The List 5/28 – Ranking The Top 100 Starting Pitchers Every Week

[pitcher_list_new list_id=”31838″]

 

Fringe Starters

 

 

What is happening!

It’s another week and another edition of the Top 100 Starting Pitchers for Fantasy Baseball.

Before I dive into the player notes, here’s an outline of how I’m handling The List this season:

• Previous/Best/Worst columns removed
  • These took a heavy chunk of loading time and ultimately provided very little value. The change arrows themselves are all that’s needed
• Tiers added
  • As much as I hate making tiers (When do they start and end? How big are the cliffs?), ya’ll have been asking for them and I’m here for all of you. Please understand how hard it is to accurately place them and don’t get too worked up about it.
• Labels added
  • There’s often confusion as to why a pitcher is a spot or two above or below another. These labels should help understand what each pitcher brings to the table, showing that some pitchers may be better or worse for what you need.
  • Hover over them (or tap on mobile) to see each label’s name next to the pitcher.
  • Ratio Focused = Their value lies in you chasing their ERA/WHIP more than strikeouts and Wins.
  • Toby = Boring arm that doesn’t excite you, but you stare at the waiver wire and accept that he just okay enough. You don’t like that he’s around the office, but he gets his work done.
  • Cherry Bomb = Volatile pitchers who are either “super sweet” or “blow up in your face.” Heed warning.
  • Ace Potential = I define an ace as: 3.40 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 24% K rate, 6.0 IPS. It’s why you see some surprising names as having the upside of an ace.
• Fringe Starters added
  • There are always a handful of starters I badly want to add to The List but I don’t have enough room. I’ll always have this table at the end for a collection of starters – in no order – that I also heavily considered, as well as why they could be relevant
  • This will be where IL Players will land. I’ll mention where they would slot when healthy.

Please let me know how you feel about these changes and I’m looking forward to another fun year assessing the wonderful entity that is the SP Landscape.

On to the notes! Remember, these ranks are for 12-teamers in H2H categories leagues.

 

Player Notes

 

• A lot of shuffling in the Top 20, with Jacob deGrom taking a hit as his changeup and slider just aren’t working right now. This wasn’t a product of one start, it’s been coming for a bit.
• I didn’t move Trevor Bauer as I truly believe he’s making the changes to return to the top tier of starters.
• Now that we’re two months in, I’m lifting the weight of negativity toward Hyun-Jin Ryu’s history. He’s earned the AGA label, let’s just hope he avoids the injury bug.
• Noah Syndergaard, Jose Berrios, and Aaron Nola were all handed significant drops. We’re coming on June and to see Thor looking lost on the hill, Berrios still not have his curveball back, and Nola’s fastball command out of whack has me favoring other steadily excellent arms ahead (even Caleb Smith, who I’m not going to pull down after his first and only misstep of the season).
• The end of Tier 5 is where it gets fun. I had to bump up Lucas Giolito and his new mechanics, Mike Minor is cruising, Jake Odorizzi is pitching better than ever, and it’s wonderful to see Andrew Heaney return and hit the ground running.
• I’m loving where Tyler Skaggs, Brandon Woodruff, Kyle Gibson, and Sonny Gray are at the moment, forcing me to elevate them ahead of other Spice Girls that have struggled recently. Specifically, with Gray, I was most likely a bit too negative last week and this is a correction.
• The biggest hits were handed to Tobys – Jon Lester, Jose Quintana, Yusei Kikuchi, J.A. Happ, and Marco Gonzales included. My approach is to chase a full staff by summer without middling arms in 12-teamers, and these rankings follow that approach.
• Jerad Eickhoff and Chris Bassitt also took hits as these upside arms are going through rough patches. Hopefully they each recover, though they deserve the drop in the meantime.
• There are a handful of strong stashes at the moment, electing me to list them all at the end in favor of questionable streaming options. Alex Reyes is my current favorite as the Cardinals are preparing him for the rotation and could jump in quickly with Michael Wacha heading to the bullpen. Jimmy Nelson should return soon, while Dylan Cease, Zac Gallen, and Jesus Luzardo could all make instant impacts during their calls…which may not be until the end of June. UPDATE: I heard the Mitch Keller news right when I was finishing this list. He would be right in the mix of this around Cease.
• Zach Plesac, Danny Duffy, and Daniel Norris round out the additions this week. Plesac makes his MLB debut tonight and could stick around after, while Duffy and Norris could turn into decent streaming options with their recent runs.

(Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire)