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Admirers of starting pitching assemble, as it is once again time for my weekly top 101 SP Baller Ranks breakdown to hit the press. We've survived the offseason, enjoyed our draft days, and now it is time for battle. Here we go with the first 2023 edition of my weekly Starting Pitcher Baller Ranks!
This will be a skinnier version of the usual being the first edition of the season. We are not here to overreact outside of Mr. Springs in Tampa being the 2023 AL Cy Young winner, am I right? There isn't much data to chew on just yet and I'm not going to present a bunch of small-sample stats.
These ranks are geared towards traditional 5x5 leagues and I typically exclude most injured SPs, lest a return is imminent. However, this is the first run, so I'll try to loosely peg where I value injured arms amidst the fray. For now, let's dive into my top 101 SPs and be sure we're starting strong.
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Top 101 Starting Pitchers for Fantasy Baseball - Week 2
| Tier | Player | Rank | $ | Notes |
| 1 | Gerrit Cole | 1 | 45.0 | Ace shoved with a 50% K rate in the opener |
| 1 | Corbin Burnes | 2 | 43.5 | Ugly debut, can't overreact to one outing |
| 1 | Sandy Alcantara | 3 | 43.0 | Shaky first start, CGSHO next start. Voila |
| 1 | Jacob deGrom | 4 | 42.0 | Jumped on in the first start but 7/0 K/BB at least |
| 2 | Spencer Strider | 5 | 41.0 | Dominated WSH to kick off 2023 |
| 2 | Shohei Ohtani | 6 | 41.0 | Carried over WBC excellence but LAA let him down...again |
| 2 | Aaron Nola | 7 | 39.0 | Another ace hit hard early |
| 2 | Brandon Woodruff | 8 | 39.0 | Nice to see early returns, no finger numbness |
| 2 | Shane McClanahan | 9 | 37.0 | |
| 2 | Zack Wheeler | 10 | 34.5 | |
| 2 | Max Scherzer | 11 | 34.0 | Tagged a few times by MIL in the second start, it happens |
| 3 | Shane Bieber | 12 | 33.0 | |
| 3 | Cristian Javier | 13 | 32.0 | |
| 3 | Luis Castillo | 14 | 31.0 | Looks fantastic through two turns, can be an SP1 |
| 3 | Dylan Cease | 15 | 31.0 | Nice to see plus command in the first start of '23 |
| 3 | Julio Urias | 16 | 30.0 | |
| 3 | Kevin Gausman | 17 | 28.0 | |
| 4 | Yu Darvish | 18 | 26.0 | |
| 4 | Alek Manoah | 19 | 24.0 | Ran into STL buzzsaw, hold your breath |
| 4 | Framber Valdez | 20 | 23.0 | |
| 4 | Zac Gallen | 21 | 23.0 | |
| 4 | Nestor Cortes | 22 | 23.0 | Last year's fun continued with W in the first start |
| 4 | Justin Verlander | 23 | 22.0 | IL |
| 4 | George Kirby | 24 | 22.0 | |
| 4 | Logan Webb | 25 | 21.0 | If more Ks are here to stay, then look out |
| 4 | Hunter Greene | 26 | 20.0 | High volatility with big power, small command |
| 4 | Blake Snell | 27 | 20.0 | Another big-K arm but working deep is tricky |
| 4 | Joe Musgrove | 28 | 20.0 | Should be back soon, draft discount was nice |
| 4 | Clayton Kershaw | 29 | 20.0 | Vintage Kersh on display w/ 9/0 K/BB |
| 4 | Carlos Rodon | 30 | 19.0 | IL |
| 4 | Logan Gilbert | 31 | 19.0 | Ghost fork discipline looked solid |
| 5 | Max Fried | 32 | 19.0 | IL |
| 5 | Joe Ryan | 33 | 18.0 | Ramped-up repertoire should yield SP3 returns |
| 5 | Chris Sale | 34 | 17.0 | Some game-action rust is understandable |
| 5 | Freddy Peralta | 35 | 17.0 | |
| 5 | Jeffrey Springs | 36 | 17.0 | Toyed with Tigers, 12 Ks! More (Devil) Ray magic |
| 5 | Lance Lynn | 37 | 16.5 | |
| 5 | Robbie Ray | 38 | 16.0 | IL |
| 5 | Nick Lodolo | 39 | 15.5 | GABP is cruel but K upside floats him like Greene |
| 5 | Luis Severino | 40 | 15.0 | IL |
| 5 | Jesus Luzardo | 41 | 14.5 | Solid first outing but could improve efficiency |
| 5 | Pablo Lopez | 42 | 14.5 | |
| 6 | Kyle Wright | 43 | 14.0 | IL |
| 6 | Drew Rasmussen | 44 | 14.0 | An efficient 7/0 K/BB in the first-start win, love him and Springs |
| 6 | Dustin May | 45 | 14.0 | A strong statement to open 2023 |
| 6 | Kodai Senga | 46 | 13.5 | Settled down after a tough first, whiffs are translating |
| 6 | Chris Bassitt | 47 | 13.0 | He needs to find the missing velo and fast |
| 6 | Charlie Morton | 48 | 13.0 | Wasn't fooling any STL bats, monitor form in the second start |
| 6 | Lucas Giolito | 49 | 11.0 | |
| 6 | Luis Garcia | 50 | 11.0 | |
| 6 | Jordan Montgomery | 51 | 10.5 | |
| 6 | Reid Detmers | 52 | 10.5 | Must iron out the command but the jump in raw stuff is juicy |
| 7 | Brady Singer | 53 | 10.0 | |
| 7 | Patrick Sandoval | 54 | 10.0 | |
| 7 | Jon Gray | 55 | 10.0 | |
| 7 | Tyler Glasnow | 56 | 9.5 | IL |
| 7 | Andrew Heaney | 57 | 9.0 | Harsh first go in '23, some may be dropping |
| 7 | Nathan Eovaldi | 58 | 8.5 | |
| 7 | Alex Cobb | 59 | 8.0 | |
| 7 | Miles Mikolas | 60 | 8.0 | A poor opening schedule could create a buy window |
| 7 | Grayson Rodriguez | 61 | 8.0 | Set to join the rotation after Bradish injury |
| 7 | Hunter Brown | 62 | 8.0 | Couldn't put away DET bats, and mistakes punished |
| 7 | Tony Gonsolin | 63 | 7.0 | IL |
| 7 | Sonny Gray | 64 | 6.0 | |
| 7 | Tyler Mahle | 65 | 6.0 | Good form in the opener, 7/1 K/BB |
| 8 | Triston McKenzie | 66 | 6.0 | IL |
| 8 | Marcus Stroman | 67 | 5.5 | Cruised to opening win, more Ks w/ movement |
| 8 | Justin Steele | 68 | 5.0 | |
| 8 | Tyler Anderson | 69 | 5.0 | Came out firing with the same low ratio, low Ks |
| 8 | Graham Ashcraft | 70 | 5.0 | Looked great in the first turn, though it was PIT |
| 8 | Edward Cabrera | 71 | 4.5 | |
| 8 | Jack Flaherty | 72 | 4.5 | Survived low velo, horrid control in the opener |
| 8 | Merrill Kelly | 73 | 4.5 | |
| 8 | Carlos Carrasco | 74 | 4.5 | Didn't have command of the zone |
| 8 | Kenta Maeda | 75 | 4.5 | Suddenly sharp command after poor spring |
| 8 | Jose Berrios | 76 | 4.0 | Outside the circle of trust, been a while since flashes of ceiling |
| 8 | Eric Lauer | 77 | 4.0 | |
| 8 | Trevor Rogers | 78 | 3.5 | |
| 8 | Hayden Wesneski | 79 | 3.5 | Struggled at GABP, and wasn't sharp in the zone |
| 8 | David Peterson | 80 | 3.5 | Should carry rotation slot for a while |
| 8 | Garrett Whitlock | 81 | 3.0 | IL |
| 8 | Jameson Taillon | 82 | 3.0 | |
| 8 | Jose Urquidy | 83 | 3.0 | |
| 9 | Michael Kopech | 84 | 2.5 | Served up HR Derby to SF, must prove himself next time |
| 9 | Ross Stripling | 85 | 2.5 | |
| 9 | Roansy Contreras | 86 | 2.5 | |
| 9 | Martin Perez | 87 | 2.5 | |
| 9 | Noah Syndergaard | 88 | 2.5 | Still can't hold on runners but looked okay otherwise |
| 9 | Lance McCullers Jr. | 89 | 2.0 | IL |
| 9 | Eduardo Rodriguez | 90 | 2.0 | |
| 9 | MacKenzie Gore | 91 | 2.0 | |
| 9 | Steven Matz | 92 | 2.0 | |
| 9 | Clarke Schmidt | 93 | 2.0 | Hit-and-miss '23 debut, consistency will be key |
| 9 | Brayan Bello | 94 | 1.5 | Sox need to find a slot for this kid |
| 10 | Aaron Civale | 95 | 1.5 | |
| 10 | Michael Wacha | 96 | 1.5 | |
| 10 | Mike Clevinger | 97 | 1.5 | |
| 10 | Jose Suarez | 98 | 1.5 | |
| 10 | Domingo German | 99 | 1.0 | |
| 10 | Cal Quantrill | 100 | 1.0 | |
| 10 | Tanner Houck | 101 | 1.0 | Continues to struggle beyond the first time through the order |
Remember to breathe. It's barely been a week of baseball and most prior convictions were rooted in a sound thought process. A few folks definitely stunk enough to warrant some panic, but even then you're likely benching rather than dropping.
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