We have reached the starting pitching portion of our early rankings. The starting pitcher rankings will have two parts. Part one will consist of 1-50 and part two 51-100. Those that take things too seriously may want to check into some updated rankings closer to January, as a lot will change with the positional rankings this offseason. Many players are looking for new homes this offseason, and they may not sign with their new teams for quite some time.
The starting pitching position is peculiar this season. It is a very talented position, but that talent pool seems to dry up pretty quickly. Those doing early drafts have noticed starting pitching fly off the boards. After the top 30-40, some may say less, the pitchers on the board are very risky or flawed depending on your approach. Deciphering between the latest rankings will be key this draft season.
Once all the positional rankings are released, I will post a google sheet with all positions on one page (like last year). Make sure to keep a lookout for all updates as the rankings will be more fluid than usual this season; if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me on Twitter (@bdentrek).
Starting Pitcher Rankings PT 1
| 51- Kevin Gausman |
| 52- Tyler Mahle |
| 53- Dallas Keuchel |
| 54- Andrew Heaney |
| 55- Michael Pineda |
| 56- Jameson Taillon |
| 57- Ian Anderson |
| 58- German Marquez |
| 59- John Means |
| 60- Zach Eflin |
| 61- Sixto Sanchez |
| 62- Tristan McKenzie |
| 63- Marcus Stroman |
| 64- Eduardo Rodriguez |
| 65- Justus Sheffield |
| 66- Griffin Canning |
| 67- Dustin May |
| 68- Mike Soroka |
| 69- Brady Singer |
| 70- Mike Minor |
| 71- Zach Davies |
| 72- Spencer Turnbull |
| 73- Drew Smyly |
| 74- Dane Dunning |
| 75- Mitch Keller |
| 76- Jordan Montgomery |
| 77- Deivi Garcia |
| 78- Yusei Kikuchi |
| 79- Jake Odorizzi |
| 80- Michael Lorenzen |
| 81- Ryan Yarbrough |
| 82- Michael Kopech |
| 83- Masahiro Tanaka |
| 84- Sean Manaea |
| 85- Elieser Hernandez |
| 86- Nate Eovaldi |
| 87- Brad Keller |
| 88- James Paxton |
| 89- Kwang Hyun Kim |
| 90- Robbie Ray |
| 91- Tejay Antone |
| 92- David Peterson |
| 93- Cal Quantrill |
| 94- Adbert Alzolay |
| 95- Josh Lindblom |
| 96- Matthew Boyd |
| 97- Dylan Cease |
| 98- Caleb Smith |
| 99- Tarik Skubal |
| 100- Seth Lugo |
As mentioned in part 1 of the rankings, the starting pitching position gets quite murky the later you get in the draft. I have moved players around this set of rankings many times already and will likely make many more changes as the season approaches. There are some young arms, veteran arms, and some overall question marks scattered around these rankings. Players are returning from injury like James Paxton and Eduardo Rodriguez, which leaves questions. I did not even add Noah Syndergaard or Chris Sale until there is better information on their returns. Many young arms like Kopech, Singer, Sixto, McKenzie, and more have many intrigues yet a lot of questions marks. There is a reason pitchers are flying off draft boards. Unless you can navigate this minefield to perfection, you will likely join the masses in the early drafting situation. Until then, we will continue to dig in and tweak the rankings. Any questions, let me know.