He came to spring training talking 50-50, and while that will not be possible, a 20-20 season would be the equivalent over a 60-game schedule. He struck out double-digit batters in 21 of his 33 starts, including nine in a row to close the regular season. Eaton CIN 9. He makes a strong case for the title of best pitcher in baseball, and while he finished second to Hyun-Jin Ryu in the NL ERA race last season, he remains the obvious choice to pace the NL in that category. Get the latest official stats for the San Francisco Giants. It's not out of the question to think something may have clicked for a young player who has always had tremendous talent. That marked the most home runs by a player with fewer than 200 plate appearances. Dinelson Lamet has been called a sleeper and potential breakout star so often over the past few months that he may be nearing the rare tipping point where a player goes from unknown to overrated without ever stepping on the field. The Dark Horse: Franmil Reyes, Cleveland Indians. The Obvious Choice: Pete Alonso, New York Mets. He had a 1.50 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 12 innings down the stretch and then twirled three scoreless innings in the AL Wild Card Game. The Dark Horse: Mike Foltynewicz, Atlanta Braves. He hit .316 over his final 250 plate appearances last season and is a career .291 hitter, so while it would take a bit of a jump for him to be in the batting title conversation, it's not out of the realm of possibility. Visit ESPN to view 2020 MLB stat leaders. He missed time with elbow and shoulder inflammation, but he has swing-and-miss stuff, and a lightened workload should help him stay healthy. The Obvious Choice: DJ LeMahieu, New York Yankees. In his short career, Walker Buehler has been lights-out when pitching at Dodger Stadium (169.1 IP, 2.60 ERA), Oracle Park (23.1 IP, 3.09 ERA), Chase Field (14.0 IP, 1.93 ERA) and Petco Park (6.0 IP, 0.00 ERA). Gregorius NYY 3. The Obvious Choice: Max Scherzer, Washington Nationals. The Up-and-Comer: Matt Chapman, Oakland Athletics. Tyler Glasnow went 6-1 with a 1.86 ERA, 0.91 WHIP and .202 opponents' batting average through his first eight starts last season before a forearm issue cost him four months. Olson OAK CF WAR 1. Mike Trout has led the AL in WAR four times in his eight full MLB seasons, and he didn't finished lower than sixth in the other four seasons. The Obvious Choice: Christian Yelich, Milwaukee Brewers. That said, any player who played at least two-thirds of his career in the outfield (regardless of the specific outfield spot), qualified in the outfield spot at which he played the most. With a .326 average in 2018 and a .329 average in 2019, Christian Yelich has won back-to-back NL batting titles since joining the Milwaukee Brewers. He has the stuff and pitchability to give Cole a run for his money. As long as he stays healthy, he looks like one of baseball's rising young stars. Last season, Max Scherzer failed to make 30 starts for the first time since his rookie year in 2008, and he'll turn 36 years old next month. For example, Prince Fielder, Clayton Kershaw, While MVP winner Cody Bellinger led the NL in WAR (9.1) last season, he did a large percentage of his damage during the first half of the season before cooling off after the All-Star break. The 24-year-old is one to watch. On Friday, we looked back at the champions and MVPs of the last 10 years in the four major U.S. sports. As we continue to gear up for the 2020 MLB Draft on June 10, this editon of the "MLB Quiz of the Day" focuses on the best player to be selected at each pick within the top 10, based on WAR, courtesy of Baseball-Reference. The Up-and-Comer: Shane Bieber, Cleveland Indians. He returned in September and had a 1.46 ERA and .119 opponents' batting average in 12.1 innings spanning four abbreviated starts. The future is bright, and a 10.0 WAR campaign in a full season is not out of reach. Machado SD LF/RF WAR 1. If he can take a step forward defensively (0 DRS, -1.3 UZR/150), there is plenty of room for improvement over last year's 4.6 WAR, and there is little doubt he's already one of the game's rising stars. His arrow is pointing straight up heading into 2020, and the Rays will have a good problem on their hands in a few years when top prospect and fellow shortstop Wander Franco is ready to debut. Sports Quiz / MLB WAR Leaders, 1961-2020 Random Sports or Baseball Quiz Can you name the MLB WAR Leaders from 1961 to 2020? The two-time Gold Glove winner has always been a standout defender, but he took his offensive game up a notch last year with career highs in OPS+ (93), home runs (19), RBI (82) and runs (79). With that in mind, let's take a shot at predicting the American and National League leaders in batting average, home runs, ERA, strikeouts and WAR over the 60-game 2020 season. The Up-and-Comer: Tyler Glasnow, Tampa Bay Rays. by tylerostrander Plays Quiz not verified by Sporcle . 11 prospect in the Minnesota Twins farm system—well off the leaguewide top 100 prospect picture—so to say he came out of nowhere is an understatement. Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted. Puig SD 7. With a bitter election just days away we start with voting, specifically voter suppression. The Dark Horse: Mitch Keller, Pittsburgh Pirates. For the sake of this quiz, a player must have played at least two-thirds of his career at a specific position to qualify for that spot. Franmil Reyes ranked among the leaders in exit velocity (99th percentile), hard-hit rate (98th percentile) and barrel percentage (94th percentile) last season, according to Baseball Savant. Our trivia series on position-by-position leaders continues today by testing you on the WAR leaders at each spot around the diamond (including a bit of a curveball on the mound), according to Baseball-Reference.. For the sake of this quiz, a player must have played at least two-thirds of his career at a specific position to qualify for that spot. Jimenez CHW 4. 3B WAR 1. Soto WAS 6. Suarez CIN 5. Follow him on Twitter @paul_casella. With 80-grade speed, Trea Turner is the kind of player who can create his own batted-ball luck, and a handful of infield singles could make a huge difference in the batting title race over a 60-game sample size. After striking out 180 batters in a career-high 180 innings in 2018, he racked up 118 punchouts in 95.1 innings last season for 11.1 strikeouts per nine innings. That should give you an idea of the types of numbers that could top the leagues this year. The Dark Horse: Nick Ahmed, Arizona Diamondbacks. Will Smith made his MLB debut last season and finished with a 134 OPS+ and 15 home runs in 196 plate appearances. Seager SEA SS WAR 1. The Dark Horse: Andrew Heaney, Los Angeles Angels. Biden drew 20.8 million for the two town halls combined, while Trump had 17.3 million. Trout BOS 2. Ozuna CLE 5. This category is really Trout versus the field, and the smart money is on Trout. The extra rest the delayed season has provided figures to benefit him as much as anyone. The Dark Horse: Jesus Luzardo, Oakland Athletics. Teams had each played roughly 60 games last June 4. He has also proved capable of going on an absolute tear at the plate—he hit .335/.434/.728 with 21 home runs in 53 games over the final two months of the 2018 season to help the Brewers claim a playoff spot. The Up-and-Comer: Walker Buehler, Los Angeles Dodgers. The Up-and-Comer: Juan Soto, Washington Nationals. DJ LeMahieu has the seventh-highest batting average (.302) among qualified active players, and he already has a batting title under his belt from when he hit .348 for the Colorado Rockies in 2016. Photo: Tom Brenner/Reuters. He returned from Tommy John surgery in July and quietly posted a 4.07 ERA with 105 strikeouts in 73 innings. Let's see how many WAR leaders you can name below: Paul Casella is a reporter/editor for MLB.com based in Philadelphia. Shortstop Willy Adames quietly ranked second on the 96-win Tampa Bay Rays with 4.2 WAR last season, slugging 20 home runs and grading out as one of the best defensive shortstops in baseball with 12 defensive runs saved. On the pitching side, Hyun-Jin Ryu (1.35) and Jake Odorizzi (1.96) led their respective leagues in ERA. Harper PHI 8. He also proved he's more than capable of hitting away from Coors Field last year when he posted a .327/.375/.518 line in his first season with the New York Yankees to finish fourth in AL MVP voting. The Obvious Choice: Jacob deGrom, New York Mets. If Jeff McNeil has proved anything in his first two MLB seasons, it's that he can flat-out hit. Rate 5 stars Rate 4 stars Rate 3 stars Rate 2 stars Rate 1 star . 2020 Batting Leaders including BA: LeMahieu .364, H: Turner 78, HR: Voit 22, OBP: Soto .490, OPS: Soto 1.185, R: Freeman 51, RBI: Abreu 60, SB: Mondesi 24, SLG: Soto .695 Sports Reference Baseball 2020 MLB Batting, 2020 MLB Pitching, Career WAR Leaders, Single-Season Home Run … For the sake of this quiz, a player must have played at least two-thirds of his career. That was good for 12.2 strikeouts per nine innings, which put him in elite territory. His 72.8 career WAR already ranks 86th on the all-time list and trails only teammate Albert Pujols' 100.8 among active players. This one is a bit of a stretch, but there's logic behind it. The Up-and-Comer: Jeff McNeil, New York Mets. On Friday, we looked back at the champions and MVPs of the last 10 years in the four major U.S. sports. Shane Bieber Hoskins PHI 10. One of baseball's top pitching prospects, Jesus Luzardo missed time early last season before making his MLB debut in September. Seager ARI 4. This will be a yearlong series covering a new topic each month — education, housing, technology and health care. The Arizona Diamondbacks rewarded him with a four-year, $32.5 million extension, and his more complete game could turn him into the next Andrelton Simmons from a value standpoint. Current Players. But there's a reason he is such a popular talking point. The 23-year-old hit .334/.399/.439 with a minuscule 7.9 percent strikeout rate in 366 plate appearances to finish sixth in AL Rookie of the Year voting. One of the few Yankees who managed to stay upright last season, Gleyber Torres launched 38 home runs in his age-22 season. Mookie Betts: 3.37: 2. The Dark Horse: Yoan Moncada, Chicago White Sox. Provided he settles in at third base as expected, his offensive game might benefit from the stability of having an everyday defensive position. MLB Wins Above Replacement - 2020. Baseball is driven by statistics, whether it's played in a 162-game season or 60-game season. Meanwhile, Christian Yelich was once again arguably the best all-around player in the league, leading the NL in batting average (.329), on-base percentage (.429), slugging (.671) and OPS+ (179) in a 7.0-WAR season. Assuming he spends the bulk of 2020 facing off against NL West foes, that bodes well for his chances of posting a low ERA.