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

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.