Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler appear on Audacy’s countdown of top 15 MLB pitchers
Over at Audacy Sports, we released our countdown of the top 15 MLB pitchers for the 2023 season Wednesday.
Among the 15 names on the list were Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler, the top two arms in the Philadelphia Phillies rotation.
Nola — who didn’t appear on last year’s countdown — came in at No. 10 following his tremendous 2022 season:
“Nola bounced back from a disappointing 2021 season to lead all pitchers in WAR in 2022, per FanGraphs. Since the start of the 2018 season, his 871 2/3 innings pitched are the top mark in baseball. The Phillies have said all the right things regarding wanting to retain Nola beyond 2023, and given how aggressively that John Middleton has spent in recent years, there’s probably a good chance they are successful in re-signing the former first-round pick. But it’s likely to take an investment at least as large as the one the Yankees made in the aforementioned Rodón this past offseason.”
Meanwhile, Wheeler dipped a few spots from his ranking in 2022, but still came in as our No. 7 starting pitcher ahead of the 2023 season:
“A year after he led baseball with 213 1/3 innings pitched, some minor injuries limited Wheeler to 26 regular season starts. Across those outings, though, he had some dominant moments, while also posting a 2.78 ERA over his first six postseason starts. Since joining the Phillies on a five-year/$118 million deal ahead of the 2020 season, Wheeler is second among all pitchers in WAR, according to FanGraphs.”
The Phillies were one of three teams to have multiple starters appear on the countdown, along with the New York Yankees and Mets. You can read the full countdown over on Audacy Sports.
Earlier this week, we revealed that five Phillies everyday players came appeared in Audacy‘s top 10 rankings at their respective positions.
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