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.

The Top Starting Pitchers for 2024

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