Do you prefer to wait on pitching in fantasy baseball drafts? Many do, preferring to load up on hitting early. Some will even wait five, six or even seven rounds before adding that first hurler to their roster. It’s advisable to have at least one front-line arm before then, but success can be found with a hitter-heavy strategy. It requires one to succeed in the difficult task of building a stable staff beginning in the middle rounds.
Maybe you do lock up a couple of strong, reliable SPs by the time the middle rounds come. The goal then becomes solidifying the pitching columns. In that case, which options are the ones to go with over others in the same range?
Let’s take a look at some of the best mid-round starters that have the potential to carry and/or bolster a fantasy rotation.
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2023 Mid-Round Pitching Targets
The following group of starting pitchers each carry an overall consensus ADP between 100 and 200.
Blake Snell (SD): ADP 113.4
Durability is always a concern with Snell. He has maxed out at 128 2/3 regular-season innings dating back to his 2018 Cy Young year. After missing the first six weeks or so of last season, he went on to struggle for much of the first half. However, things were entirely different following the All-Star break.
In the second half, Snell recaptured his 2018 form, posting a 2.19 ERA and 1.03 WHIP across 78 innings. Even more encouraging in that stretch was his 6.4 BB%, which is four points better than his career mark. The strikeouts are always there for the 30-year-old southpaw, as he has racked up 170 and 171 of them respectively over the last two seasons despite the lack of innings.
Lance Lynn (CWS): ADP 131.4
Lynn also missed a chunk of time in the first part of last season. The veteran righty did not make his 2022 debut until June 13 due to knee surgery. It took him a while to regain his footing on the mound, but he seemed to finally get comfortable once the calendar flipped to August. Over his final dozen outings of the campaign beginning August 3, Lynn looked like his old self again. In that span, he turned in a terrific 2.43 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and 75 to 9 K/BB ratio across 74 innings. He will turn 36 in May, but Lynn has plenty of gas left in the tank.
Joe Ryan (MIN): ADP 151.8
Ryan has made 32 starts so far in his young big-league career, displaying solid command and maturity while working to a 3.63 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 25.7 K% across 173 2/3 innings. He logged 147 of those frames last season and figures to be in line for a notable uptick in workload this year. Ryan is one of the most flyball-prone pitchers in the league, but he also finished as one of just 11 starters with 100 or more innings and a soft-contact rate above 20 percent.
Jeffrey Springs (TB): ADP 159.4
Following a breakout campaign, Springs inked a multi-year contract extension with the Rays this offseason. The 30-year-old southpaw turned in solid work out of the Tampa Bay bullpen in 2021. It appeared that he would serve in that role once again in 2022, as his first seven appearances came in relief.
Due to the club needing additional rotation depth, Springs made his first start for the Rays on April 28. By mid-May, he was in the rotation for good. Beginning with a start on May 15 that saw him fire 4 2/3 scoreless frames, Springs far exceeded any expectations. From that point forward, he cruised to a 2.51 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 25.9 K% and just a 5.7 BB%. On top of that, his swinging-strike rate (13.5%) landed in the top 20 of all pitchers with a minimum of 100 innings.
Drew Rasmussen (TB): ADP 174.4
Yet another successful development project for the Rays, Rasmussen began his progression into a solid MLB starter after being dealt to Tampa in 2021. His first full season in a big-league rotation went last year went very well, as he posted a sub-3.00 ERA across 146 innings. That workload should increase at least a little during his age-27 season this year.
Rasmussen has so far not featured the same strikeout upside as his rotation mate above, but he possesses great control. He also keeps the ball on the ground (career 47.2 GB%) and in the park (career 0.80 HR/9) with regularity. Rasmussen is a great value at his current cost.
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Nate Miller is a featured writer at FantasyPros and a 9-year veteran of the fantasy sports industry. For more from Nate, check out his archive and follow him on Twitter @Miller_RotoDad.
