Updated Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitcher Rankings - 5x5 Mixed Roto Leagues

Fantasy baseball draft prep never stops, lockout or not. As we all anticipate the start of spring training, many fantasy baseball drafts are already underway. To prepare our readers, RotoBaller's rankers -- JB Branson, Pierre Camus, Ariel Cohen, Nicklaus Gaut, and Nick Mariano -- have updated their 2022 fantasy baseball mixed league rankings.

This article will focus on the top few tiers for starting pitchers and how our RotoBaller team rankings compare to the industry's ADP consensus rankings that pool the current ADP for each player across CBS, Yahoo, RT Sports, NFBC, and Fantrax leagues.

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 Starting Pitcher Rankings

The staff rankings are for roto leagues, and standard 5x5 categories. They are always updated on our fantasy baseball rankings dashboard. 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. Both are included in these rankings.

Pitcher Rank	Overall Rank	Tier	Player	Position
1	8	1	Shohei Ohtani	DH/SP
2	9	1	Gerrit Cole	SP
3	10	1	Jacob deGrom	SP
4	12	1	Corbin Burnes	SP
5	14	1	Max Scherzer	SP
6	21	2	Walker Buehler	SP
7	22	2	Brandon Woodruff	SP
8	26	2	Zack Wheeler	SP
9	27	2	Shane Bieber	SP
10	32	3	Julio Urias	SP
11	38	3	Robbie Ray	SP
12	46	3	Lucas Giolito	SP
13	48	3	Freddy Peralta	SP
14	49	3	Aaron Nola	SP
15	50	3	Sandy Alcantara	SP
16	55	3	Lance Lynn	SP
17	59	3	Max Fried	SP
18	61	3	Chris Sale	SP
19	63	3	Kevin Gausman	SP
20	68	3	Logan Webb	SP
21	71	3	Jose Berrios	SP
22	77	4	Joe Musgrove	SP
23	78	4	Charlie Morton	SP
24	79	4	Frankie Montas	SP
25	83	4	Jack Flaherty	SP
26	91	4	Alek Manoah	SP
27	92	4	Justin Verlander	SP
28	93	4	Trevor Rogers	SP
29	94	4	Carlos Rodon	SP
30	95	4	Yu Darvish	SP
31	96	4	Dylan Cease	SP
32	99	4	Luis Castillo	SP
33	106	5	Pablo Lopez	SP
34	117	5	Shane McClanahan	SP
35	120	5	Chris Bassitt	SP
36	125	5	Blake Snell	SP
37	129	5	Eduardo Rodriguez	SP
38	130	5	Sean Manaea	SP
39	132	6	Lance McCullers Jr.	SP
40	133	6	Framber Valdez	SP
41	134	6	Shane Baz	SP
42	135	6	Clayton Kershaw	SP
43	138	6	Luis Garcia	SP
44	143	6	Nathan Eovaldi	SP
45	151	6	Tyler Mahle	SP
46	155	6	Luis Severino	SP
47	158	6	Zac Gallen	SP
48	161	6	Ian Anderson	SP
49	164	7	Ranger Suarez	SP/RP
50	169	7	Mike Clevinger	SP
51	173	7	Sonny Gray	SP
52	174	7	John Means	SP
53	178	7	Marcus Stroman	SP
54	186	7	Logan Gilbert	SP
55	188	7	Adam Wainwright	SP
56	192	7	Jose Urquidy	SP
57	193	7	Joe Ryan	SP
58	197	7	Alex Wood	SP
59	200	7	Patrick Sandoval	SP
60	201	7	Tarik Skubal	SP
61	205	8	Tanner Houck	SP/RP
62	217	8	Hyun Jin Ryu	SP
63	220	8	Anthony DeSclafani	SP
64	221	8	Trevor Bauer	SP
65	232	8	Jordan Montgomery	SP
66	236	8	German Marquez	SP
67	237	8	Aaron Civale	SP
68	239	8	Casey Mize	SP
69	246	8	Huascar Ynoa	SP
70	249	8	Noah Syndergaard	SP
71	255	8	Steven Matz	SP
72	256	8	Triston McKenzie	SP
73	263	9	Stephen Strasburg	SP
74	267	9	Carlos Carrasco	SP
75	268	9	Zach Plesac	SP
76	274	9	Bailey Ober	SP
77	275	9	Kyle Hendricks	SP
78	276	9	Jon Gray	SP
79	278	9	Marco Gonzales	SP
80	280	9	Cal Quantrill	SP/RP
81	281	9	Yusei Kikuchi	SP
82	283	9	Jameson Taillon	SP
83	284	9	Alex Cobb	SP
84	285	9	Tylor Megill	SP
85	292	9	Adbert Alzolay	SP/RP
86	294	9	Tony Gonsolin	SP
87	297	9	Drew Rasmussen	SP/RP
88	299	9	Andrew Heaney	SP
89	300	9	Cristian Javier	SP/RP
90	302	9	Zack Greinke	SP
91	303	9	Dinelson Lamet	SP/RP
92	308	9	Nestor Cortes	SP/RP
93	309	9	Chris Paddack	SP
94	312	10	Josiah Gray	SP
95	314	10	Corey Kluber	SP
96	318	10	Sixto Sanchez	SP
97	319	10	Elieser Hernandez	SP
98	320	10	James Kaprielian	SP
99	326	10	Taijuan Walker	SP
100	330	10	Zach Eflin	SP
101	331	10	Domingo German	SP
102	336	10	Luis Patino	SP
103	340	10	Dane Dunning	SP
104	348	10	Brady Singer	SP
105	356	10	Reiver Sanmartin	SP
106	363	10	Kyle Gibson	SP
107	365	10	Chris Flexen	SP
108	366	10	Madison Bumgarner	SP
109	367	10	Jesus Luzardo	SP
110	369	11	Merrill Kelly	SP
111	371	11	Dylan Bundy	SP
112	376	11	Reid Detmers	SP
113	380	11	Austin Gomber	SP
114	384	11	Eric Lauer	SP
115	385	11	Patrick Corbin	SP
116	387	11	Mike Minor	SP
117	402	11	Michael Pineda	SP
118	404	11	Miles Mikolas	SP
119	408	11	David Price	SP
120	412	11	Daniel Lynch	SP
121	417	11	Hunter Greene	SP
122	419	12	Nate Pearson	SP
123	421	12	Nick Pivetta	SP
124	425	12	Grayson Rodriguez	SP
125	426	12	Edward Cabrera	SP
126	431	12	Jose Suarez	SP
127	436	12	Dakota Hudson	SP
128	437	12	Jake Odorizzi	SP
129	442	12	Luke Weaver	SP
130	443	12	Ryan Yarbrough	SP/RP
131	444	12	Carlos Hernandez	SP
132	446	12	JT Brubaker	SP
133	447	12	Wade Miley	SP
134	451	12	Cole Irvin	SP
135	453	12	Zach Thompson	SP
136	460	12	Griffin Canning	SP
137	461	12	Adrian Houser	SP
138	466	12	Roansy Contreras	SP
139	474	12	Luis Gil	SP
140	479	13	Antonio Senzatela	SP
141	480	13	Nick Martinez	SP
142	481	13	Matthew Boyd	SP
143	483	13	David Peterson	SP
144	489	13	Collin McHugh	SP/RP
145	493	13	Tyler Anderson	SP
146	498	13	Rich Hill	SP
147	507	13	Kenta Maeda	SP
148	509	13	Kris Bubic	SP
149	511	13	Mike Soroka	SP
150	522	13	Vladimir Gutierrez	SP
151	532	13	Jose Quintana	SP
152	533	13	Dustin May	SP
153	539	13	Dallas Keuchel	SP
154	544	14	Kyle Freeland	SP
155	547	14	Mitch Keller	SP
156	571	14	Matt Manning	SP
157	574	14	Caleb Smith	SP/RP
158	575	14	Glenn Otto	SP
159	580	14	Nick Lodolo	SP
160	582	14	Ross Stripling	SP/RP
161	590	14	Danny Duffy	SP
162	591	14	Brad Keller	SP
163	593	14	Max Meyer	SP
164	594	14	Michael Wacha	SP
165	596	14	Adrian Morejon	SP
166	611	14	Domingo Acevedo	SP
167	614	14	Tyler Beede	SP
168	615	14	Kyle Funkhouser	SP
169	618	14	Tobias Myers	SP
170	620	14	Justin Dunn	SP
171	626	14	Spencer Strider	SP/RP
172	627	15	Drew Smyly	SP
173	629	15	Kwang Hyun Kim	SP/RP
174	631	15	Cody Morris	SP
175	635	15	Cade Cavalli	SP
176	637	15	Trevor Williams	SP
177	638	15	Justin Steele	SP
178	639	15	Tyler Alexander	SP/RP
179	653	15	Joe Ross	SP
180	655	15	Brandon Williamson	SP
181	658	15	Taylor Hearn	SP
182	659	15	Matthew Liberatore	SP
183	664	16	Dean Kremer	SP
184	666	16	Reynaldo Lopez	SP/RP
185	671	16	George Kirby	SP
186	678	16	Keegan Akin	SP
187	679	16	Jhonathan Diaz	SP
188	688	16	Justus Sheffield	SP
189	689	16	Yonny Chirinos	SP
190	692	16	Tyler Glasnow	SP
191	694	16	Daulton Jefferies	SP
192	695	16	Sammy Long	SP/RP
193	696	16	Jorge Lopez	SP/RP
194	698	16	Konnor Pilkington	SP
195	701	16	Johnny Cueto	SP
196	703	16	James Paxton	SP
197	706	16	Kohei Arihara	SP
198	708	16	Matt Brash	SP
199	712	16	Tucker Davidson	SP
200	720	16	Spencer Howard	SP
201	723	16	Deivi Garcia	SP
202	724	16	Bailey Falter	SP/RP
203	726	17	Kyle Muller	SP
204	727	17	Alec Mills	SP/RP
205	732	17	Kolby Allard	SP
206	734	17	Spencer Turnbull	SP
207	741	17	Erick Fedde	SP
208	742	17	Eli Morgan	SP
209	744	17	Ryan Weathers	SP
210	745	17	Zach Davies	SP
211	747	17	Paolo Espino	SP/RP
212	748	17	Jordan Lyles	SP
213	749	17	Michael King	SP
214	755	17	Brent Honeywell Jr.	SP
215	763	17	MacKenzie Gore	SP
216	765	17	Garrett Richards	SP
217	767	17	Touki Toussaint	SP
218	771	17	Kyle Wright	SP
219	776	17	Jackson Kowar	SP
220	780	17	Josh Fleming	SP/RP

 

Tier One

When we look at the top-tier arms and where they are getting drafted, Shohei Ohtani and Jacob deGrom stand out here as both are going under drafted according to our rankings but for very different reasons. Ohtani is eligible as a SP and as a DH, so you can justify taking him ahead of any pitcher on the board on the strength of his offense alone. And if you play in a league with daily rosters, he's hands down the most valuable player in fantasy due to his dual-threat abilities.

Meanwhile, deGrom is being drafted as the SP7 right now mainly due to managers' concerns about his health and doubts as to whether or not he can be as dominant as he's been in past years as he's coming off the injury. Our guys have him as the SP3 and it's as simple as this - if he gives you a full season of production that is anywhere close to what he's done over the last 4-5 years, he's going to absolutely smash this ADP and he could potentially be the best pitcher in fantasy baseball once again. Let's not forget what he was doing last year before the injury, shall we?

 

Tier Two

Things look pretty much in line here with the exception of Walker Buehler who is being drafted of Corbin Burnes and Max Scherzer in some leagues. I have nothing against Buehler as he's coming off his best full season as a pro and set career-highs in innings pitched, ERA, and WAR. But his strikeouts dipped a bit as his K% sank to 26% as he seemed to be willing to pitch to contact a bit more. Burnes and Mad Max simply have higher K ceilings and they're worth taking over Buehler here even if he was ultra-reliable last year.

 

Tier Three

Let's start with the guys who are solid values in this tier. I love Logan Webb and Max Fried this year and I'm not alone as our rankings reflect confidence in them as well.

Logan Webb busted out in a big way in 2021 with a stellar third season. He boosted his strikeout rate to 26.5% while lowering his walk rate to only 6%. He retooled his arsenal by throwing his sinker and slider more than ever before and going almost entirely away from his four-seamer. His changeup was an effective offspeed pitch, too, and the movement on these pitches made trying to square him up a nightmare for opposing hitters.

Logan Webb, 95mph Sinker, and 83mph Slider, Overlay with Tails pic.twitter.com/WWGtHuiAMG

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 8, 2021

Webb was dominant down the stretch and into the postseason for the Giants going 7-0 with a 2.71 ERA after the all-star break. If he can match last year's production, he's a great pick here in the 6th-7th rounds.

If you grab a strikeout pitcher early, Max Fried is another great target in this range. While he won't post gaudy K numbers, he has been fantastic the last two years and inducing soft contact and like Webb, he rarely walks guys. He's cut down on his fastball usage the last two seasons and threw his offspeed pitches more than ever last season which helped result in less hard contact.

Speaking of strikeout pitchers, both Robbie Ray and Freddy Peralta are ranked three spots higher in our rankings than the consensus ADP. There are plenty of people who doubt that Ray can duplicate his huge bounce-back year from 2021 but the strikeouts were always there even in the years where he struggled with homers. Meanwhile, Peralta is coming off his best season as a pro where he had career-best numbers pretty much across the board. He struck out nearly 200 hitters while maintaining a .097 WHIP and 9% walk rate. You're getting some darn good run prevention there to go with the elite strikeout numbers.

Chris Sale stands out in this tier as one guy who our experts think the field is a bit too high on this season. His numbers from nine starts last season look pretty much in line with what we've come to expect from him, but the questions surrounding his durability remain and we are now a full four years removed from his last truly dominant season in 2018.

 

Tier Four

Let's start out here with a few guys who are further down our rankings when compared to the consensus ADP. Jack Flaherty and Luis Castillo are being taken on average six and ten spots, respectively, ahead of where they stand in our RotoBaller rankings. Castillo had a much better second half of the year in 2021 after a disastrous start but still allowed 19 home runs last season which is pretty alarming for a ground ball pitcher and his walk rate was back up again over 9%. Even though he pitched better after that rough spring, he still finished with a 1.36 WHIP. Meanwhile, Flaherty had what appeared to be a really solid bounce-back year in 2021, but his xERA of 4.92 suggests it might not have been as good as it appeared on the surface. Ariel Cohen's ATC projections have him with a 3.70 ERA this year with about a strikeout per inning in 29 starts and while that's perfectly usable, I'd prefer some other guys in this tier over him strikeout and win upside.

Charlie Morton just had himself one hell of a season and was a major piece of this Atlanta team that won it all last fall. He's entering his age 38 season but like a fine wine has only gotten better with age. In his last two full seasons (2019 and 2021) he's thrown the most innings of any in his career and it's been pretty awesome watching his transformation into a dominant starter and strikeout artist over the years.

As you can see here, his pitch mix has continued to evolve he really morphed into this version of himself around 2017 when he went to Houston. The Pirates tried to make him a sinker-baller, but Chuck has found the most success late in his career by ditching the sinker and going heavy on his four-seamer and curve. He's showing no signs of slowing down and still doesn't get the respect he deserves. Draft him higher than the field with confidence.

Carlos Rodon went from an early frontrunner for the AL Cy Young last season to a free agent in the offseason. His velocity dropped during the year and given his long history of injuries, the White Sox decided not to offer him any kind of significant money. While he might not repeat that incredible run from March to June of last year again, this is still a quality veteran pitcher with really good stuff and I'm really intrigued to see where he lands and if he can recapture some of that magic this year.

Justin Verlander missed nearly all of the 2020 season, but let's not forget just how dominant he was in 2019. He's seven spots higher in our rankings than the consensus and it's basically the same argument here as with deGrom - if you think he comes back at anything close to his usual self and stays healthy, then he's going to be a tremendous value at this ADP.

 

Tier Five

Chris Bassitt and Sean Manaea are ranked 35th and 38th, respectively, in our rankings yet they are being drafted as the SP43 and SP45. Both these guys had great years in Oakland last season as they both pitched the most innings of their careers and had their best strikeout numbers, too (both struck out around a batter per inning). These guys are crafty pitchers who really seemed to figure out how to best use their stuff last year.

Eduardo Rodriguez signed in Detroit for some big money this offseason. He's a bit of a polarizing pitcher and depending on who you're talking to you're likely going to get some vastly different takes on his ability. Getting out of Boston will surely be a good thing as the short porch in left was definitely not doing him any favors and fewer starts against the Blue Jays and Yankees lineups full of right-handed power hitters certainly won't hurt either. His xERA was only 3.47 last season while his ERA was 4.74. He's a guy who's going to eat inning and if this Tigers team continues to improve with their upgrades on offense, he could be in a position to pick up double-digit wins again this year. Our staff has him eleven spots ahead of his consensus ADP, which is being weighed down by his 232 ADP on CBS.

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