When the Rays acquired reliever Pete Fairbainks during the 2019 season, we already knew he had a putaway major league slider. Playing off of his high 90’s fastball, hitters whiffed on 42.7% of swings against the pitch.
From a run prevention standpoint, though, Fairbanks had a rough go in his partial first season with the Rays. Hurt by a ludicrous 27.8% HR/FB (league average was 15.1%), he pitched to a messy 6.86 ERA and 5.07 FIP. The issue wasn’t the slider. Rather, hitters teed off on his fastball, blasting it for a .558 wOBA.
Even if you prefer the much lower xwOBA of .