Archie Bradley is one of the top-10 right-handed pitching prospects in the game despite some terrible looking work in the bigs. Perhaps he will finally stick in the rotation now that Rubby De La Rosa is down with an elbow injury. In his most recent start he allowed one walk and struck out nine. Love the arm. Worth a pickup in mixed leagues.
Mike Clevinger is a 25 year old righty with three games under his belt. He’s struck out 13 in 14.1 innings, but that’s part of the problem. Fourteen point one innings in three starts ain’t getting it done. Also he’s allowed three homers and issued seven walks. Nothing to look at in mixed leagues and his rotation spot will be in jeopardy once Carlos Carrasco returns.
Bartolo Colon is Mr. Quality Start. Only once this season has he allowed more than three earned runs. All told he has a 3.39 ERA and 1.23 WHIP though he has whiffed a mere 6.64 batters per nine. Nothing exciting, but you know what you get which is a remarkable level of consistency from the old one.
Johnny Cueto’s only concern is a back/side issue that he says he can pitch through. Through 11 starts he has a 2.31 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 5.14 K/BB ratio for his new team in SF. Where are you folks who said I was wrong to be so strongly supporting him this preseason?
R.A. Dickey had only one win in six outings in May but he also sported a 3.20 ERA and 1.09 WHIP. Only 5.95 K/9 as the whiffs have continued to decline for the knuckleballer, but he’s been quietly effective of late.
Nathan Eovaldi seems to finally be putting it all together. Over his last five games he has a 7.55 K/9 mark, a 2.03 BB/9 rate, a 2.03 ERA and 0.97 WHIP. He’s always owned a big arm but consistency has been his bugaboo. I’m cautiously optimistic but not buying in full yet.
Brandon Finnegan has a bright future but he’s nothing other than an NL-only play at the moment. He’s not missing bats – the 6.29 K/9 rate is absurdly low given his big his arm is (ditto his 8.3 swinging strike rate) – and his 4.43 BB/9 rate is ghastly.
Doug Fister has made 10 starts and allowed more than three runs just one time. That’s it. The homers are an issue, 1.34 per nine, and the strikeouts don’t exist (5.34 per nine), hell he’s walking too many as well (3.26 per nine). Still, he’s been a quality start machine and is an adequate option in deep leagues.
Rich Hill tweaked his groin Sunday. Shocker. An injury is coming folks. Hill is 36 years old and last threw 70 big league innings in 2007. He’s been fantastic to this point, but the end is near – either with his performance or health. Trust me.
I’ve been writing too much with the first group of arms. Time to get concise so this doesn’t turn into War and Peace.
Clayton Kershaw is the best in the game. Period. One hundred five strikeouts and five walks.
Tom Koehler has a 4.50 ERA, 1.65 WHIP and 5.83 BB/9. Move on.
John Lackey won’t keep up his 8.82 K/9 mark, it would be a career best (the mark has been under 7.70 each year since 2007), but the rest of his game is pretty much unchanged from last year. Stable, solid, good.
Francisco Liriano is never on my teams. Too much inconsistency. He’s still a strikeout an inning arm with a strong 51 percent ground ball rate, but the massive 5.25 BB/9 ratio has led to a terrible 1.49 WHIP.
Jimmy Nelson has a fan in The Oracle. A solid 4/5 starter in mixed leagues whose key is the walk rate.
Ricky Nolasco has a 1.29 WHIP, a 8.22 K/9 and 1.86 BB/9. Jeff Samardzija, Corey Kluber, Drew Smyly, David Price, Stephen Strasburg, Jon Lester & Max Scherzer… none can match all three numbers.
Jake Odorizzi had a 3.35 ERA and 1.15 WHIP last season. This year he has a 3.36 ERA and 1.10 WHIP.
Mike Pelfrey has made 10 more starts then he deserves this season. He’s made 10 starts for the Tigers.
Martin Perez is juggling a hot ball of fire. He has a 1.29 K/BB ratio which includes a 5.43 K/9 and 4.21 BB/9. If you’re starting him in mixed leagues my prayers are with you.
Drew Pomeranz was hammered in his last start for six runs, and for the second straight games he walked four batters. His 4.50 BB/9 is awful. If he keeps that up there’s no way his ERA will be within a run of his 2.48 mark.
David Price has a 2.63 ERA and 0.99 WHIP with 26 strikeouts over his last 27.1 innings. He’s back to being an ace.
Chris Rusin gets grounder, a 3.98 GB/FB rate is HOF worthy, but that’s all there is here.
Chris Sale is the best pitcher in the AL right now. He’s on pace for 29 victories a 2.29 ERA and 0.88 WHIP.
Stephen Strasburg is pitching as well as he ever has on his way to a 9-0 record, 2.69 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 11.00 K/9. If he can stay healthy he will vie for second in the NY Cy Young race.
Julio Teheran has dropped his ERA to 2.77 and his WHIP to 1.07. Also has a 8.17 K/9 and career best 44.4 percent ground ball rate. His suck ass team has saddled him with one victory. Criminal.
Chris Tillman has an out of nowhere 7-1 record and 2.92 ERA and 1.13 WHIP. He has no chance to keep any of that up, and I’m concerned about the 3.76 BB/9 rate which would be a six year high. Dealing might make sense.
Nick Tropeano has a 3.25 ERA and 54 punchouts in 55.1 innings. Impressive. However, he has a 1.30 HR/9 rate, a 4.55 BB/9 rate and a 1.55 WHIP. Check out that 88 percent left on base rate too. Doom is on its way.
Vince Velasquez keeps seeing the numbers increase. He’s posting an elite 10.58 K/9 mark but did you know that over his last eight starts that he has struck out more than six batters just once? He’s also been battered for five homers his last two outings and has failed to record 16 outs in 3-straight games. If someone still thinks he’s an ace, get out from under Vince.
Edinson Volquez might be the most celebrated pitcher in the game who is going to crush your WHIP. Only once in his career has the mark been under 1.31 while his career mark is 1.43. This year he’s sledding along at 1.38. Not going to be on my club, ever.
Michael Wacha was solid last time out walking one while striking out six against the Nationals over six innings. The 24 year old has seen heater velocity decline by a mph, and his swinging strike rate is down for a third straight campaign. I would still buy the talent if I could knowing full well that his current owner isn’t going to ask for a ton.
Taijuan Walker is 2-5 and folks are moving on, selling Walker for 80 cents on the dollar. Why? The guy has an 8.28 K/9, 1.82 BB/9 and a 1.12 WHIP. Once the 1.66 HR/9 rate regresses, no way batters keep posting an 18 percent HR/FB ratio, people might begin to realize that this guy is nearly a strikeout per inning arm who doesn’t walk anyone and who is generating a 46.6 percent ground ball rate this season. This is an all-star caliber package, even if some folks mistakenly don’t understand that.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday, 7 PM EDT and Friday on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 7 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).