Cleveland Indians Top Ten All-Time Pitchers

Ranking the Cleveland Indians All-Time Top Ten Pitchers

The Cleveland Indians are one of the oldest and most historic franchises in baseball history, and they’ve had more than their fair share of pitching greats throughout history. With the Tribe’s current rotation breaking records each season, it’s time to look back on the best pitchers in Indians’ history.

Although we’ve ranked the top ten pitchers, first, let’s start with the runner-ups (in no particular order):

RHP Charles Nagy: Charles Nagy was a three-time All-Star for the Indians teams of the 1990s, but there were far too many truly great pitchers to include him among the top ten. Nagy finished his Tribe career with a 129-103 record and a 4.51 ERA, which means he’s more of a fan-favorite than a truly outstanding pitcher, even in the steroid era. Still, who doesn’t have fond memories of him during the Indians’ World Series runs?

LHP CC Sabathia: CC Sabathia won the Cy Young in 2007, but he was actually pretty good in all of his other Indians years, as well. He was a three-time All-Star with the Indians, and a three-time All-Star with the Yankees. He finished his Cleveland career after eight strong years that included a 106-71 record, a 3.83 ERA, and 1265 strikeouts.

RHP Cy Young: It was difficult to leave Cy Young off of the top ten, consider there is an award named after him. However, most of his success came with the Boston Red Sox. He started his career with the Cleveland Spiders, where he was just as impressive, but he didn’t play for the Cleveland Naps until 1909. In those three seasons, he went 29-29 with a 2.50 ERA and 187 strikeouts.

RHP Satchel Paige: Satchel Paige spent the majority of his career in the Negro League, but when he was finally able to join MLB in 1948, he did so with the World Series-winning Cleveland Indians. He spent two years with the Tribe, posted a 10-8 record and a 2.58 ERA in 155.2 innings. Despite being the olded player in the league for most of his career, Paige was an All-Star in 1952 and 1952, and had he played in a different era where race wasn’t an issue, it’s probable that he would’ve been much higher on this list.

Next: All-Time Best Pitchers: #10