Updated Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitcher Rankings (Part 2) - 5x5 Mixed Roto Leagues

Earlier, we broke down the first few tiers of starting pitcher rankings for 2022 fantasy baseball drafts. It's time to look at the rest of the starting pitchers that may be fantasy-relevant and worthy of a draft pick.

RotoBaller's rankers, JB Branson, Pierre Camus, Ariel Cohen, Nicklaus Gaut, and Nick Mariano, have updated our 2022 Mixed League rankings to help you prepare for draft day.

You can also find our other draft rankings for all sorts of league formats, continually updated throughout the preseason, right here in our main fantasy baseball Rankings Wizard tool. Also, make use of all our premium resources with our MLB Draft Kit.

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2022 Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitcher Rankings

In case you missed it, our very own "Big Pick Nick" Mariano was named the #1 overall most accurate industry expert ranker for the 2018 season, and Ariel Cohen was the top ranker in 2019. In addition, ATC Projections by Ariel Cohen were the #1 most accurate projections system in 2019. Be sure to follow their updated rankings and projections all season long!

Pitcher Rank	Tier	Player	Overall Rank	Position
1	2	Shohei Ohtani	8	DH/SP
2	2	Gerrit Cole	9	SP
3	2	Jacob deGrom	10	SP
4	2	Corbin Burnes	12	SP
5	2	Max Scherzer	14	SP
6	3	Walker Buehler	21	SP
7	3	Brandon Woodruff	22	SP
8	3	Zack Wheeler	26	SP
9	3	Shane Bieber	27	SP
10	3	Julio Urias	32	SP
11	3	Robbie Ray	38	SP
12	3	Lucas Giolito	46	SP
13	4	Freddy Peralta	48	SP
14	4	Aaron Nola	49	SP
15	4	Sandy Alcantara	50	SP
16	4	Lance Lynn	55	SP
17	4	Max Fried	59	SP
18	4	Chris Sale	61	SP
19	4	Kevin Gausman	63	SP
20	5	Logan Webb	68	SP
21	5	Jose Berrios	71	SP
22	5	Joe Musgrove	77	SP
23	5	Charlie Morton	78	SP
24	5	Frankie Montas	79	SP
25	5	Jack Flaherty	83	SP
26	5	Alek Manoah	91	SP
27	6	Justin Verlander	92	SP
28	6	Trevor Rogers	93	SP
29	6	Carlos Rodon	94	SP
30	6	Yu Darvish	95	SP
31	6	Dylan Cease	96	SP
32	6	Luis Castillo	99	SP
33	6	Pablo Lopez	106	SP
34	7	Shane McClanahan	117	SP
35	7	Chris Bassitt	120	SP
36	7	Blake Snell	125	SP
37	8	Eduardo Rodriguez	129	SP
38	8	Sean Manaea	130	SP
39	8	Lance McCullers Jr.	132	SP
40	8	Framber Valdez	133	SP
41	8	Shane Baz	134	SP
42	8	Clayton Kershaw	135	SP
43	8	Luis Garcia	138	SP
44	8	Nathan Eovaldi	143	SP
45	8	Tyler Mahle	151	SP
46	9	Luis Severino	155	SP
47	9	Zac Gallen	158	SP
48	9	Ian Anderson	161	SP
49	9	Ranger Suarez	164	SP/RP
50	9	Mike Clevinger	169	SP
51	9	Sonny Gray	173	SP
52	9	John Means	174	SP
53	10	Marcus Stroman	178	SP
54	10	Logan Gilbert	186	SP
55	10	Adam Wainwright	188	SP
56	11	Jose Urquidy	192	SP
57	11	Joe Ryan	193	SP
58	11	Alex Wood	197	SP
59	11	Patrick Sandoval	200	SP
60	11	Tarik Skubal	201	SP
61	11	Tanner Houck	205	SP/RP
62	11	Hyun Jin Ryu	217	SP
63	11	Anthony DeSclafani	220	SP
64	11	Trevor Bauer	221	SP
65	12	Jordan Montgomery	232	SP
66	12	German Marquez	236	SP
67	12	Aaron Civale	237	SP
68	12	Casey Mize	239	SP
69	12	Huascar Ynoa	246	SP
70	12	Noah Syndergaard	249	SP
71	13	Steven Matz	255	SP
72	13	Triston McKenzie	256	SP
73	13	Stephen Strasburg	263	SP
74	13	Carlos Carrasco	267	SP
75	13	Zach Plesac	268	SP
76	13	Bailey Ober	274	SP
77	13	Kyle Hendricks	275	SP
78	13	Jon Gray	276	SP
79	13	Marco Gonzales	278	SP
80	13	Cal Quantrill	280	SP/RP
81	13	Yusei Kikuchi	281	SP
82	14	Jameson Taillon	283	SP
83	14	Alex Cobb	284	SP
84	14	Tylor Megill	285	SP
85	14	Adbert Alzolay	292	SP/RP
86	14	Tony Gonsolin	294	SP
87	14	Drew Rasmussen	297	SP/RP
88	14	Andrew Heaney	299	SP
89	14	Cristian Javier	300	SP/RP
90	14	Zack Greinke	302	SP
91	14	Dinelson Lamet	303	SP/RP
92	14	Nestor Cortes Jr.	308	SP/RP
93	14	Chris Paddack	309	SP
94	14	Josiah Gray	312	SP
95	14	Corey Kluber	314	SP
96	15	Sixto Sanchez	318	SP
97	15	Elieser Hernandez	319	SP
98	15	James Kaprielian	320	SP
99	15	Taijuan Walker	326	SP
100	15	Zach Eflin	330	SP
101	15	Domingo German	331	SP
102	15	Luis Patino	336	SP
103	15	Dane Dunning	340	SP
104	16	Brady Singer	348	SP
105	16	Reiver Sanmartin	356	SP
106	16	Kyle Gibson	363	SP
107	16	Chris Flexen	365	SP
108	16	Madison Bumgarner	366	SP
109	16	Jesus Luzardo	367	SP
110	16	Merrill Kelly	369	SP
111	16	Dylan Bundy	371	SP
112	17	Reid Detmers	376	SP
113	17	Austin Gomber	380	SP
114	17	Eric Lauer	384	SP
115	17	Patrick Corbin	385	SP
116	17	Mike Minor	387	SP
117	17	Michael Pineda	402	SP
118	18	Miles Mikolas	404	SP
119	18	David Price	408	SP
120	18	Daniel Lynch	412	SP
121	18	Hunter Greene	417	SP
122	18	Nate Pearson	419	SP
123	18	Nick Pivetta	421	SP
124	18	Grayson Rodriguez	425	SP
125	18	Edward Cabrera	426	SP
126	18	Jose Suarez	431	SP
127	18	Dakota Hudson	436	SP
128	18	Jake Odorizzi	437	SP
129	18	Luke Weaver	442	SP
130	19	Ryan Yarbrough	443	SP/RP
131	19	Carlos Hernandez	444	SP
132	19	JT Brubaker	446	SP
133	19	Wade Miley	447	SP
134	19	Cole Irvin	451	SP
135	19	Zach Thompson	453	SP
136	19	Griffin Canning	460	SP
137	19	Adrian Houser	461	SP
138	19	Roansy Contreras	466	SP
139	20	Luis Gil	474	SP
140	20	Antonio Senzatela	479	SP
141	20	Nick Martinez	480	SP
142	20	Matthew Boyd	481	SP
143	20	David Peterson	483	SP
144	20	Collin McHugh	489	SP/RP
145	20	Tyler Anderson	493	SP
146	20	Rich Hill	498	SP
147	20	Kenta Maeda	507	SP
148	20	Kris Bubic	509	SP
149	20	Mike Soroka	511	SP
150	20	Vladimir Gutierrez	522	SP
151	21	Jose Quintana	532	SP
152	21	Dustin May	533	SP
153	21	Dallas Keuchel	539	SP
154	21	Kyle Freeland	544	SP
155	21	Mitch Keller	547	SP
156	21	Matt Manning	571	SP
157	21	Caleb Smith	574	SP/RP
158	21	Glenn Otto	575	SP
159	21	Nick Lodolo	580	SP
160	21	Ross Stripling	582	SP/RP
161	22	Danny Duffy	590	SP
162	22	Brad Keller	591	SP
163	22	Max Meyer	593	SP
164	22	Michael Wacha	594	SP
165	22	Adrian Morejon	596	SP
166	22	Domingo Acevedo	611	SP
167	22	Tyler Beede	614	SP
168	22	Kyle Funkhouser	615	SP
169	23	Tobias Myers	618	SP
170	23	Justin Dunn	620	SP
171	23	Spencer Strider	626	SP/RP
172	23	Drew Smyly	627	SP
173	23	Kwang Hyun Kim	629	SP/RP
174	23	Cody Morris	631	SP
175	23	Cade Cavalli	635	SP
176	23	Trevor Williams	637	SP
177	23	Justin Steele	638	SP
178	23	Tyler Alexander	639	SP/RP
179	23	Joe Ross	653	SP
180	23	Brandon Williamson	655	SP
181	23	Taylor Hearn	658	SP
182	23	Matthew Liberatore	659	SP
183	23	Dean Kremer	664	SP
184	23	Reynaldo Lopez	666	SP/RP
185	23	George Kirby	671	SP
186	23	Keegan Akin	678	SP
187	23	Jhonathan Diaz	679	SP
188	23	Justus Sheffield	688	SP
189	23	Yonny Chirinos	689	SP
190	23	Tyler Glasnow	692	SP
191	23	Daulton Jefferies	694	SP
192	23	Sammy Long	695	SP/RP
193	23	Jorge Lopez	696	SP/RP
194	23	Konnor Pilkington	698	SP
195	23	Johnny Cueto	701	SP
196	23	James Paxton	703	SP
197	23	Kohei Arihara	706	SP
198	23	Matt Brash	708	SP
199	23	Tucker Davidson	712	SP
200	23	Spencer Howard	720	SP
201	23	Deivi Garcia	723	SP
202	23	Bailey Falter	724	SP/RP
203	23	Kyle Muller	726	SP
204	23	Alec Mills	727	SP/RP
205	23	Kolby Allard	732	SP
206	23	Spencer Turnbull	734	SP
207	23	Erick Fedde	741	SP
208	23	Eli Morgan	742	SP
209	23	Ryan Weathers	744	SP
210	23	Zach Davies	745	SP
211	23	Paolo Espino	747	SP/RP
212	23	Jordan Lyles	748	SP
213	23	Michael King	749	SP
214	23	Brent Honeywell Jr.	755	SP
215	23	MacKenzie Gore	763	SP
216	23	Garrett Richards	765	SP
217	23	Touki Toussaint	767	SP
219	24	Kyle Wright	768	SP
220	24	Jackson Kowar	769	SP
221	24	Josh Fleming	770	SP/RP
222	24	Mitch White	771	SP/RP

 

Tiers 7, 8, and 9

I'll be comparing our RotoBaller team rankings to the FantasyPros ADP consensus rankings that pool the current ADP for each player across CBS, Yahoo, RT Sports, NFBC, and FanTrax leagues.

Being a Tyler Mahle fan isn't for the faint of heart, but it's been two years of rollercoaster rides and I can't seem to quit him. We know he has awesome stuff and just has not yet developed the type of command yet that would push him up into the next echelon of pitchers.

When you look at his Statcast sliders, it's glaringly obvious where he needs to improve. He needs to walk fewer batters and throw strikes more consistently with each of his pitches. His splitter and slider are really good out pitches, but guys simply aren't chasing. He will never be able to pitch deeper into games and give us more innings until he gets the control...under control. I still like drafting him a full round ahead of where he's currently going. Despite trade rumors, it has been reported that the Reds will not move him or ace Luis Castillo despite having recently traded Sonny Gray.

Nathan Eovaldi is coming off a 2021 campaign where he pitched the second-most innings of his career (182.1), which was the most since he tossed 199 innings for the Marlins back in 2014. His stats in Boston the last two seasons have stabilized and you know pretty much exactly what you're getting with him at this point. His K-BB% ratio of 20.9% is super impressive and there simply aren't all that many guys with that kind of control and strikeout prowess. His xERA, FIP, and xFIP all suggest he pitched even better than his 3.75 ERA and he was a 5+ WAR player for the first time in his career. Guys that throw 95+ MPH fastballs and have four other pitches (he throws a slider, cutter, curve, and splitter) simply don't grow on trees. I'm drafting him in the middle rounds with confidence.

Two other guys in this group who I think are noteworthy are Sonny Gray and Mike Clevinger, both of whom are going right around pick 160. Clevinger is a guy who has always had filthy stuff and was someone who looked like a potential top-10 pitcher at one point in Cleveland. There was a lot of buzz generated by a video he posted of himself throwing a month ago with a new little hitch in his windup.

? ???? ????? ????….. ? ???. pic.twitter.com/3FZFaCojR0

— ❂ Mike ??ℕ?ℍ?ℕ? Clevinger ❂ (@MikeClevinger) February 11, 2022

While he looks good here, let's keep in mind he didn't pitch at all last season and he will most certainly face some pitch counts and inning restrictions when he finally does make it all the way back from the injury.

I'd much rather have Sonny Gray, who was traded from Cincinnati to the Twins just last week. It's a nice ballpark upgrade for Gray here and we know the Twins' pitching staff has a reputation for getting the most of their guys. Gray's GB% dipped below 50% for the first time in his career and walks are still a little bit of an issue, but he continued to strike hitters out last year at a solid 27% rate. A change of scenery will likely do him well, and I'm in on him at this ADP.

 

Tiers 10, 11, and 12

Tanner Houck and Patrick Sandoval jump out to me from this group as young guys with a ton of upside. I talked about Sandoval with my buddy Jon Anderson on his podcast the other day and we both agreed that he displayed some of the best swing-and-miss stuff last season of anyone with an elite 15% swinging-strike rate and the single-best outing of the season of any pitcher in terms of swinging strikes with a 29% rate.

Most swinging-strikes in single start, 2021 pic.twitter.com/s3DWgQrKdh

— Jon Anderson (@JonPgh) February 23, 2022

We haven't seen him do it for a full season, but his ability to rack up strikeouts and limit loud contact has me intrigued and our rankings are considerably higher on him than his ADP.

Houck was a strikeout king last year with a massive 30.5% K rate. He didn't pitch deep into games and was limited to only 69 innings, pitching in relief at times too. He throws hard but also has a fantastic slider that sported a 42% whiff rate last year. I want to be out in front of his breakout if he can repeat those types of numbers over a full season in 2022 and his FIP was only 2.58, suggesting that it was no fluke.

One guy you won't find many RotoBaller analysts on is Jordan Montgomery. He was durable last year, starting 30 games for the Yankees, but fairly mediocre across the board. The strikeouts were decent, but he managed only 157 innings and rarely pitched into the sixth inning. Unless he makes some kind of major change to his pitch arsenal, it seems like we know who he is at this point of his career and that's basically a fifth starter, nothing more nothing less and there are simply a lot of arms with more upside in this range.

 

Tiers 13 and below

Just going to rattle off some guys from Tier 13 on down in a quick hitter format. Here we go.

Yusei Kikuchi - I am intrigued now that he's in Toronto and the addition of Chapman at third is going to help those left-handed starters. Don't reach for him, but he could end up being a reliable late-round target if Toronto can fix him as they did with Robbie Ray.

Joe Ryan - I am definitely in on Ryan based on what he has shown in limited MLB experience. I also heard Ariel Cohen on him as a late-round value on Jon Anderson's podcast which makes me feel better because Ariel is as sharp as they come.

Cal Quantrill - He could be "just a guy" or his solid stretch as a starter could be for real. His numbers were pretty darn good, though, and he's worth a look. I'll be digging into him a bit more in another piece here soon.

Jon Gray - Anytime you get to leave Coors, that should help, right? I've always thought he was a pretty good pitcher and we've seen him dominate at times. For me, he certainly has more appeal than a lot of the other arms being drafted ahead of him.

Mitch Keller - You have to scroll way down the list to get to Keller, but in deep leagues, why not take a shot here? He has the pedigree of an ace and a great minor league track record, we just have only seen a few glimpses of him doing it in the majors. I'm a long-suffering Pirates fan so I'd love to see him figure it out, he's basically free where he's being drafted so I'd grab him late or at least be ready to scoop him up off the wire if he goes out and pitches well out of the gate.

That's all I have for you but make sure you keep reading all of our MLB content to prepare for your drafts and follow me for DFS and betting content all season long, too! Good luck, RotoBallers!

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