Power Ranking Every MLB Team’s Ace Entering 2024 Season
In constructing a list ranking the aces of all 30 teams, you realize there are five or so starters who have no business taking the ball on Opening Day. But the flip side of that is when limiting each team to only their very best pitcher, other ace-caliber arms get left off the countdown.
Among those we’re considering the No. 2 starters in their own rotation—even if they would be aces on other squads—are Max Fried of the Atlanta Braves, Aaron Nola of the Philadelphia Phillies and George Kirby of the Seattle Mariners.
Fried was limited to just 14 starts a year ago, but has three Gold Glove Awards and two top-five finishes in NL Cy Young Award voting on his resume. He’s set to become part of a deep class of pitching free agents next winter.
Nola, meanwhile, was briefly a free agent this offseason before returning to the Phillies on a seven-year, $172 million deal. In 2018 and 2022, Nola finished in the top four in NL Cy Young Award voting. He’s also one of the premier workhorses in the game today, as his 1,065.1 innings pitched since the start of 2018 are second only to Gerrit Cole’s.
Finally, Kirby is someone who may not have as much national recognition as Fried and Nola but should. Kirby was an All-Star for the first time in 2023, posting a 3.35 ERA and 4.4 WAR over 190.2 innings pitched.
So yes, the first few names on this list, in an ideal world, wouldn’t be aces. But the overwhelming majority deserve to the recognition, so much so that they’ve pushed other elite starters off the countdown. Here, from worst to first, is B/R’s ranking of the league’s 30 aces entering the 2024 season.
30. Paul Blackburn, Oakland Athletics
Age in 2024: 30
2023 Stats: 4-7, 103.2 IP, 4.43 ERA, 3.96 FIP, 104 K’s, 1.5 WAR
While Blackburn’s 4.43 ERA in 2023 would lead you to believe that he had a disappointing follow-up after being an All-Star in 2022, there needs to be more context added.
First of all, the A’s have gutted their roster with owner John Fisher not even pretending to try, so someone that’s probably not deserving is going to get a chance to be an All-Star every season. That someone was Blackburn in 2022.
Secondly, while Blackburn’s ERA increased 15 points between 2022 and 2023, his 3.96 FIP over 103.2 innings pitched last season was quite the improvement over the 4.21 mark he finished 2022 with.
The more important context is that Blackburn shouldn’t be an ace for an MLB team, and probably shouldn’t even be a No. 3 starter. But that premise assumes the A’s are trying to put together an MLB-caliber team in what appear to be their waning days in Oakland. What they’re actually trying to do is build a team so bad that fans don’t show up and they can work backward from their conclusion to relocate to Las Vegas. And unfortunately, Blackburn is caught up in that fiasco, serving as the No. 1 starter on a team with very few other players worthy of being in the majors.
