2016 Fantasy Baseball Rankings – Starting Pitchers
2016 Fantasy Baseball Rankings – Starting Pitching Overview
2015 saw possibly the most amazing finish ever in pitching in the NL Cy Young race, and fantasy owners ate up every bit of it. That is, if you owned one of Greinke, Arrieta, or Kershaw. If not, well, it wasn’t near as fun. I watched in vain as a team that had simply rolled everyone to the top seed in the playoffs met up with a team featuring Kershaw and Arrieta in the playoffs on a two-week playoff. Three starts for each. So much for my chance at being competitive in pitching statistics.
The game has moved toward pitching for a number of years, and 2015 was certainly a whole new level of individual excellence, at least in recent history. Kershaw had 300 strikeouts, the first time a pitcher had done that since Randy Johnson in 2002. Greinke and Arrieta both posted ERAs under 1.80, the first time two pitchers did that in the same season since the infamous 1968 season that caused pitching mounds to be lowered, which was highlighted by Bob Gibson‘s remarkable 1.12 ERA. All that success, and Kershaw led the league with 232 2/3 innings, the lowest number a league leader has had since the strike shortened 1994-1995 seasons. So while pitchers are putting up numbers of success we’ve not seen in years, the best pitchers are pitching less and less.
The beauty is the perfect counter to that is to grab up plenty of starting pitching, and frankly, that’s not difficult to do in the current run-scoring environment. My rankings go to 30, but I could go for at least another 50 before I’d even feel uncomfortable drafting a player on the list, let alone opening the season with the guy as a flier on my roster.
Kershaw stands alone in his own tier due to his remarkable consistency and performance. The next 4-5 guys behind him could really be put in nearly any order. Then I have two guys that are in new locations in Price and Greinke, both moving to more offensive home parks, which gives me a bit of hesitation in ranking them any higher. But when I say that the depth at the position is ridiculous, I’ll use this as an example. Jose Quintana, my #31 pitcher, put up a 2015 season with a 3.36 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, and 177 strikeouts over 206 1/3 innings. Those numbers ranked 39th in 2015 among starting pitchers, which means 38 pitchers put up better numbers than that!
2016 Fantasy Baseball Rankings – Starting Pitching Rankings
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In my rankings this year, I’ll post first my rank, then the player’s name and team, followed by the PR rank for the position in 2015, and lastly, any other positions the player will be eligible at in 2016, based on 20-game eligibility.
1. Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers, 3
2. Max Scherzer, Washington Nationals, 4
3. Chris Sale, Chicago White Sox, 11
4. Madison Bumgarner, San Francisco Giants, 7
5. Jake Arrieta, Chicago Cubs, 1
6. David Price, Boston Red Sox, 6
7. Zack Greinke, Arizona Diamondbacks, 2
8. Corey Kluber, Cleveland Indians, 14
9. Gerrit Cole, Pittsburgh Pirates, 8
10. Carlos Carrasco, Cleveland Indians, 15
11. Jacob DeGrom, New York Mets, 9
12. Jose Fernandez, Miami Marlins, 69
13. Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners, 16
14. Matt Harvey, New York Mets, 10
15. Chris Archer, Tampa Bay Rays, 13
16. Sonny Gray, Oakland Athletics, 12
17. Dallas Keuchel, Houston Astros, 5
18. Stephen Strasburg, Washington Nationals, 32
19. Cole Hamels, Texas Rangers, 21
20. Jon Lester, Chicago Cubs, 18
21. Danny Salazar, Cleveland Indians, 20
22. Michael Wacha, St. Louis Cardinals, 24
23. Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals, 100
24. Garrett Richards, Los Angeles Angels, 29
25. Johnny Cueto, San Francisco Giants, 23
26. Carlos Martinez, St. Louis Cardinals 27
27. Marcus Stroman, Toronto Blue Jays, 95
28. Tyson Ross, San Diego Padres, 33
29. Julio Teheran, Atlanta Braves, 55
30. Noah Syndergaard, New York Mets, 26
2016 Fantasy Baseball Rankings – Braves Starting Pitching Highlights
After trading Shelby Miller to Arizona, the Braves are really left with one starter that you want to own preseason in Julio Teheran. However, as is the case with young arms, keep a good eye on the development of the young staff in Atlanta because guys like Matt Wisler, Manny Banuelos, Mike Foltynewicz, and others could very quickly become fantasy relevant with a full-time starting job and their high-end talent. There are also a load of high-end prospects knocking on the door in Gwinnett and Mississippi waiting for a chance. It may not be a great year to own a Braves starter on your fantasy team, but it will be a fun season to track the progress of starters in the system for sure.
Tomahawk Take Fantasy League Announcement
Last season, the Tomahawk Take staff put together two leagues each on Yahoo and ESPN. We had a lot of fun in those leagues, and there was great participation from writers and readers alike. We’ve decided to do the same thing this year. However, we’re going to have things set up a little more ahead of time.
This season, we will have two leagues on each site again, the size of each depending on the interest in each, however, the maximum for each league will be 14, so first come, first serve until the league fills up. We will have one rotisserie league and one head-to-head league on each site. I made a mistake in setting up one league last season, and that won’t happen this year – each league will have daily add/drop moves available. If you are interested in any of the leagues, please email me at gopherben@gmail.com and indicate in your email whether you would prefer ESPN or Yahoo and whether you would prefer roto or H2H. Thanks!
Next: Braves Top 100 Prospects Updated With Offseason Additions
That’s your break down of the starting pitchers for 2016. Like it, love it, hate it? Comment below, and let’s talk about what you think for 2016!