There’s a Hidden Gem at the Back of the Yankees Rotation
Photo Credit: MLB.com
Two months into the 2025 MLB season; here are the top 30 pitchers ranked by xwFIP:
Table 1: xwFIP leaderboard through May 30, 2025. Top 30 pitchers with min. 15 innings pitched
After over a season at the top of the xwFIP leaderboard, Mason Miller has finally conceded the top spot. Giants reliever Randy Rodriguez has dazzled so far this season with a 2.12 xwFIP. The right-handed Rodriguez features a 97.1 mph 4-seamer with an elite 2.8 inches less in vertical drop than expected, paired with a sharp 85.8 mph slider that has 3.7 inches more horizontal break than expected. He has a major-league leading 40% strikeout rate, compared to a miniscule walk rate of 3.3%.
Following Rodriguez in the top five are Logan Gilbert (2.13) , Miller (2.22), Jeff Hoffman (2.28), and Griffin Jax (2.30).
Now let’s check out the leaderboard for the top 30 starters.
Table 2: xwFIP leaderboard through May 30, 2025. Top 30 starters with min. 4 games started
Gilbert leads all starters in xwFIP, but he hasn’t pitched in over a month. He just completed his first rehab start after suffering a grade one elbow flexor strain. Cole Ragans, Tarik Skubal, Zack Wheeler, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto round out the top five starters.
The Phillies lead baseball with four starters in the top 30. The next best rotations, with three starters each in the top 30, belong to the Tigers, Yankees, and Giants.
The Yankees rotation expected solid performance from Carlos Rodon (3.26), Max Fried (4.02), and Clarke Schmidt (4.01), but must be pleasantly surprised by the results of both rookie Will Warren (3.63) and veteran left-hander Ryan Yarbrough (3.55). Even with Marcus Stroman eyeing return from knee injury, they should not be considering the option of a rotation shakeup at this point in the season.
