Category: MLB

Well, it took a while – the first game is tomorrow – but the D-backs finally released their broadcast schedule for spring training. It does look like you will be able to follow the majority of games one way or another: we will actually be doing a thread every game, so you will have no excuse! Here’s what the team’s press release had to say.

The D-backs’ Spring Training schedule includes 26 total broadcasts, including eight free telecasts on DBACKS.TV and local television providers, 11 radio broadcasts across Arizona Sports 98.7 FM and ESPN 620 AM, three Spanish-language broadcasts on La Campesina 101.9 FM & 860 AM and Sí Se Puede app, and four dbacks.com livestreams, giving fans multiple ways to follow the action all spring long.

Fans can stream Spring Training telecasts for free on DBACKS.TV by registering with an email address. Annual subscriptions are available for $99.99 to watch the team all season. Telecasts are also available through participating local TV providers.

2026 D-BACKS SPRING TRAINING BROADCASTS

The battle for the final spot in the starting rotation of the Cincinnati Reds is already underway. With pitchers and catchers having congregated in Goodyear, Arizona over a week ago to begin their annual spring revival, the likes of Chase Burns, Rhett Lowder, Brandon Williamson, and Julian Aguiar all showed up healthy – finally – and ready to compete for a spot on the Opening Day roster.

As Mark Sheldon of Reds.com relayed from camp, the competition is already chugging along in earnest, with the likes of Dane Myers and Terry Francona already impressed with what they’ve seen from the group in camp.

Of note in Sheldon’s latest notes is that it will be Burns on the bump for the Reds when they open Cactus League play on Saturday afternoon against their complex rivals from Cleveland.

That’s not an indication that Burns is necessarily ahead of the other trio on the pecking order, per se, even though that would appear to be the case on paper for the time being. Burns, of course, finished last year healthy (despite a mid-season forearm shutdown), and his arsenal when clicking is perhaps as good as any pitcher on the planet right now. Still, there’s a ton to be said from Lowder, Williamson, and even Aguiar before all is said and done, as each of that trio has impressed at lower stops and made their mark at the big league level when healthy too.

Saturday’s Cactus League opener is slated for a 3:05 PM ET start time and will stream for free via MLB.tv.

The Milwaukee Brewers have reworked manager Pat Murphy’s contract, locking up the reigning two-time NL Manager of the Year through 2028 with a club option for 2029, multiple sources have confirmed.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy, the back-to-back NL Manager of the Year, has signed a new three-year contract with a club option for 2029, source tells @TheAthletic.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 19, 2026

Murphy, who was entering his final season of a three-year deal signed after the departure of Craig Counsell in the 2023-24 offseason, will stick around for three, possibly four more years. If the option is picked up at the end of the deal, it would take Murphy through his age-70 season.

After Counsell ditched the Crew for a massive contract with the Cubs, Murphy picked up right where he left off, leading Milwaukee to another NL Central title with a 93-69 record in 2024.

The Cubs then bolstered their roster last offseason, adding Kyle Tucker, while the Brewers lost closer Devin Williams, leading many experts to select the Cubs to take Milwaukee’s crown. Instead, Murphy led the team to a franchise-best 97-65 record, winning the NL Central and beating the Cubs in the NLDS to make it to the NLCS for the first time since 2018.

The move doesn’t come as much of a surprise, as most two-time reigning Managers of the Year won’t coach on a lame-duck contract (unless they’re planning on retiring, which was certainly a consideration for the 67-year-old Murphy). That said, Murphy will continue to lead the Brewers for the next few years.

UPDATE: The financials on Murphy’s contract have now been reported, and it’s a massive pay bump from his previous deal. Jeff Passan reports Murphy gets $8.95 million in new money in his contract, which makes him one of the highest-paid managers in the league.

The three-year deal starts in 2026, taking over what his original contract was for this year, giving Murphy an additional two guaranteed years and a club option for 2029.

Only a couple of weeks since last time we checked in, but there have been some quite significant and dramatic changes to things, both in terms of new signings, and in losses due to injuries. So, let’s review what the Opening Day roster might look like, now the dust has settled, and with spring training games scheduled to kick off tomorrow. As ever, new names since last time are shown in bold.

Starting rotation

1. Merrill Kelly ($20m)
2. Zac Gallen ($22m)
3. Ryne Nelson ($3m)
4. Eduardo Rodriguez ($21m)
5. Brandon Pfaadt ($3.4m)

The unexpected return of Gallen to Arizona certainly poses a bit of a roster problem. While, obviously, we’re likely going to need more than five starters over the course of the year, there are now six on the roster. Unless the team goes with a six-man rotation to open the year, which seems unlikely, someone is going to be left out. I’d say it’s probably going to be between Pfaadt and winter signing Michael Soroka. It is possible Pfaadt, who still has minor-league options, could be sent to Reno to remain a starter and wait for the eventual need at the major-league level. But considering the long-term contract he signed less than a year ago, what kind of message would that demotion send?

On the other hand, Soroka is being paid as a starting pitcher: $7.5 million is an awful lot of money for a long reliever. It’s also a role which will make it harder to transition back to being a starter. So this could go other way. It’s marginally possible Ryne Nelson ends up being the one on the outside, though given how effective he was after moving into the rotation last year, that would be a strange decision, even if he is the lowest-paid member of the 2026 rotation. And don’t forget, Corbin Burnes should be back at some point, perhaps triggering a still more difficult conundrum for Mike Hazen and Torey Lovullo. Though let’s cross that bridge when we get to it!

Bullpen

• Ryan Thompson ($3.95m)
• Kevin Ginkel ($2.725m)
• Taylor Clarke ($1.55m)
• Kade Stroud
• Paul Sewald ($1.5m)
• Michael Soroka ($7.5m)
• Brandyn Garcia
• Drey Jameson

One in, one out. An unwelcome surprise was the news that Andrew Saalfrank is going to miss the entire 2026 season after undergoing shoulder surgery, and he has duly been taken off the 40-man roster and placed on the 60-day IL. In exchange, the team signed Sewald to a one-year deal, the fanbase reacting with a response somewhere between “Why?” and “Meh.” I doubt he will be seeing save situations initially. The question would be, who will be getting those out of the gate? I’d say it could be Thompson, Ginkel or Stroud, and is something to be decided over the course of spring training. Torey is certainly not committing at this point.

The other change is spurred by the loss of Saalfrank. Simply replacing him with Sewald would have given the team an entirely right-handed bullpen, which isn’t something Torey Lovullo appears to favor. Right now, Garcia and Philip Abner are the only healthy left-handed relief options on the 40-man roster, so options for the role are limited. It might be an area where there’s a chance for a left-handed non-roster invitee to break through, but as we previously discussed, the options there lean more towards starting pitching than the reliever. It’s possible this is an area with more work to be done before Opening Day.

Starting line-up

• Catcher: Gabriel Moreno ($2.55m)
• First base: Carlos Santana ($2m)
• Second base: Ketel Marte ($15m)
• Shortstop: Geraldo Perdomo ($6.25m)
• Third-base: Nolan Arenado ($5m)
• Left field: Ryan Waldschmidt
• Center field: Jordan Lawlar
• Right field: Alek Thomas ($1.96m)
• Designated hitter: Pavin Smith ($2.25m)

The broken hamate suffered by Corbin Carroll has put a major spoke in the wheel of the intended Opening Day line-up, though if all goes well, Carroll should be back not too long into the regular season. There’s even a chance he might be back for Opening Day, but that may be optimistic. With just two “true” outfielders healthy on the 40-man roster (Thomas and Jorge Barrosa), the door is wide open for top prospect Waldschmidt to stake a claim to a position on the MLB roster. His spring training performances will determine that. But it looks like Lawlar will be used in CF: given his entire professional experience in the outfield is three (3) games, that’s going to be interesting.

Of note on the infield: Tyler Locklear is going to be out of action quite some way into the regular season – to the point he could be a 60-day IL candidate if the team needs another 40-man roster spot. Torey Lovullo said on Sunday Locklear won’t be back until at least the second half of May. When he does, he’ll have to prove himself better than Santana to justify anything like an everyday spot in the line-up. Though as we are about to see, the Arizona bench is not exactly a Maginot Line of strength.

Bench

• James McCann ($2.75m)
• Tim Tawa
• Jorge Barrosa
• Ildemaro Vargas

The team is still looking to add a utility player, and with the news that Del Castillo is likely going to miss Opening Day with a calf strain, the depth on the 40-man roster has become thinner still. Of the sixteen position players there, four are now potentially off the table, Del Castillo joining Carroll, Gurriel and Locklear. This leaves the D-backs with a scant dozen healthy bodies – fewer than the bare thirteen needed to form your typical Opening Day roster. We could end up adding Jose Fernandez, since there isn’t anyone else left on the 40-man roster – but would still need to bring in Waldschmidt, as discussed above, simply to complete the roster.

On that basis, let’s also dip into the non-roster invitees to fill that final spot at the back of the bench. There are some prospects who have a shot, including Tommy Troy and LuJames Groover. But there’s nobody who is more familiar with Arizona than Vargas: he first joined the Diamondbacks back in May 2015 (when Troy and Groover were both thirteen!). We saw his positional flexibility last year when, in just 38 games here, Ildemaro played at every infield spot, and also started three games at DH. The last time he appeared on Opening Day here was 2020. There would almost be something historic about him doing so in 2026.

Payroll

• Estimated 2026 Payroll: $195M
• Estimated Final 2025 Payroll: $188M

Well, so much for the team cutting payroll. According to the Fangraphs figure, the team is several million dollars above where they finished last season. Admittedly, that final figure was after they shed payroll at the trade deadline, getting rid of Kelly, Eugenio Suarez, Josh Naylor and Jordan Montgomery. But it certainly does not seem like any incoming utility player is going to be a free-agent – and, certainly, not an expensive one. Per Gambo’s Tweet linked above, that player will be “most likely coming via trade and using minor-league depth.” Payroll will likely be a consideration, but since he’s likely to be a bench option, I doubt he’ll be that expensive.

But comparing like to like, the current figure is about ten million more than on Opening Day last year. Even more surprising, the team is within striking distance of the first luxury tax band, which is certainly unprecedented. For that purposes, the payroll is considerably higher than the raw ”actual” figure, because it uses the average annual value of each player’s contract, so excludes deferments. Right now, reports suggest Arizona there is only about $7.5 million short of moving into the first luxury tax bracket, where they would be subject to a 20% surcharge on all overages. I doubt we want to go there, so there likely will be no significant salary added at the trade deadline by the Diamondbacks.

We’re not too far away from seeing actual spring training games! Excited yet?

The floor is now yours and here’s a random clip:

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts did not hesitate when asked about his expectations for Mookie Betts.

“He will be in the MVP conversation this year,” Roberts said this week. “But again, I think, speaking for Mookie, his main goal is to help us win a championship. So, I think whatever falls out from there, I think that will happen. I just want him to focus on just being healthy, helping us win, and then whatever happens outside of that, will happen.”

Coming off a season that got off on the wrong foot with a stomach virus that caused him to lose 20 pounds and then saw him set career lows for batting average (.258), on-base percentage (.326) and OPS (.732), Betts is eager to move forward. And with a more typical spring training timeline this year — unlike the previous two years when season-opening games in South Korea and Japan sped up preparations — Betts can ease into his seventh season with the Dodgers.

Read more:Healthy, slimmer Teoscar Hernández 'out to prove something' this season with Dodgers

“I haven’t had a regular spring maybe since I’ve been a Dodger,” said Betts, who also won't be participating in the World Baseball Classic as he did in 2023. “I just know that, being 33 now, I don’t have to hurry up and get here, and be ready to play from day one. So, I can just kind of embrace that. Not everybody’s blessed to have that, so being that I am one of the ones that’s blessed with that, I’ll see what I can make of it.”

One thing that's not in question for Betts heading into the season: his shortstop play. Despite the nearly unprecedented shift from the outfield to the infield, Betts played 148 games at short last season and was a Gold Glove Award finalist. The work he put in to learn a new position raised questions about whether that was a root cause of his hitting struggles, a point he granted some credence to late last season.

Betts did pick up the pace late in the season, batting .317 and nearly doubling his home run total from 11 to 20 over his final 47 games. But he slumped in the NLCS and World Series, batting a combined .136 and was eventually dropped from second to third in the batting order for Game 5 against the Toronto Blue Jays, then fourth for Games 6 and 7.

Roberts said this week that he intends to slot Betts third in the batting order this season, with Shohei Ohtani still in the leadoff spot. (He added that Freddie Freeman, Will Smith and newcomer Kyle Tucker are all in play for the second and fourth spots in the order.)

“I like [Betts] in the number three in the sense that there’s an on-base component, there’s a ‘get hits’ component, there’s a drive-in-runs component, and you’re more of a Swiss Army knife in the lineup," Roberts said. "So, I’m not beholden to it, but I like him in the three-hole right now.”

And as a result, Roberts feels bullish about Betts this season.

“I think he had a great offseason,” Roberts said. “He’s in a good headspace. The body’s good, and I think for me, it’s just getting back to being who he is. I just think that last year was an outlier offensive season, and I’m not too concerned about Mookie at all.”

Yoshinobu Yamamoto to start Cactus League opener

Roberts announced Thursday that World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start the Dodgers' first spring training game Saturday against the Angels at Tempe Diablo Stadium. He did not share how many pitches or innings Yamamoto expects to throw, but he did state that it will likely be Yamamoto’s only Cactus League start before departing to play for Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic.

Roberts also revealed what players may start Saturday’s Cactus League opener.

“I would expect Will Smith to be in there,” Roberts said. “I expect [Teoscar Hernández] in there, and probably Andy [Pages]. I think that’s safe, and then we’ll go from there.”

Roberts plans to hold other veteran players until next week.

Read more:Where River Ryan and Gavin Stone figure in the Dodgers' crowded pitching plans

“Guys like Mookie and Muncy, I’m going to start those guys a little bit later than this weekend and see where we go,” Roberts said. “Once they get going, then we’ll stagger and give them the ample time in-between. I’ve got to appreciate that it’s a longer spring. So, if they’re going to be here for six weeks, then I don’t want to kind of come in too hot, I want to pace them out a little bit.”

Freeman said Thursday that he will not play in the Dodgers’ first three spring training games.

“I feel good, I’m ready to go, but we are going to slow-play it a little bit,” Freeman said. “I won’t play until I think Tuesday, so the fourth game, and then I’ll get going.”

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Former Mets Gold Glove-winning outfielder Juan Lagares announced his retirement Thursday after two decades in professional baseball.

Lagares, whose last MLB appearance came in 2022, thanked the Dominican Winter League’s Águilas Cibaeñas in a social media post after appearing with the team for the last four seasons.

“Thank you so much, Águilas family,” the 36-year-old wrote in Spanish on Instagram, which was translated by The Post. “Thank you to the fans for your unconditional support on and off the field. I will be eternally grateful. God bless you always. With gratitude and pride.”

The Constanza, Dominican Republic, native began his pro career by signing with the Mets as an international free agent in 2006.

He ascended in the Mets’ system as a light-hitting prospect with elite outfield defense, eventually reaching the majors in April 2013 and winning a Gold Glove the next year.

He made a strong first impression at the plate in his rookie season, including being named National League Player of the Week for July 15-21, 2013, after hitting .700 with a home run and five RBIs.

In 121 games that season, Lagares slashed .242/.281/.352 with four homers and 34 RBIs while playing outstanding defense, including a franchise-rookie-record 15 outfield assists. 

After making the Mets’ Opening Day roster in 2014, Lagares went down with a right hamstring injury in mid-April and did not play much upon his return, sparking a “Free Lagares” campaign on social media.

Despite going down with another injury in June, Lagares put together the best season of his major league career in 2014.

He hit .281 with four homers, 47 RBIs, 117 hits and 13 stolen bases while winning a Gold Glove, joining Tommie Agee (1970) and Carlos Beltran (2006-08) as the only other Mets outfielders to win the award.

“Juan is by far the best outfielder I’ve seen, that I’ve played with and got a chance to watch,” Curtis Granderson said after Lagares won the award. “There are some amazing things he does because he’s not necessarily the fastest guy out there, but his jumps are amazing. His reads are amazing and the fact that you can throw in center field is a top tool to have.

“If you think about all the center fielders in the game, there’s not too many of them that can possess an arm with that much accuracy and that much strength. So he’s got that, he’s got the range. He closes the gap. Everyone talks about how big Citi Field is and he made it look very small out there.”

Enticed by his defensive and offensive upside, the Mets signed Lagares to a four-year, $23 million extension in April 2015.

While Lagares remained a strong defender, he never took the next step at the plate and spent the remainder of his Mets tenure battling injuries, mostly as a fourth outfielder.

Lagares briefly joined the Padres on a minor league deal in 2020 but eventually returned to the Mets later in the year after never appearing for San Diego in the majors.

His New York return lasted just two games as the Mets designated him for assignment.

Lagares spent his final two MLB campaigns with the Angels, hitting .228 with six homers from 2021-22.

The Mets honored Lagares alongside a bevy of other Mets legends before their home opener last April as he threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

The UNC-ECU baseball series that’s been happening for several years now is one of the best nonconference traditions in college baseball — two historically notable programs that are geographically close enough that they can pull off a weekend series where each team hosts one with a third game being played at a venue as cool as Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The two teams come into the weekend having started the season in kind of opposite ways: the #10 Heels swept their opening weekend series and stayed unbeaten in two midweek contests, while the Pirates lost an opening-weekend series to Xavier and then split their midweek games — a loss to Campbell before a bit of a get-right win against NJIT on Wednesday. Still, this series nearly always delivers some really good, fun baseball, and often tells us UNC fans a lot more about what we’ve got to look forward to. Last year’s ECU series featured Jake Knapp’s first action back from injury — while his 3-inning start with 2 runs allowed didn’t really foreshadow his eventual National Pitcher of the Year campaign, there was at least something there.

Leading up to this weekend, the Heels continued their display of pitching dominance in their two midweek contests. Kyle Percival, back from an injury that ended his season early last year, started Tuesday’s game against Richmond and tossed 4 scoreless innings, allowing 3 hits and one walk while striking out 2. A couple of those outs were on pretty loud contact, but Percival mostly missed barrels pretty effectively and used his pitch mix well — it’s a good early sign for UNC to have another reliable lefty in the bullpen, which for all of last year’s pitching success was something that the staff sometimes missed having. He got good run support, too — a pair of RBI doubles from Gavin Gallaher and Macon Winslow in the first, then a pair of 3-run homers from Winslow and Jake Schaffner in the second made it a 8-0 ballgame early. A Gallaher sac fly in the 3rd took the score to 9-0 before the offense slowed down, but that was enough for Scott Forbes to throw a couple of freshmen for an inning each in a low-stakes situation. Both of them, Talan Holiday and Jackson rose, threw scoreless innings while relying heavily on off-speed stuff, differing a little from the rest of their righty teammates who are more power-oriented. Camron Seagraves finished the shutout with a clean inning of his own in his first action of the season, and the game ended after Rom Kellis hit a pinch-hit double and was advanced home by a fly ball and a wild pitch to trigger the 10-run rule.

Wednesday’s game against Longwood looked like it might go similarly after a four-run first inning that featured two-RBI singles from Colin Hynek and Michael Maginnis, but the Lancers’ pen really locked in after the first and shut down the UNC lineup from innings 2-6. They had some legit stuff, with some of their arms reaching well into the mid-90s, and while UNC made a lot of good contact, they couldn’t seem to find grass. Boston Flannery started this game after his positive appearance last Friday, but functioned more as an opener than a starter. He threw two innings and continued to look pretty good — he did walk 3 batters, but struck out 5 and allowed just one hit. One run did score on a throwing error from the catcher, but Flannery still looked a lot more comfortable and effective than he ever had before as a Tar Heel. Cam Padgett pitched scoreless frames in innings 3 and 4, helped by an awesome throw by Tyler Howe from right field to 3rd base to deny an advancing runner, but Longwood was able to scratch one across in the fifth and make it a 4-2 game. Walker McDuffie once again suffused a high-leverage situation with a strikeout and pitched a 1-2-3 sixth before giving ground to freshman Caden Glauber, who allowed one run to score early in his outing before striking out 4 of the next 6 batters he faced. The Heels were able to match that run in the 7th, maintaining a 2-run stiff-arm, before Matthew Matthijs earned the save with a lockdown 9th that sealed a somewhat surprisingly hard-fought 5-3 victory.

The preseason expectation that the Heels would have one of the best top-to-bottom pitching staffs in the country appears to be holding true. The Heels have thrown 13 arms across 43 innings with nobody having pitched more than 5, and boast a 1.47 ERA and a .179 opponent batting average. They’ve walked a few more batters than you’d like with a 50:26 K:BB ratio, but are pitching well enough for that not to have translated yet into real damage — and we still haven’t seen a couple of guys who have been talked about as contributors, namely Olin Johnson and Amos Rich. Offensively, things are still being worked out, with the at-bats looking good (after 5 games, their mark of more walks than strikeouts holds) but the team average at just .279. Their on-base percentage is a healthy .429, but the relative lack of hits has bitten them in RISP and bases-loaded situations where they haven’t really been able to produce crooked numbers. Especially seeing the amount of good contact against Longwood that didn’t get rewarded, I tend to think that’s more variance than an actual sign of the kind of offense we’re going to see, but it’s noteworthy nonetheless.

As far as ECU goes, the headliner is Ethan Norby, ranked the #3 pitcher in the country by D1Baseball. As a sophomore starter last year, he pitched 90 innings with an ERA of 3.80, striking out 119 and walking just 22 while shining in ECU’s biggest games, like a regional upset win over Florida. The Friday duel between him and Jason DeCaro promises to be an exciting one, even though Norby didn’t have a fantastic first appearance this year — he lasted just 3.2 innings against Xavier, allowing 4 hits and 2 earned runs. This Pirates team returns the bulk of a squad that got hot down the stretch last year and nearly won the Conway Regional last year as a 3-seed, so there’s definitely talent there. Names to look out for in the batter’s box include Braden Burress and Austin Irby. Right fielder Jack Herring has also been raking to start the season, but the Pirates have not gotten a lot of production from the back half of the lineup. Out of the pen, look for Sean Jenkins, the power righty who’s struck out 10 in 5.2 innings with no runs allowed.

The season hasn’t started the way they wanted, but this ECU team is still a talented group with high expectations led by a coach in Cliff Godwin who knows what he’s doing. This weekend promises to be fun and, like I said, a good litmus test for the Tar Heels. Game 1, in Greenville, will start at 5:00 PM Friday the 20th of February and be televised on ESPN+. Game 2 on Saturday will be played at the DBAP starting at 2:00 PM but will not be available on television or streaming, as far as I can tell, and Game 3 in Chapel Hill will start at 1:00 PM on Sunday the 22nd.

Batting Leaders

(among players with 2 PA/game and 75% of games played)

• Batting Average: SS Jake Schaffner, .421
• On-Base Percentage: C/DH Macon Winslow, .522
• Slugging Percentage: Schaffner, .789
• Home Runs: Winslow, 2
• Runs Batted In: C/DH Colin Hynek, 7
• Hits: Schaffner, 8
• Walks: CF Owen Hull, 8
• Runs: Schaffner and Winslow, 6
• Stolen Bases: Schaffner, Hynek, and Hull, 1

Pitching Leaders

(in the future, this will be among players with 1 IP/game; for now, I’ll set the line at 3 IP)

• ERA: Jason DeCaro, Boston Flannery, Kyle Percival, and Matthew Matthijs, 0.00
• Strikeouts: DeCaro and Flannery, 7
• Innings Pitched: DeCaro, Folger Boaz, and Ryan Lynch, 5.0
• Wins: DeCaro, Boaz, and Percival, 1
• Saves: Matthijs, 1
• Batting Average Against: Matthijs, .083

PORT ST. LUCIE -- On a 3-2 count, Jonah Tong threw a biting changeup that fooled Juan Soto, who is merely the most disciplined hitter in baseball. By the time Soto recognized the offspeed pitch moving down and away late, he tried to check his swing, but it was too late. 

Because it was Soto, even if it was only live BP in spring training, the strikeout got an audible reaction from players in the dugout watching, and a visible one from Tong, who smiled and did something of a playful fist pump. 

At his locker afterward, when I asked him about it, Tong smiled again and said, “I was really happy with that,” drawing the words out for effect. 

Well, why not? It was Soto, right? And coming on the heels of Tong’s not-quite-ready-for-prime-time big-league stint late last season, who would deny him a little joy in such a moment, spring training or not. 

After all, it was hard to watch Tong struggle last season after he came up with such hype, leading the minors in strikeouts. He had his moments, and clearly showed promise, but he was young, just 22 then, and seemed to lose confidence upon seeing he couldn’t throw the ball by major league hitters the way he did in the minors, as he wound up pitching to a 7.71 ERA in five starts, giving up 24 hits in 18.2 innings.

Yet the Mets say they are as high on him as ever, even making him off-limits in the trade talks for Freddy Peralta, as they gave up Brandon Sproat (and Jett Williams) instead. 

As manager Carlos Mendoza said on Thursday, “We know he still has a very high ceiling.”

The question now is how quickly he can reach that ceiling. Tong disagrees with any notion that he learned a hard lesson about just how good major league hitters are compared to the minors, and says his takeaways from his big-league experience were all positive.

“I think I learned that if I can execute my pitches, I can put myself in position to get results at that level,” Tong said. “But the other thing I took away is that I need to give myself more options to get big-league hitters out. 

“When I had my pitches working, I felt really confident. But I’m working to add to my repertoire.”

Yes, because his go-to pitches are his high fastball, which has plenty of deception, in part because of his unusually high release point, as well as his changeup, his arsenal is almost all vertical, if you will, and the Mets are working with him to add a cutter that breaks more horizontal.

Here’s how new pitching coach Justin Willard explained it to me on Thursday:

“We’re working with him on the ability to land something else in the zone to continue to leverage the four-seamer and the changeup. Those are really good pitches but it also becomes a really simple plan for big-league hitters.”

A major league scout agreed with Willard, saying that expanding Tong’s arsenal is critical. 

“You saw it when he came up,” the scout told me on Thursday. “He couldn’t throw his curveball for strikes, or even the illusion of a strike, and they started sitting on the fastball. As deceptive as it is, with his delivery, big-league hitters will catch up to it when they can look for it. He does have a good changeup but he needs a reliable breaking ball that hitters will have to think about.”

That said, there are contrary opinions as well. Former Mets’ reliever Jerry Blevins, now an SNY analyst, thinks the Mets should be careful about messing too much with Tong’s pitching foundation. 

“I think it could be hard for him with that over-top-delivery to develop a sweeper, and I’m not sure about a cutter either,” said Blevins. “I’d really like to see him get a little more time to develop what he has. That fastball-changeup combination can be lethal, especially if he can command his curveball.”

He couldn’t do that during his call-up, and that was partly the issue for Tong as a Met. He said his curveball actually has been his favorite pitch since he was a kid, but he lost the feel for it at times last season, especially in the big leagues, and that made him all the more predictable.

As a result, the Mets are working with him to throw the curveball with more velocity this season, while hoping to keep the same big-break depth. 

“It’s like with the cutter,” said Willard. “It’s adding pitches to the arsenal to help maximize what makes him really good.”

More than likely, barring injuries to other starters in spring training, Tong will get more time in Triple-A to refine that arsenal. Remember, as dominant as he was moving up the ranks last season, he made only two starts in Triple-A before the Mets, in desperate need of starting pitching, called him up. 

How much time does he need? And does he need to rebuild his confidence?

Tong insists he came away from his big-league experience feeling that he could pitch successfully at the highest level. When I asked him if he felt he’d been “scared out of the strike zone” by major league hitters, as scouts said last season, he didn’t hesitate. 

“Not at all,” he said. “To me I learned that if I execute my pitches, I can get those hitters out. I didn’t really see a different reaction to my pitches from big-league hitters. It was more about executing. I feel confident about that.”

Maybe it’s a matter of needing to believe that, and all the better if he does, since Tong does seem to understand the need for a more complete array of pitches. 

But that little show of joy on the mound Thursday, after he struck out Soto, said a lot as well. Maybe it’s exactly what he needed.

There was a time, in the history of baseball and its Hall of Fame, in which certain numbers almost brought automatic inclusion into the game’s most exclusive clubs. Things like 3,000 hits, 300 wins, and of course, 500 home runs provided a clear pathway to Cooperstown. For the 2026 season, the Yankees have a couple of players who could make significant headway with regard specifically to that 500 home run mark. Both Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge have put themselves in good position to reach the number before the end of their careers, and in turn, to reach Cooperstown.

The two Yankee sluggers, assuming all goes well, will present very different cases to Hall voters when their day comes. We’ll start with Judge, who at this point has the much easier path to enshrinement, and perhaps to the 500 home run mark.

As unfortunate as it is to consider, Aaron Judge is not exactly a spring chicken. 2026 will be his age-34 season, and his 11th in the Major Leagues. On the bright side, that is about the only thing holding back the three-time MVP from hitting host of huge milestones. Since turning 30, Judge has done things on a baseball field that can only be compared to names like Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds. At this point in his career, number 99 has four different seasons with 50 or more homers (including one with 62), and has posted an OPS+ of at least 210 in three of the last four seasons. It has been said time and again, but it is impossible to argue that we are seeing an all-time great at the peak of his powers.

With regards to his reaching of 500 homers, the path is fairly straight forward. Judge has six years remaining on the contract he signed with New York prior to the 2023 season, and for the argument’s sake, we’ll assume that brings him to the end of his playing career. With 368 career homers already in the bag, Judge would need to average 22 home runs per season for the remainder of the deal. That is easier said than done, but Judge benefits greatly from the fact that he could easily knock out more than two thirds of the 132 homers he needs to join the exclusive club in the next two seasons. In fact, he’s averaged well over 50 over the last four years, and nearly 60 per 162 games in that stretch. No matter how the final few years of the contract look for Judge, he can easily do much of the needed damage in the next two or three seasons.

As far as his Hall of Fame case stands, the rest would just be gravy at that point, as his case is already nearly settled after his first decade in the league.

The case becomes a little bit blurrier when it comes to his teammate Giancarlo Stanton. For the full-time designated hitter, the greatest enemy is simply getting enough games to reach the all-important 500 mark. This has been a theme for much of his career, as he’s averaged around 28 homers per season during his career, but that number jumps all the way to 43 on a per-162-game basis.

This issue has become even more pressing since joining the Yankees in 2018, as he’s topped 140 games just one time, and has topped out at 114 over the last four seasons. It appeared, for a stretch, that he would also be battling greatly diminished performance for the final stretch of his career. He hit below his standards back in 2022, before posting his first ever below-average offensive season in ‘23. He was slightly better in 2024, though he still played in just 114 games, and left plenty of room for reasonable doubt.

Last season, however, Stanton provided some hope. It was actually a concerning year on one front, considering that he played in just 77 games, but it was positive in another: he can still rack up dingers with the very best of ‘em. In an abbreviated 281 plate appearance season, Stanton found the time to pummel 24 homers, and it wasn’t just the long ball either. The 158 OPS+ he posted in 2025 was his best mark since winning MVP with the Marlins back in 2017.

Despite the continued injury trouble, 2025 was the best that we’ve seen of Giancarlo Stanton in pinstripes. And although remaining on the field will always be the chief concern, his renaissance certainly rejuvenated his chase for 500 homers and possible enshrinement.

Stanton has two years remaining on his enormous 13-year deal, which brings him through his age-37 season. The most realistic route to 500 homers is that he continues doing what he has been — playing in 100-110 games and hitting 20-25 home runs (he needs 47). Those aren’t exactly sky-high expectations, and they are certainly within reach for Stanton. Even if he doesn’t reach 500 under this contract, it feels reasonable to think he’d latch on somewhere after in an effort to chip away at the milestone.

Assuming he does eventually get there, his Hall case will be far more consideration-worthy than Judge’s. Even if things go well, it would be pretty unlikely for him to finish above 50 fWAR, and with much of his career coming as a designated hitter, the 500 home run selling point may be a bit harder to convince voters with.

Stanton has been a terrific hitter for his entire career regardless of the finish, but if he does reach that former auto-enshrinement number, things could get interesting once his name comes up on Hall of Fame ballots.