Who is the best starting pitcher in the majors? Who has been the best starter over the past three seasons? Where would you put Corbin Burnes?
Go on the Internet and you can find any number of articles and blogs offering opinion on who is the best starting pitcher in baseball. You will see Justin Verlander’s name, Sandy Alcantara, Shohei Ohtani… maybe even Corbin Burnes, if you look hard and long.
Where is Corbin Burnes in the debate?
For Milwaukee Brewers fans, the multi-faceted debate begs the question: Where should Burnes rank in the list of the best starters in baseball today?
Let me offer a little stat analysis to fuel the fire. Let’s look at stats from the past three seasons (2020-22). There will be four stats analyzed… win-loss percentage, ERA, strikeouts, and WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched).
First, starting pitchers needed to have a minimum of 50 games started during the 2020-22 timeframe to qualify for the list. That gave us a list of 92 starting pitchers.
The stats and criteria used
Secondly, we looked at how many pitchers fit into the following stat lines over the past three seasons:
- A win-loss percentage of .650 or higher.
- An ERA under 3.00
- 450 or more strikeouts
- A WHIP of 1.05 or lower
Based on these numbers, only three pitchers over the past three years qualified under each of the four stats above: Shane Bieber (Cleveland), Corbin Burnes (Milwaukee) and Max Scherzer (New York Mets).
Here’s what the numbers show!
Here are their numbers in these stat categories:
Bieber: .683 W-L Pct… 2.70 ERA… 454 strikeouts… 1.048 WHIP
Burnes: .659 W-L Pct… 2.62 ERA… 565 strikeouts… 0.963 WHIP
Scherzer: .705 W-L Pct… 2.62 ERA… 501 strikeouts… 0.969 WHIP
Scherzer and Bieber top Burnes in W-L percentage, but in the other three categories, Burnes tops the other pair in strikeouts, WHIP, and is tied with Scherzer in ERA. He also tops the other two in most innings pitched, most starts, and fewest HRs allowed.
Bottom line: You can make a case that Corbin Burnes has been the MLB’s best starting pitcher over the past three seasons.
I realize this is a debate/discussion that has no end. And some out there may find the four stats I used to not be inclusive to other factors. But that’s what makes the discussion so healthy… there is no concrete answer.
But no matter where you fall in this argument, you must admit that Corbin Burnes certainly deserves to have seat at the table… these stats showed this fact!
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