Ranking Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge and the Top 25 MLB Players for 2025
Before the "on U.S. soil" portion of the 2025 MLB season officially gets underway next week, we have one final order of business:
Ranking the top 25 players in the majors.
Our Joel Reuter has been knocking out the position-by-position rankings left and right (as well as third and short and everywhere else) over the past few weeks. You should really go read those, too. Here are his right field rankings from Tuesday, where you can also find every other position published thus far.
But while he's had to grapple with where to slot the various not-great options from the Marlins, Rockies and White Sox throughout the series, we're just covering the best of the best here—a list so chock full o' talent that you're going to see the list of honorable mentions in a second and immediately throw a fit about guys who missed the cut.
Please keep in mind, though, to argue someone needs to be on the list, you need to also argue who should be removed. And good luck with that part.
The ranking is based predominantly on how dominant these players were in 2024, though there is a decent amount of projecting involved, especially in the cases of injury or guys who really surged to the finish line over the final few months of last season.
Honorable Mentions
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Mike Trout, OF, Los Angeles Angels: Your obligatory preseason reminder that Trout very much does still exist and might be awesome for however many games he is healthy. He has a 1.109 OPS in 11 spring training games played, and he was on pace for 56 home runs before his 2024 campaign ended in late April.
Freddie Freeman, 1B, Los Angeles Dodgers: Future Hall of Famer was borderline top 25 last year, and we'll see if he can keep Father Time at bay yet again in a season where he will turn 36.
William Contreras, C/DH, Milwaukee Brewers: Do you think perhaps Atlanta regrets trading away this guy and five other players to get Sean Murphy? A Silver Slugger and NL MVP vote recipient in each of his two seasons with Milwaukee, Contreras' bat is going to be even more pivotal this year with Willy Adames out of the picture.
Chris Sale, LHP, Atlanta Braves: After half a decade of mediocrity and injury recovery, Sale finally got the Cy Young that eluded his grasp from 2012 to '18 in which he finished top six in voting every year. Now, can the 36-year-old southpaw give Atlanta another mostly healthy campaign?
Jackson Chourio, OF, Milwaukee Brewers: Chourio was nothing special through the first 51 games of his MLB career last season, posting a .575 OPS. But that eight-year, $82M contract sure looks like a steal for the Brew Crew after he hit .305/.360/.527 over the latter 97 games, with a 162-game pace of 27 HR and 25 SB. He had no hope in an NL ROY race that included Paul Skenes and Jackson Merrill, but he was outstanding from June 2 onward.
Riley Greene, OF, Detroit Tigers: If you're looking to throw a dart at someone outside the top 10 candidates for AL MVP, you could do a whole lot worse than Greene in the +5000 to +6000 range. If he stays healthy and the Tigers win the AL Central, he's almost certainly getting some consideration.
Nos. 25-22: Strider/Acuña, Devers/Bregman, Burnes and Merrill
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25. Spencer Strider, RHP and Ronald Acuña Jr., OF, Atlanta Braves
Cheating the system a little bit with these first two selections to give us 27 names instead of 25, but Atlanta's stars who will be returning from injury at some point relatively early in the season have been and will continue to be inseparable in talking points for a while.
Strider did make his spring training debut on Monday, tossing 2.2 perfect innings with six strikeouts, so he's looking pretty damn good. Likely needs a few more weeks, though. Acuña hasn't appeared in any spring training games, but by all accounts is progressing in his ACL recovery. Still sounds like they're hopeful for a return in early May.
24. Rafael Devers, 3B/DH and Alex Bregman, 3B/2B, Boston Red Sox
The story that keeps on giving, we went from Devers reportedly refusing to move away from third base if the Red Sox signed Bregman, to him saying he'll do whatever it takes to help the team win, to not making his spring training debut until this past weekend, to now not traveling with the team for its preseason game in Mexico, as trade rumors start to swirl again.
Not sure if either of these players is quite top 25, but the tandem and the drama absolutely warrants a spot.
23. Corbin Burnes, RHP, Arizona Diamondbacks
194.1 IP, 15-9, 2.92 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 8.4 K/9, 3.5 bWAR
Surely the most surprising move among this year's top free agents, Burnes has taken his talents to the desert. The 2021 NL Cy Young winner has at least received some Cy Young votes in each of the past five years, arguably neck-and-neck with Zack Wheeler as the pitchers who have provided the most cumulative value to their teams over the past half-decade.
For Arizona's sake, here's hoping this splash signing pans out better for them than last spring's acquisition of Jordan Montgomery. But with the way Burnes has been dealing in spring training (13.1 IP, 11 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 17 K), doesn't look like that will be a problem.
22. Jackson Merrill, OF, San Diego Padres
.292/.326/.500, 24 HR, 90 RBI, 16 SB, 4.4 bWAR
The hard-luck loser of an NL Rookie of the Year race for the ages, Merrill's age-21 campaign truly propelled San Diego to its wild-card spot. He wasn't "Juan Soto good," but between Merrill and bargain-bin-signing-of-the-decade Jurickson Profar, the Padres didn't exactly miss Soto in their outfield mix, you know?
Whether Merrill can run it back again will go a long way in determining whether the Padres are a contender or whether they're headed for one heck of a trade deadline fire sale with Dylan Cease and Luis Arraez headlining their list of impending free agents.
Nos. 21-19: Corbin Carroll, Ketel Marte and Zack Wheeler
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21. Corbin Carroll, OF, Arizona Diamondbacks
.231/.322/.428, 22 HR, 74 RBI, 35 SB, 3.4 bWAR
20. Ketel Marte, 2B, Arizona Diamondbacks
.292/.372/.560, 36 HR, 95 RBI, 6.8 bWAR
If we count the two-for-one specials at Nos. 24 and 25, there are six teams with two players in our top 27 and 11 franchises without any representation here.
The only team with three players, though?
Las Serpientes, es verdad.
They did just have a remarkable 2024 season, finishing with 44 more runs scored than the mighty Dodgers, so having their two best hitters here feels right.
Carroll's defense of his 2023 NL ROY crown started out quite miserably. Through 94 teams games, he had a .612 OPS with just three home runs. There was a 53-game stretch in which he didn't homer once. But he was perhaps the biggest reason Arizona turned a corner in the second half, operating at 162-game paces of 46 home runs and 46 stolen bases from July 12 onward, posting a .940 OPS.
Marte, on the other hand, was immediately on fire with back-to-back three-hit games to open the season and five home runs by mid-April en route to finishing third in the NL MVP vote.
That's now the second time he has been a legitimate candidate for that honor, joining his maybe even better run through the 2019 season. If he does it again while Carroll carries over that momentum from the end of last season, maybe Arizona can hang with the Dodgers in the NL West.
19. Zack Wheeler, RHP, Philadelphia Phillies
200.0 IP, 16-7, 2.57 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 10.1 K/9, 6.1 bWAR
Wheeler turns 35 in a couple months, but he sure seems to be on that Justin Verlander path to not showing any signs of aging until he's 40.
If anything, Wheeler has been a fine wine, getting better with age. He allowed fewer hits per 9 IP than any other NL pitcher in 2024, resulting in a career-best WHIP. He also averaged at least 9.6 K/9 for the fourth consecutive season.
He has been so reliably great for seven years now that it's hard to believe there isn't a Cy Young trophy on his mantle yet. Nolan Ryan and Mike Mussina are historically the two always mentioned as the best to pitch in the Cy Young Award era and never win one, but Wheeler is surely atop the "active players" members of that club at this point.
Perhaps that finally changes this year, as he will be the ace of a preposterously loaded Phillies rotation.
Nos. 18-16: Bryce Harper, Corey Seager, Yordan Alvarez
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18. Bryce Harper, 1B, Philadelphia Phillies
.285/.373/.525, 30 HR, 87 RBI, 4.8 bWAR
Got to love the rumblings from a few weeks ago about Harper being willing to return to an outfield role under the right circumstances. He didn't outright say, "I'll do it if we trade for Vlad Jr.," but that might as well have been the message.
Whether he ends the year at first base or right field, though, Harper has thus far been worth every penny of that $330M contract he signed six years ago, giving the Phillies a .924 OPS and 152 home runs since the beginning of 2019.
Harper was mostly healthy in 2024 after missing 99 games between the previous two campaigns. As a result, he matched his career high of 42 doubles, posted the second-best hit total of his career (157) and enjoyed his fifth season with at least 30 home runs.
17. Corey Seager, SS, Texas Rangers
.278/.353/.512, 30 HR, 74 RBI, 5.0 bWAR
Speaking of guys on $300M-plus contracts who have had trouble staying healthy, Seager missed 39 games last season, one year removed from missing 43 in 2023.
However, he was still worth 12.2 bWAR between the two seasons, and it's hard to complain too much about getting MVP-caliber production for the three-quarters of the time that he's available.
Seager should be the brightest star of an absolutely loaded Rangers lineup, as they try to make it two World Series titles in three years.
16. Yordan Alvarez, OF/DH, Houston Astros
.308/.392/.567, 35 HR, 86 RBI, 5.4 bWAR
With no Alex Bregman, no Kyle Tucker and Jose Altuve shifting from second base to left field, Houston's lineup is going to take some getting used to.
They'll still have Alvarez, though, sending baseballs into orbit.
Despite missing more than 100 games over the past four seasons, Alvarez ranks sixth in the majors in home runs hit since the beginning of 2021, eclipsing 30 in each season. And as far as OPS goes, his .958 mark trails only those of Aaron Judge (1.056) and Shohei Ohtani (.984).
We'll see if Christian Walker continues to hit for Houston like he did for Arizona over the past three seasons, though, or else limited lineup protection may result in quite a bit of "Barry Bonds treatment" for Alvarez this year.
Nos. 15-13: Elly De La Cruz, Kyle Tucker and Fernando Tatis Jr.
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15. Elly De La Cruz, SS, Cincinnati Reds
.259/.339/.471, 25 HR, 76 RBI, 67 SB, 5.2 bWAR
It's a shame De La Cruz was unable to even remotely maintain his torrid stolen base pace, going 30-for-35 in his first 44 games (162-game pace of 110) before going 37-for-48 (162-game pace of 52) the rest of the year. The chase for MLB's first 100-SB campaign since 1987—heck, the first 80-SB campaign since 1988—would've been a fun story.
Maybe this year, though. And if De La Cruz becomes the founding member of the 30-HR/80-SB club while Terry Francona manages the Reds well enough to at least sniff the playoff picture, that might be enough for the first MVP of this phenom's career.
14. Kyle Tucker, OF, Chicago Cubs
.289/.408/.585, 23 HR, 49 RBI, 11 SB, 4.7 bWAR
It wasn't until right before he suffered his shin injury last June that people seemed to finally realize just how good Tucker has been for a while.
But now he's the guy. No more thriving in the shadow of Altuve/Alvarez/Bregman. The Cubs gave up quite a bit this offseason to acquire what might be just one season of Tucker's services in the heart of their order, and they're banking on him in a big way to get back atop the NL Central mountain.
Between his Gold Glove defense in right and his .888 OPS since the beginning of 2021, it's not a bad bet.
13. Fernando Tatis Jr., OF, San Diego Padres
.276/.340/.492, 21 HR, 49 RBI, 11 SB, 2.6 bWAR
Tatis missed more than two months last season with a stress reaction in his right femur, but he looked no worse for wear upon his September return, crushing seven home runs in his final 22 regular-season games. (Plus, four more in the postseason.)
He hasn't been the same slugger that he was before the PED suspension—.965 OPS from 2019-21; .796 OPS since—but he was clubbing better in '24 than he did in '23 and is still one of the most valuable players in the game today.
(Tatis was hit in the head by a Kumar Rocker pitch last week, but stayed in the game and hasn't been forced to miss time since. He couldn't dodge the fastball, but he and the Padres do appear to have averted a potential disaster.)
Nos. 12-10: Julio Rodríguez, Paul Skenes and José Ramírez
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12. Julio Rodríguez, OF, Seattle Mariners
.273/.325/.409, 20 HR, 68 RBI, 24 SB, 4.3 bWAR
Given how much time we spent harping on Seattle's lack of offense and bemoaning J-Rod's poor season, kind of surprising to see he ended up with numbers this respectable, right?
Similar to the aforementioned Corbin Carroll, Rodríguez started slow before finishing quite strong. Through 87 games played, he had a .616 OPS, a sub-.300 on-base percentage to go along with his rate of one home run for every 52.6 plate appearances. But from July 4 onward, he had a .914 OPS and averaged one home run for every 18.8 trips to the plate.
That's even better than the Rodríguez who took the world by storm in winning AL Rookie of the Year in 2022 and finishing top five in the AL MVP vote the following year. And it'd be swell if that Rodríguez shows up for a full season in 2025.
11. Paul Skenes, RHP, Pittsburgh Pirates
133.0 IP, 11-3, 1.96 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 11.5 K/9, 5.9 bWAR
Honestly toyed with the idea of Skenes all the way up at No. 5, but ultimately decided 'just outside the top 10' was a fair placement after the absurdly dominant five-month debut Skenes put together last season.
If you want him higher, though, pretty easy to make that argument. In the past century of MLB history, here's the full list of starting pitchers to log at least 120 IP in a season with a sub-2.00 ERA, a sub-1.00 WHIP and a K/9 of 10.0 or better:
- Pedro Martinez in both 1997 and 2000
- Clayton Kershaw in both 2014 and 2016
- Both Blake Snell and Jacob deGrom in 2018
- Paul Skenes last season
And, suffice it to say, those other stars didn't make the first start of their seasons about 10 months after getting drafted.
Skenes is the clear preseason favorite to win NL Cy Young, finishing third in that vote this past season.
10. José Ramírez, 3B, Cleveland Guardians
.279/.335/.537, 39 HR, 118 RBI, 41 SB, 6.8 bWAR
Forever the bridesmaid but never the bride, J-Ram has been maybe the best player in baseball since the beginning of 2017, but with nothing more than a stockpile of MVP vote participation trophies to show for it.
FanGraphs has Ramírez at 44.7 WAR over the past eight years, narrowly behind Francisco Lindor (45.1) and Mookie Betts (45.7) and a good bit behind Aaron Judge (51.4) for fourth on that list.
Last year may have been his magnum opus. He fell one dinger shy of joining the 40/40 club for an AL Central champion while getting hopelessly overshadowed by Shohei Ohtani's 54/59 campaign and Judge's quest for another 60-homer season.
Nos. 9-7: Tarik Skubal, Gunnar Henderson and Francisco Lindor
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9. Tarik Skubal, LHP, Detroit Tigers
192.0 IP, 18-4, 2.39 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 10.7 K/9, 6.4 bWAR
Skubal had shown signs in the past of becoming something special. He had a 2.15 ERA 10 starts into the 2022 campaign, as well as a mostly dominant 15-start run through the 2023 season after returning from 11 months on the shelf.
Last year was the first time he was healthy and consistent for a full season, though, and it was glorious.
Skubal made 22 quality starts during the regular season before starting the postseason with 17 consecutive scoreless innings. He did, unfortunately, suffer an affliction of brief mortality in Game 5 of the ALDS against Cleveland. But it's only because of him that they were able to make it that far.
8. Gunnar Henderson, SS, Baltimore Orioles
.281/.364/.529, 37 HR, 92 RBI, 21 SB, 9.1 bWAR
Thoughts and prayers to any American League shortstops out there hoping to become an All-Star any time soon with Henderson and Bobby Witt Jr. ranking among the 10 best players in the sport today.
Henderson is dealing with an intercostal strain, and we'll see if he's available for Opening Day.
Fingers crossed, because March/April Henderson was a juggernaut last season, slugging .624 with 10 home runs. That put him on the path to a 1.000 OPS through 82 games with 26 homers before tapering off a good bit in the second half.
We're all excited to see if he can get back to what he was in April-June and highly amused by the fact that he ended up with 9.1 bWAR despite "tapering off."
7. Francisco Lindor, SS, New York Mets
.273/.344/.500, 33 HR, 91 RBI, 29 SB, 6.9 bWAR
Yes, Juan Soto ranks a bit higher, but this O.G. of the Mets redefining themselves as a certified contender remains a massive piece of the puzzle.
The grand slam that Lindor hit in Game 4 of the NLDS against the Phillies may have been the greatest non-World Series winning moment in Mets franchise history. And it's not like he was lacking for value added prior to that, finishing top nine in three consecutive NL MVP votes, including a first runner-up to Shohei Ohtani in 2024.
With Soto now behind him in the order and with the Polar Bear still back there, too, don't be surprised if Lindor makes a run (no pun intended) at Ronald Acuña Jr.'s mark of 149 runs scored in 2023.
Nos. 6-4: Mookie Betts, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Juan Soto
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6. Mookie Betts, SS/OF, Los Angeles Dodgers
.289/.372/.491, 19 HR, 75 RBI, 16 SB, 4.8 bWAR
Betts missed about two months of last season with a broken hand and has already missed two games this year, sitting out the Tokyo Series with an illness.
Prior to getting hit by that pitch in mid-June, though, it was a toss-up as to whether he or teammate Shohei Ohtani was the best candidate for NL MVP. At any rate, FanGraphs had Betts as the NL's leader in WAR through June 15, living his best life with Ohtani batting right behind him. (Though, when he returned in mid-August, Ohtani had that leadoff gig locked down, Betts slotting in at No. 2 the rest of the year.)
The middle infield dynamic will once again be fun to monitor. He exclusively played 2B/SS before the injury but then pretty much only played RF upon returning. But wherever the Swiss Army knife ends up primarily making his home, look for him to play a massive part in Los Angeles' quest for a rare back-to-back title.
5. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 1B, Toronto Blue Jays
.323/.396/.544, 30 HR, 103 RBI, 6.2 bWAR
A key part of the justification for Guerrero in the top five is the fact that we're going to talk/hear about him nonstop for the however many days it ends up being until he signs his next contract. At the very least, if the Blue Jays are anything less than clearly bound for the postseason, he will dominate trade speculations for the next four months.
But Guerrero was also preposterously good last season after getting out to a slow start for the first few weeks.
From April 27 onward, Guerrero hit .346 and slugged .588, second-best in the majors in the former, fifth-best in the latter.
From June 21 onward, he hit .361 with a 1.094 OPS. No one had a better batting average, and only Aaron Judge (1.187) had a better OPS.
If he's even better than that in his walk year, goodness gracious, back up the Brink's trucks.
4. Juan Soto, OF, New York Mets
.288/.419/.569, 41 HR, 109 RBI, 128 R, 7.9 bWAR
Have you heard that Soto is playing for a new team this season? Seems like that kind of flew under the radar.
That's a joke, of course. Even people who make no effort to follow MLB's offseason probably heard that the $765M man will be suiting up for the Mets in 2025. The daily circus to that conclusion was almost as big as the previous offseason's pursuit of Shohei Ohtani, albeit without the unforgettable flight tracker drama.
Now, can he live up to that contract? And bring a championship to Queens for the first time since 1986?
If going 10-for-28 with four home runs in his first 12 spring training games is any indication, that's a resounding yes.
Soto had a whole lot of fun batting ahead of Aaron Judge last season. He should get even more pitches to hit this year sandwiched between Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso.
Nos. 3-1: Bobby Witt Jr., Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani
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3. Bobby Witt Jr., SS, Kansas City Royals
.332/.389/.588, 32 HR, 109 RBI, 31 SB, 9.4 bWAR
In basically any other season in the past two decades, Witt would've won MVP. Baseball Reference put his wins above replacement at 9.4. FanGraphs gave him a 10.4—the third-highest of any season dating back to 2005, but still behind Aaron Judge's 2024 mark of 11.2.
Considering Witt almost single-handedly carried the Royals to 30 more wins than the previous season and a spot in the playoffs, he presented quite the case for MVP anyway, winning the batting title, a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger.
That 11-year, $288.8M extension signed last February looks like highway robbery right about now.
2. Aaron Judge, OF, New York Yankees
.322/.458/.701, 58 HR, 144 RBI, 10 SB, 10.8 bWAR
From 2012 to '19, Mike Trout averaged 9.0 bWAR per season and 10.0 bWAR per 162 games.
Judge over the past three years? 8.7 and 10.1, respectively.
Sure, maintaining that level of play for eight years is more impressive than three, but what a run it has been, three consecutive seasons with an OPS north of 1.000, two of them above 1.100.
It's almost comical at this point. Since Barry Bonds' practically impossible 1.422 OPS in 2004, Judge's 1.159 mark in 2024 was the highest of any player in the majors; his 1.111 mark in 2022 the third-highest, only slightly behind Albert Pujols' 1.114 extravaganza in 2008.
Will he still get pitches to hit with Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt in the lineup instead of Juan Soto? We shall see. He'll probably mash a lot of the ones he does get, though.
1. Shohei Ohtani, DH/SP, Los Angeles Dodgers
.310/.390/.646, 54 HR, 130 RBI, 59 SB, 9.2 bWAR
Ohtani has yet to take the mound against an opponent this spring, and when he is likely to resume his unicorn role is up in the air. With about 37 options on the roster for the starting rotation, though, the Dodgers have the luxury of taking their time, focusing on having him for October as opposed to April.
In the meantime, the three-time MVP will continue to hit, which he's already doing quite well. Ohtani had a single, a double and two runs scored in the MLB opener in Tokyo. (No home runs or stolen bases, though? What a slacker!)
Can he possibly replicate last year's 54/59 extravaganza?
Would you possibly bet against it?
