Jon Heyman 12 surprise players making a big impact to open the MLB season By Jon Heyman Published April 9, 2026, 7:04 p.m. ET Nationals left fielder Joey Wiemer (21) hits a three-run home run against the Chicago Cubs. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect Two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani continues to do amazing things — counting 2025, he leads MLB with 43 straight games reaching base and 28 ²/₃ consecutive innings with no earned runs allowed — and perennial stars Corbin Carroll, Giancarlo Stanton, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Max Fried, Tarik Skubal and Sandy Alcántara are all off to big starts, too.
But it’s notable how many surprise players are making early impacts. Here’s 12:
He’s on his fifth organization in two years, and maybe the late bloomer is finally figuring things out at bat (.440 BA, 1.253 OPS). Many hitting coaches have tried to change his unorthodox swing, but he’s determined to make it work.
With his big stuff (99-plus mph), the mystery really is why he pitched to an average 4.26 ERA last year (100 ERA-plus). But now he not only leads the majors with a 1.2 WAR and three wins, but holds a 971 ERA-plus at 0.45.
