In honor of Clayton Kershaw's potentially historic sesason, as well as the rise of pitching and strikeouts in general over the past several years, and with a special thanks to my Dodgers fan friend in LA, here is a list of several pitchers who are off to excellent starts in the 2016 campaign (at least in the ERA category).
Clayton Kershaw, SP, LAD
Kershaw is the best pitcher in baseball and there's really no way to argue with that. The three-time Cy Young winner is poised for his best season yet, a season which has a chance to be historic. His 21.0 K/BB is far better than the record of 11.63 set by Phil Hughes in 2014, and his current BB/9 of 0.52 would represent the 2nd lowest mark since 1900. If Kershaw can keep up his pace of striking out over 10 and walking less than 1 per 9 innings, he would be the first pitcher ever to reach those marks; in fact no pitcher with a BB/9 under 1 has ever even struck out 8 per 9 IP. And his FIP stands at 1.50 which would be the 2nd best mark since 1920. Of course that might not last, but he has an excellent chance for his 3rd straight sub-2.00 FIP season which is pretty incredible considering that an FIP under 2 has only been achieved 6 other times since 1920. It's hard to say that Kershaw is not the most valuable fantasy player overall, let alone pitcher.
Noah Syndergaard, SP, NYM
While Clayton Kershaw's season has been historic, Syndergaard has been only been a step behind with a 1.66 FIP that would be the 2nd lowest since 1920, not including Kershaw's 1.50 mark this season. Through 10 starts and one relief appearance, Syndergaard has improved his K%, BB%, SwStr%, O-Swing%, and Zone% from an already impressive rookie season, and you can even say he's been a tad unlucky with a .322 BABIP. It's not crazy to think that his current 1.84 ERA won't change that much by the end of the season.
Jake Arrieta, SP, CHC
Arrieta doesn't have the same the same type of peripherals as a Clayton Kershaw, as his K-rate is merely good at 9.00 K/9 and his BB-rate has crept up to 3.00 BB/9 after walking 4 in his last start. What makes Arrieta elite is his ablity to induce weak contact. His 20.4% Hard% is the lowest in baseball and has resulted in a .213 BABIP, good for 2nd best in the bigs. While the BABIP is likely to rise a bit, his ability to avoid hard contact should allow him to continue his success in that category. He's not Kershaw but he's still one of the best pitchers in baseball.
Jason Hammel, SP, CHC
Hammel is expected to make his next start on Saturday and he'll carry a sparkling 2.09 ERA into that contest. Unfortunately for the Cubs and Hammel's fantasy owners, it's hard to see this success keeping up. He has never posted an ERA below 3.47 in a season, and his current xFIP is 4.20. His .268 BABIP is far lower than his career average and his HR/FB% is at 5.5% after 10 straight seasons of being at least 9.7%. Don't expect Hammel to pitch like an ace going forward.
Jay Bruce, OF, CIN
Bruce has crushed RH-pitching this season to the tune of an .898 OPS and has hit 9 of his 10 HR's against righties. He has also been hot recently with 3 HR's and 6 XBH's over his past 4 games. On Thursday, he'll be facing RHP Eddie Butler who has a career slash line of .331/.425/.596 against left-handed hitters like Bruce. Oh, and the game is in Coors Field. Value Play DraftKings Salary: $5,100.
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