MLB.Com egregiously overlooks SF Giants ace in pitcher power rankings

Power rankings usually take a pulse on how someone is performing at a certain point in time. They are meant to be a discussion point. MLB.Com published its top-10 pitcher power rankings earlier this week and omitted one of the best pitchers in the game - SF Giants ace Logan Webb.

MLB.Com egregiously overlooks SF Giants ace in pitcher power rankings

It is hard to take these things seriously when you create a list of the best pitchers in baseball and do not include Webb. He has arguably been one of the top 10 pitchers over the past several seasons. Power rankings are generally an exercise in "what has a player done lately."

You could certainly make the case that some pitchers on this last have had better starts than Webb. There is no doubt about that. Ranger Suárez (1.36 ERA), Kutter Crawford (1.35 ERA), and José Berríos
(1.23 ERA) are all off to tremendous starts in 2024.

That said, none of those pitchers are ranked as high as they should be! All three appear in the back half of the top-10 list. The front half features some recognizable names such as Zack Wheeler (1.93 ERA), Corbin Burnes (2.55 ERA), Tyler Glasnow (2.92 ERA).

All good names who are off to strong starts with their clubs. Except for Wheeler, it is hard to make the case that Burnes and Glasnow are performing better than Webb.

The Giants ace has a 2.33 ERA, 2.74 FIP, 1.11 WHIP, 6.1 K/9, and a 3.71 SO/W ratio in six starts this season. His 38.2 innings pitched are second in baseball. This is on the heels of leading baseball with 216 innings just last season.

Webb's 59.7 percent ground ball rate is second in baseball among qualified pitchers. Perhaps, that is the difference between him and some of the other names on the list. Webb does not normally record high strikeout totals. The others do. Rather, he relies on contact to generate outs.

The 27-year-old is certainly capable of generating more strikeouts, but he has focused more on pitch efficiency in recent seasons. It is one of the reasons why he has become such a workhorse.

These lists are fun discussion points, but it feels like Webb continues to be overlooked in baseball in some sense. He did finish second in the NL Cy Young voting last season, but he is still looking to make his first All-Star team. If he continues at this rate, it would be hard to leave him off. At least Webb was listed as an honorable mention in the power rankings, but rotation mate Jordan Hicks did not despite a strong start to the year. Oh well. Maybe next time.