The free-agent hitters with the best tools

The free-agent hitters with the best tools

November 26th, 2024

The 2024-25 free agent class is full of players with standout skill sets. Let's find the free agents with the best individual tools.

Baseball's five tools are the classic way to categorize a player -- contact hitting, power, speed, defense and arm strength. There's a lot more that goes into being an MLB star, of course, but looking at the five tools is a nice and simple way to break down which free agents stand out, depending on what a team needs.

Here are the current free-agent hitters who are the best at each tool (only one tool per player, no repeats).

Contact: OF

Soto might be MLB's best all-around hitter. He's an elite contact hitter, and an elite power hitter. We'll pick him for contact here, because his signature skill is being the toughest at-bat in baseball. And every metric backs that up.

In 2024, Soto ranked second in the Majors in expected batting average (.316, just behind Vladimir Guerrero Jr.), based on his quality of contact. He ranked first in the percentage of his swings that produced hard contact (23.8%).

Soto was also the only hitter who ranked in the top 10% of MLB in both average bat speed (75.5 mph) and how often he squared up the ball on the sweet spot of the bat (32% of his swings). Soto ranked in the 94th percentile of MLB in both metrics. That means his contact ability is really in a class of its own -- not just putting the bat on the ball, but putting the right part of the bat on the ball, at a high bat speed, all the time.

Honorable mention: Alex Bregman, Jurickson Profar

Power: 1B

You could make the case that Soto is also the best power hitter in this free-agent class, but we're going with one tool per player, and there's another top-tier pure power hitter available: Alonso.

Alonso has never failed to eclipse 50 barrels in a full season in his career -- barrels are Statcast's top level of contact quality, balls hit with both ideal exit velocity and ideal launch angle, which are likely to turn into home runs and extra-base hits. Alonso, Soto and Matt Olson are the only hitters with five 50-barrel seasons since Alonso's rookie season in 2019.

That includes 58 barrels for Alonso in 2024, and 329 since 2019 -- that's fourth-most of any hitter over that time, behind only Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani and Soto.

Alonso was also top-10 in Statcast's expected home runs for 2024 (based on how many ballparks where his batted balls would be home runs) and ranked sixth with 22 no-doubter home runs (homers that would be gone at all 30 parks).

Honorable mention: Soto, Anthony Santander, Teoscar Hernández

Speed: SS

There aren't many elite speedsters in free agency this winter, but Kim has a good blend of raw speed and turning that speed into results on the baseball field.

Kim's 28.3 ft/sec sprint speed in 2024 ranked in the top quarter of the Majors (MLB average sprint speed is 27 ft/sec), and he used that sprint speed to steal 22 bases. If you tack on the 2023 season, when Kim had a 28.5 ft/sec sprint speed and swiped 38 bags, he has a 28.4 ft/sec sprint speed and 60 stolen bases over the last two years.

The strictly fastest player available is probably Garrett Hampson (29.8 ft/sec sprint speed), but he doesn't run as often as Kim, so Kim's speed tool makes a bigger impact on the bases. Kim provides both raw speed and game speed.

Honorable mention: Garrett Hampson, Travis Jankowski

Defense (Infield): 1B

First base might not be a premier defensive position, but Walker is in a tier of his own with his glove. He's not just one of the best defensive first basemen, he's one of the top fielders at any position.

Over the last three seasons with the D-backs -- during which he's won three consecutive Gold Glove Awards -- Walker has been worth +39 Outs Above Average at first base. That makes him a top-10 fielder in the Major Leagues, period (and a top-five infielder), trailing only Dansby Swanson, Andrés Giménez, Daulton Varsho, Ke'Bryan Hayes, Marcus Semien and José Siri. He's by far the best first baseman, 20 OAA ahead of the next-best fielder at his position, fellow free agent Carlos Santana.

Walker has ranked in the 97th percentile of MLB fielders or better by OAA in each of the last three seasons, including 2024, when he posted a +13 OAA.

Honorable mention: Nicky Lopez, Willy Adames

Defense (Outfield): CF

Bader has been an elite defensive center fielder since he came into the Major Leagues. From his first full season in 2018 through 2024, he's amassed +74 Outs Above Average, the best among all MLB outfielders (just ahead of Kevin Kiermaier) and fifth-best among all MLB fielders at any position (behind only Francisco Lindor, Nick Ahmed, Swanson and Nolan Arenado).

Bader has stayed remarkably consistent with his glove over the years. The 2024 season was his fifth in the last seven years where he was worth double-digit Outs Above Average (Bader finished at +10 for the Mets).

He's one of only 11 outfielders since Statcast began tracking catch probability in 2016 to make at least 50 plays with a catch probability of 50% or lower.

Honorable mention: Michael A. Taylor

Arm (Infield): SS

Adames is the top shortstop on the free-agent market this winter thanks to his combination of power and defense, and his arm has always helped him make his plays at short.

Over the past three seasons, he's posted average arm strengths of 90.0 mph, 88.1 mph and 88.2 mph, which isn't at the very, very top of the shortstop position, but is a strong enough arm to place Adames in the upper quartile of shortstops each year, and on the higher end of infielders in general.

Honorable mention: Ha-Seong Kim

Arm (Outfield): LF

Verdugo had one of the best arms among left fielders in 2024, averaging 91.7 mph in left for the Yankees. Across all three outfield positions, his overall arm strength was even a little higher, 92.1 mph, ranking in the 94th percentile of all MLB fielders.

It was Verdugo's second straight season in the top 10% of the league in arm strength, after he averaged 92.8 mph in 2023 (95th percentile). His max arm strength was over 98 mph in both seasons.

He also frequently turns his strong throws into outs on the bases. Verdugo has eight outfield assists with a tracked arm strength of 90 mph or higher over the last two seasons -- five in 2023 with the Red Sox, three in 2024 with the Yankees -- including top marks of 96.4 mph last year and 95.0 mph this year.

Honorable mention: Michael A. Taylor, Harrison Bader