Fantasy Baseball Draftable Starting Pitchers: Shohei Ohtani, Paul Skenes, Corbin Burnes, Chris Sale and More

Last week, I went through each offensive fantasy baseball position and looked at the “draftable” players, the guys who are worth targeting in your drafts versus just filling your roster in the later rounds. 

You can find those articles at these links: Catcher, First Base, Second Base, Third Base, Shortstop, Outfield.

Let's look at the draftable starting pitchers based on ESPN's points rankings. The tiers are based on those rankings more than my own valuations, though I will give my own thoughts on guys I have strong feelings about. Most stats are from MLB.com.

Top Tier

• Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers, ranked 1st overall
• Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers, 8th
• Zack Wheeler, Philadelphia Phillies, 12th
• Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh Pirates, 13th
• Logan Gilbert, Seattle Mariners, 15th
• Gerrit Cole, New York Yankees, 16th
• Dylan Cease, San Diego Padres, 18th
• Corbin Burnes, Arizona Diamondbacks, 23rd
• Garrett Crochet, Boston Red Sox, 24th

Ohtani is the top pick if he's available as both a DH and SP as one player. There is no other option. If he is split into two players, then there is an argument to be had. Here, we'll call him the unquestioned top guy.

After that, it turns into the pitcher you feel best about. Skubal won a Cy Young last year; Skenes was NL Rookie of the Year. Wheeler, Cole, and Burnes are steady veteran aces. This is a solid group.

The guy I feel uneasiest about is Crochet. He has just one year as a starter under his belt, and he topped out at 146 innings. The White Sox decided to wait on trading the young hurler until after the season because he said he wouldn't pitch in a playoff hunt without a new contract; there's just an extra chance of an innings limit or maybe injury caused by ramping up his usage.

Crochet is a strikeout master and a guy owners should want on their team. I feel better about grabbing a position player at this area, though, rather than a starting pitcher with a little risk (we can find plenty of those guys later).

Second Tier

• Cole Ragans, Kansas City Royals, 29th
• Chris Sale, Atlanta Braves, 31st
• George Kirby, Seattle Mariners, 40th
• Framber Valdez, Houston Astros, 42nd
• Pablo Lopez, Minnesota Twins, 43rd
• Blake Snell, Los Angeles Dodgers, 44th

My favorite draft strategy is to wait on pitchers mostly; I've shared a few mocks in which I followed that strategy. (I also did one in which I grabbed two aces, if you prefer that method.) That often means skipping this tier of pitcher. I feel like you can find comparable talent later easier than at the hitting positions.

Sale and Snell are Cy-Young-level talents who also struggle with injury; it's high risk, high reward. Again, we can find guys like that later in the draft and don't have to use an early pick on them.

The other guys are younger, maybe with a lower ceiling but also with upside to grow. There's nothing wrong with getting any of these pitchers, but it's a group I tend to skip.

Muddled Middle

• Aaron Nola, Philadelphia Phillies, 54th
• Luis Castillo, Seattle Mariners, 55th
• Sonny Gray, St. Louis Cardinals, 56th
• Michael King, San Diego Padres, 57th
• Max Fried, New York Yankees, 62nd
• Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Los Angeles Dodgers, 65th
• Joe Ryan, Minnesota Twins, 68th
• Shota Imanaga, Chicago Cubs, 70th
• Logan Webb, San Francisco Giants, 75th
• Bailey Ober, Minnesota Twins, 78th
• Tyler Glasnow, Los Angeles Dodgers, 80th
• Freddy Peralta, Milwaukee Brewers, 85th
• Tanner Bibee, Cleveland Guardians, 88th
• Justin Steele, Chicago Cubs, 90th
• Bryce Miller, Seattle Mariners, 91st
• Zac Gallen, Arizona Diamondbacks, 94th
• Hunter Greene, Cincinnati Reds, 98th
• Kevin Gausman, Toronto Blue Jays, 99th

There are 18 SPs ranked between 50-100th. Most of them are very similar in value, especially the guys clustered together. In my own mock drafts, this is another group that I generally skip completely, feeling I can get much better value a little further down the board while focusing on position players ranked in this area, like Pete Alonso, Elly De La Cruz, Julio Rodriguez, Jarren Duran, Ozzie Albies, Salvador Perez, and more.

Fried seems like maybe he should be in a higher tier, but he's not a big-time strikeout guy, and that brings him down a half notch. I'd rather have Castillo or Glasnow, or maybe even Greene or Gausman in the 10th round.

Like the previous tier, there's nothing wrong with drafting any of these guys. I much prefer the comparable players in later rounds, though, and want to target position players in these middle rounds.

Still Draftable

• Hunter Brown, Houston Astros, 105th
• Brandon Pfaadt, Arizona Diamondbacks, 110th
• Jacob deGrom, Texas Rangers, 112th
• Spencer Schwellenbach, Atlanta Braves, 115th
• Carlos Rodon, New York Yankees, 116th
• Yusei Kikuchi, Los Angeles Angels, 117th
• Grayson Rodriguez, Baltimore Orioles, 121st
• Jack Flaherty, Detroit Tigers, 123rd
• Bowden Francis, Toronto Blue Jays, 130th
• Roki Sasaki, Los Angeles Dodgers, 144th
• Kodai Senga, New York Mets, 150th
• Jared Jones, Pittsburgh Pirates, 160th

More guys after this will still get drafted, but this is a good cut-off for the players to consider as worthy of a draft spot. After this, it's drafting for luck and hoping someone sticks. A lot of those guys, and even ones in this tier, will be streamers most of the season, so don't stress too much about who you get at this level. Just go with your gut and hope for the best.

My favorite veterans here are Kikuchi, Flaherty, and maybe even a flier on deGrom, especially if he falls a little. Sasaki is also a worthy pick. He was one of the most sought-after free agents this offseason, and he joins a Dodgers team that will give him plenty of support. Sasaki is a fun pick, if nothing else.

I was going to stop at 150, but I wanted to include Jones, so we'll go one player further in this tier. He will always be overshadowed by Skenes, his fellow rookie last season, but Jones was an average-or-better pitcher who missed a little time with injury but struck out more than a batter per inning. Jones is a guy who might be a keeper by the end of the season.

One More Name

• MacKenzie Gore, Washington Nationals, 194th

Late in mock drafts, Gore is a guy I target every time to round out my rotation. He is just 26, strikes out more than a batter per inning, and has improved over each of his three seasons. Gore was a main piece that returned to Washington when they sent Juan Soto to the Padres; he was a big-time prospect before reaching the big leagues.

My bold prediction here is that Gore is going to be a keeper by the end of the season, like Jones. If you're looking to fill your roster at the end, this is a high-upside pick. In deeper leagues, he represents great value.