We’re a third of the way (basically) through the baseball season, with May ending yesterday. Here’s a roster of the best players in each league so far, using fWAR. It’s flawed without some positional flexibility—I chose to have just two catchers on each team because of some of the oddities of defensive fWAR with backstops, and I used FanGraphs’s primary position designations, which institutes some limits (especially at second base, interestingly enough). Worthwhile to look at, nonetheless, to get an idea of who baseball’s most productive players have been this year, to date.
American League
Starting Lineup
Catcher: Mike Zunino (1.5 fWAR)
First Base: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (3.1 fWAR)
Second Base: Nick Solak (1.0 fWAR)
Shortstop: Marcus Semien (2.7 fWAR)
Third Base: Yoan Moncada (2.4 fWAR)
Outfield: Byron Buxton (2.6 fWAR)
Outfield: Mike Trout (2.4 fWAR)
Outfield: Ramón Laureano (2.1 fWAR)
Designated Hitter: Shohei Ohtani (2.3 fWAR)
Bench
Xander Bogaerts (2.5 fWAR)
Rafael Devers (2.1 fWAR)
Adolis García (2.0 fWAR)
Mitch Garver (1.1 fWAR)
Rotation
Gerrit Cole (3.0 fWAR)
Nathan Eovaldi (2.1 fWAR)
Carlos Rodón (1.8 fWAR)
Shane Bieber (1.7 fWAR)
Tyler Glasnow (1.7 fWAR)
Bullpen
Matt Barnes (1.3 fWAR)
Scott Barlow (1.0 fWAR)
Aroldis Chapman (1.0 fWAR)
Paul Fry (1.0 fWAR)
Michael Kopech (0.9 fWAR)
César Valdez (0.9 fWAR)
Yusmeiro Petit (0.8 fWAR)
Kendall Graveman (0.7 fWAR)
National League
Starting Lineup
Catcher: Buster Posey (2.1 fWAR)
First Base: Max Muncy (2.8 fWAR)
Second Base: Jake Cronenworth (1.6 fWAR)
Shortstop: Fernando Tatís Jr. (2.2 fWAR)
Third Base: Kris Bryant (2.8 fWAR)
Outfield: Nick Castellanos (2.8 fWAR)
Outfield: Ronald Acuña Jr. (2.4 fWAR)
Outfield: Jesse Winker (2.2 fWAR)
Bench
Trea Turner (2.0 fWAR)
Nolan Arenado (1.9 fWAR)
Will Smith (1.9 fWAR)
Bryan Reynolds (1.8 fWAR)
Chris Taylor (1.8 fWAR)
Rotation
Jacob deGrom (3.3 fWAR)
Zack Wheeler (2.7 fWAR)
Corbin Burnes (2.7 fWAR)
Kevin Gausman (2.5 fWAR)
Brandon Woodruff (2.3 fWAR)
Bullpen
Josh Hader (1.3 fWAR)
Craig Kimbrel (1.1 fWAR)
Richard Rodríguez (1.0 fWAR)
Giovanny Gallegos (1.0 fWAR)
Edwin Díaz (0.8 fWAR)
Tejay Antone (0.8 fWAR)
Will Smith (0.7 fWAR)
Aaron Loup (0.7 fWAR)
