This article is part of our Weekly Pitcher Rankings series.
What looked to be a quiet week in terms of two-start pitchers gained some oomph with a makeup game and a couple doubleheaders added to the original schedule. The top of the board is dominated by very good hurlers with two starts, pushing the aces with just one outing down a little.
The middle is populated with some arms worth picking up if they're available in shallower mixed leagues as matchups drive elevated rankings.
For the week, Aug. 13-19.
UPDATED: Sunday August 12, 10:15 PM ET
AMERICAN LEAGUERANK | PITCHER | TEAM | OPP | COMMENT |
1 | Justin Verlander | HOU | vs. COL, at OAK | Coming off rare poor outing, and emotional outburst |
2 | Luis Severino | NYY | vs. NYM, vs. TOR | Homers up, yielding big inning lately |
3 | Mike Clevinger | CLE | at CIN, vs. BAL | Getting better as the season wears on |
4 | J.A. Happ | NYY | vs. TB, vs. TOR | First time facing former team |
5 | Chris Sale | BOS | vs. TB | |
6 | Corey Kluber | CLE | at CIN | |
7 | Gerrit Cole | HOU | vs. COL | |
8 | Carlos Carrasco | CLE | vs. BAL | ERA continues to drop, heading below 4.00 |
9 | Trevor Bauer | CLE | vs. BAL | |
10 | Rick Porcello | BOS | at PHI | |
11 | Sean Manaea | OAK | vs. SEA, vs. HOU | Low whiff potential and good offenses temper rank |
12 | Masahiro Tanaka | NYY | vs. TB | |
13 | Marco Gonzales | SEA | at OAK, vs. LAD | Getting benefit of the doubt despite 6 HR surrendered in last 24.1 IP |
14 | James Paxton | SEA | at OAK | |
15 | Charlie Morton | HOU | at OAK | |
16 |
What looked to be a quiet week in terms of two-start pitchers gained some oomph with a makeup game and a couple doubleheaders added to the original schedule. The top of the board is dominated by very good hurlers with two starts, pushing the aces with just one outing down a little.
The middle is populated with some arms worth picking up if they're available in shallower mixed leagues as matchups drive elevated rankings.
For the week, Aug. 13-19.
UPDATED: Sunday August 12, 10:15 PM ET
AMERICAN LEAGUERANK | PITCHER | TEAM | OPP | COMMENT |
1 | Justin Verlander | HOU | vs. COL, at OAK | Coming off rare poor outing, and emotional outburst |
2 | Luis Severino | NYY | vs. NYM, vs. TOR | Homers up, yielding big inning lately |
3 | Mike Clevinger | CLE | at CIN, vs. BAL | Getting better as the season wears on |
4 | J.A. Happ | NYY | vs. TB, vs. TOR | First time facing former team |
5 | Chris Sale | BOS | vs. TB | |
6 | Corey Kluber | CLE | at CIN | |
7 | Gerrit Cole | HOU | vs. COL | |
8 | Carlos Carrasco | CLE | vs. BAL | ERA continues to drop, heading below 4.00 |
9 | Trevor Bauer | CLE | vs. BAL | |
10 | Rick Porcello | BOS | at PHI | |
11 | Sean Manaea | OAK | vs. SEA, vs. HOU | Low whiff potential and good offenses temper rank |
12 | Masahiro Tanaka | NYY | vs. TB | |
13 | Marco Gonzales | SEA | at OAK, vs. LAD | Getting benefit of the doubt despite 6 HR surrendered in last 24.1 IP |
14 | James Paxton | SEA | at OAK | |
15 | Charlie Morton | HOU | at OAK | |
16 | Blaine Hardy | DET | vs. CWS, at MIN | Worth picking up to face pair of lineups weak vs. LHP |
17 | Blake Snell | TB | at NYY | Deserves to be in the Cy Young conversation |
18 | Nathan Eovaldi | BOS | at PHI | Nice when your offense tallies to let you off the hook |
19 | Reynaldo Lopez | CWS | at DET, vs. KC | Aided by teams playing out the string after dumping |
20 | Kyle Gibson | MIN | vs. DET | |
21 | Jake Odorizzi | MIN | vs. PIT, vs. DET | |
22 | Mike Minor | TEX | vs. LAA | |
23 | David Price | BOS | vs. TB | Showed he can actually pitch well vs. Yankees |
24 | Jakob Junis | KC | at CWS | |
25 | Jose Berrios | MIN | vs. PIT | |
26 | Dallas Keuchel | HOU | at OAK | |
27 | CC Sabathia | NYY | vs. TOR | |
28 | Ervin Santana | MIN | vs. DET | Still knocking the rust off |
29 | Jaime Barria | LAA | at SD, at TEX | Arlington affair is a risk |
30 | Wade LeBlanc | SEA | vs. LAD | |
31 | Shane Bieber | CLE | at CIN | |
32 | Matthew Boyd | DET | at MIN | 2.59 ERA, .99 WHIP last 4 GS with 24 K, 4 BB in 24.1 IP |
33 | Lance Lynn | NYY | vs. TB | |
34 | Marco Estrada | TOR | at KC | |
35 | Andrew Heaney | LAA | at SD, at TEX | Recent woes dropping ranking, but realize how close 40 and 80 are, the middle ranks are tightly bunched |
36 | Felix Pena | LAA | at SD | |
37 | Lucas Giolito | CWS | at DET | |
38 | Mike Fiers | OAK | vs. SEA | |
39 | James Shields | CWS | vs. KC | |
40 | Carlos Rodon | CWS | at DET | Outpitching skills last few outings |
41 | Danny Duffy | KC | vs. TOR | |
42 | Ryan Borucki | TOR | at KC, at NYY | |
43 | Jordan Zimmermann | DET | vs. CWS | |
44 | Artie Lewicki | DET | vs. CWS, at MIN | |
45 | Erasmo Ramirez | SEA | vs. LAD | Essentially replacing King Felix |
46 | Mike Leake | SEA | at OAK | |
47 | Dylan Covey | CWS | vs. KC | |
48 | Trevor Cahill | OAK | vs. HOU | |
49 | Andrew Cashner | BAL | vs. NYM | |
50 | Marcus Stroman | TOR | at NYY | |
51 | Francisco Liriano | DET | at MIN | |
52 | Brian Johnson | BOS | vs. TB | |
53 | Yonny Chirinos | TB | at NYY | |
54 | Edwin Jackson | OAK | vs. HOU | |
55 | Burch Smith | KC | vs. TOR | |
56 | Adalberto Mejia | MIN | vs. DET | |
57 | Sam Gaviglio | TOR | at KC | |
58 | Dylan Bundy | BAL | at CLE | |
59 | Bartolo Colon | TEX | vs. ARI | |
60 | Heath Fillmyer | KC | vs. TOR, at CWS | |
61 | Brad Keller | KC | vs. TOR, at CWS | Ignore 3.57 ERA, 58 K with 38 BB in 88.1 IP says it won't last |
62 | Martin Perez | TEX | vs. LAA | |
63 | Nick Tropeano | LAA | at TEX | |
64 | Brett Anderson | OAK | vs. SEA | |
65 | Thomas Pannone | TOR | at NYY | |
66 | Jalen Beeks | TB | at NYY, at BOS | |
67 | Alex Cobb | BAL | at CLE | Pitching better, but still not missing bats |
68 | David Hess | BAL | vs. NYM | |
69 | Yefry Ramirez | BAL | at CLE | |
70 | Sean Reid-Foley | TOR | at KC | Good matchup, just don't know what to expect in debut |
71 | Tyler Glasnow | TB | at BOS | |
72 | Ryan Yarbrough | TB | at BOS | |
73 | Drew Hutchison | TEX | vs. LAA | |
74 | Yovani Gallardo | TEX | vs. ARI | |
75 | Ariel Jurado | TEX | vs. LAA | |
76 | Taylor Cole | LAA | at TEX |
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Rank | Pitcher | TEAM | OPP | Comments |
1 | Jacob deGrom | NYM | at NYY, at PHI | Good thing he's not paid by the win |
2 | Zack Greinke | ARI | at TEX, at SD | |
3 | Clayton Kershaw | LAD | vs. SF, at SEA | |
4 | Mike Foltynewicz | ATL | vs. COL, vs. MIA | |
5 | Madison Bumgarner | SF | at LAD, at CIN | Walks high but keeping the ball in the yard |
6 | Max Scherzer | WAS | vs. MIA | |
7 | Anibal Sanchez | ATL | vs. MIA, vs. COL | Pitching well plus facing soft lineups at home |
8 | Miles Mikolas | STL | vs. WAS, vs. MIL | Continues to get by with pedestrian strikeouts |
9 | Aaron Nola | PHI | vs. NYM | Nola vs. Thor, appointment viewing |
10 | Nick Pivetta | PHI | vs. BOS, vs. NYM | Hope for minimal damage vs. Boston |
11 | Jameson Taillon | PIT | at MIN, vs. CHC | Not flashy, just solid |
12 | Kevin Gausman | ATL | vs. MIA | You think he's happy to be out of the AL East? |
13 | Zack Godley | ARI | at SD | |
14 | Gio Gonzalez | WAS | at STL, vs. MIA | Control spotty, but facing lesser lineups |
15 | Robbie Ray | ARI | at SD | Already looking forward to drafting him as my SP4 next season |
16 | Noah Syndergaard | NYM | at PHI | |
17 | Alex Wood | LAD | vs. SF | |
18 | Luis Castillo | CIN | vs. SF | |
19 | Jhoulys Chacin | MIL | at CHC, at STL | |
20 | Clayton Richard | SD | vs. LAA, vs. ARI | In a run but Petco park is a nice elixir |
21 | Zach Eflin | PHI | vs. NYM | Big strikeout potential |
22 | Jake Arrieta | PHI | vs. NYM | |
23 | Clay Buchholz | ARI | at SD | |
24 | Cole Hamels | CHC | at PIT | Cubs best starting pitcher |
25 | Kyle Hendricks | CHC | vs. MIL | |
26 | Rich Hill | LAD | at SEA | |
27 | Touki Toussaint | ATL | vs. MIA | Ticketed to make debut in Monday DH |
28 | Anthony DeSclafani | CIN | vs. SF | Quietly pitching very well lately |
29 | Jose Quintana | CHC | vs. MIL, at PIT | Scary thing is this feels generous |
30 | Luke Weaver | STL | vs. MIL | |
31 | Jack Flaherty | STL | vs. WAS | |
32 | Zack Wheeler | NYM | at BAL | 4-0 (one fewer win than deGrom has for the season) in last 4 GS, 1.95 ERA with .90 WHIP |
33 | John Gant | STL | vs. WAS, vs. MIL | Low BABIP masking high walk rate |
34 | Chase Anderson | MIL | at STL | |
35 | German Marquez | COL | at HOU, at ATL | Driven by strikeouts, ratios in peril |
36 | Derek Holland | SF | at LAD | |
37 | Hyun-Jin Ryu | LAD | vs. SF | |
38 | Jon Gray | COL | at ATL | |
39 | Jeremy Hellickson | WAS | at STL | |
40 | Julio Teheran | ATL | vs. COL | Frustrating season keeps getting worse |
41 | Walker Buehler | LAD | at SEA | |
42 | Jon Lester | CHC | at PIT | |
43 | Tanner Roark | WAS | at STL | |
44 | Dereck Rodriguez | SF | at CIN | |
45 | Tyler Anderson | COL | at HOU | |
46 | Sean Newcomb | ATL | vs. COL | |
47 | Joe Musgrove | PIT | vs. CHC | |
48 | Patrick Corbin | ARI | at TEX | |
49 | Joey Lucchesi | SD | vs. ARI | |
50 | Brett Kennedy | SD | vs. LAA, vs. ARI | Helped by home park |
51 | Chris Archer | PIT | at MIN | |
52 | Mike Montgomery | CHC | at PIT | |
53 | Matt Harvey | CIN | vs. SF | |
54 | Kyle Freeland | COL | at ATL | |
55 | Ivan Nova | PIT | vs. CHC | |
56 | Trevor Williams | PIT | vs. CHC | |
57 | Steven Matz | NYM | at PHI | |
58 | Jason Vargas | NYM | at BAL, at PHI | |
59 | Vince Velasquez | PHI | vs. BOS | |
60 | Jose Urena | MIA | at ATL | |
61 | Tommy Milone | WAS | at STL, vs. MIA | |
62 | Enyel De Los Santos | PHI | vs. NYM | |
63 | Chad Bettis | COL | at ATL | |
64 | Merandy Gonzalez | MIA | at ATL | |
65 | Andrew Suarez | SF | at LAD, at CIN | |
66 | Jacob Nix | SD | vs. LAA | Solid in first start, catching Angels at a good time |
67 | Austin Gomber | STL | vs. WAS | |
68 | Junior Guerra | MIL | at CHC | |
69 | Corey Oswalt | NYM | at PHI | |
70 | Trevor Richards | MIA | at ATL | |
71 | Wade Miley | MIL | at STL | |
72 | Eric Lauer | SD | vs. ARI | |
73 | Dan Straily | MIA | at WAS | |
74 | Pablo Lopez | MIA | at ATL, at WAS | Pitching better, but two tough draws |
75 | Wei-Yin Chen | MIA | at WAS | |
76 | Sal Romano | CIN | vs. CLE | |
77 | Robert Stephenson | CIN | vs. CLE | |
78 | Homer Bailey | CIN | vs. CLE |
MLB
RANK | PITCHER | TEAM | OPP | COMMENT |
1 | Justin Verlander | HOU | vs. COL, at OAK | Coming off rare poor outing, and emotional outburst |
2 | Luis Severino | NYY | vs. NYM, vs. TOR | Homers up, yielding big inning lately |
3 | Jacob deGrom | NYM | at NYY, at PHI | Good thing he's not paid by the win |
4 | Zack Greinke | ARI | at TEX, at SD | |
5 | Clayton Kershaw | LAD | vs. SF, at SEA | |
6 | Mike Clevinger | CLE | at CIN, vs. BAL | Getting better as the season wears on |
7 | Mike Foltynewicz | ATL | vs. COL, vs. MIA | |
8 | Madison Bumgarner | SF | at LAD, at CIN | Walks high but keeping the ball in the yard |
9 | Max Scherzer | WAS | vs. MIA | |
10 | Anibal Sanchez | ATL | vs. MIA, vs. COL | Pitching well plus facing soft lineups at home |
11 | J.A. Happ | NYY | vs. TB, vs. TOR | First time facing former team |
12 | Miles Mikolas | STL | vs. WAS, vs. MIL | Continues to get by with pedestrian strikeouts |
13 | Chris Sale | BOS | vs. TB | |
14 | Corey Kluber | CLE | at CIN | |
15 | Aaron Nola | PHI | vs. NYM | Nola vs. Thor, appointment viewing |
16 | Gerrit Cole | HOU | vs. COL | |
17 | Carlos Carrasco | CLE | vs. BAL | ERA continues to drop, heading below 4.00 |
18 | Trevor Bauer | CLE | vs. BAL | |
19 | Nick Pivetta | PHI | vs. BOS, vs. NYM | Hope for minimal damage vs. Boston |
20 | Jameson Taillon | PIT | at MIN, vs. CHC | Not flashy, just solid |
21 | Rick Porcello | BOS | at PHI | |
22 | Kevin Gausman | ATL | vs. MIA | You think he's happy to be out of the AL East? |
23 | Zack Godley | ARI | at SD | |
24 | Gio Gonzalez | WAS | at STL, vs. MIA | Control spotty, but facing lesser lineups |
25 | Robbie Ray | ARI | at SD | Already looking forward to drafting him as my SP4 next season |
26 | Noah Syndergaard | NYM | at PHI | |
27 | Alex Wood | LAD | vs. SF | |
28 | Sean Manaea | OAK | vs. SEA, vs. HOU | Low whiff potential and good offenses temper rank |
29 | Luis Castillo | CIN | vs. SF | |
30 | Masahiro Tanaka | NYY | vs. TB | |
31 | Marco Gonzales | SEA | at OAK, vs. LAD | Getting benefit of the doubt despite 6 HR surrendered in last 24.1 IP |
32 | Jhoulys Chacin | MIL | at CHC, at STL | |
33 | Clayton Richard | SD | vs. LAA, vs. ARI | In a run but Petco park is a nice elixir |
34 | James Paxton | SEA | at OAK | |
35 | Zach Eflin | PHI | vs. NYM | Big strikeout potential |
36 | Charlie Morton | HOU | at OAK | |
37 | Jake Arrieta | PHI | vs. NYM | |
38 | Blaine Hardy | DET | vs. CWS, at MIN | Worth picking up to face pair of lineups weak vs. LHP |
39 | Blake Snell | TB | at NYY | Deserves to be in the Cy Young conversation |
40 | Nathan Eovaldi | BOS | at PHI | Nice when your offense tallies to let you off the hook |
41 | Clay Buchholz | ARI | at SD | |
42 | Reynaldo Lopez | CWS | at DET, vs. KC | Aided by teams playing out the string after dumping |
43 | Kyle Gibson | MIN | vs. DET | |
44 | Cole Hamels | CHC | at PIT | Cubs best starting pitcher |
45 | Kyle Hendricks | CHC | vs. MIL | |
46 | Jake Odorizzi | MIN | vs. PIT, vs. DET | |
47 | Mike Minor | TEX | vs. LAA | |
48 | Rich Hill | LAD | at SEA | |
49 | David Price | BOS | vs. TB | Showed he can actually pitch well vs. Yankees |
50 | Touki Toussaint | ATL | vs. MIA | |
51 | Anthony DeSclafani | CIN | vs. SF | Quietly pitching very well lately |
52 | Jose Quintana | CHC | vs. MIL, at PIT | Scary thing is this feels generous |
53 | Luke Weaver | STL | vs. MIL | |
54 | Jakob Junis | KC | at CWS | |
55 | Jose Berrios | MIN | vs. PIT | |
56 | Jack Flaherty | STL | vs. WAS | |
57 | Dallas Keuchel | HOU | at OAK | |
58 | CC Sabathia | NYY | vs. TOR | |
59 | Zack Wheeler | NYM | at BAL | 4-0 (one fewer win than deGrom has for the season) in last 4 GS, 1.95 ERA with .90 WHIP |
60 | John Gant | STL | vs. WAS, vs. MIL | Low BABIP masking high walk rate |
61 | Ervin Santana | MIN | vs. DET | Still knocking the rust off |
62 | Jaime Barria | LAA | at SD, at TEX | Arlington affair is a risk |
63 | Chase Anderson | MIL | at STL | |
64 | German Marquez | COL | at HOU, at ATL | Driven by strikeouts, ratios in peril |
65 | Derek Holland | SF | at LAD | |
66 | Wade LeBlanc | SEA | vs. LAD | |
67 | Shane Bieber | CLE | at CIN | |
68 | Hyun-Jin Ryu | LAD | vs. SF | |
69 | Jon Gray | COL | at ATL | |
70 | Jeremy Hellickson | WAS | at STL | |
71 | Julio Teheran | ATL | vs. COL | Frustrating season keeps getting worse |
72 | Matthew Boyd | DET | at MIN | 2.59 ERA, .99 WHIP last 4 GS with 24 K, 4 BB in 24.1 IP |
73 | Walker Buehler | LAD | at SEA | |
74 | Jon Lester | CHC | at PIT | |
75 | Tanner Roark | WAS | at STL | |
76 | Lance Lynn | NYY | vs. TB | |
77 | Marco Estrada | TOR | at KC | |
78 | Andrew Heaney | LAA | at SD, at TEX | Recent woes dropping ranking, but realize how close 40 and 80 are, the middle ranks are tightly bunched |
79 | Felix Pena | LAA | at SD | |
80 | Dereck Rodriguez | SF | at CIN | |
81 | Tyler Anderson | COL | at HOU | |
82 | Sean Newcomb | ATL | vs. COL | |
83 | Lucas Giolito | CWS | at DET | |
84 | Joe Musgrove | PIT | vs. CHC | |
85 | Mike Fiers | OAK | vs. SEA | |
86 | James Shields | CWS | vs. KC | |
87 | Carlos Rodon | CWS | at DET | Outpitching skills last few outings |
88 | Danny Duffy | KC | vs. TOR | |
89 | Ryan Borucki | TOR | at KC, at NYY | |
90 | Patrick Corbin | ARI | at TEX | |
91 | Jordan Zimmermann | DET | vs. CWS | |
92 | Artie Lewicki | DET | vs. CWS, at MIN | |
93 | Joey Lucchesi | SD | vs. ARI | |
94 | Erasmo Ramirez | SEA | vs. LAD | Essentially replacing King Felix |
95 | Brett Kennedy | SD | vs. LAA, vs. ARI | Helped by home park |
96 | Chris Archer | PIT | at MIN | |
97 | Mike Leake | SEA | at OAK | |
98 | Mike Montgomery | CHC | at PIT | |
99 | Dylan Covey | CWS | vs. KC | |
100 | Matt Harvey | CIN | vs. SF | |
101 | Kyle Freeland | COL | at ATL | |
102 | Trevor Cahill | OAK | vs. HOU | |
103 | Ivan Nova | PIT | vs. CHC | |
104 | Trevor Williams | PIT | vs. CHC | |
105 | Andrew Cashner | BAL | vs. NYM | |
106 | Marcus Stroman | TOR | at NYY | |
107 | Steven Matz | NYM | at PHI | |
108 | Francisco Liriano | DET | at MIN | |
109 | Jason Vargas | NYM | at BAL, at PHI | |
110 | Vince Velasquez | PHI | vs. BOS | |
111 | Brian Johnson | BOS | vs. TB | |
112 | Jose Urena | MIA | at ATL | |
113 | Tommy Milone | WAS | at STL, vs. MIA | |
114 | Yonny Chirinos | TB | at NYY | |
115 | Edwin Jackson | OAK | vs. HOU | |
116 | Burch Smith | KC | vs. TOR | |
117 | Enyel De Los Santos | PHI | vs. NYM | |
118 | Chad Bettis | COL | at ATL | |
119 | Adalberto Mejia | MIN | vs. DET | |
120 | Merandy Gonzalez | MIA | at ATL | |
121 | Andrew Suarez | SF | at LAD, at CIN | |
122 | Sam Gaviglio | TOR | at KC | |
123 | Jacob Nix | SD | vs. LAA | Solid in first start, catching Angels at a good time |
124 | Dylan Bundy | BAL | at CLE | |
125 | Austin Gomber | STL | vs. WAS | |
126 | Junior Guerra | MIL | at CHC | |
127 | Corey Oswalt | NYM | at PHI | |
128 | Trevor Richards | MIA | at ATL | |
129 | Bartolo Colon | TEX | vs. ARI | |
130 | Heath Fillmyer | KC | vs. TOR, at CWS | |
131 | Brad Keller | KC | vs. TOR, at CWS | Ignore 3.57 ERA, 58 K with 38 BB in 88.1 IP says it won't last |
132 | Wade Miley | MIL | at STL | |
133 | Eric Lauer | SD | vs. ARI | |
134 | Martin Perez | TEX | vs. LAA | |
135 | Dan Straily | MIA | at WAS | |
136 | Nick Tropeano | LAA | at TEX | |
137 | Brett Anderson | OAK | vs. SEA | |
138 | Thomas Pannone | TOR | at NYY | |
139 | Pablo Lopez | MIA | at ATL, at WAS | Pitching better, but two tough draws |
140 | Wei-Yin Chen | MIA | at WAS | |
141 | Jalen Beeks | TB | at NYY, at BOS | |
142 | Alex Cobb | BAL | at CLE | Pitching better, but still not missing bats |
143 | Sal Romano | CIN | vs. CLE | |
144 | Robert Stephenson | CIN | vs. CLE | |
145 | David Hess | BAL | vs. NYM | |
146 | Yefry Ramirez | BAL | at CLE | |
147 | Homer Bailey | CIN | vs. CLE | |
148 | Sean Reid-Foley | TOR | at KC | Good matchup, just don't know what to expect in debut |
149 | Tyler Glasnow | TB | at BOS | |
150 | Ryan Yarbrough | TB | at BOS | |
151 | Drew Hutchison | TEX | vs. LAA | |
152 | Yovani Gallardo | TEX | vs. ARI | |
153 | Ariel Jurado | TEX | vs. LAA | |
154 | Taylor Cole | LAA | at TEX |