National League hitting leaders and MVP candidates at All-Star break
By Joel Wagler
The National League's three divisional leaders have comfortable leads heading into the All-Star break, but nine teams are within 3.5 games of a Wild Card spots. There is still plenty of time for players to rise up and carry their teams to postseason glory, and maybe carve out for themselves some hardware as well.
Shohei Ohtani has moved his act to the National League and despite not pitching or playing the field, and still is the favorite to win the MVP. That doesn't mean other players aren't pressing at his heels. Some are veterans who been through this before; and there is at least one exciting young player making a name for himself.
National League hitting leaders at the All-Star break
Let's take a look at the leaders of each hitting statistical category among all National League players.
STATS | FIRST | SECOND | THIRD |
|---|---|---|---|
HITS | Luis Arraez - 122 | Shohei Ohtani - 117 | Bryan Reynolds - 110 |
DOUBLES | Alec Bohm - 33 | Ezequiel Tovar - 28 | Ozzie Albies - 27 |
TRIPLES | CJ Abrams - 6 | Corbin Carroll - 6 | Elly De La Cruz - 6 |
HOME RUNS | Shohei Ohtani - 29 | Marcell Ozuna - 26 | Christian Walker - 22 |
BATTING AVG | Christian Yelich - .326 | Shohei Ohtani - .316 | Luis Arraez - .310 |
ON-BASE % | Christian Yelich - .412 | Mookie Betts - .405 | Bryce Harper - .403 |
SLUGGING % | Shohei Ohtani - .635 | Marcell Ozuna - .581 | Bryce Harper - .579 |
OPS | Shohei Ohtani - 1.036 | Bryce Harper - .983 | Marcell Ozuna - .960 |
RBI | Marcell Ozuna - 77 | Alec Bohm - 70 | Shohei Ohtani - 69 |
RUNS | Shohei Ohtani - 75 | Kyle Schwarber - 65 | William Contreras - 65 |
STOLEN BASES | Elly De La Cruz - 46 | Brice Turang - 30 | Lane Thomas, Shohei Ohtani - 23 |
WAR | Shohei Ohtani - 5.2 | Elly De La Cruz - 4.4 | Francisco Lindor, Bryce Harper - 4.2 |
Ohtani and Marcell Ozuna are almost single-handedly bringing back the dedicated designated hitter to baseball as both are dominating the leaderboards and never even bring a glove to the field.
Interestingly, the Dodgers have four of the top eight hitters in Wins Above Replacement (WAR) heading into the break, but there is little chance they'll split votes for MVP, at least first place votes.
Predicting the National League MVP winner for 2024 season
Bet MGM has Ohtani listed as the favorite to win the NL MVP at -375. Bryce Harper is next at +600. No one else is even listed at better than +1600. Basically, Vegas is saying that only a major injury could prevent Ohtani from winning the award this season.
For a designated hitter, that reflects an absolutely dominating offensive performance to this point in the season. The numbers above enforce that thought process. Ohtani is in the top three in almost every category, including stolen bases.
Elly De La Cruz is as exciting player as you'll find, but the Dodgers' star will have to miss time, and the Reds and De La Cruz need to have a massive late-season run for him to even enter the conversation.
Harper is the best player on the best team, but even he would need a miracle to beat out the Japanese superstar, and Harper is having his best season in years. If he can stay healthy the rest of the way, he could make the MVP race at least close (ish).
Ozuna has been terrific, but as a DH-only player, you have to be otherworldly dominant, and he's just a bit short of that. Still, a strong finish will earn him plenty of votes. Christian Yelich is another player enjoying a big bounce back season, and while it is great to watch him display his once elite hitting skills again, there is scant chance it would be enough to unseat Ohtani, or even a healthy Harper.
While the wild card race is sizing up to be an exciting one, the divisional races aren't and the MVP race looks to be nearly locked up. Still, the wild card race should be a doozy and it should be a lot of fun over the final two and a half months.
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