2017 Fantasy Baseball Draft Prep: Starting pitcher tiers 2.0 – CBSSports.com

Starting pitcher, like outfield, is almost too much to bite into with this method.

Obviously, you need bunches of them, so if you hope to build a good pitching staff, you’ll be drafting more than one player from some of the top tiers. And thus, the strategy of drafting one of the last players within a given tier doesn’t wholly apply.

But the tiers still show you the biggest drop-offs in talent so you can avoid reaching at the expense of some other position. And that’s probably the best way to approach a position as meaty as starting pitcher: If another position’s progression through the tiers is screaming out to you, demanding action, it takes priority, but if not, that’s the perfect time to meet one of your many pitching needs.

The Elite: Clayton Kershaw,
Max Scherzer
,
Madison Bumgarner
,
Chris Sale
,
Corey Kluber
,
Justin Verlander
,
Jon Lester
,
Noah Syndergaard
,
Jake Arrieta
,
Johnny Cueto

The Near-Elite:
Yu Darvish
,
Jacob deGrom
,
Stephen Strasburg
,
Carlos Carrasco
,
Chris Archer
,
David Price
,
Cole Hamels
,
Rick Porcello
,
Kyle Hendricks
,
Zack Greinke
,
Dallas Keuchel
,
Jose Quintana
, Danny Duffy*
The Next-Best Things:
Matt Harvey
,
Julio Teheran
,
Masahiro Tanaka
,
Carlos Martinez
,
Gerrit Cole
,
Aaron Sanchez
,
Rich Hill
,
Kenta Maeda
,
Marcus Stroman

The Fallback Options: Michael Fulmer,
Steven Matz
,
John Lackey
,
Felix Hernandez
,
Aaron Nola
,
Danny Salazar
,
James Paxton
,
Sean Manaea
,
Carlos Rodon
,
J.A. Happ
,
Tanner Roark
,
Jeff Samardzija
,
Kevin Gausman
,
Matt Moore
,
Sonny Gray
,
Lance McCullers
,
Julio Urias
,
Jon Gray
,
Robbie Ray
,
Marco Estrada

The Last Resorts: Jameson Taillon,
Anthony DeSclafani
,
Matt Shoemaker
,
Drew Pomeranz
,
Ian Kennedy
,
Vince Velasquez
,
Blake Snell
,
Joe Ross
,
Jason Hammel
,
Garrett Richards
,
Jordan Zimmermann
,
Robert Gsellman
,
Adam Wainwright
,
Collin McHugh
,
Taijuan Walker
, Dylan Bundy*,
Lance Lynn
,
Alex Cobb
,
Ivan Nova
,
Jake Odorizzi
,
Brandon Finnegan
,
Ervin Santana
,
Joe Musgrove
,
Steven Wright
,
Francisco Liriano
,
Tyler Skaggs
,
Tyler Glasnow
,
Michael Pineda

The Leftovers: Michael Wacha,
Trevor Bauer
,
Zach Davies
,
Jeremy Hellickson
,
Jerad Eickhoff
,
Junior Guerra
,
Chris Tillman
,
Hisashi Iwakuma
, Mike Montgomery*, Andrew Triggs*,
Eduardo Rodriguez
,
Mike Foltynewicz
,
Wily Peralta
,
Daniel Norris
,
Adam Conley
,
Drew Smyly
,
Jharel Cotton
, Patrick Corbin*,
Tyson Ross
,
Josh Tomlin
,
Dan Straily
,
Gio Gonzalez
,
Scott Kazmir
,
Jose De Leon
,
Luke Weaver
,
Zack Wheeler
,
Lucas Giolito
,
Jose Berrios
,
Shelby Miller
,
Bartolo Colon
,
Jaime Garcia
,
Tyler Anderson
,
Chad Kuhl
,
Wei-Yin Chen
,
Mike Leake
,
CC Sabathia

In years past, I’ve distinguished Kershaw from the rest of The Elite, elevating him to an even higher tier the way I’ve done with certain players at second base, shortstop and outfield this year. But I’m not as bullish on him this time around. I still think he’s the best starting pitcher and the only one deserving of a first-round pick, but I also think his lingering back concerns make him less than a slam dunk.

And it’s not like I’ve tiered him with a bunch of chumps. The Elite features four of the six Cy Young finalists from a year ago in Scherzer, Kluber, Verlander and Lester, another former winner in Arrieta, the household name in Bumgarner, everyone’s favorite up-and-comer in Syndergaard, and this offseason’s biggest mover in Sale.

You could make a case for some of The Near-Elite in that category as well. Really, the only one who hasn’t performed at an elite level for a full season is Duffy, but he gets a bump in Head-to-Head points leagues for his relief pitcher eligibility.

That’s what the asterisk (*) represents. You’ll find them scattered about. My relief pitcher tiers don’t include any SPARPs (starting pitchers as relief pitchers) because it’s disorienting for those who only want saves from their relievers. But I do wish to highlight them somewhere. If you play in a league where that distinction matters, adjust accordingly.

Probably the biggest drop-off at the position is after The Fallback Options. That’s sort of the dividing line between the trustworthy options from a year ago and the ones that had you continually going back to the waiver wire.