3 Pleasant Surprise Hitters That Are Crushing 2025
I did not see them coming...
George Springer - Toronto Blue Jays
It is no secret that 2024 was George Springer’s worst year in his prolific career. He barely hit his weight. This was highly concerning considering he is a career .260 hitter and weighs 220 lbs. The industry was down on Springer heading into the season, as he is now 35 years old, and 2024 looked like the beginning of the end for the veteran outfielder. I’ll admit I was down on Springer and own zero shares of him in fantasy this year, and for that, I am paying dearly.
The 4x All-Star, 2x Silver Slugger, World Series Champion, and World Series MVP is now laughing as he is mashing the baseball so far in 2025. Not only did Toronto pull off an extension with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. earlier this month, but they have Springer playing like it’s 2019, and they are in first place in the American League East. Obviously, Springer will cool down at some point, but I have to give the man credit for now. He has come out hot out of the gate, and Toronto needed this from Springer to have any hope of competing for a division title in 2025.
I bet he is still riding the high of the Guerrero Jr. extension!
2025 - 232 wRC+ | .429 AVG | .479 OBP | .690 SLG
Wilyer Abreu - Boston Red Sox
It feels like everything Boston touches right now is turning to gold. The Red Sox are a well-oiled machine, and Abreu is another cog in their product. Coming off a 3.4 bWAR season, Abreu picked up where he left off as he is tearing the cover off the baseball. Wilyer is currently putting up the fifth-best wRC+ in baseball with 211. This honestly couldn’t happen at a better time for Boston, with Devers having such a bad start to the season. I know Devers has been much better over the past two weeks, but you get the point.
Abreu is also 4th in OPS across the majors right now. He is putting up a 1.140 OPS, and the only hitters in front of him are Pete Alonso, Aaron Judge, and George Springer…not too shabby.
2025 - 211 wRC+ | .364 AVG | .481 OBP | .659 SLG
Ben Rice - New York Yankees
We are seeing a completely different Ben Rice right now. It is early in the season, but the numbers speak for themselves. Rice has been a pleasant surprise for the Yankees so far in 2025, especially with Jazz Chisholm Jr., Cody Bellinger, Austin Wells, and Jasson Dominguez not off to hot starts.
Rice is 11th in wRC+ (196), 11th in SLG (.632), 11th in wOBA (.447), 7th in xwOBA (.470), and 15th in BB% (17.4%). Needless to say, there is not much that Rice is doing wrong right now. The Yankees needed a hot start to the season, as they are dealing with several injuries. The AL East is a beast of a division, and the Yankees cannot afford to lose games early on. Rice seems to understand that, unlike some of his teammates.
2025 - 196 wRC+ | .289 AVG | .413 OBP | .632 SLG