You know the drill by now.
We’re in the midst of a 10-part rundown of baseball’s 100 best players, as determined by the statistics they accumulated in the season that ended a few months ago.
New installments will be posted every Tuesday and Friday until we reach the top 10 on February 14. Today’s spotlight is on the players between 70th and 61st place.
Every installment includes a nine-paragraph boilerplate explanation of my scoring system. Feel free to skip directly to today’s 10 profiles if you wish.
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:
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A particular batter reached more bases than the average big leaguer would have attained under identical circumstances.
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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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Club: Twins
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Primary position: RF
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BPO: .958 (on 159 bases and 166 outs)
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OBV: +47
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Bottom line: Wallner spent part of 2024 in the minor leagues, limiting him to 75 big-league games. Yet he was highly productive for the Twins, as indicated by his .523 slugging average.
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Club: Orioles
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Primary position: P
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BPOA: .594 (on 348 bases and 586 outs)
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OBV: +48
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Bottom line: Burnes took a trade from Milwaukee to Baltimore in stride, going 15-9 with a 2.92 ERA for the Orioles. He recently signed a free-agent deal with the Diamondbacks.
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Club: Twins
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Primary position: P
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BPOA: .585 (on 313 bases and 535 outs)
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OBV: +48
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Bottom line: Ober’s fourth season with the Twins was also his best. He worked a career-high 178.2 innings in 31 starts, tallying a total of 191 strikeouts.
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Club: Twins
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Primary position: CF
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BPO: .859 (on 226 bases and 263 outs)
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OBV: +48
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Bottom line: Injuries have always kept Buxton from reaching his full potential, and 2024 was no exception. Knee, back, and hip problems restricted him to 102 games. He still had 56 RBIs.
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Club: Giants
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Primary position: 3B
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BPO: .784 (on 353 bases and 450 outs)
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OBV: +49
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Bottom line: Chapman won a Gold Glove with the Giants, and he also finished 11th in voting for the National League’s MVP Award. He rapped 27 home runs and drove in 78 runs.
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Club: Cubs
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Primary position: P
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BPOA: .556 (on 228 bases and 410 outs)
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OBV: +49
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Bottom line: Steele went only 5-5 for the Cubs, yet he was difficult to score against. He finished with a 3.07 ERA in 24 starts, as well as a ratio of 3.65 strikeouts for every walk.
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Club: Marlins-Yankees
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Primary position: CF
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BPO: .789 (on 344 bases and 436 outs)
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OBV: +50
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Bottom line: Chisholm hit .249 for the Marlins over the first two-thirds of the season, then upped his game to .273 for the Yankees. His combined totals were 24 homers and 40 steals.
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Club: Tigers
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Primary position: RF
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BPO: .925 (on 184 bases and 199 outs)
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OBV: +50
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Bottom line: Carpenter missed three months of the 2024 season with a back injury. He batted .284 with 18 homers for the Tigers in 87 games.
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Club: Giants
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Primary position: P
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BPOA: .463 (on 111 bases and 240 outs)
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OBV: +51
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Bottom line: Walker made 75 relief appearances for the Giants, working anywhere from the sixth to ninth inning. He bagged 10 saves and restricted opponents to a .179 batting average.
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Club: Twins
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Primary position: P
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BPOA: .439 (on 94 bases and 214 outs)
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OBV: +51
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Bottom line: Jax demonstrated outstanding control in his 72 games as a reliever for the Twins. He struck out 95 opponents, but allowed only 15 walks.