Fantasy Baseball Stats: Daily All-Stars from April 16
David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports
The pitchers dominated Wednesday’s fantasy baseball stats and while Felix Hernandez and Yu Darvish hardly disappointed when they squared off, neither quite made the cut here. The pitching was just that good today.
Three pitchers went the distance in their games, with two of them coming from the same game. But one ace looking to bounce back was a cut above the rest.
Daily Fantasy Baseball MVP
Johnny Cueto — Cincinnati Reds
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A very good sign for the Reds, their fans, and any fantasy player that gambled on Cueto this year. Cueto really hasn’t been healthy since October of 2012 so it was hard to blame anyone that passed on him on draft day, but he absolutely has the stuff to be the best pitcher on a fantasy champion.
He’s now thrown seven or more innings in every start this year and allowed two earned runs or fewer in each outing. That’s dealing.
Daily Honorable Mentions
1. Masahiro Tanaka — New York Yankees
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While we’re talking about pitching gambles paying off, here’s Tanaka. He’s only walked two hitters all year and when a new pitcher throws strikes, he has a tremendous advantage over the hitters that haven’t seen him.
I thought Tanaka would be a fine pitcher, but I didn’t expect him to strike hitters out at this rate. But he’s had more strikeouts than innings pitched in all three outings this year and has a K/9 of 11.5. As good as he’d been all year, today was Tanaka’s best outing, as Manager Joe Girardi actually declined a catcher’s interference that would have allowed Jacoby Ellsbury to reach, because the result of the play without the interference gave the Yankees a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning. When a 3-0 lead that early in the game looks massive, you’re the real deal.
2. Julio Teheran — Atlanta Braves
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A nod does have to be given to Teheran’s opponent, Cliff Lee, for also going the distance and striking out 13 hitters. The only reason he doesn’t make the list today is that the 11 hits and 1 walk he allowed led to an ugly WHIP for the day of 1.33.
In a theme for the day, Teheran’s another pitcher who entered 2014 with high hopes, even with a limited track record. He has not disappointed. When a pitcher goes the distance and allows three hits with only four strikeouts, you know he was going well. You can get a bat on it when he pitches, but it just doesn’t go anywhere.
3. Jose Fernandez — Miami Marlins
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Our first pitcher’s sweep this year.
Evan Gattis just misses out on earning a spot on this list for the second time this week. If his teammates had done a bit more to help, he probably would have edged Fernandez but when the pitching’s good, even a 4-for-4 performance loses out if the only run and RBI produced came via a solo homer.
As for Fernandez, the numbers really speak for themselves. The only thing to really add here is how impressive it is that Fernandez followed up a dismal start in his last outing with a great one on Wednesday. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t think the rough last outing would bring long term damage, but Fernandez hasn’t really had many bad outings since making his debut last year. When you see a young phenom like that have a tough start, it sometimes takes a few more outings to regain form.
Obviously, Fernandez didn’t get that memo, as on Wednesday, he showed again why is he one of the game’s brightest young stars.