Some elite starting pitchers have signed massive contracts this offseason. Jacob deGrom is now a Ranger and Justin Verlander is a Met. Thankfully the Brewers have all but indicated that their top pitchers in Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff are staying put. Throughout the past few years, they have been one of the best one-two punches. With the recent shakeup among which teams some of these other pitchers are playing for, where do Burnes and Woodruff now rank among starting pitcher duos?
David Adler, a writer for MLB put together his best starting pitcher duo rankings. Here is where he ranked the Burnes and Woodruff combination. Of course where free agent Carlos Radon signs may impact this list in the future.
Brewers starting pitcher duo of Burnes and Woodruff were ranked third best in the league.
Pitching duos from the Mets and Rays earned rankings higher than Burnes and Woodruff. Scherzer and Verlander were the top ranked duo and McClanahan and Glasnow second. Of these pitching duos, the Brewers combination of Burnes and Woodruff has had the most success over the past three seasons.
Since 2020, Burnes has a 2.62 ERA and Woodruff 2.84. Burnes has struck batters out at an 11.9 K/9 clip and Woodruff 10.9. They are the only pitching rotation duo since 2020 to have an ERA under 3.00 and K/9 ratio over 10.
There is quite the contrast between the top three best ranked duos. Scherzer and Verlander have six Cy Young awards all-together, but they are approaching their age 39 and 38 seasons. McClanahan broke out in 2022 and Glasnow returned from injury late in the season. However, the potential of these two together for an entire season could be a scary scene for opposing teams.
It’s great to see that Burnes and Woodruff are ranked high on Adler’s ranking list. If they continue to pitch like they have in seasons past, they could easily be the best pitching duo in the league next season.
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