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During the key sixth-inning rally in which the Brewers essentially put away Tuesday night's win over the Rays, Jake Bauers hit a wicked line drive to the hole between first and second. Second baseman Ben Williamson dove to his left and knocked the ball down, but his quick recovery was for naught; he threw late and wide. Bauers, hustling down the line, stepped on first base as he ran through it, as batter-runners are obligated to do if they want to be safe. What first-base umpire C.B. Bucknor dared to ask is: What if he hadn't? Wouldn't that have been wild? To test the hypothesis, Bucknor ruled that that very thing had happened—that Bauers had either missed the bag, skipped willfully over it, or so callously disrespected it in the particular way in which he stomped on the pillow that it didn't count. The play had fallen into some confusion after the ball bounced toward home plate and was returned to first baseman Jonathan Aranda, who tagged Bauers. Bucknor called the Brewers first baseman out for not having touched the base yet, which, again, Bauers had done. But an artist does not wait for the beautifully impossible to happen; they get out their canvas and render the impossible vivid and present. Bucknor's easel is the box score, and his brush is the pump of his fist. He installed his work of creative fiction into the game, and we all got to watch the fractal hilarity unfold into its endless angles and dimensions from there. An unfortunate bastion of conservative censorship stepped in to scuttle the festival before it could really begin. The Brewers challenged Bucknor's call, which was rapidly overturned by the replay center at MLB's central office in New York. The reviewers failed Bucknor's transgressive test of imagination, apparently mistaking his commedia dell'arte for one thing we all knew it couldn't be: a mistaken and literal interpretation of the action itself. Maybe you just had to be there. No matter. Art does not change the world by peeling the tentacled unicorn from the canvas and flinging it into the sky; it changes it by forcing us to consider that possibility for a time. Bucknor challenged us all to imagine a wilder, more interesting, less boringly well-ordered world. Why ought he stop now? What has ever been achieved when an artist reached a new frontier and left their audience in awe, only to retreat? Here, for his consideration and yours, are several more ways he can still elevate the craft of umpiring into something more mind-expanding. 1. Batter's Balk There is a great, unexplored margin awaiting the umpire who pounces on our shared uncertainty about the balk rule. Pitchers are not allowed to intentionally deceive baserunners as they prepare to work with the bases occupied. They must come set and avoid a flinch as they prepare to kick and fire. Lefties must not stride toward home plate but throw to first. Often, though, even players and coaches struggle to define the nuances of the balk rule and end up in futile arguments with umpires, either demanding a balk in vain or decrying one they can't understand. That's not fun or compelling, though; it's just arguing. An artist might first glance at the rule known as the catcher's balk, whereby a catcher can be punished for touching the ball with their mask or helmet and the runner is awarded a base—but their eye would be drawn, then, on into the negative space where a mere mortal's eye fails to see anything at all. What about the batter? You ever seen one of these guys? What a twitchy bunch of weirdos. They're shifting their weight, they're waggling their bat, they're tapping their foot. And the pitcher's just standing still. Why not call the batter for a balk—maybe assessing a strike, or calling the runner out, or maybe even calling the batter out but advancing the runner, just as with other balks? Bucknor, surely, will soon try it. 2. Infield Big Fly One peculiar rule protects the offense from manipulation by the infield on pop-ups with multiple runners on base. Rather than permit a team to turn an easy, unearned double play by letting such a ball fall and forcing runners at the next bases, the infield fly rule bids an umpire to call the play dead while the ball is still in the air. Runners can advance at their own risk, but even if the ball hits the ground, they're not obligated to sally forth. With the bases empty and/or with two outs, though, batters get no relief whatsoever on pop-ups. Bucknor could reinterpret the rule to be aimed purely at augmenting offense, and after all, how far off would he be? We could soon find out. Next time a batter hits a fly ball on the infield, look for Bucknor to rule the ball a home run, before it comes down. 3. Catch or Trap? There has always been a delightful bit of drama in watching an outfielder streak after a sinking line drive, sliding or diving to pluck the ball out of the low-lying scrap of sky left between horsehide and grass. Did he catch it, or trap it? Did it almost imperceptibly hop on the turf, or was the last finger of the player's glove beneath it at that final instant? Sometimes, even dozens of looks will leave you unsure. The game waits breathless for those rulings, especially if there were runners on base when the ball was struck and the fielder's heroics were attempted. Routine fly balls don't offer an obvious answer to those thrills, so we need the Bucknors of the world to supply it. What if a fielder caught the ball with both feet beneath them, shoulder-high and sure—but it was ruled a trap and the ball was made live? Bucknor can see the whimsy and the upside, even if you can't, yet. 4. Fair or Foul Long white lines separate the 90° wedge that is fair territory from the surrounds of foul ground on a baseball diamond. Historically—albeit with some notable, even pivotal exceptions—umpires simply call balls hit between those lines fair and those outside them foul. This is unimaginative and restrictive. The great Harry Chapin once wrote a song about a boy who saw all the colors of the rainbow in the morning sun and the flowers all around him, but whose joyous creativity was crushed by an overzealous schoolmarm who compelled him to render his flowers in red, his leaves in green, and the sun in yellow. The ballad's message is clear: break, you, the chains of imaginative bondage that society has placed on you. Be not shackled by the black-white binaries and the straight lines of a world doomed to a depressive death. Breathe those colors; feel the sun in purple-yellow and let the sweet blue heat that runs through its rays touch the back of your throat as you sing out your freedom. Just so, Bucknor ought to invite us out from our corners and into the round. This doesn't require an abandonment of the concept of fair and foul. Bucknor doesn't have to either physically or mentally carve out a special area of foul territory in center field, or make the press box fair. He can simply do as he did Tuesday night. The next time a ball is hit up the middle, he should call it foul. Because what if it had been? As much as what we all saw tells us it was fair, such a call would challenge us to eschew overconfidence and to accept that we are not so different, one from another. A ball was hit up the middle. In what important way was that ball different from one hit toward the first-base dugout? You have an opinion about that, but it was handed down to you by your version of a glowering nun. Let Bucknor's art show you how those batted balls are the same, really. 5. Tagging the Soul We all love a good tag. A fielder who gets into position, reads an incoming throw, anticipates the movement of a runner attempting an evasive slide and nabs them for a crucial out is doing that thing which makes sport greatest, at least in traditional lore: demonstrating grace and genius under pressure. But what are they doing, really? They wear a woven contraption of leather to entrap another. They enact non-hostile but real violence by thwacking and thwapping their handnet onto the uniform of some poor fellow soldier, separated from them in livery but perhaps no different from them in real sympathies and sensibilities. We call this a tag. We call this an out. We only know this way of things. Bucknor has the third eye that renders his first two moot. That's the eye that saw contact between Bauers's sole and the bag on Tuesday, but none between his soul and the bag. He could further invite us to share his gift by giving us more examples of when an apparent connection is illusory. Sure, a glove touched a runner's jersey before the runner grabbed a base, but whose spirit connected with its object more? Did the fielder make the tag with enough love in their heart, enough serious understanding of their impact on the man between their legs, and enough deep-seated desire for victory to merit the out? Should such a thing be decided by a simplistic measurement of space and time, or can we be more fearless—more profound? Is a world in which the runner slid in safely so different from this one? Is that runner safe, after all, even if he was a bit late in putting his own glove to the relevant rubber? The world melts and reshapes itself in glorious new ways for those who can see that (perhaps) he was. We must all learn to see what's before us, lest we be struck by cars or bitten by snakes before we really wake up to the universe, at some age between 14 and 30. However, we must all learn to see what is not before us, too—what is real, but simply confined to the past or the future for the moment; what is not real, but could be; what will never be real, but is more important than what is. You saw Jake Bauers step on first base, like every unhurried runner in baseball history has done. What you saw was real, but it didn't matter very much. One brave person challenged you to see around and behind and beneath that reality, and to understand its full nature—as well as the vast and heart-stopping red-white sear of the reality beyond it. He might offer you another chance, soon. Will you take it? View the full article

The Boston Red Sox acquired Johan Oviedo during the offseason with the hopes that he could be a prominent option in the starting rotation. There's always been a bit of a question mark surrounding Oviedo due to his prior health issues, but the ceiling is sky high, at least if he can throw more strikes. Pitching coach Andrew Bailey worked with Oviedo throughout spring training to get him to focus less on trying to paint corners are more on just filling up the strike zone because, as Bailey put it, when Oviedo threw strikes, hitters struggle to make contact. At the beginning of camp, it seemed like something clicked, but as the spring continued, a dip in velocity and a rise in solid contact began to rear their heads simultaneously. Oviedo’s last spring training performance was enough of a red flag that Alex Cora opted to have rookie Connelly Early join the rotation and shift Oviedo into a long reliever role to begin the season. In his last spring training outing, Oviedo threw 84 pitches, only 48 of which went for strikes, giving up six hits, one home run, six earned runs, three strike outs, two walks, and one hit by pitch over 3 1/3 innings. He spoke to reporters after the game and admitted that he was testing out a new cutter during the outing, but adding a new pitch so late into the spring is a questionable decision for any pitcher, especially one who knows he’s actively competing for a spot in the Opening Day rotation. Things have gone pretty poorly to start the season for the Red Sox, especially considering the high we were all riding after Opening Day. During the first game against the Astros though, Oviedo was tasked with coming into a difficult situation when he entered the game in the fifth inning; he entered a losing game and proceeded to give up four additional runs over 3 2/3 innings. What continued from spring though, was that his velocity was significantly down. Every pitch, except his curveball, was down close to two and a half miles per hour from his average. After that outing, Oviedo again spoke to the media and seemed to have just as many questions as the rest of us. He said he’s surprised that his velocity is down and that everything is coming out slower than when he returned from Tommy John surgery. He speculated that it may be a mechanical issue, but at this point, he doesn’t have a real answer as to why he is struggling so bad. Whatever the issue is, having him fill up the strike zone with pitches coming in far slower than expectation is a recipe for disaster. If we look at his heat map from that Houston game, we can see that he’s not missing the zone much. His bright red spots are mostly strikes, but they are strikes that lived in the heart of the plate. Against someone like Yordan Alvarez, that’s not going to cut it. While there was speculation that Rule 5 acquisition Ryan Watson likely had the shortest leash among the relief corps, it seems more likely that Oviedo should be the one looking over his shoulder as Tommy Kahnle ramps up to get work in with Worcester and then, eventually, the Red Sox. If we look past Kahnle, both Kutter Crawford and Patrick Sandoval are pitching multiple innings in simulated games at Fort Myers, working four innings each. They are closer to returning than not. and both deserve looks in the bullpen (if not the rotation) once they are ready. Oviedo has one minor-league option remaining; once any of the above three pitchers are ready to make their season debut, he’s likely heading to Worcester where he can work on recapturing his best stuff without nearly as much pressure. One bad outing does not make a slump, nor does it mean Oviedo has lost any of the potential that made him such a tantalizing trade candidate. However, the early returns leave a lot to be desired. Andrew Bailey has done well with most of the pitchers the Red Sox have brought in during his tenure, but not every project receives an A. There's still plenty of time in the season for the former Pirate to get his mind (and arm) right, but the Red Sox shouldn't be afraid to keep the leash short with so many alternatives knocking at the door. View the full article

Jays Centre is counting down the top 20 prospects in the Toronto Blue Jays organization. Check out prior entries in the series here: No. 20 to 16 No. 15 to 11 No. 10 No. 9 No. 8 No. 7 No. 6: Gage Stanifer (Dunedin, Vancouver, New Hampshire) ERA FIP xFIP IP G GS K% BB% K-BB% HR/9 SwStr% Whiff% WHIP BABIP LOB% LD% GB% FB% IFFB% HR/FB 2.86 2.70 3.11 110 16 27 35.5% 12.8% 22.7% 0.33 15.8% 36.9% 1.17 .296 74.6% 22.7% 44.9% 32.4% 16.4% 5.5% Another breakout prospect for the Jays in 2025, Gage Stanifer went from an unknown 19th-rounder to a borderline top-100 prospect. Prior to the 2025 season, Stanifer struggled in the Florida Complex League and Single A, pitching to an ERA over 6.00 across his first two professional seasons. Despite decent stuff, he walked a lot of batters. In 2025, Stanifer set a career high in innings pitched, with 110, and went from Single-A Dunedin up to Double-A New Hampshire, mainly piggybacking off of Trey Yesavage. He’s expected to start the 2026 season back at Double A. One of the big things that stood out for Stanifer from his previous seasons, compared to 2025, was that he was able to make significant gains in velocity after a very productive offseason. Stanifer went from sitting 92 mph on his four-seam fastball to 95 mph. The shape of his fastball was also still very solid, with 17.8 inches of vertical break and 12.6 inches of run, and because it was such an effective offering for him, and because he could consistently throw it for strikes, Stanifer threw it over two-thirds of the time in Dunedin. His main secondary, thrown more against righties than lefties, is a slider that gets more depth than normal, which gives it a sort of “deathball” shape (-5.1 inches of vertical break). It was extremely effective as a whiff generator, but Stanifer could sometimes lose the zone with it, too often leading to middling chase rates. His third pitch is a split-changeup that’s still a work in progress. The shape is intriguing, with 15 inches of vertical separation from his fastball and nearly 14 inches of fade, but he’s still developing a feel for it. He only throws it to lefties, making him nearly a two-pitch pitcher against each handedness of hitter. Stanifer’s arsenal and stuff propelled him to the top of the minor league leaderboards, as out of all qualified minor league pitchers, he led the pack with an absurd 35.5% K-rate, above the Cardinals’ Braden Davis and the Yankees’ Carlos Lagrange. The stuff did tick down in spring training a bit — Stanifer’s velo was not where it was in the 2025 season — leading to some poor results, but he assuaged the velo drop off with an electric Spring Breakout performance against the Phillies, striking out four batters in three scoreless innings while only giving up a single walk. The Phillies’ announcers sang his praises throughout, and his velo ticked back up; he sat 95.6 mph and touched 97.4 mph with his four-seamer. Stanifer does have some concerns going forward, however. Although he has reined in the walks, he still walks over 10% of the batters he faces, which is fringy for a starting pitcher. Scouts also have concerns about the repeatability of the delivery. Those concerns could take his outlook from a solid fourth starter to more of a back-end bullpen piece. Stanifer may also want to add a pitch or more to his arsenal to better fit the role of a starter. Although his three-pitch mix has shown effectiveness already, he may need more weapons going forward. A bridge pitch like a cutter could provide that for him. Stanifer will start the season in Double-A New Hampshire and will be challenged against upper-level hitters again. The Jays currently have a crowded rotation, but there’s the slightest chance that Stanifer could make his MLB debut this season as a reliever if he progresses well and the Jays need some extra firepower in the ‘pen. View the full article

Whatever expectations you had for the Miami Marlins entering the 2026 season should not shift in any way based on a five-game sample against soft competition. However, those expectations may have been influenced by incomplete information if you didn't account for the switch that this team flipped during the middle of the previous year. Across nearly 900 innings, the Fish have excelled. For the sake of round numbers, let's look at the last 100 games. Dating back to June 14, 2025, the Marlins have a 57-43 record—that is tied for sixth-best in Major League Baseball, according to Stathead. The team they're tied with? The World Series-champion Los Angeles Dodgers. Every team with a superior record qualified for the 2025 postseason. Rk Team Span Started Span Ended ▼ WL% G W L 1 MIL 2025-06-10 2026-03-31 .660 100 66 34 2 TOR 2025-06-11 2026-03-31 .610 100 61 39 3 PHI 2025-06-11 2026-03-31 .600 100 60 40 4 SEA 2025-06-14 2026-03-31 .590 100 59 41 5 BOS 2025-06-09 2026-03-31 .580 100 58 42 6 MIA 2025-06-14 2026-03-31 .570 100 57 43 7 LAD 2025-06-10 2026-03-31 .570 100 57 43 This is the winningest 100-game stretch for the Marlins since the very end of 2022 (final eight games) and 2023 pre-All-Star break (92 games), when they went 58-42. Why this might be legit Consistency has been key for the resurgent Marlins. They've played in 32 series over this span, getting swept only once (9/1/25-9/3/25 against the Washington Nationals). Their record is comfortably above .500 both at home and on the road—they actually established an all-time franchise record for consecutive road wins at the beginning of these 100 games. What's been causing problems for the opposition? The Marlins offense constantly applies pressure. Their 19.5% strikeout rate over the last 100 games is fifth-lowest in MLB and they've stolen 91 bases, which is the fifth-highest total. The Marlins have won despite never being able to utilize a full-strength lineup. For the first 40 games, dynamic center fielder Jakob Marsee was still in the minor leagues. For the last 45 games, All-Star Kyle Stowers has been sidelined due to various injuries. During their brief overlap in availability, Griffin Conine and Connor Norby were both out. Knock on wood, all of those bats should be taking the field together later this month as Stowers (hamstring strain) gradually increases baseball activities. To the disdain of baseball traditionalists, Miami's coaching staff began calling every pitch from the dugout on September 19. The early returns have been awesome, with 21 different pitchers combining for a 3.21 ERA (eighth in MLB). Why this might be a mirage Tuesday's game was uncharacteristically comfortable for the Marlins. They won at a .566 clip over their previous 99 games despite an overall run differential of zero. That's the underlying performance of a .500 team. View the full article

Transactions: Milwaukee Brewers optioned C Jeferson Quero to Nashville Sounds Milwaukee Brewers sent RF Steward Berroa on a rehab assignment to Nashville Sounds. Milwaukee Brewers sent LHP Rob Zastryzny on a rehab assignment to Nashville Sounds. The Brewers’ other minor league affiliates announced their Opening Day rosters, which you can find here: Biloxi Shuckers (AA) Wisconsin Timer Rattlers (High A) Wilson Warbirds (Low A) Game Action: Nashville Pre-Game Media Notes Nashville 7, Charlotte (White Sox) 3 Box Score Via the Sounds’ website, game details, and we encourage readers to review affiliate write-ups as part of their Link Report routine: Sounds win second straight with 7-3 victory over Charlotte Charlotte and Nashville started with some early offense from both teams in the first inning in the Sounds' home opener, the first of 24 matchups between these International League foes. Under-the-radar offseason acquisition Shane Drohan had a bumpy start in his Brewers' organization debut. After a walk, steal, and double, Drohan and the Sounds found themselves in a 1-0 hole just two batters into the game. Drohan also issued a walk and hit-by-pitch in the first frame but was able to escape a bases loaded jam by striking out Waukesha native Jarred Kelenic to end the threat. In the bottom of the first, Knights’ starter Jonathan Cannon (81 ERA+ in 228 MLB innings with the White Sox) took the hill to take on a Sounds' lineup that was missing Cooper Pratt as the organization and player finish negotiating his “shocking” extension. With Pratt out, Jett Williams was playing short and leading off. Williams led off the game with a strike out, part of a tough night that saw him go 0 for 5 with three strikeouts and some shaky defense. Steward Berroa, in his season debut, followed Williams with a single, before Tyler Black launched his first homer of the season to quickly give the Sounds the lead: It will be interesting to see if Black can justify a call-up at any point this season, after Andrew Vaughn’s injury and the recent acquisitions of Luis Matos and Damon Keith have cleared and then muddied the path forward for Black. After the Sounds took the lead on Black’s bomb, Drohan was aided by a double play in the second inning, as Williams snagged a ground ball, stepped on second in one motion, but then misfired in the dirt to first baseman Luke Adams. However. Adams was able to secure the out with a scoop to bail Williams out. In the third, Drohan walked two and hit another batter, but was once again able to strike out Kelenic with the bases loaded to escape the inning unscathed. Drohan would pitch into the fourth inning with a final line of 3.1 IP 3 H 2 ER 4 BB 6 K and 2 HBP. In 2025, Drohan only extended himself to 4+ innings six times in his 15 appearances, so it’s worth monitoring whether the Brewers will attempt to stretch Drohan out or use him as a reliever as the season goes on. In the bottom of the third, the Sounds manufactured two runs on some small ball. After singles by Black and Luis Lara, Brock Wilken collected his first AAA RBI with a single. With runners on the corners, Wilken then broke for second in a double steal that saw Lara score on an error by the Charlotte shortstop William Bergolla Jr. In the top of the fourth. The Knights turned the tables on the Sounds' suspect defense. Wilken bobbled what could have been an inning-ending double play on a 105 MPH ground ball, which gave the Knights a run. The Knights then pulled off their own double steal of home to close it to 4-3. Logan Henderson made his season debut in the Sounds’ defensive half of the fifth inning. Henderson looked dominant in his three scoreless innings of work, allowing just a hit and a walk, while striking out five. Henderson threw 28 of 45 pitches for strikes and got 13 whiffs. The Sounds broke the game open in the fifth with a two-run triple off the bat of Greg Jones to make it 6-3. Luke Adams would follow Jones with Adams’ first AAA RBI - a sac fly to close the scoring at 7-3 in the Sounds’ home opener. Sounds Extras If the 28-year-old Jones never makes it back to The Show, his career 1/7 with a HR, SB and .821 OPS is the kind of cup of coffee that gets you written into Field of Dreams. Infielder Eddys Leonard was rung up on an automatic strike for a pitch clock violation in his first at-bat. Former Brewer Oliver Dunn struck out in each of his first three ABs, before singling in his final two at-bats Former Brewer Tyson Miller pitched a scoreless ninth for Charlotte Carlos Rodriguez will take the mound for the Sounds on Wednesday, completing our first cycle through the deep rotation at AAA Nashville. 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

An All-Star for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2010, catcher John Buck signed with the Florida Marlins prior to the start of the 2011 season. On this day 15 years ago, Buck made his presence felt in his Marlins debut. The Marlins and New York Mets were scoreless through three and a half innings on opening day at Sun Life Stadium on April 1, 2011. That changed with one swing of the bat from Buck as the Marlins went on to collect a 6-2 victory. The Marlins had gone in order in the second and third innings against New York starter Mike Pelfrey, but after Hanley Ramírez flew out to open the bottom of the fourth, walks to Giancarlo Stanton and Logan Morris bookended a Gaby Sánchez double. That set the stage for Buck. Buck worked an eight-pitch at-bat in the second before flying out. In the fourth, Buck again saw eight Pelfrey pitches. This time, however, he was able to get the good part of the bat onto the ball, depositing a grand slam into the right-center field seats. Buck’s blast broke a scoreless tie and put the Marlins ahead for good. After Sánchez extended the lead with an RBI single in the fifth, the Mets finally got to Florida starter Josh Johnson, who took a no-hitter into the seventh, with a pair of runs. New York brought the tying run to the plate, but reliever Mike Dunn was able to fan Scott Hairston to end the threat. A solo blast from Morrison to lead off the bottom of the eight capped the scoring. Juan Carlos Oviedo, then known as Leo Nuñez, retired the Mets in order to seal the victory. Johnson picked up the win, allowing two runs on just three hits in 6 ⅔ innings. Buck and Sánchez each had two of Florida’s 10 hits. Buck never equaled his 2010 totals when he hit .281 with 20 home runs and 66 RBIs but was serviceable in his two seasons with the Marlins. Buck hit just .227 in 2011, but his 16 home runs and 57 RBIs were the most for a Florida catcher in four years. He began his stay in South Florida with a bang on this day 15 years ago. View the full article

Marlins right-hander Janson Junk speaks with the media after making his season debut on Tuesday. Junk's average fastball velocity was the highest of his MLB career.View the full article

And that closes 2024. Transactions, 3/31/2026 COMING Hired by Mets as Special Assistant to President of Baseball Operations Outfielders J.D. Martinez R/R DoB: 34303 High Level: MLB (2024) With the announcement that J.D. Martinez has become a special assistant to President of Baseball Operations David Stearns, Mets Roster Central is pleased to mark the next destination of the last un-accounted-for Met of 2024. J.D. had left his retirement un-announced, presumably leaving himself open to further work, and even reportedly received an offer from the Rangers last June, all while publicly teasing his intended entry into the exciting world of professional pickleball. Accounting for free agents who don't sign elsewhere but never publicly announce a retirement may seem niggling but at Mets Roster Central, keeping the books balanced is our business. And while we don't necessarily know what a SAttPoBO does, we are happy to see the books close on 2024 with Martinez moving on to another chapter, recalling the sad close of 2022 with the terrible passing of Terrence Gore back in February. These special assistant roles typically go to house legends and future Hall of Famers, and fellow SAttPoBO Carlos Beltran certainly fits that description. J.D. had a fine career, but is unlikely to find his name on a Hall-of-Fame plaque anytime soon and was less-than-stellar as a Met, so we're left in a cloud of mystery, but that is nothing new. He's certainly a respected figure, but ... this serves to make the Mets feel just a little bit more Trumpy, and that's not a comfortable feeling. Your Mets Coaching Staff Manager Bench Coach Pitching Coach Hitting Coordinator Third Base Coach First Base Coach Bullpen Coach Ass't Pitching Coach Carlos Mendoza Kai Correa Justin Willard Jeff Albert Tim Leiper Gilbert Gomez José Rosado Dan McKinney DoB: 1979-11-27 DoB: 1989-07-14 DoB: 1990-09-09 DoB: 1992-08-16 DoB: 1996-07-19 DoB: 1992-03-08 DoB: 1974-11-09 DoB: 1989-06-06 Hitting Coach Strategy Coach Catching Coach Coaching Assistant Bat'g Practice Pitcher Equipment Manager Bullpen Catchers Bullpen Catchers Troy Snitker Danny Barnes J.P. Arencibia Rafael Fernandez Kevin Mahoney Kevin Kierst Eric Langill Dave Racaniello DoB: 1988-12-05 DoB: 1989-10021 DoB: 1986-01-05 DoB: 1988-08-03 DoB: 1987-05-11 DoB: 1964-07-09 DoB: 1979-04-09 DoB: 1978-06-03 Your Mets Training Staff Director of Player Health Head Athletic Trainer Assistant Athletic Trainer Reconditioning Coordinator Reconditioning Therapist Head Performance Coach Assistant Performance Coach Performance Coordinator Brian Chicklo Joseph Golia Bryan Baca Sean Bardanett Josh Bickel Dustin Clarke Tanner Miracle Jeremy Chiang DoB: 1972-07-17 DoB: 1978-??-?? DoB: Circa 1980 DoB: 1988-06-23 DoB: 1996-??-?? DoB: 1987-??-?? DoB: 1991-??-?? DoB: ????-??-?? Your 2026 New York Mets Starting Pitchers Clay Holmes Nolan McLean Freddy Peralta David Peterson Kodai Senga R/R DoB: 1993-03-27 R/R DoB: 2001-07-24 R/R DoB: 2996-06-04 L/L DoB: 1995-09-03 L/R DoB: 1993-01-30 Relief Pitchers Huascar Brazobán Luis Garcia Richard Lovelady Sean Manaea Tobias Myers Brooks Raley Luke Weaver R/R DoB: 1989-10-15 R/R DoB: 1987-01-30 L/L DoB: 1995-07-07 R/L DoB: 1992-02-01 R/R DoB: 1998-08-05 L/L DoB: 1988-06-29 R/R DoB: 1993-08-21 Relief Pitchers Catchers Infielders Devin Williams Francisco Alvarez Luís Torrens Brett Baty Bo Bichette Francisco Lindor Jorge Polanco R/R DoB: 1994-09-21 R/R DoB: 2001-11-01 R/R DoB: 1996-05-02 L/R DoB: 1999-11-13 R/R DoB: 1998-03-05 S/R DoB: 1993-11-14 S/R DoB: 1999-11-13 Infielders Outfielders Marcus Semien Mark Vientos Carson Benge Luis Robert, Jr. Juan Soto Tyrone Taylor Jared Young R/R DoB: 1990-09-17 R/R DoB: 1993-12-11 L/R DoB: 2003-01-20 R/R DoB: 1997-08-03 L/L DoB: 36093 R/R DoB: 34356 L/R DoB: 1995-07-09 Also on 40-Player Roster Starting Pitchers Relief Pitchers Tylor Megill Christian Scott Jonah Tong Alex Carrillo Reed Garrett Joey Gerber Justin Hagenman R/R DoB: 1995-07-28 R/R DoB: 1999-06-15 R/R DoB: 2003-06-19 R/R DoB: 1997-06-06 R/R DoB: 1993-01-02 R/R DoB: 1997-05-03 R/R DoB: 1996-10-07 On 60-Day Injured List with torn right UCL. In minor-league camp. Projected for Syracuse. In minor-league camp. Projected for Syracuse. In minor-league camp. Projected for St. Lucie. On 60-Day Injured List — right UCL surgery and nerve relocation surgery. In minor-league camp. Projected for St. Lucie. On 60 Day Injured List with fractured rib. Relief Pitchers Catchers Infielders A.J. Minter Dedniel Núñez Jonathan Pintaro Dylan Ross Austin Warren Hayden Senger Ronny Mauricio L/L DoB: 1993-09-02 R/R DoB: 1996-06-05 R/R DoB: 1997-11-07 R/R DoB: 2000-09-01 R/R DoB: 1996-02-05 R/R DoB: 1997-04-03 S/R DoB: 2001-04-04 On 15-Day Injured List — Left Lat Surgery On 60-Day Injured List — right UCL surgery. In minor-league camp. Projected for Binghamton. In minor-league camp. Projected for St. Lucie. In minor-league camp. Projected for St. Lucie. In minor-league camp. Projected for Binghamton. In minor-league camp. Projected for Syracuse. Outfielders MJ Melendez Nick Morabito L/R DoB: 1993-11-29 R/R DoB: 2003-05-07 In minor-league camp. Projected for Syracuse. In minor-league camp. Projected for Binghamton. View the full article

On Tuesday, Raising Royals, the Kansas City Royals Professional Development account, shared the 2026 Opening Day roster for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, the Royals' Double-A affiliate. The Naturals kick off their season on Thursday on the road in Wichita, the Double-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. They are looking to improve on their 66-72 record from a season ago (they finished fourth in the Texas League North Division). Northwest Arkansas will feature a good number of prospects who were on our 2026 Top-20 prospects list at Royals Keep. Here is a list of those prospects and their respective ranking. Drew Beam, RHP (No. 9) Felix Arronde, RHP (No. 12) Daniel Vazquez , SS (No. 14) Carson Roccaforte, OF (No. 16) Frank Mozzicato, LHP (No. 20) Beam and Arronde are the most accomplished pitchers of the group, both coming off solid seasons in High-A Quad Cities in 2025. Beam posted a 3.83 ERA and led the River Bandits in strikeouts with 110 in 131.2 IP. Arronde pitched three fewer innings but posted a 2.82 ERA and struck out 101 batters. The former Tennessee Volunteer pitcher had a better FIP (3.35) than the Cuban-born righty (3.87). Vazquez had a good campaign in the Arizona Fall League, hitting .329 with a .928 OPS in 98 plate appearances for Surprise. He also posted excellent Statcast percentiles, as illustrated in his TJ Stats profile below. Vazquez ranked in the 94th percentile in BB% and 92nd percentile in hard-hit rate. If he can combine those two traits in his stint in Double-A, then he could make a case for a spot in Triple-A Omaha sooner rather than later. Roccaforte will begin the year again in Northwest Arkansas, where he finished last year. In 45 games in 2025, he had a solid Double-A campaign, hitting .290 with an .862 OPS with the Naturals in 212 plate appearances. The former Louisiana-Lafayette product also showed some nice progress this spring in Cactus League play, showcasing excellent hard-hit skills and plate discipline. Even though he looked very good in Double-A in 2025, the Royals opted to have him start the year in Northwest Arkansas to begin 2026, especially with so many veteran outfielders in Triple-A Omaha at the moment. Lastly, Mozzicato enters a crucial year that could make or break him as a prospect in the Royals system. The former first-round pick was poor in Northwest Arkansas, posting a 7.46 ERA in 17 outings and 56.2 IP. He also had a -1.8% K-BB%, highlighted by a a 19.4% BB%. The Connecticut prep lefty made two appearances in Spring Training and posted a 13.50 ERA in two innings of work. He struggled heavily with throwing strikes and generating chase and whiff, and while his four-seamer was promising on a TJ Stuff+ end (102 TJ Stuff+), the rest of his repertoire was mediocre in Arizona. There is hope that Mozzicato could turn into an MLB reliever like Daniel Lynch IV in a year or two. For that to happen, however, he will need to do a better job of throwing strikes in Northwest Arkansas (for starters). View the full article

TRANSACTIONS Before their home opener the St. Paul Saints received C Ian Daugherty from the Wichita Wind Surge. SS Harry Genth was transferred from the Wind Surge roster to the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels. SAINTS SENTINEL Worcester 19, St. Paul 3 Box Score The St. Paul Saints swept a three-game series with Indianapolis to open their season on the road over the weekend and sent left-hander Christian MacLeod to the mound for their home opener at CHS Field on Tuesday. With the early season pitch counts being around 60, the Saints had three pitchers “scheduled” to throw, with Raul Brito and Dan Altavilla to follow MacLeod. Normally you would hope those three could get you through most, if not all, of the game. But that wasn’t in the cards with Twins CEO Tom Pohlad, Assistant GM Alex Hassan, and Director of Player Development Drew MacPhail on hand. I’m blaming this game all on them… MacLeod gave up a leadoff double to start the game, then got a strikeout for the first out. But a pair of walks, an error from catcher Noah Cardenas, an RBI single, and a three-run homer put the Saints down 5-0 before the lefty could even catch his breath. He picked up a second strikeout but followed it with a walk to put him at 38 pitches and an early call to the bullpen. Right-hander Raul Brito fared slightly better, recording five total outs, but also surrendered back-to-back home runs before the first inning was over. Before the Saints lineup even got a chance, they were down 8-0. It would get worse. Second baseman Orlando Arcia did get the Saints on the board in the bottom of the second with his first home run of the season, a solo shot. Brito made it through the second inning, but Altavilla had to come on with one out in the third. He struck out three Red Sox and got the Saints into the fourth inning but was charged with one earned run because of two walks in his 1 1/3 innings when Matt Bowman allowed an RBI single after relieving him. Bowman would go on to finish the fifth and didn’t allow a run of his own but walked three in his 1 1/3 innings. In the bottom of the fourth the Saints loaded the bases with nobody out, giving themselves a chance to cut into the big Red Sox lead. Cardenas drew a walk to make it 8-2, bringing Kaelen Culpepper to the plate. He got one more run in, but it came on a double-play grounder that killed much of that momentum. Trent Baker came on to start the sixth inning and wasn’t able to change any of their pitching fortunes. He struck out one, but allowed two hits, and walked five before Eduardo Salazar became their sixth pitcher of the evening. Before the inning was over it was 19-3 Woo Sox, as Salazar was a victim of a grand slam. The 10 runs allowed in the inning was a franchise record, the first of two infamous ones they accomplished. Salazar was back out for the seventh and gave the Saints their first one-two-three inning. In the eighth, they turned to position player Tanner Schobel, and he delivered the highlight of the night in my opinion: He had a huge grin on his face the entire time and I don’t blame him. Got to have fun however you can during a game like this. Schobel pitched the final two innings, allowing no runs on one hit and two walks. The Saints pitching staff as a whole walked 20 hitters on the game, a franchise record, while striking out nine. Culpepper (2-for-5, K) and Emmanuel Rodriguez (2-for-4, R, K) each had two hits to lead the offense. Walker Jenkins finished 0-for-2 with a pair of walks. The two teams combined for 29 walks compared to only 13 strikeouts. The Saints committed four errors as a team, were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base. Throw this one in the dumpster, light it on fire, let the flames burn it from your memory, and then come back tomorrow. WIND SURGE WISDOM The Wichita Wind Surge season will kick off on Thursday, April 2nd at home in Equity Bank Park against the NW Arkansas Travelers at 6:35 PM CDT. The Wind Surge roster boasts three of Twins Daily’s Top 20 prospects to begin the year. KERNELS NUGGETS The Cedar Rapids Kernels season begins on Friday, April 3rd with them hosting the Peoria Chiefs at 6:05 PM CDT. Left-handed pitcher and Twins Daily’s #6 prospect Dasan Hill will lead the squad onto the field at Veterans Memorial Stadium. MUSSEL MATTERS The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels will also start their season on Thursday with a three-game series against the Clearwater Threshers at Hammond Stadium. First pitch in this one is scheduled for 6:05 PM CDT. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Tanner Schobel, St. Paul Saints (2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2 BB) Hitter of the Day – Orlando Arcia, St. Paul Saints (1-for-3, 2 R, HR, RBI) 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-2, 2 BB #2 – Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul): 2-for-5, K #3 – Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul): 2-for-4, R, K #7 – Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul): 0-for-4, BB WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Worcester @ St. Paul (1:07 PM CDT) - RHP Andrew Bash (0-0, 0.00 ERA) Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Tuesday’s game! Or, maybe not so much about that game, but the Saints or other Twins minor league questions. View the full article

MIAMI, FL — Every time that the Miami Marlins have held a late-inning lead so far this season, they have held on to win. That was the case again Tuesday night in what turned out to be their most lopsided game yet, a 9-2 defeat of the Chicago White Sox. Janson Junk turned in a solid start, but the Marlins bullpen handled the majority of the workload. That unit has now combined for a 0.51 ERA—the lowest in the majors—while striking out hitters 38.1% of the time. "They've come out of the gate and really thrown the ball extremely well," said Marlins manager Clayton McCullough. "I think each guy that's been called upon in whatever capacity role that is thus far, they have just answered the bell, and they really filled the strike zone up. When you have good stuff and you throw a ton of strikes, limit the free pass late in games, you have a chance to go on some runs like this." Andrew Nardi, Anthony Bender, Calvin Faucher and Pete Fairbanks were the relievers used on Tuesday night, combining for a final line of 4 ⅔ innings pitched, zero hits, zero runs, one walk and eight strikeouts. Fairbanks led the way, striking out the side in the top of the ninth inning. Nardi, the first reliever deployed after Junk was taken out of the game with one out in the top of the fifth inning, struck out both Munetaka Murakami and Andrew Benintendi swinging with his slider to end the inning. Through 1 ⅔ innings of work in 2026, Nardi has struck out four and only allowed one hit. Once the lane of left-handed batters ended with one out in the sixth, Bender entered the game. Bender, who doesn't often go multiple innings, had to on Tuesday because Tyler Phillips and Lake Bachar were not available. He tossed 1 ⅔ innings of hitless baseball, only allowing a walk, but also struck out one. Faucher, who followed Bender, struck out two in his clean inning of work. Fairbanks entered to close things out despite it being nowhere close to a save situation. He had last thrown on Saturday, the second game of the season. It only took the former Tampa Bay Ray 15 pitches to finish the game, the most he's thrown as a member of the Marlins. "We had stretched some guys the last few days, and we had a few guys that were on back-to-backs that we wanted to stay away from today," explained McCullough. "Having Pete throw today and staying away from Phillips, he comes back tomorrow, we are hit with much more length and just gives us some more options tomorrow by doing that." Although veteran Chris Paddack struggled on Monday night in his organizational debut, he saw enough from the White Sox offense to where he was able to help out Janson Junk. Making his first start of the 2026 season the day after, Junk tossed 4 ⅓ innings, allowing two runs (both in the third inning) on five hits, walking one and striking out one. "He selflessly came up to me and just broke down what he thought he saw, and I really appreciate that from him, just about his mentality and what went on in that one inning," Junk said. "That moment when two guys get on, base hit and you can feel it go in the other direction, I reflected back on what (Paddack) told me: 'just keep pitching with conviction and don't let up.' (Pitching coach Daniel Moskos) coming out, that was good mound visit, and then I was able to refocus and then get out of there with limited damage." Junk's fastball, which averaged around 93.6 mph in 2025, saw an increase in velocity, topping out at 96.5 mph, averaging 95.4 mph. His secondary stuff—specifically the slider and changeup—looked good, generating four whiffs each. He also induced a 53.8% ground ball rate, which was the third-highest of his Marlins career. "Overall, Junk was great," McCullough said. "The velo he had on the fastball and his ability to hold that velo from pitch one to roughly when he got to in the high 70s, it was nice. With that type of velo, throwing some two-seamers running in just keeps things open away for his breaking stuff. There's some good changeups and the crispness with some of his sliders that he threw with the type of velocity he had. Big spot there in the third and he got a few ground ball hits and they get a couple runs. But for him to leave some guys out there, keep the game where it was, a big part in the game." The Marlins offense was hitless through the first three innings. It wasn't until the fourth inning that they not only notched their first hit of the game, but took control of the game by rallying for four runs. Xavier Edwards got things going with a base hit, followed by a 105.4 mph double from Agustín Ramírez, moving Edwards to third. Liam Hicks, who has gotten off to a hot start this season, drove both of them with a double, tying the game, 2-2. Owen Caissie, another Marlins who has gotten off to a great start, drove Hicks in on an RBI single (and moved to second on the throw), taking a 3-2 lead. Heriberto Hernández extended the lead with an RBI single. In the bottom of the seventh, a Graham Pauley fielder's choice drove in Hernández and then Jakob Marsee drove Griffin Conine in on a sac fly, extending the lead to 6-2. In the bottom of the eighth, Conine hit his first home run of the season off of Jedixson Paez, a two-run homer. The ball left the bat at 107.3 mph and went 405 feet to right field. Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E CWS 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 5 3 MIA 0 0 0 4 0 0 2 3 - 9 9 0 With the win, the Marlins are now 4-1 on the season and will look to take their second straight series on Wednesday with Sandy Alcantara taking the mound for a 1:10 pm first pitch. View the full article

The Twins’ endless pursuit of left-handed corner outfielders has been well covered. The many poor-fitting pieces of the lineup have, as well. They're seeing the results of their lopsided roster construction to begin the season, and turning the corner feels unlikely. The Twins have mustered very little fight against left-handed pitchers, scoring two runs in 16 2/3 innings against them. In looking at the lineup they throw out in these matchups, you might feel like they should be able to at least hold their own. They're able to fill out most of the batting order with right-handed hitters. That may not be enough to save them, though. To be fair, we have yet to see several expected contributors pitch in much in this small sample to begin the season. Byron Buxton has yet to pick up a hit against left-handed pitching, and we're waiting for Luke Keaschall and Ryan Jeffers to take off. The Twins are surely counting on these players to carry the lineup. So far, Austin Martin has held his own in the leadoff spot when called upon, but the lineup has missed some expected production that's sure to show up at some point. Unfortunately, even as those names come around, it's hard to expect this lineup to perform against lefties. They're simply lacking in players to counter those matchups. Not only do they have too many left-handed hitters on the roster, but too many of the right-handed bats they have to rely on also aren't a big help. Brooks Lee has been better against left-handed pitching so far in his career, but that consists of just a .647 OPS. Josh Bell hasn't produced at an above-average clip against lefties since 2023, and posted a .552 OPS against them last season. Victor Caratini was slightly above average against them in 2025, but has a .672 mark against southpaws in his career. These three are going to be regulars on days with a left-handed starter on the mound, along with at least one left-handed hitter. This is the best the Twins have to offer. Their bench doesn’t have any other right-handed hitters to shuffle into the mix if these players continue to struggle, as we would expect them to. In short, there's no reason to expect this lineup to right the ship against left-handed pitching. They won’t be as bad as they’ve been in this small sample, but they’ll continue to struggle significantly. The falloff in the lineup is quick and precipitous, and will likely kill many of the rallies the top of the lineup doesn't finish. Even among the few bats the Twins chose to bring in this offseason who can hit right-handed, they did a poor job of adding impact from that side of the plate. It's yet another strike against the way the Twins chose to build their roster in 2026. Their emphasis on acquiring and retaining as many left-handed bats as possible left them with few roster spots to allocate to countering left-handed pitching. They filled those spots with bats that are technically capable of hitting right-handed, but are highly unlikely to be the impact contributors this lineup needs against lefties. From ace starting pitchers to marginal relievers, it's safe to expect the Twins to struggle mightily for all of the 2026 season against southpaws, and teams will continue to turn to them as often as they possibly can. If that's the case, it won't be because of underperformance or unexpected struggles. It will be because that's exactly what you'd expect from the roster they put together. View the full article

In the bottom of the 11th inning of the New York Mets' second game of the 2026 season, Luis Robert Jr. parked a Hunter Barco slider into the Fiesta Deck, scoring three runs and giving the Mets their second win of the season and Robert the second walk-off home run of his career. The center fielder's hot start probably hasn't gone on long enough to loudly proclaim that La Pantera is back, but that at-bat certainly has put him in the right direction. To see Robert take the nine-iron out of the bag and golf the ball out of the park at 104.6 MPH is certainly impressive to see, but the power has always been there for him. One could make the argument that his swing decision and pitch recognition are more impressive than the swing. In terms of swing decisions, the old version of Robert may very well have been down 0-1 in this scenario. In 2025, Robert swung at first pitches at a 47% clip, the seventh-most in the MLB. In this at-bat, Barco’s first pitch was a down-and-away changeup, a pitch Robert took for a ball. Robert recently flashed his improved discipline Opening Day when he worked a 10-pitch walk against Paul Skenes. That was the first sign that Robert’s maturity at the plate had begun to evolve. He's following what teammate Bo Bichette said the plan the whole team has this season: taking professional at bats. Barco was very slider-heavy in his outing, throwing the pitch 11 out of 24 times. After the first pitch take of the changeup, it was clear Robert was hunting that slider, and he got what he wanted. In 2025, Robert posted a .216 batting average against sliders, a pitch he saw 16% of the time last season. So far in 2026, Robert is sporting a .667 batting average against the slider. It was encouraging to see that Robert identified the pitch out of the hand and got the barrel to it. Saturday’s game also featured a walk from Robert, who currently sports a 20% walk rate in 2026. In 2025, he only managed a 9.3% walk rate, so it's clear his refined plate approach is spreading to all aspects of his game. But the people that celebrated when the Mets traded for Robert signed up for his raw power, and that was shown on display in that swing. Robert went 2-for-4 on Opening Day, but he didn't flash the upper-echelon pop his game was once known for. Thus, it's rather encouraging that his walk-off home run featured elite exit velocity (104.6 mph) and launch angle (23°). Now, Robert got the pitch he wanted but not exactly where he wanted it. The quadrant of the strike zone that Barco hung that slider in does not normally generate a ton of aggressiveness from Robert, as he swings at pitches down there a measly 34% of the time. Now, with a new plan to attack rather than react, Robert swung at the first slider he saw, and it just so happened that he ended the game with one swing. Robert also has a lot less pressure on him in this lineup. With Brett Baty behind him if needed, and Marcus Semien and Carson Benge after that, hero ball was not needed. The result says otherwise, but the process behind the plate approach is what is most worth salivating over. While not quite the swing of his life, Robert has set a high bar for himself in New York. From increased pitch recognition to better swing selections, a redux of that magical 2023 season isn't out of the question. He has all the tools to help this team, and all that home run did was accelerate his path back to stardom. View the full article

Every development over the last month or so has pushed the Brewers further toward infield chaos. Come 2027, Milwaukee will have a lot of very hard decisions to make around the horn—mostly because they have a stockpile of talent, including four prospects in the MLB Pipeline Top 100 among their infield prospects. It’s daunting in a good way, because it seems almost impossible for the Brewers to go wrong. Let’s look over all four infield spots and see how they break down. First Base Blake Burke is the team’s best prospect at first base. Selected with the 2024 Competitive Balance A acquired in the Corbin Burnes trade, Burke has a powerful bat. In the pitching-friendly Southern League, he cranked out 11 homers in 140 at-bats, a marked improvement from what he did at High-A Wisconsin. Lefty power hitters have put up eye-popping numbers at Uecker Field, so Burke’s potential is exciting on that front. Luke Adams has been pushed to first base from across the diamond, even though he was not an untenable third baseman. While he lacks the raw power of Burke and bats right-handed, he’s been a clear threat on the basepaths and he has proven to be an OBP machine. Andrew Fischer is a natural first baseman performing pretty well at third, while Brock Wilken could find himself at first to make way for other prospects. Tyler Black is also an option, and is hitting the ball harder this spring. Of course, these players are all crowding into the top two levels of the minors, with Andrew Vaughn and Jake Bauers in place in the majors. Second Base Ethan Murray and Josh Adamczewski are two of the top organizational prospects at second base, but neither is likely to be a starter there. The big reason? Milwaukee’s shortstop surplus, which could include one of Jesus Made or Luis Pena taking a lot of playing time at second—a move similar to the one Brice Turang made in the majors. Turang is slated to be a free agent after the 2029 season, unless the Brewers can work out an extension. With Made, Peña, Jett Williams and Cooper Pratt in the pipeline, trading Turang feels more probable. Third Base Will it be Wilken or Fischer? It may end up being neither, with Made, Peña, and Pratt all in the mix. Wilken and Fischer, though, are potential offensive monsters, with Wilken channeling Brewers three-true-outcome legend Gorman Thomas, while Fischer flashed signs of being a left-handed Ryan Braun with his performance during the World Baseball Classic. Adams is also no slouch at the hot corner, even if his destiny appears to be closer to a Bauers-like role. Shortstop As with first and second base, the incumbents will have their say. Joey Ortiz and David Hamilton carry promise of their own. The upward pressure applied by Pratt (newly extended, and thus guaranteed some kind of role), Made and Peña seems like it will be irresistible, but which player will claim the spot—or will they all scatter to other positions, amid a resurgent offensive season by one of the more experienced, sterling defenders already in the majors? It's impossible to predict. Overview The depth around the infield for Milwaukee might be the best any team has had in the last 15 years. At every position, they have multiple players with a chance to be above-average, and not in four or five years. By this time next spring, there will be a somewhat confused Battle Royale going on, or a couple of these players will have been traded—but either way, the Brewers should be sitting pretty all the way around the dirt. View the full article

Shortstop has been a position in flux for the Twins since Carlos Correa was traded back to Houston at the deadline last year. Brooks Lee took over at that point, and while he didn’t exactly impress, the former first-rounder wasn’t replaced during the offseason and seemingly came into 2026 with the job locked down. The Twins did make a few acquisitions to augment their depth at the position. Ryan Kreidler was claimed off waivers from the Pirates back in October, while veteran shortstop Orlando Arcia was signed to a minor-league deal in January. However, both guys were sent to St. Paul as part of the last roster cuts as Opening Day approached. That left Tristan Gray, acquired in a trade from the Red Sox in late January, as the backup. Many were confused by the decision, given that Gray is another left-handed bat in a team full of them, but nonetheless, he was in Baltimore for Opening Day. Lee started the first two games in Baltimore, both times hitting in the last spot of the lineup. Both games showed similar results, with Lee striking out twice on Opening Day and once more on Saturday. One of those strikeouts came in the top of the 2nd on Thursday with the bases loaded, in a game the Twins eventually lost by one run. While it is an extremely small sample, Twins management and fans would love to see Lee turn it on soon, in what could be a make-or-break year for the 25-year-old. Lee’s performance was poor, but it was a bit unexpected to see him omitted from the lineup Sunday for the deciding game of the series Sunday. Gray was penciled into the 9th spot, playing short, and similarly, he came up with the bases loaded in the top of the 2nd. Gray then laced a double to right-center, taking a 98.3-MPH fastball from Shane Baz 107.3 MPH to the gap. Gray added a single off Tyler Wells later, ending his day 2-4 with a double, 3 RBIs, and a strikeout. The Twins began a series with the Royals Monday, and Lee drew the start again, going 1-3 with a single and another strikeout, bringing his line this year to .111/.111/.111, with 4 strikeouts in 9 plate appearances. The advanced metrics back up what we’ve seen, as far as any of it goes. His bat speed is the same as it was last year, and his fielding has yet to show improvement. In contrast to that, Gray provides additional value by being able to play every infield spot. His bat speed bests Lee’s. Again, it's still early in the season, but one of the more intriguing questions surrounding the near future of the Minnesota Twins may be the usage of their shortstop position. How long of a leash does Lee have? How often do we see Gray throughout the first few weeks of the season? The first series against Baltimore demonstrated that Kody Clemens will likely play first base with right-handers on the mound for the opponent, which leaves Gray as a substitute at third or second base, as well as potentially gaining more starts at short as the year progresses. Manager Derek Shelton has some experience mixing around shortstops from his time in Pittsburgh—especially the 2023 season, when he had four players make more than 30 appearances there. While the question posed can’t be answered instantaneously, the Twins should do everything in their power to set up Lee for success this year. He was a top-10 pick only four years ago and just turned 25. He dealt with injuries to his back that slowed his development, so the hope is that a full season will yield atypically large forward strides. If Lee doesn’t pan out, Gray started his regular season career in Minnesota with a bang, and could be a capable placeholder as the season progresses while former first-round picks Kaelen Culpepper and Marek Houston develop in the minor leagues. How long it might be before Gray gets that chance and the team shifts its gaze from Lee to his long-term replacements is worth watching. What are your thoughts on Brooks Lee? Does he make it to the end of the season as the starting shortstop? As for Gray, how much value could he provide for the Twins this year? View the full article

Pete Crow-Armstrong has yet to register a Barrel in the regular season, according to Statcast. All of his hits on the young year have been ground balls: two hit hard past the first baseman, two gorgeous bunts up the third-base line, and one seeing-eye bouncer the second baseman could only knock down in Monday night's win over the Angels. He's hit a number of pop-ups and lazy fly balls. He often still seems to be swinging too much, leading to unproductive contact. However, Crow-Armstrong has also drawn two walks in his 18 plate appearances so far, so he has a .389 OBP. He walked twice in 22 plate appearances in the Cactus League, and twice in 21 trips in the World Baseball Classic. For calendar year 2026, Crow-Armstrong has almost exactly a 10% walk rate—roughly double his career mark in the majors through 2025. He's seen 226 pitches across the three types of competition in which he's participated, and swung at 55.3% of them. That's down from a rate just over 60% in each of the last two years. By now, it should be clear that Crow-Armstrong will never be a patient hitter, in the style of Ian Happ or Alex Bregman. Even swing rates just below 50% and walk rates around 9%—the typical outputs of Dansby Swanson, for context—are probably too much to hope for. Crow-Armstrong will both create and waste offensive opportunities by swinging; he's going to be much more eager than the average batter. The relevant question is: If it's his hyper-aggressiveness that stands between him and stardom (and it is), how much must he mitigate it to get around the problem? In other words, at what swing rate can Crow-Armstrong be a reliably excellent overall hitter? The answer is much, much higher than it is for most batters. Guys who make a lot of contact (like Nico Hoerner) should err a bit on the side of patience, but Crow-Armstrong has a highly optimized power swing and is going to whiff at a fairly high rate. To make up for that, he needs to go to the plate ready to do damage—especially since he has the bat path to hit more home runs than his frame or his raw bat speed would imply. He also has elite speed, and a near-mad desire to use it. That makes it especially valuable when he reaches base, because he's very likely to steal a base (or two), or to do something similarly game-breaking. (On Monday night, he scored from first on a single when he wasn't even running with the pitch, although it was a high blooper that probably should have been caught.) Ideally, of course, such a player would draw a lot of walks and maximize their OBP, but failing that, putting the ball in play by swinging early in the count leverages his speed well. The bunts Crow-Armstrong laid down in the first two games of the year were exemplars of that, but he can also reach on unintentional infield singles, errors and fielder's choices, and stretch some hits by 90 feet. All of that makes it good that Crow-Armstrong swings more than most hitters. In the past, though, he's swung so much that he sometimes limits his ability to get a good pitch and put the barrel on it. Is ratcheting that baseline swing rate down from 60% to 55% enough to change that? Much depends on the shape of his added patience. Crow-Armstrong is swinging a bit less early in counts this spring, and then increasing his aggressiveness as he protects the plate late. His feel for contact outside the zone is better than one would guess, for a player so focused on that lift-and-pull swing, which allows him to foul off pitches until he earns either a mistake or a miss that doesn't tempt him. On Monday night, he took an 11-pitch walk in which the balls were pitches 1, 5, 7, and 11. None of them were close to the zone; he swung at everything that was. But because he fouled off enough pitches to stay alive, he did earn those bad and un-tempting misses. In his second at-bat against Angels starter Ryan Johnson, Crow-Armstrong took pitches 1 and 4, but swung at everything even remotely close. He fouled off four offerings, then hit the aforementioned, unimpressive single up the middle. Many pitches Crow-Armstrong will face have a better putaway pitch than Johnson. Falling behind and fouling off four or five pitches per plate appearance is no sustainable formula for success. However, these two at-bats are good glimpses of how Crow-Armstrong can swing a lot without giving away at-bats. If he can spoil some two-strike pitches, be smart about sitting on certain pitches when the situation demands it, utilize the occasional bunt, and be even an iota more patient than he's been in the past, he has the tools to be that 30-homer, 30-steal guy the Cubs saw him become last year—the one in whom they've now invested $115 million. The swing rate might have to come down a hair more, in order for him to continue actualizing his power. For now, though, Crow-Armstrong seems to have made some small modulations in his approach—and because he's a physical freak with plenty of value in his legs, his glove and his unconventional hitting profile, small modulations might beget big gains in consistency. View the full article

Center field was a strength for the Brewers in 2025, with Jackson Chourio and Blake Perkins patrolling the position for most of the year. However, after another year riddled with injuries, Garrett Mitchell is healthy(ish) and slated for that spot for the beginning of the 2026 season, with Chourio on the injured list and Perkins demoted to the fringes of the roster. Given Mitchell’s injury and production history, as well as how his bat looked during spring training, the Brewers will need suitable backup options in center field who should be able to provide value. Mitchell's Cactus League numbers were hideous, but spring training stats don't count, and he's looked fairly good since the year began. He's showing great patience and still has exceptional bat speed. He's changed his setup in the batter's box, spreading out more to shorten his stride and put himself in a better position to make contact and avoid chasing pitches he can't handle well. Nonetheless, Mitchell is whiffing often and striking out at a high rate. That threatens to make his profile collapse, as he gets greater exposure to the league. Fallback plans remain important. The Brewers have numerous capable center fielders on the roster, but with Chourio in left (once he returns from his injury) and Sal Frelick in right, the next man up after Mitchell would seemingly be Brandon Lockridge. Acquired in a trade with the Padres at the deadline last year that sent Nestor Cortes to San Diego, Lockridge was solid for the Brewers in the 20 games he appeared in, hitting .261/.308/.370. Lockridge’s defense and speed were exceptional, though, ending 2025 with 5 Outs Above Average, according to Statcast, and showcasing even better speed than Mitchell has. The bat is certainly a question, but due to some “swing-hauling” over the offseason, he took full advantage of his opportunities in Phoenix this spring. The former fifth-round pick fared better against lefties than against righties, but that seems to make his fit onto the roster work better—especially with both Chourio and Andrew Vaughn sidelined. With Mitchell as the left-handed hitting starting center fielder, Lockridge could provide value as a fill-in to give guys rest or a late-inning pinch-hitter for either Mitchell or Frelick if there is a southpaw on the mound. Pat Murphy seems to be excited about what Lockridge can do for the Brewers in 2026, and fans should be, as well. Besides Lockridge, the other immediate option would be Perkins, who has played in 242 games with the Brewers in multiple stints over the past three years. He hasn’t shown much with his bat, though, and doesn't seem to have the trust of the manager or the front office at the moment. The 29-year-old brought a career .232/.314/.348 line into 2026, and his skillset is like Lockridge's: defense and speed define his game. Mitchell will certainly have his work cut out for him this year, and will need to prove that he belongs (and can physically stay) in the everyday lineup. Lockridge has been trending up for a while now, and if he starts the season strongly, the pressure will only build for Mitchell. The bottom line is that whoever is in center will need to provide offensive value. All three names listed are capable defenders and possess great speed, so the true battle to watch as the season unfolds will be in the batter’s box. That also makes it worth mentioning one more player: Jett Williams. If neither Mitchell nor Lockridge establishes a sturdy claim to center by the middle of June or so, Williams could enter the equation in a hurry. He's as dynamic in terms of speed and glovework as the others, though he's spent more time on the infield and thus is much less experienced in the grass. Offensively, he might be the highest-ceiling player in the bunch, but he has to show he can hit in Triple-A, before the team will want to test whether he can do so in the big leagues. Depth is a strength of the organization. They're extremely unlikely, this year, to end up giving playing time to a player like Steward Berroa or Akil Baddoo in center field, which is a testament to the front office's planning and proactivity. Mitchell remains the de facto starter, but behind him, a growing number of qualified candidates are queuing for the chance to move into the lineup if he falters. View the full article

Jays Centre is counting down the top 20 prospects in the Toronto Blue Jays organization. Check out prior entries in the series here: No. 20 to 16 No. 15 to 11 No. 10 No. 9 No. 8 We are well into our coverage of Jays Centre’s top 20 prospects now. We have gone through #20-16, #15-11, #10, #9, #8 and now we reach #7 on our list, Juan Sanchez. He is a prospect that has gained an insane amount of attention, notoriety, and a boost in national rankings this past offseason. Let's get to know him a little more and see what he does well, what he needs to work on, and what the future may hold for this up-and-coming phenom. No. 7: SS/3B Juan Sanchez (DSL Blue Jays Red) PA H 2B 3B HR OPS wRC+ K% BB% 253 73 16 4 8 1.004 156 17.4% 10.3% In January of 2025, Sanchez signed with the Toronto Blue Jays for $1,000,000 as a shortstop out of Cotui, Dominican Republic. He began his professional career that same year, playing in the Dominican Summer League (DSL) on the Blue Jays Red squad. He played in 56 games and quickly separated himself as one of the best players on the field down on the island. For the season, he slashed .341/.439/.564, hit eight home runs, 16 doubles, and four triples, and swiped four bags. His plate discipline was about average for the league, as he had a strikeout rate of 17.4% and a walk rate of 10.3%. Yet, his wRC+ of 156 showed his overall production at the plate was anything but average. His final month was truly remarkable, as he slashed .423/.483/.712 across 14 games. After such a dominant performance in 2025, Sanchez was ready to come stateside and become a household name for Toronto Blue Jays fans. He did just that during the Spring Breakout game against the Philadelphia Phillies’ prospects, in which he laced a bases-clearing double into the left-center field gap. It came off the bat with an exit velocity of 105.6 mph, a sign of things to come for this budding star prospect. What To Like Sanchez has a lot going for him, but one of his biggest tools is his power. He stands 6-foot-3 and is listed at 180 pounds. This gives ample projection for his future power output, and when coupled with his current numbers, you get a prospect with the potential to hit 30-40 home runs. He hit eight home runs in 2025 in the DSL, while adding 16 doubles and even four triples. He looks to have good pull-side power already, with a 44.8% fly ball rate and a 55.8% pull rate. What has driven his prospect status through the roof has been his hit tool. He hit .341 as a 17-year-old in the DSL, and on the backfields during spring training, he continued to have success with the bat. His power and hit tool will drive his value through the roof and provide him a very solid floor in his attempt to reach his astronomical ceiling. What To Work On Being very young still, just 18-years-old, Sanchez has a lot to work on. One of the biggest aspects of his game that could use improvement is his potential swing-and-miss concerns. Despite an absurd .341 batting average in 2025, he was just around league average with his strikeout rate of 17.4%. Coming stateside in 2026, he could see this number creep up, which will ultimately lead to his hit tool dropping down some in response to more whiffs. Being less reliant on a pull-side profile could help to ensure he doesn't have any regression or a step backward with regard to his hit tool. In 2025, he hit 44.2% of his balls in play to center and right field. If he can boost that number up to around 50% while maintaining his power, he could soar onto top 50 prospect lists and even into the top three of our Jays Centre prospect rankings. What's Next Sanchez has made the move stateside from the Dominican Republic and is on the verge of his debut at either Rookie ball in the Florida Complex League or at Single-A Dunedin. It is more likely that he will debut in Rookie ball, but with a hot start, he could be promoted to Single-A Dunedin rather quickly. Don't be shocked to see him end the year on nationally renowned top 50 prospect lists, if he can maintain similar production to his 2025 numbers from the DSL. View the full article

Hordes of passionate Twins fans made their way to St. Paul to make sure their voices were heard on Saturday afternoon. Starting third baseman, Royce Lewis, has found a new home near the bottom of the lineup card, and these folks have already had enough of the nonsense of the young 2026 Twins season. “I couldn’t believe it when I saw the lineup come out this morning,” said Ed Malarkey as he waved his ‘BRING BACK ROCCO’ flag outside the Capitol building. “Batting him 8th? Again? Sheltie should’ve learned his lesson on Thursday!” Indeed, manager Derek Shelton decided to keep Lewis in the 8-hole, despite the massive outcry from the most dramatic corner of the fanbase. “It’s obvious that Lewis is a vibes guy,” Malarkey said, as a stream of frustrated tears fell to his t-shirt with a crossed out ‘8’ on it. “If you want him to perform, you need to make sure he gets his tablet time and a juice box, then you need to tell him how special he is, and then you bat him third. That’s what Tom Kelly did with Kirby Puckett, and now he’s my favorite player of all time, so you know it works.” Despite the massive crowds who all voiced their displeasure over the weekend, Lewis seemed to take the decision as professionally as anyone could’ve asked of him. He didn’t complain to any reporters, and his relationship with Shelton certainly appears to be healthy as ever. It’s almost as if this 26-year-old professional athlete simply showed up, tried his best to compete for his team, and didn’t worry about something as petty as opening series lineup structure. “I gotta be honest, I was surprised to see him so low in the lineup. It’s all I could think about while Sheltie gave his pregame speech about it being an honor to wear this uniform, or whatever he was talking about,” said a fellow former first-round pick who wished to remain anonymous. “I don’t know, I wasn’t really listening. I’m just kind of surprised I’m still on the team.” The crowds at the capitol were reinforced with some star power, to boot. Rock legend Bruce Springsteen took the stage to sing "Heart of the Lineup," the new song that he wrote earlier in the week, with a chorus that directly reflects Lewis's current predicament. So come on, Skip, just give me a chance, I’ll pull through for you, just wait and see. I got one more swing in me, I’m ready to unload, And I’m sick of hitting in front of Brooks Lee. The crowd of 100,000 ate up every word, and gave a rousing round of applause as Springsteen exited the stage. He was followed in the program by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), who captivated the audience with his honest thoughts on the matter, and the state of Twins baseball in general. “It’s not right that someone like Royce Lewis should be relegated to so few at-bats, while nepo babies like Kody Clemens get to hoard so many opportunities simply because of who their dad was,” he shouted from behind a wall of bulletproof glass, in case of any potential threat from a rogue front office representative. “And enough with the targeted advertisements for $2 pregame beers. Instead, they should focus on making it easier for old coots to come to the game by themselves, with wired headphones and a Walkman so that they can listen to the radio broadcast in peace. Is that too much to ask for?” After Sanders’s speech, the hordes of disgruntled fans returned home, and awaited their call to action until the next time the team did something to piss them off. That next rally is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. View the full article

With MLB and Triple-A schedules beginning last week, the other three full-season levels get their seasons going this upcoming weekend. And for the San Diego Padres' affiliates, we have official Opening Day rosters for the Double-A San Antonio Missions and the High-A Fort Wayne TinCaps. The Missions open their season Thursday with three road games against the Tulsa Drillers, while the TinCaps also begin away from home Friday with three games against the Great Lakes Loons. Tulsa and Great Lakes are Los Angeles Dodgers farm teams. The Low-A Lake Elsinore Storm do not have a confirmed roster at this point, but should be released in the next day or two. If you are looking for who opened the season in Triple-A El Paso, you can find that here. Double-A San Antonio Missions The Missions have six of Padres Mission's top-20 prospects on their roster, including No. 1 Ethan Salas, a catcher, and No. 5, Miguel Mendez, a right-handed starter who is already on the Padres' 40-man roster. The others are No. 7 Jagger Haynes (left-handed starter), No. 11 Romeo Sanabria (first baseman), No. 19 Eric Yost (right-handed starter) and No. 20 Manuel Castro (right-handed reliever). Pitcher (16) Jagger Haynes, LH (Padres Mission's No. 7 prospect) Fernando Sanchez, LH Johan Moreno, RH Sadrac Franco, RH Eric Yost, RH (No. 19 prospect) Manuel Castro, RH (No. 20 prospect) Andrew Dalquist, RH Michael Flynn, RH Harry Gustin, LH Francis Pena, RH Luis Gutierrez, LH Andrew Thurman, RH Josh Mallitz, RH Victor Lizarraga, RH Ian Koenig, RH Miguel Mendez, RH (No. 5 prospect) Catcher (3) Christopher Sargent Jr. Ethan Salas (No. 1 prospect) Brendan Durfee Infield (5) Francisco Acuna Carson Tucker Luis Verdugo Ryan Jackson Romeo Sanabria (No. 11 prospect) Outfield (5) Kai Murphy Albert Fabian Kai Roberts Braedon Karpathios Joshua Mears Other (3) RHP Enmanuel Perez, administrative leave C Andy Thomas, restricted list IF Wyatt Hoffman, 60-day injured list High-A Fort Wayne TinCaps There will be three of Padres Mission's top-20 prospects playing for the TinCaps to begin the 2026 season, with more surely to follow. That starts with the Padres' top draft pick from 2025, left-handed starter Kash Mayfield, who made 19 starts for Lake Elsinore in his pro debut. He will be throwing to catcher Lamar King Jr., the No. 13 prospect, while No. 16 prospect Kavares Tears is in the Fort Wayne outfield. Pitcher (17) Clark Candiotti, RH Jaxon Dalena, RH Vicarte Domingo, RH Clay Edmondson, RH Luis German, RH Igor Gil, LH Bernard Jose, R Kannon Kemp, RH Isaiah Lowe, RH Kash Mayfield, LH (Padres Mission's No. 2 prospect) Maikel Miralles, RH Carson Montgomery, RH Kleiber Olmedo, RH Abraham Parra, RH Braian Salazar, LH Will Varmette, RH Jeferson Villabona, RH Catcher (3) Lamar King Jr. (No. 13 prospect) Oswaldo Linares Carlos Rodriguez Infield (5) Jack Costello Zach Evans Dylan Grego Jonathan Vastine Rosman Verdugo Outfield (4) Jake Cunningham Alex McCoy Kavares Tears (No. 16 prospect) Kasen Wells Other (1) RHP Tyler Morgan, 60-day injured list These rosters, of course are quite fluid. The Padres are one of the most aggressive teams in promoting top prospects, so expect plenty of changes to these teams as the season goes on. View the full article

The two biggest transactions of the 2025-26 Miami Marlins offseason both subtracted major league starting pitchers to fortify the organization's position player pipeline. The Marlins insisted that this was not punting on their current team, that the quality of their rotation depth will be strong enough to make up for the absences of Edward Cabrera and Ryan Weathers. I was dubious of that argument, but we're still several months away from being able to render a verdict. If you are in the Marlins front office, Monday's performances were unsettling. Signed to a one-year free agent deal in the aftermath of the Cabrera and Weathers trades, Chris Paddack took the mound at loanDepot park. He began his night with two sharp innings against the Chicago White Sox, following by two catastrophic innings. Paddack had been susceptible to home runs throughout the second half of last season, and that was his undoing here, as Austin Hays (three-run homer) and Miguel Vargas (grand slam) combined to give the visitors an insurmountable lead. The veteran right-hander individually allowed more runs than the entire Marlins pitching staff did during their previous series sweep of the Colorado Rockies. Meanwhile, Chicago's other MLB club also won comfortably, led by Cabrera. He tossed six scoreless, efficient innings at Wrigley Field, extracting 18 outs from the 19 Los Angeles Angels batters he faced. Cabrera "might be as important as anyone to the team's pursuit of its first full-season division title in almost a decade—and he showed why on Monday," explains Northside Baseball's Matthew Trueblood. Matched up against a Seattle Mariners offense that projects to be among MLB's elite, Weathers did pretty well in his debut, too. Although removed after just 4 ⅓ innings, he struck out seven. Seattle's lone run off of him came via a broken-bat blooper. The 26-year-old lefty received a no-decision as the Mariners ultimately won in walk-off fashion. I'd be remiss not to mention that rookie outfielder Owen Caissie was acquired in exchange for Cabrera. He has made an immediate positive impact, doing his best Kyle Stowers impression through four Marlins games with a 231 wRC+ and a walk-off homer. Perhaps even if the back end of Miami's rotation proves to be a weakness, Caissie could add enough pop to their lineup to compensate for it. Conveniently, Weathers is lined up to face the Fish at Yankee Stadium on Saturday. View the full article

The Cedar Rapids Kernels are back, and their 2026 Opening Day roster is officially set. Cedar Rapids opens the season with 29 active players and six more on the injured list. There’s a strong mix here of returning names, 2025 standouts, and a handful of highly-touted prospects. Let’s break it down. Coaching Staff: There’s a lot of continuity here, starting at the top. Brian Meyer returns as manager after leading the Kernels to a Midwest League Championship Series appearance in 2025. Pitching Coach Hunter Townsend, Hitting and Development Coach Yeison Perez, Strength and Conditioning Coach Morgan Buckley, and Assistant Athletic Trainer Morgan Leichtenberger all return as well. There are a few new additions as well. Erick Julio joins the pitching staff, Danny Marcuzzo steps in as hitting coach, and Katie Lortie takes over as lead athletic trainer. Pitchers: Christian Becerra, Adrian Bohorquez, Jason Doktorczyk, Brent Francisco, Dasan Hill, Eli Jones, Paulshawn Pasqualotto, Cole Peschl, Sam Rochard, Ivran Romero, Michael Ross, Yehizon Sanchez, Nolan Santos, Eston Stull, Nick Trabacchi, and Jacob Wosinski. Injured List: Miguelangel Boadas, Michael Carpenter, Ross Dunn, Tanner Hall, Garrett Horn and Charlee Soto. There are a lot of arms here, but one name clearly sets the tone: Dasan Hill is the guy. The Twins’ #6 prospect and second-highest ranked pitching prospect in the system, Hill already got a brief taste of Cedar Rapids last year, and the stuff showed up immediately. In just 10 innings, he struck out 15 hitters, flashing the type of swing and miss ability that gives him real breakout potential in 2026. This is a big assignment for him. If he performs early, he’s going to start climbing even higher in prospect conversations. Behind him, there’s a mix of returning depth and upside arms like Cole Peschl and Adrian Bohorquez. And then there’s the injured list, which is loaded. Charlee Soto, Ross Dunn and Tanner Hall are all starting the year sidelined. Soto, the Twins’ #10 prospect, is a huge name to monitor. Once he’s back, he immediately raises the ceiling of this entire staff. This group might take a little time to come together, but the upside is very real. Catchers: Khadeim Diaw, Luis Hernandez, and Eduardo Tait. Eduardo Tait is the headliner here, but don't overlook Khadim Diaw. The Twins’ #4 prospect is the biggest name on this entire roster. In a small sample last season, he totaled 13 extra-base hits in just 30 games with Cedar Rapids, showing real power potential. There’s going to be a lot of attention on how that translates over a full year. Khadim Diaw, the #19 Twins prospect, is a really strong complementary piece. He hit .294 with a .446 on-base percentage and an .866 OPS in Cedar Rapids last season, which is excellent production from a catcher. He also has experience in the outfield, giving the Kernels some extra versatility. Infielders: Miguel Briceno, Danny De Andrade, Rayne Doncon, Marek Houston, Andy Lugo, Jay Thomason, and Brandon Winokur. This is, arguably, the biggest strength of the roster, and Marek Houston is the most notable name here. The Twins’ #9 prospect is going to be one of the key players to watch all season. He struggled in a small sample at High-A last year, hitting just .152 in 46 at-bats. But the same was true of Kaelen Culpepper entering last season, and he took a huge step forward. Not far behind him is Brandon Winokur. The Twins’ #13 prospect brings one of the most intriguing profiles on the team. Last season, he led the group in home runs and added 26 stolen bases but also struck out in just under 25% of his plate appearances. Winkour’s power and speed are real, and if the contact improves even slightly, his ceiling is extremely high. Danny De Andrade is another name to know. He was limited by injuries last year, but he’s one of the better defensive infielders in the Twins’ system. This is a big year for him. Rayne Doncon returns after posting a .516 OPS in his first taste of High-A and will look to adjust with more experience. Andy Lugo quietly had a strong season, hitting .309 with an .889 OPS, giving this group another productive bat. Outfielders: Jaime Ferrer, Caden Kendle, and Jacob McCombs. It’s a smaller group, but still some interesting pieces. There’s no clear “top dog” at the position entering the year. Ferrer finished with a .635 OPS at High-A last season but showed flashes and will look to take a step forward. Kendle brings a contact-oriented approach with strong bat-to-ball skills, and McCombs, the Twins’ 7th round pick last summer, will start his first full professional season in Cedar Rapids. As I noted earlier, Khadim Diaw will likely mix in some as well when he’s not catching. This Cedar Rapids roster feels pretty familiar, but in the best way. There’s a strong returning core, several high-end prospects, and a lot of players with room to grow. If the pitching staff gets healthier and a few key bats take a step forward, this has a chance to be a really fun team to follow in 2026. Opening Night is set for April 3rd, and there’s going to be a lot to watch right out of the gate. View the full article

No rain or thick, heavy gray coldness scumbled the skies as the Cubs played their first night game of 2026. In fact, the North Side of Chicago put on one of the great shows of which it's more capable than many people credit, proclaiming itself a four-season city with a gorgeous little summer preview. The outfield walls are still covered only in brown, but the skies were a soft, sometimes inscrutable purple-and-orange as sunset came Monday night, leaving Wrigley Field aglow in a way that often has to wait until nearly Memorial Day. Under such auspicious skies, Edward Cabrera clambered to the top of the cairn for the first time in Cubs pinstripes. Cabrera, 27, has become a bit less heralded an acquisition than it seemed he would be when the Cubs first pulled the trigger on a deal with the Marlins in January. At the time, he seemed a vital infusion of high-end stuff for the starting rotation, and there was little else about the team's offseason about which any fans were excited. Since then, the team has signed Alex Bregman to a five-year free-agent deal and extended both Pete Crow-Armstrong and Nico Hoerner through 2032, making Cabrera seem a bit less like a headliner. In truth, though, he might be as important as anyone to the team's pursuit of its first full-season division title in almost a decade—and he showed why on Monday. In six efficient innings, Cabrera struck out five visiting Angels batters and only allowed two baserunners: one walk, and one hit, a harmless single on a curveball he left up in the fourth inning. He wasn't razor-sharp, in terms of command, but his stuff overwhelmed his opponents. His fastball sat right around 97 miles per hour, and he got 15 whiffs on 40 swings, with most of them coming on his dazzling array of breaking stuff and his signature changeup. Let's take a moment, though, to talk about that heater. Cabrera made only very sparing use of his sinker Monday night, and threw 22 four-seamers out of his 80 total pitches. Only twice last year did he throw more four-seamers in a game. It seems clear, as we discussed early in spring training, that Cabrera will throw more heaters—and particularly more four-seamers, despite the lousy Stuff grades and generally tepid results that pitch has tended to get—this season than he did in his final campaign with the Marlins. That will continue to surprise some, who watched Cabrera enjoy a breakout in 2025 partially by throttling back on the usage of the four-seamer. Its share of his total pitch count Monday night was roughly double what he averaged last year. Again, though, the Cubs throw more four-seamers than any other team in baseball; it should surprise no one to see them work with a newcomer to find the ways in which that pitch will work for him. As the lineup turned over, he did lean more into his changeup, which is one argument in favor of throwing the fastball more. By forcing hitters—he used the heat especially often against Mike Trout and Jorge Soler, strapping sluggers known for their bat speed but never great high-fastball hitters—to respect that pitch, Cabrera can get more mileage out of everything else, up to and including right-on-right changeups, especially as he gets deeper into outings. Cabrera's slider also got five whiffs for him, on just nine swings. He threw the pitch exclusively to right-handed batters, and he had a new spin profile on it. Though thrown at the same velocity as it had last year, the pitch acted a bit more like a cutter, with less glove-side movement but more backspin, making it harder for the batter to distinguish from his fastball than it was last year. That pitch has been the subject of a bit of a quest for Cabrera over the last year. He had a home base to which he repeatedly returned in terms of movement, but four separate times in 2025, he had two-start stints in which he tired something new with it. In the plot below, the point highlighted with red text shows where Cabrera's slider was working in Monday's outing. Around that, I've identified where he most often worked over the last two years, as well as each of the excursions he attempted toward new slider frontiers. He might yet go back to what he was doing before, but the change to the spin characteristics of the pitch suggests that the Cubs view a more cutterish slider as worth a try. For one night, at least, it worked like a charm. The curveball was also working. Cabrera threw that pitch 13 times, and got three whiffs (on five swings) and four called strikes with it. The most important thing was that, in addition to being able to take something off and land it in the zone, he showed the ability to get the pitch up to 87-88 miles per hour at times. That's a level of power on the curve few pitchers can match, and last year, he was at his best with that offering when he threw it hardest. Velocity Band No. Horiz. Mvmt. IVB Whiff Rate RV/100 < 83 MPH 115 11.2 -10.5 36.1 0.89 83-85 MPH 280 11 -11.2 43.6 1.06 85+ MPH 157 10.6 -10.9 50 2.35 If a pitch isn't losing movement as it gets harder, it's little wonder that it generates more whiffs and better results. Cabrera did see the velocity on the curve decline sharply later in his outing Monday night, which is only logical. It might make sense, as he shifts to a more fastball-forward pitch mix, to blend the curve in with the heater early in outings, then go more changeup- and slider-heavy as the game wears on, since those pitches' effectiveness depend less on velocity than do his heat and his hook. Really, though, Monday night was about more than these nuts and bolts. It was a chance to celebrate (and fantasize about) the future the Cubs are trying to build. The offense put up plenty of runs, and the team won comfortably. More than that, Cabrera looked in control, and when he needed it, he got great defensive support from the defense behind him—a group that, like Cabrera, will be in Chicago for quite a while. The team dropped two games to a dreadful Nationals club to start the season, but in their two wins, Cabrera and Cade Horton have worked quickly, shown exceptional stuff and athleticism, and been surrounded and supported by what is now the locked-in core of what the team hopes is its next champion. Under the pale but pleasant twilight sky Monday night, it was easy to believe that that bright a day is dawning for the Cubs. View the full article

When the Kansas City Royals need a guy who packs a punch at the plate, they can turn their eyes toward first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino. Looking at data and analytics from Pasquantino's 2025 season should give Royals fans something to feel good about entering this season. Pasquantino stepped away from spring training to take part in the World Baseball Classic. In four games for Team Italy, Pasquantino was 4-for-22 with three home runs, four RBIs, seven walks, and six runs scored. He was making contact regularly for Team Italy, getting in gear for the Royals' season. One thing that he's improved upon is his Pull AIR percentage. According to Baseball Savant, Pasquantino's percentage ticked up from 21.9% in 2024 to 25.0% last season. The data indicate that he's getting more comfortable in pulling the ball during his at-bats. What about the quality of contact, which measures the effectiveness of a batter's swing and how he hits the ball? At the plate in the 2025 season, Pasquantino had 1.8% weak contact, 30.5% topped contact, 24.3% under contact, 26.5% flare/burner contact, 7.5% solid contact, and 8.8% barrel contact. His run value numbers in 2025 against a four-seam fastball, changeup, slider, sinker, curveball, and cutter were all in the positive areas. Pasquantino's sweeper run value last season was zero. So, the lone pitch that seemed to cause him trouble in the run value category was a split-finger fastball. Pasquantino provides a productive bat right in the middle of the Royals' lineup. Last season for the Royals, he hit 32 home runs and had 113 RBIs. In 2025, Pasquantino's rising Pull Air percentage was 25%, meaning he was pulling up 25% of the pitches he saw. He pulled 20% of the pitches he saw on the ground, 14.1% up the middle on the ground, and 4% grounded the opposite way. Pasquantino hit 18.9% of the pitches he saw straight up in the air, and 17..9% the opposite way in the air. He might find himself in a challenging at-bat if he's seeing a steady diet of pitches low in the strike zone. So, that's something Pasquantino might want to work on this season. Pasquantino has proven to be an effective first baseman for Royals manager Matt Quantraro. In 2025, he finished with a .506 slugging percentage and a .342 on-base percentage. When Pasquantino was in spring training with the Royals, he put together a .422 OPS and a .160 batting average in 25 at-bats. It might take him some time to settle into the lineup after splitting time between spring training and the WBC. But Kansas City should feel confident that Pasquantino will, once again, be able to anchor the Royals' offense in the middle of the lineup in 2026. View the full article

When the Minnesota Twins acquired Taj Bradley from the Tampa Bay Rays at last year’s trade deadline, they weren’t just buying a struggling arm. They were betting on a version of Bradley that once looked like one of the most electric young starters in baseball. That version showed up (at least in flashes) on Saturday. In a win over the Baltimore Orioles, Bradley allowed one earned run on three hits and three walks while striking out nine across 4 1/3 innings. It wasn't a perfectly clean outing, as he needed 92 pitches to get just 13 outs, but the raw ingredients were impossible to miss. The swing-and-miss that once made him a top prospect was back. The confidence looked different. And perhaps most importantly, the process is evolving. After posting a 6.61 ERA in six starts following the trade last season, Bradley entered 2026 needing to show tangible growth. Through his first outing (and dating back to a strong finish against Texas in 2025 and a sharp spring training), there are signs that something has clicked. For Bradley, the biggest difference might not be mechanical or statistical. It might be mental. “It’s just me being hardheaded in the past,” Bradley said. “I stuck to what I was good at and stuck to what I knew, you know. If it’s different, it gets scary, so you don’t even want to walk down that path. “What I’ve done in the past is what I felt I solidified on. Going into the offseason, I figured I’d take different routines, different practices, and bring it into this year.” That openness is already showing up in how he attacks hitters. Velocity Increase The most encouraging development came from Bradley’s fastball, which showed a noticeable jump in velocity compared to previous seasons. Throughout his big-league career, his four-seam fastball has typically sat a little above 96 mph. In his first start of 2026, that number climbed to 97.4 mph, and he even reached back for 99.6 mph at one point. Bradley used the pitch effectively, generating three strikeouts and holding the Orioles to a .167 batting average against it. If that velocity holds, it could have a ripple effect across his entire arsenal. A firmer fastball makes his splitter more deceptive, especially when it falls off the same plane. It can also help his cutter play up, giving hitters less time to differentiate between pitches that already feature similar initial trajectories. Of course, we'll also have to wait and see whether that velocity jump holds. Early-season adrenaline can sometimes lead to elevated velocity readings, but maintaining an average near 97 mph deep into the year would represent a meaningful step forward for Bradley. It's encouraging, at least, that we saw him throw harder late last year, too. If he can pair that added power with his evolving pitch mix, it raises the ceiling on what he can become in this rotation. Breaking Pitch Changes One of the more notable changes came from his cutter. In 2025, the pitch had an average of 5.6 inches of induced vertical break. In his first start this season, that number dropped to 1.1 inches. That's a notable difference in the depth of its movement, which is consistent with what we saw in spring training. Interestingly, it is also coming in slower, with velocity down by roughly 2.5 miles per hour. That tradeoff appears intentional, sacrificing velocity for more movement. It's become a true slider. If Bradley can consistently locate it, the pitch could become more of a bat-misser, rather than just a weak contact generator. The biggest shift in Bradley’s arsenal was his willingness to trust the splitter. Last season, he used it just over 15% of the time. Against Baltimore, that number jumped to nearly 30%. He threw it 27 times, primarily to left-handed hitters, and the results were dominant: no hits allowed, two strikeouts, and a 63.6% whiff rate. That kind of effectiveness is hard to ignore. Whether it was matchup-driven or a sign of things to come, the splitter gives Bradley a legitimate weapon to neutralize hitters on both sides of the plate. A Lingering Concern With Contact Quality For all the positives, there is still a red flag that followed Bradley from his time in Tampa Bay. When hitters do make contact, they can elevate and pull the ball with authority. In his 2026 debut, O's batters posted a 28.6% pull air rate against him. That's a significant jump from his previous seasons, where he hovered below 19% as a rookie and under 17% more recently. That number must come down. Early-season conditions can mask mistakes. Cold weather tends to suppress carry, turning potential home runs into warning track outs. As temperatures rise, those same swings can do much more damage. If Bradley continues to allow pulled fly balls at that rate, it could quickly become a problem. Of course, with nine strikeouts and in such a short outing, the sample is far too small to say whether that vulnerability to pulled air balls will be a real issue. Encouraging Signs With Work Still Ahead It's easy to see why the Twins believed in Bradley when they made the deal for him. The strikeout ability is real. The raw stuff has ticked up. Now, there are early indications that the approach is starting to evolve, as well. It's also fair to acknowledge what still needs refinement. Efficiency remains an issue. Contact quality is something to monitor. And one strong start doesn't erase the inconsistency that defined his 2025 season. Still, this looked like a different pitcher. The Twins are going to need that version of Bradley. With questions throughout the rotation, they can't afford to wait long for answers. Starters need to take the ball and begin carrying more of the load. It's early, and the weather will change. The league will adjust. Bradley will have to adjust back. For now, though, there is something worth watching here. What stands out from Bradley's first start? Leave a comment and start the discussion. View the full article