We’re a tad more than three weeks into the 2026 regular season, and a quick check of the standings gives you a mix of the familiar and the unexpected.
The Dodgers owning the best record in MLB? Sounds about right. The Padres nipping at their heels? Makes sense. The Guardians and Tigers looking like contenders again in the AL Central? Of course.
But then you see that it’s actually the Twins who lead the Central. Meanwhile, the Rays and Pirates are also in first place? The Mets and Blue Jays are at the bottom of their respective divisions? Not many saw that coming.
That same kind of mix can also be found when you look at MLB’s stats leaders. Here is a glance at who is at the top of 14 categories -- seven batting and seven pitching. Several of them are surprising, so we assigned a "surprise factor" on a scale of 1-10 to each leader as well.
All stats are updated through Thursday's games unless noted otherwise.
BATTING
Runs scored: Mike Trout, Angels (21)
Surprise factor: 7
It’s not utterly shocking that Trout leads the Majors in runs scored -- the three-time MVP led the American League or MLB in this category four times before. It’s just that the last time it happened was a decade ago, and what we’re seeing so far in 2026 is a Mike Trout we haven’t seen in a long time due to injuries.
But it seems Trout is back, and back in a big way. With his historic series against the Yankees in the Bronx, he shot up to the top of the runs scored leaderboard. His five homers over four days at Yankee Stadium -- the most by a visiting player in a single series there -- gave him seven for the season, so he’s not far behind in the home run department, either.
Home runs: Aaron Judge, Yankees; Jordan Walker, Cardinals (eight)
Surprise factor for Judge: 1
Surprise factor for Walker: 9
Judge has actually only led the Majors in home runs twice, but of all the active power hitters in baseball, he's the one most capable of making us think it's easy. Case in point, through the end of play on April 11, he was tied for 26th in MLB with three home runs; he then lapped everyone but Walker by hitting five home runs in the last five days. An ordinary, healthy Judge season is a 50-homer campaign -- he's basically keeping that pace, slow start and all.
Walker is a completely different story. His power on both sides of the ball was what made him MLB Pipeline's No. 4 prospect in 2023; ability was never an issue. Getting all of his talent to translate into actual big league production was much more complicated. He hit 16 home runs as a rookie but between injuries and ineffectiveness never really got a foothold at the Major League level after that; in 2025, his third Major League season, he posted a .306 SLG with six home runs in 111 games, the kind of year that can signal to an organization it's time to move on from a power hitter.
And yet, three weeks and 18 games into the 2026 season, he's more consistently hitting the ball in the air and he's already surpassed his home run total from last season -- whether this is an isolated hot start or a sign of things to come is hard to say, but bearing in mind that Walker has yet to turn 24, there's reason for optimism.
Batting average and RBIs: Andy Pages (.409 batting average, 20 RBIs)
Surprise factor: 9
Although Pages hit a very respectable .272 last season, let’s not forget how that year ended for him: He went 4-for-51 in the postseason and ended up on the bench to start Games 6 and 7 of the World Series -- before making a championship-saving catch that no Dodger fan will soon forget.
While Pages’ .409 average is propped up by an astronomical .512 BABIP, this isn’t all smoke and mirrors. He has made much better contact this season, led by a 95th percentile hard-hit rate entering Thursday. That’s played a part in his .310 expected batting average.
And that has led to Pages’ success with runners in scoring position -- his RBI total in 18 games so far this season is already about a quarter of his total from last year (86).
Stolen Bases: Oneil Cruz, Pirates (nine)
Surprise factor: 2
Cruz appears to have the green light whenever he’s on base for the Bucs. It makes sense for a player who stole 38 bases last year -- tied for fourth most in the Majors -- and has an 88.2% success rate in his career. Cruz is 9-for-10 in steals this season. He’s done it without top-end speed as his 27.7 feet-per-second sprint speed entering Thursday ranked in the 70th percentile and well below his 2025 standard (29.2 ft/sec). Regardless, expect Cruz to keep running at will as he attempts to become the first Pirate to steal 40 bases since Starling Marte in 2016.
OPS and FanGraphs WAR: Yordan Alvarez, Astros (1.214 OPS, 1.5 fWAR)
Surprise factor: 4
That WAR speaks to just how well Alvarez is hitting right now. He was the position-player leader in fWAR entering Thursday despite adding nothing on the defensive end since he spends most of his games at DH. But we shouldn’t be totally surprised; Alvarez had 6.4 WAR in 135 games in 2022 and 5.2 WAR in 147 games in ‘24. Those ranked tied for ninth and 16th, respectively, in MLB. He was even higher up on the OPS leaderboards, ranking 2nd in 2022 (1.019) and fifth in ‘24 (.959).
Injuries seem to be the slugger’s biggest nemesis; he was limited to just 48 games last year. But Alvarez has been a productive player whenever healthy, so as long as he remains in the lineup, he’ll probably remain among the leaders in each statistic.
PITCHING
Innings: Max Fried, Yankees (33 1/3)
Surprise factor: 2
Coming off a season in which he tied for fourth in the big leagues with a career-high 195 1/3 innings pitched, Fried has remained the Yankees’ workhorse. It’s a role they’ve needed him to fill with Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón working their way back from injuries.
Excluding his injury-marred 2023 season and shortened 2020 campaign, Fried has worked at least 165 innings each year since 2019. His 403 innings since the beginning of 2024 are the fourth most in baseball.
Strikeouts: Jacob Misiorowski, Brewers (33)
Surprise factor: 3
The Miz was a rookie sensation in 2025, showcasing a triple-digit heater, a mid-90s slider and an 87 mph curveball that often brought hitters to their knees. Misiorowski struck out 87 batters in 66 innings. This year? It’s been more of the same. His powerful arsenal is responsible for 33 K’s in 21 2/3 frames. That 13.7 K/9 rate is the best in the National League among qualified pitchers.
The 24-year-old fireballer fired 141 1/3 innings in pro ball last year, postseason included. That was the first time he exceeded 100 innings in any season, so it’s possible that the Brewers will have him on an innings cap this year. That could be the only thing that stands between Misiorowski and a strikeout title.
ERA, WHIP, batting average against: José Soriano, Angels (0.33 ERA, 0.67 WHIP, .103 BAA)
Surprise factor: 9
Once a top prospect in the Angels organization, Soriano had to undergo a pair of Tommy John surgeries in 2020 and ’21, but the right-hander was able to make a strong big league debut as a reliever in ’23, pitching to a 3.64 ERA over 42 innings. Then he was converted back to a starter, which was his primary role in the Minors, in ’24.
Soriano pitched well, turning in a 3.36 ERA over 20 starts after making two appearances out of the bullpen to begin the 2024 campaign. But he took a step back last year, when he posted a 4.26 ERA over a career-high 31 starts.
With a big arm -- his average fastball velocity this season is 97.5 mph -- and an assortment of effective secondary offerings, it’s not hard to see why Soriano is having success. It’s just that no one saw this measure of success coming early in the season. Seeing Soriano’s name atop the rankings in several major pitching categories, ahead of names like Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal, Shohei Ohtani and others, is an eyebrow-raiser.
Saves: Mason Miller, Padres; Paul Sewald, D-backs (six)
Surprise factor for Miller: 1
Surprise factor for Sewald: 8
If we could enter a zero for the surprise factor in Miller’s case, we’d do that. The flamethrowing right-hander is in the midst of one of the most dominant stretches by a closer in recent memory -- he hasn’t given up a run in 30 2/3 consecutive innings after he struck out the side to close out the Padres’ win over the Mariners on Thursday.
Since San Diego acquired him just prior to last year’s Trade Deadline, Miller has yielded just two runs. Primarily deploying a fastball-slider mix, his four-seamer is averaging an incredible 101.4 mph on the young season while his slider has generated a 79.3% whiff rate.
Sewald, meanwhile, is enjoying an early-season renaissance with Arizona. From 2024-25, he posted a 4.40 ERA with 18 saves for the D-backs, Guardians and Tigers. But so far in the 2026 campaign, he has nine scoreless outings. Sewald, who turns 36 next month, has been dominant with a four-seamer that is averaging 91.5 mph and a good sweeper.
FanGraphs WAR: Cam Schlittler, Yankees (1.3)
Surprise factor: 8
Schlittler has already equaled his WAR total from 14 starts last season in just four starts this season. As of Thursday, he was the only pitcher with at least 1.0 fWAR. Schlittler has the stuff to be an ace; we saw it on full display in the 2025 postseason. But his ascension has been rapid. Embarking on his first full MLB season, Schlittler has a 2.49 ERA, 30 K’s and just one walk allowed through 21 2/3 innings. His expected ERA is better than his actual mark (1.79).
Schlittler threw 164 innings last season between the Minors and the Majors (postseason included). So, assuming the Yankees don’t have any plans to handle the 25-year-old with kid gloves, he looks like a real threat to pace pitchers in WAR this season.