“Crisco, Bardol, Vagisil: any one of em will give you another two to three inches drop off your curveball.”
This immortal moment comes courtesy of Eddie Harris in the transcendent classic, Major League.
In this exchange with young fireballer Rick Vaughn, Harris articulates the typical path for an aging pitcher.
“Haven’t got an arm like yours. Gotta put anything on it I can find.”
Wily oldsters pick up tricks like Robert Kraft to help themselves keep up in a young man’s game, and they seem to be keeping (and/or setting) the pace better than ever. Blending the fire of youth with the wisdom of experience is no small task, but we’ll try to do just that here today, synthesizing short and long term value to build rankings prescient enough to help any dynasty leaguer build his own double three-peat.
So throw me a line if you’re seeing an angle I’m not. This project is on-going and stretches all the way back to early March when I met some oldster moving plutonium out of the trunk of his DeLorian.
Rank | Player | Age | Team |
1 | Gerrit Cole | 29 | NYY |
2 | Walker Buehler | 25 | LAD |
3 | Jack Flaherty | 24 | STL |
4 | Shane Bieber | 24 | CLE |
5 | Jacob deGrom | 31 | NYM |
6 | Shohei Ohtani | 25 | LAA |
7 | Mike Clevinger | 29 | CLE |
8 | Lucas Giolito | 25 | CHW |
9 | Luis Castillo | 27 | CIN |
10 | Blake Snell | 27 | TB |
11 | Tyler Glasnow | 26 | TB |
12 | Jesus Luzardo | 22 | OAK |
13 | Stephen Strasburg | 31 | WAS |
14 | Chris Paddack | 24 | SD |
15 | Mike Soroka | 22 | ATL |
16 | Julio Urias | 23 | LAD |
17 | MacKenzie Gore | 21 | SD |
18 | Clayton Kershaw | 32 | LAD |
19 | Chris Sale | 31 | BOS |
20 | Frankie Montas | 27 | OAK |
21 | Max Scherzer | 35 | WAS |
22 | Justin Verlander | 37 | HOU |
23 | Trevor Bauer | 29 | CIN |
24 | Nate Pearson | 23 | TOR |
25 | Brandon Woodruff | 27 | MIL |
26 | Aaron Nola | 26 | PHI |
27 | Jose Berrios | 25 | MIN |
28 | Patrick Corbin | 30 | WAS |
29 | Zac Gallen | 24 | ARI |
30 | Yu Darvish | 33 | CHC |
31 | Noah Syndergaard | 27 | NYM |
32 | Tarik Skubal | 23 | DET |
33 | Sonny Gray | 30 | CIN |
34 | Eduardo Rodriguez | 27 | BOS |
35 | Charlie Morton | 36 | TB |
36 | A.J. Puk | 25 | OAK |
37 | Zack Greinke | 36 | HOU |
38 | Forrest Whitley | 22 | HOU |
39 | Dinelson Lamet | 27 | SD |
40 | Matt Manning | 22 | DET |
41 | Spencer Howard | 23 | PHI |
42 | Casey Mize | 23 | DET |
43 | Max Fried | 26 | ATL |
44 | Luis Patino | 20 | SD |
45 | Michael Kopech | 24 | CHW |
46 | Brailyn Marquez | 21 | CHC |
47 | Asa Lacy | 20 | ?? |
48 | Kyle Hendricks | 30 | CHC |
49 | Madison Bumgarner | 30 | ARI |
50 | Luke Weaver | 26 | ARI |
51 | Lance McCullers Jr. | 26 | HOU |
52 | Jameson Taillon | 28 | PIT |
53 | Hyun-Jin Ryu | 33 | TOR |
54 | James Paxton | 31 | NYY |
55 | Jose Urquidy | 25 | HOU |
56 | Brendan McKay | 24 | TB |
57 | German Marquez | 25 | COL |
58 | Kenta Maeda | 32 | MIN |
59 | Joe Musgrove | 27 | PIT |
60 | Zack Wheeler | 29 | PHI |
61 | Lance Lynn | 32 | TEX |
62 | Corey Kluber | 34 | TEX |
63 | Carlos Carrasco | 33 | CLE |
64 | Jon Gray | 28 | COL |
65 | George Kirby | 22 | SEA |
66 | Edward Cabrera | 22 | MIA |
67 | Emerson Hancock | 20 | ?? |
68 | Domingo German | 27 | NYY |
69 | Sean Manaea | 28 | OAK |
70 | Mike Foltynewicz | 28 | ATL |
71 | Mike Minor | 32 | TEX |
72 | Michael Pineda | 31 | MIN |
73 | Simeon Woods-Richardson | 19 | TOR |
74 | Carlos Martinez | 28 | STL |
75 | Jake Odorizzi | 30 | MIN |
76 | Josiah Gray | 22 | LAD |
77 | Dustin May | 22 | LAD |
78 | Robbie Ray | 28 | ARI |
79 | Hunter Greene | 20 | CIN |
80 | Nick Lodolo | 22 | CIN |
81 | Aaron Civale | 24 | CLE |
82 | Yonny Chirinos | 26 | TB |
83 | Matthew Boyd | 29 | DET |
84 | Clarke Schmidt | 24 | NYY |
85 | Sandy Alcantara | 24 | MIA |
86 | Sixto Sanchez | 21 | MIA |
87 | Masahiro Tanaka | 31 | NYY |
88 | Josh James | 27 | HOU |
89 | David Price | 34 | LAD |
90 | Caleb Smith | 27 | MIA |
91 | Blake Walston | 18 | ARI |
92 | Andrew Heaney | 28 | LAA |
93 | Logan Gilbert | 23 | SEA |
94 | Alek Manoah | 22 | TOR |
95 | Reid Detmers | 20 | ?? |
96 | Max Meyer | 21 | ?? |
97 | Daniel Lynch | 23 | KC |
98 | Josh Lindblom | 32 | MIL |
99 | Grayson Rodriguez | 20 | BAL |
100 | Alex Wood | 29 | LAD |
Thanks for reading!
Stay safe out there!
Happy Mother’s Day!