Cal Raleigh and 5 MLB stars we’re already worried about despite small sample size
The 2026 season is younger, and but some MLB stars would possibly already really feel the warmth (even with winter reminding us it isn’t fully over in some elements of the nation). Teams are engaged on their second or third video games of the season this weekend, with some shock performers rising and others asking their superstars to kick issues into gear already.
Small sample caveats not with standing, the early performances from Cal Raleigh and these 5 different MLB stars is sufficient to really feel somewhat sweat in your forehead.
C Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners
2026 stats: 0-for-7 with seven strikeouts after a 60-homer breakout
was last year all a dream? Cal Raleigh would possibly wish to make certain Randy Arozarena would not have a relative someplace on this planet who put a hex on him after refusing to shake his hand in the course of the WBC. While no stranger to placing out after a 12 months the place he has fanned 188 occasions, doing nothing however a stroll of disgrace again to the dugout is alarming by way of two video games and presents fairly the opening to climb out of. Big Dumper will ultimately run into an enormous fly, after all, however perhaps Raleigh additionally must make some true changes on the plate. One can not hit 60 dwelling runs and fly below any pitching coach’s radar any longer.
RHP Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh Pirates
2026 stats: 67.50 ERA in 0.2 innings and sure to face adversity
Here’s the ridiculous factor about how small a sample size we’re speaking to Paul Skenes proper now: He nonetheless would not even qualify for the ERA title but (or non-title, in his case). The reigning NL Cy Young winner allowed 5 earned runs to the New York Mets and retired simply two batters earlier than getting yanked.
The sufferer of some bad center-field play by Oneil Cruz, followers also needs to think about the concept that taking part in for a workforce just like the Pittsburgh Pirates would ultimately catch as much as Skenes. He can not afford unhealthy days just like the one he had on Opening Day; nobody is able to cease writing up mock trades for Skenes that price a number of top-100 prospects. At worst, that is the type of 12 months Jacob deGrom had in 2017 with the Mets, when his ERA “skyrocketed” to three.53 due to some uncharacteristic unhealthy luck and a scarcity of assist behind him.
OF Julio Rodriguez, Seattle Mariners
2026 stats: 0-for-7 with 5 strikeouts on a slumping offensive workforce
Before Raleigh grew to become the face of the Seattle Mariners franchise, there was Julio Rodriguez. His profession has been a uncommon one: A top-10 prospect who nearly instantly grew to become a star upon debuting within the Majors, he appears to have reached a sure ceiling which, whereas improbable, will not have his title spoken in the identical sentence as Ken Griffey Jr. any time quickly.
The undeniable fact that the Mariners are 1-1 despite the efficiency of Raleigh and Rodriguez snoozing by way of the primary two video games is definitely a very good signal; for what it is value, first baseman Josh Naylor can be 0-for-8. Rodriguez hit only .207 in the first month last seasonso Mariners followers aren’t unfamiliar with a sluggish begin. Still, hitting coach Kevin Seitzer needs to be sweating and have the Seattle ballpark elements able to justify any extended slumps.
SS Willy Adames, San Francisco Giants
2026 stats: 0-for-7 with 4 strikeouts after a poor first 12 months in San Francisco
Willy Adames may not really feel like a famous person to some followers, however the San Francisco Giants are paying him like one. Just two years right into a seven-year deal value $182 million signed after the 2024 season, the priority meter right here needs to be enormous based mostly off of their struggles in 2025. The Giants bought a .225/.318/.421 hitter for his or her cash; yeah, Adames smashed 30 dwelling runs and drove in 87, however he additionally struck out a career-high 179 occasions and went dormant for complete months at a time. It looks as if he is off to repeat final 12 months’s numbers for San Francisco, who’ve but to attain a run in two video games towards the New York Yankees.
1B Freddie Freeman, Los Angeles Dodgers
2026 stats: 0-for-8 and on the opposite aspect of 35
Freddie Freeman is the type of participant you may depend on to have a career-worst 12 months and then one way or the other nonetheless win World Series MVP. He’s began off his 12 months going 0-for-8 with a stroll. Why have any panic? It’s his age: He’s already 36, and if something about blowing out that many candles in your cake, your physique begins to present out. Although nonetheless extremely productive final season, Freeman’s 3.5 bWAR in 2025 was the bottom of any full marketing campaign since 2015. Some athletes abruptly decline; others burn out like a wick.
OF Corbin Carroll, Arizona Diamondbacks
2026 stats: 1-for-8 after a tricky spring coaching
Maybe it might have been higher if Corbin Carroll have been eased into motion. Dealing with a hamate injury At the start of camp, he hit solely .105 in spring coaching and he has limped by way of two common season video games. In some methods it was irresponsible of the Arizona Diamondbacks to permit him to battle by way of it, however we are able to additionally credit score him and the group for permitting their famous person to hitch the workforce proper off the bat. The worst of what this will turn into has but to reach. A prolonged hunch to start the 12 months void of energy will in all probability be the end result. If he is that unhealthy to start out the 12 months, we are able to then query if perhaps there was a greater different. A nasty March-April can bury Arizona rapidly in a crowded NL image.
