Starting Pitchers

Tier 1: Clayton Kershaw, Felix Hernandez

Tier 2: Max Scherzer, Madison Bumgarner, Stephen Strasburg, Chris Sale, David Price, Corey Kluber

Tier 3: Zack Greinke, Johnny Cueto, Jordan Zimmerman, Cole Hamels, Jon Lester, Alex Cobb, Jeff Samardzija, Julio Teheran, Adam Wainright, Matt Harvey

Tier 4: Sonny Gray, James Shields, Gerrit Cole, Gio Gonzalez, Tyson Ross, Jake Arrieta, Alex Wood, Hisashi Iwakuma, Carlos Carrasco, Garrett Richards, Jacob deGrom, Masahiro Tanaka

Tier 5: Doug Fister, Andrew Cashner, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Homer Bailey, Michael Wacha, Lance Lynn, Phil Hughes, Chris Archer, Mat Latos, Ian Kennedy, James Paxton

Tier 6: Zack Wheeler, Matt Cain, Taijuan Walker, Anibal Sanchez, Collin McHugh, Yordana Ventura, Jered Weaver, Jose Quintana, Michael Pineda, Drew Smyly, Justin Verlander, Mike Fiers, Dallas Keuchel, Jose Fernandez

Tier 7: Francisco Liriano, Scott Kazmir, Brandon McCarthy, Jake Odorizzi, Danny Salazar, R.A. Dickey, Matt Garza, Shelby Miller, Tanner Rourke, Chris Tillman, Yovani Gallardo, Derek Holland, Nathan Eovaldi, Ervin Santana, Carlos Martinez, Danny Duffy, CC Sabathia

* Note: Players in bold are my picks to outperform their ADPs.

For those questioning whether we’re in the midst of a pitching era, look no further than tier 7 above, which has several intriguing options. In other words, pitching runs deep this season.

There’s much room for debate with respect to where certain pitchers should slot into the various tiers, and drawing distinct tier lines felt a bit arbitrary this time around. Nevertheless, the key takeaway here is that you can assemble a solid staff comprising mostly of pitchers in the later tiers.

Also note that each season, several pitchers emerge from bottom tiers and make themselves household names (for example, look at Corey Kluber last season). So as for your approach to starting pitchers, grab one or two staff anchors (tiers 1 through 4), and then load up with guys from the bottom tiers. With the quantity approach, you will hit on a few guys who will surprise you. 

Other Previews

Catchers

First Basemen

Second Basemen

Third Basemen

Shortstops

Outfielders