Buy Oswalt

It seems like every 6-foot something small right-handed pitcher that comes along in the draft or the minors is compared to Roy Oswalt, the super durable Houston Astros ace that uses his arsenal consisting of a lower-90's fastball, slider, and curve to create nettlesome problems for opposing bats throughout the last eight seasons. With a rough start to 2008 some have murmured that the toil placed upon Oswalt's arm was finally catching up, yet that doesn't seem to be the case whatsoever.

Oswalt's 6.98 K/9 is actually his best output since 2004, and Oswalt's 2.12 BB/9 is high, but only when compared to his career 2.06 ratio, last season however Oswalt was touching 2.55 BB/9. outside of a slightly higher LD% of 23.3 versus a career 20.9% Oswalt's only issues appear to be his homerun rates. 1.72 HR/9 is absurdly high and almost a full homerun higher than Oswalt's career average of 0.77. A 20.5% HR/FB suggests Oswalt's not going through a normal state of gopheritis, but rather an extended fluke.

Another item I checked into concerning Oswalt was his pitch velocities and usage, looking for a possible indication of injury or wear, but none could be found. Oswalt's fastball still sits above 92 and still makes up nearly 65% of the pitches he throws. His curve, slider, and change all remain nearly the same as well.

If you own Oswalt in a fantasy league hold onto him, otherwise try and get him while his value sits at an unprecedented low point.