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I ranked our Top 100 Starting Pitchers for 2016 in six tiers, with the best pitcher in baseball in his own tier, followed by a tier of two, then tiers of 22, 21, 19 and 35.
Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw is in a tier of his own, as he is the first starter to strike out 300 batters in many, many years. Add 15-18 wins, a sub 2.50 ERA and a sub 1.00 WHIP, and he is the first tier all by himself, and there is no real argument that I can see to group him with others below him. He has actually been more dominant as he ages.
In the second tier, we have two dominating aces, Max Scherzer and Chris Sale. Sale got hit around a bit last year, but still dominated when he was on, and Scherzer tossed two no-hitters last year. Scherzer, Sale and Kershaw all struck out more than 30% of the hitters they faced last season, which is incredible for a starting pitcher.
The third tier contains the rest of the fantasy aces that owners should target on draft day, including Jake Arrieta, David Price, Madison Bumgarner, Corey Kluber and about 18 others. All told there are 22 starters in the third tier. The guys I like in the third tier include Dallas Keuchel, Carlos Carrasco, Danny Salazar and Jose Fernandez. I wouldn't be surprised to see all four in the top 10-12 again next year, with Fernandez and Carrasco both having a real shot to move up to tier two.
The fourth tier includes a nice mix of young and veteran starters. The guys I like, and who I think are undervalued are John Lackey, Scott Kazmir, and Jose Quintana. Two of the younger starters in this tier, Raisel Iglesias and Taijuan Walker were profiled here on Tuesday, so make sure you check them out. Both have the talent to move up in to the third tier in 2017.
The fifth tier includes 19 starters, including some up and coming guys like Eduardo Rodriguez, Aaron Nola, Joe Ross and Luis Severino. All four could help fantasy rosters in 2016. The one guy that stands out as undervalued in this tier is Dodgers starter Kenta Maeda. The fantasy community tends to undervalued pitchers from Japan and Korea when they come over, but recently they have had more success than anticipated.
Top 100 Tiered Starting Pitcher Rankings
|
Rank |
NFBC ADP |
Tier |
Name |
Tm |
|
1 |
4.13 |
1 |
Clayton Kershaw |
LAD |
|
2 |
15.08 |
2 |
Max Scherzer |
WSN |
|
3 |
25.51 |
2 |
Chris Sale |
CHW |
|
4 |
21.90 |
3 |
Jake Arrieta |
CHC |
|
5 |
35.85 |
3 |
David Price |
BOS |
|
6 |
33.41 |
3 |
Zack Greinke |
ARI |
|
7 |
37.13 |
3 |
Jacob deGrom |
NYM |
|
8 |
29.02 |
3 |
Madison Bumgarner |
SFG |
|
9 |
32.85 |
3 |
Jose Fernandez |
MIA |
|
10 |
40.38 |
3 |
Corey Kluber |
CLE |
|
11 |
46.26 |
3 |
Dallas Keuchel |
HOU |
|
12 |
34.74 |
3 |
Matt Harvey |
NYM |
|
13 |
35.12 |
3 |
Gerrit Cole |
PIT |
|
14 |
49.14 |
3 |
Chris Archer |
TBR |
|
15 |
49.11 |
3 |
Carlos Carrasco |
CLE |
|
16 |
50.78 |
3 |
Felix Hernandez |
SEA |
|
17 |
40.96 |
3 |
Stephen Strasburg |
WSN |
|
18 |
47.95 |
3 |
Noah Syndergaard |
NYM |
|
19 |
128.31 |
3 |
Yu Darvish |
TEX |
|
20 |
62.07 |
3 |
Jon Lester |
CHC |
|
21 |
72.95 |
3 |
Johnny Cueto |
SFG |
|
22 |
73.79 |
3 |
Adam Wainwright |
STL |
|
23 |
78.09 |
3 |
Danny Salazar |
CLE |
|
24 |
74.48 |
3 |
Cole Hamels |
TEX |
|
25 |
68.37 |
3 |
Sonny Gray |
OAK |
|
26 |
94.27 |
4 |
Tyson Ross |
SDP |
|
27 |
122.37 |
4 |
Francisco Liriano |
PIT |
|
28 |
107.39 |
4 |
Carlos Martinez |
STL |
|
29 |
122.47 |
4 |
Masahiro Tanaka |
NYY |
|
30 |
108.97 |
4 |
Garrett Richards |
LAA |
|
31 |
97.31 |
4 |
Marcus Stroman |
TOR |
|
32 |
100.70 |
4 |
Michael Wacha |
STL |
|
33 |
167.90 |
4 |
Michael Pineda |
NYY |
|
34 |
156.26 |
4 |
Jake Odorizzi |
TBR |
|
35 |
185.63 |
4 |
John Lackey |
CHC |
|
36 |
144.52 |
4 |
Carlos Rodon |
CHW |
|
37 |
166.86 |
4 |
Jose Quintana |
CHW |
|
38 |
123.15 |
4 |
Jordan Zimmermann |
DET |
|
39 |
210.14 |
4 |
Scott Kazmir |
LAD |
|
40 |
148.61 |
4 |
Raisel Iglesias |
CIN |
|
41 |
169.84 |
4 |
Taijuan Walker |
SEA |
|
42 |
169.69 |
4 |
Drew Smyly |
TBR |
|
43 |
151.70 |
4 |
Jeff Samardzija |
CHW |
|
44 |
145.87 |
4 |
Hisashi Iwakuma |
SEA |
|
45 |
174.57 |
4 |
Yordano Ventura |
KCR |
|
46 |
132.90 |
4 |
Lance McCullers |
HOU |
|
47 |
156.86 |
5 |
Shelby Miller |
ARI |
|
48 |
213.13 |
5 |
Wei-Yin Chen |
MIA |
|
49 |
194.72 |
5 |
Patrick Corbin |
ARI |
|
50 |
179.60 |
5 |
Collin McHugh |
HOU |
|
51 |
194.40 |
5 |
Gio Gonzalez |
WSN |
|
52 |
133.82 |
5 |
James Shields |
SDP |
|
53 |
113.15 |
5 |
Steven Matz |
NYM |
|
54 |
145.48 |
5 |
Justin Verlander |
DET |
|
55 |
223.90 |
5 |
Jaime Garcia |
STL |
|
56 |
286.03 |
5 |
Clay Buchholz |
BOS |
|
57 |
239.09 |
5 |
Jason Hammel |
CHC |
|
58 |
218.97 |
5 |
Kyle Hendricks |
CHC |
|
59 |
216.73 |
5 |
Joe Ross |
WSN |
|
60 |
160.64 |
5 |
Luis Severino |
NYY |
|
61 |
176.68 |
5 |
Julio Teheran |
ATL |
|
62 |
205.90 |
5 |
Kenta Maeda |
LAD |
|
63 |
235.51 |
5 |
Aaron Nola |
PHI |
|
64 |
266.56 |
5 |
Eduardo Rodriguez |
BOS |
|
65 |
267.19 |
5 |
Andrew Cashner |
SDP |
|
66 |
294.93 |
6 |
Anibal Sanchez |
DET |
|
67 |
268.81 |
6 |
Mike Leake |
2TM |
|
68 |
262.24 |
6 |
Anthony DeSclafani |
CIN |
|
69 |
245.53 |
6 |
Andrew Heaney |
LAA |
|
70 |
320.70 |
6 |
Nathan Eovaldi |
NYY |
|
71 |
321.63 |
6 |
Rick Porcello |
BOS |
|
72 |
212.93 |
6 |
Mike Fiers |
2TM |
|
73 |
283.73 |
6 |
Jimmy Nelson |
MIL |
|
74 |
239.57 |
6 |
Kevin Gausman |
BAL |
|
75 |
247.06 |
6 |
Ian Kennedy |
KCR |
|
76 |
277.50 |
6 |
Alex Wood |
LAD |
|
77 |
303.82 |
6 |
Edinson Volquez |
KCR |
|
78 |
338.17 |
6 |
Kyle Gibson |
MIN |
|
79 |
336.29 |
6 |
Hector Santiago |
LAA |
|
80 |
261.32 |
6 |
Marco Estrada |
TOR |
|
81 |
399.14 |
6 |
Alex Cobb |
TBR |
|
82 |
319.16 |
6 |
Jerad Eickhoff |
PHI |
|
83 |
270.43 |
6 |
Matt Moore |
TBR |
|
84 |
327.46 |
6 |
Derek Holland |
TEX |
|
85 |
258.18 |
6 |
Rich Hill |
OAK |
|
86 |
289.81 |
6 |
Trevor Bauer |
CLE |
|
87 |
479.64 |
6 |
Martin Perez |
TEX |
|
88 |
306.01 |
6 |
Erasmo Ramirez |
TBR |
|
89 |
308.83 |
6 |
Nate Karns |
TBR |
|
90 |
297.58 |
6 |
Daniel Norris |
DET |
|
91 |
365.68 |
6 |
Wade Miley |
SEA |
|
92 |
347.90 |
6 |
James Paxton |
SEA |
|
93 |
558.11 |
6 |
Tyler Lyons |
STL |
|
94 |
313.33 |
6 |
Josh Tomlin |
CLE |
|
95 |
382.81 |
6 |
Yovani Gallardo |
TEX |
|
96 |
434.12 |
6 |
Chris Heston |
SFG |
|
97 |
405.67 |
6 |
Rubby De La Rosa |
ARI |
|
98 |
532.13 |
6 |
Wily Peralta |
MIL |
|
99 |
475.52 |
6 |
Joe Kelly |
BOS |
|
100 |
413.68 |
6 |
Matt Shoemaker |
LAA |
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