Fantasy Baseball Stats: Daily All-Stars from April 9
How did Ervin Santana’s Atlanta debut rank with Wednesday’s best performances? Photo Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
The pitchers struck back on Wednesday. At least at the top, they dominated the day in baseball, and fantasy baseball stats.
Still, a few hitters did find their way into the group. But we start with the regular season debut one of the last free agents to sign this offseason.
Daily Fantasy Baseball MVP
Ervin Santana — Atlanta Braves
[table id=567 /]
It’s a long season, but I doubt anyone with the Braves would complain on the early returns from their investment. Pitchers don’t normally go eight innings in their first start of the season but when you throw only 88 pitches, the pitch count isn’t exactly a concern.
The Braves bullpen did have a rough final inning, making Santana sweat out the win. But generally speaking, handing the ball over the a bullpen anchored by Craig Kimbrel is a good formula.
The key to pitching is just about always throwing strikes but against lighter-hitting teams like the Mets, it’s even more vital. Going eight innings without recording a walk against a team like that will be a winning formula 95 percent of the time.
Daily Honorable Mentions
1. Mike Leake — Cincinnati Reds
[table id=568 /]
Not quite as impressive a fantasy line as Santana, allowing a few extra runners and striking out fewer hitters. Still, while he didn’t help fantasy owners as much, it was probably a more impressive outing, coming against the consistently strong Cardinals offense.
Leake is a little hit-or-miss, explaining his low ownership rate. But those that do have him on their team can point to this start as the reason why.
2. Zach McAllister — Cleveland Indians
[table id=569 /]
Another big outing that probably wasn’t enjoyed by many fantasy owners, but McCallister was certainly brilliant on Wednesday.
As a matter of fact, a lot of pitchers in Cleveland were strong on Wednesday. The Padres and Indians played two games and combined for only five runs and 22 hits, so I certainly hope that that double-header wasn’t attended by many lovers of offense.
But as good as Trevor Bauer, Robbie Erlin, and Eric Stults pitched, McCallister was a cut above, especially for fantasy players.
3. Russell Martin & Pedro Alvarez — Pittsburgh Pirates
[table id=570 /]
A few notes here.
- Several hitters had good days on Wednesday, but the pitchers were a touch better. Given how valuable a home run is in a standard fantasy league, these two Buccos get a slight edge over the other hitters.
- I don’t like tying two guys, but I’m not exactly sure how I’d separate these two. It’s a shame that the rest of the Pirates couldn’t get on base for these guys, as they still took a tough loss to the Cubbies.