Crooked Pitch

Last week, maybe a few more days ago than that, I randomly clicked around the [tag]fantasy baseball[/tag] world and found some fabulous writing. Well, I am sitting here, watching the Braves game, and thought I would take another stroll.

Over at Greener on the Other Side, I found a very interesting post that could help you climb the ranks in the runs scored category. The post speaks about using Secondary Average (SecA) as a way to forecast crossing the plate.

A player’s secondary average is, according to ESPN, a way to look at a player’s extra bases gained, independent of Batting Average. The formula is (TB - H + BB + SB - CS) / AB. I showed that a player’s SecA is a great indicator for the runs scored category.

Warning Track Power writes about a way for us to evaluate pitchers and find candidates for buying low. By looking for pitchers with high ground ball percentages and high strikeout rates fantasy baseball owners can find hidden gems, who are on the rise to stardom.

These are the pitchers that finished ‘06 with at least a 45% ground ball rate and 6.5K/9: Brandon Webb, Felix Hernandez, Chris Carpenter, Andy Pettite, Erik Bedard, Roy Oswalt, Jeremy Bonderman, Carlos Zambrano, David Bush, John Smoltz, Brett Myers, Dan Haren, Josh Beckett, and CC Sabathia. On its own, neither stat does a good job weeding out poor starting pitchers. Combine the two, and you’ve got a list of fantasy aces.

Over at MLB Fantasy Advice, a projection of Alex Rodriguez has him hitting 53 home runs and 146 RBI. But what’s even more interesting is who he says he would have to get in trade for ARod.

In my view, unless you can get a top tier hitter (Pujols, Ortiz, Hafner etc.) AND a top pitcher (Santana, Oswalt, Peavy etc), then keep him.

Would you like to see an up to date look at the 2007 closer situation? Who wouldn’t?

Baseball closer is not a position with much job security. It’s a competition that continues year-round, as every manager tries to keep the hottest pitcher on the mound for the ninth.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 24th, 2007 at 8:58 pm and is filed under Fantasy Baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.