Ranking the top 15 starting pitchers heading into the MLB Season

One of baseball’s old adages states that teams can never have enough pitching, but having a dominant hurler at the top of the rotation helps cover up a lot of other problems. We’ll take a look at the top 15 starting pitchers in Major League Baseball heading into the 2024 season. All statistics are sourced from Baseball Reference.

In what was expected to be a down year for Chicago in 2023, the Cubs remained frisky for longer than most people expected, including Sports Illustrated. Steele was a major reason why, stabilizing the rotation as a National League All-Star. He also had a nice season for the Cubs in 2022, so it looks like he’s hitting his stride in his late 20s.

Bradish actually wasn’t one of the flagged up and comers in Baltimore, but had a tremendous season in 2023. He finished fourth in American League Cy Young voting, and The Athletic called him the ace of Baltimore’s staff. Bradish will be on the shelf as he recovers from injury, but could provide a major boost down the stretch if he can return to his form of a year ago.

Want to see more like this? Follow us here for daily sports news, profiles and analysis!

Gausman has been a good starter for the better part of a decade, but has hit his stride in the last three years. He’s been a late-bloomer, but an ERA just over three in that span has him as one of the most reliable pitchers in the game today. Toronto badly needs him to pitch well again this year, as Alek Manoah’s dropoff has left the team in a bind.

The Twins took a risk by trading Lopez for contact hitter extraordinaire Luis Arraez, but Minnesota was happy with the returns in the former’s first year with the ballclub. Lopez was a reliable presence in Minnesota’s rotation, taking the ball 32 times en route to the Twins’ first division title since 2020.

Gray has been a bit of an enigma in his career, as he didn’t fare well with the high profile New York Yankees in 2017 and 2018. However, he’s been pretty impressive in nearly every other stop, including in his last two years with the Minnesota Twins. Gray will look to replicate that success in St. Louis with the Cardinals this season.

He hasn’t thrown a pitch in a regular season game yet, but Yamamoto comes into MLB with as much fanfare as anyone in recent memory. Fox Sports discussed Yamamoto’s unique curveball and how it might flummox major league hitters. Yamamoto could start strong as the league adjusts to his movement.

The Mariners have high hopes this season, and Castillo is a central figure in those dreams. Sports Illustrated projects Castillo to have the lowest ERA in baseball this season, which is a flattering foreshadowing for the Dominican righthander. He finished with the fourth most strikeouts in the American League last season.

It’s fair to say that the Phillies are thrilled with the return on investment they’ve received from Wheeler’s five-year, $118 million deal. According to the New York Post, Philadelphia signed Wheeler to a record setting three-year, $126 million extension. The secure payday might allow Wheeler to focus on winning his first Cy Young rather than an uncertain future.

Want to see more like this? Follow us here for daily sports news, profiles and analysis!

Gallen was up and down during Arizona’s World Series appearance last fall, but they wouldn’t have even been in position to win a title had it not been for his banner regular season. He pitched 210 innings and fanned 220 hitters, which gives fans an idea about how difficult his pitches were to square up in 2023.

Burnes had been a bona fide ace for the Milwaukee Brewers in the last four years, but the team decided to trade him to the Orioles this season. Baltimore is hoping that Burnes is the piece that will get them deep into the American League playoffs, and Burnes is hoping he can add another Cy Young award to his mantle.

There’s no doubting Snell’s skills at this point, as the lefty has been one of the premier pitchers in MLB for several seasons. However, his free agency lasted longer than anyone expected, and that might impact his ability to get ready for the reason in an ideal fashion. He signed with the San Francisco Giants late in the spring.

Strider led MLB in strikeouts in 2023, and it wasn’t particularly close. The Braves hurler made 281 batters whiff, 44 more than the next closest pitcher. Still just, 25 years old, Strider is putting together a body of work that could make him one of the greatest pitchers in recent baseball memory.

While the Astros have brought in veteran pitchers like Justin Verlander to anchor their staff in big games, they’ve also done a great job replenishing their rotation with younger talent. Valdez is now 30 years of age, but has been a force since becoming a fulltime starter in 2021. He’s participated in some high leverage situations, and doesn’t fade when the lights are brightest.

Webb was MLB’s iron man in 2023, pacing the sport in innings pitched with 216. He also allowed the fewest walks of any of the top eight pitchers in the National League Cy Young voting a year ago, highlighting his supreme control. Webb led the league in walks per nine innings, which allowed him to pitch deep into games.

Cole and the Yankees would like to bring another World Series trophy back to the Bronx in 2024, but the ace has been phenomenal for New York in his career. He won the AL Cy Young award last year, leading the AL in ERA at 2.63. He also paced MLB in WHIP at 0.981. Cole should be the frontrunner for the honor again this year.

Want to see more like this? Follow us here for daily sports news, profiles and analysis!