“It’s a simple game. You hit the ball, you throw the ball, you catch the ball.” -from Bull Durham
Some pitchers are better at throwing the balls than others. Here is an updated top ten list for starting pitchers (Based on stats from 2016 to 2017):
10. Jose Quintana
9. Jon Lester
8. Jacob deGrom
7. Justin Verlander
6. Michael Fulmer
5. Zack Greinke
4. Madison Bumgarner
3. Chris Sale
2. Max Scherzer
1. Clayton Kershaw
Here is The Bleacher Creature’s top ten pitchers list for 2017:
There are a lot of pitchers in MLB. The pitchers decide if the batter is good or bad. This top ten ranking is based on the best pitchers in MLB.
Top Ten Pitchers
Jered Weaver is the famed ace of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. This pitcher has led the league in wins multiple times and also led the American League in strikeouts in 2010.
James Shields has proved to be a workhorse over the last seven years. Pitching over 200 innings in each, he is really durable. Being the ace of the Royals in 2014 helped them go to the World Series.
Jon Lester isn’t the shutdown ace he used to be. Traded to the Oakland Athletics in 2014, he didn’t really do much. Jon struck out 220 batters in 219.2 innings. He also got 16 wins. Back in 2008, Jon pitched a no-hitter.
7. David Price
David Price was very good in 2014. The Rays traded him to the Tigers so they wouldn’t have to pay him. That would be a mistake because he would lead the American League in strikeouts with 271.
Stephen Strasburg had an amazing year striking out 242 batters. The young pitcher hopes to become a Cy Young Award winner someday.
Adam Wainwright
Adam Wainwright is a regular 20 game winner. He is more of a ground ball pitcher than a strikeout pitcher. With Yadier Molina behind the plate, they make a great combo.
Felix Hernandez is a shutdown pitcher who plays for the Seattle Mariners. Back in 2010, Felix won the American League Cy Young award. He also is one of the only pitchers to pitch a perfect game.
Johnny Cueto had an amazing year as the ace of the Cincinnati Reds. He went 20-9 with 242 strikeouts. He pitched multiple complete games and did many other great things for the Reds.
Max Scherzer was the famed ace of Detroit Tigers in 2013 and 2014. In 2013, Max Sherzer won the Cy Young Award for the American League going 21-3 with 240 strikeouts. In 2014 Max tied the American League leaders with 18 wins.
All these players are good but not good enough to beat the most dominant pitcher who ranks number one. This pitcher worked hard to achieve this goal. The number one pitcher in all of baseball is…
1. Clayton Kershaw
Clayton Kershaw is obviously the best pitcher in the game. In 2014, he went 21-3 with 239 strikeouts. That was good enough to get him the NL Cy Young award and the MVP award. He also won numerous Gibby awards, too. He also won the Cy Young award 2 other times in 2011 and 2013. In 2014, he pitched a no-hitter against the Colorado Rockies with 15 strikeouts. All that helped him get his team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, to the postseason.
Notable Runner Ups
We couldn’t fit all the good pitchers in just ten places. The runners up are Jordan Zimmermann, Matt Harvey, Jacob DeGrom, and Jose Fernandez.