No matter how much baseball is changing at the moment, the value of the top tier of starting pitchers is immutable. So, let's take a look at the top starters in baseball right now, with some of my opinion included but mostly that of eight scouts and front office executives I polled going into the new season.
The concept of an ace comes up a lot in baseball conversations, often without a specific definition. In scouting, it has a bit more of a specific meaning -- but that can vary from person to person. The basic idea, in a scouting sense, is that an ace is part of the top tier of starting pitchers across the sport and that this tier is more than five or six pitchers but fewer than 15 -- with most scouts and executives putting it at eight to 12.