2026 MLB Power Rankings: Which Standouts And Stars Need To Step Up?

More than a quarter of the way through the season, Fernando Tatis Jr. is still looking for his first home run, Cal Raleigh ranks last among qualified catchers in slugging percentage, and Bo Bichette has been one of the worst hitters in the sport. Surely, it won’t remain this way all year. For now, though, it’s been a forgettable start for some of the game’s most dynamic offensive forces. In this week’s power rankings, we’ll look at the standout players on every team who need to step up going forward. They were swept by the Guardians and Dodgers — who outscored them 31-3 over three games — and now have the worst record and run differential in MLB.  There’s a lot wrong here, clearly, so no one player is going to remedy this. They need more from Yusei Kikuchi when he gets healthy (0-3, 5.81 ERA) and could use more offense from Logan O’Hoppe, whose .545 OPS ranks 26th among the 30 MLB catchers with at least 100 plate appearances this season. Two years ago, Ezequiel Tovar received down-ballot MVP votes. This year, the 24-year-old is playing below replacement level and ranks last among qualified MLB shortstops in fWAR. The Astros, with their flurry of pitching injuries and MLB-worst ERA (5.43), need Tatsuya Imai (9.24 ERA) to figure things out quickly after giving him three years and $54 million. Two years ago, Jarren Duran had a 9.0-WAR All-Star season that saw him finish eighth in MVP voting. This year, he’s hitting 50% below league average with the lowest on-base percentage of any qualified outfielder. Whether it’s Salvador Perez (.595 OPS) or Vinnie Pasquantino (.624), the Royals need one of their offensive standouts to start giving Bobby Witt Jr. more help. We can include one on both sides of the ball here: Many expected Eury Pérez to be a dark-horse Cy Young candidate this year, but the 23-year-old has a 5.33 ERA through 10 starts. Meanwhile, 2025 All-Star Kyle Stowers has played below replacement level since returning from a hamstring injury last month. They were swept by the Mets then lost a series to the Blue Jays and have now dropped 10 of their last 12 games. Getting Casey Mize back will help their beleaguered rotation, but the Tigers need more from Jack Flaherty (0-5, 5.77 ERA) while Tarik Skubal and Justin Verlander are sidelined. Hampered by knee and hamstring injuries over the last few years, Royce Lewis has seen his OPS drop every year since launching 15 homers in his spectacular 58-game sample in 2023. He’s currently slashing .163/.261/.279. Last week was a big step in the right direction for Willy Adames, whose OPS now starts with a “6” instead of a “5.” The Giants will need that to continue for their $182 million shortstop after a slow start to the year. This was a big week for the Mets, who swept the Tigers and then took the Subway Series. But they’re still waiting for Bo Bichette to get going. He’s in a 3-for-37 rut and has a .531 OPS. Given their pitching woes, they’re going to have to outslug every opponent. To do that, the Orioles will need Gunnar Henderson to build on his four-hit day Sunday, which lifted his batting average up over .200 on the year. His hard-hit rate is down while his strikeout and chase rates are way up to start the year. The fractured toe may be playing a role, but George Springer has a .566 OPS in 27 games after logging a .959 OPS and finishing seventh in MVP voting a year ago. He’s not hitting the ball with nearly the same force. Not helping matters, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had gone 23 straight games without a home run before going deep Sunday. The Jays need more of that. The Nats captured series wins against the Reds and Orioles last week and are creeping their way toward .500 despite a starting rotation that’s 9-15 with a 5.17 ERA. Really, they just need anyone from the starting staff to provide more consistency; perhaps that player will be Cade Cavalli, who has 39 strikeouts and six walks in 31 innings over his last six starts and might have the highest upside of the group. (It’s worth noting that Foster Griffin had been tremendous until coughing up nine runs to the Reds last week.) The obvious answer here is Cal Raleigh, who’s slashing .161/.243/.317 coming off last year’s eruption. But since he’s on the injured list and therefore can’t improve upon the slow start right now, it’s worth mentioning Luis Castillo. The three-time All-Star has an ERA over 6.00 for a Mariners rotation that hasn’t dominated the way many anticipated. Ketel Marte has one home run in his last 25 games and a .637 OPS on the season. He has the highest chase rate of his career, likely trying to do a little too much to get his bat going, but his quality of contact suggests better days ahead. Corey Seager was hitless in his last seven games before being sidelined with a back issue. The Rangers are still determining the severity of the injury, but it’s hard to imagine them making a deep run if he’s out or hitting below league average, as he is right now. The Reds have lost 12 of their last 16 games, and their bullpen is in disarray. But the rotation hasn’t been much better. As they wait for Hunter Greene to return, they need someone other than Chase Burns (5-1, 1.87) to give them quality innings. The answer could be Andrew Abbott, who has a 1.19 ERA over his last four starts after a poor start to the season. After hitting more than 20 homers each of the last two seasons, Lawrence Butler has the third-lowest slugging percentage among all qualified outfielders this year (.272). He has been a well below league-average hitter (82 OPS+) since signing his seven-year, $65.5 million extension before last season. The two highest-paid pitchers on the White Sox roster are relievers Jordan Hicks and Seranthony Dominguez. The former has a 5.51 ERA while the latter has a 4.82 ERA after blowing his third save of the year Sunday, but that didn’t stop the party on the South Side. The White Sox still came back to win and have now won 13 of their last 18 games. Marcell Ozuna, who was brought in to be the Pirates’ designated hitter, has been one of the worst hitters in MLB this year. The 35-year-old is slashing .182/.271/.311 for a career-low .582 OPS. Steven Kwan has the lowest slugging percentage of any qualified outfielder, the lowest hard-hit rate in MLB and a career-low .201 batting average. Others are picking up the slack, though, for a Guardians team that has won eight of its last 11 games. Well, that turned quickly. The Phillies have now won 15 of 19 games since Don Mattingly took over as manager. They’re still waiting for Trea Turner to get going, though. The three-time All-Star is hitting .236 with the lowest on-base percentage (.286) and highest chase rate of his career. The Cardinals are far surpassing expectations for a team with a bottom-five luxury-tax payroll. If we’re going to nitpick, Dustin May, Kyle Leahy and Matthew Liberatore all rank in the bottom 10 among qualified MLB starters in strikeout rate, so it’d be nice to see someone from that trio start to miss a few more bats. Austin Wells has a .556 OPS, Trent Grisham is hitting .166, Jazz Chisholm Jr. has been a below league-average hitter (though he is heating up), and David Bednar has an ERA close to 5.00 after blowing a save Sunday against the Mets. Now Max Fried is injured, too, adding to the concerns for a Yankees team that has dropped seven of its last nine games. Fernando Tatis Jr. has now played 45 games without hitting a home run. Prior to this year, he had never gone even 30 straight games without hitting a homer. It’s remarkable the Padres have jumped out to this start with Tatis (.581 OPS), Manny Machado (.604) and Jackson Merrill (.603) all scuffling offensively to this degree. The Brewers’ top three saves leaders this year — Trevor Megill, Abner Uribe and Angel Zerpa — are a combined 2-6 with a 5.45 ERA and six blown saves. Despite the late-inning uncertainty, they’ve won eight of their last 10 games. The Cubs have now dropped each of their last three series. Dansby Swanson is hitting a career-worst .192, while offseason pitching acquisition Edward Cabrera has a 5.26 ERA over his last seven starts. Many expected the Rays to be in a transition year based on their offseason moves (*raises hand*), but they’ve won seven straight series and are 18-4 in their last 22 games. Cedric Mullins got off to a dreadful start, but it’s hard to find much wrong in Tampa right now. Pitching injuries and an aging roster might be the only things that can stop them. Mookie Betts is hitting .180, though he has only played in 13 games this year. Freddie Freeman’s .739 OPS is his lowest mark in a season since he played in 20 games as a rookie in 2010. The Braves just faced the Dodgers, Cubs and Red Sox and took all three series. It hasn’t been the start to the year that the Braves’ corner outfielders would’ve envisioned — Ronald Acuña Jr. had a .740 OPS before injuring his hamstring, Mike Yastrzemski has a .643 OPS, and Jurickson Profar is suspended for the year — but the team is still rolling.