Category: MLB

Baseball’s first major event of the All Star Weekend, the MLB Draft, kicks off today. Today we have the first four rounds of the Draft televised; rounds 5 through 2o will occur tomorrow off-air.

The event begins at 1:00pm on NBC/Peacock, where the Chicago White Sox will make the first pick around 1:30pm. This year’s draft is structured a bit strangely, as the first 10 picks are on NBC/Peacock, but picks 11-40 are on the MLB network. Rounds 2 through 4 are on MLB.tv or MLB.com and are expected to last from 4:30 to 7:45pm. Day 2 will be an untelevised event tomorrow afternoon.

Stay here to follow along throughout the draft for every Tigers’ pick and every first round pick overall. As each pick is made, this post will be updated with that player’s name, position, and where they’re drafted from. Join us for duscussion on the whole Day 1 coverage of the draft in the comments. The Tigers have a bonus pool of $9,165,100 to work with. They’ll select 22nd overall for their first round pick.

Round 1

1. White Sox – Roch Cholowsky, SS, UCLA
2. Rays – Grady Emerson, SS, Fort Worth Christian HS (TX)
3. Twins – Vahn Lackey, C, Georgia Tech
4. Giants – Jackson Flora, RHP, UC Santa Barbara
5. Pirates – Derek Curiel, OF, LSU
6. Royals – Zion Rose, OF, Louisville
7. Orioles – Eric Booth Jr., OF, Oak Grove (MS)
8. Athletics – Drew Burress, OF, Georgia Tech
9. Braves – AJ Gracia, OF, Virginia
10. Rockies – Tyler Bell, SS, Kentucky
11. Nationals – Chris Hacopian, 2B, Texas A&M
12. Angels – Jared Grindlinger, OF, Huntington Beach HS (CA)
13. Cardinals – Trevor Condon, OF, Etowah HS (GA)
14. Marlins – Jacob Lombard, SS, Gulliver Prep HS (FL)
15. D-backs – Ryder Helfrick, C, Arkansas
16. Rangers – Gio Rojas, LHP, Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS (FL)
17. Astros – Logan Hughes, OF, Texas Tech
18. Reds – Justin Lebron, SS, Alabama
19. Guardians – Liam Peterson, RHP, Florida
20. Red Sox – Jake Schaffner, SS, North Carolina
21. Padres – Coleman Borthwick, South Walton HS (CA)
22. Tigers – Cameron Flukey, RHP, Coastal Carolina
23. Cubs – Cade Townsend, RHP, Ole Miss
24. Mariners – Ace Reese, 3B, Mississippi State
25. Brewers – Trey Ebel, SS, Corona HS (CA)

Prospect Promotion Incentive Picks

26. Braves – Carter Beck, OF, Indiana State

27. Mets – Carson Wiggins, RHP, Arkansas

28. Astros – Jack Radel, RHP, Notre Dame

Competitive Balance Round A

29. Giants – Carson Bolemon, LHP, Southside Christian (SC)

30. Royals –

31. Diamondbacks

32. Cardinals

33. Rays

34. White Sox

35. Yankees

36. Phillies

37. Rockies

LSU will once again be represented at some of the highest levels in Major League Baseball.

Former ace pitcher Kade Anderson, who helped carry the Tigers to the 2025 national title and was selected third overall by the Seattle Mariners, has been named a starting pitcher for the MLB Futures Game to take place during All-Star Weekend.

Anderson has had a strong start to his professional career, holding a 1.36 ERA in 72 innings of Double-A baseball in Arkansas. He leads in opponent batting average (.160), WHIP (0.69), and is second with 108 strikeouts among all Minor League pitchers. He is currently labeled as the top prospect in baseball.

Mariners skipper Dan Wilson said of the honor: “It’s super exciting. He has had a tremendous half and has thrown the ball extremely well. It being his first professional season, that’s really impressive. Really exciting that he gets the ball tomorrow, and I think we’ll be interested to see how it all goes for him.”

The game takes place Sunday at Citizens Bank Park with first pitch scheduled for Noon.

The San Francisco Giants' season may have hit a wall but help could very well be on the way thanks to the 2026 MLB Draft.

The Giants, mired in a 39-55 season, see themselves fourth in the NL West. But the upside on a day like Saturday is that hope can spring eternal, if only for the afternoon.

The Giants have picks at No. 4 and No. 29, bringing into the farm system some much-needed depth. The organization did not have to search far for its first pick, grabbing right-handed pitcher Jackson Flora from UC Santa Barbara at No. 4.

The first day of the draft consists of four rounds. The Giants also have picks at No. 55, No. 90, No. 118 and No. 150.

USA TODAY Sports Gabe Lacques has ongoing grades and analysis for each selection.

Don’t look now, but the Yankees are starting to get on a roll. After a big win on Thursday to close out their series with the Rays, Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a clutch home run to put them ahead for good against the Nationals last night. Now, the American League’s best pitcher takes the ball hoping to get his club their third straight win in a Saturday afternoon affair (with the MLB Draft afoot as well; look for the Yankees to get their first-round pick in within the next hour).

Cam Schlittler shoved on Monday against the Rays, delivering the first of two wins in that set. Eight innings, one run allowed, a strikeout per inning and no walks was exactly what his deflated squad needed. The Nationals aren’t quite as good as the Rays, so Cam should have a little more breathing room today, but if he wants to go ahead and throw another eight shutout in his final start of the unofficial first half, I’m going to watch and enjoy it.

PJ Poulin counters for the Nats, an opener getting his second taste of MLB action after a brief call-up last year. A 2.83 ERA is sparkling, and a 46.6-percent groundball rate ain’t too bad at all, but he essentially strikes out as many batters as he walks, and his FIP is nearly three full runs higher. Discipline and elevation are the keys to pushing runs across against a pitcher like this — he’s not gonna strike you out, so get your pitch and get it in the air. Fortunately, the Yankees are a bit homer-happy after last night, so hopefully that continues.

Following Poulin will be veteran Miles Mikolas, who has been arguably the worst full-time pitcher in baseball. A 5.78 ERA is ugly, but his 5.51 FIP indicates that it’s a deserved ugliness. For all the drama surrounding D.C.‘s Reflecting Pool the past few weeks, we need to consider the damage that baseballs landing in it may cause.

We see some similarities in the lineups the past two days, with Amed Rosario back at leadoff (and, perhaps regrettably, third base) and World’s Oldest Man Paul Goldschmidt cleaning up after snapping his lengthy oh-fer last night. Ali Sánchez finds himself catching and rounding out the lineup, while the red-hot Ben Rice is your DH and hopefully continuing to practice for Monday’s Home Run Derby.

How to watch

Location: Nationals Park — Washington, D.C.

First pitch: 4:05 pm ET

TV broadcast: YES, Nationals.TV

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280; WJFK 106.7 The Fan

Online stream: Gotham Sports App, MLB.tv (out-of-market only)

For updates, follow us on BlueSky, Twitter, and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.

The San Francisco Giants continue this four-game series against the Colorado Rockies this afternoon from Oracle Park.

Taking the mound for the Giants will be right-hander Tyler Mahle, who enters today’s game with a 5.70 ERA, 4.59 FIP, with 69 strikeouts to 29 walks in 71 innings pitched. His last start was in the Giants’ 7-6 loss to the Rockies on Sunday, in which he allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits with five strikeouts in four and a third innings.

He’ll be facing off against Rockies left-hander Kyle Freeland, who enters today’s game with a 7.46 ERA, 4.94 FIP, with 70 strikeouts to 18 walks in 82 innings pitched. His last start was in the Rockies’ 8-7 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday, in which he allowed six runs on nine hits with two strikeouts in five innings.

Game #95

Who: San Francisco Giants vs. Colorado Rockies

Where: Oracle Park, San Francisco, California

When: 1:05 p.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area

National broadcast: n/a

Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM

Here’s the Guardians lineup:

Here’s the Marlins lineup:

Let’s go, Guardians!

Jake Schaffner, a speed demon of an infielder out of the University of North Carolina, was ranked just the 98th-best prospect in this draft by Baseball America. MLB Pipeline had him at #75. Keith Law of the The Athletic at #79. Craig Breslow, apparently, thinks he’s a lot better than that, as he made Schaffner the Red Sox’ first pick in this year’s MLB draft with the 20th overall pick.

Schaffner bats lefty and is known for his bat-to-ball skills, although his power is a significant question mark. He was well-regarded defensively as a shortstop, though there are some questions about whether a mediocre arm will force him to second base sooner rather than later.

Could he end up surprising people and proving the pre-draft prognosticators wrong? Of course he could. This is the MLB Draft, not the NBA Draft, and no one knows anything. Moreover, this could simply be a classic underslot pick, whereby the team attempts to save bonus pool money to target harder-to-sign high schoolers later in the draft. Either way, this is a major surprise, and probably the most shocking pick of the draft so far.

The Guardians have made their choice and it’s a college pitcher as many suspected it might be.

Peterson is a 6’5, 225 lb right-handed starter from Florida. Peterson was the 20th ranked prospect in the draft according to MLB Pipeline

“In 2023, Peterson was a Top 100 prospect, not to mention a two-way player, from the Florida high school ranks, but some inconsistencies during his senior year likely priced him out of the range where he would have considered signing instead of heading to Gainesville and the University of Florida. He earned a spot in the Gators’ rotation as a freshman and has never relinquished it. He’ll front that staff in 2026 and if he can continue to iron out some things, has the stuff to be the first college arm to come off the board in July.The 6-foot-5 Peterson presents an exciting combination of now stuff and projection. His fastball sat in the mid-90s as a sophomore and he’s shown the ability to reach back for 98-99 mph, both last spring and in short looks this fall. The pitch can show good carry at times, though it can flatten out occasionally and get hit more than it should. Florida calls a lot of sliders and Peterson’s mid-80s breaker has improved into a solid out pitch, though there are some scouts who think his 12-to-6 hammer curve is a better, but not utilized, offering. His changeup has also improved with solid fade and depth.Peterson’s slot has returned to a higher three-quarters slot, similar to where he was in high school, that could serve him well. He can get a little over-aggressive in his mode of operation on the mound, leading to some command issues. There aren’t many college arms with better pure stuff in this class and if he can take another step forward in terms of execution, he could show up in top of the Draft conversations.”

With the 17th pick of the 1st Round, the Houston Astros selected outfielder Logan Hughes from Texas Tech.

“Hughes is a compact, barrel-chested outfielder and lefthanded hitter with a three-year track record of hitting for both average and power. He spent a season at Stetson in 2024, then transferred to Texas Tech for his sophomore and junior seasons. In 2026, Hughes slashed .375/.510/.735 with 18 home runs and 16 doubles. Of the 29 college hitters with at least 45 home runs in the last three seasons, Hughes’ career 12.2% strikeout rate rank behind only UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky. Hughes is close to physically maxed out with a 5-foot-11, 210-pound frame, but he’s got plenty of present strength and no need to project on power. He’s got plus raw power right now, with the contact skills to consistently get to that power in games. Hughes is a patient and selective hitter who does a nice job staying within the strike zone, and he has a penchant for putting the barrel on the ball even on the rare occasions when he does expand the zone. He has solid bat speed, and a swing that is quick to the ball and long through it. He makes plenty of contact against top-tier velocity and quality secondary pitches. While Hughes has a well-rounded offensive game, he’s a more limited defender. He’s a below-average runner who will need to play an outfield corner, and he might be only a fringy or below-average defender in either left or right. His profile is similar to Marlins 2025 second-rounder Brandon Compton, and he could find himself taken in a similar range on draft day.” – Baseball America

The bat is legit for Hughes and the Astros get a prospect with a big time hit tool, something they haven’t added in a while. Great pick.

The Cincinnati Reds used the #18 overall pick in Saturday’s MLB Draft to select shortstop Justin Lebron out of the University of Alabama. Ranked 9th overall on MLB Pipeline’s list of the top draft-eligible prospects in the class, the 6’2” 190 lb right-handed hitter boasts a 70 grade on his speed, 60 grade on his power, and 60 grades on both his arm and fielding.

After hitting .338 as a freshman and .316 as a sophomore for the Crimson Tide, Lebron saw his rate stats drop across the board as a senior. Still, he hit .277/.386/.534 in 285 games with 16 homers and 42 steals, flashing the kind of power/speed combo that had him long in the mix for the potential top overall pick in this year’s draft before sliding late.

The biggest question with Lebron, though, is whether he’ll be able to hit breaking pitches better than he has so far. He struggled to just a .230 average in SEC games this season as the pitching in the best conference in the country adapted to how to pitch him, and that’s obviously something he’ll need to work on going forward. The rest of his game, however, looks 100% the part of a top-tier talent.

Brayan Bello has not, apparently, fallen back in love with Baseball, as Craig Breslow hoped he would. Or maybe he’s fallen in love with Worcester. Either way, he will not be starting today in place of the injured Ranger Suárez. Instead, the Sox are handing the ball to Eduardo Rivera, who has made one appearance for the Sox so far this year, a tidy 3.1 inning relief appearance against the Yankees back in April, when he allowed just a single hit and struck out 3.

Rivera’s been in the bullpen for the Woo Sox this year, so don’t expect a lot of innings out of him. And unfortunately for the Sox, a lot of important members of the relief corps have seen action lately, with Garrett Whitlock and Tyron Guerrero having thrown in back-to-back games, likely making them unavailable. Opposing starter Freddy Peralta is in the middle of a bad stretch in a bad season, though, so this could be a slugfest.

First Pitch: 4:10 PM

TV: NESN, FS1

Mets lineup

A.J. Ewing – CF
Juan Soto – LF
Francisco Lindor – SS
Carson Benge – RF
Jorge Polanco – DH
Eric Wagaman – 1B
Francisco Alvarez – C
Brett Baty – 3B
Zack Short – 2B

SP: Freddy Peralta – RHP

Red Sox lineup

Anthony Seigler – 2B
Ceddanne Rafaela – CF
Wilyer Abreu – RF
Caleb Durbin – 3B
Masataka Yoshida – DH
Andruw Monasterio – 1B
Jarren Duran – LF
Carlos Narvaez – C
Tsung-Che Cheng – SS

SP: Eduardo Rivera – LHP

Broadcast info

First pitch: 4:10 PM EDT
TV: SNY
Radio: Audacy Mets Radio WHSQ 880AM, Audacy App, 92.3 HD2

Box Score

The Brewer offense had a solid day today against a 2026 All-Star, Pittsburgh starter Braxton Ashcraft. But Brandon Sproat had a second straight poor, inefficient start for the Brewers, and a late meltdown by one of the team’s more reliable but suddenly struggling relievers gave the Pirates a late lead. Milwaukee tried to mount a ninth-inning rally but came up just short, and the Pirates had a big comeback win.

Ashcraft got off to a good start: after falling behind Christian Yelich 3-0, he came back and got him to pop out to shallow left. Garrett Mitchell struck out looking at an 0-2 pitch and, frustratingly, unsuccessfully challenged the call, putting the Brewers behind the eight ball for the rest of the game. Brice Turang flew out to left, and Aschraft had a 1-2-3 first inning.

Sproat’s start wasn’t as good. He yanked a fastball on a 2-2 pitch to leadoff hitter Jake Mangum and hit him in the foot to give Pittsburgh a leadoff baserunner. Brandon Lowe got a mistake on an 0-2 fastball down the middle but got a little bit under it and flew out to center for the first out, but Sproat yanked another pitch, this one a 1-2 curveball after seven straight foul balls, that just grazed the tip of Bryan Reynolds’ shoe. Esmerlyn Valdez hit an 86-mph ground ball that could’ve been a tailor-made double play with a slightly different infield positioning, but it found the hole between Joey Ortiz and Cooper Pratt and scored Mangum from second.

Sproat came back with a nice strikeout of Ryan O’Hearn, who wasted Pittsburgh’s first challenge, too. Another yanked fastball on 0-2 got past catcher William Contreras and allowed Reynolds and Valdez to advance to second and third, which mattered when Nick Gonzales hit a ground ball to Ortiz, who bobbled the ball and didn’t have a play on anyone; a rare error that cost the Brewers another run. On his 34th pitch, Sproat finally got Tyler Callihan to ground out to end the inning. It was a sloppy first: both batters that Sproat hit came around to score, despite the fact that he didn’t walk anyone and his only hit allowed was a not-hard-hit single.

The Milwaukee offense had a hole to dig out of today, but they very quickly did so. Contreras got things going in the second by lining a double into the left-field corner, and three pitches later — on a sinker right in the happy zone — Jake Bauers crushed a ball 112 mph into the seats in right field. Back to even at 2-2.

The inning ended quickly after that — Luis Lara hit a looping liner to second base, and after Pratt flew out, shortstop Jared Triolo made a nice play to rob Sal Frelick of a hit. Triolo led off the bottom of the second with a line drive, but Turang made a nice leaping catch for the first out. On the first pitch to catcher Henry Davis, he popped up a bunt in foul territory — Sproat made a diving attempt and almost caught it, but needed a minute. He continued with a dirty jersey, but walked Davis five pitches later. Sproat started in a 1-0 hole against Mangum after his second pitch-timer violation, but on 2-2 Mangum hit a ground ball to Ortiz, which turned into a fielder’s choice out at second base. On an 0-1 pitch to Lowe, Mangum took off for second and, for some reason, did not slide, enabling Contreras to throw him out at second base. It was another inefficient inning, but Sproat kept Pittsburgh off the board.

Ortiz was living on the edge to start the third when he risked the team’s second challenge on a 2-1 pitch with nobody out in the third, but he was right. Unfortunately, Ortiz ended up lining out on 3-2, so it didn’t matter much. Yelich got a hanging slider on 3-2 but could only foul tip it into the catcher’s glove for the second out. Another strikeout of Mitchell ended the inning.

Sproat started the bottom of the third with a couple of strikeouts of his own, but with two outs, Valdez, who had the Pirates’ one hit in the first inning, got a hold of a cutter and hit it out to dead center. His home run restored the Pirates’ lead. Things went a little sideways after that; Sproat hit O’Hearn with a 2-1 pitch and then walked Gonzales on five pitches. For the second straight inning, the Brewers got someone up in the bullpen, but Sproat got Callihan to fly out to left on a 3-2 pitch and was able to finish the inning with the Brewers down just one.

After a soft lineout by Turang, Contreras smoked a ball for the second straight at-bat, but this 108-mph line drive was caught in center by Mangum. Bauers struck out on three pitches chasing a curveball way out of the zone, but that was after he was upset by Ashcraft’s quick pace on the mound.

Sproat was done after three rocky innings. That he allowed only three runs was almost surprising; he only allowed two hits, but he walked two and hit three batters, and it took him 83 pitches to record nine outs — his second extremely inefficient outing, after he needed 92 pitches to get through four in his last start. Craig Yoho replaced Sproat in the fourth, and he started by striking out Triolo but then walked the nine-hole hitter, Davis, on four pitches. A Mangum ground ball to Pratt started what was almost a 6-3 double play, but it wasn’t quite hit hard enough, and Mangum beat the throw to first. Lowe was next, and he hit a ball hard toward first, but Bauers made a nice pick on the short hop and stepped on first for the third out.

Lara led off the second with his first career extra-base hit, a double into the gap in right that Mangum slid to cut off, lest Lara end up with a triple. Pratt followed with a looping fly ball to left, which Callihan dove for but couldn’t come up with — it got past him, and Pratt ended up at second with a double, which scored Lara from first and tied the game. The Brewers’ light-hitting players weren’t done, either: Frelick got a hold of a 1-1 slider that didn’t get low enough and hit it to the seats in right field for a two-run homer that gave Milwaukee their first lead of the game. It was Frelick’s fourth homer and first since April 30.

After Ashcraft picked up outs on an Ortiz fly ball and another Yelich strikeout, Mitchell and Turang drew back-to-back two-out walks. That gave Contreras, who’d scorched two balls today, a chance with two on and two outs, but he struck out to end the inning. Still — the Brewers had taken a 5-3 lead against the Pittsburgh All-Star, and they’d pushed his pinch count up to 98 through five innings, getting into the bullpen early in this doubleheader.

Yoho, back out for the fifth, got Reynolds to ground out and struck out Valdez. On a 1-1 pitch with two outs and nobody on, Contreras unsuccessfully challenged a changeup that missed outside, and Milwaukee was without a challenge for the last four-plus innings of the game. It didn’t matter, either, as two pitches later Yoho got O’Hearn waving at a changeup for the third out.

Carmen Mlodzinski relieved Ashcraft in the top of the sixth and on his first pitch got Bauers to fly out to right-center. Lara walked on four non-competitive pitches, and Pratt got into a long battle after falling into an 0-2 hole that ended with a solid single to center. Milwaukee was unable to capitalize on their rally, though: Frelick grounded into a fielder’s choice that would’ve been a double play had Triolo not dropped the ball on the transfer, and Ortiz flew out to center field to end the inning with runners stranded on first and third.

Chad Patrick entered in the bottom of the sixth (relieving Yoho, who had a very nice day of work) and gave up a leadoff baserunner when Gonzales reached on a high chopper for an infield hit. Callihan lined out to Lara in left for the first out, and Patrick quickly got out of the inning with a 4-6-3 double play from Triolo.

Yelich tried to bunt for a hit to lead off the seventh — he put down a good bunt but couldn’t quite beat the throw on a very close play at first. Too bad, because the next batter, Mitchell, lined a ball into left that he turned into a hustle double. Turang also hit one hard into left, but his 104-mph fly ball was too close to Callihan, and there were two outs. Contreras, though, looped a two-out RBI single into left, and the Brewers’ lead was up to 6-3 after Mitchell raced home on what would’ve been a close play with a different player running. Bauers drew a walk to extend the inning, but Lara flew out to center to end what was still a productive inning.

Trouble came in the bottom of the seventh. Davis added a single to his two walks, at which point the Brewers removed Patrick in favor of Aaron Ashby. Mangum grounded a single through the right side that was followed by a looping liner off the end of the bat from Lowe that loaded the bases with nobody out. None of Pittsburgh’s three hits to start the inning were hit all that hard, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles, sometimes.

The batter with the bases loaded was notorious Brewer nemesis Bryan Reynolds, but Ashby made him look foolish chasing a 1-2 curveball for the first out. But Valdez, who’d already homered and hit an RBI single in the game, was up next, and Ashby ominously fell behind. On a 3-1 pitch, an Ashby sinker got way too much of the plate, and Valdez drove it out to right field for a scoreboard-flipping grand slam. Ashby struck out the next two to end the inning, but the damage had been done; the Pirates led 7-6 after seven innings.

Now facing an unfortunate deficit, the Brewer offense needed to get going again. Mlodzinski was still pitching in his third inning, and he started the inning with a strikeout of Pratt. Frelick got into a long battle but also struck out on a foul tip on the eighth pitch of the at-bat, and an Ortiz groundout ended the top of the eighth.

Bryse Wilson’s return to the Brewers came with him trying to keep the Pirates’ lead at one in the bottom of the eighth. He did that quite deftly, with a flyout and two groundouts, and the Brewers went to the ninth needing a run with the top of the order coming up.

Lefty Gregory Soto entered for the Pirates, and the Brewers somewhat surprisingly did not pinch-hit for the struggling Yelich. He came through, though, with a solid single to left to start things off, and with Yelich on first, the Brewers sent Jackson Chourio to the plate in place of Mitchell. Chourio, though, popped out in foul territory near first base for the first out. Turang was next and drew a walk in a weird at-bat for the home-plate ump (he called a 3-1 pitch that wasn’t all that close a strike — and of course Milwaukee was out of challenges — and then called a closer 3-2 pitch a ball, which the Pirates couldn’t challenge after using their last one earlier in the inning).

Double-play machine Contreras was up with one out and runners on first and second, and he hit a ground ball to shortstop — it probably would’ve been hit slowly enough that the Pirates wouldn’t have been able to end the game with a double play, but Triolo dropped the ball when trying to throw to second and everybody was safe, and the Brewers had the bases loaded with one out. Andrew Vaughn, noted lefty destroyer, pinch-hit for Bauers… but hit a ground ball to third that turned into an unconventional 5-2 double play. Game over.

What a drag of a baseball game. The Brewers played pretty sloppy baseball and were then undone by a stinker of an outing from Aaron Ashby, whose struggles in the last month have become far too much to ignore.

Milwaukee’s offense did plenty to win the game — they had 10 hits, including doubles for Contreras, Lara, Pratt, and Mitchell, and home runs by Bauers and Frelick. But Sproat and Ashby were bad today, which overshadowed nice outings for Yoho (three strikeouts, no hits in two scoreless innings) and Wilson (three quick outs in his return to the Brewers). Valdez destroyed the Brewers: he had three hits, two of which were homers, and knocked in six of Pittsburgh’s seven runs.

Milwaukee will look to recover in the second game of today’s doubleheader in about an hour. Shane Drohan starts for the Brewers in game two, with Bubba Chandler on the mound for Pittsburgh.

The Texas Rangers, with the 16th selection in the 2026 MLB Draft, select Gio Rojas, a lefthanded pitcher out of Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. We wrote up Rojas in late June as part of our draft previews.

Gio Rojas is a 6’4”, 190 lb. lefthanded pitcher out of Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. He turned 19 on June 29, making him an the older side for a prep player. He has a mid-90s fastball that hits 98, has good size and athleticism, and quality slider.

Baseball America has Rojas at #17 on their board. MLB Pipeline has Rojas at #8 on their board. Kiley McDaniel puts Rojas at #21 on his final list. Keith Law has Rojas at #25 on his board. Fangraphs has Rojas at #14 on their board. Baseball Prospectus has Rojas at #22 on their top 30 draft board.

I mentioned in my write-up that I wasn’t sure whether to include Rojas in the previews, as I thought he would likely be off the board when Texas picked, but he dropped to them, and he’s now their first first round high school pitcher taken since Cole Winn in 2018.