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Tiers, for the uninitiated, are an alternate form of rankings that groups players by expected level of production. While it's true every player is expected to produce less than the player ranked ahead of him, there are points in the rankings where the drop-off in expected production is more significant. And at those points, a new tier begins.
The goal is to give you a clear depiction of the distribution of talent at each position so that, in the heat of a draft, you can determine at a glance which position is the ideal one to target. Naturally, the one closest to dropping into the next tier is the one you'll regret having passed up a round later.
Below are the starting pitcher tiers for 2019. They depict a position where the choices become harder to distinguish the further down the rankings you go.
The Super Elite: Max Scherzer, Chris Sale, Jacob deGrom, Corey Kluber, Justin Verlander
The Elite: Blake Snell, Aaron Nola, Trevor Bauer, Gerrit Cole, Clayton Kershaw, Noah Syndergaard, Patrick Corbin, Luis Severino, Carlos Carrasco, Zack Greinke
The Near-Elite: Walker Buehler, James Paxton, Stephen Strasburg, German Marquez, Mike Clevinger
The Next-Best Things: Madison Bumgarner, Carlos Martinez*, Jack Flaherty, David Price, Chris Archer, Jameson Taillon, Jose Berrios, Masahiro Tanaka, Mike Foltynewicz, Zack Wheeler, Miles Mikolas, Yu Darvish, Charlie Morton
The Fallback Options: Luis Castillo, Cole Hamels, J.A. Happ, Rick Porcello, Dallas Keuchel, Robbie Ray, Alex Reyes, Yusei Kikuchi, Andrew Heaney, Jon Gray, Tyler Skaggs, Jose Quintana, Eduardo Rodriguez, Collin McHugh*, Joe Musgrove, Rich Hill
The Last Resorts: Kyle Freeland, Kyle Hendricks, Zack Godley, Nick Pivetta, Tyler Glasnow*, Sean Newcomb, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Jon Lester, Jimmy Nelson, Alex Wood, Shane Bieber, Kenta Maeda*, Nathan Eovaldi, Marcus Stroman, Josh James
The Deep-Leaguers: Marco Gonzales, Kyle Gibson, Jake Arrieta, Carlos Rodon, Reynaldo Lopez, Dylan Bundy, Ross Stripling*, Sonny Gray, Vince Velasquez, Julio Teheran, Kevin Gausman, Jake Junis, Steven Matz, Michael Wacha, Trevor Richards, Michael Fulmer, Mike Minor, Trevor Williams, Dereck Rodriguez, Tyler Anderson, Zach Eflin, Danny Duffy, Tanner Roark, Matthew Boyd
The Leftovers: Clay Buchholz, Anibal Sanchez, Mike Soroka, Adam Wainwright, Gio Gonzalez, Jeff Samardzija, Jesus Luzardo, Forrest Whitley, Brad Keller*, Joey Lucchesi, Freddy Peralta, Brent Honeywell, Sean Manaea, Lance Lynn, Luke Weaver, Sean Reid-Foley, Caleb Smith, Matt Harvey, Jhoulys Chacin, Mike Leake, Mike Fiers, Yonny Chirinos*, Ryan Yarbrough*, Michael Pineda, Chase Anderson, Ervin Santana, Jose Urena, Touki Toussaint, Framber Valdez, Tyler Mahle, Jaime Barria, CC Sabathia, Derek Holland, Jake Odorizzi, Andrew Suarez
*: RP-eligible
So which Fantasy Baseball sleepers should you snatch in your draft? And which undervalued pitchers can help you win a championship? Visit SportsLine now to get Fantasy Baseball rankings for every single position, all from the model that called Scooter Gennett's huge breakout last season, and find out.
