Thursday is the Trade Deadline (6 p.m. ET), and many contending teams will be lining up to acquire starting pitching. It’s a commodity that precious few teams have enough of, with depth often in short supply at this time of year.
Don’t expect anybody on the list below to be on the move, though. Of the top 10 in our latest Starting Pitcher Power Rankings, eight ply their trade for a team that entered Wednesday in playoff position, and the only player below who isn’t on a serious contender is almost certainly not available.
As always, these rankings are based on a formula constructed by MLB.com’s data team, which considers performance over the past 365 days but places greater weight on season-long and especially recent performance.
Here are the latest Starting Pitcher Power Rankings.
1. Tarik Skubal, Tigers (Previously: 1)
After a rare hiccup on July 11 against the Mariners (five innings, four runs), Skubal righted the ship immediately to remain at No. 1 for the fifth straight time. He’s allowed one run and struck out 18 over 12 2/3 innings across his past two outings and remains in line for his second straight AL ERA title (2.09). Skubal also tops the Majors in WHIP (0.84), FIP (1.92) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (9.0).
2. Paul Skenes, Pirates (3)
Through 45 Major League starts, Skenes has a 1.89 ERA, including a sub-2.00 mark in 2024 and ‘25. Let’s put that in context: No pitcher who has started his career in the Live Ball Era (since 1920) has posted a sub-2.00 ERA across his first two seasons, with a minimum of 50 starts. The closest? The Mets’ Dwight Gooden, who was at 2.00 across 66 starts from 1984-85.
3. Garrett Crochet, Red Sox (5)
Over Crochet’s past three starts, he twirled a shutout against the Rays, then held the Cubs and Dodgers (MLB’s top two teams in terms of runs scored per game) to a combined three runs over 12 innings, with 15 strikeouts. The Red Sox are 15-7 in the lefty’s starts in his first season in Boston, compared with 43-44 in all other games, a big reason the team has jumped into AL Wild Card position.
4. Cristopher Sánchez, Phillies (6)
In his most recent start, Monday against the White Sox, Sánchez allowed more than two runs for the first time since May 24 and more than three runs for the first time since April 6. But even while giving up four runs, he still provided 6 2/3 innings of work -- this after twirling a 12-K complete game against the Red Sox in his previous outing. It took until his age-26 season for Sánchez to get an extended shot in a Major League rotation, but he now owns a 3.20 ERA in 74 career starts.
5. Zack Wheeler, Phillies (2)
Even after allowing four earned runs in two of his past three starts, Wheeler still has a 2.56 ERA for the season, while leading the NL in strikeouts (172) and WHIP (0.89). He’s been especially dominant at Citizens Bank Park, with a 2.00 ERA, 0.77 WHIP and 9.8 K-to-BB ratio across 11 starts. The 35-year-old remains in contention for his long-awaited first Cy Young Award.
6. Nick Pivetta, Padres (not ranked)
We follow up two Phillies pitchers with a former Phillies pitcher in Pivetta, who was there from 2017 until an August 2020 trade to Boston. Pivetta’s bottom-line results never quite matched his stuff, nor some of his peripheral numbers, with either of his first two teams. But the Padres, who signed Pivetta back in February, seem to have finally unlocked his potential in his age-32 season. The righty has been huge for San Diego’s playoff hopes, stabilizing its rotation with a 2.81 ERA, including a 0.96 mark across his past six starts.
7. Jacob deGrom, Rangers (4)
After two months of consistently excellent results -- a 2.00 ERA from April 18-July 22 -- deGrom finally dealt with a clunker on Monday, allowing five runs against the Angels. It’s still been a spectacular return to form for the 37-year-old, but the big question now is how well he can hold up down the stretch. deGrom’s 123 2/3 innings are more than he threw from 2022-24 combined (105 1/3) and are easily his most since 2019.
8. Framber Valdez, Astros (not ranked)
This is a contract year for Valdez, and the 31-year-old left-hander is doing nothing to hurt his status as arguably the top starter available in the offseason. He’s certainly been valuable to the Astros, who are 15-6 in his starts as they maintain their AL West lead despite numerous injuries, including to their rotation. That included 13 straight wins in Valdez starts until a 2-1 loss to the Nationals on Monday in which Valdez allowed just one run and matched a season high with 12 K’s.
9. Matthew Boyd, Cubs (7)
While he obviously doesn’t have deGrom’s career track record, Boyd is in a similar boat: Not only has he been highly effective (2.47 ERA), but he’s also been healthy enough to throw easily his most innings (123 2/3) since 2019, after managing just 124 from 2022-24 combined. After stringing together a trio of scoreless outings, Boyd was tagged for five runs by the Brewers on Monday.
10. Bryan Woo, Mariners (not ranked)
Consistency has been Woo’s calling card. Entering Wednesday night’s outing against the A’s, he had completed at least six innings in each of his 20 starts, rolling up the longest single-season streak of that kind since Yu Darvish had 23 straight in 2022. Wheeler and Valdez rank second in 2025 with 17 starts of six-plus innings apiece. Woo also has allowed no more than three runs 15 times this year, with an overall 2.91 ERA.
Honorable mentions: Nathan Eovaldi (Rangers), Andrew Abbott (Reds), Ranger Suárez (Phillies), Hunter Brown (Astros), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Dodgers), Joe Ryan (Twins), Eury Pérez (Marlins), Trevor Rogers (Orioles), David Peterson (Mets), Luis Castillo (Mariners)