(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
With the 2023 MLB season over, it’s time to focus on what’s next: building the rosters for the 2024 campaign.
Many teams are entering the free agency period with a lot to prove, so they will be big spenders.
Pitching-wise, there are several top options available, even if there is a marked decline after the first tier.
MLB ranked the best arms available in free agency, and a foreign pitcher is first.
The best arms on the free agent market.
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— MLB (@MLB) November 9, 2023
The first thing that comes to mind is the absence of Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani from the list.
Ohtani is a free agent, but the likelihood of him pitching at all in 2024 is very low because he has a damaged UCL on his pitching elbow.
He will sign a mammoth contract anyway and will keep playing as a hitter, but pitching is not in the cards for 2024.
That makes Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a fellow Japanese star, the top available arm.
Yamamoto had a marvelous performance at the World Baseball Classic and posted a 1.48 ERA in 164 innings with the Orix Buffaloes of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league.
He struck out 169 hitters and posted a 16-6 record: a brilliant performance for the 25-year-old.
NL Cy Young candidate Blake Snell, who had a brilliant season with the San Diego Padres, is ranked second.
He is a former Cy Young award winner, back in 2018 when he was with the Tampa Bay Rays.
Aaron Nola, Sonny Gray, and Jordan Montgomery complete the top five.
Another Japanese import, Shota Imanaga, made the list at number eight.
The 30-year-old southpaw also played for Japan in the Classic and posted a solid 2.80 ERA in 148 innings this year, with 174 strikeouts.
There will be options for all tastes and budgets.
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