Everyone loves the shiny new toy or the next big thing in life be it a real toy for a kid or the coolest car to come out, this is true for fantasy baseball as well in most cases. In every format you have managers who always draft the top pitchers early. Why? Is there another strategy? Is there a better strategy?

Fantasy baseball is a form of gambling, its also a fun pastime for a lot of people. Whether you’ve been playing since the beginning of time and spend big bucks and winning big bucks or you are new and just experimenting and having fun learning while meeting new friends along the way. This game has strategies and picking pitchers is one we will focus on in this weeks Fantasy Friday!

Picking pitchers was once easy in drafts. I don’t find it as easy to keep a roster “whole” anymore with so many injuries. Pitchers blow out an arm or pull a lat muscle or any injury for that matter and get sidelined “months” or worse yet, for the entire year.

I do not envy managers drafting pitchers, it can be very stressful especially as I said for a long time manager that is very serious. I’m a long time manager, been playing at least 20 years, but I’ve changed my tune so to speak lately when I pick pitching. The way pitchers are coming down with injuries makes me rethink my drafting strategy, and I love pitchers.

On my roster I generally only ever have a max of 2 bench hitters cause they don’t always get into a lineup, I figure bench is bench, they will only play if they’re on a streak or one of your regulars come down with an injury, whereas pitchers if there is a spot for them they can sub in and out on their ‘start’ days or even the (P) spot you can use any pitcher for stats. You don’t need the ‘Ferrari’ out there all the time to get your points/stats.

Managers will succeed just as much with a pitcher who can strikeout 4-5 batters and have depth to rotate in and out of the lineup daily than the ones with flame thrower/Cy Young guy who gets like 9+ strikeout on a regular basis. This might not make sense reading it quick because reading is a different subject. But in all reality it’s math and I hate math, but it’s common sense as well. If a manager has two studs going and yeah they compile 15K between them on average for that one day. Now, lets say your opponent plugs in 4 or 5 ‘nobodies’ as I used to call them kidding around of course, I mean 4th or 5th starters and they each rack up 5K you’re already ahead by at least 5 in the strikeout category.

Lets face it as often as pitchers keep going down with injuries means we often need to replace them when they get hurt. So why the need for such hastiness to fill up the pitcher spots? The last thing you want to do as a fantasy manager is have your top pick go down to an injury when you could have done the same thing with two #4 starters you could have picked in later rounds. I know, hitters get injured too, but back end starters will always be on mounds. Get a couple on really good offensive teams to give you a better shot at getting the win as well. Look at a couple guys who give you good strikeout numbers or low WHIP rates that will pitch in the 3-5 spots. And remember, most of those 3-5 pitchers are going up against the other teams 3-5 pitchers. When you get an ace against an ace, it makes for good television, but not necessarily a good fantasy line.

For example; Tarik Skubal led the league in total strikeouts with 228. Yusei Kikuchi had 206, Michael King had 201, Bailey Ober had 191 and Brandon Pfaadt had 185. Instead of Skubal with your first pick, take King, Ober and Pfaadt with picks 9,10, and 11.

I am not saying don’t target pitchers in the first 5 rounds, but don’t worry if the one you want slips by when its your turn. A strikeout is a strikeout shouldn’t matter where it comes from. I’m not sayin this works all the time, but lately I’ve been filling up my hitter spots right away with the best I can first, then grab pitching.

I say this with a faint heart because like I said I always valued pitching high, but also I said I changed my tune lately. We’ll see if it works, maybe you can try it too and let me know what you think in the comments below or message me anytime on Facebook.

Look me up; https://www.facebook.com/HENDO.1975 and feel free to follow me on 𝕏 HENDO19750

Photo Credit; Murals Your Way, IStock, Az Snake Pit

Stat Credit; ESPN

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