Tiers are an alternate form of rankings that's less concerned with parsing individual players and more concerned with where the biggest drop-offs are. Players whose value is essentially the same are bundled together to help you prioritize which position to draft next. If the goal in a draft is to maximize the return of each pick, then a simple way to do so is to target a position that's nearing a drop-off and wait on a position that isn't. By crossing off names as you go, your path to victory should become clear.
- Position Strategies: C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | OF | SP | RP
- Position Previews: C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | OF | SP | RP
- Position Tiers: C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | OF | SP | RP
Below are the starting pitcher tiers for 2024, some of which have been renamed to depict our new reality better. Not only are there fewer true standouts at the position, but it turns out some of the rule changes introduced last year only served to increase the volatility at an ever-volatile position. It's made for a mass of pitchers (familiarly known as "the glob") with such a wide range of possible outcomes that to define them by tiers is almost a fool's errand. Yet I've attempted to do so anyway, for better or worse.
The First-Rounders: Spencer Strider, Gerrit Cole
The Also-Elite: Corbin Burnes, Kevin Gausman, Zack Wheeler, Luis Castillo, Zac Gallen
The Near-Elite: Tyler Glasnow, Tarik Skubal, Blake Snell, Pablo Lopez, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Kodai Senga^, Freddy Peralta^, Logan Webb, Aaron Nola†, Framber Valdez†, Cole Ragans*
The Next-Best Things: Max Fried, George Kirby, Justin Steele, Kyle Bradish, Zach Eflin, Jesus Luzardo, Logan Gilbert
The Fallback Options: Eury Perez, Bobby Miller, Grayson Rodriguez, Tanner Bibee, Joe Musgrove, Merrill Kelly, Mitch Keller, Justin Verlander, Dylan Cease
The Start of Glob: Walker Buehler, Gavin Williams, Chris Sale, Sonny Gray, Michael King*, Carlos Rodon, Joe Ryan, Cristian Javier, Hunter Greene, Jordan Montgomery, Chris Bassitt, Jose Berrios, Shane Bieber, Yu Darvish, Nathan Eovaldi, Shane Baz, Nick Pivetta*, Ryan Pepiot*, Bailey Ober
The End of Glob: Hunter Brown, Nick Lodolo, Andrew Abbott, Kyle Harrison, Lucas Giolito, Eduardo Rodriguez, Cristopher Sanchez, Shota Imanaga, Bryan Woo, Triston McKenzie, Charlie Morton, Erick Fedde, Reese Olson, Bryce Miller, Reid Detmers, Jon Gray, Nestor Cortes, Brandon Pfaadt, Luis Severino, Emmet Sheehan, Kenta Maeda, James Paxton, Max Scherzer, Yusei Kikuchi, Aaron Civale, Michael Wacha, Seth Lugo, Mason Miller, Taj Bradley, Edward Cabrera, John Means, Chris Paddack*, Brayan Bello, Marcus Stroman, Lance Lynn, Braxton Garrett
The Leftovers: Frankie Montas*, Bryce Elder, Dane Dunning, Kutter Crawford, Chase Silseth, Logan Taylor Allen, Alek Manoah, Tyler Wells, Trevor Rogers, MacKenzie Gore, Griffin Canning, Jose Quintana, Taijuan Walker, Jameson Taillon, Nick Martinez*, Clayton Kershaw, Ricky Tiedemann, Lance McCullers, Dean Kremer, Sawyer Gipson-Long, Joe Boyle, A.J. Smith-Shawver, J.P. France, Kyle Hendricks, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Patrick Sandoval, Ranger Suarez, Josiah Gray, Graham Ashcraft, Jordan Wicks, Steven Matz, Sean Manaea*, Zack Littell*, Jack Flaherty, Kyle Gibson, Wade Miley, Miles Mikolas, Brandon Williamson
^ one tier lower in points league
† one tier lower in categories leagues
* RP-eligible
