Phillies, Schwellenbach lead after week 1
Ratings through games of Friday, April 4, 2025
It’s the first release of our starting pitcher ratings and I think it would be safe to say that none of us expected Spencer Schwellenbach to have the highest individual rating and the Cincinnati Reds to have the second best team ranking.
Now, it’s just week one. Well, this week consists of more than just a week, but it is the first full week of the season. The ratings are certainly going to change as we get deeper into the season, but this is what we have now. So let’s look at where things stand right now.
Next to each pitcher below, I list the three categories of ratings for the pitcher. The format is RS Recent Strength (RS), Season Strength (SS) and Composite Rating (CR). A rating of 76 means that the pitcher is better than 76% of the starting pitchers in MLB this season.
With that said, the top pitchers right now are…
1) Spencer Schwellenbach - Atlanta (99-99-99)
Schwellenbach made his debut last year on May 29 at home against the Washington Nationals in what was a ho-hum 49 Game Score outing. He went five innings. He allowed five hits and three runs.
He was the third or fourth best pitcher on the Braves’ staff last season. He finished the season with a nice 3.35 ERA in his 21 starts. A fine first season in the majors, but there was nothing there to think he would be the best pitcher in baseball in 2025. And of course, I’m not saying he will be, but he is after two starts.
In 2025, Schwellenbach has faced one of the best teams in the National League (at San Diego) and a Miami Marlins team coming off a 100-loss season. Schwellenbach has been dominant in both starts.
He threw 90 pitches over six innings in his first start against the Padres. He allowed just one hit, one walk, no runs and struck out four. In his second game, Schwellenbach threw 99 pitches in eight innings. This time he allowed two hits, walked none and struck out ten. So that’s two starts, 14 innings, 3 hits allowed, no runs, one walk and 14 strikeouts. It doesn’t get much better than that.
2) Nathan Eovaldi - Texas (98-98-98)
There isn’t much that separates the top pitchers, especially just a couple of starts into the season. Eovaldi was terrific in his first two starts going six innings at home against Boston and then nine innings at Cincinnati. He allowed just seven hits, two runs, no walks and had 17 strikeouts over those two games.
3) Zack Wheeler - Philadelphia (97-97-97)
Wheeler was just about every bit as good as Schwellenbach and Eovaldi, but fell just short of them in our ratings. He also had the fortune of facing two teams who are a combined 2-12 in 2025: Washington and Colorado.
But Wheeler can only pitch against who the Phillies are scheduled to play when it is his turn to take the mound. And over his first two starts against what might be bad teams, he pitched 13 innings and allowed just five hits, two runs, walked two and struck out 18. He has allowed a homerun in each of his first tow starts, but as long as they are solo shots, I’m not sure any Phillies fan will mind.
4) Freddy Peralta - Milwaukee (96-97-96)
Peralta is in his eighth season pitching for the only major league club he has ever known. He has been consistently good since his third season. The first two starts of 2025 make it look like he will continue that roll. In 13 innings, Peralta has allowed six hits, three runs, one walk and has 16 strikeouts.
5) Jesus Luzardo - Philadelphia (97-96-96)
Luzardo is the second Phillies’ pitcher in our top five. (You might be able to guess which team will have our top-ranked rotation through week one.) His 12 innings, 7 hits, four walks and 19 strikeouts against Washington and the Los Angeles Dodgers is only good for fifth in the league and second on his team.
The rest of the top 10 includes:
6) Shota Imanaga - Chicago (NL) (95-95-95)
7) Paul Skenes - Pittsburgh (95-94-95)
8) Hunter Greene - Cincinnati (94-94-94)
9) Garrett Crochet - Boston (93-93-93)
10) Logan Gilbert - Seattle (93-92-93)
The top five ranked starting rotations through week one are:
1) Philadelphia
2) Cincinnati
3) Texas
4) Tampa Bay
5) San Diego
Download the full ratings below.
So that’s it. That is the week one roundup. Let me know if there is anything you would like added to these weekly updates. I’m just getting started and figuring out the best way to present this information.