In Spring Training, CBS Sports released their ranking of the Top 30 MLB pitchers (here), and #1 was of course Clayton Kershaw and #2 was David Price and #3 was Jake Arrieta #4 was Zach Greinke and #5 was Max Scherzer. Stephen Strasburg made the list at #24. Ross made the list at #30 only it was Joe Ross‘ brother Tyson Ross.
There was no Tanner Roark on the list, no Gio Gonzalez on the list and no Joe Ross on the list.
Pitchers are now at that 1/3 completion point in the season where some stats become more meaningful and projectible. You can probably take games, innings, and multiple by 3. Most other stats will vary as there are some that are near record levels like the Kershaw WHIP. Kershaw would be on pace for almost 260 innings which is unheard of these days and that could change, and there are 5 pitchers just on this list that project to 21 to 27 wins.
Stephen Strasburg is on the next list and Strasburg projects to 27 wins also. Some years you might not see more than 2 pitchers winning over 20 games in a season. This is a rarity to see this many pitchers at 9 wins at this point in the season. Jake Arrieta’s record tying 23rd team win in games he started came to an end last night. Arrieta tied the MLB record previously held by Kris Medlen. Stephen Strasburg has the most team wins by an active player dating back to the 2015 season with 15 consecutive team wins he games he has started.
Joe Ross ranks 10th in the Major Leagues in ERA and 7th in the NL.
Here is your National League Top 15 pitchers sorted by ERA:
Here is your National League Top 16 to 33 pitchers sorted by ERA as we wanted to include Max Scherzer:
Here is your Fangraphs chart of Fielding Independent Pitching which ranks pitchers by what they can control:
Here are all the Washington Nationals pitchers in one FIP ranking. It also gives you much more information:
What the 2016 Nats team has been built on is great pitching along with Daniel Murphy, Bryce Harper, and Wilson Ramos and others who are providing the bulk of the offense. You don’t win games where you can’t score runs. The Nationals rank 2nd among all MLB teams in pitching:
The Washington Nationals are 24-6 when they score 4 or more runs in a game. The Nationals are 20-3 when they score 5 or more runs in a game. That is the number the Nationals must get to on offense it would seem, and just circle that number. 5 starting pitchers, a 5 man bench, 5 runs to score a game, and who was involved in the first High-5 in sports history—–Dusty Baker!
