Texas A&M Aggies Players To Watch On MLB Opening Day

Rise and shine, baseball fans. Opening Day 2025 has finally arrived.

It has been 148 days since the Los Angeles Dodgers clinched their eighth World Series championship after a monumental comeback in Game 5 against the New York Yankees, and since then, breaking headlines have come from the MLB, including the Dodgers' signing of Japanese flamethrower Roki Sasaki and two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, and Juan Soto's record-breaking signing with the New York Mets.

New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge and Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani will look to add more MVP trophies to their trophy cases, and Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes, the reigning NL Rookie of the Year, will look to take home an NL Cy Young Award in his first full season in the majors, and young stars such as Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson will look to add on to their growing legacies.

As for Texas A&M baseball fans, there are a few Aggie ballplayers on Opening Day rosters, and here are a few to look out for as the 2025 MLB season gets underway:

A.J. Minter, RP, New York Mets

Relief pitcher A.J. Minter finds himself on a new team in the National League East in the New York Mets after spending the first eight years of his professional career with the Atlanta Braves.

The lefty was originally selected out of high school by the Detroit Tigers in the 38th round of the 2012 MLB Draft, the same year the Tigers made their most recent World Series appearance, but Minter chose to instead go to College Station.

Minter, a World Series champion with Atlanta in 2021, spent the 2012-2015 seasons in College Station as both a starting and relief pitcher before the Braves selected him in the second round of the 2015 MLB Draft, and the Tyler native would make his debut in August of 2017.

In his eight seasons with Atlanta, he struck out 422 batters and also registered 36 saves.

Bryce Miller, SP, Seattle Mariners

Another lively arm from College Station, Bryce Miller gears up for his junior year in the majors with the Seattle Mariners.

Miller pitched with the Aggies from 2018 to 2021 before he was selected by Seattle in the fourth round (113th overall) in the 2021 MLB Draft.

His 2024 campaign saw him boast the eighth-best ERA in the entire MLB, with a 2.98 that also saw him carry a 12-8 record and strikeout 178 batters in 180 1/3 innings.

Miller will toe the rubber this year alongside All-Star pitchers Logan Gilbert and George Kirby.

Michael Wacha, SP, Kansas City Royals

wacha wacha — Oct 5, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; Kansas City Royals pitcher Michael Wacha (52) throws a pitch during the second inning New York Yankees during game one of the ALDS for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Lucky year number 13 lies ahead for Michael Wacha, his second with the Kansas City Royals.

The righty is better known for his stint with the other Missouri team, the St. Louis Cardinals, where he was for his first seven major league seasons.

With the Red Birds, he was named a National League All-Star in 2015 and was also the National League Championship Series (NLCS) MVP in 2013, leading the team to the World Series, where they fell in six games to the Boston Red Sox.

Through his first dozen seasons, Wacha has a 101-62 win-loss record and has struck out 1,290 batters.

He stands with a solid Royals rotation that also includes Cole Ragans and Seth Lugo, the latter finishing runner-up in AL Cy Young voting last season to Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal.