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Brandon Sproat was a highly-touted prospect in the Mets organization for quite some time. He had lukewarm numbers across 121 innings in Triple-A last season, posting a 4.24 ERA and 4.18 FIP and causing his prospect ranking to dip from being No. 1 in the Mets system in 2025 to No. 5 in 2026. Nonetheless, the Brewers remained interested and acquired him as part of the Freddy Peralta trade. He made his Brewers debut Sunday, amid considerable hype, but he had a tough time of it. He needed 86 pitches to make it through just three innings of work, giving up six hits, four walks, and seven earned runs. Before that, the Brewers’ pitching staff had limited the White Sox to a total of just three runs in the first two games of the series. So what went wrong? The biggest issue seemed to be command. Sproat had a hard time finding the zone consistently, and when he missed, he missed big. For the most part, opposing hitters were laying off pitches outside of the zone and punishing anything that ended up right down the middle, which was far too frequent a problem. # of pitches Zone % Chase % Whiff % Sinker 36 66.7% 16.7% 30.0% Cutter 19 47.4% 10.0% 11.1% Sweeper 15 53.3% 42.9% 37.5% Curveball 11 27.3% 12.5% 0.0% Changeup 4 25.0% 33.3% 0.0% Every pitch had at least one glaring issue in this outing. The sweeper performed admirably on the surface, posting strong chase and whiff rates, but he did leave a few too many up in the zone. He got away with it for the most part, but also gave up a 403-foot home run to Everson Pereira. The cutter really struggled to do much of anything. Fewer than half ended up in the zone, and the ones that did were simply too juicy for the White Sox lineup. After loading the bases in the first inning, a cutter located middle-middle was the pitch that ended up in the seats for a grand slam. The curveball was simply all over the place, often starting way out of the zone and staying there. It didn’t generate a whiff because there was only one swing, a foul ball by Edgar Quero. Of the eight that landed outside of the zone, this was the only one tempting enough to chase; the rest were mostly waste pitches. To Sproat’s credit, the sinker did seem effective, and also landed in the zone two-thirds of the time. It seemed like the pitch over which he had the most command, and although it did give up three hits, none were for extra bases. A few were arguably defensive miscues, more than truly earned hits. Being a rookie starter is tough enough as it is, and the pressures of being a top prospect and newly acquired trade asset don’t exactly help. Throw in the implicit pressure of the home crowd being amped up for a potential sweep to kick off the season, and it’s easy to see why the 25-year-old Sproat may not have had the smoothest debut in the world. He was also working with rookie Jeferson Quero, who caught him in some bullpens this spring but never in game action. That could have contributed to some issues with pitch selection and/or receiving, which also cropped up. Aside from the confounding variables, a sample of one outing simply isn’t enough data to make a decision on whether he’s deserving of staying in the big-league rotation. His numbers in spring training were far more encouraging, particularly his 28.3% strikeout rate and his 29.6% whiff rate. It will take time for him to start looking like the prospect that has been promised. The Brewers don’t necessarily need him to be a front-line starter right away. However, command issues will continue to limit him if unaddressed, and moving forward, that should continue to be a priority for the young starter. View the full article

Ian Happ has been a much-maligned player over the course of his tenure with the Cubs. I've personally written about him a few times, including once this offseason, and once last fall. Happ doesn't deserve a lot of the animosity thrown his way; he's a really good baseball player. Even on Opening Day, a quick browsing of reddit had me finding posts complaining about him hitting in the 3-hole. The Cubs lost two of three over the weekend to the Washington Nationals. Between the disappointing results and the Pete Crow-Armstrong and Nico Hoerner extensions, Happ's big weekend kind of flew under the radar. The Cubs' left fielder hit two home runs, had three hits overall, and was one of the standouts offensively. In fact, he's probably owed a home run, as a flyout that he smashed in Thursday's Opening Day contest would have flown an estimated 113 feet farther had the wind not intervened. That was the largest weather-related difference tracked in the Statcast Era. Underlying his first weekend were some encouraging signs for the 31-year old, who will turn 32 later this summer. The age matters here. As we've gotten more and more data publicly available to us through Statcast and Baseball Savant, one thing has become clear: 32 is roughly the age when we begin to see a league wide trend of bat speed decline. This decline is then more pronounced after. Bat speed is an indicator of power and exit velocity, so dropping bat speed isn't particularly good. Despite standing right on that dreaded doorstep, Happ has seen a noticeable increase in bat speed so far in 2026, averaging 74.6 mph on his swings, up from 71.4mph last year. Not only is it up, but his current numbers would mark a career-best bat speed. Obviously, it's very early, but this is an encouraging sign. Diving deeper, there appear to be some small changes in how Happ has set up at the plate, particularly from the right side. While he's a little deeper in the box both left-handed and right-handed, the difference is more pronounced from his right-handed stance. Another change with his swing against left-handed pitching? He's a bit more open. The first image is of his 2025 data, while the second is from his 2026 so far. Any tweaks against lefties would be welcome for a hitter who hasn't been particularly great against them for the last few years. From 2023 through 2025 he's got a 102 wRC+ against southpaws. Compare this to his 125 wRC+ against righties, and you can begin to see the difference. A 102 isn't horrible, but it also isn't anywhere near as good as Happ has been against righties. Change is required, and it seems as though there may be a change that the outfielder has worked on. To see this change in practice, look below at that fly ball that he should have hit for a home run, wind not withstanding. Cionel Perez, a left-handed reliever with the Nationals, gets a 96-mph fastball in on the hands of Happ in the upper third of the zone. Happ is able to clear his front side and get his barrel to it. He can't control the wind, but because he's just a little more open, and a little off the plate, he's found the ability to get to this pitch and hit it with authority. Most days that lands on the street, not in a glove. Why does this matter? Traditionally, Happ doesn't do much damage on that pitch. Up-and-in fastballs are anything but his strength. Last season, he had essentially no success in this area of the strike zone against lefties. Below is this pitch from Thursday, superimposed onto a contour chart from 2025 of all Happ's batted balls with an exit velocity of 90+ MPH against lefties. Plainly, this is imperfect; the game feed Savant provides is not height-adjusted to the hitter, as the 2025 data is (you can see how much smaller the strike zone is in the image against Perez). Because of this, I suspect that this pitch is truly higher than it looks here, but even as displayed, it's outside Happ's "power zone" against lefties from last year. When we add in that likely adjustment, it's pretty apparent that this is something he didn't do last year. I can't say for certain that Happ was able to get to this pitch because he's a little farther back, a little farther off the plate, and a little more open, but all of these things would allow him to better get to that pitch and clear his front side. Add in the increase in bat speed, and the small tweaks would appear to give Happ a bit of a better platform to hit the ball with authority against whatever-sided arm he's facing. Happ has always been impressively consistent year-to-year. While he may fluctuate and go hot-and-cold within it, you always know what you're getting with him by the end; it's one of his best qualities. If Happ's indeed swinging a bit harder and his subtle adjustments are going to help him against lefties, than perhaps he won't be as predictable in 2026—not in a bad way, but in a good one. There's a long season to go, but this may very well be the best version of the switch-hitter the Cubs have ever seen. What do you think of these subtle changes? Do you think Happ can begin to produce better against LHP? View the full article

The New York Mets got minimal production from their center fielders in 2025: 30th in home runs and runs batted in, 29th in wRC+, batting average, and slugging percentage, and 27th in fWAR. Tyrone Taylor began the 2025 campaign as the primary center fielder, but his offensive results weren’t great. The Mets grabbed Cedric Mullins from the Orioles at the deadline, but he too didn’t provide much offensively. Both Taylor and Mullins were at least solid defenders, but neither moved the needle during a second-half collapse. Thus, the Mets went out and made a splash this offseason to address their dire need in center field. The long-awaited Luis Robert Jr. trade finally happened as the White Sox shipped him to New York in exchange for Luisangel Acuna, and minor-league pitcher Truman Pauley. Earlier in the winter, the White Sox had picked up Robert Jr.’s $20 million option for 2026. He has another $20 million club option for 2027 with a $2 million buyout. The Mets took over Robert's entire contract in the trade. The former All Star and Silver Slugger has a ton of potential, but has been inconsistent so far in his career. What are the Mets getting in Robert Jr., and will he be able to fulfill their center field needs? It was just three years ago that he finished 12th American League Most Valuable Player voting. Luis Robert Jr.'s Green & Red Flags Robert, 28, is already a veteran of seven major-league seasons. He’s hit for a career .260 batting average and a .769 OPS, while mashing 115 doubles and 103 home runs. During his 2023 All Star campaign, Robert did basically everything well, save for his poor plate discipline. That season, he played in 145 games, while totaling 595 plate appearances. He logged career highs in runs (90), hits (144), doubles (36), home runs (38), and runs batted in (80). The only problem is that he only did this in one of his six seasons with the Chicago White Sox. After unleashing a monster offensive season in 2023, he took a decline in production in the last two seasons since. He hit 14 home runs in both 2024 and 2025, but his batting average fell from .264 in 2023, to .224 and .223 in 2023 and 2024. This might not be all his fault since he landed on the injured list three times between 2023 and 2024 due to a right hip flexor strain and a left hamstring strain that accounted for two of those stints. Consistency has eluded him, though his plate discipline has never been a strong suit. He has a career 26.7% strikeout rate accompanied by a subpar 6.3% walk rate. Between the 2020 season and two games into the 2026 season, the MLB average chase% was 28.4%; Robert has a career mark of 38.5%, which ranks toward the bottom of the league in that time.. His problems with whiffing fall into the same bucket, as he has a career mark of 32.7%, while the league has been at 25%. The Mets have had good defensive center fielders in the last few years in Brandon Nimmo, Harrison Bader, Tyrone Taylor, and Cedric Mullins. Robert won a Gold Glove his rookie year in 2020 with the White Sox, and definitely has the ability to bring in more in the future. Even average offensive production from Robert would be a boost to the Mets center field position from last year. If he stays healthy, 20 home runs minimum should be the expectation, with the potential for a lot more. He’s already checked home run number one off the box, as he hit a walk-off home run against Pirates rookie pitcher Hunter Barco in the second game of the season. In fact, that whole opening series was a tantalizing appetizer, as Robert hit a robust .455/.571/.727 through his first three games with his new team. That kind of production is unsustainable, but it's a good reminder of the star talent Robert possesses. He may not be the heart and soul of this lineup, but when he's right, he can carry an offense. View the full article

Proactively capturing value is the name of the game in Milwaukee. The Brewers excel at it in multiple areas, and for the second time in three years, they're flexing that muscle by locking up a very young position-player prospect to a long-term deal. The team and shortstop Cooper Pratt are in agreement on an eight-year contract worth over $50 million, with club options for 2034 and 2035, a source with knowledge of the negotiations confirmed to Brewer Fanatic. The source spoke on the condition of anonymity, as the team has not yet announced the deal. First with the news, on Twitter, was Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Pratt, 21, has begun this season in Triple-A, after spending all of 2025 with Double-A Nashville. He was the team's sixth-round pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, but signed for a significantly higher bonus ($1.35 million) than the slot value for that pick. After developing into one of the minor leagues' highest-regarded defensive shortstops and showing flashes of real offensive upside, he's now set to make many multiples of that—but the Brewers also gain control over the entirety of his prime. He only hit eight home runs in 527 plate appearances last year, but that was at a very young age for his level—and even then, he was an above-average hitter in the pitcher-friendly Southern League, with excellent plate discipline and good contact rates. More to come. View the full article

There was a time not long ago when optimism around the Minnesota Twins felt sustainable. Competitive rosters, postseason appearances, and a growing core gave fans reason to believe. Now, according to The Athletic’s annual Hope-O-Meter, that belief has all but vanished. The latest fan survey, which included more than 11,000 respondents, paints a fascinating picture of the sport’s emotional landscape. Across Major League Baseball, optimism is actually trending upward. A strong 72% of fans reported feeling hopeful about their favorite team, a notable jump from 66% a year ago. Baseball, broadly speaking, is in a good place when it comes to fan confidence. That makes what is happening in Minnesota stand out even more. At the top of the rankings sit perennial contenders and rising powers. The Los Angeles Dodgers lead the way at an eye-popping 99.8% optimism, followed by the Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners, Detroit Tigers, and Kansas City Royals. The presence of Detroit and Kansas City is particularly notable for Twins fans, as two division rivals have surged into the league’s emotional elite. Minnesota, meanwhile, sits alone at the bottom. The Twins posted a staggering 4.3% optimism rating, the lowest mark in all of baseball. The only team even within shouting distance is the Los Angeles Angels at 5.7%. After that, the gap widens significantly, with no other franchise falling below 24%. This is not just pessimism. It is a complete erosion of belief. What makes the drop more jarring is how recent the optimism once was. In 2022, the Twins checked in at 70.1 %, placing them squarely in the middle of the league. By 2023, that number jumped to 91.3%, good for 10th overall, and they remained near that level in 2024 at 86.3%. Even entering 2025, there was still a baseline level of confidence at 52%. Now, that foundation has collapsed, and the reasons are not difficult to identify. On the field, inconsistency and underperformance have chipped away at expectations. Off the field, uncertainty surrounding ownership has only deepened the frustration. There was a moment last winter when it seemed possible the Pohlad family might explore a sale of the team, offering a potential reset and renewed direction. That possibility has since faded, and with it, a significant portion of fan optimism. The result is a five-year trend line that looks less like a normal fluctuation and more like a free fall. The Twins Hope-O-Meter arc resembles a slow climb to a peak followed by a sudden and dramatic plunge. There were real highs, but the landing has been hard. Rebuilding that trust will not happen overnight. It will take more than a hot streak or a promising prospect. Fans are looking for a clear vision, a commitment to winning, and signs that the organization understands the weight of this moment. That responsibility falls on everyone, from the front office to the clubhouse to ownership itself. For now, the numbers tell the story. In a league where hope is rising, Minnesota has run out of it. The next chapter for the Twins will not just be about wins and losses. It will be about convincing a disillusioned fan base that there is something worth believing in again. View the full article

Welcome to the big leagues, Spencer Miles. As far as major league debuts go, the Blue Jays have had some memorable ones. J.P. Arencibia hit two home runs in a four-hit performance, Davis Schneider launched one over the Green Monster during an electric opening series, and while Kazuma Okamoto's didn't have the same flair, he reached base twice, recorded his first major league hit, and scored the game-winning run. Miles' debut was different. He made the team out of camp as a Rule 5 pick from the Giants system, meaning the Blue Jays must keep him on the roster for the whole season or risk losing him back to San Francisco. The plan was to ease him into low-leverage situations, let him get his feet wet, and introduce him to life in the big leagues in small doses. Baseball doesn’t always care about your plan. Game two of the season, and the Blue Jays' bullpen was already under pressure. After Dylan Cease left in the sixth inning, Toronto cycled through six relievers to reach the ninth, where Alejandro Kirk hit a game-tying home run to send the game to extras. John Schneider was then looking for options for the top of the 10th. The options were slim. He could have let Louis Varland work another inning, but he was already pitching on back-to-back days. Alternatively, he could have turned to Jeff Hoffman, who had also pitched the previous day, but Schneider had indicated he wanted to avoid overusing Hoffman and would only use him in a save situation, leaving just one option remaining. Enter Spencer Miles, who had thrown just 14.2 innings of affiliated baseball since being drafted in 2022. Injuries had limited his time on the field, leaving him with very little professional experience to draw from. But at this point, the Jays were desperate. They needed a win, and Spencer Miles was the one tasked with getting the job done. The inning began with the automatic runner on second, so the pressure was immediate. His first test was no easy one: two-time All-Star and former batting champion Jeff McNeil. After a first-pitch curveball missed outside for ball one, Miles left a sinker over the plate that McNeil sent right back at him. From there, baseball instinct took over. Without hesitation, he charged forward and immediately ran at Jacob Wilson, catching him in a rundown for the first out. A tremendous display of instincts for a pitcher with so little game experience. The next batter was Max Muncy. Miles opened with a slider just off the plate, then came back with another that Kirk framed perfectly for a strike. He followed it with a 98.3 mph sinker for another called strike, and two pitches later, he finished Muncy with a front-door slider that started off the plate and caught the zone, which Muncy swung over the top of for his first big league strikeout. A four-pitch walk and a flyout to right later, and Miles was out of the inning. He had inherited the automatic runner on second base and ended the inning without allowing the runner to score. He did exactly what the team needed: he gave them a chance to win. Sure enough, the Blue Jays did just that. After a Kirk strikeout and an intentional walk to Daulton Varsho, Ernie Clement delivered a line drive to left-center field, securing the win and ultimately, Miles’ first big league victory. “I blacked out a little bit. It's surreal; you dream of this as a kid,” Miles said postgame. “For them to even put me in that situation, I think it's just surreal.” John Schneider has to be encouraged by what he’s seen from the 25-year-old rookie, who has now passed his first big league test. On the whole, Miles threw 16 pitches – eight of them sliders – and generated two whiffs on just four swings. His fastball touched 98.2 mph, and his early Stuff+ numbers were impressive, including a 145 mark on his slider. Take the small sample with a grain of salt, but for a Blue Jays bullpen with early question marks, continued contributions like this could prove extremely valuable. For what it's worth, through two games (prior to the finale on Sunday), Spencer Miles was leading the pitching staff in Win Probability Added: via FanGraphs Whether this turns out to be a brief blip or the start of something bigger, Spencer Miles has already had his big league moment and, more importantly, helped the Blue Jays win a game in the process. If this outing is any indication, it may not be the last time he’s trusted in a big spot. View the full article

The first series of the season already gave us plenty to dig into, and not all of it was encouraging. While Joe Ryan and Royce Lewis showed why they matter, Bailey Ober and Mick Abel raised some early concerns that are worth watching closely. View the full article

Blue Jays first-rounder JoJo Parker not only impressed in his Spring Breakout game, but generated a lot of buzz on the backfields with his performance all spring. View the full article

Are these overreactions or the truth? Joey Ortiz has completely changed his approach. Jett Williams and Cooper Pratt will be blocked by him. Brandon Lockridge is much more than just another spring training MVP. David Hamilton is the main third baseman, and he looks like he has already taken the quantum leap. View the full article

As we documented earlier this spring, Jake Bauers seized an opportunity last summer. A stint on the injured list gave him a chance to reset the way he thinks about preparation and functional strength, and he took it. He went into the winter with a more specialized training plan than in the past, and while his broad shoulders look slightly less bemuscled than they have in previous years, he's no less dangerous at the plate. In fact, every iota of available evidence says he's more dangerous than ever. With Andrew Vaughn out for at least a month due to a broken hamate, Bauers is the Brewers' new starting first baseman. Gary Sánchez will still spell him and shield him from left-handed starting pitchers, as he did on Sunday, but Bauers is slated for plenty of playing time until (at least) the returns of Jackson Chourio and Vaughn from the injured list. That's just fine, because since returning from the IL late last season, he's been a formidable slugger. It was easy to spot his numbers down the stretch and his postseason power last fall, and to clock his seven homers this spring, but don't neglect to notice that he also doubled six times in Cactus League play or that he walked eight times and struck out just seven times in the spring. For a guy who has always battled a high strikeout rate, punching out just seven times in 49 plate appearances was as eye-opening as the power he produced along the way. Nor was it new, even then. Bauers's whiff rate fell as 2025 went on; he's making steady progress in shoring up what has been his biggest offensive weakness. It's nice to be able to point to Bauers's excellent bat speed and his much-improved plate discipline, and with each passing day, he seems to have gotten better at not whiffing when he does swing. Even those are results, though, in a sense. Let's take a look at some things that drill all the way down to the level of process, to identify why Bauers might be blossoming into a genuinely excellent slugger with staying power. Here are visualizations of Bauers's stance and stride, via Statcast, for both September of last season and the early days of this year. First, the obvious thing: Bauers's stance is significantly more open this spring. He's standing a bit more upright in the box, with his feet closer together, but he's more open to the pitcher with his hips and shoulders. That's usually good for pitch recognition and power production, as long as one doesn't cut oneself off with the resulting stride. As you can see, though, Bauers's stride leaves him in no more closed a position at his contact point than he was in last year; those red footprints are farther from the plate and (if anything) a bit closer to neutral, in terms of alignment. Ah, but let's also talk about that contact point, because it's the other key thing of which to take note. Bauers is contacting the ball much, much deeper in the zone this year than at any point last season, as indicated by the purple circles in the images above. He's hitting it, on average, not even 24 inches in front of his center of mass, as compared to roughly 30 inches late last year (and farther out than that, at earlier junctures). A deeper contact point makes generating pull power harder. The reasons for that should be obvious. However, a hitter with plus bat speed (✅), above-average tilt in their bat path (✅), and good raw strength (✅, especially after his shift in focus this winter) can find lots of pop even while letting the ball travel. Naturally, too, letting it travel more means better swing decisions and a better contact rate, in almost all cases. It's probably too much to hope that Bauers will burgeon into some poor man's version of Nick Kurtz or Shohei Ohtani at this late stage of his career, but it's not an exaggeration to say that he's becoming comparable to those guys in the way he addresses the baseball. His stance adjustment breeds good choices. His newfound willingness to meet the ball deeper in the hitting zone makes him more well-rounded. And all that bat speed is still there, leading to sudden jolts like the long homer he hit on Opening Day. Bauers is legit, and though they'll miss Vaughn and Chourio for the balance of their stints on the injured list, the Brewers are very fortunate—not lucky, because they helped Bauers achieve all this, but certainly fortunate—to have Bauers on hand to soak up the extra at-bats. View the full article

Major League Baseball spent years testing the automated ball strike system in the minors before finally rolling it out at the big league level in 2026. The early days of any new rule come with a learning curve, and on Sunday, that adjustment period produced a moment that will live in the record books. Twins manager Derek Shelton became the first manager to be ejected in Major League Baseball history over an ABS-related dispute. The moment came in the ninth inning of Minnesota’s 8-6 loss against Baltimore, and it unfolded in a way that perfectly captures both the promise and the confusion surrounding the league’s newest technology. With two outs and the Twins mounting a potential rally, Ryan Helsley appeared to issue a walk to Josh Bell. That would have brought the tying run aboard and shifted the pressure squarely onto Baltimore. Instead, Helsley signaled for a challenge, tapping his hat to trigger the ABS system. The call was overturned to a strikeout, abruptly ending Bell’s plate appearance and changing the complexion of the inning. Shelton immediately took issue, not necessarily with the result of the challenge, but with its timing. Under MLB’s ABS guidelines, players must initiate a challenge almost instantly after the umpire’s call. The unofficial benchmark has been about two seconds, leaving little room for hesitation. In real time, Helsley’s motion looked quick, but Shelton clearly saw it differently from the dugout. "I didn't think Helsley tapped his hat quick enough," Shelton said after the game. "Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. But I didn't feel he did. I feel it's gotta be something that's in the three seconds and I didn't think it was there. But the umpiring crew thought it was." The disagreement escalated quickly, and Shelton was tossed, cementing his place in MLB history as the first casualty of the ABS era. From Helsley’s perspective, the sequence was not as clear-cut either. "I understood where he was coming from, because I felt like the umpire didn't see me right away and so I was kind of confused," he said after the game. "(Home plate umpire Laz Díaz) behind me kind of took up for him. He was like, 'He did it right away,' which I know we're probably going to go through some growing pains with this since it's so new and I think we saw that today. And I can respect Shelton for trying to not get him to do it there, because it did seem like it was a little long in that moment." That last part might be the most important takeaway. MLB’s ABS system is designed to eliminate missed calls, but it introduces a new layer of subjectivity in how and when challenges are initiated. What feels immediate to one person may look delayed to another, especially in a high-leverage situation with the game on the line. The inning did not end quietly after the ejection. The next batter reached on an error, briefly extending Minnesota’s hopes, but Helsley regrouped and induced a game-ending flyout to shut the door. MLB and the ABS system will have some kinks in the season’s early weeks. Shelton’s ejection might be just the first step as the league and teams adjust to a new normal. View the full article

Despite the victory, the Sounds were still on the short end of their season-opening 3-game series. Transactions: N/A Game Action: Nashville Pre-Game Media Notes Final: Nashville 6, Norfolk 2 Box Score and Game Log Via the Sounds’ website, game details and we encourage readers to review affiliate write-ups as part of their Link Report routine: Sounds Secure First Win of Season 6-2 Over Norfolk Starting LHP Tate Kuehner may not yet be on MLB.com’s Top 30 Prospects list for the Brewers, but the 25-year old continues to make his case, posting a 2.77 ERA in 23 AA/AAA starts in 2025 and now commencing the 2026 season with a 2-hit, 1-run, 5-K outing to lead Nashville to victory (5 2/3 IP). Per the linked game report, Nashville led wire-to-wire in this contest, with 3B Jett Williams reaching base and scoring in each of the 1st (HBP), 5th (walk) and 6th (infield single) innings. 25-year old DH Eddys Leonard had a solid MLB Spring Training (.400 AVG, .926 OPS in 19 plate appearances) and has now commenced his Sounds’ career with a 3-for-4 Saturday effort and 2-for-5, 2-RBI Sunday contribution. His 4th inning single wasn’t capitalized on, but his 5th inning double the other way extended Nashville’s lead from 1-0 to 3-0. OF/1B Tyler Black (playing left field in this game) had a mixed performance, delivering a 2-out, 2-run single in the 6th inning to grow Nashville’s lead to 6-1. He also drew a walk, but struck out 3 times. 28-year old RHP Kaleb Bowman (2.76 ERA in 45 2/3 IP in AA in 2025) had a successful AAA debut, striking out two of four batters faced in a scoreless 8th inning before LHP Sammy Peralta set aside his wild Friday outing to toss a 3-up, 3-down final frame on Sunday. Sounds’ Extras: Four hit-by-pitches by Tides’ hurlers thankfully didn’t result in any early exits by Sounds’ batters, although the one Norfolk batter hit-by-pitch (by Kuehner in the 2nd inning) unfortunately exited. Three of those Nashville batters came around to score. After the sudden MLB call-up of Jeferson Quero, C Andrick Nava (150 AA/High-A plate appearances last year with a .529 OPS) was pressed into action to make his AAA debut, reaching via walk in the 3rd inning and HBP in the 5th inning. He scored twice and threw out Norfolk’s only attempted basestealer to end the 4th inning. OF Greg Jones followed up his 5-for-8 season start with an 0-for-3, 3-K performance, but did reach base via a hit-by-pitch and score a run. He also stole a base. OF Luis Lara (1-for-4) doubled, walked and went 1-for-2 on stolen base attempts, SS Cooper Pratt (1-for-5) had an infield single and stolen base, while 1B Luke Adams (0-for-3) walked. 3B Brock Wilken had the day off. Next week’s outlook: AAA Nashville (1-2) has a travel day on Monday, but returns to action with a 6-game homestand against Charlotte (3-0) commencing Tuesday evening. High-A Wisconsin kicks off their 2026 campaign at home against Beloit on Thursday, while Low-A Wilson and AA Biloxi commence their seasons on the road on Friday. We hope that you enjoy the Minor League Link Report. On Monday, Brewers’ fan can catch Milwaukee’s home opener against the Rays at 6:40pm CST while Minor League afficionados keep an eye out for possible roster announcements by Biloxi, Wisconsin and/or Wilson. Organizational Scoreboard including starting pitcher info, game times, MiLB TV links, and box scores Current Milwaukee Brewers Organization Batting Stats and Depth Current Milwaukee Brewers Organization Pitching Stats and Depth View the full article

Organizational depth matters in March, even if it rarely grabs headlines. The Minnesota Twins made a pair of under-the-radar moves aimed at bolstering that depth, signing right-handers John Brebbia and Drew Smith to minor league deals. Both pitchers arrive with big-league experience and something to prove, offering the Twins low-risk options as the season begins. Brebbia, who will turn 36 next month, is the more established of the two. Not long ago, he looked like a steady late-inning option. From 2022 through 2023, he posted a 3.47 ERA and 3.54 FIP across 106 1/3 innings, leaning on a deep arsenal even as his strikeout rate dipped to 22.5%. That stretch with San Francisco positioned him well for a return to free agency. The right-hander cashed in with a one-year deal from Chicago ahead of the 2024 season, but things unraveled quickly. Brebbia was tagged for a 6.29 ERA across 54 appearances with the White Sox, and while his 26.9 K% and 7.7 BB% were respectable, he was undone by the long ball. Nine home runs allowed in just under 49 innings proved too much to overcome, and Chicago moved on. Last season, his opportunity came in Detroit, but injuries and ineffectiveness limited him to just 18 appearances. A triceps strain interrupted his season, and when he did take the mound, the results were rough. Brebbia posted a 7.71 ERA, continuing a downward trend that forced him into a minor league pact this offseason. He initially latched on with Colorado but did not make the club out of camp after a difficult spring (7.00 ERA in 9 IP). Now with Minnesota, Brebbia will look to rediscover the form that once made him a dependable bullpen piece. If he can limit the home run damage, there is still enough swing-and-miss in his profile to make him a viable option. Smith presents a different kind of upside. The 32-year-old has spent his entire major league career with the Mets, quietly building a track record as a useful middle reliever. His 2023 campaign marked a high point, as he set career bests in both innings and appearances while also recording his first three saves. He appeared to be building on that success early in 2024. Smith posted a career-best 29.1 K% and picked up a pair of saves before an elbow sprain in July derailed his season. That injury ultimately led to his second Tommy John surgery, wiping out his entire 2025 campaign and prompting New York to decline a club option for 2026. Despite the long layoff, Smith showed encouraging signs this spring with Washington. He tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings and struck out 35% of the batters he faced, looking like a pitcher who could contribute sooner rather than later. Even so, the Nationals opted to move in a different direction, giving the Twins an opportunity to bring him into the fold. For Minnesota, both signings fit a familiar mold. These are experienced relievers with clear flaws but also identifiable paths back to usefulness. Brebbia needs to keep the ball in the yard. Smith needs to prove his health and durability after multiple elbow procedures. Neither move will define the Twins' season, but both could matter more than expected. Bullpens are fluid, and the line between Triple-A depth and meaningful innings at Target Field is often thin. If even one of these veterans finds his footing, this will look like a quietly effective bit of roster building. At this time of year, that is exactly the kind of gamble worth making. View the full article

As scores of revelers lined the streets of Wrigleyville in celebration of the arrival of another highly anticipated Chicago Cubs Opening Day, members of the team showed up at the player arrival entry on Waveland Avenue, prepared to go to work. Now, you're right to point out that even the most beloved individuals on this squad, such as Ian Happ and Pete Crow-Armstrong, don't technically "go to work"; they play a game. But, if the club is to reach some of its loftier goals for the year, they're going to have to treat the game like the most important job they've ever had. This squad, when healthy, aims to be one of the most fearsome in the majors. Notably, they are not healthy at the moment; though he'll be starting his rehab assignment soon, slugging outfielder Seiya Suzuki is still nursing his knee injury suffered in the World Baseball Classic. With the type of depth this club has, one would think that'd be enough to thwart Blake Butera's Nationals squad, especially with 2025 All-Star Matthew Boyd toeing the rubber, but it was not. The North Siders scattered eight hits and scraped only four runs across the plate. The Nats used a six-run fourth inning to take control of a contest that featured all kinds of hard contact. Cade Horton, one of the top-three leading vote getters in the 2025 Rookie of the Year race, looked the part of a Cy Young in his first start of the campaign against Washington. Horton heard deafening cheers through the first few innings, using an electric mix of his four-seam fastball and changeup to keep Nats hitters off balance. He surrendered just four hits in his 6.1 innings of work. While Horton impressed, the Cubs' offense came to life, once again jumping all over starter Miles Mikolas. Crow-Armstrong and Nico Hoerner combined for three stolen bases, and the action was punctuated by homers from Ian Happ and Miguel Amaya, who continues his surprising ascent from last season. In the series' finales versus Washington, the Chicago Cubs collected four total hits, two of which were Alex Bregman's first and second home runs in the home pinstripes. Stop me if you've heard this one before, but after striking out the first two batters of the ball game, starter Shota Imanaga couldn't get out of the first inning, giving up a three-run blast to known Cub killer Joey Wiemer. Given both what Imanaga once was and due to the nature of his contract for this year, which will earn him $20 million, the North Siders must figure out a way to get Imanaga back to something resembling All-Star form. Up next, Craig Counsell's squad welcomes another mid-tier club, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, into the Friendly Confines for a three-game set. All eyes will be on the opening contest of this series as it will feature Edward Cabrera's first start in a Cub uniform. He has the opportunity to not only use his introduction as a means of proving the front office right for signing him, but most importantly, get his squad a tally in the win column. View the full article

The 2025 Colorado Rockies came two losses short of joining the 2024 Chicago White Sox as the worst team in modern MLB history. That might be the nicest thing you can say about last year's team. Among the eye-gouging stats that include a 7-33 start: A minus-424 run differential, an MLB record. They were outscored by 2.6 runs per game—that includes the 43 games they won. The previous modern-day mark was minus-349 by the 1932 Boston Red Sox. The 2024 White Sox had a minus-306 run differential. But things are looking up, at least modestly in 2026, even though the Rockies will probably finish last in the NL West for the fifth year in a row. Rockies' Notable Offseason Moves The biggest move the Rockies made since the end of a disastrous 2025 was revamping the front office. After three straight 100-loss seasons and finishing fourth or fifth in the NL West in the last seven seasons, the Rox ditched general manager Bill Schmidt and brought in Paul DePodesta, who had spent the previous decade with the NFL's Cleveland Browns. It certainly brought some criticism, as the Browns have not exactly been a model franchise over that time, making the playoffs twice since 2002. DePodesta, who has plenty of MLB experience through his time with the "Moneyball" Oakland A's, has probably changed the perception of his hiring with what he has done this offseason. The front office has been brought into the modern ages and he hired Josh Byrnes, who had overseen the Los Angeles Dodgers' scouting and player development for the previous 11 years, as general manager. No star players were brought in, but there was a collection of moves that will at least help the Rockies put a competitive team on the field. The pitching staff now includes right-handers Michael Lorenzen and Tomoyuki Sugano and left-hander Jose Quintana, while outfielder Jake McCarthy (trade), utility man Willi Castro, infielder Edouard Julien and catcher Brett Sullivan were also brought in. Projected Rockies Lineup Jake McCarthy, LF Ezequiel Tovar, SS Hunter Goodman, C Mickey Moniak, DH Jordan Beck, RF Willi Castro, 3B Brenton Doyle, CF Troy Johnston, 1B Edouard Julien, 2B Goodman was stuck behind Jacob Stallings and Elias Diaz in 2024, but then stepped into the spotlight in 2025 with a .278/.323/.520 slash line with 31 homers and 91 RBIs, becoming an offensive centerpiece. Moniak finally realized some of the promise that made him the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 draft, but it came after being released by his hometown Los Angeles Angels; he slashed .270/.306/.518 with 24 homers and 68 RBIs last year. Doyle had a rough season due to off-the-field issues, so he is looking to bounce back to the 23-homer performance of 2023, when he was put up 4.0 bWAR. Johnston will be someone to watch. He was waived by the Miami Marlins after a debut season in which he slashed .277/.331/.420 with four homers in 44 games. More consistent playing time in Coors Field could increase his value. Projected Rockies Rotation LH Kyle Freeland RH Michael Lorenzen LH Jose Quintana RH Tomoyuki Sugano RH Ryan Feltner As with the lineup, nothing truly stands out here. Freeland deserves a medal for sticking around with the Rockies for his 10th season. It could be his last, as there is a player option that vests at 170 innings for 2027. The front office convincing Lorenzen, Quintana and Sugano to pitch in Coors Field for a full season has to be considered a win. At worst, they should help eat some innings and keep the bullpen from working as much as it did in 2025, when it put up a 5.19 ERA. Feltner was the surprising winner over right-hander Chase Dollander for the last spot. Dollander, a highly touted prospect who made 21 starts in his debut season, had a 5.53 FIP, with an 11.1% walk rate contributing heavily to that. He will begin the season in the bullpen. The Verdict Warren Schaeffer managed the Rockies on an interim basis following Bud Black's surprising firing after going 7-33 (surprising in that Rockies ownership noticed the team wasn't doing well on the field). Shaeffer's Rockies went 36-86 and he was given the full-time job for this season. If Schaeffer can avoid a fourth straight 100-loss season, that would be considered a huge success in the first year of a new administration. Being better against the division would also help. The Rockies were 12-40 vs. the NL West in 2025. View the full article

Maybe some apologies are due to Jed Hoyer. After 2021, fans rightfully doubted the team's willingness to spend. All of the franchise's pillars were gone, and the team had to rebuild from scratch. Clearly, the Cubs were going to behave like a mid-market franchise going forward. That skepticism turned out to be unwarranted. The Cubs and Tom Ricketts opened up their checkbooks, locking up Pete Crow-Armstrong and Nico Hoerner for the next six seasons. They're actively extending a window of contention. Who would have guessed that five years ago? Takeaway 1: The Cubs are Channeling the 1970s Dodgers. Steve Garvey. Ron Cey. Davey Lopes. Bill Russell. This group took the field for the Dodgers on Jun. 23, 1973 and went unchanged until after the World Series in 1981. It was eight and a half years of the same players. Michael Busch. Alex Bregman. Nico Hoerner. Dansby Swanson. The Cubs' group mirrors the Dodgers' era. Jed Hoyer has locked this group up through at least 2029. Cubs fans can look forward to an outstanding defensive infield for this time frame, and the front office moves forward with some cost certainty. In an era marked by roster churn, the Cubs are banking on continuity to maintain their playoff status. It's a bet on health and the infield aging gracefully, and if not, they have the financial wiggle room to pivot. Admittedly, it won't be quite the same as what the Dodgers did, or even as the glory days of Ron Santo, Ernie Banks and Billy Williams, who started over 1,300 games together for the Cubs. By modern standards, though, it's not that far off. Takeaway 2: The Bank is Open Fine, Tom. You've proved yourself. The Cubs spent at an insanely high level this offseason. In total, they splashed $30 million on the bullpen. They spent $22 million to bring back Shota Imanaga. They shelled out $175 million in guaranteed cash to Alex Bregman. Six-year extensions to Crow-Armstrong and Hoerner put the capstone on it all. This isn't just selective spending. This was a cash outlay to address specific needs. The roster is, on paper, a top-to-bottom contender. Hoyer identified what needed to be done, balanced the present with the future, and aggressively pursued his targets. In retrospect, there were signs. The Cubs have added major pieces every season since 2022, when Seiya Suzuki was brought into the fold. Based on this offseason and last (bringing in Kyle Tucker), Hoyer is well on his way to shedding his conservative reputation. What's Happ-ening next? The last time Hoerner signed an extension, Ian Happ was announced at around the same time. With his contract up at the end of the year, the switch-hitting left fielder is the next logical extension. Thanks to the Owen Caissie-for-Edward Cabrera trade, the Cubs don't have a replacement waiting in the minor leagues, and if Happ and fellow free agent-to-be Seiya Suzuki leave, the outfield is uncertain. Happ also fits the clubhouse ethos and in many ways is a leader of the team. The contract wouldn't require a six-year deal, and he's already taken a team-friendly approach to negotiations based on his ties to the area. Would another three-year deal satisfy him? If not, he's probably gone, but if so, something could be hammered out. If the Cubs are serious about maintaining this window, Happ is the next step to take. For now, though, we have to admit it: Hoyer did what we thought was beyond him. View the full article

Baseball is here, and the Brewers look to continue their dominance of the NL Central. To do so, they may need some breakout performances. National baseball writers have released a slew of bold predictions, including Eno Sarris picking Jacob Misiorowski to win the Cy Young Award. Here’s a quartet of hot takes of my own for the Brewers. 1. Brandon Sproat will generate more WAR than Freddy Peralta this season. Now that Sproat has secured a spot in the rotation from day one, there's no reason he can’t be there all season. After throwing more than 140 innings last season, he should easily be good for a full season of 150+ this year. In his prospect writeup, Brewers Fanatic’s Spencer Michaelis highlighted Sproat’s deep six-pitch arsenal and the steep improvement he showed over the course of last season. Peralta will probably put up a typically strong season, but that’s what makes this a bold prediction. Sproat will have the benefit of the Brewers’ defense behind him, and as he said himself about the Brewers, “this team bets on themselves.” Here’s betting he has a Rookie of the Year-worthy season, even after a rough start. 2. Jake Bauers will lead the 2026 Brewers in home runs. Bauers raked all spring, leading the majors in homers (7), wRC+ (311), and OPS (1.725). Yes, every year players explode in spring training only to implode once the season starts, but Bauers’s transformation took place over the course of last season, peaking in September and the playoffs. Matt Trueblood highlighted how Bauers spent his offseason training to lock in the changes he made and build on his momentum. Christian Yelich led the 2025 Brewers with 29 home runs, and the team is much better off when Yelich is performing at a high level. To keep Yelich healthy and productive, the team might give him more rest this season and provide additional playing time for Bauers. Even before Jackson’s Chourio’s terribly-timed injury news (and Andrew Vaughn's even worse one), Tim Mura pointed out that Bauers could be slated for more playing time this season. It's unlikely that Bauers will face many left-handed pitchers, but if he gets close to 500 plate appearances, he could lead this team with 30 home runs. 3. Brice Turang will be the best second baseman in baseball. This is certainly less bold than the first two, but many national pundits and writers aren’t fully bought in on Turang’s August breakout last season. However, Turang represented his country with aplomb during the World Baseball Classic and looks primed to ascend to the top of the keystone position. Nico Hoerner and Ketel Marte led the league in fWAR by second basemen last season, but the majority of Hoerner’s value comes from his defense, while the opposite is true for Marte. Turang’s defense is often underrated by publicly available advanced defensive metrics, but it’s not hard to imagine he climbs back into the upper echelon of those rankings while maintaining the better part of his breakout at the plate. Elite defense combined with elite offense and durability should push Turang to post the top WAR at the position and fully stamp his arrival as a superstar. 4. Marco Dinges ascends to become the top catching prospect in baseball. Dinges is just a few years removed from surviving a life-threatening medical condition. After recovering, he spent one season playing Division I baseball at Florida State, where he crushed the ball but was mostly confined to DH duty. The Brewers drafted Dinges in the fourth round of the 2024 Draft and set about developing him as a catcher. Prospect gurus don’t have consistent rankings on Dinges, but they all agree his receiving and footwork behind the plate need work; he swings hard, with a solid approach; he has a strong arm; and he has “twitchy” athletic characteristics. 'Twitchy' is just about the best trait a baseball athlete can possess. Dinges wants to catch and is diving into the work. He has a lot to learn, but with ABS creeping into MLB, receiving skills are likely to become less important, and his strong arm and athletic traits should help him post strong caught stealing numbers in the future. Combine the middle-of-the-order offensive upside that Spencer Michaelis sees with Dinges’s athleticism, work ethic, and history of overcoming challenges most can’t imagine, and he is primed to become one of the best catching prospects in baseball. View the full article

Jays Centre is counting down the top 20 prospects in the Toronto Blue Jays organization. Check out prior entries in the series here: No. 20 to 16 No. 15 to 11 No. 10 No. 9 With the Spring Breakout game in the rearview mirror, it's time to get further into Jays Center's Top 20 Prospects list. We have made it from 20-16, to 15-11, and began our top 10 journey with No. 10 Jake Bloss and No. 9 Yohendrick Pinango. Now we are setting our sights on another outfielder, Victor Arias, who comes in at No. 8 on our list. No. 8 OF Victor Arias (Vancouver, New Hampshire) table.stats { border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-align: center; } table.stats th, table.stats td { border: 1px solid #333; padding: 8px 12px; } table.stats th { font-weight: bold; background-color: #f2f2f2; } PA H 2B 3B HR OPS wRC+ K% BB% 468 112 19 7 7 .755 114 21.8% 10.7% Victor Arias was signed by the Toronto Blue Jays out of Venezuela in 2019. It has been a long and winding path for him through the minor leagues, as he pushes toward the majors. It started with an above-average showing as a 17-year-old in the Dominican Summer League (DSL) in 2021. He had a 118 wRC+ to go with a slash line of .248/.388/.339, two home runs, and an elite walk rate of 17.9%. Sticking out as a negative would be his groundball rate of 52.1%, and that hasn't improved much over the years. In 2022, Arias repeated the DSL for a short 19-game stint. He got the ball in the air more, and his numbers jumped up, with him seeing his batting average rise to .315 and his on-base rate to .448. The next year saw a shortened season for him; he only played in 41 games at Rookie ball and three each at Single A and Double A. Despite being young, he still had a 109 wRC+ over those 47 games and a walk rate of 17.6%. 2024 would see Arias get a mostly full season, this time at Single A for 76 games. He really stepped up his game with a 146 wRC+ and earned a short 11-game stretch at High A to end the year. There, he stood out over the small sample, hitting .324/.425/.353 with a 150 wRC+. In 2025, he played the most games in one season of his minor league career, 102 between High-A Vancouver and Double-A New Hampshire. Combined, he would slash .272/.353/.403, with a 114 wRC+, launching seven home runs and seven triples and swiping 18 bags. What To Like Arias doesn't have a big frame, listed at 5-foot-9 and 150 pounds, but he puts everything he has into his swings. At one point in 2025, he was sporting a very good average exit velocity and 90th percentile exit velocity, 93 mph and 110.1 mph, respectively, according to Baseball America. His swing speeds are exceptional, and he transfers his weight well with his leg kick. This helped him to hit seven home runs, seven triples (98th percentile), and 19 doubles (80th percentile) last season. The young outfielder pairs his great exit velocities with above-average speed on the bases. He swiped 18 bags in 2025, which was good enough for the 80th percentile in the minor leagues. It appears he is well on his way to having an above-average profile with the bat, especially when it comes to extra-base hits, along with above-average potential on the bases. What To Work On The thing Arias needs to work on most is also the reason his elite raw power hasn't translated into more in-game power: his launch angles. He routinely has been a hitter who pounds the ball into the ground. He is also rather consistent with his groundball rates, hovering around 50-54% for his minor league career. Aside from his short sample in his second year at the DSL level, he has hit groundballs at a feverish pace (52%, 52%, 53%, 51%, 54%). If nothing changes, it will definitely be expected for those numbers to continue to climb as he moves up levels and faces tougher pitching. If he can drop that number down to the upper 30s or lower 40s, he would see a dramatic jump in his home run total. Pull-side power is how Arias will make a name for himself, if he can keep the ball in the air more than he has in the past, but he also needs to use the middle of the field more. He only hit 24.6% of his batted balls up the middle this past year. When he is facing tougher lefty-on-lefty matchups, he will need to hit the ball back up the middle or to the opposite field more. In 2025, he hit just .242/.301/.305 versus left-handed pitchers and didn't hit any home runs. As he continues to move up levels, he will need to improve those numbers against lefties, or he may ultimately fall into a utility role or drop back into a fourth outfielder type of potential outcome. What's Next? Arias will likely begin 2026 at Double-A New Hampshire and look to keep hitting his way up levels. If he can improve his groundball rates and keep the ball in the air more, he will see his raw power and elite swing speed translate to more home run power. This should see him unlock his true dual-threat potential as a hitter. The Blue Jays lack power/speed outfielders in the upper minors, so if Arias can keep improving and fix some of his launch angle issues, he may make it up to Triple-A Buffalo by the end of the season and push for some major league at-bats come 2027, when the Blue Jays' outfield should be less crowded. View the full article

Power is not going to be the calling card for Luke Keaschall, no matter what. However, it doesn't look like defense will be, either, so the speedy and contact-savvy Twins second baseman might have to tap into a bit more pop in order to be as dynamic a player as the team needs him to be. Unfortunately, last season, he showed some of the lowest bat speed in baseball—which puts a frighteningly low ceiling on a player's power production. In his brief active stint (207 plate appearances, before and between a broken forearm and a thumb issue), Keaschall still slugged .529 on contact (SLGCON); the median hitter only had a .548 SLGCON last year. Some of that was good batted-ball luck, though, and some came from Keaschall's speed, as he had more than one hustle double. Though the hustle double is arguably the game's most delightful play, it's also one good defensive positioning often takes away—especially once the book on a given hitter gets out. Thus, coming into this season, the dearest hope for Keaschall boosters was that we would see an uptick in bat speed. That was certainly a reasonable thing for which to hope, too. Last spring, he was still technically recovering from Tommy John surgery he'd undergone in August 2024. He then broke his forearm when he was hit by a pitch, so even the longer stretch he got in the majors in August and September was marred (and his bat speed perhaps diminished) by a lingering issue in a body part essential to the swing. We only have one three-game series of data so far, but it looks like Keaschall has, indeed, found more bat speed this spring. He hasn't materially changed his stance, his bat path or his contact point, but he's swinging much faster. His average bat speed was just 66.9 MPH last year; it's up to 70.2 so far. Just as importantly, he's showing the ability to swing at a very high speed (north of, say, 74, MPH) that was missing last year. He only had 14 such swings in the big leagues in 2025; he had three this weekend in Baltimore. Now, not all swing speeds are created equal. A hitter can sometimes generate a whole lot of extra bat speed, but get no value from it, simply by cutting it loose for its own sake and disregarding making contact. We've all seen players swing from their heels and look theoretically dangerous, but not come especially near the baseball. In fact, Keaschall did do that once this weekend. eUxsQjhfVjBZQUhRPT1fVlZOWUJRZFJWUVVBRHdSUkJBQUhWVk5YQUFBQ1ZGWUFBUUFOQWdVR0J3cGRCUVVG.mp4 That was the first pitch he saw all season, and he seemed to think, "Wouldn't it be cool if I homered on the first pitch I saw?" It would have been, but he didn't come anywhere near doing it, and he exercised greater restraint the rest of the series. Still, he's also demonstrating higher functional bat speed, if you will. Consider his at-bat against Orioles closer Ryan Helsley Sunday afternoon. Keaschall was leading off the top of the ninth in a two-run game, so the goal was to get on base. With Helsley's intense stuff, though, that's no easy project—and no job for the weak or the meek. Keaschall took the first two pitches, to get ahead 2-0. Then, with Helelsy taking a bit off (the pitch was only 97 MPH), he fouled off the next offering. Here's what that looked like. bmJsMTlfVjBZQUhRPT1fQUZCVVZBSURWbEVBRDFNRkFnQUhWdzREQUZrQ1V3Y0FVMXdGVmdwUkIxWUFBd2NB.mp4 That swing was 74.9 MPH. Now, it also led to a foul ball to the right side, because Keaschall was late, so perhaps you're wondering why the bat speed matters. Wasn't he still beaten on the pitch? Yes, but in a greater sense, no. Raw bat speed is not how you hit high-velocity pitching. It matters, but (as the Statcast measurements confirm), the other guy can throw the little sphere in his hand faster than you can swing your big wooden club—especially because you have to react to him. Bat speed is often better applied in a situation like this, where a hitter anticipates a fastball, but doesn't want to start too early and end up chasing a pitch that wasn't really worth swinging at. Here, Keaschall wanted a heater, and geared up to hit one. But as the data and the result tell us, he wasn't getting antsy—not with nobody out and the tying run in the on-deck circle. It made much more sense to be patient unless he got a pitch right down the middle. He did, and he didn't do anything with it, but that doesn't make the swing a waste. This is a good example of how we can learn to use swing speed as a process stat—meaning not only that it's one input in the slow buildup to the actual result of a pitch or plate appearance, but that it tells us something about what the hitter was trying to do. In this spot, for Keaschall to swing fast but be late on a pitch in the lower range of Helsley's fastball velocity range, what we can learn is that he was laser-focused on not chasing. If he'd done everything perfectly, he still would have squared this ball up and driven it on a line somewhere, but he wasn't going to get himself out or freely give Helsley an advantage on this pitch. If he'd been one small click earlier, timing-wise, he would have gotten a hit on this pitch. If Helsley had thrown him a slider, instead of a fastball, but it had still been an in-zone pitch, Keaschall would have hit it over the wall in left field. That's the real benefit of bat speed, much of the time. It lets you start a hair later than you otherwise might, so if you guess wrong but see the ball well, you might be early in a good way. That's where a lot of extra-base hits come from. A hitter who makes a plan to take their 'A' swing on a pitch like this, or not to swing at all, is very unlikely to make the grievous mistake of (say) grounding out to shortstop on 2-0. On the next pitch, Keaschall modulated his plan a bit, knowing Helsley was back in the count. Again, though, Keaschall hadn't helped him; Helsley had just made the right pitch and gotten a bit less behind. This swing was only 68.2 MPH, but it worked gorgeously. bmJsMTlfVjBZQUhRPT1fQXdSUVhWRlhCd1VBQUFkV1VRQUhDUThDQUZoVVZ3UUFBMWRXQ1ZBRkNGSUFWQVJV.mp4 The thing not to take away from this is that swing speed isn't important. It is. It's just a complex number, disguised as a simple one. Keaschall got what could have been a rally-sparking hit Sunday on a slow swing, but it was made possible by a faster swing on the pitch before. Seeing Keaschall late on the 2-0 pitch, Helsley humped it up to 98.4 and came in on him on the next one, and Keaschall did have to shorten up to get the barrel to it. He did so, though, and he's very good at doing so. The lesson pitcher and catcher took from the previous offering was that they could beat Keaschall with velocity, but they were wrong. Keaschall had known what to look for and how hard to swing on the previous pitch, and he knew what to look for and how hard to swing on this one. The answer changed in between, but Keaschall was moving with it. Showing the ability to swing fast—especially early in counts or when ahead—is important. It forces pitchers to work differently to you. It gives you chances to unload on mistakes, even if power isn't the primary element of your game. Keaschall didn't really have that club in his bag last year, but in 2026, he looks more able to let it eat when the occasion calls for it. That will pay off, as long as he remains as adaptable and smart in the box as he's looked throughout his career to date. View the full article

It wasn't the best week the San Diego Padres have ever had, but at least baseball is back. Weekly Snapshot Record last week: 1-2 Runs scored last week: 7 Runs allowed last week: 13 Standings Random Stats The Opening Day-record crowd of 45,673 at Petco Park was the fifth-largest in the stadium's history. In 47 starts for the Padres, Vasquez has gone at least five innings 27 times. He has a 2.26 ERA and is 20-7 in those outings. Tatis went 0-for-4 in Game 2 of the series to snap a nine-game hitting streak. He had a .353/.405/.618 slash line with three homers and six RBIs during that run. Backup catcher Luis Campusano went 2-for-3 in ball-strike challenges in the second game, the first challenges by the Padres this season. Cronenworth was the first Friars hitter to challenge, doing so successfully in the series finale. Saturday's win kept the Friars undefeated on March 28. They are now 4-0, having beaten Atlanta 4-3 last year, the San Francisco Giants 6-4 in 2024, and the Giants 2-0 in 2019. Website Highlights Cronenworth's Swing Adjustment Could Yield Massive Benefit for Padres — Randy Holt San Diego Padres 2026 Defensive Primer — Randy Holt Three reasons why the Padres will win the NL West and three reasons why they won't — Steve Drumwright Beverly Hills Billionaire Tom Gores Joins Bidders to Purchase Padres — Steve Drumwright Looking Ahead Monday: Giants (Landen Roupp) at Padres (Walker Buehler), 6:40 p.m. Tuesday: Giants (Logan Webb) at Padres (German Marquez), 6:40 p.m. Wednesday: Giants (Adrian Houser) at Padres (Nick Pivetta), 1:10 p.m. Thursday: Off. Friday: Padres (Michael King) at Red Sox, 11:10 a.m. Saturday: Padres (Randy Vasquez) at Red Sox, 1:10 p.m. Sunday: Padres (Walker Buehler) at Red Sox, 10:35 a.m. View the full article

It wasn't the best week the San Diego Padres have ever had, but at least baseball is back. Weekly Snapshot Record last week: 1-2 Runs scored last week: 7 Runs allowed last week: 13 Standings Random Stats The Opening Day-record crowd of 45,673 at Petco Park was the fifth-largest in the stadium's history. In 47 starts for the Padres, Vasquez has gone at least five innings 27 times. He has a 2.26 ERA and is 20-7 in those outings. Tatis went 0-for-4 in Game 2 of the series to snap a nine-game hitting streak. He had a .353/.405/.618 slash line with three homers and six RBIs during that run. Backup catcher Luis Campusano went 2-for-3 in ball-strike challenges in the second game, the first challenges by the Padres this season. Cronenworth was the first Friars hitter to challenge, doing so successfully in the series finale. Saturday's win kept the Friars undefeated on March 28. They are now 4-0, having beaten Atlanta 4-3 last year, the San Francisco Giants 6-4 in 2024, and the Giants 2-0 in 2019. Website Highlights Cronenworth's Swing Adjustment Could Yield Massive Benefit for Padres — Randy Holt San Diego Padres 2026 Defensive Primer — Randy Holt Three reasons why the Padres will win the NL West and three reasons why they won't — Steve Drumwright Beverly Hills Billionaire Tom Gores Joins Bidders to Purchase Padres — Steve Drumwright Looking Ahead Monday: Giants (Landen Roupp) at Padres (Walker Buehler), 6:40 p.m. Tuesday: Giants (Logan Webb) at Padres (German Marquez), 6:40 p.m. Wednesday: Giants (Adrian Houser) at Padres (Nick Pivetta), 1:10 p.m. Thursday: Off. Friday: Padres (Michael King) at Red Sox, 11:10 a.m. Saturday: Padres (Randy Vasquez) at Red Sox, 1:10 p.m. Sunday: Padres (Walker Buehler) at Red Sox, 10:35 a.m. View the full article

Jason and Jake settle in for the first show of the season, watching the final minutes of the Brewers' amazing comeback against the White Sox, completing their opening weekend sweep of the South Siders. Join us next Sunday at 4pm Central time! Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-brewer-fanatic-podcast/id1740648724 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5CY8mWsQayqjDXqw9OT2Td iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-the-brewer-fanatic-podcast-166534588/ Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/ommzz627 Watch On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@brewerfanatic View the full article

Owen and Jesse are back to talk about the Blue Jays' sweep of the Athletics on Opening Weekend. The guys talk about how similar the games were to 2025 before breaking down the first impressions of newcomers Kazuma Okamoto, Dylan Cease, Tyler Rogers, and Jesús Sánchez. They also get into Jeff Hoffman and Brendon Little's shaky starts to the season, debate the bullpen hierarchy, and discuss how Kevin Gausman and Eric Lauer had great starts. Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-jays-centre-podcast/id1846108462 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Bi7SzfpcqMo5xYWnbCeoL Listen on iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-the-jays-centre-podcast-300304824/ Listen on Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/2qk9wqxd Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jayscentre View the full article

wins System Recap: The St. Paul Saints are still undefeated in 2026! The Saints won 4-1 on Sunday behind strong performances from John Klein, Walker Jenkins, and Ryan Kreidler. View the full article

Fish On First LIVE discusses the keys to the Marlins winning another series as they host a Chicago White Sox team with an explosive offense, but leaky pitching staff.View the full article