The Five Best Players at Every Position in Diamond Dynasty for May 2024
The release of Team Affinity Chapter 3 for in MLB The Show’s Diamond Dynatsy last week brings us to the endgame of Season 1, which will conclude in less than a month. And the introduction of dozens of new 99 cards in that release has both reset the power curve in the game and jumbled many of the rankings of the best cards in Diamond Dynasty at each position.
With that in mind, here is our rankings of the top five best cards at every position in MLB The Show for May 2024.
Starting Pitchers
No. 1: 99 Pipeline Paul Skenes
Many players’ favorite pitcher in Diamond Dynasty in MLB The Show 23 was Skenes, who spent all of 2023 outside the majors and most of it carving up college baseball with LSU while also dating celebrity LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne, yet still had a 99 card that did damage with his devastating fastball. But now that Skenes has arrived in the majors — after arguably doing even more impressive things in the minors than he did with the Tigers — the 99 card that he has been granted, a Pipeline Series card with a special Top 5 treatment that includes a holographic effect, is set to dominate in MLB The Show 24.
And it’s not all about the Outlier-aided fastball that Skenes throws more often at triple-digit speeds in real life than basically any other pitcher in baseball history. His slider and sinker have 99 Break, and the sinker clocks in at 95 MPH, making it very much the “splinker” combining splitter and sinker that Twins fireballer Jhoan Duran has pioneered. His vulcan change and slurve give even more options to mix up batters. And great attributes, including a 112 K/9 and 120 Pitching Clutch that are close to as good as it gets for starting pitchers at the moment, back up the pitch mix.
The issue for this Skenes on the field is control, as only the fastball has a rating above 90 in that attribute. Effective pinpoint pitching can nullify some of that, but it’s a card that might be effectively wild rather than fully dominant in some starts. And then there’s the price, which is likely to sit in the low six figures unless there’s a way to generate Chase Packs on the horizon.
No. 2: 99 Jin Kim Satchel Paige
Even less accessible than a Chase Pack card, though, is a Season Collection reward card, and that helps Skenes nudge this Paige down to No. 2, along with his unusual and difficult to master motion. There’s plenty to love about the pitch repertoire, with a “perfect” four-seamer (99 MPH with Outlier, 99 Control, 99 Break) and some dramatic pitch speed differences, but Satchel’s stats aren’t quite as maximized as some of the cards released later in Season 1 and he’s also just not that widely used thanks to the difficulty in unlocking him.
No. 3: 99 Hyper Jake Arrieta
It doesn’t make a ton of sense that the best three pitchers in Diamond Dynasty are a) a guy with one MLB start b) a Negro Leagues legend who never got the fair chance to dominate MLB in his prime and c) a returning Legend who won just one Cy Young, but it’s May and things are weird.
Arrieta mixes power with precision best among the top starters available in Diamond Dynasty, with a primary sinker and a four-seamer that should play in the mid-90s and five controllable pitches, three with great break. The fastball-sinker-slider trio is a familiar one that lends itself to pitch sequencing and tunneling, and a maxed-out 125 Pitching Clutch is very helpful.
This is a World Series reward for the stretch of Season 1 in which almost everyone angling for that level will have a god squad, though, and it is — and is going to be — wildly expensive as a result.
No. 4: Hyper Kerry Wood
It ALSO doesn’t make a ton of sense for Cubs pitchers to be two of the top four starters in DD — but given that this Hyper Series Wood found in Team Affinity is more or less meant to represent the version that fanned 20 batters in one of the greatest pitching performances in history, this card does make a bit more sense as a dominant one than Arrieta’s does.
In a lot of ways, this is just a slightly deprecated version of Skenes, with a murderous fastball and a five-pitch mix that enables some interesting sequencing. But Wood’s control is significantly worse and those four off-speed pitches do not include a slider or sinker, with the cutter coming in fourth and not being particularly great.
But it’s also a “free” card that requires only 60,000 XP in the NL Central Team Affinity Chapter 3 reward path, and there’s no better card in that vein.
No. 5: Hyper CC Sabathia
The state of lefty starters in Diamond Dynasty is dire at present. Three of the six 99s are Yankees, and two of them — Babe Ruth and Andy Pettitte — are primarily a hitter and a soft-tosser, respectively. Thank goodness for Carston Charles Sabathia, then, who stands in for the best possible versions of Randy Johnson or Clayton Kershaw as an excellent but not unhittable southpaw.
The Hyper Series Sabathia is difficult to obtain as a Season 1 Collection reward, admittedly, but he’s worth it, with an essentially perfect repertoire — fastball, slider, circle change, sinker, cutter — that has five different velocities and 90+ Break on the breaking balls. At 6’7”, he’s tall enough to have sweeping motion on all those pitches, too, and Break Outlier protects against hanging them.
While his attributes are more great than insane — only his 116 Stamina is beyond 109 — there simply isn’t a better lefty starter in DD than Sabathia for now, and probably won’t be until Season 2 brings that vaunted Johnson or Kershaw, or perhaps a juiced version of Shota Imanaga.
Honorable No. 6: Hyper Kodai Senga
The back end of this top five could have a lot of names here, as there’s certainly a drop-off after the top three starters. So let’s install Senga at the sixth spot, with his incredible break, great fastball, and cluster of 81-85 MPH forkball — the “ghost fork” — and slider and slurve giving him a maddening pitch mix.
As with the other few pitchers at 99 at this stage of the game, the attributes are very good but not overwhelming on Senga, and the control is a touch low. But being eligible for the Lefty AND Asian-Born Captain boosts can make him a much better ace if you’re willing to build a team around him.
Honorable mentions: 97 Second Half Heroes Jacob DeGrom; 99 Hyper Tom Glavine
Relief Pitchers
There is a lot less to say about the best relievers in Diamond Dynasty than the best starters because they almost all fall into the same archetype: Flamethrowers with Outlier fastballs and great Pitching Clutch stats to effectively shrink PCIs. Treinen, Wilson, and Hoffman all have 125 Pitching Clutch, but Treinen’s the one of those three who might touch triple digits and has the flatly ideal four-pitch mix with a sinker-slider-fastball-cutter pool.
Gossage’s fastball is one of the very few maxed-out ones in the game — 99 MPH plus Outlier plus 99 Control and Break — but he’s expensive relative to the other options here and the rest of his pitchers range from decent to actively bad (his 85 MPH changeup has 73 Break, in case you’d like to give up a homer for fun). Hoffman is probably a better use of 40,000 Stubs, as he’ll keep boosting other bullpen arms as the year goes on.
Treinen, Wilson, and Henke are all “free” Team Affinity cards, though, so there’s no real reason to invest heavily in relievers.
Honorable mention: 99 Season Awards Ryan Helsley; 95 Finest Rollie Fingers; 95 Second Half Heroes Edwin Díaz; 94 Season Awards Mason Miller; 93 Second Half Heroes Rob Dibble
First Base
No. 1: 99 Hall of Fame Babe Ruth
I mean, were you expecting anyone else?
Ruth’s 99 Live Series Collection reward card is the best hitter in the game statistically, with maxed-out Contact and Power stats against both righties and lefties and all the Quirks you could want on a hitter. He’s probably going to be the best left-handed batter in the game for the duration of the year, and he also provides the flexibility as a strong that only one other batter in the game can truly match.
But his effective price is still in seven figures, and with Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts off to blistering starts, the highest end of the Live Series might actually get MORE expensive in a way that keeps Ruth’s price high for longer than anticipated. Realistically, this is more like a No. 1 with an asterisk — and also some potentially adventurous defense.
No. 2: 99 Hyper Edgar Martinez
It says something about first base as a position that the best choices at the position right now in DD do not have it as a primary position.
Martinez is simply one of the best bats in the game, an insoluble problem for lefties and a menace against righties. The price paid for that is shoddy to shocking dedense that is probably better suited to designated hitter than first. But without having other options available at first, players can grit their teeth through errors if Edgar swats enough homers to compensate.
No. 3: 99 Hyper Harmon Killebrew
Yeah, the No. 3 first baseman isn’t a primary first baseman, either.
Killebrew — who will show up again in these rankings — has a bat good enough to play at first and defense that won’t be atrocious there, and is also eligible for the Nolan Arenado Captain boosts that could get his Contact against righties to 122 and his Batting Clutch to 117, if players build out a lead-footed lineup.
No. 4: 99 Hyper Willie Stargell
Please don’t tell me you were expecting a first baseman.
Stargell’s primary position of left field asks players to risk trying to chase down fly balls with 46 Speed. It’s a much better idea to deploy him at first, where he eventually played with the Pirates, and enjoy one of the best left-handed bats in the game, with 121/125 Contact/Power against righties and 125 Clutch. Just the first tier of the Lefty Captain boosts maxes out that Contact, too.
No. 5: 99 Milestone Prince Fielder
Finally, a real first baseman — who is arguably just a lesser version of Stargell.
The Lefty Captain boosts can help Fielder substantially, but it’s his arsenal of 10 different hitting Quirks that might make him outplay stats that aren’t outstanding outside of his maxed Power versus righties. Among a slew of Team Affinity options, Fielder checking in at about a 60K price tag also isn’t great.
Honorable No. 6: 99 Hyper Jeff Bagwell
In theory, Bagwell should be a great first baseman. He has a lot of the profile Fielder does flipped over the plate as a right-handed bat, with a bit more bias toward contact.
But it’s that bias that makes putting Bagwell at first a waste of a spot that could be allovaged to a much better power hitter, and though his defense is excellent for the spot, the Matt Olson that’s in the honorable mentions here is the obvious choice for a defensive first baseman, if an expensive one that will struggle against lefties.
If Bagwell is the “best” “free” “first baseman” in Diamond Dynasty right now, it’s only because you have to use the quotes to produce the proper context.
Honorable mentions: 99 Awards Matt Olson; 99 Hyper Brad Miller; 99 Hyper D.J. LeMahieu
Second Base
No. 1: 99 Milestone Honus Wagner / No. 2: 99 Hyper Brian Roberts
Sorry, secondary positions for premier players matter here at second, too.
Wagner’s blend of contact hitting, speed, and elite defense is basically unmatched among players eligible at second, and though Roberts is significantly better with Switch-Hitting Captain Carlos Santana in the lineup and maxed-out, Wagner’s maxed-out speed and bunting to go with a great swing make him very slightly better in this book.
No. 3: 99 Hyper Eduardo Escobar
If players are willing to sacrifice a little defense at second, though, they can get a lot more pop than Wagner and even a boosted Roberts can provide with Escobar, whose array of 100+ Contact/Power stats plus switch hitting might not get touched by actual second basemen for a while, given the notoriously shallow pool at the position.
No. 4: 99 Hyper Brad Miller / No. 5: 99 Prime Trevor Story
In case that shallow pool wasn’t obvious enough, here are two more shortstops. Of the two, Miller is the better hitter, especially given his much better Vision and a maxed-out Power stat don’t even factor in his own switch hitting, but Story is a much better defender and runner — this being a card dating to his Rockies days — and his swing is sweet.
But yes, it’s probably a bad thing that four of the five best second basemen in Diamond Dynasty are not actually second basemen by trade.
Honorable mentions: 98 Awards Ozzie Albies; 97 The Show Classics Yoan Moncada; 97 The Show Classics Niko Goodrum
Third Base
No. 1: Eduardo Escobar / No. 2 Harmon Killebrew
There’s not much point in belaboring the point here: Escobar and Killebrew are so good at the plate that they’re excellent at both their home positions and other ones in the infield. Neither is a particularly great fielder, but neither is a liability at the hot corner, either.
No. 3: 99 Milestone George Brett / No. 4: Edgar Martinez / No. 5: 99 Hyper Mike Schmidt
Brett’s the best contact hitter at third available in DD. Martinez is the best hitter at third, period, but is a defensive liability who plays better at first. Schmidt’s the best defensive third baseman of the three — and this top five — by a sight, but this version’s hitting stats are underwhelming.
Brett’s status as a Collection reward makes him much more difficult to get than all of these other four Team Affinity players, which is probably a tiebreaker against him.
Honorable mentions: 99 Hyper Wade Boggs; 97 Awards Matt Chapman; Story; Miller
Shortstop
No. 1: 99 Milestone Jimmy Rollins
Bizarre, isn’t it, that Rollins never played anywhere but shortstop for a meaningful stretch? So he shows up here as the obvious best shortstop in Diamond Dynasty but doesn’t work anywhere else in the field.
No matter, really: With the Santana boosts he’s an elite contact hitter with great defense and blazing speed; with the David Ortiz boosts, he’s a power-hitting shortstop with great defense and blazing speed. The compact swing and smaller strike zone also make Rollins easy to hit with, and a sleeve of Quirks make him good in a variety of scenarios.
No. 2: Escobar / No. 3: Miller
Still, Escobar and Miller are going to provide slightly more pop than Rollins, and are far more obtainable…
No. 4: Wagner / No. 5: Story
…and there are other options that are great bang for the buck and could win players over long before they have access to Rollins. Not the Team Affinity options, though — Alan Trammell and Robin Yount don’t have the bats to compete with the moonlighters.
Honorable mentions: Goodrum; 96 Topps Now Wenceel Perez; 97 Pipeline Brooks Lee
Catcher
No. 1: 99 Finest Jorge Posada
If you want one position that is truly weird in Diamond Dynasty, it’s catcher. The lack of elite versions of players like Johnny Bench, Joe Mauer, Mike Piazza, or Josh Gibson means that the standard-bearers at the moment are players like Posada who were great briefly but not quite Hall of Famers.
Posada is always a quality DD option because of his switch hitting and great contact, and this might be the best version of him released this year. Too bad it’s a World Series reward, because the price tag means few players outside of online demons will ever roster him.
No. 2: 95 Captain Carlos Santana
Being eligible for your own Captain boost is so clutch. Tier 3 for Santana maxes out his Contact against lefties and gets his Batting Clutch to 120, which makes the card itself a legitimate weapon outside its boosts.
But let’s be real: The boosts are build-enabling, probably the best of any Captain currently in the game, and the reasons that this card is unlikely to be dislodged from this top five even as better catchers are released.
No. 3: 93 Standout Mike Napoli / No. 4: Topps Now Mitch Garver
Catcher is a position where nearly every player is slow, so the value of contact hitting is diminished and the value of power is greater. Napoli and Garver don’t have a single Contact stat over 100 before boosts and don’t have a single Power stat under 105 even without boosts. Napoli has a couple more Quirks and so he gets a slight edge here, but they’re essentially the same player.
No. 5: 99 Pipeline Samuel Basallo
Weird but true: The Orioles are not actually attempting to field a roster entirely consisting of catchers. But with Basallo getting this Pipeline card, Adley Rutschman — arguably the best catcher currently in Major League Baseball — is going to need a 99 card to eclipse a minor leaguer in his own organization.
Now, that hypothetical Rutschman would be a switch-hitter with better defense than Basallo, and should have a bunch more Quirks. But this is a solid card for a little-known prospect for now — and it means the Orioles have two catchers at or above 90 overall, neither of which is Adley.
Honorable mentions: 99 Hyper Gary Carter; 96 Season Awards Cal Raleigh; 93 Topps Now Patrick Bailey; 93 Second Half Heroes Joe Torre
Outfielders
When it comes to outfielders in MLB The Show, the proliferation of secondary positions for players who were primarily stationed at one position in reality makes it difficult to differentiate between what a left fielder or right fielder is actually individually worth. Players with great arms are going to be most valuable as right fielders; great speed and reactions translate best to center field; arm strength and defense tend to matter less for left fielders.
So this ranking exercise is less an argument for any player to be put somewhere specific in the outfield and more a ranking of players who have outfield positional eligibility.
No. 1: Babe Ruth
For example: Do you want to play Ruth in the outfield when he could be better used as a first baseman or designated hitter? Probably not. But you could, and you’d have the best hitter in the game at a spot that opens up other ones for great hitters.
No. 2: 99 Hall of Fame Willie Mays
Great at everything and bad at nothing, this is one of the better Mays cards ever released early on in Diamond Dynasty. That it is also not truly extraordinary at anything and has the Hall of Fame Series treatment is perhaps a sign that no subsequent Mays card will actually surpass this one, which would be a shame — it has historically been difficult to capture the power that allowed Mays to regularly threaten or belt 50 homers and made him one of the few MLB players to homer four times in a game.
But for now, this is probably the most complete outfielder in MLB The Show.
No. 3: 99 Hall of Fame Larry Walker
Walker might quietly be among the best non-Ruth hitters in all of Diamond Dynasty with the Kershaw boost applied, but he’s also a capable fielder and has a buttery swing that has helped him outdo his on-card numbers since his debut in DD. He shouldn’t play over Ruth or Mays, but he’s winning the arguments against everyone else.
No. 4: 99 Hyper Hunter Renfroe
And if you want a card that does what its stats say it should, there’s the Hunter Renfroe that joins Ruth as one of the vanishingly rare cards with maxed-out Power against both righties and lefties with no boosts needed — and also has 99 Arm Strength. The best version of Renfroe is annually a fearsome slugger who will strike out often and throw out runners from right; this one is that, unequivocally.
No. 5: 99 Hyper Eric Davis
This is a tough list to keep to five, as the honorable mentions will demonstrate, but Davis has a specialized role — destroyer of lefties — and maxed-out speed that matters a little more than anything else in center field. He’ll struggle against righties, and maybe works better as a pinch hitter or defensive replacement as a result, but the best Davis cards always perform.
Honorable mentions: 99 Hyper Jim Edmonds; 99 Pipeline Max Clark; 99 Hyper Andre Dawson; Stargell; 97 The Show Classics Yordan Alvarez; 99 Hyper Gary Sheffield; 99 Season Awards Jurickson Profar; 97 The Show Classics Jesse Winker; 96 Second Half Heroes Dante Bichette
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