2024 Vendetta MLB Power Rankings: June
It’s that time of the month yet again: Power Ranking time! This time, we have a ton of shift within the top-10, and we have a brand new leader atop our board! Without further ado, let’s jump into our June Power Rankings for the 2024 MLB Season.
(Editor’s Note: Stats and records are all through June 6, so they are not updated through Friday’s games. Plus, all tiebreakers go to the team with the better record for the season!)
30. Chicago White Sox
(Matt Hanifan 30, Jack Sabin 30)
Average: 30
The Chicago White Sox are the worst team in baseball at this point of the season. They’re six games below the team with the second-worst record (Marlins). To nobody’s surprise, they are already looking to sell off pieces, including Luis Robert and Garrett Crochet, two of their most prized assets.
29. Miami Marlins
(Matt 29, Jack 29)
Average: 29
As I usually do it with the really really bad teams, I’m not gonna waste my time or yours. The Marlins simply are not a good baseball team and it seems that ownership realizes this as evidenced by them moving off of a guy like Luis Arraez. It’s kind of crazy given how competitive this team was just last year and the years prior to that. Sure they were never legit contenders to win the World Series. But they were always a solid team that was a tough draw especially late in the season for contending teams. Now they seem like a shadow of those teams with no real chance of improving. Truly a fall from grace. — Jack Sabin
28. Colorado Rockies
(Matt 28, Jack 28)
Average: 28
The Rockies closed the month of May winning six of their final nine games against the Athletics, red-hot Phillies, Guardians and Dodgers after winning seven straight at one point. But they’ve promptly lost five straight and are 19 games below .500. This team is still quite bad with plenty of makeover needed.
27. Los Angeles Angels
(Matt 27, Jack 26)
Average: 26.5
Mike Trout still isn’t close to returning from a meniscus injury that he underwent surgery for in early May. Tyler Anderson’s in a nice groove on the mound, having sported a sub-1.5 ERA over his last four starts against the Rangers, Astros, Yankees and Padres. That’s not nothing. But they haven’t gotten much production either at the plate or with its pitching staff.
26. New York Mets
(Matt 25, Jack 25)
Average: 25
To start the year, it was looking like the Mets could surpass everyone’s expectations and actually be a decent team that stays around .500 for most of the season. It was looking like a rebuilding year for a team that shelled off most of its talent during last year’s deadline. But the presence of guys like Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor has allowed this team to win some games and will continue to do so for the remainder of the season, even if they continue to have “down” years by their standards. The pitching actually has been alright but at the end of the day there just needs to be more firepower in that lineup for this Mets team to make any serious noise at the moment. I’d say they are still surpassing expectations that many set for them, but it’s looking like another losing season for the Mets in 2024. — Sabin
25. Washington Nationals
(Matt 24, Jack 24)
Average: 24
The Nats have almost the exact same record as the Mets, yet the two teams seem like they are on completely different trajectories. C.J Abrams looks to take that next step and become the superstar shortstop many projected him to be while coming up, the power seems to be finally arriving if now he can only pair it with an ability to make consistent hard contact. But once again, the rotation/pitching is what gives this team hope. MacKenzie Gore seems to finally be showing the talent he clearly had while working his way through the farm system, a guy like him was simply destined to put it together and I feel like we are seeing just that. Guys like Trevor Williams have been surprisingly amazing with the bullpen also revealing a few more bright spots within the team. As it stands though, this lineup still needs quite a bit of work and some more firepower before they can really start to contend. Also is it time to maybe start worrying about Keibert Ruiz? I know he is still young and playing a tough position, but by now you would have liked to see at least some progression, as of now, he simply isn’t showing that. Still a lot to like regarding the future of this team. — Sabin
24. Houston Astros
(Matt 20, Jack 27)
Average: 23.5
Relative to how they’ve been for the better part of the last decade, the Astros have been in a free-fall. There’s still plenty of talent, but their pitching took a sizable hit with Cristian Javier being ruled out for the season with an elbow injury. Kyle Tucker has been on an MVP-like tear and they’re still getting good production from Yordan Alvarez, 34-year-old Jose Altuve, Jake Meyers and Jeremy Pena. But being seven games below .500 is obviously not where we expected this team to be at over a-third of the way into the season.
23. Pittsburgh Pirates
(Matt 23, Jack 22)
Average: 22.5
Since our last power rankings: The Pirates called up top pitching prospect Paul Skenes. Since his arrival, the rookie righthander sports a 3.00 ERA across five starts (27.0 IP) with 38 strikeouts and a 35.5 strikeout rate, which grades in the 98th percentile, per Baseball Savant. He has drawn plenty of hard contact, but he’s definitely held his own. He even had this cool two-AB sequence with Shohei Ohtani earlier this week.
22. Tampa Bay Rays
(Matt 22, Jack 23)
Average: 22.5
The offense has been a disaster outside of Isaac Parades, who owns a .881 OPS with a 154 OPS+, 13 doubles and 10 home runs in 58 games. Their bullpen was better in the month of May–despite its bullpen FIP ranking amongst the bottom-third over that duration–but the pitching staff has been mediocre, at best, all season, which is unusual for the oft-plucky Rays. I don’t think there’s much to suggest a huge turnaround, either.
21. Oakland Athletics
(Matt 26, Jack 16)
Average: 21
The Athletics cooled off after their strong end of April, having gone 8-22 over their last 30 games. They’ve been slightly below average offensively (95 wRC+) over that span, but they sport MLB’s fifth-worst ERA, ninth-worst FIP and third-worst expected FIP over that span. Injuries to Ross Stripling, Paul Blackburn, Alex Wood, Lucas Erceg and Kyle Muller have decimated their pitching staff, and Mason Miller has slightly regressed from his scorching start. At least they’re not last in the AL West? Not many expected that 60-plus games in.
20. St. Louis Cardinals
(Matt 21, Jack 21)
Average: 21
The emergence of both Nolan Gorman and rookie Masyn Winn–amid the starts from Nolan Arenaado and Paul Goldschmidt–has been one of the biggest reasons why St. Louis is just three games below .500 and not, say, 13. Their middle infield duo is slashing a combined .270/.337/.469 (.806 OPS; 130 wRC+) to keep the top-4 of their order somewhat afloat. Their rebuilt rotation of Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson could be doing a lot worse, too.
19. Cincinnati Reds
(Matt 19, Jack 19)
Average: 19
Sure, he may strike out a lot. But I can’t rave enough about how electric Elly De La Cruz is when 1.) he puts the ball in play or 2.) when he’s on the basepaths. I don’t care what era it is–having 32 stolen bases in 63 games is not normal. He’s on pace for 82, which would be the most since the great Rickey Henderson had 93 in 1988. The offense was stone cold in the month away. Though they may only be a couple of pieces away from really making life interesting a competitive NL Central. I’m interested to see how they hold up for the next two months ahead of the deadline.
18. Arizona Diamondbacks
(Matt 18, Jack 20)
Average: 19
Corbin Carroll had his second three-hit day in a week-long span Thursday after not having any over his first 52 games. I understand that no D-Backs fan wants to read this, but he’s hit into some unfortunate luck this season. They also need to get the top of their rotation figured out before it’s too late, too.
17. Toronto Blue Jays
(Matt 17, Jack 18)
Average: 17.5
Alek Monoah, who was recently placed on the IL due to elbow soreness, can not catch a break. Through five starts this season, the 6-foot-6 righthander sported a 3.70 ERA–albeit a 5.15 FIP–with 26 strikeouts in 24.1 innings. Davis Schneider has been a breath of fresh air for a lineup that’s otherwise struggled outside of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Danny Jansen.
16. Chicago Cubs
(Matt 16, Jack 17)
Average: 16.5
The Cubs were another offense that went ice cold in the month away, posting the eighth-worst wRC+ with the fourth-worst OPS, second-worst batting average and seventh-highest strikeout rate across MLB. Seiya Suzuki’s slowly heating back up, slashing .302/.339/.547/.887 over his last 13 games, which is a positive sign. Their two-game series sweep (can you really call it a sweep?) against the cross-town White Sox was their first series win in nearly a month. Let’s see how they do as the months begin to warm up.
15. San Francisco Giants
(Matt 15, Jack 15)
Average: 15
Reigning NL Cy Young winner Blake Snell has gotten off to a horrific start in San Francisco and is now on the injured list with an oblique injury. What was viewed as a great offseason for San Francisco hasn’t looked so great to begin the 2024 season, even though there’s still time.
14. Detroit Tigers
(Matt 14, Jack 14)
Average: 14
Spencer Torkelson, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 draft, looked like he turned a corner lasst year after he finished with a .816 OPS and 19 home runs post-All-Star break. But the right-handed slugger was recently sent down after a .597 OPS (69 OPS+) and minus-1.2 rWAR through 54 games, where he’s hit just four home runs with 18 RBIs. On a positive note, Colt Keith changed his batting stance and closed May with a .929 OPS over his final 20 games of the month, even though he’s one for his first 18 to begin June.
13. Texas Rangers
(Matt 13, Jack 13)
Average: 13
Corey Seager had a 1.218 OPS over his previous 21 games before exiting Wednesday’s game with a left hamstring injury. Texas’ offense hasn’t otherwise had the same firepower as it did a year ago. They’re still only five games back of Seattle for the AL West lead, which is manageable at this point of the season. You just have to wonder if the bats can get hot at some point.
12. San Diego Padres
(Matt 12, Jack 11)
Average: 11.5
Since arriving in Southern California, Luis Arraez has put together not one, not two … but FOUR four-hit games. He’s slashing .374/.300/.439 (.839 OPS; 146 OPS+) in 29 games with San Diego, tallying six extra-base hits, 12 RBIs and three stolen bases, which is one off from tying his single-season career-high (4) set in 2022. I wasn’t a huge fan of the move for either side at the time, but I think San Diego’s gotten a solid ROI so far.
11. Boston Red Sox
(Matt 11, Jack 12)
Average: 11.5
Andrew Bailey has been a godsend to the Red Sox pitching staff. They have a top-10 strikeout rate, a top-5 ERA and are top-2 in both FIP and x-FIP through 63 games. Tanner Houck’s in serious CY Young contention while Ceddanne Rafaela’s making web gems every other night in center field. Dare I Boston is underper-….I mean overperforming?!?
10. Seattle Mariners
(Matt 10, Jack 10)
Average: 10
It’s time that more people know who Bryan Woo is. He’s been the No. 5 starter in the Mariners rotation this season, though four of his starts have been shutouts, including throwing six shutout with seven strikeouts against an electric New York Yankees offense on May 21. He’s not going to induce a crazy amount of swing and misses, but he has five above-average pitches that hitters are all slugging .267 or worse against, per Statcast. What he’s doing isn’t being talked about enough, even though their entire rotation is killing it.
9. Minnesota Twins
(Matt 9, Jack 8)
Average: 8.5
The Twins were swept by the Yankees this week (what’s new?), but they were winners of nine of their previous 12 games after enduring a seven-game losing streak. Oh, and fun fact: Royce Lewis has homered in every game (shhh…nobody has to know he’s only played in three) he’s played in this season. He just needs to stay healthy.
8. Atlanta Braves
(Matt 7, Jack 9)
Average: 8
Well it was bound to happen at some point, right?? After being no. One on these power rankings for what felt like a year, the Braves have finally seen a drastic drop on this list. Not helping is they lost last year’s MVP Ronald Acuna Jr.for the season with a torn ACL. We all remember how that story went last time, with the Braves winning the World Series. The injury doesn’t dispel all hope for the Braves though, this is still a very deep lineup with guys like Marcell Ozuna doing their best to pick up the load. The real star of the show though is that rotation. Max Freid has been displaying his typical dominance but perhaps the biggest surprise of them all has been the play of Chris Sale, who sits fifth in the NL for odds to win Cy Young with a 8-1 record and 3.06 Era, which has become a little inflated after his recent start in which he gave up eight runs. The Braves may be a little down compared to their usual standard, but you would be foolish to write them off. — Sabin.
7. Milwaukee Brewers
(Matt 8, Jack 7)
Average: 7.5
The Brewers were one of the hottest offenses across MLB in the month of May, led by Joey Ortiz, Christian Yelich and William Contreras. Injuries to Joe Ross and Robert Gasser have affected their rotation, even though Freddy Peralta and Colin Rea have pitched above their weight. Who knows what this squad would look like if they didn’t trade away Corbin Burnes? Only one can wonder…
6. Kansas City Royals
(Matt 8, Jack 7)
Average: 7.5
A year after finishing seventh in the AL MVP voting in his sophomore season, Bobby Witt is right back in the thick of the conversation. He’s leads the American League in hits, is second in extra-base hits and batting average, is sixth in OPS and seventh in OPS+. The Royals are 11 games over .500 and only four games back of the Guardians for the AL Central lead, and he’s the biggest reason why. Their pitching staff has pitched above their weight too, which has helped, even though that’s something they’ll need to continue building up as the deadline approaches.
5. Los Angeles Dodgers
(Matt 5, Jack 4)
Average: 4.5
The Dodgers have a five-game slide at the end of May, though they have won five of their last eight games. They just got Evan Phillips back from the injured list to help the back of the bullpen. After Ohtani’s power surge in early May, he owns a .742 OPS over his last 25 games … dropping his season OPS to only .974.
4. Cleveland Guardians
(Matt 4, Jack 5)
Average: 4.5
Did anyone expect this team to be 19 games above .500 in June without arguably their best starter in Shane Bieber? I didn’t. Vogt has managed this group as well as anyone could have hoped despite the rotation underperforming–he can thank his bullpen (plus Jose Ramirez) a lot for that. Though Tanner Bibee owns a 2.12 ERA over his last five starts after it creeped near five over his first eight starts. He’s going to need to be rock solid if they want to maintain their AL Central lead.
3. Baltimore Orioles
(Matt 3, Jack 3)
Average: 3
We here at Vendetta are all big Gunnar Henderson supporters. He’s slashed .265/.370/.581 through 61 games with 19 home runs and 42 RBIs. Henderson and Witt are neck-and-neck for the best shortstop in the American League, even though it’s a lot more fun to appreciate them both. Baltimore’s lineup–rounded out by star catcher Adley Rutschman, Ryan O’Hearn, Jordan Westburg and Ryan Mountcastle–has been among the best in baseball complemented by a very good pitching staff, spearheaded by Corbin Burnes. This group is a ton of fun … and young.
2. Philadelphia Phillies
(Matt 2, Jack 1)
Average: 1.5
The Phillies have simply put been one of the hottest teams in basketball. If not for the Yankees, who have been arguably hotter, they would be taking the number one spot. But putting that aside, this Phillies team is proving they are incredibly dangerous. They are also set to get Trea Turner back soon but his replacement Edmundo Sosa has been so good in his stead, that many fans are trying to find ways to keep him in the lineup. From top to bottom, and even on the bench, this lineup can do a lot of damage. It also hasn’t all been relying on the long ball like we’ve seen in years past. But the real hero of his team is that starting rotation. Both Ranger Suarez and Zack Wheeler are currently in the top three to win the NL Cy Young. Oh yeah, there’s also Aaron Nola who is having a typical amazing ace-like season in case you forgot. I mean his 2.77 ERA would be the worst in the rotation if not for Taijuan Walker. The bullpen after having a shaky start has hunkered down turning this Phillies team into a perfectly balanced weapon. — Sabin
1. New York Yankees
(Matt 1, Jack 2)
Average: 1.5
We have a new leader! The Yankees are atop the pack for this month’s MLB Power Rankings. They own the best record in baseball at 45-19 with MLB’s top run differential at plus-118 entering Friday’s game. Does anyone know the type of run Aaron Judge is currently on? After a disastrous start without much of a spring training, New York’s 6-foot-7 slugger sports a ridiculous .359/.489/.852 slash line with 14 doubles, 18 home runs and 43 RBIs over his last 41 games. With all due respect to teammate Juan Soto, Henderson, Tucker, Ohtani, etc., Judge is the best hitter on the planet right now, and has been for the last three years when he’s been on the field.
***
SUBSCRIBE to the Vendetta YouTube Channel!
SHOP for Vendetta Merch!
SUPPORT Vendetta on Patreon!
Click here for more MLB content
