The List 5/15: Ranking The Top 100 Starting Pitchers Every Monday

Every Monday during the season, 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 2017 and as a tool to gauge trade value in your fantasy leagues. Note: These rankings have been made with H2H 5×5 12-teamers in mind.

Let’s see how the SP landscape has changed:

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Notes

• I want to address a common misconception about this List. It’s easy to look at people getting change arrows one way or another and think each move is a direct result of that pitcher’s performance. More often than not, it’s a product of the arms around him moving heavily. Great example is Dylan Bundy getting a boost this week simply because I’m not liking how the names that were around him – Jose Quintana, Danny Salazar, Masahiro Tanaka – have been performing. I’m still selling high on Bundy, but given the circumstances, he gets a bump.
• Some big moves this week, especially with new adds. First up is Alex Wood, who is absolutely dominating. Best xFIP in the majors, 60%+ groundball rate, 12+ K/9…I’m all aboard this hype train.
• Nate Karns also gets a ton of love as he’s changed his approach to throw more Knuckle-Curves, which are getting nearly 30% whiffs. The heavy reliance on breaking balls is working in a bit way and he should be an instant add in all 12-teamers.
• Two others enter The List in a big way – Joe Biagini and Zack Godley. With the Jays so hurt, Biagini is getting plenty of time as a starter and his groundball numbers with low walks play up well. Not the same upside as other names but definitely worth a flier. Godley bumped up his velocity since last year and is getting results. Two great starts ahead could propel his value further and is worth the add given how desolate plenty of owners’ staffs are.
• Jose Berrios has arrived and is worth the add everywhere. It’s definitely possible he falls off just like last year, but for now he’s worth the spot in case he avoids the collapse.
• Justin Verlander, Jon Lester, and Jake Arrieta each took hits this week, while the likes of Zack Greinke and Carlos Carrasco keep performing well. Don’t give up on the former trio, but it’s hard to favor them over other options that show little signs of slowing down.
• While I expect an improvement from Jose Quintana, he takes a sizeable drop as I would rather have more consistent ratio pitchers or arms with bigger upside at this point.
• Ivan Nova’s magic is wearing off as he’s starting to look like the pitcher we all pinned him for in the preseason.
• Some of the names that fell off this week are TEEs pitchers that aren’t worth the flier above better upside candidates: Derek Holland, Miguel Gonzlaez and Scott Feldman. With Francisco Liriano’s health in question, he falls off the list and both Robert Gsellman and Daniel Norris fall off for not being worth a roster spot while they figure out their problems.