10 players who could be 2026 versions of '25's breakout stars

Every year, a new crop of rising stars breaks out.

Last season, we saw it happen with plenty of talented hitters, like Pete Crow-Armstrong, and plenty of up-and-coming pitchers, like Hunter Brown. So who will be next this season?

Let's look back at last year's breakouts to see who could follow in their footsteps.

We want to find the 2026 versions of 2025's breakout stars. Here are 10 candidates who can make leaps -- five hitters and five pitchers.

1) Who's the 2026 version of Cal Raleigh? (A star who ascends to MVP level)

The pick: Elly De La Cruz, Reds

We picked Elly for this same type of breakout last year (saying he'd be the 2025 version of 2024 Bobby Witt Jr.), and even though that didn't quite come true, we're doing it again. De La Cruz's all-around skill set is just too elite to not believe an MVP-level season is coming.

He looked like a true superstar in the first half of 2025, and hopefully you can chalk up his slump in the second half to playing through a partially torn quad that whole time. A healthy De La Cruz has the power, speed and defensive upside (if … and it's a big "if" … he can stop making errors) to be one of the best players in the game.

2) Who's the 2026 version of Pete Crow-Armstrong? (An electric talent who puts it all together)

The pick: Denzel Clarke, A's

PCA went from a raw talent in 2024 (great defense in center field and great speed but not much hitting) to a 30-30 All-Star slugger in 2025. If there's someone who can follow a similar path in 2026 -- the speed and defense are already there, but the offense isn't -- it's Clarke.

Clarke made some of the best web gems of the 2025 season as a rookie, and he ranked in the 98th percentile of MLB in Outs Above Average (+13) and the 97th percentile of MLB in sprint speed (29.5 ft/sec). It's just the bat that's lagging. But there are signs Clarke could make a leap like Crow-Armstrong.

Clarke has well-above-average bat speed (74.3 mph, much faster than the league average of 71.8 mph), a solid hard-hit rate (43%) and enough raw power to crush a 471-foot home run (he's one of eight players to hit a 470-footer last season). He needs to make some significant improvements in barreling the baseball, but PCA had to do that, too, and he did.

3) Who's the 2026 version of Junior Caminero (A young slugger with a huge power surge)

The pick: Jac Caglianone, Royals

Caglianone was maybe the top power-hitting prospect in baseball and absolutely tearing up the Minors when he got called up last year. His big league debut didn't quite live up to that, but it's only a matter of time before he starts mashing.

The 22-year-old lefty has elite bat speed -- his 77.4 mph average swing speed in 2025 was top 10 in the Majors for hitters who took as many swings as him. His 12% barrel rate as a rookie gives him a solid power-hitting foundation to build on. And we know he has elite exit velocity in him -- he ripped a base hit at 120.9 mph in the Minors in April and another at 117.3 mph in the 2024 Arizona Fall League. Plus, he should reap the benefits of the Royals moving their outfield fences in this winter.

Expect Caglianone to slug like Caminero, a similar elite-bat-speed young slugger who only hit six homers for the Rays as a rookie in 2024 but then erupted for 45, also in a friendlier ballpark, in 2025.

4) Who's the 2026 version of Geraldo Perdomo (An out-of-nowhere player making a huge leap)

The pick: Addison Barger, Blue Jays

Barger was an important piece of the Blue Jays' deep lineup that raked its way to the American League pennant last season, but he doesn't have the star power of his teammates on that run like Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer and Bo Bichette. That's similar to Perdomo in Arizona, who started the year overshadowed in the same lineup as Ketel Marte, Corbin Carroll and Eugenio Suárez but ended up as a top-five MVP finisher in the National League.

Barger is also young (he just turned 26), and if you look at his underlying stats, there's a lot to like going forward in 2026. He has top-tier bat speed (75.9 mph, in the 93rd percentile of MLB), a top-tier hard-hit rate (51%, in the 91st percentile) and strong barrel rates and expected slugging numbers. He also hits the ball in the launch-angle sweet spot a lot, and he pulls the ball in the air a lot, meaning Barger hits the right type of line drives and fly balls to produce extra-base hits and home runs.

5) Who's the 2026 version of Michael Busch (A great followup to a strong rookie season)

The pick: Roman Anthony, Red Sox

Busch had a good rookie season for the Cubs in 2024 -- 21 home runs, 65 RBIs and a 118 OPS+. But he had a great followup in 2025 -- 34 home runs, 90 RBIs and a 147 OPS+ -- turning into one of the best first basemen in the league.

If there's a sophomore who's going to follow that rapid ascent to one of the best at his position, it's Anthony. The Red Sox outfielder might've already been at that level as a rookie if he'd been up in the big leagues all year, and if his season hadn't been cut short by injury.

Anthony's rookie stats -- a .292 batting average and .859 OPS -- are the stats of a star if he puts them up over a full season. And his peripherals are even better. At 21 years old, Anthony was already one of the best hitters in the league in 2025 by basically all of Statcast's key metrics, from his exit velocity (94.5 mph) to his hard-hit rate (60%) to his barrel rate (16%) to his bat speed (75.1 mph) to his plate discipline (20% chase rate and 13% walk rate). He just needs more at-bats in 2026. It wouldn't be surprising if he's in the MVP mix as soon as this year.

6) Who's the 2026 version of Paul Skenes? (An electric rookie becoming a Cy Young ace)

The pick: Jacob Misiorowski, Brewers

The Miz burst onto the scene as a rookie with his 100 mph fastballs and 95 mph sliders. His first big league season had its ups and downs, though. Misiorowski wound up with a 4.36 ERA, but he also struck out 11.9 batters per nine innings and turned it back on for the playoffs, when he was lights-out out of the Brewers' bullpen.

If there's anyone electric enough to do what Skenes just did -- dominate the league and win a Cy Young Award as a sophomore -- it's Misiorowski. His pure stuff is as good as anyone's, and his swing-and-miss and strikeout rates are already elite (30% and 32%, respectively). There just aren't a lot of starters who can routinely blow you away at 100 mph, 101 mph, 102 mph ... or even faster.

7) Who's the 2026 version of Yoshinobu Yamamoto? (A post-rookie-hype breakout)

The pick: Chase Burns, Reds

Yamamoto arrived in the Major Leagues with massive expectations in 2024, but that first season was rocky at times, and it took him until 2025 to re-establish himself as one of the best pitchers in the world. Burns' situation isn't exactly the same, since he came up as a prospect last season, not from overseas. But he had all the hype of being a No. 2 overall Draft pick and one of the top pitching prospects in baseball, and he had a similar rocky-but-promising debut.

The 23-year-old had a 4.57 ERA, but Burns also showed flashes of brilliance, with four double-digit strikeout games in eight starts and a ridiculous 13.9 K/9 for the season. He has all the stuff to be a dominant starter in the Majors, starting with his lethal fastball-slider combo, with the heater averaging 99 mph and the slider averaging 91. And since he's already missing bats at an elite level (32% swing-and-miss rate, 36% strikeout rate), then Burns' big breakout is coming sooner rather than later.

8) Who's the 2026 version of Hunter Brown? (A takeover as his team's future ace)

The pick: Nolan McLean, Mets

The Astros entered 2025 with Framber Valdez as their established ace, but by the end of the season, Brown had taken over as Houston's ace of the present and future. McLean is in position to do the same thing for the Mets in 2026.

Like Brown, McLean is a promising young power pitcher who has a large and nasty pitch arsenal. He's got a 96 mph fastball, a sweeper that breaks 17 inches, a curveball with a 3,000 rpm spin rate and a sinker and changeup that both drop over five inches more than average.

And the 24-year-old looked so good in his debut for New York down the stretch in 2025, that the takeover as Mets ace might well happen this season. The Mets have Freddy Peralta at the top of the rotation to start the season, but McLean could easily be the team's No. 1 by the end of it.

9) Who's the 2026 version of Jesús Luzardo? (A pitcher with a change-of-scenery boost)

The pick: Shane Baz, Orioles

Luzardo was dominant at times for the A's and Marlins, but it took him until last year's trade to the Phillies to really put it all together. Luzardo got Cy Young votes for the first time after a career year.

Baz has similar talent, and the Orioles just pulled out all the stops to get him in a trade with the Rays, so he's got a great opportunity to showcase that he can be a frontline starter, too. The 26-year-old has a promising fastball-breaking ball combo like Luzardo -- a 97 mph four-seamer that got 62 strikeouts in 2025 for Tampa Bay, and a sharp 85 mph knuckle-curve that got 86 K's, third-most of any pitcher on curveballs.

10) Who's the 2026 version of Bryan Woo? (A surprise standout in a talented rotation)

The pick: Ryan Weathers, Yankees

The Mariners' starting rotation is loaded, with Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo, George Kirby, Bryce Miller … and Woo, who was the surprise breakout of the bunch in 2025, emerging as Seattle's No. 1 and a top-five Cy Young finisher.

The 2026 Yankees rotation should be similarly talented -- Gerrit Cole will eventually be back, and Carlos Rodón, and there's already Max Fried and Cam Schlittler and Luis Gil and Will Warren. But now there's also Weathers, whom the Yankees just traded four prospects to acquire.

Weathers is the type of high-upside arm who could steal the show in the Bronx. The 26-year-old is one of the hardest-throwing lefty starters in the Majors, he's got a nasty sweeper and changeup, and based on his pitch profile, his closest comps are Luzardo, Tarik Skubal and Garrett Crochet.