Whereas the collective baseball world — MLBTR included — eyes the ultimate levels of the season and gears up for thrilling postseason pushes, we’re additionally in fact maintaining a tally of the offseason to return. Performances each good and dangerous in 2025 will naturally impression the asking worth of free brokers this winter. We’ve completed two iterations of our annual Free Agent Energy Rankings sequence thus far this 12 months — one in April, one in late Could — and it looks like a great alternative to refresh the checklist as soon as extra.
As a reminder, our energy rankings at MLB Commerce Rumors are not a straight rating of the very best free brokers within the upcoming class. There are many older veterans who could make important impression on short-term offers. Our rankings are based mostly on complete incomes energy, which suggests older vets like Paul Goldschmidt are hardly ever going to crack the highest 10, no matter how robust their efficiency is. Their age will merely restrict them to a shorter-term pact that caps their incomes energy and leaves them with smaller ensures than less-productive (however nonetheless high quality) contributors who can extra push for longer-term offers.
As we’ve seen with current mega-deals for Juan Soto and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., age is king in relation to unlocking the richest offers MLB has to supply. One of the best ways a participant can place himself for a monster contract is to get to free company at as younger an age as doable — and, in fact, accomplish that whereas handing over wonderful outcomes on the plate or on the mound.
Onto the rankings!
1. Kyle Tucker, OF, Cubs
There’s no change up prime. Tucker stays the cream of this 12 months’s free agent crop. He’s not having fun with as a lot manufacturing, on a price foundation, as he did final 12 months however has been more healthy than final 12 months. Tucker’s .271/.384/.474 slash is 41% higher than league-average, per wRC+, and he’s simply two homers shy of a fifth straight 20-homer season. He’s averaging 90.4 mph off the bat with a 42.4% hard-hit price and has by no means posted a mean exit velocity beneath 90 mph or a hard-hit price beneath 41.9%. Tucker’s 23 steals in 2025 have him on tempo to prime his career-high 30. He’s solely been caught twice. Given Tucker’s Twenty sixth-percentile dash velocity, that’s a testomony to his baserunning acumen.
Tucker will play all of subsequent season at age 29. He’s on observe for a fifth straight season the place he’s a minimum of 30% higher than common on the plate and a second straight 12 months with extra walks than strikeouts. This 12 months’s 14.4% strikeout price is the second-lowest of his profession and sits decrease than his 15.2% stroll price (the second-highest of his profession).
Tucker is a top quality defensive proper fielder with above-average arm power and plus accuracy. Groups with wants in both outfield nook shall be focused on Tucker, and he’s the kind of expertise for whom a crew would look to create roster area by way of the commerce market. Tucker gained’t method Juan Soto or Shohei Ohtani territory, however he’ll have a case to prime $400MM and will attempt to take intention at Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s $500MM mark with a large enough end to the common season and/or postseason efficiency. He’ll obtain and reject a qualifying provide, however that gained’t be a deterrent of any observe in his market.
2. Bo Bichette, SS, Blue Jays
Bichette has shaken off a pedestrian begin to the season and, extra importantly, made final 12 months’s lack of manufacturing in an injury-ruined marketing campaign really feel like a distant reminiscence. He’s hitting .300/.341/.468 in 508 plate appearances general, however that jumps to a stout .306/.347/.508 when taking a look at his previous 380 plate appearances. Bichette’s energy was M.I.A. for the season’s first 5 weeks or so. All 15 of Bichette’s house runs this season have come since Could 3. He’s been on an otherworldly tear of late, hitting .404/.449/.633 over the previous month.
He’s nonetheless not strolling a lot (5.3%), however Bichette’s 14.8% strikeout price is the bottom of his profession. He’s averaging 91 mph off the bat with a hearty 48.6% hard-hit price. It’s nonetheless a swing-happy method (therefore the shortage of walks), as evidenced by a 33.9% chase price on balls of the plate. That’s about six share factors greater than common however stands because the lowest mark of Bichette’s profession. Even with these swings, nonetheless, Bichette’s contact price is plus. That’s significantly true when Bichette zeroes in on balls over the plate; his 91.2% contact price on balls within the strike zone ranks nineteenth in all of baseball.
Bichette has slowed down noticeably in current seasons. He’s swiped simply 5 bases this 12 months, 20 wanting his career-high 25 set again in 2021. It’s unlikely Bichette will ever return to these ranges of thievery. His common dash velocity again in ’21 was 28 toes per second — quicker than almost 4 out of 5 massive leaguers. This 12 months, he’s averaging 26.2 ft/sec and sitting in simply the twenty second percentile of MLB gamers, per Statcast.
Protection goes to be the most important knock on Bichette in free company. He’s by no means been an excellent defensive shortstop, and a few groups will most likely favor him at second base from the soar. Each Defensive Runs Saved (-6) and Outs Above Common (-6) really feel he’s been properly beneath common with the glove this 12 months.
Bichette can most likely deal with shortstop for an additional couple seasons, but it surely’s not going that he’ll end a long-term contract on the place. He’s not the identical kind of defender as well-compensated shortstops Willy Adames (seven years, $182MM), Dansby Swanson (seven years, $177MM), Javier Baez (six years, $140MM) and Trevor Story (six years, $140MM). Nonetheless, he’s hitting the market sooner than any of these gamers did — forward of his age-28 season. That additional 12 months of his prime ought to enable Bichette, who’ll reject a qualifying provide, to land within the vary of these different current top-tier shortstops in free company. If he sustains his absurd summer season manufacturing (or something near it), he might push for $200MM or extra.
3. Alex Bregman, 3B, Crimson Sox
Bregman isn’t technically a free agent but, however barring some type of main damage within the last two months, he’s all however assured to choose out of the remaining two years and $80MM on his contract. He’s not prone to safe one other $40MM annual worth — although you may argue that he didn’t actually get there anyhow, due to deferred cash — however topping that remaining $80MM shall be no drawback.
This previous offseason, Bregman spurned six-year gives from his incumbent Astros and the Tigers with the intention to take a short-term, opt-out laden deal that would get him again to the market after a powerful 12 months.
Mission completed.
He missed greater than a month because of a quadriceps pressure, however he’s proven minimal in poor health results since returning. Bregman is hitting .295/.373/.533 in 295 plate appearances. He’s popped 15 house runs and picked up 20 doubles. The uncharacteristically low 6.9% stroll price he confirmed final 12 months is again up over 9%, and his perennially low strikeout price is sitting at 16.9%. His 18.8% chase price on balls off the plate is eighth-lowest in MLB (min. 250 plate appearances), and his 86.8% contact price ranks twenty second.
Bregman is a plus defensive third baseman who might actually deal with second base and will doubtless fill in at shortstop if wanted. Entrance workplaces, teaching staffs and teammates all rave about his make-up, management and clubhouse impression. None of that’s simply quantified, however there’ll unquestionably be groups who worth him much more than his uncooked numbers recommend because of that intangible profile.
Bregman’s market was comparatively restricted final 12 months as he got here off a blended bag of a season and contended with a qualifying provide. That gained’t be the case this time round. The Crimson Sox will need him again, however the Tigers, Cubs, Dodgers, Mets, Phillies and Mariners might all soar into the fray.
As MLBTR’s Contract Tracker reveals, the one place gamers up to now decade to safe contracts of five-plus years starting at age 32 are Lorenzo Cain, DJ LeMahieu and Freddie Freeman. LeMahieu’s contract was stretched to 6 years for luxurious tax functions. Freeman received six years however with deferred cash. Even on a five-year deal, Bregman would have a case for $150MM or extra. Six years might very properly be attainable, as might $200MM. Regardless, Bregman has an opportunity to prime Freeman’s $162MM assure and take house the biggest free agent deal we’ve ever seen for a participant beginning in his age-32 season.
4. Framber Valdez, LHP, Astros
Talking of 32-year-olds in line for outstanding paydays, Valdez has left little doubt that he’s the highest arm on this 12 months’s class. He’s on his option to what can be a 3rd sub-3.00 ERA in 4 years, having piled up 140 innings of two.83 ERA ball. Valdez’s 25.4% strikeout price can be the best of his profession in a 162-game season, and his 7.9% stroll price is healthier than league common for a fourth straight 12 months (and south of 8% for a 3rd straight).
On prime of the consistency and powerful strikeout-to-walk numbers, Valdez is among the sport’s prime ground-ball pitchers. This 12 months’s 60.9% mark trails solely the Angels’ Jose Soriano for the MLB lead not simply amongst certified starters, however among the many 225 pitchers who’ve tossed a minimum of 10 innings as a starter. He’s sitting 94.4 mph along with his sinker, down from his 95.3 mph peak however up from final 12 months’s common of 94.1 mph.
Valdez offers up extra exhausting contact than the common starter, however a lot of it comes on the bottom that it’s extra simply mitigated. Since transferring into the Astros’ rotation full-time, he’s by no means allowed greater than 0.86 homers per 9 innings in a given season — this regardless of being a lefty whose house park includes a quick left-field porch for righty bats who maintain the platoon benefit towards him. And, in an period of five-inning starters and groups who’re reluctant to let starters flip a lineup over for a 3rd time, Valdez is a throwback. He’s averaged 6 1/3 innings per begin not simply in 2025 however over his previous 5 seasons mixed.
Had been it not for the truth that Valdez will flip 32 in November, he’d be the No. 2 free agent on this rating and comfortably projected for a $200MM contract. Because it stands, he’ll be angling to change into simply the fourth pitcher to safe even a five-year deal in free company starting along with his age-32 season (Contract Tracker hyperlink). A four-year deal for Valdez would absolutely clock in properly over $100MM, however he must be anticipated to land 5 years and can have an actual probability to hitch Zack Greinke as the one 32-year-old starter in current reminiscence to reel in six years. A deal within the $150-180MM vary shouldn’t be a shock, even after he inevitably rejects a qualifying provide.
5. Cody Bellinger, OF/1B, Yankees
By means of a sequence of one-year offers and opt-out alternatives, Bellinger retains discovering his manner onto MLBTR’s Energy Rankings. He was simply off the early-season version of this 12 months’s rankings however has risen to the center of the pack because of some down years from different free brokers however, extra importantly, a really robust all-around efficiency of his personal.
Bellinger appeared misplaced on the plate from 2021-22 whereas getting back from shoulder surgical procedure, however that is his third straight robust 12 months with the bat. He entered play Wednesday slashing .276/.328/.496 with 20 homers and 10 steals. Bellinger has frequently whittled away at his strikeout price lately, to the purpose that he’s now one of many hardest strikeouts within the sport, sitting at simply 12.9%. He doesn’t publish the kind of gaudy exit velocity numbers towards which right this moment’s entrance workplaces gravitate, however he’s been a constantly above-average hitter for 3 years now regardless of a middling quality-of-contact profile.
The Yankees have used Bellinger throughout all three outfield positions and at first base. He’s graded out roughly common in middle however is a plus in both outfield nook. Bellinger has solely performed 19 innings at first base this season, however he obtained robust grades when he performed 431 innings there for the 2023 Cubs (+5 DRS, +1 OAA).
Bellinger holds a $25MM participant possibility for the 2026 season. It comes with a $5MM buyout that he’ll obtain if he declines. Even when it have been a real $25MM resolution slightly than a internet $20MM resolution, Bellinger would simply flip the choice down. He can’t obtain a qualifying provide this time round, and regardless of what number of straight offseasons he’s been a fixture on the free agent market, he’ll play the majority of subsequent season at simply 30 years of age.
Bellinger would solely be 35 on the completion of a five-year deal or 36 after a six-year pact. An annual wage north of $20MM for a 30-year-old nook outfielder who’s posted a .283/.337/.481 slash in almost 1600 plate appearances since 2023 — significantly one who can capably deal with middle area or first base — must be attainable, which suggests Bellinger has an actual probability to signal for greater than $100MM on the open market this time round.
6. Dylan Stop, RHP, Padres
Stop hasn’t had the season he hoped in his last 12 months of membership management. He’s nonetheless exhibiting the sturdiness, plus velocity and swing-and-miss arsenal that make him so interesting, however the outcomes haven’t been there for the previous AL Cy Younger runner-up. In 123 1/3 innings, he’s pitched to a 4.60 ERA that might stand as the best of his profession (excluding a partial season in his 2019 MLB debut).
That mentioned, Stop’s 97.1 mph common four-seamer is his finest because the shortened 2020 season and the second-best of his profession. He’s producing extra chases off the plate than ever earlier than, and this 12 months’s 15.9% swinging-strike price is the biggest of his profession. Command points plagued him for a lot of his time with the White Sox, however that is now two seasons with the Padres and two seasons with a stroll price comfortably south of 10%. He could “solely” have common command (maybe a slight bit beneath), however Stop is a sturdy flamethrower who misses bats with the very best within the league. He’s punched out 30.6% of his opponents. Metrics like FIP (3.52) and SIERA (3.33) really feel he’s nearly as good as — if not higher than — he’s ever been.
Stop can also be extremely sturdy. He’s by no means been on the key league injured checklist exterior of a brief keep on the Covid-related checklist in 2021. Since 2020, he leads Main League Baseball with 165 video games began and is ninth with 897 2/3 innings pitched.
Stop shall be 30 in December. A five-year deal would “solely” run by way of his age-34 season. With an enormous season, he and agent Scott Boras might maybe have pushed for a seven-year contract in extra of $200MM. This 12 months’s uneven efficiency presents a number of paths he might pursue. Stop will obtain a qualifying provide and is nearly sure to reject. If he appears to max out, he might maybe nonetheless safe a long-term deal however most likely not for near the cash he’d hoped getting into the 12 months. We’ve seen Boras shoppers like Carlos Rodon and Blake Snell go the short-term/opt-out route up to now, and Stop is younger sufficient that he might nonetheless command a notable long-term deal following the 2026 season if he went that route.
Nonetheless, these rankings are based mostly on incomes ceiling, and there’s a situation the place Stop finishes robust, appears to max out and winds up with six years and a hearty annual worth. For energy arms who can miss bats like this, groups are more and more prepared to look previous a rocky ERA.
7. Ranger Suarez, LHP, Phillies
Although not as sturdy as Valdez has been, Suarez pitches deep into video games and retains runs off the board identical to his fellow southpaw. He allowed 5 runs in a 6 1/3-inning begin simply this afternoon, one in every of his worst outings of the 12 months, however nonetheless carries a 2.94 ERA in 107 frames. He averaged 5 1/3 innings per begin again in 2022, jumped to about 5 2/3 innings per begin in 2023-24 and is as much as almost 6 1/3 innings per look in 2025.
Suarez has been constantly good alongside the best way, with roughly common strikeout charges, good command and properly above-average grounder charges. In some ways, he’s a “lite” model of Valdez. He’s fanned 21.8% of opponents since 2022, issued walks at a 7.8% clip and turned in a 51.5% ground-ball price. Again, hamstring and elbow accidents have restricted his workload in that point, preserving him to 538 innings of standard season work.
The 2025 season has been Suarez’s finest by way of outcomes. It’s additionally his second straight season with notable time missed because of a again damage, nonetheless. Suarez opened the season on the injured checklist because of decrease again ache and wound up lacking greater than a month. His decrease again additionally value him a month in 2024 and two weeks in 2022. He’s an immensely gifted pitcher, however three IL stints for his decrease again in a span of 4 years isn’t superb — particularly since he’s had different accidents blended in (most notably a 2023 elbow pressure that value him six-plus weeks).
Suarez doesn’t throw as exhausting as Valdez, sitting at a career-low 90.2 mph along with his sinker this season. The declining velocity and up to date troubles with again accidents are limiting elements, however Suarez is a gradual No. 3 starter who’ll pitch almost all of subsequent season at age 30. There’s no purpose he shouldn’t handily prime Eduardo Rodriguez’s four-year, $80MM contract, and a five-year deal that pushes up nearer to the Kevin Gausman/Robbie Ray territory of $110-115MM feels attainable.
8. Kyle Schwarber, OF/DH, Phillies
Schwarber goes to interrupt loads of precedent this offseason. He’s nominally an outfielder however has performed 107 video games at designated hitter this 12 months. Perhaps a crew would plug Schwarber into left area early in a brand new contract, however a full-time transfer to DH most likely isn’t too far down the street. Gamers with such minimal defensive worth usually aren’t compensated properly in free company. Nelson Cruz and Victor Martinez received four-year offers as designated hitters … again in 2014. J.D. Martinez received 5 years and $110MM with the Crimson Sox again in 2018, however deal got here with the expectation of a minimum of some part-time outfield play. He logged 493 innings in 12 months one of many deal and 330 in 12 months two.
Gamers with negligible defensive worth like this have a tough time discovering massive cash in free company, however Schwarber goes to be an exception. He’s not “simply” a delegated hitter — he’s among the best hitters on the planet. He nonetheless strikes out greater than you’d favor (26.9% after three punchouts on Wednesday), however he’s additionally belted 40 homers in simply 506 plate appearances — his third 40-homer effort up to now 4 years. (He hit “solely” 38 bombs in 2024.) Schwarber has walked at a 14.8% clip as properly, and he’s hitting .256/.376/.585 general — a large 63% higher than common, by measure of wRC+.
Statcast ranks Schwarber within the 99th or a hundredth percentile in every of the next classes: bat velocity, common exit velocity, barrel price, hard-hit price, anticipated slugging share and anticipated wOBA.
Earlier in his profession, the ebook on Schwarber was that lefties might get him out. That’s not the case anymore — removed from it. Schwarber has been properly above-average towards lefties relationship again to 2021, together with a colossal .278/.394/.656 slash (186 wRC+) in left-on-left matchups this season. He’s a .242/.341/.468 hitter in his previous 1059 plate appearances versus southpaws.
On prime of the gaudy on-base numbers and almost unmatched energy output, Schwarber is a beloved clubhouse presence whose teammates and coaches rave about what he brings to the crew off the sphere. He’s going to be 33 subsequent March, and whereas some groups will wish to maintain him to a high-AAV three-year contract, the offensive contributions have reached a degree the place it’s exhausting to ascertain lower than 4 years. A fifth 12 months isn’t even fully out of the query, despite the fact that he’ll obtain and reject a qualifying provide.
9. Pete Alonso, 1B, Mets
The 2025 season has been a rollercoaster, however on the finish of the day Alonso is having among the best seasons of his profession. He’s hitting .264/.352/.507 with 25 homers already, making him all however a lock to but once more prime 30 homers — a feat he’s reached in every 162-game season of his profession. Alonso’s stroll price is holding regular round 10%, and he’s minimize a pair share factors off his strikeout price, which sits at 22.9%.
That’s far greater than the 14.6% clip he confirmed in a superhuman month of April, but it surely’s nonetheless proper in keeping with the league common. Alonso did plenty of the heavy lifting for his season in March/April, however he additionally had an enormous efficiency in June and is out to a pleasant begin in August. July was his solely actually dangerous month of the 12 months from an offensive manufacturing standpoint.
Alonso is making extra exhausting contact than ever (52.8%) and sporting career-high marks in common exit velocity (93.7 mph) and barrel price (20.4%). His defensive limitations are apparent, and he’s by no means going to contribute a lot worth on the bases. On the similar time, he’s as dependable a supply of 30-plus homers as almost anybody within the sport. Since he obtained a qualifying provide final winter, he’s ineligible to obtain one other one.
The 2-year, $54MM contract Alonso signed final winter paid him $30MM this season with a $24MM participant possibility for the 2026 marketing campaign. If he and the Mets don’t conform to a longer-term deal between now and the time that possibility resolution comes due, he’s a lock to show it down and head again to the market. A lot has been fabricated from Alonso rejecting a seven-year, $158MM extension from the Mets a number of years in the past. He’s already pocketed $50.5MM in wage in two years since turning that down, nonetheless, and bringing house one other $107.5MM over the following 5 years doesn’t in any respect really feel out of the query. We noticed a 34-year-old Christian Walker land three years and $60MM final winter. He’s a greater defender, however Alonso will play 2026 at age 31. A four-year deal value round $25MM yearly or a five-year deal within the $22-23MM vary appears believable.
10. Brandon Woodruff, RHP, Brewers
A brand new entrant on the checklist, Woodruff not too long ago returned from a greater than yearlong absence because of 2023 shoulder surgical procedure. His velocity is down noticeably, however his outcomes are elite and largely commensurate along with his excellent massive league observe file. It’s solely a pattern of 28 1/3 innings thus far, however the 32-year-old righty has a 2.22 ERA, a 35.6% strikeout price and only a 3.8% stroll price.
Within the 5 seasons previous his shoulder damage, Woodruff pitched to a mixed 2.93 ERA in slightly below 600 innings. His strikeout and stroll charges have been each wonderful, although to not the extent in his five-start pattern this 12 months. Woodruff averaged 96.3 mph along with his fastball throughout that point, in comparison with simply 93.2 mph in 2025, but it surely’s not unreasonable to suppose he might proceed including velo as he shakes off some rust. Woodruff’s four-seamer averaged 94 mph in his most up-to-date begin towards the Nationals, as an illustration — his finest in any begin of 2025.
A 32-year-old who had a current, main surgical procedure goes to be capped by way of contract size, however that would end in a little bit of a bidding battle in relation to annual worth. Nathan Eovaldi simply received three years and $75MM starting along with his age-35 marketing campaign this previous offseason. Woodruff shall be two years youthful this offseason than Eovaldi was final winter.
This all hinges on how Woodruff finishes out the 12 months, but when he retains gaining velocity and/or wraps up his return marketing campaign with an ERA within the low-to-mid 2.00s, there shall be loads of groups focused on including a premium arm on a deal on a comparatively short-term deal (three or 4 years). Woodruff technically has a $20MM mutual possibility, however he’ll obtain a $10MM buyout when he declines his finish in quest of a long-term deal in free company. The Brewers can then make him a qualifying provide, which he’d decline if he can maintain something near his present tempo.
Honorable Mentions (listed alphabetically): Edwin Diaz (opt-out), Jack Flaherty (opt-out), Zac Gallen, Lucas Giolito (’26 membership possibility turns into mutual possibility at 140 innings this 12 months) Trent Grisham, Ryan Helsley, Michael King, Tyler Mahle, Munetaka Murakami (NPB), Cedric Mullins, Josh Naylor, Ryan O’Hearn, Eugenio Suarez, Robert Suarez (opt-out), Gleyber Torres, Luke Weaver
