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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.

Featured Promo: Get any full-season MLB and DFS Premium Pass for 50% off. Exclusive access to our Team Sync platform, Premium articles, daily Matchup Rating projections, 15 lineup tools, DFS cheat sheets, Research Stations, Lineup Optimizers and much more! Sign Up Now!

 

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.


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.

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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