The 2024 season of Major League Baseball has introduced us all to amazing new players across the board – From the sudden breakout of Tanner Houck to electric rookie pitcher Luis Gil, there is an insurmountable level of talent this year.
With that being said, there are 5 players that Baseball Report believes rise above the rest in terms of skill and overall value. This article is dedicated to ranking these 5 amazing players.Â
One side note before we get started – we will be omitting all pitchers from todays rankings, due to Hitter vs Pitcher rankings being extremely hard to accurately put together. Pitchers will be ranked alone in an article later on.
Shohei Ohtani has been undoubtably one of the best players in the league this year. Boasting a .311 batting average, 15 home runs, 41 RBI, and a .950 OPS, Ohtani is one of the most feared hitters in the game. The best part about Shohei’s 2024 stats is the fact that he’s recovering.Ohtani’s 2023 MVP season was ended early when it was revealed that his previously damaged UCL had further damage, and required surgery. Signing a record breaking contract later that year with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Ohtani came into the 2024 season purely as a DH, and promptly got off to the best offensive start of his career.Â
Its shocking that even without his pitching ability, Shohei makes a case to be one of the best players in the entire MLB, coming in at 9th place in terms of total WAR (wins above replacement) with 2.8 on the year. Its hard to see Shohei and the Dodgers not making the playoffs this year – its just a matter of if Ohtani is enough to break the Dodgers curse of first round exits.Â
Although Shohei has comparable stats to some of the people above him on this list, I just can’t justify putting Shohei above them when he doesn’t have his pitching ability this season, and also doesn’t have ANY defensive stats to speak of due to being a DH. For these reasons, I’ve elected to place him 5th in this ranking.
Ever since Gunnar Henderson stepped foot in this league, he has taken over and established himself as a star. In Gunnar’s rookie season (2023), he hit 28 home runs, had 82 RBI, stole 10 bases, and had a .814 OPS. Winning rookie of the year and coming 8th in MVP voting, Henderson was highly regarded as the best prospect in years.
This year, Henderson has nearly matched his home run total with 20, trailing only Yankees OF Aaron Judge. This, paired with 45 RBI, .954 OPS, and a 90th percentile 3 outs above average, he is on pace to absolutely demolish his 2023 stats and even make a case for 2023 AL MVP. Along with Adley Rutschman, its quite obvious that Gunnar Henderson is leading the Orioles to what will be an amazing playoff run.
Henderson has really established himself as an above average defender with 3 OAA (outs above average) and 2 DRS (defensive runs saved). Being in the 84th percentile of MLB players with arm strength, averaging 90.1 MPH, and a threat on the basepaths with a 28.7ft/s sprint speed, Gunnar Henderson is looking like a true 5 tool player. Every baseball fan should be excited to see where his season goes for the rest of 2024. The sky is truly the limit for this amazing player.
Juan Soto is unreal. That’s not saying much, because there hasn’t been a recent year in which Juan Soto wasn’t unreal. One of the best hitters in the entire MLB, Juan Soto is hitting for a .318 average, with 17 home runs, 53 RBI, and an OPS of 1.027, good for 2nd in the entire MLB. He and his teammate Aaron Judge are the only two players in the MLB with an OPS above 1.000. Soto is such a feared hitter that he has led the league in walks 3 different times, and has only finished a season with a batting average below .275 once. Along with being a slightly above average defender, Juan Soto is putting up numbers that solidify his place as a generational talent and one of the best players to ever pick up a bat.
The most insane part about Juan Soto’s 2024 isn’t his stats – its that he’s not even the best player on his team. He and Aaron Judge are have led the Yankees to a record of 45 – 21, 2nd best in the MLB, only 0.5 GB behind the Philadelphia Phillies. Aaron Judge and Juan Soto are shaping up to be the baseballs best 1-2 hitter punch in New York, and It would be one of the worst moves in recent baseball history if Yankees GM Brian Cashman somehow let Juan Soto get out of the Bronx.
Bobby Witt Jr. is one hell of a player. Offensively, he is first in runs scored with 56, 2nd in hits with 85, 2nd in triples with 7, 7th in RBI with 47, 4th in stolen bases with 19, 3rd in batting average with .320, 9th in OPS with .927. Defensively, he’s the best defensive shortstop in the MLB with 10 OAA (outs above average), and also has 10 DRS (defensive runs saved). Oh, and he’s also the fastest player in the MLB, maxing out at 30.4ft/s, or 20.73 miles per hour. He’s also technically underperforming, with his expected stats being better than what his already otherworldly stats are this season. Is there anything that Bobby Witt Jr. cant do?
With a 4.2 WAR, 2nd only to the Legendary Aaron Judge, Bobby Witt Jr. might be the definition of the Ideal baseball player… If this ranking wasn’t ONLY 2024, Bobby Witt Jr. would most likely be 1st on this list. Though, I had to rank him second because there is absolutely nobody in the league right now who can truly dethrone the #1 pick on this ranking…
There isn’t a better hitter in the league than Aaron Judge right now. Period. Aaron Judge is the best hitter of the recent years and may as well be the best HR hitter we’ve seen since Barry Bonds. Aaron Judge is 4th in runs scored with 49, 1st in home runs with 23, 2nd in RBI with 57, 1st in walks with 55, 1st in OBP (On base Percentage) with .432, 1st in SLG (slugging percentage) with .685, and 1st in OPS with 1.117. As previously mentioned, he and teammate Juan Soto are the only two MLB players with an OPS above 1.000. So, Aaron Judge hits the most home runs, he walks the most, he gets on base the most, he hits the ball the hardest with an average exit velo of 96.9 MPH, hits the ball the farthest with his farthest home run being 473 ft, has the best Hard Hit % with 62.4, and barrels the ball the most per plate appearance out of any MLB player, with a 15.9% barrel rate. Do I even need to say more? Aaron Judge is clearly and undoubtably the best player so far in the 2024 season.
Like I said before, Aaron Judge and Juan Soto may be the best 1-2 punch in all of baseball in terms of hitters. 1st and 2nd in OPS respectively, I’m not sure if baseball has seen a duo like this in recent years. Judge is on pace to hit over 50 homers for the 3rd time in his career, which is an astronomical feat that not many players have ever, or will ever accomplish.
So, how do you think we did with our rankings? Do you agree? Disagree? Leave your comments or concerns in the replies below, and ill be sure to reply accordingly. Thank you for reading!
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