Fantasy Baseball: 2011 MLB Spring Training Pitching Stars

Ryan LesterMar 13, 2011

As baseball season approaches, many of us pore over spring-training statistics to find some players worth taking in our fantasy drafts, so let’s take a look at some of the leaders and weigh their draft-ability.

Phil Coke, Detroit Tigers: Coke is 2-1 with a 1.38 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP, with nine strikeouts in 13 innings. He’s worth a flier in deep leagues.

Carl Pavano, Minnesota Twins: Pavano is 1-0 with a 0.77 WHIP and seven strikeouts in 13 scoreless innings. He’s 22-15 with a 3.97 ERA in 44 starts with the Twins, and he has been a workhorse, averaging 6.2 innings in those 44 starts.

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Last year Pavano was 17-11 with a 3.75 ERA. With an ADP of 292 according to Mock Draft Central, he’s a good value pick.

Gio Gonzalez, Oakland A’s: Gonzalez is 1-0 this spring with a 0.96 ERA and a 0.75 WHIP; batters are hitting just .133 against him. He’s making the 15-9, 3.23 ERA, 1.31 WHIP and .229 BAA he posted last year look legit and he has upped his game with 13 strikeouts in 9.1 spring-training innings.

With an ADP of 173, Gonzalez is a solid option to fill out your rotation.

Madison Bumgarner, San Francisco Giants: Bumgarner is looking to follow up a solid rookie campaign (7-6, 2.90 ERA, 1.29 WHIP) and is having spring success. He’s 1-2, but sports a 3.27 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 12 strikeouts in 11 innings.

One thing I’d like to see from Bumgarner is a lower BAA. It was .272 last year, and is .269 this spring.

Bartolo Colon, New York Yankees: Colon is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and 12 strikeouts in nine innings. It’s unlikely he finds a spot in the Yankees’ rotation, but he could be useful if a starter goes down.

Jonathon Niese, New York Mets: Niese is 1-0 with a 1.59 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, .225 BAA and 10 strikeouts in 11.1 innings. With an ADP of 205, he could prove to be a solid value pick.

John Lackey, Boston Red Sox: Lackey is 1-0 with a 1.74 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and .268 BAA. He was 1-1 last spring with a 1.35 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, and .236 before going 14-11 with a 4.40 ERA and 1.42 WHIP.

Lackey went 11-5 last year at home with a 4.34 ERA and 1.39 WHIP, which nearly mirrors his career 4.78 ERA and 1.47 WHIP at Fenway. He will likely get you wins, but his ERA and WHIP could prove to be too harmful considering his ADP of 167.

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