Top 125 SP for 2020

It’s time.

After offering up a first run all the way back in mid-August, I let the rest of the season play out but since then I’ve been working on SP rankings day-in and day-out. I contributed the starting pitcher section to the 2020 Fantasy Black Book so I had a working ranking for that but even since then (it was due back in early-December), I’ve made a ton of changes.

As you know, I feel there are globs of talent throughout the SP rankings wherein a 20, even 30 spot difference isn’t as vast as it seems because we’re splitting hairs between very similar arms and yet even knowing that I still agonize over the slottings and move guys up or down 2-3 spots like crazy before posting a new set of ranks. I decided on 125 for this one after paring down a list of 156 and yes, some of those remaining 31 are just as good as the last 7-8 on the list, but I had to cut it somewhere.

You’ll see tiers set up by the blue bars and that indicates the beginning of a new tier, but even those were hard to decide upon except the one starting at 99 which marks a group of prospects who I parked at that level because none are likely to make a rotation out of spring but all could be impactful at some point in 2020.

Enough chatter, let’s get to the rankings and start discussing them in the comments below. Again, if you think #44 should #38, I’m less interested in that as I probably agree that he could be. Let’s focus on the bigger splits, like if you feel #77 should be #40 or #28 should be #66, etc… Of course you can also just make comments or ask questions about a pitcher without relating it to their ranking. I’m open to discussing my thought process on any of the 125 pitchers.

These will be updated again in February and then once more in early March.

Check out Justin’s Top 126 SPs.

Note: these are catered for a roto league of 12-15 teams

Top 125 SP for 2020
PLAYER TM
1 Justin Verlander HOU
2 Jacob deGrom NYM
3 Max Scherzer WAS
4 Gerrit Cole NYY
5 Walker Buehler LAD
6 Chris Sale BOS
7 Blake Snell TB
8 Stephen Strasburg WAS
9 Mike Clevinger CLE
10 Shane Bieber CLE
11 Patrick Corbin WAS
12 Clayton Kershaw LAD
13 Charlie Morton TB
14 Yu Darvish CHC
15 Luis Castillo CIN
16 Lucas Giolito CWS
17 Luis Severino NYY
18 Noah Syndergaard NYM
19 Zack Greinke HOU
20 Jack Flaherty STL
21 Frankie Montas OAK
22 Carlos Carrasco CLE
23 Tyler Glasnow TB
24 Sonny Gray CIN
25 Max Fried ATL
26 Brandon Woodruff MIL
27 Aaron Nola PHI
28 Corey Kluber TEX
29 Mike Soroka ATL
30 Chris Paddack SD
31 José Berríos MIN
32 James Paxton NYY
33 Eduardo Rodriguez BOS
34 Zack Wheeler PHI
35 Jake Odorizzi MIN
36 Kyle Hendricks CHC
37 Madison Bumgarner ARI
38 Kenta Maeda LAD
39 Mike Minor TEX
40 Lance Lynn TEX
41 Trevor Bauer CIN
42 Hyun-Jin Ryu TOR
43 Shohei Ohtani LAA
44 Robbie Ray ARI
45 Joe Musgrove PIT
46 Ross Stripling LAD
47 David Price BOS
48 Luke Weaver ARI
49 Zac Gallen ARI
50 German Márquez COL
51 Jon Gray COL
52 Jeff Samardzija SF
53 Matthew Boyd DET
54 Julio Urías LAD
55 Dinelson Lamet SD
56 Jesus Luzardo OAK
57 Mitch Keller PIT
58 Aaron Civale CLE
59 Masahiro Tanaka NYY
60 Mike Foltynewicz ATL
61 Sean Manaea OAK
62 Joey Lucchesi SD
63 Lance McCullers Jr. HOU
64 Carlos Martinez STL
65 Jose Urquidy HOU
66 Dylan Cease CWS
67 Andrew Heaney LAA
68 Sandy Alcantara MIA
69 Dylan Bundy LAA
70 Yonny Chirinos TB
71 Ryan Yarbrough TB
72 Homer Bailey MIN
73 Miles Mikolas STL
74 A.J. Puk OAK
75 Cole Hamels ATL
76 Caleb Smith MIA
77 Chris Bassitt OAK
78 Griffin Canning LAA
79 Jordan Lyles TEX
80 Brad Peacock HOU
81 Steven Matz NYM
82 Josh Lindblom MIL
83 Wade Miley CIN
84 Aníbal Sánchez WAS
85 Chris Archer PIT
86 John Means BAL
87 Garrett Richards SD
88 Adrian Houser MIL
89 Reynaldo López CWS
90 Kyle Gibson TEX
91 Nathan Eovaldi BOS
92 Marco Gonzales SEA
93 Anthony DeSclafani CIN
94 Marcus Stroman NYM
95 Julio Teheran LAA
96 Johnny Cueto SF
97 Merrill Kelly ARI
98 Matt Shoemaker TOR
99 Patrick Sandoval LAA
100 Forrest Whitley HOU
101 Brendan McKay TB
102 Michael Kopech CWS
103 Brusdar Graterol MIN
104 Austin Voth WAS
105 MacKenzie Gore SD
106 Dustin May LAD
107 Tony Gonsolin LAD
108 Michael Pineda MIN
109 Dakota Hudson STL
110 Zach Plesac CLE
111 Jose Quintana CHC
112 Mike Fiers OAK
113 Dallas Keuchel CWS
114 Kevin Gausman SF
115 Tanner Roark TOR
116 Kwang-hyun Kim STL
117 Jon Lester CHC
118 Zach Eflin PHI
119 Zach Davies SD
120 Pablo López MIA
121 Randy Dobnak MIN
122 Tyler Beede SF
123 Josh James HOU
124 Vince Velasquez PHI
125 Spencer Turnbull DET





Paul is the Editor of Rotographs and Content Director for OOTP Perfect Team. Follow Paul on Twitter @sporer and on Twitch at sporer.

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wanderlust franco
4 years ago

the glob is for real after the first two tiers. you could swap 21-25 and 26-30 and wouldn’t get an argument from me.

wanderlust franco
4 years ago

also… I just noticed Josh James near the bottom. I’m a big fan/believer in the skills but skeptical he will get a chance to start. Where would you look to take him? Is he purely a speculative add or someone you’ll be actively targeting?