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SP RANK Name Team UP / DOWN Notes 1 Paul Skenes PIT Sauntered into LA and went all Hollywood on the Dodgers. 6.1 IP, 0 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 9 Ks.  2 Tarik Skubal DET A 6-inning, 4-hit shutout with 11 Ks as Skubal mowed down the Orioles in Motown. His last 4 GS: 24 IP, 2 ER, 19 H, 1 BB, 30 Ks. That, my friends, is an ace. 3 Garrett Crochet BOS 5 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 5 BB, 9 Ks, ERA at 1.95. It says something when you can allow almost a dozen baserunners, give up four runs, and still have beautiful ratios. There’s nothing to be concerned about here. 4 Yoshinobu Yamamoto LAD 5.0 IP, ER, 5 H, 4 BB, 5 K. Four walks?! Against the Pirates?! Arrrrr ya sure?! 5 Cole Ragans KC 3 IP, 4 ER, ERA at 4.40, but left the game with groin tightness. It’s fitting that he may be sidelined with a groin injury because if he’s out for any period, it’ll be a kick to the nuts for about 5 of my fantasy teams. 6 Max Fried NYY First to 5 wins in the league. 5-0 with some sweet ratios and strikeout totals means this guy cracks the Top 10 this week…and he’s still likely not high enough. 7 Michael King SD 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, BB, 9 K. Sounds like an easy win, hey? Not so fast. King took the loss when he gave up an unearned run vs TB. Still elite strikeout potential. 8 Zack Wheeler PHI More below. 9 Hunter Greene CIN This Hunter was my lede last week (you can check that out here), and he followed that up with a respectable game in Colorado. 8 more Ks brings his total up to 43, which is still in the MLB’s Top 10. 10 Shota Imanaga CHC Took a bit of a Shota-kicking against LAD last week, the second time he’s allowed 5 ER in his last three starts. I’m not pulling any fire alarms just yet, but I’m making sure I know where the extinguisher is, just in case. 11 MacKenzie Gore WSH Gentlemen and five ladies…your MLB strikeout leader. He’s been so good, he was our lede two weeks ago, warranted another write-up last week, and was promptly forgotten in the actual list. Oops! 6 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 8 Ks, ERA at 3.34. Wtf Baker’s Dozen?! Only 8 Ks?! 12 Logan Webb SF 44 Ks in 36 IP and solid ratios. His bump-up was overdue. 13 Dylan Cease SD Winless in his last four starts. The good news is the walks haven’t been the biggest issue. The 36 hits and 19 earned runs in 29.1 IP? Ya, that’s like shining the ratios with the same cloth you used to clean your BBQ after Ribfest. 14 Hunter Brown  HOU More above! (FWIW, I had him at 9 here, but moved him below a few others when I was editing last night). 15 Sonny Gray STL Back-to-back no-decisions after winning three of his first four starts. Still a solid SP without the flash. 16 Pablo Lopez MIN More below. 17 Jacob deGrom TEX 5.1 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 6 Ks, ERA at 3.33. The WHIP is barely above 1.0, too (1.07). 18 Logan Gilbert SEA 3.0 IP, 3 K. Left with forearm tightness and will receive an MRI. No word yet if that stands for “Mandatory Redraft In-April”. 19 Tyler Glasnow LAD I was all ready to write up a nice blurb for Glasnow yesterday, then, when I was opening up the box scores, I thought, “Hopefully he didn’t get hurt today”. Well, guess what. Water is wet and ice is cold. (Removed after one inning with shoulder discomfort). 20 Spencer Schwellenbach ATL Last Tuesday, he bounced back after getting roughed up in Toronto. 8 H in 7 IP isn’t ideal, but the 0 ER and handful of Ks is nice to see. He started in ARI yesterday, and I’ll update before I submit. Edit: 6 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks. Still stuck at just one W. 21 Framber Valdez HOU Two solid starts in a row after getting crushed for 7 ER in St. Louis on April 14th. 22 Freddy Peralta MLW Just a meh start in SFG last week, but nothing to hurt the ratios too much. He gets a juicy matchup at CWS tomorrow. 23 Kodai Senga NYM I saw a graphic yesterday with a quote from Mark DeRosa re: Senga’s forkball. “It’s the most unhittable pitch in the game.” Regardless of whether you agree or not, the ratios have been solid, and he ripped off three straight starts with 0 ER before giving up two runs at WSH on Friday night.  24 Bryan Woo SEA “Woo, baby baby, it’s a wide world.” The good news is the Ms pitcher you thought would break out is pitching great…if his name isn’t George Kirby, Bryce Miller, or Logan Gilbert. 25 Nick Pivetta SD 7 IP, 0 ER, 2H, 2 BB, 6 Ks, ERA at 1.20. I was a bit worried that I’d pushed him way too far up, but I guess not. Confirmation bias is a hell of a drug. 26 Joe Ryan MIN A modest boost this week after he shut out the Angels for 7 innings yesterday. 4 H, 1 BB, and just shy of a dozen strikeouts (11 Ks). 27 Corbin Burnes ARI 5.1 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 8 Ks! That’s good! Unfortunately, it wasn’t good enough to get through 6 innings and he’s still winless on the year. 28 Jesus Luzardo PHI Sweet Jesus! 36.1 IP, 41 Ks, and ratios that’ll make you pray for more. There’s an argument that even thi is too low for him. 29 Bailey Ober MIN 6 IP, 1 ER, 8 H, BB, 6 Ks, ERA at 5.04. I found the prescription for crappy pitching – throw against the CWS. Works every time. Almost. Here’s hoping he can ride that wave for a bit longer today in CLE. 30 Jack Flaherty DET 6 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 9 Ks, ERA at 2.63. He goes at HOU today. A little boost up today. 31 Shane Baz TB 7 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, BB, 6 K, ERA at 2.45. I hooked a few horses up to the Baz comeback train this year. It’s tough to explain believing in some injury returns and having less faith in others, but this one has been firmly on the ‘so far so good’ side. 32 Drew Rasmussen TB These next three guys are moving up.  33 Robbie Ray SFG More below. 34 Carlos Rodon NYY More below. 35 Brady Singer CIN 6 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 8 Ks, ERA at 3.62. He’s one of three SPs with 4 wins and no losses (Jose Quintana and Max Fried). Singer gets another big boost this week!  36 Chris Sale ATL The NL Cy Young winner wins! (his first game of the year in his sixth start). He hasn’t pitched six innings in any of his games yet. 37 Cristopher Sanchez PHI More below. 38 Luis Castillo SEA Steamrolled through the Marlins last week. 6 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 5 Ks.  39 Casey Mize DET 4-1 with a 2.12 ERA and 1.05 WHIP. Just like we predicted in the off-season…said no one. But I sure am glad I snagged him for $1 in my AL-only keeper league. 40 Brandon Pfaadt ARI 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 5 Ks, last week. The Pfaadt boy is back…and you know he can never be whack. Edit: 6 IP, 2 ER, 9 H, 1 BB, 9 Ks and his 5th win yesterday. That’s good for a 20-spot jump. 41 Bryce Miller SEA More below. 42 Zac Gallen ARI 5 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 6 K. Gallen went from being a trendy SP2/3 draft pick to a must-sit in certain matchups. The quickest 180 since Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. That said, he’s much better than his 1-4 record.  43 Kevin Gausman TOR More below. 44 Dustin May LAD 5 IP, 7 ER, ERA at 3.68. MayDay! He should bounce back today at home vs MIA. 45 Max Meyer MIA Mad Max was nearly the lede this week. A 5-hit shutout with 14 Ks in 6 innings will open some eyes. If the person who rostered Meyer in your league still has their eyes closed, throw out a trade offer and get in before the breakout window slams shut. Edit: Well, I cursed him, too. 4 IP, 5 ER, 5 H, 4 BB, 6 Ks yesterday in Seattle. 46 Nathan Eovaldi TEX 6 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, BB, 7 K. ERA at 2.21. Another member of Team Underrated.  47 Nick Lodolo CIN 7 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 9 Ks! In Colorado! There’s the strikeout guy we know! It’s tempting to push him way up here, but we should just be glad that (A) He’s healthy, (B) we got a nice strikeout game for the first time this year, and (C) …well, you know. 48 Bowden Francis TOR 4.2 IP, 3 ER, 8 H, BB, 2 Ks. ERA at 3.58. They can’t all be perfect games, FRANCIS! 49 Tyler Mahle CIN He was tough to rank this week, but I settled on a 30-spot jump from last week. The regression fairies will come in a swarm at some point, but I wouldn’t fault you for riding this out for as long as it lasts. Mahle has been great. He’s ranked 2nd in ERA with a 1.16 (sandwiched between Yamamoto and Hunter Brown). 50 Seth Lugo KC 8 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, BB, 8 K. A classic Lugo-rip through a strong lineup (vs HOU) last week. It was the first game he’d allowed zero earned runs all year. 51 Spencer Strider ATL More below. 52 Tylor Megill NYM A great strikeout game (10 Ks) and just one hit allowed, but 4 BB in 5.1 means he’s not quite the top-tier starter you’re looking for. That doesn’t matter, though, when he was likely drafted as your 6th or 7th SP, or a waiver wire pickup. He’s solid, but there will be bumps along the way. I’ll edit later with results from yesterday’s game. Edit: 6.1 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 9 Ks at WSH. 53 Ryan Pepiot TB 6 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 3 Ks. There’s a beast lurking here, but it’s not ready to break through the wall just yet. 54 Tanner Bibee CLE The good news is that last week was a good week as Bibee alternates decent starts with debacles. 6 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 5 Ks last Monday means tomorrow’s start vs MIN will be the next earned run explosion. Tread with caution. 55 David Peterson NYM 5.1 IP, 2 ER, 8 H, BB, 2 Ks, ERA at 3.29. He’s still minimizing walks and keeping the earned runs down. He’s not an ace, but you didn’t draft him as one. I’d be glad with what I’ve gotten from him if I had him anywhere. 56 Kris Bubic KC Bam! 7 IP, 0 ER, 4 hits, 0 BB, 6 Ks, ERA at 1.45. Bubic. No longer just a by-product of a tightly fitting cotton shirt on a hot afternoon in July. Edit: For what it’s worth, Kris ran into Hunter Brown and the itchy Astro buzz-saw yesterday. 5 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 4 Ks. Bam. 57 Gavin Williams CLE 6.1 IP, 2 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 8 Ks. It’s hyperbole to say no pitcher needed a bounceback more than Gavin did last week, but this was a step in the right direction. And it was against NYY, so it wasn’t a cookie lineup, either. 58 Jackson Jobe DET Back-to-back wins with just one earned run allowed in 11.2 IP. The strikeouts could use a bump up, and the walks aren’t great, but he’s been solid. 59 Aaron Nola PHI 6.1 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks, and another 2 HR allowed last week dropped his record to 0-5. I thought Nola was where you went to get beads outside the Jazz club, not where you look for a giant barf emoji. EDIT 60 Reese Olson DET 7.1 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 7 Ks, ERA at 3.29. Olson shut down a white hot Padres lineup last week like it was full of minor leaguers. That’s two straight scoreless starts, too. 61 Landon Roupp SFG Two weeks ago, I pushed Cris Sanchez way up the list. There was some chatter about giving Roupp the same treatment this week, but a 3.2 IP, 5 R, 6 H, 3 BB, 2 K outing does not propel a young arm upwards like a lit bottle rocket. He didn’t allow any homers, and he didn’t look as bad as the line looks, but he’s not blasting through that Top 30 line until he puts up consistently impressive starts. 62 Clay Holmes NYM He’s won three of his last four starts. He also hasn’t pitched 6 innings more than once. Ride the K-train and the solid ratios until he gives us a reason to jump off. 63 Roki Sasaki LAD These next four guys are all about the potential. And to be clear, I mean the potential to be great, not the potential to send your ratios into a black hole that you’ll spend three months trying to climb out. 64 Taj Bradley TB 6 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 3 B, 3 Ks, ERA at 5.08. It was a better start than his last one, but he’ll stumble through a couple of these, then put up a 14 K shutout in 7 innings. I need to see the consistency before I move him up much higher than this. 65 Hayden Wesneski HOU He’s been turning in solid outings after solid outings, limiting ER and BBs, and pitching in some healthy K totals (not including last week’s start). The 1-2 record doesn’t do him justice. He’s an add in almost every league. 66 Andrew Abbott CIN Roughed up for 4 ER in 4 IP at COL. The 5 BBs and 4 Ks make it even tougher. Chalk this up to the thin, mountain air and hope he does better this week at home vs STL. 67 Chris Bassitt TOR 5.1 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 3 Ks. His first hiccup of the year means his ERA balloons to 1.88. He was scheduled to throw Game 2 of the Jays’ doubleheader yesterday. Edit: 2 more homers allowed yesterday, and the hiccup has now become one step away from a Simpsons-esque belch. It’s a big dump. 68 Sandy Alcantara MIA Back-to-back losses. 9 ER in 8 IP. 4 BB, 5 Ks in those two starts. That’s a bit dirtier than it is Sandy. And it likely won’t get any better tomorrow at LAD. 69 Jose Quintana MLW Quintana is one of our first jumpers off the stumper list. After yesterday’s start, he’s officially at 4-0 with a lot of ones and fours. (ERA at 1.14, WHIP at 1.14). That warrants a pretty big leap into the Top 100. 70 Zach Eflin BAL He’s ramping up and should be back in about a week (May 6th). 71 Tyler Anderson LAA 6 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 1 K, ERA at 2.60. Let’s turn to Grey for today’s note (from last week’s roundup). “Ks are overrated, but one K in six innings is a bit of cold soup on a warm day.” The cold soup analogy is fitting because Tyler Anderson makes me about as excited as potato and leeks do. Meh. 72 Jose Soriano LAA 3.1 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 4.34. There’s that command bug bite we’ve been trying not to scratch. The strikeout potential is still sky high, but that command is a ticking time bomb. 73 Matthew Boyd CHC 6 IP, 3 ER, 10 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks, ERA at 2.54. Yeah, Boyd! Or Nah, Boyd? If you have strikeouts covered elsewhere, I’m ok with rostering the NL version of Michael Wacha. 74 Andrew Heaney PIT 6 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BBs, 9 Ks, ERA at 1.72. I’ll defer to a Grey quote for this one: “Why not just pick him up and ask questions later like, “Is he this good?” Just grab him and ride it out until he’s not.” And that’s me quoting the boss. 75 Jack Leiter TEX He’s baaaack! He pitched against SFG yesterday. Will edit with results, but I’ve already activated him in two leagues for his start vs SEA next week. Edit: 3.1 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 4 BB, 3 Ks. I watched this game. Leiter had a tough first inning, but settled down after. He threw 76 pitches, though, so the early hook was warranted. 76 Walker Buehler BOS 4-1. 9 Ks and 3 walks on the Boston Marathon day? That’s wicked hot. Too bad the ratios aren’t. A modest jump this week. 77 Luis Severino ATH 6 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 7 K. That’s three solid starts in a row. Same things as Buehler – a modest boost in the ranking this week. 78 Ronel Blanco HOU 6.2 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 3 Ks, ERA at 5.01. Blanco took care of the Jays pretty handily for his second win in three games. He gets DET at home today. 79 Jose Berrios TOR 5.1 IP, 0 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 4 K. It’s always a ‘peek-through-the-fingers-covering-your-eyes’ kind of check-in when you miss a Berrios start and look up the boxscore afterwards. This one was OK. 80 Clarke Schmidt NYY Tagged for 5 ER, 7 H, 2 HR in 4 IP last week at CLE. Grey mentioned in that recap that it wasn’t as bad as his line looked – and he did have 8 Ks. It’s not great, but I wouldn’t do anything hasty yet. Sometimes Schmidt happens. 81 Mitch Keller PIT He hasn’t even been that bad since the 7-run spanking by the Yankees on April 4th. That said, this is about as underwhelming as it gets. 82 Michael Wacha KC I got excited for Wacha’s 6 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 6 K game and wondered how high it would boost him…until I saw that he was ranked in this exact spot last week, too. 83 Matthew Liberatore STL 6 IP, ER, 5 H, 4 K. I remember when LaLiberte was a hot commodity in the prospect pool. Coullie wrote him up in his FAAB article on Saturday. Check it out here.  84 Griffin Canning NYM 5 IP, 1 ER, 7 H, BB, 5 Ks, ERA at 3.12. Can you do the Can-Canning? He gets WSH on the road today. 85 Ryan Gusto HOU 5.2 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks, ERA at 2.78. Grey wrote up Gusto last week in his Wednesday round-up and mentioned that I had recommended the HOU SP as a pickup, too. This rookie can throw 6 pitches and is at the very least worth adding to a watch list in every league.  86 Brayan Bello BOS 5 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 3 Ks in his first start of the year. Nearly identical line yesterday in the blowout at CLE with one more IP and 3 ER. Two starts and two wins? That qualifies as good news. 87 Mitchell Parker WSH He was almost on the Stumper list this week, but I included him for the ratio help. The Ks aren’t impressive, and it’s kind of fitting that he replaced Ben Brown here (Brown has the Ks but dangerous ratios and command). 88 Justin Verlander SFG More below. 89 Jeffrey Springs ATH He got rocked. By the White Sox. At home. The only complaint you should have is that he’s too high here.  90 Yusei Kikuchi LAA He’s 0-fer the year, and the command disappeared after his first start. Something’s broken and he needs to fix it. Soon. 91 Colin Rea CHC 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 7 K, W, ERA at 0.96. Rea would have been cut off the list if I had noticed I missed ranking MacKenzie Gore. He responded to the unintentional slight pretty well.  92 Quinn Priester MLW 5 IP, 5 ER, 8 H, 3 BB, 2 Ks. Pope news gives The Priest some absolution in this one. 93 Grant Holmes ATL I was all set to push Grant Holmes up a bit this week, then he gave up 3 HRs to ARI in 52. IP with 5 H and 3 BBs. The 4 Ks aren’t helping anyone either. 94 Jameson Taillon CHC Taillon was going toe-to-toe with Aaron Nola last night when I edited this. That warrants a boost up a few spots. This guy is the ultimate survivor on the Top 100 List. We may have to call him Boston Rob. 95 Taijuan Walker PHI The walks are still there, and he has pitched more than five innings in just one start (5 GS). When you’re this close to the SP 100 spot, the slide is greasy, and you’d better produce if you want to stick on the list. 96 Tomoyuki Sugano BAL More below. 97 Will Warren NYY He hasn’t been terrible, and he has a strong offense to prop him up, but I don’t think we should expect him to give us much more than what we expect out of an SP4/5. 98 Tanner Houck BOS It’s. Been. So. Ugly. And I’m so glad that I managed to flip a $1 Houck for a $3 Bowden Francis in my AL-only keeper league before draft day. Whew. 99 Merrill Kelly ARI He’s got two wins in his last four starts and hasn’t given up more than two earned runs since a 9-run nuclear implosion at Yankee Stadium on April 3rd. That sounds like it’s good enough for SP99. 100 Eduardo Rodriguez ARI I had him written up in the “Stumpers” section below and said I was close to adding him. Then I had two open slots here at the end and, well, here he is.