Welcome to the SP Roundup, my daily fantasy baseball article reviewing every starting pitcher’s performance from every Thursday game. I apologize for the jokes written in my delirium in advance. Have questions? Ask me during my office hours on Twitch weekday mornings from 10 am-12 pm ET.
Jesús Luzardo (MIA) vs SD (L) – 5.1 IP, 5 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 8 Ks – 9 Whiffs, 33% CSW, 93 pitches.
It is getting all kinds of frustrating rostering Jesús Luzardo this year, with yet another Dusty Donut on the books tonight against the Padres: 5.1 IP, 5 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 8 Ks – 9 Whiffs, 33% CSW, 93 pitches. In fact, his final two runs crossed the plate after he was pulled from the start, further pushing the low LOB rates and clear positive regression in his favor.
Seriously, an 8/1 K/BB with a sub 1.00 WHIP rarely equates to a near 9.00 ERA, and to see his change and slider each put up a 42% CSW with a 97 mph heater outlines far better than all five of his baserunners scoring.
So we hold. And maybe continue to buy low, removing all our emotion and frustration from other leagues to lean in and benefit on those same emotions likely held by the manager rostering Luzardo in this league. Trust the skills, it’s all we can do.
Let’s see how every other SP did Thursday:
Kevin Gausman (TOR) vs MIL (W) – 6.2 IP, 0 ER, 5 Hits, 2 BBs, 11 Ks – 16 Whiffs, 30% CSW, 115 pitches.
Aces gonna ace. He sat 96 mph and upped his splitter nearly three ticks. Kinda wild to see such success despite a horrid 46% strike rate on the splitter (ahhhh that’s why he needed 115 pitches!), but those balls turned into second chances for Gausman and he came through, boasting nine splitter whiffs. Sidenote: This is the sixth 6+ IP game in ten starts for Gausman. You love to see it.
Joe Musgrove (SD) @ MIA (W) – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks – 7 Whiffs, 28% CSW, 80 pitches.
I wanna be happy, but just three strikeouts and a heavy lack of breaking ball dominance against the Marlins isn’t the Musgrove we wanted to see. But hey, the ratios + Win are wonderful and I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. Does that come with health insurance? Ummm, no. America, yeesh.
Max Scherzer (NYM) vs PHI (W) – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 9 Ks – 22 Whiffs, 36% CSW, 101 pitches.
Look at that Golden Goal from Scherzer as he’s come back from his IL stint nearly a month ago with a vengeance. He had a season-high nine whiffs on his four-seamer last game, and increased it by 67% to a whopping 15 whiffs on his fastball in this one. Pretty wonderful stuff, and it allows me to overlook the lack of slider whiffs (hey, 11/14 strikes at least!). Please stay healthy, please stay healthy…
Hunter Greene (CIN) @ BOS (ND) – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 Hits, 3 BBs, 8 Ks – 14 Whiffs, 23% CSW, 109 pitches.
Remember when we talked about Greene and said he’ll go on a stretch that will make us all forget his multi-week volatile self? THIS IS THAT STRETCH.
Connor Seabold (COL) @ ARI (ND) – 5.1 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks – 4 Whiffs, 30% CSW, 92 pitches.
Sure, whatever Seabold.
Chris Sale (BOS) vs CIN (ND) – 3.2 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks – 15 Whiffs, 41% CSW, 59 pitches.
He sat 93.2 mph and was removed in the fourth with shoulder soreness. He’ll have an MRI on Friday and I HATE EVERYTHING. He was doing it, y’all. He was there. Sigh. SERENITY NOW.
Ronel Blanco (HOU) vs LAA (W) – 5.1 IP, 2 ER, 7 Hits, 3 BBs, 5 Ks – 12 Whiffs, 24% CSW, 94 pitches.
The Astros elected to turn to Blanco to give Framber some extra rest and I wouldn’t bank on this being a six-man rotation in full, especially with Blanco’s wild command mixed with a 94 mph heater that held a sub-25% CSW. I doubt he’ll…Blanco a team any time soon. Nick. Please. I’m sorry, IT WAS RIGHT THERE.
Freddy Peralta (MIL) @ TOR (L) – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 3 Ks – 8 Whiffs, 28% CSW, 85 pitches.
The only real damage here was an oppo-taco from Chapman as Peralta clawed his way through six for the PQS. Not his best heater in the slightest with locations all over the place, but the breakers made this one work. I’m all for betting the four-seamer to return moving forward, and if his breakers keep up the strike rates, that’ll be lovely. Don’t overreact to this one against the mighty Jays.
Zach Davies (ARI) vs COL (ND) – 5.2 IP, 3 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks – 5 Whiffs, 29% CSW, 96 pitches.
Womp womp. I didn’t want to go with Davies today, but there was a chance his change could dominate and 11% CSW isn’t dominating. That’s do-min-a-ting. That’s not a thing. YOU’RE NOT A THING. Neither is Davies as a streamer. Touché.
Tanner Bibee (CLE) @ MIN (ND) – 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks – 9 Whiffs, 27% CSW, 96 pitches.
Blegh. I’ve seen good command days from Bibee. This was not one of those days – it was a good control day as he found the zone a fair amount, but it was mostly around the middle of the plate instead of hovering the edges with precision. Nothing to get overly concerned about, but hey Bibee, can you be a little better? Thanks.
Taijuan Walker (PHI) @ NYM (L) – 4.0 IP, 3 ER, 2 Hits, 3 BBs, 2 Ks – 4 Whiffs, 22% CSW, 74 pitches.
Walker ain’t great and this wasn’t the start where he was expected to alter our perceptions. Today is the day I will alter their perceptions! – said Taijuan, never.
Reid Detmers (LAA) @ HOU (L) – 5.0 IP, 4 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 2 Ks – 10 Whiffs, 27% CSW, 82 pitches.
I didn’t have the highest of hopes here, but at least held out that he’d earn some strikeouts on the back of his slider. Instead, the slider wasn’t reliable and the curveball showed up, here for 41% CSW. Huh. If he could have that CSW curve with the whiff-heavy slider he normally has, there may actually be some hope. That said, the schedule is still bad for a bit and it may be a second-half surge in the end. Sigh.
Pablo López (MIN) vs CLE (ND) – 5.2 IP, 6 ER, 8 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks – 11 Whiffs, 26% CSW, 88 pitches.
I’m pretty shocked that Pablo holds a 4.54 ERA after this game. A career-worst ERA for a guy with peak velocity and a new and improved pitch. What is it with pitchers improving and getting worse results this year?! I can’t say this was PabLó’s peak, though. His secondary command has seen better days and it allowed a team like the Guardians to find grass and destroy him in the sixth. Oh right, I should mention that López allowed just 1 ER in his first five frames. What. Yeah, a five-run sixth crumbled this outing in a heartbeat and it caused a whole lot of ice cream consumption over here. Well that seems like it’s not something to worry about long term. No, it does not.
Game of the Day
Luis Severino vs. Clayton Kershaw – A ton of fun options here, I’m going wit the former ace who is on the path to healthy redemption + TATIAGA returning to form after a tough two weeks.
But Nick?! Where are the streaming picks? – I’ve moved them to the daily SP Matchups & Streamer Rankings article.
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Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns on Twitter)
Pablo or Luzardo for ROS?
Could you stop with the Detmers love? It’s the talk of Twitter and Reddit about how much you love him. It is not going to work out this year and it’s costing a lot of people serious money. Stop.