The List 7/29 – Ranking The Top 100 Starting Pitchers Every Monday

[pitcher_list_new list_id=”34582″]

 

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

 

• With Max Scherzer and Blake Snell both hitting the IL this week, that means EVERYONE GETS A NET POSITIVE! Well, not everyone, but take note of the innate (+2) handed out outside of Tier 1.
• Not a whole lot of movement in the Top 25 save for Trevor Bauer getting a bit of a demotion given his volatility and Lance Lynn making moves to the Top 20 as he hasn’t stopped his strikeout production. One more start til an AGA there.
• I introduced another tier after the third since there are a good amount of names that should be Tier 3, but have been disappointing one way or another, while still clearly separating themselves from Tier 5. Kyle Hendricks is the only exception of just being a really good steady arm, just without the strikeout upside to lift him higher. And let’s also hope Sonny Gray continues his rise each week.
• Zack Wheeler and Brendan McKay return to The List this week. Wheeler is back from injury and could be dealt this week, which would boost his value save for a trade to the worst team (ala Marcus Stroman, seriously?). I debated with the Discord community about adding McKay, but with Snell’s IL stint you have to think McKay returns this week and I should stress the importance of owning the southpaw.
• Tier 6 saw some movement with German Marquez impressing in two road starts (please don’t die in Coors) while Jake Odorizzi is losing his footing in Minnesota. Here’s to the latter getting another QS in the near future.
• The fun stuff is in Tier 7…which may surprise some people, especially with today’s main image. I’m loving what all three of Jose Urquidy, Reynaldo Lopez, and Asher Wojciechowski are doing, but the fact of the matter is that Urquidy’s hypothetical schedule is miles better than what ReyLo and Woj get matched up with. It’s a pity – I really want Woj to be the savior of the second half – but with a rugged schedule ahead for the pair (and ReyLo’s slight decline in velocity last time), Urquidy looks to be the better choice.
• When I said fun tier, I was ignoring the drops to Joe Musgrove, Masahiro Tanaka, and Chris Archer. These three just can’t seem to find a rhythm and while I believe each has a better skillset than they are displaying, it may be headache the rest of the way.
• Many are curious what to make of Alex Wood and for now, he’s a glorified Toby. That’s cool, maybe sit him for his next start against the Braves and start with confidence – if he impresses, awesome! Now we feel even better about him.
• Tiers 8 and 9 are two distinct categories: Tier 8 = the “Why not, maybe this pans out” group. Tier 9 = If you need a desperate stream or in a deep league these won’t kill you.
• Brad Keller had a ridiculous 2 tick boost in fastball velocity last time out and I’m curious if it sticks. Julio Teheran has defied everything for a sub 3.50 ERA thus far. Steven Matz just threw a 99 pitch CGSHO Maddux. Trevor Williams is suddenly getting whiffs on sliders. Aaron Sanchez used his fastball the least of any game this year and had 10 strikeouts. Elieser Hernandez is back in the Marlins rotation. Jordan Lyles is now a Brewer and could succeed. Pedro Payano is better than you think he is (since you likely have no idea who he is). And so on.
• Jason Vargas, Mike Leake, and Kyle Freeland all got the call this week to hit the Top 100, though don’t get any ideas. They are all far off from being consistent producers.

(Photo by Justin Paradis – @FreshmeatComm)