Starting Pitcher Chart – April 15th, 2025

April 15, 2025

The chart includes their performance for 2025 (I changed over from 2024 #s on April 15th — a little earlier than last yr), their opponent’s wOBA rank versus the pitcher’s handedness from this year so far (this changed as of April 14th which is still a pretty small sample, but we can start attacking some cold lineups or be more careful with those performing well so far), my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues, and then a note about them. Obviously, there are league sizes beyond those three so it’s essentially a shallow, medium, deep. If a pitcher only has an “x” in 15-team, it doesn’t mean there’s no potential use in 10s and 12s, but it’s basically a riskier stream for those spots.

These are general recommendations, and your league situation will carry more weight whether you are protecting ratios or chasing counting numbers. This is for standard 5×5 roto leagues. The thresholds for H2H starts are generally lower, especially in points leagues so I thought there would be more value focusing on roto.

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Starter Notes April 15, 2025

RK	PITCHER	GAME	10	12	15+	IP	ERA	WHIP	K-BB	2025 wOBA RK	NOTE
1	Spencer Schwellenbach	ATL at TOR	x	x	x	20	0.45	0.65	23%	22nd	Hottest pitcher in baseball right now w/an obscene 0.45 ERA!
2	Max Fried	NYY v KCR	x	x	x	17	1.56	1.21	23%	12th	Even if you gave him the 4 UER from his season debut, he’d still have a solid 3.64 ERA
3	Luis Castillo	SEA at CIN	x	x	x	17	2.12	1.12	13%	25th	First road start takes him back to Cincy where he did manage a healthy 3.22 ERA/1.11 WHIP in 424 IP
4	Hunter Brown	HOU at STL	x	x	x	18	2.00	0.78	23%	6th	Only 3 Ks & no W in SEA was kind of a bummer, but 2 H & 0 BB in 6 IP is still awesome
5	Bailey Ober	MIN v NYM	x	x	x	12	7.11	1.74	10%	23rd	It’ll take time to outrun that 8 ER season opener, but 2 ER in 10 IP since then is a good start
6	Jack Flaherty	DET at MIL	x	x	x	16	1.62	0.96	21%	11th	BB% is up, but K% is back in line w/his DET run from last yr
7	Jesús Luzardo	PHI v SFG	x	x	x	18	1.50	1.00	29%	21st	Running a sky-high 36% K, but the real key has been a career-best 116 Location+, slotting him behind only Logan Gilbert & Pablo López
8	Nick Lodolo	CIN v SEA	x	x	x	18	0.96	0.70	10%	23rd	Also toting a fantastic Loc+, his 112 mark tying him for the 7th-highest total, but he’s not missing any bats w/just 8 Ks on the season and an 8% SwStr (-4 pts from career); it bears watching though he remains a firm start right now
9	Tylor Megill	NYM at MIN	x	x	x	14	0.63	1.26	16%	20th	Adding pitches per start, but IP actually went to season-low 4 IP last time out and yet he’s got 2 Ws
10	Ryan Pepiot	TBR v BOS	x	x	x	16	3.38	1.50	12%	16th	Still missing bats w/a career-high 14% SwStr so I feel the 22% K will improve; HR concerns from that home park (all 3 starts at home so far) are there early on: 2.3 HR9, 22% HR/FB
11	Shota Imanaga	CHC at SDP	x	x	x	23	2.70	0.90	8%	8th	Also missing bats (14% SwStr) enough to believe the 15% K will get better; a sparkling .164 BABIP has allowed him to skirt troubles for a meager 15% K
12	Merrill Kelly 켈리	ARI at MIA	x	x	x	15	7.20	1.60	-3%	18th	Remember that a 10-tm reco for guys like Kelly/Springs doesn’t mean they’re must start, rather that you can consider them; mosttt 10-tm rotations will be deep enough to not need him
13	Jeffrey Springs	ATH at CHW	x	x	x	15	4.20	1.47	13%	27th	Rebounded from CHC dud w/a QS (4 R, but only 3 ER), though the matchup is driving my interest here as he’s a capable team streamer who we have to be careful w/that in home park even in seemingly decent matchups; I’d run him anywhere v. CHW
14	Kevin Gausman	TOR v ATL	x	x	x	19	2.33	0.62	16%	15th	Love the 10 Ks at BOS, but ATL getting back to being scary (.381 wOBA vR last wk was 1st in MLB) which makes this skippable if you’ve developed some depth in your rotation
15	Tyler Mahle	TEX v LAA		x	x	13	1.32	0.88	9%	9th	Tied w/Luzardo at 116 Loc+ which is saving him from a 90 Stf+ (t-9th lowest); I’d try to hold even if you’re not starting as I think there’s something here but there could be some pain if the K-BB doesn’t rise to counter the inevitable BABIP (.147) and HR rate (0!) regression
16	Justin Verlander	SFG at PHI		x	x	13	6.92	1.69	16%	17th	I can’t point to much other than the 16% SwStr and 3.62 SIERA, but I’m sticking w/him for another 3-4 starts as I still think healthy JV can be good
17	Yusei Kikuchi	LAA at TEX		x	x	18	5.00	1.28	11%	10th	OMG, he’s gonna go full Tyler Anderson, isn’t he? I don’t want to overreact to 3 starts, but the HRs are back in full force and he’s not missing the bats to counter it w/a career-worst 9% SwStr
18	Landon Knack	LAD v COL		x	x	4	10.38	2.08	5%	27th	Rough first start w/8 base runners in 2.3 IP, but it’s COL… I’ll take a shot at a rebound
19	Michael Wacha	KCR at NYY			x	15	4.20	1.40	5%	3rd	I didn’t have him on 2-start chart so I don’t know if I missed him or he got moved into it, but he’s in the YOLO zone w/both on the road (at DET isn’t an auto-start: 4th wOBA vR so far)
20	Ryan Feltner	COL at LAD			x	16	2.81	1.19	18%	7th	LAD has been a bit chilly of late and I love Feltner, but this is still super risky
21	Logan Allen	CLE at BAL			x	10	3.60	1.80	-4%	24th	Gonna take some time to work those 5 BB at SDP off, but he bounced back w/a 4.7 IP/1 UER effort v. CHW
22	Jake Irvin	WSN at PIT			x	16	5.63	1.50	9%	30th	I could take a shot here, but not if I have to commit to the 2-start (at COL this wknd)
23	Sean Burke	CHW v ATH				13	6.08	1.28	7%	19th	The 29% K last yr did come in a tiny 19 IP sample last yr, but it wasn’t like he didn’t miss bats in MiLB so hopefully he can turn this 14% around soon
24	Erick Fedde	STL v HOU				15	4.20	1.00	-5%	24th	2 gems (6 IP w/1 & 0 ER) and a mega-dud (3 IP/6 ER) and that’s the risk — his downside can really sting
25	Mitch Keller	PIT v WSN				17	4.24	1.35	11%	10th	I’m not really interested in streaming v. WSN with minimal upside
26	Walker Buehler	BOS at TBR				15	5.74	1.28	18%	8th	I wish I could be more excited about the big outing v. TOR (6.3 IP/1 ER/1 BB/7 K); he had ’em chasing (81% O-Contact), but they weren’t missing w/just a 6% SwStr; TBR is not a place I want the ball in play very often
27	Randy Vásquez	SDP v CHC				15	1.72	1.21	-10%	5th	3+ BB in all three starts, incl. 5 at CHC
28	Quinn Priester	MIL v DET				5	1.80	1.60	10%	4th	I’m keeping tabs on him w/MIL, but not ready to run him in a solidly difficult matchup
29	Charlie Morton	BAL v CLE				13	8.78	1.88	14%	21st	Schedule hasn’t been kind (at TOR/BOS/at ARI), but he also has a 1.40 WHIP in his last 342 IP so he just might not be that good anymore
30	Connor Gillispie	MIA v ARI				14	3.86	1.14	12%	1st	He’s a low-upside 5-and-dive bc you can never really expect a win so the margins are raaaazor thin

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