Zac Gallen came up through the St. Louis Cardinals system, but was traded to the Miami Marlins while he was still in the Minors. He would debut for Miami in June of 2019, but he was only a Marlin for seven Games before he was traded to the Diamondbacks at the Trading Deadline. Gallen finished the year 2-3 with a .289 ERA, and was cemented in the rotation going forward.
In the COVID-19-shortened 2020, Gallen was one of the top hurlers in the NL, going 3-2 with a 2.75 ERA and 1.111 WHIP. He was ninth in Cy Young voting and a bright spot for a struggling Diamondbacks team. Gallen struggled last year (4-10, 4.30 ERA), but had the skills to bounce back, and boy, did he!
Arizona was not very good in 2022, but Gallen was phenemonal, finishing fifth in Cy Young Voting, while leading the NL in WHIP (0.913) and H/9 (5.9) with 192 Strikeouts and a 12-9 record. Earning the nickname of the “Milkman” for always delivering, Gallen led the D-Backs to a shock National League Pennant win in 2023, where he went 17-9 with 220 batters going down on strikes. An All-Star, a third-place Cy Young spot, and a First Team All-MLB selection also punctuated the season.
Gallen has not reached that level since, but over the last four seasons, he has posted at least 12 Wins and 155 Strikeouts, and now has 1,060 Ks for the Diamondbacks.
With the relative brevity of the existence of the organization, a player with three top-ten Cy Young finishes earns a spot this high on a list like this.
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