Crooked Pitch

I recently broke from my usual fantasy draft strategy when I took three starting pitchers prior to the 12th round. I usually will only grab one stud starting pitcher, one stud closer, and then fill out the rest of my staff in the mid to late rounds.

That being said, I took a look at average draft position over at Mock Draft Central and I wanted to see what kind of pitching staff I could put together of players who are going in the 14th round or later (157 ADP or greater). Taking into consideration that I have already splurged on a stud ace and a closer to start filling in my nine pitcher staff, here are the other seven starting pitchers that I can get in the later rounds.

1. Matt Garza | Tampa Bay Rays | 167.52 ADP - Garza will win 11 games or so for the Rays and should have an ERA in the 3.70 to 3.90 range with 150+ strikeouts. That’s nice for the 14th round.
2. Kevin Slowey | Minnesota Twins | 173.37 ADP - Taken in the 15th round Slowey is good for 12 wins or so and should approach 140 strikeouts. He’ll also help out with a sub 3.75 ERA.
3. Jair Jurrjens | Atlanta Braves | 182.82 ADP - Jurrjens is a 16th round pick and should win 11 games and strike out 125 or so. His ERA will stay below 4.00.
4. Justin Duchscherer | Oakland Athletics | 188.37 ADP - Also a 16th round pick, Duchscherer will really help your teams ERA as he’ll probably post under 3.25 in ‘09. He’ll also win 10 games and strike out 100.
5. Ted Lilly | Chicago Cubs | 190.10 ADP - 12 wins, a 3.80 to 3.90 ERA and 175 strikeouts would be great from Lilly in the 16th round.
6. Chien-Ming Wang | New York Yankees | 193.16 ADP - Wang should give you 12-13 wins and will keep his ERA well under 4.00. He’s not going to help with strikeouts much, but in the 17th round that’s ok.
7. John Maine | New York Mets | 229.22 ADP - Take Maine in the 20th round and you could get 10 wins, a 3.95 ERA or so, and 125 strikeouts.

If you’ll notice I had two criteria that needed to be met to land on this list. You must be projected to win 10+ games and your ERA needed to be under 4.00. If I had relaxed those standards a bit, look who else could have popped onto this list.

• Aaron Cook | Colorado Rockies | 174.23 ADP - 10+ wins but his ERA will be above 4.00.
• Oliver Perez | New York Mets | 229.25 ADP - 10 wins, an ERA above 4.00, but 175+ strikeouts in the 20th round. Wow!
• Mike Pelfrey | New York Mets | 206.23 ADP - 12 wins and 125+ strikeouts.
• Ulbaldo Jimenez | Colorado Rockies | 229.77 ADP - Another 160+ strikeouts in the 20th round.
• Mark Buehrle | Chicago White Sox | 224.55 ADP - This 19th round guy should win 12 games and strike out 130.

For my first post here at Crooked PItch, I’m going to a column that was a staple during my time at Warning Track Power. Pitchers that can keep the ball on the ground as well as pile up strikeouts are those with the best chance for consistent success, in my opinion, so finding the guys that do both things well is a great way to find possible values in fantasy leagues.

In 2007 the starters that kept a GB% above 45% and a K/G (a better K/9) above 6.8 were Derek Lowe, Brandon Webb, Felix Hernandez, A.J. Burnett, Dustin McGowan, Roy Oswalt, Daniel Cabrera, Jeremy Bonderman, Erik Bedard, Josh Beckett, Carlos Zambrano, Ian Snell, Boof Bonser, and CC Sabathia. That list in ‘06 consisted of names like Webb, Felix, Carpenter, Pettitte, Bedard, Oswalt, Bonderman, Zambrano, Bush, Smoltz, Myers, Haren, and Beckett. On its own, neither stat does a very good job weeding out poor starting pitchers. Combine the two, and you’ve got a list full of fantasy aces.

So, how does this information help us as fantasy owners? Well, if you used this criteria to evaluate starting pitchers last year, you would’ve been able to buy low on McGowan, who I highlighted in June when his ERA was in the high 5’s. Let’s take a look around the league using this criteria to see who might be the next high-GB%/high-K sleeper to make a leap this year.

Almost two months in, and it’s still a pretty long list. Control is mostly what separates the studs from the so-so on this list, but it’s pretty interesting that the only guys without a FIP ERA under 4.00 are Brett Myers and Johan Santana, two guys who have had terrible luck with HR/F (21.1% and 18.5%, respectively), something FIP doesn’t account for.

There aren’t a lot of unknowns on the list right now, but I bolded the guys I found most interesting, especially in deep leagues. Jimenez is a Daniel Cabrera clone, and like Cabrera has ace potential if he can cut the walks down. That’s the type of guy who can pay off big in a dynasty league. Jurrjens and Eveland are showing that their early success isn’t a fluke, though I think both are guys with high 3’s ERAs in their futures. That said, neither is likely to be a value at this point. Dempster and Marcum are showing pretty strong profiles as unestablished starters, and I’d suggest going aggressively after Marcum with his peripherals.

Danks is the guy I find most interesting here, as he’s gone from a flyball pitcher to a fairly extreme groundballer, and has maintained it to the point where it looks like a new skill. In that home park, it’s the best change he could have made. I’d be interested in seeing whether he started throwing a new pitch, or is making an effort to keep the ball down. In any case, if he maintains that 50% GB%, he’s a top 50 pitcher. That plus a tick up in strikeout rate (not unlikely with his stuff and pedrigree) could make him a fantasy stud.

Also: Volquez is amazing, it’s a good time to buy on Brett Myers, and Billingsley’s not all that different from The Jessica Alba of Fantasy, Tim Lincecum. Mmmmmm, that’s some good post-hype sleeper.