For the third straight year, let’s talk about MLB’s rising defensive stars. Last year, we defined a rising star as a player who is in their age-23-or-younger season for the upcoming year who had at least 10 Defensive Runs Saved in the major leagues the previous season.

Five players fit the description. Let’s run through each of them.

Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn won a Fielding Bible Award as a 22-year-old last year. He led all shortstops with 14 Runs Saved. Winn didn’t have the best range among shortstops last season, but combined good range with fantastic work on double plays, and came out as the best at a position with many young standouts.

Rangers outfielder Wyatt Langford won both MLB’s Player of the Month for September, when he hit .300 with a .996 OPS, and was our co-Defensive Player of the Month for recording 11 Runs Saved, 9 in left field. Langford finished with 12 Runs Saved for the season at his primary position and led left fielders in the Outfield Arm component of Runs Saved. Something to watch: He’s been hindered by an oblique injury this spring.

Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio was great in his debut season as a 20-year-old in 2024. Chourio saved 9 runs in right field and 3 runs in left field despite playing 28 more games at the latter position. His range was fine in both spots though his arm played better in right field. Brewers manager Pat Murphy told reporters that Chourio will see some time in center field this year as well, so it will be a challenge for him to duplicate his 2024 numbers.

Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong finished 3rd in the Fielding Bible Awards at the position last year, and I think if you polled our voting group, he’d be the preseason favorite for 2025. Armstrong wowed with his defense, though mostly away from Wrigley Field. He actually had -4 Range Runs Saved at home but led center fielders with 9 on the road (and had 6 Runs Saved for things other than range).

Last but not least on the list is Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar, who makes it for the second year in a row. He had the best defensive season among those on last year’s list (Anthony Volpe, Johan Rojas, and Gunnar Henderson were the others).

Tovar had 10 Runs Saved last season and his 22 Runs Saved over the last two seasons trails only Dansby Swanson’s 24 among shortstops. Similar to Winn, he’s excellent at turning the double play and he’s also very good (relative to other shortstops) at getting outs on balls hit to his right.

Last year I also picked an honorable mention (C.J. Abrams) and I’ll do this again this time. Let’s go with Abrams’ teammate, Nationals outfielder Dylan Crews, who had 4 Runs Saved in 31 games as a major leaguer. Crews also had 2 Runs Saved in 79 games as a minor league center fielder. It’s hard to have a positive Runs Saved as a minor leaguer given that the out probabilities that SIS uses judge them against MLB players. But Crews was able to have a good defensive season.

Keep an eye on these players in 2025. The expectations are high, but deservedly so.