John Sterling, the iconic voice of the Yankees who began broadcasting games for the team in 1989, has died at the age of 87.
Sterling initially retired early in the 2024 season, but he returned later that year to broadcast games against the Dodgers in the 2024 World Series.
He was on the call for five Yankees World Series titles, and called legendary moments like Aaron Judge’s AL-record-breaking 62nd home run of the 2022 season. His personalized home run calls and signature "Theeeeeeee Yankees win" have become part of Yankees lore.
The Yankees released the following statement:
“We pause today — along with millions of Yankees fans around the world — to recognize the passing of one of our own. John Sterling breathed life and excitement into Yankees games for 36 years while wearing his passion for baseball and the Yankees on his sleeve. He informed and entertained generations of fans with a theatrical and unapologetic style that was uniquely his own.
“John treasured his role as the voice of the New York Yankees, and his enthusiasm for the art of broadcasting perfectly complemented our city and our fans. The symmetry between John and his audience was both undeniable and magical, and his signature calls will resonate for as long as we put on pinstripes — especially after every Yankees win.
“We send our heartfelt condolences to the entire Sterling family, as well as his long list of loved ones and friends.”
Sterling also called games for the Nets and Islanders in the late 1970’s, among many other broadcasting roles.
Following the news of Sterling’s passing, tributes began flooding in:
I’m terribly sad to hear of the passing of John Sterling. He was truly one of a kind. A unique character who was blessed with pipes from above. Spoke to him a little over a month ago and although he didn’t sound great, this news still comes as a shock. RIP, old friend.
We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of John Sterling. We send our deepest condolences to his family, friends and the New York Yankees organization. pic.twitter.com/aOZS9iouNh
We are saddened by the passing of former New York Yankees broadcaster John Sterling.
Through his unique style and passionate play-by-play calls, Sterling endeared himself to generations of players and fans as radio voice of the Yankees from 1989 to 2024.
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San Diego, CA - May 3: Griffin Canning #17 of the San Diego Padres pitches against the Chicago White Sox at Petco Park on May 3, 2026 in San Diego, CA. (Photo by K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune via Getty Images)
Griffin Canning made his first start as a member of the San Diego Padres AND it came at Petco Park in front of the Friar Faithful. Canning ended with a no-decision, but left the game after five innings, allowing just one run on a solo home run to Drew Romo, with seven strikeouts. Canning did not look good to start the game, but that could be due to his return from an Achilles injury that cost him the majority of the 2025 season. It would be understandable if the Southern California native had a hard time controlling his emotions in front of a large contingent of supportive family and friends. While Canning did not get the win, he did walk off the mound after the top of the fifth inning after striking out the side to get his team back to the plate in the bottom of the frame. San Diego did allow the Chicago White Sox to tie the game late, but Xander Bogaerts came through with an infield single that allowed the Padres to take a one-run lead at 4-3. Mason Miller came into lockdown the ninth inning and the win, which prevented San Diego from suffering its first sweep of the season. The Padres will hit the road to San Francisco to take on the Giants at 6:45 p.m. today.
Padres News:
With Canning being added to the roster so he could pitch in the game on Sunday, a move had to made to clear space and that came in the form of a German Marquez being added to the injury list.
With the new owners of the Padres being announced this week, Cheri Bell of Gaslamp Ball looked at the details behind the move and what the process looks like going forward for Jose E. Feliciano and his wife, Kwanza Jones.
JUPITER, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 25: Tommy Sacco Jr. #91 of the Houston Astros at bat during a spring training game against the Miami Marlins at Roger Dean Stadium on February 25, 2026 in Jupiter, Florida. (Photo by Rich Storry/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Another day of minor league baseball is in the books. See the results below.
AAA: Sugar Land Space Cowboys (17-16) lost 9-6 (BOX SCORE)
Sugar Land got on the board in the 1st inning scoring 2 runs on a Price 2 run single. They got 2 more runs in the 3rd inning on a Biggio 2 run home run. Bielak got the start and went 5 innings allowing 2 runs. The offense scored 2 more runs in the 6th on a Price solo home run and Strahm RBI double. The pen relieved Bielak in the 6th but struggled allowing 7 runs as Reno took the lead. The offense was unable to rally as Sugar Land fell 9-6.
Jose Fleury, RHP: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
Roddery Munoz, RHP: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
AA: Corpus Christi Hooks (13-14) won 7-5 (BOX SCORE)
Dombroski started for the Hooks but had some troubles allowing 5 runs over 3.2 innings. The offense got on the board in the first scoring 2 runs on a Whitaker 2 run single. The Hooks responded again in the 4th scoring 4 runs on a Sacco solo home run and Encarnacion 3 run double. In the 5th inning, Sacco connected on another solo home run to extend the lead. The pen was solid tossing 5.1 scoreless innings as they closed out the 7-5 win.
Railin Perez, RHP: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K (SAVE)
A+: Asheville Tourists (6-21) lost 6-5 (BOX SCORE)
DeVos started for Asheville and was solid allowing 2 runs over 4.2 innings while striking out 6. Asheville got on the board in the 4th on a Batista RBI single and then tied things in the 6th on a Schiavone solo home run. In the 7th, Brutcher gave Asheville the lead connecting on a 3 run home run to right field. Wohlgemuth came on in relief but struggled allowing 4 runs as the Blue Rocks took the lead. Unfortunately the offense was shut down the rest of the game as Asheville fell 6-5.
Jose Guedez, RHP: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K
A: Fayetteville Woodpeckers (10-17) lost 2-1 (BOX SCORE)
Carrera got the start for the Woodpeckers and pitched well tossing 4.2 scoreless innings. Smith came on in relief and went 3 innings allowing 2 runs. The offense got on the board in the 8th on an Alvarez RBI single but that was it from the offense as the Woodpeckers fell 2-1.
SURPRISE, AZ - MARCH 20: Kansas City Royals catcher Blake Mitchell (2) is congratulated by teammates in the dugout after hitting a home run against the Texas Rangers during a Spring Breakout game on March 20, 2026, at Surprise Stadium at Surprise, Arizona. (Photo by Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The Royals selected Blake Mitchell with the eighth overall selection in the 2023 Major League Baseball draft, a somewhat surprising pick at the time. High school catchers are an extremely risky demographic with a high failure rate, but the Royals believed in his hitting ability. To Mitchell’s credit, he had an excellent debut in 2024, hitting well in A-ball and forcing his way to High-A by the end of the year.
Unfortunately for Mitchell, he fractured his hammate bone last February and 2025 was therefore a bit of a lost season for him. He displayed the same command of the strike zone and propensity for striking out as he did in his debut season, but the recovery from the fracture sapped much of the power from his swing.
A lot of eyes were therefore on Mitchell this year. Could he develop as a hitter? Would he get his power back? Additional organizational pressure was also on Mitchell thanks to the unfortunate fact that Kansas City’s three previous first round picks before him—Asa Lacy, Frank Mozzicato, and Gavin Cross—have flamed out in the minor leagues, with the Royals officially releasing Lacy this year. No team can endure drafting so high for so long and get nothing out those valuable picks, least of all a small market team.
So has Mitchell advanced? Well, he’s having a season for the ages, that’s for sure.
Let’s start with what kind of hitter Mitchell is, because that’s important. The Royals have, traditionally, valued defense, baserunning, athleticism, and contact ability. They have not valued power or plate discipline. But Mitchell is made up almost entirely of the latter two. Interestingly, the Royals knew it when they drafted him, comparing him to Bryce Harper.
And Harper, well, Harper is great, but he’s not a traditional Royals hitter. Harper knows the zone, has a swing built for home run power, and isn’t afraid of striking outs. As a result, he walks a lot, hits a lot of home runs, and strikes out a lot. Those three events are sometimes called the “three true outcomes” because all three events happen independently of the defense. For his career, Harper’s plate appearances have resulted in one of those three outcomes 43.6% of the time, which is a lot, but not quite the extreme upper end. The real platonic ideal of the “three true outcomes” hitter of recent years has been Joey Gallo, who has walked, struck out, or crushed a homer in 58.7% of his career plate appearances. That’s a huge percentage.
But Gallo can’t hold a candle to what Mitchell is doing, because Mitchell is achieving one of the Three True Outcomes an almost unbelievable 70.3% of the time.
Six home runs now for Blake Mitchell on the season. A monster blast to dead center. pic.twitter.com/XiJzNugJaJ
The above video is really the key to understanding why this is happening at all. Mitchell generates crazy bat speed with a fly-ball swing, which translates to elite exit velocity figures and verrrry long homers. As a result, pitchers stay away from him, and Mitchell is more than happy to draw walks when they’re not giving him something to hit. At the same time, Mitchell isn’t a guy to choke up on the bat and look to poke pitches to the opposite field and is perfectly content with a full-throated swing—even if he ends up whiffing.
Mitchell’s triple slash in High-A is really funny because of this: .213/.479/.508. With a 33% walk rate, he’s gotten 31 walks on May 3; Salvador Perez has walked 31 times in a whole season just once. But he’s also struck out 30.9% of the time, which is just a crazy situation.
Walking a lot, striking out a lot, and hitting a lot of home runs is a relatively common combo. But what Mitchell is doing so far this year is literally unheard of. No qualified hitter in MLB history has ever ended up with a walk rate and a strikeout rate north of 30%. Heck, lowering that figure to a 20% walk and strikeout rate only yields 10 hitter-seasons since 1970 (not counting 1994 and 2020):
Season
Name
PA
BB%
K%
AVG
OBP
SLG
wRC+
1998
Mark McGwire
681
23.8%
22.8%
0.299
0.470
0.752
205
1996
Mark McGwire
548
21.2%
20.4%
0.312
0.467
0.730
190
2018
Mike Trout
608
20.1%
20.4%
0.312
0.460
0.628
188
1987
Jack Clark
559
24.3%
24.9%
0.286
0.459
0.597
176
1999
Mark McGwire
661
20.1%
21.3%
0.278
0.424
0.697
168
1971
Willie Mays
537
20.9%
22.9%
0.271
0.425
0.482
157
1989
Jack Clark
594
22.2%
24.4%
0.242
0.410
0.459
151
2007
Jack Cust
507
20.7%
32.3%
0.256
0.408
0.504
145
1999
Jim Thome
629
20.2%
27.2%
0.277
0.426
0.540
142
1977
Gene Tenace
581
21.5%
20.5%
0.233
0.415
0.410
134
Now, let’s be fair: we’ve only had a month-ish of baseball so far, and the chances of Mitchell having his own bizarre 30/30 season over the full year are basically nil. But Mitchell does have 330 plate appearances in High-A ball overall, and he’s walked 23.3% of the time and struck out 32.4% of the time.
What’s the takeaway here, then? For starters, I don’t think High-A is challenging him nearly enough, and if it were up to me I’d promote him to Double-A tomorrow. Mitchell needs to cut down on his strikeout rate if he wants the best chance to succeed in the big leagues, but right now he can sleepwalk to being the most dangerous hitter on the team by simply murdering mistake pitches and spitting on the ones that aren’t in the zone.
The other takeaway here isn’t really a takeaway but an invitation to examine if Mitchell might indeed be able to succeed in the big leagues with a big ol’ strikeout rate. I have thus far been very skeptical of Mitchell for this reason, but he’s starting to show a level of plate discipline and game power where it just might work. I mentioned Gallo earlier, but his career .194/.319/.456 line, while bizarre, kept him in the league for a decade. Could Mitchell be a sort of Gallo at the plate? Maybe! The other potential guy to look at is Munetaka Murakami, the rookie Japanese slugger who has a 144 wRC+ despite a 33.1% strikeout rate because he walks almost 19% of the time and hits dingers left and right. Like, the White Sox could not care less that he’s only hitting .223.
I’d love it if Mitchell could wrangle his strikeouts down to a more manageable level. At the same time, it’s almost more fun to consider a world in which the Royals are the ones with the ridiculous Three True Outcomes player. Can the Royals develop such a hitter? That is another question, one that I don’t really like my gut answer to. I guess we’ll just half to wait and see.
Who will win Brewers vs Cardinals today: Cardinals moneyline (+100)
Chad Patrick owns a sparkling 2.47 ERA, but his underlying profile is littered with red flags.
He's posted a 5.52 xFIP, 5.56 SIERA, and a +2.6% K-BB% — the lowest mark among today’s projected starters.
He’s also allowing a 50% fly ball rate, which could be trouble against a St. Louis Cardinals offense that sits sixth in ISO and second in HR/FB vs. right-handed pitching over the past five weeks.
Brewers vs Cardinals Over/Under pick: Over 8.5 (-115)
The Cardinals rank ninth in runs per game and fourth in homers, with the emergence of young bats like JJ Wetherholt and Jordan Walker really lengthening their lineup.
Patrick’s high fly-ball rate could be a problem, especially on a warm day with the wind blowing out.
The Milwaukee Brewers are also well positioned to produce. Kyle Leahy has conceded multiple runs in all six starts, and 3+ runs in four of six.
He’s giving up damage consistently and has not lasted six innings once. The fourth-ranked Brewers offense should cause him problems.
Todd Cordell's 2026 Transparency Record
ML/RL bets: 11-5, +3.88 units
Over/Under bets: 6-10, -5.06 units
Brewers vs Cardinals odds
Moneyline: Brewers -115 | Cardinals -105
Run line: Brewers -1.5 (+140) | Cardinals +1.5 (-160)
Over/Under: Over 8.5 (-115) | Under 8.5 (-105)
Brewers vs Cardinals trend
The Cardinals have hit the Moneyline in 13 of their last 22 games (+6.85 Units / 31% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Brewers vs. Cardinals.
How to watch Brewers vs Cardinals and game info
Location
Busch Stadium, St. Louis, MO
Date
Monday, May 4, 2026
First pitch
7:45 p.m. ET
TV
FS1
Brewers starting pitcher
Chad Patrick (2-1, 2.57 ERA)
Cardinals starting pitcher
Kyle Leahy (3-3, 5.52 ERA)
Brewers vs Cardinals latest injuries
Brewers vs Cardinals weather
Odds are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change. Not intended for use in MA. Affiliate Disclosure: Our team of experts has thoroughly researched and handpicked each product that appears on our website. We may receive compensation if you sign up through our links.
Coming off a series win in Anaheim over the weekend, the Mets (12-22) still own the worst record in baseball. Weather permitting, they’ll have an opportunity to overtake the Rockies (14-21) in a three-game series against them that’s scheduled to begin this afternoon in Denver.
The forecast for the next three days is the biggest story at the moment. There’s a chance of rain in Denver this evening, which is why the start time of the game was moved up to 5:40 PM EDT. Things are likely to get much dicier after the series opener, though, as there’s a high probability of rain for most of the day on Tuesday. On Wednesday morning, there’s almost certainly going to be continued precipitation, and it might be cold enough for that to be snow.
If the second game of the series gets postponed, it might be possible for the teams to squeeze in a frigid doubleheader if the field at Coors Field is playable by a reasonable time on Wednesday. If not, both teams have an off day on their schedule on Thursday, and neither would have onerous travel ahead of them heading into the weekend. The Rockies are set to head to Philadelphia for a three-game series this weekend, and the Mets are scheduled to finish their road trip with three games in Arizona.
As for the Mets’ attempt to turn around their miserable season, well, at least they beat one of the other worst teams in baseball over the weekend. They’ll need to do the same against the Rockies in this one, but given the struggles of nearly every hitter in their lineup and the Rockies’ recent three-game sweep of the Mets in Queens, you really can’t take anything for granted here.
Thanks to his pair of two-run home runs in the series finale yesterday, Mark Vientos joined Juan Soto and MJ Melendez as the only Mets hitters with an wRC+ over 100. Melendez leads the way with a 177 wRC+ in 39 plate appearances, but he’s sporting a .474 BABIP and a 33.3 percent strikeout rate. Soto has a 158 wRC+ on the season and is on a six-game hitting streak. And Vientos is at a 107 wRC+ thanks to his big day at the plate, having entered the game with just an 84 wRC+. Francisco Alvarez is the only other Mets hitter who’s healthy and hovering around league average with a 98 wRC+.
With the Giants having plummeted to last spot in Major League Baseball in runs per game, the Mets rank 29th with 3.47 runs scored per game. Even in winning their series against the Angels over the weekend, they only have averaged 4.00 runs per game. League average so far this season is 4.50 runs per game, which means there’s still a lot of work to do. The fact that Vidal Bruján’s career numbers at the plate (.543 OPS, 54 wRC+) wouldn’t look too out of place in the Mets’ lineup if he were to be included in it is still pretty damning.
The Mets haven’t been spectacular in terms of run prevention, either, but they’ve been much better at it than they’ve been at scoring. At 4.38 runs allowed per game, the team has the 14th-lowest mark in baseball, one that obviously makes them slightly better than the aforementioned league average.
The Rockies, meanwhile, have allowed 4.91 runs per game, the seventh-highest rate in the sport. Their home ballpark always plays a role in that, of course, but the their struggling pitchers didn’t have much of a problem shutting down the Mets’ lineup in their recent series in Queens. The Mets managed just four runs total across that three-game series as Colorado swept them.
Rockies hitters have scored 4.29 runs per game, which isn’t all that impressive but is still quite a bit better than their counterparts in the Mets’ lineup. Among those with at least 50 plate appearances, Mickey Moniak is by far their best hitter this season, as he’s hit .327/.374/.724 with 11 home runs and a 185 wRC+.
Four other Rockies are hitting above league average by wRC+: Troy Johnston (124), Hunter Goodman (114), Edouard Julien (110), and Tyler Freeman (103). And two hitters are just below league average: Jake McCarthy (97) and TJ Rumfield (97).
The team isn’t without its own struggling hitters, as Willi Castro (68 wRC+), Brenton Doyle (49 wRC+), and Ezequiel Tovar (36 wRC+) have been pretty easy outs.
If these teams don’t play all three of these games this week and neither one gets into the playoff mix, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a game or two canceled entirely and not made up later in the season. Being that it’s early in the year, it seems more likely that one game today and a doubleheader on Thursday would be the worst case scenario in terms of scheduling, but if the Mets end up playing 160 or 161 games this season, this would be why.
Monday, May 4: Opener + David Peterson vs. Tomoyuki Sugano, 5:40 PM EDT on SNY
The Mets haven’t specified who their opener will be in the series opener, but Peterson’s traditional start against the Nationals his last time out couldn’t have gone much worse. He gave up seven runs, all earned, in just three-and-two-thirds innings. Having found better success in the two outings that preceded that, both of which came out of the bullpen after an opener, the Mets will be hoping for similar results in this game.
Coming off a so-so debut season in Major League Baseball last year with the Orioles that saw him finish the season with 157.0 innings pitched and a 4.64 ERA, Sugano signed a one-year deal with the Rockies over the offseason. The underlying metrics suggest that his impressive ERA is not sustainable, but the Mets have had a hard enough time this year when facing struggling pitchers. Maybe they’ll surprise us and beat a pitcher who’s off to good start.
Tuesday, May 5: Freddy Peralta vs. Michael Lorenzen, 8:40 PM EDT on SNY
Freddy Peralta has continued being himself, and his ERA was helped by his own error in his most recent outing, one that resulted in two of the three runs he allowed being unearned and helping to turn the game into a loss for the Mets. Peralta has completed six innings twice in his seven starts with the Mets and is averaging a bit more than five-and-one-third innings per outing. That’s on brand, as are his current ERA and FIP.
Lorenzen gave up just one run on seven hits in seven strong innings against the Mets on April 24. Since then, he’s made one start that saw the Reds get him for four runs in five-and-a-third innings. But he’s been particularly bad at home, which isn’t uncommon for pitchers in Colorado. Lorenzen has an 8.56 ERA at Coors Field this year in just 13.2 innings of work. Here’s hoping the Mets can take advantage of that.
Wednesday, May 6: Christian Scott vs. Jose Quintana, 3:10 PM EDT on SNY
After a disastrous return to the major league mound that saw him totally lose the strike zone, Scott returned when Kodai Senga went on the injured list and had a solid second start. He went five innings, gave up three runs, two of them earned, on three hits, struck out eight, and impressively didn’t walk anyone.
The former Met pitched well when the Rockies were in Queens recently, as he gave up just one run in five-and-one-third innings with five strikeouts, two walks, and just two hits allowed. And it might surprise you to read that he has a 3.98 ERA since the Mets chose not to pursue him in free agency following the 2024 season. He’s done that despite a 5.05 FIP over that span, but the difference in those metrics is more pronounced this year than it was last year with the Brewers.
ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA - APRIL 20: Matt McLain #9 of the Cincinnati Reds reacts after hitting a double in the first inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field on April 20, 2026 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Cincinnati Reds clearly began to put an emphasis on defense at some point over the last year. It was the driving reason behind their acquisition of 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes from Pittsburgh at last season’s trade deadline, a move that locked them into a glove-first (if not glove-only) player for a handful of guaranteed years into the future.
Of the 116 MLB players who have logged at least 650 PA since the start of the 2025 season, none have a lower total wRC+ than Hayes’ 55. However, his DEF – per FanGraphs – has been the 6th best in the time, and clearly the team feels that what he provides at the hot corner with the glove is enough to offset his bat (for the time being).
Chalking up a position like 3B to being glove-only is rare in this day and age, as that has typically been reserved for players who also carry a pretty potent bat. It helps that Cincinnati sports Elly De La Cruz right next to him at short, since the combined output of those two positions wouldn’t totally make you blink if, say, you were getting Elly’s production out of 3B and Hayes’ out of SS.
Things get complicated when you begin to realize that the Reds don’t just have one infield position being chalked up to being glove-only, but they’ve had two – and had it that way for quite awhile now.
If we circle back to that list of 116 MLB players who have logged at least 650 PA since the start of 2025 – the one where Hayes ranks at the bottom on the wRC+ leaderboard – you’ll find Matt McLain ranking as the second worst by that metric. He owns a 76 wRC+ over that time (in a larger 720 PA sample), and while that’s still light years better than the 55 of Hayes, it’s an unavoidable fact that the Reds are now rolling out just about every single day the two lightest-hitting regulars in all of baseball together.
There are parallels between the two beyond that. Back in 2023, Hayes had seemingly cemented himself as a 3+ WAR per season regular after hitting .271/.309/.453 with 15 homers for the Pirates, good for a 101 wRC+ that more than complemented his elite defense. McLain, meanwhile, broke into the big leagues that year in a huge way with a .290/.357/.507 line in 403 PA that had FanGraphs value him at an identical 3.2 fWAR to that of Hayes that season.
Both, though, have hit significant hiccups since. Hayes has dealt with a back issue off and on that’s cost him time, and McLain famously lost his entire 2024 campaign after oblique and shoulder problems. So, ever since those duel 2023 breakouts, the two have looked like complete shells of themselves.
FanGraphs has at least loved McLain’s defense enough this season to value him at just 0.0 fWAR despite a 71 wRC+, one that has featured one game in which he hit 2 homers and 33 others in which he’s hit zero. He’s mired in a 3 for 31 slump since that game towards the end of April, and his collective work has Baseball Reference valuing his 2026 season a -0.5 bWAR so far.
McLain will turn 27 this summer, so it’s not as if he’s still got a ton of ‘maturing’ left to do. The question, as it was last year, is just how long it will take him to find his 2023 form again after major shoulder surgery, and the timetable to find out whether that’s a reality is beginning to extend a lot further than I think a lot of us imagined it would. In the meantime, we’re also now getting a glimpse at what prospect Edwin Arroyo can do two years removed from his own similar shoulder surgery, and the former consensus Top 100 overall middle infielder is off to a roaring .305/.386/.489 start in 160 PA with AAA Louisville in his age-22 season.
It’s not yet time to pull the plug on McLain completely. His glovework provides legit big league value at both 2B and SS, and those don’t grow on trees. But as he inches closer to both being 27 years old and to his first trip through the arbitration process, the clock is certainly ticking on just how much longer the Reds can wait to find out if he can truly be a co-star on this team as they try like heck to establish a recurring winner.
FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA - SEPTEMBER 7, 2025: Eli Willits #13 of the Fredericksburg Nationals in action during a Carolina League game against the Carolina Mudcats at Virginia Credit Union Stadium on September 7, 2025 in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The Mudcats beat the Nationals, 6-3. (Photo by Rodger Wood/Diamond Images via Getty Images) | Diamond Images/Getty Images
“I think we have the best talent in all of Minor League baseball”. That is what Nationals 11th round pick Jack Moroknek said about the Low-A Fredericksburg Nationals team he plays on. That is not much of an exaggeration either, with MLB.comranking them as the 5th most stacked roster in the minors. I got to see this group live and in the flesh yesterday, and they did not let me down.
Fredericksburg is your classic minor league town. As I entered the town with my dad, we passed a duck crossing sign and a plethora of fast casual food options. Before the game began, we were serenaded by the Garrison Elementary choir, who delivered a cute, but excellent rendition of the National Anthem. I got to see minor league baseball at its finest.
As much as I was charmed by the pageantry, I was here to see a ball game. While prized prospects Gavin Fien and Coy James were not playing, due to injury and an off day, I still got to see plenty of talent. The Fred Nats top three hitters were first overall pick Eli Willits, top 10 prospect in the system Luke Dickerson, and MacKenzie Gore trade piece Yeremy Cabrera. Those three players combined to get on base 8 times in this game.
Eli Willits was the main attraction though, and seeing him live and in the flesh was quite the experience. He is such a well rounded player, with hitting skills, outstanding defense and insanely aggressive base running. Willits got a base hit on the first pitch he saw yesterday afternoon, and finished the game with two hits, a walk and two stolen bases.
Jack Moroknek raved about Willits when I asked about him. He said that Willits is “35 in an 18 year old’s body. He is the most mature 18 year old I have ever met”. You can see that maturity on the field, with Willits playing shortstop at a big league level already on the defensive end.
Willits is just such a smooth player, and you could tell who the former first overall pick was pretty easily. Once he gets to the big leagues, fans are going to have so much fun watching Willits in the field and on the bases. He already has 21 stolen bases on the season, and is an absolute mad man when he reaches first base. Eventually, he may need to be tamed a little bit on the bases, but for now, his all out aggression is super exciting.
The fun thing about A ball is that you have elite prospects like Willits, but you also have lesser known guys chasing their dreams like Moroknek and Juan Cruz. Moroknek told me that, “I never thought baseball was going to be my job, so every day is a dream for me”.
While Moroknek acknowledged the velocity is different in pro ball compared to what he saw in college at Butler, he has adapted well. He has a .344 average and an OPS over 1.000. The 22 year old also had a 16 game hitting streak that was recently snapped, though he did say plenty of those hits came on “broken bat flub shots”.
Like Moroknek, Juan Cruz was also a small school guy, going to Alabama State University. He had an offer in the transfer portal to go play at Georgia, but when the Nats drafted him in the 20th round, he could not pass up the opportunity. Cruz told me he decided to sign because “it is every kid’s dream to play professional baseball”.
Cruz and Moroknek are two underdogs just following their dreams, while Eli Willits is the son of a big leaguer who is a former first overall pick. The great thing about minor league baseball is that these guys become brothers as they play six days a week, and ride the bus to small towns across Virginia and North Carolina.
Minor league baseball is so much fun, and it is not just because of the big name prospects. Players like Cruz and Moroknek who are the lifeblood of the system. It will be an uphill climb for these guys to make the big leagues, but the great thing about baseball is that it is possible. Baseball is a true meritocracy, and if these guys put up numbers as they climb through the system, they will make the big leagues eventually.
Back to the prospect side of things though, another player who really stood out yesterday was Yeremy Cabrera. At one point, Cabrera was an underdog just like Cruz and Moroknek. He signed for only $10,000 out of the Dominican Republic. Cabrera managed to turn himself into a real prospect in the Rangers system. This winter, he was traded to the Nationals as part of the MacKenzie Gore deal.
Last year, Cabrera played for the same Hickory Crawdads team he was facing yesterday. He put up solid numbers, but the Nats wanted him to repeat the level. Based on what he has done this season, a promotion should be on the way. Cabrera went 3-5 with a homer and a double yesterday. He is now hitting .297 with a 1.022 OPS at just 20 years old.
If you want to see this Fred Nats team, which is 19-8 to start the season, you should come down soon. Before too long, players like Willits, Cabrera and maybe even Moroknek will be promoted to High-A Wilmington with how they are performing. Minor League games are always fun, but they are even better when you get to see high end prospects like the Fred Nats have.
Even with a couple absences, this Fred Nats lineup was absolutely stacked. They set the tone in the first inning, with four runs against Hickory. It was a nice and easy win for the Fred Nats, who cruised to a 9-1 victory.
I did not get to see Miguel Sime Jr., or Landon Harmon, the Fred Nats top two arms, but the pitching was solid. Grant Manning, a minor league free agent signing, impressed me, striking out four in three scoreless innings.
As I was talking to Jack Moroknek in a little tunnel down the left field line, I could not help but compare the Fred Nats locker room I was looking at to the Nats locker room. Obviously, things are much more glamorous in the big leagues. However, these guys are not here for glamor, they are here to grind and play ball. As Jack Moroknek told me, “The grind is fun. With the group of guys we have, it does not make it seem like a grind for me”.
Feb 20, 2026; North Port FL, USA; Atlanta Braves infielder John Gil (93) poses for a photo during media day at CoolToday Park. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images | Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
(20-13) Gwinnett Stripers 9, (16-17) Charlotte Knights 10
A late collapse by the bullpen cost the Stripers a win, as the Knights scored seven of the last three innings of the game, including five in the eighth inning alone, to pick up the win. Lucas Braun got the start for the Stripers and was okay, navigating through four innings and allowing three earned runs. He was not his normal self as his command wavered shown by his four walks, and the fact that he threw just 44 strikes on 84 pitches. Braun was given a two run lead after the Stripers opened the game – scoring a pair of runs in the first inning following a Brett Wisely two run single.
The lead would be erased in the bottom of the second inning when Braun allowed two doubles, a single, and a pair of walks to the Knights up 3-0. The Stripers would then tie the game again in the fourth inning after back-to-back doubles by Aaron Schunk and Brett Wisely. The Stripers would respond once again in the sixth inning after….who else but Brett Wisely started the inning with a 103.4 MPH triple to center. Tristin English would hit a sac fly to push the lead to Gwinnett at 4-3. DaShawn Keirsey Jr. would then follow up that with his second homer of the season, and his first of the game, a 401’ blast.
After exchanging runs scored in the seventh inning, the Stripers entered the eighth inning up 6-4 when DaShawn Keirsey hit his second homer of the game, quickly followed by a solo homer by Chadwick Tromp to push the lead to 8-4.
With a four run lead the Stripers would turn to Blayne Enlow who was unfortunately horrendous (0.0IP 4H 5ER 1BB 2K, 2 HR) – entering the game and going BB, 1B, 2B, HR, HR, all on 17 pitches – swinging the game back to the Knights at 9-8. Rowdy Tellez would then tie the game once again, in the ninth inning, after hitting his seventh homer of the season – a 408’ homer with an exit velocity of 110.7 MPH.
Working his second inning of relief, James Karinchak struggled in the ninth – ultimately blowing the save on a bases loaded single, giving the Knights a walk off win.
A complete disaster of a pitching performance by the Columbus Clingstones staff who gave up a combined eight walks, 19 hits, 18 runs, and 12 extra-base hits, including EIGHT homers. Jacob Wallace (2IP 1H 0R 0BB 4K) was the only pitcher to have a scoreless outing. Ian Mejia kind of set the tone for the game – having a very un-Ian Mejia like start as he struggled mightily with his command giving up four walks in the single inning he pitched. He needed a robust 48 pitches to get through the first which necessitated the move to the bullpen for the rest of the game.
It’s unfortunate because the Clingstones offense was really strong – picking up five walks, 13 hits, and scoring 10 runs themselves. The Clingstones found themselves down 11-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning when Drew Compton hit this two run homer.
— Columbus Clingstones (@GoClingstones) May 3, 2026
Finding themselves now down 13-3, Lizandro Espinoza who is on an absolute heater, hit a two run homer of his own to lessen the deficit to…..13-5 in the sixth inning. After going up two runs in the top of the seventh, Ethan Workinger, and Cal Conley would hit back-to-back homers to reduce the new deficit to 15-7. Finally, moving onto the bottom of the eighth inning when the Clingstones then found themselves 18-7, Archer Brookman hit a two run homer, and Patrick Clohisy would hit a run scoring double to make it 18-10.
Of note, rehabbing Ha-Seong Kim went 1-for-4 with a walk, and run scored and is hitting .333/.538/.333 in four games so far.
(17-10) Bowling Green Hot Rods 5, (14-13) Rome Emperors 6
John Gil, SS: 2-for-5, HR, RBI, R, .290/.386/.473
Eric Hartman, CF: 2-for-3, 2B, 2 BB, R, .310/.389/.630
Cam Caminiti righted a bit of the ship, putting together a solid start in the lone win for the Braves minor league. Cam picked up 10 whiffs, utilizing his four seam, sweeper, changeup combination. He did get stronger as the outing went on, getting his first 1-2-3 inning in the fourth inning while picking up his final whiff on the last batter he faced. After a rough last couple of starts for Cam, surrendering 10 earned runs over 9.1 innings of work, Cam was able to locate his fastball a bit better and was a lot more in control.
He left the game with the score tied 0-0 and was relieved by David Rodriguez who was rudely greeted by a solo homer on his second pitch. That lead would last until the eighth inning when the Emperors would extend it to 4-0 after Justin Long came into the game, walking his first two batters. A sacrifice bunt would put runners on second and third before a two out single scored two runs to extend the Hot Rods lead to 3-0. They would then add onto the lead with a run scoring double to push the lead to 4-0.
Down 4-0, the Emperors offense joined the conversation in the eighth inning and it all began with John Gil who collected his fourth homer of the season to make it 4-1. Later in the inning Colby Jones would add on another run with a sacrifice fly that would score Eric Hartman, and put Dixon Williams on third. An errant pickoff by the pitcher would then allow Dixon Williams to score and make the deficit just one at 4-3. Logan Braunschweig would then hit a two out double to tie the game at 4-4.
After exchanging zeroes in the ninth inning the game headed to extra innings when the Hot Rods singled in the ghost runner to take back the lead at 5-4. Isaac Gallegos, working his second inning, would then get the next three batters out to keep it 5-4 and allow the Emperors a legitimate chance to win it. An RBI single by Mason Guerra tied the game, and a bases loaded sacrifice fly by Colin Burgess would walk it off for the Emperors.
(10-17) Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 7, (14-13) Augusta GreenJackets 6
It was a rough start of the game for Davis Polo who has had a great return to baseball in 2026. He surrendered a home run on the second pitch of the game, before allowing a single, stolen base, walk, double, walk, and one more walk before he registered his first out of the game. He would go on to allow a total of four runs in that first before he really got things together.
He would face just one batter over the minimum over the next three innings and leave the game down just two runs thanks to Tanner Smith’s first homer of the game, that would score Tate Southisene.
— Augusta GreenJackets (@GreenJackets) May 3, 2026
Kendy Richard (4IP 7H 3ER 1BB 4K, 2 HR), having a very rough start to 2026, came in for Davis Polo and struggled again including allowing a homer, double, and triple to give Kannapolis a 6-3 lead, in just a single inning. However, the GreenJackets would respond with two runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth via an rbi single by Dallas Macias, and Alex Lodise making it a one run game again.
The back-and-forth would continue the next inning with a home run by the Cannon Ballers to extend their lead to 7-5. HOWEVER, it was Tanner Smith yet again, this time in the seventh inning – who would homer for the third time in the game and make the game 7-6.
— Augusta GreenJackets (@GreenJackets) May 3, 2026
Styven Paez would pitch a scoreless ninth inning to give the GreenJackets a chance to tie it, or walk it off, in the bottom of the ninth. Alex Lodise would reach on the first pitch of the ninth, hitting a single to left but would be stranded there as the GreenJackets would fall.
May 3, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Houston Astros right fielder Cam Smith (11) hits a two run RBI against the Boston Red Sox during the tenth inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images | Eric Canha-Imagn Images
One of the clubs normally featured in here, the Baltimore Orioles, found themselves on the receiving end of a late-inning beatdown Sunday as the Yankees turned a close game into a rout in the eighth inning. But all the Yanks’ other rivals were in action with Sundays featuring full slates of games.
Sunday’s biggest takeaway in terms of the standings is that the Highly Irritating Rays won again to stay at New York’s heels. But the Red Sox and Jays lost, and you love to see that. Unfortunately, Sunday’s biggest stories could be injury related as both the Red Sox and the Minnesota Twins had their starting pitchers leave their respective games early.
Toronto Blue Jays (16-18) 3, Minnesota Twins (15-20) 4
This game quickly turned into a nightmare for Minnesota. And when I say quickly, it took nine pitches. After hurling that ninth pitch, Twins ace Joe Ryan immediately left the game with elbow soreness. It’s obviously too soon to know the severity of the injury but any time a pitcher leaves a game after showing diminished velocity (his final pitch was a fastball at 90.9 mph; his season average is 92.6 mph), you fear the worst.
To Minnesota’s credit, they did not flinch. Five relievers combined to cover this de facto bullpen game, with Andrew Morris taking over for Ryan, throwing 3.2 innings of scoreless ball, and earning his first career win. Offensively, the Twins notched a lone run in the first then three run-scoring doubles in the fifth extended the lead to 4-0.
The Jays meanwhile got four innings out of phenom Trey Yesavage in his second start of the season after returning from injury. Offensively, they mounted a late charge, getting on the board with a run in the sixth. Then, in the ninth, Kazuma Okamoto clubbed a two-run home run to get Toronto within one, before Minnesota finally slammed the door shut.
Boston Red Sox (13-21) 1, Houston Astros (14-21) 3 (F/10)
It was the Moveable Object versus the Stoppable Force this weekend at Fenway. Boston and Houston split the first two games this weekend, meaning whoever won Sunday’s game would take the series. Luckily for Boston, they had Ranger Suárez pitching, fresh off eight shutout innings with 10 strikeouts against Toronto. He looked to be on form again today but, like Ryan in Minnesota, was felled by injury. Suárez left after four innings with a hamstring injury.
Boston then dipped into its bullpen and their parade of relievers did yeoman’s work, allowing a sole run. Meanwhile, the Astros pitching staff, which has been catastrophically bad, managed to match the Sox, allowing one run and sending this game to extras.
In the top of the tenth, Cam Smith came to the plate with the bases loaded and two out. Smith ripped a ball off the Green Monster to plate a pair, leaving Houston three outs away from taking the series at Fenway. Things got dicey in the bottom of the tenth with Boston loading the bases with only one out. But Bryan Abreu managed to induce a game-ending twin-killing to, for what feels like the first time all season, hold on to a Houston lead.
Tampa Bay Rays (21-12) 2, San Francisco Giants (13-21) 1 (F/10): The Rays continue to be Annoying. But it’s also the Giants’ fault for deciding not to score any runs after putting a one in the run column in the first. From there, the game remained 1-0 until the home eighth when Tampa tied it with a squeeze play. Of course. In the bottom of the tenth with super-speedster Chandler Simpson on second, Jonathan Aranda dunked a single into right field. Game over. Annoying.
Cleveland Guardians (18-17) 1, Athletics (18-16) 7: The first place Athletics. What a wild sport baseball is. Sunday, the Athletics’ offense was too much for Cleveland. The A’s put up three-spots in each of the fifth and sixth innings to provide the winning margin. The two clubs combined for four long balls on the day. And don’t look now but Jeff McNeil has rediscovered his form at the plate. The 2022 NL batting champion had three RBI on the day and is now hitting .314 on the season.
Seattle Mariners (16-19) 1, Kansas City Royals (15-19) 4: Luis Castillo has been catastrophically terrible in 2026. Entering Sunday, he “boasted” a 6.35 ERA and was allowing 12.1 H/9. In that context, the four runs he allowed over six innings Sunday is a downright masterpiece. And in all seriousness, he pitched better than his line suggests. He just couldn’t escape the meltdown inning. In the third, a bases loaded walk, a force out, and a sacrifice fly allowed three Royals to score and that was enough for the win.
Detroit Tigers (18-17) 7, Texas Rangers (16-18) 1: The final game of the weekend saw Jack Leiter, son of former Yankee Al Leiter, take the ball for Texas while Detroit went with a bullpen game. Leiter was up and down, going 6.2 innings and whiffing 10, but also allowing five runs. Meanwhile, the Tigers bullpen stifled the Rangers offense outside of a lone run. Former #1 pick Spencer Torkelson supplied the power for Detroit, with a two-run bomb. Detroit’s rookie phenom Kevin McGonigle continued his outstanding debut season with a multi-hit game and a pair of RBI.
Gene Hackman is mauled by bear in a scene from the film 'Zandy's Bride', 1974. (Photo by Warner Brothers/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Recaps
[AZ Central] Starting pitching tanks again, Diamondbacks swept by the Chicago Cubs – Right-hander Merrill Kelly was hit hard for the third consecutive start, allowing six runs in 4 1/3 innings, and the Diamondbacks lost, 8-4, to the Chicago Cubs, who completed a three-game sweep on Sunday, May 3, at Wrigley Field. The loss wrapped up a miserable 2-6 road trip for the Diamondbacks, who split two games against the San Diego Padres in Mexico City before dropping two of three in Milwaukee before arriving here. Kelly’s performance was the latest poor outing for a Diamondbacks starting pitcher. Over the past 12 games, the unit has posted a 10.10 ERA while logging just a shade over four innings per start.
[dbacks.com] Road-weary D-backs head home determined to get back on track – The Diamondbacks opened the trip three games above .500, a good start for a team that battled injuries and a tough schedule. They split two games against the Padres, dropped two of three to the Brewers and were swept by the Cubs. They return home a game under .500, searching for answers. “Bad,” shortstop Geraldo Perdomo said. “Really bad. Win two out of eight? That’s not us. It was really bad. It was a disaster.” Spotting the problems is easier than finding solutions. For now, all they can do is vow to keep pushing forward.
[SI] Merrill Kelly’s Start vs Cubs Wasn’t As Bad As it Looked – Overall, Kelly picked up 15 whiffs and 12 called strikes. He struck out five batters, and was landing his pitches for strikes around the edges of the zone. He threw 58 of his 92 pitches for strikes — a 63% strike rate that was by far his best in a start this season. The main concern was how quickly that command evaporated, though if he had not been bitten for so many tough-luck hits, he may have had enough stamina to push his decline back an inning or two. Certainly, Kelly’s ineffectiveness this season has been a concern, and his numbers look no better. But if a few more balls went his way Sunday, the outlook might have been different.
[AP] Merrill Kelly’s struggles continue as Diamondbacks fall to Cubs in series sweep – Gabriel Moreno and Adrian Del Castillo each hit two-run homers for Arizona. Merrill Kelly (1-3) allowed six runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings. The Diamondbacks had a chance to get back in the game in the seventh, loading the bases with two down. But Ketel Marte struck out swinging against Phil Maton, ending the inning. The Diamondbacks are off Monday before LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (2-0, 3.03 ERA) starts Tuesday night at Chase Field against Pittsburgh in the opener of a six-game homestand.
Team news
[Defector] It’s Ildemaro Vargas Time In Major League Baseball – A career like Vargas’s can’t really be read by scanning his career OPS+ figures and making various distressed faces. Baseball is a job and a baseball team is a workplace, and Vargas’s role within that bigger whole was not necessarily—was, even, necessarily not—about putting up numbers. It was important that his glove worked fine at first, second, and third base was good, and that he always made contact even if that contact did not always amount to much. But Vargas emerged as a smiling, goofy human-sized point of consensus in the ongoing attempt to figure out the value of being what former teammate Joey Gallo described as “an A-plus dude”.
[Sporting News] Diamondbacks’ 34-year-old journeyman with .388 average has been biggest surprise in MLB – After being a bottom-of-the-roster option at-best this offseason, Vargas has become someone the Diamondbacks couldn’t afford to go without this season. He had a 27-game hitting streak to begin the season, and did so on just a $1.25 million salary. Vargas isn’t making much, but he’s been one of the best players in the sport. His .388 batting average has been the best in Major League Baseball, and it’s not just that he’s making contact for singles and cheap hits; he’s actually posting a .673 slugging percentage, the best in the NL.
[AZ Central] 2001 Diamondbacks celebration. ‘Rookie’ team leaders came at right time – For a baseball team that thrived because of a veteran roster that ranked as the oldest in Major League Baseball that season, it’s sometimes easy to forget the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks also relied an awful lot on a pair of relative “newbies” in a couple of rather important positions. One was their first-time general manager, Joe Garagiola Jr. The other was their rookie manager, Bob Brenly. And a case can be made that the Diamondbacks probably wouldn’t have won the World Series 25 years ago without them.
[KTAR] Valley groups, Diamondbacks team up to support brain cancer research in May – Several Valley organizations are teaming up to raise money for a Phoenix-based brain cancer research center during Brain Tumor Awareness Month. Sports fans can also get in on the action on May 18, when the Arizona Diamondbacks host Brain Tumor Awareness Night at Chase Field. The team takes on the San Francisco Giants, and the Ivy Center will be recognized on the field, including throwing out the ceremonial first pitch. [It’s of particular relevance to the team, because Mike Hazen’s wife Nicole, died of glioblastoma in 2022]
[Outkick] This year’s American League might be the worst in Major League Baseball history – 13 out of 15 teams in the American League would be either in last place or tied for last place in the NL Central. The combined record in the National League is 258-238, or a collective winning percentage of .520. The average NL team is on pace to win roughly 84 games. By contrast, the average AL team is on pace to win 77 games. That’s remarkable. In fact, it’s not just remarkable, it’s historic. Since the introduction of interleague play, the current .480 winning percentage in the American League would be the worst in the modern era.
[USA Today] Handing out MLB’s early awards: Best and worst of wacky opening month – Who could have envisioned that Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora and Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson would be unemployed before May? Who could have imagined, in their wildest dreams, that that the Colorado Rockies would have a better record than the Mets, Phillies and San Francisco Giants? How in the world of economics can four of the six highest-payroll teams have losing records: the Mets, Phillies, Blue Jays and Red Sox? It’s been a strange but certainly entertaining start to the season, so why not hand out awards to some of the best, worst and funkiest events of April.
The actual shark attacks aren’t at all badly staged, with some enthusiasm and in quite a convincing manner. The main problem is, there is never any doubt about exactly who is going to be eaten. Per Joe Bob Briggs, one of the marks of good horror is that anyone can die, at any time. That is so far from what we get here. It’s one hundred percent predictable, and if you are not on the sharks’ hit list, the resulting plot armour is +5 plate mail quality. As a viewer, this realization renders the whole experience less interesting, because there’s no sense of peril. You’re less interested in the central characters, than waiting for the next person who might get eaten to show up.
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - AUGUST 09: General Manager Mike Elias of the Baltimore Orioles watches the Orioles Hall of Fame ceremony before the game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Athletics at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on August 09, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images) | Getty Images
This time a week ago, it felt like the Orioles were treading water and that as long as they could continue doing that, they might avoid a disastrous outcome to the season. It’s harder now to feel like the Orioles are staying afloat after what we’ve watched over the first three games of this series against the Yankees. Problems that feel like they don’t have immediate solutions have been exposed and the team is going to have to contend with those or it will once again sink.
In this week’s episode of the podcast, I’m thinking about a number of the assumptions that Mike Elias made in assembling the roster this way and how they have or mostly haven’t worked out so far this season. Some things aren’t fair to blame on Elias, like Zach Eflin needing Tommy John surgery after one start. That’s just plain bad luck. Other things are the direct result of decisions that he has made where there were alternatives available to him.
There are seven big areas that are looking like bad bets right now, starting with “A top of the rotation of Trevor Rogers, Kyle Bradish, and Shane Baz will be competitive” and going down through, “The defense will be fine enough when considering the offense that comes with it.” The team is not yet in the same kind of free fall that they went into a year ago, but if you’re feeling like they’re right at the start of one, that’s probably because it’s hard to picture short-term solutions to some of these problems. It’s rough.
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LAKELAND, FL - FEBRUARY 22: Baltimore Orioles Outfielder Reed Trimble (62) at bat during the Spring Training Game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Detroit Tigers on February 22, 2026 at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium in Tampa, FL. (Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Triple-A: Nashville (Brewers) 5, Norfolk Tides 1
Sunday marked the Triple-A debut for Trace Bright, the fifth-round Auburn righty who has now spent parts of three years in Double-A. It went… fine. Bright lasted just 2⅔ innings, walking four and striking out four against just two hits, allowing two runs. Last month, Bright was named Eastern League Pitcher of the Week for a scoreless two-start stretch, but the walks look like a problem still be tackled.
The Tides’ lone run came via the bat of Johnathan Rodríguez, who launched a home run in the eighth inning. Drafted by Cleveland in 2017 and DFA’d in March, Rodríguez is a career .285 hitter in the minors (.852 OPS), but hasn’t had much success in 49 games at the MLB level.
The Baysox coughed up the winning run in the eighth inning, though the offensive contributions weren’t nothing. Frederick Bencosme, the Dominican-born infielder who signed for $10,000 back in 2020, went deep for his fourth homer of the season. Griff O’Ferrall doubled, Aron Estrada had two hits, and Alfredo Velásquez drove in two runs from the nine spot.
Evan Yates, a twentieth-rounder in 2024, gave up three runs but allowed just one walk while pitching into the sixth inning. Calgary native son Cohen Achen pitched 1.2 scoreless. Unfortunately, Jeisson Cabrera let in the tying run in the eighth, though he did strike out the side for good measure.
The headliner here was Carson Dorsey, the Florida State lefty taken in the 2024 draft who has had an up-and-down first full High-A season, with a 6.23 ERA in five appearances. Sunday was definitely an up: Dorsey came out of the bullpen and delivered six scoreless innings of relief, allowing just one hit and holding the Cyclones to two hits while striking out eight. That’s a dominant outing by any measure, and great news for an under-the-radar arm.
Nate George, the top prospect in the organization, drove in two runs. Elis Cuevas added a home run. Wehiwa Aloy singled and walked.
Single-A: Delmarva Shorebirds 10, Hill City (Guardians) 6
The runs were coming in bunches for the Shorebirds on Sunday. A rehabbing Reed Trimble, the 2021 competitive balance pick who’s battled injuries at virtually every level of the system, went deep. Trimble was one of three prospects the O’s protected from the Rule 5 draft last year, along with Cameron Foster and Anthony Nunez, both of whom have seen MLB action.
That wasn’t it on offense, though. The 20-year-old José Perez also went deep and added a triple on a day he racked up three hits, four RBIs, and 10 total bases. DJ Layton and Edwin Amparo had two hits apiece. Stiven Martinez hit a pinch-hit triple.
A pair of 2025 draft picks—Denton Biller and Dalton Neuschwander—weren’t brilliant, but they didn’t need to be. Each allowed three runs in two-plus innings, through the pair racked up eight strikeouts. Riley Cooper pitched a nice 1.2 innings, with three strikeouts. And Kenny Leiner threw a scoreless ninth.
No matter how well José Caballero played in this first month of the season, he was running on borrowed time. The Yankees always intended for Anthony Volpe to slide back into the starting shortstop role when he recovered from a torn labrum that affected his play for much of the 2025 season, and they made that clear when they didn’t make a single infield addition in the offseason.
Right?
This is what everyone in Yankeeland assumed was going to happen, regardless of Caballero’s performance. The team had been vocal about their belief in Volpe as a key piece of the team’s future, consistently defending his performance through last season and into his offseason surgery. When he began a rehab assignment, it looked like his return was inevitable.
But the young shortstop reached the end of his 20-day rehab window yesterday, and the Yankees elected to option him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The fact he entered the year with all three of his minor league options remaining makes it so that the team isn’t absorbing any risk if this is intended to just get him a week or two more of game action before returning, but there’s a sense that some of the trust has waned in the 25-year-old, and Caballero’s performance hasn’t helped Volpe’s case at all.
A month into the season, Caballero has performed admirably in his time as the team’s shortstop, contributing some clutch moments offensively with steady defense and aggressive baserunning. Entering play on Monday, he’s slashing .259/.306/.405 with a 99 wRC+ with four home runs, 12 RBIs, 13 stolen bases, and 0.8 fWAR. He paces the American League with 7 Defensive Runs Saved and has added value on the basepaths, even after getting thrown out four times in two games last week.
When comparing him directly to Volpe, even if you give Volpe’s 2025 defensive regression some grace due to his labrum injury, the decision makes plenty of sense; the last we saw of Volpe was of a floundering player, and Caballero is performing very well. But if we’re talking about optimizing the Yankees’ roster, the best move would still be to pencil in a healthy Volpe at shortstop and put Caballero back in a role where he’s excellent, as a super-utilityman.
While Caballero has looked better offensively in his brief Yankee tenure than Volpe has in his three-year career, a look under the hood reveals that we shouldn’t expect this much longer from Caballero. Even though faster players will generally run a better BABIP due to their speed (see: Chandler Simpson), Caballero is vastly overperforming his .267 xwOBA, which sits in the 8th percentile. He doesn’t hit the ball hard, has a minuscule walk rate, and his overall quality of contact is much closer to his mediocre 2024 season than his strong finish to 2025.
Compare that to what we saw out of Volpe in 2025, where the expected stats aren’t too much better (.301 xwOBA), but the quality of contact is closer to league average, and there’s more potential in his bat if he can somehow make more consistent contact. Despite his overall numbers being near-identical through three years in terms of wRC+ and OPS, his peripherals have improved, particularly in chase rate and bat speed.
Defensively, it makes sense to give pause to before handing one of the most important positions on the field back to someone who was awful there in 2025, but the Yankees believe that the labrum injury affected him far more than initially believed, causing him to overcompensate in some regards. You could accuse the Yankees of being optimistic there, but we have substantial two-year sample size of Volpe being a strong defender at the position when , combining to produce 21 DRS and 15 Outs Above Average in his first two seasons. Many of his errors last year came from off-line throws, something that could’ve been affected by the shoulder injury.
But the biggest reason to move forward with the team’s initial plans for this season is to optimize the 26-man roster in the absolute best fashion possible. The Yankees’ bench, as currently constructed, isn’t very flexible with the specific roles that Amed Rosario, Paul Goldschmidt, and JC Escarra play. While Rosario can play other positions than third base, it’s not a serious consideration most days.
As of right now, Max Schuemann is the most flexible player on the bench. Schuemann nominally provides versatility, with the ability to play second and third, not to mention his limited experience at short and in the outfield, but the team tellingly hasn’t really opted to use that versatility in the week he’s been on the roster. The role Schuemann fills at this moment can use an upgrade.
Caballero’s defensive prowess gives him a high enough floor that he isn’t a bottom-of-the-barrel shortstop in the league when his bat falls back to earth, but there might not be a better bench player in all of MLB if he’s put back in that role. He’s able to play five different positions at a solid level, having already shown his aptitude at shortstop while also being able to play second base, third base, left field, and right field.
Not only is he a capable defensive replacement at many different positions, but he also exists as a viable pinch-hitting and platoon candidate at these positions. Is there a tough lefty that you might not want to play Trent Grisham or Jazz Chisholm Jr. against? Caballero’s OPS against left-handers is .800 over the last two seasons, with an xwOBA of .320.
His best attribute of all, though, is his speed, which could now be deployed in the biggest spots of the game. To start the season, the Yankees were reduced to using Randal Grichuk as their best pinch-running option, and even though the recent moves have had either Schuemann or even Jasson Domínguez in that role depending on the day, Caballero as the team’s top pinch-runner would be tremendously more valuable once Giancarlo Stanton returns from injury.
When you factor all that in, Caballero provides much more to the bench than Schuemann can, and that’s only possible when sliding Volpe back into shortstop. Think of it this way; shifting from Caballero to Volpe, if the latter is healthy, shouldn’t be too big of a dropoff, while Caballero provides a massive upgrade on whomever he’s replacing on the bench. And of course, Caballero would likely prove to be a bench player only in name, coming in as a pinch-runner, defensive replacement, or starting against lefties so often that he’d find himself on the field more often than not even if he isn’t the everyday shortstop.
None of this matters if there are legitimate baseball reasons why the Yankees do not want to activate Volpe, but if this is merely just to get him more at-bats in the minor leagues and he’s only a week or two away from donning the pinstripes again, he should reclaim his old job. The Volpe we saw in 2023 and 2024was flawed, but that version of Volpe would still make the Yankees roster better right now.
COVERS INTEL: Seven of St. Louis’ projected starters own 
