Pitcher Comment

1 Max Scherzer — 5 HR in his L11 (2.05 ERA); 20 HR through 16 starts (3.52)

2 Madison Bumgarner — Leads MLB in IP (187.7), has career-high K% (27%)

3 Jose Fernandez — 1.91/4.02 home/road ERA split, but 5.1/4.0 K:BB splits say don’t worry

4 Corey Kluber — Finished May at 4.15 ERA, since: 2.29 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 105 Ks in 102 IP

5 Yu Darvish — 71 Ks in 56 IP (31% K%) since DL return; 3.05 ERA, 1.10 WHIP in same span

6 Chris Sale — Ditched low-K approach in early-June: 101 in 92.7 IP since 6/10

7 Johnny Cueto — Quietly humming along as a stud… again! (2.86 ERA/1.08 WHIP)

8 Carlos Carrasco — 12 R in L3, but only 7 ER and 28:1 K:BB in the 18.7 IP; not worried

9 Justin Verlander — Last calendar year: 19% K-BB% – same as Lester, 0.5% below Kluber

10 Noah Syndergaard — Bone spurs stop Thor? Hardly : 2.66 ERA, 69 Ks in 61 IP since that news

11 Danny Duffy — Won’t ride “last calendar” thing too hard, but he’s 6th in K-BB% (21%)

12 Chris Archer — Leads AL in Ks (202) and has 3.05 ERA & 0.95 WHIP since ASB

13 Jon Lester — One of 7 qualified SPs w/a sub-3.00 FIP since ASB (2.86)

14 Jake Arrieta — BB% in 3-ball counts: 50%, 28% in ’15; not wiggling out of trouble as well

15 Kyle Hendricks — Don’t sleep on solid 8.0 K9 backed by 10% SwStr rate

16 Jacob deGrom — Was last standing NYM ace, but then 25 H in last 9.7 IP yielded 13 ER

17 Cole Hamels — Aided by 84% LOB, but has 5 other seas at 78% or better

18 Danny Salazar — Not completely out of the woods w/gem at TEX, but upside so rich

19 Masahiro Tanaka — Traded Ks for fewer HRs? Career-low 7.6 K9, career-best 0.9 HR9

20 Rick Porcello — Ws driving value, but he’s part of that w/7 IP per start during 11-1 run

21 Jose Quintana — Speaking of Ws, he finally eclipsed 9 after 3 straight seasons there

22 David Price — Jekyll & Hyde yr can still end strong, in fact: 2.87 ERA in L11

23 Stephen Strasburg — Slated to return next wk; 0.83 ERA in F3 starts off DL in July

24 Carlos Martinez — Returned BB for K? F15: 6.9 K, 2.9 BB; L10: 9.1, 3.6; ERA 0.6 higher in L10

25 J.A. Happ — Downright Pittsburghian of late: 11.3 K9, 5.0 K:BB in L9; 9.3, 5.3 w/PIT

26 Jake Odorizzi — Stumbled into ASB (6.75 ERA in 6 starts), but great since w/1.59 in 8

27 Kenta Maeda — His 11.7% SwStr rate is 12th-best in MLB

28 Zack Greinke — Ugly 7.84 Aug ERA, but 24% K & 7% BB close to 23%/5% he had w/LAD

29 Matt Shoemaker — Maybe better H2H play: 3.66 ERA in L11, but 52% of ER are from 3 starts

30 Tanner Roark — Essentially traded a BB for a K in per 9s to replicate the ’14 breakout

31 Drew Pomeranz — 5 ER in 2 of 3 to start, but 2.40 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, & 31 Ks in 30 IP since

32 Felix Hernandez — 2.57 ERA in L6 aided by 13% SwStr while maintaining 53% GB

33 Marcus Stroman — Skills transformation over his L10: 69 Ks, 7.7 K:BB in 65.7 IP

34 Ivan Nova — Virtually non-existent BB rate w/PIT has yielded nice results

35 Aaron Sanchez — 6-man rotation costs him one start rest of way and about 10 ranks

36 Kevin Gausman — Has mid-3.00s ERA ceiling until he can curb HRs (1.5 this yr)

37 Rich Hill — …in a utopia where his blister doesn’t keep splitting; tough rank for me

38 Dallas Keuchel — Left for dead, but a useful 3.83 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, and 86 Ks in L15 (98.7 IP)

39 Marco Estrada — He contributes to the BABIP; AL H9 leader for 2nd straight season

40 Ian Kennedy — KC fitting perfectly; still too many HR, but low WHIP mitgates impact

41 Julio Teheran — Great talent, but Ws non-existent & ERA/WHIP very volatile in ~6 GS

42 James Paxton — Improved velo & mechanics has yielded K & BB gains (8.0 K:BB in L5)

43 Carlos Rodon — Trimming BB has led to more H & HR, but 2.43 ERA in 6 since DL return

44 Jeff Samardzija — Streaking of late, but seems to interrupt any streak w/a 5+ ER outing

45 Michael Fulmer — A little gassed after SHO at TEX? 5 K, 15 H in L2; will be shuffled for rest

46 Anthony DeSclafani — ’15 IP likely were enough, but 2 mo. DL stay ensures no IP limit in Sept.

47 Jason Hammel — Tough read: 10 ER, 1.26 ERA in 43 IP, 10 R (6 ER), 3 ER out after 2.3 IP

48 John Lackey — Slated for Sun. return; he’s been great this yr

49 Matt Moore — 1st-pitch strike rate same as TB; trading BB for H/HR – a positive so far

50 Drew Smyly — 2.82 ERA in L7, but 1.2 HR9 says BABIP will drive results (.207 in the 7)

51 Gerrit Cole — I went very cautious w/guys on DL for at least another 7-10 days

52 Adam Wainwright — Career-low 67% LOB; .880 OPS in even counts way worse than .707 lg avg

53 Brandon Finnegan — Volatility shown by Game Scores: 49, 30, 66, 72, 47, 38, 81, & 68

54 Gio Gonzalez — 3.73 FIP thru June said stay onboard: 3.34 ERA since July 1st

55 Robbie Ray — 52% GB rate in his L8 mitigates huge Hard% (41% in L8, 37% season)

56 Junior Guerra — Being activated Friday for start v. PIT; plan for mid-3.00s

57 Trevor Bauer — BB still fuel his meltdowns, but they’ve been more rare

58 Taijuan Walker — Might find more success trading some BB for fewer HRs like others have

59 Ervin Santana — Hit last time out, but 2.30 ERA, 3.6 K:BB in L12; mid-3.00s rest of way

60 Steven Matz — They should probably just shut him down at this point

61 Sean Manaea — Left Mon. start early w/”right rhomboid strain”; day-to-day

62 Yordano Ventura — 11% SwStr since ASB w/56% GB offers hope, but 1.3 HR9 tempers hype

63 Jerad Eickhoff — 183 IP last yr should prevent any IP limit for the 25-year old

64 Tyler Anderson — Skills support 3.45 home ERA even w/.329 BABIP (3.41 FIP)

65 Jordan Zimmermann — Rehab slated to start this Friday

66 Dylan Bundy — Wearing down some? 15.7 P/IP in F5 starts; 18.3 in L4 (5.85 ERA)

67 Zach Davies — 2 ugly starts in mid-Aug, but he rebounded: 17 Ks, 5.7 K:BB in L2

68 Steven Wright — Rough 1st inn. back from DL, but 3 H in 5 IP rest of way

69 Jon Gray — 4.22 ERA in L6 home starts, but 8 of 15 ER came in 1 start (2.23 in other 5)

70 Jaime Garcia — Victim of HR surge w/1.2 being full season career-worst (0.7 career)

71 Hisashi Iwakuma — Has eclipsed 3 Ks in just 2 of his last 8

72 Dan Straily — 2.43 ERA in 63 IP from 7/2-8/23, but bookended by 7 ER nightmares

73 David Phelps — 2.22 ERA, 32 Ks, .184 AVG in 24.3 IP as SP

74 Vince Velasquez — Had 3-4 starts left on Aug 17th and has made 2 since

75 Michael Pineda — The 5 ER hot potato: 10 starts of 5+ ER are tied for 1st in MLB

76 Anibal Sanchez — 4.8 K:BB ratio in L8 w/4.53 ERA, though 8 ER in flameout (3.35 in other 7)

77 Jameson Taillon — Bad 1st inn. at MIL (3 IP/5 ER) snapped streak of 6+ IP starts at 8

78 Matt Boyd — Hasn’t allowed >3 ER in 9 starts since recall; 1.5 HR9 says beware

79 Jeremy Hellickson — Stats don’t show his quality; see it more watching his starts, tbh

80 Bartolo Colon — Better large sample arm as duds are really bad (4 starts of 5+ ER)

81 Eduardo Rodriguez — Was showing flashes, but then a hammy came up; tough to trust

82 Mike Foltynewicz — Sliced 1/2 a BB & has best H9 ever, next up: HRs (1.4 season; 1.6 career)

83 Andrew Triggs — 27 y/o soft-tosser, but 8.9 K9 & 4.4 K:BB match MiLB totals of 9.0, 4.5

84 Daniel Norris — Solid 3.37 ERA since recall, but 6+ IP just once in in 5 starts

85 Joe Musgrove — Perhaps leaving the zone is the key

86 Francisco Liriano — BB & HR regression has helped, but his WHIP can still devastate

87 Collin McHugh — Has 4.79 ERA in L14, but it’s 3.57 outside the 1.7 IP/8 ER bomb at DET

88 Doug Fister — Gotta get your Ks elsewhere, but 3.27 ERA over L22 starts

89 Kendall Graveman — BABIP-dependent bc of K%: .328 in F15 (4.84 ERA); .237 in L10 (2.97)

90 Blake Snell — Wildly inconsistent of late; hasn’t finished 6 IP in any of L6

91 Derek Holland — Identical 6 IP/4 H/1 ER/5 K outings off the DL; 11% SwStr since 6/5

92 R.A. Dickey — Feeling lucky? ERA by month: 6.75, 3.20, 3.44, 6.28, and 3.41

93 Chad Green — He’s allowed 11 HR, 7 coming in two starts; strong K & BB skills

94 Seth Lugo — Not a 2.60 ERA guy, but capable of mid-3.00s w/7-8 Ks per nine

95 Mike Fiers — Usually at the mercy of HRs, but 39 Ks & 4.9 K:BB in last 42.3 IP

96 Andrew Cashner — Fewer HR w/MIA, but also fewer K, more BB, and more H — blah

97 Joe Ross — Slated for rehab on Wed.; total gamble, but big upside

98 Luke Weaver — 98 total IP so far after 125 last yr so limits shouldn’t be an issue

99 CC Sabathia — Ball is leaving the yard again: 3 thru 11 starts (2.20 ERA); 14 in L13 (6.06)