Whats the best thing to look for in starting pitching.I been at this for there years and cant figure it out .Spend to much money on bad starting pitching.

My suggestion would be to work on a formula that you can tweak and continue to use over time. Compare a couple handfuls of players with good stats and look for ratings commonalities between them. Next pull some players with just OK stats and try to see how their ratings are different from the first set of players.

I usually look at a starting pitchers ratings in this order, VsR, Control, P1, P2, VsL, P3-P5.

VsR and control usually need to be over 70 preferably 75 and for an ace they need to be over 80. If P1 and P2 are over 80, bonus. I find left handed starters don’t do as well as righties. As long as VsL is over 50 I don’t really care, if it’s over 60 even better. P3-P5 I honestly don’t look at that much. GB/FB and velocity are pretty much useless in Starters for me.

Hockey and I disagree in a couple of areas. He thinks GB/FB is pretty much useless for him. GB/FB is VERY important for me, so I would put that somewhere between control and P2. And I have had some very good pitchers with VsR under 70 but over 60 - as long as those pitchers have good ratings in other areas.

As far as left handers - lefties can be very good starters, but they tend to struggle as relievers unless they have stellar ratings.

Three very general observations; all based on the idea that I don't see players as "critical vs. non-critical" ratings. I try to see HBD players as composites of all their ratings. Some add, some subtract from the overall value of a player.

1/ A pitcher can have a few good ratings negated by a few bad ones. Low individual pitch ratings can negate the effects of good splits.

2/ One bad rating is not enough to ruin a pitcher. I've seen a lot of LHPs with good ratings everywhere else, but low VsR, have success. This halfway backs up hockey1984, a high flyball rating alone is not a problem if the pitcher is great in other areas. But for a lesser pitcher it could be.

3/ Better defense makes all your pitchers - and your catchers - play better.

Do you guys look at Velocity at all? I've always more/less ignored it.

I'm pretty focused on Control, vR and P1 but will take a glance at vL, P2 and GB (although put much less weight toward them).

I don't really care about velocity, but I look at it. It's not nearly as important as the other key ratings, though.