It¡¯s been two weeks since our first Starting Pitcher Power Rankings of the regular season, and a lot can change in that time.
While the rankings, based on a formula constructed by MLB.com¡¯s data team, consider pitchers¡¯ performance over the past 365 days, more weight is placed on recent performance. For a starter, that means one or two starts (good or bad) can have a significant impact on a list that attempts to capture how things stack up at a particular moment in time.
It¡¯s no surprise, then, that this edition features four new names in the top 10, including one that nearly rose to the very top. Here are the latest Starting Pitcher Power Rankings.
All statistics are through Tuesday¡¯s games.
1. Paul Skenes, Pirates (Previously: 3)
Since allowing a career-high five earned runs against the Cardinals on April 8, Skenes has made two more starts and allowed three total earned runs over 13 innings. He¡¯s now pitched enough in his career (164 1/3 innings) to cover one qualifying season (the minimum is 162 innings), and is 13-5 with a 2.14 ERA, 196 ERA+, 2.36 FIP and 200 strikeouts. Not too shabby. Next up is likely a confrontation with the only team to tag him for an ERA higher than 3.38 ERA so far in his career: the Dodgers (5.73 ERA over two starts last season).
2. Garrett Crochet, Red Sox (Not ranked)
White Sox hitters are probably cursing their team trading Crochet to Boston during the offseason. Both of the lefty¡¯s past two starts came against his former club. The results: 13 1/3 innings, five hits, one run, 18 strikeouts, a .278 opponent OPS and one lengthy no-hit bid. Crochet¡¯s ERA with the Red Sox is down to 1.13, and he now has a 3.13 ERA and 244 strikeouts across 178 innings since the start of 2024.
3. Logan Webb, Giants (5)
The fact that Webb carried a 2.40 ERA into Wednesday night¡¯s start against the Brewers wasn¡¯t surprising by itself -- not for a pitcher who has received Cy Young votes in three straight seasons. What¡¯s more surprising? Webb¡¯s 90th percentile strikeout rate (32.8%). The righty had not ranked above the 44th percentile in that category since 2021, and he already has logged his first two double-digit K games since July 9, 2023.
4. Tarik Skubal, Tigers (4)
Skubal hasn¡¯t really started piling up strikeouts yet, with his K-rate down from over 30% the past two seasons to 25% this year. Even so, he¡¯s remained highly effective, with a 2.83 ERA and 2.89 FIP over five starts. Skubal is pouring in strikes (70.1%, fifth among MLB qualifiers) and limiting both walks and hard contact. The possibility of back-to-back Cy Young Awards remains very much in play.
5. Hunter Greene, Reds (1)
After four strong outings to open the season, Greene finally hit a bump his last time out, at Camden Yards, allowing five runs in three innings while serving up three of the four homers he¡¯s allowed in 2025. Even with that, opponents are batting just .164 against Greene, who has a 2.35 ERA and 35-to-6 K-to-BB ratio this season. Greene¡¯s next outing will come Saturday at Coors Field, so he¡¯ll have to try to bounce back while at altitude.
6. Hunter Brown, Astros (NR)
Apparently, it¡¯s a good time to be a right-handed pitcher named Hunter with a color-based last name. Brown has spun up three consecutive scoreless starts, allowing just eight hits and three walks across a combined 19 innings, and leads the Majors in WHIP this season (0.74). If you go back to April 12, 2024, the day after a nine-run outing at Kansas City, Brown¡¯s 2.61 ERA trails only Skubal and Max Fried among qualified pitchers.
7. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers (NR)
Yamamoto¡¯s rookie season after coming over from Japan was hardly a dud, but after an early adjustment period, a triceps injury cost him two months just when he seemed to be truly hitting his stride. That fully comfortable version of Yamamoto is back in 2025, however. He entered Wednesday leading the NL in ERA (0.93), thanks in part to the deadly combination of a 95th-percentile K-rate and a 95th-percentile ground-ball rate. Going into Friday¡¯s projected matchup with Skenes, Yamamoto has not allowed an earned run in 19 innings over his past three starts.
8. Nick Pivetta, Padres (NR)
A free agent this past offseason, Pivetta didn¡¯t find a home until signing with the Padres in mid-February, after Spring Training had already begun. Some teams with early pitching issues might be rueing a missed opportunity right about now. Three of Pivetta¡¯s first five starts with San Diego have resulted in seven scoreless innings with no more than three hits allowed, and his ERA sits at 1.20 overall. Pivetta¡¯s career 4.76 ERA prior to 2025 belied the quality of his stuff, but perhaps it took a move to the West Coast to figure things out.
9. Logan Gilbert, Mariners (2)
Gilbert drops a bit in our rankings after his first start of the season away from T-Mobile Park, on Saturday, resulted in two runs and seven hits over 4 2/3 innings at Toronto. Gilbert still owns a 2.63 ERA this season, along with an MLB-leading K-rate of 38%, although the trade-off seems to have been less efficiency. His rate of pitches per plate appearance is up from 3.8 to 4.4, and he is averaging only about five innings pitched over his past four starts.
10. Cole Ragans, Royals (8)
While Ragans had a tough time at Detroit last Friday, he was coming off a three-start streak of double-digit strikeout games in which he allowed a total of three earned runs. A home start against the Rockies on Thursday will offer a nice bounceback opportunity for Ragans, who ranks third in the Majors in K-rate (36.8%).
Honorable mentions: Chris Bassitt (Blue Jays), Max Fried (Yankees), Jes¨²s Luzardo (Phillies), Tyler Mahle (Rangers), Max Meyer (Marlins), Mitchell Parker (Nationals), Drew Rasmussen (Rays), Spencer Schwellenbach (Braves), Bryan Woo (Mariners), Zack Wheeler (Phillies)