This is aimed at those who’ve told us, over the years, that they’d like to get into baseball, or get back into baseball. It’s thirty players to know: ten pitchers, twenty hitters, each split evenly across the American League and the National League. It’s not designed to be the most interesting players, or those with the most star power. It’s designed to be the best players in each league, and since we have some objective ways to evaluate that, we’re going to use them. Here follow the most valuable players, as currently projected by FanGraphs (tiebreaker was last season’s production):
Top Ten Position Players, National League (by FanGraphs’s Depth Charts Projected WAR)
10. Manny Machado – Third Base, San Diego Padres
It’s hard to believe Manny Machado’s only 28 years old, given how long he was the face of the Baltimore Orioles. It’s also hard to believe that he hit just as well as Fernando Tatís Jr. last year, given the relative lack of noise around his production.
He’s got a big bat. He’s got a big contract. He’s been a big part of the game, and will continue to be one, for a long time.
9.Trea Turner – Shortstop, Washington Nationals
Trea Turner is old school, which is another way to say that he steals bases. The stolen base has gone out of vogue due to baseball people better understanding the concept of risk, but when you’re as effective at it as Turner is, it’s allowed. Add in the fact that the 27-year-old Floridian showed a surprising amount of pop at the plate last year and has been known to party in multiple ways, and you’ve got one electric dude in our nation’s capital.
8. Freddie Freeman – First Base, Atlanta Braves
It’s hard to be valuable as a first baseman, because so many first baseman can mash.
Freddie Freeman is valuable. Absolute slugger.
Reigning NL MVP, too, and he has a reputation as a nice/funny guy, for whatever that’s worth.
7. Francisco Lindor – Shortstop, New York Mets
The Mets’ big offseason acquisition is engaged in discussions about a mammoth contract extension, so you might be hearing his name out there a bit right now. He, like Turner and a lot of other names on this list, is part of a wave of young, talented, happy shortstops. Of all of them, the argument could be made that Lindor has the most fun.
6. Cody Bellinger – First Base/Outfield, Los Angeles Dodgers
Cody Bellinger is a beast. A beast who perpetually looks like he is stoned out of his mind. Somehow, he is not from California (though him being from Arizona makes a whole lot of sense).
5. Corey Seager – Shortstop, Los Angeles Dodgers
The World Series MVP. Seager is a massive young man, and he hits like it while still holding things down defensively at one of baseball’s toughest positions. He had some injury troubles in 2018 and ’19, but the former Rookie of the Year and two-time All Star was healthy enough last year to play in 52 of the Dodgers’ 60 regular season games.
Thing you’ll hear a lot: Corey’s older brother Kyle plays for the Mariners.
4. Ronald Acuña Jr. – Outfield, Atlanta Braves
23 years old. Hits the piss out of the ball. Charismatic as hell. Fernando Tatís Jr. before Fernando Tatís Jr. Which brings us to…
3. Fernando Tatís Jr. – Shortstop, San Diego Padres
Face of the game? Baseball would like that. We’d all like that. If Turner is electric, Tatís is a nuclear reactor, except if you’re viewing him up close, there’s no need to turn away.
There’s uncertainty about how Tatís will perform this year. He’s only 22. But the upside is outrageously high. And he’s going to flip bats and make acrobatic plays with the best of them. Acuña crossed with Javier Báez.
2. Juan Soto – Outfield, Washington Nationals
Another 22-year-old. Soto is a missile. Strong. Fast. Devastating to opponents. He is very possibly the best hitter alive. And he, too, is known to enjoy his day job.
1. Mookie Betts – Outfield, Los Angeles Dodgers
First off, yes, the Dodgers are stacked. Secondly, Mookie Betts is an even better face-of-the-game than Tatís.
Mookie Betts is like a cross between Juan Soto, Trea Turner, Steph Curry, and Tom Hanks. Unbelievably athletic. Unbelievably talented at the game of baseball in particular. Awesome smile. Has a lot of fun. About as close as you can come to a professional athlete you can confidently say is a good guy/gal. The man.
Top Ten Position Players, American League (by FanGraphs’s Depth Charts Projected WAR)
10. Bo Bichette – Shortstop, Toronto Blue Jays
Let’s get the big thing out of the way.
Bo Bichette has great hair.
He’s also part of the promising young wave. 23 years old. Has produced remarkably for parts of two seasons now at the major league level. As the son of Dante Bichette and one of three sons-of-big-leaguers who’ve all broken in around the same time with the Blue Jays, Bo sometimes gets overshadowed by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Cavan Biggio. Of the three, though, he’s the best player.
9. Yasmani Grandal – Catcher, Chicago White Sox
To spare you a long explanation of the various attempts by the statistical community to quantify catchers’ value away from the batter’s box, let me just say that a lot of Grandal’s value is debated. FanGraphs loves him, and we’re using FanGraphs, so he’s on our list, but this is kind of a nerdy play.
Grandal is, however, still one of the best hitting catchers in the game. And if you’re the academic sort, his value is an interesting case study.
8. Gleyber Torres – Shortstop, New York Yankees
Gleyber Torres didn’t have a great 2020. But the 24-year-old’s 2019 was dominant enough at the plate to put a lot of eyes on him in the Bronx. If you want a sleeper for this year’s new big name in the national sports conversation, here’s your guy.
7. Aaron Judge – Outfield, New York Yankees
The gargantuan Yankee has had some issues staying healthy since his breakout 2017, but that hasn’t stopped him from putting up remarkable offensive numbers when he’s been able to get to the plate. Like we said with Freeman, it’s hard to make this list as a slugger. Judge makes this list.
6. Carlos Correa – Shortstop, Houston Astros
How much Carlos Correa’s pre-2020 success had to do with sign-stealing is a matter of discussion, but it’s hard to believe it was enough to pull him off of this list. The Astros’ shortstop certainly isn’t popular, but he’s good, and if you want a heel, he’s a fine pick.
5. Matt Chapman – Third Base, Oakland Athletics
If you’re looking to get into baseball and you maintain rather late hours (or live in one of the western time zones), you should be an A’s fan. They aren’t good enough to have a bandwagon. They have the sharpest uniforms in the game. And they have Matt Chapman, a guy you can get really pissed off about because he doesn’t get enough respect. If this list was a Sporcle quiz, I’d guess he’d be the least-named guy on it.
4. Anthony Rendon – Third Base, Anaheim Angels
Anthony Rendon quietly put up monstrous numbers last season in Anaheim after leading the Nationals to the 2019 World Series title. If conventional wisdom holds true, he’s going to get a lot of pitches to hit batting near Mike Trout in the Angels’ order.
3. José Ramírez – Third Base, Cleveland (Nickname in Transition)
Ramírez’s 2018 was one of the best seasons ever statistically, and last year was similar, though abridged. He doesn’t play in a big market or for a bigtime brand, but he’s one of the best to take the field, day in and day out.
2. Alex Bregman – Third Base, Houston Astros
Like Correa, a heel because of the sign-stealing. Like Correa, didn’t match his pre-2020 numbers in 2020.
Bregman’s done some really lovable things. He’s also earned himself a reputation as a villain, even before the sign-stealing. His performance may have been inflated by cheating. But he’s still probably really good.
1. Mike Trout – Outfield, Anaheim Angels
The king. The greatest of all time. Seriously.
Mike Trout’s run of dominance is unparalleled in modern baseball. Ever since 2012, he’s been lighting up the stat sheet. Amazingly, he’s only gotten to play in the playoffs once, because the Angels are a terribly-run organization incapable (so far) of fielding a winning team. Thankfully, someone in the front office was competent enough to lock Trout up. He’s signed through 2030.
Top Five Pitchers, American League (by FanGraphs’s Depth Charts Projected WAR)
5. Tyler Glasnow – Tampa Bay Rays
Glasnow struggled with his health in 2019, but his overall stats the last two seasons, when healthy, have amounted to one of the best lines in the league. He was a bit of a prospect reclamation project when the Rays got him from Pittsburgh.
Consider him reclaimed.
4. Hyun Jin Ryu – Toronto Blue Jays
Like Glasnow, Ryu has struggled to stay healthy at times, posting a “full season” only once in the last four years (he was on pace last year, for what it’s worth). A former KBO stud, Ryu is one of the oldest guys on this list. He’s had a few brilliant stretches, and he’s rarely been bad.
3. Lucas Giolito – Chicago White Sox
After struggling mightily in 2018, Giolito put it together in 2019 and followed it up with a strong 2020. He was a big deal when he came to Chicago from the Nationals, and while it looked like he might flop, those concerns appear to be in the past now.
2. Shane Bieber – Cleveland (Nickname in Transition)
The reigning AL Cy Young winner, Bieber blew away the competition last year, clocking in at 50% better (by the all-encompassing fWAR) than the next-best AL pitcher. He’s 25. He could be an all-time great.
1. Gerrit Cole – New York Yankees
Cole’s bounced around a bit in recent years, from the Pirates, where he broke into the league, to the Astros, where he was infamously left in the bullpen during the decisive World Series loss to Washington, to the Yankees, where he’s now arguably the last man anyone in the AL wants to face. Cole churns out strikeouts, eats innings, and is physically imposing on the mound. He’s the prototype of an ace.
Top Five Pitchers, National League (by FanGraphs’s Depth Charts Projected WAR)
5. Aaron Nola – Philadelphia Phillies
Aaron Nola isn’t the biggest name in baseball, but he’s one postseason away from filling that role. He relies more on guile than most of his counterparts, so if you’re into that kind of thing, check him out.
4. Luis Castillo – Cincinnati Reds
Sharing a rotation with a former big name in the game (Sonny Gray) and the Cy Young winner (we’ll get to Trevor Bauer) resulted in a complete and total overshadowing of a strong 2020 by this guy. Castillo’s not hugely famous. He’s also poised to be a perennial Cy Young candidate.
3. Trevor Bauer – Los Angeles Dodgers
Bauer’s an interesting one. He’s polarizing for a wide array of reasons. Some things about him:
- He studied mechanical engineering at UCLA.
- In 2011, when he was still in college, ESPN the Magazine ran a paper about how unconventional he was, portraying him as a bit of a scientist and a bit of an iconoclast.
- His training is unconventional and features a lot of physical tools you may have never seen before.
- He cut his finger working on a drone in the middle of the 2016 postseason.
- He once threw a baseball over the center field fence in the middle of a game in frustration.
- He had a nasty run-in with a fan on Twitter that’s been often characterized as harassment.
- He has his own media company dedicated to “connecting baseball fans with athletes on a human level through storytelling” (my own opinion of this is that it’s well-intentioned but clumsily done—as Stu said at some point this offseason, Bauer is trying too hard to be cool).
- He has a long-running feud with Gerrit Cole stretching back to their time together at UCLA.
- He made a huge deal about other pitchers using pine tar and Major League Baseball not punishing them (it’s against the rules but has long been unenforced), then very likely started using pine tar himself this past season, thereby winning himself the Cy Young (he basically warned MLB, so it’s hard to get too mad at him).
I could go on and on. He’s an interesting one. Not really a face-of-the-game type, but probably not actively bad for baseball.
2. Max Scherzer – Washington Nationals
Max Scherzer is a terrifying human being. His eyes are two different colors. He mutters expletives to himself while pitching. He has not been actually accused of cannibalism (there is no indication that Max Scherzer is a cannibal), but if you were creating a movie about a major league pitcher who likes to eat human flesh, you would base the story around Max Scherzer.
Scherzer had some health issues in 2019, and he’s getting a little older, but since breaking into the league in 2008, he’s consistently been an ace. Tons of fun to watch pitch.
1. Jacob deGrom – New York Mets
But Scherzer is not Jacob deGrom.
deGrom, who started his college career as a shortstop at Stetson, is the best pitcher alive. He throws absolute gas. He strikes people out like he’s eating M&M’s. He’s tall, skinny, and as unhittable as they come. While Cole is the prototype of an ace in that he conveys dominance with his very appearance, deGrom is of the savant type. It’s unclear where in his frame the power originates, but it doesn’t look at all unnatural. It’s a beautiful thing to watch.
