Category: Sports News

One of the most beautiful parts of baseball is how many different personal journeys we fans get to learn about as players chase their dreams. Fernando Cruz’s story aside, let’s dive into the season that earned him a B- from the staff here at Pinstripe Alley.

Cruz’s 2026 really started at the World Baseball Classic, representing Team Puerto Rico. After rejoining the Yankees, he picked up where he left off last season as a trusted member of Aaron Boone’s bullpen. From there, it became a story of two halves.

Grade: B-

2026 Stats: 61 games, 54.2 IP, 3.13 ERA (135 ERA+), 4.17 FIP, 4.39 xFIP, 28.6 K%, 13.7 BB%, 0.0 fWAR, 1.2 rWAR, 4-6 record

2027 Contract Status: Arbitration-eligible

Before the All-Star break, Cruz was excellent. He was a borderline All-Star, striking out 50 batters over 40 innings while holding opponents to a .191 batting average. His best month of the season was May, when he appeared in 14 games and posted a 1.02 WHIP while allowing just two earned runs over 13.2 innings. He was one of the more dependable pieces out of the bullpen during the first half of what was an underrated unit.

The key to this effectiveness was his splitter, which he deployed 51.3 percent of the time. He paired that pitch with a four-seamer, sweeper, and sinker to keep hitters off-balance. The splitter continued to be his best weapon, generating a 52 percent whiff rate and limiting hitters to a .161 average against it. 

After the break, however, his performance began to slip. Something seemed off as Cruz started losing some control in late July, and August became his roughest month of the season. He posted a 6.75 ERA over eight innings, allowing six home runs and four walks. Following a blown save against Houston on August 25th, the Yankees announced that Cruz had suffered a partial tear of his right ulnar collateral ligament, and he landed on the injured list the following day.

The ultimate team guy, Cruz opted to pursue a non-surgical approach after receiving a second opinion with the hope he could make it back in 2026. He received a cortisone shot and started rehabbing trying to find his way back into the mix for the postseason. However, a month after landing on the injured list, the Yankees transferred Cruz to the 60-day injured list on September 25th, ending his chances of returning during the 2026 season. 

On the season, Cruz had some impressive underlying numbers. He ranked in the 91st percentile in average exit velocity and the 99th percentile in whiff rate. He also landed in the 82nd percentile in xERA, the 88th percentile in strikeout rate, and the 85th percentile in extension. However, his hard-hit rate ranked in just the 22nd percentile, and his walk rate was in the third percentile. The right-hander was also effective against left-handed hitters holding them to a .180 batting average.

Losing Cruz after the Trade Deadline was less than ideal, especially with the Yankees having few options capable of replacing his production internally, which led to the Michael Fulmer experience. As the page turns to a new season, with the injury question mark hovering over him, Cruz becomes an interesting offseason decision for the Yankees.

The team has until November 20th to tender him a contract for the 2027 season. Depending on the outlook for his elbow, it would not surprise me to see the Yankees retain him and try to work out a deal before arbitration. Given the injury uncertainty, it could be a buy-low opportunity for the club, provided they believe he can return to form and he is willing to accept a similar salary to last season. However, professional baseball is a business and the team might opt to use the money and roster spot they would spend on Cruz elsewhere this offseason.

Personally, I gave Cruz a B for this season, and in hindsight, I feel that might have been a touch low. What grade would you assign Cruz, and what are your thoughts on him in pinstripes in 2027?

See more of the Yankees Roster Report Card series here.

The Orioles telegraphed that Samuel Basallo was their catcher of the future as soon as they signed him, days into his MLB career, to an eight-year contract extension. When the team traded Adley Rutschman ahead of this year’s trading deadline, that elevated Basallo to catcher of the present as well. Unfortunately for Basallo and the Orioles, his rookie season ended up with him like so many other recent young Orioles, where flashes of the potential were regularly present but the whole thing did not come together into as good of a package as the team needed.

Going into this season, you didn’t have to be living in a delusional, optimistic world to think that Samuel Basallo might end up as a Rookie of the Year contender. The Orioles massaged his arrival carefully last year – same as they did with Dylan Beavers – just to preserve that possibility. They really thought they were getting things lined up to maybe get a bonus draft pick next year. They had managed this once before with Gunnar Henderson.

As it turned out, all of this was pointless, and it didn’t even have anything to do with Basallo, because of a strong AL rookie field. Detroit’s Kevin McGonigle is likely to run away with the race. A pair of Japanese “rookies” in Kazuma Okamoto and Munetaka Murakami had strong American debuts. A number of other American-born players have strong cases to fill out ballots, among them Cleveland’s Chase DeLauter, Chicago’s Tristan Peters, and Kansas City’s Carter Jensen. Basallo could have had a good season and he would have been just another player in this 2nd-5th place pack.

Through the end of May, things were going very well. At the end of May, he had a .283/.345/.516 batting line, with nine home runs already. This turned out to be the high point for Basallo’s 2026 season. He did not have another good month at the plate for the rest of the season, with poor hitting in June and July and incredibly awful hitting in August and September.

Part of the story of the second half struggle was surely injuries. Basallo played in only 29 games after the All-Star break. He missed close to a month due to dealing with shoulder inflammation, and it was after returning that his season numbers really took a swan dive. Unfortunately, one part of the story of Basallo’s injuries was that his manager, first-time skipper Craig Albernaz, spent some of his time with reporters openly questioning Basallo’s toughness.

There was a period of a few days there where it seemed that Albernaz had vindictively benched Basallo over the catcher needing an off day to manage a minor injury. That’s what was implied by both Orioles TV and radio broadcasts at the time, with Hall of Famer Jim Palmer expressing his disagreement with that treatment of the O’s young player. (Maybe that’s why Albernaz didn’t reply to his text that one time.)

I don’t want to hijack this article about Basallo with a rant about the manager being an idiot. Yet it’s hard to avoid wondering how much Albernaz’s attitude affected Basallo in August and September. Did he rush back from that shoulder injury? Was he playing through something else in order to avoid the ire of Albernaz? It’s not certain it was physical. There is always the Adam Jones Theory of Baseball, which he delivered at a time when reporters were asking him if he was playing through an injury: “Sometimes you just suck.”

The late-season swoon included a number of moments from Basallo where the frustration bubbled over. The photo accompanying this article, Basallo destroying a bat by snapping it over his thigh, was only one example. I can’t help but bring Albernaz into it again. What was the manager doing while his young player was going through extremely public and obvious challenges? (A similar question could be asked regarding Gunnar Henderson’s visible frustration.) It’s the job of Albernaz and his coaching staff to stop things before they get to that point! What were they doing? Sorry. Okay, I’m not sorry. But I am going to try to get back to Basallo.

More than most of the other positions on the diamond, the value of a catcher is about more than just what he does when he’s hitting. Even as he debuted last year as a much-hyped prospect, there were questions about what level of defense Basallo might be able to develop as time went on. Would he be able to handle some of the technical aspects like pitch blocking and controlling the running game? Would he be able to develop good relationships with his pitchers and carry out productive pitch-calling game plans?

There is enough in the 2026 performance to think that the answer to these questions could, over time, be yes. Basallo graded out well in the Statcast metrics for pitch blocking. He also showed a good pop time and with it, solid ability to control the running game. Regarding game-calling, Basallo emerged as the clear personal catcher for Trevor Rogers, even before Rutschman was ever traded, so it’s clear there was something positive going on there.

Less positive was Basallo on pitch framing. This is a skill whose importance has evolved with the introduction of the ABS challenge system. It’s less final if a catcher is bad at it. You can get the umpire to fix a mistake, theoretically. It’s still worth something to have a good framer of a catcher. It’s better to make the other team have to put one of their challenges at risk to have the umpire overturn a borderline pitch than to have to put one of yours at risk.

As a challenger, as a catcher, Basallo was exactly 50/50. He won 30 and lost 30. That’s actually a higher percentage than I expected, because it felt like there was a lot of “Basallo blows a challenge early and it was a bad idea” going on. There was some of that, and perhaps that’s an influence on why Basallo actually graded poorly as a challenger: He only challenged 19% of eligible mistakes. Maybe he became too conservative after some of the mistakes.

The Orioles were 30th of 30 teams in this category. That is, they were the worst team at using a challenge when pitches in the strike zone were called balls. Basallo wasn’t the only problem, but he was reflective of it. The average team was challenging about a third of the mistakes made when they were on defense. It could be that some early bad challenges by hitters also influenced the catchers. This is an area where the whole 2027 Orioles can stand to improve.

What does all of this add up to for Basallo in 2027? Although he is the team’s most prominent remaining catcher, it’s still not clear how frequently he will, or should, catch behind the dish. The team was already conservative with how often they played Rutschman back there. He’s got stuff to work on: Along with the framing/challenging, he could stand to chase less, and find a way to get productive launch angles more frequently. I don’t know how well the manager will be in his corner for all of this.

Even so, Basallo is the Oriole whose contract is guaranteed the farthest into the future. More than anyone else, he is expected to be a key piece of what happens going forward. There are reasons to be excited. Hopefully by the end of next season, there will be more such reasons.

You may not have noticed, but MLB free agency is underway as you read this. Nothing of note has happened yet, but with the lockout looming just a little over three weeks away, perhaps some of the bigger free agents will be able to find homes fast.

One that will probably be waiting a while is Alec Bohm. The Phillies declined to issue Bohm a qualifying offer, all but closing the door on his tenure in Philadelphia and allowing a new team to acquire his services without suffering draft pick penalties. It’s not a definitive end to his time with the Phillies, as a reunion can’t exactly be ruled out yet, but all signs are pointing to Bohm playing for another team in 2027 (or whenever baseball happens again).

Bohm’s free agency will be an interesting albeit not flashy case to watch. His 101 OPS+ and 107 wRC+ for his career both point to Bohm being right around a league average hitter. In a market starved for bats, particularly right-handed ones, Bohm is almost certain to find work somewhere despite his warts as a below average defender. But still, most rankings of free agents have him near the bottom of the Top 50 or outside of it altogether. His market will likely not be robust coming off of arguably the worst season of his career, but the lack of the QO anchor should help him at least somewhat.

Bohm seems destined for a short one or two-year deal with a small market team in need of a corner infielder or DH. The real question is will it be with a contending one such as the Cleveland Guardians or one far from it such as the Kansas City Royals. If it does end up being the latter, a good first half from Bohm could make him a decent trade chip come deadline season.

In any case, where will Alec Bohm be playing in 2027? What type of contract do you think he is in line for?

It is the 10th year of Top Prospect voting at South Side Sox!

First, let us review past years:

• Here is how 2018 wrangled out — all 42 picks. Also, here is an archive of every article in the 2018 series.
• Here is how 2019 came together, all 50 picks, and the archive as well.
• Now 2020, with the archive.
• Here is the 2021 wrap-up of just 35 picks due to flagging participation, along with the full archive.
• Here is the 2022 link to the 27-pick wrap, along with the full archive.
• Round 24 of voting was the last of 2023 (we did not do an actual wrap for the voting, but Jordan Sprinkle ended up being our final pick), and the full archive.
• In 2024 Abraham Núñez was our 34th pick to end the series, and here is the wrap-up post and full archive of each profile.
• In 2025, we did 31 picks, ending with Eric Adler. Here is the wrap and full stream, of every article.
• And last year, we got through 37 picks, ending with Reudis Diaz. Here is the wrap, and full stream of every article.

We are starting the Top 100 Prospect countdown on the same day as our first poll, with the goal of running a new poll every day. At that rate, we should get through 35 Votes before the Top 100 meets our polling, giving SSS readers 35 chances to weigh in on our Top 100. From there, we will stop the polling and run through the remaining players, finishing up as all players report to camp in mid-February.

As of now our countdown will start with Fidel Montero as our Mr. 100 this year. We’ve customarily turned over the Prospect Vote to the next round as soon as the top vote-getter seems to have an insurmountable lead, but if there’s a rout, we’ll call it in a day. In order to get as many votes as possible in, we’ll try to wait no longer than two days before the next round.

Four players from last year’s Top 10 Prospects have lost their prospect status due to MLB service (Braden Montgomery at No. 1, Noah Schultz at No. 3, Hagen Smith at No. 4 and Sam Antonacci at No. 7). As an indication that there is some continuity in the system, four players on last year’s initial ballot appear in this year’s as well. With Mason Adams having been traded, that means just one player, Christian Oppor, performed poorly enough to drop off of our initial ballot.

Six of the 10 players on this first 2027 ballot played in the White Sox system in 2026, including two who made their major league debuts during the season. As to be expected drafting so early, we have four 2026 draft choices rounding out on the first ballot.

This year, the grandfather of our Top 100 is Tanner McDougal, marking his sixth year on our list and having moved from No. 21 to 22, 26, 63 and 6 so far. If all goes well, it will be his last, as he’ll see significant MLB time.

All right, let’s have some fun. And get voting!

We took a little downturn in total votes this round, which hopefully isn’t an enthusiasm signal going forward. Initially two shortstops, Billy Carlson and William Bergolla Jr., were deadlocked. But Carlson pushed ahead and prevailed, with 21 of 56 votes (38%):

Carlson, drafted in the first round in 2025, was voted our No. 7 prospect last year.

As you might have imagined in a shortstop-heavy system, we already have two shortstops among our picks:

Past No. 4s in the SSS Top Prospect Vote
2026 Noah Schultz (49%)
2025 Hagen Smith (23%)
2024 Edgar Quero (36%)
2023 Lenyn Sosa (43%)
2022 Oscar Colás (31%)
2021 Nick Madrigal (70%)
2020 Andrew Vaughn (74%)
2019 Luis Robert Jr. (58%)
2018 Alec Hansen (64%)

Right fielder Alex Weingartner, a 2026 draft choice, joins the ballot this round.

South Side Sox Top-Voted White Sox Prospects for 2027

1. Caleb Bonemer — 71% (Cholowsky 25%, Fauske 3%, Prosek 2%, Bergolla Jr./Carlson/McDougal/Sandlin/Thome/Volchko 0%)
2. Roch Cholowsky — 75% (Sandlin 8%, Bergolla Jr. 6%, Carlson 5%, McDougal 3%, Fauske/Mogollón 2%, Prosek/Thome/Volchko 0%)
3. David Sandlin — 30% (Carlson 23%, Fauske 10%, Bergolla Jr./McDougal 9%, Prosek 8%, Lodise/Thome 4%, Mogollón 3%, Volchko 0%)
4. Billy Carlson — 38% (Bergolla Jr. 27%, Fauske 13%, McDougal/Prosek 7%, Thome 4%, Lodise/Mogollón/Wolkow 2%, Volchko 0%)

William Bergolla Jr.
Shortstop
Age 22
2026 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 15
2026 high level Charlotte (AAA)
Age relative to high level -5.1 years
Overall 2026 stats (ACL/AAA) 11 games ▪️ 0 HR ▪️ 9 RBI ▪️ .444/.524/.556 ▪️ 2-of-4 (50.0%) SB ▪️ 5 BB ▪️ 4 K ▪️ 1.000 FLD%▪️ 0.6 WAR

The epitome of a “Chris Getz player,” Bergolla offsets his Punch-and-Judy bat with deft baserunning, a killer glove and incredible plate discipline. Well young for his level, this legacy player (dad, also William Bergolla) has cut through the White Sox system like butter since his acquisition at the 2024 trade deadline (from Philly, for Tanner Banks). After getting some heavy run in Spring Training 2026, Bergolla was on the fast track to Chicago before a collision with left fielder Sam Antonacci in an April game for the Knights gave him a serious bone bruise in his leg; after a lengthy stint on the IL, Bergolla broke his injured leg in his first rehab game in the ACL.

Jaden Fauske
Center Fielder
Age 20
2026 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 11
2026 high level Kannapolis (Low-A)
Age relative to high level -1.3 years
Overall 2026 stats 118 games ▪️ 4 HR ▪️ 48 RBI ▪️ .250/.388/.360 ▪️ 46-of-56 (82.1%) SB ▪️ 94 BB ▪️ 125 K ▪️ .948 FLD%▪️ 2.8 WAR

A year ago, we were not certain where Fauske would play, as a high school catcher announced at the draft as an outfielder-only. That proved to be the case in his first professional season, but what ho, Fauske saw more time in center than right field. And with quicks that saw Jaden snatch 46 bags in 118 games, the youngster might well stick in center.

Kyle Lodise
Shortstop
Age 22
2026 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 24
2026 high level Winston-Salem (High-A)
Age relative to high level 0.0 years
Overall 2026 stats 111 games ▪️ 20 HR ▪️ 77 RBI ▪️ .230/.380/.440 ▪️ 42-of-51 (82.4%) SB ▪️ 92 BB ▪️ 141 K ▪️ .957 FLD%▪️ 3.6 WAR

Lodise made a return visit to Winston-Salem in 2026, and his first full professional season went extremely well. With a low average and slug to burn, the shortstop fits right in with the org profile of swinging hard, damn the contact. Thankfully, Lodise is selective enough at the plate to produce astronomical OBPs. And his power bat is showing better than advertised at this point.

Tanner McDougal
Right-Handed Starting Pitcher
Age 23
2024 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 33
2025 SSS Prospect Poll ranking N/R
2026 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 6
2026 high level Chicago (MLB)
Age relative to high level -6.2 years
Overall 2026 stats (High-A/AAA/MLB) 2-3 ▪️ 27 games (7 starts, 3 finishes) ▪️ 50 IP ▪️ 4.86 ERA ▪️ 53 K ▪️ 34 BB ▪️ 1.480 WHIP ▪️0.2 WAR

The good news is that McDougal was enough of a core piece to be promoted to Chicago in the second half of 2026. The bad news … well, where to start. McDougal’s presumptive march to the South Side rotation was stopped dead early in the season, when he was sidelined for weeks with forearm tightness. While the injury was thankfully not severe enough to necessitate a second TJS, Tanner was a relief arm for the rest of the season and not a stable one at that. His brief cameo in Chicago saw him rack up one out along with three walks.

Javier Mogollón
Second Baseman
Age 21
2026 high level Winston-Salem (AA)
Age relative to high level -2.0 years
Overall 2026 stats (Low-A/High-A) 91 games ▪️ 14 HR ▪️ 57 RBI ▪️ .262/.368/.448 ▪️ 36-of-44 (81.8%) SB ▪️ 53 BB ▪️ 123 K ▪️ .965 FLD%▪️ 2.5 WAR

The diminutive (5´8´´, 160) infielder wowed in rookie ball and though his climb has slowed, Mogollón has steadily risen up our ranks, from No.62 in our 2024 Top 100 to the cusp of the Top 10 today. That said, he’s seen two straight seasons shortened by hamstring issues. At least in 2026, Mogollón was able to return before season’s end, providing a clutch bat coming that provided a .313/.389/.813 slash and eight RBIs en route to sweeping to a SALLY title.

Cole Prosek
Third Baseman
Age 19
2026 High Level Magnolia Heights (H.S.)
Overall 2026 stats (H.S) 41 games ▪️ 18 HR ▪️ 79 RBI ▪️ .545/.678/1.177 ▪️ 62 R ▪️ 7 SB ▪️ 31 BB ▪️ 12 K

Coming to Chicago as a second-rounder, Prosek seems more highly-regarded by evaluators than the guy picked ahead of him by the White Sox, low first round choice Landon Thome. That’s a curious thing, but Prosek dominated his prep competition even more thoroughly than Thome. Plus, while the White Sox regard Prosek as a second baseman, his prep time was spent significantly at the hot corner, and he has experience behind the plate as well.

Landon Thome
Shortstop
Age 19
2026 High Level Nazareth Academy (H.S.)
Overall 2026 stats (H.S) 7 HR ▪️ 29 RBI ▪️ .545 AVG ▪️ 49-of-50 (98.0%) SB

How crazy is it to have two high school teammates (Thome and Jaden Fauske) on our first ballot of the voting year … or any ballot, ever? The White Sox were so hot to dip back into Nazareth’s roster that they dealt promising 2023 first-rounder Jacob Gonzalez to Pittsburgh to acquire the draft pick to snag him; clearly the club was not confident Thome would drop into the second round. Unlike his father, Hall-of-Famer and White Sox adviser Jim, Landon is better regarded for his speed and defense than his ability to put the ball over the fence. Slugging will come in time for junior, however.

Joey Volchko
Right-handed starting pitcher
Age 21
2026 high level University of Georgia (NCAA)
Age relative to high level +0.1 years
Overall 2026 stats 11-2 ▪️ 18 starts ▪️ 1 CG ▪️ 95 1/3 IP ▪️ 3.68 ERA ▪️ 119 K ▪️ 46 BB ▪️ 1.343 WHIP ▪️ 2.1 WAR

This big-armed righty can touch 100 mph with his fastball, but wildness concerns might have precipitated Volchko’s drop to the White Sox in the third round in spite of MLB ranking him as a second round (68th-best) talent. He’s a big-game pitcher who dragged the Bulldogs to their first College World Series win in 18 years with a complete-game effort over the University of Texas. There’s a chance Volchko ends up as a high-leverage bullpen arm, but he will get every chance to stick as a starter.

Alex Weingartner
Right Fielder
Age 19
2026 high level St. Augustine College Prep (H.S.)
Overall 2026 stats 30 games ▪️ 7 HR ▪️ 36 RBI ▪️ .495 AVG ▪️ .817 SLG ▪️ 33 SB ▪️ 21 BB

Oddly enough, Weingartner may be a doppelganger for the player listed right below; both he and George Wolkow were prep plums selected lower than their skill and scout rankings indicated, and both players scored sweet bonuses from the White Sox to lure them from potential college commitments. Both have rocket arms (Weingartner, in fact, pitched for his St. Augustine Hermits in 2026) as well.

George Wolkow
Right Fielder
Age 21
2024 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 14
2025 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 13
2026 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 16
2026 high level Winston-Salem (High-A)
Age relative to high level -2.0 years
Overall 2026 stats 123 games ▪️ 22 HR ▪️ 100 RBI ▪️ .239/.317/.446 ▪️ 15-of-22 (68.2%) SB ▪️ 50 BB ▪️ 179 K ▪️ .971 FLD%▪️ 1.6 WAR

Wolkow sacrificed speed and what batting eye he had for power in 2026, and while that made for some impressive counting stats (22-100 plays on the back of any baseball card) the hole in his swing hasn’t been sewn. If the White Sox brass is having Wolkow bet on his best tool, power, at all others’ expense, he’s slipping into the Colson Category.

Before we begin looking ahead to 2027, OTM is looking back at 2026, highlighting some of the biggest, strangest, and most memorable moments of a memorable season. Today, we look at an unlikely comeback in the middle of the streak.

A few days ago, before the Ravens-Bills matchup, ESPN ran a parody ad on folks who left a 2025 game early, as Josh Allen and the Bills found themselves down two possessions in the fourth quarter. The Bills, to the ire of this Patriots fan, would win that primetime game last year, and Josh Allen, never one to mince words in his postgame interviews, said “Our team didn’t quit. I mean, I think there’s people that left the stadium. That’s OK. We’ll be fine. But have some faith next time.” The camera then cut to some folks who were in the parking lot during Allen’s comeback, and I found myself laughing at Buffalo fans, as is often easy to do amongst their deep playoff runs filled with hope, their chirps that at least Allen would win an MVP, and celebrations of October records. Of course they’d leave this game early, and how funny it was that they weren’t able to see how brilliant their quarterback was in the clutch in person!

I then recoiled in horror as I realized that, just four months ago, on one fateful afternoon much further downstate in Flushing, I did the exact same thing to our beloved Red Sox.

In my first year of being a resident of the Capital Region, New York, it has been easier for me to hit the Big Apple than Boston. I circled the Mets-Red Sox series in my calendar for the middle of July, reluctantly, as the Red Sox did not start the season very well and the game would be directly before the All-Star game. By the day of the game, though, I was very bullish on this Red Sox team. The Red Sox were winners of eight consecutive games, and it didn’t much matter if those wins came against the Angels and the White Sox, the latter of whom, at the time, weren’t the formidable contender they ended up becoming later in the season, but were certainly no slouches. The team had awakened offensively against the Angels and was showing definite signs of life

This was not the case, though, in the early innings of this game against the Mets, after my trip down 87. The Red Sox had trouble getting anything going against a lanky lefty Zac Thornton. Thornton ended up being a bright spot in an otherwise hapless season for the Mets, but he was on the mound for the first time in what was already his third call-up of the season from Triple-A Syracuse. His first try resulted in the Nationals taking him for five runs in 4 1/3 innings. It was fine for the offensive to flounder while I was watching – I had seen it plenty of times this season. But did the bats have to flounder so harshly while the wonderfulObsession star Inde Navarette was in attendance? No, no, no, no, no, don’t do that! I thought we were having a nice win streak!

If matters weren’t bad enough, this was a scheduled short appearance from Payton Tolle, who looked serviceable for a bit longer, striking out Juan Soto with authority (you can watch that clip below) and Brayan Bello, the guy who departed the Major League roster about a month prior to fall in love with baseball again, was up in relief. Frankly, I was writing this game up as a loss mentally, as the Mets lineup did not look punchless so far and Tolle was lucky to have just Francisco Lindor’s RBI double after 3 2/3 innings.

But Bello coasted for quite a while. Lindor would be pesky yet again with a home run to make the game 2-0, but that was one of two batters Bello did not retire, and the other one would be victim to a double play, anyway. Bello would pitch through the eighth. The problem, though, is that Thornton was dealing. Through seven, he had given up just two hits, was pitching a shutout, and had struck out five. But, good things can’t last forever, and so interim manager Andy Green went to Luke Weaver to start the eighth. At that point, with how hollow the Red Sox’s hitting attempts had become, the Red Sox’s expected winning percentage was hovering around 7 percent. The Red Sox would go 1-2-3 in the top of the eighth. More of the same.

Enter Devin Williams, and enter my walk to the exit when, after a Ceddanne Rafaela single, he’d unceremoniously retire Abreu with a pop fly. The team’s pop was completely nonexistent; why would I subject myself to sitting in more NYC traffic after a loss? It was a sure thing, right? No sooner did my feet hit the closing gate than I heard a roar from a rather divided crowd. Francisco Lindor, the guy who was singlehandedly responsible for the lead the Mets had built, had bobbled the most routine of grounders that would have ended the game. The Red Sox now had men on first and second, and I was left to turn the stream on in the car.

The rest is history as we know it: Devin Williams would walk in the Red Sox’s first run of the game. Aroldis Chapman would start warming, Jarren Duran would have a clutch RBI knock, the game would go to the bottom of the 9th inning all tied up at 2, Chapman would be every bit of the historically dependable reliever we’ve come to know to send the game to extras, the top of the tenth would see the Red Sox playing small ball extremely efficiently, scoring the Manfred runner Masataka Yoshida on two consecutive plays. The small ball was a welcome addition to their game plan, and on that Sunday, it was due to their trust in the man who’d come in to close the game out, Garrett Whitlock, who slammed the door the same way I slammed my door when I arrived to it in the parking lot.

The Red Sox were winners of nine consecutive games going into the All-Star break, a streak that would last two more series. Even better, they were in that situation thanks to contributions — 13 outs in relief, to be exact — from a guy who was one of the reasons the season starting so dire in the first place. On July 12, Bello was electric, and so began a summer that made it exciting to root for Brayan Bello’s growth and success again. They were finding ways to win. I guess, as Josh Allen put it so eloquently, when dealing with a team I should be confident in, I’ll have more faith next time.

Have you ever left a game early and really wish you hadn’t? Can anyone one-up me with a 2013 ALDS story? Sound off below!

Before we get into specific candidates for Astros manager it pays to take a look at the demographic information that the other 29 managers fit. We are looking at three relevant factors as it pertains to managers. We are looking at their current age as they sit and whether managing has become a young man’s game. We are looking at whether they were experienced prior to taking the job. We are finally looking at whether the manager had a prominent playing career at the big league level.

Age Factors

It’s important to look at data from all different kinds of angles. One can simply look at the numerical mean and that tells us a lot, but it doesn’t tell us anything. Rudimentary statistics also tell us that range is an important issue. Plus, we might want to look at the various ages graphed out because they clumps will tell us something the mean may not. Often times, an extreme outlier or two can impact the mean. So, let’s start with the basics and ignore rudimentary mean.

Oldest manager: Pat Murphy 67
Youngest manager: Blake Butera 34
Managers in their 60s: 6
Managers in their 50s: 8
Managers in their 40s: 13
Managers in their 30s: 2

I should point out that Joe Espada was left off of this list, but every other team is represented even if their manager was let go like the Red Sox, Angels, and Mariners because we are looking at the 2026 universe. If one were searching for a medan then the median would almost certainly be 49 which also is likely to be pretty close to the numerical mean.

How many had prior experience?

Out of the 29 managers that are currently or formerly employed, only five had previous big league experience before taking their current job. We should probably take a look at those five managers to get a handle on who they are and whether they have been more successful. Obviously, A.J. Hinch is the first one that comes to mind. We know what he did in Houston and he has had mixed success in Detroit.

Craig Counsell and Terry Francona represent the NL Central. Counsell signed almost as a free agent with the Chicago Cubs ironically from the Milwaukee Brewers. Counsell has certainly won more games than he has lost in Chicago, but Milwaukee obviously got better when he left. Francona has had mixed results in Cincinnati after being brilliant in Cleveland. Most people would probably classify him as a failure, but they also have fewer resources than the other clubs that routinely win.

Don Mattingly took over last season in Philadelphia and signed a two year extension. He took the team from the duldrums early in the year to qualify for the playoffs. They flamed out once they got there and it remains to be seen if he has staying power. Otherwise, that is pretty much it. So, getting an experienced manager is actually rarer than we may have thought and their success is actually fairly mixed. So, maybe we need to tamp on the breaks before demanding an experienced manager.

Past playing experience

This is the one that probably seems to be the big push. However, perception and reality are often different, so we should probably check this out. I will place players into three categories. You have star players that probably attended at least one all-star game, players that were regulars or semi-regulars for a long time, and then those that had a cup of coffee.

Star players: Aaron Boone, Stephen Vogy, Mark Kotsay, Kurt Suzuki, Walt Weiss, Don Mattingly,
Regular Players: Dave Roberts, Torey Lovullo, Craig Stammen, Terry Francona, Craig Counsell, Skip Schumaker, Will Venable
Minor players: Kevin Cash, Alex Cora, A,J. Hinch, Don Kelly

So, the list of managers that were former players is pretty extensive. Now, some of you will certainly question some of these categories and that is fine. The category isn’t so important. I wouldn’t necessarily consider Kotsay a star player for instance. Suzuki might also be a stretch there. One thing is for certain, not a one is a Hall of Fame player and that is interesting to say the least.

So, by my count more than half of the managers in baseball had somewhat significant careers. That makes sense, but it is not an overwhelming majority. I’m sure if we added in the ones that played minor league baseball we would get over 20 that had played professionally. What is interesting is when you put some of these categories together. The number of managers being hired in their forties for the first time that had recently played is on the rise.

What does all of this mean?

I think it means a couple of things. First for foremost, many of us were clamoring for managers that had managed in the big leagues before. So far, Brad Ausmus is the one significant interview that matches that qualification. I was one of those clamoring for an experienced manager, but given the demographic information above, maybe that is not really the best direction to go.

If we are going to demographics and to trends, then finding someone in their forties that had significant big league experience as a player would be a go to strategy. Names have included Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina, Daniel Descalso, Morgan Ensberg, Benji Gil, and Jon Jay. Obviously, I could do a deep dive into their playing careers, but we know very little about how any of them would manage a clubhouse. Someone like a Randy Flores has familiarity with some of them, so he would be in a better position to know and you would hope that some of it would come out in the interview process.

I stated my piece earlier on Joe Espada on multiple occasions. One of the frustrations was that he really didn’t do a good job of controlling the clubhouse. This particularly manifested itself in the Framber Valdez meltdown but also manifested itself in the numerous mental errors the Astros seemed to make on the bases or in the field. The new guy will have to command respect and it seems that a former player would have the upper hand there. Then, we get the strategic questions with the lineup, load management, and pitching staff that we simply won’t know until we know. That can be frustrating and answers may come in the interview process but hypotheticals and real life tend to differ at times. However, a former player has navigated the lineups and load management on the player side, so hopefully they would have some insight there.

There are names that potentially excite me and names that give me pause. All that being said, we on the outside are not in a position to know how these interviews are going and whether any of the individuals bring the personality and the attention to detail necessary to do the job well. We will have to trust Flo to make the best hire. The possibilities are many and hopefully we will see something within the next couple of weeks.

Kyle Tucker’s first season as a Dodger was undoubtedly a disappointment, but it can be broken up into two phases.

The first phase saw him underwhelm to the tune of a .221/.321/.350 slash line while producing negative value both offensively and defensively. Over his final 17 games of the regular season, he finished strong with a .333/.406/.667 slash line, with five of his 17 home runs on the season hit in the span. He carried that spark into the postseason, and was one of the lone bright spots in a tumultuous postseason lineup.

Entering the second year of his four-year, $240 million contract, there are questions as to which version of Kyle Tucker the Dodgers will see in 2027. Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru of MLB.com attempts to answer these questions based on Tucker’s torrid final stretch as well as his previous on-field success he had prior to joining the Dodgers.

Broadly, there are two possible answers to the question we’ve posed: Either Tucker’s September/October surge was a fluke, or that was just how long it took for him to get right again. In all likelihood, it’s the latter. If so, the Dodgers would have yet another true impact bat in their lineup in 2027.

Center fielder Andy Pages is one of 28 Super-2 players eligible for salary arbitration, per the Associated Press. The 25-year-old outfielder is coming off his first All-Star campaign where he lead the team in RBI with 85 and defensive runs saved with 20.

Dayn Perry of CBS Sports lists the 25 players that are most likely to be traded this offseason. Outfielder Teoscar Hernández ranks high on his list, with the probable destinations being the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies and Seattle Mariners— his former team before joining the Dodgers.

Throughout the second half of the season, Blake Snell and Tarik Skubal developed a friendship that continues to blossom. Snell is now actively recruiting Skubal to rejoin the Dodgers, and he spoke with David Vassegh of SportsNet LA about the conversations he’s had with the two-time AL Cy Young award winner.

“He knows how I feel. I want nothing more than for him to be a Dodger. It’s a big life decision for him and his family, so I respect that. I’ve done my pitch… I think we have a good shot.”

As we trudge through award season, Matt Olson is in the running for yet another award. It was announced Thursday that Olson is a finalist for the Silver Slugger award. The winner will be announced November 17.

Olson has already won some hardware this season, earning a Gold Glove and the Fielding Bible awards. He won the Silver Slugger in 2023 and aims to add another trophy to his cabinet.

More Braves News:

The Braves reunited with Perry Minasian, who will return to the front office after working with the Los Angeles Angels. 

Our 2026 player review series continues with catcher Austin Wynns.

The Braves’ third quarter financial report is here.

MLB News:

The New York Mets have hired Johnny Washington as their co-hitting coach. He was previously working in Atlanta as a minor league hitting coordinator. 

Luis Reyes
Right-Handed Starting Pitcher
6´2´´
190 pounds
Age: 21
2026 South Side Sox Top Prospect Ranking 63
2025 High Level Kannapolis (Low-A) (injured for all of 2026)
Age relative to 2025 high level -1.6 years
SSS rank among all right-handed starters in the system 14
Overall 2025 season stats 4-9 ⚾️ 23 starts ⚾️ 87 IP ⚾️ 4.34 ERA ⚾️ 1.402 WHIP ⚾️ 88 K ⚾️ 37 BB ⚾️ 1.7 WAR

Signed to a $700,000 contract with the White Sox on Jan. 15, 2023, Luis Reyes has slowly but steadily developed into one of the more interesting young arms in the system. At 6´2´´and 190 pounds, Reyes noticeably added some strength since he first arrived in pro ball, and this translated to additional power on the mound. Unfortunately, Reyes missed all of 2026 after a lat injury in Spring Training put him under the knife.

Before injury, Reyes threw with a loose, easy arm action and repeated his delivery well. His fastball played in the low- to mid-90s but had touched 97 mph. The righty also threw a slider in the low 80s — which was by far his most-used pitch, thrown almost half the time. The 81-84 mph go-to slider had the makings of an actual out pitch. His other offerings were works-in-progress, but the foundation of a solid arsenal is in place.

At just 19 years old for all of the 2025 season, Reyes worked all year for the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers. The hurler showed signs of continued development despite a somewhat uneven season overall. After a tough April and May, Reyes was able to turn the corner in mid-summer. The righthander was named MiLB Pitcher of the Month in June, when he gave up only one earned run over 25 innings. Reyes posted a microscopic 0.36 ERA and a 0.720 WHIP in that span, highlighted by two seven-inning, complete-game shutouts. He understandably regressed a bit in July (5.59 ERA) before ending the season on a stronger note in August (3.60 ERA).

After underwhelming results in the DSL and Complex League in 2023 and 2024, 2025 was a step in the right direction for Reyes. He improved his command and averaged 9.10 K/9. Unfortunately, he never got the chance to build on that progress in 2026 due to that surgery in March to repair a lat injury.

Heading into 2027, the priority is getting healthy and back on the mound, almost certainly starting in the ACL and likely spending a good chunk of the season there. With his size, arm strength, athleticism and makeup, Reyes still offers the potential of a mid-rotation starter, but a lost year adds uncertainty to that projection. Once healthy, he can get back to refining his command and secondary pitches while rebuilding his workload. The upside remains intriguing. Now he needs the innings to keep developing it.

Full 2027 South Side Sox Top 100 White Sox ProspectsStorystream

For the first time in the history of the franchise, the Milwaukee Brewers are champions of Major League Baseball. Somewhere, Bob Uecker is smiling down from those great cheap seats in the sky.

The Brew Crew certainly deserve a lot of praise for their demolition run through the postseason bracket. After procuring a bye and home field advantage, they proceeded to…

• Dispatch a solid San Diego Padres squad in the NLDS

• Sweep the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS

• Dismantle the American League’s clear top team—Tampa Bay Rays—in the Fall Classic

Yet, from a Twins fan perspective, the most interesting facet of Milwaukee’s mow-down was how the community came together to support the team at home and on the road.

One would be hard pressed to find more electric crowds than what showed up at AmFam Field in October. They even basically sold the place out just for fans to watch road games on the scoreboard! Perhaps most impressive was the complete and utter takeover of Tropicana Field (some 1,100 miles from MIL) for games 3-5 of the World Series. Based on crowd noise/reaction, one would have thought these home games for the Suds.

I have no special affinity nor malice towards the Brewers. Bud Selig can no longer hurt us and I don’t hold their cheesehead-ian pigskin proclivities against them in this context. Despite geographic proximity, a Twins/Brewers “rivalry” has never really developed (even when both were in the AL). Yet, our neighbors to the east can be a good litmus test for how MN baseball is doing—an exam currently being flunked in two significant aspects:

By population density, Milwaukee is the smallest baseball market. Yes, significantly smaller than even our Twin Cities. Yet, MIL outspent MIN in total 2026 payroll: $146,706,320 to $115,748,036 (according to Spotrac). “Not great, Bob” to quote the infamous Mad Men line.

Brewers owner Mark Attanasio seems to understand the deep local commitment to his product. Without a doubt, James Fillmore could tell us the ways Attanasio is angling for taxpayer money. But at a basic level, he hasn’t fallen into the never-ending (and self-fulfilling) death trap of letting poor attendance justify measly payrolls. For close to a decade now, the Brewers have at least put a competitive product on the field per their market realities.

It all paid off for The 414 in a 2026 championship—and will certainly continue to pay dividends (literal and figurative) in the near future. If Twins ownership ever wants a blueprint for how to build fan interest and competitive squads, a gaze over the St. Croix river is all it would take.

Max wrote about yesterday’s biggest stories already:

Royals add Hunter Mense as assistant hitting coach (MLB.com story)

Three Royals named Silver Slugger finalists (MLB.com story)

Jaylon Thompson writes about both for The Star.

About Mense:

Mense was a minor-league hitting coordinator in the Blue Jays organization. He became an assistant hitting coach at the big-league level in 2022. He has worked alongside such All-Stars as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Springer.

The Royals have been looking to backfill their lineup of hitting coaches. Last month they reassigned Alec Zumwalt to the minor leagues. His departure left the open spot on Matt Quatraro’s coaching staff that Mense is set to fill.

About Silver Slugger:

The Kansas City Royals had three of the top hitters in the American League this season. And on Thursday, that trio was recognized as Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award finalists at each player’s respective position.

Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. headlined the club’s finalists. He joins Jac Caglianone and Carter Jensen as award nominees. Caglianone is an outfield finalist and Jensen — who is coming off his rookie season — is a finalist behind the plate.

Also at The Star, Pete Grathoff points to a writer who thinks Jac has a lot to lose from the lockout:

The New York Times reported that teams have been instructed to “document interactions between players and medical/training staff during the latter part of the season to confirm that there have not been any disabling injuries prior to the end of the season.”

That lack of medical care is one reason why RotoWire’s Thomas Leary believes a lockout could affect Royals outfielder Jac Caglianone more than other players.

Darragh McDonald at MLBTR also writes about Mense:

[Mark] Feinsand [of MLB.com] further clarifies that Mense and Marcus Thames will be the hitting coaches in Kansas City while Connor Dawson will be offensive coordinator. In 2026, Thames and Dawson worked as hitting coaches alongside Alec Zumwalt. It was reported in September that Zumwalt would be reassigned to a position as senior director of hitting performance.

McDonald also had an old friend alert:

The White Sox have signed right-hander Alec Marsh to a minor league contract with an invite to major league camp in spring training. Scott Merkin of MLB.com was among those to report the deal.

Speaking of /really/ old friends:

If you’re at the Plaza on November 26th, Carter Jensen will be turning on the lights:

“The Plaza Lights are a Midwest staple that all Kansas Citians know and love, and to be able to do this in my hometown with my Kansas City family is an incredible honor,” Jensen said in a press release. “I can’t wait to help celebrate the holidays, and this city, with everybody in a place we all cherish. My family and I are extremely grateful for this opportunity to help light up the city that raised me!”

Listicle? At The Athletic ($), Jim Bowden writes about each team’s biggest offseason need:

Kansas City Royals

Needs: Right-handed-hitting center fielder and a rebuilt bullpen

Analysis: The Royals need a right-handed-hitting outfielder who can play center field and perhaps will take a chance on 29-year-old free agent Luis Robert Jr., if he’s amenable to a one-year, prove-it type contract.

The real priority for this team will be to continue to improve the pitching staff, which could include adding a starter, but the emphasis will be on rebuilding the bullpen through both trades and free agency.

It’s the offseason, so here’s a little silliness. The Tri-City (Virginia) Chili Peppers just released their 2027 schedule and it includes Wichita and Springfield. If you’re looking for gimmicky baseball, I can confirm this is a fun one as I went to a game in 2025. The first few innings play like a normal game. But then the game stops for about a half hour, the stadium crew changes the lights, the teams change jerseys, and the second half of the game is played under blacklight. It’s one of those things where your brain can’t entirely process what you’re seeing.

Blogs? Quite a bit going on today!

David Lesky ($) writes about “Bobby’s Un-Bobby Season”

The league pull air rate last season was 18.4 percent. That includes line drives, fly balls and popups. If you take out popups, the league number was 16.9 percent. Witt’s overall pull air percentage was 16.3 percent. Remove popups, and it was just 13.9 percent. That tells me that two things are happening. The first is that he isn’t pulling the ball in the air enough. When he pulled the ball in the air, he hit .521 with a 1.192 SLG. That included a 95.3 MPH average exit velocity (98.8 MPH when you remove popups), a 56.8 percent hard-hit rate and a 25.7 percent barrel rate. The average and SLG were pretty much on par with league average, but the hard-hit rate for Witt was 1.8 percent higher than league average and 5.8 percent higher on the barrel rate.

He gets into the weeds a lot with the numbers, but it’s a good read.

Just as Jeremy did yesterday, Craig Brown writes about the Royals Hall of Fame:

4 – Billy Butler

It feels fairly obvious to me that Butler is one of the top hitters in franchise history. He’s fourth all-time in batting average (.295), ninth in hits (1,273), ninth in total bases (1,938), eighth in doubles (276) and eighth in RBI (628). He’s just outside the franchise top 10 in OBP (.356, good for 13th), slugging (.449, 15th) and OPS (.808, 12th). His best season was in 2012 when he hit .313/.373/.510 with 29 home runs and 107 RBI, won a Silver Slugger and was selected to the All-Star team. He should’ve been a participant in the Home Run Derby, damnit. Boooooooo!

As does Darin Watson at U.L.’s Toothpick:

Carlos Beltran

What are we doing here? Beltran was inducted in the big Hall–you know, the one in Cooperstown–this year. But he’s not in the team Hall. I sort of get it, since he was only a Royal for 6 ½ seasons, had a clash with the team early in his career, and played on mostly bad teams. But that was all more than two decades ago, and he was around long enough to accumulate 24.8 bWAR, ahead of six Royals Hall of Famers by my count. Since this is his final appearance on the ballot, this needs to get done.

Blog Roundup:

• Philip Ruo at Royals Keep: My Royals Offseason Blueprint: Taylor & Grisham In The Outfield, Pivetta In The Rotation, Fix The Bullpen
• Kevin O’Brien at Royals Keep: Royals Prospects to Make Splash in AFL All-Star Weekend
• Jeff Wayman at The Diamond Chronicles: Royals Off-Season Report
• Matthew Swigonski at KOK: Carter Jensen could continue exciting rookie Silver Slugger trend after Royals rival’s spiral
• Also, Matthew Swigonski at KOK: Royals star Jac Caglianone has gone from super struggles to Silver Slugger finalist
• Brian Burrows at KOK: Bobby Witt Jr. may end up empty-handed this award season
• Also, Brian Burrows at KOK: Royals Silver Slugger nominations are confirmation that J.J. Picollo has created the next championship core

It’s November, which means it’s time to wrap up the Asian baseball leagues for the year. Normally, we’d go CPBL -> KBO -> NPB. But I think we’re going to change that order this year because of the impending lockout. Here are links to our previous articles this season: (CPBL Preview) (KBO Preview) (NPB Preview) (Midseason Notes)

As Max noted in Wednesday’s Rumblings: “Teams have until December 1 to sign posted Japanese free agents”. There’s one big name and a couple of others who may factor into this year’s plans. But we’ll get to all of that in a bit.

Let’s look back at the midseason report: “I know it’s early, but it feels like we may already know the playoff teams. In the Pacific League, there are 3 teams with winning records: Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, Saitama Seibu Lions, and Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.“

That came to pass: the Hawks (91-49-3), Lions (79-60-4), and Fighters (78-62-3) made the playoffs as the three Pacific League teams with winning records. The Orix Buffaloes, Chiba Lotte Marines, and Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles all finished between 25 and 35 games out of first and with a losing record.

The Lions and Fighters squared off in the First Stage best-of-three series. In game 1, Alexander Canario hit a walk-off home run in the 10th for the Lions. 22-year-old Kota Tatsu dominated game 2, striking out 7 across 6 innings in a 1-0 win to force game 3. Hiromi Itoh only gave up 1 run in 5 IP and the Fighters’ bullpen went 4 scoreless to clinch the series.

This series was of MLB interest as both Itoh and Seibu’s game 1 starter, Kaima Taira, have been posted to MLB. Here’s a couple of quick notes from MLBTR’s free agent tracker:

36. Hiromi Itoh, RHP: Two years, $20MM

Itoh doesn’t throw as hard as Taira, nor does he have his youth. He’ll pitch next season at 29 but turn 30 at the end of August. He has an eye-popping track record, one that includes a 2025 Sawamura Award — NPB’s Cy Young Award equivalent. Itoh sat around 93 mph with his heater when he won that award but was more in the 91-92 mph range throughout a good but decidedly lesser season in 2026.

10. Kaima Taira, RHP: Four years, $72MM (with at least one opt-out)

A 26-year-old righty with upper 90s velocity, a career 1.78 ERA and a nearly 26% strikeout rate? What’s not to like? Based on pure age and results, Taira sounds like he should be commanding a massive nine-figure deal — and it’s at least possible that he will do so. However, big league scouts tend to have trepidation about players with unique or unconventional body types, and Tairia is listed at just 5’8″ and 209 pounds. It’s an Alejandro Kirk-style build on the mound. On top of that, he’s only spent two full seasons as a starting pitcher. Much of his time in NPB has come working out of the bullpen.

Unfortunately, the Pacific League Climax Series wasn’t all that interesting. First, “a new Climax Series rule also took effect this season that rewards any league champion a second win advantage in the final stage if they lead the other team by ten or more games, or if the other team has a regular season record below .500”. That meant the Hawks started out with a 2-0 lead in the first-to-five series. I’ve said it over and over in these Asian baseball writeups – this is the way MLB should handle the playoffs if they want to keep expanding them. Make the regular season mean something – give playoff advantages to teams who do better in the regular season.

The series itself was mostly a dud. SoftBank scored 6 runs in all 3 games and the Fighters could only muster 4, 2, and 2. Game 2 had some excitement as MVP candidate Ryoya Kurihara, .271/.365/.557 with 40 HR in the regular season, hit a walkoff grand slam. Speaking of MVP candidates, the Hawks also feature Kensuke Kondoh and his .309/.431/.569 line with 32 HRs. The Fighters have their own candidate in former Royal Franmil Reyes. He won the batting crown with a .313/.375/.571 slash and also had 32 HRs. He’s not going anywhere as the Fighters signed him to a whopping 4/$40M contract, the largest in NPB history. I’m not sure I’d give that to a 31-year-old DH, but I don’t have Nippon-Ham money.

*****

How about the Central League? At Midseason, I wrote: “the Hanshin Tigers lead their rival Yomiuri Giants by 1 game. Our rooting interest, the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, are vulnerable in 3rd. They’re 7.5 GB from the Tigers but only 3, 5, and 7 games up on the Yokohama DeNA BayStars, Hiroshima Toyo Carp, and Chunichi Dragons.” Things did not go so well for the Swallows. They finished in 5th, sandwiched between the 4th-place Carp and the 6th-place Dragons, all with losing records. The BayStars rallied to finsh 3rd at 71-69-3. Meanwhile, the Tigers edged out the Giants for 1st.

On the same day that Canario walked it off for the Lions, Ryuki Watarai hit a home run in the top of the 9th to win the game for Yokohama. Then, on Sunday, he hit a home run in the 1st to get the scoring started as the BayStars swept the Giants in the Tokyo Dome with a 4-1 win in Game 2.

In the Central League Climax Series, the Tigers were spotted a 1-0 lead for their better regular-season record. I don’t entirely understand why the winning team only had to win 4 while the other league had to win 5, but maybe that was because of the 2-game advantage. The BayStars swept all 4 games played and won the series 4-1. Hanshin didn’t score until game 4 as Yokohama won 2-0, 1-0, and 4-0. After 2 home runs in the First Stage, a Shugo Maki HR accounted for the only run in Game 2 and he also hit one in Game 3. He was named the series MVP. There’s been a little chatter that he could post, but it hasn’t happened yet.

In Game 4, the BayStars started the scoring early again as Maki scored on a sacrifice fly in the 1st. The Tigers tied it up in the bottom half of the inning when a runner reached base on a Maki error and came around to score. Yokohama’s Shuto Naruse hit a 2-run homer in the 4th. But Hanshin scored 1 in the 5th, 1 in the 6th, and 2 in the 7th. Teruaki Sato was in the middle of that 7th inning rally and we’ll come back to him in a bit. The BayStars got a run back in the 8th but were down 5-4 going into the 9th. I’ll let Wiki take it from here:

In the top of the ninth inning, with one out, Shion Matsuo walked, then advanced to third on Watarai’s single, a ground ball deflected off the second baseman Nakano in the shallow right field. Maki then hit a ground ball to first baseman Oyama, who decided to throw home, catching Matsuo in a rundown between third and home. During the rundown Watarai advanced to third while Maki reached second. With Tigers being one strike away from living another day, and the “One More Strike!” chant from the Tigers fans echoing throughout Koshien Stadium, the next batter Masaki Mimori hit a fly ball that fell to the ground in the shallow left-center field, resulting in a 2-run single, scoring Maki and Watarai. With this hit, Kudō blew the two-inning save, and left the mound after intentionally walked Miyazaki. Rafael Dolis took over, and immediately allowed back-to-back RBI singles in two pitches, with these two runs earned to Kudō. Dolis retired Naruse to finally end the frame. In the bottom frame, the Tigers had the bases loaded with one hit and two walks, but were ultimately stranded, with Sean Reynolds striking out the side, ending the game and the series.

Before we get to the Japan Series. Let’s talk about Sato. He could potentially get a 9-figure contract this offseason and the MLBTR article I linked to above listed him as the 7th best free agent with a 5/$80M contract. David Adler at MLB wrote this article entitled “What to expect from Japanese superstar Sato in the Majors”:

We’re still very early here, but check out how FanGraphs’ Depth Charts projects Sato for 2027:

• .247 AVG/.314 OBP/.468 SLG 
• 31 HRs, 89 RBIs
• 112 wRC+ (aka, 12% better than an average hitter)
• 2.7 Wins Above Replacement

*****

Sorry for the spoilers, but you’d figure it out soon enough. The Japan Series was as exciting as a sweep could be. All of the games were close. But all of the games went the way of the Hawks. The Hawks were the best team in the regular season and went 7-0 in the playoffs en route to their 13th Japan Series championship.

Game 1 was scoreless until the 7th when Yudai Shoji plated a run with an RBI groundout. Maki homered in the 8th to tie the game. He also tied a Japan Series second baseman record with nine putouts in the game. A Shoji double knocked in the eventual winning run in the 11th. Kazuki Sugiyama picked up his first of three saves in the series.

Game 2 was another dramatic extra-inning affair and the game of the series. Fukuoka scored on a Tomoya Masaki solo home run in the 3rd and a Shoji RBI double in the 4th. Hawks starter and 2025 MVP Liván Moinelo threw 7 scoreless but the BayStars would have their chance against the bullpen. After Watarai and Maki reached on a single and HBP, former MLB veteran Yoshi Tsutsugo went the other way with a fly ball that just cleared the left field fence, giving the BayStars a 3-2 lead. But in the 9th, Yokohama closer and former Padre Sean Reynolds served up a monster game-tying home run to pinch hitter Hotaka Yamakawa. Top 10, Yuto Kawamura gave the Hawks the lead for good with a solo homer and Sugiyama picked up his second save.

Katsuki Azuma started Game 3 for the BayStars, while Haru Matsumoto started for the Hawks. Azuma threw seven shutout innings, with three strikeouts, two walks and two hit by pitches, and allowed 6 singles. Matsumoto, on the other hand, threw six innings with five strikeouts, allowed six hits, and gave up one run.

In the bottom of the 9th, Reynolds blew another save, giving up an RBI single with 2 outs. Masaki, who would win series MVP, walked it off with a home run in the 10th. Sugiyama didn’t pick up a save, but he got the win.

Game 4 wasn’t quite as dramatic as the others. The BayStars scored 2 in the 1st, the Hawks scored 3 in the 4th, and 1 in the 6th en route to a 4-2 series-clinching victory. Sugiyama picked up his 3rd save and the Hawks “became the first team in Japan Series history to sweep their Japan Series opponent without having any of their starting pitchers record a win”.

The Hawks have now won back-to-back titles, having also won in 2025.

*****

Finally, NPB said goodbye to the legendary Isao Harimoto, nicknamed “Hit Machine”, in September. Talk about an extraordinary life:

Born to Korean parents in Hiroshima in 1940, Harimoto as a child overcame a series of difficulties. At age four, severe burns in his right hand cost him most of its mobility.

Harimoto was five when he survived the U.S. atomic bombing of the western Japanese city on Aug. 6, 1945. His father died shortly after World War II and Harimoto’s hard-working mother ran an eatery to support the family.

In 1959, he won Pacific League Rookie of the Year. In 1960, he made his first of 18 All-Star games. In 1961, he hit for the cycle and won the first of seven batting titles. In 1962, he won Pacific League MVP and his Toei Flyers won the 1962 Japan Series. He is still the only player to ever collect more than 3000 hits in the NPB (3085) and he hit 504 home runs. He retired in 1981 and was inducted into the Japan Baseball HOF in 1990.

It’s been a while so let’s go revisit Soul Blade. This is Taki’s theme, Future Dancin’

There are two particular categories of player that go under the radar in the major league amateur draft each year. The first are college seniors. If you didn’t get drafted by your junior year or earlier, as a JUCO or prep player, there’s a natural stigma attached. The second are first basemen. Because the position is usually filled by less athletic players whose value is heavily tied up in their bat, only the top ranked college first baseman really get much notice, and they tend to go in the early rounds as some of the better hitters each year. Leaving aside the player and just considering the profile, Spencer Torkelson was a hard player to philosophically wrap one’s head around as the first overall pick in the draft back in 2020. Living up to that would’ve required him to develop quickly into one of the better hitters in baseball. There’s a reason you very rarely see a 1-1 first baseman.

Detroit Tigers prospect Beau Ankeney checks both boxes, and he definitely didn’t get much attention on draft day 2025 when they picked him in the 14th round out of Loyola Marymount and paid him just the minimum signing bonus. He played three years at Grand Canyon University before breaking out and transferring to Loyola for his senior season in 2025. That was notable, as he was clearly a bit of a late bloomer. Also notable was his muscular six-foot-three, 235 pound frame. He only played in four games after the draft, so there wasn’t anything to get excited about yet. That changed in 2026.

Ankeney mashed 24 home runs total, including 9 in just 27 games at the High-A level after he was promoted in late July. He took his walks. He showed pretty good athleticism for a first baseman, with enough speed to handle a corner outfield spot here and there. His raw power really stood out, as he averaged 92 mph off the bat, which is great even at the MLB level, and maxed out at 114.4 mph off the bat, giving him a 65 FV grade on his raw power potential. And most importantly, he took his walks and didn’t strike out that much for a power hitter.

In Lakeland at Single-A, Ankeney chased about 30 percent of the time, and his whiff rate was similarly on the higher end of the scale. Considering that he was 23 years old already and competing with 19-22 year old players quite a bit, it was impressive, but didn’t really knock anyone’s socks off. What really got prospect hounds talking was the fact that he went straight into High-A and did even more damage, without much of an increase in his strikeout rate. From August 4 through the 16th, Ankeney hit seven homers in nine games while walking and racking up one multi-hit game after another. He was the hottest hitter in the league for that stretch before cooling down over the final weeks of the season.

He does chase too much right now, and there’s some swing and miss in his game, producing at 24.3 percent K-rate in Single-A, and 27.5 percent in High-A, but that’s not terrible either. He also showed nice feel at times for hitting the ball where it’s pitched, driving fastballs away to right field with authority, and hitting tape measure shots to center and left-center when he got something middle or middle-in over the plate. He hits from an upright stance and is pretty flat through the hitting zone, making him strong against the high fastball. He can get some tilt to launch sinkers and secondary pitches that hang up in the zone as well, but a pitcher that pounds the bottom rail can give him trouble. Still, it’s a compact inside-out move that works to the big part of the field pretty well as long as he doesn’t get too pull happy. He struggled some with breaking stuff and that will be something to watch as the pitching he’s facing gets tougher, but he hit for average and plenty of power against fastballs and offspeed stuff.

Obviously there’s a caveat here due to his age. He’s a little older and more physically mature than a lot of the pitchers he faced this season. The short sample in the Midwest League to close out the season was really impressive though, and lends credence to the idea that he was putting it together nicely late in his first pro season. Another plus for him is the athleticism, in that he isn’t the typical big hitting statue you typically find in a college first baseman.

I’m not going to get too carried away just yet, but it’s good to see another power-hitting right-handed bat with potential in the system. Hopefully we’ll see him refine his approach and start to handle the nastier stuff he’s seeing at the High-A level more consistently next season. He’s probably never going to be a high contact hitter and there’s certainly risk in the hit tool, but the fact that he sprays the ball around is pretty promising for his future batting average projections. So is the batspeed and hard contact he’s mustering.

Beau Ankeney wasn’t the biggest breakout prospect of the year for the Tigers, but he was among the least expected and should feel great about his full season debut. No doubt the Tigers do.