I already went over my Aaron Sanchez fantasy for 2015 and now it’s Drew Hutchison‘s turn. Marcus Stroman might be next. I’m a little in love with all the young pitchers in Canada. Maple Leaf Life! That’s what my so-very-not-gangster chest tattoo says. “Hey, what’s up Hologram Tupac, you’re Thug Life and I’m Maple Leaf Life, you wanna play pinball?” That’s me trying to hang out with Hologram Tupac. Why is there not a hologram for every dead celebrity? Did the world drop the ball here? It’s been years since a good dead celebrity hologram showed up. There should be one for every dead celebrity. “Hey, ma, I want you to meet my girlfriend, Hologram Dana Plato.” Okay, so I want every young Blue Jays pitcher, but that’s for the short-term. Not in keepers. For the long term, I think Toronto as an organization is taking classes from Dusty Baker. Hutchison went from 57 IP in 2013 in the minors after returning from Tommy John (the surgery, not the man) to 184 2/3 IP in the majors. Maybe the Jays bought two surgeries up front at a discounted rate and want to make sure they get to use them. So, in a few years, Dwayne Murphy might be trying to twirl Hutchison’s noodle arm on his fork, but for 2015 I think we should be okay. Even if we’re not, he should come at a cheap enough price in redraft leagues that he’s going to be worth the gamble. Anyway, what can we expect of Drew Hutchison for 2015 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
Last year, he had a 4.48 ERA and… Bleh, what are we doing talking about this guy? That’s you talking to the other guys in your fantasy league, right before you draft Hutchison. You sly fox! A 4.48 ERA makes everything look ugly. Hard to put a good spin on that but it’s not impossible. It’s not quite as bad as the caveat “causes diarrhea.” Olestra’s a fat substitute that adds no fat — terrific, wonderful, stupendous! — it also causes diarrhea. Okay, now I want to eat fat. You can explain away some of the 4.48 ERA. His FIP was 3.85 because of a lack of men he left on base and other factors. Those other factors require one to understand FIP. Basically, a single, double, home run scores three runs, right? (Yes, it does, I’m not trying to trick you.) But a home run, single and double could only score one run if it was a slow hitter who singled. Though those (stutterer!) are the exact same things, just in a different order. Those are the other factors. So, Hutchison’s FIP is telling us that he had crizzappy luck with the sequence of events in his pitching. So, all things being equal, Hutchison was a high-3 ERA pitcher last year. That alone doesn’t let the bass groove, but he also throws a 92 MPH fastball with a 9 K/9. Now we’re talking! Hutchison was once a highly regarded prospect due to his stuff, and after surgery depleted that, he looked like he got it back last year. There’s no reason to think the Blue Jays won’t allow him to throw a full season either, after he nearly did that last year. For 2015, I’ll give him the projections of 13-9/3.72/1.24/197. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a lunch date with Hologram Anna Nicole Smith.
