Category: Baseball

The Nationals’ farm system has been in the limelight for the past two months, with plenty of lower-level talent already emerging as legitimate prospects. For a franchise that continues to look toward the future, the recent developments have been nothing short of incredibly encouraging.

With all of the hype surrounding prospects still in the early stages of their development, little has been said about players who could see a promotion to the MLB club and make an impact in the near future. The slow start of offseason trade acquisition, catcher Harry Ford (MLB.com #6), hasn’t done much to change that narrative.

One player, however, has been lighting up AAA pitching, and could give Washington some much-needed reinforcements if his play continues to dazzle. You won’t find 24-year-old corner infielder Yohandy Morales on any Top-10 prospect lists, and many don’t even have him in the organization’s Top 20. A middling hit tool has long forced scouts to question his future at the big league level, and he’s remained an afterthought in a rising system. That could soon be coming to an end.

Yohandy Morales is having a tremendous season at Triple-A. Not sure what he has to do to get as hot in the majors.

Hit his 10th HR tonight. He's hitting over .350 with a 1.024 OPS. Plays the position Brady House just left vacant. pic.twitter.com/EpSd98EDEu

— Grant Paulsen (@GrantPaulsen) May 20, 2026

Through 45 games with the Rochester Red Wings so far in 2026, the right-hander is slashing a downright absurd .344/.425/.592/1.017, smashing 10 long balls and driving in 27 runs. He’s hitting the ball hard as much as anyone in the minor leagues, with his Average Exit Velocity, Max EV, 50th% EV, 90th% EV, and Hard-Hit% all landing in the 90th percentile or higher. The whiffs continue to be a problem, but even his swing decisions, a visible weakness in his game that led to 164 punchouts in 2025, have improved in recent weeks.

Critics of a potential promotion point to the largest concern with his game: he simply swings and misses too often, especially on pitches in the zone. His Zone-Contact% is a measly 75.48%, good for just the 20th percentile, and the one fix that batters point to for overcoming said issues, a high Pull-Air%, is nowhere to be found as he’s posting an abysmal 11th percentile mark.

The pathway to playing time is easily visible, with Jorbit Vivas struggling to provide anything in the way of offensive production in his at-bats. Morales has fantastic raw power, and the possibility of injecting that type of life into the Nationals’ lineup may be too appealing for the front office to ignore for much longer.

I asked Paul Toboni about Yohandy Morales. Toboni said the key for him is to stay consistent and says good things will happen for him if he keeps this up

— federalbaseball (@federalbaseball) May 19, 2026

No one should be expecting Morales to light the world on fire if he does indeed get the call to the majors, but his performance continues to make the decision to keep him in AAA more difficult to support.

Only time will tell, but the Puerto Rican slugger could find his way to Washington in the near, if not immediate, future.

Another day of minor league baseball is in the books. See the results below. Check out the previous day’s recap here.

AAA: Sugar Land Space Cowboys (20-28) lost 8-2 (BOX SCORE)

Alexander got the scoring started with a solo home run in the 2nd inning. Pecko got the start for Sugar Land but struggled allowing 6 runs over 4 innings of work. He was relieved by VanWey who allowed 2 runs. Sugar Land got one run in the 9th on a sac fly but that was it as they fell 8-2.

Note: Biggio is hitting .356 with 5 HR in May.

• Rhylan Thomas, CF: 2-for-4, RBI
• Cavan Biggio, 1B: 1-for-2, 3 BB
• CJ Alexander, LF: 1-for-4, R, HR, RBI
• Riley Unroe, DH: 1-for-2, R, 2 BB

• Ethan Pecko, RHP: 4.0 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
• Logan VanWey, RHP: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
• Anthony Maldonado, RHP: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K
• Sam Carlson, RHP: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

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AA: Corpus Christi Hooks (19-23) lost 13-1 (BOX SCORE)

The Hooks got on the board in the first inning on a Holy leadoff home run. Hicks got the start and started off well but ran into some trouble allowing 8 runs, 7 earned, over 5 innings of work. Hader allowed a run in relief and Cuevas allowed 4 runs in the 9th. The offense was quiet the rest of the way as the Hooks fell 13-1.

Note: Holy has a .918 OPS in Double-A.

• Max Holy, SS: 2-for-4, R, HR, RBI
• Taylor Trammell, RF: 1-for-4

• James Hicks, RHP: 5.0 IP, 11 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 1 BB, 8 K
• Josh Hader, LHP: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
• Alejandro Torres, RHP: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K
• Michael Cuevas, RHP: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K

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A+: Asheville Tourists (9-33)

Game One – lost 2-1 (BOX SCORE)

Hertzler got the start in game one and was dominant tossing 6 innings allowing 1 run while striking out 9 batters. The offense got not the board in the 5th inning scoring a run on a Walker bases loaded walk. In the bottom of the 7th, the Hot Rods walked it off with a home run as Asheville dropped game one 2-1.

Note: Hertzler has 49 K in 30.1 innings this season.

• Kyle Walker, 2B: 0-for-2, RBI, BB
• Caden Powell, DH: 2-for-2, R, BB, SB
• Chase Call, RF: 0-for-1, 2 BB, 2 SB

• Cole Hertzler, RHP: 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K
• Joan Ogando, RHP: 0.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

Game Two – lost 8-3 (BOX SCORE)

Santos got the start in game two but had a tough outing allowing 5 runs, 4 earned, over 4 innings of work. He was relieved by Rodriguez who allowed 3 runs, 1 earned, over 2 innings of work. The offense got on the board in the 6th inning on a Brutcher RBI single. In the 7th, they picked up 2 more runs on a passed ball and a Thomas groundout but that was it as Asheville dropped game two 8-3.

Note: Walker is hitting .283 this season.

• Kyle Walker, SS: 2-for-4, SB
• Justin Thomas, CF: 1-for-4, R, 2B, RBI
• Drew Brutcher, 1B: 1-for-3, RBI
• Chase Call, LF: 1-for-3, R

• Yeriel Santos, RHP: 4.0 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
• Luis Rodriguez, RHP: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 K

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A: Fayetteville Woodpeckers (18-24) lost 12-8 (BOX SCORE) 

The Woodpeckers got the scoring started in the third inning scoring 2 runs on a Huezo RBI double and Flores RBI double. Perez got the start and after 3 scoreless innings to start the game, he ran into trouble allowing 6 runs in the 4th. The Woodpeckers battled back with a run in the 4th on a Cauro sac fly and a run in the 5th on a Salas walk. Wells relieved Perez and 6 runs over 2.1 innings. The offense got one in the 5th on a Newman RBI single and in the 8th, Huezo connected on a 3 run home run. Unfortunately the offense couldn’t complete the comeback as the Woodpeckers fell 12-8.

Note: Huezo has a .810 OPS this season.

• Anthony Huezo, RF: 2-for-4, 3 R, 2B, HR, 4 RBI, SB
• Arturo Flores, C: 2-for-4, 2B, RBI, BB
• Hector Salas, 3B: 0-for-3, RBI, 2 BB
• Camilo Diaz, 2B: 2-for-5, R
• Carlos Cauro, 1B: 1-for-2, 2 R, RBI, BB
• DJ Newman, LF: 1-for-2, 2 R, RBI, 2 BB, SB

• Javier Perez, RHP: 4.2 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
• Jackson Wells, RHP: 2.1 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
• Leomar Rosario, RHP: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 6 K

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Today’s minor league starters:

SL: Josh Hendrickson – 8:45 CT

CC: Nic Swanson – 7:05 CT

AV: TBD – 6:35 CT

FV: TBD – 6:05 CT

Back in February, ZiPS projections were posted, and they did not have a single Red Sox player reaching the 20 home run threshold. Twitter/X got a hold of this and ran with it, becoming an easy talking point for those who felt that Craig Breslow’s offseason effort to fix the power in the lineup fell short (most of us). 

After 49 games, 30% of the season, here is how the Red Sox regulars are pacing for home runs:

• Willson Contreras – 33
• Jarren Duran – 20
• Wilyer Abreu – 20
• Ceddanne Rafaela – 13
• Trevor Story – 10
• Marcelo Mayer – 7
• Carlos Narvaez – 7

Everyone else on the team has one home run or fewer thus far, including Caleb Durbin, Roman Anthony, and Masataka Yoshida. Feel free to do that math yourself.

It probably should have been obvious at the time that ZiPS was low on Contreras, considering they had him at a projected 118 games played, tracking more like a catcher than a first baseman, but otherwise, they’ve been right on. That being said, it’s Memorial Day Weekend, so things should start heating up at Fenway, right about nowish. Looking at Statcast’s Park Factors for 2026, Fenway has played as the 5th most difficult park to hit in overall, and the #1 most difficult park to hit a home run at, and it’s actually not even close. 

If you use the three years prior (2023-2025), Fenway is the second-most friendly park overall, and tops in terms of doubles, but seventh-most difficult for homers.

I’ll say that Contreras and Abreu reach the 20 home run threshold, and that’s it. If this Sox team makes a wild card run over the next two months in this pathetic American League (outlined here, and here, on Over the Monster over the last two days), it should be pretty clear that a power bat is what the team will need to add at the deadline, and preferably well before the deadline. 

Enjoy the long weekend, and be good to each other.

The Kendall George show took over in Double-A while the Comets shut out Reno at home.

Player of the day

Ask not what Kendall George can do because the answer might just be everything. The Drillers’ center fielder was all over the place in a 6-4 win for Tulsa, raising his batting average to .346 by going four for four and also reaching 25 stolen bases on the year.

Make it four consecutive multihit games for Kendall George!

The @Dodgers' No. 13 prospect picks up 4 knocks, 3 steals and is hitting .346 for the Double-A @TulsaDrillers: pic.twitter.com/FKc5ooQfgY

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 22, 2026

Having stolen 100 bags last season, it’s tough for George to dazzle you now, but think of this success rate, which has vastly improved. Not caught once, George is now 25 for 28 after being thrown out 24 times last season.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

One quiet day was more than enough for Alex Freeland, who made the most out of his one hit in what turned out to be an 8-0 win for the Comets. Freeland left the yard with a three-run shot in the sixth as part of a rally that saw the Comets score seven runs with a home run from Jack Suwinski as well.

Freeland off the pole for 3⃣! pic.twitter.com/nXZRNsxrH6

— Oklahoma City Comets (@OKC_comets) May 22, 2026

Starter River Ryan needed a little over 60 pitches to get through five scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and hand it off to a bullpen that was equally as dominant, carrying on to record 14 of their 27 outs on strikeouts against only five from Reno.

River Ryan was 🔥🔥🔥

5.0 IP | 2 H | 0 R | 0 BB | 7 K

Retired his final 11 in a row. pic.twitter.com/ipWpDQgHE9

— Oklahoma City Comets (@OKC_comets) May 22, 2026

Double-A Tulsa

Reaching base safely in all five of his plate appearances, Kendall George could not have done more at the top of the order for the Drillers, a key player in this 6-4 win over the Wind Surge. Scoring half of the Drillers’ six runs, George was his usual dynamic self on the basepaths, responsible for all three of Tulsa’s stolen bases.

Outhitting the Wind Surge 13 to 6 as a team, the Drillers thrived at the top of the order, with 10 of those 13 hits coming from the top four, including yet another productive day from Mike Sirota. The recently promoted outfielder is settling in as nicely as anyone could’ve hoped in this new environment in Double-A.

Payton Martin finally earned his first win of the year, working through nine base runners (6 of them on walks) to allow just one earned run in 5.1 innings.

High-A Great Lakes

It’s tough to outhit your opponent and still lose by nine runs. That’s what happened as a rattled pitching staff for the Great Lakes could not stop walking Wisconsin’s hitters, leading to a 14-5 defeat that was somehow worse than that final score. The Loons managed to put up three garbage-time runs in the ninth to avoid losing by double digits.

On top of starter Jakob Wright, who allowed a couple of runs on one hit and five walks, the Loons had three other relievers concede more runs than they did hits. Among them was Acccimias Morales, the losing pitcher of record with four earned runs in 0.2 innings of work out of the bullpen.

Single-A Ontario

Seven of the Tower Buzzers’ batters recorded multiple hits, and it was the ninth-hole hitter, AJ Soldra, leading the charge in this 13-10 win. Soldra recorded four hits in five at-bats, the last of them a home run, surprisingly the game’s only long ball, when Ontario already led 12-10 in the ninth.

Starter Hyun-Seok Jang had the Tower Buzzers set for a blowout win, but the bullpen almost gave it all away, allowing four runs in the seventh and another four in the eighth. Luckily, Robby Porco provided some stability by pitching two scoreless innings to wrap things up and earn a second save on the season.

Thursday’s scores

• Oklahoma City 8, Reno 0
• Wichita 4, Tulsa 6
• Great Lakes 5, Wisconsin 14
• Inland Empire 11, Ontario 13

Friday’s schedule

• 3:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Christian Zazueta) vs. Wisconsin (Josh Knoth)
• 4:35 p.m. PT: Tulsa (Adam Serwinowski) at Wichita (Sam Armstrong)
• 5:05 p.m. PT: Oklahoma City (Charlie Barnes) vs. Reno (Kohl Drake)
• 6:35 p.m. PT: Ontario (TBD) at Inland Empire (Mason Peters)

The New York Mets (22-28) return to the scene of the crime (the conclusion of their 2025 collapse) as they prepare to seek some revenge against the Miami Marlins (22-29). You will remember that the Amazins were shut out 4-0 in the final game of the 2025 season, which prevented them from earning a postseason spot as the Reds also lost their final game of the season. That game also helped Miami steal the season series from New York, taking seven of the 13 games that the two teams played.

The team’s series against the Nationals was a mixed bag, resulting in a 2-2 split in Washington DC. The team sandwiched the series win wins, 16-7 on Monday and 2-1 on Thursday, while enduring rough losses in the middle of 9-6 on Tuesday and 8-4 on Wednesday. The wins could not have been any different, as they used a 10-run twelfth inning to bludgeon the Nationals after escaping the first nine innings tied at 5-5. They originally trailed 3-1, then grabbed a 5-3 lead, then slowly let that slip away when the Nationals tied it in the eighth. It’s not often you see a position player pitching in extra innings. Then in the series finale, the team that has scored the most runs in the league and given up the most runs in the league only scored one and allowed two, which was enough for the Mets to earn the hard fought victory, courtesy of David Peterson and a great performance from the bullpen.

The two middle games were incredibly sloppy and disheartening, especially for a team that, coming into Tuesday night, had won six of its last seven contests. You could make a case for Tuesday being the team’s worst loss of 2026, as they blew past Washington in the early innings, building a 5-0 lead on the back of two two-run homers from a suddenly-rejuvenized Bo Bichette. With Nolan McLean on the mound, the Mets and the Flushing Faithful felt like this on in the bag, but it was not to be, as McLean was not as sharp as he normally is, and the defense let him down. This game featured an inside the park grand slam, which is another wacky rarity you don’t see much these days. Wednesday featured Zach Thornton’s major league debut, which did not go great, as the Nats’ bats jumped all over him early. Juan Soto tried to keep the Mets in this one, hitting two monstrous home runs along the way, but it was not enough for New York.

One positive to take away from the team’s recent series was the play of Bichette, who came to life after looking lifeless for much of the early portion of the season. Entering Monday with just two homers on the season, he hit three in the four games, and hit the decisive two-run single in the third inning of Thursday’s win. Overall, he went 7-for-18 in the series while driving in nine of the team’s 28 runs and scoring five of them. Juan Soto continued his torrid pace, recording 6 hits in 16 at-bats with three homers of his own. Dating back to May 14, he has five homers in his last eight games.

There is probably nothing more encouraging than the recent play of top prospect Carson Benge, who led the club with eight hits in the series. Over the month of May, he’s slashing .351/.400/.459 and is second to Soto with an .859 OPS. This is especially encouraging after he finished April with a .189/.247/.289 slash line and a team-worst .525 OPS (among qualified hitters). He’s shown a quick adjustment after a slow start, especially as he’s learned to hit pitchers that are higher in the zone and muscle them into the outfield for hits, something we’ve seen a lot more in recent days. Benge is second in the NL in batting average during the month of May.

The only person who has a higher batting average is Otto Lopez (.370), who suits up for the last place Marlins. The Marlins lost three of four to the Braves, falling 8-4, 9-1, and 9-3 after stunning Atlanta 12-0 in the opening game of the series. The three losses, paired with New York’s win yesterday, moved Miami into last place in the National League East.

As mentioned, Lopez leads the team in batting average in May, as well as wRC+ (144) and OPS (.870). On the season, the shortstop is slashing .342/.373/.487 with a 140 wRC+ and a team-best 2.2 fWAR. The only person with a higher wRC+ is Xavier Edwards at 149. Edwards enters play hitting .316/.395/.484 with a 2.0 fWAR in a team-high 51 games. Their catcher, Liam Hicks, leads the way with nine home runs and 42 runs batted in (exactly double the player who is second on their team, which is also Lopez). He owns a 126 wRC+ and a 0.9 fWAR in 48 games.

Friday, May 22: Tobias Myers vs. Eury Pérez, 7:10 PM EDT on WPIX

Myers (2026): 29.0 IP. 23 K, 6 BB, 5 HR, 3.41 ERA, 4.38 IP, 87 ERA-

Myers has been a weapon for the Mets out of the pen this year, acting as a swiss army knife who is versatile enough to take on many roles. He can give them length, or pitch one high leverage inning to preserve a lead, and now he will take on a new role as a starter to give Freddy Peralta, Christian Scott, and Nolan McLean an extra day of rest. With the Mets in the middle of a 16-games-in-16-days stretch, those pitchers have logged a lot of innings, so the rest will do them some good. This is technically Myers’ second start of the year, as he served as an opener and pitched two shutout innings against the Cubs back on April 19 in an eventual loss.

Pérez(2026): 52.1 IP, 58 K, 28 BB, 10 HR, 5.33 ERA, 5.21 FIP, 129 ERA-

Pérez has had a rough start to his 2026 campaign, with an ERA that’s over one run higher than his final line from 2025. Since earning his second win of the season back on April 19—an outing that saw him allow just one unearned run on three hits with seven strikeouts over six innings against the Brewers—the right-hander has lost each of his last five starts. In that stretch, he’s allowed 19 earned runs over 26 1/3 innings (6.49 ERA). In that stretch, he’s walked 16, struck out 31, and has posted a 5.77 FIP. He’s allowed at least four earned runs in three of those five starts.

Saturday, May 23: Freddy Peralta vs. Max Meyer, 4:10 PM EDT on SNY

Peralta (2026): 54.1 IP, 54 K, 25 BB, 6 HR, 3.31 ERA, 4.05 FIP, 84 ERA-

In his last start against the Yankees, Peralta allowed three earned runs on two hits over five-plus innings, with two of the three runs crossing the plate after he exited the game. The right-hander didn’t do himself any favors, as he walked a season-high six while striking out four. In fact, just 44 of the 96 pitches (46%) he ended up throwing were strikes, and it’s generally rare to see a starting pitcher throw fewer than 50% of their pitches for strikes. For the record, that’s the most batters he’s walked in a game since issuing six free passes as a member of the Brewers back on May 5, 2024.

Meyer (2026): 53.2 IP, 60 K, 19 BB, 4 HR, 2.85 ERA, 3.07 FIP, 69 ERA-

Meyer, the third overall pick int he 2022 MLB Draft, has broken out in this, his fourth big league season for the Marlins. The right-hander, who posted a -0.1 bWAR in two starts in 2022, a -0.2 bWAR in 11 starts in 2024(he missed all of 2023 with injuries) and a 0.0 bWAR in 12 starts last year, has posted a 1.7 bWAR in 10 starts for Miami this year. He’s currently ninth in the NL in HR/9 (0.67) and ninth in K% (26.7%) while also posting a very respectable 8.4% BB%. His last time out, he shut out the Braves over six innings, scattering three hits while striking out six and walking two.

Sunday, May 24: Christian Scott vs. TBD, 1:40 PM EDT on SNY

Scott (2026):19.2 IP, 25 K, 12 BB, 1 HR, 4.12 ERA, 3.67 FIP, 105 ERA-

The Mets have won four of Scott’s five outings so far this year, but he has yet to factor in the decision for any of them and enters this start still seeking his first career major league victory. The right-hander lasted just four innings his last time out while allowing three earned runs (a season high) on four hits. He walked three and struck out five, and his pitch count reached 81, which led to his exit. He threw 49 of those pitches (60%) for strikes.

TBD

The Marlins have not named a starter for Sunday’s game.

Good morning friends and happy Friday!

The Mariners kick off a weekend series in Kansas City this afternoon, with Logan Gilbert trying to right the ship against the 20-30 Royals.

As we prepare to enter the holiday weekend with lovely weather on the horizon for those of you in the Seattle area, what plans do you have? Are you going on a trip? Hanging out with friends and/or family locally? Or maybe hunkering down and soaking in Mariners baseball?

In Mariners news…

• Between injuries and underperformance, several Mariners players have been pushed beyond their comfort zones for the sake of the team, writes Daniel Kramer.
• The Lookout Landing staff got together for a round-table discussion about the Mariners’ weird six-man/piggyback rotation plan.
• Zach Mason likened players on the Mariners roster to things in his apartment as a way to express his feelings about the team in the first quarter of the season.

Around the league…

• In a major scoop, Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic reported that the Angels and Rays agreed to a trade during the 2023 deadline that would have sent Shohei Ohtani to Tampa — but Angels owner Arte Moreno shut it down (only for Ohtani to leave a few months later anyway). The Mariners should be thanking their lucky stars this deal never came to fruition. ($)
• The new Las Vegas stadium for the Athletics is reportedly on schedule for a 2028 opening.
• The Pirates are promoting outfield prospect Esmerlyn Valdez to make his major league debut.
• Don’t look now, but the Washington Nationals are off to their best start to the season since 2018.
• Nats infielder Paul DeJong will miss the rest of the season after undergoing hamstring surgery.
• A’s outfielder Denzel Clarke is out until the All-Star break with his own hamstring ailment.
• Has Sandy Alcantara successfully revitalized his career? Michael Baumann at Fangraphs gave his verdict.
• Fastballs are faster than ever before. Louisa Thomas at The New Yorker wonders what this extreme level of strain does to the human arm.
• Paul Sullivan at The Chicago Tribune pointed out that as a player, it’s impossible to win once you start talking back to chirping fans.
• Patrick Dubuque at Baseball Prospectus wrote about how difficult it is to determine a manager’s worth, and how strange it is that teams and fans act otherwise. ($)
• Did you know that you can bring outside food into the stadium? Tayla Minsberg at The New York Times spoke to fans about their favorite meals and snacks to bring to the park.

Anders’ pick…

• A group of students at the University of Washington have resurrected a portion of the Seattle cityscape that was lost when I-5 carved through it in the 1960s.
• Kyle Busch, one of the greatest drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series, died suddenly yesterday from an unexplained illness at the age of 41. Busch drove in two races this past weekend, winning on May 15 and noting in seeming premonition that “you never know when the last one is.”

Happy Friday Athletics Nation!

After beginning the season as the team’s Opening Day center fielder, Denzel Clarke has seen his 2026 season get worse and worse as the season has progressed. The gifted defender struggled in the batter’s box from the jump and was slashing just .170./.228/.417 with no home runs at the time he suffered an injury to his right foot, which ultimately required a trip to the injured list.

Some fans hoped that the time off could be a sort of mini-reset for the young outfielder as he looked utterly lost facing major league pitching. With his amazing defense at a critical position Clarke doesn’t need to be a force with the bat, but he can’t be as big of a black hole as he was during the first month of the season. Getting away from the bright lights of the major leagues and getting back to basics down in a less stressful environment like the minor leagues seemed like as good as any idea to get him back into a rythym in the batter’s box. The early returns, though small, were encouraging as he went 4-for-6 in two games for Stockton in Single-A then 1-for-2 in his first game with the Aviators.

Unfortunately his rehab stint will be cut short. He hasn’t suffered a setback with his foot, but instead has suffered what the organization is calling a “significant hamstring strain”, which will cost him the next couple of months at a minimum:

Denzel Clarke Medical Update pic.twitter.com/MhBWa3L9fF

— A's Communications (@AthleticsPR) May 21, 2026

It’s another tough break for the 26-year-old outfielder. Clarke jumped onto the scene last year and A’s fans immediately saw him flash the leather as he became a near-daily highlight reel in center field. The A’s haven’t had this gifted a defender on the grass in quite a while and though the bat didn’t exactly strike fear into opposing pitchers the team was happy with that as long as they continued to get Gold Glove caliber defense up the middle. Things were cut short earlier than anticipated though as he suffered a season-ending adductor strain in mid-July, ending his year and also depriving the A’s of a longer look at the light-hitting center fielder.

This hamstring strain doesn’t bode well for Clarke in the near or long term. His struggles with the bat were already a cause for concern entering this season and those worries are much larger now after seeing a regression with the stick this year. Add in the fact that the A’s have a shiny new young center fielder named Henry Bolte and the situation is quickly developing into a quagmire. Clarke’s defense is spectacular but the team just can’t stomach him in the lineup on an everyday basis. It’s like playing with eight players in a nine-man lineup.

Bolte doesn’t have the ceiling of Clarke’s glove but he’s no slouch with the glove in his own right, and he’s always been a better hitter than Clarke at every level. Bolte is off to a solid start to begin his big league career and now that he doesn’t have to worry about Clarke coming back anytime soon the A’s should give him plenty of run in center field. If he continues to progress and takes ahold of the position then the organization will suddenly be in a tough situation regarding Clarke. He looked like the center fielder of the future as recently as last summer, but he could soon be the odd man out of a crowding outfield picture the A’s have going for them right now. It’ll be fascinating to see how manager Mark Kotsay and the team handle things when Clarke is finally healthy and ready to return.

We got a new series tonight as the team heads further south to take on the San Diego Padres. It’ll be Walker Buehler for the Friars while the A’s have yet to make it official but it’ll likely be Jeffrey Springs on the bump tonight. First pitch is at 6:40. Until then, have a great weekend everyone!

A’s Coverage:

• “State Of The Rotation”: A Projected Weakness, An Actual…?
• Jump, A’s No. 3 prospect, dazzles to extend scoreless streak
• Guerrero touts West Sacramento’s MLB experience as expansion looms large
• A’s Come Back In Extras, Beat Angels 6-5
• A’s clobber Angels 14-6 in Anaheim
• A’s Suffer Heartbreaker to Open Road Trip
• ’Gut-wrenching’: Ginn takes no-no into ninth only to give up walk-off home run
• Michael Stefanic Elects Free Agency
• A’s Bullpen, Defense Collapse in Series-Deciding Loss to Giants
• How John Fisher betrayed Oakland (again) by finally spending on the Athletics
• Kurtz in rarefied air through 162 career games
• The Giants-A’s rivalry is officially dead
• There’s Forcing Your Way Up And There’s Bolte — Is There A Spot For Him?
• May Roster Shuffle Could Help The A’s — But They’d Have To Want It
• Athletics’ Wei-En Lin Continues Rising The Ranks
• Now that we’ve seen a two-way player, what about a three-way player?
• A Walk In The Park Is Nice…To A Point

MLB News and Interest:

• Robby Snelling To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
• Tigers’ Tarik Skubal throws bullpen session, takes ‘great step’
• Yankees’ Grisham has no structural damage to knee, tests show
• Padres Shopping For Bullpen Help
• Mock draft: Shift in the top five, after that, uncertainty abounds
• Mets’ Kodai Senga to begin minor league rehab assignment Friday
• Braves Select Carlos Carrasco
• Former Cy Young winner Trevor Bauer survives nasty car wreck while chasing MLB comeback
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

Very interesting:

2 interesting pitching notes for @stocktonports:
-2-way player Shotaro Morii is scheduled to be the starter on the mound tonight for the Ports.
-Robert Puason, who has switched to pitching, was added to Stockton's pitching staff today.

— Bill Moriarity – A's Farm (@AthleticsFarm) May 21, 2026

Time to swap out Lopez for Jump?

Gage Jump is turning a corner. Is it time for his MLB debut? https://t.co/2imqIk8Y1I

— Jason Burke (@ByJasonB) May 22, 2026

Things may be moving in that direction…

Jacob Lopez's next turn in the A's rotation, which would come Sunday in San Diego, remains TBA.

Jeffrey Springs and J.T. Ginn will start the first two games against the Padres.

— Martín Gallegos (@MartinJGallegos) May 22, 2026

Followed by an Arnold promotion to Triple-A?

Jamie Arnold, No. 2 A’s and No. 29 MLB Prospect, delivered his longest outing of the season for the Midland RockHounds and dominated tonight. 🔥

6.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 6 K 🔥🔥🔥#Athleticspic.twitter.com/aEu4m5gJgn

— Uprooted (@uprootedoakland) May 22, 2026

Stadium…. update?

The A’s have a contingency plan in place in the event Bally’s doesn’t build the northwest plaza leading from the Strip to the ballpark in time for the 2028 opening of the $2B stadium. Bally’s is still determining phasing & financing for their mixed-use project. #vegas#athleticspic.twitter.com/QBDB6o4ZYs

— Mick Akers (@mickakers) May 21, 2026

And it’s not even close!

BEST. CATCHER. IN. BASEBALL. https://t.co/Hdm4lVo41E

— SleeperAthletics (@SleeperAth) May 21, 2026

ICYMI:

OF Denzel Clarke off rehab assignment due to hamstring strain
IF Justin Riemer to MID
LHP Corey Braun to STK IL
RHP Robert Puason/RHP Josnier Parra to STK
RHP Richard Fernandez to ACL A’s
LHP Wei-En Lin off MID IL
IF M.Stefanic re-signed MiLB deal/to LVhttps://t.co/joKXkyUAPy

— Bill Moriarity – A's Farm (@AthleticsFarm) May 21, 2026

Before we get to the Astros, a note: The Cubs moved half a game ahead of the Cardinals into second place in the NL Central when St. Louis lost to Pittsburgh on Thursday.

The Astros started the year 6-3, but since then have gone 14-28. Only the Angels (13-28) are worse over that span.

So this could be a really good time for the Cubs to host them.

For more on the Astros, here’s Patrick Creighton, manager of our SB Nation Astros site The Crawfish Boxes.

Nothing has really gone right for the Astros this season, and once again the primary culprit is injuries. Houston players have already had 22 IL stints this season, including long-term injuries to ace Hunter Brown, starter Cristian Javier, and SS/3B Carlos Correa with Correa being lost for the season. Closer Josh Hader has yet to pitch this season and the team has stated he will not be activated when eligible May 24.

Additionally, the team is also down franchise icon Jose Altuve, starting catcher Yainer Diaz, OF Joey Loperfido, and SP Lance McCullers Jr.

The Astros were planning on leaning on some young players like Loperfido (injured), Brice Matthews (.202 AVG, .609 OPS), Cam Smith (.206 AVG, .618 OPS) and Zach Cole (.186 AVG, .623 OPS), but none have risen to the occasion as yet.

Offseason acquisitions SP Mike Burrows (2-6, 5.75 ERA) and Tatsuya Imai (1-2, 8.31 ERA) have both struggled badly this season.

The Cubs, however, will see the three starters who have pitched the best for Houston: Spencer Arrighetti (5-1, 1.50 ERA), Kai-Wei Teng (2-3, 2.61 ERA) and Peter Lambert (2-4, 3.57 ERA).

Houston’s pitching is starting to normalize, as both RHP Bryan Abreu and RHP A.J. Blubaugh have started to find themselves after slow starts, while LHP Steven Okert has gotten his command in line lately as well. The addition of hard-throwing RHP Nate Pearson and rookie RHP Alimber Santa (4-2, 2 Sv, 1.42 ERA at Triple-A Sugar Land) should give the bullpen some of the swing-and-miss capability it has sorely lacked this season.

Offensively, the team really goes as DH Yordan Alvarez goes. Alvarez leads the team in most every major offensive category (AVG, OBP, OPS, SLG, H, R, 2B, HR, RBI, BB) and when he’s hot, the team scores. When he goes 0-for, it’s very hard for them to overcome currently. Jeremy Pena and Jake Meyers have just returned to the team a few days ago. Christian Walker (11 HR 31 RBI .255 AVG .819 OPS) has rebounded strongly from a subpar 2025, while Isaac Paredes is off to a slow start (.244 AVG, .711 OPS) after a big season last year.

So far this season, the Astros have not been able to match up effective pitching with timely hitting. After leading the AL in runs in April, the team’s offense has fallen flat in May. Since a 10-0 victory in Cincinnati May 8, Houston is 4-8 and has scored 23 runs (less than 2 runs per game).

The Astros offense has struggled with strike zone management, striking out at high rates and walking at low rates.

While the team still hopes to get hot once it gets healthy, the current roster has not been able to maintain any kind of momentum, resulting in swirling rumors about the job status of manager Joe Espada and GM Dana Brown.

Fun facts

The Cubs have lost 47 more games against the Astros than they have won, 385-338, but are 189-170 at Wrigley Field, including a three-game sweep when the teams met most recently on the North Side in April of 2024. Last year, the Cubs lost two of three in Texas.

This is just the third series between the teams at Wrigley since the Astros switched to the American League. The first was in 2013, their first season in the AL. The Cubs won two of three. In all interleague matchups, each team has won nine games.

(Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)

Probable pitching matchups

Friday: Jameson Taillon, RHP (2-3, 4.97 ERA, 1.204 WHIP, 6.68 FIP) vs. Spencer Arrighetti, RHP (5-1, 1.50 ERA, 1.194 WHIP, 3.61 FIP)

Saturday: Colin Rea, RHP (4-2, 4.98 ERA, 1.426 WHIP, 4.09 FIP) vs. Kai-Wei Teng, RHP (2-3, 2.61 ERA, 1.097 WHIP, 3.79 FIP)

Sunday: TBD vs. Peter Lambert, RHP (2-4, 3.57 ERA, 1.075 WHIP, 3.31 FIP)

NOTE: Sunday should be Shōta Imanaga’s turn; for some reason the Cubs do not have him officially listed yet.

Times & TV channels

Friday: 1:20 p.m. CT, Apple TV (how to watch)

Saturday: 1:20 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network

Sunday: 1:20 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network

Prediction

The Astros seem a bit of a conundrum. If you look at the three starters for this series, you might wonder why they are 11 games under .500. Largely, it’s because their other starters have been pretty bad (overall 5.02 starter ERA) and the bullpen has been worse (5.72 ERA for relievers, and closer Bryan Abreu has been horrific, with an ERA over 8).

So the game plan here, I think, should be to get the Houston starters out of the game as early as possible.

The Cubs should right the ship by taking two of three here.

Up next

The Cubs travel to Pittsburgh for a four-game series against the Pirates beginning Monday afternoon.

Diamondbacks News

(The Denver Post) Rockies waste Zach Agnos’ brilliant start, get walked off by D-backs

Colorado’s demise on Thursday began ominously when reliever Juan Mejia walked Moreno to open the frame. Mejia also walked Ketel Marte to move Moreno into scoring position. All told, Colorado pitchers issued eight free passes.

The Rockies, who were 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position, wasted a brilliant start from usual mid-game reliever Zach Agnos. Making his first start since high school, Agnos pitched five shutout innings, giving up one hit, striking out four and walking just one.

(SI.com) Corbin Carroll’s Walk-Off Winner Puts Diamondbacks in New Territory

But despite the surprisingly-meager crowd of just 14,761 (the lowest since May 8 of 2023), the cheers rang out around Chase Field as Carroll shot a single through the first base gap with two outs in a 1-1 game, scoring Gabriel Moreno from second base. It was Carroll’s fourth career walk-off hit.

But the hit stood for more than just an exciting Thursday night. With that win, the Diamondbacks are suddenly in new territory: a five-game winning streak. That is their longest win streak of the season, and their longest since June 9-14 of 2025. Arizona has not had a six-game win streak since August of 2024.

(Arizona Sports) Corbin Carroll walks off Rockies, Diamondbacks win 5th straight

This was the second walk-off win of the week for the Diamondbacks and third of the year. Ketel Marte hit a game-winning home run on Tuesday, as Arizona’s top two hitters have come through in the clutch during this homestand.

The Diamondbacks have won five straight games (season high) to improve to 26-23, starting this Rockies-Giants-Rockies-Giants stretch of the schedule 6-1.

(SI.com) Diamondbacks’ Strange Attendance Drop is Starting to Raise Concerns

Through the first 24 games of 2025, the D-backs had drawn 32,607 fans per game. So far in 2026 that number in the same amount of games is all the way down a whopping 5,413 per game. That is by far the biggest numerical drop of any team in the league. The second-highest drop is the Kansas City Royals, down 2,527 fans per game.

MLB News

(Yahoo! Sports) A’s $2B Las Vegas Strip stadium on schedule to open before 2028 season, officials say

“The lower-suite level is progressing substantially,” said Tyler Van Eeckhaut, project director for contractors Mortenson-McCarthy. “We’re starting to see a lot of rooms taking shape and a lot of that environment has really started to become a component of the stadium.”

Buttress work has been completed to mark a significant milestone, and the upper deck began going up in April. A parking garage on the southeast side will be phased in with 1,500 lots initially available and 2,500 by the time construction is completed.

(Battery Power) Ronald Acuña, Jr. leaves game with thumb issue; is day-to-day (Updated)

When getting ready to take the field in the bottom of the fifth, Acuña, Jr. lingered near the dugout while his thumb was examined before jogging back to right field. Acuña, Jr. had singled in two runs in the top of the inning.

(CBS Sports) A’s pitcher J.T. Ginn loses no-hitter and then the game vs. Angels in span of four pitches

Major League Baseball still hasn’t seen a no-hitter since Sept. 4, 2024. J.T. Ginn of the Athletics strongly flirted with snapping the drought on Monday evening in Anaheim against the Angels. In fact, he took the no-hitter to the ninth inning with a 1-0 lead. But instead of making history, he came out on the wrong side of a walk-off loss.

The game was actually tied, 0-0, heading to the ninth, and a small rally gave the A’s the lead and set the table for Ginn. Adam Frazier singled to start the ninth inning for the Halos. Three pitches later, Zach Neto hit a walk-off home run to center field.

(NBC Sports) Tarik Skubal takes ‘great step’ in recovery from elbow surgery, throws third bullpen session

Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Stubal threw another bullpen session, his third since his rehab program from elbow surgery began.

The two-time American League Cy Young Award winner underwent a non-invasive procedure on his left pitching elbow on May 6 to remove a loose body. He threw his latest bullpen session prior to Detroit’s home game against Cleveland.

Manager A.J. Hinch called it a “great step” but stopped short of saying when Skubal might return to action.

It was a huge day at the plate for Alex Lodise, who seems to be coming around for Augusta following a two home run performance for them. With that effort Lodise tied for the team lead in home runs, and the top three in the lineup sit 1-2-3 on the team in home runs. Elsewhere Cam Caminiti made another start and had some struggles, giving up a lot of damage to Hub City in a loss in which the offense largely didn’t give him much help to work with.

(27-21) Gwinnett Stripers 7, (24-24) Charlotte Knights

Box Score

Statcast

• Jim Jarvis, SS: 2-3, 2B, 2 BB, 3 RBI, .301/.408/.422
• Rowdy Tellez, DH: 2-4, BB, .262/.358/.518
• Elieser Hernandez, SP: 5.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 5.36 ERA

Adam Zebrowski hasn’t had many chances to make a mark in Gwinnett in his career, but in his first call to Triple-A this season he made the biggest contribution to the game for the Stripers. Zebrowski launched a 412 foot opposite field home run in the second inning, giving the Stripers a 2-0 lead early in the game. He would add on later in the game with a bases loaded walk to again put the Stripers in the lead, and Gwinnett would never trail again. Jim Jarvis, a much less surprising major contributor to this game, drew a walk behind Zebrowski to force home a run as part of his three RBI day that included two hits and two walks. Jarvis sealed the game in the eighth inning with a long drive to right field, bouncing off of the wall for a two-run double that exploded the Stripers lead from 4-3 to 6-3. He scored on a Luke Williams single on the next play to cap the scoring effort for both sides. Jarvis has fallen into a nasty slump this month, but has shown some signs in the past week of digging his way out of it. Jarvis has more walks than strikeouts in his past five games and a four game hitting streak with two extra base hits, by far his best stretch of play so far this month. His first month was absolutely unsustainable statistically, but he hit the ball hard today and is actually hitting the ball harder this month than he was last month. He just has far more ground balls which has led to fewer barrels and less overall impact.

It was a scary outing for Elieser Hernandez, who got a bit fortunate to escape this game without major damage. He was giving up slews of hard hits balls, and more importantly hard-hit fly balls, and he wasn’t really missing bats to make up for it. He managed to escape the game without giving up and home runs, however, so despite allowing seven hits and two walks the Knights were mostly held at bay and only scored two earned runs against him. The Stripers bullpen was excellent, particularly Hunter Stratton who has been quite impressive for them after a rough opening outing this season. Stratton’s walk rates this season are being inflated by a couple of poor outings, but as the season goes on he appears as if he is going to settle in and be significant depth for the major league roster. Ian Hamilton is having a crazy year in terms of his ability to throw strikes, setting behind a history of not being a great control pitcher. He only has three walks in 15 innings this season (though we’re also dealing with the opposite end of the small sample spectrum to Stratton’s) and that has allowed him to be a dominant reliever for the Stripers. Hamilton’s velocity this game was a tick over his season average, but he is still below where he sat at his peak with Yankees a few years back.

Swing and Misses

Elieser Hernandez – 7

Hunter Stratton – 3

Ian Hamilton – 3

(20-21) Columbus Clingstones 4, (21-21) Pensacola Blue Wahoos 3

Box Score

• Lizandro Espinoza, CF: 1-4, RBI, .283/.401/.517
• David McCabe, DH: 1-4, .254/.341/.559
• Patrick Clohisy, RF: 0-3, BB, .265/.338/.436
• Julio Robaina, SP: 5.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 2.79 ERA

This game came down to the shakiest of ninth innings, and the tightly-puckered affair ended with the defense of the Clingstones coming through in a big spot. These two teams traded runs back and forth in this game, but there was little on the offensive end that stood out for either side. The Clingstones were able to get mild contributions from all parts of the lineup, starting with a Luke Waddell double that led to the first run of the game for them. Trailing again in the sixth inning the top of the batting order got involved with the game when Patrick Clohisy led the inning off with a walk and stole second base. This set the stage for a Lizandro Espinoza single, who roped one into left field to score Clohisy easy. Espinoza then went wild on the bases and stole his way around to third base, where Waddell lifted a sacrifice fly to give Columbus their first lead of the game. That lead lasted little time as the Blue Wahoos tied it up in the bottom of the sixth inning, but in the seventh the impact swing turned the game in Columbus’s favor for good. Ethan Workinger hit an absolute nuke out to left field, the defender only taking a couple of steps as the ball sailed into the bay to give Columbus a 4-3 lead.

Workinger’s impact extended beyond his contributions with the bat. It was a mediocre day on the mound for Julio Robaina, who didn’t pitch horrible but didn’t really show the stuff to get a ton of whiffs in the game. As a result he had a lot of contact, and that contact turned into a huge fifth inning home run and traffic on the bases that added up to three runs against Robaina. Yet the score could have been worse without an incredible effort by Workinger in the third inning. The leadoff hitter in the inning lifted a slow curve deep out to left field, and Workinger drifted back up to the track and the wall. Workinger went up the wall and reached over to bring back a solo home run, saving an early run that proved critical in the final score of the game. Where Robaina was okay on the mound the relievers struck fear into the Clingstones’s dugout, though they ultimately tip-toed around damage, starting with Blayne Enlow. Enlow allowed two walks in the seventh inning, but the hardest hit ball he allowed sunk right into the glove of Espinoza in center field. Enlow then picked off the runner at second base to end the inning, stopping a potential rally in its tracks before handing the ball to Blayne Abeyta. Abeyta shut down the side in order in the eighth inning, but Tyler LaPorte had no such luck in the ninth. He issued a leadoff walk and then made a throwing error, causing his own jam to start the inning. After a sac bunt and an intentional walk LaPorte found himself staring down a bases loaded situation in a one run game, but the baseball gods shone on him. A hard grounder up the middle found its way directly into Luke Waddell’s glove, and he and Ambioris Tavarez turned an easy double play to close the game and a hard-fought win for the Clingstones.

Swing and Misses

Julio Robaina – 8

Blane Abeyta – 3

Blayne Enlow – 3

(23-19) Rome Emperors 3, (23-18) Hub City Spartanburgers 4

Box Score

• Isaiah Drake, LF: 0-4, BB, .274/.357/.457
• John Gil, SS: 0-2, 3 BB, .268/.380/.430
• Eric Hartman, DH: 2-4, 2B, RBI, .320/.397/.660
• Cam Caminiti, SP: 6.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 5.19 ERA

Results this season have been mixed for Cam Caminiti, to say the least, and his last three outings serve as a disappointing set of games after a terrific opener to the month. Most of that is regression in his slider relative to last year. While he had a fair amount of success locating his fastball in this game, which shows up in his low walk total, his mechanics on his slider are all over the place. He was not able to find a consistent release point and often that led to the slider staying up in the strike zone where hitter could either get good swings or at least foul the ball off. Right handed hitter in particular seem to be getting a really good look at him and are not fooled when the slider comes. This is one of those things for Caminiti that he’s just going to have to grind through over the summer, making those little adjustments to get back on track. We’ve still seen flashes of the guy that was dominant last season and his fastball command may even be a tick better than it was in 2025, he just hasn’t found consistent location to finish at bats. I am far from the point that I would consider this stretch of play anything to fear for a guy so much younger than his competition, and Caminiti has shown the aptitude to make necessary adjustments in the past. He even seemed to settle in late in this game and get better at keeping pitches down and away from the contact zone of hitters.

Offense was tough to come by for Rome in this game. They were held scoreless through seven innings, and they didn’t seem to be making a major threat at the plate at all. The team had a total of 12 strikeouts and early in the game the only one who seemed locked in was John Gil, who was able to work three walks in the game. Their big break came in the eighth inning, when Isaiah Drake and John Gil drew back-to-back walks to bring up Eric Hartman. Hartman is exactly the guy they would want at the plate in this spot, and he delivered. He hit a missile into the right field corner for a double, a ball hit so hard that it got the wall too quickly for Gil to score from first base. That did, however, push home Isaiah Drake, and with one out the inning the Emperors were cooking with the tying run on second base. Will Verdung had a chance with the bases loaded and two outs, and he came up with a clutch single. He slapped a sharp grounder through the right side and Hartman was off on contact, using his speed to score without a throw from right field and tie the game at three runs apiece. In the bottom of the ninth inning the Spartanburgers created a threat with a runner on second base and two outs, bringing up their nine hole hitter. He came through with a hit to right field, but a terrific throw from Isaiah Drake made it a close play at the plate. Unfortunately Mac Gusette dropped the throw, and the runner scored to walk the game off.

Swing and Misses 

Cam Caminiti – 11

David Rodriguez – 7

(24-18) Augusta GreenJackets 5, (18-24) Columbia Fireflies 4

Box Score

• Tate Southisene, DH: 1-4, .288/.425/.484
• Alex Lodise, SS: 3-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI, .259/.340/.431
• Luis Guanipa, CF: 0-4, .308/.350/.522
• Landon Biedelschies, SP: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 8.49 ERA
• Luis Arestigueta, RP: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 6.20 ERA

It has been an interesting season for Alex Lodise, with plenty of rough days at the plate but others where he looks like the best player on the field. Thursday was the latter of those performances, as he went deep twice to tie Luis Guanipa for the team lead with eight home runs on the year. Neither of his home runs left any doubt in the mind when they came off of the bat. Following a Tate Southisene leadoff single Lodise got a fastball at 90 mph on the inner half of the plate and he hit it a mile down the left field line, hooking inside the foul pole and into the apartments to give Augusta a two run lead. His second home run looked much the same – an inside fastball at 93 mph that he obliterated to left field for a two-run bomb. He added another hit in the seventh inning, this one a single, giving him his first three-hit game since back on April 7th. It’s been six games since he had an extra base hit, so this broke him out of a short slump that hasn’t been particularly deep. Lately Lodise has been drawing more walks and making more contact, he just hasn’t seen the hits fall quite as often despite positive signs at the plate. Luis Guanipa saw his hitting streak snapped with an 0-4 performance, but it’s not one you can chalk up to a bad day at the plate. Guanipa hit the ball hard all four times at the plate, particularly in his last two at bats, but sprayed the right at defenders where they were easily snagged for outs. The outputs may have trailed the inputs this game, but there is zero doubt that Guanipa is still locked in a the plate and if he makes contact like this in future games he’s going to have even more big days at the plate.

Landon Beidelschies needed a day where things went right for him on the mound, and that came to fruition for him on Thursday with his best outing of the season. Beidelschies still isn’t missing very many bats, but importantly he had solid command of his slider which allowed him to keep hitters off of his fastball and force some weak contact. He did have stretches where he elevated the slider but that wasn’t a consistent problem, and against the left handed hitters in the order he had some success at getting strikeouts. His only trouble in the game came courtesy of his own errors. Beidelschies is in a weird spot on the mound. There has been a steady improvement in his execution of his fastball and if the slider follows suit that will make a massive difference in his results moving forward. Still, he hasn’t shown a breaking ball that has the quality needed to miss bats consistently and that has to be a point of emphasis for his development. It’s a bit early to say that Luis Arestigueta has turned a corner, but after finishing strong two outings ago and looking good last week he came in and had one of his best days of the season. That is by far the most consistency he has shown to date, and he was ripping his fastballs today. Possibly it’s because he knew he only needed to cover two innings after Beidelschies was able to pitch deep, but Arestigueta was up around 95 for this game and for the most part was commanding the ball well. There are occasions that his arm slot drops and drags behind him leading to bad misses, but he has been so much better at staying high and more compact and it’s made a huge difference in how often he can land fastballs and get ahead in the count. His slider was as sharp as I’ve seen it in a GreenJackets uniform, and he even dropped in a couple of changeups to keep lefties honest. His fastball lacks the carry that would get him a ton of whiffs up in the strike zone, but he still has room to add muscle and velocity to his frame to give even more projectability to a profile that has made a jump in the past 12 months. It’s hard not to be happy with how Arestigueta has looked lately and while I have my doubts as to whether the changeup will ever come along enough to get him another shot in the rotation, the fastball-slider is a big league quality combination.

Swing and Misses

Luis Arestigueta – 6

Landon Biedelschies – 5

At the beginning of May, the Orioles got their butts kicked for four straight games by the Yankees and they needed to act immediately to prevent the season from spiraling out of control. The O’s managed to do this in winning two of the next three series, including getting some revenge against the Yankees. A struggle of a series facing a poor Nationals pitching staff and a sweep at the hands of the Rays later and the Orioles are back in a tailspin that could prove fatal to their hopes of being able to eventually go somewhere good this year.

If you are reading this hoping to feel better about the Orioles, I am probably not your guy. I am feeling bad about this team. It’s looking increasingly like, for a second consecutive year, they ain’t got it. They should have it. Some of their weaknesses should be their strengths instead. Other things among their weaknesses are going worse than even most pessimists would have predicted. Who to blame for all of this and what to do about it are the subjects of daily argument. Nobody with influence to change things seems to know how to make that happen.

Perhaps at least this weekend will go better for the Orioles. One thing working in their favor is that they are back at Camden Yards, where they are playing at a .500 clip so far this season. Another is that they are playing the Tigers, one of the teams with an even worse record than the O’s themselves have. Detroit has lost its last six games and 14 of its last 16. They were above .500 before this began and now they’re 20-31.

The story of Detroit’s season seems to be the disappointment from its offense, even though they have two great young hitters. 25-year-old outfielder Riley Greene is currently on pace to have the best-hitting year of his five MLB seasons. They debuted a top infield prospect, Kevin McGonigle, early this season, who is already worth 2.7 bWAR in 49 games of his rookie season. That’s basically the guy we wanted Jackson Holliday to be, and unlike Holliday, McGonigle has just showed up and he is doing great. That’s a good start to a good offense.

The problem is nearly every other Tigers hitter. There are some brutal batting splits kicking around, with several Tigers position players among the worst that MLB has to offer so far this season. This includes former Oriole Jahmai Jones, former #1 overall pick Spencer Torkelson, outfielder Wenceel Pérez, and utilityman Zach McKinstry. The best OPS of the players I just named is Torkelson at .681. The others are far worse; they’d fit in with the biggest Orioles strugglers like Tyler O’Neill and Colton Cowser. Pérez is kind of impressively already at a -1.1 bWAR.

Things are going better for Detroit’s pitching staff. Orioles fans looking at the team’s 4.97 ERA have got to be envious of the Tigers having a team ERA nearly a full run lower. How much of this is difference is an “invisible” gap in defensive quality is not something I can say because I don’t watch the Tigers.

They’ve had their share of pitching problems even through the overall quality. Two-time Cy Young Tarik Skubal is out due to surgery for loose bodies in his elbow. The feel-good late-career reunion with Justin Verlander halted after one terrible start. Free agent addition Framber Valdez has a 4.58 ERA through ten games. We’ll see him in this series. Some of their bullpen guys suck. But then, some of every bullpen’s guys suck.

Like the Orioles, this team probably “should” be better than it is. It’s not. One team may come away from this series feeling a little better about itself. Unless the weekend’s weather forecast leads to the teams playing only two games right now and they split the two games they actually play. That wouldn’t do much to feed into anybody’s narrative.

Game 1 – Friday, 7:05

• BAL starter: Chris Bassitt – 5.44 ERA, 4.74 FIP, 1.698 WHIP in 43 IP
• DET starter: Jack Flaherty – 5.77 ERA, 5.03 FIP, 1.603 WHIP in 43.2 IP

Note: This game is on Apple TV. No other TV broadcast will be available.

A theme I return to a lot when I think about these Orioles is that even pessimists could not have predicted these specific outcomes. I mentioned it above and here as I think about Bassitt it is on my mind again. I didn’t like the signing because I thought the Orioles needed to aim higher than stabilizing their back end. Yet even for that, a mid-5s ERA heading into Memorial Day weekend would have surprised me. I figured he might slide into the 4.5 range.

Maybe that’s where he’ll end up by season’s end. Maybe it’s the defense’s fault that he’s not there right now. I don’t know. What I do know is that his strikeout rate has been cut by close to a third compared to a year ago, while at the same time his walk rate has increased by about a third. That’s a tough combination, so even though his BABIP is crazy high (.352) and that’s probably not all his fault, there’s a lot that he could be doing to help his own cause that he’s not doing. Currently not looking like a great use of $18.5 million or a roster spot.

For the Tigers starter Flaherty, that’s a familiar-feeling ERA if you remember his short tenure here. He is failing in a different way than he did with the Orioles. The 2025 issue for Flaherty is that he’s walking way too many guys, handing out one walk roughly every seven batters. Whether Orioles who are not named Taylor Ward can take advantage of this may be one of the keys to success for the game.

Game 2 – Saturday, 4:05

• BAL starter: Brandon Young – 4.25 ERA, 5.23 FIP, 1.483 WHIP in 29.2 IP
• DET starter: Framber Valdez – 4.58 ERA, 4.07 FIP, 1.400 WHIP in 55 IP

At the end of spring training, if you had told me that Young would already have six starts with more coming, I wouldn’t have had a hard time picturing a disaster regarding the Orioles rotation. It has indeed been disastrous, but to be fair to Young, he hasn’t been one of the disastrous parts up to this point. Most likely he’s getting lucky. That’s a big gap between the ERA and the FIP. His strikeout/walk ratio is bad. Still, if he was the fifth-best Orioles starter, this season would probably be going fine. The problem is he’s the second best by ERA so far.

If you checked in on Valdez’s stats at the end of April, when he had a 3.35 ERA, you were probably quite upset that the Orioles didn’t sign him. He got socked in his first May start and hasn’t pitched well enough yet to recover a lower ERA. For the curious, Boston’s Ranger Suárez has a 2.40 ERA and Dylan Cease of the Blue Jays is at a 2.98. Adding either one of these guys to the Orioles rotation wouldn’t solve all of the problems they’ve had so far, but it would solve at least one.

Game 3 – Sunday, 1:35

• BAL starter: Trevor Rogers – 6.87 ERA, 4.35 FIP, 1.658 WHIP in 38 IP
• DET starter: TBD

No one should have believed that Rogers was just going to come out and drop another sub-2 ERA. I don’t think anyone believed that. Here’s another one for the “Not even the pessimists…” category. An ERA that rounds up to 7? Really? You could have thought that relying on Rogers at the top of the rotation was foolish and that the Orioles not acting to bolster the front of the rotation was a bad decision. Many people thought that and they certainly look like they were right.

Still, after last year, of course the 2026 Orioles rotation plan included Rogers in some capacity. That was always going to be the case. And like so many other guys who are undershooting even pessimistic projections, here he is. Put him at Brandon Young’s 4.25 ERA and he’s still massively disappointing after last year, and he’s more than two and a half runs worse than that.

There was no way to plan for that possibility, and at this moment, with even Cade Povich and Dean Kremer on the injured list, there’s not much way to adapt to it by kicking Rogers from the rotation even if that was an unquestionably good idea on its own merits. Everyone involved just has to hope for magical improvement.

As of this writing, it’s TBD for Detroit. TBD will probably not turn into Casey Mize, who pitched in Thursday’s game. That’s good news for the Orioles in that Mize is the best of the active Tigers pitchers. He’s sporting a 2.47 ERA across eight starts.

**

Here is another time where they have to make a stand. The Tigers are reeling. The Orioles need to make that continue. If they can’t even capitalize on that opportunity, how are we supposed to believe that they will do anything good with the season beyond Memorial Day? There’s also the basic math aspect of it. Even if they turn things around later, losing two of three this weekend would put the team at 22-31. As with last year, that’s a deep hole to escape over the remainder of the season.

How do you think this series will go? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Former Major Leaguer Ryan Sweeney, who serves as studio analyst on Chicago’s Marquee Sports Network, sits down to preview the Astros upcoming series with the Cubs at historic Wrigley Field.    

Q:  When it’s all said and done, could the Cubs have the best rotation in all of baseball this season?

A:  Cubs have had a lot of pitching injuries so to say they have the best rotation in baseball would be a stretch. With Boyd and Steele and Cade Horton out they have been piecing it together, but up until last night Shota had been pitching like a true ace. Also to think where they would be without Ben Brown and Colin Rea, they have been great.

Q:  Does something just seem “right” in the universe when the Cubs are playing a string of day games at Wrigley?

A:  Yes.  Day games at Wrigley are the best especially when you are the home team.   The Cubs had won 15 in a row at Wrigley up until Monday Night when that was halted.   I think everyone coming into town loves day games as well because Wrigley is a special place.

Q:  Astros fans miss Alex Bregman and justifiably so.  How has he made the transition to the Northside?     

A:  Alex is a great dude and I have had some interactions with him especially with the racehorses haha I own some as well . He’s just a winner and I think people respect that . That being said, with the big contract people expect him to produce.

He is a historically slow starter but has been swinging the bat better as of late, and I expect his numbers to be great by the end of the year . But I also think he loves Chicago and the team all gets along and has a good vibe together .

Thursday was a lighter day on the Major League schedule, though the Yankees still had time to squeeze in a tough loss. The Bombers mustered just three hits at the plate and spoiled a solid Carlos Rodón start in their 2-0 loss at the hands of the Blue Jays. The loss locked in a split of their four-game series, but the task becomes even taller this weekend, as they welcome the Rays into Yankee Stadium for a huge series.

Elsewhere, it was a short day on the American League schedule, with just some movement in the Central taking place in the afternoon. Here’s a look at how things shook out. Spoiler alert: We will at least temporarily be bidding adieu to the Tigers from this daily feature after today unless they’re playing someone relevant because boy are they ugly right now.

Cleveland Guardians (30-22) 3, Detroit Tigers (20-31) 1

In some Thursday afternoon action in the American League Central, the Guardians sat in the driver’s seat wire to wire against the Tigers. It was a rather quiet affair on the offensive side, one that grew Cleveland’s lead in the division, as well as Detroit’s depth in the basement.

This one pitted Casey Mize against Joey Cantillo, both of whom have enjoyed terrific starts to the 2026 season on the mound. In line with what we’ve seen thus far, both hurlers continued that trend on Thursday. For the Guardians, Cantillo made his 11th start of the season a good one. The 26-year-old lefty tossed 5.2 scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and striking out six.

For Detroit, Mize had the good stuff going for the most part as well. The former first overall draft pick is enjoying easily the best season of his career to this point in year six, and Thursday’s performance did little to tarnish that thought. The right-hander worked two spotless frames to begin the outing, before the Guardians kicked off scoring in the third inning. With two quick outs already on the board, Brayan Rocchio was the rally starter, pitching in with a double, quickly being scored by another two-bagger from Daniel Schneemann. Before the inning was over, José Ramírez upped the Cleveland lead to 2-0 with a single into left field.

Aside from the two-out rally the Guards staged against him, Mize’s afternoon was another good one, as he ended up working 6.2 quality innings against his division’s first place club, with the two runs in the third inning being the only real mark on his record for the day.

Cantillo exited the game for Cleveland in the sixth, after recording a pair of outs, though the Tigers’ bats wouldn’t have much more luck against their bullpen. In the top half of the eighth, the Guardians tacked on some insurance against Burch Smith out of the Detroit ‘pen, when former Platinum Glover Patrick Bailey swatted his second homer of the season, a solo shot.

The Tigers finally woke up a bit in the eighth inning. Squaring off against Tim Herrin, Dillon Dingler led off the inning with a solo shot of his own, his ninth long ball of the 2026 season.

Despite a little bit of life out of the Tigers late in the game, it was too little, too late. Hunter Gaddis came in for the ninth out of the Guardians’ bullpen, the sixth pitcher they used in the game, and quickly locked things down for the save. The win marked the 30th for the Guardians in 2026, while the Tigers fall to 11 games below .500, as they find themselves in last place in the AL Central.

After a short schedule on Thursday, the Blue Jays will welcome the Pirates while the Rays head to Yankee Stadium for some important weekend series.

It’s Friday, usually the day after my day to do the game recap. They didn’t win because they did’t play, but I have yet to write a winning game recap this season. Well, I won’t be writing a losing one next week – they’re off again on Thursday.

As such, I’m feeling a little grouchy. Okay, more than a little. It’s cloudy outside, it’s in the 60s the day before most pools open, the Timberwolves are out of the playoffs and miles behind the Spurs and Thunder, I’m currently in a reading funk, there’s no new episode of Widow’s Bay (my new fave show, which you should totes watch) until next week, and oh the Royals are awful.

Yes, awful. They’re losing a ton of games, and they’re not even fun to watch. Bad pitching, bad hitting, bad baserunning (okay, atrocious baserunning), and bad defense. To boot, they have a bad manager and a bad front office.

Outside of Bobby Witt Jr., there’s not really a reason to watch this team. It’s a collective group of disappointments.

But what player has been the biggest disappointment?

I have five candidates—three everyday players and two starting pitchers—for the offending dishonor, and at the end, Dear Reader, you’ll get to decide via vote. I’m taking these guys in alphabetical order. Bear witness.

Jac Caglianone

Jac is the only one of the five candidates with a positive bWAR, which is currently at 0.8. The 23-year-old right fielder looks better than he did last year, but that’s a low bar. He’s still striking out entirely too much (30%!) while his on-base percentage is sub-optimal. Luck seems to be on his side, too, as he’s hitting .344 (as compared to .172 last year) on balls in play.

Jac Caglianone got every bit of this ball 😳

113.4 MPH, 428 feet! pic.twitter.com/YujzoJlJsT

— Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) May 16, 2026

Despite a couple of bloop singles last night, he looks horrible against lefties. For the year, he’s slashing .205/.225/.333 against southpaws with only three extra-base hits. His last at-bat against the Red Sox ended with the expected, an ugly whiff against the lefty Jovani Moran.

As noted, he does have a positive WAR, and he has improved over his trainwreck of a rookie season. But he’s still not tearing it up, he’s not the power threat the Royals need him to be, and seems to take personally every out he makes. Add in that the guy taken right after him in the 2024 draft is rocking it across the state, and yeah, Jac’s leaving a bit to be desired.

Noah Cameron

The Royals would not have finished 2025 with a winning record were it not for Noah Cameron. With the pitching staff injured, maligned, or otherwise ineffective, Cameron sparkled during his rookie season, finishing 4th in the American League Rookie of the Year voting as he went 9-7 with a 2.99 ERA across 24 starts and 138.1 innings pitched.

It’s been a quick, precipitous fall in 2026 for the local kid.

Cameron’s started all eight of his appearances this season, but his ERA’s jumped to 5.40. To his credit, Cameron has actually lowered his FIP and increased his strikeout rate but he’s also walking more batters and surrendering 10.6 hits per nine innings, an increase of over three hits per nine from last year.

His biggest culprit are the balls hit in play against him. Last year batters slashed .214/.279/.361 against him with over 41% of batted balls being hit on the ground. This season, those numbers are much worse for Cameron. Now, batters are lighting him up to the tune of .287/.337/.468. Groundballs have decreased by nearly 11% while hard-hit balls have increased over 6%—from 37.4% to 43.8%. Line drives are up 9%.

It’s great that Cameron remains durable while the pitching staff takes some hits, but with a fully healthy staff, he’s probably relegated to the bullpen.

Vinnie Pasquantino

Strangeness is that Vinnie is struggling so badly while madness is that whoever fills out the lineup card—and I have my doubts that it’s Quatraro 100% of the time—keeps putting him in the middle of the order.

Vinnie’s struggles feel more than him being a slow starter. Not only does he look frustrated out on the diamond—which is understandable—he looks lost. Is he pressing? I mean, I get it if he is. He’s supposed to be one of the team leaders, and it’s hard to lead with an OPS 28% below league average. Is he hurt? What’s up with him?

Whatever the reason, Pasquantino, 28 and arbitration-eligible for the next two years, is having the worst year of his career when the Royals obviously need to him to have…not the worst year of his career. Of the three batters on this list, I’m most confident of Vinnie to snap out of it, but time’s running out for that to make much of a difference.

Salvador Perez

Did Salvy’s tweet, or X post, about not needing a mental breather sour him to anyone else? I lost not a small amount of respect for him when he used social media to express his disagreement with getting an off day. That type of exchange needs to occur behind closed doors, not in the open.

Aside from that, I went into Perez at length when I posited some ways for the Royals to handle their aging slugger. He’s had two multi-hit games since then with a pair of homers and three walks. And yet, his OPS+ is 77 (23% league average) and he still looks like he’s stuck in cement.

Barring injury, he’ll undoubtedly pass George Brett’s franchise record for career home runs this season. That may be his, and the team’s, only highlight of 2026.

Salvador Perez keeps it just inside the foul pole for his 8th home run of the season! pic.twitter.com/KX1L1660tP

— MLB (@MLB) May 20, 2026

Cole Ragans

I wanted to avoid players on the IL as much as possible, which is why I didn’t list Jonathan India, who’s out for the year, or Carlos Estevez, who barely pitched.

Ragans is different, though. He’s already pitched a fair amount this season and should have the chance to pitch plenty more.

In 2024, his first full season with the Royals, Ragans looked like a budding ace, a pitcher who has the stuff that could someday win him the Cy Young. Injuries derailed his 2025, but it’s been ineffectiveness that’s curtailed his 2026.

The culprits: walks, fly balls, and home runs. Working in reverse, Ragans is allowing home runs at the worst rate of his career, giving them up 6.6% of the time, which is almost double his previous worst mark. Batters are slugging .488 against him, also the worst of his career, and by far the worst during his time in Kansas City. It’s up over 100 points from last year!

Related, his fly ball percentage has jumped from 27% last year to 37.3% this year. Perhaps most concerning, though, is his walk rate: Ragans is walking 15.2% of the batters he faces as compared to 7.8% last year and 8.8% in 2024.

Hopefully he’s corrected himself during his time on the IL.

Alright, Readers, time for you to vote: what Royals player has been the biggest disappointment so far in 2026?