Ranking the Top Five Pirates Starting Pitchers Since 2000
Since the 2000 season, the Pittsburgh Pirates have seen many starting pitchers come and go throughout the organization. From the dog days of the 21 year losing streak to becoming a playoff-caliber team, many names have appeared on the PNC Park and Three Rivers Stadium mound. Guys like Oliver Perez, James McDonald, Jeff Locke, and Joe Beimel all had one-hit-wonder years, but none of those names are on this list. I was looking strictly at career numbers and who was able to sustain their success in a Pirates uniform or who made the biggest impacts on the team's that they were on.
This was an extremely hard list to make for me, with several guys on the cusp of making the list, but in the end, I had to put stellar seasons aside and focus on who impacted the team the longest and who had the best career numbers in the black and gold. So, without further ado, here is the Buccos Cove Pittsburgh Pirates top-five starting pitchers since the 2000 season.
#5 Kip Wells: 36-53, 5.06 ERA, 751.1 IP
Right-handed pitcher Kip Wells served as the ace of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitching staff for the early part of the 2000s. He appeared in 751.1 innings of work with the Bucs going 36-53 over five seasons of play while posting a 5.06 ERA. However, those numbers are a bit inflated as his final two seasons in a Pirates uniform saw his stats drop off. During his five seasons in a Pirates uniform, Wells finished the year with double-digit wins three times and finished with an ERA under four twice in that five-year career. He registered 553 career strikeouts with the Pirates while walking just 230 batters.
His best season with the Pirates was during the 2003 season, as Wells was coming into his own as a starting pitcher. He was coming off a year where he posted a career-high 12 wins and was officially tabbed the ace of the Pirates staff. He would follow that up with the first winning record of his career, as he went 10-9 while posting a career-low 3.28 ERA in 31 starts for the team. He set new career-highs in many categories including strikeouts (147), Runs Allowed (77), and Earned Runs Allowed (72). One of his best starts of the season came in a loss as he threw the first complete game of his career against the Atlanta Braves on September 7th, 2003.
Wells would throw eight innings allowing two runs on eight hits while walking one and striking out three. The Pirates were unable to get the run support for Wells and they ended up losing the game dropping Wells record to 7-7 on the season. After the 2003 season, Wells would fall off not putting up double-digit wins for the rest of his career. He would go just 20-42 over his final three seasons in a Pirates uniform before he was traded during the 2006 seasons. While it wasn't a pretty finish to his Pirates career, Wells provided some excitement for a team that didn't have much to be excited about in the early 2000s.
#4 Paul Maholm: 46-65, 4.36 ERA, 1,143.2 IP
During the late 2000s and the early 2010s, the Pirates starting rotation saw a lot of change. Whether it was top prospects fizzling out or guys under-performing, it seemed as though the starting rotation was constantly changing. One consistent through the ever-changing landscape was veteran left-hander Paul Maholm. While his numbers never quite jumped off the stat sheet, he was consistently in the eight to nine win range throughout his seven seasons in a Pirate's uniform. Overall, he went 46-65 with a 4.36 ERA while throwing in 1143.2 innings of work.
He cracked double-digit wins only once in his Pirates career during the 2007 season when he went 10-15. He appeared in 29 games that season for the Pirates while striking out 105 batters in 177.2 innings of work. However, his neat statistical year with Pittsburgh was the 2008 season when he went 9-9 with a career-low 3.71 ERA. Maholm's problem was his team could not give him run support while he was on the mound. Maholm pitched much better than his 46 wins suggest, but he still was able to put up solid numbers for the Pirates and was a nice consistent arm in an era full of ups and downs.
Maholm left the Pirates following the 2011 season and signed with the Chicago Cubs prior to the 2012 season. He would pitch three more seasons in the majors after the Pirates and appeared with three different organizations. Most of that time was spent with the Atlanta Braves, where he spent two and a half seasons, and he finished his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Maholm will probably never be putting his name in the hall of fame running, but he was a consistent arm who played his role well with the Pirates and every team that he pitched for after that.
#3 AJ Burnett: 35-28, 3.34 ERA, 557.1 IP
AJ Burnett was part of the starting rotation that ushered in winning baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates. After struggling with the New York Yankees, the Pirates would go out and sign the veteran in a move that had a lot of fans shaking their heads. However, it turned into one of the best moves the Pirates made as he became a dominant pitcher in Pittsburgh. Over his three seasons in a Pirates uniform, Burnett went a combined 35-28 with a 3.34 ERA in 557.1 innings of work. He came to be known as Pittsburgh's Batman with the Bat symbol flying high above PNC park on one of his final starts in a Pirates uniform.
All three years in a Pirates uniform, Burnett had an ERA in the threes, but his best season came in his first year in Black and Gold. It was the 2012 season when he went 16-10, falling two wins short of his career-high while posting a 3.52 ERA. Not only did he have success on the mound, but he helped mold a young Pirates pitcher named Jeff Locke. During the 2013 season, the Pirate's first playoff year, Burnett once again posted double-digit wins and dropped his ERA to 3.30. He was a big part of getting the Pirates to the playoffs and he even appeared in the National League Division Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Burnett would leave Pittsburgh for Philadelphia prior to the 2014 season and spent one season with the Phillies. He would come back to the Pirates in 2015, and put up his best ERA in a Pirates uniform, at 3.18, before officially retiring as a Pirate. The Burnett trade was a mutually beneficial agreement for both Burnett and the Pirates. If it weren't for the Pirates, Burnett probably would not have had the success he did late in his career. If it weren't for Burnett, the Pirates wouldn't have had the veteran arm to round out there rotation and break the playoff drought.
#2 Francisco Liriano: 46-39, 3.64 ERA, 693.2 IP
Prior to the 2013 season, the Pittsburgh Pirates had a solid starting rotation, and they needed just one piece to take them over the top. They took a chance on a low-risk, high reward move as they signed veteran left-hander Francisco Liriano. He was coming off of an injury-filled season where he made just 12 starts and posted a 5.40 ERA and was looking for a rebound. He did that and much more in his first year with the Pirates, posting 16 wins and leading them to the NL playoffs. He would earn NL come back player of the year and it started what would be a strong five-year career in a Pirates uniform.
Liriano had a career record of 46-39 in a Pirates Uniform with a 3.64 ERA in 693.2 innings of work. His best season by far was in 2013 when he posted a career-high 16 wins and boasted a 3.02 ERA in 26 starts. He wasn't able to start his season until May 11th, but when he did he turned into the top starter for Pittsburgh that year. His strikeout pitch was working as he struck out 163 batters in 161 innings of work while walking just 63 batters. He got the nod as the starter for the National League Wild Card game that season and less the Pirates with an impressive performance. He lasted seven innings and gave up just one run on four hits while walking one and striking out five.
Liriano stayed with the Pirates until the 2016 season when he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays along with catching prospect Reese McGuire and outfield prospect Harold Ramirez for pitcher Drew Hutchison. Liriano went on to pitch a year and a half with Toronto and a year for Houston and Detroit. He would return to the Pirates in 2019 and appeared out of the bullpen. He would turn out to be one of the best Pirates relievers last season posting a 3.47 ERA in 70 innings of work while striking out 53 batters. Liriano hit the open market once again this off-season and ended up signing a minor league contract with Philadelphia with an invite to Spring Training.
#1 Gerrit Cole: 59-32, 3.49 ERA, 782.1 IP
Much to the dismay of many Pirates fans, Gerrit Cole has turned out to be one of the top pitchers in all of Major League Baseball, signing a multi-mega deal with the New York Yankees this off-season. However, he got his start with the Pittsburgh Pirates, being drafted by the team as the number one overall pick in the 2011 draft. He would make his MLB debut just two and a half years later and began what has been a hall-of-fame worthy career. In his five years in Pittsburgh, he posted a 59-32 record with a 3.49 ERA in 782.1 innings pitched in Pittsburgh. In his five years, he had double-digit wins four times and had an ERA below four in all five of those seasons.
After pitching through a few good seasons, Cole really raised his stock in 2015 as he pitched to a career-best 19-8 record with a 2.60 ERA, which still stands as the lowest of his career. He earned his first all-star game nod that season and was one of three representatives for the Pirates yes that season. However, his biggest start of the season came in the NL Wild Card game against the Chicago Cubs. Cole got knocked around in that game, giving up four runs in five innings of work while striking out four and walking one. The Pirates would end up losing the game and being kicked out of the 2015 playoffs.
Cole would pitch for two more seasons with Pittsburgh before he was traded to the Houston Astros in the deal that brought over Colin Moran, Joe Musgrove, Michael Feliz, and Jason Martin. Cole would go on to win a World Series with the Astros and appear in one more where his team lost to the Washington Nationals. He elected for free agency this off-season and now signed one of the biggest deals for a starting pitcher in baseball history. Even though he will be pitching under the bright lights of New York City this season, Pirates fans will always remember how he got his start in Black and Gold.
That concludes our list of the top five Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitchers since the 2000 season. Even though the success hasn't always been there for the Pirates, they have had some strong players on the mound. Whether it be a veteran arm or an up and coming rookie, they have all made their marks in Pirates history. Join us for next week's Saturday Rankings as we head to the bullpen to see who the best relievers, who have not held the closer's role, have been for the Pirates.
Comments
Post a Comment