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Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Fantasy Baseball OF Rankings Tiers: We don't want to jinx it but a certain Twin is finally putting it together
We just nudged past the halfway point of the fantasy baseball season. It's a fun and useful time to recalibrate the market. Today, we'll look at the biggest chunk of the offensive landscape, the outfield. What has happened to this point is merely an audition. The goal with this project is to set up a cheat sheet or depth chart at a given position. You could use it for a fresh draft, or for trade and pickup ideas. You can use it to consider the strengths and weaknesses of your own teams. Advertisement [Smarter waivers, better trades, optimized lineups — Yahoo Fantasy Plus unlocks it all] The salaries are a combination of data, observation and special sauce. Players at the same number are considered even. The goal is to figure out where the clusters of talent lie. Injured players are at the bottom, courtesy ranks. Those are not for debate, but I welcome your reasonable disagreement on anything else. Catch me on Twitter or Bluesky, and away we go. The Big Tickets $44 Aaron Judge $41 Juan Soto $41 Ronald Acuña $41 Kyle Tucker $38 Pete Crow-Armstrong $35 James Wood $33 Jackson Chourio $33 Mookie Betts $32 Fernando Tatis Jr $31 Kyle Schwarber $30 Byron Buxton You almost don't want to walk about it, don't want to jinx it. It's like talking during a no-hitter. Buxton is finally having that career year we've long dreamt about. He's made it through 67 games in the first half, on pace for his busiest season since 2017. He's a dominant base-stealer again (15-for-15). Everything in the slash line (.281/.347/.566) is well above career norms. And while his batting average is 27 points ahead of what he's earned in the batted-ball metrics, he nonetheless is mostly validated on his Savant page. It's always been about staying on the field with Buxton — we knew his upside in a full season was "MVP candidate." Advertisement Usually the idea is to get the best player in a blockbuster trade, not the collection of maybes going the other way. But the Nationals probably won the Juan Soto trade from three years ago. Wood arrived quickly as a star, MacKenzie Gore has the potential to be a legitimate No. 1 arm, and CJ Abrams is a plus-regular. Imagine where the Padres might be if they'd never done this deal — they'd still have control of all of these guys. San Diego didn't do as well when it shipped Soto to New York, though Michael King was mowing batters down before his shoulder injury. Legitimate Building Blocks $27 Christian Yelich $26 Riley Greene $25 Jackson Merrill $24 Cody Bellinger $24 Julio Rodríguez $23 Seiya Suzuki $23 Oneil Cruz $22 Lawrence Butler $21 Jazz Chisholm $18 Maikel Garcia $18 Brent Rooker $17 Teoscar Hernández Yelich was having an under-the-radar season before that quirky 6-0-4-8 line from mid-June — it's hard to drive in eight runs without a homer or a run scored yourself. Yelich should end the year around 30 homers and 15 steals, making do despite an elevated strikeout rate. He generally has mild home-road splits but this year he's oddly slashing a paltry .205/.297/.377 at home. That should start to correct in the second half. Advertisement Rodriguez arrived in the majors as a fully-fledged offensive weapon, so his mediocre trajectory since has been frustrating. Consider that he had a juicy 147 OPS+ in his Rookie of the Year season, and it's been 130, 116 and 110 since. Obviously the Seattle ballpark is part of the story — his OPS jumps 157 points for road games. But Rodriguez still gets himself out too often — he's had a messy chase rate his entire career, something he needs to iron out. Talk Them Up, Talk Them Down $16 Brandon Nimmo $16 Randy Arozarena $15 Jarren Duran $15 Jose Altuve $15 Wilyer Abreu $14 Alec Burleson $14 Ian Happ $13 Evan Carter $13 Nick Castellanos $13 Brendan Donovan $12 Ramón Laureano $12 Andy Pages $12 Jo Adell $12 Lourdes Gurriel $12 Bryan Reynolds $11 Spencer Steer $11 Adolis García $11 Tyler Freeman $11 Addison Barger $11 Jordan Beck $11 Steven Kwan $11 Brenton Doyle $10 Ceddanne Rafaela $10 Sal Frelick $10 George Springer $10 Kerry Carpenter $10 Cam Smith $10 Colton Cowser $10 Mike Trout Pages turned in an interesting June, slashing .324/.333/.578 with six homers despite just one walk (he walked nine times in April, four times in May). Despite the tiny walk rate, Pages has a strikeout rate better than average (19.8%), showing what a craftsman he is with the bat. Excellent defense also marks his spot in the order. He doesn't have as much power against lefties, but his average is stable. In a town that's all about buzzy stars, Pages is an under-appreciated asset. Advertisement Nimmo has been a plus-offensive player his entire career, offering a mix of power and speed and getting on base at a decent clip, though his OBP is at an all-time low this season. Category juice (15 homers, seven steals) is breaking the fall for fantasy managers; Nimmo pretty much can swipe a bag whenever he wants (22-for-23 since the start of 2024). Nimmo was a middle-order hitter when the season started but he's settled into the No. 2 slot for the past month or so; his run production should be outstanding moving forward. A winning ballplayer. Some Plausible Upside $8 Wenceel Perez $8 Jake Meyers $8 Jesús Sánchez $8 Heliot Ramos $8 Kyle Stowers $8 Tyler Soderstrom $8 Gavin Sheets $7 Isaac Collins $7 Josh Lowe $7 Chandler Simpson $6 Roman Anthony $6 Trevor Larnach $6 Jonathan India $6 Michael Harris $5 Andrew McCutchen $5 Javier Báez $5 Victor Scott $5 Eric Wagaman $5 Ryan O'Hearn $4 Mickey Moniak $4 Jake Mangum $4 Taylor Ward $4 T.J. Friedl $4 Miguel Vargas $4 Jasson Domínguez $4 Tommy Edman $4 Trent Grisham $4 Cedric Mullins $4 Austin Hays $4 Jung Hoo Lee $4 Jac Caglianone Prospects are fun but baseball is awfully hard and even the most talented kids often need time to figure things out. That's been the story with Anthony (.210/.329/.339) and Caglianone (.157/.202/.258), underwhelming in their first laps around MLB. Anthony at least is maintaining his elite batting eye and has produced more thump on batted-ball events. The Red Sox likely will leave Anthony alone for the balance of the year; Caglianone might not get that luxury. Advertisement Harris has been one of the wrong answers of the year, falling completely apart. Anyone have a good theory on the why? Writer Lindsay Crosby had some interesting ideas back in the spring; let's summarize that excellent piece. Harris has always had a horrible chase rate but he beat it in earlier seasons. Atlanta fans are afraid this might be another case like Jeff Francoeur or Jason Heyward, young stars who hit the ground running but fell into problems soon thereafter. Pitch recognition has been a problem with Harris, with Crosby suggesting that he's letting too many hittable offerings sail past him in the strike zone. You never want to write off someone who's just 24, but Harris can't be trusted for fantasy managers the balance of the year. Bargain Bin $3 Alek Thomas $3 José Caballero $3 Pavin Smith $3 Andrew Benintendi $3 Lars Nootbaar $3 Giancarlo Stanton $2 Dane Myers $2 Brandon Marsh $2 Thomas Pham $2 Lane Thomas $2 Jacob Young $2 Gavin Lux $2 Mike Yastrzemski $2 Matt Wallner $2 Mike Toglia $2 Michael Conforto $1 Mike Tauchman $1 Starling Marte $1 Parker Meadows $1 Nolan Jones $1 Will Benson $1 Luke Raley $1 Jake McCarthy $1 Isiah Kiner-Falefa $1 Harrison Bader $1 JJ Bleday $1 Jordan Walker $1 Dylan Moore Advertisement Courtesy Injury Ranks — Not For Debate $30 Corbin Carroll $17 Wyatt Langford $11 Luis Robert $5 Jorge Soler
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Fantasy Baseball Catcher Rankings Tiers: Let us take a minute to appreciate the beast that is Cal Raleigh
It's the end of June. The fantasy baseball season is almost halfway over. The days are long, but the seasons are short. Catchers are often a lesser consideration in fantasy baseball leagues that require just one starter, but we want a right answer at every position. So let's throw the backstops through the Shuffle Up car wash today and figure out how they rank for the rest of the season. Please roll up your windows, put your car in neutral. Advertisement [Smarter waivers, better trades, optimized lineups — Yahoo Fantasy Plus unlocks it all] Everything to this point is an audition. Assume a 5x5 scoring system. Players at the same salary are considered even. Consider this list as you self scout your roster, work on trades and pickups, or perhaps even draft a team from scratch. One disclaimer up front: most of this column is a love letter to Seattle superstar Cal Raleigh. He's earned it. The Big Tickets $35 Cal Raleigh $23 Hunter Goodman $19 Will Smith $18 Willson Contreras Raleigh isn't playing for just the Mariners anymore, or your fantasy team. He's playing for history. The best offensive catching season of all time was Mike Piazza in 1997. In his age-28 season with the Dodgers, Piazza batted .362 with 104 runs, 40 home runs, 124 RBI and five steals. When you hash out ballpark and era adjustment, it settles in at 185 OPS+. If you prefer Offensive WAR, Baseball Reference offers 9.0. Advertisement The next closest seasons on modern record are Joe Mauer in 2009 (171 OPS+, 7.7 Offensive War) and Buster Posey in 2012 (171 OPS+, 7,3 Offensive WAR). Piazza and Mauer are Hall of Famers; Posey is surely headed there soon after his timetable opening. Raleigh has a shot to blow this all out of the water. He's more than halfway home, in fact, to the best catcher season (or fantasy catcher season) of all time. Raleigh's currently holding a 202 OPS+ (for context, this makes him an eyelash less valuable than Barry Bonds in 1992 and 1993 — those were both MVP seasons). If you want the Offensive War (which is a cumulative, counting stat) he's at 5.0. He's only played 76 games! Advertisement Maybe you don't want all these modern stats. Let's say you just want the fantasy numbers. Among 2025 catchers, Raleigh is second in hits, first in runs (19 ahead of William Contreras), first in homers (his 32 dingers lead the majors; he has a 15-homer lead over Logan O'Hoppe among catchers) and first in RBI (18 clear of Contreras, again). And just for overkill, the nine steals are tops, too (sorry Contreras, you're four back). And it's tied to a career-best .278 average. Fantasy managers get nothing for Raleigh's defense, but he's also coming off a Gold Glove season. He's not just a hitter. He's a fantastic ballplayer peaking in his age-28 season. With all due respect to Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani and even Pete Crow-Armstrong, the most impactful thing any fantasy manager could have done this year was draft Raleigh. His global ADP from March was 77.9, the sixth backstop off the board. Contreras, Yainer Díaz, the befuddling Adley Rutschman, Salvador Pérez and Willson Contreras all went before Raleigh. We are all witnesses. We've never seen dominance like this before at the catcher position. Legitimate Building Blocks $15 Salvador Pérez $13 Ben Rice $12 Logan O'Hoppe $12 William Contreras $12 Alejandro Kirk Advertisement Pérez is having his worst season out of seven, but many of the bad-luck signs are flashing. According to the batted-ball data, he's been 45 points unlucky in batting average and 108 points unlucky with slugging percentage. I know the age-35 season makes you nervous, but I'd trade for him in a second. O'Hoppe crushes the ball when he makes contact, but he has leaky plate-discipline metrics and opposing pitchers took advantage of that for most of this month (.132/.164/.321). At least O'Hoppe knocked some home runs last week, so perhaps he's providing the needed adjustment. It's still just his second full season as a regular. Talk Them Up, Talk Them Down $10 Agustín Ramírez $9 Austin Wells $9 Dillon Dingler $9 Carlos Narvaez $8 Carson Kelly $7 JT Realmuto $7 Drake Baldwin $7 Tyler Stephenson $6 Sean Murphy $5 Yainer Diaz $5 Ryan Jeffers $5 Keibert Ruiz Advertisement Miami doesn't have a deep lineup but Ramírez always slots somewhere in the top four and he routinely picks up DH work when he's not catching. We love those stress-free paths to extra volume. Baldwin could get back to double digits if there's anything to the Sean Murphy trade rumors. The Braves are five games under .500, the biggest disappointment in the National League. Perhaps all the mileage finally caught up to Realmuto, who has his worst OPS+ since becoming a regular 10 years ago. His slugging percentage is 83 points below career norms, and his Savant page is full of average or below-average sliders. This is what a typical aging curve looks like. Advertisement Bargain Bin $3 Jose Trevino $3 Jonah Heim $3 Austin Wynns $3 Victor Caratini $2 Liam Hicks $2 Joey Bart $1 Bo Naylor Courtesy Injury Ranks — Not for Debate $12 Ivan Herrera $10 Shea Langeliers $8 Gabriel Moreno $8 Adley Rutschman $1 Miguel Amaya
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
2025 Fantasy Baseball rest-of-season rankings: Infielders
After covering the starting pitchers and outfielders over the past few weeks, the Shuffle Up series rolls on. Our job is to try to rank the players as if we're drafting starting from scratch today (something you can still do at Yahoo, by the way). Use this list for self-scouting, pickups, trades, any kind of player evaluation you like. [Smarter waivers, better trades, optimized lineups — Yahoo Fantasy Plus unlocks it all] Today we are raking the infield — everyone with infield eligibility should be here, other than any dual-position catchers (they get their own day). Advertisement Everything to this point is an audition. Assume a 5x5 scoring system. Players at the same salary are considered even. Tier 1: The Big Tickets $41 Bobby Witt Jr. $36 Elly De La Cruz $34 Mookie Betts $34 Francisco Lindor $34 José Ramírez $31 Bryce Harper $31 Oneil Cruz $29 Rafael Devers $29 Freddie Freeman $25 Alex Bregman $25 Trea Turner $25 Austin Riley $25 Matt Olson $24 Peter Alonso $24 Manny Machado Witt has future MVP written all over him, especially when he stops chasing at pitches outside the strike zone. Keep in mind, he's just shy of his 25th birthday. He's as fast as anyone in baseball and has no platoon deficit. It would be nice if the Royals could build an A to Z lineup, but one step at a time. Despite being tied to the No. 26 scoring offense in baseball, Witt would be the standard No. 3 pick in pretty much any league starting fresh today, after Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani. Cincinnati's De La Cruz and Pittsburgh's Cruz no longer play the same position, but they're still young, ascending, jumbo-sized stars in the same division, so it's fun to link them. Advertisement De La Cruz is on pace for 200 strikeouts and his hard-hit metrics are down, but he still has the athleticism to outrun his mistakes — he's projected for 25 home runs and 55 steals, with an average that won't crush you. Cruz has almost doubled his walk rate this year and he's running liberally — after stealing 15-for-15 in the second half of last year, he's 18-for-19 this season (only a brief back problem slowed him down). Cruz strikes out even more than Elly, but when the category juice is this tasty, you live with the empty at-bats. We still haven't seen the peak of either player, which is scary. One reason Bregman came to Boston on his make-good contract was a dreamy career split at Fenway Park; so far, that hasn't registered in 2025 (.330 average on the road, .263 average at home). Still, it all hashes to his best OPS+ since 2019, and a regaining of his power stroke. Bregman has excellent zone judgment and he knows when to look for his pitch, pulling the ball a whopping 55% of the time. Even if the bat speed might be slightly down, his experience makes up for it. He's still close to peak in his age-31 season. Tier 2: Legitimate Building Blocks $21 Vladimir Guerrero $21 Ketel Marte $20 CJ Abrams $19 Gunnar Henderson $18 Zach Neto $16 Paul Goldschmidt $15 Dansby Swanson $15 Cody Bellinger $14 Matt Chapman $14 Josh Naylor $13 Ozzie Albies $13 Spencer Torkelson $13 Eugenio Suárez $13 Tyler Soderstrom Advertisement The Blue Jays paid up for Guerrero, it felt like they probably had to. But a superstar contract doesn't guarantee superstar returns. Guerrero still hits too many ground balls and for all of his batting skill, he's merely headed for around 20 home runs. The supporting cast isn't floating him, either — Toronto ranks 21st in runs scored. Guerrero's name is still a little juicier than his game. Fading injury optimism has been good to me through the years but I'd like a mulligan on Neto, who was nicked in March and wound up being a gigantic bargain. It's interesting that Neto's plate discipline has actually fallen off this year but with 25.3% line drives and the willingness to run aggressively, it hasn't mattered. The .342 BABIP will likely fall a little, but remember he's ripping line drives and is a fast runner; he owns a fair amount of that stat. Neto is also locked into the leadoff spot for the balance of the year, and we love a volume play in fantasy. Tier 3: Talk Them Up, Talk Them Down $12 Geraldo Perdomo $12 Brice Turang $12 Isaac Paredes $12 Jose Altuve $11 Maikel Garcia $11 Jeremy Peña $11 Bo Bichette $11 Mark Vientos $10 Brendan Donovan $10 Ben Rice $10 Anthony Volpe $10 Christian Walker $10 Bryson Stott $10 Vinnie Pasquantino $9 Willy Adames $9 Jorge Polanco $9 Nico Hoerner $9 Jackson Holliday Advertisement The Diamondbacks obviously have a future star shortstop in Jordan Lawlar, but Perdomo isn't giving up the job without a fight. He's been one of the surprise stars of the year, currently the No. 3 shortstop in banked 5x5 value. His pitch-recognition skills are outstanding and he's squaring the ball 36% of the time, an elite rate. His 11 steals are tied to his Baseball IQ; his sprint speed is below average. Perdomo is the most underrated offensive player in the National League right now. Adames came with all the caveats — big contract, new park, team might not run — and so far those fears have been realized. Maybe he's pressing to justify the big deal the Giants gave him. We know San Francisco doesn't want to run much. Adames hasn't hit much at home but it's been even worse on the road (.189/.271/.305). I'll buy the dip next year, steer into the back class. I'm out for 2025. When it comes to steal-focused players, we're always looking where they slot in the lineup. Turang's excellent walk rate and improving average have pushed him to the top of the Milwaukee lineup, a major sea change for his fantasy value. We need that extra at-bat, gamers. He's also not a zero in the power department — he'll knock 10-12 homers while offering that plus average. He's jumped about 40-50 slots from his March ADP. Tier 4: Some Plausible Upside $8 Rhys Hoskins $8 Xander Bogaerts $8 Marcus Semien $8 Jacob Wilson $8 Gleyber Torres $7 Michael Busch $7 Yandy Díaz $7 Kyle Manzardo $7 Josh Jung $7 Alec Bohm $7 Jake Burger $6 Dylan Moore $6 Tommy Edman $6 Trevor Story $6 Zach McKinstry $6 Masyn Winn $6 Nolan Arenado $6 Chase Meidroth $6 Ryan McMahon $5 Ryan O'Hearn $5 Wilmer Flores $5 Brandon Lowe $5 Junior Caminero $5 Josh Smith $5 Luis Arráez $5 Kristian Campbell $5 Tyler Fitzgerald $4 Javier Báez $4 Jonathan Aranda $4 Nathaniel Lowe $4 Carlos Santana $4 Gavin Sheets $4 Ceddanne Rafaela $4 Matt McLain $4 J.P. Crawford $4 Nolan Schanuel $4 Miguel Vargas $4 Miguel Andújar $4 Spencer Steer $4 Isiah Kiner-Falefa $4 Ezequiel Tovar $4 Royce Lewis Advertisement The Tigers are a hot story with the best record in baseball, but Torres isn't getting much of the attention. He's been a nifty addition. The .281 average is supported by his batted-ball profile, and he's one of the hardest players to strike out (9.4 %). Heck, Torres rarely offers at a pitch outside the strike zone. He's one of the slower players in baseball but he has enough guile to grab 10-13 steals, too. Torres figures to bat second in this plus lineup for the remainder of the year. The White Sox are a fantasy wasteland but make an exception for Meidroth, who gobbles up three spots, can hit for a plus average and is willing to run aggressively. He's been a little lucky with his average thus far — Baseball Savant suggests a .264 number — but Meidroth excels with plate discipline and rarely swings outside the zone. Chicago doesn't have much to cheer for this year, but Meidroth is a welcome exception. Tier 5: Bargain Bin $3 Trey Sweeney $3 Jose Caballero $3 Luis García Jr. $3 Gabriel Arias $3 Pavin Smith $3 Gavin Lux $3 Colt Keith $3 Michael Toglia $3 Connor Norby $3 Jake Cronenworth $3 Willi Castro $3 Hyeseong Kim $3 Jonathan India $3 Nick Kurtz $3 Ty France $2 Daniel Schneemann $2 Otto López $2 Ernie Clement $2 Matt Shaw $2 Jordan Lawlar $1 Kyren Paris $1 Enrique Hernandez $1 Luisangel Acuña $1 Tim Tawa $1 Luis Urias $1 Lenyn Sosa $1 Ke'Bryan Hayes $1 Eric Wagaman $1 Brett Baty $1 Christopher Morel $1 Max Muncy $1 Santiago Espinal $1 Luis Rengifo $0 Amed Rosario $0 Rowdy Tellez $0 Yoán Moncada $0 Cam Smith $0 David Hamilton $0 Kody Clemens $0 Zach Dezenzo $0 Andrew Vaughn $0 Michael Massey Advertisement Injured Players — Not For Debate
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
2025 Fantasy Baseball rest-of-season rankings: Starting Pitchers
We're over 20% of the way through the 2025 MLB season, so it's a good time to kick off the Shuffle Up series. And we'll start with the position everyone asks about the most: starting pitchers. Pitchers are the sirens of fantasy baseball, forever teasing us and misleading us. Most pitchers, even the best of them, are constantly tinkering with their approach, their arsenal, their mechanics. And of course, throwing a baseball is a very unnatural act, so you never know who's the next pitcher to need downtime — or a lost season. You want to make the fantasy baseball gods laugh? Rank the pitchers. ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement And that's what the Shuffle Up series aims to do. What's below is a set of salaries that reflect how I would price the starting pitching market if I were entering a fresh draft today, or considering pickups or trades. What's happened to this point is merely an audition. [Smarter waivers, better trades, optimized lineups — Yahoo Fantasy Plus unlocks it all] The salaries are a combination of stats to this point, observations, gut feel and special sauce. You'll have many disagreements, of course, because that's why we have a game. I did a courtesy rank of the currently-injured pitchers at the bottom, but I will not discuss or debate that part of the list. Everyone can decide for themselves what a hurt pitcher is worth. In the weeks to follow, we will shuffle other positions. Assume a 5x5 scoring system, and away we go. The Big Tickets $29 Tarik Skubal $27 Paul Skenes $25 Zack Wheeler $24 Michael King $24 Garrett Crochet $23 Hunter Brown $23 Yoshinobu Yamamoto $23 Bryan Woo $22 Hunter Greene $22 Cole Ragans $21 Logan Webb $21 Jacob deGrom $20 Max Fried $20 Joe Ryan $20 Chris Sale ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement So far, so good with the new version of deGrom, the so-called "dial it back" ace. His fastball is down a tick to 96.9 mph, which is intentional. The Rangers have been proactive in getting deGrom out of games, only pushing him past 90 pitches once. I know there's no universal way to save the pitcher in the modern game, but when Texas quickly lifted deGrom with huge leads in his last two starts, I nodded my head. It's prudent. The strikeout rate has dropped and the walk rate is up, though 2.13 BB/9 is still excellent. There's also been an uptick in ground balls. If this is the trade-off that has to happen, and we merely accept deGrom as a strong pitcher and not a demigod who separates himself, I can live with that. I'm just glad we can watch him every five days, and he hasn't had any setbacks. ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement Fried has been a godsend for the Yankees thus far, but see the story for what it is. His expected ERA is 3.27, much higher than the 1.01 on the back of the card. His ground-ball rate bails him out of trouble and he doesn't walk many batters, but the strikeout rate is merely average. He's getting positive results from his four primary pitches, with the cutter notably improved this year. His ratios from his last two Atlanta years are still the way to bet. Legitimate Building Blocks $19 Freddy Peralta $18 Nick Pivetta $18 Carlos Rodón $18 Framber Valdez $17 Nathan Eovaldi $17 Dylan Cease $17 MacKenzie Gore $16 Jesús Luzardo $16 Seth Lugo $15 Kodai Senga $15 Luis Castillo $15 Pablo López $14 Bailey Ober $14 Kris Bubic $13 Spencer Schwellenbach $13 Zac Gallen Gore has long been viewed as a future ace; maybe that future is now. His walk and strikeout rates are moving in the right direction. The batted-ball profile validates his early ratios, and his Savant page is a glorious display of red sliders pushed to the right. It's interesting that, for his career, he has reverse splits — lefties hit him better than righties — but it's nothing to be alarmed about. I wish the Washington defense were better, but Gore misses so many bats, he doesn't need as much help as the average pitcher. He's occupying a slot much higher than whatever you projected in March. This feels legit. ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement Is Lugo the most underrated starting pitcher in baseball? He's been a full-time rotation guy since 2023, with these returns: 3.57/1.20 in 2023, 3.00/1.09 last year (where he was quietly Cy Young runner-up) and a 3.07/1.05 push to this season. The K/BB rate isn't as tidy this year as what we're used to, and the batted-ball profile says he's about a run fortunate on the ERA. I'm not sweating any of that. This breakout story is 66 starts deep now, I'm trusting the results. Talk Them Up, Talk Them Down $12 Aaron Nola $12 Sonny Gray $12 Jack Flaherty $11 Tyler Mahle $11 Tanner Bibee $11 Drew Rasmussen $11 Bryce Miller $10 Casey Mize $10 Robbie Ray $10 Clay Holmes $10 Kevin Gausman $10 Tony Gonsolin $9 Tylor Megill $9 Reese Olson $9 Brady Singer $9 Nick Lodolo $9 Matt Liberatore $9 Chris Bassitt $9 Brandon Pfaadt $9 Cristopher Sánchez $9 Shane Baz $9 Taj Bradley ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement Maybe we're firmly in "what you see is what you get" territory with Nola. His fastball has dropped down to 90.9 mph, after living in the 92s for eight straight years (for what it's worth, velocity often lags in the early part of a season and Nola feels that's the case here). His 4.61 ERA is basically what he's earned from his batted-ball profile. The Phillies might have the worst defense in the National League, so Nola pitching to contact comes at a price. He should be good enough to start for a mixed-league contender, but I've stopped expecting ace things from Nola. Because Mize is a sturdy 6-foot-3 and 212 pounds and he was the top pick in his draft class, it's easy to imagine we're looking at a horse in the Roger Clemens/Zack Wheeler mode. That's never going to be Mize. He's not a strikeout guy. Plus control and a decent ground-ball rate have sparked his quasi-breakout so far, and his expected ERA (2.91) is right in line with the front-door 2.70. Detroit's defense isn't exactly airtight, but it's better than average. Stay grounded with the upside dreams, but Mize has shown enough to be considered a full-season story. Some Plausible Upside $8 Roki Sasaki $9 Griffin Canning $8 José Berríos $8 Max Meyer $8 Yusei Kikuchi $7 JP Sears $7 *Ben Casparius $7 Dustin May $6 Jackson Jobe $6 José Quintana $6 Gunnar Hoglund $6 Sandy Alcantara $6 Ryan Pepiot $6 Luis Severino $6 Matt Boyd $5 Tyler Anderson $5 Andrew Heaney $5 David Peterson $5 Hayden Wesneski ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement The Dodgers are looking to stretch out Casparius; he was the secondary pitcher Monday (four innings, one run) after a one-inning opener. That gloriously K/BB rate speaks for itself (28 punch outs, five walks) and the fastball pops at 96.0 mph. The Chavez Ravine infrastructure is a plus, too. So many Japanese pitchers have seamlessly onboarded to the majors, perhaps I was unrealistic with my initial Sasaki expectations. The strikeout rate is low, the walk rate a screaming problem at the moment. Remember: the ball is different in America, not to mention the cadence of a rotation. His NPB success is what's keeping me from collapsing his salary completely. I wish I had a good theory for Alcantra's struggles. Walks are way up, of course, and the strikeout rate is low — and he was never a strikeout dominator anyway, even in his Cy Young season. Miami wants to trade Alcantara at some point this year, but you need something to sell. Maybe drawing the White Sox on the weekend and Tampa Bay next week will improve the story, but whatever ceiling we might have dreamt about in March, it's long gone now. I would not be averse to selling low. Bargain Bin $4 Shane Smith $4 Andrew Abbott $4 Tomoyuki Sugano $4 Brayan Bello $4 Ronel Blanco $4 Merrill Kelly $4 Justin Verlander $4 Gavin Williams $4 Mitch Keller $4 Jameson Taillon $4 Michael Wacha $3 Tanner Houck $3 Grant Holmes $3 Jake Irvin $3 Mitchell Parker $3 Jeffrey Springs $3 Lance McCullers $3 Nick Martinez $3 AJ Smith-Shawver $3 José Soriano $2 Clarke Schmidt $2 Bowden Francis $2 Jack Leiter $2 Lucas Giolito $2 Erick Fedde $2 Michael Lorenzen $2 Zack Littell $2 Ben Lively $2 Taijuan Walker $1 Stephen Kolek $1 Luis L. Ortiz $1 Landen Roupp $1 Jordan Hicks $1 Logan Allen $1 Osvaldo Bido $0 Eduardo Rodríguez $0 Ben Brown $0 Miles Mikolas $0 Will Warren $0 Tobias Myers $0 Sean Burke $0 Andre Pallante $0 David Festa $0 Dean Kremer -$1 Chase Dollander -$1 Patrick Corbin ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement Burke and Sugano are near the top of the good luck leaderboard, with ERAs that should be a couple of runs higher. Burke is also supported by the worst set of teammates in the American League, of course, and Sugano's Baltimore club is probably the biggest disappointment in the A.L. this year. It will be interesting to see how patient the Giants are with Hicks — he has an ERA over six, but the expected number is a reasonable 3.51. Hayden Birdsong has been excellent in long relief — Monday's hiccup to the side — and is ready if anyone in the rotation has an extended slump or an injury. Landen Roupp, the team's No. 5 starter, could be on notice, too. Courtesy Injury Ranks — Not for Debate
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
2025 Fantasy Baseball rest-of-season rankings: Starting Pitchers
We're over 20% of the way through the fresh MLB season, so it's a good time to kick off the Shuffle Up series. And we'll start with the position everyone asks about the most: starting pitchers. Pitchers are the sirens of fantasy baseball, forever teasing us and misleading us. Most pitchers, even the best of them, are constantly tinkering with their approach, their arsenal, their mechanics. And of course, throwing a baseball is a very unnatural act, so you never know who's the next pitcher to need downtime — or a lost season. You want to make the fantasy baseball gods laugh? Rank the pitchers. And that's what the Shuffle Up series aims to do. What's below is a set of salaries that reflect how I would price the starting pitching market if I were entering a fresh draft today, or considering pickups or trades. What's happened to this point is merely an audition. [Smarter waivers, better trades, optimized lineups — Yahoo Fantasy Plus unlocks it all] The salaries are a combination of stats to this point, observations, gut feel and special sauce. You'll have many disagreements, of course, because that's why we have a game. I did a courtesy rank of the currently-injured pitchers at the bottom, but I will not discuss or debate that part of the list. Everyone can decide for themselves what a hurt pitcher is worth. In the weeks to follow, we will shuffle other positions. Assume a 5x5 scoring system as always, and away we go. The Big Tickets $29 Tarik Skubal $27 Paul Skenes $25 Zack Wheeler $24 Michael King $24 Garrett Crochet $23 Hunter Brown $23 Yoshinobu Yamamoto $23 Bryan Woo $22 Hunter Greene $22 Cole Ragans $21 Logan Webb $21 Jacob deGrom $20 Max Fried $20 Joe Ryan $20 Chris Sale So far, so good with the new version of deGrom, the so-called "dial it back" ace. His fastball is down a tick to 96.9 mph, which is intentional. The Rangers have been proactive in getting deGrom out of games, only pushing him past 90 pitches once. I know there's no universal way to save the pitcher in the modern game, but when Texas quickly lifted deGrom with huge leads in his last two starts, I nodded my head. It's prudent. The strikeout rate has dropped and the walk rate is up, though 2.13 BB/9 is still excellent. There's also been an uptick in ground balls. If this is the trade-off that has to happen, and we merely accept deGrom as a strong pitcher and not a demigod who separates himself, I can live with that. I'm just glad we can watch him every five days, and he hasn't had any setbacks. Fried has been a godsend for the Yankees thus far, but see the story for what it is. His expected ERA is 3.27, much higher than the 1.01 on the back of the card. His ground-ball rate bails him out of trouble and he doesn't walk many batters, but the strikeout rate is merely average. He's getting positive results from his four primary pitches, with the cutter notably improved this year. His ratios from his last two Atlanta years are still the way to bet. Legitimate Building Blocks $19 Freddy Peralta $18 Nick Pivetta $18 Carlos Rodón $18 Framber Valdez $17 Nathan Eovaldi $17 Dylan Cease $17 MacKenzie Gore $16 Jesús Luzardo $16 Seth Lugo $15 Kodai Senga $15 Luis Castillo $15 Pablo López $14 Bailey Ober $14 Kris Bubic $13 Spencer Schwellenbach $13 Zac Gallen Gore has long been viewed as a future ace; maybe that future is now. His walk and strikeout rates are moving in the right direction. The batted-ball profile validates his early ratios, and his Savant page is a glorious display of red sliders pushed to the right. It's interesting that, for his career, he has reverse splits — lefties hit him better than righties — but it's nothing to be alarmed about. I wish the Washington defense were better, but Gore misses so many bats, he doesn't need as much help as the average pitcher. He's occupying a slot much higher than whatever you projected in March. This feels legit. Is Lugo the most underrated starting pitcher in baseball? He's been a full-time rotation guy since 2023, with these returns: 3.57/1.20 in 2003, 3.00/1.09 last year (where he was quietly Cy Young runner-up) and a 3.07/1.05 push to this season. The K/BB rate isn't as tidy this year as what we're used to, and the batted-ball profile says he's about a run fortunate on the ERA. I'm not sweating any of that. This breakout story is 66 starts deep now, I'm trusting the results. Talk Them Up, Talk Them Down $12 Aaron Nola $12 Sonny Gray $12 Jack Flaherty $11 Tyler Mahle $11 Tanner Bibee $11 Drew Rasmussen $11 Bryce Miller $10 Casey Mize $10 Robbie Ray $10 Clay Holmes $10 Kevin Gausman $10 Tony Gonsolin $9 Tylor Megill $9 Reese Olson $9 Brady Singer $9 Nick Lodolo $9 Matt Liberatore $9 Chris Bassitt $9 Brandon Pfaadt $9 Cristopher Sánchez $9 Shane Baz $9 Taj Bradley Maybe we're firmly in "what you see is what you get" territory with Nola. His fastball has dropped down to 90.9 mph, after living in the 92s for eight straight years (for what it's worth, velocity often lags in the early part of a season and Nola feels that's the case here). His 4.61 ERA is basically what he's earned from his batted-ball profile. The Phillies might have the worst defense in the National League, so Nola pitching to contact comes at a price. He should be good enough to start for a mixed-league contender, but I've stopped expecting ace things from Nola. Because Mize is a sturdy 6-foot-3 and 212 pounds and he was the top pick in his draft class, it's easy to imagine we're looking at a horse in the Roger Clemens/Zack Wheeler mode. That's never going to be Mize. He's not a strikeout guy. Plus control and a decent ground-ball rate have sparked his quasi-breakout so far, and his expected ERA (2.91) is right in line with the front-door 2.70. Detroit's defense isn't exactly airtight, but it's better than average. Stay grounded with the upside dreams, but Mize has shown enough to be considered a full-season story. Some Plausible Upside $8 Roki Sasaki $9 Griffin Canning $8 José Berríos $8 Max Meyer $8 Yusei Kikuchi $7 JP Sears $7 *Ben Casparius $7 Dustin May $6 Jackson Jobe $6 José Quintana $6 Gunnar Hoglund $6 Sandy Alcantara $6 Ryan Pepiot $6 Luis Severino $6 Matt Boyd $5 Tyler Anderson $5 Andrew Heaney $5 David Peterson $5 Hayden Wesneski The Dodgers are looking to stretch out Casparius; he was the secondary pitcher Monday (four innings, one run) after a one-inning opener. That gloriously K/BB rate speaks for itself (28 punch outs, five walks) and the fastball pops at 96.0 mph. The Chavez Ravine infrastructure is a plus, too. So many Japanese pitchers have seamlessly onboarded to the majors, perhaps I was unrealistic with my initial Sasaki expectations. The strikeout rate is low, the walk rate a screaming problem at the moment. Remember: the ball is different in America, not to mention the cadence of a rotation. His back class from NPB is what's keeping me from collapsing his salary completely. I wish I had a good theory for Alcantra's struggles. Walks are way up, of course, and the strikeout rate is low — and he was never a strikeout dominator anyway, even in his Cy Young season. Miami wants to trade Alcantara at some point this year, but you need something to sell. Maybe drawing the White Sox on the weekend and Tampa Bay next week will improve the story, but whatever ceiling we might have dreamt about in March, it's long gone now. I would not be averse to selling low. Bargain Bin $4 Shane Smith $4 Andrew Abbott $4 Tomoyuki Sugano $4 Brayan Bello $4 Ronel Blanco $4 Merrill Kelly $4 Justin Verlander $4 Gavin Williams $4 Mitch Keller $4 Jameson Taillon $4 Michael Wacha $3 Tanner Houck $3 Grant Holmes $3 Jake Irvin $3 Mitchell Parker $3 Jeffrey Springs $3 Lance McCullers $3 Nick Martinez $3 AJ Smith-Shawver $3 José Soriano $2 Clarke Schmidt $2 Bowden Francis $2 Jack Leiter $2 Lucas Giolito $2 Erick Fedde $2 Michael Lorenzen $2 Zack Littell $2 Ben Lively $2 Taijuan Walker $1 Stephen Kolek $1 Luis L. Ortiz $1 Landen Roupp $1 Jordan Hicks $1 Logan Allen $1 Osvaldo Bido $0 Eduardo Rodríguez $0 Ben Brown $0 Miles Mikolas $0 Will Warren $0 Tobias Myers $0 Sean Burke $0 Andre Pallante $0 David Festa $0 Dean Kremer -$1 Chase Dollander -$1 Patrick Corbin Burke and Sugano are near the top of the good luck leaderboard, with ERAs that should be a couple of runs higher. Burke is also supported by the worst set of teammates in the American League, of course, and Sugano's Baltimore club is probably the biggest disappointment in the A.L. this year. It will be interesting to see how patient the Giants are with Hicks — he has an ERA over six, but the expected number is a reasonable 3.51. Hayden Birdsong has been excellent in long relief — Monday's hiccup to the side — and is ready if anyone in the rotation has an extended slump or an injury. Landen Roupp, the team's No. 5 starter, could be on notice, too. Courtesy Injury Ranks — Not for Debate
