Welcome to the final 2018 edition of Perception Vs. Reality. I want to thank you all for reading this article this season and I hope that you enjoyed it and found it helpful. As for me, I’m going to be putting all of my focus into the fantasy football draft season. Jay and Grey have promoted me to Co-Head of Content over on the football side of things. I’ll tell you what, we have the CONTENT. So, if you play fantasy football, click on over to the football side and check out what what have to offer so far.
We haven’t taken a look at pitchers yet this season. So let’s do just that. Let’s celebrate those handle the other side of our points/categories. We have quite that sample size as the Major Leagues scoot towards the finish of the month of June. As always, we will take a look at the player rater as a reference.
Charlie Morton is having a massive season and he is only getting stronger. Morton comes in at #9 on the player rater so pat yourself on the back if you rostered him. After a less than stellar start to the month of June, Morton has once again settled in to the tune of two straight starts without giving up a run. On Tuesday, Morton struck out 13 Blue Jays on his way to his 10th win of the season. As long as he is pitching well, the wins should continue to pile up, he pitches for the Astros, after all.
Blake is having a great season as closer for the Oakland A’s. He comes in right behind Morton at #10 on the player rater. Treinen hasn’t given up a run in his last 5 appearances and he followed up that outing with three straight multiple strike out appearances. His 19 saves ranks 8th among closers but his 0.93 ERA and 0.88 WHIP is what separates him from the competition.
Ross Stripling
Stripling is a top 25 pitcher on the player rater this season and he’s only started 11 games. Stripling has made strides in his K/9 ratio, jumping it up to 10.36. Having 6 wins at this point in the season is a big part of his success, but it’s no fluke as he converted 6 out of his last 7 games as quality starts going into Tuesday night’s game against the Cubs. Having a sub-2 ERA for the season probably helps too. There’s obviously going to be some regression, but this is the second straight season that he has opened some eyes in this Dodgers rotation.
Mike Clevinger is ahead of Carlos Carrasco on the player rater. Clevinger got a lot of help in his 5 starts before his start against St. Louis. But then again, he’s facing competition within his division so it’s definitely an advantage going forward. This is Clevinger’s second straight really good season as a starting pitcher. His ERA has continued to flirt with going under 3 for while now and double digit wins seems to be highly likely. He ranks #38 on the pitcher player rater.
