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.Josh Johnson is only 25 years old and is still less than a year removed from a Tommy John surgery comeback. Another thing he is right now is an absolute fantasy baseball ace -- and don't expect that to change any time soon. The 6-foot-7 right-hander from Minnesota has worlds of potential. The only thing standing the way the past few seasons was his health, and that is no longer even remotely a question. He's fine, and he's an ace.
Remember, when Johnson was only 22, he went 12-7 with a 3.10 ERA and 133 strikeouts in 157 innings. He battled arms woes in 2007 before succumbing to elbow injury and needing the famed ulnar-collateral ligament procedure. When he came back last season he was really good, just not as great as the 7-1 record seemed to indicate. He sported a 3.61 ERA and 1.35 WHIP. In a pitcher-friendly ballpark like Land Shark Stadium, those are respectable numbers, but nothing to fawn over from a fantasy baseball perspective.
This season, he's taking on a sizable workload and appears totally healthy. He's also putting up numbers that are definitely fawn-worthy. In a league-leading 98 innings, Johnson has struck out 83 batters and walked only 23. After another sparkling outing Sunday, he has a 2.76 ERA and 1.07 WHIP. His record is 6-1, which hardly even does justice to his 12 quality starts -- tying him with Dan Haren and Chad Billingsley for the most in baseball.
Between the consistency, the strikeout rate, and the talent-level, there aren't many more valuable pitchers in all of fantasy baseball right now. Yet, he's still available in seven percent of Yahoo! fantasy leagues. That's the exact same percent of ownership as Carlos Zambrano. As a Cubs fan, I love Big Z, but he's not even remotely close to being on the same level as Johnson.
Josh Johnson is the new stud on the block. Get him if you still can and, as we like to say, enjoy the ride.
