Fantasy Baseball: 10 Surprises So Far in 2017

Wade Miley, SP, Baltimore Orioles

Preseason ADP: 628.61

The Start

If Wade Miley was legitimately on your radar back on draft day, then there was something seriously wrong with you. Or are you just a genius?

Miley's profile is very similar to Mike Leake, except for the fact that he's striking out more hitters than ever before. After struggling to a 5.37 ERA (and just a 4.21 SIERA) in 2016, the southpaw has surprised many with a 2.45 ERA (albeit with a 4.25 SIERA) through his first 36.2 innings of work. He sports a career 18.8% strikeout rate, yet he's whiffing batters at a 27.1% clip so far in 2017.

Whether his ERA is going to catch up to his SIERA is one thing, but all those strikeouts sure are valuable from a hurler that you likely picked up off the scrap heap.

How Sustainable Is it?

The thing is, we're just waiting for it to all come crashing down. Miley's 9.1% swinging-strike rate isn't much different than his career mark (8.6%), so it's hard to believe these strikeouts will just keep piling up. He's also managed to double his career walk rate (7.6% to 14.7%) while stranding runners at an unsustainably high 87.9% rate.

He's been awfully valuable to a few fantasy baseball teams and the Baltimore Orioles, but this seems like a ticking time bomb considering his peripherals and the fact that he has to pitch in the American League East.