MLB Network recently completed the annual reveal of its Top 100 Players Right Now list. Surprise, surprise: Shohei Ohtani was at the top.
Ohtani has ranked No. 1 in four of the past five seasons, dropping to No. 4 in 2024, when rehab from elbow surgery turned him from two-way player to full-time DH. (Ronald Acuña Jr., coming off a 40-40 season, ranked first that year -- right before Ohtani topped him by going 50-50.)
Frankly, there’s no reason to think Ohtani won’t be right back on top again in 2027. He’s a superstar who remains at the top of his game, one who will be back performing in a two-way capacity from Opening Day this year, following his midseason return to the mound in ‘25.
And if it’s not Ohtani, the new No. 1 will more than likely be one of his closest challengers this time around. Here again is this year’s top 10:
- Shohei Ohtani
- Aaron Judge
- Bobby Witt Jr.
- Cal Raleigh
- José Ramírez
- Juan Soto
- Paul Skenes
- Tarik Skubal
- Corbin Carroll
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Then again ... it might not. Precedent says so: When Acuña jumped up to No. 1 in 2024, he did so after ranking 25th on the 2023 list. (The torn right ACL he sustained in 2021 held him out for the beginning of the ‘22 season and likely impacted his performance after that.) Oh, and there’s an even more extreme example, too. In 2022, when Ohtani himself knocked then-teammate Mike Trout from his near-annual No. 1 position, he did so by jumping all the way from outside the Top 100 after struggling at the plate and barely pitching during the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. There were a number of players who rose way up this year’s list, too, albeit not all the way to No. 1.
That inspired this question, which we put to 10 MLB.com writers and researchers: If someone jumps from outside of this year’s top 10 all the way up to No. 1 in 2027, who will it be?
We conducted a draft, and here are the results ...
1. Julio Rodríguez, CF, Mariners
2026 rank: 16
Rodríguez has been in the Majors for four seasons. He was the 2022 AL Rookie of the Year and he’s earned three All-Star selections and two Silver Slugger Awards. He has already posted two seasons of at least 30 homers and 30 steals. Defensively, Rodríguez is one of the best center fielders in the game, with +38 outs above average since making his MLB debut, second in that span only to Pete Crow-Armstrong’s +39.
Yet it feels like we haven’t seen J-Rod’s best. A notorious slow starter -- for his career, he has a .737 OPS prior to the All-Star break and a .902 OPS in the second half. What might it look like if he truly puts together a complete campaign? This is a prototypical five-tool player who has yet to unlock his full potential. When he does, he could rocket up to No. 1 on the Top 100 rankings.
-- Manny Randhawa
2. Junior Caminero, 3B, Rays
2026 rank: 39
Caminero is electric. Last winter, we all marveled at his ninth-inning, go-ahead home run in Game 7 of the LIDOM championship series for Leones del Escogido. He has the makings of a superstar, and he followed up that winter ball campaign with a breakout MLB season at just 21 and 22 years old — crushing 45 home runs. At 22 years and 85 days old on the last day of the season, he became the second-youngest player in MLB history with at least 45 home runs in a season, older than only 1953 Eddie Mathews (21y, 349d).
That wasn’t a surprise. Caminero has elite bat speed, a tool that will help him be a great power hitter for years to come. With bat speed, a fast swing is defined as one at 75 mph or faster — and nobody swung fast more frequently than Caminero in 2025. With 81.1% of his competitive swings rating as fast, he was the only player above 80%.
-- Sarah Langs
3. Roman Anthony, LF, Red Sox
2026 rank: 41
Anthony looks like the real deal, possessing the kind of all-around skill set that gives him a realistic path to becoming the best player in baseball. Those might seem like lofty expectations for a 21-year-old with only 71 games of MLB experience under his belt, but after vaulting to the top of MLB Pipeline’s list of the Top 100 prospects last season, he’s used to it.
Following his callup last June, he shook off a slow start and finished the year with a .292/.396/.463 slash (140 OPS+) for Boston, showing a rare combination of plate discipline and power at the dish. In fact, Anthony’s 60.3% hard-hit rate led all players with at least 100 batted balls, and he and Juan Soto were the only two hitters (minimum 300 PAs) to post a hard-hit rate above 55% and a chase rate below 21%. With the potential to be an elite defender as well, the sky’s the limit for Anthony entering his first full season.
-- Thomas Harrigan
4. Fernando Tatis Jr., RF, Padres
2026 rank: 15
Somehow, Tatis just turned 27 years old and has already compiled an impressive career .868 OPS with 152 home runs, 124 stolen bases and 26.5 WAR (per FanGraphs). He’s coming off one of his best seasons, too, in which he had a 125 OPS+, 6.1 WAR, 25 homers and 32 steals. Despite his strong career highlighted by all-around excellence, it still feels like there might be another gear.
His quality of contact suggests that another offensive level could come. In 2025, Tatis’s .370 expected wOBA was a good deal higher than his actual .353 wOBA. It was the same story in 2024 (.390 xwOBA, .359 wOBA). Considering his offensive level is already good and that Tatis boasts elite defense and strong baserunning, any uptick in offense could make him a legitimate MVP candidate and threaten as one of the best players in baseball.
-- Brent Maguire
5. Ben Rice, 1B, Yankees
2026 rank: 95
No one in their right mind would take a first baseman off the board with so many shortstops and center fielders still available. But we’re speculating here, so let’s say by this time next year, Rice is a full-time catcher -- it isn’t out of the question, and it gives him that premier position bonus that separates, for example, Cal Raleigh (No. 4) from Kyle Schwarber (No. 17).
Rice hit .255/.337/.499 with 26 home runs and a 131 OPS+ in his first full Major League season. His batted ball data suggests he actually got a raw deal, and it's that sizeable gap between his good SLG (.499) and his great xSLG (.557, 97th percentile) at his age (27 as of Opening Day) that this prediction hinges on. On the one hand, it's possible none of this means anything. On the other, those numbers are reminiscent of a few other recent seasons we didn't think much about at the time -- say, for example, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s 2023 (.444 SLG, .509 xSLG in his age 24 season), Ronald Acuña Jr.'s 2022 (.413 SLG, .496 xSLG in his age 24 season) or Aaron Judge's 2021 (.544 SLG, .601 xSLG in his age 29 season).
-- Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru
6. Elly De La Cruz, SS, Reds
2026 rank: 52
Leapfrogging to the No. 1 spot means dethroning Ohtani and Judge. Realistically, only a few players even have a chance. It'd have to be someone with such a dynamic skill set that they could catch lightning in a bottle and do something historic.
De La Cruz is one of the only guys who fits that bill. He has the top-of-the-scale raw power and speed to have an MVP season like 2023 Ronald Acuña Jr. (41 homers, 73 steals) or 2024 Ohtani (54 homers, 59 steals). Elly also has the defensive ceiling to be one of baseball's best shortstops (which he was in 2024). He's like Witt, and Witt is behind only Ohtani and Judge on the Top 100.
Basically, De La Cruz has the elite power-speed-defense combo to have No. 1 overall upside … he just needs to be elite at all three things at the same time. Easy.
-- David Adler
7. Nick Kurtz, 1B, Athletics
2026 rank: 23
Kurtz is 22 years old, has just 117 games of Major League experience and is already among the best offensive players in the game. That last part may sound like a stretch, but consider that starting on May 20 last season, Kurtz led all qualified hitters over the remainder of the year in slugging (.691) and wRC+ (196). Among players with at least 300 plate appearances from that date, Kurtz’s 20.6% barrel rate was bested only by Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Schwarber. To put that another way, only the two league MVPs and the NL MVP runner-up were better at barreling up the ball than the A’s rookie. Plus, even though he didn’t debut until April 23 and didn’t really hit with authority until that May day, Kurtz was the seventh-most valuable batter last season according to Statcast’s run value metric.
He must improve his 30.9% strikeout rate and poor defense (minus-5 fielding run value), but Kurtz’s prodigious power could propel him to the top.
-- Brian Murphy
8. Yordan Alvarez, DH/LF, Astros
2026 rank: 28
After Alvarez missed major time in 2025 due to a fracture in his right hand, it’s easy to overlook him heading into 2026. But the Astros slugger is as feared a hitter as any in the Major Leagues: In his career, Alvarez owns a .297 batting average and a .961 OPS. The 2019 AL Rookie of the Year was named an All-Star and earned down-ballot AL MVP votes in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Alvarez has repeatedly struggled to stay healthy, but he’s a Statcast monster who can work walks, hit for power and spray the ball all over the field. While it won’t be easy for a primary DH to earn the No. 1 ranking, Alvarez absolutely has the talent to do so. Set to turn 29 in late June, Alvarez is in his prime and could be in for a massive year if he can stay on the field.
-- Theo DeRosa
9. Ronald Acuña Jr., RF, Braves
2026 rank: 14
Acuña's on this list for one reason: He's made a major jump to No. 1 before and may be primed to do it again. Acuña returned in late May after missing most of the 2024 season with a torn right ACL -- similar to 2022, when he returned in late April after missing half the 2021 season with a torn left ACL. But unlike in 2022, when Acuña struggled to regain his form, the 2025 version of Acuña looked like himself from the first pitch he saw. He finished with 21 homers, a .935 OPS and a 163 OPS+ in 95 games for Atlanta -- numbers reminiscent of the NL MVP from 2023. The Braves slugger ranked No. 25 on this list ahead of the '23 season before his historic 40-70 MVP season vaulted him to the top. Could he do something similar in 2026? The prelude sounds familiar.
-- Jason Foster
10. Jackson Merrill, CF, Padres
2026 rank: 59
Merrill seemed ready for something like an MVP run in 2025 after finishing in the 90th percentile or better in expected batting average, expected slugging percentage, expected isolated power, barrels, arm strength and outs above average in center field as a rookie in 2024.
But Merrill’s second season didn’t see the expected jump, partly because he visited the injured list three times. Merrill also struggled against off-speed pitches after slugging .511 against them in 2025, and he dropped below the 90th percentile in all of the above categories except arm strength. Still, his rookie season showed Merrill has the talent to produce at a high level. With youth on his side, the 22-year-old former first-round Draft pick can not only recapture his 2024 levels, but improve on them. And maybe at this time next year, we’ll be talking about Merrill defending his NL MVP Award and residing at the apex of the top 100.
-- Jeffrey Lutz