Fantasy baseball is a game of numbers, and uses different formats to compete against other “managers” the most common format is head to head, where two managers battle for a week and the one with the most stats in categories wins that match-up. There are many categories to go by but the most common in leagues as it pertains to pitchers are as follows; Wins, Saves, Strikeouts, Earned Run Average, (Walks + Hits)/ Innings Pitched.
I also like to use HOLDS for relief pitchers, OPS is on base % plus slugging % and HOLDS are very common these days for the “setup” man which are those pitchers who come in before a closer.
I am not an expert per say but I’ve won my fair share of titles and lost some nail bitters in my day, and even got trounced by the best of the best.
Fantasy First refers to who would you pick first for each position. Mind you these are my picks and not guaranteed 1st picks and I will give a very brief explanations why. Without further ado……….
Starting pitchers are fun to pick, I tend to look to the ones with no recent health concerns. Gerrit Cole is usually a safe bet especially after last season, but the reigning Cy Young winner is actually going to start the season on the IL, so he’s not the best choice to go first. Remember to consider two overall plans when picking any pitcher. 1) a pitcher in a pitcher’s park and 2) a pitcher that has a good team behind him.
starting pitchers
Because there are obviously 5 starters on each team, I am going to do these Fantasy First players slightly different. I am going to do a 1 and a 1A in the American league and a Fantasy First only in the National League. Any of these 3 guys are great gets in the early rounds of your draft.
I have found managers picking Corbin Burnes as to be expected. He has a great team behind him so he will get run support and rack up the W’s. Burnes is a beast on the mound, doesn’t walk a lot of guys, and will average around 200 strikeouts. He is my Fantasy First pick. My pick for Fantasy First 1A is SP Luis Castillo from the Seattle Mariners. Castillo will get double digits in wins in a great pitchers park, close to 200K and he doesn’t walk a lot of batters either. My pick for the National League Fantasy First will be Spencer Strider as most everybody’s would be too, I think. Again, made 32 starts, was less than 15 innings away form 200 with 20 wins and 281 K’s.
Now, I going to give you a bonus starting pitcher. I am going to call it my Gambler Fantasy First. I am a gambler and I am going to take a chance on a guy who hasn’t even pitched a regular season game in the big leagues yet, Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Let’s face it, it’s the Dodgers and they are great, Yamamoto will average a K/IP and doesn’t walk a lot of batters. Yoshinobu has had a terrible Spring Training giving up 9 runs over 9.2 innings, also giving up 15 hits over the 9.2 innings. But he has 14K over that span which is the upside, I believe he will be a force to reckon with. It’s a gamble but I believe one worth taking.
closers
Closers are usually easy to pick. If you go for one unusually early in the draft you can get a Josh Hader, and/or Emmanuel Clase before other managers expect one to go. And both these pitchers are owned by 99% in most formats too.
One draft I was the 10th pick in a ten team league. I took both Hader and Clase back to back to mix it up ( I am a fantasy junkie, I play in about 32 leagues, so like i say i mix it up ) and essentially dominate 1 position they would be my Fantasy First 1 and 1A. So, normally I tend to wait a bit longer and go for someone else. Let me tell you a few reasons why.
a fantasy second STRATEGY
First, I’d like to make sure my picks that I draft ahead of closers/RP in general are going to be the best that I can get. Based on my strategy (health and overall production) is what I like. To compare it to hitters, (which there is another article like this one I did on Fantasy First hitters)I don’t tend to go for the guys that can only hit HRs. I’d rather have a hitter be like 275/30/85 than someone hit .212 and 50+ bombs, but that’s just me. Here is another reason, I don’t know who is always going be in “close games” to expect a save (SV) or HOLD in the leagues that have HOLDS as a category, like the starters I like to gamble.
Using that as a backdrop, I will take my first closer/RP, so don’t go betting the farm on my pick for closer, okay? Tanner Scott of the Marlins is my Fantasy First (of the later rounds lol). Scott pitched 78 innings and struck out 104 batters, that’s 12K/9IP ratio, these are guys I like for RP, the guys with good K/IP ratio. You all heard the term “handcuffing” I assume, it is popular in football. It is a term used to get the running back and the backup RB.
I like to do this with RPs so later I would draft a RP like Andrew Nardi for Miami. He is a guy who has a great K/IP ratio. Last year he struck out 73 batters over 57.2IP. This strategy will be useful in a few ways, if the league has holds, Nardi will pick up holds and hopefully Scott will get the save if the situation is right. Second, if Scott gets hurt you automatically have “the next man up” so to speak.
Hope these Fantasy First (and second) picks were useful, have fun and good luck in your leagues.
By : Rob Henderson
Photo Credit; The Baltimore Banner, Candy.com
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