If you like what you’re reading then you will like my 2015 Fantasy Baseball Guide! Last year’s fantasy guide was more than 150,000 words and had 440 player profiles (of hitters and pitchers). My approach to player evaluation is to ask questions about what the player has done in the past and what he may do in the future. I certainly provide a narrative on how I feel a player will perform, but I also ask a lot of open ended questions that I hope will get you thinking about the information I’ve provided.

Other than the month of July Jason Hammel pitched exceptionally well last year (table below).

The reason why he struggled in July was due to the cliché of bad command. Also in July with the A’s he didn’t look confident and had a woe is me demeanor on the mound (and yes, I’m very aware I provided analysis that cannot be measured statistically … also he was away from his pregnant wife, which must have had an effect). Back to the command, he was leaving curveballs up in the zone and the fastball was left up and in to a lot of righties. Starting in August he regained his command and pitched better than he did with the Cubs. Despite the low walk totals his command is always going to be a little loose from pitch to pitch, which causes him to have extended at-bats and results in his low inning totals per start.

Injuries are going to be a greater concern for Hammels than other pitchers (he’s never pitched more than 185 innings), but when he’s at his best he throws a lot of strikes and misses enough bats to be a steam worth option for 12-team mixed leagues.

My 2015 projection for Hammel is 160 IP, 3.60 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 140 Ks and 8 wins.