With the start of the baseball season upon us, teams are finalizing their rosters, hoping to put together the group of players that will lead them to the postseason. Which player could be a key — the X factor — for each National League team?
National League East
Atlanta Braves: RHP Grant Holmes
Holmes emerged after 10 years in the minors last season. If he’s the real thing, Holmes will make an injury-prone Braves rotation much deeper.
Miami Marlins: RHP Sandy Alcantara
If the former Cy Young Award winner is healthy after recovering from Tommy John surgery, he’ll provide a reason to watch the Marlins every five days — and bring back a haul at the trade deadline.
New York Mets: RHP Kodai Senga
With no sure things in the rotation, the Mets desperately need Senga, who made one regular-season appearance last year due to injury, to regain his 2023 form. He was 12-7 with a 2.98 ERA and 202 strikeouts in 166 1/3 innings that season.
Philadelphia Phillies: 3B Alec Bohm
Which version of Bohm will the Phillies see in 2025? Will he be the player who overcame boobirds and hit .295 with 11 homers and 70 RBIs before the All-Star break last season, or the one who hit .221 with four homers thereafter and was benched for a game in the postseason?
Washington Nationals: RHP Trevor Williams
The Nationals have an intriguing young rotation, but the 32-year-old Williams — who was 6-1 with a 2.03 ERA in 13 starts last year — might be the difference between contention and another sub-.500 finish.
National League Central
Chicago Cubs: CF Pete Crow-Armstrong
A superb defender, Crow-Armstrong hit .519 with three homers this spring. If his hitting improvement is for real, he might be ready to move into the elite of the National League.
Cincinnati Reds: RHP Nick Martinez
Martinez has been a solid swingman since returning to the major leagues from Japan in 2022 but is now being counted on to help anchor a young and unproven rotation.
Milwaukee Brewers: LF Christian Yelich
The franchise player and former MVP hit just .254 from 2020-23 but was leading the NL in batting average (.315) and on-base percentage (.406) when he underwent back surgery in August. A return to form would be a huge boost for the Brewers.
Pittsburgh Pirates: OF Oneil Cruz
He’s somehow 21 days older than Juan Soto and about to hit his arbitration years with the thrifty Pirates, so it’s now or never at age 26 for the powerful shortstop-turned-centerfielder.
St. Louis Cardinals: 3B Nolan Arenado
The divorce both sides wanted never happened. Now, can Arenado still perform well enough to lead the Cardinals into contention — or finally punch his ticket out of town?
National League West
Arizona Diamondbacks: LHP Jordan Montgomery
The 2024 free agent had a nightmarish 2024 after signing late, but a return vintage 2023 Montgomery could make him a valuable back-end starter or trade bait.
Colorado Rockies: OF Kris Bryant
The early-career Bryant is gone, but a healthy bounce-back season would provide some much-needed production or perhaps convince a team to take the rest of his contract off the Rockies’ hands.
Los Angeles Dodgers: RHP Tyler Glasnow
The career-high 134 innings that Glasnow threw last year were the most of any of the Dodgers’ rotation options. He’ll never be a 180-inning pitcher, but an injury-free season would be a boon.
San Diego Padres: SS Xander Bogaerts
Bogaerts has hit just .276 with 30 homers and 102 RBIs in his first two seasons following a Hall of Fame-like decade with the Red Sox, but he’s still only 32 years old.
San Francisco Giants: RHP Camilo Doval
Relievers are notoriously up-and-down, so the Giants are hopeful the 2023 All-Star closer — who lost his job last season — can again become a key member of the bullpen.
–By Jerry Beach, Field Level Media
