RADIO
These 2025 MLB stat leaders may surprise you after the first week of the season. Who are the leagues best in exit velocity, home run distance, and other advanced MLB statistics?
Max Exit Velocity - Ryan Mountcastle (116.7 mph)
Much has been made about the “torpedo bats,” so it is a bit surprising to see Ryan Mountcastle leading the majors with a ball hit 116.7 mph. The bad news is that his launch angle is just 4.7 degrees. This may eventually even itself out, but Mountcastle is smashing the ball in the first week. He has hit eight balls at 95 mph or faster in 16 batted ball events.
wOBA - Ivan Herrera (.699)
Mountcastle was a bit of a surprise as far as the exit velocity goes, but Herrera is a HUGE surprise in the wOBA category. We’re only a week into the season, but Herrera is hitting .467 with a ridiculous 1.200 SLG. He’ll slow down at some point, but he gets his name in lights for one week at least.
xSLG: Aaron Judge (1.104)
This entry should surprise no one. Judge has four homers in five games. The most surprising part about this stat is that the expected is lower than his actual absurd SLG (1.105). Sorry, Yankees fans. Judge is probably going to regress a little bit Statcast says so.
Longest HR - Aaron Judge (468 feet)
Judge already has four homers in the first five games of this season. This Titanic blast came off of former Yankee Nestor Cortes in his return to Yankee Stadium on March 29. Judge hit three home runs in that game. As per usual, Judge’s Statcast numbers are ridiculous to start the season. His four home runs have averaged 425 feet. Judge only has 12 batted ball events on the season. One-third of those have left the park.
xBA - Jackson Merrill (.421)
Merrill is off to a hot start, hitting .417 with two homers already. Statcast is suggesting that his start has actually been unlucky! His expected average is four points higher in the early going, suggesting that Merrill’s hot start is not a fluke and that the 21-year-old might actually improve before regression sets in.
Hard Hit Percentage - Jonathan Aranda (77.8%)
Aranda earned a starting spot with the Rays out of Spring Training this year. The Rays have already limited his time a bit (16 plate appearances), which has resulted in only nine batted ball events so far. He has hit seven of those nine hard. All of his metrics look good so far, suggesting that his hot start isn’t a fluke.
Best Barrel % - Aaron Judge (50%)
Judge has barreled up half of his 12 batted balls. Four of those went for home runs. He keeps finding ways to expand the boundaries of how absurdly good of a hitter he is. It’s still early, but that’s an amazing percentage.
Sprint Speed - Byron Buxton (29.5 ft/second)
This one is surprising to me, so I’m sure it is to most of you. We all know that a healthy Buxton can be a force, but him being the fastest baserunner in the majors through one week is a shock. First off, Buxton is 31 years old. Pete Crow-Armstrong (second at 29.1 ft/second) is eight years younger than Buxton. Injuries will inevitably slow Buxton down at some point, but the veteran is still a spring chicken at this young stage of the season.
Average bat speed - Junior Caminero (79.9 mph)
This is another surprising leader in the early going. Caminero’s average bat speed has been in the red every season of his career, but the 79.9 mph mark this year is 1.7 mph faster than his previous best in 2023. That had led to a good start for Caminero. He is hitting .318 in 22 at-bats.
Swords - Eric Wagaman (5)
What in the world is a sword, you might ask? It’s a relatively new term in the fantasy lexicon. What it means in layman’s terms is when a pitcher makes a hitter look bad on a swing. Think of someone swinging at a Greg Maddux changeup or Randy Johnson slider. That’s right, the poor Marlins rookie has been made to look like a fool five times already in 21 plate appearances. For context, Shohei Ohtani has three swords already this year. It’s not just the rookies who get turned into fools by pitchers.
