Happy Monday, Razzball faithful!
This week, I decided to shuffle up the format for the Top 100 Starting Pitchers list a bit.
I’ll still have the notes on each, (and every), arm that appears in the list. We’ll also go through a few of the ‘jumpers’ and ‘dumpers’ like we do each week.
BUT! I added a little something new at the bottom of the list that hopefully can help out us deep leaguers who are looking for some injury replacements.
It may look a bit chaotic, but I promise it’s not. Unless you count that little black mark on your active roster from the Cubs’ starting rotation.
I know there are a few of our SP friends who appear to give us some serious Jekyll and Hyde chaos vibes, but is there anyone who has been more frustrating to roster than the Cubs SP Justin Steele? Cold sweatin’ as I dwell in my cell, indeed!
After reading Grey’s Tuesday round-up and seeing Steele as his lede, I decided to put a note in my…uh…notes that read like this: “7 shutout innings, 3 H, 1 BB, 8 K. THIS is the Justin Steele that Cubs fans have been looking for!”
I prepped my Cubbies bathing suit and was all ready to do a Triple Lindy into a Justin Steele ‘deep dive’…until I saw his Friday night output against the Reds.
5 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 4 BB, 5 K, and a .318 BAA? It looks like someone left a Baby Ruth floating in that deep-dive swimming pool.
For what it’s worth, just one of the runs that Steele allowed was earned thanks to an untimely error in the 2nd inning by Seiya Suzuki.
The problem? Even though those were unearned runs, it doesn’t change the fact that Steele threw just 58 of his 98 pitches for strikes. When his strikeout rate is down and his walk rate and HR/FB% are both up from last year…well, that’s three not-so-great indications that Steele may not be due for a repeat of last year’s breakout.
Is Steele moving through his final “hour of chaos” on our Top 100 Starting Pitchers list?
Well, before we get to the list, I need to plug a couple of things for y’all first. If you want to check the spot I usually have open when flipping through my information on Sunday afternoons, you’re looking for that Player Rater leaderboard. This is always a great resource to use if you’re doing research. A bit of this, and a splash of that goes into the prep work for our weekly Top 100 Starting Pitchers list.
Of course, if you’re one of those doubting-your-own-gut-instinct fantasy managers, or just want to use a great resource that will point you in the right direction every week, The Streamonator is here to help you answer those burning questions.
If you haven’t signed up for it, this should be your go-to reference for the entire season. It will save you a lot of time researching and often includes those “Oh, I never thought about that” solutions. Check the link, yo.
| RANK
(LAST WEEK) |
Name | TEAM | NOTES |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Corbin Burnes | Orioles | 7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER. 3 BB and ‘just’ 5 Ks, but he’s still the ace of our list. |
| 2 | Zack Wheeler | Phillies | 6 IP, 0 ER, 9 Ks. The wheels just keep on trucking. |
| 3 | Tyler Glasnow | Dodgers | 7 IP, 2 ER, and 8 Ks are nice. The 4 BB isn’t. He hasn’t done much wrong to justify dropping him out of this spot, though. Still racking up innings and strikeouts. |
| 4 | Tarik Skubal | Tigers | Another shutout keeps him up top. |
| 5 (8) | Freddy Peralta | Brewers | Holding in the Top 10. 11 Ks in 5.2 innings with 1 ER. Ace output. |
| 6 (7) | Luis Castillo | Mariners | Holding here just because he hasn’t put up those amazing starts to move him up higher. |
| 7 (12) | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | Dodgers | Needed someone to slot into the open Top 10 spot. 6-2 with 10.52 K/9% and respectable BB% HR/FB%? Yep. This’ll do. |
| 8 (10) | Pablo Lopez | Twins | The course was corrected after two rough starts. |
| 9 | Kevin Gausman | Blue Jays | 6 IP, 1 ER, 3 K. Would’ve liked a more dominant start at CWS, but still a Top 10 arm. |
| 10 (6) | Shota Imanaga | Cubs | Shota himself in the foot with 7 ER in 4.1 IP. That’s enough to push him down a bit, but not out of the Top 10. |
| 11 (5) | Ranger Suarez | Phillies | Roughed up for 5 runs in COL, then took a comebacker off of his finger on Friday. X-rays came back negative. |
| 12 (13) | Grayson Rodriguez | Orioles | Gave up 4 ER in 6 IPs, but racked up 10 Ks vs BOS. |
| 13 (15) | Tanner Houck | Red Sox | Another solid 7 innings with 1 ER. Improved the K/9 and ratios are elite. |
| 14 | Seth Lugo | Royals | Another 6 IP 1 ER outing. 5 Ks isn’t eye-popping, but he keeps getting it done. |
| 15 (19) | Max Fried | Braves | Followed up a CG 3 hitter with another 8 innings of shutout ball. 6 Ks. |
| 16 (11) | Chris Sale | Braves | Friday night was launchpad night in MLB. Sale gave up 8 ER and 2 HR. 82 Ks in 67.1 IP. |
| 17 (23) | George Kirby | Mariners | 6 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 8 K vs Verlander. Much better than his previous two outings. |
| 18 (16) | Cole Ragans | Royals | 2 ER last week with 7 Ks, and 6 Ks through 6 innings yesterday (at time of writing). |
| 19 (18) | Dylan Cease | Padres | The earned runs are still there, but so are the strikeouts. 30.9 K% keeps him in the Top 20. |
| 20 (24) | Aaron Nola | Phillies | 7-2 and another decent line. 77.1 IP with 71 Ks. |
| 21 (17) | Jared Jones | Pirates | 4.1 IP and 5 ER with just 2 Ks bumps him down again. |
| 22 | Logan Gilbert | Mariners | 6 IP, 4 ER, 5 Ks. The ERA is still a respectable 3.29, but the ratios are slipping from the elite level they were at a month ago. |
| 23 (20) | Logan Webb | Giants | 4 ER in 7 IPs and another 8 baserunners with 6 Ks. Not great, but still serviceable. |
| 24 (29) | Garrett Crochet | White Sox | Yes, the team is atrocious, but Crochet spun another gem last week. 6 IP, 1 ER, 8 K at MLW. |
| 25 | Jose Berrios | Blue Jays | Quietly one of the Jays’ best arms. |
| 26 | Justin Verlander | Astros | 7 IP, 9 Ks, 1 ER. Same as his start last week but with one more inning pitched. |
| 27 (33) | Luis Gil | Yankees | 8 IP, 1 ER, 9 K. I don’t know what’s more wild. That he’s 27th here or that he might even be too low yet again. |
| 28 | Joe Ryan | Twins | Much like I said in the Justin Steele write-up, I was ready to move Ryan up this week until Ryan also fell victim to a Friday night fiasco. 5 IP, 5 ER, 4 HR, 2 BB means no move up for him. Hold here for now. |
| 29 (27) | Jesus Luzardo | Marlins | Not the third shutout in a row, but not terrible. |
| 30 | Paul Skenes | Pirates | A 12.3 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 in his first 22 MLB innings? Ya, that’ll play. |
| 31 (35) | Mitch Keller | Pirates | 7-3 record with 8 Ks at TOR Friday night? Quietly breaking out. |
| 32 (38) | Sonny Gray | Cardinals | Too high of a jump based on the 4 ER he gave up, but the 10 Ks at PHI last week were *chef’s kiss*. |
| 33 (21) | Zac Gallen | Diamondbacks | 15-day IL. The good news is it’s a strained hamstring and not his pitching arm. |
| 34 (37) | Nick Lodolo | Reds | 5.1 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 3 K. A good start last week after returning from injury. Only through one inning so far (yesterday). Hopefully, the strikeouts start to pile up soon. |
| 35 (40) | Bryce Miller | Mariners | Split the difference between the last two weeks’ rankings. 6 IP, 2 ER, 6 K. It’s probably a lot of a stretch, but this Mariners rotation reminds me of the Braves’ early 90s ones. |
| 36 (34) | Bobby Miller | Dodgers | Threw 65 pitches at A ball last week. Will start at AAA on Friday. |
| 37 (32) | Walker Buehler | Dodgers | 4 BB and 7 K vs COL last week. Second start with 90+ pitches since his return. |
| 38 (39) | Brady Singer | Royals | Scratched last week with an illness. Should pitch this week. |
| 39 (47) | Bryan Woo | Mariners | I can’t have him as my lede last week and NOT move him up. 6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER last week. Only 2 Ks and 66 pitches though. M’s still using baby gloves with him. |
| 40 (31) | Bailey Ober | Twins | Last week I said, “Hey now, hey now. Don’t dream, it’s Ober”. It’s starting to be less funny. 5 IP, 6 ER, ERA 4.89. |
| 41 (46) | Javier Assad | Cubs | Hasn’t pitched 6 complete since mid-May, but still posting acceptable strikeout totals. |
| 42 | Kyle Bradish | Orioles | 2.2 IP, 5 ER, 3 BB, 6 Ks. Gets Toronto next week. |
| 43 (41) | Hunter Greene | Reds | He was headed in the right direction, then got “fived” Friday night. 5 ER, 5 BB, 5 Ks. |
| 44 (43) | Ronel Blanco | Astros | 4.2 IP, 4 ER, 3 BB, 6 Ks vs MIN. |
| 45 | Zach Eflin | Rays | Hit the IL with “MarmosDad moved me down the list too quickly and made me super queasy”. More below. |
| 46 (49) | Reynaldo Lopez | Braves | Another strong start with 8 Ks. |
| 47 (74) | Jack Flaherty | Tigers | I’m ready to admit that he should have been higher than a lot of the guys below him much sooner than right now. He flip you for real. |
| 48 | Blake Snell | Giants | 4 IP, 3 ER, 7 Ks. Still making his way back from injury, (and late-night baby Snellzilla feedings). Hold. |
| 49 (50) | Framber Valdez | Astros | 6 IP, 3 ER, 4 K. Could have been a lot worse but it’ll take a lot more than a couple of decent games before I’m willing to fall for this again. |
| 50 (56) | Michael King | Padres | 5 IP, 1 ER, 7 K. By note? “It’s good”. |
| 51 (55) | Carlos Rodon | Yankees | 7-2 record. The strikeouts aren’t popping off the page, but the ratios have been good. |
| 52 | Brayan Bello | Red Sox | 5 IP, 3 ER, 7 Ks. I’d love for him to add a couple on the IP count and shave a couple off of the ERs, but for now, I’ll take the good strikeout total. |
| 53 (64) | MacKenzie Gore | Nationals | Time to start moving him up from 64. 5.1 innings with 1 ER 10Ks and 0 BB. 2.91 ERA. Up we goooo! |
| 54 (61) | Gavin Stone | Dodgers | 7 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 7 K. Added him two weeks ago and he keeps giving me reasons to move him up. Should stick in the rotation even when LAD arms get healthy. |
| 55 (53) | Nestor Cortes | Yankees | Only 3 ER (total) over his last 3 starts (not including yesterday). |
| 56 (59) | Nick Pivetta | Red Sox | 5.1 IP, 2 ER, 9 K. ERA at 4.08. Better than his last start. Hold here. |
| 57 (60) | Ryan Pepiot | Rays | 5.2 IP, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 Ks. |
| 58 | Shane Baz | Rays | 4.1 IP at Durham last week with 6 ER and just one strikeout. He’s got some more work to do before a recall. |
| 59 (63) | Tanner Bibee | Guardians | 6.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 7Ks. Headed back up! |
| 60 (53) | Joe Musgrove | Padres | Back to IL yesterday. |
| 61 (44) | Kutter Crawford | Red Sox | 6 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 3.29. I don’t like slotting him in this low, but he’s given up two or more ERs in every start since April 26th. |
| 62 (70) | Christopher Sanchez | Phillies | 6 shutout innings. 7 Ks. ERA at 2.83. Sits in this 60s range. |
| 63 (71) | Gerrit Cole | Yankees | Yankees announced yesterday that he’ll start a rehab assignment this week. The return is coming! |
| 64 (82) | Robert Gasser | Brewers | 6 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 7 Ks. He’s the best Gasser in the Midwest since Hank Hill. I had him at 74 but bumped him another ten. |
| 65 | Chris Bassitt | Blue Jays | Two good starts in a row, but was removed with neck spasms last week. Looked healthy through 2 innings vs PIT yesterday (while I was writing). |
| 66 (36) | Clarke Schmidt | Yankees | More valuable than this in keeper leagues, but the 4-6 week IL placement drops him hard here. |
| 67 (51) | Yusei Kikuchi | Blue Jays | Too far of a drop, but Yusei got hammered vs PIT on Friday night. More below. |
| 68 (57) | Jordan Montgomery | Diamondbacks | Blasted for 8 R, 9 H in 4 IP at NYM Thursday night. |
| 69 (67) | Reese Olson | Tigers | Roughed up for 5 ER and 2 HR at Fenway. Still less than a strikeout per inning. |
| 70 (62) | Charlie Morton | Braves | Good thing I didn’t jinx him last week when I said he wasn’t cooked. 5.2 IP and 8 ER. SMH emoji. |
| 71 (NR) | Braxton Garrett | Marlins | I went to the 7-day player rater for this one. |
| 72 (69) | Triston McKenzie | Guardians | 5 HR allowed in his last 10 IP. |
| 73 | Jordan Hicks | Giants | 5.1 IP, 4 ER, 2 HR, 4 Ks. Meh. |
| 74 (78) | Marcus Stroman | Yankees | 6th on the last 7-day Player Rater. |
| 75 (84) | Trevor Williams | Nationals | 5.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 Ks. If you don’t roster him, you won’t guess that his ERA is…2.22. |
| 76 (54) | Yu Darvish | Padres | Got blown up two Fridays ago then left his last start after 3 innings. It was initially reported that he had a sore hamstring, then was put on the IL with a left groin strain. |
| 77 (66) | Alec Marsh | Royals | Cursed him last week when I said he was pitching well. 5 ER and 2 HR allowed in 7 IPs last week. |
| 78 (77) | Brandon Pfaadt | Diamondbacks | 10 ERs over the last 19 IPs, but the strikeouts are still there. |
| 79 | Nathan Eovaldi | Rangers | 3 IP, 2 ER. A short start in his return from the groin injury. The good news is he didn’t have a setback. |
| 80 (85) | Mitchell Parker | Nationals | Once upon a time, a streamer was held week after week until he became a full-fledged member of many fantasy managers’ active lineups. Just sit him this week vs ATL if you want this one to end happily. |
| 81 (80) | Jon Gray | Rangers | Should return early this week. |
| 82 (68) | Justin Steele | Cubs | See opening paragraphs. |
| 83 | Ryan Weathers | Marlins | Gave up 4 ER, but struck out 11. |
| 84 (94) | Ben Lively | Guardians | Slowly moving up. Could be higher next week. |
| 85 (93) | Zack Littell | Rays | 7 shutout innings with 9 Ks. Should probably be higher than this, but starting the move back up this week. |
| 86 (88) | Hunter Brown | Astros | The ratios are so bad, so he’ll need more than a couple of good outings to clean that up. 6 IP, 3 ER, 7 Ks. |
| 87(NR) | Bailey Falter | Pirates | This was an NR inclusion last week when I accidentally doubled up on Ben (don’t call me Blake) Lively. |
| 88 (76) | Cristian Javier | Astros | Well, there you Jav-it. Hit the Il with “I-Told-You-So-itis”. |
| 89 (NR) | Kyle Gibson | Cardinals | Back on the list after two good GS. 24th on the 7-day Player Rater. |
| 90 (89) | Aaron Civale | Rays | Another outing with less than 6 innings pitched. Has thrown 6 innings in just 3 of his 11 starts. 3 Ks. |
| 91 (81) | Taj Bradley | Rays | Someone said Taj will finish as a Top 20 SP this year. Well…that isn’t happening if he keeps posting lines like last week. 3.1 IP, 9 ER, 4 HR allowed, 3 BB, 3 K. That’s a woof the size of Clifford the Big Red Dog. |
| 92 (86) | Kyle Harrison | Giants | 5 IP, 4 ER, 12 Hits! Harrison only walked one last week and the 5 strikeouts are nice, but we need more if we’re going to move him up. |
| 93 (90) | Dean Kremer | Orioles | Should return this week. |
| 94 (91) | Erick Fedde | White Sox | Shutouts every other game. Fedde flops in between. |
| 95 (99) | Jose Soriano | Angels | 4 ER allowed in each of his last 2 GS. Strikeout upside and job security with Detmers gone. |
| 96 | Albert Suarez | Orioles | Two good starts now since being re-inserted into rotation. Building up stamina. |
| 97 | Luis Severino | Mets | Hit around by ARI last week. |
| 98 | Jameson Taillon | Cubs | I wrote two notes here this week. “Fine” and “Hold”. |
| 99 (92) | Andrew Abbott | Reds | 6 IP, 6 ER, ERA at 3.29 – This is why we can’t have nice things. Added last week and already clinging to the bottom rung by his fingernails. |
| 100 (NR) | Dane Dunning | Rangers | 5 IP, 0 ER, 6K. Has been hovering around that next 10 here and was an easy name to replace Manoah this week. |
BIGGEST DUMPERS: With apologies to Cal Raleigh, these are some of the biggest dumpers (in value, not pants size).
Clarke Schmidt 66 (36) – The 4-6 week projection for Schmidt’s IL stint makes it very unlikely that he can help your fantasy team before the end of July. I’m no doctor, but a lat injury sounds like it’s not a quick fix. A Schmidt-ty deal for anyone who was riding the breakout.
Yusei Kikuchi 67 (51) – Yusei…you only pitch well when you want to? I certainly hope not, but the last two outings have been pretty nasty. The numbers from those two GS? 8.1 innings, 17 H, 10 ER, 2 HR, 1 BB, 4 K. If only there was a feel-good story to include here that would make us forget how rough it’s been for Kikuchi the last couple of weeks…
Make sure to watch the interview too. It’s a pretty cool story about Kikuchi and Vogelbach’s friendship that began back in Seattle.
Omg. I just got it. “Yusei” is pronounced like the first two word of my song. Doh. ??????? https://t.co/PEVW6eYgkG
— Lisa Loeb (@LisaLoeb) May 31, 2024
Reid Detmers 72 (NR) – So this is a bit of a cheat as Detmers would have been on our “OOF!” list. He was pummelled once again, (3.2 IP, 5 ER, 4 BB, 3 K), then optioned to Salt Lake City after the game. If you can’t stick in a rotation like the one in LAA, what are we doing here? Apparently, the answer is not much to help out fantasy teams or the big club.
BIGGEST JUMPERS: Who’s got hops? These are some of the biggest jumpers in value this week.
Jack Flaherty 47 (74) – I’ve said it before. I had hoped that the Flaherty hot stretch was more of a fluke and that he was due for a fall-off. Call it what you will. (Likely having way too many shares of Matt Manning and Casey Mize and hoping for an open rotation spot for each of them). Well, the 74 to 47 flip/boost was the biggest jump of the week and allowed me to use a favorite clip. He’s been a beast.
Robert Gasser 64 (82) – I had Gasser all set at 74, then had a look at the names that surrounded him. Maybe this is too aggressive of a move-up, but he’s sitting at 2-0 with a 2.57 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP. 16 strikeouts through 28 innings is solid, but the fact that the rookie has walked just one batter over his first 5 GS is the impressive stat here. This is the best ‘gasser’ in the Midwest since Hank Hill ran that propane company.
Braxton Garrett 71 (NR) – A familiar face from the start of the year, this guy looked pretty ugly in his first two starts since his activation from the IL. This week, Garrett followed up his complete game SO with 5 innings of 6-hit ball. He did record just two strikeouts in his last start, but it looks like he’s headed in the right direction now.
“WHO DIS?!” – (NEW THIS WEEK)
I dipped out on the OOF! and WHEE! sections in favor of WHO DIS?! I’ll rotate this in and out periodically throughout the rest of the season.
“Who Dis?” is a shout-out to a scene from Jon Singleton’s Boyz n The Hood (not that Jon Singleton, Astro fans). These are names that I had down with some short notes but didn’t think they were ready to crack our list. They are, however, worth a look to a least figure out, “Who dis?”
Spencer Schwellenbach – Is this the O.G. female Beastie Boy, or the Braves’ top pitching prospect? (And if you get that deep-cut reference, please know that I appreciate you!). All I know is both this guy and the drummer from Luscious Jackson would have a tough time fitting those last names on the back of a jersey. Schwellenbach was Grey’s lede on Wednesday and had 51 strikeouts in 45 IP in AAA before the call-up. The ratios are pretty pristine, too.
Ben Brown – Brown should probably have made our list this week. 7 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 2 BB, 10 Ks is a line that puts a lot of others here to shame. 15th on our 7-day Player Rater.
Spencer Arrighetti – If you look at his first seven starts of the year, you may end up with some vomit on your sweater already. But his last two have been better than Mom’s spaghetti. In Seattle last week he was nervous but looked calm and ready as he threw 6 shutout innings with 2 hits allowed. The 8 Ks were a high so far this year.
Mitch Spence – Can you guess which team he plays for? I bet you can…if I give you 30 guesses. Grey wrote him up this week too: “5.1 IP, 0 ER. 1 H, 1 BB, 4 Ks, 3 WTFs…Looks like a master of the 84 MPH-slide piece, filth merchant or a 77 MPH curve, and worker of the 94 MPH fastball.” And that’s me quoting…well, you know.
Matt Waldron – A flutter-baller! Shout out to the real one (and RIP to a former co-worker) Tim Wakefield before we peep this clip. Waldron has the knuckleball dancing out in San Diego like Wake did for so many years. 25 strikeouts in the last 17.2 IP is a good way to get yourself noticed for a Top 100 Starting Pitchers list, that’s for sure. The Waldron monocle is firmly affixed to the eye of MarmosDad.
Oh, and before we bounce, I think I need to include the reference point for our title here. (Just a heads up for some language near the beginning).
That’s all for this week! I hope you enjoyed it! Next week, I’ll post the Top 100 Starting Pitchers with some write-ups on some of the arms that I think need a bit more attention than others. Then, I’ll try to keep cherry-picking names to highlight throughout the list as we progress through the season.
Drop some comments in the chat if you’re feeling extra fired up about some of the names I do (or don’t) have here. Have a great week!
Follow me @marmosdad on Twitter/X and Bluesky @marmosdad.bsky.social
