2026 MLB Power Rankings: Which Players Deserve More Attention?

If the season ended today, the National League batting title would not belong to Trea Turner as it did last year or Luis Arraez as it did for the two years prior. Nope, it’s Ildemaro Vargas — yes, Ildemaro Vargas — who leads all of Major League Baseball in batting average. And it’s not particularly close. If you weren’t already, it’s time to pay attention to the Diamondbacks infielder, who entered this year worth 1.8 wins above replacement over his first nine big-league seasons with a career .646 OPS. This year, the 34-year-old is already worth 1.5 bWAR. Vargas leads MLB with a .382 batting average and the National League with a 1.063 OPS, a number that trails only Ben Rice and Yordan Alvarez for the best mark among all qualified MLB hitters. He also just completed a 27-game hitting streak that was the longest in MLB since Turner’s 27-gamer ended in April 2022. In a nod to Vargas’ extraordinary start, this week’s power rankings include one player from every team who deserves more attention. (Sorry for the Arizona spoiler.) The White Sox occupied the bottom spot in these rankings for a bit, so getting swept by them is a good way to swap positions. At least the Angels always have a chance when José Soriano is on the mound. He leads MLB with a 0.84 ERA through seven starts. Yes, Nolan McLean is the most valuable pitcher on the team. But veteran Clay Holmes leads the team in innings pitched and has the fourth-lowest ERA (1.69) among all qualified MLB pitchers. This is not the same version of Antonio Senzatela that you might remember. After posting a 6.65 ERA with an 11.8% strikeout rate as a starter last year, the Rockies have changed the veteran right-hander’s fastball usage (a lot more cutter and sinker, a lot less four-seamer) in a relief role and have now seen him post a 1.21 ERA while more than doubling his strikeout rate. A league-average batter last year, 27-year-old Casey Schmitt has been the best hitter on the Giants this year. That also says something about the rest of a San Francisco lineup that has scored the fewest runs in MLB. Not being able to score or hold leads is the kind of rough combination that can lead to a six-game skid. Among MLB hitters with at least 95 plate appearances this year, Austin Martin has by far the best on-base percentage as well as the third-highest walk rate behind only Mike Trout and Nick Kurtz. After a couple of wins to start the Chad Tracy era, the Red Sox are back to demonstrating that they’re still not a very good team right now. But in a year of turmoil, the decision to trade for Willson Contreras looks like a prudent one. He leads the team in homers, RBI, slugging and OPS and has been one of the most valuable first basemen in MLB at a position that has given the Red Sox trouble for years. Most importantly, Christian Walker seems OK after getting hit in the head by a pitch over the weekend. He also happens to be the team’s second-best hitter on the Astros this year behind Yordan Alvarez and one of the most valuable first basemen in MLB. This is more like what Houston envisioned when it gave him a three-year, $60 million deal before last season. With Munetaka Murakami leading the league in home runs, Colson Montgomery might be flying under the radar. After hitting 21 home runs in just 255 at-bats last year, Montgomery has another nine this season while ranking third defensively among all qualified MLB shortstops in outs above average. On a pitching staff that leaves a lot to be desired, Foster Griffin is performing well. After spending the last three years in Japan, Griffin is back in the big leagues with a 2.27 ERA that ranks 10th among all MLB starters. The Nationals starter has a fastball in the low 90s, but he features three different versions of the pitch among a diverse arsenal. He has mixed well enough to hold his opponents to two earned runs or fewer in five of his seven starts. The Don Mattingly Phillies are 5-1 after Jesus Luzardo struck out 10 on Sunday. After allowing nine runs (eight earned) against the Cubs on April 15, Luzardo has a 1.50 ERA with 21 strikeouts and four walks over his last three starts. His expected ERA (3.25) is almost two runs better than his actual ERA (5.09), and the underlying numbers would suggest better days ahead. At 36, Seth Lugo is still getting it done. He has a 2.68 ERA on the year, and that includes a seven-run clunker against the Angels last month. In his other six starts, he has a 1.45 ERA. Lugo’s six innings of two-run ball this weekend was part of a Royals sweep in Seattle. It was a bad weekend in New York for Adley Rutschman (and the rest of the Orioles roster), but he had an OPS over 1.000 going into the series against the Yankees and has the highest hard-hit rate of his career. Really encouraging stuff after his offensive struggles the last two years. It’s time more people know about Otto Lopez. The 27-year-old is tied for the MLB lead in hits (45) and has the highest batting average (.341) and third-highest slugging percentage (.500) among all qualified shortstops. In a year in which the Rangers desperately need some of their talents in their 20s to take a leap forward, Josh Jung is doing his part. He’s on a 12-game hitting streak and has an OPS over 1.000 since the start of April.  Jung leads all qualified A.L. third basemen in every slash-line category, and strong underlying numbers back up his .916 OPS. After a slow start to the year in his transition from NPB, Kazuma Okamoto has a 1.169 OPS over his last 11 games with six home runs over the span. He homered four times this weekend against the Twins and is suddenly hitting 15% better than league average. Okamoto leads all MLB third basemen in RBI (22) and is tied for first at the position in home runs (nine). While Bryan Woo (4.61), Logan Gilbert (4.03) and Luis Castillo (6.29) all surprisingly have ERAs over 4.00, Emerson Hancock leads the Mariners rotation with a 2.59 ERA and just struck out a career-high 14 batters this weekend in Kansas City, though his work didn’t prevent a Royals sweep. Hancock, who has 46 strikeouts and six walks this year, has the second-best strikeout-to-walk ratio among all qualified MLB pitchers. Scroll back up to the top for Vargas. He was never even a league-average hitter in any of his first nine MLB seasons, and now he’s the best hitter in the league through a month of Year 10. One of the stories of the year for a Diamondbacks team that otherwise is not yet hitting to its potential. A third-round pick by the Mets in 2018, Carlos Cortes was let go at the end of the 2024 season and picked up by the Athletics on a minor-league deal. He now has an OPS over 1.000 in a limited sample this year. Among all MLB hitters with at least 80 plate appearances, the diminutive outfielder ranks first in batting average and has the fourth-lowest strikeout rate. He doesn’t chase, he doesn’t whiff, and he hits the ball with force. That’s a fruitful concoction. Top prospects Chase DeLauter and Travis Bazzana have both arrived to give the Guardians offense a lift, but they’re not alone. Daniel Schneemann, who had a .636 OPS last year, has an .890 OPS this season while also providing elite defense. He has been one of the most valuable players on the Cleveland roster this year. The American League Rookie of the Year race will be a fascinating one to watch. Murakami leads the majors in homers, Okamoto is heating up, and DeLauter and Parker Messick are both starring in Cleveland. But Kevin McGonigle might still have the inside track. At 21, the Detroit phenom already ranks first in on-base percentage, second in batting average and third in OPS among all qualified MLB shortstops. Four of the five pitchers who have started a game for the Reds this year have ERAs over 5.00. Then there’s Chase Burns (3-1, 2.20 ERA). Impossible to overstate what the 23-year-old has meant for this Cincinnati rotation, which has been without Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo to this point. The Pirates bounced back from a four-game sweep in St. Louis by turning around and sweeping Cincinnati while outscoring the Reds by 19 runs over three games. Oneil Cruz tallied his 11th stolen base of the year on Sunday and is on a 40-50 pace. Congrats, Milwaukee. Because I get to make the rules, you get both a hitter and a pitcher here. Brice Turang just generally deserves more attention for being one of the best second basemen in MLB. The former Platinum Glove Award winner has an OPS over .900 and ranks fourth in MLB in on-base percentage and top 10 in fWAR among all qualified position players. Meanwhile, on the mound, Jacob Misiorowski ranks 44th in MLB in innings pitched yet leads the majors in strikeouts. It has officially all come together for Jordan Walker, the 2020 first-round pick who entered this year with a career .680 OPS and currently ranks 10th in MLB with a .964 OPS. It is also coming together overall for Chaim Bloom’s Cardinals, who followed a four-game sweep of the Pirates by winning a series against the Dodgers. For a rebuilding squad, the Cardinals are better than anybody would have projected. The $280 million contract will always loom over him, but Xander Bogaerts has been the best hitter in a San Diego lineup that’s still waiting for Fernando Tatis Jr. to hit his first home run of the season. The Padres have jumped out to their strong start despite an offense that ranks 25th in OPS, so Bogaerts’ stability at the plate has helped. Veteran Nick Martinez was available for anyone to sign entering February. Right before spring training, he agreed to a one-year, $13 million in Tampa Bay. The 35-year-old has proceeded to rank fifth among all qualified MLB starters with a 1.70 ERA. Credit to the Rays. We figured their pitching would keep them competitive, but this seemed likely to be a rebuilding year. Instead, they have the second-most wins in the American League. Shota Imanaga ranks in the top five among all qualified MLB pitchers in both WHIP (0.85) and opponents’ average (.169). Imanaga has gone at least six innings and allowed one or no runs in four of his last five starts. He ranks second among qualified starters in chase rate and is providing vital innings for a Cubs pitching staff missing a ton of pieces. The L.A. lineup has gone cold, scoring 11 runs over the last five games, but Justin Wrobleski stopped the Dodgers’ four-game skid on Sunday in St. Louis with six shutout innings. Wrobleski only has 15 strikeouts in 36 innings this year, but the Dodgers’ sixth starter has continually missed barrels. In his five starts this season, he is 5-0 with a 0.56 ERA. This is clearly the best team in the American League, and it helps having arguably the best hitter and pitcher in MLB to this point. While Ben Rice leads baseball in OPS, wRC+ and fWAR, Cam Schlittler ranks first among starters in WHIP, fWAR and K/BB and has a 0.45 ERA over his last three starts. After back-to-back down years offensively, Ozzie Albies is in the midst of the best offensive season of his career. He’s tied with Shea Langeliers, Otto Lopez and teammate Drake Baldwin for the MLB lead in hits and also leads all qualified second basemen in slugging and OPS. Albies is on an Atlanta team that leads MLB in OPS and now leads these power rankings for the first time this year.