Who Were the Best MLB Pitchers of the Decade?
Last week, Bleacher Report selected the 10 best hitters of the 2010s, with Mike Trout edging out Miguel Cabrera for the No. 1 spot on that list.
Now we turn our attention to the pitching side of things.
The goal was to identify the 10 best pitchers of the past decade, and accomplishing that required a mix of objectively digesting stats and subjectively weighing resumes with different levels of length and achievement.
On the next slide, you'll find a quick rundown of the methodology behind narrowing the field of candidates and a handful of honorable mentions before we dive into the top 10.
Let's get to it.
Methodology and Honorable Mentions
1 of 11
The first step was to narrow the field to qualified players. We did that by first eliminating anyone who did not pitch at least 1,000 innings during the 2010s, which meant no relief pitchers were considered for inclusion.
That narrowed the list of candidates to 89 players.
The next step was to whittle that down to only the truly above-average pitchers, so any players with an ERA+ lower than 110 were bumped, which notably eliminated R.A. Dickey (109), Julio Teheran (109), Jered Weaver (107), Anibal Sanchez (104) and James Shields (99).
That narrowed the remaining field to 32 players.
From there, a more subjective approach was taken to select the 10 players who would make the final list, with full statistical body of work, importance to team success, postseason resume and consistency of performance all taken into account.
Here are the 22 who didn't make the cut for our top 10, listed alphabetically:
- Jake Arrieta
- Clay Buchholz
- Carlos Carrasco
- Gerrit Cole
- Patrick Corbin
- Johnny Cueto
- Yu Darvish
- Doug Fister
- Gio Gonzalez
- Sonny Gray
- Cole Hamels
- Felix Hernandez
- Dallas Keuchel
- Hiroki Kuroda
- Lance Lynn
- David Price
- Jose Quintana
- Tanner Roark
- CC Sabathia
- Masahiro Tanaka
- Adam Wainwright
- C.J. Wilson
10. Stephen Strasburg
2 of 11
Stephen Strasburg narrowly edged out Felix Hernandez, Cole Hamels and David Price for the No. 10 spot on this list.
Here's a look at how those four pitchers stacked up statistically during the 2010s:
- Hernandez: 1,824.2 IP, 3.40 ERA, 114 ERA+, 1.17 WHIP, 22.9 K%
- Hamels: 1,958 IP, 3.33 ERA, 124 ERA+, 1.19 WHIP, 23.2 K%
- Price: 1,887.1 IP, 3.24 ERA, 125 ERA+, 1.14 WHIP, 24.3 K%
- Strasburg: 1,438.2 IP, 3.17 ERA, 130 ERA+, 1.09 WHIP, 29.1 K%
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 draft, Strasburg made his MLB debut the following season as one of the most hyped pitching prospects in recent memory.
Tommy John surgery limited him to just 17 starts over his first two seasons, and he's battled various injuries throughout his career. But when healthy, he's been one of baseball's most overpowering pitchers.
His 10.6 strikeouts per nine innings rank third among active starters, trailing only Yu Darvish (11.1 K/9) and Chris Sale (11.1 K/9), and he has finished in the top 10 of the Cy Young Award voting three different times.
His performance during the 2019 postseason sealed his place on this list. Over 36.1 innings, he went 5-0 and posted a 1.98 ERA, including quality starts in Games 2 and 6 of the Fall Classic to claim World Series MVP honors.
9. Zack Greinke
3 of 11
After winning American League Cy Young honors with the Kansas City Royals in 2009, Zack Greinke began the decade with a 4.17 ERA (100 ERA+) in 220 innings during the 2010 season.
From there, he spent time with the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks before joining the Houston Astros in a trade last summer.
He was part of three blockbuster trades during that span, first going to the Brewers in a deal that sent Lorenzo Cain, Jake Odorizzi and Alcides Escobar to the Royals, then moving from the Brewers to the Angels for a three-player package headlined by Jean Segura. Finally, he was sent to the Astros in exchange for four prospects this July.
In 1,984 innings during the decade, he posted a 3.18 ERA (128 ERA+), 1.11 WHIP and 8.5 K/9, topping the 200-inning mark seven times.
He peaked in 2015 when he led the National League in ERA (1.66), ERA+ (222) and WHIP (0.84) to finish second to Jake Arrieta in NL Cy Young voting. That was one of four times he cracked the top 10 in the balloting, and he also earned an All-Star nod five times.
With 44.0 WAR, he ranked sixth among all pitchers for the decade.
8. Jacob deGrom
4 of 11
Back-to-back NL Cy Young Awards to close out the decade are enough to land Jacob deGrom in the No. 8 spot despite the fact that he did not make his MLB debut until the 2014 season when he won NL Rookie of the Year honors.
After four strong seasons to begin his big league career, he took his game to another level in 2018. He led the majors with a 1.70 ERA in 217 innings, and his 221 ERA+ indicates that he was 121 percent better than the average pitcher, which was good for the 18th-highest mark in MLB history.
That was followed by another terrific season in 2019 as he finished second in the NL in ERA (2.43), second in WHIP (0.97) and first in strikeouts (255) to secure 29 of 30 first-place votes in the NL Cy Young balloting for the second time in a row.
Those two seasons alone have been worth 16.9 WAR, and his 32.7 WAR during the 2010s ranks ninth among all pitchers despite his late start to the decade.
He's appeared in just one postseason, but he played a major role in the New York Mets reaching the World Series in 2015. During three starts in the NLDS and NLCS, he earned a 1.80 ERA with 27 strikeouts over 20 innings.
7. Jon Lester
5 of 11
Some pitchers have better overall stat lines than Jon Lester for the decade, but few boast a postseason track record as impressive as the one he compiled while pitching for a pair of World Series winners.
Over a whopping 112 postseason innings during the 2010s, he posted a 2.49 ERA and 0.98 WHIP with seven wins in 16 starts. As the ace of two different staffs, he was the Game 1 starter in the World Series for both the 2013 Boston Red Sox and the 2016 Chicago Cubs.
That's not to say he wasn't also excellent during the regular season.
The workhorse left-hander made at least 31 starts during each season of the decade, posting a 3.54 ERA (118 ERA+) and 1.24 WHIP in 1,979.2 innings for 31.2 WAR.
He was a five-time All-Star, and he appeared in the top 10 in Cy Young voting four different times. His best finish came in 2016 when his 2.44 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 197 strikeouts in 202.2 innings made him the runner-up to Max Scherzer.
The six-year, $155 million contract he signed with the Cubs prior to the 2015 season marked a turning point for that franchise, and his time with the North Siders solidified his place as one of the top pitchers of the decade.
6. Corey Kluber
6 of 11
A late-bloomer who did not become a full-time member of the Cleveland Indians starting rotation until his age-27 season in 2013, Corey Kluber quickly emerged as a bona fide ace.
The following year, he won his first AL Cy Young Award with a 2.44 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and 269 strikeouts in a career-high 235.2 innings, edging out Felix Hernandez in the balloting.
During the five-year span following that breakout season, he went 83-45 with a 2.85 ERA (151 ERA+), 1.02 WHIP, 10.1 K/9 and 32.4 WAR. He added a second Cy Young to his trophy case in 2017 while finishing third in the voting two other times.
He may not have 10 full seasons of ace-level production under his belt like some of the other guys ahead of him on this list, but his peak is lofty enough to earn him a place among the best of the 2010s.
His performance during the 2016 postseason also deserves a mention.
In 34.1 innings, he had a 1.83 ERA and 1.05 WHIP, and he was regularly asked to pitch on short rest as the ace of a banged-up Indians staff, helping the team capture the AL pennant for just the sixth time in franchise history.
5. Chris Sale
7 of 11
Just two months after he went No. 13 overall in the 2010 draft, Chris Sale joined the Chicago White Sox roster, posting a 1.93 ERA and 12.3 K/9 with four saves in 21 appearances out of the bullpen.
He worked exclusively in relief once again the following season before joining the rotation in 2012, and it proved to be a smooth transition to the role of staff ace. In five seasons as a member of the White Sox rotation, he posted a 3.04 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and 1,133 strikeouts over 1,015.2 innings, finishing in the top six in AL Cy Young voting each season.
Prior to the 2017 season, he was traded to the Boston Red Sox during winter meetings in a blockbuster deal that netted the White Sox top prospects Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech as part of a four-player return package.
He was worth 12.8 WAR during his first two seasons with the Red Sox, racking up a career-high 308 strikeouts in 2017 before leading the team to a World Series title in 2018.
While he stumbled to a 4.40 ERA in 147.1 innings this past season, he still finished the decade with a 3.03 ERA and 1.04 WHIP, and his 30.7 percent strikeout rate led all pitchers who threw at least 1,000 innings during the 2010s.
4. Madison Bumgarner
8 of 11
Madison Bumgarner was a 21-year-old rookie with just 133.2 MLB innings under his belt when he took the ball in Game 4 of the 2010 World Series and tossed eight shutout innings of three-hit ball against a stacked Texas Rangers lineup.
That would prove to be just the beginning for one of the greatest postseason pitchers in MLB history. In 102.1 career postseason innings, Bumgarner has a 2.11 ERA and 0.90 WHIP with three complete-game shutouts to his credit.
His run during the 2014 postseason, when he posted a 1.03 ERA in 52.2 innings, might be the greatest October ever by a pitcher. It began with a four-hit shutout in the NL Wild Card Game and ended with a five-inning save on two days' rest to nail down the victory in Game 7 of the World Series.
During the regular season, he topped 200 innings seven different times during the decade, logging a 3.14 ERA (120 ERA+) and 1.11 WHIP in 1,836 innings. He finished in the top 10 in NL Cy Young voting four different times and was a four-time All-Star, as well.
Based purely on regular-season numbers, he probably belongs further down this list. But the legendary October track record is enough to bump him up a few spots.
3. Justin Verlander
9 of 11
Already an established ace when the decade began, Justin Verlander has not missed a beat in 10 years, claiming AL Cy Young honors for his age-36 season in 2019.
That was the second Cy Young win of his career, and the first came in 2011 when he led the AL in wins (24), ERA (2.40), ERA+ (172), WHIP (0.92), strikeouts (250) and innings pitched (251) to become the ninth pitcher in MLB history to win MVP honors.
A six-time All-Star who finished as the Cy Young runner-up three times, Verlander has long been one of baseball's elite pitchers aside from a middling 2014 season (206 IP, 4.54 ERA) and an injury-shortened 2015 campaign (20 GS, 133.1 IP).
His 56.2 WAR for the decade ranked second to Clayton Kershaw (59.3), and he topped 6.0 WAR five different times, including 8.6 and 8.1 WAR in the second and third seasons of the decade, respectively.
Despite his 0-6 record in the World Series, Verlander has also largely pitched well in a huge postseason sample size, logging a 3.09 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and 9.9 K/9 in 166 innings.
Among his many impressive accomplishments, his 0.80 WHIP in 2019 is the fifth-lowest mark in MLB history, trailing only Pedro Martinez (0.74 in 2000), Guy Hecker (0.77 in 1882), Walter Johnson (0.78 in 1913) and Tim Keefe (0.80 in 1880).
2. Max Scherzer
10 of 11
One of just six pitchers to win a Cy Young Award in both leagues, Max Scherzer won AL Cy Young with the Detroit Tigers in 2013 and claimed NL Cy Young in back-to-back seasons with the Washington Nationals in 2016 and 2017.
Dating back to his breakout 2013 campaign, Scherzer has gone 118-47 with a 2.82 ERA (149 ERA+), 0.98 WHIP and 11.3 K/9, finishing in the top five in Cy Young voting each year.
With a bulldog mentality and a sturdy 6'3", 215-pound frame, Scherzer was a workhorse throughout the decade, logging at least 170 innings each year while leading the league in strikeouts three times and WHIP four times.
He's also been rock-solid during the postseason, pitching to a 3.38 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in 112 innings, including a 2.40 ERA and .193 opponents' batting average in six appearances this October to help lead the Nationals to a title.
The seven-year, $191.4 million contract he signed with the Nationals prior to the 2015 season has a chance to go down as one of the best free-agent signings in MLB history, and he narrowly edges out Verlander for the No. 2 spot on this list.
1. Clayton Kershaw
11 of 11
In the end, the No. 1 spot was an easy choice.
During the 2010s, Clayton Kershaw led all pitchers who threw at least 1,000 innings in WAR (59.3), ERA (2.31), ERA+ (164) and WHIP (0.96).
The four-year span from 2011 to 2014 saw him win three NL Cy Young Awards while leading the league in ERA and WHIP all four seasons. All told, he was 72-26 with a 2.11 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 9.5 K/9 while averaging 224 innings per year during that stretch.
There are admittedly some holes in his resume, though.
Injuries have slowed him down a bit in recent seasons, limiting him to an average of 26 starts and 166 innings over the past four years. He has also stumbled time and again in the postseason, tallying a 9-10 record and a 4.28 ERA over 143 innings.
Still, he spent enough time as the unquestioned best pitcher in baseball to be the obvious choice for the No. 1 spot among the top pitchers of the 2010s.
All stats courtesy of Baseball Reference and FanGraphs, unless otherwise noted.
