2023’s top 100 players (21-30)

Altuve, Lindor, Schwarber, and Ramirez are among today’s big names

Dec 01, 2023

It’s a new month, but a bit of old business remains.

I started counting down my list of baseball’s top 100 players on November 7, unveiling successive groups of 10 batters and pitchers each Tuesday and Friday. That brought us to 31st place before the calendar flipped to December.

We’re left with three final installments — today, next Tuesday, and a week from today.

The rankings are determined by overall base values (OBV), a relative measure of the surplus bases reached by a given hitter (or saved by a specific pitcher) in comparison to the way that an average big leaguer would have performed under the same circumstances.

Click here for a detailed explanation of OBV, along with a brief discussion of BPO, the factor that I use to break any ties in the standings.

Today’s players run from 30th to 21st place in the overall rankings, based on their 2023 performances:

30. Bobby Witt (Royals)
29. Jose Altuve (Astros)
28. Francisco Lindor (Mets)
27. George Kirby (Mariners)
26. Kyle Schwarber (Phillies)
25. Jose Ramirez (Guardians)
24. Cody Bellinger (Cubs)
23. Marcell Ozuna (Braves)
22. Zac Gallen (Diamondbacks)
21. Zach Eflin (Rays)

Scroll below to see brief profiles of these 10 honorees. If you’d like to look back at previous installments of this series, follow these links: 91-100, 81-90, 71-80, 61-70, 51-60, 41-50, and 31-40.

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30. Bobby Witt (Royals)

OBV: 68
Primary position: SS
BPO (batting): .840
BA: .276
Other batting stats: PA 694, HR 30, RBI 96
Notes: Scouts predicted stardom for Witt from the moment he was picked second in the 2019 amateur draft. He put truth to their words in 2023, leading the American League in triples (11), while finishing third in hits (177), seventh in runs scored (97), and 10th in RBIs (96).

29. Jose Altuve (Astros)

OBV: 69
Primary position: 2B
BPO (batting): .969
BA: .311
Other batting stats: PA 410, HR 17, RBI 51
Notes: Altuve’s season started late. A thumb injury kept him on the sidelines until mid-May, yet he still cracked the top 30 in OBV. His batting average crested above .300 for the seventh time in his 13-year career, and he again reached double digits in both homers (17) and stolen bases (14).

28. Francisco Lindor (Mets)

OBV: 70
Primary position: SS
BPO (batting): .853
BA: .254
Other batting stats: PA 687, HR 31, RBI 98
Notes: Lindor placed ninth in the balloting for the National League’s Most Valuable Player Award in 2023, a season in which he ranked seventh in both runs scored (108) and stolen bases (31). His slugging average of .470 was his highest in his three seasons in New York.

27. George Kirby (Mariners)

OBV: 71
Primary position: P
BPO (pitching): .581
ERA: 3.35
Other pitching stats: IP 190.2, W-L 13-10, SO 172
Notes: Kirby followed up his promising rookie season — 8-5 with a 3.39 ERA in 2022 — with an even stronger sophomore year. He worked 190.2 innings for Seattle, up from 130 in the prior season. His control was outstanding, as evidenced by his ratio of 9.05 strikeouts per walk.

26. Kyle Schwarber (Phillies)

OBV: 75
Primary position: LF
BPO (batting): .860
BA: .197
Other batting stats: PA 720, HR 47, RBI 104
Notes: Yes, his batting average was terrible. No everyday player in the majors posted a BA worse than Schwarber’s .197. Yet he remained a productive member of Philadephia’s batting order, smashing 47 homers (second in the NL) and driving home 104 runs (ninth).

25. Jose Ramirez (Guardians)

OBV: 75
Primary position: 3B
BPO (batting): .867
BA: .282
Other batting stats: PA 691, HR 24, RBI 80
Notes: Nobody has been more dependable than Ramirez, who has launched at least 23 homers and driven home at least 80 runs for Cleveland in every full season since 2017. He finished 10th in the American League’s MVP race in 2023, marking his fourth straight year in the top 10.

24. Cody Bellinger (Cubs)

OBV: 78
Primary position: CF
BPO (batting): .914
BA: .307
Other batting stats: PA 556, HR 26, RBI 97
Notes: There have been two Bellingers — a winner of Rookie of the Year (2017) and MVP (2019) awards, and a nonentity who batted just .203 from 2020 through 2022. The original version returned in 2023, as Bellinger led Chicago in homers (26), RBIs (97), and batting average (.307).

23. Marcell Ozuna (Braves)

OBV: 79
Primary position: DH
BPO (batting): .904
BA: .274
Other batting stats: PA 592, HR 40, RBI 100
Notes: Atlanta fans began to question their club’s 2020 acquisition of Ozuna as a free agent after he batted .213 in 2021 and .226 the following year. But he proved his value in 2023, breaking out with the nice round numbers of 40 home runs (fifth in the NL) and 100 runs batted in.

22. Zac Gallen (Diamondbacks)

OBV: 80
Primary position: P
BPO (pitching): .577
ERA: 3.47
Other pitching stats: IP 210.0, W-L 17-9, SO 220
Notes: Gallen cemented himself in 2023’s Cy Young Award race by finishing second in the National League in wins (17), second in innings (210), and third in strikeouts (220). He finished third in voting for the Cy, but his greatest achievement was a key role in Arizona’s advance to the World Series.

21. Zach Eflin (Rays)

OBV: 84
Primary position: P
BPO (pitching): .548
ERA: 3.50
Other pitching stats: IP 177.2, W-L 16-8, SO 186
Notes: Eflin departed Philadelphia as a free agent after seven seasons. His first year with Tampa Bay exceeded anything he had done with the Phillies. He led the American League in wins (16), ranked eighth in ERA (3.50), and finished 10th in strikeouts (186).

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