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Top 50 AL-Only Starting Pitcher Rankings for 2016

Ray ranks his top 50 starting pitchers for AL-only leagues with the Indians and White Sox starters dominating the top 15.

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

For those of you who play in mono or "only" leagues, I will be publishing my Top 50 AL-only starting pitcher rankings today and I published my Top 50 NL-only starting pitcher rankings yesterday. Ranking players at each position for an "only" league is highly recommended, as drafts are unpredictable and can take a turn that you did not expect, so it is smart to be prepared prior to your drafts.

White Sox ace Chris leads a group of eight American League starters who fall into the fantasy ace category. The group starts with Sale and ends with Indians starter Carlos Carrasco, who could be a top 5 starter overall in 2016. You can see three Indians starters in my top nine AL only starters this season, as all three put up the strikeouts and stand to benefit with an improved defense behind them, led by shortstop Francisco Lindor.

Mariners ace Felix Hernandez is no longer the top starter in the American League, and I recommended avoiding him in 2016 earlier this morning, as he might be in the beginning of his decline years. Next to the Indians, the White Sox have three of the top thirteen starters in the AL, and Jose Quintana could be the most underrated starter in baseball. For me, he is like the Hyun-Jin Ryu of the AL. Both put up solid performances year in and year out (when healthy), but don't get the acclaim that the dominating starters receive.

A couple starters that fantasy owners should keep a close eye on in shallower mixed leagues are two Twins starters, Kyle Gibson and Tyler Duffey. Gibson is an elite ground ball pitcher, who saw his strikeout rate increase last season, and he could be the next Dallas Keuchel. It's a stretch, but he increased his strikeout rate from 6.18 K/9 in the first half to nearly 7.50 K/9 in the second half. Duffey impressed in his ten starts last season, winning five and pitching to a low 3.00 ERA while striking out eight batters per nine.

Top 50 AL-only Starting Pitcher Rankings for 2016

Rank

$ Value

League

Name

Team

1

$30

AL

Chris Sale

White Sox

2

$23

AL

Dallas Keuchel

Astros

3

$24

AL

David Price

Red Sox

4

$17

AL

Carlos Carrasco

Indians

5

$17

AL

Corey Kluber

Indians

6

$20

AL

Chris Archer

Rays

7

$15

AL

Sonny Gray

Athletics

8

$16

AL

Felix Hernandez

Mariners

9

$15

AL

Danny Salazar

Indians

10

$14

AL

Cole Hamels

Rangers

11

$8

AL

Yu Darvish

Rangers

12

$7

AL

Jose Quintana

White Sox

13

$10

AL

Masahiro Tanaka

Yankees

14

$10

AL

Carlos Rodon

White Sox

15

$9

AL

Garrett Richards

Angels

16

$7

AL

Lance McCullers

Astros

17

$8

AL

Jordan Zimmermann

Tigers

18

$7

AL

Michael Pineda

Yankees

19

$7

AL

Jake Odorizzi

Rays

20

$7

AL

Marcus Stroman

Blue Jays

21

$5

AL

Yordano Ventura

Royals

22

$6

AL

Drew Smyly

Rays

23

$5

AL

Taijuan Walker

Mariners

24

$5

AL

Hisashi Iwakuma

Mariners

25

$5

AL

Eduardo Rodriguez

Red Sox

26

$5

AL

Luis Severino

Yankees

27

$5

AL

Collin McHugh

Astros

28

$4

AL

Clay Buchholz

Red Sox

29

$3

AL

Nate Karns

Mariners

30

$7

AL

Justin Verlander

Tigers

31

$3

AL

Kyle Gibson

Twins

32

$2

AL

Daniel Norris

Tigers

33

$2

AL

Derek Holland

Rangers

34

$3

AL

Kevin Gausman

Orioles

35

$3

AL

Andrew Heaney

Angels

36

$2

AL

Marco Estrada

Blue Jays

37

$3

AL

Erasmo Ramirez

Rays

38

$1

AL

Yovani Gallardo

Orioles

39

$3

AL

Alex Cobb

Rays

40

$2

AL

Ian Kennedy

Royals

41

$1

AL

Martin Perez

Rangers

42

$1

AL

Rick Porcello

Red Sox

43

$1

AL

Anibal Sanchez

Tigers

44

$1

AL

Nathan Eovaldi

Yankees

45

$1

AL

Edinson Volquez

Royals

46

$1

AL

R.A. Dickey

Blue Jays

47

$1

AL

Matt Moore

Rays

48

$1

AL

Tyler Duffey

Twins

49

$1

AL

Jesse Chavez

Athletics

50

$1

AL

Ervin Santana

Twins

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