The MLB regular season will come to a close after the doubleheader between the Mets and Braves, and for the most part, all stats will remain the same. It was another incredible year of pitching as we’ve seen some breakout seasons from rookie, resurgent years from some of the top pitchers of the last decade, and unexpected studs come out of nowhere to light up hitters across the league. With the access to pitch data and information we have nowadays, it has never been easier to access information about the top pitchers in the game.
Ranking based solely on the 2024 season, here are the top 10 pitchers in all of baseball.
10. Michael King: San Diego Padres
Michael King enjoyed a breakout season in his debut year with the San Diego Padres, helping guide a rotation that lost its two veteran workhorses Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove for a good chunk of the season. He finished ninth among qualified MLB pitchers in ERA (2.95) and strikeout rate (27.7%) among qualified MLB starters, reaching the 200-strikeout plateau for the first time in his Major League career while also pitching a career-high in innings.
On top of his excellent ability to miss bats, King ranked in the 99th Percentile in Average EV (85.6 MPH) and 97th Percentile in Hard-Hit% (30.3%). His velocity declined from last year, but his on-field performance was largely unaffected, which bodes well for his 2025 outlook. Right now, the focus is on the postseason and how King will perform in what will be his first-ever October run.
After an elbow injury in 2022 and a quick exit in the Wild Card Round in 2021, Michael King will hope to cap this season off with a dominant playoff run where he could meet his former team in the World Series.
9. Logan Gilbert: Seattle Mariners
Logan Gilbert was the league leader in innings pitched (208.2) as he continued to be the Seattle Mariners’ workhorse in 2024. His 3.23 ERA was 14th among qualified MLB starters and was one of just six pitchers to reach the 220-strikeout mark this year, as he became even more imposing than he was last year. Gilbert added a full MPH of velocity to his fastball and saw a 15-point increase in Stuff+, taking that leap into being a true ace on a loaded Mariners’ pitching staff.
The biggest change he made from last season was limiting his fastball usage, as Gilbert threw his slider more than his four-seamer in 2024. This resulted in his fastball becoming more of a show pitch, which is exactly how it should be used given that it isn’t a high-whiff offering. It sets up his demonic splitter and nasty gyro slider perfectly, and he saw his Whiff Rate spike from 26.3% to 31.7%, resulting in a career-high strikeout rate in 2024.
It’s clear that Logan Gilbert made some worthwhile changes in how he attacks batters, and if he can continue to put it all together, he may win the American League Cy Young Award in 2025.
8. Emmanuel Clase: Cleveland Guardians
This was a historic season, there’s no other rational way to describe what Emmanuel Clase did by recognizing how incredibly elite he was. His 15 ERA- on the season was the second-best mark for a reliever (min. 50 IP) in MLB history, showing off his dominant cutter-slider combination and just eviscerating batters with it. He throws a 100 MPH cutter and a 91 MPH slider, Clase might just be the most unhittable force in the sport.
No pitcher came close to Emmanuel Clase in Win Probability Added (+6.40) in 2024, as he’s been compared to all-time great closer Mariano Rivera thanks to that signature cutter. There’s always going to be hesitation when comparing someone to the greatest reliever who has ever walked the Earth, but Clase’s 1.67 ERA and 158 saves through just his age-26 season could put him on a Hall of Fame-trajectory. He blew just three saves this year, and yet that just leads you to wonder who could ever put together a rally against a talent like him.
7. Corbin Burnes: Baltimore Orioles
After being traded by the Milwaukee Brewers to the Baltimore Orioles, Corbin Burnes put on an absolute show for his new team. With a 2.92 ERA across 194.1 innings, he had another strong season, and teams will be lining up to throw money at him over the offseason. His strikeout rate did continue to decline from last year, but there was also a good amount of improvement down the stretch from a results and process standpoint.
His cutter started moving more as he altered the grip and orientation of the ball, and the pitch was violently dominant in September. Now, he’ll be tasked with a Game 1 start against the Kansas City Royals in the Wild Card Series, where the former NL Cy Young Award winner will try to secure Baltimore’s first playoff win since 2014. Corbin Burnes may not be a Baltimore Oriole after 2024, but the fans and organization acquired him to do one thing; win them a World Series.
6. Seth Lugo, Kansas City Royals
Few pitchers are like Seth Lugo, who signed a three-year $45 million deal with the Kansas City Royals this offseason after a strong year in San Diego. Many viewed this as a savvy signing, but no one could have foreseen that in his age-34 season, he would finish second in innings pitched (206.2) with a 3.00 ERA. What makes him so unique? Well, the right-hander throws nine different pitches according to Baseball Savant, with four breaking balls, three fastballs, and two different offspeed pitches at his disposal.
He’s as crafty as it gets, but he was also quietly one of the very best pitchers in the sport in 2024. The right-hander finished 10th in ERA and was tied for sixth in fWAR among qualified MLB pitchers, a remarkable campaign that helped Kansas City break their nine-year playoff drought, as they hadn’t seen October baseball since Game 5 of the 2015 World Series, where they celebrated a championship in Citi Field. What’s more incredible about this rotation is that for as good as Seth Lugo has been…
5. Cole Ragans: Kansas City Royals
Cole Ragans has arguably been even better. Acquired from the Texas Rangers in exchange for closer Aroldis Chapman, the Kansas City Royals truly maximized a one-year deal that didn’t make much sense at the time. in his sophomore season, the left-hander struck out the fifth-most batters in the sport (223) while posting a strong 3.14 ERA. His stuff is electric, sporting a four-seamer with great ride up in the zone alongside a changeup and slider with great vertical drop and whiff numbers.
He’s an extremely talented pitcher who has the upside to become a Cy Young Award winner eventually, and he’s already the ace of the Kansas City Royals. This was a big year for Cole Ragans, who has shown over a full season that he is one of the game’s best pitchers already. It would be hard to leave him off of any top-10 lists heading into 2025, as his arsenal and youth are extremely projectable moving forward.
4. Zack Wheeler: Philadelphia Phillies
Zack Wheeler may not win the NL Cy Young, but his 2024 campaign was one of the best in his career as he logged 32 starts (26 of them quality starts) with a 2.57 ERA. His 224 strikeouts were third in all of baseball as was his ERA, and Wheeler anchored a Phillies’ rotation that one could argue is historically dominant in the top four spots. Aaron Nola, Cristopher Sanchez, and Ranger Suarez have all solidified themselves as excellent starters with postseason experience, but they all pale in comparison to the team ace.
While the initial contract Wheeler signed will expire at the end of the 2024 postseason, he won’t be going anywhere as he’s going to begin the first year of a massive three-year $126 million extension in 2025. No pitcher has produced more fWAR (24.7) than Zack Wheeler, and his ability to punch tickets and limit damage contact have made him arguably the best pitcher in baseball. He’s dominant in October, and I expect him to be dominant once more in the Phillies’ upcoming playoff run.
3. Chris Sale: Atlanta Braves
Chris Sale was salary-dumped to the Atlanta Braves for Vaughn Grissom, who posted a negative WAR and hasn’t been able to stay healthy or productive. How could the Boston Red Sox make such a miscalculation of Sale’s value? Well, that’s because nobody could have seen this coming out of the veteran left-hander. He’s been dominant before and was on a Hall of Fame pace, but the injuries he suffered from 2019-2023 looked like they would cause his career to end in the very near future.
From 2020-2023, Chris Sale threw 151 innings, but in 2024 alone, he exceeded that mark by over 20 innings pitched. His 2.38 ERA and 32.1% strikeout rate are ridiculous, as Sale toyed with hitters all year and looked like the kind of pitcher who not only should win the NL Cy Young but should also have a couple of more good years at the very least. Assuming he wins the award, it would be his first-ever CYA and would almost certainly solidify his Hall of Fame candidacy.
2. Tarik Skubal: Detriot Tigers
Tarik Skubal probably broke out in 2023, but 2024 served as the year where he threw himself in the tier of top pitchers in the sport. This isn’t a backend top-10 guy, he’s someone who should be in any conversation about who the best pitcher in the sport is. By leading the AL in ERA (2.39), strikeouts (228), and wins (18), Skubal took home the AL Triple Crown, and that’s not all he led the AL in.
The Tigers’ ace led the AL in fWAR (5.9) and K-BB% (25.6) as well, looking like the most dominant force on the mound at various points throughout the season. He helped guide the Detroit Tigers to the postseason for the first time in 2014, snapping what had become the longest active playoff drought in Major League Baseball. He has cemented himself as an elite starter, and he should begin either asking for an extension or waiting to set a new record for a contract handed out to a starting pitcher in the near future.
1. Paul Skenes: Pittsburgh Pirates
How can a guy who didn’t amass 140 innings pitched this year be the best pitcher in baseball for the 2024 season? Well, it’s pretty simple. Paul Skenes posted a 1.96 ERA and set records for rookie starters, as his stuff was about as unhittable as it gets. The fastball is an excellent weapon to freeze hitters and generate whiffs due to his funky release points and excellent velocity, but it’s not the only weapon at his disposal. When it comes to depth and command of arsenal, I’m confident in saying that Paul Skenes is unmatched.
Paul Skenes’ arsenal is headlined by his splinker, a true 80-grade pitch with incredible damage suppression and swing-and-miss abilities. Couple that with a great curveball and you have a pitcher who had a strikeout rate north of 30% and a groundball rate north of 50%. He’s one of the best pitchers I’ve seen in quite some time, and there really is not a discernable flaw in his game right now. Skenes can get all types of hitters out in all types of manners, something no one else in baseball can truly say with confidence (outside of Tarik Skubal).