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 | 70 | 21.1% | — |
| 2 | Munetaka Murakami | 146 | 20.4% | — |
| 3 | Esmerlyn Valdez | 71 | 19.9% | — |
| 4 | James Wood | 156 | 18.7% | — |
| 5 | Nick Kurtz | 109 | 18.0% | — |
| 6 | Griffin Conine | 80 | 16.4% | — |
| 7 | Elly De La Cruz | 159 | 16.4% | — |
| 8 | Mike Trout | 159 | 16.0% | — |
| 9 | Shohei Ohtani | 162 | 16.0% | — |
| 10 | Byron Buxton | 102 | 15.8% | — |
| 11 | Yordan Alvarez | 175 | 15.8% | — |
| 12 | Luke Raley | 71 | 15.7% | — |
| 13 | Spencer Jones | 77 | 15.7% | — |
| 14 | Kyle Schwarber | 178 | 15.5% | — |
| 15 | Brent Rooker | 50 | 15.5% | — |
| 16 | Eduardo Valencia | 34 | 15.5% | — |
| 17 | Oneil Cruz | 105 | 15.4% | — |
| 18 | Francisco Alvarez | 105 | 15.4% | — |
| 19 | Pete Alonso | 175 | 15.3% | — |
| 20 | Ben Rice | 171 | 15.1% | — |
| 21 | Nelson Velázquez | 29 | 14.9% | — |
| 22 | Corey Seager | 109 | 14.8% | — |
| 23 | Riley Greene | 148 | 14.8% | — |
| 24 | Rafael Flores Jr. | 40 | 14.6% | — |
| 25 | Hunter Goodman | 143 | 14.5% | — |
| 26 | Ramón Laureano | 51 | 14.3% | — |
| 27 | Owen Caissie | 83 | 14.2% | — |
| 28 | Jake Bauers | 153 | 14.1% | — |
| 29 | Cal Raleigh | 132 | 14.1% | — |
| 30 | Matt Olson | 182 | 14.0% | — |
| 31 | Juan Soto | 120 | 14.0% | — |
| 32 | Christian Encarnacion-Strand | 53 | 14.0% | — |
| 33 | Heliot Ramos | 110 | 13.9% | — |
| 34 | Victor Bericoto | 29 | 13.8% | — |
| 35 | Willson Contreras | 136 | 13.5% | — |
| 36 | Coby Mayo | 113 | 13.5% | — |
| 37 | Shea Langeliers | 117 | 13.3% | — |
| 38 | Max Muncy | 146 | 13.2% | — |
| 39 | Jose Siri | 62 | 13.2% | — |
| 40 | Jordan Walker | 166 | 13.2% | — |
| 41 | Pete Crow-Armstrong | 183 | 13.2% | — |
| 42 | Fernando Tatis Jr. | 182 | 13.1% | — |
| 43 | Andrés Chaparro | 57 | 13.1% | — |
| 44 | Kazuma Okamoto | 159 | 13.1% | — |
| 45 | Jac Caglianone | 138 | 13.0% | — |
| 46 | Junior Caminero | 182 | 12.9% | — |
| 47 | Kyle Stowers | 128 | 12.8% | — |
| 48 | Miguel Vargas | 184 | 12.8% | — |
| 49 | Will Benson | 28 | 12.7% | — |
| 50 | Everson Pereira | 27 | 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 %: 21.1%), 2. Munetaka Murakami (Barrel %: 20.4%), 3. Esmerlyn Valdez (Barrel %: 19.9%), 4. James Wood (Barrel %: 18.7%), 5. Nick Kurtz (Barrel %: 18.0%)