Welcome to the SP Roundup, my daily fantasy baseball article reviewing every starting pitcher’s performance from every Monday game. I apologize for the jokes written in my delirium in advance. Have questions? Ask me during my office hours on Twitch.tv weekday mornings from 10 am-12 pm ET.
Alek Manoah (LAA) @ CLE (ND) – 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 5 BBs, 2 Ks – 6 Whiffs, 23% CSW, 91 pitches.
You know the name Alek Manoah and since he signed with the Angels this winter, you’ve wondered if there was some of that 2021/2022 magic left in his arm. We’ve seen larger miracles from pitchers in the past than a 28-year-old returning to his early career prime. You take a look at the box score from Monday’s game in Cleveland and your eyes widen: 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 5 BBs, 2 Ks – 6 Whiffs, 23% CSW, 91 pitches (ND). Sure, five walks are ugly, but just two hits and five shutout frames?! I can see the temptation in your eyes, lifting your finger armed with a Gold Star before you press it against Manoah’s aura.
Stop that. There are so many reasons not to do this. First and foremost, he would face the Dodgers next, and even if I had some sliver of hope to grant you, that’s so obviously a bad play that we can end the talk here. But fine, what is his stuff looking like? It’s all sub 90 mph, with his four-seamer sitting (I kid you not) 87.5 mph. The once interesting mid-80s slider has been replaced with a 78 mph sweeper, and his changeup is the only redeeming offering, which seemed to come in two variants…but more likely it was the sinker at 86 mph vs. the 81/84 mph change. For a guy throwing such poor stuff, I can understand Manoah’s lack of enthusiasm for throwing strikes (55% or worse on everything), and the Guardians obliged in a 7-0 ballgame (Manoah was the follower, picking up the pearl at the start of the fourth and pitching through the eighth).
I cannot stress it enough. Don’t go for Alek. Today’s Roundup title refers to a question I’ve already received about considering Manoah as an add. Please, please don’t do that. (View Game Card)
Let’s see how every other SP did Monday:
Michael Soroka (ARI) @ TEX (W) – 6.1 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks – 10 Whiffs, 29% CSW, 89 pitches.
If not for the terrible, no good, very bad day on April 30th, Soroka would be sporting a 2.01 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 27% strikeout rate, and 6% walk rate through seven games. His pitch separation is beautiful, the cutter did legit work to LHB (42% called strikes!), the curveball is tremendous, and fastballs are earning strikes while avoiding the heart of the plate. I have to mention – Soroka is carrying a much higher ICR on both his four-seamer and curveball than I expected, including nearly 60% hard contact (vs. weak) on both. That said, the high BABIP numbers already express this impact and considering the 9.3 hit/9 falls to 7.8 hit/9 when excluding that one dumb game (treat that with as much weight as you want), I’m not worried. We’re likely not going to get exactly the same Soroka the rest of the way with a capped ceiling due to the amount of hard contact, but he’s a solid Holly I’m holding for a while. Enjoy the ‘Reds Carpet”, y’all. (View Game Card)
Joey Cantillo (CLE) vs LAA (W) – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks – 14 Whiffs, 34% CSW, 93 pitches.
Atta boy Cantillo. He was able to return a ton of strikes across the board, but a 14% per-pitch putaway rate kept the strikeouts down. Suitman whispers into my ear. Wait, the changeup was just a 42% strike rate?! Jeeeez dude, imagine how good this could have been if you actually had that pitch working. It’s the Reds Carpet next, and this looks to be a glorious two-step. (View Game Card)
George Kirby (SEA) @ HOU (W) – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 7 Hits, 2 BBs, 7 Ks – 12 Whiffs, 23% CSW, 99 pitches.
The man was Singled Out, including a ridiculous single from Altuve hitting a filthy 86 mph sweeper off the plate, but yeah, I’ll take it. He still hasn’t quite figured out how to put batters away, which is a bit surprising considering how dang good that slider should be against RHB. I still think it has to do with laning (nothing else starts on the inner half to RHB), but whatever, we’re cool with this. (View Game Card)
Jakob Junis (TEX) vs ARI (L) – 2.2 IP, 1 ER, 2 Hits, 0 BBs, 2 Ks – 3 Whiffs, 32% CSW, 31 pitches.
This was a bullpen game for the Rangers after Eovaldi was scratched with side soreness. I know, y’all. I know. (View Game Card)
Ryan Weathers (NYY) @ BAL (ND) – 6.1 IP, 2 ER, 1 Hits, 3 BBs, 9 Ks – 15 Whiffs, 36% CSW, 101 pitches.
Weathers held a no-hitter through six frames, allowed a single on a beautiful 1-2 changeup down-and-away to lead off the seventh, and after a walk two batters later, got the hook. Sadly, the pen ruined his phenomenal outing in just three pitches, as Headrick threw his third straight slider to Mayo and it landed over the fence. Careful, Icarus. This was a game of Weathers featuring all four of his pitches evenly – both fastballs, changeups, and sweepers – with the changeup acting as the finisher (32% SwStr rate at sub 50% strikes). He’s feeling it, y’all. He probably should have been pulled after six (94/95 in all prior innings, then the sinker fell to 90-93), but so it goes. We love this version of Weathers and please stop asking if he’ll get moved to the bullpen. It should be a six-man if the Yankees are lucky enough to have a fully healthy rotation, and who knows if that’ll be the case in three weeks. (View Game Card)
Brandon Young (BAL) vs NYY (ND) – 5.1 IP, 2 ER, 3 Hits, 3 BBs, 5 Ks – 11 Whiffs, 20% CSW, 97 pitches.
An admirable performance from Young against a mighty offense, where his only mistake was throwing a 3-1 sinker over the plate to Rice. I don’t see enough upside to add for the Nationals, sadly, but I respect the game. (View Game Card)
Peter Lambert (HOU) vs SEA (L) – 7.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks – 13 Whiffs, 26% CSW, 96 pitches.
This was much better. The BSB returned against LHB, and I even dug seeing the slowball act as a whiff pitch away to RHB, even if two leaked over the plate for singles (on the real, though, I’m shocked his 3-2 88 mph changeup to Arozarena up-and-in worked. So was Lambert after missing his spot by a few feet). Now with Texas up next and a clear ability to earn whiffs + go deep into games, I don’t see why you wouldn’t want this in your 12-teamers. The vision I had of Lambert as a Holly after his first outing hath returned. (View Game Card)
Drew Rasmussen (TBR) @ TOR (W) – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks – 13 Whiffs, 25% CSW, 100 pitches.
I’m still impressed Giménez was able to yank Rasmussen’s 2-1 97 mph cut-fastball over the fence for a three-run blast. It’s one thing when a pitcher gets burned and it was a momentary lapse across a frame. It’s another when the dude was dope and he somehow has three runs on five baserunners across six innings. Rasmussen is dope and seeing him go 100 pitches across six frames is kinda awesome. The man is our ratio savior. Oh, and he also has a 25% strikeout rate. How can you not love him? (View Game Card)
Trevor McDonald (SFG) @ LAD (ND) – 5.1 IP, 3 ER, 9 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks – 12 Whiffs, 23% CSW, 101 pitches.
I didn’t expect Buck (it makes sense as a nickname, I promise) to come through against the Dodgers and I like that we at least got a look at his changeup for 37% usage against LHB. Was it stellar? Absolutely not (44% strike rate), and one that landed a bit too high and outside was blasted for a solo shot to lead off the sixth. But at least it’s something else to pair with the bowling-ball sinker and his legit slider. I’d be so down if it weren’t Sacré Verde up next, and even there, I’m considering adding so I can have him for the CrySox and possibly weeks after – would the Giants keep McDonald in the rotation and move Houser to the pen if they need a spot for Webb? (View Game Card)
Roki Sasaki (LAD) vs SFG (ND) – 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks – 12 Whiffs, 31% CSW, 91 pitches.
We’ve seen just two starts where Sasaki has returned fewer than 3 ER, and in both, he pitched exactly four innings. Oh no. I truly don’t understand why the Dodgers keep doing this. (View Game Card)
Kevin Gausman (TOR) vs TBR (L) – 4.2 IP, 6 ER, 10 Hits, 0 BBs, 5 Ks – 11 Whiffs, 28% CSW, 100 pitches.
Gausman, Nooooo. The splitter wasn’t there and the Rays LHB went choppin’ away on all the outside pitches. We knew some sort of regression was coming for Gausman (this raises his WHIP to 0.99 with a 7.1 hit/9, y’all, there’s still more regression on the way, in all likelihood), and you gotta keep moving forward. Whatareyagonnado. (View Game Card)
Game of the Day
Bryan Woo vs. Tatsuya Imai – I’d love for Woo to put the whole HR issue to bed + Imai makes his return from the IL and I hope he’s the guy I envisioned over the summer.
But Nick?! Where are the streaming picks? – I’ve moved them to the daily SP Matchups & Streamer Rankings article.
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Photo courtesy of MLB Photos | Adapted by Aaron Polcare (@abeardoesart on Bluesky and X)
