When the Houston Astros signed Hector Rondon from the Cubs, I’ll admit I was skeptical. He was coming off of the worst year of his career. Subsequently, it was also his first year not closing since his rookie season in 2013.
In 2017, Rondon rocked a 4.24 ERA, a 1.22 WHIP, and an abysmal 3.45 strikeout-to-walk ratio across 57.1 innings. It wasn’t just a season of bad luck either, his FIP was slightly lower than his ERA at 4.14. Which is not typical. It means his fielding actually hurt him but, still it was pretty high.