Hitters squaring up the ball most often — best contact quality in MLB by Statcast barrels per batted ball.
Which MLB hitters are barreling the ball the most? A barrel is Statcast's label for batted balls with the exit velocity and launch angle combination that produces a hit at least 50% of the time historically. Higher barrel rates mean better power-prop upside (HR, total bases).
Gold rank = #1 in MLB. Over Rate isn’t shown for Statcast leaderboards — these stats aren’t direct prop markets.
| # | Player | Games | Barrel % | Over Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aaron Judge | 64 | 21.8% | — |
| 2 | James Wood | 134 | 20.9% | — |
| 3 | Esmerlyn Valdez | 63 | 20.8% | — |
| 4 | Munetaka Murakami | 109 | 20.1% | — |
| 5 | Nick Kurtz | 109 | 18.0% | — |
| 6 | Oneil Cruz | 80 | 17.6% | — |
| 7 | Kyle Schwarber | 146 | 17.4% | — |
| 8 | Yordan Alvarez | 147 | 17.0% | — |
| 9 | Christian Encarnacion-Strand | 31 | 16.5% | — |
| 10 | Hunter Goodman | 120 | 16.5% | — |
| 11 | Shohei Ohtani | 144 | 16.1% | — |
| 12 | Mike Trout | 131 | 15.9% | — |
| 13 | Byron Buxton | 102 | 15.8% | — |
| 14 | Luke Raley | 71 | 15.7% | — |
| 15 | Francisco Alvarez | 88 | 15.7% | — |
| 16 | Matt Olson | 147 | 15.6% | — |
| 17 | Brent Rooker | 50 | 15.5% | — |
| 18 | Griffin Conine | 56 | 15.1% | — |
| 19 | Ben Rice | 140 | 15.0% | — |
| 20 | Shea Langeliers | 104 | 14.9% | — |
| 21 | Spencer Jones | 49 | 14.8% | — |
| 22 | Andrés Chaparro | 40 | 14.6% | — |
| 23 | Riley Greene | 123 | 14.6% | — |
| 24 | Corey Seager | 80 | 14.4% | — |
| 25 | Cal Raleigh | 106 | 14.4% | — |
| 26 | Jac Caglianone | 122 | 14.4% | — |
| 27 | Ramón Laureano | 51 | 14.3% | — |
| 28 | Miguel Vargas | 146 | 14.3% | — |
| 29 | Juan Soto | 90 | 14.1% | — |
| 30 | Owen Caissie | 76 | 14.1% | — |
| 31 | Pete Alonso | 147 | 14.0% | — |
| 32 | Jake Bauers | 121 | 13.9% | — |
| 33 | Heliot Ramos | 93 | 13.8% | — |
| 34 | Jose Siri | 46 | 13.6% | — |
| 35 | Heriberto Hernández | 96 | 13.6% | — |
| 36 | Willson Contreras | 129 | 13.5% | — |
| 37 | Elly De La Cruz | 131 | 13.5% | — |
| 38 | Jordan Walker | 142 | 13.5% | — |
| 39 | Will Smith | 50 | 13.4% | — |
| 40 | Sal Stewart | 147 | 13.4% | — |
| 41 | Jackson Chourio | 114 | 13.3% | — |
| 42 | Kazuma Okamoto | 135 | 13.2% | — |
| 43 | Ronald Acuña Jr. | 91 | 13.1% | — |
| 44 | Max Muncy | 118 | 13.0% | — |
| 45 | Drake Baldwin | 125 | 12.9% | — |
| 46 | Junior Caminero | 148 | 12.9% | — |
| 47 | Pete Crow-Armstrong | 152 | 12.8% | — |
| 48 | Will Benson | 28 | 12.7% | — |
| 49 | Everson Pereira | 27 | 12.7% | — |
| 50 | Coby Mayo | 89 | 12.7% | — |
A barrel is Statcast's label for the exit-velocity / launch-angle combinations that historically produce a hit at least 50% of the time and a slugging percentage of at least 1.500 (i.e., extra-base hit territory). It's the canonical "squared up" metric.
Barrel rate is one of the most predictive batted-ball stats for power props. Hitters at the top of this list are the best candidates for home run, total bases, and extra-base-hit prop overs. It’s also more stable than HR/game in small samples.
Statcast batted-ball data for the 2026 season — every batted ball with tracked exit velocity and launch angle. We compute barrels per batted-ball event and refresh nightly. Min-games filter avoids small-sample noise.
MLB Batter Barrel % Leaders Top 5: 1. Aaron Judge (Barrel %: 21.8%), 2. James Wood (Barrel %: 20.9%), 3. Esmerlyn Valdez (Barrel %: 20.8%), 4. Munetaka Murakami (Barrel %: 20.1%), 5. Nick Kurtz (Barrel %: 18.0%)