Now that Shohei Ohtani is back on the mound, the two-way superstar will be providing even more value for the Dodgers.
Soon, Rafael Devers could also be providing more value to his new team whenever he mans first base for the first time in San Francisco.
But which players have provided the most value to their teams so far?
In this week’s power rankings, we’ll feature each team’s leader in FanGraphs’ version of wins above replacement as we near the halfway mark of the season.
Hunter Goodman (1.6 fWAR): The 25-year-old backstop leads all MLB catchers in hits and ranks top three among qualified players at his position in doubles, homers, batting average, slugging and OPS. It’s not a Coors Field thing, either. He barrels the baseball often and has a .925 OPS on the road.
Shane Smith (1.5 fWAR): The top Rule 5 pick stumbled for the first time this year last week against the Cardinals, but he still could soon be on his way to the All-Star Game. He has a 2.37 ERA in his 13 other starts this year.
Paul Skenes (3.3 fWAR): He leads the majors with a 1.85 ERA and looks well on his way to starting the All-Star Game again. He has a 1.01 ERA over his last eight starts.
Dane Myers (1.3 fWAR): Myers and Kyle Stowers share the team lead in fWAR, but we’ll single out Myers here who at 29 years old, after playing just 66 big-league games before this year, is hitting .320 while playing terrific center-field defense.
James Wood (3.3 fWAR): The Juan Soto trade looks like a boon for Washington. There’s no reason the team should still be this bad when Wood — who has the highest OPS among all qualified National League outfielders — C.J. Abrams and MacKenzie Gore are this good.
Jacob Wilson (3.1 fWAR): The rookie shortstop trails only Aaron Judge for the highest batting average in MLB, ranks 10th in on-base percentage and has the second-lowest strikeout rate among all qualified batters. He leads all qualified shortstops in hits, average and OPS and might start at shortstop in the All-Star Game.
Gunnar Henderson (2.0 fWAR): This hasn’t been the season anyone expected from the Orioles or their top talents, but Henderson is hitting .364 with a .462 on-base percentage in June.
José Soriano (2.2 fWAR): The Angels won a series in the Bronx last week with the help of seven shutout innings from Soriano, who then struck out 10 in 6.2 innings against the Astros over the weekend. He has a 0.87 ERA and 28 strikeouts over his last three starts.
Chris Sale (2.5 fWAR): Sale was back to his Cy Young form only to then fracture his rib cage diving for a ball. He fell one out shy of a complete-game shutout against the Mets and had a 1.00 ERA in his last eight starts before the injury. It’s a brutal blow for a Braves team that swept the Mets only to then drop a series to the Marlins. Really, Atlanta?
Byron Buxton (3.1 fWAR): Injuries have devastated the roster again, but at least Buxton is healthy and enjoying one of the best seasons of his career. He has six homers in his last six games. Pretty much everything else is…yikes. The Twins are spiraling, having lost nine of 10.
Jacob deGrom (2.2 fWAR): If I told you before the year that deGrom, Tyler Mahle and Nathan Eovaldi would have each made at least 12 starts with a sub-2.40 ERA, you’d be asking how big the Rangers’ lead is in the AL West. Unfortunately, their offense still can’t sustain success. They scored five runs total while being swept by the Royals last week.
Bobby Witt Jr. (3.9 fWAR): He may not be putting up the same extraordinary numbers he did last year, but his combination of power, speed and elite defense provide such a high floor that he remains arguably the best shortstop in MLB this year. He’s hitting 31% above league average, leads the majors in doubles and has 10 homers and 21 steals.
Corbin Carroll (3.5 fWAR): In a bounceback year, Carroll is hitting the ball exceptionally harder than he has at any point in his career. He can live with a slightly higher strikeout rate when he’s already five homers shy of tying his career high.
José Ramírez (3.3 fWAR): The best third baseman in MLB, Ramírez ranks in the top 10 in the American League in every slash line category as well as hits and stolen bases. He had a 39-game on-base streak earlier this year.
Cal Raleigh (5.1 fWAR): Any questions about who deserves the title of best catcher in baseball have been answered. Raleigh, who leads the majors with 31 homers, might end up having the best season from a catcher in MLB history.
Alex Bregman (2.4 fWAR): Bregman and Carlos Narvaez share the team lead in fWAR, but Bregman has been worth more wins per Baseball Reference’s WAR calculation, so he wins the tiebreaker. It’s also worth pointing out that he’s still the most valuable player on the team despite missing the last month. By their own doing, the Red Sox could really use his bat right now.
Elly De La Cruz (2.3 fWAR): He may not get to 60 steals again, but a 40-40 season is within the realm of possibility. His combination of power, speed and arm strength remains absurd, and every year his strikeout rate is descending while his walk and barrel rates rise.
Alejandro Kirk (2.8 fWAR): A major reason the Blue Jays are in contention in the AL East is the play of Kirk, who has bounced back from two below-league-average offensive seasons by hitting the ball harder than ever before. He’s hitting .306 and is one of the best defensive catchers in the sport.
Brendan Donovan (2.1 fWAR): The 28-year-old leads all qualified Cardinals position players in every slash line category and should soon be headed to his first All-Star team if he can keep it up.
Fernando Tatis Jr (3.4 fWAR): Tatis has not been playing at the MVP level he was to start the year, but the underlying numbers suggest he could get back to that point. He’s on pace for the first 30-30 season of his career, and he has been the best defensive right fielder in the game.
Sal Frelick (1.9 fWAR): This one might come as a surprise on a team that features Jackson Chourio, Christian Yelich, William Contreras, Freddy Peralta and Rookie of the Year contender Chad Patrick. But Frelick is hitting a team-high .298 with 14 steals while playing terrific right field defense. He had seven hits this weekend as the Brewers poured it on the Twins with 35 runs over three games.
Junior Caminero (2.1 fWAR): He was a popular breakout pick this year, and now we’re seeing why. Caminero leads all AL third basemen in homers (19) and RBI (50). After a slow start, the 21-year-old has raised his season OPS from .662 on May 22 to .833 a month later. He has four homers in his last eight games.
Logan Webb (3.2 fWAR): It’s a bit shocking that Webb has only made one All-Star team to this point in his esteemed career, but he should be headed to his second straight this season. Webb, who has a 1.61 ERA this month, is putting up career-best numbers in ERA and strikeout rate and has significantly lowered his hard-hit rate in his age-28 season.
Jeremy Peña (3.9 fWAR): Peña has always brought plenty of value for his defensive skills at shortstop and his speed, but after hitting close to league average in each of his first three big-league seasons, the 27-year-old leads all Astros in OPS and all big-league shortstops in WAR in a career year this season. This looks a lot more like the player many expected him to become after winning World Series MVP honors in 2022.
Aaron Judge (6.0 fWAR): OK, so a .400 batting average might not happen. Now, Judge will probably have to settle for another 10+ WAR, 1.100+ OPS MVP season. What a shame. The Yankees pulled themselves out of their tailspin with a series win against the Orioles, but the Rays are on their tails now.
Francisco Lindor (3.1 fWAR): The Mets had won 28 straight games in which Lindor had homered until Sunday. It was a brutal week for the Mets, who were swept at Atlanta before dropping a series in Philadelphia. The pitching regression has arrived, and they’ve now lost eight of their last nine games. An important four-game series at home against the Braves looms.
Pete Crow-Armstrong (3.9 fWAR): Crow-Armstrong has taken the leap to stardom at 23 years old, already posting a 20-20 season this year while adding elite center-field defense. He’s in the early MVP conversation.
Trea Turner (3.2 fWAR): The streaky Phils are back rolling and now lead the NL East after taking the weekend series against the Mets. Turner has a team-leading .300 batting average with as many steals (19) as he had all of last year, all the more important now with Bryce Harper out.
Tarik Skubal (3.9 fWAR): It’s no surprise that Skubal has been worth more wins than any pitcher in MLB; he has 117 strikeouts and 12 walks. The Tigers have avoided lengthy spirals and still narrowly own the best record in MLB, but they fall out of the top spot after dropping five of eight.
Shohei Ohtani (4.0 fWAR): Facing the Padres (twice) and Giants seems to have kicked the Dodgers into gear. They’ve now won each of their last four series and emerged from the gauntlet that was their grueling early June schedule in first place, despite the vaunted trio atop their lineup looking a bit out of sync. Ohtani got going again Sunday, though, striking out two in a scoreless inning of work and then later tripling and homering while knocking in five runs in a full encapsulation of his supernatural skills.
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.
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