Through a month of the of the 2024 MLB season, several pitchers have put up dominant numbers. We’ve highlights seven impressive starts. Though injuries have been a story of the season for starters in the league, the aces that have dodged that so far have been dazzling.
Dueling Aces In Philadelphia
Arguably nobody has had better starting pitching in 2024 than the Phillies. Ranger Suarez is fourth in the MLB in with a 1.32 ERA. He’s 5-0 with a .63 WHIP and 40 strikeouts through six starts. Batters are producing hard-hit balls off of Suarez (greater than 95 mph) just 27.6 percent of the time, the eighth best rate in the league. Along with batters struggling to produce hard-hit balls off of him, they are slugging just .226 off of the lefty starter. That is the second lowest opponent slugging percentage in the league. He’s also walking just 3.5 percent of the time, one of the 10 best rates in the league. He’s also fresh of a 32 2/3 scoreless inning streak.
Suarez wasn’t even the Opening Day Starter for the Phillies, that honor went to Zack Wheeler. Wheeler has been putting up his typical top of the rotation numbers so far in 2024. Wheeler is one of 13 starters in the league with a sub-2 ERA at 1.93. He’s striking out batters at a 31.1 percent rate, which is 10th best in the league. Despite his dominant performance, Wheeler isn’t getting much run support. Even with four of his six starts being quality starts, Wheeler has a 2-3 record.
Best Pitcher In Baseball’s Toughest Division
The American League East continues to be the top division in baseball in 2024. Boston Red Sox Kutter Crawford has been the best starter in the tough division. His ERA is seventh in the MLB at 1.35. Batters are just slugging .250 against Crawford. Along with that batters are only producing hart-hit balls on 26.4 percent of the time they make contact against him. His fastball velocity isn’t anything eye popping just under 93 mph, but his spin rate is in the top 10 percent of the league. Cutter’s fastball drops an average of 3.4 inches according to Baseball Savant which is the third most vertical movement on a fastball in the league.
Detroit’s Pitcher Builds Off Hot End To The 2023
In Tarik Skubal’s final four starts of 2023 the lefty was 4-0 with a .90 ERA. His dominant stretch has continued to start 2024. Skubal has a 1.82 ERA and is 3-0 through five starts this season. Batters are just hitting for a .162 average against him which is the 10th lowest in the league.
Just 31 percent of the balls hit off of Skubal pitches are hard hit according to Baseball Savant, which is 14th best in the league. He’s also producing whiffs on more than 30 percent of his pitches which is in the top 15 of pitchers in Baseball. The 27-year-old seems to be hitting his stride in his fifth season and it’s helped the Tigers look more competitive than they have in the past five years.
Standout On A $320 Million Payroll
Tyler Glasnow signed a five-year $136.5 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the offseason after the team traded for him from the Tampa Bay Rays. The 30-year-old has a 2.72 ERA and a .930 WHIP to start 2024. Rallying up a 5-1 record, Glasnow has been a steady force at the top of the team’s rotation while they wait for Shohei Ohtani to join him on the mound. He’s striking out 31.5 percent of the batters he’s facing which is the eighth best rate in the league.
His fastball is averaging 96.3 mph which is in the top 13 percent of the league. The pitch is also in the top three percent of the league with its spin rate. His hard-hit percentage is down more than seven percent from 2023 to this year and the righty looks as strong as ever moving from the East Coast to the West Coast.
Pirates Rookie Making Batters Miss
The best whiff rate in the MLB belongs to Pittsburg Pirates rookie Jared Jones. Batters are swinging and missing on 41.5 percent of the times they try and hit a pitch. Jones has made just five starts in his career and through those games he has 2.79 ERA and a WHIP of just .83. He’s struck out 39 batters so far and has the second-best strikeout rate in the league as he’s sat down 34.8 percent of the batters he’s faced.
Jones is also walking batters at one of the lowest rates in the Big Leagues, giving a free pass to just 3.6 percent of the batters he’s faced. Not only has he put himself in the Rookie of the Year conversation, but he’s proven to be a steadying force for a Pirates team hovering around .500.
Brewers Ace Leading Division Charge
At the top of the Milwaukee Brewers division leading success has been Freddy Peralta. Peralta is another strikeout machine, sitting down exactly a third of the batters he’s faced in 2024 through five starts. Peralta is also drawing swings and misses on 33.8 percent of his pitches which is the third highest rate in the MLB. The average exit velocity off the bat against him is in the top quarter of the league. Peralta has a slugging percentage against him of just .307 while having an on-base percentage of .265.
Main Photo Credits: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
