Who Is The Ace Of The Cleveland Guardians Right Now?

The Cleveland Guardians organization has a long history of developing elite arms, All-Star pitchers, and Cy Young contenders. Their pitching development is the reason that the team is routinely in playoff contention, and this season is no different.

Cleveland currently has a couple of solid pitchers in their rotation, or arms showing they could be a staple moving forward. However, who out of this group is the best? Who do the Guardians want on the mound in a potential Game 1 of a playoff series? Who is Cleveland’s ace?

Let’s try to answer that question by looking at some blind numbers. The Guardians’ rotation currently consists of Gavin Williams, Logan Allen, Tanner Bibee, Slade Cecconi, and, until Sunday, Joey Cantillo.

Here are what each of their stats looks like, without their names attached to them.

Player 1: 3.94 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 4.41 FIP, 18.0 K%
Player 2: 4.54 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 4.49 FIP, 21.4 K%
Player 3: 4.50 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 4.85 FIP, 19.7 K%
Player 4: 3.38 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 4.57 FIP, 23.5-K%

Apr 17, 2025; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Tanner Bibee (28) delivers a first inning pitch against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: James A. Pittman-Imagn Images | James A. Pittman-Imagn Images

Some interesting numbers to dive into here, but due to the high ERA and low strikeout rate of Player 3, he has been eliminated from the conversation.

That leaves us with Player 1, Player 2, and Player 4.

Player 4 must be the best because his ERA is the lowest. Yes, but it’s not too much lower than Player 1’s. An ace needs to limit base runners, and Player 2's WHIP can’t be ignored.

Season stats only tell part of the story. It’s the middle of August, and many pitchers have logged around 25 starts. Plus, part of the question is, who is Cleveland’s ace right now?

So, let’s look at these three pitchers, only their numbers over their last five starts to get a better pitcher.

Player 1: 3.77 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 4.19 FIP
Player 2: 5.53 ERA, 1.48 WHIP, 4.45 FIP
Player 4: 2.35 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 3.70 FIP

Here is where the picture starts to become much clearer.

Player 1 is consistent; his stats over the last few weeks are almost the same as his season totals. Player 2’s numbers are skyrocketing as he’s having a difficult start to the second half of the season.

That leaves Player 4. He has the best season stats, has been one of MLB’s best pitchers since the All-Star Break, and is clearly Cleveland’s ace right now.

Who is Player 4? Those numbers belong to Gavin Williams.

Jul 20, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Gavin Williams (32) celebrates during the seventh inning against the Athletics at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

Williams has shown tremendous growth throughout the year. With this already being his third year in The Show, it’s easy to forget that it’s still only his first full season in the big leagues, debuting in June of 2023 and missing half of 2024 with an elbow injury.

Williams was an elite prospect coming up through Cleveland’s farm system and always had the potential to be the top arm in a rotation. Now, he’s showing exactly why.

As for the rest of the rotation, Player 1 was Logan Allen, Player 2 was Tanner Bibee, and Player 3 was Slade Cecconi.

Blindly looking at these numbers shows just how under-the-radar Allen has been for the Guardians. He’s not going to get Cy Young votes this year, but to know he’s going to pitch five to six solid innings every time he touches the mound isn’t a bad feeling for the team.

Bibee’s numbers are the shocking ones here. He was Cleveland's pseudo-opening day starter before a case of food poisoning pushed him to game two. His underlying metrics, such as xERA (3.65) and xBA (.236), are all fine, but he’s just struggling to finish off hitters, which is leading to big innings for opponents.

If the playoffs started today, and the Guardians managed to sneak in, Williams should be getting the ball in Game 1. Looking at a variety of numbers, he’s undoubtedly Cleveland’s ace right now.

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