Checking in on the MLB Leaders Halfway Through the 2024 Season

Issue #185

We are just about at the halfway point of the 2024 MLB season. Most teams have played around 81 games—some a few more, some a few less. So it is a good time to check in on the leaders in various categories, as it is easy to just double the counting numbers to know roughly what each player is on pace for. (Though some players who have missed a lot of time due to injury, will presumably accumulate quite a bit more than 2x their current HR, hits, SB, etc., if they can stay healthy in the second half.)

But first I’ll review the team-level standings and stats. Interestingly, every division has a clear leader except one. The Guardians, Mariners, Phillies, Brewers, and Dodgers all lead their respective divisions by at least 5.5 games (Mariners over the climbing Astros) and as many as 8 games (Phillies over the Braves). The Yankees and Orioles are tied in the AL East, so that is clearly an interesting one to watch—though it seems very likely both teams will at least make the playoffs given the three wildcard spots available in each league. Speaking of which, I would say there are 25 teams still in the hunt—all but the Marlins, Rockies, White Sox, A’s, and Angels (though the Angels at .431 could still make a run I suppose).

As for team-level stats, the top scoring teams in terms of runs per game are the Orioles, Yankees, Phillies, Guardians, and Dodgers—all of whom are averaging 4.96 to 5.24 runs per game. The worst team in baseball, the White Sox, are not surprisingly scoring by far the fewest runs at exactly 3 per game (the Marlins are second lowest at 3.46.)

The Orioles are leading MLB in team homers with 137, significantly more than the 121 by their AL East Yankees rivals. The Marlins and Nationals have the least team HR with 64 and 67, respectively. That means Aaron Judge almost has half as many HR as the entire Marlins squad.

One reason the Astros have been doing better lately is their ability to get hits—they are leading MLB at this point in batting average with a .264 mark (the Padres are second at .261). Interestingly, the Mariners—who as noted are on top of the AL West division—are tied with the lowly White Sox for the lowest team BA with .218 averages. The Mariners are also leading the majors in strikeouts with 851 (the A’s are second with 817). They have drawn the sixth most walks, but their OBP is only in slightly better shape than their BA, ranking sixth-worst in the majors.

On the basepaths, three teams have been running wild, all in the National League: Reds (117 SB), Brewers (114), and Nationals (110). The fourth most stolen bases belong to the Phillies with 83. The Giants have not yet decided to emphasize baserunning more, as they rank 30th in the majors with only 26 team SB—fewer than Elly De La Cruz’ 39 and also Bryce Turang’s 27.

On the pitching side, per usual the Rockies—by a wide margin—give up the most runs per game at 5.89. The White Sox are second worst at 5.01, meaning the average White Sox game is almost exactly a 5-3 loss. That doesn’t sound so bad, but as an average over half a season it really is abysmal.

The least runs allowed per game is 3.54, a mark shared by the Phillies and Dodgers (the Phillies earned run average is somewhat better at 3.04 compared to 3.27 for the Dodgers.) Overall, run scoring at 4.35 per team per game is lower than last year’s 4.62 rate, but higher than the 4.28 we saw in 2022—so we’ll have to see if offense picks up a bit in the second half or not. Strikeouts are occurring at 8.32 per team per 9 innings, the lowest rate since 2017. That sounds interesting, but if whiffs keep going at this pace it will still be the seventh highest rate ever.

Individual Statistical Leaders

I feel like any discussion of individual stat leaders needs to start with the incredible season Aaron Judge is having. In March/April he had only 6 HR with a .207/.340/.414 slash line. But then in May he smashed 14 HR and hit at a .361/.479/.918 clip, and then in June he so far has 10 HR and is batting .395/.500/.852. So overall he leads the majors with 30 HR, four more than the Orioles’ Gunnar Henderson’s 26. Judge has played in 82 of the Yankees’ 84 games so far, and is slashing .310/.431/.701, for a league-leading 1.131 OPS. Note that is higher than his 1.111 OPS in 2022 when he was AL MVP after hitting 62 HR.

Judge is also leading the majors in RBI with 79, six more than the Guardians’ Jose Ramirez’ 73 and 12 more than the Braves’ Marcell Ozuna’s 67. If Judge ends the year with close to 60 HR and 150 RBI, it will be hard to not give him a second AL MVP Award. Guys like Henderson, Ramirez, and Judge’s own teammate, Juan Soto, would have do something truly remarkable in the second half to make it a close vote. That said, Judge (5.9) currently doesn’t lead in WAR since Henderson (6.1) gets a bump from playing SS instead of the OF. Shohei Ohtani (4.7), Juan Soto (4.4), Jarren Duran (4.3), and Bobby Witt Jr. (4.3) come in next in the current baseball-reference WAR rankings.

As has sometimes been the case in recent years, we might not see any hitters top 200 hits. Last year three guys did: Ronald Acuña Jr. (217), Freddie Freeman (211), and Luis Arráez (203). But nobody did in 2022, 2021, or 2018 (and 2020 was of course a short season). The leaders in 2024 so far are Arráez (107), Witt (104), Ohtani (101), and Jose Altuve (101).

Just as Judge has a healthy lead in HR, Alec Bohm’s 28 doubles is four ahead of the 24 that Francisco Lindor and Ezequiel Tovar each have. And Jarren Duran is pacing MLB with 10 triples, two ahead of Witt who has 8, and three ahead of Anthony Volpe’s 7. All of those triple totals are impressive, given that Witt led the way with 11 last year, Amed Rosario had 9 in 2022, and three guys tied for the league with only 8 in 2021. Going back a bit further, Charlie Blackmon had 14 triples in 2017, and Eddie Rosario had 15 in 2015. No one has had 20 triples in a season since 2007, when Curtis Granderson had 23 and Jimmy Rollins had 20.

As for batting average, 2024 doesn’t look to be a banner year. Steve Kwan is hitting .370 and will soon have enough plate appearances to qualify for the rankings. But besides him, Shohei Ohtani leads at .322 and the surprising veteran Jurickson Profar comes in next at .316.

As mentioned earlier, Elly De La Cruz has an impressive 39 stolen bases so far in 2024. With the new rule changes before the 2023 season, six players had over 41 SB—the amount Jon Berti led MLB with in 2022. Ronald Acuña Jr. led the way with 73, so Cruz is on pace to match or perhaps top that total this year.

On the pitching side, the Phillies’ Ranger Suárez leads the majors in ERA with a 1.83 mark. He and Tanner Houck’s 2.18 ERA are currently lower than Blake Snell’s MLB-leading 2.25 in 2023, but are not lower than Justin Verlander’s 1.75 in 2022.

For what its worth, the past three seasons saw only one 20-game winner each: Spencer Strider with 20 in 2023, Kyle Wright with 21 in 2022, and Julio Urias with 20 in 2021. So far in 2024 we have three guys with 10 wins each (Seth Lugo, Ranger Suárez, and Chris Sale), but another ten have 9 wins each—so I’d wager that at least one guy will again reach 20 this year (though I have no idea who).

Only one pitcher in 2023 had a WHIP below 1.000—Gerrit Cole with a 0.981 mark. This year there are 11 qualifying guys with a WHIP below 1.000, led by Tyler Glasnow at 0.870 and Logan Gilbert at 0.881.

The MLB leader in pitching strikeouts was at 300 or more each year from 2017-2019. Spencer Strider approach that level with 281 last year, but it doesn’t seem like anyone will get close in 2024. I suppose Tyler Glasnow could, as he has 135 so far. And the White Sox opening day starter and current trade bait Garrett Crochet has 130—not something many would have predicted at the start of the year. Overall 18 pitchers have 100+ strikeouts so far, and another 16 have 90+ strikeouts—so we will no doubt end up with several guys topping 200 easily.

Lastly, the MLB-leading saves totals for the past three years have been fairly modest with Emmanuel Clase with 44 in 2023, Clase with 42 in 2022, and Mark Melancon with only 39 in 2021. But so far in 2024 Clase is pacing the AL with 25, and the Cardinals’ Ryan Helsley is the overall MLB leader with 29. So perhaps we’ll see someone top 50 this year, or at least 45.

All data is from Baseball-Reference.com, and also their subscription service Stathead.com. If you are a big sports fan, be sure to check out the latest features at Stathead and the Sports Reference family of sites.

Did you know? I wrote a book with the same title as this Substack newsletter / blog: Now Taking the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises. It was published in early 2019, by ACTA Sports, the publisher of the annual Bill James Handbook and other popular titles. You can learn more about it at www.NowTakingTheField.com, or buy directly at Amazon and other booksellers.