DiamondCentric

MLB players are so good at catching subtle ticks and movements in opponents. If a pitcher changes anything about their approach throughout a start, hitters will notice and take advantage, leading to a phenomenon known as "pitch tipping." German Marquez had an awful debut with San Diego Padres, and when things don't go right as the No. 5 starter, fans start to bring out the biting criticism and want to move on to another option. But there appears to be a simple explanation for that poor showing: The right-hander was tipping pitches. That was what came out of the post-game report of his March 31 outing vs. the San Francisco Giants in which he allowed four runs on four hits and one walk with one strikeout in just three innings. He needed 65 pitches, 41 of which were strikes, to get those nine outs and the Padres lost 9-3 to a Giants offense that has otherwise been scuffling. On Monday, following a review of the game film and counseling from Padres pitching guru Ruben Niebla, Marquez was a different pitcher. The veteran right-hander tossed five scoreless innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 5-0 victory. He yielded six hits and one walk, while striking out four. Of his 92 pitches, 56 went for strikes to pick up the win, his first after 12 consecutive winless starts. In addition to hiding whatever he was doing to that tipped off Giants hitters what he was throwing, Marquez also mixed up his repertoire in the Pirates game. After relying more on his four-seamer against the Giants (46%), Marquez threw his trademark knuckle curve most often vs. the Pirates (41%). His four-seamer was close behind at 38%. His sinker usage (15%) was the same in both games, while he mixed in a few sliders in the Pirates start after shelving it vs. the Giants. The velocity was almost identical on his top three pitches, with the one changeup he threw in vs. the Pirates 2.3 mph faster than the one he threw to the Giants. The reliability of his pitches also helped him wiggle out of trouble in three of his five innings. The Pirates outing was important for Marquez, but not just to stave off the pitchforks being wielded by fans on social media. The 31-year-old signed with the Padres at the beginning of spring training for a scant $1.75 million. That was his market value following a 2025 campaign in which he had a 5.47 FIP, the highest of his career in which he made multiple starts in a season. That performance came in a 26-start sample, after making just one in 2024 in a return from a 2023 Tommy John surgery. His 2025 was limited a bit due to tendinitis in his right bicep. Thus, it's not a stretch to say he's apparently healthy for the first time since 2023. Last year, Marquez used his four-seamer 35% of the time, his knuckle curve 32%, the sinker 20%, slider 11% and changeup 2%, with the velocities in the ballpark of what they are this year. So if you can come to any determinations after two starts (hint: you can't), it would seem that the slider has been put on the back burner. But his confidence has to be restored at least somewhat following Monday. His rocky opener followed a spring training in which he allowed 13 runs in 16⅓ innings, walking seven and striking out 23. It also comes at an opportune time. Marquez has spent his entire career in the NL West, but his first 10 seasons came with the Colorado Rockies. The 2021 NL All-Star, who owns a career FIP of 4.21, is set to face his old club in his start Saturday when the Rockies visit Petco Park for four games this weekend. That is certainly bound to be an emotional outing for someone with 200 starts under his belt for that franchise. View the full article

It's a Friday, 1:20 start at Wrigley Field, the outfield ivy has yet to grow in, showing its exposed brick. Scanning your surroundings, you look around, your eyes greeted by thousands of jerseys of red, white, and blue, with the number "4" on the back. The Chicago Cubs' young, would-be superstar has started to capture the imaginations of supporters of North Side baseball in a way few others have since the curse-breaking 2016 squad still reigned over Wrigleyville. Though he's not yet cemented himself as one of the current greats of the game, or certainly the franchise, Pete Crow-Armstrong has not only the raw potential but also the attitude to forge a Cubs legacy unlike any other. There is a distinct line of delineation between the kind of player Crow-Armstrong is now and superstardom. In fact, our very own Matt Trueblood recently penned a terrific piece centered around what that line looks like. In the piece, Trueblood delves into the aggressive free-swinging nature of Crow-Armstrong, citing that, across all levels of competition the center fieldeer has faced so far in 2026, he has swung at 55.3% of the pitches he's seen. Accounting for the absence of a World Baseball Classic in 2025, that figure is down from 60% a year ago. Crow-Armstrong is a hyper-aggressive swinger who understands the value of jumping all over the opposition early and often. He became a 30/30 player because of his readiness and all-around approach in each at-bat. He's a player with unexpected power and an insatiable obsession with inflicting pain on the opposition. Those pain-inflicting results haven't quite come in 2026 just yet, nor have they for any of the squad's biggest boppers. The combined batting average of the Cubs' regular top four in the lineup, consisting of Ian Happ, Michael Busch, Alex Bregman, and Crow-Armstrong, is just .194 ten games into the season. One could both hope for and count on that alarming figure ticking up in the near future. And Crow-Armstrong's inevitable breakout will likely be the catalyst that changes everything. Crow-Armstrong fits the identity and tenor of this team and city because he never wants to fall short. His talent is matched by his intensity, and it often manifests in the pure emotion he spills out onto the field. Recently, in a win against the Angels, Ian Happ and Alex Bregman sent back-to-back homers into the iconic Wrigley bleachers. Then, it was Crow-Armstrong's turn. He yearned so badly to make it three in a row that he nearly swung out of his cleats at the first pitch he saw. No, he didn't go yard, but the intent with which he plays, and his love for the team and the city from which they hail, make him the most important player in Cubby pinstripes. Since the 2021 exodus of Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, and Javier Baez, the Chicago Cubs have felt more like a collection of players, rather than a cohesive core team with one collective mission, until now. When Cody Bellinger was a Cub, the city desperately wanted to ignite a love affair with the enigmatic power lefty. The only trouble was, he didn't reciprocate that desire. Bellinger's time in Wrigleyville was spent with one eye on his bank account and the other on the next best thing. It never really felt like he was the leader of the next wave of Chicago legends. With his endearing personality, famous approachability, and competitive edge, Crow-Armstrong couldn't be farther from Bellinger's archetype. Along with his fellow extended teammate, Nico Hoerner, Crow-Armstrong embraces the role of being a Chicagoan, and in reality, lives a lifestyle that citizens from all corners of Cook County would pine for. Without overstepping my bounds here, Crow-Armstrong and Hoerner have at least the blueprint to become the best offensive tandem at Wrigley since "Bryzzo". Debate that idea all you want, but the top brass wanted Crow-Armstrong here for a reason. Perhaps, the crux of that reason is that Jed Hoyer, Carter Hawkins, and the rest of the front office in Chicago knew that he was the face of this squad's new core. This team, as it stands, possesses the foundation to make a run at the World Series. If that dream should be realized, Crow-Armstrong will lead them to that end. View the full article

The Cubs had seen some arm injuries early this season, but then the season-shaking news happened: Cade Horton will have season-ending surgery. Mitch and Jason break down what it means for the Cubs, and what options they have in its wake. Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-north-side-baseball-podcast/id1798599313 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/75wMGhBwlrDDYPt3kaF453 Listen on iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-the-north-side-baseball-po-268998437/ Listen on Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/eey7h6ih Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@northsidebaseball View the full article

The way it happened was excruciating. Jacob Misiorowski was cruising, overpowering Red Sox batters and (if anything) outpitching fellow Cy Young Award candidate Garrett Crochet. When he lost control in the sixth inning, though, it was simply gone; he couldn't find his release point again. Normally, with the bases loaded but the game still scoreless when Misiorowski departed, Pat Murphy would have gone to one of his most trusted relievers, but plainly, the plan on Tuesday night was to give back a bit to the baseball gods. Murphy has used Aaron Ashby, Abner Uribe, Trevor Megill, Ángel Zerpa and Grant Anderson as heavily as anyone involved is comfortable with, this spring—if not more than that. He needed to let them each get a day off Tuesday night, so in a high-leverage spot that might normally have called for Ashby or Zerpa, Murphy went to DL Hall. Unfortunately, Hall let all three runners Misiorowski had bequeathed come home, which turned out to be decisive. Even in defeat, the Brewers offense was delightfully tenacious. They chased Crochet from the game in the very next half-inning, and patched together a two-run rally made up of two singles, a walk, a hit batsman and an RBI fielder's choice. They couldn't quite cash in their chance, though, and it turned out to be their last one. That raises the other reason (besides Murphy's desire to give his relievers some relief) why Boston had the upper hand on the Crew in this game: Crochet, and the lineup the visitors were forced to field against him. Murphy used the occasion (a top-flight lefty starter who's especially tough on lefties) to give both Brice Turang and Christian Yelich a rest. That part's fine. It was necessary, and didn't deprive the club of anyone who was likely to do much against Crochet. The real problem is that, with Jackson Chourio and Andrew Vaughn on the injured list, this team is not as dangerous against lefties as it would be at full strength. William Contreras is a legitimate star slugger, and can mash lefties when he's going well. With Chourio and Vaughn sidelined, though, Murphy wrote in Brandon Lockridge as his leadoff man Tuesday night, and placed Joey Ortiz fifth on the card. Those guys are fine complementary players, especially against lefties. They have athleticism and defensive value, as well as the platoon advantage on southpaws. Pressed into what were essentially the third- and fourth-most important roles in the offense, though, they were a bit stretched. The bottom third of the order included Sal Frelick, Blake Perkins and David Hamilton. Though Frelick is a full-time player, the three of them weren't in the lineup because Murphy thinks they're good matchups for the likes of Crochet. They weren't even there for their defense, per se. It was just the right night for Muprhy to give two regulars a night off, in addition to staying away from his highest-volume relievers. Winning that game was unlikely, and the way Murphy managed it didn't make it more likely. That wasn't his goal. 'Win Tonight' is a wonderful and massively successful paradigm. Murphy has made the Brewers the envy of every other team in the league with it. However, he's also learning to notice when the time is right to accept a loss. No team in baseball history has won more than 116 games in a regular season. Trying to be the first team to reach 120 is not only impractical; it's self-defeating. More even than in the NBA, in baseball, one has to occasionally accept a loss, to make wins on other days more likely. The Brewers are 8-3. They're off to a sizzling start. They just can't afford—especially now, while two of their best hitters are down and some of their pitchers are still getting up to speed—to try so relentlessly to win every game that they risk hurting their chances to keep winning over the long haul. View the full article

The biggest positive development for the Marlins during the early portion of the 2026 season has been Sandy Alcantara looking like the best pitcher on the planet. A berth in the MLB postseason is a lot more viable if Alcantara continues to put the team on his back every fifth day. However, the future of Miami's starting rotation is in flux. The club only has its former Cy Young Award winner under contract through 2027, and extending him again probably won't be in the Marlins' budget if this dominance sustains. Fortunately, the Marlins have a young stud with comparable upside in right-hander Eury Pérez. Still a week shy of his 23rd birthday, the former top prospect hasn't yet performed like an ace—in fact, since returning from Tommy John surgery last June, his production is approximately league average (97 ERA+). On the other hand, that may make him receptive to a long-term deal at a reasonable price. Pérez is on track to become arbitration-eligible for the first time next winter and enter free agency after the 2029 season. For the Marlins to extend their next contention window beyond that, signing Pérez to a deal that covers more of his prime years is imperative. It is rare for teams to make long-term commitments to players in this demographic. A couple pre-arb pitchers who have received extensions recently are Hunter Greene (Cincinnati Reds) and Spencer Strider (Atlanta Braves). Greene signed his deal on April 18, 2023. The Reds guaranteed $53M for his entire 20s, buying out his arbitration years and potentially two years of free agency if the 2029 club option is exercised. Strider owns the record for largest payday for a pre-arb pitcher. Coming off an electrifying rookie season in 2022, his six-year deal was worth $75M. The structure of Strider's extension was more backloaded than Greene's. In Pérez's case, I would attempt to buy out an additional free agent year. As seen below, this deal would run through 2032, with that row highlighted in light blue representing a club option. He would edge out Strider by receiving $76.5M guaranteed, with a maximum value of $102.5M if the Marlins pick up his option. This would be the longest pitching contract in franchise history and the first player extension of any kind since Peter Bendix took over as president of baseball operations. Season Age Base Salary 2026—Pre-Arb 23 $2.0M 2027—Arb1 24 $5.0M 2028—Arb2 25 $10.5M 2029—Arb3 26 $15.0M 2030—FA 27 $22.0M 2031—FA 28 $22.0M 2032—FA 29 $26.0M Total $102.5M Eury Pérez considers Sandy Alcantara to be a friend and a mentor. Ideally, they'll co-lead the Marlins rotation for years to come. If the resources aren't there to keep both, extending Pérez should be the priority. View the full article

Twins System Recap: Tonight's minor league action included a couple of nice pitching performances from under-the-radar arms and a big game from a once highly-touted bat. Mike Paredes is in his sixth year in the org, and he's done nothing but deliver quality innings. He struck out seven batters over four innings in a spot start for Wichita. Eli Jones, 2024 seventh-round pick, backed up an impressive first outing of 2026 with five frames of one-run ball. Eduardo Beltre, who was a big signing in the 2024 international class, hit a homer and drove in three runs in a Fort Myers extra-inning victory. View the full article

It's not often that a team can say it got the better of the Tampa Bay Rays in a trade. Around baseball, that front office has built a reputation for being a step ahead; squeezing value out of every move; and rarely, if ever, coming out on the losing end of a deal. Yet, the Minnesota Twins may have done it not once, but twice in a span of four years. Back at the 2021 trade deadline, the Twins were staring down a lost season and made the decision to move on from franchise icon Nelson Cruz. In return, they acquired a relatively under-the-radar pitching prospect in Joe Ryan. At the time, Ryan was intriguing, but far from a sure thing—more of a fringe top-100 prospect than a headline return. What followed could not have gone better for Minnesota. Cruz struggled to make a significant impact in Tampa Bay, while Ryan quickly blossomed into an anchor of the Twins' rotation. Now in his fifth full season, Ryan has posted a 3.80 ERA, a 110 ERA+, earned an All-Star appearance, and taken the ball as Opening Day starter twice, all while providing surplus value on a team-friendly salary that has helped the Twins build out the rest of their roster. That deal alone would be enough to raise eyebrows. Putting one over on the Rays is rare. Doing it in convincing fashion is even rarer. The assumption across the league is that if Tampa Bay is calling, you should proceed with caution. More often than not, they're the ones spotting something others have missed. So when the two clubs linked up again at the 2025 trade deadline, it was fair to wonder if lightning could really strike twice. This time, the Twins sent high-octane reliever Griffin Jax to Tampa Bay in exchange for former top prospect Taj Bradley. Unlike the Cruz deal, this one surrendered long-term value. Jax was not a rental. He still had two and a half years of team control remaining and had been one of the most dominant relievers in the American League. Bradley, meanwhile, was no longer a prospect, but not yet a finished product, either. Across parts of three seasons with the Rays, he had flashed electric stuff, but struggled to put it all together, posting a 4.70 ERA over more than 350 innings. Still, the Twins saw something. Bradley was only 24 years old, armed with elite velocity and bat-missing ability. On a team headed nowhere in 2025, the value of a high-leverage reliever like Jax was diminished. Turning that into a controllable starting pitcher with upside fitted into the bigger picture. Early on, it looks like that bet is paying off in a big way. Bradley showed flashes late last season after arriving in Minnesota, but the real buzz began during spring training. Reports out of camp suggested that something had clicked. Bradley even withdrew from pitching for Team Mexico in the World Baseball Classic to stay with the Twins and continue his buildup for the season. That decision is already looking like a wise one. Through his first three starts of 2026, Bradley has been dominant. He's allowed just two runs over 16 2/3 innings while striking out 22 hitters. His latest outing came at Target Field against two-time defending American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal, and Bradley more than held his own. He worked 6 1/3 innings, allowed just one run, and struck out 10, consistently overpowering hitters and generating nine swings and misses. He's already touched 100 MPH multiple times and now owns the fastest pitch recorded by a Twins starting pitcher in the pitch-tracking era. There's a different look to Bradley now. The raw stuff was always there, but the Twins appear to have helped him refine it, harness it, and elevate it. At 24 years old, there is still room for growth, which makes the early results even more exciting. On the other side of the deal, the early returns have been rough for Jax. In his first four appearances of 2026, he's allowed five earned runs and carries an 11.25 ERA, along with a -0.97 Win Probability Added mark that ranks third-worst in the league. It's a very small sample, and Jax has a track record that suggests he will settle in, but the contrast in early performance only adds fuel to the narrative. None of this is to say the book is written on this trade. Baseball has a way of humbling early conclusions, and both players will have plenty of time to shape how this deal is ultimately viewed. But in the early going, the Twins look like they may have identified and unlocked something the Rays were willing to move on from. For an organization like Tampa Bay, that almost never happens. And if Bradley continues on this trajectory, the Twins may once again be able to say they got the better of one of the smartest teams in baseball. What do you think? Have the Twins pulled off another fleece, or is it too early to make that call? View the full article

Major League bullpens can be volatile entities, and the Kansas City Royals' bullpen is no exception. In 2024, the Royals' bullpen ranked 20th in ERA and 17th in fWAR. Last year, they ranked 7th in ERA and 14th in fWAR. Two years ago, many Royals fans felt that the Royals' bullpen was an area of weakness, especially before Lucas Erceg arrived at the Trade Deadline. Last year, it was seen as a strength, especially with Carlos Estevez being the second Royals reliever in franchise history to lead the league in saves (Dan Quisenberry being the other). This year, it's not been the greatest start, much to the chagrin of Royals fans and management. Through 11 games, the Royals rank 26th in bullpen ERA (6.17) and are tied for 25th in reliever fWAR (-0.5). In terms of the former, the Nationals, Diamondbacks, Astros, and Rays have been worse in reliever ERA. Regarding the latter, they are tied with the Rays and Cardinals. The biggest regression from 2025 with this group has been BB/9. After ranking 4th in BB/9 as a bullpen last year with a 3.15 mark, they rank 27th with a 5.91 BB/9. That has contributed not only to their high reliever ERA but also to their WHIP (1.63, which ranks 20th). While the Royals' bullpen hasn't been the sole reason for the Royals' 5-6 record this season, it certainly hasn't helped. Kansas City's bullpen has allowed two walk-off victories, including today in Cleveland. The numbers haven't been good, which begs Royals fans to ask the question: Is this bullpen something to panic about? Or are the Royals just going through a tough stretch and are due for positive regression soon? Let's break down the positives and negatives of the Royals' bullpen and what to look for with this group going forward in 2026, using TJ Stats data and charts. Strahm, Schreiber, and Erceg Off to Rough Starts The Royals lost Estevez to the IL early in the season. The Dominican-born closer only made one appearance before being hit by a line drive in the foot and going on the IL due to a foot contusion. That said, there were concerns about his velocity this offseason, so going on the IL and a possible rehab assignment could help him get back to where he was a season ago in terms of velocity and stuff (his Statcast percentiles after one outing were NOT impressive, to put it kindly). That said, while Estevez's early IL stint was concerning, it seemed like the back of the Royals' bullpen was in good hands. Not only did Erceg and John Schreiber return (they both pitched in high-leverage situations in 2024 and 2025), but they also welcomed Matt Strahm from the Phillies. Strahm thrived in Philadelphia as a setup man and fireman, and it seemed like he would serve in a similar role in Kansas City in 2026. Unfortunately, the results haven't been great so far for the bullpen trio. Here's how the three relievers have fared thus far in 2026 with the Royals. Erceg: 3.86 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 16.7% K%, 11.1% BB%, 5.6% K-BB% in 4.2 IP. Strahm: 5.79 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 23.8% K%, 9.5% BB%, 14.3% K-BB% in 4.2 IP. Schreiber: 6.23 ERA, 2.31 WHIP, 11.1% K%, 22.2% BB%, -11.1 K-BB% in 4.1 IP. Erceg has performed the best of the three relievers, as his ERA is under four. However, he's struggled to strike out batters, and he isn't generating much chase or whiffs either, as seen below via his TJ Stats Statcast percentiles. Erceg ranks in the fourth percentile in whiff rate, first percentile in CSW%, and 32nd percentile in O-Swing%. That's not what one wants to see from someone pitching in high-leverage situations. On a positive note, his fastball velocity ranks in the 92nd percentile, as does his hard-hit allowed. He is also generating a 53.8% GB%, which ranks in the 75th percentile, and his average exit velocity also ranks in that percentile as well Thus, the former Athletics reliever is doing a lot of things right. His TJ Stuff+ has also been above average, with an overall mark of 103, which ranks in the 66th percentile. That said, Erceg needs to find a way to generate more strikeouts, as he posted a 19.3% K rate last season. In 2024, with the Athletics and Royals, he had a 28.5% K%. As for Strahm, he started strong, but he's struggled in recent outings, which is why his ERA is inflated at 5.79. However, some of his Statcast percentiles suggest he may be due for a bounce-back soon, as illustrated below by TJ Stats. Strahm's 30.3% CSW% ranks in the 63rd percentile, and his .235 xwOBA not only ranks in the 85th percentile but is 106 points lower than his actual wOBA. He also has a hard-hit rate allowed 38.5%, which ranks in the 60th percentile. Thus, he hasn't been a total disaster, though the ERA may suggest that. There are concerns with Strahm that still have to be taken into consideration. His 100 overall TJ Stuff+ ranks in the 36th percentile, his fastball velocity is poor (5th percentile), and his extension is lackluster (31st percentile). He still generates a decent amount of whiff (25%, 44th percentile) despite his lack of elite stuff or velocity. However, his pull% allowed is 53.8%. It's never been above 40% since 2021, so one has to wonder if he's tipping hitters off to begin the year, since they are pulling the ball on him so much. The most concerning reliever has been Schreiber, who has looked like a shell of his 2024 and 2025 self. He's been a favorite of Matt Quatraro, especially in crucial spots. Since 2024, he has been tied for fourth in gmLI, which measures the leverage index at the start of an appearance. His 1.51 mark is tied with James McArthur, and he trailed only Estevez (1.81), Erceg (1.70), and Hunter Harvey (1.53). Despite confidence in Schreiber, he has been poor at the beginning of 2026. That is demonstrated not only in his lackluster ERA and K-BB%, but also in his Statcast percentiles below. As Royals fans can see, not a lot has gone right for Schreiber in terms of Statcast data. His hard-hit rate allowed ranks in the 30th percentile, his average EV allowed ranks in the 23rd percentile (as does his TJ Stuff+), his O-Swing% and CSW% rank in the 7th percentile, and his wiff rate ranks in the 1st percentile. Thus, it's not a surprise that the results have been so poor for Schreiber at this point in the season. It's still early, but while Strahm and Erceg have shown promise in some categories in their Statcast summary profiles, the same can't be said for Schreiber. His stuff and batted-ball profile are not trending in the right direction. Schreiber's sweeper, sinker, and changeup all have TJ Stuff+ marks of 102 or higher. However, his four-seamer and cutter have TJ Stuff+ marks of 94 and 93, respectively. It will be tough for Schreiber to be successful as a high-leverage reliever with two of his main pitches being such poor offerings, stuff-wise. Mears and Lynch IV Showing Promise While the Royals haven't gotten great results from those expected to command high-leverage innings this year, they have seen some interesting growth from two relievers who could be ready for more innings in pressure situations. Those two relievers are newcomer Nick Mears and lefty Daniel Lynch IV. Mears came over in the Angel Zerpa deal and has succeeded as a middle-innings reliever capable of pitching in medium-leverage situations. His 1.04 gmLI ranks fourth behind Estevez (1.81), Erceg (1.23), and Strahm (1.21), according to Fangraphs. Despite not being a high-leverage guy, he has produced stellar results. He has a 0.00 ERA, a 0.80 WHIP, and 21.4% K% in 5 IP. His Statcast percentiles have been a little bit mixed, though he has particularly excelled in limiting hard contact, as illustrated in his TJ Stats summary below. Mears hasn't allowed a barrel, and his average exit velocity allowed on batted balls ranks in the 70th percentile (86.6 MPH). He also has a 70% GB%, which is encouraging to see from a middle-innings reliever who can come in with men on base. Mears can take advantage of the stellar infield defense behind him (the Royals rank 5th in infielder Fielding Run Value). The main concern with Mears is that his profile is similar to Erceg: the stuff is decent (101 overall TJ Stuff+), but he doesn't generate a whole lot of whiff (15th percentile), CSW% (24th percentile), or chase (24th percentile O-Swing%). Thus, while Mears has been good, Quatraro may be hesitant to bring him in until he can show more effectiveness when it comes to generating chases, whiffs, and ultimately, strikeouts. On the lefty end, Lynch IV has stepped up and been the most valuable lefty reliever so far, which says something with Strahm in this bullpen. In four innings of work, Lynch has a 2.25 ERA, a 2.43 FIP, a 1.25 WHIP, and 16.7% K-BB% (fueled by a 33.3% K%). When it comes to his TJ Stats Statcast summary, the former Virginia lefty has thrived by generating strikes, minimizing barrels, and average exit velocity on batted balls so far this season. Not only does Lynch rank in the 86th percentile in xwOBA, 83rd percentile in K%, and 71st percentile in whiff%, but he also ranks in the 100th percentile in barrel rate allowed and 78th percentile in average EV allowed. That shows Lynch doesn't rely solely on whiffs to be successful. He can allow contact and keep the ball in the yard, which is needed from a reliever in certain situations. The main concern with Lynch is that control has been somewhat sporadic. His zone rate ranks in the 22nd percentile, and his 16.7% BB% ranks in the 16th percentile. As a result of that erratic control, hitters haven't chased too much, as illustrated by 22.2% O-Swing%, which ranks in the 16th percentile. The better Lynch can find the strike zone as he pitches more innings, the more effective he will be as a pitcher overall. His whiff ability and ability to minimize hard contact are already encouraging and will only be amplified if his control settles down. Final Thoughts on the Royals Bullpen The early results haven't been good, but I don't think Royals fans should hit the panic button with the bullpen just yet. Yes, Estevez wasn't good, but so much of his struggles were tied to velocity. If he comes back healthy and with velocity, I think he will show the closer form that made him so effective in 2025. Estevez wasn't a big-strikeout or whiff-generating guy. That said, he flooded the zone, induced weak and ineffective contact, and seemed willing to take the ball in the biggest moments and biggest spots. Notice how different Estevez's 2025 Season Pitching Percentiles chart below is from his 2026 one that I showcased earlier in this post. Estevez wasn't a savant when it came to generating chase (19th percentile), minimizing barrels (31st percentile), or hard hits (27th percentile). However, he attacked hitters and generated strikes (70th-percentile CSW%) with premium velocity (89th percentile) and stuff (80th-percentile TJ Stuff+). The Royals are missing that, and haven't gotten that so far from Erceg and Strahm, though it's a small sample. Even if Estevez doesn't come back 100 percent, the Royals have big "stuff" guys available who could fill that role, though they are less proven. Steven Cruz has given up some barrels and home runs, which explains his high 7.36 ERA. That said, his velocity and TJ Stuff+ have been some of the best marks in the Royals bullpen thus far. The same was true for Luinder Avila in his lone start, a rough one on Saturday against the Brewers. While he was tagged for five earned runs in three innings of work, the velocity, TJ Stuff+, and extension were all impressive, as illustrated in his Statcast summary below. Avila wasn't immediately sent down to Omaha after his Saturday start. Thus, the Royals may be keeping the promising Venezuelan arm up in Kansas City, with the hope that he can succeed in the bullpen, much like he did a year ago (1.29 ERA and 0.93 WHIP in 14 IP last season). Therefore, the Royals' bullpen certainly hasn't been stellar or pretty so far this year. However, fans shouldn't throw the towel on this group just yet. Schreiber is a concern, and his role may be lessened, especially if Mears, Lynch, Avila, and Cruz trend upward and Estevez returns healthy. However, there's enough depth to absorb Schreiber's regression, which is something the Royals couldn't say with their bullpen in 2025 or even 2024. That's a sign that better days are ahead for this group of Royals relievers. View the full article

The fastest player in the league hit a sharp one-hopper, almost perfectly placed. With a runner going and Nico Hoerner breaking toward second base to cover a potential throw Tuesday night, Chandler Simpson hit behind the runner. It was still (more or less) up the middle, but Hoerner was moving away from the play. He changed direction gorgeously and speared the ball cleanly on a dive. However, his internal clock got overwound, as he processed the way he'd had to arrest his own momentum and the fact that Simpson gets up the line better than almost anyone else in the league. He rushed and bobbled the exchange, and wasn't able to get the out. It's too bad. He had time, after all, but no way to know that. That play is notable in only one way, really: It's the only hit Javier Assad gave up on Tuesday night. In his first start in the stead of injured Cubs ace Cade Horton, Assad got 17 outs, issued two walks and allowed Simpson to collect that one infield single. With slightly better luck—or if the Cubs had played things more traditionally, with Dansby Swanson covering second with a left-handed batter at the plate—he could easily have gotten through at least six innings without giving up a knock. That's how good he was. Assad only struck out three Rays batters, and the Rays are a team prone to a fair number of whiffs, so don't get ahead of yourself. However, in addition to showing great command of his sinker and feeling out the whole seven-pitch mix that makes him effective in multiple roles, Assad broke out something especially intriguing Tuesday night: a better changeup. Though I can't fully confirm this, it sure looks like Assad has gone to more of a kick-change, after being a standard-issue circle-change guy in the past. The pitch has about two inches more depth than it did in the past, despite being slightly firmer. He throws it with similar initial spin to his fastball, but it deflects more than it used to from that flight plan. This wasn't an anomaly born of pitching in the dome at Tropicana Field, either. He's shown this pitch and its movement profile all spring, including during his stint with Triple-A Iowa. He just got a chance to put it on full display Tuesday. TUFYS05fWGw0TUFRPT1fQVFGUlhBQldWQVFBWGxzTEJ3QUhWMUpUQUFBSEJRSUFWbEFDQUFvRVYxWlFWQXRW.mp4 A changeup that good would be a difference-maker for Assad. He's an adroit, fascinating pitcher who manages contact by surprising opposing batters constantly, but he's never really had an out pitch against hitters on either side. If the changeup can develop into that caliber of a weapon—especially given the way he leans on a sinker, which isn't a pitch you want to feature too heavily against opposite-handed batters. A changeup with enough separation from the sinker to miss bats would be huge for him; it could make his mysterious brand of success more conventional and sustainable. Though Statcast erroneously tagged them all as cutters, Assad also showed feel for his cutter-slider slurry Tuesday. He has both of those pitches, at this point, taking a bit off to achieve more movement at sometimes and speeding it up to get in on the hands of a lefty or freeze a righty sitting on his sinker. He's become a true seven-pitch guy. His sweeper and curveball are virtually show-me pitches, forcing hitters to cover a wider velocity band and a larger hitting zone but rarely serving as out pitches. He'll try to use his sinker, cutter and four-seamer to get most of his big outs, but bringing along the changeup could turn him into a reliable mid-rotation stud. Unexpectedly, the Cubs need that kind of step forward from him pretty badly. Therefore, while it was just the first step of a long journey, Tuesday felt like movement in the right direction. View the full article

The Greenville Drive opened their season last week, with highly touted pitching prospect Juan Valera getting the call for Opening Day. The right-hander, who is currently TalkSox's fifth-ranked prospect, looked impressive in his 2026 debut in an abbreviated outing. Lasting just 3 1/3 innings, Valera put on a show with his pitching. The right-hander struck out seven, including a strikeout of the side to open the game. He also allowed two runs on two hits including a two-run home run in the third. Overall, he tossed 53 pitches with 32 of them going for strikes. Despite the limited pitch count as the Drive build up Valera's stamina, the young pitcher looked fantastic on the mound with only one major hiccup. The outing was a promising sign, as the right-hander missed significant time in 2025 due to elbow soreness. Limited to just 10 starts, Valera made just two limited starts after May and had mixed results. His season debut was not mixed, despite him not making it out of the fourth inning. The main takeaway from the start was Valera’s ability to get opposing batters to swing and miss. The young right-hander led not just the game but all of High-A with 13 whiffs thanks in part to a fastball that topped out at 99.6 mph. His secondaries also looked much sharper than in the past, playing well off his signature heater. Valera had an issue last year of throwing too many pitches and having long at-bats due to an inability to consistently locate his pitches within the strike zone. While he still needs to work on the latter, Valera only needed 53 pitches for his outing on April 2, an improvement over several of his starts in 2025. Unfortunately, Valera still suffered with location within the strike zone, a trait that also hurt him in 2025. While he could get away with some mistakes in Salem, in Greenville he was hurt when he left his fastball over the heart of the plate. With a runner on second with one out, Valera was facing the batter in a 3-1 count and attempted to get a fastball past him on the inside part of the plate. A slightly missed spot later, and Yordany De Los Santos hit it off of the apartment building in left-center field. This was his lone mistake during that Opening Day start, but he was punished for it all the same. For the most part, Valera managed to mix his pitches avoid leaving them in locations that could lead to damage, but the home run was a reminder that he's still a work in progress on the mound. Regardless of how fast he can throw it, pitching is more than just velocity, especially if he wants to stick in the rotation as he moves up the minor-league levels. Still, there's no denying just how talented Valera is and the potential laden within his right arm. Should Valera continue to put up outings like his first, there is no doubt he will be making an appearance in Double-A before the end of 2026. View the full article

“This is not our brand of baseball.” That was manager John Schneider’s message after the Blue Jays were shut out by the Chicago White Sox on Sunday, a loss that capped off a series sweep and dropped the Blue Jays to a 4-5 record. It marked the first time the team had been below .500 since May 28, 2025. A 4-5 start (now 4-6)* isn't disastrous, but it feels underwhelming after three series against the A’s, Rockies, and White Sox, especially with the latter two teams having lost 100-plus games in 2025. The concern isn't necessarily the results; it's how they’ve gotten there. Injuries have played a role, and the roster has changed, but the Blue Jays simply don't look like the team we’ve come to expect. In 2025, the Blue Jays relied on their team chemistry, elite defense all around the diamond, and their ability to put the bat on the ball and put pressure on opponents' defenses to succeed. It's a formula that worked well, leading the team into the Fall Classic. A large part of the success belongs to hitting coach David Popkins and his staff. They helped spark a resurgence from George Springer, breakout performances from Addison Barger and Daulton Varsho, and meaningful offensive contributions from the back half of their roster. They also had the Blue Jays swinging harder in the second half. A report from Eno Sarris of The Athletic noted that every Blue Jay was swinging harder in the second half of the season (aside from Andrés Giménez) and that number carried over into the postseason. Elite contact ability, combined with the intent to swing hard at hittable pitches, drove the Blue Jays’ success in 2025. Fast forward to 2026, and that identity is starting to slip. Their contact rate is stable, but take a look at how their fast-swing rate compares between the second half of 2025 and where we are in 2026: Fast-Swing Rate 2025: 29.1% 2026: 25.8% The situation only gets worse when you look at what pitches they're swinging the bat at. As a team, the Blue Jays have been swinging too much at pitches out of the zone. Their out-of-zone swing rate (per SIS) has climbed from 33.2% in the second half of 2025 to 36.5% so far in 2026. It doesn't matter how hard you swing when you're swinging at pitchers' pitches. Every Blue Jay that has had extended playing time over the past three seasons has seen their chase rate rise in 2026. Regular small-sample caveats apply, but it's not an encouraging sign, especially when it's happening across the board. Defensively, this team should be better than it was in 2025. Gone is Bo Bichette, who, according to Baseball Savant, ranked in the 4th percentile in fielding run value last season. He’s been replaced by Giménez at shortstop, who ranked in the 86th percentile in fielding run value in 2025. Ernie Clement has taken over at second, and Varsho remains in center field. The Blue Jays have won the team Gold Glove award in two of the past three seasons, and the good news is, they can do it again! Statcast's outs above average and fielding run value both have the Blue Jays ranked among the top five in the league early on. The issue is that the team is still making its fair share of errors. Fielding percentage is a flawed stat in many ways because not all errors are created equal, yet it's still worth noting that the Blue Jays have posted a .978 fielding percentage, ranking 23rd in baseball. Take Tyler Heineman, for example. He's stepped in as the Blue Jays' catcher after Alejandro Kirk left a game with a thumb injury, and made a bad throw that helped the White Sox push across a run and hand the Blue Jays another loss. The very next day, it was more of the same; the Blue Jays were down a run late, and another bad throw allowed the White Sox to add some insurance runs. The Jays couldn't catch up. Speaking of catcher defense, the Blue Jays have had their issues throwing out baserunners. In 2025, they allowed 110 stolen bases, 16th-most in baseball, right in the middle of the pack. So far in 2026, Kirk has allowed 10 baserunners to steal, while Heineman has allowed three, and Valenzuela one. Those 14 stolen bases against are the second-highest in baseball so far. Errors will happen, and just because they've happened early doesn’t mean they’ll continue. Still, that's not how the Blue Jays were built to play, and in the early part of the season, it's been costing them games. Right now, they aren’t being beaten; they're beating themselves. The good news? It's April. A slow start isn't insurmountable, and one strong week can reset everything. But if the Blue Jays want to get back on track, it starts with rediscovering their identity, controlling the zone, and swinging with intent. If that returns, so will the wins, and the Blue Jays will be back to playing their brand of baseball Stats updated before games on April 7. View the full article

Earlier this week, it was revealed that New York Mets star Juan Soto will visit the injured list for the next two to three weeks as he recovers from a low-grade calf strain suffered last Friday. Considering the wide array of potentially worse outcomes, you can firmly say that both the team and the player dodged a bullet with the diagnosis. However, that doesn’t change the fact that the Mets will be without their best hitter for a while, anywhere from a couple of weeks to close to a month depending on how the injury evolves. Simply put, there’s no replacing Soto, not even if you are the manager of the NL All-Star team. He offers a unique offensive profile that’s almost impossible to replicate. The superstar outfielder had hit ‘just’ one home run before going down with his injury, yet was off to another incredible start this year; Soto was hitting .355 with three extra-base hits, five RBI, a 164 wRC+, three walks, an six strikeouts in eight games. An Elite Performer Still Finding His Groove Soto’s power and patience numbers weren’t at their best in his first eight games, yet only 14 National League hitters had a higher wRC+ than him as of the morning of his placement on the IL. This is an offensive machine entering his prime and about to post some scary stats in 2026 and the years to come. Last year, Soto became a member of the 40-30 club after homering 43 times and stealing a career-high 38 bases, which is remarkable given his 13th percentile sprint speed. If you want to talk percentiles, however, you should take a look at his offensive profile. In 2025, the Mets outfielder and perennial MVP candidate ranked in the 98th percentile in average exit velocity, 100th percentile in xwOBA, 97th percentile in barrel rate, 97th percentile in hard-hit rate, 100th percentile in chase rate, 96th percentile in expected batting average, and 100th percentile in walk rate. And, if you follow the Mets closely, you surely remember he was being criticized in the early stages of last year’s campaign because of his ‘slow’ start, which was basically a slightly lesser version of these stats. What do all these percentiles mean? Well, the short answer is that Soto is a beast. The more elaborate response is that he is a nightmare matchup for pitchers because he combines elite contact ability, power, and plate discipline. Not even Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani have such an amazing combination of the three, even if their most prolific skill (power) is more noticeable in the box score than the otherworldly all-around contributions Soto offers. Soto is a cheat code because he doesn’t chase, and when he swings, he basically murders the ball. His plate discipline is so legendary that his judgment of the strike zone often conditions umpires to make their calls. A Legend In The Making That’s what the Mets offense will be missing for the next couple of weeks, a guy with a legendary eye at the plate and 245 career long balls before turning 28. A few years ago, he was already flirting with 100 MLB homers at 23 years old, when some of the top prospects in the game weren’t even in Triple-A. It takes a special talent to post a 146-wRC+ season over 494 plate appearances at 19 years old. Soto did it in 2018, and since then, he has only gotten better. This season, his Statcast profile hasn’t been all red like last year, but he only played eight games. That’s a tiny sample for some of these metrics to be stable, yet he still is in the 88th percentile in Statcast’s Batting Run Value. Give him a couple of weeks to return and a few more to find his stride, and let’s re-visit these metrics in the late summer. It's not a stretch to say he's the best pure hitter in the world. As for the Mets, they will probably have to use Brett Baty a lot, at least vs. righties. Tyrone Taylor and Jared Young, who is actually off to a strong start, will also be factors (Ronny Mauricio was called up to take his roster spot, but he won't be starting regularly). Replacing Soto, however, will require more than just a couple of reserve players doing a good job. Even the pitchers will need to step up their game for this injury not to derail New York’s first month. View the full article

There are certain matchups in baseball that begin to feel inevitable. A pitcher seems to have a hitter’s number, the results stack up, and eventually every new plate appearance feels like a rerun. For Ryan Jeffers, that reality had long existed against Tarik Skubal. Entering Tuesday night, Jeffers had stepped in against Skubal more than any other pitcher in his career. The results were lopsided, to the point of being almost unbelievable. In 25 plate appearances, Jeffers had just one hit. Yes, it left the yard, but the rest of the line told the story. Nine strikeouts. Two walks. A .043 batting average and a .294 OPS. It was dominance, plain and simple. That lone bright moment came all the way back on July 8, 2021. Skubal was still developing, Jeffers was in his sophomore season, and Minnesota scratched out five runs in a 5-3 win. Since then, nothing. Four seasons of empty at-bats against one of the best left-handed arms in the game. So when Jeffers walked to the plate Tuesday night, the context mattered. The Twins were clinging to a one-run lead. Austin Martin and Byron Buxton worked disciplined ant-bats to draw walks after Skubal had yet to walk a batter all season. Luke Keaschall smacked a single to open the scoring but the Twins were going to need more. First and second with one out. No room for error. The type of moment that can swing a game, and maybe exorcise a few demons along the way. Anatomy of an At-Bat Skubal opened with what has worked so often before. A slider darting across the zone. Swing and miss. Then a 96 mile per hour fastball painted at the top of the zone for a called strike. Just like that, 0 and 2. It looked familiar. Too familiar. But this time, the at-bat did not end there. Skubal went back to the fastball, nearly identical in location, this one at 96.4. Jeffers stayed alive, fouling it away. Another heater followed, this time a 96.8 sinker at the top of the zone. Again, Jeffers got a piece. The count still sat at 1 and 2, but the tone had shifted. Instead of overmatched, Jeffers looked stubborn. That distinction matters against pitchers like Skubal. Survival is the first step. Then came the pitch that had ended so many of these battles before. A slider on the edge of the zone, tempting, sharp, designed to finish. In years past, that is likely a swing and miss. Another strikeout. Another walk back to the dugout. Instead, Jeffers stayed through it. The swing was controlled, direct, and decisive. He drove the ball down the right field line, a 90.3 mile per hour rocket that split the defense. Both runners came around to score. Just like that, the narrative flipped. The two-run double did more than pad the lead. It shifted the game’s probability by 14.9%, pushing Minnesota to an 89.3% chance of victory. In a single swing, Jeffers turned years of frustration into one of the most impactful moments of the night. For hitters, success is often less about dramatic changes and more about subtle adjustments. A fraction longer on the fastball. A better recognition of spin. The willingness to fight off pitches instead of succumbing to them. Jeffers showed all of that in one at-bat. Maybe it was just one swing. Maybe it was just one night. But for a hitter who had spent years searching for answers against the same opponent, it felt like something more. Jeffers did not just get a hit off Skubal. He changed the script. And sometimes, that is all it takes to finally leave the past behind. What stood out about that at-bat? Did Jeffers finally solve Skubal? Leave a comment and start the discussion. View the full article

According to reporter Francys Romero, the Toronto Blue Jays recently signed Tomoya Kinjo, an international amateur free agent from Japan. The right-hander trained in the Dominican Republic and previously played in the Shikoku Island League Plus, an independent professional league in Japan. At 23 years old, Kinjo is on the older side for an international amateur signing, but Romero notes he reaches 98 mph on his fastball – that's eye-catching at any age. Indeed, according to Yakyu Cosmopolitan, Kinjo has set a goal to reach 165 kmh (103 mph), and he's documenting his progress on social media. He has already hit the 100 mph milestone in this endeavor. Obviously, there's more to pitching than velocity, but the appeal of an amateur who can already hit triple digits is just as clear. Yakyu Cosmopolitan also notes that Kinjo entered the NPB draft in both 2024 and '25 but was not selected in either year. In other words, he's not going to be a top prospect – at least not right away (and maybe not ever). He's a notable lottery ticket, but he's still a lottery ticket. Kinjo joins many new Blue Jays prospects in the international class of 2026, highlighted by catcher Juan Caricote and outfielders Michael Mesa and Aneudi Severino. Romero did not provide details about Kinjo's signing bonus. View the full article

Transactions: None Nashville Pre-game media notes Gwinnett (Braves) 4, Nashville 1 Box Score As always, you are encouraged to read the official round up from the team site: Sounds Suffer 4-1 Loss to Gwinnett The Sounds dropped the first game of their series with Gwinnett on Tuesday night, and the story was the Stripers running all over Sounds’ starter Carlos Rodriguez and catcher Jeferson Quero. Gwinnett stole a stunning 10 bases in the game, all in the first five innings. Gwinnett leadoff man Jim Jarvis accounted for four of the steals, and even Rowdy Tellez chimed in with a first inning steal, his second on the season. If you’re a glutton for punishment, or care to breakdown what went wrong, you can rewatch most of the steals here, courtesy of Gwinnett’s X account: Quero entered the game having thrown out 3/7 would-be base stealers on the young season but looked discombobulated on a few attempts. He sailed a few throws 3-4 feet wide of the bag, had one or two less than stellar exchanges, and then a couple times he had a delayed reaction with a lefty in the box. I’m not pushing the panic button on Quero yet, because Rodriguez did not do a whole lot to help, as Stripers runners were getting massive jumps on him, without many throws over. Besides getting run all over, the Sounds run prevention was good in the latter half of the game, holding Gwinnett scoreless in the final four frames and totaling 14 strikeouts on the night. Reliever Drew Rom struck out five in a row at one point: Offensively, the Sounds managed just two hits, with Jett Williams’ single in the 6th inning accounting for the lone run of the game. For just the second time all season, Luis Lara failed to reach base, as he took an 0 for 4 collar. Luke Adams wore his fourth HBP of the year. Garrett Stallings will take the mound in game two on Wednesday night. Still no Robert Gasser in the probable starting pitchers for the week yet. When and where will we see the Gas Man next? Biloxi pre-game media notes Biloxi 8, Pensacola (Marlins) 2 DeBerry's Gem Paves Way for 8-2 Home Opening Win over Blue Wahoos Box Score The results were more positive in the Southern League on Tuesday night as Biloxi dominated Pensacola with a wire-to-wire victory in the Shuckers’ home opener. Twenty-three-year-old Jaron DeBerry anchored the Shuckers run prevention with a dazzling season debut. The 2024 third round pick tossed five scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and just one hit allowed to earn the win. In his final inning of work, Berry was the beneficiary of a stellar defensive play by centerfielder Dasan Brown that kept the Blue Wahoos off the board: Blake Burke got the action going in the bottom of the first with his fourth homer of the year, courtesy Biloxi’s X account: Burke has four hits in four games and they’re all solo bombs. Everyone in the Biloxi lineup got in on the action, but most of the damage came from the top of the order. Second baseman Dylan O’Rae continued his hot start to the season with a triple, three runs scored, and three steals. The Shuckers stole six bases as a team. Jesus Made drew three walks and drove in O’Rae with an RBI single to cap the scoring in the seventh. Damon Keith added two hits and knocked in three. Mark Manfredi struck out the side in the ninth inning, and has now struck out eight of nine batters faced this season. As a team, the Shuckers struck out 14 batters. Wisconsin pre-game media notes Wisconsin 6, Quad Cities (Royals) 0 Box Score Rattlers Shut Out Quad Cities It was good to see all the Timber Rattlers top prospects back in the lineup on Tuesday after Braylon Payne, Marco Dinges, and Josh Adamczewski all left the second game of Saturday’s frigid double header in Appleton. The Timber Rattlers made the most of their seven hits (six singles, one double) by going 4-for-9 with runners in scoring position on the night. Payne, Luis Pena, and Eric Bitonti all had run-scoring singles. Andrew Fischer capped the scoring with a two-run single in the seventh: On the mound, Rattlers’ 23-year-old starter Yorman Galindez was making his first professional appearance since June 2024, after missing all of 2025 recovering from elbow surgery. Galindez pitched just two scoreless innings, while striking out four, but we only saw him for 30 pitches due in part of a lengthy delay around an injury to the home plate umpire. Righty Bryalon Owens was the bulk man and earned the win in relief, striking out eight over 4+ innings. Not to be undone by Nashville and Biloxi on the night, Wisconsin managed 17 strikeouts of their own. Wilson pre-game media notes Salem (Red Sox) 10, Wilson 2 Warbirds Drop Series Opener at Salem Box Score Salem dominated from the opening bell on Tuesday night. The RidgeYaks built an early lead and blew the game open with a four‑run fourth inning and a five‑run fifth, cruising to a 10–2 win over the Wilson Warbirds in the series opener. Andrew Healy, a 2025 9th round pick out of Duke, made his professional debut on Tuesday night. Healy’s two scoreless innings were the lone bright spot for the Warbirds, who committed five errors that led to four unearned runs in the contest. Juan Ortuno now owns a modest three game hit streak to start the season. Ortuno also notched his first steal of the season. Handelfry Encarnacion added two singles to raise his average to .278 through three games. Organizational Scoreboard including starting pitcher info, game times, MiLB TV links, and box scores Current Milwaukee Brewers Organization Batting Stats and Depth Current Milwaukee Brewers Organization Pitching Stats and Depth View the full article

TRANSACTIONS IF Jorel Ortega was sent from Wichita to Fort Myers to begin a rehab assignment. He played second base and led off for the Mighty Mussels. The Wind Surge were also assigned RHP William Fleming, who the organization signed earlier in the day. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 0, Toledo 1 Box Score On the mound for the Saints was right-hander Andrew Bash, who put together a solid effort in Toledo. He allowed a single to top prospect Max Clark in the bottom of the first, and after stealing second base he was brought in with an RBI single to give the Mud Hens an early 1-0 lead. But that was it against him as he retired the next nine in a row and pitched into the fifth inning. In 4 2/3 innings, Bash gave up only the single run on three hits and two walks, while punching out six. Relievers Eduardo Salazar (1 2/3 IP, 2 H, BB, K) and Zak Kent (1 2/3 IP, H, BB) finished off the final 3 1/3 scoreless innings, doing their part to give the Saints lineup a chance. Except any offense from that lineup was non-existent. Perhaps Emmanuel Rodriguez behind scratched from the lineup due to illness earlier in the day was a bad omen. The first 14 hitters of the game were retired before Ryan Kreidler drew a walk in the fifth inning for their first baserunner. Then the next eight went down before Kreidler and Kyler Fedko took back-to-back walks in the eighth. This gave them their first at-bat of the game with a runner in scoring position, but Alex Jackson and Aaron Sabato proceeded to go down swinging. With the Mud Hens no-hitter still intact Kaelen Culpepper led off the top of the ninth. He ended up called out on strikes on an overturned pitch. Walker Jenkins challenged a strike three call as the next hitter, earning a walk for his efforts. That brought up Gabriel Gonzalez, who did this: While they avoided being the victim of a no-hitter thanks to that bloop, Alan Roden and Orlando Arcia went down swinging to end the game with the 1-0 loss. As a team the Saints finished 1-for-28 with four walks and nine strikeouts. They were 0-for-4 with four strikeouts with runners in scoring position. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 2, Arkansas 4 Box Score Unlike their triple-A brethren, the Wind Surge offense was ready to strike in the top of the first inning. With two outs Hendry Mendez delivered a double, and Billy Amick followed with his second homer of the season, an opposite field shot to put them up 2-0. “All I do is win-win-win” pitcher Mike Paredes got the start for Wichita and was electric for four innings. He gave up a solo home run in the second but that was basically it. Of his 12 outs, seven came via the strikeout. He threw 62 pitches, with 39 of them going for strikes (63%) including an absurd 16 swinging strikes. It looked like he was getting them on multiple pitches as well, including his fastball, slider, and changeup. Jaylen Nowlin came on for the fifth inning and delivered a scoreless frame, allowing one hit and striking out three. Alejandro Hidalgo went the next two innings after that, striking out three but surrendering two home runs that put the Travelers in front for good. Darren Bowen struck out all three hitters he faced in the eighth, giving Wichita sixteen strikeouts as a pitching staff, the third highest total in franchise history. While they weren’t in danger of a no-hitter or a shutout after the top of the first, the Wind Surge lineup did go quiet for the final eight innings. They managed just four singles and a pair of walks after Amick’s blast, finishing 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and leaving eight men on base for the game. The three, four, and five hitters Mendez (2-for-4, R, 2B, K), Amick (2-for-4, R, HR, 2 RBI, 2 K) and Ben Ross (2-for-4, SB) all had two hits while the rest of the lineup was 0-for-22. Kyle DeBarge drew a walk and stole two bases in four at-bats. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 5, Beloit 3 Box Score The Kernels took two of three games against the Peoria Chiefs at home to kick off their season, and hit the road to face the Beloit Sky Carp this week. Shortstop Marek Houston wasted little time getting Cedar Rapids on the scoreboard, taking the second pitch of the game out to left field for his second home run of the season. Eduardo Tait followed by drawing a walk and scored their second run on a triple from Jacob McCombs three batters later. Eli Jones made his first start of the year and went the first five innings. He gave up two runs (one earned) on three hits while striking out four. He threw 69 pitches, with 46 of them going for strikes (67%) as he efficiently pounded the strike zone. He exited the game in line for a win as Cedar Rapids took a 3-1 lead in the top of the fourth thanks to a two-out rally. Jaimie Ferrer drew a walk to get it started, Houston followed with a single to move him into scoring position, and Tait brought him in with a single of his own. Christian Becerra came on to start the sixth inning and went two innings. He gave up a solo home run that gave him a blown save, but also struck out three and got the win. Paulshawn Pasqualotto finished off the final two innings to pick up his first save of the year, retiring all six hitters he faced, including a pair of strikeouts. The Kernels added the needed runs for the win in the top of the seventh on a single from Danny De Andrade. His grounder up the middle was misplayed by the center fielder, allowing Khadim Diaw and Brandon Winokur to score. They had both reached based on walks earlier in the inning. Houston (2-for-5, R, HR, RBI, K) and McCombs (2-for-5, 3B, RBI, 2 K) led the way with two hits apiece. Diaw and Winokur each scored a run and drew three walks. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 7, Jupiter 6 (10 innings) Box Score He wasn’t the first batter of the game like Marek Houston with the Kernels, but Quentin Young hit his first homer as a professional to also put the Mighty Mussels in the lead before taking the field on defense. Starting pitcher Merit Jones gave up two runs in the bottom of the first so that lead was short-lived, but he settled in from there to finish 3 2/3 total innings. He didn’t give up any other runs and allowed three hits and two walks in the outing, striking out two. Fort Myers got those two runs back in the top of the third as the rehabbing Jorel Ortega doubled with two outs, and Eduardo Beltre followed with his first home run of the season for the 3-2 lead. Ortega knocked in a run of his own with an RBI single in the fifth. The Mighty Mussels pushed their lead to 6-2 in the top of the seventh thanks to a sac fly from Byron Chourio and an RBI single from Beltre. Michael Hilker was the first reliever and pitched 1 1/3 innings after Jones' exit. He walked three but gave up no runs and struck out one. Eric Hammond added two scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out one. In the middle of the eighth the weather became too much, with rain leading to a 40-minute delay. When the game resumed, reliever Brian Zeldin took over and had some issues with the mound. A solo homer, walk, wild pitch, and hit batter around multiple delays to fix the mound conditions ended his appearance before he could record an out. He was charged with three runs (two earned) and the dreaded infinite-ERA for his troubles. When play resumed again Xavier Kolhosser took over and was able to finish the long eighth frame. With his team still up 6-5 Kolhosser faced one hitter in the ninth, but gave up a single to end his outing. He would be charged with one earned run on two hits and a walk in one total inning. Mike McKenna was brought into the game and two singles later he had a blown save and the game was heading to extras tied at six. A sac fly from Ryan Sprock scored the ghost runner for Fort Myers in the top half, and McKenna retired all three hitters he faced in the bottom half to pick up the win for the good guys. The Mighty Mussels offense was led by Beltre who had three hits in five at-bats including the homer, and drove in three. Ortega finished 2-for-4 with a run scored and RBI. Young (1-for-5, 2 R, HR, RBI, 3 K) and Dameury Pena (1-for-2, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 SB) each scored two runs. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Mike Paredes, Wichita Wind Surge (4 IP, 2 H, ER, 7 K) Hitter of the Day – Eduardo Beltre, Fort Myers Mighty Mussels (3-for-5, R, HR, 3 RBI, K) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they performed on Tuesday. #1 – Walker Jenkins (St. Paul): 0-for-3, BB, K #2 – Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul): 0-for-4, K #4 – Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-4, R, RBI, BB, K #7 – Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul): 1-for-4 #9 – Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-5, R, HR (2), RBI, K #13 – Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-2, R, 3 BB, 2 K #14 – Quentin Young (Fort Myers): 1-for-5, 2 R, HR (1), RBI, 3 K #16 – Hendry Mendez (Wichita): 2-for-4, R, 2B (1), K #17 – Kyle DeBarge (Wichita): 0-for-4, BB, 2 SB (3) #19 – Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-2, R, 3 BB, K WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul @ Toledo (5:35 PM CDT) - RHP Matt Bowman (0-0, 3.86 ERA) Wichita @ Arkansas (11:05 AM CDT) - RHP Ryan Gallagher (0-0, 4.15 ERA) Cedar Rapids @ Beloit (6:05 PM CDT) - RHP Brent Francisco (0-0, 2.25 ERA) Fort Myers @ Jupiter (5:30 PM CDT) - RHP Kolten Smith (0-0, 0.00 ERA) Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Tuesday’s games! View the full article

Marlins manager Clayton McCullough speaks with the media about his controversial handling of the ninth inning in Tuesday's frustrating loss to the Cincinnati Reds.View the full article

MIAMI, FL — Sandy Alcantara took the mound in the top of the ninth inning with a 2–0 lead, aiming to become the fourth pitcher in Marlins franchise history to record back-to-back complete-game shutouts. After surrendering a double and a walk, manager Clayton McCullough made his most controversial move of the young season, removing his ace in favor of Anthony Bender. Everything unraveled for Miami from there, as both inherited runners scored to tie the game at two. In extra innings, the Reds added four more runs to secure a 6–3 victory. “(Anthony) Bender was the best person to win the game for us,” McCullough said. “Sandy (Alcantara) had certainly gone above and beyond and threw great, but the decision didn’t work out. At that time, I thought the best way to win the game was going with Anthony.” Alcantara, who has thrown 13 complete games—five of them shutouts—was coming off a complete-game shutout in his previous start. McCullough approached the mound in the ninth already set on making the change, with no discussion planned. After the game, Alcantara said he had not spoken with his manager. “I deserved to be asked how I felt before I was taken out of the game,” Alcantara said. “I saw him coming out, and even before he crossed the line, he pointed to the bullpen. Negative thoughts crossed my mind, but those are things I can’t control. Tomorrow I’ll be here preparing for my next start and hoping things go differently.” Through three starts, Alcantara has pitched into at least the seventh inning each time, but for him, it’s not about innings—it’s about pitch count. “They are just innings, not pitches,” Alcantara said in Spanish. He was at 95 pitches and set to face Sal Stewart for the fourth time, having struck him out in his previous at-bat. With runners on first and second and one out—and a 47.6% ground-ball rate—Alcantara had a strong chance to induce a game-ending double play. Still, McCullough opted not to let him face Stewart again. “There are a lot of decisions over the course of a game and a season that weigh on you,” McCullough said. “For this one not to go our way certainly doesn’t feel great. Answering for it is part of the job, and I don’t feel good about how it finished. Losing the game is what stings the most.” As McCullough walked to the mound, fans began to boo, voicing their frustration with the decision to pull the Marlins’ ace. He acknowledged the reaction afterward. “We have passionate fans, and they care. They’re very invested in us winning games,” McCullough said. “They’re certainly within their right to be displeased when things don’t go our way.” Overall, Alcantara finished the night going 8 1/3 innings pitched, allowing two runs on three hits, two walks and struck out six. His fastball topped out at 99.5 mph, which he hit in the top of the first inning. The changeup was once again his most dominant pitch, generating six whiffs and striking out four with it. His four-seam fastball, which he threw 17.1% of the time in 2025, was his most used pitch on Tuesday, and has been his second most used pitch overall. He struck out two with the four-seam and landed it nine out of ten times for a first pitch strike. "I've been doing a great job," Alcantara said. "Doing my work in the pen, trying to locate my four-seam, and today was great. Threw a lot of four-seam today for strikes from both sides." On the offensive side, the Marlins did provide early run support for Alcantara, as both Otto Lopez and Heriberto Hernandez had RBI groundouts, taking a 2-0 lead. The next time Miami scored a run came in the bottom of the tenth inning, when Graham Pauley grounded into a fielders choice, scoring Jakob Marsee, the runner at third. Miami's offense was 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position, unable to provide a bigger cushion for their ace. Marsee, who had gotten off to a slow start in 2026, finished with his first multi-hit performance of the season, highlighted by a 109.0 mph base hit, his hardest hit ball of the season. On the base paths, he also had four stolen bases, which tied a franchise record. The Marlins dropped to 6-5 on the season, now searching for a series split against the Reds. Eury Pérez, who struggled in his last start against the New York Yankees, will take the mound for Miami on Wednesday at 6:40 pm. View the full article

MIAMI, FL — Sandy Alcantara took the mound in the top of the ninth inning with a 2–0 lead, aiming to become the fourth pitcher in Marlins franchise history to record back-to-back complete-game shutouts. After surrendering a double and a walk, manager Clayton McCullough made his most controversial move of the young season, removing his ace in favor of Anthony Bender. Everything unraveled for Miami from there, as both inherited runners scored to tie the game at two. In extra innings, the Reds added four more runs to secure a 6–3 victory. “(Anthony) Bender was the best person to win the game for us,” McCullough said. “Sandy had certainly gone above and beyond and threw great, but the decision didn’t work out. At that time, I thought the best way to win the game was going with Anthony.” Alcantara, who has thrown 13 complete games—five of them shutouts—was coming off a complete-game shutout in his previous start. McCullough approached the mound in the ninth already set on making the change, with no discussion planned. After the game, Alcantara said he had not spoken with his manager. “I deserved to be asked how I felt before I was taken out of the game,” Alcantara said. “I saw him coming out, and even before he crossed the line, he pointed to the bullpen. Negative thoughts crossed my mind, but those are things I can’t control. Tomorrow I’ll be here preparing for my next start and hoping things go differently.” Through three starts, Alcantara has pitched into at least the seventh inning each time, but for him, it’s not about innings—it’s about pitch count. “They are just innings, not pitches,” Alcantara said in Spanish. He was at 95 pitches and set to face Sal Stewart for the fourth time, having struck him out in his previous at-bat. With runners on first and second and one out—and a 47.6% ground-ball rate—Alcantara had a strong chance to induce a game-ending double play. Still, McCullough opted not to let him face Stewart again. “There are a lot of decisions over the course of a game and a season that weigh on you,” McCullough said. “For this one not to go our way certainly doesn’t feel great. Answering for it is part of the job, and I don’t feel good about how it finished. Losing the game is what stings the most.” As McCullough walked to the mound, fans began to boo, voicing their frustration with the decision to pull the Marlins’ ace. He acknowledged the reaction afterward. “We have passionate fans, and they care. They’re very invested in us winning games,” McCullough said. “They’re certainly within their right to be displeased when things don’t go our way.” Overall, Alcantara finished the night going 8 ⅓ innings pitched, allowing two runs on three hits, two walks and struck out six. His fastball topped out at 99.5 mph, which he hit in the top of the first inning. The changeup was once again his most dominant pitch, generating six whiffs and striking out four with it. His four-seam fastball, which he threw 17.1% of the time in 2025, was his most used pitch on Tuesday, and has been his second most used pitch overall. He struck out two with the four-seam and landed it nine out of ten times for a first pitch strike. "I've been doing a great job," Alcantara said. "Doing my work in the pen, trying to locate my four-seam, and today was great. Threw a lot of four-seam today for strikes from both sides." On the offensive side, the Marlins did provide early run support for Alcantara, as both Otto Lopez and Heriberto Hernandez had RBI groundouts, taking a 2-0 lead. The next time Miami scored a run came in the bottom of the tenth inning, when Graham Pauley grounded into a fielders choice, scoring Jakob Marsee, the runner at third. Miami's offense was 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position, unable to provide a bigger cushion for their ace. Marsee, who had gotten off to a slow start in 2026, finished with his first multi-hit performance of the season, highlighted by a 109.0 mph base hit, his hardest hit ball of the season. On the base paths, he also had four stolen bases, which tied a franchise record. The Marlins dropped to 6-5 on the season, now searching for a series split against the Reds. Eury Pérez, who struggled in his last start against the New York Yankees, will take the mound for Miami on Wednesday at 6:40 pm. View the full article

Box Score SP: Taj Bradley 6.1 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 10 K (104 pitches, 68 strikes (65%)) Home Runs: N/A Top 3 WPA: Bradley (0.28), Ryan Jeffers (0.17), Justin Topa (0.10) Win Probability Chart (via BaseballSavant) The Twins looked to build more Central Division momentum against the Tigers on another chilly night at Target Field. The players looked like they were facing a snowball fight, but Tarik Skubal and Taj Bradley were throwing nothing but filthy heat early on. An Ace vs. An Ace in the Hole? Both of the starting pitchers in tonight's contest began their Major League journeys via the 2018 draft. Skubal came to the Tigers in the 9th round, and emerged quickly into a quality big-league arm in 2021. He came into tonight's contest as a back-to-back Cy Young winner, who has been rewarded with the largest arbitration contract in history at $32 million. Bradley was selected higher in the 5th round of the 2018 draft by the Rays, but his rise into a consistent Major League starting role has been a longer and less successful path. While Bradley has been starting since 2023, he looks primed to enjoy his first taste of success with the Twins for an annual salary of $820,000. Skubal was drafted out of college, while Bradley was selected straight out of high school, so the 29-year old Tiger southpaw should be ahead of the 25-year old young Twins fireballer. Would tonight's game give Twins fans a glimpse of a potential ace in the hole for years to come in the Twins rotation? The first three innings saw traffic on the basepaths, with the Tigers loading the bases in the top of the second before Bradley induced a Colt Keith groundout on a nasty splitter to end the threat. Skubal allowed a Victor Caratini double with one out and struck out Matt Wallner and got Royce Lewis to flyout to end a runner at third with only one out opportunity. Again the Twins got leadoff clutter in the bottom of the third thanks to Brooks Lee and Byron Buxton singles. Austin Martin couldn't put down a bunt, and instead banged into a double play that helped end another chance at taking the lead. Middle Innings...One Ace Remains As the game progressed, the offense did not. The Twins got some more base clutter in the bottom of the fourth, but Lewis once again teased Twins fans with a warning track blast to end the inning. Javier Baez singled and found his way into scoring position in the top of the fifth, but red hot rookie Kevin McGonigle popped up a 3-0 fastball from Bradley to end that threat. The low-light of the Minnesota offense came in the first at-bat of the bottom of the fifth, when Lee bunted the first pitch he saw but forgot to hold onto his bat tightly. The ball dribbled in front of home plate, and the bat flew up and tried to remove Lee's lower incisors. But before a goose egg could land on the scoreboard as well, the Twins got patient and then finally cashed in on a RISP. Buxton and Martin worked walks off of Skubal, and Luke Keaschall stepped up to the plate like a man unhinged, and he ripped a single up the middle to plate Buxton and to put the Twins ahead 1-0. With runners still at first and second, Ryan Jeffers battled the Cy Young winner until he finally got a two-strike slider that he could handle, lacing a two-run double into the right field corner! After a Caratini strikeout, Josh Bell thought that a two-strike changeup was the pitch to hit, looping a double down the left field line to score Jeffers and to chase Skubal from the game down 4-0 without completing the fifth inning. Cy Bradley With a solid lead, and all of his pitches behaving well despite the frigid temps, Bradley cruised into the seventh inning with nine strikeouts and needing only two more to tie his career high. Taj was rudely greeted by two straight singles to start the inning, but Derek Shelton left him in to face the righty Baez and to eclipse the 100 pitch mark. Bradley rewarded his skipper with his 10th strikeout of the game, and Taylor Rogers came in to try to clean up the rest of the mess. Pinch-hitter Jamai Jones obliged with a flyout to right, but it was deep enough to advance the lead runner Torkelson to third. McGonigle showed why he's been such a tough out by lacing a single to left, to cut it to a 4-1 Twins advantage. Jeffers achieved his second strikeout challenge of the game to end the threat, and to close the books on a great start by Bradley. Will the Twins Bullpen Waste a Winning Hand? Rogers stayed in to tackle the lefty Riley Greene, and then Cole Sands was summoned to assumably end the night with five outs. The first out hit Lewis' glove at about 100 mph, but the next outs wouldn't be gotten by Sands as he lost all connection to the strike zone. After nine more pitches, there were Tigers on first and second and Eric Orze couldn't get ready fast enough. Kerry Carpenter came in to try to break the hearts of the approximately 1,824 fans in attendance, but Orze struck him out and kept the Twins in possession of a winning hand. The bottom of the eighth found the bases loaded with Twins yet again, and yet again in this fledgling season the Twins found a way to leave them there. The pressure switch turned back towards the Twins bullpen, and Orze allowed a leadoff double to Baez and another to McGonigle with one out to tighten the score up to 4-2. With the tying run now at the plate, Shelton called in Justin Topa. Topa immediately induced a Gleyber Torres groundout, but lost Riley Greene to a full count walk. Dillon Dingler represented the tying run, but a Topa sinker represented a Twins victory, as Dingler bounced out to Lee to finally secure the win for Bradley. What’s Next? The Twins look to take their first series of the season in the third game of the season Wednesday evening. Twins righty Bailey Ober (0-0, 6.75 ERA) looks to improve upon his consistent but slow start to the 2026 campaign. In two starts, Ober has gone four innings, surrendering four hits and three runs in both outings. The Tigers will counter with the rumored Twins free agent target, lefty Framber Valdez (1-0, 0.75 ERA) who has just been consistently awesome. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40pm CDT. Postgame Interviews Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet FRI SAT SUN MON TUE TOT Rogers 0 23 18 0 12 41 Orze 37 0 0 12 19 37 Topa 17 0 15 0 14 32 Banda 17 15 0 17 0 32 Sands 0 0 21 0 12 21 Laweryson 10 9 0 14 0 19 Funderburk 2 0 3 20 0 5 Acton 0 0 0 0 0 0 View the full article

The Minnesota Twins community is mourning the loss of a member of its 1987 championship club. Tom Nieto has passed away at the age of 65 after suffering a heart attack, according to a message shared by his family and later confirmed by the organization on Monday. Nieto’s sister shared the news publicly, noting that he passed on March 27 while in Florida with his family. She described a man whose strength and resilience left a lasting impact on those closest to him, a sentiment that has echoed throughout the baseball world since the announcement. The Twins also released a statement shortly after the news became public. Nieto’s baseball journey began when the Twins selected him in the 31st round of the 1979 MLB Draft. Instead of signing, he chose to continue his development at the collegiate level, eventually going to Oral Roberts before being selected in the third round of the 1981 MLB Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals. A highly regarded prospect in the Cardinals system, Nieto worked his way through the minors before making his big league debut in 1984. He made an immediate impression during his rookie campaign, posting a 109 OPS+ across 33 games and establishing himself as a capable backstop. He had a role on the Cardinals team that reached the 1985 World Series, but St. Louis ultimately fell to the Kansas City Royals in a seven-game series. Two years later, Nieto found himself on baseball’s biggest stage again, but this time on the opposite side. After a stint with the Montreal Expos, the Twins acquired him during the 1987 season. In Minnesota, Nieto appeared in 41 games as part of a team that would go on to win the World Series, defeating his former Cardinals club in seven games. While his offensive numbers with Minnesota were modest, Nieto played a supporting role on a roster that has become one of the most beloved in franchise history. Across two seasons with the Twins, he appeared in 65 games and contributed as a depth option behind the plate during a championship run. In total, Nieto spent seven seasons in the big leagues. Following his playing days, Nieto transitioned into coaching, where he made perhaps an even greater impact. He spent seven seasons with the New York Yankees organization from 1995 through 2002 and later joined the New York Mets, working under manager Willie Randolph. With the Mets, Nieto served as both a catching instructor and first base coach. For Twins fans, his name will always be tied to 1987, a season that remains one of the franchise's defining moments. Today, it also serves as a reminder of the people who helped make that run possible and the lasting impact they leave behind. View the full article

The Milwaukee Brewers hit Willson Contreras with a pitch for the 24th time in his career Monday night. It barely grazed Contreras, but he reacted with anger and refused to be mollified even by his own manager. Moments later, on a ground ball that retired him at second base, he slid into shortstop David Hamilton with his spikes high, slicing the infielder's pants leg. Hamilton was shaken up, but stayed in the game. The Brewers did their best to shrug off the incident, because Contreras has made himself an angry enemy of the club for his entire decade-long career. But this time, his tired act went from relatively empty tough-guy antics to a dirty play that (even if he meant it was a warning shot, and that only) risked injuring Hamilton. After the game, he doubled down and insisted on the righteousness of his fury, noting how often the Brewers have hit him and saying he would continue to seek retribution if he's plunked again. When you put those many times hit by pitch in context, though, it's tougher to justify Contreras's pique. Monday’s plunking was the 131st of his career, third-most in baseball since his debut in 2016. Contreras gets hit that often because he crashes in toward the plate, leaving less room for a pitch to miss inside and giving him little time to get out of the way. Teams pitch him inside, because he struggles with that pitch. He takes the plunkings, because they're a way on base—but he also takes exception to each one, for reasons that run a bit deeper than some noble worry about health. Decrying being hit and threatening fights against those who hit him are part of Contreras's strategy to force pitchers to keep the ball middle-away, so he can attack those pitches, which suit his swing much better than the ball inside. If hurlers are worried about giving him a free base or just don't want the smoke from him, they might give him the pitches he can actually handle. And if he gets plunked, he can whine about it to further influence pitchers, while raising his OBP—and having the real danger of a major injury mitigated by the copious body armor he (like most hitters, these days) wears when he steps into the box. Being hit and being mad about being hit are each part of Contreras's game, so his rage rings a bit false. Let's engage with his claim itself, though, just for kicks. Do the Brewers hit him more than most teams? Well, 10.8% of his career plate appearances have come against Milwaukee 18.3% of his hit-by-pitches came from the Brewers That's statistically significant, and it shouldn't surprise anyone. Contreras has faced the Brewers more often than any other team in his career, and they've had a clear scouting report and a consistent plan against him for longer than any other team in the league. They're going to work him inside, and no, they're not going to worry much about hitting him. There's a small amount of real fault on the Brewers' side, then, but it's not coming from a place of malice. They're just trying to get him out. The Padres, who have long had the same book on Contreras, have hit him 11 times in his career, but he's had about 300 fewer plate appearances against them than against Milwaukee. Teams who are willing to pound him inside are going to hit him, and they're going to hear about it, but he's never made the adjustments that would change the fact that pitching him inside is the best way to retire him. Teams with a sufficiently ruthless focus on winning games will simply bear his wrath. The truth is, it’s not a Brewers thing; it’s a Contreras thing. Christian Yelich was diplomatic but clear about the view from Milwaukee’s clubhouse, in the aftermath of Monday's kerfuffle. “We’ve seen that skit for the last 10 years," he said. "It’s nothing new.” What about Brandon Woodruff hitting Contreras six times now? Let’s look at the Woodruff-Contreras career matchup. The (now-)Red Sox first baseman is batting .150 with a .200 slugging average in 29 career plate appearances against the Brewers right-hander. Contreras’s bloop double to right field on Monday night was his first extra-base hit against Woodruff, and just his third knock overall. Again: throwing inside on Contreras risks putting him on base, but the juice is often worth that squeeze. Often, too, Contreras is moving into the ball, rather than it coming after him. A few examples: 2018: Contreras is hit by a 1-2 pitch, leaving his elbow in harm’s way before turning away after the ball hits his elbow guard. 2020: Contreras is hit by an 0-1 pitch in the second inning, tucking his elbow guard in to take the harm and the 90 feet that come with it. 2021: With the Brewers winning 2-0 in the fourth inning, Contreras is in full swing mode as the pitch is tailing in toward him and (maybe) hits his hand instead of the bat. 2026: The Red Sox are ahead 1-0 with men on first and second with no outs. A pitch that's barely off the plate barely hits him at all. Will Contreras do anything else if he gets hit Tuesday or Wednesday? Despite his threats to take someone out, it’s unlikely, unless a Milwaukee hurler makes it obvious that they're actually after him—which, again, isn't what's actually happening between this player and his imagined collection of nemeses. Is there a part of many fans (and some players) that would love Jacob Misiorowski to let a 100-MPH fastball slip arm side and find Contreras’s ribs? Let's hope not. But Misiorowski himself has little experience with Contreras, and is unlikely to do anything to him except try to strike him out and move on to the next batter. Contreras would probably be better off letting this go, too—but that wouldn't fit either his overall strategy at the plate, or his troublingly pugnacious disposition. View the full article

On Tuesday afternoon, the Toronto Blue Jays announced that Addison Barger is heading to the injured list with a left ankle sprain. The injury appeared to occur during the Blue Jays’ series in Chicago against the White Sox, when Barger landed awkwardly on first base after trying to beat out a groundball up the middle. The awkward landing on first base happened in the top of the third inning. The 26-year-old remained in the game until the bottom of the sixth inning, when he was replaced in right field by Jesús Sánchez. Barger missed Monday night’s 14-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers before being placed on the IL this afternoon. Through eight games this season, Barger has batted .053 with a .174 OBP, recording only one hit through his first 19 at-bats. His lone hit was a double in Chicago last Friday. The outfielder has also added two RBIs. After struggling during his rookie season in 2024, Barger provided a much-needed boost to the Blue Jays’ lineup in 2025. In 135 games, he batted .243 with 21 home runs and 74 RBIs, finishing third on the club in home runs, trailing only George Springer and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Barger then put together a very strong postseason for the Blue Jays, batting .367 with three home runs and nine RBIs, including a Game 1 grand slam off former Dodger and current Minnesota Twins reliever Anthony Banda. In a corresponding move, the Blue Jays recalled newly acquired infielder Tyler Fitzgerald. He was acquired from the San Francisco Giants on Saturday in exchange for cash considerations. Fitzgerald has spent the past three seasons bouncing between the Giants and their Triple-A club, the Sacramento River Cats. For his career, he is a .252 hitter with 21 home runs and 53 RBIs across 563 MLB at-bats. The 28-year-old is also 28-for-36 in stolen base attempts across his three campaigns. Fitzgerald enjoyed a strong season in 2024, but last year, he batted .217 with just four home runs and 14 RBIs across 217 at-bats in 72 games. In other moves, left-hander Josh Fleming was designated for assignment after making his Blue Jays debut in Monday night’s loss. Fleming ran into trouble during his three innings, allowing six hits, four earned runs and one walk, while striking out one. The 29-year-old struggled with command, throwing only 45 of his 77 pitches for strikes. The newly signed Patrick Corbin was called up from Dunedin, replacing Fleming on the big league roster. The Blue Jays signed Corbin to a one-year, $1 million contract on Saturday, as their rotation continues to deal with injuries. In one Single-A start, Corbin threw 74 pitches over five innings, allowing four hits and one walk while striking out nine. The Blue Jays have announced Corbin will start on Friday when the Twins visit the Rogers Centre. The Blue Jays also announced some recovery timelines for a few of their most recent injured players. Catcher Alejandro Kirk had a screw placed in his thumb and is looking like he’s set to miss six weeks. At the same time, they announced that starter Cody Ponce will undergo knee surgery next week and is estimated to have a six-month recovery timeline, effectively ending his regular season. A playoff run could allow for Ponce to return this year and pitch with the club after signing a three-year, $30 million contract with Toronto on December 11. View the full article

The news is bad. The news, by now, is barely news, but that doesn't make it any less bad. Four days after Cade Horton left his start against the Guardians in the second inning, the team announced that he will undergo season-ending elbow surgery. He flew to Dallas to consult with Dr. Keith Meister, who recommended the procedure. Whether the operation will be the modified version of Tommy John that involves placing an artificial internal brace or a full-fledged Tommy John isn't immediately clear, and doesn't need to be decided until the time of the procedure. Either way, though, Horton will pitch again no sooner than June of 2027. It's a devastating blow for the Cubs, who had penciled Horton in as one of their top two starters for this season. It's also a major setback for Horton himself. A second Tommy John surgery is not terribly uncommong in the modern game, and pitchers return to at least their previous level even after a second operation about two-thirds of the time. In fact, the Cubs were set to face Rays right-hander Drew Rasmussen Tuesday night, before he left the team to be at the birth of his daughter. Rasmussen has undergone three major elbow procedures—two Tommy Johns and an internal brace variant. Jameson Taillon has had the surgery twice. So has Justin Steele, whom the team hopes to see return to the mound by the early part of June. Needing the operation twice in as short a span as Horton has, though, is especially worrisome. He had Tommy John in college at Oklahoma. He also suffered a significant shoulder injury in 2024 and lost the end of last season to a ribcage injury. It's possible that Horton will simply never be able to withstand a full season's workload in a big-league rotation. At the very least, the Cubs will have to wait until 2028 to try to get him there. The setback is huge, not least because the Cubs have few similarly intriguing pitching prospects on whom to next pin their hopes. Instead, they'll have to hope they have better luck avoiding the injury bug the rest of the way, with one of their best options crossed off before Tax Day. More to come. View the full article

The temperature always turns up quickly in Toronto when it comes to sports. The start of the baseball season shouldn’t be any reason for that to change. The Jays’ offence goes quiet – meaning a bunch of low-scoring games, a few missed opportunities with runners on – and suddenly it feels like the walls are closing in. The familiar questions come back fast. Is this lineup broken? Is this who they are? Should something drastic happen now before it is too late? Let’s slow that narrative down a bit. The sky is not falling on the Blue Jays. Not yet. Maybe not at all. This team is frustrated, not fraudulent. There is a big difference. The frustration is coming mostly from the same place. The pitching has done more than enough, while the offence simply has not held up its end of the bargain so far. Through the opening stretch of the season, Toronto’s pitching staff has been exactly what was expected. The starters have consistently kept games within reach, giving up three runs or fewer in the majority of starts. As a group, the rotation sits comfortably in the top third of the league in ERA and innings pitched, which matters more than people sometimes want to admit in April. The bullpen, while not perfect, has largely avoided the kind of blowups that bury teams early, hovering around league average or better in leverage performance and opponent batting average. That combination should win you games. Over a full season, it almost always does. The problem is that the offence has not returned the favour. The Blue Jays have spent far too many nights with a run expectancy line that never quite turns the corner. Too many games have featured solid contact early that finds gloves, followed by late innings where hitters look like they are trying to solve the entire season with one swing. Statistically, the underperformance is real, but it is also narrower than it feels. Toronto sits below league average in runs scored and power production, but the underlying numbers paint a more incomplete picture. Hard contact rates are hovering right around the league norm despite uneven results. Strikeout rates have stayed well clear of red flag territory. On-base percentage is middling, not disastrous, which matters more than it feels right now. In other words, this is not an offence flailing wildly. It is an offence that looks tight, with each runner left on base adding to the mounting pressure to perform. That mentality is showing up when it comes to pitch selection. Through the first few weeks, the Jays have chased slightly more often than they did during their better stretches last season, especially in hitter’s counts. Their chase rate is hovering around 28 percent, up from roughly 26 percent during their stronger stretches last season. They are swinging early at pitchers’ pitches, then getting passive later when they fall behind. That is an approach problem, not a talent problem. The good news about approach problems is that they are fixable without reinventing the roster. A little pick-me-up might go a long way here, and it does not need to come in the form of a blockbuster trade or a dramatic demotion. It could be as simple as a temporary lineup shuffle. Move a bat that is pressing down a spot or two. Slide someone with a higher on-base profile into a table-setting role for a week. Break the rhythm just enough to force everyone to reset. Manager John Schneider has been making these adjustments quietly, one game at a time, since Opening Day, but maybe it needs to be more overt. We have seen this team respond to small nudges before. When the Jays score early, their entire posture changes. The dugout loosens. At-bats look longer. Toronto has seen roughly 3.7 pitches per plate appearance so far in 2026, which is close to league average, but the distribution matters more than the raw number. Their first‑pitch swing rate is elevated, hovering around 31 percent, which is above league average. Taking more pitches does not mean taking less initiative. It means being intentional. It means deciding as a group that grinding a pitcher down matters more than hunting the perfect swing in the first at-bat of the night. When the Blue Jays have been at their best in recent years, they have forced starters into 20-pitch innings early. That has not been happening often enough so far. The irony is that when the Blue Jays do force starters out early, the offence often follows. Their production improves later in games, once the lineup gets into relief pitching instead of facing starters. The challenge has been reaching that point often enough. This is where doing something slightly unorthodox can help. Not forever. Just enough to disrupt the current inertia. Maybe that means more hit-and-run plays early in games, even if the run expectancy charts do not love it in isolation. Maybe it means more aggressive base stealing, even if success rates hover just above break-even. The Jays are not a slow team across the board, but they have been cautious to the point of stillness. Motion changes defense. Motion creates mistakes. The goal is not to steal bases for the sake of it. The goal is to force the other team to think. Right now, opposing pitchers do not look rushed. They look comfortable. That is the biggest warning sign of all. Hitting is contagious in both directions, and so is pressure. Once frustrations stack, hitters start carrying results into the next at-bat instead of carrying out their plan. You can see it in body language. You can see it in swings that start cheating for velocity in the third inning. You can see it in borderline pitches suddenly looking tempting. That is when mental resets matter more than mechanical tweaks. Managers love to talk about staying the course, and most of the time that is correct. Overreacting to April numbers is how teams create May problems. But staying the course does not mean pretending nothing is happening. It means adjusting without panicking. There is a middle ground, and Toronto is firmly in it right now. Perspective is important. Even with these offensive struggles, the Blue Jays are not buried in the standings. Their run differential is not catastrophic. The team is still playing a disproportionate number of one-run games, which historically swing back toward .500 outcomes over time. Lose too many close games early, and you almost always win a few you should not later. Another thing worth mentioning is how narrow the margins are. The difference between a team OPS in the bottom third and one in the middle of the pack can be a handful of extra-base hits. A few balls that stay fair instead of hooking foul. A few line drives that split fielders instead of finding gloves. Baseball is cruel that way, especially in cold weather. If the Blue Jays were swinging and missing at everything, if strikeouts were piling up, the worry would be louder and more justified. That is not what we are seeing. What we are seeing is tentative baseball. Tentative does not last forever. Leadership carries weight during stretches like this. Not through speeches, but through actions that signal confidence. Long at-bats. Runs scored on singles instead of waiting for homers. Taking the extra base when it is there. Playing like a team that expects good things to happen rather than hoping they will. The veterans know this. They have lived it. How they respond in the next couple of weeks will shape how quickly this offence wakes up. Fans, as always, feel it deeply. That comes with the territory. But it is worth remembering that some of the best Blue Jays teams in recent memory looked far worse than this at the same point on the calendar. They did not break. They eventually figured it out. Sometimes you need to fail in order to succeed. There will be a game soon where the dam breaks. It might not be pretty. It might not come against an elite opponent. It might just be one of those nights where the lineup turns over twice in the first inning and the crowd feels something shift. When it happens, it will feel sudden, but it will not be random. The ingredients are there. Good pitching. A capable bullpen. A lineup with track records. Those are the facts. The sky is not falling on the Blue Jays. It is cloudy, sure. A little uncomfortable, okay. But baseball seasons are marathons played in weather that changes fast... even if you have a dome. Sometimes all it takes is one good night to remember who you are. View the full article