Despite his solid run, I'm not entirely sold on the fireballer's success. We were initially excited about Cashner joining the rotation because his big fastball was likely to lead to big strikeout numbers, but that has not been the case; he has just 18 strikeouts in 28 2/3 innings of work. Cashner has done a good job improving his control as a starter and he has maintained a solid groundball ratio, but without strikeouts, it is hard to say this is sustainable.

Cashner has been fortunate to have a .247 batting average on balls in play since joining the rotation. Once that comes back to Earth, his numbers are going to look much worse.

One of two things is likely to happen before long; Cashner's electric stuff is going to start generating more whiffs or his ERA is going to rise. Just know that his current success does not look sustainable. 

"I think a big thing for me this year is not trying to air it out," Cashner said, per MLB.com. "I'm not trying to throw 100 mph."

Cashner is averaging 95 mph on his fastball after averaging 98 mph last season. He's also been able to decrease the velocity in his changeup from 87.4 mph to 85.7 mph.

"When you back off a pitch, [that] doesn't mean you're going to have better control with it," Padres pitching coach Darren Balsley said. "But a workload for a starter, if you're going to throw 100 pitches every five days, your velocity is probably going to go down a couple miles an hour."

A large chunck of that comes from Cashner's conversion to starter. Most pitchers show a slightly reduced strikeout rate in the rotation than they do in the bullpen. During his career as a starter, Cashner's strikeout rate is a full strikeout lower, from 8.81 per nine innings to 7.83 per nine innings. It's fallen slightly lower this year, settling at 7.04. 

Even with fewer strikeouts, Cashner has been effective. In 30 2/3 innings, he has a 3.23 ERA and a 3.83 FIP. He could be a breakout candidate if he's able to finally stay healthy.