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Fantasy Baseball Top 150 Starting Pitchers for 2025

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Fantasy Baseball Top 150 Starting Pitchers for 2025

The World Series is about to get underway and, from a talent and stardom standpoint, it’s hard to have asked for a better matchup. However, as the 2024 season reaches its final stage, I know many of us will have one eye on the future and expectations for what 2025 will bring. With that in mind, I’m releasing my early 2025 starting pitcher rankings for fantasy baseball.

These are preliminary rankings based on my pitching analysis done this season and my expectations for growth or regression next year. I’ve not yet done any additional deep dives on these pitchers or commenced the days/weeks of research that will preempt my spring training rankings. Still, I thought it might be nice to have a rough sense of what the pitching landscape looks like in 2025.

As always, the pitchers are split into tiers, which I’ve named so you can get a sense of why the pitchers are ranked where they are. The tiers themselves are more important than the rankings inside the tiers, so I wouldn’t split hairs over a few spots in the rankings. I’ve also ranked as if I’m doing a 12-team league, so safe but boring low-end starters take a hit in value, etc.

So let’s dive in.

Rank

Player

Team

Fantasy Aces

1

Tarik Skubal

Tigers

2

Paul Skenes

Pirates

3

Zack Wheeler

Phillies

4

Corbin Burnes

Brewers

5

Garrett Crochet

White Sox

6

Jacob DeGrom

Rangers

7

Yoshinobu Yamamoto

Dodgers

8

Shane McClanahan

Rays

9

Shohei Ohtani

Dodgers

10

Michael King

Padres

11

Gerrit Cole

Yankees

12

Chris Sale

Braves

13

Cole Ragans

Royals

14

Luis Castillo

Mariners

15

Logan Gilbert

Mariners

16

Max Fried

Braves

17

Pablo Lopez

Twins

Yes, I believe there is a legit argument for any of these pitchers to end up as an ace on your fantasy team in 2025. While there may be a more compelling case for the guys at the top, I think any of these guys could carry your squad and so my early strategy is going to be to fade starting pitching in the first few rounds and try to double-tap and pick two of these guys if I can to lead my staff.

Rock Solid SP2s

18

Joe Ryan

Twins

19

George Kirby

Mariners

20

Sandy Alcantara

Marlins

21

Shota Imanaga

Cubs

22

Aaron Nola

Phillies

23

Bailey Ober

Twins

24

Bryan Woo

Mariners

25

Blake Snell

Giants

26

Framber Valdez

Astros

27

Grayson Rodriguez

Orioles

28

Dylan Cease

Padres

29

Zac Gallen

Diamondbacks

30

Freddy Peralta

Brewers

31

Brandon Woodruff

Free Agent

32

Sonny Gray

Cardinals

33

Logan Webb

Giants

34

Justin Steele

Cubs

All of these pitchers in this tier as rock-solid SP2s for your squad. They could push for SP1 upside but I don’t think they have the consistency or the ceiling of the guys in tier one. However, you are more than happy to shop for multiple arms in this tier.

SP2s with Upside

35

Tanner Bibee

Guardians

36

Jared Jones

Pirates

37

Hunter Greene

Reds

38

Spencer Schwellenbach

Braves

39

Ryan Pepiot

Rays

40

Jeffrey Springs

Rays

41

Kodai Senga

Mets

42

Bryce Miller

Mariners

These pitchers are all potential SP2s but I think they have potential upside that could push them higher than some of the pitchers in the tier above. They also just come with more uncertainty or volatility.

Veterans with Upside/Question Marks

43

Carlos Rodon

Yankees

44

Jack Flaherty

Dodgers

45

Yu Darvish

Padres

46

Yusei Kikuchi

Free Agent

47

Reynaldo Lopez

Braves

48

Nick Pivetta

Free Agent

49

Robbie Ray

Giants

Most of the pitchers in tier 3 are younger than these guys, so I gave them a touch more credit for upside. These are all veterans who have been stellar for years and have the potential to be SP2 types for your fantasy rosters as well, but they have age or injury concerns.

Fun Upside Arms with Scary Downside

50

Shane Baz

Rays

51

Luis Gil

Yankees

52

Hunter Brown

Astros

53

Tanner Houck

Red Sox

54

Gavin Williams

Guardians

55

Bobby Miller

Dodgers

56

Spencer Arrighetti

Astros

I love the upside of most of these arms, but the downside is that they could be fully off your roster and have hurt your ratios in the process.

Solid Veterans Without Much Excitement

57

Seth Lugo

Royals

58

Nathan Eovaldi

Rangers

59

Zach Eflin

Free Agent

60

Ronel Blanco

Astros

61

Kevin Gausman

Blue Jays

62

Cristopher Sanchez

Phillies

63

Nestor Cortes

Yankees

This is a tier of veterans who feel solid but don’t really have the upside to excite us too much over the course of a full season.

If They Can Just Put it All Together..

64

Luis Garcia

Astros

65

Taj Bradley

Rays

66

Reese Olson

Tigers

67

Clarke Schmidt

Yankees

68

Jesus Luzardo

Marlins

69

Kutter Crawford

Red Sox

70

Ryne Nelson

Diamondbacks

71

Bryan Bello

Red Sox

72

MacKenzie Gore

Nationals

73

Dustin May

Dodgers

All of these pitchers have some intriguing potential and could soar up the rankings, but they need to either add a pitch or improve command or consistency, etc.

Top Prospects Who Should Pitch in 2025

74

Jackson Jobe

Tigers

75

Andrew Painter

Phillies

76

Noah Schultz

White Sox

77

David Festa

Twins

78

AJ Smith-Shawver

Braves

79

Kumar Rocker

Rangers

80

Jack Leiter

Rangers

These are all some of the top pitching prospects in baseball who I think have a legit chance to pitch 80 or more innings in the big leagues this season.

Injury Concern Veterans with Upside

81

Walker Buehler

Dodgers

82

Shane Bieber

Free Agent

83

Lucas Giolito

Red Sox

84

Kyle Bradish

Orioles

85

Cristian Javier

Astros

86

Edward Cabrera

Marlins

87

Sean Manaea

Free Agent

All of these veterans have some injury or performance concerns, but we’ve seen solid upside from them in the past, so maybe we want to take the gamble on them hitting in 2025.

Young SP Who Could Still Make a Leap

88

Bowden Francis

Blue Jays

89

Brandon Pfaadt

Diamondbacks

90

Nick Lodolo

Reds

91

DL Hall

Brewers

92

DJ Herz

Nationals

93

Reid Detmers

Angels

These are all young starters who I think have another level to get based on their raw stuff. However, I have more concerns about them reaching that level than I do the pitchers two tiers above.

Veterans For Deeper Leagues

94

Cody Bradford

Rangers

95

Mitch Keller

Pirates

96

Merrill Kelly

Diamondbacks

97

Tobias Myers

Brewers

98

Jose Berrios

Blue Jays

99

Ranger Suarez

Phillies

100

Michael Wacha

Royals

101

Jameson Taillon

Cubs

102

Marcus Stroman

Yankees

103

Zack Littell

Rays

104

Chris Bassitt

Blue Jays

105

Luis Severino

Free Agent

106

Lance McCullers Jr.

Astros

This is a tier of pitchers who will be far more valuable in 15-team leagues because they are rock-solid veterans. They just no longer have the upside to be worth a pick in 12-team leagues outside of the final few rounds.

Interesting Young Arms with Less Upside/Likelihood

107

Zebby Matthews

Twins

108

Grant Holmes

Braves

109

Caleb Kilian

Cubs

110

Sean Burke

White Sox

111

Andrew Abbott

Reds

112

Joey Cantillo

Guardians

113

Ryan Weathers

Marlins

114

Luis L. Ortiz

Pirates

115

Aaron Ashby

Brewers

116

Jose Soriano

Angels

I probably won’t draft any of these guys in a 12-team league but they are the names I will have on my free-agent radar at the start of the season because of their potential upside.

More Veterans With High Risk

117

David Peterson

Mets

118

Jake Irvin

Nationals

119

Justin Verlander

Astros

120

Eduardo Rodriguez

Diamondbacks

121

Jordan Montgomery

Diamondbacks

122

Triston McKenzie

Guardians

123

Tyler Mahle

Rangers

124

Tylor Megill

Mets

125

Brady Singer

Royals

126

Tyler Anderson

Angels

127

Matthew Boyd

Guardians

These are more veterans I wouldn’t really consider in 12-team leagues early on. They have more upside than some of the veterans two tiers above but also far more risk.

Dart Throw Young Arms

128

Hayden Birdsong

Giants

129

Cade Povich

Orioles

130

Osvaldo Bido

Athletics

131

Ben Brown

Cubs

132

Chase Silseth

Angels

133

Landen Roupp

Giants

134

Louie Varland

Twins

135

Brant Hurter

Tigers

136

JP Sears

Athletics

137

Landon Knack

Dodgers

As the title suggests, these are all some dart throws you could throw at the end of your drafts if these guys win rotation jobs in the spring.

Reclamation Project Veterans

138

Casey Mize

Tigers

139

Matt Manning

Tigers

140

Max Meyer

Marlins

141

Trevor Rogers

Orioles

142

Erick Fedde

White Sox

143

Andrew Heaney

Rangers

144

Jose Quintana

Mets

These are all veterans who have a chance to reclaim past fantasy value if they can make some tweaks to their approach or pitch mix.

Shot in the Dark Prospects

145

Sawyer Gipson-Long

Tigers

146

Jarlin Susana

Nationals

147

Richard Fitts

Red Sox

148

Daniel Espino

Guardians

149

Jacob Misiorowski

Brewers

150

Quinn Matthews

Cardinals

151

Chayce McDermott

Orioles

The final tier is young pitchers/prospects who are less likely to be up early but are guys who could interest me in fantasy leagues.

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