Starting Pitcher Chart – May 22nd, 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 22, 2025

RK	PITCHER	GAME	10	12	15+	IP	ERA	WHIP	K-BB	2025 wOBA RK	NOTE
1	Carlos Rodón	NYY v TEX	x	x	x	59	3.17	0.99	20%	22nd	Overshadowed by Fried who’s arguably been MLB’s best SP, but Rodón’s been fantastic in his own right espec. Of late w/a 1.72 ERA/0.91 WHIP in his L6 (36.7 IP)
2	Nathan Eovaldi	TEX at NYY	x	x	x	61	1.61	0.77	25%	3rd	Perhaps the most difficult matchup/venue combo in the AL but of course Eovaldi is in auto-start mode w/the start he’s had to the yr
3	Jack Flaherty	DET v CLE	x	x	x	46	4.44	1.22	21%	21st	6 HR played a big role in his 3 start lull before a solid rebound at TOR last time out (5.7 IP/2 ER/6 Ks)
4	AJ Smith-Shawver	ATL at WSN	x	x	x	38	2.33	1.24	14%	15th	Rained out Wed., so I’ll just repost yesterday’s comment: Next great young ATL SP? 1.50 ERA/0.97 WHIP/16% K-BB in his L5
5	Tanner Bibee	CLE at MIN		x	x	51	4.06	1.29	8%	19th	Yesterday’s Bibee comment: 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
6	Stephen Kolek	SDP at TOR		x	x	19	2.33	1.14	13%	24th	No idea how far he can take this, particularly w/a modest 13% K-BB bc that 96% LOB will regress quite a bit, but TOR is playable enough to take a shot
7	Ranger Suárez	PHI at COL			x	17	5.09	1.13	18%	24th	No matter how bad the Rockies look, there’s always risk in Coors; that said, it’s a risk I’m willing to take on w/this short slate
8	Lucas Giolito	BOS v BAL			x	20	7.08	1.52	12%	11th	2 up, 2 down so far… his 2 down have been so bad, though; catching BAL at the right time as they’re 24th in wOBA vR over the L30 days
9	Luis Severino	ATH v LAA			x	59	4.22	1.27	10%	23rd	He’s had a stark home/road split this yr (6.72 home/0.72 road ERAs) w/all 4 of his worst gms coming in Sacramento, so while this is a good matchup, we still need to be careful
10	Tyler Anderson	LAA at ATH			x	50	3.04	1.09	12%	8th	A 1.6 HR9 this yr and 1.3 since 2023 is enough to make me REALLY nervous about this start despite his otherwise solid start to the season
11	George Kirby	SEA at HOU				#N/A	#N/A	#N/A	#N/A	22nd	1st start of the season after a pretty uninspiring rehab stint so while I’m eager to get him back in my rotation, I totally understand skipping this and then getting him back in next wk
12	Cade Povich	BAL at BOS				41	5.23	1.45	13%	5th	Hard to be interested in anything BAL’s got goin’ on right now
13	Trevor Williams	WSN v ATL				45	5.91	1.53	13%	13th	Hasn’t recaptured last yr’s magic limiting his value to very occasional streamer… this is not such an occasion
14	Bowden Francis	TOR v SDP				46	5.63	1.40	11%	12th	We knew last yr’s tiny BABIP wouldn’t last and it is up 70 pts to .281, but it’s really the 2.7 (!!) HR9 and 10.1 (!!) doing the major damage
15	Lance McCullers Jr.	HOU v SEA				8	7.88	2.13	-2%	14th	Does have 0 ER (2 UER) in 7.7 IP surrouding the 7 ER in 1 out v. CIN, but we’re definitely not in the trust tree w/him yet
16	Germán Márquez	COL v PHI				40	8.78	1.83	3%	8th
17	Carlos Rodriguez	MIL at PIT				#N/A	#N/A	#N/A	#N/A	29th
18	Mike Burrows	PIT v MIL				#N/A	#N/A	#N/A	#N/A	25th

Recommendations for Roto 5×5 Leagues

ATL	CHC	ARI
MIA	CIN	COL
NYM	MIL	LAD
PHI	PIT	SDP
WSN	STL	SFG