Friday Five: Top 5 Rookie Pitchers from 2015

Yesterday I looked at the top position players, so it's the pitchers today.  Tomorrow I will take on the Topps All-Rookie Team and see how they did assembling a team of rookies.  Like I said earlier, it was a tough task this year.  Here are my top 5 pitchers......

5.  Roberto Osuna RP Toronto Blue Jays

The 20 year old Osuna helped the Blue Jays at the back end of their bullpen this year.  He was pretty impressive at times, but I still think he could use a little bit more polish.  He ended the 2015 season with 20 saves, a 0.91 WHIP, and an ERA+ of 153.  Not many 20 year olds get to step into the closers role, especially for a playoff team.  Best rookie relief pitcher this season, so he makes the list at 5....

4.  Aaron Nola P Philadelphia Phillies 

Nola pitched about a quarter of the season for a really bad Phillies team and managed to post a 6-2 record with a respectable ERA, WHIP, and strikeout rate.  I am a little hesitant about his long term upside as far as being a top of the line starter, but he is at least a very good middle of the rotation pitcher.  I like him better than pitchers like Andrew Heaney and Taylor Jungmann, but not sure he's really in the same class as players like Syndergaard.  Still a good start to his career and worthy of making my list of rookie pitchers....

3.  Noah Syndergaard P New York Mets 

Snydergaard is a very high potential pitching prospect.  If I were making this list based on potential, it would be pretty ridiculous to put him this low.  However, every player has to start somewhere and this is where I am going to slot him.  He pitched 2/3 of the season with the Mets, won 9 games, and had an excellent strikeout ratio.  There is still some room for improvement in Sydergaard's game though.  Like keeping the ball in the stadium

2.  Lance McCullers P Houston Astros 

I think Syndergaard will be better than McCullers in the long run, but for 2015 Lance did a nice job of helping the Astros to the American League West pennant.  McCullers had a decent ERA, WHIP, and struck out more than a batter per inning.  His won-loss record wasn't great, but he did a nice job of helping to stabilize the rotation.  At the end of the year McCullers had an ERA+ of 125 and a WAR of 2.4.  Good enough for second on my list.....

1.  Luis Severino P New York Yankees 

Severino only made 11 starts this year and managed to win five of those starts.  His innings were held down by the Yankees, but his metrics were very good.  Let's start out with  the fact that his WAR was 2.0, almost higher than Syndergaard, in half of the starts.  His strikeout rate was pretty good too along with a nice ERA+ of 137.  Severino is only 21 and should be a very good starter for the Yankees for a long time to come...

Friday 5: Top Rookie Pitchers

If you missed my list of top 5 rookie position players you can click here to review my list.  For this morning's list I am going to take a look at some of the rookie pitchers floating around MLB this year. There are some good names on this list, but I do not think any of these players are strong candidates for the Rookie of the Year hardware.   Still, long term, I think some of these players are going to be very good pitchers.


5.  Chris Heston - Giants

Heston is a 27 year old rookie who spent a long time in the minors.  He's also already thrown a no-hitter for the Giants.  The East Carolina grad probably does not have a really high ceiling as a Major Leaguer, but he's here and filling a role for a contending team as a starting pitcher.  There have been good starts, and a few bad ones, but everything about Heston's numbers suggests he is just an average pitcher.  His ERA+ is 102, FIP 3.37, and his K/9 and BB/9 are 6.8 and 2.9.  Just average.  I think that the no-hitter he pitched against the Mets earlier in the year might garner him a Rookie of the Year vote or two, but he's not a serious contender.

4.  Taylor Jungmann - Brewers

Jungmann has pitched well enough that perhaps he should be higher than five on this list, but I am not sure if he's going to keep up his current level of performance.  Perhaps I will look back at this list in a year and shake my head for putting him fifth, or perhaps I will look back and think about why I did not put a player like Carlos Rodon, who has a higher ceiling without the success in the Majors, on this list.  In the minors Jungmann started almost 90 games with an ERA just over 4.00 a WHIP of 1.358 and a K/9 rate under 7.  Kind of blah, but throw in the fact that his walk rate is almost 4 and he kind of seems like the fifth starter/long reliever type.  The Brewers put him at the end of the rotation and he's done nothing but pitched well since.  Well might be selling it short.  He's K/9 rate is suddenly almost 8, his walk rate is 2.6, he's given up 2 home runs in 71.2 innings, and has an ERA+ of 174.  If he had enough starts to qualify his 2.89 FIP would put him in the top 10.  Again, I am not sure this is a true picture of what Taylor Jungmann truly is as a pitcher, or we are just witnessing a hot streak that will end when he starts facing teams a second and third time.  I like his curveball.

3.  Joe Ross - Nationals 

What in the world were the Padres thinking by trading this guy?  For Wil Myers?  Seriously, I think that Ross is going to be a really good pitcher for a long time.  This spot on my list this morning is sort of the dividing line, Jungmann and Heston might be solid pitchers at best, Ross and the two names lower on the list have high ceilings and could be much more than solid pitchers.  He has only made seven starts, and I get the feeling the Nationals are being really careful with the right handed pitcher, but his numbers are quite impressive.  More than a strikeout per inning, an FIP of 2.56, and an ERA+ of 137.  My favorite number on Ross, just seven starts in, is his 47 strikeouts versus 4 walks.  Seems Pedro Martinez like.  I am eager to see how the rest of the season plays out for Ross, but I would imagine a goos showing will mean that the Nats find a spot in the rotation, full-time, for him next season.  

2.  Lance McCullers - Astros 

McCullers was a first round draft pick of the Astros back in 2012.  They have added a lot of other talent to their Minor League system since they drafted McCullers, so I feel like he gets overshadowed often by guys like Carlos Correa and Mark Appel.  Still, McCullers has 14 Major League starts under his belt and his striking out more than a batter per inning with a FIP under 3.  I have never seen McCullers in person, but I know a lot of people have been really impressed by him and think he will be a very good pitcher for a long time.  

1.  Noah Synergaard - Mets 

Syndergaard is clearly the class of the rookie pitchers this year.  Coming into the season he was almost universally rated as a top 10 prospect by publications like Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus.  Unlike some of the previous names on this list, who are out performing their minor league numbers, Syndergaard has dominated since starting his career.  His ERA has been right around 3 in almost 100 starts and he has averaged more than a strikeout per inning throughout.  Really his roughest year in the minors was last year when he had an ERA of 4.60 in the offensive minded Pacific Coast League.  The Mets started him out there again this year and he was dominating in five starts.   Since being called up to the Mets he has started 15 games this season and is averaging more than a strikeout per inning while holding down an FIP of 2.78.  If he had enough innings to qualify for the league leader board he would be in the top 10 in that statistic behind Garret Cole.  His K/9 is in line with pitchers like Cole Hamels and Lance Lynn.  I have watched a couple of his starts this season and have been really impressed with his stuff.  Syndergaard clearly can be a front line pitcher in the Majors for a long time.