Fantasy Baseball: Which Mid-Tier Pitchers Could Emerge as Aces in 2017?

Yu Darvish, Texas Rangers

After almost two seasons on the shelf recovering from Tommy John surgery, Yu Darvish seemed no worse for the wear in 2016. In fact, the hard-throwing Texas Rangers ace was arguably the best he’s ever been in the MLB, walking a career-low 2.78 batters per nine innings and striking out 132 across 100 1/3 frames.

Darvish’s FIP suggests that the 3.41 ERA could be due to come down even further, especially considering he worked around a somewhat low 73.3 percent strand rate despite the highest soft-contact percentage of his career.

Of course, Darvish carries a little more injury risk than your average hurler, but as the 52nd player off the board in ESPN leagues, no one else in this range has best-in-the-bigs upside.