Fantasy baseball rankings 2022: top 100 starting pitchers

Accepting enormous risk is not an easy thing to stomach in fantasy baseball, but it’s necessary when trying to build a strong staff of starting pitchers. Just consider some of the names in the top 10 below.

I have Jacob deGrom at No. 2, even though he didn’t pitch after July last season because of forearm/elbow problems. The word is he’s fine now, and if he is indeed fine, deGrom is the best pitcher in the sport, no questions asked. Maybe putting him at No. 2 is optimistic, but his ceiling far surpasses any else’s — including Gerrit Cole — and the inherent risk involved is not that much greater than that which resides with any top-end starter.

Max Scherzer (No. 4) is 37 years old and has made trips to the injured list in each of the past two full seasons. Zack Wheeler (No. 7), after throwing 213.1 innings in 2021, experienced some shoulder soreness this winter which has him a little behind schedule in Spring Training. Shane Bieber (No. 8) missed more than three months last year due to a shoulder injury. As you go further down these rankings, you’ll see other big names who are even more injury-prone and/or whom I just don’t quite believe in any longer.

But winning in fantasy baseball requires a leap of faith when it comes to starting pitching. How to keep an ace pitcher healthy is a query that all MLB franchises are still trying to answer. No strategy seems 100 percent dependable; you just have to accept the high likelihood of injury that comes with repeatedly performing a highly athletic skill that generates a ton of force on the body.

Since a physical breakdown is a possible outcome for any pitcher, the best course of action when building your starting staff is to assess that risk on a case-by-case basis while always giving a little more weight to what could happen if their body holds up.

Here are my top 100 starting pitcher rankings for 2022.

2022 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Top 100 SPs