Starting Pitcher Chart – May 13th, 2025

Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Daily SP Chart archive

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.

JUMP TO 2-START CHART

Starter Notes May 13, 2025
RK PITCHER GAME 10 12 15+ IP ERA WHIP K-BB 2025 wOBA RK NOTE
1 Kodai Senga NYM v PIT x x x 38 1.16 1.16 12% 29th Skills aren’t exactly backing up his filthy 0.80 ERA from is L6, but he’s got the best matchups of the studs
2 Dylan Cease SDP v LAA x x x 40 4.91 1.41 17% 26th Has allowed just 9 ER in 5 starts since the 9 ER dud at ATH
3 Framber Valdez HOU v KCR x x x 48 3.94 1.19 14% 25th
4 Jesús Luzardo PHI v STL x x x 47 2.11 1.21 20% 9th
5 Max Fried NYY at SEA x x x 51 1.05 0.91 17% 12th
6 Kris Bubic KCR at HOU x x x 48 1.69 1.10 17% 14th
7 Spencer Schwellenbach ATL v WSN x x x 47 3.61 1.12 18% 20th
8 Sonny Gray STL at PHI x x x 46 3.50 1.08 19% 10th
9 Bryan Woo SEA v NYY x x x 44 3.25 0.92 21% 1st Tough matchup, but I can’t envision benching him anywhere; he’s gone 6+ IP in every start, allowing more than 3 ER just 2x
10 Andrew Abbott CIN v CHW x x 24 2.25 1.17 19% 27th I’m not fully bought in on Abbott overall, but we gotta take advantage of the schedule here (OK running the 2-step w/CLE on the wknd, too)
11 Ben Brown CHC v MIA x x 36 4.95 1.65 17% 22nd 1st of B2B starts v. MIA, though next wk’s comes w/an at CIN attached on the end
12 Robbie Ray SFG v ARI x x 44 2.84 1.20 13% 11th Old school Ray is back with nasty stuff that’s hard to hit, but also hard to control… he’ll go as far as his HR suppression takes him; at 1.0 HR9 he can maintain a good ERA, but if it creeps up, his mid-4.00s ERA indicators become prescient
13 José Berríos TOR v TBR x x 46 3.86 1.41 12% 16th A standard streamer in 10s & lower and team streamers in 12s or deeper
14 Brandon Pfaadt ARI at SFG x x 46 3.28 1.22 16% 18th A team streamer everywhere, he’s startable but here but then his 2-step next wk kicks off at LAD :grimace:
15 Shane Baz TBR at TOR x 38 4.93 1.33 16% 24th Absolutely brutal 3 of his L4, but then the 4th was 7 IP/0 ER at SDP showcasing his upside; not the worst risk, just know there is a sharp downside
16 Michael Soroka WSN at ATL x 10 7.20 1.30 19% 15th 5 scoreless w/8 Ks v. CLE before a 4-run 6th inning; those runs counts but I do think those one-bad-inning outings can be indicative of a pitcher being close to clicking in, espec. a guy off the IL; risky 2-step, but I’m open to it in deep lgs & maybe even some medium lg YOLO throws
17 Keider Montero DET v BOS x 21 4.15 1.48 5% 11th There’s a good bit of risk here, but with Holton starting ahead of him, it’s not a bad throw for a pure Win chase
18 Landon Knack LAD v ATH x 13 4.61 1.46 8% 13th No opener, but another pure Win chase if you’ve got use for that
19 Jack Leiter TEX v COL x 23 5.09 1.30 7% 28th Remember that an “x” doesn’t mean must start in a partiular format, but any mildly competent arm has some appeal v. COL, especially when it’s not in Coors
20 José Soriano LAA at SDP 45 4.00 1.53 9% 5th I like TEMU Dustin May as an idea and it’s fun to watch him blast off 100-mph sinkers, but even May’s fantasy appeal is limited and he has a great shot to win each of his starts, Soriano doesn’t even that; hold for at ATH/v. MIA 2-step next wk
21 Kyle Freeland COL at TEX 39 6.41 1.65 13% 20th Not a terrible matchup and it is outside of Coors, but how much upside is there? Dollander found his footing & went off, but he brings a K upside Freeland just doesn’t have so you’re chasing 5-6 decent IP of work w/very little W upside
22 Mitch Keller PIT at NYM 45 4.40 1.40 10% 6th Better of late since the 7 ER dud v. NYY (3.57 ERA/1.28 WHIP in L6), but I’m still inclined to skip this and reconsider his 2-step of CIN/MIL next wk
23 Logan Allen CLE v MIL 35 4.33 1.67 4% 21st It’s about the volatility range w/skillsets like this and his Game Scores (50 is avg.) highlight the up & down nature: 34, 56, 69, 59, 16, 49, 35
24 Brayan Bello BOS at DET 22 2.01 1.34 1% 12th Don’t be fooled by this ERA, it’s being propped up by a 97% LOB rate and .234 BABIP; a 1% K-BB is impossibly bad and w/out sharp improvements, there’s a substantial fall-off coming
25 Simeon Woods Richardson MIN at BAL 33 4.01 1.43 13% 9th Low W upside bc while MIN is playing much better of late, he’s averaging sub-5 IP per start
26 Cade Povich BAL v MIN 35 5.55 1.54 11% 18th Just not enough juice to go for it here, even for the 2-step bc he doesn’t miss a ton of bats; he’ll remain on my radar in case things turn, but I’m out on him until he strings a few together w/some skill improvement
27 Jeffrey Springs ATH at LAD 39 4.81 1.42 7% 2nd Has just a 15% K and 3% K-BB in 7 starts since his Opening Day gem of 6 scoreless w/9 Ks and 1 BB
28 Quinn Priester MIL at CLE 28 5.08 1.66 1% 17th
29 Jonathan Cannon CHW at CIN 44 4.09 1.45 8% 14th
30 Valente Bellozo MIA at CHC 18 3.50 1.33 5% 8th
Recommendations for Roto 5×5 Leagues

 

2-START CHART

2-Start Chart for the Week of May 12th
RANK PITCHER TYPE MATCHUPS IP ERA WHIP K-BB Pitch+
1 Michael King 1 LAA/SEA 44.2 2.22 0.99 19% 104
2 Paul Skenes 1 at NYM/at PHI 48.2 2.77 0.95 18% 105
3 Max Fried 1 at SEA/NYM 51.2 1.05 0.91 17% 102
4 Cristopher Sánchez 1 STL/PIT 37.1 2.89 1.23 19% 98
5 Spencer Schwellenbach 2 WAS/at BOS 47.1 3.61 1.12 18% 108
6 Tyler Mahle 2 COL/HOU 42.2 1.48 0.98 10% 113
7 Matthew Liberatore 2 at PHI/at KCR 41 3.07 0.95 20% 108
8 Ryan Gusto 3 KCR/at TEX 27.2 2.93 1.27 18% 97
9 Shane Baz 3 at TOR/at MIA 38.1 4.93 1.33 16% 100
10 Colin Rea 3 MIA/CWS 29.2 2.43 1.21 15% 100
11 Michael Wacha 3 at HOU/STL 45.1 2.98 1.15 11% 101
12 Merrill Kelly 3 at SFG/COL 44 4.09 1.05 12% 107
13 Clarke Schmidt 3 at SEA/NYM 20.2 4.79 1.40 10% 100
14 David Peterson 3 PIT/at NYY 38.1 3.52 1.38 14% 103
15 José Berríos 3 TBR/DET 46.2 3.86 1.41 12% 95
16 Andrew Abbott 4 CHW/CLE 24 2.25 1.17 19% 93
17 Grant Holmes 4 WAS/at BOS 39.1 4.58 1.25 12% 100
18 Michael Soroka 4 at ATL/at BAL 10 7.20 1.30 19% 103
19 Justin Verlander 4 ARI/ATH 42 4.50 1.31 11% 96
20 Tanner Houck 4 at DET/ATL 41.1 6.10 1.50 10% 105
21 Jake Irvin 4 at ATL/at BAL 48 3.94 1.15 10% 105
22 Emerson Hancock 4 NYY/at SDP 23.2 5.70 1.56 10% 102
23 Yusei Kikuchi 4 at SDP/at LAD 42.1 3.83 1.46 10% 107
24 Jackson Jobe 4 BOS/at TOR 27.2 4.88 1.48 4% 96
25 Ben Lively 5 MIL/at CIN 41.2 3.46 1.20 9% 105
26 Cade Povich 5 MIN/WAS 35.2 5.55 1.54 11% 105
27 Simeon Woods Richardson 5 at BAL/at MIL 33.2 4.01 1.43 13% 99
28 Jack Leiter 5 COL/HOU 23 5.09 1.30 7% 89
29 Jeffrey Springs 5 at LAD/at SFG 39.1 4.81 1.42 7% 96
30 Chase Dollander 6 at TEX/at ARI 28 7.71 1.64 9% 90
31 Jonathan Cannon 6 at CIN/at CHC 44 4.09 1.45 8% 102
32 Cal Quantrill 6 at CHC/TBR 31.2 7.11 1.67 8% 100

Recommendations for Roto 5×5 Leagues

TYPE Key:
1 – Auto-Start | 2 – All Formats | 3 – Most Formats |
4 – Some Formats | 5 – YOLO | 6 – Hard Pass





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

5 Comments
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Backdoor SliderMember since 2025
22 days ago

Pfaadt and his 3.28 ERA/3.73 SIERA is just a streamer, but his next week kicks off against LAD where he :checks notes: just blanked them over 6.1 with 6 Ks.
Oh, ok.

Backdoor SliderMember since 2025
22 days ago
Reply to  Paul Sporer

No, of course not. But I think that outing, and his pitching this year, has proven him to be more than a streamer. And if you’re in a weekly, that start looks less daunting if you think he can be “serviceable” v. LAD if you really want that second start.

JimmyMember since 2019
22 days ago

You’re ignoring the glaring 5.56 xERA (4th worst among qualified pitchers). A big part of that is that he’s given up the 3rd highest hard hit rate among qualified pitchers. He also just got pummeled by the Phillies the outing before that. Using a player’s last start against a team to determine how they’ll do next time is a bad projection system.

Backdoor SliderMember since 2025
22 days ago
Reply to  Jimmy

You ignore SIERA I used (and his xFIP) and cherry-picked xERA lmaaaoooo
And I did not use the last start and make any determination on how he’d do next time. Strawman arguments are no arguments at all.