Kyle Drabek or the “guy who came over from Philly” in the Roy Halladay deal pitched a very impressive game today in his 2011 debut with Toronto.
Analysis: It certainly does run in the family for Kyle Drabek. His dad, Doug, won 155 games for four different big league clubs and sported a career ERA south of four. Kyle also has the potential to be a number one starter although he has been delayed due to Tommy John surgery in 2008. His fastabll tops out in the mid 90s, he throws very hard slider and he gets a lot of strikeouts on his breaking ball. Today Drabek pitched seven innings of one run ball against a potent Twins lineup. Drabek was locating his fastball almost at will and struck out seven batters while only allowing a single hit. He isn’t a strikeout artist but he K’s enough batters and limits his walks to really have a positive impact on your WHIP in roto leagues.
Projection: Don’t go banking on a 16 win season after one solid outing although he is a must add in deeper leagues. Drabek should be available on the wire because he went undrafted in many fantasy drafts. You really cannot afford to see more starts this early on in the season to add a guy with his kind of potential. Add him now, keep him or use him as trade bait but don’t let anyone in your league get to this guy first.