Who Should I Draft?
Walker Buehler or Yu Darvish (2021)
Experts' Pick | ||
| Yu Darvish SP - SD  | Walker Buehler SP - LAD  | |
Expert |
72% Recommended by 36 of 50 experts |
28% Recommended by 14 of 50 experts |
| Rankings | ||
| ECR | # 4 | # 7 |
| Best Rank | # 3 | # 4 |
| Worst Rank | # 11 | # 15 |
| ADP | ||
| Composite | # 17 | # 21 |
| Best Rank | # 16 | # 19 |
| Worst Rank | # 19 | # 26 |
| Projections | ||
| Strikeouts | 217 | 197 |
| Wins | 13 | 12 |
| Saves | 0 | 0 |
| ERA | 3.37 | 3.30 |
| WHIP | 1.10 | 1.07 |
| Misc | ||
| Injury Alert | - | - |
| Expert Ranks | ||
| Andy Behrens Yahoo! Sports | # 4 | # 9 |
| Steve Gardner USA Today | # 4 | # 7 |
| Grey Albright Razzball | # 4 | # 7 |
| Jeff Boggis Fantasy Football Empire | # 5 | # 6 |
| Muntradamus Beast Dome | # 4 | # 11 |
| Dalton Del Don Yahoo! Sports | # 5 | # 13 |
| KJ Fantasy Team Advice | # 5 | # 8 |
| Luke Gloeckner Mr. Cheatsheet | # 4 | # 7 |
| Andrew Gould FantasyPros | # 4 | # 5 |
| Tim McCullough Baseball Prospectus | # 5 | # 6 |
| Wayne Bretsky BretskyBall | # 5 | # 8 |
| Jake Ciely The Athletic | # 4 | # 5 |
| Joe Bond Fantasy Six Pack | # 5 | # 9 |
| Andy Singleton Expand The Boxscore | # 4 | # 7 |
| Heath Capps Fake Teams | # 5 | # 6 |
| Adam Ronis Fantasy Alarm | # 4 | # 9 |
| Mario Mergola Sporfolio | # 5 | # 15 |
| Nick Pollack Pitcher List | # 4 | # 8 |
| Nick Mariano RotoBaller | # 6 | # 11 |
| Michael Waterloo FantasyPros | # 5 | # 11 |
| Donkey Teeth Razzball | # 5 | # 7 |
| Dan Harris FantasyPros | # 5 | # 8 |
| Pierre Camus RotoBaller | # 5 | # 6 |
| Dennis Sosic Fantasy Six Pack | # 4 | # 5 |
| Mick Ciallela Fantrax | # 5 | # 8 |
| Michael Petropoulos BRoto Fantasy | # 4 | # 10 |
| Todd D Clark The Fantasy Fix | # 3 | # 6 |
| Brendan Tuma FantasyPros | # 8 | # 9 |
| Lucas Spence Pitcher List | # 4 | # 11 |
| Jordan Eisen Field of Vision Sports | # 5 | # 12 |
| Nate Miller FantasyPros | # 4 | # 9 |
| Staff Rankings Roto Ranks | # 4 | # 7 |
| Corbin Young FantasyData | # 5 | # 9 |
| Chris Clegg Fantrax | # 6 | # 9 |
| Joe Pisapia FantasyPros | # 4 | # 6 |
| Nicklaus Gaut RotoBaller | # 4 | # 9 |
| Brad Camara FantasyPros | # 6 | # 4 |
| Scott Pianowski Yahoo! Sports | # 6 | # 4 |
| Ryan Amore Pitcher List | # 5 | # 4 |
| Greg Smith The Fake Baseball | # 5 | # 4 |
| Site Projections RotoChamp | # 6 | # 5 |
| Andrew Seifter FantasyPros | # 6 | # 5 |
| Ariel Cohen FanGraphs | # 6 | # 5 |
| Chris Meaney FTN | # 7 | # 5 |
| Dave McKay The Fantasy Sports Brain | # 9 | # 5 |
| Rudy Gamble Razzball | # 6 | # 5 |
| Carmen Maiorano FantasyPros | # 8 | # 6 |
| Mike Maher FantasyPros | # 9 | # 7 |
| Max Freeze Freeze Stats | # 10 | # 7 |
| Jacob W. Dunne New Life Fantasy | # 11 | # 7 |
| Yu Darvish SP - SD | Walker Buehler SP - LAD | |
| 2020 Stats | ||
| Games Played | 12 | 8 |
| Games Started | 12 | 8 |
| Innings Pitched | 76.1 | 37.1 |
| Wins | 8 | 1 |
| Losses | 3 | 0 |
| Saves | 0 | 0 |
| Blown Saves | 0 | 0 |
| Holds | 0 | 0 |
| Hits Allowed | 59 | 24 |
| Earned Runs | 17 | 14 |
| Home Runs Allowed | 5 | 7 |
| Strikeouts | 93 | 42 |
| Walks | 14 | 11 |
| ERA | 2.01 | 3.44 |
| WHIP | 0.96 | 0.95 |
| Yu Darvish SP - SD | Walker Buehler SP - LAD | |
| 2021 Projections | ||
| Games Played | 30 | 29 |
| Games Started | 30 | 30 |
| Innings Pitched | 178.6 | 168.9 |
| Wins | 13 | 12 |
| Losses | 8 | 6 |
| Saves | 0 | 0 |
| Blown Saves | 0 | 0 |
| Holds | 0 | 0 |
| Hits Allowed | 147 | 137 |
| Earned Runs | 67 | 62 |
| Home Runs Allowed | 23 | 21 |
| Strikeouts | 217 | 197 |
| Walks | 50 | 44 |
| ERA | 3.37 | 3.30 |
| WHIP | 1.10 | 1.07 |
| Yu Darvish SP - SD | Walker Buehler SP - LAD | |
| News | ||
| Yu Darvish gave up 1 earned run in 6 innings pitched on Tuesday. Darvish struck out 7 in the outing and walked 1. Matt Flipi Wed, Apr 7th | RHP Walker Buehler picked up his first win of the year on Friday, allowing six hits and no runs with four strikeouts over six innings in the Dodgers 1-0 win over the Nationals. Jon Mathisen Fri, Apr 9th | |
| Padres' SP Yu Darvish allowed four runs (all four earned) and handed out one walk in 4.2 innings of work on Opening Day. Jack Mannis Thu, Apr 1st | Walker Buehler took a no-decision on Saturday when he allowed two runs on four hits with four strikeouts over six innings in the Dodgers 6-5 win over the Rockies. Jon Mathisen Sun, Apr 4th | |
| San Diego Padres manager Jayce Tingler has named pitcher Yu Darvish as the team's Opening Day starter. Ari Koslow Thu, Mar 25th | Walker Buehler avoided arbitration by signing a 2-year, $8 million deal with the Dodgers. The deal includes a $2 million signing bonus, and includes several $500K contract escalators based on games started and Cy Young Award finishes. Carmen Maiorano - Carm's Clubhouse Thu, Feb 11th | |
| New Padres addition Yu Darvish struck out four batters and gave up one hit in two innings pitched during his Padres debut. Jack Mannis Sun, Mar 7th | ||
| Padres RHP Yu Darvish is debuting in Sunday's game against the Royals. AJ Schullo Thu, Mar 4th | ||
| Notes | ||
| After a career year in 2020, Darvish moves to San Diego in a trade that shouldn't affect his strong 2021 outlook all that much. Despite his advancing age, Darvish built on the gains he had made over the second half of 2019, finishing with a 2.01 ER, a 0.96 WHIP, and a 31.3% strikeout rate. Darvish's walk rate has declined to a level once thought unattainable for the veteran, a mere 4.7%, which was in the top 8% of MLB in 2020. Although he'll be entering his age-35 season, there's simply nothing in Darvish's numbers, metrics, or statcast data that points to a decline. If you are desperate to find a negative, it's a move from the weak-hitting NL Central to the much stronger NL West, but that's hardly a reason to avoid Darvish. Draft him as an easy top-10 starter, and more like a top-5 option. Dan Harris - FantasyPros | Because the Dodgers wanted to closely watch Buehler's routine and workload, he got a late start to the shortened season, essentially using his first few starts as the end of his spring training. He also dealt with blisters late in the year. All that to say, Buehler's 36 2/3 regular-season innings are, for the most part, largely meaningless. He gave up a few more home runs and walked a few more batters than usual, and he won just a single game. But none of it matters. Value Buehler as you did after his 2019 season - as one of the true stud pitchers in the game. Once the big three of Jacob deGrom, Gerrit Cole, and Shane Bieber are off the board, Buehler should come under immediate consideration, as the type of starting pitcher who can be your fantasy ace. Dan Harris - FantasyPros | |
| In his first eight starts of 2019, Darvish allowed 33 free passes in 36 2/3 innings. Since then he has given up just 37 walks in 218 (!!) innings pitched. The key has been getting away from a slider he couldn't locate, combined with increased usage of his cutter. One of many offseason additions for the Padres this year, Darvish is a no-brainer, top-six SP entering 2021. Brendan Tuma - FantasyPros | There's little doubt that Buehler is one of the most talented starting pitchers in baseball, but we do have questions about his volume entering 2021. Did you know that during the regular season, Buehler had just one appearance where he completed six full innings? This wasn't just a Dodgers thing, either. Julio Urias had five such appearances while Tony Gonsolin had four and Dustin May had three. Of course, the team was saving Buehler for the playoffs more so than their other youngsters, and it worked out. The Dodgers have always handled Buehler with kid gloves, and while he'll be one of the best starters on a per-inning basis in 2021, I'm worried enough about the volume that I'm ranking him closer to the back half of my top-10 starters. Brendan Tuma - FantasyPros | |
