5 Hitters I LIKE for 2025

Five hitters I like for 2025. Fun fact, these are the guys that hit the ball, not the guys that pitch it. I don't know about this one. The Angels center fielder has been pretty great for the last decade or so. Oh wait, no. It's Joe Adele now. With Mike Trout moving over to right, there are question marks in the Angels outfield. Joe Adele was their primary right fielder in 2024, but if he's the one moving up the defensive spectrum to center, Mickey Moniak becomes a more formidable opponent for playing time. Adele has played parts of the last five big league seasons, and despite his draft and prospect pedigree, he's never been good and has frequently been very bad. He's never been an above average hitter, and the most F4 he's put up in a season is plus .2. So why believe in Adele now? Well, he improved his defense and right field to be even part of the center field conversation in first place, as he was a gold glove finalist there last year, and despite his career 649 OPS and over a thousand plate appearances, he appeared to be turning a corner. Adele entered 2024 with a career 35% strikeout rate to just a 5% walk rate, but struck out 28% of the time with an 8% walk rate. He made more in-zone contact than he's ever made, while chasing less than he'd ever chased, all while running the highest barrel rate of his career. He also tinkered as the season went on, switching from a leg kick to a more controlled toe tap in late July. He OPSed 771 the rest of the way, though that was ended early by an oblique strain. The bat tracking data from this time reveals a slower, but shorter and more controlled swing. Thankfully, Adele has always had elite bat so he can afford to give up a few miles per hour for more contact. Just imagine Joe Adele breaking out in year 6, being an above average hitter all while patrolling center field. I like the sound of that. Ray's left-handed hitter should expect a boost this year, as the team switches from hurricane-damaged Tropicana field to Steinbrenner field, which has the same dimensions and the same porch and right as Yankee Stadium. Jonathan Aranda may very well have the most to gain from such an arrangement. Entering his age 27 season, he's never been an everyday big league hitter, but he's currently expected to start against righties, and could very well earn playing time vs lefties if he excels. With a 708 OPS in 2023 and 737 in 2024, he's been average-ish during his brief stints at the big league level, but the underlying metrics between those two years demonstrate a stark improvement. His strikeout rate dropped from 30% to 22%. His barrel rate tripled from 5% to 16%. He swung in the zone more and chased outside the zone less, while making more contact. These are relatively small sample sizes, 100 or so played appearances in 2023, then 140 or so in 2024, but the improvement under the hood is remarkable, even if it didn't culminate in massive surface level differences. Aranda has been knocking on the door to big league relevance for some time. He has a career 959 OPS and over 200 games played at the AAA level, and although he has played his fair share of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd as a pro, his projected role in 2025 appears to be as a strong side platoon DH. Regardless, this is one designated hitter I like for 2025, expect a breakout year for Jonathan Aranda. One sponsor I like for 2025 is Factor Meals. Fun fact, you can put them in a big fridge, or put them in a little fridge. A few key stats in Factor's favor, ready to eat in a matter of minutes, 100% of delivery emissions offset, and a lineup, that's a baseball reference, of over 35 rotating ready to eat meals, including popular options like Calorie Smart, Keto, Protein Plus, and Vegan. 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He'll likely open the season as the Pirates' starting second baseman, though I can't help but wonder if he'll get a run at shortstop, with O'Neal Cruz moving to the outfield and IKF the only other middle infielder in his way. The following is going to sound like a joke or exaggeration, but it isn't. The Pirates haven't drafted and developed an above average big league hitter in over a decade. Gonzalez was the 7th overall pick in the 2020 draft out of New Mexico State, and although he hasn't shaken that curse yet, he may be the chosen one. His sophomore campaign was interrupted by injury, but still encouraging in that he crushed AAA before batting .270 in the majors with an aggressive, free swinging approach. He'll probably need to walk more, or hit more than 7 home runs to fulfill his above average everyday hitter dream. The former could be accomplished by being more selective at the plate, but the latter might be more likely. Gonzalez had a league average barrel rate last year and has shown some ability to pull the ball in the air. He was also one of the larger gainers in terms of bat speed between his 2023 cup of coffee and the 94 games he played in 2024. Combine that with a new hitting coach in Matt Haig, and Nick Gonzalez may very well be a baseball unicorn I like, a successful hitter drafted and developed by the Pirates. A shoulder injury and subsequent surgery ended Jung-Hoo Lee's MLB debut season before it could really get going, but there were still enough encouraging signs despite his pedestrian slashline in just 37 games of work. The thesis for his success in 2025 is actually dead simple. The only hitters who made more contact than Lee last year were Luis Arias and Stephen Kwan. That shocked me. There's a significant skill gap between KBO and MLB pitching. I didn't think he'd come over and make that much contact right away. And if he continues to make contact at that rate, he won't need to hit for much power at all to be a productive hitter. But he's already shown that his power ceiling is higher than that of Arias or Kwan. His average exit velocity was nearly 3 mph higher than those two, he had the highest barrel rate of that group, and by far the fastest bat speed. Even if it's just 8, 10, or 12 home runs in a full season, if he's striking out less than 10% of the time and walking at a similar rate, that's gonna add up to being a productive hitter. It's just straight up math, not to mention the fact he peaked at 23 homers in a season when he played in Korea. He could also express that power not just through home runs, but gap to gap. He's a lefty playing in a large ballpark that features Triple's Alley, and given that he is the grandson of the wind, he has the wheels to take advantage. The premature end to his MLB rookie year will only make the sophomore breakout sweeter. The Giants will like what they see from Jung-Hoo Lee in 2025. And now it's time for two annual traditions at once, the catcher pick and the player yet to debut in the big leagues pick. I'm happy to make Marlins catching prospect Agustin Ramirez my selection for these categories because he's still a little under the radar. You can find him on some of the top 100 prospect lists, but not all of them, and he's only being given around the 10th best odds to win NL Rookie of the Year. Acquired by Miami in the Jazz Chisholm deal last trade deadline, Ramirez should have plenty of opportunities for big league ABs this whether they be as a catcher, first baseman, or DH. The Marlins need all the help they can get on all of those fronts, and I believe Ramirez showed he's a very advanced hitter in AAA last year. Compared to the average AAA hitter, he swung more in the zone, chased less out of the zone, and made more contact all while being about 4 years younger than the league average, and the power metrics speak for themselves. His 90th percentile exit velocity was 106.5, on par with powerful big league catchers like Salvador Perez and Cal Raleigh. Speaking of catching, he's still very much a work in progress at that position. He's allowed over 100 stolen bases in the minors each of the last two seasons. But even if he's only a once or twice a week catcher who spends the rest of his time at first base or designated hitter, I think his back can play up to the heightened offensive expectations that come with moving down the defensive spectrum. It's called 5 Hitters I Like after all, and I think Agustin Ramirez can be a solid hitter right away for a Marlins lineup that really needs some oomph. So there you have it, the 5 Hitters I Like play for the Angels, Rays, Pirates, Giants, and Marlins. I've made a terrible mistake.