New data reveals the league’s most impactful hitters – and why traditional stats don’t tell the whole story
Key Highlights:
- Aaron Judge leads all MLB batters with a Batter Value Score of 9.5/10, driven by elite run production and home run power
- Shohei Ohtani ranks second, leading all players in runs scored with 146, while posting the highest Win Probability Added of anyone analyzed
- Cal Raleigh enters 2026 as the home run king of the study, having smashed 60 in 2025 – more than any other batter on the list
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With the 2026 MLB season now underway, Bovada Sportsbook has crunched the numbers on last year’s player stats to identify the hitters who truly moved the needle for their teams, and one star stands alone at the top.
While box scores and batting averages dominate the headlines, they don’t always capture how much a player is genuinely worth to their team on any given night.
To cut through the noise, a proprietary ‘Batter Value Score’ was determined, based on five key offensive metrics from the 2025 season: total runs scored, home runs, Wins Above Replacement (WAR), contribution to team wins through batting, and Win Probability Added (WPA). The result is a clearer picture of which hitters arrived at the start of the new campaign in the form that matters most.
MLB’s 10 ‘Most Valuable Batters’ ahead of the 2026 season:
| Rank | Batter | Franchise | Total Runs Scored (2025) | Home Runs Scored (2025) | Wins Above Replacement (2025) | Contribution to Team Wins Through Batting (2025) | Win Probability Added When Batting (2025) | Batter Value Score (/10) |
| 1 | Aaron Judge | New York Yankees | 137 | 53 | 9.7 | 8.9 | 5.6 | 9.50 |
| 2 | Shohei Ohtani | Los Angeles Dodgers | 146 | 55 | 6.6 | 6.4 | 5.9 | 8.47 |
| 3 | Cal Raleigh | Seattle Mariners | 110 | 60 | 7.4 | 5.4 | 3.7 | 7.33 |
| 4 | Juan Soto | New York Mets | 120 | 43 | 6.2 | 5.1 | 5.0 | 6.90 |
| 5 | Kyle Schwarber | Philadelphia Phillies | 111 | 56 | 4.7 | 4.1 | 2.9 | 6.01 |
| 6 | Jose Ramirez | Cleveland Guardians | 103 | 30 | 5.8 | 3.0 | 4.2 | 5.35 |
| 7 | Francisco Lindor | New York Mets | 117 | 31 | 5.9 | 2.6 | 3.0 | 5.32 |
| 8 | George Springer | Toronto Blue Jays | 106 | 32 | 4.8 | 4.3 | 3.1 | 5.21 |
| 9 | Bobby Witt Jr. | Kansas City Royals | 99 | 23 | 7.1 | 3.0 | 3.5 | 5.20 |
| 10 | Geraldo Perdomo | Arizona Diamondbacks | 98 | 20 | 7.0 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 5.09 |
Aaron Judge: The undisputed most valuable batter in baseball
No player in the analysis comes close to Aaron Judge in overall batting value. The New York Yankees captain posted a Batter Value Score of 9.5/10 – a near-perfect mark that reflects a 2025 season of relentless consistency across every metric.
His 137 runs scored ranked second only to Ohtani, his 53 home runs placed him firmly among the game’s elite power hitters, and his contribution to team wins through batting (8.9) was the highest of any player studied by a significant margin. With a WAR of 9.7, Judge also led the entire analysis in that category, underlining just how much of the Yankees’ success flows through their captain. Heading into 2026, he arrives as the clear benchmark every other batter will be measured against.
Shohei Ohtani: Still the most dangerous man in the lineup
The 2025 NL MVP takes second place with a Batter Value Score of 8.47/10, and in one key respect no batter in the study outperformed him. Ohtani led all 30 players analyzed in total runs scored with 146, and his Win Probability Added of 5.9, the highest figure in the entire dataset, speaks to an uncanny ability to deliver in the moments that matter most.
While his WAR of 6.6 sits below some others in the top ten, the sheer breadth of his offensive impact keeps him in a tier of his own alongside Judge. For opposing pitchers heading into the new season, he remains the most uncomfortable at-bat in the game.
Cal Raleigh: The home run story of 2025
Perhaps the most eye-catching number in the entire study belongs to Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh, who hit 60 home runs in 2025 – more than anyone else analyzed, including Judge and Ohtani. That extraordinary power output underpins his third-place Batter Value Score of 7.33/10, supported further by a WAR of 7.4 that highlights his broader value to the Mariners.
Raleigh’s emergence as one of the game’s premier run-producers represents one of the bigger stories heading into 2026, and his numbers suggest any suggestion he’s merely a catcher with a hot streak should be firmly put to rest.
New York Mets: The franchise with the most to gain
One detail worth noting from the full top ten is that the New York Mets feature twice: Juan Soto in fourth place (6.90/10) and Francisco Lindor in seventh (5.32/10). Soto, who posted 120 runs and 43 home runs in 2025, combines power with a WPA of 5.0 that places him among the most clutch performers in the analysis. Lindor, meanwhile, contributes strongly across the board with 117 runs and a WAR of 5.9.
The presence of two top-ten value batters in the same lineup makes the Mets one of the more intriguing teams to watch as the 2026 campaign unfolds.
Bobby Witt Jr. and Geraldo Perdomo: The WAR dark horses
Rounding out the top ten, Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals and Geraldo Perdomo of the Arizona Diamondbacks may sit lower on the overall Batter Value ranking, but both posted impressive WAR figures of 7.1 and 7.0 respectively – numbers that sit ahead of several players ranked above them. In both cases, traditional counting stats like home runs and runs scored, don’t fully reflect the contribution being made.
As teams increasingly lean on advanced metrics to guide roster decisions, players like Witt Jr. and Perdomo are precisely the kind of value that savvy front offices will be looking to build around in 2026.
Methodology:
To identify MLB’s ‘Most Valuable Batter’ for 2026, Bovada analyzed data on 30 batters from Baseball Reference to determine the following metrics and create a ‘Batter Value Score’:
Total Runs Scored (2025)
Total Home Runs Scored (2025)
WAR (Wins Above Replacement) (2025)
Contribution to Team Wins Through Batting (2025)
Win Probability Added When Batting (2025)
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