NL East Breakout Watch: One Player from Every Team Who Could Explode in 2026

Every season, countless teams across Major League Baseball will have at least one player on their roster take an unexpected leap that can change the outlook of their roster. Whether it’s a younger player who recently made his debut that finally puts everything together or an under-the-radar name that takes on a bigger role and succeeds. Breakout performances like these can quickly reshape a division race and alter a team's season outlook. In the highly competitive National League East Division, if teams like the Phillies, Braves, and Mets have a certain player take a big step, it could separate them as the top team in the division. Likewise, if the Nationals and the Marlins enjoy the same luxury, it would be huge for them to vault themselves out of the bottom of the division.

Atlanta Braves - RHP Didier Fuentes

There’s not a team in baseball that's suffered more preseason injury luck than the Atlanta Braves, especially within their starting rotation. Pitchers Spencer Schwellenbach, Spencer Strider, and Hurston Waldrep will all be on the shelf for an extended period of time, and all three were supposed to be locks for the Braves' rotation on Opening Day. Additionally, depth options like AJ Smith-Shawver and Joey Wentz will both miss the entire season. One name that has stirred up a lot of speculation from Braves fans to help combat all of these injuries is 20-year-old right-hander Didier Fuentes. He briefly made his debut last season just three days after his 20th birthday. He didn’t quite look ready for big league competition just yet, making four starts while giving up 20 earned runs in just 13 innings. He looks to be ready for another challenge, though in 2026, if there were a Cy Young award for just Spring Training, Fuentes might have been the frontrunner this season. He’s put up some ridiculous numbers this spring, pitching 13.2 innings and putting up a 0.66 ERA with an 11.85 K/9 and a 0.22 WHIP. The Braves' third-ranked prospect will be on the Opening Day roster, making him one of the youngest pitchers in the league. The young right-hander’s noticeable improvement makes him hard to ignore.

Miami Marlins - SS Otto Lopez

Otto López is a player whom people who are already familiar with his game would consider to be underrated. In terms of becoming a premier shortstop in Major League Baseball, the glove is already present; it’s just the bat that needs to come around. The 27-year-old has quietly been one of the best defensive infielders in the game since he carved out a role in the majors. He had a plus-nine Outs Above Average last season and plus-14 in his rookie season. The former Blue Jays and Marlins infielder is also a threat on the basepaths, with 15 steals last season. His baserunning and defense were good enough last season to the point where he was still a very productive player in terms of WAR, posting a 3.5 bWAR on the season, even while being a below league-average hitter. If the offensive production catches up to the rest of his game, Miami could have a superstar on its hands. He’s already got great contact skills, only striking out 13.8 percent of the time last season, which put him in the 90th percentile. You can make the argument that he was unlucky in the power department last season as well; his expected slugging percentage of .434 was significantly better than his actual .368 for the year. If the bat takes even a modest step forward, López has all the makings of a true breakout star in 2026.

New York Mets - 3B Brett Baty

Another underappreciated infielder from last season was Mets third baseman Brett Baty. The former top prospect had almost been completely written off by the Mets fanbase after he put up a combined negative WAR over his first three seasons. The 26-year-old finally became a solid contributor in Queens last season with a slightly above-league-average .748 OPS over 130 games. He also improved on his defense last season with a plus-one OAA, which wasn’t remarkable by any means but still an improvement. There’s reason to believe that the former first-round pick could take yet another step forward in his age-27 season. One area that has a ton of room for improvement would be his ability to make more contact within the strike zone. He was above average in terms of not chasing outside of the zone last season, with just a 24.9% chase rate, which put him in the 70th percentile. With that being said, he still struck out plenty, with a 25% strikeout rate, which put him in the 26th percentile. His main area of strength last season was his ability to make hard contact; he had a hard-hit rate last season of 46.9%, which was in the 72nd percentile. At the age of 26, Baty is still on the younger side, and he seems like a premier candidate to take another step forward in 2026.

Philadelphia Phillies - LHP Jesus Luzardo

For next season to be considered a breakout for Jesus Luzardo, he would have to pitch at a Cy Young caliber level. There are enough encouraging numbers in his profile where that’s a step he could take. The 28-year-old is already widely considered to be a very solid big league starting pitcher, just not quite ace-level. In 32 starts last season, he pitched to a 3.92 ERA, good enough for a 3.7 bWAR. Two areas where Luzardo was already amongst the best in the league last season were his ability to pitch deep into ball games and rack up strikeouts. His 183.2 innings pitched last season were 6th in the National League. He was also just one of ten pitchers last season to strike out more than 200 batters. Now, you’re not going to be considered for a Cy Young Award with a 3.92 ERA, but there’s reason to believe that his ERA last season wasn’t a true indicator of how good a pitcher Luzardo is. With his above-average exit velocity and above-average strikeout numbers, he had an expected ERA of just 3.33. The former top prospect also has a sweeper that's as good as any pitch in the game. It was his second-most used pitch behind his fastball, and batters had an opposing average of just .178 against it, while whiffing on it 43.8% of the time. If Luzardo can get better results on his fastball next season to complement his already elite breaking stuff, he could easily become one of the top starting pitchers in the NL.

Washington Nationals - OF Daylen Lile

Daylen Lile had one of the most fascinating rookie seasons in all of baseball last season. His offense easily surpassed expectations, but he really struggled in the field. At just 23 years old, he showed some of the best contact skills of anyone in the game. He didn’t quite play a full season in the big leagues, but he still had a 91-game sample size. The former second-round pick slashed .299/.347/.498 in his rookie season. His advanced numbers at the plate were just as good; he had the best expected batting average in the game with a .302 xBA. He also only whiffed on 18.9% of pitches last season, which put him in the 81st percentile. The reason Lile wasn’t really put in the category of the National League's top rookies from last season was due to his abysmal defense. His minus-eight outs above average put him in just the fifth percentile of all major league defenders. There’s plenty of reason to think that his defense will improve, however. He’s got elite speed, ranking in the 92nd percentile of all position players last season in sprint speed. His arm strength isn’t terrible either, right around league average. All things considered, if Lile’s bat can perform at a similar level and we see better defense out of him this season, he should be a surefire all-star for Washington. A very intriguing player to watch in 2026.