Top 25 starting pitcher rankings for 2021 MLB season

There’s never a bad time for fantasy baseball rankings! Make sure to bookmark this article as I will be providing weekly updates to these top-25 starting pitcher ranks throughout the 2021 MLB season. These rankings assume head-to-head categories settings.

If you’re expecting massive changes to these ranks after about a week of games, I’m sorry to disappoint you. Some didn’t have the best debut — Max Scherzer got hit hard by the Atlanta Braves — but a good rule of thumb in fantasy baseball is to not make drastic moves within the season’s first month, much less the first week. One or two average outings in April shouldn’t really change your mind on these star pitchers from how you viewed them on draft day. A few of these guys are still building up arm strength. At the very least, everyone who was in my final preseason top 20 is healthy. That’s not something to take for granted, even this early in the season, considering how injuries are wreaking havoc across baseball.

With that said, here are a few of the more notable moves I have made to this top-25 after eight days of games:

Sonny Gray is the only member of the previous top 25 who has been removed. The Phillies’ Zack Wheeler replaces him at No. 23.

Corbin Burnes got the biggest bump up, from No. 21 to No. 16. It’s hard not to be impressed with how he handled the Minnesota Twins and St. Louis Cardinals in his first two starts — 12.1 innings, two hits, no walks, 20 strikeouts. The Twins’ Jose Berrios also moved up a couple of spots, from No. 16 to. No. 14.

I’m sticking with Walker Buehler at No. 4 for now. I have really high expectations for him this year (clearly), but that first start at Colorado was a little alarming. He was fortunate to get out of there with only four hits and two runs through six innings. The Rockies hit a bunch of balls on the button.