Category: Baseball

The Jays have placed Max Scherzer on the IL with forearm tendinitis and left ankle inflammation, backdated to his last start.

Chase Lee has been called up and will be available tonight. Lee has been, well, interesting for the Bisons. A 1.32 ERA in 9 appearances, 13.2 innings (maybe we can use him for more than an inning at a go?), 11 hits, 2 earned (3 more unearned), 9 walks and 12 strikeouts. 9 walks in 13.2 innings is a lot.

Scherzer, you know, hasn’t been good. They aren’t saying if the arm and ankle were bothering him before last start, or if it has been going on all season, or if it is new. The way he has been pitching, they couldn’t keep sending him out there every five days. At 41, Max would have to be 100% to be effective and even then I have my doubts, but let’s see what happens when he is healthy.

This will mean that Eric Lauer will likely make another start. After that José Berríos could be back.

Welcome to the team Lee. I am very interested in seeing you pitch.

Former Jay first baseman Willie Upshaw turns 69 today.

Willie Upshaw was a rarity, a successful Rule 5 draft pick. We took him from the Yankees in 1978, who had drafted him in the 5th round in 1975. He quickly moved up through the minor leagues, but the Yankees had Chris Chambliss, who left after 1979 for the Braves. The Yankees cycled through first basemen until Don Mattingly took over in 1983.

Willie spent nine seasons with the Jays, establishing himself in 1983 when he hit .306/.373/.515 with 27 home runs and 104 RBI—his standout year. The following season saw his power slip to 19 home runs and a .278/.345/.464 line, marking the start of a decline in his performance. After 1987, Willie left the Jays and signed as a free agent with Cleveland.

He finished his career with 123 home runs, 528 RBI, and a .262/.335/.419 line. After his playing days, Willie managed the Bridgeport Bluefish, an independent league team, and he was the Giants’ first-base coach for a couple of seasons.

I often thought Upshaw was the start of a good run for the Jays at the position. Upshaw offered steady defence and reliable hitting. After him, Fred McGriff brought strong power, John Olerud contributed with remarkable on-base ability, and Carlos Delgado delivered impressive slugging. There was a little gap, and then came Edwin Encarnacion (at least part-time at first), and now Vladimir Guerrero.

Turning to other Jays birthdays today, Frank Catalanotto turns 52.

Frank was a 10th-round draft pick for the Tigers. He played three seasons with the Tigers before being included in a major trade to the Texas Rangers. In the trade, Frank moved to the Rangers alongside Alan Webb, Francisco Cordero, Bill Haselman, Gabe Kapler, and Justin Thompson, whileJuan Gonzalez, Danny Patterson, and Gregg Zaun were sent to the Tigers. After three seasons with the Rangers, Frank signed with the Jays as a free agent.

For us, he platooned with Reed Johnson in the outfield, forming a great pairing. From 2004 to 2007 with the Jays, Frank hit .299/.361/.445 with 29 home runs and 200 RBI, mainly facing right-handed pitchers. Both he and Johnson became fan favourites. After the 2007 season, Frank signed with the Rangers for 2008, then later played for the Brewers and the Mets. He also represented Italy in the World Baseball Classic.

• Chris Carpenter (51) pitched six seasons for the Blue Jays, going 49-50 with a 4.83 ERA in 152 games (135 starts) before blowing out his shoulder. The Jays then wanted to take him off the 40-man roster. Carpenter found a new path with the Cardinals, who were willing to pay him as a major leaguer during his rehab. This move paid off for St. Louis: he won the Cy Young in 2005 and finished 2nd and 3rd in subsequent voting. Carpenter’s last major league appearance was in 2012, when he made three regular-season starts and pitched twice in the playoffs, taking losses in both games. He closed his career with a 144-94 record and a 3.76 ERA. Carpenter later gave a lovely eulogy for Roy Halladay at his funeral.
• Bob MacDonald (61) was a lefty reliever for the Jays in 1991 and 1992. In 1991, he pitched 45 games with a 2.85 ERA. He earned a World Series ring in 1992, then signed with the Astros and later played for the Mariners, White Sox, Yankees, and Mets. Over 197 major league games, he posted a 4.34 ERA.
• Pat Lennon (58) was a first-round draft pick by the Mariners in 1986. He played for our Triple-A team in 1998 and 1999 and spent parts of six major league seasons, though he totalled only 189 at-bats. I wanted to see Pat get a real chance in the majors. In the minors, he hit .291/.374/.480 with 187 home runs, including a standout season in Calgary, where he posted .329/.400/.531 for the Cannons while I had season tickets. Unfortunately, with Ken Griffey and Jay Buhner occupying the Mariners’ outfield, Pat’s opportunities were limited. Timing kept him from a bigger role.

Well that sure was a weekend.

Back-to-back wins. Scoring 17 in 1 game. A Caleb Durbin home run. The coaching shuffle. Alex Cora out, Chad Tracy in.

And now the Red Sox are off to Toronto to play the Blue Jays in a Battle of AL East Disappointments.

The Jays realized their rotation wasn’t quite up to snuff in the World Series and added the best starter available, Dylan Cease, as a free agent. Through five starts all he’s done is is impress. He has two 12 strikeouts games already (44 total Ks), 14 walks, 19 hits, and has given up zero home runs in 25.2 innings. The bright side is he’s walking 12.6% of batters. But he’s striking out almost 40% of batters so, good luck out there. It’s almost a waste to send Ranger Suárez out to the mound against him. The Sox free agent pitching acquisition had a rough outing against the Yankees in a series that everyone hopes is the bottoming out point of the season. Suárez was excellent against Detroit, so hopefully he bounces right back.

Trea Yesavage burst onto the scene just before the playoffs started with a September 15th MLB debut. He then turned a lot of heads on a national scale. And then, as pitchers do, he got hurt. As the Jays have slumped, his rehab outings left something to be desired. In one start at Single A and one at Triple A he allowed 12 runs (10 earned) in 12 innings for an ERA of 9.00. He allowed 3 home runs and walked 7. But also struck out 16. So maybe he’s tuned up. But hopefully he needs a little time to get used to MLB again. Payton Tolle aka Mass Pike, is back for his second start of the year. In what may have been the deciding game for Alex Cora’s stay with the Red Sox, Tolle pitched brilliantly. Over 6.0 he struck out 11 Yankees. Let’s see what he can do as a next step.

The finale is a strange matchup: Max Scherzer and Brayan Bello are both entering this game with ERAs of at least 9.00. Scherzer has tossed 18.2 innings while allowing 20 runs. Bello 22 innings and 22 runs. Max has allowed 7 homers to Bello’s 8. Is this going to be a slugfest or a pitchers’ duel? Neither has gotten to face the under-performing lineups of the teams they are on. Entering the series the Sox and Jays are 4th and 5th, respectively, in runs scored in the AL East with 117 and 110. The Jays have allowed 133 runs to Boston’s 128 (or 93, 95, sometimes 1).

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is hitting .340/.426/.460 with 2 home runs and 2 steals.

New third baseman Kazuma Okamoto has 5 homers and is slashing .229/.315/.406.

Postseason hero Ernie Clement is at .324/.330/.435 with no homers.

George Springer is on the IL as is catcher Alejandro Kirk.

Probable Pitching Matchups

Monday, April 27: Ranger Suárez (4.00 ERA / 4.08 FIP) vs. Dylan Cease (2.10 ERA / 1.47 FIP)

Tuesday, April 28: Payton Tolle (1.50 ERA / 2.15 FIP) vs. Trey Yesavage (— ERA / — FIP)

Wednesday, April 29: Brayan Bello (9.00 ERA / 8.29 FIP) vs. Max Scherzer (9.64 ERA / 8.40 FIP)

Well, looks like Mad Max won’t be pitching after all. Right now it’s listed as TBD but Bluebird Banter has a few thoughts on who might pitch.

When/Where to Watch

Monday, April 27: 7:07 PM on NESN

Saturday, April 25: 7:07 PM ET on NESN

Sunday, April 26: 3:07 PM ET on NESN

The month of April is nearing a close, and thanks to the rotating outfield situation at the big league level with the Cincinnati Reds we’ve been privy all month to the offensive force coming out of the AAA Louisville lineup. Rece Hinds got the call to take over RF from Noelvi Marte when the former was mashing so incredibly that the latter’s lack of production simply could not demand more patience.

All Marte has done since his demotion is hit .452/.500/.714 in 46 PA. He might get Hinds’ job back at some point soon, but he already got skipped over for JJ Bleday, who homered as a Red yesterday after hitting an absurd .341/.462/.659 for Louisville in 104 PA before his promotion.

In other words, balls are flying for the Louisville Bats this year, and we’ve seen a lot of the successes their pushed into the spotlight with the Reds. What we’ve not highlighted much here this year, though, is the best of the best offensively from the other levels of the system. So, we’re going to do a bit of that Farmers Only style today!

Chattanooga Lookouts (AA Southern League)

The Lookouts are 16-5 on the season thanks to an offense averaging a rock solid 5.9 runs per game and a league-best pitching staff’s 4.04 ERA. We’ll get to the pitchers some other time, though, as it’s the hitters we’re going to highlight here.

It’s a lineup featuring a trio of former 1st round picks as well as two other ranked prospects, so it should be this productive. Leading the charge, though, is Austin Hendrick, who’s been written off by most everyone due to his struggles with strikeouts. The former 1st rounder was old for being a high school draftee, though, and maybe it’s just taking him a bit more time to find his legs professionally as he’s old (25) for the AA level. Still, he’s hit .307/.373/.480 with 3 dingers so far this season, leading the team so far in hits, homers (tied), ribbies, slugging, and OPS.

Heating up next to him is Cam Collier, who owns a .304/.393/.565 line over the last 7 days to boost his overall season numbers to .263/.344/.475 (.819 OPS). He, too, has a trio of homers and the power looks back after last year’s wrist-induced outage.

Jay Allen II still has no pop, but owns a .355 OBP so far this season with Chattanooga. Carlos Jorge, meanwhile, missed about two weeks of action on the IL but a) is back and b) is hitting .316/.409/.368 in a small 44 PA sample so far.

Dayton Dragons (High-A Midwest League)

We simply cannot talk about the Dayton Dragons withough highlighting their hard-hitting catcher who owns an excellent eye at the plate. That’s right, folks, it’s Ryan McCrystal!

As Alfredo Duno is off to merely an OK start (no pop yet but a 17/20 BB/K and .375 OBP), it’s been his peer at the position, McCrystal, who’s been red hot at the plate. He owns an .888 OPS through 69 PA to lead the team, the former 9th rounder out of East Carolina getting time at both 1B and DH as well as behind the plate.

As for breakout prospects go, it could well be happening (again) for Carlos Sanchez. Ranked #26 in the system by MLB Pipeline, he hit .308/429/.449 (.878) for Class-A Daytona last year in 264 PA before being bumped up to Dayton, and he struggled relatively (.244/.320/.373 in 201 PA) after the promotion. He was just 20 then, is 21 now, and has blasted out of the gate hitting .329/.420/.429 through 81 PA while playing every game at shortstop so far. I don’t care what lens you look at that through, that’s a quality prospect in the making.

Daytona Tortugas (Class-A Florida State League)

The Florida State League (and Daytona’s home park, in particular) has a long-standing reputation as a pitcher’s paradise. So, naturally they’ve got a guy down there who’s hitting the ball with more authority (and results) than anyone in the minors right now.

That’s former 6th round pick Jacob Friend, of course!

Friend, a 23 year old Boston native who played ball at Davidson College, has exploded out of the gate hitting .333/.446/.767 witha 5 homers, 7 doubles, and a pair of triples through just 74 PA. He has just 20 hits all season, and 14 of them have gone for extra-bases. He’s also primarily a catcher, which means that right now Alfredo Duno is being lapped in the lower minors by not one, but two future potential journeymen at the position. Huzzah!

The Tugas are just 6-15 on the season and there aren’t a ton more highlights, but it’s worth a shoutout to Bernard Moon, at least. Redan High School in Stone Mountain, GA has had some pretty notable names come through it, the likes of Wally Joyner, Taj Bradley, Domonic Brown, and a guy by the name of Brandon Phillips who just went into the Reds Hall of Fame this weekend. It also produced Moon, a 2B/OF who has a .794 OPS so far this year that ranks 2nd to Friend in just about every category so far this season.

Because this is a hype piece, we are not going to talk about how badly Tyson Lewis has struggled with Daytona so far. Nope, we just are not going to do it.

The New York Yankees (18-10) open a three-game series with the Texas Rangers (14-14). The New Yankees had an eight-game winning streak end on Sunday with a 7-4 loss to the Houston Astros. The Ranges lost 2-1 to the A’s on Sunday. Starting pitchers are Max Fried for New York, with a 2.40 ERA, and Jack Leiter for Texas, with a 4.97 ERA.

How to watch New York Yankees vs. Texas Rangers

• Date: Monday, April 27

• Time: 8:05 p.m. ET / 5:05 p.m. PT

• Where: Globe Life Field, Arlington, TX

• TV Channels: Rangers Sports Network, YES

• Live Stream:ESPN+, MLB.TV | Follow on Yahoo Sports

Odds

• Spread: Texas Rangers +1.5

• Moneyline: Texas Rangers +145 (38.8%) / New York Yankees -180 (61.2%)

• Over/Under: 8.0

Starting pitchers

New York Yankees: Max Fried (3-1, ERA: 2.40, K: 32, WHIP: 0.77)
Texas Rangers: Jack Leiter (1-1, ERA: 4.97, K: 29, WHIP: 1.46)

Weather: 64°F at first pitch

Ballpark: Capacity: 40,000 | Roof: Retractable | Surface: Artificial Turf

After sweeping the Cardinals in St. Louis, the Mariners continue their annual early-season cursèd march through the Midwest with a stopoff in Minnesota, the famous not-roof-havers. The Twins are fresh off their own sweeping, at the hands of former Mariner Ben Williamson and the Tampa Bay Rays. They’ve lost five straight and nine of their last ten, as they’re starting to really look like the team PECOTA predicted for under 80 wins.

The Twins are in rebuild mode, so have already brought up (and sent down) a couple of their MLB-ready pitching prospects, one of whom will make the start on Monday against the Mariners: lefty Connor Prielipp, meaning the Mariners will have to pull out their righty-heavy lineup again in the series opener. Offensively, Minnesota brought up contact-monster infielder Luke Keaschall for a couple months last season and he continues on with the team this season, but has dropped off significantly after a torrid start to his MLB career. The Twins’ other top offensive prospects, Walker Jenkins and Kaelen Culpepper, remain at Triple-A for now; Jenkins is working back from a hamstring injury, and Culpepper is still gaining experience at the level. The top prospects are close but still a ways away for Minnesota, so the Mariners will see the group that remained after the Twins stripped down the team last trade deadline (especially bullpen-wise), accented by their modest off-season upgrades rather than a full youth movement.

Byron Buxton is the Twins’ leadoff man and the spiritual heart of this team, although he’s slowing down as the perpetually-injured outfielder moves through his early 30s. He’s followed by Trevor Larnach, whose performance has annoyed Twins fans enough that they were trying to trade him to Seattle this off-season. Josh Bell, one of the aforementioned modest off-season upgrades, usually hits third, and those who have long clamored for Josh Bell, Seattle Mariner, will be pleased to know that he continues to be Josh Bell. We stan a consistent king. 

Things get spongy after that, as manager Derek Shelton has tried a few different lineup combinations. Usually one of the Twins’ catchers bats cleanup, usually Ryan Jeffers but switch-hitting Victor Caratini, who can also play first base, can slot in around there too. Then it’s a spin-the-wheel to see what the bottom half of the lineup spits out in what order. Third baseman Royce Lewis will be in there somewhere, along with shortstop Brooks Lee, off to a solid start this year; the outfield is a similar mix of bench players all steadfastly ignoring the “starting jobs this way” sign.

Probable Pitchers 

Updated Stuff+ Explainer 

• Stuff+ scores for Mariners starters

The Twins promoted Connor Prielipp last week to make his major league debut against the Mets. He completed four innings, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out six. Entering the season, he was ranked as the Twins top pitching prospect and their third overall prospect. A pair of serious elbow injuries — one in college in 2021 and one in the minors in ‘23 — have curtailed his development somewhat, but his raw stuff has continued to look dominant. His best pitch is a superb slider that features tight, downward movement and higher than average velocity. His fastball is fine — it’s the pitch he can command the best at the moment — and his changeup has flashed some promise, though he has trouble with his feel for that offspeed pitch.

Joe Ryan survived the Twins sell off last summer, and with Pablo López sidelined with Tommy John surgery this year, he has become the de facto ace of the pitching staff. His four-seam fastball is one of the best in baseball. He’s able to generate an extremely flat approach angle with the pitch thanks to a good amount of ride and a really low arm angle. His ongoing issue has been trying to figure out the right mix of secondary pitches to pair with his heater. He’s now throwing three different breaking balls and a splitter to keep batters off his fastball.

The Twins acquired Taj Bradley from the Rays last summer in a deal that has turned out to be somewhat of a coup. Back in 2023, Bradley was one of the most highly regarded pitching prospects in baseball, but he struggled to harness his impressive raw stuff across his first three seasons in the big leagues. Tampa Bay cut bait on him, and he continued to struggle in Minnesota after the trade, but he’s managed to put everything together this season. The biggest difference for him has been small adjustments to his cutter and splitter to differentiate those pitches from his fastball. His cutter is breaking glove side a little more and his splitter is diving out of the zone more often. With an extremely high arm slot and an arsenal that heavily relies on vertical movement, those small changes have had a huge impact on his results on the mound.

The Big Picture:

We’re still not looking at standings, but if we were, we would point out that the Mariners have firmly stepped on the Angels in climbing out of the cellar of the division while leaving Houston buried in the bottom. The A’s and Rangers just spent a series slugging it out against each other, pushing the Athletics to the top of the division for now, but the Mariners lurk just behind those two teams. The A’s welcome in Kansas City this week, while Texas has to cope with the Yankees team that just spent time beating up on the Astros. The Astros, meanwhile, travel to Baltimore, and the Angels make a similar journey to the Mariners, heading north to take on the Chicago White Sox.

Questions persisted all offseason as to what this 2026 St. Louis Cardinals starting rotation was going to look like. Matthew Liberatore has not quite found his stride early in the season. Dustin May, after 2 shaky starts to begin the year, has found a footing in the rotation over his last 3 appearances. Andre Pallante has been mostly good in his first 5 turns this year, and Kyle Leahy is early in his transition from the bullpen back to a starter’s workload.

On Sunday, we saw Michael McGreevy give the Cardinals another quality start, going 6 IP, the only run he allowed was on a solo shot to Cal Raleigh (it happens), and allowed scant traffic all game long. It was Mcgreevy’s 3rd time posting a QS in 6 games started this season. If McGreevy can maintain a QS% of 50% or higher, that’s going to go a long way towards the Cardinals navigating the 162-game season and a really refreshing source of “Bulk” innings, not a 30-something veteran starter on the back end of their career.

In 31.3 IP now this season, McGreevy has a 3.16 ERA, and his WHIP is down to 0.86, which is good for 6th in the NL. McGreevy has been the quintessential “pitch maker” for the Cardinals this season, living around 91-92 MPH on the FB so far this year. McGreevy has effectively mixed his pitches, featuring at least 5 pitches with more than 10% usage. His Hard-Hit% is only 36.5%, and his average exit velocity against is 87.9, and those are both above-average marks. The other thing that McGreevy is doing superbly is avoiding the free passes. His BB% is under 5% this year, and in the modern game, if you’re not a pitcher who can punch his way out of trouble, then you better not GET yourself into trouble often.

Michael’s Changeup has been a particularly effective pitch for him this season. Opponents are hitting .077 against the cambio and with a .114 wOBA and 25.6 Whiff%. So far in 2026, it rates out as a +4 in Run Value, which puts him in the 98th percentile of all offspeed pitches in baseball. McGreevy’s sinker and Cutter are also positive value pitches for him thus far this year, as well as using the breaking ball as a “strike stealer” early in counts, and can put hitters away with soft contact in play.

We spoke to Eno Sarris on last week’s episode of the podcast, and our wonderful Gabe Simonds asked Eno about Stuff+ and the ability to have outliers, and it is possible for certain players to outperform what they show, and Michael McGreevy would certainly seem to be one of those pitchers who will outpitch a lot of expected predictor type stats.

For the more experienced fans in Cardinal Nation, McGreevy is probably more of a favorite, as he does the things that Cardinals starters of a previous generation did well. He works quickly, throws strikes, gets groundballs, and gives his team a chance to win just about every start he makes. He won’t wow stuff metrics evaluators, but he’ll do enough to be your dad/grandpa’s favorite pitcher on the team.

-Thanks for reading

Every year there’s a prospect who doesn’t make our top 40 list and makes that omission look foolish almost immediately. This year it’s Nolan Perry, who did make Matt’s pref list but whom I have to admit to whiffing on entirely. Perry got $200k in the 12th round back in 2022 out of Carlsbad, New Mexico. He looked promising in the 2023 complex league and in his full season debut in 2024, striking out about 28% of batters he faced but walking too many. As Matt noted in his write-up, he had a tendency to lose his delivery and have meltdown innings, but tended to overpower A ball hitters when things were working. Then he went down with elbow troubles in mid-August which ultimately lead to a Tommy John surgery that caused him to miss 2025 entirely.

Command is usually the last thing to come back after TJ, but having had a full 19 months to recover before returning to game action, Perry appears to have not just gotten back to where he was but taken a step forward. So far in 2026 he’s both landing more pitches in the zone overall (45% vs 41%), but when he works out of the zone placing pitches more deliberately, drawing chases and some called strikes on fastballs up and sliders and curves low. It’s still below average command, probably, but he’s improved the quality and consistency of his location enough to increase the odds that he ultimately sticks as a starter.

Perry’s stuff has also improved. In 2024 he sat 90-93 and occasionally approached 95 with his fastball. Now he’s sitting 93-95 and occasionally cresting 96. He’s further defined the shape of the heater, which in 2024 StatCast classified as a sinker about a third of the time (though the movement profile was similar enough to his four seamer that I think he was just sometimes getting on the side of the latter pitch and sailing it a little). The pitch has above average vertical carry and plus arm side run, which should allow it to play as solid average.

Two distinct breaking balls make up most of the rest of Perry’s pitches. His slider, used just under 30% of the time, varies from 82-87mph. It looks like an average pitch, with pretty typical movement although it could use a little more depth. That’s too much for A ball hitters, who’ve missed a little more than half the time when they swing. He’s located it pretty well, missing down and away when he does miss and mostly avoiding hanging anything out over the heart of the plate. The curve, used 20% of the time, comes in just under 80mph and gets big two-plane break. It’s big enough that batters tend to read it out of his hand and have swung under 30% of the time he throws it (compared to 43% for the slider and 57% for the fastball). They can’t hit it when they do, with 9 whiffs on 16 tries, but he’ll want to get better at dropping it into the bottom third of the zone for strikes to really maximize its effectiveness.

His change-up is rarely used, and only to lefties. It comes in at 86mph with good vertical drop compared to the fastball, and at least as a rare ambush weapon it’s been too much for A ball hitters, who’ve whiffed on three of four swings so far. We’ll have to see whether it remains deceptive against better hitters with a bit more of a book on Perry’s arsenal, but to my eye it has considerably more bite than in 2024 and now flashes some potential.

It’s a pretty smooth looking delivery, with a high leg kick and an average stride, and he looks like he repeats it pretty well. Perry’s listed at 6’2” and 195lbs and still looks fairly lanky, although at 22 there isn’t likely to be a ton more development physically. The steps he’s taken with his command point to continued development as a starter for the forseeable future. He has the repertoire depth to make that work, assuming continued progress on the change-up, with no monster plus pitch but at least three that look like they could be above average consistently with development.

A ball is clearly beneath Perry’s level. His 47% strikeout rate and 2.07 xFIP are both second among pitchers at the level with at least a dozen innings. At 22, even with missed development time, he’s also old for the level. I would expect a move up to Vancouver sometime soon, possibly once the weather improves in the pacific northwest. From there, if he continues to outclass hitters in the Northwest league, a cameo at New Hampshire probably isn’t out of the question. That’s the track that last year’s Dunedin breakout arm, Gage Stanifer, took, although Stanifer had a base of 60 innings in 2024 to build off of and Perry might be under a tighter usage limit.

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Ernie Clement has been raking for the battered Toronto Blue Jays, and with a lefty on the mound for the Boston Red Sox, I expect that trend to continue. 

Find out more in my Red Sox vs. Blue Jays predictions and MLB picks for this April 27 matchup.

Red Sox vs Blue Jays predictions

Red Sox vs Blue Jays best bet: Ernie Clement Over 1.5 total bases (+110)

Toronto Blue Jays batter Ernie Clement is second in the AL in hits with 36, and is on a 10-game hitting streak — with knocks in 14 of his last 15 games. 

Over that stretch, he’s hitting .359 with 10 extra-base hits. He’s also averaging 2.2 bases per game during this heater. 

He's set to face Boston Red Sox southpaw Ranger Suarez, and the infielder has found great success against lefties over the last two seasons.

Clement has a .320 average this year against them after posting a .900 OPS vs. LHP in 2025. 

COVERS INTEL: Ranger Suarez has allowed four or more runs in three of his five starts this season, while posting a 4.99 xERA that ranks in the 28th percentile.

Red Sox vs Blue Jays same-game parlay (SGP)

Suarez is more of a contact pitcher than a strikeout guy, which is great for the disciplined Jays who like to see balls in the zone. 

Additionally, the Blue Jays have the lowest strikeout rate in baseball, and Suarez ranks in the 15th percentile in that category with just an 18% whiff rate, which ranks in MLB’s 8th percentile.

I’ll also take the Jays to go Over their team total at 3.5 runs tonight. Toronto has exceeded this run total in five of its last six games, while the Red Sox have allowed an average of 4.57 runs per game against them this season. 

Red Sox vs Blue Jays SGP

• Ernie Clement Over 1.5 total bases
• Ranger Suarez Under 3.5 strikeouts
• Blue Jays team total Over 3.5

Red Sox vs Blue Jays home run pick: Daulton Varsho (+790)

I’ll make this a half-unit wager.

The lefty-on-lefty matchup has to be the reason the price is so juicy for Daulton Varsho at +790, however, the outfielder has fared better at the plate against southpaws this season, posting an .815 OPS against them. 

The matchup is great for him, too, as the lefty Suarez throws his sinker at a 45% rate against left-handed hitters. Varsho owns a .412 average and a .647 slug rate against the sinker with a home run, which was hit off a lefty at that. 

Red Sox vs Blue Jays odds

• Moneyline: Boston +1.5 (-180) | Toronto -1.5 (+155)
• Run line: Boston +115 | Toronto -135
• Over/Under: Over 7 (-120) | Under 7 (+100)

Red Sox vs Blue Jays trend

Ernie Clement is currently riding a 10-game hit streak. Find more MLB betting trends for Red Sox vs. Blue Jays.

How to watch Red Sox vs Blue Jays and game info

Red Sox vs Blue Jays latest injuries

Red Sox vs Blue Jays weather

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Detroit Tigers infield prospect Hao-Yu Lee had a pretty rough spring. After a slow start in camp, he headed off to represent his native Taiwan in the World Baseball Classic. An oblique strain suffered before the tournament even began caused him to miss the opportunity, and then it lingered, costing him the first week of the International League season with the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens. After just nine games in which he didn’t do a whole lot and was busy trying to find his footing after nearly a month without any plate appearances, everything flipped as the 23-year-old suddenly got his first chance to play in the major leagues when Zach McKinstry went down with a minor injury.

No doubt his call-up was one of the best days of his life, but to much of the fanbase who don’t follow the farm system, the reaction was more like, who is this guy? He played all the 2025 season at Triple-A Toledo, and while he had a solid year at the plate, posting a 106 wRC+ with 14 home runs and 22 stolen bases, his numbers certainly don’t leap off a FanGraphs or Baseball Reference stat page. For prospect watchers, however, it was another year of solid progression for a young hitter who has always been well ahead of his age curve.

Lee was acquired by Scott Harris when he shipped starter Michael Lorenzen to Philadelphia at the 2023 trade deadline. This was one of the first trades Harris made, and it’s turning out pretty well so far. Lee conquered Double-A Erie in 2024 when he was just 21 years old. His numbers in Toledo weren’t that impressive when he jumped to Triple-A last year, but with a February birthday he had just turned 22 years old when he took on the highest level of the minor leagues, consistently competing against good prospects and veteran pitchers, many of whom have major league experience. Production is key, but without the context of age and experience, it’s easy to miss the real picture developing beneath the surface. Lee has been challenged year after year with aggressive promotions, and even in a year where he struggled at times, he still managed to hold his own in 2025.

Lee is currently ranked sixth on MLB Pipeline’s ranking of the Tigers farm system, one spot behind fellow 2B/3B right-handed hitting Max Anderson. In my view, that’s a minor mistake and Lee is pretty clearly the more talented prospect of the duo, but it is fitting in a sense to have them back-to-back on a list, because they’re both bound to play a similar role in the major leagues.

Each has plus raw power, and neither really profiles as a good defensive infielder. They both tend toward mashing left-handed pitching and just trying to hold their own against right-handers, but their profiles diverge from there. Lee is the more disciplined hitter of the two, and also the more athletic player of the duo. He has the potential to clean up his game and become an average third baseman or second baseman, whereas Anderson is very competent, but just doesn’t have the range and quickness to get much better than he is. Those traits extend to baserunning, where Lee gets the most out of his average speed by being a crafty, aggressive baserunner with some knack for reading pitchers and getting good jumps to steal second base. Anderson’s lack of speed is a real limitation on his baserunning ability that can’t really be overcome through experience. Lee’s overly aggressive style of play can cause him to make the occasional poor throw, but he also has more knack for making a tough play than Anderson does, and the mistakes of aggression may be cured by more time and experience.

Lee struck out a very reasonable 20.9 percent of the time in Triple-A last season. That’s basically league average, but he also walked 11.2 percent of the time. Much less a free swinger than Anderson, Lee is better at holding his own when he isn’t really seeing the ball well at the plate. He’ll take his walks and uses the whole field to spray singles and doubles, and as he showed against the Reds on Sunday, he has all fields pop as well. The issue for both hitters is that they tend to do most of their damage against left-handed pitching, and that will probably limit both of them to a part time role in the major leagues.

For Lee, the main issue continues to be breaking stuff from right-handed hitters. He handles fastballs well, but he can look like the bad version of Javier Báez when right-handers with good sliders start feeding him heavy doses of benders moving down and away out of the strike zone. That’s his challenge to overcome, whereas Anderson has better hands and strikes out less, but tends to swing at everything within reach rather than being patient enough to hunt for something he can drive. That can work in the minor leagues, but the lack of a strong approach also means he’s more likely to get his weaknesses exploited at the major league level. We’ll see if he can develop a little more of an approach this season, in which case he too might be a nice player to have on the roster in 2027 in the wake of Gleyber Torres holding the second base gig everyday.

The other advantage for Lee, is that he’s a year younger than Anderson. While Lee has more pro experience, there’s still more time for him to start shoring up his issues with right-handers than Anderson has to work with in trying to develop his strike zone judgement and overall swing discipline. With the benefit of better athleticism and strike zone judgement, my bet is on Lee to prove the more useful player to the Tigers in the year’s ahead, although Anderson could potentially make a decently productive first baseman with the ability to handle some second and third base as well.

McKinstry’s injury provided a perfect opportunity for Lee to come up, right as the Tigers were about to face their first sustained set of left-handed starting pitchers. It was also an opportune moment to get with him with the major league roster to forge some ties, get to know and be known by the regular roster, and get his feet wet in the major leagues. The Tigers believe in those team building aspects, and they also like to dangle the carrot a little bit to interesting prospects who aren’t of blue chip quality. After getting a taste of the major league life, Lee will be hungrier than ever when he returns to the minor leagues. Perhaps if Anderson was healthy, he would’ve gotten the call instead considering Lee’s lack of reps in spring camp, but it didn’t work out that way, and Lee has done a solid enough job with the opportunity. If a similar opportunity arises, I wouldn’t be surprised if it went to Anderson instead, because this is all about future roster building and getting these guys a little experience when the right opportunity comes along. Neither is really ready to seize a regular role just yet in my opinion.

When McKinstry returns, you can bet that Lee will return to the Toledo Mud Hens. With Colt Keith still not doing enough damage to really expand his role, and several lefty starters ahead on the docket, the Tigers had an opening for an infielder to hit left-handed pitching. Lee fits the bill. Launching a go ahead bomb against lefty reliever Sam Moll was just what AJ Hinch and the Tigers’ front office had in mind when they called him up. But the Tigers probably don’t want to convert a recently turned 23-year-old prospect into the next Andy Ibánez just yet. Lee needs more time to work against both handed pitchers to see if he can shore up his weaknesses against right-handers, and perhaps find his way to more than a weak side platoon role next season in the wake of Gleyber Torres likely departure in free agency.

Hao-Yu Lee is a reasonably talented young player, and his aggressive, bull in a china shop style is a lot of fun to watch. He’s likely to be voted first out of the dugout in a benches clearing scenario, and he runs the bases with a dynamism you might not expect for a thickly built power hitter. He’s also been ahead of the curve, tackling tough levels at an early age and generally finding his way. While he doesn’t quite profile as a future full-time player right now, the Tigers lefty heavy regular lineup will have use for him in the years ahead. If Lee can take one more step and post better numbers against right-handed pitching, while playing a bit more under control on defense, he could creep up into top 100 prospects lists by season’s end, and have an even better chance of taking a roster spot later this season, or in 2027.

Some players are remembered for elegance. Others are remembered for effort. Enos Slaughter belongs in the second category. He built a Hall of Fame career on aggression, hustle, and a willingness to play every moment at full speed, helping create the old baseball belief that the dirtier your jersey was by the end of the game, the better you had done your job.

That reputation helped define Slaughter’s legacy. Long before hustle and grit became their own baseball mythology, Slaughter was already charging through the game with a style that later influenced players like Pete Rose. Yet like many stars from earlier eras, his story is layered with championship glory and personal controversy.

Enos Bradsher Slaughter
Born: April 27, 1916 (Roxboro, NC)
Died: August 12, 2002 (Durham, NC)
Yankees Tenure: 1954-55, 1956-59

Slaughter was raised on a 90-acre farm in Allensville, where physical labor helped build the strength and toughness that would later define his playing style. However, after the family took their horse and buggy to watch the minor-league Durham Bulls play, a young Slaughter quickly began dreaming of a life beyond the farm. At Roxboro High School, Slaughter starred in both football and baseball.

Slaughter reportedly passed on a scholarship to Guilford College because professional baseball had already long been the dream. Instead of attending school, he moved to Durham to work in a textile mill by day and played semipro ball at night.

Slaughter’s play got the attention of the St. Louis Cardinals, who—thanks to pioneering executive Branch Rickey—had a farm club in Greensboro. They offered him a 10-day tryout and eventually signed him. Slaughter then spent the next several years working his way through the Cardinals’ system.

Slaughter debuted with St. Louis in 1938 and quickly became a fixture in the outfield. The Cardinals were nearing the end of the Gashouse Gang era, which won two championships in the years before his debut while valuing aggression, pressure, and emotional edge. However, Slaughter’s playing style made him a natural fit and a true bridge between that post-Depression era and the hustle era of the 1960s and 1970s.

In 1941, Slaughter made his first All-Star team while helping power one of baseball’s strongest clubs, which narrowly lost the pennant to the Brooklyn Dodgers. Coming off his first All-Star season Slaughter was even more impressive in 1942 making another Midsunner Classic and finishing second in the MVP race to teammate Mort Cooper. This time, St. Louis surpassed Brooklyn, and Cardinals would beat the Yankees in the 1942 World Series while Slaughter posted an .837 OPS in the five-game victory. That would be the first of four rings Slaughter would win and the only time that a Joe DiMaggio-led pennant winner lost the Fall Classic.

Slaughter’s first Cardinals run was interrupted by military service during World War II, costing him three prime seasons. That lost time likely kept him from even larger career milestones, as he still finished with 2,383 hits and a .300 batting average despite the interruption. Along with DiMaggio, Slaughter was among the notable figures missing from the 1943 Yankees/Cardinals World Series rematch, which went the Yankees’ way.

Slaughter’s time in the military was spent as a physical education instructor, as he was colorblind. In his last year of enlistment along with a few other big names of the era Joe Gordon, Birdie Tebbetts, and Howie Pollet were amongst a group that toured the Pacific playing games in Iwo Jima, Guam, Tinian, and Saipan.

Slaughter returned to the Cardinals in 1946. Picking up right where he left off, he had an All-Star season, finishing third in the MVP race. St. Louis won its fourth pennant in five years, and Slaughter delivered the most famous moment of his career while hitting .320/.433/.560 in the World Series. In Game 7 against the Boston Red Sox, he took advantage of a brief moment of hesitance from second baseman Johnny Pesky, scoring from first on a single in the play remembered forever as the “Mad Dash.”

That play helped secure another championship for St. Louis and it remains one of baseball’s defining hustle plays. Slaughter remained with the Cardinals through 1953, earning All-Star honors in each season and cementing himself as one of the era’s most feared and relentless players. Overall, the man was a 10-time All-Star in St. Louis. Depending how you count the three-year military gap, Slaughter either made 10 consecutive All-Star teams, or made in a row beginning in his age-30 season.

In 1954 the Cardinals traded Slaughter to the New York Yankees for Emil Tellinger, Mel Wright, and future Yankee skipper Bill Virdon. The Cardinals were making room for top prospect Wally Moon and entering a rebuild. The Yankees were hoping to get a steady veteran to keep the good times rolling — just as they had with another future Cardinals Hall of Famer in recent years with Johnny Mize. The move was made just days before the season opener, and after spending his entire career in the Cardinals organization, the move was heartbreaking for Slaughter.

This would kick off the first of his two stints with the Yankees. The 1954 campaign was less than ideal after he broke his wrist and missed over a month. Slaughter only appeared in 69 games on the season. It ended his All-Star streak, and then a few games into the 1955 season, the Yankees traded Slaughter with Johnny Sain to the Kansas City Athletics for Sonny Dixon and cash.

Slaughter got healthy and rebounded with Kansas City. Then in August of 1956 he was placed on waivers and claimed by the Yankees. This move further deepened the feelings around the country that Kansas City was simply a minor-league team for New York. Between 1955 and 1959, the two clubs made 16 trades, involving 61 players. The real outcry was the connection between Arnold Johnson, who owned the Kansas City Athletics and previously owned Yankee Stadium until he bought the then-Philadelphia Athletics, moving them to the Midwest.

Slaughter would be on the Yankees for the next three seasons. Including the Yankees championship clubs in 1956 and 1958, adding two more rings in his second chapter that connected two of baseball’s most decorated organizations. In total Slaughter was on the Yankees across six seasons, appearing in 350 games with 168 hits. He shined brightest in the 1956 World Series made famous by Don Larsen, as Slaughter hit .350/.440/.500 against Brooklyn in 25 plate appearances.

Slaughter’s legacy is also tied to more difficult conversations. He was associated with reported attempts to resist integration, including allegations that Cardinals players discussed boycotting games against Jackie Robinson and the Dodgers. Slaughter denied those reports and argued that his “Country” nickname made him an easy figure to cast in that role.

Gas was poured onto that fire in 1947 when Slaughter spiked Robinson on a play that has been debated as fair or foul ever since. Many called it a dirty slide with the intention and success of hurting Jackie. Slaughter defended his actions on the play as how he always played the game and saying it was not a dirty play. Years later, Slaughter also went as far as to defend himself legally from the allegations, furthering attempting to defend himself from the racist label.

That tension often follows discussions of stars from baseball’s earlier generations. Slaughter was unquestionably accomplished, unquestionably tough, and unquestionably important to the sport’s history. He was also a product of an era, where greatness and ugliness often sat side by side.

For what it is worth, fellow Cardinals great Lou Brock—inducted into the Hall of Fame alongside Slaughter in 1985—said at his funeral, “History finds us together. That is one thing that binds me to him. And, I’ll tell you this, the name of Enos Slaughter will be spoken for generations to come. Players like Enos and Stan Musial really helped me to see what being a Cardinal meant. He’s been my friend for a long time.”

If nothing else, Enos Slaughter remains one of baseball’s original all-out players. Additionally, he lived to see himself enshrined into the Hall of Fame and have his No. 9 retired by the Cardinals. Before hustle became branding and before Rose made full-speed play iconic for another generation, Slaughter was already barreling through baseball at maximum effort and inspiring generations to come.

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

For the most part this season, I’ve left the monologues out of the beginning of my Minor Lines because the performance of the farm seemed pretty separate from the uninspired performance of the Boston Red Sox. But, this recent plethora of changes directly influences the farm even though the result of the games themselves are inconsequential, so here’s my unsolicited two cents.

While I think the Alex Cora firing is one of many partial solutions that don’t ultimately solve the underlying problem — the real solution being the one that rhymes with “fell the beam”— I do think that when so much of the team isn’t performing at once (even pieces of the puzzle that weren’t just tentatively jammed in) one of the things you have to look at coaching. Breslow, who’s now certainly on a shorter leash than he was two months ago, could not depart before Cora; the CBO position would be unfillable. Sure, it’s all indicative of a bigger problem of a vicious cycle of executives with their hands tied, forbidden from them spending sufficiently to improve the team, but it was time for Alex Cora.

Alex Cora recently gave a quote, perhaps taken out of context, to Ken Rosenthal on the hurried development of homegrown talent. But when 80% of the most exciting guys on the roster are homegrown talent, the context speaks for itself. You look at the backgrounds of the guys who are now on the Major League coaching staff, and the promotions make sense. Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, Brayan Bello, Triston Casas, Payton Tolle, Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu, Connelly Early (who had a longer leash Sunday then he had ever gotten with the previous coaching staff) and several more have already worked with Chad Tracy. In an environment where some of the roster is sloppily pieced together, this is an ideal guy to have in the clubhouse at the present moment. Chad Epperson coming up from Portland to be the third base coach is also a good thing for similar reasons.

Tracy winning his first game game isn’t indicative of this being a positive move. He’ll lose games too. But the way the previous manager interacted with younger talent clashed with how Craig Breslow, who remains on the Boston Red Sox payroll as of this moment, operated. More importantly, it interfered with the front office’s goal to make payroll as small as possible while fielding a team that doesn’t completely suck and lead to “sell the team” chants in April. Thus, the team is looking to Chad Tracy to be a “stabilizing” voice within the clubhouse, with the word “stabilizing” doing a lot of heavy lifting. Hopefully, the players lift, too.

Now, there was some action on the farm on Sunday, too, so let’s get into it.

Worcester: W, 6-2 (BOX SCORE)

To say “no Chad Tracy, no problem” may be oversimplifying things, but interim coach Iggy Suarez, a 2003 Red Sox draft pick who was, at one time, a member of the Triple-A Red Sox club (then in Pawtucket), capped off what I’m sure was an exhilarating Sunday by watching his team simply outplay the Syracuse Mets. Jack Anderson looked awesome through four innings. Eduardo Rivera struck out six in his three innings. These are guys who have both made their Major League debuts in recent weeks, and this was because of minor league appearances overseen by… well, I don’t want to beat the dead horse here. Speaking of guys with some time in Boston, Nate Eaton got in on the action, too, hitting a three-run shot to open the scoring up, and the WooSox held the lead for the rest of the afternoon.

Portland: W, 3-2 (BOX SCORE)

You might think that this was a close game from the score alone, and it was, due to a lack of offense. But the result of Kyle Sasala’s first game as Sea Dogs manager against the Yard Goats (Rockies AA) was actually a rarity. One day after Franklin Arias hit another home run in a pinch-hit walk-off situation, the Sea Dogs pitched a no-hitter. This is the team’s second in two years, and it was led by 25-year-old lefty Hayden Mullins, who’s had a really good season thus far, followed by relief innings by Caleb Bolden and Reidis Sena. This was actually Sena’s first appearance after being promoted from Greenville. Hartford’s runs, from runners who reached on walks, were scored off of a botched ground ball from first baseman Ronald Rosario, who normally plays catcher. Nate Baez’s home run was the sole reason this no-hitter didn’t go down as a loss until Rosario hit his redemption arc with a go-ahead RBI single. Portland is now 6-0 in one-run games in 2026.

Greenville: W, 10-7 (F/1o) (BOX SCORE)

The Drive had to rally to take this one in extras from Asheville (Astros High-A) as they entered the eighth inning down 7-3. This was no fault of starting pitching, which was solid organization-wide Sunday. But, again, Marcus Phillips couldn’t get an otherwise effective start past the fourth. But, not to worry, as the clutch trait was unlocked by the offense instead, as Justin Gonzales’ two-out grand slam to tie it up at 7 raised the Drive’s expected winning percentage from six percent all the way up to 42 percent. They’d then score three points in the tenth and Harry Blum, who was on the mound in the eighth, would pitch his third scoreless inning to slam the door.

Salem: : L, 0-7 (BOX SCORE)

After a hot start, Salem is now 4-10 in their last 14 and losers of three straight as they slide below .500. They were shut out, held to just three hits by the Fredricksburg (Nationals A), two of which came from shortstop Anderson Fermin, and stranded eleven including seven RidgeYaks that reached due to walks.

Have an investigative Monday.