As you prepare for your fantasy baseball drafts, figuring out who you want to target in drafts and who you want to avoid is important. Culling your draft list is crucial to make it go seamlessly.

Starting pitching is extremely deep this year which is great for fantasy, but there are some that seem too good to be true and others that are inexplicably cheaper than they should be. Here are my picks for starting pitchers to target and avoid at the first base position in 2023.

• Catchers to Target & Avoid
• First Basemen to Target & Avoid
• Second Basemen to Target & Avoid
• Shortstops to Target & Avoid
• Third Basemen to Target & Avoid
• Outfielders to Target & Avoid

• Fitz’s Positional Primers
• Justin Mason’s Draft Day Cheat Sheet
• Players the Experts Draft
• Latest Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft

Starting Pitchers to Target/Avoid at ADP

Targets

Alek Manoah (SP – TOR): ADP 67.65

In his second season as a Major Leaguer, Manoa posted 196.2 innings of a 2.24 ERA and .99 WHIP with 16 wins and 180 strikeouts. He was top 10 in innings pitched and top 20 in total strikeouts. He has plus command and very good stuff. While the strikeout rate dipped, his ability to pitch so many innings allows him to volume his way to great overall strikeout numbers, and he is on a team that is going to win a ton of games for him. He is one of my most rostered pitchers this year.

Zac Gallen (SP – ARI): ADP 71.23

Gallen was fantastic in 2022, throwing 184 innings with a 2.54 ERA with a .91 WHIP, 192 strikeouts, and 12 wins. He has great command and stuff with all four of his pitches. I think the fact he pitches in Arizona has hidden him from getting too much hype, but Arizona is on the cusp of a breakout as a team with a lot of young up-and-coming talent. He is my NL Cy Young prediction.

Kyle Bradish (SP – BAL): ADP 329.07

Bradish is quickly becoming a trendy sleeper for deeper leagues, but those of you in shallower formats should begin to take notice as well. He has great stuff with average command and a fantastic home park to pitch in. After a pitch mix change in the second half, he posted a 3.28 ERA and 1.16 WHIP with 65 strikeouts in 71.1 innings. He is still extremely cheap and a nice gamble if he can keep the gains we saw at the end of last year.

Jose Suarez (SP – LAA): ADP 356.81

Suarez also made a pitch mix change in the second half of 2022, throwing his slider more, and it resulted in a breakout. He threw 64 innings in the second half with a 2.81 ERA, a 1.02 WHIP, and 58 strikeouts. He has great command and good stuff, and as long as he continues with the slider-heavy approach, he could maintain a lot of his gains from 2022.

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