Ranking the 10 Best Hitters and Pitchers of 2025 MLB Season so Far

Before we get to work ranking the 10 best hitters and pitchers of the 2025 MLB season so far, understand that we're still in Ryan Jeffers territory.

If this reference is lost on you, Jeffers exited last April with a .947 OPS and a 168 wRC+ for the Minnesota Twins. He was on fire...until he wasn't, as those two figures eventually finished at .732 and 107, respectively.

This said, there are a few familiar names among the best hitters and pitchers for the first few weeks of the season. One of them has even been dubbed the "best hitter in baseball" by a guy who think he's that he, personally, is the best hitter of all time.

Our rankings are based mostly on results for hitters, who had to have 80 plate appearances to qualify. Pitchers needed to have 20 innings to qualify, though with them we had to be more nuanced. Though it's easy to default to earned run average, peripheral stats also carry weight this early in the year.

We'll count 'em down two at a time, with the No. 10 hitter and No. 10 pitcher sharing a slide and so on.

Hitter No. 10: Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers
2025 Stats: 20 G, 92 PA, 6 HR, 5 SB, .288 AVG, .380 OBP, .550 SLG

We know what Ohtani's best looks like, and this isn't it. Heck, his OPS is down from 2024 by over 100 points.

This said, he's threatening to do the 50-50 thing all over again, as he's one of only three hitters with at least five home runs and five stolen bases. Moreover, his exit velocity and hard-hit rate are actually up from last season.

The only real flaw he has early on is a slightly elevated rate of swings and misses. If that comes down, he could win his fourth MVP in a waltz.

Pitcher No. 10: Cole Ragans, Kansas City Royals
2025 Stats: 5 GS, 27.2 IP, 24 H (2 HR), 42 K, 7 BB, 3.58 ERA

Ragans had a rough one on Friday against the Detroit Tigers, serving up five runs in 4.0 innings to boost his ERA from 2.28 to 3.58.

We're nonetheless comfortable including him on account of his stuff alone, which has thus far netted him an AL-leading strikeout total. He's gotten at least five punchouts with four different pitches, with his fastball leading the way with 18.

Beyond his recent ERA jump, the other knock on Ragans is that he has yet to face a non-Central team. It'll be a test for him when he does.

Hitter No. 9: Spencer Torkelson, Detroit Tigers
2025 Stats: 21 G, 92 PA, 7 HR, 1 SB, .289 AVG, .391 OBP, .658 SLG

This is the Torkelson that was promised when the Tigers made him the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 draft.

After entering this year with a .693 OPS for his career, he's at 1.049 and basically not slowing down. Indeed, the lowest his OPS has been after any game this year was .947.

There are legitimate adjustments at play in Torkelson's turnaround, and the most telling difference is in how he's hitting the ball. Not so much harder, but more often in the air and to his pull side. It's a winning combination for sluggers.

Pitcher No. 9: MacKenzie Gore, Washington Nationals
2025 Stats: 5 GS, 29.0 IP, 27 H (3 HR), 45 K, 8 BB, 3.41 ERA

There have been four occasions this year in which a pitcher has reached 13 strikeouts, and Gore is responsible for two of them.

Those two games thus account for basically half of his league-leading strikeout total, and this is even though his average fastball is actually down 0.7 mph from last year.

It's his curveball that is leading the way, as he has it breaking more sharply downward and missing bats at a 54.2 percent clip. He needed a pitch to take him to the next level, and this seems to be the one.

Hitter No. 8: Kyle Schwarber, Philadelphia Phillies
2025 Stats: 21 G, 94 PA, 7 HR, 2 SB, .284 AVG, .436 OBP, .608 SLG

In some ways, Schwarber is not all that different from the guy who hit under .200 as recently as 2023. And in others, he very much is.

He's still swinging for the fences first and foremost, but he's more discerning with his swings and a lot less liable to whiff. To wit, he's gone from fanning 29.9 percent of the time in 2022 and 2023 to just 20.2 percent this year.

Otherwise, it's all about crushing fastballs and taking walks as they come. And so far in 2025, they've come in 19.1 percent of his plate appearances.

Pitcher No. 8: Hunter Brown, Houston Astros
2025 Stats: 4 GS, 24.0 IP, 15 H (1 HR), 22 K, 5 BB, 1.50 ERA

Though this list is only meant to be about this year, it's still worth noting that Hunter Brown has a 2.37 ERA dating back to last May. That is second to only Paul Skenes.

This is apparently what can happen when a guy plucks a sinker out of some sort of magic hat, and the sheer difficulty of making good contact against this one is indeed noteworthy.

Brown is in the top five for ground-ball rate and in the 94th percentile for average exit velocity. He doesn't only give up slow rollers, but sometimes it feels that way.

Hitter No. 7: Tyler Soderstrom, Athletics
2025 Stats: 21 G, 90 PA, 9 HR, 0 SB, .309 AVG, .367 OBP, .667 SLG

So, who saw Soderstrom coming?

Probably nobody, but it's hard to look at what he's doing and call it luck. He's tightened up his approach and he's really turning on pitches, effectively doubling the rate at which he's pulling balls in the air.

As Soderstrom is a rare hitter who's batting over .300 against fastballs and nearly .300 against breaking balls, adjusting to him will not be a simple matter of adjusting pitch selections.

Pitcher No. 7: Chris Bassitt, Toronto Blue Jays
2025 Stats: 4 GS, 23.1 IP, 20 H (0 HR), 31 K, 5 BB, 0.77 ERA

Bassitt came into this season with a career rate of 8.3 strikeouts per nine innings, so it's pretty odd to see him fanning 12 batters per nine innings.

Though his average fastball is a mere 91.1 mph, Bassitt is drawing more swings outside the strike zone. It's always a good way to get whiffs, so it's not the biggest shocker that he's gone from the 18th to the 68th percentile for whiff rate.

As Bassitt's exit velocity is likewise in the 73rd percentile, he's about as hard to hit as a guy with his stuff can possibly be.

Hitter No. 6: Kyle Tucker, Chicago Cubs
2025 Stats: 23 G, 109 PA, 6 HR, 4 SB, .315 AVG, .413 OBP, .631 SLG

With free agency looming after the 2025 season, Tucker sure looks to be in salary drive mode. He already has nine multi-hit games, and he had a home run in five of those.

Everything under the hood for Tucker is more or less standard, which is to say excellent. The one noticeable change concerns his approach, as he's walked 16 times while striking out only 13 times.

The only surefire way to gain an edge on Tucker right now is to throw a lefty at him, as he has only a .321 OBP against fellow southpaws. Otherwise, the honest truth is that walking him might be a pitcher's best play.

Pitcher No. 6: Logan Gilbert, Seattle Mariners
2025 Stats: 5 GS, 27.1 IP, 18 H (3 HR), 41 K, 6 BB, 2.63 ERA

It should have been a bigger deal that Gilbert led all starters in both innings and WHIP last year. To wit, he certainly deserved better than a sixth-place finish in the AL Cy Young Award voting.

His WHIP is down again so far in 2025, from 0.887 to 0.878. He's continuing to pound the strike zone, except now he's going to his splitter more often. It is a devastating pitch against which hitters are 2-for-32 with 21 strikeouts.

Really the only check on Gilbert's reputation is T-Mobile Park. He had a 2.49 ERA there compared to a 3.94 ERA on the road, and he only just made his first road start of 2025 on Sunday.

Hitter No. 5: Corbin Carroll, Arizona Diamondbacks
2025 Stats: 21 G, 99 PA, 7 HR, 4 SB, .341 AVG, .414 OBP, .682 SLG

This list isn't really about baserunning, but it still bears noting that Carroll has that art mastered like nobody else. He's by far the most valuable baserunner in MLB.

His bat was more hit-or-miss in 2023 and 2024, but not this year. His exit velocity and hard-hit rate have skyrocketed, and he's one of the biggest slugging percentage gainers of 2025 as a result.

The best thing pitchers can do is simply not throw Carroll a fastball. He's been feasting on the darn things in 2025, batting .442 with a .837 slugging percentage against them.

Pitcher No. 5: Nathan Eovaldi, Texas Rangers
2025 Stats: 5 GS, 30.2 IP, 21 H (3 HR), 31 K, 2 BB, 2.64 ERA

Eovaldi's fastball is not the sizzler it used to be. He's sitting at 93.5 mph, down from a peak of 97.5 mph back in 2019.

This isn't mattering, though, in large part because he's become less predictable while still pounding the zone. You see the walks. What you don't see is that he's throwing four different pitches at least 15 percent of the time.

Considering that Eovaldi is being hit at an average of 91.0 mph when he does serve up contact, it's all a little too good to be true. But if nothing else, it's nice to see a mid-30s pitcher aging gracefully for a change.

Hitter No. 4: Jung Hoo Lee, San Francisco Giants
2025 Stats: 20 G, 85 PA, 3 HR, 3 SB, .355 AVG, .412 OBP, .632 SLG

We in the States barely got a chance to know Lee last year before he had season-ending shoulder injury. Even still, evidence of potential was there.

Now it's pretty much everywhere. He's hit safely in 17 games so far, with multi-hit games in eight of those. And it comes down to two elite talents: one for making contact, and another for hitting line drives.

He's basically the ideal Oracle Park hitter, so let's not be surprised that he's hitting .370 there. If anything, he deserves bonus points for that.

Pitcher No. 4: Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh Pirates
2025 Stats: 5 GS, 31.1 IP, 21 H (1 HR), 30 K, 4 BB, 2.87 ERA

It feels a little odd that Skenes has "only" 30 strikeouts so far, but it's also not misleading. He hasn't missed many bats, placing in only the 49th percentile with his whiff rate.

He's simply not walking guys, however, and it says a lot that his expected stats include a .197 average and .308 slugging percentage. He's just not getting hit hard, with a double by Derek Hill representing the lone barrel off him entering his start on Saturday.

His stuff is that good, but also that varied. Though hitters can go up looking fastball or splinker, he also has as many as five other pitches he can show them.

Hitter No. 3: Fernando Tatis Jr., San Diego Padres
2025 Stats: 20 G, 89 PA, 7 HR, 7 SB, .351 AVG, .427 OBP, .636 SLG

If there was a fair criticism to make of Tatis in his early seasons, it was that he was more about talent than fundamentals.

That critique is only getting harder to make, and particularly regarding Tatis' approach. His strikeout rate is way down early on, to a point where he has more walks (11) than he does punchouts (10).

Rather than sacrifice power to make this happen, he's maintaining an average exit velocity of 94.3 mph. That's in the 94th percentile.

Pitcher No. 3: Hunter Greene, Cincinnati Reds

2025 Stats: 5 GS, 30.2 IP, 18 H (4 HR), 35 K, 6 BB, 2.35 ERA

Greene was in the running to be No. 1 on this list entering Saturday, but a rough outing in Baltimore (3.0 IP, 5 ER, 3 HR) nixed that.

All the same, he's fanned 30 percent of the batters he's faced and he leads the NL with a 0.783 WHIP. And it's all very simple, in that he's going right at hitters with his 99.4 mph fastball and finishing them off with his slider. Against the latter, batters are 2-for-37 with 17 strikeouts.

Greene won't be this good all year, of course, but he's not pitching above his ceiling. With his arm, he indeed should be capable of runs precisely like this one.

Hitter No. 2: Pete Alonso, New York Mets
2025 Stats: 21 G, 90 PA, 6 HR, 0 SB, .356 AVG, .467 OBP, .753 SLG

Alonso is swinging it like a guy who's still miffed that more teams didn't want him over the winter and, honestly, who can blame him?

Everything is in the red for him so far in 2025, though it's most noticeable that his strikeout rate is down 12.5 percentage points while his average exit velocity is up 6.8 mph. He's swinging with purpose and basically not missing.

Further, Alonso deserves bonus points for being clutch. He has a 1.407 OPS in high-leverage spots, with 13 of his 21 total runs batted in.

Pitcher No. 2: Garrett Crochet, Boston Red Sox
2025 Stats: 5 GS, 32.0 IP, 19 H (1 HR), 35 K, 10 BB, 1.13 ERA

Crochet is doing things a little differently in 2025, namely in that he's not airing it out like he did in his breakout 2024 season.

His average fastball is down from 97.2 mph to 95.7 mph, while his strikeout rate is likewise down nearly 7 percent. Yet his hard-hit rate has taken a dramatic turn for the better (38.8 to 29.5 percent), and he's working deeper into games.

Putting more trust in the sinker is a factor in all this, but it also speaks to a greater emphasis on being a horse. So far, it's hard to argue with the results.

Hitter No. 1: Aaron Judge, New York Yankees
2025 Stats: 21 G, 95 PA, 7 HR, 2 SB, .397 AVG, .505 OBP, .731 SLG

Remember when Judge exited last April with a sub-.800 OPS and everyone was asking some variation of, "Is this the end?"

Yeah, so much for that. The two-time AL MVP has played 147 games since May 1 of last year, and these have yielded 59 home runs and a 1.260 OPS. He's walking (15) nearly as often as he's striking out (18) so far in 2025, and hitting the ball at an average of 96.3 mph, to boot.

Probably the only thing that can slow Judge down at this point is some kind of injury. But save for that unlucky toe injury from 2023, it's notable that he's been a picture of health going back to 2021.

Pitcher No. 1: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Los Angeles Dodgers
2025 Stats: 5 GS, 29.0 IP, 18 H (2 HR), 38 K, 7 BB, 0.93 ERA

Yamamoto's debut season with the Dodgers wasn't quite a bust, but you could be forgiven for having forgotten that it even happened.

He's more than making up for that so far in 2025, going at least five innings with no more than two runs allowed in all five of his starts. And more so than in 2024, we're really seeing the awesome power of his split-finger fastball.

He's throwing it 30.3 percent of the time and getting a 51.4 whiff percentage on it, with 20 of his 38 strikeouts. Thus is it now firmly in the running for the best pitch in baseball.

Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.