Latest Rankings Show Orioles Pitching Staff Anchored by One of Best Arms in MLB

The Baltimore Orioles finally have an ace that stacks up to every other top pitcher in the MLB.

Aug 10, 2024; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Corbin Burnes (39) throws a pitch in the first inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field / Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports

The Baltimore Orioles are loaded with high-end, young talent in their lineup. Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, Jordan Westburg, Colton Cowser, Jackson Holliday, Coby Mayo and Heston Kjerstad are going to lead the way at the plate for years to come.

However, there hasn’t been as much success when it comes to the development of their pitchers. A shutdown, true No. 1 ace is something that the franchise has been seeking for years. Ahead of the 2024 season, they finally found that ace.

The Orioles acquired Corbin Burnes from the Milwaukee Brewers and he has been everything the team had hoped for and more. Burnes was acquired from the Brewers in exchange for DJ Hall, Joey Ortiz and future considerations.

He has anchored a staff that has had 12 different pitchers start a game this season, providing consistent production atop the rotation. Through 25 starts, Burnes has gone 12-5 with a 3.10 ERA and 1.106 WHIP.

His strikeout numbers are a little bit concerning, as he has 144 in 153.2 innings. That 8.4 K/9 is the second lowest of his career in a season, as the only season it was lower was as a rookie in 2018 when he pitched exclusively out of the bullpen.

Despite the lower strikeouts, Burnes remains one of the best pitchers in baseball. Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report has him ranked No. 6 on his power rankings of aces around the league.

“It's all there on his Baseball Savant, where his key performance indicators are almost entirely red (i.e., above average). He's especially hard to hit hard. At 31.4 percent, his hard-hit rate is in the 92nd percentile.

Yet Burnes is operating with a reduced strikeout rate at 8.4 batters per nine innings. Not enough to doubt his ace status, perhaps, but it is a notable difference between the Burnes of today and the Burnes who won the NL Cy Young Award in 2021,” Rymer wrote.

Burnes made the All-Star team for the fourth straight season. It will likely be the fifth consecutive season that he ends up inside the top eight of the Cy Young Award voting as well.

The only American League pitchers who likely have a stronger case than Burnes are Logan Gilbert of the Seattle Mariners and Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers. They were the only AL pitchers ranked by Rymer ahead of him, coming in at No. 4 and No. 1, respectively.