Top Pitchers

Yesterday I told you I was going to preview the National League, I lied. That comes next week. Today will be all about the pitchers. A list of the top 20 starting pitchers in the league this year is what I have on today's menu. So without further ado, here we go......

1. Johan Santana (30)- New York Mets
2. Roy Halladay (31)- Toronto Blue Jays
3. Jake Peavy (27)- San Diego Padres
4. C.C. Sabathia (28)- New York Yankees
5. Brandon Webb (29)- Arizona Diamondbacks
6. Tim Lincecum (24)- San Fransisco Giants
7. Cole Hamels (25)- Philadelphia Phillies
8. Cliff Lee (30)- Cleveland Indians
9. Jon Lester (25)- Boston Red Sox
10. Roy Oswalt (31)- Houston Astros
11. John Lackey (30)- Los Angeles Angels
12. Daisuke Matzuzaka (28)- Boston Red Sox
13. Dan Haren (28)- Arizona Diamondbacks
14. Derek Lowe (35)- Atlanta Braves
15. Scott Kazmir (25)- Tampa Bay Rays
16. James Shields (27)- Tampa Bay Rays
17. Felix Hernandez (22)- Seattle Mariners
18. Ervin Santana (26)- Los Angeles Angels
19. Chad Billingsley (24)- Los Angeles Dodgers
20. A.J. Burnett (32)- New York Yankees

First off, this was really hard to pick. Harder than I imagined it would be. The top 6-7 are the elite pitchers in the league who have established themselves as top notch pitchers over the last few years. The top 3 or 4 are interchangeable at the top. Guys like Lester and Lee are really good and I like the way they go about their business. They just need a few more consistent years under their belts. All the rest of these guys are a mixture of vets and young guys who are consistently in the mid 3's with their ERA's. They usually pitch close to 200 innings and if they don't they are usually big time strikeout guys. If Kazmir could stay healthy he could rise up the charts and if Felix Hernandez continues to grow as a pitcher his potential is limitless. The bottom few could easily be replaced by some others on the outside who I did not have a good feeling about yet. Guys like Edinson Volquez of the Reds, Zach Greinke, Matt Cain, Ryan Dempster, Matt Garza are some of the other guys I considered for the last few spots, as well as Josh Beckett, who could be on this list if he could stay healthy. He is an amazingly clutch pitcher come postseason time and he has the stuff to create some havoc.

That's it for now. I hope you enjoyed my latest Baseball Wednesday. Feel free to comment about this and other blogs and give me some feedback and suggestions. I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

Mb