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New Studs on the Block takes a look at players ready to make the leap from "possibly productive fantasy player" to "must-have fantasy stud." This is not a "you've never heard of this dude, but ... " series -- these should be names you already know.When Pedro Martinez worked his way through the Phillies' system, fantasy owners of J.A. Happ had to have been terrified they were about to lose a stud-in-the-making. Obviously, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Joe Blanton or Jamie Moyer weren't going anywhere.
Then, late last week, general manager Ruben Amaro, Jr. said Happ is staying in the rotation. In fact, Happ is so important Amaro stated the Phillies might go with a six-man rotation for the time being.
Now, that's a bit of a head-scratcher, but it does avert a possibly ridiculous move (removing Happ from the rotation). In fact, it would appear the signing of Pedro Martinez was pretty irrelevant now that the Phils have landed Lee and Happ has emerged -- but we're only here to talk about fantasy baseball.
Make no mistake about it, Happ is becoming a fantasy stud in front of our very eyes.
The 26-year-old spindly left-hander is now 8-2 on the season with a 2.74 ERA and 1.12 WHIP. As a starter, he's 6-2 with a 2.80 ERA and he's completed two shutouts. He's also becoming more of a strikeout artist as he continues to adapt to the major league level. In his last 49 innings, he's struck out 41 hitters. This isn't a mirage.
During his minor league years, Happ routinely sported a stellar strikeout rate. He actually has 545 career minor league Ks in just 528 innings. So there's more where the past few outings' output of punch-outs came from.
Speaking of the minors, Happ quickly went through the ranks until hitting a speed bump in 2007. He never had an ERA higher than 2.81 at any stop until it skyrocketed up to 5.02 at Triple-A that season. He did get things back under control last season, when he compiled a 3.60 ERA in 23 starts for Triple-A Lehigh Valley. The growth being made by Happ in 2009 as a very solid major league starter is simply a progression.
The only blip on the radar would be that it appears he's been a bit fortunate in terms of BABIP (.249, when the norm suggests it should be closer to .285 or so). This could be explained by the fact that the Phillies play sound defense and their home park is a bit of a bandbox. So any normalization won't be drastic enough to make him unstudly.
So, let's see ... he's beginning to strike batters out with a nice frequency, his ERA is sparkling, his WHIP is good and he plays for one of the better teams in the majors (meaning wins will continue). What's not to like?
J.A. Happ is a fantasy stud, and he should be starting in all leagues every time he takes the ball.
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