Category: Baseball

The Royals won 82 games last year, five games out of a playoff spot and four games worse than they were in 2025. It was tantalizingly close, and the reason they fell short seemed easy enough to identify – outfield offensive production. Royals outfielders collectively hit .225/.285/.348, a 73 wRC+ mark that was easily the worst in baseball.

So the goal of the offseason seemed clear. Get some outfielders that can hit! And the Royals didn’t just sit on their hands. J.J. Picollo did make a shrewd trade to get Isaac Collins from the Brewers, a promising on-base machine who hit .263/.368/.411 in his rookie campaign. He also signed Lane Thomas to a one-year deal, hoping he can bounce back from a lousy 2025 season and return to his 2023 form, when he hit 28 home runs. The Royals also acquired Kameron Misner, a Missouri product with solid minor league numbers who has hit just .203 in 79 MLB games. Oh, and they moved in the fences!

And that’s it.

There were plenty of trade rumors. Jarren Duran. Teoscar Hernández. Jake Meyers. There were rumors that they were interested in free agents Harrison Bader and Austin Hays.

There were certainly other outfielders available. Maybe Cody Bellinger (five years, $162.5 million) was too rich for their blood. But there were plenty of options in their wheelhouse.

• Mike Yastrzemski signed a two-year, $23 million deal with the Braves
• Bader signed a two-year, $20.5 million deal with the Giants
• Willi Castro signed a two-year, $18 million deal with the Rockies
• Adolis Garcia signed a one-year, $10 million deal with the Phillies
• Rob Refsnyder signed a one-year, $6.25 million deal with the Mariners
• Cedric Mullins signed a one-year, $7.5 million deal with the Rays
• Hays signed a one-year, $6 million deal with the White Sox
• Miguel Andujar signed a one-year, $4 million deal with the Reds
• Jake Fraley signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the Rays
• Mike Tauchman signed a minor league deal with the White Sox
• Michael Conforto signed a minor league deal with the Cubs

And there were outfielders that were traded.

• The Orioles acquired Taylor Ward from the Angels for Grayson Rodriguez
• The Athletics acquired Jeff McNeil from the Mets for Jordan Rodriguez
• The Pirates acquired Jake Mangum, and the Rays acquired Jacob Melton in a three-team trade with the Astros
• The Angels acquired Josh Lowe from the Rays in a three-team trade for Brock Burke
• The Mets acquired Luis Robert Jr. from the White Sox for Truman Pauley and Luisangel Acuña
• The Blue Jays acquired Jesús Sánchez from the Astros for Joey Loperfido

The Royals were reportedly willing to deal from their surplus of pitching (which some say is the currency of baseball!), but could not find a deal to their liking.

Some restraint is understandable. The Royals passed on last year’s outfield free agent class, and those players largely turned into pumpkins in 2025. Better to make no move than panic and make an ill-advised signing that saddles the payroll for years, or a trade you end up regretting.

But perfect should not be the enemy of good. It would not take much to upgrade the Royals outfield. Of the 145 qualified hitters last year, 141 out-hit Royals outfielders. What is even more curious is the Royals have not brought in a single veteran outfielder on a minor league deal to compete for a spot. Sure, these kinds of players are the dregs of the free agent market, but sometimes they show they have something left in the tank, and the cost is negligible.

Perhaps the Royals still have a move left in them. Spring training trades are not uncommon, and if pitchers start getting hurt in camp, teams may come to the Royals desperate to build pitching depth and willing to give up an outfielder.

Perhaps the Royals are hoping to make do with what they have to start the year and explore better opportunities this summer. Last year, they were able to make substantial upgrades at the trade deadline, acquiring Yasztreski, Adam Frazier, and Randall Grichuk without giving up much of anything.

Perhaps they have tied their season to Jac Caglianone and Carter Jensen. If the offense is to improve, it will be due to the development of their two most promising young hitters, not some declining veteran who, at best, improves things at the margins.

But when you’re competing for a playoff spot, the margins matter. The Royals fell just short of the postseason last year. Could another bat earlier in the year have made a difference?

The Royals are not wrong to avoid panic. They are not wrong to protect payroll flexibility. And they are not wrong to believe in internal growth. But Dodgers executive Andrew Friedman once said, “If you’re always rational about every free agent, you’re going to finish third on every free agent.”

The Royals have a potential Hall of Famer in Bobby Witt Jr. in his prime. They have another potential Hall of Famer in Salvador Perez, still in his productive years. They have some exciting All-Star caliber hitters in Maikel Garcia and Vinnie Pasquantino. They have one of the best starting rotations in baseball. They have three shutdown relievers in Matt Strahm, Lucas Erceg, and Carlos Estévez.

The opportunity is there. The Royals need to seize it.

There have been 250 big league hitters who have logged at least 650 plate appearances since the start of the 2024 season. Orlando Arcia, who somehow could not find a way to hit with the Colorado Rockies last season, ranks dead last among that group with a meager 62 wRC+ in that time.

Ranking just behind him in second to last over that time frame is resident Cincinnati Reds 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes, a player who not only was sought out by the club as a key cog at last season’s trade deadline, but was also brought in on a contract guaranteeing him at least $36 million through the 2030 season. So, he’s not just a short-term pillar of the roster assembled by the Cincinnati Reds, he’s on the books for the long haul, and will do so as an admittedly excellent defender who, by all accounts, completely lost the plot on how to hit.

That wouldn’t be so much of an issue if, say, he could move around the diamond with that excellent glovework. However, on a roster that’s been put together to be as flexible (and mobile) as possible defensively, Hayes sits as the long player on it who plays exclusively one position and one position only, doing so at a position that typically features players who also carry a big bat.

Whether or not the Reds thought they’d found something capable of being unlocked in Hayes’ offense was a question I had late last August, nearly a month after the Reds acquired Hayes (and his entire contract) from their NL Central rivals up the road in Pittsburgh. They had clearly seen plenty of the player now manning the hot corner on the regular, and it was enough to wonder whether there was some hitch, some toe-tap they thought might quickly unleash Hayes as a much more potent offensive force than he had been for quite some time.

That’s why you go and get a guy like Hayes, right? Even with his absurdly good defense (and the value that brings), you don’t just take on an entire contract like that unless you think there’s more there that the world hasn’t yet seen. Right?

Right?

Through almost four weeks, it looked as if there was at least a little bit of change. Hayes, a notorious ground-ball heavy hitter, had begun to put the ball in the air a bit more often, and his patience at the plate was improving significantly both with his chase rate and walk rate. However, by the time the 2025 season ended, much of that improvement had evaporated into the annals of ‘small sample size,’ and one defining characteristic of his batted ball data looked just the same as it always has.

He finished with a 48.1% grounder rate with the Reds after posting a 49.5% rate with the Pirates in the first half of 2025, a mark that’s very much in-line with the 50.6% rate he’s posted overall since the start of 2024 (good for the 10th highest among those 250 hitters with 650 PA). In other words, any tweak with his swing mechanics or approach was still producing a bunch of balls hit right into the dirt.

The oddity, though, is that his hard-hit rate (per Statcast) dipped from 45.3% with the Pirates in his 2025 work there down to just 35.7% with the Reds, with his soft-contact rate rising from 15.9% with the Bucs up to 23.3% in Cincinnati. His average exit velocity in Pittsburgh in 2025 had been 90.2 mph – very much in-line with his career mark of 90.5 mph – but that dipped down to a career worst 87.1 mph in his time with the Reds. His launch angle fell, too – down from 9.1 degrees to just 7.0 – while his barrel rate dipped almost a full percent, too.

That all came with a distinct spike in his walk rate, too. After walking at just a 4.6% clip in Pittsburgh in 2025 (and at a 6.9% rate for his career), Hayes walked in 10.1% of his trips to the plate with the Reds – a mark that would’ve been a career-best for a single season. He also saw his strikeout rate drop from 20.7% (and 20.4% for his career) down to 16.9% with the Reds, a mark that would also have been a career-best in a full single season. That all coincided with a nearly 4.0% drop in his swing rate, a rate that featured drops in both his in-zone and out of zone swing rates, too.

It’s enough to begin to assume that there is something brewing here with a new approach. Though it didn’t fully pan out in that short 178 PA sample with the Reds at the end of 2025, it does look like Hayes was working on being much more patient, swinging at fewer pitches, and perhaps not swinging so hard at even the pitches he did like. His .108 ISO was double that of his .054 mark in 2025 with Pittsburgh, and up significantly over the .058 ISO he posted in a full season with the Pirates in 2024, and all of this came with a .270 BABIP in a Reds uniform that would have been a career-worst mark for a single season for him.

We are going to get ample time to see if these tweaks can materialize in the form of just slightly below average offense from Hayes. His glove is going to keep him on the field for the bulk of the innings played by the Reds next year whether he hits better (or worse) than he did as a Pirate, and his contract is going to keep him on the roster even longer. And even if the power never comes, if this modified approach can result in him boosting his on-base percentage up from his career .308 mark to, say .325 and above, that’ll be a boon to a Reds offense that could use help anywhere it can get it.

The Atlanta Braves will be continuing their spring training today as they face off against the Detroit Tigers in North Port, FL. What typically happens in these games is we get to see mostly players who are slotted to have significant playing time during the regular season.

Reynaldo López is making his long-awaited return after only pitching one game in 2025. With the Braves lacking starting pitching depth, a López return can potentially have a huge role in the success of the season.

Today we will see a lineup that we may see in the regular season on days that Drake Baldwin will get some rest (until Sean Murphy returns).

📍Checking in from North Port pic.twitter.com/McNc4WqYht

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) February 24, 2026

Outside of Jonah Heim, the rest of the players look to get significant playing time this season. What will be interesting to see if this is how the Braves will face LHP starters once the season starts.

This is how the Tigers will lineup:

on the road in North Port ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/XmBu3eakBY

— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) February 24, 2026

Game Notes

Time: 1:05 ET

TV: Gray TV

Streaming: MLB.TV (free game of the day)

Radio: ESPN 103.7/WIFN 1340

If you like to have fun watching baseball, you should make a point to see some games that feature Chris Suero this year. Born in The Bronx in 2004, Suero joined the Mets as an international free agent after moving to his parents’ native Dominican Republic, and he got his professional career started as he played for the Mets’ team in the Dominican Summer League in 2022.

The short version of this story is this: Suero is a catcher who’s good at stealing bases. The vast majority of catchers in professional baseball aren’t all that fast, and even the ones who aren’t glacial on the basepaths don’t tend to attempt stolen bases.

In his age-21 season last year, Suero stole 35 bases and was caught stealing just eight times, and he hit .233/.379/.407 with 16 home runs in 475 plate appearances. And while he spends the majority of his time at catcher, he has experience in left field and at first base, as he’s logged some time at each of those positions since his move to stateside ball in Single-A Port St. Lucie and High-A Brooklyn in 2021.

Following a strong showing in Brooklyn to start the 2025 season—an .837 OPS with 13 home runs in 301 plate appearances—Suero earned a promotion to Double-A Binghamton, where he spent the remainder of the regular season. He struggled at the plate from there, as he managed to finish with just a .697 OPS in his time with the Rumble Ponies, but he fared much better in his stint in the Arizona Fall League following the season, as he hit .283/.353/.567 in the fifteen games that he played there.

Having ranked 17th on our list of the Mets’ top prospects for 2026 before the trade that sent Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat to the Brewers, there’s plenty more to read about him in Steve Sypa’s prospect list profile and in the thoughts that Lukas Vlahos and Steve shared following the publication of the full list.

While Suero is in major league camp as a non-roster invitee at the moment, he is certain to begin the year in the minors. Based on what transpired last season, it also seems incredibly likely that he’ll start the year back in Binghamton. If he shows significant improvement at the plate while continuing to be an incredibly fun player to watch, you’d have to imagine the Mets would bump him up to Triple-A Syracuse by the end of the season.

There’s no guarantee that will happen, of course, as players can stall out at either of the upper levels of the minors. Given his age and athleticism, though, it’s much more fun to buy in to Suero’s well-rounded skill set and go into this season looking forward to seeing what he can do. And if you’re able to catch a Rumble Ponies or Syracuse Mets game in person or on MiLB.tv this year, you should make a point to watch Suero play baseball.

Shamelessly stealing this question from Jacob Hausdorf in the Moose Tracks yesterday because once Star Wars comes up, that’s just like tossing a package of snausages into a kennel, but I thought this question merited some focused discussion:

Which non-Mariners pitcher and hitter are you most excited to watch this spring?

Bonus if they’re in the same division and would potentially face each other (why yes I am still in my Heated Rivalry era, why do you ask).

You can approach this question any way you like, but I specified this spring to include prospects who likely won’t make their clubs’ Opening Day rosters. I have heard so much about superprospect Konnor Griffin that I am going to deliberately subject myself to Pirates baseball in order to see some of his at-bats. I’m curious if Griffin will be sort of like Kyle Seager was in Seattle: an unbreakable talent, someone good enough to transcend whatever messed-up player development or organizational decisions or whatever has caused this long stream of futility in Pittsburgh. With Griffin and Skenes, does that feel like enough to make even the hapless Pirates a contender? (And also Bubba Chandler. And Seth Hernandez! Are the Pirates…good?)

For pitching, my homer choice is Ryan Sloan. I’d like to think that even if I weren’t a Mariners fan I’d like the guy whose teammate described him as a “centaur,” if the man part of the centaur was a fifth grader who looked like he wanted to talk to you about dinosaurs and the horse part was a Belgian Draught. But I liked Andrew Painter back in the 2021 draft, and am excited to what he can do now that he’s healthy, so he’d be a good second choice.

Also, feel free to take this as a petty pick. If you want to see how washed Verlander is as a Tiger, Round Two, this is a safe space to say that.

There are very few people who walk planet Earth who can say they played on the best baseball team in history. So, for those who were able to appear on the 1998 Yankees team, they can take pride in having been a part of arguably the greatest squad MLB has ever seen. Not only did they make it to the best baseball league across the globe, but they had the privilege of putting on pinstripes and helping the club to a record-setting year.

There are so many recognizable names that span the roster. Of course, Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams, Paul O’Neill, and many others were the most prominent (and the guys who played the most), but even a team as stacked as that gets through a season with its fair share of names who play only a handful of games. For Mike Lowell, that season in which he only played eight games was the start of what was to be a solid and tenured MLB career.

Michael Averett Lowell
Born: February 24, 1974 (San Juan, Puerto Rico)
Yankees Tenure: 1998

Lowell was born in Puerto Rico and moved to the United States with his family when he was four years old, to Miami, Florida, to be exact. He played high school baseball and was good enough to earn a draft selection by the Chicago White Sox in the 1992 MLB draft, but he decided to go to school instead after earning a scholarship from Florida International University, where he graduated with a degree in finance following some excellent summers in the Cape Cod Baseball League and the Valley Baseball League. He was a three-time All-Conference player for the Panthers and even had his number retired at the school for his performance on the diamond. In the 1995 draft, the Yankees selected him in the 20th round, and he worked his way up through the minor leagues for the next three years before debuting in 1998.

On September 13, 1998, Lowell made his major league debut against the Toronto Blue Jays, recording his first MLB hit in his first at-bat. He was called up late in the regular season and did not play in the postseason, but he received a World Series ring for playing with the team that year. Overall, he played eight games and tallied four hits with one run scored, no RBI, and one strikeout in 15 plate appearances.

Lowell only spent that season with the Yankees in the majors, as he was shipped to the Florida Marlins in the polarizing trade that netted Mark Johnson and Ed Yarnall — one that Brian Cashman once stated was his most regretted as a GM, as he chose to ride it out with incumbent surprise World Series MVP Scott Brosius rather than gradually incorporate the Top 100 prospect Lowell at the hot corner. Before the 1999 season, Lowell underwent surgery for testicular cancer that would leave him out of the Marlins lineup for the start of the year. He returned on May 29 and played in 97 games, slashing .253/.317/.419 for an OPS+ of 90.

Following that first year in Florida, Lowell established himself as one of the best third basemen in the National League. He spent another six years with the Marlins from 2000 to 2005, posting a slash line of .273/.341/.466 for an OPS+ of 111. His best season was 2003, when he finished 11th in National League MVP voting, collected his second All-Star appearance, and won his first Silver Slugger award. However, he did have to miss some time after suffering a broken hand against the Montreal Expos. After his 32-game recovery, he came back as strong as ever with the Marlins surging toward a Wild Card berth. They breezed past Barry Bonds’ Giants in the NLDS and Lowell got them off on the right foot in what would be an infamous seven-game NLCS against the Cubs by beating them in extras with a homer at Wrigley.

During the World Series against his former team, he had five hits with excellent glovework as always, helping Florida nail down the championship at Yankee Stadium. In 2004, he earned his third All-Star appearance, and in 2005, he won his first career Gold Glove at the hot corner, despite having a miserable season at the plate.

On November 21, 2005, Lowell was traded to the Boston Red Sox. The Yankees’ archrival received Lowell, Josh Beckett, and Guillermo Mota in exchange for Hanley Ramírez, Aníbal Sánchez, Jesús Delgado, and Harvey García. At the age of 32 in his first season with Boston, he wasn’t expected to be much of anything, but Lowell delivered on expectations at the time and more. He was an above-average hitter and played solid defense, but it was his second season in 2007 when he took the reins at third base and exceeded expectations. Finishing with an .879 OPS — two points off the highest of his career — he was given his fourth and final All-Star nod. And by season’s end, he finished fifth in American League MVP voting, with Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez taking home the award and Lowell finishing one spot back of his Red Sox teammate, David Ortiz. In the 2007 World Series, Lowell’s dominance continued, as he hit .400 with a home run and four RBI’s, earning him his second World Series ring and a World Series MVP trophy. He was the second Puerto Rican player to be named the MVP of a World Series, with the only other being Roberto Clemente.

Lowell continued his career until 2010, after being marred by injury problems, and a potential deal with the Texas Rangers was cancelled after the Rangers learned that Lowell had surgery on his right thumb. Following the injury issues, he was played as a backup infielder at third and first base, with his last game coming against the Yankees, where he had two at-bats and two hits in a 6-5 New York win in extras.

After his career, Lowell went into broadcasting and now works as an analyst for MLB Network. In terms of Yankee lore, he goes down as a great Coulda-Been, a player that developed into All-Star elsewhere after being unceremoniously sent out of town. In his own right, Lowell put together a more than fine career, contributing to a couple of championship teams Yankees fans certainly hated to see coming out on top.

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See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.

With Bryce Harper getting past Luis Garcia and Cliff Lee outgaining Nick Castellanos, we’ve reached the final four of the tournament to decide who was the best “late” free agent signing in recent Phillies history.

Here are the semi-final matchups:

1.Cliff Lee, 2011

It’s a shame that Lee spent the final year and a half of his contract not playing baseball, but in a way, his injury was a blessing in disguise because it made the Phillies finally begin a rebuilding effort in earnest. Up until that point, they could talk themselves into thinking a rotation headed by Lee and Cole Hamels could sneak into the playoffs.

According to Pat Gillick, just two more years #Phillies fans | http://t.co/5svQezopSk

— SPORTSRADIO 94WIP (@SportsRadioWIP) October 25, 2014

4. Jeff Hoffman, 2023

I’ve bashed Jeff Hoffman enough, so I’ll say he was a very good reliever for most of his time in Philadelphia and is definitively better than Jordan Romano.

Who should advance? Vote now!

2. Bryce Harper, 2019

Not that long ago, Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, and Juan Soto were members of the Washington Nationals. The Nats didn’t offer any of those players competitive long-term deals, but they did commit to Patrick Corbin and Stephen Strasburg. I realize pitching is important, but it feels like they might have miscalculated a bit.

6. Brad Miller, 2021

I figured there would have been more angst over Miller leaving the Phillies after 2021 considering he hit 20 home runs for them that season. My guess is that the offseason lockout and subsequent signing of a much better player in Kyle Schwarber helped mute most of the disconnect. It also didn’t hurt that Miller was very bad in 2022, racking up -1.7 WAR for the Rangers.

Who should advance? Vote now!

Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be rolling out a series of prospect previews for Spring Training. This week we look at one possibly one of the highest potential players in the system: Zach Cole

Zach Cole was selected by the Astros in the 10th round of the 2022 draft after hitting .361 as a junior at Ball State. He signed for just $97,500, but the upside was evident. An elite athlete, the left-handed hitter and thrower possesses plus power and speed, tools that show up both on the bases and in center field.

In his first full professional season, Cole hit .258 with 20 doubles, 19 home runs, 37 stolen bases, and an .869 OPS across two levels. The production was loud, though swing-and-miss concerns remained. The 2024 season proved more challenging, as injuries and adjustments at Double-A led to some growing pains.

2025, however, told a different story. After a slow start, Cole caught fire in Double-A, posting 19 doubles, 14 home runs, and an .868 OPS over 82 games. He earned a promotion to Triple-A and continued to rake, hitting .353 with five home runs in just 15 games before receiving a call-up to Houston, where he posted an .880 OPS with four home runs in 15 games. Overall, he totaled 22 doubles, seven triples, 19 home runs, and a system-leading 151 wRC+ across 97 minor league games. Read more on Cole here.

Do you think Cole will be a full-time player at the major league level?

I’m going to post this early because I have to run out this morning, but I should be back about game time. We have an early start time: 1:00 pm Eastern.

The Jays are making the stressful bus ride from Dunedin to Tampa Bay to play the Yankees at Steinbrenner Field. I found the worst traffic I’ve ever seen doing that drive. But there was a Souplantation not far from the park, and I knew someone who said they had the best tomato soup there. It was ok, not all that much better than Campbell’s can soup, but it allowed the rushhour traffic to disappear. I see that Souplantation has gone out of business since.

The Jays have the touring company on stage today. Daulton Varsho is playing center, after a couple of days of DH. Jesus Sanchez and Davis Schneider are playing too. And the two guys fighting for a utility infielder role are both out there: Leo Jimenez and Ben Cowles.

The home team is using a bunch of the regulars.

The beat reporters are talking up Eloy Jimenez, which makes me think the team is really considering him for a fourth or fifth outfielder role. A right-handed bat with power would be a useful thing.

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Jose Berrios says that he feels ‘pretty healthy’ and ‘pretty strong’ after having doubts at the start of last spring.

Jose Berrios revealed he had ‘doubt’ about the health of his arm last spring. After his first outing this spring, he said a focus on using his lower half more helped him shed that concern, plus more from a Blue Jays loss to the Mets: https://t.co/wFEEoWQPkT

— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) February 23, 2026

Chris Sale is authoring a chapter in Atlanta that may one day stand up to his legacies in Chicago and Boston.

The 2024 Cy Young Award winner and nine-time All-Star signed a one-year extension with the Braves that includes a club option for 2028, the team announced Feb. 24. Sale, who turns 37 next month, will make $27 million in 2027 and $30 million if the club picks up his option.

If so, that'd make it four years in Atlanta, which doesn't totally reach his seven years as a White Sox or his six as a Red Sox, a period that included the 2018 World Series championship.

But it's also far more than a veteran stopover on the way, potentially, to the Hall of Fame.

Sale edged Zack Wheeler for the 2024 NL Cy, when he led the circuit with 225 strikeouts and made 29 starts, the first time he stayed healthy enough to exceed 20 starts since 2019.

The injury bug bit again in 2025, when a rib cage fracture limited him to 20 starts, but Sale, at 6-6 one of the game's most imposing mound presences, remained dominant. In his two years in Atlanta, Sale has struck out 11.6 batters per nine innings, exceeding his career mark of 11.1, and posted a 168 adjusted ERA, well above his 141 lifetime plateau.

Sale's won 145 career games and has finished in the top six in Cy Young voting eight times.

Chris Sale contract detais

Sale has steadfastly avoided free agency throughout his career. He originally signed a five-year, $32.5 million extension as a pre-arbitration player with the White Sox in 2013; the deal included club options for 2018 and 2019. 

The White Sox traded him to the Red Sox before the 2018 season, and Sale signed a five-year, $145 million extension with Boston in March 2019, shortly before entering his final year under contract. 

After a trade to Atlanta and before his 2025 club option kicked in, he-reupped for two years with the Braves in January 2024, a $38 million guarantee that included the $18 million club option that he'll play under in this upcoming season. 

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chris Sale contract with Braves could be worth $57 million

Drafts are hard. The MLB Draft moreso. The tricky part about MLB’s draft is that prospects have a longer maturation time than, say, football or basketball. The draft, or the version we came to know, came into existence in 1965, replacing the Bonus Baby

In today’s baseball, a high draft pick from the MLB draft is not generally seen in The Show for a few years, unless the organization involved is being highly (and potentially recklessly) aggressive. In the past 60 years of the Draft, only 24 players have gone directly from being drafted to the majors.

In this bunch, there has been only one Hall of Famer, Dave Winfield, and one Rookie of the Year, Bob Horner of the Atlanta Braves (1978). The Dodgers have pulled this stunt only once, in 1994, with the constantly-injured Darren Dreifort.

Accordingly, it is worth revisiting MLB drafts at least five to ten years later to see what could have gone better, what went right, and what went hilariously wrong or otherwise.

As with my idea of revisiting the 1955 World Series, someone beat me to it. YouTuber Wilytics published an excellent video essay in which he analyzed the first round and conducted a hypothetical redraft based on the performances of everyone in the draft.

The 2016 Draft was notoriously thin in the first round with a gamut of unknowns, busts, and failed lottery tickets. Mickey Moniak was the number one pick by the Philadelphia Phillies, who ultimately traded him to the Anaheim Angels for Noah Syndergaard at the 2022 trade deadline. Moniak currently plays for the Colorado Rockies.

One team did fairly well in the first round, prompting this essay: the Dodgers.

Even for the Dodgers’ prodigious revenue and spending, it is easy for the uninitiated to forget that the organization has a history of drafting well. This fact remains true, even though the Dodgers typically pick in the rear of the first round. Even Andrew Friedman admits that baseball is designed for the Dodgers to have the worst farm system in baseball — on paper.

The Dodgers had three picks in the first 41 of the 2016 first round: 20th, 32nd, and 36th.

The 32nd pick was a compensation pick in exchange for soon-to-be Hall of Famer Zack Greinke signing with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The 36th pick was a compensation pick for failing to sign the 2015 35th pick, Kyle Funkhouser, who instead returned to Louisville, who was himself a compensation pick for the Boston Red Sox signing Hanley Ramirez.

One pick was an absolute home run. One pick was solid before an injury and eventual departure. The 36th pick was a bust, as Jordan Sheffield now coaches at Vanderbilt.

At Pick 20: Gavin Lux

Jim Callis of MLB.com had the following to say about the Dodgers drafting of Lux:

With Delvin Perez reportedly failing a pre-Draft PED test, Lux became the top shortstop in a Draft that’s very weak at the position. He took a significant step forward this spring, making improvements with his swing, strength, speed and arm. He grew up around the game as the nephew of former No. 2 overall pick Augie Schmidt, now the coach of Division III Carthage (Wisc.), and his instincts stand out as well.

Lest anyone forget, after cups of coffee in 2019 and the COVID Cup year of 2020, Lux was solid. in 2021 and 2022. Over these two full seasons, Lux had a slash line of .261/.338/.384, a rWAR of 4.2, and a fWAR of 4.1 over 231 games.

Accordingly, the Dodgers saw Lux as the successor at shortstop after Corey Seager and Trea Turner departed. Unfortunately for Lux, disaster struck when he tore his anterior cruciate ligament and strained his right lateral collateral ligament at the start of 2023’s Spring Training.

Gavin Lux has been carted off the field after sustaining an injury running into third base. pic.twitter.com/Glh5Z7jFEh

— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) February 27, 2023

While Lux did return and rebound with a 2.1 rWAR / 1.4 fWAR / .251/.320/.383 10-home run season in 2024, Lux could not handle throws from shortstop and largely played at second base.

Lux was ultimately dealt to the Cincinnati Reds before the start of the 2025 season for prospects (hello Mike Sirota!) and is now on his third organization in two years.

At Pick 32: Will Smith

Jim Callis of MLB.com had the following to say about the Dodgers drafting of Smith:

There was buzz he was going to go at the end of the first round or early in the supplemental first round, so this makes sense. He might hit .260-.270, give you a little bit of power, be a good receiver and give you a good arm behind the plate. I had one scout give me a plus run time on him.

Talk about an undersell.

The Dodgers ended up with a stalwart, foundational backstop who took over primary catching duties in 2019 and did not let go. Over the past seven seasons, Smith has racked up 23 rWAR / 22.4 fWAR with a combined slash line of .264/.358/.476 and 128 home runs. Smith has averaged 132 wRC+ over seven seasons, never dipping below 109 (2024).

Smith will be a Dodger through 2034, earning a 10-year, $140 million extension in 2024 doing taciturn, yeoman’s work, likely en route to the Hall of Pretty Good with the occasional postseason heroics, most recently the final run of the 2025 season.

At this point, Dodgers fans can giggle over the fact that two catchers were picked before Smith, and most of the league, including the Dodgers themselves, passed on Smith until pick 32 of the Draft.

Jim Callis did a redraft essay for the 2015 MLB Draft and will probably do one for this subject draft, too. If Smith does not go first or second in this hypothetical, what are we doing here?

And the rest of the Dodgers’ haul

Now, as alluded to before, the Dodgers did better than most teams in this draft. But they still whiffed in places as most teams do, with Sheffield, outfielder and fourth-round pick D.J. Peters, outfielder and seventh-round pick Luke Raley, pitcher and twenty-third round pick Bailey Ober (did not sign), and pitcher and thirty-eighth round overslot pick Kevin Malisheski (signed for $248,500 and only got as high as a cup of coffee in Double-A Tulsa), to name a few.

The Dodgers signed plenty of familiar names in the later rounds of this draft.

• Second Round, Pick 65 – Pitcher Mitch White
• Third Round, Pick 101 – Pitcher Dustin May
• Ninth Round, Pick 281 – Pitcher Tony Gonsolin
• Fourteenth Round, Pick 431 – Pitcher Dean Kremer (traded, in part, for Manny Machado in 2018)
• Thirty-third Round, Pick 1001 – Shortstop Zach McKinstry

If what the Dodgers were doing was easy, other teams would or should do it. However, other organizations are publicly cutting scouting staff, which is far cheaper than spending top dollar on the free-agent market. Moreover, in situations like the signing of Roki Sasaki in 2025, all of the teams were generally forced into the same or similar financial constraints.

And Sasaki still came to Los Angeles, regardless of Toronto acquiring Myles Straw in a last-ditch effort to increase the size of the financial pot. The Dodgers are currently thriving in the current system, finding overlooked value that every team has access to.

Fun with Ben Rortvedt

Fan favorite and current resident of the New York Mets’ system, Ben Rortvedt, was selected in the second round with Pick 56 by the Minnesota Twins. With no disrespect to Rortvedt, here are some notable Major Leaguers picked afterwards, just on the first day of the Draft.

• Pick 59 – San Francisco Giants – Outfielder Bryan Reynolds
• Pick 60 – Anaheim Angels – Outfielder Brandon Marsh
• Pick 64 – New York Mets – First Baseman Pete Alonso
• Pick 66 (immediately after the Dodgers picked Mitch White) – Toronto Blue Jays – Shortstop Bo Bichette

Yes, that Bo Bichette, who now plays third base for the Mets, after they allowed Alonso to depart in the 2025 offseason. Baseball! Bichette was Wilytics’ pick for the number one pick of a hypothetical 2016 redraft.

Sometimes these picks work out, and sometimes they do not. The Dodgers did get value and depth out of Mitch White before trading him to Toronto in 2022. And other times, picks are absolute disasters that do not bear terrible fruit until much later.

To conclude this brief retrospective, we return to two picks after Gavin Lux in the first round, where the Pittsburgh Pirates selected Third Baseman Will Craig. A Dodgers fan could be forgiven for not instantly recognizing that name without the prompting of the greatest (or most infamous) baseball blooper in the twenty-first century so far.

Javier Baez of the Cubs hit a weak ground ball to third base in the second inning with two outs against the Pirates on May 27, 2021, in Pittsburgh. Then absolute insanity broke out, leading to the unlikeliest and most unearned two-run rally in recent memory, with Baez ultimately scoring later in the inning and providing the ultimate margin of victory.

Why Craig did not touch first is one of the unanswerable questions of our time.

Good Morning! The Mariners fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-0 in yesterday’s Spring Training action. Logan Gilbert’s first start of the spring showcased his deadly splitter as he worked through two scoreless innings, allowing one hit with two strikeouts and two walks. Gilbert reiterated recently that his goal for every season is 32 starts and 200 innings. How many starts and innings do you predict he will reach in 2026?

In Mariners news…

• At the end of last season, Julio Rodriguez approached Cole Young’s locker and gave him some direct advice for improving his game. Young took those words to heart, and his first step in development was a serious offseason training regimen.
• Lefty reliever Jose A. Ferrer brings much-needed reinforcement to the team’s right-handed heavy bullpen.
• Infielder Brendan Donovan joined Seattle Sports 710 AM’s Brock and Salk yesterday morning to share his excitement for the upcoming season.

Around the league…

• The Chicago Cubs have signed veteran outfielder Michael Conforto to a minor league deal to add some depth behind a strong starting outfield group.
• Led by former Mariners minor league pitching coach Alon Leichman, the Colorado Rockies’ new approach to pitching in 2026 brings unique perspectives and opportunities together. Leichman has paved an incredible career path since working for the Mariners, and if you are interested in learning more about his dedication and background, check out this profile I wrote about him way back in 2020!
• The Miami Marlins’ third base competition has opened up after Graham Pauley was shut down yesterday due to forearm tightness. Pauley was set to compete with fellow 25-year-old Connor Norby for the starting third base spot, but has yet to appear in a Spring Training game.
• To properly implement the new ABS system, MLB is precisely measuring every hitter’s height to determine the correct placement of the strike zone.
• The San Francisco Giants have signed RHP Brent Honeywell Jr. to a minor league deal that does not include an invite to Spring Training.
• Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal plans to only make one start for Team USA in the upcoming World Baseball Classic, no matter how far the team advances in the tournament.

Third base prospect Jacob Reimer will spend some time in camp this year as a non-roster invitee. Reimer enjoyed a breakout 2025 season where he hit .282/.379/.491 with 17 home runs and 77 RBIs split between High-A Brooklyn and Double-A Binghamton. His success saw him rise up the prospect rankings, with Amazin’ Avenue rank him seventh in the Mets system. MLB Pipeline has the 22-year-old ranked as the second best prospect in baseball at his position and Baseball Prospectus lists him as 70th in their top 100 prospect rankings.

The big righty won’t break camp with the major league team but Carlos Mendoza wants the top prospects to be around the major leaguers to learn from them and pick their brains as much as possible. As for Reimer he is using the opportunity to work on his bat speed and his defense according to The Athletic. Reimer still sees himself as a third baseman but with his build and athleticism he might be better suited for first base in the future.

Reimer played in 61 games at Double-A in 2025 and found some success after the promotion. He hit .279/.374/.479 with 9 home runs and 38 RBIs with the Rumble Ponies. He will most likely start the season in Double-A but he could continue to rise and see some time in Triple-A this season. He is a long shot to make it to the majors in 2026 but if there are enough injuries, he has an outside chance to get the call. This season it will be interesting to see if he is moved off third base and if the organization views him as their potential first baseman of the future.

In our most recent Rangers Reacts Survey, we asked which of the veteran pitchers who the Rangers have brought to spring training on a minor league deal y’all thought was most likely to make the team on Opening Day.

Well, the votes are in, and you went with an old favorite:

Josh Sborz, hero of the 2023 World Series, has dealt with injuries the past two seasons, and was non-tendered back in November after not pitching in the majors in 2025. It would be a great story if he could make it back.

38 year old righthanded reliever Ryan Brasier was the next choice, followed by former first round pick Cal Quantrill, who would appear to be vying with Kumar Rocker and Jacob Latz for the fifth starter job.

I had forgotten that Nabil Crismatt was done for the year due to a torn UCL when I did this poll, or else I wouldn’t have included him. Still, there are a few folks who have faith in him making the greatest injury comeback — or, at least, quickest — of all time.

The Reds made the postseason in 2025. Did you notice? They were dispatched quickly by the Dodgers. And, they had the worst record of any of the postseason teams at 83-79.

Still, that’s something to build on, and the Reds are indeed building.

Key departures: Zack Littell, Nick Martinez, Austin Hays, Brent Suter, Yosver Zululeta, Gavin Lux

Key arrivals: Nathaniel Lowe, Eugenio Suárez, JJ Bleday, Ben Rortvedt, Pierce Johnson, Brock Burke,

Eugenio Suárez is the active MLB leader in home runs against the Cubs with 36. So it made me very happy when he was traded to the Mariners last summer — had he stayed there, the Cubs would have had to face him only one series a year.

Now Suárez will come back and torture Cubs pitching again. As you’ll recall, he had a four-homer series against the Cubs last April in Arizona, then hit another in that wacky 13-11 Cubs comeback win at Wrigley.

Granted, Suárez is now 34, but I do not look forward to seeing him play 13 games against the Cubs this year. He’ll be mostly a DH with Ke’Bryan Hayes now a Reds fixture at third base.

Otherwise the Reds return most of their 83-win team from last year. Former Cub Pierce Johnson joins a strong bullpen, and Hunter Greene has become one of the better pitchers in the league. Another starter to watch is Chase Burns, who was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 Draft out of Wake Forest. He struggled at times in his debut season, but can throw 100-plus just as Greene can.

The Reds might be tougher competition for the Cubs in the NL Central than the Brewers in 2026.

At Wrigley Field: May 4-5-6-7 and Aug. 28-29-30

At Cincinnati: July 10-11-12 and Sept. 18-19-20

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