Ronald Acuña Jr. started 2024 as the best player in baseball, according to us. Who will end it as such?
The Atlanta Braves superstar was No. 1 on our preseason MLB Rank Top 100 after winning National League honors with his historic 40-home run/70-stolen base 2024 season — but there are some questions about how much he’ll run this season after a spring training knee injury.
Meanwhile, the sport’s other reigning MVP, Shohei Ohtani, will be providing all of his 2024 value as a designated hitter after dominating as a two-way star in recent seasons.
That leaves the door open for a new superstar to take center stage as MLB’s premier player this season.
We asked five of our MLB experts to select who could make a run at the title of baseball’s best player and present the strongest case for that player earning the crown this season. We then enlisted our very own Judge Jeff Passan to weigh in on the cases with his own verdict on which superstar will rule the sport in 2024.
He’s still only 25 years old. He was so motivated to vault himself back to the top of his sport that he followed a grueling regular season with a prolonged stint in winter ball, training under his father just like Acuña did before capturing the MVP in 2023. Now, it’s Tatis’ turn.
Keep in mind that we’ve never seen a fully unlocked, uninterrupted version of Tatis. In 2020, when he finished fourth in NL MVP voting, the COVID-19 pandemic limited the season to 60 games. In 2021, when he led the league with 42 home runs, he spent all year battling a shoulder subluxation. The 2022 season began with a wrist injury caused by a motorcycle accident before he served an 80-game suspension after a positive test for an anabolic steroid. In 2023, Tatis admitted, he never quite felt right offensively. If Tatis stays healthy in 2024, he’ll remind us that nobody is better. — Alden Gonzalez
Judge Jeff says: Are we going to see the fully unlocked, uninterrupted version of him, though? That’s the thing about this list: Availability wins the day. Ohtani would be the unquestioned No. 1 player on this list had his elbow stayed healthy. Acuña played 159 games last year. Never in Tatis’ four previous big league seasons has he played more than 141 games. So while he’s showing his prodigious power stroke, swiping bags and patrolling right field with Gold Glove range, Tatis needs to play more to turn potential and fleeting excellence into something more.
Mookie Betts
Last 162 games: .314/.417/.597, 1.014 OPS, 43 HR, 117 RBI, 140 R, 15 SB, 371 TB
The case for Mookie Betts: Here’s a quick Mookie Betts story. It’s spring training 2019, with the Red Sox coming off their World Series title and Betts coming off his MVP season. It’s a hot and steamy day in Fort Myers and the Red Sox have cones set up outside their clubhouse, maybe 20 yards apart, to get in a little running. Most players go through the motions with some light jogging, emphasis on “light.” Except Mookie. He takes it seriously and runs hard. This helps explain why Betts absolutely loves the challenge of moving to shortstop and will make it work — and, based on early indications, have a season so good he’ll even overshadow teammates Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman, two superstars who could easily be included in this discussion.
That’s saying something because Betts is already one of just five position players with at least three 8-WAR seasons in the wild-card era (joining Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols and Mike Trout). Through his first nine games, he hit .485/.595/1.091 with five home runs and 14 runs scored. Batting in front of Ohtani and Freeman, he might become the third player since World War II to score 150 runs (joining Jeff Bagwell in 2000 and Ted Williams in 1949) and matching Rickey Henderson at a run-per-game pace (Henderson scored 146 runs in 143 games in 1985).
Betts has made some tweaks to his approach. After a down year for him in 2021, he was more aggressive in 2022, which helped his power but not his OBP. He got back to a more patient approach last season and hit .300 for the first time since 2018 while also hitting a career-high 39 home runs. That mindset has carried over to his hot start in 2024. Right now, he’s at another level. Factor in the near-unprecedented move to the infield and we’re talking about a potential season for the ages. The first non-Bonds 11-WAR season since Cal Ripken in 1991 is possible and as the Dodgers undoubtedly roll to another 100-win season, Betts will lead the way. — David Schoenfield
Judge Jeff says: Yes, it’s too early to get caught up in the hoopla of just a handful of games. But what a start it has been. Through 10 games, Betts led MLB in everything: all three triple-slash categories, home runs, runs, RBIs. You name it, Mookie does it. And now that he’s playing a far more important position than Acuña’s right field — and doing it rather well — the case for Betts overtaking Acuña, even at 31 years old, might be the strongest of all. Not ready to slam the gavel and adjourn the court quite yet, but it’s primed to go.
Ronald Acuña Jr.
Last 162 games: .332/.410/.577, .987 OPS, 39 HR, 106 RBI, 153 R, 73 SB, 380 TB
The case for Acuña Jr.: Do I really have to make a case for the reigning NL MVP? Perhaps he won’t hit 41 home runs and steal 73 bases again — of course, he might — but even if he drops into the 30/60 club, he’ll still be the only player ever to reach those heights. In other words, he has a cushion to maintain his status as best in the game and win a second consecutive MVP award. Remember, he’s only 26. There’s still room to grow — though how much better can you get than last season? Even his strikeout-to-walk ratio improved in 2023, from 2.38 in 2022 to just 1.05 last year. Incredible.
So that’s my case: Acuña can be about 75 percent of the player he was last year and still be the best. Who else can say that? — Jesse Rogers
Judge Jeff says: Case closed. For now.
