Evaluating preseason outlooks for starting pitchers is a notoriously dangerous game. The dream of seeing our favorite pitchers complete an entire season’s worth of turns in the rotation sits precariously on the wobbly edge of optimism. We’ve unfortunately grown accustomed to the villainous injury updates that lurk nearby, whispering ominous threats like “forearm tightness” or “elbow inflammation.”
As we patiently wait for medical science to produce indestructible bionic flexor tendons, we must remind ourselves that some starting pitchers do, in fact, stay healthy all season. Let’s pretend, then, that all currently functional ligaments will magically remain intact. With this totally realistic assumption, let’s examine the starting pitchers who are primed to perform better or worse than our collective expectations.
2025’s underrated and overrated starting pitchers
This is the final segment of my four-part series on 2025’s underrated and overrated players. After evaluating outfielders, infielders, and catchers, I’ll wrap up by trotting out to the mound. In my analyses, I will be using a project of mine called LASR (League-Adjusted Standardized Rating) which places all stats onto the same 20-80 scouting scale based on league qualifiers (all data is sourced from FanGraphs).