MLB The Show announcing its cover athlete is another sign that spring training is right around the corner. Their selection of Aaron Judge to grace the cover for the second time (over worthy recipients like Tarik Skubal and Jose Ramirez, who have never been on a cover), also shows what the game truly values: the biggest star in the biggest market.
We know how MLB The Show typically hands out its ratings, so let’s predict which players are about to be undervalued.
2B Nico Hoerner
- Why he's devalued: Not enough power
- Real-life value: 89 overall
Would you believe it if I told you Nico Hoerner led all qualified second basemen in fWAR (4.8) this past season? That's right. According to WAR, he was more valuable than established stars at the position like Ketel Marte, Brice Turang, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. Chances are, he won't be ahead of at least two, if not all three of these second basemen in overall. The reason will likely be due to his lack of power.
Hoerner hit .297, stole 29 bases, had a microscopic 7.6 percent strikeout rate, and he won a Gold Glove award. His downfall, though, is that he only hit seven home runs, and he's never hit more than 10 in his career. Hoerner does just about everything else other than hit home runs at an elite level, which is why he's in such demand on the trade market and why the Chicago Cubs appear hellbent on keeping him. Power sells, though, and Hoerner's inability to hit the ball out of the ballpark at an elite enough clip will cost him ratings-wise.
RHP Nolan McLean
- Why he's devalued: Not enough experience
- Real-life value: 85 overall
MLB The Show traditionally underrates rookies, and I don't necessarily blame them. We see rookies show flashes of brilliance and flame out all the time. Still, what Nolan McLean showed in his eight starts down the stretch of last season is that he is a budding star. Here's a look at where McLean ranked among starting pitchers from the day he debuted.
Statistic from 8/16 | Nolan McLean MLB Rank |
|---|---|
ERA | 4th (2.06) |
FIP | 11th (2.97) |
SIERRA | 7th (3.04) |
K% | 9th (30.3%) |
fWAR | T-11th (1.2) |
It's a small sample, obviously, but McLean, by just about every measure, was one of the best starting pitchers in the sport for almost two months with the New York Mets. He's now considered one of, if not the best, starting pitcher prospects by just about every outlet and has as good a shot as anyone to win the NL Rookie of the Year award. McLean could struggle as many have in his first full season, but his stuff looks different and the results we saw down the stretch speak for themselves.
SS Geraldo Perdomo
- Why he's devalued: Not a big enough name
- Real-life value: 91 overall
Star players in small markets often get overlooked. That's not only an MLB The Show flaw, but many MLB fans look past the best players on teams that don't get much attention. The Arizona Diamondbacks play in a smaller market and they were not a playoff team in 2025, so it's easy to overlook what Geraldo Perdomo did. That doesn't mean Perdomo shouldn't be one of the best players in this year's game when it launches.
Perdomo broke out in 2025 to the point where he finished fourth in the NL MVP balloting. He was, by all accounts, the best shortstop in the game in 2025. Despite this, Perdomo was an 86 overall in the October 3 update, the first post-regular season update. I can understand giving guys like Bobby Witt Jr. and Francisco Lindor, who have been elite for much longer, slightly higher overalls, but Perdomo, because he plays on a team not many people pay attention to, was never rewarded in 2025 and likely won't be when this year's game releases either.
SS Gunnar Henderson
- Why he's devalued: Coming off down year
- Real-life value: 92 overall
A lot of MLB The Show's ratings have to do with "what have you done for me lately." In Gunnar Henderson's case, the answer is "not as much as you'd expect." Henderson had a down year in 2025, as his .787 OPS in 154 games would suggest. He'll be rated higher than a player with a .787 OPS traditionally would, but he probably won't be rated like the MVP-caliber talent he is.
Henderson finished fourth in the AL MVP balloting in 2024 when he had a .897 OPS and hit 37 home runs for the Baltimore Orioles. 2025 wasn't nearly that good, but it's worth noting he played through two nagging injuries throughout much of the year. If he was able to be an above-average hitter without being fully healthy, what will he do now that he is healthy? MLB The Show should overlook his down year, but it probably won't to the extent that it should.
RHP Hunter Brown
- Why he's devalued: He's a starting pitcher
- Real-life value: 93 overall
Only six of MLB The Show's top 25 players at launch last year were starting pitchers, and one of those was Shohei Ohtani, who is a two-way player. The five pure starting pitchers were Chris Sale (94 overall), Tarik Skubal (94), Paul Skenes (93), Tyler Glasnow (91) and Zack Wheeler (90). Glasnow's odd insertion aside, MLB The Show only gave the best of the best 90 overalls to begin last year's game. If they only have five starters not named Shohei Ohtani in their top 25, are we sure they'll include Hunter Brown, who absolutely deserves to be there, when these starters exist?
- Tarik Skubal
- Paul Skenes
- Garrett Crochet
- Yoshinobu Yamamoto
- Cristopher Sanchez
- Zack Wheeler
- Chris Sale
- Logan Webb
- Jacob deGrom
Brown's track record isn't exactly as strong as the others on this list, so despite being an AL Cy Young finalist in 2025, he feels like a player that The Show will overlook if it devalues starting pitchers the way it did in last year's game. The Houston Astros' ace is one of the best pitchers in the world, and his rating should reflect that.
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