There is no perfect baseball statistic, but if you are looking for the best statistic to serve as the possible shorthand for ¡°offensive production,¡± you really can¡¯t do better than OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage).
It¡¯s a quick-and-dirty way of measuring the two most important offensive abilities: to get on base, and to hit with authority. The five top career OPS of all time belong to Negro Leagues icon Josh Gibson, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig and Oscar Charleston, another Negro Leagues legend. It¡¯s a good stat.
If you looked at MLB¡¯s Top 25 in OPS, entering Thursday, you would have found all sorts of familiar names: Aaron Judge. Fernando Tatis Jr. Kyle Tucker. Manny Machado. But you also would have found some more surprising names, those of players who weren¡¯t looked at as stars coming into this season but sure have played like them so far.
Here¡¯s a look at seven of the most unlikely names in that Top 25, ranked by their 2025 OPS. (All stats are through Wednesday¡¯s games.)
1. Jonathan Aranda, 1B, Rays
1.193 OPS (3rd in MLB)
You know, Jonathan Aranda ... one of the best hitters in baseball, trailing only Aaron Judge and Pete Alonso in OPS. The 26-year-old native of Mexico was originally signed by the Rays way back in 2015 and is now in his fourth big league season, but he had played just 110 career games prior to '25. And he¡¯s destroying the ball right now. He¡¯s hitting .396. In 16 games, he logged three homers and seven doubles. He has put up a 95.6 mph average exit velocity that ranks in the 98th percentile. He is simply launching baseballs everywhere.
The key has been the left-handed batter¡¯s ability to hit righties. Aranda has never fared well against lefties (.462 career OPS), but he crushes righties (.797). The Rays, smartly, have kept him away from southpaws (just seven plate appearances in 2025) and likely will continue to platoon him, letting him do what he does best: Feast on right-handed pitching.
2. Tyler Soderstrom, 1B, A¡¯s
1.101 OPS (5th in MLB)
Soderstrom, a first-round pick (No. 26 overall) in the 2020 MLB Draft, took a step forward in '24 to potentially establish himself as a Major Leaguer after putting up a .160 average over a 45-game debut in '23. He has carried that over into this season, currently leading the Majors with eight home runs. He¡¯s doing this the way great hitters do it: He¡¯s pulling and elevating fastballs and he¡¯s lowering his strikeout rate, from 31.2% to 24.9% to 18.4% over the past three seasons.
The A¡¯s actually have too many first basemen right now, both on their team and in their system (top prospect Nick Kurtz is a first baseman and will be ready soon), but Soderstrom has shown that he¡¯s not going anywhere. The A¡¯s are going to have to find a space for him moving forward. They surely will.
3. Mike Yastrzemski, RF, Giants
1.032 OPS (9th in MLB)
For all the changes the Giants have gone through over the past seven seasons, Little Yaz has been a constant, even as his performances have sometimes fluctuated. But he has never put up numbers like this. He has cut down on his strikeouts and upped his walk rate, he¡¯s getting on base at an unprecedented rate (.444 OBP) and he¡¯s serving as a linchpin for an offense that is, quite surprisingly, third in the Majors in runs scored per game (5.6).
We¡¯ve spent the entire seven years of Little Yaz¡¯s career saying, ¡°When will the Giants bring in a star?¡± Right now, they have one, and he has been there the whole time. (Actually, they have more than one: Fellow outfielder Jung Hoo Lee ranks right above Yaz with a 1.042 OPS.)
4. Ben Rice, DH, Yankees
1.003 OPS (12th in MLB)
Who needs Juan Soto? Well, the Yankees obviously would have loved to hang on to Soto, but the emergence of Rice -- who hit .171 in 50 games as a rookie in 2024 -- has been the story of the Yanks¡¯ young season. (Other than those torpedo bats, obviously.)
Rice has been a monster out of the leadoff spot, launching five homers and hitting the ball as hard as anyone in the entire sport right now. (Including his teammate Aaron Judge.) He has even stolen a couple of bases! His smooth stroke looks like the perfect fit on this team, which is leading the Majors with 5.9 runs scored per game. Rice is exactly the sort of player the Yankees needed, especially with Giancarlo Stanton sidelined.
5. Spencer Torkelson, 1B, Tigers
.988 OPS (13th in MLB)
This is what the Tigers and their fans have been waiting so long for. The first overall pick of the 2020 MLB Draft has gone through so many struggles in his professional career that you got the sense the Tigers were this close to cutting bait on him. (He hit 31 homers two years ago, before his production fell off a cliff again last year.)
But it turns out there was a reason he was a No. 1 overall pick after all. The power has shown up big time, with six homers on a team that needs every bit of offense it can get. Torkelson has seemingly been tinkering with his swing every year, trying to find something that fits, and now it seems like he has. He has long been a streaky hitter, and some of those streaks have made the Tigers believe he had turned the corner, only to have him fall back again. It sure looks like it might stick this time.
6. Brendan Donovan, 2B, Cardinals
.965 OPS (15th in MLB)
Donovan has always been a Swiss army knife for the Cardinals, beloved for his ability to hit to all fields, get on base and play whatever position they need him to at any given time. But he has ascended to a new level this year. Donovan is third in the Majors with a .380 batting average and tied with Judge for first in hits (27), and he has done so while starting games at second base, shortstop, left field and DH.
With Masyn Winn on the injured list, Donovan is currently the starting shortstop, a position he played only once last year, but one he is holding down admirably so far. Donovan has already won a Gold Glove Award as a utility player. He sure looks like he¡¯s about to make his first All-Star team.
7. Geraldo Perdomo, SS, Diamondbacks
.908 OPS (23rd in MLB)
Perdomo hasn¡¯t come out of nowhere; he did make the NL All-Star team in 2023, after all. But he¡¯s never been anything close to this. Perdomo, who signed a four-year, $45 million contract extension just before the season began, has been essential for an Arizona offense that has been among the best in baseball.
He¡¯s doing exactly what the D-backs need him to do: get on base. He has a .418 OBP, 12th in MLB, and he¡¯s constantly putting the ball in play. Perdomo has walked 14 times against only five strikeouts, ranking in the 93rd percentile for highest walk rate and the 98th percentile for lowest K-rate. Also: He has already equaled his 2024 home run total (three), despite playing 80 fewer games so far. That also puts him halfway to his career high of six, set in 2023.