Weekly Pitcher Rankings: Carrasco's in Cruise Control

Todd Zola ranks the coming week's starting pitchers as Cleveland's Carlos Carrasco is in cruise control entering a two-start week.

Updated on April 21, 2018 2:29AM EST

Weekly Pitcher Rankings: Carrasco's in Cruise Control

By:

Todd Zola

Updated on April 21, 2018 2:29AM EST

Weekly Pitcher Rankings

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Three of the American League's best top the rankings this week as the crop of double-dippers is a mixed bag. A couple of Saturday doubleheaders enhance the choices, but it's still a week where choosing wisely at the back end of your fantasy staff will be crucial.

For the week, April 23-29

UPDATED: Sunday, April 22, 11:00 PM ET

AMERICAN LEAGUE

RANK	PITCHER	TEAM	OPP	COMMENT
1	Carlos Carrasco	CLE	at BAL, vs. SEA	Strikeouts will pick up, everything else in cruise control
2	Gerrit Cole	HOU	vs. LAA, vs. OAK	Throwing more curves getting desired result
3	Jose Berrios	MIN	at NYY, vs. CIN	Big test in Yankee Stadium
4	Corey Kluber	CLE	vs. SEA
5	Chris Sale	BOS	at TOR
6	Rick Porcello	BOS	at TOR, vs. TB	Good piece by Eno Sarris in The Athletic highlighting Porcello's new change-up
7	Dylan Bundy	BAL	vs. TB	Maybe this is finally the year
8	Justin Verlander	HOU	vs. LAA
9	Masahiro Tanaka	NYY	vs. MIN, at LAA
10	David Price	BOS	vs. TB	Walks high but bailing himself out when needed
11	Drew Pomeranz	BOS	vs. TB
12	Dallas Keuchel	HOU	vs. OAK
13	J.A. Happ	TOR	vs. BOS, vs. TEX
14	Luis Severino	NYY	at LAA
15	Charlie Morton	HOU	vs. LAA	Cruising, some regression coming, but skills say landing will be very soft
16	CC Sabathia	NYY	vs. MIN, at LAA
17	Ian Kennedy	KC	vs. MIL, vs. CWS	Underlying metrics support good start, still, comeuppance on

For the week, April 23-29

UPDATED: Sunday, April 22, 11:00 PM ET

AMERICAN LEAGUE

RANK	PITCHER	TEAM	OPP	COMMENT
1	Carlos Carrasco	CLE	at BAL, vs. SEA	Strikeouts will pick up, everything else in cruise control
2	Gerrit Cole	HOU	vs. LAA, vs. OAK	Throwing more curves getting desired result
3	Jose Berrios	MIN	at NYY, vs. CIN	Big test in Yankee Stadium
4	Corey Kluber	CLE	vs. SEA
5	Chris Sale	BOS	at TOR
6	Rick Porcello	BOS	at TOR, vs. TB	Good piece by Eno Sarris in The Athletic highlighting Porcello's new change-up
7	Dylan Bundy	BAL	vs. TB	Maybe this is finally the year
8	Justin Verlander	HOU	vs. LAA
9	Masahiro Tanaka	NYY	vs. MIN, at LAA
10	David Price	BOS	vs. TB	Walks high but bailing himself out when needed
11	Drew Pomeranz	BOS	vs. TB
12	Dallas Keuchel	HOU	vs. OAK
13	J.A. Happ	TOR	vs. BOS, vs. TEX
14	Luis Severino	NYY	at LAA
15	Charlie Morton	HOU	vs. LAA	Cruising, some regression coming, but skills say landing will be very soft
16	CC Sabathia	NYY	vs. MIN, at LAA
17	Ian Kennedy	KC	vs. MIL, vs. CWS	Underlying metrics support good start, still, comeuppance on the way
18	Eduardo Rodriguez	BOS	at TOR
19	Sean Manaea	OAK	at HOU	Expecting an uptick in strikeouts
20	Tyler Skaggs	LAA	at HOU, vs. NYY	Looks good so far, but tough pair on the ledger
21	Kevin Gausman	BAL	vs. CLE, vs. DET
22	Jaime Garcia	TOR	vs. TEX
23	Michael Fulmer	DET	at PIT
24	Mike Minor	TEX	at TOR
25	Garrett Richards	LAA	vs. NYY
26	Cole Hamels	TEX	vs. OAK
27	Jordan Montgomery	NYY	vs. MIN
28	Blake Snell	TB	at BAL	Getting there, but still a risk on the road
29	Jake Odorizzi	MIN	at NYY, vs. CIN	Walks and homers will eventually damage ERA
30	Danny Duffy	KC	vs. CWS
31	Lance McCullers Jr.	HOU	vs. OAK
32	Mike Leake	SEA	at CWS, at CLE
33	Jakob Junis	KC	vs. CWS
34	Shohei Ohtani	LAA	at HOU	Looking to bounce back from blistering last time out, won't be easy visiting defending champs
35	Marcus Stroman	TOR	vs. TEX
36	Felix Hernandez	SEA	at CWS
37	Alex Cobb	BAL	vs. TB, vs. DET
38	Chris Archer	TB	at BAL
39	James Paxton	SEA	at CLE
40	Sonny Gray	NYY	vs. MIN
41	Francisco Liriano	DET	at BAL
42	Mike Clevinger	CLE	vs. SEA
43	Jake Faria	TB	at BAL, at BOS	Walks are bad
44	Jason Hammel	KC	vs. MIL
45	Trevor Cahill	OAK	at TEX, at HOU	Cautiously optimistic he'll be useful, just not this week
46	Matt Boyd	DET	at PIT	Someone help me, I'm becoming a believer (again)
47	Clay Buchholz	KC	vs. CWS
48	Andrew Cashner	BAL	vs. DET
49	Andrew Heaney	LAA	vs. NYY
50	Eric Skoglund	KC	vs. CWS
51	Trevor Bauer	CLE	vs. CHC
52	Jordan Zimmermann	DET	at PIT, at BAL
53	Marco Gonzales	SEA	at CWS, at CLE
54	Josh Tomlin	CLE	vs. CHC, vs. SEA
55	Daniel Mengden	OAK	at HOU
56	Erasmo Ramirez	SEA	at CLE
57	Lance Lynn	MIN	at NYY
58	Lucas Giolito	CWS	at KC
59	Hector Santiago	CWS	at KC
60	Andrew Triggs	OAK	at TEX
61	Martin Perez	TEX	at TOR
62	Marco Estrada	TOR	vs. BOS
63	Reynaldo Lopez	CWS	at KC
64	Aaron Sanchez	TOR	vs. BOS
65	Carson Fulmer	CWS	vs. SEA, at KC
66	Miguel Gonzalez	CWS	vs. SEA, at KC
67	Mike Fiers	DET	at BAL
68	Phil Hughes	MIN	vs. CIN
69	Matt Moore	TEX	vs. OAK
70	Nick Tropeano	LAA	at HOU
71	James Shields	CWS	vs. SEA
72	Kendall Graveman	OAK	at TEX
73	Ryan Yarbrough	TB	at BOS
74	Bartolo Colon	TEX	at TOR
75	Chris Tillman	BAL	vs. TB
76	Kyle Gibson	MIN	at NYY
77	Yonny Chirinos	TB	at BOS
78	Doug Fister	TEX	vs. OAK

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Rank	Pitcher	TEAM	OPP	Comments
1	Robbie Ray	ARI	at PHI, at WAS	Giants were a good panacea, now Ray gets two on the road
2	Jake Arrieta	PHI	vs. ARI, vs. ATL	Powder blue unis agreed with him last time out
3	Gio Gonzalez	WAS	at SF, vs. Ari
4	Kenta Maeda	LAD	vs. MIA, at SF	Two treat matchups
5	Clayton Kershaw	LAD	vs. MIA	The bar is high when a 2.50 ERA is disappointing
6	Max Scherzer	WAS	at SF	Outdueled Kershaw last time out
7	Stephen Strasburg	WAS	vs. ARI
8	Jacob deGrom	NYM	at SD
9	Noah Syndergaard	NYM	at STL
10	Zack Greinke	ARI	at PHI	Velocity low last April too, hang in there
11	Luke Weaver	STL	vs. NYM, at PIT	Pitching well , ERA will drop
12	Jose Quintana	CHC	vs. MIL	Not a sure thing to turn it around completely, could be a sell low
13	Patrick Corbin	ARI	at WAS
14	Chris Stratton	SF	vs. WAS, vs. LAD	Facing good lineups, but at home in cavernous AT&T
15	Alex Wood	LAD	at SF
16	Rich Hill	LAD	at SF	Fingernail healed, Marlins could be the elixir to get back on track
17	Kyle Hendricks	CHC	vs. MIL
18	Carlos Martinez	STL	vs. NYM
19	Yu Darvish	CHC	vs. MIL	Tough matchups, but usually avoids disasters
20	Aaron Nola	PHI	vs. ATL	Low strikeout rate facing club that doesn't fan much
21	Hyun-Jin Ryu	LAD	at SF
22	Jason Vargas	NYM	at SD	Return pushes Matt Harvey to the bullpem
23	Clayton Richard	SD	vs. NYM	Mets terrible so far facing southpaws
24	Tyler Anderson	COL	at MIA
25	Zack Godley	ARI	at WAS
26	Tanner Roark	WAS	at SF
27	Johnny Cueto	SF	vs. LAD	Beginning to believe he's back
28	Tyler Chatwood	CHC	at CLE, vs. MIL	Walks still out of control
29	Jameson Taillon	PIT	vs. DET	More regression coming but strikeouts and groundball rate will help absorb the blow
30	Joey Lucchesi	SD	vs. NYM	As in really, really bad
31	Chad Kuhl	PIT	vs. DET, vs. STL
32	Walker Buehler	LAD	vs. MIA
33	Chase Anderson	MIL	at KC
34	Jeff Samardzija	SF	vs. WAS
35	Ty Blach	SF	vs. WAS, vs. LAD	Ty Blech
36	Dillon Peters	MIA	at LAD
37	Dan Straily	MIA	vs. COL
38	Sean Newcomb	ATL	at CIN
39	Jon Lester	CHC	at CLE
40	Chad Bettis	COL	vs. SD, at MIA
41	Miles Mikolas	STL	at PIT
42	German Marquez	COL	at MIA
43	Ivan Nova	PIT	vs. DET
44	Steven Matz	NYM	at STL	Homers an issue but shouldn't be this week
45	Steven Brault	PIT	vs. STL
46	Michael Wacha	STL	vs. NYM	Still not sharp, but holding out hope he gets it going
47	Luis Castillo	CIN	at MIN
48	Tyler Mahle	CIN	vs. ATL, at MIN	Will have his moments, but not dominant so will struggle, too
49	Jack Flaherty	STL	at PIT
50	Zach Davies	MIL	at KC, at CHC
51	Mike Foltynewicz	ATL	at CIN, at PHI
52	Brandon McCarthy	ATL	at CIN, at PHI	McCarthy's wife is almost as good a Twitter follow as he is
53	Ben Lively	PHI	vs. ARI
54	Jarlin Garcia	MIA	at LAD
55	Vince Velasquez	PHI	vs. ARI	Another hat tip to Eno, highlighting Velaquez's increase use of the curve
56	Jose Urena	MIA	vs. COL
57	Julio Teheran	ATL	at PHI
58	Jon Gray	COL	vs. SD
59	Jeremy Hellickson	WAS	vs. ARI
60	Zack Wheeler	NYM	at STL, at SD
61	Derek Holland	SF	vs. LAD
62	Brent Suter	MIL	at CHC
63	Nick Pivetta	PHI	vs. ATL
64	Caleb Smith	MIA	vs. COL
65	Trevor Williams	PIT	vs. STL
66	Kyle Freeland	COL	vs. SD
67	Matt Wisler	ATL	at CIN	That was cool, let's see it again
68	Bryan Mitchell	SD	at COL, vs. NYM
69	Brandon Finnegan	CIN	vs. ATL
70	Sal Romano	CIN	vs. ATL, at MIN
71	Tyson Ross	SD	at COL	127 pitches coming off thoracic outlet surgery… um…well… bad news, Coors is next
72	Trevor Richards	MIA	at LAD
73	Homer Bailey	CIN	vs. ATL
74	Junior Guerra	MIL	at CHC
75	Jhoulys Chacin	MIL	at CHC
76	Matt Koch	ARI	at PHI
77	Eric Lauer	SD	at COL

MLB

RANK	PITCHER	TEAM	OPP	COMMENT
1	Carlos Carrasco	CLE	at BAL, vs. SEA	Strikeouts will pick up, everything else in cruise control
2	Gerrit Cole	HOU	vs. LAA, vs. OAK	Throwing more curves getting desired result
3	Jose Berrios	MIN	at NYY, vs. CIN	Big test in Yankee Stadium
4	Robbie Ray	ARI	at PHI, at WAS	Giants were a good panacea, now Ray gets two on the road
5	Jake Arrieta	PHI	vs. ARI, vs. ATL	Powder blue unis agreed with him last time out
6	Gio Gonzalez	WAS	at SF, vs. Ari
7	Kenta Maeda	LAD	vs. MIA, at SF	Two treat matchups
8	Clayton Kershaw	LAD	vs. MIA	The bar is high when a 2.50 ERA is disappointing
9	Max Scherzer	WAS	at SF	Outdueled Kershaw last time out
10	Corey Kluber	CLE	vs. SEA
11	Chris Sale	BOS	at TOR
12	Rick Porcello	BOS	at TOR, vs. TB	Good piece by Eno Sarris in The Athletic highlighting Porcello's new change-up
13	Stephen Strasburg	WAS	vs. ARI
14	Dylan Bundy	BAL	vs. TB	Maybe this is finally the year
15	Jacob deGrom	NYM	at SD
16	Noah Syndergaard	NYM	at STL
17	Justin Verlander	HOU	vs. LAA
18	Masahiro Tanaka	NYY	vs. MIN, at LAA
19	David Price	BOS	vs. TB	Walks high but bailing himself out when needed
20	Zack Greinke	ARI	at PHI	Velocity low last April too, hang in there
21	Luke Weaver	STL	vs. NYM, at PIT	Pitching well , ERA will drop
22	Jose Quintana	CHC	vs. MIL	Not a sure thing to turn it around completely, could be a sell low
23	Patrick Corbin	ARI	at WAS
24	Chris Stratton	SF	vs. WAS, vs. LAD	Facing good lineups, but at home in cavernous AT&T
25	Alex Wood	LAD	at SF
26	Rich Hill	LAD	at SF	Fingernail healed, Marlins could be the elixir to get back on track
27	Drew Pomeranz	BOS	vs. TB
28	Dallas Keuchel	HOU	vs. OAK
29	J.A. Happ	TOR	vs. BOS, vs. TEX
30	Kyle Hendricks	CHC	vs. MIL
31	Carlos Martinez	STL	vs. NYM
32	Luis Severino	NYY	at LAA
33	Charlie Morton	HOU	vs. LAA	Cruising, some regression coming, but skills say landing will be very soft
34	Yu Darvish	CHC	vs. MIL	Tough matchups, but usually avoids disasters
35	Aaron Nola	PHI	vs. ATL	Low strikeout rate facing club that doesn't fan much
36	CC Sabathia	NYY	vs. MIN, at LAA
37	Hyun-Jin Ryu	LAD	at SF
38	Ian Kennedy	KC	vs. MIL, vs. CWS	Underlying metrics support good start, still, comeuppance on the way
39	Eduardo Rodriguez	BOS	at TOR
40	Sean Manaea	OAK	at HOU	Expecting an uptick in strikeouts
41	Jason Vargas	NYM	at SD	Return pushes Matt Harvey to the bullpem
42	Clayton Richard	SD	vs. NYM	Mets terrible so far facing southpaws
43	Tyler Anderson	COL	at MIA
44	Tyler Skaggs	LAA	at HOU, vs. NYY	Looks good so far, but tough pair on the ledger
45	Kevin Gausman	BAL	vs. CLE, vs. DET
46	Jaime Garcia	TOR	vs. TEX
47	Michael Fulmer	DET	at PIT
48	Mike Minor	TEX	at TOR
49	Zack Godley	ARI	at WAS
50	Garrett Richards	LAA	vs. NYY
51	Cole Hamels	TEX	vs. OAK
52	Tanner Roark	WAS	at SF
53	Johnny Cueto	SF	vs. LAD	Beginning to believe he's back
54	Jordan Montgomery	NYY	vs. MIN
55	Tyler Chatwood	CHC	at CLE, vs. MIL	Walks still out of control
56	Jameson Taillon	PIT	vs. DET	More regression coming but strikeouts and groundball rate will help absorb the blow
57	Joey Lucchesi	SD	vs. NYM	As in really, really bad
58	Blake Snell	TB	at BAL	Getting there, but still a risk on the road
59	Jake Odorizzi	MIN	at NYY, vs. CIN	Walks and homers will eventually damage ERA
60	Danny Duffy	KC	vs. CWS
61	Chad Kuhl	PIT	vs. DET, vs. STL
62	Lance McCullers Jr.	HOU	vs. OAK
63	Mike Leake	SEA	at CWS, at CLE
64	Walker Buehler	LAD	vs. MIA
65	Jakob Junis	KC	vs. CWS
66	Shohei Ohtani	LAA	at HOU	Looking to bounce back from blistering last time out, won't be easy visiting defending champs
67	Chase Anderson	MIL	at KC
68	Jeff Samardzija	SF	vs. WAS
69	Marcus Stroman	TOR	vs. TEX
70	Ty Blach	SF	vs. WAS, vs. LAD	Ty Blech
71	Dillon Peters	MIA	at LAD
72	Dan Straily	MIA	vs. COL
73	Felix Hernandez	SEA	at CWS
74	Sean Newcomb	ATL	at CIN
75	Alex Cobb	BAL	vs. TB, vs. DET
76	Jon Lester	CHC	at CLE
77	Chad Bettis	COL	vs. SD, at MIA
78	Miles Mikolas	STL	at PIT
79	German Marquez	COL	at MIA
80	Chris Archer	TB	at BAL
81	Ivan Nova	PIT	vs. DET
82	Steven Matz	NYM	at STL	Homers an issue but shouldn't be this week
83	Steven Brault	PIT	vs. STL
84	Michael Wacha	STL	vs. NYM	Still not sharp, but holding out hope he gets it going
85	Luis Castillo	CIN	at MIN
86	Tyler Mahle	CIN	vs. ATL, at MIN	Will have his moments, but not dominant so will struggle, too
87	James Paxton	SEA	at CLE
88	Sonny Gray	NYY	vs. MIN
89	Jack Flaherty	STL	at PIT
90	Zach Davies	MIL	at KC, at CHC
91	Francisco Liriano	DET	at BAL
92	Mike Foltynewicz	ATL	at CIN, at PHI
93	Brandon McCarthy	ATL	at CIN, at PHI	McCarthy's wife is almost as good a Twitter follow as he is
94	Ben Lively	PHI	vs. ARI
95	Mike Clevinger	CLE	vs. SEA
96	Jarlin Garcia	MIA	at LAD
97	Jake Faria	TB	at BAL, at BOS	Walks are bad
98	Jason Hammel	KC	vs. MIL
99	Vince Velasquez	PHI	vs. ARI	Another hat tip to Eno, highlighting Velaquez's increase use of the curve
100	Trevor Cahill	OAK	at TEX, at HOU	Cautiously optimistic he'll be useful, just not this week
101	Jose Urena	MIA	vs. COL
102	Matt Boyd	DET	at PIT	Someone help me, I'm becoming a believer (again)
103	Clay Buchholz	KC	vs. CWS
104	Julio Teheran	ATL	at PHI
105	Andrew Cashner	BAL	vs. DET
106	Jon Gray	COL	vs. SD
107	Jeremy Hellickson	WAS	vs. ARI
108	Andrew Heaney	LAA	vs. NYY
109	Zack Wheeler	NYM	at STL, at SD
110	Eric Skoglund	KC	vs. CWS
111	Trevor Bauer	CLE	vs. CHC
112	Jordan Zimmermann	DET	at PIT, at BAL
113	Derek Holland	SF	vs. LAD
114	Brent Suter	MIL	at CHC
115	Marco Gonzales	SEA	at CWS, at CLE
116	Nick Pivetta	PHI	vs. ATL
117	Josh Tomlin	CLE	vs. CHC, vs. SEA
118	Caleb Smith	MIA	vs. COL
119	Daniel Mengden	OAK	at HOU
120	Erasmo Ramirez	SEA	at CLE
121	Lance Lynn	MIN	at NYY
122	Lucas Giolito	CWS	at KC
123	Hector Santiago	CWS	at KC
124	Trevor Williams	PIT	vs. STL
125	Andrew Triggs	OAK	at TEX
126	Martin Perez	TEX	at TOR
127	Marco Estrada	TOR	vs. BOS
128	Reynaldo Lopez	CWS	at KC
129	Aaron Sanchez	TOR	vs. BOS
130	Carson Fulmer	CWS	vs. SEA, at KC
131	Kyle Freeland	COL	vs. SD
132	Matt Wisler	ATL	at CIN	That was cool, let's see it again
133	Bryan Mitchell	SD	at COL, vs. NYM
134	Miguel Gonzalez	CWS	vs. SEA, at KC
135	Mike Fiers	DET	at BAL
136	Brandon Finnegan	CIN	vs. ATL
137	Sal Romano	CIN	vs. ATL, at MIN
138	Phil Hughes	MIN	vs. CIN
139	Tyson Ross	SD	at COL	127 pitches coming off thoracic outlet surgery… um…well… bad news, Coors is next
140	Trevor Richards	MIA	at LAD
141	Matt Moore	TEX	vs. OAK
142	Nick Tropeano	LAA	at HOU
143	James Shields	CWS	vs. SEA
144	Homer Bailey	CIN	vs. ATL
145	Kendall Graveman	OAK	at TEX
146	Ryan Yarbrough	TB	at BOS
147	Bartolo Colon	TEX	at TOR
148	Chris Tillman	BAL	vs. TB
149	Kyle Gibson	MIN	at NYY
150	Junior Guerra	MIL	at CHC
151	Yonny Chirinos	TB	at BOS
152	Doug Fister	TEX	vs. OAK
153	Jhoulys Chacin	MIL	at CHC
154	Matt Koch	ARI	at PHI
155	Eric Lauer	SD	at COL