Top 5 Hitters from the 2025 Season
1) Aaron Judge:
To no one's surprise, Judge put up another 10+ war season, most of which were created by his offensive prowess. Slashing his way to a staggering 204 WRC+. On top of this, his xWOBA of 0.475 suggests he actually got slightly unlucky this season, considering his wOBA actually measured out to 0.463. Just for pure aesthetic pleasure, Judge’s league-leading 1.144 OPS is as good as it gets when it comes to a full season of statistics. It was .100 higher than the next qualified hitter.
2) Shohei Ohtani:
Ohtani led the way in the NL to another incredible over 1.000 OPS season at 1.014. While he might not have the over .300 avg that makes Judge's season much more aesthetically pleasing to all fans, his 172 WRC+ is second only to Judge's. Ohtani had the second-highest qualified wOBA at .418 and posted an xSLG at .672, which is just ridiculous.
3) George Springer:
One of the sneakier seasons, Springer posted his best season as a Blue Jay. His OPS at .959 was the 3rd highest for qualified hitters, above 50+ HR guys like Raleigh and Schwarber. His WRC+ at 166 also shows his efficiency at a park-adjusted value.
4) Nick Kurtz:
By far the biggest wild card in this list, I chose Kurtz over guys like Raliegh and Schwarber for the impact he had during his time. At almost 500 PA this season, he failed to qualify due to his later call-up, but his large enough-ish sample size has him at a posted 1.002 OPS on the year. His 170 WRC+, as well as the OPS, would have him squarely at the 3rd spot if he had qualified for enough ABs, but regardless, the numbers are outstanding, especially for a Rookie.
5) Juan Soto:
Picking Soto may seem wrong, and there is plenty of argument for either hitter in my opinion. While Raleigh has Soto crushed in SLG and HR’s with around a .60 point higher SLG and 17 more HR’s on the season, Soto’s wOBP profiles almost exactly at Raleigh's despite the SLG difference. Soto is at .390 and Raleigh is at .391, a negligible difference, but the xwOBA for both tells a different story. Soto’s .441 xwOBA would actually be second amongst all qualified hitters, whereas Raleigh is at .384, qualified for 11th, suggesting that while Soto and Raleigh had some differences in overall SLG efficiency this year, Soto’s underlying value is hard to quantify in terms of normalized statistics. Pair that with drastically different walk and strikeout rates (0.93 BB/K for Soto and Raleigh at 0.52), and I would support Soto as the more complete and better hitter for the 2025 season.
