Top 10 Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitchers for 2023 MLB Season

Opening Day is rapidly approaching, which means it's time to begin prepping for your 2023 fantasy baseball drafts.

Here at The Duel, we'll have you covered every step of the way, and that begins with the first step of draft prep — identifying this year's top fantasy baseball assets. You can check out our top 100 fantasy baseball player rankings here and top 25 team names as well.

With that in mind, here are the top 10 fantasy baseball starting pitchers for the 2023 MLB season.

Fantasy Baseball SP Rankings 2023

10. Carlos Rodon, New York Yankees

9. Dylan Cease, Chicago White Sox

8. Aaron Nola, Philadelphia Phillies

Aaron Nola quietly put together one of the best seasons of his career in 2022, logging a 3.25 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP across 205 innings pitched. He was one of only two NL pitchers to throw multiple complete games and eclipsed 220 strikeouts for the fourth straight season (excluding 2020) as well. Nola's low career walk rate (6.5%) and hard-hit percentage (36.5%) give him a high floor as a pitcher that induces weak contact more often than not.

7. Justin Verlander, New York Mets

6. Shane McClanahan, Tampa Bay Rays

5. Brandon Woodruff, Milwaukee Brewers

4. Sandy Alcantara, Miami Marlins

Sandy Alcantara's 2022 season goes to show that individual production trumps team success in fantasy baseball. The NL Cy Young Award winner finished with a 14-9 record, a 2.28 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP on a Miami Marlins squad that finished fourth in the NL East. He posted an impressive 6 complete games (most in MLB) and led the majors with 228 2/3 innings pitched. His strikeout numbers aren't elite, but his nasty three-pitch mix regularly confuses hitters. His ceiling jumps if the Marlins can provide consistent run support and get him some more wins this year.

3. Gerrit Cole, New York Yankees

2. Corbin Burnes, Milwaukee Brewers

1. Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels

It should be no surprise that Shohei Ohtani checks in at No. 1 here. The 28-year-old superstar is the only player in fantasy baseball that can make an impact both on the mound and at the plate. The 2021 AL MVP went 15-9 with a 2.33 ERA across a career-high 166 innings pitched last season. He also racked up 219 strikeouts and is poised to see even more starts as the Angels' ace in 2023. Add in the fact that he has hit 80 home runs over the last two seasons combined, and Ohtani is the clear pick at the top of drafts as he prepares for what should be an epic contract year.

Larry Rupp is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Larry Rupp also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username phillyfan424. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.