Eric Cross' Top 12 Starting Pitcher (SP) Dynasty Fantasy Baseball Rankings for 2026

February 9, 2026

Eric's top starting pitcher (SP) dynasty fantasy baseball rankings, risers, and breakouts heading into 2026. His updated starting pitcher rankings for fantasy baseball dynasty leagues.

Watching an elite pitcher go about his craft is personally one of my favorite parts of watching baseball. Dotting a fastball on the corner, making a hitter look foolish on a breaking ball, changing speeds and eye levels, all exciting elements of pitching that make it a spectacle. That is especially the case with the dozen players below.

Below you'll find my Top 12 dynasty starting pitcher rankings for 2026 with notes and discussion on each pitcher.

For my entire top 200 and additional writeups, check out my Patreon. For the other positional rankings articles, check out my author page.

Starting Pitcher Dynasty Rankings for Fantasy Baseball

Age in parentheses

1. Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh Pirates (23)

While there are three pitchers in Tier-1 for me, the locked-in top two in dynasty starting pitcher rankings are Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal, with the former getting the edge for me as he's five years younger. In each of his first two major league seasons, Skenes has finished with an ERA under 2.00 and a WHIP of exactly 0.95.

That's remarkable for any pitcher to do, but especially for someone in their first two Major League seasons.

Paul Skenes, 7th K.

Walks off the Mound. Takes it all in.
1.97 ERA.

Cy Young. 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/y5O7nOYP9R

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 25, 2025

When you create a pitcher in MLB The Show with no limitations, Skenes is the player you come up with. He attacks hitters with a deep seven-pitch arsenal, headlined by an upper-90s fastball, mid-80s sweeper, low to mid-90s splitter, and an upper-80s changeup. Skenes will also mix in a sinker, slider, and curveball, with four of his seven pitches recording a whiff rate above 32%. The changeup and curveball were both above 40%.

Opposing hitters simply can't do anything consistently against this level of elite stuff and plus command and control. The one knock on Skenes is the team context, costing him a handful of wins throughout the season, but this is the most talented young pitcher the game has ever seen.

2. Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers (29)

It's been a historic last two seasons for Tarik Skubal. Not only is he the back-to-back American League Cy Young award winner, but he's also had two straight seasons with an ERA under 2.40 and three straight with a WHIP under 0.95, a walk rate below 5%, and a strikeout rate above 30%. Shield your eyes when you look at Skubal's savant page, too, because there's a bunch of bright red sliders when you open the page.

And honestly, you can make a case that Skubal is one of the most dominant southpaws we've ever seen.

While he might not throw seven pitches, Skubal dominates with four pitches, headlined by one of the best 4-seamers and changeups in the game. That changeup registered a stellar .154 BAA and 46.8% whiff rate in 2025, while the 4-seamer had a .189 BAA, which was one of the best marks in baseball. All four of Skubal's main offerings allowed an AVG EV below (better) than the major league average as well.

Any way you slice and dice it, Skubal is elite. Not only is the stuff elite, but he barely ever walks anyone, gets hitters to chase at an elite 35.1% clip, and limits hard contact extremely well. All the boxes get checked here and then some. Potential future injuries are the only thing that could keep Skubal out of Cooperstown.

3. Garrett Crochet, Boston Red Sox (26)

In his first season with the Boston Red Sox, Garrett Crochet was everything Red Sox fans could hope for, and a whole lot more. Crochet finished second in the American League Cy Young voting on the strength of a 2.59 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 5.7% walk rate, and a 31.3% strikeout rate. Crochet also led the league in both innings (205.1) and strikeouts (255) while racking up 18 wins for the Red Sox.

Garrett Crochet, Wicked 86mph Sweeper. 🤢

Hey, he swung. pic.twitter.com/HhlCrzorqs

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 22, 2025

Crochet sat around 96 mph on both his 4-seamer and sinker while adding in a low-90s cutter and low-80s sweeper. All four pitches were highly effective offerings with the cutter, sweeper, and sinker all having a +10 or better run value per Baseball Savant, making Crochet the only pitcher in baseball to have three pitches (min 300 thrown) at a +10 run value or better.

Crochet is an elite bat-misser, gets plenty of groundballs, limits walks, and is a workhorse on the mound. Any concerns about him from pre-2025 should have completely vanished.

4. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Los Angeles Dodgers (27)

This second tier is a giant glob heading into 2026, but Yoshinobu Yamamoto feels like the safest blend of ceiling and floor in my eyes. After having a 3.00 ERA in his 2024 rookie season, Yamamoto was even more dominant in 2025, posting a 2.49 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 83.6% walk rate, and a 29.4% strikeout rate before being one of the most crucial players in the postseason in the Dodgers' run to a second consecutive World Series title.

In total, Yamamoto threw six different pitches in 2025, but the three offerings he used the most (4-Seam, Splitter, Curveball) and a combined 78.3% of the time all had a BAA under .200. Both the splitter and curveball also had a whiff rate above 35%, with the splitter leading the way with a 42.1% mark.

On top of his ability to rack up the whiffs and strikeouts, Yamamoto also had a 53.7% ground-ball rate and 12.1% pull air rate allowed. Still only 27, Yamamoto looks like he'll hold the mantle of Dodgers' ace for years to come.

5. Bryan Woo, Seattle Mariners (26)

For the second straight season in 2025, Bryan Woo finished with an ERA under 3.00 and a WHIP under 1.00. He's one of just four pitchers to have a WHIP under 1.00 in each of the last two seasons while pitching at least 100 innings in both seasons. The other three pitchers are just three studs named Skubal, Skenes, and Zack Wheeler. Woo deserves to have the "stud" descriptor next to his name as well, with how he's pitched over the last two seasons.

The two concerns with Woo entering the 2025 season were his pedestrian strikeout rate and some lingering arm issues from 2024. Both of those concerns were silenced in 2025, though, as Woo made 30 starts totaling 186.2 innings, and increased his strikeout rate to a career-best 27.1%. That strikeout rate soared to even higher levels late in the season as Woo recorded a stellar 34.5% strikeout rate in nine starts in August and September.

Woo, increasing his strikeout rate while maintaining his elite walk rate is highly encouraging, and I'm a believer that the higher strikeout rate is here to stick in 2026 and beyond.

For the most part, Woo's biggest strikeout pitch is his elite 4-seamer. Nearly half (48%) of Woo's 198 strikeouts last season came on the 4-seamer, which finished with a .153 BAA, .238 wOBA, and a 28.8% whiff rate. The 4-seamer had a ridiculous 21 run value, which was tied for the second-highest mark on a 4-seamer in 2025, tied with Nick Pivetta and Jacob deGrom, and trailing only Ryne Nelson (what?).

However, what I noticed down the stretch, which I believe was attributed to the higher strikeout rate, was an increase in sweeper usage.

The above included a 14.2% sweeper usage rate in September. Sure, it wasn't a massive uptick from the first half of the season, but Woo going to that sweeper more in addition to more 4-seamers helped that whiff and strikeout rate tick up. For the season, Woo's sweeper had a .186 BAA, .286 SLG allowed, and a 46.3% whiff rate.

All the ingredients are here for Woo to stick as a high-end SP1 for the foreseeable future. He showed down the stretch that he can miss bats at a high clip, he limited contact in the zone well (79.9%), gets hitters to chase at a good clip (30.1%), and has some of the best command and control in baseball.

Woo is a legit stud pitcher. Let's just hope those 2024 arm issues don't resurface.

6. Logan Gilbert, Seattle Mariners (28)

While Logan Gilbert slid a few spots in my dynasty starting pitcher rankings from last offseason, he's still firmly in Tier-2 and one of the safer arms in the game. Even while limited to 131 innings, Gilbert still put together another impressive season, finishing with a 3.44 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, a 5.8% walk rate, and a career-best 32.3% strikeout rate.

The lower volume was a bummer, but it was encouraging to see the higher strikeout rate from late-2024 carry over and take another step forward in 2025.

Gilbert went to his slider and splitter a combined 9.5% more frequently in 2025 while completely ditching his cutter. Overall, Gilbert pushed his chase and whiff rates to new career-best marks of 30.4% and 32.9%, respectively, while continuing to limit contact in the zone and post a low walk rate (5.8%). The only real issue here is some unideal batted-ball angles, but with the rest of the profile so elite, Gilbert is able to make it work.

7. Cristopher Sánchez, Philadelphia Phillies (29)

In 2025, Cristopher Sánchez went from a good arm to one of the best pitchers in the game. In 202 innings, Sánchez racked up 212 strikeouts with a 2.50 ERA and 1.06 WHIP. This was Sánchez's second straight season with over 180 innings and his third straight with an ERA under 3.50. Sánchez also set new career best marks nearly across the board in 2025, including his 2.50 ERA and 26.3% strikeout rate.

The jump in strikeout rate was huge for Sánchez's fantasy value as he had a below-average 20.3% strikeout rate in 2024. His pitch mix and usage rates didn't really change, but Sánchez saw the whiff rate on his changeup rise from 34.8% to 45.1% while also having a 3.3% whiff rate increase on his slider. His sinker was also more effective than in 2024 with a 0.9 mph increase in velocity and a sizeable drop in BAA and SLG.

And for the fifth straight season, Sánchez registered a ground-ball rate well over 50% at 58.5%.

Sure, Sánchez might not be as electric as some of the names around him, but he's as rock solid as they come and should be considered a fantasy ace moving forward as long as the strikeout rate and volume remain high.

8. Hunter Brown, Houston Astros (27)

Hunter Brown carried over a dominant final four months of 2024 into a full season of excellence in 2025. In 185.1 innings, Brown posted a 2.43 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 7.8% walk rate, and a 28.3% strikeout rate. We now have around 10 months of elite-level production from Brown, so at this point, he's earned his locked-in spot as a Top-10 pitcher, both for redraft and dynasty leagues.

You'll be hard-pressed to find the same combination of bat missing and limiting hard contact that Brown has. He was among the league leaders for hard-hit rate allowed while also having above-average whiff, chase, and ground-ball rates. Out of his six offerings, three had a whiff rate above 29%, including his 4-seamer, which recorded a .178 BAA and .086 ISO allowed.

While he might not be an elite strikeout arm, Brown has been above a 25% strikeout rate in all four seasons so far, along with a sub-9.0% walk rate in each season. At this point, he's one of the safest aces in the game.

9. Eury Perez, Miami Marlins (22)

Eury Perez still being this high is a testament to his immense upside, which few pitchers on the planet can match. Yes, there were some inconsistencies for Perez in 2025 as he worked his way back from missing all of 2024 due to Tommy John surgery, but he still finished with a 1.05 WHIP and 19% K-BB rate in 95.1 innings.

There were only 14 other pitchers to have a 1.05 or lower WHIP and a 19% or higher K-BB rate in more than 90 innings last season.

Eury Pérez's 2Ks in the 3rd. pic.twitter.com/nxnfymF05I

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 2, 2025

In Perez's 2023 rookie season, three of his pitches had a whiff rate of about 45%. In 2025, he was 0.1% away from having three offerings above a 40% whiff rate. One of those three was a newly added sweeper that had a 46.4% whiff rate, while his changeup led the way with a ridiculous 61.1% whiff rate. Oh yeah, Perez also has a 4-seamer that averages 97.9 mph and had a .202 BAA last season.

Sure, there are still some areas of concern, primarily in the QoC and batted ball angles allowed, but Perez still has the looks of a 22-year-old who is about to take the next step to superstardom.

10. Cole Ragans, Kansas City Royals (28)

We need to completely throw the 4.67 ERA for Cole Ragans last season out the window. All of his ERA indicators were much lower, including a 2.67 xERA. On top of that, Ragans WHIP was in line with previous seasons, and he recorded a career-best .187 xBA, 7.8% walk rate, and a 38.1% strikeout rate.

Ragans saw this whiff rate on all three of his most used pitches tick up, including a 9.7% uptick on the slider, giving Ragans two offerings with a whiff rate above 43% and four above 28% last season. Overall, Ragans' 34.8% whiff rate was a new career-best mark, as was his 28.2% in zone whiff rate, which is truly an elite mark.

Ragans should still be considered an ace for fantasy, and if you can use the ERA from last season to get any sort of discount on him, I'd look to capitalize on that in dynasty leagues.

11. Hunter Greene, Cincinnati Reds (26)

Honestly, I think you can make a case for Hunter Greene anywhere in the 10-15 range, but all of the arms in this range have a concern in one way, shape, or form. For Greene, the concern is that he's only reached 150 innings once and was limited to 19 starts and 107.2 innings in 2025. But at the same time, he was magnificent in those 19 starts, posting a 2.76 ERA, 0.9 WHIP, 6.2% walk rate, and a 31.4% strikeout rate.

The walk rate, strikeout rate, and WHIP were all career-best marks for Greene, and he now has two straight seasons with an ERA under 3.00.

Greene is still predominantly a 4-seamer/slider arm, but with both of those pitches being so elite, he's been able to dominate when healthy. The 4-seamer had a .199 BAA and .260 wOBA last season, while Greene's slider had a .156 BAA and 46.9% whiff rate. He'll also mix in a splitter around 11% of the time which can miss bats, but the pitch didn't fare too well in general last season.

Trust me, I completely understand if Greene is an avoid for you due to durability concerns or being mostly a two-pitch guy. But the results have been there, and Greene is one of the most electric arms on the planet when he's able to avoid the IL.

12. Spencer Schwellenbach, Atlanta Braves (25)

Spencer Schwellenbach was cruising in 2025 before a fractured right elbow ended his season in late-June. In 17 starts before the injury, Schwellenbach had a 3.09 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, and 20.8% K-BB rate while ranking in the upper-third of most pitching metrics, especially chase and whiff rate. In fact, he was one of just two starting pitchers to have a chase and walk rate in the 90th percentile or higher, along with a whiff rate in the 70th percentile or higher.

The other pitcher was that Skubal guy.

In each of his first two major league seasons, Schwellenbach has recorded an ERA under 3.40, a WHIP under 1.05, a walk rate below 5%, and a strikeout rate above 24%. The stuff has been good as well, with three pitches above a 27% whiff rate last season, including three above 31%. Schwellenbach's splitter led the way with a 42% whiff rate to go with a .132 BAA and .191 SLG.

Schwellenbach has established himself as one of the safest ace-caliber fantasy arms in the game, and I'm not worried about the fractured elbow impacting him moving forward.

If you enjoyed these rankings and want to see additional rankings, analysis, and more, check out Eric's Toolshed Fantasy Patreon.

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