Category: Baseball

As we move into the summer months of our birthday series here at PSA, we are once again brought to a perhaps lesser known player in the deep history of baseball in the Bronx. Despite that less-than-household-name status, today’s entry highlights a 14-year big league career, an accomplishment in its own right, and a player with an all-time record to call his own. Buddy Groom only had a brief tenure with the Yankees, but throughout the early 1990s and early 2000s, the lefty was a staple in plenty of bullpens.

Wedsel Gary “Buddy” Groom Jr.
Born: July 10, 1965 (Dallas, TX)
Yankees Tenure: 2005

Wedsel Gary Groom, born in Dallas 61 years ago, did his college pitching two hours south in Belton at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. The left-handed hurler made enough of a name for himself there to earn selection in the 12th round of the 1987 Draft, a pick made by the White Sox.

Before he could work his way all the way through Chicago’s minor league system, he was traded to the Tigers, where he would finally break into the big leagues. He’d pitch there for three seasons, with mostly forgettable returns, and would eventually be dealt to the Marlins mid-year in ‘95, his first season with a fuller workload. Still, ERA marks above seven don’t move the needle much.

Groom signed with the Athletics prior to the 1995 season, and would pitch four full seasons with the A’s. His first year there was his best, when he posted a 3.84 ERA in a career-high 77.1 innings of work. Most notably, his tenure in Oakland established him as a durable left-handed option out of the ‘pen. His four years there marked the beginning of seven consecutive seasons in which he would make 70 or more appearances on the mound. From 1996-2002, Groom’s 511 appearances were the third most in all of baseball.

The reliever’s scenery changed for the 2000 season, when he signed with the Orioles, beginning a four-season run in Baltimore. His 2002 season with the O’s was by far the best of his career, when he posted a sparkling 1.60 ERA across 62 innings of work. One of the fun things about relief pitching, is that sometimes a guy can just find it, and clearly Groom did so during that ‘02 campaign.

The lefty pitched with Baltimore through the 2004 season, before hitting free agency once again in the following offseason. In February of 2005, Groom signed with the Yankees to pitch in the Bronx for his age-39 season.

Now in his late-30s, Groom’s stuff had diminished, and he only pitched 25.2 innings across 24 appearances for the Yankees to begin the season. Not necessarily bad, but a 4.91 ERA and an unimpressive strikeout rate makes it awfully difficult to stick around in any big-league bullpen. At the end of July, Groom was designated for assignment by the Yankees, and eventually sent off the the Diamondbacks. The 23 appearances he would make for Arizona in 2005 would be the final of his career, as it marked the end of a solid 14-year career, during which his left arm was called upon more than almost any other’s.

Despite the lack of accolades on his resume, it would be far from fair to call Groom’s career insignificant. He led the league in pitching appearances in 1999 with 76, and is the all-time leader in games played without ever taking an at-bat in the majors. Beyond all else, Groom was depended on for nearly a decade and a half as a dependable lefty out of the bullpen, an asset almost any team would sign up for.

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

This is the third and final edition of the consensus rankings. If you are interested in the previous versions, the June Top 200 and the April Top 100 are linked here if you want to see how a player has been moving over the past few months.

There are some changes this time around. Obviously the most notable is going from a Top 200 to a Top 500. The next big change is the number of lists included drops from seven to six, as the Keith Law/Athletic list was very short (only Top 100) and the rankings were very different than anyone else’s, so it would throw off things both at the top and in that 75-150 range. Another small change from last time is I am cutting out the listing of player movement, as there wasn’t enough time to get that done and have this list ready for you in time for the draft due to these lists being released late.

The six lists used are Baseball America, Pipeline (Only Top 250), Perfect Game, ESPN/Kiley McDaniel (Top 250), Overslot/Mock Draft Simulator, as well as my own. The player ranked No. 1 on a list gets 500 points towards the consensus total, while the player ranked No. 500 receives one point. In total there were 695 players who received at least one point. All of these lists have been recently updated, so there is nothing old in these rankings. Two of these lists are shorter than a Top 500, so there will be heavier weight to the other four lists in the bottom half of the rankings.

Note that these rankings are a composite of all sources, and outside of my own rankings being one part of the six rankings included, this is not something I have influenced at all. For players who are tied in points for a spot, I am giving the higher ranking to the player who ranks higher on the greater number of lists, with the second tie breaker being awarded for the highest ranking on any list, followed by number of lists a player is included on, and if it’s still tied the player with the lowest ranking on any individual list loses. I will include some comments below on some of the interesting things included in the composite, and break this down into tiers solely based on how highly rated these players were in terms of points.

Tier 1

1.Roch Cholowsky, SS, UCLA – 2996 points

2.Grady Emerson, SS, Texas HS – 2995

3.Vahn Lackey, C, Georgia Tech – 2991

The original thought that Cholowsky would be a consensus top pick is out the window, as he beats Emerson by just one point. Roch was the top guy on three boards to two for Emerson. Lackey took home the other top slot and was second in another set of rankings. It’s clear that there isn’t much separating these three guys from each other and they have separated themselves from the second trio that makes up the clear Top 6.

Tier 2

4.Jackson Flora, RHP, UC Santa Barbara – 2978

5.Eric Booth Jr., OF, Mississippi HS – 2974

6.Jacob Lombard, SS, Florida HS – 2972

These three are tightly grouped as a clear second tier of the Top 6. In all six sets of rankings, these guys occupied 17 of the 18 total slots of 4/5/6 in the rankings, with only Lombard coming in at 7th.

Tier 3

7.Drew Burress, OF, Georgia Tech – 2957

8.Tyler Bell, SS, Kentucky – 2949

9.Ryder Helfrick, C, Arkansas – 2948

10.Chris Hacopian, SS, Texas A&M – 2941

11.Derek Curiel, OF, LSU – 2931

Tier 4

12.Jared Grindlinger, LHP/OF, California HS – 2922

13.Justin Lebron, SS, Alabama – 2917

14.Cameron Flukey, RHP, Coastal Carolina – 2916

15.Gio Rojas, LHP, Florida HS – 2915

16.AJ Gracia, OF, Virginia – 2909

17.Trevor Condon, OF, Georgia HS – 2897

18.Ace Reese, 3B, Mississippi State – 2894

19.Liam Peterson, RHP, Florida – 2883

20.Sawyer Strosnider, OF, TCU – 2876

Tier 5

21.Hunter Dietz, LHP, Arkansas – 2853

22.Cole Carlon, LHP, Arizona State – 2850

23.Daniel Jackson, C, Georgia – 2840

24.Mason Edwards, LHP, USC – 2840

Jackson takes the first tie, ranking with a higher slot on four of the six lists.

25.Zion Rose, OF, Louisville – 2839

26.Cade Townsend, RHP, Mississippi – 2830

27.Tegan Kuhns, RHP, Tennessee – 2827

28.Coleman Borthwick, RHP, Florida HS – 2817

29.Bo Lowrance, 3B, South Carolina HS – 2812

30.Logan Hughes, OF, Texas Tech – 2811

31.Carson Bolemon, RHP, South Carolina HS – 2808

32.Caden Sorrell, OF, Texas A&M – 2793

33.Logan Reddeman, RHP, UCLA – 2791

34.Eric Becker, SS, Virginia – 2789

35.Taylor Rabe, RHP, Mississippi – 2884

36.Cole Prosek, SS, Mississippi HS – 2780

Tier 6

37.Brody Bumila, LHP, Massachusetts HS – 2764

38.Logan Schmidt, LHP, California HS – 2762

39.Aiden Robbins, OF, Texas – 2761

40.Tyler Spangler, SS, California HS – 2759

41.Archer Horn, SS, California HS – 2756

42.Jack Radel, RHP, Notre Dame – 2754

43.Aiden Ruiz, SS, New York HS – 2751

44.Chase Brunson, OF, TCU – 2737

45.Ben Blair, RHP, Liberty – 2737

Brunson takes this tie with the second tie breaker, coming in highest of the two anywhere – 29th on the list over at Overslot.

46.Taj Marchand, SS, South Carolina HS – 2728

47.Jensen Hirschkorn, RHP, California HS – 2712

48.Ty Head, OF, NC State – 2685

49.Jarren Advincula, 2B, Georgia Tech – 2678

50.Landon Thome, SS, Illinois HS – 2672

51.Connor Comeau, SS, Texas HS – 2669

52.James Clark, SS, California HS – 2666

53.Sean Duncan, LHP, Canada HS – 2665

54.Blake Bowen, OF, California HS – 2664

55.Will Brick, C, Tennessee HS – 2664

After both coming in higher on two lists, Bowen wins the tie because he ranked highest on a list – 37th on the PG list.

56.Chris Rembert, 2B, Auburn – 2658

57.Blake Bryant, RHP, Georgia HS – 2654

Tier 7

58.Kaiden McCarthy, RHP, Vermont HS – 2638

59.Gavin Grahovac, 3B, Texas A&M – 2634

60.Joey Volchko, RHP, Georgia – 2631

61.Kaeden Waechter, RHP, Florida HS – 2629

62.Jake Brown, OF, LSU – 2625

63.Carson Tinney, C, Texas – 2620

64.Wes Mendes, LHP, Florida State – 2618

65.Andrew Williamson, OF, UCF – 2615

66.Jack Natili, C, Cincinnati – 2610

67.Joseph Contreras, RHP, Georgia HS – 2603

68.Owen Hull, OF, North Carolina – 2587

69.Rocco Maniscalco, SS, Alabama HS – 2579

Tier 8

70.Luke Williams, SS, Pennsylvania HS – 2511

71.Mulivai Levu, 1B, UCLA – 2500

72.Myles Bailey, 1B, Florida State – 2487

73.Brett Renfrow, RHP, Virginia Tech – 2483

74.Jake Schaffner, SS, North Carolina – 2480

75.Cole Koeninger, SS, Texas HS – 2472

76.Noah Wilson, OF, Tennessee HS – 2468

77.Ethan Wachsmann, RHP, Colorado HS – 2463

78.Ethan Kleinschmit, LHP, Oregon State – 2459

79.Caden Bogenpohl, OF, Missouri State – 2448

80.Ruger Riojas, RHP, Texas – 2426

81.Will Gasparino, OF, UCLA – 2425

82.Carter Beck, OF, Indiana State – 2423

83.Gabe Gaeckle, RHP, Arkansas – 2416

84.Ethan Bass, SS, Illinois HS – 2409

85.Will Adams, OF, Alabama HS – 2407

86.Jacob Dudan, RHP, NC State – 2403

87.Cooper Harris, RHP, Texas HS – 2402

88.Kevin Roberts Jr., OF, Mississippi HS – 2401

89.Tyson LeBlanc, SS, Kansas – 2394

90.Dee Kennedy, SS, Kansas State – 2388

91.Carson Kerce, SS, Georgia Tech – 2385

92.Jace Mataczynski, SS, Wisconsin HS – 2384

93.Elliot Lascelles, SS, Canada HS – 2380

94.Peyton Bonds, OF, Rutgers – 2376

95.Bo Holloway, LHP, Tennessee HS – 2361

96.Beau Peterson, 3B, Kansas HS – 2358

97.Ryan Lynch, RHP, North Carolina – 2356

98.Savion Sims, RHP, Texas HS – 2349

99.Jason DeCaro, RHP, North Carolina – 2347

100.Trey Ebel, SS, California HS – 2346

101.Evan Dempsey, RHP/OF, Florida Gulf Coast – 2340

102.Dominic Santarelli, OF, Wisconsin HS – 2338

103.Malachi Washington, OF, Georgia HS – 2335

104.Sean Dunlap, C, Indiana HS – 2334

105.Lucas Nawrocki, RHP, Texas HS – 2333

106.Daniel Cuvet, 3B, Miami – 2333

After both being higher on three lists, this tie is broken by myself having Nawrocki the highest – 72nd overall.

Tier 9

107.Ryan Peterson, RHP, Sam Houston State – 2316

108.Brendan Brock, C, Oklahoma – 2316

Peterson ranks higher on four out of the six lists.

109.Kyle Jones, OF, Florida – 2315

110.Keon Johnson, SS, Georgia HS – 2314

111.Roman Martin, 3B, UCLA – 2310

112.Tommy LaPour, RHP, TCU – 2299

113.James Tronstein, SS/OF, California HS – 2297

114.Martin Shelar, OF, Georgia HS – 2297

Tronstein ranks higher on four of the six spots.

115.Cooper Sides, RHP, California HS – 2293

116.Shane Sdao, LHP, Texas A&M – 2283

117.Camden Kozeal, 2B, Arkansas – 2280

118.Caden Ferraro, OF, Texas Tech – 2269

119.Jack Slightom, RHP, Illinois HS – 2267

120.Julian Garcia, RHP, California HS – 2256

121.Ethan Norby, LHP, East Carolina – 2250

122.Jaxon Willits, SS, Oklahoma – 2228

123.Carson Wiggins, RHP, Arkansas – 2226

124.Gavin Gallagher, 2B, North Carolina – 2223

125.Eric Guevara, 3B, Auburn – 2215

126.Tre Broussard, OF, Houston – 2211

127.Denton Lord, RHP, Florida HS – 2205

128.Ryan Marohn, LHP, NC State – 2200

129.Kollin Ritchie, OF, Oklahoma State – 2195

130.Bryce Hill, RHP, Connecticut HS – 2192

Tier 10

131.Kade Lewis, 3B, Wake Forest – 2177

132.Jason Amalbert, SS, New Jersey HS – 2166

133.Maxx Yehl, LHP, West Virginia – 2150

134.Matt Ponatoski, RHP/SS, Ohio HS – 2150

Yehl takes this tie because his 102nd overall ranking on the Overslot list was the highest of either player.

135.Alex Weingartner, SS, New Jersey HS – 2145

136.Wilson Andersen, RHP, Florida HS – 2125

137.Dylan Bowen, SS, Indiana HS – 2118

138.Henry Ford, 3B, Tennessee – 2115

139.Anthony Murphy, OF, California HS – 2114

140.Alex Hernandez, 2B, Georgia Tech – 2112

141.Camden Johnson, 3B, Oklahoma – 2086

142.Jake McCoy, LHP, South Carolina – 2086

143.Hudson DeVaughan, RHP, Indiana HS – 2086

Johnson and McCoy each ranked highest on three lists, which sends DeVaughan into third in this three-way tie. Johnson takes the win because coming in at 101st on Baseball America is the highest of his and McCoy’s rankings.

144.Gannon Grant, RHP, Indiana HS – 2079

145.Robbie Lavey, C, George Washington – 2078

146.Garrett Wright, C, Tennessee – 2058

147.Tyler Putnam, RHP, Missouri HS – 2040

148.Rylan Lujo, OF, Georgia – 2039

149.Andruw Giles, OF, Nevada HS – 2035

150.Duncan Marsten, RHP, Wake Forest – 2026

151.Deiten Lachance, C, Oklahoma – 2021

152.Tre Phelps, 3B, Georgia – 1983

153.James Jorgensen, RHP, Texas HS – 1980

154.Kyle Johnson, LHP, Virginia – 1979

155.Steele Murdock, RHP, UC San Diego – 1978

156.Carson Jasa, RHP, Nebraska – 1973

157.Gary Morse, RHP, California HS – 1972

158.Ryan Cooney, 2B, Oregon – 1964

159.Trey Beard, LHP, Florida State – 1961

160.Nathan Taylor, RHP, Cincinnati – 1956

161.Cal Randall, RHP, UCLA – 1949

162.Dalton Wentz, 3B, Wake Forest – 1947

163.Eli Herst, RHP, Washington HS – 1941

164.Jake Carbaugh, RHP, Florida HS – 1937

165.Brayden Dowd, OF, Florida State – 1920

166.Deven Sheerin, RHP, LSU – 1920

Dowd takes this tie because his ESPN ranking is the highest spot either of these two was listed.

167.Trey Rangel, RHP, Texas HS – 1907

168.Logan Georges, RHP, California HS – 1904

169.Carson Bailey, RHP, Texas JUCO – 1885

Tier 11

170.Dawson Montesa, RHP, West Virginia – 1869

171.LJ Mercurius, RHP, Oklahoma – 1854

172.Luke McNeillie, RHP, Florida – 1852

173.Kolby Stringer, RHP, Mississippi HS – 1833

174.Lucas Moore, OF, Louisville – 1832

175.AJ Rice, RHP, Georgia HS – 1826

176.Landon Brown, RHP, Texas HS – 1804

177.Brady Harris, OF, Florida HS – 1788

178.Isaac Morton, RHP, Minnesota – 1778

179.Coleton Brady, RHP, Florida HS – 1773

180.Alex Conover, OF, Oklahoma State – 1772

181.Aidan Knaak, RHP, Clemson – 1761

182.Grayson Willoughby, RHP, Kentucky HS – 1756

183.Jack Dugan, SS, Tennessee HS – 1755

184.Dominic Voegele, RHP, Kansas – 1754

185.Joe Tiroly, 2B, Virginia – 1751

186.CJ Weinstein, SS, California HS – 1750

187.Jet Berry, SS, Arizona HS – 1722

188.Ryne Barker, 3B, Arizona HS – 1717

189.Dylan Vigue, RHP, Georgia – 1693

190.Bo Rhudy, RHP, Tennessee – 1693

Vigue wins because he ranks higher on five of the six lists. The reason for the tie is that Vigue was not listed on the shorter ESPN list. Had he been ranked even 300th there, plausible since he was in the Top 200 everywhere else, he would have come in at 169th on this list.

191.Brady Snow, RHP, Florida HS – 1685

192.Jorvorskie Lane Jr., C/OF, Texas HS – 1670

193.Cole Dennis, RHP, Florida HS – 1663

Tier 12

194.Braden Holcomb, OF, Vanderbilt – 1644

195.Maddox Molony, SS, Oregon – 1640

196.Noah Danza, SS, New Jersey HS – 1636

197.Gavin Giese, RHP, California HS – 1621

198.Eric Segura, RHP, Oregon State – 1612

199.Jack Brenner, C, Wisconsin HS – 1608

200.Alex Sosa, C, Miami – 1605

201.Ty Horn, RHP, Nebraska – 1586

202.Gunner Skelton, 3B, Tennessee HS – 1562

203.Sawyer Nelson, SS, Oregon HS – 1560

204.Owen Kramkowski, RHP, Arizona – 1556

205.Will Plunkett, SS, New York HS – 1542

206.Thomas Burns, RHP, Texas – 1542

Both players ranked higher on three lists, but Plunkett had the highest ranking anywhere of the two.

207.Wessley Roberson, OF, Georgia HS – 1530

208.Robert Omidi, 3B, Canada HS – 1522

209.Ethan McElvain, LHP, Arkansas – 1513

210.Nu’u Contrades, 3B, Arizona State – 1506

211.Cashel Dugger, C, UCLA – 1490

212.Justin LeGuernic, RHP, Clemson – 1485

213.Kyle Casteel, RHP, Pennsylvania HS – 1463

214.Cal Scolari, RHP, Oregon – 1463

This came down to the second tie breaker, with Casteel winning by ranking one slot higher on Pipeline’s list than Scolari came in on PG’s list.

215.Wil Libbert, LHP, Mississippi – 1457

216.Tyler Fay, RHP, Alabama – 1448

217.Michael Harpster, RHP, East Tennessee State – 1435

218.Isaiah Galason, SS, Georgia HS – 1426

219.Eric Nachtsheim, RHP, McNeese State – 1423

220.Alain Gomez-Gudino, C, Arizona HS – 1382

221.Brayden Martin, 3B, Maryland – 1382

Gomez-Gudino, who was Cam Caminiti’s high school catcher, ranked higher on four out of the six lists.

222.Shawn Sullivan, RHP, Ohio HS – 1372

223.Grant Govel, RHP, USC – 1328

224.Genson Veras, OF, Florida HS – 1322

225.Griffin Long, RHP, Georgia HS – 1320

226.Trevor Hansen, RHP, UC Irvine – 1295

227.Tyson Grulkowski, RHP, Wisconsin HS – 1276

228.Judah Ota, OF, Hawaii HS – 1267

229.Kam Durning, SS, Missouri – 1260

230.AJ Curry, OF, California HS – 1254

231.Hudson Calhoun, RHP, Mississippi – 1253

232.Russell Sandefer, RHP, Florida – 1252

233.Brandon McCraine, SS, Auburn – 1252

Sandefer ranks higher on three lists, versus two for McCraine. Neither was on the shorter ESPN list.

234.Ryan Harwood, OF, Arizona HS – 1250

235.Sherman Johnson, 3B, NC State – 1239

Tier 13

236.Hudson Barrett, LHP, Oklahoma State – 1219

237.Matthew Thomas, OF, Cal State Northridge – 1208

238.Josh McDevitt, RHP, Missouri – 1202

239.Erik Paulsen, 1B, North Carolina – 1201

240.Jack Beck, SS, Tennessee HS – 1199

241.Ricky Ojeda, LHP, UC Irvine – 1196

242.Cam Johnson, LHP, Oklahoma – 1177

243.Clayton Freshcorn, RHP, Texas A&M – 1153

244.Cody Boshell, 1B, Florida HS – 1145

245.Tate McKee, RHP, Georgia Tech – 1124

246.Jon Mora, OF, Florida HS – 1116

247.Brady Ballinger, 1B, Kansas – 1114

248.Micah Worley, LHP, Stony Brook – 1109

249.Max Bayles, RHP, Santa Clara – 1107

250.Teagan Scott, C, Oregon HS – 1107

Bayles ranks highest in four spots, with each being left off one list.

251.Ryan Piech, RHP, Xavier – 1077

252.Wyatt Clatur, RHP, Tennessee HS – 1074

253.Hunter Brown, RHP, New Jersey HS – 1074

Each ranks highest on three lists, but Clatur has the high mark of the two.

254.Chase Kiker, RHP, North Carolina HS – 1068

255.Blake Morningstar, RHP, Wake Forest – 1063

256.Jaxon Jelkin, RHP, Kentucky – 1054

257.Landon Thiel, LHP, Ohio HS – 1040

258.Ryan Kucherak, SS, Northwestern – 1037

259.Cooper Webb, RHP, Texas HS – 1036

260.Cam Jackson, SS, Georgia HS – 1034

261.Josiah Morris, SS, California HS – 1025

262.Calvin Proskey, RHP, UC Santa Barbara – 1021

263.Bear Harrison, C, Texas A&M – 1014

264.Jacob Madrid, C, California HS – 995

265.Ryan Stedman, RHP, Iowa HS – 990

266.Brandon Arvidson, LHP, Tennessee – 989

267.Nathan Aceves, RHP, UC Santa Barbara – 988

268.Donovan Thiery, RHP, Florida HS – 987

269.Spencer Evans, LHP, Florida HS – 986

270.Hunter Carns, C, Florida State – 984

271.Luke Costello, OF, Wake Forest – 978

272.Haiden Leffew, LHP, Texas – 970

273.Dominic Battista, OF, Illinois HS – 969

274.John Stowers, C, Alabama HS – 967

275.Kaleb LaFavor, RHP, Iowa HS – 966

276.Connor Fennell, RHP, Vanderbilt – 964

277.Collin Bland, 1B, Tennessee HS – 961

278.Bryson Moore, RHP, Florida State – 957

279.Graham Schlicht, RHP, California HS – 955

280.Cole Tryba, LHP, UC Santa Barbara – 950

281.Macon Winslow, C, North Carolina – 943

282.Alex Petrovic, RHP, Auburn – 936

Tier 14

283.Ethan Sutton, RHP, South Florida – 915

284.John Abraham, RHP, Florida State – 913

285.Cody New, LHP, Cal Baptist – 911

286.Declan Dahl, RHP, Louisiana Tech – 907

287.Ben Davis, RHP, Mississippi State – 892

288.Michael Addari, RHP, Illinois State – 880

289.Chris McHugh, 1B, NC State – 877

290.JJ Drennan, RHP, New Jersey HS – 871

291.Ryan Novak, OF, Miami(OH) – 862

292.Kenny Ishikawa, LHP/OF, Georgia – 838

293.Zane Adams, LHP, Alabama – 829

294.Sam Harris, 1B, Virginia – 827

295.Dustin Dunwoody, RHP, California HS – 821

296.Hayes Holton, RHP, Louisiana HS – 815

297.Colin Fisher, LHP, Arkansas – 810

298.Josiah Kemp, OF, Oklahoma HS – 810

Fisher ranked higher on three lists, versus one for Kemp.

299.Lorenzo Carrier, OF, Pitt – 807

300.Matthew Sharman, RHP, Georgia HS – 803

301.Colin White, LHP, Georgia HS – 800

302.Kyle McDaniel, 2B, Utah Tech – 799

303.Ethan Surowiec, 3B, Florida – 790

304.Carlos Martinez, RHP, Hofstra – 788

305.Jason Jutronich, LHP, California HS – 787

306.Gavin Van Kempen, RHP, East Carolina – 781

307.Matthew Kelley, SS, Nevada HS – 778

308.AJ Evasco, OF/1B, Kansas State – 776

309.Jerek Turlij, RHP, Pennsylvania HS – 772

310.Easton Autrey, 3B, Texas HS – 769

311.Alex Harrington, SS, California HS – 764

312.Jake Long, OF, Utah – 760

313.Dylan Blomker, RHP, New Mexico HS – 758

314.Keller Bradley, RHP, Pennsylvania HS – 757

315.Colin Linder, RHP, Arizona State – 751

316.Cole Stokes, RHP, Florida State – 748

317.Jaxon Matthews, OF, North Carolina HS – 733

318.Anthony Del Angel, 3B, New Mexico HS – 732

319.Rhett Britt, RHP, North Carolina HS – 731

320.Isaiah Hearn, OF, California HS – 719

321.Alejandro Garza, 3B, Cal Poly – 719

Hearn wins this tie by having the higher ranking of the two.

322.Ross Norman, RHP, Coastal Carolina – 707

323.Hunter Possehl, LHP, Florida Gulf Coast – 705

324.Colin Barczi, C, Vanderbilt – 705

Possehl ranks higher on three of the four lists that either are featured on.

325.Grayden Seuferling, RHP, Missouri HS – 692

326.Mark Quatrani, C, Notre Dame – 691

327.Ryan Tayman, C, Cal Poly – 684

328.Luke Pettitte, RHP/1B, Dallas Baptist – 680

329.Ty Burnham, RHP, Arkansas HS – 678

330.Jarren Purify, 2B, Clemson – 662

331.Paul Contreras, OF, Cal State Fullerton – 657

332.Grayson Fitzwater, 1B, VMI – 656

333.Matt Scott, RHP, Georgia – 650

334.Connor Marshburn, RHP, UNC Wilmington – 645

335.Luke Nixon, 2B, NC State – 638

336.Christian Doty, SS, Mississippi HS – 637

337.Josh Gunther, RHP, South Carolina – 629

338.Carson Turnquist, RHP, Cal Poly – 619

339.Alfredo Capacete, RHP, Cal Baptist – 617

340.Michael Malki, RHP, Cal Baptist – 616

341.Michael Anderson, 1B, Penn State – 614

342.David Hinojosa, RHP, New York HS -611

343.Ty Tillery, RHP, Georgia HS – 609

344.Beau Bryans, LHP, Jacksonville State – 607

Tier 15

345.Caden McDonald, 1B, Florida – 595

346.RJ Cope, LHP/1B, Georgia HS – 591

347.Jaxson Wood, OF, Alabama HS – 591

This one came down to the second tie breaker, with Cope winning due to a very high ranking on PG.

348.Tyler Minick, 3B, UConn – 569

349.Javar Williams, OF, Wake Forest – 560

350.Gage Peterson, RHP, Appalachian State – 555

351.Reece Moroney, SS, Rhode Island – 555

Peterson has the higher ranking on four lists.

352.Jacob Haley, RHP, South Alabama – 545

353.Tanner Marsh, SS, Liberty – 539

354.Matthew Mansbery – SS, Ohio HS – 536

355.Landon Koenig, RHP, Mississippi – 533

356.Cash Scarborough, RHP, Texas HS – 530

357.Andrew Gonzalez, 2B, Texas HS – 528

358.Selden Kolkenbeck, RHP, New Jersey HS – 527

359.Cooper Moore, RHP, LSU – 527

Kolkenbeck having the highest ranking of the two is what got him the win in this tie.

360.Aidan Weaver, RHP, Duke – 525

361.Ethan Mendoza, 2B, Texas – 518

362.Matt Conte, C, Wake Forest – 515

363.Dean West, OF, UCLA – 513

364.Aidan Keenan, RHP, Stanford – 512

365.Aidan Teel, OF, Mississippi State – 511

366.Griffin Graves, LHP, Auburn – 510

367.AJ Krodel, RHP, UC Santa Barbara – 510

Graves had the higher ranking on three lists, versus one for Krodel.

368.PJ Moutzouridis, SS, Arizona State – 506

369.Kuhio Aloy, 1B, Arkansas – 502

370.Anthony Potestio, SS, UC San Diego – 495

371.Justin Byrd, RHP, Georgia – 488

372.Clay Burdette, OF, Xavier – 486

373.Deacon Nelson, SS, Ohio HS – 479

374.Vincent Lombardo, OF, Connecticut HS – 474

375.Parker Ishee, RHP, Mississippi JUCO – 469

376.Dominic Pellegrin, SS, Louisiana HS – 465

377.Griffin Stieg, RHP, Virginia Tech – 456

378.Chase Meyer, RHP, formerly West Virginia/MLB Draft League – 454

379.Fabio Bundi, RHP, California JUCO – 454

After each player saw himself higher on two lists, Meyer got the edge due to the highest ranking in any set.

380.Mickey Gilligan, C, New Jersey HS – 452

381.Ethan Wheeler, RHP, Florida HS – 448

382.Brodie Purcell, RHP, Florida State – 448

Wheeler ranked higher on two lists to just one for Purcell.

383.Drew Titsworth, RHP, Clemson – 447

384.Jaden Jackson, OF, California HS – 445

385.Collin Jennings, OF, Illinois – 442

386.Parker Loew, SS, Florida HS – 442

With the highest ranking anywhere, this one went to Jennings.

387.Jordan Ransom, SS, Arizona HS – 441

388.Tyler Pitzer, RHP, Mississippi State – 436

389.Brett Lanman, LHP, Abilene Christian – 433

390.Isaiah James, LHP, North Carolina HS – 424

391.Ezra Liggon, OF, Wisconsin HS – 423

392.Owen Kelly, RHP, Mississippi – 415

393.Ethan Offing, SS, South Carolina HS – 413

394.Colin Driffill, RHP, Nebraska HS – 412

395.Louis Hernandez, 3B, Florida HS – 405

396.Devin Diaz, C, New York HS – 404

397.Connor Shouse, 3B, Texas Tech – 399

398.Jacob Bean, RHP, Louisville – 398

399.Erick Dessens,OF, Sacramento State – 391

Tier 16

400.Hunter Rose, LHP, Arkansas HS – 380

401.Zach Edwards, RHP, Oregon State – 377

402.Garrett Lambert, RHP, Mercer – 377

Edwards ranks higher on three lists to Lambert’s one.

403.Ryan Zuckerman, 3B, Georgia Tech – 371

404.Bryant James, SS, Virginia HS – 365

405.Colton Semmelmann, LHP, Wisconsin HS – 364

406.Jimmy Anderson, SS, Illinois JUCO – 363

407.Hayden Johnson, LHP, Coastal Carolina – 362

408.Tryston McCladdie, SS, Clemson – 361

409.Anthony Quigley, 3B, Florida JUCO – 360

410.Noah Sullivan, 1B, Mississippi State – 358

411.Matt Quintanar, C, Texas Tech – 353

412.Matt Sauser, RHP, UCF – 351

413.Eric Zdunek, OF, California HS – 340

414.Reese Chapman, OF, Tennessee – 340

Zdunek wins this because he has the highest ranking of the two.

415.Conner Griffin, RHP, Pennsylvania HS – 339

416.Jacob Johnson, 3B, Saint Mary’s – 336

417.Caden Matusak, SS, Indiana HS – 333

418.Cider Cannon, C, Duke – 332

419.Mason Eckelman, C, Ohio State – 331

420.Josh Skowronski, OF, Winthrop – 328

421.Sean Loggie, LHP, New Jersey HS – 327

422.Cole Hansen, C, Cal Baptist – 327

This one came down to Loggie having the higher peak ranking.

423.Jaden Bastian, OF, Florida – 326

424.Cameron Tarkenton, RHP, North Carolina HS – 325

425.Christian Chatterton, RHP, Auburn – 325

Tarkenton ranks higher on two lists, versus one for Chatterton.

426.Carson May, C, Kansas HS – 323

427.Parker Brosius, OF, Georgia Tech – 321

428.Brady Marconi, C, South Carolina – 319

429.Weston Moss, RHP, Texas A&M – 317

430.Logan Johnstone, OF, Vanderbilt – 316

431.Juriel Collazo, OF, Puerto Rico HS – 311

432.Harrison Ailshie, OF, North Carolina HS – 305

433.Andrew Wiggins, OF, NC State – 302

434.Garrett Luett, 3B, Iowa HS – 302

Wiggins ranked higher on three lists, while Luett only made the ESPN list.

435.Ben Cleary, SS, Santa Clara – 301

436.Colton Coates, SS, Louisiana Tech – 298

437.Julian Sabourin, RHP, Canada HS – 289

438.Taden Krogsgaard, RHP, California HS – 289

Sabourin ranked higher on two lists versus one for Krogsgaard.

439.Braylen Montgomery, OF, Louisiana HS – 288

440.Rintaro Sasaki, 1B, Stanford – 285

441.Kaleb Traylor, 3B, New York HS – 285

Sasaki ranked higher on three lists, while Traylor made just one.

442.Drew Whalen, RHP, Auburn – 284

443.Jax Robinson, C, Texas HS – 283

444.Kael Barney, 1B, Tennessee HS – 282

445.Isaiah Lane, SS, Hope International – 281

446.Michael Graziano, OF, Mercer – 281

Lane is ranked highest on two lists to one for Graziano.

447.Christian Coppola, RHP, Saint Joe’s – 280

448.Troy Southisene, SS, Nevada HS – 277

449.Brenden Olsen, OF, Michigan HS – 274

450.Daniel Kellis, RHP, Pennsylvania HS – 273

451.Brody Schumaker, 2B, California HS – 273

Kellis ranks higher on two lists to just one for Skip Schumaker’s son.

452.Trey Miller, SS, Mississippi HS – 268

453.Brady Neal, C, Alabama – 267

454.Adam Troy, RHP, USC – 267

Neal ranks higher on three lists, while Troy has the edge on one.

455.Lee Garris, 2B, Virginia HS – 266

456.Easton Kitura, 3B, Canada HS – 264

457.Amp Phillips, RHP, South Carolina -260

458.Nick Robert, RHP, Miami – 260

459.Alex Overbay, RHP, Arizona State – 260

Phillips ranks highest on two lists, while Overbay and Roberts each have one. Robert gets the second spot because he has the highest ranking.

460.Brady Murrietta, C, California HS – 258

461.Luke Ekdall, RHP, Texas JUCO – 257

462.Alex Philpott, RHP, South Carolina – 257

Ekdall claims the top spot by being higher on three lists, versus one for Philpott.

463.Cory Les, SS, Illinois HS – 255

464.Owen McMahan, LHP, Tennessee HS – 254

465.Tanner Mally, OF, Western Michigan – 253

466.TJ McQuillan, OF, Indiana HS – 246

467.Porter Buursema, RHP, Georgia Tech – 244

468.Gavin Michaels, SS, Illinois HS – 243

469.Mikey Bell, 3B, Gonzaga – 243

This tie goes to Michaels due to having the highest ranking.

470.Ned Frutchey, RHP, California JUCO – 242

471.Zane Shaw, RHP, Kansas HS – 242

472.Justin Lee, RHP, UCLA – 242

A three-way tie has Frutchey highest in two spots to one each for Lee and Shaw. Shaw gets the second spot due to the highest ranking.

473.Gunnar Alm, OF, North Carolina HS – 241

474.Max Kaufer, C, Wichita State – 236

475.Ben Tryon, 1B, Dallas Baptist – 234

476.Drew Smith, 3B, Oregon – 233

477.JP Robertson, RHP, Mississippi – 231

478.Tristan Bissetta, OF, Mississippi – 231

Robertson ranks higher on two lists, with one for Bissetta.

479.Diego Castellanos, OF, Saint Mary’s – 230

480.Deacon Avery, SS, Florida HS – 230

481.Brayden Harris, RHP, Florida HS -230

Castellanos ranks highest in two spots to one each for Avery and Harris. Avery has the highest ranking on any of the lists, so he claims the second spot.

482.Rob Czarniecki, OF, Indiana HS – 227

483.Hunter Elliott, LHP, Mississippi – 227

Czarniecki ranks higher on two lists, while Elliott has just one.

484.Hideki Prather, C, Cal – 221

485.Tommy Harrison, OF, Miami(OH) – 220

486.Dylan Alonso, RHP, Troy – 220

487.Michael Benzor, LHP, Dallas Baptist – 220

Each of these guys ranks highest on one list. So this comes down to Harrison having the highest ranking, Alonso having the second, and Benzor coming in third.

488.Yodelkis Quevedo, 3B, Florida HS – 218

489.Dillon Moss, C, California HS – 215

490.KJ Scobey, SS, South Carolina – 215

Moss ranks higher on two lists.

491.Wyatt Williams, RHP, Alabama HS – 213

492.Matthew Maxon, RHP, California HS – 212

493.Maika Niu, OF, Arkansas – 211

494.Eric Jeon, 2B, Stanford – 210

495.Ariston Veasey, RHP, Clemson – 208

496.Karson Reeder, RHP/1B, Texas HS – 208

There is no tie breaker here so I gave this tie to the guy who I personally ranked higher. Both players were each on one list, and they came in ranked at the same spot. Veasey ranked 293 on my list, while Reeder was 293 on the PG list.

497.Landon Schutte, RHP, California HS – 206

498.Stone Lawless, C, Tennessee – 202

499.Caleb Trugmann, RHP, California HS – 199

500.Mavrick Rizy, RHP, LSU – 198

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mason Edwards. LHP USC

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

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

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

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

Zion Rose OF Louisville

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

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

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

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

Aiden Robbins OF Texas

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

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

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

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

Daniel Jackson C Georgia.

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

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

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

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

Cade Townsend RHP Mississippi

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

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

Taylor Rabe RHP Mississippi

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

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

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

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

Hunter Dietz LHP Arkansas

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

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

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

AJ Gracia OF Virginia

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rangers 7, Angels 6

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Mets Notes

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

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Today's Lineups

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

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

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

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

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

— Paul Cubbage (@PaulCubbage23) May 20, 2026

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

— federalbaseball (@federalbaseball) July 8, 2026

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What’s the schedule?

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

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

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

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

Saturday, July 11th: 2026 MLB Draft

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

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

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

Monday, July 13th: Home Run Derby

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

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

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

Who are the Phillies’ All-Stars?

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

Brandon Marsh

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

Jhoan Duran

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

Cristopher Sánchez

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

Jesús Luzardo

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

Kyle Schwarber

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

Bryce Harper

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

Will the Phillies have anyone in the Home Run Derby?

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

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

Will the Phillies have any prospects in the Futures Game?

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

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

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

What will the Phillies do in the draft?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) July 9, 2026

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Labaron Philon Jr. DEBUT 🔥🔥🔥

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

— Sixers Nation (@PHLSixersNation) July 9, 2026

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

Roll Tide.