April Review: Andy, 21-16-3 (4th)

               Zack Greinke has Been the Ace on the Franchise's Best April Pitching Staff

                  As good as John has been on offense this season, Andy has been just as good on the mound, ranking in the top 5 of every pitching category. In terms of roto ranks, Andy would have a 50.5 out of a perfect 60 in pitching categories. Zack Greinke has been a beast and is silencing those who criticized him as Andy’s 4^th keeper selection. Greinke ranks 4^th in the majors in ERA, 5^th in Whip, and is tied at #1 with 6 quality starts. But more impressive than that is the pitching value Andy found later in the draft. Fransisco Liriano, the 127^th pick in the draft, finished April as a top 8 fantasy pitcher. Scott Kazmir, picked 138^th in the draft, is currently ranked at pitcher #13 (all ranks according to The Franchise settings via Ziguana.com). And we’re not done! His #4 Starter A.J. Burnett (UNDRAFTED!) has an ERA under 1.50 and 4 QS! Four tremendous starters on the staff puts him in rarified air, but his bullpen isn’t to be overlooked; Trevor Rosenthal is a top 5 closer who has kept ratios low (except for his 11.4 K/9) and net saves high throughout the month. This team is pitching far better than the results are showing, and the results are already damn good (13-7 in pitching), so that’s scary. Will all of these late round draft picks continue at their top-tier pace?

                

                  Maybe a better question would be, ‘Can the dominant pitching make up for some banged up and below average hitting?’ Andy’s offense hasn’t been terrible, but it has paled in comparison to his pitching attack. This offense has been bit hard by the injury bug, and has been forced to rely heavily on Andy’s 3 offensive keepers. And ‘heavily’ an understatement; Anthony Rizzo has been otherworldly in terms of offensive production - he’s producing in all 5 categories and leads all batters with a ridiculous .474 OBP (The only player ranked higher through the month of April was Paul Goldschmidt – haha!). Andy’s Blue Jays tandem of Jose Bautista and Josh Donaldson also continue to mash, and their combined stats are right on point with what was expected. After those 3 heroes, there’s a pretty hard drop in production for this offense. Some of this can be attributed to injury; first round pick Jose Reyes, 4^th rounder Jonathan Lucroy, and late fliers Alex Rios and Matt Weiters have been kept off the field for significant time due to injury, but would they make this offense elite? My answer is no, but they can certainly get to an above average level, and if the pitching can be even 80% as good as it was in this opening month, Andy will be a force this season.