April Starting Pitcher Rankings by Paul Sporer April 18, 2019 It’s time to update the rankings. This is an especially tough ranking this early into the season because we have 3-4 starts for most guys and I don’t want to overreact… or underreact for that matter. My thoughts from March on these guys still carries a lot of weight, but factors like velocity, pitch mix, and role can influence a big change. The performances carry weight, too, but I try to temper what I’ll do based on three starts. Pay attention to the tier! If I didn’t rank someone as high as you thought I should, but they are still a must or usually start, then it’s probably not worth freaking out too much. Those tiers mean they are in the rotation pretty much all the time. I’m open to debating slotting, too, but worrying about a 4-spot difference between two guys in the same tier is probably a waste of time. I’ll have some more extensive notes on a host of big movers coming soon (likely early next week as I probably won’t have time on Friday). March Rankings The tiers are as follows: #1s (7 SPs) – The true aces of fantasy baseball. Must Start (23 SPs) – Should be pretty obvious, but these are the guys who always start. Again, it isn’t just the very best guys. There are second and third tier arms in terms of market value that I’d start every time out. They don’t have an obvious split or weakness that would give you a better chance at picking off their poor starts. Some of them are “No Coors Field”-types, but it’s predominantly set it and forget it. Usually Start (25 SPs) – If “No Coors Field” is 20-25% with the MS group, it’s more like 60-70% with this group. You need to find a reason to sit them right now in most formats. You might feel like you can spot them properly, but we’re just not that precise in identifying when a solid arm will falter. These guys are good enough to thwart any opponent even on something less than their best day or they could get smacked by a weaker opponent. If you’re rostering them, you should probably be starting them. Shallow Spot Start (35 SPs) – Flawed talents. A lot of these guys are on the cusp of or have been in the Usually Start tier, but currently you’re looking to curate their starts a bit where you can. These guys might also be US tier arms here temporarily while they get on track. Pay very close attention to gamelogs of pitchers, get a feel for how they arrived at their bottom line numbers. Not all ERAs are created equally and that’s why it’s not a gauge for future production, especially in small samples. I decided to split the group a bit as sort of a way to identify upward or downward mobility for these guys. The shallow ones are a bit more talented and/or running hot so we’re maybe keeping a closer eye on them. Deep League Spot Start (30 SPs) – I know many of you are dealing with some brutal pitching staff conditions right now after drafting a rotation you thought would be a strength, so you might find yourself in this tier a little more than you’d like. There is some talent to be plucked and the right two-start week could really set you up. This is essentially the Spot Star tier for single leagues or super-deep mixers (16+ teams). Please leave your questions and comments below! — April SP Rankings Name Tier TM LG 1 Max Scherzer #1 WAS NL 2 Jacob deGrom #1 NYM NL 3 Justin Verlander #1 HOU AL 4 Gerrit Cole #1 HOU AL 5 Blake Snell #1 TB AL 6 Trevor Bauer #1 CLE AL 7 Noah Syndergaard #1 NYM NL 8 Chris Sale MS BOS AL 9 Clayton Kershaw MS LAD NL 10 Patrick Corbin MS WAS NL 11 Jameson Taillon MS PIT NL 12 Aaron Nola MS PHI NL 13 David Price MS BOS AL 14 Corey Kluber MS CLE AL 15 James Paxton MS NYY AL 16 Carlos Carrasco MS CLE AL 17 Jose Berrios MS MIN AL 18 Charlie Morton MS TB AL 19 Stephen Strasburg MS WAS NL 20 Luis Castillo MS CIN NL 21 Walker Buehler MS LAD NL 22 German Marquez MS COL NL 23 Jack Flaherty MS STL NL 24 Madison Bumgarner MS SF NL 25 Chris Archer MS PIT NL 26 Zack Wheeler MS NYM NL 27 Masahiro Tanaka MS NYY AL 28 Collin McHugh MS HOU AL 29 Joe Musgrove MS PIT NL 30 Zack Greinke MS ARI NL 31 Shane Bieber US CLE AL 32 Matthew Boyd US DET AL 33 Yu Darvish US CHC NL 34 Tyler Glasnow US TB AL 35 Kevin Gausman US ATL NL 36 Miles Mikolas US STL NL 37 Jon Gray US COL NL 38 Chris Paddack US SD NL 39 Jose Quintana US CHC NL 40 Cole Hamels US CHC NL 41 Kenta Maeda US LAD NL 42 Brad Peacock US HOU AL 43 Yusei Kikuchi US SEA AL 44 Domingo German US NYY AL 45 Robbie Ray US ARI NL 46 Nathan Eovaldi US BOS AL 47 Trevor Williams US PIT NL 48 Caleb Smith US MIA NL 49 Jordan Lyles US PIT NL 50 Joey Lucchesi US SD NL 51 Hyun-Jin Ryu US LAD NL 52 Kyle Hendricks US CHC NL 53 Marco Gonzales US SEA AL 54 Carlos Rodon US CWS AL 55 Eduardo Rodriguez US BOS AL 56 Kyle Freeland SSS COL NL 57 Yonny Chirinos SSS TB AL 58 Sonny Gray SSS CIN NL 59 Jeff Samardzija SSS SF NL 60 Zach Eflin SSS PHI NL 61 Steven Matz SSS NYM NL 62 Jimmy Nelson SSS MIL NL 63 Frankie Montas SSS OAK AL 64 Luke Weaver SSS ARI NL 65 Ross Stripling SSS LAD NL 66 Mike Minor SSS TEX AL 67 Brandon Woodruff SSS MIL NL 68 Matt Strahm SSS SD NL 69 Spencer Turnbull SSS DET AL 70 J.A. Happ SSS NYY AL 71 Jake Arrieta SSS PHI NL 72 Pablo Lopez SSS MIA NL 73 Matt Shoemaker SSS TOR AL 74 Trevor Richards SSS MIA NL 75 Brad Keller SSS KC AL 76 Wade Miley SSS HOU AL 77 Merrill Kelly SSS ARI NL 78 Tyler Mahle SSS CIN NL 79 Aaron Sanchez SSS TOR AL 80 Drew Pomeranz SSS SF NL 81 Mike Foltynewicz SSS ATL NL 82 Anibal Sanchez SSS WAS NL 83 Trevor Cahill SSS LAA AL 84 Julio Teheran SSS ATL NL 85 Michael Soroka SSS ATL NL 86 Michael Pineda SSS MIN AL 87 Marcus Stroman SSS TOR AL 88 Touki Toussaint SSS ATL NL 89 Jake Odorizzi SSS MIN AL 90 Dereck Rodriguez SSS SF NL 91 Michael Wacha DSS STL NL 92 Julio Urias DSS LAD NL 93 Derek Holland DSS SF NL 94 Zack Godley DSS ARI NL 95 Trent Thornton DSS TOR AL 96 Jakob Junis DSS KC AL 97 Max Fried DSS ATL NL 98 Ryan Yarbrough DSS TB AL 99 Tyler Skaggs DSS LAA AL 100 Kyle Gibson DSS MIN AL 101 Rick Porcello DSS BOS AL 102 CC Sabathia DSS NYY AL 103 Lance Lynn DSS TEX AL 104 Nick Margevicius DSS SD NL 105 Jordan Zimmermann DSS DET AL 106 Felix Pena DSS LAA AL 107 Jerad Eickhoff DSS PHI NL 108 Clay Buchholz DSS TOR AL 109 Anthony DeSclafani DSS CIN NL 110 Homer Bailey DSS KC AL 111 Martin Perez DSS MIN AL 112 Sandy Alcantara DSS MIA NL 113 Reynaldo Lopez DSS CWS AL 114 Tanner Roark DSS CIN NL 115 Eric Lauer DSS SD NL 116 Dylan Bundy DSS BAL AL 117 Jorge Lopez DSS KC AL 118 Zach Davies DSS MIL NL 119 Mike Leake DSS SEA AL 120 Jose Ureña DSS MIA NL