In recent offseasons, we’ve seen prolific mashers such as Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto dominate the free-agent market. To be sure, there is no headliner of that caliber among the bats available this time around.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of intriguing offensive players out there, even if many of them come with notable question marks.
So as the Hot Stove starts to percolate following this week’s GM Meetings, here is how MLB.com’s panel of voters see the Free Agent Hitter Power Rankings stacking up. To be clear, voting was conducted based solely on players’ contributions on offense, so while positional and defensive value are extremely important, they weren’t a factor here.
1) Seiya Suzuki
Why did seven of our eight voters put Suzuki in the top spot? It surely has to do with his consistent production since jumping from Japan’s NPB to MLB and signing with the Cubs ahead of the 2022 season. While Suzuki has never made an All-Star team, contended for a major award or led the league in a notable statistical category, he’s pretty much had the same (excellent) season four years in a row. (Here is his OPS+ each year since 2023: 130, 138, 125, 131. Remember, that’s relative to a league average of 100.) The only other hitters to qualify for the batting title with at least a 125 OPS+ in each of those seasons? Ohtani, Bryce Harper and Rafael Devers.
2) Teruaki Sato
There is enormous intrigue surrounding Sato, the latest NPB star who is set to come over via the posting system. In Sato’s case, he’s doing so as the reigning NPB MVP, after a season in which he won the Central League’s Triple Crown. There appears to be a ton of interest in Sato among MLB teams, especially after the success of Munetaka Murakami -- a somewhat similar type of player -- in 2026. Also working in Sato’s favor is that he won’t turn 28 until March (making him the youngest player on this list). As MLB.com’s David Adler put it, in reviewing Sato’s tracking data from NPB: “He swings a fast bat, he hits the ball hard and he hits it in the air.” That’s all promising, so while there are some concerns about how Sato’s ultra-aggressive approach will translate against Major League pitching, there is also a lot to like here.
Players always want to perform at their best heading into free agency, and Arozarena did exactly that. A third-time All-Star in 2026 for the Mariners, Arozarena set full-season career highs in batting average (.281), OBP (.381), slugging (.484), OPS+ (148) and WAR (5.5, per FanGraphs). He went 20-20 for the sixth consecutive season and led the AL with 113 runs scored. Even more impressive is that Arozarena accomplished all that while playing his home games at perhaps the sport’s toughest ballpark for hitters. (He had a .788 OPS at home but .933 on the road.) It’s certainly worth wondering what he could do in a friendlier environment.
4) Jake Bauers
He’s certainly not the only player on the list for whom this applies, but: What a difference a year makes. Bauers was living the life of a journeyman, bouncing between five teams, spending time back in the Minors and generally struggling to find a secure foothold at the highest level. Then 2026 happened, and Bauers was suddenly a key cog in the lineup of the World Series-champion Brewers (who were impressed enough to extend him a qualifying offer for 2027). Looking at FanGraphs’ calculation of total offensive value for 2026 (which includes baserunning), Bauers ranked ninth in the Majors, ahead of the likes of Ohtani, Soto, Harper, Devers and Fernando Tatis Jr. He is the highest free agent on that list, as well as in terms of expected wOBA and hard-hit rate.
5) Brandon Lowe
Some injury issues have kept Lowe from matching Suzuki’s durability, but he also has a strong track record of well-above-average offensive performance. In nine Major League seasons, Lowe owns a 123 OPS+, and he’s been above 110 in all but one season, when he was limited to 65 games in 2022. This past season, Lowe stayed healthy enough to set career highs in games (150) and plate appearances (656), and he slugged .493 with 35 homers and 96 RBIs. Whiffs and strikeouts are always a big part of the equation with Lowe, but when he makes contact, good things tend to happen.
6) Luis Arraez
Arraez’s Baseball Savant page looks more or less like the opposite of Lowe’s (though both players enjoyed out-of-nowhere defensive success at second base in 2026). Arraez, famously, makes a lot of contact and rarely strikes out. On the flip side, he almost never hits the ball hard and rarely draws walks. It’s an unusual profile in the modern game but one that has worked well for Arraez, a three-time batting champion and four-time All-Star. It was more of the same in 2026, when Arraez posted a .310 average and piled up 185 hits but just six homers. However, that average broke down to .324 with the Giants and just .278 after a Deadline trade to the Phillies. That might cause some concern for teams, knowing that Arraez needs an average in the .300 range to make that unusual profile work.
7) Ryan Jeffers
Jeffers has a factor in his favor that nobody else on this list does: He can rake -- and play catcher. It’s hard to find offense behind the plate, but Jeffers has caught 80-plus games in each of the past four seasons. In that time, he’s one of 28 players to accrue at least 1,000 plate appearances as a catcher, and his .781 OPS in that role ranks sixth among that group. Jeffers missed almost two months with a hamate fracture in 2026 but batted .256/.353/.461 (127 OPS+) with 14 homers in his 92 total games, combining contact (85th percentile in whiff rate), patience (88th percentile in walk rate) and pop (69th percentile in barrel rate).
8) Ty France
France’s surprise stardom in 2026 wasn’t quite as out of nowhere as that of Bauers, because France had been a productive big leaguer in the past, posting a 119 OPS+ from 2020-23 and making an All-Star team with the Mariners in 2022. Still, France had been a below-average hitter in both 2024 and ‘25, which is why the veteran first baseman had to settle for a Minor League deal with San Diego. And just like that, France hit .295/.363/.502, beating out Tatis for the Padres’ team lead with a career-high 139 OPS+. There might be some skepticism about the sustainability of those numbers -- France’s expected stats were quite a bit less shiny -- but his resurgence was still impressive, to say the least.
So much of free agency is timing, and Chisholm’s would have been much better a year ago, after a 30-30 season in which he slugged .481 with a 122 OPS+. The stolen bases were still there in Chisholm’s contract year (41 of them), but he slugged just .399 with 19 homers, and his overall offensive production dipped below average (97 OPS+). With that said, Chisholm’s relatively young age (he’ll be 29 in February), second-base defense and baserunning value undoubtedly will still intrigue a number of suitors this offseason -- as will the flashes of brilliance he has shown at the plate in the past. There are big questions marks here, but also an opportunity for a team to strike gold with Chisholm’s upside.
10) Joc Pederson
The free agency game is nothing new for the 34-year-old Pederson, who is now in his fifth go-around since the 2021-22 offseason. Last time around, the left-handed slugger signed with the Rangers, then scuffled through a somewhat mystifying debut season in Texas (.614 OPS in 2025). Pederson was back in business in 2026, though, slugging .487 with 26 homers, a 134 OPS+ and a 93rd-percentile hard-hit rate (50.9%). About 92% of his 432 plate appearances came against righties, which is par for the course for Pederson. For a team looking for a strong-side platoon DH, Pederson still holds plenty of appeal.
Others receiving votes: Ian Happ, Alec Bohm, Trent Grisham, Gleyber Torres, Josh Bell, George Springer, Eugenio Suárez, Si Hwan Roh, Luis Robert Jr., Ramón Laureano, Randal Grichuk, Nathaniel Lowe, Taylor Ward, Michael Conforto
Voters: Theo DeRosa, Jared Greenspan, Brent Maguire, Brian Murphy, Max Ralph, Manny Randhawa, Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru, Andrew Simon