The last four or five seasons Jered Weaver has been a flat out fantasy stud.  When you draft Weaver you know exactly what you are going to get, on the high end an ERA around 3.2 and a WHIP that is generally below 1.1.  Also, until recent seasons you would get upward of 180 strikeouts, making Weaver the Whole package.

This season Weaver will only be 31, and for some reason many fantasy owners are being very hesitant about drafting him.  Weaver’s ADP is around pick 120 and he is rated as the 27th overall pitcher.  Somehow Weaver is being drafted multiple rounds after pitchers like Anibal Sanchez who had a great season last year, but it was the definition of an outlier season if I ever saw one, and Matt Cain who had an absolutely terrible season.  

If it weren’t for the injury Weaver was on his way to having a typical Jered Weaver season last year.  All of his numbers were reflective of his career numbers, he had a 3.27 ERA (his career is a 3.24 ERA) a 1.140 WHIP which was actually below his career WHIP of 1.143.  People like to point out the decline in strikeouts as a sign for Weaver’s demise but really he has never been a strikeout pitcher.  For his career Weaver a K/9 of 7.5 which is nothing special and the last two seasons Weaver owns a K/9 of 6.8, which is not an overly large drop from his career strikeout rate.  

Maybe people are afraid to draft him because of injury?  This fails to hold up too since Weaver had started in over 30 games for five consecutive seasons before suffering a freak injury where he fractured his elbow moving out of the way of a comeback line drive.

Whatever the reason may be, the stock of Jered Weaver has taken a tremendous hit to where he is falling to the tenth or eleventh round in most drafts.  Fantasy owners would be wise to take note of this and get an absolute steal of a draft pick in Jered Weaver. 

2014 Statistical Projections: 3.10 ERA, 160 Strikeouts, 1.100 WHIP, 18 Wins