[pitcher_list_new list_id=”28595″]

Fringe Starters

Pitcher Why They Missed The Cut Marcus Stroman Not enough whiffs and it’s hard to trust the BABIP to fall with Toronto’s turf and poor infield defense. Dereck Rodriguez He could be a Toby and likely deserves a spot, and I want to see an improvement in his repertoire first. Wade Miley Great for a gamble at a cheap win, I worry about his low IPS and lack of strikeouts. Martin Perez Spring Training velocity reports are definitely interesting but I need to see it during the season first. Trevor Williams His fastball vastly overperformed last year and I don’t buy a repeat. Vince Velasquez A massive Cherry Bomb without the clear path to working out of it with inconsistent secondary options. Tyler Mahle I’m waiting to see if we can trust his new curveball + Alex Wood should return shortly. Carlos Rodon More of the same for 2018 is not enough to warrant a 12-teamer add. Too volatile.

What is happening!

It’s a new season and the weekly updates to The List have returned. I’ll be ranking the Top 100 Starting Pitchers every Monday from now until the end of the season.

Before I dive into the player notes, there are a few changes to go over:

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.

Fringe Starters added There are always a handful of starters I badly want added 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

Injured Players added (next time) I struggled plenty to figure out how to handle IL pitchers last season and will be making a change starting next week – removing players who are out for at least four weeks at placing them in a separate table labeling the rough range where I’d place them if they were healthy. This will start next week as I understand many are still drafting and need this reference point for their drafts.



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 leagues:

Player Notes

(Photo by Juan Salas/Icon Sportswire)