10 amazing early-season pitching performances that have surprised MLB fans
The big pitching story this early in the 2024 season has been injuries. Many of the game’s best known arms – Spencer Strider, Justin Steele, Justin Verlander, Jacob deGrom – either haven’t yet thrown a single pitch or have been injured doing so.
With only 10 percent of the season played out to date, performances are only beginning to firm up. But there have also been pleasant surprises, both in the starting and relief ranks.
Here’s a look at 10 of the most surprising pitching arms of the 2024 campaign.
10 most surprising pitching performances to start 2024 MLB season
Tyler Anderson, Los Angeles Angels. To the extent the Angels were given any chance to contend in 2024, it was despite their pitching, not because of it. But Anderson and Reid Detmers, for two, are off to very strong starts.
Detmers' performance is not much of a surprise, but Anderson’s start is. His 1.47 ERA in three starts is lightyears better than anything he’s done before, including his 5.43 ERA of last season. He’s only allowed 12 hits in 18 innings.
Jose Berrios, Toronto Blue Jays. The Jays gave Berrios a long-term $126 million deal three years ago, and he has only been marginally worth it. He produced a 4.28 ERA through the first two seasons of that deal.
But Berrios has started 2024 like a $126 million pitcher. Through four start,s he’s 3-0 with a 1.05 ERA, stifling Tampa, Houston, Seattle and Colorado. Berrios has been a lifeline to the Jays, who are 5-8 in games anybody else started.
Paul Blackburn, Oakland A’s. Nobody expected anything from the A’s entering 2024, and certainly not from Blackburn, who had a 4.43 ERA in 104 innings last season, after making the All-Star team in 2022 mainly out of compunction.
But Blackburn has opened 2024 like a serious Cy Young contender. In his three starts, he has not allowed a run, either earned or unearned, and only the anemic A’s offense has kept him from a 3-0 record. Needless to say, his 0.00 ERA leads the league. His key; just 14 baserunners allowed in 19 innings.
Ronel Blanco, Houston Astros. Blanco was an afterthought in Houston’s pitching plans entering 2024. But injuries to Jose Urquidy, Framber Valdez and Verlander gave him a window, and he’s sailed through it.
His no-hitter April 1 against Toronto was Houston’s first victory, and his April 7 3-1 win over Texas was his team’s third. He has an 0.86 ERA; his fellow Astros pitchers are at 6.05.
Kutter Crawford, Boston Red Sox. Last season, Crawford had a 6-8 record and 4.04 ERA in 23 starts for the Red Sox. But Crawford has begun 2024 pitching like a key piece of a contending rotation.
In his first three starts -- encompassing 16 innings -- he’s allowed just seven base hits and only one earned run. That’s a 0.57 ERA. He’s winless in those three starts mostly because his bullpen has failed to preserve leads he gave it.
Jason Foley, Detroit Tigers. Relief pitching performance is notoriously unpredictable. Foley is only eight innings in to just his third full season in the Tiger pen. But it’s been a sensational eight innings.
Foley has already accumulated two wins plus four saves. He hasn’t allowed an earned run, and he’s given up just four base hits to his 31 batters faced. The Tigers entered play Monday at 9-6 and just one game out of the AL Central lead, and Foley is a big part of the reason why.
Ian Hamilton, New York Yankees. The Yankees have a 12-5 record and their bullpen, led by Hamilton, is a big part of the reason why. Hamilton has made six appearances, allowing just seven baserunners in 10 innings.
Hamilton had a good 2023 season, but that work went largely unnoticed in the context of the Yankees’ mediocre season. As the Yanks rise in 2024, so does Hamilton’s profile.
Mason Miller, Oakland A’s. With his 100 mph heat, Miller was supposed to be the team’s future when he debuted a year ago. He never found a role, making just six starts and being allowed just 33 innings of work.
In 2024, however, Miller has emerged as the A’s closer. In six appearances, he’s nailed down three saves while striking out 15 of the 33 batters he’s faced.
Shelby Miller, Detroit Tigers. Major league teams have been trying to extract the latent talent from Shelby Mller’s arm virtually since the Cardinals drafted him out of high school in 2009. His work has been uneven at best: a 44-58 record and 4.05 career ERA.
But anchored in Detroit’s pen, Miller is coming up big this year. He beat the White Sox in extra innings, then beat the Mets in extras days later, followed by a scoreless inning to beat the Pirates. In eight innings, he’s allowed just a single hit and just three total baserunners.
Cole Ragans, Kansas City Royals. The sense entering 2024 was that Ragans could have a breakout season. So far, so good.
In four starts, he’s worked 23 innings with a 1.93 ERA. Ragans is winless, for which he can blame Kansas City’s offense. It’s supported him with an average of just two runs in those four starts. In Kansas City’s other dozen games, the offense has averaged six and a half runs per game.
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