Who is the best MLB pitcher over the last 35 years?

Now that we know which pitchers were the best at staying in the strike zone and limiting walks, we can look at more stats.

FIP (Fielding Indepent Pitching)

1. Jacob deGrom 2.62 FIP (1326.0 IP)
2. Clayton Kershaw 2.76 FIP (2577.0 IP)
3. Pedro Martinez 2.91 FIP (2720.0 IP)
4. Chris Sale 2.92 FIP (1582.2 IP)
5. Stephen Strasburg 3.02 FIP (1470.0 IP)
6. Max Scherzer 3.09 FIP (2663.0 IP)
7. Corey Kluber 3.10 FIP (1577.1 IP)

FIP is similar to ERA, but it focuses solely on the events a pitcher has the most control over — strikeouts, unintentional walks, hit-by-pitches and home runs. The stat measures a pitcher’s effectiveness in an accurate way

WHIP (Walks plus Hits plus Innings Pitched)

1.      T1. Jacob deGrom 1.00 WHIP (1326.0 IP)
2.      T1. Clayton Kershaw 1.00 WHIP (2577.0 IP)
3.      2. Chris Sale 1.04 WHIP (1582.2 IP)
4.      3. Pedro Martinez 1.05 WHIP (2720.0 IP)
5.      4. Max Scherzer 1.07 WHIP
6.      T5. Stephen Strasburg 1.10 WHIP (1470.0 IP)
7.      T5. Gerrit Cole 1.10 WHIP (1650.1 IP)

WHIP is a very important stat when comparing pitchers because it shows how good a pitcher is at getting outs while not allowing walks or hits of any kind.

One last stat to go over.

K-BB%. How often does the pitcher get a strikeout opposed to a walk?

1. Chris Sale – 25.2% (1582.2 IP)
2. Jacob deGrom – 25.0% (1326.0 IP)
3. Max Scherzer – 23.1% (2663.0 IP)
4. Gerrit Cole – 22.7% (1650.1 IP)
5. Stephen Strasburg – 22.3% (1470.0 IP)
6. Yu Darvish – 21.4% (1488.0 IP)
7. Pedro Martinez – 21.2% (2720.0 IP)

Using these six stats, you could accurately pick some of the best starting pitchers out. Obviously, it won’t be perfect but let’s continue.

Jacob deGrom appeared in five of these leaderboards along with Chris Sale and Max Scherzer.

Stephen Strasburg appeared in four, along with Pedro Martinez.

Clayton Kershaw appeared in three, along with Gerrit Cole.

Greg Maddux appeared in two, along with Yu Darvish.

These pitchers remain in the discussion. Let’s compare them.

Comparisons

• Jacob deGrom (1326 IP, 2.52 ERA, 10.91 K/9, 2.06 BB/9, 2.62 FIP, 1.00 WHIP, 25.0% K-BB)
• Chris Sale (1582 IP, 3.06 ERA, 11.10 K/9, 2.08 BB/9, 2.92 FIP, 1.04 WHIP, 25.2% K-BB)
• Max Scherzer (2663 IP, 3.12 ERA, 10.73 K/9, 2.35 BB/9, 3.10 FIP, 1.07 WHIP, 23.1% K-BB)

According to the stats, Jacob deGrom is the better overall pitcher of the three. Note that Scherzer has over 1,000 more innings pitched however. Between Sale and Scherzer, the edge goes to Sale. However, Scherzer has pitched much more innings.

Let’s now compare the pitchers that took up four spots on the leaderboards.

• Stephen Strasburg (1470 IP, 3.24 ERA, 10.55 K/9, 2.41 BB/9, 3.02 FIP, 1.10 WHIP, 22.3% K-BB)
• Pedro Martinez (2720 IP, 2.95 ERA, 10.04 K/9, 2.42 BB/9, 2.91 FIP, 1.05 WHIP, 21.2% K-BB)

According to the stats, the edge would seemingly go to Pedro Martinez. Note that Martinez has pitched over 1,250 more innings than Strasburg.

Let’s compare the pitchers who took up three spots.

• Clayton Kershaw (2577 IP, 2.48 ERA, 9.79 K/9, 2.19 BB/9, 2.76 FIP, 1.00 WHIP, 21.4% K-BB)
• Gerrit Cole (1650 IP, 3.23 ERA, 10.53 K/9, 2.31 BB/9, 3.13 FIP, 1.10 WHIP, 22.7% K-BB)

According to the stats, it appears that Kershaw would beat out Gerrit Cole.

And lastly, let’s compare the pitchers that took up two spots.

• Greg Maddux (5008 IP, 3.16 ERA, 6.06 K/9, 1.80 BB/9, 3.26 FIP, 11.6% K-BB)
• Yu Darvish (1488 IP, 3.50 ERA, 10.81 K/9, 2.90 BB/9, 3.46 FIP, 21.4% K-BB)

And according to the stats, Maddux, even though he pitched almost 4,000 more innings than Darvish has so far in his career, seems to have the better stats.

Weighting the Stats

Before I come to a decision, it would be best to weight the stats. To do this, I will list which stats are more valued or more important, starting with most valued

1. FIP, out of the nine pitchers in the discussion, Jacob deGrom leads in FIP
2. ERA, out of the nine pitchers in the discussion, Clayton Kershaw leads in ERA
3. K-BB, out of the nine pitchers in the discussion, Chris Sale leads in K-BB
4. BB/9, out of the nine pitchers in the discussion, Greg Maddux leads in BB/9
5. K/9, out of the nine pitchers in the discussion, Chris Sale leads in K/9

My Opinion

In no way am I saying that this list is touting that one pitcher is better than the other. These are just based on stats from the last 35 years. Many of the players included here have not finished their careers out yet, so the innings pitched differential is large.

Top 8 pitchers from the last 35 years (excluding innings pitched, purely stat based)

1. Chris Sale
2. Jacob deGrom
3. Clayton Kershaw
4. Pedro Martinez
5. Max Scherzer
6. Stephen Strasburg
7. Greg Maddux
8. Gerrit Cole

Factoring in innings pitched and my personal predictions for the rest of these players careers, this would be my top 8 pitchers from the last 35 years (minimum 1,000 innings pitched so far).

1. Jacob deGrom
2. Clayton Kershaw
3. Pedro Martinez
4. Max Scherzer
5. Chris Sale
6. Greg Maddux
7. Gerrit Cole
8. Stephen Strasburg

Honorable Mentions:

• RHP Justin Verlander (3163 IP, 3.24 ERA, 9.10 K/9, 2.50 BB/9, 3.36 FIP, 18.0% K-BB)
• RHP Roy Halladay (2749 IP, 3.38 ERA, 6.93 K/9, 1.94 BB/9, 3.39 FIP, 13.5% K-BB)
• LHP Randy Johnson (4135 IP, 3.29 ERA, 10.61 K/9, 3.26 BB/9, 3.19 FIP, 19.8% K-BB)
• LHP Johan Santana (2025 IP, 3.20 ERA, 8.83 K/9, 2.52 BB/9, 3.44 FIP, 17.2 K-BB%)
• RHP Curt Schilling (3261 IP, 3.46 ERA, 8.60 K/9, 1.96 BB/9, 3.23 FIP, 18.1 K-BB%)

Who do you think should have made the list? Let us know in the comments section below.