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To see our tiered staff rankings for starting pitchers, head over to our fantasy baseball rankings dashboard. You can easily filter and export all sorts of rankings and tiers - mixed leagues, points leagues, top prospects, and more.
Starting pitchers get you 40% of the key stats in 5x5 leagues, and are sometimes even more important in H2H and points leagues. Our starting pitcher depth charts have a special fantasy baseball focus, to let you know which pitchers are worth owning and which aren't. MLB teams make in-season changes due to injuries or poor performance all the time, so stay on top of all MLB starting pitcher depth charts for the AL and NL, and dominate in pitching this year.
We will be updating the MLB Starting Pitcher Depth Charts for Fantasy Baseball all season long. Below you'll find our Week 11 depth charts.
Week 11 MLB Starting Pitcher Depth Charts for Fantasy Baseball
Big news in the Cincinnati Reds rotation: Not only is Anthony DeSclafani back from the DL and looking strong after a six inning, one earned run return outing against the Oakland A's, but there are strong rumors coming from Bryan Price himself that the Cincy rotation could be seeing some serious changes soon in the form of prospects Robert Stephenson and Cody Reed. With the persistent struggles of the Reds' pitching staff and Raisel Iglesias headed for the probable closer's role upon his return, there should be plenty of room for Stephenson and Reed to get starts on the mound and have a leash of decent length.
In other news, Aaron Sanchez has earned a tier jump from "solid starter" to "fantasy ace". Before his poor outing on Sunday in an offensively explosive match-up with the Orioles, Sanchez had a 2.91 ERA, 2.88 FIP, 1.145 WHIP, 0.4 HR/9, and 8.5 K/9. While starters like Dallas Keuchel continue to struggle, Sanchez is quickly passing many of the starters we considered to be far and away more worthy of an early draft pick before April. James Shields was sent from San Diego to the White Sox. Maybe the South Side owner will cut Shields a little more slack considering Shields is a starter with a solid track record going through an unfortunate rough patch.
On a minor note I have heard pitchers like Doug Fister, Edinson Volquez, and Brandon Finnegan called "bad pitchers" in the past week. In Fister we are talking about a guy with a 3.34 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, and an 8th place Cy Young vote placement as recent as 2014; in Volquez we are talking about a a pitcher with a 4.25 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 3.96 FIP, and a long track record of quality start level ERA figures; and in Finnegan we are talking about a highly touted prospect who has recovered from a tough start to 2016 with a 3.77 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, and has been in the league for less than two years and was already pitching in the World Series a couple months after being drafted from TCU. When talking about tiers of starting pitchers, we see a lot of movement in this particular depth chart. It is important to not let a new stigma or severe short-term memory cloud judgement when acting as a fantasy baseball manager. Not even Clayton Kershaw finishes each season with a 0.00 ERA, 0.00 WHIP, and 100% quality start percentage. The recent victim of stigma has been James Shields, but just remember, track record matters when determining a starter's tier.
AL EAST: 2016 Starting Pitchers for Fantasy Baseball
| Team Name | Fantasy Aces | Solid Options | Deeper Options / Streamers | Ignore | Watch List |
| Yankees | Masahiro Tanaka | C.C. Sabathia, Luis Severino (INJ) | Nathan Eovaldi, Ivan Nova |
Michael Pineda | Jacob Lindgren, Chad Green |
| Red Sox | David Price | Steven Wright, Rick Porcello, Eduardo Rodriguez | N/A | Joe Kelly, Clay Bucholz | Michael Kopech |
| Blue Jays | Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez |
J.A. Happ |
Marco Estrada, R.A. Dickey | N/A | |
| Orioles | Chris Tillman | Kevin Gausman | Yovani Gallardo (INJ) | Tyler Wilson, Mike Wright, Ubaldo Jimenez | Dylan Bundy, Hunter Harvey |
| Rays | N/A | Jake Odorizzi, Drew Smyly, Chris Archer | Matt Moore, Blake Snell, Erasmo Ramirez | N/A | N/A |
AL Central: 2016 Starting Pitchers for Fantasy Baseball
| Team Name | Fantasy Aces | Solid Options | Deeper Options / Streamers | Ignore | Watch List |
| Tigers | N/A | Michael Fulmer, Justin Verlander, Jordan Zimmerman |
N/A | Shane Greene, Anibal Sanchez, Mike Pelfrey | Matt Boyd, Daniel Norris |
| Royals | N/A | Edinson Volquez | Ian Kennedy, Kris Medlen (INJ) | Chris Young, Dillon Gee, Yordano Ventura |
Mike Minor (INJ), Kyle Zimmer |
| Indians | Danny Salazar, Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco |
N/A | Cody Anderson, Josh Tomlin | N/A | Rob Kaminsky |
| White Sox | Chris Sale, Jose Quintana | N/A | Carlos Rodon, Miguel Gonzalez, James Shields |
John Danks, Mat Latos | Frankie Montas |
| Twins | N/A | N/A | Ervin Santana |
Phil Hughes, Kyle Gibson, Tyler Duffey, Tommy Milone, Ricky Nolasco | Jose Berrios |
AL West: 2016 Starting Pitchers for Fantasy Baseball
| Team Name | Fantasy Aces | Solid Options | Deeper Options / Streamers | Ignore | Watch List |
| Astros | N/A | Lance McCullers, Dallas Keuchel | Mike Fiers, Doug Fister, Collin McHugh |
Scott Feldman | N/A |
| Rangers | Yu Darvish, Cole Hamels | N/A | Derek Holland, Martin Perez, Colby Lewis, A.J Griffin (INJ) |
Nick Martinez | Chi Chi Gonzalez |
| Mariners | Felix Hernandez | Taijuan Walker | Hisashi Iwakuma, Nate Karns, James Paxton | Wade Miley | Edwin Diaz |
| Athletics | Rich Hill (INJ) |
Sonny Gray | Jesse Hahn, Sean Manaea | Chris Bassitt, Kendall Graveman | Henderson Alvarez (INJ), Felix Doubront (INJ) |
| Angels | N/A | Andrew Heaney (INJ) |
Matt Shoemaker, Hector Santiago, Tyler Skaggs (INJ) | Jered Weaver | Tim Lincecum |
NL EAST: 2016 Starting Pitchers for Fantasy Baseball
| Team Name | Fantasy Aces | Solid Options | Deeper Options / Streamers | Ignore | Watch List |
| Mets | Jacob DeGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Matt Harvey | Steven Matz | Bartolo Colon | N/A | Zack Wheeler (INJ) |
| Braves | N/A | Julio Teheran | Mike Foltynewicz, Matt Wisler | Williams Perez, Bud Norris | Manny Banuelos (INJ) |
| Nationals | Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg | Tanner Roark, Joe Ross | Gio Gonzalez |
N/A | Lucas Giolito |
| Marlins | Jose Fernandez | Wei Yin Chen | Tom Koehler, Adam Conley | Jarred Cosart | N/A |
| Phillies | N/A | Aaron Nola, Jeremy Hellickson, Vincent Velasquez | Jerad Eickhoff, Charlie Morton | Brett Oberholtzer | Jake Thompson |
NL Central: 2016 Starting Pitchers for Fantasy Baseball
| Team Name | Fantasy Aces | Solid Options | Deeper Options / Streamers | Ignore | Watch List |
| Pirates | Gerrit Cole | N/A | Francisco Liriano | Jon Niese, Jeff Locke, Juan Nicasio |
Tyler Glasnow, Jameson Taillon |
| Cubs | Jake Arrieta, Jon Lester | Jason Hammel, John Lackey, Kyle Hendricks | N/A | Trevor Cahill | Duane Underwood |
| Cardinals | N/A | Carlos Martinez, Michael Wacha, Adam Wainwright | Mike Leake, Jaime Garcia, Marco Gonzales | N/A | Tim Cooney, Tyler Lyons |
| Reds | N/A | Raisel Iglesias (INJ) | Brandon Finnegan, Dan Straily, John Lamb, Tim Adleman (INJ), Robert Stephenson, Anthony DeSclafani | Jon Moscot, Alfredo Simon | Michael Lorenzen (INJ), Homer Bailey (INJ), |
| Brewers | N/A | Jimmy Nelson | Chase Anderson, Zach Davies | Wily Peralta, Matt Garza (INJ) | Tyler Cravy, Taylor Jungmann |
NL West: 2016 Starting Pitchers for Fantasy Baseball
| Team Name | Fantasy Aces | Solid Options | Deeper Options / Streamers | Ignore | Watch List |
| Dodgers | Clayton Kershaw | Scott Kazmir, Kenta Maeda | Julio Urias, Alex Wood(INJ), Ross Stripling (INJ), Mike Bolsinger | N/A | Hyun Jin Ryu (INJ), Brett Anderson (INJ), Brandon McCarthy (INJ) |
| Padres | Drew Pomeranz | Tyson Ross (INJ) | Andrew Cashner, Colin Rea | Jeremy Guthrie, Robbie Erlin | N/A |
| Rockies | N/A | Jon Gray, Tyler Chatwood | Jorge De La Rosa, Chad Bettis, Jordan Lyles, Yohan Flande, Christian Bergman | Jeff Hoffman | |
| Giants | Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto | Jeff Samardzija | N/A | Matt Cain (INJ), Jake Peavy | Tyler Beede |
| Diamondbacks | Zack Greinke | N/A | Patrick Corbin, Shelby Miller (INJ), Robbie Ray, Rubby De La Rosa (INJ) | N/A | Archie Bradley, Braden Shipley |
Depth Chart Definitions:
- Fantasy Aces - Pitchers to anchor a rotation, a #1 or #2 fantasy starter
- Solid Options - The meat of your rotation, a #3 - #5 type fantasy starter
- Deeper Options / Streamers - All pitchers with value, but depending on your league size these are bottom rotation types or players worth streaming
- Ignore - Unless you're in NL / AL only leagues, you shoudn't really touch these guys
- Watch List - Your list of prospects or injured pitchers who might soon hold value
