Why the Panthers are the nicest ‘rats’ to win the Stanley Cup (twice)
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Greg Wyshynski
SUNRISE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers had to win the Stanley Cup, and then they had to win another one, because it’s the ultimate way to infuriate everyone who isn’t the Florida Panthers.
They’re the most antagonistic trash-talking bullies in the National Hockey League. Opponents decry their actions and fans of other teams outright loathe them. It took 29 years, but the franchise made famous for having rats thrown on the ice also now has the most famous rat on the ice in winger Brad Marchand — a label he has accepted. Being the last team standing isn’t just a tribute to their elite preparation, execution and talent. It’s delivering on the promise of their endless taunting.
“It’s the bad-boy mentality. They embody it. They hit you and then they stand over you and tell you how much better they are than you. And then they tell you that you’re going to be beaten, by any means necessary,” one current NHL player told ESPN. “They’re going to do everything they can to embarrass you, not only physically but on the scoreboard.”
It’s the provocation from players such as Marchand and Matthew Tkachuk. It’s their ability to dish it out and gleefully take it, such as when big-bearded Jonah Gadjovich stuck out his tongue at the Edmonton Oilers after having been bloodied in a fight with Darnell Nurse.
It’s the opposing goalies with whom center Sam Bennett has collided with a plausible deniability of guilt. It’s their ability to draw penalties but not take them. “They seem to get away with it more than we do. It’s tough to find the line,” Oilers winger Evander Kane lamented during the Stanley Cup Final.
Marchand responded to Kane: “Sometimes we get away with things. You can’t call everything all the time.”
The more nefarious parts of the Panthers’ game are a feature, not a bug. Their antagonism and swagger are the sweeteners for one of the best recipes for success the league has seen cooked up: Offensive domination, defensive suffocation and about a dozen players that always seem to rise to the occasion.
Florida has advanced to three Stanley Cup Finals under head coach Paul Maurice. They’re the first team to do so in three straight full NHL seasons since the Edmonton Oilers from 1983-85. (The Tampa Bay Lightning won two Cups and lost in their third trip to the Final during the season-altering COVID-19 pandemic.)
Like the 80s era Oilers, the Panthers lost in their first trip, getting eliminated in five games against the Vegas Golden Knights, and then won back-to-back Stanley Cups. The Panthers are the seventh team in the past 40 seasons to win consecutive Cups.
No one else in the NHL can match their depth. Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart, both finalists for the Selke Trophy as best defensive forwards in the NHL, on their top line, deployed with frequency against Oilers star Connor McDavid. Bennett, leading all playoff scorers in goals, and superstar winger/agent of chaos Tkachuk on the second line. Marchand, saving the best playoff series of his life for the Stanley Cup Final, cementing an unmatchable third line with criminally underrated forwards Eetu Luostarinen and Anton Lundell.
Two defensive pairings — Aaron Ekblad and Gustav Forsling, as well as Seth Jones and Niko Mikkola — that were brilliant in the postseason. When all else failed, Sergei Bobrovsky was the ideal last line of defense in goal.
The Panthers were the best road team in NHL playoff history, tying the record for wins (10) and obliterating the record for goals scored away from home: 61, or 12 more than Wayne Gretzky’s Los Angeles Kings scored in 1993 (49).
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Sam Reinhart nets 4 goals in Game 6
Sam Reinhart scores four for the Panthers in Game 6 against the Oilers.
“Anybody that knows hockey is in awe of what they’ve been able to accomplish,” said Hockey Hall of Famer Mark Messier, a member of two separate back-to-back Cup winners in Edmonton, who is now an analyst for ESPN.
Messier doesn’t see the Panthers as a team defined by their villainy.
“They can play any style that you want. They have such underrated talent at many positions,” he said. “You don’t get the right players at the right stages of their careers all the time. This is a very sophisticated, talented, driven team.”
Someone else that doesn’t want the Florida Panthers defined solely as agitating bullies?
The Florida Panthers themselves.
“I just don’t see where we’re these big physical sons of b—-es,” general manager Bill Zito said.
The Panthers argue that the on-ice antics others have used to define them in these two Stanley Cup championship runs aren’t indicative of who these players are off the ice. That perceptions of their villainy shouldn’t overshadow the chemistry, culture and camaraderie that are the actual foundations for these championships.
“We don’t talk about it. That’s not our style. That’s not what we talk about before games,” Tkachuk said. “We want to play fast and physical. We want to stick up for each other when it’s there.”
Are the Florida Panthers actually the friendliest “rats” to ever to win the Stanley Cup twice?
“At the end of the day, you’re willing to do things on the ice that aren’t typical of you as a person off the ice,” Marchand said.
THERE’S PROBABLY NO GREATER indication that the Panthers frustrate opponents than the passion with which opponents swear that the Panthers do not, in fact, frustrate them.
“[Agitation] is part of their DNA. It’s what they do,” Oilers center Leon Draisaitl said during the Stanley Cup Final. “I’m not going crazy. I don’t think anybody’s going crazy. It’s an emotional time. They’re good at what they do. But no one’s going crazy here.”
Kane said the Panthers’ reputation for agitation is a bit overstated.
“You know what? I think they get a little too much credit for how crazy they drive teams. I don’t think it’s Florida driving us crazy at all. We’ve done a great job of not letting them get in our heads,” said Kane, who had more penalty minutes in the first five games of the Stanley Cup Final (20) than he had in his previous 15 playoff games combined (12).
Playing the Panthers can be exasperating. Not only in the things they do, but in how they get away with the things they do. Such as when Bennett keeps colliding with opposing goaltenders.
It happened at least four times in this playoff run, most infamously when Bennett concussed former teammate Anthony Stolarz of the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 1 of the second round. Stolarz wouldn’t return to the playoffs. Bennett wasn’t penalized, and there were no repercussions with the NHL Department of Player Safety. But Toronto fans and media were outraged, adding this Bennett incident to a list of others in his career — including when he concussed Leafs forward Matthew Knies by throwing him to the ice in May 2023.
“I’ve seen every hit that Sam Bennett’s thrown since he was 12 years old on TV this morning,” Maurice said the day after the Stolarz incident. “There was a hit 2½ years ago that [the media has] shown 4,000 times. There was a parking ticket seven years ago that I think made the video.”
In the 2025 playoffs, Bennett would also collide with Carolina’s Frederik Andersen, and had two instances in which he toppled into Stuart Skinner‘s crease against the Oilers.
“Obviously, you don’t like when guys are purposely falling into your goaltender,” Kane said.
For many opponents, the Panthers are Team “They Just Can’t Keep Getting Away With It” in the NHL.
“It’s annoyingly frustrating,” one current NHL player said. “When you play them, you’re like, ‘They figured it out.’ They’re being smart, in quotation marks, when it comes to that kind of stuff. But it’s all within the rules.”
Defenseman Nate Schmidt hated facing the Panthers before signing with them last offseason. “I’ve got to tell you that playing against them is no fun,” he said. “I do enjoy playing with them versus being on the other side of things.”
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Fight breaks out between Panthers, Oilers
A big brawl erupts as tensions boil over between the Panthers and the Oilers in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.
The Panthers weren’t always as provocative as they are now. Back in 2022, Florida won the Presidents’ Trophy with the league’s best record (122 points) and its best offense (4.11 goals per game) under interim coach Andrew Brunette, who took over after head coach Joel Quenneville’s resignation. Their leading scorer was winger Jonathan Huberdeau, who had 115 points in 80 games, tied for second overall in the NHL.
But after the Panthers were swept in the second round by the rival Tampa Bay Lightning, it was obvious that their regular-season success didn’t translate to the postseason after “an in-depth examination of all aspects of our team,” as Zito termed it at the time. On June 22, it was announced that Brunette was done and that Paul Maurice would be the new head coach.
That hiring wasn’t universally praised — Maurice had been behind NHL benches since the mid-1990s with the Hartford Whalers, with only one trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 2002 to his credit. But Zito said the Panthers’ change in attitude “starts with Paul.”
The Panthers had 842 penalty minutes in their Presidents’ Trophy season. They increased to 998 in Maurice’s first season, and then 1,116 in his second season, when Florida won the Stanley Cup.
One month after Maurice’s hiring came another landmark moment, and an even more shocking one: Huberdeau and defenseman MacKenzie Weegar were traded to the Calgary Flames for Tkachuk.
The Panthers had now entered their Swagger Era.
“I hate Edmonton, but I hate Tampa more now,” was the declarative statement from Tkachuk at his introductory news conference. The Lightning had eliminated the Panthers in consecutive postseasons. It is perhaps no coincidence that Florida is 2-0 against Tampa Bay and Edmonton since the Tkachuk trade.
“I bring a certain swagger that will really help this team,” Tkachuk said at the time. “I have a good confidence. It’s not a cockiness. I think some of these teams in this conference that have had success have that. I have to help with that.”
A big part of that swagger comes from Tkachuk’s willingness to say anything or do anything to win, as anyone who watched the first USA vs. Canada game in the 4 Nations Face-Off no doubt recalls. But Zito said that Tkachuk is the personification of why the Panthers are misunderstood as the NHL’s current reigning bullies — their agitation simply comes from how difficult it is to play against him.
“He has a nuanced game that combines elite hands and hockey sense with a level of compete. When you look across the league at the players who have that, pretty much to a man, they’re agitating,” Zito said.
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Matthew Tkachuk fired up after padding Panthers’ lead
Matthew Tkachuk lights the lamp to pad the Panthers’ lead in the first period.
This is where the Panthers reject the premise that they’re the king rats of the NHL.
“I think our reputation is just guys that play hard. We don’t like giving space on the ice, and that leads to a lot of confrontation and a lot of collisions and stuff like that,” defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. “And it’s not necessarily that we’re being bullies, we’re just trying to play as hard as we possibly can.”
Zito agreed.
“Bodychecking is part of the game of hockey. When you play the game the right way and pay attention to all the details, checking is going to be part of it. It’s not to intimidate. It’s not to injure. It’s literally so that you can’t get into the play if I bump into you,” Zito said. “It’s just chess, except with time and space. So it’s effective.”
Marchand has now been a part of two of the most difficult teams in the NHL to play against: The Boston Bruins, with whom he won the Stanley Cup in 2011, and the Panthers, with whom he lifted one on Tuesday.
Both teams were called “bullies” — it’s hard to forget the image of Marchand delivering a series of blows to Daniel Sedin’s head in the Stanley Cup Final against Vancouver. But both teams, according to Marchand, just played the way you need to play to survive in the postseason.
“Obviously, the high-end skill game and finesse, it gets you here, but it takes a whole different game and level to take you far,” he said. “That’s obviously what we had for a very long time in Boston. What Florida’s done a great job at is building a team that’s tough to compete against this time of year. So that’s the style of game that you want to be part of.”
Marchand has personally experienced the villainous side of the Panthers. Bennett gave him a gloved punch in last year’s playoffs that left Marchand concussed and forced him out of their series.
“I didn’t hold a grudge. I know how this game’s played. I played a similar way and it’s something that we joke about now,” said Marchand, now Bennett’s teammate. “I’ve been in positions where I’ve done things like that to guys that I end up being teammates with. Things happen on the ice and you move past it.”
That’s hockey, according to Marchand.
“I can’t speak for other sports, but our culture is where you could fight a guy and meet up afterwards and laugh about everything. That’s just how it is,” he said. “You’re doing a job when you’re on the ice. That’s all.”
Which is to say that off the ice, the Panthers are different people. And that chemistry is the real reason why they’ve skated the Cup for a second straight time, according to them.
“They’re hard on the ice. They are. And most of that is driven by how they feel about each other. They don’t want to let the other guy down. There’s a caring about them,” Maurice said. “These guys are different.”
IF MARCHAND HAS learned anything with the Florida Panthers, it’s that plastic rats hurt when your teammates are slap shooting them at you.
In one of the playoffs’ most memorable new traditions, Panthers players would take turns shooting rats, tossed on the ice by fans, at Marchand after victories.
“They see my family on the ice and want us to be together,” Marchand deadpanned. “They’re just bullying me. They’re shooting to hurt now.”
Besides being their most dominant scorer in the Stanley Cup Final, Marchand was also the fulcrum for the Panthers’ merriment after coming over from the Bruins at the trade deadline.
“Marchy and I bounce off the walls quite a bit. It’s nice to have somebody else to do that with,” Schmidt said. “One bouncy ball is fun. When you bang two of them together? It’s a little bit more fun. So I’ve enjoyed his time here.”
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Brad Marchand scores 56 seconds in to give Panthers early lead
Brad Marchand flicks it in through a crowd of defenders to give the Panthers an early lead vs. the Oilers.
The bouncing around during the pregame. The rat-shooting. The now-legendary poker games on cross-continent flights. The team field trips to Dairy Queen, and the subsequent confusion about whether Marchand was eating a Blizzard between periods of a playoff game.
(Spoiler: It was honey, something Marchand has enjoyed since he was a child feeding it to his stuffed Winnie the Pooh doll. “It’s what we do in Halifax. We feed teddy bears honey,” he said.)
“There’s a million things that happen behind the scenes that fans don’t see,” Marchand said. “Those are little things that make it a little bit easier and allow you to get your mind off some of the stress. I think you can see when we’re together, we’re just like big kids. Behind closed doors, everyone’s always joking around and having fun.”
There’s a democratization of comedy in the Panthers’ dressing room. The players say no one is spared from the punchlines, no matter their salary or ice time. It’s the byproduct of the team’s overall mindset. When Tkachuk says “nobody cares who scores,” they mean it.
“It can’t be overstated, the character and … I don’t know if it’s the right word, but the grace of each guy. If you came into the meal room, you wouldn’t … know … who’s … who,” Zito said, pounding his hands on the table for emphasis. “You didn’t know who scored the winning goal. You didn’t know who didn’t play. I think that, as much as anything, is a testament to those guys and their character.”
Every offseason, Maurice does a “culture survey” for his team. Last offseason, one of the players reported that when they walked into the Panthers’ dressing room for the first time “it felt like I’d been there for 10 years” with the team.
“That room that we have is so welcoming. Your personality fits almost no matter what it is. The more unusual your personality, the more you’re going to fit in our room,” Maurice said. “As long as you do those four or five things you need to do, everybody gets to be themselves.”
What makes that chemistry work?
“That’s all Barkov, truly,” Maurice said.
“[Barkov] is like a magnet. You just find yourself gravitating towards him,” Schmidt said. “You see what Cap does and it just kind of trickles its way all the way through the lineup. There’s just no other way to do it. It’s not like he’s not a vocally imposing person. It’s just, you need to do it because it feels like you have to do it for him.”
Zito likened Barkov to a planet with “all the energy that comes from him” as a leader.
“It starts with Sasha,” the GM said. “Paul’s talked about this. I’ve talked about it. The players have talked about it. The only person who doesn’t [get] talked about it is Sasha. How caring he is as a human and as a teammate. He makes you want to be a better person. So then it’s easy to have the positive aspects of your personality come through. It’s like he pulls it out of you.”
Barkov has learned from his teammates, too. Marchand in particular, since he arrived at the trade deadline.
“He’s obviously very old, but he still works hard and wants to be better,” said Barkov, 29, of the 37-year-old Marchand. (See? Everyone gets clowned on.) “It’s fun to see, and it’s contagious. You want to work as hard as him.”
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Panthers go up 3-0 on Sam Reinhart’s 2nd goal
Sam Reinhart notches his second goal to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead in the second period.
Every incarnation of the Panthers during their three-year reign as Eastern Conference champions has seen turnover on the roster. Eric and Marc Staal, as well as Radko Gudas, were on the 2023 team. Brandon Montour, Ryan Lomberg, Nick Cousins, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Vladimir Tarasenko were on the Stanley Cup winner last season. This season saw Marchand, Schmidt, Seth Jones and A.J. Greer join the roster, among others.
“You just try to fit in, come in and not disturb anything, not change anything. Just seamlessly trying to blend in and add a little bit of your spice, I guess you’d say,” said Greer, who signed as a free agent.
“Coming into a group who had just won the Stanley Cup, I was just trying to inject a little bit of energy. They had a long season. Sometimes that can get to you mentally and physically of course. So I come in and kind of replenish that energy, bring in a new face and just be myself, personality-wise,” he said. “The guys welcomed me very, very well. Those guys that are all around the locker room and that’s a big reason why they won.”
To hear the stories of humility and familial warmth from inside the Panthers remains in stark contrast with the team that frequently emerges on the ice. They are the epitome of “a player you love to have on your team and hate to play against,” a time-tested hockey cliché that Marchand used to describe Bennett recently. They frustrate opponents during games and push each other to play like champions behind the scenes.
“This is something about hockey culture that makes it special and unique,” one current NHL player said. “Some of the guys that are the biggest pieces of s— on the ice are the greatest people off the ice.”
Maurice was recently asked about that dichotomy.
“I’ll ask you two questions that might be personal. You don’t have to answer. Have you ever shotgunned a beer? And have you ever been to church?” he began.
“Now, would you shotgun a beer if you’re in church? No, you wouldn’t, and that doesn’t make you a hypocrite. There’s a context in that place for all things.”
Maurice hated facing Tkachuk when he was coaching in Winnipeg and Tkachuk was in Calgary. His swagger on the ice informed Maurice’s opinion about him as a person, which was quickly dispelled when the two were united in Florida.
“You meet him and you’re like, ‘Oh my god, what a wonderful human being,'” Maurice said.
Same with Marchand. Same with Bennett, who is “a dog on a bone” on the ice but raises money to help find adoptive homes for canines in his spare time.
The Panthers aren’t just what they are on the ice. They aren’t just what they are off the ice. But the sum of those parts — the harm and the harmony — combined to make them back-to-back Stanley Cup champions.
“They’re all really, really nice people,” Maurice said of his team. “Then the puck drops.”
Sports
Kiley McDaniel’s favorite Day 1 draft picks, biggest surprises and best available Day 2 prospects
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Kiley McDaniel
With Day 1 of the 2025 MLB draft complete, it’s time to look at which picks in the first round stood out most.
After weeks of speculation about the various directions the Washington Nationals could go with the No. 1 pick, they surprised the industry by taking Oklahoma high school shortstop Eli Willits — and the Los Angeles Angels followed up with a surprising pick of their own at No. 2 by taking UC Santa Barbara pitcher Tyler Bremner
Though the nature of the baseball draft means that some of the picks we aren’t quite sure about on Day 1 will become clearer when we see how teams spread their bonus allotment around later in the draft, here are the early picks I liked the most and some eye-opening selections along with the top players still available entering Day 2.
Five favorite moves
Mariners and Pirates get their guys
The buzz leading up to the draft was that Kade Anderson was atop the Mariners’ draft board and Seth Hernandez was the top target (after Willits, who wasn’t going to get there) of the Pirates. Seattle was the other team taking a long look at Hernandez, but the shenanigans at the top two picks (more on that later) means that both Seattle and Pittsburgh got their preferred arms.
A’s select Arnold and Taylor
The Athletics had only two picks on Day 1 but received excellent values at each. Jamie Arnold was the top prospect in the draft entering the season and seemed primed to go somewhere between No. 2 and No. 8 after an uneven season. He somehow was the prospect left holding the short straw, falling to the 11th pick. Devin Taylor was in the mix at multiple picks in the comp round but lasted five selections into the second round.
Twins embrace risk with Quick and Young
The Twins took two hit-first college infielders as their first picks last year (Kaelen Culpepper and Kyle DeBarge), took another one in the 2023 second round (Luke Keaschall), and two more in the top two rounds in 2022 (Brooks Lee, Tanner Schobel) — and also took one with their first pick this year in Marek Houston.
What interested me though is what Minnesota did after that, taking big swings with the upside of Riley Quick (four potential plus pitches but below-average command) and Quentin Young (80-grade power potential with big questions on contact rate).
Phillies try to jump the reliever trade market?
Gage Wood has a chance to start long term but can also go straight to the upper minors — if not the big leagues — and potentially help the bullpen later this season, like a trade deadline addition. The Phillies’ next pick, Cade Obermueller, is another possible starter who also could move quickly as a lefty turning 22 later this month with two knockout pitches in his fastball/slider combo. Odds are good that at least one of them can provide big league value in the next 12 months if Philly wants to utilize them that way.
The Red Sox land Witherspoon, Phillips and Eyanson
The Red Sox are interested in creating more pitching depth and selected a number of interesting arms on Day 1. Kyson Witherspoon had a lot of interest in the top 10, but the Red Sox got him at No. 15.
He’ll need to sharpen his execution a notch and his short arm action is unique, but there’s midrotation upside. Marcus Phillips has a chance to start but could also bring another distinctive look as a late-inning arm with four plus pitches from a low slot and a triple-digit fastball. Anthony Eyanson is a different sort, with fringy fastball velocity but standout command along with a slider and splitter that keep hitters off-balance.
Five eye-openers
Eli Willits at No. 1
The buzz ahead of the draft was that there were three players in play for the top pick and Willits was my third-ranked player in the class, so the same group is what I would’ve been considering — and I love Willits as a player. The bonus will be a factor in evaluating how successful this pick will be viewed — I’ll guess it starts with an eight — but I think this will be seen as a solid decision, as long as Kade Anderson or Ethan Holliday don’t become stars.
Tyler Bremner at No. 2
The biggest piece of late buzz I was hearing is that Bremner was in play at No. 3 to the Mariners. I didn’t hear his name at all at No. 2 so that made this pick the first shocker in the draft.
Bremner was considered in this area (on a deal) because he could easily be the best pitcher in this class — but only if he can develop a better slider, which isn’t a small if. The Angels seem to have a thought about how to solve this, and how he progresses will be one of the more followed storylines of this draft.
Tigers take Yost and Oliveto
I like both players, but it’s fascinating that these two and the most-rumored prep hitter tied to Detroit that they didn’t take (Coy James, who had a tough summer) were all missing strong 2024 summer performances.
Jordan Yost and Michael Oliveto were the only two prep position players in the first-round mix who weren’t in the major national events on the summer circuit, thus creating a lot of uncertainty about how to project them.
The Tigers are right to assume this could create a potential quick gain in value if Yost and Oliveto can perform early in their pro careers, but I don’t remember seeing a team double down on lack of summer exposure in the early rounds.
Orioles take two catchers in the first round, and two pitchers in the second
It’s certainly a bit odd that the Orioles took two college catchers with their first two picks after taking another one (Ethan Anderson) in the second round last year. Obviously, teams don’t draft for big league need — the O’s already have Adley Rutschman — and they need at least two catchers at all four full season minor league affiliates, it’s just odd to see them invest in this position early multiple times. And after all of the position players they have drafted under Mike Elias, they did sneak in two arms on Day 1 with Joseph Dzierwa (a command-forward lefty) and J.T. Quinn (one of my favorite college relievers with the traits to start in pro ball).
Guardians lean into power
The Guardians often draft, or sign internationally, hit-first players who are often underpowered, with Steven Kwan a prominent example. They swerved a lot this year, taking Jace LaViolette with their first pick (I compare him to Cody Bellinger or Joey Gallo; he hit .258 this season) and Nolan Schubart (24% strikeout rate, 22% in-zone whiff rate) with their fifth pick on Day 1. Those two have big power and strong pull/lift rates, and LaViolette has the athleticism to play center field, so there’s real talent, it’s just not usually the type that the Guardians have targeted.
Best available for Day 2
Listed by top 250 draft rankings
43. Mason Neville, OF, Oregon
44. Matthew Fisher, RHP, Evansville Memorial HS (Ind.)
53. Josiah Hartshorn, LF, Orange Lutheran HS (Calif.)
55. Brock Sell, CF, Tokay HS (Calif.)
61. Jack Bauer, LHP, Lincoln Way East HS (Ill.)
69. Coy James, SS, Davie County HS (N.C.)
70. Alec Blair, CF, De La Salle HS (Calif.)
71. Mason Pike, RHP, Puyallup HS (Wash.)
72. Cam Appenzeller, LHP, Glenwood HS (Ill.)
73. Briggs McKenzie, LHP, Corinth Holders HS (N.C.)
The first day of the 2025 MLB draft is complete! The Washington Nationals selected Eli Willits with the No. 1 pick, opting for the prep shortstop — who might be more likely to sign below slot — in a draft with no clear-cut top prospect. And there were plenty of other intriguing selections as the first three rounds unfolded Sunday night.
The Seattle Mariners had to have been thrilled to have Kiley McDaniel’s No. 1-ranked prospect, Kade Anderson, fall to them at No. 3, and Ethan Holliday was selected at No. 4 by his famous father’s former squad the Colorado Rockies.
We asked ESPN baseball insiders Alden Gonzalez, Jesse Rogers and David Schoenfield to break down their favorite and most head-scratching moves of the draft’s first night, as well as to predict which players will bring the most to their new teams in the long term.
A lot of us were thrown for a loop by the first two selections. What do you make of the Nationals taking Ethan Willits at No. 1 and the Angels picking Tyler Bremner at No. 2?
Gonzalez: I was stunned on both accounts. Though there was definitely some uncertainty around the Nationals’ approach, especially since the firing of GM Mike Rizzo, I didn’t see anybody, anywhere, projecting Willits to be their choice at No. 1 overall. But the Angels drafting Bremner was an even bigger risk. Kiley had him 18th in his latest ranking. Six pitchers were ranked ahead of him. But Bremner might be someone who can rise and impact their major league roster quickly, and the Angels are always looking for that.
Rogers: The first two picks really summed up the uncertainty of the entire draft. The Nationals’ faith in a 17-year-old will be tested over the coming years, but the pick will likely save them some money for later in this draft and give Willits time to grow. The same can be said of many of the top picks: They’re going to need time. There are far fewer sure things this year — though Bremner could be the exception. The Angles love to graduate their players quickly, and as a college arm, he could see the majors sooner rather than later. Like Willits, this could also be a cost-saving move for later spending.
Schoenfield: In a draft that not only lacked a sure-thing No. 1 overall pick but was viewed as weaker at the top than those of recent years, it’s perhaps not a huge surprise that the Nationals and Angels used their picks to strike likely underslot deals with Willits and Bremner, giving them money to spend later in the draft — which they can use on high school prospects who might have slipped, trying to buy them out from going to college. It’s a strategy teams have used with success over the years, so the drafts for the Nationals and Angels will have to be viewed in their totality and not just focused on these two players.
What was your favorite pick of the night — and which one had you scratching your head?
Gonzalez: The Rockies have done a lot of things wrong over these last few … uh, decades. But it was really cool to see them take Ethan Holliday at No. 4 after his father, Matt, starred in Colorado for so long. Outside of the top two picks, Ethan Conrad going 17th to the Cubs was my biggest surprise of the night. Kiley had him ranked 30th; others had him falling out of the first round entirely. There’s uncertainty coming off shoulder surgery. But Conrad, 21, put up a 1.238 OPS in 97 plate appearances before his season ended prematurely in March. And the dearth of college bats probably influenced a slight reach here.
Rogers: I’m loving Billy Carlson to the White Sox at No. 10. Though they lost 121 games last season, Chicago couldn’t pick higher than this spot per CBA rules — but the Sox might have gotten a top-five player. Carlson’s defense will play extremely well behind a sneaky good and young pitching staff that should keep the ball on the ground in the long term. Meanwhile, with the pick of the litter when it came to hitters — college outfielders and high school kids as well — the Pirates took a high school pitcher at No. 6. Seth Hernandez could be great, but they need hitting. A lot of it.
Schoenfield: The Mariners reportedly wanted LSU left-hander Kade Anderson all along, but they certainly couldn’t have been expecting to get him with the third pick. (Keep in mind that the Mariners were lucky in the first place to land the third pick in the lottery, so they added some good fortune on top of good luck.) They get the most polished college pitcher in the draft, one who should move quickly — and perhaps make it a little easier for Jerry Dipoto to dip into his farm system and upgrade the big league roster at the trade deadline. Even though I understand why the Angels did it, Bremner still seems a little questionable. With the second pick, you want to go for a home run, and the consensus is that Holliday or even Anderson is more likely to be a more impactful major leaguer. Bremner’s lack of a third plus pitch is an issue, and you have to wonder if the Angels are relying too much on his control — which, yes, should allow him to get to the majors — and ignoring the possible lack of upside.
Who is the one player you’d like to plant your flag on as the biggest steal of this draft?
Gonzalez: Seth Hernandez, who went sixth to the Pirates and should someday share a rotation with Paul Skenes and Jared Jones. High school pitchers are incredibly risky, especially when taken so early in the draft. But Hernandez is a great athlete who already throws hard, boasts a plus changeup and showed improvement with his breaking ball this spring. He’ll go the Hunter Greene route, from standout high school pitcher to major league ace.
Rogers: Jamie Arnold will look like a steal at No. 11, especially when he debuts in the majors well before many of the players taken around him. I’m not worried about the innings drop in 2025 — not when he was striking out 119 hitters and walking just 27. The A’s need to polish him up but will be pleased by how consistent he’ll be. You can’t go wrong with a college lefty from an ACC school — at least, the A’s didn’t.
Schoenfield: I’m going with Billy Carlson with the 10th pick — with the admitted caveat that the White Sox haven’t exactly been stellar at developing hitters. But Carlson looks like an elite defensive shortstop with plus power, and that alone can make him a valuable major leaguer. If the hit tool comes along, we’re looking at a potential star. OK, he’s Bobby Witt Jr. lite? That’s still an All-Star player.
What’s your biggest takeaway from Day 1 of this draft?
Gonzalez: The Nationals throwing a wrench into the proceedings by selecting Willits. It was a surprising choice, but in their minds an easy one. Interim general manager Mike DeBartolo called Willits the best hitter and best fielder available. And in a draft devoid of can’t-miss, high-impact talent, Willits is no doubt a solid pick — a polished hitter who should stick at shortstop and might consistently hit 20 homers and steal 20 bases at a premium position. He also might come under slot, allowing flexibility later in the draft. But his selection is what allowed Anderson to reach the Mariners at No. 3 and prompted the Rockies to draft Holliday at No. 4, among other dominoes. It set a really interesting tone.
Rogers: Things change quickly in baseball. Whereas college hitters are usually the safest bets early in the draft, this year high school position players dominated. (And they all play shortstop, at least for now.) Athleticism has returned to baseball, and draft rooms are acting accordingly.
Schoenfield: I’m agreeing with Jesse. The selection of that many prep shortstops stood out — and they all seem to hit left-handed and run well, and some of them have big power potential and a cannon for an arm. Look, the hit tool is the most important and the hardest to scout and project, so not all these kids are going to make it, but their potential is exciting and, to Jesse’s point, their wide range of tools is showing that baseball is still drawing top athletes to the sport.
The 2025 MLB All-Star Home Run Derby is fast approaching — and the field is set.
Braves hometown hero Ronald Acuna Jr. became the first player to commit to the event, which will be held at Truist Park in Atlanta on July 14 (8 p.m. ET on ESPN). He was followed by MLB home run leader Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners, James Wood of the Washington Nationals, Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins, Oneil Cruz of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Junior Caminero of the Tampa Bay Rays, Brent Rooker of the Athletics and Jazz Chisholm Jr. of the New York Yankees.
On Friday, however, Acuna was replaced by teammate Matt Olson.
With all the entrants announced, let’s break down their chances at taking home this year’s Derby prize.
Full All-Star Game coverage: How to watch, schedule, rosters, more
2025 home runs: 17 | Longest: 434 feet
Why he could win: Olson is a late replacement for Acuna as the home team’s representative at this year’s Derby. Apart from being the Braves’ first baseman, however, Olson also was born in Atlanta and grew up a Braves fan, giving him some extra motivation. The left-handed slugger led the majors in home runs in 2023 — his 54 round-trippers that season also set a franchise record — and he remains among the best in the game when it comes to exit velo and hard-hit rate.
Why he might not: The home-field advantage can also be a detriment if a player gets too hyped up in the first round. See Julio Rodriguez in Seattle in 2023, when he had a monster first round, with 41 home runs, but then tired out in the second round.
2025 home runs: 36 | Longest: 440 feet
Why he could win: It’s the season of Cal! The Mariners’ catcher is having one of the greatest slugging first halves in MLB history, as he’s been crushing mistakes all season . His easy raw power might be tailor-made for the Derby — he ranks in the 87th percentile in average exit velocity and delivers the ball, on average, at the optimal home run launch angle of 23 degrees. His calm demeanor might also be perfect for the contest as he won’t get too amped up.
Why he might not: He’s a catcher — and one who has carried a heavy workload, playing in all but one game this season. This contest is as much about stamina as anything, and whether Raleigh can carry his power through three rounds would be a concern. No catcher has ever won the Derby, with only Ivan Rodriguez back in 2005 even reaching the finals.
2025 home runs: 24 | Longest: 451 feet
Why he could win: He’s big, he’s strong, he’s young, he’s awesome, he might or might not be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. This is the perfect opportunity for Wood to show his talent on the national stage, and he wouldn’t be the first young player to star in the Derby. He ranks in the 97th percentile in average exit velocity and 99th percentile in hard-hit rate, so he can still muscle the ball out in BP even if he slightly mishits it. His long arms might be viewed as a detriment, but remember the similarly tall Aaron Judge won in 2017.
Why he might not: His natural swing isn’t a pure uppercut — he has a pretty low average launch angle of just 6.2 degrees — so we’ll see how that plays in a rapid-fire session. In real games, his power is primarily to the opposite field, but in a Home Run Derby you can get more cheapies pulling the ball down the line.
2025 home runs: 20 | Longest: 479 feet
Why he could win: Buxton’s raw power remains as impressive as nearly any hitter in the game. He crushed a 479-foot home run earlier this season and has four others of at least 425 feet. Indeed, his “no doubter” percentage — home runs that would be out of all 30 parks based on distance — is 75%, the highest in the majors among players with more than a dozen home runs. His bat speed ranks in the 89th percentile. In other words, two tools that could translate to a BP lightning show.
Why he might not: Buxton is 31 and the Home Run Derby feels a little more like a younger man’s competition. Teoscar Hernandez did win last year at age 31, but before that, the last winner older than 29 was David Ortiz in 2010, and that was under much different rules than are used now.
2025 home runs: 16 | Longest: 463 feet
Why he could win: If you drew up a short list of players everyone wants to see in the Home Run Derby, Cruz would be near the top. He has the hardest-hit ball of the 2025 season, and the hardest ever tracked by Statcast, a 432-foot missile of a home run with an exit velocity of 122.9 mph. He also crushed a 463-foot home run in Anaheim that soared way beyond the trees in center field. With his elite bat speed — 100th percentile — Cruz has the ability to awe the crowd with a potentially all-time performance.
Why he might not: Like all first-time contestants, can he stay within himself and not get too caught up in the moment? He has a long swing, which will result in some huge blasts, but might not be the most efficient for a contest like this one, where the more swings a hitter can get in before the clock expires, the better.
2025 home runs: 23 | Longest: 425 feet
Why he could win: Although Caminero was one of the most hyped prospects entering 2024, everyone kind of forgot about him heading into this season since he didn’t immediately rip apart the majors as a rookie. In his first full season, however, he has showed off his big-time raw power — giving him a chance to become just the third player to reach 40 home runs in his age-21 season. He has perhaps the quickest bat in the majors, ranking in the 100th percentile in bat speed, and his top exit velocity ranks in the top 15. That could translate to a barrage of home runs.
Why he might not: In game action, Caminero does hit the ball on the ground quite often — in fact, he’s on pace to break Jim Rice’s record for double plays grounded into in a season. If he gets out of rhythm, that could lead to a lot of low line drives during the Derby instead of fly balls that clear the fences.
2025 home runs: 19 | Longest: 440 feet
Why he could win: The Athletics slugger has been one of the top power hitters in the majors for three seasons now and is on his way to a third straight 30-homer season. Rooker has plus bat speed and raw power, but his biggest strength is an optimal average launch angle (19 degrees in 2024, 15 degrees this season) that translates to home runs in game action. That natural swing could be picture perfect for the Home Run Derby. He also wasn’t shy about saying he wanted to participate — and maybe that bodes well for his chances.
Why he might not: Rooker might not have quite the same raw power as some of the other competitors, as he has just one home run longer than 425 feet in 2025. But that’s a little nitpicky, as 11 of his home runs have still gone 400-plus feet. He competed in the college home run derby in Omaha while at Mississippi State in 2016 and finished fourth.
2025 home runs: 17 | Longest: 442 feet
Why he could win: Chisholm might not be the most obvious name to participate, given his career high of 24 home runs, but he has belted 17 already in 2025 in his first 61 games after missing some time with an injury. He ranks among the MLB leaders in a couple of home run-related categories, ranking in the 96th percentile in expected slugging percentage and 98th percentile in barrel rate. His raw power might not match that of the other participants, but he’s a dead-pull hitter who has increased his launch angle this season, which might translate well to the Derby, even if he won’t be the guy hitting the longest home runs.
Why he might not: Most of the guys who have won this have been big, powerful sluggers. Chisholm is listed at 5-foot-11, 184 pounds, and you have to go back to Miguel Tejada in 2004 to find the last player under 6 foot to win.
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