The List 4/9: Ranking The Top 100 Starting Pitchers Every Monday

[pitcher_list list_id=”16851″ season=”2018″ include_stats=”1″]

Welcome to The List – The weekly top 100 rankings of starting pitchers in fantasy baseball for the rest of the season. Use this list to help make choices on the waiver wire and as a tool to gauge trade value in your fantasy leagues. These rankings are made with 5×5 H2H standard 12-team leagues in mind.

Let’s talk about how the SP landscape has changed since last week:

• Still very little movement in the Top 25, with the main moves coming from Gerrit Cole entering the Top 20 given his hot start and Luis Castillo falling slightly as his fastball command hasn’t been there thus far.
• Jameson Taillon, Sean Manaea, and Patrick Corbin all had major jumps this week. Taillon’s fastball command has improved and is fresh off a CGSHO, Manaea has been dominant as well with just one walk to his name, and Corbin has fanned 20 in just 13 innings thus far.
• With Alex Wood showing diminished velocity, he takes a step back. Joining him is Chase Anderson with the same flaw, and Jordan Montgomery who hasn’t featured the same deception that made me a huge fan in the preseason.
• One of the bigger drops is from Jake Faria who has been as unpolished as anyone out of the gate. I still believe he has the skillset to climb back the ranks, but at this point you’re better off looking elsewhere.
• I’m loving how both Marco Estrada and Reynaldo Lopez are looking, with Estrada’s fastball/changeup command as good as he’s ever had it and Lopez’s slider addition the perfect compliment to his fastball/changeup.
• Eduardo Rodriguez, Andrew Triggs, and Nick Pivetta are other intriguing upside plays. Rodriguez missed plenty of bats in his return from the DL, Triggs providing a decent floor with his groundball/whiff approach, and Pivetta’s breaking balls leading to a stellar nine-strikeout performance against the Marlins
• Cole Hamels is boasting a 15% swing-and-miss rate through his first three starts, forcing me to raise him near #70. Rick Porcello has also given me no choice as he’s excelled out of the gate. Tyson Ross might not have figured it all out quite yet, but he’s trending in the right direction and could hint Top 50 shortly.
• Lucas Giolito could make a jump in the near future, but at the moment he’s not looking close to the player we expected out of spring training. It could be the cold, it could be a mini-slump, so keep an eye on him in the upcoming weeks.
• Also falling down are Jake Odorizzi and Chris Stratton. Odorizzi’s curveball made me excited in his first outing, but lacked the consistency I was hoping he’d showcase in his second start of the year. Stratton’s approach is moving away from his stellar curveball, turning into more of a streaming option than a sturdy arm.
• Three others join The List this week. Yonny Chirinos could be stretched out into a proper starter for the Rays and could turn into a decent arm at the back of a 12-teamer. Homer Bailey is a streaming option despite his low floor, and Tyler Mahle’s fastball command earns him a look on any given day.