Who Will Be MLB's Next Out-of-Nowhere MVP Candidate After Cal Raleigh?
Coming into the 2025 season, Cal Raleigh and Kyle Schwarber were both considered All-Star candidates, but no one would have put money on them gaining serious MVP consideration.
Ultimately, the two odds-on favorites entering the season—Aaron Judge in the AL and Shohei Ohtani in the NL—did take home the MVPs. But Raleigh and Schwarber finished runners-up, with the former having quite a few people believing he should have been AL MVP after clubbing 60 home runs while playing catcher on a full-time basis.
Both Raleigh and Schwarber were very good players who exploded for great seasons in 2025, putting them firmly in the MVP race. Who could be some candidates to take that kind of unforeseen step forward in 2026? Here are six possibilities.
Michael Harris II, Atlanta Braves
1 of 6
Michael Harris II was really disappointing during the first half of the 2025 season, hitting .234 with a .510 OPS. His struggles were a major reason why the Braves' season never got on track.
With that said, the 24-year-old rebounded after the All-Star break, hitting .299 with 14 home runs, 42 RBI and an .845 OPS. The former NL Rookie of the Year finished the season with a career-high 20 home runs.
It may take a Jacoby Ellsbury hitting 32 home runs for the 2011 Boston Red Sox-type outlier season from a power perspective for Harris to ever truly enter the NL MVP race.
If that happened, though, it wouldn't be hard to make the case for the value of someone who has 26 career defensive runs saved and 27 outs above average in center field.
Considering the Braves went 76-86 this past season, they would happily sign up for just an All-Star campaign from Harris in his age-25 campaign.
Wyatt Langford, Texas Rangers
2 of 6
The Rangers fired offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker in May, but many of their established hitters never really got on track.
Marcus Semien, Joc Pederson, Jonah Heim, Adolis García and Jake Burger all underwhelmed offensively in 2025, which led to a Rangers team that looked like a World Series contender entering the season finishing 81-81.
Outside of two-time World Series MVP Corey Seager, the only player who had a strong offensive season was Wyatt Langford, who hit 22 home runs, stole 22 bases and posted a .775 OPS. That's not MVP-caliber production, but considering it came in his age-23 season, he might have just been scratching the surface at the plate.
Langford is already one of the best defenders in baseball, as he combined for 16 defensive runs saved and 10 outs above average between center and left field.
If there's another level Langford is able to unlock at the plate, he could easily compete for an AL MVP, particularly once Judge's peak concludes.
Will Smith, Los Angeles Dodgers
3 of 6
Will Smith just hit the go-ahead home run in Game 7 of the World Series, so he wouldn't be sneaking up on anyone.
However, there are three former MVPs on his team in Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, the first of whom has won the honor four times. That alone would make Smith a shocking person to emerge as an MVP.
Of course, we're not saying it's likely that in Smith's age-31 season he'll go from being an All-Star level player to an MVP, but he did hit .296 with a .901 OPS in 110 games this past season.
It wouldn't be unheard of for an already-excellent player to take another step forward after coming through on the biggest stage in the postseason.
And can you imagine how many games the Dodgers would win if Smith was challenging Ohtani—and perhaps Betts and Freeman as well—for NL MVP? They won a more modest 93 games in 2025, but they would easily clear 100 if Smith took this type of step forward.
Adley Rutschman, Baltimore Orioles
4 of 6
For Adley Rutschman to be on this list is kind of a critique of him, because not long ago, it hardly would have been shocking for him to perform at an MVP caliber.
However, he hit just .220 in 90 games during what was a nightmarish 2025 campaign for the Orioles. That followed up him posting a .585 OPS after the All-Star break in 2024. For the last year and a half, he has been a poor offensive player.
Still, it's hard to shake the incredible first impression the switch-hitting catcher made. He finished second to Julio Rodríguez in AL Rookie of the Year voting in 2022. Rutschman made the All-Star Game in 2023 and 2024. He won a Silver Slugger Award in 2023. This is someone who it once felt like was going to become one of the faces of the sport.
Set to turn 28 in February, Rutschman should be entering the peak of his career. Maybe he's this era's Matt Wieters, another player who looked like a superstar early in his career with the O's and wound up just kind of being a guy.
It's too soon to close the book on Rutschman being a star, though, and perhaps even an MVP candidate.
Tyler Soderstrom, Athletics
5 of 6
AL Rookie of the Year Nick Kurtz would be too obvious to be on a list like this, but he's part of a lineup in Oakland/Las Vegas/Sacramento that looks like it's ready to compete for a playoff spot (the Athletics' pitching is a long way away).
Soderstrom—a first-round pick in 2020—just hit 25 home runs, drove in 93 runs and posted an .820 OPS in his first full MLB season.
Perhaps even more impressive is that after seeing time at catcher and first base early in his career, Soderstrom moved to left field on a full-time basis following the promotion of Kurtz. All he did across 867.2 innings in left field was post 10 defensive runs saved and five outs above average.
It will be hard for someone on the A's to break through in the national discussion. However, if Soderstrom becomes a player who hits 35-40 home runs a year and continues to grade out so well in left field, he will achieve that recognition.
Wilyer Abreu, Boston Red Sox
6 of 6
The Red Sox have something of a logjam of position-playing talent, which may lead to chief baseball officer Craig Breslow dealing from the surplus of young outfielders this offseason.
We suggest that Wilyer Abreu should not be the one Boston moves.
The 26-year-old just won his second consecutive Gold Glove after posting 15 defensive runs saved and eight outs above average in right field.
Offensively, he is just a really good hitter right now, as evidenced by him hitting 22 home runs, driving in 69 runs and posting a .786 OPS.
As is, Abreu could make multiple All-Star teams as an outfielder with a tremendous glove and good bat. But if he took a major step forward at the plate, his glove would be enough to make him an MVP candidate.
