2023’s top 100 players (41-50)

We break into the upper half of baseball’s individual performance ratings

Nov 24, 2023

Welcome to the sixth installment of my ongoing countdown of 2023’s best players in Major League Baseball. Today’s story — the continuation of a 10-part series — ushers us into the upper half of my list of the game’s top 100 batters and pitchers.

These 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 this concept, along with a brief discussion of BPO, the factor that I use to break any ties in OBV.

Here are the 10 players we’ll be looking at today, each preceded by his 2023 rank:

50. J.D. Martinez (Dodgers)
49. Spencer Steer (Reds)
48. Tanner Scott (Marlins)
47. Christian Walker (Diamondbacks)
46. Ketel Marte (Diamondbacks)
45. Josh Lowe (Rays)
44. Spencer Strider (Braves)
43. Rafael Devers (Red Sox)
42. Adolis Garcia (Rangers)
41. Julio Rodriguez (Mariners)

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, and 51-60.

New breakdowns will be posted every Tuesday and Friday, culminating with the top 10 on December 8. I’ll be back early next week with the players between the 31st and 40th positions.

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50. J.D. Martinez (Dodgers)

OBV: 57
Primary position: DH
BPO (batting): .875
BA: .271
Other batting stats: PA 479, HR 33, RBI 103
Notes: Houston gave up on Martinez in 2014, releasing him. Detroit, Arizona, and Boston subsequently traded him or let him leave in free agency. Yet he just keeps hitting. Martinez finished sixth in the National League in 2023 with a .572 slugging average and 10th with 103 RBIs.

49. Spencer Steer (Reds)

OBV: 58
Primary position: 1B
BPO (batting): .836
BA: .271
Other batting stats: PA 665, HR 23, RBI 86
Notes: Steer debuted with Cincinnati in September 2022, yet he officially remained a first-year man in ’23. He finished sixth in balloting for the NL’s Rookie of the Year. He topped the Reds in walks (68), doubles (37), home runs (23), and runs batted in (86).

48. Tanner Scott (Marlins)

OBV: 58
Primary position: P
BPO (pitching): .458
ERA: 2.31
Other pitching stats: IP 78.0, W-L 9-5, SV 12, SO 104
Notes: Scott filled a couple of roles out of Miami’s bullpen. He spent much of the season as the eighth-inning setup man, though he served as the closer during the Marlins’ stretch drive to a playoff berth. He recorded eight of his 12 saves after Labor Day.

47. Christian Walker (Diamondbacks)

OBV: 59
Primary position: 1B
BPO (batting): .834
BA: .258
Other batting stats: PA 661, HR 33, RBI 103
Notes: Walker broke into triple digits in RBIs for the first time in his nine-year big league career, driving home 103 runs in 2023. He led Arizona in that category, as well as doubles (36) and home runs (33). He also earned his second consecutive Gold Glove at first base.

46. Ketel Marte (Diamondbacks)

OBV: 59
Primary position: 2B
BPO (batting): .839
BA: .276
Other batting stats: PA 650, HR 25, RBI 82
Notes: Marte was solid in the regular season, as evidenced by his OBV of 59, but he finally captured the nation’s attention during the playoffs. He rapped at least one hit in each of Arizona’s first 16 playoff games, running his career postseason hitting streak to 20, breaking the previous record of 17.

45. Josh Lowe (Rays)

OBV: 59
Primary position: RF
BPO (batting): .877
BA: .292
Other batting stats: PA 501, HR 20, RBI 83
Notes: Lowe was only so-so in part-time duty in 2022, batting .221 in 52 games. But he began to shine when Tampa Bay expanded his responsibilities this year. He played all three outfield positions, swatted 20 home runs, stole 32 bases, and pushed his batting average up to .292.

44. Spencer Strider (Braves)

OBV: 60
Primary position: P
BPO (pitching): .597
ERA: 3.86
Other pitching stats: IP 186.2, W-L 20-5, SO 281
Notes: Strider was a legitimate candidate for the Cy Young Award, finishing fourth in the balloting. He was the only 20-game winner in the majors, and he amassed 281 strikeouts, 44 more than his closest big-league competitor. His only drawback was an elevated 3.86 ERA.

43. Rafael Devers (Red Sox)

OBV: 60
Primary position: 3B
BPO (batting): .839
BA: .271
Other batting stats: PA 656, HR 33, RBI 100
Notes: Devers broke slowly from the gate in 2023, batting only .238 in his first 70 games. But he hit an even .300 the rest of the way, pushing his BA up to .271 for the season. He also finished among the American League’s top five producers of home runs (33) and RBIs (100).

42. Adolis Garcia (Rangers)

OBV: 60
Primary position: RF
BPO (batting): .840
BA: .245
Other batting stats: PA 632, HR 39, RBI 107
Notes: A case could have been made for Garcia as the AL’s Most Valuable Player, if only Shohei Ohtani hadn’t been around. Garcia placed second in the league with 39 homers, trailing (of course) only Ohtani’s 44. And he also ranked second in RBIs (107) behind Houston’s Kyle Tucker.

41. Julio Rodriguez (Mariners)

OBV: 62
Primary position: CF
BPO (batting): .828
BA: .275
Other batting stats: PA 714, HR 32, RBI 103
Notes: There was no sophomore jinx for the winner of 2022’s Rookie of the Year Award in the American League. Rodriguez played 155 games for Seattle, 23 more than the previous year, and he boosted his RBI total from last season’s 75 to 103. He finished fourth in this season’s MVP voting.

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