4 years agoArizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Zac Gallen's pristine first two seasons as a big-leaguer will have him skyrocketing up draft boards in 2021. After eviscerating the Pacific Coast League for 91 innings in 2019, posting a 1.77 ERA in a league where the average ERA finished at 5.49, that success translated to the majors rather quickly. Gallen struck out 28.7% of the hitters he faced in his rookie campaign, but did struggle with walks (10.8%) and did not get many ground balls (38.9%). His minor league track record and underlying metrics -- 67% first-pitch strike rate, 84.7% in-zone contact rate -- led many to believe he would take a big step forward in 2020. Those people were proven right, as Gallen posted an 8.6% walk rate with a 45.6% ground-ball rate. He has now allowed less than four earned runs in 90% of his 20 career starts and owns a rare arsenal of four pitches accounting for more than 15% of the distribution. All four of those offerings achieved above-average whiff rates in 2020. The solid ground-ball rate can be expected to continue as he really ramped up the cutter usage last year (up to 25%), a pitch that achieved an average launch angle of 11 degrees. While the upside might not exactly match his draft cost (an ADP below 50), Gallen appears to be a safe addition to your pitching staff wherever you land him.--Jon Anderson