Baseball season is upon us. Opening Day is set for Thursday, March 30, which means it is time to start firing up redraft fantasy baseball leagues. We are doing a series of rankings articles, and this one will focus on starting pitchers.
League formats come in all shapes and sizes, but for our rankings, we are assuming you get nine pitcher spots mixed between starters and relievers. This means that you need to have some strategy figured out when you approach the position. Typically, I try to alternate position players with pitchers, but depending on your format, you may want to lean more toward starters versus a mix with relievers.
The top player overall, and the top pitcher, for my rankings, is Shohei Ohtani. He is coming off a dominant World Baseball Classic and continues to look like arguably the best baseball player in the world. It is important to know how your league is handling Ohtani. If you join a random like on ESPN or Yahoo, you will draft Ohtani once, and he will have SP and DH eligibility. Your home league may split him into Ohtani, the pitcher and Ohtani, the hitter.
You will find familiar names at the top of the rankings. The reigning Cy Young winners, Sandy Alcantara and Justin Verlander, are in the top six. Spencer Strider is starting the season as both a starter and reliever on ESPN.com, but the reliever positional availability could drop off as he begins the season.
Nestor Cortes is likely to miss the start of the season but should get back to the mound fairly quickly. This has just lowered his ranking and made him more valuable in the middle rounds. If you are in a bind, think about which pitchers are likely to get run support. Even if their ERA suffers from giving up some runs each appearance, if they have upside to getting that important win stat, it could be worth it.
Late-round pitchers that I like this year include Grayson Rodriguez, Patrick Sandoval, Dustin May, Merrill Kelly and Carlos Carrasco.
2023 fantasy baseball rankings: Top 101 starting pitchers
2023 Fantasy Baseball Top 101 Starting Pitcher Rankings
| Rank | Player Name | Position | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Player Name | Position | Team |
| 1 | Shohei Ohtani | SP/DH | LAA |
| 2 | Corbin Burnes | SP | MIL |
| 3 | Sandy Alcantara | SP | MIA |
| 4 | Gerrit Cole | SP | NYY |
| 5 | Max Scherzer | SP | NYM |
| 6 | Justin Verlander | SP | NYM |
| 7 | Aaron Nola | SP | PHI |
| 8 | Shane McClanahan | SP | TB |
| 9 | Zack Wheeler | SP | PHI |
| 10 | Brandon Woodruff | SP | MIL |
| 11 | Spencer Strider | SP/RP | ATL |
| 12 | Julio Urias | SP | LAD |
| 13 | Dylan Cease | SP | CWS |
| 14 | Shane Bieber | SP | CLE |
| 15 | Jacob deGrom | SP | TEX |
| 16 | Alek Manoah | SP | TOR |
| 17 | Luis Castillo | SP | SEA |
| 18 | Max Fried | SP | ATL |
| 19 | Zac Gallen | SP | ARI |
| 20 | Kevin Gausman | SP | TOR |
| 21 | Carlos Rodon | SP | NYY |
| 22 | Yu Darvish | SP | SD |
| 23 | Cristian Javier | SP | HOU |
| 24 | Framber Valdez | SP | HOU |
| 25 | Triston McKenzie | SP | CLE |
| 26 | Luis Severino | SP | NYY |
| 27 | George Kirby | SP | SEA |
| 28 | Robbie Ray | SP | SEA |
| 29 | Hunter Greene | SP | CIN |
| 30 | Logan Gilbert | SP | SEA |
| 31 | Logan Webb | SP | SF |
| 32 | Joe Musgrove | SP | SD |
| 33 | Nick Lodolo | SP | CIN |
| 34 | Nestor Cortes | SP | NYY |
| 35 | Blake Snell | SP | SD |
| 36 | Lucas Giolito | SP | CWS |
| 37 | Clayton Kershaw | SP | LAD |
| 38 | Joe Ryan | SP | MIN |
| 39 | Lance Lynn | SP | CWS |
| 40 | Freddy Peralta | SP | MIL |
| 41 | Jesus Luzardo | SP | MIA |
| 42 | Kyle Wright | SP | ATL |
| 43 | Tyler Glasnow | SP | TB |
| 44 | Chris Bassitt | SP | TOR |
| 45 | Luis Garcia | SP | HOU |
| 46 | Pablo Lopez | SP | MIN |
| 47 | Reid Detmers | SP | LAA |
| 48 | Jordan Montgomery | SP | STL |
| 49 | Tyler Anderson | SP | LAA |
| 50 | Charlie Morton | SP | ATL |
| 51 | Chris Sale | SP | BOS |
| 52 | Kodai Senga | SP | NYM |
| 53 | Hunter Brown | SP | HOU |
| 54 | Jeffrey Springs | SP/RP | TB |
| 55 | Tony Gonsolin | SP | LAD |
| 56 | Drew Rasmussen | SP | TB |
| 57 | Jose Berrios | SP | TOR |
| 58 | Brady Singer | SP | KC |
| 59 | Tyler Mahle | SP | MIN |
| 60 | Jon Gray | SP | TEX |
| 61 | Grayson Rodriguez | SP | BAL |
| 62 | Patrick Sandoval | SP | LAA |
| 63 | Sonny Gray | SP | MIN |
| 64 | Dustin May | SP | LAD |
| 65 | Edward Cabrera | SP | MIA |
| 66 | Alex Cobb | SP | SF |
| 67 | Jack Flaherty | SP | STL |
| 68 | Andrew Heaney | SP | TEX |
| 69 | Miles Mikolas | SP | STL |
| 70 | Trevor Rogers | SP | MIA |
| 71 | Merrill Kelly | SP | ARI |
| 72 | MacKenzie Gore | SP | WSH |
| 73 | Carlos Carrasco | SP | NYM |
| 74 | Nathan Eovaldi | SP | TEX |
| 75 | Jameson Taillon | SP | CHC |
| 76 | Ranger Suarez | SP | PHI |
| 77 | Eric Lauer | SP | MIL |
| 78 | Jose Urquidy | SP | HOU |
| 79 | Marcus Stroman | SP | CHC |
| 80 | Lance McCullers Jr. | SP | HOU |
| 81 | Bailey Ober | SP | MIN |
| 82 | Michael Kopech | SP | CWS |
| 83 | Michael Wacha | SP | SD |
| 84 | Roansy Contreras | SP | PIT |
| 85 | Justin Steele | SP | CHC |
| 86 | Johnny Cueto | SP | MIA |
| 87 | Jared Shuster | SP | ATL |
| 88 | Drey Jameson | SP | ARI |
| 89 | Kenta Maeda | SP | MIN |
| 90 | Adam Wainwright | SP | STL |
| 91 | Hayden Wesneski | SP | CHC |
| 92 | Mike Clevinger | SP | CWS |
| 93 | Taijuan Walker | SP | PHI |
| 94 | Martin Perez | SP | TEX |
| 95 | Noah Syndergaard | SP | LAD |
| 96 | Sean Manaea | SP | SF |
| 97 | Mike Soroka | SP | ATL |
| 98 | Eduardo Rodriguez | SP | DET |
| 99 | Shintaro Fujinami | SP | OAK |
| 100 | Brandon Pfaadt | SP | ARI |
| 101 | Josiah Gray | SP | WSH |