The match ups and data you see below were pulled Friday afternoon. The data is for the 2015 season. Please be aware the match ups are subject to change. If you have any questions about the rankings hit me up Twitter @MattCommins
These are rankings for the entire week so I give the edge to a lot of fantasy pitchers who pitch twice. Also, the rankings are based on traditional 5×5 categories. I also provide write-ups for a few pitchers. My hope is after you read them you have a better understanding of why I ranked them.
Archie Bradley had a lot of hype heading into 2014, but after his first five starts in Triple-A he was put on the DL with a mild flexor strain in his right elbow. He didn’t pitch again until June. Since then he’s been healthy and he opened the 2015 season with a rotation spot with the big league club. I’ve watched both of his starts and I’m not impressed. The raw stuff is very good, but he still has a long way to become a viable fantasy option. The biggest reason is his command has been extremely inconsistent. He’s a two-pitch pitcher (fastball and curveball) and in order to be successful as a starter with that repertoire the fastball command has to be at least above average (because the curveball is a fastball dependent pitch). The fastball command has been shaky; he’s maybe throwing it for strikes for 60-61% of the time, which far too low. At times he flashed a top end starting pitcher, but for the most part he’s a work in progress.
In the preseason I wrote Jake Odorizzi, Collin McHugh and Drew Hutchison had the best chance of being this years Corey Kluber. So far Odorizzi and McHugh have looked exceptional while Hutchison has looked good in one start and bad in another. McHugh is legit. Last year he was in the top 10 among starting pitchers in swinging strike rate and this year he’s fifth. Odorizzi added a cutter and he’s using it to create weak contact and to go deeper into games. If he continues to rely on the cutter his strikeout rate may suffer, but his overall results should improve.
I did a full write up on Mike Fiers and Aaron Sanchez at Baseball Professor. Like with Archie Bradley, Drew Pomeranz has to have above average command to be successful. In his first start his fastball command was great and in his second it was only average and he got pounded. Pomeranz is a high variance pitcher so proceed with caution before starting him. I wrote up a full report on Pomeranz a couple of days ago.
In the preseason I wasn’t buying Anthony DeSclafani because he looked so bad last year. Specifically, he was a one-pitch pitcher who didn’t even have command of that pitch. However, this season he added a changeup and is seeing really good results. I’m still not on-board and I fully accept being late to this party.
Kendall Graveman suffered from bad luck in his first start and in his second start he had no idea where the ball was going. He’s a two start pitcher this week and I’m staying away. If pitches poorly this week I wouldn’t be surprised if Sean Nolin or Jesse Chavez usurps his rotation spot.
Nate Eovaldi is still a work in progress. For the past three seasons I’ve never believed in the Eovaldi breakout because of his inability to get lefties out. He’s still not getting lefties out (only a two start sample size), but he’s throwing the split-changeup more often and at times it looks like a legit secondary pitch. However, most of the time it lacks depth and hitters are not offering at it.
