Fantasy Baseball: 6 Swinging-Strike Stars Who Could Rebound in 2018

Masahiro Tanaka, New York Yankees

ERA: 4.74 (95th out of 135 qualified pitchers)

Swinging-Strike Rate: 14.9% (5th out of 135)

Masahiro Tanaka struggled through an up-and-down 2017. He recorded the best strikeout rate (25.8%) and swinging-strike rate (14.9%) of his MLB career. But he also labored with his highest ERA (4.74) and walk rate (5.5%) of his career, although that walk rate is still pretty nice.

Tanaka's biggest problem was the long ball -- he allowed a whopping 35 jacks, or 1.77 home runs per nine innings pitched. Yankee Stadium certainly doesn't do Tanaka any favors, as it ranks as the league's best park in terms of home-run factor, but 2017 wasn't Tanaka's first tango in that park. In 2016, Tanaka limited the home run damage, allowing only 0.99 home runs per nine innings pitched.

If Tanaka can limit the big fly just a bit and fall more in line with his historical norms of 1.31 dingers per nine in addition to maintaining his juicy swinging-strike rate, he could be a fantasy stud in 2018.