MLB Players Power Rankings: Top 10 Hitters in Week-11
Who was the best hitter during Week-11 of the baseball season? Find out in this latest edition of MLB Players Power Rankings.
In this week’s MLB Players Power Rankings, a Twins player makes the top 10 again. Also, one former AL MVP makes an appearance, an indication that he’s starting to warm up for his team at the right time.
Before we jump into this week’s top 10 hitters, let’s understand how we make our determinations.
- We base our weekly rankings on a Monday through Sunday schedule. Therefore, these rankings are for the week beginning on June 10th through June 16th.
- Then, using advanced stats (SLG, wOBA, wRC+) that best represent a players performance, we created a rubric.
- As a tiebreaker, we used fWAR to determine which player is ahead of who.
- If the tiebreaker is a tie, then we delve deeper into the weekly stats.
With that being said, let’s find out who the 10-6 ranked hitters are.
10. Max Kepler, Minnesota Twins
Max Kepler makes his FIFTH appearance on the top 10 list, which quite possibly indicates that the German-born slugger is the real deal. The Twins now have the best record and run differential in baseball and Kepler is a huge reason why.
Here are his Week-11 stats: 0.783 SLG | 0.519 wOBA | 233 wRC+ | 0.6 fWAR
9. Josh Donaldson, Atlanta Braves
After starting the 2019 season off slowly, Josh Donaldson (aka “Bringer of Rain”) is indeed starting to make it rain. Last week, Donaldson slashed .370 with a 1.303 OPS. Despite ranking 9th this week, his isolated power (ISO), a measure of a batter’s raw power, ranks 5th in this list.
Here are his Week-11 stats: 0.889 SLG | 0.524 wOBA | 227 wRC+ | 0.6 fWAR
8. Hunter Renfroe, San Diego Padres
Hunter Renfroe has had his share of moments this season, but last week was his best week of the season by far. After hitting 5 HR last week, Renfroe brought his home run total to 23. To put this into context, his career-high home run total is 26. He accomplished this feat 2X in 2017 (122 G) and 2018 (117 G). This season, he has only played 65 games.
Here are his Week-11 stats: 0.962 SLG | 0.530 wOBA | 235 wRC+ | 0.6 fWAR
7. Ozzie Albies, Atlanta Braves
Ozzie Albies has started the season off slowly. Despite there still being plenty of upside for the 22-year-old infielder, many were starting to wonder if offensively he just isn’t what we thought. Then week-11 rolled around Albies quieted all the noise by posting a 1.349 OPS.
Here are his Week-11 stats: 0.897 SLG | 0.544 wOBA | 240 wRC+ | 0.7 fWAR
6. Ian Desmond, Colorado Rockies
Ian Desmond has at times in his career shown flashes of greatness. More often than not, however, the 2X All-Star has disappointed. This season, however, Desmond his having something of a resurgence and week-11 solidified his standing in MLB.
Here are his Week-11 stats: 0.962 SLG | 0.583 wOBA | 252 wRC+ | 0.6 fWAR
MLB Players Power Rankings (5): Manny Machado, San Diego Padres
Week-11 Stats: 0.880 SLG | 0.558 wOBA | 254 wRC+ | 0.7 fWAR
Prior to the 2019 MLB season, Manny Machado was tasked with experiencing what it was like to be an unrestricted free agent. When the news broke that the elite infielder would be signing with the San Diego Padres, many were surprised. 11-weeks into the season, however, and it makes perfect sense why he fell in love with San Diego.
The Padres have hovered around .500 all season and are showing lots of promise with players like Fernando Tatis Jr., Hunter Renfroe, Franmil Reyes, and Chris Paddack to name a few. Up until week-11, Machado had made his presence known, especially defensively and as a mentor to all of these young players. Offensively, to everyone’s surprise, his performance was underwhelming.
During week-11, however, Machado demonstrated with his bat why the Padres made him – briefly – the highest paid player in American professional sports. Last week, Machado hit .417 with an incredible 1.380 OPS.
With the Los Angeles Dodgers having a stronghold on the NL West, the best hope at a postseason for the Pads is via the Wild Card. At 4.5 games behind the 2nd Wild Card, the Pads will need Machado to get hot. Week-11 might just have been the start of that.
MLB Players Power Rankings (4): Trey Mancini, Baltimore Orioles
Week-11 Stats: 0.917 SLG | 0.558 wOBA | 261 wRC+ | 0.6 fWAR
Trey Mancini has impressed experts and analysts across the league and has left many wondering what his future will look like. The Baltimore Orioles are flirting with the Miami Marlins for the worst record in baseball and Mancini is by far the best offensive player on the team.
At 27-years-old, Mancini has played his entire career (4-years) in Baltimore, and while it would be nice for him to remain on the team as it rebuilds, given how well he’s advanced this season, the O’s might be better off trading him in order to speed up the rebuilding process.
This season, Mancini is posting career highs in AVG (.310), OBP (.365), and SLG (.571). He leads the league in total bases (153) and ranks 14th in MLB in wRC+ (145). His career high home run total of 24 looks to be shattered as well this season as Mancini is on pace to hit 36 HR this season.
On a better team, Mancini’s stats would see a slight uptick, making the said team much more competitive and therefore making him a huge commodity in MLB’s current market place. Teams like the Tampa Bay Rays, who just lost out on the Edwin Encarnacion sweepstakes to the New York Yankees might come knocking on Baltimore’s door, but will they answer?
O’s fans better hope so.
MLB Players Power Rankings (3): Ketel Marte, Arizona Diamondbacks
Week-11 Stats: 1.034 SLG | 0.613 wOBA | 285 wRC+ | 1.0 fWAR
Ketel Marte has surprised the baseball world with his performance this season and now, 11-weeks into the year, it’s beginning to look like the 25-year-old is the real deal. With the Arizona Diamondbacks opting to trade Paul Goldschmidt to the St. Louis Cardinals in the offseason, the team was essentially waving a white flag.
The rebuilding process is looking much better now, however, especially considering that MLB players like Marte are coming into their own. The D’Backs are just 2.0 games out of a playoff race and given that they still have some star power on the team, they might struggle with the decision to buy players all the while rebuilding.
Ketel Marte has made things much harder for Arizona… and that’s a good thing.
This season, Marte ranks 11th in MLB in fWAR (2.8). He is also posting career highs in AVG (.286) and SLG (,566), and is 9 RBI away from tying his career-high of 59 RBI, which he did in 153 games last season.
If nothing else, as for personal accomplishments, Marte should definitely get some consideration for the All-Star game. For the Diamondbacks, Marte brings them a brighter future.
MLB Players Power Rankings (2): Charlie Blackmon, Colorado Rockies
Week-11 Stats: 1.216 SLG | 0.727 wOBA | 346 wRC+ | 1.2 fWAR
I’m not going to lie, it hurt to place Charlie Blackmon 2nd on this list. His week last week was so epic, it was going to take a monstrous week from another player to knock him off of the number one spot. Unfortunately for Blackmon, there was another player.
There is, however, another form of victory that belongs solely to Blackmon, and that is the fact that he was the most valuable player in baseball for week-11 according to fWAR. Not only that, he gets to brag about breaking a 58-year-old record during week-11.
What record is that you might ask. Well, during a four-game series with the San Diego Padres last week, Blackmon recorded his 15th hit in the series. The previous record for most hits in a 4-game series was 14. That occurred way back in 1961.
If that wasn’t enough to cap off an amazing week, Blackmon also hit more home runs (6) and scored more runs (12) than anybody on this list. What’s more, his traditional stats are by far the best as well.
However, MLB players will tell you that they don’t play for personal stats. Instead, they want to win it all. With Blackmon raking and Nolan Arenado being Nolan Arenado, the Colorado Rockies, who are currently 2.0 games behind in the Wild Card, have a good shot at another postseason run.
MLB Players Power Rankings (1): Scott Kingery, Philadelphia Phillies
Week-11 Stats: 1.273 SLG | 0.710 wOBA | 350 wRC+ | 0.8 fWAR
More from Call to the Pen
- Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
- Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
- Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
- Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
- 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals
When putting this list together, Scott Kingery was probably the last player on my mind. Having just played 39 games this season because of a hamstring injury that sidelined him for a month, Kingery was reinstated a couple of weeks ago. In week-11, he put a flailing Philadelphia Phillies team on his back.
Kingery did everything well last week and it showed in the fact that he led everybody on this list in SLG (.1273) and wRC+ (350). He trailed only Charlie Blackmon in wOBA, and that was only by .017 points.
What’s more, Kingery is among only FIVE hitters hitting at least .320 / .360 OBP / .600 SLG this season, according to John Clark of NBC Sports Philadelphia. The other four players are:
His power production is also through the roof this season. In fact, in 147 games last season, Scott Kingery hit 8 home runs. This season, in just 39 games, he has… 8 home runs.
With the Philadelphia Phillies losing their stranglehold of the division last week to the surging Atlanta Braves, Kingery will have to continue this type of production. Either way, the future looks bright for Philadelphia.