What it is, RotoBallers? I'll tell you - it's the latest in our ongoing midseason rankings update series. We'll cover the top starting pitcher tiers today and tackle everyone else tomorrow. As a reminder, these rankings were a collaborative effort between yours truly and fellow columnists/handsome devils Nick Mariano and Bill Dubiel. As such, they may not fully represent my personal views on each player, and if someone is ranked inappropriately, I'm pretty sure you can blame either or both of them. One other thing to keep in mind is that these rankings are based on standard 5x5 scoring. As the youngs say, YMMV.

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Fantasy Baseball Midseason Rankings Analysis: Starting Pitcher (Part 1)

Tier One

Max Scherzer

Madison Bumgarner

Jose Fernandez

Noah Syndergaard

Clayton Kershaw

Jake Arrieta

Stephen Strasburg

Chris Sale

Johnny Cueto

If Kershaw were healthy, he’d be in his own tier. He’s simply playing a different game than everyone else. There are some concerns about Thor’s health as well, sadly. Bumgarner and Fernandez have been excellent as usual. Strasburg is having the best season of his career and finally getting his due as an elite pitcher. It says a lot about how terrific Sale and Scherzer were last season that they’ve taken steps back in 2016 and still belong in this group. Ditto for Arrieta’s recent struggles. Cueto doesn’t quite have the strikeout upside of the others in this tier, but he remains a king of inducing weak contact and has an ideal team and park context.

Tier Two

Jon Lester

Carlos Carrasco

Corey Kluber

Danny Salazar

Jacob DeGrom

David Price

Zack Greinke

Rich Hill

Steven Matz

A couple of disaster outings aside (including his last two turns), Lester has been a quality start machine. The Indians’ trio of aces are a big reason why they lead the AL Central. Speaking of ace trios, deGrom and Matz have teamed with Syndergaard to keep the Mets in contention despite a nightmarish season for Matt Harvey. Price and Greinke have had their ups and downs in Year 1 of their huge free-agent contracts, but they’re established quantities who could easily jump into the top tier. Finally, Hill has proven that his late-season renaissance last year was no fluke. Hell of a story, and he’ll be an asset to whichever contender trades for him this month.

Tier Three

John Lackey

Kyle Hendricks

Jose Quintana

Masahiro Tanaka

Carlos Martinez

Drew Pomeranz

Justin Verlander

Yu Darvish

Cole Hamels

Aaron Nola

Gerrit Cole

I’m much less enamored of Verlander than my colleagues, but he’s done a nice job of adjusting to his diminished arsenal. Quintana remains as dependable as they come. Strip out his flu-ridden May, and Martinez sports a sub-2.00 ERA. Nola’s recent struggles should pass; along with Hendricks, he’s one of the best young control specialists in the game. Pomeranz has resurrected his career thanks to a refined (and filthy) curveball. If Darvish is healthy, he and Hamels give the Rangers a dynamic 1-2 punch that can help cover for the mess behind them in the rotation. You can’t say enough about how well Tanaka has pitched through a partially torn elbow ligament.

Tier Four

Matt Shoemaker

Michael Fulmer

Danny Duffy

Julio Teheran

Steven Wright

Chris Archer

Jonathan Gray

Trevor Bauer

Lance McCullers

Kenta Maeda

Still giving Teheran a healthy dose of side-eye. An innings cap keeps Fulmer from ranking higher. I’ve completely bought into the Duffy breakout. Bauer’s is less convincing. Likewise, it’s tough to fully trust Shoemaker. We’ve seen how hittable he is when he doesn’t have a feel for the splitter. Archer looks like an excellent buy-low opportunity. McCullers and Gray are both electric arms, but each comes with caveats (walks for the former and homers/Coors for the latter). Maeda has exceeded my modest expectations thus far.

Tier Five

Jeff Samardzija

Aaron Sanchez

Sonny Gray

Felix Hernandez

Adam Wainwright

James Paxton

Tanner Roark

Joe Ross

Kevin Gausman

Marco Estrada

Michael Pineda

It’s been a tough year for some of the guys in this group. Wainwright appears to have gotten on track, but King Felix is still working his way back from injury and Gray still isn’t close to regaining his previous form. Shark hasn’t taken as well to his new team and park as expected and might be ranked a touch high here. Does anyone actually know if Sanchez is going to stick in the rotation? Seems like even the organization can’t agree, which dampens his second-half outlook. Roark and Ross have been steady at the back end of the Nationals rotation. Pineda’s overall ratios still look ugly but he’s been great over the last six weeks; buy low on him if you still can. After posting a historically low BABIP last season, Estrada has an even more ridiculous mark this year and is actually striking hitters out at a good clip to boot. Gausman still needs an effective third pitch if he’s ever going to reach his true potential. No idea what Paxton’s doing in this tier, as the added velocity hasn’t translated into results yet.

Tier Six

Anthony DeSclafani

Jerad Eickhoff

Jason Hammel

Carlos Rodon

Chris Tillman

Taijuan Walker

Jaime Garcia

Jake Odorizzi

Vincent Velasquez

Michael Wacha

Disco fever! DeSclafani’s looked pretty good since returning from his oblique injury and should be an under the radar asset in the second half. Hammel already looks to be hitting his annual wall, though. Both Odorizzi and Rodon are giving up too many long balls, leaving them with uninspiring ratios. The bottom is starting to fall out for Tillman; the time to sell him was a month ago. Wacha is trending back up after a lousy start, which will help soften the blow for the Cardinals when Garcia inevitably gets hurt. Velasquez is headed for an early shutdown but he’s had an encouraging season. Eickhoff has been less impressive, but relative to expectations his last calendar year has been a huge success.

Midseason Starting Pitcher Tiered Fantasy Baseball Rankings

Rank Player Name Team Tier 1 Max Scherzer WSH 1 2 Madison Bumgarner SF 1 3 Jose Fernandez MIA 1 4 Noah Syndergaard NYM 1 5 Clayton Kershaw LAD 1 6 Jake Arrieta CHC 1 7 Stephen Strasburg WSH 1 8 Chris Sale CWS 1 9 Johnny Cueto SF 1 10 Jon Lester CHC 2 11 Carlos Carrasco CLE 2 12 Corey Kluber CLE 2 13 Danny Salazar CLE 2 14 Jacob DeGrom NYM 2 15 David Price BOS 2 16 Zack Greinke ARI 2 17 Rich Hill OAK 2 18 Steven Matz NYM 2 19 John Lackey CHC 3 20 Kyle Hendricks CHC 3 21 Jose Quintana CWS 3 22 Masahiro Tanaka NYY 3 23 Carlos Martinez STL 3 24 Drew Pomeranz SD 3 25 Justin Verlander DET 3 26 Yu Darvish TEX 3 27 Cole Hamels TEX 3 28 Aaron Nola PHI 3 29 Gerrit Cole PIT 3 30 Matt Shoemaker LAA 4 31 Michael Fulmer DET 4 32 Danny Duffy KC 4 33 Julio Teheran ATL 4 34 Steven Wright BOS 4 35 Chris Archer TB 4 36 Jonathan Gray COL 4 37 Trevor Bauer CLE 4 38 Lance McCullers HOU 4 39 Kenta Maeda LAD 4 40 Jeff Samardzija SF 5 41 Aaron Sanchez TOR 5 42 Sonny Gray OAK 5 43 Felix Hernandez SEA 5 44 Adam Wainwright STL 5 45 James Paxton SEA 5 46 Tanner Roark WSH 5 47 Joe Ross WSH 5 48 Kevin Gausman BAL 5 49 Marco Estrada TOR 5 50 Michael Pineda NYY 5 51 Anthony DeSclafani CIN 6 52 Jerad Eickhoff PHI 6 53 Jason Hammel CHC 6 54 Carlos Rodon CWS 6 55 Chris Tillman BAL 6 56 Taijuan Walker SEA 6 57 Jaime Garcia STL 6 58 Jake Odorizzi TB 6 59 Vincent Velasquez PHI 6 60 Michael Wacha STL 6 61 Drew Smyly TB 7 62 Lucas Giolito WSH 7 63 Jordan Zimmermann DET 7 64 Jameson Taillon PIT 7 65 Daniel Mengden OAK 7 66 Rick Porcello BOS 7 67 Josh Tomlin CLE 7 68 Dallas Keuchel HOU 7 69 Alex Wood LAD 7 70 Collin McHugh HOU 7 71 Adam Conley MIA 7 72 Blake Snell TB 7 73 Scott Kazmir LAD 7 74 Alex Cobb TB 8 75 Gio Gonzalez WSH 8 76 Mike Leake STL 8 77 Ian Kennedy KC 8 78 Cody Reed CIN 8 79 Marcus Stroman TOR 8 80 Tyler Chatwood COL 8 81 Zach Davies MIL 8 82 Hisashi Iwakuma SEA 8 83 Jose Berrios MIN 8 84 Junior Guerra MIL 8 85 Matt Moore TB 8 86 Julio Urias LAD 9 87 Patrick Corbin ARI 9 88 Bartolo Colon NYM 9 89 Doug Fister HOU 9 90 Archie Bradley ARI 9 91 Francisco Liriano PIT 9 92 Robbie Ray ARI 9 93 Jimmy Nelson MIL 9 94 Tyler Duffey MIN 9 95 CC Sabathia NYY 9 96 Hyun-Jin Ryu LAD 9 97 J.A. Happ TOR 9 98 Jeremy Hellickson PHI 9 99 Daniel Straily CIN 9 100 James Shields CWS 10 101 Yordano Ventura KC 10 102 Edinson Volquez KC 10 103 Tyler Glasnow PIT 10 104 Tyson Ross SD 10 105 Nathan Eovaldi NYY 10 106 Hector Santiago LAA 10 107 Zack Wheeler NYM 10 108 Jorge De La Rosa COL 10 109 Tom Koehler MIA 10 110 Ervin Santana MIN 10 111 Wei-Yin Chen MIA 10 112 Raisel Iglesias FA 10 113 Michael Foltynewicz ATL 10 114 Wade Miley SEA 10 115 Matthew Wisler ATL 10 116 Sean Manaea OAK 10 117 Luis Severino NYY 10 118 John Lamb CIN 11 119 Juan Nicasio PIT 11 120 Andrew Cashner SD 11 121 Erasmo Ramirez TB 11 122 Alexander Reyes STL 11 123 Martin Perez TEX 11 124 Trevor May MIN 11 125 Nathan Karns SEA 11 126 Jhoulys Chacin LAA 11 127 Ricky Nolasco MIN 11 128 Colby Lewis TEX 11 129 Jonathon Niese PIT 11 130 Chad Bettis COL 11 131 Eduardo Rodriguez BOS 11

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