MLB Players Power Rankings: Top 10 Hitters in Week-6

Week-6 of the MLB players power rankings features a good mix of veterans and young talent, but who takes the mantle of hitter of the week?

Before we jump into the top 10 hitters in the MLB Player Power Rankings for week-6, let’s take a moment to acknowledge one of the greatest hitters of all time, Albert Pujols. This past week, Pujols reached a milestone that only two other hitters in the history of baseball have ever accomplished, 2000 RBIs.

In this reaching this accomplishment, Pujols also becomes only the third player in the history of MLB to have 3000 or more hits, 600 or more HR, and 2000 or more RBI. The other two? Alex Rodriguez and Hank Aaron.

With two more seasons left on his deal, the 3-time NL MVP award winner will continue to climb the RBI and HR ladder, cementing his legacy as perhaps the best hitter in several generations.

Kudos to “The Machine” on an incredible career.

Now, let’s move on to the top 10 hitters in week-6. For those of you who don’t know how this works, it’s really quite simple.

Here’s how we make our determinations:

1. we base our weekly rankings on a Monday through Sunday schedule. Therefore, these rankings are for the week beginning on May 6h through May 12th.
2. Then, using advanced stats (SLG, wOBA, wRC+) that best represent a players performance, we created a rubric.
3. As a tiebreaker, we used fWAR to determine which player is ahead of who.
4. If the tiebreaker is a tie, then we delve deeper into the weekly stats.

With that in mind, here are the 10th to 6th hitters ranked in this week’s MLB Players Power Rankings.

MLB Players Power Rankings: 10 – 6

In keeping with the trend of the previous MLB players power rankings, let’s take a brief look at the players who ranked 10 – 6 on the top 10 list, beginning with:

10. Rafael Devers, Boston Red Sox

Ever since Devers took Aroldis Chapman deep in Yankee Stadium back in 2017, Raffy has become a mainstay in the Red Sox lineup. In 2018, his poor defensive play and weak performance at the plate had many wondering if the kid would have a future in Boston. After week-6, however, Devers catapulted himself into the top ranked hitter in terms of batting average in the AL, which may have secured his position as future of the Boston Red Sox.

Here are his Week-6 stats: 0.680 SLG | 0.509 wOBA | 223 wRC+ | 0.5 fWAR

9. Jeff McNeil, New York Mets

McNeil has presented as the Mets’ peskiest hitter, finding any way possible to get on base. At 27-years of age McNeil is a late bloomer in some sense, but as the saying goes, “better late than never.” This season, McNeil is batting a staggering .360 and has managed to get on base at a .440 clip.

Here are his Week-6 stats: 0.722 SLG | 0.530 wOBA | 244 wRC+ | 0.5 fWAR

8. Jorge Polanco, Minnesota Twins

Polanco has been one of the key players for the first-place Twins. In just 47 games this season, he’s amassed 47 hits, 12 2B, and already has more HR (7) than he did in 77 games last season.

Here are his Week-6 stats: 0.769 SLG | 0.518 wOBA | 232 wRC+ | 0.6 fWAR

7. Eugenio Suarez, Cinncinati Reds

Suarez continues his climb up the ranks in the Reds organization with a phenomenal performance in week-6 of the MLB season. After making his first All-Star appearance last season, Suarez is looking to repeat this season by showing continued power production. This season, Suarez is slugging .565, an improvement from his career-high SLG of .526 in 2018.

Here are his Week-6 stats: 0.833 SLG | 0.532 wOBA | 237 wRC+ | 0.7 fWAR

6. Kris Bryant, Chicago Cubs

After a slow start to the 2019 season, Bryant has emerged in week-6. According to a recent report on CBS Sports, all it took was changing his bat in order for the real Kris Bryant to stand up. Since then, Bryant is riding a 19-game on-base streak, while hitting .281/.447/.688 with 6 HR, 18 RBI, and 18 walks.

Here are his Week-6 Stats: 0.880 SLG | 0.536 wOBA | 242 wRC+ | 0.7 fWAR

MLB Players Power Rankings (5): Josh Bell, Pittsburgh Pirates

Week-6 Stats: 0.870 SLG | 0.569 wOBA | 265 wRC+ | 0.5 fWAR

When Josh Bell emerged on to the scene for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2016, the future looked bright for the black & yellow. In 2017, he’d present as a versatile power hitter by slapping 26 HR and 90 RBI. That season, he’d place 3rd in the NL Rookie of the Year voting behind Cody Bellinger and Paul DeJong.

In 2018, however, Bell had himself somewhat of a down year. His power production in terms of HRs dropped by more than 50%, thereby dropping his RBI total by close to 30.

2018 wasn’t all lost, however, because, in other areas, Bell showed some improvement. Bell managed to improve his ability to slap doubles – 31 in 2018 vs. 26 in 2017 – and get on base more efficiently – .357 in 2018 vs. .334 in 2017.

So far in 2019, Bell has managed to combine the best of 2017 with the best of 2019 to become one of the better hitters in a stacked NL. This season, Bell already has 10 HR, 13 2B, 34 RBI, and is getting on-base at a .389 clip, a career high.

So, what’s changed, Bell’s average exit velocity (95.1 mph) ranks in the top 1% of the league. This has increased all of his expected stats and seems to be paying off altogether.

MLB Players Power Rankings (4): Charlie Blackmon, Colorado Rockies

Week-6 Stats: 1.050 SLG | 0.612 wOBA | 277 wRC+ | 0.6 fWAR

Charlie Blackmon had a slow start to the 2019 MLB season, however, in week-6 he has finally arrived. This season, the 3-time All-Star is back to leading the league in triples (4) and slugging with the best of them (.573 SLG).

Over the last several seasons, Blackmon has established himself as one of the better hitters in MLB. In 2018, however, he had somewhat of a down season…. by Blackmon’s standards.

Despite leading the league in Rs in 2018, he saw a drop off in most all of his other stats (HR, AVG, SLG, OBP, OPS, etc.). So, now in 2019, Blackmon looks to get back on track, and week-6 should go a long way to helping him do that.

In fact, just this past weekend, Blackmon cemented himself in the top 5 hitters of week-6 when he hit two home runs that combined for more than 900 ft.

While the distance of one’s HR doesn’t a good hitter make, when delving deeper into Blackmon’s stats this past week you’ll notice that his patience at the plate is up and his power production is way up. In fact, for week-6 Blackmon ranks 2nd in MLB in BB% (20) and has 2nd in HR (4).

That’s a recipe for a monster remainder of 2019 for Blackmon.

MLB Players Power Rankings (3): Hunter Pence, Texas Rangers

Week-6 Stats: 1.158 SLG | 0.625 wOBA | 299 wRC+ | 0.6 fWAR

At one point in his career, Pence was the face of the San Francisco Giants franchise. Having led the Giants to two World Series titles in 2012 and 2014, Pence established himself as a unique talent in the game.

Over the last couple of seasons, however, Pence has undergone something of a decline. Injuries paired with a diminished Giants team led to Pence hitting just .265, .320 OBP, and .410 since 2015. In that span, he also only managed to eclipse the 100-game mark just 2x, one of those times just barely.

So, entering 2019 it looked as though Pence wouldn’t have a place in MLB. However, his hometown team, the Texas Rangers gave him a minor league deal in hopes that perhaps they could find a spark. To everyone’s surprise, so far, they were right.

This season, Pence is slashing .316/.389/.658 and a career-high 1.047. What’s more, as the season continues, Pence seems to only be getting better.

In fact, in week-6 Pence slashed .368/.455/1.158, seemingly sending the message to MLB that he is indeed back. If nothing else, Pence is making a really strong case for MLB Comeback Player of the Year. At least for now, he does.

MLB Players Power Rankings (2): Justin Turner, Los Angeles Dodgers

Week-6 Stats: 1.083 SLG | 0.621 wOBA | 302 wRC+ | 0.7 fWAR

After missing significant time in 2018, Justin Turner is looking to re-establish himself as one of baseball’s top hitters in 2019. In week-6, he’s gone a long way into doing just that.

Despite starting the season off slow, Turner turned the dial way up last week by upping his home run total from a grand total of ONE to SIX. His power production wasn’t the only thing he improved upon either.

Turner was so hot last week, that his BB% was a big fat 0%. He figured he’d let the bat do the talking, and it sure did. While slashing .417/.462/1.083 Turner managed to lead the NL in HRs with 5, RBI with 10, SLG, wOBA, and wRC+.

With just one season left on his contract with the Dodgers and approaching age 35, Turner is going to have to continue to exhibit this type of production if he wasn’t to continue playing in the big leagues. As one of the stewards of the current launch angle revolution, Turner still has a lot to offer to the game.

Let’s hope he can continue to produce at this level.