These Three Under-the-Radar Hitters Are Off to a Hot Start in 2025
- Mason Linken
- Jun 17
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 17
Editor's note: All statistics are as of the morning of June 16, 2025.
The offensive landscape of Major League Baseball is constantly shifting, with breakout stars and subpar seasons emerging each year. In this crowded landscape, solid offensive contributors often go relatively unnoticed compared to the game's biggest stars. While household names like Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani take the headlines, those who are good but haven’t reached stardom often lack the recognition they deserve. As All-Star commotion increases, and fans flock to the voting polls, it’s the perfect time to shine a light on some of those unheralded players.
Here are three under-the-radar hitters off to a hot start in 2025:
Jonathan Aranda
As the All-Star break draws nearer, Jonathan Aranda has continued to be one of MLB’s best-hitting first-basemen in 2025. Through the first half of June, Aranda sits sixth in the majors in wRC+ (162), eighth in wOBA (.395), and fourth in OBP (.411). He’s slashed .319/.411/.491 thus far on the year, with eight homers and 39 RBIs to his name. He remains at the 90th percentile or better in xWOBA (.400), xBA (.304), and average exit velocity (92.5).
Aranda’s production isn't just an early season burst of luck, but rather, sustainable contributions from an elite offensive player. His .407 BABIP does warrant some wariness, but there aren't large discrepancies between BA and xBA, or wOBA and xwOBA. His hard-hit% places him in the 95th percentile (54.4), with LA sweet-spot% coming in at the 92nd percentile (40.5).
Aranda has continued to expand on a major step forward in 2024 and looks to be heading towards a career year as a result. He’s hitting the ball in the air at a 57.6% clip in 2025 compared to 50.5% of the time in 2024, and has continued to dominate to the pull side. The biggest factor in Aranda’s success, perhaps, has been his domination of fastballs. So far in 2025, Aranda has mashed the heater, contributing 9 RVAL against fastballs. The underlying metrics look good for Aranda, and he could soon earn his first trip to the All-Star game in the upcoming weeks.
Jeremy Peña
Jeremy Peña has found himself in the midst of a career year thus far in 2025. He ranks in the 91st percentile in batting runs with 14, a stark contrast to his previous career high in the 37th percentile in 2022 (-1). He ranks 17th in the league in wRC+ (147) as well as 17th in wOBA (.377). Peña has also owned the best slash line of his career thus far at .325/.379/.485. After struggling the first few years of his major-league career, Peña’s breakout has been sudden and immense.
While at first glance Peña may appear to have finally found his footing, his underlying metrics don’t fare well, and thus leave some doubt in the minds of baseball analysts. A .043 discrepancy between wOBA and xwOBA is concerning, especially given the .065 discrepancy between SLG and xSLG. Peña also isn’t hitting the ball any harder than in years past, with his 23rd percentile average exit velocity (88.2) remaining the exact same as in 2024.
Keeping Peña afloat is his domination of fastballs, which has in turn helped his overall stats. While he’s still outperformed his expected stats against the heater, they have been the strongest part of his game in 2025. A .378 BA and .554 SLG against the pitch type have been monumental, with his less appealing expected stats still pointing towards a solid performance. The dreadful metrics stem from Peña’s struggle against offspeed pitches, to which he has owned a .255 wOBA and .222 SLG. While Peña’s offensive profile isn’t the strongest, his contributions still have been so far in 2025. Can he keep this level of production up? Only time will tell.
Michael Busch
A former top prospect, Michael Busch is contributing exactly as you might expect a first-round draft pick does. Through just over two months of play, Busch owns a .286/.359/.502 slash line, alongside a .373 wOBA. He’s bashed 11 homers and 39 RBIs with a 143 wRC+, placing him fifth among first-basemen, and 35th in the league overall.
There’s little threat of regression with Busch, with most of his expected stats lining up with observed realities. Busch’s .261 xBA and .384 xwOBA match his production, and his 92nd percentile barrel% (15.3) and 75th percentile hard-hit% (47.1) don’t exactly raise concern. His relatively high BB% (10.9) and low chase% (21.1) make for a hitter with good pitch selection.
Busch’s strong suit so far in 2025 has been offspeed pitches, where he boasts a .389 BA and .778 SLG. His domination of offspeed is a major improvement from the past year, where he hit just .238 and slugged .400 against the pitch type in 2024. In just his third major league season Busch is looking better than ever, and it’s clear the Cubs got what they bargained for in their 2024 deal with the Dodgers.
(Statistics found in: fangraphs.com, baseballsavant.com)
Cover photo credit: Jeffrey Hyde via Wikimedia
