K/9 Cops

An Important stat in the fantasy world is strikeouts per 9 innings. It's a simple formula (total strikeouts divided by innings pitched, multiplied by 9), but helpful in that it's a stat dedicated to one specific fantasy category alone. Coming into today's action, here are the leaders in K/9 for starters with at least 3 starts:

Rich Harden - 12.24 Ks per 9
John Smoltz - 12 Ks per 9
Chad Billingsley - 11.16 Ks per 9
Edinson Volquez - 11.06 Ks per 9
Jonathan Sanchez - 9.79 Ks per 9
Tim Lincecum - 9.48 Ks per 9
Randy Johnson - 9.44 Ks per 9
Wandy Rodriguez - 9.27 Ks per 9
Clay Buchholz - 9.24 Ks per 9
Josh Beckett - 9.15 Ks per 9

Nothing shocking here. Once again, Rich Harden proves why he is by far the most frustrating person in the history of fantasy sports. When healthy, he's good. Real good. Smoltz's K/9 will undoubtedly skyrocket once he returns from the DL as a reliever, but his overall value takes a hit with the move to the pen. While San Francisco's offense is terrible (at best) there is hope with their stable of young arms, including K/9 mainstays Tim Lincecum and Jonathan Sanchez. Lincecum is the more polished of the two and has elevated his game to stud level this year. While Sanchez isn't quite startable yet, he's got the talent worthy of a roster spot at this point. He's most likely experiencing some of the same growing pains that Lincecum went through last year and there's no reason to think that he won't be effective in the second half of the year. No surprise to see the career leader in strikeouts per 9, Randy Johnson, up among the leaders, but it still shocks me when I see Wandy Rodriguez atop any quality pitching list this year. I'll chalk it up to having most of his starts at home until he got hurt.