Who Makes up Baltimore Orioles Starting Pitching Mount Rushmore?

Who have been the best starting pitchers for the Baltimore Orioles the last few decades?

Jun 30, 2019; Baltimore, MD, USA; Former Baltimore Orioles pitcher Mike Mussina (35) throws out the first pitch prior to the game against the Cleveland Indians at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. / Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports

The Baltimore Orioles are one of the best teams in baseball now, and their success looks like it can be sustainable. They are loaded with young stars in their lineup that will lead this team to a lot of wins in the coming years.

Unfortunately for the Orioles, there remain some concerns about their long-term outlook when it comes to pitching. Evidently, that has been an issue for the team for decades.

Over at Bleacher Report, Kerry Miller put together the Mount Rushmore of starting pitchers since 1990. There are a few franchises that had more than four pitchers who deserved a spot in the rankings, making the choices difficult; Baltimore was not one of them.

The Orioles No. 1 ranked player on their Mount Rushmore is Mike Mussina. He was excellent the first 10 seasons of his career before joining the rival New York Yankees for the final eight.

A Hall of Famer, Mussina laps the competition when it comes to the other Mount Rushmore pitchers in Baltimore. He went 147-81 with a 3.53 ERA over 2,009.2 innings with the franchise, recording a WAR of 46.7.

“He was fantastic for his decade with the O's, never winning a Cy Young but receiving votes in seven of those seasons. As far as FanGraphs WAR is concerned, Moose was responsible for seven of the eight most valuable seasons by a Baltimore pitcher in the past 35 years,” Miller wrote.

Things really fall off for the Orioles after Mussina. Coming in at No. 2 is Scott Erickson. He was the pitcher responsible for the only top eight season that Mussina didn’t provide over the last 35 years.

A stellar start in the 1997 American League Championship Series against the Cleveland Indians was a big reason Erickson landed at No. 2. His WAR with the franchise was 18.8, the second highest among starting pitchers.

Coming in at No. 3 is Erik Bedard. His peak with the Orioles during the 2006-2007 season was an impressive one before he was traded to the Seattle Mariners for a package highlighted by Adam Jones.

At No. 4, Ben McDonald. The No. 1 pick in the 1989 MLB Draft, McDonald gave Baltimore some solid, yet unspectacular seasons. Just missing the cut were Sidney Ponson, Kevin Gausman, Wei-Yin Chen and Kyle Bradish.

Bradish being in the mix after only 61 appearances and 325.2 innings pitched speaks volumes about the lack of high-end starting pitching the Orioles have had to endure.