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.