Buster OlneyMar 31, 2026, 07:00 AM ETCloseSenior writer ESPN Magazine/ESPN.com Analyst/reporter ESPN television Author of “The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty”Follow on XMultiple Authors
The common denominator between these six — and some of the other young players in the sport — seems to be this unusual poise.
“Watching them, you can tell they believe they belong,” one high-ranked MLB executive said. “They are not surprised. They are not in awe. They expect to do well.”
Said another: “I don’t know what to attribute it to, but you don’t see the kind of anxiety that you would expect with guys so young.”
These six rookies, with their early offense and poise at the plate, have made immediate impacts on their teams days into the new season. Here’s a breakdown of what each has done so far — and how they got to this point.
“When you watch it, it looks at times like he doesn’t finish it,” said Fink. “But it has unbelievable force in it.”
Following his performance over the weekend, DeLauter was named American League Player of the Week on Monday.
Through Cincinnati’s first four games, he is 8-for-12 with five walks and one strikeout, never looking more comfortable than when he’s in the batter’s box, focused and making adjustments from pitch to pitch.
“He was locked in,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch wrote in a text, “and just competing. He didn’t look overmatched and he didn’t look overwhelmed.”
On the 10th pitch of the plate appearance against Peralta, McGonigle ripped a two-run single into right field, driving in two runs. “This young man,” Tigers broadcaster Jason Benetti exclaimed, “is totally unfazed by these lights in the show!”
McGonigle’s manager agreed with that sentiment: “One of the takeaways was he doesn’t overthink at the plate, and trusts himself. It was an epic at-bat at the perfect time,” Hinch added.
“He is super determined,” White Sox head of baseball operation Chris Getz said of Murakami. “It’s very clear he wants to prove to someone that he’s real. He’s very serious.”
It’s clear to Getz that Murakami is not just an all-or-nothing slugger, with how he adapts throughout the ball-strike count, and Getz expects that as the 26-year-old faces more major league pitching he’ll continue to make adjustments.
“What stands out right away is how composed and calm he is,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza wrote in a text following Benge’s opening weekend. “Nothing really seems to speed him up. He’s got a really mature approach for a player his age, especially in big moments. You can see the confidence, but it’s not forced.”
“Physically,” Mendoza wrote, “the tools are there. He’s got the arm, the athleticism. But it’s the instincts that have really jumped out to me. He reads the game well, and makes smart decisions.”
“Calm demeanor,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol wrote in a text. “Not phased [sic] by anything, and a gamer. The guys love him.”
“The kids these days are so talented,” Mazey said. “I think you’re going to see more of that. This is going to start being a trend.”
There’s an ease and comfort to DeLauter’s game that first appeared last October. He had lost a lot of time to foot and core injuries after the Guardians drafted him with the No. 16 pick in 2022, accumulating just 138 games in the minors over the past three years. But Cleveland, desperate for hitters to complement Jose Ramirez in its lineup, promoted DeLauter to make his major league debut in last year’s wild-card series against Detroit. Grant Fink, the Guardians’ hitting coach, remembers watching DeLauter and how calm he was under highly unusual circumstances.
McGonigle, 21, had four hits in the Tigers’ opener in San Diego, becoming the third-youngest player with four or more hits on Opening Day in the past 100 major league seasons. Then, in the second game, he came to the plate with the bases loaded in the eighth inning against Wandy Peralta, the veteran lefty who has made a career of cutting down left-handed hitters like McGonigle in the late innings. But McGonigle kept fighting off tough pitches against Peralta. The pitcher turned his head in some frustration at one point, after McGonigle fouled off a pitch that Peralta thought would finish off the rookie.
Of these six rookies, Benge might have been the closest to starting the season in the minors, due to his relatively short tenure as a professional. The No. 19 pick in 2024, Benge 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 outset of camp this year that he’d be given a chance to make the Mets, and he did everything they asked. He turned out to be everything they had hoped for, too, with an .874 OPS in spring training, and eventually won the right-field job to appear in New York’s Opening Day lineup.
Buster OlneyMar 31, 2026, 07:00 AM ETCloseSenior writer ESPN Magazine/ESPN.com Analyst/reporter ESPN television Author of “The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty”Follow on XMultiple Authors
CloseSenior writer ESPN Magazine/ESPN.com Analyst/reporter ESPN television Author of “The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty”Follow on X
To say MLB’s touted 2026 rookies are thriving would be an understatement.
“There are not a lot of people he gets intimidated by,” Fink said.
“He knows how to hit with two strikes,” Nick Krall, the Reds’ head of baseball operations, said.