Fantasy baseball starting pitcher rankings for week 4

These fantasy baseball starting pitcher rankings were pulled Friday morning. Please be aware the matchups are subject to change. The data is up to date as of Thursday night.

Top starters

Rank	Name	Team	Opp.	ERA	K%	BB%
1	Adam Wainwright	STL	@NYM, PIT	1.80	28.1%	7.9%
2	Yu Darvish	TEX	@OAK, @SEA	0.82	27.1%	4.7%
3	Jose Fernandez	MIA	@ATL, @NYM	2.66	34.0%	6.2%
4	Cliff Lee	PHI	@LAD, @ARI	4.00	23.3%	1.7%
5	Chris Sale	CWS	@DET, TB	2.31	27.9%	6.7%
6	Felix Hernandez	SEA	HOU, TEX	1.91	35.5%	2.7%
7	Anibal Sanchez	DET	CWS, @MIN	3.21	28.8%	13.6%
8	Cole Hamels	PHI	@LAD, @ARI	3.60	22.3%	5.5%
9	James Shields	KC	@CLE, @BAL	2.00	24.1%	5.6%
10	Justin Verlander	DET	CWS, @MIN	2.08	17.7%	8.8%
11	Stephen Strasburg	WSH	SD	6.00	33.3%	9.1%
12	David Price	TB	MIN	4.38	25.2%	2.7%
13	Max Scherzer	DET	CWS	2.70	32.1%	6.4%
14	Michael Wacha	STL	@NYM	1.89	23.7%	3.9%
15	Jordan Zimmermann	WSH	SD	5.26	27.9%	6.6%
16	Homer Bailey	CIN	@ATL	8.18	24.3%	7.1%
17	Ervin Santana	ATL	CIN	0.64	34.0%	4.0%
18	Yordano Ventura	KC	@BAL	0.69	27.1%	6.3%
19	Chris Tillman	BAL	@TOR	0.85	18.1%	3.6%
20	Gio Gonzalez	WSH	LAA	3.50	22.4%	9.2%
21	Gerrit Cole	PIT	@STL	4.74	19.5%	8.5%
22	Madison Bumgarner	SF	@COL	3.48	26.5%	8.2%

Additional information: Cliff Lee’s peripherals are essentially the same as 2013, but batters are hitting .342 against him. The batting average should regress because his ground ball rate is 50 percent, seven percentage points higher than last year. If you believed in Homer Bailey on draft day, then you shouldn’t lose faith after his last outing. There is no way he is going to continue to have a 46.2 percent HR/FB rate. In Madison Bumgarner’s career (52.2 innings) he has a 4.27 ERA and 1.41 WHIP at Coors Field, but if you own him you have to start him.

Backend starters

Rank	Name	Team	Opp.	ERA	K%	BB%
23	Masahiro Tanaka	NYY	@BOS, LAA	2.05	33.7%	2.4%
24	Johnny Cueto	CIN	@PIT, @ATL	1.50	30.7%	7.0%
25	Andrew Cashner	SD	@MIL, @WSH	1.27	24.3%	7.2%
26	Julio Teheran	ATL	MIA, CIN	1.93	11.8%	5.5%
27	Jon Lester	BOS	NYY, @TOR	2.17	25.7%	3.5%
28	Hyun-Jin Ryu	LAD	PHI, COL	1.93	22.3%	8.0%
29	Zack Greinke	LAD	PHI	2.76	31.3%	3.0%
30	Alex Wood	ATL	MIA	1.67	23.1%	6.7%
31	Scott Kazmir	OAK	@HOU	1.40	26.0%	5.5%
32	Hiroki Kuroda	NYY	LAA	3.85	18.4%	5.3%
33	Michael Pineda	NYY	@BOS	1.00	22.1%	4.4%
34	Justin Masterson	CLE	KC	5.88	20.3%	12.2%
35	Chris Archer	TB	@CWS	4.50	21.5%	6.3%
36	Jeff Samardzija	CHC	ARI	1.29	19.0%	6.3%
37	Corey Kluber	CLE	KC	5.39	20.8%	3.9%
38	Matt Cain	SF	@COL	4.00	17.3%	6.7%
39	Tony Cingrani	CIN	@PIT	2.60	29.0%	13.0%
40	Sonny Gray	OAK	TEX	0.95	24.1%	8.9%
41	A.J. Burnett	PHI	@LAD	2.74	14.4%	15.4%
42	Jered Weaver	LAA	@WSH	5.78	22.7%	9.3%

Additional information: Matt Cain has a career 4.16 ERA and 1.25 WHIP at Coors Field. Most people remember the six earned runs in six innings he gave up in his first outing at Coors last year, but he also went eight innings and only gave up one earned run in his second outing. I haven’t been a Hyun-Jin Ryu fan, but this week he faces one of the worst offenses in the majors at home. The Rangers offense is not the great offense of years past; Adrian Beltre is on the DL and Prince Fielder looks more and more like 2002 version of Mo Vaughn.

Spot starters

Rank	Name	Team	Opp.	ERA	K%	BB%
43	Clay Buchholz	BOS	BAL, @TOR	5.52	19.5%	2.6%
44	Danny Salazar	CLE	KC, @SF	7.71	25.8%	12.1%
45	Francisco Liriano	PIT	CIN, @STL	3.96	26.7%	9.5%
46	Tim Hudson	SF	CLE	2.35	19.0%	0.0%
47	Drew Smyly	DET	CWS	0.00	30.0%	5.0%
48	Jesse Chavez	OAK	@HOU	1.35	28.6%	2.6%
49	Alfredo Simon	CIN	@PIT	1.20	17.9%	3.6%
50	Dan Haren	LAD	PHI	2.03	20.8%	2.8%
51	John Lackey	BOS	NYY	3.85	22.7%	4.0%
52	C.J. Wilson	LAA	@NYY	3.91	29.6%	7.4%
53	Matt Garza	MIL	CHC	3.43	20.0%	4.7%
54	Zack Wheeler	NYM	MIA	4.68	20.0%	6.7%
55	Jon Niese	NYM	STL	3.46	18.0%	4.0%
56	Kyle Lohse	MIL	SD	3.04	25.0%	8.3%
57	Lance Lynn	STL	@NYM	4.00	27.8%	5.1%
58	Charlie Morton	PIT	CIN	3.32	17.5%	6.3%
59	Dillon Gee	NYM	STL, MIA	3.71	16.2%	6.7%
60	Garrett Richards	LAA	@WSH, @NYY	2.84	23.7%	13.2%
61	Travis Wood	CHC	ARI, @MIL	3.00	23.2%	4.9%
62	Jason Hammel	CHC	ARI, @MIL	3.04	21.1%	6.6%
63	Zach McAllister	CLE	KC, @SF	2.03	20.8%	8.3%
64	Mike Leake	CIN	@PIT, @ATL	2.96	17.1%	6.1%
65	Scott Feldman	HOU	@SEA, OAK	1.69	8.6%	8.6%
66	Wily Peralta	MIL	SD, CHC	1.97	17.3%	6.7%
67	Martin Perez	TEX	@OAK	2.70	16.2%	8.1%
68	Jason Vargas	KC	@CLE	1.64	14.6%	6.1%
69	Shelby Miller	STL	PIT	4.68	19.2%	12.3%
70	Robbie Erlin	SD	@WSH	3.19	31.1%	2.2%
71	Tyler Skaggs	LAA	@WSH	3.43	13.1%	4.8%

Additional information: Danny Salazar has not got off to the start fantasy owners would like, but his stuff is among the best in the majors, and he faces two of the worst offenses in the majors this week. Look for a bounce back. Shelby Miller still does not look right; I don’t know what it is, specifically, but he has no control of his fastball, and he’s constantly missing up in the zone with it. Once he posts a great box score, I would look to sell high. If you’re in a shallow league and looking to stream starters, I always go with guys with low walk rates because the odds of them blowing up are less likely. Both Robbie Erlin and Tyler Skaggs fit that mold.

Proceed with caution

Rank	Name	Team	Opp.	ERA	K%	BB%
72	Marco Estrada	MIL	CHC	3.05	21.7%	8.7%
73	Nathan Eovaldi	MIA	@ATL	4.20	24.7%	1.3%
74	Brandon Morrow	TOR	BOS	5.51	26.2%	9.2%
75	Jake Peavy	BOS	@TOR	1.93	26.0%	13.0%
76	Yovani Gallardo	MIL	SD	1.46	19.2%	7.1%
77	Miguel Gonzalez	BAL	@TOR, KC	6.29	15.6%	7.8%
78	Jake Odorizzi	TB	MIN, @CWS	5.63	16.9%	9.9%
79	R.A. Dickey	TOR	BAL, BOS	6.26	17.3%	14.4%
80	Tommy Milone	OAK	TEX, @HOU	4.09	15.1%	3.8%
81	Ivan Nova	NYY	LAA	5.93	10.7%	6.7%
82	Rick Porcello	DET	@MIN	4.15	16.0%	4.0%
83	Brandon McCarthy	ARI	@CHC, PHI	7.11	14.4%	5.4%
84	Dan Straily	OAK	TEX, @HOU	5.39	21.7%	5.8%
85	Drew Hutchison	TOR	BAL	3.67	23.8%	12.7%
86	Jose Quintana	CWS	@DET	2.37	23.1%	9.0%
87	Mark Buehrle	TOR	BOS	0.86	19.5%	2.4%

Additional information: Normally, I would not recommend Nate Eovaldi because of his inability to get out left-handed batters, but the Braves are predominately right-handed hitters and Atlanta is a pitcher friendly ballpark. Dan Straily’s fastball velocity is two mph less than last year. He gets a lot of late movement, which makes it extremely difficult to hit. However, I have to imagine an 88-89 mph fastball can miss bats for only so long. R.A. Dickey has looked bad in three of four starts. I was a huge believer in Dickey entering drafts but I’ve begun to lose some faith. He’s struggled against teams that are patient at the plate and work deep into counts, waiting for Dickey to throw slower knuckle ball for a strike. If Ivan Nova has fastball command, he’s a top 40 starting pitcher. Identifying when he will have command is difficult to guess.

Avoid

Rank	Name	Team	Opp.	ERA	K%	BB%
88	Brad Peacock	HOU	OAK	7.42	22.4%	16.3%
89	Edinson Volquez	PIT	CIN, @STL	1.71	15.9%	4.9%
90	Wei-Yin Chen	BAL	@BOS, KC	4.76	15.8%	2.6%
91	Felix Doubront	BOS	NYY	6.73	11.8%	10.3%
92	Robbie Ross	TEX	@SEA	1.00	17.3%	10.7%
93	Colby Lewis	TEX	@SEA	6.79	16.7%	0.0%
94	Brandon Mauer	SEA	Tex	–	–	–
95	Wade Miley	ARI	@CHC	5.04	18.3%	7.7%
96	Hector Santiago	LAA	@NYY	4.97	18.3%	9.9%
97	Kyle Gibson	MIN	@TB	0.93	13.2%	11.8%
98	Ricky Nolasco	MIN	@TB	5.50	11.3%	8.8%
99	Erasmo Ramirez	SEA	HOU	7.50	14.3%	9.5%
100	Aaron Harang	ATL	MIA	0.96	24.3%	8.6%
101	Juan Nicasio	COL	@LAD	3.50	20.5%	5.5%

Additional information: Colby Lewis looked good in bursts before giving up four earned runs. Despite a very good statistical start to the season, I’m not buying Kyle Gibson. He doesn’t miss a lot of bats and walks too many guys (eight walks in 11 innings). He is going to regress fast. The word out of Mariners camp is Brandon Mauer will get the start on Sunday (4/20), and if he performs well, he could pitch stay in the rotation. Mauer was never regarded as a highly touted prospect, but he has the stuff to be a very good streaming option for two reasons: He misses a decent number of bats and Seattle’s home ballpark.