MLB Top-10 Starting Pitchers Right Now: Dodgers Receive Just 1 Selection

Jun 14, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto, left, and Blake Snell laugh during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ryan Sun-Imagn Images | Ryan Sun-Imagn Images

MLB Network unveiled The Shredder rankings of the Top 10 Starting Pitchers Right Now heading into the 2026 regular season, with the list somewhat surprisingly only featuring one member from the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Blake Snell was ranked the fifth-best starting pitcher heading into the 2025 season but failed to make The Shredder's list for this year. Meanwhile, Tyler Glasnow earned a spot in the just missed category for the second consecutive season.

Shohei Ohtani returned to pitching last year and flashed plenty of dominance behind a devastating sweeper and electric fastball, but he too was not included by The Shredder among the best starters for 2026.

The Dodgers also did not have a player ranked in the top-10 for second basemen or left fielders. Still to come are lists that rank the best shortstops, center fielders, catchers, right fielders, third basemen, relief pitchers and first basemen.

The Shredder anointed Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal as the No. 1 pitcher in baseball, followed by Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Skubal placed second last year to the Philadelphia Phillies' Zack Wheeler.

Each individual Shredder list evaluates past performance, offensive and defensive metrics, which includes advanced stats and traditional numbers, and analysis by the MLB Network research team.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto ranked with best starting pitchers

The only member of Dodgers' rotation to appear in the rankings was Yoshinobu Yamamoto at No. 7. MLB Network host Brian Kenny had Yamamoto third on his list and analyst Ron Darling ranked him sixth. Kenny also included Snell at No. 9.

This marks Yamamoto's first time being ranked by The Shredder. He was included in the just missed category heading into last year.

Yamamoto is coming off a season in which he went 12-8 with a 2.49 ERA and 0.99 WHIP across 30 starts. Perhaps most importantly, Yamamoto remained healthy after dealing with a right shoulder injury during his rookie season.

That success carried into October as Yamamoto elevated his performance to the tune of a minuscule 1.45 ERA while pitching 37.1 innings in six games (five starts). Yamamoto turned in back-to-back complete games in the postseason and pitched out of the bullpen on zero days of rest to close out the World Series.

The heroic effort helped him earn World Series MVP honors.

Yamamoto and Snell were the only starting pitchers to rank in the 85th percentile or better in both strikeout rate and groundball rate during the 2025 season.

Yamamoto was in the 89th percentile for strikeout rate and 91st for groundball, while Snell ranked 85th in both.

The 2026 season was just the second time in The Shredder’s history (since 2011) that at least one of Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander were not ranked among the best starters. The streak started last season.

MLB Top-10 Starting Pitchers Right Now for 2026

Snell ranked fifth on the list heading into last season

Rank	The Shredder	Brian Kenny
1	Tarik Skubal (Tigers)	Paul Skenes (Pirates)
2	Paul Skenes (Pirates)	Tarik Skubal (Tigers)
3	Zack Wheeler (Phillies)	Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Dodgers)
4	Chris Sale (Braves)	Garrett Crochet (Red Sox)
5	Cristopher Sánchez (Phillies)	Cristopher Sánchez (Phillies)
6	Garrett Crochet (Red Sox)	Hunter Greene (Reds)
7	Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Dodgers)	Hunter Brown (Astros)
8	Hunter Brown (Astros)	Max Fried (Yankees)
9	Max Fried (Yankees)	Blake Snell (Dodgers)
10	Hunter Greene (Reds)	Logan Webb (Giants)