The six MLB rookies off to the hottest starts in 2026

To say that MLB’s 2026 newcomers are thriving would be an understatement.

cleveland patron‘ Chase DelauterWith his fast, powerful swing, he has more home runs (four) than any other 12 teams in the majors. detroit tigers‘ kevin mcgonigal Total runs batted in (four) san francisco giants The team has scored. JJ Weatherholt There’s already a curtain call and walk-off for St. Louis Cardinals.

carson benzwho had previously played only a few games above Double-A New York Mets‘The opener, is already being honored at Citi Field. cincinnati reds‘ sal stewart Yours compiled a .769 on-base percentage in the first weekend. munetaka murakami of chicago white sox Appeared in each of his first three major league games, joining Deloutre as only the third and fourth rookies in history to do so.

The common thread between these six – and some of the game’s other young players – seems to be this unusual balance.

A high-ranking MLB executive said, “Looking at them, you can tell they believe they belong.” “They’re not surprised. They’re not intimidated. They expect to do well.”

Another said: “I don’t know how to explain this, but you don’t see the kind of concern you would expect from people so young.”

These six rookies, with their early attack and composure, have made immediate impacts on their teams in the new season. Here’s a breakdown of what each has done so far – and how they got to this point.

Chase DeLauter, RF, Cleveland Guardians

The Guardians opened the season with a series at Seattle, and DeLauter hit two homers in the opener, one in the second game and the fourth in the third. He hit home runs in the early going logan gilbert And george kirby be close to andres munoz — and ESPN researcher Paul Heimbekides said DeLauter is the only player to give up a homer to all three of those pitchers.

Despite being listed at 6-foot-3 and 235 pounds, DeLauter was never a prolific home run hitter – he did not reach double-digit homer totals in any season in college and accumulated a total of 20 points in his first three professional seasons. Grant Fink, the Guardians’ hitting coach, said he doesn’t like to strike out, and at whatever level DeLauter has played, he has generally drawn more walks than strikeouts. He is well helped in this aspect by his swing, which is short and fast, with his arms close to his body, somewhat like the former. philadelphia phillies Second baseman Chase Utley’s swing.

“When you look at it, sometimes it looks like he didn’t get it done,” Fink said. “But it has incredible strength.”

There’s an ease and comfort to DeLauter’s game that first emerged last October. After the Guardians selected him No. 16 overall in 2022, he missed significant time with foot and core injuries, accumulating just 138 games in the minors over the past three years. But Cleveland is desperate to complement hitters jose ramirez In his lineup, promoted Delauter to make his major league debut in last year’s wild-card series against Detroit. Guardians hitting coach Grant Fink remembers watching Delauter and how calm he was in highly unusual circumstances.

“There aren’t too many people he’s intimidated by,” Fink said.

Following his performance over the weekend, DeLaughter was named American League Player of the Week on Monday.

Sal Stewart, 3B, Cincinnati Reds

After selecting Deloutre, the Reds drafted Stewart with 16 selections. Stewart had 58 plate appearances for Cincinnati at the end of last season and was sent off over the winter with this advice: Work on becoming more athletic. And he took it seriously. When the team asked him about playing winter ball, Stewart declined, saying he wanted to focus on improving his body by working out in his hometown of Miami. He arrived at camp 22 pounds lighter, moving better and showing more athleticism that the Reds staff knew he had. In fact, Stewart won a free throwing shooting contest held by the Reds during spring training.

Through Cincinnati’s first four games, he’s 8-for-12 with five walks and one strikeout. He’s never looked more comfortable than when he’s in the batter’s box, focused and adjusting from pitch to pitch.

“He knows how to throw two strikes,” said Nick Krall, the Reds’ chief of baseball operations.

Kevin McGonigle, SS, Detroit Tigers

The 21-year-old McGonigle had four hits in the Tigers’ opener in San Diego, and became the third-youngest player with four or more hits on Opening Day in the last 100 major league seasons. Then, in the second game, he came to the plate with the bases loaded in the eighth inning. vandy peraltaExperienced lefty who has made a career of defeating left-handers like McGonigle in the final innings. But McGonigal kept fighting against Peralta on tough pitches. At one point the pitcher turned his head in some frustration when McGonigal fouled off a pitch that Peralta thought would eliminate the rookie.

“He was locked in and just competing. He didn’t look outmatched and he didn’t look overwhelmed,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch wrote in a text.

On the 10th pitch of his plate appearance against Peralta, McGonigle ripped a two-run single to right field to score two runs. “This young man,” said Tigers broadcaster Jason Benetti, “is completely amazed by these lights on show!”

McGonigal’s manager agreed with this sentiment: “One advantage was that he never thought too much and believed in himself. It was an epic batting at the perfect time,” said Hinch.

Munetaka Murakami, 3B, Chicago White Sox

MLB teams had a lot of questions about Murakami – about his swing and his defense – despite the great power he showed in Japan’s NPB. Some evaluators privately wondered whether he would be overwhelmed by the high velocity. Ultimately, he signed a two-year, $34 million contract with the White Sox – much less than some of the media’s expectations.

“He’s very determined,” White Sox head of baseball operations Chris Gaetz said of Murakami. “It’s very clear that he wants to prove to someone that he’s real. He’s very serious.”

And very dangerous for pitchers: Murakami hit a homer in each of three games against Chicago milwaukee brewers. “Put the home runs aside – the quality of his at-bats was really excellent,” Gaetz said, noting how his rookie season faced some of the Brewers’ hard throwers like Jakub Misiorowski.

It’s clear to Getz that Murakami isn’t just an all-or-nothing slugger in how he adapts during ball-strike counts, and Getz expects that as the 26-year-old faces more major league pitching, he’ll continue to make adjustments.

Carson Benz, RF, New York Mets

Of these six rookies, Benz may be closest to starting the season in the minors, due to his relatively short stint as a professional. The No. 19 pick in 2024, Benz reached Double-A by the end of that year, and he had just 24 games in Triple-A at the end of 2025. He was told at the beginning of camp this year that he would be given a chance to make the Mets, and he did everything they said. With an .874 OPS in spring training, he proved to be everything he had hoped for, and ultimately won the right field job to appear in New York’s Opening Day lineup.

“What stands out right now is how composed and calm he is,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza wrote in a text to Benz after his opening weekend. “Nothing really speeds him up. He has a really mature approach for a player his age, especially in big moments. You can see the confidence, but it’s not forced.”

Benz, who drew two walks and stole a base on Opening Day, added his first career home run in his fourth at-bat in the seventh inning. He drove the ball 385 feet, jumping for joy when he saw it disappear over the right-field wall.

“Physically,” Mendoza wrote, “the tools are there. He’s got the hands, the athleticism. But it’s the instincts that really come through for me. He reads the game well, and makes smart decisions.”

JJ Weatherholt, SS, St. Louis Cardinals

In his major league debut, Weatherholt hit a ball into the grass beyond the center-field wall in St. Louis, 425 feet from home plate. The next day, he hit a walk-off single to defeat Tampa 6–5, before teammates threw buckets of ice water on him.

“Calm conduct,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol wrote in a text. “Not phased [sic] From anything, and from a gamer. The boys love him.”

Randy Mazzie – who coached Weatherholt in his final year at West Virginia University, before Weatherholt was drafted and Mazzie retired – enjoyed replays of Weatherholt’s home runs, walk-off hits and toothy grins, as well as how the other Cardinals reacted to that. Mazzei has coached for decades and has seen the growth and steady improvement in young players moving up through amateur baseball, so he was not at all surprised to see Weatherholt, as well as all the other rookies, excelling.

“Kids these days are so talented,” Mazzei said. “I think you’re going to see more of this. It’s going to be a trend.”