Mid-Season Report Cards 2026: Top-of-their-Class Hitters

The first half of the season is complete, the second half is underway, the trade deadline is approaching, teams are trying to decide whether or not they should buy or sell, and fans have made their voices known on first-half performances by naming their all-stars. But how well did the fans do? Are the Blue Jays really teeming with top of the line players? In this series we're going to do our own breakdown of player performances for the first half of 2026, using our in-house grading system, that tries to capture a more reliable, comprehensive picture of player performances in various categories. As the kickoff (or first pitch) to our series taking a look at the report cards for players around the league at 2026's halfway point, let's jump into who among our class of hitters have truly set themselves apart.

If you want an overview on how our grading system works, check out this article!

Mid-season Grades

With the preamble out of the way, let's jump into our mid-season grades. I won't cover every single player with a noteworthy grade, but I do want to highlight some particularly interesting, noteworthy, or exceptional players. To see the full list of grades for the season so far, check out the player leaderboards and switch to the "Grades" table from the "Table" dropdown.

A+ Hitters

If not for a very abbreviated season of 175 PAs in 2020, Ohtani would have no seasons with a slugging below .505.

2026 has had no shortage of amazing offensive performances, the result of which has been 11 qualified players earning themselves an A+ in the first semester. Some of these players are no-brainers, of course they received the highest honors, it's what they do. Others have taken the game by storm, either coming out of nowhere in a big way or taking an already strong game and figuring out how to dial it up just a tiny bit more. Since an A+ is such a prestigious achievement, even for only half a season, let's take a moment to acknowledge each recipient.

Starting off, there are a few perennial top-of-their-class players that we need to get out of the way. Not because I don't love talking about Shohei Ohtani, but because there are some new and old faces that I think are much more interesting stories in 2026. Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto are surprising no one by both rocking A+'s in the first half of this season. You could argue Ohtani has taken a small step down, having lost nearly 100 points in slugging so far this year, but when you slug .622 in a season (and .650 the previous two years), I wouldn't be too hard on yourself if you take a step back. In fact, I can hardly imagine being so good at hitting that a "step back" is still good enough to have a top 15 slugging in the league. Regardless, his performance has been more than enough to earn him an A in power, B+ in results, and a comfortable spot among the top performers.

Soto, conversely, is near the best baseball of his career, in his age 27 season. All four of his AVG, OBP, SLG, and walk rate are sitting very close to his career numbers and he is reaching new personal heights in keeping his strikeouts down, rocking a career low 13.4% strikeout rate so far this season. All of this reminds you why he is a perennial MVP candidate and why he has an A in power, B+ in contact, and an A in results. His fielding may leave something to be desired, at a D-, but you can't have it all.

That is, unless you're the Los Angeles Dodgers. Currently the #1 team in baseball, they aren't satisfied just having one hitter (in Ohtani) with an A+, they have three. What is easily the most shocking aspect of this is that none of those three are Kyle Tucker, the second most expensive man in 2026, and perennial MVP candidate Mookie Betts.

Oops, All Dodgers!

Every year people talk about the veteran sluggers on the Dodgers finally regressing. It hasn't happened yet.

If you were to ask someone who has been in a coma since opening day who the second A+ hitter on the Dodgers is, if it's not Tucker or Betts, they would almost certainly guess Freddie Freeman and they would be right. Arguably the single most consistent hitter in baseball, Freddie has been turning in fantastic after fantastic offensive seasons since 2015. With a performance so far that sits comfortably between his 2024 and 2025 performances, he has taken the time to remind everyone that age is only a number. But he hasn't stopped there; completely out of the blue, after years of a slowly declining glove at first base, Freeman has decided to deliver his best defensive performance in an entire decade and it doesn't seem to be just luck. If we ignore his notably flat-footed nature (having a D- speed) and the fact his A+ teammate Ohtani can also pitch like an ace, Freddie Freeman is probably the top all-around performer this season, with B's in every category, excluding his B+ in fielding.

Lastly among the studious Angelenos, we have Max Muncy, an unexpected addition to A+ hitters. This might come as a shock, especially with all the other amazing hitters out there, but a quick look at his peripherals and you can see he's dangerously close to a career resurgence similar to another A+ entrant we will be discussing below, Willson Contreras. His power, which had been dwindling since 2022, is back in a big way and his ability to put the bat on the ball has nearly never been better. Couple those two facts with very solid defense at third and a unexpectedly productive 2026 baserunning performance and he has surprised everyone with a thirty-five year old season that can be best described as powerful and well-rounded.

Brave New Sluggers

Why walk when you can hit homers? At least that's what Michael Harris II is asking.

Not to be outdone (well actually they were), the #3 team in baseball, the Atlanta Braves, are still making their presence known among the top tier hitters with two of their own A+ members. Much like the Dodgers, they decided to surprise everyone by not having one of those players be Ronald Acuna Jr.

Matt Olson is probably the most obvious Brave to be performing this well in 2026. There were some questions surrounding his power and approach the past two seasons, with some high highs and low lows throughout both seasons, but he has laid all those concerns to rest this season. His power production is the best it has been since 2023, earning him an A in power and subsequent B+ in results. This alone might have earned him an A+, but for the cherry-on-top, he has turned in an A+ defensive masterclass at first base in the first half. Speed aside, this well-rounded, exceptional production will get his name thrown around in MVP discussions in a couple months.

The second Brave in the A+ cohort may come as a bit of a surprise, but hear me out. Michael Harris II has turned in a first half with ups and downs, but the ups have set him up to have one of the most well-rounded A+'s in 2026. His ability to walk (or lack thereof) will always leave something to be desired, sitting at 3.9% so far this year, which helps to explain his lowest grade, the C- in his approach, but the rest of his game has made up for that gap and more. Harris is turning in a power performance Michael Harris II fans have not witnessed since his debut season in 2022, where, like his teammate Drake Baldwin, he won Rookie of the Year. That power resurgence, coupled with a career best batting average (if he can maintain it), has Harris poised for a career best season. But you can't talk about Harris without also talking defense. Consistently one of the top outfield defenders in the league, Harris has turned in year-in-year-out exceptional defense in CF and this season is no exception. That A in fielding, A- in power, B in contact, and C+ in speed have all combined for what is shaping into a very impressive season and an A+ season thus far.

The Rest of the Best

Miguel Vargas has figured everything out at once and the result has been one of the most well-rounded bats in the league.

Miguel Vargas has had what can only be described as a questionable career since his debut in 2022. He was widely considered one of the game's top hitting prospects, but the start of his career did nothing to confirm that. His 2022-2024 seasons can only be described as miserable, never breaking a .300 wOBA. His 2025 was similarly bad, but signs started to appear, hot streaks and adjustments that started to suggest something may still be there, even if the results aren't there yet. Those subtle signs turned into foghorns in this, his age 26, season. Every single category is up for Vargas, he has already set a season best in home runs, RBIs, stolen bases, walks, and it won't be long before hits join them. You might see his .245 batting average as a downside or even a yellow flag, but underneath that average is an exceptional understanding of the plate. His discipline and ability to wait for good pitches to swing at is very reminiscent another surprise A+ performer this year, Max Muncy, and the results support that comparison. With an A- in power, B- in contact, a B+ approach, B+ results, B- speed, and a C in fielding, we're either witnessing a special flash in the pan or the burgeoning of the next Jram. Regardless, Miguel Vargas is an A+ player so far in 2026.

The next two A+ hitters I will group together, because I have yet to be fully convinced that one isn't a lesser clone of the other. Yordan Alvarez is turning in one of the absurd seasons for the history books. Power, meteoric; contact, shockingly consistent; it's almost impossible to find a blemish in his game at the plate, because even his "weak" point, of going out of the zone for pitches a little too often, is still average among the rest of the league and has had zero negative effects on his results. Finally delivering a fully healthy monster season people have dreamed of (knock on wood), it would not shock me at all if he comfortably won the AL MVP this year. Alvarez's mini-me in this section is the newest in a long line of former catchers turned devastating sluggers, Ben Rice. With the same seismic power, but with some room to grow in an already strong contact skill, Rice has set himself up to be one of the most dangerous hitters in the game, in these first two full seasons in the big leagues. Alvarez and Rice are the only two A+ hitters with A+ power and Alvarez stands alone with the only A+ hitter with an A- or higher in contact. Despite both of their lack of speed (Alvarez being one of the slowest players in the game) and defense, there offense is on another level right now and their A+'s are very well-deserved.

I'll wrap up the A+ hitters by touching briefly on the final two members of it: Willson Contreras and Jordan Walker. Neither of these two could have been predicted to be in this group coming into 2026, but one breakout and one revitalization later and we're watching two very strong players perform at the top of their game. Starting with Willson, he is having an undeniable career year. Up to this point he has never had a wOBA above .370 and is currently sitting comfortably at .407. Thirty-four year olds don't have this kind of sudden explosion of offense, but Willson is doing just that. You have to give a lot of credit to him too, it must be very tempting for veteran players to make fewer and fewer adjustments as their careers progress, but Willson widened and opened his stance, moved farther back in the box, added more lift to his swing, and moved closer to the plate. All changes you may never notice just watching games, but have made a huge difference in Willson's performance. He is very deserving of his A+.

Jordan Walker, conversely, is young and finally having the season everyone hoped he would. He showed flashes in his rookie season, but quickly regressed into pretty miserable 2024s and 2025s. He's back again now and producing at a truly exceptional level. He's making high quality contact on a consistent basis and it's resulting in dangerous in-game power. He has some outstanding concerns with his approach and propensity to chase, but if he takes a chapter out of Willson's book and continues adjusting, he could be one of the game's top sluggers for a long time.

That covers our true A+ hitters of 2026 part 1, but that doesn't mean there aren't a few names worth calling out as hitters who are having impressively strong seasons and could see themselves with A+'s come season's end.

Other Notable A's

Trading in worm burners for nukes, James Wood is the slugger of the future.

There are 31 other players with either an A or A- and at least 200 plate appearances in 2026 so far, so to prevent this story from turning into a book, I'm going to limit our discussions to just three more notable names.

The first is a Brave who just barely missed an A+, but could easily get one in a few months. You would be forgiven if you blinked and suddenly Drake Baldwin was the best catcher in baseball. He leapt onto the scene in 2025, with an exceptional rookie campaign that earned him the NL Rookie of the Year honors. Since then he hasn't slowed down in the slightest, maintaining his contact profile, but improving his both his power and plate discipline, providing a sophomore performance that is everything Braves fans could have hoped for and more. There are some very reasonable questions about his performance behind the plate, which are only good enough to earn him a D in fielding, but his A- power, B contact, and B+ results are still more than enough to put him in the upper echelons of the the class of 2026 so far.

James Wood is a player we're going to be talking about for a long time. Turning in a sophomore year is not only exceptional, but also fixed 90% of the problems he faced in 2025, he is reminding everyone why he was considered the #1 hitting prospect for the longest time. With weak fielding (D-) and average grades across the board for contact, approach, and speed (all C's), he relies heavily on his A+ power, but what power it is. If it wasn't for Yordan, he would easily have the most shocking power in the league right now and at 23 he's going to be using that power for a long time. If James Wood has done anything this year, it's showing Vlad Jr. that adjusting so that you don't drive every meatball into the dirt can really allow prodigious power to shine.

We'll round out our coverage of top hitters with a veteran who decided years and years of singles is boring and so 2023. Ty France is a 32 year old vet of the game, spending most of his career pounding singles up the middle for the Mariners, with occasional bursts of doubles power. He has made the executive decision that in 2026 he is going to add 100 points to his slugging and already be four home runs away from his career high, in less than half the plate appearances. All the peripherals point to at least a small regression in his power output, which has been the primary (only) driver of his exceptional 2026 offensive numbers, but no amount of power regression will change the fact he has been an A+ defender at first for the Padres this season. Despite his lack of walks and speed comparable to Yordan's, he has been a boon for a struggling Padres offense and, if he can maintain any level of this for another half-season, he could be fighting for an A+ to end the year.

The Rest of the Series

Like we mentioned, this is the first in a series of stories taking a look at various player report cards. You can find links to the other parts of this series below, if they have already been published.

• Top-of-their-Class Hitters
• Top-of-their-Class Pitchers
• Flunking Hitters
• Flunking Pitchers