Yu Darvish is Back! – Fantasy Baseball Outlook for 2016
Yu Darvish is Back – Fantasy Baseball Outlook for 2016
One of the most important aspects of both season long leagues and daily fantasy sports is to stay on top of pending roster moves to give you an edge over your opponent. With the upcoming return of Yu Darvish, the Texas Rangers Ace, we have the ability to utilize one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball prior to his injury.
FanSided and Fantasy CPR have you covered – For additional FanDuel MLB analysis, take a look at Matt Rogers FanDuel Economics column or Mike Marteny who provides Draft Kings MLB Picks analysis giving you the most in-depth DFS coverage for tonight’s baseball slate.
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Darvish was last seen on a Major League mound on August 9, 2014 when elbow inflammation knocked him out of action initially. Darvish struggled to return the following Spring Training and finally underwent Tommy John surgery in March 2015.
It has become common for pitchers to return from Tommy John surgery, but savvy gamers should not overlook the return of Darvish as just another arm and ensure they aggressively target him in his return to action.
Next: The Return of an Ace
From 2012-2015, Darvish was one of the best pitchers in baseball, featuring an electric fastball and working especially in the later two years on an improved slider which he utilized over 20% of the time. Darvish has an elite K rate of 30.1% and saw his walk rate decline 25% over a 3 year period which when combined with a decreased HR/9 put him an elite company as one of the most dominant pitchers in a baseball.
During this 3 year period, Darvish’s per game averages of 6.6 IP, 8.2 strikeouts per game(versus only 2.6 walks) and an .216 Batting Average against allowed him to get a win in 50% of his games started.
Using those averages and applying them to today’s FanDuel scoring, this would equate to 42.76 points per game which is roughly the same per game average as Nationals starter Max Scherzer.
Darvish has been quite impressive in his rehab starts in 2016, pitching 20 innings, striking out 21 batters and giving up only 2 earned runs.
In season long leagues, make sure this guy is not floating around as in Yahoo leagues he is somehow only owned in 89% of leagues so go get him now!
For DFS purposes, we have not yet seen how his initial price will be set but I expect a significantly reduced ownership on Saturday versus Pittsburgh as the majority of owners take a “wait and see approach” which gives us the ability to roster one of the most electric pitchers in baseball at a lower than expected ownership.
Next: DFS Strategy - Take Your Game to the Next Level
Make sure you check the waiver wire in your season long leagues to ensure Darvish is not available and if he is, make room for him immediately. For those of you in DFS, circle your calendar for Saturday and look to roll Darvish out immediately before the rest of the gamers are willing to jump back in!