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First Half All Star Pitchers

We made it through another week, and now the All Star weekend is right around the corner. Last week, I gave you the top 200 hitters across the major scoring formats for the first half of the season. Those were appropriately called our “First-Half All Star Hitters”. At the time, I promised I’d do the same for pitchers. Here is me making good on that promise.

As a reminder, I’m not only giving you the All Stars for RazzSlam scoring formats (NFBC), but also what I found to be fairly standard scoring formats for Yahoo, ESPN, CBS, and Fantrax as well. I’ve scored each and then created a cumulative rank across all the formats to see who truly earns our “All Star” praise.

If I didn’t give you a little extra, you may not recognize The Lineup Builder’s work. In this, I’m breaking up the SPs and RPs so we can better compare apples-to-apples. The result is 227 pitchers who have at least one start (GS), leaving 174 RPs. For all you hard-core purists who are about to tell me there are RPs who serve as starters in bullpen games, I hear you loud and clear. I admit it’s not a PERFECT breakdown but frankly, it probably won’t make much difference in the big “Points Leagues” picture, and more importantly, I have a life to live! We’ll survive!

So, without further ado, here are the Top 100 All Star SPs, followed by the Top 100 All Star RPs:

SPs

Name	Team	Cumulative Rank	NFBC Rank	CBS Rank	ESPN Rank	Fantrax Rank	Yahoo Rank
Garrett Crochet	BOS	1	2	2	1	1	1
Tarik Skubal	DET	2	1	4	2	3	2
Max Fried	NYY	3	3	1	4	4	4
Hunter Brown	HOU	4	4	3	3	6	6
Zack Wheeler	PHI	5	5	9	5	7	5
Logan Webb	SFG	6	8	8	8	5	3
Paul Skenes	PIT	7	7	5	6	2	13
Carlos Rodón	NYY	8	6	7	7	10	8
Spencer Schwellenbach	ATL	9	10	6	10	8	9
Jacob deGrom	TEX	10	9	12	8	11	15
Robbie Ray	SFG	11	12	13	12	13	11
Framber Valdez	HOU	12	14	11	14	9	18
Bryan Woo	SEA	12	13	10	12	15	16
MacKenzie Gore	WSN	14	19	16	16	12	7
Joe Ryan	MIN	15	11	15	11	17	20
Kris Bubic	KCR	16	17	18	17	14	19
Chris Sale	ATL	17	18	27	15	19	10
Nick Pivetta	SDP	18	15	19	17	21	21
Sonny Gray	STL	19	20	20	20	20	14
Merrill Kelly	ARI	20	21	17	22	16	22
Cristopher Sánchez	PHI	21	22	26	19	18	17
Freddy Peralta	MIL	22	15	22	21	29	23
Yoshinobu Yamamoto	LAD	23	23	20	24	28	26
Matthew Boyd	CHC	24	25	24	25	32	28
Jesús Luzardo	PHI	25	35	34	35	22	12
Ryan Pepiot	TBR	26	28	23	29	34	29
José Berríos	TOR	27	31	31	28	25	34
Drew Rasmussen	TBR	28	26	28	26	33	39
Kevin Gausman	TOR	29	33	25	34	24	37
Zack Littell	TBR	30	27	14	33	49	33
Andrew Abbott	CIN	31	24	41	23	39	30
Yusei Kikuchi	LAA	32	36	39	32	35	27
Nathan Eovaldi	TEX	33	30	48	27	31	42
David Peterson	NYM	34	39	44	38	26	36
Dylan Cease	SDP	35	45	49	41	27	24
Seth Lugo	KCR	35	32	32	31	42	49
Grant Holmes	ATL	37	37	40	36	44	32
Clay Holmes	NYM	38	33	36	36	50	38
Kodai Senga	NYM	38	29	46	30	43	45
Chris Bassitt	TOR	40	42	49	48	41	25
Nick Lodolo	CIN	41	40	41	39	47	40
Michael Wacha	KCR	42	46	37	47	38	48
Mitch Keller	PIT	43	57	29	55	23	56
Tanner Bibee	CLE	44	43	35	45	48	50
Shane Baz	TBR	45	41	47	45	56	41
Casey Mize	DET	46	38	55	40	69	35
Matthew Liberatore	STL	47	54	45	53	36	51
Will Warren	NYY	48	50	74	49	37	31
Nick Martinez	CIN	49	52	33	54	45	60
José Soriano	LAA	50	61	53	60	30	47
Jack Flaherty	DET	51	51	41	56	61	43
Tyler Mahle	TEX	52	44	56	42	46	71
Jameson Taillon	CHC	53	48	30	51	75	57
Jeffrey Springs	ATH	54	53	38	57	55	63
Luis Castillo	SEA	55	56	52	52	54	55
Luis L. Ortiz	CLE	56	60	51	65	53	46
Clarke Schmidt	NYY	57	49	62	43	52	72
Ranger Suárez	PHI	58	47	63	44	57	68
Chad Patrick	MIL	59	63	68	59	51	44
Brady Singer	CIN	60	58	54	70	60	59
Landen Roupp	SFG	61	62	65	68	63	52
Dean Kremer	BAL	62	71	61	75	59	54
Jake Irvin	WSN	63	66	58	67	67	67
Quinn Priester	MIL	64	59	76	57	64	75
Taj Bradley	TBR	65	70	60	72	62	74
Hunter Greene	CIN	66	55	86	50	89	61
Bailey Falter	PIT	67	64	64	64	58	96
Griffin Canning	NYM	68	65	79	71	72	62
Tylor Megill	NYM	69	67	91	68	71	53
Gavin Williams	CLE	70	68	83	63	80	64
Zac Gallen	ARI	71	79	57	100	70	69
Pablo López	MIN	72	69	88	65	78	77
Tomoyuki Sugano	BAL	73	73	66	74	93	80
Luis Severino	ATH	74	93	70	94	40	90
Shane Smith	CHW	75	75	89	73	66	89
Brandon Pfaadt	ARI	76	76	71	92	102	58
Michael Lorenzen	KCR	77	86	67	96	82	70
Andre Pallante	STL	77	81	77	83	76	84
Michael King	SDP	79	72	97	61	91	81
Corbin Burnes	ARI	80	74	93	62	83	91
Dustin May	LAD	81	82	84	79	81	82
Kyle Hendricks	LAA	82	79	72	88	85	85
Andrew Heaney	PIT	83	83	73	81	77	101
JP Sears	ATH	84	77	69	94	101	76
Mitchell Parker	WSN	85	85	59	102	74	103
Chris Paddack	MIN	86	90	81	87	65	104
Sean Burke	CHW	87	86	80	91	92	86
Erick Fedde	STL	88	92	75	97	68	111
Tyler Anderson	LAA	89	93	89	84	90	88
Bailey Ober	MIN	90	97	78	105	103	66
Davis Martin	CHW	91	91	82	86	86	105
Ben Casparius	LAD	92	89	110	76	79	97
Ryne Nelson	ARI	93	77	102	76	88	114
Patrick Corbin	TEX	94	88	85	98	94	93
Colin Rea	CHC	95	84	92	92	113	79
Miles Mikolas	STL	96	100	87	110	73	99
Ben Brown	CHC	97	110	101	124	100	65
Edward Cabrera	MIA	98	98	132	82	105	94
Michael Soroka	WSN	99	96	98	90	116	113
Mitch Spence	ATH	100	103	125	89	95	108

Like last week, I’ll add some narratives for Surprises and Disappointments.

Look at MacKenzie Gore coming in top 7 in Yahoo. Granted he’s top 20 in all leagues, but still. He’s enjoying a career best K%, BB/9, ERA, FIP, LOB%, and Swing K% so I guess it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.
Kris Bubic has been excellent so far, too. Who saw that one coming? This guy with two thumbs pointing at me! Well, maybe I didn’t see THIS coming, but I was notably high on him coming in – especially in my dynasty league. If you look at his 24/25 splits, he was better in many categories last year with one notable exception…he’s dropped his HR/FB rate from 10.5 in ’24 to 4.8 this season.
Jack Flaherty has come back to earth after a strong 2024 season. His fastball velocity has dipped below 93 mph, and he’s just not getting the swing and miss like he did last year. Many of us were counting on him repeating in his return to Detroit, but now are disappointed in rostering a mid-level SP at best.
Pablo Lopez is another disappointing SP this season, more because of injury, though. Many of us (myself included) were expecting a top 20 fantasy SP and enjoying the 2.82 ERA/1.07 WHIP start. For those holding out hope for an August return, that’s about all we have – HOPE.

RPs

Name	Team	Cumulative Rank	NFBC Rank	CBS Rank	ESPN Rank	Fantrax Rank	Yahoo Rank
Josh Hader	HOU	1	1	1	1	14	1
Andrés Muñoz	SEA	2	4	5	8	8	5
Robert Suarez	SDP	3	2	2	25	2	2
Aroldis Chapman	BOS	4	7	6	6	11	6
Edwin Díaz	NYM	5	5	10	9	22	7
Jhoan Duran	MIN	6	12	12	16	5	11
Carlos Estévez	KCR	7	3	3	22	21	8
Tanner Scott	LAD	8	10	8	12	25	9
Will Vest	DET	8	11	11	13	19	10
Camilo Doval	SFG	10	16	15	29	9	17
Randy Rodríguez	SFG	11	25	33	2	3	24
Emmanuel Clase	CLE	12	9	9	44	24	4
Jason Adam	SDP	13	30	26	4	10	22
Emilio Pagán	CIN	14	8	7	15	54	12
Pete Fairbanks	TBR	15	14	14	45	20	19
Cade Smith	CLE	16	35	42	10	1	25
Trevor Megill	MIL	17	13	13	59	29	14
Shelby Miller	ARI	18	20	22	28	42	23
Dennis Santana	PIT	19	27	30	20	12	47
Adrian Morejon	SDP	20	32	27	27	13	42
Tyler Rogers	SFG	21	44	36	5	6	54
Félix Bautista	BAL	22	17	20	48	45	18
Bryan Abreu	HOU	22	46	46	7	17	32
Abner Uribe	MIL	24	42	56	3	18	33
Tommy Kahnle	DET	25	24	31	14	41	43
David Bednar	PIT	26	21	19	59	44	16
Devin Williams	NYY	27	23	24	64	26	30
Jake Bird	COL	27	48	58	19	15	27
Jeff Hoffman	TOR	29	6	4	38	121	3
Brendon Little	TOR	29	47	60	11	16	38
Mason Miller	ATH	31	19	18	54	69	15
Steven Okert	HOU	32	37	40	26	34	45
Fernando Cruz	NYY	33	39	40	31	38	35
Kyle Finnegan	WSN	34	18	16	77	53	20
Garrett Whitlock	BOS	35	42	43	39	28	34
Phil Maton	STL	36	51	69	17	7	49
Daniel Palencia	CHC	37	29	34	47	46	40
Ryan Walker	SFG	38	28	25	69	39	41
Ronny Henriquez	MIA	38	33	38	17	93	21
Luke Weaver	NYY	40	26	28	41	63	48
Hoby Milner	TEX	41	55	62	22	4	65
Dylan Lee	ATL	42	40	44	22	58	50
Ryan Helsley	STL	43	15	17	66	104	13
Jeremiah Estrada	SDP	44	52	45	33	57	37
Louis Varland	MIN	45	56	53	30	33	55
Griffin Jax	MIN	46	69	67	32	31	29
Robert Garcia	TEX	47	45	35	61	40	57
Bryan Baker	BAL	48	41	37	34	91	36
Reed Garrett	NYM	49	61	59	43	27	59
Greg Weissert	BOS	50	53	50	40	56	61
Bennett Sousa	HOU	51	50	76	49	32	60
José Buttó	NYM	51	54	61	57	37	58
Kyle Leahy	STL	53	65	66	37	35	72
José Alvarado	PHI	54	37	39	91	83	39
Calvin Faucher	MIA	55	34	32	97	74	53
Mark Leiter Jr.	NYY	55	61	48	74	76	31
Alex Vesia	LAD	57	49	70	21	115	44
Bryan King	HOU	57	68	85	35	47	64
Orion Kerkering	PHI	59	57	47	70	72	66
Tony Santillan	CIN	60	66	78	35	49	86
Matt Strahm	PHI	61	60	52	73	82	52
Kenley Jansen	LAA	62	22	21	103	150	26
Nick Mears	MIL	63	74	86	41	30	103
Reid Detmers	LAA	63	71	71	91	55	46
Anthony Bender	MIA	63	67	49	53	52	113
Jalen Beeks	ARI	66	69	88	46	59	80
Eduard Bazardo	SEA	67	58	65	64	81	75
Seranthony Domínguez	BAL	68	78	81	58	64	70
Luke Jackson	TEX	69	36	29	111	116	67
Graham Ashcraft	CIN	70	89	57	101	65	51
Raisel Iglesias	ATL	71	31	23	125	158	28
Caleb Thielbar	CHC	72	75	77	68	43	105
Gabe Speier	SEA	73	81	105	50	75	62
Ryan Zeferjahn	LAA	73	63	63	61	130	56
Steven Cruz	KCR	75	73	97	54	60	94
Caleb Ferguson	PIT	76	85	103	52	23	118
Carlos Vargas	SEA	76	86	55	83	79	78
Grant Anderson	MIL	78	80	79	75	88	69
Lake Bachar	MIA	79	75	93	71	70	83
Brenan Hanifee	DET	80	104	90	91	50	76
Seth Halvorsen	COL	80	58	54	107	124	68
Eric Orze	TBR	82	71	89	91	90	73
Lucas Erceg	KCR	83	88	92	63	62	110
Jacob Webb	TEX	84	75	50	98	107	92
Chris Flexen	CHC	85	64	74	89	84	115
Jose A. Ferrer	WSN	86	117	94	78	36	107
Garrett Cleavinger	TBR	87	84	91	50	127	81
Spencer Bivens	SFG	88	87	83	100	71	101
Kirby Yates	LAD	89	83	80	84	142	63
Scott Barlow	CIN	90	91	104	75	73	117
Max Kranick	NYM	91	90	73	91	109	98
Cole Sands	MIN	91	97	72	115	89	88
Gregory Soto	BAL	93	120	128	56	48	111
Manuel Rodríguez	TBR	93	106	107	72	66	112
Chris Martin	TEX	95	92	87	80	118	87
Ryan Pressly	CHC	96	82	75	131	102	76
Jared Koenig	MIL	97	114	111	78	78	91
Justin Wilson	BOS	98	112	129	81	67	84
Jordan Romano	PHI	99	79	64	140	133	71
Erik Miller	SFG	100	98	116	85	68	125

You know what’s coming now…Surprises and Disappointments.

After spending time with both the Angels and Phillies last season, Carlos Estevez signed with the Royals, who also have Lucas Erceg waiting in the wings. He’s been excellent so far, notching 22 SVs and only 3 blown SVs despite a noticeable decrease in power pitching. Maybe it’s just good luck, or maybe the 32 year old has learned how to be a pitcher first.
Just a couple notches down from Estevez is Randy Rodriguez. The Giants bullpen arm has only picked up a single SV, but you gotta love the 51 Ks and 0.75/0.75 ERA/WHIP over 36 IP.
Mason Miller coming in at #31 is a big disappointment to this writer. He still musters a blistering fastball over 100 mph, but control is more of a problem this year as indicated by the higher BB and HR/FB rates.
Ryan Helsley is also a disappointment to this writer, who proudly drafted him repeatedly after the early wave of RPs we always see in drafts. He’s on pace for 32-33 SVs this season, which is a far cry from the 49 SVs last season.

Whew, we made it. Do our All Star SPs and RPs line up well with your teams/leagues? Who are your surprises and disappointments? Be sure to let me know below.

This marks the end of the first half for me. Enjoy the All Star festivities (will the Big Dumper bring home the HR Derby title?). Take the time off from fantasy baseball to evaluate your teams and prepare for the push toward the playoffs (for those who are in playoff formats) or the grind to the finish line.

As a heads-up…I’m going to spend some time at the beach in the coming weeks. Unlike the MLB players without All Star weekend commitments, my beach time will be the weekend games resume, so you’ll have to wait an extra week to catch up on Points League happenings here. However, if you happen to be in the Myrtle Beach area, be sure to say “HI” to the guy sporting the Razzball apparel.

As always, you can find me on Twitter/X (@Derek_Favret) and on BlueSky (@dfavret.bsky.social).

Until next time, my friends!

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