Zachary Britton

Baltimore Orioles closer Zach Britton didn't win the American League Cy Young Award. He didn't even finish among the top three, much to the consternation of his skipper.

Watching on television, through the eye of the center field camera, the pitch looks unhittable.

Standing at home plate, with a bat in your hands, it looks just about the same.

"A devastating pitch," Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria said. "Really hard, and with tremendous sink. It looks straight until it gets to the plate, and then it goes down."

Someone is going to win the 2016 American League Cy Young Award. That much we know.

After that, things get messy.

The Junior Circuit is flush with very good starting pitchers, solid starting pitchers and serviceable starting pitchers. But there isn't that guy—the one with consistently dominant results and eye-popping stats across the board.

Notice we said "starting pitcher." Paging Zach Britton.

The powerhouse that is the American League East division is known for big bats and the big budgets of the Yankees and Red Sox, but this year, a new crop of talented pitchers have entered the big leagues and look to make some serious noise.

All of the rotations in the division, except the Red Sox, feature one promising rookie and then there is a solid, young lefty sitting in the Rays pen.

Here are the best arms of the future that have crept their way into the big leagues in the early goings of 2011.

The Grapefruit and Cactus circuits are both well underway and prospects all over the league are starting to establish themselves while others have watched their stock slip.