August 29th, 2024
MLB.com
Our latest edition of Starting Pitcher Power Rankings has familiar faces at the top and the bottom, but a lot of shuffling in between. While the top two slots remain unchanged, featuring a pair of left-handers primed to win their first Cy Young Award, there are three hurlers on the list who were not ranked at all in our last poll and a Phillies right-hander who made a big jump.
Here are the latest rankings, voted on by our MLB.com panel, which considered a combination of track record, season-long performance and recent success.
1. Tarik Skubal, Tigers (Last poll: 1)
Skubal, who is the MLB co-leader with Atlanta's Chris Sale in wins (15) and ERA (2.58), remains atop our rankings. His 193 strikeouts are also just four behind Sale and the Padres' Dylan Cease for the MLB lead in that category. Nothing seems to be slowing the Skubal train down -- if his final month of the season is anything like the first five, he'll be the man to beat for the American League Cy Young Award.
2. Chris Sale, Braves (2)
Sale's resurgent season marches on. The 35-year-old left-hander continues to burnish his case for winning the NL Cy Young Award, which would be the first Cy Young honor of his illustrious 14-year career (he finished among the top five in AL Cy Young voting five times). He hasn't given up more than two earned runs in any of his last 14 starts (86 innings), over which he has a 2.20 ERA with 24 walks and 116 strikeouts.
3. Zack Wheeler, Phillies (8)
Wheeler, who vaulted five spots in our poll, remains one of the most consistently excellent pitchers in the game. Even when others pitch brilliantly to garner headlines, the veteran right-hander quietly takes care of business for Philadelphia. He's done that to the point where he's within striking distance of an ERA title -- he'll enter his next start with a 2.74 ERA. In five August starts, Wheeler has posted a 1.97 ERA, striking out 37 while walking only five.
4. Hunter Greene, Reds (7)
Even though he's sidelined with right elbow inflammation and his timeline for a return to the mound is uncertain, Greene took a big step forward in 2024, elevating his status among the best starters in MLB. The 25-year-old flamethrower had a historic stretch of six starts over which he yielded only two runs over 37 2/3 innings (0.48 ERA) from June 30-Aug. 3. That run truly put Greene in the upper echelon of starters this season.
5. Framber Valdez, Astros (not ranked)
Valdez has been a big reason the Astros were finally able to turn things around in mid-June. As the left-hander began a hot streak on the mound, Houston began one in the standings. Since June 18, the Astros have turned a nine-game deficit in the AL West into a 3 1/2-game lead. Over the same span, Valdez has posted a 2.62 ERA, and over his last three starts in particular, Valdez has struck out 26 and walked only three.
6. Blake Snell, Giants (3)
Snell was nearly unhittable -- and in one game, he actually was -- over a tremendous five-start stretch in which he posted a 0.55 ERA and struck out 41 while walking 10. Since then, he's continued to be good, if not as incredible as he was from July 9-Aug. 2, pitching to a 2.42 ERA over four starts. He had some trouble in his most recent outing, when he walked six over three laborious innings against the Mariners in Seattle.
7. Logan Webb, Giants (not ranked)
Webb has built a reputation as a workhorse on the mound, and his 2024 campaign has been no exception -- the right-hander leads MLB with 177 2/3 innings pitched this season after he threw an MLB-high 216 frames last year. From July 31-Aug. 21, he had an outstanding span of five starts over which he posted a 0.96 ERA to help keep the Giants on the outer edge of Wild Card contention.
8. Seth Lugo, Royals (not ranked)
The last couple of months have been rocky for Lugo, who entered July with a 2.17 ERA on the season. But he's still been an innings-eater, pitching 56 of them over his last nine starts. That includes a complete-game gem against the White Sox on July 21, in which he gave up one run on three hits while walking none and striking out six. The veteran right-hander also turned in eight stellar innings against the Tigers on Aug. 1, yielding only one run in that outing as well.
9. Michael King, Padres (9)
Since becoming a full-time starter this season, his first with the Padres, King has been a key cog in the machinery that seems to be running so smoothly for San Diego since late July. The 29-year-old right-hander has posted a 1.59 ERA with 23 strikeouts and just six walks over his last three starts (17 innings). The best of those outings came on Aug. 13, when he threw seven scoreless frames against the Pirates, striking out 10 and walking none.
10. Logan Gilbert, Mariners (10)
Outside of a rough start in which he gave up eight runs (six earned) over 4 2/3 innings against the Dodgers on Aug. 21, Gilbert has been stellar this month. His latest start was one of his best of the season -- he tossed six scoreless innings against the Rays on Tuesday at T-Mobile Park, giving up four hits while walking none and fanning a season-high 10 batters.
Others receiving votes: Bryan Woo (Mariners), Paul Skenes (Pirates), Bryce Miller (Mariners), Hunter Brown (Astros), Jack Flaherty (Dodgers), Bowden Francis (Blue Jays), Tanner Houck (Red Sox), Spencer Schwellenbach (Braves)
Voters: Chris Begley, Theo DeRosa, Travis Miller, Brian Murphy, Efrain Ruiz, Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru, Tom Vourtsis, Andy Werle
