The 10 Players Defining 2024 MLB Season So Far
With the MLB season halfway into May and roughly at the quarter mark, we are starting to get a feel for the players who are defining the 2024 campaign.
The MVP and Cy Young favorites from both leagues are intact. There is certainly plenty of time for it to change, but we've seen enough to not be fooled by small sample sizes.
Top performers at this point are legitimate, even in a long season. In this exercise, we take a look at 10 players defining the season so far.
Selected are five hitters and five pitchers, alternating each to make their case for a season-defining player.
To reach these conclusions, we use FanGraphs, team standings and awards betting odds from DraftKings.
High performing players on teams outside of the playoff picture were not considered, since it's difficult to define a season on a losing team.
SP Chris Sale, Atlanta
1 of 10
Atlanta is competing for a seventh straight NL East title, as expected. But it's happening in large part because of the Chris Sale acquisition from the offseason.
Sale is by far the leader of Atlanta's staff, which is not quite as talented as the other two NL juggernauts, the Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers.
His 6-1 record has been a critical steady hand for Atlanta, as it sits three games behind Philly in the division standings. Its stars in the lineup struggled to get going early in the season, but there's been enough depth to pick up the slack.
Meanwhile, Sale offers his team a true ace. Only two pitchers have a better xFIP than the 35-year-old, who is also top-seven in strikeouts per nine innings and holds a 2.53 ERA.
For all of the questions about Sale's injury history, he is making good on Atlanta's investment in extending him during the final guaranteed year of his contract.
SS Gunnar Henderson, Baltimore Orioles
2 of 10
Gunnar Henderson was the AL Player of the Month in April and is an early MVP candidate for one of the league's top contenders.
He turns 23 years old in June and is gunning for a chance to join just six other players to win Rookie of the Year and MVP in their first two seasons. One of those six? Cal Ripken Jr.
While the Orioles are jockeying with the New York Yankees for AL East supremacy, few players in baseball have been better than Baltimore's young shortstop.
Henderson entered Wednesday tied for the fifth-highest fWAR. His 12 home runs tied for the second-most in baseball and he is top-eight in slugging.
He is on pace for 50 home runs this season, far outpacing his preseason projections. Only Juan Soto and Bobby Witt Jr. have higher odds to win the AL MVP, according to DraftKings.
The defense is also a plus, with the 2019 second-round pick tied for the fourth-best outs above average among shortstops.
Of all the Orioles vaunted young talent, it's Henderson who is emerging as the cream of the crop in what is shaping up to be a special season in Baltimore.
SP Shōta Imanaga, Chicago Cubs
3 of 10
Shōta Imanaga entered MLB this season with expectations, but no one predicted he would be this good so early.
The 30-year-old leads baseball with a startling 0.96 ERA and sports a 5-0 record to head the Cubs' rotation. Few pitchers have been more valuable this season. Only Ranger Suarez and Tarik Skubal have won as many games without a loss.
Even Imanaga's xERA (2.59) is in the top-10 percentile of MLB. He hasn't exactly been a strikeout artist, but he does get hitters to chase at an elite level (top-five percentile).
This is helping define the season because of the Cubs' potential as either a wild card or the NL Central winner. With the rest of the rotation having their share of issues, the Japanese star has been the rock that has Chicago just 1.5 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers.
It will go a long way for the Cubs knowing they could face the Dodgers, Phillies or Atlanta and start the series with one of the game's most reliable starters. The talent gap will still be there, but Imanaga's presence dramatically impacts their chances in a loaded NL.
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SS Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City Royals
4 of 10
Bobby Witt Jr., along with Henderson, represents new MLB superstardom. He is one of the fresh faces of the game, not just in name and hype but with his play.
He is the top AL player in fWAR, with only the Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts ranking higher.
The peripheral batting statistics put Witt in the top five to 12 percentile in nearly every category. Witt is also the top defensive shortstop in outs above average (eight).
At just 23 years old (turns 24 in June), he is already one of the most complete players in baseball and a big reason the Kansas City Royals are fighting for an AL Central title, or at least a wild-card berth. Only Juan Soto has better AL MVP odds than Witt.
Between Witt, Gunnar Henderson and Anthony Volpe—all from the same 2019 MLB draft class—there is a new wave of young shortstops taking over the game.
SP Tyler Glasnow, Los Angeles Dodgers
5 of 10
The top pitcher on a top-two team in baseball certainly deserves his flowers, and Tyler Glasnow ranks fourth in strikeouts per nine innings and second among NL pitchers.
The 30-year-old's 2.53 ERA is top-15, while his 2.39 xERA is top-four. He is also top-seven in FIP (2.50) and top-two in xFIP (2.42), which is good for tops in the NL.
Nearly everything about Glasnow's game right now is sublime, and it's anchoring a loaded Dodgers roster.
A strikeout machine who doesn't give up a lot of runs or hard contact is exactly what the Dodgers needed to add this past offseason, and they did so in a major way with Glasnow.
As long as he and Yoshinobu Yamamoto stay healthy, pitching should not be the reason L.A. underachieves this season. Really, there is no reason.
It's a season without excuses, given the Dodgers have a bona fide NL Cy Young candidate, a $325 million pitcher performing well in Yamamoto and two NL MVP front-runners.
RF Juan Soto, New York Yankees
6 of 10
The Juan Soto experiment in the Bronx is going about as well as one could expect.
He is the top performer on the top AL team and the betting favorite to win MVP. He's been everything the Yankees could want from a left-handed hitter.
Over 43 games, Soto ranks fifth in fWAR and on-base percentage. He is also top-10 in slugging percentage and wRC+. Only Jose Ramirez has more RBI among AL hitters.
Soto's latest feat is breaking Mickey Mantle's record for most walks by the age of 26.
It's largely because of Soto that the Yankees have been able to thrive despite an underwhelming start to the season from Aaron Judge.
Now that it appears Judge is back to his normal self and Soto remains consistent, this is the deadly one-two punch that the Yankees were hoping for when they made the trade for Soto.
SP Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers
7 of 10
Tarik Skubal has quickly become one of the most dangerous left-handed pitchers in baseball.
Not only that, but the Tigers are competitive. The AL wild-card race seems too crowded to have space for Detroit, but at just four games out of the final spot, it still has to be taken seriously.
No one on the team has been more serious than Skubal. He is sixth in ERA, but No. 1 in xERA. His 2.03 FIP also leads baseball and is top-eight in strikeouts per nine innings.
The 27-year-old is the betting favorite to win the AL Cy Young at the moment. It's defining the season because no longer is the AL Central considered a doormat. Young stars like Skubal and Bobby Witt Jr. are elevating their franchises into relevancy.
The division currently has three teams in the postseason standings, with the Tigers on the outside looking in. But they have the top pitcher of the bunch through mid-May.
2B Mookie Betts, Los Angeles Dodgers
8 of 10
If it seems impossible for someone to be playing better baseball than Shohei Ohtani or Bobby Witt Jr., look no further than seven-time All-Star and 2018 AL MVP Mookie Betts.
He leads MLB in fWAR and on-base percentage. He trails only Ohtani and Marcell Ozuna in wRC+ and is fourth in batting average. He is also top-10 in walk percentage.
If there is a weakness in his offensive game, good luck finding it. The defensive transition to mostly shortstop is still a work in progress, but consider the fact that Betts can passably play basically anywhere on the diamond and it's hard not to recognize the greatness of it all.
The NL MVP is likely to be a Dodger, as Betts and Ohtani lead the oddsboard. It's the former at the top of it, though, and essentially his award to lose.
SP Ranger Suárez, Philadelphia Phillies
9 of 10
If more people knew Ranger Suárez would be this good, you would have heard about it before it actually happened. Suddenly, he has gone from middle-of-the-rotation starter for Philadelphia to one of the game's most prolific hurlers.
His 1.50 ERA through eight starts ranks third in baseball. His 7-0 record through that span is also the best in the game.
Only eight pitchers have tossed more innings and each one has lost at least one start. The advanced numbers are as consistent with the traditional ones.
Suárez, 28, is also third in xERA, 11th in FIP, and fourth in xFIP. Phillies teammate Zack Wheeler is among the three pitchers ahead of him in the NL Cy Young betting odds.
If he keeps pitching like this and his team keep winning, Suárez is certain to close the gap.
DH Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers
10 of 10
There was a brief thought to leave Shohei Ohtani off this list because, of course, he is tearing the cover off the ball. Sometimes it's like he's a prisoner of his own success and it can be easy to take greatness for granted.
But we won't do that here.
There is a good reason that all of MLB's major offseason moves hinged on Ohtani's free-agent decision.
Despite not being able to pitch this season, his worth as a designated hitter is already proving itself. The 29-year-old is second in fWAR, behind only teammate Mookie Betts. He is by far the leader in wRC+ (211) and somehow he's also on pace for a batting title, leading baseball with a .361 average. He leads MLB in total bases by a whopping 17.
It should be stressed that what makes Ohtani such a unicorn is his ability to hit and pitch at such a high level. Here is a season in which he's showing his value even if he only did one of those things.
The year 2024 is shaping up to be his greatest offensive season to date.
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