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Alex and Maddie are joined by FanGraphs writer and former Talk Sox editor Davy Andrews to talk about the Red Sox. They discuss the impending lockout and the weird string of injuries among Red Sox players (with Garrett Whitlock being the new addition). Davy shares his outlook on the team and his thoughts on the NL Championship Series. Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-talk-sox-podcast/id1783204104 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3qPrPXEngu0CxgTmlf0ynm Listen on iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-the-talk-sox-podcast-244591331/ Listen on Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/4tmd121v Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@talksox View the full article

Logan Henderson has one of the best straight changeups in baseball. Yoshinobu Yamamoto has one of the best splitters. In Game 2 of the NLCS on Monday afternoon, the two will square off, and the balance of the series will tip toward whichever club figures out the other's offspeed marvel better. The tasks the two lineups face, however, are not as similar as that might make it sound. As we've discussed before, Henderson has a unique ability to match the arm speed and release point of his fastball when he throws his changeup. Opponents had a .248 weighted on-base average (wOBA) and whiffed on 37% of their swings against that offering this year, and it emanates from his ability to induce swings timed for the fastball on pitches that aren't. The changeup doesn't move exactly like his four-seamer, of course—not by a long shot—but most good changeups have more relative movement off the fastballs they complement than Henderson's does. He stumps hitters with timing, pure and simple. With Yamamoto, it's not so. Deception is important to the operation of any offspeed pitch, but it takes a different form for Yamamoto. His splitter is only about 4.5 miles per hour slower than his four-seamer, so hitters aren't out in front against it nearly as often, or by as much. Instead, almost all the value he generates with his splitter comes from getting hitters to swing over it or tap it straight into the ground. Hitters run out of bat more often against Henderson; they end up so early that they hit the ball off the end of their bat or not at all. Hitters center the ball on their barrels more against Yamamoto's splitter, and can even get jammed by it at times. It's possible to lift the ball when you center up Henderson's change, whereas Yamamoto's splitter will typically result in a ground ball or a low line drive, even if it's met cleanly. On the other hand, Henderson's change induces more whiffs, because it fools hitters so badly in terms of timing. When two right-handed pitchers with four-seamers leading their fastball mix and offspeed pitches that are better than their breaking balls face off, it's tempting to think of it as a matchup of similar styles. That's not the case here. Henderson's changeup and Yamamoto's splitter work very differently. That should make watching them even more interesting, though. As it so often does, in October, who wins will come down to which pitcher executes what they do best better. View the full article

On Monday, the Miami Marlins hired Dillon Lawson as the team's new major league hitting coach. He will fill the role that Pedro Guerrero held in 2025 and 2026. Lawson will report to Marlins director of hitting Joe Migliaccio, who he previously spent time with as members of the New York Yankees organization. In recent years, the Marlins have had a pattern of elevating coaches into higher positions despite a lack of experience, but Lawson has actually been a lead hitting coach before. He held this role with the 2022-23 Yankees. In that first season, the Yankees led MLB with 620 walks, led the American League with 807 runs scored and Aaron Judge set an AL record with 62 home runs. However, their offense took a huge step back in 2023, dropping from third in wRC+ to 19th. Lawson lost his job that July. From there, Lawson became minor league hitting coordinator for the Boston Red Sox in 2024. They named him their big league assistant hitting coach in 2025, a job he held until April of this year when the Red Sox dismissed Alex Cora and most of his staff. The Marlins picked up Lawson as a roving hitting coach on July 1, so this is an internal hire. Overall, Lawson has more than a decade of professional coaching experience dating back to 2016 when he was the Low-A hitting coach for the Houston Astros. Next up for the Marlins will be finding a new head strength & conditioning coach. Daniel Vega's contract was not renewed for the 2027 season. View the full article

The first full week of the Arizona Fall League has come to a conclusion as the eight prospects that the Boston Red Sox sent managed to get their first taste of what the AFL is truly like. A developmental league that takes place across six weeks, some teams send prospects they want to get more work in before the winter while others use it to allow players who missed significant time with injury to regain some of that lost time. For the past couple seasons the Red Sox have leaned towards the latter and for the 2026 AFL season that is no different. Of the eight players chosen this year, all but three missed significant time. The eight players selected this season are as follows: Position Players: Antonio Anderson: .273/.373/.453 with 17 doubles, four triples, nine home runs and 46 RBIs across 85 games in High-A. Mason White: .251/.353/.480 with 18 doubles, four triples, 18 home runs and 55 RBIs across 101 games between High-A and Double-A. Nazzan Zanetello: .254/.365/.500 with eight doubles, one triple, seven home runs and 19 RBIs across 36 games between Rookie Ball and High-A. Pitchers: Harry Blum: 66 innings across 40 games with a 6.41 ERA, 61 walks and 76 strikeouts. 39 of those games were with Low-A and one game with High-A. Madinson Frias: 31 innings across eight games, six starts, with a 6.68 ERA, 19 walks and 23 strikeouts. All eight appearances were with Low-A. Nicholas Judice: 12 1/3 innings across eight games with a 9.49 ERA, 15 walks and 13 strikeouts. All eight games were with Low-A. Trennor O’Donnell: 37 2/3 innings across 15 games, four starts, with a 6.69 ERA, 16 walks and 35 strikeouts. He made three starts with Rookie Ball, made three appearances including one start with Low-A and nine appearances out of the bullpen with High-A. Caden Vire: 14 2/3 innings across 13 games, one start, with a 11.66 ERA, 25 walks and 20 strikeouts. He made one start for Rookie Ball and 12 appearances for Low-A. For the second time in three seasons (last year they were part of the Salt River Rafters), the Red Sox are one of five teams that are making up the Mesa Solar Sox. Alongside the Los Angeles Angels, Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays and Chicago Cubs, these five teams have each sent eight players to take part in this learning experience. Following one week of play, the Solar Sox are sitting fifth in the league with a 2-4-1 record (in the AFL if the score is tied after 10 innings, the game is called as a tie), but it isn’t because of a lack of effort from the members of the Red Sox organization. Now, we’ll break down how each of the eight have fared through the first six games. Antonio Anderson 1B/3B/DH Anderson may have fared the best out of every position player on the Solar Sox through the first six games. Appearing in five of them, Anderson saw time at first base and designated hitter and slashed .368/.500/.737 along with a double, two home runs and seven RBIs. Overall, he sported a 1.237 OPS as he’s been a force atop the Mesa lineup. On Friday afternoon against the Scottsdale Scorpions, Anderson stepped to the plate in the top of the ninth with Mesa trailing 9-6 and the bases loaded. What followed next was a grand slam that flew off his bat at 115 mph and traveled 403 feet. While Mesa would end up losing the game 11-10 on a walk off, Anderson continued his hot hitting into the next game on Saturday afternoon. Entering the bottom of the sixth having gone 0-for-2, Anderson launched his second home run of the AFL roughly 390 feet (there was not Statcast at the field it took place in). The young slugger looks to continue his hot hitting into the second week of the fall season, and the Red Sox should feel optimistic for the slugger’s future after his play down the stretch of the minor league season and now to begin the AFL. Mason White 2B/SS White, who has also appeared in five games, hasn’t gotten off to quite as hot of a start as Anderson. Despite the hits not falling in, though, he has still looked decent at the plate. Hitting just .167/.348/.333, White has one home run and one RBI while also showing an ability to get on base with five walks. The middle infielder hasn’t looked overmatched while playing close to home (White grew up in Tucson and had friends and family to cheer him on during Saturday’s game that took place there). Defensively, he may not have made any flashy plays, but the young infielder has shown a leadership while on the field whether by communicating with teammates where they should be positioned or making the routine plays (because in the AFL, sometimes the routine play is harder to make than it should be). He has appeared at shortstop four times and second base once. Offensively, White has put together decent at-bats despite the lack of numbers to back that up. While he still struggles at time with movement (of his eight strikeouts, six have been from off-speed or breaking pitches), when given a fastball, he’s been able to put it in play with solid contact. Entering the second week, the hope is that his batted balls will start to find their way into hits instead of outs. Nazzan Zanetello 2B/SS/OF/DH It’s been a rough start to Zanetello/'s professional career. After two seasons where he struggled offensively, the middle infielder missed significant time in 2026. Now playing in the AFL with Mesa, Zanetello has appeared in six games where, much like White, he has played much better than his numbers would show. So far, the infielder is slashing .200/.385/.450 with a triple, a home run and two RBIs. He’s also walked six times and stolen two bases. Zanetello has also shown some swing and miss in his game, but that was always expected from him. The promising sign is how he’s been handling the pitching. On Friday afternoon, the young infielder made great contact with a fastball up and in, hitting it 105.1 mph off the bat. The ball was a line drive into the left field corner and should have been a double. However, using his speed and baserunning IQ, he managed to turn it into a triple. Going back to October 4, Zanetello launched a slider 106.9 mph off his bat and deposited it 401 feet into left field to tie the game 3-3. Defensively, he’s appeared at second base three times, in the outfield once, and as the designated hitter twice. Drafted as a shortstop, Zanetello mainly played second base while getting some reps in the outfield while healthy. His time at shortstop may be officially over as the team has drafted multiple middle infielders since he made his debut in 2023. Despite that, the young utility player has yet to make an error through 34 1/3 innings in the field. Harry Blum Blum has appeared in two games so far, pitching a total of 2 1/3 innings and allowing one run on three hits. The control issues that he dealt with in the minor-league season have continued as he’s walked three so far, but he's balanced that out with three strikeouts. His first appearance went very well as he tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings while working around a hit and two walks. His fastball topped out at 96.8 mph and managed to generate six whiffs. His second outing could have gone better. Entering in the ninth inning of a tied game, Blum was tasked with getting the game to extra innings. Instead, he allowed the winning run to reach base with a one-out double before striking out the next batter and allowing a two-out walk to Kevin Bazzell. Then, he allowed the game-winning hit to Kyle West, giving the Salt River Rafters a 4-3 walk off win. In that outing, his fastball peaked at 95.3 mph and he managed to generate four whiffs. Madinson Frias Frias has appeared in just one game so far, tossing two innings and allowing one run on two hits and two walks. He also struck out two batters. Unfortunately, the outing didn’t start off well for him as a wild pitch to his first batter allowed the Scottsdale Scorpions to take a 4-1 lead. The right-hander managed to get his fastball to top out at 96.9 mph and generated two whiffs in the outing. At one point, Frias managed to retire four straight batters before things started to unravel in the fourth inning. He managed to work around a leadoff single by retiring the next two batters, but a two-out walk was followed by an infield single to load the bases and end Frias’ day. Nicholas Judice Like Frias, Judice has appeared in just one game where he tossed 2 1/3 perfect innings while striking out four batters. The outing was a great sign, as he struggled at times with his control in his limited showing during 2026. However, in his lone outing in the AFL so far, Judice tossed 31 pitches with 22 of them being strikes. He topped out at 91.2 mph with his sinker while also getting six whiffs total. Following the outing, Judice left the team temporarily to attend his wedding on October 9 in Louisiana. He should return to the team at some point in the near future. Trennor O’Donnell O’Donnell joins the list of Red Sox pitchers who have made one appearance, having tossed three scoreless innings in his lone outing. In that same outing, he walked one and struck out two. The right-hander tossed 40 pitches with 23 of them going for strikes. He topped out at 92.1 mph and generated three whiffs. Where he seemed to be more impressive was with his secondary offerings, using them well over 50% of the time. Caden Vire Vire is the final member of the Red Sox organization to play in the AFL and is one of the few pitchers to appear in more than one game. Making two appearances, Vire tossed 1 2/3 innings across the first week of the season. He allowed one run on one hit and three walks while striking out one batter. In his first outing, Vire tossed 2/3 of an inning, walking one batter and striking out one. His fastball topped out at 95.8 mph and he generated two whiffs. His second outing was a bit of a mixed bag. Tossing one inning, he allowed one run on one hit and two walks, and the outing could have been worse if not for some defensive help View the full article

Despite a massive Game 1 win Sunday night, the Milwaukee Brewers have no time to celebrate. With Game 2 on deck, the Los Angeles Dodgers will look to even the series before heading home, putting plenty of pressure on Brewers starting pitcher Logan Henderson. The 24-year-old right-hander was sensational throughout the regular season, and that success has carried over into October. Henderson allowed just one run in five innings in Game 2 of the NLDS against the San Diego Padres, helping Milwaukee continue its postseason run. However, Monday’s matchup presents a much different challenge against a Dodgers lineup that can punish even the smallest mistakes. Fortunately for the Brewers, Henderson has already shown he can handle them. This will mark the third time that he's faced Los Angeles this season, and he’s won both of the previous matchups. Now, with the stakes higher than ever, he’ll look to keep that trend going. Henderson’s first showdown with the defending champions came on May 22, in just his fifth major-league start of the season. Despite his limited experience, he looked quite comfortable against (arguably) baseball’s most dangerous lineup. The right-hander tossed five scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and three walks while striking out seven. Los Angeles struggled to make consistent contact, and Henderson kept the Dodgers off balance throughout his outing. He generated 15 whiffs on just 85 pitches, while doing an excellent job of limiting hard contact. For a young pitcher still establishing himself in the big leagues, it was an impressive performance against a lineup loaded with proven hitters. Of course, having success against a team once is one thing. Repeating that performance against the same opponent—particularly one with the talent and offensive depth of the Dodgers—is an entirely different challenge. Henderson passed that test the second time around. Fast-forward about three months to August 16, when the Brewers and Dodgers met again in Los Angeles. Henderson took the mound in the fourth and final game of the series, facing a lineup that had already seen him earlier in the season. The results were just as impressive. Henderson delivered seven innings of one-run ball, surrendering only three hits and one walk while striking out six. He once again generated 15 whiffs, with nine coming on his changeup, and prevented the Dodgers from consistently squaring up his pitches. It was another outstanding performance against a lineup that rarely makes life easy for opposing pitchers. Henderson showed that his first outing against Los Angeles wasn’t a fluke, keeping the Dodgers guessing for seven innings. Now, he’ll attempt to accomplish something even more difficult by shutting them down for a third time. And with a trip to the World Series on the line, the timing couldn’t be much bigger. If Henderson wants to continue his dominance against the Dodgers, the first step is relatively simple: keep leaning on his changeup. The pitch has been his best weapon throughout the season, and his previous matchups with Los Angeles offer plenty of evidence that it can give the Dodgers problems. Henderson threw his changeup 23 times across 85 pitches in his first meeting with the Dodgers. That number increased to 34 of his 93 pitches in the August matchup. There’s little reason to stray from that approach now. The changeup has been an important part of Henderson’s success all year, and he’ll need it to be effective again if he hopes to navigate the Dodgers’ lineup multiple times. However, the pitch mix is only part of the equation. Henderson’s four-seam fastball location will be just as important in determining how successful he can be. As much as the Dodgers have struggled with Henderson, seven of the 12 four-seamers they’ve put in play across their two matchup have left the bat at 95 miles per hour or harder. He’s still managed to deliver a pair of excellent outings, but the underlying contact numbers suggest there could be some trouble if he leaves too many fastballs over the heart of the plate. Fortunately for Henderson, many of those balls were hit on the ground. Still, relying on the Dodgers to keep hitting hard fastballs into the ground isn’t a sustainable strategy. A lineup with that much power can turn a few misplaced pitches into a very different ballgame, especially in October. Taking a 2-0 lead into the series would put the Brewers in an excellent position as they head to Los Angeles. They’d have put the Dodgers on the brink of elimination, needing only two more wins to advance to the World Series. Losing, however, would change the complexion of the series. Instead of putting the Dodgers in a difficult position, Milwaukee would head west tied at one game apiece, effectively turning the matchup into a best-of-five series and handing the Dodgers home-field advantage. Jacob Misiorowski lasted only 4 1/3 innings in Game 1 last night, meaning Milwaukee’s bullpen has already been called upon early in the series. If the Brewers want to maintain their advantage, they need Henderson to provide some length and keep their relievers from being overworked. Quality innings will be just as important as quantity. Milwaukee can’t afford to let the Dodgers build an early lead, but they also need Henderson to work efficiently enough to get deep into the game. The good news is that he’s already shown he can do exactly that against Los Angeles. Of course, postseason baseball brings a different level of pressure, and the Dodgers will have made adjustments. The young right-hander will need to make his own adjustments in response. If he can keep his changeup effective, locate his fastball, and work deep into the game, Milwaukee will have a real opportunity to take a commanding series lead. View the full article

The Minnesota Twins have plenty of reasons to be excited about their farm system, and two of their most promising young players gave fans plenty to discuss throughout the 2026 season. Shortstop Marek Houston and outfielder Walker Jenkins took different paths this year, but both strengthened their cases as important pieces of the organization's future. Houston entered his first professional season with questions about his offensive potential. The Twins selected him in the first round of the 2025 MLB Draft, largely because of his defensive ability at shortstop. His glove was expected to be his calling card, but he quickly demonstrated that he could contribute much more with the bat. Jenkins arrived at the season with a different reputation. The fifth overall pick in the 2023 draft had already established himself as one of baseball's top prospects. His combination of hitting ability, power potential, athleticism, and plate discipline made him a potential cornerstone for Minnesota. The biggest question was whether he could stay healthy long enough to put together a full season. Both players had impressive moments, but their performances created an interesting debate when it came time to name the organization's top prospect of the year. The recognition was split among several groups. Baseball America selected Houston as the Twins' Minor League Player of the Year, and MLB Pipeline also chose Houston as its organizational hitting prospect of the year. The Twins organization and Twins Daily, meanwhile, selected Jenkins for their respective honors. There is no wrong answer here. Houston delivered an impressive all-around season and exceeded expectations. Jenkins continued to demonstrate why he is one of the most talented players in the Twins system, even with time lost to injury. So, which player deserves the title of Twins Prospect of the Year? Let's look at the arguments on both sides. Why Marek Houston Should Be the Twins Prospect of the Year Houston's biggest accomplishment was exceeding expectations. When Minnesota drafted him, evaluators saw a potential everyday shortstop whose defensive ability could carry him to the major leagues. His offensive development was less certain. In 2026, he showed that his bat could become a meaningful part of his overall profile. Houston finished the season hitting .312/.392/.455 (.847) with 12 home runs, 28 doubles, and 50 stolen bases in 116 games. That combination of contact, extra-base production, and speed is impressive for any prospect, especially one who was playing his first full professional season. His ability to reach base consistently helped fuel the season. Houston put together a 31-game on-base streak at Double-A, demonstrating that his production was not limited to a brief hot stretch earlier in the year. His direct swing and improved bat speed helped him produce line drives to all fields, while his approach allowed him to take advantage of his athleticism. Houston's 50 stolen bases also deserve attention. Speed can be an important weapon for a player who makes consistent contact and puts pressure on opposing defenses. When paired with his ability to play shortstop, that skill gives him several ways to contribute at the highest level. His defense remains the foundation of his profile. The Twins already viewed Houston as one of the organization's best defensive shortstops, and his first professional season only reinforced that belief. He has the range, hands, and arm strength to remain at the position, giving the organization a potential long-term solution at one of baseball's most demanding defensive spots. There is also something to be said for the difficulty of Houston's season. He began his season with High-A Cedar Rapids before earning a promotion to Double-A Wichita. He handled that advancement while continuing to produce across multiple offensive categories. Houston did more than meet expectations. He changed the conversation about what kind of player he could become. That is a strong argument for making him the Twins' Prospect of the Year. Why Houston Shouldn't Be the Twins Prospect of the Year Houston's season was impressive, but there are reasons to favor Jenkins. The first is that Houston's overall production was not quite as overwhelming as his batting average and stolen-base total might suggest. His .455 slugging percentage was solid, but he was not dominating opposing pitchers with power. There is still work to do before he can be viewed as a consistent middle-of-the-order threat. His numbers also need to be considered alongside Jenkins' production. Houston had more opportunities to accumulate statistics, and some of his offensive totals were less impressive than Jenkins' rate-based production. Playing in 116 games is a significant advantage when comparing counting statistics, but it also gives Houston a stronger claim based on durability and consistency. The transition to Double-A was another challenge. Houston continued to show flashes after his promotion, including his extended on-base streak, but his offensive production cooled as he adjusted to more advanced pitching. That is not unusual for a young player moving up a level, and it should not overshadow his season. Still, it shows that he has more adjustments to make before he is ready to handle major-league pitching. Houston's season was arguably the biggest surprise among Twins prospects. Whether that makes it the best season is a different question. Jenkins' production, even in fewer games, gives him a legitimate argument for the award. Why Walker Jenkins Should Be the Twins Prospect of the Year Jenkins’ 2026 season offered another reminder of his offensive potential. He slashed .323/.417/.559 (.976) with 14 homers, three triples, 18 doubles, and 17 steals in 73 games. Even more impressive was the fact that he was over five years younger than the average age of the competition at Triple-A. Jenkins also brings a different offensive profile to the table. His left-handed swing, ability to recognize pitches, and willingness to work counts give him a foundation for success against advanced pitching. He can drive the ball into the gaps, use the whole field, and potentially develop into a middle-of-the-order run producer as he matures. The Twins have also challenged Jenkins with aggressive assignments. He reached Triple-A before his 21st birthday, demonstrating how highly the organization views his abilities. That progression matters because the competition becomes more difficult with every promotion. Jenkins has repeatedly shown that he can compete against older, more experienced players. There is a difference between recognizing the best statistical season and identifying the most impressive overall prospect performance. Jenkins has a higher offensive ceiling, has already handled upper-level pitching, and continues to show why he remains at the top of the Twins' prospect rankings. The fact that the Twins organization and Twins Daily selected Jenkins is not surprising. His ability to produce at an advanced level, even with interruptions to his season, makes him a worthy candidate for the honor. Why Jenkins Shouldn't Be the Twins Prospect of the Year The biggest argument against Jenkins is availability. He missed significant time with a shoulder injury, limiting his opportunities to build momentum and produce over a full season. He has also dealt with injuries in multiple professional seasons, making durability an ongoing consideration in his development. Jenkins still has questions to answer about translating his power potential into consistent home run production. While his hitting ability and plate discipline remain strengths, the Twins need to see him stay healthy and produce over a longer stretch. Jenkins might have the higher ceiling, but Prospect of the Year should recognize what a player accomplished in 2026. Houston appeared in 116 games, stole 50 bases, and reached Double-A in his first full professional season. His combination of production, defense, and durability makes a compelling case that he had the better season. Who Deserves to Be the Twins Prospect of the Year? The debate comes down to what matters most when evaluating a prospect's season. Houston exceeded expectations, hitting .312 with 50 stolen bases while advancing to Double-A in his first full professional season. Jenkins showcased his offensive potential and continued to demonstrate why he remains one of the organization's most exciting prospects, despite missing time with a shoulder injury. Baseball America and MLB Pipeline selected Houston, while the Twins organization and Twins Daily chose Jenkins. Both players have compelling cases, but their different strengths make this a difficult comparison. Houston offers defensive value, speed, and impressive development. Jenkins brings a higher offensive ceiling and the potential to become an impact hitter in Minnesota's lineup. Both have bright futures, but which player had the better 2026 season? Who gets your vote for Twins Prospect of the Year: Houston or Jenkins? Leave a comment and start the discussion. View the full article

From an impressive slider to some concerning command numbers, Riley Quick’s first professional season had a little bit of everything. Here’s what he can take from 2026 as he prepares for his next step. View the full article

While the big-league Brewers are dancing in the postseason, some of their top-end prospects have extended their seasons into the Arizona Fall League (AFL). The AFL is a showcase opportunity for some of baseball’s brightest young stars to get more reps, and nine of the team’s farmhands are in it this year, per MLB.com. Let’s dive into some of the standout performers so far and how their first few games of action relate to trends they set into motion this summer. Braylon Payne (MIL’s #4 prospect) Braylon Payne’s prospect pedigree is the highest of anybody on this list. Ranked as Milwaukee’s No. 4 prospect here at Brewer Fanatic, the outfielder enjoyed a breakout 2026 campaign, which he divided between the High-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and Double-A Biloxi Shuckers. The 2024 first-round pick saw a power surge this season. At just 20 years old, he slugged 28 home runs while slashing .277/.358/.552 over 102 games. His AFL sample size is small, but the power has followed the outfielder into the month of October. Payne has gone 4-for-15 (.267) with two doubles, three RBIs and a stolen base through four games. The one aspect he needs to work on is critical, though: swing decisions. While Payne had a 20.0% pull-air percentage (65th percentile, per Prospect Savant), his 28.2% strikeout rate (30th percentile) and 41.3% chase rate (5th percentile) suggest there’s plenty of room to grow. The future Brewer has stayed aggressive in the AFL, striking out six times over 18 plate appearances. Matthew Wood While Matthew Wood isn’t a ranked prospect in the Brewers’ pipeline, he still enjoyed a productive season in Double-A and is parlaying that into a promising start with the Scottsdale Scorpions. The 25-year-old backstop throttled 18 homers, compiled 67 RBIs, and walked (71) more times than he struck out (52) with the Shuckers this year. In fact, that caliber of strike-zone control is something the 2022 fourth-round pick has done throughout his pro career, drawing 241 free passes while going down on strikes just 223 times. That plate discipline has carried over nicely in Arizona. Wood is 3-for-7 with four runs scored, a stolen base and a whopping six walks in just 13 plate appearances. The catcher has proven his worth as a cerebral up-and-coming option for the Crew, and seeing him in the top 10 percent of minor leaguers in strikeout rate, walk rate, chase rate, whiff rate, zone-contact percentage and more is an encouraging sign. Peyton Niksch Peyton Niksch is one of five pitching prospects representing Milwaukee in Scottsdale this year, and he’s been the most impressive so far. Niksch climbed the team’s minor-league ladder this year, playing at three different levels. He dazzled for Low-A Wilson, logging a 3-1 record with a 2.70 ERA (26 2/3 innings) with the Warbirds. Upon getting a promotion to Wisconsin, he looked even better, going 1-0 with a 1.13 ERA in 16 frames. He ran into some trouble in Biloxi, allowing an 8.63 ERA with a WHIP that ballooned to 2.13 over 24 innings of work. In the AFL, Niksch has served well as a pure strike-thrower. The 22-year-old right-handed pitcher has made two appearances (one start), allowing just one run on two hits over 4 2/3 innings of work. He has four strikeouts and no walks in 16 batters faced. He doesn’t blow people away, as shown by his 8.4 SO/9 rate, but generating weak contact can be an equally effective way to find outs—especially for a hurler with plus control. View the full article

In a number of different ways, the San Diego Padres were a team entirely capable of managing against the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Division Series, even if the latter possessed the best record in Major League Baseball throughout the regular season. But there was one key way in which the Brewers were a bad matchup for the Padres, and, naturally, it was the one that manifested across the series' four games. The 2026 Padres were not a pitching staff built to strike out opposing hitters. Overall, they ranked 20th in the league in strikeout rate (21.7 percent), with starting pitching specifically tamping that ranking down as the 28th-best rotation in that facet (18.9 percent). And while the bullpen sat up in fourth (24.7 percent), it's not as if the Padres were turning over arms in relief that mowed down opposing hitters. Mason Miller's historically good 47.4 K% did a lot of the heavy lifting there, with Adrian Morejon finishing second among Padres relievers at 30.4 percent. After Jeremiah Estrada's 30.2 percent strikeout rate, it really dipped as one gets deeper into the list of bullpen arms. Bradgley Rodríguez was at 26.7 percent, while high-volume relief arms like Jason Adam and Wandy Peralta lingered around just 15%. And, compounded with the lack of strikeouts in the rotation, that's where the Padres ran into trouble. A key to managing a series win against Milwaukee was going to be in keeping them off base. That may seem like a particularly obvious element, but when you're talking about a team with a collective 78.1 percent contact rate that stole 162 bases (fifth) and led the league with a .276 average with runners on base, it becomes paramount. Despite ranking second in the league in runs scored, the Brewers weren't going to win with power, but rather by more of a death-by-a-thousand-cuts approach. That's basically how things came to fruition in the NLDS for the Padres. Padre pitchers struck out the Brewers at a rate of just 16.9 percent. At the same time, the Brewers reached base at a .360 clip and stole five bases. S, while they only hit .250 and ISO'd a mere .098 in four games, those elements that were always going to be a poor matchup for the Friars certainly manifested in the worst possible way. The Brewers created traffic and struck out only seven times against 16 hits with runners on. In a series that was so marginal in the separation between the two teams, the Padres' inability to generate key strikeouts from the mound proved to be part of their downfall. View the full article

Ceddanne Rafaela's glove has never been in question, but his breakout 2026 season offered a glimpse of what he could become offensively. Despite some concerning underlying numbers, there are reasons to believe his progress is real. View the full article

The 2026 results were disappointing for the Royals, but some individual performances turned out pretty well. Beyond the obvious in Bobby Witt Jr., there are a few other infielders who had solid years in 2026 as well. Here is a look at the infielders and what grade they deserve for their performance during the 2026 season. Carter Jensen, C 149 games, .239/.323/.467, 120 OPS+, 27 HR, 81 RB, 2 SB (35 2B), 3.3 bWAR Jensen had a tough month of May, where he hit .198 with 1 home run and 10 RBIs over 25 games played. Luckily, this was not the case for the rest of the year, but his overall numbers did take a hit due to a slow start to the season. Jensen finished the year strong with a slash line of .338/.407/.788, which was good for a 1.195 OPS. Another value that Jensen brings is that he was able to serve as the designated hitter on days he wasn’t catching, which keeps his bat in the lineup. He played 106 games behind the plate, with another 42 as the DH. At 22 years old, Jensen has cemented himself as a player to build around in the Royals lineup and is someone that Royals fans should be extremely excited to have in the lineup going forward. Grade for 2026: B+ (due to a tough start, but he bounced back nicely) Vinnie Pasquantino, 1B 114 games, .249/.333/.428, 113 OPS+, 17 HR, 63 RBI, 5 SB (20 doubles), 2.5 bWAR Pasquantino, like many Royals hitters, had his ups and downs throughout the year. His 2026 season was marred by injury, with a fractured hamate bone that sidelined him for about one month, as well as dealing with wrist issues that sidelined him for another few weeks in early August. He finished the year strong, which was a nice thing to see and hopefully an ending he can build on to start 2027, a year the Royals are looking to return to contention. Grade for 2026: B Michael Massey, 2B 131 games, .272/.303/.428, 104 OPS+, 13 HR, 50 RBI, 3 SB (25 doubles), 2.0 bWAR Massey was solid for most of the year, with a 104 OPS+. He played the majority of his games at second base, with a few other games sprinkled in at third and in the outfield. He took hold of the second base job after Jonathan India struggled to start the year as the starting second baseman. Massey is under team control for another two years and will likely warrant a solid raise from his $1.5 million salary in 2026. If he continues to hit like he did in 2026, he will be worth that raise, no question. He outperformed his expectations, ever so slightly, which makes the grade solid, but not spectacular. Grade for 2026: B Bobby Witt Jr. SS 143 games, .281/.359/.441, 125 OPS+, 18 HR, 54 RBI, 45 SB (8 CS) (33 doubles), 6.7 bwAR Bobby Witt Jr. is a bona fide superstar, and anyone who says otherwise clearly has never watched him play. He plays a Gold Glove-caliber defense on top of being an above-average hitter at a position that is hard to find the kind of offense he provides. On top of being an above-average hitter, he also stole 45 bases, good for second in the American League. With Witt Jr. under contract for the long haul, the key will be surrounding him to help him see the postseason sooner rather than later. He’s in his prime, and the Royals front office will not want to waste that. Grade for 2026: A Maikel Garcia, 3B 82 games, .268/.334/.381, 102 OPS+, 3 HR, 38 RBI, 5 SB (9 attempts), 20 doubles, 2.2 bWAR Playing in just 82 games is a disappointment, especially coming off a career year in 2026, where he was worth 5.8 bWAR over 160 games played. The hope is that the injuries that kept him out of half of the Royals games will be a one-year blip and not a new normal for him going forward. His numbers, when healthy, were decent, but not to the level that he, or others, expected. At just 344 plate appearances, he didn’t get the counting stats that he would have if he were healthy. Because he was still solid when healthy, I won’t penalize him too much, but his staying healthy will be key in extending the Royals lineup going into 2027. Grade for 2026: C- Nick Loftin, 2B/3B 118 games, 240/.322/.388, 100 OPS+, 8 HR, 45 RBIs, 4 SB, 27 doubles, 1.5 bWAR Loftin filled in admirably during various injuries to Royals infielders. Playing in 118 games is more than most would have probably expected going into the year; he held his own and was a league-average hitter in terms of OPS+. Playing mostly at third base in the absence of Garcia, he also filled in at second base, in the corner outfield, as well as some appearances at shortstop and first base as well. He isn’t the most feared hitter in the Royals lineup, but he provided enough production that putting him down as a utility option is a great outcome for the Royals going forward. Grade for 2026: B Tyler Tolbert, INF 78 games, .285/.347/.392, 109 OPS+, 3 HR, 8 RBIs, 0.9 bWAR Tolbert was a nice surprise for the Royals in 2026 after being called up. He was significantly better at the plate than projection systems had him, so if he can build off of that going into 2027, that provides more depth both in the infield and in the outfield corners as well. Tolbert also played a handful of games in center field, which adds even more value to a guy who will likely bounce around to different positions in 2027 and beyond. If he can hit like he did in 2026, a super utility role is the minimum of where Royals fans should expect to see him going forward. Grade for 2026: B+ Josh Rojas, 2B/3B 43 games, .226/.265/.321, 65 OPS+, 2 HR, 14 RBIs, 4 doubles, 0.6 bWAR Rojas spent most of his year with Triple-A Omaha, and when called upon to play in the big leagues, he didn’t hit particularly well. He did provide some value defensively, so not all is lost, but his 65 OPS+ is basically unplayable as an every day option, but as a defensive-first, depth option, he is an alright option. Rojas did play second, third, and shortstop defensively, so the versatility is a nice option. Due to the lack of production with the bat, the grade will be lower, but the expectations for Rojas were also not high, so I don’t want to penalize him too much. Grade for 2026: C- Jonathan India, 2B 17 games, .167/.310/.313, 77 OPS+, 2 HR, 8 RBIs, 1 double, 0.2 bWAR India’s year, to put it simply, was not great. He struggled in limited action offensively and spent the majority of the year with a left shoulder injury, keeping him out for the rest of the season after going on the injured list in late April. He signed a 1-year, $8 million deal with the Royals for the 2026 season to avoid arbitration, and due to the injury, his value was extremely limited, and he didn’t even provide the value of that deal. India is a free agent, and due to the likes of Michael Massey, Tyler Tolbert, and other depth options, it would not be surprising to see the Royals move on from India. Because he was injured for the majority of the year, I don’t want to penalize him too much, but the 77 OPS+ when healthy was still not great. Grade for 2026: D Luke Maile, C 18 games, .159/.229/.273, 41 OPS+, 1 HR, 5 RBIs, 2 doubles, -0.2 bWAR Maile came into the year as the third catcher behind Jensen and Salvador Perez and served in that role for the majority of the year. He played with Triple-A Omaha for the majority of the year, where he hit slightly better than he did in the majors (.627 OPS in Triple-A and .502 in the majors). He did not provide much value at all when with the big league club, actually being worth negative bWAR and 0 fWAR. For a third catcher, there are worse options, but because of his limited upside offensively, being a third option was the correct role for him with the Royals. Grade for 2026: C Elias Diaz, C 10 games, .227/.261/.591, 132 OPS+, 2 HR, 5 RBIs, 2 doubles, 0.3 bwAR Diaz was signed to a minor league deal in the offseason but wasn’t in the organization long, as he elected free agency on June 3. He played in 10 games at Triple-A and then 10 additional games at the major league level. He hit well in that short stint, with two home runs, two doubles, and a slash line of .227/.261/.591 in that short stint. With it being a small sample size, it’s hard to grade him as if he would have continued to hit at the clip for the entirety of the year, but he did go on to provide a combined 1.2 bWAR between his time with the Royals and then signing with the Texas Rangers. In grading his time with the Royals, it was short but solid, so I will give him a decent grade, even though he played the majority of his time in another organization. Grade for 2026: B Andrew Velazquez, INF 6 games, .067/.067/.067, -62 OPS+, 0 HR, 0 RBIs, 0 doubles (1 hit), -0.2 bwAR Velazquez started the year in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization, where he was released in mid-June. He signed a minor-league deal with the Royals a few days later, and spent the majority of the remainder of the season at Triple-A. With 18 games at Omaha, he hit okay, with a .643 OPS with zero home runs and three doubles. Once called up to the big league club, his value was extremely limited in his six games, getting one hit (a single), but he did put the ball in play, striking out just two times over 15 plate appearances. With it being a small sample size, I don’t want to be too rough on him, but he served as a call-up and got some time, but didn’t provide much at all when called upon. Grade for 2026: D View the full article

After a disappointing end to a roller-coaster season, the Cubs head into the offseason with lots of money to spend. Arguably, they have needs even deeper than their pockets, but there's no question that they'll have deep pockets. In veterans Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki, Jameson Taillon, Shota Imanaga, Matthew Boyd and Carson Kelly, they have over $100 million from their Opening Day roster coming off the books, even before accounting for smaller expiring deals and the money they picked up (only to put back down) by acquiring rental players at the trade deadline. That should make Jed Hoyer's front office an aggressive mover over the month-and-a-half between now and the nigh-inevitable lockout. They've already had almost a fortnight to scout and evaluate some of the players on whom they might splurge next month. Here are five intriguing potential targets who are still playing meaningful games, even as the postseason has whittled away all but the four best teams in the sport. Jake Bauers, 1B/OF, Brewers After enjoying a partial breakout in 2025, Bauers overhauled his offseason regimen and came into this season with better functional strength—and with an altered stance, and with a deeper contact point. The sum of those seemingly small changes was anything but small, as Bauers hit .266/.389/.484, setting career highs in almost everything. His 26 homers paced the division-champion Brewers, and he hung in well against left-handed pitchers in his first real chance to be an everyday player since before the pandemic. Though he just turned 31, Bauers is more athletic than the average first baseman, and has even spent substantial time in the outfield as recently as this year. He would fit the Cubs in four important ways: He's temperamentally perfect for their clubhouse. He's excellent with the Brewers in that regard, and would fit seamlessly with Dansby Swanson, Nico Hoerner, Alex Bregman and Pete Crow-Armstrong. His power and patience would give the team the reliable lefty slug they missed for much of 2026. He has elite bat speed. Unlike Michael Busch, he doesn't need everything to go right on a given swing to produce a hard-hit ball, or even a homer. Speaking of Busch, Bauers (who is only about two years his senior) would give the Cubs insurance against another disappointing season by their cost-controlled first baseman. He would enter the season mainly as the designated hitter, but could easily step into the first-base job if Busch's struggles carry over. While DH might be his primary position on the 2027 Cubs, in addition to first base, Bauers would be a fine part-time left fielder. He's not a great defender out there, but neither is anyone else the team is likely to find. As a one-year patch while the team hopes for Ethan Conrad or Josiah Hartshorn to further progress and take over a job in 2028, Bauers wouldn't be half-bad. Improbable though it would have seemed even a year ago, Bauers is almost certain to get a multi-year deal with an eight-figure annual salary. That's not as intimidating as it sounds, though, given the modern player marketplace. Watch him closely as the Brewers take on the Dodgers; he does a lot of things well. Foster Griffin, LHP, Guardians Can I interest you in another 31-year-old journeyman who suddenly became a hot commodity this year? Griffin spent multiple years pitching in Japan, before coming back to the United States this season on a one-year deal with the Nationals. Last winter, teams had interest in him mostly as a reliever, but he proved himself as a remade starter in 2026. At the trade deadline, the Guardians scooped him up. On the surface, Griffin looks like exactly the kind of pitcher of whom the Cubs need fewer, not more. He throws just 92 miles per hour with his four-seamer, on average, and even that oversells him as a power guy: he leans more on a cutter that's more like 89. He has eight pitches, and he throws the kitchen sink at righty batters. It sounds a bit like a generic junkballer. It's not, though. He's more than that. In his start against the White Sox in the ALDS, Griffin was pulled after just 2 2/3 innings, but he racked up seven strikeouts. He's so tough on lefties that he sees fairly few of them, but his sweeper is a bat-misser against them. Against righties, he can use his cutter and two flavors of changeup to mess with timing and induce weak contact, and he gets enough whiffs and throws enough strikes to win. Griffin will get a multi-year deal somewhere this winter, but it won't be for huge money. He's a younger and healthier spin on, for instance, Boyd, which makes him an interesting secondary starting pitching target. Freddy Peralta, RHP, Rays You don't need as much of a primer on Peralta. He was a burr in the Cubs' saddle for a long time while with the Brewers, but his few months as a Met were less than fruitful. It looked like his chances to score a big free-agent payday were slipping away, but after the Rays acquired him just ahead of the trade deadline, they fixed him. Peralta finished with a 3.25 ERA in 10 starts for Tampa, and carried over his success in a start against the Yankees in the ALDS. Without the qualifying offer attached, Peralta becomes a tremendous fit for the Cubs. His durability and athleticism are appealing; so is his ebullience off the field. He and Craig Counsell have a great relationship. The front office has liked Peralta from (not-so-)afar for a long time; this winter could be the chance for the two sides to finally get together. Tarik Skubal, LHP, Dodgers It's just not Hoyer's style. It'll be enormously expensive, and if the Dodgers do manage a threepeat, it might be enormously difficult just to talk him out of leaving Hollywood. The Cubs should try, anyway. Skubal is the best starting pitcher who has been or will be available without the qualifying offer attached to him for some time. Since the Cubs were luxury-tax payers this season, they face a stiffer penalty than in the past if they sign a player who does have the QO on them. The decision shouldn't really come down to such things, anyway, but if it did, that would be another reason to go hard for Skubal, rather than settling for (say) Orioles southpaw Trevor Rogers. It's time for the Cubs to break more of their self-imposed rules. Skubal should be their white whale this winter. Even in a loss in Game 1 of the NLCS, it was easy to see why. Alex Vesia, LHP, Dodgers Speaking of pitchers who appeared for the visitors as they lost to the Brewers in the NLCS opener, Vesia was superb. In fact, he's been subtly excellent almost his entire career, with a 2.87 ERA in 372 career appearances. He was even better (2.64 ERA) this season, on the surface, though he struggled with walks and got a bit lucky to maintain such pretty surface-level numbers. Vesia has the missing ingredient for the Cubs' pen, to be sure. He boasts a career strikeout rate over 32%. Put him alongside intriguing but not yet proven options Ryan Rolison and Riley Martin, and the Cubs would have a formidable lefty trio in relief. It's a small potential move, but it could be an important one. Vesia is almost guaranteed to pitch again before the NLCS is over, so the team isn't quite out of chances to see how he can neutralize lefty bats, just yet. View the full article

Tom Pohlad has spent much of 2026 talking about the need for the Twins to invest more heavily in the roster. That message became even clearer at the end of the season, when Pohlad said the organization intends to “meaningfully invest” in the team and that a roughly $100-million payroll is not enough to consistently compete for the postseason. That's an important change in tone from the previous two offseasons. It also creates an important question. How much is “meaningfully”? The answer will determine whether Jeremy Zoll can pursue multiple upgrades or whether the Twins will have to choose carefully where to allocate their resources. Minnesota has obvious needs at catcher, first base and in the bullpen, while the organization would also benefit from adding depth elsewhere. There is room for improvement. There is not, however, an unlimited amount of room. FanGraphs's RosterResource currently puts the Twins' early 2027 payroll projection around $124 million. It includes many of the team's projected commitments, arbitration salaries, younger players and other roster costs that need to be accounted for. They can create quite a bit more flexibility by non-tendering or trading certain players, but if they held to the status quo, that would be their starting point. A $140-million payroll would provide roughly $16 million beyond that baseline. A $150-million payroll would create approximately $26 million. Getting all the way back to the neighborhood of the Twins' 2023 payroll, around $158 million, would provide significantly more flexibility. None of those figures has been announced by the organization. That's why this is one of the seven biggest decisions of the offseason. Before the Twins can decide who to sign, they need to know how much they are willing to spend—roughly, at least. One interesting takeaway from the team's end-of-season press conference was that whereas the Pohlads had often held the baseball operations department to a strict figure in the past, they might not have an ironclad budget, going forward. Instead, Zoll might be able to pitch expansions of the payroll to meet either a pressing need or an enticing opportunity. The Pros of Spending Big The most obvious benefit of an increased payroll is also the easiest one for fans to understand. The Twins need better players and more depth. Minnesota finished 2026 at 77-85 and missed the postseason for the third consecutive season. The organization believes there is a young core worth building around, including Walker Jenkins, Luke Keaschall, Emmanuel Rodriguez and Brooks Lee. Adding significant outside talent would capitalize on those players being paid very low salaries at this early juncture of their careers, by making the team less dependent on them. Pohlad has repeatedly said that being merely competitive is no longer the standard. The goal is to build a team capable of consistently reaching the postseason and (eventually) competing for a championship. That requires resources. The 2026 trade deadline provided a preview of what that could look like. Minnesota took on additional salary to acquire A.J. Minter, Dean Kremer and Jeff Hoffman. A larger payroll gives Zoll more options. The Twins don't have to solve every problem through free agency. They could use money to retain Ryan Jeffers, and knowing there's some room in the budget makes it easier to envision giving him a qualifying offer. Trades for major contributors also get easier when you can absorb the salary attached to them. More financial flexibility means the front office can take more chances and explore more broadly. The Cons of Spending Big Spending more money is not automatically the same thing as building a better roster. That's the difficult part of this equation. The Twins already have significant money committed to the 2027 roster. Pablo López is set to make $21.75 million. Byron Buxton is owed $15 million. Hoffman will make $11 million, though the Twins are only on the hook for $7.25 million of that. Victor Caratini is owed $6.5 million. The Twins also pay $10 million to Houston again, as part of the Carlos Correa trade. Then come the arbitration cases. Ten players are currently projected to earn a combined $47.3 million through arbitration. Joe Ryan is projected at $9.6 million, followed by Bailey Ober at $6.9 million, Kremer at $6.5 million and Trevor Larnach at $6.3 million. Ober and Larnach, in particular, feel likely to be moved unless they can be signed for less than those projections, but as the winter begins, they're part of the budgetary picture. When pressed about the possibility of signing a star to fit into the firmament the team has built, however, Zoll struck a balanced note. He emphasized that the team also has to think about the future when weighing possible moves, rather than focusing solely on getting back to the postseason as soon as possible. That's a reminder that even in an organization committed to spending more, spending big carries risks that must be considered. The Bottom Line The Twins have spent the past two seasons showing what happens when the payroll leaves little margin for error. Now, Tom Pohlad is promising something different. That's encouraging, but the next step is putting a number behind the words. A projected baseline around $124 million means the Twins aren't starting with a completely empty payroll ledger. But it also means that a $140-million payroll wouldn't suddenly turn Minnesota into a contender. Much of that money would already be committed to players the organization expects to have on the roster. The difference between $140 million and $160 million could determine the type of offseason Zoll can have. That makes the payroll decision about much more than money. It will tell us how serious the Twins are about changing the direction of the organization. Pohlad has said the goal is no longer simply to be competitive. He wants the postseason to become an expectation. The Twins need to show what that expectation is worth. What are your expectations for Minnesota’s spending this winter? Leave a comment and start the discussion. View the full article

It felt like a rerun of last year's NLCS. Jacob Misiorowski's second playoff start began like his first, as he labored through his first two innings while the Dodgers scored first. Meanwhile, Tarik Skubal was doing what Blake Snell did to the Brewers in last year's Game 1, forcing baseball's most patient offense to swing at more balls than strikes. The Dodgers were in control, and the Brewers were fighting to keep up. In the middle innings, the momentum began to shift. The Brewers turned one of three inning-ending double plays on Enrique Hernández to avoid further damage in the second, then Misiorowski tossed scoreless third and fourth frames. The latter ended with a dramatic strikeout of Kyle Tucker after a balk undid an inning-ending pickoff. Minutes later, Brice Turang turned around a Skubal sinker on the inside corner for a game-tying home run. It was a swing more than a week in the making. Turang looked lost during the NLDS, recording just two singles in 16 at-bats. He stayed late after the Brewers' off-day workout on Friday for a session with hitting coach Daniel Vogelbach, searching for the feel that would get him on time and on plane with the baseball. "I don't do it very often," Turang said. "Some years I don't do it at all. But I just felt like I needed to stay after, get some more swings in, and just kind of talk it out, maybe hear what someone's got to say." Two days later, he stayed inside a power fastball boring in on his hands with one of the best swings of his career. "That's what he's working on exactly," Pat Murphy said. "Instead of his hands dropping and cutting across, to just get straight to the baseball." Turang started doing that in his final two at-bats of the Padres series, shooting the ball to left in both, but it took one more nudge to fully calibrate his swing. Skubal also gave him an inside sinker in his first at-bat, and he fouled it off his ailing left knee that caused him to miss time in August. "I didn't want to foul a ball off my knee again, so I was like, 'I'm going to stay inside of this one,'" Turang said. After that, the Brewers started waiting out Skubal in a 26-pitch fifth inning. Garrett Mitchell led off with a walk, advanced to second on Cooper Pratt's sacrifice bunt, then scored on one of Skubal's few mistake pitches of the evening: a first-pitch changeup down the middle that Luis Lara smacked up the middle for his first postseason hit. "When the leadoff guy gets on sometimes by walking, he's a threat to steal, and sometimes that can alter the way the guy goes about it," Murphy said. "I thought that getting a guy into scoring position, he tried to get ahead with a changeup to Lara, left it where he didn't want to. Other than that, he was dominant." Misiorowski, meanwhile, only recorded one more out than in his last playoff start, but he kept one of baseball's better lineups at bay without a dominant fastball. Like the Padres, the Dodgers whiffed just five times against his four-seamer, but they also tagged it for three hard-hit balls and four hits. "It's the same as the last outing I had against the Padres," he said. "I think that was the same goal. Both teams did really well." One could argue that for most of the night, the Brewers played like the inferior team. They didn't have the best at-bats, and they weren't dominant on the mound. The Dodgers drew more walks, had more baserunners, and had a .243 expected batting average compared to Milwaukee's .182. Skubal outlasted Misiorowski and looked untouchable for more of his outing. Yet, the Brewers took the series opener, by playing their best in the right moments. They made plays when the Dodgers pushed their backs to the wall, and when Skubal was even slightly vulnerable for a few batters, they took advantage. Turang's swing was the separator, the latest reminder of how impactful home runs can be against great October pitchers who won't throw many hittable pitches. It was also another instance of the Brewers proving what they've said all month: they learned from last year's series and are prepared to handle this matchup. Unlike last season, they've rejected the underdog identity, and it's reflected in their performance. "Guys are getting more experience, they're learning the game," Turang said. "Even for me, still learning, getting experience. That's a big factor in this. Then not giving up when we are behind in the game and knowing that we can do it, we can make up runs." Now, the Brewers lead 1-0 in a series that seemed unwinnable a year ago, and their path to a World Series berth is becoming clearer. View the full article

When he debuted in the latter half of the 2025 season, it seemed Jakob Marsee would become a resource the Marlins had long been devoid of: high-upside, cost-controlled position player talent. In his 55-game rookie campaign, Marsee slashed .292/.363/.478/.842, 33 percent better than a league-average hitter in terms of wRC+. Among the 19 NL rookies to take at least 200 plate appearances, Marsee's 1.9 bWAR ranked fifth despite playing merely a third of his team's total games. Pro-rated on a 162-game basis, Marsee was playing like a six-win player in just his age-24 season. The question headed into 2026 was not whether he would crack the Opening Day roster, but whether the Marlins would get out in front of the market and work to sign him long term. Contract extension negotiations took place, but no deal materialized. The start of the regular season hit him like a Mack truck. In March, Marsee OPS'd .506, .572 in April, then rebounded to .702 in May, before a .527 June left him entering mid-summer with a .189/.307/.287/.595 line. Of the 51 hitters to take at least 350 plate appearances through June, Marsee's 71 wRC+ ranked dead last. Once the calendar hit July, though, a switch flipped. Over his final 265 PA, Marsee hit .286/.401/.455, good for a 139 wRC+. He would finish 2026 as a league-average hitter overall while ranking third on the Fish in stolen bases and leaving little doubt that he belonged in center field defensively. I will make the case that Marsee's immediate future is bright despite spending more than half of this past season as a liability. In being a productive offensive player, there is no better place to start than getting on base in the first place. Even amid his cold spells, Marsee did just that. Plate discipline says a lot about a hitter's makeup, and the ability to spit on quality pitches will never go out of style. While a walk will never have the appeal of a home run, it helps offset the offensive slumps that can hamper a hitter over a season. Through June, Marsee drew walks in 12.5 percent of plate appearances, 18th-best in the sport. When Marsee turned it in on the second half, he walked 12.8 percent of the time. Marsee ultimately became the first Marlin since Christian Yelich in 2017 aged 25 or younger to draw at least 75 free passes in a single season. Across MLB, he also was one of just three players aged 25 or younger to draw 75-plus walks and steal 20-plus bases, joining Pete Crow-Armstrong and James Wood. Sporting a .275 wOBA through the end of June, luck was on Marsee's side from then on out, as he saw that number jump to .371. In short, Marsee's outcomes regressed to the mean thanks to a consistently sound process. Marsee, though, is not without his performative warts and concerns. After proving a serviceable defender in center field in 2025, Marsee regressed precipitously, sporting a negative-nine Rfield/DRS, a total that ranked worst among all players who saw time in center in 2026. A lot of this can be attributed to a throwing arm that ranked in the 15th percentile of arm value, per Baseball-Savant, only furthering the legitimacy of the comparisons to Mike Trout given their stocky body types and unremarkable throwing arms. All of this being said, metrics such as outs above average (OAA) and arm strength told a different story, finishing in the 94th and 78th percentiles, respectively. For this, I would be inclined to give Marsee more leash out in center, though it is a fair assessment that he likely ends up a corner guy. There is also the question of availability, as it was recently announced that Marsee would miss the start of the 2027 season (as most probably will, given the impending lockout) after undergoing UCL reconstruction surgery. The Marlins have a more than viable backup plan were Marsee to miss time, as fifth-ranked prospect Cam Cannerella appears to be on the precipice of being called up. Across three levels in 2026, Cannerella hit like an MVP candidate, slashing .324/.422/.512/.934, stealing 21 bases and affirming his status as a 60-grade defender. There is also the question of whether Marsee taps more into the power one would assume he possesses given his build, as he slugged just .359, putting him in the bottom-fifteen among qualified hitters. One hypothetical workaround could be Marsee incorporating a slightly more aggressive approach at the plate, a la the law of large numbers fallacy of merely swinging more with the idea that more swings lead to more batted balls, and more batted balls result in more home runs. Even if Marsee never develops into the player we saw in 2025, rest assured Marsee maintaining his patient approach while playing a premium position will make him a cornerstone to the Marlins if they intend to make a playoff run in 2027 and beyond. View the full article

Yes, Juan Soto is the one with the mammoth contract, the accolades, and the talent level to be the New York Mets’ face of the franchise for the next decade. He said it himself, though: Carson Benge is the reason why New York can, and probably will, return to contention in 2027. Benge put together an NL Rookie of the Year-worthy campaign in 2026, slashing a cool .282/.346/.430 with 20 home runs, 22 stolen bases, 86 runs scored, a 118 wRC+, and 4.3 fWAR. He was a net positive in every part of the game: hitting, running the bases, and fielding. The vast majority of major leaguers would kill for that kind of season. However, there’s the feeling that the 23-year-old rookie could have another gear to hit in the future. That brings up the million-dollar question: what’s Benge’s true upside? What will he look like as a ballplayer in his absolute peak? Well, let’s see how sustainable his 2026 performance was, re-analyzing each of his tools. Carson Benge's Updated Mets Scouting Report After Brilliant Rookie Season Hit Tool Benge’s .279 expected batting average (xBA) ranked in the 89th percentile in the entire league, which puts him in the elite tier. His swing is geared for hitting line drives, and his 38.1 percent launch angle sweet-spot percentage was in the 87th percentile. The LA Sweet-Spot% is the percentage of balls hit between 8 and 32 degrees. That’s commonly known as the sweet spot, which yields the most ideal types of contact. Benge usually lives in this spectrum, which partly explains why his batting average floor is so high. He did strike out 142 times, but above-average whiff and chase rates suggest that Benge could one day approach a .300 average. The foundation is there, starting with a compact swing built for line drives. Power On the other hand, Benge might not have such a lofty power ceiling unless he fills out his frame or implements a swing change. With 32nd percentile bat speed, a 40th percentile hard-hit rate, and a 44th percentile barrel rate, his profile doesn’t exactly scream power breakout. His doubles output was also surprisingly low, at 22. Nothing in his current profile points to a major breakthrough in the home run department. Of course, he should be good enough for 15-20 bombs every year, and that’s absolutely fine considering his wide array of skills and ways to impact a game. Speed/Base-stealing Benge stole 22 bags in 2026 and was caught just five times. He ranked in the 82nd percentile in sprint speed, too, and we all saw that he can run. If he shows a bit more aggressiveness in the basepaths, he could definitely push that total closer to 30. It all comes down to how willing Benge is to put his body on the line a few more times a year, but he does have 20-30 potential despite not stealing even 25 bases in a season in the minors or while at Oklahoma State. Regardless, he has good instincts on the basepaths and is excellent at taking an extra base when the opportunity presents itself. Fielding Benge racked up +7 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) in 1,388 innings in the outfield this year, most of them in right field. He also had one +1 Out Above Average, or OAA. His +8 Fielding Run Value (FRV) puts him in the 85th percentile of all players in the league. It’s clear that Benge is a rock-solid defensive outfielder, and could be even better in 2027 as he cleans up his routes and becomes used to certain ballparks. Thanks to the emergence of fellow rookie A.J. Ewing in center field, he should be able to focus all of his time on right field moving forward, which is the perfect fit given his ludicrously powerful arm. Arm Speak of the devil. You may not believe this, but Benge’s best tool might just be his throwing arm. You can tell he used to be a pitcher, because he was top of the league in Arm Value (+7) and ranked in the 99th percentile in arm strength, at 96.6 mph. This is the key component of an otherwise well-rounded defensive profile. Benge tied for sixth in outfield assists this year with 10, all of them from right field. He is a threat from back there, and has the ability to get anyone out at any point of the game. How Good Can Benge Become? Despite the fact that his power ceiling seems somewhat limited, Benge does have potential to improve in just about every other area. His ceiling has the sort of tantalizing aura usually reserved for future MVP candidates. How good can he be? Well, think of a .300 batting average, 20 home runs, 30 doubles, 30 stolen bases, a 125-130 wRC+, solid defense, and an elite throwing arm. That’s early career Carlos Beltrán stuff right there, which I think we'd all sign up for right now. There's work to do for him to get to that point, but it's clear that he's set up for a prosperous future in Queens as one-third of a blossoming outfield trio. View the full article

I’m still reeling from the Boston Red Sox’s humiliating defeat in the AL Wild Card Series. The following Thursday, I drowned myself in work. Now, as I start this piece over the weekend, I’ve finally gathered some of my thoughts. The Red Sox limped out of September as one of the worst offenses in baseball. Their .219 average (30th), .295 OBP (27th), .356 slugging percent (28th), 81 wRC+ (28th) .291 wOBA (30th) were all among the worst marks in the league. They rolled into the postseason like someone had slipped Xanax in the dugout Gatorade cooler. Slumps happen, of course. The bats went cold at the wrong time, sure. These are the ebbs and flows of baseball. Still, it's clear the team rode on the high of their 32-5 run and used that as a sign that everything was fine, ignoring the lackluster product on the field between April and June and August and September. If you recall, the team’s offense was a glaring issue last postseason too. Who do we blame? Someone constructed the Red Sox’s lineup and decided which players were worth investing in and who left. Ultimately, the Red Sox’s collapse traces back to Craig Breslow and the front office. Here’s where things went wrong. Red Sox's One-Size-Fits-All Development Approach Doesn't Work From what I gather, Craig Breslow runs the Red Sox’s player development program like an overpriced meal-kit subscription. Every player gets handed the same box with the same pre-portioned ingredients. What happens if someone doesn't like the recipe or wants to try something different? Milwaukee or Chicago will happily cook a hearty dinner for you -- from scratch. Consider the following pitchers who are thriving after parting ways with the organization. Kyle Harrison added a changeup to his arsenal, which helped him unlock a new gear with the Brewers. Dustin May finally got healthy and adjusted his arm angle for a breakout first half with the Cardinals before being acquired by the Brewers at the trade deadline. I’ll hedge that the Milwaukee pair hasn’t looked particularly strong in the postseason. After surprisingly making the National League Division Series roster, Harrison didn’t even pitch. May burped up two earned runs across six innings in the Padres’ sole win of the series. Jordan Hicks has undergone a renaissance in Chicago. By raising his arm angle, he became one of the best high-leverage relief pitchers in baseball during the second half. Sean Newcomb has evolved into a Swiss Army knife for the White Sox, starting in Game 3 of the American League Division Series. I sound like a broken record here, but he lowered his arm angle and started leaning more on his sweeper (which Statcast calls a slurve). None of these changes came while these players were on the Red Sox. Andrew Bailey’s pitching lab gave up on them first. If you’re not a hulking guy with a ridiculous extension, best of luck finding your stride in Boston. Harrison, Hicks, and May (indirectly), were all part of the infamous Rafael Devers trade. It’s frustrating to see each of them succeeding less than a year after leaving the Red Sox. Almost three years into his tenure as Chief Baseball Officer, hitters remain elusive to Breslow. One specific player comes to mind, who was another piece in the Rafael Devers trade: James Tibbs III. The outfield prospect lasted a couple months in the Red Sox’s system until he was traded for Dustin May at the trade deadline. In that short window, the organization tried to fix something that wasn’t broken. Tibbs reflected on the different approach in the Dodgers organization, saying: “They’ve just let me be myself… I think the main thing was just coming in here, I just felt like a shell of myself. I was trying to find my swing again, find the thing that made me successful in the past.” This year, the Georgia native led the Pacific League in extra-base hits (65) and walks (108) while slashing .287/.409/.532 across 141 games for the Oklahoma City Comets. Red Sox Coasted On the High of Their 32-5 Run The Red Sox’s season can be divided into three parts: Toward the end of August, Boston threw away a meaningful final series against New York, one that could’ve given them home-field advantage in the Wild Card Series. The Yankees took off from there and went 15-8 for the best record in the American League in September. Meanwhile, the Red Sox went 12-12. There are a lot of ifs and buts here, but if Boston had home field advantage in the Wild Card Series, I imagine they would’ve at least made the first round competitive. Can you imagine the warm welcome Cam Schlittler would’ve received at Fenway? Moreover, the team brazenly announced Breslow and interim manager Chad Tracy’s three-year extensions in the middle of September, which came across as the front office cashing in on a hot streak. The Front Office Echo Chamber I’ve been critical of Craig Breslow’s leadership for a while now. Former Red Sox skipper Alex Cora and Breslow's relationship reached a breaking point this year. Tensions were reportedly high and they didn’t see eye-to-eye on some issues. Healthy tension is fine, but theirs was toxic. In late April, Breslow consolidated power. Cora got Red Wedding’d and replaced by Chad Tracy, who has acted as the human shield between the analytically-minded front office and clubhouse. After the Red Sox’s Game 2 ALWCS loss, Willson Contreras made a pointed comment about the team’s over-reliance on data and analytics. Tracy notably pulled starters Payton Tolle and Sonny Gray after just 4.2 innings in both games. Fans speculated that those decisions were secretly the front office pulling the strings, but Tracy owned up to both calls. This is pure speculation, but Tracy taking the blame looked like he was protecting the people above him. Back to the data point. Every team uses data analytics (minus the Angels, probably), but the biggest separator is how well information is communicated. Sometimes players feel like data is simply bossing them around, rather than actually helping them. After being taken out in Game 2, Gray commented, “I would’ve liked to have been trusted in that moment.” Look at Caleb Durbin. As a new member of the Red Sox, he struggled heavily, slashing .172/.261/.263 through late April. (To be fair, he found his stride around the same time Tracy’s new coaching staff took over.) Still, Durbin went to a private hitting facility at former teammate Carlos Narváez’s suggestion and his performance quickly bounced back from June to August. When a player has to seek outside counsel to find his swing, something is awry inside the organization. I’ll end on this: the Red Sox have four issues to address this offseason. The first is to figure out how to handle premium velocity. Free-agent Seiya Suzuki, who has a career .792 OPS vs pitches 95+ mph, is an intriguing target. The second is to fill the lineup’s power void, preferably by not betting on an internal player to have a career season. (Tyler O’Neill recorded the Red Sox’s most recent 30-plus home run season in 2024.) The third is changing how they develop players. Kyle Harrison, Jordan Hicks, Sean Newcomb, and James Tibbs became their best selves when a team built a development plan specifically tailored to them. The Red Sox should be doing this, not watching it happen somewhere else. The final issue, which is the most complicated, is to optimize strength and conditioning protocols. At the end-of-season press conference, Breslow was asked whether the team would reevaluate its training methods after a year of soft-tissue injuries. His response? Career seasons, huh? The Red Sox have dealt with a weird string of hitting-related injuries going back to 2024. Roman Anthony missed over 100 games in 2026 due to his CMC joint tear. Between tearing the cartilage in his ribs and rupturing his left patellar tendon, first baseman Triston Casas hasn’t been healthy for an entire season since his debut year in 2023. There’s also a flip side.The same strength and conditioning program that’s literally tearing hitters’ bodies apart is letting other players get heavier. Adley Rutschman has put on noticeable weight this past season. Erik Miller, who was acquired at the trade deadline, has had weight issues of his own, potentially affecting his delivery. Whatever the Red Sox are doing in the weight room, it’s failing both groups and must be addressed this offseason. I don’t mean to be a pessimist here, but none of this gets fixed with one miracle signing or trade this offseason. To his credit, Breslow has developed a pitching pipeline that’s produced Payton Tolle and has helped Sonny Gray and Aroldis Chapman rejuvenate their careers. He also landed Garrett Crochet and Adley Rutschman on the trade market as well, which has given the franchise the star power it has been craving. But a great pitching pipeline doesn’t do much for hitters, and right now, the way decisions are made in the front office needs to change. There’s organizational rot within the Red Sox, and that starts with Craig Breslow. View the full article

A playoff game starts like an arm-wrestling match. The opponents make contact, feel one another out for a moment, and then there's a sudden tension, as each side tries to flatten the other and win the prize—but meets almost perfectly equal resistance from the other. Both sides knew what was coming, after all. The real strategy lies in not letting the momentary wobble of that first grapple destabilize you. Clear that hurdle, and you can settle in for the long application of power and pressure that is the real substance of the fight. The 2026 National League Championship Series started that way. The Dodgers and Brewers rushed at each other at full force, right away, but each side knew there would be no instant knockout. Leadoff hitter Mookie Betts hit a sharp grounder that force Brice Turang to cross the bag at a run and throw on the move to first base, his body only half-turned to his target. No problem. Out No. 1. Freddie Freeman lashed a line-drive single to left field in the first inning, and right away, the visitors were putting impressive swings on Jacob Misiorowski. Will Smith hit a smash, too, but this one was on the ground. Cooper Pratt fielded it slickly and got the ball to Turang, whose turn was the highlight of the play. A twin killing got Milwaukee's ace out of the first frame. Just like those locked-in bicep warriors, though, the two sides kept the pressure on one another. For Los Angeles, that meant another rally right away in the second, and this one produced a run. It could have produced more, too, but with the bases loaded, Enrique Hernándeza hit a ball into the hole at short. Pratt came up with it again, and did well to get his shoulders turned and make a strong throw to Turang to retire the lead runner. That seemed sure to be all they would get, though; the ball wasm't even hit that hard. No. Turang got off a perfect and near-instantaneous sidearm relay, retiring Hernández to end the inning and nullify the run that nearly crossed the plate to double the Dodger advantage. Already, Turang was the key man at the keystone, keeping a messy game from truly getting that way. When he stepped to the plate to lead off the bottom of the fourth, though, the Dodgers still led 1-0. Tarik Skubal was outpitching Misiorowski, and it wasn't especially close. He was throwing strikes with four or five different pitches; Misiorowski was spraying even his fastball. Worse, the Brewers showed little feel for what Skubal was trying to do, and were getting themselves out. Turang was the second batter to see him for a second time, and the first to make the proper adjustment. He laid off two four-seamers away, where Skubal was living with that pitch all night. (One of them could have been a strike, but it wasn't called so, and Will Smith did not challenge it.) On 2-0, Skubal sensibly tried a sinker, coming back to the arm side of the plate and running in on Turang. It was the right pitch in the context of the at-bat, in that if Turang was looking for more hard stuff away or even hunching on a get-me-over breaking ball, he'd have been way ahead of the pitch. He wasn't, though. The pitch ran right into Turang's newly made swing's wheelhouse, and he hit what is his trademark home run: a slicing drive just over the wall in left-center field. It was a beautiful piece of hitting. The game was tied, but the crowd was just getting its chance to come loose. They carried the Brewers the rest of the way. Misiorowski's night was imperfect; he'll have to try again in his third postseason start to put up a line worthy of his imminent Cy Young Award winner status. Pat Murphy only trusted the ball to his four trustworthy relievers, though, and they held firm. The Brewers threatened to tack on runs more than the Dodgers threatened to tip the game back in their favor. Abner Uribe's emotional strikeout celebration to end the sixth inning will live long in the memories of Brewers fans. Ditto for Garrett Mitchell's fist pump (tuned to a Gane 5 win in a 2-2 series, arguably, more than to sealing Game 1) when he caught the final out. The crowd was charged up. So was the team. They've hungered for a year for this chance to prove that last season's defeat wasn't inevitable—that they're formidable opponents for the Dodgers, as much as the Dodgers are for them. Turang wasn't as emotive as his teammates. He was the icicle to the heart when the team needed a killing blow, though. He showed his teammates that Skubal was mortal; they went and got the lead an inning later. He played gorgeous defense all night. He even laid down a late sacrifice bunt. In Game 1, he shed the hircine nubs that some fans saw sprouting from his head after three straight poor playoff series. Turang is an essential piece of the Brewers' winning machinery. That machine is humming now. One game in, they're one game closer to winning the NLCS than they've been since 2018. View the full article

This is all new to Luis Lara. He wasn’t on the roster last year when the Milwaukee Brewers faced the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Championship Series. He wasn’t even really a glimmer in their eyes. One of the last places Lara figured he would be a year ago was as the starting right fielder for Game 1 of the 2026 NLCS. Heck, even in spring training that was probably a reach. But there the rookie was, in the starting lineup Sunday against the two-time defending World Series champs at American Family Field in what would be a 2-1 victory. He was batting eighth against Tarik Skubal, the winner of the last two AL Cy Young Awards. Lara was in the lineup because of Skubal. As a switch-hitter and platooning with Sal Frelick, a left-handed hitter, in right field, Lara was the choice. But Lara hasn’t done much offensively in his rookie season. In 61 games since coming up in early July, the 5-foot-7 speedy outfielder has put up a .246/.311/.325 slash line. Not far from his .257/.369/.343 mark last year at Double-A Biloxi. After all, he was known for his defense in center field, winning a minor-league Gold Glove for the entire minors a year ago. He has certainly excelled in that area this year with several sparkling plays. Lara — sharing the field with stars such as former MVPs Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman — made himself a significant part of Sunday’s Game 1. His first at-bat against Skubal went about as you would think, a two-time Cy Young winner facing a rookie playing on his biggest stage yet. Leading off the bottom of the third, Lara saw four pitches from Skubal, the first one a ball, then two pitches in the zone. Lara headed back to the bench after whiffing on a 97.6 mph sinker above the zone. As things would have it, Lara came up in a key situation in his second at-bat. That came in the bottom of the fifth. Garrett Mitchell drew a four-pitch walk and fellow rookie Cooper Pratt, who preceded Lara to the majors by about a month, bunted Mitchell to second. What did Lara learn from that first at-bat? Don’t let the big left-hander get on top of the count. On the very first pitch, the 21-year-old attacked a changeup and bounced it up the middle and into center. Mitchell scored easily and without a play. Lara had put the Brewers up 2-1. It was the biggest moment in the young career of Lara. He earned his spot on the major-league roster through an improved offensive approach this season, leading to a .321/.432/.470 slash line in his first 78 games at Triple-A Nashville. The offense, not to mention the spectacular defense, was the impetus for the Brewers to give Lara a seven-year, $31 million contract during the season. It was less than Pratt’s eight-year, $50,750,000 deal, but Pratt also plays a more important position, shortstop. Still, Lara came through when the Brewers needed him to. There will be a point, perhaps next year, where Lara could be more of an everyday player rather than platooning with Frelick. Due to splitting time, Lara came to the plate in just one game in the NL Division Series against the San Diego Padres. That was when he started Game 1 against left-hander Robbie Ray and went 0-for-3. His only other appearance came in the Game 3 loss, when he pinch-ran for William Contreras in the ninth inning. He sat and watched and learned in the other games. But there Lara was in Game 1. He will likely be back on the bench for Monday’s Game 2, when the Dodgers send World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a right-hander, to the mound. Lara could get a pinch-hit opportunity against one of the Dodgers’ left-handed relievers, such as Alex Vesia and Tanner Scott. He will get another starting assignment when Blake Snell starts, probably in Game 3. Whether Lara comes through in that game is something to wait and see. For one night, though, Lara — on a stage with some of the biggest names in all of MLB, players with a proven postseason pedigree — stood tall as the one who had the hit that gave the Brewers a victory in Game 1. If the Brewers take down Goliath and advance to their second World Series, that hit becomes an even bigger part of franchise lore. View the full article

Josiah Hartshorn put up eye-popping production in his age-19 season, showcasing a hit/power blend, backed by strong swing decisions, culminating in finishing his season at AA. What might his major-league ETA be? View the full article

Because the Cubs were so bad at pitching in general this season, their bullpen came in for disproportionate criticism. Their starters often provided little margin for error, and their relief corps wasn't deep or healthy enough to come through when they were needed most. The pen really did lose the Cubs some games in 2026, but it felt like it lost them several more, to many fans; too much was asked of them. Jed Hoyer admitted a "failure" of bullpen construction in 2026, which was not vapid self-effacement. He did fail. The pen wasn't good enough. In truth, though, it should have been much better. Within a fortnight of the beginning of the season, two key cogs in the pen he had built were pulled out of that mix and dragooned back into the rotation, in Colin Rea and Ben Brown. Injuries upstream caused problems, but so did injuries to the core of that pen, itself. Daniel Palencia's World Baseball Classic ramp-up created a challenge for him as he tried to throttle down and then return to full strength, which increased the risk of the injuries that eventually hit him. Phil Maton had had chronic knee trouble dating back two seasons, but signed a two-year deal for significant money with the Cubs—then essentially lost the season to that very knee problem. Hunter Harvey had a balky elbow, because that's what Hunter Harvey does. All three of the quasi-relief aces Hoyer had arranged at the back end of his theoretical pen were, by the beginning of May, clearly not going to be that kind of anchor for that unit. Each problem was foreseeable, so Hoyer must absorb the blame for them—and for the decline of the aged Caleb Thielbar. However, he also got unlucky. The number of injuries that hit the rotation snatched away the safety net he'd attempted to build behind that top tier of arms, and even one of the most promising stopgap slingers (southpaw Riley Martin) went down almost as soon as he came up. From the beginning of the season to the end, though, Hoyer did find a couple of good ways to improve the bullpen, both for 2026 and with an eye toward 2027. He patched the rotation enough over the summer to get Rea and Javier Assad back to working out of the pen at times. Low-dollar signing Jacob Webb emerged as a solid (though overworked) arm, and waiver-wire pickup Ryan Rolison proved he belongs in the majors. Most importantly, Hoyer made a rare, significant investment in a controllable reliever at the deadline, picking up Ryan Zeferjahn from the Angels at a steep prospect price. It was a bit of a flip from the Scott Effross deal in which Hoyer took some pride in 2022; he gave up a controllable big-leaguer with a much higher ceiling for a player he believed would help immediately and has significant upside of his own. What Hoyer hoped that group would become never did materialize. Down the stretch, the club tried to get Brown, Justin Steele, Shelby Miller and Martin ready fast enough to tack them onto the roster, but went 0-for-4. Meanwhile, Webb turned into a pumpkin, and Palencia and Zeferjahn were inconsistent, for different but similar reasons. However, it wasn't the pen that sank the season. The team fell apart at the finish line because of poor starting pitching, and never held a lead the bullpen might have even attempted to protect in the crucial final games of the regular campaign or the Wild Card Series against San Diego. Indeed, at the end of the team's year, there were only two important silver linings to celebrate: Pete Crow-Armstrong's maturation into arguably the best player in baseball; and The beginnings of a good bullpen coming into focus. There are two major vectors of variance that make building a bullpen difficult. One is performance. Samples are small and the margin for error (whenever you're using an important arm) is tight, and relievers are all failed starters, so most of the time, their performance will be somehow volatile. They might battle command issues or need to have their very best stuff to be effective, but whatever form it takes, a reliever who's good one year might be quite bad the next. The other major vector is health. Because of those things, the Cubs are far from guaranteed to have a good set of relievers heading into 2027. They have to make an addition or two to the mix. That's all they really need, though, because there's enough talent on hand to expect at least the guts of a strong pen in 2027. Rolison, Palencia and Zeferjahn remain under long-term team control, and will cost almost nothing next year. Miller should be a full go in 2027, and even in his rehab stints in Iowa, he looked very good. In fact, his fastball has never been firmer, and his slider-splitter combination was nasty. Martin ended the year healthy. Maton had surgery in September to address his nagging knee problem, which puts him in position to have a healthy year. It's unlikely, for different reasons, that Brown or erstwhile top prospect Jaxon Wiggins ever stick in the majors as starters. They should become part of the relief picture next spring, too, though each might initially stay stretched out in case they're needed for a bulkier role. The Cubs have an affordable club option on Webb, too. You need at least a dozen arms you believe in to feel good about a bullpen mix going into a season, and this team is not there. Nor, however, are they as far away as they seemed for much of 2026. The starting rotation needs major renovation. Hoyer and company should sign multiple starters they can envision as front-line options, in addition to scouring the market for trade opportunities and pouncing on chances to add young, live arms. When it comes to the pen, though, the needs are much more limited. The in-house candidates are stronger than they look, coming off a season in which they were disproportionately diminished by injuries. Palencia, Zeferjahn, Rolison, Miller, Webb, Martin and Maton are a solid base upon which to build. They should be better and healthier, as a group, next year. That's a good thing, since the Cubs need to focus on other, bigger needs. View the full article

The Miami Marlins will have fewer on-air contributors to their television broadcasts next season. As Fish On First reported on Friday, Craig Minervini, Jeff Nelson and Rod Allen were trimmed from the Marlins.TV roster, as was play-by-by announcer Kyle Sielaff, who is expected to be replaced by Jack McMullen. Kevin Barral, Isaac Azout and Ely Sussman discuss all angles of the shake-up and how it could impact the vibe and quality of team broadcasts moving forward. 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. As of Sunday evening, McMullen's move to TV has not yet been formally announced. We are also waiting to learn who will fill his shoes on the Marlins Radio Network. View the full article

The Twins started the 2026 season with Brooks Lee at shortstop, Royce Lewis at third base, and Luke Keaschall at second. That, to say the least, didn't work. By mid-May, Lewis was at Triple-A St. Paul, and it was clear that Lee needed to move to the hot corner. Keaschall slowly got pushed to the outfield. That left a vacuum on the infield, and whne Tristan Gray proved a poor stopper for that gap, in stepped Ryan Kreidler. Over the offseason, Kreidler underwent a major swing change. He flattened the plane of his stroke, boosting his bat speed, and the early returns on those adjustments were superb. He played only sparingly, but at the end of June, Kreidler was batting .287/.357/.505. In 112 plate appearances, he had 10 extra-base hits (half of which were homers), 10 walks and just 19 strikeouts. The team never treated him like the solution to all their problems, exactly, but he certainly looked like a solution to some problems as the calendar turned to July. Meanwhile, Victor Caratini actually did look like the solution to the Twins' problems. They didn't have a choice but to install him as a regular, but when Ryan Jeffers broke his hamate bone on May 18, Caratini took over full-time catching duty, and he took off like a shot. Before Jeffers went down, Caratini had batted an execrable .192/.294/.231, but he stepped up in a huge way in Jeffers's stead. From the game in which Jeffers got hurt through the All-Star break, Caratini got 138 plate appearances. He batted .282/.370/496, with 13 extra-base hits, 16 walks and 26 strikeouts. He was the linchpin of the lineup as they improbably stayed afloat. Then, the clock struck midnight on the Cinderella stories for both Kreidler and Caratini. From July 1 through the end of the season, Kreidler was catastrophically bad. He got 155 plate appearances, but batted .169/.234/.289. In 43 more trips to the dish than he'd had in his superb first half, he produced no more extra-base hits and just one more walk, while whiffing 23 more times. He looked like a late-blooming, dynamic (albeit flawed) role player, until he didn't. Caratini's ascent was never quite as improbable. He was a low-wattage signing over the winter, but he did get a two-year deal. Depending on your feelings about him as an individual and the class as a whole, he was either the best backup available or a quasi-regular; that's why he merited more than a one-year offer. He's been around a long time. Still, his summer surge was thrilling—which made his late-season spiral even more deflating than it would otherwise have been. Caratini made Kreidler look like a fearsome slugger in the second half. After the break, he batted .179/.263/.198, with just two extra-base hits in 118 plate appearances. He walked eight times in that span; he struck out 30 times. The closest thing to a functioning offensive skill he had was getting in the way of the ball; he was hit by four pitches. These two players symbolize the Twins' season, in some ways. They performed better than expected for a while, but when they ran out of gas, it wasn't pretty. Specifically, they seemed to benefit from the Twins' offensive instruction for a while. The new hitting coach coalition the team assembled in the first year under Derek Shelton had several successes, and for a while, Kreidler and Caratini looked like they would number among them. Eventually, though, both guys ran into the same problem: a grooved swing. Unfortunately, the Twins have to come in for some of the blame on that. They helped each develop and approach and a stroke that would maximize the damage they could do when they got their pitch. Teams eventually learned not to give them that pitch, though, and neither player had the plasticity to respond successfully. Of the 338 batters with the most swings this year, Kreidler had the smallest range in average swing tilt from hacks at low pitches to those against high ones. Swing tilt is the angle between an imaginary horizontal line drawn through the handle of the bat and the actual bat position, just before contact, and while it sounds like a small thing, it's important. How much tilt a hitter has in their swing influences where they can most effectively meet the ball, and to what parts of the field they can effectively hit it. It shapes the margin for error of the swing, in a sense, and the ability to manipulate that tilt is an important part of maximizing margin for error, overall. At the opposite end of the leaderboard from Kreidler, in this metric, is exactly the person you'd expect: Luis Arraez. When he geared up to produce more bat speed and flattened out his swing this year, Kreidler lost the ability to bend that swing and hit pitches in all areas of the zone, vertically. Caratini was second-worst in the league, right behind Kreidler. Each player took some good advice from Twins coaches this year, but they also got waylaid. By engineering their swings to hammer pitches between the mid-thigh and the belly button, they made themselves more vulnerable to everything else—and, eventually, to manipulations of timing, too, as they tried to make changes but fell short. Adaptability is a vital part of hitting, and neither Caratini nor Kreidler did it well this year. They did find some benefits in the process. For a stretch, each was the best version of himself. If the Twins want to get more sustained success from next year's crop of reclamation or development projects, though, they'll need to be emphasize more flexibility as they provide feedback on mechanics and approach—or get some players with a bit more pure talent than Kreidler and Caratini possess. Both hitters focused an above-average share of their swings in the middle of the zone, which is good. They were aware that their swings weren't especially maneuverable, and they tried to devise a plan to survive that shortcoming. They couldn't outrun it, though. As the team heads into the offseason, the front office has been enthusiastic about what they achieved on the hitting side this year. There were some unequivocal successes, along with these qualified ones, so much of that self-satisfaction is justified. If they want to know where they still have some heavy lifting to do, though, they need look no further than the craters left by the way Caratini and Kreidler crashed to Earth late in the year. View the full article

The state of Florida got through a good chunk of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season without much of a whisper of a threat, but all of that changed earlier this week when Invest 92L churned up off the coast of western Mexico and made its way into temperate waters. Within two days, Hurricane Isaias was named and quickly strengthened to a major Category 3 storm. Isaias made landfall Friday night and maintained 115 mph sustained winds when it hit Destin, Florida, just to the west of Pensacola, as a major threat to life and property. The city of Pensacola, including the Bay Area and the ballpark, took a significant impact from the eye wall of the storm, causing damage to Blue Wahoos Stadium. Winds in the area of 90 mph sustained, gusting to 117 mph look to have been the main culprit for damage within the stadium. Most significantly, the covering of the batter’s eye has been torn to shreds and much of it is gone from its moorings altogether. Fence and wall padding has been blown down, some of which was scattered in the outfield grass. Damage to the outfield and foul ground walls themselves is also evident. Above the box seating behind first base, shade coverings have also been shredded and hang loosely from overhead. Finally, many pieces of furniture and other fixtures have been blown down and throughout the fan experience areas. “The (most) damage is to the left field fence and batter’s eye. We will know a bit more in learning if video board damaged. The new batter's cages have minimal damage and the locker rooms appear okay,” Blue Wahoos majority owner Quint Studer told Fish On First. The stadium’s original scoreboard was replaced with an upgraded LED video board in 2017. Measuring 26.3 feet high and 30.5 feet wide, the new board cost $235,000. At the time of its installment, the Blue Wahoos paid $120,000 of the cost; the rest was covered by non-profit organization Community Maritime Park Associates. The batting cages were finished as part of the aforementioned renovations this past offseason. They were a $2 million undertaking. Per the terms of the Blue Wahoos’ lease at the park, the team is not responsible for the upkeep of permanent fixtures. If the batting cage or video board needs to be repaired, it is highly likely the City of Pensacola (perhaps in conjunction with CMPA) will foot the bill. The same holds true for the batter’s eye and fencing. “It wasn't completely terrible," an eyewitness said of the stadium’s current state. “The park itself and the grass was okay. It's going to need need probably some new scoreboard material, and just to kind of do a general tidying up.” Thankfully for Pensacola’s park, which sits just on the edge of Pensacola Bay, they look to have escaped without much in the way of water damage even though Isaias boasted as high as a five-foot storm surge in some areas not too distant. Still, the stadium took as close to a direct impact as possible from winds powerful enough to topple and toss significantly sized objects. The internal cleanup and possible replacement of those items will fall solely on the Blue Wahoos, who have already lost revenue from having to cancel their fall baseball exhibition between Florida State and Auburn, an event that is always a popular draw. Last year, tickets to see the FSU baseball program take on Mississippi State sold out within an hour of going on sale. As the repairs and cleanup get underway, the Blue Wahoos could also be forced to cancel NCAA baseball games featuring the University of Alabama (October 17) and the University of Florida (October 24). The first Blue Wahoos home game of 2027 is set for April 6. Studer isn’t worried about his venue being ready for the occasion. “All (repairs) will be completed,” he said. The MiLB schedule will not be impacted by a potential MLB lockout. Isaias is the first Atlantic hurricane to strike in this close proximity to Pensacola since September 2020 when Hurricane Sally tore through the region on its way to causing $7.3 billion in total damage. Other than the Blue Wahoos being idle that season, circumstances were eerily similar—Sally struck just outside of Pensacola, the Blue Wahoos had just upgraded their stadium, and damage to the park was to the same amenities. The team was able to recover and rebuild the stadium as well as turn in 500-plus community service hours in aid of those affected in the region. View the full article

There are certain relationships in baseball that never truly go away. A former executive can leave an organization. A player can fall out of favor. An entire fan base can move on. But apparently, Jeremy Zoll was not going to let Derek Falvey get too far down the hallway at Citi Field before reminding him about some of his favorite Twins. According to sources, Zoll immediately called Falvey after the Mets hired him and presented a trade proposal. Royce Lewis. Trevor Larnach. Matt Wallner. All three players have experienced varying degrees of uncertainty in Minnesota. All three have also shown enough talent to make another organization believe there is something worth unlocking. And if there is one thing Falvey knows, it is these players. “Jeremy called me pretty quickly,” Falvey said. “I didn't even have my Mets email set up yet. I thought it was David Stearns calling me about onboarding.” Instead, it was Zoll. “Derek,” Zoll allegedly said, “how do you feel about bringing a few old friends to New York?” One Man's Trash... To be clear, calling these three players “trash” would be wildly unfair. Lewis has tremendous upside, even if his career has taken a series of frustrating turns. Larnach has shown stretches of being a legitimate middle-of-the-order bat. Wallner has demonstrated the kind of power that makes you wonder why every team doesn't simply give him 600 plate appearances and see what happens. That last part is particularly important. Because what better place to rediscover your confidence than New York? Nothing says “career reset” quite like joining a Mets organization that has spent the last several years providing baseball fans with an annual reminder that having the highest payroll does not necessarily guarantee having the highest win total. Falvey, naturally, sees the opportunity. “I know those guys,” the fictional Falvey said. “I know what they can do. I know what they can't do. I know what their strengths are. I know what their weaknesses are. And I know exactly how many times each of them has made me think, 'We should probably give him another chance.'” The Mets' Side of the Deal The Mets, meanwhile, apparently have no idea what they are getting themselves into. But that has never stopped them before. One Mets executive was reportedly intrigued by the package. “We asked Derek if he had any players he really believed in,” the anonymous Mets executive said. “He gave us three names. We asked if they were available. He said, 'Well, technically.' So here we are.” There is also the matter of cost. The Twins would presumably want something in return, although sources could not confirm whether the Mets would be sending prospects, cash considerations, a player to be named later, or a strongly worded letter explaining why New York should not have to pay for the players. One Mets source suggested the front office was comfortable with the risk. “We've had worse ideas,” the source said. When asked for an example, the source declined to comment. A Fresh Start for Everyone There is something poetic about the potential reunion. Falvey gets three players he knows. Lewis gets a new organization. Larnach gets a new organization. Wallner gets a new organization. And the Twins get to see whether their former president of baseball operations can somehow make all three players productive somewhere else. That final part is perhaps the most important. Because if Lewis goes to New York and becomes an All-Star, Larnach settles into the middle of the order, and Wallner becomes a 40-homer cult hero, Twins fans will have approximately 11 minutes before someone asks why Minnesota didn't simply keep all three. If they struggle, meanwhile, Minnesota will have successfully traded three players nobody wanted for the privilege of watching Falvey struggle with three players everybody once wanted. That's the beauty of baseball. Nobody is ever actually wrong. They just haven't waited long enough. As for Zoll, he apparently remains confident the deal makes sense. “I think Derek would appreciate what we're doing here,” Zoll said. “We're giving him three players he knows, three players he believes in and three players he can now be blamed for.” The Mets are reportedly still reviewing the paperwork. Mostly because nobody in New York can figure out whether Minnesota actually included Wallner's bat or simply the rights to discuss how good he could be. There is also some disagreement over whether Lewis, Larnach and Wallner are being acquired as players or as part of a larger Derek Falvey nostalgia package. Either way, the Mets are excited. After all, if there is one thing New York has proven over the years, it is that nothing fixes a roster quite like acquiring a few talented players who just need a change of scenery. And if that doesn't work? Well, there is always next July. At which point Zoll can call Falvey again. View the full article