Prospect Positional Reviews: Left-Handed Starters

Just prior to last year’s holiday season I wrote a piece for FanGraphs+ that ranked the Top 50 Fantasy Prospects for 2015 by position. Because it’s in the middle of the offseason, it’s often an exercise in futility to properly project playing time for rookies — especially considering the large number of free agent signings and trades that have yet to take place. It’s quite fun, nonetheless, and still serves as a good starting point for understanding who might be turn into a unexpectedly valuable fantasy player for the coming year.

And with every preview, must come a review. With the regular season now behind us, I present to you a review of the projected Top 50 Fantasy Prospects for 2015. I’ve already written about the catchers, first basemen, second basemen, third basemen, shortstops, outfielders and right-handed starters. Today is the review of the left-handed starters.

Actual Wins Above Replacement (WAR) Results
2.1 — Robbie Ray, D-Backs
2.1 — Carlos Rodon, White Sox
1.7 — Eduardo Rodriguez, Red Sox
1.6 — Andrew Heaney, Angels

Marc’s Top 6
Andrew Heaney, Angels
Marco Gonzales, Cardinals
Julio Urias, Dodgers
Henry Owens, Red Sox
Carlos Rodon, White Sox
Daniel Norris, Blue Jays

Honorable Mentions
Brandon Finnegan, Royals
Eduardo Rodriguez, Red Sox
Manny Banuelos, Braves
Justin Nicolino, Marlins
Robbie Ray, Tigers

The 2015 season saw some impressive southpaw prospects solidify themselves into true big league performers. Ray and Rodon were the Top 2 arms despite taking very different paths to The Show. A 12th round selection back in 2010, the former need five years of seasoning before making 23 starts at the big league level in ’15. He didn’t show wipeout stuff but he held his own in a difficult home park and definitely has the makings of an innings-eating No. 4 starter.

The latter joined the White Sox despite the fact he compiled just 11 minor league appearances after being drafted third overall in 2014. He walked 71 batters in 139.1 innings in the Majors and both his command and his control are works-in-progress but his raw stuff is down right nasty. With Sale and Rodon, the Sox should have one of the nastiest one-two punches in the Majors for a long, long time as the soon-to-be sophomore is only going to get better.

Rodriguez was a guy that I had listed as a sleeper for the 2015 season (mainly because I wasn’t sure Boston’s depth would allow him an opportunity) and he ended up being the third best southpaw rookie in The Show. I wrote in 2014 that the Red Sox absolutely stole the young hurler from the Orioles after a poor start to his season and he underlined just how bad the trade was with his performance with Boston. Now, Rodriguez was traded for knockout reliever Andrew Miller but the O’s only received 20 innings (and less than 1 win worth of value) from him before he left for greener pastures via free agency after the ’14 season. Rodriguez, just 22, has a chance to be a middle-of-the-rotation starter, or better, for at least the next five years in Boston.

I projected Heaney to be the top rookie southpaw arm in 2015 but that was when he was still in the National League. The move to the American League didn’t hurt him too badly, though, and he had a solid season in 18 games and figures to play a more prominent role in the Angels rotation in 2016. He isn’t flashy but he attacked the zone in ’15 and did a nice job of keeping the ball in the park.

I expected Gonzales to play a larger role with the Cardinals in 2015 than he did but he was injured and ineffective. That led to one single appearance in The Show in 2015 after making 10 in ’14. Similarly, eye surgery sidelined the promising Urias for a good part of the year. However, he still has a chance to reach the Majors as a teenager in 2016, despite the missed development time. Owens made 11 starts for Boston but he was merely average in a year that Red Sox fans would probably like to forget. Norris had a crazy year. He threw some games for Toronto, got traded for David Price in the summer, hit a home run in an inter-league game, got hurt and later found out that he had cancer (which he’s reportedly rebounding well from).