David Paulino

Paulino's 2017 season was abruptly cut short in early July when he was suspended 80 games for a PED violation. He also needed to have a bone spur removed from his elbow in October when his suspension ended, but he is expected to be ready for camp. Those issues were just part of what was an overall terrible season for him statistically as he struggled to both throw strikes, command his pitches and keep the ball in the yard both in Triple-A and the majors. His results above Double-A have been inconsistent, at best. It is tough to bail on someone who has the stuff Paulino possesses, but until he demonstrates the ability to command his pitches and hold up over a full season, he really should not be rostered in anything but deep dynasty leagues. He will likely return to Triple-A to begin 2018.

As is all-too-common with tall, young pitchers, the 6-foot-7 Paulino has been big on power, but low on the balance scale as a young professional. The combination has worked for his strikeout totals in the minors (10.0 K/9), thanks in large part to a fastball that scrapes triple digits on the radar gun, but his mechanical instability has thus far been insufficient to support a full season's workload, as his 97.0 combined frames from 2016 were easily a career-high through five seasons of pro baseball despite making the start in nearly 80 percent of his games played. The 2016 season was his first above High-A, and the Astros are likely to start Paulino off in the high minors to begin the 2017 campaign, but tall pitchers who throw this hard are given every opportunity to fail, and he could suddenly become a major contributor if consistency and health come together.