NEW YORK, NEW YORK - AUGUST 04: Jazz Chisholm Jr. #13 of the New York Yankees reacts after hitting a solo home run during the second inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Yankee Stadium on August 04, 2026 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The final stretch of the Major League Baseball season is upon us, and the race for division titles and better seeding within the postseason is as important as ever. For the Yankees, the goal is not just to catch the Tampa Bay Rays, who sit six games above them in first place, but also to fend off the Boston Red Sox, who have surged back into the American League East race. The Yankees’ archrivals are two games back for second place in the AL East, and every game from now until the final day of the regular season matters for potential postseason positioning.
With how important every game is, it also stands that every pitch is extremely important. MLB’s Automated Balls and Strikes system has allowed the players to take some power into their own hands and challenge pitches they believe were called wrong. A batter, catcher, or in a rare case, the pitcher, can challenge, and it has been somewhat of a revelation and, in some instances, a game-saving measure for teams. So with the end of the regular season fast approaching and divisional races tightening up, who should the Yankees constrict on challenges, and who should they trust when their hand taps the top of their helmet?
Top Three:
Aaron Judge (+4.5, 6/8 challenges)
José Caballero (+3.5, 14/24 challenges)
Ryan McMahon (+3.0, 4/5 challenges)
Before starting an analysis of these three, it’s worth mentioning that Aaron Judge isn’t actually number one in the top three. In fact, he’s second. In first place is Max Schuemann, who last played for the Yankees on August 1st against the Chicago White Sox before being sent to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre outright just two days later. He has a Net Overturns For (a metric that measures how many more or fewer umpire calls a player or team successfully gets overturned compared to what an average player would expect when facing identical pitch locations/game situations) of 4.8 and won seven of the nine challenges he put into play for the 40 games he was up with the big club. However, seeing as he’s not with the major league club currently, it was worth a mention, but the focus is on those who play every day.
It’s not a surprise to see Aaron Judge at the top of this list. He’s the best player on the Yankees, he’s one of the best players in MLB, and even though he’s been hurt for a while, he is confident that he can return to the lineup and make a sizeable impact. And, as Yankees fans have seen since Judge’s meteoric rise, the guy knows his strike zone. With his stature, he almost has no other choice. Out of the eight challenges he used when at the plate, he won six of them, and all of the challenges came at the bottom part of the zone.
When Judge taps his helmet, an occurrence that doesn’t happen very often, even though he gets questionable calls in other areas than the bottom of the strike zone, it’s worth paying attention to. He commands the batter’s box, and he knows his strike zone better than anyone.
Caballero won’t be in the lineup as consistently anymore with the coming of 21-year-old George Lombard Jr., but in the at-bats that he will get, he loves to challenge. Fortunately, he’s good at it too. His 24 challenges are a team high, and at a 58 percent win rate, he’s doing about as much as he can in the box. Sixty-seven percent of Caballero’s pitch challenges are considered reasonable according to Baseball Savant, so while he doesn’t always get it right, most of them are within the margin of error to understand why he may think a ball is a strike or vice versa.
A name that many might not expect to be on here is Ryan McMahon. He’s not an above-average hitter (and never has been). His 82 OPS+ this season could be the lowest of his career in a year when he plays more than 100 games, but that hasn’t stopped him from challenging the strike zone when necessary. He has quietly had the highest success rate of anyone on the Yankees with five or more challenges. However, the caveat is that, while he’s successful, he doesn’t challenge often. Five is not a high number relatively speaking. He sits tied for 11th in challenge attempts, and of the seven players lower than him, three of them have only one challenge and two have two. So, for Yankees fans it might be worth remembering that McMahon doesn’t use the challenge system often, but when he does, he’s usually correct.
Bottom Three:
Jazz Chisholm Jr. (-4.8, 7/21 challenges)
Paul Goldschmidt (-4.4, 1/6 challenges)
Cody Bellinger (-3.9, 1/7 challenges)
The feeling has been consistent regarding Chisholm’s work at the plate this season. He came into the year talking about a goal of reaching the 50-50 mark, and to this point, he only has 17 home runs, a slash line of .216/.295/.396, and an OPS+ of 92. His work in the field has been strong, at the very least. His 10 OAA at second base is the 10th best among all major league players and third amongst second basemen (JJ Wetherholt for St. Louis has 22 OAA and Luis Arraez, now with Philadelphia following a stint in San Francisco, leads him). However, the work at the plate has been subpar, and it’s not just the box score numbers; it’s the challenge numbers too.
Chisholm has been the worst Yankee all season long at challenging pitches. He sits with a 33 percent correct challenge rate, and while that’s not the lowest number on the team, he’s also challenged 21 times, the second-most on the team. According to Baseball Savant, Chisholm hasn’t challenged pitches that would be considered reasonable to challenge. Of 23 opportunities he had according to the model, he only challenged eight times, good for 38 percent.
Goldschmidt’s presence is a little less of a problem now that the Yankees found Luis Garcia Jr. to take over his role at first base. When he was in the lineup, he was still hitting at an above-average level, so the lack of successful challenges has less of a bad taste. The same could even be said for Bellinger, who is having another excellent year, but is still dealing with the hamstring injury that has left him out of the lineup since July 26th. He appears to be on a faster track than anticipated, and having him back in the lineup would do wonders for the Yankees’ offense. But his challenges to this point in 2026, even though there have only been eight, have not helped the Bombers get the offense moving or continue to move forward.
Bellinger’s challenge numbers are a bit of a concern considering just how important a cog in the Yankees’ offense he is. He has challenged seven times in 2026 and has only won once. For the most part, his challenges have come on the outside of the zone, and the pitches he’s challenging are so tight that they have low challenge probabilities. But Bellinger challenges them with the confidence that they are balls, and unfortunately, they have all ended up as strikes. So, for Yankees fans watching a Bellinger at-bat, look for opposing pitchers to linger on the outside of the zone, not just because that’s a hard place for any player to create power from. Still, it’s also a potential spot for Bellinger to make a mistake and waste a challenge.
Writing this article without mentioning Austin Wells would be an oversight, too. His challenges behind the dish have helped Yankees pitchers out of multiple jams, and while his season at the plate isn’t going well at all, of his 96 challenges, he has had 59 correct, good for a 61 percent correct rate. That puts Wells 12th-best amongst catchers with 55 or more challenges. So, while trusting him at the plate may be a foregone conclusion, Wells has still been strong behind it, and a tap of the helmet from him shouldn’t be much of a worry for Yankees fans.
The Yankees need their big guns not just to hit the ball well, but to use their challenges effectively. And while some of them have completed that mission so far this season, there are some players in the everyday lineup who need to fine-tune their understanding of how strike zones are going to be called, and, more importantly, when to use challenges in a given game. The postseason is called tighter, and there’s less room for error, so a World Series-winning team will take full advantage of the ABs, but it is also disciplined with its usage.
Angels pitcher Luke Murphy speaks with pitching coach Mike Maddux, second from left, during a game last month. (William Liang / Associated Press)
The Angels fired pitching coach Mike Maddux and two other major league pitching coaches Tuesday, the latest decision in interim general manager John Mozeliak’s aggressive push to revitalize the moribund franchise.
One week after trading eight players off the major league roster to launch a long-overdue rebuilding effort, Mozeliak fired Maddux, assistant pitching coach Darryl Scott and bullpen coach Dom Chiti.
The Angels have a 4.53 earned-run average, ranking 24th among the 30 major league teams. They lead the majors in walks, and they have blown 20 of 36 save opportunities. They posted a 4.89 ERA last season, ranking 28th.
The Angels have the worst record in the major leagues and are on pace for the first 100-loss season in franchise history. Their hitters have fared no better than their pitchers: The Angels rank 26th in the majors in runs scored.
The interim pitching coach, Tim Leveque, will be the Angels’ sixth in seven years.
The contract of manager Kurt Suzuki expires at the end of the season. If the Angels hire a new manager for next season, he would become the team’s sixth manager in eight years.
When Mozeliak joined the Angels in June, he said he had told Suzuki and the coaches “they’re all fine for this year.”
In a statement Tuesday, Mozeliak said: “After spending time discussing with Kurt where we are as a coaching staff and where we want to go in the future, we felt it was best to make a change. With seven weeks remaining, we plan to use this time to evaluate what additional steps are needed to elevate our entire pitching program and best position us for success moving forward.”
Maddux, a pitching coach for five major league teams, and Scott each was in his first season in Anaheim. Chiti is a longtime associate of Perry Minasian, fired as the Angels’ general manager in June.
The interim pitching coach: Leveque, the Angels’ double-A pitching coach and a longtime pitching instructor under Mozeliak with the St. Louis Cardinals. The interim bullpen coach: Michael Wuertz, the Angels’ assistant minor league pitching coordinator.
Mozeliak said last week that he had yet to discuss with the Angels owner Arte Moreno and team president Molly Jolly whether he would continue as the Angels’ top baseball operations official, although many baseball insiders believe he would like to do so. The Angels have committed only to filling that position by the end of the season.
The Atlanta Braves are looking to rebound a tough loss last night against the New York Mets as a clash between two top ten offenses since the All-Star break meet in game two at Truist Park.
The Braves have scored the seventh most runs in MLB since the All-Star break, and the Mets have scored the tenth most. That being said, the rankings are a bit skewed. The gap between the two teams is sixteen runs. If the Braves had sixteen more runs since the break, they would only be two runs behind the MLB leader.
The Mets seem to be getting it together offensively, even without Juan Soto, which means Martín Pérez and crew will need to be on their game tonight to ensure a victory against the Nolan McLean. McLean is having a solid year but has shown some weakness as of late.
McLean was able to hold the Braves to just two earned runs over six innings in early July when he faced off against Pérez the first time. However, over his last three starts he has struggled to an ERA of 4.67. This is largely due to four HRs in that span and an inflated BABIP of .370. The Braves may be facing McLean at the perfect time while he seems to need to make some adjustments or is wearing down after a long season. McLean only has 178.2 innings under his belt in his MLB career, and 130.2 of them are from this season.
With McLean being new to the league, the Braves do not have many at-bats against him. Michael Harris is tied with the most with eight but has struggled to an OPS of .250. Matt Olson is the other player with eight ABs and he is hitless against McLean. Ronald Acuña has a HR in three at-bats, and Drake Baldwin has .900 OPS in five at-bats.
The question of the day with a right-handed pitcher was who was going to be the DH with Dominic Smith’s magic running out.
Ronald Acuña will be the DH today which will slot Mike Yastrzemski into RF. Jim Jarvis is getting another start at SS and super utility Dubón will be in LF. Drake Baldwin is staying in the leadoff spot, which appears to be the norm at this point. It should also be noted that Walt Weiss seems to finally be making it common practice to have Albies out of the top four when facing a righty.
The Mets were able to tag Pérez for four earned runs in early July, but since that gave Pérez has a 1.42 ERA and 3.35 FIP over 19.0 innings with sixteen strikeouts, albeit with a BABIP of .184.
Francisco Lindor has faced Pérez in twenty-five ABs and has been successful with an OPS of 1.213. Another player to keep an eye on is Bo Bichette. He has an OPS of 1.100 and average of .467 against Pérez in fifteen ABs. Marcus Semien has a whopping forty-one ABs against Pérez and has a .707 OPS against him.
On paper it looks like the slight edge factoring in the trends of SPs and the lineups, but we all know that anything can happen in baseball.
OMAHA, NEBRASKA - JUNE 21: Cameron Flukey #2 of the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers pitches against the LSU Tigers in Game 1 of the NCAA College World Series baseball finals at Charles Schwab Field on June 21, 2025 in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Jay Biggerstaff/Getty Images) | Getty Images
A wave of additions to the Low-A Lakeland Flying Tigers roster have been announced as the 2026 Detroit Tigers draft class receives their first assignments in pro ball. 2026 first round selection RHP Cameron Flukey heads the list, as he is slated to debut in the organization with a start for the Flying Tigers on Wednesday night. The 21-year-old right-hander, selected 22nd overall back in July, missed the early part of his college season with Coastal Carolina due to a stress fracture in his ribs. The Tigers have decided to try to make up some of those innings lost in his final college season, and sources have reported that Flukey has looked very good in his bullpen sessions as he prepares to start his pro career. If things go well, there’s a good chance he could begin his first full season in 2027 at the High-A level, putting him on a relative fast track towards the upper levels of the minor leagues.
Joining Flukey in Lakeland will also be 2026 sixth rounder SS Maddux Molony, and seventh rounder 1B Brady Ballinger. The Tigers have already made some additions to the Flying Tigers roster in recent weeks as former top prep picks LHP Paul Wilson and RHP Owen Hall have each made a few appearances. An exciting young shortstop prospect in Angel De Los Santos has been making waves after a strong showing in the Complex League and some good work in his first seven games for the Flying Tigers with a pair of home runs already. Fellow 19-year-old infielder Ronald Ramirez is also off to a strong start.
Shortstop Tyson LeBlanc, the Tigers second round pick this year, is currently on the 7-day IL with an undisclosed injury, but seems likely to return in time to start his pro career in Lakeland before the season ends.
The Bridge League, which is essentially an unofficial continuation of the Complex League on the backfields, has also had some interesting news as both RHP Michael Massey and RHP Zach Swanson, two high bonus picks who have spent most of their time in pro ball on the injured list, have made appearances. Massey was the Tigers’ 4th rounder out of Wake Forest in 2024, while Swanson was a prep pick in the same draft. The duo were among our favorite arms selected over the past four drafts under the Scott Harris front office, so it’s good to finally see them healthy and getting some work in.
Finally, 3B Carson Rucker, along with RHP Luke Hoskins, and RHP Maddux Long, have been promoted from Lakeland to High-A West Michigan.
Shortstop prospect John Peck is due to begin a rehab assignment tonight in Lakeland. However, in less happy news, outfielder Wenceel Pérez is still dealing with vision issues and headaches after suffering an orbital fracture back in early June. His rehab assignment has been temporarily shut down while he is re-evaluated.
Big day of moves for Lakeland(1/3): RD1 pick Cameron Flukey will make his pro debut with Lakeland this week. After missing two months due to a stress fracture in his rib in Feb., he is being built back up to make up for the IP lost over that span. @tigersMLreport@bythewaybro
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - JULY 24: Pitching coach Mike Maddux #88 of the Los Angeles Angels walks to the dugout after a mound visit against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park on July 24, 2026 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Anaheim Angels have fired pitching coach Mike Maddux, assistant pitching coach Darryl Scott, and bullpen coach Dom Chiti, per Jeff Passan, underscoring that the Anaheim Angels are an unserious organization that should continue to be relegated to clown car status in MLB.
The Angels came into the season with their general manager, Perry Minasian, entering the last year of his deal. Minasian hired first-time manager Kurt Suzuki on just a one year deal. Maddux, Scott and Chiti were all in their first season with the Angels in 2026, and it is believed that they were all working on one year deals, as well. Speculation was that owner Arte Moreno did not want to have folks under contract past 2026 that he would have to pay during a potential work stoppage.
Minasian was fired by the Angels six weeks ago, and was replaced by John Mozeliak, the former St. Louis Cardinals head guy who was eased out of St. Louis after almost two decades because of concerns that he was behind the times, particularly in the player development arena. Mozeliak actually traded away some players at the trade deadline, a departure from the past with Anaheim, leading some to wonder if maybe things were getting straightened out in Anaheim, especially given that Mozeliak previously publicly stated, right after he was hired:
“I met with Kurt and most of (the coaches) this morning, and I told them they’re all fine for this year,” Mozeliak, the former St. Louis Cardinals’ baseball operations head, said at a news conference before Saturday night’s game against the Athletics.
“There’s nothing they have to worry about. … They all have jobs moving forward. There’s no reason for massive change right away.”
Apparently not.
The Angels are 25th in the majors in runs allowed per game, at 4.87, just a hair behind the Pirates and Astros at 4.84. The Angels are tied for 24th in the majors in ERA+ with the Astros and the Giants. I’m pretty sure none of those teams have fired their pitching coaches this season, though all three of those teams were expected to have better pitching staffs this year than the Angels were.
What is kind of ironically amusing about this is that the Angels are firing their pitching coaches the day after they held the Rangers to just one run in nine innings. The Angels did give up three runs in the tenth inning, leading to a loss, though those runs were allowed by Luke Murphy, making his fourth major league appearance, and Blake Weiman, making his third, so I’m not sure what exactly they expected.
The Angels did allow a combined 19 runs in Miami on Saturday and Sunday, and I guess maybe that was the breaking point, but you’d think they’d have fired everyone after they returned home on Sunday, not after a game the first game of a homestand on Monday. Also, the Angels had allowed just 15 runs in their six games prior to that, so things were kinda looking up.
That said, the Angels came into the season with a couple of quality pitchers and a whole host of guys (and this describes both their newly acquired pitchers and position players) who were either once good, but aren’t anymore, or who were once supposed to be good but hadn’t panned out yet.
Among the success stories this year for the Angels pitching staff has been Jose Soriano, who rebounded from a down 2025 season and was traded to Toronto; 22 year old rookie Walbert Urena, who has put up a 2.83 ERA in 101 innings over 21 appearances; and Reid Detmers, who, after spending the 2025 season in the bullpen, returned to the rotation and has been a solid league average innings eater. Ryan Zeferjahn, Chase Silseth, Kirby Yates and Brent Suter all were varying degrees of decent in the bullpen, and were all traded at the deadline.
On the other hand, Alek Manoah was terrible and then released; Jordan Romano was terrible, was released in late April, signed with the Colorado Rockies, and currently leads both the Angels and Rockies in saves; Jack Kochanowicz was terrible (though marginally less terrible than last year) and is now on the injured list; Grayson Rodriguez, acquired from the pitching-starved Baltimore Orioles for a rental outfielder (which should be sending red flags up everywhere), has been terrible, although he’s at least healthy currently, for a change; Ryan Johnson, their 2024 2nd rounder out of Dallas Baptist (you can read our draft preview of him here), was rushed to the majors in a bullpen role last year, was terrible, was sent down to be a starter at high-A (!!!) to “work on his pitching skills,” according to 2025 manager Ron Washington, until missing six weeks with injury, has spent most of 2026 in the majors, and has been terrible; Yusei Kikuchi was bad and is now on the 60 day injured list; and Drew Pomeranz was bad and was released.
The 64 year old Maddux has a lengthy, and successful, resume as a pitching coach, including two stints with the Rangers, in 2009-15 and 2023-25. The 67 year old Chiti started his career as a coach in the Rangers’ minor league system all the way back in 1982, and has been a coach, a scout, or a front office guy in various capacities ever since, including four years in the Rangers’ front office under John Hart and three seasons as the team’s bullpen coach from 2006-08. The 58 year old Scott spent almost 20 years in the Rockies’ organization as a pitching coach, including being the bullpen coach from 2020-21 and the pitching coach from 2022-25.
I am, as y’all probably know, a skeptic when it comes to how much influence a pitching coach, or a hitting coach, has on a team, so maybe I’m not the best person to listen to in this regard. But if the Angels are blaming the fired pitching coaches for Alek Manoah’s continued failures, for Jack Kochanowicz continuing not to miss bats, for Grayson Rodriguez struggling and Jordan Romano continuing to flounder and Ryan Johnson being rushed, well, it just underscores the clown car nature of the franchise.
Maddux left for Anaheim after Bruce Bochy departed as the Rangers manager after 2025, with Skip Schumaker seemingly wanting his own person in the job. It seemed like, at best, a lateral move, especially on a one year deal. Whatever you think of Maddux, he deserves better than being shitcanned by a joke of a franchise that is currently sporting the worst record in the majors.
Maybe the Rangers fans who have been blaming the Rangers’ pitching problems this year on Maddux being gone will get their wish and see Maddux return in some capacity. After all, he wouldn’t even have to pack his bags to join the team right now. He could maybe have some sort of advisory role. Or maybe Maddux would prefer to take the rest of the year off, collect his Artebucks and listen to his brother Greg tell stories about throwing a changeup to a particular hitter when he had a big lead so that the hitter would be looking for that pitch in the future.
And if the Rangers score just two runs over the next three games in Anaheim, you all have permission to yell at me.
WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 07: Daylen Lile #4 of the Washington Nationals hits a three-run home run in the first inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Nationals Park on August 07, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images) | Getty Images
If there was ever a series to point to as the turning point for a playoff run for this Nationals team, it might just be their weekend sweep of the Cincinnati Reds. The Nats were scuffling through the start of August, but handled business against the Reds to put themselves close to striking distance of a playoff spot. The second test comes this week, as the scorching hot Chicago Cubs come to Washington, vying to tighten up their division race and bury the Nats in the standings.
If Washington wants to get closer than 5.0 games back of the last Wild Card spot, Chicago is certainly a team that would give them momentum if they can pull off a series win. The Cubbies are 7-3 in their last 10 games and sitting 19 games above .500, holding firm in the top Wild Card spot and sitting 5.0 games back of the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers.
Game One – Tuesday 6:45 PM EST
CHC: LHP Shota Imanaga (8-9, 3.60 ERA)
WSH: RHP Jake Irvin (2-5, 5.37 ERA)
The crafty Imanaga has been nothing but consistent since entering the MLB in 2024, and this year has been no different. Washington is catching him at a rough time as well, with the Japanese southpaw having allowed just 2 or fewer runs in every start dating back to June 24th.
Irvin has thrown twice since returning from the injured list, with 2 very different results. The Nats will hope for a similar result as his last time out, where he went 5.1 innings against the Philadelphia Phillies, allowing just 3 hits and 2 earned runs.
Game Two – Wednesday 6:45 PM EST
CHC: LHP David Peterson (6-7, 5.35 ERA)
WSH: TBA
It’s been a rough ride for Peterson this year, but, like Imanaga, the Nats are seeing him when he seems to be at his best. His first 2 starts of August were among the most productive he’s had in 2026, looking much more like the 2024 version of himself that emerged as a valuable starter for the New York Mets.
The Nats have yet to announce a starter for the middle game of the series, with one possible candidate being newly-called-up lefty Jackson Kent. In any sense, the Washington bullpen depth and effectiveness will be tested.
Game Three – Thursday 4:05 PM EST
CHC: RHP Kevin Gausman (6-10, 4.29 ERA)
WSH: RHP Cade Cavalli (2-5, 5.56 ERA)
Gausman was acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays prior to the trade deadline as a proven veteran arm to fuel their playoff push, and he more than looked the part in his first start with Chicago. The 35-year-old is in the midst of his worst season since 2019 based on ERA, but he’s always a tough matchup for hitters.
Cavalli keeps on pushing through the dog days of summer, going another 6.0 strong innings against Cincinnati and finishing off his 6th quality start in a row. The Nats’ top arm is positioned to start in what could be a huge series finale to end the brief homestand.
CLEVELAND, OH - JULY 04: A detail shot of the USA 250 jersey worn by Cooper Ingle #30 of the Cleveland Guardians prior to the game between the Chicago White Sox and the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field on Saturday, July 4, 2026 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Grace Hoppel/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
It’s been a while, but it’s time to check in on what current Guardians’ minor league prospects have been doing for the past two months.
When we last checked in, one month had elapsed in the Guardians’ system. So, a lot has happened since then, including the promotions of Travis Bazzana, Cooper Ingle (back down now), Angel Genao, and Franco Aleman… and the injury of basically every pitching prospect worthy of interest (Kahl Stephen, Franklin Gomez, Braylon Doughty and the list goes on and on). So, let’s see what’s been happening over the past 60 days or so:
Analysis: Back down in Columbus, Ingle deserves credit for responding to his demotion by continuing to post great numbers as a hitter while splitting time between left field/catcher/DH. He should get another chance to hit in Cleveland before long. Next, don’t completely ignore Tolentino; he’s great depth to have and if there is an injury or if Travis Bazzana or Angel Genao need to recalibrate in Columbus, I think Tolentino will get a look and has a chance to be a solid utility infielder in the Schneemann mold. Tolentino is still only 24 years old, as well. Meanwhile, Velazquez’s numbers have been carried by his recent performance, which could be a sign of his adjustment to Triple-A pitching. I think Ralphy will REALLY have to explode to force a call-up, because, as is, he can continue to play in 2027 if there is an extended lockout because he does not yet need to be on the 40-man. It’s exciting to see Velazquez begin to figure things out at the upper levels because he is still only 21 years old and has maintained mostly even splits against RHP/LHP.
Analysis: You will soon notice a theme here… Guardian’s minor league pitching prospects are STRUGGLING. Peterson still looks like a viable fifth starter. Hopefully, the Guardians will not need him and their top five starters will stay healthy, but Peterson and Logan Allen are definitely front of the line replacements now with Slade Cecconi on the IL with arm fatigue.
Analysis: Advincula is old for his level (25), but he might have got a shot in Columbus had he not just gone down with an elbow strain. Schubart is such an interesting player; you can’t help but doubt if his extreme whiff issues will doom him, but he is lowering his K-numbers to a point where he looks like he could potentially be a Joey Gallo-type major league hitter. Cesarini’s numbers are probably small sample size but could be an interesting platoon bat for someone. Walton is the most exciting of this bunch as he has managed to cut his whiff-rates and still display some excellent power while looking viable in centerfield. He’s definitely a bat to monitor closely as the season ends; perhaps others will join FanGraphs in putting him on an MLB Top 100 list if it goes well.
Analysis: Doughty is thankfully scheduled to make a return to the mound this week from the ambiguous arm-fatigue before the season is over. He looks like a front of the rotation prospect. Jahec is 25 years old but is looking like a potentially viable major league relief arm at some point, likely for the middle innings, and should get a look in Columbus soon. Jasiak is also 25 but just got the promotion to Columbus, so we’ll see if he can show himself to be a solid middle relief option there.
Analysis: Pay attention to Howard as a catching prospect who can really hit. Curley is busy trying to figure things out in Akron now, but he definitely showed some promising signs in Lake County while running an absolutely unsustainable walk-rate. Gonzalex is a little old for the level and only 5 foot 6 but dude can hit a little. Francisca seems to be putting things together after a lengthy struggle (perhaps injury-driven) and showing not to give up on him being another short, switch-hitting infield success story for Cleveland as a 20 year-old, and should be in Akron soon. Caceres beginning by holding his own as an 18 year-old in High-A is very good news and makes him definitely a top-3-type prospect for the Guardians’ system at the moment. Hopefully, he finishes the season strong and could be pushing for a debut as a 20 year-old in Cleveland (rivaling Jose Ramirez for earliest recent debut??).
High-A Lake County Pitchers:
Izaak Martinez, 1.32 ERA, 3.74 FIP, 12/4.6 K/BB/9
Analysis: He’s up in Akron and things aren’t going well, yet, but given the state of this system, we better hope this is a potential matchup lefty in the bullpen for us. He’s 24 years old, though, so it’s not very likely.
Low-A Hill City Hitters:
Luis De La Cruz, SH 157 wRC+, 11/14 K/BB/% Reiner Herrera, LHH 135 wRC+, 14/15 K/BB%
Analysis: De La Cruz is a corner infielder and I don’t know that he has enough power to really be something, but he’s only 19 and worth monitoring. Herrera is a catcher who makes great, quality contact. Worth watching to see what he does as the season ends.
Low-A Hill City Pitchers:
NONE
Analysis: The Guardians’ should probably be targeting minor league pitching if they trade a player like Steven Kwan, Kyle Manzardo or Gavin Williams in the offseason… just saying.
With all the promotions the Guardians have done this season, the minor league systems are looking a little bare. They should get a boost from their 2026 draft class and the Arizona Complex and Dominican Winter leagues soon, but there is some work to be done here. Still, having Ingle, Velazquez, Walton, Caceres and Francisca is good news for the Guardians’ continued miasma of offensive issues and there are some fun storylines to follow as the season ends.
And, here’s an update on some recent moves for the affiliates just as I hit publish:
The Cleveland Guardians Player Development System has announced the following moves for today:
Place Jonah Advincula on the 7-Day IL in HC (right elbow strain).
Transfer RHP Jack Jasiak from Akron to Columbus.
Transfer INF Jhorvic Abreus from Akron to Hill City.
John Mozeliak, who was hired six weeks ago as the Los Angeles Angels interim GM, made his most sweeping changes yet Tuesday by firing three veteran pitching coaches.
The Angels fired well-respected veteran pitching coach Mike Maddux, bullpen coach Dom Chiti and assistant pitching coach Darryl Scott. They were all on one-year contracts along with manager Kurt Suzuki.
The new pitching coach will be Tim Leveque, who was in the St. Louis Cardinals organization for 20 years with Mozeliak with Michael Wuertz as the interim bullpen coach.
“After spending time discussing with Kurt where we are as a coaching staff and where we want to go in the future, we felt it was best to make a change,” Mozeliak said in a release. “With seven weeks remaining, we plan to use this time to evaluate what additional steps are needed to elevate our entire pitching program and best position us for success moving forward.”
The Angels’ pitching staff was yielding a 4.53 ERA, but Maddux and his staff also oversaw the breakout seasons of Reid Detmers, Rafael Soriano, Walbert Urena, Ryan Zeferjahn and Chase Silseth.
“I had a great time in Anaheim," Maddux said in a text message with USA TODAY Sports. “Pitching was our strong suit. Glad to see some improvement… The coaches room is a solid cast of characters."
Leveque was in his first year as the Angels Class AA Rocket City’s pitching coach. He worked in the Cardinals’ scouting department in 2025 after being a minor-league pitching coach and pitching coordinator for the previous 19 years with the Cardinals.
Wuertz is in his 11th year with the Angels, and was the Angels minor league assistant pitching coordinator.
The Phillies are both mediocre and the National League’s biggest threat to upset the Los Angeles Dodgers in this year’s playoffs.
How can both be true?
The 2026 Phillies enter Tuesday night’s game in St. Louis at 64-56, a .533 winning percentage, 7.5 games behind the Braves in the NL East and tied with the Arizona Diamondbacks for the 2nd wild card, both of whom are just one game up on the San Diego Padres for the NL’s final playoff spot.
Since the Phillies reached their high-water mark of 11 games over .500 on July 1 (49-38), they have gone 15-18 in their last 33 games. Over that stretch they are 15th in runs scored, 18th in OPS, 19th in batting average, and 22nd in home runs. Their 4.45 staff ERA is 22nd and their tied for 20th in walk rate, 22nd in home runs per nine innings, and 16th in batting average allowed. The rotation’s numbers are better than the bullpen’s, whose 5.46 ERA is 2nd-worst in baseball, and the defense’s -35 Defensive Runs Saved is also last.
That’s mediocre.
And yet, as The Athletic’s Jayson Stark wrote, there are those inside baseball who believe the Phillies remain the greatest threat to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ quest for a three-peat this October.
Should they get there.
So the team that got the most mentions as the Dodgers’ biggest threat was a surprise to me: the same Phillies team that just made a trade (for Arraez) that was so unorthodox they had to shake up half their defensive lineup just to fit him onto the field.
“I still think it comes back to the team, in the playoffs, with the best 1-2-3 starters,” said the former exec. “And that’s the Phillies.”
On the latest edition of WHYY’s Hittin’ Season, we discussed the seeming contradiction.
It is true the Phillies are both mediocre, and the National League team best positioned to knock the Dodgers off in a short postseason series.
You can listen to the FULL podcast below on Spotify, watch it on the WHYY YouTube channel, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts and anywhere else podcasts are free!
KLUGH: “Yes, having three awesome starting pitchers in playoff series is going to get you the advantage almost every time. But we’ve also seen how having three big horses like that in your rotation doesn’t get you all the way there all the time. I have my doubts that the Phillies are the best team to challenge the Dodgers when the Brewers have been playing so well and are cited for doing the things well the Phillies don’t do, which is the little things.”
Jesus Luzardo is in the midst of a hot streak reminiscent of what we saw earlier in the season from Cristopher Sanchez. And with Zack Wheeler continuing to roll right along, there is perhaps no team in baseball that can feature three pitchers this dominant in a playoff series.
Of course, there are teams who can counter with a pretty comparable 1-2 punch. The key is the Game 3 starter the Phillies can run out there in a playoff series. It’s a difference maker.
And while the Phils have a major issue with their bullpen right now, the Dodgers had a similarly leaky group of relievers heading into last year’s playoffs. They solved it by using their starters out of the ‘pen to secure key outs late in games. The Phillies won’t have quite that kind of ability, although Andrew Painter’s improvements over his last three starts makes him an intriguing bullpen add.
Still, unless some relief pitchers emerge over the final 40 games of the regular season, the Phils may not even make it to October, let along go on a run to the Fall Classic.
And in the postseason, the offense must come to play and perform under pressure in a way they haven’t since Game 2 of the 2023 NLCS.
There are other more well-rounded teams in the NL that could perhaps be a bigger threat. Milwaukee is once again playing at an elite level, with an ace pitcher that is just about as unbeatable as a person can be right now. The Chicago Cubs acquired pitching at the trade deadline that could make them very dangerous, and don’t count out the Atlanta Braves, who have been up-and-down.
Are the Phillies playing mediocre baseball right now? Yes. You know what other team played mediocre baseball late in the season?
The 2022 Phils, who went 11-14 in September and just barely squeaked into the postseason as the third wild card. Last year’s Phillies went 18-11 in August and 17-8 in September and went into the playoffs on an absolute roll.
So yes, it’s fair to say the Phillies are, right now, mediocre. And yes, it’s also fair to say they are the team with the biggest threat to the Dodgers in the playoffs.
Boston, MA - April 19: Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora in the sixth inning. The Red Sox played the Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park on April 19, 2026. (Photo by Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) | Boston Globe via Getty Images
We talk a lot about the supposed value of GMs being able to hire their own manager. Neither Chaim Bloom, nor Craig Breslow got that opportunity, as Alex Cora was seemingly foisted upon both by ownership. And even as he’s fired Cora, Breslow still hasn’t really gotten that opportunity, as Chad Tracy predates his Red Sox tenure. So, is that why the interim tag hasn’t yet been removed from Tracy? “I think he’s been good for the team and a great manager so far. He’s been there for us,” said Ceddanne Rafaela. “He’s a great person; that’s first. I think he gave everybody the freedom to play the game and do what they needed to do. He cares about us and not just what we do on the field.” (Peter Abraham, Boston Globe)
Meanwhile, Alex Cora is still working through the emotions of his firing, recently saying on a podcast that he has three different competing emotions about how it went down. “I’ll say it again, it’s three different feelings: happy for my family, upset that they didn’t let me finish the job and honestly, relieved I don’t have to go through scouting reports and the matrix and talk to the media twice a day and live in the bubble of, ‘We have to do this.” (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)
Regardless of what you think of either Tracy or Cora, in baseball no manager is successful without production from the players on the field. The Sox have gotten plenty of that from Wilyer Abreu this season, and he was just honored with his second American League Player of the Week award. (Aiden Stepansky, MLB.com)
But last week was last week. This week, the Red Sox find themselves on a three-game losing streak during which they haven’t hit a single home run. And last night’s loss featuring strong pitching but a languid lineup looked early similar to the way they were losing games at the beginning of the year. (Rob Bradford, WEEI)
In that sense, Adley Rutschman is returning to action at the perfect time. “I miss playing,” Rutschman said. “I want to be out there, and to be able to go out and play baseball is such a blessing. And I think you realize that when you’re on the IL and you’re not able to play it. For me, it’s just excitement. This team’s rolling. This locker room, the guys are really tight, as you can tell. So I’m just excited to be a part of it.” (Tim Healey, Boston Globe)
And hopefully Rutschman will be soon followed by Roman Anthony, who recently started hitting off a pitching machine. “All things are positive,” said Chad Tracy. “Let him keep taking steps, temper expectations until he crosses and checks all these boxes, then we’ll see when we can get him here.” (Daniel Yanofsky, NESN)
HARTFORD, CT - APRIL 02: Jake Brooks #32 of the Hartford Yard Goats pitches during the game between the Chesapeake Baysox and the Hartford Yard Goats at Dunkin' Park on Thursday, April 2, 2026 in Hartford, Connecticut. (Photo by Ryan Desantis/Minor League Baseball via Getty Images)
The phone range in the middle of the offseason. Jake Brooks was a couple of weeks from leaving for Marlins camp in Florida, and the name on the screen was John Savage, his head coach at UCLA.
“He gave me a ring and was like, ‘Hey man, how you feeling?’” Brooks said. “I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ And he’s like, ‘Come on, man, how you feeling?’ And I was like, ‘Dude, what are you talking about?’ And he’s like, ‘I think you’re getting traded to the Rockies.’”
Brooks had never been traded before. He didn’t know how any of it was supposed to work — who calls, in what order, how long you sit with it before anyone official confirms anything.
“I was shocked, obviously,” he said. “And I was like, ‘Dude, I’ve got to start calling some people. I’ve got to figure this out.’”
He called his parents first. Then the calls started coming in the other direction — Miami, then Colorado. Somewhere in there, he texted Kyle Karros.
That trade, on January 20, sent Brooks to the Rockies from the Marlins for Bradley Blalock. Six months later, the 25-year-old right-hander is making starts at Triple-A Albuquerque, learning an environment that has humbled better-known arms, and discovering that the organization he landed in had things to tell him about himself that his old one never did.
The seven feet
Brooks throws from a low three-quarters arm slot — a Statcast arm angle of 24.4 degrees — and it’s the thing everything else about him is built on.
“I’ve always been, I guess, a lower three-quarters arm slot kind of guy, and that has helped me get the natural sink that I have,” he said
That much he knew. What he didn’t know was how far down the mound he gets before he lets go of the ball.
“My extension that I’ve honestly come to realize this year is pretty far,” Brooks said. “I think I have over seven feet of extension, so that creates a little bit more deception to the hitters as well. But that’s something I didn’t even realize when I was with the Marlins in that organization. I wasn’t really brought to that knowledge that I had that elite extension, so that’s something that I’ve kind of learned about this year and used it to my advantage.”
He’s right about it, and the number backs him up. Brooks releases the ball an average of 7.0 feet from the rubber this season, which grades in the 96th percentile among pitchers in his cohort.
It’s also a real change: In 2024, at Low-A Jupiter, he was releasing around 6.6 feet. He has found roughly five inches, and five inches at that arm slot is the difference between a 91-mph sinker that looks like 91 and one that doesn’t.
Brooks is careful about where credit goes. The pitches themselves were built in Miami.
“They had a higher emphasis on ‘stuff,’ and it was all on like a stuff metric scale,“ he said. ”And I developed stuff there; like my stuff did get better, and I did add a sweeper, which is one of my better pitches, as well as that kick change with them. So I attribute a lot of my stuff to the Marlins and what they gave me. But being in an org where I can use that stuff and use the strength that I do well is really cool.“
The strength he does well is throwing the ball over the plate, and Colorado made a point of telling him to do so.
“The comfort level with Alon [Leichman] was great during spring training,” Brooks said. “I had a couple of conversations with him and some of the other pitching coaches up in the big league staff, and it’s just good to be with an organization that values what you do at an elite level. I know that, ‘Hey, I’m going to pound the zone, I’m going to attack hitters, I’m going to compete.’”
He does. Brooks has thrown 54.1 percent of his Triple-A pitches inside the strike zone and 66.5 percent for strikes overall, both near the top of the level, with a 5.8 percent walk rate. He’s walked 10 hitters in 37 innings.
Learning to pitch backward
The version of Brooks who dominated the Florida State League in 2024 threw his sinker 52 percent of the time. He was a sinker with three pitches behind it. The version in Albuquerque is a different design. The sinker is down to 29 percent. The sweeper has gone from an eighth of his pitches to more than a fifth. He now throws five pitches, and none of them account for even 30 percent of his mix.
Some of that is deliberate, and some of it is Triple-A forcing the issue.
“There’s learning curves at every level, and one of the biggest for me in this Triple-A level is seeing how my stuff best plays off each other, facing better hitters and more veteran hitters,” Brooks said. “Using that four-seam fastball does set up that split change that I have a little bit better. Set that high fastball up to set up that low changeup, because you can’t just use stuff to overpower these guys. Especially with the stuff that I have, it isn’t necessarily overpowering, but I can pitch, and I can locate.”
He isn’t overselling the pitch. Asked what makes it work, Brooks went straight at its limitations.
“That high-four seam fastball, which isn’t metrically great, but still the differential off of the changeup that I throw definitely works and tricks batters,” he said.
The four-seam is a 91-mph pitch with about eight and a half inches of induced vertical break — a fastball that doesn’t ride, thrown from a slot that isn’t built to make it ride. On its own, it isn’t beating anybody at this level.
The differential is the point. Brooks’ changeup arrives ten miles per hour slower with roughly nine inches less carry, out of the same arm slot and the same seven feet of extension. Throw one at the top of the zone and the other under it, and a hitter has to decide early on two pitches that look identical leaving the hand and finish nearly a foot apart.
It’s working the way he says. The changeup has produced a 28.1 percent whiff rate this season, the highest of all his offerings. And the four-seam — the pitch he just told you isn’t metrically great — had held Triple-A hitters to a .288 expected wOBA, better than the sinker it’s spelling.
The pitch above them all is the sweeper. At 80.7 miles per hour with about a foot of glove-side break, it has held Triple-A hitters to a .198 expected wOBA with a 21.1 percent whiff rate. It’s the one offering in the mix that grades out as an unambiguous plus by pitch-model standards, and it’s the one he named unprompted as the thing Miami gave him.
He also got a week with someone who has pitched successfully in the hardest place there is: Gabriel Hughes (No. 12 PuRP).
“I obviously don’t cut it as much as him — his cut fastball is insane,” Brooks said of Rockies right-hander. “But I spoke with him a little bit, and he emphasized just the ability to pitch and be in zone with different speeds was the biggest contributor to his success. I was only with him for half a week, maybe a week, until he got called up.”
Starting lanes
Then there is the altitude, which Brooks describes better than most people who write about it.
“Pitching for me has always been locating first and then stuff second,” he said. “Coming up to Albuquerque and elevation, it’s more so just starting lanes, and knowing that your pitch isn’t going to move as much, but just feeling out throughout the game what your pitch is doing, and then starting them in locations where you want them. So maybe my sinker, I’m starting it more middle instead of outer third to get it in. My sweeper, I’m starting more middle to get it out instead of starting at the batter’s hips.”
He learned it the way everyone learns it.
“That’s been something I’ve learned through adversity, really,” Brooks said. “Because I’ll get guys to two strikes, I’ll get ahead of guys, and then I’ll spin a breaking ball, and it just won’t end up where I want it. And then they’ll hit it for an easy single. More veteran guys are going to take their knocks if they have them. I’m leaving elevated changeups maybe out of the zone, but lefties are flicking it the other way for a single instead of fouling it off or swinging and missing.”
That is, essentially, a scouting report on his own season. Brooks carries a 6.81 ERA in seven Albuquerque starts. He has allowed almost nothing hard: an average exit velocity of 87.0 mph, a hard-hit rate in the 90th percentile of the level, and one barrel across 136 batted balls. His wOBA against is .405. His expected wOBA, based on how the ball has actually left the bat, is .312.
The gap between those two numbers is a .389 batting average on balls in play, and Brooks just told you where it comes from. Singles. Flicked the other way, at 5,000 feet, by hitters who have seen a lot of pitching.
The recovery side of altitude has been easier than the pitching side.
“More hydration tablets, definitely more electrolytes, and a couple more minutes of stretching each day,” he said. “But the recovery has been honestly not too bad.”
The Karros crew
The best part of the trade, for Brooks, had nothing to do with pitch design.
He and Kyle Karros met as freshmen at UCLA, didn’t know each other beforehand, and became close almost immediately. He’s tight with Kyle’s older brother Jared, now in the Dodgers system. The three of them have lived together in the offseason, train together, surf, and play volleyball.
“It’s a childhood dream to be able to play with one of your best friends in the big leagues,” Brooks said. “It was honestly surreal when it happened, the trade, because it’s like, what are the odds that I get traded to the same team that he’s on?”
Karros was, by Brooks’ count, roughly his second phone call that day — ahead of the Marlins, who hadn’t reached him yet.
“I definitely shot him a text, and I was like, ‘Dude, I might be coming to the Rockies. I don’t know yet.’”
There is also a running fantasy football league with the Karros brothers, which Brooks entered once, finished last in, and walked away in embarrassment.
“It was so embarrassing that I had to step away for a few years and do my research, then come back,” he said. “So this is my first year back in, I think, two or three years with that crew. Hopefully I make a new name for myself.
One more Colorado thread runs back further than any of it. In the summer of 2020, Brooks pitched for the Fond Du Lac Dock Spiders of the Northwoods League, where he met a shortstop named Ryan Ritter.
“That’s a fun league,” Brooks said. “That’s the best depiction of pro ball that you can get in summer ball. It’s a grind up there.”
So is this. Brooks spent the first half of the season in Hartford, on a Yard Goats club that won its division’s first half, and he lit up talking about it — “just being on a pitching staff and on a team that wants to win helps you perform to a higher level.”
Then he came to Albuquerque, where the sweeper doesn’t sweep as far, and veteran hitters take what you give them.
He’s still throwing strikes. He’s still finding the lanes. And for the first time, he’s doing it with an organization that told him exactly what he had.
Albuquerque took four of six from the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (Houston Astros) at Isotopes Park, extending a run in which they have won 10 of their last 12. The series had everything: a 10-1 rout, a pair of one-run games, and an 18-10 loss in which Sugar Land scored 11 in the tenth inning and three Isotopes — Zac Veen, Blas Castaño, and manager Pedro Lopez were ejected. The bullpen was otherwise outstanding, with eight different arms finishing the series without allowing an earned run. Albuquerque sits at 20-19 in the second half, still seven games back of first place.
⬆️ Stock Up: Veen’s Three-Homer Night
Zac Veen (PuRP No. 9) went 5-for-5 with three home runs, a triple, and a double on Saturday, driving in seven of Albuquerque’s 10 runs and finishing a single shy of the cycle with 17 total bases. It was the centerpiece of a series in which he hit .478 (11-for-23) with four homers, 10 RBIS, and nine runs scored across all six games. Veen is now at 24 home runs and 87 RBIS — the second straight series in which he has been the best hitter on the field, and the kind of stretch that makes the next roster decision in Denver an interesting one.
ZAC VEEN TRIPLES TO COMPLETE THE GREATEST INDIVIDUAL SINGLE-GAME PERFORMANCE IN ISOTOPES HISTORY!!! pic.twitter.com/bkcdouocCB
Ryan Ritter quietly outhit even Veen, collecting 11 hits in 17 at-bats for a .657 average over five games. He added three doubles, a triple, and three stolen bases, going 4-for-4 with two steals in Friday’s slugfest and 3-for-4 in Sunday’s series-clinching win. Ritter did damage from multiple spots in the order, giving Albuquerque a second bat that opposing pitchers couldn’t navigate.
Upcoming
The Isotopes will visit Oklahoma City for a six-game series with the Comets (Los Angeles Dodgers)
Hartford was swept in six games at Binghamton (New York Mets) — the last-place club in their own division, which entered the week 26 games under .500. The Yard Goats scored 14 runs across the series, and three of those runs came in a 23-3 loss, meaning 11 runs total in the other five games. They hit .18- as a team and struck out 76 times, and they now sit at 15-24 in the second half.
⬆️ Stock Up: Flesland Deserved Better
Stu Flesland III threw seven innings of one-hit baseball Friday, walking one and striking out seven, and left with the game scoreless. Hartford lost it 1-0 an inning later. It continued a strong run of starts following a five-inning no-hit stint at Chesapeake and a win at Richmond, and it dropped his ERA to 2.09 with a 3-0 record. In a week when almost nothing went right for the Yard Goats, Flesland gave them the one game they should have won.
Mike Antico struck out 10 times in 19 at-bats, finishing the series 2-for-19. One of those hits was a home run in the blowout loss, and it accounted for his only RBI of the week. He was the most frequent out in a lineup that made a great many of them.
Upcoming
Hartford returns home for six games with the Erie Seawolves (Detroit Tigers)
High-A: Spokane Indians (1-4, 50-57 Overall)
Spokane drew the toughest opponent on the schedule and paid for it, losing four of five to the Eugene Emeralds (San Francisco Giants). Sunday’s finale was cancelled because of poor air quality in Spokane, ending the series a game early. The Indians were outscored 43-21 and lost three of the four by lopsided margins, though they salvaged the last one on a walk-off — a 7-6 win in which they trailed by three in the sixth. Kelvin Hidaglo’s three-run homer sparked that comeback. The Indians sit in third place in the Northwest League second-half standings, just two games back of first place.
⬆️ Stock Up: Brito Finds His Footing
Roldy Brito (PuRP No. 11) was the Spokane hitter Eugene couldn’t solve, going 11-for-24 (.458) with two home runs, four doubles, and two stolen bases while playing all five games. His homer in the opener accounted for the Indians’ only run in a 13-1 loss, and he closed the series 4-for-5 with a homer, a double, and two RBIs in the walk-off win. Promoted from Fresno in July, Brito has needed a few weeks to settle in at High-A; this was the week he did.
Tommy Hopfe went 0-for-18 across all five games. The at-bats weren’t ugly — he struck out only once and drew a pair of walks — but nothing found grass, and the one run he drove in came on an out. Two series ago Hopfe hit 542 against Tri-City and appeared in this space for it; this was the mirror image, and it came in a week when Spokane needed anyone in the lineup to get hot.
Upcoming
The Indians head on the road to face the Everett Aqua-Sox (Seattle Mariners) in a six-game set.
Low-A: Fresno Grizzlies (2-4, 59-49 Overall)
Fresno dropped four of six at home to Visalia (Arizona Diamondbacks), a club sitting 18 games under .500 and fell to fourth place in the California League second-half standings. The losses came in different flavors: a 10-9 defeat in 11 innings after leading by three in the eighth, a seven-run fourth inning on Friday, and a finale played in 109-degree heat. Wilder Dalis (PuRP No. 24) kept producing with six RBIs and two triples, and Ronny Ugarte hit .400 with his first Low-A home run.
⬆️ Stock Up: Arguelles Hasn’t Missed a Beat
Two weeks after finishing an Arizona Complex League title run, Cristian Arguelles (HM PuRP) is hitting .333 at Low-A. He collected 1o hits in 23 at-bats across all six games with a home run, two doubles, and two stolen bases, and his biggest swing came Thursday — a go-ahead two-run homer in the sixth inning, one half-inning after Visalia had taken the lead, in a game Fresno won by a run. Arguelles hit .402 in the ACL regular season before the promotion. The level changed; the production hasn’t.
Cristian Arguelles is going to be a household name among #Rockies fans sooner rather than later.
Landyn Vidourek went 1-for-18 with 10 strikeouts, the second series in which he has appeared in this space since his acquisition. Two weeks ago it was 1-for-17 with nine strikeouts, and the two stretches combine for 2-for-25 with 19 punch outs. The one silver lining last time — seven walks that kept him on base despite the empty batting line — didn’t carry over either; he drew a single walk this week. Derek Bernard is scuffling alongside him at 1-for-15, leaving Fresno with two regulars simultaneously unable to find a hit.
Upcoming
The Grizzlies head to northern California for a six-game series with the San Jose Giants (San Francisco Giants)
DSL: DSL Colorado (3-1-1) & DSL Rockies (1-5)
The gap between the two Dominican Summer League affiliates widened. DSL Colorado won three, lost one, and tied one — a 4-4 game called with nobody out in the ninth — and moved to 32-16 atop the DSL Southeast, closing the week with a 14-5 rout built on a 10-run fourth and an 8-0 combined shutout in which six pitches held the Rangers Blue hitless with runners in scoring position. Nine different Colorado arms threw scoreless outings across the week. DSL Rockies lost five of six and fell to 19-29, though they did snap a seven-game skid on Friday behind Carlos Mota’s five-RBI afternoon — a win that also featured a triple play.
⬆️ Stock Up: Ferrufino Does the Most Damage
William Ferrufino turned 12 at-bats into four extra-base hits, going 5-for-12 (.417) with a home run, two triples, a stolen base, and a share of the team lead with six RBIs. His three-run homer was the biggest swing of the 10-run fourth inning that buried the Blue Jays Blue on Thursday, and he tripled and drove in another run during Saturday’s shutout. For a lineup with several hitters above .400 for the week, Ferrufino was the one doing damage in bulk.
⬆️ Stock Up: Ramirez Keeps Reaching
On a club that lost five of six and was shut out once, Ramirez reached base 14 times in six games. He hit .500 (7-for-14) with a home run, two doubles, and seven walks, scoring five runs and driving in four. Nobody else in the Rockies’ lineup hit better than .333 for the week, and only two others reached base more than five times.
With over 40 games remaining in the MLB season, 2026 is shaping up to be one of the best years for Japanese-born hitters — and it’s being led by a pair of rookies.
USA TODAY analyzed home run data for Japanese-born players to uncover the single seasons with the most homers hit by such players.
Munetaka Murakami of the Chicago White Sox has hit 26 home runs in his first MLB season so far. That is tied for the ninth-best home run season by a Japanese-born player.
Fellow rookie Kazuma Okamoto of Toronto is two home runs back with 24. Both players have hit more homers than any other Japanese-born rookie, eclipsing the 22-homer season Shohei Ohtani had in 2018.
It’s also worth noting that Ohtani is at 26 homers, too, although he is well past being a rookie in his ninth MLB season.
Murakami is on pace to hit 40 home runs if he maintains his current pace and plays in all 45 of the White Sox’s remaining games. A 40-home run year would rank as the fifth-highest single-season total by a Japanese-born MLB player, behind four Ohtani seasons.
Okamoto, meanwhile, is on pace for 33, which would be near Ohtani’s 34-homer season in 2022.
Ohtani is between Murakami and Okamoto with a projected home run total of 36.
Should Murakami, Okamoto and Ohtani all hit 30-plus home runs, it’ll be the first season that three Japanese-born players have hit 30 or more home runs in a single MLB season.
Ohtani and Seiya Suzuki became the first pair to do so in the same season in 2025. Suzuki has 19 homers for the Chicago Cubs this season and is projected to finish with 27.
Aside from Ohtani and Suzuki, only one other Japanese player has hit more than 30 homers in a single season: Hideki Matsui, who hit 31 for the New York Yankees in 2004.
Methodology: Home run data from Stathead and Baseball-Reference. Ages are calculated as of June 30 for the given season. 2026 totals are through August 10. Projections use each player’s current home-run rate per game and assume he appears in every remaining team game.
CINCINNATI, OHIO - JULY 28: Chase Burns #26 of the Cincinnati Reds pitches in the first inning against the Cleveland Guardians during game one of a doubleheader at Great American Ball Park on July 28, 2026 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Reds fans and fans across the country.
The most recent start from Cincinnati Reds ace Chase Burns was a uniquely poor one. He yielded 5 ER and 6 H with a trio of walks in just 5.1 IP, exiting earlier than anyone would have liked in an eventual 8-2 loss to the Washington Nationals that may just have been the final nail in the coffin for the 2026 Reds club.
As you can see from the fine folks at FanGraphs, the average fastball velocities in his starts has also begun to decline over the course of the season, something that’s not at all uncommon for a young pitcher who’s being tasked with throwing more innings this year than he ever has before.
To date, Burns has fired 124.0 IP for the Reds, already topping the 109.1 IP he threw across all levels of professional ball last year. That in itself eclipsed the 100.0 IP mark he logged in his 2024 season with Wake Forest at the collegiate level, as Burns – who was oft-used as a reliever at Tennessee prior to transferring to Wake for his senior year – simply hasn’t ever had a huge workload put on his prized right arm.
The Reds, obviously, hope that changes over the course of the long-term contract Burns signed earlier this season. But in a year where they’re mired in last place and effectively out of a playoff spot, just how far should the Reds let him go in 2026?
Obviously, they don’t want to push him too far in a lost year. On the other hand, they want him to build up enough IP this year so that he can build on that mark next year, and cutting his 2026 season too short could end up with a ripple effect in 2027, too.
There’s also the issue with the Reds simply needing someone, anyone to soak up IP between now and the end of the year. Hunter Greene is hurt, again, and Nick Lodolo is only just now getting back (with a completely different grip on his breaking pitches).
What say you? At what innings threshold should the Reds look to limit their burgeoning ace this year?
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - AUGUST 08: George Lombard Jr. #96 of the New York Yankees in action during the game against the Atlanta Braves at Yankee Stadium on August 08, 2026 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Ishika Samant/Getty Images) | Getty Images
I don’t want to spill too much ink on the sorry state of the Yankees offense at the risk of sounding like a broken record. Instead, let’s focus on the positives they have provided us in recent days, namely an improbable series win over the Braves. As much as the pitching largely carried the day, a certain young shortstop provided a handful of bright sparks on either side of the ball, and so George Lombard Jr. earns his first appearance on At-bat of the Week.
We join Lombard leading off the bottom of the seventh of the middle game against the Braves on Saturday. The Yankees are clinging to a 3-2 lead courtesy of a Spencer Jones RBI single in the second and RBI triple in the fifth, Austin Wells then driving him home with a double. Lombard enters this AB having struck out and drawn a walk against Chris Sale, the latter result requiring a pair of impressive, successful ABS challenges. However, Lombard now faces the hard-throwing righty reliever Victor Mederos, a very different look from the sidearming southpaw Sale.
Mederos starts Lombard with a first pitch sinker at 96 looking to tie the hitter up on the inner half.
This is a really good take from Lombard. The sinker looks like a strike on the upper ledge of the strike zone for much of its path toward home. It exits Mederos’ hand aimed pretty centrally, yet Lombard is able to diagnose it immediately as a fastball and understands that the foot-and-a-half of arm side run will carry it all the way off the plate and out of the zone inside for a ball.
That was a pretty good pitch that Mederos just threw, so it makes sense that he sticks with the inside sinker as it’s a pitch that can really eat up a hitter when buried in on the hands.
This is exactly why we don’t bunt unless it is absolutely necessary. When you’ve got a reliever coming in and throwing upper-90s, a middle-middle sinker in a 1-0 count might be the best pitch you’re gonna get to hit. Not only did Lombard miss a golden pitch to hit, but he lost his count leverage without making the pitcher work for it. Yes, I understand the third baseman was playing back and the Yankees are struggling for base runners at the moment, but Lombard was brought up to swing the bat (and for his glove) and bunting in this spot amounted to giving away a pitch.
Now that Mederos has shown Lombard a pair of fastballs that break toward him, he switches to a cutter breaking away from the batter, hoping he can get him to chase something off the plate outside should he mistakenly assume it is another sinker breaking in.
Mederos yanks this pitch way out of the zone, the pitch passing through the lefty batter’s box and off the catcher’s mitt to the backstop. It’s one of the easier takes Lombard will get, though it was still informative for him to see a fastball that breaks in the opposite direction from the first two he saw.
After missing so wildly with that cutter, Mederos breaks out his third different fastball of the encounter, the four-seamer. His four-seamer breaks a little less down and a little less arm-side than his sinker, but the two pitch types otherwise aren’t all that distinguishable from each other.
Mederos nails the outside edge with this 97 mph heater. He’s partially able to catch Lombard looking by sequencing this pitch directly following a fastball that breaks glove-side, this pitch starting well off the plate away before tailing back into the zone, but mostly it’s just a well-executed fastball that Lombard is more than justified to watch for a called strike.
Mederos now tries to leverage that called strike on the outside edge by sequencing a cutter that, as we mentioned, moves in the opposite lateral direction as his sinker and four-seamer. Lombard just watched a pitch that looked like a ball away end up as a called strike on the outside edge, so he effectively has to protect against anything that starts aimed away. This should make him susceptible to chasing a pitch that breaks glove-side.
Instead, Mederos grooves this cutter up and out over the plate. It doesn’t have any of the cut of the first one he threw and flies straight as an arrow toward home. Lombard fires a beautiful swing lining this pitch into the seats in right for a leadoff home run to give the Yankees an invaluable late insurance run that they would need by the time the final out was recorded. I’ll be honest, I did not realize Lombard had opposite field home run power, short porch or not. However, I love his approach, staying behind the baseball and allowing the velocity on the pitch to supply the power off the bat, knowing that with solid contact in the air, there’s always a chance to leave the yard in right.
Here’s the full sequence:
Without getting ahead of ourselves from a five-game sample, it is all the same assuring that Lombard has not looked overmatched facing big league pitching according to the eye test. We were always told that the defense was MLB-ready and indeed Lombard already looks way more rangy and self-assured at short than Anthony Volpe. However, I was not expecting him to have such an immediate impact with the bat. The power is certainly a welcome surprise, but it’s his advanced pitch recognition and plate discipline that have really caught the eye and could be the keys to maintaining this form down the stretch.
ATLANTA, GA - MARCH 27: Fans cheer as Ozzie Albies #1 of Atlanta Braves hits a home run during the first inning during the season opener against the Kansas City Royals at Truist Park on March 27, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Kevin D. Liles/Atlanta Braves/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Hello, any new Battery Power readers retained from the Great Trade Deadline Site Surge of 2026! We hope you enjoy(ed) your time with this great community as we wind down on a memorable regular reason and that you stick around. Our regulars are some of the best baseball fans in the league.
The week following the trade deadline had some highs (back-to-back sweeps, an eight game winning streak) and lows (stumbling against both teams from New York) that have prompted some interesting discussion in our Feed. Here’s a sampling of what y’all have been cooking:
October surprise(s)?
Barring any waiver wire moves, the Braves are basically set with who they’re rolling with to hopefully make a deep postseason run. So it’s time for predictions: which guy will be the one to be the most impactful? Who will we hail as a legend for their contributions for years to come?
AJ Smith-Shawver is a candidate once he’s back up from Triple-A, where he’s polishing off the rust and working on that later-inning stamina.
On that note, a potential Game 3 starter might just be sub-40 miles away…
Other candidates: a spiteful Grant Holmes? Or maybe some current underperformers…
Rotation revamp
Of course, the biggest topic of conversation remains our starting pitching. Crumbs from sports writers have indicated the Braves made the pushes and called the phones for [insert your preferred SP here], but nothing worked out. So now what do we do, at least for the rest of the month or regular season?
A defense-based drafting
The prompt by the ever-insightful clmj1:
But of course on the flip side… why defend when hit dingers?
Record with Ronald
Superstar Ronald Acuña Jr. has largely been in the two-hole since his return from the IL and still steadily contributing despite a continued wOBA underperformance. It might feel like he hasn’t made much of a difference, but someone looked into the numbers, and…
While it may feel like the odds (read: the umpires) are against the Braves, we can always count on you all sharing your insights, articles, prospect questions, and so much more with us in our comments and in the Feed. You are the straw that stirs the Battery Power cocktail, and we appreciate you. Here’s to more hot takes!
