the fence that saves runs, or the silly non-error that bounced between a players legs to give a more realistic view of the contribution of the player while removing the luck factor. They normalize xwOBA to look like OPS - so when you’re looking at the results,For more info Chris Owings Jersey , here’s the full description and the why it’s useful: xwOBA is more indicative of a player’s skill than regular wOBA, as xwOBA removes defense from the equation. Hitters, and likewise pitchers, are able to influence exit velocity and launch angle but have no control over what happens to a batted ball once it is put into play.Based on the contact so far, Baseball Savant would expect a .117/.117/.162 line against Osuna for a .121 xwOBA And xwOBA say that so far, he has been the absolute best in all of baseball. The Diamondbacks GM discusses the big trade and the players coming back"WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Diamondbacks Farm TeamsGameday ThreadsDiamondbacks NewsDiamondbacks Game ReportsFang FoodReactions fromMike Hazen on the Paul Goldschmidt tradeNew,80commentsThe Diamondbacks GM discusses the big trade and the players coming backSoria rumors are not without some basis.The M.O. with this front office is to go with veteran relievers. But it seems incongruous in a rebuild atmosphere. My own quick take on the trade:Luke Weaver is going to have to be very mentally strong and have thick skin, especially when pitching at home.He will be viewed as the primary guy that Goldy was traded for, and as a back of the rotation type guy, you know he is going to have his nights where he is booed off the mound at Chase field.I don’t know if he has mid rotation upside or not.12 months ago most people would have said yes. But he clearly needs some fixing .His FIP is considerably lower than his ERA each year and for career. So there is some hope there. But his careerBABIP against, .332 indicates he’s pretty hittable perhaps.On the other hand, his career BABIP on groundballs is very high,.290, vs leage avg around .240.Hopefully a good Arizona infield will help him there.Per Hazen, his stuff was still good, but his delivery was inconsistent and obviously results not good.His Steamer projection is for a low 4’s ERA. Andrew Young gets hit by pitch A LOT http://www.diamondbacksfanproshop.com/authentic-zack-greinke-jersey ,(48 times the last two years) and that props up his minor league OBP to a great extent.But he doesn’t walk much, and it’s my belief he will need to either be able to stay healthy while still exhibiting a HBP skill, or his OBP’s will suffer when he eventually gets his shot at the majors.He has hit 38 homers the last two seasons, but is a bit old for level. Don’t expect much here, but he may be a gritty surprising player.For some reason I am thinking Ryan Roberts type gritty with some pop. For me, thisall boils down toCarson Kelly.Is his defense really as good as his reputation ? If it is, then even an 85-90 OPS+ would make him a valuable player.His AAA track record at Memphis each of the last two years gives one hope. But his threeMLB stints have all been brief and he hasn’t hitat all yet in limited major league at bats. In 2019 he’ll probably get at least 200-250 PA and we’ll should have a better idea. Remember,Goldy’s trade value was estimated at about 30M + a draft pick.If Kelly is a 2 WAR catcher for several years, then the DBacks will get that value back and then some, even if Weaver never improves.With 6 years of control of Kelly and 5 years of Weaver, the Dbacks will have a good chance to recoup much more than the 30M in performance value they gave up by trading Goldy.It won’t help them on the PR front in the short term, but both these players are under control long enough to be part of the next good DBacks team.Anything they might get out of Young would be gravy.