As we head into the fourth week of the baseball season, things are beginning to take shape in the pitching landscape. We’re seeing velocity changes, mechanical fixes, pitch mix arsenal adjustments, and everything in between. Pitching is a highly volatile position and consistently changing, but it’s important to stay on top of current information to best evaluate pitchers every week. If you can identify when a pitcher is breaking out or when one has skills diminishing, you can be the first to acquire or trade away these players before the market adjusts.
One of the best ways to make sure to do this is to look at a pitcher’s matchups for the following week. You can find out who has weaker matchups to potentially stream, bench certain pitchers with difficult matchups, and take advantage of two-start pitchers for that week.
I’m here to try and help you figure out those tough pitcher decisions for your daily or weekly lineups by ranking my top 50 pitchers ahead of each week this season. This will not be a pitcher’s ranking for the season but rather how I rank them for that particular week. For example, a pitcher with two starts or who faces a team with a horrible offense will usually get a bump compared to pitchers with bad matchups.
The projected matchups and two-start starting pitchers are all from the MLB Probable Pitchers tool on FantasyPros. Make sure to look for this article every weekend and make the necessary adjustments throughout the week with injury list (IL) stints, postponements, and everything in between. Remember, the most active manager is usually the one who gets the best free agents and dramatically increases their chances to win their league!
Let’s take a look at my top 50 starting pitchers for this upcoming week.
Top 50 Starting Pitchers for Week 4
- Brandon Woodruff (2 starts) vs. CIN & @ATL
- Alek Manoah (2 starts) vs NYY & @CLE
- Joe Ryan (2 starts) @BAL & vs. OAK
- Dylan Cease (2 starts) vs LAA & @BOS
- Chris Bassitt (2 starts) vs ATL & @PHI
- Pablo Lopez (2 starts) vs. ARI & @SD
- Corbin Burnes @ATL
- Gerrit Cole vs. TEX
- Walker Buehler @CHC
- Max Scherzer vs. PHI
- Freddy Peralta vs. CIN
- Carlos Rodon @LAD
- Patrick Sandoval (2 starts) @CHW & vs. WAS
- Sandy Alcantara @SD
- Logan Webb vs. STL
- Trevor Rogers (2 starts) vs. ARI & @SD
- Joe Musgrove vs. MIA
- Shane Bieber vs. TOR
- MacKenzie Gore (2 starts) @CLE & vs. MIA
- Sean Manaea vs. MIA
- Lucas Giolito @CHC
- Zack Wheeler vs. TEX
- Kevin Gausman @CLE
- Justin Verlander vs. SEA
- Max Fried vs. MIL
- Charlie Morton (2 starts) @NYM & vs MIL
- Julio Urias vs. SF
- Shane McClanahan @SEA
- Logan Gilbert vs. TB
- Zac Gallen (2 starts) vs. MIA & vs. COL
- Clayton Kershaw @CHC
- Robbie Ray vs. TB
- Aaron Nola vs. NYM
- Frankie Montas @MIN
- Carlos Carrasco (2 starts) vs ATL & @PHI
- Yu Darvish @MIA
- Ranger Suarez (2 starts) vs. TEX & vs. NYM
- Jose Berrios @CLE
- Bruce Zimmerman (2 starts) vs. MIN & vs. KC
- Jordan Montgomery (2 starts) @TOR & vs. TEX
- Shohei Ohtani @BOS
- Tylor Megill @ATL
- Kyle Wright @NYM
- Nathan Eovaldi @CHW
- Zack Greinke (2 starts) vs STL & vs BAL
- Luis Garcia @DET
- Michael Pineda (2 starts) vs. PIT & vs. HOU
- Jesus Luzardo @SD
- Michael Kopech @CHC
- Marco Gonzales (2 starts) vs HOU & vs TB
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Whether you’re new to fantasy baseball or a seasoned pro, our Fantasy Baseball 101: Strategy Tips & Advice page is for you. You can get started with our Sabermetrics Glossary or head to a more advanced strategy – like Maximizing Your Potential in Multi-Lineup Contests – to learn more.