DiamondCentric

Don't look now, but the Blue Jays have won four of their last six series. Jesus Sanchez has a revenge game against the Marlins, and Lenyn Sosa finally drew a walk! Ernie Clement found his power stroke, Dylan Cease to the IL (and to the barber), and how the Blue Jays plan to fill the void in the rotation. All that, and they look ahead to the series against the Baltimore Orioles and old friend Chris Bassitt. Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-jays-centre-podcast/id1846108462 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Bi7SzfpcqMo5xYWnbCeoL Listen on iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-the-jays-centre-podcast-300304824/ Listen on Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/2qk9wqxd Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jayscentre View the full article

It was a rough night across the Mets' system, with all four affiliates falling. Andy Ibáñez homered for Syracuse, Mitch Voit and John Bay starred for Brooklyn, and Elian Peña collected three hits for St. Lucie. On the mound, Hunter Hodges was dominant in relief for Brooklyn, striking out six over hitless innings, while Gabriel Rodriguez fanned four in a sharp start for Binghamton. The bats, though, mostly went quiet. Mets Transactions New York Mets sent 1B Jorge Polanco on a rehab assignment to Binghamton Rumble Ponies. Andy Ibáñez Powers Early Lead But Syracuse Pitching Falters In Loss The Syracuse Mets jumped ahead early but could not slow the Red Wings in an 8-4 road loss at Rochester. Syracuse struck first in the opening inning, when Andy Ibáñez crushed a three-run home run to left field that scored Yonny Hernández and Christian Arroyo. The lead did not hold, and Syracuse drew even again in the fourth, when Jackson Cluff singled, advanced, and came home on Kevin Parada's RBI single to tie the game at four. Rochester answered with three runs in the fifth and another in the seventh to pull away, and that was as close as the visitors would get. Ibáñez finished 1-for-4 with the homer and three RBIs, while Hernández reached three times, going 2-for-4 with a walk and a run, and Arroyo added two hits and a run. Parada singled, walked, and drove in a run, and Syracuse stayed busy on the bases with four stolen bases, including one apiece from Cristian Pache and Cluff. Zach Thornton had a difficult outing. Over 4 1/3 innings, he allowed six runs on seven hits, including three home runs, with two walks and two strikeouts, taking the loss. The bullpen could not stop the bleeding, as Zach Peek and Alex Carrillo each surrendered a run, though Cionel Pérez tossed a scoreless inning to close it out. Syracuse left eight runners on base. Player AB R H RBI BB K Nick Morabito 3 0 0 0 2 2 Yonny Hernández 4 1 2 0 1 0 Christian Arroyo 5 1 2 0 0 1 Ryan Clifford 4 0 0 0 0 2 Andy Ibáñez 4 1 1 3 0 0 Cristian Pache 4 0 1 0 0 1 Jackson Cluff 4 1 1 0 0 1 Kevin Parada 3 0 1 1 1 1 Matt Rudick 3 0 0 0 1 1 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Zach Thornton 4 1/3 7 6 6 2 2 3 Zach Peek 1 2/3 3 1 1 1 2 0 Alex Carrillo 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 Cionel Pérez 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 Binghamton Bats Go Quiet In Home Loss To Portland The Binghamton Rumble Ponies managed just five hits and struck out 14 times in a 6-2 home loss to the Portland Sea Dogs. Binghamton pushed across a run in the first inning, when Jorge Polanco came around to score on a throwing error. The Rumble Ponies tied the game at two in the fourth, when D'Andre Smith doubled and scored on Nick Lorusso's groundout. The offense went quiet from there, never getting another runner home. Smith led the way with a double and a run, while Jorge Polanco went 1-for-2 with a run, Jose Ramos and Marco Vargas each added a single, and JT Schwartz chipped in a hit and a walk. As a group, Binghamton drew just three walks against 14 strikeouts. Starter Gabriel Rodriguez was sharp, allowing one run over two innings with four strikeouts and no walks. Carlos Guzman was tagged with the loss, and the game turned in the sixth, when Brian Metoyer was charged with three runs on two hits and two walks over 1 2/3 innings, allowing Portland to break it open. Douglas Orellana and Felipe De La Cruz each followed with a scoreless inning of relief, but the deficit was too much to overcome. Binghamton stranded six runners. Player AB R H RBI BB K Jorge Polanco 2 1 1 0 0 1 Chris Suero 2 0 0 0 0 2 Marco Vargas 4 0 1 0 0 2 D'Andre Smith 4 1 1 0 0 0 Jose Ramos 4 0 1 0 0 1 Nick Lorusso 3 0 0 1 1 1 JT Schwartz 3 0 1 0 1 1 Vincent Perozo 4 0 0 0 0 2 Jaylen Palmer 3 0 0 0 1 3 TT Bowens 3 0 0 0 0 1 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Gabriel Rodriguez 2 3 1 1 0 4 1 Dan Hammer 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 Carlos Guzman 2 1 1 1 0 1 1 Brian Metoyer 1 2/3 2 3 3 2 2 0 Douglas Orellana 1 1/3 1 0 0 1 0 0 Felipe De La Cruz 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 Mitch Voit And John Bay Shine But Brooklyn Falls Late To Wilmington The Brooklyn Cyclones built an early lead and got a huge night from the top of their order, but a late bullpen stumble cost them a 7-6 loss to the Wilmington Blue Rocks. Brooklyn jumped ahead in the first, when leadoff man Mitch Voit scored on John Bay's triple, and Bay came home on Ronald Hernandez's groundout for a 2-1 lead. Voit stayed hot with a home run in the fourth. Voit finished 2-for-5 with the homer, two runs, an RBI, and a stolen base, while Bay reached base four times, going 2-for-3 with a triple, two walks, three runs, an RBI, and a stolen base. Hernandez drove in two on two hits, and Diego Mosquera added two hits and an RBI. Starter Parker Carlson allowed three runs over two innings with a strikeout and no walks. Hunter Hodges was the highlight on the mound, striking out six over 2 1/3 hitless, scoreless innings in relief. The late innings unraveled, though. Tanner Witt blew the save by allowing two runs in the seventh, Brooklyn answered to tie it at six on Yonatan Henriquez's sacrifice fly that scored Bay, and Hoss Brewer then took the loss after surrendering a go-ahead home run in the eighth. Brooklyn left eight on base. Player AB R H RBI BB K Mitch Voit 5 2 2 1 0 0 John Bay 3 3 2 1 2 0 Ronald Hernandez 5 0 2 2 0 2 Corey Collins 3 0 0 0 2 1 Yonatan Henriquez 4 0 0 1 0 2 Daiverson Gutierrez 4 0 0 0 0 1 Colin Houck 4 0 1 0 0 2 Sam Biller 2 1 0 0 2 1 Diego Mosquera 4 0 2 1 0 1 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Parker Carlson 2 4 3 3 0 1 1 Dakota Hawkins 1 2/3 2 1 1 3 1 0 Hunter Hodges 2 1/3 0 0 0 0 6 0 Tanner Witt 1 2 2 2 1 2 1 Hoss Brewer 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 Gregori Louis 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 Elian Peña Collects Three Hits In St. Lucie's Road Loss Elian Peña had a big day atop the order, but the St. Lucie Mets fell 6-4 on the road at the Bradenton Marauders. Peña, batting leadoff, went 3-for-4 with a run and a stolen base. St. Lucie struck first in the opening inning, when Julio Zayas singled home Antonio Jimenez. The Mets added a run in the third, when Yohairo Cuevas singled to score Peña. Bradenton answered with three runs in the fourth and three more in the fifth to seize control. St. Lucie kept battling, scoring in the fifth when Peña singled and Jeremy Rodriguez came home, and again in the sixth on AJ Salgado's run, which came around on Chase Meggers's sacrifice fly. Salgado finished 1-for-4 with a double and a run, Jimenez reached twice while going 1-for-3 with a walk and a run, Sam Robertson singled and drew a walk, and Cuevas and Zayas each drove in a run. Starter Cam Tilly took the loss, allowing six runs, four earned, over 4 1/3 innings with four walks and six strikeouts. The bullpen was excellent behind him, as Josh Blum, Justin Armbruester, and Zack Mack combined for 3 2/3 scoreless innings while fanning four. St. Lucie left five runners on base. Player AB R H RBI BB K Elian Peña 4 1 3 0 0 1 Antonio Jimenez 3 1 1 0 1 1 Yohairo Cuevas 4 0 1 1 0 2 Julio Zayas 4 0 1 1 0 1 AJ Salgado 4 1 1 0 0 1 Sam Robertson 3 0 1 0 1 1 Chase Meggers 3 0 0 1 0 2 Kevin Villavicencio 4 0 0 0 0 0 Jeremy Rodriguez 3 1 0 0 1 1 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Cam Tilly 4 1/3 5 6 4 4 6 1 Josh Blum 1 2/3 0 0 0 0 2 0 Justin Armbruester 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 Zack Mack 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 Top-20 Prospect Performance Carson Benge: DNP A.J. Ewing: DNP Jonah Tong: DNP Elian Peña: 3-for-4, SB, K Jack Wenninger: DNP Ryan Clifford: 0-for-4, 2 K Jacob Reimer: DNP Nick Morabito: 0-for-3, 2 BB, SB, 2 K Mitch Voit: 2-for-5, HR, SB Jonathan Santucci: DNP Chris Suero: 0-for-2, 2 K Zach Thornton: 4 1/3 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 3 HR (L) Wandy Asigen: DNP Will Watson: DNP Eli Serrano III: DNP Randy Guzman: DNP Ryan Lambert: DNP Dylan Ross: DNP Antonio Jimenez: 1-for-3, BB, K R.J. Gordon: DNP View the full article

Boston Red Sox Affiliate Recap (May 27) Triple-A Worcester Red Sox Season Record: 25-25 Five different WooSox batters collected multi-hit games, defeating the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders 8-1. Anthony Seigler set the tone early, leading off the scoring with a solo homer to right-center in the top of the first. The RailRiders tied it up fast 1-1 in the bottom half, hitting a homer, but that was the last time Scranton would score. The third inning blew the game open; Worcester hung a four-spot on the RailRiders' starting pitcher. Braiden Ward legged out a double on a soft hit ball to left field and scored when Nate Eaton hit a double of his own. Seigler followed with an RBI single, making it back-to-back multi-hit games, pushing the lead to 3–1. Kristian Campbell was hit by a pitch to put two runners on with two outs, then Vinny Capra ripped a two-run ground-rule double to left that continued their third inning onslaught, 5–1. They kept the pressure on in the fourth, Eaton smacked his second RBI double of the night on a soft fly that dropped in right field, bringing in Nathan Hickey after he drew a walk. Seigler came through again with another RBI single up the middle, his third RBI of the game, and just like that, it was 7–1. Scranton starter’s day at the mound was done after seven earned runs. Worcester tacked on one more in the seventh on a Matt Thaiss force-out with the bases loaded that scored Capra, making it 8–1. The star hitters of the game for the Sox were Allan Castro, Eaton, Ward, and Capra, who all had two-hit games, while Seigler put up a three-hit game. Jake Bennett was excellent on the mound, pitching five innings, scattering four hits, and allowing just a solo homer for the one earned run. He punched out seven and only one walk to earn his third win of the year. Eduardo Rivera, Devin Sweet, and Angel Bastardo combined to throw four scoreless no-hit innings of relief, striking out five in that stretch. Standout Performances: Jake Bennett: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K Anthony Seigler: 3-for-5, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI Vinny Capra: 2-for-4, 2B, R, 2 RBI, BB Nate Eaton: 2-for-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB Double-A Portland Sea Dogs Season Record: 24-22 The Sea Dogs fell behind in the first inning and never trailed the rest of the game in a 6-2 victory over the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. Although they went 1-for-15 with RISP, the long ball is what prevailed for the Sea Dogs. A shaky start turned around quickly when the Rumble Ponies grabbed a 1–0 lead in the bottom of the first with a little help from a throwing error by Ahbram Liendo, which allowed Jorge Polanco to score. But Portland's response was swift: Will Turner crushed a solo homer to right field in the top of the second to tie it 1–1. The home runs kept coming. Franklin Arias launched a solo shot to center in the third, his 12th of the year, making it a Red Sox organizational lead in home runs, giving Portland a lead, 2–1. Binghamton tied it back up in the fourth 2-2 on an RBI groundout, but Johanfran Garcia answered right back in the fifth inning with a solo blast to left center field (his 7th) to put the Sea Dogs ahead for good, 3–2. Portland broke it open in the sixth. Will Turner led off the inning with a walk, Miguel Bleis reached base on an infield hit, and then Nelly Taylor was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs. Raudelis Martinez ripped a two-run single up the middle (deflected off the shortstop's glove) that scored Turner and Bleis, pushing it to 5–2. Taylor then scored on a double play hit by Liendo to make it 6–2. Binghamton never recovered. Like he has been all month, Blake Wehunt was outstanding once again on the mound, tossing a season-high six innings, giving up just three hits and two runs (only one earned run due to an error), earning his second win of the season. He has dominated in his last three starts, giving up only one earned run in 14.1 innings, while striking out 26 batters with a 0.63 ERA. Max Carlson was particularly impressive in relief, tossing two scoreless innings with five strikeouts to shut the door. Erik Rivera bridged the gap between them with a clean inning of his own. The pitching staff combined for 14 strikeouts and held Binghamton to five hits. Standout Performances: Blake Wehunt: 6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K Max Carlson: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 5 K Franklin Arias: 2-for-5, HR, R, RBI Johanfran Garcia: 2-for-5, HR, R, RBI Raudelis Martinez: 2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI Will Turner: 1-for-2, HR, 2 R, RBI, 3 BB, SB High-A Greenville Drive Season Record: 18-27 The Drive scored 10+ runs in back-to-back games against the Asheville Tourists, defeating them 11-5. The second inning got the party started. Jack Winnay drew a walk, and Mason White singled to set the table. Then, Yophery Rodriguez came through with an RBI double, a ball that should have been caught to end the inning was hit sky high, and some bad communication by the Asheville infield forced the ball to drop just behind the second baseman. Ronny Hernandez followed with a two-run double to left, giving Greenville a 3–0 cushion. Asheville punched back hard in the third, they hit back-to-back doubles that brought in three runs, then hit a sacrifice fly that gave the Tourists a 4–3 lead. Suddenly, Greenville was trailing for the first time. In the bottom of the fourth, with White and Rodriguez aboard, Hernandez launched a three-run homer to center that flipped the game right back in Greenville's favor, 6–4. Greenville kept piling on. Yoeilin Cespedes’ sacrifice fly in the sixth made it 7–4. Asheville scratched one back in the seventh on yet another RBI double, pulling it to 7–5. The Drive's response in the bottom of the inning was devastating: with bases loaded, Enddy Azocar came up to the plate and unloaded a monster grand slam, his first homer in High-A, blowing the game wide open, 11–5. Greenville’s pitching staff was forced into a bullpen game after Marcus Phillips struggled. Phillips threw 2 ⅔ innings and got roughed up for four runs in the third inning. P.J. Labriola took over from there with 1 ⅓ scoreless frames to earn his fourth win of the season. Osvaldo Berrios gave Greenville 2 ⅓ solid innings (one hit, one earned run, three strikeouts), and Matt McShane locked it down with 2 ⅔ one-hit innings of relief to pick up his third save, striking out four. Standout Performances: Ronny Hernandez: 3-for-4, HR, 2B, 2 R, 5 RBI, BB Enddy Azocar: 2-for-4, HR, R, 4 RBI, BB Yophery Rodriguez: 2-for-4, 2B, 3 R, RBI, BB Mason White: 3-for-4, 2 R, BB Single-A Salem RidgeYaks Season Record: 21-26 Salem had a rough time getting runners aboard in their low-scoring 4-2 defeat to the Crawdads. Salem struck fast in the bottom of the first, Andrews Opata drew a walk then stole his 24th base of the season (the Red Sox organization leader in stolen bases), and came around to score on a Skylar King single through the left side, giving them a 1-0 lead. Unfortunately, the offense went cold after that. Salem managed just three hits total on the night, Kleyver Salazar accounted for two of them (including a double), and King had the RBI single. Only one walk was drawn as a team. Hickory's pitching staff kept Salem's bats bottled up all night. Salem's pitching kept it close for a long time. The staff held Hickory scoreless from the fourth through the sixth, keeping it tied, 1–1. When the Crawdads got the lead after taking reliever Jay Allmer deep with a solo homer in the top of the seventh to make it 2–1, Salem answered right back. Salazar doubled, moved to third, and scored on an Adonys Guzman sacrifice fly to tie it 2–2. The eighth inning was where it fell apart. Allmer couldn't get out of trouble; he walked two batters and gave up a single to load the bases with no outs, then a Crawdads runner scored on a wild pitch to make it 3–2. A second run also came in on a double-play ball, pushing it to 4–2. Two runs allowed with just one hit, but there could have been more damage if it wasn’t for the double-play. Luis Cohen was excellent in long relief, four innings, two hits, zero runs, and four strikeouts. He kept Salem in the game, giving the offense a chance to score runs. Standout Performances: Luis Cohen: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K Kleyver Salazar: 2-for-4, 2B, R View the full article

It hasn’t been the start to the season that fans or analysts envisioned. Yet, despite a record two games below .500, the Blue Jays remain firmly in the American League playoff conversation. Yes, it’s early. But a look at the standings makes it hard not to feel optimistic. FanGraphs even has Toronto with the fifth-best playoff odds in the AL. After closing out their series with the Marlins, the Jays sit 8.5 games back of the division-leading Rays. More importantly, they're in a three-team tie for the AL's final Wild Card spot. In a compressed American League, there is a runway for a bunch of teams that haven’t started that hot. The Jays have certainly not made things easy on themselves. Their run differential sits at -4, a sign of missed opportunities in close games. Compare that to the Yankees at +89, who currently occupy the top Wild Card position. Even within the AL East, the margins are thin. The Orioles trail Toronto by just one game despite carrying a -41 run differential. Across the league, inconsistency has been the dominant trend. Outside of a few teams at the top – the Rays, Yankees, and Guardians – no club has created substantial separation nearly two months into the season. That lack of separation is most evident in the Wild Card race, where 11 teams sit within five games. The Twins and A's are currently tied with the Blue Jays for the final spot with records of 27-29, while the Orioles and Rangers aren't far behind. In a cluster like this, teams with records below .500 are only a good week away from jumping back into contention. Interleague play has added another wrinkle, with the National League holding a significant edge so far in 2026. It may signal a shift after years of American League dominance. For the Jays, this landscape has turned an uneven start into something manageable. As the roster stabilizes and key contributors return from injury, the Jays have started to show signs of progress. A 4-2 homestand is a solid step forward, and the team has now won or tied five of its last six series. It’s not dominant, but it’s progress. There are also signs of underlying strength. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has produced at a 120 wRC+, while Daulton Varsho has quietly contributed at a 114 mark. There are several position players playing above expectations, but there have been a lot of players moving in and out of the lineup and roster due to injuries. It is hard to be consistent under those circumstances. Pitching, meanwhile, has carried much of the load. The healthy starters have been able to work deeper into games, giving manager John Schneider more flexibility to deploy his bullpen strategically rather than out of necessity. In a season where offense has been somewhat muted across the AL, with scoring around 4.26 runs per game, margins have tightened. Teams are not routinely posting six or seven runs a night. Instead, more games are decided in the three- to four-run range, where one swing or one inning can shift the outcome. That environment reinforces the league-wide parity. As a result, more teams have stayed within reach after two months of play. It is a major reason why the American League standings remain so condensed. It’s not limited to the Wild Card race either. In the AL West, the Mariners lead the division with a record of 28-29. They haven't created any cushion at the top. For the Blue Jays, that means their path forward is far less daunting than their early record might suggest, or might have initially perceived. The team doesn’t need a dramatic turnaround. They just need incremental improvement. They need to turn a handful of one-run losses into wins and stabilize the offense, and the standings could shift quickly. With that said, there are a bunch of teams sitting below .500 that could make some meaningful moves over the next couple of months. In a league this tightly packed, the difference between the fifth-best odds and the 10th is small. That’s good news for the Jays. They are not chasing a runaway field. Timing, too, is on their side. MLB seasons are long, and early storylines often change by mid-summer. A team that finds its rhythm in June and July can erase a mediocre start quickly, something the Blue Jays demonstrated last season. Recent results hint that the Jays might be following their own roadmap. The Jays have won six of their last 10 games, and if that pace holds, getting back to .500 could happen within days. The key question is whether the offense can consistently support the pitching. The pieces are there, with multiple hitters performing above league average. What’s been missing is sustained production. Even a modest improvement could have an immediate impact in such a tightly packed race. So far this season, dominance isn’t required to stay in the mix. Avoiding prolonged slumps and capitalizing on tight games can be enough to remain in contention. The Blue Jays have already shown they can match preseason expectations in flashes. Their underlying metrics, from run differential to individual performance also support that. What the standings, and recent history, suggest is that they still have time to put it all together. Being tied for a Wild Card spot in late May guarantees nothing. But it also means there is no urgency to panic. Toronto has weathered significant adversity to this point. And in an American League defined by uncertainty, that has given them room to work with. The playoff picture remains fluid, unfinished and, most importantly, accessible. A division title may be slipping from view. But the Wild Cards are well in play. The Blue Jays are exactly where they need to be: within striking distance. View the full article

Chicago Cubs Transactions Chicago Cubs signed free agent LHP Ty Blach to a minor league contract. Ty Blach And Bullpen Blank Indianapolis As Iowa Wins 1-0 Iowa scored the game's only run in the top of the first inning and then leaned on its pitching staff to hold off the host Indianapolis Indians, 1-0. With one out, Jonathon Long singled and BJ Murray followed with a single to push Long to third. Owen Miller was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Long came home on a wild pitch for the lone run. Iowa managed five hits, played errorless defense, and stranded eight runners, but it never needed more offense. Long led the lineup with two hits and a run scored, Christian Bethancourt added two hits, including a double, and Murray reached twice on a single and a walk. Ty Blach set the tone, allowing two hits over 4 2/3 scoreless innings while walking three and striking out six. The bullpen finished the shutout in order. Gavin Hollowell struck out two over 1 1/3 scoreless innings, Collin Snider worked a scoreless inning with a strikeout, and Christian Roa closed with two scoreless innings, one hit allowed, and three strikeouts. Roa retired the side in both the eighth and the ninth to finish the combined three-hitter, and the four Iowa arms together allowed three hits and struck out 12 while issuing just three walks. Player AB R H RBI BB K James Triantos 4 0 0 0 0 1 Jonathon Long 4 1 2 0 0 1 BJ Murray 3 0 1 0 1 1 Owen Miller 3 0 0 0 0 2 Chas McCormick 4 0 0 0 0 3 Ben Cowles 3 0 0 0 1 1 Christian Bethancourt 4 0 2 0 0 0 Scott Kingery 3 0 0 0 1 0 Brett Bateman 2 0 0 0 2 0 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Ty Blach 4 2/3 2 0 0 3 6 0 Gavin Hollowell 1 1/3 0 0 0 0 2 0 Collin Snider 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 Christian Roa 2 1 0 0 0 3 0 Carter Trice's Tenth-Inning Single Lifts Knoxville Past Chattanooga 5-4 Knoxville and the host Chattanooga Lookouts traded the lead through regulation before the Smokies pulled out a 5-4 win in 10 innings. The decisive run came in the top of the tenth, when zombie runner Andy Garriola scored on a leadoff single from Carter Trice. Marino Santy then worked a scoreless bottom of the tenth, striking out two, to seal it. Knoxville had built its earlier cushion in the sixth. Cameron Sisneros singled home Jefferson Rojas to break a 1-1 tie (his first AA hit of his career), and Devin Ortiz followed with an RBI single, aided by a throwing error, to make it 3-1. The Lookouts answered with a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth and a solo shot in the seventh to even the score again. Trice finished 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBI, including a solo blast in the second inning. Owen Ayers homered, drew two walks, and scored a run. Player AB R H RBI BB K Alex Ramírez 5 0 2 0 0 1 Owen Ayers 2 1 1 1 2 0 Jefferson Rojas 5 1 1 0 0 2 Andy Garriola 5 1 0 0 0 0 Carter Trice 5 1 2 2 0 1 Cameron Sisneros 3 1 1 1 1 1 Hayden Cantrelle 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ariel Armas 4 0 1 0 0 1 Devin Ortiz 5 0 1 0 0 2 Alex Madera 4 0 1 0 0 1 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Grant Kipp 5 4 1 1 0 8 0 Jace Beck 2 6 3 3 0 2 2 Vince Reilly 2 1 0 0 0 4 0 Marino Santy 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 Josiah Hartshorn Drives In Five As South Bend Routs Fort Wayne 13-5 South Bend pounded out 15 hits and pulled away from the Fort Wayne TinCaps for a 13-5 win. The home team broke through in the first when Leonel Espinoza tripled home Ty Southisene and Josiah Hartshorn for a 2-0 lead, then blew the game open with a five-run third inning. That third inning began with a Hartshorn sacrifice fly that scored Kane Kepley. Espinoza followed with an RBI single, Dilan Granadillo drew a bases-loaded walk, and Christian Olivo capped the rally with a two-run single, pushing the lead to 7-1. South Bend tacked on two more in the fourth on a Hartshorn single and four runs in the fifth, the last two coming on Hartshorn's home run. Hartshorn finished 3-for-4 with a homer, two runs, and five RBI. Southisene also went 3-for-4 and scored four times, while Espinoza added three hits, a triple, and three RBI. Kepley, batting leadoff, had two hits, two runs, and an RBI, and Olivo chipped in two hits and two RBI. South Bend left just four runners on base. Kevin Valdez covered the most ground on the mound, allowing one run on five hits over 4 1/3 innings with two walks and two strikeouts. The bullpen was mostly steady, though Fort Wayne pushed across four runs in the eighth. Kenten Egbert recorded the final outs, working 1 1/3 innings and allowing no runs while striking out two. Player AB R H RBI BB K Kane Kepley 4 2 2 1 0 1 Ty Southisene 4 4 3 0 0 0 Josiah Hartshorn 4 2 3 5 0 1 Matt Halbach 4 1 1 0 1 1 Leonel Espinoza 5 1 3 3 0 0 Miguel Useche 4 1 1 0 0 1 Drew Bowser 4 0 0 0 0 2 Dilan Granadillo 2 1 0 1 2 0 Christian Olivo 4 1 2 2 0 1 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Kevin Valdez 4 1/3 5 1 1 2 2 0 Kenyi Perez 1 2/3 0 0 0 1 3 0 JP Wheat 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 Ben Johnson 2/3 0 4 2 3 0 0 Kenten Egbert 1 1/3 1 0 0 3 2 0 Logan Poteet's Three-Run Homer Powers Myrtle Beach Over Wilson 6-2 Myrtle Beach used a three-run fifth inning to break open a tight game and beat the Wilson Warbirds, 6-2. After Yahil Melendez's RBI single in the fourth put the Pelicans ahead 1-0, Wilson tied it in the top of the fifth. Myrtle Beach answered immediately in the bottom half, when Logan Poteet launched a three-run homer to make it 4-1. The Pelicans added two insurance runs in the seventh. Michael Carico and Poteet came around to score on a two-run single by Derniche Valdez, stretching the lead to 6-2. Poteet led the offense, going 2-for-2 with a double, the home run, three RBI, two runs, and two walks. Valdez added two hits, a double, and two RBI. Carico reached base four times on a hit and three walks and scored twice, and Melendez drove in a run. Alexey Lumpuy and Darlyn De Leon each chipped in a hit, and Myrtle Beach drew eight walks as a team to keep the pressure on. Dominick Reid was excellent in the start, striking out nine over five innings while allowing one run on two hits and two walks. Daniel Avitia closed it out with three scoreless innings, giving up two hits, walking three, and striking out two. Myrtle Beach stranded seven runners. Player AB R H RBI BB K Alexey Lumpuy 5 1 1 0 0 1 Alexis Hernandez 3 0 0 0 1 1 Michael Carico 1 2 1 0 3 0 Logan Poteet 2 2 2 3 2 0 Eli Lovich 3 0 0 0 1 1 Derniche Valdez 4 1 2 2 0 1 Yahil Melendez 3 0 1 1 1 1 Darlyn De Leon 4 0 1 0 0 2 Edward Vargas 4 0 0 0 0 2 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Dominick Reid 5 2 1 1 2 9 0 Henry Cone 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 Daniel Avitia 3 2 0 0 3 2 0 Top-20 Prospect Performance Jefferson Rojas: 1-for-5, 2 K Jaxon Wiggins: DNP Pedro Ramirez: DNP Kevin Alcantara: DNP Josiah Hartshorn: 3-for-4, HR, 1 K Ethan Conrad: DNP Kane Kepley: 2-for-4, 1 K Jonathon Long: 2-for-4, 1 K James Triantos: 0-for-4, 1 K Cole Mathis: DNP Owen Ayers: 1-for-2, HR Brooks Caple: DNP Juan Cabada: DNP Kaleb Wing: DNP Angel Cepeda: DNP Dominick Reid: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K Jostin Florentino: DNP Ty Southisene: 3-for-4 Will Sanders: DNP Brandon Birdsell: DNP View the full article

Back in the good old days of December 2025, the Miami Marlins made a low-risk, high-reward signing when they inked Christopher Morel to a one-year deal. He was a former top prospect. He'd demonstrated significant power upside in the majors. It was only $2 million, with the potential to keep him cheaply for years to come as he was still arbitration eligible and wouldn't hit free agency until 2029. All reasonable enough. However, it was then reported that Morel was being brought in to compete for the first base job. Granted, he would be an improvement over the ball rolling into the first base dugout on account of no one being there— a real possibility given Miami's lack of first base depth at the time. Still, it seemed odd as he had never played the position before. It continued to be odd as no other competition was brought in throughout the rest of the offseason, despite zero statistical evidence from spring training suggesting he would perform well. Concurrent to all this lack of excitement at first base though, a supporting narrative had emerged that Miami was hesitant to block any of their superior internal options. In terms of actual first basemen, that meant Deyvison De Los Santos . Yet it was also suggested that there was concern about blocking Agustin Ramirez, Miami's breakout catcher with the bat of an All-Star but the glove of a Little League fourth outfielder. First base would be the easiest switch if the defense failed to improve behind the plate, since relegating him solely to DH duties wasn't an option at the time. Again, all reasonable enough, at least for a cash-poor team like the Marlins. The Ramirez element even helped to tease excitement for an aggressive promotion of defensive-wunderkind Joe Mack . There was certainly skepticism, but concern seemed unwarranted. After all, if it didn't work out, surely Miami would just move on. But then...the first two months of the 2026 MLB season happened, leaving every red-blooded Marlins fan and even a broadcaster or two to wonder what in the world Morel is still doing in the majors. Those spring training stats of his? Usually such numbers can be dismissed as meaningless, but in Morel's case, they were astonishingly predictive in hindsight. After slashing .150/.239/.200 this spring, he's gone on to post a .169/.222/.220 line in the regular season and has done so with roughly 20 more at-bats. Sure, he missed the beginning of the season due to injury, but there's been no indication he's still dealing with something. He's gotten nearly twice the number of at-bats Austin Slater did before being cut loose and is closing in on the sample size that was deemed enough to send Graham Pauley down to the minors. The defense has been poor. The offense has been worse. After a particularly poor performance the other night, he refused to be interviewed. There is zero track record of past success with the organization for him to lean on. As for those possibly acceptable excuses offered in the offseason? Pretty much all gone. It would have been impossible for the Marlins to make it any plainer they don't view Ramirez as a first base option. Since his demotion, he's played 14 games, with 12 coming at catcher and 2 at DH. And that's with Mack locked in at catcher after an early arrival and Liam Hicks having an All-Star caliber season. De Los Santos is hardly knocking the cover off the ball, but both his MiLB and MLB production this year tops that of Morel. Then there's the as of yet unmentioned issue of platoon splits. As fans are frequently told, Morel's presence in the lineup is often to give Miami a better chance against lefty pitchers. Which would be awesome—this team certainly does need help there—except for the fact Morel's 2026 stats against lefties aren't any better than the players he most frequently replaces. Want to guess which Marlins player has the fewest home runs off a lefty between Morel, Connor Norby, and Javier Sanoja? You only need one guess, which is one more than the zero dingers supposed power bat Morel has hit with Miami. In short, it's becoming increasingly difficult to conclude that Morel's continued presence is about anything other than money. His salary makes him the fourth highest paid player on the active roster. Which is frustrating seeing as how the Marlins have already moved on from their other offseason financial misfires in Slater and Chris Paddack. A case could be made that bad luck with other players has played a part. The Kemp Alderman and Griffin Conine injuries. The fact Ramirez was playing bad enough to need to demote. The fact that De Los Santos hasn't yet pounded down the door in AAA. Once again, all fair. Except...he's a veteran on a one-year deal hitting .169/.222/.220. Peter Bendix could throw a dart at a list of options and find someone that couldn't be any worse than that. Morel is hardly the only problem with the 2026 Marlins, but he's easily one of the biggest. He's also the easiest problem to fix. Bottom-line? It was a worthwhile experiment, but it's an experiment that has now arguably cost the Marlins multiple games. If the team doesn't learn their lesson quickly, it could cost them a season. View the full article

Brooks Lee has been a polarizing player over the last few years. The former No. 8 overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft came with plenty of expectations, and when you’re selected that high, there’s naturally going to be pressure attached to every step of your development. Lee was viewed as one of the top prospects not only in the Twins’ system, but across all of baseball. Throughout his climb through the minors, he produced like it. The switch-hitting infielder batted .289/.360/.476 in the minor leagues, while showing the type of advanced approach at the plate that hinted at the upside of a steady middle-of-the-order bat in the majors. Because of that, the expectations surrounding Lee became massive. While 2026 has been the best year of his major-league career so far, it still feels like there’s another level waiting to be unlocked. The overall numbers are solid—not jaw-dropping, but certainly not disappointing, either. Entering Wednesday’s game, Lee was hitting .259 with a .315 on-base percentage and 16 extra-base hits across 51 games. His .731 OPS is 77 points higher than where he finished last season, and overall, there’s been noticeable growth offensively. His at-bats look more competitive, his contact quality (while still not great) has improved, and he’s looked more comfortable against big-league pitching. All in all, Lee is taking legitimate steps forward at the plate. But one thing that hasn’t gotten talked about enough is just how clutch he’s been. It feels like every time the Twins find themselves in a big spot with multiple runners in scoring position, Lee finds a way to come through. Considering the fact that he spent the first three-quarters of the season to date hitting eighth or ninth in the batting order, it’s pretty remarkable that he currently leads the Twins with 30 RBIs. That’s a player consistently delivering when the opportunities matter most. Tuesday night in Chicago was just the latest example. The Twins and White Sox found themselves locked in an extra-inning battle that stretched into the 11th inning. Once again, Lee stepped to the plate in a massive situation, this time with the bases loaded. After quickly falling behind 0-2 in the count, Lee stayed composed. He ripped a bases-clearing double off the wall in right field that broke the game open and sealed the victory for Minnesota. It was another huge moment, and at this point, it’s becoming expected. That wasn’t the first time Lee has delivered in a pressure-packed situation this season. As a matter of fact, he’s been at his best in those moments. Despite only having 17 high-leverage plate appearances so far this year, Lee is 6-for-15 in those situations with 11 of his 30 RBIs coming in key spots. That’s an absurd percentage of run production coming in the biggest moments of games, and right now, there may not be anybody on this Twins roster more trustworthy when the pressure ramps up. What makes it even more impressive is that it hasn’t only shown up offensively. Lee’s defense has been far from spectacular this season; there’s really no way around that. He’s been a pretty weak defender overall, and that’s the area of his game that clearly needs the most polishing. But even with some of the defensive struggles, he’s still managed to come through in huge moments in the field, too. The play that stands out most came a few weeks ago in Cleveland. In another extra-inning game that went to the 11th inning, the Guardians hit a ball sharply up the middle that looked like it had a chance to tie the game. Lee ranged over, made a sliding stop, popped up quickly, and fired a strong, accurate throw to first base to end the game. It was a massive moment against a division rival, and once again, Lee was the player who delivered. Though it was marred by a questionable obstruction call against Royce Lewis, Lee also made a great stop and heads-up throw in a tense late-game situation against the Brewers earlier this month. That’s the thing about certain players; even when their overall performance still has room for growth, they can rise to the occasion when the game is on the line. Some guys just seem to slow the moment down better than others. Increasingly, Lee feels like one of those guys. There’s absolutely still another level he can reach offensively. His power could continue developing, and his plate discipline can improve even more. Defensively, there are still plenty of adjustments to be made, especially as he moves from shortstop to third base. But those things can all improve with time and experience. The clutch factor is different, and that’s something not every player has. For a Twins team that has struggled at times this season (and in years past) to capitalize in high-leverage situations offensively, Lee has quietly become one of the few players consistently providing exactly that. It’s easy to focus on the overall slash line or compare him to the expectations that came with being a top-10 pick. But what Lee is doing in the biggest moments deserves far more attention than it’s getting. Whether it’s a bases-loaded at-bat in extra innings or a game-saving defensive play against a rival, Lee continues to look completely comfortable when the pressure is at its highest. For the Twins, that trait may end up becoming one of the most valuable parts of his game. View the full article

There is a particular kind of happiness in baseball that has no equivalent in other sports. It's not the euphoria of a touchdown or a last-second goal. It's something slower and more settled—more like finding an old letter in a drawer you hadn't opened in years. Baseball allows for that luxury: meaningful repetition. The chance to return to the same place and discover that time, which transforms everything, sometimes also gifts you perfect symmetry. That's what happened in Milwaukee between Monday, May 25 and Wednesday, May 27, 2026. The Brewers, leaders of the National League Central, hosted the St. Louis Cardinals and swept them in three games, exactly as they had done in this same ballpark—then called Miller Park, now American Family Field or (around here, and someday, God willing, everywhere) Uecker Field—between June 10 and June 12, 2011. Two home sweeps against the same rival, separated by fifteen years of history, failures, rebuilds, and all the dark theology of teams trying to become something, without ever being able to guarantee it. In 2011, that sweep arrived in the middle of what many still remember as the most exciting season in recent franchise history. Ron Roenicke’s Brewers won 96 games that year, reached the National League Championship Series, and gave Milwaukee something the city had not tasted since the days of Yount and Molitor: the collective sense that something great might happen. In 2026, Pat Murphy and his club already own 33 wins in 53 games; hold a four-and-a-half-game lead over those same Cardinals; and are producing something the city also has not experienced in a very long time: certainty, not hope, that something great is already happening. JUNE 2011: THE ORIGINAL SWEEP Three games · Miller Park · Milwaukee, Wisconsin To understand what that 2011 sweep was, you have to understand the context. The Cardinals arrived in Milwaukee fighting to stay alive in the division race. The Brewers were already emerging as the team to beat in the Central. And baseball, which is a sport of ego and blunt force, had prepared a lesson. Game 1 | June 10, 2011 “The Night of Narveson and Craig Counsell’s Triple” Milwaukee 8, St. Louis 0 Chris Narveson threw eight scoreless innings against one of the most dangerous lineups in the National League, led by Albert Pujols, Lance Berkman, and Yadier Molina. The Cardinals collected six hits, but Narveson stitched them into emptiness, as if it hardly mattered who was stepping into the batter’s box. The defining moment came in the third inning: Craig Counsell, the eternal utility player nobody ever picked as the favorite for anything, ripped a triple to right field that unleashed the offensive avalanche. Counsell finished with six total bases. It was one of those nights when baseball decides the least likely man will become the hero, and executes it with almost choreographed precision. Ryan Braun hit a two-run homer in the fifth. Corey Hart added another in the sixth. The Brewers won 8-0 in front of 33,240 fans. Game 1 Hero: Chris Narveson Game 2 | June 11, 2011 “Rickie Weeks’s Sixth Inning” Milwaukee 5, St. Louis 3 This was the most dramatic game of the series. The Cardinals had the best pitcher in their rotation on the mound: Chris Carpenter, a potential future Hall of Famer, the kind of presence capable of intimidating any lineup with his aura and that vicious two-seam fastball. Berkman had returned to being a dangerous hitter, and his solo home run in the sixth gave St. Louis a 2-1 lead. Then came the Brewers’ sixth inning. With Zack Greinke on base, Rickie Weeks crushed a two-run homer to right field that flipped the scoreboard and ignited the crowd at Miller Park. Corey Hart followed with a two-run double. In a matter of minutes, what had looked like an afternoon of Cardinals resistance turned into a comfortable 5-3 Milwaukee victory. Greinke threw seven innings and was good enough. His teammates were better. Game 2 Hero: Rickie Weeks Game 3 | June 12, 2011 “Fielder’s Home Run That Completed the Conquest” Milwaukee 4, St. Louis 3 The final game was the tightest. Jake Westbrook faced Shaun Marcum in what looked like an even matchup. In the fourth inning, with the bases loaded, Skip Schumaker lined a two-run single that gave St. Louis a 3-0 lead. The stadium, packed with 42,692 fans on that sunny Sunday afternoon, fell silent. Marcum absorbed the blow and kept yielding ground without collapsing. The comeback arrived in the sixth inning, when Mark Kotsay doubled to center field to drive in Weeks. Ryan Braun followed with an RBI single. Then Prince Fielder, with Braun on first, launched the biggest home run of the afternoon: a shot to right field that put Milwaukee ahead 4-3 and completed one of the most satisfying comebacks of that season. John Axford closed it out without trouble. The sweep was complete. Game 3 Hero: Prince Fielder MAY 2026: HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF Three games · American Family Field · Milwaukee, Wisconsin Fifteen years is a long time. The stadium has a different name. The players from 2011 are now mostly names on old baseball cards, television analysts, or memories talked about by dads en route to the park. But baseball, which is a religion of rituals and repetition, decided Milwaukee deserved to relive the same story with new characters. And the characters of 2026 are extraordinary. Game 1 | May 25, 2026 “Memorial Day and the 100-MPH Monster” Milwaukee 5, St. Louis 1 Jacob Misiorowski took the mound on Memorial Day and did something we had never seen before in the pitch-tracking era. The young Brewers right-hander threw his first pitch of the afternoon at 103 mph. Then another. Then another. In the first inning alone, he fired eight pitches at 103 mph or higher, an unprecedented demonstration of power. By the end of the day, he had reached triple digits 57 times, ten more than any pitcher since ballparks began accurately tracking velocity in 2008. Twelve strikeouts. A no-hit bid through five innings. A 1.83 ERA. Misiorowski is, if not unimpressed with himself, at least unwilling to make the simple anything but simple. “That’s what I do,” Misiorowski said when asked about it. “I throw hard.” The only run he allowed came in the sixth, when Pedro Pagés dropped a soft single into right field and eventually scored. Meanwhile, Christian Yelich had already hit a two-run homer in the first inning, and the Brewers won 5-1 with an ease that concealed how monumental the pitching performance truly was. “We’re watching it happen in front of our eyes, so we’re already starting to believe it,” Brewers pitching coordinator Jim Henderson said. Game 1 Hero: Jacob Misiorowski Game 2 | May 26, 2026 “Harrison and the Drag Race Era” Milwaukee 6, St. Louis 0 If Misiorowski represents the future of raw power, Kyle Harrison is something more difficult to classify: a left-hander from the “drag race” era—the term Brewers coaches use for the modern philosophy of maximizing quality over six innings, rather than chasing volume over nine—who, through this first stretch of 2026, has become the best pitcher Milwaukee has acquired in decades. When Harrison completed his sixth scoreless inning Tuesday night, his ERA dropped to 1.57, the best mark in franchise history through a pitcher’s first 10 starts. Fans who remember 2011 understand the resonance of that number. In July 2008, CC Sabathia arrived in Milwaukee through a trade that transformed the season and electrified the city. His ERA through his first 10 starts as a Brewer was 1.59. Harrison has eclipsed that achievement—barely, but eclipsed it, nonetheless. And he did it on a night when he admitted he did not even have his best stuff. “This time I just went out there and competed,” Harrison said. The result: six innings, four hits, no walks, two strikeouts. The Cardinals collected seven hits overall and still failed to score. David Hamilton, the shortstop acquired alongside Harrison in the trade with Boston, stole two hits with spectacular defensive plays. The offense handled the rest: a Jake Bauers home run to open the scoring, followed by a two-run double from William Contreras and a three-run homer by Garrett Mitchell. Final score: 6-0, and the series was already slipping away from St. Louis. This, of course, amid some extracurricular nonsense that grabbed some of the headlines. Game 2 Hero: Kyle Harrison Game 3 | May 27, 2026 “Hitless Until the Eighth — Then Yelich Arrived” Milwaukee 2, St. Louis 1 This was the most improbable game of the three, the one memory will preserve most fondly precisely because it nearly did not happen. Dustin May, the Cardinals right-hander who five years earlier had blown out his elbow in this same ballpark as a Dodgers prospect, returned to Milwaukee on a mission of redemption. And he fulfilled it: seven brilliant innings without allowing a single hit, permitting only two baserunners, one via hit-by-pitch and another on catcher’s interference. The Brewers could not solve him in any way. Garrett Mitchell finally broke the spell with a leadoff double in the eighth. Luis Rengifo dropped down a bunt that pushed May out of the game. Then came Christian Yelich, the man who has served as the heart of this franchise for years, the player who won back-to-back batting titles and who this season seems to have discovered a second version of himself. With two outs and the Brewers trailing 1-0, Yelich lined a single to center field that tied the game. Then Masyn Winn (the Cardinals shortstop whose spectacular fifth-inning play had preserved May’s no-hit bid) committed a fielding error while trying to handle a ground ball from Jackson Chourio, allowing Sal Frelick to score the winning run. The game ended with Trevor Megill striking out Yohel Pozo on a 100-mph fastball. The Cardinals had the tying run on third base, but couldn't get it home. Milwaukee won 2-1. The sweep was complete. Game 3 Hero: Christian Yelich TWO SWEEPS, ONE SPIRIT The comparisons between both series are inevitable, and fair. In 2011, the pitching staff opened the path: Narveson dominated, Greinke survived, and Marcum battled. The offense—Braun, Fielder, and Weeks—served as the visible engine. In 2026, the pitching is so dominant that the offense almost feels like a luxury. Misiorowski and Harrison combined to shut out the Cardinals for 13 innings over the first two games. The third game was won with only three hits and two runs, both scored in the eighth inning against a pitcher who had dominated them for seven hitless frames. There's something revealing about the nature of these two teams. In 2011, the Brewers were aggressive and impatient, a club capable of exploding in any inning but dependent on everything clicking at once. They were thrilling in a version of baseball that now feels distant when we look back on it. The 2026 Brewers are something else entirely. They are a team of moments, constantly adapting to situations. Murphy’s club does not lose control of games. It simply manages them until the opponent commits the mistake that seals its fate. The third game of 2026 was the purest example of this philosophy. Dustin May dominated them for seven innings. The scoreboard read 1-0 Cardinals. And the Brewers waited. They did not panic. They did not chase pitches outside the strike zone. They waited for their moment, which finally arrived in the eighth inning, and it was enough. Fifteen years apart. The same result. In the same corner of the baseball universe, the same city that spent decades trying to convince itself it belonged among the chosen ones, the Milwaukee Brewers once again proved they can make rivals suffer in different ways, but with equally definitive force. There are teams that win because of raw talent. There are teams that win because of luck. And then there are teams that win because, at the exact moment the game demands a hero, one always seems to be available. The Brewers of 2011 had Braun and Fielder. The Brewers of 2026 have Misiorowski and Yelich. The sweep of memory. The sweep of the present. The same city, the same rival, the same story refusing to end. When they say 'history repeats itself,' they usually mean that we tend to make the same mistakes. But sometimes, that repetition is more akin to the chorus of a beloved song, coming back between verses to tie the work together and demonstrate our connectedness with one another, and with our past selves. It was just three games in Milwaukee this week, and it was just three games in Milwaukee in 2011. But the resonance between them is more than that. View the full article

Blue Jays Affiliate Overview (May 26-May 27) Triple-A Buffalo Bisons Series vs Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Philadelphia Phillies): 1-1 Season Record: 26-27 Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats Series vs Somerset Patriots (New York Yankees): 1-1 Season Record: 24-20 High-A Vancouver Canadians Series vs Eugene Emeralds (San Francisco Giants): 1-1 Season Record: 19-28 Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays Series vs Clearwater Threshers (Philadelphia Phillies): 0-2 Season Record: 19-28 FCL Blue Jays Week Record: 3-2 Season Record: 14-3 Triple-A Buffalo Bisons Season Record: 26-27 Series vs Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Philadelphia Phillies) May 26: On Tuesday, Buffalo opened a series against Lehigh Valley. It was a bullpen game, but they were more than up to the task. Pat Gallagher got the nod to start, and he kicked things off with three nearly perfect innings. He ended his day after three innings, giving up just one hit, not walking anyone, and striking out three. In the fourth, Devereaux Harrison took over for Gallagher, and Lehigh Valley was able to manufacture a run against him right away. He gave up a walk, a stolen base, a groundout, and then a sacrifice fly. He would settle down from there, pitching well over the next two innings, and wouldn't allow another run. Despite having a bunch of runners on the basepaths all game (10 hits and nine walks), the bats couldn't get a ton of runs to cross home plate. They took the lead back in the sixth, with an RBI triple from Josh Kasevich and an RBI single from Willie MacIver. Kasevich continued his big game, knocking in another run in the bottom of the seventh inning and an RBI single. The back half of the bullpen would falter late, though, surrendering a run each eighth and ninth innings, as Jesse Hahn got the blown save. Hayden Juenger then came into the game to pitch the tenth inning and allowed only the ghost runner to score. In the bottom half of the innings, Josh Rivera came up clutch with a two-run walk-off single. The 5-4 win brought Buffalo's record back to .500. May 27: Wednesday's game would be a special one for Charles McAdoo, as he was informed following the game that his services were no longer needed in Buffalo; the team across the border in Canada is now in need of his bat. McAdoo is now headed to Baltimore, as he will be called up to the big league club before Thursday's game against the Orioles. In his final game with Buffalo, he had a single and a stolen base, his seventh of the season. William Simoneit and Riley Tirotta each had home runs; they came in back-to-back innings, the second and third. Simoneit's blast was a two-run shot and had an exit velocity of 106 mph and went 411 feet. Tirotta's home run was a two-run blast as well and gave Buffalo a 5-2 lead in the bottom of the third inning. CJ Van Eyk had himself a good game on the mound, going six innings and recording a quality start. He allowed three runs and struck out just three. With a 6-4 lead, Buffalo turned to Matt Bowman, who made his first appearance in the Blue Jays organization. It went about as badly as one could imagine. In the inning, he gave up a walk, an RBI double, and a two-run home run to Felix Reyes. After the half inning was over, Buffalo was down 7-6 and wouldn't make a comeback in the bottom of the ninth, as they would lose and fall back to a game under 500. Double-A New Hampshire Season Record: 24-20 Series vs Somerset Patriots (New York Yankees) May 26: New Hampshire got out in front quickly for the Tuesday game of the series against the Somerset Patriots. A double steal in the second inning resulted in Victor Arias stealing home for a run. Aaron Parker would later score in that inning, when Jorge Burgos launched a two-run home run. In the bottom half of the inning, DJ Gladney crushed a home run for Somerset to bring them within two. Gladney would again homer in the seventh inning, a two-run shot to put Somerset up by one. Arias drove in the tying run in the top of the eighth inning on a ground ball to center field. Jay Harry would clear the bases later in the inning for a two-run double. New Hampshire went to the bottom of the ninth up one run, but couldn't hold on. Coby Morales singled in the tying run, and then Manuel Palencia hit a walk-off single. The Fisher Cats lost a heartbreaker in this one, 8-7. May 27: In the 11:00 AM early game of the week, Gage Stanifer was on the mound against Somerset. Things started a bit on a roller coaster ride, as Stanifer got two quick groundouts to begin the first inning, but then walked three batters in a row. His fastball command was still shaky at times, and he continued working on his split/change-up. He got a third groundout to end the inning, though, avoiding any damage. In the top of the second inning, Cutter Coffey crushed his first Double-A home run, a two-run shot to left field to give New Hampshire the lead. In the bottom of the second inning, Stanifer again was not locked in with his command, giving up a double, a walk, and then a single for a run. He would settle down and get another groundout to end the inning. Jace Bohrofen drove in a run with a single during the third inning, after which Stanifer locked in on the mound. He would only allow a single the rest of the way, as he completed the third, fourth, and fifth innings very easily. His final line was five innings, three hits, one run, four walks, and three strikeouts. He got up to 85 pitches on the day and used his slider and split/change-up well throughout the game. In the fourth inning, Eddie Micheletti Jr. extended the Fisher Cats' lead to five with a home run, and Jackson Hornung would up it to six with a home run as well in the sixth inning. New Hampshire would go on to win this one 7-3. Note: Arjun Nimmala left the game in the fourth inning with a hamstring issue. High-A Vancouver Season Record: 19-28 Series vs Eugene Emeralds (San Francisco Giants) May 26: The Canadians once again faced the top team in the Northwest League, the Eugene Emeralds. Breakout pitching prospect Nolan Perry once again dominated, with his now fourth straight start of eight strikeouts or more since getting promoted to High A. The righty went six innings, not allowing a run, with just four hits and one walk. The Canadians’ offense was able to load the bases in the bottom of the third inning, and Jacob Sharp got a run in on a force out. Carter Cunningham walked the next inning, then got to second on a wild pitch before stealing third base. He then scored on another wild pitch to add another run on some good baserunning. Cunningham then hit double digits with his homer count in the bottom of the sixth inning, 100 mph off the bat. Jonathan Todd replaced Perry in the seventh inning and earned a three-inning save for his fourth of the season, with three perfect innings to end the game. May 27: The Canadians tried to keep the momentum going against the Emeralds, and they scored two early runs in the first inning after Maddox Latta hit a double, was moved over to third on a sac bunt, then scored on a wild pitch from Yunior Marte. Tucker Toman then drove in a runner on a single for the second run of the inning. Landen Maroudis was the starter for this game, and he gave a run back in the second inning on a lead-off homer to Zander Darby, but the Canadians continued to hold the lead going into the fourth inning. Maroudis got a lineout and a groundout, despite giving up a single, and looked like he could get out of the fourth unscathed. However, he then gave up a hit to Walker Martin, and then a passed ball from Edward Duran allowed a runner to score. Maroudis then walked a batter and gave up a three-run homer to Jean Carlos Sio before getting out of the inning, and the Emeralds took a 5-2 lead. J.R. Freethy got on with a single, then stole second before getting driven in by Brennan Orf to reduce the lead to two. Maroudis was then replaced by Gilberto Batista, who’s been a dedicated piggyback partner for him. Batista hasn’t pitched well this season, and he immediately gave up a hit and two walks before giving up a grand slam in the first inning he came in. The Canadians tried to claw their way back, as Freethy hit a two run homer in the fifth, and Alexis Hernandez and one of his own in the sixth, but the lead proved to be insurmountable. Single-A Dunedin Season Record: 19-28 Series vs Clearwater Threshers (Philadelphia Phillies) May 26: The Dunedin Blue Jays once again face the Threshers, this time at BayCare Ballpark. Blake Purnell was the starter for the D-Jays, and he gave up a bunch of hits. In the second inning, he gave up four hits, leading to a two-run deficit early on. However, the Jays bounced back with a big inning in the third, starting off with a Yorman Licourt two-run homer to tie it up, then a two-RBI triple from Juan Sanchez, and lastly an Eric Snow RBI single to make it a five-run inning. The Threshers brought it within one as Blake Purnell gave up a two-run shot to Nolan Beltran in the fourth inning, but was able to make it through five innings in line for the win. Luis Victorino came in the sixth inning and gave up two doubles to even up the game, but once again, some good hitting for the Jays returned the lead in their favour, this time with an Aldo Gaxiola three-run homer to make it eight to five. A JoJo Parker error in the seventh inning led to trouble, though, as the Threshers were able to get two runs in to make it a one-run game. Josbel Garcia then blew the save in the eighth inning as the Blue Jays lost a close one. May 27: This game got out of hand in a hurry, as Silvano Hechavarria and Sam Shaw both were on minor league rehab assignments. Hechavarria has really struggled since returning from injury, and this game was no different, as he gave up a run on a dropped third strike in the first inning. The Jays tied it up with an Adam Hackenberg sac fly the inning after, but Hechavarria gave up four runs in the second inning off of a force out with the bases loaded, into a three-run homer. JoJo Parker had his 12th double of the season in the third to score two runs, but Eduar Gonzalez continued the poor pitching for the Jays, as the Threshers scored another run in the bottom of the third. Then, in the fourth inning, the Threshers loaded the bases and cleared them with a double, before they hit another double to make it 10-3. The Threshers just kept piling it on, as after Gonzalez was taken out, they scored six runs on Bradley Wilson for 16 runs on the night. Adam Hackenberg hit his first homer as a Jay in the sixth inning, and the Jays got two more runs in the seventh inning on hits from Aldo Gaxiola and Hackenberg, but with such a gigantic deficit, there really was no coming back in this one. Juan Sanchez had a three-hit night as well. FCL Blue Jays Season Record: 15-3 May 26: The top five in the batting order for the FCL Blue Jays again did the heavy lifting on Tuesday against the Yankees' squad. They collected all eight of the Blue Jays' hits, with Franklin Rojas hitting a home run in the first inning, a three-run shot. Then, in the third inning, Brock Tibbitts hit his third home run of the season to give the Blue Jays' team a five-run lead. That would be all the Blue Jays needed, as Carson Messina was on the mound and he pitched well over 3.2 innings. Only giving up two hits and two walks, while striking out three. He didn't give up a run, lowering his ERA to 2.25. The FCL Blue Jays held on and won this one 7-6. Transactions 05/27/26 RHP Matt Bowman assigned to Buffalo Bisons. 05/27/26 Toronto Blue Jays optioned RHP Tanner Andrews to Buffalo Bisons. 05/27/26 Toronto Blue Jays selected the contract of RHP Austin Voth from Buffalo Bisons. 05/27/26 Vancouver Canadians sent OF Sam Shaw on a rehab assignment to Dunedin Blue Jays. 05/27/26 RHP Jack Eshleman assigned to Vancouver Canadians from Dunedin Blue Jays. 05/27/26 Vancouver Canadians activated C Edward Duran from the 7-day injured list. 05/26/26 Buffalo Bisons sent C C.J. Stubbs on a rehab assignment to FCL Blue Jays. 05/26/26 RHP Richard Gallardo assigned to Buffalo Bisons from New Hampshire Fisher Cats. 05/26/26 RHP Nate Garkow assigned to Buffalo Bisons from New Hampshire Fisher Cats. View the full article

The Cubs are broken, and the system that they have relied on is the cause. For years, the team has sought to contend by eliminating risk. This year, the pendulum has swung to safety too much, and the IVY model cannot save it. Since the glory days of 10 years ago (or, rather, since five years before that; the transformation was well underway by the year they finally won the World Series), the Cubs have gradually drifted toward a modeling scouting system rather than old-school, boots-on-the-ground scouting. Sadahev Sharma and Patrick Mooney's article from the Athletic in 2024 will get you up to speed on this if you haven't been already. It's time for the Cubs to update their process by going in a more traditional direction—not as a way to turn back, but as a means of moving forward. Jed Hoyer has built a roster with a high floor. By design, the team has eschewed high-dollar contracts to the top talents in the game, seeking to raise the ceiling by first raising the floor. The issue comes when players age: much like the belly of an aging man, the floor drops with age. Skilled scouting in person would identify certain things that the models wouldn't be able to identify. All contracts are placed through a risk filter; any valuation deemed too risky by the computers leads the team to walk away from a could-be deal. Models are, of course, important. Every organization uses them for aging curves, swing path, contact profiles, and spin rate. But the Cubs increasingly look like a team wedded to their process, to the exclusion of the human elements of roster construction, development and communication. The roster was designed to not collapse. It is, ironically, doing so because of the roster design. The Cubs are filled with reliable veterans with a solid track record. But there is a hidden regression in older players that models can't always predict. As players age, they can go from "good" to "declining" quickly, and from there, it's not far to see "Ryan Pressly" in their player comparison. Nobody can project what a player will look like when their skills begin to decline perfectly. In-person scouts can see things that models miss: guessing on pitches, confidence in abilities, recovery from injury, adaptability to environments, and dealing with failure over a long season. It's hard to measure until they happen, and, as we saw last year with Pressly, once it happens it's sometimes too late. Pressly was brought in to be the steady closer. Scouting could have seen some of his decline coming ahead of time. Really, the Cubs did see it, but they let their evaluation systems sell them on trading for him, anyway. Intangibles cannot be measured by analytical models, either. Star players, regardless of their personality type, help a clubhouse. Pressure on lesser players is alleviated when players like Aaron Judge, Kyle Schwarber, and Bobby Witt, Jr. shoulder the lion's share of it. This team, though, the pressure seems to be felt by every player equally. When the offense is purring, great things (like 10-game winning streaks) can happen. But year after year, Jed Hoyer's approach leads to steep cliffs of run production—ones that spiral into a vortex of futility for weeks. Players all feel the pressure on themselves to break the team out of its funk, which makes sense because one weak link can destroy the chain. These are the human moments that in-person scouting can help figure out. This team, built largely to raise their floor, was not built to sustain any regression further than what could be projected. When Cade Horton was injured, there was no way to replace what he would have provided. Dansby Swanson and Alex Bregman are locked in for years. If their decline this year is real, this will age quite poorly. No model engine will churn out a prediction that Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki go a fortnight without coming up with a big hit, but we just saw that happen. The Cubs invested heavily in their process, and they believe it's the best approach. Unfortunately, they have been overconfident in the models and underestimated the human side of baseball. The Brewers, for example, have a robust scouting system to validate their models. The Rays and Dodgers, noted for their intelligence, function similarly. Models are great for spitting out data and recommendations; how a player fits in the clubhouse and roster is where scouts are needed. The Cubs are a team built to accumulate WAR, not wins. They need to strike a better balance in their team-building approach going forward. Winning the division in PECOTA doesn't mean anything when the Brewers continually outclass the Cubs. In this season, one where the team was expected to contend for a World Series, the team has no model-based answer for what they need to do. As humans, they have to show it on the field. View the full article

Few prospects in baseball carry the combination of hype, polish, and expectation that surrounds Walker Jenkins. Ever since the Twins selected Jenkins with the fifth overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, the organization has viewed him as a potential franchise cornerstone. When healthy, he has looked exactly like the type of hitter scouts envisioned during his rise through the North Carolina prep ranks. The problem is, Twins fans haven’t gotten nearly enough opportunities to see him healthy for extended stretches. The same can be said for Emmanuel Rodriguez, for whom a fan's panic level might be a little higher than on Jenkins. The disruptions to Jenkins's progress have started to create an uncomfortable question surrounding one of baseball’s best prospects: How worried should fans actually be about the growing injury history? Panic Level: Low — But No Longer Nonexistent There’s still a massive difference between “concerned” and “panicked” when it comes to Jenkins. In his age-20 season, he climbed to Triple-A, and he owns a career .863 OPS in professional baseball. Even with multiple injuries interrupting his development, Jenkins continues producing whenever he returns to the lineup. At the same time, the injuries are beginning to pile up enough that they can’t simply be brushed aside anymore. Jenkins played only 192 total games across his first two-plus professional seasons. He battled a quad strain and hamstring injury in 2024 before suffering an ankle sprain last season. Now, another setback has arrived in 2026, after Jenkins suffered a Grade 2 AC joint sprain in his left shoulder, crashing into an outfield wall while making a catch. The Twins have yet to establish a firm recovery timeline, but it’s another interruption for a player still searching for his first truly uninterrupted professional season. That’s where some of the anxiety starts creeping in. Jenkins has yet to appear in more than 84 games during any professional campaign. For a prospect whose advanced hit tool is supposed to carry the profile, consistent reps are incredibly important. Lost development time is never ideal, especially against upper-level pitching. Still, this situation feels very different from some other injury-prone prospects, because the performance hasn’t disappeared whenever Jenkins does play. Even after a slow offensive start this year at Triple-A St. Paul, Jenkins had begun finding his rhythm before the shoulder injury. He currently owns a .256/.396/.389 line across 111 plate appearances, continuing to show elite on-base ability despite inconsistent playing time. Why the Ceiling Still Looks Elite The reason Twins fans shouldn’t spiral into full panic mode is simple: Jenkins still looks like a future impact big-leaguer every time he steps on the field. His offensive foundation remains incredibly advanced for his age. Using a smooth and repeatable left-handed swing, Jenkins consistently finds the barrel and controls the strike zone at a level rarely seen from players this young. He doesn’t sell out for power, but the strength and bat speed still allow him to drive the baseball with authority, particularly to the pull side. Perhaps most encouragingly, he has continued adding more game power without sacrificing contact quality. That blend of plate discipline, bat-to-ball skills, and emerging power gives Jenkins one of the safer offensive profiles in the minors, even with the missed time. He has also handled left-handed pitching reasonably well, another encouraging sign for his long-term projection as an everyday middle-of-the-order hitter. The athleticism remains obvious, too. An above-average runner with strong instincts both on the bases and in the field, Jenkins has spent most of his professional career in center field. While many evaluators believe right field could eventually become his best long-term fit, that’s hardly a negative outcome. His strong throwing arm and offensive upside profile perfectly in a run-producing corner outfield role. The bigger issue is simply staying on the field long enough to let all those tools fully develop. Can Jenkins Shake The Injury-Prone Label? This is where the conversation becomes tricky. Right now, Jenkins is probably approaching the stage where people will begin casually labeling him as injury-prone. Fair or unfair, repeated lower-body injuries followed by another significant setback naturally create that perception. But unlike some prospects who see their tools diminish after injuries, Jenkins keeps returning and looking like the same player. Nothing about his offensive approach, athleticism, or physical tools suggests his long-term upside has changed dramatically. In fact, he arguably looked stronger offensively in 2025 despite the interruptions, posting a .286/.399/.451 line across four levels, including rehab assignments. Jenkins doesn’t necessarily need to prove he can become a star. Most evaluators already believe he can do that. The bigger challenge now is proving his body can handle the grind of a full professional schedule. That’s the key point for Twins fans to remember. If he eventually puts together a healthy 130-plus game season, much of the injury conversation likely fades into the background quickly. Twins fans have every right to feel uneasy seeing another injury attached to Jenkins’s name. At some point, repeated absences become part of the overall evaluation, and the Twins would undoubtedly love to see their top prospect finally put together an uninterrupted season. The lost developmental reps are real, especially for such a young player climbing aggressively through the minors. But panic still feels premature. Jenkins continues to perform at an extremely high level when healthy, and the overall profile remains among the best in the organization. The hit tool, approach, power projection, athleticism, and defensive versatility all still point toward a potential impact major-league outfielder. The injuries are concerning. The upside, however, is still enormous. That balance is what makes Jenkins one of the most fascinating prospects in baseball, and why Twins fans are still dreaming about what happens if everything finally clicks at once. Should fans be panicked about Jenkins? Can he shake the injury-prone label? Leave a comment and start the discussion. View the full article

While the Twins' farm system is loaded with outfield talent, Hendry Mendez has stood alone this year statistically. Does he have a legitimate case for being the Twins' top outfield prospect? View the full article

Mets superstar, Juan Soto, has been on a tear since returning from his injury. Soto has been locked in recently, hitting five home runs over a seven-game hitting streak. Soto has been primarily playing DH since returning from his injury; Carlos Mendoza moved him to the top spot of the lineup with hopes of sparking the offense. View the full article

Lucas Giolito is not the pitcher he once was. The San Diego Padres are simply banking on him being better than he is right now. Giolito has made two starts for the Padres. He's thrown 10 innings and has posted a 2.70 ERA. Most important, at present, is the fact that he has a pair of wins to his credit. He has effectively navigated hard contact to the point where he hasn't allowed a barrel in either start. With a pitcher that didn't have a spring training, though, there's still a rounding-into-form that needs to take place before the results can be considered more reliable. That is certainly the case with Giolito. Because while the actual outcomes have been strong and resulted in two crucial wins at this still-early stage of the season for the Padres, they've also been imperfect. Giolito's fastball velocity is way down, at 90.4 MPH with the four-seamer. His 12.2 percent strikeout rate would represent a career-low, while his 19.5 percent walk rate is astronomical compared to his career averages. He's also still trying to figure out his pitch usage. In Giolito's first start, he was four-seam forward. He threw the pitch 55 percent of the time with a 25 percent whiff rate and 10 called strikes. Even without the velocity, it was effective. His changeup came in as his primary secondary pitch at a 29 percent pitch rate. It wasn't effective on the whiff side, but he also avoided hard contact entirely with it. Over the weekend, Giolito made start No. 2 against the Athletics. Therein, the pitch mix was somewhat flipped in that he threw the change 47 percent of the time and the four-seamer for 31 percent of his offerings. The whiffs came through with the former this time (33 percent), but not the latter. The A's were much more adept at avoiding chase and making contact than in his first start against Seattle, but the results remained strong across his second outing. What's important in all of this isn't so much the results. This is still a minuscule sample and it's hard to glean too much based on those outcomes for a player that didn't have a spring exhibition slate in which to ramp up. It's Giolito getting a grip on what he wants to throw and the subsequent effect of those choices. Which brings us to one element on which to keep an eye: where's the slider? The slider has long represented Giolito's tertiary offering. He has always been four-seam and changeup first, with the slider behind them. However, that pitch has only been thrown 15.9 percent of the time in his two starts this season. Is it a feel thing? Is it not wanting to aggravate prior issues by heavily utilizing a pitch notorious for irritating the elbow? Considering he's cut the usage by 10 percent off last year's rate, it's worth monitoring given the necessity of a third pitch in starting pitcher success. Of course, the results have their place as well. While the game for Giolito has been about getting settled in the rotation, he's going to be keen to improve the underlying stuff beyond his ERA. Especially given that he's operated with a rather fortunate .185 batting average on balls in play through those two starts. He's going to want to get the strikeout rate to at least a modest bump and improve his command to cut the free passes to a much more serious extent. Ultimately, the results have been what the Padres needed. After watching a stretch of starts featuring wobbly outings from Germán Márquez, Walker Buehler, and Griffin Canning, a couple of five-inning performances resulting in victories have to feel like a breath of fresh air. But as the sample grows, there's plenty of room for improvement from Giolito. He doesn't need to be the pitcher he once was, but there's going to need to be at least a bit of a trending in that direction for him to continue to provide such steady value for the remainder of 2026. View the full article

According to USA Today columnist Bob Nightengale, the Cubs have signed veteran reliever Aaron Bummer to a minor-league contract. Bummer was released from the Atlanta Braves in his third season there after struggling to a 7.63 ERA in 19 appearances. In 2025, he was much more successful, striking out almost a batter per inning with a 3.52 ERA. Bummer returns to Chicago, where he debuted back in 2017. For his career, his ERA is 3.44 with a 1.34 WHIP. His velocity has slipped in his age-32 season down to 90 mph from 93 just two seasons ago. Fans shouldn’t expect much, but he could play a role in Chicago if he can limit hard contact and walks. He’ll look to recapture his career success in Iowa’s bullpen. View the full article

According to Bruce Levine of 670 The Score, Jordan Wicks will get another chance to prove himself this weekend. Wicks gave up eight runs in 4 2/3 innings in his first start, but with Matthew Boyd needing a rehab start, Wicks will toe the mound at least one more time. His numbers in Triple A Iowa were stellar in 2026: 12 strikeouts in 15 innings while allowing just seven hits and one earned run. The 26-year-old lefty is running out of time to cement a role in the Cubs staff, both this season and long term. He’ll need a good performance to regain momentum against the Cardinals this weekend. View the full article

The MLB trade deadline is a little over two months from now, on August 3rd. That seems like a long time, but then again, Opening Day was that long ago and it feels like yesterday. As much as we might want to savor the current moment — a team playing well enough to stay relevant in a lackluster AL landscape, and a #1 starter who's unlocking yet another level of excellence — there are realities bearing down that the Twins front office cannot afford to brush aside. Joe Ryan is pitching as well as ever. He was good before the elbow scare that forced him out of a game in early May. and he's somehow been even better since. His 2.1 fWAR leads all Twins players and ranks fifth among MLB starters. If the Twins are to stay competitive and play meaningful games into September, as Tom Pohlad has decreed, they'll need Ryan to do it, especially if he keeps pitching like this. He's their best player. The quandary at hand: he's also their best trade chip, and their biggest opportunity to bolster the rebuild effort in profound ways. While they might not like to utter the word, this team is rebuilding. They're transitioning from a fading old guard (Royce Lewis, Matt Wallner) to an impending prospect wave. At last year's deadline, they dealt several key relievers for players who — while varying degrees of MLB-ready — were targeted for their longer-term control. They have to be looking ahead, but maybe not THAT far ahead. This is the emotional tug-of-war facing Minnesota's front office over the next two months. Ryan isn’t just the Twins’ best starter; he’s the kind of pitcher contenders empty farm systems to acquire. He’s under control through 2027. He misses bats, limits walks, thrives in big moments, and increasingly looks like someone capable of starting Game 1 of a playoff series for a true World Series threat. Those pitchers rarely become available with this much control remaining. When they do, the return can reshape an organization. That’s the cold logic. The perspective of the brain. But the heart might tell us that the Twins aren’t buried. They’re hovering around contention in an American League where mediocrity has become the norm. A good month could put them firmly in the playoff picture. Trading Ryan while meaningful baseball remains on the table would feel, to many fans and players, like surrender. Again. After years of payroll cuts, injuries, and organizational drift, it would be another unmistakable signal that the franchise is prioritizing tomorrow over today. Same old, same old under "new leadership." Cold logic has its validity though. Pitchers are volatile assets, and Ryan already provided a scare this season. Having already seen Pablo López go down, the Twins know better than anyone how quickly the value of a frontline starter can evaporate. Ryan has previously dealt with shoulder and groin injuries, and every additional inning carries risk. That’s what makes this such an organizational crossroads. The heart says you owe it to the clubhouse and demoralized fanbase to keep pushing forward in a surprisingly open AL field. The brain says this may be the rare moment when timing, value and market demand align perfectly to accelerate the next truly sustainable contention window. And the better Joe Ryan pitches between now and July, the louder that elephant in the room becomes. View the full article

On Wednesday, the Royals lost 7-0 to Gerrit Cole and the New York Yankees at Kauffman Stadium. The win for the Bronx Bombers clinched not only a series sweep, but a season sweep, as the Yankees won all three games at Yankee Stadium back in April. Since beating the Yankees in Game 2 of the 2024 ALDS, the Royals have not won a game against them since. To make matters worse, not only did the Royals go winless against the Yankees (again), but they were outscored by 40 runs in the series, as pointed out by Joel Goldberg of Royals TV on Twitter. Kansas City now sits at 22-34 as they head into the off day on Thursday. On Friday, they begin a nine-game homestand, which starts this weekend in Arlington against the Texas Rangers. For the Royals to keep any semblance of being a playoff team, they will need to start this series against the Rangers on a positive note. The Rangers are 25-30 and are 4-6 in their last 10 games. However, this Royals team is 7-17 on the road, so their work will be cut out for them. The Royals have a much-needed day off tomorrow. That said, what did Royals fans learn from this brutal series against the Yankees and their performance overall against a team that's been widely hated by the Kansas City faithful since the 1970's? Let's take a look at three takeaways with this club after this latest lackluster series against the Yankees. The Royals Have A Mental Block Against the Yankees Baseball is a mental game at the end of the day. And sometimes, teams can struggle mentally against an opponent. That mental block for the Royals against the Yankees was on full display in this latest three-game home series. On Monday, it seemed like the Royals were on their way to overcoming the "mental block". Michael Wacha was masterful, producing another quality start. In 7 IP, he allowed only two runs on five hits and two walks while striking out two. Despite some early struggles (he gave up a home run to Cody Bellinger in the second inning), he got the Yankees out of their approach and ended up producing a vintage Wacha start, as illustrated below via his TJ Stuff+ summary. Furthermore, in addition to a quality Wacha performance on the mound, the Royals got a huge moment from Bobby Witt Jr., who hit the go-ahead home run for the Royals in the bottom of the eighth inning off Yankees reliever Jake Bird. That moment should've been the dagger the Royals needed to overcome the New York demons that have haunted them for over two seasons. Doing it on national TV on ESPN, on Memorial Day, would only make it sweeter. And yet, the Royals couldn't close it out. Lucas Erceg gave up two runs in the top of the ninth, and Kansas City came up punchless in the bottom of the inning. The gutting loss on Memorial Day carried over into losses on Tuesday and Wednesday. Over the final two games of the series, the Yankees outscored the Royals 22-1. The mental block against the Yankees team was on full display on Wednesday in the series finale. Yes, Gerrit Cole is an elite pitcher. However, he was making just his second start of the year, his second MLB start since Tommy John surgery back in March of 2025. And yet, despite those factors, Cole made absolute mincemeat of the Royals' lineup, striking out 10 batters in 6.2 IP. Cole not only generated strikeouts, but he also produced whiffs, chases, and flooded the zone while showcasing excellent stuff on his pitches. That is evident in his TJ Stuff+ summary from tonight's outing. Cole was good, and that shouldn't be taken away from a pitcher who's a likely Hall of Famer. At the same time, this Royals lineup looked shellshocked and overwhelmed by the former Cy Young winner. That was especially true with the Royals' young hitters, especially Carter Jensen and Jac Caglianone. The pair combined for three strikeouts against Cole. Royals fans knew the Yankees were a better team entering this series. They knew the Yankees had a history of success against Kansas City. Unfortunately, Royals fans also learned that the Yankees simply own this club, mentally and on the field. 14 straight losses in less than three years demonstrate that advantage. To make matters worse, the Royals will have to wait another full year to show they can overcome the mental advantage the Boys in Blue have over them. The Royals' Offense Needs a Shakeup In May, the Royals rank 26th in OPS at .647. Only the Rockies (.644), Angels (.634), Tigers (.615), and Padres (.598) have been worse. Furthermore, they rank 22nd in batting average, 26th in OBP, and 25th in slugging. Thus, it isn't surprising that the Royals rank 26th this season in OPS so far this year (.683) and 28th in runs scored (211). Surprisingly, despite their poor record (10-17), the Royals actually posted a higher OPS in April, ranking 10th at .730. Thus, Kansas City should consider itself lucky to have 10 wins in May despite its poor offense this month. When looking at Royals hitters individually this month, this is how they have fared, via MLB.com stats. The Royals' bullpen has gotten excellent production this month from John Schreiber (0.93 ERA), Daniel Lynch IV (2.38 ERA), and Alex Lange (2.53 ERA). Luinder Avila (3.14 ERA) and Steven Cruz (3.86 ERA) have been serviceable, as was Matt Strahm (3.18 ERA) before he landed on the IL. So the bullpen hasn't been bereft of talent or production in May. Conversely, some relievers have taken major steps back, and it's hurt the bullpen as a whole. Erceg has an ERA over 6.00 this month as well as a 1.78 WHIP. Nick Mears has been even worse with an 8.64 ERA and 2.04 WHIP in 8.1 IP. Mears struggled on Wednesday, allowing three runs on two hits and two walks in 0.2 IP. Furthermore, when looking at his TJ Stuff+ summary, while Mears showcased decent stuff, his inability to generate whiffs and chases ultimately hurt him, especially against a good Yankees lineup. Lastly, Bailey Falter (14.21 ERA) and Eli Morgan (18.00 ERA) have become unusable in any spots. Falter was designated for assignment on Wednesday after his latest brutal outing on Tuesday against the Yankees. Morgan could find himself back in Omaha soon and may be designated for assignment as well, especially if they need to clear a roster spot for another reliever. When looking at these May bullpen metrics, it's obvious that Quatraro and the Royals need to shake up the bullpen usage. Right now, they should be investing in their young arms with upside, which includes Lynch, Avila, Cruz, and Lange. Schreiber has emerged as a key piece this month,, and he deserves to keep his spot, but Erceg probably needs to be utilized less like a traditional closer and more like the "fireman" he was utilized a year ago when Carlos Estevez closed things out in the ninth. Even with Erceg out of the closer's spot, the Royals need to adopt a different philosophy for building a bullpen. Other than a year ago, the Royals' weakness has always been the bullpen under Quatraro and Picollo. A big reason for that seems to be that they trust "experience" over "stuff". That strategy blew up on them with free-agent relievers like Chris Stratton and Will Smith. It's blowing up a bit, not just with Estevez and Strahm on the IL, but with Erceg as well, who looks like a shell of his 2024 self. At this point, the Royals need to invest in a younger bullpen and scour other teams for younger arms they can help develop into success. They need to focus on one type and see if they can mold it into their system, much like Seattle and Tampa Bay are well known for doing. Brian Sweeney and Mike McFerrin are well-regarded pitching coaches. However, their philosophy is not "gelling" with this bullpen group. The Royals may need to make some tough decisions to make this strategy a reality. They may need to trade Schreiber to see if they can get a package of younger pitchers with upside. They may need to part ways with Mears and possibly Erceg. They may need to trust Avila, Cruz, Lynch, and Lange in high-leverage spots, even though that group has been inconsistent. That said, they need to mix things up with the bullpen, much like the lineup. Right now, the bullpen isn't getting it done with the current mixture. Giving the younger, higher-velocity arms more of a chance could not just help their chances this year, but build a better foundation for years to come. The Yankees exposed this bullpen badly over the past three games. Picollo and Quatraro need to learn from it and make the adjustments necessary to turn this group around. View the full article

With an expected batting average under .200 and an xwOBA under .300, one would think Miguel Amaya is in danger of losing his roster spot, especially with slightly below-average defense at a premium position. While he probably won’t push Carson Kelly to reclaim equal playing time any time soon, though, Amaya is holding his own. He has been 14% better than league average at the plate, despite his underlying metrics. Is it a mirage? Although he only came to the plate 103 times, Amaya was 31% better than league average last season despite walking only 4 times. He had never had a walk rate that low before, but because he combined that with successfully pulling the ball in the air, his numbers didn’t take a hit. In 2026, he has a career-high walk rate (12%), but he's back to pulling the ball in the air less. Is it either/or, or can he do both? In what appears to be a response to the loss of bat speed he's suffered, Amaya has swung a lot less frequently this year than he did in 2025. While cutting his chase rate from 36.8% to 27% is great, it has also come with cutting his swing rate at pitches in the zone by a similar percentage. Well, maybe that means he is taking more pitches around the edges, right? Here's his swing rate by pitch location for 2025: And here's the same image for 2026: As you can see, Amaya stopped swinging at pitches right down the middle, or “meatballs” as Statcast classifies them. In short, this is likely why his expected numbers are as low as they are. Those are pitches in the highest run value location, and Amaya is only swinging at 54% of them. Out of 337 hitters that have at least 75 plate appearances this year, that is good for 330th. Another factor that is causing the difference in his underlying statistics is his contact quality. That's not surprising, once you consider that he's swinging in areas of the zone where one is less likely to barrel it up. There was ways to find hits with swings at pitches on the edges, but the damage comes mostly when you pounce on a mistake. Not quite organized in his understanding of the zone this year, Amaya isn't doing that. Put it all together and it looks like he is struggling to adapt to this new, more passive approach. To be clear, sporting a .728 OPS as a backup catcher is a good thing. But his underlying metrics portend a regression to the mean is coming for Amaya. Correcting his contact quality and getting back to pulling the ball in the air depends on attacking pitches that permit those results, so if Amaya wants to fight off regression, the easiest path is to start swinging at those meatballs. View the full article

As he manages a staff of young starters, Pat Murphy frequently muses aloud about how pitching development and strategy have evolved throughout his time in baseball. "In the old days, guys would come out and throw their heater the first time around because they could locate their heater," Murphy said during a pregame media session earlier this month. "They'd come out and throw their heater and rarely show you something secondary. Second time around, they show you the second pitch. You don't see a changeup until the third time around." In an era where technology and physics have made pitch design a science, more pitchers have expanded their arsenals and know exactly which pitch types to throw based on their motor preferences. That's left fewer hurlers reliant on four-seam fastballs, particularly since the turn of the decade. In 2026, 30.4% of pitches thrown have been four-seamers. It's still the most prevalent pitch in the game, but the standard fastball is being thrown at the lowest rate in the pitch-tracking era, which began in 2008. Instead, the game has entered an era of meticulously crafting and utilizing pitch shapes. "The game's just changed," Murphy said. "Now, you might show all your pitches on the first hitter. It's the way the game has changed because command is different. Now it's stuff." The Brewers have diverged somewhat from most of the league in this department, throwing fastballs 65.2% of the time this year, compared to the league average of 54.5%. That number is a bit misleading, though. While much of baseball is mixing entire arsenals of pitches more evenly, the Brewers are mixing four-seamers, sinkers, and cutters. Their 31.5% four-seamer usage rate is comparable to the rest of MLB; it's the two other flavors of fastball they throw unusually often. Milwaukee's top two starters, however, are eschewing both versions of the mix-it-up approach. Jacob Misiorowski has thrown his four-seamer 62.3% of the time, the highest rate among pitchers who have thrown at least 50 innings this season. Kyle Harrison ranks second, throwing his four-seamer 58.9% of the time. It's hard to argue with the results. Misiorowski boasts a 1.83 ERA, 1.89 FIP, and 53 DRA- in 11 starts. Harrison isn't far behind, posting a 1.57 ERA, 2.46 FIP, and 76 DRA-. Those numbers give the pair a statistical case as the best one-two punch atop any rotation in baseball. Misiorowski can supplement that fastball with a full arsenal that also includes a cutter, slider, curveball, and changeup. Harrison has improved at executing his slurve, which he used a season-high 42.4% of the time on Tuesday night when he didn't have his best fastball. But much of the time, neither has needed those secondary pitches to carve through opposing lineups. Misiorowski struck out a season-high 12 on Monday while throwing 76% four-seamers. Last week, Harrison punched out 11 at Wrigley Field while throwing 68.1% heaters. "It's both their bread and butter," Murphy said. "I think you've got to go with it and not shy away from it." According to Statcast, both fastballs have been worth 8 runs, tying them for fourth among four-seamers. Many hitters keep seeing one heater after another from both pitchers, and they've been unable to square them up. They've slugged just .268 against Misiorowski's four-seamer while whiffing on 45.2% of swings, and they've slugged .318 with a 30.8% whiff rate against Harrison's. Mixing speeds and locations is often cited as one of the keys to effective pitching. At the end of the day, though, a pitcher's goal is to prevent hitters from making contact on time and on the barrel, whether the result is a whiff, a ground ball, or a lazy flyout. Misiorowski and Harrison can do that with such heavy doses of fastballs because they have unusual movement and enter the zone at deceptive angles. "They're both unique fastballs," said pitching coordinator Jim Henderson. Both hurlers release the ball closer to the ground than many pitchers, from crossfire deliveries. Misiorowski throws his fastball from an average arm angle of 29 degrees, and even though he stands 6-foot-7, his release height is just 5.25 feet off the ground. At 34 degrees, Harrison's arm slot is a bit higher, but his average release height of 5.04 feet is even lower. Generally speaking, the lower the release height of a pitch, the less "carry" or "rise"—measured as induced vertical break—a hitter expects it to have. That's because the lower a pitcher's arm slot, the more the seam orientation of a baseball shifts, so it spins in a direction that counteracts gravity less and creates less of that perceived rise as it interacts with the air around it. Misiorowski and Harrison are different. The former averages 15.9 inches of induced vertical break, while the latter averages 15.1 inches. By generating so much carry from a low release height, Misiorowski's fastball has a -3.66° vertical approach angle (VAA, the angle at which the ball enters the hitting zone, relative to an imaginary line parallel to the ground), the lowest among four-seamers thrown by regular starting pitchers. Harrison's four-seamer has a -3.88° VAA, which ranks fourth. To put that into more practical terms, a low vertical approach angle means a fastball appears "flat" in a good way. Instead of entering the hitting zone on a downhill plane, as a hitter would expect from a pitcher throwing off an elevated mound, the ball appears to stay up or even travel on an uphill plane as it crosses the plate. Misiorowski adds even more freakish qualities to his fastball. It's the hardest among starting pitchers, averaging 99.8 mph. But because he averages 7.5 feet of extension down the mound, he delivers the ball closer to home plate than any other pitcher in the game. With that reduced reaction time, the average perceived velocity of his fastball is 101.9 mph. "I'd probably say it's pretty unique with everything that he's able to do, and how he makes it really difficult on guys with the extension, the perceived velocity—all that stuff is probably one of one," Christian Yelich said. "It's electric stuff," Andrew Vaughn said. "That fastball is probably the best in the game." Harrison can't quite dial his fastball up to that level, but it can be nearly as untouchable on a given day against certain opponents. It's returned a whiff rate of at least 40% in three of his starts, including that outing against the Chicago Cubs. "I got onto the bus after the game, and I'm looking at the highlights, and I'm just like, 'That's 95 pitches of Josh Hader,'" Henderson recalled, invoking the same comparison to the fastball-dominant former Brewers reliever as lead pitching coach Chris Hook did before Harrison's season debut. Misiorowski has become untouchable in May by spotting more fastballs to the glove-side corner, but Harrison's execution has been even simpler. There's an emphasis on elevating his fastball, where it's most effective, but he's thrown the majority of them right down the middle of the zone. For fastballs with their qualities, throwing them in the zone is often good enough. "It's nice," Henderson said. "They don't have to get so crazy on locations, either, so they can kind of pitch with some more freedom there." That simplicity of attacking the zone with fastballs isn't the only thing spurring breakouts for Misiorowski and Harrison, but not having to get too cute with their sequencing or game planning has played a significant role. When a hitter does show signs of getting to those fastballs, they have good enough secondary stuff to slow them down. "When you don't have to mix as much, it simplifies your approach, and you can just kind of get to more of just reading swings," Henderson said. "You can kind of get after your game plan a little bit easier with two pitches sometimes, where you just have to read what the hitter's looking for, and then just kind of adjust from there, instead of trying to trick them." Misiorowski still has those three additional pitches in his repertoire, should he need them. In addition to his breaking ball, Harrison and the Brewers are still working on honing his kick changeup, and they could also reintroduce a cutter down the line. For now, though, the fastballs are doing the job and then some. "I think you build a reputation of it, too, that you got to try to get to the heater," Henderson said. "And if it has a little angle, a little bit of movement to it, and you start feeling as a hitter like you have to cheat to it, and it opens up even just one other pitch for you to kind of get through a game with a two-pitch mix. It's just about being unique and having to honor it, really." View the full article

Fish On First staffers react to the latest Miami Marlins series and prepare you for what lies ahead. Wednesday's show was hosted by Kevin Barral and featured panelist Nate Karzmer. You can find Fish Unfiltered and Fish On First LIVE on the Fish On First YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever else you get your pods. Our next FOF LIVE episode will be Sunday at approximately 6:30 p.m. ET following the Marlins-Blue Jays series finale. View the full article

There was one number the Blue Jays could no longer ignore: -33. Thirty-three outs above average on the negative side, accumulated across seven years of trying to make Bichette work as a shortstop. Thirty-three outs that eventually turned into runs. The Mets knew it. And they bet on the improvement anyway. The story of the “Bo Bichette at third base experiment” in Queens began as a footnote, one of those ideas that sounds clever at a winter press conference but rarely survives contact with the reality of April baseball. The kind of move analysts label a “creative solution” and skeptics call “desperation disguised as strategy.” As it turns out, this one survived. And the metrics so far explain why with remarkable clarity. But to reach that conclusion, you have to follow the entire path. You have to understand where Bichette comes from, what broke in Toronto, and why that same flaw suddenly becomes perfectly functional in a different context. Bo Bichette's Bat Arrived Before the Glove Before talking about what Bichette is doing in the field, it’s necessary to talk about what’s happening at the plate. Because if there was always one thing that justified patience with him — in Toronto or anywhere else — it was the bat. And in 2026, that bat still hasn’t met expectations. The numbers are uncomfortable: .217/.266/.316, a 68 wRC+, and a tiny .099 ISO. For context, his career line in those same categories is .289/.332/.459 with a 118 wRC+. This is not simply a cold streak. This is a different level of offensive dysfunction, the kind that frustrates fans and forces people to search for root causes instead of waiting for regression to fix everything on its own. Metric 2025 (TOR) 2026 NYM Career AVG .311 .217 .289 OBP .357 .266 .332 SLG .483 .316 .459 wRC+ 134 68 118 ISO .172 .099 .170 xwOBA .353 .321 .341 And yet, there is one detail preventing full-scale panic: the .321 xwOBA against an actual .263 wOBA. The gap between expected and observed production is nearly 60 points, a difference that in Statcast language translates more to sustained bad luck than true collapse. His .241 BABIP — compared to a .333 career mark — screams positive regression. His barrels remain respectable: a 6.9% barrel rate and 44.6% hard-hit rate. The quality of contact is still there. The results are not. There’s more in the bat-tracking data. His SwStr% dropped to 7.6%, the lowest mark of his career. He’s making contact. He’s showing patience (6.6% walk rate) but he’s hitting the ball on the ground far too often: a 51.4% groundball rate, also a career high. His opposite-field contact climbed to 37.7%, another number that historically correlates with stretches of diminished production for him. Something in the swing mechanics is failing to create the launch angle he needs. Projection systems, however, remain optimistic. FanGraphs DC projects him for a 110 wRC+ the rest of the way. Steamer says 112. ZiPS projects sustained 109-112 wRC+ production through 2028. The projection market consensus does not see a broken player. It sees a hitter who started cold and should eventually look like the same player who posted a 134 wRC+ in Toronto in 2025 once the BABIP normalizes. The question is not whether Bichette will hit again. It’s whether the Mets can sustain this defensive experiment while waiting for the offense to wake up. And the answer, at least so far, appears to be yes. Precisely because at third base, for the first time in his career, he is no longer costing them anything in the field while he searches for his timing at the plate. The Problem Toronto Never Solved To understand why this works defensively in Flushing, you first have to understand why it failed in Toronto. The Fielding Run Value numbers tell the story of an entire career filled with accumulated defensive losses: Year Teams Pos FRV OAA Attempts Success Rate 2021 TOR SS -4 -6 569 73% 2022 TOR SS -5 -7 566 75% 2023 TOR SS -4 -3 425 71% 2025 TOR SS -10 -13 455 69% Career SS -25 -30 2,687 72% His OAA success rate dropped all the way to 69% in his final Toronto season, three points below expected. He became the worst shortstop in baseball in Outs Above Average, and the third-worst defender at any position among qualified players. But the truly revealing detail is not the total number. It’s the anatomy of the failure. Bichette’s central problem as a shortstop was always his lateral range toward third base: -6 in 2021, -10 in 2022, -4 in 2025. Moving to his left was not merely a weakness. It was his greatest vulnerability, the zone opposing hitters eventually learned to attack because information travels quickly in this sport. And still, Toronto kept waiting for defensive improvement that never came. Year after year. As if the Bichette surname itself justified the patience. There’s something tragic about that, and something understandable too. Bichette was a prospect whose identity had been tied to shortstop since adolescence. His father, Dante Bichette, played in the major leagues. His identity as a prospect, franchise cornerstone, and face of Toronto’s rebuild was stitched directly to the position. Moving him off shortstop was not just a tactical decision. It almost felt like an institutional admission of failure. The Blue Jays never managed to separate the player from the narrative. The Mets project arrived without that emotional baggage. That changed everything. The Position Shift That Changes Everything When a shortstop cannot move effectively to his left, the consequences are catastrophic. The hole between shortstop and third base is one of the most demanding zones on the field, where range, transfer, and arm strength determine whether a right-handed hitter ends up with a single or an out. Bichette consistently lost there. But when a third baseman struggles moving to his right — toward the line and foul territory — the position demands that skill far less frequently. Third base protects him from his worst flaw. At the hot corner, his weakness is hidden in a region where relatively few balls are actually hit. The 2026 OAA numbers confirm the theory: Year Team Pos FRV OAA Left Right Attempts Success Rate Added 2025 TOR SS -10 -13 -5 -3 -4 69% -3% 2026 NYM SS 1 1 -1 0 2 73% 1% 2026 NYM 3B 1 2 1 1 0 67% 2% 2026 NYM ALL 2 2 — — — 69% 2% The most revealing detail is the directional split at third base: +1 moving to his right — toward the line — and +1 moving to his left. The direction that once represented his Achilles’ heel at shortstop is now simply one component among many, no longer the defining factor determining whether a defensive inning ends in disaster. The position flipped the equation. That +2% success-rate-added number deserves attention. It is not enormous. It is not prime Nolan Arenado. But it is positive. Consistently positive. And for a player who spent his entire career producing negative defensive value, that is not a marginal improvement. It is a categorical shift. Bichette has gone from being a defensive liability to becoming, in value terms, an above-average defender at his position. From a roster-construction standpoint, that represents millions of dollars in defensive WAR the Mets are essentially receiving for free, bundled inside the contract of a hitter who already justified his salary with the bat alone. A bat that still appears close to waking up. On the 2026 OAA leaderboard among third basemen, he ranks sixth. He is not a Gold Glover yet, but he sits above Arenado, above Alex Bregman, above Matt Chapman in outs generated. For an organization making a calculated gamble, that is more than enough. The Arm as the Hidden Variable There is another detail in the data that does not immediately jump off the page, but one every talent evaluator should underline in red: throwing velocity. The arm-strength leaderboard ranks Bichette third among all third basemen in baseball: Rk. Player FRV OAA Vel. Avg. Vel. máx 1 Garcia, Maikel (KC) 5 5 88.2 mph 89.1 2 Chapman, Matt (SF) 3 2 86.1 mph 88.3 3 Bichette, Bo (NYM) 1 2 82.9 mph 88.6 4 Machado, Manny (SD) 3 3 83.6 mph 85.5 5 Ramírez, José (CLE) 2 4 83.4 mph 85.6 At shortstop, that arm was almost redundant. Difficult throws from the hole rarely rewarded his raw strength because the problem was reaching the baseball in the first place. At third base, however, that same arm becomes an entirely different weapon. At the hot corner, nearly every difficult play ends with the longest throw in the infield. The backhand near the line, where the fielder stretches, fields from an awkward angle, and still has to fire across the diamond. The bunt play, where the third baseman charges forward, gathers the ball on the move, then plants and throws before the runner arrives. The slow roller that punishes hesitation. In all those situations, the difference between an out and a hit is arm strength. An 88.6 mph max throw from third base is not a trivial detail. It is the difference between a difficult out and a single nobody remembers. And that arm was always there. The interesting part is that Bichette did not develop new strength. For the first time in his career, he is simply playing a position where that tool exists in its ideal environment. The Mets did not teach him something new. They changed the stage. That, ultimately, is what makes this story bigger than Bo Bichette. It is a story about how organizations cling to mistakes. About how the sunk cost of a previous decision — the draft pick, the contract, the public narrative — can cloud years of accumulated evidence. Toronto watched it happen in real time and could not act. The Mets arrived later, looked at the same numbers, and made the decision Toronto could not make for five years. In baseball, sometimes the competitive advantage is not discovering something new. It is seeing clearly what has been sitting in front of everyone all along. The experiment ended before it even began. It is no longer an experiment. It is a solution. And the solution had been waiting for years for someone willing to look at the data without blinking. View the full article

Note: I wrote this story yesterday, before the news broke that the Blue Jays will call up Charles McAdoo. While they haven't officially announced that Sosa will be cut to make room for McAdoo, it seems like the inevitable corresponding move. Lenyn Sosa is celebrating a home run in the picture you see above. He hit that home run on May 2. It was his first (and remains his only) home run of the season. Yet, until last night, Sosa somehow had more home runs than walks on the year. The infielder didn't earn a base on balls until his 113th plate appearance of 2026. Sosa's walk rate still starts with a goose egg, but at least it doesn't end with a zero anymore. Sitting at 0.9%, it ranks last among major league hitters with at least 50 PA. (Tyler Heineman ranks second-to-last. Nathan Lukes ranks sixth from the bottom. The Blue Jays as a team have the third-worst walk rate in baseball.) In the grand scheme of things, the difference between one and zero walks is negligible. But I love anything odd and unusual, and Sosa's long walk-less streak definitely fits into that category. It took him 38 games (excluding one in which he only appeared as a pinch-runner) to draw his first free pass. That's the longest such streak to start a season since Willians Astudillo in 2021, who didn't draw a walk until his 40th game of that year. It's also the longest walk-less streak to start a season in Blue Jays history, although that comes with an asterisk, since Sosa played his first 12 games of 2026 with the White Sox. The longest walk-less streak at any point in Blue Jays history belongs to Alfredo Griffin. The shortstop didn't walk at all in his final 56 games of the 1984 season. He was then traded to Oakland and spent the next seven seasons with the A's and Dodgers. When he returned to the Blue Jays in 1992, he appeared in another 10 games (with at least one PA) before he drew a walk, so technically, his walk-less streak with Toronto lasted an incredible 66 games – and almost eight years. For the sake of remembering guys, other Blue Jays with long walk-less streaks include Dámaso García, John McDonald, Darwin Barney, Tony Fernández, Pat Borders, and Garth Iorg. McDonald, one of my favourite remembersome guys, holds the team record for lowest walk rate in a season (min. 100). In 2009, the infielder walked just once in 156 trips to the plate, a 0.6% rate. Among hitters who played a more regular role, Griffin holds the record with a 0.9% walk rate over 442 PA in 1984. No other Blue Jay with even 300 PA in a season has ever finished with a walk rate under 2.0%. Turning back to Sosa, his walk-less streak actually extended several games back into 2025. From last September to this May, he went 175 PA without a base on balls. So, how does something like this happen? Are opposing pitchers so unafraid of Sosa that they only throw him pitches in the strike zone? Not at all. Sosa ranks third among all batters this season (min. 50 PA) in out-of-zone rate. Almost 60% of the pitches he's seen have been outside the zone, according to Statcast. The MLB average is 52.6%. The only two batters who have seen more out-of-zone pitches than Sosa are Moisés Ballesteros and Junior Caminero. And unlike those two, Sosa isn't a serious power threat. He just has really poor plate discipline, and, well, pitchers know it. The righty batter is one of only four hitters (min. 50 PA) with a chase rate over 50%. His opponents are taking advantage. Let me summarize. About 60% of the pitches Sosa gets are outside the strike zone. He has swung at just over half of them. That means 30% of all pitches opposing pitchers have thrown to Sosa have resulted in a swing on a pitch outside the zone. No wonder he never walks! It's hard to overstate how much good Sosa could do himself by just keeping the bat on his shoulder more often. It wouldn't work forever. Eventually, opposing pitchers would start challenging him in the zone. Temporarily, however, I think he should just try mentally flipping a coin. Heads, he swings; tails, he lays off. It might sound dumb, but we're talking about a guy with a .207 on-base percentage and a 32 wRC+ this season. Do you really think the coin flip approach would be any worse than whatever approach he's trying right now? I'll leave you with the sequence of pitches that led to Sosa's first (and who knows, maybe his only) walk of 2026: It was a garbage time plate appearance – the Jays were down six in the bottom of the ninth – but to his credit, Sosa worked back from an 0-2 hole. That said, all four balls from Marlins lefty Cade Gibson were so far outside that even you or I could have drawn the walk. Hopefully, that walk helped Sosa remember how nice it is to trot to first base unencumbered. (He got hit by his first pitch of the season the next day, but I'm sure he prefers reaching base without any searing pain.) The fact that he can bat right-handed and play multiple infield positions has kept him on the roster to this point, but the Blue Jays won't be willing to stomach his .207 OBP forever. View the full article

Transactions: Wisconsin Timber Rattlers activated SS Luis Pena from the 7-day injured list. Wisconsin Timber Rattlers transferred RHP Jose Nova to the Development List. OF Jesus Mancera assigned to DSL Brewers Gold RHP Manuel Davila assigned to DSL Brewers Blue Nashville pre-game media notes Final: Gwinnett (Braves) 5, Nashville 3 Box Score & Game Log Quinn Priester’s outing included 38 pitches, only 18 for strikes, five base runners and only two outs recorded. Priester’s ERA in Nashville now sits at 17.65 as memories of the pitcher who won 12 straight decisions for the Brewers last season seem very distant. Video highlights available via the Sounds game writeup include Jefferson Quero hitting his sixth home run of the year. Quero added a single as well, on the downside, all four Stripers that attempted to steal against him were successful. After beginning his season with ten scoreless outings and then hitting the injured list, Will Childers got back to putting up zeros in his second outing since returning to active duty. Childers will need to be added to the 40-man roster this coming winter, and his continued development could add yet more depth to the Brewers playoff push this season. Cooper Pratt and Jett Williams each had two strikeouts today and have slowed down a little of late, perhaps cooling talk of imminent callups to Milwaukee for the duo. Tyson Hardin will look for a third straight strong outing with the Sounds on Thursday, as he’s made the jump from AA look easy so far. Biloxi pre-game media notes Final, Game 1: Columbus (Braves) 2, Biloxi 1 Box Score & Game Log 1 Final, Game 2: Columbus 4, Biloxi 1 Box Score & Game Log 2 Two runs in two games. Not great. With Jesus Made out with an illness (not pulled for promotion) the Shuckers went a combined 0-15 with runners in scoring position across the two games. Dylan O’Rae managed two singles in each game raising his batting average to .319 with the 4-hit day, while building a five-game hit streak with four multi-hit games and 11 hits in his last 20 at-bats. After throwing 100 MPH on Saturday, Cameron Wagoner pitched two clean innings in the opener, striking out three without allowing a baserunner. In 10.1 innings pitched this season he has 14 strikeouts and one walk, albeit with four HBP. Darien Miller provided the other offensive bright spot on the day, hitting his eighth home run with a moonshot to right-center in the opener and drawing two walks in the second game. Brett Wichrowski will make the start for the Shuckers on Thursday. Wisconsin Pre-Game Media Notes (download link) Final, Game One: Peoria (Cardinals) 6, Wisconsin 0, seven innings as scheduled Box Score and Game Log Via the Timber Rattlers, game details: Chiefs Shut out Rattlers in Game One - Van Dyke and Sparks combine on two-hit shutout GIDP: Baez, J; Bitonti; Castillo, L; Peña; Ragsdale. Wow, as the game summary noted, five GIDP's in just seven innings. That's one way to limit the men left on base (official number was three). Note the media team did not include any of them in their highlight package, blessedly brief at just under two minutes: OF Braylon Payne has now missed a week's worth of action, having last played on Thursday the 21st. We await formal word on his absence. Payne was the lone position player to not see action in either game. Luis Pena returned to the Timber Rattlers lineup as the designated hitter after a scorching three-game stint in Maryvale. He walked once, in the first of his three plate appearances. After being a GIDP victim, he lined out to short in his final at-bat. Pena would not play in Game Two, understandably. Eric Bitonti's missed catch was his first error of the season in 38 games (36 at first base, two at third base). Andrew Fischer reached base twice (BB, HBP), as did Daniel Dickinson (double, BB), though Dickinson was immediately thrown out attempting to steal third base after his leadoff two-bagger in the 2nd. That broke the don't make the first out at third base rule. That became painful when Luis Castillo lined a single as the next batter, and yes, those two back-to-back knocks represented the entirety of Wisconsin base hits in this opener. After his rude three-run 5th inning introduction to the Midwest League, just-promoted RHP Tanner Perry settled in for two additional innings in which only one man reached (HBP). *** Final, Game Two: Wisconsin 12, Peoria 7, seven innings as scheduled Box Score and Game Log Via the Timber Rattlers, game details: Rattlers Score Twelve to Earn Split in Doubleheader - Wisconsin scores six in first to bounce back from game one loss The nearly 5,000 in attendance (4,864) were rewarded for their patience, and as the game summary title notes, didn't have to wait long. As you'd imagine, the 19 combined runs produced a much lengthier highlight package: It's been a minute since we got to enjoy a Postgame Podcast, so the combined video and pod give you a nearly 30-minute feast of catching up with this club. Postgame Podcast with Manager Nick Stanley, infielder Juan Baez and RHP Garrett Hodges Yes, Marco Dinges has not seen action behind the plate in two and a half weeks, as he singled and walked in the designated hitter spot here after sitting out Game One. We now know what Dinges has been dealing with, but it's promising that the injury has not fully sidelined him and allowed him to swing the bat. Within your box score review, you'll see that all nine T-Rats reached base, and that the one player not to have a base hit, SS Luiyin Alastre, contributed with a walk and sacrifice fly. Left fielder Josh Adamczewski (double, single, walk) and first baseman Tayden Hall (two singles, walk) led the way among the seven Wisconsin batters to reach base multiple times, impressive when one considers that the team only had six innings as the home team to put together their stat lines. Be sure to review that Game Two summary for a more thorough breakdown of the game log. The mound efforts in the nightcap (afternooncap?) were a mixed bag - starter Braylon Owens did not issue a free pass over four innings but surrendered five runs. Fellow righty Quinton Low struck out three in his lone inning and was credited with the win, even though his elevated ERA took another hit with two runs allowed. Garrett Hodges earned the save despite the five-run final margin because his effort in the 6th inning came when the lead was only two runs. Wilson pre-game media notes Final: Myrtle Beach (Cubs) 6, Wilson 2 Box Score & Game Log Jayden Dubanewicz had an uneven but successful start. In his fifth outing of the season Dubanewicz pitched three innings, surrendering only two hits, while striking out three and not giving up any runs, however, he did walk four batters. Prior to this game he had 3 total walks in his first 4 games. Last week’s Carolina League Player of the week, Brady Ebel, went 1-4 with a walk and extended his hitting streak to 11 games. Leading off Handelfry Encarnacion went 2-4 with a walk and his ninth steal of the season. Venezuelan 2024 international signee, Enderson Mercado will make his sixth start of the season on Thursday. Final: ACL Royals 6, ACL Brewers 2 Box Score & Game Log Alexander Frias had three more hits raising his average to an Arizona Complex League leading .434. The 18-year-old supreme athlete had singles of 103.2 and 99.9 MPH in the game. 2025 19th round draft pick and $750K overslot bonus signee, Chase Bentley, struck out five over four innings, but gave up two home runs in his fourth professional outing. Rehabbing Luke Adams was hitless in three at-bats. Also rehabbing, Griffin Tobias threw 32 pitches, 23 for strikes, giving up two runs (1 ER), three hits allowed and one strikeout. Kenny Fenelon and Brailyn Antunez each had a hit, with Antunez’s hit a triple. Preview Thursday's action, five games in all, below. Organizational Scoreboard including starting pitcher info, game times, MiLB TV links, and box scores Arizona Complex League Scoreboard Current Milwaukee Brewers Organization Batting Stats and Depth Current Milwaukee Brewers Organization Pitching Stats and Depth View the full article

Nick Solak's homer binge continued as Triple-A El Paso beat Albuquerque 8-5. Ryan Wideman was one of three players with three hits and he also stole two more bases in Low-A Lake Elsinore's 10-4 triumph over Inland Empire. Ian Koenig struck out seven over five innings in Double-A San Antonio's 11-3 loss. High-A Fort Wayne fell 13-5 despite drawing 11 walks. Padres Minor-League Transactions El Paso Chihuahuas activated OF Pablo Reyes from the temporarily inactive list. El Paso Chihuahuas transferred 2B Nate Mondou to the Development List. San Antonio Missions released 1B Leandro Cedeno. Nick Solak Stays Hot With 4th HR In 5 Games As Chihuahuas Win Nick Solak's torrid streak continued with his fourth homer in five games and his fourth straight two-hit game as the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas notched an 8-5 victory over the host Albuquerque Isotopes. Nick Schnell also homered, had two hits and two RBIs, while Mason McCoy went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored. Jase Bowen and Pablo Reyes had two hits apiece. Trailing 1-0, Schnell led off the top of the third inning with his eighth homer of the season. Two outs and a walk later, Solak lined his sixth homer of the season down the left-field line for a 3-1 advantage and his second homer in as many days. In the fourth, Schnell had a two-run single to extend the lead to 5-1, while McCoy added an RBI single in the fifth to go up 6-1. After the Isotopes pulled within 6-4, Carlos Rodriguez and Bowen drove in runs for an 8-4 cushion. Chihuahuas left-hander Jackson Wolf went 5⅓ innings, giving up four runs on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts. EP_0527.mp4 Player AB R H RBI BB K Pablo Reyes 5 1 2 0 1 0 Carlos Rodriguez 4 1 1 1 1 0 Nick Solak 5 2 2 2 0 1 Jase Bowen 5 0 2 1 0 0 Will Wagner 4 1 1 0 1 0 Mason McCoy 5 1 3 1 0 0 Clay Dungan 4 0 0 0 0 3 Nick Schnell 3 1 2 2 0 1 Samad Taylor 1 1 1 0 1 0 Anthony Vilar 5 0 2 0 0 2 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Jackson Wolf 5 1/3 7 4 4 2 2 1 Garrett Hawkins 2/3 1 0 0 0 2 0 Kyle Hart 2 1 0 0 1 1 0 David Morgan 1 1 1 1 0 2 1 Missions' Bullpen Can't Slow Down Hooks The host Double-A San Antonio Missions' bullpen gave up eight runs in an 11-3 loss to the Corpus Christi Hooks. Missions right-handed starter Ian Koenig struck out seven and allowed three runs over five innings, but his solid outing was spoiled by the bullpen. He gave up seven hits and two walks. Luis Verdugo reached back four times with two hits and a pair of walks, while Carson Tucker also had two of the Missions' six hits and drove in a pair of runs. Corpus Christi jumped out to an early lead, with two runs in the first and another in the third. Tucker had an RBI single in the fifth, but the Hooks came back with a run in the sixth and two more in the seventh for a 6-1 lead. Tucker had an RBI double in the bottom of the seventh and another run scored on a wild pitch to pull the Missions within 6-3. But the Hooks cemented the outcome with five runs in the ninth, including an error. SA_0527.mp4 Player AB R H RBI BB K Carson Tucker 4 0 2 2 1 0 Kai Murphy 5 0 0 0 0 1 Romeo Sanabria 4 0 0 0 0 2 Tirso Ornelas 4 0 0 0 0 1 Braedon Karpathios 4 0 1 0 0 2 Ryan Jackson 3 1 1 0 0 1 Albert Fabian 3 0 0 0 1 2 Luis Verdugo 2 1 2 0 2 0 Chris Sargent 2 0 0 0 0 1 Ethan Salas 0 1 0 0 0 0 Jake Bold 1 0 0 0 0 0 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Ian Koenig 5 7 3 3 2 7 1 Clark Candiotti 2/3 0 1 1 1 2 0 Johan Moreno 1/3 1 0 0 0 0 0 Andrew Dalquist 1 1 2 2 3 2 0 Andrew Thurman 2 3 5 3 1 3 0 TinCaps' 11 Walks Not Enough In Blowout Loss To Cubs Despite drawing a club-record 11 walks, the High-A Fort Wayne TinCaps couldn't put together the hits to keep pace with the host South Bend Cubs in a 13-5 loss. Jack Costello drew a career-high four walks for the TinCaps, who scored four times in the eighth inning without a hit thanks to five free passes, a wild pitch and an error. TinCaps right-handed starter Maikel Miralles was lit up for seven runs on seven hits in 2⅔ innings, including a five-run third inning. Kasen Wells had two of the TinCaps' six hits, while Lamar King Jr. and Alex McCoy had back-to-back doubles in the top of the third inning, with McCoy, Padres Mission's No. 12 prospect, driving in King, Padres Mission's No. 10 prospect. It was McCoy's Midwest League-leading 17th double this year. FW_0527.mp4 Player AB R H RBI BB K Justin DeCriscio 4 1 1 0 1 0 Kasen Wells 4 0 2 0 1 0 Lamar King Jr. 3 1 1 0 2 1 Alex McCoy 4 0 1 2 1 1 Jake Cunningham 4 1 0 0 1 2 Kavares Tears 5 0 1 0 0 1 Jack Costello 1 1 0 0 4 1 Oswaldo Linares 3 1 0 0 1 0 Jonathan Vastine 4 0 0 1 0 1 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Maikel Miralles 2 2/3 7 7 7 2 0 0 Will Varmette 1 1/3 3 2 2 0 1 0 Ty Adcock 1 3 4 4 1 2 1 C.J. Widger 2 1 0 0 0 3 0 Jeferson Villabona 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 Trio Has Trio Of Hits, Storm Explode For 8-Run Fifth In Victory Ryan Wideman had three hits and two more stolen bases, while Jose Verdugo and Yoiber Ocopio also had three hits as the Low-A Lake Elsinore Storm used an eight-run fifth inning to surge past the Inland Empire 66ers. Wideman, Padres Mission's No. 5 prospect, stole third base twice to retain the minor-league lead with 35 stolen bases. Wideman, Verdugo and Ocopio also scored two runs each. Storm right-handed starter Jesus Castro struck out five over four innings, allowing three runs on six hits with no walks. Right-hander Brandon Langley struck out five in two hitless innings, while left-hander Joseph Herrera pitched a perfect seventh, left-hander Cal Riehl a scoreless eighth and right-hander Sean Barnett allowed a run while striking out a pair in the ninth. The Storm trailed 3-1 when they sent 12 batters to the plate in the fifth. Ocopio singled and Conner Westenburg drew a one-out walk. Wideman doubled home Ocopio before Westenburg and Wideman pulled off a double steal of home and third to tie the game. Verdugo followed with a go-ahead RBI single. Bradley Frye singled Verdugo to third and took second on a throwing error. Yimy Tovar reached on an error that brought in the fifth run of the inning and 6-3 lead. After a pitching change, Jorge Quintana walked and Ocopio, batting for the second time in the inning, doubled home two runs. Qrey Lott was hit by a pitch and Westernburg singled home Ocopio, but Lott was thrown out at the plate to end the inning. Kerrington Cross added an RBI single in the eighth. LE_0527.mp4 Player AB R H RBI BB K Ryan Wideman 5 2 3 1 0 0 Kerrington Cross 5 0 1 1 0 1 Jose Verdugo 5 2 3 1 0 2 Bradley Frye 4 1 1 0 0 2 Yimy Tovar 4 1 0 0 0 2 Jorge Quintana 3 1 1 0 1 2 Yoiber Ocopio 4 2 3 2 0 0 Qrey Lott 3 0 1 0 0 0 Conner Westenburg 3 1 1 1 1 0 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Jesus A. Castro 4 6 3 3 0 5 0 Brandon Langley 2 0 0 0 0 5 0 Joseph Herrera 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Cal Riehl 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Sean Barnett 1 2 1 1 2 2 0 Top 20 Prospect Performance Ethan Salas: 0-for-0, R, reached on catcher interference Kash Mayfield: DNP Miguel Mendez: DNP Kruz Schoolcraft: DNP Ryan Wideman: 3-for-5, 2B, RBI, 2 SB Jorge Quintana: 1-for-3, BB, 2 K Ty Harvey: Injured list Kale Fountain: Injured, out for season Braedon Karpathios: 1-for-4, 2 K Lamar King Jr.: 1-for-3, 2B, 2 BB, K Jagger Haynes: DNP Alex McCoy: 1-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, K Truitt Madonna: DNP Tucker Musgrove: DNP Garrett Hawkins: ⅔ IP, H, 0 R, 2 K Michael Salina: DNP Eric Yost: DNP Rosman Verdugo: DNP Bryan Balzer: DNP Deivid Coronil: DNP View the full article