Tiers are a practical way of organizing rankings for their most optimal use on draft day. The goal is to accentuate which position is closest to a drop-off by denoting (roughly) 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 3.0: C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | OF | SP | RP
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.
For a deeper look at the position, check out Scott's SP strategies.
The Elite: Gerrit Cole, Max Scherzer, Corbin Burnes, Walker Buehler, Brandon Woodruff, Jacob deGrom, Shane Bieber
The Near-Elite: Zack Wheeler, Julio Urias, Sandy Alcantara, Robbie Ray, Aaron Nola, Lucas Giolito, Charlie Morton, Kevin Gausman, Lance Lynn
The Next-Best Things: Max Fried, Logan Webb, Frankie Montas, Jose Berrios, Freddy Peralta, Joe Musgrove, Justin Verlander, Carlos Rodon, Shohei Ohtani, Yu Darvish
The Fallback Options: Luis Castillo, Blake Snell, Alek Manoah, Shane McClanahan, Pablo Lopez, Dylan Cease, Chris Bassitt, Trevor Rogers, Ranger Suarez*, Jack Flaherty, Clayton Kershaw, 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, Patrick Sandoval
The Last Resorts: Zac Gallen, Chris Sale, 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, Lance McCullers, Triston McKenzie, Josiah Gray, Jordan Montgomery, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Jose Urquidy, German Marquez, Jon Gray, Alex Wood, Tanner Houck, Stephen Strasburg, Yusei Kikuchi, Luis Patino, Tarik Skubal, Nestor Cortes, Bailey Ober, Huascar Ynoa, Cristian Javier*, Tylor Megill, Jesus Luzardo, Chris Paddack, Mike Soroka, Marco Gonzales, Nate Pearson*, Alex Reyes*, Casey Mize, Austin Gomber, Nick Pivetta, Andrew Heaney
The Leftovers: Grayson Rodriguez, Nick Lodolo, Daniel Lynch, Reid Detmers, Mitch Keller, 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, 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, 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.
