Top Five at Every Position Right Now: Starting Pitcher

Photo Courtesy of Yahoo

By: Chris Larson 

From a pure baseball perspective, starting pitching is extremely important. If a team doesn't have an adequate enough starting rotation, then they are going to put a lot of workload on their bullpen and cause for their relievers to experience some major fatigue as the season wears on. As a result, having one or two workhorses at the top of your starting rotation is the effective way to build a pitching staff in today's world and something that should continue to be embraced.

For some teams around baseball, starting pitching is more important than it is for others. It all depends on organizational needs, philosophies that are put into place by the front office, and what type of depth options that specific team might have in their bullpen. Sometimes, team's might prefer to have one workhorse "ace" type of starting pitcher followed by two or three good to mediocre type of pitchers and a fifth spot that is utilized with a concept known as "The Opener".  The Tampa Bay Rays became famous for their use of "The Opener" a few seasons ago and it has slowly trickled around the league to other teams.

Over the last decade, there have definitely been some very good starting pitchers and almost all of them are still pitching today. For starters, you can't forget about Madison Bumgarner and the run he had with the San Francisco Giants, Cole Hamels terrific seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies and Texas Rangers, what both Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer continue to do with their respective teams, or the impact of Clayton Kershaw during his prime seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Verlander put together several good seasons with the Detroit Tigers but has seemingly experienced a resurgence with the Houston Astros, while Scherzer continues to be that workhorse "ace" for the Washington Nationals. On the other hand, Clayton Kershaw used to be ranked on this list but has since regressed. Additionally, Zack Greinke was very good during his prime and continues to be an impactful member for the aforementioned Houston Astros and lastly Jon Lester was quite the starting pitcher during his prime seasons with the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics.

With that being said, here are the top five starting pitchers around baseball right now.

Photo Courtesy of New York Post

1. Jacob deGrom (New York Mets) 

• Earned Run Average: 2.43 (2nd Among Starting Pitchers with At Least 180 Innings) 
• Innings Pitched: 204.0 (9th) 
• K/9 Rate: 11.25 (4th) 
• Fielding Independent Percentage: 2.67 (2nd) 
• Wins Above Replacement: 7.0 (2nd) 

Jacob deGrom is arguably the number one starting pitcher in all of baseball right now. deGrom is phenomenally talented and a terrific member a top the New York Mets starting rotation. The presence of deGrom at the top equated to seven additional wins for the Mets last year and deGrom should be primed for yet another strong season this year. If the Mets have any hopes of winning the National League East title, then they will need another strong year from Jacob deGrom. deGrom will turn 32 in June so he is nearing the end of his prime years, but there should be plenty left in the tank for the foreseeable future. Looking back at last season, even when you subtract the Mets defense from the equation, deGrom was very strong and put up terrific numbers. 

One area where Jacob deGrom really shined last year was in his ability to limit hard contact by opposing teams batters. deGrom recorded an Opponent Hard Hit Rate of 29.7% last year which was impressive considering the dynamics of the baseball and how often the ball was traveling outside of  all thirty ballparks. In addition, deGrom's primary pitch this last season was his four-seamer fastball which he threw 48.1% of the time. The next most common pitch was his slider which deGrom threw 32% of the time. With his slider, deGrom held opponents to a .186 batting average along with a .276 slugging percentage and accumulated a Whiff Rate of 35.5%. Looking forward to this year, deGrom doesn't need to change a thing and should once again be in the running for the National League Cy Young Award assuming he stays healthy over the entire season. 

Photo Courtesy of CBS Sports 

2. Gerrit Cole (Previously with the Houston Astros, Now with the New York Yankees) 

• Earned Run Average: 2.50 (3rd Among Starting Pitchers with At Least 180 Innings) 
• Innings Pitched: 212.1 (3rd) 
• K/9 Rate: 13.82 (1st) 
• Fielding Independent Percentage: 2.64 (1st) 
• Wins Above Replacement: 7.4 (1st) 

After the year that Gerrit Cole had this past season with the Houston Astros, it's no wonder why the right-hander was able to land the contract that he did with the New York Yankees this offseason. Cole made a potent 1-2 punch with Justin Verlander a top Houston's starting rotation and really shined when it came to racking up the strikeouts in 2019. Last season alone, Cole recorded 326 strikeouts which is why he was far and away the leader when it came to Strikeouts-Per-9 rate from last year. The Yankees are hoping that same strikeout magic carries over with Cole to the Bronx and if it does, the Yankees will have themselves quite a powerful arm at the top of their starting rotation. Considering the concerns regarding James Paxton and with the news that Luis Severino will miss this season recovering from Tommy John surgery, the Yankees need all of the impact they can get in the starting pitching department right now. 

According to Baseball Savant, Gerrit Cole was a leader in several major categories last year compared to other starting pitchers around baseball. Cole ranked in the 94th percentile when it came to Curveball Spin which averaged 2,901 RPM last year. Of the five pitches in Cole's repetoire, that was by far the pitch with the highest spin. Additionally, Cole shined when it came to Expected Batting Average Against as well as he finished the season in the 97th percentile in that category. All together, Cole recorded an Expected Batting Average Against of .184 last season which translated to an Expected Weighted On-Base Average (XWOBA) of .238. Beyond all of that, Cole had the second lowest walk rate (5.9%) of his big league career which is yet another impressive stat to add to his resume for the 2019 regular season. 

Photo Courtesy of Getty Images

3. Justin Verlander (Houston Astros) 

• Earned Run Average: 2.58 (4th Among Starting Pitchers with At Least 180 Innings) 
• Innings Pitched: 223.0 (1st) 
• K/9 Rate: 12.11 (2nd) 
• Fielding Independent Percentage: 3.27 (9th) 
• Wins Above Replacement: 6.4 (4th) 

The aforementioned Justin Verlander continues to age like a fine wine. Verlander had a spectacular age 36 season and really impacted the Houston Astros starting pitching results. When the Houston Astros acquired Verlander two years ago, they likely expected him to have an impact within their starting rotation, but probably not the level of impact that he has had since that time. Looking ahead to this season, there is a bit of concern when it comes to regression for Verlander, but as he has shown the last few years, don't let age fool you. Verlander has found the perfect balance between putting up phenomenal numbers on the mound and following a routine away from the field that has allowed him to stay healthy and off of the Injured List. 

Justin Verlander was really good at throwing all of his pitches in, out, up, and down throughout the entire strike zone and the surrounding area last season. That alone resulted in an impressive cumulative Swinging Strike Rate of 16.1% which was the highest that percentage has been over the span of Verlander's fifteen year big league career. From that, an easy conclusion that can be drawn is the idea that Verlanders pitches were so deceptive that opposing teams hitters were tricked and ended up swinging to make contact when in reality it ended up being a strike. Having that deception should continue to fair well for Verlander this coming season. Additionally, the slider became much more prevalent for Verlander last season as he relied on that pitch 28.7% of the time, according to data compiled by Baseball Savant. Furthermore, Verlander's slider experienced an uptick in horizontal movement on the plane in correlation to the strike zone. During the 2018 regular season, Verlander's slider had a Horizontal Movement value of -0.5 inches. Last year, that value sat at 0.3 inches. 

Photo Courtesy of The Spokesman-Review 

4. Max Scherzer (Washington Nationals) 

• Earned Run Average: 2.92 (8th Among Starting Pitchers with At Least 170 Innings) 
• Innings Pitched: 172.1 (47th) 
• K/9 Rate: 12.69 (2nd) 
• Fielding Independent Percentage: 2.45 (1st) 
• Wins Above Replacement: 6.5 (4th) 

When you take into account the Washington Nationals starting rotation, Max Scherzer might give the team one of the top rotations in all of baseball especially when coupled with Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin. Even at the age of 35, Scherzer is poised to have a significant impact on the Nationals starting rotation this coming season. Last year, Scherzer did end up missing some time as he dealt with a mid-back strain and that is something for the Nationals to watch this coming season. Despite that though, anyone would take Scherzer and the resume that he presents in their starting rotation any day of the week. Including the 2019 regular season, Scherzer has a great mentality whenever he takes the mound, knows how to post solid numbers, and continues to have the stuff to remain effective at the big league level. 

As you start to look at Max Scherzer's splits from last season, the thing that stands out the most is the difference in results against left-handers compared to right-handers. Against lefties, Scherzer posted a 3.96 ERA over 75 innings of work with 33 earned runs, 102 strikeouts, and a 1.32 WHIP. However, when Scherzer was facing righties, the ERA was almost two runs better at 2.13 over 97.1 innings of work. In that span, Scherzer recorded 23 earned runs and 141 strikeouts along with a 0.80 WHIP. In addition, Scherzer was more effective at Nationals Park than he was on the road. Away from Nationals Park over 12 starts, Scherzer had a 2.64 ERA. However, when he was at home in Nationals Park, Scherzer recorded a 3.16 ERA over 15 starts. The difference isn't significantly drastic, but it's something to watch this coming season for Scherzer as is the idea of the difference in results between left-handed and right-handed batters. Regardless, Scherzer still has an impressive resume and is certainly one of the top five starting pitchers in baseball right now. 

Photo Courtesy of USA Today

5. Jack Flaherty (St. Louis Cardinals) 

• Earned Run Average: 2.75 (5th Among Starting Pitchers with At Least 180 Innings) 
• Innings Pitched: 196.1 (17th) 
• K/9 Rate: 10.59 (13th) 
• Fielding Independent Percentage: 3.46 (11th) 
• Wins Above Replacement: 4.7 (T-11th) 

Jack Flaherty seemingly came out of nowhere last season with the St. Louis Cardinals. When Flaherty was a prospect within the Cardinals organization, there was plenty of talk about the future and what it could look like with starters such as Flaherty himself, Dakota Hudson, and some of the other intriguing arms that the organization still possesses. While the Cardinals likely expected Flaherty to have an impact in their starting rotation last season, they likely didn't expect him to post the type of numbers that he did or breakout in a way that would make him the ace of the staff moving ahead into the coming season. Regardless, Flaherty has a very high ceiling and this is likely just the beginning of greatness for him. 

At 24 years old, Flaherty is just starting to enter his prime seasons which should be very exciting news for St. Louis Cardinal and baseball fans alike. Last season, Flaherty posted a Hard Hit Rate of 30.3% which put him in the top 9% of all starting pitchers around baseball, but had the highest strikeout percentage of his young big league career at 29.9% as well as the lowest walk rate of his big league tenure at 7.1%. Beyond those three things, the most effective pitch for Flaherty last season was his four-seamer fastball which he averaged 94.3 miles per hour with. Furthermore, Flaherty was able to hold opponents to a batting average against of .194 and had a cumulative Whiff Rate of 22.0% with his four-seamer. Projecting ahead to this coming season, it would not be a surprise to see Flaherty take yet another step forward and to be the front runner for the National League Cy Young Award. Flaherty has very nasty stuff and there's a reason why the St. Louis Cardinals are putting so much trust and faith into him this coming season.