Steven Matz battled through bone spurs in his elbow for much of 2016 but had a strong sophmore season that secured his reputation as one of the better young lefties in the game -- if he can stay healthy.
While Matz understandably fell short of his ridiculous 2.27 ERA from his debut year, his 3.40 ERA was solid, backed up by close to a strikeout per inning and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 4.2 that puts him in the company of ace-level performers like Yu Darvish, Johnny Cueto, and Corey Kluber.
He generated ground balls and softly hit balls at an elite level, which kept his home run rate low.