The Bronx Bombers Reign Supreme: Yankees Lead MLB Power Rankings After Early-Season Battles

The answers to such queries are yet unknown to us and will not be for a few more weeks. However, that does not negate our ability to identify early-season standouts.

Tim Britton, Grant Brisbee, and Kaitlyn McGrath look at a player from each team who has stood out with their early-season play in this week’s power rankings.

---

Record: 12-5
Last Power Ranking: 3

This is your yearly reminder that growth is not linear. It is very simple to assume that a rookie’s.680 OPS will increase to a.720 OPS in his second season, that he will see consistent increases throughout his 20s, and that a graph of his career statistics will have a neat, bell-shaped curve.

The kid is clutch. @Volpe_Anthony pic.twitter.com/XEvxYtm3d6

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 14, 2024

Anthony Volpe had an ominous .666 OPS last season, and ZiPS gave him a reasonable-if-boring .730 OPS projection this year. But sometimes players — especially the ones who were top-10 prospects — just start mashing the figured-it-out button with both palms. There’s a chance that Volpe is this year’s guy, as he has more walks than strikeouts as of this writing, and he’s spraying the ball all over the ballpark. The best part might be his comically low whiff percentage, which is among the best in the league.

Last year at this time, The Athletic’s Keith Law used the words “I think he’s a star” to describe Volpe. He’s sure looking like one right now. — Grant Brisbee

Record: 11-8
Last Power Ranking: 2

Shohei Ohtani has an OPS of 1.000 and Mookie Betts is expected to surpass replacement with 15 wins. These are not unexpected. However, Teoscar Hernández is just behind Betts in the team’s home run total and has already proven to be worth the one-year wager that Los Angeles made on him during the winter.

See, I have a stake in this. I ranked Hernández far higher than anyone else at The Athletic (or pretty much any source, really) in our offseason free-agent rankings. What is not to appreciate about him? He is a playable corner outfielder with legitimate power. He is also walking more, whiffing less, and hitting rockets early in the season.

Am I obligated to point out that Hernández’s barrel rate and launch angles are down even from his rocky 2023 in Seattle? That his expected numbers are at career lows? Nope, because he’s proven me right. — Tim Britton

Record: 10-5
Last Power Ranking: 1

Except for Reynaldo Lopez’s outstanding play, Atlanta’s rotation would be in shambles, as we all predicted before the season. Atlanta surprised everyone early in the winter by signing López, who takes the mound on Tuesday night against Houston, to start rather than come in as a late-inning reliever. Thus far, the right-hander has paid off the risk. López has provided stability with two strong starts in as many tries amid a rotation that has been rocked by Max Fried’s erroneous start and Spencer Strider’s injury.

In 2019 and 2020, López’s final full-time stint as a starter in Chicago, he gave up a lot less hard contact and struck out less batters. No, the ERA will not drop below 1.00 much farther into April, but there are a lot of indicators that point to it perhaps staying below 4.00 into the summer. He simply needs to keep an eye on a walk rate that is a little high for a starter but appropriate for a reliever. — Britton

Record: 10-6
Last Power Ranking: 4

Jackson Holliday may have made his much-anticipated MLB debut last week, but another revered prospect has been shining early for the Orioles. Colton Cowser is off to a scorching start at the plate, hitting .441 with a 1.444 OPS in his first 14 games. Last week, he launched his first two home runs of the year against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park en route to recording 10 RBIs in the three-game series.

Cowser, a first-round draft pick in 2021, struggled in his first stint in the majors last year, but he seems to have found more comfort this season. Of course, Cowser’s numbers will come down to earth eventually — he was rocking a seriously inflated .500 BABIP prior to play on Monday — but the left-fielder is striking the ball exceptionally hard, and there is reason to believe he can break out this season. — Kaitlyn McGrath

Record: 9-8
Last Power Ranking: 5

Aaron Civale is not having the best start to the season for the Rays, despite the team’s wishes. He is becoming a classic example of an organization succeeding when they sign a pitcher, coat him in strikeout paste, and then unleash him on the AL to frighten the opposition. He is starting to look more like a Game 1 starter than the guy who had an 81.00 ERA in the 2022 postseason, even though it did not happen quickly enough to help them last season.

This cannot continue to be tolerated. Environmental concerns be damned, someone needs to find their tub of strikeout jelly and dump it into the ocean. Brisbee

Record: 9-8
Last Power Ranking: 8

Back in the halcyon days of 2019, covering a Mets ownership that would never pursue big-time starting pitching in free agency, I wrote a piece advocating that they consider trading for a pitcher coming off a 3-17 season.

since Spencer Turnbull appeared to be about to explode. And now that 2024 has arrived, a no-hitter and three outstanding starts have proven that I was correct.

Oh sure, in between that no-hitter in 2021 and now, Turnbull required Tommy John surgery, missed the majority of 2021 and 2022, made just seven unproductive starts in the previous campaign, and had two run-ins with the Tigers over injuries that led to reversed options. He was also non-tendered prior to joining the Phillies, where he has been a treasure in the depth chart, replacing Taijuan Walker. Turnbull has never questioned the substance, especially in light of the sweeper now in place. When healthy, he makes smart decisions at Citizens Bank Park by keeping the ball on the ground and within the ballpark. — Britton

Record: 10-5
Last Power Ranking: 13

The Brewers are defying the notion that they are a pitch-first team this season. The Brewers and Braves are tied for first place in the majors with an average of 6.5 runs per game before Monday’s games.

Helping to lead the Brewers’ unexpected offensive outburst has been William Contreras, who was leading the National League with a .375 batting average. His hits haven’t been cheap ones, either, as the catcher is hitting the ball as hard as ever before. The Brewers were supposed to be entering a re-tooling phase, yet they’ve emerged as an early contender for the NL Central crown. It’s tough to say whether this young and scrappy lineup can keep this up, but it’s at least fun to watch for now. — McGrath

Record: 9-8
Last Power Ranking: 7

The bad news: Josh Jung, who had a stellar season opener (1.415 OPS), was placed on the 60-day injured list due to a fractured wrist. One of the main reasons to be optimistic about the lineup was Jung’s potential in his sophomore year, among many others.

The good news is that Josh Smith appears to be more than just a third base stand-in. Smith has one of the lowest strikeout rates in the league, and while this is a tiny sample, it normalizes far more quickly than other stats. Smith receives extra credit since, despite Adolis García and Evan Carter having stronger seasons, he was hitting with this technique during his finest seasons in the minors, and the Rangers needed him after Jung’s injury. Brisbee

Record: 8-9
Last Power Ranking: 9

Even if the Diamondbacks have not played well as a team, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. is off to a brilliant start after agreeing to a three-year, $42 million contract to stay in the desert. The left fielder topped the Diamondbacks on Monday in a number of offensive statistics, including hits (19), RBIs (18), and home runs (4).

But I spent five years watching Gurriel while he was with the Blue Jays and he was a notoriously streaky hitter. Just last season, Gurriel put up a 1.130 OPS in May before posting a .480 OPS in July. By September, he was back up to an .826 OPS. Everything tells us that Gurriel will cool off considerably in the coming weeks, but the good news is that another hot stretch won’t be far off. — McGrath

Record: 10-6
Last Power Ranking: 11

For the 2023 Cubs, it would be more appropriate to refer to first base as a dense neutron star that mimics but differs from a black hole rather than calling it a black hole. Due primarily to the Cubs playing Cody Bellinger at the position and adding Jeimer Candelario and Trey Mancini in response to the position’s collapse, Chicago’s on-base percentage at the position was in the bottom third of the league.

The Cubs acquired Michael Busch even prior to Bellinger’s return this spring in one of those trades the Dodgers periodically have to make when they say, “Nah, we do not need this top-50 prospect.” With the exception of one game, Busch has started every game at first base. His strength has given the Cubs’ middle of the order much-needed length. Chicago had hoped that he would be precisely that.

None of it comes across as a fluke. Busch is in the top 1 percent in the league in exit velo and expected average, slugging and weighted on-base average. He may go from providing length as the No. 6 hitter to being the cleanup hitter by the time you finish these rankings. — Britton

Record: 10-9
Last Power Ranking: T-18

Everybody has occasionally wondered what a particular player may have looked like in a different league. Had Derek Jeter been selected by the Expos in that draft? What would happen if Barry Bonds attended 81 Coors Field games? And if Jurickson Profar was a member of the storied Giants team?

Profar likes the even years, just like those Giants do. Prior to Monday, Profar has one more career plate appearance in an odd year compared to an even year, with an even year OPS of 75 points better. Now you know why San Diego allowed him to spend a year in Colorado before bringing him back and placing him in the corner outfield position.

So far, Profar is hitting the ball on average way harder than he ever has before. Maybe that’s reason to think this could be a long-term change. Maybe it’s just some early-season noise. At the very least, Profar’s relevant. — Britton

Record: 9-7
Last Power Ranking: 22

The Reds are flush with young, exciting talent, but no one is standing out as much as Spencer Steer. Before games on Monday, the left-fielder led the Reds in hits (18) and RBIs (18) and nearly three weeks into the season, he still has an OPS that is four digits long.

In addition to his hitting, Steer’s glove is performing well for the Reds this season. He demonstrated this on a sliding catch he made against the White Sox over the weekend. Additionally, as reporter C. Trent Rosecrans noted, according to Sports Info Solutions, Steer and the other Reds outfielders have been the top defensive outfield in the majors thus far this season. McGrath

Record: 9-8
Last Power Ranking: 14

While closer Jordan Romano was injured, the Blue Jays turned to a closer-by-committee strategy, but it’s Yimi García who has taken the lead. Going into play Monday, the right-hander has allowed just one run in 6 2/3 innings with 11 strikeouts compared to just one walk.

The ugliness of his work has been more impressive than his stat line. With a fastball mph average of 96.9, the 33-year-old reliever is throwing more forcefully than before. Last week, García threw two of his hardest pitches ever, a 99.8 mph four-seam fastball among them, and his early strikeout totals are the highest of his career. For years, the veteran has been a trustworthy middle-inning reliever; nonetheless, more work will be necessary to ascertain whether he has discovered a new gear or whether this is simply an anomaly based on a tiny sample size. McGrath

Record: 6-12
Last Power Ranking: 6

Jose Altuve is off to the best start of his career, so do not blame the Astros for their awful April. It is important to note that practically all of his hits and home runs have been withdrawn. He is returning to the extremes of the 2021 season with his spray chart, which has looked like this for years.

Jose Altuve has three straight three-hit games. He’s hitting .403 after 72 at-bats. That was an absurd at-bat.

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) April 16, 2024

A player should be a little later on fastballs as he grows older, especially since his response time slows down and he becomes more prone to breaking things away. Although I am a sensitive person, I would argue that Altuve is striking as if he knows what is coming, but then I would get angry comments from others. Cheap comments like that really do detract from the possibility that Altuve is actually on the verge of becoming an inner-circle Hall of Famer rather than a Hall of Famer. Perhaps the youth should start believing him to be cool once more. Brisbee

Record: 11-6
Last Power Ranking: T-18

Martín Pérez was brought in to be a stable leader for the Pirates’ rotation, and early on, he’s been exactly that. While he’s no flamethrower, Pérez had a 1.89 ERA through his first three starts of the season before Monday’s outing. As has been his style, he’s succeeding by generating soft contact.

This makes sense because Pérez has a history of being a great starter, with his best months being April and May throughout his career. If Pérez continues to play well, the Pirates have the potential to contend for the NL Central title and make their first postseason berth since 2015. McGrath

Record: 9-8
Last Power Ranking: 15

For one simple reason—it is becoming the This Guy Came Back from an Injury and Did Well Award, which is incredibly predictable and boring—no one gives a damn about the Comeback Player of the Year Award. It is unfortunate since there should be plenty of debate about this award throughout the season, with many interpretations of what constitutes a “comeback.”

Take Tyler O’Neill, for example. In 2021, he was a 26-year-old who hit 34 homers and won a Gold Glove, finishing eighth in the NL MVP voting. That’s a cornerstone player! That’s the kind of talent you consider locking up to a Braves-ian extension with a bunch of team options at the end. Then he had a couple of down seasons and was dealt to the Red Sox in a trade that didn’t get a lot of coverage at all. Now he’s leading the American League in homers and looking like that cornerstone again. It just might be the comeback story of the year, even if he wasn’t quite injured enough to get an award for it. He is currently in the concussion protocol after a nasty collision on Monday, but that’s been the only downer in an excellent season so far. — Brisbee

Record: 11-5
Last Power Ranking: 16

The Guardians hit an incredible 124 home runs in the previous season. That is the number of losses the Washington Senators suffered in 1968, the most well-known pitcher-friendly season in baseball history, with 96 games lost. That is the number of home runs the Pirates hit in 2021, their 101st loss season, with Jacob Stallings hitting sixth more often than any other batter. They played like a team under Whitey Herzog’s management, a total anachronism.

Here’s the longest ball Steven Kwan has ever hit in the big leagues. It happened a couple weeks ago:

The early returns seem to indicate that Kwan may be attempting to go for greater power at this point. Although he is hitting for a high average, it does not necessarily mean that he is walking less and striking out more than normal. Not if it has additional power. At this rate, Kwan might set a new career best by the middle of May, but it might be a bit much to get too enthusiastic about a player who has already hit two home runs as of this writing. Brisbee

Record: 6-9
Last Power Ranking: 12

With the departures of Sonny Gray and Kenta Maeda, the Twins are turning to their young pitchers to fill the void. Among those options, Joe Ryan may possess the most upside.

Ryan, who the Twins acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays in the Nelson Cruz trade, experienced ups and downs last season but is off to an impressive start. He leads Twins pitchers with 24 strikeouts and has a 2.60 ERA in 17 1/3 innings over three starts.

A polished pitch mix is what is fueling Ryan’s early success, which is why we believe it, as writers Dan Hayes and Eno Sarris noted. Ryan has developed his secondary pitches, such as a splitter and a harder slider, with the help of his accurate fastball, and the results are showing. It will require players like Ryan stepping up if the Twins are to overcome their early injury concerns. McGrath

Record: 11-6
Last Power Ranking: 23

According to Baseball-Reference, Bobby Witt Jr. was worth 1.6 WAR through Sunday’s games. That means he’s creeping into the list of top-25 seasons for a shortstop in franchise history. He’s played 16 games as of this writing.

Best player in baseball? It’s much too early for that, but it’s certainly not impossible that Witt is described in those terms at some point in his career, and it might just start this season. It’s probably time for the Royals to extend him. I know they just did, but can they really risk not having him on the team in 2038? Just tack on another 11 seasons to the existing 11-season contract and call it a day. He’s good for it. — Brisbee

Record: 7-10
Last Power Ranking: 10

The Mariners have a strong pitching staff, but Bryce Miller has emerged as the team’s standout thus far rather than Luis Castillo, George Kirby, or Emerson Hancock. With three starts under his belt, the 25-year-old right-hander has a 1.96 ERA and has limited opposition lineups to a.182 batting average. According to MLB.com, since a three-run home run in the fourth inning of his first start of the season, Miller has not given up an earned run. A few other issues with Seattle’s rotation have been somewhat concealed by Miller’s outstanding start. McGrath

Record: 9-7
Last Power Ranking: 20

With all due respect, pitchers from Seattle University aren’t supposed to do this:

That’s triple digits from the left side, which is the kind of thing you used to see once in a generation, usually from a pitcher on his way to the Hall of Fame. When Billy Wagner was doing it in the late ’90s, he was a freak. Now we’re just supposed to accept that a ninth-round draftee from Seattle University can make some adjustments and start throwing 100 from the left side?

While producing major-league talent at Seattle University should not be impossible, the pitchers there should be able to get away with a subpar fastball and a few other misfit pitches. Like, the only other pitcher from the Seattle Redhawks to play in the major leagues is Janson Junk. He makes sense now.

Skubal does not. And the Tigers are very, very grateful for that. — Brisbee

Record: 8-9
Last Power Ranking: 21

Compared to previous season, Willson Contreras’ week and a half absence from catching generated much less controversy because of an injury this time around. However, Iván Herrera filled in admirably for Contreras, giving the Cardinals something to consider while managing their flexible starting lineup.

Herrera’s three homers are tied for the team lead as of Monday, and he provided that power while seldom striking out. His Baseball Savant page has more red than, well, a day game at Busch Stadium, suggesting he’s underperforming to this point this season.

St. Louis has plenty of at-bats for both Contreras and Herrera in the absence of Dylan Carlson, Tommy Edman, and Matt Carpenter. However, waiting for the offense to regain health may be important later in the season. — Britton

Record: 8-8
Last Power Ranking: 24

Brett Baty appears to be the player the Mets expected to succeed in the majors and put an end to the team’s continuous turnover at the hot corner position since David Wright’s health problems began, following a dismal rookie campaign that included a demotion after the deadline. Before getting on the struggle bus last season, Baty was hitting over.300 and playing with a lack of enthusiasm.

However, there are issues here if we remove the pollen and examine more closely. Hitting more balls in the air with force was the off-season objective. Baty’s ground ball rate has increased over the previous season, while his overall exit velocity has decreased. His anticipated figures are therefore all lower than in 2023. Baty’s confidence has increased early in the season by riding the BABIP wave, which is crucial for someone who struggled for much of the previous campaign. However, the numbers must soon be matched by the performance. — Britton

Record: 7-10
Last Power Ranking: 17

The debate around pitcher health often boils down to:

“What if they didn’t throw their hardest on every pitch?”
“Oh, so you’re asking ‘What if they didn’t get anybody out?’”

And now Jordan Hicks wants to blow that up.

Because it is obvious that Hicks is not throwing his best pitch on every outing as he moves from relief to starting. His peak speed was 103 mph, but right now he is only averaging 96. And he is hitting it on the black, blending in his secondaries, and just enjoying success by following every advice given by your angrier relative, which you have been drudgery enough to refute every holiday since you began covering baseball. Had you informed me prior to the season that a certain pitcher would succeed by commanding a softer pitch, I would have chosen Bartolo Colón, 50, who is likely to assist the Cardinals in defeating Hicks in the second half. — Britton

Record: 8-8
Last Power Ranking: 25

Sure, Mike Trout is hitting.375 all over the field, but give Reid Detmers some credit—he might be turning into an ace. Though it ignores how unique Detmers’ professional path has been, it feels like he has been with the Angels for so long that he was teammates with Tim Salmon. Before making his major-league debut, he only made 15 starts in the minor leagues. After that, he had to learn his way around one of baseball’s most peculiar and perplexing organizations. Considering all of that, it is amazing that he was even mediocre throughout the previous two seasons.

He’s reminding the world, though, that he’s always had the potential to be elite. If the Angels could just get another superstar to pair with Trout, why, they’ll have a chance to make some noise in the AL West. — Brisbee

Record: 7-10
Last Power Ranking: 27

Despite having four qualified hitters below the Mendoza Line and three more who are just above it as of this writing, the A’s have won three straight series. Four of their starting pitchers have an ERA higher than 5.00. It is beginning to creep up on me whether this winning will continue all season.

All we can do is wait and see. Paul Blackburn tied a major-league record with a 0.00 ERA in his first three outings; let us honor his accomplishments in the interim. He joined the A’s when Jed Lowrie led the team in WAR (2017), and in the subsequent two seasons, the team has truly needed someone to consume innings, and he is grown into a dependable, albeit uninteresting, one. The squad is 3-0 when he begins, but he has only faced the Guardians, Tigers, and Nationals thus far. There may be more difficult opponents ahead. The dude just prevails. Brisbee

Record: 7-9
Last Power Ranking: 26

Jesse Winker is waving hello again. After two lost seasons in Seattle and Milwaukee, Winker is following in the hallowed footsteps of Kyle Schwarber and Jeimer Candelario in reigniting his career in the nation’s capital, with a .300/.400/.500 line early in the season.

Winker coupled excellent plate discipline with strong contact when he was at his best in Cincinnati. Although it is in a better place now, the hard contact portion of that equation has been missing for the past two years. Though he is not quite on pace to match the 39 from his All-Star performance in 2021, his three barrels are nearly as many as the five he had throughout the entire previous season. For Washington, Winker does not need to be quite as good as Schwarber and Candelario in order to be valuable and/or interchangeable. Simply put, it is good to see him seeming more like himself. — Britton

Record: 3-14
Last Power Ranking: 28

To be honest, we wrote a very nice paragraph about the Marlins’ finest player thus far this season—the guy who has two of their count ’em one-two-three victories—here. However, on Monday, they sent him down to the minor leagues. Yes, we do enjoy Max Meyer. With Edward Cabrera returning, Miami does not, at least not enough to roster him in the interim.

So, umm, let’s move to the next picture you see on their Baseball-Reference page. Oops, Declan Cronin is in the minors, too, after four scoreless innings of relief. OK, how about Ryan Weathers then?

After three starts, Weathers has a strong ERA. With a WHIP of 1.500 and a FIP of almost five, he is walking a batter every other inning and averaging less than five innings in those starts. I apologize, but the one bright spot among the Miami Marlins who are currently in action is Bryan Hoeing’s strong but low-leverage long relief. — Britton

Record: 4-13
Last Power Ranking: 29

Ryan McMahon contributed a career-high four hits, including three doubles, to the Rockies’ 12-4 thumping of the Blue Jays on Friday, helping the team earn just their fourth victory of the year. The 29-year-old third baseman, who is still among the greatest hitters in the National League to begin the season, had a rough spell at the plate. McMahon was slashing.373/.457/.559 prior to Monday’s Rockies game, and he was tied for second in the NL in hitting average. McMahon has always been a solid defensive player, but maybe this year he puts more of a bat behind his glove. McGrath

Record: 2-14
Last Power Ranking: 30

The White Sox might not win ten games by the end of the first month, which makes things pretty bad in Chicago. If anything has been good thus far, it is starter Garrett Crochet, who is proving that he may be a valuable asset for the South Siders—well, except the Campfire Milkshake.

With a 3.57 ERA through four starts, the 24-year-old left-hander leads the majors as of Monday with 31 strikeouts against only four walks. He is just the third pitcher since at least 1901, according to MLB.com, to record 30 strikeouts or more and four walks or less in his first four professional starts. Crochet is at least providing supporters with something to look forward to every sixth day, even though there is not much to cheer about at the moment. McGrath

(Top photo of Jose Altuve: Tim Warner / Getty Images)