Without further adieu, my list of top leadoff guys in the game today.

1. Ichiro – Since coming into the Majors in 2001 at age 27 Ichiro has been one of the most consistant players of all time.  In 8 seasons, Ichiro has had at LEAST 206 hits and 103 runs.  Ichiro is just 118 hits shy of 2,000 just in America alone.  He holds a career batting average of .332 and an OBP of .377.  In his first season Ichiro won ROY and MVP and has been an all-star each year since entering the league.  Ichiro is a 1st ballot Hall of Famer in America and Japan in my opinion.

2. Grady Sizemore- Sizemore may have only hit .277 and .268 in each of the last two seasons, but I still believe he is the best leadoff hitter in the game.  He gets on base .366% of the time which is what you want from a leadoff hitter.  He also possesses a unique amount of power and speed which has lead him to score at least 101 runs the past four seasons including a Major League high 134 in 2006.  Over the last 4 seasons, Sizemore has 22, 28, 24 and 33 homeruns to go along with 22, 22, 33 and 38 steals.  If he could just bring his career average of .275 up to around .285 he could be one of the best ever.

3. Alfonso Soriano- Soriano is second all-time in leadoff homeruns behind Ricky Henderson.  He has 54 leadoff homeruns and he just surpassed Craig Biggio for that honor.  Soriano’s OBP is the lowest of leadoff hitters I will be talking about and his is a whopping .327 but carries a career .280 batting average to go along with a .517 slugging percentage which is tops on this list.  Soriano has seven consecutive years of at least 25 homeruns, all this from a leadoff guy.  He also has five seasons of at least 90+ RBI in his 8 year career.  In 2006 with the Washington Nationals, Soriano went 40-40 hitting 46 homeruns and stealing 41 bases.  In 2002, he was one homerun shy of performing the fate in what would have been his first time.  Soriano’s only gripe with me is he strikes out WAY too much and he chases pitches way out of the zone way too often.  Soriano is a 7-time all-star and right now is on pace for his 8th AS appearence in a row!  He is a wannabe Vlad but also my favorite player!

2nd All-time in leadoff HRs.

4. Jose Reyes- Reyes’ career OBP of .337 may not be protypical for a leadoff hitter but he led the Majors in steals three years in a row (his 1st three full seasons in the Majors) with 60, 64 and 78 respectively.  He has also led the league in triples three times in his four years including 19 in ’08.  Reyes four-year averages for runs – 113, hits – 195, triples – 16 and stolen bases – 64.  Reyes leadership role is the only thing holding him back from being the best leadoff hitter in the game.

5. Johnny Damon – 100+ runs 9 consecutive seasons is quite the accomplishment.  In Damon’s career, he has score 1,421 runs and almost 500 doubles (429).  He is also an average hitting with a career average of .289 and a .355 OBP.  Damon has walked 50+ times in 11 consecutive seasons and has driven in 70+ runs 6 times.  Damon’s stolen base percentage is just under 80% and has swiped 367 bags for his career.

6. Brian Roberts- To me Brian Roberts is always flying under the radar because he plays in Baltimore and they are never in contention to compete.  In six full seasons in the Bigs, Roberts has scored over 100 runs three times.  In that span, Roberts has four seasons of 40+ doubles.  He one-ups Sizemore in the stolen base department after stealing 50 bags in ’07 and 40 last year.  Roberts career high in RBI is 73 vs. 90 for Sizemore last year.

7. Carl Crawford- Crawford is a high average type player.  His career average is .295 and when he gets on base he creates runs.  This will be Crawfords 7th full season in the Big Leagues and has already led the league in steals 4 times, each of those times with 50+ steals.  In 2005-2007 Crawford drove in 81, 77 and 80 runs respectively.  He, like Reyes, has led the league in triples 3 times as well including 19 in 2004!  Crawford only scored 100+ runs twice in his career, both early on in 2004 (104) and 2005 (101).  The reason being is Crawford doesn’t walk much at all, he holds a career .333 OBP and his career high in walks is just 37 in 2006.  For the most part Crawford is a contact hitter and struck out over 100 times just twice but for the most part hasn’t exceeded 85 Ks in any other season.

8. Jimmy Rollins- Jimmy Rollins bats .270 one year and .290 the next.  Rollins is an 8 year veteran and has stole 30+ bases in 7 of those seasons.  He has a career OBP of just .330 though which is a lot like most of the guys on this list.  Over the last two years, Rollins has been hitting for power and in 2007 jacked 30 HRs and drove in 94 runs on his way to his 1st MVP but again, the follow year he hit just 11 HRs and had just 59 RBI and his almost 20 points lower.  Rollins has collected at least 190 hits in each of the last 4 years which shows you that he gets on base a lot and during the span has scored at least 115 runs.

9. Curtis Granderson- The only player to ever go 20-20-20-20 (2B-3B-HR-SB) and he did it in 2007.  That is such an unreal stat if you ask me.  Granderson slugged .552 that year and I consider him a top leadoff man because he is always a threat to leg out a triple and has a .349 OBP.  Granderson averages 108 runs per year as well as 21 HRs a year and already has 13 this year.  For as speedy as Granderson is, he isn’t the best of baserunners and his career high in that category is just 26.

The 20-20-20-20 man.

Honorable Mention: Ian Kinsler – The only reason Kinsler isn’t in the top 10 is because in his 3 full years as a big leaguer he hasn’t played more than 130 games.  Although, in that span he has hit 14, 20 and 18 homeruns respectively and he already has 15 this year.  Kinsler hits for average as well and carries a .288 BA with a .359 OBP and a .483 SLG.  Kinsler would have won MVP last year if he didn’t miss the last 41 games of the season.  In 121 games he still scored 102 runs, stole 26 bases, hit 18 HR and drove in 71 runs.  Kinsler’s career high in strikeouts is just 83 which is good for a leadoff hitter, he puts the ball in play and uses his speed and smarts to generate runs.

Obviously there was others whose feelings may have gotten hurt during the making of this list like Rafael Furcal, Jacoby Ellsbury, Chonse Figgins etc. but remember this is my list my opinion.  Leave a comment on who you think should have made the list!