FanPost

Top 5 Pitchers Still on Your Fantasy Baseball Free Agent Market for 2017

Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports

The baseball season has finally begun, which means that it is time to see how our fantasy baseball teams hold up this season. Some of us may be lucky enough to have our players stay healthy and perform at the level we had expected them to, but for those that won't be so lucky will have to be looking at the free agent market for a replacement. This list consists of the top 5 pitchers who are less than 50% owned on ESPN's fantasy baseball teams. If you like you can also check out the Top 5 Position Players on Your Free Agent Market.

1. Alex Cobb, Tampa Bay Rays, 2016 1-2 8.59 ERA, %OWN-15.4%

Like most players that make these lists, Cobb missed most of 2016 due to injuries. Before that he was known as a solid number 2 or 3 starter who had great command. It seems we may have forgotten how consistent of a pitcher Cobb has been the past 6 seasons, over that time span he has posted a 2.77 BB/9,7.64 K/9 and most impressive a 0.74 HR/9 all while holding runners to a batting average of .240. His HR/9 and BB/9 are what really stick out to me especially when looking for a quality starter. The fact that he is only walking 2.77 batters per 9 innings is great, but the low home run rate is even better. On average, every home run hit will give up 1.5 runs, while walks and singles usually only account for 0.2 and 0.3 runs. Cobb possessing such a small home run rate means it will help out his ERA a lot, and then adding in the fact that he doesn't let that many men on base to begin with means that as long as he stays healthy he could finish the 2017 season with an ERA below 3.

2. Jharel Cotton, Oakland Athletics, 2016 2-0 2.15 ERA %OWN- 36.8%

Cotton was brought over last year by the Athletics from the Dodgers in the Josh Reddick and Rich Hill trade. Cotton was a 20th round pick back in 2012, who has quietly put up some of the best minor league statistics we have seen from a starting pitcher in recent years. His career minor league totals include a K/9 just above 10, a low 2.66 BB/9, a 0.95 HR/9 and all while holding opposing batters to a measly batting average of .223. I like Cotton for many reasons, one of those being the fact that he possesses 5 different types of pitches. One of these pitches being his deadly cutter that comes in at 89mph, and seems to catch batters swinging and missing a lot. Cotton also has great command in which he showed off when he got to the big leagues by only walking 4 batters in his first 29.1 innnings. Instead of using a high 90's mph fastball to get players out, Cotton uses a combination of pitch placement and a good mix of pitches to get pitchers out. Cotton is a quality starter in the making, who could upset Boston Red Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi for 2017 AL ROY.

3. Steven Wright, Boston Red Sox, 2016 13-6 3.33 ERA, %OWN- 28.8%

Ok lets be honest, who doesn't love a good knuckleball. Wright pretty much burst on the scene out pf nowhere last year for the Red Sox after being a lifetime journey man since being drafter in 2006. He had a 2.68 ERA in his first 17 starts before the 2016 All-Star game, in which he was named to. Now in his last 7 starts, he did post a concerning 5.06 ERA. A very promising stat from last year is the fact that Wright held batters to the third lowest amount of barrels per plate appearance with a minimum of 300 batted balls. At 2.0 percent, only Jose Fernandez and Noah Syndergaard had better percentages than our 32 year old knuckleballer. With all this being said Wright will not rack up strikeouts for you and he may give up a couple walks, but the reason you'll want him on your team is the fact that batters seem to have trouble getting quality hits off the man. This is why Wright is so valuable in fantasy leagues as his low 0.69 HR/9 would show you.

4. Joe Ross, Washington Nationals, 2016 10-8 3.43 ERA, %OWN- 36.1%

This is someone that will probably be over the 50% owned mark by the end of April. Ross did get sent down to AAA Syracuse to start the season, but not because he wasn't good enough to make the rotation. Actually Ross has already been named as the fifth starter for the Nationals, it's just he will not be needed until April 9th. This gives the Nationals an extra bat in their lineup so to give the roster a little bit more depth. Joe is the brother of Tyson Ross and their statistics eerily similar. In 2016 Ross had a 7.97 K/9, 2.49 BB/9, 0.96 HR/9 and held batters to a batting average of .262. His low walk rate and home run rate really show me the upside he possesses as a starter. The K/9 should jump up to at least 8 this year, but I predict not going far above that. The only really concerning factor is the high batting average batters had against him. This is mostly do in part of the .313/.385/.439 slash line lefties had against him this past season. He did possess a solid 1.40 GB/FB last year, which helps explain his HR/9 being under 1. Overall I would say to pick Ross up off waivers as soon as possible so that you can have his pitching potential in your rotation come April 9th.

5. Lance Lynn, St. Louis Cardinals, 2016 N/A, %OWN- 19.08%

Now here is a guy who I actually just picked up on the waiver wires after recently trading Noah Syndergaard. No, he won't be anywhere close to being that elite of a pitcher but he does have a lot upside to him if he stays healthy. Lynn's career totals include a 8.71 K/9, 3.31 BB/9, 0.67 HR/9 and all while holding hitters to a .244 batting average. Now these are very solid numbers, but there are some numbers of concern for me. One of these numbers being batters having a 79.8% contact when swinging against Lynn. His low home run rate alone should have fantasy owners taking a chance by signing him and leaving him in the rotation for all his starts.

Other Notables

Zach Davies- 45.3%

Jerad Eickhoff- 42.1%

Jeremy Hellickson- 33.0%

Trevor Bauer- 29.5%

Dylan Bundy- 28.4%

Robert Gsellman- 25.1%

Zach Wheeler- 17.3%

Kendall Graveman- 12.9%

Daniel Norris- 11.3%

Mike Leake- 6.3%