The final Hitter Power Rankings of the regular season

The playoffs are right around the corner, but before we close the book on the 2023 regular season, let's check in one more time on the best bats in baseball.

There have been so many outstanding performances over the past six months that narrowing things down to a top 10 was a difficult task for our MLB.com panel, which considered not only season-long production but also career track record and recent success.

Here then are the last Hitter Power Rankings of the regular season, with all stats through Tuesday’s games.

1. Ronald Acuña Jr., Braves (Last poll: 1)
Last season, Acuña returned in late April from a torn ACL in his right knee, but things never quite clicked for him in 2022. That performance -- subpar by his standards -- kept him out of our 2023 preseason poll. But Acuña quickly proved he was 100% healthy and locked in, and he rose quickly, ultimately spending most of the season at or near the No. 1 spot. For all of his enormous accomplishments, his plunging strikeout rate might be the most impressive.

2. Mookie Betts, Dodgers (3)
He has given Acuña a spirited challenge in the NL MVP race, but even if he comes up short there, it will be another sensational year. Betts turns 31 on Oct. 7 but has shown absolutely no signs of decline and remains on a clear-cut Hall of Fame path after 10 seasons.

3. Matt Olson, Braves (2)
Olson has mashed pretty much from start to finish this year. His home run totals by month: eight, nine, 11, eight, seven and 10. That’s how you win an MLB homer title. Olson is also slugging over .700 in September and looks ready to go for the postseason.

4. Freddie Freeman, Dodgers (4)
When the Dodgers signed Freeman going into his age-32 season, a reasonably optimistic outlook might have been that he would maintain his level of performance for at least a few more years. Instead, incredibly, Freeman has raised it. After posting a 147 OPS+ from 2016-21 in Atlanta, he is at 159 in two seasons as a Dodger.

5. Corey Seager, Rangers (6)
There have not been many seasons like the one Seager has put together around multiple injuries. At the moment, he’d be only the seventh player in the Modern Era (since 1900) to reach the 7 WAR mark (per Baseball Reference) while playing in fewer than 120 games, and the first since Jeff Bagwell and Kenny Lofton in the 1994 strike year.

6. Juan Soto, Padres (not ranked)
There’s no doubt it’s been a disappointing season in San Diego, but Soto is doing what he always does: Lead the Majors in walks and mash the baseball. Soto’s 159 OPS+ in 2023 is a match for his 159 career mark, he has set a career high with 35 homers and he’s on the brink of doing the same in RBIs (108, two off his best).

7. Yordan Alvarez, Astros (9)
There are few more terrifying spectacles than a healthy Alvarez at the plate with a bat in his hand, and that has certainly been true of late. In 26 games since Aug. 28, Alvarez is batting .341/.479/.725 with nine homers, 24 RBIs and more walks (19) than strikeouts (17). He only needed 109 games this season to reach the 30-homer mark.

8. Yandy Díaz, Rays (not ranked)
Before the All-Star break, Díaz slashed .323/.408/.515. After the break? He’s at .333/.408/.516. It’s just been that sort of consistently productive year for the 32-year-old, who will easily top last year’s career-best 20th-place MVP finish.

9. Aaron Judge, Yankees (not ranked)
It’s unfortunate that we didn’t get to see what Judge would have done in a full season to follow up on his record-setting 2022 campaign. But he still has posted an OPS over 1.000 and launched 35 homers in 102 games -- a 55-dinger pace over 162. That includes the first two three-homer games of his career.

10 (tie). Julio Rodríguez, Mariners (7)
It would be easy to take J-Rod’s season for granted after his sensational 2022 debut, but he has continued to offer historic production at the plate. His ‘23 campaign marks the second time a player 22 or younger has reached each of these thresholds: 30 doubles, 30 homers, 30 steals, and 100 RBIs. The other? Another young Seattle star (Alex Rodriguez in 1998).

10 (tie). Luis Arraez, Marlins (not ranked)
When evaluating Arraez’s .353 average, don’t forget that he is playing in a low-average era. FanGraphs’ “AVG+” metric, which scales to a league average of 100 (much like OPS+ or wRC+) has Arraez at 141 this season. That would be the highest by anyone in a non-strike season since Wade Boggs’ 141 in 1988.

Also receiving votes: Jose Altuve (Astros), Seiya Suzuki (Cubs), Cody Bellinger (Cubs), Trea Turner (Phillies), Nick Castellanos (Phillies), Marcus Semien (Rangers), J.D. Martinez (Dodgers), Xander Bogaerts (Padres), Marcell Ozuna (Braves), Austin Riley (Braves), Corbin Carroll (D-backs), Miguel Cabrera (Tigers)

Voters: David Adler, Brett Blueweiss, Paul Casella, Doug Gausepohl, Thomas Harrigan, Sarah Langs, Travis Miller, Ricardo Montes de Oca, Brian Murphy, Sweeny Murti, Manny Randhawa, Efrain Ruiz, Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru, Andrew Simon, David Venn