And they’re off! Again! For the Second Time! Part Two! Two Dragons! (I’ll secretly do almost anything to word sneak in an unsneaky way Starchy & Hutch‘s ‘Two Dragons‘ reference into juuuust about anything. You’re welcome.) But for real…it’s the second half! (Insert explosions, fireworks, train horns, sirens, babies screaming, and horses charging) I got all the feels!
Here at the balls of Razz we’ve already posted many-a rankings for the second half to prime you for the stretch run (@Grey, @malamoney, @Big Magoo). And well, here comes another. If you showed up looking for the Week 16 Tw0-Start Pitcher Rankings, tough luck…the MLB teams are characteristically late in announcing much of anything valuable coming out of the All-Star Break, so we don’t know the rotations for Week 16. The three game soiree that is the first weekend of the second half is the recalibration many teams needs after taking the week off. By the time this article is posted there may be a list of Two-Start options available, but as for when I’m penning this piece it’s unfortunately not. So, I’ll join the bandwagon of the other writers and personally lay down the challenge to ol’ @JB Gilpin, my pitcher counterpart, and say that these rankings are the ones you need for the second-half in evaluating Starting Pitchers. He may be 6’7″, but I’ll take him out faster than Jose Canseco’s interview on the Razzball podcast two weeks ago (Seriously…if you haven’t heard it yet, sweet mercy, go download that sheen right meow).
And without further adieu, which no one actually uses in any common vernacular anymore outside of that phrase, here are the Top 100 Second Half Starting Pitcher Rankings! Hopefully some of the top options throw twice next week!
Note: I have not looked at JB’s or anyone else’s rankings at Razzball yet. I know, I’m a great teammate. But I wasn’t influenced by theirs in any capacity.
Second Note: The typical Two-Start Pitchers article will return for Week 17.
TOP 100 SECOND HALF STARTING PITCHERS
THE BEST
Rank | Name | Team |
1 | Max Scherzer | WAS |
2 | Stephen Strasburg | WAS |
3 | Jose Fernandez | MIA |
4 | Madison Bumgarner | SF |
5 | Jake Arrieta | CHC |
6 | David Price | BOS |
7 | Clayton Kershaw | LAD |
8 | Chris Sale | CWS |
9 | Noah Syndergaard | NYM |
10 | Johnny Cueto | SF |
11 | Corey Kluber | CLE |
12 | Danny Salazar | CLE |
13 | Carlos Carrasco | CLE |
14 | Jacob deGrom | NYM |
THE REPLICAS
15 | Jon Lester | CHC |
16 | John Lackey | CHC |
17 | Jose Quintana | CWS |
18 | Zack Greinke | ARI |
19 | Gerrit Cole | PIT |
20 | Justin Verlander | DET |
21 | Michael Fulmer | DET |
22 | Drew Pomeranz | BOS |
23 | Danny Duffy | KC |
24 | Julio Teheran | ATL |
25 | Kenta Maeda | LAD |
26 | Trevor Bauer | CLE |
27 | Masahiro Tanaka | NYY |
28 | Chris Archer | TB |
29 | Cole Hamels | TEX |
30 | Carlos Martinez | STL |
31 | Felix Hernandez | SEA |
32 | Michael Pineda | NYY |
33 | Matt Shoemaker | LAA |
34 | Dallas Keuchel | HOU |
35 | Lance McCullers | HOU |
36 | Yu Darvish | TEX |
THE STANDARDS
37 | Kyle Hendricks | CHC |
38 | Steven Wright | BOS |
39 | Chris Tillman | BAL |
40 | Rich Hill | OAK |
41 | Aaron Sanchez | TOR |
42 | Adam Wainwright | STL |
43 | Vince Velasquez | PHI |
44 | Steven Matz | NYM |
45 | Jeff Samardzija | SF |
46 | J.A. Happ | TOR |
47 | Collin McHugh | HOU |
48 | Jordan Zimmerman | DET |
49 | Michael Wacha | STL |
50 | Scott Kazmir | LAD |
51 | Jason Hammel | CHC |
52 | Junior Guerra | MIL |
53 | Aaron Nola | PHI |
WHERE THE PROSPECTS ARISE
54 | Jose Berrios | MIN |
55 | Tanner Roark | WAS |
56 | Adam Conley | MIA |
57 | Jared Eickhoff | PHI |
58 | Tyler Glasnow | PIT |
59 | Blake Snell | TB |
60 | Joe Ross | WAS |
61 | Lucas Giolito | WAS |
62 | Ian Kennedy | KC |
63 | Jake Odorizzi | TB |
64 | Rick Porcello | BOS |
65 | Marco Estrada | TOR |
66 | Taijuan Walker | SEA |
67 | Hisashi Iwakuma | SEA |
68 | Bartolo Colon | NYM |
69 | Brandon McCarthy | LAD |
70 | Anthony DeSclafini | CIN |
71 | Tyler Chatwood | COL |
72 | Mike Leake | STL |
73 | Jaime Garcia | STL |
74 | Marcus Stroman | TOR |
75 | Gio Gonzalez | WAS |
76 | Sonny Gray | OAK |
77 | Yordano Ventura | KC |
78 | Bud Norris | LAD |
79 | Julio Urias | LAD |
80 | A.J. Griffin | TEX |
81 | Jameson Taillon | PIT |
82 | Wei-Yin Chen | MIA |
83 | Alex Reyes | STL |
84 | Zach Davies | MIL |
85 | Jimmy Nelson | MIL |
86 | Matt Moore | TB |
87 | C.C. Sabathia | NYY |
88 | Doug Fister | HOU |
89 | Josh Tomlin | CLE |
90 | Ervin Santana | MIN |
91 | Kevin Gausman | BAL |
92 | Jeremy Hellickson | PHI |
93 | Drew Smyly | TB |
94 | Matt Wisler | ATL |
95 | Mike Foltynewicz | ATL |
96 | Jon Gray | COL |
97 | James Shields | CWS |
98 | R.A. Dickey | TOR |
99 | Edinson Volquez | KC |
100 | Dylan Bundy | BAL |
NOTE: Think of these rankings like ‘TRADE VALUE ROS’. Do I think Jose Berrios will have better stats than Sonny Gray? Well, uh…yeah! But even if not, I’d trade Gray for Berrios. Yesterday. The same thinking applies for everyone on the list. Injuries are considered. Personal preferences are really considered.
So…DROP A COMMENT AND LET ME KNOW THOSE THOUGHTS! Good luck in the 2nd Half, and check back next week for an actual Two-Start Pitcher article!