Fantasy

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While most 20-year-olds are in the midst of their college careers, a different type of career has begun for a Detroit Tigers pitcher.

One of the more highly touted prospects coming into this season, Rick Porcello slid into the fifth spot of the Tigers' rotation and proved that even the least experienced arms can have success in the major leagues.

Last season the fantasy baseball world was abuzz over Matt Wieters and the potential impact he could make.  Of course, all the hype caused his value on draft day to rise exponentially, costing owners who gambled on him dearly. 

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The Florida Marlins often seem like a hot-bed for young prospects with considerable upside, so it’s no wonder their latest child prodigy, right-fielder Mike Stanton, seems to be on the cusp of making it to the big leagues.

It’s time to wrap up our early 2010 rankings with the starting pitchers.  There’s an extremely fine line between many of these pitchers, so look for things to really move around as we get closer and closer to draft day.  With that said, let’s take a look at how things stack up so far:

Much like we discussed Manny Parra yesterday (click here  to view), David Purcey was a pitcher who was on many people’s radar as a breakout candidate for 2009.  That clearly didn’t come to pass, however.  Besides his 6.19 ERA and 1.75 WHIP at the major league level, he struggled at Triple-A, posting a 4.46 ERA and 1.51 WHIP.

Manny Parra was a pitcher that many thought could enjoy huge success in 2009.  He had shown flashes the previous season going 10-8 with a 4.39 ERA, but the underlying numbers pushed people to breakout aspirations.  How many pitchers post flyball rates of 26.6 percent (in 2009, the answer is just three)?  

There have been some rumblings of late that the Detroit Tigers are going to allow Placido Polanco to walk via free agency, turning the keys to the candy store over to Scott Sizemore. 

Just because the 2009 season has not officially wrapped up does not mean that it’s too early to start looking towards 2010. 

First up in our early positional rankings are the catchers; so let’s get right to it and take a look at the Top 15.

It is no secret that Chad Billingsley is struggling mightily at this point.  Fantasy owners almost wish that Joe Torre had opted to pull him from the rotation, giving him a week to clear his head, instead of reaffirming his position.  It would have made things a lot easier.

Looking at his overall numbers would show a solid pitcher, one definitely worth using, though more of a mid-rotation option as opposed to a fantasy ace:

12 Wins
182.2 Innings
3.99 ERA
1.32 WHIP
165 Strikeouts (8.13 K/9)
75 Walks (3.70 BB/9)
.303 BABIP