With the season firmly in its second half and the trade deadline approaching, it’s time to preview the likely free agents for the upcoming 2026-27 offseason. Right now, the offseason looks like it will be turbulent. The scheduled expiration of the collective bargaining agreement and impending lockout of players by the owners introduce a lot of uncertainty into the free agent market. A couple of the players listed below are likely not to reach free agency because either they or their team will pick up an option year. Others may end up signing extensions rather than trying to negotiate free agency with a hard deadline before the lockout or after the lockout in a potentially hard-capped MLB.
Presented below is a list of the top 25 impending free agents in the American League. These are roughly in order of my subjective preference for the player, not a prediction for the contract value the player will receive. I’ve included their age at the start of the 2027 season, as well as their stats as of July 26th. Contract details are primarily sourced from Spotrac. Here’s a table of the players, but scroll down for comments.
1. Tarik Skubal
Offseason Age: 30
2026 Stats: 2.6 WAR, 5.19 PLV; 90 IP, 7-5 W-L, 2.70 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 110 K
Skubal enters free agency for the first time after setting a record for the highest salary awarded to a pitcher in arbitration last year. Skubal has missed time this season after having a bone chip removed from his elbow in an innovative surgery that kept him out only 6 weeks. When on the mound, the Tigers’ ace has been dominant, continuing a four-year run of ERAs under 3.00 and WHIPs under 1.00, with the underlying statistics to match.
With Skubal, there’s no doubting the talent; the only question is his durability. Skubal missed nearly two years of college baseball after having Tommy John surgery. In professional ball, he’s had surgery to repair a flexor tendon before his most recent procedure. Altogether, Skubal has only pitched 856.2 innings in the majors and 179.1 in the minors. The upside is that Skubal has relatively little wear on his arm for a 30-year-old starter and is coming off two 190+ inning seasons in 2024 and 2025.
Skubal is a Scott Boras client and on the executive board of the MLBPA. Expect him to shoot for a contract with an AAV topping Max Scherzer’s record $43.3 million for a pitcher. I don’t think he’ll end up getting the 9 years that Gerrit Cole signed for as a 29-year-old in 2019, nor am I sure he’d want it. Something like the Kyle Tucker contract might be appealing, as Skubal has never been shy about betting on himself (nor should he be).
2. Jazz Chisholm Jr.
Offseason Age: 29
2026 Stats: 2.4 WAR, 387 PA; .223/.297/.410, 16 HR, 51 R, 43 RBI, 27 SB
Jazz is likely the most desirable AL position player who is scheduled to hit the market. He has his own significant injury history to deal with, but has also put up back-to-back four-win seasons. Since 2024, Jazz ranks 60th in plate appearances, between middle infield contemporaries Ozzie Albies and Geraldo Perdomo. Entering 2024, I don’t think anyone would have predicted that Jazz would be outperforming Albies, but he’s been the second-best second baseman by WAR, trailing only Ketel Marte.
This season, Jazz’s line is better for fantasy managers than the Yankees. His bat has taken a step back, with his line being just a smidge above average on the year. His WAR total is boosted by excellent defense. Statcast puts him in the 80th percentile for fielding runs saved and Fangraphs credits him as 6.2 runs above average defensively. Single-year defensive metrics are generally unreliable, but Jazz has generally been a plus defender for the past three seasons despite playing three positions regularly.
3. Drew Rasmussen
Offseason Age: 31
2026 Stats: 2.8 WAR, 5.18 PLV; 111.1 IP, 9-5 W-L, 3.07 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, 112 K
The top three potential free agents have all missed extensive time in professional baseball. Rasmussen would be an interesting case if he reaches free agency. He’s dominated whenever he’s pitched since establishing himself in the majors in 2021. In the most recent six seasons, Rasmussen has a 2.85 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, and a 17.7% K-BB. He’s also thrown just 556.2 innings in that time.
Rasmussen is unlikely to make it to free agency, however. The Rays have a team option for a base salary of $8 million, with escalators that could take it up to $20 million based on time spent on the IL. With zero days on the IL thus far this season, the option should end up towards the top of that range. Rasmussen has been worth 2.5 and 3.0 wins in his two seasons of nearly 150 innings. Using Ben Clemens’ scale for a back-of-the-envelope calculation, a 2.75 WAR Rasmussen would be worth about $35 million in free agency. The rub here is that $20 million would be 50% more money than the Rays’ largest contract on the books for 2027. Even if the Rays don’t want to pay him, they may pick up the option and then trade him to a bigger market competitor.
4. Randy Arozarena
Offseason Age: 32
2026 Stats: 2.9 WAR, 419 PA; .284/.379/.448, 12 HR, 65 R, 46 RBI, 19 SB
Arozarena has had an immense first half of 2026. The two predominant factors in his success this year are a 5.4 percentage point cut in his strikeout rate and a resurgence in success on balls in play. This season, Arozarena is setting career highs in swing rate and contact percentage, leading to his career-low strikeout rate and CSW%. He’s also returned to some of his groundball ways, with his average launch angle dropping from nearly 13 degrees to under eight degrees and his groundball rate increasing nine percentage points. As a result, his batting average and OBP are both up approximately 50 points since last year, although he’s given back about 25 points of isolated power.
It looks like this is a smart, intentional choice by Arozarena to offset some physical decline. Arozarena has 40th percentile sprint speed this year after ranking in the 58th percentile in 2025 and the 71st percentile in 2024. Simultaneously, Arozarena’s bat speed has declined from 72.7 mph in 2024 to 72.3 mph last year and 70.9 mph thus far in 2026. It may
5. Casey Mize
Offseason Age: 29
2026 Stats: 2.9 WAR, 5.03 PLV; 86.2 IP, 4-6 W-L, 2.70 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 85 K
Mize is having a breakout 2026 season after taking a step forward in 2025. Oddly, he’s having his success after losing velocity on his fastball. Mize averaged 95.7 mph on his fastball in 2024, then lost a full tick in 2025 and another 0.7 mph so far this season. Despite the drop in velo, Mize has added three percentage points to his whiff rate over the same time period. Mize’s 29.5% CSW ranks 14th in MLB among pitchers with at least 80 innings this season. His 19.7% K-BB is 21st in MLB.
As with any pitcher, Mize’s concerns stem from availability. He peaked at 150.1 innings in 2021 and hit 149 in 2025. He’s otherwise thrown 240.2 innings total, including rehab assignments, since 2020. He missed almost the entirety of the 2022 season, eventually requiring Tommy John surgery. He also had a back procedure at that point, and didn’t pitch at all in 2023. Since then, he’s had a variety of lower-body injuries, suffering from multiple hamstring and groin issues, including currently being day-to-day with a groin and wrist injury.
6. Andrés Muñoz
Offseason Age: 28
2026 Stats: 0.9 WAR, 4.84 PLV; 36.1 IP, 18 SV, 3.86 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 58 K
Muñoz has been one of the most dominant relievers in the game in recent years. From 2022-25, Muñoz threw 235.2 innings of 2.29 ERA/2.59 SIERA ball with 77 saves. This season, things haven’t gone quite so right for the Mariners’ closer. He’s striking out more batters and walking fewer of them than he has in any year since his 2022 debut season, but a wildly fluctuating BABIP has led him to the second-worst WHIP of his career. Some of his ERA estimators think he’s the same pitcher as always. His SIERA is 2.57, and his xFIP is 2.63. His batted ball data is worse this year than in his past seasons, however. He’s giving up a bit more hard contact, though it’s similar to his dominant 2023 season. He’s doing so at the highest launch angle of his career, averaging above 9 degrees. Previous iterations of Muñoz dominated by both getting strikeouts and groundballs, with a 53.7% groundball rate over his first four full seasons. This year, Muñoz is only getting grounders on 41.5% of balls in play. Still, he’ll be heavily in demand as a shutdown reliever who has experience in the closer’s role.
7. Sonny Gray
Offseason Age: 37
2026 Stats: 1.8 WAR, 5.11 PLV; 106.2 IP, 12-2 W-L, 2.78 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 93 K
Gray has had an outstanding season for the Red Sox. Other than missing the minimum 15 days on the IL with a hamstring injury in late April, Gray has started every time his turn has come up in the rotation. Gray is being successful despite a continued erosion in his strikeout rate, currently at 22.1% after a near career-high of 30.3% in 2024 and 26.7% in 2025. His walks have ticked up a bit this year as well, although he still has excellent command. His SIERA and xFIP are both a bit higher than last year, but you’d be happy taking your shot on Gray for another couple of seasons. Putting it all together, while Gray is probably not a 2.48 ERA pitcher, he’s still an excellent #2 for a contender.
It’s not guaranteed Gray will make it to free agency, although it is likely. Gray and the Red Sox have a mutual option for $30 million for next year. Mutual options should hardly ever get exercised. If the Red Sox want to exercise their half of the option because they’re getting a discount on what they could get on another free agent starter, Gray would be taking less than the market would pay him. The only scenario in which both sides should be picking up a mutual option is when the match between player and team is uniquely productive or pleasant for both sides. Does Gray love Boston enough to take a discount? Do the Red Sox want to pay Gray $30 million when they have Jake Bennett, Payton Tolle, Connelly Early, Ranger Suarez, and Garrett Crochet already in the majors, Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford, and Johan Oviedo returning from the IL in 2027, and Anthony Eyanson on the way up? I’d guess Gray will be in a new uniform even if both sides are happy with how his 2026 went.
8. Yandy Díaz
Offseason Age: 35
2026 Stats: 2.2 WAR, 445 PA; .303/.378/.461, 14 HR, 57 R, 61 RBI, 2 SB
Yandy is another Ray who is technically free agency eligible, although highly unlikely to make it there. Diaz has a $10 million club option for 2027, which the Rays would be crazy not to pick up. It may not even be a decision they have to make, either, as it vests as a $13 million extension when Diaz reaches 500 plate appearances. Diaz has been his customarily excellent self at the plate this year, with nearly as many walks as strikeouts and an excellent average. He doesn’t hit for quite as much power as the typical DH, ranking 15th among 17 qualified hitters who primarily don’t play the field. The shape of the production doesn’t matter that much, though, when you’re swinging a stick that’s 40% better than league average.
9. Kevin Gausman
Offseason Age: 36
2026 Stats: 2.5 WAR, 5.12 PLV; 121.2 IP, 4-10 W-L, 4.51 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 123 K
Gausman may have already thrown his final pitch for the Blue Jays. As Toronto nears the end of July with playoff odds under 10%, Gausman is one of the more attractive rental starters available on the market. This has been a down year for Gausman, with some small changes around the margins driving the decline. Some of it is luck-based; his BABIP is up to .305 after two years at .281 and .262. Gausman also has the lowest strand rate of his career, excluding the rabbit-ball 2019 season. Otherwise, everything is in line with his career norms, resulting in a 3.85 SIERA and 3.82 xFIP. It’s hard to imagine a lengthy deal for Gausman given his age, but he’s been incredibly durable and valuable. Over his past 10 full seasons, excluding the COVID-shortened 2020 season, Gausman has averaged 175 innings and 3.5 wins above replacement.
10. Ryan Jeffers
Offseason Age: 29
2026 Stats: 2.0 WAR, 185 PA; .293/.395/.535, 8 HR, 27 R, 31 RBI, 1 SB
Jeffers has had a breakout year in Minnesota, nearly equaling his previous career-high WAR in just 46 games. He’s been excellent both at the plate and behind it. His current slash line is good for a 163 wRC+, nearly 30 points above his previous career high. He’s swinging harder than the past two years and has added a tick to his average exit velocity. While Jeffers’ .242 ISO might surprise you, this is a guy who has hit a ball 117.4 mph in the majors, so we know there’s certainly the potential for excellent power. Fangraphs thinks he’s been above average behind the plate. Statcast agrees on his blocking and framing, but he’s had a lot of trouble controlling the running game, giving up 31 stolen bases and only catching 5 runners stealing. Still, even if you bake in some regression with the bat, there are any number of teams that would love to have a viable defensive catcher who is 30% better than league average at the plate.
11. Taylor Ward
Offseason Age: 33
2026 Stats: 1.9 WAR, 482 PA; .253/.386/.357, 7 HR, 61 R, 27 RBI, 3 SB
Something must have gotten mixed up when the Angels shipped Ward east to Baltimore. Ward hasn’t been bad, exactly, but he’s definitely been different this year. Ward has essentially stopped swinging altogether this season. He’s offering at 54.5% of pitches in the zone; 10 hitters in baseball are swinging more than that at pitches regardless of where they’re thrown. Edmundo Sosa is swinging at 54.2% of pitches outside the zone. Still, it’s been effective for Ward in some ways. Sure, he’s got his lowest ISO since becoming a full-time player in 2021, but he also has his highest career OBP by 26 points. Your guess is as good as mine what Ward’s future production will look like, but he’s been a pretty consistently 15-20% better-than-average bat despite how wildly the shape of that has varied.
12. Gleyber Torres
Offseason Age: 30
2026 Stats: 1.0 WAR, 216 PA; .270/.389/.371, 4 HR, 28 R, 18 RBI, 0 SB
Torres just recently returned to the Tigers’ lineup after missing over a month with an oblique injury. On a rate basis, his performance has been excellent. He’s repeated his 2025 career-best chase rate of 17.1% this year, leading to an uptick in his walk rate above 15%. Torres’ .389 OBP is eighth among MLB hitters with at least 150 plate appearances, one point ahead of Pete Crow-Armstrong. Torres is leading our PLV DV swing decision metric this season, one point ahead of fellow Tigers middle infielder Kevin McGonigle. He’s been doing less when he makes contact, though, and it’s hard to square the current iteration of Torres with the player who hit 38 homers in 2019. The rabbit ball is undefeated, I guess. In particular, this year Torres’ bat speed has dropped over 2 mph from his previous, already fairly slow swing. Torres’ swing speed of 67.8 mph isn’t unheard of in MLB, but it’s a bit slower than Nolan Schanuel, which is not where you want to be if you’re going to hit for any power.
13. Trevor Rogers
Offseason Age: 29
2026 Stats: 2.2 WAR, 5.05 PLV; 103.2 IP, 6-7 W-L, 4.17 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 83 K
It was always too much to hope for that Rogers would be the pitcher the Orioles got for half a season in 2025. Still, Rogers has been a valuable contributor this year as well. He’s thrown the third-most innings on the Orioles with basically the MLB average ERA in a hitter-friendly park. His 11.0% K-BB is below average, but it’s playable. Rogers is another starter with workload concerns, although he has reached 150 and 140 innings the past two years, including time in the minors.
Rogers has the advantage of being fairly young for a free agent. From this list, only Muñoz will play next season at a younger age. Michael King ended up with a three-year deal for $75 million and opt-outs after each season last year. That might be a little rich for Rogers this offseason – King’s peak was at least as good as Rogers’s, and at least King had reached 170 innings once in his career – but Rogers shouldn’t miss by too much.
14. Jack Flaherty
Offseason Age: 31
2026 Stats: 1.3 WAR, 4.90 PLV; 86.1 IP, 3-8 W-L, 4.59 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 102 K
Flaherty was recently placed on the IL with the dreaded forearm flexor tendon strain. How he recovers from that injury is equally as important as his recent production to his pending free agency. Flaherty has historically performed much better when he’s hitting 94 mph on his fastball, but that appears to be less likely to return with each successive season. This year, he’s averaging 93.0 and has only sat 94 in two starts: his first of the season back on March 28th, and a June 12th start he had to leave early with an ankle injury. Flaherty has maintained an excellent K rate since leaving St. Louis, but hitters have been making harder contact against him every season since 2022. This year, Flaherty has the ninth-highest walk rate among pitchers with more than 80 innings. While his 15.4% K-BB is still good, the amount of hard contact Flaherty is allowing holds him to a higher standard on keeping runners off the bases.
15. Joc Pederson
Offseason Age: 34
2026 Stats: 1.3 WAR, 305 PA; .251/.341/.491, 17 HR, 42 R, 36 RBI, 2 SB
Pederson has had a substantial bounce-back in 2026 after a dramatic fall in his production in 2025. Pederson has nearly doubled his home run total in nearly the same number of plate appearances as 2025. His current line is 32% better than league average, after being 24% worse than the average MLB hitter in 2025. As the bat goes, so goes Pederson, as he is exclusively a DH at this point in his career. It’s fair to wonder if this is more of a dead cat bounce than a resurgence given his age, but I’m inclined to believe this is sustainable. Pederson was the victim of a .200 BABIP and a total power outage in 2025 despite a 91.2 mph average exit velocity and 9.5% barrel rate. Pederson has lost a tick and a half off his bat speed this year, but he’s still hitting the ball as solidly as ever. With a significant number of pop-ups, a pull-heavy approach, and 7th percentile sprint speed, he’s never going to run even average BABIPs, but his .264 this year is within reason. This version of Joc is a .356 wOBA hitter. His xwOBA? Also .356.
16. Kris Bubic
Offseason Age: 29
2026 Stats: 0.8 WAR, 4.96 PLV; 50.1 IP, 3-2 W-L, 4.11 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 51 K
Bubic had a breakout 2025 season, adding 3.3 WAR in just 116.1 innings. The improvements started in the tail end of 2024 after Bubic returned from Tommy John surgery. Bubic’s K rate spiked along with the evaluation of his stuff by a variety of pitch models. One of the big changes was adding a full tick of velo on his fastball, going from sub-92 mph to a bit over 93 mph. It’s hard to sustain success in the majors at under 92. Among pitchers with at least 80 innings this season, only 14 major league starters average under 92. The successful ones tend to be crafty veterans with excellent control like Sonny Gray and Ranger Suarez. The unsuccessful ones look like Kyle Freeland and Jeffrey Springs this season, although their home parks have something to do with that as well.
Bubic has given back a full tick of velo over the past two seasons, averaging 92.1 mph this year, which doesn’t bode well. Of course, there’s a possible explanation for the velo loss, although it’s not necessarily good news. Bubic is currently on the 60-day IL with both elbow and shoulder trouble. That said, he’s supposed to start throwing in the near future, but hasn’t taken the mound yet.
17. JP Crawford
Offseason Age: 32
2026 Stats: 1.1 WAR, 356 PA; .217/.337/.353, 10 HR, 38 R, 29 RBI, 1 SB
Crawford’s consistently excellent walk rates are a key feature of his profile. He’s had varying degrees of success when he puts the bat on the ball. Since 2021, he’s had ISOs that fluctuate between .093 and .172 and batting averages from .202 to .275. With walk rates that have been at 11% or higher for the past four and a half seasons, though, even in Crawford’s worst offensive seasons he’s maintained an OBP that starts with a three. While he rated well as a defender at the start of his career, recent numbers are more mixed. That said, he’s a shortstop with a 111 wRC+ over his past season and a half. Crawford has averaged a 110 wRC+ and 2.8 wins above replacement since 2021. That’s better production at the plate than what all but 8 teams have received at shortstop this year.
18. Daulton Varsho
Offseason Age: 30
2026 Stats: 1.2 WAR, 341 PA; .248/.311/.383, 7 HR, 38 R, 25 RBI, 9 SB
Varsho has had a disappointing 2026 after a massive 71 games in 2025. While his .310 ISO in 2025 came out of nowhere, it’s unfortunate for the Blue Jays’ center fielder that he’s regressed to a career-low .135 ISO this year. Varsho is sitting on a 94 wRC+, which is much more consistent with his overall career performance than the 123 he posted last year. He’s still an above-average defender, but he hasn’t been as excellent in 2026 as in previous years. It’s not an ideal platform year for Varsho, but the fail case is still a 1.5-2.0 WAR center fielder.
19. Garrett Whitlock
Offseason Age: 30
2026 Stats: 1.2 WAR, 5.07 PLV; 38.0 IP, 6-1 W-L, 2 SV, 2.13 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, 40 K
Whitlock has been one of the better setup relievers in the game since moving back to the bullpen full-time in 2025. The Red Sox righty has a 23.1% K-BB over 109 innings in that span. In the past season and a half, Whitlock has a 2.15 ERA and a 2.80 SIERA as Aroldis Chapman’s setup man. Chapman is likely to have his 2027 option vest in the next month, so unless the Red Sox trade Chapman, Whitlock may be on the move for an opportunity to finish games.
20. Bryan Abreu
Offseason Age: 29
2026 Stats: -0.6 WAR, 4.75 PLV; 35.2 IP, 6 SV, 5.05 ERA, 1.60 WHIP, 46 K
Abreu has also been one of the better setup relievers in recent years, although that has not been the case this year. Abreu had a nightmare April, followed by a sparkling May, a meh June, and an excellent first three weeks of July. Abreu’s fastball velocity is down this year, although some of it has returned in recent outings. The big issue for Abreu has been a massive spike in his walk rate. After hovering around 10% for his career, he’s at 17.6% this season. He seems to have figured out the issue from April, though, with monthly walk rates of 28.3%, 17.9%, 8.9%, and 7.7%. The final numbers won’t be what you expect to see from Abreu, but he should also be a candidate for any openings at the back end of bullpens.
21. Nick Martinez
Offseason Age: 36
2026 Stats: 2.2 WAR, 5.00 PLV; 117.1 IP, 10-2 W-L, 2.45 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 67 K
Martinez has had an incredible first season in Tampa Bay. He’s in the third percentile in both whiffs and Ks, but that hasn’t been a serious impediment. Martinez sits in the 68th percentile for chase rate, and the 80th percentile for average exit velo allowed. Martinez has had excellent control for the past three years, but a 13.7% strikeout rate leaves him with just a 9.3% K-BB this year. Tampa and Martinez have a $20 million mutual option for next year, but it’s hard to imagine the Rays picking this one up even with the excellent season Martinez has had.
22. Luis Severino
Offseason Age: 33
2026 Stats: 0.6 WAR, 5.04 PLV; 62.2 IP, 2-6 W-L, 4.16 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 65 K
Severino has an interesting decision to make this offseason. He holds a $22 million player option to stay with the Athletics, but has been extremely vocal about his dislike for pitching in Sacramento. The A’s, for their part, said they can’t wait to trade him in the immediate aftermath of those comments, but he’s still on the roster 13 months later. The issue for Severino is that he certainly hasn’t performed like a $22 million starter since joining the A’s. Severino has a 3.14 ERA and is allowing a .228/.307/.333 line on the road since joining the A’s. In Sacramento, his ERA balloons to 5.85, and hitters manage a .287/.355/.468 line. I’d guess he’ll be available this winter on the strength of his road performance.
23. Trent Grisham
Offseason Age: 30
2026 Stats: 0.7 WAR, 340 PA; .216/.318/.390, 11 HR, 50 R, 41 RBI, 7 SB
Grisham will enter free agency wishing he’d hit the market a year earlier. After posting a career-best .235/.348/.464 line in 2025, Grisham has taken a step back this season. It’s mostly the power output that’s missing this year. Despite a virtually identical 91.2 mph average exit velocity this year, Grisham has lost three percentage points of barrels and 48 points of ISO. He’s maintained a customarily excellent 13.2% walk rate while cutting his strikeout rate to 16.2%. The only difference I can find in the batted ball profile is a three percentage point drop in his pull air rate, which doesn’t seem like enough to explain the difference. Statcast thinks Grisham had 6 more homers than expected based on his batted ball quality in 2025, so perhaps this is just normal regression. He’d be a much more appealing pickup as a center fielder with middling defensive numbers and 30+ homer power than he would be at 20 homers, though.
24. George Springer
Offseason Age: 37
2026 Stats: 0.4 WAR, 331 PA; .224/.308/.384, 11 HR, 35 R, 30 RBI, 7 SB
Springer listed his Toronto home for sale in April, perhaps indicating that he doesn’t intend to be a Blue Jay next season. Like Grisham, I’m sure he wishes his contract was a year shorter, though. Springer’s 101 wRC+ is fine, but it’s a lot less appealing from someone who exclusively DHs. Springer still has an excellent approach at the plate, tied for 4th in MLB in our PLV DV metric. He’s posting exit velocities and a barrel rate that are closer to his poor 2023-24 form than his excellent 2025. Springer’s 2025 was in part the product of a 2 mph gain in bat speed, but he’s given back almost a full tick this year as well.
25. Ryan Mountcastle
Offseason Age: 30
2026 Stats: 0.0 WAR, 15 PA; .286/.333/.357, 0 HR, 0 R, 1 RBI, 0 SB
We’ll round out the list with Mountcastle, who has hardly played this season for the Orioles due to a foot injury. Mountcastle had a bad 2025 thanks to a decline in an already-low walk rate and a five percentage point jump in his strikeout rate. He also posted a career-low .117 ISO despite 89th-percentile bat speed and a 75th-percentile hard-hit rate. Mountcastle’s wRC+ was a pretty consistent 110 for his first four full seasons; nothing special, but Josh Bell has made a career out of being slightly above average at the plate while playing a poor first base. I can’t help but think there’s more here for Mountcastle that a sophisticated team could unlock. We’ve seen several highly touted Orioles prospects have some up-and-down seasons. I’d rather take a chance on a new organization working with Mountcastle than sign an older veteran like Bell this offseason.
