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With the midseason break behind us and August almost here, fantasy players can just see the season's end creeping on the horizon. Don't you dare hit cruise control because there's still plenty of action left in the race. Mind your categories, flex those strengths and shore up the weaknesses. Ranks in a vacuum are a nice starting point but only you know exactly what you need. And so it's time for another edition of my weekly Starting Pitcher Baller Ranks!
I've got a family member in the hospital so time is short, but I've put together my usual top-101 with some fun leaderboards over the last month of play (entering Tuesday, July 26) for you to digest.
As is tradition, these fantasy baseball starting pitcher rankings are geared toward traditional 5x5 leagues. Injured players are left off of this iteration. Let's move along with my top-101 SP for the rest of 2022!
Starting Pitcher Rankings Analysis
Strikeout Rate Leaders - Last 30 Days
| Rank | Player | K% |
| 1 | Shohei Ohtani | 44.0% |
| 2 | Cristian Javier | 40.5% |
| 3 | Max Scherzer | 40.2% |
| 4 | Spencer Strider | 39.6% |
| 5 | Blake Snell | 37.5% |
| 6 | Shane McClanahan | 37.0% |
| 7 | Kevin Gausman | 34.5% |
| 8 | Frankie Montas | 34.2% |
| 9 | Brandon Woodruff | 33.9% |
| 10 | Robbie Ray | 33.9% |
Other notables: Gerrit Cole is right there at 11th and will be just fine, but there’s little denying he’s been slightly outdone by the others in Tier One on the table. Josiah Gray is 14th at 32% while Reid Detmers sits at 22nd with a 29.2% clip. We have to take Detmers seriously.
Brady Singer (26th, 28.7%), Kutter Crawford (27th, 28.2%), and Braxton Garrett (32nd, 27%) are other lower-rostered options bringing the heat.
But Nick, Blake Snell still has tons of walks, so how about the K-BB% leaderboard?
K-BB% Leaders - Last 30 Days
| Rank | Player | K-BB% |
| 1 | Max Scherzer | 38.1% |
| 2 | Shohei Ohtani | 37.0% |
| 3 | Shane McClanahan | 33.7% |
| 4 | Spencer Strider | 32.1% |
| 5 | Cristian Javier | 28.6% |
| 6 | Kevin Gausman | 28.5% |
| 7 | Robbie Ray | 27.8% |
| 8 | Yu Darvish | 27.8% |
| 9 | Alex Wood | 27.2% |
| 10 | Justin Verlander | 26.9% |
As you can see, most of the aces remain on the table while the more volatile options dropped a bit. I know Robbie Ray just got hit around but it’s great to see his revamped arsenal here with strong control.
But strikeouts and walks aren’t everything, so let’s rope in some ratios:
FIP Leaders - Last 30 Days
| Rank | Player | FIP |
| 1 | Shane McClanahan | 1.38 |
| 2 | Brandon Woodruff | 1.45 |
| 3 | Spencer Strider | 1.48 |
| 4 | Shohei Ohtani | 1.49 |
| 5 | Max Scherzer | 1.55 |
| 6 | Justin Verlander | 1.72 |
| 7 | Carlos Rodon | 1.99 |
| 8 | Kutter Crawford | 2.10 |
| 9 | Sandy Alcantara | 2.13 |
| 10 | Reid Detmers | 2.13 |
Reeeeeiiiiiddddd. He and Crawford really have pitched quite well. Congrats to those who bought low on Woodruff. Try to guess who is 11th here.
It’s Jose Quintana with a 2.14 FIP! Spenser Watkins (15th, 2.33 FIP) and Keegan Thompson (20th, 2.63 FIP) are others who might surprise you.
Fun (or not so fun) fact: Patrick Sandoval has a pristine 2.49 FIP but a bloated 7.11 ERA in this window. As you might guess, his .491 BABIP paces the pack. Here’s the 10-highest BABIPs within the last 30:
BABIP “Leaders” (Highest…Worst) - Last 30 Days
| Rank | Player | BABIP |
| 1 | Patrick Sandoval | 0.491 |
| 2 | Nick Lodolo | 0.488 |
| 3 | Nathan Eovaldi | 0.480 |
| 4 | Graham Ashcraft | 0.420 |
| 5 | Kevin Gausman | 0.404 |
| 6 | Nick Pivetta | 0.390 |
| 7 | Mitch Keller | 0.388 |
| 8 | Keegan Thompson | 0.381 |
| 9 | Jose Berrios | 0.378 |
| 10 | Carlos Carrasco | 0.378 |
I’m seeing an awful lot of fastballs that got rightfully punished, but even this is a bridge too far regarding poor luck for most of them. Eovaldi has quite the small-sample size warning label as well.
I remain bullish on Lodolo moving forward but I acknowledge that Great American Ballpark is a tough place to acclimate to major-league hitting. Gausman’s aforementioned stellar strikeout rate is helping him dance around the extra baserunners and if you can pry him at a discount then go for it.
And finally, here is my updated Top-101 table!
Top-101 Starting Pitchers for Fantasy Baseball
These are rest-of-season fantasy baseball rankings for starting pitchers.
EV = Earned Value via Fangraphs (Last 30 Days), $ = My projected dollar value (think auction), PV = Previous $ Value
| (+/-) | Tier | Player | Rank | EV | $ | PV | Trend |
| 0 | 1 | Corbin Burnes | 1 | $6.1 | 44.5 | 44.5 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 1 | 1 | Shane McClanahan | 2 | $9.9 | 43.0 | 42.0 | 1.0 ▲ |
| 1 | 2 | Max Scherzer | 3 | $10.4 | 42.0 | 40.0 | 2.0 ▲ |
| 1 | 2 | Sandy Alcantara | 4 | $11.2 | 42.0 | 40.0 | 2.0 ▲ |
| -3 | 2 | Gerrit Cole | 5 | $4.8 | 42.0 | 43.5 | -1.5 ▼ |
| 2 | 2 | Justin Verlander | 6 | $10.0 | 39.0 | 36.0 | 3.0 ▲ |
| 0 | 2 | Zack Wheeler | 7 | $4.4 | 38.5 | 38.0 | 0.5 ▲ |
| -2 | 2 | Joe Musgrove | 8 | $2.6 | 38.0 | 39.5 | -1.5 ▼ |
| 0 | 2 | Shohei Ohtani | 9 | $8.7 | 37.0 | 36.0 | 1.0 ▲ |
| 0 | 2 | Carlos Rodon | 10 | $9.7 | 35.5 | 35.0 | 0.5 ▲ |
| 0 | 2 | Brandon Woodruff | 11 | $10.6 | 35.5 | 33.0 | 2.5 ▲ |
| 0 | 3 | Max Fried | 12 | $8.7 | 31.5 | 32.0 | -0.5 ▼ |
| 0 | 3 | Aaron Nola | 13 | $6.7 | 31.0 | 30.5 | 0.5 ▲ |
| 1 | 3 | Alek Manoah | 14 | $3.4 | 30.0 | 30.0 | 0.0 ▬ |
| -1 | 3 | Kevin Gausman | 15 | $3.7 | 30.0 | 30.0 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 0 | 3 | Logan Webb | 16 | $4.0 | 28.0 | 27.0 | 1.0 ▲ |
| 0 | 3 | Dylan Cease | 18 | $7.9 | 28.0 | 26.5 | 1.5 ▲ |
| 7 | 3 | Clayton Kershaw | 17 | $6.2 | 27.0 | 22.0 | 5.0 ▲ |
| 0 | 3 | Julio Urias | 19 | $4.7 | 26.0 | 25.0 | 1.0 ▲ |
| 0 | 3 | Robbie Ray | 20 | $3.1 | 25.0 | 25.0 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 1 | 4 | Shane Bieber | 21 | $2.9 | 23.5 | 24.0 | -0.5 ▼ |
| 3 | 4 | Yu Darvish | 22 | $6.2 | 23.0 | 20.0 | 3.0 ▲ |
| 0 | 4 | Nestor Cortes | 23 | $4.2 | 21.5 | 19.5 | 2.0 ▲ |
| 4 | 4 | Tony Gonsolin | 24 | $3.5 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 2 | 4 | Chris Bassitt | 25 | $3.7 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 10 | 4 | Luis Castillo | 26 | $7.7 | 18.0 | 14.5 | 3.5 ▲ |
| 2 | 5 | Cristian Javier | 27 | $1.1 | 17.5 | 18.0 | -0.5 ▼ |
| 2 | 5 | Spencer Strider | 28 | $9.8 | 17.5 | 17.5 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 2 | 5 | Charlie Morton | 29 | $3.0 | 16.0 | 16.0 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 2 | 5 | Kyle Wright | 30 | $1.5 | 16.0 | 16.0 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 2 | 5 | Frankie Montas | 31 | $0.7 | 15.5 | 15.5 | 0.0 ▬ |
| -6 | 5 | Lucas Giolito | 32 | $6.1 | 15.0 | 19.5 | -4.5 ▼ |
| 5 | 5 | Framber Valdez | 33 | $7.1 | 14.5 | 14.0 | 0.5 ▲ |
| 1 | 5 | Pablo Lopez | 34 | -$0.2 | 14.5 | 14.5 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 17 | 6 | Jon Gray | 35 | $5.5 | 14.0 | 8.5 | 5.5 ▲ |
| 5 | 6 | Luis Garcia | 36 | $2.1 | 14.0 | 10.0 | 4.0 ▲ |
| N/A | 6 | Nathan Eovaldi | 37 | -$0.8 | 13.0 | N/A | N/A |
| -1 | 6 | Logan Gilbert | 38 | $3.2 | 13.0 | 14.5 | -1.5 ▼ |
| 3 | 6 | Jordan Montgomery | 39 | $3.6 | 13.0 | 10.0 | 3.0 ▲ |
| N/A | 6 | Andrew Heaney | 40 | N/A | 13.0 | N/A | N/A |
| 23 | 6 | Triston McKenzie | 41 | $7.3 | 12.0 | 7.0 | 5.0 ▲ |
| 4 | 6 | Zac Gallen | 42 | $1.8 | 12.0 | 9.5 | 2.5 ▲ |
| -4 | 6 | Sean Manaea | 43 | -$0.3 | 11.5 | 14.0 | -2.5 ▼ |
| 1 | 6 | Joe Ryan | 44 | $3.4 | 11.0 | 9.5 | 1.5 ▲ |
| -2 | 6 | Jose Berrios | 45 | $1.8 | 11.0 | 10.0 | 1.0 ▲ |
| -6 | 6 | Lance Lynn | 46 | $1.9 | 11.0 | 12.5 | -1.5 ▼ |
| 3 | 6 | Tyler Anderson | 47 | $5.4 | 10.5 | 9.0 | 1.5 ▲ |
| -4 | 7 | Nick Lodolo | 48 | $2.4 | 9.0 | 9.5 | -0.5 ▼ |
| -2 | 7 | Sonny Gray | 49 | $2.9 | 9.0 | 9.5 | -0.5 ▼ |
| -2 | 7 | Tyler Mahle | 50 | -$0.6 | 9.0 | 9.5 | -0.5 ▼ |
| 7 | 7 | Taijuan Walker | 51 | $6.4 | 8.5 | 7.5 | 1.0 ▲ |
| 7 | 7 | Alex Wood | 52 | $5.8 | 8.5 | 7.0 | 1.5 ▲ |
| 7 | 7 | Mike Clevinger | 53 | $3.0 | 8.5 | 7.0 | 1.5 ▲ |
| -3 | 7 | Patrick Sandoval | 54 | $4.6 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 0.0 ▬ |
| -2 | 7 | Jose Urquidy | 55 | $3.6 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 12 | 7 | Miles Mikolas | 56 | $0.2 | 8.0 | 5.5 | 2.5 ▲ |
| -3 | 7 | Michael Kopech | 57 | -$2.5 | 7.5 | 8.0 | -0.5 ▼ |
| -3 | 7 | Carlos Carrasco | 58 | $3.4 | 7.5 | 8.0 | -0.5 ▼ |
| -3 | 7 | George Kirby | 59 | -$0.2 | 7.5 | 8.0 | -0.5 ▼ |
| -3 | 7 | Aaron Ashby | 60 | $1.1 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 1 | 7 | Tarik Skubal | 61 | $3.4 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 3 | 7 | Adam Wainwright | 62 | $0.1 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 4 | 7 | Blake Snell | 63 | $3.4 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 11 | 7 | Martin Perez | 64 | $1.4 | 6.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 ▲ |
| -4 | 8 | Alex Cobb | 65 | $6.7 | 6.0 | 7.0 | -1.0 ▼ |
| -17 | 8 | Nick Pivetta | 66 | -$1.1 | 6.0 | 9.0 | -3.0 ▼ |
| 12 | 8 | Reid Detmers | 67 | $5.2 | 6.0 | 2.5 | 3.5 ▲ |
| -5 | 8 | Jameson Taillon | 68 | -$0.4 | 6.0 | 7.0 | -1.0 ▼ |
| N/A | 8 | Braxton Garrett | 69 | $4.9 | 5.5 | N/A | N/A |
| 0 | 8 | Eric Lauer | 70 | $1.7 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 0 | 8 | Josiah Gray | 71 | -$0.6 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 0 | 8 | Keegan Thompson | 72 | $5.1 | 4.0 | 3.5 | 0.5 ▲ |
| 0 | 8 | Marcus Stroman | 73 | $4.0 | 4.0 | 1.5 | 2.5 ▲ |
| -5 | 9 | Tyler Wells | 74 | $3.2 | 4.0 | 5.0 | -1.0 ▼ |
| -1 | 9 | Noah Syndergaard | 75 | $2.7 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 4 | 9 | Drew Rasmussen | 76 | $4.1 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 1 | 9 | Hunter Greene | 77 | $1.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 3 | 9 | Ross Stripling | 78 | $3.7 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 3 | 9 | Trevor Rogers | 79 | $2.9 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 ▲ |
| N/A | 10 | Merrill Kelly | 80 | $7.3 | 1.0 | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | 10 | Jeffrey Springs | 81 | -$0.4 | 1.0 | N/A | N/A |
| 4 | 10 | Johnny Cueto | 82 | $2.2 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 4 | 10 | Kutter Crawford | 83 | $6.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 5 | 10 | Jose Quintana | 84 | $7.3 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 ▬ |
| -8 | 10 | Paul Blackburn | 85 | -$0.9 | 1.0 | 2.5 | -1.5 ▼ |
| -1 | 10 | Corey Kluber | 86 | $6.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 ▬ |
| N/A | 10 | Ranger Suarez | 87 | $4.0 | 1.0 | N/A | N/A |
| -5 | 10 | Kyle Gibson | 88 | -$2.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 ▬ |
| -1 | 10 | Brady Singer | 89 | $6.1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 ▬ |
| -6 | 10 | Cal Quantrill | 90 | $1.2 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 ▬ |
| N/A | 10 | Madison Bumgarner | 91 | $4.3 | 1.0 | N/A | N/A |
| -2 | 10 | Justin Steele | 92 | $2.5 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 ▬ |
| -1 | 10 | Zach Plesac | 93 | $4.7 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 ▬ |
| -1 | 10 | Chris Flexen | 94 | $3.3 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 ▬ |
| N/A | 10 | Mitch Keller | 95 | $4.7 | 1.0 | N/A | N/A |
| -1 | 10 | Jake Odorizzi | 96 | $1.6 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 ▬ |
| -1 | 10 | Brad Keller | 97 | $2.3 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 ▬ |
| N/A | 10 | Jakob Junis | 98 | $0.1 | 1.0 | N/A | N/A |
| -1 | 10 | Spenser Watkins | 99 | $5.7 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 ▬ |
| -1 | 10 | Mitch White | 100 | $1.4 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 ▬ |
| -10 | 10 | Graham Ashcraft | 101 | $0.9 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 ▬ |
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