Mid Season Pitching Top 50

Who will be the top pitchers going forward? Early season numbers are behind us, so who is going to put up the big numbers ahead of us. It was a late All Star Game, so we’re talking a little less than half. Still, there is a lot of baseball ahead. There is time to make a run in your fantasy league. So we give you the Top 50 pitchers, rest of season.

Tier 1

1. Clayton Kershaw
2. Felix Hernandez
3. Cliff Lee
4. Justin Verlander
5. Madison Bumgarner
6. Adam Wainwright
7. Stephen Strasburg
8. Yu Darvish
9. Chris Sale
10. Max Scherzer

Not many surprises here. Justin Verlander has been the best pitcher in the game for too long to think that he won’t turn it around in the second half.

Tier 2

1. David Price
2. Jordan Zimmermann
3. C.C. Sabathia
4. Zack Greinke
5. Cole Hamels
6. Homer Bailey
7. Craig Kimbrel**
8. Doug Fister
9. Mike Minor
10. Matt Harvey

The name that probably jumps out here is Matt Harvey. He’s easily in the Top-15, and possibly in the Top-10, but we have a hard time seeing the Mets keeping him active deep into September.

Tier 3

1. Gio Gonzalez
2. Aroldis Chapman**
3. Shelby Miller
4. Hisashi Iwakuma
5. Mat Latos
6. Matt Cain
7. James Shields
8. Jered Weaver
9. Matt Garza
10. Mariano Rivera**

Definitely a diverse list of players here. A few relievers, a few young guns, and a few established stars that had rough first halves. There’s not a lot to separate 21 from 30 here.

Tier 4

1. Anibal Sanchez
2. Derek Holland
3. Hiroki Kuroda
4. Matt Moore
5. Bartolo Colon
6. Lance Lynn
7. Joe Nathan**
8. Julio Teheran
9. Kris Medlen
10. Alex Cobb

The potential name to watch here is Holland. He’s having a career year so far, with his ERA 1.5 points down from last year’s total, but his WHIP is actually higher than his finishing total in 2012. If he continue to keep runs from scoring through the dog days in Arlington, he has potential to be at least one tier higher, as he’s an elite K guy, pitching on a good team that will get him plenty of wins.

Tier 5

1. Jeff Samardzija
2. Tim Lincecum
3. Patrick Corbin
4. Edward Mujica
5. R.A. Dickey
6. A.J. Burnett
7. Travis Wood
8. Brandon Beachy
9. Hyun-Jin Ryu
10. Jose Fernandez

Fernandez will probably be seen as underrated, as will Corbin. Fernandez has the same concern as Harvey, and Corbin’s WHIP is well below what it ever was in the minors. Now that the league has seen him, it stands to reason that he’ll flatten out a little bit. Keep an eye on the first two names on this list. They have potential to be borderline elite fantasy arms if they are consistent.