Fantasy Baseball: 7 Mid-Round Starting Pitching Targets for 2018

Kevin Gausman, Baltimore Orioles

ADP: 202.77

There are many seasons where you have selected Kevin Gausman for your fantasy rotation, only to be frustrated beyond words by his tantalizing talent and the ultimately disappointing end result. I get it. His overall numbers from 2017 don't exactly inspire people to throw him at the top of their draft boards, either.

In 34 starts (186 innings), he went 11-12 with a 4.68 ERA, 4.43 FIP, and a strikeout percentage of 21.9%. However, a midseason adjustment in which he changed his arm slot and started throwing his slider more led to a second half that was quite impressive.

Before the All-Star break, Gausman had a 5.85 ERA in 97 innings and allowed a slash line of .289/.364/.405. In 89.2 second-half innings, his ERA dropped to 3.41 and his slash line allowed went to .238/.301/.434. He still gave up a bunch of home runs (14 in the first half, 15 in the second half), but his luck also reversed, from a BABIP of .371 in the first half to .289 in the second. He also saw his strikeout percentage jump from 18.4% to 26.2%.