The List 5/6 – Ranking The Top 100 Starting Pitchers Every Monday

[pitcher_list_new list_id=”30939″]

 

Fringe Starters

 

 

What is happening!

It’s a new season and the weekly updates to The List have returned. I’ll be ranking the Top 100 Starting Pitchers every Monday from now until the end of the season.

Before I dive into the player notes, here are the new List features from last year’s editions:

• 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 leagues.

 

Player Notes

 

• First and foremost, with four Top 25 guys falling to injury – Jameson Taillon, Corey Kluber, James Paxton, and David Price – There is a lot of green to be had. Keep in mind the inherent “+4” for a lot of players.
• I also should have placed Clayton Kershaw last week at #9 (now #8 due to Kluber). This has been corrected.
• Some big moves this week as I’ve pushed up a lot of the early performers. Tyler Glasnow deserved more love despite my skepticism of his mechanics, Caleb Smith bumped ahead a crew of Spice Girls, Max Fried and Mike Soroka rising the ranks to #30 and #31, and Domingo German’s swing-and-miss stuff with job security landing him inside the Top 30.
• Major jumps were also abundant in Tier 5, where I found myself chasing arms off waiver wires in all leagues. Luke Weaver’s fastball/changeup command is tantalizing, Jerad Eickhoff’s slider is a great addition to his curveball, Frankie Montas is missing bats, Mike Minor’s run is stupid good, Matt Strahm’s fastball getting work done even without a pristine slider, Griffin Canning looking impressive with three pitches in his debut, and Spencer Turnbull’s sparkling ERA returning possible value even when the regression hits.
• I also had to rise the likes of Anthony DeSclafani and Rick Porcello. Tony Disco has improved with his increased curveball usage, while Porcello is forming into a decent Toby for a winning ballclub.
• Martin Perez, Jake Odorizzi, Zach Davies, and Lucas Giolito all join The List this week. Perez holds the #1 cutter in the majors and could be a stable arm through the year, Odorizzi is doing great things with his deuce, Davies is a clear Vargas Rule, but needs to be owned at the moment, and Giolito’s secondary stuff looked great against the Red Sox despite the bottom line.
• Few expected drops came as well. Yu Darvish’s command is far from consistent and while I debated heavily on putting him farther, his ceiling makes him still a must own in 12-teamers. Trevor Richards and Michael Pineda are Cherry Bombs that need to be approached with caution. Brad Keller isn’t returning the Toby value we wanted, Kenta Maeda could be out of a job soon with Ross Stripling and Julio Urias accessible options for the Dodgers, and Kyle Freeland’s command is far from its 2018 self.
• Finally, there’s Felix Hernandez and Jonathan Loaisiga entering this week. Loaisiga will be taking James Paxton’s spot in the rotation and could return dividends soon, though it may take a start to get there. Felix has become intriguing recently, featuring plenty more curveballs with success, earning 8 Ks in back-to-back games.

(Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire)