All the final 2022 fantasy baseball rankings for hitters are done. For those that skipped today’s title, this starts the top 20 starters for 2022 fantasy baseball. This is NOT for next year (caps for those who can’t read titles; supposedly it’s easier to read caps, I have my doubts). This is a recap. Will these affect next year’s rankings? Sure. Maybe. Maybe not. I don’t know. Not entirely. Yes, entirely. Like when you had a knee replacement, this is a recap! To recapitulate the recap, these rankings are from our Fantasy Baseball Player Rater. We’re (me’re) using it to fairly gauge our (my) preseason rankings. Anyway, here’s the top 20 starters for 2022 fantasy baseball and how they compared to where I originally ranked them:
1. Justin Verlander – You might think I see a guy who I ranked so far down in my rankings as a miss when they end up as the top starter, but I actually view it as affirmation of what I keep saying about punting top starters. It’s my daily affirmation: Pitchers are more volatile and harder to predict so stop drafting them so high. Unless you’re drafting them late while stoned, then continue to draft them high but late. Sorry for any confusion this might’ve brought to you. As for Justin Verlander’s season, prettttttttttt-tay, prettttttttttt-tay good. At 39, he returned from Tommy John surgery and had his best ERA of his career. Excuse me, of his Hall of Fame career. Verlander gained velocity on his fastball — at 39! He’s still throwing 95. No one will ever be Nolan Ryan, but this boy is built different than just about everyone else. It makes perfect sense for Verlander’s game plan this year to be most effective was to cut down on the strikeouts a little and throw less pitches per game, but executing it? This guy is truly like no other. Preseason Rank #58, 2022 Projections: 10-5/3.71/1.13/154 in 141 IP, Final Numbers: 18-4/1.75/0.83/185 in 175 IP
2. Sandy Alcantara – Went out there every fifth day and threw his heart out like Mola Ram was his pitching coach. 8+ innings start after start! Which is what I say, and, don’t take this the wrong way, when I say it’s so funny he still only had 228 2/3 IP. It’s like: The most durable pitcher in 2022 isn’t even on the first page when sorting by innings thrown per season of the last 20 or so years. It’s actually the 100th most innings thrown since 2000. A real workhorse for 2022, but no other year. Any hoo! Strikeouts were down this year. Ratios were king. I’m not sure if we’re just seeing a group of pitchers who all happen to be in that mindset or if this is a new trend. Lots of guys getting by without that elite strikeout rate, Sandy was the King of Ratios Were King. A King’s King. Preseason Rank #13, 2022 Projections: 12-9/3.08/1.05/195 in 201 IP, Final Numbers: 14-9/2.28/0.98/207 in 228 2/3 IP
3. Julio Urias – If Sandy was the King of Ratios Were King, then Urias was his Prince. Rudy and I had a long discussion about this over a chat, and won’t go into the whole thing, but it’s really hard to know if this is a new trend or a one and done thing like 2019 was for juiced balls. It was a generally bad year to roll dice on guys like Kopech or Clevinger, and a great year to go for a Gonsolin or Anderson. Not sure if homers go up, but BABIP should, and that might take down some of these Ratio Kings, and, uh, Princes. Any hoo! Urias, the Prince of Ratios Were King, is going to pass deGrom in career wins while being ten years his junior. Ah, to be good on a great team. Preseason Rank #16, 2022 Projections: 13-6/3.56/1.04/203 in 194 IP, Final Numbers: 17-7/2.16/0.96/166 in 175 IP
4. Alek Manoah – Sandwiched Manoah in my preseason rankings between Cease and McClanahanananananananan saying I should’ve wrote a sleeper for Manoah too. Only person I wanted more than Manoah was his mom, Mommah. Just thought of a good t-shirt, “Creepy for Cougars.” Will contact Rotowear. What’s weird about Manoah and others is their strikeouts were down but it’s not like Manoah is old. It’s like there was a league mandate that no one knew about. Welp, still loved Mommah and Manoah. Preseason Rank #24, 2022 Projections: 12-9/3.67/1.07/187 in 161 IP, Final Numbers: 16-7/2.24/0.99/180 in 196 2/3 IP
5. Shohei Ohtani – Never thought Ohtani could have a full season as a hitter and pitcher. That alone, and I can’t emphasis this enough even after pausing to say I can’t emphasis it enough, is incredible. Just qualifying for the batting and ERA title in the same season is insane. That shouldn’t be possible, even if it was like Kevin Newman-esque at-bats and Patrick Corbin-type innings. I’m saying to you, the sheer volume of Ohtani we got shouldn’t even be possible even if he was bad at hitting and pitching. And he’s not! He’s like a top 30 hitter and top 5 pitcher. He went 34/11 while nearly leading the majors in strikeouts! As crazy as Nolan Ryan was, as mentioned in Verlander’s blurb, Ohtani will be remembered as similarly absurd. Enjoy it now, while you can. Preseason Rank #35 (for just his pitching), 2022 Projections: 97/36/90/.254/19 in 511 ABs, 10-8/3.59/1.11/141 in 122 IP, Final Numbers: 90/34/95/.273/11 in 586 ABs; 15-6/2.33/1.01/219 in 166 IP
6. Dylan Cease – Wrote a sleeper for Cease, and after saying so much about the royal court of Ratios Were King, I will say Cease was a throwback to previous years when strikeouts still dominated. Strikeouts being down in the NL seems to make sense because they added the DH, but strikeouts were more down in the AL, which isn’t intuitive at all, unless I’m missing something, and, if I am, please, tell me. Preseason Rank #23, 2022 Projections: 15-6/3.58/1.12/241 in 184 IP, Final Numbers: 14-8/2.20/1.11/227 in 184 IP
7. Yu Darvish – PETA’s at my door I’ve beaten the dead horse so much about Ks being down, so let’s now turn our eyes to some of these WHIPs. Darvish has a 11-year track record, and was a 1.10 WHIP pitcher. He just recorded his career low in WHIP by a lot, if you throw out 2020. If you include 2020, then it was still a career low. BABIPs were goofy low everywhere. I guess it’s due to the dead ball. It’s the only thing that makes any sense. Every fly ball was a can of corn. Preseason Rank #34, 2022 Projections: 12-9/3.89/1.11/196 in 171 IP, Final Numbers: 16-8/3.10/0.95/197 in 194 2/3 IP
8. Carlos Rodon – Okay, rather than talk about generalized pitching takeaways. Rodon surprised me; I thought his 2021 September was going to lead to April surgery. Was about as out as one person could be. Mea culpa, as they say in Latin America. There were a few guys here I was out on: Urias, Verlander, and Darvish. Then, I was in on Sandy at drafts, but quickly out in a very early Friday Sell. I don’t point this out to tell you how dumb I am; I mean, I am, but I tell you this because across a lot of leagues I had the best pitching in those leagues. Manoah, Cease and McClanahananananananan on the same teams was kinda all you needed. You don’t need to draft pitching early, or get all your picks right. You need, like, three pitchers on your team to work out. Three out of the 80-something pitchers drafted in most leagues! Preseason Rank #40, 2022 Projections: 8-4/3.67/1.17/154 in 115 IP, Final Numbers: 14-8/2.88/1.03/237 in 178 IP
9. Zac Gallen – Back again with a guy who lost Ks, gained an insane amount of BABIP luck and shot to the moon in value. Gonna have to check this when I start doing my preseason rankings, but I wonder if the BABIPs on fly balls for certain guys went down. There’s also the humidors everywhere. Lots of moving pieces, unfortunately. Makes isolating numbers harder. Robert Stack walks onto stage, “Are you a number? And are you feeling isolated?” Preseason Rank #62, 2022 Projections: 8-13/3.81/1.27/179 in 161 IP, Final Numbers: 12-4/2.54/0.91/192 in 184 IP
10. Corbin Burnes – I don’t believe in ranking rankings. Think it’s crap, tee be aitch, but why I keep doing well at ranking starters is because of this: Everyone ranks the top starters in the top 12 overall; I rank them way after everyone else, and they always end up disappointing. It’s invariable. Never seen nothing like it. No one learns anything. Starters are the most fickle for so many reasons previously mentioned over the years, and people keep going back to the “Drafting starters in the top 12 overall” well. Let’s put it this way, if you drafted a 1st baseman in the top 12 overall, and they ended up as the 10th best 1st baseman, you’d prolly lose your league, and you’d be pissed. With starters? People will still draft Burnes in the top 15 overall. I’m not saying pitchers don’t end the year in the top 20 overall, but look at the starters above here! You could’ve had all of them after 20th overall, except Ohtani, and that was more about his hitting. Preseason Rank #1, 2022 Projections: 17-6/2.51/0.93/264 in 191 IP, Final Numbers: 12-8/2.94/0.97/243 in 202 IP
11. Shane McClanahan – Wrote a sleeper for McClanahananananananan. Oh, and on the BABIPs with the dead ball? There’s also the shift, and it’s leaving next year! Haha, what a mess. The biggest takeaway from all this is don’t trust pitching projections or rankings. If someone tells you these pitchers should be drafted in the top 25 overall, question them a lot. With that said, McClanahananananananan, like Cease, he held his strikeouts and was more like what we expected for at least 85% of the year, until he clearly tired. Preseason Rank #25, 2022 Projections: 14-8/3.43/1.17/189 in 163 IP, Final Numbers: 12-8/2.54/0.93/194 in 166 1/3 IP
12. Tony Gonsolin – Okay, with all that said above, if you had Gonsolin this year, you were living right. Not sure what you did in a former life — Mother Teresa? — but this was payback. Payback for a lifetime of good deeds was a good pitcher on your fantasy team? Yes. I’m sorry, but that’s how that works. That being karma. Preseason Rank #81, 2022 Projections: 9-6/3.76/1.28/143 in 131 IP, Final Numbers: 16-1/2.14/0.87/119 in 130 1/3 IP
13. Max Fried – If I don’t start breezing through some of these guys, you’re gonna be like, “Hol’ up, you wrote 3,000 words about what pitchers already did? Dude, find a new hobby.” One thing I’ll say on Fried and others listed here, I sure did nail the projected innings! Preseason Rank #21, 2022 Projections: 13-8/3.36/1.08/181 in 185 IP, Final Numbers: 14-7/2.48/1.01/170 in 185 1/3 IP
14. Gerrit Cole – Wins on good teams will be better than wins on bad teams. The Yanks were a good team but Cole had his worse wins since on the Pirates, so, okay, good talk. Preseason Rank #2, 2022 Projections: 17-7/2.73/0.99/271 in 204 IP, Final Numbers: 13-8/3.50/1.02/257 in 200 2/3 IP
15. Kyle Wright – If the Braves promote someone in April or announce someone in March as about to enter their lineup or rotation, don’t walk, run to your waiver wire and pick them up. Though, jokes aside, I’m not sure how many more guys they can promote and stick on their team since they’ve given ten-year contracts to just about everyone. Do the Braves have any room for a rookie this year? Tell me they do and I will now draft every possible fill-in in the 50th round of every early Draft Champions draft. Any hoo! Wright won 21 games and threw 180 1/3 IP. Ha! Yeah, pitching is predictable. Sure! Embrace it’s randomness, young Jedi. Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 21-5/3.19/1.16/174 in 180 1/3 IP
16. Max Scherzer – Just had a random thought: I might actually be able to draft Scherzer again next year after being unable to for roughly ten years. Yay me! Preseason Rank #3, 2022 Projections: 16-5/2.71/0.91/228 in 172 IP, Final Numbers: 11-5/2.29/0.91/173 in 145 1/3 IP
17. Cristian Javier – You know that meme from Futurama with Fry waving money saying, “Take my money?” Okay, that, but waving money for Cristian Javier. His numbers are gorgeous and the Astros, without any cheating that anyone knows about so I’m sure it’s not happening, have nothing but fantastic pitchers. Javier’s K/9 of 11.7 could work with his old walk rate of 4.7, but he’s lowered that to 3.2 and I’m making the heart sign in front of my heart. Please give me more. Preseason Rank #73, 2022 Projections: 7-3/3.41/1.16/149 in 119 IP, Final Numbers: 11-9/2.54/0.95/194 in 148 2/3 IP
18. Nestor Cortes – Coolwhip gave you a Nestor Cortes sleeper way back in January of this year, which was posted on my birthday. Hey, me and Nestor Cortes’s sleeper are both Capricorns. Too bad it wasn’t posted in August, I’m better with Leos. Go to Coolwhip’s sleeper now, because he absolutely nailed it. Preseason Rank #102, 2022 Projections: 7-6/4.09/1.14/144 in 131 IP, Final Numbers: 12-4/2.44/0.92/163 in 158 1/3 IP
19. Shane Bieber – Epitome of 2022. Insane ratios, declining velocity and strikeouts and a low BABIP for him. Shane, are you trying to make me a *pinkie to mouth* Belieber? Preseason Rank #17, 2022 Projections: 9-3/3.09/1.01/187 in 146 IP, Final Numbers: 13-8/2.88/1.04/198 in 200 IP
20. Tyler Anderson – What a perfect way to end the top 20 starters, an unranked guy who had a sub-7 K/9 and won 15 with insanely great ratios. Just as everyone predicted! Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 15-5/2.57/1.00/138 in 178 2/3 IP
