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While Tarik Skubal has been a runaway force in the AL Cy Young race as of late, could 2026 be Garrett Crochet's year? In this video, we analyze Crochet's advanced analytics, his advantages, and why he could only get more dangerous as his time as a starter progresses. View the full article

Jays Centre is counting down the top 50 Blue Jays in franchise history. Check out prior entries in the series here: Introduction 50 to 46 45 to 41 40 to 36 35 to 31 30 to 26 25 to 21 20 to 16 15 to 11 10 to 6 5 to 3 Every participating writer had these players as their top two. Not everyone had them in this order, but it was always this pair. There are arguments that can be made for flipping the order, and I made those same arguments myself, but I’m less interested in knocking one of these guys to build the other one up – I just want to celebrate them both. I even considered cheating the process and leaving the top two unranked, but that felt a little underhanded, and I wouldn’t want to deny those that have been following along of the payoff. For full transparency, I submitted my ballot with these two in the order they appear today. If we did it again a year from now, there is no guarantee I wouldn’t flip them; it’s that close. These two pitched in different eras but had a beautifully poetic moment of overlap. It also feels very quintessentially Torontonian that both players were the absolute peak of performance for multiple seasons, but the teams they were surrounded by couldn’t elevate them to allow for some of the playoff heroics we’ve documented with other players on this list. Not to say that these pitchers don’t each have a signature game to point to – in fact, I think one of them is pretty obvious – but with these two, we can talk about a few special moments. No. 2: Dave Stieb 1979-1992, 1998 7x All-Star Franchise All-Time #1: bWAR (56.9), wins (175), innings pitched (2873), strikeouts (1658), games started (408), complete games (103), shutouts (30), quality starts (244) Single Season #1: Innings pitched (288.1), complete games (19), shutouts (5) The Legend of Stieb is almost more outsized than his accomplishments, and considering how many franchise #1 spots he occupies, that’s saying something. He played college ball as an outfielder and was pressed into service as a pitcher when his team was shorthanded. It turned out he was a pretty good pitcher. Drafted by the Jays in June of 1978, he would make his major league debut in June the following year. He would go on to be the best starting pitcher of the 80s and would lead the league in bWAR for three consecutive seasons from ‘82 to ’84. That stretch of dominance hadn’t happened since Lefty Grove in the 1930s. He was selected as an All-Star seven times (more than any other Jay), so within the context of the Toronto team, he was recognized for his performance. A look at the Cy Young voting in his peak years suggests that maybe he was underrated (or unfairly penalized for being on an up-and-coming team) on the larger scale. Similarly, the lack of Cy Youngs – there’s an easy argument for him deserving three (or more) – combined with his delayed eligibility for the Hall of Fame, may have conspired to knock him off of the ballot in his first year, receiving only 1.4% of the vote. Twelve players that shared space on the ballot with Stieb are now in the Hall – we’ll save the debate about how many of them Stieb was better than for another day – but none of them (including two former Jays) are on the Level of Excellence. The Moment(s): If you were going to pick a single game or moment for Stieb, it would have to be the no-hitter. On September 2, 1990, Stieb achieved the feat that no other Blue Jay, before or since, has been able to do. He got his elusive no-hitter. Jon Bois and the good people at Secret Base did an incredible job with their four-part documentary chronicling Stieb’s chase for this accomplishment and the absurd number of times he was *that close* to it before finally getting his white whale. No one in the franchise’s history has as many complete games or as many shutouts as Stieb, and everyone else is tied for second when it comes to no-hitters. The moment I’d like to shine a little light on comes after the no-hitter. That 1990 season marked the final time Stieb would throw 200+ innings in a year. He had averaged 222 innings per season for 12 straight years, so it’s hard to say that injuries cut his career short, but Stieb always felt like a guy who could pitch forever – until he couldn’t. In 1991, he had pitched just under 60 innings through April and May (adding another complete game along the way) until a collision while covering first base led to a back issue requiring surgery and ending his season. In 1992, he would make it almost to 100 innings (one more CG mixed in) before again ending his season prematurely in August. By this time, the chronic back and shoulder issues he was battling were too much to overcome, and after missing out on the ‘92 playoff and World Series run, he was released by Toronto in the offseason. The less said about his 22.1 innings in Chicago, the better. He would return to the organization as a spring training coach in 1998. While throwing and coaching, Stieb noticed that his old injuries weren’t bothering him like they used to and that he was able to pitch again – at age 40. This wasn’t just a ‘franchise great re-signs with former team to announce retirement’ kind of move. Like he did throughout his career, Stieb put in the work. He threw 81 innings in the minors, working himself into a position where he fully deserved the call-up. He would pitch just over 50 innings in the majors, mainly in a relief role, but making three spot starts along the way. Most importantly, it allowed Stieb to retire on his own terms. No. 1: Roy Halladay 1998-2009 6x All-Star, Cy Young, Hall of Famer Franchise All-Time #1: fWAR (48.6), WPA (29.8) Single Season #1: Wins (22), BB/9 (1.08) Roy Halladay would make his debut with the Blue Jays on September 20, 1998. He would start the game and pitch five innings, giving up two earned runs and striking out five. The first line in the box score for the bottom of the sixth inning reads: “Dave Stieb replaces Roy Halladay pitching,” and while that was true for the game, the opposite was happening for the franchise. A week later, Halladay would make his next start and give the most Stieb-like performance possible. A complete game, one-hitter. That one hit came with two outs in the ninth inning and blew up Halladay’s no-hit bid and shutout with one swing. The most poetic part of the whole thing was that the ball landed in the Blue Jays' bullpen and was grabbed by Stieb. “How can you not be romantic about baseball?” doesn’t feel like it cuts it, but it does feel notable that we had both of these pitchers here together, if only for a brief time. Halladay was once described as pitching with “grim determination,” and that was a phrase that always stuck with me. It often felt like he didn’t necessarily want to be pitching, but that he had to be pitching. Again, much like Stieb before him, Halladay hated to give the ball up. Where Stieb has the franchise lead for wins, strikeouts and shutouts, Halladay is the next up. How close he came to never appearing on any of these lists is a hard thing to quantify, but in the 2000 season, he struggled. “Struggled” is really putting it mildly, and a bit of a disservice to every pitcher that has ever struggled to find ‘it’ on the mound. Halladay was bad. Where Stieb’s story is one of almost immediate and lasting greatness, Halladay’s is that of the phoenix rising from the ashes. Gord Ash(es), the Toronto GM at the time, made the call to demote Halladay. Rather than send him to Triple A as would be the usual move, Halladay was sent all the way down the ladder to Single A. By July of 2001, he would work his way back into the big league rotation, having changed his delivery and regained his confidence, ending the ‘01 season with a complete game shutout. The next two seasons, Halladay would lead the league in bWAR, and in 2003, his greatness would be recognized with his first Cy Young Award. From the time Halladay made his debut in 1998 until his departure after the 2009 season, the Blue Jays teams he was a part of only finished better than third in the division one time (a second-place, 10-games-back finish in ‘06). With the likelihood of playoffs on the horizon seemingly dim, Toronto made the difficult decision to trade Halladay, sending him to the Philadelphia Phillies for Travis d'Arnaud, Kyle Drabek and Michael Taylor. This trade felt different than any other I can recall. It was like setting the genie free at the end of Aladdin, or what I imagine parents feel like when their kids move out and start a life on their own. It was a trade made to help the Jays rebuild for the future, sure, but it also gave Halladay something he wasn’t going to get here: postseason baseball. When Halladay went out there and threw a no-hitter in the first postseason start of his career, Toronto fans watched with a mix of pride and sadness. It was a similar mix of pride and sadness when he was posthumously elected into the Hall of Fame in 2019. His addition to the Level of Excellence came the year before, along with the retirement of his No. 32. His legacy lives on throughout the city with Roy Halladay Field in Scarborough, the first fully accessible field in the city. The Moment(s): That second start, the near no-hitter, is certainly one. His final two starts with Toronto were both complete game shutouts and a fitting way to end his tenure with the franchise. The game(s) I’d like to look at, though, came at the end of his Cy Young-winning season in 2003. That September, Halladay made six starts. Five of them were complete games. Two of them were shutouts. You can take your pick of which was most impressive, but for me, it's the 10-inning game against the Tigers. He threw 10 frames, faced 35 batters, gave up only three hits and did it all on 99 pitches to win 1-0 (shoutout to Bobby Kielty for the walkoff). If you want to take the game before, where Halladay struck out 10 Yankees in a complete game win, or the game after, where he only needed 93 pitches in a complete game against Tampa, I wouldn’t quibble with you. You could take the last game of the month too – another complete game win to give Halladay his franchise-record 22nd win. It was the most dominant month by the most dominant pitcher this franchise might ever see. View the full article

Marlins outfielder Owen Caissie speaks with the media following Saturday's game. Caissie has gone 4-for-8 at the plate with a clutch RBI single through his first two games of the season. View the full article

Just called up by the Marlins on Saturday, first base prospect Deyvison De Los Santos speaks with the media about receiving the big news and developing a more mature approach over the past year. View the full article

The Saints played their second game of the 2026 season on Saturday. It was a game with several lead changes, clutch hits, and more firsts. In a game with 16 total runs scored, there were some very good pitching performances. Check out what happened throughout this game. TRANSACTIONS Yesterday, we pointed out the interesting pathway to St. Paul that Matt Bowman and John Brebbia took. Dan Altavilla had a similar path; it just involved a stint with Team Italy in the WBC. On Saturday, the Twins announced that they had signed 32-year-old veteran Drew Smith to a minor league deal and assigned him to the Saints. A 2015 third-round pick, he pitched for the Mets each season back to 2018 (with the exception of missing 2019 due to injury). SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 9, Indianapolis 7 Box Score Fast Start in the Second On Friday, the Saints jumped ahead with three runs in the top of the first. On Saturday, they went 1-2-3. However, in the second inning, Eric Wagaman led off with a single and stole second. After a ground out, Orlando Arcia walked. Ryan Kreidler and Kyler Fedko followed with RBI singles to give the Saints the 2-0 lead. Zebby Struggles in 2026 Saints Debut Zebby Matthews made his first start, and things started OK. Sure, he walked Konnor Griffin and Ronny Simon singled, but he got a fly out and a double play to end that threat. He followed with a 1-2-3 second inning. The third inning was a rough one. It started with a solo home run by Dominic Fletcher. With one out, Griffin hit an infield single and stole second. He scored on another Simon single which tied the score. In the fourth inning, he began by walking Enmanuel Valdez. Following a sacrifice bunt, Esmerlyn Valdez singled. Fletcher drove in a run on a double. Nine-hitter Alika Williams drove in two more runs to make it 5-2 Indianapolis. However, Matthews responded by striking out Griffin and getting Simon to ground out. That concluded his day. He gave up five earned runs on seven hits and two walks. He had just two strikeouts. According to Baseball Savant, Matthews threw six different pitches: four-seam fastball (27%), slider (29%), cutter (19%), Splitter (10%), curveball (8%), sinker (7%). His average velocity on the four-seamer was 95.3 (95.7 on the sinker), and his max velo was 96.6. He got just one whiff on his 15 four seamer strikes. Likely, he’s being tasked with finding and being more consistent with those other pitches on another cool, Indiana afternoon. Comeback Adults A 2-0 lead became a 5-2 deficit after four innings, but this team, through two games, has shown a spark, and it’s not just the Top Prospects coming up with big hits. Kyler Fedko led off the top of the fifth inning with a single which was followed by another single by nine-hitter Noah Cardenas. That brought Kaelen Culpepper to the plate, and he didn’t waste any time. On the first pitch he can from Nick Dombkowski, he hit a mammoth home run to the berm beyond the wall in left field to tie the game at five a piece. Then in the top of the sixth, Emmanuel Rodriguez and Orlando Arcia got things started with back-to-back singles. A third consecutive single, this one by Kreidler, drove in the sixth run, and Fedko followed with a sacrifice fly to give the Saints a 7-5 lead. The Bullpen Got the Job Done Andrew Bash came in to start the fifth inning for the Saints. He went 2 1/3 innings and gave up no runs on three hits and a walk. Bash was the 30th round pick of the Angels in 2019 out of California Baptist. The Angels released him in May of 2020. When minor league baseball started up again in 2021, Bash was with the Blue Jays. He pitched in their organization through the 2025 season. He made his Triple-A debut for Buffalo back in 2022 with seven games. In 2023, he went 4-1 with a 2.22 ERA over 13 games (9 starts) and 48 2/3 innings. In 2024, he pitched in 27 games (16 starts) and 78 2/3 innings. He was 4-0 with a 2.97 ERA. In 2025, he pitched in 40 games (5 starts) and in 84 innings, he went 6-2 with a 2.57 ERA. As a free agent, he signed with the Twins quickly. Dan Altavilla came in on back-to-back days. In this game, he faced two batters and got them both out. Trent Baker made his first appearance of the season. He came into the eighth inning with a two-run lead. Things can happen quickly in baseball. The inning started with back-to-back-to-back singles which loaded the bases and brought Konnor Griffin to the plate. Maybe luckily, Baker walked him to make it 7-6, but still no outs. Ronny Simon came up and hit a sacrifice fly to left field to tie the game. However, he really responded well. He struck out The Password (Jhostynxon Garcia) and got a ground out to end the inning with the game still tied. We’ll Play Hero, Again In the top of the ninth, Culpepper worked a one-out walk. Gabriel Gonzalez lined a double to right field. It would appear that the ball was lost in the sun, but if you’re a Twins/Saints fan, that’s OK. Culpepper advanced to third base. In the season opener on Friday night, Alan Roden went 1-1 with four walks. He drove in two runs with a first-inning single. Fast-forward to Saturday, and this was definitely a big spot. Roden calmly drilled a double to the gap in left-center field to put the Saints back up by two runs. Marco…. Raya. Marco… Raya… Marco Raya was set up for the ninth inning save situation. His spring training performance wasn’t terribly encouraging as he had some bouts of wildness. However, you could see the immense potential, a big fastball and a sharp slider. On Saturday afternoon, Raya was really strong and mixed his pitches well. He threw 19 total pitches and mixed in five different pitches. He threw just three four-seam fastballs including one at 97.0 mph. His most-used pitch was his sweeper. He threw six sweepers, two were called strikes and he got whiffs on three of the other four sweepers. He also threw five curveballs. One was a called strike and two were whiffs. He added one more whiff on one of the two cutters he threw. He gave up a double to left-handed Termarr Johnson. Raya got ahead of him 0-2 on a couple of cutters on the inside corner. He then threw him a fastball on the outer part of the plate. Johnson reached his bat out and lined a double down the left-field line. You just tip your cap to the hitter on that one. Raya struck out the other three batters. Jenkins Sits, Kyler Fedko pinch hit for Walker Jenkins in the eighth inning of Friday night’s season opener. That was as planned. On Saturday, he did not play. Also, part of the plan. As a reminder, he injured his hamstring, so they have a plan for how much playing time he will get early in the season. It is likely that he will play on Sunday, maybe even as the DH, and certainly depending upon the weather. Multi-Hit Games The Saints had 12 hits in this game. All nine starters had at least one hit. Alan Roden had two hits and two RBI. Ryan Kreidler was 2-for-3, a walk, and two RBI. Kyler Fedko was 2-for-3 with a sacrifice fly, two RBI, and a stolen base. Challenges Can Be Good Through the first two games, the Saints have been successful on just one of four challenges (25%). BC: Ball Confirmed Saints Player 3/27 3/28 BOS: Ball Overturned to Strike Alex Jackson C 2 (1-1, BOS-BC) SC: Strike Confirmed Noah Cardenas C 1 (0-1, BC) SOB: Strike Overturned to Ball Em. Rodriguez 1 (0-1, SC) Versatility is Good The goal of a Triple-A team is to prepare a player to be ready for the big leagues. That means many things from approach to skill development, to self-confidence, to fundamentals and more things. One of those things is having players ready to play a couple of different positions. Sometimes prospects get called up and take over a position. Maybe that’s ideal in some cases. But I would think that most of the time players are promoted to fill a need. So, giving players actual playing time at a variety of positions is important. It’s only been two games, and the lineup will look different again on Sunday, but we have already seen players playing multiple positions. Here’s a quick look (again, just two games): Saints Players 3/27 3/28 3/29 Walker Jenkins CF DNP Kaelen Culpepper SS 3B Gabriel Gonzalez DH LF Emmanuel Rodriguez RF CF Alan Roden LF RF Orlando Arcia 2B SS Eric Wagaman 1B 1B Ryan Kreidler 3B 2B Alex Jackson CF DNP Kyler Fedko DNS (CF) DH Noah Cardenas DNP CF Tanner Schobel DNP DNP David Banuelos DNP DNP Aaron Sabato DNP DNP WIND SURGE WISDOM The Wind Surge season begins on Friday, April 3rd, when they play host to the NW Arkansas Travelers for three games. KERNELS CHRONICLE The Kernels also begin their 2026 season on Friday. They will host Peoria for three games. MIGHTY MATTERS Fort Myers will also begin their season with a three-game home series. They will host the Clearwater Threshers. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Alan Roden (St. Paul): 2-for-5, 2B (1), 2 RBI, K (GW RBI). Pitcher of the Day Marco Raya (St. Paul): 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, Save (1), 19 pitches, 14 strikes (73.7%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did today. #1 - OF Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - DNP (planned day off) #2 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, BB, HR (1), 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 K (played 3B, batted 1st) #3 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 1-for-5, R, K (played CF, batted 5th) #4 - C Eduardo Tait (TBD) - DNP #5 - LHP Connor Prielipp (St. Paul) - DNP #6 - LHP Dasan Hill (TBD) - DNP #7 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 1-for-5, 2B(1), R, K (played LF, batted 2nd) #8 - LHP Kendry Rojas (St. Paul) - Injured List (hamstring) #9 - SS Marek Houston (TBD) - DNP #10 - RHP Charlee Soto (TBD) - Injured List #11 - RHP Riley Quick (TBD) - DNP #12 - RHP Andrew Morris (St. Paul) - #13 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (TBD) - DNP #14 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (TBD) - DNP #15 - RHP Marco Raya (St. Paul) - 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, Save (1), 19 pitches, 14 strikes (73.7%) #16 - OF Hendry Mendez (TBD) - DNP #17 - 2B/OF Kyle DeBarge (TBD) - DNP #18 - RHP C.J. Culpepper (TBD) - DNP #19 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (TBD) - DNP #20 - RHP James Ellwanger (TBD) - DNP UPCOMING PROBABLES Sunday: St. Paul @ Indianapolis (12:35 pm CT) - RHP Andrew Morris CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 1-1 St. Paul Saints: 2-0 Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View the full article

MIAMI, FL — Earlier this month, Liam Hicks and Owen Caissie were teammates on Team Canada during the World Baseball Classic, helping their country advance to the quarterfinals. On Saturday afternoon, they shared the field as Miami Marlins players for the first time and made a massive impact, combining to drive in four runs to defeat the Colorado Rockies, 4-3. Miami’s starting catcher for this game, Hicks’ sac fly in the bottom of the third inning tied the game early, 1-1. Hicks also hit the team’s first home run of the 2026 season, taking Rockies starter Michael Lorenzen deep for a two-run homer that re-tied the game, 3-3. Hicks, a former Rule 5 draft pick, played in 119 games last season where he slashed .247/.346/.346/.693 with six home runs, 45 RBI and a 98 wRC+. Prior to the game, McCullough was asked about Hicks, saying he "is going to have a really nice year." "Historically, he has always controlled the strike zone, makes a ton of contact and he moves the ball all around the field. I think we've seen him make a real commitment to moving faster, stronger and building a bigger engine. Now, the type of contact he's making, you get a little bit more output, pulling the ball in the air, trying to get to some power and don't think that's going to take away from his ability to hit. Think that there's a lot more untapped in Liam from an offensive perspective, and it starts with some really good ingredients under the hood." Fish On First (@fishonfirst) • Instagram photos and videos WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM 54 likes, 0 comments - fishonfirst on March 28, 2026: "Liam Hicks delivers the moment ?⚾️... You couldn't ask for a better start to a Marlins career than the one Caissie has gotten off to, going 4-for-8 with two RBI and only two strikeouts. On Friday night, Caissie hit a 104.1 mph RBI double to get the Marlins on the board for the first time in 2026, and on Saturday, along with hitting a 111.7 mph double in the bottom of the second inning, Caissie drove in the Marlins go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Scoring that run was Otto Lopez, also a member of Team Canada in the past World Baseball Classic. "I was swinging at pitches pretty outside and high," Caissie said. "I just called time, gathered my thoughts and just stuck with my plan of staying on the fastball and I got one. It was really just trying to move Otto over to third and it went up the middle instead." Caissie is already showing the power that he possesses, hitting three balls over 100 mph in just the first two games of the season. He was the centerpiece of the Edward Cabrera trade return and was coming off a season in Triple-A where he hit 22 home runs and posted a 139 wRC+. He is Fish On First’s No. 4 prospect, but will be graduating soon. Sandy Alcantara, who started on Opening Day, and Eury Pérez, who took the ball on Saturday, are the fourth pair of Marlins starters to open a season with back-to-back starts of at least seven innings. The others are: Josh Beckett and Brad Penny (April 6-7, 2004); Ryan Dempster and A.J. Burnett (April 2-3, 2002); and Kevin Brown and John Burkett (April 1-2, 1996). "Helping them shorten the game with how effectively they threw and early on now we got some relievers who are probably chomping at the bit to get in. We can save some innings and appearances from those guys right now. It's going to pay dividends as we continue to go along. I think the length they gave us, but the quality of that length as well." Pérez, who went seven innings, allowing three runs on five hits (two home runs), one walk and struck out eight. The 22-year-old's fastball hit 100 mph on four separate occasions, topping out at 100.4 mph. His fastball generated six total whiffs and five of the eight strikeouts came on that pitch. This offseason, Pérez added a sweeper, which he threw nine times, and generated four whiffs on that pitch, striking out Kyle Karros swinging in the top of the fifth inning. Overall, the young starter threw six different types of pitches, generating a whiff at least once on all of them. Last season, Pérez only completed seven innings once, which came on 7/13/25 against the Baltimore Orioles. With no restrictions now a year removed from undergoing and rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, Pérez was able to complete seven innings of work in his first start of the season. "This is going to be a very important year for me because there's no limits," Pérez said. "Higher pitch counts, working deeper into games and being able to help that bullpen. I take a lot of pride in that." For a second straight day, Pete Fairbanks came in to close things out, only needing to throw nine pitches. TJ Rumfield popped out, Ryan Ritter struck out swinging and Brenton Doyle flew out. Fairbanks fastball topped out at 98.1 mph and he struck Ritter with a cutter. Fairbanks became the second pitcher in Marlins history to record a save in each of his first two appearances with the club, joining Armando Benítez, who recorded a save in each of his first six appearances with the club from April 6-15, 2004. The undefeated Marlins have begun a season 2-0 for the first time since 2014. They will look for the series sweep against the Rockies on Sunday as Max Meyer will make his first start of the 2026 season, going opposite of left-handed starter José Quintana. Deyvison De Los Santos, who the Marlins called up after Christopher Morel landed on the 10-day IL, will make his MLB debut at first base. First pitch is at 1:40 p.m. View the full article

After just one game of the regular season, the Milwaukee Brewers are suddenly down two of the primary nine position players they expected to begin 2026 with. First, on Opening Day, left fielder Jackson Chourio was ruled out for two to four weeks after he sustained a fractured left hand with Venezuela in a March 4 World Baseball Classic exhibition game and exacerbated the injury in the final tune-up games to begin this week. Then on Saturday, first baseman Andrew Vaughn followed Chourio to the 10-day injured list with a fractured left hamate bone. Vaughn is expected to miss four to six weeks following surgery, which is scheduled for Monday. The hamate bone is a small, relatively useless bone at the base of the ring and little finger bones. New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor had surgery to remove his left hamate bone on Feb. 11 and returned to play a spring training game on March 15. Arizona Diamondbacks left fielder Corbin Carroll broke his right hamate bone on Feb. 11, had surgery the same day, and was back in action March 11. Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday had his right hamate bone removed Feb. 12 and began a rehab assignment Friday. Those cases show the ends of the four- to six-week recovery. Generally, there are no long-term effects to hitters who have their hamate bone removed, although there could be some short-term negative impact. So what do the Brewers do now? It is a little complicated, but that is what the Brewers do. This is where their positional versatility will come into play. It just depends on how manager Pat Murphy wants to execute the plan. With catcher Jeferson Quero, Brewer Fanatic's No. 7 prospect, called up to take Vaughn's spot on the roster and set to make his MLB debut, there are two obvious solutions. Jake Bauers, a left-handed hitter who plays first base and left field and was expected to be the top bat off the bench this year, started in left field on Opening Day in place of Chourio. Bauers went 2-for-5 with a three-run homer in the Crew's 14-2 triumph over the Chicago White Sox. Bauers is a good defender at the position and had a tremendous spring that carried over to the season's first game. If Bauers is at first base, that would put Brandon Lockridge, a right-handed hitter, or Blake Perkins, a switch-hitter, in left field. On Saturday, Bauers started at first, and Lockridge was in left. The other top option, considering Quero was called up, would be backup catcher Gary Sanchez, a right-handed hitter who could be in the lineup against left-handed starting pitchers. Bauers could still be in the lineup in left field, with Sanchez at first base and William Contreras behind the plate. Sanchez doesn't have a wealth of experience at first, having made four of his seven MLB appearances at the position in 2024 in his first stint with the Crew. Those two choices provide Murphy with the ultimate flexibility. But there are other pieces to the plan. Contreras, who wants to play every day, could slide over to first base, where he made his lone appearance last year in the ninth inning of a 14-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Aug. 12. That would come into play when Quero starts behind the plate. A bit out of the box, infielders Luis Rengifo and David Hamilton could try their hand at first base. Neither has played the position in the majors or minors, but both have played third base and should be able to adjust to the mechanics of first base, at least in an emergency. Bauers at first and Lockridge in left feels like the most likely configuration, but the Brewers do have the flexibility for other combinations. Vaughn and Chourio were big parts of the Brewers' offense entering the season, but now must deal with the absence of the hitters for a good chunk of April, a month where they have a season-high five days off (not including July's All-Star break). View the full article

Box Score SP: Taj Bradley - 4 1/3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 9 K (92 pitches, 58 strikes (63% strikes)) Home Runs: Royce Lewis (1) Top 3 WPA: Lewis (0.20), Eric Orze (0.13), Bradley (0.11) Win Probability Chart Taj Battles Early, While Twins Bats Do Not The Twins went 18-32-2 in their series in 2025, including going 7-19 in road series and 1-7 in series to end the season. A loss on Saturday afternoon in Baltimore would keep the worst kind of momentum alive, while a victory could give early hope to a season that desperately need it. On a day where Griffin Jax lost the game for the Rays down in St. Louis, his trade counterpart Taj Bradley took the hill for the Rays hoping to establish himself as a fixture in the Twins rotation for years to come. Bradley only had 73 starts before Saturday, but he'd already faced the Orioles seven times. Would this familiarity be enough to get the Twins back into the win column? Bradley struck out the first two Orioles that he faced, but then surrendered the Polar Bear's first hit for his new club. Two walks later, and Bradley was facing a 30-plus pitch inning and loaded bases. A 98-mph heater blew by Dylan Beavers, however, and the Twins escaped the first inning unscathed. Meanwhile RHP Kyle Bradish made quick work of the Twins lineup through the first two innings, only allowing a walk to Ryan Jeffers in the second. In the bottom of the second, Bradley again got the first out quickly, but he soon gave up a 103.9 mph double to Colton Cowser on a 1-2 count. On the very next pitch, Jeremiah Jackson laced a hanging cutter into left to plate Cowser and put the Orioles up 1-0. That was all of the offense that Baltimore would mount against the young hurler, as Bradley battled his way into the fifth inning while making some Twins history of his own. In the bottom of the third inning, Bradley struck out Adley Rutschman with a 100-mph fastball, the fastest recorded pitch by a Twins starter in the StatCast era! Buxton and Lewis Ignite the Offense In the anticlimactic season opener, Byron Buxton was the lone bright spot as he flashed power and speed to help manufacture the Twins' only run. In the top of the fourth inning on Saturday, in his 900th career game, the Buck Truck led off and showed how speed kills yet again. The action started with a successful Twins challenge, by Grady Sizemore via the Twins bench, as Buxton's slow grounder up the middle was fielded but Jackson's throw was unable to catch the racing Buxton down the line. Buxton took second on a fly ball to center. Yes. On a fly ball to center. Then Rutschman tried to catch Buxton sleeping off of second, but his throw down glanced off of back of Buxton's helmet and headed out into center field which allowed Buxton to advance to third. After Matt Wallner drew his third walk of the season, Josh Bell stepped up and delivered a sacrifice fly to shallow left. Not many ballplayers could score on that ball, but the Buck Truck is one of them. 1-1 ballgame, and Bell notched his first RBI for his new club. Trevor Larnach started the fourth inning by working a well-earned walk. Royce Lewis and his well-documented early spring training struggles strode to the plate. On a fastball that was riding in on his hands, Lewis turned on it and drilled a low line drive that carried just beyond the outfield wall. By the time he circled the bases and touched the plate, it was 3-1 Minnesota, and the Twins had their first home run of the season. Early Struggles Put Pressure on Revamped Twins Pen While Bradley held the Orioles to only one run, he also only managed to last 4 1/3 innings. New Twins lefty reliever Anthony Banda entered in the bottom of the fifth and immediately drew the ire of Gunnar Henderson by hitting him up and in on the hands. The rest of Banda's debut was "effectively wild" as the hit by pitch and a walk to Rutschman were offset by two strike outs. Lefty Kody Funderburk got the call for the sixth, and he struck out the first two Orioles that he faced. Ryan Mountcastle and Jackson took advantage of pitches in the zone for singles, and it was time for another new arm to make his Twins debut. Righty Eric Orze also appeared to feel the nerves of outing number one, walking Taylor Ward to load the bases and running the count full to Henderson before Gunnar gracefully flew out on ball four to end the threat. Baseball the Shelton Way The aggressive works of Derek Shelton continued to manifest hope across Twins Territory in the top of the seventh inning. Lewis worked a one-out walk, and while Brooks Lee flailed into a strike out, Lewis stole second base. Kody Clemens, batting leadoff in his first start of the season, laced a line drive into center field and plated Lewis to add an insurance run to make it 4-1. Shelton's strategy continued into the bottom of the seventh, with James Outman taking Larnach's place in left. Again, immediate dividends were reaped as Alonso flew out to Outman on a nice foul-territory play to help fuel Orze to a three up, three down innings. Justin Topa got the confidence of his manager to find some redemption in the bottom of the eighth, and another three up, three down innings was the payoff for that confidence. Cole Sands filled the closer role for the first save opportunity of the season, and he struck out Jackson swinging on a big curve ball. Taylor Ward took a four-pitch walk and then struck out Henderson on a high cutter. With the insurance run sitting in his back pocket, Sands toed the rubber against Alonso and immediately induced a game-ending groundout to seal the first Twins victory of the 2026 season! Other Notes There were three challenged pitch calls and one challenged call on the bases. The overturned call on the bases led to a run for the Twins, and the final challenged pitch call by Jeffers behind the plate led to a Topa strikeout. Jeffers unsuccessfully challenged a ball call earlier in the game. What’s Next? The Twins will hope to grab their first series win of the season against the Orioles on Sunday afternoon in Baltimore. The Twins will send RHP Bailey Ober to the mound for his first start of the season to face former Rays first round pick RHP Shane Baz. Baz just signed a five-year, $68 million contract with the Orioles who acquired him in a trade with the Rays this offseason. This not only prevents Ober from making the dreaded early-season Kansas City start in the next series but also gives the Twins offense a chance to keep its lefty-heavy lineup rolling. First pitch is scheduled for 12:35pm CDT. Postgame Interviews Bullpen Availability Chart TUE WED THU FRI SAT TOT Topa 0 0 18 0 12 30 Funderburk 0 0 17 0 13 30 Orze 0 0 0 0 21 21 Sands 0 0 0 0 16 16 Banda 0 0 0 0 15 15 Rogers 0 0 10 0 0 10 Laweryson 0 0 0 0 0 0 Kent 0 0 0 0 0 0 View the full article

With the number of starters the Brewers had in camp with big league experience, it wasn’t a complete surprise when Robert Gasser was optioned to Nashville to begin the year. A former top ten prospect in the Padres system, Gasser came to Milwaukee and has only pitched in 31 1/3 innings in multiple stints with the big-league team since 2023. However, a new sinker grip, allowing Gasser’s sinker to move more traditionally, could be a game-changer for the 26-year-old to earn significant time in the rotation in 2026. This spring showed mixed results for Gasser. He made four starts this spring, ending with a 5.11 ERA and a 1.46 WHIP in only 12 1/3 innings pitched. His first appearance was solid, allowing no runs in one inning of work, but the next two starts were tough, allowing 3 runs in 2 2/3 innings against the Rockies and four runs, off three home runs, against the Reds six days later. The fourth and final start was the most important, though; Gasser threw 6 innings while striking out seven and only walking one. The key difference between Gasser’s results in the big leagues versus his last spring training start was the way he attacked hitters. In both 2024 and 2025, Gasser used primarily sweepers and sinkers against lefties, while attacking righties with all five pitches but mostly four seamers, sweepers, and sinkers. However, the start against the Padres yielded different results. Gasser threw 79 pitches total, utilizing 34% sinkers, 28% cutters, 23% sweepers, 13% changeups, and 3% four seamers. He only threw sinkers (38%), cutters (31%), and sweepers (31%) versus lefties, which is a big change from his past MLB experience. Against righties, Gasser again used sinkers primarily, while mixing all four of his other pitches as well. While this start was obviously promising, it wasn’t enough for Gasser to crack the Opening Day roster. Is Gasser's New Sinker Different Enough? However, it was enough for him to earn his second Opening Day nod in Norfolk against the Tides on Friday, after being in the Padres system back in 2022. Gasser continued his success from the end of spring training, throwing 5 2/3 scoreless frames while allowing two hits, walking three, and striking out 11, matching Misiorowski’s total from the Brewers’ Opening Day on Thursday. He threw 87 pitches, 58 of them for strikes. It's only one start, and according to Savant, Gasser threw only 26 sinkers, but there might be evidence that the pitch moves differently than it did in 2025 (Nashville 2025 sinker data shown alongside Gasser's Friday start). The same box is highlighted on both images to illustrate how the pitch is moving several inches more arm-side. Gasser's spin rate in the sinker in the Friday start (2,124 RPM) was virtually identical to his Nashville numbers in 2025 (2,120 RPM). His release velocity on Friday night (92.5 mph) was effectively the same as his release velocity in 2025 (92.8 mph). Opposing hitters didn't seem prepared for the pitch; on 26 sinkers thrown, Gasser received eight called strikes looking, and only one swinging strike. An additional four pitches were fouled off, and three were successfully put into play. What's Next For Gasser? Overall, Brewers fans can be ecstatic about this start from Gasser. Eleven (5 sweepers, 5 fastballs, 1 sinker) strikeouts matched his career high, and hopes for the number 71 overall draft pick in 2021 to contribute this year in Milwaukee have certainly increased. His ability to get groundball outs with his sinker, as well as strikeout hitters with his sweeper and fastball, should play well in the majors. However, it remains to be seen whether he can continue to have success against major league bats. As mentioned in the Rotation, Bullpen, or Nashville article focused on Gasser, published back in February, the data on the lefty starter is relatively incomplete. It is difficult to come up with a firm answer on whether this is for real, but we’ve frequently seen the Brewers produce pitchers at a premium. This could be another instance of that, but only time will tell as Gasser continues to push for sustained MLB time. What are your reactions to Gasser’s Opening Day start for Nashville? Do you think his recent success will continue? Feel free to comment below! View the full article

Fish On First LIVE makes the case for Jakob Marsee, Eury Pérez and more young Marlins players as candidates for long-term contract extensions.View the full article

The Toronto Blue Jays have begun the 2026 season with a clear goal: to finish what they started last year. This is not a year in which platitudes about process or long-term vision will satisfy anyone paying attention. The roster has been shaped by specific bets, some aggressive, some cautious, and the outcome of those bets will define what kind of season this becomes. It is not hard to identify where the pressure points are. You do not need to strain to find the fault lines. Four questions, in particular, will tell us almost everything we need to know when it comes to where this team is going and how real its hopes are. They involve the starting rotation, a high-profile offensive newcomer, two players coming off career-defining seasons, and a bullpen that will quietly decide far more games than the offence or defence ever will. The most immediate and consequential storyline is the starting rotation, and not in the abstract sense in which it is discussed every spring. This is not simply about talent level or theoretical upside. It is about durability, timing and the simple ability to absorb the inevitable blows that come over a six-month season. The Blue Jays entered 2026 believing they had built enough depth to withstand injuries. That belief has already been tested, and the season has barely started. José Berríos has had his ups and downs with the team, but he has been reliable when it comes to durability. The version of Berríos the Blue Jays are managing now is still useful, but he is no longer someone the club can take for granted. A more cautious approach to his workload reflects both age and mileage, and it means the ripple effects of any missed time are felt immediately. There is no equivalent replacement for a pitcher who gives you innings simply by showing up. Shane Bieber was brought in with eyes wide open. The upside was obvious, as was the risk. Betting on a former elite pitcher to rediscover form and health is the kind of move teams make when they need to thread a needle. It can work. He’s been given runway to ease into the season. The question is whether or not the other injuries with the starting rotation might expedite that process. Perhaps the most telling sign of where the rotation stands is how early the conversation has turned to Trey Yesavage. Young pitchers are rarely supposed to be part of a stabilizing plan. When a club is counting on contributions from a pitcher still very much on his own development path, it usually means the safety net has already been stretched thin. Whether deliberate or not, his slowed ramp-up due to an injury might level some expectations. This isn’t a criticism of any individual pitcher. It is a reminder that starting pitching depth is more fragile than it appears on depth charts in March. Once injuries start, innings have to come from somewhere. Those innings usually come at a cost, either in performance or in the wear and tear placed on the bullpen. The Blue Jays do not need pristine health from their rotation to compete, but they do need to walk a tight rope between taxing arms. Five-inning starts instead of three. Regular turns instead of skipped ones. Fewer games where the bullpen is warming in the second inning. If the Jays' rotation holds together just enough, everything else has a chance to make sense. If it does not, the season will feel like it is constantly sliding downhill, no matter how well the team hits on a given night. Offensively, the spotlight will inevitably fall on Kazuma Okamoto. That was always going to be true, and there is no point pretending otherwise. High-profile international signings do not arrive quietly, and especially not when the team is clearly counting on immediate contributions. The question is not whether Okamoto can hit. The question is whether he can hit here, now, against pitchers who will attack him with a level of precision and adjustment he has never faced before. The history of hitters making this transition is mixed. Ichiro Suzuki is the extreme example. He stepped into the major leagues with a clear offensive identity, elite bat control, and an approach that translated instantly because it was built around contact and pitch recognition. Suzuki nearly replicated his .353 career batting average in Japan during his MLB rookie campaign in 2001 with the Mariners when he hit .350 with 242 hits in 692 at-bats. Okamoto is probably more like Hideki Matsui than Suzuki. Early struggles against velocity, particularly inside, led to small adjustments at the plate for Matsui. He adjusted because he was patient and quickly learned when not to swing. Matsui hit .304 over 10 seasons in Japan compared to the .287 that he hit in his first MLB season with the Yankees. Jung Ho Kang, who came to MLB from Korea, offers another cautionary example. Early success masked underlying contact issues that pitchers eventually exploited. Once the league adjusted, the counter never quite materialized consistently enough to reestablish trust in his bat. A .298 career hitter in the KBO, Kang hit .287 in his first year. In four years with the Pirates, Kang’s batting average would drop to .254 in 297 games. Good, but not great. Major league pitching will test Okamoto in ways that do not always show up in highlights. He will see better fastballs when he is behind in the count. He will see fewer mistakes over the middle of the plate. Breaking balls will be thrown harder and closer to the edges, with less margin for error in recognition. Pitchers will study him relentlessly, and once a weakness is identified, it will be exploited until it disappears. For the Blue Jays, the evaluation of Okamoto has to extend beyond surface numbers. A rough batting average in April is not a problem if the underlying approach is sound. Elevated strikeouts are not alarming if there is evidence of learning. The alarm bells ring when the same issues persist without evolution. If pitchers are consistently getting him to chase, or beating him in the same spots, the conversation changes. There is also a human element that matters more than teams sometimes admit. New league, new country, new expectations. How Okamoto is supported through inevitable rough patches will say a lot about the organization’s confidence in both the player and its own evaluation. Overcorrecting too quickly has derailed more transitions than patience ever has. To be very clear, Okamoto will never be Bo Bichette. He might eventually hit more home runs and be a better fielder, but he won’t be Bichette. If Okamoto establishes himself as even an above-average major league hitter, the effect on the lineup will be significant. Another above-average bat lengthens things. It changes how opponents deploy their bullpens. It reduces the pressure on younger or more volatile hitters. If he struggles to the point where he becomes a lineup soft spot, the offence becomes easier to navigate, and close games tilt in the wrong direction. That leads directly into the question about the roles of players like Addison Barger and Ernie Clement, whose 2025 performances were as important as they were unexpected. Every competitive team needs players who outperform external expectations, and last season, Barger and Clement fit that description perfectly. The challenge now is that the league is no longer surprised. While Clement’s raw power remained modest (to put it politely), his contact skills were elite. In 2025, he ranked third in the American League in strikeout rate (10.4%) and posted an 85.5% overall contact rate, placing him among the very top hitters in baseball for bat‑to‑ball ability. Addison Barger’s 2025 season was a clear breakout, and he established himself as a lineup mainstay for the first time, appearing in 135 games and producing a .243 batting average with 21 home runs and a .454 slugging percentage during the regular season, an enormous jump from his .197 average in his rookie campaign in 2024. Breakout seasons are tricky to evaluate precisely because they sit at the intersection of growth and variance. Sometimes a player finds a new level. Sometimes, circumstances align just right for a year. The second season after a breakout is often more revealing than the first, because it tests whether the player can adjust once the league adjusts back. For Barger, that test will be whether his offensive identity holds up under pressure. His power plays when he stays within himself and punishes strikes he can drive. It becomes vulnerable when he expands the zone or starts chasing power in counts that do not call for it. Pitch selection trends will matter more than home run totals in assessing whether his step forward is sustainable. Barger’s defensive flexibility adds a layer of value that should not be underestimated. His ability to move around the field gives the team options and allows his bat to stay in the lineup even when matchups fluctuate. That versatility also buys patience during slumps, which can be critical to avoiding mechanical overreactions. Clement’s challenge is different and, in some ways, more subtle. His value comes from contact, reliability and situational competence. Players with that profile sometimes feel pressure to do more after a strong season, to expand their game in ways that ultimately blur the strengths that made them useful. For Clement, repeating 2025 does not require transformation. It requires discipline, role clarity and trust in the approach that worked. If one of these players takes a step back, the Blue Jays can adjust. If both do, the roster starts to feel rigid. Depth evaporates quickly when complementary production disappears, and suddenly the lineup becomes more top-heavy than intended. Sustained success from players like Barger and Clement is often what separates teams hovering around the fringes from teams that stay in the mix over a full season. The final piece of the puzzle is the bullpen, which rarely gets the attention it deserves until it starts costing teams games in clusters. Relief pitching is volatile by nature, and expecting stability over six months is unrealistic. Expecting coherence is not. For the Blue Jays in 2025, bullpen volatility showed itself in damaging clusters. Toronto recorded 23 blown saves, ranking in the bottom half of MLB, and finished with a bullpen save percentage of roughly 65%, meaning nearly one out of every three late leads failed to hold. Yet the issue was not a lack of talent but coherence. Despite multiple high‑leverage relievers logging 60+ innings, Toronto’s bullpen ERA hovered around 4.00, illustrating how relief performance fluctuated night‑to‑night even as the structure remained intact, reinforcing that sustained roles matter more than expecting six months of stability. Bullpen consistency is tied directly to the other storylines. When the rotation struggles to provide length, the bullpen absorbs the impact. When the offence fails to add separation, relievers are thrust into higher leverage more often. This is how usage patterns get distorted and effectiveness erodes. The Blue Jays will not need an elite bullpen to compete, but they will need a predictable one. John Schneider needs to know which arms can handle which situations without excessive experimentation. Overuse of the same relievers is often a warning sign, not a solution. Fatigue shows up first in command, and loss of command turns close games into chaotic ones. Walks will be the quiet enemy here. A bullpen that throws strikes and forces balls in play can survive the occasional home run. The Jays have one of the best defenses in baseball, so they need balls in play, not runners on base. When bullpens collapse, it is rarely because of one bad night. It happens when small cracks go unaddressed and become habits. Early-season consistency can buy an enormous amount of organizational calm. Early instability can linger well beyond the box scores. Taken together, these four themes form a clear framework for understanding the Blue Jays’ 2026 season. The rotation is already being stress tested by the realities of Berríos, Bieber and Yesavage. Okamoto’s transition will shape both the lineup’s ceiling and its nightly flexibility. Barger and Clement must show that last season was not an outlier. The bullpen will quietly determine whether close games lean toward relief or regret. No single factor will decide the season in isolation. Baseball rarely offers that kind of simplicity. But over time, patterns will emerge, and they will tell a story about how resilient this roster actually is. By the end of September, the answers will be obvious. The important part is recognizing the questions now, while they are still being played out one inning at a time. View the full article

Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that Jeferson Quero will be called up to the Brewers today. To make room for Jeferson Quero, Andrew Vaughn will be placed on the IL with a hand Injury sustained on Opening Day. Quero has been touted as a top 100 prospect in baseball the last three winters, but an unfortunate shoulder injury during the first game of the 2024 season waylaid his ascent to the majors. Quero has not had the same success at or behind the plate since his injury, but the Brewers will bring him to Milwaukee for his first big league opportunity. Quero is already on the 40-man roster and has an option allowing the Brewers to return him to the minor leagues if and when the team wants to make that move. For now, it appears Pat Murphy will have three catchers on the team with Quero joining All-Star starter William Contreras and veteran backup Gary Sanchez. The Brewers will be without Vaughn for an indeterminate amount of time. He left the first game of the season in the sixth inning for a pinch-runner, and the Brewers have not announced the nature or seriousness of the injury. With Vaughn out, Jake Bauers looks to be the starter at first base against all right-handed pitching. Bauers started the season with a home run in the opening game, a good first step toward validating last season's improvements and his league-leading seven home runs in spring training. Despite his breakout, Bauers is still unlikely to face left-handed pitchers, and with the Brewers facing a left-handed starter on Sunday, it's possible Quero or Sanchez could get the start at first base. View the full article

The San Francisco Giants are one of those teams that you feel should always be a contender. But, ever since their historic 107-55 2021 season, the truth is the Giants have not finished better than 81-81. That was the Giants' record last year, the second time in four years at .500, which prompted a change in direction for 2026. Will this fresh look be the thing that pushes the Giants over the hump in a competitive NL West? Giants' Notable Offseason Moves The splashiest move the by the Giants was what they did to fill their managerial vacancy after firing Bob Melvin. They dipped into the college ranks to snag Tony Vitello, who had no previous professional coaching experience. Now, Vitello was at the top of his profession in college, but the talkative new manager has to adjust to facing the media twice a day and building relationships with players who make much more than he does and might be skeptical of him. While he had some shaky media moments early in spring training, Vitello hasn't been making any headlines recently, which should be considered a positive. On the field, the biggest acquisitions were two starting pitchers and two position players. Right-handers Adrian Houser (two years, $22 million) and Tyler Mahle (one year, $10 million) will be part of a rotation that only lost Just Verlander. Harrison Bader (two years, $20.5 million) takes over in center field as one of the best defenders in the game, moving Jung Hoo Lee to right. Hit machine and former San Diego Padre Luis Arraez (one year, $12 million) will play second base, a position where he offers questionable defense. Right-hander Ryan Borucki joined the Giants over the weekend, perhaps reflecting the concern over the bullpen's depth. Projected Giants Lineup Luis Arraez, 2B Rafael Devers, 1B Willy Adames, SS Matt Chapman, 3B Jung Hoo Lee, RF Heliot Ramos, LF Harrison Bader, CF Will Brennan, DH Patrick Bailey, C Arraez, for all the criticism he receives, gives offenses a little juice with his ability to hit. His string of three straight batting titles came to an end in 2025, but not before a late-season surge got him up to a .292/.327/.392 slash line. The real question is will Devers, now that he has had an offseason to put his Boston Red Sox drama behind him, return to his career .276/.349/.506 mark after putting up a .236/.347/.460 following the mid-June trade. He did hit 20 of his 35 homers in those 90 games, but the rest of his production needs to improve. Also, will moving Lee off center field help to unlock more offense? Ramos has back-to-back 20-homer seasons, but likewise needs to contribute more. Projected Giants Rotation Logan Webb, RHP Robbie Ray, LHP Tyler Mahle, RHP Adrian Houser, RHP Landen Roupp, RHP Webb and Ray at the top of this rotation will give the Giants a fighting chance throughout the season. Mahle is underrated (3.37 FIP, 2.18 ERA in 2025), but coming off a season in which he was limited to 16 starts with the Texas Rangers due to right shoulder fatigue. Houser has never made more than 26 starts due to a variety of reasons, but he did have a 3.81 FIP in 2025 between the Chicago White Sox and Tampa Bay Rays. Roupp, mainly a reliever in 2024, had his first full taste of an MLB starting rotation in 2025, putting up a 3.91 FIP in 22 starts. This should be a pretty good group. The Verdict How does Vitello deal with the daily grind of the MLB schedule? How he manages the bullpen will be something to watch, but he does have former San Diego Padres skipper Jayce Tingler as his bench coach and Justin Meccage as his pitching coach, the latter of whom has MLB coaching experience with the Pittsburgh Pirates from 2018-24. But it will be how Vitello handles adversity or a prolonged slump that could determine how the Giants do this season. Devers returning to MVP-caliber form, combined with this starting rotation, could have the Giants contend for a postseason spot. View the full article

History was made on Friday night during the Toronto Blue Jays’ 3-2 win against the Athletics in their first game of the 2026 MLB season. Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman struck out 11 Athletics batters, surpassing the previous Opening Day record of nine strikeouts, which was previously achieved by Roy Halladay in 2002 and Esteban Loaiza in 2001. Gausman also became the seventh pitcher in Major League Baseball history to record 11 strikeouts and zero walks on Opening Day. Gausman went six innings, allowing only one hit, a solo home run to Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers in the fourth inning. In what was one of the most dominant starts of his entire Blue Jays tenure, Gausman only required 83 pitches to get through his six innings, a very efficient mark when accounting for the 11 strikeouts. The party started early at the Rogers Centre, with Gausman striking out the side in the first inning after an emotional ceremony honouring the 2025 Blue Jays, who went on a run to the World Series before falling to the powerhouse Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 7. The Opening Day start was the third of Gausman’s career and his first in a Blue Jays uniform. Gausman toyed with the young Athletics lineup on Friday, touching 96 mph with his fastball while also generating 10 swings and misses on the 19 of his splitters at which his opponents swung. For the most part, Gausman is a two-pitch pitcher, mixing his four-seam fastball with his wipeout splitter. Even when batters can narrow their sights down to two pitches, Gausman proves why hitting aces at the big league level is so difficult. Eight of Gausman’s 11 strikeouts came on the splitter, which consistently had its bottom drop off as if the 35-year-old had a string attached to the ball. Eight of the strikeouts were also of the swinging variety, as Athletics hitters continued to guess wrong as to what they thought was coming. After the Blue Jays took a 2-1 lead in the fifth inning on an Andrés Giménez two-run triple, Gausman returned for the sixth, setting down Jeff McNeil, Denzel Clarke and Nick Kurtz on 15 pitches to keep the momentum on the Blue Jays’ side. Gausman left in line for the win, but a second Langeliers home run of the night in the ninth inning off closer Jeff Hoffman put an end to Gausman’s bid for an Opening Day victory. Thankfully, the Blue Jays still pulled off the win on a walk-off single by Giménez. With fellow starters Shane Bieber, José Berríos and Trey Yesavage all unable to begin the season due to various ailments, the durable Gausman showed why he’s become a fan-favourite in Toronto. If Friday night was any indication of what the 35-year-old has in store for 2026, then this could be his best season in a very strong five years north of the border. Gausman’s next start is scheduled for Wednesday, April 1, when the Blue Jays host the Colorado Rockies at 1:07 p.m. ET. View the full article

In January 2025, the Royals signed 17-year-old Kendry Chourio to a $247,500 deal. On its face, it was a relatively small contract for a teenage Venezuelan. One year later, we have him ranked fourth in the Royals' farm system, and his future is bright. Chourio is a rare combination of elite stuff and elite control at a very young age. In 51 1/3 innings across the DSL, Arizona Complex League, and Low-A, he posted a 3.51 ERA, a 0.95 WHIP, and 63 strikeouts while walking five batters, numbers that translate to an 11.05 K/9, a 0.88 BB/9, and a 12.6 K/BB ratio. According to Baseball America, his four-seam fastball averages 95 mph, with a peak of 98 mph. It is cast off a 6-foot, 160-pound body that is yet to develop. He also possesses a good down-arm curveball and, as claimed by CBS Sports, one of the best changeups available to minor-league right-handers. To a teenager who signed a contract of roughly a quarter-million dollars a few months earlier, this is outstanding. The Royals’ Rotation & Payroll Timeline The reason Chourio's timeline carries unusual financial weight is what's sitting on the Royals' books right now and what's scheduled to fall off. Kansas City has committed a substantial amount of money to its rotation through 2027. Michael Wacha is on a three-year, $51 million deal paying him $18 million in both 2025 and 2026 and $14 million in 2027, with a $14 million club option for 2028. Seth Lugo, who agreed to a two-year extension last July, will earn $20 million annually in 2026 and 2027, with a vesting option that could add a third year at $20 million if he throws 335 innings over the two seasons. Cole Ragans signed a three-year, $13.25 million extension covering 2025 through 2027, with salaries of $1 million this year, $4.5 million in 2026, and $7.5 million in 2027, which is a relative bargain for a pitcher who finished fourth in AL Cy Young voting in 2024. The Royals are assured of around $42-43 million in guaranteed salaries for starting pitchers in 2026 and 2027. Ragans will be paid the least. Lugo will be 37 in 2027. Wacha will be 35. Neither of those contracts commits money after 2027. Ragans still has one year of arbitration in 2028 before he is a free agent; however, his salary may reach up to $20 million based on performance. The Bobby Witt Jr. contract complicates this further. His salary escalates steeply: $13 million in 2026, $19 million in 2027, and then $30 million in 2028, the year Wacha's and Lugo's guaranteed money is gone. By 2028, Witt alone accounts for $30 million of payroll. Adding Ragans' final arbitration year, a starting salary for Kris Bubic (assuming any extension materializes), and minimum-level roster filler, the Royals are going to need to make hard choices about where rotation spending goes post-2027. According to MLB Trade Rumors, in 2026, the Royals are going to spend approximately $79 million before arbitration players sign on. That is Kris Bubic and Vinnie Pasquantino, among others, and that puts the payroll above that figure. In September 2025, Royals Review reported that the 2026 payroll would total slightly less than $82 million without arbitration cases. The Rotation Cliff That Arrives After 2027 The post-2027 rotation situation is the crux of why Chourio's development timeline matters so much. When Wacha's guaranteed money expires and Lugo's vesting option resolves, Kansas City faces a version of a question: how do you replace above-average starting pitching without the budget to simply go out and buy it? There is a high price in trading for starting pitchers. In 2022, good starting pitchers in the free-agent market are priced at 20-30 million a year. The extension of Lugo, worth $20 million annually, is similar to that of an aging second starter. The Royals cannot make three or four of those deals simultaneously without compromising depth at other jobs or facing the luxury tax, which is beyond their comfort zone. David Shields is an 18-year-old lefty with a 2.01 ERA and an 81:15 K:BB ratio in 71 2/3 innings that he threw in Low-A in 2025. Many projections have him in High-A or Double-A in 2026. It refers to the fact that he would have to wait until 2027 to have the opportunity to become one of the majors, and only if the plan works quickly. Chourio’s path looks the same. The math around this is actually pretty clean. If Chourio develops on a typical aggressive curve for a high-ceiling arm — Low-A in 2026, High-A in 2027, Double-A in 2027 or early 2028, and then a possible big-league debut sometime in 2028 at age 20, and he arrives right when the Royals need rotation help most. Cost-Controlled Starters Are The Royals' Future A pitcher in his first three years of service time earns roughly the major league minimum — currently $740,000 on the low end. Against a market where a legitimate No. 3 or No. 4 starter costs $15 million annually in free agency, a pre-arb arm performing at that level generates over $10 million in surplus value per year. The Royals already have a decent rotation, with total annual expenditures of over $42 million on Wacha, Lugo, and Ragans through 2027. However, two of those deals expire in 2027, when Bobby Witt Jr. will earn $30 million. That will strain the Royals' meager payroll, which is usually in the bottom third of Major League Baseball. View the full article

We all know there is a huge obstacle standing in the way of the San Diego Padres winning the NL West. That is that team just up the coast a couple hours that has won the last two World Series. So, it will take a Herculean effort for the Friars to knock the Los Angeles Dodgers from the top spot in the division. The good news is they have players on their roster capable of delivering such performances. Here are three reasons why the Padres will be on top of the NL West after 162 games... and three reasons the will come up shy. The Padres will win the West because... Fernando Tatis Jr. explodes There just feels like there is an extra bit of aura around superstar Fernando Tatis Jr. entering the 2026 season. The right fielder is the Friars' most dynamic player and has a slash line of .266/.344/.459 over the last three seasons, averaging 23.7 homers, 66 RBIs and 24 steals. Tatis has not had a 30-homer, 30-steal base season in his six seasons, coming close with 42 homers and 25 steals in 2021, the year before his 80-game suspension for using a performance-enhancing drug. He finally came close again in 2025 at 25-32. But 30-30 certainly seems like it should be a routine part of his stat line. The 27-year-old had a terrific World Baseball Classic for the Dominican Republic, putting up a .400/.538/.700 slash line with two impressive homers, including a grand slam. That could certainly be the fuel to get him going early in 2026. Tatis has seemingly put the rough 2023 campaign behind him, in which he at first was returning from offseason shoulder surgery and then the suspension. With a fresh start under manager Craig Stammen, Tatis could be ready to erupt. Michael King contends for the Cy Young This would certainly be a double-edged sword for the Friars. In his first two seasons with the Padres following the Juan Soto with the New York Yankees, the right-handed starter posted a 3.65 FIP, with an 8.6% walk rate and 26.8% strikeout rate. King is coming off a 2025 in which he made only 15 starts due to an issue with the long thoracic nerve in his throwing shoulder and then knee inflammation after returning. That was supposed to set him up for free agency. Instead of striking it big on the open market, though, King came back to San Diego on a player-friendly three-year, $75 million contract in which he has opt-outs after this season and 2027. He is making $17 million this year, then $28 million in 2027 and $30 million in 2028. Basically, he is betting on himself this year, with a soft landing of sticking around for at least another year if things don't go quite right. The 31-year-old opens the season as the No. 2 starter, but could easily become the No. 1 if takes the next step in his career. Nick Castellanos crushes Could we be in for a Nick Castellanos renaissance? While he won't play the Philadelphia Phillies until Memorial Day weekend at Petco Park and make his not-so-triumphant return to the City of Brotherly Love from June 2-4, he will certainly be motivated by the unceremonious departure from the team. The Padres will be the beneficiary of whatever Castellanos produces as they are paying him the MLB minimum while the Phillies, who released him at the beginning of spring training, are on the hook for the remaining $20 million he is making this year. In his four years with the Phillies, Castellanos had a .260/.306/.426 slash line, averaging 20.5 homers and 81.5 RBIs. Now playing first base and designated hitter, with perhaps some time in the outfield corners, the veteran slugger could return to form with a renewed focus on hitting. Castellanos had a career-high 34 homers with the Cincinnati Reds in 2021, the year before he signed with Philly. Hitting in the middle of the Friars' lineup could get him the opportunity to for just his second 30-homer season as he enters his 14th year. The Padres won't win the NL West because... Joe Musgrove doesn't bounce back As the guy from El Cajon who authored the first no-hitter in Padres history, Joe Musgrove will always hold a special place in Friars fans' hearts. But the right-handed starter's comeback from Tommy John surgery hasn't gone as expected this spring. Java Joe entered camp having declared that he was healthy and ready to go for the season, but he made only one appearance, an exhibition against Great Britain's World Baseball Classic team, and threw 60 pitches in two innings. While you can question that workload in his first game since the 2024 postseason, the bottom line is that Musgrove's arm didn't respond well. That led to him being placed on the 15-day injured list to begin the season. When he resumes his throwing program and returns to MLB rotation is to be determined; it could be a quick return or it could take more time. Also, the production from a pitcher on the comeback trail seems to take a while to return to previous levels. Add it all up, and you have a very wobbly foundation in the middle of the team's rotation. Manny Machado begins to decline Manny Machado has been a fairly steady part of the Padres since signing before the 2019 season. But as the third baseman is now 33 years old, the Friars want to keep the seven-time All-Star and two-time Gold Glove winner in peak freshness. That is one reason why the president of baseball operations A.J. Preller brought in players such as Sung Mun Song and Miguel Andujar, who can spell Machado at the hot corner from time to time. Whether Machado wants that rest is another discussion, but Stammen certainly wants to keep the third baseman's energy high, whether that means more time at designated hitter or full days off. Machado's average bat speed has gone down from 76.7 mph (96th percentile) in 2023 to 74.5 mph (84th percentile) last year. To be fair, Machado also increased other offensive metrics that allowed him to produce a .275/.335/.460 slash line (right near his career numbers) with 27 homers and 95 RBIs. The Padres would certainly take a repeat of that in 2026. But his defensive numbers have also taken a hit; both his arm strength and range have taken hits in recent years. The eye test is dubious of such metrics, because it seems on a nightly basis that Machado still provides terrific defense. But maybe the Padres have it right in trying to get their superstar third baseman some extra time off his legs at the hot corner. The bullpen is overworked and underperforms There is no question that the Padres are beginning the 2026 season with questions in the starting rotation and the depth behind it. They are counting on Walker Buehler and German Marquez for big innings. But if they fail to respond and their replacements, whether it be Musgrove or Griffin Canning or JP Sears, also don't step up, that will put the pressure on the Friars' bullpen to shoulder the innings load. That unit was one of the best in MLB a year ago, but also logged the 10th-most innings. The quality of the bullpen hasn't diminished, even with departure of closer Robert Suarez through free agency. Trade-deadline prize Mason Miller takes over as the closer, with everyone else returning. That depth took a slight hit when Bryan Hoeing required season-ending flexor tendon surgery in his right elbow, which does raise some concerns; if the bullpen is called upon a lot early, that could create an overuse issue with the relievers. There is a little bit of good news coming for that group as Jason Adam (ruptured quad) and Yuki Matsui (strained left groin) should be back at some point in the coming months. Still, the bullpen usage, not considering any further injuries, will be critical in how this team performs. View the full article

As the San Diego Padres played their second game of the season on Friday, two of their players took their first steps in making their way back to the major-league roster. Infielder Sung Mun Song and right-handed starter Matt Waldron began rehab assignments with Triple-A El Paso following their spring training injuries. Friday marked the season opener for the Chihuahuas, who played on the road against the Sacramento River Cats. Waldron is recovering from hemorrhoid surgery, and Song from a strained right oblique. Waldron started and went three shutout innings, allowing two hits, walking none, and striking out three. Waldron faced 10 batters and threw 37 pitches, 25 for strikes. Song, who played second base, had four plate appearances, going 1-for-3 with a walk, a strikeout, and two RBIs. Hitting second in the lineup, Song drew a six-pitch walk in his first plate appearance, lined out to center in the third inning, hit a two-run single in the fifth, and struck out in the sixth before being replaced in the bottom of the eighth by Clay Dungan. In the field, Song handled four grounders, helped turn two double plays, and caught a pop-up. The Chihuahuas won 9-3. The clock has now started on Waldron and Song. Rehab assignments can last up to 30 days for pitchers and 20 days for position players. View the full article

Cooper Pratt is the Milwaukee Brewers no. 4 prospect, and he is surging towards Triple-A after a full season with the Double-A Biloxi Shuckers. In this video, we give an overview of his arm strength and a fielding tool that earned him a minor league Gold Glove. We also look at his odds of breaking into the parent club in 2026. View the full article

The Chicago Cubs have signed second baseman Nico Hoerner to a six-year, $141 million extension. In this video, we break down everything from Hoerner's reliability to his Gold Gloves and how 2025 was a career year on multiple fronts. Enjoy! View the full article

It was Opening Day for the St. Paul Saints and Kaelen Culpepper's Triple-A debut. He made a great first impression, going 3-for-5 to help lift the Saints to a 4-2 victory. Connor Prielipp had an encouraging first start of the season, especially after navigating a rocky first inning. Alan Roden reached base in all five of his plate appearances. View the full article

The Minnesota Twins entered the 2026 season with as many questions in the bullpen as any MLB team. That uncertainty was largely self-inflicted. At last year’s trade deadline, the front office made the bold decision to move multiple controllable arms, shipping out Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, and Louis Varland in deals that reshaped the roster and, in many ways, reset the relief corps. Those moves created opportunity, but also instability. Rather than aggressively rebuilding the bullpen over the winter, Minnesota opted for a lighter touch. Taylor Rogers headlined the additions on a modest one-year deal, while Anthony Banda and Eric Orze arrived via relatively low-cost trades. Beyond that, the Twins largely bet on internal options and incremental improvement. So when Opening Day arrived against the Baltimore Orioles, it was not just about the final score. It was about usage. It was about trust. And perhaps most importantly, it was about what manager Derek Shelton might be telling us without ever saying a word. Trust in Kody Funderburk If there was one moment that stood out, it came when Shelton called on Kody Funderburk to navigate the heart of Baltimore’s lineup. That is not a casual assignment, especially in a tight game on Opening Day. Funderburk largely delivered. His ability to handle that pocket of hitters suggests that Shelton views him as more than just a matchup lefty. Even though he was tagged with the loss after allowing a leadoff single in the seventh, the context matters more than the box score. Managers do not deploy pitchers in those spots unless they believe they can handle it. It is early, but Funderburk appears firmly inside the circle of trust. Justin Topa with Runners On The next decision may have been even more telling. With a runner on and no outs in the seventh inning of a tie game, Shelton turned to Justin Topa. On the surface, it makes sense. Topa’s profile as a ground ball specialist makes him an ideal candidate to escape traffic. But there is another layer here. If Shelton were viewing Topa as his primary ninth-inning option, this may not be the spot to use him. Instead, this usage hints at a more flexible role. Topa could be the fireman, the pitcher tasked with putting out rallies before they spiral. That is a valuable role, but it is distinct from the traditional closer label. Rogers and Sands in the Mix Later in the game, Taylor Rogers took the mound in the eighth inning with the Twins trailing by a run, while Cole Sands was also getting loose. That is a high-leverage pocket, even without a lead. The fact that both pitchers were involved in that moment suggests Shelton trusts them when the game is on the line. Rogers, with his veteran pedigree, feels like a natural fit for late-inning work, but Sands’ presence in that situation is just as noteworthy. If nothing else, it signals that the Twins may not be locking themselves into rigid roles. Instead, Shelton could be leaning toward a mix-and-match approach based on game state rather than inning. Reading Between the Lines One game does not define a bullpen hierarchy. Roles evolve. Performance dictates opportunity. And managers adjust as the season unfolds. But Opening Day often provides a glimpse into initial thinking, and Shelton’s decisions in Baltimore offered a few subtle clues. Funderburk is trusted against top hitters. Topa may be the preferred option when traffic is already on the bases. Rogers and Sands look like late-inning weapons in leverage spots. What remains unclear is the ninth inning. There was no traditional save situation, and Shelton did not tip his hand in that regard. For now, that role appears open, or at least fluid. In a bullpen without an established anchor, that may be by design. How do you envision the bullpen being used in 2026? Leave a comment and start the discussion. View the full article

When Pete Crow-Armstrong signed his extension with the Chicago Cubs earlier this week, we discussed how important various elements of context are in justifying a deal. With someone like Crow-Armstrong, it's simple. He's young, he's exciting, and he has a skill set that still has plenty of runway within his projectability. Nothing complicated there. Not that Nico Hoerner's new six-year contract extension with the Cubs is a complicated situation either, mind you. In fact, it's quite easy to justify. But just as Crow-Armstrong's deal featured a small caveat in the form of whether his plate discipline will develop or stagnate, Hoerner's carries the smallest bit of apprehension. We'll shelve that for a moment, though. Behind Crow-Armstrong (whose blend of the above qualities made him the ideal candidate for an extension), Hoerner was likely the player you'd have the second-easiest time making an extension case for on a list of players that includes Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki, Jameson Taillon, Shota Imanaga, and Matthew Boyd, among others. With Crow-Armstrong's extension, we discussed three factors that helped with an easy justification: contractual context, projectability, and narrative impact. Hoerner loudly checks two of the boxes, with any issue looming for a third not quite relevant at present. Hoerner was set to be a free agent following the 2026 season. Regardless of how labor negotiations could impact free agency, he stood to be one of the most notable position players available on the market. His blend of contact, baserunning, and defensive acumen could have combined to earn him significant dollars with another club (as of this writing, we don't know the financials of his new deal). The context is different here; with Crow-Armstrong, it was about cost-certainty. With Hoerner, it was retention. We don't know what another team might've been willing to offer Hoerner; perhaps it would have surpassed that of a Cubs offer. Getting an extension done now may or may not have saved a few bucks, but preserving one of your club's most important players on that side of the ball is the real win. Further, Hoerner wins the narrative impact as well. The Cubs aren't exactly a team lacking in leadership, but Hoerner's lead-by-example demeanor combined with his other intangible qualities made him one of the more well-liked members of the organization among the fanbase. There's almost no downside to extending a player who offers you that. Even the performance standpoint works in Hoerner's favor, at least in the short term. He offers you almost nothing in the power department but is one of the more refined examples of a contact hitter we have in the game today. In addition to his whiff and strikeout rates, each of which rest in the 99th percentile, he squares up his contact among the league's best. Hoerner doesn't merely put balls in play, but does so in a manner that is consistently solid, featuring lots of line drive contact and very few pulled groundballs. Those all work in his favor, even sans average power. Then you get into the baserunning, where his 28.6 feet-per-second spring speed exceeds the league average 27 ft/sec mark and his 5 Baserunning Runs (a combination metric of stolen bases and extra bases taken) ranked 11th among qualifying position players. Of course, none of this even mentions his defense. Hoerner's 15 Outs Above Average ranked 12th among position players last year, regardless of their defensive home. Since his first full year back in 2022, Hoerner's 51 OAA ranks fourth overall, trailing only Ke'Bryan Hayes (64), Andrés Giménez (62), and Dansby Swanson (62). This is an elite glove that helps to fortify the team's infield defense for the foreseeable future alongside Swanson, Alex Bregman, and Michael Busch. One doesn't have to squint to see why retaining Nico Hoerner is an absolutely essential move for the Cubs beyond 2026. However, projectability is a real concern for someone who may have already produced his career-best work last year. Aging curves are real, and Hoerner is in his age-29 season. If he were following the most generic, traditional path in the eyes of the aging curve, then he could hit the inflection point for his decline as soon as next season (when he'd be 30). Now, bodies age differently and Hoerner doesn't have as many big league miles on his as other players his age. Concern over how the contract will age has less to do with Hoerner himself and more to do with the profile reaching age-30 and above. A high-contact, elite defending second baseman who is skilled on the bases? Yeah, you worry about that player more than you might if they were less reliant on athleticism. Eyes weaken (and there is evidence to suggest strikeouts are increasingly a problem on the less appealing end of the aging curve) and legs get slower. The physical force of a swing may not manifest with the effectiveness it once did. Is this, then, something we should be worrying about as we progress through this new Hoerner contract? Maybe. But, also, maybe not. The thing about Hoerner's profile is that beyond the bat-to-ball skills, none of it is elite. He swings at a speed well below league average (his 68.5 MPH swing lived in the eighth percentile last year). He's not working with elite speed on the bases, relying more on instinct and knowledge of the basepaths than the jets alone. He's also not playing a particularly difficult defensive spot compared to shortstop or center field. While it's possible that there may very well be decline of some sort at the very tail end of this deal, the combination of lower miles and the idea that Hoerner is more solid than elite everywhere should work in his favor. Of course, in addition to how Hoerner himself will age, there's also the future of the organization to consider. Matt Shaw was already forced out of his temporary defensive home by the signing of Alex Bregman to a five-year deal. Dansby Swanson has another three years on his deal after 2026. With Michael Busch possessing another three arbitration years (if not an eventual extension of his own) as, arguably, the team's most consistent impact bat, there isn't room left on the infield. To say nothing of the fact that Jefferson Rojas is steadily ascending the system as a shortstop-of-the-future type. It certainly puts the Cubs in a position where position changes are going to become necessary, if not an outright trade. But you also extend players that have present, demonstrated value. You don't not extend a player due to the abstract future of a young player or prospect, regardless of the latter's upside. It all works in Hoerner's favor, really. The Cubs extended a fan favorite and one of the most stable elements of their roster for six years. You simply cannot allow that combination to walk. Sure, fears may exist about how the contract could age or how this impacts young players in the organization, but do those fears not exist for virtually any long-term deal in any organization? If there's an order of priority for extensions in this organization, Nico Hoerner was, at worst, second on the list. It's hard to find a case against it, even if history offers the slightest bit of apprehension. That's a concern for another day. View the full article

Welcome, Milwaukee Brewers minor league aficionados, to our Link Report season for 2026! Why "Link Report"? Well, that title was conjured up back in 2001 when a certain someone (OK, yours truly) took the lead of then-"Brewerfan.com" Power 50 prospect guru Toby Harrmann and decided to chronicle the nightly goings-on down on the Crew's farm. Within that debut of Miller Park campaign (to be followed by a ghastly 106-loss 2002 season), the fantastic Jim Powell would provide many a reference to our efforts when he stepped in during 7th innings for Bob Uecker with his "Down on the Farm" reports during those extremely lean big-league times. Before we update you on Friday's Nashville season opener, we have a tremendous rabbit hole for you to dive into. Toby was the man: pre-cursor of folks like Eric Longenhagen, Keith Law, the MLB Pipeline team, etc. Behold, the 2002-2011 Power 50 archives. Plus, while not quite the complete set from the very start, feast upon Link Reports going back to 2003. Be sure to check out the headers within this magical archive world and look back at the main page articles of the day (hello Harold Hutchison, still with us!) and Patrick Ebert's ahead-of-his-time draft coverage. Thank you, Brewerfan founder Brian Kapellusch for establishing the community that is still so prominent today, along with @Brock Beauchamp who acquired the online franchise and brought us deeper into the 21st century. OK, are you back from your distant memory review of that very first January 2002 Power 50 that included Bill Hall, JJ Hardy, Corey Hart, and Matt Childers (father of current Nashville Sound Will Childers?). Good, let's jump back into the present. Transactions: Nashville Sounds placed RHP Gerson Garabito on the 60-day injured list - broken bone in foot Nashville Sounds placed LHP Thomas Pannone on the 7-day injured list - torn flexor tendon in left forearm last March (no concrete updates since) Nashville Sounds placed RHP J.B. Bukauskas on the 7-day injured list - significant lat injury 12-13 months ago (no concrete updates since) Wilson Warbirds placed RHP Jack Hostetler on the 60-day injured list (Tommy John surgery last summer) OF Damon Keith acquired from Los Angeles Dodgers for cash (MLB Trade Rumors update) As many of you know, we maintain a thorough 2026 Transaction Thread on our Minor League Forum. Feel free to catch up on all the news from January 1st and since here. Nashville Pre-Game Media Notes Final: Norfolk (Orioles) 6, Nashville 4, seven innings, rain Box Score and Game Log Via the Sounds, game details and postgame notes/analysis, and we always encourage readers to review affiliate write-ups as part of their Link Report routine: Gasser's Double-Digit Strikeouts Not Enough on Opening Day We see it often through the season. The local news outlet arrives to cover the game, but because of their own deadlines, we only get to see highlights from the early innings. On Friday in Norfolk, that worked to our advantage as the Sounds led 4-0 until the bottom of the 7th happened. Luis Lara had 47 plate appearances in big-league camp this month and only slugged .333 (11-for-42, three doubles). Well, the 21-year-old (not 22 until November) is slugging 1.667 after one regular season game. Clearly Robert Gasser was the mound story here. Check out all the swings to end at-bats. Just ridiculously impressed that Gasser shook off any disappointment from being left off the Crew's Opening Day roster. The Tides tell us that he is the first Triple-A pitcher to strike out 11 on Opening Day since Zac Gallen for New Orleans in 2019. If you wish, the Norfolk "X" feed brings you portions of the fateful final frame, with old friend Weston Wilson among the culprits. Not a lot of stinging hard contact! Surely you were itching to click that box score link above, and for those who did, you took note of Jett Williams at third base for this one, Tyler Black in left field, and Brock Wilken as the DH. Beyond backup catcher Ramon Rodriguez, the bench had infielders Eddys Leonard and Freddy Zamora idle. You'll want to check out both the "Your 2026 Nashville Sounds" thread and the daily "as-it-happens" thread that was maintained last night. Plenty of tidbits within, including insights on Tyler Black's error that Mr. Gasser pitched around. Just wait until there are seven games in a single night, come rookie ball season! So, it wasn't the night that RHP Jacob Waguespack (ERA 54.00) and LHP Sammy Peralta (where's that ERA infinity symbol?) desired. Move on, as much as we absolutely love to follow the farm, the sting is negligible compared to if this had been on the parent club MLB landscape. The series continues at 5:35 CT with RHP Coleman Crow on the bump (yeah, the Nashville starting pitcher carousel is going to be fun this season). Thanks for joining us again in 2026! 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

It was not an Opening Day to remember for the Kansas City Royals. They lost 6-0 to the Atlanta Braves at Truist Field in Atlanta. The offense was punchless. They not only scored zero runs but also had just five hits, all singles. However, one of the bigger disappointments of Friday's Opening Day loss was Cole Ragans, the Royals ace who was making his third-straight Opening Day start for Kansas City. In four innings of work and on 90 pitches, the lefty allowed four runs on six hits and four walks. While he struck out five Royals batters, he also gave up seven hard hits and three home runs. It certainly wasn't the kind of start Ragans wanted to begin 2026, especially after a 2025 campaign in which he posted a 4.67 ERA and only pitched 61.2 IP due to injury. Thus, what takeaways can Royals fans have from Ragans' Opening Day start? Is it something to panic about, or is it just a blip on the radar for Ragans, similar to Pittsburgh's Paul Skenes and San Diego's Nick Pivetta, who both had brutal Opening Day outings as well? Let's take a look at three things that stuck out from Ragans' start on Friday. Ragans Struggled With Finding the Zone When looking at Ragans' TJ Stats summary from his first outing of the season, he had some positives and negatives (though Royals fans will certainly focus on the negatives). Below is his summary from TJ Stats. In terms of the positives, Ragans still did an excellent job of generating whiff, as evidenced by his 31.7% whiff rate. He was also average in terms of generating chase, especially with his slider. His primary breaking pitch had a 43.8% chase rate and a 36.4% whiff rate. Lastly, his overall TJ Stuff+ was solid at 101, with his four-seamer, slider, and changeup all sporting grades of 50 or above. That said, his command was just not sharp against Atlanta. Ragans had a 34.4% zone rate, with two of his pitches having zone rates under 25% (slider and knuckle curve). His four-seamer, his most thrown pitch at 50%, had a 35.6% zone rate. The lackluster zone rates with the four-seamer and slider also correlated with poor xwOBACON marks on those pitches. He gave up a .569 xwOBACON on the four-seamer and a .668 xwOBACON on the slider. When looking at his pitch chart from Friday's game, Ragans did a good job of keeping the ball out of the middle-middle part of the strike zone. However, he missed badly in a lot of areas, and as a result, Braves hitters became more selective as the game progressed. The breaking stuff was particularly tough for Ragans to control. He missed a lot with his slider and knuckle curve low in the zone, as evidenced by all the yellow and blue dots around the shins and feet of the batters. Thus, it's not a surprise that his zone rates were so poor on his slider and knuckle curve on Friday night. Overall, the CSW wasn't bad at 27%, but the walks were still brutal, and his spotty command also resulted in some balls left in the zone that Braves hitters took advantage of. Ragans gave up three bombs, and here's the location of Ragans' pitches that Braves hitters went yard on. Honestly, those are major mistake pitches by Ragans. The most egregious command blunder was that changeup up in the zone, which Ozzie Albies absolutely teed off on for the first run of the game. It's one thing for Ragans to give up the free passes due to walks. Conversely, it's another thing when he's serving balls up in highly hittable areas because he isn't able to locate pitches effectively. Safe to say, it is a start that Ragans is ready to move on from (and quickly). Footing Issues With the Four-Seamer? Early in the game, Ragans seemed to lose his footing on the mound, nearly falling over after pitching the ball. The scene looked similar to what happened in Toronto a few seasons ago, when Ragans fell over on his follow-through and struggled to get his control back together for the remainder of the outing. Granted, Ragans didn't have quite the meltdown in Atlanta like he did North of the Border. That said, it seemed like his four-seamer was being thrown much differently in the second half of his outing (innings 3 and 4) than in the first half (innings 1 and 2). The 28-year-old Royals ace did a good job of peppering the four-seamer on the edges. However, he didn't locate the four-seamer as consistently up in the zone as he typically does. Ragans seemed to live more down in the zone with the four-seamer, especially later into his outing. Here's a look at his four-seamer pitch chart from the fourth inning of Friday's game. Ragans has only one pitch that's up and clips the edge of the strike zone, which is where a pitcher wants to be with a four-seamer of Ragans' profile. He either missed badly or stayed around the middle to lower edges of the strike zone. A key correlation with his atypical four-seamer location in the fourth inning is that Ragans' velocity dipped considerably in the fourth inning. He averaged 93.7 MPH in that inning. In the third, he was also down to 93.9 MPH. For comparison, he averaged 95.8 MPH in the first and 94.6 MPH in the second. Furthermore, this is what his four-seamer pitch chart looked like in the first inning. Ragans still missed up in the first inning, but he was also hitting the edges better and painting those edges up in the zone with his four-seamer. That wasn't happening later in the game. It could be that Ragans didn't have a good feel for his pitch. Thus, he was sacrificing velocity for control, something he has done in the past when he's not having a good feel for the four-seamer. The mound conditions could've contributed to that four-seamer's velocity and effectiveness. For a pitcher with mechanics like Ragans, being off in the slightest can throw everything off in a dramatic way. It's been an issue before for Ragans in the past, and it seemed like that problem reared its ugly head on Friday night. As the "ace" of this rotation, Ragans needs to make adjustments and find ways to get batters out when he isn't getting chases and whiffs or having great feel on his four-seamer. Ragans' Home Run Issues (Can More Cutter Usage Help?) Ragans gave up three home runs and allowed an xwOBACON of .495. Of course, a 60% HR/FB rate, as was the case on Friday, is not sustainable in the long term. Eventual flyball regression will help Ragans' overall line. That said, we have been seeing a concerning trend with Ragans on the long ball since the start of 2025. In 2023, he had an HR/FB rate of 5.2% in 71.2 IP with the Royals after coming over from Texas in a mid-season trade. In 2024, the HR/FB rate increased to 8.1%, 186.1 IP. Last season, his HR/FB rate was 12.3% in 61.2 IP. Thus, Ragans experienced a 7.1% increase in HR/FB rate from 2023 to 2025. Furthermore, as the HR/FB rate went up, Ragans' groundball rate (GB%) trended downward. With the Royals in 2023, he had a 45.5% GB%. In 2024, his GB% decreased to 40.7%. Last year, his GB% was 36.8%. While his HR/FB rate saw a dramatic spike over a three-year period, his GB% experienced a sharp dip over the same timespan, with his GB% dropping nearly 10 percent from his Royals debut. An issue with Ragans is that he often sells out for the strikeout. When he doesn't get them, it leads to either walks or mistakes in the strike zone that are barreled, often for home runs. While his strikeout rates were 29.3% in 2024 and 38.1% in 2025, his barrel rate allowed went from 6.2% to 9.5%. Thus, that seems to prove the point that when Ragans isn't getting whiffs, he's allowing way too much hard contact and, as a result, more bombs. Ragans needs to generate more groundballs, and a tweak in repertoire could help him do that. As Royals Data Dugout pointed out in our chat during the KCSN Royals Postgame show, an increase in cutter usage could be the solution. The Royals ace leaned on his cutter as a groundball-generating pitch in the past, especially in 2024, when it produced a 53.2% GB%, the highest among his arsenal. However, that cutter GB% dipped dramatically in 2025, and he seemed to utilize the slider and knuckle curve to generate more groundballs. Now, it's a chicken-or-egg kind of deal with the cutter. Did the cutter truly become less effective at generating groundballs in 2025? Or was he simply throwing it less, which resulted in less contact in general because of that decrease in usage? Ragans only threw the cutter 4.3% last year, a career-low, as seen below via Savant. I'm thinking Ragans needs to mix things up to get his GB% back into the 40% range. Throwing his cutter more and maybe the knuckle curve less could be helpful, especially since the knuckle curve has had spotty control. Would such a change result in fewer strikeouts? Perhaps, especially since the cutter has never had a whiff rate higher than 23.8% since 2022. However, Ragans needs to find a way to keep the ball in the yard and get it on the ground more often. The cutter is a tool he's used before to help him achieve that goal. Perhaps doing that again can get him back on track and neutralize the home run issues. I'm guessing Ragans will take that dip in strikeouts if it means better and more efficient outings going forward in 2026. View the full article