MLB

Fantasy Baseball: 5 Top-Tier Starting Pitchers to Avoid

Matt Kupferle  —  @MKupferle Feb 6th, 2019
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Chris Archer, Pittsburgh Pirates

NFBC ADP: 134th
Starting Pitcher (SP) Rank: 34
Draft Round (12-team league): 12th

Another year, another gaudy strikeout rate (25.4%) and another hefty ERA (4.31) for Chris Archer fantasy owners. In fact, Archer's ERA has topped 4.00 for three consecutive years now -- what's going on here?

Despite some eye-popping whiffs coming your way, Archer continued to allow a lot of hard contact (39.4% hard-hit rate), exacerbated by a recent pattern of lefty struggles. Opposite-handed bats tattooed him for 1.56 home runs per nine innings pitched in 2018, and that hurt even worse with a 9.4% walk rate to lefties putting plenty of runners on base.

The veteran didn't seem to love his time in the Steel City, either -- in his first eight turns as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Archer posted a 5.49 ERA, including an 8.5% walk rate and 1.60 home runs per nine innings, chasing Pittsburgh out of playoff contention.

Combining his walk rate and lefty struggles, Archer should generate plenty of whiffs, but it will come at the expense of your ratio categories.

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