Dynasty Fantasy Baseball Crystal Ball - Projecting The Top 10 Starting Pitchers for 2029

January 8, 2026

Kevin projects the top 10 fantasy baseball dynasty starting pitchers going into the 2029 MLB season. His top MLB outfielders to increase their fantasy values for dynasty leagues include Chase Burns, Hunter Brown, Cristopher Sanchez, and more.

This is the seventh and final article of my offseason Dynasty Crystal Ball Series, where I project the top 10 players at each position for the 2029 season. In dynasty, it's important to understand the current value of players, but being able to project their value going forward is a way you can get ahead of the rest of your league mates.

We're looking at starting pitchers, the most volatile position for dynasty. The dynasty landscape for pitching, especially at the top, changes so much in short periods of time, mostly due to injury. I will not be forecasting any major injuries for this article, but you can unfortunately expect some of these guys to end up landing on the shelf with a major injury in the coming years- it's just the nature of the position.

Let's take a look at how the starting pitcher position will look for dynasty in three years. Check here if you missed any of the previous rankings: (Catcher), (First Base), (Second Base), (Third Base), (Shortstop), (Outfield).

No. 10: Nolan McLean, New York Mets

Age in 2029 (Around Opening Day): 27.67

Every year, there are a few pitching prospects that come out of nowhere and become studs. Nolan McLean was the biggest riser of that group this season. Prior to 2025, McLean was still being developed as a two-way player in the Mets organization, but they had him lose the bat this past offseason.

This decision by the Mets to have him focus on pitching is already paying off in a big way. He dominated the minor leagues with a 2.45 ERA and 16.5% K-BB rate in 113 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A. When he got the call to the majors, he was even better in his short stint.

In 48 major league innings, he had an incredible 2.06 ERA with a 21.8% K-BB rate. He did have some good fortune as his ERA estimators were around 3.00 (3.56 xERA) and not 2.00, but it's impossible not to be super impressed by what he showed once he got to Queens.

Nolan McLean's sinker and four seamer were dominant last season. Between Triple-A and MLB, opponents hit .178 with a .568 OPS against them. The sinker shape from his angle in particular is a nightmare, but having two different shapes at that velo from that slot...good luck. pic.twitter.com/5yobyjxr4f

— Aram Leighton (@AramLeighton8) November 19, 2025

Given this was McLean's first season totally committed to pitching, it's easy to envision him getting even better going forward. That's a scary thought with how good he was in 2025.

No. 9: Chase Burns, Cincinnati Reds

Age in 2029: 26.19

Is it too crazy to say that Chase Burns has the highest strikeout upside out of any starting pitcher in baseball? I'm not sure that's too crazy. Burns made extremely light work of the minor leagues last season with a 1.77 ERA in 66 innings across High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A with a 31.4% K-BB rate.

He hit a few speed bumps in his 43 1/3 major league innings as he had a 4.57 ERA, but there was a lot under the hood to be excited about. He had extremely strong ERA estimators, including a 2.65 FIP and 2.68 xFIP. He also had an elite 27.1% K-BB rate.

If anyone in your leagues is scared off by his ERA from last season, I would be buying Burns for sure. This elite strikeout ability while maintaining strong walk rates looks a lot like what we saw from Spencer Strider a few years ago.

Chase Burns is worth the price in 2026 fantasy drafts.

In 2025, Burns had a 27.1% K-BB rate in MLB.

Rookie SPs since 2000 to have a higher K-BB% (min 40 IP)...

Spencer Stider (2022) & Stephen Strasburg (2010)

Early 2026 ADP: 136.3#FantasyBaseballpic.twitter.com/JIki5WJBKT

— Eric Cross (@EricCrossMLB) November 7, 2025

No. 8: Logan Gilbert, Seattle Mariners

Age in 2029: 31.89

Is the fantasy community less excited about Logan Gilbert this season than they were last season? He dealt with an elbow injury that limited him to 131 innings instead of the 185+ he pitched over the last three innings, but the innings he did pitch were better.

Gilbert had a solid 3.44 ERA, which was basically where he had been over the last few seasons, but he posted a career-best xFIP of 2.95. He also had a career-high 26.5% K-BB rate. His 32.3% K-rate was almost five points higher than his previous career high.

Gilbert seems like one of the most solid star pitchers in baseball. If he can maintain the K-rate improvements he showed in 2025 across his typical workloads, his upside will be even higher.

No. 7: Cristopher Sanchez, Philadelphia Phillies

Age in 2029: 32.29

Cristopher Sanchez is one of my favorite success stories in pitching development. When the Phillies acquired him from the Tampa Bay Rays for Curtis Mead, no one had really heard of him, and everyone thought the Phillies got robbed. Clearly, the Phillies saw the vision, and it has come to fruition.

Something clicked for him in 2023 when he started throwing softer but with better command, as he had a career low 92.1 mph average fastball velocity paired with a career low BB-rate of 4.0%. He has ramped his velocity back up over the last two years while maintaining excellent command, and it's turned him into an ace.

His fastball velocity is now up to an average of 95.4 mph, which is allowing it to play up with his elite extension. However, more importantly, it's allowing his elite changeup to play off of it as one of the best pitches in baseball. His changeup struck out 130 hitters, the most of any pitch type during the 2025 campaign.

Sanchez came into 2025 as a groundball machine with excellent command, and now he's added strikeouts back to his game with his elite fastball-changeup combination. He was ninth among qualified pitchers in K-BB rate at 20.8% and third in xFIP at 2.77. This is an elite arm that looks to have taken the torch from Zack Wheeler as the ace of the Phillies staff.

No. 6: Hunter Brown, Houston Astros

Age in 2029: 30.57

It's weird calling anyone on this list an afterthought, but Hunter Brown being an American League Cy Young Finalist felt like a little bit of an afterthought with the seasons the two lefty demons in the AL had.

Hunter Brown has had a pretty interesting path to ace status. He was a top prospect who dazzled in his first short stint in the majors with a 0.89 ERA in his first 20 1/3 innings in 2022. He was also a valuable member of the Astros' bullpen on their way to a World Series title.

However, his next year and a half were pretty rocky. He had a 5.09 ERA in his first full season in the majors, but the underlying numbers were a bit more promising. He followed that up with a 4.39 ERA in the first half of 2024. Then, something really clicked for Brown, and he's been dominant ever since.

In the second half of 2024, Brown had a 2.26 ERA with a 17.9% K-BB rate and strong ERA estimators. He kept that strong second half going in 2025 with a 2.43 ERA and a 20.4% K-BB rate, the best of his career. I'm not sure if Brown is THIS dominant, since his ERA estimators were all over 3.00, but I expect him to remain a fantasy ace for years to come.

No. 5: Bryan Woo, Seattle Mariners

Age in 2029: 29.15

Bryan Woo's development into a workhorse in 2025 was pretty shocking. The talent was always there as he had a 2.89 ERA with an 18.6% K-BB rate in 2024. However, it seemed like he was exiting every start with some type of injury.

In 2025, Woo was just as good with a 2.94 ERA and 22.2% K-BB rate. His elite fastball had the highest run value out of any single pitch in the sport. However, he matched that quality with reliable quantity every time he went on the mound.

Bryan Woo didn’t complete the sixth inning for the first time this season

He did so in 25 consecutive starts to begin the season which was the longest streak to begin a season since Zack Greinke did it 32 times in 2015

(h/t @StatsCentre) pic.twitter.com/Cr8n6HLq8O

— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) August 27, 2025

You can say this about a lot of pitchers, but the only thing that can slow Woo down would be injuries. There are no gimmicks or flukes with his performances. You know he's going to lead with that elite fastball, and the rest of the repertoire is going to work off of it, and it's going to produce strong results.

No. 4: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Los Angeles Dodgers

Age in 2029: 30.61

A World Series hero for the ages. That is what we witnessed from Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the 2025 playoffs when he threw 2 2/3 shutout innings out of the bullpen in Game 7, a day after throwing six innings of one-run ball in Game 6. This performance made him a legend, but he was already establishing himself as an elite pitcher.

When the Dodgers first gave Yamamoto a $325 million contract, many criticized it as too high for someone who had never played in the MLB before. Those criticisms got louder as Yamamoto had a famous stinker in his MLB debut against the Padres. However, he has basically shoved since then.

He had a 3.00 ERA with a 22.6% K-BB rate in an injury-riddled 2024 season, but truly became elite in 2025. He had a 2.49 ERA with a 20.8% K-BB rate across 173 2/3 innings.

One small downside for Yamamoto is that he has a relatively low workload ceiling. As long as Shohei Ohtani is healthy, the Dodgers will likely employ a six-man rotation. They've also shown this year that they're not hesitant to finagle with starter workloads earlier in the season to make sure the rotation is as fresh as possible when the playoffs come around.

However, this isn't a big issue, as you don't expect many starters to surpass 200 innings in a given year, and you know the innings you're getting from Yamamoto are going to be strong.

No. 3: Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers

Age in 2029: 32.35

I think there's a clear big three at starting pitcher right now. Yamamoto might have staked his claim in this latest postseason run, but for fantasy, Tarik Skubal and these next two feel like a tier above the rest.

Skubal is one of the best examples of the concept that pitching development is not linear. The start to Skubal's MLB career was not too exciting, as he had a 4.34 ERA in his first full season in 2021. He followed that up with a 3.52 ERA in 2022 before undergoing flexor tendon surgery.

When he returned from injury in 2023, he really started to look like an ace with a 2.80 ERA and even better ERA estimators and a 28.4% K-BB rate. The question was whether he could keep that up over a full season, as he had only pitched 80 innings. I think it's safe to say he answered that question and more over the last two seasons.

The reigning two-time AL Cy Young award winner has been nothing short of a demon over the last two seasons. He has had a 2.39 ERA and 2.21 ERA with ERA estimators all under 3.00 with a K-BB rate of 25.6% and 27.8% the last two seasons. He's also been a workhorse, logging over 190 innings in both seasons.

2025 PitchingNinja Award for Fastball of the Year by a Starting Pitcher. 🔥🏆

Winner: Tarik Skubal

102.6 mph on his 94th pitch of the game.
Completing a 13 strikeout 2 hit Shutout. pic.twitter.com/rw0wlja7Bw

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) November 6, 2025

Skubal is arguably the best pitcher in baseball and could be higher on this list. The margin with him and the top two are incredibly close, though, and he's older than both by a few years.

No. 2: Garrett Crochet, Boston Red Sox

Age in 2029: 29.76

Garrett Crochet has really risen like a phoenix over the last couple of years into becoming a fantasy ace. A lot of people mocked the White Sox for naming him their opening day starter in 2024 for what would be his first career MLB start, but they clearly knew something we didn't regarding Crochet.

He was very good right away, with a 3.02 ERA over the first half of 2024. However, whether it was due to the White Sox pulling back on his workload or running out of gas, he struggled in the second half with a 5.12 ERA in mostly short stints. His underlying metrics were elite, though, for the full season, as all of his ERA estimators were under 3.00, and he had a 29.6% K-BB rate.

Crochet exchanged socks this past offseason as he got traded to the Red Sox. There were questions about whether he was a flash in the pan and if he could handle a full workload. He answered both of these questions emphatically.

He was second in the majors in innings pitched with 205 1/3 while putting up even better stats. He led the majors with 255 strikeouts and had a 25.7% K-BB rate. He also had a 2.59 ERA with ERA estimators again all under 3.00.

Expect Crochet to continue being an ace for years to come. The only slight risk in his profile right now is the spike in innings from 2024 to 2025.

No. 1: Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh Pirates

Age in 2029: 26.82

While Skubal and Crochet are also elite, it was hard to put anyone else here. Unlike some of the other pitchers on this list, Skenes' ascension to superstardom has been fairly linear, at least since he transferred from Air Force to LSU. He helped lead LSU to a national title, got selected first overall, and has been elite in the majors basically since his debut in Pittsburgh.

Skenes had a 1.96 ERA over 133 innings with a 26.8% K-BB rate, winning the National League Rookie of the Year award. He followed that up with a nearly identical sophomore season, just with more innings pitched. He had a 1.97 ERA and 23.7% K-BB rate across 187 2/3 innings, winning the NL Cy Young.

It's basically only the elite of elite pitchers in baseball history who have had starts to their careers like Skenes. It's hard to predict any player to become a Hall of Famer this early in their career, but Skenes is definitely on that track.

Pitchers in the last 100 years to have an ERA under 2.00 in back-to-back seasons of 130+ innings...

Hal Newhouser (1945 & 1946)
Sandy Koufax (1963 & 1964)
Greg Maddux (1994 & 1995)
Clayton Kershaw (2013 & 2014)
Paul Skenes (2024 & 2025)

Elite list to be on. pic.twitter.com/GR8oK83v8O

— Eric Cross (@EricCrossMLB) October 4, 2025

Honorable Mentions

• Hunter Greene, CIN
• Bubba Chandler, PIT
• Trey Yesavage, TOR
• Jacob Misiorowski, MIL
• Eury Perez, MIA
• Cam Schlittler, NYY
• Cole Ragans, KCR
• Joe Ryan, MIN
• Logan Webb, SFG
• Thomas White, MIA
• Spencer Schwellenbach, ATL
• Kyle Bradish, BAL
• Freddy Peralta, MIL
• Spencer Strider, ATL
• Jesus Luzardo, PHI

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