STARTERS: Early-season surprises, 2015

When it comes to starting pitchers, most owners are prepared for early-season surprises. After all, small data samples lend themselves to large swings in surface stats.

That said, it can be easy to get impatient when you have a struggling starting pitcher. Conversely, not all starting pitchers who have started the season strong are worth holding.

A more effective approach is to look at the skills underlying a starting pitcher's surface stats.

Here are a bunch of guys in each league who can be considered early-season surprises in one form or another.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Chris Archer (RHP, TAM) is showing signs of taking another step forward in 2015. He has a 1.07 ERA and 0.83 WHIP after three starts, and his base skills have been off the...

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