While most of the country is in the midst of winter’s deep freeze, baseball fans are already counting down the days until spring training. Fans of MLB The Show are doing the same, as we are now officially under two months until the official release date for the 19 version.
One thing many fans of The Show love to do is predict where players will be ranked in the upcoming season as compared to the previous year. We covered the Top 10 MLB The Show team predictions, now it is time to cover the starting pitchers.
Top Ranked pitchers 2018
When MLB The Show 2018 was released, Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington’s Max Scherzer were the only two starters to get a ranking higher than 90. Kershaw was No. 1 with a 92 ranking, while Scherzer was in the second slot with a 90 mark.
Corey Kluber and Chris Sale tied for third with a ranking of 89 while Stephen Strasburg rounded out the top five.
Six through 10 looked this way:
- 6. Noah Syndergaar — 86
- 7. Jacob deGrom — 85
- 8. Madison Bumgarner — 85
- 9. Carlos Carrasco — 85
- 10. Justin Verlander — 84
While most of these big names will definitely be back in the 2019 top ten, several new pitchers will break into this season’s top slots that were not on anyone’s radar at this time last season.
MLB The Show 19 Predictions
Many of the top 10 pitchers on the 2018 list did not perform up to their expectations last summer. Injuries or just sub-par performances changed the landscape as well.
But give credit to the newbies in this top ten prediction list, because they shined in 2018 and deserve to be mentioned with the best in the game.
- Jacob deGrom – How can you not give him the No. 1 slot? 93 ranking?
- Blake Snell – Not on last year’s list, however, the AL Cy Young winner is the new No. 2
- Aaron Nola – 17-6 and a WHIP of 0.97.
- Max Scherzer – Scherzer is still one of the best in the game, but a 90+ ranking may drop to 88.
- Miles Mikolas – A star in the making? Mikolas finished 18-4 with a 1.07 WHIP. Can he do it again in 19?
- Justin Verlander – He is slipping a bit, but still one of the best in the game.
- Corey Kluber – Drops just a shade, but still, a high 80’s ranking is deserved
- Chris Sale — A bit of a tumble from 2018, but he is still a top line starter.
- Kyle Freeland — 17-7 pitching Colorado? He needs to get his due.
- Gerrit Cole — 15-5, WHIP 1.03. Cole had a huge jump from 2017, where his ERA was over 4.
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