Just Baseball’s 2025 All-Rookie Team

Last year, we had numerous top rookie performers, which ultimately led to our Eric Treuden ranking the Top 10 Rookies of the 2024 Season. With the way this year has turned out and how we have had top rookie performers at each specific position, the team constructed the 2025 All-Rookie Team to highlight those individuals.

Now, without further ado, let’s give credit where credit is due.

2025 All-Rookie Team

Catcher – Drake Baldwin (ATL)

2025 stats: 446 PA, 19 HR, 56 R, 80 RBI, .274/.341/.469, 125 wRC+, 3.1 fWAR

Drake Baldwin being first on this list is fitting. Yes, the catcher position is typically the first listed when constructing All-Time teams, but he also represents everything that being labeled a pop-up rookie exhibits.

No, the pop-up reference does not come with a negative connotation. By pop-up, I am referencing him being the first benefactor of the advantage that an injury circumstance made him the Opening Day starter for the Atlanta Braves. This decision by the organization came right after the news of Seam Murphy opening the year on the injured list was released.

While Hurler Cade Horton is the odds-on favorite to be NL Rookie of the Year, Baldwin has a very strong argument for the hardware.

While what Cal Raleigh is doing at the catcher position in the American League has led him to be currently tied as the favorite for the AL MVP, the same applies to a rookie being thrust into a starting catcher position for a team that had World Series aspirations coming into the year, even if the results did not show that.

Baldwin’s performance this year, even dating back to around the trade deadline, had started the rumors of the Braves being willing to move on from Sean Murphy, who the Braves had just traded for and extended, with the expectations that he would be the starting catcher for years to come. This now looks to be Drake Baldwin’s job going forward

Our All-Rookie team backstop decision was an easy one. Drake Baldwin takes home the honors.

First Base: Nick Kurtz (Athletics)

2025 stats: 489 PA, 36 HR, 90 R, 86 RBI, .290/.383/.619, 170 wRC+, 4.6 fWAR

I do not think much needs to be said here, but what Nick Kurtz has done to the game of baseball as a whole, at the highest level, is incredibly unprecedented.

There is not a metric known to baseball that does not show Kurtz being anything less than above-average at every hitting stat analyzed in baseball today. It seems as if his light-tower power sets a new level of insanity as each day goes by.

When you have fewer than than 500 career plate appearances in the majors and are drawing comparisons to former-MVP Ryan Howard, you are doing something right.

It also isn’t just pull-side power. Ending the year behind only two players in the OPS department in all of baseball — Aaron Judge (1.144) and Shohei Ohtani (1.014) — Nick Kurtz has quickly become one of the most feared hitters in all of baseball as a rookie.

Not only is he the representative at first base on this list, but he’s likely a lock to be the MLB Rookie of the Year if there were only one award for both leagues. Not only has Nick Kurtz looked to have solidified the starting first base job for the Athletics for years to come, but he is now looking to be one of the best first basemen in all of baseball.

It would not surprise me at the least if his name gets some down-ballot MVP votes at season’s end.

Second Base: Luke Keaschall (MIN)

2025 stats: 207 PA, 4 HR, 25 R, 28 RBI, .302/.382/.445, 134 wRC+, 1.6 fWAR

Back at the beginning of September, our Harrison Bruns highlighted the breakout of Luke Keashall and how the Twins were witnessing the birth of the next potential star of their organization.

After another disappointing end to a season that started with a lot of promise, the Twins are yet again looking towards next season and who may be a part of their future roster going forward. With how this second baseman has performed since he made his debut, Keashall is a lock to be a regular for the Twins for years to come.

He does not yet have enough ABs to qualify amongst the major-league leaders, but if he did, Keashall would rank in the 90th percentile or above in sweet-spot rate, chase rate, whiff percentage, and strikeout rate.

A hard-hit rate of 31.2% is leaving quite a bit of meat on the bone, but the above-average quality of contact rates represent that he should soon start to reap the rewards of his high contact rate and above-average sweet-spot percentage.

The Twins are a team still, clearly, searching for a true identity. It was once Royce Lewis who was labeled the “savior,” and while Keashall might not be the exact answer to that, he is surely going to be a key cog in being an important piece to the machine that will eventually be the next contending roster in Minnesota.

Shortstop: Jacob Wilson (Athletics)

2025 stats: 523 PA, 13 HR, 62 R, 63 RBI, .311/.355/.444, 121 wRC+, 3.5 fWAR

After what looked like an offseason that was sure to set the standard for a disappointing overall year for the no-city-designation Athletics, there may have been no hotter start for a player than the one that Jacob Wilson was off to.

Many people have said that no one cares about batting average anymore, but Wilson was putting that all to bed with his performance daily for a team that could have used any sign at all that they were currently rostering players who could make an impact for the next winning Athletics team.

The starting shortstop for Just Baseball’s All-Rookie team was leading the charge for the AL Rookie of the Year before landing on the injured list with a hamstring injury that kept him out for an extended period of time. When you’re making contact at a 91.4% clip, it’s hard to argue that you’re not making an impact in every game you find yourself in the lineup.

Wilson’s profile is never going to exemplify power, but he also isn’t just hitting the ball on the ground. He does a good job of squaring the ball up, ending in the 97th percentile in that category, and spraying the ball gap-to-gap.

Taking advantage of one’s environment growing up is a big part of development, and you can tell that the son of a former major leaguer took every opportunity to learn and piece together all the information necessary to become a good, everyday regular at the major-league level.

As I mentioned in the beginning, the Athletics have been looking for any potential lasting heartbeat from their roster to find a future lock at a position. Like Kurtz, the A’s can likely do the same with Jacob Wilson at shortstop going forward.

Third Base: Caleb Durbin (MIL)

2025 stats: 506 PA, 11 HR, 60 R, 53 RBI, .256/.334/.387 105 wRC+, 2.6 fWAR

This former Yankee farmhand made his way to Milwaukee this offseason in the deal that sent former All-Star closer Devin Williams to New York. Caleb Durbin was going to be given every opportunity to win a starting job from day one when he arrived in Arizona for Spring Training.

While the position was given to him after an injury, he made sure he did not do anything to relinquish the job as the season progressed. It was a roller coaster for the first two months, but Durbin was quick to settle in during June, where he hit .296/.363/.432 in 81 ABs.

The stability that this “throw-in” from the Devin Williams-for-Nestor Cortes Jr. deal has provided goes beyond what the peripheral numbers show. Day after day, Durbin has provided the Brewers with the type of “set it and forget it” option in the lineup and on our All-Rookie team.

It does not take someone squinting to try and see Caleb Durbin again being the starter at the hot corner for the Brewers at the start of the 2026 season, but, before then, there is clearly some unfinished business for the World Series hopeful Brew Crew.

Outfield: Roman Anthony (BOS), Isaac Collins (MIL), Jakob Marsee (MIA)

Anthony 2025 stats: 303 PA, 8 HR, 48 R, 32 RBI, .292/.396/.463, 139 wRC+, 2.7 fWAR

There aren’t many rookies in baseball who can step in and be the catalyst for a team searching for an identity in one of the more dismal times of an organization’s history. Yes, that may sound dramatic, but the Red Sox had just traded away yet another face of the franchise-caliber player in Rafael Devers, right before Roman Anthony made his debut for the Red Sox.

Roman’s debut was anything but great. He quickly had one of the more blatant errors in the outfield right from the very beginning. The results at the plate also weren’t there to start, but the quality of the at-bats was prevalent.

You just knew someone as talented as him would soon see the baseballs start to fall.

Coming into the year as Just Baseball’s, as well as numerous other prospect ranking platforms, No. 1 overall prospect in all of baseball, Anthony’s highly-anticipated debut could not have come any sooner. The 21-year-old was doing an incredible job of keeping the entire team afloat after the departure of Devers and Bregman, who landed on the injured list for an extended period of time.

It is not a coincidence that the Red Sox started to struggle again when Roman landed on the injured list. His presence alone, even as a rookie, gave the team an identity throughout the lineup and allowed for role players to settle in nicely without any extra pressure.

That is a lot to ask of a rookie, but Just Baseball’s first representative of the outfield in this iteration of the All-Rookie team was up for the task since he was given the news in his Triple-A clubhouse.

Roman Anthony is not just a starter for this team going into 2026, but the potential next superstar-caliber player.

Collins 2025 stats: 441 PA, 9 HR, 56 R, 54 RBI, .263/.368/.411, 122 wRC+, 2.6 fWAR

Yes, the first-place Milwaukee Brewers lineup is comprised of two rookies who have played at a high enough level to make the All-Rookie team.

Isaac Collins had seemed to provide the Brewers lineup with a big hit when they needed it the most. The 28-year-old rookie is rocking a 77.5% contact rate while walking at a 12.9% clip.

Just take a look at this spray chart.

Collins has done a lot more than just step in at a moment’s notice. Not only has be been in the National League Rookie of the Year conversation, but Collins is also looking at consideration for a Gold Glove in the outfield as well.

The 2019 ninth-round pick for the Colorado Rockies is getting noticed by many as being one of the better defenders in the outfield.

While his role entering 2026 is currently up in the air, it would not be far-fetched to consider him a starter in this outfield. Especially with the health concerns surrounding Christian Yelich and Garrett Mitchell.

The August National League Rookie of the Month is firmly in Just Baseball’s Rookie of the Year outfield.

Marsee 2025 stats: 234 PA, 5 HR, 28 R, 33 RBI, .292/.363/.478, 133 wRC+, 2.1 fWAR

Believe it or not, a team that was projected to lose 100 games in the 2025 season was in contention for a postseason spot until the very end. While he has not been a part of the big-league club for a long time, Jakob Marsee’s emergence since his call up is a big reason they stayed in the race for so long.

Marsee’s debut in Miami has made headlines amongst multiple media outlets due to the sheer fact that it has been an unprecedented start to a career for someone who was seen as a hole in his Double-A lineup. The struggles he was going through ended up making him just another piece in the package sent to Miami in the Luis Arraez trade.

Recently, Aram was able to sit down and interview with Jakob Marsee and really dissect his bounce back, and in turn, made his debut as electric as it has been. As cliché as it may sound, he said it was truly a blessing in disguise.

While the power aspect of his game may not be the most sustainable part of his skillset, Marsee has all the intangibles of being a strong four-tool player for the Marlins going forward.

Accumulating a 2.4 fWAR in just 46 MLB games made him a lock to man one of the outfield positions in this All-Rookie team. Not to mention the fact that the Marlins have seemed to find the answer to their long-standing question: Who is this team’s future starting center fielder?

There’s reason to believe the answer is Jakob Marsee.

Designated Hitter: Agustin Ramirez (MIA)

2025 stats: 585 PA, 21 HR, 72 R, 67 RBI, .231/.287/.413, 91 wRC+, 0.0 fWAR

Another team with a double-feature on this piece.

What Agustin Ramirez has provided the Marlins organization goes beyond what the stat line may say. No, the numbers do not stand out like some of the other players on the list, but that does not mean that he has not been one of the more impactful rookies in all of baseball, and is the reason why he made this team as the designated hitter.

The first thing you may notice is the 0.0 fWAR. It is no secret that Ramirez’s defense was, and remains, a work in progress. While he has made strides throughout the year, there is still work to be done, and that is a big reason why the fWAR is as low as it is.

That should not take away the gangbuster start he had to his MLB career, however.

From his debut on April 21 to the end of May, Ramirez had a wRC+ of 125 with seven home runs, a .504 slugging percentage, and an average exit velo of a tick under 92 MPH.

The aggressive approach from this free swinger has been referenced dating back to his time in the Yankees farm system before being acquired by the Marlins, and yet he has still been able to work his walks while limiting his strikeout percentage to a rate under 20%.

It was not until the emergence of Cubs starter Cade Horton making his debut that Agustin was no longer in the top three of the National League Rookie of the Year race. Nonetheless, it was an easy decision for the team to name Agustin Ramirez as this team’s designated hitter and the future backstop of the Miami Marlins going forward.