MLB The Show 25 - April Spotlight Program

Week 3 of the April Spotlight program is live along with the ongoing 2nd Inning XP path. Spotlight Rhys Hoskins is the top reward following Kyren Paris, Trent Grisham, and Jordan Westburg. You will also get a free Topps Now Javier Sanoja and Chandler Simpson along the path.

The five players available in the April Spotlight Drop 4 pack are Spotlight Cal Raleigh, Spotlight Tyler Mahle, Toops Now Jonathan Aranda, Topps Now Logan Henderson, and Topps Now Caleb Durbin. The Spotlight cards are 89 overalls and the prized rewards in the pack.

April Spotlight 4 Cards

Here are the available cards in the April Spotlight 4 Drop 4 pack. First up, 3B Caleb Durbin:

A disappointing card as 3B is a real hotbed of talent, and we’ve gotten some solid collection cards like Egg Hunt Ryan McMahon and Negro Leagues Jackie Robinson in recent days. I’m not sure he has a place much of anywhere.

Topps Now Logan Henderson is also a pretty weak card. He doesn’t have great velocity and the pitch mix won’t get him by. I haven’t seen him so maybe the wind-up is deceptive, but otherwise not much here.

Topps Now Jonathan Aranda has very obvious platoon splits and 99 clutch. I don’t think he has a lane either though because you’re not going to spend a diamond on a platoon first baseman in BR at this point.

The disappointment continues with Spotlight Tyler Mahle. The underlying stats are good, but a lack of velocity and just a middling pitch mix once again hurts things. If he had a bit more control, he might be a little more intriguing, but I think he’s going to play below his ratings.

This batch of cards is saved by Spotlight Cal Raleigh. He will have issues at HOF and above, but he’s a BR stud and great for lower-end ranked games. The power from both sides as a switch hitter while being good behind the plate is very solid. He also gets Road Warrior, Breaking Ball Hitter, and Situational Hitter quirks.

April Spotlight Drop 4 Free Cards

Topps Now Javier Sanoja has versatility on his side, which I like to see with Topps Now cards that might not be worthwhile otherwise. Left field is a tough nut to crack, but he’ll be fine to have on your bench.

With Topps Now Chandler Simpson, we get Pete Crow-Armstrong lite. A CF with maxed out speed and good contact ratings and vision is never a bad thing. He’s going to be annoying as hell, and you can add him to the list of players to use if you want to cause rage for your opponents.

Spotlight Rhys Hoskins is the top reward if you get through Spotlight 4. Spotlight Trent Grisham has been my favorite of the cards so far, but I mash with Hoskins so I’m stoked for this one. He’s an all-bat 1B, but he should slot in nicely as a very good free option.

April Spotlight Drop 3 Tasks

Moments

Battery of Firsts
- Pitch 1 inning and do not not give up a run with Paul Skenes
Another Multi-HR Game
- Hit 1 HR with Tyler Soderstrom
Strider Returns to the Mound
- Strike out 1 batter with Spencer Strider
Wild 8th Inning at Wrigley
- Score 1 run with the Cubs
Brewers Set New Stolen Base Record
- Steal a base with Caleb Durbin
Angels Walk It off in Style
- Tally 1 hit and 3 RBI with Jo Adell
Rhys Is Raking
- Hit 1 HR with Rhys Hoskins

Missions

Tally 1,000 PXP with Drop 4 players
Tally 350 PXP with Topps Now Javier Sanoja
Tally 350 PXP with Topps Now Chandler Simpson
Tally 350 PXP with Spotlight Kyren Paris
Tally 3 HR with primary 1B
Tally 7 XBH with primary catchers
Tally 3 SB with primary CF
Tally 25 strikeouts with Rangers players
Tally 15 home runs with Brewers players

April Spotlight 3 Rewards

5 stars – MLB The Show pack
10 stars – Topps Now Javier Sanoja
15 stars – MLB The Show pack
20 stars – Topps Now Chandler Simpson
25 stars – MLB The Show pack
30 stars – Ballin’ Is A Habit pack
35 stars – MLB The Show pack
40 stars – 5,000 XP
45 stars – April Spotlight Drop 4 pack
50 stars – April Spotlight Rhys Hoskins

April Spotlight 3 Cards

Here are the available cards in the April Spotlight 3 Drop 3 pack. First up, RF Zac Veen:

This card has good basestealing attributes, but unless the swing is impressive it looks like a forgettable outfielder. That said, Zac Veen is a fresh face so there is always a chance the swing could surprise.

2B Chase Meidroth is another fresh face, and this is a player who is probably too slow at the middle infield spots but should be annoying to pitch to when considering the visions and contact stats.

Any reliever who is added to The Show needs to at least be inspected, but Harrington’s issue is likely going to be a lack of top-end velocity. However, I do think a cutter, sweeper, and splitter is perfectly solid pitch that can be useful, but he’s probably best against pull-happy players.

I have been a big fan of Taylor Ward in the past, and so I’m going to want to test out this card even if he can only play the corner outfield spots. His hitting stats look very solid with the main issue being a lack of vision and speed. The arm is perfectly solid, and I think this ends up as one of those cards you love to have in Battle Royale.

I’m always wary of Greene cards because the pitch mix just isn’t there. He does have Outlier on his fastball, but he just doesn’t tend to be able to compete if players can keep up with the heat.

April Spotlight Drop 3 Free Cards

As for the free cards within the Drop 3 program:

We have another Cubs player, but Workman is mostly a defense-first card with not much upside in any category. Again, a fresh face is good, but this card looks mediocre at best.

In terms of upside, I like Yastrzemski cards. He’s a platoon player, but he’s a great bat with a good swing in the right spots. He’s another player I will now favor for BR.

Kyren Paris is a very exciting card to get for free. He’s a fresh face, he’s a fan favorite already with the Angels, and he looks to have solid attribtes. He doesn’t have an obvious weak area besides Vision, and I think this could be the best Spotlight card so far — even with no quirks.

April Spotlight Drop 3 Tasks

Moments

Lindor Records 1,500th hit
- Tally 1 hit with Lindor (Veteran)
McCovey Cove Walk-Off
- Hit 1 home run with Yastrzemski
Angels Homer Parade
Quintana Makes MLB History
- Pitch 1 inning
- Do not give up 1 run
Can’t Stop the Padres
- Hit 1 home run with Tatis Jr.
D-backs Make Historic Comeback
- Tally 1 RBI with Gurriel Jr.
Paris’ Power Surge
- Tally 4 total bases with Paris

Missions

1,000 PXP with Drop 3 players
350 PXP with Workman
350 PXP with Yastrzemski
350 PXP with Grisham
3 home runs with primary 2B
7 XBH with primary LF
15 total bases with primary RF
20 XBH with Angels
25 strikeouts with Reds

April Spotlight 3 Rewards

5 stars – MLB The Show pack
10 stars – Topps Now Gage Workman
15 stars – MLB The Show pack
20 stars – Topps Now Mike Yastrzemski
25 stars – MLB The Show pack
30 stars – Ballin’ Is A Habit pack
35 stars – MLB The Show pack
40 stars – 5,000 XP
45 stars – April Spotlight Drop 3 pack
50 stars – April Spotlight Kyren Paris

April Spotlight 2 Cards

First, here are the cards available in the April Spotlight Drop 2 pack. We start with Topps Now Tomoyuki Sugano.

A good pitch mix, but Topps Now cards don’t usually get quirks and a lack of velocity means you’ll need to rely on your brain to make Sugano work for you. Still, the appeal of Topps Now cards is we get players we wouldn’t normally see otherwise.

Topps Now Jake Mangum is a switch hitter and adds a second April Spotlight Rays card to the mix. The obvious appeal here is the 99 steal and high contact ratings to go with full outfield flexibility. This looks like a very solid utility player and late-inning pinch runner. For the record, I also really like last week’s Kameron Misner, so the Rays are getting some solid cards as of late.

Topps Now Ivan Herrera is a catcher with decent speed and high contact ratings. He looks like he’ll absolutely mash left-handed pitching (and has 99 clutch), but the defense is very weak. As always, I will try any and every catcher out to see if they’re worth it though.

April Spotlight Kris Bubic is the first of the two bigger cards. He gets the Day Player quirk. There are a lot of good left-handed pitchers already available, and the sweeper/slider combo does sometimes feel like a waste so far. I think he’s probably slotting in to a top 15 spot for now.

April Spotlight Tyler Soderstrom is an interesting card as he gets Rally Monkey and Table Setter quirks, plus he’s a secondary catcher. This makes him very enticing for now if you can stomach the defense because he’s a left-handed hitter who will mash right-handed pitching. He’s the obvious “prize” if you get a chance at the 88 overalls in the April Spotlight pack.

April Spotlight Drop 2 Free Cards

As for the three free Spotlight cards you get in Drop 2:

Topps Now Jacob Wilson gets 90 vision but has low speed and looks uninteresting against all but right-handed pitching. I’m not even sure he’s a top 20 shortstop.

On the bright side, Topps Now Carson Kelly is at least worth a trial period. The power vs. left-handed pitching isn’t ideal, and the 40 speed and mediocre fielding is subpar, but he’s still a top 10 option for free that you can test out.

April Spotlight Trent Grisham is the top reward. I really like his swing, and he comes with Rally Monkey, but 54 speed in CF is very tough to stomach. I’m going to give him a go, and I do think he’ll feel better than Jordan Westburg, but I’m mostly unimpressed by both of the top April Spotlight Drop rewards so far.