MLB
Fantasy Baseball: 5 Pitchers Primed to Improve Their Strikeout Rates
These five hurlers have some poor numbers at first glance, but their ability to get whiffs could have them rising up the fantasy ranks before long.

Masahiro Tanaka, New York Yankees

ERA: 4.73 (75th)

Swinging-Strike Rate: 13.8% (11th)

Does it feel like Masahiro Tanaka is perpetually on a list like this -- one with nasty advanced numbers but poor traditional metrics? If you do, it's because he is.

In 2017, Tanaka ranked third among qualified starters in swinging-strike rate with a juicy 15.10% mark. To give you some perspective on the type of company he's holding, that mark trailed only elite aces Corey Kluber and Max Scherzer. But the Yankees' ace struggled to a poor 4.74 ERA over 178 1/3 innings pitched in that same campaign.

Let's hit the fast forward button to 2018, where it's been a bit more of the same. Over 51 1/3 innings, Tanaka is still generating strikeouts (22.5%) and limiting his walks (4.8%), but the long ball is hurting him. He's allowed 1.58 home runs per nine innings pitched (HR/9), which is actually a reduction from last season's mark of 1.77 HR/9.

Tanaka will likely be susceptible to the homer (1.33 HR/9 career mark), but if he can keep up the whiffs and lower that inflated homer rate, he could see that ERA improve and be a big boost to fantasy rotations.

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