Top Hitting Players Making Waves in ZiPS Midseason Analysis

ZiPS Gainers – Hitters (2025-2029 WAR)

Remember when it looked like Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson were going to be the foundation of the Tigers’ offense? The last two years have put a lot of daylight between their respective futures, especially the first three months of this season. Greene’s on pace for a 4.6 WAR season and FanGraphs’ WAR is the mean one compared to Baseball Reference, which has him heading toward a seven-win (!) season. A lot hasn’t worked out for the Tigers, but Greene certainly has, and extending him for a very long time should be one of the team’s biggest priorities:

ZiPS Projection – Riley Greene

The Orioles knew they were giving up someone with a lot of potential in Joey Ortiz, but they really, really liked Corbin Burnes (for good reason). I don’t think they expected Ortiz to be this good, or become so this quickly, but he’s now one of the most likely candidates to win NL Rookie of the Year this year, while the guy who made him expendable, Jackson Holliday, won’t garner the same laurel in the AL. In some ways, this is a bigger jump than Greene simply because it represents more of a change of status for Ortiz; ZiPS was unsure whether Ortiz would succeed in the majors, but it’s now at the point where it thinks the Brewers have answered one of their long-term questions on the left side of the infield:

ZiPS Projection – Joey Ortiz

ZiPS has gone back and forth on Heliot Ramos for some time, with injuries playing a huge role. But he’s hit for surprisingly good power, with 10 home runs already, and when you add that total to his eight in Sacramento, he’s already well past his previous professional high of 14 homers in a season. The computer isn’t completely sold on Ramos, but it’s now fairly comfortable calling him a viable starter:

ZiPS Projection – Heliot Ramos

Aaron Judge has been on an absurd tear of late, and as crazy as it sounds, him matching his 2022 performance is a realistic possibility. He’s also stayed healthy this year, not a bad thing when you’re projecting a player who is still likely entering his decline phase. The higher you start, the more room you have to glide!

ZiPS Projection – Aaron Judge

Jordan Westburg is one of three Orioles on this list — not a bad considering ZiPS already liked the O’s young hitters. Westburg was forgotten in some ways, but ZiPS was already projecting him for 2.5-3.0 annual WAR coming into the season. Still, he’s bumped that by a win or so per season. I remain surprised Westburg got so little attention as a prospect relative to his performance, given that he was a first round pick out of Mississippi State, not a 43rd rounder from Eastern Tuscaloosa School For Mimes. He may be easier to sign to an extension than Gunnar Henderson or Adley Rutschman at this point:

ZiPS Projection – Jordan Westburg