The List 7/15 – Ranking The Top 100 Starting Pitchers Every Monday

[pitcher_list_new list_id=”33979″]

 

Fringe Starters

 

 

What is happening!

It’s another week and another edition of the Top 100 Starting Pitchers for Fantasy Baseball.

Before I dive into the player notes, here’s an outline of how I’m handling The List this season:

• 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 categories leagues.

 

Player Notes

 

• Not many big moves here given we haven’t many games to make changes, but it’s time that we raise Gerrit Cole above Chris Sale. I saw it today and it felt like it was time.
• Shane Bieber should have been higher last week, sitting comfortably in the Top 20.
• I wanted to give more love to Madison Bumgarner (see graphic!), but with Domingo German returning in style and the rest of Tier 3 doing well, I couldn’t do a whole lot.
• Noah Syndergaard is on the rise with his 91 mph slider over the weekend, while Mike Minor is sure to hit more regression in the second half.
• It’s been a strong rise for Sonny Gray, who has a great feel for his deuce and is locked in as begins the second half. I had to give him a Top 40 spot.
• You’re probably surprised to see the (-1) for Eduardo Rodriguez after his fantastic outing, but it was more that I needed to raise Yu Darvish and Sonny Gray above him.
• After today’s ghastly game, German Marquez’s inconsistent 2019 is too much to ignore. He could still turn it on like he did last year, but he needs to take a dip behind his teammate Jon Gray.
• I’m intrigued by Tyler Beede’s new slider and considering the lack of exciting options on the wire, I’d take a chance to see if it turns into something legit in the final months. Yes, in your 12-teamer.
• Andrew Cashner and Adam Wainwright rise a bit with their recent hot streaks. Cashner’s changeup has been stupid good and moving to the Sawx will only help.
• Take a chance on Daniel Poncedeleon if you can as he enters the rotation. I’m not sure his secondary stuff will be good enough for him to stick, but we’ll see.
• Big falls were handed to Sandy Alcantara (too raw), Tanner Roark (all around blegh), Bryse Wilson (poor in minors, hard gamble to take right now), and Trevor Williams (hasn’t looked anything like his former self since returning from IL)
• Joining The List week are Jake Odorizzi (off IL!), Logan Allen (back in rotation, could be a streaming option or more), Jake Arrieta (avoids IL stint, he’s hopefully a Toby), and Marco Gonzales (please let his velocity come back…)

(Photo by Justin Paradis – @FreshmeatComm)