We have covered the predictions for all MLB divisions in 2025, which is an excellent way to highlight team performance and the overall success of an entire unit. Now it is time to run through all the individual award projections to dig deeper and zoom in on the best players in the world.
Baseball is a beautiful sport. Like most sports, it is one that requires a full team performance to win it all, but the MVP, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards can come from the most shocking places.
We have seen MVPs fail to make the playoffs multiple times (look away Mike Trout). There have been Cy Young Award winners that probably should not have even been in the top 3 of voting and won anyway (look away Bartolo Colon).
That is the beauty of baseball though. The game evolves with time. Just two years after Rick Porcello undeservedly won a Cy Young for simply having the most wins, Jacob deGrom proved that the wins stat was completely meaningless and always has been. Do not even get me started on how Ohtani has changed the MVP landscape forever.
Anyway, let’s begin with the potential Rookies of the Year:
NL ROY: Dylan Crews
This may ruffle some feathers, but I am not sure why. Dylan Crews is a natural born hitter, who set the college landscape on fire a few years back. In his first year at LSU, Crews hit .362 with 18 HR and a .453 OBP. In year two, he hit .349 with 22 HR and a .463 OBP. In his final year, he led his team to a national championship with a stellar .426 batting average and stunning .567 OBP while also clobbering 18 more homers.
These college stats make me nauseous. A career batting average of .379 in 196 games was enough to make him the #2 overall player drafted in 2023, behind his LSU teammate Paul Skenes. He is only 22 years old and has already hit well enough in the minors to warrant a call-up in 2024.
With the big-league club, he only played in 31 games and hit to a disappointing .219 average with a .288 OBP and only 3 home runs. However, he did steal 12 bags in 31 games, which is par for the course on last year’s Nationals team that stole more than John Dillinger. It was his first glimpse of the majors, so I am not at all worried about the contact and vision which is undoubtably his strongest qualities as a hitter. That will come with time, and I think over the course of a full season, he will unlock his true abilities and be great.
The speed numbers are very interesting to me since he was not the biggest base stealer in college. If he hits over .300, steals 30+ bases and clubs over 15 home runs, he more than fits the criteria for ROY.
Also, I will acknowledge that this is all far from locked up with the likes of Roki Sasaki on the mound in LA and Matt Shaw patrolling the hot corner in Wrigley. I have seen recent projections that show Shaw as the favorite and others with Roki. Hence, the feathers being ruffled by my choice of Crews.
In the end, either of the three could win it, but there is no doubt that Dylan Crews has potential to be the purest hitter in baseball.
AL ROY: Jasson Dominguez
In the AL, I predict that The Martian will win Rookie of the Year. We have been waiting for him to fully arrive for over six years now as he drew comps to Mike Trout, Mickey Mantle, and Bo Jackson at only 16 years old. A handful of scouts went as far to say that he played like Mike Trout, but better (at that specific age).
Injuries have set him back from receiving full playing time the last couple of years, but that does not concern me. If you are on the player-side of a scouting report like that, you have my attention forever. The potential is limitless and if he lives up to it, we are possibly looking at the next face of baseball.
He is on the same team as Aaron Judge, so he may even receive some hitting pointers from the captain and be able to produce at a similar level as him. Similarly, he may be able to further fine tune his base stealing ability by working with Anthony Volpe and Jazz Chisholm. There is a solid presence built around the youngster.
The MLB production has not really been there yet, but he only has 26 games and 100 plate appearances under his belt. He is widely being projected for a 20/20 (HR/SB) season and if he hits near the top of the order, there will be plenty of protection for him to get normal at bats and drive in more runs.
He clearly has potential to go 40/40 one day, but 20/20 this year with around 100 RBIs and a .270+ batting average could win him the award.
Like Crews in the NL, I must say that this is not a layup award winner. Young studs like Jackson Jobe and Kristian Campbell are specifically on my radar as well. Last season, Jackson Jobe had a 2.36 ERA and a 9.4 K/9 in 21 games started across multiple leagues, including the MLB. The strikeout prowess is there, and if can master his command, he will be a force in the league for years to come. I just do not think he will do enough to beat out Dominguez this year.
Campbell, however, developed immensely last year in the minor leagues as he clubbed 20 HR and swiped 24 bags to the tune of a .330 batting average and .439 OBP. Boston may be too crowded for him in the early part of the year, but he is not just knocking at the door, he is slamming it down. Dominguez will play more than both guys and win.
NY CY YOUNG: Paul Skenes
I mean, is anyone shocked? He is the best pitcher on planet Earth and until proven otherwise by some galactic entity, he is the greatest in the universe. As a baseball fan, his stats make me cry tears of joy. He is THAT good for the game. We have seen some very special pitchers in our lifetime, and he is on pace to be as good or better than them at only 22 years old.
Let’s start with his 2023 season at LSU, which boosted him to the #1 overall pick for the Pirates in 2023. In 19 games started (122.2 innings, he struck out 209 batters and only walked 20 while pitching to a 1.69 ERA and a .750 WHIP. WHAT?!
He then started 2024 in AAA and only lasted 7 games while striking out 45 players in just 27.1 innings of work while sporting a 0.99 ERA. WHAT?!?!
He then got promoted to the Pirates where he started 23 games and threw a career high 133 innings of work. In this time, he had a 1.96 ERA and struck out 170 while only walking 32. That equals up to a 11.5 K/9, a 2.2 BB/9 and a 0.947 WHIP in a season where he started the All Star Game, won NL ROY and finished 3rd in Cy Young voting. WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?
He is not human. He is not real. He is Paul Skenes, and he will win his first of many Cy Young Awards in 2025.
AL CY YOUNG: Jacob deGrom
WOAH. Did I just-? Jacob deGr-? In 2025?
Yes, I did. You read that properly. Before Paul Skenes ever existed to baseball fans, there was a creature named Jacob deGrom who was ½ Human and ½ GOAT.
A creature that dominantly won two straight Cy Young Awards and really should have won a third one in a shortened 2020 covid season. A creature that in 2021, a season derailed by late injuries, was the single best athlete on the planet as he pitched to a 1.08 ERA in 15 games while striking out 146 grown men in only 92 innings. His ERA+ was 373 in 2021. 373!! For those unfamiliar with ERA+, it is a weighted stat with multiple factors and 100 is the league average, so 373 is far from normal.
2022, 2023 and 2024 were all massively affected by multiple injuries. This means he has not been fully healthy since early 2021, for the most part. He has started 9 games in two years with Texas and has pitched to an excellent 2.41 ERA with 59 strikeouts in 41 innings. Small sample size, but what I am trying to say here is that when he is on the field, he is ultra-dominant. No one can touch his stuff as he tunnels a multitude of pitches at varying speeds and with ungodly movement. If we get 25+ starts of deGrom, we will see him hoist his 3rd (should be 5th) Cy Young Award.
While he is the biggest question mark in the AL race, it is only fair to shoutout Cole Ragans and Tarik Skubal, the reigning Cy Young, as the top dogs for this award. Both have now put together multiple successful seasons in the bigs and only seem to be getting stronger, which is terrifying for other AL Central teams. But assuming all three players start the same number of games, my brain cannot fathom either of Ragans or Skubal being more efficient than deGrom.
NL MVP: Juan Soto
Bring on the heat. How dare I not select Ohtani? Because it is the BORING pick. You want the good stuff and that’s what Matty Wheelz is here for.
Did Ohtani hit 54 homers, steal 59 bases, hit .310 and slug .646 while collecting over 400 total bases and win his third MVP last season? Sure. Is he going to pitch again this year and surely lower his output of stolen bases but replace it with efficient pitching and a Cy Young-caliber arsenal of pitches? Probably. But is his name Juan Soto?
NOPE.
Juan Soto is 26 years old and only getting stronger. He seems to get better with each passing year and if he surpasses last year’s numbers in the Bronx, Ohtani will get dethroned. In 2024, Soto knocked out 41 homers and drove in 109 runs while hitting .288 and sporting an impressive .419 OBP.
We have seen him hit over .300 in the past. We have enjoyed 201 home runs in just 7 years. He has finished with a .400+ OBP in each of his 7 seasons while reaching as high as .490 in the 2020 covid year and .465 in an actual real season.
He gets on base, hits the ball hard and far, drives in runs, and most importantly, he gets big hits in big moments. Clutch players last long in the league and he is one of them. If he reaches his ceiling in each of the major stat categories, he could easily shuffle his way to winning MVP this year.
Maybe if he starts pitching too, the league will actually allow this to happen.
AL MVP: Bobby Witt Jr.
Aaron Judge exists and that’s a problem for Witt. I also think a healthy Yordan Alvarez is just as good a hitter as Judge if he can play out a full season for Houston. I will even tip the cap to Vladimir Guerrero Jr this year as a legitimate candidate as he enters a contract year and could see himself earn a $500+ million deal by year’s end. All three of these guys are phenomenal players and solid threats to win the award, but I do not think they beat out Bobby Witt Jr.
Bobby Witt Jr. has played three full MLB seasons and has improved each year. He has shown increased power every year as he hit 20 home runs in his rookie year, 30 in his second and 32 last season. Speed has been a constant as he has 30 or more swipes in all 3 years with an impressive ceiling of 49 in 2023. Batting average, OBP and SLG have steadily risen as well with last year being an explosion of development.
In 2024, Witt slashed to a .332 average (won batting title), .389 OBP and .588 SLG en route to a 171 OPS+ and a 2nd place finish in the MVP voting. His impressive Gold Glove defensive also contributed greatly to his 9.4 WAR (2nd in MLB – only behind Judge).
I am far from breaking the internet when I say the previous MVP runner-up will win it this year, but an argument is needed with such a loaded field of candidates. He easily could have won last year, but if he hits over .310 again and steals enough to balance out Judge’s power, we may see him take that next step into MLB history.
Each award has a variety of candidates who are entrenched in the mix to win this season and for varying reasons. The game is changing as more and more young guys are coming in and making immediate and immense impacts on the league. Several young players are becoming increasingly favored in MVP and Cy Young considerations, in addition to the Rookie of the Year conversation.
This is music to a die-hard fan’s ear as we enter the best time of the year.
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