By the middle of June, it’s safe to say that what we’re seeing from MLB teams and players is real. Aaron Judge hitting .400 is a real conversation, as is the Chicago Cubs having the best offense in baseball. Of course, the other side of that is that the bad starts to the season that haven’t leveled out are now officially at the point of concern.
Here are five players I’m worried about.
Luis Robert Jr., CF, Chicago White Sox
In a perfect world, Luis Robert Jr. would be crushing the ball for a young, rebuilding Chicago White Sox team that would have the best position player available at this year’s trade deadline. But this isn’t a perfect world, and pretty much the exact opposite has happened for Robert and the White Sox.
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Robert was supposed to be one of the biggest trade pieces at this year’s deadline, and with two reasonable club options in his contract after this season, Chicago would’ve had the makings of another big trade haul. But at this point, the chances of that happening this season seem pretty remote. Robert has looked lost at the plate thus far, slashing .185/.269/.303 in 61 games with a 31.1% strikeout rate. The 2023 All-Star’s power, which saw him hit 38 homers just two seasons ago, has vanished, as the center fielder has hit just six homers this year — and just one in his past 30 games. Things have been so bad that even he has talked about how unlikely it seems that he will be moved.
The White Sox’s center fielder is still above average defensively, but if that’s all a team is getting, it won’t make much sense to trade for this version of him. The Sox might be better served hoping for a bounce-back next season at a reasonable $20 million club option and trying to move Robert at the 2026 trade deadline.
Zac Gallen, SP, Arizona Diamondbacks
Zac Gallen has been one of baseball’s best pitchers since he was traded to the D-backs in 2019, but so far this season, he looks like a shell of his former self. Arizona’s ace has the fifth-highest ERA among qualified starting pitchers (5.14) and the fourth-most earned runs allowed (46). And it’s not just the numbers on the surface; Gallen’s peripherals have also been concerning. He has the lowest strikeout rate of his career, at 21.7%, and the highest walk rate since his rookie season in 2019 (10.4%).
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And of all the players on this list, Gallen has the most to lose. The Arizona right-hander will be a free agent at the end of 2025, and while he was originally expected to be one of the top arms available next winter, that’s now in jeopardy. What’s more, with this Diamondbacks team likely headed toward selling, it’s an open question whether moving Gallen is a likely outcome at this point.
Gallen, a perennial Cy Young candidate at his peak, just hasn’t looked like himself this season. With fellow D-backs ace Corbin Burnes expected to be out for the next 16-18 months after undergoing Tommy John surgery, would it be better for both sides to agree to a one-year reunion next season, with the hope of rebuilding Gallen’s value? Arizona and its longtime ace have some questions to answer in the coming months.
Willy Adames, SS, San Francisco Giants
We have known for decades that San Francisco is one of the toughest places in baseball to hit, which is one of the reasons it has been hard for the Giants to attract marquee talent. But this past winter, Willy Adames bet on himself that he could succeed in the Bay. Unfortunately, that has proven to be a tall task for the power-hitting shortstop so far.
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Adames hasn’t yet found a groove in his first season with the Giants, sporting a .203/.288/.339 slash line through 67 games. And after he hit a career-high 32 homers last season, it appears that the marine layer has gotten hold of Adames’ power, as he has just seven homers on the season, with two coming in Colorado this week.
Adames has always hit and hit for big-time power from the shortstop position, but thus far, it doesn’t look like that’s going to be the case in 2025. To be fair, the first year with a new team is often a learning experience and an adjustment period. Adames has six years left on his deal with San Francisco, but he needs to figure out his home ballpark sooner rather than later.
At this point, we can’t call it a slow start for Luis Robert Jr., Matt McLain, Zac Gallen, Willy Adames and Sandy Alcantara.
(James Pawelczyk/Yahoo Sports)
Matt McLain, 2B, Cincinnati Reds
Two years ago, when the Cincinnati Reds burst onto the scene and offered the baseball world a glimpse of what was on the horizon, Matt McLain played as big a role in those growing expectations as any player, including Elly De La Cruz. And after a shoulder injury forced the Reds’ second baseman to miss the entire 2024 season, this was supposed to be the year we would see the future up the middle for the Reds.
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Instead, McLain hasn’t been able to recapture his 2023 form. In fact, he has regressed in a way that nobody expected coming into this season. The Reds’ second baseman is currently the third-worst qualified hitter in baseball, hitting a paltry .184 with seven homers and 22 RBI.
What really stands out from McLain‘s season is his strikeout rate: 30.3%. Only four players strike out at a higher clip than McLain. For the Reds to have any shot of competing in the second half, Cincinnati is going to need McLain to find his form again.
Sandy Alcántara, SP, Miami Marlins
No player’s struggles have been a bigger surprise this season than those of 2022 NL Cy Young Award winner, Sandy Alcántara. After missing all of last season following Tommy John surgery, Alcántara returned to the mound this year with the signature velocity that baffles hitters. But while his fastball is still touching triple digits, it hasn’t been nearly as effective. This season, hitters are slugging nearly .600 against the right-hander’s heater — more than 100 points higher than that number was in 2023.
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The Marlins’ ace has allowed the second-most earned runs in MLB this season. His strikeout rate is down, and his walk rate is up. That’s not exactly the combination the Marlins wanted to see from their ace, who was supposed to be the best trade candidate on the pitching market.
Now, Alcántara is coming off back-to-back quality starts, so there’s a chance he’s hitting his stride. However, those starts came against the Pittsburgh Pirates and Colorado Rockies. We need to see Alcántara be dominant against teams that have a little more thunder before we can say he’s back.
This news was originally published on this post .
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