Top 101 Starting Pitchers: Rest-Of-Season Rankings for Fantasy Baseball Week 3 (2026)

April 17, 2026

Nick Mariano's updated fantasy baseball starting pitcher rankings for Week 3 (2026). Baller Ranks is a weekly rankings list for the top-101 starting pitchers.

Congratulations on making it roughly 10% of the way through the 2026 fantasy baseball season! The cold weather is easing up, and the offensive output may warm up alongside it, and injuries are always keeping us on our toes. We're here to run back the FSWA-award-winning Best Baseball Series, our weekly updated "Top 101 Starting Pitchers", where my weekly Starting Pitcher Baller Ranks help give you the tools to win it all.

Readers will find my SP thoughts with tiered ranks (the tiers matter more than individual ranks), complemented by a rest-of-season auction value orientation point ($), their Previous Week's Value (PV), the trend between the two, and a (+/-) column denoting the rank shift from last week. There is also a prospect table at the end from star evaluator, Eric Cross. This is written throughout Tuesday so that the table reflects some games (but not all), and the stats cited are typically gathered through Monday.

These ranks are geared toward traditional 5x5 roto leagues, and I typically exclude most injured SPs unless they're about to return (setbacks are all too common). The further we wade into the season, the more aggressively we'll swing guys around those middle and later tiers. Disappointing stat lines come from stars and scrubs alike, but talent will pull through over the course of our marathon.

Starting Pitcher Rankings Analysis for Week 3

-Garrett Crochet saw the trouble that fellow top lefties Tarik Skubal and Framber Valdez got into at Minnesota and thought it’d be fun to combine Skubal’s four runs and Valdez’s six! Technically, he allowed 11 runs, but only 10 were earned. I know we exercise patience with aces, but such a crooked line (1 ⅔ IP, 9 H, 10 ER, 3 BB, 0 K) demands venting.

Social media was abuzz with Statcast screenshots that showed a 1-1.5 mph dip in velocity. After averaging 96.9 mph on his Opening Day heater, it settled to 95.7 on a chilly April 7 game, but Monday fell to 94.9, maxing out at 96.2. That is to say, he wasn’t pumping the usual high velo and then getting tired because of the long frames; it was never “up there.”

We’ll see what they come back with for Sunday’s home tilt against Detroit. Crochet insists that it’s nothing “to fret over,” and both he and manager Alex Cora said the southpaw was healthy. It does little to soothe our fantasy teams, but at least it wasn’t a torchy followed by an immediate IL stint, with no chance to rebound. We won’t drop him until a pattern emerges.

-Cristopher Sanchez is running a tilted 1.39 WHIP with his 2.01 ERA, but a supercharged 25.3% K-BB rate, 1.94 FIP, and 2.45 SIERA should hold your attention compared to the WHIP. It’s early, and he has a gnarly .411 BABIP.

You don’t need to call the information hotline to realize that’s your regression candidate (.304 career). His .113 gap between his early 2026 and 2025 BABIP is the highest out of anyone in our top 30. Not that ‘25 stats are gospel, but it still provides perspective.

-Jacob deGrom gave us a knee scare, and then he turned around and struck out nine Dodgers with six innings of one-run ball in L.A. for his first win of ‘26. It’ll be in the back of our minds, but that’s what we want to see going into a pitcher-friendly Seattle matchup.

-Cole Ragans’ hand scare didn’t result in a velocity dip on Tuesday, but he only induced four whiffs on 44 pitches, rocking an overall 17% called strike+whiff rate (CSW%). He’d posted a 31.5% CSW rate in the 10 ⅔ IP before that.

It’s hard to be disappointed with six innings of one-hit ball, but only one strikeout with four walks leaves an odd aftertaste. Perhaps something was in the air, as Framber Valdez was on the other side and also logged just one strikeout over seven innings. For now, we’ll be happy that Ragans got through this healthy.

-Jacob Misiorowski was sick on Tuesday, so I'd advise caution before you only see the Statcast velocity reading and get to panicking.

Misiorowski was sick tonight, he and Pat Murphy said.

When Murphy, Chris Hook, and the trainer went to check on him, Misiorowski told them he felt he was going to throw up every time he threw a curveball. https://t.co/CKq6IfuIoT

— Jack Stern (@ByJackStern) April 15, 2026

-Shota Imanaga still scares me as warm-weather Wrigley rears its head, what with the 22% groundball rate, but more effectiveness with an additional two ticks of velo is hard to argue with. The early 5.6% HR/FB rate is well below the 12.6% career mark, but even 12.2% in ‘24 yielded a 2.91 ERA/1.02 WHIP thanks to a 4% walk rate and some good fortune.

-Sandy Alcantara got pulled too early on April 7, leading to an extra-inning loss against Cincinnati. Then, the star was hung out to dry in Detroit, allowing seven runs on three homers over six innings in his first road start of the year.

We must also note that Detroit, with a team wRC+ of 102, was the first time he faced an actually good offense in ‘26. His first three opponents are the bottom three teams by team wRC+ by a healthy margin: COL (76), CIN (75), and CHW (68).

-Eury Perez still has my long-term attention here, but there is a lot to be worried about right now. He started off 2026 with a healthy quality start over the Rockies before that nasty six-walk day in the Bronx. He’s since been hit around by the Reds and Braves, now sporting a 5.74 FIP and 4.62 SIERA next to the 5.40 ERA. Brighter days should come, but command must improve.

-Emmet Sheehan went from sitting around 94 mph in his first two starts to 95.2 in his third outing. It came with a ripping slider form that resulted in five strikeouts on its own. It did fall into the 93.8-94.2 bucket by the end of the sixth, but still topping 95 to start the inning is a win. We’ll take it.

-Randy Vasquez indeed proved that Boston’s chilly weather was the culprit for his missing velo edge, as we raised last week. He proceeded to strike out eight road Rockies over 5 ⅔ IP of one-run action. His next assignment is a whiff-happy Seattle team (25% team K rate).

-Noah Schultz has loads of promise, but his MLB debut patch baseball card won’t have a strong performance attached to it. After a first-batter flyout, he walked two in a row before allowing a double and throwing away a sacrifice bunt.

The 4:4 K:BB came with 51 strikes on 82 pitches, as the 6-foot-10 lefty clearly needs polish. Where will this lead? Can he refine his delivery to get MLB-caliber hitters to chase his stuff and be able to close out at-bats?

-Michael Wacha has allowed one run over 21 innings, blanking the White Sox (duh) and the Braves (oh) with a win over the Guardians sandwiched in there. His fastball is overperforming (.292 SLG vs. a .488 xSLG), but he’s looking comfortable throwing it, with fewer sliders seemingly the tradeoff. Do you trust him at NYY against a swing-big, miss-big squad?

-Jeffrey Springs recently toyed with said miss-big squad, striking out six of them and allowing only three baserunners across seven frames. As I wrote this, he put up another quality start against Texas to improve to 3-0. He did an exceptionally good job of dotting his slider and sweeper in for first-pitch strikes (12-for-16 combined).

-Brady Singer entered Tuesday with a 2.92 xFIP and 3.34 SIERA underneath the dastardly 7.71 ERA/2.06 WHIP wombo combo. His BABIP sat at .475, so he deserved the better fortune in the quality start with only one strikeout and no walks.

That leaves a lot of batted-ball variance to play out, so only six hits are welcome. Now, his BABIP is .387 with a 3.68 xFIP and 5.60 ERA, maintaining his status as a fine deeper add, assuming his foot is okay after the comebacker.

-Brayan Bello has a horrid 12.5% strikeout rate with an outstanding 16.2% swinging-strike rate, and that demanded a mention. The SwStr% is 12th among 152 SPs (min. 5 IP), and the K rate is 142nd.

-Grant Taylor was the subject of stirring after a Brian Bannister radio appearance talked up Taylor getting comfortable and efficient as an opener, referencing his reaching three innings in the minors.

The White Sox Senior Pitching Director talked about Taylor being a magnet for the highest-leverage moments, which can still come in the late innings. General Manager Chris Getz then clarified that Taylor is not expected to start this year, with the goal still being 100 IP.

Getz says he does not envision more traditional starts for Grant Taylor this season. Says maybe up to 3 innings as an opener. #Whitesox

— Josh Frydman (@Josh_Frydman) April 14, 2026

Top 101 Starting Pitchers for Fantasy Baseball - Week 3

Top Starting Pitcher Stashes for Fantasy Baseball - Week 3

Here are the key SP stashes, including honorable mentions, from our esteemed, industry-leading prospect analyst, Eric Cross. You should also read his full Top 25 Fantasy Baseball Prospects To Stash article, which is updated weekly!

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