They are baseball's aces -- the top starting pitchers in the game.
Johan Santana, who was traded in the offseason from the Twins to the Mets, is at the top of the class. Besides Santana, here are others in ranked order whom I believe are the best at their craft.";
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Earlier this decade the incredibly talented right-hander went large on strikeouts, piling up 168 in 2002 and 204 in 2003. No longer does Halladay have a strikeout rate in that elite a neighborhood, but that’s by design as the former Cy Young award winner made the decision to pitch to contact more often. That’s kept his strikeouts down, but also reduced his pitch counts.
Halladay’s power sinker takes a heavy toll on hitters and it gets a slew of groundballs that go a long way towards making this veteran so extremely tough to beat. If I’m a pitcher opposing Halladay, I’m figuring I better pitch a shutout to counter the dominance I expect to see from him.
In addition to one of the game’s best sinkers, Halladay can also call on a bunch of other pitches he throws very well. In his arsenal are a mid-90s fastball with a lot of movement, a curveball, a knuckle curveball, a circle change-up and a slider. Halladay is aggressive on the mound. He doesn’t give in and works both sides of the plate very well.";
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Last season Beckett was by far the best he has been since breaking into the majors with Florida in 2001. He came into his own as an ace helped in part by lessening his dependence on his fastball. The change in his game plan not only nearly won him the Cy Young award (he finished second), but it also dropped his home runs allowed from 36 to 17 and his walks from 74 to 40.
Beckett’s health will be crucial to Boston’s bid to win a second straight World Series. The right-hander had to deal with a cranky lower back in spring training, which delayed his start to the regular season. A key will be how effective Beckett proves if at times this season he has to pitch while feeling some pain in his back.
The weapons fired from Beckett’s arm include a heater in the mid-90s, a curve that buckles the knees of hitters, and a good change-up. Many fans first saw the fierce competitor he is in Florida’s 2003 World-Series triumph over the Yankees. That competitiveness is always at a high level, but it ramps up in the postseason, where Beckett is as good a big-game pitcher as there is in the majors.";
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Staying healthy is his biggest challenge because if he holds up physically, the southpaw has the stuff to win a Cy Young award. Despite missing the final five weeks of last season with a strained oblique muscle, Bedard set a Baltimore club record with 221 strikeouts.
This season he has a new home, Seattle, and with the Mariners he should get better run support than he got with the Orioles. Bedard’s a strikeout pitcher, but with the talent the Mariners will have surrounding him, he’ll realize he doesn’t have to try for the strikeout nearly as much as he did with the offensively-challenged Orioles.
The golden left arm of Bedard brings forth a fastball that is sneaky good as well as a terrific curveball. Using this mix, Bedard keeps hitters off-balance. At times he may wish he could exchange some of his superb talent for a bit more durability as he has yet to pitch 200 innings in a season. ";
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The 2006 Rookie of the Year has learned to trust his stuff and work well with his catcher. Now that he has those two elements as part of his stock and trade, he should be a contender for the Cy Young award for years to come.
The right-hander has a fastball that can get to 100 mph. All the more tougher on hitters is that his heat comes off a quick delivery as do a nasty curveball, top-notch slider and a feared circle change-up. He had a very strong finish to last season, which erased questions over whether he was prone to becoming fatigued by the dog days of summer.
Verlander certainly benefits from the offensive firepower he has behind him. Last season he received the American League’s best run support – an average of 7.32 runs per nine innings. He still has a few things to improve on like keeping the ball lower in the zone, but after winning 17 games as a rookie and 18 last season, he should be a 20-game winner this year.";
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A free agent after this season last year’s Cy Young award winner didn’t bite on any of management’s overtures to get his signature on a long-term deal. Instead, the hefty lefty will test the open market this winter. That being the case Sabathia will need to be able to focus on the task at hand – getting the Indians to the World Series and winning a championship – rather than on what his future might hold.
At 6-foot-7 and 290 pounds Sabathia is an intimidating physical presence on the mound. His fastball can reach the high 90s and it’s an even more potent weapon because of his ability to show it to hitters and then change speeds effectively in succeeding pitches. Another real strength of this southpaw is his ability to work himself out of jams.
Sabathia is a true workhorse -- as much of one as can be found at the top of any rotation in the majors. Last season the 27-year-old logged 241 innings. But this season the Indians might want to lighten their ace’s workload since he was pretty much out of gas by the time last year’s playoffs rolled around. ";
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He will get a late start to the season after being placed on the DL at the end of March due to a triceps strain. Barring a setback, the right-hander could return to the rotation in the first half of May. The Angels won’t rush him in his rehab because they don’t want to risk an extended absence by a pitcher who gets better each season.
The 29-year-old has a bulldog approach to pitching and he can carry a heavy workload. He’s good for at least 200 innings a season and threw a career-high 224 last year. Lackey’s excellent control keeps him consistently around the plate and he employs an impressive arsenal that includes an above-average fastball, a hard curve and a tough slider.
Lackey finished third in the Cy Young voting last season. With the way he continues to improve upon what he does on the mound it might not be too much longer before he wins that award. And even with his starting this year sidelined, don’t sell him short of having a very impressive season.";
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After winning 18 games in 2005 and 2006, the right-hander posted just 10 victories last season and had a losing record (10-13). But the White Sox experienced a tough 2007 and for 2008 Garland has changed uniforms, traded last November to the Angels, where he should flourish with increased run support.
Garland induces a lot of groundballs and he does not give up a lot of home runs. He will battle hitters hard and can handle throwing a lot of innings (he’s pitched over 200 the last four seasons). He has an aggressive approach aimed at getting ahead of hitters and to do so he relies on a sinking fastball, sharp curve and a very good change-up. He stays around the plate and doesn't give up many walks.
Garland grew up in Southern California and with him going home a big year might well be in the cards, maybe in the range of 18 to 21 wins. For Garland the positives with the Angels are not only on offense, but also on defense where he can expect solid fielding behind him all season long.";
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Over the last four years the left-hander has proven there is no better pitcher in baseball. Santana’s changeup draws raves – and it should – but what also makes him so tough is his ability to pitch extremely well inside to both lefty and righty hitters.
There are those who believe that this season he’ll show a decrease in his velocity, but while that will inevitably happen with age, I don’t look for it to start in 2008.
Even if his fastball loses a bit, his outstanding command and control of his changeup will keep him pitching at a very elite level. Also, he got away from his slider a bit last season, but look for that to change this year with the Mets.
";
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In his seventh major-league season, the right-hander should be lights out, plain and simple. The security of a long-term deal won’t lessen his bulldog mentality and determination. You can see in his eyes his burning desire to win each and every time to the hill.
Peavy’s tremendous confidence comes not only from having terrific stuff, especially a great breaking ball, but also from having terrific control. He’s very aggressive and comes right at hitters.
It looks like the shoulder woes that he had to deal with in 2006 are a thing of the past and last year he set career highs in wins (19) and strikeouts (240). Those are quite impressive numbers, but Peavy could better them this season. ";
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A big guy at 6-foot-4, 245 pounds, he’s become a true ace by getting past the health and conditioning issues that previously took away from his ability to achieve success.
His bread-and-butter pitch is a good sinking fastball and last season he began relying on it more often. That helped him get more groundball outs and also significantly lower his homer rate.
Penny now shows the confidence to get out of situations that earlier in his career frustrated him. He’s made the adjustment mentally to where he no longer feels he has to throw a shutout every time out and that’s raised his effectiveness.
";
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A great competitor who like Peavy of the Padres comes right at hitters. There aren’t too many workhorses around like Webb, who has thrown over 200 innings in each of the last four years – including a career high 236 last season.
Arizona calls Chase Field home – a hitter-friendly ballpark, but Webb counters that with a superb sinker that’s not going to be driven deep very often. It’s fairly unusual for a groundball pitcher to also pile up the strikeouts, but Webb succeeds at that by mixing his sinker with a hard slider that gets hitters waving at air. Last season he set a career-high with 194 strikeouts.
Any pitcher who can move the ball around in the strike zone the way Webb can is extremely tough on hitters. Also big advantages for him are that he is unflappable on the mound and he refuses to abandon his approach of never giving in by coming off his slider and sinker.";
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After going through his worst season in the majors in 2006 (13-12, 4.86 ERA), the veteran right-hander knew he had to make at least one key adjustment and that was changing his approach from seeking strikeouts to seeking to get the ball in play more and let his infielders take care of the rest. The result was a bounce-back 2007 that saw him go 16-10 with a 3.33 ERA.
Hudson is primed for a big season and not to be underestimated is that his confidence is back. He’s a master at sinking the ball on hitters and the split-finger is his out pitch.
Hudson fortifies his chances of success by using all his pitches. He also thinks a solid game and never takes the mound without having a plan in place for the opposition. Heavy workloads are nothing for him as he’s logged over 200 innings in six of the last eight seasons, including 224 innings last season. ";
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The right-hander remains a great pitcher and competitor despite the team around him taking steps backwards instead of forwards. His strikeout rate declined last season, but his ERA -- despite rising a bit over 2005 and 2006 -- was the sixth best in the NL.
His durability has never been in question as even at age 30 he continues to eat up innings (212 last year despite battling an oblique injury in the second half of the season).
Oswalt can pump the heat, getting into the mid-90s. He complements that weapon with another one -- pinpoint control. He no longer gets the run support he received earlier in his career, but no one should get the idea that he is anything less than the rock-solid ace he has been for Houston since 2004. ";
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He’s very difficult to hit and he eats innings (no one threw more pitches in the majors last season), but Zambrano’s temperament works against him. He gets so emotionally-charged at times that he lessens his chances at getting outs. Still, he’s one very tough customer.
There is, however, no questioning his potential to be dominant. He can bring major heat to the plate and adding to that dilemma for hitters is that the big right-hander (6-foot-5, 255 pounds) can do so from two different angles. And when he’s got his slider working well, it proves a great out pitch.
The Cubs love his tremendous endurance, but there’s no question he would be even tougher to touch if he could better deal with his temper and improve the command of his pitches. ";
// END editorial data