Category: MLB

Triple-A: Memphis (Cardinals) 5, Norfolk Tides 4

One notable thing that happened here is that the Tides stuck with their original plan of having erstwhile Oriole Dean Kremer make the start for this game. That rules him out as an option for when Zach Eflin’s turn next comes up in the MLB rotation. Prior to this, a callup would have taken some roster juggling to manage. If the Orioles wanted to do it, they could have done it. They didn’t.

Kremer did not pitch in such a way that he was demanding an immediate promotion back to MLB. He allowed three runs over a 4.2 inning outing and seems to have been yanked for effectiveness reasons rather than pitch count: He’d only thrown 62 pitches when his day ended. He should have been better than these guys and he wasn’t. Will we see him in a week? Will it be longer? We won’t know til we know. This is one point in the favor of those who thought “let Kremer’s bad April happen in the minors” was a strategy worth following.

The Tides offense was unfortunately putrid against former Oriole Bruce Zimmermann. Two solo home runs were the only damage they could muster in the six innings that he was in the game. Rehabbing Oriole Jackson Holliday had one hit in five at-bats, and also drove in two runs. Other than Holliday, it’s a sad lineup down here to start their season. Norfolk had its share of chances but with 0-6 with RISP they could never get the big hit to really break the game in their favor.

Box score.

Double-A: Hartford (Rockies) 10, Chesapeake Baysox 2

Baysox pitchers issued 11 walks and gave up 12 hits in the game. That’s a tough way to win unless your offense absolutely explodes – as we’ll see for Delmarva in a later section today. Chesapeake, though, did not score until the eighth inning of the game and had just six hits in the game.

Not much consolation for the Baysox, but at least the three most interesting hitting prospects all avoided taking an 0-for in the game. Griff O’Ferrall had a hit and walk out of the leadoff spot. My guy Aron Estrada went 1-4, as did outfielder Thomas Sosa, whose lone hit was an RBI double. Estrada and Sosa are each 21 as they start the year at this level. Interesting guys to follow, and they’ll be more interesting if they’re able to put together some strong results as the season goes along.

Box score.

High-A: Frederick Keys 6, Hub City (Rangers) 0

Those who watched the prospect-oriented Spring Breakout game last month may have remembered the relief appearance of pitching prospect Joseph Dzierwa. The Orioles second round pick from last year didn’t pitch after the draft last year and was assigned straight to High-A this year. He had an absolutely dominant outing, mowing down the Spartanburgers (really) inning after inning.

Dzierwa ultimately struck out nine batters over six innings while allowing just one hit and one walk, and he’d only thrown 78 pitches, so he might well have been pushed deeper if the team was so inclined. That’s a heck of a pro debut. I hope he’s able to keep up something like it in his subsequent outings.

Plenty to like about the offense here too, where fellow high 2025 draftees Ike Irish and Wehiwa Aloy made good things happen. Irish hit a pair of doubles across five at-bats, while Aloy had a triple in three at-bats and also drew a pair of walks. In the leadoff spot, Nate George had a hit, walk, and stolen base, and scored two runs. Pretty good stuff. Not everyone shared in this bounty; spring training fun story Vance Honeycutt went hitless, drawing a walk over four plate appearances.

Box score.

Low-A: Delmarva Shorebirds 11, Salem (Red Sox) 10

We’ve got a donnybrook on our hands! The two teams combined for 22 hits, 18 walks, and five errors. The South Atlantic League is a long way from MLB and some games remind one of this much more than others. Many of the players on both teams are making their full-season affiliate debuts as the 2026 campaign begins and, well, it shows.

Let’s focus on the good. Five players in Delmarva’s starting lineup had multi-hit games, led by the three-hit effort by 19-year-old outfielder Junior Aybar. Have I ever in my life thought of this player before right now? No. Now I’ll be paying attention to him for the rest of the year because he drove in five runs the first time I did a minor league recap in 2026. 2024 sixth round pick DJ Layton, also 19, was also making things happen, with two hits and two walks across five plate appearances.

This is a very young team. Not much good has come from young Delmarva teams in the past few years. It’ll be nice if some players in this group can turn that around.

Box score.

Saturday’s Scheduled Games

• Norfolk: at Memphis, 2:05. Starter: Levi Wells
• Chesapeake: at Hartford, 1:10. Starter: Luis De León
• Frederick: at Hub City, 4:35. Starter: JT Quinn
• Delmarva: at Salem, 6:35. Starter: Esteban Mejia

That’s an intriguing day of starting pitching. Hopefully tomorrow’s minor league recap has some fun results to share from them.

Friday’s game was rained out, to be made up as a doubleheader on Saturday. Anne Rogers has details.

Saturday’s originally scheduled game will be moved up to 1:10 p.m. CT, with Friday’s makeup game scheduled for 6:10 p.m. CT.

Both games will be available on Royals.TV and Brewers.TV,

Friday’s tickets will be honored for the rescheduled game Saturday at 6:10 p.m. CT. Fans do not have to exchange their original tickets if they elect to attend the rescheduled game.

Craig Brown reacts to the news that Carter Jensen overslept for Thursday’s game.

First, it happens. Second, while it does happen, it’s not a great look, especially at this point in the season. It has an impact on the team. After catching a marathon game on Wednesday, Salvador Perez was due for a day off behind the plate and was in the initial lineup as the DH. Those plans were scuttled when the Royals decided to remove Jensen from the starting lineup. Then, once Perez was out of the DH spot, the Royals moved Jac Caglianone there from his spot in right to DH and inserted Lane Thomas into the lineup. That’s not the kind of matchup you want against the right-hander Taj Bradley. Thomas went 0-4.

Kevin O’Brien at Royals Keep focuses on Jensen’s slow hitting start.

In 18 plate appearances, Jensen is hitting .125 with a .480 OPS. He has a home run, but he is also striking out 44.4% of the time and only walking 5.6% of the time. Furthermore, his wOBA is only .207, and his xwOBA is even worse at .188. For context, the Royals rookie catcher posted a .403 wOBA and .447 xwOBA in 69 plate appearances last season. 

A microcosm of Jensen’s struggles this year can be seen in this plate appearance against Minnesota reliever Kody Funderburk on Opening Day at Kauffman Stadium on March 30th. On a 3-2 count, Funderburk serves him up a fastball right down the middle. It’s a pitch Jensen would’ve mashed a season ago. Unfortunately, Jensen, obviously pressing, watches it for strike three. 

Pete Grathoff wonders why MLB won’t allow games on Apple to be simulcast locally.

The Royals will play the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night and the game will only be available to watch on Apple TV. It’s one of four games this season that will be shown exclusively on Apple TV. Four more will be on Peacock. Ten Royals games that will be simulcast on KCTV (Ch. 5) or KSMO (Ch. 62) this season.

It begs the question: Why can’t (or won’t) Major League Baseball and the Royals simulcast those Peacock and Apple TV games on local TV, whether it’s KCTV or another channel?

The Kansas City Business Journal writes that site control and public financing are the issues with a downtown stadium. [$]

Meanwhile, Kansas City leaders for almost a year have publicly floated available stadium incentives worth hundreds of millions of dollars using tools such as tax increment financing, a sales tax exemption on construction materials and tax-free bonds.

Officials also have suggested that Washington Square Park would be simple in terms of land assembly, at least when it comes to the two main properties containing a stadium. But the Royals also aim to build a mixed-use ballpark district, and it’s not clear whether the team or potential partners have locked down any nearby parcels.

Baseball America updates their top 100 prospect list with Carter Jensen at #9 and Kendry Chourio at #75.

Darin Watson writes about a 1976 spring training blowout against the White Sox.

Konnor Griffin dazzles Pirates fans in his MLB debut.

The Twins home opener is delayed by a power outage.

How the Yankees got off to a hot start.

Masyn Winn is safe after being involved in a one-car accident after a game.

“This Week in Baseball” returns.

The Blue Jays sign pitcher Patrick Corbin.

Ranking the accessibility of each team’s TV broadcasts.

The White Sox will retire Ozzie Guillen’s number.

Baseball America writes about how much minor league ballplayers make. [$]

Almost half of all clubs saw increased TV viewership for Opening Day.

Washington State researchers find that “torpedo bats” fare no different than normal bats.

The NCAA is expected to approve expanding the basketball tournaments to 76 teams.

The NFL approves the Jacksonville Jaguars moving to Orlando for a year during stadium renovations.

How the United States is divided into regions based on commuters.

Chicken tenders over rice has gone viral in France, driving fast food sales.

An Italian court rules Netflix must refund years of price hikes.

Your song of the day is The Beatles with I’ve Just Seen a Face.

If you watched yesterday’s game, one thing stuck out like a sore thumb, and that was the ineffectiveness of Miles Mikolas. After two great innings to start the game, the veteran got tattooed, allowing a club record 11 earned runs. That begs the question, how long will Blake Butera and Paul Toboni stick with the veteran right hander?

Miles Mikolas has officially been charged with a Nationals club-record 11 earned runs.

— Mark Zuckerman (@MarkZuckerman) April 3, 2026

Hopes were not very high when the Nats signed Mikolas on a one-year deal. Over the last three seasons, Mikolas had posted a 4.98 ERA in 98 starts. Now, the right hander was a year older and playing in front of a worse infield defense. The signing was a bit curious, but hey it was just a one-year deal and Mikolas has been a known innings eater.

Nats fans knew Mikolas would have some outings that weren’t great, but the hope was that he could deliver some quality starts and go five to six innings each time. So far, we have only seen the bad. In Mikolas’ defense, he has faced two high powered lineups that have owned him in the past. I also did not think he was that bad in his first outing, he was just hurt by his defense.

However, the overall results have been ugly so far. Mikolas has allowed 17 runs and 15 earned runs in his first 9.1 innings. There are innings where Mikolas hits his spots and looks good, but the margin for error is so small for the veteran. When he misses his spots, he gets absolutely clobbered.

That is due to a lack of pure stuff. Mikolas has never had great stuff, but in his first two starts this year, the stuff looks diminished. At 37 years old, this should not be much of a surprise. His already hittable 4-seam fastball went from 93 MPH to 91.9 MPH so far this season. Mikolas does not have the secondary pitches or deception to make up for this velocity loss. He is just a sitting duck when he is not perfect with his command.

Miles Mikolas did not have a good Friday as he allowed 11 ER across 4.1 IP against the Dodgers pic.twitter.com/Txd1bc2dTZ

— Thomas Nestico (@TJStats) April 3, 2026

In 2026, the average fastball from a righty starter is over 95 MPH. Stuff is better than ever, which makes Mikolas an easy target for these hitters so used to high velocity heaters. When Mikolas was at his best in 2018 and 2022, his 4-seam fastball averaged 94.1 and 93.5 MPH respectively. He has never been a guy with put away secondary pitches, so he has needed to rely on the fastball.

Right now, the fastball just is not there. While Blake Butera heavily indicated that Mikolas will be making his next start, if this continues much longer, it will be time for uncomfortable conversations. The Nats do not have a shortage of options at the AAA level right now.

One guy I would like to see back in the big leagues is Andrew Alvarez. Since coming up in September of last year, he has been very impressive. He posted a 2.31 ERA in 5 starts last year, and looked good this spring. After a shaky first start in Rochester, he dominated last time out, throwing five scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts.

5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 10 K

andrew alvarez was on 🔥 yesterday for @RocRedWingspic.twitter.com/50yaG7UY17

— Nationals Player Development (@Nats_PlayerDev) April 3, 2026

Like Mikolas, Alvarez does not have a power fastball. However, he does have the kind of sharp secondary pitches that Mikolas does not possess. It is also a little easier to be a soft tosser as a lefty. Southpaws just tend to create more awkward angles and deception with hitters. With Mikolas, you are not getting any of that deception.

It seems like the Nats will give Mikolas some time to try and figure it out. However, I think the leash should be short. They did not commit much to him financially, and the results have been catastrophic so far. If the results don’t turn around in the next couple starts, the Nats need to pull the plug. Admitting when you mess up is a sign of an intelligent front office. No GM bats 1.000, and it looks like the Mikolas signing will be a miss.

I get giving the veteran some time. Mikolas has accomplished a lot in his career, so pulling the plug after two starts would be rough, especially on a rebuilding team. However, it really seems like the writing is on the wall with this experiment. Hopefully, Mikolas turns it around, but I do not have faith.

Miles Mikolas made two All-Star teams and had some great years in St. Louis. However, father time is undefeated. It really seems like Miles Mikolas is at the end of the line here. He better bounce back next time out, or the pressure will really ramp up on the Nats new regime to solve this problem.

Konnor Griffin’s debut was one of the most anticipated debuts we have seen in the league in a long time, and it’s safe to say his debut lived up to those high expectations. 

Griffin Batted seventh and started at shortstop in front of a sellout crowd of 38,986 at PNC Park. The rookie provided the highlight moment of the Bucs’ 5-4 win against the Baltimore Orioles when he smashed an RBI double in the first at-bat of his Major League career, opening the scoring in the Bucs four-run second inning. Griffin would score in the very next at bat thanks to an RBI single by Jared Triolo.

Pittsburgh had four straight hits in that second inning that all resulted in RBIs. Henry Davis hit an RBI double that scored Triolo, then Oneil Cruz hit an RBI single to score Davis and give the Pirates a four run lead. 

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Ryan O’Hearn hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Bryan Reynolds and give the Bucs a 5-2 lead. 

Griffin slashed .438/.571/.625 in his five games this season with Triple-A Indianapolis before getting called up. In 122 games last year, he hit .333 with 21 home runs, 94 RBIs and 65 stolen bases en route to being named Baseball America’s Minor League Player of the Year. The shortstop was the ninth overall selection in the 2024 MLB Draft.

Griffin, who doesn’t turn 20 years old until April 24, is the first teenaged position player in MLB since Juan Soto debuted with Washington in 2018. He’s also the first teenager to debut for Pittsburgh since Aramis Ramirez in 1998. Griffin is also the first teen to hit an extra base hit in his first major league game since Soto did it in 2018.

Griffin reached base for the second time when he led off the fourth inning with a five-pitch walk. He advanced to second base on another single to right by Triolo, but he was later forced out at third after Davis grounded into a double play. 

In his last two at bats, the 19 year old would strike out and ground out to finish his day. Even though he only had one hit, it was clear he made an impact in front of the home crowd.  

The sellout crowd on hand kept its energy up for the entire game, there were four moments, during Griffin’s at-bats, where the noise came to a halt, with more than 38,000 fans hanging onto every pitch in anticipation for what their city’s newest star was going to do next. It was the kind of energetic environment that Kelly believes his team will have to get used to playing in front of as they hope to get back to the postseason for the first time since 2015.

Griffin was impressive in his debut. He showed confidence and made a couple of nice defensive plays. If he can continue to play like that he will play an important part of this time for the whole season. 

With the 5-4 win the Bucs now improve to 4-3 on the season. The Pirates play the Orioles at 4:05 back at home on Saturday afternoon with Carmen Mlodzinski on the mound. 

Here's what happened in Mets Land on Friday, in case you missed it...

---

• In San Fran, Nolan McLean was perfect through five, and the Mets pounded out 10 runs in a win over the Giants
• McLean admitted he had just one working pitch, but was able to "piece it together"
• After the game, Marcus Semien and Francisco Alvarez spoke about the offense busting out
• Friday's win wasn't perfect: Juan Soto exited early with calf tightness and will undergo an MRI
• Also on the injury front, Jorge Polanco was out of the lineup as he continues to deal with Achilles tendinitis
• Down on the farm, Christian Scottgot touched up in his first start at Triple-A Syracuse
• In his stateside debut, prospect Elian Peñadoubled, reached base three times
• Also, the Mets are reportedly signing veteran reliever Luke Jackson to a minor league deal

Breathe.

It’s a rough day to be a Cub fan. Don’t borrow trouble. You don’t know. First and foremost, you don’t know the extent of Cade Horton’s situation. Yes, they said elbow and forearm. Those are dirty words when a pitcher leaves abruptly. Cade has had Tommy John surgery once before. So we all can certainly understand his concern. We all understand the caution. The injured list stint is obvious, The caution is obvious. But we don’t know.

Don’t borrow that trouble. You have to have it scanned. You have to treat that young man carefully. But don’t give up today. There hasn’t been a bell. No one’s thrown in the towel. The fight isn’t over.

Breathe.

Give this a minute to play out. You’re assuming the worst. Almost exactly a year ago, the Cubs lost Justin Steele to an elbow injury. Steele had to have his UCL repaired just under a year ago. After that injury, the Cubs recovered and went on to be one of the best teams in the National League. They won a playoff series. They pushed the Brewers to the brink in the Division Series.

To be fair, Cade Horton emerging helped get them to that point. It’s not fair to assume that Jaxon Wiggins might emerge that way this year. Each season is unique. Maybe it’s Steele himself who emerges. We can’t know. We know that Colin Rea was generally up to the task when asked in 2025. Or Javier Assad in 2024. There are options. It isn’t over.

Horton left early. The Cubs did eventually lead. But they couldn’t hold it. The bullpen, asked to throw eight innings in this one, came up short. The end result? Four runs in seven innings by the pen. Not good enough. But the bigger story is nine innings and just one run for the offense. Eight total runs across four losses in the seven games. Just two runs per game. Not good enough. Yet 23 runs across three wins. Nearly eight runs per game.

It’s early. 28 runs across seven games. That’s what they’ve allowed. It’s high. You likely aren’t going to reach the playoffs at four runs per game. 31 runs scored over seven games. That’s pretty good. Let’s not draw conclusions yet.

The reasons for nervousness. They are there.

Breathe.

This isn’t great. But it isn’t over yet. It’s far too soon. There are 155 games left to play. This is a deep and talented roster. If Cade is somehow done for 2026, the team is undoubtedly less good than we thought it would be. No sane person can just wave off a loss like that. Also, the season doesn’t hinge on one player. Certainly, he is one of the more valuable pieces on this team. But there are redundancies.

The margin is slimmer. But it isn’t over. And it isn’t even known just how bad the situation is.

Breathe.

It’s going to be okay. Promise.

Three Positives:

1. Hoby Milner has been fun in the early going, no? He came into this one with runners on second and third and one out, the Cubs leading by one. He did yield the lead. But also got a pop out, nearly escaping the inning. Thenm threw another scoreless behind it. Milner is a really interesting left-handed weapon.
2. Carson Kelly had a couple of hits against a left-handed starter.
3. Colin Rea was pressed into emergency action. He faced 14 batters, allowing four hits and a walk. He was charged with one run. He struck out four. I presume he’ll slide into Horton’s spot until we know more.

Game 7, April 3: Cleveland 4, Chicago 1 (3-4)

Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.

THREE HEROES:

• Superhero: Hoby Milner (.117). 1.2 IP, 6 BF, 2 H
• Hero: Colin Rea (.076). 3.1 IP, 14 BF, 4 H, BB, ER, 4 K
• Sidekick: Alex Bregman (.072). 1-4

THREE GOATS:

• Billy Goat: Hunter Harvey (-.350). 0.2 IP, 5 BF, 2 H, BB, 3 ER (L 0-1)
• Goat: Michael Busch (-.192). 0-4
• Kid: Ian Happ (-.154). 0-4

WPA Play of the Game: Gabriel Arias faced Hunter Harvey with one out in the seventh, the game tied at one. He homers, giving Cleveland the lead. (.227)

*Cubs Play of the Game: Alex Bregman batted with a runner on first and no outs in the sixth, the game tied at one. He singled, sending the runner to third. (.135)

Cubs Player of the Game:

Game 6 Winner: Matthew Boyd received 153 of 189 votes.

Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 3/Bottom 3)

The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.

• Hoby Milner +4
• Miguel Amaya/Edward Cabrera/Jameson Taillon +3
• Shōta Imanaga/Phil Maton/Alex Bregman -3
• Matt Shaw -5

Up Next: Game two in Cleveland. Shōta Imanaga (0-1, 7.20) starts for the Cubs. Slade Cecconi (0-1, 12.46) stars for Cleveland. Cecconi is right handed. At least until Seiya Suzuki returns to the Cubs, the Cubs are much better against right handed pitching. Cleveland is yet to face a lefty this season. They were 22-24 against lefty starters a year ago, on their way to an 88-win season overall. Did they adequately address that issue? The Cubs were 73-47 against righty starters on the way to 92 wins. So generally, the Cubs are better against righties.

I think this matchup favors the Cubs. So I’ll lean into the pattern continuing one more day, at least.

Breathe my friend. Breathe. It’s going to be okay.

The San Diego Padres have developed a disturbing trend after the first seven games of the 2026 season. In each of their five losses, the Padres have scored three runs or less. The three runs in a loss happened once. The other four losses were by two runs, which included the series opener against the Boston Red Sox Friday afternoon. It should come as no surprise that the San Diego offense flummoxed by Boston starter Sonny Gray for most of the day. The veteran right-hander, who joined the Red Sox following an offseason trade with the St. Louis Cardinals, allowed two runs on four hits over six innings. As bewildered as the lineup was facing Gray, it was worse against the Boston bullpen. Three relievers combined to pitch three scoreless innings without allowing a hit. There was one walk allowed, in the top of the ninth by closer Aroldis Chapman, and three combined strikeouts to hand the Padres a 5-2 loss to open their road trip.

Gavin Sheets was the lone bright spot in the San Diego lineup, finishing 2-for-3 with two singles, an RBI and a run scored. Miguel Andujar was gifted a triple when centerfielder Ceddanne Rafaela misplayed a ball in center and Luis Campusano ended his hitless streak with an RBI-double off the Green Monster, which tied the game 2-2 in the top of the fifth inning. The top five in the lineup for San Diego (Fernando Tatis Jr., Xander Bogaerts, Jackson Merrill, Manny Machado and Ramon Laureano) combined to go 0-for-19 on the day with one walk.

Michael King did his part but got nothing to show for it – in fact, he took the loss. King allowed four runs on seven hits over 5.2 innings. The line reads worse than the outing appeared. After the Padres tied the game in the top of the fifth, King faced just three batters in the bottom half of the inning, thanks in large part to a stellar play by Jake Croenworth at second base.

Don’t they know they can’t hit it to the Crone Zone? pic.twitter.com/ft2BNtrWXK

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) April 3, 2026

He took the mound in the bottom of sixth and recorded an out but then surrendered a solo home run to Willson Contreras to give the Red Sox a 3-2 lead. King then allowed a single and recorded a strikeout before manager Craig Stammen took him out of the game in favor of Wandy Peralta who came in to face left-hander Marcelo Mayer. The move backfired as Mayer hit a two-run home run on the first pitch from Peralta that just squeaked past the glove of Tatis Jr. in right field to put Boston ahead 5-2.

Marcelo mashes his first of the year! pic.twitter.com/A1fccULaPJ

— Red Sox (@RedSox) April 3, 2026

San Diego will try to break out of its offensive funk with Game 2 against the Red Sox at 1:10 p.m.

Padres News:

• Cheri Bell of Gaslamp Ball put it best with her headline that read “Opening week was a bit of a mess.” Throughout the week there were strange decisions from the dugout, miscommunication in the field, lapses in fundamentals and uninspired approaches as the plate. Maybe the road trip will allow the Padres to get away and start fresh.

• Jase Bowen had a productive spring and was with the team until the final roster decisions were made. Ultimately, Bryce Johnson made the team as the fourth outfielder, but that has not slowed Bowen. The outfielder helped the El Paso Chihuahuas earn a win Friday night by hitting for the cycle.

The first cycle of the Minor League season is here! 🎉🎊@Padres prospect Jase Bowen clinches the milestone for the @epchihuahuas by legging out a triple in style: pic.twitter.com/uQxgDzH3la

— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) April 4, 2026

Baseball News:

• Pittsburgh Pirates top prospect Konnor Griffin made an instant impact with an RBI-double in his MLB debut to help the Pirates earn a win.

• Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees continued their hot start with a win in their home opener at Yankee Stadium.

• Nolan McLean had a dominant start and took a perfect game into the sixth inning, which helped the New York Mets top the San Francisco Giants in the road. Mets star Juan Soto departed early in the contest with calf tightness.

• Shohei Ohtani hit his first home run of the season, and the Los Angeles Dodgers slugged their way past the Washington Nationals with five home runs in the game, including the first from Kyle Tucker as a Dodger.

• Chase DeLauter of the Cleveland Guardians may not have gotten the memo that he is a rookie playing his first week in the MLB. He has hit five home runs in the first seven games of the 2026 season.

The Mets have signed 34-year-old right-handed reliever Luke Jackson to a minor league deal, according to Will Sammon. The veteran hadn’t signed with any organization for the 2026 season and will presumably need a little time to ease back into game action in the minors.

Over the past two seasons, Jackson has spent time with the Giants, Braves, Rangers, Tigers, and Mariners. He’s had a 4.59 ERA and a 4.36 in a total of 104.0 innings across all of those stops.

Walks and home runs have always been a bit of an issue for Jackson over the course of his major league career, but his strikeout rate has varied pretty significantly in any given season. Having posted 30.1 percent and 25.1 percent strikeout rates in in 2023 and 2024, he struck out just 17.4 percent of opposing batters last year.

The Mets’ bullpen currently includes Richard Lovelady, Sean Manaea, and Luis García, all of whom have looked like candidates to either get designated for assignment or placed on the injured list in the early going. Jackson figures to be one of the arms the Mets might churn whenever they start making those sort of roster moves.

The Mets are signing right-handed reliever Luke Jackson to a minor league deal, as first reported by Will Sammon of The Athletic.

Jackson, 34, pitched to a 4.06 ERA (4.49 FIP) and a 1.353 WHIP over 51 innings across 52 appearances last season while appearing for three big league teams: Texas, Detroit, and Seattle.

After pitching well with the Mariners down the stretch – 2.38 ERA over 11.1 innings with 10 strikeouts – he made two appearances during the postseason, allowing one run on three hits over three innings in mop-up duty of two lopsided losses.

The right-hander spent the majority of his career in Atlanta, pitching for the Braves from 2017-21 before a half-year stint there in 2024, after spending a year and a half with San Francisco. In all, he has 390 appearances under his belt with a career 4.22 ERA (4.01 FIP) and 1.439 WHIP over 409.1 innings.

Jackson is mainly a two-pitch reliever, using his slider nearly 50 percent of the time and his four-seamer a third of the time. A curveball is sprinkled in, with 16 percent of his usage. The fastball had a 94.2 mph average velocity last season. 

His calling card is getting ground balls, and his 52.7 percent rate was good for the 89th percentile in all of baseball last season.

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Scottish Premiership: Build-up to four games as Rangers eye top spot

Friday’s 10-1 blowout of the Rockies was the perfect salve for a lineup that was struggling. Granted, they were not facing a pitching staff that would be considered one of the better ones in the game, but it’s not as though they were facing monsters on the mound in Philadelphia. Several Phillies left town for the West Coast not playing well at all, but were able to get a few good swings in against Colorado.

However, when things aren’t going well offensively, the first thing one might consider making some changes to the lineup. I don’t actually mean having players benched. It’s far too early to even think about anything like that. No, I’m talking about actual who bats where discussions. The easiest one to spark discussion is where Bryce Harper hits as so many people have an opinion on where to hit him. Another topic might be who leads off, Trea Turner or Kyle Schwarber (or Justin Crawford?????).

The question of the day is easy: at what point should the team start mixing it up? Granted, a weekend in Colorado might be a “good for what ails ya’” type of weekend, but anyone who has watched the Phillies knows they’re as likely to play poorly in the coming days following a blowout as they are to continue their hitting. When should the team make a change if things continue going poorly more often than not?

If you missed most of Spring Training (which I totally understand), you may have missed appearance in Spring Training. He got a decent look in North Port, sticking around until March 11th. That was enough time to be noticed and to hit home runs on consecutive days. This one was a laser shot, coming off the bat at 109.7 MPH. The other may have been wind assisted. But with a 98.7 MPH exit velocity and 24 degree launch angle, it was no joke either. He must have had a great offseason.

The power display was definitely a fun surprise, because as Matt Powers noted in the fall:

Power isn’t a big part of his game, but he actually showed some growth there towards the end of the season. Gil’s slugging percentage was just .271 in April, .383 in May, .244 in June, and .342 in July. Then it was like a light clicked for him at the end of July. Gil got injured on July 10th, and didn’t return until July 24th in the FCL. He made his way back to Augusta on the 26th of July and over his final 30 games of the season he slugged .577 with 10 doubles, one triple, and six of his homers. Those numbers are especially promising when you consider that in his first 71 games he managed 15 doubles, no triples, and one homer.

Gil put up a 1.000 OPS and a 186 wRC+ in Augusta from July 26th through September 7th. Something definitely clicked for him in complex ball. He seems to have a small but noticeable change in the batter box. Have a look at this plate appearance from Thursday night.

John. Gil.
3 run homer
Rome Emperors take the lead pic.twitter.com/vNetv3SXU3

— Gaurav (@gvedak) April 3, 2026

And check this out from May 2025.

It’s quick but John seems to be pointed away from the plate earlier in the year. Now he’s pretty much waiting right on top of the plate. He’s appears less intimidated now. He may have good reason not to be. He can really turn on the ball.

So when will John Gil leave Single-A ball for good? Single-A players typically have only a faint idea of the strike zone, and so do the pitchers. Gil pretty good in this respect, striking out 14.5 percent of the time last year. Though, I wouldn’t be in a big hurry to move Gil to the Double-A Southern League. The Southern League has a tendency to sap power. I would rather be John be rewarded with dingers. But he kinda has the makings of a prospect that has found his bearing in professional baseball and ready to tear up the levels.

For the first couple of games, the Astros offense looked like it was trying to force everything.

The swings came early, the contact was weak, and too many innings ended before the opposing starter ever felt uncomfortable. It had that familiar early-season look of a lineup still searching for rhythm.

But the last few games have felt completely different.

The at-bats are longer. The counts are deeper. Opposing starters are being forced to throw stressful innings much earlier in games, and by the middle innings you can already start to see the pressure building on the other dugout.

That’s the part that should stand out most to Astros fans.

This doesn’t feel like a random hot stretch built on bloops or timely luck. It feels like a real philosophical shift in how this lineup is attacking pitchers.

The Astros are forcing labor-heavy innings, creating more traffic, and putting their best hitters in better run-producing spots.

More importantly, it feels like something that can actually hold over 162 games.

The Astros’ plate approach can realistically hold up over 162 games

This is the biggest reason the early success feels sustainable.

Houston’s drop in swing rate from 36.5% in 2025 to 31.8% in the early part of 2026 is not random variance. It reflects a lineup-wide commitment to a more disciplined identity.

Hitters are:

• refusing early chase pitches
• letting pitchers come into the zone
• extending at-bats
• forcing starters into high-stress innings
• creating earlier bullpen exposure

That process travels.

The Astros' lineup is exploding! Our hitting coaches deserve major kudos. New approach, better discipline at the plate. This is what we hoped for. #AstrosBaseball#MLB#Baseball#HoustonAstros#HoustonSports#HOU#BaseballLife#Sports#HunterBrown#Astros#fyp#CrawfordChroniclespic.twitter.com/oXfNT6F5gx

— Crawford Chronicles (@CrawfordChron) April 1, 2026

Unlike batting average spikes or bloop-hit luck, plate discipline tends to stabilize over time because it is rooted in decision-making and preparation.

Across a 162-game season, forcing pitchers to throw “one more pitch” every at-bat adds up to:

• more mistakes in hitter’s counts
• more middle-relief exposure
• more late-game scoring opportunities
• more crooked innings by the 5th and 6th

This is the kind of offensive identity that doesn’t disappear when the weather changes or the schedule tightens.

It should actually get stronger.

1. Tip of the cap to Soriano today. He was dealing.
2. Plate discipline is a gift, not something you can just "train." It's a special skill.
3. When no one’s getting on base, there’s not much a manager can do.
4. This is the outcome most of us expected. #Astros#ChaseTheFight

— HTownSportsFan (@HTownSportsNerd) March 26, 2026

Better patience makes Yordan Alvarez and Christian Walker even more dangerous

This may be the most exciting long-term effect. A patient offense protects its stars. When the entire lineup is committed to deep counts, hitters like Yordan Alvarez and Christian Walker see better versions of every plate appearance. Why? Because every hitter is protecting the next.

When Jose Altuve works a six-pitch at-bat, when Isaac Paredes forces a full count, when Cam Smith takes a momentum walk, pitchers lose margin for error.

By the time Yordan or Walker step in, the pitcher is often:

• behind in the count
• revealing sequencing patterns
• less willing to nibble
• more likely to challenge with a get-me-over fastball

That’s exactly where elite power hitters thrive. This is why the Astros’ power ceiling feels more realistic this season. The lineup is no longer depending on stars to create everything alone. It is creating the environment for stars to do maximum damage.

• That’s sustainable offense.

Strong Astros pitching takes pressure off the offense

The other hidden reason this approach can last is the pitching staff. As Houston’s starters continue to settle in, the offense no longer has to play with the feeling that every inning must produce runs.

When Hunter Brown, Mike Burrows, and the rest of the rotation are giving quality innings, the lineup can stay loose and trust the long game. That changes hitter behavior.

Instead of pressing for instant damage, hitters can stay balanced:

• take the borderline walk
• trust the next man up
• avoid expanding early
• hunt the right pitch later in the counts

2026 Starting Pitcher Strikeouts Leaderboard pic.twitter.com/U3PTjBXXRF

— Pitch Profiler (@pitchprofiler) April 1, 2026

This is where you start to see examples like Jose Altuve taking more walks, something that naturally increases when a team is not playing from offensive panic.

• Loose hitters make better swing decisions.

• Better swing decisions create traffic.

• Traffic creates RBI opportunities.

• That’s the cycle Houston is starting to build.

And when the pitching continues to hold games steady, this offense should become even more dangerous as the season matures.

All in all from what we are seeing, the Astros still have a high ceiling, the question in 2026, as it is with prospect scouting, is how high is the floor for the Houston Astros? Only time will truly tell, but I do believe this team has given us a glimpse of what they are capable of this season. It is only 7 games, and other teams may not be where they will be once everyone is in midseason form. I am looking forward to seeing what this lineup does in their first test on the road.

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Reds 5, Rangers 3

• A let down home opener.
• For the second year in a row, the Rangers went into the ninth in the home opener with the game tied, then allowed a home run in the top of the ninth that resulted in a loss.
• That’s a trend I’d just as soon see the Rangers get away from.
• MacKenzie Gore pitched pretty well in his start. A pair of homers accounted for all three runs he allowed, but Gore struck out nine in six innings and didn’t walk anyone.
• In fact, Rangers pitchers didn’t issue any walks in the game. Good job there, guys.
• Although in retrospect, Chris Martin walking the first two batters he faced would have been a good thing.
• Martin, who was going to retire after last season, was expected to be the stabilizing influence in the pen. He was the most expensive bullpen arm the Rangers went and got this offseason.
• He’s now had three rough outings in four appearances this year, with the one good outing consisting of three pitches to one batter.
• Its early, don’t want to jump to any conclusions, but it it not an encouraging start.
• Offensively, I think it felt like the Rangers should’ve scored more than three runs. Six of the eight hits they recorded were of the extra base variety. None of them were homers, though, which would have been better.
• Brandon Nimmo continues to rake, going 2 for 4 with a triple and a walk. Wyatt Langford had a double and a triple, pushing his OPS up above 500.
• The 3 through 6 spots were an issue, totaling 1 hit in 16 plate appearances. Corey Seager struck out three times, which makes me sad. I don’t want Corey Seager to strike out a bunch in one game.
• Joc Pederson was hitless in his two plate appearances, making him 0 for 10 to start the year.
• There was a sequence in the bottom of the sixth that stuck with me. Jake Burger doubled to start the inning. Andrew McCutchen, pinch hitting for Joc Pederson once the Reds brought lefty Sam Moll into the game, grounded out to third, with Burger unable to advance. After a Josh Smith ground out, Moll threw four pitches to Josh Jung that were nowhere near the strike zone, seemingly pitching around him to get to Evan Carter.
• Carter saw three pitches from Moll. The first two were breaking balls he was bailing on that ended up strikes. The third pitch Carter swung helplessly at.
• Carter had a double in the game and scored a run. But that plate appearance against Moll highlighted how overmatched he is against just about any decent lefthanded pitcher.
• MacKenzie Gore reached 97.9 mph with his fastball, averaging 95.7 mph. Cole Winn topped out at 94.8 mph with his fastball. Jakob Junis’s sinker touched 92.8 mph. Chris Martin’s fastball maxed out at 95.4 mph.
• Wyatt Langford had a 109.0 mph fly out and a 107.8 mph fly out. Joc Pederson had a 108.0 mph ground out. Corey Seager had a 107.0 mph ground out. Evan Carter had a 106.5 mph double. Jake Burger had a 104.2 mph double. Danny Jansen had a 103.3 mph double. Josh Jung had a 101.9 mph single.
• Shake it off, and move to the next.

The Guardians won their home opener and aim to play again today, weather-permitting.

Nick provided our recap here. Another big day for Chase DeLauter and the Guardians starting pitcher, this time Joey Cantillo.

Zack Meisel provided a cool diary of the game for the Athletic. Terry Pluto wrote a nice piece about the ballpark.

Around MLB:

The Tigers, Twins and White Sox won while the Royals were postponed. Byron Buxton got hit by a pitch and left the Twins’ game.