"Should've been Freddie Freeman"; "Aaron Judge snubbed" - MLB fans react as Shohei Ohtani tops 2025's players list

The start of the 2025 Major League Baseball season is just over a month away, making it the perfect time to look ahead at what’s to come. Major League Baseball has been compiling a list of the top 100 current players, releasing the top 10 on Thursday.

The MLB page on X (formerly Twitter) announced Shohei Ohtani as the No. 1 player. As expected, the ranking sparked plenty of fan reaction, with many disagreeing with Ohtani being named the best player.

Some fans believed the top player should have been from the Los Angeles Dodgers — but not Ohtani.

"Should’ve been freddie freeman. The real mvp of the dodgers," one said.

Freddie Freeman was the hero of the 2024 World Series, and other players were also mentioned as deserving the top spot, most notably Aaron Judge.

"Judge snubbed," another commented.

There was plenty of support for Judge, who was named American League MVP during the 2024 season.

"Judge clears that bum," a fan commented.

"Makes sense since Judge was better than him at every aspect of baseball other than running last year," another said.

While some fans were upset with the ranking, many agreed with MLB’s choice.

"Best player I’ve ever seen! Generational stuff, might be better than that. We may never see it again! Better than Babe Ruth in my opinion," one fan commented.

"Worthy choice," another said.

Shohei Ohtani seen having fun at Spring Training

Shohei Ohtani has always kept his personal life away from the media and is often extremely serious on the baseball field. That wasn’t the case on Friday, as he was seen having fun with some Dodgers teammates at Spring Training.

Shohei Ohtani spent the entire 2024 season as a designated hitter while recovering from injury. The Dodgers expect him to return to the mound this season.