Category: MLB

Inspiration.

On Saturday, I was optimistic about who the Diamondbacks drafted in the first round: Ryder Helfrick and Blake Bryant.

“Helfrick is the best defensive catcher in the class… If they stick, the [batting] improvements [better swing decisions and moved away from the plate] this year give him a chance to be an All-Star.” — Keith Law

“Bryant really looks the part of a future No. 2 starter,…” — Keith Law

I wondered about two questions.

• What are the chances they will reach the Majors? 
• What are the chances they will make a positive impact?

Let’s look at all the first-round picks by the Diamondbacks after Mike Hazen was the GM.

How often do first-round picks reach the Majors?

In recent years, for all the teams, in general about 81% of first-round draftees reached the Majors (for at least one game) per JJ Cooper’s Baseball America article.

Looking at the players drafted in the first round after Mike Hazen became GM, 7 of 10 draftees (70%) made it to the Majors within 3 seasons of being drafted (ignoring the unsigned Matt McLain).  Also, an eighth draftee (Blake Walston) made it in 5 seasons.  70% is a little below average, but seemed like an acceptable result.    

The position player chances were higher than pitcher chances (83% vs 50%).  Given the known problem with pitcher development, which is being addressed, that difference seems to make sense.

In each of the next three seasons, two first-round picks by the Diamondbacks will reach their third season, and they will likely significantly impact the percentages that reached the Majors.

How often do first-round picks make a positive impact?

My view is that accumulating at least one Baseball-Reference Win-Above-Replacement (bWAR) will accomplish a positive impact.  Although that view is possibly a low bar, and although a replacement level player can make a small impact, that is where I drew a demarcation line.

Looking at the players drafted in the first round after Mike Hazen became GM, 3 of 10 draftees made a positive impact.   They were Corbin Carroll, Drey Jameson, and Bryce Jarvis.  I was surprised that 2 of the 3 were pitchers!   Perhaps the story is more complex than it appeared!

Drafting Corbin Carroll was like winning a jackpot.  So far, he has earned 18.9 bWAR, making his impact far above all the other Diamondbacks first-round draftees.  In addition, his performance earned the Diamondbacks an extra draft pick, which was used to draft Ryan Waldschmidt.

Could other first-round draftees make an impact in the future?

In a 3-step process, I estimated the future impact of each draftee. Opinions on future impact differ widely.

• Estimated each player’s future bWAR for the Diamondbacks. 
• Subtracted bWAR equivalent to their salary divided by $9 million per bWAR.
• Rounded the result to acknowledge the huge uncertainty in the estimate.

Three of the seven first-round draftees who did not make an impact, could make an impact in the future. They were Ryan Waldschmidt,  Jordan Lawlar, and Tommy Troy. IF that optimistic impact happens, the percentage of first-round draftees who made an impact could possibly increase from 30% to 60%.

Two tables show the first-round draftees.

Looking at the players drafted in the first round after Mike Hazen became GM, the following table shows the first-round draftees who made it to the Majors.

Looking at the players drafted in the first round after Mike Hazen became GM, the following table shows the first-round draftees who have not yet made it to the Majors.

Data from Baseball Reference, FanGraphs, and MLBcom.

Summary.

Looking at the 10 players drafted in the first round after Mike Hazen became GM:

• 7 draftees reached the Majors within 3 seasons.
• 3 draftees made an impact of at least 1 bWAR.  I was surprised that 2 of the 3 were pitchers.
• My optimistic estimate is that an additional 3 draftees could possibly make an impact of at least 1 bWAR.
• Corbin Carroll made the largest impact, with 18.9 bWAR and his performance earned the Diamondbacks an additional draft pick.

The Colorado Rockies are a team in the midst of a rebuild. With this in mind, the staff at Purple Row thought it would be useful to revisit the “State of the Position” series that we ran in March to see where things stand. We’ve asked authors of the spring articles to re-evaluate their earlier remarks with an eye toward the August 3 trade deadline.

The state of the Rockies’ starting rotation is, well, less than ideal as we reach the midpoint of the 2026 season.

To put it in perspective, Colorado’s starters rank 30th in ERA, 30th in WHIP, 29th in K/9, 30th in H/9, and 16th in BB/9. Some of that is to be expected. Pitching at Coors Field is an inherently difficult challenge, thanks to the combination of altitude and the vast outfield dimensions.

Even with those caveats, however, the rotation has fallen well short of expectations. Too often, it has struggled to keep the Rockies in games, putting the club at an early disadvantage.

It wasn’t supposed to go this way.

The offseason plan, the first under Paul DePodesta’s front office, was built on a specific bet: durability. Tomoyuki Sugano, José Quintana, and Michael Lorenzen were signed to one-year deals precisely because they take the ball — the trio averaged 26 ⅓ starts a season over the previous two years. Paired with Kyle Freeland, they were supposed to guarantee that the Rockies never had to start someone who couldn’t hold a major league job. Instead, availability — the one thing this group was supposed to provide — is exactly what has fallen apart.

The injuries came for everyone

Quintana hasn’t pitched since late May, when a left elbow sprain sent him to the 60-day injured list. Sugano was scratched from his scheduled July 4 start and placed on the 15-day IL with back spams. Chase Dollander, one of the two real upside plays this rotation has, underwent an internal brace procedure on his right elbow on June 22 and won’t pitch again until 2027.

The backup depth got hit, too. Tanner Gordon (hip impingement) and Ryan Feltner (right ulnar nerve inflammation) both spent time on the IL, while McCade Brown has been sidelined by shoulder inflammation since late March without throwing a pitch this season.

The veterans who stayed healthy haven’t held up their end

Freeland’s season has been the most difficult to watch. The franchise leader in career innings pitched carries an ERA above seven through 17 starts, and he hasn’t resembled himself since returning from a shoulder issue of his own. The 170 innings he needs to vest his 2027 option is, at this pace, out of reach. The lone bright spot came in June, when he became the second pitcher to reach 1,000 strikeouts in a Rockies uniform.

Lorenzen’s first half was, for stretches, the roughest of any starter in baseball. He leads the majors in hits allowed, and his home/road splits have undercut the theory that his eight-pitch mix would translate to altitude. There is a real trend worth nothing though: Over his last seven starts, he’s posted a 3.22 ERA. It’s not dominance, but it’s the first sustained stretch that looks like the pitcher Colorado thought it signed.

Then there’s Sugano, who has been the staff’s most reliable arm — and has done it backwards. The 36-year-old is 8-4 with a 4.80 ERA, built on a 4.14 ERA in seven starts at Coors Field, with most of the damage coming on the road. In a season where the organization is starving for any pitching lesson that travels, its most interesting data point is a command-and-mix veteran thriving at altitude. His back injury is reportedly minor, but every start he misses goes to someone who probably shouldn’t be making it.

Feltner has been the plan that actually worked

Feltner won a rotation spot out of camp, validating the offseason strength work that was supposed to put his lost 2025 behind him. Right ulnar nerve inflammation cost him five weeks in the middle of the first half — poorly timed for a pitcher re-establishing himself.

But he’s made the layoff look like a footnote. Since returning in late May, he has been arguably the Rockies’ most dependable starter, posting a 3.74 ERA across eight starts. He is also the only member of the Opening Day rotation under club control beyond this season — which makes him less a nice story than the lone bridge.

Dollander, the other camp arm with long-term upside, saw his season end before he could truly make his own case — leaving Feltner as the last man standing from what was supposed to be the rotation’s future-facing competition. Gordon has filled his familiar swingman role when healthy, while Antonio Senzatela and Jimmy Herget — the two spring wildcards — both settled into the bullpen, the outcome that always seems likeliest.

The future arrived early, ready or not

The injuries dragged the prospect timeline forward by months. Sean Sullivan (No. 8 PuRP) got the first call and struggled, surrendering 22 earned runs across 22.1 innings before being optioned back to Albuquerque — a reminder that the gap between the Pacific Coast League and Coors Field is wider than a plane ride.

Gabriel Hughes (No. 12 PuRP) is the more encouraging test case. Selected on July 1, the former first-round pick made the first start of his career Wednesday at Dodger Stadium — opposite Roki Sasaki — and turned in the kind of outing the final score undersells in a 4-3 loss. He velocity is up from a year ago, the strikeouts followed in Albuquerque, and he now has a three-month audition to prove he belongs in the 2027 rotation.

What the second half is really about

Here is the uncomfortable math underneath all of it: Freeland, Sugano, Lorenzen, and Quintana are all headed to free agency this winter. Felnter is the only starter who projects to open 2027 in the rotation. The most expensive free-agent pitching class since Jorge De La Rosa was never a foundation — it was scaffolding, and it comes down in October, no matter what happens between now and then.

That makes the trade deadline, not the standings, the story of the second half. Any healthy veteran becomes the front office’s clearest chance to turn this season into something with a longer shelf life. And the auditions — Hughes, Sullivan, maybe eventually Brown — become the competition that actually matters: the one for jobs that won’t exist until next spring.

The question in March was whether this rotation was better. The midseason answer is: barely, briefly, and not where it counts. The better question now is whether anything from the first half — Sugano’s Coors formula, Feltner’s return, Hughes’ arrival — is something the Rockies can keep.

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The Yankees are riding high into the All-Star break on the back of a three-game sweep of the Nationals, overcoming a deficit in the eighth inning or later in all three games for the first time since they were the Highlanders sweeping the Cleveland Naps in 1910. However, we have to go back a game further for the unequivocal selection for AB of the Week. In the final game of the pivotal four-game series against the Rays, Ryan McMahon won a 12-pitch AB against typical Yankee Killer Drew Rasmussen to spark their eventual six-run outburst and win to split the series.

We join McMahon with no outs in the top of the third, Max Schuemann standing on second after leading off with a double. The Rays lead, 1-0, courtesy of a Junior Caminero solo shot in the first. McMahon has returned to the starting lineup after starting on the bench the previous two games with the Rays throwing out a pair of lefty starters, and just his glove alone at the hot corner is a welcome sight.

Rasmussen entered this contest with a career 0.89 ERA against the Yankees in nine starts. Stylistically he is similar to Cam Schlittler in that he throws his three fastballs a combined 80-percent of the time, relying on the divergent movement profiles of the four-seamer, sinker, and cutter to create deception for the batter. He starts this AB looking to front-door a sinker for a called strike.

He achieves just that, starting this pitch as a ball in off the plate and allowing its 16 inches of arm-side run to tail it back across the inside edge of the zone. McMahon gives up on the pitch early assuming it will be a ball inside only to watch the movement carry it into the strike zone for called strike one.

Now that he has shown McMahon an inside fastball that moves back toward the plate, it’s time for the fastball that breaks in the opposite direction. He attempts to start a cutter down the same tunnel as the first pitch, which should get McMahon to chase in off the plate after watching the previous sinker land for a strike.

This is a pretty good take by McMahon. The cutter looks like a strike down and in out of Rasmussen’s hand, but McMahon must have picked up the movement pretty soon out of Rasmussen’s hand because he reads it all the way as it cuts away from the plate for ball one inside.

Follow two straight inside fastballs to open the AB, Rasmussen has the situation for a changeup down and away — it should look like a heater right down the middle before diving down arm-side.

Oh man, McMahon missed a cookie here. They say you might only get one good pitch to hit per AB and it looks like this was the one. Rasmussen misses his spot badly with the changeup and leaves this one belt high down Broadway. However, McMahon cannot take advantage of what is effectively a batting practice fastball and slashes it foul straight back — right on time with the swing but not precise enough with the barrel.

After failing to punish that mistake, McMahon is in trouble, 1-2. His focus now should center solely on hitting something to the right side to advance the runner to third and pass the baton to the next batter.

Rasmussen changes speeds back up to the four-seamer after seeing that McMahon’s swing timing is synced to the changeup. He nails his spot out over the plate but just above the zone, yet McMahon is still able to fire off a strong swing, his barrel again just under this pitch to foul it back to the zone as the four-seamer does not drop the way that the sinker and cutter McMahon has already seen did.

Rasmussen succeeded in getting McMahon to chase a four-seamer just above the zone, so the logical choice here is to climb the ladder a rung higher and see if he can get the chase and whiff this time.

Fortunately for McMahon, Rasmussen overthrows this four-seamer and it sails up out of the zone about head high, making for a pretty straightforward take despite an initial temptation to swing.

That take on a four-seamer above the zone informs Rasmussen’s next pitch selection. If he can throw a sinker that looks like a ball high out of the hand, McMahon should give up on the pitch only watch in drop into the zone for called strike three.

Rasmussen executes that pitch plan to perfection, but McMahon is all over this sinker, fouling it straight back to the screen. It’s impressive diagnosis of the pitch to recognize that he has to foul it off to avoid getting punched out looking.

With McMahon showing a renewed willingness to offer at a fastball that starts as a ball above the zone, Rasmussen reverses his course looking to get the hitter to whiff beneath the elevated four-seamer with the movement profile of the sinker he just fouled off still fresh in his mind.

Once again McMahon is able to fight off this pitcher’s pitch foul to keep the AB alive. You can see by the way he fouls it off the handle of the bat that he is anticipating a sinker’s movement toward the right-handed hitter’s batter’s box, but the four-seamer flies straight and he gets jammed.

The last four fastballs that Rasmussen has thrown all exhibit arm-side movement, so he has created an opportunity to deceive McMahon with the glove-side-breaking cutter.

This is definitely the most impressive swing from McMahon to this point. I do not know how he is able to make the immediate adjustment in eye level to a fastball down and in and breaking toward him after fouling off three heaters at the top of the zone. It’s another near-flawless pitch from Rasmussen on the corner, but McMahon’s confidence is growing with each pitch he spoils.

Now that Rasmussen has reminded McMahon that he can throw an inside fastball that breaks further in, he feels he can freeze him with a four-seamer up and in as McMahon should be anticipating a cutter to handcuff him in off the plate.

That’s two straight pitches command right to the corners but it’s the same result from McMahon. You can see from the way he pulls his hands in that he’s thinking this is another cutter and he therefore needs to make an extra effort to stay inside the pitch.

Rasmussen has now thrown six straight fastballs, so despite having failed to execute the changeup earlier on, he might have a little more margin of error with the off-speed having sped McMahon’s bat up to fastball speed.

Rasmussen again leaves this changeup elevated but somewhat fortuitously gets it to the corner up and away. McMahon is pretty early with his swing after all those fastballs and can count himself lucky that he is just able to tip a piece of the ball foul off the end of the bat to stay alive.

It’s not until the 11th pitch of the AB that Rasmussen finally throws his first breaking ball. His intention is to start it off the plate and break it back across the outside edge for a called strike three, and McMahon should be frozen after seeing so many heaters over the plate.

The fact that McMahon is tempted to chase this pitch tells me he has been secretly hunting a breaking ball this whole time. He finally gets one and almost loses his discipline before reading the pitch just in time and halting his swing.

It’s taken a monumental effort from McMahon to this point to work the count full. He knows Rasmussen does not want to walk him, so he can pretty reliably hunt a fastball in the zone, likely up given the way Rasmussen has attacked the top of the zone with heaters to this point.

McMahon gets the pitch he is looking for and does everything the situation requires of him. He pulls the ball, meaning at the very worst it’s a productive AB to advance the runner to third. However, he’s finally able to fire off a swing with some authority rather than a fight-off swing to stay alive. He gets the barrel directly to this cutter up and out over the plate, managing to keep this ball fair down the right field line to plate Schuemann as the tying run.

Here’s the full AB:

Where do I even begin with this incredible effort from McMahon? For starters, it’s such a professional AB, swinging at all the pitches that are in the zone or are too close to take while laying off the three balls that are intended for him to chase. It’s fabulous pitch recognition to identify five different pitch types, anticipate their movement, and tailor his swing path and timing to make contact, especially when you consider the location of many of the pitches — just look at how many Rasmussen was able to command to the edges of the zone, yet McMahon was able to fight every one of them off foul to stay alive! There was never a moment of panic in McMahon’s approach, allowing him to keep a level head and do damage with a controlled swing when he finally got a pitch he could hit McMahon winning the 12-pitch marathon proved the turning point in the game, the floodgates immediately opening for the Yankees to score six in the frame and hand Rasmussen by far his worst start against them.

McMahon is poised to play an important role for the Yankees down the stretch. As the failed experiments of Amed Rosario and José Caballero at third have shown, they absolutely need a reliable defender at the hot corner capable of making all the routine plays and even a handful of spectacular ones, and there are few third baseman in the league better equipped for those duties than McMahon. What’s more, since returning from a throat infection that landed him on the sidelines for two weeks, McMahon looks way more in control in the batter’s box, posting a 148 wRC+ in eight appearances off the IL. If that can continue, he quietly becomes one of the Yankees’ most valuable all around players.

The 2026 MLB Draft is in the books and the Atlanta Braves had a huge year with a lot of interesting players to follow. The Braves held their highest pick since 2019 and with that and their extra pick due to the Prospect Promotion Incentive, they had a massive bonus pool to work with that they are expected to spread across numerous hands. The biggest of those will be 9th overall pick AJ Gracia (Draft Report | My Take). While Gracia will demand a high bonus he is still expected to come in well below the slot value at the 29th pick, freeing up a load of money for the slew of high school players the Braves are targeting.

Another savings pick is 26th overall surprise selection Carter Beck (draft report). Beck will receive at least $2,684,100 due to the rule that players who attend the draft combine and submit a physical must receive at least 75% of their slot value for a bonus, however Beck is not expected to get much over that numbers. These numbers are all going to be significant as the Braves selected seven later round high school players that are expected or to at least could receive over slot bonuses. The highly drafted guys will absolutely get big money. For the following players click on their names to view their draft day report. Kaiden McCarthy, Jensen Hirschkorn, Cole Dennis, Tyson Grulkowski, and Jack Brenner are all going to get significant bonuses, especially the first three of that group. Ryne Barker in the 11th round is also going to be a tough sign away from a Texas Tech commitment, and 13th round pick Cole Dorland has to be swayed away from a chance to attend Alabama. These players will stretch the bonus pool of the Braves, but with the lack of any late shot-in-the-dark picks the Braves should still be expected to sign all 21 players drafted. We are likely to get a slow trickle of bonuses for top guys announced over the next two weeks, though the Braves typically make quick work of their signings and are going to announce the full signing class likely within that two-week timeframe. In the meantime we seek to be a hub for all of the announcements and rumors prior to the official blue box from the Atlanta Braves. For the list of signing rules if you are unfamiliar, scroll past the spreadsheet below, though for those that are familiar there are no rule changes this year. The official signing deadline is July 27th at 5:00 pm ET.

To know a little about each player, I encourage you to read the fantastic write up by our draft expert Matt Powers here. He does fantastic work every single year and is the backbone of our pre-draft and draft day coverage.

Now to the signing rules. For those of you following for the first time or in need of a reminder, the MLB draft signing is structured significantly different to other sports leagues. Each pick is assigned a specific value, and the sum of that value is the amount a team is allotted to spend total across all of their selections.

For the first ten rounds of the draft every dollar spent counts against the teams total bonus pool, and for picks after the tenth the signing bonus allotment is $150,000 with any amount over that being charged against the pool. For example, if the 11th round pick gets $500,000, $350,000 of that would count towards the bonus pool. The bonus pool is not a strict limit, and the Braves should be expected to go over that by anywhere from 1-5%. In that range the penalty for overage is just a tax on the signing bonus. However, any amount over 5% will induce a penalty of future draft picks, so teams have never in the history of this format exceeded that mark, but will often come within a few dollars of it. The total pool as well as the 5% overage is labeled in the chart.

A strategy for the Braves to save money to spread around to multiple players is to take a couple of highly drafted players who will sign for well below the value of the pick. Another is to take senior college players in the middle rounds, in the Braves case this season rounds eight through ten, and then throw small bonuses (usually just a few thousand dollars) that they can’t really turn down as they lack the leverage of returning to school. The savings will go to entice younger players away from commitments to university, a task that has become a bit more daunting in the NIL era of college spots.

One other applicable rule to this draft is the contingency bonus. It’s a bit of an accounting trick, a $2,500 portion of the bonus that does not count against the bonus pool. The players still get this money no matter what, but the Braves typically report numbers like $997,500 to save that little bit of extra penalty and keep themselves under the 5% margin. This is a pretty minor squabble with the big bonus guys, but when you see a senior sign that gets, say, $7,500 it is important to remember there is a solid chunk of money going to that player that isn’t directly reported by that “official” number.

The final major rules relate to unsigned picks. The Braves have likely already locked down specific bonuses with top players, so barring a late NIL push or a failed physical it is a near guarantee that the top 10 rounds will sign. In the event of this occurring, if the player decides not to sign the Braves would lose slot value from the total pool. In the case of a player like Gracia, who would be expected to save them a chunk of money, this could throw their entire draft into disarray, but typically a team is aware of any medical or commitment concerns before the draft and players not signing inside the first ten rounds is exceedingly rare. It can be a bit tougher with high school guys, but with the Braves going the college route in the first round there is no realistic chance that they are going to see their draft blown up by a lost signee.

However, it does happen, like in 2018 when Carter Stewart and the Braves failed to come to terms. In that case, within the first two rounds the team (assuming they offered at least 40% of the slot value) would receive a pick in the following draft one pick later than this draft. So in Gracia’s case, the Braves would get the 10th pick in 2027 if he did not sign. For a third round pick that does not sign, a replacement selection would be wrapped in at the end of the third round as a compensation pick.

Jamie Aloy, who was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 48th round of the 1999 MLB Draft out of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, had two sons and both followed in his footsteps, pursing baseball not just as a passion or hobby, but as a profession. His eldest son, Wehiwa Kapahulehua, attended the University of Arkansas and was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles with the 31st overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft, where he is one of their top prospects. His youngest son, Kuhio Kamakanawehiwamaikalewa, was just drafted by the Mets. Kuhio attended Henry Perrine Baldwin High School in Wailuku, Hawaii, overlapping with his brother’s time there in 2022. Graduating in 2023, he struck out on his own and attended Brigham Young University.

The outfielder spent a single season with the Cougars, appearing in 52 games and hitting .269/.329/.447 with 9 doubles, 1 triple, 8 home runs, and 20 walks to 62 strikeouts, good for a 84 wRC+. He entered the transfer portal and transferred to the University of Arkansas; the season prior, his brother had done the same thing, and now they were once again playing together. Head coach Van Horn often penciled the two brothers into the line-up back-to-back, and multiple times over the course of the season, the two hit back-to-back home runs, or homered in the same inning, or drove each other in. In total, Kuhio appeared in 61 games for his new team and hit .317/.404/.539 with 15 doubles, 13 home runs, and 31 walks to 77 strikeouts, good for a 120 wRC+. That summer, as Wehiwa was being drafted and getting ready to begin his career as a professional in Delmarva, Kuhio was playing for the Bourne Braves of the Cape Cod Baseball League. In 16 games for them, he hit .333/.463/.500 with 3 doubles, 2 home runs, and 12 walks to 16 strikeouts. He had intended on playing for them longer, but a hand injury prompted him to withdraw from the team early.

Kuhio returned to the University of Arkansas for his junior year in 2026 and started 49 games in a row, 35 as DH and 14 in right field, before his season ended prematurely in late May due to a broken hamate bone in his left wrist likely sustained during an early at-bat in a game against the University of Tennessee. All in all, the outfielder hit .293/.352/.486 with 8 doubles, 9 home runs, 5 stolen bases, and 15 walks to 48 strikeouts, resulting in a 98 wRC+.

The 6’1”, 205-pound Kuhio stands square at the plate, holding his hands high with his bat wrapped behind his head angled at 2:00. He swings with a slight leg lift but is otherwise very still at the plate, utilizing virtually no load and weight shift, primarily engaging his upper body and generating power from bat speed and torque. When he makes solid contact and barrels balls, Aloy has the capability of launching balls with 100+ MPH exit velocity readings using composite bats, regularly launching tape measure home runs- the University of Arkansas measured many of his home runs over the course of the 2026 at 450+ feet.

The power comes with some swing-and-miss, with Aloy running a 25.8% strikeout rate with his two seasons with the Hogs and a 26.5% rate factoring in his season with Brigham Young as well. He draws a solid amount of walks- 9.4% walk rate over the course of his college career- but his 3:1 strikeout to walk rate is still a bit high for a player who is not a major slugger. While Aloy has maximized his HR/FB% ratio with a 23.7%, the outfielder still has some work to do elevating the ball in general. His batted ball data is extremely non-optimal for a player of his profile, running a 45.9% groundball rate, 25.6%, line drive rate, and 28.6% flyball rate in 2026, and 42.1%, 24.9%, and 33.0% over the course of his collegiate career. The preponderance of strikeouts and groundouts are a major reason why Aloy is a very streaky hitter.

Defensively, Kuhio does not bring much to the table, which is why the preponderance of his games have come as designated hitter. He does not have much foot speed, with a slow and plodding gait, and as such does not have much range. He does have a strong arm, possibly strong enough to profile well in right field. Because he carries his weight well and is already fairly well filled in, Aloy is unlikely to add enough mass to force him out of the outfield, but because of his limitations out there to begin with, he might simply be better at first base.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Sox fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

No, we’re not issuing this survey as a goof: We know most of you will favor the top overall pick, Roch Cholowsky. Perhaps it’s the battle for No. 2 that intrigues. The White Sox made an extra sandwich pick at the end of the first round materialize out of thin air (well, actually it materialized at the cost of No. 15 pick overall in 2024 Jacob Gonzalez) and grabbed a local kid with ties to White Sox/baseball royalty with it, Landon Thome. And their second round pick proper, Cole Prosek, might be their own mini-Grady Emerson (left-handed prep bat with pop, middle infielder).

Anyway, let’s ride out the fumes of the triumphant 2026 draft with one more look at it!

The 2026 MLB Draft is now over and if they all sign, there will be 21 new members of the Cubs family. Scouting director Dan Kantrovitz said before the draft that the Cubs would work on the weakness on the pitching side of the Cubs farm system and boy, did they ever. With 21 picks over the 20-round draft, the Cubs took 16 pitchers, one outfielder, one shortstop, one catcher, and two first basemen, although one of the first basemen catches some. Nineteen of the 21 picks were college players.

Here, once again, are all 21 Cubs draft picks.

Round 1 (23): Cade Townsend RHP Mississippi

Round 2 (62): Caden Sorrell OF Texas A&M

Round 2 Comp (75): Myles Bailey 1B Florida State

Round 3 (98): Carson Jasa RHP Nebraska

Round 4 (126): Dylan Marioneaux RHP Northwestern State (LA)

Round 5 (159): Dylan Blomker RHP La Cueva HS (NM)

Round 6 (188): Isaac Morton RHP Minnesota

Round 7 (217): Cole Tryba LHP UC Santa Barbara

Round 8: Lance Williams RHP Maryland

Round 9: Chase Meyer RHP West Virginia

Round 10: Luke Alwood RHP Seattle University

Round 11: Ariston Veasey RHP Clemson

Round 12: Brandon Arvidson LHP Tennessee

Round 13: Emanuel Hernandez C Carlos Beltran Academy (PR)

Round 14: Corey Nunez SS UC Santa Barbara

Round 15: Griffin Naess RHP Caly Poly SLO

Round 16: Ashton Pocol RHP Florida Gulf Coast

Round 17: Ryan Marton RHP UNLV

Round 18: Luke McGrath RHP James Madison

Round 19: Luke Guth RHP Vanderbilt

Round 20: Brennan Hudson 1B Georgia

So the Cubs stuck to their long-standing preferences for college players over high school players by drafting only two high schoolers—Blomker in the sixth round and Hernandez in the 13th. That’s a trend that is taking hold in all of baseball as around 77 percent of the players drafted came from a four-year college. Another two percent came from the junior college ranks, so only around 1 out of 5 picks were high school players.

Otherwise, two things stand out. Obviously the Cubs took a lot of pitchers. Kantrovitz hinted that they would and they did. But what is striking is what kinds of pitchers they took. While the Cubs did not take many soft-tossers, even the hardest throwers sit more 95-96 miles per hour on their four-seam fastball. Some have touched the upper-90s and perhaps the Cubs think they can put a few ticks of velocity on them in the pitch lab. They’ve had some successes doing that in recent years.

But the one thing that unites almost all these pitchers is a high spin rate. In his video press conference with the Cubs media, first-round pick Cade Townsend said:“Spin is really my super power. That’s what I tell everyone. I just have a weird, innate ability to spin the ball and make the ball move left or right.” Kantrovitz said he was going to work with Cubs pitching coordinator Tyler Zombro to identify pitchers that he could work with. Apparently Zombro wants pitchers who can spin the ball.

Beyond Townsend, 3rd round pick Carson Jasa, 4th round pick Dylan Marionneaux, 5th round pick Dylan Blomker, 6th round pick Isaac Morton, 8th round pick Lance Williams and 9th round pick Chase Myers are praised for the spin they get on the ball. Spin affects the path of the ball—more spin means less vertical movement and more arm-side horizontal movement. Basically, the mis-named “rising fastball” is a fastball with a lot of spin. A pitch with a high spin rate is just harder to hit.

Clearly, Kantrovitz and Zombro targeted pitchers with that high spin rate and Zombro thinks he can build upon that kind of profile better than he can with lower-spin pitchers.

The two position players taken with the two second-round picks are interesting as well in that neither one of them have great contact rate, which is something that the Cubs have targeted in past drafts. Instead, Sorrell and Bailey are athletic and powerful sluggers who struggle sometimes to make contact. Sorrell’s problem is pitch recognition and swinging at too many pitches out of the zone. Bailey just swings so hard that he misses a lot of hittable pitches, even if he tends to lay off bad ones and draw a fair number of walks.

I’m not going to go over the first five picks as I already wrote about Townsend, Sorrell,Bailey, Jasa and Marionneaux. I will add, because I didn’t have much information on Marionneaux right after he was drafted, is that he’s a pitchability right-hander whose best pitch is his mid-80s slider. He also has a low-90s fastball, a cutter, a curve and a change. He was used as a starter at Northwestern State, but he’s almost certainly a reliever in the professional ranks where his slider could be an effective weapon out of the pen. In my article on Saturday I said that Marionneaux was likely a below-slot pick so that the Cubs could sign a player who wanted a bigger bonus later. That pick turned out to be Blomker. But I do want to make clear that the Cubs didn’t just grab some random pitcher who’d sign cheap. They clearly like Marionneaux and that slider fits in with what Zombro wants to work with down in Mesa.

I also want to add that Bailey is likely to be the most fun Cubs hitting prospect since Daniel Vogelbach and maybe even farther back than that. He’s going to strike out a ton and we hope that doesn’t derail his career. But man, he hit home runs than just made your jaw drop at Florida State. Bailey is gonna be a must-watch player for the sheer entertainment value.

So here are some quick thoughts on the Cubs other 16 draft picks.

Dylan Blomker is one of the two high school players the Cubs took in the draft. He’s a 6’4” right-hander with a pretty vertical pitching motion. His fastball is timed in the low-90s, but it touches higher and a lot of scouts think he can add a few ticks on to his four seamer as he develops. But his best pitch is a sweeping slider with a lot of spin and impressive break. He, like most high school pitches, needs to work on his changup.

Blomker has already said he’s going to sign. Fun fact: the Blomker family is friends with the Bregman family and Dylan has known Alex most of his life. Alex Bregman helped recruit Blomker to LSU. Now he is a major reason Blomker is excited to forgo LSU and sign with the Cubs.

Isaac Morton is a 6’3” right-hander who had two seasons at Texas A&M before transferring to Minnesota. He’s got a hard sinking fastball that sits 94-96. He also has a low-90s cutter and a mid-80s slider. Both pitches have a lot of spin and the slider is his put-away pitch. He also made major strides with his control his junior year after coming home to Minnesota.

On talent alone, Morton should have gone in the top three rounds. Baseball America named him as one of their “college sleepers” in this year’s draft. But he struggled to stay healthy with the Aggies and after making 13 starts with a 3.26 ERA for the Gophers, he suffered an arm injury that required Tommy John surgery. So it will probably be late next season before we see Morton pitch at the earliest. But Baseball America write that Morton is the best pitcher to come out of Minnesota since Max Meyer and if Morton is anywhere near as good as Meyer is these days, he’ll be worth the wait.

Cole Tryba is an undersized lefty with a low arm release and above-average control. His fastball is around 90-93 mph. He also has a sweeping slider that is his go-to pitch. Tryba’s changeup needs some refinement, but it’s promising at this point. He also has a cutter.

Tryba has been the Gauchos closer for the past three years and he’s most likely going to stay in the pen as a pro. Tryba pitched well in the wooden bat Cape Cod League last summer (1.07 ERA over 25.1 innings) and that’s always a good sign.

Lance Williams is an undersized (5’11”) righty who nevertheless gets some good velocity on his fastball, which sits mid-90s and has touched 99. Once gain Williams ties into the “spin rate” that the Cubs are chasing, and both his slider and cutter some impressive spin. He rarely threw his change, but when he did, he got a lot of swings and misses.

In his one year at Maryland, Williams split time between the rotation and the bullpen. He missed a lot of bats and missed the plate a lot, leading to 69 strikeouts and 29 walks over 57 innings. It’s a profile that works better in the pen than as a starter as a professional, but it’s also some good clay for the pitch lab to work with, so I wouldn’t completely dismiss the chance that he starts.

Chase Meyer is a 6’2” right hander with some electric stuff. Meyer sports a fastball that sits around 96 and can go as high as 98. He’s also got those high-spin breaking pitches. His change is a low-8os 12-6 with a hard break and the slider comes in just a bit faster but with good glove side break.

Unfortunately, Meyer was dismissed from the Mountaineers after two appearances and 3.1 innings this February after he was involved in a locker room incident where he angrily criticized the coaching staff. Since then, he’s pitched in both the MLB Draft League and the Cape Cod League to give scouts some looks. Again, Meyer is likely a reliever.

Luke Alwood ia a big, 6’5” right-hander who spent four full years at Seattle University. His fastball is only 92-94, but there is some thought that someone that big should be able to throw harder and he has hit 98 once or twice. He has good control, although his pitches can be a bit too hittable. For a college senior, his stuff is still pretty raw. With his size, Alwood is definitely someone whom the pitch lab would like to work with and see if they can make something out of him. It’s definitely a starter’s frame, if not a starter’s arsenal at this point.

I fully expect that all of the top ten draft picks will sign. There may be one or two picks in the second half of the draft that don’t.

Ariston Veasey is a 6’1” right-handed junior out of Clemson. He missed the start of the season after getting involved in a campus bar fight, but all charges were dropped in the end. Veasey transferred to Clemson after two years at Alabama and quickly became the best reliever on the Tigers with a 3.29 ERA and 37 strikeouts over 25.1 innings. Opposing hitters managed just a .143 average against Veasey. He did struggle with control at times and walked 18 batter. Veasey has a mid-90s fastball.

Brandon Arvidson is a tall, 6’5” left-handed reliever with a lot of swing-and-miss in his fastball/slider combination. The mid-80s slider breaks down hard and is a potential plus pitch if he can learn to throw it for more strikes. It’s Arvidson’s bread-and-butter pitch. The fastball sits low-90s but can touch 95-96. Arvidson struck out 35.2 percent of hitters over his two years with the Volunteers. He improved his walk rate this past season and he will need to improve it still if he wants to be a major league reliever.

About all I know about Emanuel Hernandez is that he’s a Miami of Ohio commit and that the Cubs needed to grab some catchers or all these pitchers they drafted will have no one to throw to. I did see a video of him throwing to second base from behind the plate and he looked fine there. We’ll see if he sticks to his college commitment. The Cubs need catchers.

Corey Nunez is the second Gaucho the Cubs took in this year’s draft after Tryba and after they took two more Gauchos, Ryan Gallagher and Ivan Brethowr, in the 2024 draft. Nunez took a step forward in his senior season at UCSB with a line of .280/.361/.393 and hit .345 in limited (seven games) action this summer in the Cape Cod League. Despite being 6’3”, Nunez doesn’t have much power and has a stroke that is geared towards contact on a line to all fields. Nunez struck out just 23 times in 200 plate appearances this past season.

Griffin Naess is another tall, 6’6”, lanky right-hander who was a three-year starter for Cal Poly. From what I’ve seen of Naess, despite his size, he’s not a hard-thrower with a fastball checking in around 90 mph. But by far his best pitch is a fall-of-the-table upper-70s changeup that gets a lot of swings and misses. He’s also got a mid-70s curve with some good break on it but I didn’t see him land it for a strike much.

With the Mustangs last year, Naess went 8-5 with a 4.63 ERA over 91.1 innings and 17 starts. He struck out 97 and walked 35. The Mustangs seems to ride his arm more than I like and he threw 137 pitches in the Big West Championship Game.

Ashton Pocol was the senior closer for FGCU. He put an impressive strikeout-to-walk ratio with 50 strikeouts and just ten walks over 33.1 innings. He was 3-4 with a 3.24 ERA and six saves.

Canadian Ryan Marton is a big 6’4”, 235 right-hander who spent two years in junior college before transferring to UNLV this past year. He didn’t get much of a chance with the Rebels, throwing just 19 innings over four starts and nine relief appearances. His numbers aren’t all that impressive—6.16 ERA, 22 strikeouts and nine walks—but he was pitching in Las Vegas.

Luke McGrath is a 6’2” redshirt sophomore right-handed reliever who struggled with control last year at James Madison. I didn’t get a radar reading on his fastball from the video I saw of him pitching, but it looked hard. He also appears to have a slider and a curve, again, at least from what I saw. The breaking pitches appeared to have good movement, but from the 20 walks he had in 28 innings last year, I wonder how often he can throw them for strikes. McGrath struck out 28.

Luke Guth is another one of those big spin guys that the Cubs took so many of in this year’s draft. Guth has a 92-93 mph fastball with that good spin and “rise” that the Cubs have targeted. His breaking stuff has a lot of movement—maybe too much as he seems to struggle to throw them for strikes. Guth was dominating as a sophomore reliever for the Commodores with a 0.93 ERA and 22 strikeouts and seven walks over 19.1 inning. But Guth couldn’t follow that up and he struggled this past year with a 5.18 ERA. The problem was he was just walking too many batters. If Guth can live up to his promise of 2025, there might be a solid reliever in there.

I have Brennan Hudson listed as a first baseman but a lot of places list him as a catcher. He did both at Georgia this year, with more first base than behind the plate.

Hudson wasn’t much of a draft consideration last year in his first season with the Bulldogs after transferring from Georgia State. But as a senior this year Hudson had a breakout season, hitting .294/.466/.730 with 22 home runs in 56 games. The big difference between Hudson’s junior and senior season is a huge drop in his strikeout rate from a whopping 37 percent as a junior to 20.8 percent as a senior. Hudson walk totals also increased as his power numbers soared. He has a kind of violent left-handed pull swing that is geared to power.

Despite those impressive numbers, both the scouts and the data analysts think those senior season numbers were a bit of a fluke. That’s why Hudson was still available in the 20th round. But he certainly seems like someone worth the gamble this late. And if he can catch, that’s all the better.

Somehow, the 2026 All-Star break is here.

What a first half for the Atlanta Braves. We’ve run the emotional gamut in this 55-40 record – delirious joy, abysmal lows, and all the in-between. Much like the summer temperatures, a certain divisional race is heating up. But a two-game lead, no matter how tenuous, is still a lead. Enjoy it.

The boys will be partaking in some much-needed rest before returning to game action on Friday. Ozzie Albies, Drake Baldwin, Matt Olson, Chris Sale, and Raisel Iglesias will represent Atlanta in our rival’s city tonight in the Midsummer Classic.

The All-Star Game and accompanying activities are polarizing for baseball fans. We asked the good people of Battery Power to put on their commissioner hats and share the ways they’d change the ASG. Hot takes ahead!

Let’s see some skills

We talk about tools all the time when we’re talking about ballplayers. Beyond the ability to hit dingers, why can’t we see more of what’s possible in our beautiful sport?

In a different flavor, we spend a decent chunk of ASG festivities honoring current players and getting excited about future stars. Why limit the alumni activations to brands and collabs? 

Scheduling logic

Why do the All-Stars Futures Game and the MLB Draft happen while games are still being played? This is prime sicko content and it’s competing with real baseball, and seemingly for no reason.

Similarly and pedantically, this isn’t halfway through the season. So if we want it to serve as a real demarcation in the 162, it should theoretically be earlier. 

Roster revamps

Fan voting will forever be contreversial, so some alts:

Get rid of [X]

Of course, some people want to simplify or eliminate the things they don’t personally enjoy. Whether it’s the fan vote, the Derby, or simply baseball’s newest game rules… nothing is sacred or safe:

With all our differing opinions, I think we can all agree on this one:

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across Major League Baseball. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Yankees fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

Last week, we polled Yankees fans about how they envisioned the 2026 regular season ending for the ol’ Bombers. Only 24 percent said that they thought the Yanks would overtake the upstart Rays in the second half and win the AL East, though 58 percent maintained that they would still make the playoffs as a Wild Card, with the plurality of the options in the poll—35 percent—adding that New York would be the top Wild Card and host a best-of-three first-round series.

Had we sent this survey to fans during a different week when the Yanks weren’t in midst of a 4-14 stretch, perhaps the results would have been different. But even now after sweeping the Nationals to finish the second half on a better 5-2 road trip (splitting a tough Rays series in Tropicana Field as well), it’s clear that the Yankees have work to do. A three-game deficit sits in front of them, and unless they sweep a four-game set against the Rays in September, it might as well be four because Tampa Bay holds the tiebreaker. They’re most likely safe to make the playoffs because they hold a 6.5-game lead on the last Wild Card spot, but there are enough clubs at least vaguely in the mix that if a couple get hot, then it could get tense there as well.

In this week’s survey, we want you to predict the Yankees’ October, months ahead when the roster will look at least a little different due to the unforeseen injuries, players like Aaron Judge and Max Fried ideally returning to health, and any Trade Deadline tweaks. Do you think they’ll get themselves in good enough shape to win their 28th World Series, or at least to advance to their second in three years? Will they fall short somewhere in the AL playoffs? If so, where?

Vote in the poll and we’ll check out the results around the time the second half begins. A challenge awaits with those two-time defending champion Dodgers coming to the Bronx on Friday.

It has been an entire year since a member of the Phillies has won the All-Star Game MVP award. Can any of this year’s contingent of Phillies All-Stars break the long-standing “Curse of Kyle Schwarber?”

For newer readers, or those that generally tune me out: For the past few years, I lamented the fact that the Phillies hadn’t had the MVP of the All-Star Game since Johnny Callison in 1964. But thanks to Schwarber’s heroics in the overtime of last year’s game, The “Curse of Johnny Callison” was finally broken!

With a healthy representation on the National League squad, and the game being played in Philadelphia, it feels like there’s a decent chance the Phillies could have the MVP of the game two years in a row.

Here are the candidates and the likelihood that they’ll win:

I don’t see it happening

Zack Wheeler – Since he understandably rejected the belated invitation to the team, he will (probably) not appear in the game, which generally reduces the chances of winning the MVP award.

You’d be better off investing in Crypto

Jesus Luzardo – Pitchers are generally at a disadvantage to win the award in general, and unless Luzardo is called upon to get a pivotal out – and as a late addition to the roster, I can’t see that happening – he’s not going to win

If you squint, you could see it

Cristopher Sanchez – For the past 40 years, the only pitchers to win the MVP award have done in when pitching in their home city. As the starting pitcher, Sanchez might get to work an inning plus, and if he looks great in a game where there are no clear offensive standouts, they might give the hometown guy the nod.

If the vibes are right

Jhoan Duran – I have to imagine that if the NL is leading in the ninth inning, Duran is going to get the save opportunity, because that entrance is going to play well on national TV. As with Sanchez, if there are no standout offensive players, and Duran closes out the game in dominating fashion, he could be the choice.

Why not?

Brandon Marsh – Being in the starting lineup can actually be a disadvantage for a player’s chances, as he might get just one at bat, and it will be early in the game. Based on Monday night, Marsh is really enjoying being an All-Star, and his beard does garner attention. Sometimes early hits can prove just as decisive as late ones, so if Marsh drives in a few runs to put the NL ahead for good, he’s got a chance.

You know he wants it

Bryce Harper – Believe it or not, this will only be Harper’s second time playing in an All-Star Game as a Phillie. After falling short in the Home Run Derby, you know Harper is itching for the chance to shine on Tuesday. After his WBC heroics, you have to figure that if there’s a key at bat late in the game, manager Dave Roberts will deploy Harper. If he comes through, the award is his.

Let’s do it again

Kyle Schwarber – Maybe he’s worn out from Monday’s epic Home Run Derby…Or maybe it’s just left him hungrier. As the NL’s leadoff hitter, a Schwarbomb to start things off would be positively majestic. And if the game goes into overtime again, it’s almost a given that Schwarber will be one of the NL’s hitters in the swing off. Can lightning strike twice?

I thought I’d ask the question, Who do you think will improve the most the second half of the season?

I planned on have all the Jays regulars in the poll, but I’m limited to six option in the poll. Oh well.

There is room for any of our hitters to improve, but let’s go with these six. The team offense isn’t what it ought to be. Let’s use OPS as a measure, the one who’s second half OPS is the most improved from the first half.

Obviously, Vlad’s numbers are nowhere near what we expect from him. And there has been some improvement over the ten games. He has a .773 OPS over those ten games, mostly because he hit two home runs and took seven walks in those ten games. I don’t think that means he is sure to improve after the All-Star break, but it would be hard for him not to improve.

Myles Straw has a .626 OPS in the first half. He’s never been a great hitter, but last year his OPS was .680. So there is a lot of room for him to get better. And he’s been some better in his last ten games, with a .692 OPS.

Andrés Giménez has a .640 OPS. He isn’t in the lineup for his bat, but he can do batter than that. His last ten games have been awful offensively, .400 OPS.

Daulton Vasho has a .696 OPS, after a .833 last year. And his last ten games have been terrible, .276 OPS. I think he’s looking better defensively, but the bat? He isn’t striking out, but he isn’t making any hard contact.

George Springer has a .677 OPS. After a bounce back season last year, he’s back to be hitting like he did in 2024. He’s finally been moved out of the leadoff spot. He’s only had three games since the last injury.

Alejandro Kirk has had a tough season, breaking a hand. Guys often have a tough time after an injury like that. His OPS is .587. I’ve always thought that Kirk could fall out of bed and hit .290. In his last ten games, he has an .589 OPS.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Rockies fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

The 2026 MLB Draft is in the books, and we got our first look at how the Rockies’ new front office envisions this team. They took 21 total players, and you can keep up with the signings here.

But now that we’ve had some time to analyze and reflect, how do you think the Rockies did in this year’s draft? Which player are you most excited to see? Specifically, which player from Day 1 excites you the most?

Let us know!

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

It’s that time of year again: A collection of baseball’s finest from across the country rendezvous for 48 hours of red-carpeted, star-studded celebration. And along with all the fanfare and festivities comes an inevitable complaint ringing out from the bleachers, the internet echo chambers, and heated family dinners: “Why isn’t [insert favorite player with a probably pretty compelling case] at the All-Star Game?! End fan voting! End player voting! Get rid of analytics!” Or something to that effect.

As it stands, the All-Star Game is an exhibition. Without home-field advantage at stake, the point is to have fun and showcase players worthy of celebration. So it’s in that spirit of fun and celebration (and not in the spirit of anger) that I have embarked on creating the Mets’ No-Star Team — a roster of longtime staples, postseason heroes, and fan favorites who never made an All-Star Game in their entire career. Note that the criteria here excludes players who earned an All-Star selection with a different team, so no Nolan Ryan-types are eligible. It also doesn’t incorporate projections, so you won’t find Nolan McLean or Carson Benge on the list (though with another couple years of similar production and no All-Star selections, both would have a solid case).

Without further ado, here are my selections for the Mets’ No-Star roster.

FIRST BASE – Donn Clendenon

The All-Star Game might be all about first halves, but Clendenon’s Mets legend was built on the power of his second half after being traded from the Expos in 1969. After the All-Star Break, Clendenon put up an .851 OPS with 11 homers in 47 games as the Miracle Mets surged their way to the postseason, where Clendenon slashed .357/.438/1.071 with three homers in four games. Clendenon was never an All-Star, despite a strong 1970 season with New York and several formidable seasons in Pittsburgh during the mid-60s. But who needs an All-Star selection when you’ve got a World Series MVP Award, right?

SECOND BASE – Wally Backman

Neil Walker, Ken Boswell, and Tim Teufel all have solid cases, but Backman ultimately gets the nod here in recognition of his nine-year tenure in orange and blue. It’s not difficult to see why Backman never made an All-Star team, as he only once entered an All-Star break hitting over .300 (in 1986) and only played in north of 60 games by the break on three occasions (1982, 1984-85). But he finished his Mets career with a solid .283 average and 165 RBI, and he recorded a top-10 bWAR on two division-winning teams.

THIRD BASE – Dave Magadan

Magadan spent seven seasons with the Mets, averaging 100 games played per season with a 122 OPS+. His best shot at the Midsummer Classic came in 1990, when he ended the first half slashing .355/.438/.483, but he didn’t earn the full-time starting job until early June. He didn’t put up eye-opening power numbers, but he was an offensive force, and could serve as the No-Star Team’s honorary hitting coach as well.

SHORTSTOP – Wilmer Flores

Of all the positions to consider when making this No-Star roster, this one might have been the weakest. There’s Francisco Lindor and José Reyes, the titans of the Mets’ shortstop pool, but both players were of course perennial All-Stars. Kevin Elster, Bob Bailor, Amed Rosario, and Rubén Tejada all have their cases, but with no clear candidate, the honor should go to the heart and soul of the 2015 Mets. His numbers (a .262 average, .727 OPS, 68 homers, and 2.3 bWAR across six seasons) might not tell the whole story, but they don’t need to — Mets fans will still be telling Wilmer’s story for generations. Call it this No-Star Team’s fan vote. Our Ernie Clement.

LEFT FIELD – Kevin McReynolds

Only 28 MLB players to debut since 1933 (when the first All-Star Game occurred) have accumulated 30+ bWAR and not made an All-Star team. Kevin McReynolds is one of those 28 players. During five seasons with the Mets between 1987-91, he averaged 24 homers, 28 doubles, 87 RBI, and 13 steals a year, with a .273 batting average and a 122 OPS+. In his 1988 campaign, when he clubbed 27 homers behind a 142 OPS+, he placed third in National League MVP voting behind Kirk Gibson and teammate Darryl Strawberry — but even in that season he did not make the NL All-Star team, as the bulk of his production came in a second-half surge.

CENTER FIELD – Mookie Wilson

Mookie Wilson is precisely the type of player who provides immense value to winning baseball teams, but tends to slip through the All-Star cracks. A speedy, glove-first center fielder, Mookie never recorded more than 3.8 bWAR in a season, never finished a season batting over .300, and only once (in 1984) reached double-digit home runs. But he was almost freakishly consistent with the bat, recording a .276 batting average in three consecutive seasons between 1983-85. For that, he also earns a selection to the All-Khris Davis team.

RIGHT FIELD – Brandon Nimmo

As has been documented on this site by long-winded hacks before, it seems as if the baseball gods have conspired to keep the very-good-but-not-quite-elite Brandon Nimmo from the All-Star Game. Some years, it’s been injuries. Some years, it’s been a proper snub. One year, it was a global pandemic. When all is said and done, Brandon Nimmo concluded his Mets career with 135 homers, 463 RBI, 524 walks, and 26.0 bWAR — all of those marks ranking first among Mets players with zero All-Star selections.

CATCHER – Francisco Alvarez

There were a number of solid candidates to choose from for the catcher position, but Alvarez eked out the competition on the back of his 57 homers, already fourth-most among Mets catchers — and he’s not even 25 years old yet. Alvarez’s bat may not be able to live up to the lofty expectations that come with top prospect status, and his health has certainly defied him (he’s only once played more than 100 games in a season), but Mets fans shouldn’t take for granted what he’s given them. Since 2023, only eight players in baseball have caught at least 300 games while maintaining an OPS+ above 100, and Alvarez is the youngest of that group by almost two years.

DESIGNATED HITTER – Lucas Duda

Of the 23 Mets players to record 30-homer seasons, only three never made an All-Star team in their careers: Bernard Gilkey, Ike Davis, and Lucas Duda, this No-Star Team’s designated hitter selection. The left-handed slugger spent eight seasons in Queens, with his two best coming in 2014 (the aforementioned 30-homer season) and 2015 (when the Mets won the NL pennant). Duda finished his Mets tenure with a total of 125 homers, 11th-most in franchise history, and has the third-most at Citi Field with 71.

RESERVES

Catcher: Todd Pratt
Infield: John Milner, Wayne Garrett
Outfield: Juan Lagares, Bernard Gilkey

For backup catcher, Todd Pratt fits the bill, providing an iconic series-clinching walk-off home run in the playoffs and five years with a 100 OPS+ as a Met. Apologies to Ron Hodges, who played 12 seasons and 666 games as a Met, but even for a No-Star Team his .240 average and .663 OPS wasn’t quite enough to make the cut.

Our backup infielders are a pair of 1970s Mets, with Milner offering power (multiple 20-homer seasons) and Garrett providing versatility around the diamond. Todd Zeile and Ed Charles both had solid cases, but ultimately neither spent quite enough time in orange and blue to beat out Milner and Garrett.

The outfield reserves might just have been the most competitive portion of this entire roster. It feels painful excluding Ángel Pagán, who put up a 4.0 bWAR season in 2009 followed by a 5.3 bWAR season in 2010. It feels even worse excluding Steve Henderson, who came one vote short of winning NL Rookie of the Year Award in 1977 before putting up three more solid years.

But Lagares is the ultimate fourth outfielder for a No-Star roster. A Gold Glove Award winner with a career .701 OPS against lefties (just barely enough to earn him starts as a platoon) and contributions to a pennant-winning team, he handily makes the cut. 

Gilkey only played in parts of three seasons with the Mets, but one of those was a monster 8.1-bWAR campaign in 1996. Since 1933, only 22 players have put up 8+ bWAR in a season and not made the All-Star team that year. Of those 22 players, only three never made an All-Star Game in their entire careers: John Valentin, Andrelton Simmons, and Gilkey. This No-Star article was essentially made to highlight players like Gilkey, who did exceptional things on the field yet never received baseball’s most traditional honor designated for exceptional players.

ROTATION – Bob Ojeda, Craig Swan, Gary Gentry, Steven Matz, Sean Manaea

Ojeda is the clear ace of this staff. The left-hander put up a 2.57 ERA as part of an elite rotation in 1986, and went 2-0 with a 2.33 ERA in four postseason starts. He followed that up with four more solid seasons in New York, giving him a body of work worthy of this honor. Over his 15-year career, Ojeda went 115-98 with a 3.65 ERA and 1,128 strikeouts. He earned a third-place Rookie of the Year finish in 1981 with the Red Sox and a fourth-place Cy Young finish in ’86, but no All-Star selections.

Here’s a trivia question. Only five Mets pitchers have won an ERA title. Four of them are predictable enough: Tom Seaver (1970, ’71, ’73), Dwight Gooden (1985), Johan Santana (2008), and Jacob deGrom (2018). But the fifth might stump even a confident Mets fan. Craig Swan captured the title with a 2.43 ERA in 1978, despite only going 9-6 on a 96-loss, last-place team. The Mets’ sole All-Star representative that season was right-hander Pat Zachry, who had come over in the Tom Seaver trade the summer prior. Swan spent 12 seasons in New York, starting 184 games for the Mets — 10th-most in franchise history, and first among pitchers without an All-Star appearance (coming in just ahead of Jon Niese in both pools).

Selecting Gentry as this rotation’s No. 3 starter is a part-logical, part-sentimental decision. Gentry’s role in Mets history is in some ways the embodiment of a third starter, with his 3.43 ERA in 1969 providing a contribution less flashy than Seaver’s and less remembered than Koosman’s, but no less important in helping the Mets become champions. He shone especially bright in that Fall Classic, tossing 6.2 scoreless innings against the Orioles in Game 3 (the first World Series game played at Shea Stadium).

Among the Mets’ five young fireballers of the mid-2010s, four became All-Stars. Matt Harvey started the All-Star Game in 2013, Noah Syndergaard was selected despite not pitching due to injury in 2016, Zack Wheeler has made it thrice since joining the Phillies in 2020, and Jacob deGrom is a five-timer. But Steven Matz — whose career got off to a sizzling start in 2015 with a 2.27 ERA in six regular season starts and a 3.68 ERA in three postseason starts (including the Mets’ pennant-clinching game at Wrigley Field) — missed out on the honor. He’s had solid seasons, with a 3.40 ERA in 2016 as a Met, a 3.82 ERA in 2021 as a Blue Jay, and a 3.86 ERA in 2023 as a Cardinal. It’s never been enough to make an All-Star Team, but it’s certainly enough for a No-Star Team.

Manaea hasn’t quite been the same since 2024, but his efforts that season as the effective ace of a team that came two games from the World Series more than earn him the fifth spot in this rotation. And if he ended up looking more like 2025 or 2026 Sean Manaea than 2024 Sean Manaea, then Jon Niese and John Maine would both be on call to jump in as potential No-Star replacements.

BULLPEN

Closer: Roger McDowell
Setup: Turk Wendell, Addison Reed, Skip Lockwood
Lefty specialist: Aaron Loup
Long men: Jim McAndrew, Ray Sadecki

The first four names here are true, traditional relievers. McDowell, the right-handed anchor in the Mets’ ’80s bullpens, ranks eighth on the franchise’s all-time leaderboard with 84 saves. In 1998-99, Wendell put up back-to-back seasons with a 140+ ERA. He also won’t have to fight anyone for a number on this No-Star Team, being one of only two Mets along with Taijuan Walker (a 2021 All-Star) to wear No. 99. Reed only spent part of three seasons (with one full one) in New York, but it was a dominant run. The right-hander posted a 2.09 ERA (194 ERA+) with 156 strikeouts in 142.0 IP. And Lockwood’s Mets career was bracketed by a pair of strong seasons, with a 1.49 ERA in both 1975 and 1979.

The competition for that last traditional spot in the bullpen made for a brutal decision. A shoutout is in order to Ron Taylor, Bob Apodaca, Terry Leach, and Jeff Innis, each of whom had particularly compelling cases.

For the role of left-handed specialist, there were two clear frontrunners: Jerry Blevins and Aaron Loup. Blevins spent four seasons in New York, two of which were elite. Loup spent just one season in New York, but it was one of the best relief seasons in Mets history, with a 0.95 ERA in 56.2 innings. Ultimately, I went with Loup because of how utterly insane those 2021 numbers are, but Blevins would be well-justified to run an SNY segment challenging the decision.

The long relievers are a pair of starting pitchers who barely missed the cut for the rotation. McAndrew spent six solid seasons as a Met, with a 3.54 ERA. Sadecki, an 18-year veteran who also spent six seasons as a Met, has the fifth-most wins (135) of any southpaw without an All-Star selection to debut since 1933. He also split time between the rotation and the bullpen, making 62 starts and 103 relief appearances as a Met, making him perfect for this long relief role.

And that does it for the Mets’ No-Star Team. Surely, now that every possible Met without an award has been given an award, this will end all complaint and debate, right? Let me know in the comments!

The Atlanta Braves will be well represented at the 2026 All-Star Game. Veteran left-hander Chris Sale is part of a five-player contingent set to suit up when the National League battles the American League at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia on Tuesday night.

Sale will be flanked by second baseman Ozzie Albies, catcher Drake Baldwin, first baseman Matt Olson, and closer Raisel Iglesias. While Albies and Olson each received the honor for the fourth time, this All-Star selection marks the 10th in the Hall of Fame career of Sale.

Reaching that double-digit plateau puts Sale in exclusive company. He is just the eighth starting pitcher in Major League Baseball history to be selected to 10 All-Star Games. Sale joins Braves legends Tom Glavine and Warren Spahn as well as Steve Carlton, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Clayton Kershaw, and Tom Seaver on the list.

Sale earned this trip to Philadelphia by compiling a 2.20 ERA, second only to fellow All-Star Jacob Misiorowski (1.62) in the NL. This marks the third consecutive season that Sale has been named to the All-Star team since joining the Braves, ending a five-year absence after going to seven straight for the American League from 2012-2018.

Atlanta’s group of All-Stars also includes two first-timers in Baldwin and Iglesias, the former in just his second big league season while the latter was wondering if he’d ever make the cut. 

I spent a few minutes catching up with Sale to hear his memories from his first All-Star Game, the road back from injury to once again being selected for this honor, and his thoughts on a long-awaited All-Star nod for Iglesias.

Grant McAuley: Let’s chat a little about the All-Star game, because I know as somebody who’s been around the game and had the opportunity to take part in some of these, they’re all special. What does this one mean to you? Third year in Atlanta, third All-Star appearance. As you get to this point of your career, I would imagine it’s just a different level of meaningful.

Chris Sale: Yeah, I think there’s nothing like the first one. The first one’s probably always going to be the coolest one, the funnest one, just because you’ve never been there before. But that doesn’t mean that any of the other ones aren’t special and cool again. I just think about all of the people that helped me get here. You go back five or six years ago, I don’t think a whole lot of people had this on their bingo card, so I’m just really thankful for everyone that helped me get back to this point and to be able to enjoy these things.

GM: Walk me through that first All-Star game. It was 2012, if memory serves. It was a different game back then, a different time in your life and career. As a young player coming up, what was it like walking into that locker room and being among the guys you looked up to, players who at that moment in time were the best in the game?

CS: Shoot, I want to say there’s at least two Hall of Famers in there. I remember, you know, CC Sabathia was there, Derek Jeter was there. Some of those bigger name guys that I looked up to when I was a kid were just walking around that clubhouse. I was just thinking, ‘Man, I don’t feel like I belong in here.’ So, to be able to look back on that moment and then to where I am now, it’s just special. Again, I just appreciate the opportunity and I’m just thankful for all the people that helped me get here.

GM: You mentioned people a few years ago might not have had this on their bingo card, you becoming a multiple time All-Star again. I know you went through a lot and I’m sure that was a gut check experience in so many different ways, emotionally, physically, and everything in between. To be here at this point, I’d imagine that there’s a fair amount of appreciation not just for the people that got here but the fact that being an All-Star is still a path you’re able to walk by pitching at a very high level.

CS: For sure. This game is very humbling. There’s not a single person that’s ever played for an extended period of time as a Major League Baseball player that hasn’t been just absolutely humbled by this game. The rough parts of it, you know, they happen to everybody. I think perspective helps a lot, too. Sometimes your problems are your problems, but they’re not real problems. I certainly could have gotten a lot worse news than some of the news I was getting. 

There’s always someone having a rougher time than you, I can promise you that. So, I think perspective helps a lot. I know I keep going back to it, but just leaning on the people that I had around me helped me a lot through the bad times. Then to be able to experience the good times with them and being able to make some of these phone calls I’ve made over the last few days. 

Certainly in 2024, with the way that year played out, you know, being able to make some of those phone calls and then go and sit in Coach Dave Tollet’s office at FGCU and just being like, ‘Man, what the hell just happened?’ It was kind of a whirlwind, but I’m just so thankful.

GM: Well, the people who are around you for this All-Star game include several of your teammates. Drake Baldwin is a first-timer, but another first-timer is Raisel Iglesias. You know how hard this game is. You know how long you have to chip away sometimes to maybe get some recognition from the outside. Raisel said that he’d all but given up on the idea of being an All-Star and was just looking forward to that vacation with his family for a few days. Obviously, he was very happy to change his plans this time around. How happy are you for Raisel?

CS: Very happy. Like I said, that first one is always the best one, you know? The excitement and everything surrounding it. It’s going to be fun for me to be able to go and experience that with them for the first time. And correct me, if I’m wrong and I haven’t fact-checked this, but he has the most saves for a first time All Star. 

And not only that, and I might sound like a homer here, but I think if you look at the numbers it’ll back it up, but he probably should have been an All-Star in 2024 as well. I think making it that far into your career and feeling like you kind of got snubbed once, maybe twice, along the way, it’s got to be tough. I’m just happy for him. I mean, it’s been a long time coming and it’s an honor that should be recognized for him and it’s something that he’s earned. He deserves it. So, I’m just happy for him. You get a guy that’s been in the game that long, 12 seasons now, and a first time All-Star? That’s awesome.

GM: It absolutely is. Chris, I appreciate your time. Enjoy the All-Star Game, the All-Star break, and all those good things.

CS: Thank you.

For more All-Star conversations, check out this piece on four-time MLB All-Star Ozzie Albies