Top 100 Dynasty Starting Pitchers for 2027 Fantasy Baseball

Hello everyone. Welcome back to another edition of my position-by-position dynasty rankings for 2027.

Last week I unveiled my Top 50 Dynasty Relievers for 2027 Fantasy Baseball, so this week I turn my attention to the starting pitchers.

As is often the case, as time moves on a person’s views and ways of doing things slowly change. In the past I gave more weight to older pitchers because I don’t like the many ups and downs younger pitchers have. I wanted “certainty” from my starters for the next three seasons. If I liked what I was predicting, I was taking them regardless of their age.

To be honest, this approached has served me well. While my opponents were going after the top young arms, I was able to get a Chris Sale or Zack Wheeler at a “discount” because they were so much older. But I have slowly shifted my overall outlook to go after younger starters as well. One big reason is many of the top young arms are just better at adjusting to the majors than in the past.

They are still going to hit a few bumps in the road, but not as many. So I am now willing to accept those ups and downs because their long-term upside is tremendous. Thus the below rankings now feature a lot of younger pitchers ranked higher compared to how I would have ranked them in the past.

With that out of the way, it’s time to move on to the Top 100 Dynasty Starting Pitchers for 2027 Baseball.

Old-timers Just Missing Being Ranked

If you need to round out your rotation and aren’t enthralled with any young pitchers, you can always turn to a trusted vet, or at least a vet who should kill your pitching stats. The following are some to consider:

• Cal Quantrill, Rangers
• Carlos Rodon, Yankees
• Robbie Ray, Padres
• Kevin Gausman, Cubs
• Matthew Boyd, Cubs
• Martin Perez, Braves

Keep An Eye On These Pitchers

But if you are looking to round out your staff and want to go with pitchers with possible upside, then these are pitchers to watch:

• Connor Prielipp, Twins
• Dustin May, Cardinals
• Cristian Javier, Astros
• Miguel Ullola, Astros
• Carmen Mlodzinski, Pirates
• Hunter Greene, Reds

Ullola is the most intriguing of this group as he could be used as a reliever next season as that was the role the Astros used him in. In 11 games (and two starts as the opener), Ullola had a 2.16 ERA and a 0.720 WHIP. He struck out only 8.6 hitters per nine but walked only 2.7 per nine. That is in stark contrast compared to his minor league numbers in which he averaged 12.1 K/9 and 6.1 BB/9 in 152 games, including 86 starts. His role for 2027 is up in the air, but whether as a reliever or starter, he is a pitcher to watch.

Hunter Greene is a great pitcher. Love the guy. The problem is that he is almost always injured. He will miss the 2027 season after undergoing a second Tommy John surgery this season. Greene was limited to only five starts this year after making only 19 in 2025. In five seasons, the most innings he has thrown is 150.1. He is a great pitcher to stash, but with his history of injuries, I am going to list him here.

NOTE: In the rankings below, you are not going to see the top prospects unless they appeared in at least one game. We have people like Itch who are much better at talking about prospects than me. And slotting a prospect into a Top 100 or Top 50 list and comparing them to established veterans is something I don’t do. Additionally, in a lot of dynasty leagues (like the ones I am in), separate drafts or auctions are held for the prospects and for the major league players, eliminating the need to mix and match vets with prospects.

The Top 100

*Ages as of March 1, 2027

TIER 8

RANK	PLAYER	2026 TEAM	AGE
100	River Ryan	DET	28
99	Gage Jump	A’s	23
98	Landen Roupp	SF	28
97	Bryce Elder	ATL	27
96	Nathan Eovaldi	TEX	37
95	Michael Wacha	KC	35
94	Nick Martinez	TB	36
93	Randy Vasquez	SD	28
92	Zebby Matthews	MIN	26
91	Davis Martin	CWS	30
90	J.T. Ginn	A’s	27
89	Shane Baz	BAL	27
88	Andre Pallante	STL	28
87	Tanner Bibee	CLE	27
86	Brandon Young	BAL	28
85	Grant Holmes	ATL	30
84	Kyle Leahy	STL	29
83	Javier Assad	CHC	29
82	Andrew Alvarez	WAS	27
81	Eduardo Rodriguez	ARI	33

Big Shoes To Fill

River Ryan was the key piece of the trade that sent Tarik Skubal to the Dodgers from Detroit. In 2024 Ryan made four starts for the Dodgers and had a 1.33 ERA and 1.180 WHIP but then missed all of 2025. After being traded to the Tigers this year, Ryan made two starts and had a 4.15 ERA in 4.1 innings of work. The good news is the six strikeouts he recorded. The bad news is he also walked three. He will be given every chance to succeed in Detroit and is a great player to stash.

Rough MLB Debut

Gage Jump of the Athletics didn’t have the best of times on the mound this year for the Philadelphia-Kansas City-Oakland-West Sacramento-future Las Vegas A’s. In 20 starts he had a 5.47 ERA and 1.520 WHIP with a 4.2 BB/9 rate. Ouch. The good news is he had a 9.9 K/9 rate. In the minors his walk rate was a manageable 3.2 while he had a healthy 11.2 K/9 rate. There is also this bit of good news: we all know he literally pitches in a minor league park for the A’s. Well, at home he had a 6.27 ERA and 1.606 WHIP. In real major league ballparks he posted a 4.60 ERA and 1.426 WHIP. Not great numbers, but still a lot better than in his home park.

The One Good Athletics Pitcher

While teammate Gage Jump had a difficult time pitching for the Athletics, especially in West Sacramento, J.T. Ginn had a good year for the A’s, going 9-8 with a 3.71 ERA and 1.236 WHIP. His strikeout rate fell from 9.9 to 7.9 this season, so that is a concern, but when you are looking at pitchers this deep in the rankings, you aren’t going to find the perfect pitcher. They are found ranked much, much higher.

What I really like about Ginn was his home-road splits this year. At home he had a 3.80 ERA and 1.432 WHIP with a 6.8 k/9 rate. On the road he was very good, posting a 3.63 ERA and 1.056 WHIP with very nice rates of 8.9 K/9 and 1.056 BB/9.

A Good Follow-up Season

Andrew Alvarez made a brief appearance with the Nationals in 2025, making five starts while posting a 2.31 ERA and 1.114 WHIP. Alvarez came back in 2026 to have a solid rookie campaign. In 25 appearances (17 starts) he had a 3.43 ERA and 1.296 WHIP. His K/9 rate came in at 9.1, higher than the 7.7 rate from 2025, while his BB/9 rate was 4.1, close to the 3.9 the previous season.

What really has me keeping an eye on him was the success he had as a starter. In his 17 starts he had a 3.35 ERA and 1.291 WHIP. While he struck out more hitters as a reliever (9.5), he still had a nice 9.0 K/9 rate as a starter. When looking for pitching depth, Alvarez is a solid pitcher to go after.

TIER 7

RANK	PLAYER	2026 TEAM	AGE
80	Bubba Chandler	PIT	24
79	Brandon Pfaadt	ARI	28
78	Shane Drohan	MIL	28
77	Michael McGreevy	STL	26
76	Bryan Bello	BOS	27
75	Griffin Jax	TB	32
74	Foster Griffin	WAS	31
73	Hayden Wesneski	HOU	29
72	Peter Lambert	HOU	29
71	Trevor Rogers	BAL	29
70	Michael King	SD	31
69	Noah Cameron	KC	27
68	MacKenzie Gore	TEX	28
67	Ranger Suarez	BOS	31
66	George Kirby	SEA	29
65	Joey Cantillo	CLE	27
64	Emmet Sheehan	DET	27
63	Emerson Hancock	SEA	27
62	Sandy Alcantara	MIA	31
61	Logan Webb	SF	30

Blah Rookie Year

Entering the season, Bubba Chandler was ranked as the 15th best prospect by Baseball America, 11th by MLB and 12th by Baseball Prospectus. Well, his first full season in the majors was a little rough as he had a 4.50 ERA and 4.403 WHIP in his 31 games. His 8.2 K/9 rate could be better, especially when it was 11.1 in the minors. But what really hurt Chandler this season was a 4.7 BB/9 rate. Walks could just be a part of his game as his walk rate in the minors was 4.2. But for him to live up to expectations and move up the rankings, that walk rate is going to have to come down.

Solid Is Good

Hayden Wesneski is not going to be the ace of the staff, but he is a pitcher who can be a strong No. 3 or even a solid No. 2. He doesn’t blow people away, but he is outstanding with his sequencing and has command of all of his pitches. After working his way back from Tommy John surgery last year, Wesneski finished with a 3.25 ERA and 1.131 WHIP in 11 starts. And he got better each month of the season, going from a 4.76 ERA and 1.588 WHIP in July to a 3.67/1.111 August and then a 2.54/1.059 WHIP in September. This is a pitcher who should be targeted this offseason as dynasty owners look to upgrade their pitching staffs.

A Mixed Bag

Joey Cantillo was a mix of good and bad for the Guardians this season. The good is the fact he had an ERA of 3.62 and a K/9 rate of 9.7, not too far off the 10.2 rate he had in 2025 splitting time between starting and relieving. The bad was the 1.415 WHIP thanks to a 4.6 BB/9 rate. That rate was way above the 1.259 WHIP he had in 2025 or even the 1.293 WHIP he had in nine appearances with Cleveland in 2024. Since Cantillo has shown the ability to command the zone and strike out hitters, I think he has the ability to actually be ranked a little low here.

Big Improvement

In 2024 and 2025, Emerson Hancock combined to post a 4.84 ERA and 1.361 WHIP while posting 6.2 K/9 rate and 3.0 BB/9 rates. But Hancock turned it around in 2026, finishing with a 3.57 ERA and 1.139 WHIP. What was really nice to see was the fact that his K/9 rate jumped to 8.2 while his walk rate fell to 2.1. Those are two trends that give me hope that former top 100 prospects will continue this turnaround into next season.

TIER 6

RANK	PLAYER	2026 TEAM	AGE
60	Zac Thornton	NYM	25
59	Jose Soriano	TOR	28
58	Justin Wrobleski	LAD	26
57	Jake Bennett	BOS	26
56	Bryce Miller	SEA	28
55	Will Warren	NYY	27
54	Casey Mize	DET	29
53	Shota Imanaga	CHC	33
52	Framber Valdez	DET	32
51	Gerrit Cole	NYY	36

A Good Rookie Year

Jake Bennett had a very nice rookie campaign for the Red Sox this past season, going 9-7 with a 3.65 ERA and 1.103 WHIP in 19 starts and 20 appearances overall. He showed the ability to command his pitches as he had a 1.7 BB/9 rate, which was a little lower than his career 2.2/9 rate in the minors. The only number to dip compared to what he did in the minors was his strikeout rate, which was 7.2 compared to 9.0 in the minors and 10.4 during his career at Oklahoma. But his K/9 rate jumped from 6.6 to 7.7 from the first half to the second half, showing that as he gets more experience, the strikeouts may increase.

I Expected More, But…

Maybe I have rose colored glasses with it comes to Bryce Miller. I was really excited about him after his 2024 season and then he came out and produced a 5.68 ERA and 1.406 WHIP in 2025. But I figured that was a blip on the radar screen, part of the learning process for a young pitcher. Miller was better for the Mariners this season. His 1.163 ERA was much closer to the 0.976 WHIP he had in 2024 while his 9.0 K/9 rate set a new career high. The only bad thing was the 4.17 ERA and his 4.41 FIP. Both figures are better than 2025, but not quite equal to 2024. I think Miller has the ability to be that 2024 pitcher, thus why he lands here in the rankings.

Worth The Risk

Shota Imanaga, Framber Valdez and Gerrit Cole are not getting any younger. But all three pitchers are worth taking a gamble on. And when you get to this point of your rankings, you want to make sure you land some solid, consistent pitchers – especially if you went for some young pitchers early who have high ceilings but have not reached that ceiling yet.

Over his first three seasons, Imanaga has been a solid pitcher for the Cubs. He has not been able to duplicate his rookie season (15-3, 2.91 ERA, 1.021 WHIP), but he still posted a 3.77 ERA and 1.096 WHIP this year while posting a 9.0 K/9 rate, matching his rookie season and a definite improvement over the 7.3 rate he had last year.

Framber Valdez’s first year in Detroit was his first season since his first full season with Houston in 2020. Valdez ended the year with a 4.03 ERA and 1.362 WHIP with a 7.0 K/9 rate and 3.5 BB/9 rate. Valdez hadn’t put those kinds of numbers up since that 2020 season and that strikeout rate was a career worst. But I am not ready to throw in the towel on Valdez, and he finished the season with strong months of August and September as he had ERAs of 3.86 and 1.93.

Cole came back this season to appear in 22 games this season and had a 3.41 ERA and 1.126 WHIP. The strikeout rate was at 9.4, matching his 9.6 from last year but is still down from his career mark of 10.3/9. Maybe he is no longer the big strikeout pitcher he once was, but he is still a good pitcher who is not going to hurt you.

TIER 5

RANK	PLAYER	2026 TEAM	AGE
50	Jacob DeGrom	TEX	38
49	Sonny Gray	BOS	36
48	Shane McClanahan	TB	29
47	Michael Soroka	ARI	29
46	Troy Melton	DET	26
45	Keider Montero	DET	26
44	Max Meyer	MIA	27
43	Ian Seymour	TB	28
42	Walbert Urena	LAA	22
41	Braxton Ashcraft	PIT	27

Two Tigers To Target

The Detroit Tigers didn’t have the season they expected, but they did have two pitchers who had breakout seasons.

Troy Melton got a taste of the majors in 2025 when he made four starts and appeared in 20 games overall, going 3-2 with a 2.76 ERA and 1.007 WHIP. This year he became a mainstay in the rotation as he made 20 starts and finished with a 2.76 ERA and 1.128 WHIP. He does not have a high strikeout rate, which I prefer in my pitchers, but while he doesn’t rack up strikeouts, he also limits walks and hits. I really like his upside and he should be an above average contributor in dynasty leagues.

Keider Montero has been with the Tigers since 2024, and each season he has improved, seeing his ERA drop from 4.76 to 4.37 to 3.48 the last three seasons while his WHIP has gone from 1.332 and 1.390 to 1.039 this year. Like Melton, Montero does not rack up the strikeouts as he has a 6.7 K/9 rate for his career. But he has made solid jumps in production each season and is a solid, steady pitcher to target.

Finally Breaking Out

From 2021 through 2025 Max Meyer was listed as a Top 100 prospect by Baseball America, MLB and Baseball Prospectus. But it took until this past season for Meyer to finally show what the hype was all about. In 20 starts he went 9-1 with a 2.68 ERA and 1.135 WHIP while posting a 9.8 K/9 rate. He did walk 3.3/9, which is a concern, but has three nasty pitches in his sweeper, slider and change, pitches that generated whiff percentages of 35.7%, 39.6% and 33.8%.

Meyer has been slowed by injuries during his career as he missed all of 2023 due to Tommy John surgery and then missed the final two and a half months of this season due to a neck strain. But he is expected to be fully healthy for the start of spring training and I fully expect him to pick up in 2027 where he left off this season.

Solid Rookie Season

There is a lot of good when it comes to Urena. First, let’s start with his 2.97 ERA. Among qualified rookie pitchers, that ERA ranked fourth.  He had a roller coaster ride to get to that ERA (4.76 in April and 4.28 in June, but 1.64 in May, 1.25 in July, and 3.30 in August and 3.60 in September), but if a player has a 2.97 ERA overall I’m not going to quibble too much about how he got there.

There is one area of concern when it comes to Urena at this point – his walks. He allowed 4.1 BB/9. In five seasons in the minors, he posted a 5.5 BB/9 rate, so he is actually doing better in the majors than in the minors when it comes to his walks. The good news is the fact that as he progressed through the minors, his walk rate declined. It was 7.7/9 in Rookie ball, then 5.5 at Class A, 6.3 at High-A, 4.7 at Double-A, and 4.5 in Triple-A over two seasons.

TIER 4

RANK	PLAYER	2026 TEAM	AGE
40	Roki Sasaki	LAD	25
39	Joe Ryan	MIN	30
38	Robby Snelling	MIA	23
37	Christian Scott	NYM	27
36	Robert Gasser	MIL	27
35	Brian Woo	SEA	27
34	Trey Yesavage	TOR	23
33	Sean Burke	CWS	27
32	Ryan Weathers	NYY	27
31	Ben Brown	CHC	27

Still A High Ceiling

The first two seasons for Roki Sasaki in a Dodgers uniform have not met expectations. He appeared in only 10 games in 2024 and posted a 4.46 ERA and 1.431 WHIP. This year he appeared in 26 games, making 23 starts, and had a 4.49 ERA and 1.316 WHIP with a 9.0 K/9 rate, and nice increase from the 6.9 he posted in 2025. Sasaki has all the tools to be a top pitcher, but the question is this: will that come only as a reliever, which will hurt his value.

It is a small sample size, but as a starter Sasaki has a 4.63 ERA, 1.367 WHIP and an 8.3 K/9 rate. As a reliever he has a 0.00 ERA. 0.600 WHIP and an 18.0 K/9 rate in five appearances. When you include the postseason, Sasaki has appeared in 15 games and has a 0.71 ERA, a 0.930 WHIP and three saves. His history is saying he is suited for the bullpen, but his ability still screams that he will be given every chance to succeed as a starter.

Buying High

Robby Snelling has made one start in the majors, and in that start he allowed three runs on five hits and four walks with two strikeouts. So why in the world is he ranked at No. 38? In this case I am taking a leap of faith with a young pitcher because Snelling has simply dominated minor league hitters despite his age. In 77 career minor league starts he has a 3.07 ERA and 1.219 WHIP with a nice 10.4 K/9 rate. At Double- and Triple-A in 2025 he had a 2.51 ERA, 1.110 WHIP and 11.0 K/9 rate at the age of 21.

This year he was limited to six starts at Triple-A, but in those six starts he had a 1.86 ERA, 0.897 WHIP and 13.7 K/9 rate.

Riding The Ups And Downs

Christian Scott is the perfect example of why I have always had a tough time going after young pitchers. It is easy to see his talent and thus why you should go after him. In his first full season he made 23 starts and had a 3.85 ERA and 1.273 WHIP to go with an outstanding 11.0 K/9 rate. The downside to Scott is he failed to pitch five full innings in 12 of his starts and in seven of those starts he allowed three or more earned runs. In those 12 starts he had a 5.88 ERA. In his other 11 starts he posted a 2.21 ERA. That is a huge swing.

But the upside is there for Scott to be a frontline starter and that is why he is ranked in this tier.

Injuries – A Recurring Theme

If a starting pitcher hasn’t been injured at some point in the last two or three years, they are probably doing something wrong!

Ryan Weathers and Ben Brown ended the season on the IL. Before being sidelined, they were having very good seasons. Weathers had a 3.60 ERA and 1.223 WHIP with a 9.4 K/9 rate through his first 25 starts before being sent to the IL in August and not returning. Weathers was in the midst of his best stretch of the season before the injury, posting a 1.61 ERA and 1.119 WHIP in August.

Ben Brown is a pitcher who missed a chunk of time in 2024 with an injury and then didn’t pitch after June 19 of this season. I am going to assume that Brown will be healthy in 2027 – a big assumption. And I assume he will be used as a starter, which may be another assumption.

This year Brown appeared in 20 games and made eight starts, posting a 1.85 ERA, 0.941 WHIP but with an 8.6 K/9 rate, below his career rate of 9.8. As a starter this year he was outstanding. His K/9 rate was actually higher than when he came out of the pen and he had a 1.70 ERA and 0.898 WHIP.

TIER 3

RANK	PLAYER	2026 TEAM	AGE
30	Zack Wheeler	PHI	36
29	Reid Detmers	LAA	27
28	Hunter Brown	HOU	28
27	Eury Perez	MIA	23
26	Tyler Glasnow	LAD	33
25	Connelly Early	WAS	24
24	Kade Anderson	SEA	22
23	Cade Cavalli	WAS	28
22	Taj Bradley	TB	25
21	Shohei Ohtani	LAD	32

An Oldie But A Goodie

I know these rankings favor dynasty leagues, where younger is better. But there are some players who don’t act their age. Zach Wheeler is one of those players. While he will be 36 on Opening Day, Wheeler pitches like he is 10 years younger. All he did was go 14-5 with a 3.00 ERA and 1.049 WHIP and a 10.7 K/9 rate. Since the 2021 season he has a 2.92 ERA and 1.011 WHIP with a 10.4 K/9 rate and 2.1 BB/9 rate. So while he is older, he is not showing any hint of regression.

The Red Flag, Episode 1

Remember when Tyler Glasnow dominated hitters for an entire season and won that Cy Young Award and was then talk of the pitching world? You don’t remember that because it has never happened. Glasnow has all the talent in the world, but he simply cannot pitch an entire season. The most starts he has ever made since breaking in with the Pirates in 2016 is 22, which came in 2024 with the Dodgers. That is the same year he threw a career-high 134 innings.

When he actually pitches he is great. Nice ERA, great WHIP and solid K/9 rates. But he is on the IL just as much as he is on the active roster. His talent warrants his ranking here. His injury history warrants a lower ranking. I will let you decide where you think he should actually be ranked.

Finally Equaling The Hype

A former first round draft pick, Cade Cavalli has been on the radar of dynasty owners for years as he was a top-ranked prospect for several seasons. But after making one start in 2022 Cavalli missed all of 2023 due to Tommy John surgery and then came back to start 10 games last year with a 3-1 record and 4.25 ERA, 1.479 WHIP and a pedestrian 7.4 K/9 rate. But 2026 was kind to Cavalli as he showed why he was a top prospect. He went 13-5 for the Nationals with a 3.02 ERA, 1.155 WHIP and a solid 10.6 K/9 rate.

He is just now entering his prime as a pitcher and I fully expect to see this this version of Cavalli again and again.

Wasn’t He Just In College?

The Seattle Mariners wasted no time moving Kade Anderson through their minor league system and to the major league roster. Drafted with the third overall pick in 2025, Anderson started seven games for the Mariners, going 2-2 with a 3.79 ERA, 1.234 WHIP and an 8.1 K/9 rate. Ranking Anderson here is based much more on his ceiling than on his first seven games with Seattle.

In two seasons at LSU he had a 13.7 K/9 rate and then at Double-A Arkansas this year he was 10-1 with a 1.06 ERA, 0.643 WHIP and a 13.0 K/9 rate. Simply put, he dominated the competition at the age of 21. As he learns how to pitch at this level, I fully expect that ERA and WHIP to decrease and that K/9 rate to increase.

The Red Flag, Episode 2

Shohei Ohtani is a Tier 1 pitcher. So why he is sitting here ranked 21st? He’s here because he can’t be counted on to last a full season on the mound. When he pitches, he is one of the best in the game. He had a 1.79 ERA and 0.946 WHIP with a 10.0 K/9 rate. In 2025 those numbers were 2.87/1.043/11.9. But he threw only 85.2 innings this year, 47 in 2025, zero in 2024 and 132 in 2023. If you are in league where he is one player and you get his hitting and pitching stats, then anything he does as a pitcher can be considered a bonus.

But if you are in a league that for some reason treats him as two players, are you confident he will stay healthy enough to warrant making him the top pitcher on your team? I’m not. And for that reason he falls in my rankings to No. 21.

TIER 2

RANK	PLAYER	2026 TEAM	AGE
20	Logan Gilbert	SEA	25
19	Drew Rasmussen	TB	31
18	Max Fried	NYY	33
17	Chris Sale	ATL	37
16	Jared Jones	PIT	24
15	Kyle Harrison	MIL	25
14	Gavin Williams	CLE	27
13	Dylan Cease	TOR	30
12	Parker Messick	CLE	25
11	Nolan McLean	NYM	25

Still Believing In Gilbert

Maybe it is just me, but I still really like Logan Gilbert, though he should be a little better than he has been. So maybe he is ranked a little too high here, but I’m not ready to give up on him yet. This season he posted a 3.73 ERA, an ERA that was 3.23 in 2024 before climbing to 3.44 in 2025. And after posting an 11.9 K/9 rate in 2025, leading me to think he finally found that strikeout pitch, it regressed to 9.9 this season. I still think Gilbert can justify this ranking, but time is running out to prove it.

The Older Folks

Drew Rasmussen, Max Fried and Chris Sale are no longer in their 20s, but they are still pitchers I want on my staff.

Rasmussen has been severely underrated during his career. In 160 games, including 111 starts, he has a 2.83 ERA and 1.024 WHIP. In 2025 he was 10-5 with a 2.76 ERA and 1.020 WHIP and followed that up with a 16-5 record to go with a 2.67 ERA and 0.913 WHIP. He doesn’t have the same strikeout numbers as others in this tier (9.1 K/9 this year, 8.6 for his career), but I’ll take a pitcher who doesn’t blow up my ERA and WHIP every day.

Thanks to playing for the Braves and Yankees, Fried is not an underrated pitcher. Production wise, he is very similar to Rasmussen over the last two years. In 2025 he was 19-5 with a 2.86 ERA and 1.101 WHIP. This season he was limited to 20 starts but had a 2.80 ERA and 0.994 WHIP. And like Rasmussen, Fried is not a big strikeout pitcher as he had a 8.3 K/9 rate this year and for his career sits at 8.7/9.

As for Sale, he is just a freak of nature. Instead of regressing as he ages, he seems to be getting better and better. From 2010-2018, when Sale was 21 to 29 years old, the southpaw went 103-62 with a 2.89 ERA, a 1.029 WHIP and 10.9 K/9 rate with an ERA+ of 144. From his age 30 season in 2019 to now, Sale is 56-35 with a 3.06 ERA, 1.064 WHIP, 11.7 K/9 rate and an ERA+ of 144. Those are basically the same numbers.

This season all he did was go 14-9 with a 2.16 ERA and 0.984 WHIP while posting an 11.1 K/9 rate. He may be a year-by-year pitcher in a dynasty league, but he is certainly a pitcher I want on my roster next season.

The Young Guns

If you are a fan of the Pirates, Brewers or Guardians, you have to love the pitching staff that will be in place for years to come. Jared Jones is one of two Pirates pitchers ranked in the top 16 while Kyle Harrison gives the Brewers three pitchers ranked in my top 15, and Gavin Williams pairs with Parker Messick to give Cleveland two pitchers ranked within the top 20.

When doing rankings, numbers obviously play a part, but metrics play a part as well. Looking at just his numbers, Jones was kind of pedestrian this year, posting a 3.72 ERA and 1.192 WHIP. He had a nice 10.9 K/9 rate, but most of the top of pitchers have similar strikeout rates. But Jones missed all of 2025 after suffering a UCL sprain and then undergoing surgery. In his comeback season he ranked in the 95th percentile in fastball velo, in the 93rd percentile in Whiff% and was in the 90th percentile in K%.

Harrison is a former top pitching prospect who struggled with the Giants and then the Red Sox to live up to the hype around him. But the magic of the Brewers pitching system brought out the best in Harrison this year. His final numbers are not great as he had a 4.20 ERA and 1.349 WHIP thanks to running into a brick wall in the second half as he had a 7.31 ERA and 2.063 WHIP. But in the first half of the season covering 17 starts ,he was 8-2 with a 3.01 ERA and 1.076 WHIP while having a 10.9 K/9 rate. I believe the Harrison we saw in the first half is the pitcher we will see going forward.

Williams didn’t have an outstanding ERA this year at 3.76, but he struck out 12.1 batters per nine and had a 3.48 FIP. His fastball velo ranked in the 90th percentile while his Whiff% was in the 94th percentile and K% was in the 97th percentile. Williams was very inconsistent this past season, with an ERA of 6.04 in June and 5.56 in August. But in April, May and July he had ERAs of 2.70, 3.55 and 3.41 and then he finished the season with a 2.54 ERA in September with a 14.0 K/9 rate with a 1.059 WHIP.

Still A Top Pitcher

Compared to most of the pitchers in this tier, Dylan Cease is an old man as he will be 31 at the start of the 2027 season. But like the other older pitchers in this tier, Cease still gets batters out and produces great fantasy numbers. After a down year in 2025 (4.55 ERA but a 3.56 FIP), the right-hander had a bounce back season with the Blue Jays, going 11-6 with a 2.40 ERA, 1.101 WHIP and 239 strikeouts in 169 innings for a 12.7 K/9 rate.

Just Missing Tier 1 Status

In seven starts in 2025, Parker Messick had a 2.72 ERA and 1.311 WHIP, giving a glimpse of his talent. But seven games is not enough to judge a pitcher or any player. But Messick showed that he is the real deal this year by compiling a 2.56 ERA with a 1.063 WHIP. He isn’t a huge strikeout pitcher, but still posted a 9.3 K/9 rate. He doesn’t have an overpowering fastball (41st percentile), but his 5.0 Barrel% ranked in the 88th percentile and his Hard Hit% ranked in the 80th percentile. Gaudy strikeout numbers are great, but pitchers who limit runs and base runners are tough to find.

Nolan McLean finished 11th in the ROY voting last year despite making only eight starts. That is because he was 5-1 with a 2.06 ERA and 1.042 WHIP with a 10.7 K/9 rate. McLean’s numbers were quite as impressive this year, but he should only get better as he gains more experience. This season he finished with a 3.16 ERA and 1.169 WHIP while fanning 9.7 batters per nine. His walk rate was a little high at 3.5 per nine, but McLean has a very high floor and an even higher ceiling.

TIER 1

RANK	PLAYER	2026 TEAM	AGE
10	Payton Tolle	BOS	23
9	Logan Henderson	MIL	24
8	Jesus Luzardo	PHI	29
7	Cristopher Sanchez	PHI	30
6	Chase Burns	CIN	24
5	Paul Skenes	PIT	24
4	Yoshinobu Yamamoto	LAD	28
3	Tarik Skubal	DET	30
2	Cam Schlittler	NYY	26
1	Jacob Misiorowski	MIL	24

A Loaded Tier

If I am looking for a pitcher to lead my staff, I’d be more than happy to have any of these pitchers.  Every single one of these Tier 1 pitchers are aces and should be for many more years. And all but two of them are under the age of 30 at the start of the season.

Kicking off this tier is Logan Henderson and Payton Tolle. Tolle has quickly come into his own as the ace of the Red Sox staff as he had a 3.03 ERA and 1.096 WHIP this year to pair with a 10.4 K/9 rate and 2.4 BB/9 rate. He got a taste of the majors in 2025, appearing in seven games and making three starts. Walks were an issue as he had a 4.4 BB/9 rate, but that was fixed this season and as the season progressed, he got better. After a rough July he posted an ERA of 3.00 in August and 1.53 in September with strikeout rates of 11.0 and 12.2/9.

Henderson missed the month of July with a lower back strain, but when on the mound he was outstanding. He went 11-3 with a 2.47 ERA and 0.844 WHIP with a 10.1 K/9 rate and a fantastic 1.7 BB/9 rate. If a certain pitcher wasn’t on the Brewers staff, Henderson would be getting a lot of attention and accolades. Instead, he is just one of the best No. 2 pitchers in baseball.

Ace 1A and 1B

The Philadelphia Phillies have a great problem when it comes to their pitching staff. Is it Cristopher Sanchez or Jesus Luzardo?

Luzardo went 14-4 this season with a 2.86 ERA and 1.074 WHIP while posting an 11.1 K/9 rate and 2.6 BB/9 rate. Luzardo has now had a K/9 rate of 10.5 or better in four of the last five seasons while having a walk rate of 3.1 or better for five straight years. The only season he didn’t strike out more than 10 batters per nine was in 2024 when he was limited to 12 games due to elbow and back issues.

Sanchez finished second in the NL Cy Young voting in 2025 and he was nearly as good this season. He won an MLB leading 18 games while posting a 2.91 ERA and 1.203 WHIP. For the first time in his career he averaged 10 or more strikeouts per nine innings (a perfect 10.0) while walking only 2.0/9 for the second straight season. Since 2023 Sanchez is 45-26 with a 2.97 ERA with a 1.151 WHIP to go with 9.0 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 rates.

Great Young Arms

I thought I would be talking about a different Cincinnati Reds pitcher in this tier, as I think Hunter Greene is a top pitcher. But injury after injury have curtailed his career and his fantasy value as he can’t be relied on to pitch a full season. But stepping in for Greene is Chase Burns. He gave us a glimpse of what he could do last season when he appeared in 13 games and made eight starts and had a 13.9 K/9 rate. In 29 starts for the Reds this past season he went 15-3 with a 2.86 ERA and 1.166 WHIP. He finished with a 10.8 K/9 rate and a 3.3 BB/9 rate. I would like the walks to be a bit lower, but he turns only 24 in January, meaning he has a lot of years ahead of him to lower that walk rate and continue to be a stud on the mound.

Paul Skenes showed he was human this season. After dominating major league hitters in 2024 and 2025 (ROY and third in Cy Young voting and winning the Cy Young in 2025), Skenes “struggled” to the tune of a 3.82 ERA and a 1.119 WHIP. He still struck out 10.3/9 and while his 2.5 BB/9 rate was a career high, it is still only a 2.5 BB/9 rate – tons of starters would love to have those numbers. The 2026 version of Skenes was not the version we saw in 2024 and 2025, but I am confident this is more of a blip and not a trend.

Solid Year After Year

Yoshinobu Yamamoto is only 28 but in his three years with the Dodgers he has established himself as one of the top pitchers in the majors. Last year he was 12-8 with a 2.49 ERA and 0.990 WHIP. All he did this year was go 14-9 with a 2.53 ERA and 0.870 WHIP. After posting K/9 rates of 10.5 and 10.4 his first two seasons, that rate fell to 8.9 in 2026. However, he also lowered his BB/9 rate from 3.1 in 2025 to 2.0 this year.

Teammate (at least for now) Tarik Skubal could easily be the top ranked pitcher. The reason it isn’t is that because he will be 30 years old next season. But that is only “negative” you can find when it comes to Skubal. With the Tigers and Dodgers this season, he had a 2.72 ERA and 0.964 WHIP while fanning 10.6 per nine and walking only 1.5 per nine. Since the start of 2023 he has a 19.6 WAR and ERA+ of 169 while going 50-20 on the mound with a 2.47 ERA and 0.920 WHIP to go with a 10.9 K/9 rate and meager 1.6 BB/9 rate.

Coming Out of Nowhere

If you knew Cam Schlittler was going to be this good, then you need to become a major league scout. That’s because no other scouts likely thought the Yankees right-hander was going to be this good, not after being drafted in the seventh round of the 2022 draft by New York. Schlittler was solid in the minors, posting a 3.33 ERA with a 1.299 WHIP in 54 games. But since joining the Yankees’ rotation in 2025, he has been great.

In his 14 starts in 2025 he had a 2.96 ERA and 1.219 WHIP with a 10.4 K/9 rate and 3.8 BB/9 rate. This season he kicked it into gear, going 14-6 with a 1.95 ERA and 0.919 WHIP. He also increased his K/9 rate to 11.1 and lowered his BB/9 rate to 2.3. And Schlittler is just as good in the postseason. In four career playoff starts he has a 1.44 ERA and 0.920 WHIP with a 9.4 K/9 rate and 0.7 BB/9 rate.

Simply Dominant

Since joining the Brewers rotation last year, Jacob Misiorowski has been a force on the mound. He had his ups-and-downs last season by posting a 4.64 ERA and 1.242 WHIP, thanks in large part to his 4.1 BB/9 rate. But in a host of his 2025 starts he gave glimpses of what was to come in 2026. For this year, that meant domination. All he did this season was post a 16-5 record with MLB bests in ERA (1.80), WHIP (0.802), strikeouts (252) and strikeout rate (13.0/9).

Probably the most impressive part of his game was watching him lower his walk rate from over four to 2.3/9 this season. The only thing “bad” about Misiorowski is that he failed to throw six innings in a start 12 times out of his 30 starts. For leagues that use QS as a stat, it can be a bit frustrating. But that is just quibbling. If someone offered me Misiorowski, I’m taking him. And if you have, don’t let him go.

Thank You

I know some of you will agree with this list for the most part and others will strongly disagree, but no matter what, thanks for reading. Come back again next week when I unveil the Top 50 Dynasty Catchers for 2027 Fantasy Baseball.

If you missed last week’s post, you can find it here:

Top 50 Dynasty Relievers for 2027 Fantasy Baseball