Category: Baseball

The San Francisco Giants head south to take on their division rival San Diego Padres tonight at Petco Park.

Taking the mound for the Giants will be right-hander Landen Roupp, who completed the 2025 season with a 3.80 ERA, 3.91 FIP with 102 strikeouts to 45 walks in 106.2 innings pitched.

He’ll be facing off against Padres right-hander Walker Buehler, who completed the 2025 season with a 4.93 ERA, 5.66 FIP with 92 strikeouts to 61 walk in 126 innings pitched between the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies. Buehler, of course, is a familiar face in the NL West, having played the majority of his career thus far with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Game #4

Who: San Francisco Giants (0-3) vs. San Diego Padres (1-2)

Where: Petco Park, San Diego, California

When: 6:40 p.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area

National broadcast: Fox Sports 1

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

Baseball returns to Kansas City today as the Royals host the Twins for their 2026 home opener. After going 1-2 over the weekend against the Braves, the Royals will look for a win today to reach .500, as sort of meaningless as it is this early in the season.

Max has you covered on the series preview, as usual, which you can find here. He also has you covered on some of the logistics of opening day.

For today’s game, Kris Bubic takes the hill for the first time this season. We last saw him start a game during the regular season on July 26th, 2025, before he was injured and shut down for the season. He was in the midst of an excellent season in which he threw for a 2.55 ERA / 2.89 FIP / 3.3 fWAR. There was a lot of trade speculation during the offseason since he is entering the final year before free agency, but a trade never materialized. I imagine that speculation will restart in June/July depending on how the Royals are positioned in the playoff race. In the meantime, I just hope to see him healthy.

The Twins send Simeon Woods Richardson to start. He’s a big right-handed pitcher who throws roughly five pitches – a four seam fastball, slider, curveball, split-finger, and changeup. To me, the split-finger and changeup share a similar movement profile; his changeup is just slower. His fastball sits about 93 on average, so he doesn’t bring any overpowering heat and does not get a ton of strikeouts.

Woods Richardson pitched to a 4.04 ERA / 4.52 FIP / 1.2 fWAR in 23 appearances last year across 111.1 innings. He’s definitely hittable. It will be interesting to see if the new fence line at Kauffman will make itself known in the first game. It will be a warm opening day – the ball may carry more than usual for a March game, and Woods Richardson is a fly ball pitcher. The ingredients are here for some fun.

The game starts at 3:10pm US Central time. You can watch the game on Royals.TV, or if you are local to Kansas City, it will be available over-the-air on KCTV5/KSMO. You can listen on 96.5 The Fan or the Royals Radio Network.

Lineups:

As the Colorado Rockies MLB and Triple-A teams move into action, rosters are becoming available for the rest of the organizations farm system.

Triple-A Albuquerque

The Albuquerque Isotopes will field the following roster to start the season:

For the Isotopes, the name of the game is tested depth.

Very few players on this roster are making their Triple-A debut. Instead, the Rockies brought in a group of versatile veterans, and some of them young players. The focus will be letting roster progression happen naturally using that depth rather than promoting players before they are ready.

Charlie Condon (No. 1 PuRP) and Cole Carrigg (No. 4 PuRP) are the position players to watch. On the pitching side, LHP Welinton Herrera (No. 17 PuRP) is the big bullpen name. Then of course the roster features two starters on the cusp of promotion: RHP Gabriel Hughes (No. 12 PuRP) and LHP Sean Sullivan (No. 8 PuRP).

Double-A Hartford

This year, the Yard Goats will begin the season with the following roster:

Things become a bit more complicated when looking at the Yard Goats roster.

There are a number of repeat assignments, some of which are clearly warranted. The Rockies decision to send Victor Juárez (No. 44 PuRP) back to Hartford after ending last season in ABQ is an interesting move.

However, there are also a few aggressive promotions, like Jimmy Obertop (who wasn’t impressive in Spokane to end last season). The decision to send Braylen Wimmer (No. 40 PuRP) going back to Hartford is notable. He spent 45 games there last season and to go back to playing at a high level so soon after his brain surgery shows he believes in himself and the organization believes in him as well.

Look for LHP Griffin Herring (No. 10 PuRP) and INF Roc Riggio (No. 14 PuRP) to be in Albuquerque by the end of the season.

That said, that fact that Dyan Jorge (No. 21 PuRP), Zach Kokoska (No. 53 PuRP), and Benny Montgomery (No. 43 PuRP) are still not able to bust past Double-A is a concern.

High-A Spokane

The Spokane Indians will begin the season with the following players:

Here’s where things get interesting.

The Rockies were very aggressive with the pitching staff assignments. Having RHP Yujanyer Herrera (No. 22 PuRP) and RHP Jordy Vargas (No. 21 PuRP) healthy and pitching right out of the gate is excellent, and the organization finally letting RHP Jackson Cox (No. 16 PuRP) off the leash after being overly cautious with him in Fresno last season.

RHP Brody Brecht (No. 3 PuRP) clearly has earned the promotion, and Antoine Jean (No. 46 PuRP) has received an aggressive assignment for his first affiliated professional ball. Everett Catlett is a repeat assignment, but he was solid in Spokane last year and he’ll no doubt be in Hartford at some point this season.

The rotation in Spokane will be one to watch.

The position players to watch are Max Belyeu (No. 15 PuRP) and Ethan Hedges (No. 29 PuRP), both on repeat after short assignments after the draft last year. The Rockies have also promoted Robert Calaz (No. 6 PuRP), who probably should have been in Spokane at some point last season.

Other than that, lots of familiar faces from Fresno getting the bump up to High-A.

The most notable omission? Ethan Holliday, who will start the season in Fresno.

Low-A Fresno

We’ll update the roster when it becomes available.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers welcome a postseason team from last season, the Cleveland Guardians, to Chavez Ravine for a three-game set.

Game 1 sees Roki Sasaki make his first start since last May, while Cleveland counters with prospect Parker Messick. 

That’s part of why my Guardians vs. Dodgers predictions and MLB picks expect the Over to hit in this interleague matchup, with first pitch at Dodger Stadium scheduled for 10:10 pm ET on Monday, March 30.

Guardians vs Dodgers predictions

Guardians vs Dodgers best bet: Over 8.5 (-120)

The Los Angeles Dodgers lineup is even more ridiculous with Kyle Tucker in the middle of it, as they scored 16 runs over the weekend. 

They face Parker Messick, a lefty making just his seventh career start. Messick isn't a hard thrower, and if he misses his spots against this Dodgers lineup, he could be in trouble.

Meanwhile, the Cleveland Guardians look like they finally might have another bat to support Jose Ramirez in Chase DeLauter, who’s already hit four dingers.

It’s hard to know what L.A. will get out of Roki Sasaki as a starter, so expect some runs.

COVERS INTEL: The Dodgers ranked third in OPS and fourth in wRC+ when facing left-handed pitching last season.

Guardians vs Dodgers same-game parlay (SGP)

Tucker is off to a solid if unspectacular start with his new team. He's 2-for-11 with two RBI and three runs scored.

I like this matchup for him tonight. He’s a lefty who always hits southpaws as well as he does right-handers, so we’re almost always getting value when he’s got a lefty-lefty matchup.

On the other side, no one’s had a hotter start to the season than Chase DeLauter. The rookie phenom has already slugged four home runs with a 1.412 OPS.

Guardians vs Dodgers SGP

• Over 8.5
• Kyle Tucker Over 0.5 RBI
• Chase DeLauter Over 0.5 RBI

Guardians vs Dodgers home run pick: Mookie Betts (+440)

Mookie Betts is my favorite value to go yard at Chavez Ravine tonight at this price. Betts had a terrible, slow start to last season and ended up with just 20 home runs. Still, seven of those came against left-handers in nearly 300 fewer at-bats.

Betts had a .750 OPS vs. lefties last season and has a career .897 OPS against them. He’s also gone deep once already this season, so I’m betting another early-season slump is unlikely.

Guardians vs Dodgers odds

• Moneyline: Cleveland +154 | Los Angeles -184
• Run line: Cleveland +1.5 (-132) | Los Angeles -1.5 (+110)
• Over/Under: Over 8.5 | Under 8.5

Guardians vs Dodgers trend

The Dodgers have hit the team total Over in 22 of their last 35 games, good for +8.80 Units and a 22% ROI. Find more MLB betting trends for Guardians vs. Dodgers.

How to watch Guardians vs Dodgers and game info

Guardians vs Dodgers latest injuries

Guardians vs Dodgers weather

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It sure would be nice for the San Francisco Giants to get a win under their belt this week. Hopefully, that win happens in this series against the San Diego Padres. On the other hand, over the last four seasons, the Giants are just 10-19 at Petco Park. History is probably not a predictor of the present in the sports context, but talent usually is; in which case, it’s worth wondering if the Giants and Padres are that far apart on paper.

It’s expected to be a down year for the Padres, right? The team’s finances are such that AJ Preller couldn’t make a big splash in free agency and years of huge trades has emptied their farm system. They scored just 7 runs in their opening series against the Tiges, tied for third with the Rockies and just behind the Diamondbacks, putting all four non-Dodger NL West teams in the bottom 5 of the sport in terms of runs scored. By wRC+, San Diego’s 66 puts them just outside that bottom 5 at 6th place. Sustainable for all these NL West teams? Probably not. Plus, this series is a matchup of division rivals, so, expect a tough series.

Still, this is quite the series for remembering some guys.

The Padres, like the Giants, also had some pitching holes that needing patching in the offseason after losing Dylan Cease and Robert Suarez to free agency and Yu Darvish to injury, but San Diego went about it in a way that truly highlights their financial situation. Two of the three starters in this series are league minimum veterans who were picked up by San Diego just before Spring Training. Former Dodgers ace Walker Buehler and former Rockies ace German Marquez both have highlights and pedigree, but they are also emergency options. Will they flash former dominance or will the Giants be able to do damage against players who are essentially afterthoughts?

They also added some veteran hitters before Spring Training, picking up Nick Castellanos to DH after the Phillies released him, Miguel Andujar, and one-time All-Star Ty France.

Adding low-cost veteran players to the roster to serve as its depth is what the Angels do every year and it never really seems to work out for Perry Minasian. Will AJ Preller have better luck? His Padres are also being led by a rookie manager who has even less experience than Tony Vitello from an MLB coaching standpoint. The ceiling would seem to be very low.

Then again, they still have Fernando Tatis Jr. They still have Jackson Merrill. Manny Machado is off and running towards another .800+ OPS season (a career .305/.358/.520 in 483 PA vs. the Giants). Ramon Laureano, acquired at last year’s trade deadline, is off to a hot start. Their bullpen features Mason Miller’s 100+ mph fastball and, as usually, a bunch of fairly anonymous names who come in and get the job done.

I can’t believe I’m using this expression, but the Giants are looking to get off the schneid. They need a win, obviously, if only to halt the creeping dread created by another embarrassing homestand at Oracle Park. Rafael Devers seemed to live down to the national naysayers about his talent (and contract) with a lot of swing and miss in the strike zone; and, generally, it would be silly to say anything positive about a lineup that managed just 1 run in 27 innings at home. Logan Webb didn’t look so hot on top of Tony Vitello glitching out and leaving him in too long. The Padres are looking for a little validation too, though, and beating up on a team they’ve been able to handle might just give them the confidence they need to overcome their Los Angeles Angelsesque roster.

Series overview

Who: San Francisco Giants (0-3) at San Diego Padres (1-2)
Where: Petco Park | San Diego, California
When: Monday & Tuesday at 6:40pm PT, Wednesday at 1:10pm PT
National broadcasts: Monday (FS1)

Projected starters
Monday: Landen Roupp (season debut) vs. Walker Buehler (season debut)
Tuesday: Logan Webb (0-1, 10.80 ERA) vs. German Marquez (season debut)
Wednesday: Adrian Houser (season debut) vs. Nick Pivetta (0-1, 18.00 ERA)

Players to watch (besides Logan Webb & Manny Machado)

Padres

Gavin Sheets: Their starting first baseman is 0-for-8 to start the season. Last year, he hit 19 home runs and drove in 71 to go with a .746 OPS. In 21 games against the Giants, he’s 18-for-58 with a pair of homers, a triple, and 5 doubles to go with 17 RBI and 7 walks against 8 strikeouts. That’s a line of .310/.403/.534 in 67 PA. He’s 1-for-4 with a homer and 3 walks in 7 PA against Landen Roupp and 7-for-14 with 3 triples against Logan Webb.

Walker Buehler & German Marquez: They both could’ve been Giants in another life… before the team brought aboard two more investors and overcame all the “dead money” obligations that temporarily inflated their payroll. They’ll try to shake off their rough spring trainings (6.60 ERA for Buehler, 7.16 for Marquez) and reestablish themselves as reliable major league starters. They would not be the first players to use performances against the Giants as stepping stones to better things.

Adrian Morejon: Speaking of Spring Training stats (which don’t mean anything if they’re good and everything if they’re bad), the lefty reliever struck out 12 and walked just 1 in 8 IP. Last year, he had a 13-6 record out of the bullpen. He’s given up 6 runs in 26 career innings (19 G; 2.08 ERA) against the Giants while striking out 25 and walking 9.

Giants

Luis Arraez: The Giants’ second baseman will be facing his former team in a stadium where he has a career .294 batting average (139 G, 594 PA).

Jung Hoo Lee: He has a .297 average in 10 games at Petco along with a pair of home runs.

Keaton Winn: It would be really easy to say “Watch Ryan Walker every series,” because a lot of the Giants’ success this season (if that’s in the cards) is tied to how he performs; however, it’s going to take more than Walker to make this a formidable relief corps. The Giants have something in Caleb Kilian, but after that, it’s a rough draft. Winn has the stuff to become the third righty in the ‘pen and having Walker-Kilian-Winn as late inning relief options would shorten the game in a meaningful way.

Tony Vitello watch

Talent makes managing a whole lot easier, but as Tony Vitello demonstrated on Opening Night, that idea has a limit. Yes, Logan Webb is probably the best player on the roster — certainly, the best pitcher — but leaving him on the mound far longer than was warranted not only set back Webb (it’ll take a while to get that ERA down), but created a little doubt about the new manager’s confidence here in the early going. If there’s one area of the game where a manager does make a tangible impact beyond interpersonal relationships, it’s in managing the bullpen/making pitching changes. Beyond that, projecting confidence is one of those top-down behaviors that every successful organization demonstrates. The Giants were quiet and overmatched. A reflection of their manager right now?

This Padres matchup is a great test, because San Diego’s manager Craig Stammen is a brand new manager for 2026, too. He’s also an unconventional hire in that after the former reliever retired in 2023, he joined the Padres’ front office as an advisor before becoming the sixth manager hired by AJ Preller, San Diego’s President of Baseball Operations. He was a major league pitcher, though, which is more major league experience than Vitello had. He also picked up his first win this weekend.

Padres beat writer Dennis Lin wrote about Stammen’s path to the top step of the dugout and this bit stands out:

The modern game may be strengthening the case for pitchers as managers. The universal designated hitter effectively eliminated the double switch. The three-batter minimum simplified the bullpen chess that once demanded encyclopedic knowledge of platoon splits. Analytics script many in-game decisions before the first pitch is thrown. What managing means, more than ever, is handling people.

The “anyone can cook” vibes surrounding the manager position is probably another consequence of making the sport more “efficient” — as big data has the effect of cheapening the role — but Stammen and Vitello have the job, so they might as well take advantage of the opportunity. Admittedly, that might become tough to do if the losses really pile up.

Prediction time

Well, last time out, I said the Giants would avoid the sweep. They did not. However, I feel compelled to go with that again here because the alternative is an 0-6 start. Therefore, the Giants will notch their first win of the season.

The San Diego Padres avoided getting swept this Opening Weekend, winning, 3-0, on Saturday night against the Detroit Tigers.

Everything went great for the Friars in the series finale. The offense gave the San Diego pitching staff some cushion (that they wouldn’t end up needing). Randy Vásquez dominated the Tigers through six innings, and the bullpen handled business afterward.

With that, the first win of the Friars’ 2026 season is in the books, and they’re looking to add more to the win column. Who better to face than their division rivals from the Bay Area?

Taking the mound

Landen Roupp (SF) v. Walker Buehler (SD)

The 27-year-old Roupp will take the mound for San Francisco after impressing last season in his first full year as a starter.

Roupp converted over from the bullpen in 2024 and finished out ‘25 with a solid 3.80 ERA.

The Giants are pinning an abundance of hope on Roupp to perform in order to fill out the back end of their rotation.

More primarily, San Francisco has yet to win a game after being swept by the New York Yankees during Opening Weekend.

Buehler, on the other hand, struggled immensely in 2025 and is somewhat of a reclamation project for San Diego.

He was decent this spring and finished with a 6.60 ERA (most of that came from his final start where he got tagged for seven runs in three-and-a-third innings).

But if Buehler can find some of the form that saw him finish fourth in 2021 NL Cy Young voting, the Friars will see their starting rotation upside become a reality.

Batter up!

With Roupp being only the second right hander that San Diego has faced (and given that this formula worked against Detroit righty Jack Flaherty on Saturday), manager Craig Stammen will probably construct a lineup similar to that Tigers’ series finale:

1. Jake Cronenworth, 2B
2. Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
3. Manny Machado, 3B
4. Jackson Merrill, CF
5. Xander Bogaerts, SS
6. Gavin Sheets, 1B
7. Ramón Laureano, LF
8. Nick Castellanos, DH
9. Luis Campusano, C

It was a surprise to see Cronenworth in the leadoff spot for the Friars, but it will likely not be the last time.

Laureano could bat second after going 3-for-4 on Saturday night, but Tatis has a career .625 batting average against Roupp (eight at-bats). Tatis could even bat leadoff over Cronenworth due to that success.

Campusano is 2-for-2 in his career against Roupp, and he and starter Freddy Fermin have been sharing the backstop role relatively evenly thus far, so it seems possible he gets the start.

The DH spot will likely be filled by Castellanos with his splits versus righties being better than Miguel Andujar’s. But Ty France could also slot into that role since Castellanos has struggled at the plate so far (though France hasn’t been all that much better).

Relief corps

It’s impossible to understate just how much of a gem Vásquez pitched on Saturday night.

Because of that, only Kyle Hart (2 IP) and Mason Miller (1 IP) were used in relief. But with the strange, early off day that the Padres had Sunday, it’ll likely be all hands on deck with everybody available.

Miller was dominant in his 2026 debut for San Diego. The Friar Faithful can hope to see him close tonight so long as the offense can solve Roupp — alongside a shaky Giants bullpen.

With Opening Day and the first series of the year under their belts, the Red Sox stay on the road with three games agains the Houston Astros. This time it’s three games over three days, rather than over four, and the series in Texas will get us into April, a more natural time for baseball to be played.

Ranger Suárez will be making his Red Sox debut. Who is Ranger Suárez as a pitcher? It’s worth checking out Jake Roy’s breakdown on his finesse style. But suffice it to say he’s not blowing the world away with fastball velocity and is still really good. In eight years with the Phillies he put up a 3.38/3.54 ERA/FIP. He strikes out north of 20% of batters and over the last two years has dropped his walk percentage from about 9% to around 6%. He was a little behind thanks to some WBC usage but is still pitching in the fourth game of the season. He’s opposed by veteran Lane McCullers Jr., the first of three righties the Astros are starting. McCullers missed all of 2023 and 2024 due to injury and pitched in 16 games (13 starts) in 2025. The results were bad. He only tossed 8.0 innings this spring and while his walks and Ks were both going in the wrong direction, it was still just 8.0 innings. And even as he struggled in 2025 he was striking out nearly 10 batters per 9 innings. He’s possibly closer to 2022 than 2025. Can the lefty leaning Sox set him back?

The next debut day features Brayan Bello. Bello was brilliant for several months until a rough period down the stretch to close out the 2025 season. Asking Bello to be the #2 may have been too much, even when he shows flashes of great starts. But in the back half of the rotation? He might be the best #4 in the business. He made one start for the Dominican Republic and the WBC and looked good. He was good in Spring Training. These are small samples against varied competition but if he’s healthy he does have the ability to pitch well. Hunter brown finished third in the AL Cy Young voting behind Tarik Skubal and, of course, Garrett Crochet. In his first start of the season he tossed 4.2 scoreless innings while striking out 9. No walks, just four hits.

Boston follows up with the other Cy Young finalist: Garrett Crochet. Crochet basically didn’t miss a beat: 6.0 innings, 8 Ks, 2 BBs, 3 hits, no runs. The Pig is back at it. Mike Burrows for the Astros, however, wasn’t welcomed as warmly to the 2026 season. Over 5.2 innings Burrows gave up 9 hits (2 home runs), allowed 5 runs, walked 2, and struck out 6. Acquired in a three-team trade from the Pittsburgh Pirates that included the Tampa Bay Rays, this was his first outing as part of the Astros organization. The 25-year-old threw 96 innings for the Pirates in 2025 with a 3.94/4.00 ERA/FIP and 97 Ks vs 31 walks. It remains to be seen if the Astros get a little more out of him than Pittsburgh.

After one series Wilyer Abreu is red hot.

Willson Contreras and Caleb Durbin are cold.

Connor Wong already has two hits.

And after this series it’s time for the home opener at Fenway Park.

Probable Pitching Matchups

Monday, March 30: Ranger Suárez (— ERA / — FIP) vs. Lance McCullers Jr. (— ERA / — FIP)

Tuesday, March 31: Brayan Bello (— ERA / — FIP) vs. Hunter Brown (0.00 ERA / 1.63 FIP)

Wednesday, April 1: Garrett Crochet (0.00 ERA / 1.24 FIP) vs. Mike Burrows (7.94 ERA / 6.44 FIP)

When/Where to Watch

Monday, March 30 at 8:10 PM ET on NESN

Tuesday, March 31: 8:10 PM ET on NESN

Wednesday, April 1: 2:10 PM ET on NESN

Welcome back to Monday Stat Party, a weekly series showcasing the most curious and nostalgia-inducing statistical developments from the past week of Mets baseball. These can be as high-profile as becoming the youngest MLB player to homer, steal, and walk on Opening Day, or as obscure as setting a team record for the most double-digit strikeout games on Opening Day over the past thirteen years — both of which are included in today’s list. What unites each entry is the sense of intrigue which they aim to spark, and the unbridled love of the game’s anomalies from which they arise. So without further ado, let the stat party begin…

THURSDAY

Brandon Lowe’s early home run marked only the second time in 21 years that the Mets have surrendered a run in the first inning on Opening Day. In 2016, an Eric Hosmer single put the Royals up 1-0 against Matt Harvey in the first.

Pirates starter Paul Skenes was relieved after just 0.2 innings pitched, marking the shortest start for an opposing pitcher on Opening Dayin Mets history. Since 1983, only two other Opening Day starters (José Berrios in 2022 and Kyle Gibson in 2021) have failed to complete an inning of work.

The Mets’ pitching staff recorded double-digit strikeouts on Opening Day for the ninth time in the past thirteen seasons. No other National League team has done so more than seven times in that span.

The Mets scored eleven runs on Opening Day for the third time in franchise history, having done so previously in 2013 against the Padres and 1994 against the Cubs.

The Mets scored five runs in an inning on Opening Day for the fifth time in franchise history. They most recently did it back-to-back years in 2017 against the Braves and 2018 against the Cardinals.

The Mets hit multiple home runs on Opening Day for the first time since 2014, when Andrew Brown, Juan Lagares, and David Wright went deep against Stephen Strasburg, Tyler Clippard, and Jerry Blevins, respectively.

Carson Benge and Francisco Alvarez gave the Mets their first back-to-back homers on Opening Day since 1994, when José Vizcaíno and Todd Hundley went deep in the top of the third inning at Wrigley Field. Darryl Strawberry and Kevin McReynolds also accomplished the feat in 1988 at Montreal, with Strawberry’s legendary homer hitting the roof at Olympic Stadium.

Benge is one of only two Mets to homer in their MLB debut on Opening Day, joining Kaz Matsui in 2004. Benge is one of just nine Mets to reach base three times in their MLB debut, and the first since Steven Matz in 2015.

Benge is the only player to homer, walk, and steal a base in their MLB debut on Opening Day. Benge is one of just three players in the modern era to homer, walk, and steal a base in their MLB debut, joining Weston Wilson (2023) and Bert Campaneris (1964). 

Benge is also the youngest player to homer, walk, and steal a base on Opening Day, coming in just ahead of Bryce Harper and Barry Bonds. (credit: Metsmerized’s Mathew Brownstein)

Eight players made their Mets debut, marking the most in a given game since Opening Day in 1995. (credit: MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo)

For the fifth straight season, the Mets had an Opening Day starting pitcher who had never started on Opening Day for them before (Tylor Megill, Max Scherzer, Jose Quintana, Clay Holmes, Freddy Peralta). That’s only happened one other time in Mets history, from 2013-2017 (Jon Niese, Dillon Gee, Bartolo Colón, Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard).

The Mets improved to 42-23 on Opening Day, with a .646 Opening Day winning percentage that ranks first among the 30 current major league clubs.

SATURDAY

The Mets remained locked in a 0-0 tie through nine innings for the first time since April 1, 2024, when they lost to the Tigers to fall to 0-4 on the season.

Luis Robert Jr. became the fourth player in Citi Field history to notch their first Mets homer in walk-off fashion, joining Henry Blanco (2010), Eric Young Jr. (2013), and Jesse Winker (2024).

Robert hit the Mets’ first walk-off home run while trailing in the eleventh inning or later since Dominic Smith did it on the final day of the 2019 season against the Braves. Just over two hours after Robert’s home run, Smith hit a walk-off grand slam in his first game as a member of the Braves. (credit: SNY’s Mets Pregame show)

SUNDAY

Starter Nolan McLean and right fielder Carson Benge were teammates at Oklahoma State, where McLean had more homers than Benge and Benge had more strikeouts than McLean. (credit: MLB on X)

In the first two innings, McLean threw three pitches over 98 mph. During his eight starts in the majors last season, McLean threw just one pitch over 98 mph.

McLean has recorded 65 strikeouts through his first nine career starts. That ties him with Al Leiter and Mark Prior for tenth all-time. Former Mets Dwight Gooden (73) and Nolan Ryan (71) rank sixth and eighth, respectively, while Thursday’s starter Paul Skenes (70) ranks ninth.

Luis Robert Jr. is one of only four Mets to record five RBI and reach base eight times in a season’s first three games, joining David Wright (2008), Mike Piazza (2004), and Bobby Bonilla (1995). He is also the fifteenth Met to record five RBI and five hits in a season’s first three games, and the first to do it since John Buck in 2013.

The Mets have now played extra innings in two of their first three games for the fourth time in franchise history, joining 1965 (Astros), 1985 (Cardinals), and 1991 (Phillies). All four instances have occurred with the Mets as the home team.

Miscellaneous Mets stat of the week:

Only three Mets have made 10+ Opening Day starts: David Wright (12), Tom Seaver (11), and Bud Harrelson (11).

This week we have another fantastic episode for you “Birdo” brains! Joe Doyle of http://overslotbaseball.com/ joined Jake and Scott to talk all things MLB draft! The Cardinals own 6 of the top 86 picks in the 2026 MLB draft cycle. We will be covering all of the elements of that in the lead-up to one of the most consequential drafts in Cardinals history!

To follow along with all of Joe’s great insights and his podcast episodes with scouting directors and high-ranking executives, you can subscribe to his Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/cw/Overslot/membership

Follow Joe on X: https://x.com/JoeDoyleMiLB

This week, we talked about the upcoming CBA negotiations that could affect the lower levels of the minor leagues, the Cardinals’ new “type” and players who fit what they’re looking for now (hint: it’s no longer 92 MPH sinkers), players who are projecting in that 13 spot range, JJ Wetherholt and what Joe saw coming out of West Virginia, and much more! Oh, and this week is only 30 minutes so, for those of you who prefer a shorter episode, this ones for you!

Next week we will be doing our first “reader mailbag” episode of the season!

-Thanks for listening

The Dodgers have a new Class-A affiliate in the California League this season. After 15 years linked with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, 2026 is the inaugural season for the Ontario Tower Buzzers.

Ontario’s first roster is headlined by shortstop Emil Morales, who was named to top-100 prospect lists this offseason by Baseball Prospectus, FanGraphs, ESPN, The Athletic, and MLB Pipeline. The 19-year-old headlined the Dodgers’ international signing period in 2024, and later that year won Dominican Summer League MVP. Morales impressed last season in his first taste of Class-A, hitting .339/.420/.548 with a 160 wRC+, 11 doubles, five home runs in 30 games for the Quakes. If he follows outfielder Eduardo Quintero’s path from last year, Morales’s stay in Ontario might not be a long one.

Morales is one of 13 players on Ontario’s roster this year who played for Rancho Cucamonga last year, including infielders Joendry Vargas and Chase Harlan, and pitcher Marlon Nieves.

Nine 2025 draft picks by the Dodgers are on Ontario’s roster, including second-round pitcher Cam Leiter and third-round outfielder Landyn Vidourek. Vidourek played briefly for the Quakes last season. Leiter will be making his professional debut in 2026, one of nine players on the Tower Buzzers roster set to debut this year.

This group will be managed by the Dodgers’ captain of player development John Shoemaker, in his 50th year in the organization.

Ontario’s first game is this Thursday, April 2, at home against the Lake Elsinore Storm (Padres), at the brand new ONT Field.

The 2026 Major League Baseball regular season is officially underway, and the Yankees have begun their “run it back” season without a hitch after a three-game series sweep against the Giants. The first two games, including the first MLB game of 2026, were shutouts in favor of the visiting Bombers. Max Fried continued his dominance from 2025, and so did a pitcher who joined the party late last year but certainly made an impression: Cam Schlittler.

The 6-foot-6 right-hander started 14 games for the Yankees last season and posted an ERA of 2.96 in 73 innings pitched, along with 84 strikeouts. His best performance was, as many recall, in a do-or-die American League Wild Card Series finale against the Red Sox, where he pitched eight scoreless innings and posted a dozen strikeouts to advance the Yankees into the Division Series.

Coming into the 2026 season, the now-25-year-old Schlittler had big plans in the Yankees’ rotation, and his first start built an excellent foundation for him. Tasked with starting the second game of the season due to injury recoveries from the likes of Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón—no easy assignment for a sophomore player—he pitched 5.1 innings and allowed only one hit with eight strikeouts and came out with his first victory of the campaign.

But this win, there were two particular aspects about Schlittler and his approach that people around baseball paid attention to as the outing went on, concluded, and lingered: his cutter and fastball arsenal.

Of course, when Schlittler came on the scene, the first thing that was noticeable (outside of his physical attributes) was his high-powered fastball that can reach up to 100 mph and more. But Schlittler is unique in that he uses multiple fastball pitches, including a sinker and a cutter, along with his four-seam. Yet there were a couple of changes evident in his cutter and in his usage of those two pitches relative to last season.

First, Schlittler enters the 2026 season with a new grip on his cutter, which has helped him immensely. The numbers speak for themselves after just one outing.

Not only did we see a jump in movement on the pitch, but the overall velocity Schlittler was able to harness made it that much more lethal. A three-mph jump on a single pitch is simply ridiculous, and it paid dividends, as he threw the pitch 22 times and, outside of a fly out and a couple of foul balls, contact was hard to come by.

But the interesting part about Schlittler’s outing wasn’t just the jump in velocity and movement from the cutter; it was the usage of his secondary fastball pitches, and how they helped lead him to success.

Last season, Schlittler’s four-seam fastball dominated his mindset on the mound. He threw the pitch 55.9 percent of the time, with his next-highest pitch being the cutter at 19.7 percent. However, in his first outing of 2026 against the Giants, the usage changed drastically. Instead of relying on his four-seam — a pitch that’s still very hard to hit — Schlittler mixed things up, throwing the four-seam and cutter the exact same number of times (22). He followed that up by throwing his sinker 23.5 percent of the time, which he threw at only 6.1 percent in the entirety of last season.

Pitching coach Matt Blake—or someone else within the Yankees staff—seems to have pointed out that Schlittler’s fastball is his bread and butter, so why not use the three he has in his arsenal to make him even more lethal than he was before? The three pitches all move different ways but at around the same speeds, and then, if he really needs it, he can use his curveball and slider to mix things up.

It’s also worth pointing out the caveat that, yes, this is just one game of a 162-game season, and one where Schlittler is conservatively projected to pitch around 22 games and 118 innings per FanGraphs. However, if these numbers stay true—and the different profiles of these pitches stay true to what we saw in his first outing as well—Schlittler is in for one heck of a 2026, and it will be fun to watch.

Editor’s note: Now reread this entire article with “The Way” playing in the background for even more enjoyment.

The Atlanta Braves are looking to stay above .500 here in the infancy of the season and they’ll likely need a strong start from Bryce Elder if they’re going to pick up their third win in four games so far.

The Athletics are coming into this game licking their wounds a bit. The defending American League champions Toronto Blue Jays opened up their season in style with a three-game sweep over this A’s squad. In fact, Toronto’s pitching was a bit too much for the A’s to handle at times, as the Blue Jays ended up recording a whopping 50 strikeouts across the three-game series — which is an MLB record for the first three games of the season.

With that being said, whenever the Athletics did manage to make contact with the ball, they made some noise. The A’s had a Hard-Hit percentage of 36.5 percent across the first three games of the series, which placed them in fourth behind the Dodgers (sure), White Sox (actually makes sense), and the Marlins (they played the Rockies). The biggest culprit over the weekend was Shea Langeliers, who had a Barrel rate of 37.5 percent and clubbed three dingers over the course of the three games North of the border. Of course, the Braves will have to worry about guys like Nick Kurtz and Lawrence Butler waking up and also guys like old nemesis Jeff McNeil continuing to be annoying while wearing a different uniform but the onus will be on Bryce Elder to cool down Langeliers and his bat.

Speaking of Elder, this’ll be his first start of the season and if we’re being honest, he ended spring training on a high note. He struck out six Red Sox batters while only giving up one run on one hit and two walks over five innings of work. Sure, he had a blip against the Rays right before that start but he also didn’t have “mechanical issues” like Reynaldo López did, so maybe this’ll be a case of Elder peaking at the right time. It’s also been over two weeks since we’ve seen Elder pitch and while I’m sure that he’s probably had bullpen sessions between now and then, we’ll have to see how the layoff effects Elder as he gets his season going. Maybe all of these elements will translate into a shutdown performance, which would be a lovely way to mark his first time making the Opening Day roster.

Elder’s equivalent for the A’s will be Jacob Lopez, who is coming off of a successful first season with the A’s where he ended up with a 4.08 ERA (97 ERA-) and 4.26 FIP (100 FIP-) across 92.2 innings of work in 2025. “But Demetrius, those ERA- and FIP- numbers suggest that he was very average! Why was it successful and considered to be a breakout season?”

Well, the main numbers suggest that he was perfectly okay but the underlying metrics suggest that Lopez is extremely tough to deal with. His xERA in 2025 was 3.64, his xBA was .211, his average exit velocity against was a leisurely 86.9 mph, his Hard-Hit percentage placed him in the 94th percentile of all starters and he had a strikeout rate of 28.3 percent. Those are some very good numbers (as evidenced by all of the red on his Baseball Savant page) and indicate that he’s a lot better than his ERA and FIP would suggest.

He’ll also have the benefit of being a very new face for this current Braves squad to deal with. Only three current Braves players have faced Lopez before and surprise, surprise, they were the three players who have arrived here from the American League: Mike Yastrzemski, Jonah Heim (2 AB each) and Mauricio Dubón (5 AB). With Lopez being a lefty as well, that means that we likely won’t be seeing Yaz get a crack at him so that’s another thing to take into consideration. As such, Lopez’s mix of a four-seamer (35 percent usage, 91-mph average velocity), slider, cutter, change-up and sinker will be something new for the vast majority of this Braves lineup to deal with.

As far as the recent history goes, the Braves actually dropped the series out in Sacramento when these two teams last locked horns with each other. The one win for the Braves was a 9-2 laugher where the starting pitcher nearly went seven innings while striking out seven and only giving up two runs on eight hits and a walk. That pitcher? Bryce Elder, of course. While we’d certainly like to see fewer baserunners for Elder to deal with, a repeat performance would be very nice to see, thank you very much.

Can the Braves keep their good start to the season going with another series-opening win? Will the Athletics break out from a frustrating trip to Toronto with a breakout win tonight? I think we’re all rooting for the first scenario there so let’s see that one tonight happen, please.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Monday, March 30th, 7:15 p.m. ET

Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA

TV: BravesVision

Streaming: Braves.TV

Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan

After covering 32 prospects last week, we’re back to do the top 8. Today, four pitchers in the upper minors with different ceilings and 2026 outlooks.

8. Fernando Perez, RHP, age 22 (DOB: 2/12/2004), grade: 40+, 2025: 10th

Signed out of the Domincan Republic in 2022, Perez was a steady one-level-a-year guy until 2025, when he outclassed the Northwest League (3.05 ERA, 81:19 K:BB ratio over 20 starts and 94 innings) and forced his way up to AA New Hampshire as a 21 year old

Perez is a hard player to rank. He sits 92-93 and touches 95 with his fastball without exceptional movement, neither of his breaking balls are MLB average, and while his change-up will flash it’s not a plus pitch. However, his easy, almost casual looking high three quarters delivery generates exceptional, maybe 70 grade command. He can put any of his four offerings anywhere he wants with regularity.

As a result of his excellent placement, he doesn’t issue walks (5.6% for his career) and doesn’t give hitters anything over the heart of the plat to work with (0.52 HR/9 in 2025 and similar in previous years). He doesn’t miss a ton of bats, but he does everything else about as well as you can.

There’s a risk that Perez’ approach simply runs out of road, and that MLB-calibre hitters can square his ho-hum stuff up even when it’s on the black. Without a true out pitch, there’s also something of a cap on his upside. The best hope is that they Jays’ strength and conditioning staff, which I’ve seen multiple outlets describe as among the best in the game right now, are able to get a little more out of his 6’3” frame. He doesn’t look gangly or physically immature the way players who are about to add a bunch of strength usually do, but he is young and he isn’t a small guy, so it’s certainly possible. In the dream scenario, extra muscle gets him up into the mid-90s more consistently while adding bite to his breaking balls, in which case he could be a #2/3 starter. A mid-level outcome is a #5 starter who’s vulnerable to good hitting but who can limit base runners enough to churn through innings, while the downside is that he just isn’t able to get outs against MLB hitters and stalls out in AAA.

7. Adam Macko, LHP, age 22 (DOB: 12/20/2000), grade: 45, 2025: 8th

Every year there’s a guy I don’t think I’m going to have all that high in my rankings who, once I sit down and put together the probabilities that we use to underpin the expected value scores, just has to be up there. This year it’s Macko. He didn’t perform great in Buffalo’s rotation last season, but he held batters to a 73% contact rate overall and just under 82% inside the zone, both of which are solidly above average and represent steps forward over his superficially more impressive 2024.

Macko grew up in Slovakia, a noted baseball hotbed, and learned to pitch from watching YouTube. He moved to Canada and was drafted by the Mariners in the 7th round of the 2019 draft out of the noted baseball hotbed (but mostly not sarcastic this time) of Vauxhall High School in Alberta. He worked his way up to A+ in the Seattle organization before coming to Toronto in the Teoscar Hernandez deal. From there he’s gone one level at a time, establishing himself in Buffalo in 2025. He’s been maddeningly inconsistent, dealing with both actual injuries and fluctuations in his stuff and command. On the right day, he’ll spot 94-96 with a crisp slider and promising change, while on the wrong day he’ll be missing the zone entirely and sitting 91 with shaky secondaries. Things seemed to click a bit in the second half last year after a demotion to a long relief role. He sat closer to the top of his velocity range in three inning appearances and allowed just a 64% contact rate, generating 29 Ks and 61 swinging strikes in 26.0 innings while keeping his walks (6) under control.

I think that’s Macko’s most likely role going forward: a high quality multi-inning reliever who can make the occasional 5 and dive spot start. If that brings out the good version of him, the one with three 55 grade pitches that he can locate, more often, he could be an actual weapon on a good team. There’s still some hope that he finds a way to harness that quality in the rotation, in which case there could be a #3 starter in there, but that would take achieving a consistency that we haven’t yet seen from him.

6. Jake Bloss, RHP, age 24 (DOB: 6/23/2001), grade: 45, 2025: 7th

Bloss was a third round pick by out of Georgetown by the Astros in 2023. He was rushed all the way up to the majors in 2024 as they dealt with a spate of rotation injuries, before ultimately headlining the return Toronto got for sending Yusei Kikuchi to Texas. He struggled in Buffalo after the trade, and also looked shaky in early 2025 before ultimately going down for Tommy John surgery in May.

Bloss takes a big, powerful stride down the mound and gets plus extension. That allows his four seam fastball, which sits 92-95 and touches 98, to play as a close to plus pitch in spite of average velocity and movement. He has two breaking balls, a sweepy slider that also looks to be above average and a big two-plane curve that’s good for stealing called strikes. There was some indication that he was working on redeveloping his change-up last year, going to a split grip and throwing it significantly more often. It’s a potential average pitch right now. Bloss struggled to find the plate last season, but that was likely a reflection of his injury and he generally displays average command. It’s a solid, well rounded arsenal without a standout weapon but with good depth and variety.

We’re basically punting on Bloss this year. We’re willing to write off his rough start last season to the developing elbow injury, and since the return rate is so high for TJ these days we we don’t meaningfully ding his future value at this point. The risk has gone up slightly, but it’s still the look of an MLB-ready #4 starter.

5. Ricky Tiedemann, LHP, age 23 (DOB: 8/18/2002), grade: 45+, 2025: 6th

Another year, another hope that Ricky Tiedemann finally gets healthy. The Jays’ 2021 third round pick out of Golden West College in California exploded onto the scene in post-draft workouts, showcasing a massive jump in velocity and a nasty arsenal that by the end of 2022 had vaulted him to AA and to a place among the top pitching prospects in the game. Then the elbow injury bug bit. He missed two and a half months out of the middle of the 2023 season and battled multiple issues in 2024 before giving in and getting surgery. He’s been back this spring, although the Jays are being ultra-cautious and shut him down for two weeks in early March after some elbow soreness.

When he’s healthy, Tiedemann might have the nastiest stuff of any lefty in the minor leagues. His fastball sits 94-96 and touches 98 with massive arm side run. Tiedemann pitches from the extreme first base side of the rubber and has a low and long arm action, meaning the ball comes out way on the left side of the plate. For lefties it feels like the ball is coming from behind their backs, while for righties the fastball seems aimed at their chests until that big run pulls it back into the zone. He pairs the heater with a slider that has big frisbee break the other way, eating lefties alive while stealing strikes from right handed hitters who think it’s going to be in the other batter’s box until it darts over the plate. His change is a clear third pitch, but it’s still got a shot to be average or a little better. Before the elbow injuries Tiedemann repeated his delivery smoothly and consistently and looked to eventually get to average command, no mean feat with stuff this bendy.

It’s all a question of health. If his body is able to withstand 150+ innings, Tiedmann’s ceiling is nearly unlimited. If he can’t do it, the upside is capped but he could be a true closer in the bullpen with the quality of his stuff. Unfortunately, at this point we have to consider the risk that he can’t even do that regularly. That said, he’s still just 23, and rather than a spate of separate injuries it looks like one big one that took a while to figure out. Now that his elbow’s cleaned up, he reportedly has better range of motion than he’s had since being drafted. Always a physical specimen, he’s worked on leaning his body out a bit, going from a power lifter-shaped 255 in camp in 2024 to a looser, leaner 235. Take all that with the usual grains of salt for “best shape of his life” stories in February, but for now we’re going to continue to dream.

We did it, folks. We survived the long and cold baseball offseason, and now not only has San Francisco Giants baseball returned, but also San Francisco Giants Minor League Baseball.

Only one of the organization’s affiliates has started play, but that team — the AAA Sacramento River Cats — played a trio of games over the “weekend,” a term I’m using to include Friday for content planning purposes.

In the coming days, these articles will expand to way-too-many thousands of words, as more affiliates get called into action. For now, though, it’s relatively concise. Let’s dive into the action!

Link to the 2026 McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List (CPL)

All listed positions in the roundup are the position played in that particular game.

News

The start of the season always brings about a fair amount of news. Perhaps most notable is that RHP Will Bednar (No. 24 CPL) is beginning the year on the Development List. It’s not entirely clear what the reason for that is, or when he’ll be back to pitching in games and working his way towards an MLB debut, which seems likely to come this year.

On the depth front, infielder Osleivis Basabe and LHP Nick Margevicius — two players who were in camp as NRIs — are opening the year on the Injured List.

The Giants also announced a bunch of released Minor Leaguers over the weekend: RHPs Brent Honeywell, Ian Villers, Cale Lansville, Nick Sinacola, and Tyler Myrick; middle infielders Cole Foster and Quinn McDaniel; outfielders Donovan McIntyre and Miguel Blanco; and catchers Jesus Alexander, Juan Perez, and Jorge Ramirez (if I were Jesús Rodríguez I’d be a little worried right now … it’s a bad time to be a catcher with a “J” name!). Honeywell is the household name of that group, as a former 2nd-round pick with a fair amount of MLB experience. The Giants signed him late in camp to a Minor League deal, though without a camp invite, and it didn’t take long for one or both sides to decide to move in a new direction.

Foster is the most high-profile prospect name of the group, as he was a 3rd-round pick by the Giants in 2023. His bat never materialized, though, and last year, as a 23-year old, he sported just a .150/.264/.260 line in High-A, with a 32.3% strikeout rate, while also not playing too much defense.

Alexander is also a familiar name to Giants prospect hounds. The 20-year old lefty had a spectacular 2024 in the Dominican Summer League, posting a 1.033 OPS and a 171 wRC+, with 25 extra-base hits in 47 games, and a very low strikeout rate. But his stateside debut didn’t go particularly well, as he had just a .630 OPS and a 75 wRC+ in the Arizona Complex League last year. Those just aren’t good enough numbers for a player who looks more like a first baseman than a catcher, so that explains the move.

The releases of Myrick and Villers were slightly surprising to me, as teams hoard upper-minors bullpen depth, but the Giants apparently have plenty of it. Myrick was a 14th-round pick in 2021, and posted a 4.88 ERA and a 5.53 FIP last year between AA Richmond and AAA Sacramento, but is about to turn 28; Villers was an 8th-round pick in 2021 who dominated High-A a season ago, but struggled in AA.

Best of luck to all these prospects as they try to materialize their baseball dreams elsewhere … or move on to the next chapter of their lives.

Now let’s get to the games!

AAA Sacramento (2-1)

Friday: Sacramento River Cats lost to the El Paso Chihuahuas 9-3 [box score]
Saturday: Sacramento River Cats beat the El Paso Chihuahuas 5-4 (10 innings) [box score]
Sunday: Sacramento River Cats beat the El Paso Chihuahuas 5-4 (11 innings) [box score]

As far as individual performances go, it wasn’t the most thrilling start to the season for the River Cats. But as far as games go? Well, they won their opening series, with 2 of the 3 games being decided in extra innings, on walk-offs. That’s pretty danged exciting!

While walk-offs are always exciting, this pair was the furthest thing imaginable from a walk-off home run, or the other dramatic extra-innings endings that you envision when you hear the phrase. Saturday’s occurred when catcher Logan Porter hit a ground ball with the bases loaded, and the Chihuahuas were unable to get the out at home. And Sunday’s happened when catcher Jesús Rodríguez (No. 16 CPL) hit a sacrifice fly that is probably more properly described as a sacrifice pop up, it was so shallow in center field … but shortstop Tyler Fitzgerald used his best weapon — his legs — and an artful slide to score anyway.

Walk-offs notwithstanding, the highlight of the weekend for Sacramento was that the pitchers who were in play to make the Major League roster shined out of the bullpen, to a man. RHP Spencer Bivens, after spending the entire 2025 season on the MLB roster, was surprisingly optioned last week, but took it in stride: he pitched in the Sacramento opener on Friday, and tossed a no-hit inning with 1 walk and 2 strikeouts. RHP Tristan Beck, who started to come to life late in camp but was optioned, pitched on Saturday and was nothing short of dominant: he retired all 6 batters he faced, struck out 3 of them, needed just 19 pitches to get through 2 perfect innings, and threw 15 of those pitches for strikes.

Following Beck on Saturday was veteran RHP Michael Fulmer, an NRI who was reassigned. Fulmer hilariously was almost a carbon copy of Beck, from a results standpoint: he had the same number of innings (2), batters faced (6), hits allowed (0), walks (0), strikeouts (3), and pitches thrown (19), though he was even better on the strike standpoint, with a glorious 16-to-3 strike-to-ball ratio. However, Fulmer pitched the 9th and 10th innings, and while he didn’t allow a baserunner, he still got tagged for an unearned run due to the Manfred Man scoring.

On Sunday, it was a pair of NRIs: LHP Juan Sánchez (No. 41 CPL) and RHP Gregory Santos. Sánchez, who has been in the organization longer than anyone other than Logan Webb (but is only 25), pitched a no-hit inning with 2 strikeouts, though he did walk a batter and hit another. He’s still finding his control post-Tommy John — just 9 of his 21 pitches were strikes — and when he does, he’ll almost surely be ready for a Major League debut. As for Santos, he’s also working off some injury rust, which is likely the only reason he didn’t make the Opening Day roster. Sunday was a nice step forward, as he threw 16 of 24 pitches for strikes, while taking down 2 scoreless innings, with a walk constituting his lone baserunner allowed. I would be surprised if he spends too long in Sacramento before heading back to the Majors.

As for the exciting young quartet of rostered starting pitchers in Sacramento’s rotation, they all pitched, and the results were mixed, albeit mostly good. It didn’t start particularly well, though, as LHP Carson Whisenhunt (No. 8 CPL) drew the opening assignment and ran into some issues. As we saw with Whisenhunt in Spring Training, and a bit in his MLB debut last year, things were going great … until they weren’t. After allowing a single and a walk to start the season, Whiz quickly recovered with a double play and a strikeout. He set down the side in order in the 2nd inning, with a pair of strikeouts. After allowing a leadoff walk in the 3rd, he easily retired the next 3 batters. And it was 3-up, 3-down with a K in the 4th.

But things didn’t go well in the fifth, as Whisenhunt would fail to record an out, giving up a walk and 3 consecutive singles before getting pulled from the game.

In fairness to Whiz, he had some fairly poor luck. The 1st of that trio of hits was a 58.5 mph infield single. The 2nd was a bunt. The 3rd was a line drive at a high school-esque 67.4 mph. And then, to make matters worse, Whisenhunt left the bases loaded to LHP John Michael Bertrand, who allowed all 3 inherited runners to score.

As a result, Whisenhunt’s debut line doesn’t look good: 4 innings, 4 hits, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts, and 4 earned runs. But it was certainly a better showing that the results would suggest, though the Giants do need him to find the strike zone more: he threw just 44 of 71 pitches for strikes.

The other starters did well. RHP Carson Seymour took the bump on Saturday, though the Giants only had him pitch a pair of innings. He gave up just 1 baserunner in those 2 innings (a single), while striking out 3 batters, and throwing 19 of 31 pitches for strikes. I would assume the Giants stretch out Seymour as the year goes on, but his path to the Majors most likely goes through the bullpen.

And on Sunday, it was a pair of starters who piggybacked, likely to ensure that all 4 of the notable starting arms got to play in the opening 3-game series, which is followed by a Monday off-day. Kicking things off was RHP Blade Tidwell (No. 9 CPL), who was brilliant in 2.2 shutout innings, allowing no hits and 1 walk, while striking out 3. He gave way to RHP Trevor McDonald (No. 12 CPL), who took down 2.1 innings with 1 hit, 1 hit batter, and 4 strikeouts, though he allowed a run to score. Tidwell and McDonald both impressed in camp, though the latter really struggled at the end. Both seem in the running for both bullpen roles and rotation fill-in jobs.

The hitting was fairly uninspired, with the River Cats mustering just 5 extra-base hits — and no home runs — in the 3-game miniseries (most AAA series are 6 games). Third baseman Buddy Kennedy had a pair of those, as he hit 2-8 with 2 doubles, a walk, and a strikeout.

All eyes are on first baseman/designated hitter Bryce Eldridge (No. 1 CPL), who only put the ball in play in half of his plate appearances. The power lefty started all 3 games and hit 3-10, while drawing 4 walks, getting hit by a pitch, and striking out 5 times.

Left fielder/center fielder Grant McCray was an on-base machine in Spring Training, and he carried that into the start of the AAA Season, hitting 3-9 with 4 walks, a hit by pitch, and just 1 strikeout. That last number is quite nice, as the lefty had a 27.1% strikeout rate in AAA last year, and has an untenable 42.9% K rate in his MLB time. However, McCray did not get an Opening Day assignment with San Francisco, and if he looks at the person who beat him out for that role — NRI Jared Oliva — he’ll probably get an important takeaway: put that speed on display, and steal more bases. Unfortunately, we did not see that in play this weekend, as McCray did not attempt any thefts, despite constantly being on base.

Someone who did steal a base was second baseman Nate Furman (No. 39 CPL), who got the AAA assignment despite having limited time in AA. Furman had a nice debut weekend at the level, hitting 2-5 with 3 walks, 1 strikeout, and the team’s only stolen base of the weekend.

Also having a nice weekend was Drew Gilbert, who played all 3 outfield positions, as he battles McCray (and Will Brennan) for the next-man-up 4th outfielder role. He made a strong case in this series, hitting 4-12 with a double, a walk, a hit by pitch, 2 sacrifice flies, and a strikeout.

Unfortunately, it was a very tough weekend for Fitzgerald, save for that gutsy dash home to end the series. The right-handed hitter, who is in his final option year, spent the entire weekend at shortstop, but hit just 0-12 with 1 walk, 1 hit by pitch, and 4 strikeouts. He’s really been in quite a rut dating back to the midway point of the 2024 season; here’s hoping he can break out of it, because he has a lot to offer with his legs and glove.

Update: Fitzgerald has since been designated for assignment.

And that’s the first weekend of the Minor League season, folks! Much more to come!

Upcoming schedule

Sacramento has today off, but resumes play on Tuesday when they hit the road for a 6-game series against the Salt Lake Bees of the Los Angeles Angels organization. AA Richmond begins their season on Friday, with a 3-game road series against the Erie SeaWolves, the Detroit Tigers AA affiliate. High-A Eugene also kicks things off on Friday (next Monday’s roundup is gonna be exciting!), as they host the Hillsboro Hops of the Arizona Diamondbacks organization for a 3-game set. And if you don’t want to wait until Friday, don’t worry: Low-A San Jose begins on Thursday, when they visit the Stockton Ports of the A’s organization for a 3-game series of their own.

Opening Day is a time for hope. Anything can happen, even a team everyone predicted would finish in the cellar going on a run and sitting in first place most of the year! That’s what happened in 2003, when Runelevys Hernandez tossed a gem on Opening Day, beating the White Sox 3-0. That was the first of nine wins in a row to start the season, as the Royals shocked the baseball world and contended for the division title most of the season.

That hope carried over into the next season, although the team would fall far short of expectations. But the 2004 Royals at least gave us a memorable Opening Day. The Royals trailed 7-3 going into the ninth against the White Sox, but managed to rally. Light-hitting Mendy Lopez smacked a two-run home run to tie the game. Two batters later, Carlos Beltran sent everyone home with a walk-off home run for a 9-7 victory. That team only won 58 games all year, but that one was the most memorable.

What was your favorite Opening Day or home opener? Do you make it a tradition to attend the game? Watch from work? Watch with friends?