A solid majority of all pitchers in the major leagues are right-handed, and the same is true of those who function at the very highest level.
Robbie Ray (American League in 2021) was the only lefty to win a Cy Young Award between 2019 and 2022. The other seven honorees over those four seasons were righties.
Among them was Corbin Burnes, the Milwaukee Brewers starter who earned Cy Young honors in the National League in 2021. Burnes ranks as the best right-handed starter in baseball today, according to my analysis of data from the past three years.
Burnes was the only righty to start at least 50 games over the 2020-2022 span while limiting opponents to a batting average (BA) below .200 and a ratio of fewer than .500 bases per out (BPO). His rates for the three-year period were a BA of .195 and a BPO of .495.
Today’s rankings include all 135 right-handed starters who made 35 or more starts from 2020 through 2022. Click here for an explanation of my 10-part rating formula. (The formula takes each starter’s entire body of work into account, even his rare appearances in relief.)
This story is the latest installment in an ongoing rundown of the top players at each position. Follow these links to see the standings for catchers, first basemen, second basemen, shortstops, third basemen, left fielders, center fielders, right fielders, designated hitters, and left-handed starters.
The top player in any given category — in this case, Burnes — is assigned a score of 1,000 points. The tailender in each group is scored at zero. All of the rest are slotted according to their relative performances.
Burnes is followed in today’s rankings of the best right-handed starting pitchers by Max Scherzer of the New York Mets (966 points), Jacob deGrom of the Texas Rangers (956), Zack Wheeler of the Philadelphia Phillies (924 points), and Gerrit Cole of the New York Yankees (909).
Statistical breakdowns for these leaders can be found below, followed by the names of the next 10 righty starters.
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1. Corbin Burnes (2020-2022)
Score: 1,000 points
WAR: 11.4 total, 5.32 per 200 IP
Averages: 2.62 ERA, .195 BA, .301 SLG, .495 BPO
Strikeouts: 565 total, 11.9 per 9 IP
Totals: 70 GS, 27 W
Notes: Burnes not only won the Cy Young Award in 2021, but he also finished among the top seven vote-getters in both other seasons of the three-year span. He led all National League pitchers in earned run average (2.43) in 2021 and in games started (33) and strikeouts (243) in 2022.
2. Max Scherzer (2020-2022)
Score: 966 points
WAR: 13.4 total, 6.84 per 200 IP
Averages: 2.62 ERA, .207 BA, .344 SLG, .531 BPO
Strikeouts: 501 total, 11.5 per 9 IP
Totals: 65 GS, 31 W
Notes: Scherzer has three Cy Young trophies to his credit, though the latest came in 2017. He spun a 15-4 record for the Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Dodgers in 2021, then he fashioned a 2.29 ERA for the New York Mets last season.
3. Jacob deGrom (2020-2022)
Score: 956 points
WAR: 8.6 total, 7.67 per 200 IP
Averages: 2.05 ERA, .161 BA, .291 SLG, .436 BPO
Strikeouts: 352 total, 14.1 per 9 IP
Totals: 38 GS, 16 W
Notes: Nobody comes close to deGrom’s ability to lock down a third strike. He whiffed 14.1 batters per nine innings in 2020-2022, leaving runner-up Burnes (11.9) in the dust. The problem, of course, is injuries. DeGrom managed to start only 38 games the past three years.
4. Zack Wheeler (2020-2022)
Score: 924 points
WAR: 15.3 total, 7.00 per 200 IP
Averages: 2.82 ERA, .224 BA, .336 SLG, .523 BPO
Strikeouts: 463 total, 9.5 per 9 IP
Totals: 69 GS, 30 W
Notes: Wheeler barely missed the Cy Young Award in 2021, finishing second to Burnes in the National League’s voting. The Phillies ace led the NL that season in innings pitched (213.1) and strikeouts (247). He followed up in 2022 with a 12-7 record and a 2.82 ERA.
5. Gerrit Cole (2020-2022)
Score: 909 points
WAR: 10.4 total, 4.57 per 200 IP
Averages: 3.28 ERA, .213 BA, .385 SLG, .578 BPO
Strikeouts: 594 total, 11.7 per 9 IP
Totals: 75 GS, 36 W
Notes: No right-handed starter piled up more strikeouts between 2020 and 2022 than Cole’s 594. Nor did anybody exceed his three-year total of 36 wins. His best individual season during that span was 2021, when he went 16-8 with a 3.23 ERA.
Next 10
7. Dylan Cease
8. Shane Bieber
10. Shohei Ohtani
11. Aaron Nola
12. Yu Darvish
13. Kevin Gausman
14. Alek Manoah
15. Zac Gallen