Top 10 Starting Pitcher Free Agents in 2025

Best 2025 MLB Free Agent Starting Pitchers

Seth Carter
8–11 minutes

The Atlanta Braves will watch two big pieces of their starting rotation enter free agency after the 2024 season. Charlie Morton and Max Fried will become unrestricted free agents. That leaves Atlanta with Chris Sale, Spencer Strider, Reynaldo Lopez, and Spencer Schwellenbach. It’s still a solid rotation, assuming everyone stays healthy. Since that never happens, the Braves could be candidates to do some shopping in free agency this off-season.

Here are the top 10 unrestricted free agents on the market in 2025. This list doesn’t include any pitchers who may become free agents via options. See the entire list of 2025 MLB Free Agents.

*Stats were pulled between 09/26-09/27.

1. Best 2025 MLB Starting Pitcher Free Agent: Corbin Burnes

Corbin Burnes and Max Fried are the best pitchers on the market. Burnes has a career 3.19 ERA over seven years. He’s had a sub-3.00 ERA in five of his seven big-league campaigns. Burnes has a stellar ERA of 2.88 over the past five seasons! He has made at least 30 starts in each of the past three seasons and will be entering his age-30 season. He’s going to be in line for a long-term, big-money deal. The four-time All-Star and former Cy Young Award winner is an ace.

Will Atlanta Braves sign Corbin Burnes in free agency?

Everyone has to be interested in a top-tier pitching talent still in his prime. However, Burnes (like Max Fried) will probably come with an inflated price tag. The Braves don’t overpay free agents, especially for long-term deals. It has been reported that Burnes will be looking for somewhere around eight years.

2. Best 2025 MLB Starting Pitcher Free Agent: Max Fried

We have Max Fried ranked as the second-best starting pitcher among the unrestricted free agents. Fried has a career 3.10 ERA. We give the edge to Burnes since Fried has had a little trouble staying healthy compared to Burnes. Over the past five seasons, Fried has a slightly better ERA than Burnes at 2.85 (splitting hairs here), but he has 161.1 fewer innings. Fried is among active leaders in throwing “Madduxes” or complete-game shutouts in under 100 pitches.

Will Atlanta Braves Re-Sign Max Fried?

We don’t think so. We have a detailed explanation in a full post about why the Braves won’t re-sign Max Fried.

3. Best 2025 MLB Starting Pitcher Free Agent: Jack Flaherty

Jack Flaherty will be looking to cash in on his phenomenal 2024 campaign. Flaherty has had his struggles the previous few years, including a 4.99 ERA in 2023 over 144.1 innings. He’s been up and down and injured a lot over his career. He’s entering his age-29 season and having one of the best years of his career in 2024. He should be looking for a long-term deal, hoping teams will pay for the good and not the bad. Braves are probably not in on this one.

Will Atlanta Braves Sign Jack Flaherty? Signing a pitcher like Flaherty would soften the blow of losing Max Fried. There already appears to be a big market for his services so that could drive his price up. The hope with Flaherty is that his up and down career will keep teams form going all-in on the talented starter. The threat of a regression could prevent teams from overpaying on a long-term deal. If Flaherty can be had on a 3-4 year deal to minimize risk due to his track record, the Braves could be in on the bidding war for Jack Flaherty.

Read: Why Braves Won’t Sign Jack Flaherty

4. Best 2025 MLB Starting Pitcher Free Agent: Max Scherzer

Max Scherzer – I just can’t see this happening. Where do you go after you get $43 million per season? Scherzer posted a 2.29 ERA in the first year of his massive three-year, $130 million contract. Over the past two seasons, he’s struggled to stay healthy and his ERA is 3.81. In 2024, he’s got an 3.95 ERA and pitched just 43.1 innings.

Will Atlanta Braves sign Max Scherzer?

The Braves’ highest-paid players will make $22 million next season. Scherzer will be 41 years old by the end of the 2025 season and has struggled staying on the mound. His price tags have been way to high for the Braves to be interested. The market will have to factor in his age and injury risk to bring his price down. It’s probably got to come down too far for the Braves to be interested in Max Scherzer.

5. Best 2025 MLB Starting Pitcher Free Agent: Walker Buehler

Walker Buehler Missed all of last season recovering from Tommy John surgery. This year Buehler has a 5.63 ERA. Buehler has pitched just 135.1 innings since the end of the 2021 season. Buehler was a two-time All-Star by age 26, and had a 2.90 ERA over his first 573.1 innings. Injuries have derailed his career at the wrong time.

Will Atlanta Braves Sign Walker Buehler in free agency?

I like the chances of the Braves being in on Walker Buehler. He is not in a position to sign a long-term deal. He is going to be a one-year contract with an opportunity to get healthy and prove he still has his old stuff. The Braves and Alex Anthopoulos love these sort of deals. They get the best a player has to offer since they are auditioning for a big contract. They did it with Josh Donaldson, Marcell Ozuna, Charlie Morton, and Cole Hamels, to name a few. It’s a low-risk, high-reward proposition.

6. Best 2025 MLB Starting Pitcher Free Agent: Shane Bieber

Shane Bieber had Tommy John surgery earlier this season after making just two starts. Bieber and the Indians have talked about an extension and Bieber has expressed a desire to return to Cleveland. He may not be ready to pitch until mid-way through the season, depending on how long his recovery takes. Bieber has only made 30 starts twice in his seven-year career, however he did make 12 starts in the COVID-shortened 2020 season. He has a career ERA of 3.22.

Will the Atlanta Braves Sign Shane Bieber?

Bieber is another very talented pitcher with a Cy Young on his resume who will need a short-term deal to prove his health. Considering Bieber won’t return until mid-way through the season and uncertainty about his production once he’s healthy, I’ll say he won’t fit the Braves needs. We don’t know what sort of deal Bieber is looking for, but if the Braves can work something out to get him for two years with a discount in the first season like they did with Kirby Yates a few years ago, that could present a nice value for Atlanta and an opporutnity for Bieber to truly get healthy and prove himself before hitting free agency again.

7. Best 2025 MLB Starting Pitcher Free Agent: Jose Quintana

Jose Quintana has a 3.38 ERA over past three years. Quintana has a 3.74 ERA over 13 big-league seasons. He also has a 3.74 ERA in 2024 (as of this writing on 09/26/2024). He is a veteran pitcher who has been consistently very good.

Will Atlanta Braves sign Jose Quintana in Free Agency?

This is the sort of player Alex Anthopoulos is drawn to in free agency. He’s on the back end of his career. He’s not a very flashy signing, although his numbers warrant plenty of attention in free agency. Quintana would fit very nicely at the back-end of the rotation in 2025.

8. Best 2025 MLB Starting Pitcher Free Agent: Luis Severino

Luis Severino got a one-year prove-it deal in 2024 like we referenced as possibilities for pitchers like Shane Bieber and Walker Buehler. He proved himself healthy and productive. Severino hit the 30-game mark for the first time since 2018. In fact, he never exceeded 19 starts between 2019 and 2023. Despite scuffling through his final season in New York with a 6.65 ERA, he still maintains a career ERA of 3.81. He is wrapping up his age-30 season with the Mets with a 3.91 ERA over 31 starts.

Will Atlanta Braves sign Luis Severino?

Severino will be entering his age-31 season in 2025 and will probably be looking for a longer committment than Alex Anthopoulos is comfortable with.

9. Best 2025 MLB Starting Pitcher Free Agent: Charlie Morton

Over the past three seasons, Charlie Morton has had a 4.03 ERA. He has been reliable for the Braves, exceeding at least 160 innings in each of the past three years. Morton has had stretches of greatness paired with some pretty rough stretches the past few seasons. He usually manages to even things out by the end of the season. Despite being 40, Morton has been pitching his best baseball of the year for Atlanta between August 13 and September 15.

Will Atlanta Re-Sign Charlie Morton in 2025?

Morton has earned $20 million per year for the past three seasons. He has indicated that he’s about ready to call it a career in the past. The decision will be easier for Morton if the Braves don’t dangle $20 million in front of him to return for 2025. He’s been reliable and he’s been very good, but they might be able to find a younger starter to replace or even improve upon his production at a lower price.

10. Best 2025 MLB Starting Pitcher Free Agent: Andrew Heaney

Andrew Heaney has a career ERA of 4.41. He’s been better recently, posting 3.88 ERA over past three seasons. Prior to 2022, his career ERA was at 4.72. As moved toward his mid-thirties, he improved to the level of a league-average starting pitcher. He’s coming off of a two-year deal worth $25 million. Entering his age 34 season.

Will Atlanta Braves sign Andrew Heaney?

Heaney has an ERA+ of 101 over the past two seasons. He’s been a league-average pitcher over the course of his $25 million contract, he typically doesn’t stay healthy to pitch a full season. Heaney’s $12.5 million per year would make him the second-highest paid starting pitcher on the team. Granted, he’s a veteran free agent and they come with a higher price tag. If Heaney is willing to take another short-term deal, low-risk deal for the club, the Braves might be interested. He doesn’t have the track record of some of the other guys above him on the list.

Best of the Rest Free Agent Starting Pitchers in 2025

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