Following what seemed to be a sustainable breakout year, hopes were high for Gausman in 2017. Despite an unsightly 4.68 ERA and 1.49 WHIP, things weren’t as bad as they appear. In fact, if you snatched him off waivers for the second half, you were rewarded with a 3.41 ERA and 1.20 WHIP. Gausman is on record as explaining he altered his mechanics mid-season, squaring his shoulders more towards home plate as opposed to edging a bit to the third-base side. He credits the change for gaining confidence in his splitter. The numbers agree as before the adjustment, he was sporting a 6.1 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9 as compared to 10.3 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 after. Unfortunately, homers remained an issue until September when he only allowed three long balls in 35 stanzas, his only month with a HR/9 below 1.23. For the season, he surrendered 29 homers in 186.2 innings. It’s a risk, but if you have some dependable innings in the bank, Gausman offers the kind of upside needed to win leagues.

Gausman was essentially the same exact pitcher in the 2015 and 2016 with a nine percent difference in strand rate accounting for the ERA drop. He also added 67 innings for a career-high 180. Despite a carbon copy final line, he improved in-season. His curveball went from being a disaster to a plus pitch in the final two months while his splitter went from plus to plus-plus. He wound up with a 2.83 ERA and 3.6 K:BB in 76.1 innings over those final two months. Homers have been a problem in three of his four seasons and he needs to keep the ball in the yard if he's going to cash in on the No. 2 starter upside of his stuff and skills. He did have a 1.1 HR/9 in that late season stretch, but that's only good in comparison to the 1.7 he had the first four months. Considering this was just his first full season and he's still only 26, we can grant him some leeway and still bet on the upside.

The growth of young players is not linear. It’s a mantra worth repeating, especially for young pitchers. Perhaps it should be altered with the tag “in ERA” for them, because there is a case that Gausman did take another step forward and show some linear growth from his 2014. His strikeout, walk, swinging strike, groundball, and soft-contact rates all got better, but he tacked 0.68 runs onto his ERA and threw one fewer inning than 2014, so it doesn’t feel like progress from a fantasy standpoint. This is why even 112 innings is still a small sample that can mislead, as two disaster starts cost him 0.75 runs in ERA. Those starts count, we can’t just ignore them, but they have a disproportionate effect on his bottom line and obscure the good in his season. The ideal next step would be the Orioles leaving him in the rotation all season so he can improve the finer points of pitching, like sequencing and working through lineups three times. Shoulder tendinitis has his availability for his first turn in the rotation up in the air, so he should be slightly discounted on draft day.

Gausman’s emergence is one of the reasons that Ubaldo Jimenez's flop didn’t really hurt the Orioles last season. The young righty didn’t even reach the majors until mid-May and he wasn’t permanently installed in the rotation until early June, but they were still able to get a couple wins of value from their prized prospect in just 113 innings. He has a potent four-pitch arsenal, but he needs to learn to trust his changeup more and refine the slider so he isn’t relying on his fastball nearly 70 percent of the time. Of course when you average 96 mph with your heater, it’s easy to lean on that pitch as much as Gausman did. He is still learning to pitch, though, and he showed flashes of putting it all together, especially down the stretch with a 3.45 ERA and 3.0 K/BB ratio in his final 10 starts. There is frontline potential here, but it won’t necessarily all come at once. As a result, don't pay for 200 innings of a low-3.00s ERA just yet.

The Orioles wasted no time in promoting Gausman after eight Double-A starts, but he floundered as a starter, before returning to help as a reliever as the Orioles contended down the stretch. A closer examination of his advanced stats reveals reasons to be encouraged, as he carried a 9.3 K/9 in the big leagues. One issue for Gausman was his 18.6% HR/FB, a number that will certainly come down as he continues to get experience. However, he maintained the velocity for which he was touted, flashing a fastball in the 96 mph range. The Orioles figure to enter spring training with a bevy of rotation candidates, but with an impressive spring showing, Gausman should make the rotation. If he struggles, he'll start the season at Triple-A Norfolk.

Widely regarded as the top college pitching prospect in the 2012 draft, Gausman made a brief set of appearances in short-season and High-A before starting a Double-A playoff game. Gausman throws a fastball and a changeup, but he alternated his use of a curveball and slider during his last college season. As a starter he will probably throw both of them going forward, but they need work. Gausman seems likely to start the season in Double-A with a midseason promotion possible. He could even see time in Baltimore at some point in 2013.