STARTERS: Sixth Starters 2013

One of the biggest draft day mistakes that owners make is to overvalue Opening Day roles.

It's natural to target Opening Day starting rotations when filling out your pitching staffs. After all, they include the guys who already have starting jobs, and we all want to get out of the gates quickly in our fantasy leagues.

But early-season roles on pitching staffs are fluid, especially when it comes to starting pitchers. Injuries will create openings, as will trades. So too will poor performance from rotation incumbents, or strong performance from SP candidates in the bullpen or minor leagues.

Let's take an illustrative look.

In 2012, only three teams—CIN, SF, and WAS—had their Opening Day starting rotations throw all but 100 IP of the total...

Almost!

You’re just a few clicks away from accessing this feature and hundreds more throughout the year that have a singular goal in mind: Winning your league. Subscribe to BaseballHQ.com here!

Already a subscriber? Sign in here

More From Starting Pitchers

The ups-and-downs of Jesús Luzardo can be traced to some really ugly results when he pitches at home, largely due to some bad luck during those starts.
Jun 13 2026 3:09am
Chase Dollander's filthy skills against same-sided bats reinforce his upper-rotation ceiling.
Jun 6 2026 3:10am
Cristopher Sanchez's scoreless streak continues, and it has been backed by top-tier skills and similarly elite skill drivers.
May 30 2026 3:05am
Jacob Misiorowski's skills have become firmly elite so far in 2026.
May 23 2026 3:05am
Emmet Sheehan's ugly early stats are hiding an excellent skills collection.
May 16 2026 3:07am

Tools