Fantasy Baseball Free Agent Pool: Strikeout Kings

Some reasonably available players to assist you in the Strikeouts category. Realize that some of these will come with high ERAs & WHIPs because if a Pitcher has low numbers in those categories and a good K total, they’re already spoken for.

Randy Wolf, Los Angeles Dodgers: Wolf struck out 15 batters in 13 Innings last week (10.4 K/P) with just three walks (5.0 K/BB ratio). He didn’t pick up a win in his two starts against Colorado and Houston, but he did manage a 1.15 ERA. His 4.85 ERA was bad, but not terrible. On the year he is 1-1 with 23 K, a 4.26 ERA, and a 1.11 WHIP. He is owned in 12.4% of ESPN and 48% of Yahoo leagues.

John Lannan, Washington Nationals- Lannan did everything right last week except pick up a Win.  That will happen when you pitch for the Nationals.  He struck out 12 in 13-1/3 Innings (8.1 K/9) with three walks (4.3 K/BB).  It’s a shame he didn’t earn a Win becauase his ERA and WHIP were 0.68 and 0.83 respectively.  On the year he’s 0-2 with 16 Ks, a 4.43 ERA and 1.30 WHIP.  He is owned in 2% of ESPN and 10% of Yahoo leagues.

Jorge de la Rosa, Colorado Rockies: Jorge was the opposite of Wolf. His ERA (1.50) was low, but his WHIP (1.58) was bloated.  He also did not pick up a win to go along with his 11 Ks. His K/9 was 8.2 and his K/BB was 1.4. On the year he’s 0-2 with 14 Ks, a 3.78 ERA and 1.62 WHIP. He’s owned in 0.5% of ESPN and 4% of Yahoo leagues.

Joe Blanton, Philadelphia Phillies: He was your average Joe pitching nearly identical lines in his two games vs. Washington and Milwaukee—6 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 1 HR, 1 BB, 5 Ks.  He lost both games. His K/9 was 7.5, his K/BB was 5.0, his ERA was 4.50, and WHIP was 1.50. On the year he’s 0-2 with 16 Ks, a 7.31 ERA, and 1.81 WHIP.  He’s owned in 3.6% of ESPN and 16% of Yahoo leagues.

Kenshin Kawakami, Atlanta Braves: Kawakami struck out nine batters last week to go along with his 4.91 ERA and 1.64 WHIP. He also did not win a game. His K/9 was 7.4 and K/BB was 1.5. On the year he’s 1-2 with 17 Ks, a 4.76 ERA, and 1.53 WHIP. He’s owned in 17.8% of ESPN and 52% of Yahoo leagues.

Barry Zito, San Francisco Giants: The man everyone loves to hate picked up 9 Ks last week. He also did not win.  He had a 4.50 ERA, a 1.17 WHIP, a 6.8 K/9 ratio, and a 2.3 K/BB. On the year he’s 0-2 with 13 Ks, a 5.63 ERA, and 1.44 WHIP.

Juan Gutiérrez, Arizona Diamondbacks: The first reliever in the mix. Gutiérrez struck out 9 in 4-1/3 Innings with a 2.08 ERA, a 1.15 WHIP, a 18.7 K/9 ratio, and a 4.5 K/BB ratio.  He too didn’t win. On the year he’s 0-1 with 13 Ks (in 8-2/3 Innings), a 4.15 ERA, and 1.04 WHIP.

Originally published at LestersLegends.com.