Brett Cecil- TOR- Hot- Manager John Gibbons might credit Cecil's increased velocity and mix of pitches for his early success, but there are other factors in play. Cecil has a BABIP of .200 and a LOB% of 93.8%. As a result his ERA of 1.59 is well below his FIP of 3.01. That's still not a shabby number, but primarily due to his 14 Ks in 11.1 IP. That mark is unprecedented for Cecil. There seems to be a lot of unsustainability in his early season numbers.
Yu Darvish- TEX- Hot- Darvish allowed only 3 hits and 2 walks while striking out 11 in his 6 scoreless IP last night. That runs his consecutive scoreless innings streak to 18. Darvish has been efficient this season, needing only 100 pitches to get through his outing. He has topped 110 pitches twice, but just barely, throwing 111 pitches in starts that have gone 7 and 8.2 IP. With a huge lead the Rangers didn't stretch Darvish last night. His ERA of 1.65 is actually higher than his FIP of 1.20. His 13.50 K/9 is practically driving his success. Darvish's last two starts have been against teams that had seen him already in this short season so it's not a matter of him getting figured out. He's just that good so far.
Brendan Ryan- SEA- Drop Value- Ryan lost his starting job to Robert Andino due to a .143 average. Ryan has a .186 BABIP so he has been very unlucky. However, even if Ryan gets the job back don't expect luck to give him fantasy value. His most impressive major league season was his debut in 2007 when he played 67 games with the Cardinals. Ryan hit .289 and had a K% of 9.5% and Batting EYE of .79. Since then his bat hasn't shown much life. Ryan's K% has climbed and hit 20.9% last year. It's even higher at 22.2% this season. His projected .233 average would be a goal for him to aspire to at this point.
Duane Below- DET- FYI- When Jose Valverde was added to the Tiger's roster it was a case of, "Look out, Below!" He was the one who was bumped off the 40-man roster to make room and designated for assignment. Below has pitched well so far at AAA this year, seemingly over the homeritis that led to his demotion in 2012. He only gave up 1 long ball in 25.2 IP over 4 starts at Toledo. He may slip through waivers and get outrighted to AAA, but there is a good chance another organization will grab him. Below doesn't have much in the way of power but could find himself in a swing man role for a major league club. This won't translate into much fantasy value long term.
Troy Patton- BAL- Hot- Patton threw 1.1 scoreless IP yesterday. The important thing was that he got half of his outs via strikeout. Even with that his K/9 is only at 4.50 and his BB/9 has climbed in the early going this year to 2.25. Patton has been lucky to have a 1.13 ERA as his FIP is 3.13. Patton showed last year that he has what it takes to be a decent setup man. Consider his performance so far to be the result of small sample size. Yesterday's outing will be more typical.
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