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The Diamondbacks had a quiet offseason but did make one major acquisition with the addition of former Astros pitching coach Brent Strom. That move has paid immediate dividends as Arizona starters have the second lowest ERA in MLB behind only the Dodgers. You read that correctly - a rotation consisting of Madison Bumgarner, Merrill Kelly, Zach Davies, Zac Gallen and Humberto Castellanos is massively out performing all pre season expectations.

Merrill Kelly takes the mound Friday night for an appealing matchup with the Rockies. He has never been a dominant pitcher but looks great early, owning a 1.27 ERA (2.11 FIP) across 28.1 innings. Now he gets an inconsistent Colorado team who has struggled away from Coors field and more specifically strikes out a ton (24% on the road vs RHP since the start of 2021.) For those reasons  interested in the over on his strikeout total (4.5).


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