The List 7/2: Ranking The Top 100 Starting Pitchers Every Monday

[pitcher_list list_id=”22846″ season=”2018″ include_stats=”1″]

Welcome to The List – The weekly top 100 rankings of starting pitchers in fantasy baseball for the rest of the season. Use this list to help make choices on the waiver wire and as a tool to gauge trade value in your fantasy leagues. These rankings are made with 5×5 H2H standard 12-team leagues in mind.

 

Let’s talk about how the SP landscape has changed since last week:

• Carlos Martinez is out of his funk and should be considered Top 20 again, while Robbie Ray returned and looked like the man we expected in April.
• I’m in love with Mike Foltynewicz’s slider and I’ve turned 180 on him over the past month. Welcome to the Top 30 Folty.
• Andrew Heaney takes an expected drop as his whiff rates have plummeted over the last month. I’m not giving up on him and we could easily see jump up in the next few weeks, but I need to see him elevate with heat and improve his changeup to do so.
• I’ve been wrestling what to do with injured players and here’s my decision for now: If they are Top 50 arms (Noah Syndergaard, Stephen Strasburg, Yu Darvish, Johnny Cueto, Masahiro Tanaka, Chris Archer) then I am slotting them within the rest of the crowd since their trade value is of consideration. If they are outside of it, I’m taking them off the List and naming them here.
• Injured arms to consider as DL stashes: Jeff Samardzija, Jimmy Nelson, Trevor Cahill, Michael Wacha, Aaron Sanchez, Vince Velasquez, and Mike Soroka.
• I need to make clear that after the DL stashes of Tanaka and Cueto, there is a massive cliff in talent, leading to someone like CC Sabathia heading up to 55. That means Zach Eflin – who is carrying a ton of momentum after overcoming an incredibly tough schedule – is all the way at #59. You might as well chase his upside as from the late 50s to late 80s is much closer than it should be.
• It’s been a wonderful week for young arms getting their chances, with both Nick Kingham and Shane Bieber getting secure roles in their respective rotations. I favor Kingham’s stuff a little more than Bieber’s, but they should both be owned everywhere.
• I’m sick and tired of Zack Godley yet I can’t completely rid him from The List given the raw stuff of his repertoire. So I stuck him in the 70s with the other underperforming PEAS, Luis Castillo, and behind Walker Buehler, who is one of the better stashes around.
• While I don’t trust it longterm, I have to acknowledge both Steven Matz and Mike Leake, who are each producing despite questionable arsenals.
• By the 80s, you’re looking at a lot of upside plays including Max Fried, Matt Harvey (increased velocity!), Shelby Miller, Felix Pena, and Sandy Alcantara
• It looked like Freddy Peralta would be the odd man out in Milwaukee, but with Zach Davies‘ removal from rehab with back stiffness, Peralta could be an option for longer, keeping him in the Top 70.
• The removal of plenty of injured arms has given room for many arms to be added at the end, including Jholuys Chacin, Chase Anderson, and Tyler Anderson. All streamers, nothing more.
• At the very end are Jon Gray, Luke Weaver and Sonny Gray, each clearly far away from their ceiling but are still noteworthy for holding it. It’s not out of the question that the second half spells productive days for these arms, despite their current status.