MLB Players Power Rankings: Top 10 Hitters in Week-19

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(Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /

Who was the best hitter during Week-19 of the baseball season? Find out in this latest edition of MLB Players Power Rankings.

In this week’s “MLB Players Power Rankings,” a balanced mixture of veterans, unknowns, and rookies make an appearance. The top hitter in MLB, however, might come as a surprise to us all.

Which two New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves hitters make the list, keep reading to find out.

Now, before we jump into this week’s top 10 hitters, remember that we’ve made some changes in the way we make our determinations. No longer will we use rubrics. Instead, each hitter’s individual stats (SLG, wOBA, wRC+, and fWAR) are ranked and then added together for a final score.

Here’s a full list of the best hitters during week-19 of the MLB season.

With that being said, here are your 10-6 hitters in this week’s MLB Players Power Rankings.

10. Jonathan Villar, Baltimore Orioles

Week-19 stats: 0.833 SLG | 0.545 wOBA | 250 wRC+ | 0.6 fWAR

9. Juan Soto, Washington Nationals

Week-19 stats: 0.895 SLG | 0.566 wOBA | 248 wRC+ | 0.6 fWAR

8. Rondald Acuna Jr., Atlanta Braves

Week-19 stats: 1.000 SLG | 0.579 wOBA | 263 wRC+ | 0.9 fWAR

7. Yordan Alvarez, Houston Astros

Week-19 stats: 1.000 SLG | 0.598 wOBA | 291 wRC+ | 0.6 fWAR

6. Mike Tauchman, New York Yankees

Week-19 stats: 1.125 SLG | 0.627 wOBA | 305 wRC+ | 0.9 fWAR

MLB Players Power Rankings (5): Ozzie Albies, Atlanta Braves

Week-19 Stats: 0.969 SLG | 0.603 wOBA | 279 wRC+ | 0.9 fWAR

Of the two young stars that are the foundation of the Atlanta Braves organization, it was Ozzie Albies that managed the crack the top five in week-19 of the MLB season. Ronald Acuna, who some regard as the more prominent talent, however, isn’t too far behind, ranking 8th last week.

Last week, Albies took Atlanta by storm when he had his third multi-home run game of the season. For the season, Ozzie now has 18 home runs, six short of his career-high which he set during the 2018 MLB season.

This season, at the ripe age of 22, Albies is settling into his role as an MLB star. His .300 AVG, .356 OBP, and .508 SLG are all career highs. His performance, as well as the performances of Acuna and Dansby Swanson, has catapulted the Braves to the top of the NL East by a comfortable 6.5 games.

The hopes are that the Braves can secure their second straight division title and make their way out of the Division Series in the postseason. Given that their pitching staff has improved and their young hitters, namely Albies, are transforming into surefire superstars, don’t rule out the Braves int he 2019 World Series.

MLB Players Power Rankings (4): Gio Urshela, New York Yankees

Week-19 Stats: 1.300 SLG | 0.694 wOBA | 351 wRC+ | 0.7 fWAR

Just one season after third baseman Miguel Andujar just missed out on the 2018 AL Rookie of the Year award, the New York Yankees may have found the third baseman of the future. Unfortunately for Andujar who was slotted to man the hot corner before being shut down for the year due to injury, it’s Gio Urshela that has officially won over the Yankee faithful.

It’s incredible to think that in a team that features the likes of Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Gary Sanchez, Edwin Encarnacion, ect., it’s been unknowns like Urshela and Mike Tauchman (6th on this list) who have carried the team over the last couple of weeks.

Prior to this season, Urshela hadn’t played more than 81-games in a single season. In that same span, Urshela only managed to hit .225 / .274 / .315. By comparison, this season Urshela is slashing .323 / .368 / .572. His 17 home runs this season more than double his total (8) from his previous three seasons combined

The Yankees own the best record in the AL and the second-best record in MLB. This is due in part to Urshela’s ability to come up in big situations and secure a win for the Bombers. If the team wants to compete in the World Series for the first time in a decade, Urshela will have to continue this level of play.

MLB Players Power Rankings (3): Jorge Soler, Kansas City Royals

Week-19 Stats: 1.273 SLG | 0.670 wOBA | 334 wRC+ | 0.9 fWAR

Jorge Soler has spent the better part of six MLB season playing back up to other outfielders. This season, however, Soler has been given the opportunity by the Kansas City Royals to man right field by himself and he has delivered.

2014 – 2018: .249 BA / .326 OBP / .424 SLG / 38 HR
2019: .259 BA / .344 OBP / .555 SLG / 35 HR

Sure, the Royals are in the running for the worst record in baseball and are 28.5 GB in the AL Central, but as the team continues to rebuild they’ll have to consider the 27-year-old kid from La Habana, Cuba to be a major part of the organization. Especially considering that Soler is under contract through next season at just $4M and then isn’t eligible for free agency until 2022.

If this level of production continues, the Royals have themselves a superstar paid like a meddling and washed-up veteran.

In week-19, Soler tied with two other players with the most home runs in MLB, six. Unlike those other two players, Soler drove in more runs (12 RBI) and managed to get on-base at a better rate (.552 OBP).

MLB Players Power Rankings (2): Alex Bregman, Houston Astros

Week-19 Stats: 1.000 SLG | 0.630 wOBA | 313 wRC+ | 0.6 fWAR

After officially breaking out as a surefire MLB star last season, Alex Bregman has managed to outperform his 2018 self. This year, Bregman has transformed himself into the face of the Astros and baseball with his performance on and off the field.

His YouTube Channel features close to 150,000 subscribers and features videos with as much as 1.7M views. His mission to bring baseball into the new age has worked and has given MLB players a blueprint into letting thirsty fans into the lives of baseball players, like other sports namely the NBA and NFL so expertly have done.

On the field, Bregman currently has a career-high OPS of .956. This has been made possible by the increase in home run production on behalf of the third baseman. In fact, with more than a month left to play, Bregman already has 28 home runs. His career-high from 2018 was just three more, 31.

The Houston Astros are tied with the New York Yankees for the best record in the AL. After acquiring Zack Greinke from the Arizona Diamondbacks at the trade deadline, many felt that the Astros had pulled away in terms of talent from the Yankees. However, pitching alone won’t win the team championships, hitters like Bregman will have to continue to perform at this level too.

MLB Players Power Rankings (1): Aristides Aquino, Cincinnati Reds

Week-19 Stats: 1.364 SLG | 0.738 wOBA | 367 wRC+ | 0.8 fWAR

More from Call to the Pen

This isn’t the first Call to the Pen list Cincinnati Reds phenom Aristides Aquino has made this week. In my colleague, Bill Felber’s piece “The Bomb Squad: The Longest Home Runs in MLB During Week-19,” Aquino’s name appears TWICE in a list of the 25 longest home runs hit last week.

Both home runs exceeded 445 feet.

Aquino has only played 10 games this season and in those 10 games, he has 7 home runs, 14 RBI, and has an incredible 1.661 OPS. Sure, this level of performance is unlikely to continue. However, if Aquino is just a fraction as good as he has demonstrated, the Reds have a bright future to look forward to.

This season, the Reds have struggled to secure notches on the win column. Despite having a better run differential than the St. Louis Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers, the Reds sit in fourth place in the NL Central, behind the Cards and Brew Crew, 7.0 games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs.

Next. MLB Rankings: Baseball's Greatest Hits of Week-19. dark

In the Wild Card, the Reds are just 5.0 games behind a playoff berth, but in order to get there, they’ll have to climb over five teams. With a little over a month left to play, you can’t count the Reds out of the playoff picture. They’ll need Aquino to continue to perform close to this level, however, in order to help their chances.

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