Deciding who the “must-have” fantasy baseball player of the 2019 MLB season is not an easy task. We all have our favorites, we all have our strategies and there are certainly times when the two don’t always mesh. However, one thing I think we can all agree upon is how highly-valued starting pitching is this season. Over the past few years, we’ve seen the need to use a high draft pick on starters increase exponentially. The concept of waiting on starting pitching is a thing of the past and you need a quality 1-2 punch as the foundation of your rotation. And this goes for all leagues – roto, head-to-head, categories, points, whatever.

The “1” in your 1-2 punch is obviously an elite starter. If you like Max Scherzer and he’s available, grab him. Chris Sale ? Absolutely. Jacob deGrom ? Yup. If none of those options are available and you prefer to build your offense with your first couple of picks, then you should be just fine with Justin Verlander , Blake Snell , Aaron Nola or Gerrit Cole . Any of them should serve you well as your No. 1 starting pitcher.

So what about the “2”? Who do you take to secure that 1-2 punch you need to won?

That’s the player you must own – Jack Flaherty .

Some people might be scared off from Flaherty due to his inexperience. He’s only logged a total of 172.1 innings. Don’t worry about it. He threw over 180 innings in total last season and his increase in innings-pitched from year-to-year has been in proportion with the natural progression you will see from starting pitchers as they move up through the system. He is expected to log at least 200 innings this year.

Some might be scared off from Flaherty, believing he is just a two-pitch pitcher. Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, he throws his four-seamer and slider predominately, but he has been honing both his curve and his changeup during the offseason. He backed off both of them in-season last year because he wasn’t fully comfortable with his command over either pitch. His work on both of them has been tested this spring, including his last start where he struck out seven batters in a row.

Some might be scared off by Flaherty because the doubters keep shouting “strikeout regression.” OK, so they aren’t wrong here for saying it, but you would be wrong to believe that is a reason to avoid him.

If you look at the natural progression of many young, high-strikeout pitchers, they do tend to drop in strikeouts a bit during their second season. Why? Because they’re now focusing on improving their command of the strike zone. Hitters now have a full year of intel on the pitcher and if the hurler fails to make the necessary adjustments, he’s going to struggle against most batters. He needs to worry less about racking up those big strikeouts and enhance the command to become a more complete starter.

Take a look at Trevor Bauer . Forget about his cups of coffee in 2012 and 2013. Look at his first full season with the Indians in 2014 – strong strikeout rate, high walks, middling ERA. One of the biggest criticisms of Bauer was his refusal to make the necessary adjustments, both to his routine and his pitch-mix in his second year and we failed to see any growth. In fact, his ratios increased and he also gave up more home runs. In 2016, he finally agreed to make some of the changes then-pitching coach Mickey Callaway made and we saw exactly what we expected to see – a slight dip in his K/9, but a strong drop in walks, home runs allowed and his ratios. Beyond that time, his strikeouts have since gone back up, his command has been much better and his ratios continue to drop.

With Flaherty, we’re looking at the same progression. Should we expect to see a 10.85 K/9 this season? No. Probably not. But a drop to between 9.7 and 10.0? Yes, and that’s not too shabby, is it. With that slight dip in strikeouts, you will be able to expect fewer walks, fewer home runs allowed and improved ratios. In fact, we’re already seeing some of the improvements this spring. The pitch-mix continues to be altered and while the strikeouts are still there, we’re seeing gradual improvement on his command. Those scales will continue to move back and forth this spring until they balance out at the start of the regular season.

So when you’re sitting there on Draft Day and you’re looking at the board, trying to determine who to take and where to take them, keep one eye on Flaherty at all times. His 66.42 ADP in the NFBC has him just outside the top-20 in starting pitchers, so you’re going to have to invest one of your first five picks to ensure you get him. Nothing wrong with that, whatsoever. I’ve already done a number of drafts where my 1-2 punch has been deGrom/Sale/Nola with Flaherty as my No. 2 and I couldn’t be happier. The next few rounds I have focused on offense and the teams look both stacked and balanced.

Do yourself a favor and make sure you land him. You won’t be disappointed.