As you prepare for your fantasy baseball drafts, figuring out who you want to target in drafts and who you want to avoid is important. Culling your draft list is crucial to make it go seamlessly. Starting pitching is very deep this year but there are a lot of potholes to avoid. Closers are always chaotic and many bullpen situations are messy. Here are my pitchers to avoid this season.
- Fitz’s Positional Primers
- Justin Mason’s Draft Day Cheat Sheet
- Players the Experts Draft
- Latest Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft
Players to Avoid: Pitchers
Sandy Alcantara (MIA) (28.17)
Alcantara has been one of the most stable starting pitchers over the last few seasons and looks to be heading for another ace-level season. However, there are some major red flags that I am fading right now. He is a pitcher who may be hurt more by the lack of shifting this season. He has had an over 50% ground ball rate the last two seasons, and the inability to over shift will likely hurt him some. That issue is compounded by the awful infield defense; it looks like the Marlins are running out there. They are moving from a fantastic second base and shortstop combo of Miguel Rojas and Jazz Chisholm to a very sketchy combination of Joey Wendle and Luis Arraez. Add in the fact the Marlins likely won’t be super competitive, which limits his upside for wins, and I am not paying the price for Alcantara.
Dylan Cease (CWS) (46.69)
Cease was fantastic in 2022, so why am I fading him? The main reason is his lack of control and command. He has less than average command and poor control. This becomes a huge issue that is amplified by the fact he is a two-pitch pitcher. When he loses the feel for a pitch in a start, he can get hit around, as we saw in his most recent Spring Training start. He is also a negative in WHIP, which, when you’re drafting a starting pitcher as high as you have to with Cease, you expect to not have him actively hurt you in a category.
Carlos Rodon (NYY) (51.55)
Prior to the forearm issue, I was starting to move Rodon up my board, but now that he has this injury, I am petrified that Tommy John surgery is around the corner for him. There is a huge upside here if he is healthy once he returns, but I am not risking it.
Camilo Doval (SF) (88.01)
Doval may enter the season as the closer, but I do not buy he will keep it to himself or at all. He struggles with inconsistency, and the Giants brought in Taylor Rogers in the offseason and paid him a lot of money. I would rather pay the price for other closers.
Hunter Greene (CIN) (104.23)
Greene is a huge target for a lot of people in the industry as a young arm who flashed huge potential late in the season last year. However, he does not have great WHIP and will struggle with wins with how bad the Reds look like they are going to be. I do also worry about home runs in Great American Ballpark. I am likely not paying the price.
Blake Snell (SD) (111.18)
Snell has only been able to throw 128 innings in each of his last two seasons. While I love the skills, the skill he does not have is the ability to stay healthy. For that reason, I am out on him where he goes in drafts.
Tyler Glasnow (TB) (116.30)
I know some might say that this is an easy call, but I was already fading Glasnow prior to the oblique injury. Glasnow is a fantastic pitcher on a per-inning basis. However, he has not been able to stay healthy for an entire season in his career. The most innings he has ever thrown in a season is 111.2, and that was back in 2018. He only threw 6.2 innings last season coming off of Tommy John surgery, so it is hard to expect him to throw a complete workload to begin with, but now he’s already starting off the season with an injury, so I am completely taking him off of my draft list.
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