Category: Baseball

One of Tennessee’s biggest pick-ups in the transfer portal over the offseason was Blaine Brown, a 6-5 lefty two-way player. Brown is coming off of a freshman All-American season at Rice — a season that opened the door for him to transfer to a school like Tennessee, but also a season that put him on the MLB’s radar.

Brown currently ranks as a top five overall prospect for the 2027 MLB Draft, according to Over-Slot Baseball. The 19-year-old hit .292 last season at Rice, hitting ten home runs and driving in 38 runs. Oh, and he can touch upper-90s on the mound on top of all that.

“He’s just such a dynamic talent,” Josh Elander said this week of Brown. “I mean, you could argue he had the best weekend swinging the bat. I mean, the guy hits the ball regularly over 110 miles per hour. And then, you know, one thing we talked to him about is — that was a big part of his recruitment process — what does the schedule look like? And how am I in a position to have success on both sides of the ball?”

I don't see a lot of people talking about Tennessee OF Blaine Brown as a potential top-of-draft name in 2027. I'm buying stock.

6-4, LHH, Hits the ball HARD.
Long stride, 55 runner, big arm strength in RF.

No. 3 college prospect on my board for 2027. pic.twitter.com/imEIv4F8vG

— Joe Doyle (@JoeDoyleMiLB) November 10, 2025

Brown’s bat figures to be an everyday presence in Tennessee’s 2026 lineup, but figuring out his plan on the mound is something Elander is going to have to work through, perhaps a bit on the fly.

“We spent a ton of time kind of outlining different options,” Elander said. “Because, again, do you start? Do you come out of the pen? Does he go from left field and then come in? So what we went with yesterday was a pretty good little trial, we went with the pitcher-DH. So he opened up the game and he was 93-95 (mph) with over seven foot of extension, really kind of cutting it loose.

“Then that gives him the freedom to then kind of just go to DH, so take focus, go get us some outs. So there’s some opener capabilities there. Full confidence in him being able to start. But then also, I like the idea of, hey, maybe he comes in out of left field at one point.”

Brown appeared in seven games for Rice last season, making four starts. Those outings didn’t go well though, with Brown giving up ten earned runs in just 4.1 innings pitched. He walked 12 batters in that span, highlighting some potential control issues. Scouts think his bat will eventually win out as he looks ahead to his professional career, but he will give Tennessee another option on the mound this spring.

“There’s a lot of options we can do there, but a lot of that with Blaine will just be communicating with him on how he’s feeling,” Elander said. “It’s just dynamic talent on both sides of the ball.”

Brown’s athletic pedigree is certainly there. His father, Chris Brown, was a third-round pick of the Tennessee Titans, where he went on to spend several seasons. Brown did get some action last year against the Volunteers, smacking a double in an early-season game in Houston.

He now joins a loaded Tennessee lineup ready to usher in a new era in Knoxville. Based on the early buzz Brown has generated so far? You’ll be hearing a lot more about him in the coming weeks.

The Guardians have brought back some familiar faces for 2026 – which brings the most joy to you as a fan to imagine seeing in a Guardians’ uniform this season?

Austin Hedges – the heart of the Guardians’ clubhouse and an elite defender (let’s not talk about his bat)?

Pedro Avila – the lovable Teddy Bear and ravenous innings eater?

Ben Lively – fierce mound competitor and innings-eating fifth starter?

Shawn Armstrong – former useful organization arm turned effective high leverage reliever in the meantime?

Still time to add Yandy Diaz to this list, Guards!

It’s time for the annual tradition of fan favorite and postseason stalwart Kiké Hernández returning to the Dodgers. The veteran utility player says he’s back in Los Angeles for a fifth time, posting on Instagram on Thursday that he’s returning to the Dodgers for 2026.

From Hernández on Instagram: “What else did you expect?!!! 3 in a row has a nice ring to it! #WeBack”

Hernández’s deal with the Dodgers is for $4.5 million, per Fabian Ardaya at The Athletic and Jack Harris of The California Post.

The Dodgers, who have a full 40-man roster, haven’t yet announced a new deal for Hernández. They can start using the 60-day injured list on the date pitchers and catchers officially report to camp to open up a roster spot. That’s no later than Friday, when the Dodgers will hold their first official workout at Camelback Ranch.

Hernández had an injury-plagued 2025 regular season, sidelined for seven weeks with left elbow inflammation in July and August. He hit .203/.255/.366 with 10 home run in 92 games, and per usual started at five different positions.

He got healthy by October and started all 17 postseason games, but even that period was affected by the injury. Through the first eight games of the postseason, Hernández was hitting .379/.455/.517 with four doubles. But after an ill-advised dive in left field in Game 3 of the NLCS, in which he landed on his left elbow, Hernández had just five hits in 35 at-bats (.143/.139/.229).

In November, Hernández had surgery on his left elbow that will prevent him from playing for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic in March, and could affect his readiness at the beginning of the regular season.

During Dodgers Fest on January 31 at Dodger Stadium, Miguel Rojas said he expected Hernández to return to Los Angeles.

“I’m in constant communication with Kiké. I feel like, all my mind, I have no doubt that he’s gonna be back,” Rojas said. “It has something to do with his injury and the stuff that he’s going through right now, he’s not going to be ready until maybe a couple of months into the season. I’m crossing my fingers and keeping the hope that we’re going to have Kiké, because we all know how important he is for the clubhouse, the organization, for the fans, for the city of LA. He deserves to be with us, too.”

During the World Series, Hernández broke Justin Turner’s record for most postseason games played in Dodgers history, now at 92 games for Hernández.

“This is not just any franchise, man. This is the LA Dodgers. They’ve been around for a long time, and they have a lot of history,” Hernández said in October. “And for a guy like me from Puerto Rico, kind of swam against the current my entire life, to be sitting in this position is pretty special.”

The Dodgers acquired Hernández from the Marlins at the 2014 winter meetings in the Dee Strange-Gordon trade, then acquired him from the Red Sox at the 2023 trade deadline. This is now the third straight offseason Hernández has returned to the Dodgers in free agency.

Including 2026, Hernández will have played for the Dodgers in 10 of his 13 major league seasons.

Spring training is the time to hear about who is in the best shape of their life, which teams might be cursed with injuries (not a great start for the Braves), and potential adjustments players make.

While the narrative is that the Phillies are “running it back” and that everything will remain static year to year, it is important to point out that players and teams make adjustments. In 2025, Trea Turner became a much better defensive shortstop, Brandon Marsh cut his strikeout rate by more than six percent, and Jesús Luzardo started throwing a sweeper.

Here is an attempt to predict what adjustments we see from Phillies players in 2026 and why they’re making them.

Bryce Harper’s First Pitch Swing% drops to 40%

Since his second MVP season in 2021, Bryce Harper has become more and more aggressive early in counts because of how pitchers were pitching him. Harper’s best chance at getting a fastball came early in counts and he was seeing less and less of them as time went on.

In 2021, Harper saw four-seam fastballs 36.2% of the time, that number dropped to 32.6 the following season as pitchers made adjustments.

So he made his counter adjustments by being more aggressive early in counts. After swinging at the first pitch 40.2% of the time in 2021, here are his first pitch swing rates the next four seasons:

2022: 50.4%

2023: 47.5%

2024: 47.4%

2025: 54.1%

This all led to more chase outside of the strike zone and fewer fastballs over time. Harper only saw four-seam fastballs 28.4% of the time in 2025, the lowest since Baseballsavant has tracked back in 2017. It was probably the first time in Harper’s professional career he saw four-seam fastballs less than 30% of the time.

The goal for 2026 is to get pitchers to throw more of them. Maybe moving Harper to the two-hole or Schwarber down to the cleanup position might help but if Harper is keeping a similar approach, it might not make much of a difference.

Instead, Harper will course-correct all the way back and become way more patient at the plate early in counts as pitchers have adjusted. With a first-pitch swing rate of roughly 40%, he will also have his lowest chase rate since 2021, and get into more favorable counts. Eventually, pitchers will have to come in the zone, throw him slightly more fastballs, and Bryce Harper will magically put him elite numbers again because there is nothing to show he’s physically declining as a player.

Brad Keller’s go-to secondary pitch will not be his slider

Since Brad Keller entered the majors in 2018, his primary non-fastball pitch was his hard-slider but that will change in 2026 under the Phillies major league pitching department. Keller has already talked about some of the new ideas the Phillies might be bringing to the table with his arsenal.

“He kinda brought up some ideas of things that we feel like would be fun things to try,” Keller said. “Like, throwing sweepers to lefties, changeups to righties, things like that that’s kind of a little unorthodox.

Keller’s 2025 changed the entire trajectory of his career. He went from a starter that sat roughly 93-95 and mostly three pitches to a hard throwing reliever with 4 or 5 pitches he can use to anyone.

I wrote about some of the tweaks the Phillies could make but there was nothing definitive about how he will attack hitters in 2026.

What I am predicting is that he will throw more sweepers to right handed hitters and more changeups to lefties and what pitch will he throw less of in 2026? His traditional slider.

For the first time in Brad Keller’s major league career, and probably his entire life, his go-to secondary pitch won’t be the hard-slider.

Adolis García’s opposite-field flyball rate will be at least 25%

The Phillies signed Adolis García and hope to get his swing to stay in the strike zone more consistently in 2026. He had a chase rate of 35.8% and 31.1% of the fastballs he saw were outside of the strike zone.

The best place to start with making slight approach changes is to stay back on fastballs and use the opposite field. With Garcia’s plus raw power, going the other way could help his overall numbers if he is making more contact.

Another reason he could be using the entire field is because of physical decline he is facing as an aging player. García turns 33 in March and has carried league average bat speed the past two seasons, a decline over what it was back in 2023. It could get even worse as he ages.

Part of using the entire field could be by design to stay within the strike zone slightly more often but also could be aging-related if he is not able to catch up to velocity and spin like he used to.

García is a strange bet for the Phillies to make in general. He’s 33, has shown some signs as an aging athlete already but could be inclined for bigger issues in 2026. He is considered a power hitter but has a sub .400 slugging over the past two seasons. He is a good defensive right fielder, a massive upgrade over Nick Castellanos, but his range could slip with natural physical decline.

After stepping aside on the first day of spring training so that teammate Framber Valdez could have the stage, it was Justin Verlander’s turn on Thursday. Scott Harris and Jeff Greenberg introduced him to the media on Thursday morning, and we go the first image in almost nine years of Verlander in the classic Detroit Tigers home white jersey. He then took questions from the press and there were some interesting notes, starting with the fact that the whole projected starting rotation came to the presser, as they did for Valdez on Wednesday. We love a show of rotational unity.

Verlander mentioned that as early as September of 2025, with the San Francisco Giants missing out on the postseason, his thoughts returned to Detroit. He reached out to the Tigers front office at the end of the season, but noted that he and Harris had some candid conversations where it didn’t really seem like a reunion was going to fit into the Tigers plans. The season ending injury to Reese Olson, and the fact that Verlander was still considering his options in early February, finally opened up a role and a need on the Tigers roster that their former ace could return to fill.

Nine full years since his last spring training camp in Lakeland, the facilities looked completely different as the numerous renovations and upgrades to the Tigers campus all took place after he was traded to Houston in August of 2017. Verlander noted Tarik Skubal showing him around and the oddity of finding picture of himself in his younger days around the facility and locker room. He described the last two days as “very surreal” at one point.

He talked about growing up in Detroit in front of this fanbase, and his reputation as a fairly solitary and self-obsessed player in those days, saying that he didn’t really have any regrets as he needed that intensity to become the pitcher he wanted to be and ultimately became. Verlander discussed actively working on his communication and becoming a more relaxed, open teammate available for questions and advice, saying it was something he had to work on as his career evolved. He also reminded reporters that he’d been saying he wanted to pitch until he’s 45 since he was 22 years old, and chuckled at how naive that sounds now, while discussing how he’s been able to keep it going and continue evolving.

The way he finished the 2025 season found him the healthiest he’s been in a few seasons, and sparked his continued conviction that he could still get it done. Adjustments he made during the 2025 season, and that he’d been working on since 2024, finally came together and he could feel it immediately in his stuff and in hitters reactions to certain pitches.

There was plenty more as reporters probed for his recollections of his younger eras in Detroit, and Verlander generally tried to keep the emphasis on the present and what he can do now to help the Tigers win. One question about whether his daughter is old enough to appreciate the return drew laughs when Verlander chuckled and emphasized that no, this means nothing at her age yet. He also emphasized that short of a major injury that requires surgery, he’s going to keep pitching for as long as he can, and he also recounted a point in which Brad Ausmus started teaching him to use data to improve his pitch selection and how that led him to using analytics much more in his preparation. A final note was that the famous or infamous Taco Bell superstition ended in 2017.

More than anything, just the visuals of Justin Verlander speaking to reporters while wearing the Olde English D really brought home how unexpected and yet totally familiar this all feels.

Joining our 2026 prospect rankings at #19 overall, Beilenson is our first of a few pure relief prospects we’ll see on the back half of our rankings this year. Something that’s been atypical in recent seasons, with the large exodus of prospect talent over the past year and change, some of these higher floor relief types are creeping their way into the top twenty due to a lack of impact towards the end of this system. They’re probably not going to be the sexiest names that most people know, but there’s value in predictability, and that’s precisely what these kinds of arms provide.

Sox win! Charlie Beilenson strikes out the last batter to earn his first professional save. pic.twitter.com/ZpQYe1Z6xX

— Everett AquaSox (@EverettAquaSox) April 5, 2025

Taken in the fifth round of the 2024 draft as a senior sign out of Duke, Beilenson was one of many college relievers the Mariners took in order to afford signing stud right-hander Ryan Sloan away from his college commitment in the second round. He was, however, arguably the top collegiate reliever that season and would have been a popular target for any team in a similar situation financially. Not a top prospect, but far from an afterthought.

On the bump, Beilenson features a legitimate three pitch mix that’s consistently performed well during his time in the Seattle organization. His fastball lives in the mid 90’s and is a capable offering, however he truly makes his money with a parachuting changeup and tight slider. None of his offerings are truly a “wipeout” offering per se, but the combination of the three allows him to get enough whiff to survive in the modern baseball climate. Plus, he’s got premium command of his entire arsenal, frequently working ahead in counts and rarely giving in if he falls behind. Perhaps not a dynamic strikeout artist, but a really solid arm to have in your system.

Charlie Beilenson had it all working tonight. pic.twitter.com/uFZ5tPL0Y2

— Mariners Minors (@MiLBMariners) May 3, 2025

Over the span of his 2025 season, Beilenson pitched in two disparate offensive environments for two halves of the season: Everett’s Funko Field and Arkansas’ DSP. Interestingly, those aforementioned homer problems crept up at a roughly equivalent rate regardless of level, perhaps indicating his homer luck was a bit wacky over the course of last season. The underlying stats would agree with that sentiment, as despite his 4.02 ERA, Beilenson had a 2.78 xFIP (FIP that has essentially been “homerun luck” adjusted) on the year, an excellent mark that paints a brighter picture of his true ability on the mound.

Beilenson is pushing to carve out a big league future by inducing a ton of ground balls (48.8 GB%) and commanding the zone. It’s probably a middle-innings type of ceiling that doesn’t have any true outlier trait, but the numbers are interesting enough to warrant his inclusion towards the end of our rankings. Having turned 26 a few months ago, Beilenson is old for a prospect yet to debut in AAA, but with little pressure to rush him to the majors, he’ll have plenty of time to acclimate to AAA and prove he can be a viable big league depth arm for the 2026 season.

The Rays starters had three pitchers throw 150 or more innings in 2025 (Pepiot at 167, Baz at 166, and Rasmussen just made it with 150), which should be viewed as an acoomplishment. The last time that happened was in 2016 when Chris Archer eclipsed 200, Jake Odorizzi threw 187, and Drew Smyly added 175.

The volume of innings and health of the rotation in 2025 was impressive, but their production was roughly average – even accounting for Steinbrenner Field being one of the more HR-friendly parks in the league. The Rays starters ranked 15th in ERA, 21st in FIP, and 13th in xFIP. The accomplished this average production by filling up the zone and being above average in managing quality of contact; ranking 3rd in zone rate and 6th in ground ball rate.

2025 in Review

When choosing which key performance indicators to analyze, I initially wanted to look at the inverse of what I have been doing for batters. However, there wasn’t much to decipher from zone minus out-of-zone swing rates and 90th percentile EVs for pitchers because those are more batter-centric data points. There isn’t much difference in those measurements for pitchers, and they all kind of cluster around league average.

The pitcher-centric metrics that provided the most useful insight were:

• strike rate to measure command (and somewhat by proxy, chases)
• zone rate to measure control
• contact rate to measure the ability to generate whiffs
• hardhit rate to measure EV suppression, and
• ground ball rate plus infield fly ball rate to measure quality of contact.

Here’s how the Rays starters with at least 10 IP last season performed in each key performance indicator (I know Seymour and Boyle had some relief appearances, but they were predominantly in bulk/starter roles):

Player	IP	Strike%	Zone%	Contact%	Hardhit%	GB+IFFB%
Ryan Pepiot	167.2	64.4%	53.7%	76.6%	42.5%	48.3%
Shane Baz	166.1	65.0%	54.0%	76.1%	39.4%	57.5%
Drew Rasmussen	150.0	65.5%	55.2%	80.5%	43.3%	57.2%
Zack Littell	133.1	67.7%	56.3%	82.3%	42.2%	50.6%
Taj Bradley	111.1	62.7%	52.2%	79.0%	37.8%	58.2%
Ian Seymour	57.0	65.2%	54.9%	75.6%	37.8%	41.3%
Adrian Houser	56.1	66.1%	52.9%	83.0%	50.3%	55.7%
Joe Boyle	52.0	61.0%	55.2%	74.4%	46.0%	49.1%
Total		65.1%	54.4%	78.7%	42.1%	53.6%
League Average 2025		64.1%	52.6%	77.7%	41.6%	51.1%

Right away we can see they were very much a league average rotation, and the key performance indicators mirror their middling production in ERA, FIP, and xFIP.

They were a typical Rays rotation in their above average strike and zone rates, and their contact management is evident in their elevated GB+IFFB% to hedge their slightly below average whiff generation and EV suppression.

Previewing the 2026 Group

Looking ahead to 2026, the rotation will be looking to replace over half of the innings they got from their starters last season with the departures of Baz, Littell, Bradley, and Houser. It will be tough to replace Baz’s combination of plus whiff generation and plus contact management with above average control and command. But the combination of Matz and Martinez gives the team a safe floor as these are two guys who have above average control and command while also featuring plus contact management skills.

I’ve got some conservative innings estimates for the current group of starters and bulk pitchers on the 40-man, and I’ll use their data from 2024-2025 in the key performance indicators mentioned above to see how this group could perform in the majors.

Note: I used McClanahan’s data from 2022-2023 because he hasn’t pitched since then, and Scholtens only had a handful of innings in the majors last year (he didn’t pitch in 2024) so I used his 2025 AAA data.

Not included: Griffin Jax, who is an interesting candidate to start, but it seems like he’ll be in the bullpen for now.

Player	IP	Strike%	Zone%	Contact%	Hardhit%	GB+IFFB%
Ryan Pepiot	175.0	64.2%	52.4%	75.1%	40.2%	49.5%
Drew Rasmussen	150.0	65.9%	55.0%	78.9%	42.2%	57.3%
Nick Martinez	125.0	66.0%	54.7%	80.4%	32.6%	49.1%
Steven Matz	125.0	66.8%	57.1%	83.5%	36.9%	58.0%
Shane McClanahan	75.0	66.9%	51.5%	68.8%	36.7%	55.1%
Joe Boyle	75.0	58.5%	51.7%	73.6%	43.3%	51.9%
Ian Seymour	75.0	65.2%	54.9%	75.6%	35.1%	41.3%
Yoendrys Gomez	50.0	62.9%	52.1%	77.0%	39.3%	43.7%
Jesse Scholtens	25.0	64.8%	47.0%	73.6%	34.1%	52.6%
Total	875.0	64.9%	53.8%	77.2%	38.3%	51.77%
Rays Rotation 2025		65.1%	54.4%	78.7%	42.1%	53.6%
League Average 2025		64.1%	52.6%	77.7%	41.6%	51.1%

The group should show nearly the same command and control as they did last year, and there’s a higher potential for more whiff generation.

One reason there should be more swing-and-miss is because pitches are sharper at the Trop thanks to the indoor environment. Tropicana Field consistently ranks as one of the best – if not the best – parks for strikeouts. Another reason the whiff generation should be better in 2026 is with guys like McClanahan, Boyle, and Seymour could contribute more innings.

McClanahan will be on a limit for sure, but I think something in the 75-100 IP range should be reasonable for him. The same could be said for Boyle and Seymour if they’re deemed ready to step into a larger role and there’s an opportunity to do so.

The guys who could be workhorses in the rotation in Pepiot, Martinez, and (to a lesser extent but still possible) Matz are all above average in their ability to suppress EVs and manage contact to some degree. These three help raise the floor of the unit while guys like Rasmussen and McClanahan can take over a game and flat-out dominate when they’re on and healthy. Gomez and Scholtens seem to be serviceable backend starter types, but I don’t anticipate big roles for either of them. They can both throw strikes and cover innings and that has value.

The biggest question mark here is that there isn’t a clear front-of-the-rotation guy who is capable of taking over a big game in October.

McClanahan can easily be that guy if he’s healthy, but the workload management he’ll face might limit his impact in the postseason. The only other guy on the current 40-man who can match his level of plus raw stuff across the board is Boyle. However, even with his improvements since joining the Rays, he needs his command to take at least another step or two forward before he could be considered for that kind of role.

I mean no disrespect to Rasmussen; he has above average command, control, and stuff, but he can’t match McClanahan or Boyle in their ability to flat out bully hitters with multiple pitches. Rasmussen is heavily fastball-focused which can be great for throwing strikes, but he’s more of a quality of contact connoisseur than whiff warrior. What makes McClanahan special is that he can be both. Boyle has really only been a whiff guy in the majors, but he has shown he can be both when his command is there.

Take-Aways

I expect this group to be better than last season with the blend of different skill sets and moving back to the pitcher-friendly Trop. This group does have fairly significant upside if at least one of Boyle or McClanahan could take a step forward in 2026, and they frankly need at least one of them to emerge as a viable postseason weapon. Nobody else in the rotation can match the raw stuff that those two feature. Boyle’s trends in both his command and control since joining the Rays have been exciting and better than expected, and McClanahan appears to be fully healthy for the first time in a while.

This was an interesting exercise to do for all of the position groups. It was definitely more challenging for the rotation because of the fluidity of roles for certain guys, so I won’t be doing this for the bullpen like I initially planned.

My very lazy analysis of the bullpen is that they will be good because they’re always pretty good. The were first in xFIP (to account for GMS) and 3rd in whiff rate last season while maintaining above average control and command data. The roles are very fluid, but I do think Baker and Bigge could see more higher leverage opportunities than one might expect. If the bullpen struggles, there are plenty of internal candidates (including some interesting NRIs) who can help. The front office also has plenty of resources to address any needs they might have there as the year goes on. Manuel Rodriguez should also provide some nice reinforcements later in the summer.

The Dodgers on Thursday extended the contract for third baseman Max Muncy, signing him to a $7 million deal for 2027 that includes a $10 million club option for 2028.

Muncy had his $10 million club option exercised by the Dodgers on November 6, which secured a ninth season in Los Angeles for the veteran infielder.

Muncy has missed significant time with oblique and knee injuries over the last two seasons, combining for just 173 games between 2024-25. But when healthy he has been quite productive at the plate, including hitting .243/.376/.470 with a 137 wRC+ and 19 home runs in 388 plate appearances in 2025.

On the Foul Territory podcast in December, Muncy was asked by Erik Kratz if he’d like to stay with the Dodgers beyond his contract, which at the time ended after 2026.

“We’ve created such a good relationship with Andrew and Brandon, Alex and all those guys over there that, there’s just not really any rush to get to that point. That’s really how it’s always been with me,” Muncy said. “We’ll talk with them and say we’d like to discuss something like this, and they’ll respond back, ‘Yeah, let’s discuss it later on in the year.’ That’s really how it’s always gone.

“I don’t know what they have in the works with who they’re looking at. Obviously they don’t send out organizational updates with what they’re doing. I’m sure they are looking at pieces that are out there, and who they might try to go after, and all that stuff. Once that’s done, maybe we’ll have a discussion, maybe we won’t. I honestly don’t know. I would love to [stay beyond 2026], clearly, but we just have to see how things unfold.”

Muncy joined the Dodgers on a minor league deal in 2017 and reached the majors with Los Angeles in April 18. Since then, he’s made two All-Star teams and hit .232/.358/.485 with a 129 wRC+ in eight seasons, and his 209 home runs rank 14th in the majors during that time. His 16 postseason home runs are the most in Dodgers franchise history.

After the departures of Chris Taylor, Austin Barnes, and Clayton Kershaw over the last year, Muncy is the longest-tenured Dodger on the active roster.

This new contract falls in line with Muncy’s previous dealings with the Dodgers, as the two sides have always found a way to keep the relationship going without Muncy ever reaching free agency.

Muncy ahead of 2020 signed a three-year contract that covered all of his arbitration-eligible seasons. That deal included a club option for 2023, but in August 2022 the two sides reached an extension for 2023 that included an option for 2024. Before the deadline to exercise said 2024 option, Muncy signed another two-year deal that included an option for 2026. That option was exercised in November.

With Muncy in the fold for longer now, all nine members of the projected Dodgers lineup are signed through at least 2027, as are the top six starting pitchers, plus relievers Edwin Díaz and Tanner Scott.

Muncy’s $10 million club option for 2028 includes a $3 million buyout, per Jack Harris of The California Post. Coupled with the $7 million salary for 2027 that means the extension adds one guaranteed year an $10 million to his current deal. The average annual value for competitive balance tax purposes remains $10 million (rather than $10 million over one year, it’s $20 million over two).

The recent addition of Aaron Civale seems to have solidified the top three spots in the rotation to open the year. Even if you don’t feel that Civale is an upgrade over anyone in-house already, manager Mark Kotsay made it clear yesterday that the top three will be Severino, Springs, and Civale to open the season.

That means that the final two spots in the rotation are theoretically up for grabs, but are they really? Lefty Jacob Lopez was one of the A’s best pitchers last year but is apparently still recovering from the forearm issue that prematurely ended his rookie season. Would he actually be one of the odd-men out if he’s fully healthy and fully ramped up come Opening Day? Would the A’s be that cautious?

Then there’s righty Luis Morales. One of the recent top prospects in the system, Morales showed why he was rated so highly in his first action with the A’s this past season. That would seemingly give him a step up on the other pitchers, but it’s important to remember he set a career-high in innings last year… at just 89! If the A’s do open the season with him in their rotation they’d have to be monitoring his workload essentially all season long.

If the A’s do surprise us all and want more of a workhorse-type option at the back of the rotation to open the year they could turn to a different young arm like Mason Barnett. Or they could give someone like Jack Perkins or JT Ginn a big chance to prove they can be more than a swingman. Want more upside? Gunnar Hoglund might be the arm you want at the back of the rotation to start the season. And there’s always the wild card in Luis Medina, who is out of options.

We’ve had surprises in recent years when Kotsay named his Opening Day rotation and this year could follow a similar path. Who takes those two final spots behind the veterans? Debate and comment below!

A late-blooming out of nowhere relief pitcher is one of the great understated joys of baseball, and the Yankees acquired one of their own prior to the 2025 season. Fernando Cruz, who was drafted nearly two decades ago in 2007 by the Royals, didn’t make his major league debut until 2022, at the age of 32.

Following his long journey to the bigs, Cruz spent three seasons with the Cincinnati Reds, showing promising stuff and elite strikeout potential, despite struggles in the run-prevention department. The Yankees took a flyer on the righty reliever in the deal that sent Jose Trevino to Cincy prior to last season. He continued to show excellent stuff on the mound, as the Yankees hope he can build on the late-career success that has brought him to this point.

2025 Stats: 49 GP, 48 IP, 3.56 ERA, 3.18 FIP, 1.19 WHIP, 13.5 K/9, 4.5 BB/9, 0.9 HR/9, 0.8 fWAR

2026 ZiPS Projections: 61 GP, 61.0 IP, 3.41 ERA, 3.49 FIP, 1.24 WHIP, 12.07 K/9, 4.17 BB/9, 0.97 HR/9, 0.9 fWAR

In his four seasons in the major leagues, Fernando Cruz has never struck out less than 32.8 percent of opposing batters — a skill that has gotten him to this point in his mid-30s, and one that will likely keep him around if he’s able to maintain it. When the Yankees took him on, he was on the fast track to a prominent role in the bullpen. On the whole, he did not disappoint.

Across 48 innings of work in his first season with the Yankees, Cruz managed a 3.56 ERA and 3.18 FIP to back it up, all while striking out a characteristic 36 percent of hitters. Walks are and always have been an issue for the righty, as his 12 percent clip in 2025 was an improvement. But the skill is clear to the naked eye, and despite this coming year being his age-36 campaign, there could be plenty of improvement left to be seen.

Cruz relies on his split-finger more than half the time, and it would be hard to blame him. It’s one of the best around the league, as he has generated a whiff rate close to 60 percent with the pitch throughout his career. It’s the obvious money-maker for Cruz, and he’s not afraid to show that, with the pitch carrying plenty of the load and balancing things out with a fastball that is not exactly overpowering.

Not long after a blow-up against the Tigers in early September, Cruz finished the season strong for the Yankees, and clearly earned the trust of the club heading into October. This was evident in the run Aaron Boone and company gave the right-hander in the postseason. He pitched 1.2 scoreless innings in the Wild Card round, before allowing one run across his two appearances in the Division Series.

It feels safe to assume a decent role for Cruz with the Yankees in 2026. He had a solid year, and has the pieces to put together elite stretches of pitching out of the bullpen. He has a top tier pitch in the repertoire, which can take a pitcher in his circumstances almost anywhere. On top of that, Cruz has already earned himself a level of trust worthy of innings for the Yankees at the highest stakes. He may not be leading the charge in relief, but a significant role isn’t hard to envision.

He is likely a high-variance player in terms of outcomes. It feels equally believable that he posts a low-2s ERA in 60 innings or that he plays much of the season away from the major league roster. Either way, a high-ceiling reliever like Fernando Cruz is far from a bad player to have on a roster.

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See more of the Yankees Previews series here.

Pitchers and catchers have reported, which is a cool symbolic benchmark of “baseball is back!” but is really just a lot of throwing and stretching. Games begin a week from Saturday, though, and slowly truths will begin to unfold. Some of the key story lines I will be watching as February eases into March…

1. Muncy: Plan A at 3B?

It appears Max Muncy will be given first shot to grab hold of 3B (but not yank it from its moorings), with Darell Hernaiz, Brett Harris, and Andy Ibañez competing at least in theory for the job.

Harris is a favorite on AN for the gig due to his superior defense combined with a strong offense around the 3B spot and the A’s need to play good infield defense behind an iffy rotation. But anytime you see depth charts cited by A’s insiders, Harris is listed third as more of an “honorable mention,” and it seems like it’s going to be Muncy’s job to lose going in.

So I will be watching carefully to see if the Muncy who shows up next week has better 3B form than the one who learned on the job in 2025 with very mixed results. Does Muncy look like a true 3Bman with adequate range, hands, and throwing accuracy?

At the plate, when he hit the IL Muncy was showing signs of life but overall his EVs, hard hit %, squared up % all left quite a bit to be desired but are also hard to assess in especially the early days of spring training games. So I will follow his hitting somewhat casually but am keen to see how the glove looks.

2. Barnett: New Angle, New Pitcher?

One reason not to overly wig out around a young player’s stats is that a ‘small’ tweak can make a huge difference seemingly overnight. Be it a toe tap or stance adjustment, development of a new pitch or moving from one corner of the rubber to the other, there can be that moment where a stalled player takes off.

For Mason Barnett, that adjustment could be the arm angle which the A’s say shifted last year and was not easily corrected during a season, better addressed in the off-season/ST. Barnett came to the A’s as a solid prospect and even the anti-A’s oriented Keith Law presently ascribes “mid-rotation SP upside” to Barnett.

Barnett’s debut in 2025 was rough: a 6.85 ERA in 22 IP with 26 hits, 11 BB, and just 18 K following a 6.13 ERA at AAA. Will he come to camp with a new (old) arm slot that elevates his game and allows him to present more like the “mid-rotation upside” SP he was projecting to be as a 3rd round pick whose K rates were between 10.70 and 14.14 at every minor league stop prior to 2025?

Having any one of the A’s young arms (Barnett, Ginn, Perkins) strongly emerge would be a huge boon to the 2026 club, especially early in the season when Gage Jump is still in the minors. Let’s see what Mason’s new arm slot delivers.

3. Leo De Vries: Fast Track or FAST Track?

Leo De Vries is not going to break camp with the big league club. But it’s not out of the question at all to think he could be a call up as soon as mid-season 2026. He has been invited to spring training and while he is likely to be an early cut he will have the opportunity to make an impression.

I will be keen to see to what extent he looks so close to ready that the A’s will be “forced” to consider fast-tracking him to the big leagues — or whether he looks “talented but raw” like you would expect from a 19 year old. In particular, we know his bat is special but how does his defense look?

I will also be watching closely to see where De Vries shows up on the diamond. The only position he has ever played so far is SS but the A’s have shown no indications of moving Jacob Wilson off the position. If De Vries sees any time at 2B or 3B it could be seen as significant. Or if he simply comes in at SS to replace Wilson/Hernaiz and get a few innings in there, one could also suggest it means SS is where they see De Vries until further notice.

What story lines do you have to offer for us to watch in the early days of the Cactus League? And what are your thoughts on these 3 that I have identified for myself? It’s just nice to be talking about what to watch for because it means games are coming soon: 9 days but who’s counting?

For first-year Texas Longhorns pitching coach Max Weiner in 2025, the most impressive aspect of producing the sixth-best ERA nationally was how little margin Weiner had to accomplish that excellence.

Without many overpowering fastballs on the pitching staff, the Longhorns had to dominate the zone by largely pitching backwards with the five reliable arms that Weiner had — Luke Harrison, Ruger Riojas, Max Grubbs, Jared Spencer, and Dylan Volantis combined to pitch 300 of the 514.2 innings thrown by Texas last year, almost 60 percent of the total.

In every SEC weekend series, the Horns had a narrow pathway to victory if every pitcher executed their role successfully. But that pathway narrow even further when Spencer, the Friday starter, went down with a season-ending shoulder injury. After Riojas went from the fireman long relief role to the Friday starter, he caught the flu, which turned into bronchitis and led to the rock bottom of the Wimberly product’s baseball career as he lost 20 pounds and velocity on his pitches as a result.

By the Florida series in early May, Riojas was only able to record one out against Florida in allowing six runs on three hits and four walks.

For Weiner and the Longhorns, the margin had evaporated into the hot Central Texas air and Texas was eliminated from the Austin Regional by UTSA.

And so although Spencer was out of eligibility, the other three veteran pitchers had a sense of unfinished business and collectively decided to return to the Forty Acres to cap their college careers.

“Those guys wanted to be here,” Texas head coach Jim Schlossnagle said on Wednesday.

“They were the three most important recruits we could possibly have, to get those guys back for their last year, and that really gives us some space to allow the younger guys to develop. Not many better pitchers in the transfer portal than those guys, so getting those guys back to Texas is like getting a great transfer.”

When Texas opens the season against UC-Davis at UFCU Disch-Falk Field this weekend, the three returnees will start each game — Riojas on Friday, Harrison on Saturday, and Volantis on Sunday.

Like several other pitchers, Riojas remained in Austin to develop his body after the season ended. At 6’0, the UTSA transfer isn’t the biggest presence on the mound, increasing the importance of his strength and conditioning. To that end, Riojas is now at 205 pounds, 10 pounds heavier than he was listed last season before his illness, and has seen an increase in his fastball velocity.

The fastball is one of four pitches he throws from a high arm slot, including a slider, cutter, and splitter. From a lower arm slot, Riojas throws a sinker, slider, changeup, and curveball, putting pressure on on his ability to repeat his mechanics from both arm slots, something that he credits to his background as a position player.

“I think it takes a lot of athleticism. I credit playing middle infield and outfield my entire life to being able to adjust to these arm slots,” Riojas said on Wednesday. “And then it’s really just seeing those shapes on both ends and kind of defining them in your own way. You can go through the lineup over and over and over again, because a batter might not see all the pitches.”

When Riojas was at his best as a starter, he pitched 5.2 scoreless innings in the win over Texas A&M in late April, lowering his season era to 2.98 before his illness robbed him of his effectiveness — of the 45 runs allowed by Riojas in 2025, 27 of them came in his last four starts after he got sick, ballooning his ERA to 5.61.

Schlossnagle credits the self-awareness of Riojas for his ability to bounce back from adversity without lingering effects.

“He’s just being who he is. Away from the field, he’s super consistent as a human being. You’ve got a great combination of humility and confidence. So he has the humility to recognize that, or be self aware enough to know that there are things he has to get better at, and he goes to work on them like he did all summer with his body and in the fall with his pitches with Max. But he still has the confidence that one game or one stretch doesn’t define his career, and that he’s also getting better,” Schlossnagle said.

A left-hander who bounced back from Tommy John surgery after the 2022 season, Harrison kept pushing to improve under the new coaching staff after he struggled in his return from injury in 2024, becoming the team’s most consistent starter in 2025, making a team-best 15 starts while notching a 5-1 mark with 3.06 ERA and totaling 24 walks and 72 strikeouts over a team-high 70.2 innings.

Harrison was able to increase his fastball velocity into the low 90s to make it more playable and added a cutter to be able to pitch in on the hands of right-handed batters and a curveball to complement his slider, which become more effective working in tandem with his cutter, coming out in a similar plane with similar arm speed.

Like Harrison, Grubbs benefited from adding effective pitches to his arsenal under Weiner to post a 6-2 mark with 2.84 ERA and five saves with 14 walks and 61 strikeouts over 57 innings. A sinker-slider pitcher over his first two seasons on the Forty Aces, Grubbs took the next step in his development as a long reliever by introducing a cutter and a split-finger pitch to his repertoire.

Volantis is also developing a changeup as he moves from his closer role into the starting rotation to explore his upside after a sensational freshman season that saw him earn the Baseball America National Freshman of the Year award and first-team All-America recognition from four publications.

A younger returning player who should find a role on the staff is sophomore Jason Flores, who drew praise from Schlossnagle earlier this week for his improved maturity and work habits from his freshman season, when he showed promise with a 4-2 record and 2.78 ERA with five starts over 14 appearances. Flores was hard to hit, holding opponents to a .205 batting average. If the 6’1, 240-pounder doesn’t earn a role on the weekend, he’ll be a valuable asset during midweek games.

Last month, second baseman Ethan Mendoza picked redshirt senior right-hander Cody Howard as a pitcher who could surprise. The Baylor transfer struggled with his command last year, but has the pure stuff to get hitters out — opponents only batted .196 against him in 2025.

Also returning are junior left-hander Kade Bing, a midweek starter for the Longhorns in his first season on the Forty Acres, junior right-hander Hudson Hamilton, who earned two midweek saves as a sophomore, and redshirt junior left-hander Ethan Walker, a soft-tossing southpaw who was able to get through 4.1 innings in his start against Tennessee in the SEC Tournament.

Expected to move into the closer role is 6’3, 230-pound junior right-hander Thomas Burns, a starter at Arizona State in his freshman season before experiencing some ups and downs as a reliever in his first season on the Forty Acres.

With a fastball that can reach triple digits, Burns has considerable upside that was limited last season by his lack of command, never more evident than in a bad appearance against Arkansas in which he allowed five runs over 1.1 innings despite only giving up two hits because he walked five batters.

But new starting catcher Carson Tinney believes that Burns will be the breakout star on the staff because of his mental maturity.

“Just his ability to control himself and his mind, I think is elite and probably the best I’ve ever seen,” Tinney said.

Burns also added a splitter he’s throwing instead of a changeup because he can throw it from the same arm slot as his fastball and has better command with it.

Is he going to be the closer, though?

“We’re all just a bunch of savage out-getters,” Burns said with a smile.

Sebastian Walcott will miss most, if not all, of the 2026 season due to a torn UCL, per the beats.

This sucks, to put it mildly. And puts a damper on our poll yesterday, asking when Walcott will make his major league debut.

Walcott, a shortstop who doesn’t turn 20 until next month, is the top prospect in the Texas Rangers system and a consensus top 20 prospect in all of baseball. He spent the 2025 season at AA Frisco, and was slated to be in Round Rock for the 2026 season. That isn’t happening now.

Walcott was originally set to play in the Arizona Fall League last year, but appeared in just one game before being shut down with what was described as arm fatigue.

Walcott’s arm has been one of his strengths, and while he has been seen as likely to have to move off of shortstop eventually, his arm strength led prospectphiles to suggest he could land at third baes or right field. Now we will have to see how he recovers.

The land of movies that are so bad that they’re good but somehow still wrap back around to being bad will be sharing some space with baseball this Spring. Major League Baseball has revealed the broadcast schedule for this year’s World Baseball Classic and things are pretty simple when it comes to figuring out which channel these games will be on. Fox Sports will be carrying the entire competition, so if you’re looking for a game then it’ll likely be on FOX, FS1, FS2 and Fox Deportes.

The 2026 #WorldBaseballClassic U.S. broadcast schedule is here ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/lZwNi9t9bM

— World Baseball Classic (@WBCBaseball) February 12, 2026

They’ll also be streaming all of the games as well — some of which on an exclusive basis. When it comes to those streaming-exclusives, FOX has decided to utilize free streaming platform Tubi to broadcast some games as well. As it turns out for us Braves fans who have an interest in the Braves players who are participating in the WBC, the game involving all four Braves players participating in the WBC will, in fact, be streamed exclusively on Tubi. So just in case you’re interested in making a doubleheader out of watching a smash box office hit like “Robocidal” or “Trail Cam Sasquatch” either before or after you watch Ronald Acuña Jr. and Venezuela lock horns on the baseball diamond with Ozzie Albies and Jurickson Profar representing the Netherlands, now’s your chance to do so.

Fortunately, all of Team USA’s games will either be on big FOX or FS1 so you won’t have to go too far to find them. If you’re interested in watching Pool C action over in Japan then you’d better be ready to burn the midnight oil with a pot of coffee nearby because the games are going to be starting either very late at night or at the crack of dawn here on the East Coast. Which games and/or teams are you the most interested in keeping track with as the WBC gets underway soon?

Over in Japan’s NPB, every team has a new slogan for the season. The slogans set out the team’s hopes, goals, and attitude. They hype the fans up. They’re fun. Thanks to the nature of the Japanese language, there’s also fun tricks to be had with the slogans, too: for example, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks and Yomiuri Giants both have the slogan “Zenshin”, but with different kanji characters and thus, different meanings.

Due to the limitations of the English language, the Phillies can’t quite pull off that trick. But they can still have a great slogan. Here are some suggestions.

Run It Back?

Many Phillies fans consider this year’s largely similar lineup to be an example of running it back. Rob Thomson disagrees, and surely some fans do too. Any attempt to pick a side here would result in controversy. So why choose? This slogan lets you, the fan, decide whether or not the 2026 Phils are running it back. It also gives you, the fan, some wiggle room. If the Phillies win it all this year, you can say you meant it affirmatively. And if they fall short, you can say you meant it facetiously.

Bryce Harper is(n’t) Elite

Dave Dombrowski’s remark about Bryce Harper not putting up an elite performance last year clearly got Harper’s dander up. That sort of motivation can really prompt a turnaround. Imagine Braves and Mets fleeing in terror as a rage-fueled Harper sends screaming line drives right at them. But it would be overdoing things to make “Harper isn’t elite” the team’s slogan; that sort of motivation isn’t needed when he’s playing well. So the team can put “Bryce Harper Isn’t Elite” in lights above Citizens Bank Park, then turn the “n’t” on or off as needed. Motivation on demand!

With Age Comes Wisdom

The Phillies aren’t decrepit, but they’re an older bunch. The Daycare is now in their late twenties. This slogan would be a reminder that the greater experience that comes with age can be a real boon for a team. And hey, Patrick Wisdom is a free agent. Brand synergy opportunity?

Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren

If you can’t come up with anything original for a Philly sports slogan or alternate jersey design, you can always rely on old faithful: the Declaration of Independence, a Philadelphia original. Bad news, though: nearly every line in the thing has already been taken as a slogan by one team or another at one point or another. We checked, and the only line untaken is “nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren”. Which doesn’t work very well as a slogan. It’s no “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. But Team USA and her Phillies representatives are about to take on Great Britain in the World Baseball Classic, so maybe there’s an opportunity there?

It’s Lit Like Schmidt

The kids like to say “lit”, right? Though, they seem to have moved on to “67” (and while we could give one of the Phillies’ stars that jersey number as a promo to draw in the youth, it seems terribly unfair to the player who will be forced to do the accompanying hand motion ad nauseam). Nothing drives the youth away faster than outdated slang. But perhaps that could be a selling point: use cringe slang of yesterday to keep the meme-loving youth away, so that adults made grouchy by endlessly hearing social media slang can have the ballpark as a place of respite. Down in front!

Go Birds

It doesn’t fit, but let’s be honest: people are going to say it anyway.