Fantasy Baseball: 10 Starting Pitchers Expected to See an Increase in Production
Michael Pineda, New York Yankees
2016 nF Score: -0.71
2017 Projected nF Score: 1.91
Projected Boost: 2.62
| Year | IP | W | K | BB | ERA | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 175.2 | 6 | 207 | 53 | 4.82 | 1.35 |
| 2017 (Projected) | 176 | 10 | 168 | 39 | 3.80 | 1.19 |
There were two really good things about Michael Pineda's 2016 performance with the New York Yankees.
The first was that the oft-injured hurler threw a career-high 175.2 innings, which included his first 30-plus-start campaign as a big leaguer. The other good thing was that his 10.61 K/9 ranked fifth among qualified starters last season.
But with an ERA approaching 5.00 and just 6 wins, not much else went right for the right-hander, which is partially why he's such a fantasy baseball enigma. However, if we look at the difference between his ERA and SIERA from 2016, he was actually the unluckiest qualified starter in baseball.
One constant for Pineda since his 2013 breakout with the Seattle Mariners has been a decrease in fastball usage -- he went from throwing it 62.2% of the time as a rookie to a career-low 51.3% despite his average velocity jumping back up to 94.1 miles per hour (MPH).
Current Fantasy Draft Information:
Similar to McCullers, this kind of strikeout upside is awfully tantalizing. And thanks to his poor traditional stats, his draft stack is suppressed as a result. NFBC has him tabbed as the 56th starting pitcher to find a home at the moment, which just so happens to be outside the top 200. It's a perfect spot to take a chance on someone like this.
