Baseball fans continue debate as MLB announces spots 40-31 of league’s top 100 players: "Resisting the urge to be a hater" "I’m crying laughing"
Winter continues to heat up as MLB makes its way through ranking the league's Top 100 players. The league posted players ranked Nos. 40-31 on Twitter on Friday, and fans continued their raging debate over which players they deemed to be either too high or too low heading into the 2023 season.
The Polar Bear roars his way to No. 31 as @MLBNetwork’s Top 100 Players countdown continues. https://t.co/7VQWoLhXsW
Two players leapt all the way into the 30s in the MLB rankings after not being on the list at all last season, and both signed with new teams this offseason.
New York Yankees pitcher Carlos Rodon landed at No. 38 after putting up a second-straight healthy and superb season in 2022.
Shortstop Dansby Swanson's bat caught up with his superb glove with the Atlanta Braves last year, and he entered the countdown at No. 39 as he debuts with the Chicago Cubs.
Swanson's inclusion this high met with several raised eyebrows, while others felt Rodon should have been ranked higher after excelling for the Chicago White Sox in 2021 and the San Francisco Giants in 2022.
@MLB @MLBNetwork @Mets Swanson is way too high after having one great year. I’m sure Dansby is going to be fine but that bat scares me
@MLB @MLBNetwork @Mets As a Cubs fan y’all put Swanson too high. I think the 60-70 range is fair until he proves he can have another season like last year
@MLB @MLBNetwork @Mets The guy who got 2nd in NL Cy Young voting last year is the 36th best player? 🤡🗑️
Yankees staff ace Gerrit Cole made the biggest drop among the players announced on Friday, falling from No. 16 last season to No. 37. Many fans felt that was tremendously harsh for a player who led all of MLB with 257 strikeouts in 2022.
@MLB @MLBNetwork @Mets Gerrit Cole is better at baseball than all of these guys
@MLB @MLBNetwork @Mets Max Fried ahead of Gerrit Cole. Let alone not Top 25. I’m crying laughing. https://t.co/feb3CWRMZb
@MLB @MLBNetwork @Mets Why is Cole so low?
As far as the MLB poster boy for Friday's tweet, New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso, fans really were not certain that he deserved to leap from No. 62 in 2022 to No. 31 in 2023.
@MLB @MLBNetwork @Mets Pete isn’t even the best first baseman on the Mets
They put Alonso at 31 strictly to piss me off.
He’s far too high on the list, homie belongs somewhere in the 70’s twitter.com/mlb/status/162…
As with any rankings list ever made since the beginning of time, the latest batch of 10 MLB greats was met with scorn and ridicule from most respondents. However, fans are reacting and debating and paying attention to baseball. And that, in the end, is why MLB bothers to do the rankings.
resisting the urge to be a hater… twitter.com/mlb/status/162…
@MLB @MLBNetwork @Mets Man MLBN continues to make fans question whether or not their staff actually watches baseball.
Other movers in MLB's Top 100, Nos. 31-40
Braves starter Max Fried made a decent jump up to No. 36 from No. 48 last season. Houston Astros first baseman Jose Abreu cracked the top 40 at No. 40 after being No. 45 in his final season with the Chicago White Sox.
Shortstop Xander Bogaerts moved from the Boston Red Sox last year, where he was ranked No. 23, to the San Diego Padres, where he is now ranked No. 32. Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager fell from No. 21 to No. 33, with Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette dropping two spots in the past year, from No. 32 to No. 34.
Philadelphia Phillies hurler Zack Wheeler tumbled 10 spots in a year, dropping from No. 25 in 2022 to No. 35 in 2023.