Power Ranking de Bateadores: ?Podrá alguien destronar al líder?

?Destronará alguien aShohei Ohtani de la cima de los Power Rankings de Bateadores?

A estas alturas, luce poco probable. Ohtani, cuyo nombre también sale con frecuencia en los Power Rankings de Lanzadores Abridores, ha encabezado esta encuesta por cuarta ocasión consecutiva. Y las últimas tres veces han sido de forma unánime por nuestro panel de MLB.com.

En esta edición de los Power Rankings de Bateadores aparecen cuatro nombres nuevos, incluyendo tres por primera vez en el 2023. Pero ninguno pudo superar a Ohtani.

1. Shohei Ohtani, Angels (Last poll: 1)
What more can you say? Ohtani entered Wednesday holding at least a share of the Major League lead in homers (39), triples (seven), slugging (.676), OPS (1.081), OPS+ (188), total bases (269) and intentional walks (13).

2. Ronald Acuña Jr., Braves (2)
Beating out Ohtani may be an impossible task right now, but his fellow MVP Award frontrunner has finished no lower than second in each of our past eight polls. Acu?a remains a threat to crack both 40 homers and 80 steals, which would be an unprecedented combo of power and speed.

3. Freddie Freeman, Dodgers (4)
He has started every game this season for the first-place Dodgers, and if not for Acu?a’s sensational performance, he might be a favorite for his second NL MVP Award. Freeman batted .359/.438/.685 in July, his second month this season with an OPS over 1.100.

4. Matt Olson, Braves (8)
Olson has looked like a future home run champ ever since bashing 24 big flies in 59 games for the A’s in 2017. In his second season since trading Oakland’s spacious home park for Atlanta’s more hitter-friendly yard, Olson is making good on that potential, with a solid lead over Pete Alonso in the NL homer race.

5. Juan Soto, Padres (not ranked)
Tuesday’s Trade Deadline passed without Soto being dealt. Then he went out and bashed a pair of homers at Coors Field for his third straight multi-hit game, which lifted Soto’s second-half line to .323/.449/.726, with seven homers and 21 RBIs in 18 games.

6. Luis Arraez, Marlins (5)
The .400 chase may not have been realistic, but every time it seems as if Arraez’s batting average is going to plummet, he has a big game or two (or three). One number to keep in mind is .372. That was Ichiro Suzuki’s career-high average in 2004, a feat nobody has matched since.

7. Mookie Betts, Dodgers (3)
After missing two games with a sore ankle, Betts returned to the lineup on Tuesday and smacked his 28th homer of the season. That’s just seven shy of last year’s career high, as well as a record for any player who has appeared at least 15 times apiece at second base, shortstop and any outfield position.

8. Kyle Tucker, Astros (not ranked)
Tucker continues to fly under the radar, even though he’s a top-10 position player by Baseball-Reference WAR over the past three seasons. With a .370/.449/.685 line since June 28, Tucker has put a slow-ish start behind him and has a shot at a 30-30 campaign to boot.

9. Cody Bellinger, Cubs (not ranked)
At one point, it looked like Bellinger was a good bet to move at the Trade Deadline, but the surging Cubs elected to hold on to him instead. Bellinger has done a great job of rebuilding his value after a couple of tough seasons in L.A., posting by far his best numbers since his 2019 NL MVP campaign.

10. Triston Casas, Red Sox (not ranked)
Here are the best qualified hitters in the Majors (by wRC+) since June 16: 1) Ohtani, 2) Olson, 3) Casas. Now in his second big league season, the 23-year-old first baseman has been scorching hot for the past several weeks, making good on his past status as a top-20 prospect.

Also receiving votes: Yandy Díaz (Rays), Christian Yelich (Brewers), Aaron Judge (Yankees), Luis Robert Jr. (White Sox), Austin Riley (Braves), Chas McCormick (Astros), Dansby Swanson (Cubs), Bobby Witt Jr. (Royals), Ketel Marte (D-backs), Josh Naylor (Guardians)

Voters: David Adler, Brett Blueweiss, Paul Casella, Doug Gausepohl, Thomas Harrigan, Sarah Langs, Travis Miller, Ricardo Montes de Oca, Brian Murphy, Sweeny Murti, Manny Randhawa, Efrain Ruiz, Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru, Andrew Simon, David Venn