10 Most Dominating Starting Pitchers so far into the 2015 MLB Season

Jennifer Buchanan-USA TODAY Sports

Nothing beats a strong pitching staff. You can be as good of a hitter as you want, but it’s the pitcher who’s giving you the ball you have to hit, and if he’s hurling wicked enough stuff, it may be completely outside of your power to do anything.

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In a ‘dead ball’ era where steroids are being shunned, home run and power numbers are down and pitchers are finding it a bit easier to keep the ball in the park. That being said, the crop of dominating starting pitchers in the MLB is actually pretty well populated.

Some of the names on this list are guys you’ve seen on the list for years. You’ll see King Felix Hernandez, and Zack Greinke for instance. But some of the guys on this list are upstarts looking to establish themselves among the pitching elite. Some are pitchers who managed to overcome years of struggle to return to the elite form they once had. Some may not have the records to back up the claim of ‘dominating’ but as we’ve finally come to accept in recent years, records aren’t everything. In fact, they account for little to nothing.

There are a lot of pitchers from last years elite crop that you won’t find on this list as well. Adam Wainwright is obviously going to be absent given his season-ending injury. Despite Clayton Kershaw leading the league in strikeouts (56), he’s not going to be on the list either as his 1-2, 4.26 ERA isn’t exactly ‘dominating.’

James Shields is another guy who’s strikeout numbers (55) beg to be noticed, but he’s surrendered a massive 11 home runs. There is no way to make a pitcher look less dominating than to take him yard. You’ll also notice that very few pitchers on this list have a high walk-rate. That’s because very few elite pitchers have a high-walk rate. It’s that simple.

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When it comes to rating the dominance of a pitcher, the stats that go into it the most are WHIP, opponent batting average, home runs surrendered, ERA, and walks. Again, wins and losses don’t factor into it because run support is out of their control. The stats that they can control are the ones that matter.

The top five of this list were easy to sort through. There are five pitchers this year who are completely dominant and undoubtedly belong in the elite tier of baseball pitchers (at least this year). After that, there is a mass of pitchers who’s dominance is top notch, but very few set themselves apart from the rest of those on the same level. Where one slacks in WHIP, the other slacks in strikeouts. But in the end, you’ll find that no batter would like to face any pitcher on this list (or at least, that’s the idea).

And so without further ado, here are the most dominant of MLB’s starting pitchers thus far into the 2015 season.

Next: Number 10