5 Hot Starts that Matter - Batters
Ben Rice, Tyler Soderstrom, Jonathan Aranda, Spencer Torkelson, Eric Wagaman
With the 2025 Season a few weeks in, let’s take a look at 5 batters that have started off strong and why their success could signal the best is yet to come!
Tyler Soderstrom - ATH
Tyler Soderstrom has taken MLB by storm this season! He currently leads the league with 9 HR while boasting a ludicrous 191 wRC+. Digging deeper into his data reveals the driving factor into his stretch of dominance; better launch angle distribution.
Soderstrom has always possessed great power metrics as indicated by his career 13.0 Barrel%. The underlying issue into his struggles were that when he wasn’t hitting barrels, he was hitting balls with non-ideal launch angles. He registered a poor 48.9 GB% in 2024, which made essentially half his batted balls to return suboptimal results. Now in 2025, Soderstrom is lifting the ball significantly more. His SweetSpot% ballooned from 31.4% to 45.3%, allowing Soderstrom to take advantage of his innate power.
Another big issue for Soderstrom were whiffs. He is being much more selective this season (44.8 Swing%) and has been making more contact. He is being patience and making the most of his batted balls this season. I would like to see him be more aggressive in the zone, especially in the heart of the zone, but his gains his season signal that he is in the midst of a breakout.
Jonathan Aranda - TB
Jonathan Aranda excelled throughout his MiLB career, so it was just a matter of time before he found his footing in the Majors. He ended the 2024 season on a high note and his underlying metrics towards an impending breakout in 2025. What was not expected was his tremendous start to the season where he has posted a bonkers .471 wOBA and it’s been all backed up!
Essentially every indicator is up across the board with his .481 xwOBA highlighting that he has earned his results. His batted ball metrics are stellar with a 19.6 Barrel% and 45.1 SweetSpot% and he demonstrating improved plate discipline with better In-Zone aggression and O-Zone patience. He is hitting everything with authority and putting in more balls in play than ever before.
The only knock against Aranda so far is his below average Whiff%. I’d expect his K% to trend downwards if he doesn’t clean up the whiffs. Nonetheless, the batted ball quality is elite and the strides Aranda has made in his swing decisions are very telling. He is a complete hitter!
Ben Rice - NYY
If you took a look at Ben Rice’s Statcast metrics you could mistake them for Aaron' Judge’s metrics; yes, they’ve been that ridiculous. Rice gave us a sneak peek into his improvements this Spring and he has carried them over to the Nth degree to start the season.
Rice has turned into one of the most patient batters in MLB with a 39.2 Swing%. He is being a lot more selective with his swings and it seems to be working wonders. It feels like every ball off Rice’s bat is loud, and his 100th Percentile HardHit% (66.0%) supports that feeling. A 25.5 Barrel% and .477 xwOBA place him amongst the elite sluggers in baseball and he is doing so while walking more and striking out less. His contact rate is still below average, but there’s only so much a player with plus bat speed can do to avoid whiffs.
His extreme patience is hard to exploit because he possesses so much natural power. He looks like a stud and has quickly become one of the best young sluggers in the game.
Spencer Torkelson - DET
It has been a tumultuous MLB career for Spencer Torkelson. After being selected 1st overall in the 2020 draft, Torkelson struggled to produce in his first 3 seasons, posting an underwhelming 95 wRC+ in his first 361 games. His inability to consistently lift the ball stifled his offensive production and his poor defensive play forced Detroit to leave him off the roster at key points of the season.
With seemingly his final chance, Torkelson has started off on fire with a .433 wOBA which is supported by an elite 0.405 xwOBA. His batted ball metrics have drastically improved from last season. Torkelson exhibited similarly strong metrics in 2023 where he posted 31 HR and returned the best season of his career. It is encouraging to see his productivity align with his best season, however he is doing something a lot better this season which indicates that he will continue to outperform the most optimistic projections; pulling fly balls.
To start off, Torkelson is hitting a lot more fly balls this season while limiting his pop ups. His FB% is up to 43.6% which has spiked his SweetSpot% up to 40%. What is more impressive is that his Air Pull% (% of batted balls that are pulled fly ball) is up to an elite 36.4%. This improvement has allowed Torkelson to make more of his power and should cause him to outperform his expected metrics. To top it all off, his eye remains sharp with a 13.4 BB% to back it up
It’s been a while for Torkelson, but it finally feels like we are seeing his Top Prospect pedigree shine through.
Eric Wagaman - MIA
Eric Wagaman was infamous for being the Marlins sole acquisition for most of the off-season. While he was an unfamiliar name at the time, he could be a household name by the end of this season.
His cup of coffee in MLB to end 2024 wasn’t overly exciting. He posted an 86 wRC+ across 74 PA with underwhelming underlying data. What did jump out of the page were his hot red AAA metrics. He exhibited strong batted ball metrics while making a ton of contact. The Marlins believed in the talent and it looks to be paying off!
Wagaman currently holds a 125 wRC+ across 71 PA with a decent 8.5 BB%, a stellar 14.1 K%, and batted ball metrics that mirror his fantastic 2024 AAA campaign. The biggest change in his profile has been a complete reversal in his swing decisions. He was one of the most aggressive batters in AAA, and now he is one of the most passive batters in MLB. The change has helped improve his O-Swing% immensely, but he is taking many more called strikes. While his Whiff% has dipped significantly, his Z-Contact% (88.2%) remains well above average.
When Wagaman swings at pitches in the zone, he makes solid contact, and that is a recipe for success. His more selective approach seems to be working, and he should be staple at the top of the Marlins lineup this season.
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