All the final 2013 fantasy baseball rankings for hitters are done. For those that skipped today’s title, this starts the top 20 starters for 2013 fantasy baseball. This is NOT for 2014 (caps for those still wearing their Gravity 3-D glasses — by the by, if you haven’t seen it, you should. It’s kinda awesome.). This is a recap. Will these affect next year’s rankings? Sure. But not entirely. To recapitulate, these rankings are from our Fantasy Baseball Player Rater. We’re (me) using it to fairly gauge our (my) preseason rankings. Anyway, here’s the top 20 starters for 2013 fantasy baseball and how they compare to where I originally ranked them:
1. Clayton Kershaw – Kershaw was incredible this year. You don’t need me to tell you that. I’m gonna talk on a broader point for a moment, after I’m done with this awkward segue. I wasn’t great at projecting pitchers this year. I wasn’t bad. I wasn’t Matthew Berry still going to the Wandy Rodriguez well because he hasn’t come up with an original thought in five years. I tell you I wasn’t great with a pretty huge caveat. There was so much pitching that in leagues shallower than 16-team mixed leagues, it didn’t really matter. You could course correct in-season and be totally fine. I won a league where I dropped Jose Fernandez after 16 innings. I gave you plenty of pitchers to grab in-season to fix any drafting problems you might’ve had. In an NL-Only league, I was able to get Shelby Miller for crazy cheap, owned Hamels, Greinke and Jeff Locke for the 1st half of the year. Oh, and hitting was my strength. There’s pitching for days to use a parlance of the kids. So, Kershaw was great, but totally unnecessary for your success. Preseason Rank #4, 2013 Projections: 16-8/2.90/1.09/210, Final Numbers: 16-9/1.83/0.92/232
2. Max Scherzer – As I said in the preseason, “I’m excited for Scherzer like a baboon who opens a bananas-only box of Runts.” And that’s me quoting me! I’ve loved Scherzer for about four years now. I loved him when he was Trevor Bauer on the Diamondbacks and he had no control. Brucely, I didn’t think he’d have this level of control this year either, but he put that fear aside in a big way. As the DNA spells out in my drool (if you use a microscope), if a guy can K more than nine guys per nine innings and can harness his control, he will be one of the best pitchers in the game. It’s a pretty simple formula. Hey, I’m a simple man. Preseason Rank #12, 2013 Projections: 15-6/3.30/1.24/225, Final Numbers: 21-3/2.90/0.97/240
3. Adam Wainwright – He was in the same tier as Scherzer in the preseason. I told everyone to draft them. Unfortch, I didn’t draft either in any league. They probably went too early for my taste. Whatevs. You don’t need to draft pitching early. It’s true, boo. Preseason Rank #13, 2013 Projections: 16-8/3.12/1.19/193, Final Numbers: 19-9/2.94/1.07/219
4. Yu Darvish – God works in mysterious ways. Example: if I would’ve drafted Darvish, Scherzer or Wainwright (or Harvey or held Jo-Fer or any of these top guys), I would’ve been so overcome with joy, I would’ve had to deal with a six month-long erection. So, I didn’t own Darvish, but I admired him from afar. He’s another illustration of The Scherzer Principle. If a guy can strikeout a lot of guys and controls his pitches better, watch out. Preseason Rank #23, 2013 Projections: 15-10/3.74/1.24/228, Final Numbers: 13-9/2.83/1.07/277
5. Cliff Lee – The Adverb’s peripherals are ridiculous in how consistent they are from year to year. He’s like a machine. I’ve never heard the comparison before probably because they are not at all similar pitchers, but how is Cliff Lee not compared to Greg Maddux besides the obvious that they are nothing at all alike? I mean, c’mon. It’s an obvious comparison that doesn’t really make sense. The preceding wasn’t a quote from Tim McCarver, but could’ve been. Preseason Rank #11, 2013 Projections: 13-10/3.05/1.06/212, Final Numbers: 14-8/2.87/1.01/222
6. Hisashi Iwakuma – Hisashi my dashi — slurp, SLURP! He was in the tier I called ‘Schoolboy Q and Kendrick Lamar’ because those guys were about to break out. I didn’t think Hisashi would break out to this extent. I mean, any time a guy throws his home games in a pitcher’s park, it’s not a bad start — literally. He was helped by his BABIP and men left on base, but it wasn’t all luck. He reduced his walks by a huge amount (3.09 to 1.72). I wonder if he was dealing with nerves in 2012. I wonder, y’all! Preseason Rank #81, 2013 Projections: 9-12/3.56/1.26/152, Final Numbers: 14-6/2.66/1.01/185
7. Jose Fernandez – He wasn’t in the rotation when I ranked the starting pitchers in the preseason, but he was the lede in the very first Buy of the year. As I mentioned in the Kershaw blurb, I Mr. Bungled, dropping Fernandez. Fernandez had the kind of first season that portends a perennial All-Star. He had a better first season than quite a few Hall of Famers. Kershaw looked like a peg boy his first year compared to Jo-Fer. Verlander won the Rookie of the Year award and didn’t come close to Jo-Fer’s year. Speaking of ‘ers, F-Her’s first year looks like Kyle Lohse compared to Jo-Fer. I’m sure there’s been recent rookie years as good as Jo-Fer, but I’m drawing a blank. Hideo Nomo? But he wasn’t really a rookie. I think you have to go back to Dwight Gooden’s rookie year to beat Jo-Fer’s year. That’s impressive. Preseason Rank Unranked, Final Numbers: 12-6/2.19/0.98/187
8. Madison Bumgarner – This Bum doesn’t get enough recognition. Or maybe I’m just an ass man. He’s remarkably consistent with three full seasons under his belt. Oh, and he’s only 24 years old. Preseason Rank #9, 2013 Projections: 16-9/3.28/1.08/195, Final Numbers: 13-9/2.77/1.03/199
9. Jordan Zimmermann – I got 99 problems, but predicting J-Z’s success ain’t one. Preseason Rank #14, 2013 Projections: 14-10/3.09/1.13/172, Final Numbers: 19-9/3.25/1.09/161
10. Matt Harvey – Since he won’t even appear in the top 100 starters next year, I’ll go ahead and give you a sneak peek of Harvey for 2015: go look at Wainwright’s final stats for this year. As for this year from Harvey, I told everyone to draft two pitchers on every team: Samardzija and Harvey. Schmuckzija didn’t pan out quite as well, but Harvey did a’ight. Emphasis on the ight. Preseason Rank #62, 2013 Projections: 10-7/3.92/1.34/192 in 188 innings, Final Numbers: 9-5/2.27/0.93/191
11. Anibal Sanchez – Anibal’s one of my biggest mistakes from the preseason. Wouldn’t be saying that if he would’ve done this last year when I loved him. This year, I was way off on Anibal. I guess I’ll just never understand women. Preseason Rank #42, 2013 Projections: 13-9/3.92/1.28/180, Final Numbers: 14-8/2.57/1.15/202
12. Chris Sale – 2013 was a transition year for my love for Sale. I couldn’t like him going into this year because of how the White Sux (ab)used him in 2012. I never doubted his stuff, I doubted his ability to stay healthy and as is my wont sometimes, I’ll say on occasion something like, “He could be great, but I won’t own him. Plenty of other fish in the sea, Pharcyde.” And that’s me quoting hypothetical me! Preseason Rank #20, 2013 Projections: 13-6/3.45/1.18/178, Final Numbers: 11-14/3.07/1.07/226
13. Felix Hernandez – *looking at my projections compared to his end-of-the-season numbers, drops mic* Preseason Rank #5, 2013 Projections: 14-9/3.10/1.12/219, Final Numbers: 12-10/3.04/1.13/216
14. Zack Greinke – My strikeout projections weren’t simply off for Greinke because Carlos Quentin thought he was Iron Mike Sharpe. Greinke’s K-rate was way off. It’s worrisome, which is less appealing than toothsome. His velocity was off and he gave up more line drives than at any point since 2006 when his ERA was 4.26. This wasn’t a terrific year for Greinke that was masked by a great ERA. Preseason Rank #6, 2013 Projections: 16-8/2.97/1.12/215, Final Numbers: 15-4/2.63/1.11/148
15. Mike Minor – Big thing that sticks out to me with Minor is the WHIP difference between projections and final stats. That leads me to look for the reason. His walk rate was way down to 2.02. A 2.02 BB/9 guy with a 7.96 K-rate is a borderline ace. This year he gave you borderline ace numbers, so there’s that. Preseason Rank #36, 2013 Projections: 11-10/3.87/1.22/181, Final Numbers: 13-9/3.21/1.09/181
16. Bartolo Colon – His stats were in 190 1/3 IP. 117 Ks in that many innings makes you think of what? That you really want a Blizzard from DQ? Doode, stop thinking about food for a second. Instead of Blizzards, it should make you think Colon was crazy lucky. Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 18-6/2.65/1.17/117
17. Francisco Liriano – After Anibal, Liriano would probably take 2nd in a race for my biggest miss. I didn’t even trust Liriano in the beginning of the year when he was breaking out. He regained his early Twins form, Ks were back, walks were lowered and he wasn’t killed by homers. I had major doubts when he started showing his old self. Don’t worry, I believe now like a character in a bad Disney cartoon. Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 16-8/3.02/1.22/163
18. Mat Latos – I’ll share a secret that I’ve probably shared before. I love Ks, not just because they’re sexy, but also because they’re predictable. Wins are flighty, ERA is the same. Ks, you can hang your hat on those. And they’re sexy. For further reading on the subject, look at my strikeout projections for Latos vs. his end of the season stats. Preseason Rank #15, 2013 Projections: 16-9/3.33/1.12/188, Final Numbers: 14-7/3.16/1.21/187
19. Shelby Miller – He was also in the preseason Kendrick Lamar tier, and I wrote a whole post about him. I.e., you were properly warned to draft him. Did I think he would have a season this good? Aw, c’mon. Don’t make me pull back the curtain on myself. Preseason Rank #78, 2013 Projections: 10-4/3.63/1.27/155, Final Numbers: 15-9/3.06/1.21/169
20. Justin Masterson – Member when I said I dropped Jose Fernandez on that one team and still won? If you don’t remember, you should have your brain checked. It wasn’t that long ago. Well, I also dropped Masterson on that team. Yes, that’s how much pitching is out there. I carried only two starters (Greinke and Price) for three months and streamed the rest and won the league. This brings up an interesting dilemma. Do you even bother drafting starters? What do you draft instead? Middle relievers that you will drop? Bench hitters that you’ll drop? I say you still draft starters, but just don’t be so precious. That’s Mo’Nique smacking her kid Precious, not Gollum precious. Preseason Rank #100, 2013 Projections: 9-10/3.90/1.36/162, Final Numbers: 14-10/3.45/1.20/195
