Fantasy Baseball Today - Starting Pitcher Strategy & ADP! What is the 'Hero SP' Strategy? (3/26 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Starting point is 00:00:02 Let's talk starting pitcher strategy and ADP next on Fantasy Baseball today in five. Welcome to FET in 5. As always, make sure to follow and stream us on Spotify. Today is Saturday, March 26th. I am Frank Stanful, joined by Chris Towers, and Chris recently wrote a great article on the site, breaking down ADP and strategy for this position. And Chris, something you talk about in that article is the hero starting pitcher strategy. What is that? Yeah, so it's adopted from fantasy football.

Starting point is 00:00:32 And the idea in fantasy football is you kind of want one great running back. And then you kind of just want to find a number 2 RB at some point. And it's mostly about avoiding what's called the RB Dead Zone, which is like rounds three through seven where running back values tend to be pretty bad in terms of their return on investment. And it's just adopting a similar strategy for starting pitcher. Obviously there are more starting pitcher spots in your typical fantasy lineup than there are a running back spots.

Starting point is 00:00:59 So it's not just getting one good guy for me. me, it's getting two. And basically the idea is that your best investment at starting pitcher historically has been first and second rounds. Those guys not only hit at a higher rate in terms of finishing as top 50 or top 100 overall players, but their upside is much higher. And then once you hit really round three is when you historically hit a point where you're about 50-50 on hitting on a top 100 return at starting pitcher.

Starting point is 00:01:30 And then round four and beyond is worse than a coin flip. And so the idea is to try to avoid the worst return on investment areas of the draft at starting pitcher. And so it's getting one anchor ace and then one secondary guy and then pretty much only having two starting pitchers through the first like 10 rounds and then loading up on upside from that point on. All right. So what's the cutoff for you to get that anchor? that that hero SP. I'm looking at your ranks right now. Is it your top six that includes

Starting point is 00:02:05 Garrett Cole, DeGrom, Scherzer, Burns, Woodruff, and Walker Bueller? Yeah, I think it depends because I've had some drafts where I've gone as low as Kevin Gosman, who's my number 11 starting pitcher. But yeah, I think my preference, if I was going to devise a perfect draft strategy,

Starting point is 00:02:25 it would probably be Max Scherzer in the second round. and then, but, you know, I've been willing to do it with Woodruff. I've been willing to do it with Robbie Ray, Kevin Gosman, a few others. But typically I'm looking for the high strikeout aces as well. So Walker Bueller, less interesting for me in this approach than someone like Robbie Ray, even though I do have Walker Bueller ranked. All right, man. Robbie Ray is someone that you can typically get in the third or fourth round of your drafts.

Starting point is 00:02:55 And then Kevin Gossman, even later than that, you know, fourth or fifth round. I've typically seen him go in drafts as well. All right. So you mentioned you want to get like two of those top starting pitchers. What do you do after you get those two? Do you wait five, six, seven rounds and then you load back up on the position? What do you do after you get those top two? Yeah. So it's typically something like Scherzer in the second or or someone in the second to third round range. One more guy in the fifth or sixth. Charlie Morton has been that guy quite a bit. If you listen to our podcast, you know that for all three of us. We love him.

Starting point is 00:03:29 But Freddie Peralta, Justin Verlander, guys like that. And then it's really waiting until after 100th overall. And really the 10th round, because I want significant difference makers at the hitter spots where they're more predictable. They bust less offense. So that's really my approach. And it's, you know, a lot of guys like Eduardo Rodriguez, I've got a lot this year. Trevor Rogers, who I think has a ton of upside. Carlos Rodon,

Starting point is 00:03:58 Patrick Sandoval, I love. And so, you know, a handful of those guys in the 12th, 10th to 12th round range. And then I'm hitting pitcher super hard, you know, from 150 on and just hitting as many of the upside plays at starting pitcher as I can from that point on. And who are some of those names? You already mentioned some of those guys you target in, you know,

Starting point is 00:04:23 the rounds 10 to 12 range. on which you on Patrick Sandoval. But, you know, once we get outside the top 150, who are some of those starting pitchers you find yourself drafting most? Yeah. Carlos Carrasco, who actually goes even later than that, but I'm willing to take him inside of the top 200. Mike Clevenger, Luis Severino, Noah Cindergarde,

Starting point is 00:04:42 that trio of high upside Tommy John surgery recovery guys. Luis Patino, I rank higher than that than his consensus rank. Alex Cobb, I love Patrick Sandoval, Tyler Malley, Framber Valdez. I end up on a lot of my leagues. So, yeah, that kind of range. And then we actually talked about some late round starting pitchers and deep sleepers in the last two episodes of fantasy baseball today. So go listen to those. Yes, make sure you do that.

Starting point is 00:05:13 For more extensive fantasy baseball coverage, you can listen to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Stitcher, your smart speakers or anywhere else podcasts are found. And thanks for listening to Fantasy Baseball today. We'll be back again on Monday morning. Bye-bye.

Fantasy Baseball Today - Starting Pitcher Strategy & ADP! What is the 'Hero SP' Strategy? (3/26 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

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