Everyone loves watching a pitcher pitch well in the MLB, especially when it’s on your favorite team, but not if it’s against your favorite team. This list compiles 10 pitchers who, in my opinion, look like the next batch of stars in the MLB. They’re already pitching well now, but once they all get into their primes, they could end up like superstars. Keep in mind when reading this list that it’s not ordered and it’s just a list of 10 pitchers who look like future stars, and it doesn’t say which one is better than the other.

Mike Foltynewicz – ATL

Age: 26

Foltynewicz has been a guy who has been watched more and more each year. While not extremely young, as he is 26, he’s still a relatively young pitcher. Now, he’s definitely being talked about a lot more, with the unbelievably surprising breakout of the Braves this year. As of today, he has a 5-4 record, 2.31 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 88 strikeouts, 33 walks, and a .204 BAA in 74 innings pitched and 13 games started. What’s unbelievably impressive about Foltynewicz so far is his 2.28 ERA against teams above .500, to which he has 10 of his 13 starts against. This shows that he can be very clutch in many situations that he could face in the future, like the postseason, where he plays against good teams and players.

José Berríos – MIN

Age: 24

Berríos has been a pitcher that has shown some great improvement over the last few years. At the current moment he has a 7-5 record, 3.66 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 84 strikeouts, 14 walks, and a .205 BAA in 83.2 innings pitched and 13 games started. His incredible SO/BB, which is at an unbelievable 6, shows that he has the capability to take on the reins once guys like Ervin Santana lose dominance for the Twins in terms of retiring batters well and not getting many on base. His ERA may not seem too great, but this year the average so far has been a 4.09 ERA and Berríos exceeds this. While his differences in ERA between lefties and righties is a bit rough, against lefties it’s 3.67 while against righties it’s 3.64, it’s still above the league average of 4.09. All signs point to him being a dominant man in the future for the Twins and the MLB.

Sean Newcomb – ATL

Age: 24

Newcomb is getting into his first big year for a possible impact on the Braves. As of today, he has been pitching some very solid stats for the Braves. As of today, he has a 7-1 record, 2.49 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 68 strikeouts, 33 walks, and a .201 BAA in 68.2 innings pitched and 12 games started. Newcomb has a lot of signs pointing to him being a good starter in the future. One would be his quality starts from this year. 8 out of 12 of his starts have been counted as quality starts. While his ERA against above .500 teams isn’t exactly too solid, as it’s 4.21, he’s only 24 and has shown signs of progression. His stats last year were definitely below average, as he had a 4.32 ERA, but he’s shown progression, as his more recent starts have shown that he is definitely improving. His hits per 9 innings has gone from 9 to 6.42, his walks per 9 innings has had a slight decrease from 5.13 to 4.33, and his strikeouts to walks have had a slight increase from 1.89 to 2.06. If he keeps up these slight improvements, he should be looking at being a quality starter in the future.

Blake Snell – TB

Age: 25

Snell is a young guy, but he has been playing for many years. His starting career started in 2016 for the Rays, but so far this looks to be the best start to his career. As of today, he has a 7-3 record, 2.36 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 88 strikeouts, 23 walks, and a .180 BAA in 76.1 innings pitched and 13 games started. Snell looks like a potential star in the MLB’s future. His career stats for 3 years played is very good, as he has a career 3.42 ERA and 1.32 WHIP. What’s really impressive about him is his ability to strikeout players and not give up many walks. This year, his strikeouts per 9 innings is 10.38, which is similar to Justin Verlander and Luis Severino. His walks per 9 innings is 2.71, which is similar to Severino and Chris Sale. His strikeouts to walks is 3.83, which is very good considering that it’s similar to stars last year as well, like Justin Verlander, who’s SO/BB was 3.04.

Reynaldo López – CWS

Age: 24

López entered his third MLB year this year and his second with the White Sox. As of right now, he has a 1-4 record, 3.42 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 48 strikeouts, 31 walks, and a .212 BAA in 71 innings pitched and 12 games started. Now, although López’s stats don’t exactly show that his control is very good, they do certainly show that he doesn’t give up many base hits. His strikeouts per 9 innings and walks per 9 innings are rough, as they are 6.08 and 3.93, his hits per 9 innings is definitely nearing starlike. It is a solid 6.85, which is similar to Chris Sale, who has a 6.44. His ERA also looks solid, and it shows that although he walks a lot of people, the hitters don’t act upon them with runs. If he gets his control under control, pun intended, then I don’t mind at all by saying that he could end up similar to Justin Verlander.

Walker Buehler – LAD

Age: 23

Although Buehler doesn’t have the most impressive stats on this list, the reason he’s one of the most impressive on this list, in my opinion, is because this is his second MLB year, but it’s his first as an MLB starter. His stats are extrememly impressive. As of today, he has a 4-1 record, 2.63 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 54 strikeouts, 11 walks, and a .203 BAA in 51.1 innings pitched and 9 games started. His ERA against above .500 teams isn’t great, but it’s still pretty decent as he has a 3.63 ERA against them. This isn’t as impressive as it sounds though, because he hasn’t played many teams above a .500 record. His strikeouts per 9 innings is extrememly impressive though, as he has a 9.47. His walks per 9 innings is also very good, as he has a 1.93, which shows his control is spectacular. He could end up like Clayton Kershaw, although I highly doubt he’ll ever be as good as he will be, he can just end up like him.

Sean Manaea – OAK

Age: 26

Manaea is entering his third year in the MLB. As of today, he has a 5-6 record, 3.59 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 58 strikeouts, 18 walks, and a .209 BAA in 80.1 innings pitcged and 13 games started. What is really impressive about him is the fact that at the age of 26 he already has a no-hitter and it was against a spectacular Red Sox squad this year. He is looking to be a very solid pitcher for the future of the Athletics for many reasons. Although his strikeouts per 9 innings isn’t very good, as he has a 6.50, he has proven to be effective in controling his pitches enough for a very solid 2.02 walks per 9 innings. His ERA against above .500 teams is a very solid 3.29, which is way above the league average of 4.09. His hits per 9 innings is also similar to Sale’s and López’s, as it’s 7.06. Most of these are definitely pointing to him being a very solid and quality pitcher in the future.

Daniel Mengden – OAK

Age: 25

Mengden is entering his third year at the still-young age of 25, and he has shown some improvement over his MLB career. Although he has never had an MLB season with over 14 starts, he has shown improvement, as in 2016 he finished with a 6.50 ERA to having a 3.45 ERA so far this year. His other stats include a 6-5 record, 1.02 WHIP, 51 strikeouts, 11 walks, and a .231 BAA in 78.1 innings pitched and 13 games started. What is unbelievebly impressive about Mengden is his 1.26 walks per 9 innings, which beats out Sale’s by 1 walk! His strikeouts to walks is 4.64, which is very similar to Patrick Corbin’s, which is 4.77. His ERA against teams that have a record above .500 is also a super solid 3.25, which shows that he’d be a great postseason pitcher.

Kyle Freeland – COL

Age: 25

Freeland is entering his second year in the MLB at the young age of 25 with the Rockies. As of today, he has a 6-5 record, 3.48 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 62 strikeouts, 22 walks, and a .246 BAA in 72.1 innings pitched and 12 games started. Now, what’s really impressive about Freeland, in my opinion, is the fact that he is performing better than every Rockies starter at such a young age and he is performing very well at Coors Field, which is a huge factor in showing that he could be very good. His ERA against above .500 teams is also phenominal, as he is the first guy on this list with an ERA under 3 against teams who have a record above .500. His ERA against those teams is a spectacular 2.98. He also has incredible strikeouts per 9 innings at 7.71 and his walks per 9 innings is also really good at a solid 2.74. If he keeps up how he’s pitching now, he can be a very good postseason pitcher and star in general.

Aaron Nola – PHI

Age: 25

Despite what his very young age would suggestm, Nola is entering his fourth year in the MLB. The reason I’d say he could be a future star is because in his first two years in the MLB he was inconsistent with his stats, and saw his ERA fly high and low. Now however, he has been improving a lot. As of today, he has a 7-2 record, 2.35 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 80 strikeouts, 22 walks, and a .200 BAA in 84.1 innings pitched and 13 games started. These stats are very spectacular and in my opinion they are quite likely the best ones here. His ERA against teams who have a record above .500 is also very good, as it is 3.05, which shows that he will be a very good pitcher when it comes to playing teams in the postseason. He also has great strikeouts per 9 innings numbers, as it is 8.54, which shows that he’s able to make batters look silly with great pitches almost once every inning. His walks per 9 innings is also really solid at a 2.35, so it again shows that he’s having great numbers for a great potential star.