Top 10 MLB Players – March 2019

Apr 15, 2019 | Athlete Spotlights

Top MLB Players With the Highest Social Interactions Among Fans

March is an important month in the baseball world as it sees Spring Training end and meaningful MLB baseball begin. The MLB season began March 20th in Tokyo, Japan with a series between the Oakland A’s and Seattle Mariners. Opening Day for the rest of the league was stateside on March 28th. Nine of our top ten baseball players began their season on the 28th, the only absentee being Francisco Lindor while he recovers from an ankle injury. Two of our top ten players debuted with a new team, Yasiel Puig with the Cincinnati Reds and Bryce Harper with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Alex Bregman, Houston Astros Third Baseman, Leads March Interactions

Alex Bregman finds himself in the number one spot for the month of March, and not without reason. Bregman signed a 6 year, $100M extension with the Houston Astros on March 22nd, and his first video post following the announcement racked up over 170,000 views and nearly 85,000 interactions. The extension with the Astros isn’t the only notable contract Bregman signed in March. On the 19th, he announced via Instagram post that he was joining Adidas as a sponsored athlete.

Bregman was one of 11 players featured in MLB’s ‘Let The Kids Play’ advertisement, which highlights some of MLB’s brightest young stars. Also featured in the ad was Francisco Lindor, who is number 6 on our list.

Justin Turner, Los Angeles Dodgers Third Baseman, Grabs Fourth Position

Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner had a taste of Hollywood in March, appearing as a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to help usher in the new MLB season. Turner’s time on national television played a role in his 6.1k follower gain. However, his most popular post came after Opening Day, tallying nearly 40,000 interactions after asking Dodgers fans to make themselves known. That post wasn’t the only time Turner interacted with his fans. During March he shared a fan’s drawing, held a caption contest, asked for fashion tips, and even hosted a giveaway in an advertisement for the new Aquaman movie.

Bryce Harper, Philadelphia Phillies Outfielder, Jumps to Tenth

Although reports of Bryce Harper’s record free agent deal with the Philadelphia Phillies first surfaced at the tail end of February, the deal was officially announced March 1st and led to Harper jumping 19 spots to 10th on our list. The signing helped Harper gain 32.6k new followers across social media. The 13 year, $330M contract Harper signed with the Phillies was the largest contract in MLB history at the time of the signing, only surpassed by Mike Trout’s $426M extension with the Los Angeles Angels coming later in March.

Harper’s first social media post following his signing came on Twitter discussing MLB The Show 19, a baseball video game featuring him on the cover. That March 2nd post received nearly 7,500 retweets and 47,000 likes. Harper broke his Instagram silence a couple days later with a picture referencing his new city that earned nearly 250k interactions.

The Wrap Up

March was a popular month for our top 10 as they totaled a combined 4.3M interactions, more than double what the February top 10 totaled. In April, look for a shakeup in the top 10 as players’ posting habits can change once the season begins. Some players will limit their social media usage to focus on playing, others will take the opportunity to increase interaction with followers that are more locked in on the world of baseball.

Note: All data is from official Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram Business accounts. Any personal Instagram account data is not included in these rankings.


Written by David Shevlin
David currently works as a Technical Product Expert with Hookit. He previously worked in the baseball industry, spending a year with Baseball Info Solutions and two years with the Chicago White Sox. He spends his free time playing and coaching volleyball, playing board games, discovering new music, and watching baseball, basketball, and golf.

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