Aaron Judge made his return on Tuesday after spending the Yankees’ previous 10 games on the injured list with a right flexor strain. But between that absence and the slow couple of weeks that preceded it, Judge finds himself in an unfamiliar spot in our latest edition of the Hitter Power Rankings: outside the top three.
Judge had led eight of our previous nine rankings this season -- Cal Raleigh led the other, with Judge second. The reigning AL MVP quickly regained his perch that time, and he may well do so again here. But first, he’ll need to show that he is healthy enough to resume the historic mashing he was doing for most of the year. In the meantime, we have a big shakeup at the top.
As always, the Hitter Power Rankings are based on a formula, constructed by MLB.com’s data team, that considers players’ recent performance, season-long performance and performance over the past 365 days. Those three categories are weighted so as to place the greatest emphasis on the first two.
Here are the newest Hitter Power Rankings. (All stats are through Tuesday’s games.)
1. Kyle Schwarber, Phillies (Previously: 4)
For the first time in 2025, Schwarber leads the way, having jumped from outside the top 10, to ninth, to fourth and now to first over the past four editions. Since mid-June, Schwarber has unleashed the Schwarbombs and turned what was merely a very good offensive season into perhaps the best of a fine career. The 32-year-old DH is slugging .714 with 18 homers in his past 39 games, getting him to the 40-homer mark for the third time in four seasons. His first 50-homer campaign is beginning to look like a near certainty, health permitting.
2. Nick Kurtz, Athletics (not ranked)
Kurtz, the No. 4 pick in the 2024 Draft, didn’t make his MLB debut until April 23, but he has taken baseball by storm. If you lower the qualifying threshold to 300 plate appearances, the list of hitters who have been better than Kurtz this year on a rate basis consists of … Judge. End of list. The 22-year-old out of Wake Forest is slashing .311/.389/.655 (183 OPS+) with 23 homers in 74 games, a total that includes arguably the best offensive performance in Major League history on July 25 at Houston (six hits, four homers, eight RBIs, 19 total bases).
3. Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers (2)
Ohtani has an .865 OPS since July 1, which counts as a slump by his lofty standards. He still leads the NL in SLG (.601), OPS (.981), total bases (264). He also leads the Majors with 105 runs scored, putting him on a pace to challenge for MLB’s first 150-run season since 2000 (Jeff Bagwell) and second going back to 1950.
4. Aaron Judge, Yankees (1)
This is about as low as a guy can go when he’s sporting a season line of .339/.446/.705 with 37 home runs, including his 0-for-3 return on Tuesday. One way to look at his dominance prior to the injury? His total of 27 intentional walks this season is more than any team other than the Yankees has.
5. Kyle Stowers, Marlins (not ranked)
Like Kurtz, Stowers has shot up from unranked to top five in his first Hitter Power Rankings appearance. Unlike Kurtz, he did not taste immediate big league success. The 27-year-old entered this spring without a guaranteed roster spot in Miami, carrying a career OPS of .600 in 117 games over three seasons. Now, though? He ranks fourth in the NL in SLG (.566) and OPS+ (155) and tied for sixth in homers (25). Stowers has been on a tear for a surprisingly competitive Marlins squad, batting .339/.427/.785 with 15 homers and 37 RBIs in 36 games since June 22.
6. José Ramírez, Guardians (6)
Cleveland has gone 18-7 since July 7 to stay in the AL Wild Card race. Surprise, surprise: Ramírez has been right in the middle of that, batting .295/.409/.653 with nine homers, 22 RBIs and 10 stolen bases to help carry a team not exactly overflowing with big bats. Now up to 23 homers and 32 steals, J-Ram is well on his way to joining Barry and Bobby Bonds, Alfonso Soriano and Howard Johnson as the only players with three 30-30 campaigns.
7. Manny Machado, Padres (not ranked)
Where would the Padres be without Machado? The 14-year veteran has started every single game for San Diego, most of them at third base, and leads the NL with 133 hits, including a stretch of six straight multi-hit games from July 23-28. Machado’s .302 batting average would be the highest of his career in a full season, and he owns a .963 OPS since the beginning of July for a club that is giving the Dodgers a race in the NL West.
8. Cal Raleigh, Mariners (3)
In his first 17 games out of the All-Star break, Raleigh has popped four more home runs to expand his MLB-best total to 42. He also hit a modest .200/.243/.371, however, with 28 strikeouts against four walks. At this point, the Big Dumper is almost assured of an historic home run total -- for a catcher, at minimum -- but will he rediscover his more all-around offensive success from earlier in 2025?
9. Bo Bichette, Blue Jays (not ranked)
Bichette’s injury-marred 2024 campaign, when he hit just .225, sticks out like a sore thumb in what is otherwise an incredibly consistent offensive track record. Well, Bichette is back to doing Bichette things in 2025 -- and he’s doing it as a pending free agent. The 27-year-old leads the Majors with 143 hits, and he has been absolutely locked in of late for the surprising, first-place Blue Jays. Going back to July 7, Bichette is hitting .406/.447/.613 across his past 25 games, raising his season average up to .300.
10. Jarren Duran, Red Sox (not ranked)
It’s been easy to look at 2025 as a solid but unspectacular followup to Duran’s breakout 2024 campaign, which landed him an All-Star Game MVP Award and some AL MVP votes. With all of the other young position player talent arriving in Boston, there were even rumblings that the Red Sox might trade him at the Deadline. They didn’t … and Duran also has been right in the middle of the team’s recent success. The Sox are 21-6 since July 4, vaulting into the top AL Wild Card spot, and Duran is slashing .311/.398/.689 with 25 RBIs over that stretch. With 12 triples, he is on his way to leading the AL for a second straight year.
Honorable mentions: Eugenio Suárez (Mariners), Will Smith (Dodgers), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Blue Jays), Bryce Harper (Phillies), Corey Seager (Rangers), Randy Arozarena (Mariners), Freddie Freeman (Dodgers), Shea Langeliers (Athletics), Willy Adames (Giants), George Springer (Blue Jays)