MLB stats that make video-game numbers look realistic

Video games are fun because they can be whatever you want them to be. You can create your own player who can do everything well and, eventually, become the greatest player in MLB history — that rocks. Well, what if I told you there are players through the first 20ish games of the regular season who are putting up numbers that rival those you'd see in a video game?

That's what's happening with these six players.

Mason Miller, San Diego Padres

If there is a more dominant pitcher on the planet right now than Mason Miller, I can assure you that hitters want no part of him. The San Diego Padres were ridiculed for trading a prospect of Leo De Vries' caliber to acquire the righty, but this season, we're seeing why such a move might've been justifiable in retrospect.

Miller leads the Majors with eight saves in eight tries, yet somehow that's just the tip of the iceberg. He's made 11 appearances and thrown 11.1 innings, allowing no runs on two hits with two walks. But what makes the start to Miller's season so absurd is the fact that he's struck out 27 batters. 27 batters in 11.1 innings. In other words, 27 of the 34 outs that Miller has recorded have been strikeouts. How is that anything but video game-like?

Miller has an unfathomable 71.1-percent strikeout rate and a 62.8-percent whiff rate. It's shocking when a hitter even fouls a pitch off, let alone puts one into play. I understand that the sample size is small, but how often have we seen numbers like this over any timeframe? Armed with a fastball that can hit 104 mph and a wipeout slider generating a 76.9-percent whiff rate, it's hard to see Miller slowing down anytime soon.

Jose Ramirez, Cleveland Guardians

Jose Ramirez isn't off to the best offensive start of his career, as he's hitting just .234 so far, 45 points below his .279 career batting average. He's made up for that by drawing a lot of walks and hitting six home runs, but nothing about his offensive numbers is video game-like right now. A look at what Ramirez is doing on the base paths is why he's on this list.

Ramirez has stolen 11 bases in 11 tries in just 26 games of action. This puts him on pace to steal roughly 70 bases in a 162-game season. Yes, Jose Ramirez, a 33-year-old with 14 years of MLB experience who has never stolen more than 44 bases in a single season, is on pace to steal around 70. He leads the Majors in the cateagory, and of the 10 players with at least seven stolen bases this year, he's one of just three who haven't been caught.

Only 10 players have stolen more than 50 bases since 2016. Nobody did it in 2025. Ramirez is on pace to shatter that mark; if he were to get to 70 stolen bases, he'd join Ronald Acuña Jr. as the only players to accomplish this feat in the last decade. That's something special.

Jose Soriano, Los Angeles Angels

Jose Soriano has always had ace stuff, but he's never pitched like an ace consistently at the big-league level. That's changed in a big way to begin the 2026 campaign, as he's allowed a total of one run in five starts and 37.2 innings of work. That's a 0.24 ERA for those keeping score at home.

The only run Soriano has allowed this season came on a home run hit by Drake Baldwin, an All-Star-caliber player. He's allowed only 18 hits this season and has fanned 43 batters, the second-most in the Majors.

It's not like this is fluky, either, as Soriano has already faced three of the top five scoring offenses in the league. Even the less threatening teams he's faced, like the San Diego Padres (entered the night on an eight-game winning streak) and Cincinnati Reds (who play at one of the most hitter-friendly parks in the league) weren't easy assignments. Soriano has just crushed everything in his path.

Yordan Alvarez, Houston Astros

Yordan Alvarez's 2025 season was marred by bad luck and injuries, but he's back with a vengeance in 2026. If the season ended today, Alvarez would win the Triple Crown, as he leads the American League in batting average (.347). home runs (11) and RBI (26). He leads qualified hitters in home runs and RBI, and also statistics like hits, OBP, OPS, wRC+ and fWAR.

Leading the world in just about every major statistical category is as video game-like as it gets, and somehow, his dominance is understated. Usually, when hitters have as much power as Alvarez, whiff concerns are real. Well, Alvarez has an above-average 19 percent whiff rate, and a superb 9.3 percent strikeout rate.

To put that into perspective, he's struck out at a lesser rate than guys like Nico Hoerner, Steven Kwan and Jacob Wilson (to name a few) while also hitting for absurd power. The Houston Astros are a mess, but there isn't a better hitter in the sport right now.

Dylan Cease, Toronto Blue Jays

MLB fans scoffed when Dylan Cease signed a seven-year, $210 million deal with the Toronto Blue Jays coming off a 4.55 ERA season, but now, it's clear why he was such a prized asset. Not only is his ERA sitting at a sparkling 2.10 through five starts, but he's striking out the world. Cease has an MLB-leading 44 strikeouts, and that's in only 25.2 innings of work.

As has been the case much of his career, Cease hasn't been getting very deep into games; he's averaging just a shade over five innings per start and has completed six innings just once. Despite that flaw, though, Cease has been so absurdly dominant that he leads the Majors in strikeouts. To put this into perspective, the player who ranks second in strikeouts, Soriano, has thrown 12 more innings than Cease.

Cease has a whopping 39.6-percent strikeout rate, which for a starting pitcher is pretty remarkable. He is striking out 15.4 batters per nine innings. It'd be nice to see him pitch deeper into games, but nobody can say he hasn't been dominant. If it weren't for Miller, we'd be talking more about how insane Cease has been.

Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers

Any time video games are mentioned, Shohei Ohtani's name comes up because, well, he's as close to a video game as it gets. Before Ohtani, the thought of a player hitting and pitching at an elite level at the same time was unfathomable. Ohtani has always been great at both, but dare I say he's as good as he's ever been right now?

As a hitter, Ohtani is slashing .258/.382/.472 with five home runs and 11 RBI. These aren't earth-shattering numbers, but he has a .854 OPS and a 131 wRC+, which are both outstanding figures. He's been even better than the numbers show, too, considering he got off to a 3-for-18 start to this season. And as a pitcher, Ohtani has a 0.38 ERA in four starts. He has allowed one run in 24 innings of work.

Ohtani's pitching alone is video game-like. The only qualified pitcher with a lower ERA is Soriano, who was highlighted above. Soriano isn't hitting at all, though, let alone performing at an All-Star level. Ohtani is two superstars morphed into one, and as insane as every player on this list has been in certain areas, nobody comes close to comparing to this 31-year-old phenom. There's a reason he's considered the unicorn in all of sports.

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