Starting Pitcher Chart – August 30th

August 30, 2023

The chart includes their season performance, their opponent’s wOBA versus the pitcher’s handedness over the last 30 days, 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.

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.

New SP rankings coming out today!

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Starter Notes August 30, 2023

RK	PITCHER	GAME	10	12	15+	IP	ERA	WHIP	K-BB	wOBA RK L30/Season	NOTE
1	Gerrit Cole	NYY at DET	x	x	x	168	2.95	1.04	21%	12th/28th
2	Brandon Woodruff	MIL at CHC	x	x	x	34	2.65	0.88	25%	7th/10th	Should be a fun rubber match here and MIL gets another shot w/an ace
3	Zach Eflin	TBR at MIA	x	x	x	144.1	3.55	1.04	22%	20th/23rd
4	Logan Webb	SFG v CIN	x	x	x	174.1	3.51	1.10	20%	16th/13th
5	Framber Valdez	HOU at BOS	x	x	x	161.2	3.40	1.11	18%	17th/11th	Effectively wild at DET w/0 H and 5 BB in 7 IP
6	Sonny Gray	MIN v CLE	x	x	x	150	3.06	1.19	16%	19th/21st
7	Tanner Bibee	CLE at MIN	x	x	x	119.2	3.01	1.20	16%	6th/7th	Just keeps rolling and I can’t see taking him outta the lineup anywhere
8	Chris Bassitt	TOR v WSN	x	x	x	157.1	4.00	1.23	15%	24th/25th	Riding a line where an extra mistake or two usually results in 4 ER: 2, 4, 1, 4, 2, 4 over his L6
9	Bryce Miller	SEA v OAK	x	x	x	101.2	3.90	1.04	18%	25th/30th
10	Cristopher Sánchez	PHI v LAA	x	x	x	70.1	3.33	1.01	19%	29th/15th	With LAA in a tailspin vL of late, Sánchez is viable in all formats
11	Ryan Pepiot	LAD v ARI	x	x	x	9	2.00	0.78	29%	23rd/9th	Luzardo has a longer track record, but I’d rather go w/Pep in a shallower lg if I’m only picking one as his newfound control makes incredibly appealing
12	Kutter Crawford	BOS v HOU	x	x	x	101	3.65	1.09	19%	10th/15th	He’s definitely someone I’m using in shallower lgs if I’m in chase mode bc while it’s a tough matchup, I really like the arm so it doesn’t even feel super risky
13	Jesús Luzardo	MIA v TBR		x	x	143.1	3.77	1.25	21%	14th/9th	Runs VERY hot and cold: 50 average Game Score in his L9 w/a high of 76 and low of 15 (4 at 65+, 4 under 45)… feeling lucky?
14	Kyle Hendricks	CHC v MIL		x	x	104.1	3.80	1.14	12%	22nd/24th
15	Dylan Cease	CHW v BAL		x	x	142.1	4.87	1.47	16%	9th/16th	A more extreme version of Luzardo w/a 44 avg in his L8 including 4 at 60+ and 4 under 40
16	Kyle Gibson	BAL v CHW		x	x	158.1	4.89	1.32	13%	27th/29th	Always a risky stream as he doesn’t have a clear opponent-based split, in fact his 16% K-BB v. good tms is 6 pts higher than v. crummy ones but his ERA is over a half run worse
17	Andre Jackson	PIT at KCR		x	x	36.2	4.91	1.23	18%	15th/27th	Is there something here: 3.32 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 19% K-BB in 19 IP w/PIT… he’s gone 70+ pitches in his L3 outings, too
18	Dane Dunning	TEX at NYM		x	x	136.2	3.36	1.21	12%	21st/18th
19	Hunter Greene	CIN at SFG		x	x	80	5.06	1.53	19%	30th/20th	Almost prefer him on the road w/his HR issues
20	Brandon Pfaadt	ARI at LAD			x	67	5.91	1.36	14%	8th/2nd	3 HR in AAA return, but just 3 more in L6 en route to a 3.31 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 16% K-BB in 35 IP… a terrifying matchuo, but worthy Hail Mary for those in chase mode
21	Reid Detmers	LAA at PHI			x	120	5.03	1.38	17%	7th/10th	In that Luzardo/Cease class w/a particularly wild trio of Game Scores in his L3: 12, 77, 38
22	Miles Mikolas	STL v SDP			x	158.1	4.66	1.30	12%	17th/19th
23	Patrick Corbin	WSN at TOR				149.1	4.70	1.47	9%	9th/7th
24	Denyi Reyes	NYM v TEX				12	7.50	1.92	9%	11th/3rd
25	Rich Hill	SDP at STL				133	5.21	1.50	11%	24th/18th
26	Joey Wentz	DET v NYY				84.1	6.62	1.65	11%	3rd/5th
27	Kyle Freeland	COL v ATL				135	5.00	1.47	8%	4th/1st
28	Angel Zerpa	KCR v PIT				17.1	7.27	1.50	12%	23rd/22nd
29	Zach Neal	OAK at SEA				17	6.88	1.82	5%	3rd/12th
30	Darius Vines	ATL at COL				#N/A	#N/A	#N/A	#N/A	18th/17th	25-yr old righty expected to get the shot — 2.70 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 19% K-BB in 43 IP across 3 levels

Recommendations for Roto 5×5 Leagues