Who's on the move in the Starting Pitcher Power Rankings?

Who's on the move in the Starting Pitcher Power Rankings?

August 10th, 2023

Pitching is hard on the body, and staying on the mound through a full Major League season is a grueling task.

That’s reflected in the latest edition of the Starting Pitcher Power Rankings. Rays left-hander had appeared in each of our first eight polls this season, while Rangers right-hander had appeared in six straight. But both are now on the injured list, with McClanahan possibly headed for season-ending surgery, in a big blow to Tampa Bay’s championship hopes.

So who will pick up the slack? For the Rays () and Rangers (, ), it may be Trade Deadline acquisitions. For the Starting Pitcher Power Rankings, a couple other new faces entered the picture this week, via voting from our MLB.com panel, which considered track record, 2023 success and recent performance.

Stats are through Tuesday’s games.

1. , Yankees (Last poll: 1)
This is Cole’s second straight appearance in the top spot and fourth this season. Even as the Yankees have faltered, Cole has stayed strong. New York is just 3-4 over his past seven outings since July 1, despite Cole delivering a 2.70 ERA and .524 opponent OPS over that span.

2. , Padres (4)
The lefty has climbed from unranked to eighth to fourth to second over our past four polls, mirroring how he completely turned around his season. Snell had an ERA over 5.00 in late May but now leads the Majors at 2.61 -- despite also leading MLB with 72 walks.

3. , Astros (6)
Valdez was completely in control during his no-hitter of the Guardians on Aug. 1 in Houston. He walked only one batter, faced the minimum and threw a tidy 93 pitches, the third fewest in a no-no since pitch counts have been tracked (1988).

4. , Cubs (not ranked)
This is only Steele’s second appearance in the Starting Pitcher Power Rankings, but our panel is showing him some serious respect now. The lefty, a first-time All-Star this year, leads the NL with 13 wins and a 171 ERA+, allowing more than three earned runs in just two of his 21 starts for a surging Cubs club.

5. , Blue Jays (7)
Gausman enters our top five for the first time, but he’s been a top-tier pitcher for a while now. The AL leader in strikeouts (177), FIP (2.79) and K/9 rate (12.1) also ranks third in the Majors in FanGraphs’ version of pitching WAR (16.1) since the start of the 2020 season.

6. , D-backs (5)
Gallen has been durable for the D-backs (second-most innings in the NL). The same is true in our rankings, which have included the right-hander eight straight times. Since 2019, Gallen’s debut season, he is one of only seven pitchers to start 100-plus games and post an ERA+ of 130 or better.

7. , Braves (3)
Despite an uncharacteristic outing his last time out -- he lasted just 2 2/3 innings at Pittsburgh on Monday -- Strider still has 34 more strikeouts than any other pitcher in 2023. The powerhouse Braves have won 18 of his starts, more than any other team-pitcher combo this season.

8. , Astros (not ranked)
Look who has joined the party. Injury issues delayed Verlander’s 2023 debut until May 4, and his early results were uneven. But over his past 10 starts, the 40-year-old has posted a 2.02 ERA, pushing his way into our rankings for the first time. That includes an excellent outing at Yankee Stadium on Saturday (seven innings, two runs), his first since being traded back to the Astros from the Mets at the Deadline.

9. , Angels (not ranked)
While Ohtani has been better than ever at the plate, a blister issue played a role in a bit of a recent rough stretch on the mound. But Ohtani entered Wednesday night’s start against the Giants having thrown 13 scoreless innings over his past two outings, lowering his ERA to 3.32.

10. , Brewers (10)
If Burnes hasn’t been quite as spectacular as he was the past couple seasons, he’s still been mighty good, especially of late. The 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner has allowed a .113 average since July 1, becoming the first pitcher since Johan Santana in 2004 to put together a seven-start stretch with at least 45 innings and 17 or fewer hits allowed.

Others receiving votes: Sonny Gray (Twins), Max Scherzer (Rangers), Logan Webb (Giants), Zach Eflin (Rays), Tyler Glasnow (Rays), Luis Castillo (Mariners), George Kirby (Mariners), Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers), Zack Wheeler (Phillies), Kodai Senga (Mets)

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