by Todd Lammi

One of the things I look at when I am doing the 2010 fantasy baseball rankings for pitchers is strikeouts. While I use that category in conjunction with several others, I think to pick one category and have it stand alone by itself, strikeouts are the most important.

The biggest reason is because strikeouts limit the damage to ERA numbers. Once the ball is hit and put in play, the pitcher becomes subjective to too many things out of his control. He has to worry about his defense being able to field the ball, the luck of where the ball is placed when hit, in addition to possibly giving up a home run which factors in the weather for the day as well as the dimensions of the ballpark among other things.

It also limits the ERA in respect to staying out of the big inning. If there is man on third base and as a pitcher you cannot afford to give up a hit anywhere on the diamond, be it fly ball or ground ball, you need to have the stuff to be able to bear down and strike out a hitter when needed.

With that said, here is a listing of the top starting pitchers from 2009 with the highest percentage of swing and miss strikes.

1) Rich Harden – 26%

2) Francisco Liriano – 20%

3) Jorge de la Rosa – 19%

4) Ryan Dempster – 19%

5) Jonathan Sanchez – 19%

6) Javier Vazquez – 19%

7) Chad Billingsley – 18%

8.) Neftali Feliz – 18%

9) Gio Gonzalez – 18%

10) Cole Hamels – 18%

11) Felix Hernandez – 18%

12) Mat Latos – 18%

13) Jon Lester – 18%

14) Tim Lincecum – 18%

15) Bud Norris – 18%

16) CC Sabathia – 18%

17) Justin Verlander – 18%

18) Clay Buchholz – 17%

19) Gavin Floyd – 17%

20) Tommy Hanson – 17%

I included Feliz assuming he will be a starting pitcher this year. Interesting to see a few rookies like Latos and Norris appear. Liriano in second position shows he still has good stuff, just a matter of his confidence improving. Two guys that people are discounting this season according to their fantasy baseball ADP are Hamels and Billingsley who are both on the list so I expect them to bounce back from seasons that were below expectations.

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• Advice and guidance from someone that has been in the trenches and won leagues before. A lot of people writing articles or doing projections are just that, writers that have not been able to successfully win at fantasy baseball. In the 20 years that I have been playing fantasy baseball, I have won draft and auction leagues in multiple formats and can relate that information to you the reader.