SoMnFan
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Our evaluation of the best tools in the game concludes with the pitching tools. On Wednesday, we at ESPN Insider laid out the best defensive tools, and on Thursday, we had the best hitting and baserunning tools. Keith Law looks at nine different pitching categories today.
Best fastball
1. Aroldis Chapman, Cincinnati Reds
It's certainly the hardest fastball I've ever seen -- I got him at 104 mph on my gun at Petco Park in September 2010 -- and it comes out of his hand shockingly easily given its superhuman velocity. I can't imagine how any left-handed hitter ever sees the ball, or, if he does, how he manages to stay in the box without leaping out of the way. It's possible we'll see another pitcher throw this hard at some point, but I'm not holding my breath.
2. Yordano Ventura, Royals
3. Craig Kimbrel, Braves
4. Jake McGee, Rays
5. Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers
Best fastball movement
1. Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners
The best pitcher in the American League right now does it with many weapons, but it's always been his ability to get ground balls that has impressed me most. The guys who typically pitch like this -- sinking the fastball and throwing strikes -- are command/control guys, not power arms like Felix is, and without the variety of swing-and-miss offerings he has. With a 54 percent ground ball rate for his career, Felix ranks 25th among MLB starters (per Fangraphs) for whom such data is available. And again, that's just one of the ways he can make a major league hitter look foolish.
2. Dallas Keuchel, Astros
3. Tim Hudson, Giants
4. Alex Wood, Braves
5. Matt Moore, Rays
Best cutter
1. Kenley Jansen, Los Angeles Dodgers
Mariano Rivera's retirement leaves this category open for the first time in more than a decade, but Jansen may have it similarly locked up for as long as he stays healthy. Coming in so hard that PITCHf/x often misclassifies it as a fastball, Jansen's cutter has more movement than any true fastball would, so he can get away with throwing it more than 90 percent of the time. As if his mastery of the cutter wasn't remarkable enough, Jansen is a former catcher who didn't even start pitching full time until 2009. The Dodgers stuck him on a mound, only to find him throwing 97 mph right out of the chute.
2. Corey Kluber, Indians
3. Adam Wainwright, Cardinals
4. Jake Arrieta, Cubs
5. Wade Davis, Royals
Best curveball
1. Sonny Gray, Oakland Athletics
Gray defies the conventional wisdom about starting pitchers in so many ways, and his curveball is one of the primary ones. He's only about 5-foot-9, allegedly too short for a right-handed starter, but he has worked for years to keep the ball down in the strike zone despite the difficulty a diminutive pitcher can have in getting downhill plane on the pitch. He also throws a true curveball, and even though you'll hear the claim that a little guy can't get the proper depth on a curve, his is the hammer of Thor, coming at near-slider velocity but with downward break rather than slider tilt.
2. Corey Kluber, Indians: In case you're wondering how Kluber has become a top-five starter in the AL this year, it might have something to do with him being No. 2 in this tool (curveball) and the previous one (cutter).
3. Adam Wainwright, Cardinals
4. Craig Kimbrel, Braves
5. Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers
Honorable mention: David Robertson, who doesn't quite make the cut here and doesn't seem to get enough credit for how good he has been in a difficult job.
Best slider
1. Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers
What's shocking about Kershaw's slider is that it's a new pitch for him, at least relative to his other offerings. He had no problem picking it up and throwing it well from the very first attempt, according to catcher A.J. Ellis, which is more evidence that we're watching one of the all-time greats at work every time Kershaw takes the mound. Not only does the pitch have great tilt, giving him the side-to-side movement he didn't have with his fastball and curve, but when he misses with it, it's usually down, where hitters can't do much damage against it.
2. Yu Darvish, Rangers
3. Dellin Betances, Yankees
4. Andrew Miller, Orioles
5. Jose Fernandez, Marlins
As an aside, it'll be fun to reconsider this in a year or so, once lefty White Sox prospect Carlos Rodon reaches the majors. Rodon, the third pick in this year's MLB Rule 4 draft, throws his slider at 88-92 mph and can throw it harder than some of the fastballs he's throwing in the same inning.
Best splitter
1. Masahiro Tanaka, New York Yankees
I hope Tanaka's injury doesn't lead teams further away from the splitter, which is barely taught now in the United States and seldom used. I have just one non-Japanese pitcher in my top five, Dan Haren, and even his has become less effective over time. Thrown properly by a pitcher with a large enough hand, it's a devastating weapon, as Tanaka showed us before his elbow cried "Uncle!" earlier this summer. Tanaka's splitter has good tumble, but he can also throw it for a strike -- like Haren does -- which makes it a much more effective pitch than if it were just a chase pitch. Here's hoping Tanaka comes back sooner rather than later and that he doesn't leave the pitch on the shelf when he returns.
2. Hisashi Iwakuma, Mariners
3. Koji Uehara, Red Sox
4. Dan Haren, Dodgers
5. Hiroki Kuroda, Yankees
Best changeup
1. Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners
Here's one of those "other ways" to make hitters look foolish, as I mentioned earlier, and that's without discussing his plus curveball or outstanding command. Felix gets great action on his changeup but also delivers it with the arm speed of his fastball, giving hitters little to no shot to pick it up. When you have this many arrows in your quiver, you don't need to show it off.
2. Cole Hamels, Phillies
3. Chris Sale, White sox
4. Joaquin Benoit, Padres
5. Jorge De La Rosa, Rockies
Honorable mention: Gerrit Cole, whose changeup grades out at 70 or better on the 20-80 scouting scale when he's healthy but who hasn't had enough success with it through a year of major league starts to crack this list.
Best knuckleball
1. R.A. Dickey, Toronto Blue Jays
This was a tough call.
Best command
1. Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers
I'm running out of superlatives here. Kershaw has the majors' best slider, is among its best fastballs, among its best curveballs and commands all three pitches extremely well. He doesn't walk many guys, he doesn't miss spots, and this year he's working down in the zone more effectively than ever, with a career-best ground ball rate. No starting pitcher has ever won the Cy Young Award in a full season with less than 200 innings pitched, in part because it's hard to deliver enough value without reaching that threshold, but Kershaw looks like he's going to be the first to ever do it.
2. Sean Doolittle, Athletics
3. Felix Hernandez, Mariners
4. Zack Greinke, Dodgers
5. Koji Uehara, Red Sox
< Message edited by SoMnFan -- 8/15/2014 3:52:55 PM >
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