The top five of the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings mostly earned their keep on Saturday. Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers remains on top after collecting a home run and a walk in four trips in a 4-2 win over the Giants. Paul Goldschmidt of the Cardinals also homered, picking up a single and walk as well in a 6-3 win over the Reds. Goldschmidt’s game score of 68 was the fourth highest on the day. That puts him second.

Yordan Alvarez of the Astros posted the weakest performance of the top five, drawing a walk in four trips to the plate in a 3-1 win over the Mariners. He stands in third place.

Aaron Judge of the Yankees earned the highest game score of the day, a 74, as he goes four for five with two doubles. That keeps him in fourth place. He remains on pace to hit 61 home runs, with his most likely home run total at 52. His probability of hitting at least 62 home runs stands at 0.0105.

Austin Riley of the Braves moves into the top five after posting a game score of 72, third highest on the day. He goes three for four with a home run as Atlanta pounds LAnaheim again, this time by a score of 7-2. Riley, at seasonal age 25, looks like he will greatly expand on the power he showed in 2021. Last year he hit 33 home runs in 162 games. He already has 28 home runs in 94 games this season. He’s part of that excellent young core that should keep the Braves competitive for a while. With the win and the Mets loss, Atlanta is now just 1/2 game back in the NL East, but one game down in the all freaking important loss column (AFILC).