Here's the latest on some of the Mets' young talent down in the minor leagues...
Drew Gilbert hits first 2025 Syracuse homer
Gilbert is known for his power but hadn't gone yard for the Syracuse Mets this season... until Saturday.
Going up against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Gilbert took Yerry De los Santos -- the reliever who started the season in the majors with the Yankees -- deep, launching an 85 mph changeup 369 feet. The outfielder went 1-for-2 but walked three times.
Gilbert had two home runs with Port St. Lucie this season before he returned to Syracuse in mid-April. In 13 games with the Triple-A affiliate, Gilbert is slashing .275/.426/.425 with an .851 OPS.
Former Mets outfielder Rafael Ortega had the big blast in Saturday's 8-2 win, launching a three-run shot to put Syracuse up 5-0 in the first inning.
Dohm, the 22-year-old right-hander, dominated his latest start for the St. Lucie Mets on Saturday. Dohm pitched 5.1 innings while allowing one unearned run on four hits, two walks and striking out six batters. It's the second consecutive start Dohm has not allowed an earned run.
Across six starts in Single-A, Dohm is 2-2 with a 2.22 ERA and has not allowed more than two earned runs in any start this year. In fact, since allowing four runs in his first two starts, Dohm has allowed just two earned runs across his last two. He's also struck out 30 batters in 24.1 innings pitched.
Following the Yankees' 3-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday afternoon, manager Aaron Boone and some players spoke about a number of topics...
Ryan Yarbrough gives Yanks what they needed
With the sudden scratch of Clarke Schmidt on Saturday, Yarbrough was tasked with being the team's opener against the Rays. The bulk reliever is used to pitching multiple innings, but Boone was very happy with the results.
The left-hander allowed just one run on one hit and three walks in four innings. It was a season-high four innings for Yarbrough, who had a sac fly from Taylor Walls in the second inning to thank for the lone run allowed.
"I tried to convince [Boone] to get me into the fifth there, especially with a bullpen game," Yarbrough said after the game. "Just really giving those guys some time off, especially when you have a day that you don't really necessarily expect early on. We were there to pick each other up and just tried to go as deep as I could."
"I thought he did great," Boone said. Walked a couple of leadoff hitters, which wasn’t ideal, had a few walks in there. But going into the day, if you said four innings, one run. Sign us up, all day long. He gave us exactly what we needed. Gave us a chance and put us in a good position to win a game. Unfortunately, just couldn’t get to the finish line today."
New York Yankees pitcher Mark Leiter Jr. (56) delivers a pitch against the Tampa Bay Rays during the eighth inning at Yankee Stadium / Tom Horak - Imagn Images
Mark Leiter Jr. gives up lead
The Yankees were up 2-1 heading into the eighth inning when Leiter Jr. came in. The hard-throwing right-hander was a bit unlucky in that inning. After allowing a leadoff hit to Christopher Morel -- on a play that was just out of the reach of Anthony Volpe -- Brandon Lowe walked. Leiter Jr. struck out Junior Caminero before a Curtis Mead bloop single tied the game and then a Volpe error pushed across the go-ahead run.
Boone, after the game, applauded the Rays' hitters, especially Lowe and Mead for getting to Leiter Jr.'s well-executed pitches.
"I thought he threw the ball alright. Just a couple of balls that had eyes," Boone said.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. surprised by MRI
Chisholm was placed on the IL on Friday with a high-grade oblique strain. Boone expects Chisholm to be out 4-6 weeks, but when the infielder was asked how he felt in the Orioles series earlier in the week, he believed he would be back in a few days.
“I’m very surprised [by the results], just depending on how my body feels and how I feel personally," Chisholm said after Saturday's game. "This is the second time I had an oblique. This feels completely different from the first one. So, for me, I was super surprised when I saw the results."
Chisholm revealed that there were three different tears in his oblique, which made him more surprised.
"That’s why I’m really surprised by what [the tests] said," he explained. "It doesn’t feel like three, doesn’t feel as bad as when I tore my oblique two years ago."
Chisholm is having an up-and-down 2025 with the Yanks. He has launched an impressive seven homers, but his batting average (.181) and OBP (.304) remain low.
Aaron Nola felt his neck tighten up about 45 minutes before first pitch Saturday night.
It put manager Rob Thomson, pitching coach Caleb Cotham and catcher J.T. Realmuto on high alert, and the Phillies even activated Ranger Suarez from the injured list pregame, a day early, in case he was needed for an emergency start.
There was no emergency because Nola felt good enough to pitch. And he didn’t just toe the slab, he delivered six scoreless innings against a Diamondbacks lineup that can hurt you with power and with speed.
“They said we’ll see what we get out of him tonight, essentially,” catcher J.T. Realmuto said. “We were a little worried, we didn’t know how much he was going to be available but obviously his neck felt good enough.
“I was on high alert in the bullpen just trying to watch his pitches and see if anything was moving differently or his stuff was different, but it was just as sharp as it normally is. Once the game started, I didn’t even really think about it again.”
Nola didn’t have his best command early but found a groove after ending the second inning by inducing a 4-6-3 double play. His velocity was up for a second consecutive start and averaged 92.2, more than 1 mph above his season average. He also had his cutter working for a second straight start and had one of his better curveballs, the pitch he utilized most to beat the D-backs in a 7-2 Phillies win.
“It says a lot,” Realmuto said. “He’s a competitor so if there’s a way for him to go out there and pitch, he’s gonna do it. He showed that tonight.”
Nola is not worried about the neck tightness and expects it to subside quickly. He felt it during the game on a few occasions but is fortunate that it’s the right side of his neck, not the left. The left side is the direction to which a right-handed pitcher like Nola cocks his head before delivering a pitch out of the stretch or when peering over to first base.
“Everything was normal. I felt it a little bit but it didn’t get any worse during the game,” Nola said. “I don’t think it’s gonna be any long-term, lingering kind of thing.
“Felt like it needed to pop and wouldn’t pop. Just a little tight on a couple of different movements but luckily it wasn’t to my left where I have to look toward the plate. If it was on the left side, it might have been a little bit different.”
Nola received seven runs of support, more than the Phillies had provided him all season. He has lowered his ERA in his last two starts from 6.43 to 4.61. His command is sharpening and he’s generating more finish to his pitches. All but one of his 18 outs Saturday night was a strikeout or groundout.
“I feel pretty good, all my pitches feel pretty good right now,” Nola said. “Getting ahead of the hitters better than I was the first few starts and putting ’em away when I need to.”
His next one will be Friday in Cleveland. The Phillies will start Ranger Suarez on Sunday to finish up the Diamondbacks series, then have Zack Wheeler, Cristopher Sanchez and Jesus Luzardo going in Tampa. Taijuan Walker has been moved to the bullpen, where he’ll be used as a longman or reliever who can pitch one-plus inning.
Boston Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas suffered a ruptured tendon in his left knee and is out for the remainder of the season, the team said on Saturday.
The 25-year-old Casas ruptured his patellar tendon running to first on a slow roller up the line and fell awkwardly in Boston’s victory over the Minnesota Twins on Friday night. After laying on his back in pain — not moving the knee — he was carted off on a stretcher before being taken to a Boston hospital.
Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said Casas, who remains in the hospital, will have surgery, but the date has not been determined.
“I talked to him last night,” Breslow said in a press conference discussing the injury outside Boston’s clubhouse. “We exchanged text messages (today). We all care deeply about just his overall wellbeing.”
Manager Alex Cora said Casas worked hard during the offseason to play every day after missing a large amount of last year with torn cartilage in his rib cage.
“He did an outstanding job in the offseason to put himself in that situation. It didn’t start the way he wanted it to,” Cora said of Casas’ struggles. “He was going to play and play a lot. Now we’ve got to focus on the rehab after the surgery and hopefully get him back stronger than ever and ready to go next year.”
Casas batted just .182 with three homers and 11 RBIs, but Breslow said his loss will be felt, especially with the team’s lack of depth at the position.
“He certainly struggled through the first month of the season but that didn’t change what we believe his production was capable of being,” Breslow said. “It’s a big loss. In addition to what we think we were going to get on the offensive side, he was kind of like a stabilizing presence on the defensive side of the field — also a big personality and a big part of the clubhouse.”
During spring training, Casas talked about how his focus at the plate this season was being more relaxed.
“You really want it until you don’t,” he said, explaining his thoughts while standing at his locker. “Then you can’t want it that much.”
Now, he’ll have to focus on his recovery plan for next season.
Casas, a left-handed batter, was placed on the 10-day injured list Saturday with infielder/outfielder Abraham Toro selected from Triple-A Worcester.
Cora said Toro — a switch-hitter — will split time at first along with Romy Gonzalez. who bats right-handed.
Breslow said the team might be exploring a long-term replacement.
“This is unfortunately an opportunity to explore what’s available,” he said. “We’ll look both internally and outside as well.”
Cora said there are no plans to move Rafael Devers, who was replaced at third by offseason, free-agent acquisition Alex Bregman, and moved to DH.
“We asked him to do something in spring training that in the beginning he didn’t agree with it and now he’s very comfortable doing what he’s doing,” Cora said. “Like I told you guys in spring training, he’s my DH.”
ST. LOUIS — The game between the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets scheduled for Saturday was postponed because of rain and will be made up as part of a split doubleheader Sunday.
The Mets have a nine-game winning streak in the series after beating St. Louis 9-3 on Friday night. New York swept a four-game set at Citi Field last month, and Sunday’s games are the last two in the season series.
The Mets announced that prospect Blade Tidwell would make his major league debut in the first game against St. Louis right-hander Erick Fedde (1-3, 4.68 ERA). Tidwell, a 23-year-old righty, is 1-2 with a 5.00 ERA in six starts for Triple-A Syracuse this season. He has struck out 37 in 27 innings.
In the second game, Andre Pallante (2-2, 4.13) will start for the Cardinals against Tylor Megill (3-2, 1.74), who had been scheduled to start Saturday opposite Fedde. Both Pallante and Megill are righties.
Earlier Saturday, the Cardinals recalled right-hander Michael McGreevy from Triple-A Memphis to add depth to a bullpen that already was taxed because of a doubleheader Wednesday in Cincinnati and a rain delay in Thursday’s game that cut starter Matthew Liberatore’s start short.
McGreevy had been scheduled to start Memphis’ game on Saturday. He is 3-1 with a 4.08 ERA in Memphis last year, and he was 3-0 with a 1.96 ERA in four games, including three starts, for St. Louis last year.
Reliever Roddery Muñoz was optioned to Memphis to make room for McGreevy.
With the Yankees up 2-1 in the eighth, Volpe ranged to his right on a grounder hit in the hole between short and third base. Volpe dove for the grounder, but his left shoulder slammed into the ground on the attempt. The third-year infielder stayed on the ground for a noticeably long time as manager Aaron Boone and the trainers came out to tend to him.
On Sunday, though, Boone told reporters that X-rays and an MRI showed "good news" for Volpe, who's now considered day-to-day and not in Sunday's lineup.
“Definitely a little cranky in the shoulder today," Boone said of Volpe's status.
"Just felt like a pop in my shoulder," Volpe explained after Saturday's loss. "It happened quick and it was scary, but after that, I felt okay and had my strength."
"I’ve never been in this situation, so it’s scary," he added. "My movements feel good, just a weird play."
Volpe finished the game, but the shortstop was in the spotlight for another reason in that eighth inning. The Rays had already tied the game at 2-2, but with runners on the corners and one out, Jose Caballero hit a grounder up the middle. Volpe ranged to his left and was in position to scoop up the ball, but it bobbled and all runners were safe, allowing the Rays' winning run to score.
"Just trying to make the play without securing the ball," Volpe said.
"With Caballero running, that’s a game you got a chance to potentially turn a double play, but you got to be fast with it," Boone said of Volpe's error. "And probably a half step behind to really be able to turn the double play, probably just rushed trying to make it to the bag. I don’t think he’s going to turn it anyway, but I think that’s what happened when looking back at it."
Anthony Volpe is staying in the game after appearing to hurt his shoulder diving for a ground ball pic.twitter.com/rf67OriqVV
Whether he ends up as a true everyday player this season or a platoon left fielder who starts the majority of games, Max Kepler is looking like someone who can help the Phillies. He already has during a power-packed week.
Kepler hammered the first pitch he saw Saturday night from Diamondbacks right-hander Brandon Pfaadt, hitting it 392 feet for a missile of a two-run homer to right field. It was 107 mph off the bat but might as well have been 150, the second of five straight loud hits in a three-run second inning for the Phillies, who scored three more in the third on a J.T. Realmuto homer.
The 7-2 win was one of the Phillies’ easiest of the season. They had to eke out all but one of their nine wins from April 3-19, taxing their most important relievers, but the Phils have won three games by a comfortable margin since last Saturday. They’ve needed nights like these.
Kepler has been an important part of them, homering in all three lopsided wins. He is hitting .280 with an OPS just under .900 against right-handed pitching and has 10 extra-base hits in 94 plate appearances. His rate of hard contact is the highest of his career.
“He’s been awesome,” Realmuto said. “He has good at-bats all the time, hits the ball hard. He’s been doing damage for us. Putting us up 2-0 tonight with the way Noles was throwing the ball, that was great.”
The Phillies’ offense scored more runs for Aaron Nola than they had all season — seven on Saturday compared to six in his previous six starts. And Nola made all the support stand up with six scoreless innings. He sure appears to be settling in. After throwing three of his four fastest pitches of the season last Sunday at Wrigley Field, Nola exceeded 94 mph for the first time this year on Saturday with heaters of 94.4 and 94.3.
This has always been the case for Nola, whose fastball after May 1 has averaged 92.3 compared to 91.4 in March and April. He also has historically performed much better in warmer weather and these were by far his best conditions since spring training. It rained during the second and third innings but the temperature was in the high-70s, not the mid-40s or 50s with wind chill he dealt with in St. Louis, New York and twice at home.
What Nola did not have early on Saturday was his best control. His ball-strike ratio was nearly even through the game’s first seven batters, then he found a groove with a 4-6-3 double play to end the top of the second. He retired nine of 10 batters from the second through fifth innings and held the Diamondbacks hitless in four at-bats with a runner in scoring position.
Of the 18 outs Nola recorded, 17 were via strikeout or groundout. It looked like he might be done after five innings because his pitch count was at 95 but Rob Thomson extended him one more. The manager’s reasons were likely three-fold: Nola was pitching well, he will have an extra day between starts and the Phillies were down a reliever after placing Jose Ruiz on the IL pregame with a neck spasm.
Nola is 1-5 with a 4.61 ERA and trending in the right direction. So is Trea Turner, who has a .475 on-base percentage in his last 14 games and so are the Phillies, who at 19-14 have matched a season-high at five games over .500.
They’ve won three straight series since being swept at Citi Field and look for a sweep of their own Sunday afternoon behind a debuting Ranger Suarez.
Manager A.J. Hinch is in his fifth season with the Detroit Tigers, who are now atop the American League standings. (Jose Juarez / Associated Press)
It has been eight years since the Houston Astros cheated their way through a year that included a World Series victory over the Dodgers. It has been five years since commissioner Rob Manfred publicly detailed the scandal and sanctioned the Astros and their leaders, if not their players.
Does A.J. Hinch, the manager of those Astros, still hear about it?
“As a manager, my name gets announced in every stadium, every night,” he said Friday at Angel Stadium. “So it gives everybody an opportunity to remind me that no one has forgotten.
We’ll get back to those Astros. But, first, we ought to tip our cap to these Tigers, the team with the best record in the American League.
The Tigers have surrendered the fewest runs in the AL and scored the third most through Friday's games.
Their starting rotation includes defending Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal (2.21 ERA), former Dodger Jack Flaherty (3.34) and former first-round pick Casey Mize (2.70).
Mize preceded sluggers Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson as first-round picks in Detroit; Greene and Torkelson have combined for one more home run (17) than the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández (16).
Hinch is something of an accidental manager. In 2009, he was the minor league director of the Arizona Diamondbacks when general manager Josh Byrnes asked him to manage the team.
“I thought he was crazy,” Hinch said.
What Byrnes saw and many others in baseball did not: The traditional wall between the front office and the coaching staff was crumbling. The analyst or executive coming into the clubhouse might be there to help the manager and coaches, not to usurp their authority.
“I think the Diamondbacks, for the first time, were ahead of the curve,” said Angels pitching coach Barry Enright, then a Diamondbacks pitcher. “It was rare back then to see a front-office member come into the coaches’ room. Now it’s all one big unit.”
Innovation is great when you win. The Diamondbacks did not, and Hinch did not manage even one full season before he and Byrnes were fired.
Look at Hinch now: The Tigers earned their first playoff berth in 10 years last season, with a fraying rotation held together by Skubal and duct tape. In the first round, they beat the — dramatic pause — Astros. Two ex-Dodgers on the current Detroit roster compare Hinch favorably to Dave Roberts.
“Two incredible managers,” Flaherty said. “I’ve been lucky enough to play for both of them.”
“The Dodgers, they can just go out there and roll out their guys: We’re here, we’re going to beat you,” said utilityman Zach McKinstry, who ranks eighth in the AL with a .311 batting average.
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch congratulates Zach McKinstry after he scored a run. McKinstry is a fan of Hinch's managing style. (Paul Sancya / Associated Press)
“The way we play the game, the way we know the game, the way we know our opponents beforehand, it’s just unmatched. It’s something I’ve never been a part of. We have to strategize and bring our best game every night.”
McKinstry is sensitive to the unfortunately common perception: How good a manager does Roberts have to be if he can write Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman atop his lineup card every night?
“Managing superstars like that definitely comes with different challenges,” McKinstry said. “The way he uses his bullpen; he’s really good at that. Super good manager.
“He can control the media. He controls his players. He controls that locker room. All good things.”
When McKinstry was traded to Detroit in 2023, he was apprehensive about Hinch. McKinstry made his major league debut with the Dodgers in 2020, the year the Astros’ scandal exploded into view and Dodgers fans gathered to jeer the Astros’ team bus, even as pandemic restrictions prevented them from entering Dodger Stadium.
“You come over here and you’re like, ‘What am I going to think?’” McKinstry said. “I just kind of erased all that and came over here with open eyes and an open heart.”
Perhaps we all should, at least with respect to Hinch.
Manfred suspended Hinch and Jeff Luhnow, then the Astros’ general manager, for one year. Jim Crane, the Astros’ owner, then fired Hinch and Luhnow.
In his report, Manfred said Hinch did not devise, participate in or approve of the scheme to intercept the pitch calls of opposing teams on live video and communicate the upcoming pitch by banging on a trash can. However, Manfred said, Hinch did not put a stop to it.
“As the person with responsibility for managing his players and coaches,” Manfred said, “there simply is no justification for Hinch’s failure to act.”
In a year the American League is down, the Tigers are up. Does Hinch believe a World Series championship in Detroit would confer legitimacy upon him that the title in Houston might not, at least not to some fans?
“I don’t want to win for me, or for my story, or because of what we did previously in my career,” he said. “I want to win because of all the work that we put into it, and I want everybody to experience the feeling of being on top of the sport.”
His remorse sounds sincere, not coming in a scripted statement but as we talked in the visiting dugout Friday afternoon. Hinch could have declined to talk about the scandal, or he could have offered some version of “I’ve put that behind me,” but he did neither.
“It was wrong, and I should have handled it better,” Hinch said. “I understand my role in my time in Houston, but my goal is to always own it, and do everything I can to show people that I can impact a team.”
If adversity reveals character, as those of us in the sports world like to chirp, consider the reaction of the three most prominent men Manfred cited in his report.
Crane said: "I don't think I should be held accountable."
Luhnow said he had been held out as “the scapegoat for the organization” and sued the Astros.
The Yankees were defeated by the Tampa Bay Rays 3-2 on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
Here are some takeaways...
- Aaron Judge was named the AL Player of the Month on Friday, and he's picked up right where he left off thus far in May. The slugger had two hits during last night's victory and then he got the scoring started in this one by cracking his league-leading sixth first-inning home run into the short porch.
Judge had another chance to tie the game with runners on the corners and two outs in the bottom of the eighth, but he grounded out to short. Still, the slugger finished the day 2-for-4 with the homer and a hard-hit single, giving him 17 multi-hit games this season.
- Ryan Yarbrough received the last-minute start after Clarke Schmidt was scratched due to left side soreness. The southpaw allowed the Rays to even things up with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the second, but that was it across a season-high four innings of work.
- Zack Littell was cruising before New York was able to regain the lead on another short porch homer in the bottom of the fifth. This time it was Austin Wells, who led off the inning with a solo shot of his own to right-center, giving him six long balls and 18 RBI on the season.
- The Yankees' bullpen threw well for the most part behind Yarbrough. Ian Hamilton struck out three as he worked around a walk and a hit in the top of the fifth, and Fernando Cruz stranded a man in scoring position to put together two scoreless innings -- Cruz struck out one to increase his league-best mark among relievers (28).
Mark Leiter Jr. then struggled in the eighth, allowing Tampa Bay to take the lead for the first time in the game. The first two batters of the inning reached base and then advanced into scoring position on a double steal, before scoring on a single and an Anthony Volpe error.
- Volpe had a bit of a scare earlier in the inning when he appeared to injure his shoulder on a diving attempt -- but after being looked at by trainers, he remained in the game. The shortstop was unable to extend his seven-game hitting streak, as he finished the day hitless in three at-bats.
- Tim Hill picked Leiter Jr. up nicely, escaping the eighth without further damage and then putting together a scoreless top of the ninth -- but the Yanks were unable to rally against Edwin Uceta and Pete Fairbanks in the later innings.
- Despite his recent struggles, Cody Bellinger was bumped up to the leadoff spot for the first time as a Yankee. The switch didn't help the left-handed hitting slugger much, as he finished 1-for-4 with a single -- lowering his OPS to .610 for the season.
Game MVP: Zack Littell
The right-hander limited the Yanks' offense to just two runs in seven innings of work.
BOSTON (AP) — Boston Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas suffered a ruptured tendon in his left knee and is out for the remainder of the season, the team said on Saturday.
The 25-year-old Casas ruptured his patellar tendon running to first on a slow roller up the line and fell awkwardly in Boston’s victory over the Minnesota Twins on Friday night. After laying on his back in pain — not moving the knee — he was carted off on a stretcher before being taken to a Boston hospital.
Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said Casas, who remains in the hospital, will have surgery, but the date has not been determined.
“I talked to him last night,” Breslow said in a press conference discussing the injury outside Boston’s clubhouse. “We exchanged text messages (today). We all care deeply about just his overall wellbeing.”
Manager Alex Cora said Casas worked hard during the offseason to play every day after missing a large amount of last year with torn cartilage in his rib cage.
“He did an outstanding job in the offseason to put himself in that situation. It didn’t start the way he wanted it to,” Cora said of Casas’ struggles. “He was going to play and play a lot. Now we’ve got to focus on the rehab after the surgery and hopefully get him back stronger than ever and ready to go next year.”
Casas batted just .182 with three homers and 11 RBIs, but Breslow said his loss will be felt, especially with the team’s lack of depth at the position.
“He certainly struggled through the first month of the season but that didn’t change what we believe his production was capable of being,” Breslow said. “It’s a big loss. In addition to what we think we were going to get on the offensive side, he was kind of like a stabilizing presence on the defensive side of the field — also a big personality and a big part of the clubhouse.”
During spring training, Casas talked about how his focus at the plate this season was being more relaxed.
“You really want it until you don’t,” he said, explaining his thoughts while standing at his locker. “Then you can’t want it that much.”
Now, he’ll have to focus on his recovery plan for next season.
Casas, a left-handed batter, was placed on the 10-day injured list Saturday with infielder/outfielder Abraham Toro selected from Triple-A Worcester.
Cora said Toro — a switch-hitter — will split time at first along with Romy Gonzalez. who bats right-handed.
Breslow said the team might be exploring a long-term replacement.
“This is unfortunately an opportunity to explore what’s available,” he said. “We’ll look both internally and outside as well.”
Cora said there are no plans to move Rafael Devers, who was replaced at third by offseason, free-agent acquisition Alex Bregman, and moved to DH.
“We asked him to do something in spring training that in the beginning he didn’t agree with it and now he’s very comfortable doing what he’s doing,” Cora said. “Like I told you guys in spring training, he’s my DH.”
The Phillies have next to no optionality on their 13-man pitching staff so there was some uncertainty over the corresponding roster move this weekend to activate Ranger Suarez from the injured list.
It ended up being an IL stint for Jose Ruiz, announced just before first pitch Saturday against the Diamondbacks. The right-handed reliever is dealing with a neck spasm.
The reason why the Phillies made the move Saturday rather than Sunday was because Aaron Nola felt neck tightness 45 minutes before first pitch. Suarez was active in case of emergency but Nola was able to pitch through the issue and said postgame that he felt normal.
The likeliest cut candidate before Ruiz’ IL stint appeared to be Carlos Hernandez, the last man in the bullpen picked up by the Phillies the week of Opening Day. Hernandez has a 6.92 ERA and has put 24 men on base in 13 innings. He, like most of the Phillies’ bullpen, is out of minor-league options so he would have been exposed to waivers if removed from the active roster.
The only arms in the Phillies’ bullpen who do have options remaining are Orion Kerkering and Tanner Banks, two of their more important relievers. Typically, the reliever occupying Hernandez’ slot is someone who does have options remaining to give a team maximum flexibility to cycle in a fresh arm when necessary throughout a long season.
Suarez will start Sunday’s series finale against Arizona, as Rob Thomson revealed earlier this week. It will be the lefty’s season debut. He made just one spring training start before a lower back injury sidelined him for two months.
These next six months will be crucial for the 29-year-old Suarez, a free agent after the season. He looked in the first half of last season like he might be a $100 million pitcher. Bryce Harper referred to him as one during a 15-start stretch to begin 2024 when Suarez was 10-1 with a 1.75 ERA.
Then came the back problems, which cost Suarez an All-Star Game appearance and sidelined him for a month during the summer. He wasn’t nearly the same in his final 11 starts, posting a 6.54 ERA and .885 opponents’ OPS.
Suarez was razor sharp in four rehab starts — two with Single A Clearwater, two with Triple A Lehigh Valley — pitching well all four times. He struck out 24 and walked five with a 1.08 ERA and .175 opponents’ batting average.
Walker to the ‘pen
Thomson officially announced after Saturday’s win that Taijuan Walker is moving to the bullpen. Walker has a 2.54 ERA through six starts, which the Phillies have split. Given the frequency of pitching injuries, he may not have made his last.
Walker did his job in April in place of an injured starter the same way Spencer Turnbull did in his absence a year ago. Another injury will likely arise over the next five months and now the Phillies know Walker is a viable sixth starter who not only recaptured some velocity after a strenuous offseason program but also adapted his repertoire to account for a diminished fastball.
The Phillies have next to no optionality on their 13-man pitching staff so there was some uncertainty over the corresponding this weekend to activate Ranger Suarez from the injured list.
It ended up being an IL stint for Jose Ruiz, announced just before first pitch Saturday against the Diamondbacks. The right-handed reliever is dealing with a neck spasm.
The likeliest candidate appeared to be Carlos Hernandez, the last man in the bullpen picked up by the Phillies the week of Opening Day. Hernandez has a 6.00 ERA and has put 22 men on base in 12 innings. He, like most of the Phillies’ bullpen, is out of minor-league options so he would have been exposed to waivers if removed from the active roster.
The only arms in the Phillies’ bullpen who do have options remaining are Orion Kerkering and Tanner Banks, two of their more important relievers. Typically, the reliever occupying Hernandez’ slot is someone who does have options remaining to give a team maximum flexibility to cycle in a fresh arm when necessary throughout a long season.
Suarez will start Sunday’s series finale against Arizona, as Rob Thomson revealed earlier this week. It will be the lefty’s season debut. He made just one spring training start before a lower back injury sidelined him for two months.
These next six months will be crucial for the 29-year-old Suarez, a free agent after the season. He looked in the first half of last season like he might be a $100 million pitcher. Bryce Harper referred to him as one during a 15-start stretch to begin 2024 when Suarez was 10-1 with a 1.75 ERA.
Then came the back problems, which cost Suarez an All-Star Game appearance and sidelined him for a month during the summer. He wasn’t nearly the same in his final 11 starts, posting a 6.54 ERA and .885 opponents’ OPS.
Suarez was razor sharp in four rehab starts — two with Single A Clearwater, two with Triple A Lehigh Valley — pitching well all four times. He struck out 24 and walked five with a 1.08 ERA and .175 opponents’ batting average.
The next decision the Phillies will make is what happens to Taijuan Walker. The simple solution would be moving Walker to the bullpen as the long man. The other possibility is a six-man rotation.
Walker has a 2.54 ERA through six starts, which the Phillies have split.
Walker wants to remain in the rotation, understandably so. If he does move to the bullpen, he did his job in April in place of an injured starter the same way Spencer Turnbull did in his absence a year ago. Another injury will likely arise over the next five months and now the Phillies know Walker is a viable sixth starter who not only recaptured some velocity after a strenuous offseason program but also adapted his repertoire to account for a diminished fastball.
Castleford Tigers won the League Leaders' Shield in 2017 but lost in the Grand Final [Getty Images]
Businessman Martin Jepson has completed his takeover of Super League club Castleford Tigers.
Jepson has become the majority shareholder of the west Yorkshire outfit after buying out previous owner Ian Fulton at the end of a drawn out process.
While expressing his delight at taking over, the new owner, who has made his money in property, is determined to drive the Tigers forward.
"I am totally committed to seeing a stronger Castleford competing in the Super League and the club being sustainable for many generations to come," he said.
Castleford are currently 10th in Super League, with only two wins from their nine games so far this season.
Saturday's game between the Mets and Cardinals at Busch Stadium has been postponed due to rain.
Carlos Mendoza said earlier in the day that there may've been a window for them to get the game after a delay, but with thunderstorms in the forecast, they decided it would be best to push things back.
The game will now be made up as part of a split-doubleheader on Sunday afternoon.
Game 1 is scheduled to start at 1:15 p.m. and Game 2 at 6:15 p.m.
Blade Tidwell will make his big league debut against Erick Fedde in the first game and Tylor Megill will take on Andre Pallante in the nightcap.
After Friday's victory, New York has won a franchise-record nine straight games against the Cardinals.
Hyeseong Kim opened the season in triple A after struggling mightily at the plate during camp, going six for 29 with one home run and 11 strikeouts. (Ashley Landis / Associated Press)
South Korean utilityman Hyeseong Kim is being called up by the Dodgers, people with knowledge of the situation who were not authorized to speak publicly confirmed, set to join the team in Atlanta on Saturday for what will be his first stint on the MLB roster this year.
In spring training, Kim struggled mightily to hit in Cactus League play, going six for 29 with one home run and 11 strikeouts. His swing needed so much work, the Dodgers elected to have him open the season in triple-A Oklahoma City, hoping it would provide a softer landing spot for him to revamp his mechanics in order to handle big league-caliber competition.
“The foundations, the actual swing mechanics needed to improve,” general manager Brandon Gomes said last week.
Improvement, however, has come fast for Kim, who has batted .252 in Oklahoma City with five home runs, 19 RBIs and a .798 OPS. He has also stolen 13 bases.
The corresponding move for Kim’s call-up wasn’t immediately known, but utilityman Tommy Edman has been battling a right ankle injury the past couple days that manager Dave Roberts indicated could land him on the injured list if it didn’t improve.
Losing Edman, who has eight home runs and 24 RBIs this season, for any stretch would be a blow.
But the anticipation for Kim, potentially a future Gold Glove winner with game-changing speed, might help cushion it more than most.
A left-handed hitter who over eight seasons in the Korean Baseball Organization batted .304 but amassed only 37 home runs, Kim’s bat always figured to be the biggest question mark when the Dodgers signed him.
It was clear the team envisioned a prominent role for the 5-foot-10, 175-pound speedster, trading former second baseman Gavin Lux to Cincinnati just days after Kim was acquired. But it was also clear they’d have to be patient with his development, after Kim spent most of the spring flailing in the batter’s box in his first dose against big league competition.
“Getting him exposed to real big league pitching, there’s just no real way to simulate that,” Gomes said when asked about Kim’s development last week. “You see a lot of guys [from overseas], it takes a little bit of time to get adjusted.”
After just one month, though, the team was already seeing growth.
Kim started the season with a 13-game tear, batting .293 with three home runs, seven doubles, one triple and 13 RBIs. His OPS at that point was .963. And he was immediately emerging as “a real threat on the bases,” Gomes said.
“[It was] the overall package of what we were hoping for,” Gomes said. “Speed, defense — and we knew the swing was gonna need a little bit of work.”
Kim has not been as productive lately, batting just .211 over his last 15 games. But, Gomes said reports from the minor league staff have remained strong.
“The numbers are good. The swing is taking real steps forward,” Gomes said. “Now you’re starting to hone in on maybe some more advanced game-planning stuff, and being able to cover different parts of the zone.”
Regardless of how Kim hits in the majors, he should provide production in other ways for the Dodgers.
A four-time Gold Glove second baseman and shortstop in South Korea, Kim has added center-field duties to his plate in triple A. His 13 steals, meanwhile, are second most in the Pacific Coast League, trailing only Oklahoma City teammate Estuery Ruiz.
“He’s completely bought in,” Gomes said, “and [his improvement is] actually happening and performing even better than we expected this early.”
Kim hadn’t been called up sooner because the Dodgers were believed to be waiting for an opportunity to give him consistent playing time. Edman’s uncertain status opened the door for that this weekend. And now, exactly four months to the day after his Jan. 3 signing with the team, he’ll get his first taste of life in the majors.
