Welcome back to another edition of my top 100 starting pitcher rankings for redraft leagues. There was a fair amount of movement in my rankings this week. To explain some of this movement, risers and fallers are listed below. I hope you enjoy the list!
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Top-100 Starting Pitcher Rankings for Redraft Leagues
Risers:
Brandon Woodruff- After Monday’s start Woodruff has a 54.9% ground ball rate and 13% swinging strike rate on the season. Basically, the vast majority of the hitters he faces are grounding out or swinging through the ball. We already knew that Woodruff had an elite four-seam fastball, that pitch has maintained its elite status. It’s the secondaries that have so far taken a step forward for Woodruff with both his changeup and slider missing more bats than ever before, both over a 20% swinging-strike rate. He does all this while staying in the zone over half the time. He is a clear buy high for me.
Dustin May– Some of you may have heard that I love Dustin May. Much like the aforementioned Woodruff, my main man May is in the zone all the time, at 59.6%, and has a stellar ground ball rate of 54.1%. Unlike Woodruff, he isn’t getting as many swings and misses with just an 8.7% swinging strike rate. However, there is progress being made here. May’s curveball is missing more bats at a 14.3% SwStr, up 5% from last season. He’s also generating a tremendous amount of weak contact. If he can continue to make gains with his curveball and cutter then May will continue to ascend.
Dallas Keuchel– All of a sudden the 32-year-old Keuchel is pitching like he hasn’t pitched in years—like an ace in fact. The change for him has been increased changeup usage, up from 15% last year to 28% this year. He’s getting an excellent swinging strike rate on the pitch of 17.8% to go along with a 71.8% ground ball rate on the offering. All of this has led to a 2.55 ERA and his lowest contact rate in three seasons. I like what I’m seeing.
Fallers:
José Berríos- Now here’s a guy we always see talked about like a young, up and coming ace. As we sit around waiting for the breakout to happen we need to face the reality that it may never come. Berríos locates well and his four-seam fastball generates an above-average amount of swinging strikes, but the pitch is getting hit incredibly hard when batters make contact with it. More troubling is that Berríos lacks a true put away secondary offering leaving him unable to get out of jams. Blows ups happen far too frequently and I’m avoiding him.
Madison Bumgarner– In Monday’s start Bumgarner was lifted after just 47 pitches due to back spasms. During this short start, he struggled with his velocity barely touching 89 MPH throughout the outing, his average fastball velocity on the year is just 88.1, down significantly from 91.7 last year. Hopefully, this is due to injury and not to a sudden and drastic decline. Without his fastball functioning properly Bumgarner’s curveball has also been ineffective leaving him overly reliant on his cutter. He is droppable.
Luke Weaver– I will admit I’ve never been much of a Luke Weaver guy. This season Weaver has a 12.19 ERA. Weaver is doing everything wrong. He’s walking too many batters, over five per nine, and he’s giving up hard contact at an eye popping 65.6% rate. This is mostly due to his changeup, which is normally his best secondary, but this year it’s getting demolished. He’s not effectively throwing the pitch in the zone and until he gets the pitch working I advise you to stay away.
If you have any questions about the list don’t hesitate to hit me up on Twitter @devjake. Thanks for reading!
All players that are injured or on COVID-19 IL are not included in these starting pitcher rankings.
| RNK | Name | PREV. RNK |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacob deGrom | 1 |
| 2 | Gerrit Cole | 2 |
| 3 | Shane Bieber | 4 |
| 4 | Mike Clevinger | 5 |
| 5 | Brandon Woodruff | 12 |
| 6 | Stephen Strasburg | 9 |
| 7 | Patrick Corbin | 10 |
| 8 | Sonny Gray | 11 |
| 9 | Luis Castillo | 8 |
| 10 | Walker Buehler | 7 |
| 11 | Max Scherzer | 3 |
| 12 | Jack Flaherty | 6 |
| 13 | Aaron Nola | 13 |
| 14 | Chris Paddack | 16 |
| 15 | Clayton Kershaw | 8 |
| 16 | Lucas Giolito | 14 |
| 17 | Lance Lynn | 30 |
| 18 | Trevor Bauer | 26 |
| 19 | Max Fried | 19 |
| 20 | Zac Gallen | 20 |
| 21 | Yu Darvish | 22 |
| 22 | Frankie Montas | 24 |
| 23 | Dinelson Lamet | 25 |
| 24 | Zach Plesac | 31 |
| 25 | Aaron Civale | 32 |
| 26 | Germán Márquez | 34 |
| 27 | Dylan Bundy | 36 |
| 28 | Jesús Luzardo | 37 |
| 29 | Carlos Carrasco | 26 |
| 30 | Dustin May | 48 |
| 31 | Blake Snell | 21 |
| 32 | Zack Greinke | 27 |
| 33 | Tyler Glasnow | 23 |
| 34 | Kenta Maeda | 28 |
| 35 | Andrew Heaney | 30 |
| 36 | Kyle Hendricks | 33 |
| 37 | Zack Wheeler | 43 |
| 38 | Ross Stripling | 38 |
| 39 | Hyun Jin Ryu | 40 |
| 40 | Julio Urias | 39 |
| 41 | Adrian Houser | 52 |
| 42 | José Berríos | 29 |
| 43 | Charlie Morton | 44 |
| 44 | Griffin Canning | 45 |
| 45 | Dallas Keuchel | 62 |
| 46 | Nate Pearson | 49 |
| 47 | Spencer Turnbull | 59 |
| 48 | Chris Bassitt | 50 |
| 49 | Mike Minor | 42 |
| 50 | Ryan Yarborough | 53 |
| 51 | Masahiro Tanaka | 61 |
| 52 | Garrett Richards | 55 |
| 53 | Lance McCullers Jr. | 35 |
| 54 | Robbie Ray | 57 |
| 55 | Josh Lindblom | 63 |
| 56 | Nathan Eovaldi | 51 |
| 57 | Marco Gonzales | 60 |
| 58 | Pablo Lopez | 88 |
| 59 | Joe Musgrove | 47 |
| 60 | Jake Odorizzi | NR |
| 61 | Anthony DeSclafani | 76 |
| 62 | Matthew Boyd | 46 |
| 63 | Logan Webb | 69 |
| 64 | Kevin Gausman | 70 |
| 65 | James Paxton | 72 |
| 66 | Spencer Howard | NR |
| 67 | Kyle Gibson | 77 |
| 68 | Touki Toussaint | 98 |
| 69 | Tyler Chatwood | 67 |
| 70 | Madison Bumgarner | 41 |
| 71 | Sean Manaea | 74 |
| 72 | Christian Javier | 75 |
| 73 | Yusei Kikuchi | 58 |
| 74 | Kolby Allard | NR |
| 75 | Tyler Mahle | 84 |
| 76 | Johnny Cueto | 81 |
| 77 | Brady Singer | 82 |
| 78 | Austin Voth | NR |
| 79 | Kris Bubic | 85 |
| 80 | Randy Dobnak | 86 |
| 81 | Jon Gray | 64 |
| 82 | Patrick Sandoval | NR |
| 83 | David Peterson | 89 |
| 84 | Brad Keller | NR |
| 85 | Merrill Kelly | 91 |
| 86 | Alex Cobb | NR |
| 87 | Jon Lester | 78 |
| 88 | Dylan Cease | 79 |
| 89 | Kyle Freeland | 95 |
| 90 | John Means | 96 |
| 91 | Jake Arrieta | NR |
| 92 | Jordan Montgomery | 65 |
| 93 | Martin Perez | 99 |
| 94 | Luke Weaver | 73 |
| 95 | Zach Davies | NR |
| 96 | Tommy Milone | NR |
| 97 | Trevor Williams | NR |
| 98 | Jakob Junis | NR |
| 99 | Framber Valdez | NR |
| 100 | J.T. Brubaker | NR |
Fell of List: Caleb Smith, Yonny Chirinos, Dakota Hudson, Michael Wacha, Asher Wojciechowski, Jordan Lyles, Adam Wainwright, Joey Lucchesi, Corbin Burnes, Kendall Graveman, Joshua James, Tanner Roark, Matt Shoemaker, Steven Matz
New to List: Jake Odorizzi, Alex Cobb, Tommy Milone, Zach Davies, Brad Keller, Jakob Junis, Trevor Williams, Framber Valdez, J.T. Brubaker, Jake Arrieta, Spencer Howard, Kolby Allard, Austin Voth, Patrick Sandoval
You should also check out Jake’s Top 100 Starting Pitchers for Dynasty Leagues.
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