3. Cody Bellinger, New York Yankees<\/p>\n
Offense:\u00a0656 PA, 125 OPS+, .272\/.334\/.480, 59 XBH (29 HR), 13 SB
Defense:\u00a0572.2 INN, 7 DRS, 4 OAA
WAR:\u00a05.1<\/p>\n
After a long offseason of free agency, Bellinger ultimately found his way back to the Yankees on a five-year, $162.5 million deal. The offensive struggles that led to him being non-tendered by the Dodgers are now a distant memory, and he has a 125 OPS+ and 12.0 WAR in the three years since. He will again be tasked with protecting Aaron Judge in the middle of the Yankees lineup.<\/p>\n
2. Roman Anthony, Boston Red Sox<\/p>\n
Offense:\u00a0303 PA, 140 OPS+, .292\/.396\/.463, 27 XBH (8 HR), 4 SB
Defense:\u00a0152.0 INN, -1 DRS, 2 OAA
WAR:\u00a03.1<\/p>\n
It’s a stat I’ve referenced frequently this offseason, but one worth highlighting one last time here: The Red Sox were 44-27 (.620) in the 71 games Anthony played last season, compared to 45-46 (.494) without him. That’s not a coincidence. It’s what a potential franchise-altering player looks like, and Anthony has all the tools to bust through as a bona fide superstar in 2026, especially coming off an impressive run with Team USA in the WBC.<\/p>\n
1. Juan Soto, New York Mets<\/p>\n
Offense:\u00a0715 PA, 160 OPS+, .263\/.396\/.525, 64 XBH (43 HR), 38 SB
Defense:\u00a0Did not play LF in 2025
WAR:\u00a06.2<\/p>\n
If it’s possible to live up to a 15-year, $765 million deal, Soto did it in the first year of that record-setting payday. He led the NL in on-base percentage (.396), walks (127) and steals (38), more than tripling his previous career high for thefts while also posting a second straight 40-homer, 100-RBI campaign. Poor defensive metrics (-7 DRS, -12 OAA<\/a>) were the one hole in his game, and now he will shift from right field to left field for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"3. Cody Bellinger, New York Yankees Offense:\u00a0656 PA, 125 OPS+, .272\/.334\/.480, 59 XBH (29 HR), 13 SBDefense:\u00a0572.2 INN,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-550319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}