New No. 1 atop Starting Pitcher Power Rankings

The 2023 All-Star Game is in the rearview mirror, and playoff races are set to resume on Friday. Much will be determined by which arms stay healthy and productive down the stretch -- and which might be on the move ahead of the August 1 Trade Deadline.

There no doubt will be some who rebound from slow starts to become second-half stars, while others will fade during the depths of a hot summer. For now, though, here is a look at our latest Starting Pitcher Power Rankings, for which a panel of MLB.com voters considered track record, season-long excellence and recent performance.

These are the best starters in the game, coming out of the All-Star break.

1. Framber Valdez, Astros (Last poll: 2)
Framber takes the throne, knocking Shane McClanahan from the top spot. It’s the first time in seven polls this season that the left-hander has ranked No. 1, and he is the fourth different pitcher to do it. A second-time All-Star this year, Valdez leads the Majors with a 2.51 ERA and has a great shot at improving on his fifth-place AL Cy Young Award finish from 2022.

2. Spencer Strider, Braves (8)
Strider has appeared in all but one edition of the Starting Pitcher Power Rankings this season. After a brief hiccup in mid-June, he has reeled off four straight victories with a 1.38 ERA and a 39-to-4 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Strider has 13 more K’s than any other pitcher despite ranking tied for 26th in innings.

3. Shane McClanahan, Rays (1)
Back tightness has hampered McClanahan a bit of late, ending his three-poll reign atop these rankings and keeping him out of Tuesday’s All-Star Game. He is still supposed to return from a brief stint on the injured list in time to start on Sunday. After not making it out of the fourth inning in either of his past two outings, McClanahan will have a chance to get back on track against the Royals.

4. Gerrit Cole, Yankees (4)
Cole checked one first off his list on Tuesday, when he started the All-Star Game and pitched a 1-2-3 first inning. Now how about another? This could be the year when Cole finally wins a Cy Young Award after previously finishing second twice, fourth twice and fifth once. The Yankees’ only Cy Young winner in the past 44 seasons was Roger Clemens in 2001.

5. Nathan Eovaldi, Rangers (5)
Eovaldi followed Cole to the mound in the All-Star Game, and he follows him in these rankings for the second time in a row. The 33-year-old has come up huge thus far for the Rangers and now faces a big test in the second half. Eovaldi currently leads the AL with 117 2/3 innings but has only thrown 155 or more in a season twice in his career (2014 and ‘21).

6. Zac Gallen, D-backs (3)
Gallen has found a place in the top 10 for six consecutive polls now, a testament to his consistent production. The NL All-Star Game starter leads his league in wins (11) and WHIP (1.05). He’s tied for the MLB lead with six starts of at least seven innings and no more than one run allowed.

7. Kevin Gausman, Blue Jays (not ranked)
If you go by FanGraphs’ version of WAR, Gausman leads the Majors at 4.0, thanks to a 2.45 FIP that is more than three-tenths of a run better than any other qualifier. Gausman also leads the AL with 153 K’s. Setting aside a couple of eight-run blowups early in the season, he owns a 2.34 ERA in his other 17 outings.

8. Blake Snell, Padres (not ranked)
Making his first appearance in the Starting Pitcher Power Rankings this season, Snell dropped his ERA from 5.40 in late May to 2.85 at the All-Star break. How? Allowing a total of four runs over a nine-start span will certainly do the trick. Snell has limited opponents to a .155/.254/.204 slash line during that torrid stretch, while striking out more than 40% of them.

9. Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers (7)
The likely future Hall of Famer is on the IL for the first time this season, but fortunately his left shoulder soreness is not considered serious. Kershaw should be back on the mound early in the second half, and he’ll bring with him an NL-best 2.55 ERA. If he can hang on to that top spot, it would be the sixth NL ERA title of his career.

10. Logan Webb, Giants (not ranked)
Webb has yet to make an All-Star team, but he probably deserves more recognition. The righty owns a 3.01 ERA in 78 games (77 starts) since 2021, and he is shouldering a formidable workload this year. Webb entered the break leading the Majors with 126 innings pitched and 502 batters faced, completing at least seven innings an MLB-high 10 times.

Also receiving votes: Shohei Ohtani (Angels), Marcus Stroman (Cubs), Luis Castillo (Mariners), George Kirby (Mariners), Pablo López (Twins), Kodai Senga (Mets), Justin Steele (Cubs), Sonny Gray (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