San Diego Padres Starting Pitchers Provide Sleeper Value

Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

I’m a fan of blind stats. So, let’s go ahead and do some blind stats here. The only hint I’ll give is to say that these numbers were accrued over a starting pitcher’s most recent four outings.

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Now, I won’t say who those stats belong to. Not yet, anyway. But, I will say that those are the numbers of a pitcher who by a wide margin has the least fantasy viability of any fellow starter on his team. What team would you say this pitcher played for?

Well, if you read the title, you probably figured this out. But assuming you didn’t, maybe a team like the Oakland Athletics, Detroit Tigers, or Los Angeles Dodgers, right? Nope, those are the numbers over the last four starts of the worst fantasy starting pitcher on…The San Diego Padres. Specifically, they belong to Eric Stults.

Now, I’m not going to sit here and say that Stults is a viable fantasy option. But what about the rest of his team? Well, that’s not as simple.

I wouldn’t bat an eyelash if I saw any fantasy owner pick up Odrisamer Despaigne, Jesse Hahn, Ian Kennedy, or Tyson Ross. Mind you, that doesn’t even count Andrew Cashner, their injured ace. The team may be on a fast track to nowhere, but the San Diego Padres starting pitchers are quite strong.

How strong? Well, we’ve already gone over Stults’ last four outings. The rest of his season hasn’t been that good. But what about the other five guys? How have they done?

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Pretty good, I’d say.

I suppose some more cynical fans might want to point out how pitcher-friendly Petco Park is. Addressing the fantasy impact of a rumored Chase Headley trade to Toronto, I went over just how pitcher-friendly San Diego is.

But this is really the same thing as questioning how good a Rockies hitter is because of Coors Field. If they’re leaving, or rumored to leave, it makes sense to speculate on how much the home park impacts things and look closely at home/road splits to wonder how good they’ll be in the future.

But unless we are talking about that kind of possibility, absolutely none of that matters. Actually, if it matters, it matters in a good way, because Petco Park is going to be there all year.

It’s incredibly easy to overlook players on teams like the Padres. They aren’t winning and suffer the misfortune of playing in not only a small market, but a small West Coast market. Because of the way the time zones work, it’s a lot easier for West Coasters like myself to follow East Coast teams/players — small market or otherwise — than it is for East Coasters to follow West Coast teams.

Regardless of your home city, state, or even country, I feel the need to bring this pitching staff to everyone’s attention. Read your own fantasy needs and act accordingly, but just be sure you know the numbers when you do. Don’t overlook the San Diego Padres starting pitchers.

The team may not win a lot of games. Naturally, the W-L records of the pitching staff will suffer. Still, the Padres have a staff full of effective starting pitchers. If they’re effective in real baseball, they’re generally effective in fantasy baseball, as well.