That might be a simplistic analysis but it’s the basic premise of Statcast’s Run Value system, which helped determine some of the top pitches of the first half of the 2025 season. Run values look at the run impact of an event based on the runners on base, outs, ball and strike count. Why use run values when looking at the top pitches?
When you’re using whiff rate, you’re only looking at pitches that were swung at. When you’re looking at batting average or wOBA, it’s only looking at pitches that decided a plate appearance. Even strikeouts are just a subset of pitches thrown with two strikes that got a certain result. Run value essentially puts a positive or negative impact on every pitch and adjusts for the context — like how many runners were on base or what the count was.
These are eight of the best individual pitch types in the Majors as of the All-Star break, along with the run value they’ve provided. Since it was a close call, or even a tie, on many pitches, there was a preference for pitches that had good underlying numbers (whiffs, wOBA) or similar results in fewer pitches thrown.
Joe Ryan (MIN), four-seamer (+18 Run Value)
Runner-up: Bryan Woo (SEA), Hunter Brown (HOU)
Since his first full season in 2022, Ryan’s four-seamer has been one of baseball’s top pitches. In that time, Ryan has a +67 run value on his four-seamer, tops among all four-seam fastballs and third among all pitches. He’s racked up 365 strikeouts on his four-seam fastball, the most among all four-seamers and the fifth-most of any pitch type. It’s been more of the same in 2025, as Ryan’s four-seamer is the top pitch so far by run value and has produced 69 strikeouts (eighth-most among all pitches) and a .539 OPS against. Despite averaging 93.4 mph on his four-seamer, Ryan’s fastball excels thanks to his arm slot and extreme vertical approach angle.
Tarik Skubal (DET), changeup (+17 Run Value)
Runner-up: Michael Wacha (KC), Cristopher Sánchez (PHI)
Skubal’s signature pitch is one of many reasons why the Tigers lefty has taken off as one of baseball’s top pitchers the last few seasons. It’s been an especially dominant pitch for producing strikeouts over the last two years. After punching out 82 hitters with his changeup last year, Skubal is already up to 76 this season, tied for the fourth-most of any individual pitch in the Majors, and hitters have a measly .365 OPS against Skubal’s dominant changeup. This pitch is especially nasty when you see how well it plays off his high-octane upper-90s fastballs.
Tyler Rogers (SF), sinker (+15 Run Value)
Runner-up: Framber Valdez (SF), Adrian Houser (CWS)
The submarine-flinging Rogers is truly one of the most unique pitchers in the sport and has carved out a role as one of the better set-up men in the Majors. Coming in at a negative 60-degree launch angle — Tim Hill is the next-closest at negative 23 degrees — Rogers is nearly touching the ground when he releases the ball. As a result, Rogers has dominated mainly on an 82-83 mph sinker, a pitch that has yielded a .244 slugging percentage this season.
Jacob deGrom (TEX), slider (+12 Run Value)
Runner-up: Chris Sale (ATL)
Sale’s slider was one of the best pitches in baseball before he injured himself on June 18. Since he’s been hurt and there’s no timetable for his return, we went with deGrom’s slider, which has been the best non-Sale slider by Run Value. It’s been quite the bounceback for deGrom, who made his first All-Star team since 2021 after various injuries in recent years. A big part of his success has stemmed around his dominant slider, which has produced 57 strikeouts and a .267 slugging percentage in 185 plate appearances ending on the pitch.
Max Fried (NYY), cutter (+12 Run Value)
Runner-up: Garrett Crochet (BOS), Drew Rasmussen (TB), Nathan Eovaldi (TEX)
Fried’s cutter has been the best in baseball this season by Run Value and it isn’t particularly close — Crochet, Rasmussen and Eovaldi are next up at +9. After using his cutter sparingly prior to this year — Fried threw it just 4.9 percent of the time last year — the Yankees lefty is throwing it at a whopping 30.4 percent clip rate in his first year in New York and has altered its pitch shape. At 93.6 mph, it’s thrown nearly as hard as his sinker and while it hasn’t produced whiffs (19.2 percent), hitters have slugged just .296 against Fried’s cutter.
Garrett Crochet (BOS), sweeper (+11 Run Value)
Runner-up: Jesús Luzardo (PHI), JP Sears, Anthony Bender (MIA)
Crochet leans heavily on a trio of fastballs that have produced 104 strikeouts, the most fastball strikeouts of any pitcher this season. But don’t sleep on Crochet’s sweper, which has generated 52 strikeouts, tied for the second-most of any sweeper this season. Despite throwing it just 12.6 percent of the time, Crochet’s sweeper has been worth 11 runs and has held opponents to a .261 OPS. 45 of his 52 strikeouts on the sweeper have come against right-handed hitters.
Jhoan Duran (MIN), splitter (+9 Run Value)
Runner-up: Kodai Senga (NYM), Shota Imanaga (CHC), Kevin Gausman (TOR)
Duran’s splinker is a true unicorn of a pitch, a splitter-sinker hybrid coming in at a staggering 97.5 mph, by far the fastest non-fastball in the Majors (minimum 50 pitches) — Jacob Misiorowski’s slider is next up at 94.4 mph. Nasty as this pitch may be, Duran’s goal isn’t to generate whiffs on the pitch — it’s to produce groundballs in groves. When hitters make contact with Duran’s splinker, they’ve put it on the ground 81.8 percent of the time this season. On the whole, hitters are slugging just .242 against the pitch.
Brendon Little (TOR), curveball (+7 Run Value)
Runner-up: Hunter Brown (HOU), Nathan Eovaldi (TEX)
In terms of missing bats, few pitches have been as dominant as Little’s curveball. Among individual pitches that have produced at least 100 swings, Little’s 55.1 percent whiff rate on his knuckle curveball is third-best behind Fernando Cruz’s splitter (60.2 percent) and Josh Hader’s slider (55.2 percent). Little’s nasty curveball has produced the most strikeouts (54) and whiffs (102) of any individual relief pitch and when hitters have put it in play, they haven’t been all that successful with a .156 batting average and one extra-base hit (a triple) in 94 plate appearances. At 87.0 mph, Little’s curveball is the fifth-hardest of any qualified curve.
