Happy Monday, Razzball faithful!

Last week we looked at MacKenzie Gore’s impressive line of 6 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 ER, 13 Ks and wondered if his man-handling of a potent Phillies lineup was a sign of things to come.

I moved “Big MacK”, up our Top 100 Starting Pitchers list last week, but I wanted to point out that one juicy burger alone does not make for a season-long BBQ.

MacKenzie’s follow-up last week proved he was a bit more mortal with 9 H, 2 BB, 3 ER, and just 5 Ks in 5 IP at the venue formerly known as The Skydome (against the Blue Jays).

What does that teach us? Well, I think it’s easy to overreact to results this early in the season. Expecting a 13-strikeout shutout every time Gore heads out on the bump is just as irrational as thinking Roki Sasaki’s first stateside start of 1.2 IP, 3 H, 4 BB, 2 ER, and 4 Ks is proof that the Dodgers wasted $6.5 million to bring Japan’s youngest star to Tinseltown. But we’ll get to him later.

Is it good to pay attention to early-season stats from our fantasy rotation anchors? Absolutely.

Should we be watching for indications that some pitchers may have injury-affected outings or the need to sharpen up certain pitches in their repertoire to make them more reliable options for our fantasy squads? Also, yes.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve had some questions about, “Why is X player ranked this high when he got crushed this week?”, or “You have Player Y ranked there? Are you crazy? He should be <insert Top 15 ranking here>!”

The truth is that it’s still early. Are small sample sizes useless? No. Should we be making rash decisions based on one or two starts? Also, no.

It is important to draw attention to strong starts with indications that a player has sharpened his pitches or improved his command/velocity. But don’t drop an SP you researched this winter, and drafted as a Top 3 arm for your squad if they’re still healthy. At least not yet.

Looking back at Big Mack? He had a great first game, and I’d be putting together a trade offer for him if I needed to replace an injured arm on my roster. I said a bit more about this last week and you can read that here.

Big MacK(enzie Gore) also gives us a nice little segway into our focus arm this week, at least if you remember this little clip from one of my favorites.

Le Big Mac and a Royale with Cheese. Sounds like some good Saber-Metrics to me.

All jokes about the Imperial and Metric systems aside, this “Gallen” is quickly going from the SP3 of your roster to the “Liter” of your pitching staff.

You could have drafted Zac Gallen just inside the top 50 pitchers in your draft. He was ranked right around 125 overall (NFBC). In our RazzSlam draft, Gallen was an early 15th-round pick and…you guessed it, someone’s SP3 (after Aaron Nola and Spencer Strider).

In his first start, Gallen put up a stinker. 4 IP, 4 H, 4 BB, 4 ER, 4 Ks. (Looking at all those fours, it seems Gallen took the ‘quart’ part literally.)

Last week, at Yankee Stadium, Gallen torpedoed the New York bats to the tune of 6.2 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 13 Ks.

At the risk of rambling even more here, I’ll just cut right to the chase. I’d want Zac Gallen rostered on my team this year as I think he’s on the cusp of breaking out. Are there other arms I’d put into the same category? Yes. Am I running away at the first hiccup attack that one of these pitchers experiences? No!

As always, before we get into it, don’t forget to lock in your Razzball Fantasy Baseball Subscription. This should be your go-to reference for the entire season. It will save you a lot of time researching and often includes solutions to those “Oh, I never thought about that” questions that arise throughout the year. The Streamonator is also a helpful resource when making lineup decisions. Rudy’s tools are well worth the price of admission. If you’re serious about improving throughout the season, check the link, yo.

EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY, if you’re in the RazzSlam, don’t forget to set your FAAB #1 adds and drops for the first of TWO FAAB runs this year.

For the doubters, I snipped a photo of the rules page.

“Cool story. Where’s Gallen ranked? Is Roki in the 80s after his terrible start? Chris Bassitt struck out nine Mets on Friday night, is he in the Top 10 this week?”

I guess we’ll need to check…

The Top 100 Starting Pitchers for 2025

SP RANK	Name	Team	UP / DOWN	Notes
1	Paul Skenes	PIT		Streamonator has him slated for a Monday start, but I’m reading Tuesday. Either way, he only has one start this week, likely against STL.
2	Tarik Skubal	DET		0-2 to start the year! Time to drop him for Taijuan Walker!
3	Zack Wheeler	PHI		Someone called Wheeler the most reliable ace out there, and I can’t argue it. He has 18 Ks in 13 IPs and just what you ordered if you drafted him early.
4	Logan Gilbert	SEA		Hopefully, this isn’t a sign of things to come, but Gilbert has averaged 9 Ks over 2 GS and has no wins to show. SEA offense. Fart emoji.
5	Garrett Crochet	BOS		Writing things up last Saturday got messy with Streamonator calls and which players were slated to be two-start pitchers. As of yesterday, (Sunday afternoon), Crochet is scheduled for a juicy two-step vs TOR and at CWS. That’s good enough for 3rd on the Streamonator this week ($43.8).
6	Cole Ragans	KC		It’s the same as Wheeler as far as “you’ve gotten what you drafted him for”, but not the reliability part…yet.
7	Dylan Cease	SD		Streamonator doesn’t like his start at Bing Bong Stadium on Thursday. (38th SP).
8	Tyler Glasnow	LAD		I concluded that Glasnow stays in the Top 10 until he does one of two things…(1) Gets crushed and can’t find the zone, or (2) Hits the IL. So far so good.
9	Shota Imanaga	CHC		I hesitated to put Imanaga into the Top 10 all Spring because guys like Burnes or Framber felt like they had a better track record or ‘deserved’ to be up here. After three starts, I’ve seen enough to label him a top-tier ace.
10	Michael King	SD		Last year’s success and excellent strikeout potential keep him in the Top 10 for now.
11	Framber Valdez	HOU		He’s a bit of a yawner, but more than ‘just serviceable or decent’. He’s one of the co-founders of the League of Underrated Gentlemen.
12	Yoshinobu Yamamoto	LAD
13	Corbin Burnes	ARI		He was pitching while I was writing this up and had a tough first inning at WSH. I’m moving him down a few pegs here this week.
14	Chris Sale	ATL		To tell you the truth, I had moved Sale up into the 8th spot this week but his early start hasn’t been strong enough to justify the boost.
15	Spencer Schwellenbach	ATL		More below.
16	George Kirby	SEA		He’s eligible to return tomorrow, but it sounds like he’ll be sidelined for a while longer.
17	Pablo Lopez	MIN		He tuned up CWS with a gem last week. Streamonator has him as a Top 10 stream this week with two starts (at KC and vs DET)
18	Jacob deGrom	TEX		The narrative of “How can you like Glasnow so much but have deGrom so low?” isn’t lost on me. That’s why I have deGrom rated even this highly. I can’t put him in the Top 10 until he shows he’s back.
19	Zac Gallen	ARI		See above (lede). He’s a Top 20 arm. It’s tough to fit others in here too, though.
20	Hunter Greene	CIN		8 Ks in his first two starts with minimal ER and hits allowed. Health is the key here.
21	Spencer Strider	ATL		Striking out a ton of minor leaguers isn’t all that impressive but the more Strider looks ready to return, the more excited I get.
22	Sonny Gray	STL		You found the other founder of the League of Underrated Gentlemen (with Framber Valdez). The earned runs are there, but so are the strikeouts.
23	Bryce Miller	SEA		Ks are down and BBs are up. He hasn’t had two great starts, but if you have a manager in your league who dwells on early results it’s time to put a trade offer together.
24	Freddy Peralta	MLW		It’s the same as Hunter Greene – 16 Ks in two starts and looking good.
25	Roki Sasaki	LAD		He’s had some growing pains to start the North American tour, but this kid is going to be great. See below.
26	Bailey Ober	MIN		Thank goodness our AL-only league drafted late and I sat this guy retroactively in Week 1.
27	Joe Ryan	MIN		The War Room loves him. Streamonator? Not so much. Ryan is at KC this week and sandwiched between Taj Bradley and  Chris Paddack on SO at $0.5.
28	Logan Webb	SF		Roupp was supposed to have two starts this week, but one is vs CIN and the other is at NYY. That’s not an automatic start in some shallower leagues.
29	Max Fried	NYY		He’s likely too low here, but I can’t get on board with some people who are crowing about a top 10-15 spot. That forearm injury from last year doesn’t just heal itself. I guess the Yankees have more faith than I do.
30	Tanner Bibee	CLE		I wouldn’t have guessed it, but I watched Bibee get roughed up on some hard hits at LAA on Friday night. He gets KC at home this week.
31	Bryan Woo	SEA		I’m writing this one while he’s throwing warmup pitches (yesterday afternoon). I’ll edit results later. Edit: One hit allowed through 2.1 innings with 3 Ks? Hopefully, he keeps it up.
32	Cristopher Sanchez	PHI		Off to a great start. He’s similar to Gallen above, an SP3 who is performing like an ace.
33	Luis Castillo	SEA
34	Sandy Alcantara	MIA		Sandy is off on baby leave. He should be back by Friday.
35	Hunter Brown	HOU		He’s up a bit this week.
36	Aaron Nola	PHI		0-2! Drop him for Jose Soriano!
37	Kodai Senga	NYM		I have a feeling that this guy will be the FOMO of my season. I like him a lot but someone else liked him more in every draft room. (Likely because I was drafting Woo and Jared Jones instead)
38	Kevin Gausman	TOR		Slipped a bit below Sandy and Senga.
39	Jack Flaherty	DET		I started him out very low last year then kept pushing him up the list after people badgered me. Maybe that’ll be the good luck charm again this season.
40	Yusei Kikuchi	LAA		Walked a lot of Cards last week (5 BBs).
41	Blake Snell	LAD		More below. (I moved him down 3X yesterday while I tried to get others above him on the list).
42	Shane Baz	TB		Six shutout innings with no walks and ten strikeouts in his first start. Me likey.
43	Robbie Ray	SFG		2-0! He’s on pace for a 32-0 season!
44	Taj Bradley	TB		The strikeouts are there. The breakout is coming (if he can curb the walks and homers).
45	Nathan Eovaldi	TEX		More below.
46	Jesus Luzardo	PHI		Technically, he should get an “UP” blurb below too, but it’s here instead. 2-0 and 19 strikeouts in 12 innings. Make way for the Luzard King.
47	Carlos Rodon	NYY
48	Justin Steele	CHC
49	Brandon Pfaadt	ARI
50	Mackenzie Gore	WSH		See last week’s lede.
51	Seth Lugo	KC
52	Zach Eflin	BAL		There’s nothing flashy here, but he moved up after we removed Reynaldo Lopez.
53	Gavin Williams	CLE		Two rough starts so far. Eek.
54	Bowden Francis	TOR		I watched this start yesterday while writing up the notes for the list.
55	Nick Pivetta	SD
56	Ryan Pepiot	TB
57	Spencer Arrighetti	HOU		Arrighetti got a frosty reception in the Twin Cities last week. He gets LAA at home this Friday.
58	Jackson Jobe	DET		I wanted to move him up but he couldn’t get through 5+ against the CWS yesterday.
59	Dustin May	LAD		A solid start in his return. He’s up this week.
60	Nick Lodolo	CIN		No walks in two starts is encouraging. Now it’s time to crank up the strikeout arm!
61	David Peterson	NYM		“With Peterson going 4 scoreless so far this afternoon, and the Dodgers currently losing 6-3 to the Phillies, the Mets are currently the team with the best ERA in the league this year.” Thanks, Dan Schulman. Edit: Of course, Peterson left with an injury 15 minutes after I typed this.
62	Ronel Blanco	HOU		He got smoked by the Twins yesterday (1.2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 Ks).
63	Tanner Houck	BOS		9.2 IP, 7 ER, 5 BB, 8 Ks? With 3 HR allowed? Mehhhhh.
64	Reese Olson	DET
65	Jeffrey Springs	ATH		This still feels a bit too high, but we need more data about how this home park works before we sit every one of our pitchers here. Grey has named it “Bing Bong Park”, and I dropped Springs in one league after streaming him because I don’t trust it.
66	Clay Holmes	NYM		So far so good… but he hasn’t completed 5 innings in a start yet.
67	Max Meyer	MIA		He’s up five spots this week based on the 15 Ks in 12 IPs with just 3 BBs.
68	Jack Leiter	TEX		I wanted to move him higher, but the blister IL assignment tampers expectations for now.
69	Clarke Schmidt	NYY
70	Jose Berrios	TOR
71	Michael Wacha	KC
72	Walker Buehler	BOS
73	Matthew Boyd	CHC
74	Mitch Keller	PIT		Keller got Kelled…er, killed at home vs NYY last week (7 ER in 3.2 IP).
75	Chris Bassitt	TOR		He made the Mets his … uh … female dog last week. Because Bassitt. And… never mind.
76	Tomoyuki Sugano	BAL
77	Casey Mize	DET		We only have one start to work with, but he’s looked good all Spring. If he keeps it up, he’ll move up the list quickly.
78	Jose Soriano	LAA		Not to spoil the surprise, but check out who has the second most Whiffs on Friday night in the Schwellenbach graphic below. Eyes emoji!
79	Kris Bubic	KC		More below.
80	Nestor Cortes	MLW		More below.
81	Drew Rasmussen	TB		He needs to build up stamina and extend the starts to qualify for wins to be valuable.
82	Brady Singer	CIN		More below.
83	Landon Roupp	SFG		These…
84	Will Warren	NYY		Guys…
85	Sean Burke	CWS		Are…
86	Kumar Rocker	TEX		Young.
87	Griffin Canning	NYM		It’s the same story as Rasmussen without the injury build-up. He needs to give us 6 innings each start to matter in most leagues.
88	AJ Smith-Shawver	ATL		Stumbled a bit last week.
89	Brayan Bello	BOS		“Not close” to rejoining the rotation which is good news for…
90	Richard Fitts	BOS		…Dick Fitts!
91	Ben Brown	CHC		I was ready to boost Ben Brown up this week…until I saw he got crushed by the Padres yesterday. 5 Ks in each of his starts this year is nice, but he needs to clean it up.
92	Jameson Taillon	CHC		He always seems like the guy who should have imposter syndrome for being here.
93	Max Scherzer	TOR		Cortisone injections for his thumb with no timetable to begin throwing again.
94	Luis Severino	ATH		6 innings of shutout baseball at SEA in his first start, then 6 innings with 6 R and 2 HR at Bing Bong Stadium last week. Yeesh.
95	Justin Verlander	SFG		He’s not your older brother’s Verlander…or your younger uncle’s…but, I’m not betting he’s cooked just yet.
96	Chris Paddack	MIN		More below.
97	Grant Holmes	ATL		I had him locked in to start against Miami yesterday but they were rained out. Oof.
98	Hayden Wesneski	HOU		He’s got a job…For now! To be honest, I had him slated to be replaced by Erick Fedde this week but Fedde got, er, fed at Fenway last week.
99	Yu Darvish	SD		15-day-IL (shoulder injury)
100	Nick Martinez	CIN		The slippery-est spot on the Top 100 list, and Nick is greasing up the slide for his start at SFG this week.

 

JUMPERS (The following players jumped up the rankings this week) 

Spencer Schwellenbach (15) – He was thisclose to being the lede this week. The breakout is here and if you’re not strapped in for the ride, you might go flying through the windshield. At SP15, I might be boosting him too much, but I’m a believer. 

12 up, 12 down for Spencer Schwellenbach tonight!He's struck out five of the last six batters he's faced. ?

— MLB (Bot) (@mlbbot.bsky.social) 2025-04-05T00:08:41.000Z

Thomas Nestico had a nice graphic outlining the top Whiff Leaders from Friday night. I bet you can guess who was at the top of the list…

Nathan Eovaldi (45) – I joked that Framber Valdez and Sonny Gray are co-founders of the League of Underrated Gentlemen. If that’s the case, Eovaldi is the treasurer, secretary, and clubhouse manager. 15 IP, 7 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 17 Ks. That’s a solid line through two starts. And the ratios are *chefs kiss*

Kris Bubic (79) – He’s up 11 spots from last week and is a perfect example of a guy giving us great innings AND enough to qualify for wins. Guys like Canning or Rasmussen are throwing well but haven’t been able to get through six innings. Bubic is proving that he’s got enough in the tank to qualify for a QS and a W. 12.1 IP, 8 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, and 15 Ks is a nice way to show your club they made the right call in giving you the fifth starter gig.

DUMPERS (With apologies to Cal Raleigh, these are the big dumpers who dropped in the rankings this week)

Roki Sasaki (25) – Ok, so for full disclosure this ‘down arrow’ is more about moving a few other guys up and not about Roki’s rough start. I still believe Roki is going to have a good season. Maybe it’ll be great. But I also understand how tough it must be for a 23-year-old kid to come to a new country, be thrust into the Hollywood spotlight, and be expected to live up to some pretty unrealistic expectations. Is it his fault that Yoshi Yamamoto is a stud pitcher? No. Should he be compared to the unicorn, Shohei Ohtani? Of course not. 

The kid is a solid player. But a few of us in the Writers’ discord chatted about how it will be tough to justify ranking Roki too highly if he’s not seeing 6 innings a start and qualifying for wins or quality starts. Could he head to the minors to ‘iron out the mechanics’ or ‘boost his confidence’ at some point this summer? Maybe.

But I’m not pushing him too far down based on graphics like this. I mean, come on.

R?ki Sasaki, 98mph Fastball and 87mph Splitter, Individual Pitches + Overlay.

— Rob Friedman (@pitchingninja.bsky.social) 2025-04-06T01:19:40.806Z

Good luck, Schwar-Daddy.

Blake Snell (41) – A big drop this week based on his IL placement yesterday afternoon. I took some heat for ranking Snell as highly as I did this Spring, especially with his track record of starting slow. This isn’t going to help his case. He’s shelved for two weeks as the Dodgers hope rest will be the medicine for his shoulder inflammation.

Nestor Cortes (80) – He got torpedoed by his former team a couple of weeks ago but looked like he bounced back in a 6-inning-one-hit outing against the Reds last week. Unfortunately, he’s out with an arm injury and was placed on the IL yesterday afternoon. I’m not a big fan, but if you have him rostered you might want to look for a replacement. I can see it ultimately being a longer-term problem if it’s an elbow injury.

Brady Singer (82) – This is where I started to look to see which guy needed to get boosted up to the early 80s. And it was a tough decision because the pitchers in that group have been pretty bad. As far as Singer is concerned, I fully admit that he was a hasty cut in favor of some ‘buzzier’ names who I wanted to add on the heels of a rotation announcement or strong Spring. Singer has won both starts this year and has 15 Ks through 12 IPs. I was worried about the home park, but his first game in Great American Ballpark was a 7-inning one-hit shutout with 8 Ks. Pretty good!

Chris Paddack (98) – Sometimes optimism sucks. Sometimes it gets shellacked for 9 ER in 3.1 IP with 3 HR allowed. He threw yesterday too. I said I wouldn’t move many guys off the list or onto the list over the next couple of weeks. I knew I’d gotten a bit ahead of myself when I told a fellow manager at our AL-only auction that Paddack was on the Top 100 list last week and he said, “Really?”. Not good. 

WHEE! – These players launched onto the Top 100 list this week.

Brady Singer

OOF! – These players fell off the Top 100 list this last week.

Reynaldo Lopez (49) – Will undergo surgery tomorrow. He’s out until the second half (at the earliest).

 

That’s all for this week! I hope you enjoyed it! 

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