MLB The Show 23 Player Ratings for Shohei Ohtani and Top Stars (2024)

Ahead of the release of MLB The Show 23, it's time to take a look at how Major League Baseball's top stars stack up in the overall ratings.

Five players have received a 99 overall rating, including reigning American League MVP Aaron Judge and Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani.

Here's how the top of the MLB The Show 23 player ratings list looks before the start of the regular season next week:

Ohtani is certainly the easiest player to put the highest possible rating on. His two-way ability has made him arguably the biggest star in the sport since his arrival in MLB five years ago.

The Japanese star even has a leg up on his Angels teammate Mike Trout, who is also in the 99 club, by striking him out for the final out of the World Baseball Classic.

Based on the order of the rankings, Trout is still considered the best player in MLB. His long track record of incredible play certainly warrants that level of respect.

Last season marked the second time since becoming a full-time player in 2012 that Trout finished outside the top five in AL MVP voting. He finished eighth after posting a .283/.369/.630 slash line with 40 homers in 119 games.

Both of the 2022 MVPs are in the 99 club, with Paul Goldschmidt making a huge jump from his MLB The Show 22 rating. The St. Louis Cardinals first baseman entered last year with an 89 overall rating, fifth on his own team next to Giovanny Gallegos.

There was nothing from Goldschmidt's 2021 performance that suggested he should've been at that level. He hit .294/.365/.514 with 31 homers, 12 stolen bases and won a Gold Glove.

Judge is starting the season with a 99 overall rating for the first time in his career. The Yankees' slugger certainly earned that distinction after turning in arguably the best single-season performance by any player since Barry Bonds won three consecutive NL MVP awards from 2001 to '03.

Judge's 62 homers set a new AL record. The four-time All-Star led MLB with a .425 on-base percentage, .686 slugging percentage and 391 total bases.

Somewhat surprisingly, Judge is the only Yankees player in the top 20 of MLB The Show player ratings. Carlos Rodón, who will start the season on the injured list with a forearm muscle strain, is at No. 21 with a 93 rating. Josh Donaldson (90) is ahead of Gerrit Cole (89) for some reason.

If you want to bet on one player near the back of the top 20 in the overall ratings who could make the jump up to a 99 overall next year, Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins is a good pick.

The biggest concern for Buxton is always health. He would be an MVP candidate if he could play 135 games in a season, but that's only happened once in his career (2017).

In just 92 games last season, Buxton hit 28 homers and had a .526 slugging percentage. He did have a low batting average (.224) because of a career-high strikeout rate (30.4 percent), but was still worth 4.0 FanGraphs wins above replacement because of the power and defense in center field.

Another great buy-low candidate to make a huge leap in the ratings as this season goes on is Julio Rodríguez. The Seattle Mariners superstar has a rating of 89 after winning AL Rookie of the Year and finishing seventh in AL MVP voting in 2022.

Rodríguez, 22, was the 12th rookie in MLB history with at least 20 homers and 20 stolen bases. He got better as the season went on with a .303/.361/.576 slash line in 41 games after the All-Star break.

The combination of speed and power as a centerfielder has already made Rodríguez one of the most exciting players in MLB. Now that he has one full year of experience under his belt, there's no reason to think he won't establish himself as a top-tier superstar by the end of 2023.

MLB The Show 23 will be released on Tuesday, March 28. Early access is available now to anyone who purchased the Deluxe or Captain editions of the game.