Starting Pitcher Chart – May 18th
Daily SP Chart archive
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.
Thursday, May 18th Starter Notes
| RK | PITCHER | TM | OPP | THR | 10 | 12 | 15+ | NOTE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Julio Urías | LAD | at | STL | R | x | x | x | BABIP & HR surges have pushed him (3.61 ERA) right to the SIERA we’ve seen since 2021 (3.65) |
| 2 | Dylan Cease | CHW | CLE | R | x | x | x | We all knew the 82% LOB would level off, but it might be overcorrected at 65% (career 76%; lg avg 72%) — I’m sticking with him | |
| 3 | Eury Pérez | MIA | WSN | R | x | x | x | I usually give call-ups like this 5-6 starts locked in the lineup before really making any choices on ’em | |
| 4 | José Berríos | TOR | NYY | R | x | x | x | Disaster at BOS might’ve scared those who got burnt last yr, but he rebounded well despite a HR in each; no worse than a Team Streamer in all formats | |
| 5 | Logan Allen | CLE | at | CHW | L | x | x | x | WHIP is running hot, but I’m undaunted… I’m buying into the core skills |
| 6 | Tyler Wells | BAL | LAA | R | x | x | Tough matchup gives me some pause in shallower formats, but I’m definitely not cutting him even if you plan to skip this outing | ||
| 7 | Taj Bradley | TBR | at | NYM | R | x | x | Officially called up for this start; I know his 3 MiLB starts stunk… not sure if he was working on something specific, but regardless I’m putting him back in | |
| 8 | Nestor Cortes | NYY | at | TOR | L | x | The tough part is that while he isn’t super far off K-BB from 2021-22, his margins are small and there are no guarantees that he gets good again | ||
| 9 | Trevor Williams | WSN | at | MIA | R | x | Has been a capable streamer with his best starts against his easier matchups… MIA is a viable spot to take the gamble | ||
| 10 | Tyler Anderson | LAA | at | BAL | L | Better results over his L3 w/a 3.06 ERA, but the 1.57 WHIP and 4% K-BB say he’s not much better | |||
| 11 | Tylor Megill | NYM | at | TBR | R | Just nowhere near the guy he was in 2021-22 (19% K-BB) | |||
| 12 | Adam Wainwright | STL | LAD | R | Basically just NL’s Zack Greinke |
Recommendations for Roto 5×5 Leagues
Thursday, May 18th Starter Stats
| RK | PITCHER | TM | OPP | THR | 10 | 12 | 15+ | IP | ERA | WHIP | K-BB | OPP L30 wOBA | wOBA RK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Julio Urías | LAD | at | STL | R | x | x | x | 52.1 | 3.61 | 1.07 | 21% | 0.345 | 3rd |
| 2 | Dylan Cease | CHW | CLE | R | x | x | x | 46.1 | 4.86 | 1.45 | 15% | 0.269 | 30th | |
| 3 | Eury Pérez | MIA | WSN | R | x | x | x | 4.2 | 3.86 | 1.29 | 25% | 0.297 | 20th | |
| 4 | José Berríos | TOR | NYY | R | x | x | x | 46 | 4.70 | 1.28 | 17% | 0.307 | 16th | |
| 5 | Logan Allen | CLE | at | CHW | L | x | x | x | 21 | 3.43 | 1.48 | 18% | 0.305 | 20th |
| 6 | Tyler Wells | BAL | LAA | R | x | x | 47 | 2.68 | 0.72 | 17% | 0.340 | 5th | ||
| 7 | Taj Bradley | TBR | at | NYM | R | x | x | 15.1 | 3.52 | 0.91 | 35% | 0.310 | 14th | |
| 8 | Nestor Cortes | NYY | at | TOR | L | x | 42.1 | 5.53 | 1.32 | 16% | 0.363 | 4th | ||
| 9 | Trevor Williams | WSN | at | MIA | R | x | 38.1 | 3.99 | 1.30 | 11% | 0.295 | 23rd | ||
| 10 | Tyler Anderson | LAA | at | BAL | L | 37.2 | 5.26 | 1.62 | 3% | 0.335 | 12th | |||
| 11 | Tylor Megill | NYM | at | TBR | R | 40.1 | 4.02 | 1.51 | 5% | 0.352 | 4th | |||
| 12 | Adam Wainwright | STL | LAD | R | 10 | 7.20 | 1.70 | 11% | 0.338 | 8th |
Recommendations for Roto 5×5 Leagues
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.
Wednesday, May 17th Starter Review
| RK | PITCHER | TM | OPP | T | 10 | 12 | 15 | NOTE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spencer Strider | ATL | at | TEX | R | x | x | x | A 3-run 4th inning saddled him w/his worst start of the yr (5 IP/4 ER/7 Ks) |
| 2 | Gerrit Cole | NYY | at | TOR | R | x | x | x | Back to his HR-free ways with 6 scoreless in a tough road matchup |
| 3 | Yu Darvish | SDP | KCR | R | x | x | x | Was cruising thru 5 before getting smoked in the 6th: BB-HR-LO-2B-2B-day over | |
| 4 | Nathan Eovaldi | TEX | ATL | R | x | x | x | Took on a tough matchup and came away w/7 strong (3 ER/5 Ks) | |
| 5 | Sonny Gray | MIN | at | LAD | R | x | x | x | Inefficient effort left him getting pulled after just 4 IP with 84 pitches |
| 6 | Eduardo Rodriguez | DET | PIT | L | x | x | x | Just didn’t have it all working here after his major hot streak | |
| 7 | Corbin Burnes | MIL | at | STL | R | x | x | x | Baseline QS pushes him to 2.13 ERA/1.04 WHIP in his last 42.1 IP |
| 8 | Chris Bassitt | TOR | NYY | R | x | x | x | Nice to see 1 BB in this gem; he’s been great since the opener but 11% BB coming into tonight raised an eyebrow | |
| 9 | Matthew Liberatore | STL | MIL | L | x | x | Time for another triple-digit waiver wire pitcher this wknd after his debut gem (5 IP/0 ER/6 Ks/W) | ||
| 10 | Drew Smyly | CHC | at | HOU | L | x | x | Fantastic outing w/another 8 punchies and his 8th straight of 2 or fewer ER (6 IP/1 ER) | |
| 11 | MacKenzie Gore | WSN | at | MIA | L | x | x | Pitched well with a 2-run HR mistake to Soler spoiling it a bit; 7 K/2 BB definitely works | |
| 12 | Dustin May | LAD | MIN | R | x | x | Left due to flexor pronator strain that will keep him out at least 4-6 wks | ||
| 13 | Kyle Bradish | BAL | LAA | R | x | x | Great work in a tough outing; nearing must start in most formats for me | ||
| 14 | Griffin Canning | LAA | at | BAL | R | x | x | Did better than expected with 2.08 WHIP in 5.1 IP | |
| 15 | Mike Clevinger | CHW | CLE | R | x | x | Worked around 4 BB for a good stream outing (6 IP/2 ER/5 Ks/W) | ||
| 16 | Peyton Battenfield | CLE | at | CHW | R | x | x | Rough start in a good spot for the rookie with 3 HRs doing most of the damage | |
| 17 | Brayan Bello | BOS | SEA | R | x | Classic “effectively wild” start w/5 BB but also 7 Ks and 19 swinging strikes | |||
| 18 | J.P. France | HOU | CHC | R | x | Not terribly shocking to see him get touched up as the 28-yr-old non-prospect is far from bankable at this point | |||
| 19 | Rich Hill | PIT | at | DET | L | x | Of course he has his best start of the yr after I threw some shade on him; still risky every time out but has some streamer appeal | ||
| 20 | Ryne Nelson | ARI | at | OAK | R | OK fine, OAK was enough to bring him some streamer upside despite 4 BB | |||
| 21 | Kodai Senga | NYM | TBR | R | Was a strong fade for me and then dropped his best start of the season! Season-high 12 Ks came w/18 swinging strikes | ||||
| 22 | Graham Ashcraft | CIN | at | COL | R | If you ate this one, you have no one to blame but yourself | |||
| 23 | Josh Fleming | TBR | at | NYM | R | Dropped a nice spot start with 5 shutout innings | |||
| 24 | Taijuan Walker | PHI | at | SFG | R | Reached 40 pitches in the 1st before getting lifted, just hard to rebound from an inning like that | |||
| 25 | Edward Cabrera | MIA | WSN | R | He’ll have his occasional gem… just not sure the WHIP-destroying downisde is worth gambling for these rare gems | ||||
| 26 | Marco Gonzales | SEA | at | BOS | L | Just wasn’t fooling them in the slightest w/8 ER in under 2 IP | |||
| 27 | Luis Medina | OAK | ARI | R | OK, that’s 2 QS in a row… I’m paying attention to the live-armed prospect now — gets at SEA, v. HOU next wk which isn’t easy but he’ll draw waiver attention | ||||
| 28 | Ross Stripling | SFG | PHI | R | A non-factor in fantasy at this point | ||||
| 29 | Carlos Hernández | KCR | at | SDP | R | Just opening a bullpen game | |||
| 30 | Austin Gomber | COL | CIN | L | Yeah… I mean, obviously |
Recommendations for Roto 5×5 Leagues
Great comments, succinct and enjoyable!
Thanks. Also a few highlights for me:
Liberatore was hitting 97 last night?! That is well above where he was last year. Still wish his walks were lower.
Bassitt has not allowed a run in 3 starts/23 IP last two vs ATL and NYY.
Bassitt was so wobbly to start the season – horrid first start, then very fortunate not to have gotten roughed up more than he did in his second – but just sparkling across his last three: 23 IP, 9 H, 0 R, 7 BB, 20 K. Jays pen definitely needed something like that when they only get 3-5 innings out of each Manoah and Kikuchi start.
(All that said he has been getting pretty fortunate, with a .197 BABIP for the season and a FIP and xFIP each a run and a half higher than his ERA)
I guess to me it looks like things are trending in the right direction for him and it doesn’t seem like the pitch clock is messing with him anymore. In the end I would think his overall numbers will probably look a lot like they usually do, which the Jays would probably be happy with.