April MLB Rookie Power Rankings
With Spring Training, and now a couple weeks of regular season baseball in the books, we’ve gained enough data on this year’s class of rookies to start formulating opinions on players as the Rookie of the Year race starts to shape up. As promised in my first MLB Rookie Tracker post, I’ll have monthly rookie power rankings with this being my first in-season list. There are only two newcomers on this month’s ranking. While some of the players on here have struggled to start their big league career, it’s important not to overreact to a month worth of sample size - especially when it comes to a player’s introduction to Major League Baseball. With that being said, here are my top ten rookies in baseball right now.
Kristian Campbell, BOS (#3)
Despite a lackluster performance at Spring Training, Kristian Campbell managed to break Red Sox camp with the big league team and also sign a nice extension (eight years, $60 million). Campbell has been as advertised as a high-profile prospect. Of the 27 qualified rookie hitters in baseball, Campbell is tied for the league lead in home runs, while he also falls within the top six hitters in AVG (.302), OBP (.392), SLG (.508), OPS (.900), wRC+ (155), and fWAR (0.7). He has seemingly transitioned to big league pitching and is getting plenty of plate appearances as he has played in 19 of Boston’s 20 games thus far. Given he can hold on to some semblance of the current success he has found, we are talking about our clear-cut American League Rookie of the Year and potential All-Star.
Jackson Jobe, DET (#4)
After a very quick cup of coffee in the regular season last year and two appearances in the postseason, Jackson Jobe managed to slot into the Tigers rotation thanks to a strong spring in which he logged a 3.86 ERA in 16.1 innings over five starts. Jobe’s skills as a big league pitcher are still very raw, but he has all the upside in the world. Through three starts thus far, Jobe has a 3.00 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and a .171 BAA. He also earned his first quality start in the big leagues in his most recent start in which he delivered six scoreless innings. The command has been spotty and he’s not missing as much bats as we’re used to seeing, but he is managing to limit a lot of batted ball damage which is certainly a good sign moving forward as he should start striking out more batters while walking less.
Jacob Wilson, ATH (#8)
The calling card for Jacob Wilson prior to his debut last year was the 70 grade hit tool, and it has been nothing short of that in his first full year in the big leagues. He’s a top five hitter among qualified rookie hitters at the moment according to AVG (.333), SLG (.485), OPS (.818), wRC+ (140), and fWAR (0.6). The concern for Wilson was if he was going to be able to provide enough power, but he has actually already shown improvements in that department. He didn’t hit a long ball in his 103 plate appearances last year, but has two in just 60 plate appearances thus far. While the power metrics are rarely going to be above league-average simply due to the nature of what kind of hitter he is, it is worth noting all of his metrics are up across the board from last year. Perhaps the most impressive number on Wilson’s resume is that Luis Arraez is the only hitter in all of baseball with a lower K% than him (2.5/4.5). And for those that factor defense into their Rookie of the Year rankings, Wilson is also playing average to above-average defense at shortstop.
Jasson Dominguez, NYY (#6)
After some tough injury luck and roster construction that kept Jasson Dominguez off the field for a large part of 2024, the 22 year old is finally getting regular playing time in the Yankees outfield. While the transition to left field posed quite the learning curve and created plenty of story lines for Dominguez, he actually has three defensive runs saved out there thus far. However, the defense was never going to be where Dominguez got his value as it was always going to come from the bat. And good news for the Yankees lineup - he has been who he was hyped up to be with the bat. He falls within the top six among qualified rookie hitters in OBP (.362), SLG (.431), OPS (.793), wRC+ (134), and fWAR (0.5). He’s definitely getting more comfortable with more playing time and starting to blossom into a productive everyday player.
Roki Sasaki, LAD (#1)
The beginning of Roki Sasaki’s Major League career has been nothing short of shaky, but we’re still talking about one of the most sought-after pitchers on the open market from this past offseason that only has four starts under his belt thus far. For what it’s worth, his ERA sits at 3.29 despite the variety of results he’s gotten. He’s going to have to gain a few miles per hour back on his fastball and he’s going to have to throw it for strikes to really become the big league pitcher he was forecasted to be. The splitter is one of the nastiest pitches in baseball, and if he can hone in that fastball to actually make the splitter effective, we could be looking at a serious turnaround for Sasaki. The Dodgers pitching lab is as good as any, so I haven't lost much hope for him.
Roman Anthony, BOS-AAA (#7)
The number one prospect in all of baseball continues to do number one prospect in baseball sort of things at Triple-A Worcester. In 59 plate appearances thus far, Anthony is sporting a .283/.441/.500 slash line with a .941 OPS and a 163 wRC+. He got plenty of run at Spring Training as well where he posted a 103 wRC+ while walking at a higher rate than he ever has and maintaining his career strikeout rate. As soon as a roster spot opens in Boston, I would imagine it belongs to Anthony. That should be soon, and if he warrants everyday playing time, we could see him at the top of this list alongside his teammate Kristian Campbell by the end of the year.
Nick Kurtz, ATH-AAA (N/A)
While it’s in Triple-A, Nick Kurtz seems like the best hitter in the world right now. This is a kid that was playing college baseball at Wake Forest less than a year ago and is now expediting his trip to the big leagues. In 71 plate appearances thus far, Kurtz has seven home runs which leads all Minor League hitters. He had two more in Spring Training where he posted a .973 OPS, 160 wRC+, and a 1.40 BB/K over 31 plate appearances. The combination of hit and power is undeniable and is what has fast tracked him to this point. It’s only a matter of time before he gets the call despite not even having played a full season of professional baseball. It seems like the Athletics are already preparing for his arrival with how they have been utilizing the current big league roster.
Matt Shaw, CHC (#5)
It has been a struggle for Matt Shaw thus far, but this is still one of the more “tooled-up” prospects/rookies in baseball. Shaw was a fast mover through the Cubs system and managed to post a 20 HR/30 SB campaign in his first full season of pro ball. That’s the type of offensive upside he brings to the north side while also providing above-average defense at third base. He continues to get regular playing time, so I’m giving him another month to settle in before I consider dropping him from the top ten.
Dylan Crews, WSH (#2)
It has been a rough start to the season for Dylan Crews as well, but in a similar fashion to Shaw, I’m banking on what we know he can do. He was drafted in the same class as Shaw and debuted last season - nearly a year after he was drafted. The bat showed a lot of promise in his cup of coffee last year and he also flashed the plus glove that has the potential to be one of the best in all of baseball. Crews is another player that I’m simply not ready to write off in April.
Kameron Misner, TB (N/A)
Kameron Misner is the oldest rookie on this list and is also the only one that lacks the prospect pedigree that each of these other rookies have. Misner was simply a last-minute replacement out of Spring Training to fill a roster spot, but has actually been the best offensive rookie in baseball. While it’s not a given that he’s going to stick around on the Rays roster for the entirety of 2025, I have to at least reward what he has done. He’s tied for the league lead among qualified rookies with three home runs, and leads all rookies in OBP (.429), SLG (.744), OPS (1.173), wRC+ (231), and fWAR (0.8) while his AVG (.395) ranks second. As a matter of fact, he also falls within the top five in all of baseball in AVG, SLG, OPS, and wRC+. Will he maintain this level of success? No, but he’s certainly a rookie to keep tabs on if he can stick around when the Rays get healthy.
