With Spring Training winding down and Opening Day just days away, intriguing questions abound, from which teams will bounce back after subpar seasons last year to whether anyone will be able to dethrone the reigning MVP and Cy Young Award winners.
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One of the big ones to consider at the dawn of a new regular season is: Which players will lead their league in each major statistical category?
We asked 57 MLB.com staff members to weigh in, and here are the results:
Batting average
AL: Bobby Witt Jr., Royals
One of the elite players in all of baseball, Witt has produced 18.5 fWAR over the past two seasons, certainly the type of figure that would be worthy of an MVP Award or two. But there’s one problem for Witt there: Aaron Judge. Even so, Witt’s 395 hits over the past two seasons easily led the Majors, with Luis Arraez coming in second with 381. Witt also led the Majors with a .332 batting average in 2024.
Runner-up: Jacob Wilson, A’s
Wilson finished second in our staff poll by the narrowest of margins, with Witt edging him by a single ballot. Wilson finished runner-up in AL Rookie of the Year Award voting last year, and had it not been for a left hand fracture and hamstring issues, he might’ve challenged Witt for the batting title. Overall, Wilson hit .311 last season and struck out just 39 times in 523 plate appearances.
Others receiving votes: Aaron Judge, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Yandy Díaz, Yordan Alvarez, Roman Anthony
NL: Luis Arraez, Giants
Arraez, who by his lofty standards had a “down” year when it came to batting average in 2025 -- he hit “only” .292 and was a below-average hitter based on OPS+ (99) for the first time in his career -- he remains a master manipulator of the bat. That recognition has him as the winner in our staff poll on the NL side as he suits up for his new club, the Giants.
Runner-up: Bo Bichette, Mets
This was another close vote, with Arraez beating out Bichette -- now in the NL with the Mets after spending the first seven seasons of his Major League career with the Blue Jays -- by two votes. Bichette finished tied with Arraez for second in MLB in hits last season (181) despite missing nearly the entire month of September due to a knee injury. Even with a subpar, injury-plagued 2024 campaign, Bichette is a career .294 hitter.
Others receiving votes: Nico Hoerner, Shohei Ohtani, Trea Turner, Freddie Freeman, Geraldo Perdomo, Juan Soto, Ronald Acuña Jr., Matt McLain, JJ Wetherholt
Home Runs
AL: Aaron Judge, Yankees
This one was a landslide. Yes, Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh had a historic 2025 campaign, becoming the first catcher to hit 60 home runs in a season. But one thing Judge has that Raleigh doesn’t is multiple seasons of 50-plus home runs -- four, to be exact, which is tied with Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa for most all-time. He’s the most feared and consistent home run hitter in the game.
Runner-up: Nick Kurtz, A’s
Kurtz, the reigning AL Rookie of the Year, had one of the greatest rookie campaigns in MLB history in 2025. He belted 36 home runs with a 1.002 OPS in 489 plate appearances, making him one of three players with an OPS of 1.000 or greater in at least that many plate appearances -- the others were Judge and Shohei Ohtani. Had he had reached 650 plate appearances at the rate he was homering, Kurtz would have finished with 48 homers. He could even be a darkhorse MVP candidate this year.
Others receiving votes: Junior Caminero, Cal Raleigh, Pete Alonso, José Ramírez
NL: Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers
This race was a runaway win for Ohtani, which is mildly surprising given that Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber led the league with 56 homers last season. Still, Ohtani is never a bad pick for almost any accolade. That’s especially true for home runs -- the two-way superstar has hit 233 homers over the past five seasons, more than anyone else in the NL (the only player with more in MLB over that span is Judge). And he launched a career-high 55 of them in 2025.
Runner-up: Kyle Schwarber, Phillies
Schwarber is second on the list of most NL homers since 2021, with 219. He belted a career-high 56 last year, including four in one game against the Braves. The hulking left-handed slugger homered once every 10.8 at-bats last season, more frequently than anyone in the NL and behind only Raleigh and Judge in MLB.
Others receiving votes: Juan Soto, Ronald Acuña Jr., Fernando Tatis Jr., Eugenio Suárez
Stolen bases
AL: Chandler Simpson, Rays
In his first taste of the Majors last season, Simpson stole 44 bases in 109 games. His 29.6 feet per second sprint speed ranked in the 97th percentile among qualified players in 2025, and he was a very valuable baserunner -- according to Statcast, Simpson’s baserunning value last year was +7, which also ranked him among the top 3% of qualified runners.
Runner-up: Bobby Witt Jr., Royals
Witt, among the finest of five-tool players around baseball, has tremendous speed of his own. Over his first four seasons in the Majors, he has racked up 148 steals, including 49 in 2023.
Others receiving votes: José Caballero, José Ramírez, Jazz Chisholm Jr.
NL: Elly De La Cruz, Reds
One of only five players in AL/NL history (since 1900) to hit at least 20 homers and swipe at least 60 bases in the same season (2024), De La Cruz played with a partially torn quad last season, which suppressed his offensive production -- though he still finished second in the NL with 37 steals. But if he stays healthy in 2026, he could put up more eye-popping power-speed numbers.
Runner-up: Oneil Cruz, Pirates
Another Cruz with incredible power-speed potential, Oneil has yet to put together a season that we’d truly say was commensurate with his incredible talent. Last season he finished tied with the Mets’ Juan Soto with a league-best 38 stolen bases.
Others receiving votes: Pete Crow-Armstrong, Corbin Carroll, Ronald Acuña Jr., Victor Scott II, Jakob Marsee, Michael Harris II, Xavier Edwards, Nico Hoerner, CJ Abrams
Earned run average
AL: Tarik Skubal, Tigers
He has led the league in ERA in each of the past two seasons, both of which culminated in a Cy Young Award. He’s in his prime and considered the most dominant left-handed starting pitcher in the game. So Skubal is a great choice here, with our staff poll projecting a third consecutive ERA title after he posted a 2.39 mark in 2024, and 2.21 last year.
Runner-up: Garrett Crochet, Red Sox
Crochet finished runner-up to Skubal in last year’s AL Cy Young Award balloting and led the Majors in strikeouts, with 255. His 2.59 ERA was a career-best in a second straight All-Star campaign. Still just entering his age-27 season, the big left-hander could be a dominant force for years to come.
Others receiving votes: Hunter Brown, Jacob deGrom, Logan Gilbert, Cole Ragans, Joe Ryan, Bryan Woo
NL: Paul Skenes, Pirates
This one wasn’t close, with Skenes dominating the balloting like he’s dominated opposing batters over his first two Major League seasons. The flamethrowing right-hander has made 55 career starts, over which his ERA is 1.96. He doesn’t yet even know what it’s like to have an ERA over 2.00, and there’s no reason to think he won’t continue to lead the way in the ERA department.
Runner-up: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers
The MVP of last year’s World Series showed just how durable he can be, and after an injury-shortened rookie campaign in 2024, he finished last season with a 2.49 ERA over 30 starts before his unforgettable postseason heroics. Yamamoto led the Majors in hits per nine innings, at 5.9, and he finished third in NL Cy Young Award voting.
Others receiving votes: Cristopher Sánchez, Freddy Peralta, Shohei Ohtani, Nolan McLean, Cade Horton
Strikeouts
AL: Garrett Crochet, Red Sox
This time, Crochet gets the nod over Skubal. And why not? All he’s done in his first two seasons as a full-time starter is strike out 32.9% of batters he faced. He led baseball with 255 punchouts in 2025, and he’s primed for another prodigious strikeout performance for Boston in ’26.
Runner-up: Tarik Skubal, Tigers
Skubal is no slouch in the strikeout department, either. He finished second to Crochet with 241 K’s last season, and the year before that, he led MLB with 228.
Others receiving votes: Dylan Cease, Hunter Brown
NL: Paul Skenes, Pirates
Skenes again ran away with the top spot in this category. He eclipsed the 200-strikeout mark last season and he has a career K rate of 31%.
Runner-up: Logan Webb, Giants
Webb is an innings-eating workhorse. He’s led the NL or the Majors in innings pitched in each of the past three years. That leads to more opportunities to rack up strikeouts, and he led the league with 224 of them in 2025.
Others receiving votes: Jesús Luzardo, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Cristopher Sánchez, Freddy Peralta, Chris Sale, Spencer Strider, Zac Gallen
Saves
AL: Andrés Muñoz, Mariners
Muñoz has come into his own as one of the best closers in baseball. Last season, he picked up 38 saves and posted a 1.73 ERA in 64 appearances for Seattle. Primarily using a devastating slider that ranked third in the Majors with a +15 run value and a four-seamer that averaged 98.2 mph, the right-hander ranked in the 96th percentile with a 32.7% strikeout rate.
Runner-up: David Bednar, Yankees
Bednar has been outstanding for the Yankees since New York acquired him in a Trade Deadline deal with the Pirates last July. And at the time of the trade, the right-hander was already having a great season with the Bucs. Overall, he posted a 2.30 ERA with 27 saves. With a three-pitch mix (four-seamer, curveball, splitter), he’ll look to lead his league in saves for the second time, also doing so with 39 for Pittsburgh in 2023.
Others receiving votes: Aroldis Chapman, Cade Smith, Ryan Helsley, Jeff Hoffman
NL: Edwin Díaz, Dodgers
Consistently one of baseball’s best closers over the past several years, Díaz saved 28 games with a 1.63 ERA and a 38% strikeout rate for the Mets last year. Now with the two-time defending World Series champion Dodgers, he might get even more chances to close games out in 2026. This is a guy who saved 57 games for the Mariners in 2018, and he has 253 saves for his career.
Runner-up: Mason Miller, Padres
Miller is simply overpowering. With a four-seam fastball that averaged 101.2 mph last year, along with a devastating slider, the right-hander held opponents to a .139 batting average against him in 2025. He struck out an incredible 44.4% of hitters he faced, and his whiff rate was 45.2%. The word “unfair” comes to mind often when he’s on the mound because he’s just that good.
Others receiving votes: Jhoan Duran, Devin Williams, Daniel Palencia, Trevor Megill, Robert Suarez, Raisel Iglesias