Every week, I will be releasing “The List” where I rank the current value of the Top 100 pitchers in fantasy baseball for the rest of the season. Use these rankings to help understand what to expect from pitchers for the rest of 2016, and as a tool to gauge trade value in your fantasy leagues.
Let’s see how the SP landscape has changed since last week:
| Rank | Player | Prev | Best | Worst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Scherzer | 6 | 3 | 6 |
| 2 | Madison Bumgarner | 3 | 3 | 11 |
| 3 | Stephen Strasburg | 3 | 3 | 12 |
| 4 | Jose Fernandez | 4 | 4 | 9 |
| 5 | Clayton Kershaw | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| 6 | Jake Arrieta | 6 | 2 | 6 |
| 7 | Chris Sale | 7 | 3 | 7 |
| 8 | Jacob DeGrom | 8 | 6 | 8 |
| 9 | Noah Syndergaard | 9 | 4 | 11 |
| 10 | Carlos Carrasco | 13 | 9 | 19 |
| 11 | Johnny Cueto | 11 | 11 | 30 |
| 12 | David Price | 12 | 8 | 14 |
| 13 | Jon Lester | 13 | 13 | 19 |
| 14 | Rich Hill | 14 | 14 | 105 |
| 15 | Corey Kluber | 15 | 8 | 15 |
| 16 | Justin Verlander | 16 | 16 | 31 |
| 17 | Steven Matz | 17 | 17 | 27 |
| 18 | Zack Greinke | 18 | 12 | 18 |
| 19 | Gerrit Cole | 19 | 13 | 25 |
| 20 | Yu Darvish | 20 | 20 | 44 |
| 21 | Danny Salazar | 21 | 16 | 23 |
| 22 | Drew Pomeranz | 36 | 36 | 172 |
| 23 | Masahiro Tanaka | 39 | 37 | 39 |
| 24 | Kyle Hendricks | 24 | 24 | 61 |
| 25 | Aaron Nola | 25 | 25 | 48 |
| 26 | Michael Fulmer | 26 | 26 | 254 |
| 27 | Carlos Martinez | 27 | 23 | 35 |
| 28 | Kenta Maeda | 28 | 28 | 63 |
| 29 | John Lackey | 29 | 18 | 67 |
| 30 | Cole Hamels | 30 | 20 | 30 |
| 31 | Jose Quintana | 31 | 23 | 39 |
| 32 | Danny Duffy | 32 | 32 | 142 |
| 33 | Felix Hernandez | 33 | 16 | 41 |
| 34 | Matt Shoemaker | 34 | 31 | 124 |
| 35 | James Paxton | 35 | 35 | 121 |
| 36 | Anthony DeSclafani | 36 | 36 | 110 |
| 37 | Steven Wright | 37 | 30 | 222 |
| 38 | Aaron Sanchez | 38 | 38 | 236 |
| 39 | Vincent Velasquez | 39 | 37 | 72 |
| 40 | Adam Wainwright | 40 | 22 | 84 |
| 41 | Jerad Eickhoff | 41 | 41 | 70 |
| 42 | Sonny Gray | 42 | 25 | 42 |
| 43 | Taijuan Walker | 43 | 29 | 50 |
| 44 | Marco Estrada | 44 | 44 | 91 |
| 45 | Bud Norris | 49 | 49 | 323 |
| 46 | Trevor Bauer | 47 | 42 | 136 |
| 47 | Julio Teheran | 48 | 21 | 116 |
| 48 | Tanner Roark | 50 | 46 | 142 |
| 49 | Rick Porcello | 51 | 51 | 70 |
| 50 | Kevin Gausman | 45 | 45 | 72 |
| 51 | Lance McCullers | 46 | 36 | 46 |
| 52 | Dallas Keuchel | 52 | 15 | 65 |
| 53 | Jameson Taillon | 53 | 39 | 188 |
| 54 | Jason Hammel | 54 | 50 | 68 |
| 55 | Chris Archer | 55 | 14 | 64 |
| 56 | Michael Pineda | 56 | 24 | 82 |
| 57 | Blake Snell | 57 | 50 | 85 |
| 58 | Jeff Samardzija | 58 | 26 | 78 |
| 59 | Chris Tillman | 59 | 51 | 129 |
| 60 | Michael Wacha | 60 | 45 | 63 |
| 61 | Marcus Stroman | 61 | 20 | 88 |
| 62 | Daniel Mengden | 62 | 61 | 334 |
| 63 | Brandon McCarthy | 63 | 63 | 225 |
| 64 | Junior Guerra | 64 | 64 | 329 |
| 65 | Drew Smyly | 65 | 22 | 65 |
| 66 | Carlos Rodon | 66 | 39 | 66 |
| 67 | Lucas Giolito | 67 | 58 | 136 |
| 68 | Ian Kennedy | 68 | 56 | 81 |
| 69 | J.A. Happ | 69 | 69 | 90 |
| 70 | Tyler Glasnow | 70 | 66 | 93 |
| 71 | Jake Odorizzi | 71 | 34 | 71 |
| 72 | Josh Tomlin | 72 | 71 | 87 |
| 73 | Mike Foltynewicz | 73 | 73 | 316 |
| 74 | Alex Cobb | 74 | 74 | 101 |
| 75 | Zack Wheeler | 75 | 75 | 103 |
| 76 | Joe Ross | 101 | 31 | 101 |
| 77 | Zach Davies | 76 | 76 | 187 |
| 78 | Zach Eflin | 77 | 77 | 333 |
| 79 | Collin McHugh | 78 | 59 | 95 |
| 80 | Jon Gray | 79 | 73 | 144 |
| 81 | Hisashi Iwakuma | 80 | 40 | 89 |
| 82 | Adam Conley | 81 | 72 | 120 |
| 83 | Mike Leake | 82 | 68 | 127 |
| 84 | Robbie Ray | 83 | 71 | 119 |
| 85 | Doug Fister | 84 | 82 | 147 |
| 86 | Bartolo Colon | 95 | 89 | 143 |
| 87 | Mike Montgomery | 86 | 86 | 297 |
| 88 | Alex Reyes | 87 | 87 | 330 |
| 89 | Scott Kazmir | 88 | 66 | 102 |
| 90 | Matt Moore | 89 | 56 | 113 |
| 91 | Tyson Ross | 90 | 44 | 103 |
| 92 | Archie Bradley | 91 | 77 | 135 |
| 93 | Gio Gonzalez | 92 | 55 | 92 |
| 94 | Jaime Garcia | 93 | 31 | 93 |
| 95 | Jeremy Hellickson | 105 | 88 | 153 |
| 96 | Cody Reed | 95 | 67 | 335 |
| 97 | Chad Green | 96 | 96 | 337 |
| 98 | Jordan Zimmermann | 97 | 40 | 97 |
| 99 | Yordano Ventura | 98 | 50 | 98 |
| 100 | Jimmy Nelson | 99 | 85 | 111 |
Notes
– A little more shuffling in the Top 10 as Arrieta has continued to make us question his ability to be a true stud. Clayton Kershaw also looks to be way ahead of schedule, making him move up above the more questionable aces. Meanwhile, Noah Syndergaard is fighting injuries and takes a strong hit.
– You may be a little surprised at Justin Verlander rising all the way to #16, but keep in mind it’s due to players falling behind him, like John Lackey and Danny Salazar, the latter of which reported elbow soreness, and mixed with a questionable walk rate and high hard contact have forced him out of the Top 20 for the first time in a long time.
– Jose Quintana has also taken a sizeable fall as his last four starts have been very worrisome. He’s getting less movement on his heavily relied on Curveball, and it looks to be a more consistent lack of performance than a small blip on the radar.
– Carlos Martinez has turned it up in the last month, featuring a 1.49 ERA (2.84 FIP!) with a 2.65 BB/9 and 8.12 K/9 over his last eight starts. It’s somewhat small sample, but enough to bump him into the 20s.
– Martinez’s teammate Adam Wainwright has also shown newfound success, earning himself a sub 3.00 ERA across his last ten outings. I’m not fully sold he’s returned to be a stable asset, though his recent performances are enough to raise him to #40 given the dearth of dependable options.
– Dallas Keuchel has shown improvement across his last five starts with a 2.78 ERA. It doesn’t look to be quite sustainable, but there may be something there that will prevent him from being pure waiver wire fodder in the second half.
– After striking out a career high 10 batters over the weekend, Mike Foltynewicz rejoins the fray. I don’t expect him to harness his upside consistently, but the chance to produce at a high level on a given night gives him a seat inside the Top 75.
– Mike Montgomery also gets his chance back on The List as he pitches for the injury-riddled Mariners. I could be a short stint in the rotation, but there’s an outside chance he sticks once Felix/Taijuan return given the poor performances of Wade Miley. If a switch were to occur, Nate Karns is the first obvious option, but if Monty is performing, he could get more opportunities.