Could Josh Hader have become a Starter?

[Brewcrew82]

Interesting article from Fangraphs. I'm personally on the fence, but they seem to think so, conceiving of him as a left-handed Strider. If so, how would that have changed the past 6 years?

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/could-josh-hader-have-become-a-starter/

[jay87shot]

I think he wouldn't have been at Strider k levels,  throwing 93-95 as a starter instead of 95-97 and he needed his changeup to develop more. As a starter my guess is he might have been like Robbie Ray and if his changeup developed more like Blake Snell, which is still really good k rates.

[wiguy94]

I don't think Hader would have ever made a great starter and I think the Strider comp is ridiculous. Strider has better physical build, holds FB velo better, has better command, and his slider is actually good. Hader's slider was effective because everyone was just so locked into his FB not because his slider was actually good. Even today his slider still isn't a very good pitch because he can't consistently locate it.

Just look at the difference between Strider's slider heat map this year (on left) and Hader's slider heat map this year (on right)

[Brewcrew82]

Yeah, in the end, I don't think you can argue with the decision the Brewers made. Would another top of the rotation pitcher (not a given) really have made that much of a difference for us? 

Especially now that we got Contreras as a result of trading him. I'm happy with how things turned out. 

[CheezWizHed]

Well, he was a starter and not a bad one.  As others have said, I don't think he would've been an All-Star starter, but better than Houser.  

Moving him to closer was an obvious success story. 

[MrTPlush]

I mean, for starters, he would have taken years more to develop. He was far from being a legitimate MLB starter when he went to the bullpen (at the MLB level). He just didn’t have his pitches figured out to the point to trick MLB hitters for 6 innings Would have been in the minors till maybe 2019 and maybe even a year or two after that to be a reliable MLB starter.