MLB roundtable: Can the Yankees keep this up? Is Shane Baz a star?

The 2025 MLB campaign is still in its early days with less than 20 games in the books, but there are already a few teams and players raising eyebrows with their hot starts.

The question is: is it something that's sustainable for the duration of the 162-game season?

FOX Sports' MLB reporters Rowan Kavver and Deesha Thosar answer that and more in this week's MLB roundtable: 

It's early yet, but there are potential breakouts everywhere. You've got Jonathan Aranda batting nearly .400 and leading in doubles for the Rays , Kyren Paris is crushing the ball for the Angels , Brendan Donovan leading the majors in hits, and that's far from a full list. Is there a potential April breakout that you're feeling is for real?

Kavner: I believe the Aranda breakout is real, but considering he gets to feast almost exclusively on right-handed pitching, I'll take the all-around improvements from Spencer Torkelson. He was solid two years ago, but this looks like an entirely different type of breakout for the 2020 top overall pick. After some mechanical tweaks, Torkelson's hitting the ball harder than he did when he launched 31 homers in 2023, and he's pulling the ball in the air at a considerably greater rate. Now, I doubt he can keep up his .270+ batting average when his strikeout rate is over 30% and his batting average on balls in play is over .320, but the underlying numbers back up the early power display. Entering the year, there were questions about his long-term future in the Detroit lineup. Now, I could see a 40-homer career year ahead for the former Arizona State standout.

Thosar: Judging from all that red on Ben Rice's Baseball Savant page, his offensive breakout sure doesn't seem like a fluke. The lefty swinging Rice