Starting Pitcher Chart – May 14th, 2025

May 14, 2025

The chart includes their performance for 2025, their opponent’s wOBA rank versus the pitcher’s handedness from this year so far, 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 a much 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.

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Starter Notes May 14, 2025

RK	PITCHER	GAME	10	12	15+	IP	ERA	WHIP	K-BB	2025 wOBA RK	NOTE
1	Tarik Skubal	DET v BOS	x	x	x	47	2.08	0.88	30%	7th	Ace day for the Tigers as they go for the sweep!!
2	Yoshinobu Yamamoto	LAD v ATH	x	x	x	45	1.80	0.98	22%	13th
3	Jesús Luzardo	PHI v STL	x	x	x	47	2.11	1.21	20%	9th	He and Gray were pushed to the doubleheader Wednesday after the rain out on Tuesday
4	Sonny Gray	STL at PHI	x	x	x	46	3.50	1.08	19%	11th
5	Nick Lodolo	CIN v CHW	x	x	x	47	3.23	1.01	16%	26th
6	Clay Holmes	NYM v PIT	x	x	x	42	2.74	1.24	16%	29th	Piling up good starts after the buzzy spring sent him racing up draft boards and the 9% SwStr is the only real crack in the armor yet he’s still running a 25% K; currently a must-start in all formats for me
7	Jameson Taillon	CHC v MIA	x	x	x	43	4.53	1.17	14%	22nd	Great matchup give him juice in any format this wk
8	Bailey Ober	MIN at BAL	x	x	x	43	3.50	1.40	15%	8th	Just 1 ER in each of his L4 despite allowing 31 H in 24.7 IP thanks in large part to the 0 HR allowed
9	Ryan Pepiot	TBR at TOR	x	x	x	44	3.86	1.31	12%	24th	The rare guy where you’re almost more comfortable running him on the road
10	Aaron Nola	PHI v STL		x	x	46	4.89	1.35	18%	9th	The 18% K-BB gives hope for a substantive rebound, but can he really get there w/out improving the HR rate which now sits at 1.4 over his last 439 IP
11	Chris Bassitt	TOR v TBR		x	x	45	3.35	1.23	21%	16th	OK so those first 4 were more of a hot streak than him dialing back to his Oakland prime (6.04 ERA/1.40 WHIP in L4); allowed 0 HR thru 5 and then 6 in his last 3
12	Hunter Dobbins	BOS at DET		x	x	22	2.78	1.19	16%	10th	Some concerns that his starts might be shortlived w/Buehler working his way back, but I can’t fathom why Houck would stay in over him so I would hold through this start to see how it plays out, even if DET gets to him a bit
13	Gavin Williams	CLE v MIL		x	x	37	4.38	1.73	13%	21st	Wasn’t all sunshine & rainbows w/4 BB, but that is nitpicking after 5 scoreless & 8 Ks v. a tough PHI club; I’m holding thru next wk’s 2-step before making any major keep/cut decisions in 12s or deeper
14	Jose Quintana	MIL at CLE		x	x	34	2.65	1.24	9%	22nd	The ERA will head upward w/these core skills, the question is whether it’ll be a progression of 3-4 ER outings in 4-6 IP or all at once with 6+ ER mega-dud so you’re walking a tightrope any time you give him a go
15	Michael Lorenzen	KCR at HOU		x	x	45	3.57	1.26	13%	17th	If he doesn’t improve that 1.6 HR9 it will be tough to maintain a mid-3.00s ERA, though I’m OK taking a shot v. the Yordan-less Stros
16	Luis Castillo	SEA v NYY			x	43	3.95	1.38	8%	1st	Track record matters in terms of holding and I advocate hanging on for the at CHW/at HOU 2-step, but do not feel obligated to run him in this matchup
17	Will Warren	NYY at SEA			x	36	4.75	1.36	16%	4th	Has the skills to become a streamable guy across multiple formats including next wk’s TEX/at COL 2-step (yes, even in Coors), but I’m definitely OK skipping this one
18	Patrick Corbin	TEX v COL			x	31	3.13	1.39	6%	24th	Look, if you take this shot you know there’s heavyyyy risk, even against COL; that said, it’s one of the worst tms in the lg and a guy who hasn’t allowed >3 ER in any of his 6 starts
19	Mitchell Parker	WSN at ATL			x	45	3.97	1.30	2%	25th	Regression has come in the form of 18 H and 11 BB in his L3 (10.38 ERA); if we get a decent outing here, I’d be open to running the 2-step next wk
20	Eduardo Rodriguez	ARI at SFG			x	40	6.86	1.67	17%	19th	Has erased all his good work w/2 mega-duds in his L3, but both were avoidable (at NYM, v. LAD) in just about every format… problem is that this is just an OK start and then he’s right back at LAD next wk
21	Ryan Weathers	MIA at CHC				#N/A	#N/A	#N/A	#N/A	3rd	Impressive spring was undercut by a forearm strain and this isn’t a great landing spot for his season debut w/B2B starts against the Cubs; open to stashing him, but can’t start him in either of these gms v. CHC
22	Gunnar Hoglund	ATH at LAD				11	2.38	1.06	20%	3rd	A gem here could force ATH into a tough decision as Ginn works his way back from injury (AAA rehab) and if Hoglund sticks, he’s set up for 2 next wk (LAA/PHI) so I’d hold even if ya don’t start him here
23	Erick Fedde 페디	STL at PHI				46	3.86	1.31	4%	11th	Coming off a shutout at WAS but he had 10 ER in previous 10.7 IP; now he’s facing another tough matchup and still toting a season-long 4% K-BB… I still think he’s a major risk
24	Simeon Woods Richardson	MIN at BAL				33	4.01	1.43	13%	8th
25	Bryce Elder	ATL v WSN				38	4.97	1.29	11%	19th
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	Bailey Falter	PIT at NYM				43	4.36	1.13	10%	4th
28	Davis Martin	CHW at CIN				42	4.01	1.41	9%	15th
29	Randy Vásquez	SDP v LAA				38	3.76	1.59	-4%	26th
30	Jordan Hicks	SFG v ARI				43	5.82	1.41	13%	2nd	When does Birdsong swipe this rotation spot from Hicks?
31	Dean Kremer	BAL v MIN				44	5.24	1.28	10%	23rd
32	Colton Gordon	HOU v KCR				#N/A	#N/A	#N/A	#N/A	27th
33	Antonio Senzatela	COL at TEX				39	5.77	1.92	5%	27th
34	Kyle Hendricks	LAA at SDP				35	5.30	1.26	4%	6th

Recommendations for Roto 5×5 Leagues