Question on drafting pitchers & info

[BraunsStash]

I'm looking for help when drafting pitchers. I am in a 12 team H2H league. I've been in this league for 3 years now and have always finished last. It hasn't been until recently I am starting to get into baseball so I'm looking to improve this year. It is a keeper league so I made some deals last year to get 4 solid keepers in Robinson Cano, Joey Votto, Carl Crawford and Clayton Kershaw. Going into the draft I want to get a solid rotation because I found in this league that a strong pitching staff is needed.

My question is, when scounting pitchers what do you look at?? I've been reading over Rankings on ESPN and Yahoo, sites like that. However, should I be looking at guys from certain divisions? Look at ball parks that are considered pitching friendly?? Seeing as it is a 12 man league with 4 keepers, the top 48 guys are gone and you can probably guess all the top pitchers are gone. I'll need to land some lower level pitchers that are going to break out.

Or are there some good sites with in depth stats someoen can link for me? I use this site, ESPN and Yahoo. Not sure if there are better out there or not.

Any help is appreciated.

[fast dogs]

Places like Roto Champ have a good set of rankings up. Fan Graphs is a great site. You can use this site for things like the First Cafe Mock for players some of the veteran posters here like. Rookies and Cream and Giants Fan14 have good rankings and reads and there will be others. In the mock draft discussion theres a link to an experts mock draft that just took place.
Pitchers in the NL West face favorable offenses and big parks, pitchers in the AL East have a tougher time but these are reflected in the rankings and mock results. Chances are you've been playing with guys who have been playing longer and putting more time in. Do some mock drafts yourself, do as much research as you can as thats half the fun of fantasy baseball and just makes you better.Learn about making your own set of positional tiers for help during your draft. Fantasy baseball is all about information and effort, the more you have of both, the better you'll do.

[daullaz]

When deciding whether to draft a starting pitcher, the two things you want to look at above all else are his K/9 and K/BB ratios. The better pitchers are all going to be 7.0 or better in the first category and 3.0 or better in the second category. You don't really want to take anyone under 6.0 K/9 or 2.0 K/BB at all. The better you get in each category, the higher quality SP you're likely getting.

[MashinSpuds]

When deciding whether to draft a starting pitcher, the two things you want to look at above all else are his K/9 and K/BB ratios. The better pitchers are all going to be 7.0 or better in the first category and 3.0 or better in the second category. You don't really want to take anyone under 6.0 K/9 or 2.0 K/BB at all. The better you get in each category, the higher quality SP you're likely getting.

Agreed with this. Also try and consider what team the player is on if you have Wins as a category. Felix Hernandez is a fantastic pitcher, but the Mariners will likely keep him from winning much. Guys on the Phillies, Yankees, Red Sox, and the other top teams of the league have a better chance at those Wins. Also try to find teams with strong bullpens to keep those Wins intact.

With strong ratios as daullaz pointed out, as well as a nod towards team strength and bullpen ability, you could find some strong mid-tier pitchers to help support Kershaw. Good luck.

[FantasyTeamAdvice]

I agree with both posters before me, K/9 is very important, but you would also rather get a pitcher for the Yanks, Red Sox, Angels or Rangers.

Take a look at a guy like Hiroki Kuroda, who usually has an ERA in the 3's, and will now be pitching for the Yankees. He will probably be in the 15-20 win range, but won't rack up the K's.