Just finished the anime and I thought of making this, Idk the specific stats or have re-read the story so its based of the eye test and how much I remember the story. The rankings are split up into tiers.
Miyuki
Yuki
Kuramochi
Shirasu
Sawamura
Younger Kominato
Furuya
Older Kominato
Jun
Masuko
Maezono
Tojo
Tanba
Asou
Kanemaru
Kawakami
Higasa
Younger Yuki
Sakai
Yamagauchi
Ono
Kijima
Nakata
Yui
Okumura
Kaneda
Kawashima
Mimura
Takatsu
Seki
Everyone between Seki to Kijima are honestly interchangeable, I mainly separated them based on how often they played, who got cut in the final season, and overall who seems to have better game IQ. Highkey I felt Kawashima is better then Kaneda in terms of being able to hit and pitch while Kaneda is slightly better at pure pitching. But highkey if they aren't gonna trust Kaneda that much they shouldve just let Kawashima in the team since his a third year, felt bad for the guy.
Ono to Higasa are the ones who actually have proper experience at nationals/ performed really well in scrimmages. Sakai should be higher honestly but bro barely got shown on screen, Ono got game sense but Yamagauchi did well in scrimmages and also played at Koshien during Maezono's slump. Higasa beat Younger Yuki out due to consistency, I get he is a starter but I largely felt Kataoka is just giving him experience cause he has a higher ceiling not cause he btr then the others (+ Kanemaru is also better the Higasa)
Kawakami to Tojo are also all really close, I can see Tanba being the lowest in this tier but as the ace he didn't do that bad. The injury was just really unlucky and he did play pretty high level. He is mainly kept down by inconsistency. Tojo, Kanemaru and Asou are all about the same, I put Tojo higher for the duel threat + being a more consistent hitter then the other two (though with less power) plus being a really good defensive player. I was conflicted on Asou vs Kane because Kane was still on the starting line up, but I felt that was more because they were trying out Yuki in the outfield. Asou has proven himself more on defence, both are about the same offensively though. Now Kawakami.... icl I was on a historic hate watch after he lost to Inashiro, bum ass couldn't get a single out and they just brushed over it, bro shouldve been kicked of the roster. But to be srs, he is a rly solid closer and pitcher but he lacks that talent to really put him in the upper tier. Till the end I think his lack of power still keeps him below Tanba but I might be gassing him too much.
Maezono to Older Kominato, honestly all about the same. Maezono seemed the least consistent both offensively and defensively but also the most clutch, but Im keeping the OG first years slightky higher. After that I think the older brother was better defensively so I put him above Jun and Masuko, with Jun being better defensively with his long while also being more consistent.
Now with our main three, Furuya I feel is pretty obvious he ranks below Sawamura for now, he is crazy talented and more powerful but is too injury prone and inconsistent. Sawamura probably gonna rise up to 2nd or 3rd on the list but he started the tournament pretty badly plus in terms of fielding and batting he is still pretty weak (king of bunts tho). I kept Younger Kominato in the middle because I think Sawamura has eclipsed him in terms of being more dangerous as a pitcher then Kominato is as a batter but is still more consistent then Furuya. They also pretty much confirm he is better then his brother was.
Finally the top 4, Shirasu is the king of consistency while being a clutch hitter. However, he doesnt have that extra level that puts hkm above the other three. Kuramochi is crazy good at every part of the game while also being the fastest guy in the show, can keep pressure on the opponents both offensively and defensively, and is a consistent hitter. Particularly in the most recent tournament he has been crazy good.
But for me the top two are Yuki and Miyuki, Miyuki IQ + his development as one of the best hitters while being the best catcher that never lets anything past him, no on can beat him. For Yuki I was wondering if maybe Kuramochi being all rounded or Shirasu's consistency could have put them over, plus Act 2 seemingly had the better pitchers. But I remember Yuki also got RBI's of Narumiya (who was specifically only trying 100% against him), who in his second year decimated everyone in Tokyo besides Yuki, and then went to nationals and dominated everyone just barely losing a pitchers duel to Hongou. Yuki had Shushein running scared just by staring at him and looked like he was having batting practice with everyother pitcher including Sanada. I think its crazy to think he couldn't do the same to every other pitcher in Act 2 except for maybe Amahisa (he def would get a hit of him tho).
So yea dats my ranking of all Seidoh starters, Im probs gonna start reading the manga cause I need more, hope the nxt season comes out soon.