2026 MLB PAL Rating and Value Rating: performance and contract value

Two scores from 0 to 100. PAL Rating measures the season's performance against regulars in the same role (hitters, starters, relievers): 50 is the median regular. Salary never enters it. Value Rating answers a different question: for what the player costs, does the return come in more or less than expected?

WAR, in wins →Payrolls →

Top hitter

100PAL100ValuePete Crow-ArmstrongCHC · Elite Top starter

100PAL100ValueJacob MisiorowskiMIL · Elite Top reliever

100PAL100ValueMason MillerSD · Elite

Best contracts

Highest Value Rating among players rated 70 or more.

100Pete Crow-ArmstrongCHC · 0.89 M$ · WAR paid 0.1, produced 10.6
100Jacob MisiorowskiMIL · 0.79 M$ · WAR paid 0.1, produced 6.6
100Mason MillerSD · 4.00 M$ · WAR paid 0.4, produced 3.7
100Elly De La CruzCIN · 0.80 M$ · WAR paid 0.1, produced 6.4
100Louis VarlandTOR · 0.82 M$ · WAR paid 0.1, produced 3.1

Heaviest contracts

Lowest Value Rating among contracts of $15M or more per year.

0Kyle TuckerLAD · 57.20 M$ · WAR paid 5.9, produced 0.9
0Kodai SengaNYM · 15.00 M$ · WAR paid 1.5, produced -0.6
1Marcus SemienNYM · 24.00 M$ · WAR paid 2.5, produced -0.5
1Jameson TaillonTOR · 18.00 M$ · WAR paid 1.8, produced -1.0
2Vladimir Guerrero Jr.TOR · 35.71 M$ · WAR paid 3.7, produced 1.1

The scale — PAL Rating

90–100 Elite
80–89 Excellent
70–79 Very good
60–69 Above average
40–59 Around average
20–39 Below average
0–19 Very poor

The scale — Value Rating

90–100 Exceptional value
75–89 Very good contract
55–74 Good value
45–54 Fair value
25–44 Poor return
0–24 Very poor return

Regulars only

#	Player
1	Pete Crow-ArmstrongCHC · CF · 24	100	100	0.9	10.6	99	97	52	98	100
2	Yordan AlvarezHOU · DH · 29	99	97	19.2	6.8	100	99	99	4	17
3	Bobby Witt Jr.KC · SS · 26	99	95	26.3	7.0	86	71	83	100	99
4	Elly De La CruzCIN · SS · 24	99	100	0.8	6.4	96	97	40	88	83
5	Pete AlonsoBAL · 1B · 31	98	61	31.0	4.9	99	99	63	4	41
6	Juan SotoNYM · LF · 27	98	4	51.0	3.1	99	95	100	30	18
7	James WoodWSH · RF · 23	98	93	0.8	4.1	98	99	85	66	13
8	Shohei OhtaniLAD · TWP · 31	97	12	46.1	3.7	97	95	74	63	20
9	Fernando Tatis Jr.SD · RF · 27	97	82	24.3	5.4	93	85	66	93	74
10	Willson ContrerasBOS · 1B · 34	96	63	21.3	4.0	98	89	50	26	46
11	Brice TurangMIL · 2B · 26	96	99	4.2	5.9	86	62	74	79	94
12	Ben RiceNYY · DH · 27	96	94	0.8	4.3	98	98	72	34	10
13	Gabriel MorenoAZ · C · 26	95	98	2.5	5.4	95	50	93	23	83
14	Miguel VargasCWS · 3B · 26	95	98	0.8	5.3	94	87	98	83	22
15	Jackson ChourioMIL · LF · 22	95	89	10.3	4.6	87	86	30	82	85
16	Brandon LowePIT · 2B · 31	94	91	11.5	4.9	78	92	17	38	95
17	Nick KurtzATH · 1B · 23	94	76	0.8	2.6	95	95	81	38	27
18	Matt OlsonATL · 1B · 32	93	63	21.0	4.0	83	96	34	19	86
19	Jake BauersMIL · 1B · 30	93	88	2.7	3.7	96	92	89	57	8
20	Corbin CarrollAZ · RF · 25	93	80	13.9	4.2	75	86	65	97	82
21	Oneil CruzPIT · CF · 27	92	82	3.3	3.3	90	93	17	95	49
22	Junior CamineroTB · 3B · 22	92	98	0.8	5.3	96	96	85	25	11
23	JJ WetherholtSTL · 2B · 23	92	96	0.8	4.6	54	40	82	76	99
24	Randy ArozarenaSEA · LF · 31	91	92	15.7	5.5	97	73	62	72	17
25	Seiya SuzukiCHC · RF · 31	91	81	17.0	4.6	91	72	71	35	79
26	Alex BregmanCHC · 3B · 32	90	72	30.9	5.5	84	58	94	33	86
27	Andy PagesLAD · CF · 25	90	96	0.8	4.5	80	65	53	61	91
28	Munetaka MurakamiCWS · 1B · 26	90	49	17.0	2.9	86	100	59	32	37
29	Kyle SchwarberPHI · DH · 33	89	23	30.0	2.9	93	98	62	10	25
30	Michael Harris IIATL · CF · 25	89	89	9.0	4.5	79	75	8	55	93
31	Otto LopezMIA · SS · 27	89	99	0.8	5.9	72	25	61	95	96
32	Max MuncyLAD · 3B · 35	88	81	12.3	4.1	87	90	60	51	54
33	Byron BuxtonMIN · CF · 32	88	48	14.3	2.6	83	94	19	78	55
34	Bryce HarperPHI · 1B · 33	87	39	25.4	3.3	95	78	97	31	8
35	Rafael DeversSF · 1B · 29	87	33	29.7	3.4	92	96	47	26	26
36	Ty FranceSD · 1B · 31	87	88	2.0	3.6	92	78	31	2	79
37	Mike TroutLAA · CF · 34	86	21	35.5	3.3	93	80	95	58	16
38	Geraldo PerdomoAZ · SS · 26	86	92	11.3	5.0	69	10	99	48	96
39	Kevin McGonigleDET · SS · 21	86	99	0.8	5.4	89	35	98	75	43
40	Griffin ConineMIA · RF · 28	85	61	0.8	1.8	90	93	27	46	33
41	Chase DeLauterCLE · RF · 24	85	88	0.8	3.5	87	57	92	45	53
42	Mookie BettsLAD · SS · 33	84	47	25.6	3.7	72	71	91	36	86
43	Alec BurlesonSTL · 1B · 27	84	81	3.3	3.2	89	84	60	22	42
44	Dominic CanzoneSEA · DH · 28	84	79	0.8	2.8	92	87	54	29	34
45	Garrett MitchellMIL · CF · 27	83	83	0.9	3.1	77	69	22	87	73
46	Drake BaldwinATL · C · 25	83	86	0.8	3.3	91	81	46	17	40
47	Jackson MerrillSD · CF · 23	83	78	15.0	4.2	60	83	9	95	84
48	Luis García Jr.NYY · 1B · 26	82	64	6.9	2.6	81	93	21	20	60
49	Riley GreeneDET · LF · 25	82	78	5.0	3.2	94	80	56	27	14
50	Cody BellingerNYY · LF · 30	81	11	44.8	3.5	73	46	87	54	84

How it's calculated

In MLB, salary follows service time (pre-arbitration, arbitration), not performance: a young player at the minimum can be a star. Value Rating therefore measures surplus, as baseball does. The price of a win comes from free-agent contracts (about $10M per win in 2026); the value produced is WAR × that price; the surplus, that value minus the contract's annual average. It is turned into a standard score within the role, then 0 to 100. Most recent season only.

Data: MLB (statsapi) and Baseball Savant; salaries updated daily.