There is a crop of players — more than 200 deep — who will always remember 2025 as the year they got that precious first call to the big leagues.
So let’s take a look at one player from each position who has made the most of that initial opportunity, focusing here on those who have been around more than a month.
This is the 2025 All-Debut Team!
*All stats through Wednesday’s games
Baldwin, who made the Braves out of Spring Training camp, led our final Rookie of the Year poll in the NL for a reason. It’s been a frustrating year for the Braves, but Baldwin’s emergence behind the dish has been a big positive and gives them a big building block. This well-rounded player is slashing .266/.334/.437 with 16 homers and 14 doubles.
That said, it’s been a strong year for catcher debuts. The Marlins have a new slugging centerpiece in AgustĂn RamĂrez (20 homers, 29 doubles), and he’ll be all the more dangerous if he can get his strikeouts under control. The White Sox have rolled out both Kyle Teel (.810 OPS in 69 games), one of their acquisitions in the Garrett Crochet trade, and Edgar Quero (.715 OPS in 101 games).
Well, duh. Kurtz debuted on April 23, less than a year after he was drafted out of Wake Forest, and he’s already been worth five Wins Above Replacement, per Baseball-Reference. He’s got a 1.014 OPS, 32 homers and 24 doubles, and he already has a four-homer, 6-for-6 game. Just a remarkable season for the player who will be the AL Rookie of the Year.
Troy Johnston of the Marlins (a team that will be mentioned often in this piece) has had a solid offensive showing since his July 29 debut.
The Twins traded, well, almost everyone from their going-nowhere team at the Deadline to get a better look at players like Keaschall. He’s responded to the opportunity with a .313/.396/.454 slash through 43 games.
The White Sox might also have a keeper up the middle in Chase Meidroth, another Crochet trade acquisition who has provided good defense at the keystone to go with league-average production at the plate. He’s had multiple double-digit hit streaks.
And though he slumped badly after a sizzling start, necessitating a demotion to Triple-A, Kristian Campbell definitely made an impact on the Red Sox early in the year.
It’s an easy year to get overlooked as a slugging rookie in the AL with Kurtz doing what he’s doing — especially on an out-of-contention club like the Sox. But Montgomery, who entered the year as Chicago’s No. 5 prospect per MLB Pipeline, arrived in early July and has already smacked 18 homers in 61 games.
(A’s All-Star Jacob Wilson has rookie status, but he debuted in July 2024.)
Durbin should factor into the NL Rookie of the Year voting given his impact on the first-place Brew Crew. The Division III product and 14th-round Draft pick has been one of multiple pleasant surprises for this club (fellow rookie Isaac Collins is another, but he debuted last September), banging out more than 100 hits, driving in 50 runs and swiping 16 bags since his April 18 arrival.
Other young’uns who have had opportunity at the hot corner for contenders include the Cubs’ Matt Shaw (11 homers, 19 doubles in 117 games), the Phillies’ Otto Kemp (.720 OPS in 55 games) and Boston’s Marcelo Mayer (four homers, eight doubles in 44 games).
The Roman Empire in Boston began in early June, when Anthony, the No. 1 prospect in all of MLB at the time, was promoted just prior to the Red Sox dealing Rafael Devers to the Giants. Anthony almost instantly became the focal point of the club’s lineup, and his absence in recent weeks with an oblique strain has been deeply felt. It took the 21-year-old Anthony only 71 games to accrue 3.1 bWAR while posting an .859 OPS and 27 extra-base hits.
More recently, the A’s Carlos Cortes, who debuted in late July, has needed only 34 games to bang out 11 extra-base hits, C.J. Kayfus has had some huge hits for the Guardians (13 extra-base hits in 35 games) and Jeremiah Jackson has given the Orioles a lift (.803 OPS in 39 games). The Astros’ Cam Smith and the Royals’ Jac Caglianone haven’t fared as well in the rate stats, but they’ve had moments when their potential certainly shone through.
You can see that the Rays’ Chandler Simpson is going to be a capital-P Problem for opposing teams on the basepaths (42 steals in 101 games) so long as he can keep getting on base at a good clip (.325 OBP). And the A’s Denzel Clarke made probably the Catch of the Year, alongside many other epic defensive gems.
But here, let’s give some shine to a player providing a late-season spark to a club that obviously doesn’t get much attention. Marsee has only been up since Aug. 1, yet he’s hit five homers, 15 doubles and three triples with 10 stolen bases in 44 games. This was not an especially high-profile prospect (rated No. 10 in the Marlins system), but he’s got really good control of the strike zone and has simply been one of the best position players in MLB since his arrival.
The Marlins have another potential keeper here in Heriberto Hernández, who has a .762 OPS in 76 games.
Mangum, though, gets this slot on account of delivering solid production and good defense all year after cracking the Rays’ Opening Day roster. He’s an old rookie at age 29, but his .291 average, 17 doubles and 25 steals have made a mark.
If we were playing a game with this club, the best choice for this slot might be the Marlins’ RamĂrez, given that 20-homer, 20-doubles power.
But since we already mentioned him above, let’s carve out a place for Lile, a corner outfielder and sometimes-DH whose 128 OPS+ this season is second only to Kurtz among debuting players who have been around for at least half a season (81 games). He debuted on May 23 and already has the franchise single-season triples record (10)!
I’m sure there will be Mets fans complaining this isn’t Nolan McLean, but hear me out.
It’s torture not to include McLean, who in six starts has posted a 1.19 ERA with 40 strikeouts in 37 2/3 innings.
The Guardians’ Parker Messick, the A’s Luis Morales, the Red Sox’s Connelly Early, the Nationals’ Andrew Alvarez and McLean’s Mets teammate Brandon Sproat are among the other young starters who have put up terrific numbers since their late-season callups. And if you want to argue that the Royals’ Noah Cameron (2.98 ERA in 22 starts) or the Yankees’ Cam Schlittler (3.41 in 12) should be in this spot — or that Brewers whiz kid Jacob Misiorowski merits mention after making the NL All-Star team amid an up-and-down first season — you are well within your right.
But I wouldn’t feel right not giving the starting job to Horton, who has a very strong case to be the NL Rookie of the Year, with an 11-4 record, 2.66 ERA and 145 ERA+ (best among debuting starters with at least 40 innings pitched) in 115 innings across 22 appearances. He gets the nod on account of his heavy, reliable workload for a contending Cubs club.
All that said, could we look back and say 2025 is remembered in part as the year McLean arrived to rock our world? Sure looks that way!
Really, an impossible choice, because there are always young relievers with sick stuff who come up and dazzle from their debuts onward. This season has no shortage. If we put in a limit of at least 40 innings pitched, then the Cardinals’ Matt Svanson, White Sox’s Mike Vasil, Blue Jays’ Braydon Fisher, Padres’ David Morgan, Marlins’ Cade Gibson, Rays’ Ian Seymour and Rockies’ Juan Mejia all have strong cases, with adjusted ERA+ marks well above the league average.
The 26-year-old Dreyer, though, is worthy of this particular brand of love because of the large workload (72 1/3 innings) and reliable relief work (1.05 WHIP, 2.86 ERA) he’s provided for a first-place Dodgers team that has a behemoth roster but has often been scrambling in the bullpen. Dreyer has a calmness that belies his inexperience.
