By David Kerr
ROS: Top 50 Starting Pitching Rankings
1. Felix Hernandez–SEA
2. Clayton Kershaw–LAD
3. Justin Verlander–DET
4. David Price–TAM
5. Matt Cain–SF
6. Madison Bumgarner–SF
7. Jered Weaver–LAA
8. Cole Hamels–PHL
9. Adam Wainwright–STL
10. Stephen Strasburg–WSH
11. Cliff Lee–PHL
12. Jordan Zimmerman–WSH
13. Mat Latos–CIN
14. Gio Gonzalez–WSH
15. Johnny Cueto–CIN
16. Hiroki Kuroda–NYY
17. CC Sabathia–NYY
18. Roy Halladay–PHL
19. Matt Moore–TAM
20. R. A. Dickey–NYM
21. Chris Sale–CWS
22. Yovani Gallardo–MIL
23. Josh Johnson–MIA
24. Zack Greinke–LAA
25. James Shields–TAM
26. Jake Peavy–CWS
27. Max Scherzer–DET
28. Doug Fister–DET
29. Ian Kennedy–ARZ
30. Wade Miley–ARZ
31. Jon Lester–BOS
32. A.J. Burnett–PIT
33. Kyle Lohse–STL
34. Ryan Vogelsong–SF
35. C.J. Wilson–LAA
36. Clay Buchholz–BOS
37. Kris Medlan–ATL
38. Tim Hudson–ATL
39. Edwin Jackson–WSH
40. Jonathan Niese–NYM
41. Chad Billingsley–LAD
42. Tommy Hanson–ATL
43. Chris Capuano–LAD
44. Brandon Morrow–TOR
45. Jaime Garcia–STL
46. Jeremy Hellickson–TAM
47. Brandon McCarthy–OAK
48. Paul Maholm–ATL
49. Tim Lincecum–SF
50. Jason Vargas–SEA
So, Felix Hernandez plays for Seattle and doesn’t get many wins, we know that. What he does do though is absolutely dominate hitters. As you know he threw a perfect game last week. That is just the icing on the cake. Over his last 13 starts he has a 1.53 ERA and 95 K’s in 100 IP. He’s 8-0 in those starts. He is the number one Starting Pitcher in all of baseball and is making a strong push for the AL Cy Young Award.
Two other pitchers that have been absolutely dominant the past month are David Price and Adam Wainwright. From my vantage point, Price is currently in the lead for the AL Cy Young Award (Felix is making a strong push). He has 16 wins and really should have at least two more. The Rays scored zero runs in two recent games that Price started and in both games Price went 8 innings without allowing a run. Wainwright is definitely back to the pre-Tommy John Adam Wainwright. I hope you bought low in the middle of summer because he’s been absolutely filthy as of late.
I’m not too concerned about Stephen Strasburg. He may miss a start or two, but if he’s pitching, he’s going to dominate. I probably would’ve ranked him higher if he didn’t have the “shut-down cloud” hanging over his head.
If there is one player I’ve been wrong on so far this year, it is definitely, without a doubt, Hiroki Kuroda. I never thought he’d come into Yankee Stadium and dominate the way he has. Do you know what his home ERA is? 2.22. He’s going to finish strong.
Another guy I hope you bought low on is Matt Moore. He’s locked in.
Zack Greinke has been terrible since joining the Angels. He has a putrid 6.19 ERA to go with his 1.59 WHIP. I was tempted to rank him lower than 24. Headcase…
If Kris Medlan is still available on your wire, you need to pick him up immediately. He’s been great since joining the Braves rotation. I like him a lot headed down the stretch.
I’ll give credit where credit is due, which I why I will bite the bullet and rank Tim Lincecum in my Top 50. He has pitched better since the break and he’s worth owning at this point. If he starts to falter though, cut bait. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.. for now.
Thanks for reading. I have Relief Pitchers (Closers) left to rank and they should be out tomorrow or Friday. Agree with my rankings? Disagree? Leave a comment. And… if you don’t already do so, click below to follow me on Twitter!
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