Starting Pitchers for Deep Leagues for Fantasy Baseball 2025

I released my massive Top 400 Starting Pitchers for Fantasy Baseball 2025 at the end of February (which you should absolutely read if you haven’t already!) and decided to leverage that into some smaller articles relating to guys you could target for specific categories or at certain times in your draft. You can find this article, and other similar ones, in our 2025 Draft Kit.

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Below are some pitchers you can target in deep leagues.

 

1. Lucas Giolito (BOS, RHP)

Here’s the deal, y’all. Giolito will be ready for Opening Day. That’s the plan, that’s been the news for the entire winter, and we should be treating Giolito like we were last year at this time. He was even showcasing solid velocity in the spring before he underwent Internal Brace surgery (not TJS but close) and I see a legit upside play here for cheap.

The last few years of Giolito? Get them out of your head. He showcased skills mixed with games he was hurt or out of rhythm for teams that did little to fix his problems. Now he’s with the Red Sox with a solid gameplan that I believe will bring out the most of his four-seamer, changeup, and slider. Who knows, maybe there’s a cutter coming to help bridge it all together? Or maybe the curve returns?

The Red Sox will let the man cook…unless they want to limit him under 130 innings to snag another year at a cheap price. I believe the Red Sox can’t afford to lose those starts from Giolito and will instead work him every five days to get the most of him before they lose him to free agency. His changeup will likely still be legit, his fastball command strong, and with a slider that should be effective against RHB, he’s a Holly who could have his best season in ages. I love this, but sure, let’s see what happens in the spring. Monitor his velocity and arsenal changes to ensure he’s ready to produce for your fantasy teams every five games (NO SIX MAN, PLEASE).

Quick Take: This is a new Giolito. His arm is repaired, he has a great coaching staff behind him, and can go six innings often for a winning club. This is the scenario we’ve waited for Giolito to have for years and I’m all for getting in before the price goes up…just make sure it doesn’t look terrible during spring training.

 

2. Reese Olson (DET, RHP)

Update: Reese Olson has also flexed increased velocity this spring, sitting 95/96 mph, possibily silencing one of his larger weaknesses.

Olson has a great slider that is awfully effective against both LHB and RHB (with room to improve against RHB, come on, 58% strike rate? Really?) and a deadly weapon of a changeup against both RHB and LHB, though there were many games where he struggled to get the pitch high enough to LHB and failed to earn strikes he normally demands.

The biggest questions lie in his fastballs, the only trusted alternatives to the slider and changeup. Olson wisely turns to the sinker against RHB and was able to keep them at bay, though he can do a better job of jamming them instead of letting them fly carelessly over the plate. RHB get served his four-seamer 37% of the time, the worst offering in his arsenal, and I wonder if there’s an alternative in the future to allow Olson to reduce its usage to a sub 25% rate (or at least 30%). If not, it’ll continue to be a source of trouble as he hopes the change and slider do enough to keep him afloat.

Olson looks like the classic mold of a division rival SP in Ohio and that can turn him into a solid floor arm with 25% strikeout upside, though I’m a touch tepid until his changeup can find a strike rate above 60% and turn up in a consistent string of starts. In addition, Olson has a tough matchup against the Dodgers to kick off the season as the SP #3, though if you can stomach that, he should be easy going through the rest of April. In 15-teamers, his first outing isn’t of importance and should be a target in the mid-rounds, while in 12-teamers I’m willing to gauge the flow of my draft to see if there are a large array of upside fliers to take instead – I don’t feel as though I need to draft Olson and it’s a possibility the changeup doesn’t form and you’re left with a Toby for the season after stashing past the Dodgers.

Quick Take: Olson has legit potential as a strong volume arm if he can nail down his changeup to both LHB and RHB, while I’m hoping he finds a solution to limit his four-seamer against LHB. Consider him as a Holly flier and a strong target for deeper leagues.

 

3. Matthew Boyd (CHC, LHP)

Here’s an interesting one. I like a lot about Boyd entering this year and I wonder if it makes way for sneaky value. Boyd has become the perfect example of a classic Guardians starter: Two secondaries for whiffs and a highly suspect fastball. His changeup from the left side has come a long way and turned into a proper slowball to flirt with a high strike rate and 20% SwStr rate against RHB and while we haven’t seen it take full shape for an entire season, it seems ready to pounce in 2025. His other half is the slide piece, a breaker that has been his bread-and-butter since he debuted and it is destined to continue befuddling LHB with the Cubs (and maybe some RHB too!).

But that heater. Oh boy, that heater. Boyd has solid command of the pitch with full hiLoc intent, but it has every sign of a poor stuff heater. Too much drop, low extension, 92/93 mph velocity, and it seems ready to be at the whim of the Wrigley winds for longballs galore.

We have yet to see a full season of a dastardly changeup and wicked slider from Boyd, and that alone makes me excited for a potential breakout season – the Cubs are sure to give him a long leash and regular starts every five days. However, temper your expectations as the home run problem could appear in the heat of the summer and balloon his ERA in a hurry.

Quick Take: Boyd has 25% strikeout potential and could become a surprise QS darling with his changeup and slider combo. However, his four-seamer gives me heavy concern and opens the door for a poor ERA on the back of an elevated home run rate. He’s a solid early play for volume out of the gate (likely Diamondbacks + Padres aren’t the most fun matchups, though) with sleeper potential in 15-teamers.

 

4. David Peterson (NYM, LHP)

Update 2/17: With Montas’ injury, Peterson should be locked into a rotation spot.

Soooo, this is simple. Peterson had a near 30% strikeout rate and sub 5% walk rate last year–What, no he didn’t!–against LHB. Oh. That means…Yeah. 16.5% strikeout rate and 10.5% walk rate against RHB. The performance against LHB is somewhat believable, though we should expect his 24% SwStr rate and 31% putaway rate on his four-seamer to come down, even if he was magnificent placing the pitch at the top of the zone, exploiting his elite 7.1 feet of extension to feature the four-seamer as a surprise pitch off his sinker. That sinker did an excellent job jamming LHB and letting his elite slider do the rest with a near 20% SwStr rate. In fact, all three of these pitches returned a putaway rate of about 21%, which explains the 30% strikeout rate. Simple.

That’s not the problem, of course. RHB had an easy time with the sinker and the four-seamer wasn’t as pristine, nor as much of a surprise, leading to plenty of hits off both pitches. His slider had its moments as a backfoot breaker, but when it missed, it was demolished. Its 16% mistake rate to RHB is one of the worst in the majors and that can’t happen, David. IT CAN’T HAPPEN.

None of his pitches returned a 20% putaway rate against RHB. Peterson issued six walks to LHB last year while issuing forty to RHB in the same timeframe. Something has to change here and fortunately, there’s a solution. Say it with me y’all: A knuckl–The changeup.

With over seven feet of extension from the left side, Peterson is made to dominate RHB with a changeup. He’s tried heavily and he came close last season but came up a bit short with just a 57% strike rate and paltry 12% SwStr rate. It induced outs and a superb 27% ICR rate, yes, but it has to do more. It has to be the pitch in the same way Ragans, Skubal, and Anderson have silenced RHB over the years. Peterson has tried to do so in previous years and come up short, but if he’s able to figure it out and pair it with his gains against LHB, this could be something real.

The upside is a 25% strikeout arm at a mid 3s ERA with a 1.10/1.15 WHIP. The walks would come down, the hits would come down, and strikeouts would rise from 20% last year. However, if that changeup isn’t there (or we fail to see any gains against RHB), I encourage everyone to move on to other things. He was fortunate last year to carry a 2.91 ERA with a 1.29 WHIP – his HR rate is sure to even out this year – and this will hurt if the changes aren’t made.

Quick Take: You may have a sleeper in Peterson if he can figure out how to take down RHB effectively. His improvements against LHB look mostly legit (the four-seamer won’t perform that well again) and there is a path toward legitimacy if the changeup can step forward. That extension, y’all.

 

5. Ryan Weathers (MIA, LHP)

I came into this season thinking I wouldn’t be all too interested in Weathers and now I’m absolutely. He’s increased his velocity that suddenly comes with legit vert (from 14.5″ to 17″ is AWESOME) has impressed massively during the spring as a pitcher fully in command of his at-bats. I’ve also enjoyed the improved changeup to RHB, a pitch that returned a 20% SwStr to them last season and looks deadlier paired with the upgraded heater. He’s in the perfect position to carve through a RHB-heavy lineup.

The jury is still out if his sweeper’s absurdly low 52% strike rate to both LHB and RHB has improved and you have to think yes, right? Among all the growth we’ve seen, I struggle to believe Weathers will flounder against LHB, let it be with said sweeper or his new syro slider at 90 mph. There has to be a solution here to make him comfortable against LHB with the new heater.

Quick Take: Weathers’ gains may come down a touch over time, but the four-seamer shape and velocity merged with improved secondaries should put him on the map. Weathers may take full advantage of his security inside the Marlins rotation – especially after losing over 20 pounds this off-season – and become fantasy relevant everywhere.

 

6. Max Meyer (MIA, RHP)

I haven’t been in on Meyer since his MLB debut for a simple reason: He breaks the Huascar Rule with an elite slider and nothing else.

Well, now that’s completely wrong. Meyer has displayed a new, lower arm angle akin to his college self that has added massive gains across the board. A harder four-seamer at 96 mph (+2.0 ticks!) at a great 1.3 HAVAA, a much better 90/91 mph slider with similar movement, a new sweeper at a slower 86/87 mph, and a new sinker to jam inside against RHB. It’s all incredible. For a command-focused pitcher, he’s added a whole lot of STUFF and I’m all in. The sinker will get outs, the four-seamer is an all-around solid offering upstairs, the hard slider is nasty, and the sweeper silences RHB. There may be a little more trouble against LHB going fastball/slider if the changeup doesn’t come through, but I’m willing to take that shot.

Quick Take: It’s not a great situation in Miami, but Meyer will go every five days with a sizeable leash, boasting a strong array of pitches out of nowhere. Target him in all leagues and see where it goes.