Jack

Kochanowicz

Kochanowicz ended the year by going seven innings in three straight starts, and someone who was completely off the radar to begin 2024 ended up being more helper than hurter in his rookie year. He finishes with a 3.99 ERA, but it’s worth pointing out that he didn’t have a single start where he struck out more than five hitters in his 11 starts. Still, there were signs that Kochanowicz can be a thing, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he took a step forward in 2025. He should be a lock for the Los Angeles rotation barring a disaster of a spring training.

Kochanowicz performed as expected against the lowly White Sox, allowing just three baserunners on the night while keeping them off the board for seven innings. Unfortunately, a disastrous eighth inning by reliever Hunter Strickland, in which he allowed three earned runs in 1/3 of an inning, wiped out Kochanowicz’s chances at picking up his third win of the season. He’s scheduled to start in the Angels’ season-finale, which is set for Sunday against the Rangers.

Kochanowicz was good. The Angels offense was not, so the solo homer he allowed to Andrew Vaughn was enough to prevent him from picking up a win. The right-hander struck out five and didn’t allow a walk while lowering his ERA to 4.56. There hasn’t been much middle ground for Kochanowicz; for every start like this there’s a couple that are objective failures. That’s true for a lot of 23-year-olds, and Kochanowicz might have just good enough stuff and command to be a backend starter for the foreseeable future.

Kochanowicz is one of the most fascinating pitchers in baseball right now. He shows up, throws sinkers, and goes home. He threw that sinker 74% of the time in this start overall and that rate was up over 80% earlier after three innings. He completed those three innings in just 31 pitches, but ran into some trouble during his second trip through the Twins’ order. He’s lined up to face the White Sox at home in his next start.

Kochanowicz gave up eight hits, walked one and struck out none. He’s had five straight quality starts, but his lack of strikeouts should give fantasy managers pause. Kochanowicz has struck out 12 batters in 38 2/3 innings. You can make the argument that he’s pitched better than his 4.89 ERA, but it’s tough to recommend him as a fantasy option given his lack of strikeouts. The 23-year-old right-hander is set to face the Twins on the road next week.

He allowed five hits without issuing a walk, and he struck out four. It’s another strong outing for Kochanowicz, and the fourth straight where he’s allowed no more than two runs while working at least six innings. Because he allowed 12 runs over seven innings in his first two starts he still has an ERA of 4.96, but he’s pitched much better than that line. It still would be a mistake to trust him as a streamer against the Dodgers next week.

Kochanowicz is a sinker-baller through and through. He threw it 64% of the time coming into this start and bumped that up to 80% in this outing. The lanky righty will keep that pitch in the strike zone ad nauseam as he never faced a three-ball count in this game and only threw one pitch with two balls without also having two strikes. That approach likely won’t work as well in other starts as it did in this one. That next one will come in Detroit against the Tigers, where it could conceivably work again.

Kochanowicz kept the Nationals off the board entirely until the eighth inning when he allowed a lead-off home run and then an infield single that later came around to score after he was out of the game. However, this feels more flukey than anything for the 23-year-old. He induced just four whiffs on 48 swings on the day for an eight percent whiff rate and 18 percent CSW. This feels like a one-off strong start that we don’t need to be chasing in fantasy leagues.

The Angels had planned on rolling out Davis Daniel on only three days of rest, but instead Kochanowicz will take the hill. He has been hit very hard in his first two big-league starts and isn’t a recommended streaming option on Sunday, even against the Natinoals.

The 23-year-old hurler will add some length to the Angels’ bullpen for the time being. If he isn’t used out of the pen over the weekend, he may also be a candidate to start for the Angels early next week. Kochanowicz holds a miserable 14.14 ERA, 2.43 WHIP and a 5/3 K/BB ratio over seven innings in two starts for the Halos this season.