For Week 5, several starting pitchers have delivered exceptional performances, capturing the attention of fans and analysts alike. From established aces reaffirming their dominance to emerging talents making significant impacts, these pitchers have set the tone for excellence on the mound. Let’s take a look at who tore it up and made noise last week around the league, in no particular order.
Freddy Peralta, Milwaukee Brewers
Week’s Line: 12.0 IP, 1.50 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 12 K, 9.00 K9, 2 QS
Nick Pollack from Pitcherlist.com refers to Freddy Peralta as Professor Chaos, and I’m here for it. He does this because his four-seamer is unpredictable, fluctuating in and out of the strike zone, and not consistently sitting upstairs. This erratic performance, especially with the four-seamer, is reminiscent of Butters’ alter-ego in South Park, which is the inspiration for the nickname. FANTASTIC WORK, NICK. Anywhosers, Freddy came correct last week against both Chicago teams, holding the Chitown faithful to 11 baserunners in 12 innings of work, fanning 12 with the erratic four-seamer (just 7/44 whiffs) with his secondaries (curve against the Sox; changer against the Cubs) helping him out.
MacKenzie Gore, Washington Nationals
Week’s Line: 11.0 IP, 3.27 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 15 K, 12.27 K9, 1 QS
Mac is back in my features this week, thanks in large part to his ability to generate strikeouts. The great thing about this week though, is that it was his secondaries doing the heavy lifting. Gore’s breaking stuff – his curve (6/9 whiffs, 67%), his slowball (5/7, 71%), and his slide-piece (3/7, 43%) – more than did their share while the four-seamer touched 97MPH+ with 18” if iVB. He was a little erratic in Great American, needing 100 pitches Sunday to get 15 outs, but he kept batters off balance all game with upstairs heat and off-speed runners (just ask Elly De La Cruz and Marte), and his upstairs, back-door hook against Espinal in the 5th? Absolute filth.
Hunter Greene, Cincinnati Reds
Week’s Line: 6.0 IP, 1.50 ERA, 0.67 WHIP, 12 K, 18.00 K9, 1 QS
Another hurler featured here on repeat, Greene’s phenomenal 2025 continued this past week with an utter dismantling of Washington on Friday night at Great American. Hunter allowed just four baserunners while fanning twelve with the four-seam (32% CSW) and slider (11/21 whiffs, 37% CSW) handling the Nats for six solid innings. He’s been one of the best in the bigs this season with one of the most devastating pitches in baseball – a four-seamer with a run value of +8 (second in MLB), 16.2” of iVB, and nearly 10” of arm-side run. On Friday, said fastball sat at 99.0 MPH, cracked 100 MPH four times, had a spin rate of 2,444 (elite), and routinely exploded through the box. If you‘ve watched it, you know. Virtually unhittable when he’s locating.
Nick Martinez, Cincinnati Reds
Week’s Line: 12.0 IP, 1.50 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 9 K, 6.75 K9, 2 QS
You really have to like the core the Reds have going right now – Greene, Lodolo, Singer, Abbott. It’s just too bad they pitch at one of (if not the) worst pitchers parks in baseball (PF at 103, 126 for HR). I already featured Greene, but let’s also chat about Nick Martinez’s week – a couple quality starts (against St. Louis and Washington), limited baserunners (11 in 12 frames), and a win for his ballclub. He looked pretty sharp against the Nats (who I seem to be picking on), sitting at 34% CSW rate on the afternoon, led by his change (44% whiffs on 16 swings) and his slider (also 44% whiffs). He’s not setting the world on fire this season, his profile looks like that of a 5-spot innings eater, and his arsenal is, well, lacking star power outside the aforementioned slider and changeup. He simply got it done last week, and that’s why I’m here.
Jacob deGrom, Texas Rangers
Week’s Line: 11.0 IP, 0.82 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, 10 K, 8.18 K9, 1 QS
Ahhhhhh, deGoat. At least he was trending that way before injuries derailed his career. But guess what, friends, he’s kinda back, right? The innings and the strikeouts aren’t quite back, but he’s almost there. The fastball velo is up (sitting at 97.0 MPH, topping out at 99 MPH this week), the whiffs seem to be there (16/38 against the A’s, with the four-seamer cooking), and a CSW rate north of 30% in both starts this week. It was the A’s and M’s, who aren’t incredibly offensive at the moment (except to their fans), but so what? Also, the arm mechanics he was said to be tinkering with? Paying off – his Pitching+ is sitting at 124 on the season, with location (115+ leading the way). I’m buying the fact that Jacob is settling back in after two seasons lost to injuries. I do think he’s still on an innings limit, but 65-80 an outing from Jacob is better than 0. Sparking ERA and WHIP this week, two wins for the Rangers, and he came through unscathed. Flowers, my guy.
Tomoyuki Sugano, Baltimore Orioles
Week’s Line: 11.0 IP, 1.64 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 12 K, 9.82 K9, 1 QS
Speaking of settling in, how about Tomo this week? 11 innings of goodness at Camden against the Yankees and Royals have landed him in my features this week. His profile isn’t sexy, but he does throw six pitches with regularity, highlighted by a splitter that DID WORK against the Yankees – 9/12 whiffs (75%). In fact, all his “secondaries” performed well Monday – 16/32 whiffs (50%!) and CSW north of 30%. While technically a rookie, Tomo isn’t a newbie – Sugano’s professional career began in 2013 with the Yomiuri Giants in the NPB. Over 12 seasons, he established himself as one of Japan’s premier pitchers, amassing a record of 136 wins and 74 losses with a stellar 2.43 ERA and 1,585 strikeouts over 1,857 innings. The pedigree is there, friends, and the Orioles need it with Grayson Rodriguez out and Corbin Burnes Corbin’ing in Arizona.
Garrett Crochet, Boston Red Sox
Week’s Line: 12.0 IP, 2.25 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 12 K, 9.00 K9, 1 QS
The Red Sox paid their prospect’s weight in gold for Crochet back in December, and it’s safe to say it’s been paying off richly. Crochet is among the league leaders in strikeouts and innings pitched, and he gave us both last week against the Blue Jays and the Twins. This is Crochet’s second time in my weekly Hottest features, and – as I mentioned before – it’s his fastball variation (4-seam, cutter, sinker) that is his bread and butter. While he has pounded the zone effectively, he’s done so largely on decreased velocity from a season ago (down about two ticks). Crochet himself acknowledges the velocity dip, and believes it’s related to his mechanics, particularly how he’s “working down the slope” on the mound. Will it catch up to him? Not if his secondaries keep playing so well (10/17 whiffs, 58.8% this week).
Kevin Gausman, Toronto Blue Jays
Week’s Line: 6.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.33 WHIP, 9 K, 13.5 K9, 1 QS
This seems to be the week for repeat business, so step on up, Mr. Gausman! After a brutal start in the Bronx, Gaus rebounded magnificently against the Guardians with one of the most dominant lines of the week. He punched two batters in four different innings Saturday, as his signature splitter was cooking – 9/14 whiffs (64%) with 18” of drop and run (iHB). The four-seamer also played (17/54 CSW, 31%), and he even dropped in some effective sliders (5/11 CSW). His only blemishes were a walk to Santana in the first and a rinky-dink little blooper to Kwan in the 3rd. I’ve always been enamored with Gaus’ split-finger, which mimics the look of his fastball (same arm look and speed, enhancing its deception) before diving sharply down and away from left-handed hitters and into righties. It is a devastating weapon, inducing lots of whiffs and weak contact, with an xBA of .180, and xSLG of .352, and a hard hit% % of 30.3% – all elite marks. Swoooon.
Reese Olson, Detroit Tigers
Week’s Line: 11.1 IP, 2.38 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 15 K, 12.16 K9, 0 QS
I would love to see Reese Olson pitch deeper into games, which won’t happen until he locates better. Even still, the eleven he gave us this week sparkled. He was much better against the Haloes (shocker), but he still punched seven in Houston before he got the hook. Let’s be honest – the sinker (his most-used pitch) was atrocious this past week. Hit hard in both contests, it returned 0/22 whiffs on the week. 0%. Not one swing and miss. His breakers, however, sizzled. The slider (13/21, 62%), change (16/25, 64%), and curve (5/9, 56%) all generated swinging strikes and landed north of 40% CSW. This matches the season-long profile, as all three (45.3%, 54.3%, and 50%, respectively) are exceptional offerings. Detroit has themselves a rotation up there in Comerica, which, btw, is a beautiful ballpark.
Bryan Woo, Seattle Mariners
Week’s Line: 6.1 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.16 WHIP, 8 K, 11.8 K9, 1 QS
Nope. Not Gilbert (injured). Not Miller (brutal on the road). Friends, it’s Bryan Woo. Woo has been bea-WOO-tiful so far in 2025, and the fascinating thing is he’s doing it away from the friendliest pitcher’s park in the game – T-Mobile Park. His Statcast is fairly red, so the profile matches. And while I don’t think the pitches are elite, they’re doing their job (which makes Bill Belichick happy). Against the Rangers, Woo featured his fastball (40% usage,) which returned a CSW of 31%, but it was his increased use of his secondaries that popped in this one. The sinker was just located (seven called strikes on 18 offerings), and the slider/sweeper worked RHB like they owed him money. The strikeout pedigree is there (13.3 K/9 across three minor league levels before his big league debut), and the pitch profile (113 Pitching+) suggests he’s right there.
