12 must-watch pitchers this Spring Training

The first pitchers report to Spring Training on Sunday, and that means we're just one step away from finally seeing the nastiest arms in baseball back on the mound after a long winter.

Spring Training is a great time to get a preview of MLB aces on new teams, international aces coming to the Majors, All-Stars returning from injury, top prospects showcasing their stuff and more. So let's take a look at some of the arms we're most excited to watch this spring.

Here are a dozen pitchers worth watching in Spring Training 2025.

1) Roki Sasaki, Dodgers

All eyes will be on Sasaki when he takes the mound for the first time as a Dodger. He's the most hyped pitching prospect since ¡­ well, since Paul Skenes last year. But the two of them might be the most hyped pitching prospects ever. Sasaki's stuff is as electric as Skenes'. The 23-year-old is bringing a 100-plus mph fastball and one of the best splitters on the planet over from Japan. He's the pitcher to watch in Spring Training, on any team.

2) Paul Skenes, Pirates

Speaking of Skenes -- hey, Skenes is back. And everyone will want to see what he's got in store for baseball in Year 2. The Pirates' young ace stole the show last year with a dazzling rookie season. He enters 2025 as the top contender to seize the title of "best pitcher in the world," and he'll be a Cy Young favorite. Will Skenes be the best in the business this season? The road starts in Spring Training.

3) Max Fried, Yankees

The No. 1 new player in pinstripes is Fried. The Yankees got Paul Goldschmidt this offseason. They got Devin Williams. They got Cody Bellinger. But Fried is the $218 million man, and he gives the Bronx Bombers one of MLB's best starting rotations alongside Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rod¨®n and Rookie of the Year Luis Gil. Remember, Fried pitched a gem to win the clinching game of the 2021 World Series for the Braves. So we want to see what he can do in the Bronx as the Yankees look to avenge their Fall Classic loss to the Dodgers in 2024.

4) Jacob deGrom, Rangers

deGrom is entering the 2025 season healthy, and a healthy deGrom is someone every fan should want to watch. Because a healthy deGrom tends to be the most dominant pitcher in the world. Is that still true? We'll see. deGrom gave us a taste of what he can still do on the mound when he returned from his second Tommy John surgery last September. His fastball was still sitting at 97 mph. His slider was still sitting at 90. But it was only three starts. We want more.

5) Kumar Rocker, Rangers

Let's stay with the Rangers and look at deGrom's up-and-coming teammate. Rocker, the former Vanderbilt ace who debuted last September after a winding road to the Majors, looked nasty in his first few games as a big leaguer. His fastball averaged close to 96 mph, but his mid-80s power slider is the star of the show. Rocker's slider generated a 74% whiff rate in two starts at Triple-A, then a 50% whiff rate in his three starts in the Majors. As the 25-year-old enters his first full season, we'd love to see him overpower hitters like he did at Vandy.

6) Spencer Strider, Braves

There are some dominant aces coming back from injury in 2025. The first one is Strider, who might be the best strikeout artist in baseball. Strider led the Majors with 281 K's in 2023 before missing almost the entire 2024 season due to elbow surgery. Strider won't be ready to rejoin the Atlanta rotation by Opening Day, but he appears to be ahead of schedule in his return and is expected to pitch in Spring Training ¡­ which means the return of one of the most devastating fastball-slider combos in the Majors.

7) Shane McClanahan, Rays

Next up is McClanahan, who established himself as one of the top young southpaws in baseball from 2021-23 before Tommy John surgery ended his 2023 season early and cost him all of 2024. But the 27-year-old Rays ace should be ready to go for Spring Training, and with any luck, McClanahan will still have the explosive upper-90s four-seamer and wipeout changeup and curveball that made him a two-time All-Star in his first three seasons.

8) Chase Burns, Reds

Now let's get to a couple of exciting young pitching prospects. Burns was the No. 2 overall pick in last year's Draft, he's ranked the No. 26 prospect in baseball entering the 2025 season, and he's been invited to his first big league Spring Training. That means we're going to get to see the 22-year-old righty firing a fastball that touched 102 mph in college at Wake Forest, and an upper-80s slider that might be one of the best secondary pitches thrown by any MLB prospect.

9) Jacob Misiorowski, Brewers

Misiorowoski, No. 100 on MLB Pipeline's Top 100 list entering 2025, has some of the best stuff of any pitching prospect. And that stuff took a jump up when the 22-year-old right-hander switched from a starter to a reliever in the Minors late last season. As a reliever, Misiorowski's fastball was frequently reaching triple digits, his slider was sitting around 93 mph, and his mid-80s curveball was wiping out hitters. Misiorowski earned an invite to Brewers Spring Training, and he'll be one of the most interesting pitchers to watch. MLB Pipeline rated both Misiorowski's fastball and his curveball as the best thrown by any 2025 Top 100 prospect, giving his fastball a perfect 80 grade on the scouting scale and his curve a plus-plus 70 grade.

10) Clay Holmes, Mets

Holmes is on this list because he's been a reliever for basically his entire Major League career, but the Mets signed him as a starter this offseason. So Spring Training will be the first indication of just what "Clay Holmes, starting pitcher" looks like. Holmes always had nasty stuff as a closer and setup man with the Yankees, with a ton of movement on his upper-90s turbo sinker and slider/sweeper breaking ball combo. Can he keep that stuff at the same level, or at least close to it, as he attempts to throw a lot more innings in a starting role with the Mets? And can he limit the boom-bust performances that troubled him with the Yankees?

11) Garrett Crochet, Red Sox

Like Fried, Crochet is an ace in a new place in 2025, but he got there by trade. Boston swung a blockbuster deal with the White Sox to land Crochet in December, and Spring Training will be the first look at the 25-year-old lefty in a Red Sox uniform. Crochet had an incredible breakout season in 2024 after switching from a reliever to a starter, finishing with a 3.58 ERA and 209 strikeouts. But his innings were also limited down the stretch due to his huge increase in workload. This season, Crochet's restraints should be off, so we'll be watching Crochet with the Red Sox not just because he's on a new team, but because we want to see if he'll vault into the Cy Young conversation in 2025.

12) Tomoyuki Sugano, Orioles

Sasaki isn't the only Japanese ace coming to the Major Leagues in 2024. So is the veteran Sugano, the longtime ace of Nippon Professional Baseball's most storied franchise, the Yomiuri Giants. Sugano is 35 years old now, but he's also coming off his third career MVP Award in NPB's Central League after going 15-3 with a 1.67 ERA for Yomiuri last season. And some fans might remember Sugano dominating Team USA during the 2017 World Baseball Classic. So Sugano is an intriguing addition to the pitching staff of an Orioles team looking to make a third straight trip to the postseason.

Wild card: Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers

We don't know yet whether Ohtani will pitch in Spring Training. But he might. And if he does, he'll be right up at the top of this list of must-watch pitchers along with Sasaki and Skenes. Ohtani's return to being a two-way player will be one of the biggest storylines of the 2025 season. He isn't expected to pitch in Major League games until May, but the Dodgers haven't yet determined what Ohtani's Spring Training pitching program will be. If it includes taking the mound in any games, everyone will be tuning in, because two-way superstar Ohtani is one of a kind.