Happy Monday, Razzball faithful!

I’ll admit that I am fully in on the traditional ‘nerd/geek’ stereotype activities that define said labels.

Oh, really, MarmosDad? You mean the guy who writes Fantasy Baseball articles self-identifies as a nerd?

Ok. Touché. 

Did I play a musical instrument in high school? Perhaps. Have I been guilty of playing a few video games in my spare time? Uh…ya, that’s a yes as well. 

Am I fully in on the excitement that is the beautiful mix of Science Fiction and Fantasy in almost any form?

Well, we’ve already set aside some time to buy our “Mandalorian and Grogu” tickets for May 22nd, and I have a cardboard movie cutout of Gandalf in my classroom that a former student bought for me at a Comic-Con, so you tell me.

I can honestly say that I’ve never set my digital foot into the World of Warcraft. (But that was mostly because I knew it would lead to a full-blown addiction of epic proportions).

But the World Of Ashcraft? Oh, yes. I’m setting up a permanent residency in that realm.

It’s a warm and inviting place, with just a hint of chill. And, hey, if anyone knows how to deal with a bit of chilly, it’s a person who lives north of the border.

Sure, we can pick the hard hit rate nit and the average exit velocity one, too. But what if I told you some of those red bars are up from the cold, blue ones that we saw on the 2025 graphic?

I wasn’t entirely sold on using this image alone to paint my picture, so I decided to tap into yet another resource you can use (FOR FREE!) from yet another one of our stellar scribes, Sandwich Pick.

That’s where the scatter plot comes in. I played around for a bit, then decided to run a K-BB% (Y-axis) and SWSTR% (X-axis) to see where Braxton Ashcraft landed. 

Now I know you don’t need me to get in your way too much with all the numbers or names in there, but suffice it to say, anyone in that upper-right quadrant of the graph is sporting an above-league-average swinging strike rate AND an above-league-average K-BB%. 

If you do it on your own, you’ll see that all the other guys in that section are the same names we can find in our Top 30 of our Top 100 Starting Pitchers list. Garrett Crochet, Christopher Sanchez, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto? Yep.

(And don’t think I also don’t see Kris Bubic and Jose Soriano in there – more on those Jumpers later)

What does that mean for our Pittsburgh “sleeper” from the preseason?

Well, it means we might be getting an OP halfling who performs like a maxxed-out Warrior Orc with an unlimited mana pool used for revivals or spellcasting.

Wait, what?

It means Braxton Ashcraft’s World is one that you want to visit before it’s too late (and he gets picked up by your competition).

But what spot does Ashcraft teleport himself into in the Top 100 list today?

As always, it’s a bit of business first. The Razzball subscriptions are well worth the price of admission. This should be your go-to reference for the entire season. That resource that the other “experts” from other sites use as often as they look at Statcast or Fangraphs data? This is it.

Let’s see where Braxton Ashcraft and the other members of his MLB Starting Pitchers party land in the…

The Top 100 Starting Pitchers for 2026

All news and notes were updated Sunday afternoon, while some games were still in progress. 

MARMO RANK	Name	Team	Notes
1	Tarik Skubal	DET	4.2 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 7 Ks. Oof. He’s still the best, but if he puts up a few more of these, Crochet or Skenes can beat down the front door and take over the top spot.
2	Paul Skenes	PIT	6 1/3 IP, 1 ER, 4 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 5.25. Knock, knock, Tarik!
3	Garrett Crochet	BOS	6 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 7 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 3.12. “WE SAID KNOCK, KNOCK!”
4	Yoshinobu Yamamoto	LAD	6 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 2.50. Booooooo. Sorry, I just finished watching the Blue Jays boo everyone from the Dodgers who touched the ball last weekend. Don’t tell anyone, but I still kind of love Yamamoto. And Ohtani. And…
5	Cristopher Sanchez	PHI	5 IP, 2 ER, 11 H, 0 BB, 6 Ks, ERA at 1.65. I’ll admit I saw that 11 and got excited before realizing it was the hit total and not the strikeout one.
6	Bryan Woo	SEA	5 IP, 1 ER, 7 baserunners, 2 Ks, ERA at 1.50. So that’s 3 ER in 18 IP with just 4 BBs and 17 strikeouts. And he doesn’t have a win yet? Um…OK?
7	Max Fried	NYY	8 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 6 Ks. ERA at 1.93. WHIP at 0.75. The no-decision wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t even really David Bednar’s. Someone needs to tell Jazz Chisholm the rules of this fun new game called baseball, though.
8	Chris Sale	ATL	4 IP, 6 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 7 Ks, and the loss. But he’s hurt, right? RIGHT? (I’m sorry, I need to lay off the CAPS LOCK. Oh, there it is again.)
9	Jacob deGrom	TEX	There was a bit of worry that a knee injury would keep him from starting yesterday at Dodger Stadium. 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 9 Ks. Uh…I think he’s more than OK.
10	Logan Gilbert	SEA	It was a 6-inning manhandling of the Astros yesterday and Gilbert’s first win of the year. What a welcome sight for us fantasy managers who hitched their SP1-hopes to this dude.
11	Shohei Ohtani	LAD	6 IP, 0 ER, 5 baserunners, 2 Ks, ERA at 0.00. I started him last week as an SP in TGFBI, but mostly just because my other arms were hurt, aka the only time I could see justifying playing him as an SP over a DH.
12	Cole Ragans	KC	0.2 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 5.91. Note to self: don’t try to high-five a comebacker that’s travelling north of 100 MPH. EDIT: It was “only” 92.8 MPH. And he’s supposed to start tomorrow at DET.
13	Kevin Gausman	TOR	5 1/3 IP, 3 ER, 7 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 2.08. There was a time when a much (much) younger MarmosDad was just a MarmosBachelor and Kevin Gausman was a Baltimore Orioles prospect. MarmosBachelor was a big Gausman backer. Even through those annoying years of ups and downs with the ratios. I was a believer. Now it feels like it was all worth it. There’s a lesson in there somewhere, and I’m sure it isn’t “Don’t get married”. Am I biased here? Yes. Does he deserve to be in the Top 20? Also yes.
14	Joe Ryan	MIN	7 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, BB, 5 Ks. ERA at 3.80, WHIP at 0.98. I moved him down a few pegs last week. He’s back up where he should be now.
15	Logan Webb	SF	6 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 6 Ks, and his 2nd loss. ERA at 5.25. WHIP at 1.38. The strikeout total is nice, but this isn’t the ace ratio help we were looking for when we drafted him as our SP1.
16	George Kirby	SEA	8 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 4 Ks, ERA at 3.60. Last weekend, someone said they couldn’t understand why people treated Kirby like an ace. Sure, he’s not recording double-digit strikeouts every start, but betting that the walk total will be among the Top 5 (lowest) at the end of the year is the easiest money you could make.
17	Dylan Cease	TOR	5 IP, 1 ER, 8 baserunners (4 BBs), 8 Ks, ERA at 2.45. The strikeouts are there. The walks are, too, although they’re not as bad as they could be. The wins? Ya, he doesn’t have any of those yet. Please start going 6+ innings.
18	Freddy Peralta	NYM	“4 2/3 IP, 3 ER, 6 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 4.80, and lifted with a shutout at 101 pitches, but the bases were loaded, and all runs came in.” That’s me quoting Grey, but I’m in the same boat when it comes to being frustrated by managers doing dumb things (like lifting a starter who was throwing well just because he had reached 100 pitches).
19	Framber Valdez	DET	5 IP, 8 ER, ERA at 4.76. See? Justified the move up last week, just like I knew he would! (Dodges flying case of tomatoes).
20	Kyle Bradish	BAL	5 IP, 2 ER, 9 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 5.27. There we go. Remember what we said last week about early-season overreactions? And the week before that? And next week? (Also see: Suarez, Ranger below).
21	Sandy Alcantara	MIA	8 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 5 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 0.74. Not to make this all about me, but (here it comes), I’m glad he had this kind of outing right after boosting him way up the list last week. Usually, that kind of move in the Top 100 goes south really fast.
22	Sonny Gray	BOS	6.1 IP, 0 ER, 5 baserunners, 2 Ks, ERA at 2.76. Mr Underrated is 2-0 with solid ratios. In a “Hitters Park”. Just in case anyone was wondering.
23	Nolan McLean	NYM	Jumper. Again. More below.
24	Tyler Glasnow	LAD	You know what? I didn’t want to move Glasnow below Sonny Gray and Nolan McLean. It felt wrong. Glasnow is a beast. But the 4.00 ERA after 3 GS was enough of a boot to the gut to help me push aside the 11 K/9 and boost the other two above him. Challenge issued!
25	Trevor Rogers	BAL	6 IP, 2 ER, 6 hits, zero walks, 6 Ks, ERA at 1.89. Last week, Grey said he was upset with himself for not rostering Rogers anywhere this year. That makes me feel better about having Rogers and missing out on some others in that draft range.
26	Cam Schlittler	NYY	Game 1: 5 IP, 3 ER, 5 hits, zero walks, 7 Ks, ERA at 1.62. Game 2 was almost identical (yesterday). 15 Ks in 10 IP with just one walk? Ya, sign me up for that, even if he didn’t get a win in either start. Yankee fans can pick the nits that he should be above Rogers in the Top 25, but either way, this kid is a stud.
27	Eury Perez	MIA	5 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 5.06. Much better than last week’s hiccup.
28	Jacob Misiorowski	MLW	5.1 IP, 3 ER, 2 H, 4 BB, 10 Ks, ERA at 3.31. It’s very considerate of The Miz to walk four guys just to make Bubba Chandler feel less self-conscious about his control problems.
29	Brandon Woodruff	MLW	6 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks, and the no-decision is a welcome bounce-back from the ER leak at Fenway last week. He’s at MIA this weekend.
30	Robbie Ray	SF	6.2 IP, 0 ER, 6 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 2.08. WHIP at 0.981. Guy is throwing great. And those ratios are almost tighter than his pants.
31	Edward Cabrera	CHC	5 IP, 3 ER, 8 H, 3 BB, 4 Ks, and the no-decision. ERA at 1.62, WHIP at 1.14. I watched this start against Braxton Ashcraft, and I really do like both of these guys this year. That said, I also expect some underwhelming outings from EdCub, too.
32	Nathan Eovaldi	TEX	6 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 7.98. Hurry up and make a trade offer for this guy by starting with, “Hey, that SP with the 7.98 ERA, are you interested in upgrading him?”
33	Michael King	SD	6 IP, 2 ER, 7 baserunners, 4 Ks, ERA at 3.24.
34	Shota Imanaga	CHC	6.0 IP, 0 hits, 0 ER, BB, 9 Ks. That’s 1 ER in his last 11 IP with 13 Ks in those two starts. And he still has zero wins. Ugh.
35	Mackenzie Gore	TEX	5 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 9 Ks, ERA at 2.76. Why does it annoy me when I see a stellar outing like this, but only a “5” by the IP and not “6”? Either way, he’s 2-0, and the ratios are good.
36	Emmet Sheehan	LAD	6 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks, and his 2nd win. The 6.60 ERA is ugly, and the 1.47 WHIP isn’t much better, but that Dodgers offense is going to bail him out a lot more often than it won’t. Down a bit today.
37	Jesus Luzardo	PHI	4.2 IP, 5 hits, 5 ER, 3 BB, 8 Ks. Aw, C’mon! This guy is gonna ‘banana tailpipe’ us all year again, isn’t he? The 13.5 K/9 is filthy. Unfortunately, the rest is just gross.
38	Kris Bubic	KC	Jumper (big boost today). More below.
39	Drew Rasmussen	TB	Scratched last week because his baby was being born. No word on if the baby was 55% out, and they made the kid turn around and head back in so it wouldn’t qualify for a QS or a win.
40	Chase Burns	CIN	5.1 IP, 7 hits, 5 ER, 4 BB, 2 Ks. 5 ER and 4 BB? I guess that’s better than six-seven. High five from the 2025 meme/GIF store?
41	Jose Soriano	LAA	Huge boost for Soriano today. And if it were based on just this year’s numbers, he’d be in the Top 5. More below.
42	Ranger Suarez	BOS	6 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks, and his first win. The ratios need a shave, but this guy was in the same boat as Kyle Bradish as far as managers wanting to cut him loose were concerned, and wouldja look at that! He wasn’t doomed to get crushed in every start, either! Up today (a bit).
43	Gavin Williams	CLE	5.2 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 5 BB, 8 Ks, ERA at 2.04. The strikeouts are pretty sick (25 Ks in 17.2 IP), but the walks are still out of… uh… control (14 BBs). Are we Gavin a party yet, Mr. Williams? ARE WE?
44	Zac Gallen	ARI	Game 1: 5 IP, 1 ER, 9 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 3.00. Game 2 (yesterday) had more hits and earned runs but fewer strikeouts and walks.
45	Bubba Chandler	PIT	5.1 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 2 HR allowed, 4 Ks. Full disclosure, I had him up at SP41, then realized that not only did I not have a blurb written up, but that Jose Soriano needed to be even higher than the SP51 that I had boosted him up to. Chandler slides back to the SP45 spot, and Imai slides down even more (he was here).
46	Shane McClanahan	TB	Two decent starts, but he hasn’t finished 5 innings yet, and he hasn’t thrown more than 80 pitches in a start. The Tampa baby gloves are doubled up on this guy. If anything, at least they’re being (overly) careful.
47	Trey Yesavage	TOR	More below. (Spoiler: The minor league pitch news has been encouraging)
48	Shane Baz	BAL	5.0 IP, 9 hits, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 Ks. I cut bait on Baz after last season, so I say this with complete confidence: “I don’t care if he breaks out”. What a weird way to say I hope he does ok this year.
49	Parker Messick	CLE	6.2 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 5 Ks, and his 2nd win. ERA at 0.51. WHIP at 0.91. I had him set for the lede today, then almost went with Jose Soriano. Then, after watching Ashcraft on Saturday, it ended up being him. Three cheers for indecisiveness. If he keeps throwing like this, Messick will get his spotlight soon enough. Up today. Is the Top 50 too high? Probably. But he’s making me believe.
50	Ryan Pepiot	TB	He’s on Team Yesavage, aka “Staying here until he’s off the IL…if he ever comes off the IL”.
51	Nick Pivetta	SD	Game 1: 5 IP, 2 ER, 5 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA at 5.54. Ok. But can we just get 6 innings in one of these starts? Game 2 was yesterday and let’s just say that we most certainly CANNOT get 6 innings in one fo these starts. The good news is Pivetta threw 3-inning of no-hit ball with 4 Ks. The bad news is he was then lifted with right elbow soreness. Uh oh. Down today.
52	Luis Castillo	SEA	Dumper. More below.
53	Tanner Bibee	CLE	Solid stats in his first three games with minimal ER/BB and a respectable 9.22 K/9. He threw last night in the “late” game.
54	Seth Lugo	KC	6 1/3 IP, 1 ER, 8 baserunners (4 BBs), 4 Ks, ERA at 1.53. You got this guy in WHAT round of your draft? Insert Seth Rogen guffaw here. You can also copy and paste all of this for Michael Wacha, too.
55	Noah Cameron	KC	5 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 7 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 1.69. I need either this guy or Nolan McLean to change their name because I cannot stop mixing them up. Not the talent. Just the names. Let’s go, Greg Cameron. Ah, much better.
56	Braxton Ashcraft	PIT	Way up today, and I’m a believer. More above?!
57	Mitch Keller	PIT	6 IP, 0 ER, 4 baserunners, 4 Ks, ERA at 1.00. Oh wow. Would Ja look at that? Mister Quality Start with another beauty. Up today. We’re getting a bit silly with some boosts in this section, but some names deserve to be ahead of some others.
58	Ryan Weathers	NYY	8 IP, 1 ER, 7 hits, zero walks, 7 Ks, ERA at 2.81. It’s Cool Whip and me versus the world when this guy is off. But when he’s on? Yeehaw!
59	Tatsuya Imai	HOU	0.1 IP, 1 hit, 3 ER, 4 BB. Unless you’re Shohei’s dog, four walks in the first inning is mostly unacceptable.” And that’s me quoting Dan Pants! (Welcome back, Dan!)
60	Matthew Boyd	CHC	It’s a 15 Day IL assignment with a left bicep strain. I was going to pull him off the list completely, but the news is that he’s scheduled to throw a rehab game this week, so he stays here until that gives us more information to work with. That said, he slides down today.
61	Jack Leiter	TEX	3.2 IP, 5 ER, and two homers allowed in the first inning. Jack got “Leit up” by Shohei and Teoscar and was gone after needing 93 pitches to get 11 outs. Oof. Down a bit today.
62	Joey Cantillo	CLE	5 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 9 Ks, ERA at 2.45. Someone said last week that I was too high on him, and I get it. I drafted both Cantillo and Messick in one of my leagues, so this may be more hope than actual output, but I’m fully in on both.
63	Casey Mize	DET	I pushed him up too high last week, but at least he performed as if he belonged there at MIA. 5.2 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 5 Ks.
64	Taj Bradley	MIN	Jumper. A bit. More below.
65	Emerson Hancock	SEA	Jumper. More below.
66	Zack Wheeler	PHI	He had an encouraging rehab start last week (4.1 IP, 6 Ks, 3 H, 1 BB) and has at least one more this week before Philly decides on if/when they’ll activate him.
67	Connelly Early	BOS	4.1 IP, 5 hits, ER, 2 BB, 5 Ks. It’s fine. Not great. Just fine. He’s finished 5 innings just once in 3 GS. Finishing 6 innings would be much finer. Just saying.
68	Andrew Abbott	CIN	More below.
69	Clay Holmes	NYM	5.1 IP, 5 hits, ER, 3 BB, 3 Ks. Left with an ouchy leg (hamstring). He’s scheduled to start on Wednesday, and the testing came back with no issues.
70	Jack Flaherty	DET	5 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 8 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 5.14. And why let him get the last out for the quality start, hey? He ended up with a no-decision in a tough 3-1 loss at MIN.
71	Grant Holmes	ATL	6.2 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 2.55. Eastbound and (don’t move him) Down!
72	Will Warren	NYY	4 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 3.07. He feels too high here, but the results have been good so far, so it’s tough to argue. He’s another one that needs to start getting through 6 innings before we can take him too seriously, though.
73	Aaron Nola	PHI	6 IP, 3 ER, 6 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 3.63. Two QS in three starts? Yep. That’s all good for what it cost you to add him on draft day.
74	Michael Soroka	ARI	5.2 IP, 5 hits, 4 ER, 2 BB, 10 Ks. The strikeout train is rolling through SorokaTown, and it’s not even affected by the $0.72 Canadian exchange rate.
75	Ryne Nelson	ARI	5.2 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 5 Ks, ERA at 4.20. 420? And a week early to boot!
76	Andrew Painter	PHI	So I read that he was scratched from yesterday’s start with a migraine. Then I made a note that that’s what happens to a Painter when he tries to work without a ventilator mask. And I checked the Phillies game and saw that he threw 5 innings of 3-hit ball with 7 Ks and just one earned run. So, I guess the lobotomy worked? Shrug emoji.
77	Michael Wacha	KC	Jumper. And still not nearly as high as he should be (even after boosting him twice in edits). More below.
78	Randy Vasquez	SD	Jumper. More below.
79	Mike Burrows	HOU	5.1 IP, 3 ER, 8 H, 1 BB, 3 Ks. There really needs to be a Razzball Glossary term for a guy who never goes a full 6 innings. I know it’s still early, but there are so many of them. The good news is Burrows is up around 85+ pitches in each start. He’s almost there.
80	Reid Detmers	ANA	4.1 IP, 5 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 4 K. And one “A-WOO-GA” horn honk. So much for that guy who went pitch-for-pitch with Bryan Woo in his April 3rd start. Down a bit today.
81	Nick Lodolo	CIN	“Threw a 10-pitch bullpen session last week at less than full intensity”. WHAT? FOR A FN BLISTER? COME ON! (Sorry, there’s that Caps Lock again). Down today.
82	Merrill Kelly	ARI	5 scoreless innings in his rehab start last week. He’s back tomorrow at BAL and should move up quickly if he shows he’s healthy and ready to go.
83	Kodai Senga	NYM	Dumper. More below.
84	Max Scherzer	TOR	I watched this one yesterday. Max wasn’t dominant, and the two homers he gave up early weren’t exactly moonshots, but the last thing the Jays needed was back-to-back stinkers from Lauer and Scherzer. Down today.
85	Kyle Harrison	MLW	It feels like he should be higher, and the potential alone should boost him 25-30 spots. He stays here today just because he had to be removed from his start after 4.1 IP with knee soreness after covering first base when Gary Sanchez fielded a ground ball, then closed his eyes and fired the throw into the ground. The good news is the MRI was clean, and he should be good for his start this week at MIA.
86	Chad Patrick	MLW	3 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 0 Ks. Um…so he was hurt then? Or he had gastrointestinal issues? Or…oh, they used an opener in front of him? And they’re doing that again this week? Great. Hashtag sarcasm.
87	Jeffrey Springs	ATH	7 IP, 0 ER, 3 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 1.47. I feel like a kid who’s being force-fed steamed broccoli at the dinner table. “Awwww, do I have toooooo?” Even funnier, my brain wants to avoid writing this guy up so much that I originally wrote “Jacob Lopez” instead of Jeffrey Springs. He’s 2-0 and could have 3 wins if it wasn’t for a bullpen flub in TOR in his first game of the year.
88	Eric Lauer	TOR	Dumper. More below.
89	Landen Roupp	SF	I wrote this up before a final edit: “6.0 IP, 5 hits, ER, 2 BB, 4 Ks. The Roupp Dogg is up to two wins. His ratios are decent (ERA at 3.24, WHIP at 1.14), and he was thisclose to taking one of the open spots this week.” Well, guess what?!
90	David Peterson	NYM	Dumper. More below.
91	Roki Sasaki	LAD	He’s 0-2, and it took him 94 pitches to get through 4 innings yesterday at home against TEX. Oh, and his ERA is 6.23. And the WHIP is 1.846. And the answer to “Why is he still on the list?” is also unknown to me. He’s gonezo sooner than later if he can’t figure it out.
92	Brandon Sproat	MLW	Dumper. More below.
93	Luis Severino	ATL	“5 IP, 2 ER, 9 baserunners (5 BBs), 7 Ks, ERA at 5.40. He was in Yankee Stadium for the first time since Yankees fans were like, “We should trade Severino for Mike Trout and Ohtani.” And that’s me quoting Grey! (I can never pass up a good Yankee fan trade rumor dig).
94	Max Meyer	MIA	5 IP, 1 ER, 7 baserunners (3 BBs), 4 Ks, ERA at 3.68. The walks are ugly, but there’s growth here. This was his first win of the year.
95	Rhett Lowder	CIN	5 1/3 IP, 4 ER, 10 baserunners, 2 Ks, ERA at 3.31. The haters are probably crowing about that 6.1 K/9, but I can’t hear them. They’re going to have to complain a little bit Lowder.
96	Mick Abel	MIN	6 IP, 0 ER, 7 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 6.08. Well, at least he’s Abel to keep himself on the list this week after two brutal starts!
97	Bailey Ober	MIN	5 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 6 baserunners, 2 Ks, ERA at 5.27. Cool of the Twins and Tigers to let Framber and Ober swap jerseys last week. He’s up a bit this week, but not much.
98	Yusei Kikuchi	LAA	The strikeouts are still there. But so are the earned runs. And the hits. And the losses.
99	Brayan Bello	BOS	Yesterday’s start at STL should have bought him a bit of a boost today (6.2 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 2 Ks), but I don’t think many folks will mind that he’s still down here.
100	Matthew Liberatore	STL	I had him in my notes as a Dumper before I remembered he wasn’t even on the list. I guess that’s some form of confirmation bias: 5 IP, 4 ER, 11 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 3.38. Each week that goes by means we get closer to that time when it’s easier to cut bait on starters we don’t believe in. He gets the SP100 spot today just because he fooled me into thinking he was already here.

JUMPERS (Players who jumped up the list this week).

Nolan McLean – I can’t get away from the Rob Friedman clips on socials. And if you’re anything like me, they’re just as mesmerizing for you.  6 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 5 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA at 2.70. And there’s another Pitching Ninja clip that made me shake my head just as much as last week’s one did. 

I mean, come on now. This is just straight inhuman. Is this guy for real? We could probably post a “WTF” pitch video from Nolan McLean every week.

Kris Bubic – 7.0 IP, 2 hits, 0 ER, BB, 11 Ks. Well, this is one of those stellar starts that the Bub-heads were crowing about a few weeks ago. What? Don’t you know what the Bub-heads are? Let’s just say the BUB isn’t pronounced like it is in BUBble.

Yes, this start was against the White Sox. But let’s not forget that the White Sox also swept the AL Champions two weeks ago, too. Sad emoji.

Here’s hoping Bubic can put together more of these almost-dozen strikeout games. He’s at DET this week, then gets BAL at home next week.

Michael Wacha – 8 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, BB, 7 Ks, and his 2nd win. ERA at 0.43. WHIP at 0.71. Take the name away, insert Tarik Skubal’s, and tell me that’s surprising. Boring and effective might not generate many TikTok views, but it wins fantasy championships. Sure, the Skubal comparison is hyperbolic, but I got this guy in the 7th round of a reserve draft in my AL-Only league. It’s crazy.

Taj Bradley – After his first start last week, I wrote this up in my notes: “6.1 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 10 Ks. Ok. It’s not funny anymore. Who taught Johan Santana to throw with his right arm and gave him a Taj Bradley Twins jersey?” I watched his start yesterday, and Taj looked fine. Not “lights out, I finally perfected my control,” fine, but fine nonetheless. In his defense, I only watched until my feed locked up in the bottom of the 4th and the Jays were down 8-1. That was enough torture for me to flip over to see Nick Kurtz’s awakening at NYM. As far as the Twins’ pitcher is concerned, we may finally be witnessing “The Rise Of Taj”. 

Jose Soriano – His second week in the Jumpers section, and he’s starting to make me a believer again. “He’s trying to become the first Angel since Jered Weaver to start 4-0 in his first four starts”. Uh…guess what, Angels play-by-play guy. He’s 4-0. That’s not all, though. The telecast posted a graphic showing his pitch selection compared to last year, which made me wonder, “Why wasn’t he throwing that 99 MPH fastball more often to set up the other pitches?” I guess control was the main issue back then, but it’s looking like he’s got something working for him, that’s for sure.

Randy Vasquez – 5 IP, 1 ER, 7 hits, zero walks, 8 Ks, ERA at 1.02. Grey quote alert! “This start was vs. the 1927 Rockies, so you know Vasquez is for real. Velo is up; Ks are up; walks are down; 96.8 LOB% is silly, and 0.51 HR/9 isn’t sustainable.” It’s a cheat to quote the boss on every arm, but I couldn’t say it any better myself, and I believe in all of this. I said last week that my hesitation to add Vasquez was likely a mistake, but he’s here now, so don’t hold my patience against me. He’s in there now, and he’s too low if we’re only looking at his three starts this year. Here’s hoping we don’t get the floor yanked out from underneath us.

Trey Yesavage – Yes, I know I have a problem. And I know that it’s not fair to keep this guy on the list while I remove Hunter Brown, Hunter Greene, Hunter Purple, and Hunter Mauve. But this is the only way I can keep giving you these clips that give me (and any other Jays fans) a glimmer of hope.

He’s due to throw one more rehab start of about 70 pitches mid-week, and should be back early next week if that goes well. Cross all of your fingers, make an AI picture of yourself with 10000 additional fingers, then cross all of those, too.

Emerson Hancock – 5.0 IP, 4 hits, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 Ks. Hey, cut the dude some slack. He’s not going to throw 8 innings with a dozen strikeouts every week. I probably shouldn’t tell you that I mistyped his name in my CTL-F find search and hit the “N” button instead of the “H” button when I punched up his name. Sorry, Grandma. He needs to go up today and escape this group of bottom 10 misfits.

DUMPERS (Players who dropped down the list this week).

Andrew Abbott – This is pretty funny. He threw two games last week, and I wrote this up after his first. “Game 1: 5 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 2 Ks, ERA at 3.18. This is the kind of guy I often look at and think he should be ranked lower, then he goes out and produces a decent enough game to make me feel guilty that he’s not high enough. Rinse and repeat.” Game 2 was yesterday against LAA, and the first inning was a hitfest for the Angels. Maybe it’s because he was facing a very sharp Soriano, but I wasn’t too impressed. Then again, the 7 ER in 3.1 IP might have something to do with it, too. He slides today.

Luis Castillo – 3.1 IP, 7 ER, 10 H, BB, 3 Ks. ERA at 6.92. WHIP at 1.77. Someone let this guy drink from the same chalice as Bryan Woo already. Ugly. 

Shane Smith – He was a Dumper last week. Now he’s a minor leaguer. Bye-bye.

David Peterson – 5 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 6.14. All of us have pitchers we like more than some others like them. This year, a lot of the Blue Jays’ arms were on that list for me. So were Peterson, Logan Henderson, and Emmet Sheehan. Last year, Jose Soriano, Bryan Woo, and Jared Jones were on that page. Well, I said it last week, and this one pretty much seals the deal here. I was willing to give Peterson the benefit of the doubt, but he’s a bottom-feeder now, and one more mud-drag is going to slide him off the list next week.

Brandon Sproat – Grey was in on him this year, and I was sipping the Kool-Aid too. But the Brewers just have too many good arms and not enough time/space to give them all room to breathe. I have a bad feeling that I’ll regret dropping him in the 4 leagues where I rostered him, but he’s in the “ain’t nobody got time for that” zone for me now. He came in to relieve Kyle Harrison on Saturday and gave up just one earned run in 3.2 IP, but still. This feels like a guy who’s destined for a demotion sooner than later.

Kodai Senga – I had him in the Jumpers last week and said, “He feels like an Amazon box that’s ticking on your front porch. You know you didn’t order an alarm clock, but you know you want to open it. So just do it already…but be careful!” Well, let’s hope you listened and sat him. “2.1 IP, 7 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 3 Ks, 2 HR allowed. ERA at 7.07. WHIP at 1.71. Ok, so maybe that boost was a bit premature.”

Eric Lauer – His velocity was down on Saturday, and he paid the price. 2 HR allowed, 5 BB, 5 H, and 7 ER in 5.1 IP. Barf emoji. So much for the other arms picking up the slack for the injured guys. He moves back down today and into the pool of tears that is the ineffective and/or injured list of Blue Jays players.

Max Scherzer – Max looked angry again. But in true 41-year-old fashion, it was more about his inability to do what he used to do 20 years ago that caused most of the grumpiness yesterday. I’m still glad the Jays have him, but it was a tough outing yet again for our heterochromatic hero.

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

Jameson Taillon

Reynaldo Lopez – 4 2/3 IP, 0 ER, 5 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 1.15. And one 5- game suspension for using the baseball as a weight when he slapped a charging Jorge Soler in the face. True story alert: when your guy MarmosDad was a bartender/manager of a local restaurant, there was a similar altercation involving some regulars, some out-of-towners, and the 6-ball from one of our pool tables. There was a “step outside” moment that the Soler/Lopez dance reminded me of, but I’ll spare you the details. Let’s just say that things didn’t go very well for those out-of-towners. 

Tyler Mahle – 5.2 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 4 BB, 6 Ks, ERA at 4.30. He’s a deep league guy at best for me right now. That said, I did have him queued up for a TGFBI add last night to fill in for my Yesavage and Gray-Rod IL banishments.

Anthony Kay – 5 2/3 IP, 0 ER, 5 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 2.45. That’s good enough to add to a Stumper list. And, yes, he was queued up for a TGFBI add last night too. Pray for me.

Zach Eflin

Slade Cecconi

Jacob Lopez

Cade Cavalli

Lance McCullers Jr. 

Brandon Pfaadt –  6 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 6 Ks. I mean…it’s technically a quality start.

Brady Singer 

Chris Bassitt

Bryce Elder

Michael McGreevy – 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 hits, zero walks, 1 K, ERA at 2.16. I have him in RazzSlam (Best Ball), but I wouldn’t want to make the decision each week in a Roto league.

Eduardo Rodriguez – 6 IP, 1 ER, 7 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 0.50. Insert Admiral Akbar clip here.

Chris Paddack – 6.0 IP, 7 hits, 2 ER, BB, 4 Ks. Stumper add this week.

Luis Gil – 4.0 IP, 3 hits, 3 ER, 3 BB, 2 Ks. He’s nothing more than a Stumper for me until he figures out the walk issues. I know some of you like him, but I can’t do it. Give me 4 Taj Bradleys before you make me roster one Luis Gil.

Steven Matz – 5.0 IP, 2 hits, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 Ks and THREE WINS?! Come on. Are you really going to make me go there? Why don’t they just sign Lance Lynn and have him win 18 games, too?

Dustin May – 6.0 IP, 4 hits, ER, 4 Ks. This guy is like Paddack. I’ll add him as a Stumper, but I want no part of him anywhere near my fantasy squads.

Janson Junk – I had him queued up for a TGFBI add. Then I saw the 5 IP, 4 ER from Saturday and quickly shook the cobwebs loose.

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 Bieber

Bryce Miller

Joe Musgrove

Justin Steele

Cristian Javier – out with shoulder soreness.

Joe Boyle – 4 1/3 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 5.17. This one is going to be my kryptonite this year. Again. He landed on the IL this week, which means I’ll chalk this poor start up to the injury and fall for it again after he comes back.

Hunter Brown

Hunter Greene

Blake Snell

Cody Ponce

Cade Horton

Shane Smith

Robert Gasser

River Ryan

Kade Anderson

Robby Snelling (leading MiLB in strikeouts with 22 Ks in 13 IP)

Justin Verlander

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

Randy Vasquez 

Landen Roupp

Matthew Liberatore

Jeffrey Springs

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

Hunter Brown – If it’s IL for Brown, you must move him down. He’s out for 3 weeks (at least).

Cade Horton – Last week in the Dumpers, I said he’d stay on the list until we heard news about the MRI results. Well, the official words were ‘season-ending UCL surgery’. Woof times a million.

Shane Smith – Optioned to the minors.

Logan Henderson – Samesies.

 

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!

 

Follow me @marmosdad on Twitter/X and Bluesky @marmosdad.bsky.social