Fantasy baseball 2018: Sonny Gray ready to leap into the top 10

Yankees starter Sonny Gray is poised to re-establish himself as a potential fantasy ace.

If you split pitches into their four main types of fastball, slider, curveball and changeup, only six starters last season had a repertoire of four above-average pitches. Five of them were Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, Dallas Keuchel, Jacob deGrom and Stephen Strasburg. Between them, they have seven Cy Young Awards, so you don’t need us to tell how good they are.

The sixth starter was Sonny Gray.

The Yankees’ starter does not have a weak pitch. He possesses a 94 mph sinking fastball, a whiff-inducing slider, a curve with good vertical movement and an 88 mph changeup.

The right-hander is an elite ground ball pitcher, and we have already discussed the obvious benefits of keeping the ball on the ground in this high-power/high-homer era.

Despite his groundball-inducing tendencies, Gray was taken deep 19 times at a way-above-average HR/FB rate of 15.1%. This included a horrendous September when he allowed nine home runs in his last six games of the regular season. Expect normalization in 2018.

More from FanSided

• USWNT v Vietnam: Key takeaways before they take on the Dutch
• NFL rumors: 49ers trending toward contract drama with defensive star
• Steelers avoid any camp drama with latest roster move
• MLB Rumors: Potential Braves reunion, Lance Lynn no-trade clause and Orioles deadline intentions
• Caesars, BetMGM and PointsBet Promo Codes Give $1,850 Bonus for ANY World Cup or MLB Game!

If a high ground ball percentage is an excellent quality in a pitcher, then a high swinging strike rate is even better. Last season the 28-year-old defied doubters questioning his low-strikeout potential with a career-high 8.5 SO/9 and a double-digit swinging strike rate for the first time in his life.

Although he returned top-20 numbers of 3.55 ERA and 1.21 WHIP in 27 starts, there are reasons to be optimistic that Gray will make even further improvements in 2018.

Playing for the Yankees helps. He is unlikely to be saddled with a 12-loss season again, and the firepower available from bullpen should close out games to secure the win for the former first-rounder.

There was an inevitable adjustment period moving from Oakland to New York, and Gray will likely find his second year under the intense media scrutiny and high expectation of the fans, easier than his first.

He increased his slider and changeup usage, with less reliance on his fastball, which helped Gray reduce hard-contact, important when pitching in Yankee Stadium. These are all encouraging signs to even more improvements.

You probably don’t need to reach on draft day, just take him around his ADP of 115 as the 30th pitcher off the board, but he has the potential to vault over 20 of the pitchers taken ahead of him to finish in the top 10.

Next: Pitching prospects to target in dynasty leagues

Gray’s injury-riddled 2016 still lingers in the minds of fantasy owners. Instead of dwelling on that, focus on the high ground ball rate, high swinging strike rate, potential for 200 innings on a highly competitive team, and the excellent repertoire of pitches.

The player you might want to watch out for is the Indians’ Mike Clevinger. His repertoire of pitches at least puts him in the same discussion as the other elite arms. Look out for a sleeper article on him soon.