In case you didn’t know, the free agency phase for the upcoming offseason is … well, … not strong — well, not great. Weak section. Despite his title being a two-time Cy Young winner, it was to be expected. The fact that the Cy Young winner, Tarik Skubalhe is currently out following surgery to remove loose ligaments from his elbow and is reducing the power of the lead team.
We await an update on the Free Agent Power Rankings. That will probably be published sometime next week. Our power ratings are always based on total revenue power rather than individual influence. If you’re a 38-year-old ace, you probably won’t be as good as a 28-year-old at third base, because the 28-year-old will be able to reach a longer (and thus more lucrative) contract than say the 38-year-old. Sorry Chris Saletheir breaks.
That said, it’s been a brutal year for many of the names at the top of an already fraught free agent class — rookies and hitters alike. Skubal, as mentioned, had elbow surgery. He’ll be back — sooner than expected, by all accounts — but he won’t be taking home a third straight Cy Young Award. Bo Bichette he can opt out of his Mets contract … but he’s hitting .225/.273/.317. Trevor Rogers missed time on the injured list and has an ERA of nearly 7.00 through nine. Jazz Chisholm Jr. it was a great May, but that only ends a bad April. Tatsuya Imai He arrived in MLB with a lot of hype and a full opt-out contract that could allow him to hit free agency again and cash in on a mega-deal next winter — at least until he posts a 6.17 ERA over his first six MLB starts.
Any and all of these players have time to turn things around, and while the title of this post is admittedly a bit hyperbolic, it’s also true that most of the top bats on the market don’t do much to raise their case. Four big months could make Chisholm’s April a distant memory, but we’re not there yet. Daulton Varsho he was better than average at the plate but didn’t show the same power he did last year. Bichette’s start was not good. Taylor Ward followed up his 36-homer 2025 season by hitting two homers in the first third of the 2026 season.
We’ll feature more big names in future Power Rankings updates, but here’s a look at some bats that might not make the list but are trending in a positive way. (Note that I will not be including the subsamples of exits/restarts in this list; Jorge Mateo‘s .324/.370/.471 slash looks good, but 73 plate appearances are supported by a ridiculous .455 BABIP and combined with a 30% strikeout rate. Let’s not get too carried away.)
Brandon Lowe2B, Pirates
Pittsburgh’s acquisition of Lowe in a three-team trade sent it Mike Burrows Houston and Jacob Melton going to Tampa Bay looks like one of the best games of the offseason. The 31-year-old (32 in July) is in the midst of the best season of his career. Lowe has allowed 14 runs in just 51 games. His 11.2% walk rate is the second highest of his career, and his 23.7% strikeout rate is the second lowest.
Not only are those excellent points related to his career rates and the rest of the league, both are setting up some troubling trends. Lowe has been doing well, but his 2022 mark of 22.9% looks like it could be a step in the right direction. Instead, it increased to 27% from 2023-25 and he did so while his walk rate dropped to a career-worst 6.9% last year. Lowe is still a big rusher, but he’s made big gains in his contact rate in the zone and he’s done so without giving up much in the way of hard-hit balls.
Durability will be key for Lowe, who has played just 415 of 648 games from 2022-25 (64%). However, he is currently on pace to match his career-high 39 home runs, pushed back to 2021, and is doing so with the best hitting profile to go around his career.
If Lowe stays healthy and flirts with 40 homers, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where he’s not in the top 10 of our list. But even if his power is down, he’s done a good job of improving his stock so far.
The open market in modern baseball rarely rewards pure second basemen, which Lowe is not right now. He has played exactly three innings in the outfield since the 2021 season wrapped, and has all 155 career innings in starts. And it’s not uncommon to compensate 32-year-olds with long-term deals. Lowe has upside based on position and age, but he still wants to get a good multi-year deal.
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