MLB Stat Leaders: Can They Keep Things Rolling, or Will They Drop Off?

Discussing some fantasy players with incredible numbers to start the season and determining whether or not the players can keep performing at a top level.

A couple teams have hit 40 games played for the season, and several others are about to reach that milestone. With about a quarter of the season in the books, I thought it’d be fun to take a look at some of the MLB leaders in various stats and then determine whether or not they could keep things rolling as the season moves along.

Explore the best in-season tool to manage lineup/start decisions including waiver pickups, projections, trade suggestions, trade value charts, rest of season rankings, power rankings, and tons more with Fantasy Assistant. Use our fantasy baseball trade analyzer and trade value charts to break down trade scenarios and weekly projections to find the best fantasy options.

Hits

Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts lead the league in hits. Ohtani has 54, while Betts has 53. 

These are two of the premier hitters in the MLB, and are inside a stacked Dodgers’ lineup. They get more plate appearances because they bat atop the lineup, and they always seem to deliver a hit or two a game.

There’s plenty of competition for the most hits in the league, but the point of this story is to determine if players are capable of sticking near the top of the list, and Ohtani and Betts have great chances to do that.

Houston Astros’ Jose Altuve and San Diego Padres’ Luis Arraez are tied for the second-most hits with 49. Both are players that have posted 200-plus hit seasons in the past, so they can absolutely stay near the top of the list too.

New York Yankees’ Juan Soto also has 49 hits this season. He’s never had more than 157 hits in a season (probably because he walks too much). I don’t expect a drastic falloff for Soto, but I don’t believe he will challenge for the most hits this season.

Home Runs

Atlanta Braves’ Marcell Ozuna leads the MLB with 12 homers so far. Many people expected Matt Olson or Austin Riley to lead the Braves in homers, but it’s Ozuna that’s starred so far.

Ozuna has hit 40 homers in one season, but has just one other season over 30 bombs. He’s started fast in 2024, and while he should be among the top-10 home run hitters by the end of the season, I don’t think he’ll lead the charge.

Baltimore Orioles’ Gunnar Henderson and Houston Astros’ Kyle Tucker are tied with Ohtani at 11 home runs.

Ohtani has 34 or more homers in the past three seasons, so we already know he can keep this kind of homer pace for the season. Henderson is in his third season, and only has one full season under his belt - he hit 28 homers last season. He’s been great so far, but I don’t envision him remaining this high on the home run leaderboard. Tucker has had 29 or 30 homers in each of the past three seasons, and while I can see him getting a few more this season, I also don’t think he’ll be this high on the HR leaderboard.

Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernandez and Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Trout are at 10 homers each.

Trout is going to miss a significant amount of time with an injury, so he won’t challenge for the home run title. Hernandez has never hit more than 32 homers in a season, so while he’s among the best in the game now, I also see him falling off as the season rolls along.

RBIs

Ozuna leads the league with 38 RBIs, with Soto second with 33 RBIs.

Ozuna typically hits fifth in the Atlanta order, and even with Riley and Olson struggling ahead of him so far, Ozuna still has found a way to lead the league in RBIs. I think it’s possible he leads the league in the stat this season, especially if the Braves start mashing more like we expected them to coming into the season.

Soto hits second in the New York lineup, which makes the numbers he’s delivered so far pretty special. I hate to say he’s going to fall off here too (because I still think he’s one of the best fantasy hitters by the end of the season), but I just don’t see Soto continuing his high RBI ways the whole season.

Philadelphia Phillies’ Alec Bohm sits third with 32 RBIs, while Kansas City Royals’ Salvador Perez is fourth at 31 RBIs. 

Bohm has been hitting cleanup for the Phillies, and with the talent in that lineup, it’s possible Bohm continues to drive in a bunch of runs, even if his average falls off. The Royals have been a pleasant surprise this season, and Perez is right at the heart of the team’s improvement at the plate. He too hits cleanup, and with some talented hitters batting right in front of him, I too could see Perez driving in a bunch of runs, even if his average falls. While I expect Bohm and Perez to keep driving in runs, I also wouldn’t expect them to lead the league in the stat.

ERA

Chicago Cubs’ Shota Imanaga is the league leader in earned run average, with a 1.08 mark through seven starts. 

We haven’t seen Imanaga in the MLB yet, so there’s no history to go on here. While it’s highly unlikely his ERA stays this low, I also don’t think it’s crazy to say he could finish as the leader in ERA by the end of the season.

Atlanta’s Reynaldo Lopez is second with a 1.53 ERA in six starts. 

Lopez has bounced around the league over his career and has a career 4.18 ERA, so you know this season’s mark is going to drop at some point. His career best ERA in a season when he was a primary starter was 3.91, which isn’t good enough to challenge for an ERA title. So while he’s been a good story so far, I don’t expect it to continue all season, even though he might top that 3.91 mark.

Philadelphia’s Zack Wheeler is third with a 1.64 ERA and fantasy owners know he’s one of the best options in the game, which makes him very capable of winning an ERA title. The guy in fourth, Chicago’s Javier Assad, wasn’t even a top-400 pick according to FantasySP Average Draft Position data - he’s got a 1.66 ERA.

Assad is in his third big league season, but getting his first real chance at a starting rotation role. He had 3.11 and 3.05 ERAs in his first two seasons, and while his ERA won’t stay this low all season, I also think he could keep challenging for the ERA lead.

Saves

Saves are a funny stat. You’d think the best closers would be ones on good or great teams, but several players near the league lead in saves are on poor or simply average teams right now.

You don’t have to look any further than the top of the save list, where Washington Nationals’ Kyle Finnegan and San Diego’s Robert Suarez are tied with 12 saves each. Both of those teams are .500 at this point of the season. Maybe the best closers in the game are ones on average teams, because a lot of the games are close and bring about closing opportunities if the team is winning?

Finnegan and Suarez have been elite out of the bullpen to start the season, with sub-2.00 ERAs. As long as their teams stay competitive and both guys avoid injuries, there’s a chance one of them could lead the league in saves in 2024.

The three closers (Emmanuel Clase, Ryan Helsley and Clay Holmes) tied at 11 saves are more well-known names. In this case, the Yankees and Guardians have strong records, while the Cardinals are under .500. So maybe it doesn’t matter what kind of team a closer is on, as long as they get the job done?

I’d have more faith in Clase and Holmes to lead the league in saves than Helsley, or Finnegan and Suarez, just because they are on teams that should win more, and more wins equals more save opportunities. This should be a fun stat leader battle for the entire season.

#2024-fantasy-baseball