Starting Pitching Report: Cristopher Sanchez ranks No. 2 in all of baseball behind only Tarik Skubal

MLB.com just dropped their latest starting pitcher power rankings and Cristopher Sanchez is sitting at number two in all of baseball behind only Tarik Skubal. Let me repeat that.

The Phillies’ lefty, the guy who was a back-end rotation piece two years ago, is ranked as the second-best starting pitcher in Major League Baseball right now. Above Paul Skenes. Above Shohei Ohtani. Above Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Above Max Fried. Above everybody except the reigning back-to-back Cy Young winner.

His numbers are absurd. A 1.59 ERA and a 1.69 FIP that rank fifth and third in the majors respectively. His strikeout rate has jumped to 31.7 percent, which is eighth highest among qualified pitchers, up from a pedestrian 20.3 percent just two years ago.

He’s still generating ground balls at an elite level with a 59.2 percent grounder rate that sits in the 93rd percentile of MLB. The difference now is that he’s pairing those ground balls with a strikeout rate that makes him nearly impossible to square up.

Sanchez has gone from a guy who got outs by inducing weak contact to a pitcher who misses bats and gets ground balls. That combination is lethal. The development of his secondary stuff under Caleb Cotham has completely transformed what Sanchez is as a pitcher and the results are speaking for themselves.

MLB.com Full Top 10.

Here’s where the rest of the league stacks up according to MLB.com. It’s worth nothing, especially when finding the best value with FanDuel pitching props. Skubal leads the pack and of course, Paul Skenes is in the mix too.

Tarik Skubal leads the pack with a 2.08 ERA through five starts for the Tigers. He’s chasing a third consecutive Cy Young, which only Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux have ever accomplished. Nobody has done it in the American League. Skubal took a perfect game into the sixth against the Marlins and struck out 10 Red Sox in his most recent outing.

Jose Soriano of the Angels might have the most ridiculous stat line in baseball. A 0.24 ERA through six starts and 37 2/3 innings. That’s the lowest ERA through a pitcher’s first six starts since earned runs became official in both leagues in 1913. He’s also the first pitcher since 1900 to allow no more than one total run across his first six starts of a season. The guy had a 4.26 ERA last year and now he’s pitching like he’s from a different planet.

Paul Skenes sits at four after a rough Opening Day inflated his ERA. Take away the Mets start where his defense let him down and he has a 1.27 ERA with a .125 batting average against over his last four outings. The reigning NL Cy Young winner is fine.

Cam Schlittler of the Yankees is at five with a 1.95 ERA and a microscopic 0.86 FIP. He leads the majors in FanGraphs pitching WAR with 36 strikeouts against only three walks. The strikeout-minus-walk rate of 31.4 percent leads all of baseball.

Yamamoto is sixth with a 2.48 ERA for the Dodgers. Ohtani is seventh with one earned run allowed in 24 innings and a .141 opponents’ batting average, though he barely qualifies on innings. Dylan Cease is eighth with a 39.7 percent strikeout rate that leads all qualified starters and zero barrels allowed all season.

Nolan McLean of the Mets is a bright spot at nine in the middle of their nightmare season. The rookie has a 2.67 ERA with a 1.94 expected ERA and took a perfect game into the sixth his last time out. Max Fried rounds it out at 10 with a 2.40 ERA and an MLB-best 41 1/3 innings for the Yankees.

What This Means for the Phillies

The Phillies are 10-19 and everything about this team has been a disaster except for Cristopher Sanchez. He has been the one constant through the losing streak, the managerial change, and the offensive collapse. While Nola’s ERA has ballooned to 6.03 and Luzardo has been a roller coaster, Sanchez has been elite every single time he takes the mound.

Phillies begin the Don Mattingly era with a 7-0 win over the San Francisco Giants

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