Major League Baseball

MLB's Best Brothers: Willson, William Contreras top the list of duos

Updated Jun. 18, 2022 11:56 a.m. ET

By Jordan Shusterman
FOX Sports MLB Writer

Baseball bloodlines are a very real thing.

Whether it’s father-son combos such as the Griffeys, Bondses and Guerreros or big-league brothers such as the DiMaggios, Niekros and Alous, baseball history is filled with familial connections that have impacted the game across generations.

This weekend, the scorching-hot Atlanta Braves head to Chicago for a three-game set against the Cubs. It will be the second meeting between the teams in 2022, the first of which gave us one of the coolest moments of the season: brothers William and Willson Contreras exchanging lineup cards before the game.

The upcoming second showdown between the Contreras Bros. got me thinking: Where do they rank in the current Baseball Brothers hierarchy? Have they ascended to the top of the rankings? How many active major-league brothers are there, anyway?

To answer those questions, we must first establish who is eligible for the Big-League Brothers Power Rankings. For purposes of this exercise, we’ll limit the list to brothers who have both appeared in the major leagues in 2022. That means we won’t include any sets of brothers with one still playing and the other(s) retired; apologies to the Seagers and Molinas, among others.

This also eliminates pairings who have had only one brother appear in an MLB game in 2022, even if the other is an active player in the minor leagues or abroad. Here are some examples, with the brother who has appeared in MLB in 2022 in bold and older brother listed first:

* OF Josh (WAS) and OF Richie Palacios (CLE)
* INF Christian (OAK) and OF Tim Lopes (COL)
* RHP Jordan (COL) and LHP Justus Sheffield (SEA)
* C Tyler (PIT) and OF Scott Heineman (SEA)
* RHP Jimmy (CHW) and RHP Peter Lambert (COL)
* 1B C.J. (COL) and Kevin Cron (SSG Landers of KBO)
* 2B Kolten (MIL) and INF Kean Wong (LAA)
* RHP Kyle (CIN) and OF Bradley Zimmer (TOR)
* RHP Michael (Mexican League) and RHP Huascar Ynoa (ATL)
* OF Preston (ATL) and Kyle Tucker (HOU)
* INF David Fletcher (LAA) and OF Dominic Fletcher (ARI)

Also, we are excluding potential future big-league brothers duos, pairings in which one or both aren’t in the major leagues yet.

* SS Carlos (MIN) and C JC Correa (HOU)
* OF Ronald (ATL) and SS Luisangel Acuña (TEX)
* RHP David (PIT) and RHP Will Bednar (SFG)
* 3B Josh (TEX) and 2B Jace Jung (Texas Tech; projected first-round pick in 2022)

All right, now that we’ve set the parameters: There are 12 sets of brothers who have both appeared in MLB in 2022. Let’s rank 'em!

12. LHP Brian and INF Colin Moran (LAA)

Brian allowed two runs in one-third of an inning for the Angels, and Colin hit .210 in 37 games for the Reds before being optioned to Triple-A, but hey, it’s two brothers appearing in the big leagues in 2022! It counts!

11. INF Dee Strange-Gordon (WAS) and OF Nick Gordon (MIN)

Dee was recently DFA’d by the Nationals but has had a fantastic career, and Nick, the Twins’ first-round pick in 2014, made his MLB debut last season and looks to be developing into a valuable utility player for Minnesota.

10. RHP Cole (MIA) and RHP Beau Sulser (BAL)

Cole spent the previous two seasons with the Orioles before being traded to Miami in the offseason. Beau came up in the Pirates organization and made his MLB debut with Pittsburgh earlier this season before being claimed off waivers by Baltimore.

These two join Kyle Hendricks as the three alumni of Dartmouth College to appear in the big leagues in 2022. Smart dudes!

9. RHP Phil (HOU) and INF Nick Maton (PHI)

Nick made his MLB debut with the Phillies in 2021 and projects as a useful bench piece for Philadelphia moving forward. Phil has been a perfectly serviceable, middle-inning relief option for several years now and recently threw an immaculate inning for the Astros.

8. INF Ramón (BAL) and INF Luis Urías (MIL)

Luis has long been more famous, having made his MLB debut with the Padres at age 21 before being traded to Milwaukee, where he has become an important contributor at multiple infield spots. But give credit to Ramón, who has quietly developed into a solid utility player after spending 2013-18 playing in the Mexican League, finding his way back into affiliated ball and ultimately making his MLB debut with the Orioles in 2020.

Again, these are two brothers in the big leagues! They don’t have to be All-Stars for it to be an incredible achievement!

7. RHP Daniel (COL) and RHP Luke Bard (TB)

Daniel’s unbelievable comeback story after being away from the game is well-documented, and it has been awfully fun watching him reestablish himself as a closer with Colorado.

Luke pitched in parts of three seasons for the Angels and most recently resurfaced in the big leagues with Tampa Bay, with whom he will undoubtedly become one of the best relievers in the world because, well, it’s the Rays. If/when that happens, the Bards might move up a few spots on this list.

6. RHP Trevor (MIN) and RHP Tylor Megill (NYM)

Tylor appeared primed for a mega-breakout in the absence of Jacob deGrom earlier this season before he hit the injured list himself, but he’s back now and continues to look like a legitimate frontline pitcher. Trevor has settled in as a decent middle-relief option in Minnesota after struggling immensely in his debut season with the Cubs in 2021.

If Tylor can get back to what he looked like for the Mets in April and maintain that for a longer period of time, the Megills will move up these rankings soon.

5. 1B Yuli (HOU) and OF Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (TOR)

At first thought, I assumed the Gurriels would rank much higher, but in his age-38 season, Yuli’s offense has taken a sharp decline that is difficult to ignore. However, Lourdes remains one of the most underrated players in baseball and is a vital cog in a Blue Jays offense with no shortage of big-name stars who tend to get more of the attention.

The younger Gurriel started slowly this year but has really picked it up as of late. Since going 0-3 on May 23, Lourdes has hit .400/.471/.567 in 68 plate appearances and raised his OPS by more than 100 points.

4. C Austin (SDP) and RHP Aaron Nola (PHI)

Like the Gurriels, the Nolas likely would’ve ranked higher a couple of years ago, but Austin’s offensive production has underwhelmed in 2022. Still, he’s an above-average defensive catcher who is capable of doing damage at the plate on the right day, and his younger brother is still one of the more dependable top-of-the-rotation starters in the National League.

3. LHP Taylor (SDP) and RHP Tyler Rogers (SFG)

These two get bonus points for being the only twins on the list — and only the 10th set of twins ever to reach the big leagues. Taylor has been excellent since he arrived in San Diego via trade from Minnesota, and he currently leads MLB in saves, with 20.

Tyler, meanwhile, has struggled mightily for the Giants compared to his breakout 2021, but his submarine style still offers an unusual look for Gabe Kapler out of the bullpen.

2. RHP Edwin (NYM) and RHP Alexis Díaz (CIN)

While the Rogers brothers have ascended up this list due largely to their funk and deception, the Díaz brothers have skyrocketed almost to the top of my rankings thanks to their pure stuff and overwhelming velocity. Edwin has been known for years now as the closer with some of the best, but his younger brother has quietly been working his way through the Reds’ system and emerged this year as one of Cincinnati’s most reliable bullpen weapons.

Alexis currently boasts the highest average spin rate of any four-seam fastball in baseball. Meanwhile, Edwin has a four-seamer with the seventh-highest average velocity of any four-seamer in MLB and is back to looking like one of the best closers in the world.

1. C Willson (CHC) and C William Contreras (ATL)

Before this season, I would’ve put the Contreras brothers near the middle of the pack, considering what we then knew about the two backstops: Willson had proven All-Star upside but was coming off a merely solid season in which he finished 12th in fWAR and seventh in wRC+ among catchers with at least 300 plate appearances.

William, meanwhile, had seen his prospect stock steadily improve as he climbed the minor-league ladder in the Braves organization, but it remained unclear whether he was tracking as a solid backup or as a legitimate starting catcher at the big-league level.

It appears that we drastically underestimated both of them.

Willson, in the final year of his contract with the Cubs, has been by far the best hitting catcher in baseball in 2022. He has hit .276/.396/.536, and his batted ball data backs up the slash line, too, as he ranks in the 97th percentile or above in average exit velocity, hard-hit rate and xwOBA. And he hasn’t just been a good hitter for a catcher; he has been one of the best hitters in the entire league.

But actually, if you lower the minimum plate appearances to 100, there’s one catcher who has somehow been even better offensively than Willson: his brother. The younger Contreras is still splitting catching duties in Atlanta with Travis d’Arnaud, but he has absolutely mashed when in the lineup. The 24-year-old is still rocking an OPS over 1.000 and has hit more home runs (nine) in just more than 100 plate appearances than Matt Olson (eight), Joey Gallo (eight) or Nick Castellanos (seven).

William’s development into a legitimate offensive force combined with Willson’s establishing himself as the gold standard at the position they share made this ranking an easy call. These two are the best brothers in Major League Baseball.

And while the stats speak for themselves, you can appreciate it all even more when you listen to Willson talk about how special it is for them both to be in the big leagues at the same time.

If the first half of this season is any indication, they’ll be competing against each other for years to come. And that’s pretty damn cool.

Jordan Shusterman is half of @CespedesBBQ and a baseball writer for FOX Sports. He lives in D.C. but is a huge Seattle Mariners fan and loves watching the KBO, which means he doesn't get a lot of sleep. You can follow him on Twitter @j_shusterman_.