When it comes to the best players in Major League Baseball these days, there really is no statewide monopoly on talent, with stars across "The Show" hailing from a number of American states, as well as countries from around the world.
That got us at Rotowire.com thinking about which players in today's MLB led the way on a state-by-state basis in producing WAR totals on the sport's biggest stage, which is exactly what we broke down in the chart below.
Best MLB Player From Each State, WAR Total:
State | Player | Current Team | 2024 WAR |
Alabama | Gunnar Henderson (SS) | Baltimore Orioles | 9.1 |
Alaska | No players |
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Arizona | Cody Bellinger (OF) | New York Yankees | 2.2 |
Arkansas | Jakob Junis (P) | Cleveland Guardians | 1.8 |
California | Aaron Judge (OF) | New York Yankees | 10.8 |
Colorado | Kevin Gausman (P) | Toronto Blue Jays | 0.9 |
Connecticut | Mark Vientos (3B) | New York Mets | 3.1 |
Delaware | Paul Goldschmidt (1B) | New York Yankees | 1.3 |
Florida | Chris Sale (P) | Atlanta Braves | 6.2 |
Georgia | Zack Wheeler (P) | Philadelphia Phillies | 6.1 |
Hawaii | Isiah Kiner-Falefa (SS) | Pittsburgh Pirates | 3.6 |
Idaho | Kyle Manzardo (DH) | Cleveland Guardians | 0.0 |
Illinois | Tyler Fitzgerald (SS) | San Francisco Giants | 2.7 |
Indiana | Sean Manaea (P) | New York Mets | 3.0 |
Iowa | Michael Wacha (P) | Kansas City Royals | 3.4 |
Kansas | Jacob Stallings (C) | Colorado Rockies | 1.8 |
Kentucky | Will Smith (C) | Los Angeles Dodgers | 3.5 |
Louisiana | Seth Lugo (P) | Kansas City Royals | 5.4 |
Maine | No players |
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Maryland | Jackson Merrill (OF) | San Diego Padres | 4.4 |
Massachusetts | Mike Yastrzemski (OF) | San Francisco Giants | 2.1 |
Michigan | Atlanta Braves | 2.7 | |
Minnesota | Michael Busch (1B) | Chicago Cubs | 2.8 |
Mississippi | Garrett Crochet (P) | Boston Red Sox | 4.1 |
Missouri | Tanner Houck (P) | Boston Red Sox | 3.5 |
Montana | Grant McCray (OF) | San Francisco Giants | 0.0 |
Nebraska | Alec Bohm (3B) | Philadelphia Phillies | 3.0 |
Nevada | Bryce Harper (1B) | Philadelphia Phillies | 4.8 |
New Hampshire | Jared Triolo (3B) | Pittsburgh Pirates | 1.3 |
New Jersey | Lawrence Butler (OF) | Athletics | 3.0 |
New Mexico | Alex Bregman (3B) | Boston Red Sox | 4.1 |
New York | Anthony Volpe (SS) | New York Yankees | 3.4 |
North Carolina | Corey Seager (SS) | Texas Rangers | 5.0 |
North Dakota | Matt Strahm (P) | Philadelphia Phillies | 2.5 |
Ohio | Kyle Schwarber (OF) | Philadelphia Phillies | 3.5 |
Oklahoma | J.T. Realmuto (C) | Philadelphia Phillies | 3.0 |
Oregon | Adley Rutschman (C) | Baltimore Orioles | 3.4 |
Pennsylvania | Ian Happ (OF) | Chicago Cubs | 3.9 |
Rhode Island | No players |
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South Carolina | Athletics | 2.2 | |
South Dakota | No players |
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Tennessee | Brent Rooker (DH) | Athletics | 5.6 |
Texas | Bobby Witt Jr. (SS) | Kansas City Royals | 9.4 |
Utah | Billy Cook (OF) | Pittsburgh Pirates | 0.6 |
Vermont | No players |
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Virginia | Brenton Doyle (OF) | Colorado Rockies | 4.0 |
Washington | Corbin Carroll (OF) | Arizona Diamondbacks | 3.4 |
West Virginia | Michael Grove (P) | Los Angeles Dodgers | -1.0 |
Wisconsin | Daulton Varsho (OF) | Toronto Blue Jays | 5.0 |
Wyoming | Brandon Nimmo (OF) | New York Mets | 2.2 |
Which Players Led The Way in 2024?
Based on the WAR totals from Baseball-Reference.com from the MLB season that was, we can ascertain that baseball-crazed states like California, Texas, Alabama, Florida and Georgia produced the best players in the league during the 2024 campaign.
That's because those states were home to MVP (or Cy Young) contenders like MLB WAR leader Aaron Judge, who hails from Sacramento (California), Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals (Texas) and Gunnar Henderson of the Baltimore Orioles (Alabama).
Throw in a pair of pitchers, in Atlanta Braves reigning NL Cy Young winner Chris Sale (Florida) and Zack Wheeler of the Philadelphia Phillies (Georgia) and you have the upper end of the WAR total on a statewide basis covered, while other states that produced top-tier MLB players (WAR wise) included Tennessee (Brent Rooker of the Athletics, at 5.6 WAR), Louisiana (Seth Lugo of the Kansas City Royals, at 5.4 WAR) and North Carolina (Corey Seager of the Texas Rangers, at 5.0 WAR), and you have the MLB WAR leaderboard covered from the year that was on the diamonds of "The Show."
Conversely, five states (Alaska, Maine, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Vermont) did not have a single homegrown player in the MLB last year, while locales like West Virginia (Michael Grove of the Los Angeles Dodgers, at -1.0 WAR), Montana (Grant McCray of the San Francisco Giants, at 0.0 WAR) and Utah (Billy Cook of the Pittsburgh Pirates, at 0.6 WAR) had the lowest high-end WAR generating MLB players during the 2024 campaign.
