We’re six weeks into the 2025 MLB season, lengthy sufficient to collect some significant intel however quick sufficient to surprise how a lot of it really issues.
Pete Alonso has gone from undesirable free agent to MVP front-runner, just one staff within the sometimes mighty American League East boasts a successful document, and a few of the recreation’s greatest closers — Devin Williams, Alexis Díaz, Ryan Pressly and Emmanuel Clase, specifically — are immediately not.
These are just some of the notable surprises via the primary 23% or so of this season. Under are 5 others, and the explanations behind them.
Spencer Torkelson is immediately hitting like a No. 1 choose
Spencer Torkelson was the Detroit Tigers’ No. 1 draft pick of Arizona State College in 2020, billed as a can’t-miss bat. The 2024 season was speculated to be the stage for his breakout. As a substitute, he discovered himself again within the minor leagues.
Tigers supervisor A.J. Hinch texted Torkelson virtually every day after the staff despatched him all the way down to Triple-A in June. At one level, the 2 even met up for breakfast. Hinch wished to guarantee Torkelson that the Tigers have been excited about him and nonetheless valued him. However what Torkelson may need wanted most, a few of these round him consider, was to see the staff succeed with out him. He wanted the urgency to alter.
“Coming out of college, I felt like I had it figured out, was the greatest hitter ever,” Torkelson stated. “And I got humbled.”
Torkelson struggled so profoundly final 12 months — a .669 OPS, 10 homers and 105 strikeouts in 92 video games — that he entered 2025 with out a clear path for enjoying time. Now, early in his age-25 season, he appears to be like like the dreaded hitter so many anticipated to see. By 36 video games, Torkelson has already equaled final 12 months’s residence run complete. He’s drawing walks at a considerably greater charge, OPS’ing .879 and rating inside the high 5% in anticipated slugging share — a stat during which he completed 211th amongst 252 hitters final 12 months.
Torkelson entered this season with a 361-game pattern of inconsistency, however scouts don’t see his sudden success as an early-season fluke — they see it as the results of an elite hitter making consequential changes.
Torkelson is extra athletic and in rhythm in his stance this 12 months, whereas beforehand he appeared “statuesque,” within the phrases of 1 Tigers supply. He has extra bend in his knees, vegetation his ft nearer collectively and has applied a slight crouch. Nevertheless it’s probably not a change. It’s how he hit proper up till the time he reached the majors.
“You watch any swing in my entire life,” Torkelson stated, “I kinda look exactly the way I look right now.”
The taller stance Torkelson fell into on the massive league stage was what he described as “a Band-Aid.” The excessive fastball gave him bother early on, so Torkelson did what felt apparent: make that top fastball appear much less excessive.
“And it worked,” Torkelson stated. “I got away with it. I hit 31 homers and I didn’t even feel that great.”
However these 31 residence runs, amassed in his second 12 months in 2023, masked different deficiencies that confirmed up the next summer time. Torkelson slashed simply .205/.271/.337 via the top of Might in 2024. Shortly after, he was despatched again to Triple-A for what grew to become an 11-week stint. He returned in mid-August, produced a extra respectable .781 OPS over his final 38 regular-season video games, then went into the offseason vowing to hit the best way he used to. He took a lesson from finding out one in every of his favourite hitters, Mike Trout, who has constructed a Corridor of Fame profession regardless of struggling towards the excessive fastball.
“We don’t get paid to hammer the high fastball,” Torkelson stated. “We get paid to hammer the mistakes.”
The Tigers signed veteran second baseman Gleyber Torres to a one-year, $15 million deal in late December, then introduced Colt Keith would transfer to first base. Torkelson got here into spring coaching having to combat simply to get at-bats at designated hitter.
Then the whole lot modified. Torkelson hit his method right into a beginning position at first base in 31 of the Tigers’ 36 video games. His manufacturing — together with that of Javier Baez, who has produced an .827 OPS whereas transitioning to heart subject — has given the Tigers some much-needed right-handed energy and helped them climb to the highest of the AL Central.
“I’m seeing the ball better, and I feel dangerous at the plate,” Torkelson stated. “As a hitter, that’s all you can ask for. You’re not going to hit 1.000. But when you’re feeling dangerous and you’re seeing the ball well, you feel like you can’t be beat. You’re going to get beat, but it gives you the best shot.”
The Angels’ lineup is trending towards the worst sort of historical past
Final 12 months, the lowly offenses of the Colorado Rockies and Chicago White Sox posted two of the 12 worst walk-to-strikeout ratios in main league historical past. Now the Los Angeles Angels, who entered 2025 with hopes of lastly being aggressive once more, are making an early run on the all-time mark.
The Angels’ offense has amassed 81 walks via its first 35 video games this season, the bottom complete within the majors. Their hitters have struck out 338 occasions (third most). Earlier than tying their season excessive with six walks in a walk-off win on Wednesday evening, their 0.23 walk-to-strikeout charge was on tempo to be the worst in baseball historical past. It has since improved to a mere 0.24, tied with the 2019 White Sox for the bottom ever.
It’s in all probability not stunning to be taught that the full-season backside 10 in that class has taken place over the previous dozen years, at a time when hitters strike out extra usually than ever. It’s in all probability additionally not stunning to be taught that seven of these 10 groups misplaced no less than 100 video games.
The Angels’ offense has been that unhealthy. Since placing up 11 runs on the spring coaching facility the place the Tampa Bay Rays play on April 10, they rank twenty ninth in batting common, twenty seventh in slugging share, and final in every of the next classes: on-base share, strikeout charge, stroll charge and runs per recreation.
And although there’s nonetheless loads of time to show this round, it’s laborious to examine how that traditionally low walk-to-strikeout charge — an necessary barometer of success on each side — considerably improves. (Their pitching strikeout-to-walk charge, ranked twenty seventh at 1.90, isn’t a lot better.)
On Tuesday, the Angels have been blissful to welcome again Yoan Moncada, who’s able to drawing walks but in addition strikes out at an exceedingly excessive charge. A return from Mike Trout, whose newest knee harm is not thought-about severe, would definitely assist, although he reached base at solely a .264 clip throughout his first 29 video games. Taylor Ward, in the meantime, is a lot better than a .180/.225/.376 hitter.
However then there’s Jo Adell, whose profession .639 OPS ranks one centesimal among the many 114 gamers in Angels historical past with no less than 1,000 plate appearances. And Logan O’Hoppe, who had the fifth-highest strikeout charge within the majors final 12 months. And Jorge Soler, a prodigious energy hitter who naturally carries lots of swing-and-miss. And, notably, Kyren Paris, who appeared like a breakout star early on however these days appears to be like overmatched; since a two-hit recreation put his OPS at 1.514 on April 11, Paris has eight hits, three walks and 32 strikeouts in 66 plate appearances.
The Angels’ coaches have been attempting to emphasise a two-strike strategy with their hitters, however there’s solely a lot they will do.
“When you’ve got guys that’s capable of hitting the ball out the ballpark, it’s hard to tell them to cut their swing down because they don’t know what that is,” Angels supervisor Ron Washington stated. “And when you’ve got guys in the lineup that don’t have a lot of experience and you say, ‘Cut the swing down,’ they don’t know what that is. There’s a lot of baseball to be gathered around here, man.”
Washington paused for a second and smiled. Earlier than being employed by the Angels in November 2023, Washington spent seven years because the third-base coach and infield teacher on Atlanta Braves groups brimming with veteran, championship-caliber gamers. This Angels staff isn’t that. It’s younger and inexperienced, and Washington has to remind himself of that consistently.
He’s a trainer at coronary heart, and infrequently that requires endurance. His is being examined like by no means earlier than.
The Brewers’ injury-riddled rotation has someway discovered a method
Three Milwaukee Brewers beginning pitchers — DL Corridor, Tobias Myers and Aaron Ashby — landed on the injured record with soft-tissue accidents throughout spring coaching. Two extra, Aaron Civale and Nestor Cortes, went on the shelf inside the common season’s first week. By that time, the record of beginning pitchers on the IL stretched to seven. And but, in probably the most Brewers method attainable, their rotation adopted with a miraculous run.
From April 6-22, the foursome of Freddy Peralta, Chad Patrick, Jose Quintana and Quinn Priester mixed for a 1.55 ERA over 63⅔ innings. The Brewers started the season by permitting 47 runs in 33 innings, however since then, their beginning rotation boasts the fifth-lowest ERA within the majors at 3.08.
Peralta is a bona fide top-of-the-rotation starter, however Quintana is a 36-year-old who signed for a mere $4 million in March; Priester is a failed first-round choose acquired in a minor commerce early final month; and Patrick is a 26-year-old rookie who wasn’t on anyone’s radar when the season started.
However the Brewers have constructed a popularity for using pitchers who overachieve. As a result of they will’t afford the high-ceiling arms who break the bank in free company, they hammer their depth to boost their flooring as a lot as attainable. And to take action, they apply a easy idea: develop and purchase pitchers who match their atmosphere. Extra particularly, pitchers who profit most from a powerful infield protection.
Quintana, who can throw his sinker with extra conviction with higher protection behind him, posted a 1.14 ERA in his first 4 begins earlier than permitting six runs to the Chicago Cubs on Saturday. Patrick, who boasts an elite cutter with two completely different shapes, has a 3.08 ERA in his first seven turns via the rotation. Priester, the 18th choose in 2019, had a 6.23 ERA in 99⅔ main league innings heading into 2025. However the Brewers have been intrigued by a minor league observe document during which he had roughly common strikeout and stroll charges and saved greater than half the batted balls towards him on the bottom. Priester maintained a 1.93 ERA via his first three begins earlier than permitting 12 runs over his subsequent 9⅓ innings.
That tough patch apart, Priester helped stabilize a Brewers rotation that was in dire straits when the season started. A key reinforcement might come by the top of this week, when Brandon Woodruff makes his long-awaited return from shoulder surgical procedure. Woodruff has been absolutely wholesome, pitching with out restrictions, however his velocity has been down, his fastball sitting within the 92- to 94-mph vary versus the upper-90s warmth he featured whereas pitching like an ace. When Woodruff returns, he may need to pitch otherwise.
The Brewers will in all probability determine it out.
The subsequent hitting star on the Rays is definitely … Jonathan Aranda?
The Tampa Bay Rays exceeded their worldwide bonus pool in 2014, limiting them to signing gamers for not more than $300,000 over the following two years. And but, main as much as the 2015 signing interval, assistant normal supervisor Carlos Rodríguez and then-international scouting supervisor Eddie Díaz traveled to Tijuana, Mexico, to look at a Cuban outfielder they may not afford: Randy Arozarena.
The journey proved to be useful years later, when the Rays acquired Arozarena from the St. Louis Cardinals and helped him grow to be a star. Nevertheless it was useful for one more motive: It helped them uncover Jonathan Aranda.
Rodríguez, at the moment the director of Latin American scouting, requested Díaz to line up different prospects to see through the journey. Aranda was in that group and caught their eye. The Rays signed him for $130,000 in July 2015. Ten years later, they’re watching him blossom.
Aranda, a 26-year-old left-handed hitter, ranks third with 182 weighted runs created plus this season, behind solely Aaron Decide and Alonso. He’s slashing .317/.417/.554 with 14 extra-base hits. And to date, no less than, he’s stealing the highlight from Junior Caminero, extensively hailed because the Rays’ subsequent hitting phenom. It’s simple to be skeptical — Aranda’s .971 OPS is 279 factors greater than his profession mark in 110 video games going into 2025 — however those that know him greatest are adamant that that is actual.
Aranda has at all times been an elite hitter. The query was how the Rays would match him into their main league roster. He got here up as a shortstop at across the similar time Wander Franco surged via the system. By the point he was on the cusp of the most important leagues, the likes of Yandy Diaz, Isaac Paredes, Brandon Lowe and Ji-man Choi occupied the opposite infield positions.
At one level, the Rays had Aranda strive catching in hopes of getting his bat to the large leagues faster. They felt he may need the arm and the arms for it. Aranda went again to Mexico and caught a handful of bullpen classes however determined towards it. He expressed confidence that his bat would ultimately be sufficient to achieve the majors.
It appeared like it might in 2024. Aranda slashed .371/.421/.571 in 13 Grapefruit League video games that spring and was primed to crack the Opening Day roster. However then he broke his proper ring finger fielding a grounder, missed about 5 weeks and struggled for a lot of the ensuing season. It prompted a stint in winter ball, the place he made small mechanical tweaks which have helped him thrive within the early a part of 2025.
However largely, Rays officers consider, Aranda’s success stems from lastly having a pathway for constant enjoying time, largely because the stronger half of a DH platoon. His splits are fairly drastic — 1.066 OPS towards righties, three hits in 18 at-bats towards lefties — however Aranda profiles as a 20-plus residence run hitter who can rack up doubles and management the strike zone. It simply took him a bit to get there.
Max Muncy immediately can’t hit residence runs
Max Muncy went 106 plate appearances earlier than lastly hitting his first residence run of 2025 on the ultimate day of April. It marked the longest single-season homerless streak of his profession, simply topping the 80-plate-appearance rut from 2022, in accordance with ESPN Analysis.
His largest situation was one which plagues many left-handed hitters who throw right-handed.
“He gets out on his front side pretty quickly,” Dodgers hitting coach Aaron Bates defined. “Part of the challenge for him is when he needs to start his leg kick and how to maintain balance as he’s striding forward. Because he throws with his right hand and hits lefty, the right side of his body kind of dominates his swing moving toward the pitcher, which is pretty common for a lot of guys. You look at Corey Seager, he’s pretty balanced. But a lot of times, when you have a lefty-righty-combo guy, they get kind of pulled that way. So that’s something that he has to constantly battle, and he has his whole career. When he’s synced up and he’s right, it’s great. And when he’s out of whack, he’s got to work to get it right.”
Muncy spent the higher a part of the primary month working to sync up his timing, particularly when he drives his momentum ahead. Few main league hitters keep on their again aspect via their total load, Aaron Decide being a notable exception. However for many of this season, Muncy was attending to his entrance aspect too early, which resulted in fouling off hittable fastballs and struggling towards breaking pitches.
“When you don’t trust yourself as a hitter, you don’t wanna get beat, and so you get off your backside sooner,” Bates stated. “So it’s like the chicken or the egg.”
When Muncy settled into the batter’s field within the second inning on April 30, 305 gamers had already homered within the main leagues this season. Muncy, with 4 35-plus-homer seasons on his résumé, was not one in every of them. That day, he debuted prescription eyeglasses he had been testing out throughout pregame exercises to fight astigmatism in his proper eye. The hope, Muncy informed reporters, was that the glasses would make him much less left-eye dominant.
However the largest situation was a swing he had tweaked to supply low line drives as a substitute of fly balls however wound up making him drift ahead too early. Getting his weight shift again to regular proved to be a sluggish course of. However to Bates, an encouraging signal arrived two days earlier than Muncy’s first residence run — when he stayed again on a sinker and dumped an opposite-field line drive into left-center.
Muncy has produced simply the one residence run — placing him in the identical boat as Alec Bohm, Trea Turner and Xander Bogaerts, and one forward of Joc Pederson, Tommy Pham and Gabriel Moreno — and nonetheless doesn’t appear absolutely in sync. However he’s carrying a barely extra respectable .750 OPS because the begin of that recreation on April 30. He’s drawing walks, displaying some energy, and in some unspecified time in the future, Bates believes, the house runs will are available bunches.
“It can be any at-bat,” Bates stated, “he’s homering.”
