So many seasons depend on whether a team’s talented young hitters can reach their potential. It doesn’t always happen, but when players can adjust to the Major Leagues and find their footing offensively, it can power a club all the way to the postseason -- or to a World Series championship.
Which hitters appear to be on that trajectory in 2025? Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and Tigers first baseman Spencer Torkelson have rightfully been making headlines, but let’s examine some lesser-known names.
Here are 10 hitters age 25 or younger who have made major strides from 2024 to 2025.
Stats updated through Wednesday, May 7.
Jonathan Aranda, 1B, Rays
Aranda is getting his chance in the Major Leagues, and he’s been running with it. The 24-year-old is off to an excellent start to 2025, batting .317 with five homers and a .971 OPS -- more than 200 points higher than his OPS in any prior season. He’s been mashing right-handed pitching (1.066 OPS) and handling breaking pitches exceptionally well (.435 average).
Aranda’s Statcast quality-of-contact metrics put him in elite company -- his hard-hit rate, for example, is second in MLB behind only Shohei Ohtani. The only regular Rays hitter with an OPS over .800, he’s been a welcome addition to the Tampa Bay lineup after taking over as the team’s primary first baseman.
Maikel Garcia, 3B, Royals
Garcia’s improvements from 2024 to 2025 have been among the largest of any hitter, going from a .231 average and .613 OPS last season to a .323 average and .888 OPS so far this spring. It doesn’t seem like a fluke, either: His underlying metrics support a burgeoning breakout for the 25-year-old, who has seen time at third base, at second base and in the outfield.
Garcia didn’t produce much at the plate as the Royals’ primary leadoff hitter last year, but he seems to have transformed into a legitimate middle-of-the-order bat in 2025. With speed (nine SB in 2025), a batting average north of .300 and a slugging percentage hovering around .500, Garcia has been everything Kansas City could have asked for.
Hunter Goodman, C/DH, Rockies
Goodman has always had power -- he homered 13 times in 211 at-bats last season -- but he’s elevated the rest of his offensive game so far in 2024. Batting .271 with five homers and an .784 OPS in 2025, the Colorado catcher and designated hitter has been the Rockies’ best offensive player by WAR.
With well-above-average bat speed and a favorable home ballpark, Goodman has the pop to be one of the best power threats at his position. If he can do that while continuing to walk more than twice as much as he did in 2024, he can become a cornerstone player for the Rockies at a crucial position.
Kyle Manzardo, DH, Guardians
Manzardo more than doubled his walk rate from last season, and he’s hitting for considerably more power, too. Despite a low batting average, the Cleveland slugger already has a team-leading eight home runs and a .798 OPS.
The gains the 24-year-old has shown from Year 1 (.703 OPS) to Year 2 have made Manzardo a true everyday player at DH or first base. If he can get his batting average up and strike out a little less, he could be even better -- but even if not, he’s still been a solid replacement for the Guardians after Josh Naylor was traded to Arizona.
Zach Neto, SS, Angels
Neto missed the Angels’ first 18 games while recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, so his 2025 sample size is smaller than that of most players on this list. But the young shortstop has been dynamic ever since his return: With four homers and seven steals in just 17 games, he’s on pace for an excellent power-speed season.
That was the case last year, when Neto had 23 homers, 30 steals and a .761 OPS. But with the way he’s swinging the bat and running the bases this year -- just check out his promising Statcast metrics -- Neto could be making a case as one of the best-hitting shortstops in the Majors.
Logan O'Hoppe, C, Angels
O’Hoppe flashed his offensive talent in the big leagues as early as 2023 (14 homers in just 51 games), but 2025 has been his best year to date at the plate. His nine homers and .869 OPS entering Tuesday are both second among all Major League catchers, trailing only Mariners backstop Cal Raleigh.
O’Hoppe is barreling the baseball 19.4% of the time, one of the top rates in MLB and an improvement on his 12.0% clip from 2024. His high strikeout rate -- 34.8% so far this year -- remains a major concern, but when O’Hoppe makes contact, the ball is still going a long way. He and Neto have been major bright spots for an Angels team that, with Mike Trout on the injured list, has few other impact batters.
Andy Pages, CF, Dodgers
Pages has upped his OPS from .712 in 2024 to .838 in 2025, a welcome development for a Dodgers outfield that has gotten very little from Michael Conforto and now has Teoscar Hernández dealing with a hamstring issue. The second-year outfielder entered Thursday at 1.4 Wins Above Replacement this season -- a tick above the 1.3 total he had in 116 games last year.
Pages was hitting .183 as late as April 23 before going on a tear, batting 21-for-51 (.412) over his 12 games since. It could just be an isolated hot streak, but if Pages’ strides in 2025 are in fact real, he could be a long-term fit in the Dodgers’ lineup and maybe even one of the top-hitting center fielders in the Majors.
Geraldo Perdomo, SS, D-backs
It feels like Perdomo -- who made his MLB debut in 2021 at age 21 -- has been around a while, but the Arizona shortstop is still just 25 with room to grow. He’s shown that ability to improve at the plate in 2025, entering Thursday with five home runs, nine steals and career highs in batting average (.285), on-base percentage (.395) and slugging percentage (.454).
This isn’t the first time Perdomo has started the season scorching, of course. In 2023, he had an average over .400 and an OPS over 1.100 as of a similar point in time (May 3) before cooling down as the season wore on. But if his elite plate discipline (18 strikeouts to 26 walks so far) holds up, he’ll be another big bat along with Naylor, Corbin Carroll and Ketel Marte in what was MLB’s highest-scoring lineup in 2024.
Victor Scott II, CF, Cardinals
Scott has continued his stellar defense from his first MLB season to his second, but his bat has taken a huge leap forward. He hit just .179 with two homers and a .502 OPS in 2024, but he’s up to a .289 average and a .772 OPS this year. Being on base more has let Scott unleash his elite 30.0 ft/sec sprint speed (tied for third in MLB): He has already stolen 11 bases in 2025.
Curiously, Scott is succeeding in 2025 despite pulling the ball much less, although he has been hitting the ball in the air much more than last season. He’s crushing fastballs (.373 average against) -- particularly four-seamers (.455) -- and he’s boosted his walk rate by more than one and a half times. Scott has already accounted for 1.2 WAR in 2025, second to Brendan Donovan for the most on his club.
Brice Turang, 2B, Brewers
Now in his third MLB season, Turang is hitting the ball considerably harder -- and what a welcome development that has been for him. A .239 hitter over his first two seasons, he’s batting .318 in 2025 with three homers and eight steals so far.
After ranking toward the bottom of MLB in barrel rate (third percentile) and hard-hit rate (ninth percentile) last season, Turang is now in the 48th and 71st percentiles in those respective categories. His average exit velocity has increased by 5.4 mph, a significant jump. Turang is a whole new hitter in 2025, and he’s been one of Milwaukee’s biggest offensive threats.