Welcome to the SP Roundup, my daily fantasy baseball article reviewing every starting pitcher’s performance from every Friday 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.
Connor Prielipp (MIN) @ LAA (W) – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 2 BBs, 8 Ks – 10 Whiffs, 32% CSW, 92 pitches.
I remember when Connor Prielipp got the chance to start way back at the end of April and it was the same time that Payton Tolle was getting his shot. Yes, I favored Prielipp slightly at the time, calling it a classic case of “Ceiling vs. floor” where I believed in Connor’s larger arsenal to make him competitive in more games while Tolle’s four-seamer was obviously elite and propelled a higher upside if he were to throw strikes consistently. Moving past THAT, my interest in Prielipp has ebbed and flowed, turning into labeling him a Young Gun for 2027 – a pitcher who has the arsenal ready for dominance, but needs more practice on the bump before we can trust it to lock in each start.
Maybe 2027 was a little too conservative. Prielipp gave trusting managers a thrill on Friday, posting an incredible 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 2 BBs, 8 Ks – 10 Whiffs, 32% CSW, 92 pitches (W) performance against the Angels. Yes, you can Blame It On The Angels, if you must, but this carried a teaser for next season you should be aware of.
Prielipp’s curveball is wicked. He bumped its usage six points here, pulled down the fastball, and tossed sliders & curves over 55% of the time for a combined 20% SwStr rate, 41% CSW, and 71% strike rate. That’s HOT. The hook is my favorite of the two, looking like a sweeper with extra depth at 85 mph, while the 88/89 mph gyro slider continued to be a struggle for RHB to resist under the zone. These are legit breakers and I’m expecting them to continue their excellence in 2027.
There are still improvements to make, of course. His fastballs lack the explosiveness and precision I’d want for a proper foundation for the nasty stuff, and his changeup as a southpaw lacks the venom to utilize it when he needs a non-breaker to put away a batter. Steps, not leaps, y’all. Who knows, maybe those improve when we see him next season.
For now, he’ll get the Rangers in Minnesota to end his season and I’m so very down. This start has the makings of a pitcher finding his confidence in his breaking balls and I bet he’s antsy to get back on the bump and do it all over again. Sign me up. (View Game Card)
Let’s see how every other SP did Friday:
Joey Cantillo (CLE) vs ATH (W) – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks – 7 Whiffs, 26% CSW, 81 pitches.
OH WE BACK. But the whiffs are still missing. Fine, but at least the changeup is at 63% strikes and the 41% usage curveball and 92/93 mph fastball are returning consistent strikes. Is that actually enough? Probably. I think. Okay, he’s still Questionable against the Red Sox in Fenway on Thursday, fine. He’ll likely have an opener again, too, improving his Win chance as it did here. Think about it. (View Game Card)
Cade Cavalli (WSN) @ STL (W) – 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 Hits, 0 BBs, 6 Ks – 11 Whiffs, 37% CSW, 73 pitches.
Aces gonna ace. Where oh where, are you going to draft Cavalli next year? I’m not sure how I feel about it. We’ll talk later. (View Game Card)
José Urquidy (PHI) @ NYM (L) – 4.2 IP, 0 ER, 5 Hits, 0 BBs, 6 Ks – 8 Whiffs, 33% CSW, 64 pitches.
Well ain’t this a cool thing. The Phillies sought for help with Luzardo needing extra rest before the playoffs because of shoulder soreness, and Urquidy stepped up after a poor opening performance by Tim Mayza to toss 4.2 shutout innings. He’s been all over the place the league this year and who knows, maybe there’s a sneaky Win in store against the Brewers on Thursday. You could do worse than a guy locating around the edges and giving different looks to LHB and RHB. (View Game Card)
Tyler Phillips (MIA) @ SDP (ND) – 3.2 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks – 5 Whiffs, 28% CSW, 50 pitches.
So the Marlins are still pulling their arms absurdly quickly into their outings. Cool cool cool. Welp, see ya later. (View Game Card)
Andrew Sears (DET) @ CHW (ND) – 0.2 IP, 0 ER, 1 Hits, 3 BBs, 0 Ks – 5 Whiffs, 27% CSW, 37 pitches.
He got bamboozled after walking two and experiencing an error with two outs in the frame, then another error and it was a disaster. Let’s just not? Cool. (View Game Card)
Tyler Mahle (ATL) @ HOU (W) – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks – 11 Whiffs, 30% CSW, 98 pitches.
Look at you, Mahle. The true prize of the trade deadline with a 1.28 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, and 3% strikeout rate for Atlanta since August 1st across eight starts and 49.1 innings. I love this. (View Game Card)
Ranger Suarez (BOS) @ TBR (W) – 5.2 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 5 BBs, 5 Ks – 6 Whiffs, 30% CSW, 98 pitches.
Five walks?! From Suarez?! This was a truly strange one: just four changeups thrown, four-seamers landing down-and-away to RHB, and curveballs and cutters constantly disobeying his wishes…it was a grind. The good news? The Guardians are next and the Red Sox want these Wins. One more, it’s alright y’all. (View Game Card)
Nick Pivetta (SDP) vs MIA (W) – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks – 4 Whiffs, 26% CSW, 76 pitches.
Props to Pivetta for once again performing adequately for five innings to secure a dub. He’s still struggling massively to get whiffs and that should terrify you with a date against the Dodgers up next. I’d try something else, ya’ll. (View Game Card)
Kumar Rocker (TEX) vs TOR (ND) – 4.1 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 2 Ks – 6 Whiffs, 22% CSW, 76 pitches.
You gave Rocker a spin for some strikeout upside and you got two. If he only survived two more outs, he’d have at least given you a Win. Instead, you got fine, I guess. Yay. (View Game Card)
Dylan Cease (TOR) @ TEX (L) – 2.2 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 6 BBs, 3 Ks – 7 Whiffs, 23% CSW, 74 pitches.
Dylan Cease sat 97.6 mph across his first 18 starts this season. He sat 93.4 mph on his four-seamer in this game. Hold me. It doesn’t mean it’ll be bad against the Orioles on Wednesday, but, well, maybe it does mean he’ll be bad on Wednesday. Be careful out there. (View Game Card)
Zac Thornton (NYM) vs PHI (W) – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks – 6 Whiffs, 28% CSW, 87 pitches.
Wow. The guy just exudes Toby. He’s allowed more than 3 ER under 6 IP just three times in thirteen games since his debut and there’s something to be said about that. He throws strikes with pitches that are not the easiest to barrel. Gotta let it ride in Arlington for one more, right? (View Game Card)
Gerrit Cole (NYY) @ ARI (W) – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 Hits, 0 BBs, 6 Ks – 6 Whiffs, 29% CSW, 90 pitches.
Phew. I’ve been worried about Cole and this is a lovely line that should ease my–wait. Six whiffs? 56% curveball strikes? He’s not there yet. I’m starting him against the Rays, but we’re not out of the woods. (View Game Card)
Tyler Glasnow (LAD) vs SFG (W) – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 10 Ks – 15 Whiffs, 41% CSW, 98 pitches.
Aces gonna ace with a King Cole. THANK YOU. Pretty awesome to see Glasnow get the feel back for his slider, which overwhelmed with 53% CSW and a 73% strike rate. That’s the good stuff. He’ll get the Giants in Oracle Park for one more and I don’t see why they wouldn’t let him toss a ton – he’s only thrown 68 innings this year and needs the reps for the playoffs. They want him fresh. (View Game Card)
Peter Lambert (HOU) vs ATL (L) – 5.1 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks – 12 Whiffs, 30% CSW, 87 pitches.
Atta boy Lambert. One more outing to go before putting a cap on a 15-teamer Holly season. It’s in Sacré Verde, though. DON’T CARE. (View Game Card)
Cesar Perdomo (SFG) @ LAD (ND) – 4.2 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 3 BBs, 1 Ks – 3 Whiffs, 16% CSW, 83 pitches.
That’s a Wonka, which is little surprise against the Dodgers. That said, even with the HAISTBMBWT?!, he was kinda close to doing what he wanted to do, which makes a start against the Twins not the worst thing ever. He was pushed to 83 pitches, has obvious high four-seamer intent at 93 mph + low changeups, and the slider has enough stuff to work against LHB, he just has to get it down-and-away. It’s there for him to seize, which is more than a lot of the Do Not Start options you’ll have this week. (View Game Card)
Cooper Hjerpe (STL) vs WSN (ND) – 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 2 Hits, 2 BBs, 3 Ks – 5 Whiffs, 24% CSW, 74 pitches.
I had a little bit of hope Hjerpe would steal a victory here, but Leahy ruined that one with his opening three frames. Then again, it’s not like Cooper pitched well enough to deserve one. He did feature strikes on the heater, but the rest was chaotic and he’s not elevating the heater properly to demand a ton of whiffs on it. He’ll likely follow Leahy one more time against the Pirates this week and if you’re hunting Wins, still keep Hjerpe in consideration.
Chase Burns (CIN) vs CHC (ND) – 3.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks – 9 Whiffs, 27% CSW, 67 pitches.
As expected, we saw three innings of Burns before he made way for…Aguiar. Huh. Welp, see you next year, Burns. I’m likely not drafting you, but that depends if you’ll get overvalued for your Wins and strikeouts, neglecting the two-pitch nature that doesn’t come with four-seamer whiffs. (View Game Card)
Julian Aguiar (CIN) vs CHC (W) – 3.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 2 Ks – 3 Whiffs, 19% CSW, 54 pitches.
So I guess you got the dub after Brandon Williamson came in relief on Thursday for two innings. Congrats, fella. It was your first game of the season and you already get the green W, just like how I got my first career Win in college following my first inning of relief, way back when. LOOK AT US, WE’RE SO ALIKE.
Grayson Rodriguez (LAA) vs MIN (L) – 6.2 IP, 3 ER, 8 Hits, 0 BBs, 4 Ks – 13 Whiffs, 33% CSW, 91 pitches.
A slightly better VPQS is welcome in the GrayRod household. It was a clear changeups-to-LHB, sliders-to-RHB split with everything returning at least 70% strikes, and a Careful, Icarus at the end with a solo blast off a first-pitch curveball. Brutal. This isn’t enough for me to start Grayson @TEA, but at least he’s getting a better feel for the breakers. I’m still waiting to see upper-80s sliders/cutters, which is so clearly the missing piece. (View Game Card)
Bryan Woo (SEA) @ COL (ND) – 5.1 IP, 3 ER, 10 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks – 15 Whiffs, 29% CSW, 86 pitches.
Oh dang. The man was Singled Out in Coors due to so many fastballs landing down to RHB, and a trio of lower-half pitches to LHB. Sigh. Coors can mess with a man. He’s a full send against the Angels to end this year and solidify him as one of my favorite targets for 2027 – I’m sure he’ll be well outside the first 5 rounds of the draft, right? (View Game Card)
Gabriel Hughes (COL) vs SEA (ND) – 4.2 IP, 3 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks – 14 Whiffs, 31% CSW, 95 pitches.
It’s still a fun super-cut four-seamer that’s actually a cutter, and it’s also so clearly not something we’re going to touch. (View Game Card)
Cade Povich (BAL) vs MIL (ND) – 3.2 IP, 3 ER, 5 Hits, 2 BBs, 3 Ks – 5 Whiffs, 20% CSW, 71 pitches.
Blegh. I want to work well for Povich, but this ain’t it. Everything had questionable command, even the high-strike slider that was left way too far over the plate. I don’t see how we could trust him. Side note: I wonder if that slider is him bridging the old slider and old cutter into a new pitch – a Cider (Eno calls it a collider) – there’s a bunch of these pitches clumped together at 89 mph (not the 86/87 slider and two ticks off the four-seamer) that have two inches extra vert. I like the adjustment, not the command. (View Game Card)
Mason Barnett (ATH) @ CLE (ND) – 3.1 IP, 3 ER, 7 Hits, 4 BBs, 4 Ks – 5 Whiffs, 25% CSW, 79 pitches.
I still think he has some interesting stuff, but hot dang is the execution not there at all. He also needs a sinker despite his high 55-degree arm angle, since his four-seamer is right at the plane of 1,000 cuts – it’s why the 95 mph pitch earned just 1/41 whiffs. And this game wasn’t even in Sacré Verde! We move on. (View Game Card)
Dustin May (MIL) @ BAL (ND) – 2.1 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks – 10 Whiffs, 26% CSW, 70 pitches.
NICK. I thought he was unlucky and was actually really good! I mean, he is really good, but he had a .667 BABIP (Koufax, WHY?!), his fastballs held low strike rates, and his curveball feel was terrible. That cutter is still filthy and the only problem here was a 36% overall putaway rate. But he had four strikeouts in seven outs! Yup. He got to two strikes on 73% of the batters he faced and went just 4/29 on executing the strikeout for a 14% putaway rate on his pitches. Jeeeeez. Maybe he is just unlucky. Or he was unlucky and didn’t have the best feel for his arsenal. Consider him Questionable for the Phillies with the same upside as before. (View Game Card)
Ian Seymour (TBR) vs BOS (L) – 5.0 IP, 4 ER, 7 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks – 10 Whiffs, 23% CSW, 87 pitches.
Blegh. He ran into more trouble than usual and failed to put batters away. Pretty straightforward, honestly, just one of the bad starts you see across a season. He still has a 29% strikeout rate for the season, if you can believe it, and with Judge on the IL, I’m keeping him in my lineup against the Yankees to close out the season on Thursday. (View Game Card)
Randy Dobnak (KCR) @ PIT (ND) – 3.2 IP, 4 ER, 7 Hits, 2 BBs, 1 Ks – 2 Whiffs, 22% CSW, 74 pitches.
Soooo maybe I should have kept him in the Do Not Start tier after all. HAISTBMBWT?! It doesn’t rule out success against the White Sox on Thursday, but at least you have a proper showcase of the danger you’re putting yourself in. At the very least, no, I don’t think Dobnak will return a 50% strike rate between his changeup and sweeper for a second straight start.
Paul Skenes (PIT) vs KCR (ND) – 6.0 IP, 5 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 7 Ks – 17 Whiffs, 35% CSW, 89 pitches.
A Gallows Pole is a cruel joke. Skenes sat 96 mph, allowed a pair of solo shots, and let himself get Singled Out for three runs in the third. He’s clearly fatigued and I sure hope it’s not a serious injury. I have no idea where to rank him for next year. I lamented this future problem with Eno Sarris on this week’s episode of The Craft podcast and I still don’t know what to do. (View Game Card)
David Sandlin (CHW) vs DET (ND) – 4.0 IP, 5 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks – 9 Whiffs, 36% CSW, 74 pitches.
Womp womp. The man hosts a party, gets everyone hyped, then asks us to help him set up the Shag Rug in front of everyone. Dude. This is NOT the time. Sure, Koufax was unfair (.500 BABIP) and Sandlin didn’t make too many mistakes to justify a terrible three-run fifth innings. But that cutter for the triple…Okay fine, that one was in the nitro zone and not good at all. ANYWAY, he heads to Kansas City next time out and that is…meh. He’ll have a good leash if he’s pitching well enough and I still very much like the cutter and some of the breakers. His 95/96 mph four-seamer can push over 18″ of vert, too, it’s just a matter of execution so you don’t return 0/16 whiffs about, you know? (View Game Card)
Clay Holmes (CHC) @ CIN (L) – 5.1 IP, 6 ER, 3 Hits, 5 BBs, 4 Ks – 9 Whiffs, 28% CSW, 97 pitches.
We liked The Adobe because we believed he could limit the longballs, unlike most during a start in Cincy. And hey! Zero HRs! Stop celebrating. Yes, yes, sorry. It’s a serious matter. The Reds were fiesty at the plate, preventing Holmes from sending them back to the dugout, allowing the pitcher to record just a 13% per-pitch putaway rate (that’s terrible. Just 4/32 on two-strike pitches!). That propelled walks, and it’s not like Koufax abandoned him here. It’s just blegh. He’ll get the Marlins and despite how ghastly that line looks, I don’t view Holmes any differently. He’s still throwing sweepers and sinkers for strikes and he needs to have a little better feel for ending at-bats sooner to flip the tables. (View Game Card)
Kyle Leahy (STL) vs WSN (L) – 3.0 IP, 6 ER, 5 Hits, 3 BBs, 1 Ks – 3 Whiffs, 25% CSW, 61 pitches.
Oh jeez. This is why we only care about the follower, alright? That’s two of his last three with 5+ ER, which really messes up the whole off-season conversation about how great Leahy was from June 23rd through the end of the year. But don’t worry, we’ll change that to “until he was slowed down”. Wait, you’re in on Leahy? As much as I want to be, I’m actually not. I don’t believe in the fastballs, nor his ability to locate the secondaries. (View Game Card)
Eduardo Rodriguez (ARI) vs NYY (L) – 5.1 IP, 7 ER, 5 Hits, 4 BBs, 5 Ks – 12 Whiffs, 24% CSW, 103 pitches.
Nooooo. Just the third time all season that Erod has produced 5+ ER in a game and the man couldn’t get his footing out of the gate with a bamboozlin’ of 5 ER in the first. It’s all on him – three walks and three singles until he finally struck out three (he’s like modern NBA, all threes!) – and to his credit, he mostly settled down after outside of a pair of solo shots + one walk for all other baserunners allowed. Still, even after the first, it wasn’t standard Erod command in the slightest and now with Coors ahead…it’s dicey, isn’t it? He’s bounced back every time before, but it may be the end of the line just short. It’ll be his final start of the year and I think it’s best to try something else. (View Game Card)
Game of the Day
Jackson Jobe vs. Sean Burke – Ohhhhh they’re both going to disappoint me, aren’t they? NO! I must BELIEVE!
But Nick?! Where are the streaming picks? – I’ve moved them to the daily SP Matchups & Streamer Rankings article.
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Photo by Bailey Hillesheim/Icon Sportswire | Adapted by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns on Twitter/X)
