2016’s Best Paid Baseball Players

The top 10 highest-paid baseball players in the MLB for the 2016 season.

Mike Trout The Best Player in Baseball

At only 25 years old, Mike Trout is already considered the best player in baseball. In 2016, he was the highest paid player in baseball, earning $30.1 million. Trout is an outfielder for the Los Angeles Angels He has been selected for the All-Star team five times and has won two Silver Slugger Awards.

Clayton Kershaw The Best Pitcher in Baseball

Clayton Kershaw a left-handed pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers is widely considered to be the best pitcher in baseball. In 2016, Kershaw signed a 7 year/$215 million contract extension making him the highest paid pitcher in baseball history Kershaw has won 3 Cy Young Awards (given to the best pitcher in each league), and he has been named an All-Star 7 times.

Miguel Cabrera A Top Hitter in Baseball

Miguel Cabrera, nicknamed “Miggy”, is a professional baseball player from Venezuela. He currently plays for the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball (MLB) as a first baseman and designated hitter He previously played for the Florida Marlins and the Atlanta Braves Cabrera is a two-time American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP), winning the award in 2012 and 2013. He is a nine-time MLB All-Star and won the National League (NL) batting title in 2013.

Cabrera has led Major League Baseball in several offensive categories, including average (.325 or higher four times), home runs (42 or more three times), RBIs (119 or more five times), and Slugging percentage (.622 or higher three times). As of 2016, he ranked sixth all-time in career slugging percentage (.565), seventh in home runs (438), and ninth in RBIs (1,525). Cabrera’s number 24 is one of eight numbers retired by the Detroit Tigers organization.

Jose Altuve A Top Hitter in Baseball

Jose Altuve 2016’s best paid baseball player is a top hitter in baseball The 5’6″ second baseman from Venezuela has been with the Houston Astros since he was signed as an international free agent in 2007. He made his Major League debut in 2011 and has been one of the best players in baseball since. In 2016, he led the American League in hits (216), batting average (.338), and stolen bases (30). He was also second in the AL in runs scored (108) and fourth in RBIs (96). For his career, Altuve has a .317 batting average 1,419 hits, 202 stolen bases, and 734 runs scored.

Kris Bryant A Top Hitter in Baseball

Kris Bryant is an American professional baseball third baseman and outfielder who plays in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs Bryant was the College World Series Most Outstanding Player as a sophomore. Kris Bryant was selected by the Cubs with the second overall pick in the 2013 major league baseball draft. After two years in minor league baseball he made his MLB debut in 2015. In 2016, he became one of only four players ever to win both Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player awards in the same season; he was also the National League leader in home runs that year. He was featured on the cover of ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue that year.

Josh Donaldson- A Top Hitter in Baseball

Josh Donaldson, third baseman for the Toronto Blue Jays led the Major Leagues in runs batted in during the 2015 season. He batted .297 with 41 Home Runs and 123 RBIs. These statistics helped him earn a spot on the American League All-Star team. Donaldson also won a Silver Slugger Award and a Fielding Bible Award in 2015.

Bryce Harper A Top Hitter in Baseball

Bryce Harper is one of the young, upcoming hitters in Baseball Today He has already had an extremely successful career, and many people believe that he has not even come close to hitting his peak yet. Harper was the first overall pick in the 2010 MLB Draft by the Washington Nationals In 2012, he made his MLB debut at the age of 19, and quickly made an impact by becoming one of the youngest players ever to hit a home run in his first Major League at-bat. Harper had a breakout season in 2015, when he was named the National League MVP. He was also named to the All-Star team for the second time in his career. Harper’s success has continued into 2016, as he is currently leading the National League in home runs He is also batting .291 with 89 RBIs. Harper’s play has helped lead the Washington Nationals to first place in the NL East division.

Paul Goldschmidt- A Top Hitter in Baseball

Paul Goldschmidt is an American Professional Baseball first baseman and corner infielder who plays for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball (MLB). He is a five-time All-Star, has won three Gold Glove Awards and shares the MLB record for most home runs in a season by a first baseman. He has also led the National League in home runs twice, and in RBIs once.

Felix Hernandez- A Top Pitcher in Baseball

Felix Hernandez, nicknamed “King Felix”, is a Venezuelan Professional Baseball pitcher for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB). Hernandez has been a pitcher since he was 16 years old. He signed with the Mariners at the age of 17 and made his MLB debut in 2005.

Hernandez’s fastball reaches up to 95 miles per hour (153 km/h), and he also mixes in a slider, curveball, and changeup. He is known for his ability to pitch deep into games; he has pitched 13 complete games and six shutouts in his career, including three perfect games, the fifth-most in MLB history. Hernandez was the AL ERA leader in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2015; he led the league in strikeouts in 2010 and 2014. He won the AL Cy Young Award in 2010, making him the Mariners’ first Cy Young winner as well as the first Venezuelan to win the award. He finished sixth in Cy Young votingin 2009 and third in 2009, 2011 and 2012.

In August 2012, Hernandez signed a seven-year contract extension with the Mariners worth $175 million, which made him baseball’s highest-paid pitcher at that time. In 2015, he became just the third pitcher since 1900 to post an ERA under 2.00 while striking out 200 or more batters and allowing less than 100 earned runs Bob Gibson (1968) and Greg Maddux (1995) are the only other pitchers to have accomplished this feat.

Madison Bumgarner- A Top Pitcher in Baseball

Madison Bumgarner a left-handed pitcher for the San Francisco Giants is one of baseball’s top paid players. Born in North Carolina in 1989, Bumgarner was drafted out of High School by the Giants in 2007. After working his way through the minor leagues, he made his Giants debut in 2009.

Bumgarner quickly established himself as a key member of the Giants pitching staff. He helped the team win the World Series in 2010 and 2012, and was named the National League Championship Series Most Valuable Player in 2014. He is a four-time All-Star, and won the Silver Slugger Award in 2015.

During his seven seasons with the Giants, Bumgarner has compiled an impressive record of 94 wins and 68 losses. He has a career earned run average of 3.13, and has struck out more than 1,500 batters.

In 2016, Madison Bumgarner will earn a salary of $11.5 million dollars. He is currently signed to a five-year contract that runs through 2019, and is set to earn $12 million dollars per year during that time.