Top 10 starting pitchers in MLB right now

LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 01: Clayton Kershaw #22 of the Los Angeles Dodgers throws a pitch during the third inning against the Houston Astros in game seven of the 2017 World Series at Dodger Stadium on November 1, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

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CLEVELAND, OH – SEPTEMBER 28: Starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco #59 of the Cleveland Indians pitches during the first inning against the Minnesota Twins at Progressive Field on September 28, 2017 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) /

8. Carlos Carrasco

Even with the Houston Astros continuing to fill out what looks to be a dominant starting rotation on paper, the undisputed top staff in the American League still belongs to the Cleveland Indians. The emergence of Mike Clevinger and Trevor Bauer down the stretch last season elevated the top three of Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar to new heights.

Kluber is an easy choice for a higher ranking in this list, but Carrasco makes his way into the top ten this year after a breakthrough effort in 2017. He stayed healthy and was able to top 200 innings for the first time in his eight-year MLB career. Carrasco tied for the MLB lead with 18 wins and finished with a 3.29 ERA and 10.2 strikeouts per nine.

Carrasco first made his way into the Indians rotation on a full-time basis at the end of the 2014 season and is now 51-33 with a 3.24 ERA over the past four seasons. He has consistently been among the best strikeout pitchers in baseball and is finally establishing a track record as a durable front-end arm. The same cannot quite be said of Salazar, who has made 30 starts in a season only once and can be plagued by command issues. Salazar has the better stuff, but Carrasco is more consistent on a start-to-start basis.

The best pitch for Carrasco is his slider, which generates an extremely high number of swings and misses. All told, opponents hit well below .200 on each of his secondary pitches. Carrasco can be had on his fastballs — opponents hit over .300 against his four-seam and sinker last year — but his command is so sharp that if you can’t square up a fastball early in the count, it’s game over.

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