Starting Pitchers: July 12th

There won’t be too many rotation spots changing this week for obvious reasons, but here are a few notes anyway…

Jorge De La Rosa | Rockies | 56% owned

Last year’s breakout lefty had been out since late April with a flexor band strain in his middle finger before returning last week. The Padres knocked him around (seven runs in 4.1 IP), but I wouldn’t let that sway my outlook much. JDLR is still a super-high strikeout pitcher (10.54 K/9 in 2010, six last start), but his shaky control means he’ll never dominate the ERA and WHIP categories. (R) ZiPS projects a 4.80 ERA (4.13 FIP) with 8.10 K/9 the rest of the way, but a little LOB% luck (62.2% this year, 68.5% over the last three years) could have his ERA in the low-4.00’s. His first start after the break will come in Cincinnati on Saturday.

Daniel Hudson | White Sox | 7% owned

David Golebiewski already took an in-depth look at Hudson, so I’m going to cop out and refer you to that. Hudson is taking the place of Jake Peavy, who is done for the season after tearing a lat muscle right off the bone. Ouch. He’ll first start of the second half comes in Seattle, but not until next Monday.

Chris Tillman | Orioles | 2% owned

Back in the bigs after a rather disastrous four start stint with the O’s earlier this season (15 R, 8 BB, 7 K in 15 IP), Tillman twirled a gem on Saturday, holding the Rangers to two hits and one unearned run in 7.1 IP. Tillman’s strikeout rate has never been the same since getting his first taste of the bigs last year, going from 9.94 K/9 before his ML debut to 5.89 since (majors and minors). Phil Hughes went through something similar when he debuted, and it had more to do with rookie jitters (nibbling instead of attacking hitters) than decline in stuff. I’d expect Tillman to improve his strikeout rate in the future, but that probably won’t come this year. He has value in a deep keeper league, but not much more than that.

Ownership rates are based on Yahoo! leagues.