HOUSTON - OCTOBER 09: Chris Burke #2 of the Houston Astros is congratulated by Chad Qualls #50 after Burke hit a solo home run to defeat the Atlanta Braves in Game Four of the 2005 National League Division Series on October 9, 2005 at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas. The Astros eliminated the Braves three games to one with a 7-6 victory in the 18th inning. (Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images) | Getty Images
He lands on every Astros fans list of top historical moments. Game 4 of the 2005 NLDS lasted 18 innings until Chris Burke walked off the Braves with a 338 shot to left field. This is the second installment of our Legends Series.
Q: How often are you asked about that moment?
A: I don’t think a week goes by in my life, where somebody doesn’t bring it up. What I remember most about that at bat was how electric the stadium was prior to my at bat, because Roger Clemens actually hit directly in front of me due to the way he entered the game and the crazy nature of an 18-inning game. He was making only his second ever relief appearance in his career and he struck out in front of me. When I got up next, I was actually going to bunt on the first pitch, but Joey Devine threw a slider for a ball which was way outside. The count went to 1 and 0 and then with the second pitch, he almost hit me, and so I knew up 2-0 in the count, I could start thinking about a pitch middle in that I could drive and he threw me an inside fast ball on the inside corner. I put my best swing on it and the rest is history.
Q: Where is the ball now?
A: I don’t have it. It’s actually in Cooperstown at the Hall of Fame. Lance Berkman hit a grand slam that game in the 8th inning and the same fan who caught his shot, also caught my home run. Each of them is in the Astros display portion of the hall. The fan was gracious enough to give both of the balls to the Astros who sent them there. I still have the actual bat and the batting gloves from that plate appearance.
Q: If that’s your most famous home run, what’s number two on your career list?
A: It would have to be my first ever career home run. I hit it off of Pedro Martinez to break up a no hitter in New York in the 7th inning in his first year with the Mets. It was of course a sell out with Pedro pitching and at that time, the Mets had never had a no hitter as an organization and he hung me a 1-1 curveball, and I hit it into the leftfield bullpen. That was very surreal, being my first homer of vintage Pedro in New York. I still have to pinch myself.
Q: What do you love most about broadcasting now?
A: I love college baseball. I deeply cherished my time as a college baseball player, and I consider it one of the joys of my life. Now I get to cover it as a career, and I just love it at this level. The all-in nature, the way that coaches teach and compete and develop players and the buy-in they get from the players is just incredible. I appreciate the urgency. I love the environment and atmosphere.
After going 0-for-11 with RISP, New York finds themselves in the midst of a familiar slump despite running out a completely different lineup than last season
Francisco Lindorowned his mental mistakes in the field and on the bases, saying he "should have been better"
WATCH: Lindor, Carlos Mendoza, and Freddy Peralta discuss the loss
Down in Syracuse, Jack Wenninger enjoyed a strong start to the season, throwing 4.2 scoreless innings
The Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals wrap up a three-game AL Central series with the wind gusting out at Kauffman Stadium this afternoon.
My top Twins vs. Royals predictions and MLB picks are calling for Minny to avoid the sweep.
Who will win Twins vs Royals today: Twins moneyline (+142)
The Kansas City Royals are saddled with a Cole Ragans tax on Thursday, despite the lefty surrendering 17 earned runs across 20 innings dating back to Spring Training.
There’s pop coming from the Minnesota Twins, too. The Minny lineup paces the majors in hard-hit percentage while ranking sixth in exit velocity to start the year, so I’m anticipating statistical correction ahead of their middling, 18th-ranked BABIP.
Plus, Ragans served up a 58.3% hard-hit rate in his season debut, and the wind is forecasted to gust straight out at Kauffman Stadium this afternoon.
COVERS INTEL: Twins starter Taj Bradley had an elite 31.5% called + swinging strike percentage in his first start of the season.
Twins vs Royals Over/Under pick: Over 9.5 (+104)
In addition to the wind howling out at Kauffman Stadium this afternoon, both Ragans and Minny starter Taj Bradley struggled with control in their season debuts and combined for seven walks across 8 1/3 innings.
Bradley escaped major trouble by striking out nine batters, but the Royals had the lowest strikeout percentage in the majors against righties in 2025.
Additionally, both Minnesota and Kansas City rank above average in on-base percentage to start the campaign.
Ducks on the pond with favorable hitting conditions is a recipe for runs on the board.
Neil Parker's 2026 Transparency Record
ML/RL bets: 1-2, -0.68 units
Over/Under bets: 1-2, -1.12 units
Twins vs Royals odds
Moneyline: Minnesota +144 | Kansas City -150
Run line: Minnesota +1.5 (-138) | Kansas City -1.5 (+133)
Over/Under: Over 9.5 (+113) | Under 9.5 (-117)
Twins vs Royals trend
The Royals have only covered the run line in 30 of their last 74 home games for -18.65 units and a -20% ROI. Find more MLB betting trends for Twins vs. Royals.
How to watch Twins vs Royals and game info
Location
Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, MO
Date
Thursday, April 2, 2026
First pitch
2:10 p.m. ET
TV
Twins.TV, Royals.TV
Twins starting pitcher
Taj Bradley (0-0, 2.08 ERA)
Royals starting pitcher
Cole Ragans (0-1, 9.00 ERA)
Twins vs Royals latest injuries
Twins vs Royals weather
Odds are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change. Not intended for use in MA. Affiliate Disclosure: Our team of experts has thoroughly researched and handpicked each product that appears on our website. We may receive compensation if you sign up through our links.
Apr 1, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani (17) reacts after he was called out on a checked swing with bases loaded to end in the eighth inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Funny thing about baseball. You usually don’t win the game when the other team scores more than you.
After sweeping the Arizona Diamondbacks to start the season, the Dodgers lost two-of-three to the Cleveland Guardians. Most concerning at the moment is the lack of production from the offense.
In Wednesday’s loss, the top six in the lineup went 1-for-21 with eight strikeouts. And the one hit came from Freddie Freeman who hit a solo home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Shockingly, that was not enough to mount a comeback when the other team had already scored four runs.
Before Wednesday’s game, a rare thing happened. Shohei Ohtani took batting practice on the field. As Doug Padilla of the OC Register points out, the last time Ohtani took batting practice on the field was Game 3 of the NLCS when he was in a slump, only having gone 2-for-25 in the playoffs to that point. We all know what he did in Game 4 of that series.
So far this season, Ohtani has a slash line of .167/.423/.167. If it weren’t for his pitching prowess, he wouldn’t be much of a show at all. So maybe if we extrapolate from that one occurrence, Ohtani is bound to have a breakout game in the first game of the Washington Nationals series that starts on Friday. That’s how that works, right?
So far, the Tigers’ Triple-A affiliate has mirrored the big league club to a degree. Wenceel Pérez has the sole home run through five games. Of course that’s a lot more understandable when you’re playing in upstate New York this time of year. On the pitching side, the bullpen has been taxed as several starters are still stretching out in the early going.
Veteran minor league starter Lael Lockhart Jr., who remains one of those solid southpaws with command who just lacks the extra 2-3 mph it would take to get him to the big leagues regularly, got the start on Wednesday. The Hens went in order in the first, and then the lefty got into a little trouble in the bottom half. Nick Morabito led off with a single back through the box and then stole second base. Ronny Mauricio flew out, and so did Ryan Clifford on a hard hit ball to Wenceel Pérez in right field. Christian Arroyo did better, ripping an RBI double to left to make it 1-0. Lockhart Jr. buckled down and got Jose Rojas to ground out, ending the threat.
Two out singles from Corey Julks and Gage Workman were squandered by a Tomas Nido ground out in the second, while Lockhart Jr. allowed a leadoff single to Vidal Brujan and then walked Ben Rortvedt. However, he bounced back to strike out Cristian Pache and Ji Hwan Bae and got out of the inning unscathed.
Max Clark doubled in the third but was stranded, and neither team scored in the fourth as Clark erased Jose Rojas with an accurate throw as Rojas tried to stretch a single into a double.
Max Clark picks up his 2nd outfield assist of the young season. Gets over to this ball quickly and fires a strike to 2nd to nab Jose Rojas. pic.twitter.com/7rGtAdicsQ
In the top of the fifth, the Hens got something started again with a one out single from Nido and a walk to Cal Stevenson, but Pérez and Clark struck out, the latter against RHP Joey Gerber, who entered in relief to face him.
In the bottom of the fifth, Lockhart Jr. issued a two-out walk to Mauricio, and RHP Tyler Mattison took over. He did not do well, allowing singles to Clifford and then Christian Arroyo to make it a 2-0 Mets lead. Mattison punched out Rojas to put a stop to any further trouble, and the Hens finally got the offense going in the top of the sixth.
Jace Jung led off with a drive to right that went for a double, then advanced to third on an Eduardo Valencia ground out. Trei Cruz walked, and after Julks struck out, Workman lashed a single to right to score Jung. Nido pulled an RBI single to left, and it was now a 2-2 game as the Mets went back to their pen. Anderson Severino came on to get Stevenson on a lineout to right field.
Mattison struck out Brujan and Rortvedt to start the bottom of the sixth, but his fastball velocity was down at 92-93 mph, still a long way from recovering his pre-TJ gas. A walk to Pache followed, but Bae flew out to Clark in center to send us to the seventh.
Jonathan Pintaro took over for the Mets and popped up Pérez to start the inning. Clark continued to swing a hot bat early on, smoking a line drive double to left field at 106.2 mph off the bat, but Jung grounded out and Valencia struck out.
Max Clark smokes a 106-MPH liner to left center and then hustles it into his second double of the game. pic.twitter.com/X8GnUtP6Sx
Brenan Hanifee took over in the seventh and collecting three outs without much issue, though Clifford did hit another missile into the outfield that Clark hauled in.
With the right-hander Pintaro still on the mound in the eighth, Cruz got an 0-2 fastball on the outer edge and drilled a liner up the left center field gap, beating out a double by a hair. Julks was dusted by a good high fastball, and Workman and Nido grounded out to strand Cruz.
Lefty Sean Guenther took over from Hanifee in the bottom half. He got Arroyo to ground out, but walked Rojas. The Mets pinch-ran Jackson Cluff for Rojas, and while Guenther got Brujan to ground out to Workman, Rortvedt doubled in the run to make it a 3-2 Mets lead. Pache then dumped a flare into center field to plate Rortvedt. Guenther picked Pache off at first to end the inning, but the Mets had a 4-2 lead.
The Hens went down in order in the ninth to end it.
Clark: 2-5, 2 2B, K
Workman: 2-4, RBI, 2B
Jung: 1-3, R, 2B, 2 K
Lockhart: 4.2 IP, 2 ER, 4 H 3 BB, 5 K
Guenther (L, 0-1): 1.0 IP, 2 ER 2 H, BB, 0 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 4:05 p.m. ET start on Thursday as the Hens look to re-take the lead in this six-game set. The other minor league affiliates will get underway on Friday.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - MARCH 29: Yaxel Lendeborg #23 of the Michigan Wolverines looks on against the Tennessee Volunteers during the first half in the Elite Eight of the 2026 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at the United Center on March 29, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The 2026 NBA championship race is shaping up to be a thrilling, wide open chase between emergent young teams and established juggernauts, yet somehow it feels like the bottom of the league is getting more attention. The 2026 NBA Draft class is so strong that commissioner Adam Silver is in the process of rushing through lottery reform in an attempt to solve a purported tanking crisis. The fact that teams like the San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons quickly went from worst-to-first after landing the No. 1 pick in the draft in recent years makes the stakes even higher when the ping-pong balls bounce on May 10.
The NBA’s decision to flatten the lottery odds ahead of the 2019 draft has opened up the tank race to even more teams and resulted in some surprising winners in recent years. It happened again in our latest mock draft.
We simulated the lottery with one spin of Tankathon to get the first-round order, and there were some major surprises. Three teams moved up at least six spots in the order. Seven teams fell at least two spots from their starting lottery position. Imagine the chaos if this is how the draft actually breaks.
After the lottery results shook up the order, the picks in this mock draft were based on how I think things will actually go, not necessarily what I would do. Let’s hit on some key themes after the jump.
Pick
Team
Player
Position
School
Age
1
Atlanta Hawks (via Pelicans)
AJ Dybantsa
Wing
BYU
Freshman
2
Brooklyn Nets
Darryn Peterson
Guard
Kansas
Freshman
3
Milwaukee Bucks
Cameron Boozer
Forward
Duke
Freshman
4
Golden State Warriors
Caleb Wilson
Forward
North Carolina
Freshman
5
Washington Wizards
Keaton Wagler
Guard
Illinois
Freshman
6
Los Angeles Clippers (via Pacers)
Yaxel Lendeborg
Forward
Michigan
Senior
7
Sacramento Kings
Kingston Flemings
Guard
Houston
Freshman
8
Utah Jazz
Brayden Burries
Guard
Arizona
Freshman
9
Dallas Mavericks
Darius Acuff
Guard
Arkansas
Freshman
10
Memphis Grizzlies
Jayden Quaintance
Center/Forward
Kentucky
Sophomore
11
Chicago Bulls
Mikel Brown Jr.
Guard
Louisville
Freshman
12
Portland Trail Blazers
Nate Ament
Wing
Tennessee
Freshman
13
Charlotte Hornets
Koa Peat
Forward
Arizona
Freshman
14
Miami Heat
Karim Lopez
Forward
NZ Breakers
Born 2007
15
Oklahoma City Thunder (via Clippers)
Aday Mara
Center
Michigan
Junior
16
Memphis Grizzlies (via Magic)
Bennett Stirtz
Guard
Iowa
Senior
17
Oklahoma City Thunder (via 76ers)
Hannes Steinbach
Forward/Center
Washington
Freshman
18
Charlotte Hornets (via Suns)
Cameron Carr
Wing
Baylor
Junior
19
San Antonio Spurs (via Hawks)
Thomas Haugh
Forward
Florida
Junior
20
Toronto Raptors
Labaron Philon
Guard
Alabama
Sophomore
21
Philadelphia 76ers (via Rockets)
Dailyn Swain
Forward
Texas
Junior
22
Detroit Pistons (via Wolves)
Braylon Mullins
Guard
UConn
Freshman
23
Atlanta Hawks (via Cavs)
Morez Johnson
Center/Forward
Michigan
Sophomore
24
Denver Nuggets
Patrick Ngongba
Center
Duke
Sophomore
25
New York Knicks
Joshua Jefferson
Forward
Iowa State
Senior
26
Los Angeles Lakers
Motiejus Krivas
Center
Arizona
Junior
27
Boston Celtics
Juke Harris
Guard
Wake Forest
Sophomore
28
Minnesota Timberwolves (via Pistons)
Christian Anderson
Guard
Texas Tech
Sophomore
29
Cleveland Cavaliers (via Spurs)
Isaiah Evans
Guard
Duke
Sophomore
30
Dallas Mavericks (via Thunder)
Amari Allen
Forward
Alabama
Freshman
Yes, I’m shocked, too. Let’s dive into some of the biggest themes in this class.
The lottery will decide who goes No. 1, but it feels like A.J. Dybantsa has the edge
Kansas’ Darryn Peterson, Duke’s Cameron Boozer, and BYU’s A.J. Dybantsa have been battling for the No. 1 pick all season. I’ve been consistent in ranking Boozer at No. 1, but Duke’s unfathomable Elite Eight loss to UConn on Braylon Mullins’ 35-foot buzzer-beater puts a dent in Boozer’s greatest argument. I’ve heard (but can’t confirm) that this is the first time Boozer has failed to win the last game of the season since sixth grade! It took a miracle to beat Boozer while his starting center and starting point guard were both playing hurt, but I feel like he was only going to go No. 1 overall if Duke won the national championship, and that’s over now.
Dybantsa is the only member of the ’big three’ who didn’t win a game in March Madness this year, but he has a built in excuse with his best teammate, Richie Saunders, suffering a torn ACL just before the dance. Given Peterson’s bizarre cramping issues and the strange skepticism about Boozer’s top-end upside, I think Dybantsa is the safest bet to go No. 1. The Hawks winning our lottery sim makes it an even more natural fit.
I have a hard time believing Atlanta would take Boozer given that he’s positionally locked at the four, which is Jalen Johnson’s position. Peterson vs. Dybantsa would be a tremendous debate, but ultimately it’s easier to find guards than big wings with the scoring upside of the BYU freshman.
Dybantsa is an elite scoring prospect. He’s huge for a wing at 6’9 with a strong frame, but he’s also extremely flexible in how he attacks the paint. His long, coordinated strides are a thing of beauty to watch, and his mid-range game is going to be unstoppable in high-leverage situations like the playoffs. The players who are big enough to guard Dybantsa on an island usually aren’t fast enough to keep up with him. The players fast enough to guard him usually aren’t long or strong enough to match his tools.
Am I worried about his lack of defensive engagement? About his low-volume three-point shooting? About how he looks outside of a brilliant BYU system tailored to opening up the paint for attacks? Yes, yes, and yes. But he’s an awesome prospect regardless of whether I have him ranked No. 1 or No. 3. The Hawks would be super lucky to get him.
The Warriors and Bucks rise in the lottery for pure mayhem
The Warriors are 10th in the Western Conference standings as I write this. Jimmy Butler is out for the year with a torn ACL, and Steph Curry hasn’t played since January. Curry is reportedly nearing a return, and that means Golden State could absolutely win two play-in games to make the playoffs. If they fall short, though, there’s some chance they could move up in the lottery, which is exactly what happened in our simulation.
The Warriors jumping from No. 11 to No. 1 would be incredible, and it’s important to remember that’s what the Dallas Mavericks did last year to win the rights to Cooper Flagg. Suddenly Golden State would have a massive trade chip to look for veteran help around Curry, or it could just take the best player available — in this case, Caleb Wilson — to give them a new potential star once Steph retires.
The Bucks jumping up is just as seismic. Milwaukee will be cheering for Atlanta come lottery day, because the Hawks own the most favorable pick between the Pelicans and the Bucks. This essentially means that Milwaukee can choose as high as No. 2 overall in the draft if Atlanta lands at No. 1. The stakes would be massive given the lingering Giannis Antetokounmpo trade situation that figures to become a storyline again this offseason.
Boozer in Milwaukee and Caleb Wilson in Golden State would both be fascinating picks — and the clear best players available in our projection. Watch those Wilson highlights above and let me know who he reminds you of in the comments. I really think he has the best highlight reel of any prospect in this class, and there are days when I’m tempted to slide him all the way up to No. 2.
The Bucks won it all behind Giannis in 2021. The Warriors won the championship for the fourth time with Curry in 2022. Getting this type of luck in the 2026 lottery would give these teams a new lease on life around their historic superstars.
Of course, Lendeborg’s March Madness production and his hypothetical NBA translation are two different subjects. If you’ve been following the discourse around the tournament, you have probably seen opposing fans bemoan that the Michigan star is TwEnTy SeVeN years old or whatever age they decide to choose on that day.
Lendeborg is 23 years old, and he turns 24 before his rookie year in the NBA begins. Yes, this is his sixth season in college. He’s a month older than Josh Giddey, who is in his fifth NBA season. His age absolutely matters in projecting him the league — by the time he starts his second contract, he’ll already be 28.
Where the Michigan star goes in the draft all comes down to fit. In this projection, the Los Angeles Clippers get the Indiana Pacers pick from the Ivica Zubac trade because it slides out of the top four. After also landing Darius Garland at the deadline, are the Clippers really going to take Kingston Flemings or Darius Acuff or Mikel Brown? I don’t think so. Arizona guard Brayden Burries would make some sense, and Tennessee wing Nate Ament will also probably get consideration. I just like Lendeborg a lot more intriguing than both even if he’s super old for a rookie.
Lendeborg has a rare combination of size, skill, and two-way versatility. Listed at 6’9, 240 pounds, with a 7’4 wingspan, he has the length and weight of an NBA center. This season at Michigan has proven he can play off the ball next to other bigs while using his skill set to maximize everyone else on the floor. His shooting indictors are encouraging by making 37.2 percent of his threes on 8.2 attempts per 100 possessions with an 81 percent stroke from the free throw line. He’s a serious defensive playmaker with a 4.6 percent block rate and 2.1 percent steal rate and tons of chasedown blocks all over his super-super-senior season tape. He’s a willing passer and a capable driver, he doesn’t turn the ball over, and he hits the glass hard on both ends. What’s not to like?
Derrick White was 23 years old as a rookie and he turned out pretty well. Age matters, but it’s not everything. Yaxel is good enough to overcome it.
Which first-rounders will go back to college for big NIL deals?
The money in college basketball is so good right now that it’s only natural this draft will be thinned by a few returners who can’t pass up a big NIL offer. It happened last year with Labaron Philon and Lendeborg as likely first-round picks who returned to school, and guess what, both improved their stock big time this year.
Which possible first-rounders could return next season? We took four players out of our last mock draft just because there has been some speculation they could potentially return to college:
Allen Graves, F, Santa Clara: I’d expect Graves to be one of the most sough-after players in the transfer portal if returns to college, and that probably means a multi-million dollar salary. Graves only played 57 percent of the available minutes this year and couldn’t help himself from fouling constantly despite incredible protection in a sixth-man role. I’d take him in the first if he enters, but spending a year at Kentucky or Arizona or North Carolina or Kansas sounds pretty cool, too.
Tyler Tanner, G, Vanderbilt: What if North Carolina went after Mark Byington and Tyler Tanner this offseason? Hey, raiding Drake for its head coach and star point guard took Iowa to the Elite Eight this year. I’d likely consider Tanner a top-20 pick if he enters this draft, but if he goes back to school he might be the best player in college basketball next season. I’m still mad his half-court heave rimmed out in the round of 32.
Ebuka Okorie, G, Stanford: Okorie went from the No. 119 recruit to a possible first-round pick during his freshman season at Stanford. This draft is deep with so many point guards that it may benefit Okorie to stick around an extra year and try to play himself into a lottery pick. He may cause an even bigger bidding war in the portal than Tanner and Graves do.
Who are the Final Four’s other NBA prospects?
It’s pretty incredible that there are eight projected first-round picks in this mock draft playing in the Final Four. That’s 26.6 percent of the entire first-round!
Michigan (3): We went over Lendeborg already. Aday Mara — a 7’3 center who can protect the rim in drop coverage, crush the glass at both ends, and throw some fantastic outlet passes — should be a first-round pick lock despite his scoring touch concerns. Morez Johnson is another obvious first-round talent in my book as the draft’s most versatile defender, and maybe also its best. Trey McKenney will probably be an NBA player eventually, but not this year.
Arizona (3): Brayden Burries is a likely lottery pick as a well-rounded shooting guard who fits somewhere in the Quentin Grimes-to-Derrick White spectrum (admittedly a super wide spectrum there). Koa Peat is probably (?) a first-rounder for his defense, play-finishing, and beefy playmaking, but his total lack of shooting makes him another player who could potentially return. Most outlets don’t have Motiejus Krivas as a first-rounder, but he’s so good protecting the paint, hitting the glass, and even making his free throws. He would be a huge second-round steal if he falls, and he’s another player who could potentially return to school.
UConn (1): Braylon Mullins will go down in history for the shot that beat Duke. He battled a couple injuries as a freshman and never really popped until his Elite Eight moment, but I think he’ll be a solid pro as a volume three-point shooter off-the-ball who can also score in transition and add some point-of-attack defense. Tarris Reed has been UConn’s best player on this run, and could be an early second-round pick. Alex Karaban is another possible second-rounder this year.
Illinois (1): Keaton Wagler feels like a lock for the top-10 as a 6’6 point guard with elite off-the-dribble shooting despite athleticism concerns. I really think there could be as many as six players on this Illini team who get at least a cup of coffee in the NBA. 7’1 twins Tomislav and Zvonimir Ivisic are stretch bigs whose size and shooting touch will draw some interest at the next level. I love David Mirkovic, a high-IQ, high-motor brawler on the glass who can handle the rock and shoot it off the dribble a little bit. Andrej Stojakovic — Peja’s kid! — doesn’t have his dad’s shooting, but he’s a good slasher and a fierce on-ball defender. Kylan Boswell is also a feisty defender who hits shots and moves the ball. Wagler is the only likely first-rounder, but the rest of these guys could play in the NBA eventually.
Do you like your team’s pick?
Wanted someone else? Let me know in the comments. It’s going to be an amazing Final Four. The draft lottery awaits on May 10.
BALTIMORE, MD - JUNE 25: Andrew Kittredge #39 of the Baltimore Orioles pitches during a baseball game against the Texas Rangers at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on June 25, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Tides dropped their third straight game on Wednesday afternoon in Memphis. The pitching staff coughed up two different leads, the offense left 10 runners on base, and it was a mixed bag of results for the Orioles’ pair of rehabbing big leaguers.
Jackson Holliday led off, played second base, and went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, and a strikeout. The former first overall pick is now 4-for-13 with an .862 OPS during his rehab. Creed Willems drove in two of Norfolk’s runs with a seventh-inning home run as part of his 1-for-4 game. Their other run came in on a Memphis error in the fourth frame. There was plenty of traffic on the bases for the Tides. They collected eight hits, four walks, and a pair of errors from the home team. But they wasted most of those chances, going 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
Brandon Young made his first start of the year. He was good, holding Memphis to one run on five hits, no walks, and four strikeouts over five innings. The short-term performances of Young and Cade Povich now hold added importance due to the injury to Zach Eflin, so it’s good to see a strong 2026 debut for Young.
The results from the bullpen were not as favorable. Andrew Kittredge made his first rehab appearance as he works through right shoulder inflammation. The veteran recorded just two outs, threw 19 pitches (nine strikes), struck out one, walked one, and gave up two hits. Cameron Foster impressed, striking out two over 1.1 perfect frames. Jackson Kowar allowed a run in his lone inning. And Enoli Paredes was handed the loss by allowing the extra-inning “ghost runner” to score after he walked the bases loaded, and then hit the next batter with a pitch to drive in the winning run.
Thursday’s Scheduled Games
Norfolk: at Memphis, 7:45 p.m. Starter: TBD
Chesapeake: at Hartford (Rockies), 7:10 p.m. Starter: Trace Bright (first start of the year)
Delmarva: at Salem (Red Sox), 6:35 p.m. Starter: Kiefer Lord (first start of the year)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - JANUARY 15: Newly acquired Chicago Cubs player Alex Bregman speaks to the media during a press conference at Wrigley Field on January 15, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Geoff Stellfox/Getty Images) | Getty Images
On the night of February 13th, 2025, John Henry lit up a victory cigar to celebrate what would ultimately turn into one year of Alex Bregman’s services. Today, nearly 14 months later, Alex Bregman is gone, but the ashes from that cigar continue to catch fire and create new destructive flames on a seemingly daily basis.
Here’s where it all started:
Fast-forward to today and the 2026 Red Sox are out of a gate with an abysmal 1-5 record. Worse yet, the fingerprints of the failed Bregman negotiations can be found plastered all over it. Now, of course, there are many, many reasons for the Sox’ shameful start, but at least two of them are a pair of players who are on this roster specifically because the club didn’t want to commit to Bregman long-term at anything other than their price this past winter. And that’s really the point I want to get at here: The Red Sox need Ranger Suarez and Caleb Durbin to have solid seasons to have any chance of putting the Bregman fire out. They don’t need them to be MVP or Cy Young candidates, but they do (at minimum) need them to come close to replicating their 2025 campaigns.
To cement why this is the case, let’s take a look at the timeline since the start of the new year. At noon on January 14, less than 100 hours after the news broke on social media, the Chicago Cubs officially announced the signing of Bregman, which he also personally retweeted.
Less than three hours later, the Red Sox made their push to shift the narrative. Jeff Passan broke the story of how Boston decided to spend the money originally allocated for Bregman:
The Red Sox's first signing of the winter is a big one — $130 million for Ranger Suárez — and gives them a ton of rotation depth with Garrett Crochet, Sonny Gray, Brayan Bello and others. Boston now will turn to adding another bat to its lineup, but that rotation is excellent.
So now the money was spent, but not on the hitter they desperately needed. And the reason for all of this is of course because they decided play footsie with Bregman for so long that by the time mid January rolled around, all of the other big, right-handed, infield bats that might have been worth a damn to sign like — Pete Alonso and Bo Bichette — were already off the board. (For comparison, Alonso got five years at $155 million, and Bichette got three years at $126 million.)
So, instead, the Red Sox decided to use the money that was supposed to go to one of those bats on Ranger Suarez, and the whole thing just became this perfect encapsulation of what happens when you try to work it backwards and make the roster fit the budget instead of bending the budget to fit the roster’s needs.
But we still weren’t done, because despite most of the money being spent, there was still a gigantic hole left at third base. This meant the Red Sox had to trade from their new found “excess” of starting pitching to get the right-handed infield bat they still lacked. Not surprisingly, they probably couldn’t get through a conversation for any of the bats they really wanted without Connelly Early, Payton Tolle or Marcelo Mayer’s name coming up, so they eventually had to set their sights lower on Caleb Durbin as part of a perplexing trade that went down like this on February 9:
And of course the cherry on top of it all is that Harrison is both one of the guys who came over in the Devers trade and the arm the front office deemed expendable after they used the Alex Bregman money to sign another starting pitcher. That’s the guy they used to acquire a young third baseman after they managed to fumble away both Devers and Bregman.
So make no mistake, these transactions are all connected, and this entire season is going to be a referendum on the radical reconstruction of the irregular roster left behind when the Bregman negotiations fell apart. Oh, and in almost poetic fashion, Alex Bregman and the Cubs will visit Fenway for the very last series of the season on September 25th through the 27th. The atmosphere for that three game set going to feel like a jury releasing their verdict at a murder trial.
But let’s get back to Suarez and Durbin specifically. They have to be good to prevent this Bregman thing from becoming radioactive. Not just because their presence here is so obviously connected to Bregman’s departure in 2026, but because literally everything else connected to Bregman’s arrival in 2025 has already turned into a flaming trainwreck.
There’s losing the second round pick of the 2025 draft for just one year of Bregman’s services. There’s Rafael Devers throwing himself a pity party after Bregman took over at third base. And then, of course, there’s the ensuing salary dump trade that’s left the Red Sox lineup with a noticeable lack of thump ever since.
But you know what’s crazy? Even at that point in the proceedings, this whole odyssey was still very salvageable. All they had to do was pay Bregman a fraction of the money they dumped in the Devers deal and hang onto the young guys they got back. Instead, they never met the moment when it came to a long-term Bregman contract, and have since traded away both James Tibbs and Kyle Harrison in highly questionable moves.
So far in the very early output of the 2026 season, James Tibbs has an 1.827 OPS in Triple-A, and Kyle Harrison looked great in his one start with the Brewers, which included eight strike outs in five innings of work.
And just to be complete here, the Red Sox are also paying $4 million for each of the next two years for Jordan Hicks, who was so bad in Boston after coming back as part of the Devers trade last year that they had to move him to Chicago over the winter in a deal where the White Sox will only pay for part of his salary.
So once again, as far as this front office is concerned, Ranger Suarez and Caleb Durbin have to be good! Because so far, literally everything else connected to Alex Bregman’s tenure here has turned toxic, and with both Suarez and Durbin being under team control for at least the next five years, the only way this story has a happy ending for the folks who set the wheels in motion is if these two guys end up being useful contributors to a winning baseball team. (No pressure though!)
And to be clear, these guys just have to be good, not great. The Red Sox don’t need Suarez to be a Cy Young candidate, they have Garrett Crochet for that. They just need him to be the guy that posted a 3.25 ERA over the last five years before he got his big payday. The Red Sox don’t need Caleb Durbin to fully replace Alex Bregman, they just need him to look like the guy who finished third in rookie of the year voting last season.
But so far out of the gate, Suarez and Durbin look a lot more like guys turning to stone in the continued curse of everything that touches the Alex Bregman web as opposed to guys who are ready to make a meaningful contribution to the 2026 Red Sox.
Now the flip side of this is Suarez has made just one bad start in a Red Sox uniform so far, Durbin is only 18 at-bats into his Red Sox tenure, and baseball has a habit of making anybody who says anything about the first week of any season look like a fool. But man, something about this feels ominous. Suarez was also terrible in his outing for Team Venezuela against Japan in the World Baseball Classic in which he gave up five runs in just 2.2 innings of work. And worse yet, this is a guy who is known for pitching well in big games and carries a 1.48 ERA in 42.2 innings of postseason work. When you consider how bad he was against Japan and that he was facing off against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, it’s minor miracle Venezuela got through that game and winning the tournament. Suarez was one of the big headline names on the team, and he played almost no role in helping them win.
Then there’s Durbin, who feels like he got the absolute most out of his ability in 2025. If he can replicate that, fantastic! But he also might be one of those guys who turns into a pumpkin as quickly as he showed signs of promise and can never replicate that near-3.0 WAR season again.
Either way, these are the stakes for Suarez, Durbin, the front office, and this entire 2026 Red Sox season. Both the team and most of its main characters have gotten off to about as bad of a start imaginable, but I don’t want to start shoveling dirt on them quite yet. Baseball has a funny way of sometimes making the first week nothing more than a mirage and dealing out the exact opposite hand for the rest of the summer. For instance, just last season the Brewers (Durbin’s old team), gave up 46 runs in their first four games en route to an 0-4 start. They then of course went on to win 97 games and had the lowest ERA of any team in the National League.
This is classic baseball! It will scare you with fake monsters while hiding the real ones for later in the proceedings. Who knows, two weeks from now we might be singing the praises of both Suarez and Durbin and talking about how bad Bregman looks in Chicago. But until or unless that happens, we’re going to be left to confront the fallout from those fateful winter nights when Alex Bregman came into and left the Red Sox organization.
Milwaukee Brewers infielder Cooper Pratt sits in the dugout during spring training workouts Saturday, February 15, 2025, at the American Family Fields of Phoenix in Phoenix, Arizona. | Dave Kallmann / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
When Cooper Pratt reportedly agreed to an eight-year extension (with two additional option years) with the Brewers earlier this week, it came as quite a shock. These types of deals aren’t completely unheard of, even within the organization; when Jackson Chourio signed his big extension before the 2024 season, he’d played a grand total of six games above Double-A, which is three more than the number of games Pratt had played at Triple-A when news of the extension broke. Colt Emerson of the Mariners signed a Chourio-like extension this week: he has not debuted yet, and may not for some time.
But there’s a difference. When Chourio signed his extension, he was baseball’s No. 2 prospect. Emerson, via Baseball America, is No. 7. Pratt, on the other hand, is ranked No. 50 by Baseball America, No. 64 via MLB Pipeline, and he is not in the top 100 on Baseball Prospectus. Pratt is a good prospect, but he’s not exactly a great one, and as BA’s JJ Cooper points out, the expected outcomes for a player in Pratt’s range do not exactly suggest “this guy will definitely be a star.”
Based on Cooper’s chart, the most likely outcome for Pratt is that he’ll have a career WAR value between 3 and 10 WAR. The Brewers, a team without a ton of financial resources, just promised him a minimum of $50 million; I do not think that’s the outcome they’re looking for.
But not all prospects are the same. Pratt is an outstanding defensive player, so even if he never really learns to hit major league pitching, it’s not the same as if a corner outfielder never learns how to hit. Joey Ortiz earned 1.4 fWAR in 2025 while having an atrocious offensive season; that’s more WAR than Luis Arraez earned (via FanGraphs or Baseball Reference) in 2024 when he won a batting title.
Offensive Outlook
This deal probably signals that the Brewers think Pratt will figure it out at the plate. His track record is a little mixed; he looked great in Low-A and High-A in his first full pro season in 2024, but hit just .238/.343/.348 in 2025 at Double-A. There are a couple of caveats to that line, though: first, that wasn’t that bad for the pitcher-friendly Southern League, and translated to an above-average 107 wRC+. The other thing is that Pratt was very young; as a 20-year-old at Double-A, Pratt was nearly four years younger than the average player in that league, so the fact that he was above average offensively (while playing defense that won him a Minor League Gold Glove in 2024) is actually quite encouraging.
Pratt’s power hasn’t shown up yet, and it may never be a major strength. He’s hit only 16 homers across nearly 1,000 plate appearances as a minor leaguer. But he’s not a small guy (listed on FanGraphs at 6’4” and 210 pounds) and the Brewers may be banking that he’ll grow into it a bit. He’s also shown good patience (a 12.7% walk rate in 2025), and he cut his strikeout rate drastically in 2025 (from 20% to 15.2%), another encouraging sign for a young player who moved up a level.
It won’t take a ton of offense for Pratt to live up to the value of this contract over its lifetime. The average annual value is only a little more than $6 million, which, by popular estimates, means he needs only about 0.75 WAR per season to justify that value (even if this isn’t a perfect one-to-one comparison). Based purely on defense, Pratt should outperform that, and if he hits even a little, he could outperform it by a lot.
Logjammin’
But the arguably bigger question that this deal raises has to do with fit. Ever since it was clear that the Brewers had several high-level middle-infield prospects, we knew this question would need to be addressed eventually, but this commitment to Pratt — the third- or fourth-best infield prospect in the system, with Andrew Fischer charging up from behind and two controlled, relatively young established players in the big leagues — makes that question a little more urgent.
Jesús Made is the obvious pearl of the organization, and is a more-or-less consensus top-three prospect. He has a good chance at being the No. 1 overall prospect league-wide heading into next season, as the two players ahead of him — shortstops Konnor Griffin and Kevin McGonigle — will likely both have graduated by mid-summer (McGonigle is already playing for the Tigers, while Griffin is expected in the big leagues as soon as the Pirates secure the extra year of service time they’ll gain by keeping him in the minors to start the season, or they agree to an extension not totally unlike Pratt’s, if more lucrative). Jett Williams has played a lot of middle infield and is a little further along than Pratt. Luis Peña sometimes almost feels like a forgotten man, but he actually outperformed Made in the Dominican Summer League when they were both 17 and had a 139 wRC+ at Single-A Carolina as an 18-year-old. Fischer, who looks like he’ll keep playing third base for now, looked ready for primetime this spring, when he posted a 1.429 OPS in five Cactus League games and hit .357/.438/.714 in four games with Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic.
Add Brice Turang and Joey Ortiz to the mix — both still have three years of team control remaining after this one — and you can see the problem, even if that problem is a good one: there are too many guys.
The first thought is that this is a big year for Ortiz. His offensive approach has been better early this season, but there are no questions about his defense. If he hits even a little, he’s a useful player; if he can get close to the league-average offensive player he was in 2024, he could produce at a borderline All-Star level. Maybe the ship has sailed on Ortiz as a good offensive player, but he was a consistently above-average minor league hitter, and as we’ve seen with Turang, we shouldn’t necessarily write these guys off after one or two tough years in the big leagues.
However, Ortiz’s spot is also probably the most precarious. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s on his way out with the Brewers, and he could become quite a luxury as a utility player. But he’ll also get a bit more expensive when he gets to arbitration next season, and his defense should hold value throughout the league. Whether he bounces back offensively or not, the Brewers are likely to check on Ortiz’s market after the season. If no deal that the front office likes comes to the fore and the Brewers are ready to move on from Ortiz as the everyday shortstop, I’m sure they’ll consider using him as a right-handed backup to all three infield positions.
It might be a little early to make this proclamation, but Turang is a star. He’s also likely to be very expensive in a few years; as a Super Two player, he’s already making over $4 million and has three more arbitration years after this one, and he’ll hit the market when the 2029 season ends as a soon-to-be-30-year-old free agent. While we don’t necessarily want to start thinking about the end of Turang’s tenure in Milwaukee, for the purposes of this exercise, we should at least acknowledge the possibility that Turang might play three more seasons in Milwaukee and then gets traded a year before he hits free agency.
Even still, that clogs up one of the Brewers’ three infield spots for the next three years, limiting opportunities for others. Third base is another question: it’s likely spoken for this season, with Luis Rengifo and David Hamilton (though a later-season opportunity for a younger player there, particularly if there are any injuries, does seem possible), but there’s a likely opening there beyond 2026.
So what are some options?
The first step is to build a defensive hierarchy. Turang is at the top of the heap at second base and should stay there as long as he’s on the team. Ortiz, Pratt, Made, Williams, and Peña all play shortstop, though the writing has been on the wall for Peña for a while, and basically as soon as Williams was traded to Milwaukee, people started speculating about where he’d move. Made’s defensive reputation is pretty good, but his added weight this season might precipitate a move to third base. Ortiz, as a proven defensive stud, is ahead of Pratt, but it doesn’t seem like the Brewers think there will be much of a step down defensively if and when Pratt takes over at the position. Fischer seems like a capable third baseman, but probably not as good as any of these other options, and first base may be in his future.
So even if we shift Made to third base and Fischer to first, we have to consider alternatives. Williams has played way more shortstop than anything else as a minor leaguer, but he also doesn’t have quite the same defensive reputation that these others do, and he did play a decent amount of center field last season. Peña has never played the outfield, but he’s a 70-grade runner, and probably could play the outfield. The Brewers don’t have the same organizational depth in the outfield as they do in the infield, and switches for Williams and Peña might benefit all parties. That’s something to keep an eye on moving forward.
Looking down the road, then, it requires a lot of projection (and here’s where I’ll remind you that it’s unlikely that all of these players work out as useful big leaguers, no matter how promising they are now), but you could see some sort of alignment in a couple years like this:
1B: Fischer 2B: Turang 3B: Made SS: Pratt/Ortiz OF: Jackson Chourio OF: Sal Frelick OF: Williams/Peña
That would get all of these prized prospects into the lineup — and who knows, the Brewers may not have to worry about squeezing all of these guys in at once, as Peña, for instance, will still only be 21 in two years, and he’d still be a young debutant if Milwaukee just waited three years, traded Turang, and then installed Peña as the starting second baseman heading into 2029.
These questions don’t all need to get answered today, but the guarantee of money to Pratt makes his arrival in the big leagues feel closer than ever. We know that Williams is already on the doorstep. We probably won’t see Made, Peña, or Fischer this season, but if Made really is on the Chourio track, that would line him up for the beginning of 2027.
To reiterate, this is not a bad problem. But at some point, decisions will need to be made, both by those closer to the field and those further away from it. Will positional changes provide the necessary relief, and will those changes go smoothly? Could a blockbuster trade be in the cards? (A related question: Does the eight-to-ten-year extension the Brewers just gave Pratt increase his trade value?) There are a lot of different ways that things could still be addressed, but the Pratt extension makes the future of this team feel just a little bit closer.
Matthew Boyd started against Yusei Kikuchi . The Cubs went hitless until the third, when they batted around and scored five runs. Jeimer Candelario did not have his best day at first base. Nico Hoerner lined a couple of tw0-baggers, scored, stole a base, and singled to boot.
Boyd had it going on. Ten strikeouts in 5.2 innings. He faltered a bit late. Hunter Harvey gave up a couple of hard-hit balls that probably should have been caught, and the Angels had the chance to make a game of it. They didn’t — the bullpen had it together. The team is 3-3, back to .500. Onward and upward.
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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 01: Gavin Williams #32 of the Cleveland Guardians throws against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the third inning at Dodger Stadium on April 01, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) | Getty Images
With yesterday being April Fools’ Day, it is a bit difficult to trust any news posted. However, here is some good news from yesterday:
Chase DeLauter was still sore, but available as a pinch hitter last night. Yesterday’s game was a pre-scheduled day off and with the off day, today it is looking hopeful that CDL will be available for tomorrow’s home opener.
The Guards took the series against the Dodgers, nearly shutting out the reigning champs. Nick will have the Game Recap!
The Columbus Clippers were looking great last night with Kahlil Watson hitting a home run and Stuart Fairchild hitting two home runs.
Don’t forget, now that MiLB is getting into full swing this week, we have Minor League Recaps posted here at Covering the Corner. If you are interested in the affiliates, Brian Hemminger has season previews for the teams. Yesterday the Lake County Captains and Hill City Howlers were featured.
José Ramírez continues to climbs various franchise leader boards. He is closing in on the #1 spot for All-Time Games Played.
Quincy Wheeler and Mike Mahoney released an episode of Disgusting Baseball last night to be found here. (Deborah (Nicole) and I will be recording another episode tonight! – editor’s note).
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - APRIL 01: Jonathan India #6 of the Kansas City Royals rounds the bases after hitting a grand slam home run during the 6th inning of the game against the Minnesota Twins at Kauffman Stadium on April 01, 2026 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Fans have been wondering where Royals color commentator Rex Hudler is, he will be back, but maybe not as much as you would’ve hoped.
For the most part, the reviews for Major League Baseball’s production of Royals games have been positive. It’s a small sample size (three games), but the picture seems clearer, the graphics are sharper and even the commercials are a vast improvement. The Royals also made changes to their broadcast team. Bridget Howard is a new sideline reporter, and Eric Hosmer is one of the analysts who will be working with play-by-play broadcaster Ryan Lefebvre. Although the Royals never announced it, Hosmer, Jeremy Guthrie and Rex Hudler will each work roughly one-third of the broadcasts this season, with Jeff Montgomery filling that role at some points, too.
In case you missed it, Carlos Estevez is officially on the IL, Steven Cruz has been called up to fill his spot.
If you went to bed after the Royals got up 12-1 last night, the game got interesting, but Anne Rogers talked about how the bottom of the Royals order dominated.
Manager Matt Quatraro likes to say he’ll take the production wherever it comes in the lineup, and he’s not wrong about that. But Wednesday’s offense was fueled not by the star hitters, but by the bottom of the lineup — and the Royals will definitely take that.
The Nos. 6-9 hitters went 10-for-16 and drove in eight runs, including Jonathan India’s grand slam in the sixth inning and Kyle Isbel’s solo shot in the seventh.
But it’s what happened early that stood out. Jac Caglianone, hitting seventh, got it started in the second inning by hitting a two-out double. No. 8 hitter Isaac Collins followed with an RBI double, and Isbel, the No. 9 hitter, kept it going with an RBI single. Isbel then stole second, allowing him to score on Maikel Garcia’s single as the lineup turned over.
Kevin O’Brien of Royals Keep wrote about early takeaways of the Royals offense.
Michael Massey played in Omaha yesterday and had a solid day.
Michael Massey went 2-for-4 with a HR today in a rehab game with Triple-A Omaha. Sounds like he'll get tomorrow off, play another game or two and then be evaluated for a return. #Royals want to make sure he can be 100% running-wise on the bases, in the field, etc.
Today and tomorrow could be called the true start of the minor leagues. Yes, yes, I know the Memphis Redbirds’ season has already been underway for a week. But later today, the Palm Beach Cardinals have their first game of the season and tomorrow sees the first game for both Peoria and Springfield. I am not sure why Palm Beach is a day early. From Friday onwards, for most days of the year for the next five months and change, there will be an additional four games within the Cardinal organization to follow. If you want. It’s a lot.
So because of that (and because I didn’t really want to transcribe interviews right now!), I thought it would be a fun idea to have a sort of minor league preview. At its most basic intent, here are names worth following throughout the season, some of whom we may see in the major leagues later this season and a lot of whom we may never see in the majors period. I have tried to separate the players according to how much of a sicko you are, and don’t worry, we’re all sickos when it comes to baseball.
Memphis
Watch if they’re starting
There are four healthy pitchers who fit here and even within those four, they fit into two separate categories. The first category is MLB ready now, more or less. It would not be in the least bit surprising if they had entered the MLB rotation by the end of May, by whatever circumstances led them there.
Hunter Dobbins (4.13 ERA/3.87 FIP/4.11 xFIP)
Richard Fitts (3.97 ERA/5.02 FIP/4.66 xFIP)
Quinn Mathews (#4 VEB prospect)
Dobbins and Fitts already have experience in the majors leagues. Their MLB stats are in parentheses. Dobbins is technically on the MLB injured list and made his first rehab appearance on Tuesday (it went okay). Fitts has made 15 appearances in two separate seasons. He is making his second start today actually! So check that one out. And Mathews, who made 22 starts at the AAA level and is trying to conquer his control issues. He walked four in the first inning yesterday, so he’s not quite there yet.
If one of the categories has three pitchers who are clearly the plan to step in for a doubleheader or because of an injury, you can probably guess the other category is “maybe after the deadline.” Unless things perfectly line up. Brycen Mautz (#13 VEB prospect) is on the 40 man roster, which helps a lot, but he’s kind of fourth on the depth chart right now. If we have a surprise doubleheader and he’s the pitcher who lines up, he’ll probably get a start, but that’s about it for now.
Guys to pay attention to eventually are Ixan Henderson (#16 VEB prospect), on the 60 day injured list, Pete Hansen, mysteriously injured, Cooper Hjerpe (#15 VEB prospect) and Sem Robberse, both recovering from Tommy John. You’ll have ample warning on all of these guys who will throw rehab appearances at a lower level before they pitch in Memphis.
Stop what you’re doing to watch them bat
If you follow the minor leagues like I follow the minor leagues, you mostly ignore the game. That is until a player you’re really interested in steps up to the plate. Might as well not even have the game on if you miss these players. Truly.
OF Joshua Baez (VEB #6 prospect)
C Jimmy Crooks (VEB #8 prospect)
C Leonardo Bernal (VEB #7 prospect)
Yes, the Cardinals have two top ten catching prospects in Memphis right now. We will see Jimmy Crooks soon enough if he keeps playing the way he’s playing. Bernal just got to Memphis, so I’d expect a longer wait. Both of them are potentially starting caliber catchers and how they do offensively in Memphis is actually very relevant because defense won’t be the issue with either. Obviously, what they do in St. Louis is ultimately what matters but if they hit well enough in Memphis, we can probably expect them to hit in St. Louis too!
And Baez is certainly in potential star territory. But he’s only flashed that for one season. How he does in Memphis is directly relevant to the future of the Cardinals. He hasn’t come out guns blazing, but he also isn’t striking out a bunch again. He picked up his first walk and first extra base hit yesterday, and only has three strikeouts in his first 19 plate appearances.
Prospect sicko
Blaze Jordan
Colton Ledbetter
Nelson Velazquez
Tink Hence (VEB #10 prospect)
Velazquez isn’t a prospect, but he fits this category. He has yet to get a hit yet. Four games played, not a single hit yet. Seven strikeouts though. The outrage over him not making the team is not going to age well I suspect. Ledbetter, well, he went 0 for 5 with five strikeouts yesterday so he’s had better days. Jordan is off to a…. blazing hot start. These three made the list because they are probable role players if things work out but they have just enough potential to maybe be more. Hence is currently in the bullpen and he’s worth monitoring for sure, but he’s a little less interesting than when he had a guaranteed start.
Get Some Help
Luis Gastelum
Packy Naughton
Skyler Hales
If you’re watching Memphis Redbirds games to watch relief pitchers who are not on the 40 man roster, you’re in the wrong spot. Clearly you do not need a casual’s guide to the minor leagues. I like all three of these guys, I am not watching Memphis Redbird games to watch them pitch however. I will stick to looking at stats and watching them when they get promoted.
Springfield
Watch if they’re starting
Liam Doyle (VEB #2 prospect)
Jurrangelo Cjintje (VEB #5 prospect)
These are nationally relevant pitching prospects, so while I have more names to give you, it feels like they should be singled out. These are the kinds of pitching prospects that national folks will watch though, not just dedicated Cardinals fans. I like Dobbins, I like Fitts, I like Mathews, but if you just want to wait for them to make MLB starts, that makes sense. These two you want to go out of your way to watch.
Also special shot-out to #9 VEB prospect Brandon Clarke, who is out until June, and I’m putting him in the Springfield section, but he could very well be in the Peoria section. But he won’t be seen for a good while for now.
Chen-Wei Lin
Braden Davis
Mason Molina
Hancel Rincon
Rincon, Lin and Davis are top 20 prospects somewhere – Rincon is by Fangraphs, Davis is by The Cardinal Nation, and Lin is by both sites. Molina isn’t quite there, but he might be the most interesting arm the Cardinals received at the deadline, and for Phil Maton no less. At the very least, he’s interesting just to see if that deadline bears fruit. Also besides Rincon, all of these guys had an argument to starting in Peoria, so it’s a good sign that the Cardinals are putting them in Springfield.
Stop what you are doing to watch them bat
Deniel Ortiz (VEB #18 prospect)
Yeah that’s kind of it. Ortiz isn’t really that kind of prospect either, but with the way he hit the ball last year, he could be soon enough. If anyone is going to follow in the footsteps of the previous 13th rounders who shall not be named, it’s this guy. Who just destroyed baseballs and is getting a rather aggressive promotion to Springfield might I add!
Prospect Sickos
Zach Levenson
Chase Davis
Travis Honeyman
In other words, the Springfield outfield. Davis is a former 1st round pick, Honeyman has rarely been healthy, and Levenson neglected to hit for a year. Not appointment viewing, but one of these guys will probably make the majors leagues at least.
Get some help
Jeremy Rivas
Michael Watson
Austin Love
Rivas is an all-defense, no hit shortstop. He got to Springfield rather fast, but he’s been stuck there trying to gain some much needed power. Watson and Love are relievers who honestly could be in St. Louis later this year.
Peoria
Watch if they’re starting
Tanner Franklin (VEB #12 prospect)
Yhoiker Fajardo (VEB #19 prospect)
I’m not automatically listing top 20 prospects in this section, but you best believe I was going to list Fajardo considering he landed on my top 10. Fajardo is a teenager and will be a teenager all season and he’s already in High A. Franklin goes without saying. He has the stuff to start, he just hasn’t actually thrown more than a couple innings per appearance to prove it. Both players have one thing in common: they may be way higher on next year’s list if they have a great season. Both are the “see them before they were big prospects” hipster picks.
Stop what you’re doing to watch them bat
Rainiel Rodriguez (VEB #3 prospect)
I’m taking my description of this category quite literally. So apologies to Jesus Baez, who I believe in, but I’m not going to stop what I’m doing to watch him. So very into prospects Cubs fan will stop what they are doing to watch Raniel Rodriguez bat, that’s how big of a deal he is. Watching Rainiel Rodriguez bat is why you get MiLB, or in my case, happen to have T-Mobile (you guys want to throw me a few bucks for the free publicity?)
Prospect Sickos
Jesus Baez
Won-Bin Cho
Tai Peete
Blake Aita
Nate Dohm
For the record, Frank Ellisalt would be here, but he also appears to be injured. And good note in general: if there’s a name that I don’t mention and you’re confused as to why, they probably are injured, because I am using the official press release of the rosters through the minor league teams Twitter accounts. I think Baez is closer to stop what you’re doing than being a prospect sicko, but you guys did not rank him in the top 20, so clearly you don’t agree with me.
Peete and Cho, at least in theory, have actual upside. They could always find themselves on a stronger level, and being a few levels away from the majors and quite young, they do have time. I find Aita interesting because he was in the Willson Contreras trade and I find Nate Dohm interesting because he was in the Ryan Helsley trade. And so was Jesus Baez actually.
Get some help
Zack Showalter
Jack Findlay
Josh Kross
Yes, Showalter appears to be healthy right now. He is listed on the active Peoria Chiefs roster. He has landed on a top 20 VEB list before and he’s only 22. He threw 31 innings last season, so I imagine they’d be pretty happy if he could throw 50-60 innings. But it’ll probably be in the bullpen. Findlay was one of those draft picks selected when he was recovering from Tommy John surgery. Last year, he spent most of the year struggling, but finished extremely strong and dominated at this level to finish his season. I’ll be curious if they’ll transition him at starter at all. Kross was the catcher/DH prospect who exploded in Palm Beach with a bunch of homers, but he didn’t hit so much at Peoria.
Palm Beach
Watch if they’re starting
Cade Crossland
They seemed to have promoted a lot of the interesting pitchers, and both Andrew Dutkanych and Payton Graham are injured. Graham is expectedly injured, he was drafted injured as is becoming a bit of a tradition. Dutkanych not so much. That was an unfortunate development. Anyway, Crossland is probably the favorite of the recent draft to become Braden Davis or more optimistically Quinn Mathews, the college pitching prospect who has very little trouble missing bats. I also don’t know what happened to Brian Holiday, he’s not listed on the official Palm Beach website (their twitter account did not post a roster)
Stop what you’re doing to watch them bat
Yairo Padilla (VEB #17 prospect)
Ryan Mitchell (VEB #20 prospect)
While we were running the voting for the top 20 prospects as judged by the VEB readers, I made it a point many times to note that I wish I knew where Mitchell was being posted because it would impact where I put him. Well, he got put in full season ball immediately. No messing around with rookie ball. That is a fantastic sign. He’s definitely worth watching. Padilla is still, for the most part, all potential, but wouldn’t you want to be watching when he realizes that? When suddenly he has power. Again I won’t automatically put a top 20 guy here, but I will if I feel they may become one of the big prospects in the system before they reach the majors. These two absolutely qualify.
Prospect Sickos
Ty Van Dyke
Jack Gurevitch
Gurevitch was once upon a time ranked 15th by Fangraphs in their system. Then he played games and they dropped him down to 48 this past year. Which… I think is dumb, like things didn’t change that much. He might still become an actual prospect. Van Dyke got off to a great start, being one of the few pitchers to pitch after his draft year. He’ll get a chance to build off that.
Get some help
Jonathan Mejia
Jack Martinez
Jacob Odle
Martinez is noteworthy just because it’d be funny if the return for Nolan Arenado became something. So I’ll be following his progress for that reason alone. Odle’s 2025 was him returning from injury and he had a classic return from injury season, with a bunch of walks, but he also missed a lot of bats. He’s intriguing. Mejia didn’t have a very good 2025, but he doesn’t turn 21 for another 10 days, which sounds absurd for how long I’ve known of his existence.
TORONTO, CANADA - MARCH 31: Ryan Feltner #18 of the Colorado Rockies pitches to the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning in their MLB game at the Rogers Centre on March 31, 2026 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Mark Blinch/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Everyone in the Rockies 2026 Opening Day starting rotation has had a chance to take the mound at least once. Kyle Freeland has had a second start but for comparison sake, let’s look at everyone’s first time taking the ball this season.
Process
The Rockies message to their pitchers this offseason couldn’t have been clearer: Make it difficult for hitters to guess which pitch you are going to throw, and then throw it in the zone.
(Note: Zone% is simply the percentage of pitches in the strike zone regardless of batter swings. The league average for zone% fluctuates a little year to year but usually sits in the low 40’s.)
In terms of not relying on any one pitch, the Rockies do seem to be adhering to that rule. None of the starters used any pitch more than roughly a third of the time. The exact mix that they use will vary from start to start, and we won’t have a large enough sample size to know overall usage percentages for a while, but initial returns are promising.
In terms of filling up the zone, the only one who clearly didn’t meet the brief was Quintana. Historically, he’s been at or slightly above league average in Zone%, so I wouldn’t worry too much, but it is worth keeping an eye on as he gets more starts. Everyone else exceeded league average in terms of purely getting the ball in the strike zone.
The first thing that stands out? These are all pretty similar lines. There were a few more hits against Lorenzen, a few more walks against Quintana, fewer pitches from Feltner (because he got injured), but overall they saw pretty similar results.
No one got blown away.
No one blew away the competition.
Feltner looked like he was on his way to a notably good start before being hit on the hip by a comebacker, but we can’t know whether he would have been able to keep that up to stand out if he hadn’t been pulled. It’ll be exciting to see if he can pick up where he left off in his next start.
What has been a little low is the innings totals. No one surpassed 4.2 innings, but that isn’t surprising for the first time out after spring training. Considering the disruption of the normal spring routine that the WBC presented for many of these players, I don’t think the limited innings are a long-term worry. This is not a rotation that is ever going to throw seven innings very often but, once fully stretched out, five to six innings most nights (like Freeland on Wednesday) is a perfectly reasonable expectation.
Conclusions
As with everything else this early in the season, there’s not actually enough data yet to make any meaningful conclusions. What can be said is that, so far, this looks like what the front office was aiming for: a professional on the mound each night that can avoid letting the game get out of hand by mixing pitches and filling up the zone.
The next challenge for this crew will be the same one that has faced every Rockies pitching staff since 1993: Will their process be able to withstand the thin air in Denver?
Some encouraging news after Feltner had to get pulled from his first start of the season on Tuesday evening. As expected, it’s nowhere near as serious as the comebacker that fractured his skull in 2022 and Feltner is expected to make his next start.
Benjamin Hill and Josh Jackson highlight a minor league affiliate for each MLB team that has fun amenities or general experience. I go to more Hartford Yard Goats games than anything else these days so it does not shock me in the slightest that they were called out as the Rockies affiliate folks should check out. A day at Dunkin’ Park is always a good time.
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 31: Willy Adames #2 of the San Francisco Giants celebrates after hitting a double during the eighth inning against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on March 31, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Good morning, baseball fans!
Every once in a while, a San Francisco Giants player gets to be both the hero San Francisco deserves, and the one they need right now. On Tuesday night, that hero was Willy Adames.
Not only did he crush a leadoff home run on the second pitch of Tuesday night’s game, but he kept that spirit going throughout the night, finishing the game with four hits, two runs, and two RBI, leading the Giants to their 9-3 win over the San Diego Padres.
After the painful lack of offense in the prior series, Tuesday’s victory was a much needed shot of adrenaline for the offense, and Adames deserves some appreciation for leading the way.
So enjoy his home run once more if you didn’t get a chance to see it! And share your own appreciation for Adames down in the comments!
What time do the Giants play today?
The Giants head back home to welcome the New York Mets to Oracle Park tonight at 6:45 p.m. PT.