It has been Aaron Judge this and Shohei Ohtani that for the past several months of the 2024 Major League Baseball season, but there are many other, overshadowed players also having stellar runs through the current campaign.

For each of these 10 players, not only are we going to tell you how good they've been this season, but we're also going to tell you exactly who/what has been to blame for their underappreciation.

It might be a different star on their own team, a player elsewhere in the league doing the same thing even better, the misfortune of playing in a small market or a combination of all three. But everyone on this list deserves more attention than they have gotten thus far.

Unless otherwise noted, statistics are current through the start of play on Saturday. Players are presented in alphabetical order by last name.

Willy Adames, SS, Milwaukee Brewers

Season Stats: .249/.330/.462, 30 HR, 85 R, 102 RBI, 18 SB

Overshadowed By: Bobby Witt Jr., Jackson Chourio and playing in a small market

How are we not marveling at Willy Adames on a daily basis?

No, seriously, how?

The Brewers were supposed to be terrible. We're talking preseason World Series odds of +9000, tied with the Miami Marlins in that regard. We're also talking a preseason win total of 76.5, just one game ahead of the Pittsburgh Pirates at 75.5 in what was supposed to be the race for the NL Central basement.

Yet, they just might win their division by the widest margin of any team this season, and have emerged as a legitimate threat to win it all.

That's certainly not because of their starting rotation.

It's because of the shortstop who has put up year-to-date numbers pretty well on par with what has gotten Francisco Lindor up to the second-best odds to win NL MVP, on a $300+ million Mets roster that still may well miss the postseason.

That's the soon-to-be free agent shortstop of the Brewers, I might add, which makes his lack of recognition even more baffling. Spotrac suggests Adames should be headed for a $175M contract this offseason, which might be an underestimation after the incredible season he has had, in sole possession of the NL lead in RBI as recently as Wednesday morning.

Of course, we know the answer to the question.

Few are talking about Adames because he plays for Milwaukee, which is the smallest market franchise in all of baseball.

Rookie Jackson Chourio has been the one stealing that club's limited spotlight ever since Christian Yelich's back injury knocked him out of the picture. And Kansas City's Bobby Witt Jr. is (deservedly) this year's token small market star making daily national waves.

But get ready for Adames to instantly become a much bigger deal this offseason—if and when he signs that nine-figure contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Jarren Duran, OF, Boston Red Sox

Season Stats: .288/.344/.507, 21 HR, 103 R, 72 RBI, 32 SB

Overshadowed By: His two-game suspension for directing an anti-gay slur at a fan; Rafael Devers; and a pitching staff keeping Boston out of the playoff race

FanGraphs rates Jarren Duran as the seventh-most valuable player in baseball this season.

Baseball Reference has him at No. 3, behind only Aaron Judge and Bobby Witt Jr.

Yet, it's Rafael Devers—22nd in FanGraphs WAR; 29th in Baseball Reference WAR—who has consistently been the member of the Red Sox showing up somewhere in the top 10 of AL MVP betting odds.

A big reason why that's the case is that a significant chunk of Duran's value is derived from his defense while, if anything, Devers' play at third base is tanking his value added. And unless a player's glove has come to be regarded as either the best or worst in the majors, defense is rarely a factor in MVP discussions. (See: Shohei Ohtani running away with NL MVP without playing a single inning in the field this season.)

To be clear, though, Duran's offense has been sensational, too.

In addition to the stat line above, he is one ahead of Alec Bohm for the MLB lead in doubles and is tied with Corbin Carroll for the MLB lead in triples.

If he can pull it off, Duran would become the first player to at least tie for the MLB lead in both doubles and triples in a single season since Lou Brock in 1968.

But considering he wasn't voted as one of the three outfield starters for the All-Star Game, you probably didn't even know that Duran is one of five players this season with at least 20 home runs and 30 stolen bases, let alone that little factoid about his doubles and triples.

Freddie Freeman, 1B, Los Angeles Dodgers

Season Stats: .280/.379/.478, 21 HR, 83 RBI

Overshadowed By: Shohei Ohtani's quest for 50/50

By the incredible standards Freddie Freeman has established over the past decade, this hasn't been a banner year by any means. Barring a flourish to the finish line over the next two weeks, he's going to end up with both his lowest batting average and his lowest OPS since 2015.

But, I mean, he's still having one heck of a season.

Prior to a recent slump of one hit in his last 17 ABs, Freeman was top 10 in batting average among qualified NL hitters, as well as top five in OPS. His numbers were pretty well on par with those of Bryce Harper and NL Rookie of the Year favorite Jackson Merrill.

The kicker is that he turned 35 on Thursday.

Maybe we're jaded a bit by the fact that Paul Goldschmidt won an MVP two years ago in a season in which he turned 35 in September, but this ain't normal.

Save for what Goldy did in 2022 and Nelson Cruz somehow averaging 40 home runs per year in his age-35 through age-38 seasons, guys continuing to hit like this into the latter half of their 30s have been few and far between.

Instead of being continually amazed by it, though, Freeman's 54 extra-base hits have gone basically unnoticed against the backdrop of both Shohei Ohtani's historic 50/50 quest and the fact that the Dodgers might end up with the best record in baseball despite needing to use literally 17 different starting pitchers while cycling through high-profile stints on the IL.

Logan Gilbert, RHP, Seattle Mariners

Season Stats: 185.2 IP, 7-11, 3.15 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 9.3 K/9

Overshadowed By: The lack of run support responsible for that losing record

Logan Gilbert is having a pretty phenomenal season.

He's leading the majors in WHIP. There's a decent chance he's going to lead the majors in innings pitched, too, presently trailing only that other durable Logan (Webb) and Seth Lugo in that department, and not by much.

Care to guess the last time a pitcher pulled off that double dip?

I'll give you a minute to ponder while we marvel at how much Gilbert's bat-wielding teammates evidently have no interest in helping him succeed.

Gilbert has made 22 quality starts this season, one behind Zack Wheeler for the most in the majors. But he only has seven wins to show for it, as he has had to be damn near perfect to get those few dubs.

In three of his victories, he went eight scoreless innings. Those outings fortuitously came on three of the nine occasions (out of 29 starts) that he was supplied with at least five runs of support.

Two of the other wins also came in scoreless performances, going 6.2 innings in one and 7.0 IP in the other.

In fact, the only time this season that Gilbert allowed more than one run and got a win was on July 9 against the Padres—when he gave up a solo home run in the seventh inning and a two-run home run with two outs in the eighth inning in what was otherwise quite the scoreless gem.

Meanwhile, there were six instances in which he went at least six innings, allowed either zero or one runs and did not get the win. Plus, there was that preposterous outing last week against the Cardinals in which a line of 8.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 10 K got him saddled with a loss while the Mariners were shut out.

Gilbert really should be something like 16-5 and a Cy Young candidate.

Instead, he's an afterthought for that award with a losing record.

For shame, M's offense.

Now, back to that trivia question.

If you said Justin Verlander, congratulations, you are correct. He did it in both 2011 and 2019, and is the only pitcher dating back to at least 2000 to accomplish the feat.

Hunter Greene, RHP, Cincinnati Reds

Season Stats: 143.1 IP, 9-4, 2.83 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 10.2 K/9

Overshadowed By: Chris Sale and Elly De La Cruz

Despite not pitching since landing on the IL with a sore elbow a full month ago, Hunter Greene is still third among pitchers in Baseball-Reference WAR with a mark of 5.7, narrowly trailing only NL Cy Young favorite Chris Sale (5.9) and AL Cy Young favorite Tarik Skubal (5.9).

When he got hurt, Greene was alone in first place.

Unless you're a fan of the Reds, though, you probably had no clue.

Since Cincinnati started playing its home games at Great American Ball Park—which consistently has one of the highest home run park factors on an annual basis—there have been just five cases of a Reds pitcher logging at least 140 IP with an ERA of 3.15 or better: Johnny Cueto in each of 2011, 2012 and 2014, Sonny Gray in 2019 and Greene this year.

That G.A.B.P. handicap is pretty clear in his splits, too. In 13 starts at home, Greene has a 3.39 ERA and 1.10 WHIP, compared to sensational marks of 2.17 and 0.92, respectively, in his 11 starts on the road.

Unfortunately, the elbow soreness developed right as people were finally beginning to notice his dominance. From July 6 through August 13, Greene reeled off seven consecutive quality starts (four at home, three on the road, FWIW), with a combined 0.98 ERA, 0.70 WHIP and 10.4 K/9.

Per Sports Betting Dime's Cy Young odds tracker, Greene's line shrank from +12200 down to +1400 in the middle of that window of dominance.

Even then, though, he was far from a serious candidate, well behind Chris Sale, Zack Wheeler and Paul Skenes in what was a three-horse race at the time.

A big part of the problem for Greene is that by the time he started shoving, Cincinnati was already an afterthought in the playoff picture and Elly De La Cruz had long been cemented as the star of the Reds whose quest for a 25 HR/75 SB season was the thing about this team worth monitoring.

Greene deserved better, though, and better be talked about as a top Cy Young candidate heading into next season.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 1B, Toronto Blue Jays

Season Stats: .320/.394/.546, 28 HR, 95 RBI, 90 R

Overshadowed By: Aaron Judge, Toronto's irrelevance and trade talk fatigue

For a while there in June and July, it felt like we couldn't go 12 hours without some new bit of scuttlebutt on whether the sub-.500, last-place-in-the-AL-East Toronto Blue Jays were going to trade away Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (and Bo Bichette, Chris Bassitt and Jordan Romano) with one year remaining before free agency.

When it first became a serious talking point, though, he wasn't even hitting that well. Through 73 games, Guerrero was batting .280 and on pace to finish the year with just 15 home runs.

After cutting his hair on June 19th, though, he underwent some sort of reverse Samson transformation, batting .383 with 21 home runs and a 1.187 OPS over his next 64 games.

During that same time, Aaron Judge relentlessly ran away with the AL MVP vote, even though his numbers—.351, 25 and 1.218, respectively—weren't all that more impressive than Guerrero's.

Now, don't get it twisted. I'm not arguing that Guerrero should be neck-and-neck with Judge for AL MVP. One has nearly twice as many home runs as the other while playing for a team that is going to finish about 15 games ahead of the other.

It is baffling, however, that Guerrero's resurgence to 2021 form has been little more than background noise at a national level.

People couldn't stop talking about him when he was a trade candidate, but once the deadline came and went and he was still on a team going nowhere fast, it's as if we collectively agreed to not pay him any more attention until he once again dominates possibly trade talk and definitely free agency talk next year.

Raisel Iglesias, RHP, Atlanta Braves

Season Stats: 62.0 IP, 5-1, 31 SV, 1.16 ERA, 0.64 WHIP, 9.1 K/9

Overshadowed By: Emmanuel Clase, Chris Sale and Marcell Ozuna

At 34 years old, Raisel Iglesias is having the season of his life.

He entered 2024 with 190 saves and a career ERA of 2.97. In fact, he finished seven of the past eight seasons with an ERA of 2.75 or better.

He had never landed below 2.38 before, though, nor had he ever posted a WHIP below 0.91, so to be sitting at 1.16 and 0.64, respectively, is wildly impressive, both for him and for any closer, really.

Iglesias has gone 31-for-34 in save chances, with two of those three blown saves coming in situations where he entered the game with the tying run already in scoring position. And Atlanta still got the win in two of the three times he blew the save, so he has been pretty close to perfect for them.

That's especially true over the past three months, as Iglesias hasn't given up an earned run since June 16.

During that time, he has made 30 appearances with an overall line of 35.1 IP, 10 H, 2* R, 0 ER, 5 BB, 43 K, racking up five wins and 13 saves as Atlanta desperately tries to maintain its grip on a playoff spot.

Unfortunately, Iglesias picked the wrong year to get recognition as a great closer, as Emmanuel Clase has dominated each and every conversation about relief pitching in 2024.

And even from a "wow, that guy has been largely responsible for that team being in the mix for a playoff spot" perspective, Iglesias has been playing third fiddle to Chris Sale (likely NL Cy Young) and Marcell Ozuna (probable third-best finished in NL MVP vote).

*Both unearned runs charged against Iglesias were of the "ghost runner who starts on second base in extra innings" variety.

Brent Rooker, DH/OF, Oakland A's

Season Stats: .298/.370/.578, 36 HR, 76 R, 103 RBI

Overshadowed By: Playing for Oakland

Brent Rooker might fall a few batting average points or a home run or two shy of reaching these marks, but there's a chance he ends up with 40 home runs and a .300 batting average.

For your perusal, here are the only players to pull off that feat in the past four years, and where they ended up in that year's MVP vote:

• Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (.311, 48 HR), 2nd for AL MVP in 2021
• Aaron Judge (.311, 62 HR), won AL MVP in 2022
• Shohei Ohtani (.304, 44 HR), unanimously won AL MVP in 2023
• Ronald Acuña Jr. (.337, 41 HR), unanimously won NL MVP in 2023
  
• Aaron Judge (.320, 51 HR), likely going to unanimously win AL MVP in 2024

Marcell Ozuna (.306, 37 HR) could end up hitting those marks this year, as well, and is likely headed for either a second-place or third-place finish in the NL MVP for it.

But where do you suppose Rooker will land in that vote?

For his sensational individual performance on a small-market team that is headed for around 90 losses and on its way out the door to Sacramento?

Rooker is sixth in the majors with a .947 OPS, trailing only Judge, Ohtani, Juan Soto, Bobby Witt Jr. and Yordan Alvarez on that leaderboard.

Put that type of season in a major market and/or on a team that is even remotely relevant in the standings and that player is a stone-cold lock for a top-five finish in the MVP vote.

However, I'm far from convinced that Rooker will even land in the top 10 this year. At any rate, he wasn't in my guesses at the top 10 finishers in each league from late August. And that would be a shame.

(As consolation, though, at least he should finally start making legitimate money in 2025, as the soon-to-be 30-year-old becomes arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter.)

Cristopher Sánchez, LHP, Philadelphia Phillies

Season Stats: 165.0 IP, 10-9, 3.33 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 7.4 K/9

Overshadowed By: Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola and Ranger Suárez

At the start of play this past Wednesday, here was FanGraphs' ranking of the three most valuable pitchers in baseball in 2024:

1. Chris Sale—AKA the likely NL Cy Young winner—6.2 WAR
2. Tarik Skubal—AKA the likely AL Cy Young winner—5.3 WAR
3. A tie between Philadelphia's Zack Wheeler and Cristopher Sánchez at 4.6 WAR

In stark contrast to last season (16 HR allowed in 99.1 IP), Sánchez has become one of the best in the business at keeping the ball in the yard, allowing just eight dingers in his 165 innings pitched. That 0.44 HR/9 ratio would rank No. 1 in the majors if Sale (8 HR in 166.2 IP) didn't have a marginally better ratio of 0.43.

His record is merely 10-9—largely because he has gotten two runs of support or fewer in 11 of his 28 starts—but he is having a stellar run through his first full season in this rotation.

Tasked with naming the Phillies starters from memory, though, Sánchez is still a distant fourth, isn't he?

Maybe even fifth if you've forgotten that Taijuan Walker pitched his way out of a starting job?

Both Wheeler and Aaron Nola signed nine-figure contracts this past winter, and Ranger Suárez was the Phillies southpaw who took the world by storm for the first three months of this season, becoming quite the NL Cy Young candidate at 10-1 with a 1.75 ERA through 15 starts.

It was at that point in the season that the Phillies committed possible highway robbery, though, buying Sánchez out of his final four pre-free agency years with a four-year, $22.5M extension signed in late June. And immediately after signing the deal, he went seven scoreless innings against the Diamondbacks before a complete-game shutout against the Marlins.

He has given the Phillies 16 quality starts on the year and has perhaps now supplanted Suárez as the probable No. 3 starter in their postseason rotation. They should probably even consider starting him ahead of Nola, too, but that won't happen.

Anthony Santander, OF, Baltimore Orioles

Season Stats: .240/.312/.516, 41 HR, 85 R, 95 RBI

Overshadowed By: Gunnar Henderson and a loaded AL MVP field

Now that he's up to 40 home runs for the season, it seems like more people are finally beginning to appreciate the impressive contract year Anthony Santander has been having.

Both his batting average and on-base percentage are almost exactly in line with the league averages—.244 and .312, respectively. And as far as his value added in right field is concerned, let's just say there's a reason that over the past three seasons combined he has started more than 100 games at DH and has been removed for a defensive replacement around 100 times.

That's why his WAR is nowhere close to Gunnar Henderson's, hovering in the same vicinity as those of Adley Rutschman, Colton Cowser, Cedric Mullins and Jordan Westburg.

Santander can mash, though, boasting more home runs this season than all other players not named Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani.

A lifetime ago, hitting 40+ home runs for a team that might end up with the best record in the league would have been more than enough for some serious MVP consideration. But Santander might not even finish top three in MVP votes just among Baltimore Orioles this year, with Henderson certain to finish ahead of him, and plausibly Rutschman and Corbin Burnes, too.

As with Willy Adames back at the beginning of this conversation, though, it's curious that his impending free agency hasn't been enough to get Santander more firmly planted on the national radar. He doesn't even turn 30 until next month and could be headed for a nine-figure deal in the aftermath of his slugging extravaganza.