MLB 10 The Show Top Rated: SP and CP

by pastapadre
Posted February 28th, 2010 at 12:19 pm

Pitchers are the focus as the series of screenshots showing off the top rated players at each position in MLB 10: The Show concludes. The highest rated starting pitchers are bunched together but topped by Tim Lincecum while the best closer is shown to be Jonathan Broxton. Notably absent from the top rated starting pitchers are names such as Cliff Lee and Zack Greinke. Continue on to see the screenshots with the nine highest rated players at the positions and leave your thoughts in the comments!

Top Starting Pitchers

Top Closers

Top Middle Relievers

Previously Posted:
Top 2B and SS – Top C and 1B – Top 3B and LF – Top CF and RF

Tags: latest news

mrhenry209

Verlander?
Kimbo Slice

Webb should not be third. He was hurt most of the year. Broxton ehhh I dont know.Rivera should be number #1. Wagner should not be there either, hurt most of the time. Relief is up in the air. these guys are like nfl kickers good one year bad the next. So I really dont care about the relief rankings.
MAINEevent

K-Rod not even in the top ten? what a joke
fourfifteens

The fact they have two pitchers who barely threw last season above Felix Hernandez and two Cardinals hurlers who were in the running for Cy Young (one of which isn't even in the top 10) is a travesty.
Giants79

Cliff Lee?
ande3243

I don't have much issue with the SPs since it is absolutely impossible to make a list of the Top 9 without controversy; a case can be made for each and everyone of those guys.

However, I do agree big time with the post below about K-Rod, he should definitely be in the Top 9!
123

Peavy too high
sandul

It's tough to say the top ten pitchers… because i'm biased, i think Felix should be higher, and Cliff Lee should be on that list (1.20 ERA in postseason is sick). But I'll agree with closers/relievers, I'm glad that Mariano Rivera isn't number 1 lol.
mike_lowery

WHERE THE BLEEP IS VERLANDER AND WHY IS HERNANDEZ SO LOW SMH
mike

billy wagner 6th? wow thats a joke he just came off surgery and he sucked before that too
jackson99999999

brian wilson not even top 10? dude cut his era by half last season still had saves in the high 30's dudes legit along w/ jeremy affeldt who was among the leaders w/ holds
MattHolliday_7

Mike Adams a top MR!? He didn't even pitch last year!
runpuddrun

Zach Grienke? Cy Young Winner not in the top 10? WTF!
SoCalMoose

Have they ever seen Broxton pitch? No way should he be above Nathan (#1) and Rivera (#2) Personally IMO Broxton is not even the best closer on his own team (Sherrill)
ande3243

Whoa dude…I'm not sure you've seen him pitch after that statement. Guy blows a c-note pust with a top grade slider; his stuff is FILTHY!! 114 Ks in 76 IP
MetsFanF2010up

Chan Ho Park in the top 5? Got to fix that.
TheBigLebowski

No Zach Grienke? What in the hell?
Drastic35

Just finish playing MlB 10 at Best Buy, in my opinion it a great game. They refined the graphics and updated game play which is much smother. I like the little things that are added to the game like changing the color of the gloves, bat, batting tape, batting gloves, elbow pad, etc, even the cleats ( Some color were added but not all of the 256 true color that out there like my favorite color cyan blue). Also they added the option to turn on or off warm up pitches when your relieve pitcher come into the game. All the little things make mlb 10 an authentic experience. This is only my opinion. Thank you
Drastic35

*which is much smoother* sorry about that
SoCalMoose

I never said he cant throw hard. And he has the potential to be the #1 closer but at this point he is not. If I am starting a team today and needed a closer Broxton would not be the first player to come to mind.
mlbexpert

I like how Greinke isnt on the list either. What about Trevor Hoffman!?
Dolfan70

Josh Johnson from the Florida Marlins should be in that top 10, underrated.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Kevin-Dallosto/506667710 Kevin Dallosto

Mark Lowe should be there for relief pitchers. He was one of the top.
sandul

look, he's a pretty good pitcher, but many people think that last year was a fluke. he's good… and i guarantee you his name is like right under hernandez on that list.
sandul

that doesn't matter, it's based on the last 3 years performances, and if he was injured last year, they give him the benefit of the doubt that he's as good as ever.
ande3243

Personally, I'd take Paps as my closer. Obviously you know baseball, but I was just thrown by the Sherrill vs Brox comparison – - the sky is the limit for that big dude.
sandul

20 something holds right? kept opponent AVG to .232, but the game takes notice of 3 years average. he was only good last year lol. If he keeps this stuff up for another year or 2, you'll see him on that list ^_^
ande3243

Wow Sandul, your a great middle relief pitcher mind! (even you do throw a little extra love to your Mariners from time to time, lol/jk)
sandul

I only throw them a bit of extra love because i watch EVERY game they play during the year lol. so i see first hand what they can and can't do…

Thanks for the complement though ^_^ I've worked really hard this last year to know as much baseball as I can, because I want to be able to input valuable information
Bob is blind

People, you guys just don't get it. When healthy, those starters look pretty solid to me. Do you guys not remember SCEA telling us they take into account the past 3 years? Where was Grienke before last year? Johan and Peavy were of the best and they don't suck anymore just because they were hurt.

Mariano IS the best closer. But I can see why he isn't rated the highest. Movement in this game has a max. So if you max Halladays cutter with Mo's, they will be the same. Whereas in real life, Mo's cutter is unlike any other pitch. Not to mention, he only throws that with an occasional 2 seamer, both topping at 93.

Krod is okay. All of those closers are better than him, except for maybe Wagner and maybe Street.
BU1B22

javier vazquez and jair jurrjens were in the running for cy young last year as well and neither of them r in there
BU1B22

they r probably basing that off random situations in the post season…which really doesnt make any sense. clutch playoff performances can come from just about anybody. just depends on who gets hot at the right time
BU1B22

i kinda agree with u…he suddenly came onto the scene like that, but how long until american league hitters figure out his pitching style and tendencies…hes not gonna pitch very well too long in kc either
BU1B22

cy young award winner in the next couple years no doubt
Hasheem

An SCEA Dev. said Greinke was 10th on that list.
BU1B22

what about peter moylan from atlanta in MR??…6-2 with a 2.84 era in 87 appearances last season…along with not giving up a homerun all season…gotta at least get some consideration from that…
BU1B22

hell, even eric o'flaherty, the braves other MR was outstanding last year…2-1 3.04 era in 78 games…looking at a random MR like chan ho park's stats from last year…how in the hell did he get on that list…except for maybe that hes on the yankees…all i can think of
runpuddrun

I may just be a KC homer, but everyone in KC knew that Zack was going to be big time. Last year he was 5th in SO's, 9th in ERA, 12th in GS, not counting last year where he was top 5 in almost every category. There is NO reason he shouldn't be in the top 10.
Jordan

Using saves, wins, losses, and holds are not how you determine if a pitcher is good or not. Those “stats” depend on the team and the situation. You should look at strikeouts, walks, and homeruns to determine a pitchers value. Even ERA is an outdated stat that relies on the pitchers defense behind him. FIP (fielding independent pitching) is a much better stat guage pitcher value off. Sabrmetrics google it.
runpuddrun

FIP, or Fielding Independent Pitching, the statistic Greinke named Tuesday as his favorite. It is a formula that measures how well a pitcher performed, regardless of his fielders. According to fangraphs.com, Greinke had the best FIP in the majors. 16th best least year FYI

Jordan

Yeah, I know what FIP is, thats why mentioned it. I agree that Greinke should be ranked higher along with a bunch of other players. I wish baseball games would start using more “new age” stats. Fangraphs is a great site by the way that you all should check it out and learn some real stats.

Rodrig13

I know this sounds ridiculous but there was a decent stretch last year when Park was lights out. Something like 2 ER over a 40+ inning stretch.
airlyle

Just look around there are probably 30 relief pitchers that put up numbers close to or better than that, the Twins had 4 relievers that put up numbers like that, You cant spazz because your favorite team didnt get a player in the top 9, there are just to many players that had a good season, it doesn't mean that those guys aren't rated very high on the game though.
nemss

Chris Carpenter was out of all of '07 and most of '08. So how does that factor him in the top 10 if they go by the past three years?
Rodrig13

SCEA uses a program that takes extensive stats from the last 3 years and approximates ratings accordingly, with the most recent year being weighed the highest. So, all arguments of bias or players getting snubbed are pretty much invalid.
MJW

Billy Wagner the #6 Closer? Really? It’s really looking like they basically took ’09′s ratings for all of these.
WOW

Cliff Lee… Verlander… K-Rod… Etc. Wow… The Show’s ratings seriously suck so bad.
BU1B22

agreed…but the way it looks is they just randomly threw in some names and gave them good ranks…there r way better deserving pitchers out there than some of those guys
Hunter

This is criminal.

They say they take the last 3 years into account, right? Well lets compare Brandon Webb and Zack Grienke, in the stats that matter over that time (Wins and losses don't matter, because the pitcher doesn't control that)

ERA–ZG: 2.97, BW: 3.24
ERA+–ZG: 149, BW: 145
WHIP–ZG: 1.196, BW: 1.199
SO/9IP–ZG: 8.6, BW: 7.3
BB/9IP–ZG: 2.3, BW: 2.7
SO/BB–ZG: 3.71, BW: 2.73

They have the same number of CG, and BW has 1 more Shutout. I'm not trying to say Webb isn't good, but considering that Zack is better in EVERY STATISTICAL CATEGORY that should matter over the past 3 years, especially if you put more weight on last year, why is he not in the top 5?

I know a lot of folks didn't hear about him until last year, but he was damn good in 2008, and split time between the pen and the rotation in 2007 and was effective that season too.
Hunter

While we are at it, let's compare the supposed best closer (Broxton) to a notable “left out” Joakim Soria. Over the past 3 years:

ERA–JS: 2.09, JB: 2.85
ERA+–JS: 213, JB: 147
SV–JS: 89, JB: 52, (although this shouldn't matter)
WHIP–JS: .967, JB: 1.093
SO/9–JS: 10, JB: 11.9
BB/9–JS: 2.6, JB: 3.2
SO/BB–JS: 3.87, JB: 3.72

So, the only stat of importance that Broxton is better is SO/9, which is offset by the fact that he walks more hitters. Again, I'm not saying Broxton isn't any good, but explain how one guy is the top rated, yet someone who is better in nearly every category isn't even in the top 10.

I know KC baseball doesn't really matter, and we will be horrible again this year, but we should have one of the top 5 closers and SP in the game.
stewey

I'll take Joakim Soria over half that closer list.