MLB fans love to debate who the league's top players are. Batting averages, home runs, RBIs, OBP, OPS, WAR and championships are all used to quantify a player's value.
Over the previous five seasons, we have seen five different teams win the World Series. We have also seen 10 different players win the MVP Award (five in the National League, five in the American League). That leaves a lot of room for debate when it comes to the best MLB players.
The list of the league's Top 10 MLB Players was recently released by Xavier Scruggs and B/R Walk-Off. Baseball fans took to Twitter to debate the players, the order of the list, and who was left off.
New York Yankees fans have reason to be upset after Aaron Judge was dropped to No. 3. After completing one of the greatest offensive seasons in the history of baseball, it seems a little unfair. Judge broke the AL single-season home run record with 62 homers. He led the league in home runs, RBIs, runs, OBP, slugging and OPS.
Paul Goldschmidt and Jose Ramirez getting snubbed has created an uproar among the St. Louis Cardinals and Cleveland Guardian fans. Goldschmidt just came off winning the NL MVP. Ramirez is a four-time All-Star and finished with 30 homers and 130 RBIs last season.
Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout ranked No. 1 and No. 2 on the MLB Top 10 list despite the LA Angels' poor season
Some fans tipped their caps to the list and agreed with pretty much all the names to make the cut. There may have been some debate about the order but overall these fans were content with the Top 10.
Scruggs irked a lot of fans by ranking Los Angeles Angels All-Stars Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout in the one and two spots. Both players have won the AL MVP (Trout is a three-time MVP) and have consistently put up big numbers.
The issues stem from the fact that the Angels have not qualified for the playoffs since 2014. The two players will need to prove themselves in the postseason before fans can truly accept them as elite.
Overall, the list covers most of MLB's superstars. There is no mention of pitchers (aside from Ohtani), but we can assume that the list is referring to position players. Look out for these top 10 players (along with Goldschmidt and Ramirez) to make a big impact in 2023.