Starting Pitcher Chart – April 22nd, 2026

• Daily SP Chart archive
• 2-Start podcast episode
• Preseason SP Rankings (update coming this wk!)

Welcome to the Daily SP Chart.

The chart includes their performance for 2026, their opponent’s wOBA versus the pitcher’s handedness, my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues – essentially a shallow, medium, deep league setup – and then a note about some, most, or all depending on the day. 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 a much riskier stream for those spots.

These are general recommendations for standard 5×5 roto leagues, and your league situation will carry more weight whether you are protecting ratios or chasing counting numbers. I usually won’t have much to write about aces who are locked into our rotations. If you want to discuss someone further, please feel free to leave a comment. I usually do a few sweeps of the comments before game time in case there are time-sensitive questions.

I’m going to try the notes up here again instead of in the board. I think I do this once a year and usually end up back with them on the board, but curious where y’all come out. I wish there was more space on the board because sometimes the lengthier comments can really skew the look. It’s a billion percent cleaner w/data only, but I’m open to hearing if any preference exists. I’ll still try to keep these tight… part of the beauty of the board is it forces me to be more concise and as a wordy son of a bitch, it’s not bad to have a guardrail sometimes (as I literally get wordy ahead of the actual commentary):

• I remain firm that using Ohtani at SP has more merit this year, especially if your offense is rolling; he’s simply an ace as his part-time job… he’s just SO damn amazing!
• I’m not gonna pretend I fully stayed the course on Soriano as evidenced by my light share count despite the premium velo and GB foundation that new pitching coach Mike Maddux had to work with Day 1; it’s only 5 starts but hard not to be super excited about this
• Wacha’s K-BB is up 4 pts from last yr, but in line w/2023-24 when he had a 3.29 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, and 4.28 SIERA; his 3.90 SIERA is still my guide for him
• First start off the IL for Boyd and everyone has their own rules for those; I start my high-end guys and case-by-case w/mid-tier like him; catching PHI at a good time adds some confidence to start him
• The Leiter-Ashcraft matchup is interesting as both guys have been worse vL this year which is the strength of both lineups. Leiter handled lefties beautifully last year but has a .972 OPS against them this year and the five best Pirates will attack him from the left side w/Oneil, O’Hearn, Lowe, Horwitz, and switch-hitting Reynolds. Ashcraft only has a .612 OPS vL, but that’s 129 pts higher than his vR and four of their five lefties are hitting well this year: Seager, Nimmo, Carter, and Joc. They’re not completely unusable in 10s, but I’d look elsewhere if I can.
• Mize rebounded from two bad IP in MIN with 1 ER in 12.3 IP since including 12 Ks and 2 BB; he’s not too different than Leiter/Ashcraft and gets a similarly difficult matchup, but he’s cooking lefties this year so MIL’s lefty-laden lineup isn’t as scary for him and thus I gave him the 3-x nod as opposed to just 2 for Leiter/Ashcraft.
• Martinez’s skills aren’t supporting his 2.45 ERA but even still this is a good spot against his former mates, who are dead last against righties in wOBA, plus the added benefit of pitching in the Trop.
• Holmes is running a crazy hot .215 BABIP to keep his WHIP in check but that won’t last as he’s more or less the same guy we saw last year. His 3.42 ERA/1.30 WHIP over the last two years will still be my guide for him.
• Patrick and E-Rod have obscene ERAs despite single-digit K-BB rates… the ERAs will rise but so will their K-BB rates
• That .319 BABIP for Buehler terrifies me in Coors but there are some spots I could see taking the shot
• If Lambert can consistently miss bats, there could be something here… but that’s a big IF for the 29-year old
• It’s going to take time for Bassitt to work off his 10 ER in 6.3 IP to start the year but the composite ERA obscures the fact that he’s allowed just 1 ER in 9.7 IP over his last two starts; KCR is a great spot for him to stay hot
• I had some excitement for Williamson coming into the season and he’s been better since 6 ER to open his season with just 4 ER in 16 IP since (and 2 Ws!), but only 9 Ks against 11 BB says he’s been fortunate. With Lodolo lurking, Williamson could be headed to the pen after this start regardless of results.
• Lauer openly came out against getting an opener despite it yielding better results his last time out after some struggles… curious if they get him on board with it or acquiesce to letting him traditionally start.
• Fuentes gets recalled and will start over Martin Perez, I like him a lot in a longer term situation and would consider in 12s and larger for today’s start. It could be a spot start so don’t go crazy acquiring him until we know if it’s a longer term stay. I don’t remake the board on these late changes but consider him in between Holmes & Bibee. 
• Prielipp is an interesting prospect for MIN making his MLB debut today. I know the Mets have been outright awful this year, but I’ll still sit on the sidelines for this one and get a look at Prielipp before making any recos going forward. They also get Soto back in the lineup today so perhaps they’ll actually start playing like a major league team. I’d still view underneath Lauer so ahead of a few others even with 0 MLB experience.