Before the start of the season, if you were asked to name the three best and most prominent pitchers two months into the campaign, you probably would have mentioned the likes of Blake Snell, Gerrit Cole, Kevin Gausman, and other proven starters.
But Gausman has been bad, Cole has been injured, and Snell has been both injured and bad.
Every week, MLB publishes its pitching power rankings to see who are the ones dominating from the mound at that specific time.
On Thursday, they posted their top-10 arms for the week and the leader is not who you would expect.
Here are the rankings, with Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal at the top:
A new ace has arrived at the #1 spot in this week’s Pitcher Power Rankings! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/757vzcXRIS
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) June 6, 2024
In fact, if you look at the top five and tell us you expected anyone from that list except for Zack Wheeler and Corbin Burnes, we are afraid you might be lying.
Skubal in particular has been thoroughly impressive and has been a big reason why the Tigers are 31-31 as of Thursday.
He has a pristine 1.97 ERA in 73 innings pitched, with just 13 walks and 86 strikeouts.
Skubal has managed to improve his ERA every season as a professional, but not even the most optimistic Tigers fan expected him to post a sub-2.00 ERA as we head into the summer months.
As of right now, he has a very convincing case to be the American League starter for the All-Star Game on July 16.
The Tigers are thrilled with the progress he has made, as he has blossomed into one of the most consistently dominant hurlers in MLB.
