If Monday morning made it clear that Patrik Laine and Brendan Gallagher would move on, it didn’t provide as much clarity about forward Kirby Dach. When the Montreal Canadiens’ GM Kent Hughes was asked about the Albertan forward, he was really not committing in his comments:
We know he’s a talented player, but also very unlucky with injuries so far. But we have to sit down and have a chat with Kirby, probably during his exit meeting today. Then, Jeff, Marty, and I, Sedge (John Sedgwick – the Canadiens’ “capologist”) have to discuss his case, but it’s too early to talk about those things.
The fact that he included Sedgwick in that answer is revealing. It feels like the Canadiens will have to think long and hard before making a qualifying offer to Dach. The 25-year-old is coming off a four-year contract with a $ 3,362,500 cap hit, meaning his qualifying offer has to be $4 million. That’s a lot of money for a player who has skated in 154 games out of a possible 328 over the last four years. That’s only 47% of the games the Habs have played.
His four-year deal was an audition of sorts, a chance to prove that he could play the role the organization acquired him to play, which was that of a second center. In 154 games, he has put up 77 points and has never had a better face-off percentage than 41.4 %. He finished the playoffs playing on the wing of the fourth line, and it’s safe to say that he will never be what the team bet on him being when they sacrificed Alexander Romanov to get him.
When Dach spoke to the media, however, he said he hadn’t had any talks about his contract yet and was looking forward to having that discussion. When asked about his season, he replied:
I felt confident in my game, felt good, felt like whatever the coaching staff asked me to do, I was willing to do it, and I was able to do it.
To be blunt, we weren’t in the meetings Dach had with the coaching staff, but his play doesn’t pass the eye test. When he made that mistake against the Tampa Bay Lightning, which cost the Canadiens Game 2 of their first-round series, he was vilified online by fans, and there were calls to scratch him, but Martin St-Louis refused to do it. Dach rewarded him with his best game of the playoffs, putting up two points and playing a key role in the Game 3 win. After the game, the bench boss said he wouldn’t give up on a player who hadn’t given up on himself.
Unfortunately, Dach didn’t keep that level of performance throughout the playoffs, and he soon faded away, being pretty much invisible by the end of the Canadiens’ run. When the Habs were sent packing by the Carolina Hurricanes, Dach hadn’t had a point in nine games.
Of course, you can’t expect a player who gets fourth-line minutes to light up the scoreboard, but you can expect him to bring energy and a spark by making life hard on the opponent. That’s not what Dach did. He’s 6-foot-4 and 221 pounds, and if he were to play with speed and use his big body, he could make a difference, but more often than not, he doesn’t. When Dach was asked if the long playoff run helped with his next contract, he replied:
Yeah, I think it was nice to kind of go on that run and be healthy, play the style that I needed to play.
When he was asked to summarize his time in Montreal, he explained:
It’s been a long couple of years, obviously, with the injuries and the surgeries. It adds up, and mentally it wears on you. Physically, it’s another thing. But for me, I just tried to have the same attitude: come to the rink every day and make sure I was doing everything I needed to do to be in the lineup.
Of course, it’s hard not to sympathize with a player who has gone through so many injuries, but at the end of the day, hockey is a business, and it’s about winning games and ultimately winning the Stanley Cup. By the end of the playoffs, it was hard to see what Dach was doing to deserve to be in the lineup over, say, someone like Brendan Gallagher, who would have given everything he had to get one last game with the Sainte-Flanelle. Not that the veteran would have changed the outcome of the series, but he at least would have brought some passion, some energy, a spark to lead his team into battle.
At this stage, it’s hard to know what the Canadiens will elect to do with Dach. No one likes losing an asset for nothing, but it feels like, from what he has shown so far, he wouldn’t be worth the four million cap hit. If the Habs do not give him a qualifying offer, he will become an unrestricted free agent and be free to sign with any team or sign a new deal with the Canadiens for less money.
The Vegas Golden Knights erased a 2-0 deficit to win Game 1 over the Carolina Hurricanes and steal home-ice advantage.
The two teams meet again at the Lenovo Center on Thursday, June 4, and my top Golden Knights vs. Hurricanes predictions and NHL picks are calling for improved play from Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen in Game 2.
Golden Knights vs Hurricanes Game 2 prediction
Golden Knights vs Hurricanes best bet: Over 21.5 saves (-105)
He finished with just 18 saves after being nothing short of spectacular throughout the postseason with a high-end .920 save percentage, 1.65 GAA, and .560 goals saved above expected per 60 minutes.
Carolina was also vulnerable for stretches of the series opener, and in particular, the Vegas Golden Knights dominated the second period with a 73.3% overall shot share.
Vegas isn’t going to go prolonged stretches without generating offense, and Andersen isn’t going to post a.783 SV% with -1.73 goals saved above expected again in Game 2, so there is an easy path to this Over.
I’d play this prop confidently to -115.
Golden Knights vs Hurricanes Game 2 same-game parlay
The Golden Knights and Hurricanes generated 6.35 expected goals in Game 1, and both goaltenders struggled in the opener. In addition to Andersen finishing with -1.73 GSAx, Vegas starter Carter Hart also checked in with a -1.72 mark.
With a heightened focus on attention to defensive detail being a chalkboard talking point for both teams, I’m anticipating a lower-scoring Game 2 with better goaltending for both teams.
Turning to Hurricanes winger Seth Jarvis, he finished Game 1 with four scoring chances and has an unsustainably low 8.0 shooting percentage and just two goals across his past eight games despite generating 3.15 expected goals and 11 individual high-danger scoring chances.
This same-game parlay has my attention down to +750.
Golden Knights vs Hurricanes SGP
Hurricanes moneyline
Under 5.5
Seth Jarvis anytime goal
Golden Knights vs Hurricanes odds for Game 2
Moneyline: Golden Knights +130 | Hurricanes -150
Puck Line: Golden Knights +1.5 (-190) | Hurricanes (+160)
Over/Under: Over 5.5 (-130) | Under 5.5 (+110)
Golden Knights vs Hurricanes trend
The total has gone Under the number in 13 of the past 16 games the Carolina Hurricanes have played. Find more NHL betting trends for Golden Knights vs. Hurricanes.
How to watch Golden Knights vs Hurricanes Game 2
Location
Lenovo Center, Raleigh, NC
Date
Thursday, June 4, 2026
Puck drop
8:00 p.m. ET
TV
ABC, SN
Golden Knights vs Hurricanes latest injuries
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However, according to a couple of sources, the Maple Leafs have continued on with their search, and have interviewed Peter Laviolette and Patrick Roy.
On Sportsnet's 32 Thoughts podcast, Elliotte Friedman reported that Laviolette is one of several coaches that the Maple Leafs have spoken too.
"Toronto, I've heard they've done like 15 Zoom interviews, and I think Peter Laviolette was one of them," Friedman said on Wednesday's podcast.
TSN's Darren Dreger also made a report on Wednesday about Laviolette being a part of this week's "stage of the interview process." Along with the veteran head coach, Laviolette, Dreger also mentioned Roy as being a part of the process as a separate candidate at this stage, too.
Laviolette, 61, hasn't coached in the NHL this past season after wrapping up a two-year stint with the New York Rangers. He was fired after the 2024-25 campaign after a 39-36-7 record and a fifth-place finish in the Metropolitan Division, missing the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The season before that, which was also Laviolette's first with the Rangers, they won the Presidents' Trophy and advanced to the Eastern Conference final, losing to the Cup champions Florida Panthers in six games.
Laviolette has visited the Stanley Cup final three times in his 23-year NHL coaching career. He finished as the runner-up in 2009-10 and 2016-17 with the Philadelphia Flyers and Nashville Predators, respectively. But he did win the Stanley Cup 20 years ago with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006.
In addition to that playoff success and 1,594 regular-season games coached in the NHL, he's also won a couple of Presidents' Trophies.
In his first year with Colorado and in the NHL, Roy won the Jack Adams Trophy as the coach of the year. He led the Avs to win the Central Division in that 2013-14 campaign with a 52-22-8 record, but was eliminated in the first round by the Minnesota Wild in seven games.
In the next two seasons, the Avalanche finished seventh and sixth in their division, leading Roy and Colorado to part ways following 2015-16.
After seven years away from the NHL, contributing to the QMJHL's Quebec Remparts as a GM and head coach, he was hired by the Islanders mid-season in 2023-24.
He finished off his first year in Long Island with a five-game exit in the first round of the playoffs. To this point, there was a clear decline in the Islanders, and they missed the post-season the following year.
Even after winning the draft lottery and selecting star defenseman Matthew Schaefer, there weren't many expectations for the Islanders and Roy, but he was exceeding them throughout the year.
For a chunk of last season, Roy and the Islanders were hanging around a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. In fact, the day before Roy was officially relieved of his duties by the Isles, the team was third in the Metro.
Nonetheless, Roy was replaced by Peter DeBoer, and New York went on to miss the playoffs.
Both Laviolette and Roy have had some solid campaigns in the NHL. And with these reports, it seems the Maple Leafs have at least made a preliminary interaction and spent some time speaking to these candidates recently.
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MONTREAL, CANADA - OCTOBER 14: Patrik Laine #92 of the Montréal Canadiens handles the puck during the first period against the Seattle Kraken at the Bell Centre on October 14, 2025 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montréal Canadiens defeated the Seattle Kraken 5-4 in overtime. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) | Getty Images
It seems likely that the Pittsburgh Penguins approach to the unrestricted free agent market is going to be very similar to what it was in the summer of 2025, especially given the lack of truly high-end players that will be available in that market.
That is also a very, very good thing if it plays out that way.
The top goal-scorer on the free agent market already played for the Penguins this past season (Anthony Mantha) and there does not seem to be anybody that wants him back after his playoff performance.
But for as forgettable as that playoff showing was, Mantha was still an objectively good free agent signing given what he did over the course of the regular season and how little he actually cost them.
The Penguins took a one-year flier on him in the hopes that he could come back healthy, took advantage of the opportunity to give him an incentive-laden contract, and then watched him put together a career year. The initial goal was almost certainly to trade him at the deadline (which would have made him this season’s version of Anthony Beauvillier), but he ended up scoring more goals than anybody could have anticipated, while the Penguins ended up winning more games than anybody could have anticipated.
All of that kept him in Pittsburgh for the duration of the season.
Now that Mantha seems destined to move on, there’s going to be an opening on the roster.
Ideally there would be an internal replacement to fill that spot (looking at you, Rutger McGroarty or Ville Koivunen).
There is also the possibility that other players leave the organization along with Mantha via trade (looking at you, Rickard Rakell and/or Bryan Rust and/or Tommy Novak) which could open up additional spots.
Somebody would have to also fill them.
One name on the free agent that could follow the mold of Mantha as a potential reclamation project is Patrik Laine.
Frankly, Laine might be the only type of unrestricted free agent I have any interest in.
Alex Tuch is destined to sign with the Rangers on a contract that immediately ages like milk. I can already see him in that uniform. I can hear his name echoing throughout Madison Square Garden. It’s fate. It’s where this offseason deserves to go. It is all of their destinies.
Mason Marchment and Bobby McMann in a rising cap environment? Gross! Let Seattle and Calgary deal with that.
When it comes to making major investments this offseason you have to be thinking along the lines of trades and restricted free agents. Players still in their prime, just entering their prime or players that can provide some sort positive long-term value beyond the 2026-27 season.
After all, even though the Penguins were a playoff team a year ago they are still a team that is going through some sort of a rebuild (even if it isn’t the traditional type of rebuild people expected).
If you are going to dip into this UFA market with this Penguins team, you have to be thinking about low-risk, potentially high-reward gambles.
That is Laine.
Laine’s career has been derailed over the past few years by injuries, allowing him to appear in just 186 out of a possible 410 games over the past five seasons.
That includes just 75 games over the past three seasons and only five games this past season.
While he was limited to only five games with the Montreal Canadiens in 2025-26, he recently said he was healthy enough to play in the second half of the season only to have the Canadiens keep him on IR anyway.
All of that missed time has created the possibility for him to sign the type an incentive-filled contract that is usually only reserved for entry-level players and players over the age 35. That opens the door for a relatively cheap base-salary, with any bonus overages rolling into next year’s cap (which shouldn’t bother the Penguins given how much cap space they have and the lack of major long-term investments on the roster).
The only problem with this line of thinking is there’s probably 20 other teams in the NHL with that same mindset, which could create a more robust market for a guy that only played in five games a year ago.
But… I’m still sticking with this.
Especially since a healthy Laine can still be a potentially impactful player.
Is he one-dimensional? Probably.
But that one dimension that he provides is an important one, and he’s still really good at it when he is able to stay on the ice.
He can still shoot the puck, and he can still score goals.
Some numbers:
Between the 2022-23 and 2024-25 seasons there were 530 forwards in the NHL that played at least 500 minutes (all-situations) of hockey.
Laine’s 1.39 goals per 60 minutes placed him 27th on the list, sandwiched immediately between Cole Caufield and Brady Tkachuk, and ahead of Kyle Connor, Nikita Kucherov, Mark Scheifele, Sebastian Aho, Sidney Crosby, Matthew Tkachuk, Wyatt Johnston, Alex DeBrincat, Dylan Larkin and Nikolaj Ehlers.
That does not mean he’s better than all of those players (or even any of them), it just means he scored goals at a higher rate than them. And there is value in that.
In terms of actual goals, he scored 48 in 125 games during that time.
That’s a 31-goal pace over 82 games.
He also averaged 9.89 shots on goal per 60 minutes (47th out of that group of 530 forwards) and 0.84 individual expected goals per 60 minutes (232nd out of the 530).
Just for comparisons sake, the Penguins signed Mantha to his incentive-based contract coming off that same three-year stretch, and also coming off an injury-shortened year.
Mantha’s numbers and rankings among that same group of forwards:
Goals/60: 1.04 (115th)
Shots on goal/60: 6.78 (258th)
Individual expected goals/60: 0.78 (290th)
The mindset with Laine could be identical to what it was with Mantha. It is a short-term, prove-it contract full of performance bonuses with the possibility of moving him at the deadline if the playoffs are not in the cards, or having a potential 30-goal scorer on your roster if the playoffs are in the cards. If you’re the Penguins and trying to sell Laine on what you can offer over other teams offering similar deals, you can literally point to the success of Mantha and what playing in Pittsburgh could do for him and his value NEXT offseason.
If it is not a move like this, I would sit out every element of the UFA signing period. But a move like this would at least be interesting. There is also some reason to believe it could work.
On this date in 2023, rumors surfaced that the Columbus Blue Jackets were going to hire long-time NHL coach Mike Babcock.
Columbus fans and hockey fans in general had a few reactions. CBJ fans were split 50/50, it seemed. Some fans wanted the hard-nosed coach that could bring out the best in the players. While others were shocked that the CBJ front office would bring in said hard-nosed coach and put him around a very young team.
Babcock has been away from the NHL for 4 years or so, and in the sports world, that’s an eternity. In 2021, he accepted the coaching job at the University of Saskatchewan, but in August of 2022, he resigned. The next day, he announced he would retire. But like most coaches in any sport, it’s hard to stay away.
Speculation around the Memorial Cup is Mike Babcock will return to the NHL as @BlueJacketsNHL new coach and the delay in announcing coincides with his existing contract with the Maple Leafs expiring the end of this month. https://t.co/OUlxBRS8bq
The question that most fans have is: has he changed? There were reports from a couple of players over the years of mental abuse or feuding with players like Mike Commodore. He has come out publicly and said that back when he was coaching, he had no idea about mental health and how to deal with it. Babcock has been an outspoken advocate for the Bell Let’s Talk awareness campaign and other groups.
A few weeks after the rumors started, Mike Commodore came out with a blistering video about Babcock. He publicly bashed both Babcock and the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Commodore went on a calm, NSWF rant about how "disappointed" he was to see "Babs the Bully" back in the NHL. Commie asked, "Am I surprised? No, I'm not!" Commodore went on to say that he never believed Babcock was retiring. He said he also feels Babcock went into the CBJ front office and told them "whatever they wanted to hear," "blah blah blah," so he could get the job, claiming he changed; meanwhile Commie thinks otherwise. " Babs the bully ain't changing."
Commodore went on to say he hopes this experiment fails miserably. "With all due respect to my buddies that are in the Blue Jackets Organization, I hope this Babcock experiment is a complete disaster, on every single level."
As we know, it was a complete failure and possibly set the team back a few years; they later hired Pascal Vincent to replace him, and that hire also failed.
It's been a long three years for Columbus, but with a new GM, Head Coach(stable), and some front office changes, it seems like they're on the right track, but time will tell.
Next Up For Columbus: The NHL Draft is on June 26 and 27 in Buffalo, where the CBJ will own pick #14.
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Critics have called situation ‘ludicrous’ and ‘frustrating’
‘Jofra may not play for England if handled differently’
Ben Stokes has defended England’s decision to excuse Jofra Archer from the start of the Test summer so he could compete in the Indian Premier League, saying a more militant approach risks a situation where “players like him might not play for England again”.
On Wednesday Archer was strongly criticised by the former New Zealand bowler Simon Doull, who described his absence as “absolutely ludicrous” and “completely wrong”. The former England batter Mark Butcher has previously said it was “absolutely ridiculous”, while Michael Atherton described it as “incredibly frustrating”.
A Montreal Canadiens legend is among the candidates for the Toronto Maple Leafs' head coaching job.
According to TSN's Darren Dreger, former Canadiens star Patrick Roy is among the names interviewing for the Maple Leafs' bench boss gig this week. Dreger also shared that Peter Laviolette will be interviewing for Toronto's job as well.
With Roy being a Canadiens legend, it would certainly be strange to see him end up being the Maple Leafs' head coach. However, with Roy being one of the top head coaches without a job right now, it makes sense that he is speaking with the Maple Leafs.
Roy was let go by the New York Islanders with just four games left in the 2025-26 season. This is after he led the Islanders to a 42-31-5 record and 89 points. Roy was replaced by Peter DeBoer.
Roy has a 130-92-24 record as an NHL head coach. He also won the Jack Adams Award for the 2013-14 season, where he led the Colorado Avalanche to a 52-22-8 record and 112 points.
In 551 games with the Canadiens, Roy had a 289-175-66 record, a .904 save percentage, a 2.78 goals-against average, and 29 shutouts. He also won two of his four Stanley Cup championships with the Canadiens.
The Mets were soundly defeated by the Mariners 8-3. All three Mets runs were driven in by Carson Benge, who had the first multi-home run game of his career.
The Syracuse Mets broadcast booth has become a launching pad for broadcasters looking to break through.
A.J. Ewing may seem like the prototypical leadoff hitter, but Carlos Mendoza is reluctant to move him there with the success Carson Benge has had in the leadoff spot.
Keith Hernandez joined Jeff Passan on his podcast to discuss playing baseball and the life he’s led after retiring from the game, especially in his second life as Mets broadcaster.
Francisco Alvarez began his rehab assignment in Syracuse with a bang, and his quick recovery is attributed (by him) to his mindset.
With all the issues the Mets have faced with their pitching, Sean Manaea is making a case for his re-insertion into the starting rotation.
Around the National League East
Dominic Smith has come back better than ever with the Braves, and he’s providing more than just statistical value for Atlanta.
The Braves held on to beat the Blue Jays 4-3. Bryce Elder got the win pitching 6.2 innings and giving up 3 runs, allowing six hits and one walk while striking out six.
The Phillies narrowly beat the Padres 3-2. Aaron Nola pitched five innings and allowed two runs on four hits while striking out eight.
The Marlins easily won 7-3 against the Nationals. Heriberto Hernández drove in three runs on two home runs, with Joe Mack also driving in three runs.
Around Major League Baseball
ESPN put out their baseball winners and losers for the month of May, and what to keep an eye on as the 2026 season inches closer to it’s halfway mark.
Aaron Judge has been dealing with nagging shoulder soreness which has been revealed to be a bone bruise, prompting a meeting with doctors last night.
Corbin Carroll is crushing lefties, and it’s not an accident—it’s by design.
Steve Sypa reached the ten week mark for the Mets Minor League Players of the Week.
With the Knicks reaching the NBA Finals and a period of franchise prosperity, Michael Drago wondered how long it will take for the Mets to do the same.
This Date in Mets History
46 years ago today, the Mets selected 1986 World Series Champion and future Mets Hall of Famer Darryl Strawberry first overall in the draft.
We’re going to start this piece with a general disclaimer: Aaron Judge is still an excellent MLB hitter. He is also 261 plate appearances into his worst season since 2021, a “mere” five-and-a-half win campaign that saw him finish fourth for AL MVP. We can also all be honest that that is a significant drop from Best Right-Handed Hitter’s Peak In Baseball History, and from a team construction standpoint, that means other guys in the lineup need to pick up those runs that a 200 wRC+ bat would have produced.
So what gives? We know there’s been some pain for the last month or so, as Judge is currently day-to-day with a bone bruise. We’re a third of the way through the season. How much of this regression is based on the fact that he’s 34 now, how much is because of some problems in approach, how much is just more or less bad luck, and how much is the injury affecting him?
The good news is some of this could clear up on its own. One of the things that’s powered Judge in his post-COVID peak has been that he’s hit to his expected levels — he’s never had a 2025 Ben Rice type of year where he should be hitting better than he is, until now. It’s pretty routine stuff by now for an analyst to say “OK, his xBA, xSLG, and xwOBA are all higher than his actual numbers, we should expect an improvement, something back to that 170-175 wRC+ that FanGraphs’ Depth Charts projects for the rest of his season. Good news!”
There’s still a difference between 170, which gets you MVP votes, and 200, which makes it a no-contest. Solving that delta is now our quest, and I worry how much of it comes from the fact that 34 doesn’t play the way it used to. As Judge has set or approached career high after career high over the past five years, the name he keeps bumping up against is Barry Bonds, and while I do think Bonds is one of the three or so most talented hitters to ever play the game, he had a certain degree of pharmaceutical help. I don’t think steroids are some kind of super soldier serum, but the core benefit of helping your body rebuild muscle faster helps extend careers — Bonds’ best seasons were his age 36-39, and I just don’t think that’s in the cards for Judge.
We see this reflected in bat speed, one of those things that does decline as you age. Judge’s swing speed is down a full mile per hour, and the resulting second- and third-order effects are there. One mile isn’t a huge decline, but it leads to a waterfall of decline elsewhere — barrel rate, hard-hit rate, and average exit velocity are all down ticks. Bat speed is also primarily generated by the lower half. If you watch Judge’s swing, so much of his power comes from a pretty flawless weight transfer against baseball’s stiffest front side. This is why I don’t necessarily think the bat speed is going to come back after Judge recovers from this bone bruise.
Here’s where this becomes a problem; Aaron Judge is no longer the best fastball hitter you’ve ever seen. Last year he was +25 in run value against heaters, 2024 +33, and 2022 +32. This is a roughly cumulative stat, but in a third of a season he’s at +3 in 2026. In a world of Cam Schlittlers and Jacob Misiorowskis, hitters have to bring their own velo against ever-climbing fastball speeds. The slower your bat speed, the less damage you can do against higher velocity.
A first glance at that decline in production and particularly the way Judge’s pull rates have increased might make you think he’s cheating on fastballs, starting the hitting chain earlier. I actually don’t think that’s the case here; his pull rate is back over 40 percent, which is seven points higher than last year, but pretty in line with his other two MVP campaigns. The pull rate isn’t the problem; the problem is what the pull rate represents.
This is where I ask, dear reader, to come with me beyond the spreadsheets into something a little murkier. Michael Kay has talked over and over this season how proud Judge is of his 2025 batting title, that he wants to see himself as a complete hitter, not just a slugger. Part of this is Kay needing to be a play-by-play announcer and needing to guide us all through the various, complicated stories that emerge in 162 games; that’s his job. As we journey into the mystical world of psychology though, you have to wonder how much Aaron Judge is trying to decide what kind of hitter he wants to be.
Last year Judge really fell in love with the opposite field. He’s always had plenty of power to center and right, but all those singles and doubles to the other side were what gave him the batting title. Contrast that with 2024, when his pull rates were more in line with what’s happening this year.
It’s worth noting that clutter of singles in the infield hole last year, which was probably a good share of luck in getting that batting title. The main point is how many more hits were to the opposite field, even though Judge was a more productive overall hitter two seasons past. I think this is the first concerning bit of his approach in 2026 — it must be extremely tempting to still be the .331 hitter even as some of the effectiveness against fastballs begins to fade.
The second concerning piece, and I would argue more important one, is this strange passivity he has. He’s taking pitches in the zone at the highest rate since his 2016 disaster debut, taking first pitches at a lower rate than last year, and most concerning to me, taking meatballs at the highest rate again since 2016. Aaron Judge should never be taking a meatball. If you throw a pitch in the heart of the zone against Aaron Judge, you should be forced onto to the IL with a neck strain from how quickly you whip your head around to watch it leave the ballpark. Yet Judge has seen 42 percent of his 2025 pitch total, and has been one-fourth as effective against pitches in the heart of the zone.
In spite of Judge’s strikeout rate climbing over the past few years, he’s whiffing less, when he swings he’s making more contact. He is just not swinging enough, content to give pitchers a 0-1 head start, or allow a 1-1 offering to become a 1-2 hole.
Compare what he was swinging at last year. He wasn’t chopping away at pitches he couldn’t drive — everything is still in the zone. Indeed, the great advantage of being Aaron Judge is if it’s in the zone, you can probably put a charge into it. I don’t want him to become a slapdick slasher but there’s no reason, when you have arguably the most pure power in the integration era, that you should close off so much of the zone. Hell, maybe Judge’s most impactful home run came on a swing way inside:
You’re Aaron Judge, you have power no matter where the ball is. Stop taking the cutter at the thigh mid-in, you can probably get the barrel around on it. Actually not probably, we have almost a decade of evidence that you can turn that into a mistake pitch.
Here’s where we need to separate approach from the injury, and here’s where I think the fact Judge has seemingly played in pain for the last month factors in. Let’s look at that heatmap of 2026 again:
Aaron Judge is hunting for one specific pitch in one specific location, and willing to take on everything else. To me it seems logical that if baseball activities are causing you near-constant discomfort, you’re really going to focus on getting the A-Swing off on The Pitch you want, as opposed to previous seasons where any pitch above the belt could get the A-Swing. This would be the thing I’d be most confident in Judge changing should he be able to return to full health.
So we’re 1,200 words in. What exactly do we have in Aaron Judge?
He’s better than he’s playing now, and that’s without changing anything in his worrisome two-prong approach. I fully expect that if he’s just doing the exact same thing he’s doing, a month from now he’ll be boasting a better overall batting line. A certain amount of this is priced in already; all else equal he should be more productive than he has been.
I think there’s some age-related regression going on, and that in and of itself isn’t really a bad thing. The fun part about regressing from a 10-win, 200 wRC+ player is there’s so much room to catch a root as you slide down. I think we can be more than reasonable and say that even with the tick back in bat speed, Aaron Judge can be what he was in his rookie year — in my opinion the deserved AL MVP, but if nothing else finishing on the podium.
And then there’s this twin killing, the two things that I think are a bit of an anchor around the Captain’s neck, or at least, his swing. He needs to decide on the pull factor, especially if fastballs are getting just a tick too fast. Should that be the case he either needs to focus on getting around sooner, or take advantage of that natural, godlike power and wait on fastballs, to take them the other way with authority. Given that he is seeing fewer fastballs overall this season, I would tend toward the latter strategy; waiting on the heaters and driving them to right will also have you cocked and locked for offspeed or breaking pitches in the zone.
Health will answer the question around his passivity, though. The Yankees preach discipline and controlling the zone and being savages in the box, and Michael Kay will talk a lot about how often Judge is in 3-2 counts, but a 3-2 count in and of itself isn’t a good thing if you’ve let hittable pitches go to get there. An increased aggressiveness is the key to turning Aaron Judge from a damn fine hitter back to the best we’ve ever seen, but we’ll need to wait and see if that’s a philosophy change, or a constraint imposed because of injury.
Aug 13, 2025; New York City, New York, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco (59) pitches in the first inning against the against the New York Mets at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images | Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
Likely to no one’s surprise, the Atlanta Braves have made another roster move involving right-hander Carlos Carrasco. After being designated for assignment for the third time this season, Atlanta selected him to the major league roster ahead of Tuesday’s game.
The #Braves today selected RHP Carlos Carrasco to the major league roster.
Bryce Elder and the bullpen were huge during Tuesday night’s 4-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
MLB News:
Minnesota Twins right-hander Bailey Ober has been diagnosed with a mild flexor strain. He was placed on the IL earlier this week.
Jon Heasley’s outright has been rescinded and he has instead been placed on the 15-day injured list with a stress reaction in his elbow. The move is retroactive to May 29.
From the Feed:
Cast your vote for Braves Player of the Game here.
MLB Pipeline recently discussed Braves outfield prospect Eric Hartman.
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - JUNE 02: Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts after defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-5 following the MLB game at Chase Field on June 02, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The last baseball player to win an MVP award for three consecutive seasons in the same league was Barry Bonds when he won four from 2001-04. With the way that Shohei Ohtani has been playing over the first two months of the season, his chances of winning a third consecutive NL MVP are very much alive.
But what about the NL Cy Young award?
So far, among all pitchers with at least 55 innings this season, Ohtani continues to possess the best ERA at 0.82, giving him a ridiculous 493 ERA+. Ohtani hasn’t given up more than two runs in a start this year, while tossing a quality start in all but one of his outings.
What does Ohtani have to achieve for him to earn the Cy Young award? There is already heavy competition that features Cristopher Sánchez, Jacob Misiorowski and the reigning NL Cy Young award winner Paul Skenes. Manny Randhawa of MLB.com suggests that Ohtani will have to post an ERA under 2.00, average 10 strikeouts per nine innings and tally at least 170 innings on the season.
Well, he might need some help from the hitters facing Sánchez, Misiorowski and Skenes. But if there’s one thing we know about Ohtani, it’s to never doubt him. He’s too good, and he’s proven time and again that when we think we’ve seen him do it all, we’re wrong.
Ohtani will try to keep up his elite pace on the mound on Wednesday against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Both Bobby Miller and Gavin Stone were among some of the Dodgers working their way back from injury joining the team in Phoenix on Tuesday.
Since his first start of the 2024 season, it has been a nightmare for Miller. Once heralded as a can’t miss prospect in the Dodgers system, Miller only made two appearances last year and has yet to touch the field this season. Miller has struggled with shoulder and back issues since spring training, but the 27-year-old is expected to begin throwing off a mound soon, per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register.
“It was shoulder at first. I had some injections right before spring training,” Miller said. “It was pretty good. Then I had a setback with a back injury. But it’s all great right now. I haven’t had any setbacks since that. I’ve been getting stronger and stronger.”
As for Stone, he made just one start in spring training before he was placed back on the injured list. Jack Harris of the California Post notes that there is not timetable for Stone’s return.
“He’s one that I’m really bummed out about,” Roberts said. “I think his makeup is off the charts, good, compete. Right now, his body’s just letting him down a little bit. There’s nothing else he can do. When he … ramps it up, it sort of shows itself again. So right now, I’m not sure exactly where he’s at in this progression. But I’m looking forward to seeing him, though.”
Sporting “Fight Like A Girl” T-shirts, players, coaches and staff surrounded Sarah Nauser and her supportive husband, Lonnie, in her customized wheelchair, designed to take her wherever her beloved Royals are playing. Tuesday night, on Lou Gehrig Day across MLB, that place was Great American Ball Park.
“Especially the way things have gone for us these last couple weeks, and to get texts from Sarah or Lonnie after a game, like, ‘Hang in there, it’ll turn’ and ‘Stay positive,’” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said, “and then you think for a second, coming from her and the horrible disease that she’s battling, and the way she supports us, it has to feel more important to us because of her and what she means to us, the city, the team and the organization. If you don’t feel that way, I think there might be something missing in your heart.”
The Royals greet superfan Sarah Nauser ahead of their game against the Reds. (photo via Mike Petraglia)
Nauser is a lifelong, passionate fan of the Royals whose moving battle with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) has deeply intertwined her life with the Major League Baseball franchise.
Raised in Blue Springs, Mo., Nauser grew up playing softball and spending her nights cheering at Kauffman Stadium, which she fondly calls her “happy place.” Nauser pursued a career in law enforcement and served as an officer for the Kansas City (Mo.) Police Department (KCPD).
Royals starter Noah Cameron racked up eight punchouts in his seven innings of work against the Cincinnati Reds Tuesday night.
Pasquantino was coming off a coffee-fueled spring during Team Italy’s run at the World Baseball Classic, right in the center of it as the captain. Then the crash hit. Pasquantino posted a .467 OPS in April and is slashing .213/.303/.342 now in 55 games this season. His strikeout rate has ticked up to 18.4% from 15.7% last year. Pasquantino showed the type of hitter he can be last year with 32 homers and 113 RBIs, and the Royals’ offense doesn’t work if Pasquantino isn’t mashing in the middle of it. They haven’t given up on him yet, nor will they. But a hot June from Pasquantino could be just what he and the Royals need to get out of their current funk. — Anne Rogers
Will this finally be the year for Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. to capture the AL MVP? The Athletic thinks so, despite the Royals ranking 29th in their latest power rankings.
Top awards candidate: Bobby Witt Jr., AL MVP
Royals fans, I think this is the year.
The league-leader in fWAR is putting up another five-tool season. He should, at the very least, have another 20-20 season, potentially 20-40. No one has more Outs Above Average than Witt’s 15, or has generated as much defensive value as he has.
With Aaron Judge looking mortal — and by mortal, I mean not putting up a wRC+ that mirrors the speed of F1 cars or an OPS that looks like the seating capacity of a small theater — attention can turn to Witt.
It’s been 46 years since the Royals have had an AL MVP. If he keeps it up, that won’t be the only accolade he’ll have for his age-26 season. 2026 All-Star, Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, Platinum Glove and AL MVP winner Bobby Witt Jr. has a really nice ring to it.
As mentioned already, they have a system that features a wealth of Top 100 talent, which could provide the Royals lower-ranked farm system with some much needed reinforcements. While they may not have the available trade capital to warrant one of those Top 100 names – not the top end ones at least, perhaps they could target lower names on their organizational Top 30 list. After all, how will they promote any of them if they keep buying every marquee free agent?
As has become custom in L.A., the Dodgers have multiple high profile starting pitching names on the IL at the moment. Perhaps Royals starters like Kris Bubic (when healthy) or veterans Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo are options if to bolster their staff. The same goes for relievers, as the injury bug has bitten them there too. Daniel Lynch IV and Matt Strahm are potentially a pair of high-leverage arms that the Dodgers could very well covet.
In six outings and 28.1 IP, Lamkin absolutely dominated Midwest League pitching. He posted a 1.27 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, a 34.9% K%, and 24.8% K-BB% with the River Bandits. In May, with the Quad Cities, he allowed two runs on six hits with no walks while striking out 14 in 10.2 IP. That strong start in May led to his promotion to Double-A Northwest Arkansas.
Lamkin had a rough Double-A debut on June 14th, allowing four runs on seven hits and three walks while striking out seven in 5.2 IP. However, he had a much stronger second start on May 20th. He went 6 IP, allowed one hit, one run, no walks, and struck out eight. Overall, the percentiles have been good for Lamkin in his two starts in Double-A, as he is generating a 34.9% K% (92nd percentile), a 35.1% whiff rate (82nd percentile), and a 37.4% CSW% (98th percentile).
Would you believe this is the first game the Royals have won that wasn’t on a weekend since May 5 against Cleveland? As I sat down to write this, I thought it felt different to write about a win in an individual game, knowing the Royals are out of it. The focus is just different when writing about a team with no real playoff hope. We haven’t dealt with that for the last two seasons. And then I realized that I haven’t written about an individual game that was a win for almost a month. Since I don’t really write on weekends and just capture the weekend as a whole on Mondays, the only wins we’ve seen for a while have been written about in the Weekend in Review. Boy, it’s been a bad stretch.
But if you’re looking to the future or at least signs of life for the future, this win was a good one. I’d put it up there with the blowout of the Angels from late April or maybe the first win of the Cleveland series as one of the most complete games they’ve played. It had a starting pitcher who hadn’t ever really done well in that role, putting together a good game. One of the young bats had a nice day. Another bat who could be important had a good day. And it felt like the team got all their frustration out on one swing in the first and looked like it exhaled for the first time in weeks. Let’s start with the young pitcher.
PHILADELPHIA, PA - MAY 05: A general view of the MLB 2026 All Star Game Logo during the game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Athletics on May 5, 2026 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Good morning, baseball fans!
It’s that time of year again. Phase 1 of voting for the 2026 All Star Game begins today!
Last year, I had the idea to coordinate a group effort with the community to try to get specific San Francisco Giants players into the game. It did not work. And I didn’t really expect it to. But that doesn’t mean we can’t try again this year!
As a reminder, fans can only vote for position players. I think concentrating on just a couple of players is the best strategy. So right now, the players we are going to push for are:
Luis Arraez – 2B
Casey Schmitt – DH
For Phase 1, you can submit up to five ballots per day. The website for voting is not live yet, voting begins at 9:00 a.m. PT. But you should be able to find it on MLB’s All Star page once it’s up.
What time do the Giants play today?
The Giants continue this four-game road series against the Milwaukee Brewers this afternoon at 4:40 p.m. PT.
DENVER, COLORADO - MAY 31: Hunter Goodman #15 of the Colorado Rockies bats in the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field on May 31, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The world of advanced metrics continues to grow in the quest to analyze and understand the smallest idiosyncrasies that make baseball players who they are.
Recently, MLB released new swing path and attack angle data for 2026 that may help give us an idea of where the Colorado Rockies are at and if there is an area for improvement.
What are swing path and attack angle metrics?
For those unfamiliar, the four metrics that make up this category of Statcast metrics are as follows:
swing path (tilt)
attack angle
ideal attack angle
attack direction
Swing path tells the shape of the swing on the way toward contact, with the tilt being defined as the angle of the bat path over the last 40 milliseconds prior to contact. This metric is used to determine how steep or flat a swing is; in layman’s terms, the higher the number, the steeper the swing.
Attack angle describes what is happening with the bat at the point of contact. It defines what vertical angle the bat is moving at as it impacts the ball (or comes closest to doing so, on misses). Positive numbers indicate a bat that is moving upwards, while negative numbers indicate a bat moving downwards at the point of contact. The ideal attack angle is defined as “the percentage of swings with an attack angle between5° and 20° at the point of contact.” Hitting the ball with an upward-moving bat creates a higher exit velocity and optimal launch angle, which are necessary to hit doubles, triples, and home runs.
Attack direction, then, helps indicate the horizontal angle the bat is traveling as it makes contact. This is mostly used to determine whether a batter is a “pull” or “oppo” hitter.
For our purposes, we will be focusing on attack angle since swing path is more of a stylistic choice. (It’s not as simple as “more is good” or “less is bad” in that department.) Attack angle, however, tells a bit more about the Rockies’ offense and what’s going on.
The Rockies as a team
Entering June, the Rockies sport a team attack angle of 10°, which lands even with the league average alongside 13 other teams.
However, the Rockies have an ideal attack angle of 49.1%, which ranks 26th in baseball, just ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays (49%), Los Angeles Angels (48%), Athletics (47.8%), and Pittsburgh Pirates (46.6%). The league average for ideal attack angle is 51.2%.
This means that while the Rockies have an attack angle that falls in line with the majority of MLB on swings, they have managed to make contact with that ideal attack angle less than half the time. Evidence is shown in their 26% whiff rate that comes from a league-leading 51.8% swing rate.
Like other stats in baseball, however, there are nuances to attack angle because it depends on pitch location and pitch type as well. Attack angles will be higher on low pitches and lower on higher pitches. The Rockies have a 13° to 16° angle range on lower pitches and about a 9° angle on higher pitches. A higher angel will lead to more flyballs, while a lower angel will lead to more line drives. Negative angles end up with more groundballs.
The Rockies have a league-leading 21.2% line-drive rate, suggesting a flatter swing at the point of contact, despite a team swing path of 34°, which ranks as the fifth-steepest in baseball. A flatter swing isn’t inherently bad, as line drives are a quality result of making contact, but it does point to the lack of power the team has in the home run department. They rank 22nd in flyball rate at 37.9% and 20th in homerun-to-flyball rate at 9.6%.
The difference in the Rockies’ offense is also reflected over the last two months. In April, the Rockies had an ideal attack angle of 50.8%, while May dropped down to 47.2% and saw the club hitting more ground balls and fewer flyballs.
An important element to understanding attack angle is that it is a timing metric.
During a swing, there are numerous attack angles, and the one that matters is the point at which contact occurs. Pitches are thrown from a downward angle (usually around 6° to 10°). An upward (positive) attack angle allows your bat to travel along the same plane as the ball, giving a wider margin for error to make solid contact. Having an undesirable attack angle might be about being early or late, as well as the way the hitter is moving the bat. It’s not a case of “more is better” because too much or too little can be a problem, hence the ideal range.
Individual Rockies
Attack angle gives us a better understanding of a hitter’s profile, and so, let’s take a look at a couple of the Rockies to illustrate the make-up of the team.
Hunter Goodman
Hunter Goodman falls in line with many of the power hitters across the league. Averaging an attack angle of 15°, Goodman often catches the ball with an upward trajectory, which translates to a team-leading 14 home runs. Keep an eye on the red arrow in the video below (starting at four seconds) that showcases his attack angle through his swing to the point of contact.
What’s interesting is that Goodman’s 24° swing path is the “flattest” on the team, while the attack angle is the highest among the qualified hitters. The video shows that while Goodman has a more direct swing path to the ball, he manages to create lift by angling his bat in those final four milliseconds to lift the ball. He currently has a career-high 27.5% line drive rate and is matching his career-high 33.6% fly ball rate. Add in his incredible bat speed, and you get a hitter who can pound the ball at the expense of more strikeouts.
Most importantly, Goodman has an ideal attack angle 65.3% of the time, which ties him for fourth-highest in baseball among qualified hitters. That means that for roughly every six or seven swings out of 10, he is getting the most offensive value potential, which is what you want out of your power bat.
Kyle Karros
On the other side of the spectrum is Kyle Karros. Featuring a 33.3% line drive rate, Karros has generally been more of a contact-first bat with not a lot of oomph. A lower-than-league-average bat speed and an attack angle of 7° have led to more line drives and ground balls in his young big league career.
What makes Karros’ swing interesting is that he has one of the steepest swing paths on the team at 37°, and yet meets the ball on a more even plane at the point of contact. It messes with a preconceived notion that a player with a steeper swing would naturally hit the ball with a higher attack angle, just as a player with a flatter swing would have a lower attack angle.
However, the attack angle is a good measure of swing adjustments for a player, and Karros has demonstrated that over the last week. Starting on May 25, Karros has averaged an attack angle of 12° with 48.8% ideal attack angle rate. The swing path hasn’t changed, but Karros managed to elevate the ball more, which has resulted in two home runs (even if one was against a position player) and a ball in the air 33% of the time. Ideally, Karros raising his average attack angle even just a few degrees upward to the 10° mark could help him find that power a bit more consistently and cut down on the grounders.
More to be learned
There is so much more that can be learned from exploring the intricacies of these metrics that can’t be covered in this article. You can gain a lot just from a glimpse at the basic metrics, and I encourage you to explore these metrics and visuals on Baseball Savant.
For instance, look at the entire 2026 Rockies offense in this image. Some interesting things are going on here.
In general, the Rockies are a team that focuses on line drives and could benefit from more players finding an optimal swing more often than not. These metrics are all about maximizing offensive value, something the Rockies aren’t quite doing across the board at times.
One size does not fit all when it comes to swinging the bat. Each batter is unique with different stances and mechanics, and these metrics tell just a small part of the story and help paint the picture of an offensive profile.
The Albuquerque Isotopes put together a rough game at the plate as they managed just four runs in the middle innings, but struck out 13 times against one walk. Andrew Knizner had a home run as part of a two-hit night but that was about all that highlighted the offense. Still, they could have done just enough to win, but Isotopes starter Valente Bellozo saw his solid start fall apart in the fifth inning. Scoreless through four, Bellozo coughed up six runs and recorded just one out. The bullpen combo of Mason Green and Ryan Miller limited Salt Lake to just one run the rest of the way, but the offense couldn’t make up the lost ground.
Despite collecting six hits, the Hartford Yard Goats were shut out as they struggled to get runners in scoring position and went 0-for-3 when they did. GJ Hill led the way with two hits, but eight strikeouts and three double-plays killed any momentum for the Yard Goats. Jake Brooks started on the mound and delivered six solid innings, allowing four runs on four hits with four strikeouts and two walks. Cade Denton was roughed up in relief, unfortunately, as he allowed five runs on six hits in two innings of work.
Spokane lost a close one as a two-run seventh by Hillsboro made up the difference. The Indians controlled the first half of the game 5-0 through four innings before Hillsboro got after starter Everett Catlett for four runs in the fifth. Tyler Hampu took the loss after allowing three runs on two hits in his 1.2 innings of work. Offensively, Spokane had 11 hits with Robert Calaz going 3-for-4 with a home run. The team struck out six times with two walks and went 2-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
A close-knit game saw the Fresno Grizzlies come out on top thanks to a two-run ninth inning rally to walk off the Lake Elsinore Storm. Trailing 5-4 in the ninth, Cameron Nelson laced a one-out double to score the equalizer run before coming in to score the winning run on a Roldy Brito single. Fresno had 10 hits with Nelson collecting a triple as well, while Tanner Thach and Clayton Gray each had a home run. Angel Jimenez started for the Grizzlies and went five innings, allowing just two runs on two hits with three walks and six strikeouts. Jhon Medina and Dylan Crooks followed in relief and struggled with command, issuing six free passes and allowing three runs in 2.2 combined innings of work. Seth Clausen took the win with his 1.1 scoreless innings of work.
The trade deadline is just two months away so it’s time to start considering some questions. Mark Feinsand mentions the Rockies as a likely seller, though they may not have many assets. He points to Antonio Senzatela, Tomoyuki Sugano, and Brennan Bernardino as likely candidates with the most value.
Charlie Condon (No. 1 PuRP) has been on a tear for Albuquerque the last two weeks. Geoff Grammer considers the possibility of Condon getting back on track for a 2026 MLB debut.
This week, Evan Lang and I talk about Ezequiel Tovar heating up at the plate, the need for reinforcements in the pitching department, and reflect on May with our players of the month.
May 31, 2026; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Alabama batter Justin Lebron (1) celebrates a double during the Tuscaloosa NCAA Regional in the championship series between Oklahoma State and Alabama. | Gary Cosby Jr. / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
If college baseball is not your bag, but you are an MLB fan, you might want to pay attention.
With 16 teams still alive with dreams of spending late June in Omaha, there are plenty of MLB Draft prospects to watch this weekend. Here are 13 players to keep an eye on during Super Regionals, all of whom could be early picks in the 2026 MLB Draft in July.
Justin Lebron, SS, Alabama
When the Kansas City Royals selected outfielder Joe Vitiello with the seventh pick in the 1991 MLB Draft, he became the highest-drafted player out of Alabama.
Justin Lebron could change that in July.
Lebron has been a standout for the past three seasons for the Crimson Tide, and while his numbers at the plate dipped a bit from his stellar 2025 campaign — where he slashed .316/.421/.636 with 18 home runs — his bat has come alive a bit here in the NCAA tournament, as Lebron went 6-for-16 during the regionals as Alabama clinched a spot in the Supers.
He has improved his bat speed over his time at Alabama, and that was on display on this home run against USC Upstate in the regionals. Watch as he’s able to get his hands quickly through the zone, and pull this outside breaking ball for his second home run of regionals:
Right now, projections have Lebron in the 5-10 range in mock drafts, which is a departure from where we were a year ago, when he was considered perhaps the top player in the class. UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky is now the favorite to go first overall, but he will be watching the Super Regionals along with the rest of us, as the Bruins were eliminated this past weekend.
Lebron is still playing, and a deep run from Alabama could see him slide up into the top five, at least.
Draft range: Top 15
Ace Reese, 3B, Mississippi State
After a strong first collegiate season at Houston, Ace Reese transferred to Mississippi State for the 2024 campaign, slashing .352/.422/.718 in his first SEC season, along with 21 home runs to secure Newcomer of the Year honors.
Reese followed that with a .328/.429/.698 season this past year, belting another 22 home runs.
The power certainly stands out, as you see on this home run from the regional final against Louisiana:
— Mississippi State Baseball (@HailStateBB) June 1, 2026
But what might help his draft stock the most is what he did on the Cape last summer. In just eight games of work for Chatham, Reese slashed .303/.361/.485, showing some prowess with a wooden bat.
Draft range: Top 25
Cade Townsend, RHP, Ole Miss
Cade Townsend is one of the top collegiate arms in the upcoming MLB Draft, and the sophomore-eligible pitcher stands out for his breaking stuff just as much as his fastball. While he gets into the upper 90s with his fastball, where he truly shines is with an array of power breaking balls, from a curve to a slider and a cutter.
Here is a good look at his arsenal from Perfect Game Baseball:
RHP Cade Townsend (@OleMissBSB) sat 95-96 T97 w/ riding FB from fast arm. Nasty cutter at 88-91 is the go-to, showed biting 2 pln SL. Low-80s top to bottom CB & CH ~ 1300 RPM to round out mix. Has had a great spring & risen up boards. Soph./'26 elig. @PG_Draftpic.twitter.com/TAFbM37f5j
After going 1-0 last year over 15 games and eight starts, Townsend stepped into a much bigger role for Ole Miss this past season, going 5-3 as the team’s No. 2 starter, behind Hunter Elliott. But it is his array of pitches that have him as one of the top pitching prospects in the college game. He’ll likely get the ball in Game 2 against Auburn this weekend, and a strong performance against the Tigers will only help his draft stock.
Draft range: Top 30
Aiden Robbins, CF, Texas
Aiden Robbins has enjoyed success at every stop of his collegiate baseball journey, which began at Seton Hall where he slashed .302/.386/.512 in 2024. He played for Gaithersburg in the Cal Ripken Collegiate League that summer — right down the street from this author — and posted an OPS of .959 with five home runs in just 25 games. That earned him a spot with Harwich on the Cap for seven games, where he slashed .385/.385/.538 over just 26 at-bats.
He then was dominant for Seton Hall the following spring, slashing .422/.537/.652, and returned to Harwich for the summer where he led the Cape Cod League in batting average (.307), slugging percentage (.545) and OPS (.936). That season is sure to get scouts paying attention.
Robbins transferred to Texas for this past year, and all he did in his first SEC season was slash .347/.435/.721, hitting a career-best 23 home runs. That improved power will also get scouts paying attention.
Draft range: Top 30
Chris Rembert, 2B, Auburn
Chris Rembert entered the 2026 season as one of the top hitters in college baseball, and he did not disappoint. After slashing .344/.467/.555 during the 2025 campaign for Auburn, he matched those numbers with a .350/.402/.475 slash line this past season, along with 13 doubles and 45 RBI.
His quick hands through the zone stand out on swings like this one from March:
2B Chris Rembert (@AuburnBaseball) gets a hanging SL & promptly deposits it 420 ft. to left @ 105 EV. Bundle of ML average tools in the profile & will stick at second. Quick, quick bat with twitch in the wrists. @PG_Draft
He also played five games for Hyannis this past summer in the Cape Cod League, slashing .429/.478/.952 in limited action. Unfortunately, he was not in the lineup when this author had a chance to see the Harbor Hawks on the final day of the regular season. But one other prospect on this list was, so stay tuned on that front.
Rembert notched a hit in each of Auburn’s five games in the regional, including a 4-for-6 afternoon with four RBI against NC State in a must-win game. A strong series against Ole Miss could solidify his status as one of the top sophomore-eligible prospects in this field.
Draft range: Top 50
Mason Edwards, LHP, USC
Mason Edwards has enjoyed a rather unconventional ride to his status as a likely first-round pick in July. Interest from top schools was late in arriving, as it took some time for his array of pitches to come together. After his sophomore season in high school, he worked with Josh Goossen-Brown, who was coaching at a junior college in Los Angeles, to improve his fastball.
Edwards’ velocity went from the upper 70s that summer, to the upper 80s by the end of his junior campaign. At one point during a bullpen session with Goossen-Brown, that fastball started hitting the 90s.
That is when the offers started coming in.
But he stayed close to home, signing with USC, which kept him with Goossen-Brown, who now serves as the program’s Director of Player Development. That fastball now hangs in the mid-90s, along with a curveball that has a high spin rate and a tough changeup.
All he’s done with the Trojans these past two seasons is stand out as one of the top pitchers in college baseball. He went 3-0 with a 3.86 ERA and a 1.102 WHIP during the 2025 season, and followed that with an 8-0 year in 2026 with a 1.85 ERA and a 1.004 WHIP. Edwards also leads the nation with 164 strikeouts.
If you have almost 30 minutes to spare, you can watch all 160 of his regular-season strikeouts. You’ll see that arsenal of pitches the lefty brings to the bump, including his stout off-speed stuff as well as that fastball:
𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐄𝐝𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞
The video is 28:47 long for a reason 🤯
Featuring all 1⃣6⃣0⃣ strikeouts. (Yes, every single one) ✌️
When you accomplish something that has never been done before, you land on lists like this one.
Daniel Jackson started his college career at Wofford, helping the Terriers earn their first NCAA tournament win as he slashed .357/.460/.599 during the 2024 season. He transferred for Georgia, and after playing all over the field in 2025 he moved behind the plate full-time this past season.
All he did for the Bulldogs was hit 29 home runs while stealing 25 bases, becoming the first player in SEC history to post a 25-25 season.
Jackson made a habit of “feeding the trees” this past season with swings like this one, as he goes oppo against Liberty for a two-run shot on Saturday:
.@Djackson2100 picking up right where we left off this morning 👏
That rare blend of power and speed, particularly for a catcher, makes him a very intriguing prospect his MLB Draft season.
Draft range: Top 50
Carson Tinney, C, Texas
Carson Tinney put his name on many scouting lists with a tremendous season for Notre Dame in 2025, where he slashed .348/.498/.753 with a whopping 1.251 OPS. That saw him transfer to Texas, and earn a spot with Brewster in the Cape Cod League last summer.
But his stint on the Cape saw him manage just 13 hits over 79 at-bats, with a slash line of .165/.267/.367, leading to some concerns over how he will adjust to the wooden bat game full-time. Tinney rebounded with a strong first year in the SEC, slashing .333/.487/.711 while mashing 21 home runs. That power was on display over the weekend here against Tarleton State:
He also has a strong arm behind the plate and was named a finalist for the Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year award on Tuesday.
Draft range: Top 100
Joey Volchko, RHP, Georgia
Joey Volchko’s electric arm, anchored by a fastball that can hit the triple digits and a tough slider, put him on the radar of scouts as a high school senior back in 2023. But he stuck to his Stanford commitment, spending two years out west before transferring to Georgia for the 2026 campaign.
This season with the Bulldogs, the stats started to match the stuff. Volchko went 10-2 for Georgia with an ERA of 3.87, and a WHIP of 1.402.
Here is a look at that slider in action from earlier this season:
Joey Volchko: 50.1 IP 3.75 ERA 1.41 WHIP 25.8% K 11.3% BB 14.5% K-BB
Stuff is real can miss bats, can improve the command but the slider is nasty and he can be electric on the mound at his best pic.twitter.com/ghgjvR7NsM
Volchko got the start for Georgia to open regionals against Long Island and went six hitless innings with ten strikeouts. He’ll likely be on the bump Friday when the Bulldogs open the Supers against Ace Reese and Mississippi State.
Draft range: Top 100
Brendan Brock, C, Oklahoma
The Sooners knocked off No. 2 overall seed Georgia Tech to book a spot in the Super Regionals.
And catcher Brendan Brock was a big reason why.
Brock hit a pair of home runs on Sunday against Georgia Tech, powering the Sooners to a 15-8 win and forcing a deciding game on Monday. This blast, his first of the game, illustrates the quick hands and compact swing he brings to the dish:
Brock slashed .285/.374/.519 this season for the Sooners, and his strength might be on the bases, as he swiped 26 bags for Oklahoma this season. He has played all three outfield positions for the Sooners as well as spending time behind the plate, and his future might just be in center field if a team wants to maximize his speed, arguably his best tool as a prospect.
Draft range: Top 100
Ruger Riojas, RHP, Texas
Ruger Riojas began his collegiate career at Texas-San Antonio, where he won 15 games over two seasons coming out of the bullpen. He transferred to Texas for the 2025 season, beginning the year as a bullpen arm before moving to the rotation down the stretch. He posted a 5.61 ERA over 18 games — with ten starts — during the 2025 season, with a 9-3 record, but it should be noted that he dealt with a severe illness late in the year, that saw him lose 20 pounds.
He stuck in the rotation full-time this past year, posting a 5-2 record with an ERA of 3.86 and a WHIP of 1.086. Riojas has a strong array of pitches, including a fastball that creeps towards the triple digits, as well as a splitter, a change-up, a curve, and a cutter. He also uses different arm angles, mostly throwing from a three-quarter release but he will mix in a lower arm slot at times.
Riojas is an older prospect, as he’ll turn 23 on the day of the draft, and he has dealt with some shoulder soreness this spring. He threw just five pitches on Senior Day in a cameo and sat out the SEC tournament due to that shoulder soreness, but got the start for Texas on Sunday as they closed out UC Santa Barbara. In that game he went five innings, allowing three hits and one earned run.
Draft range: Top 100
Taylor Rabe, RHP, Ole Miss
Cade Townsend is not the only arm to watch on Ole Miss this weekend, as Taylor Rabe could join him in the MLB Draft in July. After missing the 2024 season due to an elbow injury, Rabe made 15 appearances for Ole Miss in 2025 with a pair of starts, posting a WHIP of 1.469. He took on more of a rotational role this past year, starting nine games and finishing with a 5-3 record, along with an ERA of 3.84 and a WHIP of 1.026.
He is also coming off one of the best outings of his career, as he went six innings against Nebraska on Saturday, allowing just one run with nine strikeouts. Patrick Ebert from D1Baseball was in attendance, noting his fastball, cutter, and slider:
Taylor Rabe with a fantastic outing for @OleMissBSB, throws a career-high 113 pitches in 6 innings allowing 1 run (a solo HR) on 4 hits & 2 walks w/ 9 Ks, got out of a huge jam B6
Stuff is loud, 93-98 FB, 87-90 cutter & 83-84 slider, has put Ole Miss in position to win, up 5-1 pic.twitter.com/DdPtAsPSLA
After two standout seasons for North Dakota State — where he slashed .367/.435/.467 in 2025 — Jake Schaffner transferred to North Carolina for the 2026 campaign. In his first ACC season, Schaffner slashed .362/.478/579 with six home runs and 19 doubles, both career highs.
Schaffner also slashed .281/.391/.371 for Hyannis in the Cape Cod League, going 2-for-3 while playing a solid third base in the final regular season game on the schedule. He looked pretty good to me from my seat behind home plate that night:
There he is on the grass at third, expecting a bunt. That’s right, you have actual on-the-ground scouting reports for this piece.
Schaffer earned All-Regional honors this past weekend as North Carolina advanced to the Super Regionals, as he went 4-for-11 with four runs, three RBI, and three walks as the leadoff hitter for the Tar Heels.
