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The Kansas City Royals system went 4-for-4 on the night. Matthew Lugo drove in four runs, including a homer, as Omaha topped Las Vegas 11-6. Derlin Figueroa erupted for six RBIs on two homers, capped by a grand slam, in Quad Cities' 16-10 slugfest. Jose Gutierrez carried Columbia with six innings of one-run, five-strikeout ball in an 8-5 win. In Arkansas, Connor Scott's tenth-inning sacrifice fly lifted Northwest Arkansas to a 5-4 extra-inning victory. Royals Transactions Kansas City Royals sent LHP Kris Bubic on a rehab assignment to Omaha Storm Chasers. Kansas City Royals activated RHP Stephen Kolek. Kansas City Royals optioned 3B Josh Rojas to Omaha Storm Chasers. Lugo Drives In Four As Omaha Pulls Away From Las Vegas The Omaha Storm Chasers beat the Las Vegas Aviators 11-6, scoring in five separate innings to overcome a brief deficit. Lugo led the offense, going 2-for-3 with a home run, a walk, and four RBI. Drew Waters added three hits with a home run and two RBI, John Rave reached base three times, and Peyton Wilson collected three hits, including two doubles. Rojas also homered and scored twice. Las Vegas pushed back in the seventh, plating four runs to tie the game at 5-5 entering the bottom half. Omaha answered right away. Brett Squires singled home John Rave to retake the lead, Luca Tresh singled in Lugo, and Waters singled home Squires to make it 7-5. The Storm Chasers then broke it open in the eighth: Wilson doubled home Connor Kaiser, and Lugo capped the scoring with a three-run homer that brought in Rave to push the margin to 11-5. Ben Sears opened with three scoreless innings, allowing two hits with two strikeouts and no walks. Dan Altavilla earned the win after working 1 1/3 innings, allowing one hit, no runs, and two walks while striking out one. Omaha left seven runners on base and went 8-for-16 with runners in scoring position. Player AB R H RBI BB K Josh Rojas 5 2 2 1 0 1 Peyton Wilson 5 2 3 1 0 2 John Rave 5 2 3 0 0 0 Matthew Lugo 3 2 2 4 1 0 Brett Squires 5 1 2 1 0 0 Luca Tresh 5 0 2 1 0 0 Drew Waters 4 1 3 2 0 1 Gavin Cross 4 0 0 0 0 2 Connor Kaiser 4 1 1 0 0 3 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Ben Sears 3 2 0 0 0 2 0 Helcris Olivárez 2 2 1 1 2 2 0 Génesis Cabrera 1 2/3 2 4 4 2 1 0 Dan Altavilla 1 1/3 1 0 0 2 1 0 Luke Jackson 1 2 1 1 2 1 0 Scott's Tenth-Inning Sacrifice Fly Lifts Northwest Arkansas In Extras The Northwest Arkansas Naturals edged the Arkansas Travelers 5-4 in ten innings. The offense was patient, drawing several walks, with Spencer Nivens reaching twice via the walk and scoring twice while driving in a run. Jack Pineda went 2-for-4 with a walk and scored a run, Omar Hernandez added two hits, and both Alberto Rodriguez and Connor Scott drove in two runs apiece. The Naturals built their lead in the fourth, when Rodriguez singled home Nivens and Scott grounded into a force out that brought in another run for a 3-1 advantage. Arkansas tied it in the eighth on a two-run homer to force extra innings. In the tenth, with the zombie runner aboard, Omar Hernandez moved into scoring position, and Scott delivered a sacrifice fly to bring home the go-ahead run for the 5-4 final. Hunter Patteson started and worked five innings, allowing two runs on six hits with two walks and three strikeouts. Dennis Colleran Jr. earned the win despite allowing two runs over two innings. Tommy Molsky closed it out with a scoreless tenth, walking three but stranding the tying run to record the save. Northwest Arkansas left eleven runners on base and went 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position. Player AB R H RBI BB K Carson Roccaforte 4 0 0 0 1 1 Jack Pineda 4 1 2 0 1 0 Sam Kulasingam 5 0 1 0 0 0 Spencer Nivens 2 2 0 1 2 0 Daniel Vazquez 2 1 0 0 2 1 Omar Hernandez 5 1 2 0 0 1 Alberto Rodriguez 5 0 1 2 0 0 Connor Scott 4 0 0 2 0 0 Canyon Brown 5 0 1 0 0 3 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Hunter Patteson 5 6 2 2 2 3 1 Brandon Johnson 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 Dennis Colleran Jr. 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 Tommy Molsky 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 Figueroa's Six RBI And Grand Slam Fuel Quad Cities Slugfest The Quad Cities River Bandits outlasted the Beloit Sky Carp 16-10 in a back-and-forth slugfest. Figueroa was the centerpiece, going 2-for-4 with two home runs, a walk, three runs scored, and six RBI. Nolan Sailors led off and went 4-for-6 with a double and an RBI, Blake Mitchell homered among his two hits and drove in two, and Asbel Gonzalez reached base four times with three walks and two RBI. Tyriq Kemp scored three runs. Trailing 6-1, Quad Cities chipped away before taking the lead in the seventh on Figueroa's two-run homer, an Asbel Gonzalez sacrifice fly, and Blake Mitchell's two-run shot. After Beloit tied it back up, the Bandits blew the game open with an eight-run eighth. Kemp and Diego Guzman delivered run-scoring singles, Sailors and a bases-loaded walk to Luke Pelzer added more, and Figueroa capped the rally with a grand slam to push the lead to 16-8. Aiden Jimenez struggled in his outing, allowing six runs on eight hits over four innings with two walks and one strikeout. Kamden Edge followed with two scoreless innings, striking out four without allowing a baserunner. Cory Ronan earned the win. The Bandits left five runners on base and went 7-for-11 with runners in scoring position to earn their 25th victory of the season. Player AB R H RBI BB K Nolan Sailors 6 2 4 1 0 1 Asbel Gonzalez 2 2 1 2 3 0 Blake Mitchell 6 1 2 2 0 3 Ramon Ramirez 4 1 0 0 0 3 Luke Pelzer 4 2 1 1 1 1 Derlin Figueroa 4 3 2 6 1 0 Jose Cerice 3 1 1 0 2 1 Tyriq Kemp 3 3 1 1 2 1 Diego Guzman 5 1 1 1 0 1 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Aiden Jimenez 4 8 6 6 2 1 1 Kamden Edge 2 0 0 0 0 4 0 Cory Ronan 1 4 2 2 0 1 0 Yimi Presinal 1 2 2 2 2 0 1 Gutierrez Dominates As Columbia Holds Off Delmarva The Columbia Fireflies beat the Delmarva Shorebirds 8-5 behind a strong start and a balanced lineup. Josh Hammond went 3-for-5 with an RBI, Yandel Ricardo reached three times with a double and two runs scored, and Jhosmmel Zue collected two hits and an RBI. Stone Russell, Sean Gamble, JC Vanek, and Angel Ramirez each contributed, with Ramirez reaching twice and adding a double. Ramirez was just recently called up from the Complex League in Arizona. Columbia jumped ahead in the second when Zue and Vanek delivered back-to-back run-scoring singles. The Fireflies extended the lead in the fifth, as Russell singled home Ricardo and Zue added a sacrifice fly to push the margin to 6-1. They tacked on two more in the eighth on a Columbia run set up by an error and a Sean Gamble sacrifice fly to reach the 8-3 mark before Delmarva's late rally fell short. Gutierrez was excellent in the Fireflies' victory. He worked six innings, allowed one run on five hits with no walks and five strikeouts. That performance earned him the Quality Start. Dutch pitcher Brandon Herbold pitched a scoreless inning with a strikeout in the seventh while Yeri Perez struggled in 2/3 of an inning in the 8th. Perez gave up two runs on two hits and two walks while striking out one. He also gave up a home run in his relief appearance. Andy Basora gave back two runs in 1 1/3 IP, but recorded the final outs for the save. Columbia left ten runners on base and went 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position. Player AB R H RBI BB K Henry Ramos 4 0 0 0 0 3 Josh Hammond 5 1 3 1 0 0 Yandel Ricardo 4 2 2 0 1 0 Stone Russell 4 1 1 1 0 2 Sean Gamble 3 1 1 1 0 1 Jhosmmel Zue 4 1 2 1 0 2 JC Vanek 3 0 1 1 2 1 Angel Ramirez 2 1 2 0 2 0 Roni Cabrera 3 1 1 0 1 2 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Jose Gutierrez 6 5 1 1 0 5 1 Brandon Herbold 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 Yeri Perez 2/3 2 2 2 2 1 1 Andy Basora 1 1/3 3 2 2 1 1 1 Top-20 Prospect Performance Kendry Chourio: DNP David Shields: DNP Sean Gamble: 1-for-3, RBI, K Blake Mitchell: 2-for-6, HR, 2 RBI, 3 K Josh Hammond: 3-for-5, RBI Ramon Ramirez: 0-for-4, 3 K Drew Beam: DNP Asbel Gonzalez: 1-for-2, 2 RBI, 3 BB Ben Kudrna: DNP Carson Roccaforte: 0-for-4, BB, K Yandel Ricardo: 2-for-4, 2B, BB Felix Arronde: DNP Blake Wolters: DNP Michael Lombardi: DNP Luinder Avila: DNP Steven Zobac: DNP Frank Mozzicato: DNP Daniel Vazquez: 0-for-2, 2 BB, K Warren Colcano: DNP Shane Panzini: DNP View the full article

There's a scene that has repeated itself often enough at Wrigley Field this season to stop being a coincidence. Michael Busch lines a double to left with a runner on third, or Pete Crow-Armstrong launches a two-run homer that seems to shift the game's momentum, and for a moment Chicago's offense looks exactly the way it was supposed to: deep, dangerous, capable of turning traffic into real damage. Then the next at-bat arrives, and with it the most complicated reality of this season. It's not that the Cubs aren't generating opportunities with runners in scoring position. It's that they're increasingly dependent on two specific players to capitalize on them, while the rest of the lineup operates from a level of production that can no longer be explained away by bad luck. The gap between April and May is neither marginal, nor the result of a passing fluctuation. Between Opening Day and April 30, the Cubs batted .246/.336/.391 with runners in scoring position, for a wRC+ of 113. They were one of the most efficient situational units in the majors. Since May 1, that same offense has produced a .223/.324/.349 line in those spots, with a wRC+ of 91, falling below the league average in the moments that carry the most competitive weight. Period AVG OBP SLG xwOBA wRC+ Mar/Apr .246 .336 .391 .317 113 Since May 1 .223 .324 .349 .300 91 Cubs with RISP: split by period What makes this deterioration especially difficult to rationalize is that the underlying numbers offer no narrative shelter. On the full season with RISP, the Cubs carry a wOBA of .299, nearly identical to their xwOBA of .299, and an AVG of .221 against an xBA of .214. When real production and expected contact quality converge with that precision, the bad luck argument doesn't just weaken: it collapses entirely. This offense is generating the contact it deserves and getting the results that contact produces, which shifts the conversation toward more uncomfortable ground: the quality of impact in pressure situations has declined, and until it improves, no narrative of imminent correction has any real foundation to stand on. Busch and Crow-Armstrong: Real Engines in an Offense That Went Dark Around Them Michael Busch and Pete Crow-Armstrong are not part of the problem; they're the reason this problem hasn't turned into an even worse crisis. Since May 1, Busch carries a wRC+ of 168 with RISP, backed by a slash line of .296/.434/.512 and an xwOBA of .399. With a Hard-Hit% of 48% in those situations, he's not just making contact frequently. He's hitting it hard when runners are on base, which is exactly the combination that separates an elite situational hitter from one who simply runs up numbers in neutral contexts. Crow-Armstrong has been equally dominant: 144 wRC+, eight home runs since May 1, and a Hard-Hit% of 53.8% that places his contact in elite territory. Both don't just maintain their performance in pressure scenarios—they elevate it. The problem is that they're propping up an offense built to have four or five reliable sources of situational damage, a burden no duo can carry indefinitely without the team paying for it in the runs column. Swanson, Suzuki, Bregman: When the Core Stops Working The contrast with the rest of the lineup is stark enough that the table leaves little room for generous interpretation. Player AVG SLG xwOBA Hard-Hit% wRC+ Michael Busch .296 .512 .399 48.0% 168 Pete Crow-Armstrong .265 .500 .409 53.8% 144 Ian Happ .230 .500 .359 41.7% 135 Alex Bregman .239 .187 .291 34.0% 82 Seiya Suzuki .205 .242 .289 38.0% 71 Nico Hoerner .206 .250 .334 28.0% 60 Dansby Swanson .153 .225 .229 32.0% 29 Cubs with RISP since May 1 — individual profile Above the 100 wRC+ threshold (the baseline for a league-average hitter) sit only Busch, Crow-Armstrong, and Ian Happ, who maintains an acceptable level thanks in part to a Hard-Hit% of 41.7% that offsets his strikeout tendencies. Below that line are the hitters who were supposed to represent the most experienced offensive weight on this roster. Swanson is the most severe case. After hitting .231 with RISP during March and April, his average collapsed to .087 in May, accumulating a wRC+ of just 29 since the first of that month. What makes his situation especially concerning is the absence of any divergence between results and underlying metrics: his xwOBA of .229 and a Hard-Hit% of 32% confirm that contact quality has deteriorated alongside production. His Whiff%, already elevated at 35.6% during March and April, hasn't improved meaningfully, suggesting real difficulty controlling the strike zone under pressure. Both columns point in the same direction, and neither promises imminent correction. Suzuki presents a more nuanced profile. His .121 average in May and a Batter Run Value of -9 represent real negative impact, but his xwOBA running above his actual production and a Hard-Hit% of 38% indicate there's underlying contact quality that hasn't yet translated into results. He's the most statistically reasonable candidate in this group for a sustained correction—though that correction remains a statistical promise, not a present reality. Bregman, meanwhile, has closed this stretch with .173/.247/.187 and a wRC+ of 20, without a home run in scoring situations and a Hard-Hit% of 34% that falls well short of what Chicago expected when he signed. Hoerner completed the picture by falling from .306 in April to .160 in May, with a Hard-Hit% of 28% that suggests a decline not just in results but in the real capacity to generate impact from the top of the order. The question the Cubs need to answer in the coming weeks doesn't run through Busch or Crow-Armstrong. It runs through Swanson: can he recover even a functional version of his first month? It runs through Suzuki: will he convert his underlying signals into real production before the season is decided? And it runs through Bregman: will he find in the second half the damage scenarios his historical profile suggests? Until those answers arrive, Chicago will remain a team where two players carry a disproportionate share of the situational weight for an entire lineup. In April, the Cubs looked like an offense with genuine depth. Since May, they've become a group that depends on an exceptional duo to hold things together when the game demands the most. In a division where margins are decided in exactly these moments, that's not a footnote to the season. It's the central story. View the full article

We’re less than two months away from the 2026 trade deadline and, thanks to the underperformance of the Boston Red Sox as a whole, there’s been little indication as to which path Craig Breslow is going to take as the summer market starts to heat up. Truth be told, it would be hard to figure out what Breslow was going to do even if the team wasn’t currently sitting outside the playoff picture with a losing record, despite the overall state of a very bad American League. If the team was just a fraction better, they would be in a clear ‘buy now’ mode. If they were somehow even worse than they currently are, they would sell off their most valuable short-term commitments while trying to retool for the 2027 season and beyond. Right now, though, we’re stuck in a sort of no-man’s land. With that in mind, I wanted to dive into the past two trade deadline seasons and see if we can maybe predict what Craig Breslow is going to do as we get into hot-stove season. Red Sox 2024 Trade Deadline Moves: Players In: RHP Quinn Priester, RHP Luis Garcia, RHP Lucas Sims, C Danny Jansen, LHP James Paxton Players Out: INF Moises Bolivar, INF Cutter Coffey, INF Eddison Paulino, RHP Gilberto Batista, RHP Ovis Portes, RHP Ryan Zeferjahn, RHP Yeferson Vargas, 1B Niko Kavadas, UTIL Matthew Lugo Talk about underwhelming. Going into the 2024 trade deadline, Breslow continually spoke about the need to add a right-handed hitter to the lineup, and the team wound up with Danny Jansen who worked in a platoon role and offered very little offensively. The other additions all made various contributions; Priester made one start for the Red Sox, Garcia appeared in 15 games and posted an 8.22 ERA, Sims also appeared in 15 games with a 6.43 ERA, and Paxton only appeared in three games before landing on the injured list to end his season. Red Sox 2025 Trade Deadline Moves: Players In: LHP Steven Matz, RHP Dustin May Players Out: OF James Tibbs III (acquired in the Rafael Devers deal in June of 2025), OF Zach Ehrhard, INF Blaze Jordan The 2025 deadline haul offers even less to say than its predecessor. Matz was a solid contributor out of the bullpen in Boston but wasn’t brought back this season, and May was awful in his five starts before he ended the season on the injured list. Revisiting these deals likely paints a pretty clear picture of the path that Craig Breslow is likely to take as we approach the August 3 trade deadline: He’s going to try and thread the impossible needle of buying and selling at the same time, as it seems that has been his modus operandi since he arrived in Boston. The biggest difference between the last two trade deadlines and this year are that the Red Sox are in a drastically different place in 2026. The team had a couple of obvious needs in 2025, but they were clearly in the midst of a playoff push thanks to a 10-game winning streak as they headed into the All-Star break. In 2024, there was reason to believe they could be competitive if everything broke in their favor. This year, though, one or two trades likely won’t make a difference for this team even in the short term. ESPN’s Buster Olney went on record on June 3 saying that he’s heard from his sources that the Red Sox are “aggressively looking for a right-handed hitter and signaling to the industry, look, we're willing to take on money.” That’s all well and good, but Breslow has shown that he’s more in the business of saving money in trades that welcoming it in. Just look at the Rafael Devers deal. There is a fairly lengthy list of right-handed hitters that are carrying bad contracts that Breslow could be looking at here, but adding that one piece won’t fix the inability to play quality baseball at home. If a deal for an impact right-handed hitter is on the table, does anyone really trust Breslow to get it done? It’s unlikely at this point. It feels like Breslow is approaching this trade deadline under the impression that his decisions may decide his fate in Boston. There has been more and more reports that members of the ownership group have grown unhappy with the hyper-focused analytical approach, and you have to assume that the length of leash ownership has given him is drastically different than previous seasons. With that in mind, expect Breslow to sell off short-term commitments that the team currently has while attempting to deal from the farm system to add a right-handed bat somewhere in the lineup. From the past two deadlines, we can see that Breslow tends to deal from positions of strength when making deals. Right now, that involves anyone who plays in the outfield, though perhaps the impending lockout may put an additional premium on prospects with years of team control. Simply put, Craig Breslow has a tall task in front of him by trying to both buy and sell at the deadline. That same mentality likely played a large role in costing Chaim Bloom his job in 2023, so Breslow has to be hoping that a similar fate isn’t in store for him in 2026. If he’s being trusted to navigate the trade deadline, and all signs point to that being the case, then he needs to be decisive and take advantage of however much leeway John Henry and company are giving him. View the full article

Stats updated prior to the Blue Jays' game on Wednesday, June 10. Ernie Clement is doing something that baseball history says shouldn't be possible. The Blue Jays infielder is among Major League Baseball’s hit leaders despite chasing pitches at a rate that would normally prevent a hitter from reaching the top of the leaderboard. Most hitters in today’s game strive to maximize their power: swinging harder, optimizing their launch angles, and focusing on doing damage at the plate. For some players, that plan works well. Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani have had great careers doing just that. But one of the great things about baseball is that there is more than one way to be productive. Regardless of the situation, Clement has a knack for getting the bat on the ball. So far in the 2026 season, he has continued to do exactly that. Just take a quick look at the MLB leaderboard for hits, and there is Ernie, right near the top: What’s incredibly unique about Clement is that he’s doing it in a way that very few hitters have ever managed successfully. He swings more often than anyone on the Blue Jays and makes more contact than most of his teammates. He doesn’t swing the bat that hard (67.6 mph average bat speed), which results in a low average exit velocity. He doesn’t walk, but he also doesn't strike out; somehow, he just keeps getting hits, and while a .317 BABIP tells some of the story, it's not the whole picture. Jays fans who have watched Ernie play know full well that he swings at almost anything he can reach, so even when a pitcher paints a pitch outside of the zone, he is still able to hit it. It's a skill that very few hitters in baseball possess. These are the 2026 hit leaders on pitches outside of the zone, per Baseball Savant: T-1: Ernie Clement - 27 T-1: Alec Burleson - 27 T-3: Otto Lopez - 24 T-3: Shohei Ohtani - 24 5: Jonathan Aranda - 23 The fact that Clement is near the top of the hits leaderboard isn’t unusual by itself. Every season, someone leads baseball in hits. What's unusual is how he’s getting there. The hitters who typically occupy the top of the leaderboard are disciplined hitters who limit chase and maximize quality contact. Clement is attempting to do it while chasing pitches at a rate rarely seen among baseball’s elite hit collectors. Looking back at every MLB hits leader over the last 12 seasons and comparing them to their chase rates reveals just how unusual his season has been: Ernie Clement's 2026 chase rate entering play on June 9. What Ernie Clement is doing is statistically unheard of in the Statcast era, and history suggests it's unlikely he’ll ultimately finish with the most hits in baseball while chasing this often. Yet, Clement has one skill that allows him to get away with it. When he swings, he simply does not miss. Clement owns a contact rate of 85.7%, which has him in the top 20 in MLB. While most hitters who chase pitches out of the zone rack up strikeouts, Clement consistently finds a way to get the bat on the baseball. The only reason Ernie gets away with it is how often he takes those out-of-zone pitches he swings at and puts them in play, doing so 44.3% of the time. This is where Clement’s path to accumulating hits begins to emerge. Because he rarely draws walks (3.0% BB rate) and strikes out infrequently (10.0% K rate), 87.0% of his plate appearances end with a ball in play. It's a number that ranks second among qualified hitters, behind only Luis Arraez. (You can find the full leaderboard here, updated before games on June 9.) From there its how many of those batted balls turn into hits. And that's where BABIP comes into the picture. On the season, Clement owns a .320 BABIP, meaning that 32% of balls he puts into the field of play have resulted in hits. It also helps that he's on pace for a career-high 17 home runs; home runs aren't included in the calculation of BABIP. High BABIPs are typically driven by elite speed, hard contact, line drives, or an all-fields approach. Ernie doesn’t necessarily excel in any of these categories. His sprint speed sits at 27.9 ft/sec, 66th percentile in the league. His 19.8% line drive rate (per FanGraphs) sits almost exactly at league average. His average exit velocity sits in the bottom sixth percentile in baseball, and if you take a look at his hit chart, it's fairly safe to say that an all-fields approach isn't behind this either. via Baseball Savant If Clement isn’t generating hits through elite speed or elite power, then the question becomes, what is driving his success? The secret lies in his hand-eye coordination. Baseball Savant measures this through a statistic called squared-up rate. In simple terms, it measures how much exit velocity a hitter generates relative to the maximum possible exit velocity, based on their bat speed and the speed of the pitch. On squared-up baseballs this season, hitters have produced a .380 batting average and a .678 slugging percentage. Clement has squared up the ball 35.2% of the time, placing him in the top six percent of all major league hitters. That doesn't tell the whole story, though. Clement seems to have a knack for hitting the baseball where the defenders aren't; this is evident in the difference between his xBA and his actual BA. His xBA, which calculates how likely a player is to get a hit based on launch angle and exit velocity, sits at .258. The 46-point difference between his .258 xBA and his .304 actual batting average suggests Clement has benefited from some favourable results, but it also raises the question of whether traditional models fully capture his unusual contact profile. Leading baseball in hits is often as much about availability as it is talent. The game’s hit leaders don’t just hit well; they’re also in the lineup every day. Ernie has played in 67 of the Blue Jays' 68 games so far. Given the defensive value he provides and his ability to play anywhere in the infield, playing time is unlikely to be a concern, barring injury. History suggests Clement’s approach shouldn’t work this well. Hit leaders typically don't chase this many pitches, and players with his batted ball profile rarely sustain this kind of production. Yet here he is, sitting among baseball’s hit leaders anyway. Whether Ernie Clement ultimately finishes as baseball's hit king is almost beside the point. What makes his season remarkable is that he’s forcing us to reconsider what a modern hitter can look like. If he keeps doing that, his first All-Star appearance may not be far behind. View the full article

MLB trade rumor season unofficially begins with June, and for better or worse, the New York Mets figure to be a big part of the proceedings this year. Grand Central Mets identified three of the organization's most valuable trade chips if the club decides to hold a summer sell-off. However, there's an intriguing fourth option if the stars align between now and the trade deadline on Aug. 3. It's a lot of factors to consider, but if the club is buried in the National League wild-card standings before the deadline, if it wants to reduce payroll ahead of a potentially chaotic offseason, and if he's presented an opportunity to play in October with another club, there's also infielder Bo Bichette. Fans are sure to dismiss that. The Mets signed Bichette to a three-year, $126 million contract last offseason. He stunk in the first two months of the deal, which means he has little choice but to opt into the second year of the agreement and weigh down any club's payroll. The response to all that is “Yes, but" multiple times over. When taken together, though, we can build a case for president of baseball operations David Stearns to at least listen on Bichette. Mets Must Weight Reasons to Trade Or Keep Bo Bichette YES: Bichette has a no-trade clause, BUT: Would he exercise it to stay with a club that’s out of contention and can't guarantee that it will be a lot better in 2027? The Mets are on course to miss the playoffs for a fourth time in six seasons under Steve Cohen's ownership. Buying players like Bichette in their win-now frenzy hasn't worked. The organization has been much better at pursuing Cohen's goal of building a perennial contender from within. Tanking should never enter a conversation about a Cohen team, and a Bichette trade for prospects would not be that. It would instead be a move to both add volume to the pipeline and free up cash for multiple offseason moves. YES: The average annual value (AAV) of Bichette’s contract is $42 million, one of the highest salaries in baseball, BUT: The deal's structure makes the player tradeable this year. The pact included a $40 million signing bonus, which the Mets paid in full on March 15. That left a $2 million salary for 2026. By the deadline, he'll be owed about one-third of that amount, or $666,667. That's less than the full-year MLB minimum salary. Plus, any team that acquires him would add $14 million to its competitive balance tax (CBT) payroll total, not the full $42 million, as per CBT rules. Those factors should expand the universe of potential suitors and make a Bichette trade more attractive to the Mets. Low-payroll contenders such as the Athletics, Cleveland Guardians, Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays and Washington Nationals could pay Bichette pennies over the final two months and stay well below the first CBT tax threshold. The Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies, on the other hand, would be facing millions in additional penalties and surcharges as multiple-time taxpayers. YES: Bichette will make $42 million in 2027 if he opts in, BUT: Some clubs are willing to pay a high AAV in short-term deals. The Mets committed $43.33 million per year each to pitchers Max Scherzer (three years) and Justin Verlander (two years) in 2022 and 2023, respectively. They flipped both men for prospects at the ‘23 deadline. Lots of cash went to the Rangers and Astros, respectively, in those trades, but clubs with fewer resources can figure out creative solutions if they want to flip Bichette next year. Separately, some clubs might want to add a high-dollar player if they believe a salary floor is coming to MLB in the next collective bargaining agreement and will need to add payroll to comply. YES: Bichette is proving that he isn't a $42 million player, which makes an opt-in almost inevitable, BUT: He's still young (28), he has a track record of above-average offensive production, and he has a World Series appearance on his résumé. And not only a World Series appearance, but also a performance where he played hurt (knee) at an unfamiliar position (second base). Clubs will pay for that type of player. Whether he returns to New York or is elsewhere next year, Bichette could also defer a portion of his salary to help the front office. After all, he agreed to defer the $5 million buyout he'll receive if he opts out after this season or next season. YES: Bichette has been bad this season based on numbers. BUT: His post-Series hangover can be excused because, as he has said, he was pressing early on to live up to the contract. Propelled by a four-hit game against the Mariners in Seattle, he's hitting .321 in June. His poor numbers after 62 games (.591 OPS, 70 wRC+, 0.0 fWAR through June 4) can be excused because some of his peripherals are okay. He's running a 17.4 percent strikeout rate, which is in line with his career figures; a career-high 6.6 percent walk rate; a .263 BABIP, which suggests a lot of bad luck, and a 46.3 percent hard-hit rate, which also is close to his career norms. His fielding is even on the upswing. He has been below average at shortstop, as usual (minus-2 fielding run value, minus-3 outs above average, minus-3 defensive runs saved through June 4). His work at third base has been better (1 FRV, 2 OAA, minus-2 DRS through June 4). Again, this discussion is based on the hypothetical that the Mets will fall out of contention and then look to dump salary. It's much more likely that they'll keep Bichette, regardless of where they are in the standings, and then spend in the offseason. But if the club has a mind to do the unexpected... well, Cohen has never been afraid of shocking the world. View the full article

Barely two years after being claimed off waivers by the Miami Marlins, Otto López is leading the team in wins above replacement and producing at an All-Star level. The 27-year-old shortstop joins AJ Ramos, Kevin Barral and Isaac Azout for an exclusive interview, peeling back the curtain on how the Marlins develop hitting, evaluating his defense, sharing what an All-Star selection would mean to him and much more. You can find Fish Unfiltered and Fish On First LIVE on the Fish On First YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever else you get your pods. Lopez enters Thursday with a .342/.370/.489 slash line, five home runs and 11 stolen bases while playing in 67 of 68 Marlins games this season. He leads all of Major League Baseball with 91 hits—there's a staggering 20-hit gap between him and any other NL shortstop. Voting for the All-Star Game starters began on June 3. Fans can submit up to five ballots per day per email address during the first phase of the voting, which concludes at 12:00 p.m. ET on June 25. View the full article

Transactions: RHP Jake Woodford assigned to Nashville Sounds RHP Jacob Waguespack traded to Detroit Tigers for cash considerations LF Jacob Hurtubise assigned to Biloxi Shuckers from Nashville Sounds C Luis Corobo placed on ACL Brewers’ 7-day injured list Game Action: Nashville 8, Durham (Rays) 5 Box Score and Game Log Seven Unanswered Runs Fuels Brewskis to Victory Over Durham - Baddoo Earns Second Straight 3-RBI Night; Wichrowski Tallies Second Win with Nashville A day after Cooper Pratt hit his sixth home run of the season and first since May 20, Jett Williams hit his sixth home run of the season and his first since May 17! Maybe they’ve heard that the left-side of the Brewers’ infield could use some help. Williams led off the home half of the first inning with the 414-foot shot to left center at 100.5 MPH off the bat. Akil Baddoo stayed hot with a triple and then, insurance runs with his second home run in as many days. Luis Lara and Pratt each had one hit and each stole a base. More video highlights: Luis Lara singles on a ground ball to left, scoring Cooper Pratt Luis Matos with an RBI single on a fly ball to center Brock Wilken singles on a ground ball deflected by third baseman Logan Davidson, scoring Luis Matos Cooper Pratt with an RBI single on a ground ball to third gives the Sounds the lead Brett Wichrowski earned his second win for Nashville but did not have the cleanest outing. Wichrowski had a particularly rough third inning giving up a lot of hard contact, with five batted balls having an exit velocity above 103 MPH, including two home runs and a double. Wichrowski did throw five innings, striking out six batters, while only walking one, to somewhat overcome his rough inning. In his first outing since being optioned back to Nashville, Craig Yoho earned the save, pitching two perfect innings and striking out 4 batters. Biloxi pre-game media notes Game 1: Biloxi 14 - Birmingham (White Sox) 1, seven innings as scheduled Box Score and Game Log Game 2: Birmingham 2, Biloxi 1, eight innings (scheduled for seven) Box Score and Game Log Shuckers Split Twin Bill in Birmingham - Shuckers Score 14 in Game One, Fall Short in 8-Inning Game Two Biloxi scored fifteen runs in fifteen total innings on Wednesday, while only giving up three total runs to Birmingham, but only managed to split the doubleheader and remain 1.5 games behind Birmingham in the standings. Tanner Gillis completed six innings, surrendering only two hits and two walks while striking out four. It was the second consecutive start where Gillis pitched six innings. Jesus Made was one of four Shuckers batters with multiple hits in the first game of the day going 2-5 with an RBI, a run and his 21st steal of the season. Mike Boeve had three hits. Catcher Matthew Wood reached base twice in the first game, extending his on-base streak to a career high 21 games, and then promptly ended his new record there, failing to reach in game two. The Shuckers only managed two total hits in the second game squandering strong outings from pitchers Anthony Flores and Jack Seppings. Flores pitched a season-high three innings and struck out five batters, also a highwater mark for this year. Game Two's lone offensive highlight: Wisconsin pre-game media notes Game 1: Wisconsin 5, Great Lakes (Dodgers) 0, seven innings as scheduled Box Score and Game Log Game 2: Postponed Fischer’s Decisive Blast sinks Loons Josh Knoth had a season high five strikeouts, while surrendering 3 hits and 2 walks over 3.2 innings as he continues to build his way back from Tommy John surgery. Garret Hodges and Yerlin Rodriguez completed the seven-inning shutout. Third baseman Andrew Fischer hit his league leading 19th home run to give the T-Rats the lead. The home run and a walk extended Fischer’s on-base streak to 27 games, and pushed his OBP to .434, however with 79 strikeouts on the season already he is developing quite the Three True Outcomes profile. Highly ranked prospects Josh Adamczewski and Marco Dinges each went 1-3, Juan Baez filling in at shortstop for Luis Pena had two hits, raising his average to just below the Mendoza Line. Wilson pre-game media notes Wilson 8, Hill City (Guardians) 7 Box Score & Game Log Warbirds Use Longball to Bounce Back in Lynchburg - Anderson, Ebel Go Deep in Victory Brady Ebel and Jose Anderson provided the fireworks for the Warbirds. Both batters made their one hit in five at-bats count with a pair of 2-run homers. Anderson hit his league leading fifteenth home run but now has 96 strikeouts in 202 at-bats! Nineteen-year-old catcher Rylan Mils, another late round Brewers’ draft pick and overslot signing last season, had his first multi-hit game in A-ball, going 2-3 with a walk and his first stolen base of the season. Rylan Mills lines an RBI single to left Luis Lameda drives in two on a ground ball single to right The Howlers outhit the Warbirds 12-7 on the night and plated three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning with Joshua Quezeda ending the attempted comeback and earning the save after entering with a two-run lead, runners on the corners and nobody out. There are eight games scheduled on Thursday as the rookie levels return to action. Wisconsin will again attempt to get two games in starting at 5:10 Central, although they will be the "road team" in Appleton for the Game Two makeup contest. 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

San Diego Padres affiliates went 1-3 Wednesday as the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas lost 4-2 to Round Rock, the Double-A San Antonio Mission were blanked by Frisco 4-0, the High-A Fort Wayne TinCaps fell again 14-2 to Dayton and the Low-A Lake Elsinore Storm rolled 6-1. Padres Minor-League Transactions San Diego Padres signed 1B Nick Pratto to a minor-league contract and assigned him to El Paso Chihuahuas. El Paso Chihuahuas transferred 2B Victor Duarte to the Development List. Carlos Rodriguez's Streak Reaches 16, But Chihuahuas Fall Late Right-hander Jhony Brito turned in another nice start in his first Triple-A start since coming off the injured list and Carlos Rodriguez extended his hitting streak to a career-high 16 games, but the El Paso Chihuahuas gave up a pair of seventh-inning runs to fall 4-2 to the Round Rock Express. Rodriguez went 2-for-5, keeping his streak going with a two-out single in the fourth inning and a leadoff single in the seventh. He has reached base in 20 straight games. His hitting streak is the longest by the Chihuahuas this season and the second-longest active streak in the Pacific Coast League. Brito had six rehab outings while on the Padres' 60-day injured list following an internal brace surgery and flexor tendon repair in April 2025, but was very effective in his four starts for Double-A San Antonio, with a 1.96 ERA. Against the Express, Brito went four innings and allowed just one run on three hits, but he also walked three while striking out four. The only run he gave up was a leadoff homer to Jarred Kelenic in the third inning. The Chihuahuas took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second on Blake Hunt's RBI single to left to score Mason McCoy, who had singled and went to second on Clay Dungan's single. Round Rock tied it in the bottom of the third, then the Chihuahuas reclaimed the lead on Rodriguez's run-scoring single to bring in Hunt, who was hit by a pitch and went to second on Nate Mondou's single. It was tied again at 2-2 when the Express scored once in the fifth, then they scored twice in the seventh. EP_0610.mp4 Player AB R H RBI BB K Pablo Reyes 5 0 1 0 0 2 Carlos Rodriguez 5 0 2 1 0 0 Nick Solak 4 0 1 0 0 0 Marcos Castanon 4 0 1 0 0 2 Nick Schnell 3 0 0 0 1 1 Mason McCoy 4 1 1 0 0 2 Clay Dungan 3 0 1 0 0 0 Nick Pratto 1 0 0 0 0 0 Blake Hunt 3 1 1 1 0 0 Nate Mondou 3 0 1 0 1 1 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Jhony Brito 4 4 1 1 3 4 1 Logan Gillaspie 1 2 1 1 2 0 0 Miguel Cienfuegos 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 Ethan Routzahn 1 2 1 1 1 1 0 Ty Adcock 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 Missions Can Only Produce 3 Hits In Shutout Loss Ethan Salas went 2-for-3, but the rest of the host Double-A San Antonio Missions had just one as the Frisco RoughRiders prevailed 5-0. Salas had singles leading off the bottom of the first and with one out in the sixth. Ryan Jackson followed Salas first-inning single with a single of his own. But the RoughRiders retired 15 straight before Salas got the third and final hit for the Missions. Chihuahuas right-handed starter Eric Yost gave up three runs in 3⅓ innings on five hits and two walks while fanning three. Player AB R H RBI BB K Ethan Salas 3 0 2 0 0 0 Ryan Jackson 4 0 1 0 0 0 Romeo Sanabria 3 0 0 0 0 1 Tirso Ornelas 4 0 0 0 0 0 Luis Verdugo 4 0 0 0 0 2 Francisco Acuna 3 0 0 0 0 1 Brendan Durfee 2 0 0 0 1 2 Kai Murphy 3 0 0 0 0 0 Kai Roberts 3 0 0 0 0 1 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Eric Yost 3 1/3 5 3 3 2 3 0 Andrew Thurman 2 2/3 0 0 0 3 3 0 Johan Moreno 1 2/3 2 2 2 1 0 0 Sadrac Franco 1 1/3 1 0 0 0 1 0 TinCaps Pounded By Dragons, Drop 7th Straight The High-A Fort Wayne TinCaps gave up a seven-run fifth inning, the seven more runs over the next three innings in suffering a 14-2 loss at the hands of the host Dayton Dragons. The TinCaps had a mere five hits, only one a double. Justin DeCriscio had an RBI single in the third inning and Oswaldo a run-scoring groundout. TinCaps right-handed starter Maikel Miralles gave up three runs in 4-plus innings on five hits and two walks with a pair of strikeouts. Left-hander Igo Gil and right-hander Isaiah Lowe each followed with an inning apiece and gave up three runs each. Right-hander Luis German then gave up four runs in 1⅓ innings. FW_0610.mp4 Player AB R H RBI BB K Justin DeCriscio 3 0 1 1 1 1 Rosman Verdugo 4 0 0 0 0 1 Lamar King Jr. 3 0 0 0 1 1 Alex McCoy 4 0 0 0 0 0 Jake Cunningham 4 0 1 0 0 2 Jack Costello 4 1 1 0 0 2 Zach Evans 4 0 1 0 0 1 Oswaldo Linares 3 1 0 1 1 1 Kasen Wells 2 0 1 0 1 0 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Maikel Miralles 4 5 4 3 2 2 1 Igor Gil 1 3 3 3 1 1 0 Isaiah Lowe 1 1/3 2 3 3 2 1 0 Luis German 1 1/3 4 4 4 2 1 1 Will Varmette 1/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 Jesus Castro Punches Out Career-High 12 As Storm Prevail Right-hander Jesus Castro struck out a career-high 12 in 4⅔ innings and Kerrington Cross had a two-run double in a four-run seventh inning as the host Low-A Lake Elsinore Storm notched a 6-1 victory over the Ontario Tower Buzzers. Ryan Wideman reached base three times with a pair of hits and a walk, scored a run and also stole two bases to boost his minors-leading total to 39. Luke Cantwell also had a pair of hits and a walk, while Cross walked twice in addition to the double, scoring twice. Castro bettered his previous career high of nine strikeouts that he accomplished in 5⅔ innings May 13 vs. Ranco Cucamonga. It also came a night after Winyer Chourio struck out nine over six innings. Castro didn't allow a run, giving up three hits and two walks while throwing 96 pitches. Castro's ERA dropped to 2.72. He now has 53 strikeouts this season, meaning just over of the total he accrued in 10 starts came in this game. Cantwell, who came off the injured list Sunday, doubled home a run in the first inning and is now 7-for-12 with five RBIs. Jorge Quintana made it 2-0 with a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning. In the seventh, Quintana drew a leadoff walk and went to second on a one-out wild pitch. Conner Westenburg reached after striking out due to a wild pitch, moving Quintana to third. Wideman walked to load the bases, then another wild pitch to plate Quintana. Wideman stole second, then Cross doubled home a pair for a 5-0 lead. Jose Verdugo followed with a sac fly to cap the four-run inning and put the Storm up 6-1. Right-hander Nick Falter went 2⅓ scoreless innings and right-hander Vicarte Domingo allowed a ninth-inning run in his two innings. LE_0610.mp4 Player AB R H RBI BB K Ryan Wideman 4 1 2 0 1 1 Kerrington Cross 3 2 1 2 2 2 Jose Verdugo 2 0 0 1 1 2 Luke Cantwell 3 0 2 1 1 0 Truitt Madonna 3 0 0 0 1 2 Bradley Frye 3 1 1 0 1 0 Jorge Quintana 1 1 0 1 2 1 Qrey Lott 4 0 0 0 0 2 Conner Westenburg 4 1 1 0 0 2 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Jesus A. Castro 4 2/3 3 0 0 2 12 0 Nick Falter 2 1/3 2 0 0 0 1 0 Vicarte Domingo 2 2 1 1 1 2 0 Padres Mission Top 20 Prospect Performance Ethan Salas: 2-for-3 Kash Mayfield: DNP Miguel Mendez: DNP Kruz Schoolcraft: DNP Ryan Wideman: 2-for-4, R, BB, K, 2 SB Jorge Quintana: 0-for-1, R, RBI, 2 BB, K Ty Harvey: On injured list Kale Fountain: Injured, out for season Braedon Karpathios: DNP Lamar King Jr.: 0-for-3, BB, K Jagger Haynes: DNP Alex McCoy: 0-for-4 Truitt Madonna: 0-for-3, BB, 2 K Tucker Musgrove: DNP Garrett Hawkins: DNP Michael Salina: DNP Eric Yost: 3⅓ IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K Rosman Verdugo: 0-for-4, K Bryan Balzer: DNP Deivid Coronil: DNP View the full article

TRANSACTIONS RHP Mick Abel sent to AAA St. Paul on rehab RHP Andrew Bash transferred to development list (AAA St. Paul) RHP Taylor Rashi reported to AAA St. Paul Saints Sentinel St. Paul 12, Toledo 1 Box Score Mick Abel: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K HR: Aaron Sabato (12), Kyler Fedko (15), Matt Wallner (6), Gabriel Gonzalez (9) Multi-hit games: Kyler Fedko (2-for-3, HR, 3 R, RBI, BB), Matt Wallner (2-for-5, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI), Gabriel Gonzalez (3-for-5, HR, 2B, 3 R, RBI), Aaron Sabato (3-for-5, HR, 2B, 2 R, 4 RBI) The Saints dominated their opponent on Wednesday. Mick Abel vs Justin Verlander. For the price of a AAA ticket? Toledo hadn’t seen such entertainment since Art Tatum’s piano playing in the late 20s and early 30s. The youngster clearly bested the elder in the matchup of generations: Abel pounded the zone and flashed healthy-looking stuff, topping out at 97.9 while punching out five. He tossed three shutout innings. Verlander, on the other hand, couldn’t escape the gopher ball. Aaron Sabato got him in the second off a hanging slider, and Kyler Fedko also pounced on the Hall-of-Famer’s signature strikeout pitch for a homer in the third. Verlander settled in for a time before Matt Wallner and Gabriel Gonzalez went back-to-back in the sixth. That’s four home runs off a pitcher who will one day remain forever alive in the walls of Cooperstown. The Mud Hens weren’t done sending former All-Stars to the mound, as Kenley Jansen entered in the seventh. He, too, didn’t phase the Saints. Three straight baserunners chased the owner of the third-most saves in MLB history, starting an assembly line of runs that concluded with six on the board, and 10 in the game for St. Paul. They tacked on two more for good measure in the eighth. The Mud Hens roster Max Clark, the seventh-ranked prospect in MLB. He singled once in four at-bats. Wind Surge Wisdom Wichita 2, Wichita 5 Box Score Jose Olivares: 4 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K HR: None Multi-hit games: Kyle DeBarge (2-for-3, 2B, R, BB) The Wind Surge came up short on Wednesday. It's possible the game’s opening inning cursed Wichita: Jose Olivares walked the leadoff batter—a sin in the eyes of the baseball gods—and the Olivares/Poncho Ruiz battery allowed the runner to steal second, an insolent act made worse by a throwing error that sent him to third. The baseball gods look unfavorably on poor fundamentals, and the Wind Surge soon learned this. Matters settled into a Cold War stalemate for a few frames before Kyle DeBarge lurched us into modernity with a cracked double to start the fifth. Jaime Ferrer then knocked him home with a single up the middle. The Drillers responded with two runs, and when Wichita scored in the sixth, Tulsa clubbed on two more runs to emphasize their point. It was taken. The Wind Surge didn’t score the rest of the game. DeBarge enjoyed one his best games of the season; the infielder doubled, singled, walked, and stole his 17th base on the year. It was his first multi-hit game since May 26th. That anonymous leadoff man from before was actually Josue De Paula, the eighth-best prospect in baseball according to MLB.com. He doubled and walked twice. Kernels Nuggets Cedar Rapids 8, Lansing 9 (10 Innings) Box Score Michael Ross: 3 ⅔ IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 3 K HR: Quinn McDaniel (1), Eduardo Tait (10) Multi-hit games: Yasser Mercedes (2-for-5, 2B, 2R), Quinn McDaniel (2-for-5, HR, 2B, R, 2 RBI), Danny De Andrade (2-for-5, 3B, 2 R, RBI) The Kernels lost in extras on Wednesday. Quinn McDaniel continues to be a revelation for the Twins organization, as he launched his first A+ ball homer and added a double to give him six total bases in the game. He’s hitting .333/.406/.517 in 16 games with Cedar Rapids. Wichita may be in his near future. Eduardo Tait smashed a three-run shot in the seventh for his tenth home run of the year. Though the catcher endured a slower start to the season, he’s slugging .563 in seven games to start the month of June. That’s more in the line with the production the team expected when they traded for him last year. Every batter for the Kernels reached base at least once, and every batter outside Tait and Khadim Diaw reached base at least twice. No player in the Athletics’ top 30 prospect list played in Wednesday’s game. Mussel Matters The Mighty Mussels met the one thing mightier than them: mother nature. And what a temperamental gal is she. They will attempt to play a doubleheader on Thursday, June 11th. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Mick Abel Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Gabriel Gonzalez PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #2 – Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 1-5, R, BB #5 – Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 1-5, HR, R, 3 RBI, K #7 – Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 1-3, RBI, 2 BB, #10 – Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 3-5, HR, 2B, 3 R, RBI #12 – Andrew Morris (Twins) - 1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K #15 – Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 0-3, 2 BB, 2 K #19 – Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) - 1-5, K #20 – Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 2-3, 2B, R, BB THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul @ Toledo (6:05 PM) - RHP Austin Voth Wichita @ Tulsa (7:00 PM) - RHP Sam Armstrong Cedar Rapids @ Lansing (6:05 PM) - RHP Riley Quick Dunedin @ Fort Myers (3:35 PM) - RHP Eli Jones Dunedin @ Fort Myers (Game Two) - TBD FCL Twins @ FCL Pirates (11:00 AM) - TBD DSL Twins @ DSL NYY Yankees (10:00 AM) - TBD View the full article

Box Score Starting Pitcher: Mike Paredes, 3 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4K Home Runs: Royce Lewis (4), Byron Buxton (20) Top 3 WPA: Buxton (0.20), Anthony Banda (0.16), (0.09) Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs): It was another muggy day at Comerica Park, and the game action fizzled just as it got started. With a passing storm cell sitting just 15 minutes away, the umpires spoke with both managers on whether to press on ahead. The teams agreed to begin the contest, but only got a half inning—where Framber Valdez looked like his Astros self, rather than the brutal showing the Twins took advantage of in April—before the crews decided to ask fans to take shelter and wait for a storm to pass for the next 67 minutes. The game then began in earnest after a half-inch of rain dumped onto the field, with Mike Parades making his second big-league start in a planned bullpen game. The relatively unknown prospect threw a mix of sweepers in the high 70s and a four-seamer in the mid-90s, managing two strikeouts to escape the first inning. Fram(b)e(r) Up To some surprise, Valdez returned to the game. He had obviously kept fresh in between with no reduced velocity, but the humidity may have been too much. Royce Lewis punished the southpaw with a solo home run—50th of his career and first since April—that he crushed a tape-measure 444 feet. Lewis’s home run came on an elevated sweeper that came in at 95.2 mph, for the St Paul velocity bean counters. Valdez continued to look shaky, covered in heavy sweat throughout his five innings. He allowed a couple bloop hits and a walk that loaded the bases, but a foulout by Brooks Lee caught by Spencer Torkelson at the railing ended the rally. The shaky pitcher ran out of luck in the fifth. Valdez managed to plunk both Alex Jackson and Austin Martin in non-competitive pitches before Byron Buxton launched his slider for a 413-foot shot. Derek Shelton’s management played a nice role here, moving Buxton out of the lead-off spot and allowing this to be just his second non-solo home run of the season. Relief Carousel Mike Paredes almost escaped a third-inning jam, before a Gleyber Torres chopper deflected by a diving Buxton resulted in a run. That was enough for Shelton (who perhaps wanted to get Paredes the Pitchergami), who began his parade of bullpen arms, beginning with Taylor Rogers before moving to Andrew Morris. Morris struggled with command once again, but the defense was his real undoing. Luke Keaschall committed two should-be errors in the frame, leading to two should-be-unearned runs. If Shelton hoped to scratch two innings out of Morris, the 41-pitch count ended the conversation. That meant Travis Adams was put on call to do what Morris couldn’t for the sixth inning. But after pulling a 1-2-3 inning with a pair of strikeouts, Adams had trouble finding the strike zone and put runners on first and second for the seventh. That threw Anthony Banda into commission. Happily, Banda continued his recent dominance with an easy pop-out and a strikeout. Banda allowed a walk to Riley Greene to begin the eighth, but worked a few fly outs to send the game to the ninth. Hit Parade Having used five relievers the night before, AJ Hinch eventually turned to post-hype prospect type Ty Madden to face the top of the order to begin the seventh. Madden showed craft with his diverse pitch mix, but struggled to get swing-and-miss (though Orlando Arcia managed to chase one outside the zone). With switch-hitting Josh Bell up, Hinch turned to Drew Sommers, but the mid-90s fastball left in the zone resulted in a bloop single and another run on the board. Sommers also walked Lewis on four pitches before firing a wide pitch that snuck Brooks Lee home. Keaschall loaded the count, but a harmless flyout to right field ended the rally. The Twins managed multiple base runners in both the eighth and the ninth, but well-hit but poorly positioned swings from Buxton and Bell resulted in double plays that kept the damage limited. Yoendrys Gómez looked shaky in his save situation, putting on a pair with only one out. A launch from Matt Vierling spelled trouble, but the ball died at 408 feet in deep center and fell harmlessly into Buxton's glove. Dillon Dingler smacked a ball between Arcia and Lee to add one to the Tigers' count. but Gómez managed a strikeout of Riley Greene to finally shut the door. Notes Like many teams in the league, Twins.TV sells digitally commissioned ads overlaid onto the physical ones behind the batter's box. For whatever reason, these were particularly egregious tonight in creating digital artifacts, and at points, the ball disappeared from view on its way to the plate. Byron Buxton recorded his sixth stolen base of the season, but only his second in the last month. Lewis continued to look good at first base, making a few nice defensive plays. It was his third consecutive day in the position. Post-Game Interview: What's Next? After some more storms pass over the region overnight, Zebby Matthews will face Keider Montero in a high noon getaway game. The Twins will need serious length to ensure a fresh bullpen for their weekend series against the Cardinals. Bullpen Usage: SAT SUN MON TUE WED TOT Laweryson 0 36 0 12 0 48 Morris 0 41 0 0 39 80 Orze 17 0 0 23 0 40 Lawrence 0 12 0 26 0 38 Rogers 15 0 0 17 14 46 Adams 0 0 0 0 31 31 Gómez 14 0 0 0 27 41 Banda 0 0 0 0 30 30 Paredes 0 0 0 0 58 58 View the full article

MIAMI—A 7-1 record, top-five OPS and the second-lowest ERA in baseball. Few things go together like the month of June and Marlins baseball. That sentiment was echoed once more Wednesday night in a contest that was decided essentially within an hour and a half of first pitch. A six-run fourth inning and group shutout powered Miami to a dominant 8-0 series-clinching win over the visiting Diamondbacks, their seventh in eight efforts. They climb to just two games under .500 and remain 2.5 games out of a wild-card spot courtesy of the continued surge. "We dug ourselves a bit of a hole, but now we're playing much better here the last ten days or so" said manager Clayton McCullough postgame, "It's always going to go back to our ability to pitch and play and play defense. I think both those areas we can continue to get better, but right now we're doing a really nice job." The southpaw duo of Owen Caissie and Kyle Stowers headlined Miami's mid-game avalanche, blasting their sixth and fifth home runs of the season, respectively. Both shots registered an 110 mph exit velocity, although the latter was more majestic, finding the second deck and resulting in a rare bat flip from the slugger. Like his club, Stowers' stock has risen now a third into the month. 9 RBI and a .740 OPS in eight games have been just what the doctor ordered for a team desperate for the slug their All-Star of a year ago provides. "Kyle's been on the barrel a lot more of late, and what he can bring to our offense is no secret," said McCullough. "He has the ability to carry you with some swings at the right times with people on, and he certainly has shown that. He's certainly a huge part of our lineup in the middle there, and with how much the guys in front are getting on base, and his ability to drive them in is a big thing for us." Additional multi-hit nights from Liam Hicks, Otto Lopez, who tallied two more RBI as he builds his All-Star case, and Heriberto Hernandez tallied behind Caissie in Stowers in Miami's latest high-scoring day. "We've done it offensively in a variety of ways" said McCullough. "Otto again tonight with a couple more big hits, Liam had a really good night swinging the bat, and then you get the home runs. I think offensively, we've done a nice job during this stretch of getting done in a variety of ways." Not to be lost in the offensive explosion was the latest impressive bullpen game for a multitude of Marlins relievers. Ryan Gusto led the way with four innings of three-hit, four-strikeout ball, a solid step forward following two sideways outings in his return to the bigs. "I'm really happy about it," said Gusto of his outing. "I think it's something to build off of. I think they'll let that pitch count, getting comfortable to that starter role is something that's really good for me." "The work with the pitching coaches in between starts was huge," replied Gusto when asked what adjustments he made from his previous appearance. "I think that we were able to do a lot of quality work on my bullpen in between starts, and I mean that comes back to the routine that we're building, right? So, a couple like interesting outings out of the bullpen-shorter ones-and then now that we had like a full five days to line up for start, I feel like it was really helpful in that aspect to get some quality work in between." A three-man effort of Lake Bachar, William Kempner and Cade Gibson rounded out the superb day from Miami's arms. Kempner recorded his first win in the bigs because Gusto was removed to early to be eligible. "Our pitching staff overall, from starters to relievers, is nasty," said Kempner of the 'pen. "When you put our guys out there, we know they have a chance, no matter who it is. The stuff in there is absolutely gross." Making his third appearance as a starter, Tyler Phillips takes the ball for McCullough in Thursday afternoon's 1:10 EST finale opposite Merrill Kelly. A sweep and fifth consecutive victory in the matinee would mark Miami's longest winning streak of the season. View the full article

Another of the reliever swaps triggered by nothing in particular goes down, but it reopens a chapter that one unexpectedly closed. Transactions, 6/10/2026 GOING COMING Demoted to Syracuse Promoted from Syracuse Relief Pitchers Relief Pitchers Joey Gerber Jonathan Pintaro R/R DoB: 1997-05-03 High Level: MLB (2026) R/R DoB: 1997-11-07 High Level: MLB (2026) Yeah, the relievers getting swapped out at the back end of the bullpen seem indistinguishable, but if you pay attention, they're all telling their own story — albeit stories with long gaps in the middle. Such is the case with Jonathan Pintaro. You may think, "Ho-hum, another righthanded reliever," the there is a difference. This is a righthanded reliever that has allowed no runs and no hits in 3 2/3 innings. So when Jonathan gets announced into a game sometime this week, probably in a less-than-high-leverage situation, and you try to muster the interest to root for him, know that you are rooting for a guy working on a no-hitter. For the season. Go Jonathan Pintaro!! Your 2026 New York Mets Starting Pitchers Sean Manaea Nolan McLean Freddy Peralta David Peterson Christian Scott R/L DoB: 1992-02-01 R/R DoB: 2001-07-24 R/R DoB: 2996-06-04 L/L DoB: 1995-09-03 R/R DoB: 1999-06-15 Relief Pitchers Huascar Brazobán A.J. Minter Cionel Pérez Jonathan Pintaro Brooks Raley Austin Warren Luke Weaver R/R DoB: 1989-10-15 L/L DoB: 1993-09-02 R/L DoB: 35176 R/R DoB: 1997-11-07 L/L DoB: 1988-06-29 R/R DoB: 1996-02-05 R/R DoB: 1993-08-21 Relief Pitchers Catchers Infielders Devin Williams Francisco Alvarez Luís Torrens Bo Bichette Brett Baty Vidal Brujan Marcus Semien R/R DoB: 1994-09-21 R/R DoB: 2001-11-01 R/R DoB: 1996-05-02 R/R DoB: 1998-03-05 L/R DoB: 1999-11-13 S/R DoB: 1998-02-09 R/R DoB: 1990-09-17 Infielders Outfielders Mark Vientos Eric Wagaman Carson Benge A.J. Ewing MJ Melendez Juan Soto Jared Young R/R DoB: 1993-12-11 R/R DoB: 1997-08-14 L/R DoB: 2003-01-20 L/R DoB: 2004-08-10 L/R DoB: 1993-11-29 L/L DoB: 1998-10-25 L/R DoB: 1995-07-09 Also on 40-Player Roster Starting Pitchers Relief Pitchers #NAME? Clay Holmes Tylor Megill Kodai Senga Zach Thornton Jonah Tong Alex Carrillo Daniel Duarte R/R DoB: 1993-03-27 R/R DoB: 1995-07-28 L/R DoB: 1993-01-30 L/L DoB: 2002-01-17 R/R DoB: 2003-06-19 R/R DoB: 1997-06-06 R/R DoB: 1996-12-04 Relief Pitchers Catchers Reed Garrett Joey Gerber Justin Hagenman Tobias Myers Dedniel Núñez Dylan Ross Hayden Senger R/R DoB: 1993-01-02 R/R DoB: 1997-05-03 R/R DoB: 1996-10-07 R/R DoB: 1998-08-05 R/R DoB: 1996-06-05 R/R DoB: 2000-09-01 R/R DoB: 1997-04-03 Infielders Outfielders Francisco Lindor Ronny Mauricio Jorge Polanco Nick Morabito Luis Robert, Jr. Tyrone Taylor S/R DoB: 1993-11-14 S/R DoB: 2001-04-04 S/R DoB: 1999-11-13 R/R DoB: 2003-05-07 R/R DoB: 1997-08-03 R/R DoB: 1994-01-22 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 Soft Tissue Specialist Brian Chicklo Joseph Golia Bryan Baca Sean Bardanett Josh Bickel Dustin Clarke Tanner Miracle Jeremy Chiang Hiroto Kawamura DoB: 1972-07-17 DoB: 1978-??-?? DoB: Circa 1980 DoB: 1988-06-23 DoB: 1996-??-?? DoB: 1987-??-?? DoB: 1991-??-?? DoB: ????-??-?? DoB: 1962-07-19 View the full article

Luke Keaschall was one of the Twins' most exciting players entering the 2026 season. After a mini-breakout during his rookie campaign a year ago, it looked like Minnesota had found its long-term answer at second base. Keaschall hit .302 with an .827 OPS last year, showed elite bat-to-ball skills, and looked capable of becoming a fixture near the top of the lineup for years to come. While he certainly still could be, that success has not carried over into this season. Entering Wednesday night's game, Keaschall is hitting just .247 with a .638 OPS. That's a significant drop-off from what he did a year ago, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to chalk it up to nothing more than a slow start. What's especially disappointing is that it looked like he was beginning to turn the corner in May. After struggling through the early portion of the season, Keaschall hit .291 during the month, with seven extra-base hits and three stolen bases. The quality of his at-bats appeared to improve, the results were finally starting to follow, and it seemed like his rough April was simply a temporary bump in the road. Instead, June has brought him right back to where he started. So far this month, Keaschall is hitting just .250 with a .595 OPS. The underlying data doesn’t offer any reassurance, either. His expected batting average sits at just .228, which is notably lower than his already uninspiring .247 mark. Often, struggling hitters can point to bad luck as a reason for optimism. That's not the case here. Additionally, his quality of contact has been absolutely abysmal. His SLGCON, or slugging percentage on contact, sits at just .372. Not only is that comfortably the lowest mark among Twins hitters with at least 100 plate appearances, but it's roughly 180 points below league average. When Keaschall makes contact, there just isn't much damage being done. The rest of the batted-ball profile tells a similar story. His average exit velocity, his barrel and hard-hit rates all sit near the bottom of the league. That's not the profile of someone who is getting unlucky; that's the profile of someone who is consistently getting outmatched. Even the area of his game that has traditionally been his biggest strength has taken a step backward. Keaschall's bat-to-ball data remains solid overall, but it isn't as strong as it was during his rookie season. He's making less quality contact while chasing and striking out more. That's a difficult combination to overcome. All of it has contributed to him finding himself near the bottom of the Twins' lineup more frequently in recent weeks. Could this simply be a sophomore slump? Sure, young players struggle all the time. The league adjusts. Pitchers find weaknesses, and development isn't always a straight line. But we're also more than two-and-a-half months into the season at this point. This is no longer a small sample size, and right now, Keaschall is not helping the Twins at the plate. As someone who was extremely optimistic about Keaschall entering the season, I take no pleasure in saying this, but it's time for the Twins to option him to Triple-A. If he were providing strong defense at second base, perhaps the offensive struggles would be easier to stomach. But that hasn't been the case. Keaschall has been a negative on both sides of the ball, which makes it increasingly difficult to justify keeping him in the lineup every day while the team tries to keep itself afloat in the playoff picture. It's not as if the Twins have shown any hesitation when it comes to optioning players; they've already done it this season with Royce Lewis and Matt Wallner. If the organization believes a player will benefit from a reset, they have shown a willingness to make that move regardless of the player's pedigree. Additionally, I don't think it's a coincidence that the Twins have been giving Lewis opportunities at second base. Part of that undoubtedly relates to Brooks Lee's transition to third base (Lewis’s primary position) and the organization's desire to create defensive flexibility. But if Keaschall were truly succeeding, he wouldn't be losing starts to a hitter carrying a .162 batting average. That tells you something. So who would take Keaschall’s spot if the Twins decide to send him down? Well, there may be an intriguing replacement already waiting. This would be a great opportunity to see where Kaelen Culpepper is at. Promoting Culpepper would require a 40-man roster move, so it wouldn't be a completely simple decision. Somebody would need to come off the roster. Still, there are plenty of reasons why the move makes sense. Culpepper can play second base, shortstop, and third base. He would immediately give Derek Shelton additional flexibility throughout the infield, and defensively, he's been better than Keaschall this season. More importantly, it would allow the Twins to accomplish two goals at the same time. Culpepper would get a chance to experience major-league pitching and begin his transition to the next level. Meanwhile, Keaschall could head to Triple-A, take a step back, work through his struggles in a lower-pressure environment, and rebuild some confidence. That sounds like a win-win scenario. Would optioning Keaschall be popular among fans? Probably not. Nobody likes seeing a young player with this much talent get sent down. But these situations happen all the time. Development is very rarely linear, and sometimes the best thing for a player's long-term future is a temporary step backward. Right now, there isn't a strong argument for keeping Keaschall in the majors when he's struggling offensively, struggling defensively, and still has minor-league options available. Let him get a reset, let him rebuild his confidence, and then let him come back a better player. View the full article

"Why are you worrying about Christian Yelich?" you might be asking, and you'd have a fair point. David Hamilton is only slowly pulling himself out of a career-threatening cold snap to start the season. Sal Frelick is mired in the same depth of trouble. Blake Perkins, Joey Ortiz and Luis Rengifo are holding onto big-league jobs by their fingernails, and that's especially bad news in their cases, because they only really do well when they're working with their glove. Yelich, meanwhile, is batting .287/.354/.434. It's a normal season. Find a new slant. Well, no. Sorry. There's real danger lurking behind Yelich's superficially solid numbers, and we had better talk about it a bit. Thankfully, some new data from Statcast sheds plenty of light on the problem. Yelich is running into some concrete problems with clear explanations, even if not all of those problems are solvable. He's over his skis right now, and uisually, when you get over your skis, you end up crashing. In 158 plate appearances this year, Yelich is striking out 28.5% of the time. Only in the hopelessly bizarre, meaningless 2020 season did he punch out more often. Even that year, he walked at a shockingly high 18.6% rate. This season, that number is less than half as high, at 8.9%. This would be, in short, the worst strikeout rate and the worst walk rate of his career. He's also hitting the ball less hard on average, hitting it hard less often, and hitting it on the ground more. If none of that sounds good, give yourself a gold star; you know ball. Expected stats don't always tell the whole story, but Yelich's stand in unusually stark contrast to his solid surface-level numbers. He's not controlling the zone well, and he's not making up for that by hitting the ball productively in any sense. He's not going to keep being a good hitter for long, if this keeps up. And here's why. This image comes from Baseball Savant's new leaderboards showing swing timing and miss distance. Initially, they might seem inscrutable, but walk through them with me. Here, we've isolated what Yelich is doing on swings against breaking balls, and we're comparing 2025 to 2026. As you can see, last year, he had a fairly normal distribution in his swings against breaking pitches, in terms of where he met (or would have met) the ball on the bat, horizontally (left); whether he was early, late or on time against them (center); and whether he swung above, below or right through the ball, vertically (right). Those are the slightly forest-hued green curves. In 2026, something different is happening. As he tries to adapt to what's happening with his body, Yelich is taking a bifurcated approach, which is producing a bimodal distribution. Sometimes, he's sitting on a breaking ball. Other times, he's gearing up for the heat. When it's the former, he's usually on time, and he centers the ball on his barrel laterally pretty well. When it's the latter, he's usually early, which means he either ends up getting the ball with the end of his bat or running out of bat altogether and whiffing. The right-hand image might be the most interesting, though it contains the least obvious difference from one year to the next: he's swinging over the ball (be it very slightly, leading to contact but downward launch angles, or extremely, leading to whiffs) even when he's otherwise lined things up. This is why Yelich is whiffing on roughly half the breaking balls he sees this year. It's why he's hitting worse against those pitches than he has since he was a pup in Miami: You could chalk this problem up to Yelich sitting on fastballs, but you'd be wrong. For one thing, he hasn't gotten any extra juice out of his swings against fastballs, really. More importantly, though, look at how well he's hitting offspeed pitches. We already saw that he's sometimes sitting on breaking stuff, putting him on time for them more often than in the past. He's doing the same thing with changeups, but succeeding much more often. The reason is simple: Yelich has gotten much more grooved, with his swing. This trend began last year, when his contact rate on pitches outside the zone fell to a career-low (except 2020) 44.2%. This season, that figure has plunged all the way to 36.3%, the lowest of his career even if you want to count that husk of a year in the shadow of COVID. He has one swing plane on which he can succeed. He's unable to adapt the way he used to, without presetting his plan to aim higher or lower than usual. Against changeups, that works. Most (though not all) hitters can spot and intuit the way most changeups will drop en route to the plate. Pitchers with a good combination of ride on the fastball and depth on the change can get whiffs from hitters based on the movement, but most of a changeup's effectiveness comes from the speed differential on it. This is also why flatter swings work best, on average, against offspeed stuff. Breaking balls are different. Even a great hitter who's an expert at spotting the telltale dot on a slider and/or is hunting a breaking ball can struggle to adapt to their movement, which can be extreme and vary widely even from pitch to pitch for a given hurler. As a result, you have to be able to bend and adjust your swing while the ball is in flight. That sounds impossible, and if you're thinking about it up there, it is. Through enough reps and their extraordinary talent, though, many hitters learn to do it. At some points in his career, Yelich has been able to do it, too. A lot of that subtle, even subconscious adjustment happens in your lower half, though. A lot of it happens in your spinal column. At this point in his career, on the other side of major back surgery, Yelich simply doesn't have that adaptability. He's gotten stiffer, as virtually everyone does when they enter their mid-30s and as everyone does after they have back surgery. Thus, even when he sits on breaking balls and ends up on time, he can come up completely empty. In fact, he's often doing so. The league's average whiff rate on breaking pitches for which they're on time is 17.5%. Yelich's mark has hovered just above that all along (as far back as 2023, when bat-tracking data went live), but this year, it's gone through the ceiling. Last year, he whiffed on 22.9% of on-time swings against breaking balls, swinging over the ball 21% of the time and missing by 3.9 inches, on average. This year, he's whiffing on 39.5% of those on-time swings, swinging over it 37% of the time and missing by 4.8 inches. Here's what that often looks like. R0JyenJfWGw0TUFRPT1fQkFaWVVRRUJVUVFBQVZKVFVnQUhBMVVIQUZsV0J3VUFWRmNGQVZBQkJGQUdCd0FE.mp4 "Ok," you might say, "but that's just a bad swing decision. He was sitting on a fastball that time, and chased a pitch down and out of the zone." That's true, to some extent. We'll even ignore the fact that he might be making more of those poor decisions because, as he ages, he's losing bat speed and needs to decide earlier about each pitch. But plenty of his breaking ball whiffs also look like this. TkFOWE9fWGw0TUFRPT1fQVFVQ0JsMVhVZ01BWFFZTFVBQUhWQVJYQUFOV0JsWUFDMUFFVmxZTlYxQmNWUVpT (1).mp4 Or like this: b0d3OWxfWGw0TUFRPT1fVWdSWEIxUlNCMVFBWEZWUlh3QUhCZ1JlQUFBRkJnTUFBbEVGQndGWFZBY0JCZ1JV (1).mp4 Both of those are cases of pitches nipping the corners of the zone, forcing Yelich to swing. He was on time for them, which tells us he was ready to attack them. Still, he swung right over them. Lots of other left-handed batters—and, importantly, past versions of Yelich, too—would have at least fouled off one of these, and perhaps crushed them. Yelich wasn't even especially close to them, given how tight the movement on each was. Is this problem fixable? Maybe, and partially. Yelich isn't going to get younger, and it's unlikely that his health baseline will improve much from here. He might eventually need to change his approach a bit and stop chasing certain pitches. That spot down and in might now be a hole in his swing, if a pitcher executes it well. However, Yelich can also put in work to adjust and improve in this regard. Targeted cage and Trajekt machine work can make it easier for him to recognize and lay off pitches that are breaking out of his hitting zone. He can also change the way he presets his swing path a bit, based on situation and opponent. The erosion of his quality of contact and his plate discipline can be stopped, if not reversed. He can continue to outperform his expected stats, because he's strong and uses the whole field and knows how to outguess opposing pitchers at times. It's not fun to ponder the underlying red flags around Yelich. It's not good that there's a persistent and significant problem causing his problems. However, it's fun to have new insight on the nature of that issue, and since we can be sure the Brewers know everything we do (and then some), it's somewhat comforting. In all likelihood, this is already a project on Daniel Vogelbach's to-do list, and a part of Yelich's routine. View the full article

There's a growing buzz throughout the Twins sphere that Kaelen Culpepper's arrival in the majors is imminent. A promotion would certainly be warranted — the 23-year-old has been on fire in Triple-A, slashing .391/.481/.696 here in June after posting a .947 OPS in May. He's homered five times in his past 14 games while showing improved plate discipline and playing shortstop almost everyday. It's fair to say he looks ready. But Culpepper's success in St. Paul is only one factor driving the sense of urgency to get him up to the big-league club. The other side of it is that Minnesota's infield has been horrible, offensively and defensively. Most troubling: this state of affairs can primarily be tied back to a set of players who not long ago were in the same position as Culpepper: former high draft picks turned top prospects who were being counted on as key parts of the solution for the Twins infield. Brooks Lee's OPS has hovered around mediocrity, which is a relatively good outcome in light of his ugly underlying metrics. His fielding has graded out very poorly, albeit better at third than short, and as a result he's been a borderline replacement-level player. That still puts him ahead of Royce Lewis, who's checking in at a .554 OPS and negative-0.2 fWAR after returning from a brief banishment to the minors. Lee has also outperformed Luke Keaschall, who's been getting on base at a solid rate recently but is slugging .324. Not good enough for a bottom-tier defender at second base. Twins fans are constantly being reminded that the path from top prospect to impact major-leaguer is non-linear if not a dead end. The two biggest talents in the Twins' system aside from Culpepper, Walker Jenkins and Emmanuel Rodriguez, are both injured (again), which only reinforces that sense of wariness. Nothing is promised. In fact, around here, it almost feels like what's promised is disappointment. Still, hope springs eternal, and when you see a touted talent like Culpepper tearing it up at the closest level to the majors, you can't help but shake off past experiences and feel excited. He looks like a good one. The Twins need him to be, and fast. It's not so much about salvaging this season, which feels like a moot point. It's more so about rejuvenating any sense of optimism and confidence within the fanbase. This year has already been a morale beatdown: modest winning stretches followed by deep funks, myriad injuries to the pitching staff, and — as mentioned — the so-called "post-hype prospects" meant to propel a turnaround have flopped almost without exception. Fans need a beacon for a better future they can grasp onto. There's little on the current roster to provide it, and there's little else on the way in the near term. Fair or not, Culpepper carries a heavy weight. Here's hoping he's up to the task. History says he'll let us down. But history is only that. View the full article

It's not fair, really. In baseball, they usually just ask you to hit the ball hard, and Nico Hoerner is doing that—doing it, anyway, as much as can be expected from a player whose game really isn't centered on power. He's the best hitter in baseball at hitting the ball in the middle of his bat, according to new data out this week from Statcast. Your eyes haven't been lying to you; he has a feel for squaring the ball up that no one can top. Unfortunately, because of Hoerner's below- average bat speed, that's not good enough. In fact, it's part of his problem right now. After a hot April, he got really locked in during May, getting on time with his swing more consistently. Instead of improving, though, his numbers got much, much worse. At the end of April, he was batting .291/.370/.449, with eight doubles and four homers. Since the start of May, he's at .206/.292/.250. In 154 plate appearances over the last six weeks, he's managed six doubles and no homers. He's making great swing decisions (at least in a vacuum), leading to 17 walks and just six punchouts in that long span. He's squaring the ball up, at least vertically. What, then, is wrong? The answer lies here. The differences here look tiny, and in a way, they are. After all, Hoerner is making contact at an elite rate, and he's hitting the ball harder lately than he did early in the year. I've isolated the pitches on which he got the barrel lined up with the ball, vertically, so we're throwing out the swings on which he was too high or too low by enough to produce a whiff on that basis. We shouldn't expect to see some glaring difference. This is one of those times when a great hitter and a maddeningly unproductive one are separated by mere millimeters, or milliseconds. It just happens to be the same hitter, this time. Early in the season, Hoerner was, on average, a bit more likely to swing slightly too early when he also caught the ball correctly in a vertical dimension, and to get the ball significantly out on the end of his bat. He was, on average, hitting very slightly higher on the bat (or lower on the ball) than he has since the calendar turned to May. This level of granularity is a great way to show this, because the differences between good and bad for him are so small, but it's not quite necessary, either. Now that we know what happens when he has the ball squared up vertically and should be producing line drives, we can look at where batted balls hit well (88+ MPH, for these purposes) and in a good launch-angle range (8-32°, which Statcast labels the launch angle sweet spot) went for Hoerner through the end of April: And where they've gone since the start of May: All of the balls Hoerner hit out of the park early in the year (and a handful of hard, line-drive singles to left field, too) are gone. In their place lie more frustrating flyouts to center field. Many of these are not only well-struck, but relatively low liners. They're just right at the center fielder. b0d3OWxfWGw0TUFRPT1fVWdSUUJWVldCUWNBVzFZR0F3QUhBQUVFQUFNTUJnTUFCbFVCQTFBQUNBRUJBd1JX.mp4 Hoerner is on time for most of these balls; that's why they're hit hard to center field. He's getting some of them just off the handle or the end of the bat, but the main problem is directional. For Hoerner to produce value with his caliber of power, those hard-hit air balls have to go to the gaps, or down the line. They can't go out to center. He will never have the juice to find grass or clear fences out there, against modern defenses. Being so on time is, in a sense, a curse for Hoerner right now. He has to find a way to be early more often, again. He also has to get the sweet spot on the bat, horizontally, better than he's done lately. The key to that, as it turns out, is probably swing decisions. He'll simply have to learn to let pitchers work the outer edge against him a bit more, and then attack when they try to come back inside at all. Through the end of April, he was living on balls in the heart of the zone: But hurlers have adjusted, slowly asking him to chase pitches on the outer third, where he's more likely to hit that impressive but harmless liner to center. He's obliging. Most of the pitches he's swinging at are still strikes, but he has to have a bit more faith in his contact skills. He has to be willing to wait and work for the pitch with more of the plate, so he can get around it and put the sweet spot of the bat on it. He has to get the bat head out there a little bit more, risk a few more whiffs—those, he can afford more than most hitters—and rediscover the pull field. We could (and did) spot this issue without the new data Statcast offers. Seeing just how fine the margins are and how good he still is at timing pitchers up and hitting it squarely is a beneficial insight, though. Hoerner might need to be even more patient for a bit, and get into a right-field mindset once there are two strikes, so he can drive the ball the other way. He certainly needs to get back to living a little ahead of many pitches, where he can be early in a good way and hammer the ball to left. Until that happens, his slump will continue. Because he's such a gifted hitter (and because we can see just how tiny the adjustments necessary really are), though, you can feel fairly confident that a rebound is coming. View the full article

There is roughly a month remaining before the 2026 MLB Draft, and most of the top amateur prospects have already wrapped up their seasons. With the on-field evaluations largely complete, front offices are entering the most challenging phase of the process. At this point, the draft becomes less about collecting new information and more about determining organizational preferences. Teams must weigh talent against signability, bonus pool strategy, and long-term upside. It is a complicated balancing act, especially near the top of the draft, where every decision can reshape a farm system. In his latest mock draft, Keith Law presented a scenario that would likely have Twins fans sprinting to the podium if it became reality. Law projects the White Sox to select catcher Vahn Lackey with the first overall pick. Lackey's stock has steadily climbed throughout the spring, and he has become one of the hottest names in the draft class. His combination of offensive production and defensive value behind the plate has made him a favorite among evaluators. The connection to Minnesota is notable because there has been industry speculation that the Twins have spent considerable time evaluating Lackey as a potential third-overall pick. The bigger surprise in Law's mock comes with the second selection. He has the Rays taking Tyler Bell, a player Tampa Bay originally drafted out of high school before he chose the college route. Bell is a talented prospect, but most public draft boards have not consistently placed him among the top three players available. The selection would likely indicate that Tampa Bay is prioritizing bonus pool flexibility, potentially saving money at the top of the draft in order to be aggressive later on. If that sequence unfolds, Minnesota would be left with an opportunity that currently feels almost too good to be true. Law has the Twins selecting Roch Cholowsky with the third overall pick. For much of the draft cycle, Cholowsky has been viewed by many evaluators as the favorite to go first overall. He is widely regarded as one of the most complete players in the class, combining a polished offensive profile with the defensive ability to remain at shortstop. Depending on who you ask, he is either the best college shortstop available or the best overall player in the entire draft. That is why this mock stands out. Most projections have Cholowsky off the board before Minnesota is on the clock. If he somehow reaches the third pick, it would be difficult to imagine the Twins passing on the opportunity. Talent tends to win out at the top of the draft, and Cholowsky's combination of floor and upside would make him an ideal addition to the organization's long-term plans. Of course, Minnesota would still have attractive alternatives available if the board unfolds differently. Texas prep standout Grady Emerson remains one of the most exciting hitters in the class and has generated significant buzz throughout the scouting community. Meanwhile, Jackson Flora has emerged as the top college pitching prospect available and could provide the Twins with another premium talent to consider. Both players would represent strong selections at No. 3 overall. Still, if Cholowsky is sitting there when Minnesota is on the clock, the decision could be one of the easiest the organization has made in years. The reality is that mock drafts remain educated guesses, and there is still plenty of time for opinions to change before draft day arrives. Teams continue gathering medical information, conducting final meetings, and refining bonus strategies. One unexpected selection can completely alter the board. That uncertainty is what makes the MLB Draft so fascinating. Today, Law's projection gives the Twins a dream scenario. Whether that scenario survives the next month of rumors, negotiations, and last-minute adjustments remains to be seen. View the full article

The Kansas City Royals will be without their starting center fielder for a bit. Kyle Isbel was placed on the 10-day injured list Wednesday by the Royals due to a left plantar fasciitis. Outfielder Kameron Misner was called up from Triple-A Omaha to take his place. Lane Thomas was in the starting lineup as the center fielder for Wednesday's game against the Texas Rangers. Isbel was hurt after singling in the seventh inning of Tuesday's game and making a turn as if he was going to go for a double, but changed his mind and dove back into first base. He was removed from the game, with Tyler Tolbert pinch-running. Isbel has a slash line of .244/.298/.354 with three homers, 11 RBIs and five stolen bases in 56 games. Misner was acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays after being designated for assignment in November for a player to be named, which wound up being minor-league right-handed reliever Matthew Hoskins. This will be his Royals debut after appearing in 79 games with the Rays over the last two seasons with a .203/.260/.325 slash line with five homers and 22 RBIs. At Triple-A this year, Misner was slashing .276/.373/.547 with 13 homers, 51 RBIs and 11 steals in 59 games. View the full article

MIAMI, FL—Following Tuesday's Miami Marlins win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, catcher Joe Mack sent a message to the entire league: "I want them to steal. I'm hoping that they steal. I'm like, 'Please run.' It's my favorite part of my game and I know my ability to throw people out and get a guy off scoring position." Throughout the 2025 season and continuing through the first month or so of 2026, the Marlins struggled mightily against opposing base-stealers. Mack's call-up immediately flipped that weakness into a strength. The rookie has thrown out 10 runners on 26 attempts, ranking in the 90th percentile of MLB catchers in caught stealing above average, per Baseball Savant. His combination of pop time (1.89 seconds) and accuracy is elite despite his limited experience. Mack claimed another victim on Tuesday against the Diamondbacks when he threw out Geraldo Perdomo in the top of the second inning. On a night when Marlins starter Max Meyer allowed more traffic on the bases than usual, that extra out helped him work into the sixth inning. "It takes a little bit more pressure off the pitcher, and they can pitch a little bit more loosely," Mack told Fish On First. Amongst the runners that Mack has thrown out include Chandler Simpson (96th percentile sprint speed), Nasim Nuñez (97th percentile sprint speed) and Jacob Young (95th percentile sprint speed). Manager Clayton McCullough has leaned heavily on Mack—prior to Wednesday's day off, he had caught seven consecutive complete games. The Marlins won six of those seven, allowing only 3.3 runs per game during that span. "Someone like Joe has the ability to make up for some pitchers that are a little slower...He's thrown out some real runners and come up with some big throws, so I think that part has really helped out on the run prevention side of things." Defense really became a priority for Mack in 2024. Former Marlins catching coordinator Chris Briones, who was with the organization from December 2018 until January 2026, was a big influence on him. "He just had a lot of good things for me to hear," Mack said. "Just really connected with me very well. He would always joke with me, make me feel comfortable and make me feel out of my comfort zone as well. It was just a great experience then, and I take a lot of pride in that." Mack has been Meyer's battery mate in each of his last six starts. "Everyone sees it: he's got a cannon," Meyer said. "Just having him back there is awesome. He's got his feet wet now and he's been challenging well, too. He knows the game. He's able to those runners, so it's awesome having a guy back there that can do that and takes off a lot of pressure to the pitchers too in innings where you know that if they steal, there is a very good chance that they are going to get hosed, so just makes you execute a bit better." Fish On First (@fishonfirst) • Instagram photos and videos WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM 2,660 likes, 22 comments - fishonfirst on June 9, 2026: "JOE MACK IS UNREAL BEHIND THE PLATE 😳🔥 Joe Mack has already thrown out 10 runners this season, and his confidence is... Mack has brought a loose and fun personality to the Marlins clubhouse that his teammates appreciate, in particular starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara. Alcantara has called Mack a Gold Glove-caliber catcher and continuously praised him." "Just hearing that from him, especially a Cy Young Award winner and great pitcher through and through, is awesome," Mack said. "Bunch of these guys are also awesome pitchers. I'm just here to help them be their best selves, and if I can do that by catching the ball, blocking the ball, throwing guys out for them, then that's awesome. If I can also do that, helping them by talking with them, making them laugh or making them lock it in a little bit more, whatever it may be, then great." As a bonus, Mack has settled in as a hitter as well following a very slow start in that department. So far in the month of June, he is slashing .391/.417/.565/.982 with one home run and seven RBI. His overall wRC+ is 75. "I think it's lowering my hands a little bit to be more consistent and more short with my load," Mack said. "I think that's something that helps me be more consistent throughout and also just maintaining the backside and opposite part of the field is a big part of my game. When I'm going hot over there, pull-side stuff will happen." Thanks to his defense, Mack is already making a positive impact for the Marlins. If he continues to trend in this direction offensively and hit like an average catcher—MLB average for the position is a 88 wRC+—it would make it clear that the franchise has found its long-term solution behind the plate. View the full article

The Twins received discouraging news this week when right-hander Cole Sands was pulled off his rehab assignment after experiencing continued issues with his strained right forearm. Sands made his first rehab appearance with Triple-A St. Paul on Tuesday, and the outing appeared to be a positive first step toward rejoining Minnesota's bullpen. In one inning, he didn’t allow any hits and struck out one batter on 13 pitches. He had two swinging strikes and three strikes looking. However, his arm did not recover quickly enough afterward to allow him to continue pitching. As a result, the Twins have shut down the rehab assignment and will give him additional time to rest and receive treatment before restarting a throwing program. At this point, there is no clear timeline for when Sands could return to the major league roster. Under league rules, the Twins must wait at least a week before he can begin another rehab assignment. Even then, the organization will likely proceed cautiously given the nature of the injury. While Sands' traditional numbers do not jump off the page, his absence has been felt. The right-hander owns a 4.63 ERA across 11 2/3 innings this season, but the underlying metrics suggest he was performing better than the results indicated. He maintained a strong strikeout rate and carried a 3.65 SIERA, pointing toward a pitcher whose effectiveness was better than his ERA suggested. Looking back, there may have been warning signs before Sands landed on the injured list. His final appearance came against Seattle on April 28 when he surrendered two runs in an outing that lacked the crispness typically seen from him. The quality of his stuff appeared diminished, and the radar gun provided additional evidence that something was wrong. Velocity declines are often one of the first indicators of a physical issue. After averaging roughly 95 mph on his fastball during the 2025 season, Sands sat closer to 93.1 mph this year before being sidelined. When forearm discomfort accompanies a noticeable drop in velocity, teams naturally become cautious. That reality makes every step forward in his recovery process meaningful, even if those steps are currently smaller than the Twins had hoped. Sands entered the season expected to be a significant contributor in Minnesota's late-inning mix. Few relievers on the roster possess his combination of experience and ability to handle leverage situations. Although his early-season results were inconsistent, the Twins viewed him as an important piece of a bullpen that has spent much of the year searching for consistency. Minnesota's relief corps has been in near-constant flux throughout the season as injuries and performance fluctuations have forced the club to shuffle roles. The Twins have received strong contributions from several relievers like Yoendrys Gomez and Anthony Banda, but the group still lacks the stability that teams need over the course of 162-games. Getting Sands healthy remains one of the organization's priorities because his return would provide another trusted arm capable of handling meaningful innings. Until then, the Twins will continue looking for answers while hoping one of their most important bullpen reinforcements can eventually make his way back to Target Field. View the full article

Mad Max is back with the Toronto Blue Jays. Right-hander Max Scherzer was activated from the 15-day injured list Wednesday and will start the series finale against the Toronto Blue Jays. Right-handed reliever Connor Seabold was designated for assignment. Scherzer, a three-time Cy Young Award winner and two-time World Series champion, has been on the Il since April 27 with tendinitis in his right forearm and inflammation in his left ankle. The tendinitis has been the trickier of the two ailments for the 41-year-old. He had struggled to an 8.35 FIP (9.64 ERA) in five starts in which he lasted just 18⅔ innings, posting an abnormally worse walk rate (9.5%) and strikeout rate (11.9%). His career numbers are 6.5% and 29%, while he had rates of 6.4% and 22.9% last season, his first with the Jays. Scherzer made two rehab appearances and went 6⅔ innings, walking three and striking out nine while giving up three runs for a 4.05 ERA. Scherzer is the second starter the Jays have gotten back in the last two days after Dylan Cease returned from injury Tuesday. Seabold was in his second stint with the Jays. He signed a minor-league contract in the offseason, but was released late in spring training. He latched on with the Detroit Tigers, where he made the Opening Day roster and had 11 appearances out of the bullpen, with a 4.12 FIP (3.45 ERA) before being DFA's May 24. The Jays, in need of pitching due to a slew of injuries, traded for Seabold. He pitched in five games with a 4.30 FIP (8.10 ERA) in just 3⅓ innings. View the full article

Before the season, my Jays Centre colleague Jesse Burrill asked all the writers here to make a bold prediction for 2026. At the time, I was very pleased with what I came up with: Two Blue Jays will make their first All-Star Game this summer. I knew it was statistically improbable, but I genuinely thought it was going to come true. That's the perfect bold prediction. Well, in theory. In practice, it's starting to look like my "perfect bold prediction" may not have been bold enough. Dylan Cease was my ace in the hole, and I acknowledged as much. Other names that made me confident in my prediction were Daulton Varsho, Kazuma Okamoto, Cody Ponce, and Louis Varland. With just over a month to go until the All-Star Game, Cease and Varland are strong contenders to earn a spot on the AL squad. But there's a third Blue Jay with a serious All-Star case, and it's one I didn't even consider before the season. Heck, it's one I didn't even consider when voting opened last week. It's Ernie Clement. (Pictured below: Me showing my emphatic support for Ern Dog.) Image courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr. – Imagn Images via Reuters Connect Thanks to a red-hot stretch over the last three weeks, Clement ranks fifth in the AL with a .304 batting average. His 79 hits lead the American League (Jesse will have more to say on that topic tomorrow). The rest of his numbers don't jump off the page, but the competition at his position is so nonexistent that Toronto's second baseman really might be the strongest choice. Clement has 1.4 fWAR and bWAR through 67 games. That's well above average, although it isn't a number that screams 'All-Star' – and certainly not 'All-Star Starter.' Before injury replacements get the call, 20 position players will be named to the AL All-Star team. Clement doesn't even rank among the top 30 by either version of WAR. The thing is, there has to be a starting second baseman. There has to be a reserve second baseman, too, and they both actually have to play second base. Shortstops Kevin McGonigle and Colson Montgomery are more deserving All-Stars than Clement, and I'm sure either one of them could handle the keystone just fine, but that isn't how it works. One of the 15 second basemen on the ballot will get the starting nod, and another will be the backup. Of those 15, I don't see a better choice than Ernie. As you could have guessed, Clement leads AL second basemen in hits and batting average. He doesn't lead in any other major categories, but his .789 OPS and 119 wRC+ both rank second, behind Ezequiel Duran's .802 and 124 marks. Clement also has a 62 PA lead over Duran, which means he has provided more overall value at the plate. His 37 weighted runs created (the counting stat version of wRC+) lead the field. Strangely poor defensive numbers (-1 DRS, -1 FRV) are dragging down Clement's WAR totals, but I don't care about defensive metrics as much at this point in the season, especially when we all know how valuable Ernie can be in the field. I refuse to accept that Duran is a better fielder, even if the metrics give him the edge. [Related: Toronto Blue Jays Defensive Plays of the Month - May 2026] Let me be clear: I'm not saying Clement is far and away the best choice. What I'm saying is that no one else is obviously more deserving, at least right now. A vote for Ernie Clement wouldn't just be Blue Jays homerism; it would be a perfectly justifiable choice. Some fans will argue that star power should matter when it comes to All-Star voting. They might use that argument to justify a vote for star rookie Travis Bazzana or a multi-time All-Star like Gleyber Torres or Jazz Chisholm Jr. These fans would tell you the All-Star Game is about having a good time, and it's more fun when the biggest names are on the field. Personally, I'd respond that baseball is always more fun when Ernie Clement is on the field. Yes, I'm aware that I'm sliding into homerism territory now, but if fans outside of Toronto don't know the joy of watching Clement, it's only because they haven't watched him enough. Electing him to the All-Star Game could help change that. At the risk of sounding like a sponsored post for Major League Baseball, here is the link to the 2026 MLB All-Star ballot. Here it is again. (Remember, you can vote five times a day!) I don't believe in just voting for all the players on my favourite team, but I do believe in doing everything I can to support the ones who deserve it. So, here's that link one more time. If you're so inclined, please join me in voting, and let's get Ernie Clement to the All-Star Game. I couldn't be more excited for my bold prediction to be proven wrong. View the full article

Chicago Cubs Minor League Report - June 10 Affiliate Overview Triple-A Iowa Cubs Series at Louisville Bats (Cincinnati Reds): Cubs lead, 1-0 Season Record: 26–36 Double-A Knoxville Smokies Series at Montgomery Biscuits (Tampa Bay Rays): Biscuits lead, 1-0 Season Record: 30–27 High-A South Bend Cubs Series vs. Peoria Chiefs (St. Louis Cardinals): Cubs lead, 1-0 Season Record: 35–19 Single-A Myrtle Beach Pelicans Series vs. Augusta GreenJackets (Atlanta Braves): GreenJackets lead, 1-0 Season Record: 21–35 Affiliate Highlights Triple-A: Iowa Cubs Season Record: 26–36 Series Opponent: Louisville Bats (33–30) Series Standing: Lead, 1-0 June 9: The Iowa Cubs opened their series at the Louisville Bats with a 10-2 win on Tuesday at Louisville Slugger Field. The Cubs jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first thanks to an RBI-double from Owen Miller (2-for-5) and a two-run shot from BJ Murray (2-for-5). Iowa pushed its lead to 7-0 with a four-spot in the fourth. Christian Bethancourt (1-for-5) launched a three-run homer and Miller picked up his second RBI of the ballgame with a single. James Triantos slugged the I-Cubs’ third home run of the game, a two-run blast in the fifth, to make it 9-0. The Bats finally stopped the scoring run with two runs in the sixth but Iowa got one of those runs back in the seventh thanks to a solo shot from Jonathan Long (1-for-4). Iowa would hold Louisville scoreless over the final three frames to cruise to the 10-2 victory. Doug Nikhazy got the start for the Cubs but did not factor into the decision. Nikhazy worked four scoreless innings, allowing just two hits to go along with two walks and two strikeouts. Christian Roa picked up his first win of the season thanks to 1 1/3 shutout innings, allowing one hit and whiffing two. Double-A: Knoxville Smokies Season Record: 30–27 Series Opponent: Montgomery Biscuits (31–25) Series Standing: Trail, 1-0 June 9: The Knoxville Smokies dropped their series opener to the Montgomery Biscuits, 6-5, on Tuesday at DABOS Park. The Biscuits took a 4-0 lead in the third but the Smokies were able to halve the deficit with runs in the fourth and fifth. Owen Ayers (2-for-4) launched a solo shot, his 10th of the season, and Hayden Cantrelle (0-for-1) would bring home a run on a sacrifice fly. Carter Trice’s (2-for-4) two-run blast in the sixth tied the game at 4-4 and Ariel Armas’ (2-for-4) RBI-single in the seventh gave Knoxville the lead. The advantage would be short lived as Montgomery instantly scored twice after the stretch to take a 6-5 lead. The Smokies would leave the tying run on second in the eighth and go down in order in the ninth to end the ballgame. Grant Kipp got the start for Knoxville and took no decision. Kipp allowed four runs on five hits over four innings of work, whiffing four batters and walking one. Tony Santana turned in two scoreless frames out of the bullpen, allowing just one hit while striking out two. High-A: South Bend Cubs Season Record: 35–19 Series Opponent: Peoria Chiefs (30–28) Series Standing: Lead, 1-0 June 9: The South Bend Cubs continued their winning ways with a 6-3 victory in their series opener vs. the Peoria Chiefs at Four Winds Field. The Cubs took a 4-0 lead in the second thanks to a pair of home runs, first a solo blast from Cole Mathis (1-for-4) and then a three-run shot from Kane Kepley (2-for-2). The Chiefs made it 4-2 with a pair of runs in the fourth but South Bend was able to restore their four-run advantage in the seventh with two runs, thanks to RBI-singles from Matt Halbach (1-for-5) and Leonel Espinoza (1-for-4). Peoria would score once more in the ninth but Alfredo Romero would still go on to earn his fourth save of the season, thanks to three innings of one-run ball, to give the Cubs their 19th win in their last 24 contests. Nazier Mulé got the start for South Bend but took no decision. Mulé allowed two runs on four hits over 4 1/3 innings of work, striking out six with just one walk issued. Jackson Brockett picked up the win in relief to improve to 4-1 on the season. Brockett tossed 1 2/3 scoreless frames, allowing just one hit while punching out three. Single-A: Myrtle Beach Pelicans Season Record: 21–35 Series Opponent: Augusta GreenJackets (31–27) Series Standing: Trail, 1-0 June 9: The Myrtle Beach Pelicans dropped their eighth-straight contest as they fell in their series opener to the Augusta GreenJackets, 5-2. Augusta opened the scoring with a run in the fourth and it would take until the seventh for the Pelicans to get on the board. Geuri Lubo (1-for-4) launched a solo-shot to tie the game, his third of the year, and Eli Lovich (1-for-3) gave Myrtle Beach the lead with a sacrifice fly in the eighth. Augusta, however, would score four times in the top of the ninth to hand the home team the loss. David Bracho started on the mound for the Pelicans but did not factor into the decision. Bracho tossed four innings on one-run ball, allowing just two hits to go along with six strikeouts and a walk. Daniel Avitia turned in four scoreless frames in relief, allowing five hits while whiffing seven batters and walking two. View the full article

The New York Mets continue to churn the back end of the bullpen. Right-handed reliever Jonathan Pintaro was called up Wednesday from Triple-A Syracuse by the Mets, with right-handed reliever Joey Gerber was sent down to Triple-A. Gerber pitched two innings in Tuesday's 7-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, giving up a run on three hits with a strikeout. It was his second appearance after being called up June 3 and third of the season after an early-April promotion. Pintaro is up for the second time after making two appearances in late May. In 3⅔ innings, he didn't allow a run or a hit with one walk and three strikeouts. In 19 games and 31⅓ innings at Triple-A this year, Pintaro has a 10.6% walk rate and 30.9% strikeout rate. View the full article

As the MLB trade deadline approaches, much of the conversation surrounding the Twins centers on the biggest names on the roster. If Minnesota decides to sell, teams will undoubtedly call about Joe Ryan. Ryan Jeffers could draw interest from clubs looking for help behind the plate, and Byron Buxton's name will continue to generate speculation, even if a deal remains unlikely. However, trade deadlines are often shaped by more than just blockbuster moves. Contending teams are constantly searching for complementary pieces that can improve a roster's depth, strengthen a bullpen, or provide matchup advantages down the stretch. Those players rarely generate headlines, but they can still become valuable trade chips. If the Twins find themselves moving pieces at the deadline, these four under-the-radar players could emerge as realistic trade candidates. UTIL Kody Clemens Few waiver claims (or, as is technically the case, cash deals in lieu of letting a DFA'd player hit waivers) have worked out as well for Minnesota as Clemens. Since joining the organization last season, Clemens has carved out an important role as a versatile bench player capable of contributing on both sides of the ball. In 112 games with the Twins last year, he posted a 96 OPS+ while accumulating 1.2 rWAR. This season, he has taken another step forward with a 118 OPS+ and 0.9 rWAR through 55 games. His value extends beyond the batter's box. Clemens has provided strong defense at first base and has produced some of the best Defensive Runs Saved totals among players at the position. Add in his ability to move around the diamond, and he becomes an attractive option for a contender seeking a left-handed bat with defensive flexibility. The return would likely be modest, but utility players who can fill multiple roles often become valuable deadline additions for playoff contenders. Clemens also has great makeup, which would give an acquiring team extra incentive to target him as a role player on a could-be champion. LHP Taylor Rogers Rogers returned to Minnesota hoping to finish his career where it started, but there is a scenario where he ends the season elsewhere. The veteran left-hander may be in the final season of his career, and contenders are always searching for experienced bullpen help in July. While Rogers has not completely stabilized Minnesota's relief corps, some underlying numbers suggest he has pitched better than his traditional statistics indicate. His 4.97 ERA stands in sharp contrast to a much stronger 3.58 FIP. He has also been more effective against left-handed hitters, holding them to a .684 OPS compared to an .967 OPS allowed against right-handed batters. A team looking for a veteran left-handed specialist or matchup reliever could view Rogers as a worthwhile addition. His postseason experience and long track record may hold more value to a contender than they do to a Twins club focused on the future, though he'd fetch even less in a deal than Clemens. OF Trevor Larnach Larnach spent much of the offseason surrounded by trade speculation. Minnesota reportedly explored moving him during the winter, but ultimately, they held onto the former first-round pick. Instead of seeing his value decline, Larnach has reestablished himself as a productive major-league regular. Through his first 55 games, he owns a 110 OPS+ and 0.6 rWAR. He continues to thrive against right-handed pitching, posting an .801 OPS in those matchups. His struggles against left-handed pitchers remain evident, however, as he has managed just a .427 OPS against southpaws. That profile may actually increase his appeal to contenders. Many playoff teams look for platoon bats capable of maximizing favorable matchups. Larnach's left-handed power and success against righties could make him a valuable piece for a club seeking additional offense from a corner outfield spot or designated hitter role, and at this point, he can't reasonably expect to play every day. That experiment has failed. RHP Yoendrys Gómez Few players have boosted their stock more dramatically over the last couple of months than Gómez. The Twins acquired Gómez from the Rays for cash considerations earlier this season, and the move has quickly paid dividends. Since arriving in Minnesota, he has posted a 0.64 ERA, 2.24 FIP, and 0.86 WHIP while striking out 18 batters and walking only six in 14 innings. Minnesota has utilized a closer-by-committee approach throughout the season, but Gómez became the first Twins reliever to reach three saves. His combination of swing-and-miss stuff and affordable team control could make him attractive to organizations looking for bullpen help. The timing will be important. If Gómez continues pitching at this level throughout June and into July, Minnesota could find itself in a position to sell high on a reliever they acquired for virtually nothing. Even a modest prospect return would represent a strong piece of business for the front office. Trade deadline discussions often focus on stars and headline-grabbing names, but roster depth can be just as valuable for teams chasing a postseason berth. Clemens, Rogers, Larnach, and Gómez each bring a specific skill set that could appeal to contenders looking for affordable upgrades. Whether the Twins ultimately move any of these players remains to be seen. Much will depend on where Minnesota sits in the standings as the deadline approaches. Still, these are the types of players who frequently change uniforms in July and quietly help shape the playoff race. Will the Twins trade any of the players mentioned above? What kind of trade value exists for these lower-tier players? Leave a comment and start the discussion. View the full article