Fantasy baseball: 25 players you need to claim

19

James Shields

P, 

While people do not call him “Big Game James” anymore, James Shields is still a very good Major League pitcher. Despite that fact, he is not owned in a ton of fantasy leagues, probably because he has been inconsistent since leaving the Tampa Bay Rays. Still, he is going to give you some quality starts, and is someone that need to be picked up immediately in all formats.

In three of the last six seasons, Shields has posted at least 200 strikeouts, which is nothing to sniff at. In 2013, he racked up 196 strikeouts, so the ability to make batters swing and miss is still there. He also is an innings eater, and as someone who has logged 30-plus starts nearly every year, you cannot go wrong by grabbing him and making him a part of your rotation.

Shields is not the pitcher he once was, and the Chicago White Sox do not figure to be one of the better teams in baseball this season. Still, if he can stay healthy, he is going to do a nice job filling up your stat lines every time he goes out there to pitch. He is going to have his clunkers along the way, but his reward outweighs his risk, especially with how small his percentage-owned is this season.