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Nick Mariano's updated fantasy baseball starting pitcher rankings for Week 2 (2025). Baller Ranks is a weekly rankings list for the top-101 starting pitchers.
You better be stretching out early in the season because it is a long road to the finish line, buckos. The injuries are already starting to pile up so let's cook up greatness with the FSWA-award winning Best Baseball Series. There's plenty to dig into with this week's edition of my weekly Starting Pitcher Baller Ranks!
Now that we're off and running, readers can expect to find my SP musings with tiered ranks, complemented by a rest-of-season auction value ($), their Previous Week's Value (PV), the trend between the two, and a (+/-) column denoting the rank shift compared to last week. We only have a small sample to react to, so we'll check in on key performances on both ends of the spectrum.
A refresher for those wondering where injured pitchers go: These ranks are geared toward traditional 5x5 roto leagues, and I typically exclude most injured SPs, lest a return is imminent. If the demand for a perpetual injury table is loud, please speak up and let me know. Time for business!
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Starting Pitcher Rankings Analysis for Week 2
-Spencer Schwellenbach entered Tuesday as the top SP per Yahoo’s 5x5 scoring following two near-perfect starts to open the year. Picking up where he left off last year, Schwelly held a potent San Diego lineup to just two baserunners over six frames in his ‘25 debut, but only four strikeouts left the doubters something to chew on.
He ramped things up against a vulnerable Miami team with 10 Ks over eight scoreless frames, surrendering two measly hits with zero walks. It’ll be interesting to see how he fares against a surging Phillies team.
-Hunter Greene has tossed three stellar starts thus far, racking up 23 Ks in 20 ⅔ IP with a 1.31 ERA/0.63 WHIP. There’s plenty to love but also a sell-high spot if a leaguemate thinks Greene is becoming the next Tarik Skubal.
Not only is Greene rocking a .188 BABIP and 86.2 percent strand rate, but he’s faced San Francisco twice and Texas. The Rangers are tied for the worst team wRC+ mark (66) in the bigs, while SF is below-average in most measures and owns a top-five strikeout rate (25.5 percent).
Eventually, Greene will face better teams, and the tightrope act needed to navigate Great American Ball Park will commence as the weather heats up. But hey, he gets Pittsburgh next so phooey on facing dangerous opponents!
This early 65 percent fly ball rate will surely not yield a lowly 3.1 percent HR/FB rate. Last year at GABP, Greene had an 8.9 percent HR/FB with a 53 percent FB rate as his ERA sat a run lower than his 3.81 SIERA. Most agree he enjoyed some good fortune. If you believe he replicates that then enjoy the show! But there’s likely a tidy profit to be made here vs. future results.
-Corbin Burnes has not had a strong opening to his DBacks tenure. Someone, please tell him that the Nats were supposed to strike out a ton. With the usual small-sample-size caveat, he’s given up frequent loud, squared-up contact.
The 96.9 mph average exit velocity on flies and liners is the 14th-worst among pitchers with at least 25 batted-ball events. He’s thrown his cutter 66 percent of the time versus 45 percent last year and it’s not going well. Maybe he’s saving the secondary magic for his revenge start against Milwaukee on April 12?
Burnes yesterday:
5 IP 7 H 4 ER 4 BB 3 K
Remember many said, he found the cutter again in September, never fear
FC: ‘24-> ‘25
Vel: 95.3 -> 93.8
xSLG .386 -> .528
EV 88.3 -> 94.8Horizontal movement down 1”
ivb up 3”It is not the same as Sept. 24#FantasyBaseball
— michael cecchini (@Zeitheist1) April 8, 2025
-Bailey Ober fared better in his second outing but the bar was lower than the Mariana Trench after yielding eight runs in 2 ⅔ IP. He gave up a solo homer on three hits and two walks with five strikeouts over four innings against the Astros.
The results were better but the velocity didn’t rise much despite being another week off from the illness that affected his first outing. His four-seamer sat around 92 mph at this time last year but is 90.3 and 90.8 mph in his first two respective starts of ‘25. Keep modest expectations until that changes.
-Tyler Glasnow had a bad time in Philly but that’s a good lineup and the weather was crappy. We move along.
-Tanner Bibee was surely still feeling the effects of being ill in the first start and then got shelled for four home runs in the second. Let’s see how he does against the Royals at home next.
-Pablo Lopez left Tuesday's start early after grabbing at what looked to be his hamstring. Monitor the situation moving forward.
-Sandy Alcantara battled through reduced velocity in his second start and then hit the paternity list. Going from 98.2 mph to 95.9 is troublesome for anyone, let alone a hard thrower coming off of a major injury. It’s notable his changeup only dropped from 90 flat to 89.5 mph as well. We need to maintain that gap, ideally. He may return on April 11 against the Nationals and we’ll see if the skipped turn helped.
-Aaron Nola has an awful .304 xBA and .556 xSLG in the early going, resulting in a woeful 5.97 xERA behind that 6.35 ERA. We haven’t seen anything yet to inspire hope that his downward trend in strikeouts over the last several years will reverse, though the HR issues have stuck around (a pair surrendered in each start).
Tossing a quality start against the Dodgers should count for more than one QS, but it won’t get easier against a hot Cardinals team in his next scheduled start. It’s worth noting that his velocity is down against last year’s average, but the 91.5 mph four-seamer velo is actually up from 91.1 mph last April. Still, this writer is not getting the warm and fuzzies here.
-Nathan Eovaldi couldn’t get through five innings against the Cubs at Wrigley (4 ⅔ IP, 3 ER, 4 K) after tossing that complete-game shutout in Cincinnati. Teams like the Cubs and Yankees are rarely going to be “full send” opponents so caution with arms below the top tiers is warranted.
Texas may have also played it safe in chilly conditions after the lengthy CGSHO. While Eovaldi may not be a true “always play your aces” SP, he’s damn close and has a great rebound opportunity against the Mariners in Seattle scheduled.
-MacKenzie Gore had that electrifying 13-strikeout 2025 debut but many worried it was more about shadows than skill when start No. 2 against Toronto went sideways. But we’re back in after he limited the Dodgers to just two runs (coming on a Shohei Ohtani home run), striking out seven over the quality start for his first win of the year. The southpaw lines up to face Miami next, which shouldn’t see the pendulum swing back in our faces.
-Jack Leiter is an obvious hold/stash through this brief IL stint due to a blister. I’d like to think you all knew that but it bears hammering home. Of 125 pitchers with at least 25 batted-ball events allowed, Leiter has allowed the lowest rate of BBEs hit at 95 mph or greater, just edging Paul Skenes. Interesting!
-Casey Mize has won both of his 2025 starts with nearly identical lines. The 6-foot-3 righty has struck out six and walked three in each of his outings, giving up just one run to the Yanks on Monday after blanking Seattle.
We hate to see so many free passes and we’ll see how he adjusts as hitters should learn to back away from the slurve and splitter. His early fastball velo is down a tick but the splitter has gained two ticks to tremendous results.
It's just two starts, but Casey Mize has a 73.3% whiff rate on his splitter so far.#RepDetroit https://t.co/Ud84OKjG8s
— Eric Cross (@EricCrossMLB) April 8, 2025
He’ll look to keep things rolling against a struggling Minnesota team that is hitting .199/.267/.314 and keep his streak of zero barrels allowed going.
-Eduardo Rodriguez piqued interest with 12 strikeouts over five innings against the Nationals last Saturday. But he took the loss thanks to four runs scoring on five hits and a walk and now owns a comical gap between his 6.10 ERA and the 2.20 SIERA.
While the Nats game was a great result, this likely says more about Washington and further paints them as a streaming target. Only the Rockies carry a higher team K% thus far!
-Zach Eflin pitched six innings of one-run ball against a stout Arizona offense but left with shoulder fatigue after 73 pitches. Tuesday night saw it announced he was heading to the IL. Brandon Young is the intriguing pivot but they could piece together something less enticing.
-Chase Dollander showed intrigue for non-Coors starts down the road with six strikeouts over five innings against the A’s. There was some loud contact on mistakes, such as Tyler Soderstrom and Lawrence Butler’s home runs, but he hit 99.3 mph and averaged nearly 98 with the heat.
Chase Dollander made his MLB debut yesterday — and the stuff is absolutely real.
The fastball sat 97.8 mph and graded out at 110 proStuff+ (even at Coors), while both the curveball and changeup posted whiff rates north of 37.5%.
Electric first impression. pic.twitter.com/tMdMYxcY4S
— Pitch Profiler (@pitchprofiler) April 7, 2025
The rookie didn’t seem to lose the strike zone for any extended stretch. Unfortunately, his next outing is slated for San Diego, which should keep him off of streaming radars for now. Many of you will (understandably) write him off for the year as dancing with Coors isn't worth it.
Top 101 Starting Pitchers for Fantasy Baseball - Week 2
| Tier | Player | Rank | $ | PV | Trend |
| 1 | Tarik Skubal | 1 | $44.00 | $44.00 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 1 | Paul Skenes | 2 | $43.00 | $43.00 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 1 | Zack Wheeler | 3 | $42.00 | $42.00 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 2 | Garrett Crochet | 4 | $41.00 | $41.00 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 2 | Logan Gilbert | 5 | $40.00 | $38.00 | 2.0 ▲ |
| 2 | Jacob deGrom | 6 | $39.00 | $40.00 | -1.0 ▼ |
| 2 | Cole Ragans | 7 | $38.00 | $36.00 | 2.0 ▲ |
| 3 | Chris Sale | 8 | $36.00 | $39.00 | -3.0 ▼ |
| 3 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | 9 | $36.00 | $34.00 | 2.0 ▲ |
| 3 | Dylan Cease | 10 | $35.00 | $35.00 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 3 | Michael King | 11 | $35.00 | $33.00 | 2.0 ▲ |
| 3 | Joe Ryan | 12 | $34.00 | $32.50 | 1.5 ▲ |
| 3 | Spencer Schwellenbach | 13 | $33.00 | $30.00 | 3.0 ▲ |
| 3 | Tyler Glasnow | 14 | $32.50 | $31.00 | 1.5 ▲ |
| 3 | Hunter Greene | 15 | $31.00 | $24.00 | 7.0 ▲ |
| 3 | Corbin Burnes | 16 | $30.00 | $36.00 | -6.0 ▼ |
| 3 | Framber Valdez | 17 | $30.00 | $30.00 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 3 | Max Fried | 18 | $29.00 | $29.00 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 4 | Tanner Bibee | 19 | $28.00 | $26.00 | 2.0 ▲ |
| 4 | Shota Imanaga | 20 | $26.00 | $25.50 | 0.5 ▲ |
| 4 | Logan Webb | 21 | $25.50 | $20.00 | 5.5 ▲ |
| 4 | Justin Steele | 22 | $25.00 | $22.00 | 3.0 ▲ |
| 4 | Pablo Lopez | 23 | $24.00 | $28.00 | -4.0 ▼ |
| 4 | Robbie Ray | 24 | $22.00 | $21.00 | 1.0 ▲ |
| 4 | Bryan Woo | 25 | $21.00 | $20.00 | 1.0 ▲ |
| 4 | Hunter Brown | 26 | $20.00 | $19.00 | 1.0 ▲ |
| 4 | Bryce Miller | 27 | $20.00 | $25.00 | -5.0 ▼ |
| 4 | Sandy Alcantara | 28 | $20.00 | $20.00 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 4 | Freddy Peralta | 29 | $19.00 | $17.00 | 2.0 ▲ |
| 5 | Luis Castillo | 30 | $19.00 | $19.00 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 5 | Aaron Nola | 31 | $18.00 | $18.00 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 5 | Sonny Gray | 32 | $18.00 | $17.00 | 1.0 ▲ |
| 5 | Cristopher Sanchez | 33 | $17.00 | $16.50 | 0.5 ▲ |
| 5 | Jack Flaherty | 34 | $17.00 | $15.00 | 2.0 ▲ |
| 5 | Nathan Eovaldi | 35 | $16.50 | $15.00 | 1.5 ▲ |
| 5 | Carlos Rodon | 36 | $15.50 | $15.50 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 5 | Ryan Pepiot | 37 | $15.00 | $15.00 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 5 | Kodai Senga | 38 | $15.00 | $15.00 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 5 | Zac Gallen | 39 | $15.00 | $15.00 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 5 | Drew Rasmussen | 40 | $15.00 | $10.50 | 4.5 ▲ |
| 5 | Shane Baz | 41 | $15.00 | $10.00 | 5.0 ▲ |
| 5 | Kris Bubic | 42 | $15.00 | $10.00 | 5.0 ▲ |
| 5 | Jesus Luzardo | 43 | $15.00 | $9.50 | 5.5 ▲ |
| 5 | MacKenzie Gore | 44 | $14.50 | $15.00 | -0.5 ▼ |
| 5 | Jeffrey Springs | 45 | $14.50 | $15.00 | -0.5 ▼ |
| 5 | Nick Pivetta | 46 | $14.00 | $14.50 | -0.5 ▼ |
| 6 | Bailey Ober | 47 | $12.00 | $18.00 | -6.0 ▼ |
| 6 | Taj Bradley | 48 | $12.00 | $14.50 | -2.5 ▼ |
| 6 | Seth Lugo | 49 | $11.00 | $12.00 | -1.0 ▼ |
| 6 | Gavin Williams | 50 | $10.50 | $11.00 | -0.5 ▼ |
| 6 | Dustin May | 51 | $10.00 | $10.00 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 6 | Nick Lodolo | 52 | $10.00 | $10.00 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 6 | Roki Sasaki | 53 | $10.00 | $9.50 | 0.5 ▲ |
| 6 | Yusei Kikuchi | 54 | $10.00 | $9.00 | 1.0 ▲ |
| 6 | Bowden Francis | 55 | $9.50 | $8.50 | 1.0 ▲ |
| 7 | Grant Holmes | 56 | $9.50 | $8.50 | 1.0 ▲ |
| 7 | Clay Holmes | 57 | $9.00 | $8.00 | 1.0 ▲ |
| 7 | Reese Olson | 58 | $8.50 | $8.00 | 0.5 ▲ |
| 7 | Tylor Megill | 59 | $8.50 | $8.00 | 0.5 ▲ |
| 7 | Brandon Pfaadt | 60 | $8.50 | $6.00 | 2.5 ▲ |
| 7 | Max Meyer | 61 | $8.00 | $5.00 | 3.0 ▲ |
| 7 | Jose Soriano | 62 | $8.00 | $5.00 | 3.0 ▲ |
| 7 | Jordan Hicks | 63 | $8.00 | $4.00 | 4.0 ▲ |
| 7 | Landen Roupp | 64 | $6.50 | $4.00 | 2.5 ▲ |
| 8 | Kevin Gausman | 65 | $6.00 | $8.50 | -2.5 ▼ |
| 8 | Richard Fitts | 66 | $6.00 | $6.00 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 8 | David Peterson | 67 | $6.00 | $4.50 | 1.5 ▲ |
| 8 | Matthew Boyd | 68 | $5.50 | $4.50 | 1.0 ▲ |
| 8 | Casey Mize | 69 | $5.00 | $4.00 | 1.0 ▲ |
| 8 | Jackson Jobe | 70 | $5.00 | $6.50 | -1.5 ▼ |
| 8 | Nick Martinez | 71 | $4.50 | $4.00 | 0.5 ▲ |
| 8 | Chris Bassitt | 72 | $4.50 | $3.00 | 1.5 ▲ |
| 8 | Brady Singer | 73 | $4.00 | $2.50 | 1.5 ▲ |
| 8 | Ronel Blanco | 74 | $4.00 | $6.00 | -2.0 ▼ |
| 8 | Mitch Keller | 75 | $4.00 | $3.50 | 0.5 ▲ |
| 8 | Hayden Wesneski | 76 | $4.00 | $3.00 | 1.0 ▲ |
| 8 | Justin Verlander | 77 | $3.50 | $3.50 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 8 | Eduardo Rodriguez | 78 | $3.50 | $1.50 | 2.0 ▲ |
| 9 | Merrill Kelly | 79 | $3.50 | $3.50 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 9 | Luis Severino | 80 | $3.50 | $3.50 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 9 | Michael Wacha | 81 | $3.00 | $2.50 | 0.5 ▲ |
| 9 | Tanner Houck | 82 | $3.00 | $2.50 | 0.5 ▲ |
| 9 | Shane Smith | 83 | $3.00 | $1.50 | 1.5 ▲ |
| 9 | Andrew Heaney | 84 | $2.50 | $1.00 | 1.5 ▲ |
| 9 | JP Sears | 85 | $2.50 | $1.00 | 1.5 ▲ |
| 9 | Jose Berrios | 86 | $2.50 | $1.50 | 1.0 ▲ |
| 9 | Jack Kochanowicz | 87 | $2.00 | $1.00 | 1.0 ▲ |
| 9 | Kumar Rocker | 88 | $2.00 | $1.00 | 1.0 ▲ |
| 9 | Martin Perez | 89 | $1.50 | N/A | N/A |
| 10 | Will Warren | 90 | $1.50 | $2.00 | -0.5 ▼ |
| 10 | Sean Burke | 91 | $1.50 | $2.00 | -0.5 ▼ |
| 10 | Andrew Abbott | 92 | $1.50 | N/A | N/A |
| 10 | Jameson Taillon | 93 | $1.50 | N/A | N/A |
| 10 | Erick Fedde | 94 | $1.00 | N/A | N/A |
| 10 | Zack Littell | 95 | $1.00 | N/A | N/A |
| 10 | Osvaldo Bido | 96 | $1.00 | $1.00 | 0.0 ▬ |
| 10 | Ben Lively | 97 | $1.00 | N/A | N/A |
| 10 | Matthew Liberatore | 98 | $1.00 | N/A | N/A |
| 10 | Mitchell Parker | 99 | $1.00 | N/A | N/A |
| 10 | Chase Dollander | 100 | $1.00 | N/A | N/A |
| 10 | Easton Lucas | 101 | $1.00 | N/A | N/A |
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