Preseason ADP: 17.68

There's nothing quite like having an ace anchoring a fantasy baseball rotation, right? You know, someone that you can virtually always count on being dominant when they toe the slab. Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, and Madison Bumgarner (who was also a disappointment this year) all have that kind of reputation, and they were drafted accordingly.

Right behind that trio was New York Mets right-hander Noah Syndergaard, and he deserved it. After all, he was the only young Mets starter that didn't break in 2016 while producing a 2.95 SIERA with a 29.3% strikeout rate and a 5.8% walk rate over 183.2 innings of work, resulting in 14 wins and a 2.60 ERA.

His performance this past April was just as dominant -- through 27.1 innings, the hard-throwing hurler posted a 2.64 SIERA with a 28.1% strikeout rate and 1.8% walk rate. But then, that whole refusing-an-MRI thing happened and before we knew it, Syndergaard landed on the disabled list with a partially torn lat muscle, forcing him to miss quite a bit of time.

That's awfully frustrating from a fantasy point of view, especially since he was probably the first pitcher drafted on any squad. But maybe he could be a shot in the arm for the fantasy playoffs, right? Well, he did return toward the end of September, but it was only for two starts that spanned a total of three innings, only adding to the disappointment.