Out
Injury Back
Est. Return 3/1/2025
2024 Stats
W-L
5-4
ERA
4.66
WHIP
1.29
K
59
SV
0
Rest-of-Season Projections
2024 Fantasy Outlook
Fingernail and blister issues delayed Blackburn's debut until May 29, but he still ended up passing the century mark in innings for the second straight season. Oakland's lone representative in the 2022 All-Star Game, Blackburn failed to replicate those results in 2023. His WHIP shot up from 1.26 to 1.54 as opponents hit 25 points higher against the right-hander. Blackburn lifted his strikeout rate over 20 percent for the first time in his career, but the jump in strikeouts came with a jump in walks, making it a wash. He's going to be pitching again for one of the worst teams in baseball, and the skills haven't been good enough to compensate throughout most of his career. Now entering his age-30 season, Blackburn could potentially benefit from some tweaks to his pitch mix, though that's merely theoretical. He has to be considered a health and performance risk on draft day. Read Past Outlooks
Out up to five months post-surgery
Blackburn underwent surgery Oct. 11 to repair a cerebrospinal fluid leak, Will Sammon of The Athletic reports.
ANALYSIS
Per the Mets, it's a procedure which typically carries a return to play timeline of 4-5 months. That would seemingly give Blackburn a shot to be ready in time for Opening Day, provided there are no setbacks along the way. If healthy, Blackburn should open the 2025 season in the Mets' rotation. He held a 4.66 ERA and 59:21 K:BB over 75.1 innings covering 14 starts between the Athletics and Mets in 2024.
Per the Mets, it's a procedure which typically carries a return to play timeline of 4-5 months. That would seemingly give Blackburn a shot to be ready in time for Opening Day, provided there are no setbacks along the way. If healthy, Blackburn should open the 2025 season in the Mets' rotation. He held a 4.66 ERA and 59:21 K:BB over 75.1 innings covering 14 starts between the Athletics and Mets in 2024.
Pitching Stats
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2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
Minor League Game Log
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Pitching Appearances Breakdown
Average Pitch Count
87
Last 10 Games
85
Last 5 Games
82
How many pitches does Paul Blackburn generally throw?
1-10
11-20
21-30
31-40
41-50
51-60
61-70
71-80
81-90
91-100
101-110
111-120
121+
What part of the game does Paul Blackburn generally pitch?
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
Extra
% Games Reaching Innings Threshold
% Games By Number of Innings Pitched
Left/Right Pitching Splits
Since 2022
-6%
BAA vs LHP
2024
-28%
BAA vs LHP
| BAA | K | BB | H | HR | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Since 2022vs Left | .260 | 132 | 46 | 146 | 15 | |||
| Since 2022vs Right | .276 | 120 | 48 | 157 | 23 | |||
| 2024vs Left | .221 | 33 | 9 | 33 | 4 | |||
| 2024vs Right | .305 | 26 | 12 | 43 | 8 | |||
| 2023vs Left | .289 | 50 | 21 | 55 | 4 | |||
| 2023vs Right | .283 | 54 | 22 | 62 | 7 | |||
| 2022vs Left | .260 | 49 | 16 | 58 | 7 | |||
| 2022vs Right | .250 | 40 | 14 | 52 | 8 | |||
| More Splits→ | View More Split Stats | |||||||
Home/Away Pitching Splits
Since 2022
-13%
ERA on Road
2024
-57%
ERA at Home
| ERA | WHIP | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Since 2022Home | 4.78 | 1.35 | 128.0 | 8.0 | 3.0 | ||||
| Since 2022Away | 4.16 | 1.38 | 162.1 | 7.7 | 2.8 | ||||
| 2024Home | 2.75 | 1.11 | 36.0 | 6.3 | 3.0 | ||||
| 2024Away | 6.41 | 1.45 | 39.1 | 7.8 | 2.1 | ||||
| 2023Home | 3.57 | 1.32 | 53.0 | 9.2 | 3.6 | ||||
| 2023Away | 5.33 | 1.78 | 50.2 | 8.9 | 3.9 | ||||
| 2022Home | 8.31 | 1.62 | 39.0 | 8.1 | 2.3 | ||||
| 2022Away | 2.12 | 1.06 | 72.1 | 6.7 | 2.5 | ||||
| More Splits→ | View More Split Stats | ||||||||
Stat Review
How does Paul Blackburn compare to other starting pitchers?
This section compares his stats with all starting pitcher seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 120 innings)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.
* Exit Velocity, Barrels/BBE %, Balls Hit 95+ MPH %, and Spin Rate are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 120 IP). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
* Exit Velocity, Barrels/BBE %, Balls Hit 95+ MPH %, and Spin Rate are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 120 IP). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
K/BB
2.81K/9
7.0BB/9
2.5HR/9
1.4Fastball
91.7 mphERA
4.66WHIP
1.29BABIP
.294GB/FB
1.71Left On Base
69.8%Exit Velocity
80.9 mphBarrels/BBE
5.1%Spin Rate
2241 rpmBalls Hit 95+ MPH
24.2%Swinging Strike
10.2%Advanced Pitching Stats
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Defensive Stats
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Stats Vs Today's Lineup
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2023
2019
2018
2017
Blackburn appeared to be finally turning a corner in his career until fate literally gave him a middle finger. Blackburn was 6-2 with a 2.26 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP through his first 13 starts of 2022 until he began experiencing some middle finger discomfort. He attempted to pitch through it making 8 more starts, but went 1-4 with a 7.94 ERA and a 1.59 WHIP in those final outings before shutting it down for the season and requiring surgery to repair the tear of his flexor tendon sheath in his right middle finger. Blackburn isn't blessed with much velocity or spin, but throws six different pitch types to keep hitters off balance and guessing which of the sextet is coming next. Oakland will give him all the volume he can handle as he is in the first season of arbitration and turns 30 during the season. The volume is what could get him to double-digit wins as the run support is unlikely to do so. He is worthy of a late round selection to see if the repertoire adjustments he made in 2022 can stick and help him pick up where he left off in mid-June.
More Fantasy News
Moved to 60-day IL
Blackburn (back) was transferred to the 60-day injured list Saturday, per MLB's transaction log.
ANALYSIS
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Won't return this season
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said Wednesday that Blackburn (back) won't pitch at any point during the postseason, Tim Healey of Newsday reports.
ANALYSIS
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Hopes to return next week
Blackburn (back) will play catch Wednesday and hopes to return from the 15-day injured list as soon as the middle of next week, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Diagnosed with spinal fluid leak
President of baseball operations David Stearns said Saturday that Blackburn has a spinal fluid leak in his back, Tim Britton of The Athletic reports.
ANALYSIS
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Out through this weekend
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said Tuesday that Blackburn (hand/back) isn't feeling much better and won't be activated from the 15-day injured list to pitch against the Phillies this weekend, Tim Healey of Newsday reports.
ANALYSIS
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Historic streak ends
Blackburn's scoreless innings streak to begin the season ended at 22.1 frames Wednesday against the Cardinals, which is a record for the franchise while in Oakland, according to Martin Gallegos of MLB.com.
ANALYSIS
It's the second longest streak to begin the season in franchise history overall, trailing only Harry Krause's 23-inning run in 1910 for the Philadelphia A's. Blackburn was unimpressive last season with a 4.43 ERA and 1.54 WHIP over 103.2 innings, but he's been electric through four starts in 2024 with just three runs allowed and a 1.00 WHIP across 25 innings. The 30-year-old already has two wins, bringing him halfway to his total from last year.
It's the second longest streak to begin the season in franchise history overall, trailing only Harry Krause's 23-inning run in 1910 for the Philadelphia A's. Blackburn was unimpressive last season with a 4.43 ERA and 1.54 WHIP over 103.2 innings, but he's been electric through four starts in 2024 with just three runs allowed and a 1.00 WHIP across 25 innings. The 30-year-old already has two wins, bringing him halfway to his total from last year.