Red Sox Rankings: Top 5 strikeout pitchers in MLB
Ranking the top strikeout artists among Major League starting pitchers, including the ace of the Boston Red Sox starting rotation.
The Boston Red Sox have been one of the best teams in baseball at striking out opposing hitters, as they rank third in the American League in strikeouts.
Chris Sale and Craig Kimbrel lead in both statistical categories of total strikeouts and K/9 rate for their respected positions. Sale is on pace to challenge the franchise record for strikeouts in a season, while leading the majors with 216 strikeouts and a 12.68 K/9. Kimbrel has been even more dominant, posting a major league best 16.43 K/9.
While our Red Sox have shown that they are capable of striking out as many hitters as possible, I wanted to see how our best strikeout pitcher ranked against the other pitchers in this league. For the purposes of this exercise we’ll be looking at starting pitchers.
Working in shorter stints allows relievers to unleash the full force of their velocity in a way starters would never be able to sustain in their expanded workload. It’s no wonder that the top-10 K/9 rates in the majors (minimum 40 innings) belong to relievers. Relievers could also never hope to reach the strikeout totals of these elite starters, which will be the focus of these rankings.
CHICAGO, IL – JULY 18: Clayton Kershaw (Photo by Jon Durr/Getty Images)
Clayton Kershaw
Clayton Kershaw has consistently been one of the top pitchers in MLB for years. While he has long been known as the most dominant pitcher in the game, his acclaim does not come solely from his ability to strike out a ton of hitters. Kershaw is known best for the ability to keep runs to an extremely low limit. When he throws deeper into games, the Dodgers will most likely win the game he is pitching in.
Kershaw is on the disabled list with a bad back at the moment, but rest assured, he will be back primed and ready to help the Dodgers fuel up for the postseason.
His statistics this year are as follows; Kershaw is 15-2 with a 2.04 ERA. He has always been consistently up near the top in Wins Above Replacement or WAR. This year has been no different, as he has 4.5 WAR.
Kerhaw has led the majors in strikeouts three times, including topping 300 K’s in 2015. This year, Kershaw has 168 strikeouts. While he may not be the “strikeout king” this year, you can bet that he will be carrying his Dodgers deep into the postseason and possibly their first World Series title since 1988.
Chris Archer
Chris Archer is never going to lead the league in wins. He is never going to lead the league in ERA. One thing he has consistently done throughout his career is strike players out.
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Archer is a big reason why the Tampa Bay Rays have shocked the baseball world to hang in the race of the very competitive American League East division. While the Rays have slowly been going down since Joe Maddon left, Archer has always been one of the team’s few bright spots in the recent years.
He is not dominating this year by piling up a lot of wins, or producing a low ERA, but he striking out hitters at a higher rate than he ever has. Archer’s 11.0 K/9 is the highest he’s produced since becoming a full-time starter in 2013. His numbers for the 2017 MLB season are as follows; his record this year is 8-6 with a 3.89 ERA. He has a 1.5 WAR and 182 strikeouts this year.
Archer seems to have gotten his pitches more under control this year, and it seems to be paying off. While he might not be able to carry his Rays to the postseason, he will definitely be attractive to other teams looking to contend right now.
Corey Kluber
Corey Kluber was one of the main driving forces for the Cleveland Indians run last year to the World Series. Every single time he went out he gave the Indians what they needed, which was usually 7 innings or more with zero to little runs allowed.
While the Indians could not close the deal, this year they have turned it on at the right time, and once again, Kluber has been a driving force behind that run. Kluber in recent years, has shown the consistency that a true ace should exemplify. He strikes out a good number of hitters, he keeps his walks to a minimum and almost always allows the fewest runs.
This year has been no different for Kluber. He has a produced a 4.6 WAR to go along with a 9-3 record, 2.77 ERA and 172 strikeouts.
Ever since he won his Cy Young two seasons ago, Kluber has been consistently one of the most dominant starting pitchers. Even though the Indians came late to the party this season, expect them to get ready to get their dominant bullpen and their horse Kluber for another deep postseason run into October and to finally break their own curse. The Indians have not won a title since 1948. You can bet if the Indians pull it off, one of the main factors will be Corey Kluber.
Max Scherzer
Max Scherzer has been one of the most consistent pitchers in all of MLB for a while now. Back in 2015, the Nationals had more faith in him than any other team, especially his previous team, the Detroit Tigers. The Nationals signed Scherzer to a 7-year, $210 million dollar contract. When the deal was signed, we knew Scherzer was good, but worth that kind of money?
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A lot of other teams laughed at the fact that they gave that kind of money to someone who couldn’t even be the leading ace for his own team in Detroit – that right belonged to Justin Verlander. So as people continued to doubt Scherzer, he used that doubt as fuel to prove all the nay sayers wrong.
Scherzer has been everything and then some for the Nationals. This season he has a 6.1 WAR and he is 12-5 with a 2.21 ERA. He is also second in the majors in strikeouts, with 201.
While the Nationals may have signed him for his pitching, the one thing they hoped would come to fruition with him now added would be a World Series trophy. While they have not gotten there yet, I have the feeling this year, that narrative could change.
Chris Sale
Chris Sale has been consistently one of the most dominant starting pitchers for the past couple years, but he felt like his performances were all for nothing since he pitched for one of the worst teams in all of baseball in the Chicago White Sox.
This past offseason, his whole life was changed with one simple trade. The Red Sox traded prospects Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Luis Alexander Basabe and Victor Diaz to the Chicago White Sox for their frontline starter Chris Sale. While the thought was that the Red Sox gave up way too much for Sale, he has seemed to be worth the price they paid and then some.
Sale leads the American League with a 4.8 WAR and 13 victories, while only suffering four losses. He leads the league in strikeouts with 216. Earlier this season Sale tied the league record of consecutive outings with 10 or more strikeouts, with 8.
The Red Sox acquired him thinking that he would add even more depth to an already stellar starting rotation. Sale has done his part, while both Rick Porcello and David Price have not carried their own weight very well this season.
The Red Sox are hoping to make a deep run this postseason, hoping that Chris Sale will be the driving force as they pursue their fourth World Series title in the past 14 seasons.