Category: Baseball

MLB's top prospect, Konnor Griffin, made his professional debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 5-4 win against the Baltimore Orioles on April 3.

The 19-year-old shortstop was extremely solid in first outing in the big leagues. He was the ninth overall pick of the 2024 MLB Draft, selected by the Pirates.

Griffin got the call up to the majors for "baseball reasons" and because he's the Pirates' "best option," according to baseball insider Jason Mackey.

In his first at-bat, which came in the second inning of the game, Griffin hit an RBI double into the pocket of center field as Ryan O'Hearn scored to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead.

Griffin told reporters before the game that he felt ready for the moment.

"It's been unbelievable. You know, the drive from Columbus to here, just two hours of just kind of reflecting on the whole journey so far. I was sitting here about a year and a half ago, two years after I got drafted, and was talking about how cool it would be to play on this field and how now I get to do it, so I'm super excited," Griffin said. "(Triple-A coach) Eric Patterson, he called me to his hotel room about 8:30 in the morning and said, 'hey, we're gonna send you out to Pittsburgh go, kill it. I know you're ready. Just go. Keep being you.' So it was a special moment."

His hit was the momentum swing the Pirates were looking for as they ran off three more runs to extend the lead to 4-0 in the second inning. Jared Triolo singled to right, allowing Griffin to make it home for his first run.

The Pirates stacked the bases and got more runs. Henry Davis hit a double that went out to left field, giving Triolo the chance to score. Up next, Oneil Cruz. He singled to left and Davis scored.

As for the rest of the rookie's game, Griffin's next at-bat didn't come until the fourth inning; he walked.

Griffin finished the game batting 1-for-3 with a run and RBI. He struck out swinging in the fifth inning and ground out in the eighth inning.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Konnor Griffin stats from MLB debut, highlights

Through seven games, the Yankees lead the American League with 11 steals and only trail the Brewers (15) in the big leagues. 

Yes, the Yankees are running it back.

But the team they are running back — the post-trade-deadline version — is one that clearly can run. 

Jazz Chisholm Jr. walked in the second inning and quickly stole second and third, and José Caballero then stole second base behind him, both coming around to score and setting an aggressive tone in what became an 8-2, home-opening victory over the Marlins on Friday. 

“We’re a really athletic team,” said Cody Bellinger, who was brought back in part because of his athleticism, which he demonstrated again with a remarkable catch in the ninth inning. “We believe that we’re one of the best teams out there … and we want to be showcasing that.” 

Against Miami catcher Liam Hicks, who has a poor defensive reputation, the Yankees took advantage and went 5-for-5 in stolen base attempts, two apiece from Chisholm and Caballero, while Aaron Judge swiped second in the eighth inning. 

But the Yankees’ aggressiveness and desire to force the Marlins’ defense to make plays — some of which worked, some of which did not — shined through in other ways, too. 

With two outs and a runner on third in the third inning, Caballero pushed a bunt down the first-base line, an attempt at a hit that backfired. 

With two on base in the sixth inning, Ryan McMahon lofted a fly out to left on which Austin Wells, in a big surprise, tagged up from second base. The throw from Griffin Conine beat Wells, but the catcher proved nimble with a slide that avoided the tag. Wells then scored on a wild pitch. 

In the eighth inning, Trent Grisham attempted to go from first to third on a Judge single to left and was thrown out because he lost contact with the base. 

It is early, but these Yankees do not look like a team that simply waits for a home run. 

“We have a handful of guys that can really push it in the running game,” manager Aaron Boone said. “So far, I think the guys are doing a good job of taking extra bases, too. 

“I thought Grish going there, and he beats the throw — he just came off [the base] obviously on the slide — but really good job by them today of being smartly aggressive.” 

Anthony Volpe (left shoulder surgery recovery), who began facing live pitching Wednesday, is set to head north “in the middle of the month,” Boone said, to begin a rehab assignment. 

That could position the shortstop for a season debut in late April or early May. 

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

Team USA hockey heroes Jack Hughes and Aerin Frankel threw out the ceremonial first pitches, after which “U-S-A” chants rang out from the crowd.

WASHINGTON D.C. –– There was neither relief nor elation as Kyle Tucker recounted his first home run as a Dodger on Friday.

Instead, just a self-depracating quip from the team’s understated new slugger.

“It was nice,” he said. “First actual ball I’ve hit in the air well.”

The question now: Whether it will kick-start his 2026 season?

While just about every superstar in the Dodgers’ loaded lineup struggled during last week’s lackluster season-opening homestand, Tucker’s Dodgers debut had gotten off to a particularly slow start.

In his first six games, he was just 4-for-23 with two RBIs and one extra-base hit.

His nine strikeouts in that span were also uncharacteristic, running counter to his reputation as an on-base machine.

Things changed on Friday, when Tucker went 3-for-6 with two RBIs and his first long ball of the year. And though he wasn’t the only one who suddenly found his swing in a 13-6 rout of the Washington Nationals, his resurgence might have been the day’s biggest development.

The Dodgers, after all, aren’t just making a financial gamble in Tucker, whom they wooed with a blockbuster $240 million contract this winter.

They are also betting on him in one of the most important spots of their lineup: Batting second as the primary line of protection for superstar leadoff man Shohei Ohtani.

Already, Ohtani has been seeing few hittable pitches this season. If Tucker doesn’t hit, the easier it will be for teams to keep pitching around him.

“He likes to hit, and doesn’t like to walk,” Roberts said of Ohtani, who has drawn seven walks to this point but has also looked “anxious” to do more damage.

“(Tucker) getting on base and being a threat,” Roberts added, “changes how a team is going to approach Shohei.”

Tucker hadn’t been much of a threat before Friday. During the season’s opening week, he felt he was missing too many mistakes in the zone.

“I’ve been kind of fouling off pitches over the plate more than I normally do and striking out more than I normally do,” he said. “Probably because I fouled off some pitches and got into worse counts, (it went) just downhill from there.”

Thus, the four-time All-Star focused Friday on “trying to swing myself out of it,” getting more aggressive early in counts hoping that something would click.

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In the third inning, it led to a pivotal first-pitch single –– sandwiched between Ohtani’s game-tying three-run homer the at-bat prior, and Mookie Betts’ go-ahead two-run blast the next.

In the fifth, Tucker singled again after swinging at all three pitches he saw in the strike zone, fouling off the first two before smoking a grounder through the infield to drive in a run.

Tucker’s best swing came in the seventh, when he ambushed another first-pitch breaking ball from left-handed reliever Ken Waldichuk and hammered the center-cut mistake 404 feet to right.

The blast was superfluous insurance at that point. But the fact it came off a lefty was important for a different reason: Both Ohtani and Tucker hit from the left side of the plate, meaning they’ll see plenty of southpaws when teams begin matching up out of the bullpen.

“I have a good idea that he does OK versus a left-hander,” Roberts said of Tucker, who has more neutral career splits than even Ohtani but was hitless in left-on-left matchups previously this year. “Hasn’t looked great early. But I think more for him, that he can get some hits and still hit a homer, that was still good.”

Tucker refuted any notion he was pressing in his first week as a Dodger, or that the Ohtani dynamic has added any extra pressure at the plate.

In his matter-of-fact way, he said he is simply “trying to feel comfortable in the box and trying to put a swing on good pitches.”

On Friday, it resulted in his first signature performance with his new team.

The Dodgers are hoping that, moving forward, they will see plenty more like it.

The Orioles’ first road game of the year looked a lot like the six games they played at home to begin the season. Their starter scuffled on the mound, particularly in one inning, and their lineup failed to make the most of their opportunities. On Friday evening in Pittsburgh, that added up to a 5-4 loss for the Orioles.

Kyle Bradish’s second outing of the year was an up-and-down affair. He threw just 81 pitches over four innings. In those innings he gave up four runs on six hits, three walks, and six strikeouts. All four of those runs came in during a nightmarish second inning.

That second inning began with a walk to old friend Ryan O’Hearn. A double to debutant Konner Griffin gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead with one out. Jared Triolo followed with a single to score Griffin and make it 2-0. Henry Davis then doubled in Triolo, and Oneil Cruz wrapped up the onslaught with a base hit to score Davis.

Bradish escaped the jam with some help from Cruz, who was thrown out trying to steal second base. That felt like a poor decision given the way in which Bradish was getting lit up, and since he’s not a pitcher known for allowing steals. After a walk to Brandon Lowe, Bradish got Bryan Reynolds to fly out, and was finally out of the inning.

Outside of that inning, Bradish gave up two hits, one walk, and struck out five over the other three frames. His fastball and sinker velocity was back at 93.5 mph, right where it sat in his first start of the year. That does represent a slight dip from his average at the tail end of 2025, but it could just be early-season rust. The bigger concern is Bradish’s control. He issued three walks and was often catching far too much of the strike zone. The Pirates made him pay for it.

The Orioles offense took a while to get things going. Pirates starter Mitch Keller held them scoreless through the first frames, though they did have traffic on the bases. A pair of double plays in those early innings extinguished potential rallies before they even got going.

In the fifth inning, the Orioles got on the board with a pair of runs. Blaze Alexander led off with a single. He would be doubled home by Gunnar Henderson. Later, a two-bagger for Adley Rutschman scored Henderson to cut the deficit to 4-2.

Bradish was lifted in favor of Dietrich Enns to begin the fifth inning. The lefty was wild and failed to put together a lockdown inning. He walked two of the first three hitters that he faced, and then uncorked a wild pitch. That allowed O’Hearn to drive in the Pirates’ fifth run of the day with a sac fly to center field.

From there, the Orioles bullpen was very good. Tyler Wells tossed two shutout innings, an important step for him following an uneven opening week. Then Rico Garcia was called on for the eighth. He induced a trio of groundouts to maintain his pristine ERA.

The Orioles had a real chance to come back all the way in the seventh inning. Alexander opened the inning with a single, and then scooted all the way from fist base to score on a Taylor Ward double in the left-center gap. Pete Alonso worked a one-out walk to put two runners on for the middle of the lineup. But neither Rutschman nor Samuel Basallo could cash in, both being retired to end the threat.

Henderson did bring the Orioles within one run in the bottom of the ninth, homering off of old friend Gregory Soto with two outs. But he was the only one that had success as the three other hitters in the inning, including Alonso to end the game, went down on strikes.

The Orioles did not make the most of their chances. They worked five walks and collected nine hits. That should have been enough to score more than four runs, but instead they went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left eight runners on base. Alonso, in particular, had a tough day, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. Henderson was the standout, collecting seven total bases and driving in two runs. Ward reached base three times (double, two walks). Alexander and Dylan Beavers had two hits apiece.

Alexander also made the highlight reel with an impressive diving stop in the sixth inning. Playing third base, he snagged a hard-hit grounder from Henry Davis, stood up and fired over to Alonso at first. The call on the field was “safe,” but it was overturned after an Orioles challenge. His versatile glove and current .800 OPS are two things that Craig Albernaz needs in his lineup everyday for the time being, whether it be at second or third base.

Bradish needs to get himself right. Nothing feels easy for him at the moment, which is a new phenomenon for the former Cy Young contender. We are so used to seeing him go out and dominate each start. But right now he has to battle and fight for outs. There is plenty of time for that, and the Orioles will give him all the time he needs to figure it out. But he is part of a rotation that, as a whole, has disappointed in in their first week.

These two teams are back at it again on Saturday afternoon in Pittsburgh. First pitch is set for 4:05 in a battle between Shane Baz (0-0, 6.75 ERA), a former Pirates prospect, and righty Carmen Mlodzinski (0-0,4.15 ERA).

Colorado Rockies fans assuredly did not have high expectations for the 2026 season. The team lost 119 games in 2025, and they didn’t seem to significantly upgrade the roster in the offseason. So, when the fans sat down to watch their home opener against the Phillies on Friday afternoon, it’s not like most of them had dreams of watching a pennant winner.

But they probably hoped for a little more than this. By the time they got situated in their seats, the Phillies had already jumped out to a 7-0 lead. In what may serve as a harbinger of things to come at Coors Field this season, the visiting team cruised to a 10-1 victory.

Quite a few Phillies batters were off to slow starts to the season, but there was nothing slow about their start on Friday. Facing former teammate Michael Lorenzen, Trea Turner led off the game with a double, Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper followed with walks, and Alec Bohm got two of those runners home with a single.

A Bryson Stott double scored another run before Brandon Marsh buried a ball deep into the stands to make it 6-0.

The Phillies still weren’t done. J.T Realmuto hit a double, although it was really a pop up that former Phillie Mickey Moniak lost in the sun. When reading up on the Rockies, I saw someone describe Moniak as the worst defensive outfielder in the game. (Nick Castellanos, hold my beer!) Moniak had a .824 OPS in 2025, but was still worth negative wins above replacement, which is really tough to do. (At least some team wasn’t dumb enough to choose him with the top overall pick in the draft, right?)

Turner’s second hit of the inning drove home Realmuto to make it 7-0.

In the second inning, Harper put another ball into the seats, marking his second straight game with a home run, and quieting some of the worry about his slow start to the season.

They tacked on another run in the third when an Alec Bohm infield single (those are words you don’t see very often) allowed Turner to come home after his third hit of the game.

The Phillies concluded their scoring in the fifth when Schwarber managed to outdo Marsh by hitting a ball 460 feet.

Friday also served as a “get right” game for Aaron Nola. Nola and Lorenzen were teammates on the Italian team in the World Baseball Classic, and unlike Lorenzen, Nola had a terrific outing. His curveball looked sharp, and he kept the ball in the yard. He allowed one run in 6.1 innings to go along with nine strikeouts.

On the other hand, Lorenzen was the one to make history.

The Phillies now find themselves on a three-game winning streak, and most of their players should be feeling much better about themselves. They’ll be back in action on Saturday afternoon with Taijuan Walker on the mound. Like Nola, Walker is hoping for a rebound after a poor season debut. While it would be great if that happens, it would also be great if the Phillies could have their bats stay hot.

Major League Baseball’s opening night coverage has been the subject of polarizing opinions.

And this is something Netflix is no stranger to.

Netflix had major streaming issues during its airing of boxing in late 2024, during Jake Paul’s fight with Mike Tyson, which also featured Amanda Serrano’s bout with Katie Taylor, showing a consistent lag. This even led Netflix to be the target of a $50 million lawsuit over the quality of the streaming.

The company is not quite in the same position now following their airing of Yankees-Giants as part of MLB Opening Day, but the online chirping is loud, which Elle Duncan — who joined Netflix as a host following a lengthy tenure on ESPN — responded to on a recent episode of “Pablo Torre Finds Out” this week.

Critics have pointed to non-baseball personalities being used and a new-look scorebug as some of the primary issues.

“Whenever there’s criticism that I saw like, ‘It was just so Netflix. It was not for baseball purists,” Duncan acknowledged, adding, “This was not for baseball purists. You’ll watch it anywhere. This was for the baseball-curious.”

Duncan noted that the broadcast is intended for a broader audience beyond traditional baseball fans.

“A lot of what Netflix is doing in the sports world is, yes, for the people that are always going to watch those sports, but also the people that maybe tuned into to watch “Love is Blind,” saw the button for ‘Opening Day on Netflix,’ and thought, ‘All right, I’ll check it out,’” Duncan said.

Duncan disagrees with the criticisms — which include missing the first-ever Automatic Ball Strike challenge due to a mid-inning dugout interview — and mentioned that baseball fans ultimately expected something they weren’t going to fully get.

“This is like going to a Mexican restaurant and bitching that they don’t have barbecue,” said Duncan. “They advertise as a Mexican restaurant. It’s your fault that you somehow thought they were somehow gonna serve barbecue.”

She later added: “Netflix has made no qualms about who they are. We’re going to eventicize these things, we’re gonna pull people from the Netflix universe. That’s what we’re going to do.”

Netflix will broadcast the Home Run Derby on July 13 and the “Field of Dreams” game between the Phillies and Twins one month later.

The Seattle Seahawks have the rare distinction of hosting the NFL’s opening night game on a Wednesday, which will impact the schedules of other Seattle sports teams.

Sept. 9 was supposed to be an evening game for the Mariners against the Texas Rangers at T-Mobile Park, with the Sounders hosting Sporting Kansas City in Major League Soccer play at Lumen Field. The Sounders didn’t waste much time moving their match to Thursday, Oct. 1 at 6:30 pm PT, but the Mariners have now made their schedule change. Anyone up for a day-night Mariners-Seahawks doubleheader?

The Seahawks are slated to begin the 2026 NFL season at 5:20 pm PT, so unless the Mariners and Rangers have an extra innings marathon there should be some time between the end of the M’s and the start of the Seahawks.

Seattle’s Week 1 opponent will likely not be revealed until closer to the schedule release in mid-May, but it’s a certainty that the Seahawks will be unveiling their second Super Bowl banner regardless of who they’re facing.

We have achieved one week of Royals baseball, and the Royals, despite an anemic offense outside of one game, have managed not to lose more than they’ve won. Now comes one of the bigger tests for the team in the early-going as Atlanta was without many of their preferred starters, and the Twins simply don’t look very good. The Brewers may not get any respect from the pre-season projections, but they made it all the way to the NLCS last season and seem to be one of those teams that keep finding ways to be good.

In the series opener, the Royals are going to be relying on a rookie making his first MLB start, but not his first MLB appearance. Michael Wacha is having his start pushed back while dealing with an illness, so Luinder Avila will get the call. Avila made a few appearances out of the bullpen last September and impressed many while he was at it, pitching to a 1.49 ERA in 13 relief appearances. During Spring Training, manager Matt Quatraro indicated that he saw Avila as having front-line starter potential, but most outsiders agreed that if Avila was going to contribute this year, it was going to be out of the bullpen. Craig Brown over at Into the Fountains, though, told me he thought that Avila would be the first starter up. So kudos to him for getting that right. Bailey Falter was added to the IL in a corresponding move after a near-disastrous ninth-inning appearance on Wednesday.

Chad Patrick will get the ball for the Brewers, making his second start of the season. His first start saw him go only 4.1 innings against the White Sox, striking out 4, walking 1, and giving up a run in a no-decision that would become a Brewers win. Patrick is a 27-year-old sophomore who pitched to a 3.53 ERA in his rookie campaign last year. He faced the Royals in his second big league appearance and first start, pitching 4.2 scoreless innings in a game the Brewers won 5-0.

Last year, Patrick threw six pitches, but three are variations of fastballs – a four-seamer, a cutter, and a sinker – which he combined to throw 86.5% of the time. He also mixes in a slider, a slurve, and a changeup, but every kind of fastball gets thrown more than those three pitches combined. In his first start this year, he threw 74 pitches. Six were slurves, two were changeups, and he didn’t throw a single slider. His cutter is a very good pitch, though, getting lots of chases and whiffs despite the lack of variety and the fact that it’s kind of slow for a cutter. Patrick can struggle with the strike zone at times, so the new, (hopefully) patient Royals might have an advantage over him that the free-swingers of last year didn’t.

Lineups

Carter Jensen continues to ride the pine after oversleeping yesterday. Starling Marte gets his first game action in exactly one week since his last, on Opening Day. Without Carter in the lineup, Jac Caglianone remains bumped up to the fifth spot in the lineup; hopefully, he’ll get some more hits there tonight than he did yesterday afternoon. Nick Loftin gets the start over Jonathan India. Despite Wednesday’s grand slam, India is having a poor start to the season, including popping up fully one-third of the balls he’s put in play. I know it worked against Royce Lewis in the rain, but that’s no way to get a hit.

You know sometimes when things in baseball appear to be true, but you dig a little deeper and they’re really not? There has always been a feeling when Aaron Nola is on the mound that the Phillies just don’t score runs for him. That’s something I’ve always thought was true, so it required a quick trip to Baseball Reference to confirm it.

Turns out: not really true! In 2024, his last really healthy year, the Phillies scored 5.5 runs per inning he was on the mound, which was 19th best in all of baseball. The team scores for him, he just struggled to keep the score in the Phillies’ favor. Today, the offense did quite well getting him support, batting around in the first and never looking back.

For the Rockies, the first inning was truly ugly. Michael Lorenzen, the guy who willingly wanted to sign for them to try his hand at pitching in Colorado, got his first chance at seeing why the mile high air chews up pitchers who lack quality stuff and spits them out. The first inning rolled like this:

• double by Trea Turner
• walk to Kyle Schwarber
• walk to Bryce Harper
• two-run single by Alec Bohm (2-0, Phillies)
• RBI double by Bryson Stott (3-0)
• strikeout by Adolis Garcia
• three-run home run by Brandon Marsh (6-0)

• double by J.T. Realmuto that was lost in the sun by Mickey Moniak
• groundout by Justin Crawford
• RBI single by Turner (7-0)
• groundout by Schwarber

That’s what the experts call a “bad outing”.

While we thank Lorenzen for his no-hitter he threw here in Philadelphia, the Phillies really needed this game to get their offense going. The fun didn’t end there. In the second inning, Harper unloaded on a pitch from Lorenzen for his second home run of the game.

In the third, Bohm singled in another run for the Phillies, making the score 9-0 and ending Lorenzen’s day.

Meanwhile, Nola just cruised. Tasked with keeping a bad Rockies lineup off the board, he just threw strikes and kept the scoreboard empty. His curveball was crisp, his fastball was spotted and he scattered by a few hits to maintain the lead and shut down the opposition.

Of course, no blowout win is complete without Kyle Schwarber hitting a missile, so he did that.

Curiously, the team was then in turn held in check by Valente Bellozo yet again. He relieved for the Rockies and ended up finishing the game for them, the Schwarber blast the lone blemish on his record. His weird hex he has on the Phillies is something to be studied.

It’s the proper way to begin a trip to Colorado, particularly after struggling at home at the plate. They’ll look to keep it up tomorrow night.

I personally wasn’t in Boston, but looking at it on TV, that was quintessential Red Sox Opening Day weather, eh? 50s and sunny, the white uniforms back on and a city wanting to kick this team in the backside.

Well, they thankfully didn’t make this one too stressful on any of us as they rolled to a 5-2 win.

Studs

Sonny Gray (6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 K)

now THIS was the Sonny Gray start the Red Sox needed. Not even 90 pitches, six frames of pretty clean ball save for that fifth inning. Give me more of that kind of Sonny, please.

Marcelo Mayer (2-for-2, 2 runs, 2 RBI, 1 HR)

I don’t understand why Cora won’t let Mayer roll more and work out his growing pains. When he’s on like this, he’s such a consistent and smooth hitter. It’s a presence this lineup desperately needs, as I alluded to this morning.

The Bullpen (3.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H)

The Italian Stallion Greg Weissert, no nicknamed Justin Slaten and the Cuban Missile Aroldis Chapman were phenomenal. Nuff said. Well, Chappy passing Pap is something else too.

Duds

Trevor Story (0-for-4, 1 K)

Story is in an early season slump and it shows. Completely the opposite of two years ago when he started on a tear. Then again? He also got hurt for the rest of the season three weeks in so we don’t want a repeat of that.

Play of the Game

I’m really torn because Marcelo hitting a home run is fantastic, Mut Contreras really needed that and it was the game-winning hit too.

The Double-A Birmingham Barons have been the brightest spot in the Chicago White Sox organization over these last few dreadful seasons, winning their second consecutive Southern League championship in 2025. This season will have a mix of familiar faces alongside some recent free agent signings, but it’s likely we’ll see some fluctuation throughout the season depending on how the major league season progresses.

Starting Pitching
With Hagen Smith, Noah Schultz, Wikelman González and others moving up to Triple-A, the 2026 rotation might look a little different.

Righthander Riley Gowens will return as a staple to the Birmingham starting rotation after settling into Double-A ball nicely in his first full season at that level. Gowens tossed the most innings on the team in 2025 (132) at a solid 3.32 ERA and 1.189 WHIP. He also rang up 151 batters at a strong 28% strikeout rate. His walk rate is still a bit higher than the White Sox would like (9% BB%), but it wouldn’t be surprising to see him make the leap to Charlotte early this season; he’s more than proven that he can perform at his current level.

Despite making just four starts with the Barons in 2025, lefthander Lucas Gordon was impressive upon moving up from the High-A Winston-Salem Dash towards the end of the season. In 21 innings, he allowed five runs on nine hits, posting a 2.11 ERA and 0.750 WHIP while striking out 24 batters and walking seven. Gordon’s strikeout rate also jumped from 25.4% with the Dash to more than 31% with Birmingham, and his 2.06 FIP is in close alignment to his ERA, showing consistency if you strip out the defense.

Connor McCullough was injured for majority of the 2024 season but came back strong in 2025, joining the Barons in July after a rehab assignment with Winston-Salem and shifting back into a starting role almost seamlessly. McCullough made 13 starts (41 innings) and despite recording four losses, he ended the year with a 3.43 ERA and 0.894 WHIP, highlighting his stellar 5.8% walk rate to accompany his sound 23% strikeout percentage.

Balancing out the rotation with another durable lefty arm is Jake Palisch, who made 13 starts last season of his 29 appearances, ultimately getting the call up to the South Side at midseason but appearing in just one inning. Across both starting and relief roles, Palisch flashed a 2.14 ERA in 105 innings with a 1.067 WHIP, though he had a below-average strikeout rate (16.1%) with the Barons last season. Palisch’s elevated 3.30 FIP in comparison to his ERA suggests that an elite defense behind him might also be providing some support, so it would be interesting to see how he would perform in the majors with the current mess of a White Sox defense.

Relievers
The bullpen has quite a few returning players in Eric Adler, Phil Fox and Jared Kelley. Adler struggled throughout the 2025 season, putting up a 4.78 ERA with the Barons while averaging at a 5.89 ERA on the season, but both Kelley and Fox posted ERAs in the mid-3.00s. In his first pro season, Fox tossed 59 2/3 innings with the Dash and his 11 K/9 and 30% strikeout rate definitely helped.

New additions to the Birmingham arm barn include three recent left-handed pitching signees in Chase Watkins, Jacob Heatherly and Rylan Kaufman.

• Heatherly has struggled with shoulder injuries in the past and holds a career 5.35 ERA. Though some of his pitches have decent scouting grades in the 50-55 range, he lacks command and accumulated a whopping 22% walk rate in 2023 and even higher at 25% in 2024, completely offsetting his high strikeout rates.
• Kaufman is a former Top 30 prospect in the Kansas City but he couldn’t fully adjust to the advanced competition, averaging a 5.41 ERA in his minors career. He ended up needing Tommy John surgery and was out for the 2025 season, but has worked his fastball back up into the mid-90s.
• The South Siders picked up Watkins just last week, after he was released by the Cubs on March 23. Watkins amassed a 2.65 ERA across 40 2/3 innings in High-A, and a sharp 0.92 ERA in 29 1/3 innings once moving up to Double-A.

Catchers
Both returning from last season, Calvin Harris and Jorge Corona will continue to split duties behind the plate, with Harris likely getting more innings. Corona has floated on and off the development list, ultimately slashing .170/.314/.270 in 100 at-bats. Harris made the jump to the Barons 31 games into the season after posting a solid .768 OPS in 119 at-bats, and slashed .253/.317/.312 in 186 ABs with Birmingham, and allowed three passed balls in 469 2/3 innings.

Position Players
If you don’t know his name by now, outfielder Braden Montgomery is one to watch this season, ranking as the top White Sox prospect at South Side Sox and at 34 in the MLB Top 100. The 22-year-old flew through the minors in his first year with the team in 2025, slashing .270/.360/.444 with a solid .804 OPS in 448 at-bats. Upon moving up to Double-A, his stats remained consistent against the tougher competition, and his defensive ability in the outfield (strong arm, speed) give him to the tools to be an All-Star caliber player in the future.

Another exciting player within the White Sox organization is Rikuu Nishida, whose ability to get on base and subsequently steal them is almost unmatched. Aside from Sam Antonacci, Nishida’s .403 OBP led the team in 2025, and he is excellent at being selective at the plate, swinging 39% of the time but making contact on nearly 86% of his swings. Not only is he elite at making contact, but Nishida walks at a higher rate than he strikes out with 75 walks compared to 69 strikeouts last season. Nishida started as a second baseman, but has since adjusted into the outfield, playing the majority of his games in right and center last season. He begins his second full year and third overall in Double-A, however, so someone at the White Sox is not impressed.

Rounding out the outfield will be Caden Connor and Wilfred Veras. Connor posted a .708 OPS with a .266 BA in 342 at-bats with the Barons, and earned a promotion up to Charlotte for 13 games. He was even better with the Knights, and posted a .422 on-base percentage that factored into his .832 OPS. If not for the half-dozen fringe major-leaguers the White Sox acquired in the offseason, Connor could well be starting 2026 in Charlotte. Veras’ arrow is pointing in the opposite direction, as his performance regressed compared to where he was at in 2022 and 2023. In fact, Nishida has nothing on Veras, as Veras is beginning his third straight full season and fourth overall in Birmingham. He slashed just .215/.293/.327 with a .620 OPS that dropped by 17% year-over-year. It’s possible Veras has reached his peak, and it will be interesting to see if he’s made any adjustments heading into this season.

Last but not least, the infield will have mostly all returning playerss with Jason Matthews, Jordan Sprinkle, Ryan Galanie and the recently-signed Andy Weber.

• Matthews had a hard time at the plate last season, putting up a measly .549 OPS in 211 ABs with Birmingham.
• Middle infielder Sprinkle was efficient enough with the Low-A Cannon Ballers (.271/.411/.295) to be promoted to Winston-Salem where he struggled to adjust, and ultimately to Double-A to close out the season. Sprinkle is quick and is able to steal bases when he gets on, but he lacks the raw power to efficiently drive in runs.
• Galanie holds down first base with plenty of power, and he’s fairly selective at the plate and doesn’t strike out a lot. He led the team in RBIs in 2025 (71), and mashed 19 doubles and seven homers.
• Weber was was signed to a minor league contract after electing free agency out of the Diamondbacks system. Likely to play second base, Weber was mostly with the Arizona’s Triple-A team last season where he posted solid numbers with a .310/.368/.434 slash line.

There’s plenty of talent with the Barons, and we’ll likely see a revolving door of players throughout the season. While maybe not having the most raw power at the plate, they have some solid arms that can keep them in games. So it might be best not to rule out a three-peat.

The Cincinnati Reds hit the road for the first time during Thursday’s day off, and on Friday began their first road series of the 2026 season.

Fortunately for them, they opened the scoring in their game against the Texas Rangers the very same way they ended it – with a major 2-run homer from a veteran off to an otherwise slow start.

Spencer Steer swatted a 2-run blast off Rangers starter MacKenzie Gore in the Top of the 2nd inning to open Cincinnati’s ledger in this one, and Tyler Stephenson effectively closed it with a 2-run homer of his own in the Top of the 9th inning off veteran righty reliever Chris Martin. Stephenson’s came with the game tied 3-3, and closer Emilio Pagan – himself a veteran entering play on Friday having sputtered out of the gate – hammered down a perfect Bottom of the 9th to give Cincinnati the 5-3 victory.

It was a classic back and forth tie that lent itself to need a big hit late, and that’s precisely what Stephenson provided. He battled into a deep count with Martin, fouling off pitches as he worked for one he could mash, and he eventually went the other way over the wall in right-center for the blast that gave Cincinnati the victory, as the Reds shared on Twitter shortly after it happened.

Steer had doubled in front of Tyler, so he scored on the play. That gave him a pair of extra-base hits, pair of ribbies, and pair of runs scored on the day. Hopefully it’s a sign that he’s getting his bat going, as he’s going to be very much needed to anchor the lineup with his defensive versatility daily (as well as on days against a LHP starter). Stephenson, who’s going to get today’s Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game award, similarly went 2 for 4 with a pair of ribbies – he gets the nod for the WPA boost on the homer, I suppose.

Reds 5, Rangers 3, and happy Reds fans a million.

Other Notes

• Elly De La Cruz chipped in with a solo homer, his third of the year. It was another laser hit from the right-side of the plate, which is an incredibly good sign.
• Eugenio Suarez did not blast a mighty dinger today, but he did have another pair of hits.
• Tony Santillan kept his season ledger clean after another incredibly effective 10-pitch inning yielding zero runs. Sam Moll needed 12 pitches for his, but it was a similar good ending.
• Rhett Lowder will toe the rubber in Saturday’s game between these two clubs, doing so opposite fellow former college standout Kumar Rocker. First pitch in that one is slated for 7:05 PM ET.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Shohei Ohtani homered and the game turned into something resembling a piranha feeding at the Los Angeles Zoo, the Dodgers feasting on soft-tossing Miles Mikolas with the voracity expected of a $415-million team.

Their week-long nightmare was over. 

The Dodgers hadn’t forgotten how to score runs. They were noticeably relieved, and they deserved to be, but their debaucherous offensive display in their 13-6 victory over the Washington Nationals on Friday obscured another potential problem.

The two-time defending World Series champions might have a starting-pitching problem.

Again.

Whether they actually have an issue depends on back-end-of-the-rotation pitchers such as Emmet Sheehan. 

Regarding Sheehan specifically, the pertinent question is which was more reflective of the pitcher he will be this season: The one who was rocked early in his start or the one who put up zeroes late?

Sheehan gave up three runs in the first inning and another one in the third. By the fourth inning, he was on his third time through the Nationals’ order. In a more important game, he might not have finished that frame.

Sheehan regrouped and gave the Dodgers 5 ⅔ innings, but the team still had to be uncertain of what it had in the 26-year-old right-hander. Sheehan lasted just 3 ⅓ innings in his previous start, which followed an uninspiring spring.

Already, the Dodgers are playing with a stick of dynamite in the combustible Roki Sasaki, who is scheduled to start on Sunday in the series finale against the Nationals. 

Sasaki pitched only four innings in his first start, and he failed to make it out of the first inning in his final game of a brutal exhibition season. The Dodgers are bracing themselves for the worst-case scenario. Justin Wrobleski is scheduled to move into the rotation on Monday for their series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays, but manager Dave Roberts said they had him throw his bullpen a day earlier than usual in case he has to pitch in relief of Sasaki on Sunday.

The Dodgers have three legitimate Cy Young Award contenders on their active roster in Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow, and that’s with Blake Snell sidelined with shoulder fatigue. But they have no idea what they will get out of Sheehan, Sasaki and Wrobleski on any particular day.

Carrying one starter incapable of consistently taking down innings can exhaust a bullpen that has to pick up the slack. Carrying two of them is tantamount to asking for late-game Chernobyl-level meltdowns. Carrying three? Hoo boy.

“Obviously, ideally, you’d like to carry none,” Roberts said. “Truth be told, I don’t want any of those (types of) guys. When you’re a starter, part of the deal is you’ve got to log innings. It’s part of the hallmark of starters, and Emmet and Roki have got to graduate to that point.”

Is it sustainable to have a rotation that includes two inconsistent starters?

“It’s not sustainable, no,” Roberts said.

The Dodgers found that out last season. With their rotation ravaged by injuries – Yamamoto was the only starter who pitched the entire season – Dodgers relievers combined to pitch major-league-leading 657 ⅔ innings. Their bullpen earned-run average of 4.27 was fifth-worst in the National League, contributing to an underwhelming regular-season win total of 93.

Snell isn’t expected to return until the end of next month, and the onus will be on Sheehan, Sasaki and Wrobleski to pitch deep enough into games to ensure the bullpen remains relatively fresh.

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Sheehan acknowledged he had to do better than he did on Thursday.

“Obviously, it’s still a work in progress,” he said. “The stuff is not really where it should be right now. There’s more in the tank.”

Sheehan’s average fastball velocity was 95.6 mph last season, and that number has dropped significantly this year. The average speed of his fastball was 93.8 mph against the Nationals.

Sheehan blamed the decline in velocity to mechanics and not health. That claim was supported by how his two fastest pitches – clocked at 95.7 and 95.4 mph respectively – were thrown in the sixth inning.

The ever-upbeat Roberts said he put more stock in the second half of Sheehan’s start than the first.

“I think today was a step in the right direction,” he said. “I think we talked about (how) he has to give us length, and he did that today, touching six (innings). 

“He looked like a major league starter and not a guy that’s cutting his teeth.”

The Dodgers will need more of that, especially with Sasaki pitching just days after him.

The Cubs lost to the Guardians 4-1 Friday afternoon in Cleveland, but that’s not the big story of the day.

That, of course, is the apparent injury to Cade Horton in the second inning.

Here’s what happened [VIDEO].

It’s really hard to tell what actually went on there. There was no obvious sign of any sort of pain from Horton, but he immediately signaled for the dugout and left the game.

Later, it was announced by the Cubs via the Marquee Sports Network broadcast that Horton left due to “right forearm discomfort.” Which… isn’t good. That sort of thing is sometimes a precursor to Tommy John surgery. Or maybe it’s not. We just don’t know at this time. Hopefully, the Cubs will have an update later this evening, or tomorrow. For now all we, and the Cubs, can do is hope for the best.

Horton faced only four batters. From BCB’s JohnW53:

Before today, the last Cubs starter, excluding “openers,” to exit after facing no more than four batters was Alec Mills, on July 2, 2022, at home against the Red Sox. He struck out the leadoff man on a 2-2 count, then gave up a double on an 0-1 count. He injured his back, went on the Injured List and was lost for the season.

Colin Rea, who did such a good job last year filling into the rotation when Justin Steele was injured, did a great job in this one as well. He threw 3.1 innings, allowed four hits and a run and struck out four. If Rea needs to fill in, there’s at least a competent replacement for Horton, though obviously not at the same talent level.

Here’s a breakdown of Rea’s 57-pitch outing [VIDEO].

The Cubs took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third. Pete Crow-Armstrong led off with a double and stole third. Miguel Amaya then doubled, with PCA scoring [VIDEO].

Amaya was serving as the DH in this one with Carson Kelly catching. He’s been doing that vs. left-handed starters. I continue to think that Amaya is primed to have a big offensive season, presuming he can stay healthy.

Hoby Milner relieved Rea in the fifth and allowed one inherited runner to score on a single by hotshot rookie Chase DeLauter, but four-time Gold Glover Ian Happ threw out the trailing runner at the plate [VIDEO].

Happ’s going to win another Gold Glove this year. That has value. I think it’d be worth keeping him around for a while longer.

Hunter Harvey relieved Milner in the seventh and served up a solo homer to Gabriel Arias that gave Cleveland a 2-1 lead. A walk to Steven Kwan followed and then DeLauter smashed a two-run shot, his fifth of the young season. (The Cubs have just six home runs as a team so far this year.) Not a good outing for Harvey, who faced just five batters, two of whom went deep.

Happ decided to challenge a strike three call leading off the ninth [VIDEO].

That was pretty obviously in the zone, but I suppose with two challenges left and three outs to go, it was worth using one.

This was yet another game where the offense simply didn’t produce — four hits and two walks isn’t going to score too many runs, and it didn’t. Can’t use the weather as an excuse here, the temp was in the 70s. The Cubs bats are simply going to have to do better.

The game was the fifth loss in a row for the Cubs in Cleveland dating to 2021, though the Cubs did sweep the Guardians at Wrigley Field last year. Hopefully, the result will be better tomorrow, and we’ll get good news about Horton. Fingers crossed.

The Cubs and Guardians will play the second game of this series Saturday evening at Progressive Field. Shōta Imanaga will start for the Cubs and Slade Cecconi goes for Cleveland. Game time is 6:15 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Fox-TV (regional — coverage map, scroll to the bottom of that link).

Aaron Judge perhaps set the tone for the Yankees’ 124th home opener Friday afternoon long before the first pitch or his key home run in the first inning. The night before the Yanks met the Marlins at Yankee Stadium, Judge sent a team-wide text:

“Suits tomorrow.”

So the Yankees showed up decked out in their finery, perhaps a sartorial declaration of a kind.

“That’s Cap…so everybody was fired up,” Ben Rice said.

Aaron Boone was grinning over the snazzy threads in the morning, hours before the Yankees beat the Marlins, 8-2. Seeing his players so nattily dressed, the manager said, helped show the importance of the first game of the year at Yankee Stadium.

“When they’re rolling in in suits today, I know that’s meaningful,” Boone said.

It’s been a remarkable season for the Yankees so far (caveat: it’s early). But the 6-1 Yanks ooze talent and potential. It all starts with Judge, just like, basically, their seventh game of the season did.

After the Marlins grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Xavier Edwards’ solo homer – the first home run allowed by a Yankee pitcher this season – Judge immediately responded. Trent Grisham led off with a walk and then Judge pounded a two-run homer for an instant lead. They never trailed again.

“They came out swinging, got a run on us,” Judge said. “Grish had a great at-bat in front of me. I'm just trying to do my job, which is to try to get him over, to get a good pitch and drive it. So, just happy to answer back.”

There is always outsized attention on Judge because he’s one of today’s great stars, probably the best hitter in baseball. It’s never too early – in some folks’ minds, anyway – to fret over his numbers if they are not Judge-ian. He entered Friday batting .125, not the sort of thing that goes unnoticed in the Yankee fishbowl, even if he had already hit two home runs so far, too.

If you are frantic over Judge’s start, maybe take a deep breath. It’ll be OK. Promise. Heck, he’s on pace for around 69 home runs right now.

Friday, his third homer put the Yankees ahead for good and was the highlight of what turned into a big game for both star and team. Judge reached base four times and was 2-for-3, scored twice, drove in three runs, walked and even stole a base. He was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded – more on that in a moment – to force in a run.

Beyond thumbing out texts to the boys, Judge has long been good at establishing something early in games. Friday’s homer was the 86th of his career in the first inning. Last year, he smacked 20 first-inning home runs, an MLB record, for a 94-win team.

Only two other Yankees had more first-inning homers in their careers – Babe Ruth (126) and Mickey Mantle (103). Those two sure played on a lot of winning teams, didn’t they? (Yes, we know they piled up championships, too, while Judge and these Yankees have not won the World Series. Yet).

It’s what they yearn to do. And their top tone-setter will surely play an enormous role in that pursuit. He authors some of the most meaningful swings among the current Yanks – since 2019, 138 of Judge’s 288 home runs have either tied the score or given the Yanks the lead, the team said.

That, in part, is why it’s “never a surprise,” Boone said, when Judge delivers like he did in the first inning. “Really good answer to them putting a run up on the board,” Boone said. “And, you know, I think it allowed Will (Warren, the starting pitcher) to get in a good rhythm, too.”

The Yanks got a jolt in the second inning when Judge was hit on the arm by an errant pitch from Marlins starter Eury Pérez with the bases full. Judge seemed fine and remained in the game, not that it wasn’t scary, too.

“Felt like he was probably OK, but I tend to jump up a little quicker when it’s him,” Boone said. “Yeah, you always hold your breath there a little bit, any time it’s running up and in there like that. I think it got him on the forearm, kind of the meaty part, so you knew in short order, we’re all right.”

Added Judge: “I've broken my wrist like that, so that's always your main concern. But once you feel like everything's intact, you should take it to first.”

The Yanks scored twice in the second inning without a hit, thanks to Pérez’s wildness and their own speed. They kept adding on, too. Rice homered in the seventh and smashed a two-run double in the eighth.

But Judge set the tone, stylistically and otherwise.

“That’s what he does best,” Rice said, referring to Judge’s vital homer.

“He’s so good at that.”

Ben Rice said that Aaron Judge texted in the Yankees group chat for everyone to wear suits for the home opener today pic.twitter.com/1fVwhlQ8tz

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 3, 2026