Every day of the 2022 baseball season, I’ll be looking at today and tomorrow’s slate of scheduled starting pitchers and ranking their matchups for your fantasy baseball streams.
There’s a lot that goes into this and you can hang out with me on Twitch.tv/pitcherlist to talk about the specific ranks as I make them every weekday morning from 9am – 11am ET. If you have questions to these ranks, please ask during the morning Twitch AMA. Those are my office hours as I generally don’t answer comments on the site.
There are four tiers to these rankings with 12-teamers in mind:
Auto-Start – Just do it. Don’t overthink this, start the man.
Probably Start – I’m likely starting these arms, though I recognize there is more risk than we’d like there to be. Either it’s a tough matchup for a good pitcher or a weak lineup for a volatile arm.
Questionable Start – There are situations where I’d take the chance, either with strong enough upside on the ability side, or a poor offense that a pitcher could take advantage of.
Do Not Start – The reward is not worth the risk. Don’t do it.
Obviously, there will be circumstances where pitchers should move between teams for your situation specifically and these new tiers should act as a little more help than the straight table from last year.
Please keep in mind that streaming is far from a perfect play. In fact, if they work out over half the time, I’d consider it a success. These matchup rankings & streamer picks are going to be wildly different than the actual results throughout the year, so please, have sympathy before the scathing comments and tweets. I’m only trying to help!
Make sure to read the notes if you’re wondering why I’m favoring certain pitchers over others – I won’t get to everyone and hopefully I answer what questions you will have.
There is a second table for tomorrow’s starting pitcher matchups as well, helping everyone get a jump on their nightly pickups. Please note that these matchups are subject to change, though, and there will be times when I have the incorrect pitcher going. I thank you for your future understanding.
Finally, there are my streaming picks of the day, and please keep in mind that I am forced to pick a streamer every day. Those highlighted in Green are in the second tier and I’d roll with them everywhere. The most common are those in Yellow in the third tier and should be decent if you’re searching for something on a given day. Finally, those are Red are those I really don’t want to start (they are labeled as “Do Not Start”, after all) but have no other choice. Don’t stream these guys until you are truly desperate. A streaming pick is defined as “rostered in 20% or fewer leagues,” which really emphasizes the point that I’d be happy if over 50% of these worked. I could do the whole sub 30/40% rostered, but there’s no fun in that. You can use the rankings to realize who would be those picks, instead.
(Opener) – Outlines that a pitcher is being opened for that day & the pitcher listed will follow the opener.
As I do my rankings, I thought it would be helpful to showcase a table of how we’re ranking offenses. Dave Swan does an incredible job of showcasing future SP matchups every 2-3 weeks in this article, and I’ve elected to use his offense ranks to share with all of you here:
I’m sure it’ll change through the year + there are differences to be made about teams vs. LHP or RHP, but it’s a great general table that y’all should keep in mind.
Alright, let’s get to it.
2022 Streamer Record: 23-10
Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- The top tier is the top tier for obvious reasons. I find myself saying the same line each day about the top tier and in full honesty, you don’t need me most of the time to tell you these guys are great.
- At the bottom of the tier are two younger arms against arguably good offenses – Kyle Wright and Joe Ryan. Wright hasn’t looked quite as sharp in his last two outings but the Sawx are struggling and you can’t deny his string of success. Additionally, Ryan has performed well and you’re tossing him out there for each start at this point, even if it’s the Astros.
- In the second tier, I believe in Luis Severino’s ability and would still be starting him against the tough Jays offense. The secondaires haven’t been as sharp in the last two starts and I think they turn it around.
- It’s Tony Gonsolin against the Pirates and that seems like a slam dunk. I still have some small concerns about the consistency of his slider, but Gonsolin has done enough this year to become a clear play against Pittsburgh.
- In the third tier, Garrett Whitlock leads as he looked phenomenal last time out. That said, we haven’t seen him go deep into a start yet, it’s a small sample, and Atlanta is a strong offense. Feel free to start if you like, I have to be a little conservative given the risks.
- Our streaming pick of the day is a reluctant Reid Detmers as he faces the Rays. I’m not too thrilled given the slider’s inability to earn whiffs this year, but there’s certainly a chance he does well with his excellent hook & heaters at the top of the zone.
- It’s Toby city in the third tier with Cal Quantrill, Madison Bumgarner, Brad Keller, and Corey Kluber. Take your pick as to your favorite.
- I could even see youngin’ Kyle Bradish get thrown in with the same Toby label as the others, despite only two starts under his belt. He had a horrid fourth frame in his last start but could rebound in a major way against the Cardinals.
- In the bottom tier, I was tempted to toss Martín Pérez behind Corey Kluber as he’s been on a roll lately and could be a Vargas Rule. It’s still Pérez, though, and all he’s doing is commanding along the edges effectively at the moment. That can disappear in a flash.
- It doesn’t feel right to see Hunter Greene in the bottom tier, but with his recent struggles and a hot Brewers offense, it doesn’t seem like the right time to let Greene fly.
- It’s possible Adam Wainwright returns today from the COVID-IL to start against the Orioles. I imagine he may be a bit limited in his return, so a normal solid outing against the Orioles gets demoted to the bottom of the Questionable Start tier.
- It’s the 2022 debut of Wade Miley today as he faces the Padres. There’s a temptation to start him given the struggles of the San Diego bats, but I’d sit this out. It’s a Still ILL where the expectation is a Toby. That ain’t it.
Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- The top tier begins with Shohei Ohtani and we should all be so thankful for it. What a time to be alive.
- Do I feel that Sandy Alcantara is the de facto #2 play? Not really given his recent command questions. That said, the rest of the crew here do not have the best matchups and I’ll keep the faith that Sandy has a TIARA and will showcase last year’s slider once again.
- At the bottom of the top tier, there’s The Great Undulater himself, José Berríos. I know it’s against the Yankees and he hasn’t been himself, but Berríos is one of those arms who performs how he performs regardless of opponent. He fluctuates like this every season and if you have him rostered, you start him. This is the way.
- I’m also a fan of Alex Cobb hosting Rockie Road in San Francisco. Cobb’s last start looked like everything we’ve wanted from Cobb this year, making Wendesday’s game a prime opportunity for resounding success.
- In the second tier, I had some trouble with the bottom half of arms. Chad Kuhl has been on a ridiculous run with his improved slider and while I’d hope he could face Arizona a second time, the Giants aren’t as scary against right-handers in their home park.
- Ian Anderson has been a Cherry Bomb this season and I understand some wanting him in the tier below. He’s looking better across his last few starts than the atrocity we saw in early April and with the Red Sox struggling, I’m throwing him out there.
- There’s also Jameson Taillon as he’s fresh off a strong outing against the same Jays crew last week. I think if you have him on your rosters, you’re letting him fly.
- Our streaming pick of the day can be found in the second tier for the first time in a while with Nick Martinez facing the Cubs. While I don’t think that Martinez is quite as polished as he can be at the moment, he went seven strong last time out and the Cubs shouldn’t be a major hurdle to stop his momentum.
- The third tier is a short one and starts with Adrian Houser against the Reds. I know, he just had that start and disappointed us, but considering this tier is all about 50/50 chances, you can argue that his sole bad start was the wrong side of the coin.
- With Aaron Civale going 30% curveballs and 30% cutters last time out, I can’t but wonder if this start against the White Sox (poor against right-handers!) will generate some extra hype for Civale moving forward…or we may see him return to his April self with a 90 mph heater.
- And why not, Vince Velasquez has earned a surprising amount of whiffs lately and the Guardians aren’t the toughest opponents out there. I could see this working one more time.
- In the bottom tier, Zach Logue could draw some eyes against the Tigers. I don’t think there’s enough here to properly chase for me to consider starting him, but there’s an outside chance he puts together 5+ frames to make it worthwhile for daring managers.
- There are plenty of unfamiliar names in the bottom tier and in general, avoid them. Watch what they do in their young careers and maybe we’ll start A.J. Alexy or Ryan Pepiot down the road – don’t put yourself in harms way now.
- That includes Brady Singer as he returns from the minors. I sure hope he’s doing more than sinker/slider these days.
Featured Image by Drew Wheeler (@drewisokay on Twitter)