Our ranking of the top 100 MLB players in 2024 is here! And you know what that means: It’s time to talk about what we got right — and wrong.
We asked five of our voters — Buster Olney, Jeff Passan, Jorge Castillo, Bradford Doolittle and David Schoenfield — to take a look at our MLB Rank list and tell us what they and their colleagues messed up and what surprised them the most. Who did we leave out? Who’s too high or too low? And what players will crack the top 100 — and even the top five — in the future?
Let’s hear what they had to say.
Olney: The presence of relievers, as well as their collective impact, is growing in MLB. But it was Atlanta Braves reliever A.J. Minter who noted, as he looked over our Top 100 list, how few relievers we had on it. Devin Williams, who could be one of the most important players to move before this year’s trade deadline, is at No. 99. Given the volume of innings that individual relievers throw, the lack of bullpen guys makes sense, but it doesn’t square with the collective impact that bullpens have in the game in this era.
Just how few starting pitchers populate the top of the list. Gerrit Cole is the only one in the top 10. Just four are among the top 30: Cole, Spencer Strider, Corbin Burnes and Zack Wheeler. Of the top 50 players, 22% are starting pitchers; on the whole list, it’s 28%. The degradation of the starting pitcher is one of the biggest stories of the last 20 years in baseball, and the consequence is evident when the person who dictates the game — the one standing on the mound — is seen almost as an afterthought by those weighing its best players.
![MLB Rank 2024: Top snubs, overrated and underrated players - ESPN](https://a4.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2024%2F0310%2Fr1303037_1296x729_16%2D9.jpg)
Castillo: Seeing just one catcher in the top 45 and just six overall. Adley Rutschman, the Baltimore Orioles’ franchise cornerstone, is the first catcher on the list at No. 11. Next up? Will Smith at No. 46. Catchers, for good reason, usually don’t put up the huge offensive numbers stars at other positions produce. The position is a grind; the physical toll and daily responsibilities are tiresome. You could argue they should be graded on a curve. The best teams often feature a standout behind the plate. But this list doesn’t attach the necessary value to the position. If it did, Smith, J.T. Realmuto and Sean Murphy — a trio of starting catchers for playoff clubs in 2023 — would undoubtedly be higher.
Doolittle: We get very excited about good, young players but sometimes the thrill we get from watching them seems to overwhelm our empirical sense. So, we’ve got a few too many very young players who have flashed their potential at the big league level but probably shouldn’t be counted among the top 100 just yet. There are exceptions — Corbin Carroll and Gunnar Henderson, among last year’s rookies — but we’ve probably gotten a bit over our skis on others, especially Eury Perez, Elly De La Cruz and Anthony Volpe.
Schoenfield: Name recognition still matters a lot — even if some of the statistical evidence doesn’t always back up the ranking. Bryce Harper has missed time each of the past two seasons and is moving to first base on a full-time basis, a position that requires a higher offensive threshold and which we’ve only seen him play 36 games at. He still comes in at No. 13. Trea Turner didn’t have his best season and is a below-average defensive shortstop but is still at No. 20. Mike Trout, while one season removed from slugging .630, was injured and had the worst rate stats of his career with a .263/.367/.490 in 2023. He’s one spot ahead of Turner. All three could absolutely end up justifying those rankings, but they all feel a little high to me.
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