2015 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Starting Pitchers (SP)

As with our first base, second base, third base, shortstop, catcher, and outfield fantasy baseball rankings, our writers submitted rankings for Starting Pitchers in 2015, and we have calculated composite scores to showcase RotoBaller's site average. Rankings from one person represent just one opinion, so the goal of these composite fantasy baseball rankings is to give you a good sense of how we as a site view these players. We'll be releasing the rest of our positional rankings this weekend before updating them in February and finalizing them in March.  Enjoy!

2015 Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitcher Rankings

Brad Johnson (Lead MLB Editor)

So, I'm goo goo for Carlos Carrasco. He passed every statistical and visual test for an ace late last season. The only wrinkle is his extraordinarily short track record. He has one of the top repertoires in the league, pumps 95 mph heat, heaps strikeouts, and can limit walks. It's all there. If this was a (recently) hyped prospect, everyone would be buying a top 10 ranking.

Kyle Braver (MLB Writer)

As a Giants fan, it pains me to say this, but Madison Bumgarner is simply not a top-10 fantasy pitcher. While he has all the talent in the world, talent we were privileged enough to witness first hand, he lacks the track record of pitchers like Adam Wainwright or Jordan Zimmerman, the raw strikeout potential of Yu Darvish, or the eye-wateringly sharp stuff of the once again healthy Matt Harvey. My ranking of Bumgarner has less to do with his own talent, and more to do with the wealth of capable arms surrounding him.

I will admit that I am also concerned about the number of sliders he throws each season. With Tommy John surgeries on the rise, it makes me nervous to learn that any pitcher has thrown over 1,100 sliders in each of the last three seasons. Bumgarner's never been anything but healthy, but I'd be lying if I said that one statistic didn't weigh heavily in the back of my mind.

Harris Yudin (MLB Writer and Editor)

I am definitely not as high on Corey Kluber as most other people are. I don't fully buy into his emergence from nowhere at age 27 to become an elite starting pitcher one year later. That's not to say a pitcher cannot find his form late in his career, but it doesn't happen often, and I am not willing to spend a high pick or a lot of money in an auction on someone in his situation.

Henderson Alvarez is nowhere near the strikeout artist that Kluber is, but he had a similarly surprising sub-3.00 ERA year. The difference, aside from the strikeouts, is that Alvarez began to show signs of success at age 21. Look for Alvarez to take another step forward and fall well below where he is deserving of being drafted.  He's a great late rounds starting pitcher sleeper.

Kyle Bishop (MLB Writer and Editor)

I ranked Johnny Cueto 22nd, nine spots below his composite rank. I’ve never owned him, and I don’t plan to start this year. Don’t get me wrong; his talent is undeniable. But 2014 screams career year, and I’m not willing to pay the sticker price. The jump in strikeouts wasn’t really supported by any change in his swinging strike rate, and though he has a track record of outperforming his peripherals, I still worry about regression. Add to that the injury history and the career-high workload, and it’s hard to see value there.

Right below Cueto in my rankings is Alex Wood, nine spots higher than his overall rank.  In his first full season as a starter, Wood whiffed a batter an inning and lowered his walk rate. He showed impressive development on his curve, giving him the third pitch he needed to succeed in the rotation. The only things keeping him out of my top 20 are his short track record and the abundance of dominant pitchers in the league right now.

Jeff Kahntroff (MLB Writer)

Phil Hughes is ranked as the 37th pitcher, essentially the same as Gio Gonzalez, but I don’t understand why.  Hughes pitches for the Twins, and the White Sox added Melky and Laroche, the Tigers added Yoenis, and the Indians added Moss.  Gio’s on the best team in a division that has traded away Justin Upton, Jason Heyward, and Evan Gattis, among others.  Second, Hughes’s numbers were supported last year by what would seem to be an unsustainable walk rate (0.69/9) and a career low HR/FB rate (6.2%).  Steamer projects him at 12-11, 3.91 ERA, with 7.48 Ks per nine.  Gio, on the other hand, has consistently struck out about a batter an inning, and he has had a lower ERA and FIP than Hughes historically.  Gio will continue to walk batters, but his strikeouts, wins, and ERA should make him much more valuable than Hughes.

Josh Leonard (MLB Writer)

Brad J, I don't mean to be picking on you... but Carlos Carrasco at 5? I understand if you like to use FIP and his high-end repertoire to project him as a bigtime breakout candidate, but ranking him over Chris Sale and Stephen Strasburg? Bold, my friend, very bold.

But hey, you clearly got your point across that you are high on him. You never know, the Indians did exponentially improve their defense at SS with Lindor over the worthless Asdrubal Cabrera. It is believable that he takes a giant step forward after he finished 2014 as arguably the 30th best arm. To me, he’s in Lance Lynn territory. It will be tough to expect such huge success for Carrasco over a full season. As a matter of fact, I bet you a sandwich Lynn finishes the year ranked ahead of Carrasco.  It’s a risky bet as Carrasco projects to have a lower FIP and higher K/9 and plays for a sneaky good Indians team, but you have to remember Carlos Carrasco has never even pitched more than 134 innings in a season.

I also think my fellow RotoBallers underrated Julio Teheran and overrated Jon Lester, but I’ve been drinking boxed wine too heavily to continue with this. Did I mention I love to rank things? Top 3 sandwiches I make for lunch? 3) Roast Beef with cheddar, mayo, lettuce and tomato, 2) Ham and swiss with dijon and pickles (dill or go home) and 1) Chicken Salad with red hot, lettuce and tomato.

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Alex Roberts (RotoBaller Co-Founder)

In our outfield rankings, I explained why my fantasy baseball drafts will be top heavy with 1B and OF. Ranking the top 100 starting pitchers and seeing the incredible depth at this position did nothing to dissuade me from this strategy. Imagine filling a roster entirely of OF where you don't have worry about other positions. Now imagine each year you could wait until 40 OFs are off the board and still draft a league leading OF. Impossible right? Not with starting pitching.

If you didn't draft a starter in 2014 until 40 were off the board, your rotation could have been comprised of these starters (SP draft slot, overall draft slot): Johnny Cueto (41, 166), Sonny Gray (43, 168), Corey Kluber (61, 213), Alex Wood (62, 228), Tyson Ross (69, 253), Ian Kennedy (70, 258), Scott Kazmir (73, 264), Jose Quintana (76, 269), Phil Hughes (107, 384), Henderson Alvarez (120, 408), Garret Richards (133, 442), Brandon McCarthy (136, 451). I owned Richards, Kazmir and Hughes on most of my teams last year, and hitting with arms like that enabled me to use my top picks all on hitters while maybe drafting one tier-2 SP in rounds 6-7 to hold down my staff.  With that said, here are a couple guys I really like this year who can be drafted pretty late:

Like Kyle Bishop, I really like Alex Wood in 2015. He was one of the NL's most effective pitchers after he regained his rotation spot in June. With two above average off speed pitches, and a K/BB ratio above 3 vs. lefties and righties, there is a very high floor and ceiling here for 2015. His wins will likely be down with the Braves' rebuild on offense, but the prospect of a sub-3 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 9 K/9 and above average control makes Wood an incredibly appealing breakout candidate in 2015. If you can draft him as the 25th-30th SP off the board, you will be getting a steal of a deal.

Gerrit Cole is another young power arm who I like more than the consensus RotoBaller ranking. He's an elite talent who had a solid debut in 2013, flashing expert control (2.1 BB/9) but without the elite strikeout stuff many predicted. In 2014 he lost a couple months with shoulder and lat injuries, but he was absolutely dominant upon his return with a 10.3/1.9 K/BB ratio, and he was 5th in the entire league in K%-BB%. If I can draft a pitcher with Cole's pedigree, upside, and great 2nd half as the 28th pitcher off the board, I'll do it everytime. He has top 15 SP potential this year.

(Rankers are: BJ = Brad Johnson, AR = Alex Roberts, KBr = Kyle Braver, KBi = Kyle Bishop, JL = Josh Leonard, JK = Jeff Kahntroff, HY = Harris Yudin, JB = Justin Berglund)

2015 RotoBaller Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitcher (SP) Rankings