Baseball News
Dodgers offense has nowhere to go but up in this series.
The San Francisco Giants wrap up this three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers this afternoon from Oracle Park.
Taking the mound for the Giants will be right-hander Logan Webb, who enters today’s game with a 5.10 ERA, 3.41 FIP, with 27 strikeouts to 11 walks in 30 innings pitched. His last start was in the Giants’ 10-5 win over the Washington Nationals on Friday, in which he allowed four runs (three earned) on seven hits with six strikeouts and two walks in six innings.
He’ll be facing off against Dodgers right-hander Tyler Glasnow, who enters today’s game with a 3.24 ERA, 2.58 FIP, with 29 strikeouts to six walks in 25 innings pitched. His last start was in the Dodgers’ 7-1 win over the Colorado Rockies on Friday, in which he allowed one run on two hits with seven strikeouts and two walks in seven innings.
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Who: San Francisco Giants (11-13) vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (16-8)
Where: Oracle Park, San Francisco, California
When: 12:45 p.m. PT
Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area
National broadcast: n/a
Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM
If you are a MLB team, you’ll have fallow stretches. Let’s consider the 2025 season:
The World Series winning Los Angeles Dodgers went 10-14 in the month of July, but still secured their division with a 93-69 record en route to MLB’s first repeat title winner in 25 years.
April 10-May 7 saw the Toronto Blue Jays go 8-15, en route to a 94-68 record, the AL East crown, and American League Pennant.
From June 30-August 5, the 94-68 New York Yankees went 12-19, a .387 win percentage.
MLB’s best regular season club, the Milwaukee Brewers, were 97-65 overall but went 8-14 from April 23-May 17th.
Twice, the 96-66 Philadelphia Phillies fell 5.0 games back in the NL West in a year they’d wear its crown by 13 games. The first time came after a five-game losing streak including a sweep at the hands of the Mets, part of a 5-10 stretch from April 10-25th. The second was more dire, a 2-10 run from May 29th thru June 10th which saw them swept by the Brewers and their intrastate competitors in Pittsburgh. They dropped 7.0 games from their original standing in the divisional race in under two weeks.
If that final stretch scratched a particular itch for you, it may be its rhyme with the Seattle Mariners of 2025. Those 90-72 M’s went 4-13 from May 24th-June 11th, crumbling against several subpar clubs after dropping two of three to the Astros and converting a 2.5 game AL West lead into chasing 4.0 games, eventually stretching to 7.0 at early July’s sneaky nadir.
This isn’t inherently predictive. These 2025 clubs all recovered for playoff seasons. The Astros, Orioles, Braves, Mets, and Diamondbacks all entered 2025 with better-than-coinflip odds of making the playoffs according to ZiPS, with Houston, Baltimore, and Atlanta outright favored to win their divisions. Every one had at least one stretch as bad or worse than Seattle’s 10-15 start (blessedly now 11-15) to 2026. Every one missed the playoffs.
It’s easier to point to the reasons why in those instances. Baltimore, Atlanta, and Houston saw major stars and/or their entire pitching staffs evaporate due to injury. Arizona suffered from the loss of Corbin Burnes after 11 brilliant starts as well as a cartoonishly stars and scrubs affair in their order. And of course, the Mets continued their interminable immersive performance, hidden secretly in their founding deed, condemning them to draw new generations closer to the works of Camus.
Seattle’s only endured some moderate injuries in 2026, with Bryce Miller ably spelled by Emerson Hancock. Brendan Donovan’s absences have hurt the lineup, but defensively Seattle was always going to be atrocious on the infield, which is the localization of “Angels In the Outfield” in the Stygian realms. Not a single member of Seattle’s front office expected nor counted on full healthy seasons from Victor Robles nor Miles Mastrobuoni.
But health isn’t the only factor. Those unfortunate clubs also saw a their rivals feast on their corpses, as well as those of others. Atlanta and New York finished more than a dozen games behind Philly, as did Arizona of the Dodgers. Baltimore and Houston had not only their own troubles, but gauntlets to face in the form of their divisional rivals. Houston got elbowed out by these M’s, while the O’s were feasted upon by an AL East that sent three clubs to the playoffs.
As it stands, Seattle is in fine shape. Ryan wrote recently on this subject of good teams sometimes having bad stretches, and vice-versa. He noted in his bullet points the hitting being great, except the most important players who receive the most plate appearances and have previously demonstrated the strongest capabilities and track records. In their series with the Athletics, Seattle’s stars finally flared, with Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez, and Josh Naylor all securing 6+ hits and some massive boosts to their season numbers.
But just as vitally, the closing point today is how little the rest of the AL West has done to strike upon Seattle’s exposed early struggles. FanGraphs places Seattle’s playoff odds at 70.1% entering Thursday’s off day, tops in the division comfortably, with Texas now a bit better than a coin flip and the ostensible leaders in Sacramento at a 32.8% clip. PECOTA is bolder, seeing the M’s still as division favorites by majority over plurality, and averaging an 87.9% playoff odds.
Unless you believe Seattle to be fundamentally far worse than they were expected to be a few weeks ago, the rest of this season shouldn’t be scuttled from sitting 1-2.5 games back of three flawed clubs. The way the standings sit at present, the American League West is the only division with just a single >.500 team, with the 13-12 Athletics the worst division-leading club around. Their -15 run differential doesn’t endorse them ringingly, and the rest of the 12-12, 12-14, and 10-16 opponents are between where they were expected to be and worse. If Seattle was off to a scalding start, the way the division looks might have a repeat AL West crown looking like fait accompli. As it is, we can still settle for it looking likelier than not.
A rare three-hour game for the Diamondbacks last night: 3:02, to be precise. Just the third of the season, and the first at Chase Field since the home opener. I guess at least it gave the SnakePitette and her husband their money’s worth: they were at the ballpark for the first time together. She popped in to borrow some items from the extensive collection of D-backs wear possessed by Mrs. SnakePit and myself. I await a report on whether they had… what is it the young people call it? Oh, yes: “fun”. Maybe not a game for baseball purists, but with six home-runs and three triples, no shortage of action.
Despite last night, the D-backs are actually seeing shorter games in general this year, even though we now have ABS challenges. The average game has been 2:41 long, which is three minutes less than last season. However, a factor there may be the lack of extra innings: Arizona has played only three frames over regulation through 24 games. That’s one every eight games, which is below last year’s rate of one extra inning every six games. Across all of baseball, nine-inning games are on average four minutes longer than in 2025. Right now, they average 2:42, which is the longest since the pace of play changes came in for the 2023 season.
We are seeing slightly more plate appearances per game, and also the number of pitches per plate-appearance is higher. The former may be due to an increase in extra-inning games: at 9.5%, the current rate would be the highest since 2013. The latter is at 3.93 pitches/PA, the second highest since records started being kept in 1999 (it was 3.97 in 2020). I wonder if this is a result of ABS? I do note we are seeing more walks per game than any year since 2000. But strikeouts are also up on last year too, so… We are still less than a month in to the new normal though, so let’s see how things work out.
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It’s rubber match time in the Battle of the Bats between two teams that have scored 34 runs, walloped 12 homers, and — most amazing — sped to six triples in the first two games of the series.
On the White Sox side, Munetaka Murakami has homered in five games in a row, tying team and MLB rookie record streaks; Colson Montgomery is right behind with a four-game streak; and — bet you didn’t have this on your Bingo card — Miguel Vargas has gone deep three in a row, giving him five for the season, in a tie with Shohei Ohtani.
Trying to ice down the torrid timber will be two pitchers who have had very good seasons so far, Davis Martin for the White Sox and Michael Soroka for the Rattlers. They’ve each only given up two homers in more than 20 innings pitched.
Martin is 3-1 with a tremendous 2.16 ERA and 1.00 WHIP and held the A’s to three hits and one run over seven innings his last time out. Soroka is 4-1 with a 2.78 ERA and 1.06 WHIP and held Toronto to five hits and two runs in seven innings during his last start.
Righty Soroka will face a White Sox lineup that earlier in the month went seven games scoring no more than three runs, usually fewer, and now has gone five games scoring no fewer than six runs, usually more. The only Sox he’s ever faced are Andrew Benintendi and Reese McGuire, and for what it’s worth, they’re 3-for-3 against him.
Martin has almost as little experience against Arizona players, with Geraldo Perdomo the only one with a hit among the five at-bats.
First pitch is scheduled for 2:40 CST on what is bound to be a pleasant afternoon under the dome. Usual broadcast suspects.
The excitement for the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday came from the Major League team, which shut out the Los Angeles Dodgers in a thrilling 3-0 affair. But there was excitement on the farm as well, with all four of their Minor League Baseball A-ball affiliates in action. So let’s dive into it.
Link to the 2026 McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List (CPL)
All listed positions in the roundup are the position played in that particular game.
Just a little bit of injury news. RHP Reid Worley (No. 36 CPL) was placed on the full-season injured list. This is more of a formality than news, since Worley — who was taken in the 9th round out of high school last year — had already announced that he recently underwent Tommy John surgery.
Unfortunately, AA RHP R.J. Dabovich was moved from the 7-Day IL to the 60-Day. Dabovich has a ton of talent, but injuries have limited him to just 18.1 innings over the last 4 seasons.
Sacramento River Cats lost to the Albuquerque Isotopes (Rockies) 6-0
Box score
The River Cats finally got on the field on Wednesday, after having yet another rain out on Tuesday, the latest of oh-so-many postponed games for them this year. Wednesday’s game was postponed as well, as it was a scheduled 12:05 start time but got pushed to the evening to avoid the storm.
Unfortunately, Sacramento probably wishes the game had been canceled altogether, as it did not go well for them at all. The hitting was very poor and the starting pitching was very poor. The only saving grace came from the bullpen, which was fantastic … and featured a lot of players that the Giants are likely to count on throughout the year.
Most notably, Sacramento had a pair of rehab appearances, as both LHP Sam Hentges and RHP Joel Peguero (No. 27 CPL) took the mound. Hentges wasn’t at his sharpest — he gave up a walk in an otherwise clean 6th inning, and threw just 5 of 13 pitches for strikes — but he was still quite effective. Notably, the walk is the only baserunner he’s allowed so far through 4 rehab appearances. I’d say everyone is excited for Hentges to make his way to San Francisco’s bullpen. Well, everyone except Ryan Borucki, most likely.
Peguero was even better, pitching a perfect inning with a strikeout, though he also threw just 7 of 15 pitches for strikes. The triple digit-throwing righty has an ugly ERA (7.20) due to a blowup outing, but if you remove that game, he’s been unhittable: in his other 4 rehab appearances, Peguero has allowed 0 hits and 1 walk in 4.1 innings, with 5 strikeouts.
RHP Tristan Beck, who is also on the 40-man roster, had a nice performance as well, giving up a walk but nothing else in a scoreless 8th inning. Add in showings from RHP Michael Fulmer and LHP Nick Zwack, and the River Cats’ bullpen gave up just 1 hit and 3 total baserunners in 4.2 shutout innings.
The starting pitching was not so good, however, as LHP Carson Whisenhunt (No. 8 CPL) once again labored through a not very encouraging start. Entering the game, Whisenhunt had been very bad at 2 things this year, and very good at 2 other things. The bad things: regularly throwing strikes and, when throwing strikes, making them not easily hittable. The good things: striking out batters, and limiting runs, even when in trouble.
Unfortunately, in this game, he did the 2 bad things, but didn’t do the 2 good things.
It wasn’t Whisenhunt’s worst strike-throwing performance, as he finished with 53 strikes in 88 pitches, a subpar but not horrible number. But he had issues throwing strikes when he needed to, as he walked 3 batters and hit another in just 4.2 innings of action. And those free passes hurt him in part because he was, again, getting punished for throwing hittable pitches, as Whiz gave up 5 hits, which included a home run and a double (although, in his defense, they were ceded to a pair of top-10 picks, Zac Veen and Charlie Condon, respectively).
As for the good things that Whisenhunt has been doing, they were absent in this game. He was unable to sequence his baserunners to avoid an ERA-buster of an outing, as he got tagged with 6 earned runs. And he struggled to miss bats all night, finishing with just 2 strikeouts, only 1 of which was swinging.
With the outing, Whisenhunt’s ERA fell to 5.85 and his FIP to 4.54, and the stuff under the hood isn’t all that encouraging. His strikeouts per 9 (9.9) is good but not great, while his walks per 9 (6.3) is awful. He has a very low ground ball rate (36.2%) and is just 24th percentile in expected batting average against. Despite Veen’s dinger, though, Whisenhunt has actually been doing a good job suppressing home runs (that’s the only one he’s allowed in 20 innings this year) and hard contact (his average exit velocity of 86.7 mph is 70th percentile).
But I would assume the Giants will have some hesitation turning to Whisenhunt if they need a spot in the rotation plugged. The walks are fairly antithetical to what the Giants are looking for, and they drive up his pitch count. Take a look at his starts, and you’ll see something the Giants are desperately hoping to avoid in San Francisco:
But Whisenhunt can at least take solace in the fact that his offense was no better than he was. Sacramento mustered just 6 hits on the day, and all of them were singles. A pair of hitters had multi-knock games, though, as right fielder Victor Bericoto (No. 35 CPL) and third baseman Buddy Kennedy both went 2-4. Bericoto, who struck out once, has had a fairly quiet start to the season after a spectacular spring, but he’s been holding his own in his 1st extended stint in AAA, posting a .780 OPS and a 106 wRC+ with a 24.0% strikeout rate. He’s not forcing the issue (yet), but he looks comfortable. Kennedy is remaining a reliable veteran emergency depth option, as the 27-year old is posting a .333 average and an 18.3% strikeout rate, en route to an .829 OPS and a 128 wRC+.
Sacramento’s top hitting prospects struggled, as first baseman Bryce Eldridge (No. 1 CPL) went 0-4 with a strikeout, while catcher Jesús Rodríguez (No. 16 CPL) hit 1-4 with a strikeout.
Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Somerset Patriots (Yankees) 9-8
Box score
The shoe was on the other foot for the Squirrels in this game. They’ve been full of magic all year long, but in this game, they were on the receiving end, as they held an 8-3 lead going into the 7th inning … and an 8-6 lead entering the 9th … and watched the Patriots come storming back for a victory.
That 9th inning rally was ceded by someone new to the organization, RHP Brad Deppermann, a 29-year old Minor League free agent appearing in his 2nd game with Richmond. Deppermann gave up 3 hits and 3 runs (with 3 strikeouts) in 1.2 innings, including a pair of home runs in the 9th.
And that pair of home runs? Well, Deppermann may be new to the organization, but one of the batters he was facing certainly was not, as Somerset second baseman Marco Luciano went deep in the 9th inning as part of a 2-3, 2-walk day.
It’s been a rough past year for the former top prospect in the Giants organization. He ended the 2025 season — and his Giants tenure — in the slump of all slumps, and then proceeded to be designated for assignment by 4 different teams over the offseason. He finally cleared waivers, was outrighted by the Yankees, and proceeded to hit 1-25 with 10 strikeouts in Spring Training, which resulted in what was surely a highly disappointing opening assignment in AA.
But he’s been making the most of it. His solo shot off of Deppermann, which pulled the Patriots to within a run, was his 4th of the year, and gave him a 1.119 OPS and a 181 wRC+ on the season. He’s also back to the infield, as he’s played exclusively at second base so far for Somerset. That said, it hasn’t all been good: despite the gaudy numbers, Luciano has a 26.2% strikeout rate, and on Wednesday committed his 5th error of the season as he takes his 2nd stab at learning the position.
One thing’s for sure: I’ll be rooting for him.
Anyway, talking about a hitter on another team is really a way of distracting from talking about the pitchers on Richmond, because they weren’t good. Deppermann was the worst, but the starter, LHP Greg Farone, wasn’t a ton better, as he threw just 41 of 70 pitches for strikes, walked 3 batters in just 3.1 innings, and got tagged for 3 runs. Farone did strike out 5 batters, which is nice, and he only allowed 2 hits, but those hits were a double and a home run, so it’s not like he was fooling everyone.
The 2024 7th-round pick doesn’t have very good numbers this year — he has a 5.40 ERA and a 4.16 FIP — but it is nice to see the strikeout stuff coming back. In his debut season last year, the soon-to-turn 24-year old southpaw had 13.0 strikeouts per 9 innings with Low-A San Jose, but just 7.9 with High-A Eugene. Through 4 starts with the Squirrels, the Alabama alum has bounced back to 12.0 Ks per 9.
RHP Will Bednar (No. 24 CPL) is getting reacquainted with Richmond after he was sent down a level to open up a spot on the AAA roster for the rehabbing Sam Hentges. Throwing strikes and limiting walks is what Bednar needs to work on, and Wednesday was a step in the right direction, as he tossed 19 of 28 pitches for strikes and didn’t walk any batters in 1.2 scoreless frames. He did allow 2 hits, but also struck out a pair of Somerset hitters.
The offense, on the other hand, was much better. And it was once again led by the red-hot duo of third baseman Sabin Ceballos (No. 43 CPL) and left fielder Scott Bandura, who combined for 3 of the team’s 4 extra-base hits.
For Ceballos, it was another big fly, as the 23-year old righty went 1-4 with a solo shot, while also drawing a walk, stealing a base, and striking out once.
He’s up to a .939 OPS and a 138 wRC+ as he looks to put his mediocre 2025 behind him, and most notable is the re-infusion of power. After getting traded to the Giants in 2024 in the Jorge Soler deal, the 2023 3rd-rounder smacked 7 home runs in just 32 games with High-A Eugene. But last year, in his AA debut, the former Oregon star hit just 6 home runs in 108 games.
This year? He’s only played 14 games, and he already has 4 big flies. Keep ‘em coming! His 4th home run last year came on August 13, so he is way, way, way ahead of schedule!
As for Bandura, he went 2-5 and bopped both a triple and a double. The sweet-swinging lefty is having an absolutely majestic start to the season, after struggling with Richmond following a late-season promotion a year ago. During that 45-game stint, Bandura hit just .199, struck out 30.6% of the time, and had a subpar .626 OPS and 88 wRC+.
This year? He’s hitting .333, he’s dropped his strikeout rate all the way to 15.2%, and he’s rocking a .940 OPS and a 141 wRC+. Just a tremendous start for the 2023 7th-rounder, who will turn 25 in August. Let’s hope he can keep it up!
Center fielder Jonah Cox continued his nice start to the season, hitting 1-2, drawing 2 walks, and stealing a base (though he was also caught stealing). The 24-year old is having an absolutely blistering year, with a 1.074 OPS, a 186 wRC+, and 10 stolen bases in 12 attempts. Those are pretty remarkable numbers, especially considering he hit basically league average last year in High-A.
On a less happy note, center fielder Bo Davidson (No. 4 CPL) sat for the 2nd straight game. Per Roger Munter, Davidson was a late scratch from Tuesday’s lineup after experiencing wrist or forearm discomfort during batting practice. Hopefully that’s a minor ailment.
Eugene Emeralds beat the Hillsboro Hops (Diamondbacks) 6-3
Box score
Hello Walker Martin, how do you do!
One of the most fun things about Minor League Baseball is that every system has a few breakout players in it each year, and they come from the least expected places. For the Giants last year, for instance, it came largely from previously unheralded players … guys like 17th-round pick Drew Cavanaugh, and undrafted free agent Bo Davidson, and lower-budget international signings such as Argenis Cayama, Keyner Martinez, and Luis De La Torre.
Those are such feel-good stories, but an underrated feel-good story is the former top prospect who fell off and then reinvents themself. And so far, if we had to assign far-too-early labels and narratives to the season, one of the best stories of the year would be Martin fitting into that category.
It’s been a strong High-A debut for the third baseman, and Wednesday was his strongest game yet, as he was absolutely electric in every phase of the game. He hit a perfect 2-2, with both a towering solo home run and a double. He drew a pair of walks. He stole a base.
When the Giants used a 2nd-round pick on Martin in 2023, they thought they were getting an excellent athlete who had a rare blend of power and speed for an infielder. What they got instead, at least at the beginning, was someone who didn’t look so exceptional athletically, and also couldn’t make contact with the baseball.
The contact issues, if the start to the season is any indication, are getting resolved. In 2024, between the Complex League and Low-A, Martin hit .218 with a 41.0% strikeout rate. Last year, spent entirely in Low-A, he hit .234 with a 28.4% strikeout rate.
And so far this year? He’s boasting a .280 average and just a 24.1% strikeout rate. And along the way he’s started to show off some of those dynamic athletic traits. His 6 extra-base hits in just 58 plate appearances give him an isolated slugging of .240, which ranks 7th out of 45 Northwest League hitters with at least 50 plate appearances this year. And a year after stealing just 13 bases in 17 attempts, Martin has already swiped 6 bags, and hasn’t yet been caught.
He still has work to do to regain his prospect status, which once sat comfortably in the top 10 of the organization. His swinging strike rate of 18.1% is only a hair better than in his disastrous 2024, suggesting that there’s still a huge hole in his swing. And while his prospect status was propped up in part by the belief that he could play a strong shortstop, he was moved to third base last year and, after committing 23 errors in 2025 split between third and short, already has 6 errors this season.
But still. He’s been a good story this year (he has an .899 OPS and a 146 wRC+ after barely hitting league average in San Jose last season), and he’s a reminder that development takes many different paths (he also only recently turned 22). If he can keep this up, he’ll return to being a prospect that we all should pay close attention to.
Also homering was first baseman Zander Darby, who hit 1-4 with a strikeout and a 2-run shot in the 8th inning that provided the Emeralds with some insurance en route to their 13th victory.
Darby is also looking to bounce back from 2025. Unlike Martin, he was excellent in San Jose last year, but the 2024 12th-rounder had a miserable debut experience with Eugene over the course of a month. Not so this year, as he has a dynamic .918 OPS and a 147 wRC+, while regularly playing every infield position except shortstop. He does have a 31.0% strikeout rate, though.
Designated hitter Dakota Jordan (No. 5 CPL) had a solid game, hitting 1-3 with a walk and a stolen base, while striking out once. The strikeouts remain an issue with Jordan — he has a 30.1% K rate and a 16.3% swinging strike rate — but the things he does well have been on display this year. His center field defense has been strong, he’s averaging an extra-base hit every other game, and he now has 5 stolen bases without getting caught. Add in the .930 OPS and the 149 wRC+, and it’s been a strong season for him, even though there are very clear things he needs to work on.
Unfortunately, shortstop Gavin Kilen (No. 7 CPL) continued to erase his brilliant start to the year, as the 2025 1st-rounder went 0-5 with a pair of strikeouts in this contest. Kilen began the year with a 5-game hitting streak during which time he went 10-20 with 2 home runs, 3 doubles, 3 walks, and just 2 strikeouts. Since then, the lefty has hit just 8-50 with 0 home runs, 3 doubles, 2 walks, and 13 strikeouts. Over the last 6 games, he’s 3-27 with no extra-base hits and 7 strikeouts, and that’s brought his OPS and wRC+ down to .736 and 100, respectively. It’s a game of adjustments, so let’s hope they’re around the corner!
On the mound, LHP Tyler Switalski gave the farm their longest start of the year, as he went 6 innings deep in this game. As he so often does, Switalski positively lived in the zone, needing just 67 pitches to get through his 6 innings, while throwing 50 of them for strikes. He didn’t walk or hit a single batter, and gave up just 4 hits (though that included a home run and a double). In all, he got tagged for just 2 runs while striking out 3, though that raised his excellent ERA to 1.00 and his FIP to 2.90.
You wouldn’t know it from this start, but Switalski, who was a 16th-round pick in 2024 and will turn 23 soon, has really pumped up his strikeout stuff in his 2nd season. Last year he had just 7.9 strikeouts per 9 innings in Low-A, and a mere 6.7 upon his promotion to High-A. But even with the low output on Wednesday, the funky southpaw has punched out 12.5 batters per 9 innings through 4 appearances this year. Despite that, he’s also lowered his walk rate, from 3.7 per 9 last year between the 2 levels, to just 2.5 this season.
There are some funny small sample size elements — opposing batters have just a .200 BABIP against him, and his left on base rate of 95.2% is both hilariously and delightfully unsustainable — but there’s no way to paint this season as anything other than a fantastic success thus far. Let’s hope it keeps up!
RHP Gerelmi Maldonado (No. 41 CPL) continued his development as a closer, giving up 1 walk in a no-hit, no-run inning, with 1 strikeout. Maldonado needed 21 pitches to get through the inning — and threw just 11 strikes — but still, a very nice game. He will fly through the system if he can get the walks under control … he’s issued 7 of them in 5 innings, but has 11 strikeouts.
San Jose Giants beat the Ontario Tower Buzzers (Dodgers) 4-2
Box score
Just as Giants fans were probably happy to see a former Giant in Marco Luciano perform well, everyone is happy to see a different former Giant have a few struggles: LHP Blake Snell. Yes, the Dodgers ace made a rehab appearance for Ontario, and the Baby Giants did the correct thing by handing him the loss, as Snell gave up 4 baserunners, 2 runs, and 1 earned run in an inning of work (Snell is only credited with pitching an inning since he got 3 outs, but he did come out for the 2nd inning and faced 4 batters but, thanks to 2 hits and 2 errors, didn’t get any outs).
Hehe.
Shortstop Jhonny Level (No. 3 CPL) introduced Snell to the Cal League by bopping a leadoff single against him. Level has slowly started to return from his truly scorched earth start to the season, but everything is still going delightfully well for him. He hit 1-4 with a walk and a stolen base in this game, while also striking out once and committing an error. On the year he has an 1.147 OPS, a 180 wRC+, and 5 stolen bases in as many attempts, as he appears intent on accomplishing the rare back-to-back breakout seasons.
Left fielder Damian Bravo had the big hit to give Snell the L, as he knocked an RBI double in the 2nd inning. That was part of a 2-4 day for Bravo, which also featured his 1st stolen base of the year, though he had a strikeout and an error as well. The 2025 15th-round pick started the season very slow, but has caught fire lately, and currently has not just a 6-game hitting streak, but a 6-game extra-base hitting streak. During that time the 22-year old right-hander from Texas Tech has hit 10-26 with 2 home runs, 5 doubles, 2 walks, and 7 strikeouts, which has boosted his OPS to .808 and his wRC+ to 94, and almost put the tough start to the year fully in the rear-view mirror.
It was a dynamic pitching game, with all 3 arms performing quite well. RHP Jordan Gottesman got(tesman) the start and controlled Ontario admirably, allowing just 4 hits and 1 walk in 4.2 shutout innings, while striking out 5 batters.
The reigning 6th-round selection only threw 46 of 74 pitches for strikes, so it wasn’t a dominant outing, but it was one in which he was in total control. Most importantly, after back-to-back 3-run games, Gottesman had the best performance of his young career, and lowered his ERA to 3.52, albeit with a 6.52 FIP.
If dominant is what you’re looking for, however, then RHP Sam Bower provided it by throwing 2.1 no-hit innings with just a walk allowed, while recording 5 of his 7 outs by way of strikes. Yep, that will get the job done!
Bower is a feel-good story, as he’s finally healthy after a career set back numerous times by injuries. The 24-year old St. Mary’s alum was an 11th-round pick by the Giants back in 2022, but didn’t make his professional debut until this season. Now he’s finally able to pitch, and in games like this he’s certainly making up for lost time. If he gets into a rhythm, he probably won’t stay in San Jose for long.
Rounding out the star pitching was RHP Alix Hernandez, who continued his excellent season with 2 strikeouts in 2 no-hit innings. Hernandez did issue a walk, and had 2 runs scored while he was on the mound, thanks to some not-so-good defense, but they were unearned runs, which kept his ERA at 0.00. The 21-year old now has 11 strikeouts against just 2 walks in 8.1 innings this year, as his electricity is on full display.
4 — Sabin Ceballos — [AA]
3 — Walker Martin — [High-A]
3 — Zander Darby — [High-A]
Sacramento: 6:45 p.m. PT vs. Albuquerque (SP: Carson Seymour)
Richmond: 4:05 p.m. PT vs. Somerset (SP: Joe Whitman)
Eugene: 11:05 a.m. PT at Hillsboro (SP: Niko Mazza)
San Jose: 6:00 p.m. PT vs. Ontario (SP: TBD)
Reminder that almost all MiLB games can be watched on MLB TV
Liverpool legend Steve Nicol says he is unsure whether manager Arne Slot should remain as manager next season with the team currently looking "lost" on the pitch.
The Reds have struggled for form this campaign and will go without a trophy a year after storming to the Premier League title in Slot's first season at Anfield.
When asked by BBC Radio Merseyside whether the Dutchman should stay in charge, the five-time league winner with Liverpool said: "If you'd have asked me this six weeks ago, I would've 100% said yes, but as time's gone on, it's getting a lot.
"It feels as though it's getting lost on the field, and you're getting more anxious every time you're going to sit down to watch it. I don't know is the answer. "
Hit play below to listen to the full interview, in which Nicol also talks about why he is selling his medals, the 1986 FA Cup final and the current Liverpool side - or listen on BBC Sounds here
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If you’re an elite young ballplayer looking for long-term financial security, you picked the right time to be alive. On April 15th, Kevin McGonigle of the Tigers inked an eight-year, $150 million contract extension which will keep him in Detroit until 2034. Eight days before that, Pirates phenom Konnor Griffin signed a nine-year, $140 million pact to stay in Pittsburgh for the foreseeable future. Good news for the Pirates and the Tigers; bad news for everyone else, particularly teams who were hoping to acquire their services via free agency.
Granted, because Griffin and McGonigle are so young, the length of their contracts does not completely preclude them from getting hefty free agent contracts once their current deals expire. However, they are signing away premium years; Griffin is now slated to enter free agency at age 28 rather than 25, McGonigle 29 rather than 27. For teams looking to court them in the 2034/35 offseason, that’s a big difference.
It’s not just those two who have signed long-term extensions with little to no big league service time. Earlier this year, Colt Emerson and Cooper Pratt each signed eight-year extensions without ever setting foot on a big league diamond. Last year, it was Samuel Basallo and Roman Anthony. And looking around the league, there’s no shortage of more established young stars signed to lengthy extensions with their current teams – Bobby Witt Jr., Julio Rodriguez, Fernando Tatis Jr.; the list goes on. Increasingly, elite young talent is being aggressively signed and secured while they are still under team control.
This is a worrying trend for teams who want to improve themselves via the free agent market. As the most attractive options are being increasingly signed away, it will only continue to become more difficult for teams to rely on shopping as a way to make substantive upgrades. Per FanGraphs’ Michael Baumann, out of the 141 players projected to accrue at least 7.0 WAR by the end of 2028, just 10 can become free agents after this season. That’s a pretty barren shelf.
Where does all this leave the Yankees? In pretty dangerous territory, if you ask me. Just this past offseason, the Yankees spent upwards of $180 million to secure two of their lineup mainstays in Cody Bellinger and Trent Grisham. Sure, they were both re-signings, but it doesn’t change the fact that they were free agents. In the 2024-25 offseason, they were pretty quiet on the position player front, but they were reportedly in on the Juan Soto sweepstakes until the very end. Granted, it’s been a while since the Yankees were perennial buyers at the top of the market à la the current Dodgers, but even recently they’ve filled their positional needs by signing solid free agents more often than not, and especially when none of their prospects were banging on the door.
That last part is key. I won’t say that the Yankees’ recent track record of developing position players is outright bad; Ben Rice is awesome, Austin Wells has been an above-average catcher, slow start to 2026 be damned, Jasson Domínguez continues to tantalize, and Anthony Volpe has at least impressed with the glove when healthy. But as of this moment, they have a dearth of big-league ready talent at positions of need. Two up-the-middle positions, center field and second base, will be vacated at year’s end, when Grisham and Jazz Chisholm, Jr. are set to become free agents. Do you really think Spencer Jones and George Lombard Jr. can immediately replace their production? I think that’s a pretty risky bet for a team with championship aspirations to make.
Sure, the Yankees can elect to re-sign both Grisham and Chisholm Jr. However, in a relatively weak free agent class they’ll be in high demand, so they won’t come cheap, especially not Jazz. And if they miss out, the other options don’t look to be all that appealing – we’re looking at names like Brandon Marsh, Cedric Mullins, or Mickey Moniak at center field, or Gleyber Torres, Mauricio Dubón, and Brandon Lowe for second base. They might be fine stopgaps, but they’re not much more.
Or, maybe the Yankees will be able to swing a deal for higher-quality players by offering one of their high-profile pitching prospects in Elmer Rodríguez and Carlos Lagrange. But the trade market is significantly harder to forecast, and there’s no guarantee that teams will be willing to ship out attractive targets. Plus, it’s not like the Yankees currently have a stacked farm; it’s pretty top-heavy and shallow, which is why both FanGraphs and MLB.com place it among the bottom handful in the league. That limits the possibilities of the deals they can make happen.
So, the Yankees will be faced with a pretty tough situation in the 2026-27 offseason. And if the current trend of young talent signing early extensions continue, subsequent offseasons are only going to become more difficult to navigate. The only true way that the Yankees can adapt to this new reality is by developing talent internally – however, that takes time, not to mention smarts, effort, and a truckload of luck. In the meantime, the Yankees will have to pray that their current core is good enough to win a ring, because at least when it comes to position players, neither the farm nor the free agent market look like they’ll provide much in the way of reinforcements.
Compared to last season, the Colorado Rockies continue to find themselves in unfamiliar territory.The Rockies may still be below .500 but are playing largely competent, competitive baseball. Bolstered by what has been a surprisingly strong pitching core—both from starters and in the bullpen—and the occasional outburst of offense, the Rockies successfully earned their tenth win of the season last night against the San Diego Padres in one of their most complete ballgames of the young season.
For comparison, the Rockies lost 50 games last season before earning their 10th victory on June 2nd, 2025.
Now the Rockies aim to finish their homestand strong with an opportunity for a series win against the Padres this afternoon. Right-handed pitcher Ryan Feltner will be tasked with leading the effort.
Feltner has had a bumpy start to his 2026 campaign. His last start against the Padres in San Diego didn’t go as planned and he carries a 6.00 ERA into this afternoon’s game. However, he turned in a solid performance his last time out against the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 5.2 innings he held the Dodgers to three runs—two earned—on five hits and a walk with five strikeouts on the way to a Rockies victory.
Making the start for the Swingin’ Friars is the right-handed Matt Waldron, who will be making his second appearance of the season.
Waldron struggled last week against the Los Angeles Angels in his first start of the season. In 3.2 innings he gave up six earned runs on eight hits—including a home run—and a walk with four strikeouts. He has a career 4.67 ERA through three starts and 17.1 innings against the Rockies entering today’s game.
What makes Waldron unique is his arsenal. His primary pitch is a high 70s to low 80s knuckleball. He backs that up with a sweeper, a four-seam fastball, a sinker, an the occasional cutter.
First Pitch: 1:0 pm MDT
TV: Rockies TV
Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM; KNRV 1150 (Spanish)
Padres SB Nation site:Gaslamp Ball
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San Diego Padres (16-8) at Colorado Rockies (10-15), April 23, 2026, 12:10 p.m. PST
Watch: Padres.TV
Location: Coors Field – Denver, Colo.
Listen: 97.3 The Fan
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After treading water in Double-A Montgomery for parts of the last two seasons, here’s a hot take: Brayden Taylor appears ready for a promotion to Durham.
If you look him up, his 99 wRC+ through 14 games doesn’t jump off the page, but the underlying data suggests he’s ready for a new challenge.
Taylor was not performing well in his first full season in Montgomery last year. Through his first 64 games, he produced just a 64 wRC+ driven largely by elevated swing-and-miss, as his contact rate was sitting at just about 70%. He was removed from games for a few weeks in July to reset and adjust his swing. After he returned to action, his production improved to 97 wRC+ across his final 44 games, and his contact rate rebounded into the mid 70s.
One of the key adjustments Taylor made was reducing the hitch in his swing while getting stacked on his back leg. He still has a bit of a bat wrap and average hand speed so some swing-and-miss will likely always be part of his profile, but it’s now seemingly more manageable.
Taylor didn’t sacrifice his average power with this change either because he still holds his weight back fairly well and he’s always had a knack for getting the ball in the air pull-side. There may have also been an adjustment to his bat angle or tilt as it appears slightly flatter than in the past. That would align with the improved contact rates, though it’s difficult to confirm given the limited minor league data and video available.
While Taylor may not be filling up the box score just yet this season, his underlying data looks encouraging; his contact rate is up over 76% so far. He’s also hitting line drives and fly balls over 70% of the time in this small sample. It’s a rate that will almost certainly regress, but one that reinforces a meaningful trend: he’s continuing to get the ball in the air even with a shorter swing.
Maintaining near-average contact rates and consistently elevating the ball pull-side will allow Taylor to out-slug his roughly average exit velocities. The Southern League is a notoriously pitcher-friendly environment, so getting to Triple-A could help that underlying performance translate more consistently.
If these contact gains are sustainable, Taylor’s combination of solid defense at 2B and 3B and above average base running can help make him a productive major league player. He’s been notably passive early and taking his walks, so a promotion to Triple-A — where pitchers are in the zone more — would be a more appropriate test for his new mechanics.
Overall, his profile still looks similar to what it was coming out of the 2023 draft: a bulk platoon second baseman with no major holes in his game who can also fill-in on the left side of the infield if needed.
At the lower end of outcomes, Taylor profiles as a versatile up-and-down option. But with the swing changes, defensive value, and track record against right-handed pitching, there’s a strong case for a more meaningful role. His development against left-handed pitching may ultimately determine whether he reaches everyday status. The key question now isn’t whether Taylor can produce in Double-A; it’s whether these underlying gains will hold against more advanced pitching.
April 24th kicks off the 2026 edition of Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame Induction weekend as the Reds are in town playing host to the Detroit Tigers. This year’s class is particularly star-studded, as each of Brandon Phillips, Reggie Sanders, Aaron Harang, and manager Lou Piniella will enter the Hall with resumes that are more than well deserving.
The Reds have announced the details for the weekend, including the daily meet and greets that will be hosted at the Reds Hall:
The Reds also announced that Phillips, who has more hits, homers, runs batted in, and doubles than any other 2B in team history, will sign a one-day contract with the club on Saturday and official retire as a Cincinnati Red.
Phillips, to his credit, seems pretty damn pumped about it all.
The foursome will head into the Hall with an on-field induction before first pitch of the Saturday, April 25th game against the Tigers, with a Gala at the First Financial Center in downtown Cincinnati set for Sunday night after the end of the series.
The Reds sit at 16-9 overall after their recent 5-1 road trip, and are in 1st place in the National League Central division at the moment.
CHICAGO — The slumping Philadelphia Phillies released veteran right-hander Taijuan Walker before their game against the Chicago Cubs and recalled righty Nolan Hoffman from Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
Walker, in his 14th major league season, exited the Phillies clubhouse a couple of hours before the contest. He’s in the final year of a four-year, $72 million contract.
The Phillies had optioned right-hander Alan Rangel to Lehigh Valley following a 7-2 loss to Chicago, their eighth straight.
The 33-year-old Walker was an All-Star with the New York Mets in 2021 and peaked with a 15-6 record and 4.38 ERA with Philadelphia in 2023. But he’s slid ever since, starting 2026 at 1-4 with a 9.13 ERA in five games, and has a combined 9-19 record with a 5.67 ERA over the past three seasons.
Walker gave up five runs (four earned) on eight hits in four innings in starting and taking the loss at Wrigley Field on Wednesday. With ace Zack Wheeler set to return, Walker was bumped out of the Phillies rotation.
Dave Dombrowski, the Phillies’ president of baseball operations, said the team tried to trade Walker’s contract “various times,” but found no takers.
“We know and he knows that he gave every effort that he possibly could to try to get people out and it just wasn’t working,” Dombrowski added. “Maybe a change of scenery will help him.”
Manager Rob Thomson said: “It’s just all performance based. I hope that people understand.”
“We had a really good year out of him the first year (2023) with the 15 wins,” Thomson added. “With the injuries we had last year, this guy took down 125 innings and basically helped us get to the playoffs.”
Thomson praised Walker’s presence and work ethic.
“He’s one of the best teammates and one of the best people I’ve been around,” Thomson said. “This guys a pro, performance aside.
“He tried everything, being the opener and trying to get some velo back, which he did. It didn’t work out, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort on his part.”
On Wednesday morning, I thought about writing a story advocating for the Mets to promote Ronny Mauricio, who was coming off a three-homer game for Triple-A Syracuse and had been tearing the cover off the ball for most of the season -- with a slugging percentage north of .600.
But there really wasn't an angle.
If Mauricio came up, he would need regular playing time.
The Mets couldn't offer that to him at designated hitter, since they'll be using Juan Soto there frequently with the superstar having just returned from a calf injury.
Mauricio has some experience playing corner outfield, but hasn't spent a regular season inning out there since 2023. Beyond that, the Mets are still providing Carson Benge an opportunity to show he can stick.
As far as the infield, it was locked up.
That changed on Wednesday night, in almost impossible to believe fashion for a Mets team that had already dealt with enough bad luck this season.
Francisco Lindor, while scoring from first base on a double in the fourth inning, came up lame near third base and grimaced as he slid in safely at home. He walked back to the dugout, down the steps, and straight to the clubhouse. His night was over.
During the game, the update came: Lindor left early due to left calf tightness, the same initial diagnosis (though it was the right calf) Soto got before he landed on the IL and missed 18 days.
It is indeed unusually cruel that on the night the Mets got Soto back, they lost Lindor to the same injury. Of course it happened that way. Of course there was something that added a sour note to the club finally breaking its interminable losing streak.
Adding insult to injury (literally) is the fact that Lindor had been heating up and starting to look like himself after missing most of spring training due to hamate surgery. In the eight games he played before getting hurt, Lindor had an .829 OPS. And he had hits in his only two at-bats on Wednesday.
To hear manager Carlos Mendoza speak after the game, it was clear that Lindor would need an IL stint, with the only question being how long he'd miss.
It will be another challenge for the Mets to overcome, and they'll have to wait even longer to have their full lineup back together. In the meantime, New York must tab a replacement for Lindor at shortstop.
It was Bo Bichette who got the call to finish Wednesday's game, sliding over from third base.
The Mets could conceivably make Bichette the regular shortstop in Lindor's absence, but that didn't seem to be the way they'll turn, with Mendoza noting after the game that they would likely call up an infielder from the minors. And Mike Puma of the New York Post reported on Thursday afternoon that Mauricio is on his way to New York to join the team.
If the plan is to insert Mauricio as the regular shortstop and give him a serious chance to stick there while Lindor is out, it's hard to argue with the logic.
Bichette, who has been getting acclimated to third base since signing as a free agent during the offseason, has looked much smoother and more comfortable there since a few early hiccups. His throws have been truer, and his range strong. And although it's a small sample size, Bichette has graded out as above average at third when it comes to OAA.
He should stay there, which would open up the full-time shortstop gig for the switch-hitting Mauricio, whose ability to put a charge into the baseball remains tantalizing.
In parts of three seasons in the majors, Mauricio -- who turned 25 years old earlier this month -- has shown flashes but not yet proven he has what it takes to be a regular at the level. He also lost more than a season of development time due to a knee injury he suffered while playing Winter Ball after the 2023 campaign.
So it's difficult to look at Mauricio's output in 2025 -- a .226/.293/.369 triple slash in 184 plate appearances over 61 games -- and make any conclusions.
For one, the sample size isn't big enough. Secondly, it was Mauricio's first big league action since returning from his knee injury.
With Lindor out, it's time to see if Mauricio can limit his free swinging enough to allow his potential to be realized.
In 19 games last season in Triple-A, Mauricio had an .891 OPS.
In 63 plate appearances over 15 games this season in Triple-A, Mauricio has hit .293/.349/.638 with six homers, two doubles, 13 RBI, and 12 runs scored. And he has been absolutely stinging the ball.
There is absolutely no way to paint Lindor's injury as anything but a painful blow for the Mets, especially considering the timing. But a silver lining could be the potential emergence of Mauricio, if he takes his chance and runs with it.
We have made it back from Japan. It was a wonderful holiday. Thanks to Tom M for doing a great job of running things while I was gone.
The last few days we saw a fair bit of sports. We went to a:
Wearing Blue Jays caps got me into a lot of conversations. Everywhere we went people wanted to talk about the Jays.
Beyond that, food was great, there was beer, and Japanese whisky is very good. And we went to a saki tasting. Went to many Shinto Shrines and Buddhist Shrines. Played drums, watched people who knew how to play drums. Got a sword lesson and watched people who knew how to use swords. And many many other things.
I was feeling a bit cut off from the Jays as most games were happening while we were sleeping. They aren’t having the start to the season we were hoping to see. And many guys are injured:
And the active roster has guys who I haven’t heard of:
I have heard of Eloy Jiménez and he’s had a good time of it, .409/.462/.462 line in 22 at bats.
And some guys aren’t hitting:
And, of course, Hoffman has been awful. I don’t know how he can be that bad with 24 strikeouts in 10.2 innings. 24 strikeouts out of 32 outs, seems like a good thing. But, of course, 16 hits against, with 2 home runs. I don’t know what the answer is, but he doesn’t look confident (and I can understand why). Pitching scared isn’t a good way to do things.
But then Louis Varland hasn’t allowed an earned run yet.
I’ve seen more about Bo Bichette’s troubles than anything else. He has been a slow starter the last few seasons, but it is tough when you are on a new team, after signing a big contract. And worse when your team is losing. Lucky for him, New York baseball fans are well know for their patience.
No game today, which is good because I’m dealing with jet lag. I was so tired yesterday and then, about 2:00 am I was wide awake. But it should only last a couple of days and I’ll be back feeling normal.