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If you missed Part 1 yesterday, clicky clicky. As a reminder, these rankings were a collaborative effort between yours truly and fellow columnists/handsome devils Nick Mariano and Bill Dubiel. As such, they may not fully represent my personal views on each player, and if someone is ranked inappropriately, I'm pretty sure you can blame either or both of them. One other thing to keep in mind is that these rankings are based on standard 5x5 scoring. As the youngs say, YMMV.
While you're here, be sure to also head over to our fantasy baseball rankings assistant. This handy rankings tool show you all of our staff rankings, player news, and weekly waiver wire rankings. You can easily filter, sort, and export all sorts of ranks - mixed leagues, tiers, prospects, dynasty formats, keeper values and more. It's all in one place, and all free.
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Fantasy Baseball Midseason Rankings Analysis: Starting Pitcher (Part 2)
Tier Seven
Drew Smyly
Lucas Giolito
Jordan Zimmermann
Jameson Taillon
Daniel Mengden
Rick Porcello
Josh Tomlin
Dallas Keuchel
Alex Wood
Collin McHugh
Adam Conley
Blake Snell
Scott Kazmir
Mainly rookies and middling veterans here. Smyly was dominant early, but while he’s maintained an elite K rate, everything else has gone to hell. Zimmermann’s April was clearly a mirage, and he doesn’t strike out nearly enough hitters to justify his mediocre ratios. Taillon and Snell have been merely passable, while Giolito didn’t look ready for the big leagues in his two starts so far. Mengden’s the other rookie in this tier, and if we were ranking facial hair he’d be in the conversation for #1 overall. Sadly, despite my best efforts to push it, we did not include this in our rankings criteria. Keuchel still has his own majestic beard, but his follow-up to last season’s Cy Young winning campaign has been…well, remember how they made a sequel to Weekend at Bernie’s?
Tier Eight
Alex Cobb
Gio Gonzalez
Mike Leake
Ian Kennedy
Cody Reed
Marcus Stroman
Tyler Chatwood
Zach Davies
Hisashi Iwakuma
Jose Berrios
Junior Guerra
Matt Moore
Most of these guys have one glaring weaknesses keeping them from being reliable fantasy options, whether it’s gopheritis (Kennedy, Moore, Gonzalez), lack of strikeouts (Leake, Iwakuma, Stroman), coming off of Tommy John surgery (Cobb) or lack of track record (everyone else). There’s upside here, but you’re assuming a fair amount of risk in employing most of these pitchers beyond a streaming capacity.
Tier Nine
Julio Urias
Patrick Corbin
Bartolo Colon
Doug Fister
Archie Bradley
Francisco Liriano
Robbie Ray
Jimmy Nelson
Tyler Duffey
CC Sabathia
Hyun-Jin Ryu
J.A. Happ
Jeremy Hellickson
Daniel Straily
Urias won’t be starting any more games this season. He’d rank much higher otherwise after showing continuous improvement during his tenure with the Dodgers. Sure, a 4.96 ERA and 1.54 WHIP aren’t good, but he’s 19 years old and posted a 27.3 K% against MLB hitters. This kid is going to be a star. Nobody else in this tier has anywhere close to that level of upside, as this group is mostly streamers. It’s a bit surprising to see Happ ranked this low given how well he’s performed to this point. Ryu is worth monitoring as he shakes off 18 months of rust, and Ray is a good source of strikeouts. With everyone else, you’re playing matchups.
Tier Ten
James Shields
Yordano Ventura
Edinson Volquez
Tyler Glasnow
Tyson Ross
Nathan Eovaldi
Hector Santiago
Zack Wheeler
Jorge De La Rosa
Tom Koehler
Ervin Santana
Wei-Yin Chen
Raisel Iglesias
Michael Foltynewicz
Wade Miley
Matt Wisler
Sean Manaea
Luis Severino
Ouch. A couple of popular breakout candidates (Severino and Iglesias) have seen their stars fall, as have some established quantities like Shields and Ross. Of course, Ross’s slide has more to do with injury than ineffectiveness. Glasnow could certainly outperform this ranking given his talent, but he’s not a sure thing to be in the Pirates’ rotation and his command leaves a lot to be desired. Guys who can’t keep walks under control in the minors tend to struggle at the highest level. By and large, these are deep and AL/NL-only arms, or guys who make you swallow hard before plugging them into the lineup as a streamer.
Tier Eleven
John Lamb
Juan Nicasio
Andrew Cashner
Erasmo Ramirez
Alexander Reyes
Martin Perez
Trevor May
Nathan Karns
Jhoulys Chacin
Ricky Nolasco
Colby Lewis
Jonathon Niese
Chad Bettis
Eduardo Rodriguez
Detritus, n.: Waste or debris of any kind.
Midseason Outfield Tiered Fantasy Baseball Rankings
| Rank | Player Name | Team | Tier |
| 1 | Max Scherzer | WSH | 1 |
| 2 | Madison Bumgarner | SF | 1 |
| 3 | Jose Fernandez | MIA | 1 |
| 4 | Noah Syndergaard | NYM | 1 |
| 5 | Clayton Kershaw | LAD | 1 |
| 6 | Jake Arrieta | CHC | 1 |
| 7 | Stephen Strasburg | WSH | 1 |
| 8 | Chris Sale | CWS | 1 |
| 9 | Johnny Cueto | SF | 1 |
| 10 | Jon Lester | CHC | 2 |
| 11 | Carlos Carrasco | CLE | 2 |
| 12 | Corey Kluber | CLE | 2 |
| 13 | Danny Salazar | CLE | 2 |
| 14 | Jacob DeGrom | NYM | 2 |
| 15 | David Price | BOS | 2 |
| 16 | Zack Greinke | ARI | 2 |
| 17 | Rich Hill | OAK | 2 |
| 18 | Steven Matz | NYM | 2 |
| 19 | John Lackey | CHC | 3 |
| 20 | Kyle Hendricks | CHC | 3 |
| 21 | Jose Quintana | CWS | 3 |
| 22 | Masahiro Tanaka | NYY | 3 |
| 23 | Carlos Martinez | STL | 3 |
| 24 | Drew Pomeranz | SD | 3 |
| 25 | Justin Verlander | DET | 3 |
| 26 | Yu Darvish | TEX | 3 |
| 27 | Cole Hamels | TEX | 3 |
| 28 | Aaron Nola | PHI | 3 |
| 29 | Gerrit Cole | PIT | 3 |
| 30 | Matt Shoemaker | LAA | 4 |
| 31 | Michael Fulmer | DET | 4 |
| 32 | Danny Duffy | KC | 4 |
| 33 | Julio Teheran | ATL | 4 |
| 34 | Steven Wright | BOS | 4 |
| 35 | Chris Archer | TB | 4 |
| 36 | Jonathan Gray | COL | 4 |
| 37 | Trevor Bauer | CLE | 4 |
| 38 | Lance McCullers | HOU | 4 |
| 39 | Kenta Maeda | LAD | 4 |
| 40 | Jeff Samardzija | SF | 5 |
| 41 | Aaron Sanchez | TOR | 5 |
| 42 | Sonny Gray | OAK | 5 |
| 43 | Felix Hernandez | SEA | 5 |
| 44 | Adam Wainwright | STL | 5 |
| 45 | James Paxton | SEA | 5 |
| 46 | Tanner Roark | WSH | 5 |
| 47 | Joe Ross | WSH | 5 |
| 48 | Kevin Gausman | BAL | 5 |
| 49 | Marco Estrada | TOR | 5 |
| 50 | Michael Pineda | NYY | 5 |
| 51 | Anthony DeSclafani | CIN | 6 |
| 52 | Jerad Eickhoff | PHI | 6 |
| 53 | Jason Hammel | CHC | 6 |
| 54 | Carlos Rodon | CWS | 6 |
| 55 | Chris Tillman | BAL | 6 |
| 56 | Taijuan Walker | SEA | 6 |
| 57 | Jaime Garcia | STL | 6 |
| 58 | Jake Odorizzi | TB | 6 |
| 59 | Vincent Velasquez | PHI | 6 |
| 60 | Michael Wacha | STL | 6 |
| 61 | Drew Smyly | TB | 7 |
| 62 | Lucas Giolito | WSH | 7 |
| 63 | Jordan Zimmermann | DET | 7 |
| 64 | Jameson Taillon | PIT | 7 |
| 65 | Daniel Mengden | OAK | 7 |
| 66 | Rick Porcello | BOS | 7 |
| 67 | Josh Tomlin | CLE | 7 |
| 68 | Dallas Keuchel | HOU | 7 |
| 69 | Alex Wood | LAD | 7 |
| 70 | Collin McHugh | HOU | 7 |
| 71 | Adam Conley | MIA | 7 |
| 72 | Blake Snell | TB | 7 |
| 73 | Scott Kazmir | LAD | 7 |
| 74 | Alex Cobb | TB | 8 |
| 75 | Gio Gonzalez | WSH | 8 |
| 76 | Mike Leake | STL | 8 |
| 77 | Ian Kennedy | KC | 8 |
| 78 | Cody Reed | CIN | 8 |
| 79 | Marcus Stroman | TOR | 8 |
| 80 | Tyler Chatwood | COL | 8 |
| 81 | Zach Davies | MIL | 8 |
| 82 | Hisashi Iwakuma | SEA | 8 |
| 83 | Jose Berrios | MIN | 8 |
| 84 | Junior Guerra | MIL | 8 |
| 85 | Matt Moore | TB | 8 |
| 86 | Julio Urias | LAD | 9 |
| 87 | Patrick Corbin | ARI | 9 |
| 88 | Bartolo Colon | NYM | 9 |
| 89 | Doug Fister | HOU | 9 |
| 90 | Archie Bradley | ARI | 9 |
| 91 | Francisco Liriano | PIT | 9 |
| 92 | Robbie Ray | ARI | 9 |
| 93 | Jimmy Nelson | MIL | 9 |
| 94 | Tyler Duffey | MIN | 9 |
| 95 | CC Sabathia | NYY | 9 |
| 96 | Hyun-Jin Ryu | LAD | 9 |
| 97 | J.A. Happ | TOR | 9 |
| 98 | Jeremy Hellickson | PHI | 9 |
| 99 | Daniel Straily | CIN | 9 |
| 100 | James Shields | CWS | 10 |
| 101 | Yordano Ventura | KC | 10 |
| 102 | Edinson Volquez | KC | 10 |
| 103 | Tyler Glasnow | PIT | 10 |
| 104 | Tyson Ross | SD | 10 |
| 105 | Nathan Eovaldi | NYY | 10 |
| 106 | Hector Santiago | LAA | 10 |
| 107 | Zack Wheeler | NYM | 10 |
| 108 | Jorge De La Rosa | COL | 10 |
| 109 | Tom Koehler | MIA | 10 |
| 110 | Ervin Santana | MIN | 10 |
| 111 | Wei-Yin Chen | MIA | 10 |
| 112 | Raisel Iglesias | FA | 10 |
| 113 | Michael Foltynewicz | ATL | 10 |
| 114 | Wade Miley | SEA | 10 |
| 115 | Matthew Wisler | ATL | 10 |
| 116 | Sean Manaea | OAK | 10 |
| 117 | Luis Severino | NYY | 10 |
| 118 | John Lamb | CIN | 11 |
| 119 | Juan Nicasio | PIT | 11 |
| 120 | Andrew Cashner | SD | 11 |
| 121 | Erasmo Ramirez | TB | 11 |
| 122 | Alexander Reyes | STL | 11 |
| 123 | Martin Perez | TEX | 11 |
| 124 | Trevor May | MIN | 11 |
| 125 | Nathan Karns | SEA | 11 |
| 126 | Jhoulys Chacin | LAA | 11 |
| 127 | Ricky Nolasco | MIN | 11 |
| 128 | Colby Lewis | TEX | 11 |
| 129 | Jonathon Niese | PIT | 11 |
| 130 | Chad Bettis | COL | 11 |
| 131 | Eduardo Rodriguez | BOS | 11 |
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