Breaking Down the Top 100 Most Engaging Posts of 2015: MLB

In Major League Baseball, the discrepancy between Facebook and Instagram in the top 100 posts is less so than the NFL. Facebook still holds the most posts with 53 and, on average, has more popular posts with an average ranking among the top 100 of 39 as opposed to Instagram’s average ranking of 64.

In using the MVPindex software this is what, I found.

David Ortiz, the current number 2 MLB player on MVPindex, is the big winner on our top 100 list from 2015. Big Papi has 34 entries on our list, 8 more than current MVPindex number one Mike Trout of the Angels. While Ortiz has the 5th most followers of any MLB player on Instagram, none of his posts to the platform made our list, with all 34 of his posts coming from Facebook where he has the biggest audience among MLB players with more than 1.8 million page likes.

"Good morning America thank to all my fans and teammates for the support."

Posted by David Ortiz on Sunday, September 13, 2015

Ortiz’s second most popular Facebook post employs the same best practice as those from Tom Brady in the NFL – tagging an influencer. This time, however, the influencer is Tom Brady. The two Boston sports heroes posed together after Brady took batting practice with the Sox.

"With my boy the legend Tom Brady congrat brother well deserve it…."

Posted by David Ortiz on Monday, April 13, 2015

Two of Ortiz’s Facebook posts for brand sponsors made the top 100 list. The first, ranked at #55 on the list, is this post for Dunkin Donuts where Ortiz worked the drive-thru for a day. His post lead to fans commenting with their own pictures with Ortiz from the establishment. This example of authentic brand ambassadorship left fans loving the Ortiz-Dunkin relationship:

"Great time working the drivethru yesterday!!!! Dont forget @dunkindonuts’s #DDIcedCoffeeDay is today!!!"

Posted by David Ortiz on Wednesday, May 20, 2015

His next branded post to hit the top 100 was #56 for New Era. Posted in both English and Spanish, Ortiz said the hat helps him “represent the best fans in the world” and used the hashtag #RedSoxNation to bring more into the discussion than may be in his audience. The only miss on this post, which was first posted to his Instagram, was the missed Facebook tag of New Era:

#ThisIsTheCap I wear to represent the greatest fans in the world….este es la gorra que llevo para representar a los mejores fanáticos del mundo #RedSoxNation @neweracap

Posted by David Ortiz on Monday, April 6, 2015

Mike Trout is the top-followed MLB player on Instagram at 874K followers, and a margin of more than 300K separates him from second place Robinson Cano. With that amount of reach on a platform that all but guarantees an impression each time a photo is posted, it’s no shock that Trout had 25 of the 47 posts from Instagram from MLB players including four in the top 30 overall (#15, #23, #25, #29). Trout’s only post from Facebook to make the list came in at #100.

Trout also had two branded posts grace the list. One, for Nike’s Lunar Trout 2 clete, came in as the 65th ranked post of the year:

Trout’s second brand post on the list, for Body Armour Sports Drink, was the 95th most popular post of the year:

Breaking down the top 100 by player, Ortiz and Trout lead the way with 36 and 26 posts respectively, making up 62% of the top social posts this year by MLB players. In 2016, look for Bryce Harper to make a move up the list as he hones his proficiency and grows his audience on Instagram. Watch for Hunter Pence, an active Instagram user, to climb up this list next year as his audience grows as well. Here’s the list of the players who rounded out this year’s top 100 posts on social media:

MVPindex is a software that helps you get information, on professional athletics, teams, leagues, entertainers, studios, events, brands, relative to their competition social performance.