Familiar face ascends Starting Pitcher Power Rankings

The Aug. 1 Trade Deadline is fast approaching, and as always, starting pitching will be a hotly pursued commodity for contenders leading up to that date.

Good arms are hard to find, even for some of the top teams in baseball. That’s why it’s worth shining a light on the elite hurlers who made our latest edition of the Starting Pitcher Power Rankings.

As they have throughout the season, our MLB.com voters considered track record, 2023 success and recent performance in casting their ballots. All stats are through Tuesday’s games.

1. Gerrit Cole, Yankees (Last poll: 4)
Cole led our first two editions of the Starting Pitcher Power Rankings this season, and now, nearly three months later, he’s back. Since a brief hiccup in late May, Cole has posted a 2.59 ERA and 65-to-10 strikeout-to-walk ratio over nine starts as he pursues his first Cy Young Award.

2. Nathan Eovaldi, Rangers (5)
This is Eovaldi’s fifth straight appearance in the top five, and for good reason. He leads the AL in ERA (2.69) and ERA+ (162) after tossing six scoreless innings against the Rays in his first start after the All-Star break.

3. Spencer Strider, Braves (2)
Can Strider join the elite 300-strikeout club? He has a real shot, all while becoming the first to do so in fewer than 200 innings pitched. If the 24-year-old gets there, he’d be the youngest pitcher to accomplish the feat since Cleveland’s Sam McDowell in 1965.

4. Blake Snell, Padres (8)
The left-hander is climbing up this list quickly thanks to an incredible hot streak during which he has allowed a grand total of six runs across 12 starts (0.78 ERA). Snell has five double-digit strikeout performances during that stretch, although he has 12 walks and just eight K’s over his past two games.

5. Zac Gallen, D-backs (6)
Gallen has now made it into seven straight Starting Pitcher Power Rankings since missing out on the first of the season. The righty has shouldered a significant workload for Arizona -- he’s tied for second in the Majors in starts of seven innings or longer (nine) while reaching that mark in five of his past seven outings (3.33 ERA during that time).

6. Framber Valdez, Astros (1)
While he has allowed nine runs across two starts since our last poll, Valdez still ranks fifth in the Majors in ERA (2.94). He has a chance to finish below the 3.00 mark for the second straight season and top last year’s fifth-place AL Cy Young Award finish.

7. Kevin Gausman, Blue Jays (7)
While his ERA has lagged behind a bit, Gausman easily leads all qualified pitchers in FIP (2.54) and FanGraphs' version of WAR (9.5) since the beginning of 2022. During that time, he ranks in the top three in both strikeout rate (30.1%) and walk rate (4.7%).

8. Shane McClanahan, Rays (3)
His overall numbers this season remain strong, but McClanahan is sliding a bit here. Back tightness has limited him to just 16 2/3 innings since June 17, and he has allowed 13 earned runs (7.02 ERA) over that time.

9. Jesús Luzardo, Marlins (not ranked)
Luzardo makes his Starting Pitcher Power Rankings debut coming off a brilliant start on Sunday against the Rockies (seven innings, one run, 13 strikeouts). The 25-year-old lefty has been in full-on breakout mode for the past year, with a 3.15 ERA and 3.09 FIP over 33 starts since Aug. 1, 2022, ranking ninth in pitcher fWAR over that span.

10. Corbin Burnes, Brewers (not ranked)
It’s rather shocking that Burnes did not make it into these rankings until now, but the 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner did not seem quite like himself early in 2023. That changed in July, when Burnes posted a 1.64 ERA while allowing just 11 hits and a .335 OPS across five starts.

Also receiving votes: Luis Castillo (Mariners), Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers), Justin Verlander (Mets), Marcus Stroman (Cubs), Dylan Cease (White Sox), George Kirby (Mariners), Justin Steele (Cubs), Zach Eflin (Rays), Kodai Senga (Mets), Andrew Abbott (Reds), Alex Cobb (Giants), Pablo López (Twins)

Voters: David Adler, Brett Blueweiss, Paul Casella, Doug Gausepohl, Thomas Harrigan, Sarah Langs, Travis Miller, Ricardo Montes de Oca, Brian Murphy, Sweeny Murti, Manny Randhawa, Efrain Ruiz, Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru, Andrew Simon, David Venn