The 2026 Basewinner First Team: Offense
The 2026 Basewinner First Team: Offense
Basewinner Notes
🐶 Doghouse Rating: 🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴
☕ Coffee Consumed: 100+ cups (including pipeline development)
⚾ Active Players Rated: 785
⚙️ Pipeline: BW Runs v2
📅 Data Through: July 13, 2026
Every July, baseball celebrates the game's biggest stars with the MLB All-Star Game.
This year I thought it would be fun to let the Basewinner model cast its own ballot.
Over the past several weeks I rebuilt the offensive ratings pipeline from the ground up. Every rolling window was validated, every split was checked, and every export feeding the model was rebuilt before producing what I believe is the strongest version of BW Runs to date.
The result is the inaugural Basewinner First Team: Offense.
Rather than relying on fan voting or traditional counting statistics, these lineups are built using BW Runs, Basewinner's proprietary offensive rating. BW Runs places heavy emphasis on strikeout rate (K%), isolated power (ISO) and park-adjusted offensive performance to identify the hitters producing the most offensive value.
To keep the teams grounded in today's game, selections were made from each club's current default lineup. That means injured players and hitters not currently projected in their team's everyday lineup were not eligible for the First Team.
The goal isn't to replace the All-Star Game.
It's simply another way to evaluate offensive performance.
American League First Team
| Bat | Player | Team | Pos | BW Runs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yordan Alvarez | HOU | LF | 8.76 |
| 2 | Junior Caminero | TB | 3B | 7.55 |
| 3 | Ben Rice | NYY | 1B | 7.14 |
| 4 | Yandy Díaz | TB | DH | 6.45 |
| 5 | Byron Buxton | MIN | CF | 6.39 |
| 6 | Mike Trout | LAA | RF | 6.33 |
| 7 | Shea Langeliers | ATH | C | 5.79 |
| 8 | Bobby Witt Jr. | KC | SS | 5.64 |
| 9 | Romy Gonzalez | BOS | 2B | 5.35 |
Basewinner Notes
Yordan Alvarez enters the All-Star break as the highest-rated active hitter in baseball with an outstanding 8.76 BW Runs.
Junior Caminero continues to emerge as one of the game's brightest young stars, while Mike Trout reminds everyone that when healthy, his bat still belongs among baseball's elite.
The model also agrees with the selection of Ben Rice, whose breakout offensive season earned him both an All-Star berth and a spot on the Basewinner First Team.
Then there's Romy Gonzalez.
Every model uncovers one player that makes you stop and take a second look.
This year it's Romy.
His underlying offensive profile pushed him to the top of the American League second base rankings.
The numbers don't know reputation.
They simply reward performance.
Romy is my Homie.
National League First Team
| Bat | Player | Team | Pos | BW Runs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Wood | WSH | LF | 7.97 |
| 2 | Juan Soto | NYM | RF | 7.93 |
| 3 | Shohei Ohtani | LAD | DH | 7.31 |
| 4 | Pete Crow-Armstrong | CHC | CF | 7.04 |
| 5 | Jake Bauers | MIL | 1B | 6.98 |
| 6 | Otto Lopez | MIA | SS | 6.46 |
| 7 | Luis V. Garcia | WSH | 2B | 5.96 |
| 8 | Gabriel Moreno | ARI | C | 5.70 |
| 9 | Max Muncy | LAD | 3B | 5.64 |
Basewinner Notes
James Wood narrowly edges Juan Soto as the National League's highest-rated offensive player, highlighting the incredible first half he's put together.
Shohei Ohtani remains exactly where baseball fans have come to expect—among the game's elite offensive performers.
Otto Lopez was recognized as an All-Star reserve, but BW Runs goes one step further by grading him as the top offensive shortstop in the National League.
The biggest differentiator is Jake Bauers, who earns the First Team nod at first base based purely on offensive production.
That's one of the things I enjoy most about this exercise.
Sometimes the model agrees with the voters.
Sometimes it sees the game a little differently.
Honorable Mentions
Because the First Team was built from each club's current default lineup, several elite hitters were not eligible despite carrying exceptional BW Runs ratings.
| Player | Team | BW Runs |
|---|---|---|
| Aaron Judge | NYY | 8.27 |
| Wyatt Langford | TEX | 6.26 |
| Giancarlo Stanton | NYY | 6.23 |
If healthy and part of their club's projected everyday lineup, each would have been firmly in the First Team conversation.
Final Thoughts
One of my favorite things about projects like this is that the model has no idea who made the All-Star Game.
It doesn't know contract size.
It doesn't know popularity.
It doesn't know jersey sales.
It simply evaluates every hitter using the exact same process.
Sometimes the results mirror the All-Star selections.
Sometimes they don't.
Either way, I think it's a fun way to look at offensive performance through a different lens.
I hope this becomes an annual Basewinner tradition.
Tomorrow we'll move to the mound and unveil the 2026 Basewinner First Team: Starting Pitchers, highlighting the top rotations in each league, a few surprise selections, and the pitchers the model values differently than conventional wisdom.
The bats have spoken. Tomorrow, the pitchers get their turn.