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The #3 story of the San Francisco Giants’ season was Rafael Devers making it clear that he’s still a dominant force at the plate. He can still hit and hit in any stadium, win or lose. This morning, the finalists for the Silver Slugger Award, which awards the best hitter at each position in each league — were announced and there he was, alongside Milwaukee’s Jake Bauers, St. Louis’s Alec Burleson, and Atlanta’s Matt Olson.

His injury shortened season still ended with 37 home runs, 36 doubles, 88 RBI, 69 walks (10.9 BB%) against 161 strikeouts (25.4 K%) for a triple slash of .258/.340/.525 (136 wrC+) in 148 games played and 633 plate appearances. It was fantastic to watch. One of the few great things about this terrible Giants season. It helps that it was on par with his last three seasons, too. Not some fluke. He’s also won the award twice before (2021 & 2923) and he had a better year this year than in those, rate-wise (133 wRC+ & 126 wRC+).

The Giants, though, have been on a cold streak with this award. Buster Posey was the last to win one, and that was back in 2021. Devers, as great as he was, doesn’t seem to have had a season that will snap the spell. His 136 wRC+ wound up being just 14th in MLB, behind Bauers (143). Burleson (125) and Olson (123) are likely ahead of him, too, because of average/games played (.279/160) and home runs (41), respectively.

Still, when people start attaching him to their mock trade proposals or we start to hear about him in trade talks, remember that he hit well enough to be a Silver Slugger finalist. He anchored a Giants lineup that wound up being pretty good. Certainly not the aspect of the roster that needs a great deal of work this offseason.

If you want to watch all 37 of his home runs, the Giants helpfully posted a video with them all to their YouTube page yesterday:

And here were his five biggest games by Win Probability Added:

5. June 27th vs. Atlanta: 2-for-3, 2 HR, 4 RBI on his Bobblehead Night

That first home run came after a rough 0-2 start to the at bat. The second homer was a golf chip shot off the fair pole that came in a count that was 0-2 for a very long time.

4. August 16th vs. Colorado: 2-for-5, HR, 3 RBI

There’s already a recurring theme in these highlights: at bats that don’t seem to be going very well. In this one, he has the miraculous “foul Splash/homer that becomes real” that we don’t see very much.

3. July 24th vs. Angels: 2-for-4, HR, 3 RBI

Not a home run highlight, but this was his first walk-off as a Giant.

2. May 11th at Dodgers: 2-for-3, HR, 2 RBI

Always a great highlight when it’s against the Dodgers.

1. June 24th vs. Athletics: 1-for-4, HR

This is probably an underrated candidate for top games of the season. Even though it was against the lowly Athletics, what a comeback!

Joe Ariola was drafted in the seventh round of the 2025 MLB Draft out of Wake Forest, and though he didn’t make his professional debut until 2026, he rocketed up the Diamondbacks’ system.

Ariola was originally assigned to Low-A Visalia, pitching two scoreless innings in his first game with three strikeouts, but an elbow injury took him out until early July.

“I had a couple loose bodies – some bone spurs broke off in the back of my elbow,” he said. “It wasn’t really all that fun. But kind of unfortunate. Really, no speedy recovery for that. You’ve kind of just got to sit and wait till they reattach or you take them out. So we chose to sit and wait. Ultimately, it took a little bit out of the season, but I was able to make up for it in the back half. [I] got a lot of innings plus the Fall League now, so coming up on a full year. So I didn’t get to miss out on much, just missed the first half.”

Ariola returned to action on July 4 in a rehab assignment with the ACL Diamondbacks. In three appearances (two starts), Ariola pitched 3.1 total innings and allowed two hits and one earned run with seven strikeouts and one walk. He then made his way back to Visalia, where he stayed for just five games before being promoted to High-A Hillsboro. In 10 appearances for the Hops, Ariola allowed eight runs (five earned) across 16.1 innings. He allowed seven walks, but struck out 30.

That was enough to earn him a late-season cameo with the Double-A Amarillo Sod Poodles, where he made his final two appearances. That proved to be the highlight of his year (and enough for him to win AZ SnakePit’s Minor League Reliever of the Year).

“It’s got to be winning the Texas League Championship,” he said. “I mean, joining those boys at the end of the year and doing that run with them – just seeing their camaraderie and being able to join them, it was awesome. We had a great run. I mean, I don’t think any of our expectations on the team were what it was like for their season, and then rolling into the playoffs. I think we were just happy playing still and continuing ball, but it was an awesome ride (for) those two weeks for the playoffs.”

In his two appearances, Ariola allowed just two hits across three innings with four strikeouts. In total, Ariola pitched 34.2 innings across 21 appearances and posted a 1.56 ERA and 1.04 WHIP.

2026 offered him a lot of lessons, too. The biggest one was, “Keep it simple.”

“I feel like oftentimes we’ll make things more complicated and think a little bit too much out there on the mound or hitting or whatever it may be,” he continued. “I feel like we’ve played this game for 20-plus years —or since we were born, basically, most of us now at this point. I mean, we know how to play. Keep it simple. Let your talent do it. Understand what you do well, and just do what you do well. (You’ve) been doing it your whole life.”

Heading into the Arizona Fall League, Ariola had one main goal in mind: Limit the running game.

“I talked with our coach, [Javier] Colina, in Double-A, and that was basically an area of improvement for myself,” he said, “being able to manage guys when they do get on, don’t give up free 90’s (feet) and stuff, don’t let them get into scoring position super easily. I’ve been trying to work on it (and) mix it in when I can.”

But Ariola, like the other prospects, is also taking advantage of the different perspectives afforded to him in the Salt River Rafters bullpen.

“It’s awesome, honestly,” he said. “We talk it up all the time in the bullpen with the guys, and you get to pick some brains on what different orgs are like – how some of the big orgs do it, how some of the small orgs do it. Some guys have been traded into stuff, how that looks, and it’s a lot of perspectives and a lot of different journeys all mixed together in the bullpen.

Even on the team in general, like coming down here with the hitters,” he continued, “so I feel like that’s some of the biggest stuff you can get from one another. And then, along with the coaches, everybody’s got a different philosophy from the different orgs. So (you) pick a little bit from each guy, and you see what works for you.”

One of the best things, though, has been reuniting with his former college teammate — Rockies LHP Sean Sullivan.

“It was awesome, honestly. I was looking forward to it when I saw that our teams were kind of mashed up,” Ariola said. “I didn’t know he was going to be on it, but I was like, ‘Alright, cool. I’m going to be in the Fall League playing.’ And then I saw his name on the list, and I was like, ‘Damn, I haven’t seen him in three years. This is going to be awesome.’ We had a good run in college together. I was good friends with him in college, and I love him. So it was awesome to come back here and be able to be on the same team again.”

Ariola is known for his curveball, which breaks in a traditional 12-6 fashion and hovers around 78-81 mph. But what makes it so good?

“Maybe because I throw a really high slot, and maybe it looks like another pitch,” he said. “I can’t really tell you. When I learned how to throw it, it was when I was a kid. I haven’t changed it since. I mean, it’s always been my pitch that I was really good at. I don’t try to tinker with it all that much. I just try to believe in it every time I throw it.”

But it plays really well against his fastball, which hovers around 93-95 mph. And that fastball is the pitch that Ariola identified as his favorite in his arsenal.

“[I’m] really consistent with that one,” he said with a slight smirk. “I feel like I could throw that at any point right now.

“But the curveball is definitely the go-to out pitch,” he continued. “If I’ve got to get a guy to swing and miss, it’s going there. But I like the heater.”

Heading into the offseason, Ariola is looking forward to “understanding exactly what I need to work on, and then taking it into the offseason, figuring those things out and then coming back in the spring and seeing how much I’ve adjusted, gotten better, and improved. I think that’s some of the stuff I’m really looking forward to this offseason. Just tinkering a little bit on small things. What can I get better at?”

And what does he want fans know about him? Like teammate Demetrio Crisantes, Ariola is “pretty easygoing and laid back.

“If you want to come up and talk, I’m down to talk,” he said. “I’m a friendly person. I don’t mind if you come and introduce yourself to me. Go for it — I’m down to meet new people.”

We begin this series with a man who was a Chicago-area native (Marengo) and pitched for the Cubs more than a century ago.

Carl Lundgren, a right-hander, pitched for the Cubs for only eight seasons, 1902-09, but as you surely know, that period included some of the most significant years in franchise history, including two World Series titles in 1907 and 1908.

Lundgren, in fact, was a key pitcher for the 1907 World Series champions, posting a microscopic 1.17 ERA in 28 games (25 starts) covering 207 innings. While he walked a lot of hitters — 92 — he didn’t give up many hits, only 130, giving him a 1.072 WHIP. His 5.7 hits allowed per nine innings led MLB, and though hardly anyone hit home runs in general back then, Lundgren led all MLB pitchers by allowing none at all.

Even with all that, per his SABR biography, Lundgren wasn’t used at all during the World Series, manager Frank Chance trusting Mordecai Brown, Ed Reulbach, Jack Pfiester and Orval Overall. Each of those pitchers won a game as the Cubs won the Series.

Lundgren “mysteriously lost his stuff,” per the bio, and his performance declined in 1908. It’s entirely possible he had some sort of injury that couldn’t be diagnosed 120 years ago. He “retired” from baseball after 1909, but pitched three more years in the minors before becoming a long-time baseball coach at two Big Ten schools, Michigan (1913-20) and Illinois (1921-34). He’d certainly have continued, as he won five Big Ten titles over those 14 years, but he had a fatal heart attack Aug. 21, 1934, aged just 54.

Per the SABR bio, Lundgren is still remembered in Champaign:

On the Champaign side of the University of Illinois campus sits a student residence named Lundgren Hall in his honor. 

Lundgren is credited with 13.3 bWAR for his eight years with the Cubs, No. 100 on the list.

Three years ago, Jasson Domínguez was one of the most promising position player prospects in baseball. The 2023 campaign saw the man known as “the Martian” demolish Double-A, Triple-A, and MLB pitching, the last two in small samples following a pair of quick promotions as the Yankees’ depth depleted due to injury. Since then, however, he has been unable to truly establish himself in The Show both offensively and defensively.

In 2026, Domínguez took another step back. In 222 plate appearances, the 23-year-old outfielder slashed .225/.267/.368 with six homers, eight stolen bases, and a 76 wRC+. He wasn’t exactly a menace the year prior and his glove was rough, but the switch-hitter had at least produced against righties enough to be a league-average bat (99 wRC+). Domínguez was worth -0.2 fWAR in 2026 and now has 0.5 in 206 career MLB games.

Injuries were a factor, particularly that low-grade AC joint sprain he suffered back in May that sent him to the list, but the reality is that even after getting healthy, Domínguez didn’t impress nearly enough to give the Yankees a reason to stick with him as their overall offense sagged. Eventually, the Bombers acquired Heliot Ramos and promoted Spencer Jones, making Domínguez expendable on the active roster. He went to the minors and appeared in just four MLB games post-Trade Deadline.

This all leads to the question: should the Yankees keep Domínguez around for 2027? Has he done enough to keep getting chances? It all comes down to New York’s winter activity and his one minor-league option. That’s probably enough to keep him around as organizational depth, with at least a modicum of breakout appeal, but there are several avenues the team can opt to take with the former top prospect.

The Yankees will enter the 2027 campaign with Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, Jones, and Ramos in the outfield, plus Domínguez and José Caballero, who can also play there if needed (Giancarlo Stanton is purely a DH if he returns). A new outfielder via free agency or trade can’t be ruled out, either. That’s a lot of people for just a handful of spots, and for the sake of his development, the Martian should be playing every day.

If Domínguez isn’t traded in the offseason, he will likely start the year in Triple-A unless he wins a spot in spring training (or “summer” training, whenever it takes place due to the looming lockout). It’s probably a less likely scenario at this point, but it’s certainly plausible, especially if any injuries pop up ahead of him.

Trading Domínguez when his value is this low might not be ideal—they’re not going to trade him just to trade him—but again, it will all depend on the proposed return and if he’s fitting in as the lead piece in a deal or part of a larger package. Gauging his current value against what he could offer down the road is tricky because just as he has bounce-back potential, he could also crash out even more and become older and worse.

Probably thanks to that remaining minor-league option, Domínguez will remain with the Yankees if they don’t find a trade scenario that feels appropriate. However, his time with the organization is reaching a turning point as he enters a key offseason in his development. He’s currently playing Dominican winter ball in LIDOM, but things might get messy if/when the Yanks can’t communicate with him to track his training and offseason routine because of the lockout.

Lockout or not, Domínguez needs to take a step forward in the plate discipline department after posting an awful 4.5-percent walk rate in 2026. That’s where it all should start. A quick look at his Savant page, however, tells us that the raw tools are there for Domínguez to be better than he has been to this point:

Upper-echelon bat speed, but subpar contact metrics. Elite arm strength, but subpar defense and range. He has excellent speed, too, so athleticism doesn’t seem to be the problem.

Domínguez needs to hit the ball with more authority, but above all things, he needs to gain consistency with both swings. This year, he posted a 58 wRC+ hitting from the left side of the plate and 105 from the right side, which is baffling because the split was reversed in each of his previous three MLB campaigns.

There’s a very good chance that Domínguez is part of the Yankees organization as teams enter play in 2027. But if so, there’s no longer any margin for error. His spot in the team’s future plans is unquestionably in jeopardy.

Two members of the pennant winning 2026 Rays are finalists for the Silver Slugger, one no surprise and one quite a big one!

Junior Caminero

One of two finalists at third base for the American League, this should be an easy win for the MVP Finalist after his second consecutive 40+ HR season at just age-22. He had 100 runs scored, 101 RBI, a 148 wRC+, and was the 2026 leader in bat speed (79.4 MPH). The other candidate, Miguel Vargas of the White Sox, had 33 homers and a 134 wRC+ which is respectable and worthy of recognition, but Caminero should take this honor handily.

Chandler Simpson

Making a bid to be just the third silver slugger in history with zero homeruns (Ozzie Smith – ‘87, Pete Rose – ‘81), the speedy Simpson is on a short list of some incredible hitters, some of them former Rays players:

Wilyer Abreu, Red Sox
Randy Arozarena, Mariners
Cody Bellinger, Yankees
Jac Caglianone, Royals
Chase DeLauter, Guardians
Riley Greene, Tigers
Tristan Peters, White Sox
Chandler Simpson, Rays
Mike Trout, Angels

According to the announcement, Abreu, Arozarena, Caglianone, DeLauter, Peters and Simpson would all be first-time winners, while Trout is bidding to be the third ever ten-time SS winner (Bonds – 12, Piazza – 10).

By wRC+ the league leaders among qualified hitters are Arozarena (151 wRC+), Greene (136), the not nominated Dom Canzone (134), DeLauter (131), and Caglianone (129).

Using the same perspective Trout is sixth (129) and Simpson is 20th (93), emphasizing the hilarity of the nomination, but Simpson is notably the league leader in AVG (.306) with Caglianone second (.289).

Simpson is also the league leader in stolen bases among outfielders (46) with the second highest being Arozarena (26).

Welcome to the 2026 edition of Ranking theRockies, where we take a look back at every player to log playing time for theRockies in 2026. The purpose of this list is to provide a snapshot of the player in context. The “Ranking” is an organizing principle that’s drawn from Baseball Reference’s WAR (rWAR). It’s not something the staff debated. We’ll begin with the player with the lowest rWAR and end up with the player with the highest.

No. 27, Eiberson Castellano (0.1 rWAR)

Eiberson Castellano had a memorable 2026 within the Colorado Rockies system. His 2027, however, will come with another team.

The Venezuelan right-handed pitcher signed with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2018 as an international free agent. After skipping the 2019 season and with no minor league season in 2020, he began playing in the Venezuelan Winter League and Dominican Summer League in 2021 before getting some Single-A playing time within the Phillies organization in 2022. He mainly worked within the Philadelphia system for the next few years (with the exception of an offseason stint with the Minnesota Twins after being selected in the Rule 5 draft).

He eventually made his way to the Rockies in December 2025. Castellano’s Rockies career lasted just the 2026 season, but he rapidly progressed through the system. In his time in Double-A, he went 4-2 through 10 starts with a 2.72 ERA.

Castellano had a stellar June. Early in the month, he was promoted from the Double-A Hartford Yard Goats to the Albuquerque Isotopes, where he pitched six scoreless innings, allowing one hit with seven strikeouts in his Triple-A debut. For that, he was named the Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Week.

President of baseball operations Paul DePodesta spoke highly of him following that stretch: “(He) made his first start last night in Triple-A. He had done really, really well in Double-A, had a terrific start last night, went six shutout in his first Triple-A game.”

The good times kept rolling. About a week later, the Rockies selected his contract, paving the way for his major league debut. He took the mound in the seventh inning of the wild 23-9 win over the Athletics, hosted at Las Vegas Ballpark. He closed out the game with three innings of work, allowing four hits and no runs with two strikeouts. He was optioned back to Albuquerque the next day.

Although the sample size is limited to just 35 pitches in his lone MLB outing, Castellano brought an arsenal of a curveball with good movement, a four-seamer averaging over 95 MPH, and a sinker, with a couple changeups mixed in.

In his time with the ‘Topes, Castellano served mostly in a bulk reliever role, appearing in 15 total games with just three starts. There, he posted a 4-5 record, a 6.49 ERA, and 57 strikeouts over 59.2 innings.

Just days ago, Castellano cleared waivers and became a free agent after being outrighted by the Rockies.

Castellano showed promise in both his minor league career (primarily in a solid 2026) and his MLB debut, and his promotion path was encouraging. However, as the Rockies retool their pitching depth, the two parties will go their separate ways.

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Let's open up the mailbag to discuss some of the Mets' top prospects and SNY's latest top 30 list...

If you could choose the most underrated prospect in the system, who would that be? - @BrianC___

I’ll go with left-hander Daviel Hurtado, who ranked No. 19 in my offseason top 30. He was a mid-level international signing out of Cuba in 2023 for $500,000. The 21-year-old split his season between 21 games (18 starts) for Low-A St. Lucie and High-A Brooklyn, posting a combined 2.93 ERA with 89 strikeouts against 27 walks in 86 innings.

He is a pitchable left-hander who has some velocity. He will touch 96 mph with two above-average breaking balls in his slider and curveball. Hurtado's changeup is his fourth offering and could use some work.

Hurtado is still a distance away from major league consideration, and he has things to improve on, but this was a seldom talked about prospect at the beginning of 2026 -- and he looks the part of a potential back-end starter who could climb the top 30 list in future iterations.

Who is the most likely prospect to break out in 2027? - @MrChicken234556

Well, thank you for the question, Mr. Chicken. I like answering both an underrated prospect as well as a potential breakout.

I will stay in the same range on the top 30 list, and I will pick the No. 17-ranked prospect, right-hander Luke Gabrysh, as an arm to break out. He was acquired by the Mets from the Phillies in the Brooks Raley trade at the deadline.

If you were just scouting the stat line, Gabrysh wouldn’t jump off the page, though he did miss a lot of bats (121 strikeouts in 93.1 innings). But he grades out excellently in Stuff+ models and is the type of arm that this Mets pitching development staff has maximized over the past handful of years.

His fastball sits in the mid-90s and touches 98 with a plus slider, and he throws a sweeper and a changeup. Gabrysh could stand to refine his command and secondary offerings, but with some tweaks, he could be a future big league starter, though it would be disingenuous to not acknowledge there is a risk he can wind up in the bullpen if the command and secondaries don’t take that next step. 

Gabrysh should start the 2027 season with Double-A Binghamton.

Can you explain your reasoning for putting Sammy Stafura over Elian Peña? - @gabrielleraucci

I have been open that I am likely the "high" person in the community on Stafura, whom the Mets acquired from the Pirates for Luke Weaver, and I am OK with that.

This is not at all a ding on Peña, who is an excellent prospect that I ranked No. 5 in the Mets system in the offseason top 30. He is someone both the Mets and I are very excited about heading into his second full professional season in 2027. But there have to be differentiating factors that play into a ranking.

I look at Stafura as having the loudest tools of anyone in the Mets' system (with an honorary mention to No. 6 ranked prospect Wandy Asigen). He has above-average, bordering on plus raw power that finally made it into game action in 2026, notably hitting 14 home runs in the month of July. The power is backed up by exit velocity (an average of 91 mph exit velocity would put him right around the top 40 in the major leagues), and bat speed figures that would put him inside the top 44 hitters in the majors.

From an athletic and defensive standpoint, he is both a plus runner and defender. His sprint speed numbers match up with Elly De La Cruz and he is a potential 30-plus stolen base threat at the next level. 

Defensively, his range and instincts are plus, and I could not find an evaluator who thinks he could not handle shortstop at the major league level, though he does have experience at second base, and he is athletic enough to handle playing the outfield if needed.

Stafura does not come without flaws, and there are things he needs to do to take these raw tools to the next level. Stafura has a power-over-contact approach with plenty of swing-and-miss, though he will take his walks.

In the small sample of 21 games with High-A Brooklyn, Stafura walked 11.2 percent of the time and managed to trim his strikeout rate to 24.5 percent from 28.6 percent with the Pirates' High-A affiliate. However, he did hit for less power in that small sample with the Mets organization. His strikeout rate has generally hovered closer to that 30 percent number throughout his minor league career. If the Mets can get Stafura’s strikeout rate to reside more consistently in the 24-26 percent range and not sacrifice his approach, that would be a strong outcome.

On the defensive side, while there is little question about range or instincts, Stafura's throwing arm grades around average. Good enough to play shortstop, but not exactly a howitzer.

I don’t think Peña has the same power and athletic profile that Stafura does. He is more of a contact-over-power approach with an advanced plan at the plate. His athletic profile looks more like that of a third baseman. Both are strong prospects, but with differing profiles, I leaned toward the tools and higher upside that I believe Stafura possesses.