Top 50 Starting Pitcher Rankings: Week 4 (2023 Fantasy Baseball)

Welcome to Week 4 of our Top 50 Starting Pitchers of the Week series for 2023. Every Friday, we review the upcoming slate and rank the starters based on their ability, matchups, and their number of scheduled starts. Today’s rankings are for the week of Monday, April 24, through Sunday, April 30.

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Top 50 Starting Pitcher Rankings: Week 4

As always, our planning starts with the Expert Consensus Rankings and is adjusted based on the Pitcher Planner. Double-check this resource before setting your lineup, as rotations change frequently. The complete Top 50 is below, but first, let’s review the matchups we are salivating about and those making us hold our breath.

Two-Start Starters with the Best Matchups

There aren’t any starters with two premier matchups next week. The closest two are Nick Lodolo (SP – CIN), who gets Texas at home and Oakland on the road, and Joe Ryan (SP – MIN), who pitches twice at home against the Yankees and Royals. While the A’s and Royals are opponents to get excited about, the Yankees and Rangers aren’t pushovers. A few other two-start starters have one good and one bad matchup. Spencer Strider (SP,RP – ATL) and Charlie Morton (SP – ATL) will face the Marlins in Atlanta but then travel to New York to take on the Mets. Justin Steele (SP – CHC), who barely cracked the Top 50, starts the week against the Padres at home before traveling to Miami on the weekend.

Two-Start Starters with the Worst Matchups

Stay away from Lucas Giolito (SP – CWS) this week if you are worried about your ERA and WHIP. He has the brutal task of taking on the Blue Jays in Toronto and the Rays in Chicago. Logan Gilbert (SP – SEA) is another dicey two-start hurler who will face the Phillies and the Blue Jays on the road. Not quite as bad, but not great, are Drew Rasmussen (SP – TB) and Alex Cobb (SP – SF). Rasmussen, who’s been brilliant when not facing the Jays, will take on the Astros in Tampa and the White Sox away. Cobb begins his week against the Cardinals at home and finishes against the Padres, and newly reinstated Fernando Tatis Jr. (OF,SS – SD), on the road.

Best Matchups for Pitchers with One Start

In the solo start group, we love pitchers who face off against the Athletics, Tigers, Nationals, Marlins, and Royals. Several of our Top 50 hurlers face these teams next week. Shohei Ohtani (SP,DH – LAA), Patrick Sandoval (SP – LAA), and Hunter Greene (SP – CIN) get Oakland. Greene’s matchup will be on the road. Zac Gallen (SP – ARI), Pablo Lopez (SP – MIN), and Sonny Gray (SP – MIN) will all face the Royals at home. Freddy Peralta (SP – MIL) faces off against the Tigers, while Kyle Wright (SP – ATL) takes on the Marlins and Kodai Senga (SP – NYM) the Nationals; all three matchups will come in the starters’ home ballparks.

Worst Matchups for Pitchers with One Start

On the flip side, many borderline Top 50 starters with tough matchups fall off the list. The exceptions are the studs, but they still make us nervous. We’re not excited about Sandy Alcantara (SP – MIA) facing the Braves in Atlanta, but we’re still starting him. The same goes for Dylan Cease (SP – CWS) at home against the red-hot Rays and Luis Castillo (SP – SEA) in Toronto. If you want to bench Lance Lynn (SP – CWS) against Tampa Bay, though, we don’t blame you.

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