The best hitters in MLB based on my personal analysis: Part1
- Makio Mukai
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
I’ ve been steadily conducting various analyses of Major League Baseball records for a long time, but they’ re all based on my own personal preferences. One of these analyses is the “rankings in eight batting categories.” Each year, I examine each player’ s league ranking in eight categories: hits, walks, home runs, runs, RBIs, batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. It’ s difficult to achieve high rankings in all eight categories. For example, a player who hits a lot of home runs will walk more because pitchers avoid challenging him, but he will have fewer opportunities to hit, so his number of hits will decrease. Also, even if a player takes a short rest due to injury, his batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage will not decrease, so there will not be much change in his ranking, but his number of hits, walks, home runs, runs, and RBIs may be overtaken by other players, causing his ranking to drop.
It is extremely difficult to finish in the top five in the league in all eight categories, and only extremely amazing players can achieve this. I believe that players who achieve this can be called the best hitters in Major League Baseball.
Just to be clear, I am not saying that only players who finish in the top five in all eight categories are the best hitters in Major League Baseball. There are various ways to evaluate hitters, and what people emphasize in evaluations will naturally differ from person to person. However, I think my perspective of finishing in the top five in the league in all eight categories will be helpful when considering who the best hitters in Major League Baseball are.
Now, in the modern era of MLB, which has a history of over 120 years, only 23 players have achieved a league ranking in the top five in all eight categories. Below are the 23 hitters, along with the years they achieved this.
Ty Cobb | 1910 |
Sherry Magee | 1910 |
Tris Speaker | 1912, 1923 |
Babe Ruth | 1923, 1924, 1931 |
Rogers Hornsby | 1925, 1927, 1929 |
Lou Gehrig | 1927, 1928, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1934 |
Chuck Klein | 1932 |
Jimmie Foxx | 1932, 1933, 1938 |
Johnny Mize | 1939 |
Ted Williams | 1941, 1942, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1951 |
Stan Musial | 1949, 1951 |
Al Rosen | 1953 |
Mickey Mantle | 1956 |
Frank Robinson | 1962, 1966 |
Hank Aaron | 1963 |
Carl Yastrzemski | 1967 |
Frank Thomas | 1994 |
Jeff Bagwell | 1994 |
Miguel Cabrera | 2013 |
Paul Goldschmidt | 2015 |
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. | 2021 |
Aaron Judge | 2022, 2024, 2025 |
Shohei Ohtani | 2024 |
There are a few things I would like to say about the 23 hitters mentioned above.
The 23 hitters finished in the top five in the league in all eight categories a total of 44 times. The players who achieved this most frequently are Lou Gehrig and Ted Williams, each with six. No player has achieved it four or five times, so you can see how outstanding these two are by having six.
A wonderful biography of Lou Gehrig by Jonathan Eig (Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2006) 
Revised edition of the classic “The Science of Hitting” by Ted Williams and John Underwood (Simon & Schuster, 2013) The most consecutive years is three, by Lou Gehrig.
There are players who have finished in the top three in the league in all eight categories (some have achieved this multiple times): Lou Gehrig (twice), Jimmie Foxx (twice), Ted Williams (three times), Hank Aaron (once), Frank Robinson (once), Miguel Cabrera (once), Shohei Ohtani (once), Aaron Judge (once). As you can see, the most is Ted Williams with three.
Of course, there is no god-like player who has finished first in the league in all eight categories. However, in 1942, Ted Williams finished in the top two in all eight categories, bringing him one step closer to becoming a god. I thought that no one would ever achieve such an incredible feat again, but then, in 2024, 75 years after Ted Williams, one player did achieve it: Shohei Ohtani.
A press photo collection of Shohei Ohtani from the first half of 2024 (in Japanese, Sports Nippon Newspapers Co. Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, 2024) Furthermore, there were two years in which Ted Williams was third in hits but first in the other seven categories.
Among active players, four have achieved this: Paul Goldschmidt, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Aaron Judge, and Shohei Ohtani. I would like to comment briefly on each of these four.
When Paul Goldschmidt ranked in the top five in the league in all eight categories in 2015, it seems I was the only one who thought, “Goldschmidt did it! Amazing!” It seems that other fans and experts alike didn’ t realize that Goldschmidt had accomplished it. I think the reason is that Goldschmidt wasn’ t number one in any category. He’ s not the first player to finish in the top five in all eight categories without being number one in any of them. Two other great players in Major League history have also accomplished the same thing: Tris Speaker in 1923 and Lou Gehrig in 1932.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is the youngest active player to finish in the top five in all eight categories. While the other three are already in their 30s, Guerrero Jr. turns 27 this year. It will be exciting to see if he will again finish in the top five in all eight categories.
Aaron Judge has already finished in the top five in all eight categories three times. If Judge achieves this feat again to bring his total to four, he will be solely in third place in the number of achievements. If he achieves this year, he will tie Lou Gehrig’ s record of three consecutive years. Judge turns 34 this year, but his prime is still likely to be here, so it will be interesting to see how many more times he can achieve this feat. Other examples include Tris Speaker, who achieved it at age 35, and Babe Ruth, who did so at age 36.
As mentioned above, in 2024, Shohei Ohtani achieved the remarkable feat of finishing in the top two in the league in all eight categories, the first and only player to do so since Ted Williams in 1949. This means that it’ s not surprising that Shohei Ohtani could finish in the top five in all eight categories multiple times like Ted Williams, and it’ s reasonable to assume that he will. However, he has only finished in the top five in all eight categories once, in 2024, and he may not be able to achieve this feat again. The reason for this, of course, is that Shohei Ohtani is a two-way player. In 2024, Shohei Ohtani achieved this feat because he focused on batting, but if he were to return to being a two-way player, it may be difficult for him to finish in the top five in all eight categories. However, in 2024, Shohei Ohtani clearly demonstrated that he has the ability to match Ted Williams’ s feat if he focuses on batting. This is noteworthy and something that we should never forget.
Finally, let me say something about the relationship between finishing in the top five in the league in all eight categories and winning the batting Triple Crown (top in batting average, home runs, and RBIs). In the modern era of Major League Baseball, there have been Triple Crown winners who never finished in the top five in the league in all eight categories: Nap Lajoie and Joe Medwick. However, all five Triple Crown winners after World War II finished in the top five in the league in all eight categories: Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Frank Robinson, Carl Yastrzemski and Miguel Cabrera. However, there have been also players who finished in the top five in the league in all eight categories but did not become Triple Crown winners. I will be keeping an eye on whether a Triple Crown winner will emerge in the future, and if so, whether that player will finish in the top five in the league in all eight categories. (To be continued in the next column)
(If I’ ve made a mistake or left out something important, please let me know, I’ ll try to make corrections or additions.)