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

Chase Burns had the filthiest stuff of any starting pitcher in the game in July.
Aug 2 2025 3:07am
Jose Soriano's skills have grown massively since June 1, making him a premium stretch-run target.
Jul 26 2025 3:05am
Logan Henderson's intriguing small-sample-size skills with the Brewers give him some hidden intrigue moving into the second half.
Jul 19 2025 3:05am
Logan Gilbert's skills over the past 12 months have been the best among all starting pitchers.
Jul 12 2025 3:06am
Jose Soriano's rough stats in June hid some really intriguing underlying skills.
Jul 5 2025 3:09am

Tools