The List 7/22 – Ranking The Top 100 Starting Pitchers Every Monday

[pitcher_list_new list_id=”34288″]

 

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 little movement in the Top 25 but not a whole lot. Clayton Kershaw deserves more love for going at least six frames in every start this year while Aaron Nola is showcasing a slight dip in velocity, Charlie Morton scared me that something is wrong last time, and Stephen Strasburg is not as consistent. At the end of the range, Madison Bumgarner and Domingo German continue to excel as James Paxton’s lack of rhythm brings him down.
• Mike Soroka took a dip as he hasn’t been as sharp + the question of his health and if he’ll get regular starts down the stretch.
• Take note, with Brandon Woodruff, Andrew Heaney, and Max Fried hitting the IL, plenty of innate (+3) were handed out.
• It’s time to give some love to Merrill Kelly for his sub 3.00 ERA across his last nine starts, aided by a better pitch mix with more cutters and curveballs.
• The exciting stuff comes in Tier 6 – the land of upside where all arms could be one start away from getting dropped. Reynaldo Lopez is the one to target now as he gets the Marlins next with fastball two ticks up from its season average. I love Asher Wojciechowski’s whiffability, Anthony DeSclafani’s surprising consistency lately, Kevin Gausman’s return to the Braves rotation, and Jose Urquidy flashing elite stuff with his fastball/changeup combination.
• And don’t forget Jordan Lyles finally honing his curveball once again over the weekend. He could help right away.
• Other new additions can be found in Tier Eight. Ryan Yarbrough cracks the list based on his fantastic changeup, Cal Quantrill’s good fastball command sets up decent secondary pitches, Alec Mills could be a good streamer, Dario Agrazal is getting stupid lucky but may produce in the short term, Jeff Samardzija returns after a recent surge in production, and Jakob Junis‘ slider has been unreal as of late.
• There were many major hits in the latter quarter, per usual. Jordan Yamamoto (aka Fair Jordan) may be losing his magic with a short leash in the Miami rotation, Martin Perez just isn’t cooking, Daniel Poncedeleon doesn’t look to be a dependable add, Tommy Milone’s strikeout upside is dwindling, and Zach Eflin’s “heavy” body isn’t doing him any favors.

(Photo by Justin Paradis – @FreshmeatComm)