Mid-Season Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitcher Dynasty Rankings, Prospect Rankings, Buys, and Sells (2025)

August 9, 2025

Eric Cross provides his 2025 fantasy baseball prospect and dynasty rankings for the starting pitcher position and discusses SP to buy, sell, or hold moving forward.

We finish this mid-season dynasty and prospect rankings series by climbing the mound to dive into the starting pitcher position.

As usual, pitching injuries are coming hot and heavy this season, which always causes a shake-up in rankings, both short-term and long-term. Most of the healthy aces have been studs this season, but we've had a few fall from the top few tiers, while others have risen to join the elite. We even have a few exciting rookie arms who are rocketing up rankings right now.

Below you'll find my current top-25 dynasty rankings and top-20 prospect rankings for the starting pitcher position, along with thoughts on several notable players, their values moving forward, and whether to buy, sell, or hold right now. You can check out all of the other positions here: Catcher | First Base | Second Base | Third Base | Shortstop | Outfield

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Starting Pitcher Dynasty Rankings

Tier 1: Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal, Garrett Crochet

Tier 2: Eury Perez, Hunter Brown, Logan Gilbert, Yoshinobu Yamamoto

Tier 3: Spencer Strider, Hunter Greene, Cristopher Sánchez, Spencer Schwellenbach, Jacob Misiorowski, Chase Burns, Bryan Woo

Tier 4: Logan Webb, Joe Ryan, Zack Wheeler, Cole Ragans, George Kirby, Freddy Peralta

Tier 5: Michael King, Pablo López, Max Fried, Framber Valdez, Andrew Painter, and others

Starting Pitcher Prospect Rankings

Tier 1: Jacob Misiorowski, Chase Burns, Andrew Painter, Thomas White

Tier 2: Travis Sykora, Bubba Chandler, Kade Anderson, Jonah Tong, Seth Hernandez, Trey Yesavage, Payton Tolle

Tier 3: Gage Jump, Nolan McLean, Jamie Arnold, Jarlin Susana, Robby Snelling

Tier 4: Noah Schultz, Hagen Smith, Alejandro Rosario, and others

Starting Pitchers to Buy/Sell/Hold

Travis Sykora, Washington Nationals (Buy)

Wait, Eric is recommending we buy a prospect who is having Tommy John surgery? You bet your sweet behind I am!

If Tommy John would mind his business, Travis Sykora would be the #1 pitching prospect in baseball (for me) once Chase Burns and Jacob Misiorowski graduate. In 12 starts before getting hurt, Sykora posted a stellar 1.79 ERA, 0.77 WHIP, and a ridiculous 46.7% strikeout rate. Racking up 77 strikeouts in just 45.1 innings is truly impressive, and just shows the immense upside that Sykora possesses.

The term "ace upside" is one that I don't throw around lightly, but I'll throw it around all day long when it comes to Sykora. The 21-year-old right-hander features three plus or better pitches in his upper-90s 4-seamer, slider, and changeup, all of which he can obviously miss bats with. He's also shown solid command and control.

Given the injury and the fact that we won't see him until late 2026 at the earliest, you can probably snag Sykora in your dynasty league for a discount right now. If your team doesn't appear to be a contender heading into next season, targeting Sykora via trade is a solid strategy to help with your rebuild.

Joe Boyle, Tampa Bay Rays (Buy)

While his role with the Rays has fluctuated this season, I'm looking to buy Joe Boyle in dynasty leagues. The stuff has always been really exciting with Boyle, but I didn't rank him overly highly in my prospect rankings due to notable concerns with his command and control, which led to an 18.7% walk rate in 93.1 combined innings between Triple-A and the Majors last season when he was still in the Athletics organization.

Joe Boyle's 3Ks in the 2nd pic.twitter.com/AYwgnQXFCc

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 29, 2025

The walks are still a concern, but Boyle dropped the walk rate to 11% in Triple-A this season and 10.2% so far in 27.1 innings with the Rays, where he has a 2.30 ERA and 0.88 WHIP. If Boyle can just keep the walk rate at 10% or less, he has the stuff to become an impact starter for fantasy purposes. Boyle averages 98.4 mph on his 4-seamer while mixing in a low-90s slider and splitter, both of which have a whiff rate above 37% right now.

Zebby Matthews, Minnesota Twins (Buy)

Listen, I know the surface ERA last season and this season has been tough to deal with. But those 6.69 (2024) and 5.17 (2025) ERAs are the reason why you can acquire Matthews for a reasonable price tag right now and not have to give up a ton to secure his services for your fantasy team(s).

Zebby Matthews, 2Ks in the 3rd.

6Ks thru 3. pic.twitter.com/sqVae8EFNI

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 25, 2024

We really need to look past the surface stats when it comes to Matthews. He currently has a 3.85 xERA, a 28.9% strikeout rate, and a 22.9% K-BB rate in 38.1 innings this season. Out of the 188 starting pitchers with at least 30 innings this season, Matthews has the 13th-best strikeout rate, 36th-lowest walk rate, and the 10th-best K-BB rate. Who wouldn't want to trade for a pitcher who ranks that highly in both strikeout rate and K-BB rate? Especially when they're cheap!

Matthews has been mixing five pitches this season, with both the slider and curveball having a whiff rate above 40%. However, the issue has been with Matthews' 4-seamer, cutter, and changeup, which all have a BAA of .350 or higher right now. Some tinkering and adjustments still need to happen for Matthews to fully unlock his potential, but he's a great value buy right now in dynasty leagues if you're a non-contending team this season.

To add, Matthews started throwing some sinkers last outing, which is something to keep an eye on moving forward.

Andrew Abbott, Cincinnati Reds (Sell)

Andrew Abbott is a solid arm, and having him as a sell here doesn't mean I think he's bad or not useful for fantasy. However, he's not this good. In his first 20 starts this season, Abbott has recorded a 2.34 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 7.4% walk rate, and a 21% strikeout rate. But all of his ERA indicators are between 3.49 and 4.44 this season, with both his SIERA and xFIP more than two runs higher than his surface ERA.

The two reasons why I'm recommending Abbott as a sell are likely ERA regression, along with a pedestrian strikeout rate. If/when Abbott's ERA rises close to his expected metrics, his value will take a notable hit since he can't offset the ERA rise with a high strikeout rate like Dylan Cease can, for instance.

Gavin Williams, Cleveland Guardians (Moderate Sell)

As someone who has always been a Gavin Williams guy, it pains me to put him here as a sell, but I think it's the right call. After taking a no-hitter into the ninth inning the other day, Williams now has a 2.36 ERA over his last 11 starts and a 3.17 ERA in 23 starts this season. That ERA ranks 29th in baseball among the 89 pitchers with at least 100 innings this season.

But at the same time, Williams ranks 53rd in WHIP (1.30) and 66th in K-BB rate (10.9%) while having the highest walk rate in baseball at 12.6%. Similarly to Abbott, all of Williams' ERA indicators are much higher than his surface ERA, as he currently sits with a 4.44 FIP. 4.21 xFIP, 4.52 SIERA, and a 4.07 xERA.

In general, I still like Williams. However, I've cooled on my stance that he's going to be a Top-25 SP for fantasy purposes moving forward. As mentioned, he walks too many batters, and he appears to be stuck in the 23-24% strikeout rate range. If you can use this hot stretch to sell high on Williams, I'd at least entertain offers to see what you can get back. But he's not a "get him off your team" sell.

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