Analyzing Early Season Fantasy Baseball ADP Data for Pitchers | Tarik Skubal, Paul Skenes, Zack Wheeler, Emmanuel Clase, Devin Williams and More
Taking a look at some draft data in the middle part of February.
After looking at early fantasy baseball draft data for hitters, let's do the same for pitchers.
We'lll use the FantasySP Average Draft Position list. Let's dive in!
Check out Fantasy Baseball Average Draft Position data for 2025 and get ready for your fantasy drafts by utilizing the FantasySP Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft Simulator.
The Top-End Picks
The top-20 picks are mostly hitters, but there's three pitchers with an average draft pick mark of 20 or less.
Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes are at the top of things, being the ninth and 10th players off draft boards on average. Skubal's average pick mark is 10.71, while Skenes has a mark of 11.88.
Zack Wheeler is the other pitcher going inside the top 20 at pick 17.29 on average.
Top-10 Starting Pitchers
After Skubal, Skenes and Wheeler, the next few starting pitcher picks come in the mid-20s on average.
Corbin Burnes is first up at pick 25.76, with Logan Gilbert right behind him at 26.06. Gerrit Cole (29.41) and Dylan Cease (31.06) are pretty close as well. Chris Sale (34.41) and Garrett Crochet (36.12) are pretty safely in the top 10 at this point too.
Cole Ragans is going around pick 41.71 and is currently the 10th fantasy starting pitcher off draft boards. George Kirby is at pick 43.71, so he's worth mentioning here as well.
Top-End Fantasy Closers
Emmanuel Clase and Devin Williams have average pick marks inside the top 43, so it's a good time to introduce the top-end fantasy closers.
Clase is at pick 33.18 on average, while Williams is at 41.47. Clase is the 29th-ranked player overall, while Williams is 38th.
Josh Hader is the third closer off draft boards on average, with an average pick mark of 50.65.
There's a little break before Edwin Diaz (61.76), Ryan Helsley (66) and Mason Miller (67.29) are stacked up.
Top-100 Starting Pitchers
After Kirby at pick 43.71, the next starting pitchers off draft boards are Framber Valdez, Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. They are going between picks 48.71-51.06 on average.
Pablo Lopez (58.47) and Aaron Nola (60.06) are the next two starters listed. There's a little break before Bryce Miller, Michael King, Logan Webb, Max Fried, Shota Imanaga and Luis Castillo all have marks in the 70s.
Hunter Greene, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki, Kevin Gausman and Bailey Ober are all picks in the 80s right now.
Freddy Peralta, Jacob deGrom, Zac Gallen and Sonny Gray all have average pick marks in the 90s.
Justin Steele has a mark of 100.76 and has been on the rise, so I'm going to include him here too. He's the 32nd starting pitcher right now.
Top-100 Relief Pitchers
Several more closers are off draft boards before pick 100 as well.
After Miller at pick 67.29, Raisel Iglesias is next at 73.94.
Felix Bautista (87.41), Robert Suarez (90.12) and Jhoan Duran (95.76) are other members of the top 100 right now. Duran is the 10th fantasy closer right now.
Other Top-150 Pitcher Options
I think 150 picks is a good cutoff point, so let's discuss the starting and relief pitchers who are being drafted out to that pick.
Just missing spots in the top 100 were relievers Andres Munoz (107.76) and Ryan Walker (108.65). Lucas Erceg (115.88) and Alexis Diaz (121.47) come after that.
Tanner Scott, David Bednar and Ryan Pressly are all going in the 130s. Pete Fairbanks (150.29) and Jeff Hoffman (150.8) are right on the cusp of the top 150, so I'm going to mention them here.
As for starting pitchers, Joe Ryan (110.06) is the next starting pitcher taken after Steele. Tanner Bibee (114.29) and Brandon Pfaadt (117.13) go before pick 120.
Reynaldo Lopez, Luis Gil, Grayson Rodriguez, Hunter Brown and Jack Flaherty all appear in the 120s. Carlos Rodon, Spencer Schwellenbach, Seth Lugo, Jared Jones, Bowden Francis and Cristopher Sanchez are in the 130s.
Spencer Strider, Kodai Senga, Tanner Houck, Yusei Kikuchi and Shane McClanahan all go between picks 140-150 on average.
Final Thoughts
There's still going to be a lot of movement on the ADP list. Pitchers may rise or drop a couple rounds as spring training is played out.
Like I mentioned in the hitter ADP story, be tuned into team news this month and next, as injuries and indications on what roles players will have are going to be discussed.
Make sure a starting pitcher isn't going to have his innings limited, or be skipped in the rotation periodically. Make sure a closer is actually going to serve as his team's ninth-inning guy, instead of splitting the job with another reliever or two.
Keep checking the ADP list and also be sure to do some mock draft simulations to make sure you're as comfortable as possible heading into your real draft.
