Happy Monday, Razzball faithful!

Ok, let’s get this out of the way right now.

Why, yes, I could use a new computer and photo editing program. Why do you ask?

Logan Henderson has gone from a waiver wire gamble to an “Oh No! I’d better go check to see if anyone picked him up yet!” BEAST in a little under two weeks’ time.

And it’s not difficult to understand why.

The April 15th call-up of the 23-year-old RHP was welcomed by a lot of fantasy managers looking to boost their pitcher pool. I’m sure Jacob Misiorowski’s owners weren’t as excited to see the news, but like the meme says…

We can touch on The Miz later, but now is a good time to check under the Henderson hood and see what’s making the Brewers’ Bigfoot a highly sought after commodity.

Henderson threw a 6 Inning 3-hitter with one earned run and 9 strikeouts on April 20th, also known as his big league debut.

Lucky? Maybe. He beat the Athletics in Milwaukee. I guess we don’t have to rush out to add him.

What if I told you he’s now won all three of his starts, has a 12.25 K/9, and is clocking in with a 1.69 ERA and 0.813 WHIP?

Ya, I’ll wait while you go check to see if he’s still available in your league.

The bottom line is, this kid is looking like the real deal as he mows through big league teams. He threw in Pittsburgh yesterday, and I wrote this up early, so it might end up blowing up in my face, but I’d add him everywhere I could as soon as possible.

If that’s not enough to sway you, go check out Jakkers’ excellent deep dive on Logan Henderson from his most recent installment of his Dynasty Player series last Saturday.

Did our super Sasquatch from last week’s list sneak his way up from SP83 and into the 70s? 60s?!

Is there a bunch of my SP blurbs from Saturday’s Daily notes piece when I covered Friday’s games?

We’ll see! But first…I need to remind you to lock in your Razzball Fantasy Baseball Subscription. This should be your go-to reference for the entire season. The Streamonator is also a helpful resource when making lineup decisions. Rudy’s tools are well worth the price of admission. 

The Top 100 Starting Pitchers for 2025

SP RANK	Name	Team	UP / DOWN	Notes
1	Tarik Skubal	DET		5.2 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 8 Ks, ERA at 2.87. When you’re at the top, the microscope lens is pretty big. This one wasn’t great, but it’ll take more than a few consecutive ‘Meh’ starts to move Skubes out. EDIT: He sent a message against CLE yesterday. 9 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 13 Ks. Um…ya, that’s not a ‘Meh’ start. That’s as good as it gets.
2	Garrett Crochet	BOS		5.1 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 5 Ks, ERA at 1.98. Max Fried, Garrett Crochet, Andrew Heaney, Yusei Kikuchi, John Means. Big time lefty SP FAs who got paid and are delivering the goods this season…Well, most of them I guess.
3	Zack Wheeler	PHI		6.2 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 8 Ks. ERA at 2.42. Won his 6th of the year against Jeffrey Springs and the Bing Bong Athletics. If it’s a question of wheels vs springs, give me the spinners every time. Plus, my back gets sore when I’m on the trampoline.
4	Max Fried	NYY		7.1 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 7 Ks, and tied for the league lead with 7 wins. Talk about rolling into the Lion’s Den and punching it in the throat. Fried isn’t afraid of that thin mountain air.
5	Paul Skenes	PIT		More below. The “DOWN” is more about the lack of run support and the guys surrounding him here than anything else.
6	Yoshinobu Yamamoto	LAD		7 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 9 Ks, ERA at 1.86, and 110 pitches. Fun fact: “Yoshi” is how Sean Connery starts all of his DIY tutorial videos on YouTube. “Yoshi, firsht you need to sheparate the eggsh from the flour and the yeasht…” Speaking of separating, Yoshi has helped me separate myself from the sadness of losing Cole Ragans as my ace. Yoshi? You can draft a top pitcher later in the draft after all!
7	Jacob deGrom	TEX		7 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 9 Ks, ERA at 2.33. Every one of these stellar starts is like a middle finger to all the people who doubted he could stay healthy. Yes, all 500 million of them.
8	Hunter Brown	HOU		5 IP, 5 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks. ERA at 2.04. I guess he saw that I moved him into the Top 5, so he aimed for 5s. Numerologists unite! I should move him up to SP0 this week so he can throw a no-hit shutout (albeit with zero strikeouts).
9	Joe Ryan	MIN		5 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks, ERA at 2.68. It’s always tempting to rip on a guy who puts up a decent start after posting a few great ones. Bottom line? Ryan is an ace.
10	Pablo Lopez	MIN		5.1 IP, 1 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 5 Ks. Lopez went head-to-head with Noah Cameron and kept his cool. 55 Ks in 51 IP with sparkling ratios? Pabl-Oh my goodness.
11	Bryan Woo	SEA		I watched the Framber/Woo matchup on Saturday, and it didn’t disappoint. Woo went 6 innings, gave up 0 ER, 9 H, 0 BB, and had 5 Ks, but got tagged with the undeserved loss.
12	MacKenzie Gore	WSH		More below.
13	Michael King	SD		Scratched from Saturday’s start with right shoulder stiffness. There is no need for widespread panic yet, but if we get worse news about King Kong, it might be time to send in the military planes.
14	Hunter Greene	CIN		4 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 2 Ks. It took Greene 83 pitches to get a dozen outs. And he only had two strikeouts to show for it. Ouch.
15	Bailey Ober	MIN		A bit of a premature boost up a couple of spots, but he was dealing yesterday through 5 innings. EDIT: Ober and Bubic had quite the pitching duel yesterday. Ober went 6.2 IP to Bubic’s 7 IP. Each SP allowed 1 ER, but Bubic’s 9 Ks dwarfed Ober’s 3. The game went to extras, so no-decisions for both.
16	Jesus Luzardo	PHI		6 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 10 Ks, ERA at 1.95. Jesus: just walking enough wise men to match his birthday story. I said it last week, too, but the Christians will remind you. He’s still undefeated. EDIT: He was at 6 H, 3 ER, 2 Ks through 2 IP yesterday, so I sure hope I didn’t jinx him. Then again, it wouldn’t be the first time Jesus had a big comeback. Hashtag Nailed It. Nope. Too far.
17	Freddy Peralta	MLW		4.1 IP, 1 ER (solo HR), 5 H, 3 BB, 3 Ks. He needed 101 pitches to get through this one, but he more than held his own against  Skenes on Friday night in PIT. He gets the RedSox at home this week.
18	Logan Webb	SF		4 IP, 3 ER, 10 H, 0 BB, 5 Ks. It took him 77 pitches to get through 4 innings. The zero walks made things a lot more palatable than they could have been.
19	Framber Valdez	HOU		Framber had a nice slugfest with Bryan Woo Saturday afternoon. 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 4 BB, 5 Ks was good enough for the win and runs his record to 4-4.
20	Nick Pivetta	SD		6 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 7 Ks. He was great. So great, in fact, that he was kind enough to give Ronald Acuna Jr. his first home run of the season, too!
21	Chris Sale	ATL		7 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks. That’s back-to-back 7-inning starts of just one earned run (in each). He’s had 5 QS in his last six starts, too. Sale is up to 78 Ks in 61.1 IP, so now he’s looking to polish up those ratios.
22	Dylan Cease	SD		EDIT: This was an afternoon game yesterday so the game was still on while I finished up my edits. 1.2 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, and 2 Ks. At least he didn’t give up a leadoff homer to Acuna.
23	Kodai Senga	NYM		Grey wrote Senga up as a SELL last Friday. (Have a look at that here). While I’m in the same boat as Grey in that I don’t roster Senga anywhere either, it was more about him being taken in drafts way higher than I was comfortable rostering him. The numbers aren’t perfect, but I still believe. (Still believe!).
24	Sonny Gray	STL		EDIT: Nearly the same line as Brandon Pfaadt yesterday – 6 IP, 3 ER, 9 H, 0 BB, 5 Ks and the no-decision.
25	George Kirby	SEA		More below.
26	Robbie Ray	SFG		EDIT: 6 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 7 Ks, and tied for the league lead in wins with 7 (Fried and Pfaadt). I don’t know what Ray is hiding in those tight pants, but it sure isn’t losses. He’s 7-0.
27	Carlos Rodon	NYY		6 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 8 Ks, ERA at 2.88. Rodon out-duelled Eovaldi for his 6th win of the year. 80 Ks in 65.2 innings is nothing to turn the nose at either. Solid.
28	Cristopher Sanchez	PHI		4.2 IP, 2 ER, 7 H, 3 BB, 6 Ks. Escaping Bing Bong stadium with just two earned runs is commendable, but he was lifted at 83 pitches. That broke his QS streak at three games. Streamonator isn’t a fan of this week’s start v MLW though ($2.5).
29	Nathan Eovaldi	TEX		6 IP, 1 ER, 5 H 1 BB, 6 Ks, ERA at 1.60. He lost this one to Rodon 1-0. A nice microcosm of the non-existent Eovaldi hype.
30	Corbin Burnes	ARI		7 IP, 3 ER, , 8 Ks, ERA at 2.73. Burnes baby Burnes, QS inferno! (That’s four quality starts in a row).
31	Kris Bubic	KC		EDIT: See the Ober note above.
32	Spencer Schwellenbach	ATL		EDIT: This was an afternoon game yesterday so the game was still on while I finished up my edits. 2 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, and 4 Ks (in 6 outs) is a pretty good start!
33	Shota Imanaga	CHC		More below.
34	Drew Rasmussen	TB		6 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 3 Ks. This was almost a carbon copy of his start in Miami last week (6 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 5 Ks). I mentioned last week that he must’ve heard me complaining that he wasn’t going deep enough to qualify for a quality start. After zero in his first 8 GS, he has back-to-back QS.
35	Logan Gilbert	SEA		Threw a simulated game Friday night and will likely have at least one more before the rehab assignment. Expected back just before mid-June.
36	Luis Castillo	SEA		EDIT: He faced C. Gordon yesterday and couldn’t run the Batmobile through the commissioner. 6 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks and the no-decision.
37	Jack Flaherty	DET		6.2 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 8 Ks, ERA at 4.39. That’s a quality start! If that’s not encouraging enough, it was also the first time Flaherty has pitched into the 7th inning all year (10 GS).
38	Brady Singer	CIN		5 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 4 BB, 3 Ks, ERA at 4.88.
39	Tyler Mahle	TEX		5 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 3 Ks. ERA at 1.80, WHIP at 1.033. Sure, the 6.45 K/9 is nothing to write home about, but as long as he’s throwing innings and keeping the ratios down, he’s got a shot at a win every time he pitches. That said, Streamonator is not a fan of this week vs TOR ($-4.3)
40	Casey Mize	DET		I got some pushback about Mize’s SP36 ranking last week, especially because he was still on the IL. Yesterday’s 5 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks return was a bit vindicating, but I can still admit I had him just a bit too high, no matter what. I still believe in the breakout. He belongs in the Top 50.
41	Matthew Liberatore	STL		7 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 4 Ks. ERA at 2.73. The Liberator tamed the snakes on Saturday for his second straight quality start…and his third no-decision in a row. It looks like he’ll line up against Jack Leiter this week in Texas.
42	Ranger Suarez	PHI		6.2 IP, 0 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 6 Ks, ERA at 3.70. BUT…if we take away the 7 ER outing from when he first pitched after the IL activation… This is a good example of how tough it is to rebound ratios after a meltdown. 3 ER in his last 20.2 IP, and his ERA is still above 3.50.
43	Brandon Pfaadt	ARI		EDIT: 5.2 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 5 Ks. The Pfaadt boy had almost the same line as Sonny Gray in this one, and Brandon was denied his league leading 8th win.
44	Nick Lodolo	CIN		EDIT: 5 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks was certainly better than his opponent (Ben Brown – barf emoji). He didn’t qualify for a W either way though because the bullpen coughed up 8 ER…and counting.
45	Spencer Strider	ATL		4.1 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 3 Ks. ERA at 5.79. I don’t want to concede to Grey just yet (he called Strider a bust/avoid this year), but Spencer did not take too many strides in the right direction last Tuesday night. I’d still float out trade offers in a keeper league if you have an impatient owner who overreacts to one start, but be forewarned that it could blow up in your face.
46	Griffin Canning	NYM		More below.
47	Jackson Jobe	DET		5 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 3 Ks, and his first loss of the year. He’s throwing around 90 pitches per start, so it’s not like the Tigers are babying him. His next step is figuring out how to improve his pitch efficiency.
48	Ryan Weathers	MIA		5 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 4 Ks, ERA at 1.80. Oh boy, this was a scary box score to peek in on. Special thanks to Calvin Faucher for giving up the 5 ER in relief of Weathers and not having them tagged onto our starter’s ERA!
49	Ryan Pepiot	TB		EDIT: 7 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 5 Ks and the anti-thesis of Chris Bassitt’s start. Someone remind me that I Pepi-Owe him a boost next week.
50	Merrill Kelly	ARI		6 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks. The WHIP is still solid (1.02), and it’s just the second time he’s allowed more than two earned runs in his last 9 starts.
51	Michael Wacha	KC		5 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 1 K. He had ripped off 5 QS before this one and, of course, when I recommend someone pick him up because he’s a reliable quality start source…well…
52	Matthew Boyd	CHC		4 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 3 Ks. Boyd was gone before the Reds’ bullpen turned this into an easy vulture win for Chris Flexen (2-0).
53	Andrew Abbott	CIN		5.2 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 2 BB. 2 Ks. Abbott plus an Elly (4 RBIs) meant AA moves up to 4-0 on the year with a 1.77 ERA and 1.19 WHIP.
54	David Peterson	NYM		7.2 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 7 Ks. “Did the Mets host the Rockies?” No. You might be surprised to learn that this was David Peterson hosting the big, bad Dodgers.
55	Tanner Bibee	CLE		7 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 8 Ks, ERA at 3.57. Maybe it’s the hope talking, but Bibee has allowed 2+ ER in just one of his last 6 GS. That deserves a modest boost today.
56	Tylor Megill	NYM		4.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 10 Ks, ERA at 3.56. Speaking of gills, it’s this kind of start that gets the whole pond flapping their fins, then we fall for the bait of double-digit strikeouts and get reeled in just before the ratios sink the fishing boat.
57	Dustin May	LAD		6 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 8 Ks, ERA at 4.09. No MayDay for this one. Just in time … to make me feel dumb for cutting him in Perts.
58	Max Meyer	MIA		6 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 4 Ks, ERA at 4.15. MAX-imum effort!
59	AJ Smith-Shawver	ATL		3 IP, 7 ER, 8 H, 3 BB, 1 K. ERA at 3.67. Yeeeeeouch. It’s gonna take more than a couple of perfect starts to … Shawve those ratios back down.
60	Shane Baz	TB		5.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 4 Ks. Nothing like facing the Blue Jays offense to help right the ship! He was headed to the nether this week, but the Jays threw him a life preserver. TB rolls into HOU this week, so tread carefully unless you think he’s all sorted out.
61	Clay Holmes	NYM		6 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 5 Ks, and a tough loss away from Holmes (at Fenway).
62	Kevin Gausman	TOR		7 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 9 Ks, ERA at 4.03. Yet another strong start after a terrible one, aka just enough to rope us back in. The Jays are just glad Kevin didn’t give them yet another loss, man.
63	Chris Bassitt	TOR		6 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks, ERA at 2.83. I’ve said it a few times now. Remember the old Chris Bassitt who polished up your ratios and gave you a good shot at a win every time out? It looks like he’s back. EDIT: I won’t write what I said out loud when I saw the 4 IP, 5 ER, 9 H, 2 BB, 2 K line from Bassitt yesterday, but, keeping with the bird theme, it did rhyme with “Oh for FLOCK sakes”. So much for that ratio help.
64	Jack Leiter	TEX		5 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 5 BB, 3 Ks. He walked Matt Thaiss. Three times. He gets the Cards at home this week.
65	Luis Severino	ATH		6 IP, 2 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 5 Ks, ERA at 4.11. Oh, you want the 411? I’ll give you the deets. Severino is about as exciting as watching a tortoise vs snail fight in an MMA ring, but he’ll give you a good chance at a QS with a handful of strikeouts nearly every time out.
66	Jose Soriano	LAA		4.2 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 3 BB, 1 K. He came into this one with 3 QS in his last four starts but left with his 5th loss of the year. In those deeper leagues, you’re starting him no matter what. But I’d be careful in shallower ones – he’s at CLE this week. Streamonator agrees ($-7.5)
67	Gavin Williams	CLE		6 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks, ERA at 3.94. A good outing for the 4th time in a row. Please be the start of something that will not make be nauseated when I look back at what I traded away to get him in a keeper league back in February.
68	Landen Roupp	SFG		6 IP, 0 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 2 Ks. I joked last Monday that “Landen go Roupp. Landen go down.” But this game looked like Landen stay Roupp for at least a little while longer.
69	Taj Bradley	TB		6 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 7 Ks. ERA at 4.61.
70	Zac Gallen	ARI		5.2 IP, 4 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 4 Ks. ERA at 5.25 and the lede for Saturday’s Daily Notes roundup. TL/DR: He’s still not good. Down 15 spots today.
71	Logan Henderson	MLW		More above! EDIT: 5 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks at PIT yesterday. Solid.
72	Lucas Giolito	BOS		More below.
73	Jose Berrios	TOR		Back-to-back quality starts about as much run support as Skenes and Gore have had (3 runs in 2 GS).
74	Yusei Kikuchi	LAA		5.2 IP, 0 ER, 7 H, 4 BB, 4 Ks. Don’t look now, but that’s the 5th consecutive start that the West Coast Kuch has allowed two or fewer earned runs. I said DON’T look now!
75	Clarke Schmidt	NYY		4.2 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 8 Ks. He needed 97 pitches to almost complete 5 innings. At least the strikeout total was nice. Sometimes Schmidt happens.
76	Noah Cameron	KC		I put three of the kids in here at 76-78 this week. More on Cameron below.
77	Cade Horton	CHC		5.1 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 3 Ks, ERA at 4.40. I was a bit worried that Horton would get bounced from the rotation this week when Imanaga returned. The good news is that Shota’s return got pushed back to June 13th, so Horton should at least get a couple more starts. I guess that’s good news…unless you roster Imanaga.
78	Hayden Birdsong	SF		5 IP, 0 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 4 Ks, ERA at 1.91. Hey! Is it me or does this guy’s first name remind you of a little kid with a speech impediment trying to get your attention while animatedly delivering a story that only the kid is excited about? No? Ok, Den.
79	Andrew Heaney	PIT		5 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks, ERA at 2.91. I looked up his run support because I assumed it was better than what Skenes gets. It was, but it wasn’t by much.
80	Tomoyuki Sugano	BAL		6 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 3 Ks, ERA at 3.07. Is his last name Sugano because he couldn’t break a glass sugar dispenser with his 92 MPH fastball? Suga-no?
81	Chris Paddack	MIN		5.1 IP, 2 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 2 Ks, ERA at 3.98. Not quite enough outs to nab his third consecutive QS, but solid nonetheless. He should be on your streaming radar at the very least.
82	Zack Littell	TB		5 IP, 2 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 6 Ks, ERA at 4.25. He’s been hanging around the SP110 zone for a while, but every time I want to add him, he just comes up…a Littell short.
83	Jameson Taillon	CHC		Hopefully, escaping the 90s keeps him around for a bit. More below.
84	Zach Eflin	BAL		The prince of walk suppression (not to be confused with King Kirby) only allowed two at Fenway on Saturday, but the 5 runs in 5 innings didn’t help his case. 3 HR and just 1 K means he slides down a bit today.
85	Tyler Anderson	LAA		4.2 IP, 5 ER, 7 H, 6 BB. ERA at 3.60. The next few are the hard hit ones for this week. Remember a couple of weeks ago when I said I couldn’t trust him no matter how many solid starts he could string together. This was why.
86	Will Warren	NYY		5.2 IP, 0 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 10 Ks, ERA at 4.05 in his first start of the week and Grey’s lede from Wednesday morning’s roundup. I commented that I assumed a lot of people in weekly leagues didn’t get this gem because they were concerned about the “at COL” start yesterday. EDIT: Warren had just completed 4 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 7 Ks when I put together my final edits yesterday. I don’t want to curse it, but if this stick it’s time to start looking at activating him more often (at least that’s what I plan on doing).
87	Mitch Keller	PIT		6 IP, 1 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 7 Ks on Saturday at PNC vs MLW. Psycho Keller! Q’est-ce que c’est?! I’ll tell you what it is…it’s what we want to see from Mitch every time he starts. Oh, and just so you’re not surprised…he got the no-decision because the Pirates waited until the 7th inning to score the winning run in a 2-1 game. Smh.
88	Tony Gonsolin	LAD		5 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 3 BB, 4 Ks. The wheels on the Gonsolin bus are starting to spin out. That’s 8 ER in his last 9 innings and just one quality start in all five of his games since his return from injury. If you ropster him, pack a parachute.
89	Brayan Bello	BOS		4 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 7 Ks. His ERA (4.08) and WHIP (1.70) are nothing to write home about yet, and he has pitched into the 7th just once in 8 starts.
90	Bowden Francis	TOR		4 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 4 Ks. ERA at 5.54. One more big fly against makes it 4 HR in his last 4 starts. To give a better idea of how bad it’s been, he’s had just three quality starts in his ten games and leads Zack Littell/Jameson Taillon in HR allowed for the major league lead (15).
91	Colin Rea	CHC		5 IP, 6 ER, 7 H, 3 BB, 8 Ks. ERA at 3.28. Oh boy. Rea wasn’t quite murdered in the regression fairy attack, but Die…fer…Rea was kind of the result.
92	Shane Smith	CWS		5 IP, 3 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks.  I mentioned in Saturday’s write-up that Sean Burke reminds me of the old NHL goalie. Shane Smith? Ya, that’s awfully close to the name of the guy who scored on his own net in an Edmonton/Calgary playoff game back in the 80s. (He was Steve).
93	Michael Lorenzen	KC		He hasn’t won since April 29th and went 4.2 IP, 2 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 5 Ks at SF last week. He’s another one who’s been the victim of a lack of run support,t but Lorenzen doesn’t have the Skenes or Gore stuff to make up for it. 4 QS in 10 GS makes it worth rostering him in leagues with a quality start category. He gets CIN at home today.
94	Walker Buehler	LAD		2.1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks. ERA at 4.00. The good news is he didn’t exit early because of an injury relapse (he got ejected for arguing pitches). He’s a streamer for now just because I don’t know how much faith I have in him returning to the “Old” Walker Buehler from 2021. I assume he’ll top his 52 pitches on Sunday. EDIT: 5 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 3 Ks vs BAL at Fenway yesterday.
95	Jeffrey Springs	ATH		6 IP, 3 ER (2 HR), 4 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks. It was a high-scoring night in Sacramento last week when PHI rolled into town. Springs ended up with yet another no-decision, his third in his last four starts. He starts at TOR this week.
96	Patrick Corbin	TEX		We’re running out of spots! EDIT: Corbin went 5.1 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks at CWS yesterday.
97	Lance McCullers	HOU		I watched this start on Thursday because I wanted to see how Kirby looked and if he had any struggles in his first start back (More below). As for McCullers, it took him 41 pitches to get 4 outs, which was, ironically, more pitches than it took Kirby to retire the same..McCullers change and breaking stuff looked good. The five straight balls to start the game weren’t even close, but he eventually settled down. He should move up soon if he can click.
98	Erick Fedde	STL		5 IP, 4 ER (2 HR), 5 H, 0 BB, 2 Ks. He starts today in Baltimore. Could I change him out for another arm? Sure. But I’m getting kind of Fedde-up with all the flip-flopping so he can stay down here for now.
99	Clayton Kershaw	LAD		2 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 1 K. I said in Saturday’s write-up that maybe Kershaw didn’t feel great and asked to be lifted after 26 pitches, but it turns out the early hook culprit was an hour-and-a-half rain delay. He’s supposed to go in CLE this week. Slowly but surely.
100	Ryan Gusto	HOU		4.1 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 6 Ks. You never want to wish ill will on someone, but every second (or third) opinion that Ronel Blanco gets on his arm injury means the door to the rotation inches open just a bit more so that Gusto can stay (for now). I had Sandy Alcantara all set to stick here in the 100th spot, but we ran out of room.
101	Sandy Alcantara	MIA		5.1 IP, 5 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks. ERA at 8.04. How appropriate. Mr. Sandy Bottom, AKA Mr. 8.04 ERA, continues to be cheeks.

JUMPERS (These are some of the players who jumped up the rankings this week)

MacKenzie Gore – 6 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 9 Ks. His 5th loss of the year (2-5). This was one of (many) write-ups from Saturday morning. “Come on. This guy is leading MLB in strikeouts (93), and he’s three games below .500? With this kind of run support, he’s starting to look like a Pirates ace. I guess we can call him MacSkenesie Gore. No? Ya, you’re probably right.” AND that’s me quoting me!

George Kirby – As I said above, I watched the HOU/SEA game on Thursday just to see how Kirby looked. They announced early that he was on a pitch limit, and it took Kirby 72 pitches to get through 3.2 innings. Ouch. The good news is his velocity is there. He sat 97/98 all night. The command wasn’t great, (he drilled the leadoff hitter in the back on a FB that curled into the RHH). Kirby’s FB movement was up with the velocity, and you could tell he was pumped to be back. The only bad news there is the adrenaline fueled a couple of command hiccups. Kirby allowed 6 hits and still walked just one, but like I said, it took him 72 pitches to get 11 outs.

A very good example of a very misleading line

Kirby didn’t look nearly as bad as  that line makes it look. He loaded the bases and gave up a 2-run hit to score the 4th and 5th ER just before Houston chased him in the 4th inning.

Lucas Giolito – 7 IP, 0 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks at Fenway in the back end of a doubleheader v BAL on Saturday. I caused a bit of a stir when I poked fun at someone’s ranking of Gio last week but I get it. It’s not wrong to think that the stuff outweighs the results here. If Giolito is healthy, he could bounce back big time like he did om Saturday. I split the difference between my ranking last week and the aforementioned mid-30s ranking (when I wrote it up last week), then slid him down a bit. He’ll move up fast if he can give us more outings like this one, that’s for sure. Streamonator doesn’t believe in his start this week though. $-13.4 at ATL.

Jameson Taillon – 7 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 2Ks, ERA at 4.13. That brings his record up to 3-3 . A nice way to respond to slipping off the list. With a 1.09 WHIP, you could do a lot worse than this guy on the back end of your fantasy rotation. I’m sorry for the disrespect, sir. Oh, and before you come at me with the “Ok, Boomer”, Streamonator has him as the SP5 next week ($43.4), so if you don’t like it, take it up with the robot.

Noah Cameron – 6.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 8 Ks. KC lost this one, but it sure wasn’t because of Cameron’s production. That’s three starts on the year, all of which the big lefty has allowed one or fewer earned runs. He gets CIN at home this week.

Jacob Misiorowski, Bubba Chandler, Andrew Painter – These three are the ultimate stash and dash pitchers when it comes to rookies. If you have space to tuck one away on your reserves, throw in a modest FAAB bid before they get the call because you’ll end up spending 10X what you would if you wait until after they’re called up. (For what it’s Werth, I listed them in the order I believe they’ll get the call-up).

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

Paul Skenes – 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 8 Ks, no decision, and winless in May. Are you kidding me? That’s two or fewer earned runs in 7 of his last 8 starts. That should be good enough for at least 6 wins, right? Nope. He’s 2-4 through that span. One of the kids from school took the 4-hour drive down to the Iron City with dad to see this one for his birthday weekend. At least the Pirates ended up scoring three runs after Skenes left, and they picked up a win for him anyway? Sorry, J-Mac.

Shota Imanaga – Optimism gave me a bit of a boot in the teeth last week with the Imanaga hamstring recovery, so he slips a bit today. (If you missed the photo evidence of my expertise in the field of leg injuries, you can check this out from a couple of weeks ago). Shota will move back up, but not until he hits a couple more checkpoints. The good news is he was moved up in his timeline and should throw a bullpen tomorrow. The bad news is it’s looking a lot more like a mid-June return at the earliest. More in the Cade Horton notes above.

Griffin Canning – There were quite a few SPs that got boosted last week because I got frustrated with the guys in the 40s and 50s. A few of them were warranted. Some were boosted a bit too much. Canning was one of the latter. 2.2 IP, 3 ER, 1 H, 4 BB, 1 K. ERA at 2.88. Neither he nor Clayton kershaw got through 3 innings Friday night, but Kershaw’s early exit was more to do with easing him back into games. I’m not sure the Mets planned on a bullpen game for this one, too. It took Canning 54 pitches to get 8 outs and allow 4 walks, so the early bullpen call likely wasn’t as much a part of the plan as it was with the Dodgers.

Ronel Blanco – Headed back to Houston with elbow soreness. I replied to a couple of comments last week saying I didn’t trust Blanco and thought he’d be a good one to cycle out for the right FA SP. It’s now an even easier piece of advice to deliver.

Grant Holmes – Early in the week I looked into adding Grant Holmes at the bottom and decided that I couldn’t bump one of these guys off the list for the SP with the 3rd highest BB/9 in the league (among qualified starters). Then, of course, on Saturday he stymied the Padres. 7 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 6 Ks, and, of course, just one walk. Shrug emoji.

STUMPERS (These names might stump you as to why they aren’t on the Top 100…yet. Some of these guys are close).

Emerson Hancock

Jake Irvin

Miles Mikolas

Zebby Matthews 

Nick Martinez

Tobias Myers 

Mike Soroka

Luis L. Ortiz

JP Sears

Hunter Dobbins

Landon Knack

Ryan Yarbrough – the hippy pirate is starting (for now).

Dean Kremer

Keider Montero

Bubba Chandler

Logan Allen

Slade Cecconi –  6 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks. More like Slay-ed. Hashtag nailed it.

Sean Burke

Stephen Kolek

Bailey Falter

BUMPERS (Injured starters or minor league guys who could or would bump others off the list if they were active on the big league roster)

Shane McClanahan

Jared Jones

Brandon Woodruff

Gerrit Cole

Luis Gil

Spencer Arrighetti

Justin Steele

John Means

Shane Bieber

Eury Perez – the Eury-head whisperers are gaining steam. He’s plowing through High-A right now.

Blake Snell 

Cody Bradford

Shohei Ohtani (SP)

Richard Fitts

Nestor Cortes

Yu Darvish

George Kirby

Tyler Glasnow

Hayden Wesneski

Reese Olson

Justin Verlander

Max Scherzer (throwing bullpens)

Aaron Nola – 15-day IL

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

George Kirby

Noah Cameron 

Hayden Birdsong

Zack Littell 

Walker Buehler

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

Reese Olson

Ronel Blanco

Justin Verlander

Zebby Matthews – 4 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 9 Ks. He’s right there but gets bumped for Jameson Taillon this week just because I’m not so sure he can ramp it up to give us 6+ innings per start just yet.

Aaron Nola (IL)

 

That’s all for this week! I hope you enjoyed it! If you’re feeling extra fired up about some of the names I do (or don’t) have here, drop some comments in the chat. Have a great week!

 

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