Skubal, Sánchez, Soriano sit atop season's 2nd SP Power Rankings

4:32 AM UTC

This latest edition of the Starting Pitcher Power Rankings is brought to you by the letter S.

We're not just talking about strikeouts, although we guess that's represented by the letter K. The top five pitchers in this month's top 10 all have a surname that begins with S. In the words of famous college basketball commentator and noted Rays fan Dick Vitale, these starters are super! Scintillating! Sensational!

Here are our second Starting Pitcher Power Rankings of the 2026 season, as voted on by a group of MLB.com experts.

Stats updated through Tuesday's games unless noted otherwise.

1. , Tigers
Randy Johnson (1999-02) and Greg Maddux (1992-95) are the only pitchers to win three consecutive Cy Young Awards, and neither of them achieved that in the American League. It's still early, but Skubal is off to a good start in his journey to a third straight Cy, with a 2.08 ERA through five starts. He had a little slip-up against the Twins on April 7 (four earned runs on eight hits over 4 2/3 innings), but Skubal then took a perfect game into the sixth inning against the Marlins his next time out and struck out 10 Red Sox over six innings in his most recent turn.

2. , Phillies
Getting ground balls is still Sánchez's strength; his grounder rate has been above 55% for all but one season of his career, and his 59.2% rate this season ranks in the 93rd percentile of MLB. But the left-hander is now complementing those ground balls with a whole lot of K's. His strikeout rate, which was at a pedestrian 20.3% just two years ago, is now at 31.7%, eighth highest among qualified pitchers. His 1.59 ERA and 1.69 FIP sit fifth and third in the Majors, respectively.

3. , Angels
He's ranked third, but it's pretty easy to argue that Soriano is the top starter in The Show right now. He turned in five more scoreless innings Wednesday versus the Blue Jays, lowering his ERA to an incredible 0.24 over six starts and 37 2/3 frames. That's the lowest ERA (minimum 30 IP) through a pitcher's first six starts since earned runs became official in both leagues in 1913. Soriano is also the first pitcher since at least 1900 to allow no more than one total run across his first six starts of a season (excluding openers). Not bad for a right-hander who had a 4.26 ERA in 169 innings last year.

4. , Pirates
Skenes, who was No. 1 in our first SP Power Rankings, has lowered his ERA by 64 runs since Opening Day! His current 3.27 mark isn't indicative of the season he's had. He was victimized by the Mets -- as well as some poor defense from his teammates -- on Opening Day, leading to five earned runs in just two-thirds of an inning. But in his next four starts, Skenes allowed a total of three earned runs on just nine hits in 21 1/3 innings -- that's a 1.25 ERA. The Mets batted .800 against him on Opening Day. Since then, the batting average against the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner is a skinny .125.

5. , Yankees
The Yankees needed their starters to step up early in the season with Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón on the road back from their respective arm injuries. Schlittler has responded by producing a 1.95 ERA and a tiny 0.86 FIP through his first five starts. He leads the Majors in FanGraphs pitching WAR. He has struck out 36 batters and walked just three, leading to a 31.4% strikeout-minus-walk rate that is also tops in the big leagues.

6. , Dodgers
Yamamoto labored through a three-run first inning on Tuesday against the Giants. But one key attribute of any great pitcher is perseverance, and over the next six innings, Yamamoto permitted no runs and just three baserunners. He's been rock solid once again for the two-time defending World Series champions, producing a 2.48 ERA across 32 2/3 innings.

7. , Dodgers
It's hard to find Ohtani on the pitching leaderboards simply because he generally doesn't have enough innings to qualify. (After Wednesday's gem in San Francisco, his 24 innings in the Dodgers' 24 games do qualify ... until L.A.'s next game.) Still, his numbers speak loudly, with one earned run allowed and a .141 opponents' batting average over those 24 frames. He put forth a dominant 10-strikeout performance versus the Mets on April 15, a rare day when he was on the mound but not in the lineup. But of course, he is still doing big things at the plate and may somehow be reaching yet an even higher gear in his career.

8. , Blue Jays
He may not be the most efficient, but Cease is putting up some eye-popping numbers in the early going. Take his start on Tuesday versus the Angels for example: Twelve strikeouts over five innings and 110 pitches. That gave Cease 44 K's through 25 2/3 innings as well as a 39.7% strikeout rate, which paces all qualified starters. Cease has registered a whiff on about 40% of all swings against him, and he is one of two pitchers (the Giants' Landen Roupp) who haven't allowed a barrel this season (min. 50 batted balls).

9. , Mets
McLean is a beacon of light in what has been a dark period for the Mets. Yes, he gave up three runs last in his start Tuesday against the Twins in what was ultimately the team's 12th consecutive loss. But the 24-year-old rookie took a perfect game into the sixth inning and struck out 10. McLean's 26.3% K-BB rate ranks fourth among starters and while his ERA is a solid 2.67, his expected ERA -- which is based on contact quality, strikeouts and walks -- is just 1.94.

10. , Yankees
If these rankings were compiled after Fried's start Wednesday at Fenway Park, there's no doubt that he would be higher on the list. The lefty has been the workhorse the Yanks have needed him to be this year, and that was never more apparent than his eight innings of scoreless ball against the Red Sox. With that fantastic effort, Fried has a 2.40 ERA and a 0.77 WHIP across an MLB-best 41 1/3 innings this season. His .438 opponents' OPS is second to Soriano's .398 among qualified pitchers

Others receiving votes: Bryan Woo, Mariners; Kevin Gausman, Blue Jays; Jacob deGrom, Rangers; Jacob Misiorowski, Brewers; Chris Sale, Red Sox; Gavin Williams, Guardians; Shota Imanaga, Cubs; Seth Lugo, Royals; Taj Bradley, Twins; Parker Messick, Guardians; Landen Roupp, Giants; Michael Wacha, Royals

Voters: David Adler, Jason Catania, Theo DeRosa, Jared Greenspan, Brent Maguire, Brian Murphy, Max Ralph, Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru