Top 20 Starters for 2025 Fantasy Baseball

The royal we already went over all the hitters for 2025 fantasy baseball rankings. That’s not the “royal we” as that term usually implies. It was me writing it alone while wearing a Burger King crown. I refuse to draft a top starter where they are usually drafted. Unlike hitters, you need six starters, depending on your league depth. In most leagues, there’s a ton of pitchers on waivers that can help you — all year. Not just in April. With the help of the Stream-o-Nator, you can get by with, say, three starters while streaming the rest. (By the by, Razzball Subscriptions are now open. Early subscribers get Rudy’s War Room, which I haven’t drafted without in about six years, and it’s worth the price of a subscription alone.) There’s also the fact that three stats by starters are difficult to predict due to luck. Wins, ERA and WHIP are prone to change, depending on which way the ball bounces and whether or not the guys behind the pitchers can score runs. Finally, the best starters only give you four categories. The best hitters can give you five categories. Here’s Steamer’s 2025 Fantasy Baseball Projections for Hitters and 2025 Fantasy Baseball Projections for Pitchers. Anyway, here’s the top 20 starters for 2025 fantasy baseball:

NOTE I: All my rankings are currently available on Patreon for the price of a Starbucks coffee, if you get one of those extra grande frappuccino jobbers. Don’t wait for the rankings to come out over the next month, and get them all now.

NOTE II: Free agents are listed as just that and not yet projected. Once a guy signs, I will write out their blurb and add in projections, or remove them, if they sign in an unfavorable place. They are ranked currently where I think they might be if they sign on for a full-time job.

NOTE III: Watch us discuss starters one thru 40.

1. Paul Skenes – Went over him in the top 20 for 2025 fantasy baseball.

2. Tarik Skubal – This is a new tier. This tier goes from here until Wheeler. I call this tier, “Hanging out with Neil, Patrick, Harris.” I do the rankings and write-ups in the order you see them: top 10, top 20, then catchers and around the horn. I tell you this to try to properly express how excited I am to finally get to talk about pitchers. Imagine you’re 75 words into a blurb about Chas McCormick and you’re like, “Can I please just write about velocity for, like, ten minutes?” I know I have the best pitcher rankings — ACKSUALLY Fantasy Pros said I had the best Fantasy Baseball rankings, which I tell ya because my arms are too short to reach my back — and I wonder if it’s not slightly because I’m so eager to dig into pitching after a month of my time writing about hitting. Yes, what you read over the course of two weeks takes me twice as long. Any hoo! Pitching! *breathes in* Smell it up, baby! Smell it up! It smells great, right? It sure does! Okay, now don’t draft any of the guys in this tier. Allow me to explain.

Your buddy tells you to meet him at this place, because Neil Patrick Harris is gonna be there, and you’re like, “Holy crap, Doogie Howser, that’s amazing!” You rush over there with some memorabilia for him to sign that you plan on keeping and not immediately putting on eBay because you are a stan, as the kids say, then you get there, and it’s three guys named Neil, Patrick and Harris. That disappointment is what you will have when you draft one of the guys in this tier.

Now for a diatribe I give every year, “If these starters were to fall in drafts to where I’m willing to draft a starter, I will draft any and/or all of them. It’s not about them as much as it’s about their draft slot. Sure, I have actual problems with some starters, which I’ll get to, but if Skenes or Skubal or any of these guys fell to around 50th overall in a draft? Sure, at that point, you have to draft one, because I would be drafting a starter by then. (Thank you for not laughing too loud when I said Skenes or Skubal (or Wheeler) would fall to pick 50.) For unstints, I always draft a starter around 50th overall (give or take ten picks, depending on size of league and rules), so if I’m in a draft with eleven other Greys and we’re sitting there discussing boba and how we’re totally Swifties and just general BS’ing, and all of us forget to draft a starter, I’d draft Skenes at 50th overall, then Skubal, etc. So, this is a ranking of my starters, it’s just unrealistic for me to say I’m actually drafting these guys. They’ll be gone before I’m willing to draft a starter. Yes, I love the pitchers in this tier. They are great. There, I said it. But I will never roster them. You’ve read some form of this before from me. The names change, but it’s same general gist. By the way, my high school band, General Gist, was so rocking in the general vicinity of a crowd!

Last year, this tier I told you to avoid was: Gerrit Cole, Strider, Burnes, and Wheeler. Wheeler was great, Strider and Cole were travesties and Burnes was okay, ended up 9th for starters, which was around 50th overall value.

Last year if you rostered Skenes, Michael King, Shota, Logan Gilbert and Seth Lugo, you would’ve walked away with your league’s pitching categories and not drafted any top starters. Am I cherrypicking? Yes, just like you could’ve cherrypicked last year’s pitchers based on my suggestions!

You could’ve had Paul Skenes, Michael King, Shota Imanaga, Logan Gilbert and Seth Lugo and not drafted one starter before 50th overall.

Yes, I brought out the repeat in bold to emphasize.

In some leagues, you could do fine NOT drafting ANY starters. Yes, I brought out the caps.

I’m not only talking about H2H leagues where you can carry only relievers. I’m talking 10 or 12-team roto leagues, where you can stream starters. Maybe you roster one starter and stream five spots. Maybe you roster two guys and stream four spots. Maybe you drink seven cups of coffee and stream all day. Even if you want to draft an entire rotation and hold them (or try to), you don’t need a guy from this tier. There’s plenty of options later to fill out your rotation so you’re competitive in leagues where you can’t stream. I’m not suggesting you Reggie Roby starters. I’m telling you to Reggie Roby top starters. Concentrate on your hitting while these guys are being drafted.

It’s like this every year. Without fail. In the preseason, everyone will be telling you that you need a top starter, some people might even tell you that you need two top starters. What they never say, or purposely fail to mention is how every year there’s starters in the “top starters” who weren’t there a year ago, so you could’ve had a top starter without paying for one. I told you to draft Seth Lugo in every league last year; draft Sonny Gray, I said; Shota Imanaga, I drafted, and told you to; I loved Bailey Ober and Michael King, two guys who finished in the top 20 starters last year who you could’ve grabbed everywhere. You could’ve had Chris Sale in every single league, if you wanted him. Every year I tell you which starters to draft later, then the following year all of those starters are in the top 20. You think this is an accident? Just luck? Look at my rankings from previous years. You didn’t need Cole, Burnes, Strider or others last year, and you don’t need the guys I tell you to avoid this year.

There’s dozens of starters to roster, and you need at most six. For whatever reason, everyone forgets how many starters are available later. Seth Lugo wasn’t even drafted in most leagues and he was the 6th best starter last year! 6th best starter overall! (I included him in my starters sleepers last year to grab late, by the way, and natch.) People always tell you that you need a starter in the 1st couple of rounds. You do not.

I’m being 100% serious when I tell you that if someone tells you that you need a top starter, you should question everything they tell you. If they tell you to draft two aces, then you should make an anonymous call for help. They need it.

As for Skubal, mentioned this in the Skenes blurb in the top 20, but they really are 1A/1B rather than 1 and 2, but the rankings format doesn’t allow it. Stupid format. Spotify Wrapped, please let me do two top starters. No? Okay, you’re a jerk anyway, that’s why I use Apple, and not because they suckered me in 15 years ago and now I can never change. Also mentioned in the Skenes blurb, and why they ended up ranked like this, Skubal had too many innings last year, a huge jump from 2023, and age, with me favoring the slightly younger arm with less mileage. Like I said there, it’s splitting hairs. I clearly don’t hate Skubal to say he’s 1B vs. 1A. It’s hard to even quibble with his stats, they’re gorge, as in I’m becoming engorged looking at them. 10.7 K/9, 1.6 BB/9, great home park, solid ground balls, and the best fastball-slider combo that is only challenged by you know who, 1A. 2025 Projections: 17-5/2.51/0.94/237 in 202 IP

3. Zack Wheeler – So, brief word about starters, in general. This is the smallest group of top starters, who I am avoiding, that I can recall. I contemplated putting guys like Sale, Burnes and deGrom in the top tier and telling you to avoid them, but I couldn’t get past certain things in their stats, that I will cover when we get there, because the entire raison d’être for the top tier is them being great but overpriced. I didn’t feel those other guys were great but overpriced. I felt they were just overpriced. Also, I get the sense that people are starting to catch on to my way of thinking and are more readily ignoring top starters. So, there’s these top top starters to avoid, due to price, and that’s it. That’s okay, that doesn’t mean there won’t be a ton of starters later to draft. A lack of top top starters doesn’t mean there won’t be some randos like Matthew Boyd at pick 275 who turn into a top 10 starter. As for Wheeler, that he’s the third starter and not 1C to Skenes and Skubal’s 1A and 1B is more of celebration of how good Skubal and Skenes look and nothing Wheeler did wrong. He’s basically perfect, and if he fell in drafts, I’d be fine drafting him, but alas. 2025 Projections: 16-7/2.59/0.98/221 in 198 IP

4. Logan Gilbert – This is a new tier. This tier goes from here until here (with the loss of Kirby, we have ourselves a one-man tier). I call this tier, “Fill my holes with dry rice to reduce moistness.” I imagine by now you are moist for starters. Well, before you fill your holes with dry rice to reduce moistness, I have a special treat for you:  You can begin to draft starters. See, that wasn’t too long, was it? Great, I didn’t think so either, and I could tell you were overflowing with moistness, so I’m happy to tell you starters are now available. But you might want to chew on a sanitary napkin or rub deodorant on your forehead, because it might actually be longer before you can draft a starter. Here’s the thing, and, yes, there’s always a thing. I will absolutely draft someone in this tier, but I won’t reach for them. If they make it to around 50 overall, or under $30 in auctions, then I’d happily draft one to reduce my moistness, and remove the dry rice from my holes. See, I don’t punt all starters, just the very top ones. Just don’t reach for one of these guys. Also, I’m using the same tier names as previous years so I can transfer over my Pitching Draft Tool with relative ease. You’ll get over your outrage.

As for Gilbert, have to be honest with you (unfortunately), but you might not be able to draft Gilbert. Seeing him being drafted in the top 30 in some leagues and peeking through to between 40-50 overall in other leagues. So, if he’s there, great, you have my permission to draft him. That still doesn’t mean you should reach to reduce your moistness. This is not a case of Gilbert could be in the running for 1D. If Wheeler wasn’t 1C, Gilbert is not 1D. Even if Wheeler was 2A, Gilbert is not 2B. Doesn’t mean Gilbert could not be great. He’s just a step down, hence the new tier. In my mind, there is a clear delineation between Wheeler and Gilbert. About as obvious of a step down from the 1st tier to the 2nd that I can remember. This sounds negative, but it’s–Well, it is. Gilbert is not a 1st tier starter, but he’s still damn good. In an age of no pitchers throwing innings, he led the league last year with 208 2/3 IP, and had a 9.5 K/9, 1.6 BB/9 and 45.1 GB%. As I’ll say a million times during the starter rankings, command is where it’s at now. The days of chasing strikeouts on guys who have terrible command are over. When you pair Ks and great command, you, well, you’re likely looking at a Mariners’ starter. The other thing that’s great about them, that park. Oh, and their division is weak on offense, even the Astros look depleted. Gilbert is wins luck and a “Bit better on homers allowed” away from being the Cy Young and best pitcher in baseball. Wins are whatevs, but “Bit better on homers” is well within in his ability. 2025 Projections: 13-12/2.89/0.96/217 in 204 IP

5. Dylan Cease – This is a new tier. This tier goes from here until Sasaki. I call this tier, “Eat your ideal lover’s weight in cookie dough.” The tier name is a self-help tip. Much like any pizza can be a personal pan pizza with some dedication. Or wait until midnight on Valentine’s Day, go to Wal-Mart and buy 50% off candy so you can gorge yourself. Another self-help tip for a person is drafting a starting pitcher. So, stop reading, Who Moved My String Cheese, get off your butt and draft a starter! Now!

Quick check-in on where we are with starters, there’s not a ton of starters to reduce moistness in the previous tier, but there are a lot of cookie doughs. I think that’s because pitchers are so damn fluky right now, that I just can’t get behind pushing them to reduce moistness, but I can see going with one in the cookies, because this tier is more, “Well, ya gotta draft one at some point, so why not now?” The tier of “Sure, what the heck” vs. the tier of “Sure as heck.” Expectations for starters happen when you have pinpoint control, like Kirby and Gilbert. “You have to grab one so may as well now” happens the rest of the time.

As for Cease, I was piqued like a mountain hearing about ways to turn avalanches into a no-skiing zone when I saw Cease’s command last year was the best of his career at 3.1, and he maintained his great Ks (10.7 K/9) and it’s backed by an elite O-Contact% and O-Swing% and MLB-best Contact%. Cease is the only one with under 70% contact. That was the best since 2018 (excluding 2020), and last starters to have 69% Contact were Jose Fernandez in 2016, and Scherzer and Carrasco in 2018. Dylan Cease-best, said like a stereotypical Italian. Cease’s Contact% last year was 29th since 2010, but Cease-29th-best doesn’t have same Italian ring. There were guys under 69%, by the by, like Blake Snell and Strider in 2023 and a whole bunch of Cy Young guys. Cease himself had two seasons of 68% Contact. You can’t fluke your way into a 69% or lower Contact% is my point and that is the way to nasty. His slider rated as top five since 2010, and he gained almost two miles on his fastball, while commanding it better. Cease could go sideways again like in 2023 (4 BB/9), but there’s no reason to think it will happen other than guessing, and guessing isn’t an ideal way to do this fantasy thing, even if we’re in a tier talking about ideal lovers. 2025 Projections: 15-7/3.39/1.09/233 in 193 IP

6. Cole Ragans – As mentioned during the year-end recaps, I wrote a post about Cole Ragans being overrated last year and, while he had a great season, I also didn’t think I took an L on that. His command was a little wonky and he never threw more than 100 IP before last year. Maybe I was a bit too conservative not buying in on Ragans, but you’ll never be too conservative on a guy with no command or one named Ragans. Why am I in now on Ragans? Because he just threw 186 1/3 IP and his 3.2 BB/9 says he can do what I was worried about him not being able to do. Are we comprende’ing now? 2025 Projections: 14-8/3.36/1.13/226 in 188 IP

7. Framber Valdez – Last year I told you to avoid Framber in the preseason, then I spent six months ruing. I rued so hard. I nearly choked on the rue that I was stewing over. Just awful ruing that I don’t want to relive. So, here we are possibly overcorrecting by an insane amount and too muchly. Too muchly is a real phrase by the way. The thing is, his career ground ball rate is 62.5% and ERA is 3.30 in 888 2/3 IP, so unless the Astros try to make up for their depleted offense by moving the fences into to around Altuve’s ankles, Framber’s been an ace for a long time and I was an idiot to avoid him last year. 2025 Projections: 14-9/3.39/1.12/191 in 194 IP

8. Blake Snell – Here’s what I said this offseason, “Blake Snell signed with the Dodgers. His deal is for one dollar this year, two dollars next year, three dollars the following year, $149,999,994 the day after he passes away. Everyone wins. Boras gets to say he made a great deal; Dodgers get a great starter, and Snell’s next of kin gets a chance to plot a murder, and become a star of a future true crime podcast voiced by Keith Morrison.  Chills. Blake Snell now has only the Rockies and DBags left for the NL West teams to play for. Honestly, with that hot tub, I would’ve went to Arizona first. Maybe he still can go there first if that hot tub is a time machine. Thoughts, I got ’em. So, Blake Snell is the most volatile starter from start to start, month to month, year to year. He has had more reliability the last three years with a Cy sandwiched in the middle. Last year he went 12.55 K/9, 3.8 BB/9, 3.12 ERA in 104 IP, and this is gonna sound odd maybe, because I’ve never liked him, but this is perfect for fantasy and real baseball. Dodgers will be in a six-man rotation (when they have six healthy arms) and no one gives 200 IP anymore. If you can get 120 IP of Cy stats, that’s basically Paul Skenes last year. Since he only had five wins, he only ranked 197th overall on the Player Rater and barely within the top 60 starters. If he only won 11 games, he would’ve zoomed up about 20 spots. Still, a top 40 starter plus what you’re filling in off waivers for his missing 80 IP. I can get behind Snell, more so than I have in past years. Will I be in on his ADP? Well, gonna have to Snell ya later on that.” And that’s me quoting me! 2025 Projections: 11-5/3.34/1.11/166 in 124 IP

9. Michael King – Ya know what’s a slight problem for baseball, the sport? That there’s, like, three teams represented in the top 20 starters. El oh el, said derisively, and not from actually laughing. Bit of an exaggeration, but it is mostly the Padres, Dodgers, Mariners, then some other guys. Well, two good stadiums and one team that spent forty-five billion of their 2076 money. Yankees giving away King was not the best move, but they got Juan Soto for a year. A more egregious move was Aaron Boone refusing to put King in the rotation for five years. That’s unforgivable. Any hoo! King had a 10.4 K/9, 3.3 BB/9 and 2.95 ERA in his first full season as a starter (at 29) and I don’t see anything to worry about as long as his dynamite change continues to be cuckoo-good. On a related note, I searched Twitter and Google for “Michael King change” and, boy, search functions have gone to crap. (I changed, uh, change to, uh, changeup, and did eventually find some clips to drool over.) 2025 Projections: 12-8/3.38/1.16/207 in 181 IP

10. Garrett Crochet – Already gave you my Garrett Crochet fantasy, after he was traded. Go there, read that. 2025 Projections: 13-9/3.47/1.05/193 in 154 IP

11. Shota Imanaga – He ended up as the 5th best starter last year, so that people are drafting him this year as the 20th to 25th best starter is head-scratchingly confusing. If he was boosted by lucky peripherals that he couldn’t back up, it would be one thing, I suppose, but he had a 9 K/9 and 1.5 BB/9 with a 2.91 ERA and around the best splitter in baseball, so, I don’t know, seems pretty legit. He also had the best Z-Swing% and 4th best SwStr%, so hitters are swinging at everything and not succeeding. Again, I’m with that. Finally, he had the 6th best first-pitch strike and 15th worst Contact%. Hitters trying to take their best Shota, but they are coming up Shota. 2025 Projections: 13-6/3.17/1.05/177 in 175 IP

12. Bryce Miller – Someone in the M’s front office has a crystal ball that works but only in one specific way. That crystal ball says on its base, “Look into ye to see if in four years it makes sense to draft and develop pitchers who have great command,” and they looked into in 2021, saw the pitch clock was coming and were like, “Oh, man, we gots to heed the Great Crystal Ball.” And heed they deed (made you rhyme, sucker!). Mariners be soothsayers of how to build pitchers for new baseball. Also, and this is a more general point: If you draft only starters with a 2.5 BB/9 or lower, I like your chances. 2025 Projections: 11-10/3.26/1.01/171 in 184 IP

13. Yoshinobu Yamamoto – Before you start yammering about my Yamamoto ranking, yes, he only threw 90 IP last year, but he threw 171 IP, 193 IP and 193 2/3 IP the three years prior. So, I don’t think innings will be an issue if he’s healthy, or at least anymore so than Blake Snell or Ohtani or anyone else in the Dodgers’ sixty-man rotation. His peripherals of 10.5 K/9, 2.2 BB/9 and a 3.00 ERA are yum and on a team that could win 110 games is “Give me more, i.e., Yama-mo-mo or more ‘moto, less problems.” If he qualified, he would’ve been 22nd best for SwStr%, and best in the league for lowest Z-Swing%, which is percentage of swings in the zone. So, think about everything I’ve given you in logical terms. He throws no walks, everything is in the zone, but hitters don’t swing and when they do, they miss the ball. In other words, no one can pick up his pitches. Sign me up for Yama-mo-mo of that. Mo’ Yama? Hmm, will work on it. Vroom vroom, Yamamotors? Okay, still working on it. 2025 Projections: 11-5/3.19/1.09/159 in 139 IP

14. Spencer Schwellenbach – I’m easily the high man on Schwellenbach. I had him ranked 29th initially, then moved him up to 23rd, but kept looking at his stats and I can’t figure out why he shouldn’t be up here. The only thing I can figure out is he wore the Shroud of Touki last year and will fade forever from our memory this year like Ian Anderson, Jair Jurrjens and every Braves starter who was good for only one year. But what about Spencer Strider? Didn’t he appear to come out of nowhere but was really great? Can’t the Braves get another one of those? I suppose the other issue is the huge jump in innings, but who are we? Tom Verducci with his now completely debunked Verducci Effect? Schwellenbach’s peripherals look perfect, as good as any I could find and he even got better as the season progressed. His 2nd half of 9.8 K/9, 1.5 BB/9, 42.2% ground ball rate and 21.5% Hard Contact (crazy low) are perfect. He had a top 5% walk rate and 3rd best chase rate. Do you know how rare and wonderful that is? It is. Could it all go south? I suppose, but I think you’re just guessing that it will. I’m guessing it won’t. 2025 Projections: 13-7/3.26/1.03/183 in 176 IP

15. Roki Sasaki – Here’s what I said this offseason, “He broke the internet on Friday, January 17th when he said he was signing with the Dodgers. The “internet” in this case is the one guy surprised by the most obvious signing to come down the pike in a long time. I think even the guy who was in a coma for the last year would wake and be like, “The team with Ohtani and Yamamoto signed Roki Sasaki? Where’s my No Shizz Sherlock Button? Do I have a No Shizz Sherlock Button to press or just a morphine button?” I’m sorry, One-Year-Coma Guy, you only have a morphine button. A No Shizz Sherlock Button would be a top seller though if we were talking about the Dodgers. Ohtani was in Hawaii for the last week, not even campaigning for Sasaki, ya know why? Sasaki is from Japan and anyone who’s walked the streets of Tokyo (I have — Grey’s a worldly traveler!) can tell you where Sasaki was going to sign. Would you sign for a team that’s must-see TV in Japan with Ohtani and Yamamoto or would you go to the Jays because they have better outfield defense? I’m sorry, where’s my No Shizz Sherlock button?

Dodgers are now the shady dad at the Little League who stocks his kid’s team with all the good players from a town over. Yes, that is better than the shady guy who isn’t a dad but hangs around the Little League anyway. Coolwhip reached out to me last week and showed me what stats he was cooking up for Roki Sasaki, and my eyes popped out of my head like John Lithgow in Twilight Zone: The Movie. I’ll let him come along in the next week or so and post his own thoughts, but Coolwhip was who broke down Yamamoto last year and had me drooling, and was right about him (his injury was unforeseeable). Roki Sasaki had a 2.02 ERA in Japan in 414 2/3 career innings with a 11.4 K/9 and 2 BB/9. His strikeouts dipped a bit last year, but he’s only 23 with utter gas. It averages as high as average fastballs go. Seeing it cook at 100.5 MPH in his WBC start in 2023. His 88.3 MPH slider had a 50% whiff in that start and that was his 2nd best pitch! His splitter that clocked at 91.2 MPH had a 52.9 Whiff% in that start. Guys and five girl readers, I have drafted Roki Sasaki everywhere I could in early drafts and I don’t see how he won’t be at worst a 120-inning number two. At best, he’s an ace for 140 innings. Why so few innings? Oh, the Dodgers now have an eight-man rotation. Bobby Miller, who looked like a top pitching prospect two years ago, is now back in the minors or pen. The Dodgers keep getting better and 75% of the league does nothing. Again, where’s my No Shizz Sherlock button?” And that’s me quoting me! 2025 Projections: 12-6/2.92/1.06/181 in 136 IP

16. Jacob deGrom – This is a new tier. This tier goes from here until the top 40 starters. I call this tier, “Wearing flip-flops with socks.”  There’s just no excuse for wearing socks with flip-flops unless you are a Polish immigrant or you just took off your shoes and were asked to take out the garbage. Anywhere else with socks and flips-flops is strictly prohibited. That’s this tier, strictly prohibited. To give you some context, last year this tier of guys to avoid was Nola (77), Snell (197), Glasnow (86), Fried (104), and Framber (40). The number in parenthesis is their end-of-the-year rank on the Player Rater. This is why my rankings are always the best. People think five of those five starters were good, but only one actually exceeded his draft rank. Nola was fine, I suppose, but take Glasnow. He was being drafted around 30th in NFBC leagues, and as high as the 2nd round, and ended up at 86th overall. That’s huge value loss. Fried was even worse and Snell was even lower.

As for deGrom, y’all nuttier than nuts — Andre 3000, “Ice nuts!” — to be drafting deGrom as a top five starter. Because he’s healthy? Are you serious? Hey, real question: Are you literally dressed as Charlie Brown running towards a girl holding a football for you to kick it? She ain’t gonna leave it there, Bro Brown. Sorry, hate to be your buzz kill, but you need to stop day drinking because it’s making you very dumb and you’re drafting deGrom way too early. He absolutely will not make it to May healthy. I will bet everything in my wallet (a lucky two-dollar bill, a library card and a filled stamp card for Boba Time) that deGrom throws less than 100 IP, and that’s wildly optimistic! 2025 Projections: 5-3/2.41/0.91/124 in 89 IP

17. Chris Sale – I’m 100% a pure hater. In my bones, there’s hate juice. If you cut me, I bleed hate. I am sorry about this, but you must suffer through the hate to get to the love (of which there’s none, because I’m 100% a hater, are you not following?). With that said, I tried to rationalize putting Sale higher in the rankings, but that just seems so cuckoo-foolish. He is debatably a Hall of Famer. I’m fine with the induction, if you like. He also just threw a damn-near career year at 35 years of age and chucked more innings than he had since 2017. There is no way I would draft him higher than this, which means I will be rostering zero shares of Sale. 2025 Projections: 12-6/3.03/1.06/152 in 123 IP

18. Corbin Burnes – Here’s what I said this offseason, “Wow, Corbin Burnes signed to the Diamondbacks, and the Giants didn’t even get Arson Burnes. Supposedly, Corbin Burnes wanted to stay close to home, so he passed up a $250 million deal with an AL East team and signed with the Diamondbacks for $210 million. Corbin Burnes, 100% certified Wife Guy. Imagine that convo if it was you:

“Hey, Wifey, they’re offering $250 million to go to the East Coast, and $210 million to stay home. Which do you think I should do?”
A forty-five-second pause where your wife cycles through in her mind the pool guy, cable guy, mechanic, mailman, Amazon deliveryman, and, finally, “I guess stay home.”

Now, imagine you were asked the same. Your wife, “Why did you pause for a millisecond? Do you not want to stay home for $40 million less?” You’re in the doghouse. Though, $210 million goes a long way to decorating a doghouse.

Corbin Burnes leaves the friendly confines of Camden Miles that is once-again Camden Yards after the renovations, and he had a line of 15-9/2.92/1.10/181 in 194 1/3 IP, and you have such crackers in your head if you’re drafting Corbin Burnes this year, where he’s being drafted or even if he falls! His Ks have gone down four years in a row. Last year, he had a 8.4 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 3.55 FIP, and 3.69 ERA in the 2nd half. His velos and pitches were fine, though. I can galaxy brain into why he’s lost strikeouts. His ground balls are up (not literally), so he chose to throw to contact more, because no one can hit his cutter. DBacks got themselves a new, younger Brandon Webb, call him Brandon Wembryo. That’s fine for real baseball, and maybe he has an elite Webb season and Brandon Wembryo goes 20-3/2.40/1.00/190 in 200 IP, but, for his price and fantasy, I am not messing with someone who is losing their Ks.” And that’s me quoting me! 2025 Projections: 15-8/3.41/1.12/186 in 195 IP

19. Gerrit Cole – Almost as crazy are Thy Drafters of Burnes are the ones drafting Cole. You can recognize them, because they show up at the draft with a fantasy magazine and are complaining their baby kept them up all night. When they win Cole for $35, they say something like, “Wow, that’s a great price, right?” They are crazy, of course. Thy Nutzo’d for Cole have lost all memory of when Cole was out for most of last year with elbow issues. Thy Nutzo’d for Cole were hit on the head, so don’t make fun of them. For those saying Cole was good in the postseason, was he or are you an undiagnosed Thy Nutzo’d for Cole and don’t know it because you hit your head, too? [whispers] He was freakin’ awful in the postseason. UPDATE: Had tests done on his elbow and they recommended him for Tommy John surgery. Listen, I have sympathy for people who drafted Kirby or Grayson, prior to the injury news, I have zero for Cole drafters. I told you not to draft him — Gerrit Cole overrated — and it was pretty clear from all his pitching last year he was not right. I go over the reasons in that post that some chose to ignore; I’m sure they’ll ignore it again, so moving on! I removed him from the rankings, and I imagine soon the news will hit that he’s having the surgery that he should’ve had almost exactly 12 months ago. 2025 Projections: 13-10/3.66/1.17/152 in 148 IP

20. George Kirby – He was the 7th best starter last year, and, if you’re throwing a 1.1 BB/9, I’m having a hard time seeing how he could ever be that bad. Last year was a 3.53 ERA and 1.07 WHIP, and those look like highs for what I could imagine, i.e., it’s going to get better. I am a big-time Kirby guy. You limit walks that well in today’s game and I am dressing like a giant Furby and telling people, “No, I’m Kirby, why does everyone keep calling me a Furby?” I really should work on my imaginary costumes. Kirbs (that’s what I call him starting now) is wins luck and a tick up in Ks from being a top three starter. Wins are whatevs, he said again after just saying it, but Ks ticking up is well within the realm of possibilities when you’re dealing with a guy who has pinpoint control. Just spot the pitch where the batter ain’t hitting it. Frank Voila! UPDATE: Out with shoulder inflammation, and will start the year on the IL. I could see dfrafting him now if you have those sweet, sweet marbles in your head. The marbles that you think are Gobstoppers but you bite on them and they crack all your teeth. That’s what you have in your head. Marbles disguised as Gobstoppers. Just jingo-jangling up in your cranium, bouncing into each other and making the sound, “Dur.” 2025 Projections: 10-8/3.29/1.03/142 in 154 IP

CONTINUE ONTO THE TOP 40 STARTERS FOR 2025 FANTASY BASEBALL