How do you know if you’ve drafted a great pitcher? If his name is Clayton Kershaw or Felix Hernandez, you are on the right track. But what about everyone else that is not them? Well, in head-to-head points leagues, I like to look at points per start (PPS). This gives me an idea of approximately how many puntos (that’s spanish for points) I am going to get, and is often a factor in helping me decide which pitchers to both draft and start.
Kershaw and Hernandez led all starters last year in PPS. Clayton (we’re on a first name basis) had a league high 28.64, while The King came in at 22.71. The league average among pitchers that started at least 10 games was 13.36. There were 71 starters that finished the season greater than that mark, with Justin Verlander as the 71st with a 13.44 PPS. The average PPS among pitchers that started at least 20 games was 14.32 with 61 pitchers scoring higher. Henderson Alvarez just makes the cut at 14.37.
Only 10 starting pitchers ended the 2014 season with a PPS greater than 20. In addition to the two mentioned above this list includes Johnny Cueto (22.33), Chris Sale (22.15), Corey Kluber (21.53), Masahiro Tanaka (21.50), Max Scherzer (20.66), David Price (20.59), Adam Wainwright (20.56) and Garrett Richards (20.47).
Here is the full list:
| Name | FPTS | PPS |
| Clayton Kershaw | 761.90 | 28.22 |
| Felix Hernandez | 772.00 | 22.71 |
| Johnny Cueto | 759.10 | 22.33 |
| Chris Sale | 576.00 | 22.15 |
| Mike Fiers | 219.10 | 21.91 |
| Corey Kluber | 732.10 | 21.53 |
| Masahiro Tanaka | 429.90 | 21.50 |
| Max Scherzer | 681.90 | 20.66 |
| David Price | 699.90 | 20.59 |
| Adam Wainwright | 658.00 | 20.56 |
| Garrett Richards | 532.10 | 20.47 |
| Jon Lester | 632.10 | 19.75 |
| Yu Darvish | 430.90 | 19.59 |
| Jake Arrieta | 488.10 | 19.52 |
| Matt Shoemaker | 389.90 | 19.50 |
| Madison Bumgarner | 635.90 | 19.27 |
| Zack Greinke | 608.90 | 19.03 |
| Carlos Carrasco | 260.50 | 18.61 |
| Stephen Strasburg | 616.00 | 18.12 |
| Jordan Zimmermann | 579.10 | 18.10 |
| Jacob deGrom | 395.90 | 18.00 |
| Doug Fister | 449.00 | 17.96 |
| Collin McHugh | 448.10 | 17.92 |
| Cole Hamels | 537.10 | 17.90 |
| Hisashi Iwakuma | 493.00 | 17.61 |
| Gerrit Cole | 381.00 | 17.32 |
| Phil Hughes | 554.10 | 17.32 |
| Julio Teheran | 569.00 | 17.24 |
| Alex Wood | 411.20 | 17.13 |
| Michael Pineda | 221.90 | 17.07 |
| Sonny Gray | 560.00 | 16.97 |
| James Shields | 571.00 | 16.79 |
| Marcus Stroman | 335.00 | 16.75 |
| Dallas Keuchel | 485.00 | 16.72 |
| Jesse Hahn | 198.10 | 16.51 |
| Kyle Hendricks | 213.90 | 16.45 |
| Tyson Ross | 508.10 | 16.39 |
| Jeff Samardzija | 538.10 | 16.31 |
| Tanner Roark | 503.10 | 16.23 |
| Hyun-jin Ryu | 419.00 | 16.12 |
| Vance Worley | 272.40 | 16.02 |
| Lance Lynn | 528.10 | 16.00 |
| Jered Weaver | 543.90 | 16.00 |
| Alex Cobb | 428.90 | 15.89 |
| Scott Kazmir | 503.90 | 15.75 |
| Homer Bailey | 358.10 | 15.57 |
| Anibal Sanchez | 327.00 | 15.57 |
| Ervin Santana | 478.00 | 15.42 |
| Yordano Ventura | 460.00 | 15.33 |
| Wei-Yin Chen | 473.10 | 15.26 |
| Edinson Volquez | 473.10 | 15.26 |
| Andrew Cashner | 289.90 | 15.26 |
| Ian Kennedy | 503.00 | 15.24 |
| John Lackey | 472.00 | 15.23 |
| Kyle Lohse | 468.90 | 15.13 |
| Bud Norris | 420.90 | 15.03 |
| James Paxton | 195.00 | 15.00 |
| Gio Gonzalez | 404.10 | 14.97 |
| Jason Hammel | 433.90 | 14.96 |
| Wily Peralta | 477.10 | 14.91 |
| Chris Tillman | 504.90 | 14.85 |
| Hiroki Kuroda | 473.00 | 14.78 |
| Mat Latos | 234.90 | 14.68 |
| Bartolo Colon | 454.90 | 14.67 |
| Jose Quintana | 468.90 | 14.65 |
| Josh Beckett | 290.10 | 14.51 |
| Rick Porcello | 449.10 | 14.49 |
| Drew Pomeranz | 144.20 | 14.42 |
| R.A. Dickey | 490.10 | 14.41 |
| Chris Archer | 461.10 | 14.41 |
| Henderson Alvarez | 431.00 | 14.37 |
| Jesse Chavez | 297.40 | 14.16 |
| Yusmeiro Petit | 169.90 | 14.16 |
| Josh Collmenter | 394.00 | 14.07 |
| Alfredo Simon | 449.90 | 14.06 |
| Drew Smyly | 347.10 | 13.88 |
| Zack Wheeler | 443.90 | 13.87 |
| Dan Haren | 442.00 | 13.81 |
| Mike Leake | 454.90 | 13.78 |
| Matt Garza | 371.90 | 13.77 |
| Tyler Skaggs | 247.00 | 13.72 |
| Francisco Liriano | 396.90 | 13.69 |
| Justin Verlander | 430.00 | 13.44 |
| Cliff Lee | 173.90 | 13.38 |
| Brandon McCarthy | 426.00 | 13.31 |
| Miguel Gonzalez | 346.00 | 13.31 |
| Aaron Harang | 438.90 | 13.30 |
| Jorge de la Rosa | 422.90 | 13.22 |
| Michael Wacha | 251.00 | 13.21 |
| Jason Vargas | 396.00 | 13.20 |
| Jon Niese | 396.10 | 13.20 |
| Drew Hutchison | 422.10 | 13.19 |
| Shane Greene | 184.10 | 13.15 |
| Jeff Locke | 274.90 | 13.09 |
| Bronson Arroyo | 183.00 | 13.07 |
| Tom Koehler | 414.90 | 12.97 |
| Mark Buehrle | 414.00 | 12.94 |
| Chris Young | 374.00 | 12.90 |
| Robert Anderson | 269.90 | 12.85 |
| Tim Lincecum | 333.30 | 12.82 |
| Marco Estrada | 230.70 | 12.82 |
| Kevin Gausman | 255.90 | 12.80 |
| Danny Duffy | 319.50 | 12.78 |
| Jake Odorizzi | 396.00 | 12.77 |
| Dillon Gee | 280.90 | 12.77 |
| Shelby Miller | 394.00 | 12.71 |
| J.A. Happ | 329.60 | 12.68 |
| Yovani Gallardo | 403.90 | 12.62 |
| T.J. House | 227.00 | 12.61 |
| Jake Peavy | 403.10 | 12.60 |
| Jarred Cosart | 375.90 | 12.53 |
| Jeremy Guthrie | 400.10 | 12.50 |
| Danny Salazar | 248.00 | 12.40 |
| Wade Miley | 408.90 | 12.39 |
| Tsuyoshi Wada | 158.90 | 12.22 |
| Roenis Elias | 354.10 | 12.21 |
| C.J. Wilson | 375.10 | 12.10 |
| Josh Tomlin | 192.90 | 12.06 |
| Tim Hudson | 372.90 | 12.03 |
| Jordan Lyles | 263.10 | 11.96 |
| Jerome Williams | 131.20 | 11.93 |
| Trevor Bauer | 310.00 | 11.92 |
| Odrisamer Despaigne | 188.90 | 11.81 |
| Charlie Morton | 303.90 | 11.69 |
| Kyle Gibson | 360.90 | 11.64 |
| Joe Kelly | 197.90 | 11.64 |
| Ryan Vogelsong | 371.10 | 11.60 |
| Scott Feldman | 328.90 | 11.34 |
| Tyler Matzek | 214.10 | 11.27 |
| A.J. Burnett | 380.10 | 11.18 |
| David Phelps | 189.40 | 11.14 |
| Hector Noesi | 300.10 | 11.11 |
| Chris Capuano | 132.30 | 11.03 |
| Matt Cain | 164.90 | 10.99 |
| John Danks | 349.10 | 10.91 |
| Clay Buchholz | 304.90 | 10.89 |
| David Buchanan | 217.10 | 10.86 |
| Tommy Milone | 226.00 | 10.76 |
| Kyle Kendrick | 344.00 | 10.75 |
| Nathan Eovaldi | 349.10 | 10.58 |
| Robbie Erlin | 115.90 | 10.54 |
| Vidal Nuno | 282.10 | 10.08 |
| Fausto Carmona | 292.10 | 10.07 |
| Mike Minor | 250.90 | 10.04 |
| Allen Webster | 109.00 | 9.91 |
| Colby Lewis | 281.90 | 9.72 |
| Yohan Pino | 106.90 | 9.72 |
| Hector Santiago | 228.30 | 9.51 |
| Ubaldo Jimenez | 208.50 | 9.48 |
| Brett Oberholtzer | 226.10 | 9.42 |
| Travis Wood | 290.10 | 9.36 |
| Brad Peacock | 224.10 | 9.34 |
| Rubby De La Rosa | 167.10 | 9.28 |
| Erik Bedard | 137.10 | 9.14 |
| Brad Hand | 142.40 | 8.90 |
| Chase Whitley | 106.40 | 8.87 |
| Eric Stults | 283.00 | 8.84 |
| Ricky Nolasco | 238.00 | 8.81 |
| Tony Cingrani | 95.90 | 8.72 |
| Justin Masterson | 211.10 | 8.44 |
| Jeremy Hellickson | 109.10 | 8.39 |
| Nick Martinez | 200.90 | 8.37 |
| Brandon Cumpton | 81.80 | 8.18 |
| Nick Tepesch | 175.00 | 7.95 |
| Juan Nicasio | 110.80 | 7.91 |
| Andre Rienzo | 85.00 | 7.73 |
| Brandon Workman | 115.00 | 7.67 |
| Felix Doubront | 107.20 | 7.66 |
| Zach McAllister | 113.70 | 7.58 |
| Jimmy Nelson | 90.90 | 7.58 |
| Franklin Morales | 160.40 | 7.29 |
| Miles Mikolas | 71.90 | 7.19 |
| Erasmo Ramirez | 99.90 | 7.14 |
| Jhoulys Chacin | 77.90 | 7.08 |
| Edwin Jackson | 188.10 | 6.97 |
| Christian Bergman | 69.10 | 6.91 |
| Kevin Correia | 175.20 | 6.74 |
| Scott Carroll | 111.50 | 5.87 |
| Robert Ross | 68.60 | 5.72 |
| Trevor Cahill | 96.70 | 5.69 |
| Jacob Turner | 101.70 | 5.65 |
| Yohan Flande | 56.40 | 5.64 |
That should help give you an idea of how things shook out in 2014. But what about 2015? Well based on Streamer’s Pitching projections, the average PPS for pitchers with at least 20 starts is expected to be 13.39. A.J. Burnett‘s 13.43 puts him at the bottom of the list of 61 pitchers above that average. Once again Clayton Kershaw comes in at the top spot with Max Scherzer, Chris Sale, Felix Hernandez and Yu Darvish to follow. You know, the usual suspects. Which by the way is also the title of a great movie. Anyway, here are the projected PPS values for 2015.
| Player | FPTS | PPS |
| Clayton Kershaw | 675.2 | 21.78 |
| Max Scherzer | 626.2 | 20.2 |
| Chris Sale | 577.8 | 19.92 |
| Felix Hernandez | 613.3 | 19.78 |
| Yu Darvish | 551.5 | 19.02 |
| David Price | 570.1 | 18.39 |
| Madison Bumgarner | 562.9 | 18.16 |
| Stephen Strasburg | 562.4 | 18.14 |
| Corey Kluber | 559.1 | 18.04 |
| Jon Lester | 540.1 | 17.42 |
| Johnny Cueto | 531.8 | 17.15 |
| Zack Greinke | 523.9 | 16.9 |
| Adam Wainwright | 484.9 | 16.72 |
| Matt Harvey | 437.8 | 16.21 |
| Cole Hamels | 498.1 | 16.07 |
| Mike Fiers | 448.1 | 16 |
| James Shields | 493.9 | 15.93 |
| Jeff Samardzija | 487.9 | 15.74 |
| Masahiro Tanaka | 440.4 | 15.73 |
| Hisashi Iwakuma | 456.1 | 15.73 |
| Jake Arrieta | 453.7 | 15.64 |
| Alex Wood | 452.4 | 15.6 |
| Jordan Zimmermann | 482.4 | 15.56 |
| John Lackey | 446.5 | 15.4 |
| Gerrit Cole | 441.2 | 15.21 |
| Brandon McCarthy | 422.7 | 15.1 |
| Cliff Lee | 420.6 | 15.02 |
| Alex Cobb | 432.9 | 14.93 |
| Homer Bailey | 431.4 | 14.88 |
| J.A. Happ | 357 | 14.88 |
| Carlos Carrasco | 416.3 | 14.87 |
| Tyson Ross | 428 | 14.76 |
| Hyun-Jin Ryu | 427 | 14.72 |
| Garrett Richards | 353 | 14.71 |
| Phil Hughes | 452.9 | 14.61 |
| Marcus Stroman | 423.1 | 14.59 |
| Gio Gonzalez | 423 | 14.59 |
| Jacob deGrom | 421.9 | 14.55 |
| Lance Lynn | 448.5 | 14.47 |
| Doug Fister | 415.7 | 14.33 |
| Ian Kennedy | 444 | 14.32 |
| Danny Salazar | 413.1 | 14.24 |
| Julio Teheran | 440.4 | 14.21 |
| Jose Quintana | 440.5 | 14.21 |
| Jake Peavy | 397.9 | 14.21 |
| Anibal Sanchez | 395.8 | 14.14 |
| Tim Lincecum | 296.4 | 14.11 |
| Justin Verlander | 437.5 | 14.11 |
| Drew Smyly | 436.7 | 14.09 |
| Francisco Liriano | 408.5 | 14.09 |
| Scott Kazmir | 408.1 | 14.07 |
| Jason Hammel | 405.4 | 13.98 |
| Sonny Gray | 431.8 | 13.93 |
| Andrew Cashner | 403.5 | 13.91 |
| Drew Hutchison | 403.2 | 13.9 |
| Rick Porcello | 430.5 | 13.89 |
| Collin McHugh | 397.8 | 13.72 |
| Yordano Ventura | 392.8 | 13.54 |
| Michael Pineda | 377.2 | 13.47 |
| Jered Weaver | 416.7 | 13.44 |
| Matt Shoemaker | 389.6 | 13.43 |
| A.J. Burnett | 415.8 | 13.41 |
| Michael Wacha | 374.2 | 13.36 |
| Matt Cain | 360 | 13.33 |
| Dallas Keuchel | 413 | 13.32 |
| Chris Archer | 413 | 13.32 |
| Bartolo Colon | 386 | 13.31 |
| Mike Leake | 412.1 | 13.29 |
| Derek Holland | 411.7 | 13.28 |
| Wei-Yin Chen | 408.9 | 13.19 |
| Tony Cingrani | 342.6 | 13.18 |
| Vance Worley | 314.5 | 13.1 |
| Zack Wheeler | 406 | 13.1 |
| R.A. Dickey | 404.1 | 13.04 |
| Clay Buchholz | 376.2 | 12.97 |
| Wade Miley | 399.1 | 12.87 |
| Bud Norris | 360.1 | 12.86 |
| Mat Latos | 357.7 | 12.78 |
| Dan Haren | 367.8 | 12.68 |
| C.C. Sabathia | 353.9 | 12.64 |
| Jon Niese | 366.3 | 12.63 |
| Matt Garza | 352.2 | 12.58 |
| Ervin Santana | 389.5 | 12.56 |
| Wily Peralta | 364 | 12.55 |
| Shelby Miller | 360.9 | 12.44 |
| Gavin Floyd | 298.2 | 12.43 |
| Jason Vargas | 384.6 | 12.41 |
| Jake Odorizzi | 356.9 | 12.31 |
| Chris Tillman | 381.3 | 12.3 |
| Kevin Gausman | 356.7 | 12.3 |
| Kyle Lohse | 378.1 | 12.2 |
| Mike Minor | 340.7 | 12.17 |
| C.J. Wilson | 351.9 | 12.13 |
| Jeff Locke | 290.9 | 12.12 |
| Vidal Nuno | 350.2 | 12.08 |
| Danny Duffy | 313.8 | 12.07 |
| Tim Hudson | 334.8 | 11.96 |
| James Paxton | 334.1 | 11.93 |
| Henderson Alvarez | 332.9 | 11.89 |
| Roenis Elias | 333 | 11.89 |
| Ryan Vogelsong | 273.1 | 11.87 |
| Mark Buehrle | 364.6 | 11.76 |
| Josh Collmenter | 338.8 | 11.68 |
| Jesse Hahn | 279.8 | 11.66 |
| Kyle Hendricks | 279.2 | 11.63 |
| Odrisamer Despaigne | 279.2 | 11.63 |
| Nathan Eovaldi | 336.8 | 11.61 |
| Jimmy Nelson | 278.7 | 11.61 |
| Trevor Bauer | 358.1 | 11.55 |
| Chase Anderson | 264 | 11.48 |
| Jorge de la Rosa | 332.2 | 11.46 |
| Colby Lewis | 261.4 | 11.37 |
| Drew Pomeranz | 270.9 | 11.29 |
| Tom Koehler | 259.7 | 11.29 |
| Yovani Gallardo | 349.9 | 11.29 |
| Edinson Volquez | 327 | 11.28 |
| Brett Oberholtzer | 270.3 | 11.26 |
| Miguel Gonzalez | 312 | 11.14 |
| Ricky Nolasco | 322 | 11.1 |
| Aaron Harang | 320.3 | 11.04 |
| Brandon Morrow | 284.4 | 10.94 |
| Jeremy Guthrie | 338.2 | 10.91 |
| Carlos Martinez | 304.4 | 10.87 |
| Justin Masterson | 301.3 | 10.76 |
| Travis Wood | 299.4 | 10.69 |
| Jordan Lyles | 293.8 | 10.49 |
| Jeremy Hellickson | 302.6 | 10.43 |
| Anthony DeSclafani | 250 | 10.42 |
| Jarred Cosart | 290.2 | 10.36 |
| Tyler Matzek | 289 | 10.32 |
| Scott Feldman | 288 | 10.29 |
| Kyle Gibson | 294.8 | 10.17 |
| Alfredo Simon | 288.9 | 9.96 |
| Brad Peacock | 236.7 | 9.86 |
| John Danks | 275.5 | 9.84 |
| Jhoulys Chacin | 261.4 | 9.34 |
| David Hale | 185.9 | 8.08 |
| Ross Detwiler | 205.9 | 7.92 |
The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.
