11 MLB Players Who Have Leveled Up in 2023
In Major League Baseball as in life, sometimes the only thing to do after you've already gotten good is to get even better.
There are 11 players who are showing in 2023 how it can be done.
These guys already had credentials as good or even great players before this season, yet have leveled up anyway. It's there in their results and, crucially, in the oh-so-tantalizing numbers underneath the results.
Please note that this is not a list of breakouts and/or returns to form. It's also not about Luis Robert Jr., whose biggest advancement has been staying healthy. It's not even about Mookie Betts, who actually has had a better year than the one he's having now.
Going in alphabetical order, let's start with five pitchers, proceed with five hitters and conclude with one guy who's spent the bulk of the year doing both jobs.
LHP Yusei Kikuchi, Toronto Blue Jays
1 of 11
Age: 32
2023 Stats: 28 GS, 148.2 IP, 142 H (24 HR), 160 K, 43 BB, 3.57 ERA
Yusei Kikuchi was an All-Star with the Mariners in 2021, but even that year wasn't a total success. A wall arrived in the second half in the form of a 5.98 ERA.
That's pretty much how it continued to go in his first season with Toronto in 2022. The lefty logged a 5.19 ERA for the year, and he didn't even start in 12 of his 32 appearances. Not a great way to start a three-year, $36 million contract, to say the least.
Kikuchi clearly had to change some things, and he clearly has done just that. He has a new release point. He's throwing higher fastballs. Lastly, he's embraced his curveball after merely toying with it last season.
All sorts of goodness has been born out of these changes, including a substantial improvement to his walk rate and also to his average exit velocity.
The result isn't necessarily Kikuchi's first good year in the majors, but certainly the first in which he's sustained as a good pitcher throughout the season.
RHP Pablo López, Minnesota Twins
2 of 11
Age: 27
2023 Stats: 28 GS, 170.2 IP, 156 H (21 HR), 199 K, 46 BB, 3.64 ERA
Is this a career year for Pablo López? It depends on how you look at it. One's first instinct is to focus on ERA, and his is nothing special by his own standards.
Pretty much everything else, though, has changed for the better.
His strikeout rate? Up. His walk rate? Down. His exit velocity? Down. And even if it's certainly helped, it's not solely because he's among the biggest gainers in fastball velocity with an additional 2.1 mph on average.
Like seemingly everyone else, López has busted out a new sweeper this season. And unlike everyone else's, his is really good no matter who's at the plate. Right-handed batters are hitting .188 against it, with left-handed batters doing only a touch better at .190.
Like with Kikuchi, Lopez is also to be credited for achieving sustained success for the first time. This is only the second time he's made double-digit starts in the second half, and his 3.17 ERA this time is a fair bit better than the 4.97 ERA he had down the stretch of 2022.
RHP Chris Martin, Boston Red Sox
3 of 11
Age: 37
2023 Stats: 50 G, 9 GF, 46.1 IP, 38 H (2 HR), 41 K, 8 BB, 1.17 ERA
There's just something about Chris Martin and ERAs in the 1.00s.
He had exactly a 1.00 ERA with Atlanta in the shortened 2020 season, and he came to Boston hot off a 1.46 ERA in 26 appearances with the Los Angeles Dodgers. So, maybe you'd call this year's performance a ho-hum affair.
Yet Martin has changed a few things, including a pitch mix that now revolves around his cutter in lieu of his four-seamer. And what a cutter it is, as it's held righties to a .231 average and lefties to a .242 average. Both have yet to put it over the fence.
Granted, Martin's strikeout rate and his (admittedly still excellent) walk rate have taken turns for the worse relative to 2022. Yet he's made himself basically impossible to square up, specifically in the sense that he's lost 4.8 mph off his average exit velocity.
In all, a sensible recipe for the lowest ERA among American League relievers. It's also not often that a guy has a career year at 37, so additional kudos to Martin on that front.
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RHP Hector Neris, Houston Astros
4 of 11
Age: 34
2023 Stats: 62 G, 6 GF, 58.2 IP, 35 H (7 HR), 67 K, 27 BB, 1.84 ERA
Hector Neris has worked more glamorous jobs than the one he's doing for the Astros. Whereas he was once the Philadelphia Phillies' closer, he's now setting up for Ryan Pressly.
But when a guy cuts his ERA in half from the year before, said guy nonetheless deserves full attention.
Some numbers suggest this is not the real deal, including a strikeout rate that's slightly down and a walk rate that's way up. Yet it's become hard to hit Neris, well, hard. The 17.5-point drop in his hard-hit percentage is easily the largest of any qualified pitcher.
This is happening even as Neris is moving away from a splitter with which he used to be practically synonymous. His fastball is his primary weapon now, and going higher with his release and location is clearly working. Hitters are batting .143 against it.
Mind you, this is not to say Neris doesn't still have his splitter working. It remains a dominant pitch, holding hitters to a .172 average and three extra-base hits.
LHP Justin Steele, Chicago Cubs
5 of 11
Age: 28
2023 Stats: 27 GS, 159.0 IP, 146 H (11 HR), 159 K, 33 BB, 2.49 ERA
Justin Steele was a hidden gem for the Cubs in 2022, especially as they established momentum for 2023 with a 39-31 record in the second half. He posted a 0.98 ERA over seven starts.
He obviously hasn't been that good in 2023, but that nonetheless looks like a promise he's fulfilling.
That Steele has cut his walk rate from 9.8 to 5.1 percent has definitely helped, but it's really his fastball that's the secret to his success. It's gone from liability to asset, as the average against it is down to .263 from .312 last season.
The measurables on Steele's fastball generally fail to impress, but that's probably because those measurables are confusing it for one pitch when it's really not. He can manipulate the action on it at will, sometimes cutting it and sometimes letting it ride.
Steele otherwise only throws a slider, but there's no point griping about simplicity when it's effective. And in this case, we may well be talking Cy Young Award levels of effectiveness.
RF Ronald Acuña Jr., Atlanta
6 of 11
Age: 25
2023 Stats: 141 G, 655 PA, 35 HR, 64 SB, .336 AVG, .417 OBP, .586 SLG
What a ridiculous season Ronald Acuña Jr. is having. It's so ridiculous that it ridicules the word "ridiculous."
Further, one of the fun things about it for us nerds is that there's nothing shady about Acuña's results. His power and speed are basically as advertised, particularly by way of 99th-percentile exit velocity and a 98th-percentile hard-hit rate for the former.
But while he had never done so at this scale, this is indeed not Acuña's first rodeo as a power-speed afficionado. This is his first rodeo as a .300 hitter, however, and there's a good reason for it that's been overlooked.
This is that his strikeout rate has dropped 12 points from last season, marking the single biggest improvement of any hitter. Said rate ranks sixth among qualified hitters.
Which is ultimately to say the last thing anyone should be doing with Acuña's season is taking it for granted. This is all-time special stuff.
SS J.P. Crawford, Seattle Mariners
7 of 11
Age: 28
2023 Stats: 125 G, 546 PA, 15 HR, 2 SB, .264 AVG, .381 OBP, .425 SLG
J.P. Crawford fit a certain mold in his first four years with the Mariners. He was a slick-fielding yet light-hitting shortstop. Classic stuff, really.
Which raises an obvious question: Who is this imposter, and what has he done with the real J.P. Crawford?
Relative to last season, he's gained 21 points in batting average, 42 points in on-base percentage and a whopping 90 points in slugging percentage. He has as many home runs this season as he did in 2021 and 2022 combined.
It all tracks with what's under the surface. Crawford is one of the biggest gainers in walk rate among hitters, and even more so with a 3.8 mph increase in average exit velocity and a 7.4-point gain in his hard-hit rate.
A slightly awkward aspect of all this is that since he's no longer rating as a slick fielder, Crawford kind of needed to make these gains. But that's no excuse to downplay what he's done, as it's not exactly easy to become such a dangerous hitter basically overnight.
C Sean Murphy, Atlanta
8 of 11
Age: 28
2023 Stats: 98 G, 399 PA, 20 HR, 0 SB, .270 AVG, .381 OBP, .510 SLG
Having already earned Rookie of the Year votes and a Gold Glove in the past, Sean Murphy checked another box by earning an MVP vote in 2022.
Even if he's not actually going to win the award for the National League, he should have more than one of those coming soon. Only Will Smith has him beat in rWAR among catchers, and Murphy is the one with the better offensive output.
Making that happen hasn't been the most complicated process. Murphy has simply hit the ball harder, making gains with his exit velocity and hard-hit rate and especially with his barrel rate. To the latter, he's tied as the fourth-biggest gainer among hitters.
Yet to focus strictly on Murphy's improved offense is to miss at least one forest for at least some trees. He's exceeding every which way defensively, including as one of the best throwing catchers around.
This is not to say Murphy has become a whole new player in 2023. He's still Sean Murphy, except just [waves hands] more so.
1B Matt Olson, Atlanta
9 of 11
Age: 29
2023 Stats: 141 G, 632 PA, 48 HR, 1 SB, .275 AVG, .381 OBP, .603 SLG
Yeah, it's been a good year for Atlanta.
It would have been even if they merely had baseball's best power-speed threat and its best catcher in their lineup. To also have the best home run hitter is icing on the proverbial cake, and the icing Matt Olson is providing might as well be made up of powdered baseballs.
With a few weeks still left to go, he's already surpassed his previous career for home runs by nine over the 39 he hit in 2021. All his key batted-ball metrics are up in 2023, from his exit velocity to his hard-hit rate to his barrels.
As much as this reeks of a big guy selling out for more power, Olson's approach hasn't changed much. If anything, it's gotten better. His strikeout rate is down 0.1 points from last year, while his walk rate is up 3.5 points.
It all paints Olson as yet another Atlanta hitter who, even if he isn't going to win the thing, should have more than a few MVP votes coming his way.
SS Corey Seager, Texas Rangers
10 of 11
Age: 29
2023 Stats: 98 G, 445 PA, 29 HR, 2 SB, .335 AVG, .398 OBP, .645 SLG
Corey Seager is having a big year? Geez, who saw that coming besides everyone?
As good as he was in his first season with the Rangers—the best part was his career-high 33 home runs—it was clear to all who watched closely that Seager deserved better. Nobody was hurt more than him by the shift, so it stood to reason he would benefit from its ban.
Yet to chalk Seager's huge numbers up to a rule change is to deny him the proper credit he so absolutely deserves.
He's indeed the single biggest offensive improver from last season, and that traces back to huge gains in his contact quality. His exit velocity and hard-hit rate are up, and his barrel rate is up more than anyone else's.
Basically the only blemish on Seager's record for 2023 is that he's lost 48 days to the injured list. If not for that and some guy named Shohei Ohtani, he'd be the favorite for the American League MVP.
DH/RHP Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels
11 of 11
Age: 29
2023 Hitting Stats: 135 G, 599 PA, 44 HR, 20 SB, .304 AVG, .412 OBP, .654 SLG
2023 Pitching Stats: 23 GS, 132.0 IP, 85 H (18 HR), 167 K, 55 BB, 3.14 ERA
Speaking of some guy named Shohei Ohtani, he also deserves to have the spotlight shined on all the ways he's gotten better in 2023.
Alas, when he'll be able to pitch again after yet another tear to his UCL is something nobody knows. And save for the fact that his average exit velocity is down, it's hard to make the case that he was doing his best work as a pitcher even before the injury.
However, there can be no doubt that this season is Ohtani's high-water mark as a hitter.
He only leads the American League in on-base percentage and the majors in slugging, after all, and this is the first time his average has been north of .300 in the States. The only surprise may be that he's not doing even better, as seven of his key offensive metrics are in the 95th percentile or better.
So good has Ohtani been that he would arguably still be the front-runner for the AL MVP even if he hadn't thrown a single pitch this season.
Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.
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