Category: Baseball

The MLB Draft starts tomorrow (Saturday) at 12 noon CT. The Cubs have the 23 pick of the first round along with the 62nd, 75th, and 98th pick over the first three rounds. The 75th pick is a extra pick the Cubs received for losing Kyle Tucker.

After that, the draft continues with rounds 4 through 20 over Saturday and Sunday.

In case you are wondering, the Cubs’ “bonus pool,” or the money they have to give out in bonuses to picks in the first ten rounds, is $9,644,100. They can go up to five percent over that and just pay a fine. The front office does that every year. But if they go five percent or more over that figure, they lose next year’s first-round draft pick and no one wants to do that. So expect the Cubs to spend $10,126,304.99 on signing bonuses for the first 10 rounds.

Players taken after the 10th round can be given up to a $150k bonus with no penalty. Bonus money above that comes out of the bonus pool. Last year, the Cubs gave 14th round pick Kaemyn Franklin $200k and 17th-round pick Logan Poteet $180k.

If you want to follow along, MLB has some very convoluted coverage this year. Moving the start of the Draft to Saturday before the All-Star Game is a change from previous years when it started on Sunday nights. This means the draft will be happening as games are being played, which is not ideal.

The first 90 minutes of the Draft, from noon to 1:30 CT, will be on NBC and Peacock. This should only be the first 10 picks, so the Cubs’ first choice won’t happen here. Coverage then switches to MLB Network, MLB.com or MLB.tv for the rest of the first round and compensation picks. That’s supposed to last from 1:30 to 3:30 CT. Then they will pick rounds two through four from 3:30 to 6:45 CT on Saturday. That will be on-line coverage only.

On Sunday, they’re going to try to cram in rounds 5 through 20, starting at 10:30 a.m. CT and going until around 6:45 p.m. That will be a conference call, but you can listen in on MLB.com or MLB.tv.

So with all that nonsense out of the way, who will the Cubs take with their first-round pick? I’m going to confess that I don’t know and that Cubs scouting director Dan Kantrovitz doesn’t know at this point. He knows who the Cubs will take if they are available at 23, so don’t worry about that. But I don’t.

Just a warning. I’ve never had a lot of success guessing who the Cubs will take over the past 20 years. When the Cubs had the second overall pick in the draft in 2013 it was easy to predict Kris Bryant and I had a strong sense that they’d take Javier Báez two years earlier. Then I had a long streak of making poor predictions before I hit on back-to-back choices of Matt Shaw and Cam Smith. But before I got too cocky, Ethan Conrad wasn’t even on my radar last year.

But here’s a collection of possible picks for the Cubs in the first round with the 23rd pick. Some of them will be selected before pick number 23, but I think all of them have a chance to fall to 23.

Mason Edwards. LHP USC

There’s no player I’ve seen mocked to the Cubs at number 23 more than Mason Edwards, although some more recent reports have given him “helium,” meaning he’s rising on draft boards and may not be around when the Cubs pick at 23. There have been the possibility floated of either the Royals at 6 or the Angels at 12 trying to cut an underslot deal with Edwards if they don’t like anyone else available at that pick. 

Edwards is a 6’2” lefty who led the nation in both strikeouts and strikeout percentage. His best pitch is his wipeout 80-85 mile per hour spike curve that gets a ton of swing and miss. He also has a very good changeup. He has an unusual “rock step” windup and a bit of a cross-body followthrough.

The biggest knock on Edwards is his fastball. While he has touched 95 with it occasionally, mostly it sits at 90-92 mph. Some organizations think they can improve Edwards’ fastball, but that might be tough to do without messing with the curve. 

Edwards also struggles with control and walked a lot of batters at USC, although he did improve somewhat his control in 2026. It’s more of a yellow flag than a red one. He’s also very young for a college junior as he doesn’t turn 21 until three days after the Draft. Edwards appeals to a lot of teams because of his age. 

Zion Rose OF Louisville

Keith Law of The Athletic has in particular linked the Cubs to Rose, which makes sense because he reminds me of a bigger and stronger and right-handed version of Kane Kepley, the Cubs’ second-round last year out of a different ACC school. That Rose is a Chicago native probably also figures in to the connection. His baseball talents had him leave Chicago for IMG Academy down in Florida, which is another school that the Cubs draft a lot of players out of.

Rose missed the first half of the 2026 college season with an ankle injury, but he came back with a vengeance, hitting .417/.491/.646 with six home runs and 24 steals in 36 games. Most of that was done against better ACC competition as well. Rose has a career batting average of .358 over three seasons at Louisville and also hit a productive .295 in the wooden bat Cape Cod League after his freshman season. 

Rose is 6’1” with a quick swing and impressive hand-eye coordination. He makes a ton of gap-to-gap hard contact and is much faster than his 200 pound frame might indicate. Rose does have a tendency to chase pitches out of the zone, which are usually the kinds of pitches that he can make contact with but probably shouldn’t. But that tendency to swing and make contact keeps both his strikeout and walk rates low.

Rose is strong enough to hit for power, but his current swing path is more oriented towards ground balls and line drives. Barring some swing changes, his power is definitely below average for a left fielder, which is his natural position and probably the only one he should be playing in the major leagues. He doesn’t have the arm for right and despite having the speed for center, he hasn’t looked good out there in limited opportunities. 

Aiden Robbins OF Texas

Robbins is a name I’ve seen connected to the Cubs more often lately and he is a player expected to go somewhere between the 20th and 30th overall pick. He had a very good performance in last summer’s Cape Cod League and the Cubs’ scouting metrics place a lot of emphasis on performance in the Cape.

Robbins’ is a big, 6’2” right-hander with easy power to all fields. When he really gets hold of one, he can send it a long way. I saw a highlight of him hitting one up onto the train tracks at Daikin Park. Last year with the Longhorns, he hit .333/.426/.696 with 24 home runs in 60 games. He hit 14 home runs in 26 games on the Cape.

Robbins tends to crush fastballs, but there’s a lot of swing-and-miss against breaking pitches. Robbins chases out of the zone too often. In college, his contact skills were good enough to drive a lot of those pitches, but he will have to make adjustments as a professional. In a perfect world, Robbins makes those adjustments and becomes a 30 HR a year outfielder. The downside is that he gets eaten up in the minors.

Robbins played center for Texas but while he’s not slow, he probably doesn’t have the pure foot speed to be an everyday center fielder in the majors. But he could be a pretty solid left or right fielder. His arm is good for left field and good enough for right.

Daniel Jackson C Georgia.

Jackson had a monster junior season with the Bulldogs, hitting .379/.473/.803 with 32 home runs in 67 games. That performance earned Jackson the Golden Spikes, Dick Howser and Buster Posey Awards.

The 6’2” right-handed-hitting Jackson has plus power to all fields right now and has a chance to grow into more. He’s also has above-average speed—not just “for a catcher” but for anyone. Jackson became the first Division I catcher in history to record a 25-25 season for home runs and stolen bases.

The good news on Jackson kind of ends there. There is a ton of swing and miss in his game. Jackson struck out 20.1 percent of his plate appearances which isn’t bad, but he struck out a lot more against better SEC pitching than he did in non-conference games. The Cubs also put a lot of stock in Cape Cod League performance and Jackson only hit .256 there last summer with a strikeout rate of 32 percent. 

Beyond the very real questions about his hit tool, a lot of observers don’t think Jackson can stick behind the plate. He only moved there full-time as a junior and is still quite raw defensively. Many scouts think that he could learn the position in time, but there might be a Kyle Schwarber situation going on here. Would a team really want Jackson to spend three years or more in the minors learning to catch when his impact bat could help the major league team immediately? So a move to left field seems more likely than not. However, unlike Schwarber, Jackson has the foot speed to be at least average in left. 

Cade Townsend RHP Mississippi

The 6’1” Townsend is a five-pitch pitcher with some impressive stuff. His four-seamer averages around 94-to-96 mph and has touched as high as 98. It is a big straight, however, and probably gets hit a bit more than it should. But his low-90s cutter, high-80s slider and low-80s curve ball have good spin rates and movement. All four pitches grade out as above-average and he also has a solid changeup, giving him a fifth pitch and a good option against left handers.

Townsend doesn’t have the most fluid pitching motion and that has led to control problems, although he did improve in throwing strikes this past season. But he also missed a start with shoulder soreness in March and while he did come back just fine, there are some medical concerns surrounding him. 

Taylor Rabe RHP Mississippi

If the Cubs think Townsend’s upside is a little low and are willing to take a bigger gamble for more upside, his teammate Taylor Rabe may be more their style. Rabe has a plus fastball that sits 96-97 mph and has been known to touch 100. The fastball may not have as much movement on it as you’d like, but he really does locate it well and Rabe has very good control. 

Rabe contrasts that four-seamer with a hard low-90s cutter that gets a lot of swings and misses. He also has a mid-80s slider that is a work-in-progress but Rabe did have more success with it late in the season. Rabe’s changeup is also under construction and he currently only throws it to left-handed hitters.

Despite his 6’5” frame, Rabe has a fairly simple delivery that he repeats well. He dominates the strike zone, striking out 105 batters and walking only 15 last year over 76 innings.

Normally a power pitcher with good control would be long gone by pick 23, but Rabe has an injury history. He missed all of his freshman season and most of his sophomore season with Tommy John surgery. He came back strong this year, but his track record should scare a lot of teams off. There’s a wide range of possible outcomes for Rabe, from ace starter to reliever to someone who can’t stay healthy enough to pitch regularly in the majors.

Hunter Dietz LHP Arkansas

Dietz is another big upside/big injury risk pitcher. The huge (6’6”, 235) lefty managed to pitch only 1.2 innings total over his first two seasons at Arkansas because of a stress fracture in his elbow that required surgery. But he bounced back healthy his junior year and struck out 131 batters over 85.2 innings. His strikeout rate was an impressive 36.2 percent and his walk rate was a solid 8.6 percent.

Dietz has a plus fastball that sits 94-96 mph that can touch 98 with very good movement. Dietz matches that with a power cutter/slider that’s in the upper-80s and also grades out as plus. Dietz also has a more conventional mid-80s slider and a low-80s curve with a two-plane break.

Again, Dietz is a player who would likely be one of the top-ten picks in the draft were it not for his injury history. If he stays healthy as a pro, a mid-rotation starter might be the most likely outcome with the possibility of even more. 

AJ Gracia OF Virginia

The Cubs love guys with good strike zone judgement and good contact rates and that describes Gracia to a T. The 6’3”, 195 left-handed hitter hit .354 at Virginia last year with a .489 OBP and 14 home runs. He walked 47 times compared to just 38 strikeouts, a sign of his selectivity and bat-to-ball skills. 

Gracia has decent power, but he seemingly trades contact for some of that power. There are some observers who feel that Gracia could add some more strength and hit the ball harder for more power in the future. 

Gracia’s speed and arm are below average, so he’ll probably be limited to left field. The ceiling on Gracia isn’t high, but he has a solid chance to be an everyday left fielder with solid on-base and power numbers. 

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Some of these players will be taken before the Cubs’ first pick, but I’m fairly confident several of them will still be available at 23. Some other players whom the Cubs might pounce on if they somehow fall to 23 are Coastal Carolina RHP Cameron Flukey, Texas A&M second baseman Chris Hacopian and Florida right-hander Liam Peterson. I think all three of them will be gone by pick 23, but it’s something to keep an eye on.

As the Astros approach the all-star break, there are a few positions that are potentially intriguing and could spell the difference between sneaking into the playoffs and falling short. Catching is one of those positions. There can be no doubt that Yainer Diaz has disappointed up to this point, but could a hot second half make a bigger difference? Plus, there is a significant difference between league wide expectations and positional expectations.

One of the more fascinating debates in baseball is the notion of how one chooses the MVP. Last season, there was a significant debate between Cal Raleigh and Aaron Judge. By most conventional and sabermetric yardsticks, Judge was the better player and deserving of the award. However, even if jettison WAR and other similar indicators, there is a compelling argument that Raleigh was extremely productive at a position where it is rare to get that kind of production.

My favorite stat when it comes to production is bases per out. Simply put, the out is the blood currency of the sport. Each team gets 27 of them and the goal is cause as much damage as you can for every out you generate. This is why sacrificing has gone by the wayside. It is one thing to look at league averages and those can be very instructive, but league averages don’t tell the whole story.

When I compare players for the Hall of Fame, I always look at only the position. It makes no sense to compare a catcher with a first baseman. The demands of the position are different and the comparative performances are different. I ran through the semi-regular to regular catchers in the American League. In order to qualify you had to have at least 120 outs. That usually corresponds to about 200 plate appearances. Comparing the likes of Yainer Diaz and Christian Vazquez to the league average is depressing.

The major league average bases per out sits at .676 through the last weekend. A few days of numbers aren;t going to change that much once you are 90 games into the season. We can look at both catchers and come away underwhelmed when looking at the big league average. Of course, the same would be true for most of the AL catchers. Below is a table of the catchers in the AL minus Diaz and Vazquez. What we are essentially looking for is a positional mean and median.

This is a reminder that bases per out is calculated by adding total bases, walks, stolen bases, and hit by pitches and dividing it into total outs. I love this stat because it encompasses everything a player does offensively into one number. It is more accurate than OPS and actually tracks pretty well with rOBA and wOBA. Below is a look at the AL catching universe through the weekend.

	Outs	TB	BB	SB	HBP	BPO
Dillon Dingler	243	163	23	0	7	.794
Shea Langeliers	249	163	28	2	4	.791
Samuel Basallo	193	117	25	0	0	.736
Adley Rutschman	178	101	24	0	1	.708
Carter Jensen	224	127	27	1	1	.696
Victor Caratini	172	78	25	0	9	.651
Kyle Higoshiako	120	49	17	0	1	.558
Cal Raleigh	192	68	31	2	0	.526
Logan O’Hoppe	154	64	14	0	3	.526
Nick Fortes	152	67	5	0	7	.520
Salvador Perez	273	106	12	0	6	.454
Carlos Narvaez	130	40	11	1	3	.423
Austin Wells	156	41	23	1	0	.417
Patrick Bailey	142	42	12	2	0	.394
Edgae Quero	134	35	12	1	3	.381
Mean	2712	1261	289	10	45	.592
Median	164	68	20	1	2	.526

Remember, we are looking at regular catchers in the American League minus Diaz and Vazquez. We do that to give us an idea of what the competitors are doing and to look at something to shoot for. If you are adept at math, you will notice that the median row does not add up. Somehow, the components of bases per out do not equal what the players are actually doing. The mathematical median of the row would actually equal .5548 or .555 rounded to the thousands place.

What does this mean effectively? In short, there are five really good offensive catchers that are driving the numerical average up. If you are looking for the actual 8th or 9th best catcher here (there are 16 in the table) then you would get your .526 mark. What that means is that asking a catcher to be overall league average is a hard ask. Victor Caratini is the sixth best offensive catcher in the AL and he doesn’t come particularly close to the overall major league average. So, when we look at the numbers for Diaz and Vazquez below (through Wednesday’s game) we need to look at their numbers through that context.

	Outs	TB	BB	SB	HBP	BPO
Yainer Diaz	127	61	5	0	1	.528
Christian Vazquez	137	55	12	1	0	.496

Diaz is a statistical enigma wrapped in a riddle. Conventional wisdom and simple mathematics would tell us these numbers are simply not good. They are not good compared to MLB norms and they are not good for him historically. However, recent play and the table above tells us something different. Officially, he is right in line with the median catchers in the American League. Obviously, that would look different in a MLB universe and all numbers have their caveats and exceptions. We could look at his total career numbers and look at what expectations he had coming into the season.

	Outs	TB	BB	SB	HBP	BPO
Yainer Diaz Career	1267	738	61	3	10	.641

The 64,000 dollar question is whether Diaz can ever be this catcher again. My guess is no. The 2023 power numbers are driving this up and he hasn’t been THAT Diaz since. He would obviously need to become THAT Diaz again for his 2026 numbers to approach his career average. The more logical question is whether he could a .600 guy from this day forward. That seems like a doable thing and it could be a huge key at the bottom of the order.

Keep in mind that the Astros wouldn’t be asking Diaz to be an average big league hitter. They would be asking him to be an average offensive catcher. Those are two entirely different things. There are inevitable questions about whether he is a long-term solution at the position. Given his defensive struggles and the inability to draw walks the answer is likely no. Yet, when you are looking for players that haven’t performed well that could in the second half, he is at the top of the list.

The next logical question is how the time share between Diaz and Vazquez should work. Offensive production is only part of the equation. Diaz currently sits at -6 defensive runs saved and -5 in fielding run value. Vazquez sits at +5 defensive runs saved and +2 fielding run value. So, they are separated by approximately one win with the glove. We could also break down catcher ERA and reach the same conclusion. Without getting into commentary on the manager, this decision will be one of the keys after the all-star break.

Rangers 7, Angels 6

• This win — more exciting than it has to be.
• This should have been a blowout, based on the first two-thirds of the game.
• Texas jumped on Reid Detmers early. Nathan Eovaldi was cruising. It was 6-1 after six innings, and you felt like it should’ve been a bigger margin than that.
• Look, let’s not talk about the top of the seventh, okay? Let’s pretend it didn’t happen. Or ignore it.
• Because ultimately the Rangers won. And the rest of the game was quite magnificent.
• For six innings, Nathan Eovaldi was mowing fools down.
• Eovaldi only allowed one run in the first six innings, and even that shouldn’t have happened. After a Wade Meckler single, Zach Neto hit a ball hard down to third that Josh Jung couldn’t handle. It wasn’t an easy play, but it was a makeable play, and could’ve been a double play. Jung had the ball carom off his glove, though, for a single, and when the dust settled, Meckler was at third, and Neto had advanced to second on the throw to third.
• Still, damage limited. Just one run scored. Eovaldi was doing work.
• Eovaldi fanned 10 batters in the game, allowing him to pass Ken Holtzman, Jim Maloney, and Jose Rijo on the all-time strikeouts list. He’s now at #196 all time, with Hoyt Wilhelm, Scott Sanderson and Claude Osteen in his sights.
• He also generated 23 swings and misses, 10 of which came on his splitter, but 9 of which came on his curveball, which was working extremely well.
• So let’s just pretend that he left the game after the sixth. Ignore the catcher’s interference, the walk, and the single to start the seventh that resulted in more runs marring his line.
• And let’s also pretend Peyton Gray was home sick or something. Ditto Tyler Alexander. Let’s move on from their participate in that seventh inning.
• Let’s instead praise the work of Jacob Latz, who recorded outs 22 through 26 of the game for the Rangers. Let’s praise Cole Winn, brought in to face Jo Adell with two on and two out in the ninth, after an 11 pitch walk of Vaughn Grissom by Latz pushed his pitch count north of 40.
• I’m happy to see Adell leave town, by the way. He had a pair of hits on Tuesday, a pair of homers on Wednesday, had a pinch hit single in that seventh inning we won’t speak of to tie the game, and crushed a line drive off of Winn that, fortunately, was right at Evan Carter.
• Brandon Nimmo and his non-existent platoon splits got things started for Texas against Detmers with a weird, opposite-field, line drive home run that seemed like it would be a double but just kept carrying. A Josh Jung double and Jake Burger single made it 2-0.
• Its nice to be the team that scores multiple runs in the first, rather than being the team that is giving up multiple runs in the first.
• Ezequiel Duran added a two run homer in the third. Justin Foscue followed with a solo shot in the fourth, then chipped in a sixth inning RBI ground rule double that would have accounted for two RBIs had the ball not bounded into the stands. The Shed, it is playing less pitcher-friendly of late.
• Justin Foscue is now slashing .367/.466/.796 off of lefties this season. Amazing!
• Not only is Justin Foscue rocking a .398 wOBA this season, he’s got a .371 xwOBA that indicates its not all just random variation and luck dragons.
• Its still a small sample — Foscue has 113 plate appearances, total, for the Rangers this year — but it is encouraging and makes me hopeful the righthanded platoon bat the Rangers have been longing for for so long may have arrived.
• This game was also the return of Wyatt Langford, back off the injured list, starting at DH, and spending the bulk of the game making fans think he should’ve stayed on the i.l. for another day or two, as he was hitless with three strikeouts when he came up to the plate in the ninth inning for his fifth plate appearance of the night.
• Alejandro Osuna had singled to start the inning. Offensive catalyst Nicky Lopez, pinch hitting for Foscue, bunted him over to second.
• And Wyatt Langford, in his return to action, launched a ball to left field that went off the base of the fence. He only gets credit for a single, rather than a double, because Osuna was the winning run, but he’ll take that tradeoff, I’m thinking.
• A game that felt like it was going to be given away late, but that instead resulted in a double-you. The Rangers back in first place by a half game. I’m feeling fine.
• Nathan Eovaldi topped out at 97.9 mph with his fastball, averaging 95.7 mph, a full 1.1 mph over his season average. Peyton Gray hit 93.6 mph with his fastball. Tyler Alexander topped out at 92.8 mph with his fastball. Jacob Latz’s fastball touched 96.8 mph. Cole Winn threw one fastball at 96.6 mph.
• Jake Burger had a 112.6 mph fly out, a 105.5 mph fly out, and a 101.3 mph single. Josh Jung had a 106.7 mph fly out, a 106.7 mph double and a 102.5 mph fly out.. Brandon Nimmo had a 106.0 mph ground out, a 104.4 mph homer and a 104.2 mph single. Alejandro Osuna had a 104.5 mph single. Justin Foscue had a 104.0 mph home run. Ezequiel Duran had a 104.0 mph home run. Kyle Higashioka had a 101.3 mph single.
• Three games against Houston, and then the All Star Break.

The White Sox kick off the 2026 MLB draft by making the No. 1 overall selection at noon CT on Saturday, and will choose among three plum prospects: UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky, Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey and shortstop Grady Emerson from Fort Worth Christian (Texas) H.S. We’re digging deeper into all three players in anticipation of the third No. 1 overall pick in White Sox history.

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Vahn Lackey wasn’t even close to being the favorite to go No. 1 when the spring began. Four months later, after one of the best seasons in college baseball, the Georgia Tech catcher capped one of the biggest rises in the 2026 draft. That’s placed him on the White Sox radar, with word going around that he is the preference of the White Sox brain trust in the front office.

Chicago entered draft day linked to several legitimate candidates for the top pick, and bucking the shortstop trend and grabbing Lackey lands it on the player the team believes could make the biggest long-term impact at one of baseball’s most demanding positions. Lackey combines an advanced offensive approach, standout defense behind the plate and uncommon athleticism, giving Chicago another premium talent to build around.

Taking a catcher with the first overall pick isn’t a move organizations make lightly. But when teams identify the right one, the payoff can be enormous. That’s exactly how the White Sox see Lackey — a player capable of changing a franchise at one of baseball’s most valuable positions.

For an organization that has prioritized athleticism, premium defensive positions, and high baseball IQ throughout its rebuild, the selection would make perfect sense. The White Sox wouldn’t be drafting a mere catcher, but one of the best all-around athletes in the class. Despite spending his collegiate career behind the plate, many evaluators believe Lackey has the athleticism to play elsewhere if needed. To wit, he not only routinely fields balls throughout the infield flawlessly in pregame drills and shags flies in the outfield, but played all eight positions besides pitcher in a March 10 game against West Georgia. Oh, and he didn’t lay his bat down while picking a bunch of different fielding gloves up on that day, as he went 3-for-4 with a double, triple and homer in the win.

Lackey’s path to becoming the nation’s top catcher wasn’t a typical one. He didn’t receive his first Division I scholarship offer until his senior year of high school, after a late growth spurt transformed both his body and his long-term outlook. That development continued at Georgia Tech, where he had a mediocre freshman season but quickly established himself as one of college baseball’s premier backstops from there. By entering the draft after his junior season, Lackey will become the fifth Georgia Tech catcher selected in the first round.

The 6´2´´, 215-pound junior put together a remarkable 2026 season, slashing .397/.519/.772 with a 1.291 OPS, 20 home runs and 78 RBIs, with 50 walks against just 38 strikeouts. He’s also got the wheels of a middle infielder, swiping 15-of-16 bases in 2026 (and 34-of-38 in his college career).

What sets Lackey apart isn’t one standout trait — it’s the complete package. MLB Pipeline graded his hit, power, and arm as 60-grade tools, resulting in a 60 overall grade, and FanGraphs sees his cannon as a 70 grade. Lackey controls the strike zone, drives the baseball with authority and continues to add power without sacrificing the disciplined approach that made him one of the NCAA’s best hitters in 2026. If that profile sounds familiar, it should. It’s become the blueprint for the type of player GM Chris Getz and his front office have prioritized throughout the rebuild.

Defensively, Lackey has developed into one of college baseball’s premier catchers. He paired a .993 fielding percentage with Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year honors and the Johnny Bench Award for catching, while earning praise from scouts for his receiving, leadership, game management and above-average arm. It’s the type of defensive foundation the White Sox value as they continue shaping their roster.

Lackey would join an emerging young core that already includes Colson Montgomery, Kyle Teel, Braden Montgomery, Noah Schultz and Grant Taylor, giving Chicago another premium talent to build around. Despite the White Sox having two blue-chip catchers on the 40-man roster in Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero, the franchise doesn’t have a true defensive presence behind the plate and could well use a fast-moving Lackey in the majors ASAP.

Although Lackey is foregoing his senior season to begin his professional career, catchers traditionally require more development time than players at other positions because of the demands behind the plate. Even so, his advanced offensive approach, defensive polish and athleticism have some evaluators believing he could move through the White Sox system faster than the typical college catcher.

Lackey would arrive in Chicago with one of the most complete résumés in the 2026 draft class. If his all-around game translates to professional baseball, he could storm to the fore as the de facto captain of the next great White Sox team.

The Mets open a three-game series against the Red Sox on Friday night at Citi Field at 7:50 p.m., pushed back from 7:15 p.m. due to Boston's travel delay earlier this afternoon.

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Mets Notes

• Carson Benge has reached base safely in 20 of his last 21 games, including multi-hit games in each of his last four. During this 21-game span, Benge is hitting .322/.385/.517 with four homers, three doubles, and one triple in 96 plate appearances
• A.J. Ewing is hitting .310/.389/.583 (.973 OPS) with six homers, five doubles, 14 runs scored, and 17 RBI in 95 plate appearances over his last 24 games
• Juan Soto is leading the National League in OBP (.414), slugging percentage (.579), and OPS+ (175)
• Luke Weaver hasn't allowed an earned run since April 30. In 26.0 innings over 24 appearances since then, he has given up just 11 hits while walking seven and striking out 3

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Today's Lineups

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If you have been following the Nats farm system at all this season, you would know Yohandy Morales is having a monster year. The corner infielder is hitting .303 with 21 homers and a .930 OPS on the season in AAA. He has been one of the most productive hitters in the system, but Paul Toboni has been hesitant to call him up.

When you look at some of the underlying data, Toboni’s reasons make some sense. Morales has a very low in zone contact rate and was hitting the ball on the ground over 50% of the time for most of the season. Despite the big surface level stats, that profile is tough to make work in the MLB.

For those wondering why we haven’t seen a Yohandy Morales callup, here are the only 2 MLB hitters with a lower Z-Contact rate than YoYo in 2026:

M. Murakami (157 wRC+, 16% PullAir)
R. Devers (92 wRC+, 10.2% PullAir)

It is possible to succeed with that much whiff, but so hard pic.twitter.com/4e6toxgcAf

— Paul Cubbage (@PaulCubbage23) May 20, 2026

However, I think the time is right for Morales to get the call to the big leagues. Morales has been striking out less and elevating the ball more lately. As I said, his GB rate has been over 50% for most of the season, but that is starting to come down. Right now, his season GB rate is 49.3%. I remember checking a couple months ago, and that number was closer to 54%.

Morales is also striking out a lot less so far in July. He only has 6 strikeouts in 30 at bats so far this month. It is a small sample, but it really does feel like Morales is starting to make the changes necessary for him to get a big league call-up.

One thing that Morales has done in July that is not a new phenomenon is mash homers. He already has four homers this month, including a two homer game the other day. Morales has the most homers of any Nats prospect, and just has highly impressive raw power.

a two-home run game for yohandy morales and he's up to 20 on the season 💪 pic.twitter.com/JImgw3wvt6

— Nationals Player Development (@Nats_PlayerDev) July 8, 2026

Morales has high end power to all fields. Despite not pulling the ball in the air that much, he is still able to access his pop. The 6’3 225 pound slugger consistently posts excellent exit velocities. With Morales getting the ball off the ground more, this recent power surge makes a ton of sense.

With these improvements to his process, the time is right for a call up. There is not an everyday role for Morales, but I think there are ways to create regular enough playing time. Calling up Morales and sending down Andres Chaparro just feels like a pretty straightforward move right now.

Yohandy Morales homered for the second time in the game. Can we please call him up. I mostly get the reasons why they aren’t but he would just be a monster upgrade on Chaparro in that role and could get some 3B and DH reps too

— federalbaseball (@federalbaseball) July 8, 2026

I get that the front office will want Morales to be playing more than Chaparro has, but it is not like Morales is some top 50 prospect who needs everyday reps. He can be Luis Garcia Jr’s platoon partner while also getting some starts at third base and DH every once in a while. 

Blake Butera has shown he can get creative to give guys playing time. He can do the same for Morales. Right now Andres Chaparro and his .157 batting average stick out like a sore thumb. Chaparro is getting pinch hit opportunities in big spots for the red hot Garcia and just not coming through.

I understand that Garcia is not great against lefties, but despite his reputation as a lefty masher, Chaparro has not hit them well either. It would be much easier to stomach taking Garcia out of games if Morales was the guy pinch hitting instead.

There is not a whole lot that Morales needs to prove at the AAA level. One potential reason they might be holding off on this move is that they would have to find a 40-man roster spot for Morales. However, the slugger is Rule-5 eligible this offseason, so they will have to put him on the 40-man soon anyways. There is also no shortage of potential DFA candidates on this roster.

With how Morales has hit all season, it only feels right to give him an opportunity. His surface level numbers are outstanding, and now he is improving some of the underlying stuff that may have been holding him back. It is time for Paul Toboni to give Yohandy Morales a shot, and I hope it happens as soon as possible. The young man has earned it in every possible way.

Seriously, does anyone think this is weird? When the Draft was moved to align with the All-Star Break, it seemed like a no-brainer to actually put the draft during the All-Star Break. Instead, this weekend, the Draft will begin while teams are still playing their final games heading into the Break. It’s just so weird, like cannibalizing your own viewership. I guess it’s somewhat consistent with MLB’s overall contempt for the regular season, and the idea that no one is going to revolt in terms of local viewership just because a couple of games coincide with something else… but it still feels suboptimal.

Like, the Draft itself is from 1pm to 7:45 pm ET on Saturday, and from 11:30am to 7:30 pm ET on Sunday. You could have everyone play day games and push it into the night. Or, more duh-ingly, just push it into Monday and Tuesday. I understand that MLB might want to have the Draft be more of a hoopla/spectacle like the drafts in other sports, but come on: Day 1 will feature 135 picks in nearly seven hours, a rate of about 20 picks an hour. One pick every three minutes is an awful, interminable “pace of play” as far as viewership goes, and the fact that it’s going four rounds and teams can play underslot games really dents the wide audience viewing interest of it all. If you want to hype up the first few picks, start the Saturday games earlier, put Round 1 on weekend primetime and let the rest go after, trailing into the night. Day 2 is more rapid-fire but also not much to watch live, so they could even put Day 1 on Sunday where all games are over before evening primetime anyway, and burn off Day 2 when there are no games.

In the end, this doesn’t matter, it’s just… weird. I guess like, “Still trying to make the All-Star Game a thing in 2026,” weird, so that tracks.

The wait is almost over, as Philadelphia is set to host the 96th edition of the MLB All-Star game on Tuesday. July 14th. It will be the fifth time the City of Brotherly Love has played host to the event and the first time since 1996 when the game was held at Veteran’s Stadium. The actual All-Star Game serves as a wrap-up to an almost weeks’ worth of festivities celebrating baseball. First, let’s break down the schedule for All-Star weekend before we dive into how the Phillies themselves will factor into everything taking place.

What’s the schedule?

Friday, July 10th: HBCU Swingman Classic presented by USA Baseball

This game that features the best Division-1 college athletes from Historically Black Colleges and Universities will be the first to take place at Citizens Bank Park this weekend. It will begin at 7 pm and will be broadcast live on MLB.com and MLB Network.

Saturday, July 11th-Tuesday, July 14th: Capital One All-Star Village

This is a four-day event that will be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center where fans can come together and celebrate baseball with legends meet-and-greets, interactive exhibits, contests, and samplings of ballpark concessions.

Saturday, July 11th: 2026 MLB Draft

Also at the PA Convention Center, the first few rounds of the MLB Draft will take place starting at 1 pm and will be broadcast live on NBC and Peacock.

Sunday, July 12th: All-Star Sunday featuring the MLB All-Star Futures Game and the MLBx All-Star 3-on-3

Sunday will prove to be a busy day, as the Futures Game featuring the top prospects from across the minor leagues will kick off the day at noon at Citizens Bank Park. then following the conclusion of that game, the new 3-on-3 baseball competition will begin, featuring Phillies legends Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, and Ryan Howard, AUSL All-Stars, and other Philadelphia athletes from past and present including DeVonta Smith and Terell Owens.

Monday, July 13th: Home Run Derby

The first of the two marquee All-Star events will take place Monday night, as eight sluggers from around baseball will look to capture the title of derby champion as the rules shift back to the old swing-based format with no clock. The derby will begin at 8pm and will be the first to be broadcast live on Netflix.

Tuesday, July 14th: 96th MLB All-Star Game

Finally, the All-Star game itself will conclude the celebration as the NL looks to repeat as winners over the AL after last season’s thrilling swing-off in extra innings to decide a winner. The All-Stars will arrive to Independence Mall at 2pm for the red carpet before the game begins at 8pm at Citizens Bank Park

Who are the Phillies’ All-Stars?

The hometown team will be well represented this year, as the Phillies will be sending six of their players to represent them on their own field.

Brandon Marsh

Marsh has been arguably the Phillies’ most consistent hitter on the season, as he has taken the leap from solid platoon player into everyday All-Star. His meteoric rise dates back to last season after he returned from injury following a brutal month of April where he hit .095 across 16 games. Since returning from a rehab assignment on May 3rd of last year, Marsh has a batting line of .304/.350/.489 in 198 games entering Thursday. This season, he is hitting .305 and is sixth in batting average for the National League. He’s been rewarded for his consistently excellent performance with his first career All-Star selection, receiving enough votes to where he will be in the outfield in the NL’s starting lineup when they take the field.

Jhoan Duran

Speaking of first time All-Stars, Marsh will be joined in that regard by his teammate Jhoan Duran. The Phillies closer has been an anchor in an otherwise shaky bullpen this season with a 1.47 ERA and 22 saves, including 16 straight saves to begin his season. Duran seems a lock to appear in the game at some point, as MLB will no doubt want to feature his electrifying entrance out of the bullpen to a national audience.

Cristopher Sánchez

Sánchez was one of the biggest snubs from the All-Star roster last season, and now he’s a candidate to start the game for the NL on his home mound. The lefty already set the Major League record for the longest scoreless streak ever by a left-handed pitcher back in May when he tossed 50.2 consecutive scoreless innings. It will be the second career All-Star nod for Sánchez with his first coming in 2024.

Jesús Luzardo

Luzardo was a bit of a surprise when he was named as a replacement for Jacob Misiorowski, but he also isn’t entirely undeserving of his first All-Star nod. His traditional numbers may not seem flashy, as Luzardo was 7-4 with a 3.75 ERA at the time he was named to the roster. But if you dig deeper, Luzardo has been better than those numbers may suggest. His 2.9 fWAR has him third behind Sánchez and Misiorowski for the highest among while his 28.6% strikeout rate is seventh best.

Kyle Schwarber

The only thing keeping Schwarber from being a starter in the game like Marsh is that he unfortunately plays the same position (DH) as Shohei Ohtani. Nevertheless, the current MLB home run leader will make his third All-Star appearance with the Phillies and fourth overall. Fresh off of a new five year, $150M extension signed with the Phillies in free agency, Schwarber has continued to cement himself as one of if not the best power hitters in the game, as he is on pace for a second straight season with 50+ home runs. Don’t forget, he was also named All-Star Game MVP last season when he won the first ever swing-off to decide the result of an All-Star Game.

Bryce Harper

The face of the Phillies franchise will make his third All-Star appearance as a Phillie and his ninth overall after being added to the roster with the commissioner’s “legend” pick. However, Harper had a strong case to make the team on his own merit despite finishing third in the voting among NL first baseman, as his .880 OPS entering play on Thursday is tied for the second best among all NL first basemen and his 20 home runs is also second. In any case, Harper will look to live up to his “Showman” reputation once again at All-Star week in his home ballpark like he did when he won the 2018 Home Run Derby at Nationals Park.

Will the Phillies have anyone in the Home Run Derby?

Speaking of the Derby, Harper made it official on Wednesday night with an Instagram post that he will take part in this year’s Home Run Derby. He had previously stated that he was unsure due to his father possibly not being able to throw to him as he did back in 2018 and the different format that will be instituted this year, Schwarber meanwhile has not announced anything as of this writing but recently stated that he is open to it if he was healthy and had already made the All-Star team. With both of those conditions met, it seems likely that he will declare his participation in the coming days. Schwarber last participated back in 2022 where he lost in a swing-off to Albert Pujols in the first round.

Outside of the Phillies, we know for sure at least five other participants as of this writing. They will be Junior Caminero of the Rays, Ben Rice of the Yankees, Willson Contreras of the Red Sox, Jac Caglianone of the Royals, and Jordan Walker of the Cardinals.

Will the Phillies have any prospects in the Futures Game?

In fact, they’ll have two, as Gage Wood of the Reading Fightin’ Phils and Wen-Hui Pan of the Jersey Shore Blue Claws will represent the Phillies organization at the Futures Game. Wood was the Phillies first round pick (26th) in the 2025 draft, and the former Arkansas Razorback who threw a 19-strikeout no-hitter in the College World Series has continued to thrive in his professional career. Coming into the season as the Phillies #5 prospect and 69th prospect overall according to Baseball America, the right hander started the year at Class-A Clearwater but quickly made the jump to Double-A Reading after posting a 3.42 ERA in eight starts with 40 strikeouts in 26.1 innings.

Pan meanwhile was an international prospect signing by the Phillies out of Taiwan in 2023 as a 20-year-old. The 6’3, 220-pound right hander who profiles as a reliever excelled at Low-A Clearwater in his first real taste of professional ball and ended the year with a promotion to High-A Jersey Shore. The ensuing year was not as kind to Pan, as injuries limited him to just 29.1 total innings in 2024 before ultimately undergoing Tommy John surgery in November that cost him all of 2025. But he has rebounded in 2026, working his way to Double-A after rehabbing with Clearwater and Jersey Shore.

In addition to those two players, the Phillies will also be represented in both dugouts, as former Phillies greats and World Series champions Shane Victorino and Larry Bowa have been selected as managers for the Futures Game.

What will the Phillies do in the draft?

This year the Phillies first selection will be 36th overall, as they will incur a 10-pick penalty from their original spot (26th) for exceeding the second Competitive Balance Tax Threshold.

They had a bit of an unorthodox method in last year’s draft, as they selected pitchers with their first eight picks and 14 of their 20 selections overall. It’s a safe bet that they may lean heavier onto the hitting side this year, but really, they should have no preferences. Drafting for need in MLB is foolhardy with the timelines for prospects, but it would be especially foolish from a Phillies standpoint to draft anything other than best player available.

Baseball America has ranked the Phillies with the second worst farm system in their latest updated rankings, placing them 29th with Wood (69th) and the injured Aidan Miller (80th) as their highest Top 100 prospects. Philadelphia is almost barren of anything resembling high end talent and frankly will have a hard time swinging any trades of substance at this year’s deadline. They need a talent influx and cannot afford to be picky in which side of the ball that talent plays on.

Our own Dan Cormican has been profiling some options for the Phillies in the draft, and you can read those previews here.

About a week ago, Sports Illustrated’s Jason La Canfora went looking for evidence to back up a hunch that’s been circulating in Baltimore for three straight seasons now: this team can’t run the bases. His July 1 piece on the Orioles’ fielding and baserunning woes laid out a bunch of metrics, and the picture wasn’t pretty. In actual point of fact, the Orioles are not the literal worst, but it feels bad anyway because, as La Canfora put it, the skipper “keeps begging for clean games and smart baseball but it’s doubtful this team delivers.”

Running has been definitely one of the areas of stupidest baseball for the Orioles in 2026. By FanGraphs’ Base Running Runs, Baltimore sits at -1, ranked 19th in the majors. That’s below average, not catastrophic, but also a waste when you have good foot speed in players like Gunnar Henderson, Jackson Holiday, Leody Taveras, Dylan Beavers, and so forth. Our utility infielder is named Blaze Alexander, for crying out loud! So why does it feel like the Orioles are the sport’s running joke (pun intended) on the base paths?

Well, look closer at several other baserunning metrics, and the Orioles’ efforts look considerably worse. Their stolen-base success rate of 71.6% is 25th in baseball. Only the White Sox, the Tigers, the Rockies, the Twins and the hopeless Mets are doing it worse. Most analytics departments consider 75-78% a threshold where it’s break-even for the risk to be worth it, so the team is clearly adding negative value. Add to that, the Orioles’ steal value at second base (how often they effectively steal second base) is -1, ranked 27th. Extra-bases taken puts them at -4, or 20th in the league, meaning they’re consistently failing to advance from first to third on singles or score from second on doubles at a league-average clip.

You could go beyond that and look at individual “caught stealings” to get a fuller picture of poorly-done risk-reward calculations. The team poster child for this right now is Gunnar Henderson, a massively talented player with both power and foot speed, but whose baserunning instincts are being attacked every other night, it feels like. Getting picked off twice in a single game isn’t just an unlucky night; it’s kind of a routine occurrence for the O’s shortstop this season. Henderson has all of seven steals on the season, a shockingly low number for a player with his athletic profile, and especially considering he’s been caught stealing four times.

There are several players, in fact, whose aggression on the basepaths is currently costing Baltimore more than it’s earning. Even though scouts still project Jackson Holliday as a 25-steal threat one day, he’s nabbing bases at just a 68% clip on his career (again, a league-average benchmark is about 78%). The same is true for a lot of players, it looks like. Colton Cowser has been caught stealing twice, and safely stolen a bag just four times. Dylan Beavers, even worse: two caught stealing to just three bags swiped. Blaze Alexander is fast, but he’s gotten thrown out three times in twelve attempts, so just below average. In fact, it’s Leody Taveras, a fourth outfielder by midseason, who leads the team in stolen bases with just 10. When your team leader in steals is a bench piece, that tells you the top of the roster isn’t running.

Then there’s the part of the game that doesn’t show up in a box score line as cleanly: the Orioles’ inability to execute the contact play in advancing from first to third. La Canfora’s description rates the O’s “a Little League team with the contact play trying to score runners from third with the ball hit in the grass.” That may be harsh, but it points to a real problem. Too many outs are being made at third base and at home plate on plays that should be simple two-out productive outs or sacrifice situations. Blaze Alexander has been guilty of this a lot, judging by the eyeball test. He has the speed and agility to be a weapon on the bases, but keeps making outs at third because he isn’t reading the ball off the bat well. Or he isn’t listening to the third-base coach? Whether it’s talent, speed, judgment or what, it’s supposed to be a problem area that the staff can actually fix in-season through repetition and coaching.

So, are the Orioles the worst baserunning team in baseball? Statistically, no, not quite. Nineteenth place in baserunning value (twenty-fifth in success rate) is unglamorous, albeit not historic. But we could fill in the picture with subsidiary data—pickoffs at first base, botched double steals, times getting thrown out at third or at home (there were three alone in an extra-innings loss to Seattle back in June)—to capture the picture of a team which, if not slow of foot or short on talent, feels, well, just kind of chaotic and messy. Combined with a defense that ranks in the bottom five in outs above average, runs prevented, and defensive runs saved, the Orioles are bleeding runs on both sides of the ball in ways that don’t require a brand-new roster to fix—just better decisions.

Is this, to keep asking the same question (but we have to keep asking it) a Mike Elias problem? La Canfora thinks so, brutally comparing this season to the last one: “Remember, Elias got promotions for himself and 16 other people after years of utter failure here, and now we get to watch an even worse product, with an even more befuddled skipper at the wheel, careen toward the All Star break and another inevitable firesale at the trade deadline with 1983 feeling like 1963 to those of us old enough to remember that last World Series parade.” Ouch. I’m not sure. But for a coaching staff supposed to be on the cutting edge of analytics, and a front office that allegedly drafts for athleticism, the results kind of speak for themselves.

Here's what happened in Mets Land on Thursday, in case you missed it...

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• Sean Manaeawas sharp and the Mets' bats were potent in Thursday's 7-3 win over the Royals at Citi Field
• A.J. Ewinggot his first taste of big league action at second base
• Ewing sliding to second base was the result of Mark Vientos exiting the game after being hit by a pitch in the hand. Testing revealed a fracture, and Vientos will be heading to the IL 
• Clay Holmes, a potential trade candidate at the deadline, is open to a midseason extension to remain with the Mets long-term
• Here are five things to watch as the Mets and Red Sox play a three-game weekend series 
• The Mets are unlikely to trade Jonah Tong ahead of the deadline
• WATCH: Mets react after Thursday's win over Kansas City

The Yankees wrapped up a trip to Tropicana Field on Thursday with a much needed win and a breakout from the still Aaron Judge-less lineup. The double digit runs allowed them to salvage a series split after the two middle games of the series were a struggle. As a result, the Yankees ended the visit to the Trop four games back in the AL East, which is right where they began it.

Now, the Yankees are set to continue their road trip with a visit to the nation’s capital. At 48-46, the Washington Nationals are a somewhat surprising team over .500 and still in the playoff running. Ahead of Thursday’s games they were 3.5 games back of the last NL Wild Card spot and 6.5 back in the NL East. With a .948 OPS, James Wood is turning into a star in his third MLB season, while CJ Abrams, Luis García Jr., and Curtis Mead have also been pretty stellar in the Nats’ lineup. Their pitching has been less good, allowing one of the highest runs per game averages in the league, but the offense has been enough to cover some of that up so far.

Before the series gets going later tonight, let’s have a look at the pitching matchups we’ll see over the next couple days.

Friday: Ryan Weathers vs. Carson Palmquist (6:45 pm ET)

Weathers has been notably shaky of late, and that continued in his last start, as he gave up four runs in four innings against the Twins on Sunday. After seven shutout innings against the Rays back on May 24th, Weathers had a 3.14 ERA and 3.50 FIP. Those numbers now sit at 4.29 and 4.06, as he’s only had one game that you can categorize as good in that time.

We all know the meme about how the Yankees struggle against pitchers they’ve never seen before, and this will be their first game against the former Rockie and now National Palmquist. That being said, Palmquist has not had a good start to his MLB career. Last year in Colorado, he put up a 8.91 ERA in 34.1 innings. Getting away from the high altitude hasn’t done much to improve those numbers so far in 2026. He’s only pitched 6.1 innings in the bigs this year after moving to Washington, but he has a 7.11 ERA so far. That being said, he has a high strikeout rate in that time, and that’s something the Yankees have been prone to do a lot lately.

Saturday: Cam Schlittler vs. Miles Mikolas (4:05 pm ET)

With Judge on the shelf and the Yankees’ offense sputtering, Schlittler has been one of few things you can almost 100% count on for the Bombers. He continued that by allowing just one run in eight innings in a win over the Rays last time out, picking up the win before the rest of that series got annoying.

The veteran Mikolas has been, to put it politely, “butt.” He’s made 19 appearances this year, with eight coming as the Nats’ starter. In 90.1 total innings, he has a 5.78 ERA and a 5.52 FIP and has allowed 20 home runs. Over 5% of the batters Mikolas has faced have hit a home run off him. The offense truly needs to be able to do something in this game.

Sunday: Will Warren vs. TBD (1:35 pm ET)

Warren is another Yankee starter that’s been in a massive slump after a good start to the season. Since May 1st, he has a 5.34 ERA and his overall season total has gone up by nearly two whole runs, going over four for the first time this season in his last start. Even when Warren was doing well, he could be a bit of a tedious watch, but he’s been walking nearly 9% of batters over that stretch.

At time of writing, the Nationals have not announced a starter for Sunday’s series finale. They have one regular starter — Jake Irvin — on the IL, and another — Cade Cavalli — has been serving a suspension for playing a part in a brawl the Nats had with the Red Sox. Cavalli will have completely served said suspension by this game and would be on more than normal rest, so he would probably be the logical option to go in this game, but we shall see.

Happy Friday, everyone. We’ll start off today with a bit of baseball talk. The MLB Draft starts tomorrow, and SS Justin Lebron looks to become Alabama’s first top 15 selection in 35 years. Keith Law has Justin mocked to the Arizona Diamondbacks with the 15th pick, while ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel thinks the Angels will snag him at 12.

Lebron’s predecessor is in the majors, and he had a whale of a game yesterday.

Jarvis went 3-for-5 with a two-run homer and a double in Thursday’s 10-5 win over the Pirates

Jarvis extended Atlanta’s lead to 5-2 in the fourth inning with his two-run, 397-foot blast off Cam Sanders, the first homer of his big-league career. Jarvis has seen regular playing time at shortstop since he was recalled from Triple-A in early July. He’s gone 6-for-19 across five games after slashing .313/.406/.461 with six homers across 348 plate appearances in the minors this year.

Jarvis didn’t just get it done at the plate, either.

What a play by Jarvis! 👀#BravesCountrypic.twitter.com/ebyMQrVOAT

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) July 9, 2026

The question on Jim has been whether he could be a serviceable hitter at the big league level. His glove and athleticism are elite, and he has earned himself a chance to prove that he can stick in the lineup.

Moving on to football, Katie Windham notes that year three has been good to Alabama head coaches.

Dating back to Billy Curry in 1989, every Crimson Tide head coach has reached double-digit wins during his third season. Sometimes those seasons with at least 10 wins led to national championships that season or the next, and sometimes it created expectations that the coach could not live up to the following year.

Winning at least 10 games this year is a minimum expectation for DeBoer in 2026. How far past that can he get? Will he be like Saban and Gene Stallings and win a national title in Year 3? Will he be like Ray Perkins or Mike DuBose with a strong third season that just creates even higher expectations for Year 4?

Ten wins doesn’t mean what it did for most of those, but may the trend continue.

Dre Kirkpatrick is the latest in the “50 players” series.

Kirkpatrick remained suspended for the rest of the season but has since rejoined the team. The exact legal resolution is unknown, but his case and charges are no longer listed in the online court system.

Kirkpatrick was back practicing with Alabama this spring and now moves toward his junior season where he will be part of one of, if not the best, secondaries in the country.

“Yeah, he had consequences for what he did and the things he’s gone through,” Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer said after Alabama’s second spring practice. “There’s still pieces to that that he’s taking care of when it comes to those consequences with the team.

“He met those requirements and has a great attitude about him. He loves ball. He’s got to build the trust up with his teammates out there every day. He’ll do the things not just on the field, but off it as well to meet the standard our program expects.”

Dre probably won’t have a huge role on this year’s team, but it’s good to see him getting his life together.

Reclassified point guard Anderson Diaz and family spoke about why he chose Alabama.

“I think the thing that stood out the most was the consistency from day one,” Diaz’s father said. “There were times where I would get a phone call that (Alabama) was at Overtime Elite just to check on him. I thought that was really cool. Every time they rolled through Atlanta and had time, they would go see him for a practice. They stood really consistent with him from the beginning. They made him a priority.”

Diaz’s father shared a story during the recruitment when Diaz went through a little bit of a slump while competing out in Memphis (TN) during the contact period. (Nate) Oats and assistant Preston Murphy gave him a call after one of the games. 

“It wasn’t like ‘he did this and he did that’,” he explained. “It was more of ‘we can fix that, he just needs to do this and do that’ and that fits him to me.”

Last, ‘Baron looks like he belongs in the NBA.

Labaron Philon Jr. DEBUT 🔥🔥🔥

18 PTS
3 REB
7 AST
1 STL
40% from 3pic.twitter.com/f9xHBQEPBU

— Sixers Nation (@PHLSixersNation) July 9, 2026

That’s about it for today. Have a great weekend.

Roll Tide.

Good morning, LSB.

The Rangers walked it off against the Angels last night.

Kennedi Landry says ignore the blown 5-run lead part, a win is a win.

Evan Grant says Texas avoided a catastrophic loss and instead walk away in first place.

Wyatt Langford was the hero in his first game back from the IL.

Elsewhere Shawn McFarland looks at the best No. 16 picks in MLB draft history.

And McFarland also continues his reranking of the Rangers prospect system with Nos. 11-20.

That’s all for this morning. The Rangers start up a series against the Astros tonight at 7:05 with Cal Quantrill on the mound for Texas.

Happy Friday!

There is a precedent among North American professional sports for the reigning champions to visit the White House. It is believed to have taken precedence when the Washington Senators visited President Calvin Coolidge in 1925, and it has become commonplace among the four major sports.

The Dodgers are certainly no stranger to visiting the White House over the course of the two most recent administrations, and the team is now scheduled to visit President Donald Trump at the Oval Office for a second time. Edward Lewis of the California Post reported Thursday that the Dodgers will arrive at the White House on July 23, wedged between trips to both Philadelphia and New York.

“President Trump is excited to welcome the Los Angeles Dodgers BACK to the White House to celebrate their World Series championship!” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement.

“As was the case one year ago, the Dodgers’ upcoming visits to the White House and Capitol Hill follow the longtime tradition of visits by other World Series champions. We appreciate these tributes in recognition of our back-to-back championships,” the Dodgers said in a statement to The Post.

Roki Sasaki had a decent ending to his first full half season at the big league level, going six innings while allowing three earned runs in a no-decision against the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday.

It was the first time Sasaki had a quality start since his 10-strikeout performance against the Angels on June 5, and his first half has been defined by flashes of brilliance overshadowed by wild inconsistencies. When asked about how he assessed his season so far, he recognized his ability to remain in the rotation and improve on his fastball, per Sonja Chen of MLB.com.

“When you look at the numbers, I’m not satisfied with that,” Sasaki said through interpreter Kensuke Okubo. “But I was able to [stay in] the rotation and the velo’s kind of gotten a little bit up. So I’m kind of happy with it.”

The Dodgers bullpen will be patiently waiting for the return of Edwin Díaz, and following Evan Phillips’s activation, there will be another tough decision for Dave Roberts to make. One of those names in the “trust tree” right now is right-hander Edgardo Henriquez, as Roberts briefly mentioned during his post-game press conference on Wednesday.