Fantasy Baseball Category Impact: Strikeouts

Welcome back, FA Nation! Get ready for this week’s edition of Category Impact! If you’re new to the site or just forget how this article works since last week, let me offer a quick refresher.

Category Impact will offer up anywhere from four to six players that can help you out in a certain category, whether it is stolen bases, home runs, or strikeouts. Some weeks, there will be an added focus on a specific categories, while others will be just players that you will want to pick up, but there will be in-depth analysis detailing exactly what category, or categories, a certain player will be of added benefit.

This week’s featured category is…. STRIKEOUTS!

Joey Lucchesi , SDP SP – Earlier in the season, this dude was one of the more popular pickups of the fantasy season. In the month of April, over 27.2 innings, he struck out 34 batters, held the opposition to a .196 batting average against him, and his ERA of 2.28 was excellent. He had some struggles before landing on the disabled list, but since the Midsummer classic, Lucchesi has posted 3.80 ERA and 24:6 K/BB ratio across 21.1 innings. The opposition is hitting .259 against him during this span.

Not only is Lucchesi in a pitching park, but he doesn’t have much of a split disadvantage in terms of batting average against. However, it’s staggering how effective he is at neutralizing left-handed power. However, righties can get to him a bit. Look at these numbers:

Lucchesi is pitching well enough of late to run him out there, but you can feel uber-confident in sending him out there against a lineup that boasts a lot of lefties or left-handed power.

Brian Johnson , BOS RP/SP – Johnson is 3-3 with a 3.95 ERA and 1.38 WHIP through 73 innings during this 2018 campaign. Whether he’s starting or relieving, he’s been a rather dynamic piece. Remember, it was just a little over two weeks ago that Johnson carved up the New York Yankees and struck out 11 batters over just five innings. The 27-year-old southpaw has been tough on left-handed hitters this season, and his 18 strikeouts over 13 August innings is particularly encouraging.

His role in the bullpen is a bit sporadic, as he’s thrown just a handful of pitches over the last week or so, but if a starter were to go down with an injury, Johnson could step in as a starter. An injury in the bullpen would likely push Johnson into a more regular role. However, even in a limited role out of the pen, Johnson is valuable. As a starter this season, he’s recorded 41 strikeouts in 42 innings, and out of the pen, he’s punched out 29 batters across 31 innings. Johnson could be a sneaky valuable add the rest of this way, and he’s hardly owned, ladies and gents.

Jace Fry , CWS RP – The 25-year-old southpaw is owned in practically zero fantasy leagues out there, and chances are is that he’s available in yours. Fry was dominant in May and really good in June, before nearly imploding in July. He’s been a little better in August, posting a 4.15 ERA, but he hasn’t quite recaptured that form he displayed in the early months of the season. It’s pretty easy to see why Fry hasn’t quite had the success of late, and it lies in the numbers. Take a look for yourself (via Fangraphs).

July was Fry’s worst month of the year, and he generated soft contact just 4.2 percent of the time! In other words, out of 100 at-bats, the opposition made soft contact just four times! YIKES! However, things have been better and are trending back upwards. His batting average against this month is .125, his second-best mark of this season. It’s worrisome that the line drive percentage continues to increase, but what’s lost in the shuffles is that the strikeouts have been there for Fry throughout it all. His strikeout percentage is north of 31 percent in every month this season except for July. Thus far in August, his strikeout percentage is over 50 percent! That is phenomenal.

Hunter Wood , TB RP – Wood is by no means a big name, or even a marginally known name in the big leagues at this point. His ERA of 4.10 isn’t spectacular, or even that good, and his 1.67 WHIP is pretty bad. At just 25 years young, Wood has plenty of time to blossom, but one thing is for sure; Wood can strike guys out. In 26.1 innings this season, Wood has 31 strikeouts, good for a 10.60 K/9 on the season. However, his K/BB ratio is 2.21 on the season, and it should be a much more attractive ratio given the fact that he’s striking out well over one batter per inning. This is due to the fact that he’s walked 14 batters over his 26.1 innings.

In his minor league career, he struck out 533 batters over 518.1 innings, including an excellent 110 batters over 95.1 innings at the Triple-A level. His strikeouts improved at each level in the minors, which is encouraging moving forward.

However, he’s letting up a lot of hard contact (35.1 percent hard hit rate per Fangraphs), despite the fact that his swing strike rate resides at a quality 15 percent. To put that into perspective, Max Scherzer ’s current SwStr% resides at 16.4 percent via Fangraphs, so Wood isn’t too far off.

Wood is available in just about every league, outside of AL-only leagues with 24 teams and 25 roster spots. He can be a very sneaky add, in at least the interim.