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Starting Pitcher (Part 1): Updated March Rankings and Tiers

We rolled out our final update on 2017 rankings this past weekend. While there haven’t been seismic shifts, some players have naturally seen their stocks rise or fall since our initial valuations were made in December. We’re gathered here today to look at part one of our outfield rankings, tiers, and auction values, which have certainly seen some movement. Part one of this SP look will check in with three risers and three fallers within the top five tiers.

As before, this round of rankings features picks from myself -- Nick Mariano, as well as Kyle BishopBill DubielBrad JohnsonHarris Yudin and Jeff Kahntroff.

Check out all of our updated rankings. Adjust your league size, and export your rankings. Tiers, auction values, prospects, news and more. It's all free.

Be sure to check all of our fantasy baseball lineup tools and weekly lineup resources:

Editor's note: Get 50% off any MLB Premium Pass. Draft guide, cheat sheets, 200 days of DFS access, and over 20 premium tools. Dominate your leagues all year long! Sign Up Now!

 

2017 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Starting Pitcher

Ranking Tier Player Position Brad Kyle Nick Bill Harris Jeff Auction $
1 1 Clayton Kershaw SP 4 6 7 7 11 3 43
2 1 Max Scherzer SP 20 16 14 12 19 14 35
3 1 Madison Bumgarner SP 32 19 22 14 22 33 31
4 1 Chris Sale SP 23 26 25 20 23 29 30
5 1 Noah Syndergaard SP 26 15 27 31 32 25 30
6 1 Corey Kluber SP 41 25 31 23 33 44 26
7 2 Yu Darvish SP 39 49 32 54 41 32 24
8 2 Justin Verlander SP 59 55 38 55 43 38 23
9 2 Jake Arrieta SP 52 51 57 33 34 73 22
10 2 Jon Lester SP 65 46 47 41 42 62 22
11 2 Stephen Strasburg SP 50 50 45 42 59 66 22
12 2 Johnny Cueto SP 62 47 46 61 44 68 21
13 3 Carlos Carrasco SP 72 61 59 56 53 72 19
14 3 Jacob deGrom SP 95 65 70 44 54 46 19
15 3 Chris Archer SP 82 57 51 75 52 74 18
16 3 Kyle Hendricks SP 76 100 66 81 87 71 17
17 3 Carlos Martinez SP 107 98 74 80 69 99 17
18 3 David Price SP 81 80 111 73 60 133 17
19 3 Masahiro Tanaka SP 87 91 71 78 106 122 16
20 4 Gerrit Cole SP 102 79 95 83 104 125 16
21 4 Cole Hamels SP 112 89 99 100 70 123 15
22 4 Zack Greinke SP 115 92 91 79 71 148 15
23 4 Aaron Sanchez SP 73 139 93 106 85 108 15
24 4 Jose Quintana SP 98 112 87 89 101 121 15
25 4 Rich Hill SP 105 104 92 121 112 85 14
26 4 Danny Duffy SP 164 95 110 110 86 97 13
27 4 Kenta Maeda SP 139 94 96 101 130 151 12
28 5 Michael Fulmer SP 121 129 108 132 113 119 12
29 5 Rick Porcello SP 114 125 132 102 114 146 11
30 5 Danny Salazar SP 134 137 124 111 103 149 11
31 5 Julio Teheran SP 155 155 137 105 102 153 10
32 5 Marcus Stroman SP 117 156 106 149 119 163 10
33 5 Lance McCullers SP 137 174 105 131 129 137 10
34 5 Matt Harvey SP 149 140 128 113 105 218 10
35 5 Jonathan Gray SP 128 135 135 156 131 187 9
36 5 John Lackey SP 173 148 129 136 156 143 9
37 6 Aaron Nola SP 159 126 134 159 148 161 9
38 6 Julio Urias SP 145 145 136 196 149 120 9
39 6 Dallas Keuchel SP 189 163 180 116 120 131 9
40 6 Felix Hernandez SP 118 160 151 107 118 266 9
41 6 Steven Matz SP 204 152 142 150 145 138 9
42 6 James Paxton SP 156 185 145 168 165 159 9
43 6 Kevin Gausman SP 197 188 158 141 146 154 9
44 6 Tanner Roark SP 191 149 139 152 154 216 8
45 6 Sean Manaea SP 192 159 146 174 168 188 8

 

Starting Pitcher (Part One) Rankings Analysis: March Risers and Fallers

Rankings Risers

Kenta Maeda, Dodgers

Maeda impressed us all by striking out 179 in his first Major League season, surpassing a strikeout per inning in his 175 2/3 frames last season alongside the plus ratios. His 3.58 FIP, 3.70 xFIP and 3.69 SIERA give credence to that 3.48 ERA and his status as an above-average arm. This is a guy who does well to deliver the ball where he wants to with very infrequent mistakes, with it also helping to have Yasmani Grandal receiving his pitches, but that does lead to some floor issues should he ever lose that edge (think Sonny Gray). We’ve bumped him up a couple spots in our rankings, which elevated him from Tier Five into Tier Four.

Lance McCullers, Astros

McCullers’ rise may be entirely on me, as I bumped him up 30 slots since last time -- from No. 135 to No. 105. Let me put it to you this way, the longer he doesn’t get hurt, the more I love him. This isn’t breaking news, of course, as we know durability is the major concern here, but boy howdy that stuff is electric. Houston’s young arm is slated to start their second game of the season and has posted a lovely 18-to-2 K:BB ratio in 12 spring innings thus far. While he has allowed too many hits (15) alongside that, what I mostly look for is control and velocity in ST. This is an arm that could rack up 200 strikeouts, so he deserves to sniff the top 100.

Julio Urias, Dodgers

Here’s another guy who jumped tiers, as he goes from Tier Six to Tier Five on the heels of a bump from No. 38 to No. 34 in the SP ranks. It appears that most of us kept him rather static in our rankings aside from Bill, who shot him up roughly 60 slots. While Urias’ stock will likely see a short-term drop due to his starting the season in extended spring training, that LA rotation has a ton of arms that are tattooed with the big red FRAGILE stamp. It won’t be long before we see the 20-year-old in the MLB again, and his 140 innings should be mighty productive.

Dallas Keuchel, Astros

He goes from No. 45 to No. 39, as it seems Bill and Jeff really warmed up to him after pessimistic rankings around the 180-190 range in February. While Brad and I still have Keuchel up there, it appears that we as a collective staff have come around on the notion that he could regain much of his effectiveness in inducing whiffs and weak contact. If he can deliver a low-to-mid threes ERA, then this strong Houston lineup could allow for him to challenge the 20-win mark again – but that’s his ceiling, of course.

Rankings Fallers

Stephen Strasburg, Nationals

Strasburg is already flashing those warning signs as to why we’ve feared for his health over the years, as he’s admitted to cutting back on his slider usage because it led to injury last season. While that revelation does lead to the possibility of improved durability in 2017, it also raises questions about his effectiveness if he feels as though he can’t utilize his full arsenal – or at least the one we’re accustomed to see him roll out. Going from SP9 to SP11 isn’t huge, but dropping out of the top 10 is notable.

Aaron Sanchez, Blue Jays

Sanchez dropped from the end of Tier Three (SP18) to the middle of Tier Four (SP23) here, which may be one part worrying about his ability to replicate last season’s strong metrics (.267 BABIP, 54.4% groundball rate) and another part worrying about his awful spring thus far (10 ER, 9-to-8 K:BB ratio in 10 2/3 innings). Perhaps that’s not what my cohorts were thinking, but that’s what I was thinking. He still has plenty of potential here, but I scaled him back over a full round in my March update.

Tanner Roark, Nationals

Roark is one of those guys that can be easy to bump down in lieu of another exciting arm due to his uninspiring strikeout stuff, and here he has slipped from our SP40 to SP44. It isn’t a huge drop, but it’s still rather noticeable when putting the February and March tables up against one another. At least Roark has looked good this spring, allowing only one run on seven hits and zero walks against 12 strikeouts in 12 1/3 innings of work. For what it’s worth, I’m the high man on him at No. 139 overall.

 

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