Early-spring performances can be the biggest mirage in baseball, a function of games that feature mismatches between major leaguers and minor leaguers. Still, with spring training now in full swing, pitchers beginning to stretch out and hitters finding their swings, there can be signal amid the noise.

Three dozen general managers, scouts, analysts and evaluators surveyed by ESPN tried to separate real from fake and offer insight into players they expect to take a step forward this season. Here are 10 creating a buzz in camps around Arizona and Florida.

Matt McLain, 2B, Cincinnati Reds

It’s easy to forget that McLain had a better rookie season in 2023 than his keystone partner, Elly De La Cruz. While De La Cruz developed into a star in 2024, McLain missed the entire season with shoulder and rib injuries. The 25-year-old is healthy now, and one evaluator this week said that by the end of the 2025 season, McLain and De La Cruz will be the best second base/shortstop combination in baseball.

At 5-foot-8 and 180 pounds, McLain doesn’t look like a power hitter. But he consistently barrels the ball, plays with a high baseball IQ and makes Cincinnati a sneaky dangerous team in a wide-open National League Central.

Sandy Alcántara, SP, Miami Marlins

He’s back. After missing all of 2024 following Tommy John surgery, the 2022 NL Cy Young winner looks like his old self, dotting sinkers at 98 to 100 mph and mixing in one of the best changeups in baseball and a slider that sits at 90 mph.

Coming back from reconstructive elbow surgery with the same quality of stuff is never a sure thing, but Alcántara, 29, is suffering no such concerns. Teams are already wondering whether Alcántara will be available at the trade deadline, with the Marlins far from contending and his contract running through 2026 with a club option for 2027. He’ll be on an innings limit, particularly early in the season, leaving the potential for him to pitch into October if necessary.

Chandler Simpson, CF, Tampa Bay Rays

Simpson possesses perhaps the most unique skill set in all of organized baseball, with exceptional bat-to-ball skills and top-of-the-scale base-stealing ability. Almost as impressive as his aptitude for turning routine ground balls into base hits is Simpson’s play with the glove. A second baseman and shortstop at Georgia Tech, Simpson transitioned to outfield when the Rays chose him in the second round of the 2022 draft and looked like an infielder cosplaying outfielder until this spring. While his speed always allowed Simpson — who stole 104 bases in the minor leagues last year — to cover significant ground, his routes have improved demonstrably. Simpson won’t hit home runs, and that’s fine.

Must-watch players come in all shapes, sizes and skills, and when Simpson debuts at some point this season, he’ll unquestionably qualify.

Spencer Schwellenbach, SP, Atlanta Braves

The Braves’ farm system is terminally underappreciated, and Schwellenbach is the latest example. A shortstop who served as closer in his final season at Nebraska, Schwellenbach was taken in the second round by Atlanta and converted to a full-time pitcher. The Braves appreciated his athleticism and feel for pitching, and he rewarded that deft piece of scouting last year by leapfrogging from six starts at High-A and two at Double-A to the big leagues, where he posted a 3.35 ERA over 21 starts.

With a six-pitch mix — four- and two-seam fastballs, slider, cutter, curveball, splitter — the 24-year-old Schwellenbach keeps hitters off-balance and commands the ball with the presence of someone beyond his age. As good as last year was, there’s more in the tank — and in a loaded top of the NL East, Atlanta will need it.

Cristopher Sánchez, SP, Philadelphia Phillies

Players aren’t supposed to make this list twice, and yet here is Sánchez, coming off an All-Star appearance and 181⅔ innings of 3.32 ERA ball, and showing signs of besting that. Sánchez’s average sinker velocity last season was 94.5 mph; in his first start this spring, he sat 96 to 99, the product of added weight on his 6-foot-5 frame. He’s got a new cutter, too, and with his fastball now in Tarik Skubal/Cole Ragans territory, the cutter to neutralize right-handed hitters and one of baseball’s most dastardly changeups, he’s primed to join them among the best left-handed pitchers in baseball. As part of a rotation that already includes Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Ranger Suárez and the newly acquired Jesus Luzardo, an even-better Sánchez is frightening for the rest of the NL East.

Jac Caglianone, 1B, Kansas City Royals

With all of 126 professional plate appearances to his name, Caglianone needs more seasoning before ascending to Kansas City. The sixth pick in the draft last year ditched pitching — he regularly threw 99 mph from the left side at Florida — to focus on hitting full-time and uncorked a 115.4 mph bomb in his first spring training game.

At 6-5 and 250 pounds, Caglianone is an imposing presence, though he’s not some wild-swinging, homer-or-nothing prospect. At High-A and in the Arizona Fall League, he struck out only 20% of the time. Kansas City has something of a first-base glut with Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez, so Caglianone will get outfield reps this year and could find himself playing in a corner, accelerating the timeline for his big league debut to perhaps as soon as this summer.

Sean Burke, SP, Chicago White Sox

For the paucity of bright spots in the losingest season in baseball history, the White Sox ended 2024 believing Burke would be part of their rotation going forward. This spring has done nothing to dispel that notion. At 6-6 and 230 pounds, Burke pairs a high-octane fastball with exceptional carry. His downer of a curveball flummoxed hitters during an impressive four-outing cameo in September.

A better changeup would round out his arsenal, but as long as Burke lives near the strike zone, he can subsist on a fastball-curveball-slider diet as the White Sox await the arrival of their two best prospects, left-handers Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith, to fill out a rotation that could be a strength by the end of 2025.

Andrés Muñoz, RP, Seattle Mariners

As if the guy with a 100 mph fastball and one of the best sliders in baseball needed another weapon, Muñoz is now throwing a kick changeup, in which he spikes his middle finger on the seam to kick the spin axis sideways and promote late movement. The result is a special sort of nastiness that set Mariners camp abuzz this spring.

Muñoz already is one of the game’s top relievers. If Seattle can take a bullpen with him, the returning Matt Brash, Gregory Santos, Collin Snider, Troy Taylor, a resurgent Gabe Speier, Trent Thornton and another arm or two (keep an eye on hard-throwing lefty Brandyn Garcia), and marry it with a starting staff filled with top-of-the-rotation arms, the Mariners could have the best pitching in the game.

Cam Smith, 3B, Houston Astros

The main return for Houston in the Kyle Tucker trade has taken advantage of the few at-bats he has gotten this spring and at least made the Astros consider breaking camp with Smith as their third baseman. The 6-foot-3, 225-pound slugger, taken No. 14 overall out of Florida State in the 2024 draft, has continued the heater that saw him ascend to Double-A within weeks of signing with the Chicago Cubs last year.

It’s not just the two home runs and a triple in seven at-bats thus far. Smith also has walked four times against one strikeout. Power is great. Good swing decisions are imperative. Both together is a rare combination, and while the Astros’ infield defense would be questionable with Smith at third and Isaac Paredes moving to second, it’s going to happen at some point.

Jack Leiter, SP, Texas Rangers

The No. 2 pick in 2021, Leiter showed up at Rangers camp with an extra 2 mph on his four-seam fastball. In his first outing, he sat at 98 mph, touched 100 and lived at the top of the zone, a necessity for the pitch’s effectiveness. While Leiter’s fastball got wrecked in 2024, evaluators see the extra velocity as a game changer. The pitch has well-above-average vertical break, meaning it drops less than a typical heater, giving it a rising effect. Perhaps even more impressive to scouts is the depth Leiter is getting on his new kick change, an increasingly popular variation of the pitch. For a team in need of starting pitching, Leiter and his former Vanderbilt teammate Kumar Rocker offer a pair of tantalizing options. Put them together with Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi and Tyler Mahle, and Texas will be in the discussion for the best pure-stuff rotation in baseball.

Five more names worth following

Curtis Mead, infielder, Tampa Bay Rays: He showed up to camp in tremendous shape and proceeded to get eight hits in his first nine spring at-bats. All the Rays need now is a spot to play him.

Max Meyer, SP, Miami Marlins: More than two years removed from Tommy John surgery, the 2020 No. 3 pick added a sweeper, refined his changeup and came to camp with an extra 2 mph on his fastball. Keep an eye on left-hander Ryan Weathers, too, as the 25-year-old was up to 99 in his first outing this spring.

Sal Frelick, OF, Milwaukee Brewers: Like Mead, he is 20 pounds heavier than last year, and with the additional strength, his top-notch bat-to-ball skills could blossom into something more.

Hao-Yu Lee, 3B, Detroit Tigers: After missing out on Alex Bregman, the Tigers might have found their long-term solution in Lee, a former shortstop whose bat is his calling card and could warrant a midseason call-up.

Hunter Feduccia, C, Los Angeles Dodgers: The 2018 12th-round pick is not the Dodgers’ best catching prospect (that’s Dalton Rushing) and is more of a high-floor player than their high-ceiling minor league talents (outfielder Zyhir Hope is primed to zoom up prospect lists this year). Feduccia is simply the steady sort of player every team covets — and that makes a Dodgers team rich with talent even better.