Fantasy Baseball: 5 Pitchers Primed to Improve Their Strikeout Rates

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.