Starting Pitcher Chart – May 21st, 2025

May 21, 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 21, 2025

RK	PITCHER	GAME	10	12	15+	IP	ERA	WHIP	K-BB	2025 wOBA RK	NOTE
1	Hunter Brown	HOU at TBR	x	x	x	56	1.43	0.83	25%	16th	Has allowed 3 ER just 1x this yr and of course it was at CHW bc that’s baseball
2	Logan Webb	SFG v KCR	x	x	x	63	2.42	1.12	21%	27th	Into his workhorse mode of late w/at least 7 IP in ea. of his L3: 1.64/0.95 WHIP/16% K-BB in 22 IP
3	Garrett Crochet	BOS v NYM	x	x	x	63	2.00	1.06	21%	5th	At least 7 IP in 3 of L4, posting a 2.08 ERA/1.08 WHIP/22% K-BB in 26 IP
4	Jacob deGrom	TEX at NYY	x	x	x	51	2.29	0.98	21%	3rd	Has hit a 3 yr high in IP already at 51, obviously we’re hoping for much more, but it’s a nice start
5	Corbin Burnes	ARI at LAD	x	x	x	45	2.56	1.25	11%	2nd	On a 16-inn. scoreless streak though still 10 BB in those 3 starts (19 IP); still starting him everywhere but not out of the woods w/the concerns
6	JP Sears	ATH v LAA	x	x	x	49	3.31	1.10	14%	29th	1st start over 3 ER last time out so I’m willing to stick w/him thru 1 dud
7	Brady Singer	CIN at PIT	x	x	x	46	5.01	1.31	13%	29th	Rebounded from his disaster at HOU w/a solid 5 IP/3 ER outing v. CLE; heads to his former home next time out
8	AJ Smith-Shawver	ATL at WSN	x	x	x	38	2.33	1.24	14%	19th	Next great young ATL SP? 1.50 ERA/0.97 WHIP/16% K-BB in his L5
9	~~Tanner Bibee~~ \| Gavin Williams	CLE at MIN	x	x	x	51	~~4.06~~	~~1.29~~	8%	~~17th~~	~~Running better of late even w/10 H & 4 ER last time out, but it’s still just an 11% K-BB which doesn’t quite support the 2.90 ERA/1.16 WHIP~~ \| it’ll actually be Gav after the rainout and Bibee’ll go Thurs. at DET; I gave Gav 3-x w/this comment on Tuesday: Litmus test week for Gav, if we don’t see those baserunner totals shrink, it’s likely time to go in shallower lgs & even some deeper ones
10	Shane Smith	CHW v SEA		x	x	48	2.05	1.14	13%	9th	Skated at CHC w/5 UER, but also 5 Ks, 1 BB; SEA starting to regress, too, sitting 14th in wOBA vR over the L30
11	Cade Horton	CHC at MIA		x	x	9	6.00	1.22	18%	21st	Just OK through 2 starts, but obviously a great matchup here
12	Chad Patrick	MIL v BAL		x	x	48	3.35	1.28	11%	12th	Definitely feels like some smoke and mirrors here w/the ERA and K-BB disconnect but part of me believes in MIL’s ability to cultivate these types w/Contreras behind the dish, their defense as a whole, and strong bullpen
13	Tomoyuki Sugano	BAL at MIL		x	x	52	3.08	1.03	10%	25th	Cygano fans gotta be livid that I’m gassing up Patrick after I’ve been so tough on Sugano and I do understand that, but even Patrick’s modest 19% K is still 5 pts clear of Sugano, I just don’t like the ball being in play that much from my SPs
14	Kevin Gausman	TOR v SDP		x	x	51	4.59	1.06	17%	7th	Catching SDP in a lull (21st wOBA vR in L30) so I’m willing to take the shot that he bounces back after his first dud of the yr
15	Tylor Megill	NYM at BOS			x	43	3.74	1.38	18%	11th	4 ER in 3 straight w/a 2.07 WHIP and 11% K-BB in those outings, throw in a tough matchup in a tough venue and this is skippable; hold for CHW next wk
16	Max Meyer	MIA v CHC			x	50	4.47	1.33	20%	6th	Yes, it’s essentially aces-only v. CHC, but I can understand a YOLO shot on a guy w/a 20% K-BB… just know there’s still major risk
17	Taj Bradley	TBR v HOU			x	50	4.80	1.34	9%	22nd	HOU is a lot less threatening w/Yordan out, though Taj was just cooked at MIA so the matchup doesn’t really matter when he’s walking guys (12% BB since 0 in season opener)
18	Logan Evans	SEA at CHW			x	21	4.71	1.57	6%	30th	Playing the matchup more than the arm here
19	Andre Pallante	STL v DET			x	50	4.11	1.33	8%	5th	Bounced back from 4 BB dud v. NYM w/0 BB in L2, going 14.3 IP in a pair of Ws
20	Andrew Heaney	PIT v CIN			x	50	3.02	1.14	9%	17th	Brutal schedule has brought him back to Earth in a big way: 5.12 ERA/1.78 WHIP/=7% K-BB in 19.3 IP v. CHC, SDP, ATL, & at PHI
21	Dustin May	LAD v ARI				44	4.43	1.28	13%	1st	I can see purely W chasing w/a LAD SP, just be sure you can take on the ratio risk
22	Chris Paddack	MIN v CLE		x	x	46	4.05	1.18	8%	20th	Amended him to 2-x on Wed. AM as I just glossed over his recent success: 2.06 ERA/0.92 WHIP/12% K-BB/0.9 HR9
23	Trevor Williams	WSN v ATL				45	5.91	1.53	13%	14th
24	Ryan Yarbrough	NYY v TEX				24	3.70	1.27	10%	20th
25	Taijuan Walker	PHI at COL				34	2.62	1.25	11%	28th
26	Randy Vásquez	SDP at TOR				44	3.45	1.49	-2%	23rd
27	Jack Kochanowicz	LAA at ATH				49	4.71	1.47	3%	15th
28	Carson Palmquist	COL v PHI				4	11.25	1.75	-5%	7th
29	Brant Hurter	DET at STL				22	2.38	0.97	17%	13th	Bullpen game for Detroit
30	TBD	KCR at SFG				#N/A	#N/A	#N/A	#N/A	18th

Recommendations for Roto 5×5 Leagues

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ismailadiemeMember since 2020

5 hours ago

No love for Paddack?

Paul SporerFanGraphs Staff

4 minutes ago

Reply to ismailadieme

That’s a miss! First off, I’m a Paddack fan so I feel especially bad glossing over him last night, but he’s also rolling of late w/a 2.06 ERA/0.92 WHIP in his last 39 IP… the 12% K-BB doesn’t fully support the run but he’s not walking guys outside of a 4-BB gm and no multi-HR gms during the run. Amending him in the sheet right now to 2-x (not going to re-order the board bc it’s a paaain the butt, so please excuse my laziness on that end)