The Baseball 100: Duran (#20) to Marte (#11)
The Phillies land three players on today’s list of 10 high producers
Our examination of the 100 best players in Major League Baseball has reached the final week of its five-week run — bringing us to the top 20 performers of the entire lot.
Today’s installment of the Baseball 100 focuses on the players who finished the 2024 season ranked anywhere from 20th place to 11th. We’ll wrap up the list on Friday with the top 10 of all.
If you’ve read previous entries in this series, you can skip the next nine boilerplate paragraphs, which explain the scoring system. If not, push onward.
The rankings within the Baseball 100 are determined by 2024’s overall base values (OBV), which measure the relative effectiveness of batters and pitchers.
A positive OBV indicates one of two things:
A particular batter reached more bases than the average big leaguer would have attained under identical circumstances.
A given pitcher surrendered fewer bases than his typical counterpart would have yielded under the same conditions.
Click here if you want to know more about the formulas and calculations. (Be aware that OBV is slightly different from the BV described in the link. The initial sign for a pitcher’s BV is reversed for his OBV. A negative sign is better for a pitcher’s BV, but a positive sign is ideal for an OBV, which is what we’re using here.)
The player with the highest OBV — whether a hitter or pitcher — is deemed to be the best overall player. The rankings proceed downward in order.
If two or more players are tied with identical OBVs, I break the tie by matching their ratios of bases per out (BPO) against 2024’s big-league average of .675. BPO is exactly what it sounds like, a comparison of bases reached or yielded (through hits, walks, hit batters, stolen bases, and sacrifices) against outs made or induced.
Preference within a tie is given to the player who surpassed the BPO norm by the greatest amount, either above .675 for a batter or below the same mark for a pitcher.
Each player in the Baseball 100 is listed with his rank, club, primary position (the one he played more than any other in 2024), BPO or BPO allowed (BPOA), the numbers of bases and outs involved, and OBV.
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20. Jarren Duran
Club: Red Sox
Primary position: CF
BPO: .861 (on 428 bases and 497 outs)
OBV: +92
Bottom line: The 2024 season was Duran’s fourth in Boston, but the first in which he played a major role from beginning to end. He led the American League in doubles (48) and triples (14).
19. Kyle Tucker
Club: Astros
Primary position: RF
BPO: 1.137 (on 232 bases and 204 outs)
OBV: +94
Bottom line: Tucker was sidelined for three months by a shin fracture. He still managed to hit 23 homers, while posting a.408 on-base percentage. Houston traded him to the Cubs in December.
18. Bryce Harper
Club: Phillies
Primary position: 1B
BPO: .902 (on 377 bases and 418 outs)
OBV: +95
Bottom line: Harper finished 2024 with 30 homers and 87 RBIs, his best numbers since 2021. He finished sixth in the balloting for the National League’s Most Valuable Player Award.
17. Francisco Lindor
Club: Mets
Primary position: SS
BPO: .883 (on 409 bases and 463 outs)
OBV: +96
Bottom line: Lindor placed second in the NL’s MVP race. His 33 homers, 91 RBIs, and 29 stolen bases paced the Mets into the playoffs for only the second time since 2017.
16. Zack Wheeler
Club: Phillies
Primary position: P
BPOA: .512 (on 309 bases and 604 outs)
OBV: +99
Bottom line: Wheeler has never won a Cy Young Award, though he keeps getting close. He finished second for 2024’s NL trophy, just as he did in 2021. His ERA in ’24 was a career-best 2.57.
15. Kyle Schwarber
Club: Phillies
Primary position: DH
BPO: .897 (on 402 bases and 448 outs)
OBV: +99
Bottom line: Schwarber boosted his batting average to .248 after hitting .197 and .218 the previous two years. He also drew an NL-leading 106 walks and drove home 104 runs in 2024.
14. Logan Gilbert
Club: Mariners
Primary position: P
BPOA: .517 (on 328 bases and 634 outs)
OBV: +100
Bottom line: Gilbert was the workhorse of Seattle’s outstanding rotation, leading the AL with 208.2 innings pitched. His 9-12 record was deceptive, since his 3.23 ERA was the league’s ninth-best.
13. Elly De La Cruz
Club: Reds
Primary position: SS
BPO: .892 (on 436 bases and 489 outs)
OBV: +106
Bottom line: De La Cruz was only 22 during his second big-league season, yet he flashed an impressive blend of power (25 homers) and speed (67 stolen bases). The latter figure led the NL.
12. Marcell Ozuna
Club: Braves
Primary position: DH
BPO: .918 (on 413 bases and 450 outs)
OBV: +109
Bottom line: Ozuna posted solid numbers in 2023 (40 homers and 100 RBIs), and he virtually duplicated them in 2024 (39 and 104). Last year’s .546 slugging average was the NL’s third-best.
11. Ketel Marte
Club: Diamondbacks
Primary position: 2B
BPO: .979 (on 368 bases and 376 outs)
OBV: +114
Bottom line: Marte batted .292 with a .372 on-base percentage. Both rates ranked sixth in their respective NL categories. His 36 homers were a career high.