As he reached the upper levels of the minors, Rays starting pitcher Alex Cobb started finding more swing-and-miss stuff. From 2010 on, when he reached Double-A, Cobb averaged at least 9.4 strikeouts per nine innings, without an increase in his walk or home run rates. Consequently, he lowered his ERA in each season leading to his callup, peaking with a 1.87 mark at Triple-A Durhamm in 2011.
So far in the majors, Cobb has mostly relied on a heavy diet of groundballs and pinpoint accuracy, with a strikeout rate over parts of three seasons that barely registered as above average. After Friday's ridiculous (and not entirely in a good way) start, in which he struck out 12 batters in just 4 1/3 innings, Cobb is starting to look a bit more like that player who was so strong through the upper minors.
Cobb's strikeout rate is now up to 8.74 per nine innings, while he still has a pristine 1.94 walks per nine innings. He has had real issues with home runs, but is picking up groundballs on 51.9 percent of his batted balls. There's a lot to like about what Cobb is doing right now, especially if you trust that eventually he will not allow a home run on one of every five flyballs. At this point, he probably deserves to be starting in the majority of Fantasy formats, as his breakout start seems sustainable.