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Tiers are a practical way of organizing rankings for optimal use on Draft Day. The goal is to accentuate which position is closest to a drop-off by denoting where the drop-offs are at each position. During the heat of the draft, you'll know that the position to target is the one that's current tier is closest to depletion.

Tiers 2.0: C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | OF | SP | RP | SP strategies

Below are the starting pitcher tiers for 2022. A position that was lacking a middle class last year now has a large one that skews more high-end.

The Elite: Gerrit Cole, Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, Corbin Burnes, Walker Buehler, Brandon Woodruff, Zack Wheeler, Shane Bieber
The Near-Elite: Robbie Ray, Julio Urias, Sandy Alcantara, Lucas Giolito, Aaron Nola, Charlie Morton, Kevin Gausman, Lance Lynn, Chris Sale, Jack Flaherty
The Next-Best Things: Frankie Montas, Max Fried, Jose Berrios, Logan Webb, Freddy Peralta, Joe Musgrove, Luis Castillo, Shohei Ohtani, Blake Snell, Yu Darvish, Justin Verlander
The Fallback Options: Clayton Kershaw, Carlos Rodon, Alek Manoah, Shane McClanahan, Pablo Lopez, Dylan Cease, Ranger Suarez*, Chris Bassitt, Trevor Rogers, Lance McCullers, Framber Valdez, Adam Wainwright, Shane Baz, Tyler Mahle, Nathan Eovaldi, Sean Manaea, Marcus Stroman, Luis Garcia, Luis Severino*, Mike Clevinger, Noah Syndergaard, Ian Anderson, Logan Gilbert, Zac Gallen, Patrick Sandoval
The Last Resorts: Anthony DeSclafani, Sonny Gray, Aaron Civale, Kyle Hendricks, Zack Greinke, Carlos Carrasco, Eduardo Rodriguez, Trevor Bauer, Cal Quantrill*
The Deep-Leaguers: Joe Ryan, John Means, Alex Cobb, Michael Kopech*, Tony Gonsolin, Triston McKenzie, Josiah Gray, Jordan Montgomery, Stephen Strasburg, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Jose Urquidy, German Marquez, Jon Gray, Alex Wood, Tanner Houck, Mike Soroka, Yusei Kikuchi, Luis Patino, Tarik Skubal, Nestor Cortes, Bailey Ober, Huascar Ynoa, Cristian Javier*, Tylor Megill, Jesus Luzardo, Sixto Sanchez, Marco Gonzales, Chris Paddack, Nate Pearson*, Alex Reyes*, Casey Mize, Austin Gomber, Nick Pivetta, Andrew Heaney
The Leftovers: Grayson Rodriguez, Nick Lodolo, Daniel Lynch, Reid Detmers, Roansy Contreras, Edward Cabrera, Chris Flexen, Adrian Houser, James Kaprielian, Eric Lauer, Corey Kluber, Wade Miley, Kyle Gibson, Drew Rasmussen*, Jameson Taillon, Zach Eflin, Steven Matz, Michael Pineda, Rich Hill, Zach Plesac, Dylan Bundy, Adbert Alzolay, Dakota Hudson, Taijuan Walker, Aaron Ashby*, Matt Brash, Hunter Greene, Cade Cavalli, Kyle Freeland, Max Meyer, Matthew Liberatore, Domingo German, Griffin Canning, Luis Gil, A.J. Puk*, MacKenzie Gore, George Kirby, Antonio Senzatela, Miles Mikolas, Madison Bumgarner, Cole Irvin, Patrick Corbin, Elieser Hernandez, Reynaldo Lopez*, David Price*, Carlos Hernandez*, Spencer Howard, Brady Singer, Jackson Kowar, Matt Manning, Mitch Keller, Brad Keller, DL Hall, Merrill Kelly, Ryan Yarbrough, Cole Winn, Glenn Otto, A.J. Alexy, Brailyn Marquez, Kwang Hyun Kim, Dallas Keuchel, Erick Fedde, Johnny Cueto, Jake Odorizzi, Mike Minor, Tyler Anderson, Jose Suarez, Drew Smyly, Luke Weaver, Tucker Davidson

* RP-eligible

Which sleepers, breakouts, and busts do you need to know? Visit SportsLine now to get rankings for every single position heading into your draft, all from the model that called Brad Hand's disappointing season, and find out.