It’s a basic tenet of fantasy sports: volume is king. More touches for your running back. More targets for your wide receivers. More at-bats for your stud corner infielders. More minutes for your front court. More, more, more. Because more volume equals more opportunity to score you the fantasy points you so crave. When we look at starting pitching numbers in fantasy baseball, we need to start with innings. Whether you’re in a head-to-head points league where the points stack up with each successful out recorded. Or in a rotisserie or categories setting needing counting stats like wins or strikeouts, innings equal opportunities. Naturally, we want to be targeting innings in our draft prep. After that, then cross-reference them with efficiency metrics like WHIP, K/9, and fantasy points per inning in points leagues.
2025 Pitchers Workloads
Another aspect of that search for innings should be looking for guys whose circumstances indicate a sizable jump in innings pitched from one season to the next. Oftentimes, this is the case with a player coming off of injury. But it can also be the case for a young player who perhaps was promoted part-way through the previous season. Or guys whose role is slated to change from a bullpen or spot starter to a full rotation member. It could be a free agent or trade piece whose new team intends to lean on them more than their former club. In any case, we’ll be looking at a list of 2025 pitchers, starters, who should be in for a substantial increase in innings pitched over 2024. Presented in order of their current FantasyPros ADP
All projections are from FanGraphs.
Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh Pirates (SP2/Overall 14)
2024 Stats: 133 IP, 23 GS, 11-3 W-L, 1.96 ERA, .193 AVG, 0.947 WHIP, 11.50 K/9
2025 Projections: 188 IP, 31 GS, 13-9 W-L, 2.80 ERA, .299 BABIP, 1.070 WHIP, 11.59 K/9
The 2024 National League Rookie of the Year winner finished third in Cy Young voting. He was only called up until mid-May. Paul Skenes was as good as advertised (and maybe better.) His abbreviated season didn’t stop him from finishing fifth among starting pitchers in WAR. He would have led the league in just about every efficiency metric had his innings count qualified him. He won’t be taking the league by surprise this season, but even a slight regression to the mean in those efficiency stats should keep him comfortably at or near the top of fantasy rankings all season.
A full season as the unquestioned ace of Pittsburgh’s suddenly formidable staff will mean lots more innings to rack up his counting stats for points league managers. It was fun to watch in 2024; it might be downright scary for opposing fantasy managers in 2025. He should be towards the top of the 2025 pitchers list.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Los Angeles Dodgers (SP14/Overall 53)
2024 Stats: 90 IP, 18 GS, 7-2 W-L, 3.00 ERA, .228 AVG, 1.111 WHIP, 10.50 K/9
2025 Projections: 158.2 IP, 28 GS, 11-8 W-L, 3.57 ERA, .298 BABIP, 1.180 WHIP, 9.45 K/9
Yoshinobu Yamamoto almost feels like an afterthought with the hype surrounding new teammates Roki Sasaki and Blake Snell and the pending pitching debut of Shohei Ohtani in Dodger blue, but Yamamoto was a big-ticket acquisition for Los Angeles last offseason. His nightmare start in Korea to open the season was not quite the first impression he was hoping for, but fans (and he) had to feel better about things after he dominated the Cardinals his next time out. He would go on to lose only one more game and was pretty much untouchable whenever he pitched. But in early June, a rotator cuff strain, that was then changed to a shoulder injury, (that was then finally changed to “triceps soreness”) would put Yamamoto on the shelf for three months.
The Dodgers (and his own struggles) limited his innings when he returned for four starts in an up-and-down September, but his season would conclude much better than it started. Yamamoto would get the win in Game 2 of the World Series after pitching 6.1 innings of one-hit ball. He likely starts the season as the Dodgers’ #2 starter behind Snell, but has the kind of stuff to anchor your fantasy staff at a relative discount if he can avoid the mysterious injury bug that bit him in 2024. A healthy Yamamoto could be a gem in the 2025 pitchers group.
Spencer Schwellenbach, Atlanta Braves (SP28/Overall 92)
2024 Stats: 123.2 IP, 21 GS, 8-7 W-L, 3.35 ERA, .224 AVG, 1.043 WHIP, 9.24 K/9
2025 Projections: 172 IP, 29 GS, 12-9 W-L, 3.80 ERA, .299 BABIP, 1.210 WHIP, 8.71 K/9
Spencer Schwellenbach hadn’t pitched above AA yet (and had only 13 innings there) when the Braves gave him the call-up at the end of May. He ended up pitching so well, they wouldn’t remove him from the rotation the rest of the season. Schwellenbach’s meteoric ascent through the Braves’ system came in the wake of having Tommy John surgery shortly after signing his pro contract and missing the entire 2022 season. His success in 2024 helped mitigate the loss of Spencer Strider for the season in April. He played a big part in the club’s push to the playoffs.
Fantasy managers found a mid-season waiver gem, as Schwellenbach would go on to score more fantasy points per inning pitched than many more highly-regarded rotation options, including Corbin Burnes, George Kirby, Pablo Lopez, Aaron Nola, Luis Castillo, and teammate Max Fried, among others. The fact that he did it with less-than-desirable strikeout numbers is a bit of a downer, but it speaks to the effectiveness of his stuff. He’s pitching, not just throwing. And he gets out. Now he’s set to watch his innings soar as the #3 starter for a Braves team that can’t help but be healthier than last season’s constant death loop. Once Ronald Acuña, Jr. returns from his knee injury, this lineup will look a lot deeper and should provide some nice run support.
Bryan Woo, Seattle Mariners (SP42/Overall 140)
2024 Stats: 121.1 IP, 22 GS, 9-3 W-L, 2.89 ERA, .211 AVG, 0.898 WHIP, 7.49 K/9
2025 Projections: 143.2 IP, 26 GS, 9-9 W-L, 3.87 ERA, .285 BABIP, 1.170 WHIP, 8.48 K/9
Bryan Woo wasn’t just serviceable last season. He wasn’t just good. He was stellar. While he never had the one big injury that tanked his season, he did have to deal with nagging injuries that kept him from going as deep into some games as we all would’ve liked and put him on the IL for a couple of short stints. But his numbers when he did pitch speak for themselves. Like Schwellenbach, the strikeout numbers are less than ideal, even more so in Woo’s case. But the effective stuff and his pitching ability just got the job done time and again. His command was impeccable. He led all starting pitchers with over 100 innings with a ridiculously low 2.8% walk rate. Even throwing primarily fastballs (at an over 70% clip) and having no real breaking ball to speak of, he held opponents to a .211 batting average.
Like with Schwellenbach, Woo is a pitcher, not a thrower. If he did happen to develop a breaking ball, those strikeout numbers would probably improve. Regardless, the guy had a lower WHIP than even Skenes last season in less than 12 fewer innings and striking out over four fewer batters per nine. That’s a professional pitcher, ladies and gentlemen. He’s likely relegated to the fifth spot in the rotation until and unless the Mariners decide to move one of the pieces in front of him to shore up the roster elsewhere, and with four pitchers who each started over 30 games, there’s just not a whole lot left. Still, I’m a big Woo fan and I’m a little more bullish than FanGraphs on him getting up over 150 innings this season. If that happens, all 2025 pitchers better watch out.
Jared Jones, Pittsburgh Pirates (SP75/Overall 250)
2024 Stats: 121.2 IP, 22 GS, 6-8 W-L, 4.14 ERA, .229 AVG, 1.192 WHIP, 9.76 K/9
2025 Projections: 167 IP, 28 GS, 10-10 W-L, 3.91 ERA, .293 BABIP, 1.250 WHIP, 9.31 K/9
Mostly because he’s a Pirate, Jared Jones didn’t see near the success his early-season performance warranted. He was very good, both on the mound and in your fantasy lineups. Then, in mid-May, it was like a switch of sorts flipped. All of a sudden, he was walking batters with much higher frequency, leading to shorter outings and some ugly stat lines. He was still striking guys out, but putting more runners on base is never a recipe for pitching success, fantasy or otherwise. Especially with the Pirates’ lineup scoring at the seventh-lowest rate in the league to back you up. Then, a lat strain took him out of the rotation for almost all of July and August.
Jones really wasn’t quite the same after coming off the IL. He won only one game the rest of the season while seeing his innings per start drop. His strikeouts remained pretty consistent, which was a positive sign, but his WHIP shot up from 1.110 pre-injury to 1.435 post-injury. Hopefully, he’s put that injury fully behind him and is ready to go as the Buccos’ #3 starter. In the absence of injury, the innings will be there. The curveball he was working on developing late last season may have contributed some to his struggles, but controlling it would go a long way to improving that K/9 rate and keeping hitters off-balance.
Matthew Boyd, Chicago Cubs (SP98/Overall 325)
2024 Stats: 39.2 IP, 8 GS, 2-2 W-L, 2.72 ERA, .204 AVG, 1.134 WHIP, 10.44 K/9
2025 Projections: 134 IP, 23 GS, 8-8 W-L, 3.93 ERA, .288 BABIP, 1.250 WHIP, 8.97 K/9
Matthew Boyd is a former Opening Day starter who really hasn’t been all that relevant lately. The biggest reason for that has been injuries. For one reason or another, Boyd hasn’t started more than 15 games in a Major League season since 2019. He had Tommy John surgery which meant he didn’t even sign with a club in 2024 until June. The Guardians brought him in, and gave him a chance late in the season, and it paid off. He put up efficiency stats better than his career numbers. He looked to have figured out how to keep the ball in the park. Boyd led the American League in homers allowed in both 2019 and the 2020 COVID season. He even pitched meaningful innings for the team in the postseason.
This offseason, he was able to roll that into a two-year deal from the Cubs to be their #4 starter. If Boyd can stay healthy enough to make over 20 starts, and if he pitches close to the way he did for Cleveland, fantasy managers would have to be ecstatic with their return on investment in him. He scored more fantasy points per inning than all but 35 starters last season. Granted, it was a small sample size, but he’s basically free in drafts at the moment.
I think he makes sense as a backend starter for your fantasy team. One you won’t feel pressured to keep if it goes south, but who also could have a nice upside. You might even be able to get away with dropping him for early streaming options and then picking him back up. However, that strategy won’t fly for long if he starts 2025 like he ended 2024.
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