everywhereblair

Top 100 Starting Pitchers: Summer Training Edition

June 29, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Pitcher Rankings | 13 Comments

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True story: DonkeyTeeth calls me up on the ol’ Twitter machine this morning.  Me, I’m just awake from dreaming of 5-year-old Blair riding out in my dad’s Buick Skylark into the Minneapolis night to celebrate the Twin’s 1987 World Series win.  Suddenly Donkey’s typing: “Top 100 Switchers.” And I’m like, “Donkey, it’s 7AM, I’m not ready for that!” He types into the Twitter machine, “TOP 100 PITCHERS!” So I say, that’s fine, here: 1) Beer, 2) Sangria, 3) Margarita… . Donk does it. You know. He starts typing, but doesn’t finish. The little dots on the bottom of my Twitter machine beep out in morse code–or whatever code Jack wants to call it–that causes mental insanity among so many people. I’m transfixed. The next use of a nuclear code, you know it’s going to be preceded by those little waiting dots. President Swift will have to verify the code with Vice President Lovitz but only after they clear their notifications. Finally, Donkey’s message comes across. “2-for-1 pitchers at BWW if you get there before 9AM. See ya.” That’s the level of training they give here at Razzball. I tell ya, I get no respect at all.

Welcome to Summer Training, then! Pitchers and catchers report to the bubble soon, and Covid-willing, we’ll have a 60-game baseball season in 2020. It may be daring to say, but pitchers will likely be the most affected by the change in schedule in terms of fantasy baseball. There are a lot of rumors right now, but some teams have discussed 4-man rotations while other teams have discussed 6-man rotations. Some teams have hinted that starters will throw 3-4 innings at most, while other teams are rumored to let their starters run wild. In real life, we’re all wishing for the health and well-being of pitchers, along with the rest of the teams and their communities. But for fantasy purposes, we’ll be monitoring the rumors and adjusting as much as possible as quick as possible.

The standings in this post are organized as of 06.28.2020, and will be updated weekly throughout the season. For fantasy purposes, players shouldn’t worry too much about the ordering, but rather focus on position within tiers. If you’re in a standard 12-person league, I would focus on grabbing healthy hitters first, one top tier pitcher, and then 5-7 starters from the middle and lower tiers. You’re going to see plenty of great matchups that you’ll be able to take advantage of in the late rounds.

 

Tier 1: Grey’s Afternoon Delights

Rank Name Previous Rank Notes
1 Gerrit Cole 1
2 Jacob deGrom 2
3 Jack Flaherty 3
4 Max Scherzer 4 Poor 2nd half 2019
5 Shane Bieber 5
6 Walker Buehler 6
7 Stephen Strasburg 7
8 Patrick Corbin 8
9 Luis Castillo 9
10 Lucas Giolito 10
11 Justin Verlander 11 Surgery Recovery

 Tier 2: Donkey Teeth’s Denture Cleaners

Rank Name Previous Rank Notes
12 Yu Darvish 12
13 Chris Paddack 13
14 Tyler Glasnow 14
15 Clayton Kershaw 15
16 Mike Clevinger 16 Injury recovery
17 Aaron Nola 17
18 Jose Berrios 18
19 Zack Greinke 19
20 Sonny Gray 20
21 Charlie Morton 21
22 Trevor Bauer 22 Stressful 2019
23 Zac Gallen 23
24 Hyun-Jin Ryu 24
25 Shohei Ohtani 25

Tier 3: Blair’s Flairs

Rank Name Previous Rank Notes
26 Brandon Woodruff 26
27 Eduardo Rodriguez 27
28 Lance Lynn 28
29 Blake Snell 29 Cortisone shot in elbow
30 Jake Odorizzi 30 Sleeper
31 Dinelson Lamet 31 Sleeper
32 Zack Wheeler 32
33 Carlos Carrasco 33
34 Corey Kluber 34
35 Robbie Ray 35 Poor command
36 Max Fried 36 Sleeper
37 Mike Soroka 37
38 Julio Urias 38
39 Kyle Hendricks 39
40 Kenta Maeda 40 Sleeper
41 Marcus Stroman 41 Sleeper

Tier 4: Coolwhip’s Cake Toppers

Rank Name Previous Rank Notes
42  Madison Bumgarner 42
43 Frankie Montas 43 Sleeper
44 Mike Minor 44
45 Luke Weaver 45
46 Andrew Heaney 46 Sleeper
47 Jesus Luzardo 47 Grey’s rave
48 Sean Manaea 48
49 Matthew Boyd 49
50 James Paxton 50 Surgery recovery
51 German Marquez 51
52 Adrian Houser 52
53 David Price 53
54 Mike Foltynewicz 54
55 Joe Musgrove 55 Sleeper
56 Carlos Martinez 56
57 Lance McCullers 57
58 Joey Lucchesi 58
59 Ryan Yarbrough 59 Sleeper
60 Brendan McKay 60 Grey’s rave

Tier 5: JKJ’s Tiny Dancers

Rank Name Previous Rank Notes
61 Jon Gray 61
62 Zach Plesac 62
63 Caleb Smith 63 Coolwhip’s rave
64 Yonny Chirinos 64
65 Aaron Civale 65
66 Garrett Richards 66
67 Johnny Cueto 67
68 Anthony DeSclafani 68
69 Jordan Yamamoto 69
70 Kevin Gausman 70
71 Jose Urquidy 71
72 Pablo Lopez 72
73 Dustin May 73 Outlook
74 Sandy Alcantara 74
75 Dallas Keuchel 75
76 Steven Matz 76
77 Chris Bassitt 77
78 Zach Eflin 78
79 Josh James 79 Coolwhip’s rave
80 A.J. Puk 80 Injury risk

Tier 6: The Itch’s Back Scratchers

Rank Name Previous Rank Notes
81 Mitch Keller 81
82 Kyle Gibson 82
83 Jose Quintana 83
84 Mike Fiers 84
85 Dylan Bundy 85
86 Justus Sheffield 86
87 Masahiro Tanaka 87
88 Alex Wood 88
89 Jeff Samardzija 89
90 Jon Lester 90
91 Anibal Sanchez 91
92 Gio Gonzalez 92
93 Julio Teheran 93
94 Marco Gonzales 94
95 Josh Lindblom 95
96 Dakota Hudson 96
97 Reynaldo Lopez 97
98 Rick Porcello 98
99 Nathan Eovaldi 99
100 Kwang-Hyun Kim 100

Injured: Noah Syndergaard, Luis Severino, Chris Sale, Chris Archer

Suspended: Michael Pineda

 

 

  1. Jolt In Flow says:
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    EWB, thanks for this. Always love lists.

    • Grey

      Grey says:
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      Long live long lists!

    • everywhereblair

      everywhereblair says:
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      Cheers! I’m more bullish on some pitchers than Grey, and I submitted this *before* the camps were announced yesterday.

      It’s a great draft list as it stands, but shizz is going to get wild, and it’s going to get wild soon.

      But for fantasy fans, this is a great summary of Razzball’s top pitcher ordering. Myself, I aimed for Corbin as my #1 this year, and I’ve rostered Gallen on a ton of teams.

      (whispers) and those deep leagues–and i’m talking 16 teams–are just leaving Yamamoto and Teheran on the table (looks around) (extra whispery) Gio Gonzalez isn’t that bad either.

  2. Grey

    Grey says:
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    Eovaldi over Kwang-Hyun Kim?! WHAT?! Kidding…Nice work, Blair!

    • everywhereblair

      everywhereblair says:
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      <3

  3. Hernan says:
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    Excellent Article!!!, Bold Predictions here…, Dylan Bundy is a top 30 starter…, based on his ability to suppress hard contact, a knockout /elite pitch( slider), he’s going from the biggest joke in baseball to a real team…, fastball( although slow, spin rate is borderline elite) command is the key, he’s paired with one of top framing catchers in baseball( Jason Castro), that will greatly help…… getting out of AL East helps too…., The Other Dylan (Cease) is a top 50 starter (maybe better)…, changing mechanics, secondary pitches already plus( slider, change up, curve).., again, fastball command is key.., at least it travels 96/97 mph on average( near elite spin) plus , again, top framing Catcher Arrival Alert( Grandal) can do the trick…, my 2 cents, peace…, Razzball Rules!!!

    • everywhereblair

      everywhereblair says:
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      My Razzslam team sure hopes Dylan Cease is a top 50 starter. Some metrics don’t say that though. White Sox pitchers are gonna be under the radar this year, so a lot of veterans are going to grab them late and win a lot of leagues with them. Thanks for the read and the comment!

  4. Maaaaaaattttt says:
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    What do you think about Dylan Cease? Is he worth dropping for,
    Lopez
    Guasman
    Bassitt
    Cueto
    Samardjzia
    Eflin
    Lester
    Sheffield

    My rotation currently:
    Gallen
    Soroka
    Lynn
    Price
    Minor
    Luzardo
    Desclafani

    • everywhereblair

      everywhereblair says:
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      In redraft and dynasty, I’d keep Cease over all of those.

      Give him a chance this year. Plus secondary pitches will help support his fastball. His upside is worth the risk.

  5. Dong Show says:
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    Thinking of dumping Eovaldi for Seth Lugo for his ratios. Does that make sense with the staff I have?

    Stras, Paddack, Greinke, Lynn, Robbie Ray, Bundy, Civale, Sonny Gray* (May be in the process of trading him for Whit Merrifield)

    RP I have are Chapman, Hendricks and Pagan.

    Great work on this list everywhereblair!

    • everywhereblair

      everywhereblair says:
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      Yeah, you’ve got more than enough SP. in a traditional league. Depends on how many RP/P slots you have. I always make sure my P slots (hehe!) are stocked with RP when SP aren’t pitching.

      • Dong Show says:
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        Appreciate the quick response!

        I’ve tended to fade RP the last few years (Dynasty League by the way) but in this short year, I want quick and immediate impact for ratios. For as much as I like what Eovaldi COULD do, a blow up game from him can sink a week so quick. Loved him to gamble on for a long haul season but in a short, seems like an obvious fade.

  6. Harley Earl says:
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    I see you’ve got Kim at #100. I’m glad you took notice of him. Most people don’t even know he exists, much less who he is.

    By the time the season ends, he’ll be the Cards’ #2 pitcher behind Flaherty because he already is. Mark my word, while the #100 ranking is a nice tip of the cap to him now, it will be an insult by the end of September. Book it Dan-O. Dude is for real.

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