5 Most Overrated Aces in the MLB

If we're being honest, there aren't more than about seven or eight true "aces" in the MLB today that you can hand the ball to every fifth day, close your eyes, and count on a seven-inning, one-run performance. This leads to most teams in the league participating in the delusion that their best pitchers are in that rarefied air. However, these five starters, while solid, have fallen well short of ace status based on their recent performances.

5. Madison Bumgarner, Arizona Diamondbacks

Bumgarner, at this stage in his career, is everything you want from a No. 2 starter. However, the Diamondbacks just paid him No. 1 starter money when he posted the worst full-season ERA of his career at 3.90 in 2019. MadBum has seen his velocity decline over the years, and while he'll still get guys out in the desert, his days as an ace are over.

4. Matthew Boyd, Detroit Tigers

Boyd has a 4.82 ERA in five seasons with the Tigers, and he put up a 4.56 ERA last season while leading the AL in home runs allowed with 39. Those numbers scream No. 4 starter, but Detroit is parading him around as an ace to the ridiculous degree that they demanded Gleyber Torres in return when he was available on the trade market. If that doesn't scream overrated to you, nothing will.

3. Blake Snell, Tampa Bay Rays

Snell has pitched almost four full seasons in the MLB. In three of them, his ERA has hung out around the 4.00 mark, including his 4.29 ERA in 23 starts last season. That 2018 campaign in which he won 21 games, posted a 1.89 ERA, and won the Cy Young award is starting to look more like an outlier as opposed to the real Blake. 2020 will be pivotal for him, as a lackluster campaign could see him lose ace status altogether.

2. Noah Syndergaard, New York Mets

With a cool nickname like "Thor" and a fastball that can reach 100 miles per hour, life ought to be pretty good. However, last season was simply not acceptable for Syndergaard if he wants to be called an ace. The sturdy hurler posted a 4.28 ERA while seeing his his WHIP and home run rate rise, and he led the NL in total earned runs allowed. Syndergaard has the stuff to be an ace, but he still hasn't put all of the pieces together to achieve that goal.

1. Chris Sale, Boston Red Sox

Sale is one of the league's best strikeout artists, but his 2019 seasons could be the start of a very worrying trend. After seeing is ERA more than double from 2018 to 2019, the lanky pitcher is currently on the shelf with pneumonia and an elbow issue that could threaten his 2020 season. With a declining fastball and his health starting to fail him, Boston might be stuck with Sale's increasingly foolish-looking contract given how his body has sabotaged his performance.