Sunday Brunch: Is Tyson Ross An Elite Starting Pitcher?

Tyson Ross had a breakout season in 2014. Ross made the All-Star team for the first time in his career. Bill Center made the case that Ross in now among the elite starting pitchers in the National League. Let’s delve into it more and see if he’s right.

Ross was eighth in the NL in K/9 ratio. He ranked above Johnny Cueto and Jordan Zimmermann in that department. He struck out 24% of the hitters he faced which was ninth in the NL. His opponents average of .226 was the fifth lowest in the NL.

He had the sixth lowest XFIP and eighth lowest SIERA of all NL pitchers.

But let’s see him do it again.

Guys like Clayton Kershaw, Adam Wainwright, Madison Bumgarner. Those are elite starting pitchers.

Tyson Ross had an elite season. It was the first time Ross had made 30 starts in a season. He hit career highs in all sorts of stats from starts to strikeouts.

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If he wants to be elite he has to do it again.

Remember Mark Prior? He had a good year. Then he got hurt and he wasn’t so elite after that.

If Ross is going to be viewed as one of the best in the game he needs to do it again. Then I can put him in the club with Cueto and Kershaw, Bumgarner and Wainwright.