Top-ranked among MLB’s 150 finest starters is Spencer Strider of the Atlanta Braves.

Pitching Plus provided the data for Eno Sarris’ rankings in the list published in last Thursday’s The Athletic.  While Sarris created the rankings for those involved in the upcoming fantasy (subscription required) baseball drafts, the Pitching Plus data tells us a great deal about pitcher performance.

Pitching Plus is a group of statistics that tells how good a pitcher’s stuff is (Stuff+) and how well the pitcher locates it (Location +). Pitching+ isn’t a direct combination of Stuff+ and Location+.

You’ll find more complete information on all three stats in the Fangraphs’ glossary,

Stuff+ provides the date to create an ERA and K-rate projection for each pitcher. Last year’s projections were the most accurate among all popular projection systems and played a part in Sarris’ ranks, as did injury grades.

…(injury) ratings consider how old a pitcher is, how many days a pitcher has been on the injured list in the past two seasons and in their career, as well as their fastball velocity, as velocity is the biggest single stressor on an elbow ligament. Pitchers were given a grade from A to F…

A quick calculation explains why Sarris provided a top-150 list – 30 teams, five pitchers = 150 – and it shouldn’t surprise anyone that four of the five NL East teams have at least four starters in the top 150.

Strider tops Sarris’ list, Max Fried is 25th, Chris Sale is 38th, Charlie Morton is 53rd, Reynaldo Lopez checks in at 107th, and Bryce Elder sits at 130th.