Young “Star”ters
Attendance has been up across baseball in recent years and much of this can be attributed to the influx of
young talent into the league. Many teams have decided against giving mediocre veterans big contracts and have chosen to build their teams from within. In this article, I will be looking at the top five young starters in fantasy baseball. To qualify for this list, a pitcher must have no more than two full years of experience entering the 2008 season (All players on this list went into the 2006 season with rookie eligibility still intact).
1) Justin Verlander- Verlander is off to a slow start this season, but has proven a great deal in his two years in the majors. In his two full years of major league experience, Verlander has accumulated 35 wins, a 3.66 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP. He also has totaled 307 strike outs in 387.2 innings pitched over that time (about 7.13 K/9). Verlander has improved his strike out and walk rates from his rookie season and looks like he has it in him to become even nastier. Even with his slow start this year, Verlander is a candidate to win 20 games on a Tiger team that finally looks to be breaking out. Verlander’s health and consistency over his short career put him first on this list.
2) Cole Hamels- The Phillies young ace is only entering his third year as a starter and is already considered one of the most unhittable pitchers in baseball. Hamels’ past has been littered with injuries, but it seems as if he is finally healthy and ready to dominate. In two years as a pro, Hamels had 322 K’s in only 325.2 innings entering this season. He also has 24 wins with a 3.57 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. Hamels looks to be continuing his dominance of the NL this year and has a 1.86 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP in four starts. Pitching for the high powered Phillies offense, should help Hamels in his attempt to win 20 games. If Hamels’ injury history was as spotless as Verlander’s, he would likely be number one on this list.
3) Tim Lincecum- The Giants look like they have the makings of a pair of future aces on their hands with Cain and especially Lincecum. Lincecum is a fantasy owners dream, a young pitcher with the ability to help win in five categories. In 146.1 innings last year (his rookie season), Lincecum racked up 150 K’s (over one strikeout per innings!). While he experienced the normal rookie inconsistencies, he still looks poised to take the next step in fantasy and become the ace we all believe he can be. Look for both his ERA (4.00) and WHIP (1.28) to improve from last season. With a few more years under his belt, Lincecum could become one of the most valuable pitchers in all of fantasy. My suggestion? Get him before his value explodes.
4) Yovani Gallardo- Ranking Gallardo and Lincecum was the most difficult decision I had to make in writing this article. I gave Lincecum the edge because Gallardo missed time with an injury and now that is something we have to watch out for. Gallardo is another future fantasy ace, averaging almost a strike out an inning. Last year, Gallardo had a 3.68 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP, numbers that it will be hard to improve upon. Look for those numbers to, at least, remain consistent if not be improved.
5) Francisco Liriano- I decided to make this list going by which pitchers I thought had the best chance to
become future aces, hence Liriano is on the list. Two years ago, Liriano was arguably the best pitcher in baseball (yes, he was better than Johan). He pitched 121 innings and totaled 144 K, a 2.16 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP. He then suffered and season ending elbow injury and was forced to undergo Tommy John’s Surgery and miss all of 2007. He is back now, and he may not yet be pitching like the Liriano of old, but he will. Major surgeries generally take 15-18 months to recover from, so it is safe to expect that Liriano will not be an ace right away, but look out for Liriano to step it up big in the second half of the season and beyond.
Making this list was a difficult task because so many deserving young pitchers had to be left off the list. Other pitchers that I was considering are: James Shields, Matt Cain, Fausto Carmona, Ian Snell, John Maine, Chad Billingsley and others. As you can see, there were a lot of good names I had to leave off the list. I went with the five pitchers that I thought were most likely to become fantasy aces, if you disagree, feel free to leave a message and we can talk about it.
dude seriously Liriano. he has great arm no doubt. but lets see him put up good numbers over a few seasons, until then my vote goes with Cain.