Starting Pitcher Chart – April 4th

April 3, 2023

In past seasons I’ve done this Daily SP Chart down the stretch and invariably there are comments asking why I don’t do it all season. I’ve never really had a great answer for that so now I’m doing it!

Once the season gets going, the chart will include their performance over the last five starts, their opponent’s wOBA versus the pitcher’s handedness, my start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues, and then a note about them. At the outset, I will put their 2022 stats along with the note. The opponent wOBA will remain blank for a while until we get some data and because there is so much lineup turnover year-to-year, I’m not going to include last year’s mark.

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.

Tuesday, April 4th Starters

PITCHER	TM	OPP	THR	10	12	15+	LAST YR STATS	NOTE
Shane Bieber	CLE	at OAK	R	x	x	x	2.88 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 21% K-BB	Great matchup to kick off his 2-step
Sandy Alcantara	MIA	MIN	R	x	x	x	2.28 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 18% K-BB	Looking to rebound after a modest debut
Zac Gallen	ARI	at SDP	R	x	x	x	2.54 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 20% K-BB	Tough start with at LAD/at SDP back-to-back
Max Scherzer	NYM	at MIL	R	x	x	x	2.29 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 26% K-BB	What can I really say about him after just 1 start?
Julio Urías	LAD	COL	L	x	x	x	2.16 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 18% K-BB	Early focus will be on how shift changes impact him
Luis Castillo	SEA	LAA	R	x	x	x	2.99 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 20% K-BB	Not an easy matchup, but obviously not sitting the upcoming AL Cy Young
Yu Darvish	SDP	ARI	R	x	x	x	3.10 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 21% K-BB	6-man rotation will eat into some volume which might not be terrible for the 36 y/o
Framber Valdez	HOU	DET	L	x	x	x	2.82 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 15% K-BB	Set up for DET/at PIT back-to-back (PIT coming next wk)
Andrew Heaney	TEX	BAL	L	x	x	x	3.10 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 29% K-BB	Should be a stud, but for how many innings?
Hayden Wesneski	CHC	at CIN	R	x	x	x	2.18 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 20% K-BB	Tough park, but one of my favorite breakout picks for 2023
José Suarez	LAA	at SEA	L	x	x	x	3.96 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 15% K-BB	Excellent 22% K-BB over his final 64 IP last yr
Domingo Germán	NYY	PHI	R		x	x	3.61 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 13% K-BB	His 1.6 HR/9 will always make him a risky streamer
Kenta Maeda	MIN	at MIA	R		x	x	4.66 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 18% K-BB in 2021	Solid matchup, but he’s a wildcard returning from TJ
Nick Pivetta	BOS	PIT	R		x	x	4.56 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 13% K-BB	Standard streamer matchup and he also gets at DET later this wk
Roansy Contreras	PIT	at BOS	R			x	3.79 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 12% K-BB	Tough matchup for the potential breakout
Steven Matz	STL	ATL	L			x	5.25 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 21% K-BB	Small sample cut short by injuries, did have a 3.22 SIERA in 48 IP last yr
Tyler Wells	BAL	at TEX	R			x	4.25 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 11% K-BB	Mostly passing here, but interested in the OAK/at CWS 2-step next wk
JP Sears	OAK	CLE	L			x	3.86 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 10% K-BB	On my streamer radar despite not loving this matchup
Matt Manning	DET	at HOU	R				3.43 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 11% K-BB	4.45 SIERA more indicative of skills than his ERA
Germán Márquez	COL	at LAD	R				4.95 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 11% K-BB	A road streamer, but not this road start
Josh Fleming	TBR	at WAS	L				6.43 ERA, 1.89 WHIP, 10% K-BB	Not sure the matchup isn’t enough given his lack of swing-and-miss
Dylan Dodd	ATL	at STL	L				3.36 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 21% K-BB in MiLB	Not willing to gamble with a rookie debut at StL
Kris Bubic	KCR	TOR	L				5.58 ERA, 1.70 WHIP, 8% K-BB	Needs to miss more bats to find some streamer viability
Wade Miley	MIL	NYM	L				3.16 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 9% K-BB	Has some intrigue as a streamer, but not in this matchup
Matt Strahm	PHI	at NYY	L				3.83 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 18% K-BB	Shifting to SP so ’22 RP #s will likely regress
Yusei Kikuchi	TOR	at KCR	L				5.19 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 15% K-BB	He’s in “prove it” mode where I’d need to see multiple good starts to buy in
Luis Cessa	CIN	CHC	R				4.57 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 9% K-BB	Just not enough juice to take the shot
Chad Kuhl	WAS	TBR	R				5.72 ERA, 1.55 WHIP, 8% K-BB	Easy pass until he finds a way to command his stuff consistently

Recommendations for Roto 5×5 Leagues