Category: MLB

The Red Sox had fewer than two innings to go Sunday afternoon while tied 1-1 and the game ended in a 6-1 loss. A split against the Yankees isn’t the worst possible outcome. Losing two of three would have been worse and the extra day of rest for Payton Tolle is, if anything, a boon. There’s a chance that the Red Sox have a better team when they play “third game”, now scheduled for August 29. But the season doesn’t stop. The Sox have three games against the Tamps Bay Rays. The first place Rays, now tied with the Yankees atop the AL East, thanks to that 8th inning comeback.

All things considered the Sox are catching the Rays at the right time, they’re just 3-7 over their last 10 games. Since ending a five-game winning streak they’re 3-9. But it won’t be a walk in the park.

Connelly Early had a rough start to his outing against Baltimore and gave up 4 runs in 5.1 innings. But he was also let down by his offense, which put up just 2 runs. Over his last five outings though he’s got two 7.0 inning shutouts. Including against the Rays. On May 8th he held them scoreless for 7.0 innings while striking out 8. Ian Seymour is facing him as an opener, which he’s done once this season. Normally a middle reliever, he’s likely to stick around for an inning or two at most. Against the Marlins, Jesse Scholtens was the bulk reliever but he’s now on the IL.

If Early can’t act as the “stopper” tonight, Tuesday night features the man, the mustache, Payton Tolle. Tolle kept the Orioles scoreless for 6.0 innings last time out and has an extra day of rest. Plus the Red Sox road offense. When he faced Tampa in May, he allowed 3 runs (1 earned) in 5.0 innings. This will be his second time facing a team a second time. It didn’t go well with the Atlanta Braves but don’t count out Mass Pike just yet. Nick Martinez, the Rays veteran addition, has been mostly lights out. Except for the last time out against the Tigers. Martinez allowed 6 runs in 4.0 innings. When he and Tolle dueled in May he held the Sox to just a single run at Fenway Park for 5.2 innings.

Wednesday is day baseball and a tall order. The likely starter replacing Brayan Bello is Jake Bennett. The southpaw made two starts earlier this season and went back down to AAA. In Worcester this year he has a 1.60 ERA in 39.1 innings. He’ll be opposed by Drew Rasmussen. He didn’t face Boston in Fenway. Rasmussen has two “bad” starts on the year. He gave up 4 runs in 3.2 innings to the Pirates in April and 5 runs in 4.0 innings to the Angels at the end of May. He missed large parts of the 2023 and 2024 seasons so the Rays want to keep him healthy on the mound. Even in an All Star season in 2025 his outings against the Red Sox were 2.0 and 3.0 innings. He only gave up 3 runs across those outings but the Rays did lose both games.

Junior Caminero has hit 14 home runs.

Yandy Diaz and Jonathan Aranda have 11 homers each.

Chandler Simpson has stolen 14 bases this year but has been caught a league-leading 8 times.

Probable Pitching Matchups

Monday, June 8: Connelly Early (3.26 ERA / 4.63 FIP) vs. Ian Seymour (5.23 ERA / 3.65 FIP)

Tuesday, June 9: Payton Tolle (2.28 ERA / 2.66 FIP) vs. Payton Tolle (Nick Martinez (2.29 ERA / 2.66 FIP)

Wednesday, June 10: TBD (— ERA / — FIP) vs. Drew Rasmussen (3.00 ERA / 3.33FIP)

When/Where to Watch

Monday, June 8: 6:40 PM ET on NESN

Tuesday, June 9: 6:40 PM ET on NESN

Wednesday, June 10: 1:10 PM ET on NESN

The Dodgers had a winning week, taking four of seven games, by splitting with the Diamondbacks in Arizona, then winning two of three at home against the Angels. But they both started and ended the week with losses, frustrating in different ways.

On Monday in Phoenix, they were burned by a lack of offense. On Sunday at Dodger Stadium, the offense was there but the pitching staff had a rare clunker. Pitching has carried the Dodgers this season, but the offense this week fell a little short averaging more than three quarters of a run less than their average.

Put another way, a Dodgers pitcher had a scoreless start of at least six innings three times last week, but said starter only got the win in one of those games. But that same offense scored nine runs in the first inning on Saturday for their biggest frame in five years. This team contains multitudes.

Batter of the week

Shohei Ohtani carried the offense during the week with 12 hits in 25, including two doubles, a triple, and a home run, all part of a 1.312 OPS. He had five multi-hit games in his six games played this week

Ohtani has been humming along in top gear at the plate for the last four weeks, hitting .419/.510/.721 over his last 23 games.

Couple this week at the plate with his six scoreless innings on the mound on Wednesday in Phoenix, it’ll be time to open an investigation if Ohtani doesn’t win National League player of the week.

Honorable mention goes to Dalton Rushing, who started four games behind the plate this week as Will Smith dealt with neck stiffness on Saturday and Sunday, and had four hits on Sunday, including a double and home run.

Pitcher of the week

It feels like there have been several weeks like this in 2026, in which this section could simply be a list of three to five starting pitchers, any one of them deserving of the honor. We’ll go with Roki Sasaki here, his progression culminating with 10 strikeouts in seven scoreless innings on Friday night against the Angels.

Honorable mention also goes to Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who retired 22 straight batters in his eight-inning gem on Saturday, Justin Wrobleski with his six scoreless innings on Thursday in Arizona, and Ohtani’s six shutout frames on Wednesday.

Week 11 results

4-3 record
31 runs scored (4.43 per game)
27 runs allowed (3.86 per game)
.563 pythagorean win percentage

Year to date

42-24 record
345 runs scored (5.23 per game)
212 runs allowed (3.21 per game)
.709 pythagorean win percentage (47-19)

Transactions

Saturday: Pitcher Nick Frasso got added back to the 40-man roster but remained in Triple-A Oklahoma City. To make room, Tyler Glasnow was moved to the 60-day IL as he’s been shut down from throwing due to his back injury.

Game results

• Monday: D-backs 4, Dodgers 1
• Tuesday: Dodgers 6, D-backs 5
• Wednesday: Dodgers 7, D-backs 0
• Thursday: D-backs 3, Dodgers 2
• Friday: Dodgers 1, Angels 0
• Saturday: Dodgers 9, Angels 2
• Sunday: Angels 13, Dodgers 5

Player	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	BA/OBP/SLG
Rushing	15	4	7	2	1	4	1	.500/.533/.857
Ohtani	29	7	12	2	1	4	4	.480/.552/.760
Freeman	30	4	10	0	2	6	1	.345/.367/.552
Ward	15	3	3	2	1	4	1	.214/.267/.571
Pages	28	2	5	2	1	3	1	.192/.214/.385
Tucker	25	2	4	0	1	3	3	.182/.280/.318
Freeland	21	2	4	0	0	3	2	.235/.350/.235
Muncy	23	2	6	1	0	1	0	.261/.261/.304
Smith	16	1	2	1	0	0	3	.154/.313/.231
Rojas	12	0	2	0	0	0	1	.182/.250/.182
Espinal	5	1	1	0	0	0	0	.200/.200/.200
Betts	25	2	3	0	0	1	3	.136/.240/.136
Call	19	1	2	0	0	0	1	.118/.211/.118
Offense	263	31	61	10	7	29	21	.256/.321/.395

Pitcher	Record	IP	H	R	BB	SO	ERA	WHIP
Sasaki	0-0	7.0	2	0	2	10	0.00	0.571
Ohtani	1-0	6.0	2	0	1	6	0.00	0.500
Wrobleski	0-0	6.0	6	0	0	4	0.00	1.000
Yamamoto	1-0	8.0	2	1	0	4	1.13	0.250
Lauer	0-0	4.7	5	2	1	1	3.86	1.286
Sheehan	0-2	7.7	6	4	2	5	4.70	1.043
Starters	2-2	39.3	23	7	6	30	1.60	0.737
Henriquez	0-0	3.7	1	0	0	6	0.00	0.273
Scott	0-1, Sv	2.0	3	1	0	3	4.50	1.500
Dreyer	0-0	4.3	3	3	0	3	6.23	0.692
Vesia	0-0	2.0	2	2	2	3	9.00	2.000
Klein	0-0	1.7	5	2	2	2	10.80	4.200
Treinen	2-0	1.7	2	2	2	1	10.80	2.400
Hurt	0-0	3.0	4	4	3	6	12.00	2.333
Hernández	0-0	3.7	7	6	2	4	14.73	2.455
Bullpen	2-1, Sv	22.0	27	20	11	28	8.18	1.727
Totals	4-3	61.3	50	27	17	58	3.96	1.092

Previous reviews: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10

Up next

The Dodgers run the Bobby Bonilla gauntlet, hitting the road to face the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago White Sox. Chicago’s rotation for the weekend is more of a guess.

Mon, 6/8	Tue, 6/9	Wed, 6/10	Thu, 6/11	Fri, 6/12	Sat, 6/13	Sun, 6/14
OFF	at Pirates	at Pirates	at Pirates	at White Sox	at White Sox	at White Sox
	3:40	3:40	3:40	4:40	1:10	11:10
	Lauer	Ohtani	Wrobleski	Sasaki	Yamamoto	Sheehan
	Skenes	Jones	Keller	Burke	Sandlin	TBA
	SNLA	SNLA/MLB	SNLA	SNLA/MLB	SNLA/MLB	SNLA

Tacoma Rainiers

Tacoma’s been in a major rut as of late. Down a large portion of their offensive fire power due to a variety of reasons, the already depleted pitching staff has been struggling to buoy the lineup and has subsequently led to some rather tough losses. Dropping four of six this week, the Rainiers fell to 25-38 on the season and will look to flush their first half woes come midsummer.

Longtime farmhand Spencer Packard missed a couple weeks earlier this season, but he’s back and producing consistently for this lineup as a left-handed masher. Up to a .342 average this season, Packard had 10 hits on the series and currently stands with an OPS of .868 at the Triple-A level. The 28 year old has a tough path forward as a defensively limited corner outfielder that’s behind both Luke Raley and Dominic Canzone on the depth chart, but perhaps another team looking for some balance to their lineup will be inclined to give him a shot in a minor trade package at the deadline.

Arkansas Travelers

The Travs had a fantastic series against Corpus Christi this week, taking five of six from the Houston affiliate in their home ballpark. Despite their success, the Travs remain in second place within their division, unable to pace with the red hot Dodgers affiliate from Tulsa. Just a game and a half back with plenty of time left to make their move, the Travs remain well positioned to take the first half title should they be able to maintain this level of play.

Michael Arroyo having a monster series. 4 hits & 2 home runs in his last game & starts today with a solid single. Average up to .276 with a .784 OPS. pic.twitter.com/nOBOdSlyFq

— Mariners Minors (@MiLBMariners) June 6, 2026

Hello, Arroyo! After a middling start to the season, top prospect Michael Arroyo broke out this week and was absolutely on fire at the plate. Logging nine hits across five games on the series, Arroyo posted a slashline of .429/.500/.714 and raised his season OPS up to .772. Arroyo’s general peripherals aren’t too far out of line to where they’ve been in the past, and though we’re out of pure “small sample” nonsense, a few months of deflated play is far from the end of the world for a 21 year old nearing a promotion to Triple-A. Context here is key; Arroyo is still wildly ahead of the bulk of his peers, and should he maintain this hot streak for a few weeks, he’ll be right back to where evaluators and fans alike expected him to be from the get go.

Not to be outdone at the dish, Lazaro Montes showed his distaste for Dickey Stephens Park by launching another five homers on the road this week, raising his season OPS up to .885. Montes is running some extreme splits this year, with the hulking slugger owning a home OPS of just .515 compared to a monstrous 1.206 mark on the road. Furthermore, his left/right splits have been far more pronounced than in years past; A .542 OPS vs lefties is considerably lower than his career averages, though with just 73 PA on the year, sample size is likely more of the driving factor than anything else. Considering his K% and BB% are nearly identical regardless of handedness, it feels like there’s likely some positive regression toward the mean left for the season. Off to a fantastic start to his year, look for Laz to light up the PCL as soon as he gets his shot at the Triple-A level.

Kade Anderson was unreal again. Final line: 5IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 9K, 16 whiffs, 73 pitches, 47 strikes.

In 10 professional starts:
1.29ERA, 49IP, 27H, 7BB, 76K. pic.twitter.com/UlXZgYIcE3

— Mariners Minors (@MiLBMariners) June 6, 2026

Rounding out the week of outlandish performances, Kade Anderson spun an absolute gem this week, allowing just one baserunner across five innings and punching out nine. With four above average offerings and unprecedented command of each one, Anderson is dominating opposing hitters in the zone despite average velocity from the left side. There’s really not much more to say about Anderson that hasn’t been said already; Anderson is unquestionably one of the best prospects in all of baseball, and if he were asked, he could probably pitch in a major league rotation tomorrow.

Everett AquaSox

The Frogs managed a series win against the league-leading Eugene Emeralds this week, taking four of six from one of the best teams in all of minor league baseball. Now back over .500 for the first time in a while, the AquaSox will look to build upon this fantastic series win and carry some momentum into the second half.

Jonny Farmelo blasts a 2-run HR. pic.twitter.com/wKM6zVXjAI

— Mariners Minors (@MiLBMariners) June 5, 2026

Jonny Farmelo built on his solid series last week and turned in perhaps his best week of the season. Totaling nine hits against Eugene, Farmelo launched a trio of homers this series and collected six extra base hits. Better still, Farmelo continues to draw walks at an excellent clip and raised his season mark to 16.67%, a truly outstanding figure for someone with a relative lack of plate appearances due to injury. He’s still not back to his old self on the basepaths just yet, but with his topline speed looking positive, there’s plenty of reason to believe he’ll regain his prowess at stealing bases and continue to ascend toward his sky high potential.

Brandon Eike has continued his hot hitting and looks to be due for a promotion to Double-A in the coming weeks. A natural third baseman, Eike has split time at both corner infield positions this season and has pummeled the baseball all season. Sitting presently with an OPS of .876, Eike’s power stroke will need to carry him throughout his career as he ascends through the minor leagues; his walk rates are roughly average and his less-than-stellar contact skills make him a “TTO” type of player long-term. Hopefully he’s able to prove himself at the Double-A level and prove he’s a real candidate for the big leagues down the line.

Inland Empire 66ers

The 66ers split against a very solid San Jose team this week, a Giants affiliate currently sitting in first place of the North division in the California League. Inland Empire has had a rough go of it through the first couple of months this season, but perhaps a second half surge is somewhere on the horizon.

Korbyn Dickerson crushes a 2-run HR! pic.twitter.com/4wNloZ24cH

— Mariners Minors (@MiLBMariners) June 7, 2026

Outfielder Korbyn Dickerson has been on a really nice stretch of late. Missing a few games early this week (though unconfirmed, it looked as though it was a precautionary measure), Dickerson continued his hot hitting and collected four hits across three games this weekend. With both a homer and a triple under his belt, Dickerson is in the middle of an eleven game hitting streak and has raised his season OPS up to .835 with 12 stolen bases. Dickerson is one of the strongest prospects outside of the “upper tier” that features the organization’s first or second rounders in recent years, and though his draft position ended up being several rounds lower, Dickerson’s upside remains on par with many of the players drafted ahead of him. He’s a name to monitor over the coming weeks.

Another week, another Mason Peters gem. Now sitting with a 1.59 ERA on the season, Peters is tied for third in all of minor league baseball (with top prospect Seth Hernandez) with a 31.8% K-BB% among pitchers who’ve thrown as many innings as he has, only trailing Toronto’s Nolan Perry and the aforementioned Kade Anderson. Peters’ ascent has been hard to understate this season; he’s increased his prospect pedigree in a very real way and should consistently find himself on the cusp of the organizational top ten when mid-season rankings become public.

ACL Mariners

The top prospects residing on the Baby M’s roster have been on something of a skid as of late, but it’s still rather early to be drawing any conclusions right now. We’ll see where they stand come the end of the season, but right now, both Becker and Bautista haven’t produced as well as you’d like to see.

DSL Mariners

The DSL squad kicked off their season with a bang this week! Currently on a four game streak of scoring in the double digits, this iteration of the DSL team looks far more competent offensively than we’ve seen in recent years. It should be a very exciting season down in the DR!

Seattle Mariners prospect Juan Rijo, who signed for $2.2M in January hit his first professional home run. pic.twitter.com/68tyZsN2oJ

— Dmoney #ElijahWilliamsFC (@JoshCaronIsHim) June 3, 2026

Top prospects Juan Rijo and Gregory Pio are the top two names to know on this roster. Both receiving hefty bonuses this past cycle, the pair of outfielder have produced well over the first handful of games in their professional career and feature tantalizing potential. They’re both batting .333 or better and have shown off impressive slug to boot. Both figure to fit somewhere inside the top 20 prospects organizationally.

Welcome back to Monday Stat Party, a weekly series showcasing some of the most curious and nostalgia-inducing statistical developments from the past week of Mets baseball. What unites each entry is the sense of intrigue which they aim to spark, and the unbridled love of the game’s anomalies from which they arise. Without further ado, let the stat party begin.

MONDAY

The Mets played their 12th extra-inning game of the season. No other team in MLB has played more than nine this season. Only the 1971 Mets and 1978 Mets experienced more extra-inning affairs through their first 60 games of a season.

The Mets mustered just two hits in ten innings. It’s the fourth time in franchise history they’ve managed two hits or fewer in an extra-inning game, joining: October 1, 1982 at Philadelphia; July 6, 1972 vs. San Diego; June 14, 1965 at Cincinnati. Somehow, the Mets’ record in these contests is now an even 2-2.

The Mets made five outs on balls hit with an exit velocity of 100+ mph for a second consecutive game, and their fifteenth game this season. The Mets are tied with the Braves for the most such games in the Majors this season.

In the Mets’ 13th game at T-Mobile Park, Marcus Semien became the first Met to homer from the right side in Seattle.

Jared Young’s 424-foot homer off Emerson Hancock is the longest home run hit by a Met at T-Mobile Park in the Statcast era (since 2015).

TUESDAY

Carson Benge recorded his first multi-homer game, becoming the youngest Met with a multihomer game since Francisco Alvarez had one at 21 years and 315 days old on September 30, 2023 against the Phillies.

Benge, Juan Soto, and Brett Baty all recorded hits with an exit velocity over 109 mph. It’s the first time that three Mets notched hits at 109+ mph in a game since September 17, 2025, when Baty, Pete Alonso, and Starling Marte did it against the Padres.

Cionel Pérez set the Mets’ record for fastest pitch by a left-handed pitcher this season on four separate occasions, dialing it up to 97.8, then 98.2, then 98.3, and then 98.5 mph. As of May 29, no Met left-hander had thrown a pitch above 95.0 mph this season. Since then, Pérez has thrown 19 in three innings of work.

Logan Gilbert generated 21 swings and misses against the Mets, trailing only a pair of Dodgers in Yoshinobu Yamamoto (23) and Shohei Ohtani (22) for the most in a game against New York this season.

WEDNESDSAY

The Mets won at T-Mobile Park, snapping a seven-game losing streak in Seattle dating back to July 29, 2017, when a 23-year-old Edwin Díaz secured the save against the Mets.

Bo Bichette’s four-hit game was the 19th of his career. Since his rookie season in 2019, only Luis Arraez (23) has more four-hit games, while Freddie Freeman and former Met Amed Rosario are tied with him for second place at 19 four-hit games.

Carson Benge became just the ninth Met to record 10 stolen bases before their 60th career game. He will surely have company in that club soon, as A.J. Ewing already has 7 stolen bases in just 25 career games.

Freddy Peralta generated 18 swings and misses over his six innings of work. That’s the most whiffs in a game for a Met this season, and the most for a Mets right-hander since Kodai Senga racked up 22 at Coors Field on June 6, 2025.

The Mariners’ Dominic Canzone recorded two batted balls with an exit velocity of 112 mph or higher. He’s only the fourth player in the Statcast era to pull off that feat against the Mets, joining Yordan Alvarez and Oneil Cruz — each of whom have done it once — as well as Giancarlo Stanton, who has done it a whopping six times.

FRIDAY

A.J. Ewing became the youngest Met to steal two bases in a game since Fernando Martínez, who at 20 years and 234 days old was the youngest Met ever to do it on June 1, 2009 during an 8-5 loss in Pittsburgh.

Ewing also recorded his sixth game with at least one hit and at least one stolen base. That ties him with Ronny Mauricio for the most such games through a player’s first 23 career games in Mets history.

Bo Bichette hit his one triple of the season. I say “his one triple of the season” since in five of Bichette’s past six seasons, he has finished the year with exactly one triple to his name.

Luis Torrens hit a home run to center and a double off the left-center-field fence. It’s the second time in Torrens’ career that he’s recorded two batted balls which traveled a Statcast-projected 375+ feet in the same game. The other time came exactly two years earlier, on June 5, 2024 in Washington.

Torrens recorded back-to-back multi-hit games for the first time this season. Jared Young…also recorded back-to-back multi-hit games for the first time this season.

The Mets earned their third win with zero runs allowed and three or fewer hits allowed this season. The only teams in MLB with more such wins this season are the Brewers (4) and Dodgers (5).

Since the start of May, only one Mets pitcher has finished a game with at least 5.2 scoreless innings: Christian Scott, who has done it twice.

The Mets earned their eighth shutout win against the Padres since 2012. Six of the previous seven were started by Cy Young winners, with one started by Johan Santana, one started by R.A. Dickey, one started by Max Scherzer, and three started by Jacob deGrom. The other was started by Noah Syndergaard on July 28, 2015 — one night before the Mets nearly made a franchise-altering trade.

SATURDAY

A.J. Ewing put together a seven-pitch at-bat against fireballer Mason Miller with two outs in the ninth, eventually drawing a walk. That ties the Nationals’ Luis García Jr. and the Angels’ Yoán Moncada for the longest at-bat from the left side against Miller this season.

To make that at-bat against Miller more impressive, the 103.3-mph fastball that Ewing fouled off was the fastest pitch a Met batter has seen since April 12, 2025, when Luis Torrens fouled off a 103.7-mph fastball from none other than A’s closer Mason Miller. That pitch also came with the Mets down to their final strike.

Nolan McLean threw a career-high 101 pitches. He had previously reached exactly 100 pitches on three separate occasions this season.

Padres catcher Freddy Fermin hit his first home run of the season, and his first home run since September 16, 2025…against the Mets at Citi Field. Combined with his three-RBI performance on Sunday, six of Fermin’s last eight RBI have now come against the Mets dating back to last season.

SUNDAY

Carson Benge became the third-youngest Met to record a five-hit game. Only John Milner (22 years, 255 days on September 8, 1972) and José Reyes (22 years, 328 days on May 5, 2006) did it younger. Benge was the first Met with a five-hit game since Francisco Lindor on July 6, 2023, and the first Mets rookie with a five-hit game since Pete Alonso on August 15, 2019 (Amed Rosario also had five hits that day, marking the only time two Mets have accomplished the feat in the same game).

The Mets recorded eight base hits with an exit velocity of 100+ mph, tying their record for most in a game this season. A.J. Ewing, MJ Melendez, and Brett Baty each had one, Bo Bichette had two, and Benge had three.

Miscellaneous Mets stat of the week:

Here are the Mets’ all-time leaders for hits out of the No. 9 spot in the batting order:

Tom Seaver (146)
Dwight Gooden (144)
Tomás Nido (102)
Jerry Koosman (98)
Sid Fernandez (94)

(If you’re wondering, Francisco Alvarez is currently tied for 10th place with 57.)

After spending the first month and a half of the 2026 season in Triple A, Dylan Crews has now played 16 games at the big league level this season. In that time, the results haven’t quite shown up for him, with a .197 batting average, 1.5% walk rate, and 58 wRC+, but it hasn’t been all bad either. Let’s take a look at everything going right, and wrong, for Dylan Crews since he returned to the majors.

Starting with the good, Crews has torn the cover off the ball since his return to the bigs, with an average exit velocity of 90.8 MPH, ranking in the 83rd percentile of all big league hitters. He had been roasting the ball in Triple A, with a 99th percentile average exit velocity of 94.7 MPH up in Rochester, so it’s great to see that part of his game still translating.

Crews has also cut down his strikeout rate 5.1% from 2025 to 2026, down from 23.6%, in the 49th percentile, to 18.5%, in the 75th percentile. While his chase rate has gone up from 29% to 38%, he has cut down his whiff rate from 30% to 24%, meaning he’s getting the result he wants more often when he swings the bat. While he’s been more aggressive on pitches outside the zone in 2026, Crews has also been more aggressive on pitches inside the zone, taking his Z-Swing% from 66%, the 45th percentile, to 69%, in the 71st percentile.

Dylan Crews’ Statcast metrics from 2025 to 2026
The good:
Average EV: ⬆️1.3 MPH
Whiff Rate: ⬇️6.2%
K%: ⬇️4.3%

The bad:
Chase Rate:⬆️9.3%
BB%:⬇️5.7%

Needs to be working the counts more and laying off pitchers pitches so to earn himself strikes to hit pic.twitter.com/gpzza8We33

— Paul Cubbage (@PaulCubbage23) June 6, 2026

Crews has been hitting the ball harder, making more contact when he does swing, and has been more aggressive on swinging at good pitches to hit, so what has been going wrong for him that his numbers are still lacking? The primary issue for him at the moment is his chase rate, which, as mentioned before, is in the 38th percentile, ranking in the 11th percentile in MLB. The free-swinging approach has led to a lot of hard contact so Crews so far, but it has also put him behind in a lot of counts, as he goes fishing for breaking balls out of the zone.

Crews has also continued to struggle to pull his flyballs in the air consistently, an issue that has plagued his power potential for a few years now. His 8.7% pulled flyball rate is in the 13th percentile of big league hitters, and plays a large role in why his slugging percentage of .322 is .145 points under his expected slugging percentage of .467. Crews’ exit velocities are encouraging enough to suggest he could hit 20+ home runs per year eventually, but not if he is limiting his ability to get the ball over the wall by hitting it to center and right field.

Dylan Crews sends one many, many rows back 😳 pic.twitter.com/BNt0w6xa2p

— MLB (@MLB) June 6, 2026

Crews has also not been taking many walks in his return to the bigs, with 1 walk in 65 plate appearances, resulting in a 1.5% walk rate. Crews hasn’t struggled drawing walks in his first 2 big league stints, so his low walk rate shouldn’t be too much of a concern yet with such a limited sample size, but it is interesting how much of a point Crews has made it to be aggressive in the box, swinging early and often in counts looking to do damage.

Overall, the surface numbers don’t look great for Crews in what is now his 3rd big league season, but the under-the-hood metrics suggest he is making some improvements, which could result in success in the near future. He needs to make some adjustments, such as cutting down on the chase rate and lifting the ball more to the pull side, and he may never be elite in those categories, but Crews certainly has the tools to be a productive big league hitter over a large sample size one day.

In baseball, there is the game that’s played on the field, and then there are the games within the game. One of those games has to do with handedness. While only about 10% of the general public is left-handed, about 25% of big league innings are tossed by lefties. 

This presents an interesting reality: batters perform better against the opposite-handed pitcher–and vice-versa–the vast majority of the time. When you see a player’s batting or pitching line, then, you can think of it as being split between right- and left-handed opponents. Differences in performance versus same and opposite-handed opponents are so common and often so stark that it really should be at the top of our minds more often than it is.

So what is the reason why this is the case? There are a slew of them. But surely big leaguers would agree why they perform worse against opposite-handed players, right?

“I think it’s mostly angle,” Michael Massey told me about why righties are easier to hit for him.

“I don’t know if I have an explanation,” Lane Thomas replied when asked why he hits lefties better.

“It’s just reps and it’s also kind of mental for me,” Carter Jensen said about doing better against righties.

Hm. Well. Maybe it’s a little more complicated.

Different release points, different angles

The most obvious difference between right-handed pitchers and left-handed pitchers is where the baseball leaves their hand. Since our arms are on the side of the body and human throwing motion is not perfectly overhand, the average release point between different-handed pitchers can be pretty stark. 

Thanks to Statcast, we can see this relatively easily. Pitcher release angles vary widely, but generally speaking there’s about a four-foot distance between the release point of the average right-hander and the average left hander. That’s a pretty big difference.

Isaac Collins is one of the few remaining switch hitters in the league, and he’s the only switch hitter on the active Royals roster. He says the angles of pitches coming to the plate are the primary reason he’s a switch hitter.

“Since I was about 13, 14, I’ve only hit right-handed off lefties and I’ve only hit left-handed off righties,” Collins said. “It’s really just the angle of balls coming in. You see the ball better…It’s just kind of like a visual thing.” 

Do lefties and righties have different arm angles compared to each other? While the sidearming lefty reliever may come to mind, the reality is that fewer left-handers throw at extremely low arm angles than righties. Across both lefties and righties, the median arm angle is 39.1 degrees. But while 45.5% of lefties throw at an arm angle below 39.1 degrees, 51.2% of righties do. 

There is another factor here, Carter Jensen mentioned: release-point distance. The difference is small, but you have a little more time against opposite-handed pitchers. “[With] left on left heaters, you’re going to have less time against the [lefty] than you would have right on left here just because of the angle and the extension,” Jensen said. “[The] left-handed extension from a guy throwing a heater is a lot closer than a right-handed.”

Pitch movement

Arm angles and release points are important, but when you combine angles with pitch movement, you start to get to some interesting combinations. Identifying pitch types can be tricky for even seasoned baseball fans, but one of the key differentiators is horizontal movement. Pitches have either arm-side movement or glove-side movement. These can be called “run” or “cut” or “sweep,” but keeping to arm or glove movement is clean (and it’s what Statcast does). 

While some pitchers throw funky pitches that don’t follow the standard movement, in general you can categorize types of pitches this way:

• Arm-side break pitches: Four-seam fastball, changeup, sinker, splitter
• Glove-side break pitches: Curveball, cutter, slider, sweeper

Of course, “arm-side” and “glove-side” mean opposite things to the batter’s perspective depending on which side of the plate you stand. Against same-handed pitchers, arm-side movement breaks towards you and glove-side movement breaks away from you. But against opposite-handed pitchers, arm-side movement breaks away from you and glove-side pitches break towards you. 

Can arm-side pitches like a changeup or sinker move a lot horizontally? Sure. But it’s the glove-side pitch types that are the ones with a lot of horizontal movement. Lane Thomas identified that as the biggest reason why it’s more comfortable to face opposite-handed pitchers. 

“I just think you don’t have anything breaking away from you [against opposite-handed pitchers],” Thomas said. “Everything starts away and it’s coming into you…a lot of the breaking balls just start right at you to be a good pitch to hit.”

And for Michael Massey, the vertical movement is another factor to consider.

“For me, at least lefties that kind of have the ‘X’ game and make it sink and sweep, make it a little bit tougher because they can really stretch the plate,” Massey said. “The lefties that are more foreseeable are where nothing’s coming in, probably a little bit easier of a matchup for a same-side guy, just because you don’t have to worry about anything coming into you.” 

Practice, practice, practice

There are certainly some very real impacts on platoon hitting, but just about the only consistent thing mentioned was the impact of experience on hitting same-handed pitching. The more you do it, the better you get. 

“Part of playing this game right is physical mechanics and the swing and all that stuff, but the other part is your decision making and your decision making is built through the reps,” Massey said. “Every time you see a right-hander that throws from this angle with this type of spin, it goes into your database. And the next time you see that, you’re a little bit more familiar with it. And so I think obviously when you don’t get as many reps at doing something, you just don’t build that database as much and that database isn’t as advanced, which makes it tougher to be able to lay off certain pitches or see certain pitches because your mind hasn’t seen it enough.”

Jensen agreed. “I think I see the ball perfectly fine with both sides,” he said. “I think that against righties it’s just easier because I have so many more reps against righties.”

“I haven’t really gotten as many at-bats off righties,” Thomas said. “So it’s obviously harder to do something I haven’t done consistently. But that just seems to be the trend in the game or splits wouldn’t even be a thing.” 

There’s something to be said here that players shouldn’t be shoved into a platoon-only role too early as pros, because that just reinforces the issues at play with getting enough reps. However, there are only so many plate appearances you can get against left-handed pitching in particular. Left-handers are over-represented in the pitching world, but when only 10% of the population is left-handed, opportunities to face them regularly are inherently limited.

At the end of the day, there are so many factors in play that the mental side of things is nearly as important. “I think it’s just a tricky subject,” Jensen said. “I feel like it’s different for everybody. Or for me, it’s just reps and also kind of mental.”

“I don’t dislike hitting lefties…at the end of the day hitting righty or lefty, if I stick to my plan, I’m in a good spot.”

If you had told me back in March that during the week where the Atlanta Braves are scheduled to play the Chicago White Sox and the New York Mets that the White Sox would be a bigger (and legitimate) threat against the Braves, I would’ve laughed in your face and/or rejoiced in the fact that if the White Sox are better than the Mets then the Mets must be in some serious trouble.

As it turns out, the White Sox are actually one of the surprise stories of this season so far. It’s June and they’re over .500 — this is the first time that they’ve been over .500 in any season past April since 2022! They’ve been fun and now the Playoff Odds over at FanGraphs are actually giving them a little bit more respect! Back on Opening Day, Chicago only had a 1.1 percent chance of making the Postseason in any form. Now, those odds have skyrocketed to 17 percent — that might not look like a lot and they’re still very much favored to fall off eventually but it’s still impressive that the Pale Hose have gotten this deep into the season without face planting. Those fans deserve something to cheer for after enduring the past couple of seasons and I hope they’re enjoying it.

The White Sox have been an enjoyable story so far and I can also imagine that a lot of y’all have been enjoying what’s going on on the blue-and-orange side of New York as well. The Mets and Phillies both got off to nightmarish starts and New York is still recovering from their disastrous April. New York’s Playoff Odds have taken a freefall since Opening Day, which is when FanGraphs gave them an 80 percent shot of playing in October. Those odds are now down to just over 21 percent — it’s not exactly over for the Mets but they have a lot of work to be done if they’re going to have any hope of really making waves in the NL Wild Card race, let alone the division. So we’ve got one team that has a positive outlook and another team that’s dealing with some more disappointment. Let’s talk about what lies ahead for the Braves this week.

---

June 9-11: Chicago White Sox

Current Record: 34-31 Projected Record (via FanGraphs): 77-85

As a neutral fan, I am very, very sad to not be able to watch slugger Munetaka Murakami during this series, as he’s on the IL with a hamstring strain. I’ve followed Murakami since his days of playing with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows and his experiences with Samurai Japan in the World Baseball Classic so I’ve personally been thrilled to see him thrive in Major League Baseball so far. As a Braves fan, I’m still sad about the injury but I’m not going to complain about Atlanta not seeing him during this series since he’s been crushing it and I don’t want to see him crush it against the Braves.

With that being said, it’s not like this White Sox lineup has slowed down without Murakami. Murakami’s last game was on May 29 and ever since May 30 (heading into June 7’s action), the White Sox as a team have hit .270/.335/.500 with a wOBA of .364 (expected wOBA of .332) and a wRC+ of 131. For comparison’s sake, the Braves have hit .233/.310/.443 with a .328 wOBA (xwOBA of .342) and a wRC+ of 109. While the Braves have been better over the course of the season so far (team wRC+ of 111 heading into Sunday), the White Sox aren’t far behind with a team wRC+ of 107.

The South Siders might be missing Murakami but they’ve still got guys like Miguel Vargas, Colson Montgomery and Tristan Peters getting the job done for them at the plate. Chase Meidroth has been reliable as well, Sam Antonacci has made it happen for them when called upon and they’ve even gotten solid production out of Randal Grichuk when he’s gotten the nod. This is an exciting lineup at the moment and it’s a far cry from what this club was up to for the past couple of years when the futility was overwhelming.

With all of that being said, if this team has a soft underbelly then it might be their pitching staff. The proof of this is that the White Sox are starting Erick Fedde on Tuesday. With all due respect to our old friend Fedde (who actually pitched five shutout innings against the Twins in his last outing) having him in the rotation isn’t exactly a good sign for the quality of the rotation.

Sure, Davis Martin has been great so far and guys like Grant Taylor and Sean Burke are young and exciting but outside of those two, there’s not a lot to get excited about in either the rotation or the bullpen. It is nice to see old friend Sean Newcomb having a successful season but again, if you’re having to rely on guys like that then that’s not exactly conducive to overall team success. With the way Atlanta’s lineup has performed so far, they should be able to do some damage and we might see a slugfest or two break out at the place they used to call New Comiskey.

Tuesday, June 9 at 7:40 p.m. ET (BravesVision, Gray TV)
Wednesday, June 10 at 7:40 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
Thursday, June 11 at 7:40 p.m. ET (BravesVision)

June 12-14: New York Mets

Current Record: 29-36 Projected Record (as of June 8): 80-82

Oh great, it’s these guys. You know ‘em and you (probably) hate ‘em but there’s a less familiar feeling to this particular ball club in 2026. Old “favorites” like Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, Brandon Nimmo and Starling Marte have all moved on to greener pastures. Francisco Lindor is still around and it’s no fun to hate him since he’s pretty cool (and also unfortunately on the IL). Instead, the Mets are going through a bit of a retooling period that has yet to bear any real fruit at the moment. They’re sitting in dead last in the NL East and are far, far in Atlanta’s rearview mirror at the moment.

They have bounced back a bit after their moribund start to the season where they lost 12 straight games at their absolute nadir but it’s been nowhere to the level of what’s gone on in Philadelphia where the Phillies are actually back over .500 and have clearly gotten their season back on track. The Mets are still stuck in the mud and a lot of that has to do with the fact that their offense has been pretty terrible so far this season. They currently have one of the worst team wRC+ marks in all of baseball (they went into action on June 7 with a team wRC+ of 87 with only the Rockies and Padres being worse).

Juan Soto is still Juan Soto so he absolutely has to be taken seriously whenever he’s at the plate but outside of that, he’s the only guy on this team that has been a real threat to do damage on a nightly basis. The only other regulars who have been anywhere close to consistent at the plate are MJ Melendez and Francisco Alvarez since they’re the only other Mets regulars with a wRC+ over 100 — and they both are only just barely clearing that mark. New York’s new keystone combination of Bo Bichette and Marcus Semien has been very disappointing for the Mets so far and their underperformance has gone a long way towards setting a tone of mediocrity for this team at the moment. Jared Young has been trying his best to provide a spark but yeah, outside of him and Soto, there is not a lot going on with this team at the plate.

As far as the pitching goes, they’ve been a lot more consistent with their production on the mound but as evidenced by this team’s record and position in the standings, it still hasn’t been enough to lift them up and carry this team. Clay Holmes is on the 60-day IL and until this weekend, he was still the sole leader in fWAR (1.2) for the Mets’ pitching staff. The trio of Freddy Peralta, Norm McLean and David Peterson has been pretty solid so far but outside of that, the rotation hasn’t really been imposing at all. New York’s bullpen has been pretty effective, though — Huascar Brazoban is on track for his best season yet (and has served as a good opener on a few occasions), Luke Weaver has been turning back the clock with his efforts, then Brooks Raley and Devin Williams have both done fine so far.

Again, it still hasn’t been enough to lift the Mets out of the mess that they’re currently in but the Mets can at least take some solace in knowing that they won’t be absolutely terrible. On paper, the Braves should head into this series expecting at least a series win but we all know that no matter what the record is for either team, these games will likely be hard-fought. This is the first time the Braves have seen the Mets all season and hopefully Atlanta will take this opportunity to kick them while they’re down. The entire season series between these two will be played between this week and mid-August, so this is a chance for the Braves to set the tone with these dudes here in this portion of the season. We’ll see what happens.

Friday, June 12 at 7:10 p.m. ET (Apple TV)
Saturday, June 13 at 4:10 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
Sunday, June 14 at 1:40 p.m. ET (BravesVision, Gray TV)

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With Josh off, I'm pinch-hitting with a trio of MLB home run predictions on Monday, June 8.

It's a lighter slate, with only eight games on the schedule, but sometimes it's better not to have an overabundance of options for our MLB player props.

My MLB home run predictions wrap things up by adding William Contreras to sluggers Adley Rutschman and Rafael Devers, as the Brewers touch down in Sin City for a duel with the A's.

Best MLB home run props today

Home run pick: Adley Rutschman (+598)

I like fading Seattle Mariners right-hander Emerson Hancock today and in perpetuity with my MLB picks. The hurler has seemingly made strides, but his increased strikeout rate and suppressed ERA are teetering on the edge of collapse. 

His 4.17 expected ERA gives us the first sign of trouble. Meanwhile, contact metrics all favor his opponents, as his chase, barrel, and hard-hit rates all rank in the 20th percentile or worse. He lives in the zone and has gotten by with his mediocre stuff getting hit right at defenders and a 25.8% strikeout rate that defies his actual swing-and-miss numbers.

The question becomes which Baltimore Orioles bat to target. Pete Alonso is the most logical, but he also has the shortest number. BallparkPal has winds blowing to left field, so his +391 price tag may well be worth it anyway. Instead, I'll grab resurgent catcher Adley Rutschman as he continues to prove that he's more than Matt Wieters 2.0.

Rutschman has made incredible gains under the hoodyear over year, ranking among the elite in many Statcast metrics. And while he'll step in as a lefty against Hancock, the wind to left field doesn't scare me, as he's sprayed his power over the field. 

The 28-year-old also ranks second on the O's in BlastContact% at 17.7% (min. 200 PAs), trailing only — you guessed it — Alonso.

• Time: 6:35 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: Mariners.TV, MASN

Home run pick: Rafael Devers (+416)

Oracle Park is not the most homer-happy ballpark, but Washington Nationals starter Miles Mikolas has allowed 14 long balls in 56 1/3 innings, and the bullpen boasts the fifth-worst HR/9 among all MLB relief units.

For as good as the offense has been, the pitching staff has been equally terrible.

Rafael Devers paces the San Francisco Giants in BlastContact% (17.4%), and ranks in the 88th percentile in both average exit velocity and hard-hit rate.

His fly ball metrics are generally in line with his career numbers, if not a touch better than his time in Boston. At +416, he's worth a sprinkle in a super favorable matchup, and I'd play it down to +375.

• Time: 9:45 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: Nationals.TV, NBC Sports Bay Area

Home run pick: William Contreras (+396)

The A's are moving to Las Vegas! Temporarily!

Tonight marks the A's first of six straight home games at Las Vegas Ballpark, with the Milwaukee Brewers coming to town. It's projected to feature the friendliest hitter environment on the schedule by a country mile, per BallparkPal.

While I'm tempted to target home-team sluggers like Shea Langeliers and Brent Rooker, their price tags have them below +300 to go deep, and Brewers left-hander Kyle Harrison has generally done a fantastic job at limiting the long ball. It doesn't mean he can't be gotten to, but I'd rather get a longer number if I'm going to fade him.

Instead, Jeffrey Springs is the lefty hurler to target. He has surrendered 14 home runs in 70  innings and boasts the 12th-highest fly-ball rate in MLB and the eighth-worst HR/FB rate among qualified starters.

William Contreras hasn't exhibited the best power of his career this season. Still, he is one of the hardest hitters in baseball to strike out (91st percentile K%) and is squaring the ball up well, but it just hasn't resulted in over-the-fence production. Yet.

Given the nature of Las Vegas Ballpark, which projects to be a hitter's haven not unlike Sacramento's Sutter Health Park, I like Contreras at a better value than teammate Jackson Chourio (+278).

• Time: 10:05 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: Brewers.TV, NBC Sports California

See our full Brewers vs. A's predictions for today.

Today’s HR parlay

This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here and view our best betting sites or check out our top sportsbook promos.

Like many people born in the 1870s, there are not a lot of records of John “Tacks” Neuer. However, due to a successful but incredibly brief run in the nation’s national pastime, Neuer finds himself remembered some 149 years after he was welcomed into this world.

Before getting into his life and brief career, the Tacks nickname deserves to be addressed. Neuer was also called “Bugs” by his teammates. Both nicknames stemmed from Neuer’s behavior both on and off the field. With all due respect, the best I could gather is that Neuer was something of an early baseball version of Wild Thing Rick Vaughn. Both in terms of being a unique character and one who lacked control of the baseball when hurling it off the mound.

John Stein Neuer
Born: Born: June 8, 1877 (Fremont, Ohio)

Died: January 14, 1966 (Northumberland, Pennsylvania)

Yankees (Highlanders) Tenure: 1907

Neuer was the first born of a large family. When he was young the family relocated to central Pennsylvania. It was in the heart of Appalachia’s Pennsylvania coal country that Neuer grew up and spent most of his life.

Lucky enough to avoid World War I, Neuer still saw service in the US Military. That service came in the Spanish-American War. For those less historically inclined, and apologies to those who are more knowledgeable, the war between the Spanish Empire and the United States lasted about two months in 1898. Neuer enlisted and served as a private in the military for the year.

Upon being discharged from the military, Neuer returned home and began working for the railroad. While working on the railroad Neuer played baseball in his free time and grew into a local legend due to his lefty presence on the mound and impressive talent both hitting and on the basepaths. Neuer was a talented pitcher but often found his control would simply disappear.

After bouncing around playing where he could Neuer found himself almost 30-years-old and as far from the big leagues as ever. However, fate had other plans as Neuer found his way to Savannah Georgia in 1907. In Savannah, not for the Bananas, Neuer put together one of the best runs of his career and it just happened at the right time.

On August 23, 1907, the New York Highlanders purchased Neuer. The Highlanders had struggled to that point in the year and needed some pitching to make it through the season, and were hopeful of finding a few diamonds in the rough for the next season. Neuer and his impressive three-month stretch fit the bill.

A few days after joining the club, Neuer made his debut against the Boston Americans in the second game of a doubleheader. Neuer earned the win throwing a complete game shutout holding the Americans to only three hits and striking out six. Over the course of six more starts Neuer threw two more shutouts including a two hitter against the Washington Senators and a three hitter against the Chicago White Sox. Neuer’s final line for the season was a 4-2 record with a 2.17 ERA across 54.0 innings.

This performance dazzled and had many fans dreaming about what Neuer could be next year in a full season. Once again, fate had other plans. Neuer lost control of the baseball and tried to start throwing the junk pitches of the day like knuckleballs and the likes. This caused Neuer’s star to burn out as quickly as it streaked through the 1907 season and ended his major league career after only a few months.

The ending coming so quickly allows for some unique history. Neuer is still one of only a few pitchers in major league history to throw a complete game shutout in their first and final major league starts. Additionally, Neuer still owns the highest percentage of shutouts per start, excluding players who only made one start. In a way, Neuer almost feels like an early version of a Yankees cult hero, Aaron Small.

Neuer bounced around playing for several different minor league teams for several years, not officially retiring from playing until the 1913 season. After retiring, Neuer continued to be a part of the game. Neuer crossed over to the dark side and became an umpire. In this second cameo, Neuer made a name for himself as one of the original character umpires, known for a loud and one-of-a-kind strike call, laying the foundation for the likes of Ron Luciano, Dutch Rennert, and Tom Hallion amongst over umpires who have went untraditional in their approaches.

While his playing career at the highest level proved brief, Neuer remained connected to baseball for decades and left behind one of the most interesting statistical resumes in the sport’s history. A player, umpire, and Yankee.

Happy birthday Tacks!

Morning all!

The A’s are slumping right now but got back into the win column yesterday in the series finale and they’ve fallen to third place in the AL West. Their still only 2 1/2 games back in the division though and with the recent issues with the starting rotation the club has begun exploring upgrades to bolster the staff.

One name that we’ve now heard the club is interested in is Kansas City starter Kris Bubic. A pending free agent after the season the left-hander would help a beleaguered rotation that has lost Luis Severino and Aaron Civale to the IL in recent days. Even before those arms got injured the starting group could have used an upgrade.

It’s not quite trading season but indications are the A’s plan on being buyers. Bubic won’t be the last name connected to the A’s but he’s certainly an interesting name to monitor.

Have a great Monday A’s fans.

A’s Coverage:

• A’s interested in Kris Bubic
• A’s Falter Late, Drop Finale To Cubs 7-6
• Wednesday Potpourri: What’s Up With Butler, Closer, June Plan?
• Bullpen, Late Rally Lift A’s to 10-Inning Win Over the Cubs
• Three Things To Watch For The Athletics In June
• Las Vegas is the home the A’s have been waiting for
• The A’s Inability To Play Well At Home Is Embarrassing
• A’s Unravel in Series and Homestand Finale
• A’s call up pitching prospect Kade Morris
• Road, sweet road? A’s ready for reset after rough homestand
• Arnold and Jump are both slinging … anyone else reminded of another A’s duo?
• Braves Acquire Austin Wynns, Adding Another Layer to A’s Catcher Connection
• Ginn’s glow-up: A’s hurler coming into his own at right time
• Three Dark Horse Trade Candidates for Athletics This Summer
• June update: 2026 top 10 prospect rankings for all 30 MLB teams
• Athletics Early MLB Draft Preview
• The A’s may have finally found their new leadoff hitter
• Wilson takes swings in next step toward return from IL

MLB News and Interest:

• Would the Braves take Skubal? Of course, but that’s not the whole question
• Witt exits with sore knee, but Royals optimistic it isn’t serious
• Alex Bregman takes blame for Cubs’ offensive woes after loss
• Max Kepler, suspended for PEDs in January, joins D-backs
• Jameson Taillon Leaves Game Due To Hamstring Strain
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

ICYMI:

MOVES:
SS Jacob Wilson to LV on rehab
RHP Joel Kuhnel to MIL for $
LHP Will Johnston off MID IL
RHP Elvis Alvarado to A’s
LHP Wei-En Lin to LV
RHP Mason Barnett/RHP Kade Morris to A’s
LHP Jacob Lopez/RHP Michael Kelly to LV
RHP Brooks Kriske to 60-day ILhttps://t.co/joKXkyUAPy

— Bill Moriarity – A's Farm (@AthleticsFarm) June 8, 2026

Is Rooker finally turning things around?

Man Rooker is BACK! 🔥

Will he keep the HOT streak going for the remainder of the season⁉️ pic.twitter.com/IwgzNeH8vL

— SleeperAthletics (@SleeperAth) June 7, 2026

2026 MLB Draft Preview: Liam Peterson scouting report.

The 2026 is about a month away — the first round kicks off on July 11, 2026 — so its time to start offering capsule looks at players the Texas Rangers could select with their top picks. The Rangers’ first round pick is at #16, their second round pick is at #54, and their third round pick is at #89.

Leading up to draft day, we will be doing writeups of some of the players who could end up getting selected by the Rangers with one of their first three picks. Today we are looking at University of Florida righthander Liam Peterson.

Liam Peterson is a 6’5”, 225 lb. righthanded pitcher for the University of Florida who turns 21 later this month. Peterson attended high school at Calvary Christian in Clearwater, Florida, and was a consensus top 100 guy for the 2023 MLB Draft, but was not selected due to signability issues. He has been a starter for the Gators all three years he’s been there.

Peterson is considered, if not having the best stuff in this draft class, to be near the top. Baseball America did an extensive write-up on him in October, profiling him as potentially the top pitcher in the draft class. His fastball sits in the mid-90s, and can reportedly get up to 98-99 mph. He throws both a slider and a curveball, with the slider being his primary out pitch. Peterson also has a changeup that is relatively advanced, and the changeup can be a weapon against lefties.

The knock on Peterson is his command, with Keith Law, for example, noting that he gets hit too hard for the type of stuff he has, and Fangraphs noting that Florida has had a history of not developing their pitchers as well as they should. The October write-up from BA says that he has a quality fastball, but not one that he can just blow batters away with, saying that Peterson “will be reliant on command to avoid damage.”

As a freshman, Peterson had a 6.43 ERA in 63 innings over 16 starts and two relief appearances, striking out 77 of 301 batters while walking 44 and giving up 15 homers. He took a step forward in 2025, lowering his ERA to 4.28 in 69.1 innings over 15 starts and a relief appearances, increasing his K total to 96 (out of 305 batters) while lowering his walks to 32 and reducing his homer count to 9.

In 2026, Peterson put up a 4.59 ERA in 16 starts covering 84.1 IP, with 111 Ks, 36 walks and 11 homers, facing 368 batters. He ended the 2026 season on a down note, giving up nine runs in five innings to Troy in the Gainesville Regional. Florida was eliminated by Troy in the next game.

Baseball America has Peterson at #21 on their board. MLB Pipeline has Peterson at #14 on their board. Kiley McDaniel puts Peterson at #13 on his top 150 list. Keith Law’s rankings have Peterson at #8 on his board. Fangraphs has Peterson at #13 on their board. Baseball Prospectus does not have Peterson on their top 30 draft board.

In the most recent Baseball America mock draft, Carlos Collazo has Peterson going to the Rangers at #16. Jim Callis’s June 4 mock draft has Peterson going to the Diamondbacks at #15, but also mentions him in connection with several teams ahead of Arizona. Keith Law’s May mock draft has Peterson going to the Cardinals at #13. Kiley McDaniel’s May 29 mock draft has Peterson going to the Rockies at #10.

I decided to start the MLB Draft preview write-ups with Peterson, since he was who BA has going to the Rangers in the mock draft they released today. The current mocks have him generally off the board before the Rangers pick, so at this point it would be mildly surprising if he dropped to them, but a lot can happen between now and draft day, and things are always fluid once you get past the first handful of picks.

The Rangers hit a home run with the selection of Alejandro Rosario in the 5th round in 2023, whose results in college didn’t match his stuff, though Peterson has had much more success than Rosario did. Its the same idea, though, grabbing a guy with great stuff with the belief that you can refine things and get better results from him. In addition, the Rangers used premium picks in back to back years on Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker, two guys who were seen as being hit harder in college at times than they should have been, given their stuff. Getting Peterson at #16 would be a major coup if the organization could have the same sort of success with him that the organization did with Rosario.

Alright, that is how the team should be playing at home. Going 5-1 against some good competition was a nice salve for the home issues they have had and before you say the Padres and White Sox aren’t good competition, they were both over .500 coming into this week. The bats woke up a bit while the starting pitching, for the most part, held serve.

Three up

Brandon Marsh – One of the interesting developments with the season is the continued improvement of Brandon Marsh. One of the only consistent hitters in the lineup this season, Marsh has put up numbers worthy of a selection to the All-Star Game, something that could be tough with the need for each team to have a representative. He’s definitely deserving, so finding a spot should be a priority among the coaching staff.

Adolis Garcia – A regular of the trio found in the section below this, let’s give credit to where it’s due for Garcia. He had a good week for the team, getting six hits on the week, two of them leaving the yard as home runs. It’s been good to see some right handed pop in the lineup, so let’s hope he can continue. Interesting note: for a player that has had it drilled into his head to take a few more walks, be a little more patient during his time here, Garcia’s best week in about a month and a half came in the week he didn’t take a single walk.

Jhoan Duran – I mean, what else should we say? Duran is about as lockdown a reliever as the league has this season. Each time he comes in, you simply expect a 1-2-3 innings to happen. Even when a batter makes contact, it’s honestly shocking that it happens.

Three down

Justin Crawford – Listen. The kid is struggling. With Steward Berroa here, possessing the ability to even stand in centerfield, it would maybe be a good idea to give the kid a day off to get himself right. Going back to May 4, he’s hitting .186/.239/.291. He’s slumping, badly. He needs a breather.

Andrew Painter – Speaking of struggling rookies. Painter’s job isn’t in question, that much is for sure. He’s a big part of this team’s present and future. But man, has it been disappointing to watch him this year. You wish the team had an alternative to him, someone who could also give him a skipped start or something along those lines. They just have….nothing. In the end, he’ll be fine as his stuff is just too good to see him continue being as up and down as he is. It’s just tough to watch at times right now.

J.T. Realmuto – We knew the decline would be tough, but Realmuto just doesn’t have it right now at the plate. We could talk about the need for days off with him as we do every year, but we all know it’s not going to happen.

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

AAA: Sugar Land Space Cowboys (27-36) lost 11-5 (BOX SCORE)

McPherson started for Sugar Land and had his best outing in Triple-A allowing 2 runs over 4 innings striking out 7 batters. The offense picked up 3 runs in the 5th inning on a Ferreras RBI single and Biggio 2 run double. Bolton relieved McPherson and allowed 3 runs over 2 innings. In the 7th, Ferreras connected on a solo home run to get one run back. The pen continued to struggle allowing 3 more runs in the 7th as El Paso extended their lead. The offense was unable to comeback as Sugar Land lost 11-5.

Note: Ferreras is hitting .529 in Triple-A.

• Cavan Biggio, LF: 2-for-5, 2B, RBI
• Zach Dezenzo, 1B: 1-for-4, R
• CJ Alexander, RF: 1-for-4, 2B
• Zach Cole, CF: 2-for-3, R, RBI, BB
• Carlos Perez, C: 1-for-4, R
• Pascanel Ferreras, SS: 2-for-3, 2 R, HR, 2 RBI, BB

• Brandon McPherson, RHP: 2.2 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
• Cody Bolton, RHP: 2.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
• Roddery Munoz, RHP: 0.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
• Logan VanWey, RHP: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
• Miguel Ullola, RHP: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 0 K
• Tom Cosgrove, LHP: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

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AA: Corpus Christi Hooks (25-32) lost 11-6 (BOX SCORE)

The Hooks got the scoring started getting a Sullivan solo home run in the first inning. In the second inning, Spence connected on a solo home run. The offense scored 2 runs in the 4th on a Schiavone solo home run and Austin solo home run. They added 2 more runs in the 5th on an Encarnacion steal of home and Schiavone RBI single. Dombroski started for the Hooks and was solid allowing 2 runs over 5.2 innings. The pen struggled through allowing 9 runs as Arkansas took the lead. The offense was quiet the rest of the way as the Hooks fell 11-6.

Note: Schiavone has a .937 OPS in Double-A.

• Yamal Encarnacion, 2B: 1-for-3, R, BB, 3 SB
• Joseph Sullivan, CF: 1-for-3, 2 R, HR, RBI, 2 BB, SB
• Jason Schiavone, C: 2-for-4, R, HR, 2 RBI
• Trevor Austin, 3B: 1-for-3, R, HR, RBI
• Lucas Spence, DH: 2-for-4, R, HR, RBI

• Trey Dombroski, LHP: 5.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
• Hudson Leach, RHP: 0.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
• Alejandro Torres, RHP: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
• Jose Guedez, RHP: 0.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
• Ramsey David, RHP: 1.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

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A+: Asheville Tourists (15-41) lost 16-14 (BOX SCORE)

Asheville got on the board in the first inning on a Call solo home run. Howard started for Asheville but really struggled allowing 9 runs, 8 earned, over just 1.2 innings. The offense got 4 runs back in the 3rd inning on a Powell RBI single, Ochoa 2 run double and Walker RBI double. They got 2 more in the 4th on a Thomas RBI double and Powell RBI single. Asheville took the lead scoring 4 runs in the 6th inning on an Ochoa 3 run double and Walker RBI single. The pen struggled late allowing 3 runs in the 7th, 2 runs in the 8th and 2 runs in the 9th. The offense rallied getting a Thomas RBI single in the 7th, Moss sac fly in the 8th and Ochoa RBI single in the 9th but that was it as Asheville fell 16-14.

Note: Thomas has a .965 OPS this season.

• Justin Thomas, DH: 2-for-3, 4 R, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 BB
• Caden Powell, CF: 2-for-5, R, 2 RBI, BB
• Chase Call, LF: 1-for-5, 2 R, HR, RBI
• Nehomar Ochoa, 1B: 3-for-6, R, 2 2B, 6 RBI
• Kyle Walker, 2B: 3-for-5, R, 2 2B, 2 RBI, BB
• Freuddy Batista, C: 1-for-4, 2 R
• Zach Daudet, 3B: 3-for-4, 3 R, BB

• Dylan Howard, RHP: 1.2 IP, 7 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 4 BB, 3 K
• Raimy Rodriguez, RHP: 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
• Francisco Frias, RHP: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
• Bryce Collins, RHP: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 0 K
• Colby Langford, LHP: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

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A: Fayetteville Woodpeckers (25-32) lost 16-2 (BOX SCORE)

The Woodpeckers got on the board in the first inning thanks to a Neyens 2 run home run, his 8th home run of the season. Smith got the start but struggled allowing 8 runs, 7 earned, over 4.1 innings. The rest of the pen struggled too allowing 8 runs. The Woodpeckers’ offense was shut down the rest of the way as they fell 16-2.

Note: Neyens has a .816 OPS this season.

• Anthony Huezo, CF: 1-for-5, R, 2B
• Xavier Neyens, 3B: 1-for-5, R, HR, 2 RBI
• Waner Luciano, DH: 2-for-3, 2B. BB
• Hector Salas, RF: 1-for-3, BB
• German Ramirez, SS: 2-for-3, BB

• Aubrey Smith, RHP: 4.1 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
• Ryan Mathiesen, RHP: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
• Adam Shoemaker, LHP: 1.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
• Leomar Rosario, RHP: 2.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

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Today’s minor league starters:

SL: OFF

CC: OFF

AV: OFF

FV: OFF