Fantasy Baseball: 5 Low-Cost Starters Who Are Innings-Pitched Assets in Rotisserie Formats
John Lackey, Chicago Cubs
John Lackey is no spring chicken, but he's still very much a fantasy-relevant player, largely because he's one of the most durable starters in the bigs.
Indeed, the 38-year-old hurler has averaged better than 190 innings pitched in each of his MLB seasons dating all the way back to 2003. Lackey's results haven't always been pretty (he got rocked for a comically awful 6.41 ERA across 160 innings for the Boston Red Sox in 2011), but he's certainly found his groove as a steady innings eater over the past four seasons, averaging 198-plus frames over that span while submitting season-long ERA marks no worse than 3.82.
And last year, his first season with the Chicago Cubs, Lackey was his typically unspectacular but reliable self, logging 188-plus solid frames of 3.53 ERA ball while striking out just short of a batter per inning.
In fact, that 8.6 strikeout-per-nine rate was an eleven-year high for Lackey, who thrived on his secondary stuff, particularly a cut fastball that achieved a 38.1 percent strikeout rate while limiting batters to a puny .287 OPS, all across a not-insignificant 655-pitch sample, per FanGraphs' PitchFx data.
It is fair to assume there is some negative regression on the horizon for Lackey, who allowed a career-low .255 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) despite a notable spike in hard contact. Then again, Lackey does have the benefit of pitching behind one of the league's strongest defenses, so there's a chance the half-run shaved off of Lackey's expected ERA is sustainable going forward.
And even if a few more balls fall for hits, an ERA closer to last year's 3.81 xFIP will still prove useful for roto owners who employ Lackey as their fifth starter. He should be there for the taking around pick 150, and roto owners who need stability at the end of their staff shouldn't let Lackey's age and relative unsexiness dissuade them from snapping him up.
