The Z Files: My Top 250 Rest-of-Season Pitchers

The Z Files: My Top 250 Rest-of-Season Pitchers

This article is part of our The Z Files series.

Last week, I shared My Top 350 Rest-of-Season Hitters. Why stop there? Today I am happy to reveal my top 250 pitchers from now until the rest of the season.

Before you dive in and tell me I have someone on your team ranked way too low, I need to explain a few things. The rankings are set through the games of Sunday, August 15. In March, there isn't too much of a difference between 180 and 186 innings pitched. Fast forward to mid-August and the difference between 50 and 56 innings is huge. As such, if you are checking this out after someone made a start this weekend, they could be ranked significantly higher.

The other factor influencing rankings is round-off. Counting stats are conventionally presented as whole numbers, even though they are projected in decimal form. For example, a pitcher projected to win 3.4 games is credited with three projected wins while a projection of 3.51 rounds to four victories. One win can equate to 25-30 rankings spots for hurlers in the middle of the pack.

Similarly, ERA and WHIP are affected by round-off, though the change isn't nearly as steep. For example, every run with 40 innings pitched accounts for .225 units in ERA (4.00 compared to 4.225, etc.). The change in ranking is between five and 10 spots.

With that as a backdrop, here are my top 250 rest-of-season pitchers.

1Brandon Woodruff
2Max Scherzer
3Corbin Burnes
4Walker Buehler
5Kevin Gausman
6Lance

Last week, I shared My Top 350 Rest-of-Season Hitters. Why stop there? Today I am happy to reveal my top 250 pitchers from now until the rest of the season.

Before you dive in and tell me I have someone on your team ranked way too low, I need to explain a few things. The rankings are set through the games of Sunday, August 15. In March, there isn't too much of a difference between 180 and 186 innings pitched. Fast forward to mid-August and the difference between 50 and 56 innings is huge. As such, if you are checking this out after someone made a start this weekend, they could be ranked significantly higher.

The other factor influencing rankings is round-off. Counting stats are conventionally presented as whole numbers, even though they are projected in decimal form. For example, a pitcher projected to win 3.4 games is credited with three projected wins while a projection of 3.51 rounds to four victories. One win can equate to 25-30 rankings spots for hurlers in the middle of the pack.

Similarly, ERA and WHIP are affected by round-off, though the change isn't nearly as steep. For example, every run with 40 innings pitched accounts for .225 units in ERA (4.00 compared to 4.225, etc.). The change in ranking is between five and 10 spots.

With that as a backdrop, here are my top 250 rest-of-season pitchers.

1Brandon Woodruff
2Max Scherzer
3Corbin Burnes
4Walker Buehler
5Kevin Gausman
6Lance Lynn
7Jose Berrios
8Freddy Peralta
9Gerrit Cole
10Zack Wheeler
11Robbie Ray
12Chris Bassitt
13Joe Musgrove
14John Means
15Aaron Nola
16Alek Manoah
17Jack Flaherty
18Chris Sale
19Lucas Giolito
20Anthony DeSclafani
21Shane Bieber
22Adam Wainwright
23Zack Greinke
24Charlie Morton
25Marcus Stroman
26Trevor Rogers
27Kenta Maeda
28Tyler Mahle
29Shohei Ohtani
30Hyun Jin Ryu
31Lance McCullers
32Yusei Kikuchi
33German Marquez
34Luis Garcia
35Sean Manaea
36Frankie Montas
37Aaron Civale
38Nathan Eovaldi
39Carlos Rodon
40Yu Darvish
41Framber Valdez
42James Kaprielian
43Cole Irvin
44Kyle Gibson
45Rich Hill
46Nick Pivetta
47Julio Urias
48Wade Miley
49Austin Gomber
50Liam Hendriks
51Marco Gonzales
52Kyle Hendricks
53Eduardo Rodriguez
54Johnny Cueto
55Josh Hader
56JT Brubaker
57Jacob deGrom
58Raisel Iglesias
59Dane Dunning
60Jon Gray
61Carlos Carrasco
62Clayton Kershaw
63Logan Gilbert
64Jordan Montgomery
65Sonny Gray
66Sandy Alcantara
67Ian Anderson
68Pablo Lopez
69Logan Webb
70Dinelson Lamet
71Kenley Jansen
72Elieser Hernandez
73Zach Plesac
74Alex Wood
75Zac Gallen
76Edwin Diaz
77Shane McClanahan
78Dylan Cease
79Taijuan Walker
80Tyler Gilbert
81Miles Mikolas
82Tanner Houck
83Jose Urquidy
84Aroldis Chapman
85Ranger Suarez
86Kwang Hyun Kim
87Ryan Pressly
88Max Fried
89Jameson Taillon
90Jake McGee
91Jake Odorizzi
92Tyler Anderson
93Luis Castillo
94Matt Barnes
95Casey Mize
96Emmanuel Clase
97Mike Minor
98Ross Stripling
99Domingo German
100Ryan Yarbrough
101Michael Pineda
102Tarik Skubal
103Lou Trivino
104Tylor Megill
105Triston McKenzie
106David Price
107Mark Melancon
108Chad Green
109Huascar Ynoa
110Brad Hand
111Merrill Kelly
112Will Smith
113Patrick Sandoval
114Blake Snell
115Eric Lauer
116Diego Castillo
117Taylor Hearn
118Adbert Alzolay
119Matthew Boyd
120Nick Anderson
121Chris Archer
122Dallas Keuchel
123Kolby Allard
124Giovanny Gallegos
125Andrew Kittredge
126Madison Bumgarner
127Andrew Heaney
128James Karinchak
129Ryan Weathers
130Craig Kimbrel
131Kyle Muller
132Luke Weaver
133Jose Suarez
134Cal Quantrill
135Josiah Gray
136Trevor May
137Tyler Clippard
138Kyle Finnegan
139Yusmeiro Petit
140Chris Flexen
141Spencer Howard
142Luis Patino
143Daniel Bard
144Steven Brault
145Josh Fleming
146Adam Cimber
147Luis Severino
148Jake Diekman
149Steven Matz
150Matt Wisler
151Griffin Jax
152Tyler Rogers
153Mike Foltynewicz
154Adam Ottavino
155Sergio Romo
156Cristian Javier
157Craig Stammen
158Matt Manning
159Carlos Hernandez
160Alex Colome
161Zach Thompson
162Alex Reyes
163Collin McHugh
164Jordan Romano
165Richard Rodriguez
166Patrick Corbin
167Mychal Givens
168Emilio Pagan
169Drew Steckenrider
170Connor Brogdon
171Ryan Tepera
172Ryne Stanek
173Dylan Floro
174Zach Eflin
175Daniel Lynch
176Edward Cabrera
177Pedro Baez
178Michael Kopech
179Deolis Guerra
180Scott Barlow
181Andrew Chafin
182Justin Wilson
183Kyle Freeland
184Devin Williams
185Anthony Bender
186Jaime Barria
187Michael Fulmer
188Brett Anderson
189Chris Paddack
190Greg Holland
191Matt Peacock
192Cole Sulser
193Phil Maton
194Noe Ramirez
195Heath Hembree
196Chris Martin
197Paul Fry
198Alex Cobb
199Antonio Senzatela
200Hector Neris
201Blake Treinen
202Austin Adams
203Nick Sandlin
204Jose Alvarez
205Joakim Soria
206Garrett Whitlock
207Zack Britton
208Corey Kluber
209Yimi Garcia
210Corey Knebel
211Jarlin Garcia
212Eli Morgan
213Ian Kennedy
214Aaron Bummer
215Aaron Loup
216Miguel Castro
217Miguel Diaz
218Alec Mills
219Tyler Duffey
220Brent Suter
221Brusdar Graterol
222Richard Bleier
223Brady Singer
224Adrian Houser
225Lucas Sims
226Lucas Luetge
227Bailey Ober
228Brad Boxberger
229Paul Sewald
230Rafael Dolis
231Mike Mayers
232Michael Lorenzen
233Brett Martin
234Steve Cishek
235Jordan Lyles
236Dylan Bundy
237Pierce Johnson
238Joe Kelly
239Drew Smith
240Edwin Uceta
241Noah Syndergaard
242J.P. Feyereisen
243Archie Bradley
244Tim Hill
245JT Chargois
246Andrew Miller
247Ryan Sherriff
248Tyler Matzek
249Drew Smyly
250Ryan Brasier

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Todd Zola
Todd has been writing about fantasy baseball since 1997. He won NL Tout Wars and Mixed LABR in 2016 as well as a multi-time league winner in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship. Todd is now setting his sights even higher: The Rotowire Staff League. Lord Zola, as he's known in the industry, won the 2013 FSWA Fantasy Baseball Article of the Year award and was named the 2017 FSWA Fantasy Baseball Writer of the Year. Todd is a five-time FSWA awards finalist.
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