Top 5 Overall Starting Pitchers - 2009 Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide

Good pitching is a key for any successful baseball team, and can be a key for any successful fantasy baseball team as well. The difference between an ace starting pitcher and an average pitcher is far greater than the difference between a good outfielder and an average outfielder. So who are the top starting pitchers that you should be looking at for your fantasy draft? Here is a look at the top five.

1. Brandon Webb

2. Johan Santana

3. Tim Lincecum

4. C.C. Sabathia

5. Roy Halladay

#1 Overall Starting Pitcher: Brandon Webb, Arizona Diamondbacks

Webb has proven himself as a dominating starting pitcher over a pretty significant length of time. He's stayed pretty healthy over his career which makes him a fairly safe bet to win a lot of games and strike out a lot of people. His run support in Arizona may hurt his win-loss total, but he's going to pitch deep into games and always give his team a chance for a win, so he should still be able to reach the 20 win mark.

#2 Overall Starting Pitcher: Johan Santana, New York Mets

Santana was the recipient of some bad luck last season, which kept him from winning 20 games, but his ERA was impressive and he's still a great strikeout pitcher. He'll be the ace of the Mets staff and has avoided injury problems throughout his career so he should log a lot of innings.

#3 Overall Starting Pitcher: Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants

Lincecum won the Cy Young Award in the NL last year in a league loaded with great pitchers, and the youngster shows no signs of slowing down. He's going to take some tough luck losses just because San Francisco isn't very good, but he should keep an ERA under 3.00 and strike out a ton of players. Lincecum reportedly doesn't even need to ice his arm after starts so there should be no concerns about him wearing down or becoming injured due to overuse.

#4 Overall Starting Pitcher: C.C. Sabathia, New York Yankees

Sabathia was one of the Yankees big name free agent acquisitions over the summer, and for the huge amount of money the Yankees are paying him, they'll expect him to be their ace. Sabathia was dominate in the second half last year, and should only improve on his 17 wins from last season with the powerful Yankee offense playing in front of him.

#5 Overall Starting Pitcher: Roy Halladay, Toronto Blue Jays

Halladay would be even higher on this list if he played for a different team. Halladay will consistently pitch deep into ball games and not give up many runs, but lacks the run support that would give him a more impressive win-loss record. Halladay's WHIP average is very close to 1.00 which is amazing for a starting pitcher. He may not get much press, but he's a fantastic pitcher.