2017 Rankings: Top 100 Dynasty Starting Pitchers

After Tuesday’s Top 150 Dynasty Hitters we continue our dynasty rankings with our 2017 Top 100 Dynasty Starting Pitchers! I find dynasty pitching to be a much more difficult aspect of dynasty baseball than batting. The parity between an elite pitcher and an average pitcher isn’t nearly as wide as an elite batter compared to an average batter. A middle-of-the-road pitcher can still net you somewhat decent strike outs, wins, QSs, and even ERA if you choose matchups wisely, whereas your average batter won’t put up nearly the counting stats (HRs, RBIs, Runs etc…) that an elite batter in the cleanup spot will. This is why people usually draft bats first in drafts; there’s enough pitching talent later on to still have a good pitching rotation. The prospect game is also different for pitchers. Top pitching prospects fizzle out much more often that their batting counterparts. It takes years of getting knocked around for pitchers to hone their skills. That’s why you see a lot of Cy Young winners in their late 20s/early 30s. But enough of my dynasty tips! The following is a list of my top 100 pitchers for dynasty leagues (not to be confused with Nick’s Top 100 Starting Pitchers for 2017).

Tier 1: The Elite

These are the guys who consistently give you great stats year after year. Athletic, smart, and with a diverse arsenal, you can basically start them for every matchup worry free. Low ERAs and WHIP, and high Ks and innings pitched are the primary characteristic of these pitchers.

1. Clayton Kershaw (28, Los Angeles Dodgers)

2. Noah Syndergaard (24, New York Mets)

3. Max Scherzer (32, Washington Nationals)

4. Chris Sale (27, Boston Red Sox)

5. Madison Bumgarner 27, San Francisco Giants)

6. Corey Kluber (30, Cleveland Indians)

7. Stephen Strasburg (28, Washington Nationals)

8. David Price (31, Boston Red Sox)

9. Jake Arrieta (31, Chicago Cubs)

10. Yu Darvish (30, Texas Rangers)

11. Justin Verlander (34, Detroit Tigers)

12. Gerrit Cole (26, Pittsburgh Pirates)

13. Carlos Carrasco (29, Cleveland Indians)

14. Jacob DeGrom (28, New York Mets)

15. Chris Archer (28, Tampa Bay Rays)

16. Jon Lester (33, Chicago Cubs)

17. Johnny Cueto (31, San Francisco Giants)

18. Cole Hamels (33, Texas Rangers)

19. Kyle Hendricks (27, Chicago Cubs)

20. Carlos Martinez (25, St. Louis Cardinals)

Tier 2: Youngsters and Producers

This group basically consists of veterans with slightly higher ERAs and lower K-rates than the above tier, and younger pitchers who have shown poise and flashes of brilliance over at least a season. A handful of these names will be moving into Tier 1 next year. Finding out who that will be is the challenge for dynasty owners.

21. Lance McCullers (23, Houston Astros)

22. Danny Salazar (27, Cleveland Indians)

23. Julio Teheran (26, Atlanta Braves)

24. Kevin Gausman (26, Baltimore Orioles)

25. Aaron Nola (23, Philadelphia Phillies)

26. Jose Quintana (28, Chicago White Sox)

27. Aaron Sanchez (24, Toronto Blue Jays)

28. Julio Urias (20, Los Angeles Dodgers)

29. Jameson Taillon (25, Pittsburgh Pirates)

30. Kenta Maeda (28, Los Angeles Dodgers)

31. Sean Manaea (25, Oakland Athletics)

32. Zack Greinke (33, Arizona Diamondbacks)

33. Michael Fulmer (24, Detroit Tigers)

34. Rick Porcello (28, Boston Red Sox)

35. Jonathan Gray (25, Colorado Rockies)

36. Steven Matz (25, New York Mets)

37. Danny Duffy (28, Kansas City Royals)

38. Masahiro Tanaka (28, New York Yankees)

39. Matt Harvey (27, New York Mets)

40. Tyler Glasnow (23, Pittsburgh Pirates)

41. Carlos Rodon (24, Chicago White Sox)

42. Marcus Stroman (25, Toronto Blue Jays)

43. Sonny Gray (27, Oakland Athletics)

44. Vincent Velasquez (24, Philadelphia Phillies)

45. Felix Hernandez (30, Seattle Mariners)

46. Dallas Keuchel (29, Houston Astros)

47. Taijuan Walker (24, Arizona Diamondbacks)

48. Michael Pineda (28, New York Yankees)

49. Alex Reyes (22, St. Louis Cardinals)

50. Robbie Ray (25, Arizona Diamondbacks)

51. Jake Odorizzi (26, Tampa Bay Rays)

52. Drew Pomeranz (28, Boston Red Sox)

53. Blake Snell (24, Tampa Bay Rays)

54. Rich Hill (37, Los Angeles Dodgers)

55. James Paxton (28, Seattle Mariners)

56. Joe Ross (23, Washington Nationals)

57. John Lackey (38, Chicago Cubs)

58. Anthony DeSclafani (26, Cincinnati Reds)

Tier 3: The Older or Unproven

The title of this tier makes the next list of players sound like old horses counting the days until the glue factory. The truth is that there is a TON of value in some of these older pitchers. A novice dynasty owner will overly focus on super young arms, paying an insane premium on players years away from there prime. You can get a great discount on these next pitchers by getting a desperate owner to think they are at the twilight of their career and, therefor, useless. But they are far from useless, and can be the difference in a championship run. There are also some prospects on this list, and although they have great potential, I would be cautious with them.

59. Drew Smyly (27, Seattle Mariners)

60. Tanner Roark (30, Washington Nationals)

61. Jeff Samardzija (32, San Francisco Giants)

62. Matt Shoemaker (30, Los Angeles Angels)

63. Tyson Ross (29, texas Rangers)

64. Jharel Cotton (25, Oakland Athletics)

65. Jerad Eickhoff (26, Philadelphia Phillies)

66. Garrett Richards (28, los Angeles Angels)

67. Raisel Iglesias (27, Cincinnati Reds)

68. Marco Estrada (33, toronto Blue Jays)

69. Dylan Bundy (24, Baltimore Orioles)

70. Lance Lynn (29, St. Louis Cardinals)

71. Jose De Leon (24, Tampa Bay Rays)

72. Matt Moore (27, San francisco Giants)

73. Hisashi Iwakuma (35, Seattle Mariners)

74. Collin McHugh (29, Houston Astros)

75. Gio Gonzalez (31, Washington Nationals)

76. Jose Berrios (22, Minnesota Twins)

77. J.A. Happ (34, Toronto Blue Jays)

78. Josh Hader (22, Milwaukee Brewers)

79. Lucas Giolito (22, Chicago White Sox)

80. Chris Tillman (28, Baltimore Orioles)

81. Adam Wainwright (35, St. Louis Cardinals)

82. Luis Severino (23, New York Yankees)

83. Jordan Zimmermann (30, Detroit Tigers)

84. Tyler Anderson (27, Colorado Rockies)

85. Luke Weaver (23, St. Louis Cardinals)

86. Shelby Miller (26, Arizona Diamondbacks)

87. Junior Guerra (32, Milwaukee Brewers)

88. Ervin Santana (34, Minnesota Twins)

89. Alex Cobb (29, Tampa Bay Rays)

90. Michael Wacha (25, St. Louis Cardinals)

91. Archie Bradley (24, Arizona Diamondbacks)

92. Trevor Bauer (26, Cleveland Indians)

93. Collin McHugh (29, Houston Astros)

94. David Phelps (30, Miami Marlins)

95. Joe Musgrove (24, Houston Astros)

96. Ian Kennedy (32, Kansas City Royals)

97. Eduardo Rodriguez (23, Boston Red Sox)

98. Scott Kazmir (33, Los Angeles Dodgers)

99. Mike Montgomery (27, Chicago Cubs)

100. Francisco Liriano (33, Toronto Blue Jays)