Fantasy Baseball: August Strikeout Leaders Lead To 2011 Sleepers?
I decided to take a look at August strikeout leaders in both the AL and NL to see if there are any pitchers who fantasy owners can target come 2011 drafts. I know 2011 drafts are a long ways off, but for me, i am always looking to the future, especially in keeper leagues. Strikeout pitchers usually have more success than pitchers who do not strikeout many batters, so it is good to target them in drafts.
Here are the August K/9 leaders courtesy of Fangraphs:
| Name | Team | K/9 | BB/9 | K/BB | HR/9 | AVG | WHIP | BABIP | LOB% | ERA | FIP | E-F | xFIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Change page: < 1 2 3 4 > | Displaying page 1 of 4, items 1 to 35 of 119. | |||||||||||||
| Brandon Morrow | Blue Jays | 14.54 | 2.97 | 4.90 | 0.89 | .190 | 0.99 | .318 | 78.4 % | 2.97 | 2.25 | 0.72 | 2.40 |
| Cole Hamels | Phillies | 11.12 | 1.06 | 10.50 | 1.06 | .232 | 0.97 | .317 | 73.9 % | 3.44 | 2.60 | 0.84 | 2.36 |
| Yovani Gallardo | Brewers | 10.99 | 3.77 | 2.92 | 0.94 | .277 | 1.50 | .379 | 56.7 % | 6.59 | 3.28 | 3.32 | 3.11 |
| Edwin Jackson | White Sox | 10.93 | 2.25 | 4.86 | 0.64 | .226 | 1.07 | .318 | 95.6 % | 0.96 | 2.35 | -1.39 | 2.55 |
| David Price | Rays | 10.74 | 3.48 | 3.08 | 0.58 | .262 | 1.39 | .365 | 77.7 % | 3.48 | 2.81 | 0.67 | 3.47 |
| Felix Hernandez | Mariners | 10.55 | 2.45 | 4.30 | 0.74 | .207 | 1.01 | .284 | 79.3 % | 0.98 | 2.64 | -1.66 | 2.51 |
| Mat Latos | Padres | 10.41 | 2.53 | 4.11 | 0.28 | .189 | 0.94 | .273 | 83.9 % | 1.69 | 2.04 | -0.35 | 3.25 |
| Wandy Rodriguez | Astros | 10.26 | 1.62 | 6.33 | 0.27 | .236 | 1.05 | .333 | 77.4 % | 1.62 | 1.75 | -0.13 | 2.47 |
| Manny Parra | Brewers | 10.04 | 5.54 | 1.81 | 1.73 | .254 | 1.58 | .311 | 64.7 % | 5.54 | 5.22 | 0.32 | 4.19 |
| C.J. Wilson | Rangers | 9.98 | 3.23 | 3.09 | 0.29 | .224 | 1.17 | .314 | 75.1 % | 2.64 | 2.39 | 0.26 | 2.99 |
| Francisco Liriano | Twins | 9.82 | 4.60 | 2.13 | 0.31 | .246 | 1.43 | .339 | 75.1 % | 3.68 | 3.10 | 0.58 | 3.45 |
| Jonathan Sanchez | Giants | 9.76 | 4.55 | 2.14 | 1.63 | .212 | 1.27 | .250 | 80.0 % | 4.23 | 5.02 | -0.79 | 4.49 |
| Wade LeBlanc | Padres | 9.62 | 2.48 | 3.88 | 1.55 | .275 | 1.34 | .339 | 69.7 % | 5.28 | 4.14 | 1.14 | 4.01 |
| James McDonald | Pirates | 9.62 | 3.41 | 2.82 | 0.31 | .248 | 1.31 | .339 | 60.1 % | 4.97 | 2.55 | 2.41 | 3.56 |
| Tim Lincecum | Giants | 9.59 | 4.62 | 2.08 | 1.78 | .316 | 1.82 | .387 | 59.0 % | 7.82 | 5.08 | 2.74 | 4.02 |
| Clayton Kershaw | Dodgers | 9.53 | 4.08 | 2.33 | 0.91 | .233 | 1.31 | .300 | 81.9 % | 3.18 | 3.66 | -0.48 | 3.65 |
| James Shields | Rays | 9.51 | 3.07 | 3.10 | 2.15 | .297 | 1.53 | .351 | 79.6 % | 4.60 | 5.11 | -0.51 | 3.83 |
| Cliff Lee | Rangers | 9.30 | 1.11 | 8.40 | 1.11 | .304 | 1.35 | .382 | 57.1 % | 6.20 | 3.08 | 3.12 | 3.12 |
| Jered Weaver | Angels | 9.27 | 4.09 | 2.27 | 1.36 | .212 | 1.21 | .253 | 78.8 % | 3.27 | 4.38 | -1.10 | 4.27 |
| Roy Halladay | Phillies | 9.25 | 1.25 | 7.40 | 0.75 | .240 | 1.03 | .310 | 85.4 % | 2.25 | 2.55 | -0.30 | 2.6 |
A couple pitchers that jump off the page for me are Brandon Morrow, Wandy Rodriguez, Wade LeBlanc and James McDonald. Morrow leads the majors in K/9 this year by striking out almost 11 batters per nine innings. He has an ERA of 4.27, not so good, but his FIP 3.16 which is excellent. Will 2011 be the year that Morrow puts it all together for fantasy owners?
Wandy-Rod had a bad start to the 2010 season, but seems to have righted himself in the last two months. Pitching for a bad team like the Astros certainly won't help his win total, but he is solid in all other categories.
I never knew LeBlanc was a strikeout pitcher, so I checked to see if August was a one month fluke. LeBlanc has increased his K/9 this year by a strikeout from 5.83 to 6.81, and had a solid K/9 rate in the minors (8.0-8.5/9), so it is possible he could be a sleeper in 2011 drafts especially pitching in Petco Park.
McDonald has always been a solid strikeout pitcher in the minors, but has never really put things together in the majors. He was recently traded to the Pirates where he will be given every opportunity to stay in the rotation in 2011. McDonald has solid K/9 and K/BB totals, but has been hurt by his BABIP -.355 and LOB%-60.6% this year, so he has been unlucky. He can stand to increase his groundball ratio though.
