Many fantasy baseball owners wrote off Josh Beckett after a dismal 2010 season which saw his strikeouts drop, his walks raise and his ERA climb nearly 2 full run. Injuries limited him to 21 starts and some saw this as the beginning of the end for the 31 year old hurler.
So far in 2011 he is dominating with a 1.80 ERA and 10.35 K/9. He is still walking more than 3 per 9 innings but is inducing groundballs at a career high 53.3% clip. He has yet to give up a home run, which is unlikely to continue and will lead to the ERA rising. He is also benefiting from a .217 BABIP which can be expected to rise. He has been able to maintain a below average BABIP most of his career but we can all agree .217 is unsustainable. Even with the BABIP luck he has put up a nice 2.97 xFIP in his 3 starts this season and is looking much like the fantasy stud we once knew.
Even in his down season last year he was able to produce a 3.86 xFIP which suggests his season wasn't as bad as it looked on the surface. He still pitches for the Red Sox and their (supposedly) mighty offense and the injuries seem to be behind him for now.
So how confident are you that Beckett can maintain his stellar play and return to being one of the top pitchers in fantasy?