Starting Pitcher Chart – April 5th

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

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 – or rather just not be included in the chart – for a while until we get some data (7-10 days at least) 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. These are 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 and then you can mentally widen the range for H2H formats.

Wednesday, April 5th Starters
PITCHER TM OPP THR 10 12 15+ LAST YR STATS NOTE
Shane McClanahan TBR at WAS L x x x 2.54 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, 24% K-BB Schedule gods blessed him w/DET & at WAS to start the season
Jacob deGrom TEX BAL R x x x 3.08 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 39% K-BB Looking to rebound after the ugly Opening Day start
Cristian Javier HOU DET R x x x 2.54 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 24% K-BB Picking up where ’22 left off w/a brilliant 23% SwStr in his debut
Dylan Cease CHW SFG R x x x 2.20 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 20% K-BB Beautiful opener in HOU; will go as far as the control takes him
Gerrit Cole NYY PHI R x x x 3.50 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 26% K-BB Just a casual 50% K rate on Opening Day
Corbin Burnes MIL NYM R x x x 2.94 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 24% K-BB Cubs got to him in last year’s opener, too
Shohei Ohtani LAA at SEA R x x x 2.33 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 27% K-BB Only this low because it’s an ace-filled day, but they’re all auto-start studs
Alek Manoah TOR at KCR R x x x 2.24 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 16% K-BB Hoping to rebound after StL roughed him up on Opening Day
Aaron Nola PHI at NYY R x x x 3.25 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 26% K-BB Not a great venue, but obviously never sitting him
Jesús Luzardo MIA MIN L x x x 3.32 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 21% K-BB Can he stay healthy and complete the breakout this year?
Pablo López MIN at MIA R x x x 3.75 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 16% K-BB Early revenge game after the offseason trade
Hunter Greene CIN CHC R x x x 4.44 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 22% K-BB Command makes him super volatile and we saw some downside in his opener
Logan Webb SFG at CWS R x x x 2.90 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 15% K-BB Huge K surge on Opening Day… a harbinger for a return to the mid-20%s K%?
Miles Mikolas STL ATL R x x x 3.29 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 14% K-BB TOR/ATL is a tough start to the season, at least both are at home
David Peterson NYM at MIL L x x x 3.83 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 17% K-BB Battling Megill to hold the spot when JV returns
Corey Kluber BOS PIT R x x x 4.34 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 17% K-BB Just a streamer these days & matchups don’t get much better than PIT
Marcus Stroman CHC at CIN R x x 3.50 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 15% K-BB Tremendous debut, but I’m still nervous at CIN for a notoriously low-K% guy
Eduardo Rodriguez DET at HOU L x x 4.05 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 10% K-BB Don’t love throwing anyone at HOU, but their lineup isn’t nearly as deep this yr
Kyle Muller OAK CLE L x 3.41 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 22% K-BB in MiLB Sharp debut… let’s see it again
Mitch Keller PIT at BOS R x 3.91 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 11% K-BB Popular sleeper pick draws a rough 2nd start
Bryce Elder ATL at STL R x 3.17 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 11% K-BB Cards lineup too deeper to trust streamers very often
Kyle Gibson (I was using an old sheet before the Bradish injury… Gibson went tonight) BAL at TEX R 5.05 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 13% K-BB Heads back to his old stomping ground against a much better lineup than he had
Zack Greinke KCR TOR R 3.68 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 8% K-BB I’ll use him in some 2-start wks, not a 1-off v. a tough lineup
Hunter Gaddis CLE at OAK R 4.01 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 24% K-BB in MiLB Not ready to trust him even in a great matchup
Chris Flexen 플렉센 SEA LAA R 3.73 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 8% K-BB Be careful going against LAA with anyone but your studs
Patrick Corbin WAS TBR L 6.31 ERA, 1.70 WHIP, 11% K-BB No… just no
Recommendations for Roto 5×5 Leagues





Paul is the Editor of Rotographs and Content Director for OOTP Perfect Team. Follow Paul on Twitter @sporer and on Twitch at sporer.

1 Comment
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Fuzzermetrics
11 months ago

It’s pretty brutal how the Nationals have determined that because they overpaid for the back-end of the Corbin contract they’re just going to let him get mercilessly abused by other teams until his arm falls. How long until they go the Chris Davis route and realize that giving anyone else a shot is a better move?