NL MVP power rankings: A battle between Fernando Tatis Jr. and Mookie Betts

What can’t Mookie Betts do? The 27-year-old superstar has been nothing short of a superstar since arriving to LA, leading the team in runs (38), home runs (15), is tied for the team lead in RBI (36), and is second only to Will Smith in OPS at .963 on the year. Betts’ 15 home runs are tied for the league lead at the moment as well, making the Dodgers the clear the front-runners in the NL and the top seed at the moment.

Since we’re sticking with Fangraphs WAR, he’s currently 4th at 2.4 fWAR, but it’s worth noting he’s worth 3.1 bWAR on Baseball-Reference, either way, it translates to another excellent season from baseballs’ second-best player. The only question is has Betts done enough to beat the Padres superstar in the making, and while he’s helped offset a disappointing season from the current NL MVP Cody Bellinger, it’s hard to say Tatis Jr. hasn’t had a strong showing.

The Padres should be sending flowers and thank you cards to the White Sox every time their budding superstar shortstop hits a home run, makes an incredible play in the field, and when he celebrates walk-off home runs in the MLB The Show tournament from earlier this year.

But Tatis Jr. is one of the best five-tool players in baseball at just 21-years-old, currently tied with Betts for the league-lead in home runs at 15 with a hard-hit rate of 56.3 percent and an exit velocity average of 95.6 MPH – which puts him in the top 1% of hitters hitting the ball that hard.

But on top of his insane bat speed and power, Tatis Jr. is also one of the fastest players in all of baseball with a sprint speed of 29.3 feet per second, ranking 9th in the league this season. There just isn’t another player in the National League who can compare to the raw talent Tatis Jr. has and only Mike Trout comes to mind as a clear better player at this moment than the 21-year-old shortstop.

Couple the elite speed/power combo with Padres holding the 2nd best record in NL and looking to go the postseason for the first time since 2006 and it’s hard not to give the edge to Tatis Jr. Regardless, the Padres superstar should be in the NL MVP conversation for years to come.