ADP Crowdsourcing: Jeremy Hellickson

In this week’s edition of ADP Crowdsourcing, we are taking a look at two players who will be affected by Matt Garza being traded to the Cubs. Today we finish our week of voting with Jeremy Hellickson, and are using rounds as our unit once again.

Even before Garza was traded, I think most (including myself) were drafting Hellickson on the assumption that he’d have a spot in the rotation when the season began, because Hellickson was simply too good to keep in the minor leagues any longer. After the Garza trade, we can now be sure that Hellickson should enter 2011 in the Rays’ starting rotation, but we cannot be sure how many innings he will pitch.

Some may want to compare Hellickson’s debut with those of David Price and Wade Davis, but Helly isn’t a comparable pitcher. Hellickson already has two breaking balls that are of MLB caliber, and he does a good job keeping his pitches low in the zone. Tampa Bay’s defense isn’t going to hurt his cause, either, as they should continue to do an excellent job converting balls in play to outs.

It’s understandable that owners will have their reservations, as a rookie facing the stacked lineups of Boston and New York isn’t the best case scenario, but good pitchers do well in almost any capacity. The Rays are still going to compete this year, and while their bullpen could lose Hellickson a few wins, he should still be able to reach a double-digit win total this year. As long as he doesn’t succomb to James Shields‘ Homerunitis, he’ll be fine.

We are still voting on where you think Hellickson will be drafted by the average owner, but we’re going to take it a step further. We are also going to vote on where you would draft him, as well. Also, please note we are using round, not pick this time because of Garza’s likely ADP. Below is a link to the voting form, and please read the wording carefully. For the voting, we’re assuming a 12-team standard league, using 5×5 scoring.

To submit your vote, click here.