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Top 400 Starting Pitchers For Fantasy Baseball 2024

Ranking The Best Starting Pitchers For Fantasy Baseball.

My Top 400 Starting Pitchers for 2024 Fantasy Baseball rankings are live!

Before you dive into 70,000 words of analysis, it’s incredibly important to establish a foundation for how to use these to the fullest. My thoughts on how to draft pitchers for 12-team leagues is not universal and understanding my weights and areas of importance will help you adjust accordingly for your leagues and your preferences.

Without this information, my rankings are useless and you’re going in blind. Don’t do that! You can be so much more than that with little effort.

Good luck! Fantasy Baseball season is here.

 

How To Use These Rankings

 

It’s important to take a moment to express my general philosophy for drafting starting pitchers. It remains unchanged from years past in case you’ve heard me say this before. My strategy comes in two parts. First:

  • 1. Draft FOUR starting pitchers I trust to never drop during the season

Essentially, you don’t need to get two of the Top 15 starters to excel. Instead, develop a foundation of four starters who won’t be so bad that they deserve a drop. This year, that speaks to the Top 49 starters at the end of Tier 7. It doesn’t mean just get three and call it a day, it just means having three starters allows you to have a foundation, even if it’s not including a top 10 starter. I heavily encourage grabbing four and then aiming to fill up the next two or three within that Top 50 if you can – generally, SP value lies in the middle of the draft, anyway – or at least going ham on the next tier in hopes that one of them sticks to become that fourth early.

  • 2. Chase upside & pitchers you can drop early instead of middling decent pitchers

This is I Don’t Draft Tobys in a nutshell and is rooted in how much opportunity there is on the waiver wire in April & May. You need to put yourself in a position to take chances on pitchers early in the season as so many of them hit and become legit foundation starters through the year. Make sure your final pitchers are guys you can move on early in April if it’s not panning out, and if you draft middling arms instead, you’ll likely hold onto a 3.70 ERA guy instead of taking the chance on a true league winner. Don’t be that manager.

Don’t believe me? Here are Starting Pitchers who had a 2023 ADP of #290 or later and could be snagged in your leagues:

 

 

And that’s not even including this rag-tag crew containing many pitchers you were able to grab at specific points of the season for legit value:

 

 

Now you understand. That’s where I’m coming from with these rankings and it’s important to not treat them as a “Best Ball” ranking – you’re not drafting a team you hold for the full year, instead you’re drafting a team with anticipation that you’re burning and churning at the back-end of your roster. It’s the way you win your leagues.

 

Early SP Schedules

 

One element that I often don’t discuss this early when doing rankings is the expected opening weekend schedule. It doesn’t have much of an impact on these rankings, but as we get closer to the start of the year and rotations become clearer after trades, signings, and injuries, it may reveal some late-round targets to sneak in a start or two in your head-to-head leagues that may turn into season-long holds (like Brayan Bello and Tyler Wells in 2023).

First, here are the individual offense ranks:

 

Nick’s Terrible Too Early 2024 Offense Ranks

 

In essence, we should only be considering being conservative against the Top tier offenses (and maybe some Solid tiers as well), while take a chance here or there against the Poor offenses (I’m sure some will surprise us!). Everything else in the middle is up for grabs.

 

And here is how the start of 2024 shapes up:

Early 2024 Team Schedules

 

Here are my thoughts on these opening schedules:

  • Does Rockie Road actually apply if the Rockies offense hasn’t actually played in Colorado yet? Part of their decline on the road is being used to how the ball moves in Coors and if they aren’t acclimated to it yet, the offense may perform better in Arizona and Chicago than expected.
  • These offense rankings were created in October and will obviously change once the season begins.
  • I personally love chasing late-round starters who pitch the opening weekend, though my rankings don’t reflect that currently. You can steal a productive outing, then drop them for whatever upside pitcher you were considering who hasn’t pitched yet. It’s just an extra hint of value you can steal at the beginning of the season.
  • The Padres and Dodgers are playing a two-game set (each with one game as the home team) in Seoul, South Korea a week before Opening Day. It makes me wonder if there’s a little extra value for having one of these four stud pitchers (possibly Joe Musgrove & Yu Darvish vs. Bobby Miller & Walker Buehler) toss one more start than everyone else.
  • Then again, it’s possible that your league is not counting the South Korea games. Plan accordingly.
  • In addition to this, the Padres fourth matchup is @SFG. while the Dodgers get @ CHC. Both of these act as the normal third matchups, given rotations will reset the week between the South Korea series and opening day.
  • ARI, CIN, MIA, CHW, CLE, DET, OAK each have seemingly favorable matchups to kick off the season. Here are a few pitchers who could go by Sunday who and provide sneaky draft value:

At first glance, it doesn’t seem like this strategy is all too helpful for 2024. That said, offenses will change, rotations will shift, and spring brings new excitement. Refer to this table in March.

 

Alright, let’s get to it now. Remember, these ranks are based on a 12-teamer, 5×5 roto format. Adjust accordingly to your situation.

For those unaware:

  • Cherry Bomb = A volatile pitcher who is either super sweet or blows up in your face. There are few middle grounds.
  • Toby = A middling pitcher who you can’t decide if they do enough to stay on your team and give you the itch to drop every single day. Named after Toby from The Office. Don’t draft them.
  • HollyThe better version of a Toby – essentially a starter who will be in the 21-24% strikeout range with decent ratios instead of the 20% strike rate or fewer of Toby types.

 

Read The Notes

 

  • This is your reminder to please read these notes as they’ll tell you plenty about my thought process and why I’m ranking guys in a certain way.
  • My thoughts have changed since October and even since recording podcasts as recently as early February. I’m sorry for the confusion, truly. It’s something I’ve wrestled with as I’ve done rankings for a decade now and ultimately, it’s better for you, the reader, that my analysis and rankings shift as I get new information instead of sticking with guns from a previous time for the same of preservation. After all, I just want to provide the best rank possible before opening day.
  • One more thing. Read the notes.

Nick Pollack

Founder of Pitcher List. Creator of CSW, The List, and SP Roundup. Worked with MSG, FanGraphs, CBS Sports, and Washington Post. Former college pitcher, travel coach, pitching coach, and Brandeis alum. Wants every pitcher to be dope.

9 responses to “Top 400 Starting Pitchers For Fantasy Baseball 2024”

  1. Jon Vander Lugt says:

    Thank you for breaking it up into multiple articles. One quick suggestion – would it be possible to list the top 400 as a plain list, so that way if there is a specific picture someone wants to look up, they know which article to go click on?

  2. theKraken says:

    Came here to post this. I am sure that you have your reasons for breaking it into the individual pages but I mainly care for the list.

  3. K Hughes says:

    I can proof read your guys work if you’re hiring an editor for that. I would also be happy to monitor the comments so stuff like this doesn’t happen?

  4. K Hughes says:

    Tried to reply to Julie Magie on my last comment. Why would your comment box say reply but it doesn’t show that you’re replying on another comment or not on the page?

  5. Mark W says:

    Spent a few hours on this. Hope it’s kosher to share, and it all fits…
    Spencer Strider
    Gerrit Cole
    Corbin Burnes
    Zack Wheeler
    Pablo López
    Luis Castillo
    George Kirby
    Kevin Gausman
    Zac Gallen
    Logan Webb
    Aaron Nola
    Yoshinobu Yamamoto
    Bobby Miller
    Cole Ragans
    Grayson Rodriguez
    Tyler Glasnow
    Kyle Bradish
    Zach Eflin
    Joe Musgrove
    Framber Valdez
    Kodai Senga
    Max Fried
    Freddy Peralta
    Eury Perez
    Tarik Skubal
    Logan Gilbert
    Jesus Luzardo
    Blake Snell
    Justin Steele
    Sonny Gray
    Yu Darvish
    Shota Imanaga
    Joe Ryan
    Bailey Ober
    Michael King
    Bryan Woo
    Chris Sale
    Nick Pivetta
    Tanner Bibee
    Shane Baz
    Dylan Cease
    Justin Verlander
    Chris Bassitt
    Brayan Bello
    Merrill Kelly
    Cristopher Sanchez
    Walker Buehler
    Jose Berrios
    Jordan Montgomery
    Carlos Rodon
    Nathan Eovaldi
    Gavin Williams
    Cristian Javier
    Ryan Pepiot
    Kutter Crawford
    Louie Varland
    Bryce Miller
    Yusei Kikuchi
    Luis Severino
    Lucas Giolito
    Hunter Brown
    Aaron Civale
    Shane Bieber
    Marcus Stroman
    Brandon Pfaadt
    Eduardo Rodriguez
    DL Hall
    Triston McKenzie
    Nick Lodolo
    Edward Cabrera
    Hunter Greene
    Nestor Cortes
    Aaron Ashby
    Kenta Maeda
    Emmet Sheehan
    Jordan Hicks
    Taj Bradley
    Mitch Keller
    Alek Manoah
    AJ Puk
    Michael Wacha
    Seth Lugo
    Braxton Garrett
    Jameson Taillon
    John Means
    Tanner Houck
    Charlie Morton
    Erick Fedde
    Trevor Rogers
    James Paxton
    Ricky Tiedemann
    Reese Olson
    Garrett Whitlock
    Lance Lynn
    Kyle Harrison
    Jacob deGrom
    Max Scherzer
    Drew Rasmussen
    Robbie Ray
    Clayton Kershaw
    Dustin May
    Paul Skenes
    Cade Horton
    Sawyer Gipson-Long
    Prelander Berroa
    Tylor Megill
    Mick Abel
    Max Meyer
    Robert Gasser
    Drew Thorpe
    Connor Phillips
    Joe Boyle
    Andrew Abbott
    Griffin Canning
    MacKenzie Gore
    Casey Mize
    Jon Gray
    Reid Detmers
    Chase Silseth
    Matt Manning
    Clarke Schmidt
    Nick Martinez
    Jhony Brito
    Logan Allen
    JP France
    Frankie Montas
    Sean Manaea
    Jack Flaherty
    Michael Soroka
    Jose Urquidy
    Yariel Rodriguez
    Garrett Crochet
    JP Sears
    Brady Singer
    Ryne Nelson
    Tyler Wells
    Chris Paddack
    Graham Ashcraft
    Ryan Weathers
    Wade Miley
    Jose Quintana
    Zack Littell
    Cody Bradford
    Dean Kremer
    Dane Dunning
    Kyle Hendricks
    Ranger Suarez
    Taijuan Walker
    Bryce Elder
    Mike Clevinger
    Keaton Winn
    Ross Stripling
    Alex Wood
    Kyle Gibson
    Hyun Jin Ryu
    Adrian Houser
    Steven Matz
    Andrew Heaney
    Patrick Sandoval
    Miles Mikolas
    Randy Vasquez
    Michael Lorenzen
    Luis Medina
    Josiah Gray
    Michael Kopech
    Tristan Beck
    Martin Perez
    Marco Gonzalez
    Jackson Jobe
    Jared Jones
    Royber Salinas
    Jacob Misiorowski
    Hurston Waldrep
    Chase Hampton
    Chayce McDermott
    Will Warren
    Cade Povich
    Tink Hence
    River Ryan
    Kyle Hurt
    David Festa
    Christian Scott
    DJ Herz
    Nick Nastrini
    Emerson Hancock
    Tyler Mahle
    Jeffrey Springs
    David Peterson
    Luis Garcia
    Lance McCullers Jr.
    Alex Cobb
    Brandon Woodruff
    Matthew Boyd
    Sandy Alcantara
    Shane McClanahan
    Tony Gonsolin
    Ian Anderson
    Kyle Wright
    Andrew Painter
    Vince Velasquez
    Mason Miller
    German Marquez
    JT Brubaker
    Kris Bubic
    Antonio Senzatela
    Deivi Garcia
    Owen White
    Colin Rea
    Huascar Ynoa
    Gavin Stone
    Javier Assad
    Reynaldo Lopez
    Ken Waldichuk
    Zack Thompson
    Jordan Wicks
    Hayden Wesneski
    Luis Patino
    Matt Waldron
    Brandon Williamson
    Bowden Francis
    Adrian Morejon
    Alec Marsh
    Alex Faedo
    Tyler Anderson
    Chris Flexen
    Paul Blackburn
    Jakob Junis
    Pedro Avila
    Luis L. Ortiz
    Bailey Falter
    Jake Irvin
    Jordan Lyles
    Patrick Corbin
    Trevor Williams
    Ty Madden
    Chase Petty
    AJ Smith-Shawver
    Jack Leiter
    Ben Brown
    Kai-Wei Teng
    Jairo Iriarte
    Joey Cantillo
    Daniel Espino
    Tekoah Roby
    Griff McGarry
    Mason Black
    Wikelman Gonzalez
    Carson Whisenhunt
    Landen Roupp
    Ian Seymour
    Jake Eder
    Luis Gil
    Wilmer Flores
    Joey Estes
    Mike Vasil
    Adam Plutko
    Spencer Turnbull
    Roansy Contreras
    Joe Ross
    Naoyuki Uwasawa
    Carlos Carrasco
    Joey Wentz
    Bryan Hoeing
    Zach Davies
    Eric Lauer
    Drew Rucinski
    Adrián Martínez
    Kenny Rosenberg
    Jose Butto
    Ryan Yarbrough
    Anthony DeSclafani
    Michael Grove
    Hogan Harris
    Austin Voth
    Elieser Hernandez
    Joey Lucchesi
    Luke Weaver
    Jaime Barría
    Zach Plesac
    Kyle Freeland
    Cal Quantrill
    Austin Gomber
    Dakota Hudson
    Ryan Feltner
    Justin Dunn
    Johnny Cueto
    Corey Kluber
    Noah Syndergaard
    Brad Keller
    Rich Hill
    Jose Urena
    Julio Teheran
    Chase Anderson
    Dallas Keuchel
    Jake Odorizzi
    Zack Greinke
    Yonny Chirinos
    Allan Winans
    Quinn Priester
    Jimmy Joyce
    Bryan Mata
    Sean Burke
    Dominic Hamel
    Jackson Wolf
    Angel Bastardo
    Yu-Min Lin
    Julian Aguiar
    Justin Armbruester
    Freddy Tarnok
    Jarlin Susana
    Dylan Lesko
    Cole Henry
    Cade Cavalli
    Chase Dollander
    Caleb Kilian
    Adam Mazur
    Blade Tidwell
    Simeon Woods Richardson
    Clayton Beeter
    Sem Robberse
    Matt Canterino
    Carlos F. Rodriguez
    Spencer Arrighetti
    Forrest Whitley
    Matt Sauer
    Noah Schultz
    Robby Snelling
    Ethan Small
    Ronel Blanco
    Jose Suarez
    Tommy Henry
    Slade Cecconi
    Bryce Jarvis
    Xzavion Curry
    Josh Winckowski
    Hunter Gaddis
    Daulton Jefferies
    Lyon Richardson
    Kyle Muller
    Osvaldo Bido
    Cole Irvin
    Bruce Zimmermann
    Janson Junk
    Jackson Rutledge
    Drew Rom
    Matthew Liberatore
    Mitch White
    Glenn Otto
    Davis Daniel
    Touki Toussaint
    Jared Shuster
    Drew Smyly
    Joan Adon
    Daniel Lynch IV
    Cooper Criswell
    Chad Kuhl
    Jake Woodford
    Kolby Allard
    Angel Zerpa
    Brandon Bielak
    Sixto Sanchez
    Cody Morris
    Connor Overton
    Beau Brieske
    Jesse Scholtens
    Shawn Dubin
    Noah Davis
    Ty Blach
    Peter Lambert
    Landon Knack
    Corbin Martin
    Mason Montgomery
    Cole Wilcox
    Keider Montero
    Darius Vines
    Taylor Dollard
    Thaddeus Ward
    Josh Stephan
    Carson Palmquist
    Joe Rock
    Michael McGreevy
    Cristian Mena
    Ky Bush
    Carson Seymour
    Blayne Enlow
    Maddux Bruns
    Blake Walston
    Dylan Dodd
    Tejay Antone
    Sean Newcomb
    James Kaprielian
    Bryse Wilson
    Ben Lively
    Jonathan Heasley
    Tyler Alexander
    Luis Cessa
    Levi Stoudt
    Spenser Watkins
    Danny Duffy
    Tyler Beede

  6. Matthew H says:

    Thanks Mark, this is exactly what I was wanting for draft day.

  7. Damian says:

    Mark W, you’re awesome.

  8. alex says:

    this is all i wanted to see, thank you

  9. Keith Morin says:

    Will this list be updated as spring training moves along?

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