Starting Pitcher Chart – August 23rd
Daily SP Chart archive
There are some tough spots to navigate on Wednesday with several team streamer or better types either battling some major volatility, facing a tough matchup, or both! Your situation will always be the driving factor in your decisions as the risk/reward calculus is different for everyone.
If I’m really trying to catch lightning in a bottle, I think I’d take the big swing with Quintana. Sale is ahead of him, but unlikely to be as widely available and I just don’t think Sale’s a good bet for 5 IP. I want to be clear, this is for a chase situation where you need some flat out good luck to really get going.
—
Starter Notes August.23.2023
| RK | PITCHER | GAME | 10 | 12 | 15+ | IP | ERA | WHIP | K-BB | wOBA RK L30/Season | NOTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clayton Kershaw | LAD at CLE | x | x | x | 105.1 | 2.48 | 1.03 | 20% | 30th/30th | Could be a looong night for the Guards |
| 2 | Shohei Ohtani | LAA v CIN | x | x | x | 130.2 | 3.17 | 1.06 | 21% | 17th/12th | I wonder how many of y’all are rolling with him in the rotation or is the hitting just too good to pass up? |
| 3 | George Kirby | SEA at CHW | x | x | x | 150.2 | 3.23 | 1.02 | 20% | 29th/30th | Castillo, Woo, Kirby… what a gauntlet for the White Sox |
| 4 | Corbin Burnes | MIL v MIN | x | x | x | 152 | 3.43 | 1.06 | 16% | 7th/9th | The Battle of Los Angeles v. Lance Lynn last time out was one of my favorite games of the year |
| 5 | Cole Ragans | KCR at OAK | x | x | x | 53 | 4.08 | 1.38 | 16% | 21st/28th | Great spot for the rising lefty after a nice battle in Wrigley |
| 6 | Sandy Alcantara | MIA at SDP | x | x | x | 164.1 | 4.11 | 1.18 | 15% | 24th/19th | Far and away his best run of the yr: 2.75 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 19% K-BB in his L10 (68.7 IP) |
| 7 | Aaron Civale | TBR v COL | x | x | x | 92.1 | 2.44 | 1.12 | 12% | 11th/16th | Pitching some of the best baseball we’ve ever seen from him |
| 8 | Kenta Maeda | MIN at MIL | x | x | x | 69.2 | 4.13 | 1.16 | 23% | 26th/25th | His 2 worst starts during this 10-start run (2.68 ERA) have come at OAK and v. DET for some reason |
| 9 | Kevin Gausman | TOR at BAL | x | x | x | 144.1 | 3.24 | 1.16 | 25% | 18th/17th | He’s a staff staple so he’s allowed a dud here and there, nothing to worry about |
| 10 | Andrew Abbott | CIN at LAA | x | x | x | 81.1 | 2.99 | 1.12 | 19% | 23rd/12th | Trout’s back for LAA, but I’m riding w/Abbott 100% right now |
| 11 | Seth Lugo | SDP v MIA | x | x | x | 103.1 | 3.92 | 1.26 | 18% | 22nd/24th | Pretty bankable team streamer w/most of his duds coming against tough teams outside of KCR smoking him back in May |
| 12 | Michael Lorenzen | PHI v SFG | x | x | x | 126 | 3.57 | 1.08 | 12% | 30th/20th | Exhibit 9,108,254 that the 1st performance in a B2B v. the same team is in no way indicative of how the next will go (no hitter then 6 ER in <4 IP) |
| 13 | Tarik Skubal | DET v CHC | x | x | x | 38.1 | 3.76 | 1.07 | 24% | 17th/16th | It’s risky w/the Cubs hitting well of late (though better vR) and I understand a sit, but I’m rolling w/him |
| 14 | Zack Thompson | STL at PIT | x | x | 30 | 3.90 | 1.47 | 20% | 24th/21st | An impressive 30% K-BB in 13 IP across 2 starts and a 4 IP relief app. makes him a worthy streamer | |
| 15 | Reid Detmers | LAA v CIN | x | x | 115 | 4.93 | 1.37 | 18% | 26th/18th | Weird to pissed off by a 7 IP of 1-hit ball, but most of us sat him in TEX after B2B 7 ER outings! I’m ready to be hurt again | |
| 16 | Jameson Taillon | CHC at DET | x | x | 110 | 5.56 | 1.37 | 13% | 12th/28th | Has the mega-dud at TOR (8 ER), but still has a 3.69 ERA/1.17 WHIP in his L8 even w/that start | |
| 17 | Charlie Morton | ATL v NYM | x | x | 134.2 | 3.54 | 1.43 | 14% | 15th/14th | Mostly for the Wins chasers, but if you’re good there and can lose ground in WHIP, he’s a tough start | |
| 18 | Jack Flaherty | BAL v TOR | x | x | 123.2 | 4.73 | 1.55 | 11% | 25th/13th | Had nothing in San Diego and it led to blow up start, willing to go back to the well but another dud will require some further assessment | |
| 19 | Chris Sale | BOS at HOU | x | 68 | 4.50 | 1.12 | 22% | 1st/3rd | They’re taking their time w/him: 58 and 65 pitches so far leave little margin for error at HOU if he’s at 3-5 IP | ||
| 20 | José Quintana | NYM at ATL | x | 35.2 | 3.03 | 1.26 | 7% | 3rd/1st | It’s a terrifying matchup but he’s picked up where last yr left off so there are some scenarios where I could see gambling | ||
| 21 | MacKenzie Gore | WSN at NYY | x | 123.1 | 4.38 | 1.38 | 17% | 2nd/6th | Super risky due more to Gore’s inconsistent nature than NYY’s lineup | ||
| 22 | Alex Cobb | SFG at PHI | x | 127.1 | 3.75 | 1.39 | 14% | 6th/11th | He was cooked at OAK and schedule has made him a brutal play since then (TEX, at ATL, and now this one) | ||
| 23 | Xzavion Curry | CLE v LAD | 75 | 3.24 | 1.19 | 10% | 21st/4th | I have some interest in Curry, but not w/this matchup | |||
| 24 | Michael Kopech | CHW v SEA | 116 | 5.12 | 1.50 | 8% | 3rd/15th | No chance I’m starting him here | |||
| 25 | José Urquidy | HOU v BOS | 38 | 5.21 | 1.42 | 13% | 8th/6th | No thanks | |||
| 26 | Luis Severino | NYY v WSN | 67.2 | 7.98 | 1.88 | 9% | 19th/23rd | Hard to see a path to rebuilding confidence for this season, especially as we enter roto stretch run and H2H playoffs | |||
| 27 | Brett Kennedy | CIN at LAA | 12 | 3.00 | 1.00 | 6% | 27th/8th | Nice 5 IP/0 ER outing v. TOR but it came w/2 Ks and a 7% SwStr so I need more before diving in | |||
| 28 | Kyle Muller | OAK v KCR | 55.1 | 7.64 | 1.97 | 4% | 20th/24th | Not enough upside | |||
| 29 | Luis L. Ortiz | PIT v STL | 53.2 | 4.86 | 1.73 | 3% | 9th/5th | No thanks | |||
| 30 | Austin Gomber | COL at TBR | 130.1 | 5.52 | 1.47 | 8% | 18th/13th | #NeverGomber |
Recommendations for Roto 5×5 Leagues
The chart includes their season performance, their opponent’s wOBA versus the pitcher’s handedness over the last 30 days and for the entire year, 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 risky stream for those spots.
You Aren't a FanGraphs Member
It looks like you aren't yet a FanGraphs Member (or aren't logged in). We aren't mad, just disappointed.
We get it. You want to read this article. But before we let you get back to it, we'd like to point out a few of the good reasons why you should become a Member.
1. Ad Free viewing! We won't bug you with this ad, or any other.
2. Unlimited articles! Non-Members only get to read 10 free articles a month. Members never get cut off.
3. Dark mode and Classic mode!
4. Custom player page dashboards! Choose the player cards you want, in the order you want them.
5. One-click data exports! Export our projections and leaderboards for your personal projects.
6. Remove the photos on the home page! (Honestly, this doesn't sound so great to us, but some people wanted it, and we like to give our Members what they want.)
7. Even more Steamer projections! We have handedness, percentile, and context neutral projections available for Members only.
8. Get FanGraphs Walk-Off, a customized year end review! Find out exactly how you used FanGraphs this year, and how that compares to other Members. Don't be a victim of FOMO.
9. A weekly mailbag column, exclusively for Members.
10. Help support FanGraphs and our entire staff! Our Members provide us with critical resources to improve the site and deliver new features!
We hope you'll consider a Membership today, for yourself or as a gift! And we realize this has been an awfully long sales pitch, so we've also removed all the other ads in this article. We didn't want to overdo it.
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.
the second august 22nd
headline should read August 23. Thanks for doing these!
whoops!!!
Why do the Angels keep staring Ohtani on double header days?! For daily leagues it becomes a choice between one pitcher start and two hitter starts. Champagne problems, I know, but very frustrating.
This is the 2nd time, huh? That’s tough
Zach Littell is pitching yesterday.