Starting Pitcher Chart – May 12th, 2025

May 12, 2025

The chart includes their performance for 2025 (I changed over from 2024 #s on April 15th), their opponent’s wOBA rank versus the pitcher’s handedness from this year so far (this changed as of April 14th), 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 riskier 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 valuable focusing on roto.

2-start board update coming Monday morning!

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Starter Notes May 12, 2025

RK	PITCHER	GAME	10	12	15+	IP	ERA	WHIP	K-BB	2025 wOBA RK	NOTE
1	Michael King	SDP v LAA	x	x	x	44	2.22	0.99	19%	23rd	Still prefer Skenes rest of season, but it’s a much better matchup for King
2	Paul Skenes	PIT at NYM	x	x	x	48	2.77	0.95	18%	11th	You’d like better than his 25% K rate, but he’s still been amazing
3	Tyler Mahle	TEX v COL	x	x	x	42	1.48	0.98	10%	28th	2-start this wk w/a start v. HOU on the wknd followed by a trip to CHW next wk
4	Freddy Peralta	MIL at CLE	x	x	x	45	2.18	1.04	18%	19th	Has allowed >2 ER just 1x (3 at SFG) elevating him to SP15 on the Player Rater
5	Cristopher Sánchez	PHI v STL	x	x	x	37	2.89	1.23	19%	9th	Unfazed by the minor lg dimensins at TBR w/6 shutout IP of 1-hit ball
6	Michael Wacha	KCR at HOU	x	x	x	45	2.98	1.15	11%	24th	Dealing since he allowed 4 v. BAL back in early-Apr: 2.52 ERA/1.05 WHIP in 6 starts
7	Merrill Kelly	ARI at SFG	x	x	x	44	4.09	1.05	12%	13th	That 9 ER in the Bronx will inflate his home/road ERA all yr; just 3 ER in 16.7 road IP across 3 starts since
8	Ryan Gusto	HOU v KCR	x	x	x	27	2.93	1.27	18%	25th	Rejoining the rotation w/Wesneski’s injury and now lines up for a spicy 2-step
9	Colin Rea	CHC v MIA	x	x	x	29	2.43	1.21	15%	22nd	Limiting HRs has taken him from his usual #4-5 SP realm to more of a #2-3 and this v. MIA and v. CHW 2-step is worth looking at everywhere… even if the #s regress a bit, W potential is still very high
10	Matthew Liberatore	STL at PHI	x	x	x	41	3.07	0.95	20%	10th	PHI isn’t easy, but I’m starting him everywhere right now
11	David Peterson	NYM v PIT	x	x	x	38	3.52	1.38	14%	28th	A pair of errors salvaged his ERA at ARI (4 R/2 ER) as he remains firmly on the tightrope w/this ERA/WHIP combo
12	Grant Holmes	ATL v WSN		x	x	39	4.58	1.25	12%	18th	Litmus test 2-step wk for Holmes w/at BOS looming on the wknd; didn’t see a 12% BB coming but w/just 3 in his L2, maybe he’s improving? Schedule stays intense after this wk: SDP, at PHI, ARI
13	Clarke Schmidt	NYY at SEA		x	x	20	4.79	1.40	10%	3rd	1st real gem of the yr last time out v. SDP; devastating 2-step w/4th and 5th ranked tms in wOBA vR
14	Jake Irvin	WSN at ATL			x	48	3.94	1.15	10%	14th	Curvin’ Jake Irvin has a 3.09 ERA/0.97 WHIP over his L5 (32 IP) and that’s inflated by an ugly 3-run 1st inn. at PHI (5 IP/3 ER after that); 10% K-BB & 1.4 HR9 do undercut the viability of the run w/a .196 BABIP doing most of the work
15	Yusei Kikuchi	LAA at SDP			x	42	3.83	1.46	10%	4th	Good in 4 of his L5, but the 5th was 2 IP/4 ER/4 BB/0 K at MIN and now you’re staring down the barrel of an at SDP/at LAD 2-step… goooood luck!
16	Ben Lively	CLE v MIL			x	41	3.46	1.20	9%	20th	Now featuring colored smoke and even more mirrors!
17	Tanner Houck	BOS at DET			x	41	6.10	1.50	10%	10th	Those 11 ER at TBR are obscuring a solid 3.57 ERA over his L4 w/a 1.17 WHIP and 17% K-BB in 22.7 IP; not diving in head-first, but he’s at least back on the table for a 2-step wk (v. ATL this wknd)
18	Justin Verlander	SFG v ARI				42	4.50	1.31	11%	2nd	It’s really gotta be aces-only v. ARI and it’s not like JV is fully earning the 2.70 ERA over his L4
19	Emerson Hancock	SEA v NYY				23	5.70	1.56	10%	4th	Pitching pretty well since DET trounced him for 6 ER in just 2/3rds an IP, but w/at SDP looming on the wknd, this is remarkably tough 2-step… be careful
20	Jackson Jobe	DET v BOS				27	4.88	1.48	4%	8th	Getting cooked in Coors isn’t entirely disqualifying even w/how bad COL’s been, buuuuttt he was walking a tightrope well before this start rending him cuttable in many formats
21	Chase Dollander	COL at TEX				28	7.71	1.64	9%	26th	Solid matchup and out of Coors, buuuttt I’m just not sure there’s enough upside
22	Cal Quantrill	MIA at CHC				31	7.11	1.67	8%	5th	Yes, offff course he drops a 5 IP/1 ER/6 K gm on LAD, lol… I love baseball!!

Recommendations for Roto 5×5 Leagues