Don’t be a hader. Don’t hade the player, hade the game. Hader. Hader. Hader alligator. Alright, well maybe that last one was a bit of a stretch, but far be it from me to give it the old college try. What have I got to lose, two of my remaining eight readers? Based on the metrics available to me it seems I lost about thirty percent of my followers after I posted that article comparing Julio Urias’s eye to Sloth’s from The Goonies. If you serve it up on a silver platter you better believe I’m going to gobble it up like a bag of Doritos after a session with Tim Lincecum. Besides, that one was like hitting the ball off of a tee. Since that post I’ve been trying to figure out how I can lose another thirty percent while still providing some valuable fantasy baseball advice. Enter Josh Hader, the minor league pitcher for Milwaukee. There’s no pussy footing around it, this guy is not handsome. Talk about getting beat by the ugly stick. This guy fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down. He’s so ugly he makes Willie MgGee look good. He’s so ugly his manager insists that he wear a catchers mask at all times. He looks like Randy Johnson had a baby with Jorge Cantu and that baby had a baby with Pascual Perez. You don’t have to tell me that it’s wrong to poke fun at something another cannot control, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to. Besides, it’s not like I’m making this sh!t up.
But here’s where I change gears. Josh Hader looks like look sh!t, but it seems his pitching is even nastier than his appearance. And by “nasty”, I mean damn good. Since starting Rookie Ball back in 2012 Hader has pitched 470.1 innings and has struck out 534 batters. That a 10.2 K/9. Randy Johnson, his ugly grandfather, had a 9.5 K/9 during his time across the minor leagues. Hader was originally a 19th round pick by the Baltimore Orioles back in 2012. Since then he has been traded to the Houston Astros and then to his current team, the Milwaukee Brewers. He came to the Brewers in the trade that sent Carlos Gomez to Houston. Carlos Gomez is a jagoff. I couldn’t be happier with the way things have ended up for him. So far this year Hader has a 3.03 ERA with 136 strikeouts in 107 innings. He carved up hitters in AA (Biloxi), boasting a 0.95 ERA and 73 punch outs in 57 innings. I’m not even sure Mike Tyson and Ray Rice combined have that many in that time span. Unfortunately for Josh, Milwaukee’s AAA teams calls the hitter-friendly Colorado Springs home. Since being promoted to AAA, he has seen a rise in earned runs, but the strikeouts have remaining steady. At this point it’s not a matter of if, but when he will make a splash in Milwaukee. I’d own him in all non-redraft leagues. And I have a suggestion for the Brewers GM. When they do call him up, throw a black helmet on him with a voice modulator and refer to him as Darth Hader.
Since most weeks I focus on hitters and since I’ve already led off with a pitcher I might as well use this time to talk about pitchers. Throw some of you arm-loving readers a bone. Feel free to smoke it. Just make sure you share. Puff puff give.
Here are some numbers presented in Jeopardy format.
14.08
What is the average number of points scored per start by all pitchers that are currently owned in at least 50 percent of leagues?
This does not mean that they were owned in at least 50 percent of all leagues during all of their starts, just that they are currently 50 percent owned. This number also only includes pitchers that have been starters for all of their appearances. Actually I gave them a one game leeway in order to be able to count Noah Syndergaard, Kyle Hendricks, Tanner Roark, Bartolo Colon and Julio Urias. Unfortunately emerging studs such as Danny Duffy did not factor into the calculations. It was just too much work to go back and calculate each pitchers’ starter-only points. Some other pitchers that were excluded because of this include Logan Verrett, Juan Nicasio, Luis Perdomo, Bud Norris (for whom Josh Hader was traded to Houston), Clay Buchholz, Matt Andriese, Chris Young, Jonathon Niese, Anibal Sanchez, Jake Peavy, Dan Straily, Nathan Eovaldi, Jeff Locke and Ubaldo Jimenez. I skipped a few as that list was already long enough.
Carlos Martinez has 14.09 points per start over 21 starts.
12.54
What is the average number of points scored per start by all pitchers that have started at least 10 games?
Ian Kennedy has 12.52 points per start over 23 starts.
13.51
What is the average number of points scored per start by all pitchers that have started at least 20 games?
Jeremy Hellickson has 13.66 points per start over 24 starts.
15.35
What is the average number of points scored per start by the top 60 starting pitchers?
Top 60 is defined by the sixty pitchers with the most fantasy points.
Masahiro Tanaka has 15.43 points per start over 23 starts and Jason Hammel has 15.22 points per start over 22 starts.
18.50
What is the average number of points scored per start by the top 20 starting pitchers?
Corey Kluber has 18.50 points per start over 22 starts.
So now let’s see how some pitchers stack up against these numbers.
With only 16 starts due to injury, Clayton Kershaw is scoring the most points per start (26.94) of any starter this season. There is no doubt that he was the best pitcher in baseball before heading to the disabled list. I still think he is the best pitcher, but it’s practically impossible to keep him in the rankings considering we don’t know if he will even pitch again this season. I would still be willing to pay Kershaw’s price to obtain him in a keeper league should you find an owner that is in “win now” mode.
The starting pitcher I have as my current number one in points leagues is Stephen Strasburg. Strasburger with cheese is averaging 21.95 points every time he takes the mound. That’s second best behind Kershaw. He has 169 strikeouts in 138.3 innings pitched. He just needs to cut down on the walks a little bit and stay healthy of course, and he’s going to remain firmly planted in the top five.
The only reason I have given Strasburger with pickles and onions the edge over teammate, Max Scherzer, is due to age. I’d rather own Max in a redraft, but Stephen in a keeper. Injury history concerns me, but I’m willing to roll the dice. Scherzer, however, in Kershaw’s absence, seems to be headed for the National League Cy Young Award. He has a Major League high 208 strikeouts in 163.7 innings and is averaging 21.54 points per start. It’s fixing to be a photo finish between the two Nationals pitchers, but right now I’ve got to give the 2016 Award to Scherzer. By a nose.
Based on points per start, Madison Bumgarner (19.91) is our third most productive starting pitcher. A case could be made for him over both Scherzer and Strasburger with fries, but I think he’s a “derogatory term for a female’s genitalia” hair away. But with that said, I’d also be taking Bumgarner over Scherzer in keeper leagues due to his age. I’d probably take him over Strasburg too considering health and where they pitch their home games.
Rounding out my top five is Jose Fernandez (19.68) who’s 12.941 K/9 is just filthy. Personally I love this kid. And did I mention he’s only 24. Talk about a pitcher to have on your dynasty team.
Based on points per start, here is the rest of the top ten.
Chris Sale (19.63)
Johnny Cueto (19.30)
Corey Kluber (18.5)
Justin Verlander (18.29)
Jake Arrieta (18.27)
Justin Verlander more productive than Jake Arrieta! What is this 2011? Verlander just might be the most valuable pitcher in fantasy baseball when you consider the fact that he was approximately the 94th pitcher off the board. Talk about a return on your investment. As a side note, even though most leagues have nice bonuses for no hitters, I am not factoring as much into Arrieta’s points total. If I did that would push him ahead of Verlander.
Here are some surprises in the top 40.
Rick Porcello (17.60, 13th)
J.A. Happ (17.39, 14th)
Kyle Hendricks (16.76, 20th)
Michael Fulmer (16.72, 22nd)
Stephen Wright (16.45, 25th)
Tanner Roark (15.82, 31st)
Junior Guerra (15.76, 32nd)
How about some disappointments?
David Price (14.41, 42nd)
Felix Hernandez (14.26, 44th)
Jeff Samardzija (13.17, 58th)
Marcus Stroman (12.78, 63rd)
Adam Wainwright (12.69, 66th)
Gerrit Cole (12.47, 70th)
Chris Archer (11.95, 74th)
For the sake of this post I calculated Danny Duffy’s starter-only points and he currently has 25.4 points per start. That puts him in second place. In case you were interested. And Dylan Bundy has 18.46 points per start.
In points leagues based on year-to-date stats and rest of season expectations, here are my top ten.
- Max Scherzer
- Madison Bumgarner
- Stephen Strasburg
- Chris Sale
- Jose Fernandez
- Corey Kluber
- Johnny Cueto
- Jake Arrieta
- Danny Duffy
- Zach Greinke
When asked what his favorite movie was, Josh replied “Ten Things I Hade About You”. Go ahead, drink the Haderade!
This post was written on Friday.
