Hitter Power Rankings see shakeup behind unquestioned leader

He remains the King of Clout -- in both senses of the word “clout.” Yankees superstar slugger Aaron Judge continues to reign atop MLB.com’s Hitter Power Rankings, and he's been in that position for nearly three months. He’s also, of course, charismatic and magnetic -- when he speaks, people listen.

While the top two spots in our latest poll remain the same since our last one two weeks ago, the rest of the rankings have seen some shuffling.

Here’s how the rankings shook out, with our MLB.com panel once again considering career track record, season-long performance and recent success in casting their votes.

1. Aaron Judge, Yankees (Last poll: 1)
Somehow, Judge, despite a slow first month at the plate, is having a better season so far than his 2022 campaign, in which he set an American League record with 62 home runs. This year, Judge is leading the Majors in homers (he smashed his 46th and 47th of the season on Wednesday night), RBIs (117), on-base percentage (.465), slugging percentage (.722), OPS (1.187) and total bases (322). And he hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down -- since May 3, he’s hit 41 of his 47 homers. There seems to be no stopping him.

2. Bobby Witt Jr., Royals (2)
Much like Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in 2021, when the Blue Jays slugger had an MVP-caliber season that was overshadowed by the historic two-way performance of Shohei Ohtani, Witt is playing in the rather large shadow cast by Judge. Still, Witt is in the AL MVP conversation thanks to an incredible season in which his all-around ability has produced a .352 batting average, 178 hits and 110 runs scored -- leading MLB in all three categories -- in addition to his second straight 25-homer/25-steal season. A monstrous July truly vaulted Witt into the MVP debate -- he posted a .489/.520/.833 slash line with seven homers that month.

3. Juan Soto, Yankees (4)
Soto is on a home run binge right now -- he’s launched eight of them over a nine-game span after going deep again on Wednesday as part of a five-RBI night. Those eight homers comprise all but one of his hits in that stretch (talk about making your hits count). Overall, Soto remains in the highest echelon of hitters -- he has a 1.045 OPS with a career-high 36 home runs and, as is his custom, an MLB-best 106 walks.

4. Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers (3)
While he entered Wednesday leading the NL with 39 home runs, 94 runs scored, a .613 slugging percentage and a .991 OPS, Ohtani has struggled somewhat at the plate in August -- some signature homers that left us in awe notwithstanding. Entering play Wednesday, he was hitting .195/.250/.533 with seven of those aforementioned homers this month. That, coupled with the incredible runs the guys ahead of him in these rankings are having, has caused him to fall a spot in our latest poll. Still, Ohtani is closing in on a 40-40 season and might become the fastest to get there in AL/NL history.

5. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays (6)
From a slugger who dropped a spot to another who moved up a spot in our rankings, Guerrero continues to rake after turning things around in early May. He really got hot in June, particularly in the power department -- at the end of May, Guerrero had five homers on the season. In less than three months since, he’s hit 21.

6. Yordan Alvarez, Astros (no ranking)
Like Guerrero, Alvarez really started to heat up in June, when he posted a .349/.430/.709 slash line with seven homers. And after continuing his hot streak in July, he has an OPS north of 1.200 with five homers so far in August -- those homers came as part of a tremendous stretch from Aug. 6-11, when he hit .500 and was named AL co-Player of the Week. Alvarez's recent performance earned him a spot in our Hitter Power Rankings after he wasn't ranked at all in our last poll.

7. Gunnar Henderson, Orioles (5)
Henderson got off to a torrid start at the plate this season and was considered an early AL MVP candidate. He’s been good of late, though not as red-hot as he was during the first half of the season. His slugging has been down -- in 23 games from the start of the second half through Aug. 13, Henderson hit just one homer. But that’s changed since then. He’s connected for four homers over his last eight games, which bodes well for him in our next edition of these rankings if he keeps it going.

8. Rafael Devers, Red Sox (7)
Devers is enjoying the best offensive campaign of a very impressive career to this point -- his .951 OPS would be a career-best if the season ended today. The slugging third baseman slumped in the first half of this month, but he has been better recently, batting .318 with two doubles and two homers in five games before an 0-for-4 night on Wednesday.

9. Marcell Ozuna, Braves (not ranked)
Ohtani is the headliner when it comes to the DH position -- and, really, along with Judge and a few others, all of baseball -- but Ozuna is right behind him in terms of production this season. He has a .975 OPS with 37 homers this season, two homers behind Ohtani for the NL lead. Ozuna does lead the NL in RBIs, with 94, and he’s been red-hot this month, with an OPS near 1.100 with six homers.

10. José Ramírez, Guardians (8)
Ramírez, though perhaps less so in recent years, still seems to be underrated despite his consistent excellence. Cleveland’s third baseman is a six-time All-Star, a four-time Silver Slugger Award winner, has finished among the top four in AL MVP voting four times and continues to produce at an elite level at the plate. So far this year, he has an .860 OPS with 32 home runs, 101 RBIs and 29 steals, bidding for his second career 30-30 campaign.

Voters: Jason Catania, Theo DeRosa, Daniel Feldman, Travis Miller, Brian Murphy, Sweeny Murti, Efrain Ruiz, Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru, Andrew Simon, David Venn, Tom Vourtsis