Category: Baseball

On Monday, I covered the Memphis pitchers and the Springfield starting pitchers. Which is why this article begins with the Springfield relievers.

Springfield (Relievers)

Michael Watson, LHP – 24

Acquired: Free Agent signing, Indy ball

Stats: 31 G, 37.2 IP, 28.8 K%, 16.8 BB%, 40.2 BB%, .376 BABIP, 5.73 ERA/5.84 FIP/5.57 xFIP

I think it is fair to say that Watson’s performance this year is a massive disappointment considering how well he finished last year at Springfield. You do have to be pretty neck deep in the woods to be invested in Watson in the first place, so I’m overstating the level of feeling most of you have towards him. But he had a 30.5 K% and 10.5 BB% with a 1.11 ERA in 24.1 IP last year in Springfield. The ERA was pretty lucky, but still. He has worse stats than last year pretty clearly.

Randal Clemente, RHP – 24

Acquired: International free agent signing out of Dominican Republic in 2020

Stats: 27 G, 31 IP, 35.8 K%, 21.6 BB%, 45.9 GB%, .368 BABIP, 6.97 ERA/5.21 FIP/4.86 xFIP

Although the ERA isn’t better, Clemente seems to be improving as a pitcher from last season. He walked 26.1% of batters last year and struck out 27.5%. He clearly has swing-and-miss stuff… and also has no idea where the ball is going. You don’t usually see a pitcher where knocking off one percentage point off the K% for one percentage point of a BB% would totally be worth the tradeoff.

Jack Findlay, LHP – 23

Acquired: 8th round, 2024 draft

Stats: 30 G, 37 IP, 26.7 K%, 11.5 BB%, 44.9 GB%, .313 BABIP, 5.04 ERA/4.85 FIP/4.75 xFIP

The last time I did an update, I am pretty sure Findlay had just got called up to Springfield. He struck out 30% of batters while walking 6.7%, so it was a well-deserved promotion. He’s doing alright, but considering he spent the vast majority of last year pitching poorly in Low A, him holding his own at AA less than a year later is a huge positive.

Darlin Saladin, RHP – 23 (VEB’s #16 prospect in 2025)

Acquired: International amateur free agent out of Dominican Republic in 2019

Stats: 28 G, 39.2 IP, 27.3 K%, 15.5 BB%, 49.5 GB%, .406 BABIP, 6.58 ERA/4.24 FIP/4.82 xFIP

Most of these pitching lines are not as bad as they seem, for some reason they all have super high BABIPs. I don’t know if it’s because of poor defense or if it’s like playing at Coors Field or some combo of the two. I will say entering the 2025 season, Saladin did look like a legit prospect, so it has been disappointing that one and a half seasons later, he’s not great in AA as a reliever.

Mason Burns, RHP – 24

Acquired: 14th round, 2024 draft

Stats: 16 G, 21.2 IP, 26.7 K%, 12.2 BB%, 63.5 GB%, .231 BABIP, 2.08 ERA/4.31 FIP/4.01 xFIP

Hey we have something here…. and he’s hurt. Of course. He hasn’t pitched since May 24th. I actually think he may be in Memphis right now if he didn’t get hurt. Good strikeout rate, lots and lots of groundballs, and… well too many walks but it’s better than a lot of guys are managing.

I’m not going to share the stats, but there are a good four or five relievers in Springfield who have HORRENDOUS stats that make some of these lines look considerably more impressive. I’m talking like 9.00+ ERA and FIP. I’m not kidding. The ones I shared are the best relievers on the team.

Peoria

Tanner Franklin, RHP – 22 (VEB’s #12 prospect)

Acquired: 2nd round, 72nd overall in 2025 draft

Stats: 17 GS, 62.1 IP, 28.1 K%, 11.5 BB%, 41.7 GB%, .291 BABIP, 4.62 ERA/5.18 FIP/4.94 xFIP

With some of these pitchers, and I don’t know if you’re like me, you’ll notice a disparity between what you think the K/BB numbers should produce for FIP and what the FIP actually is. And in most cases, it’s hit by pitches. They are factored into the FIP formula. Franklin has 6 HBPs, so just mentally add that to his BB% and his FIP numbers make a lot more sense. Anyway, me personally, the numbers that matter are a strong K%, a slightly too high BB%, and a normal GB%. Things are on track despite the slash line being less than ideal.

Yhoiker Fajardo, RHP – 19 (VEB’s #19 prospect)

Acquired: Traded with Hunter Dobbins and Blake Aita for Willson Contreras

Stats: 16 G (14 GS), 68.2 IP, 32.3 K%, 8.1 BB%, 41.5 GB%, .370 BABIP, 3.93 ERA/4.47 FIP/3.80 xFIP

In case you have any regret at trading Willson Contreras for some reason – I don’t know why you want Burly in the outfield – I have to say the returns on his trade have been very good so far. Close to best case scenario quite frankly. Fajardo has been unbelievable and if anything tells me that minor league BABIP is super weird, it’s Fajardo producing strikeouts on 32.3% of his ABs and somehow still coming away with an insanely high BABIP.

Jacob Odle, RHP – 22

Acquired: 14th round, 2023 draft

Stats: 7 GS, 28.1 IP, 32.2 K%, 17.8 BB%, 40.3 GB%, .267 BABIP, 4.09 ERA/6.54 FIP/5.71 xFIP

Odle spent April and May in Low A and dominated, posting a 1.91 ERA with a 36.4 K%. He’s still missing a lot of bats in High A, but he’s missing the strike zone. He pitched yesterday and I did update the stats I could, which is actually good news, because his FIP will be a lot better. He struck out 9, walked 3, and hit a batter in 4.2 IP. He didn’t allow a homer either. I think the xFIP will improve too, but it’ll be a much bigger boost to the FIP. This is a 14th rounder posting those K numbers, it’s ridiculous.

Leonel Sequera, RHP – 20

Acquired: International amateur free agent signing out of Venezuela in 2022

Stats: 17 GS, 75.1 IP, 24.2 K%, 10.1 BB%, 51.1 GB%, .371 BABIP, 7.41 ERA/6.16 FIP/4.63 xFIP

I will refrain from judging him, mostly because the big knock on him, as far as being a prospect went, was that he didn’t strike people out. He’s improved his K rate from 20.9% to 24.2% and his BB% isn’t that much higher either. Last year it was 8.7%. His groundballs have remained the same. Why is his slash line so bad? Over a fourth of the flyballs he allows go out of the park. That is one home run per start and 2.03 per 9 innings. He’s still just 20 and the three stats I care about (K%, BB%, GB%) are fairly strong.

Nate Dohm, RHP – 23

Acquired: Traded with Jesus Baez and Frank Ellisalt for Ryan Helsley

Stats: 16 G (11 GS), 43.2 IP, 23.4 K%, 14.1 BB%, 41 GB%, .366 BABIP, 6.80 ERA/4.79 FIP/5.63 xFIP

It is genuinely hard to judge pitchers in the minor leagues right now and I guess by association, I suppose we should distrust some of the hitting stats. If everyone is having a BABIP problem, I kind of think it’s the league. Dohm’s K% is the same as last year, his BB% is a little better, and his GB% is noticeably better… for some reason his xFIP is a full run lower. So the run environment certainly has changed.

Frank Ellisalt, also in the Helsley trade, has been injured all season.

Ty Van Dyke, RHP – 22

Acquired: 10th round, 2025 draft

Stats: 9 G (6 GS), 36.1 IP, 19 K%, 12.7 BB%, 39.4 GB%, .311 BABIP, 6.44 ERA/5.20 FIP/6.08 xFIP

I’m trying to save myself a little time by not sharing the stats of the lower level when a guy is promoted, especially if the guy was promoted before my previous update (Van Dyke’s last Low A start was May 13th and my pitching update was May 24th), however it does have the effect of only seeing the negative part of a guy’s season. Van Dyke was excellent in Low A, with a lot of Ks, not many walks, and a decent GB%. He is arguably ahead of schedule despite underwhelming stats.

Palm Beach

Cade Crossland, LHP – 22

Acquired: 4th round, 2025 draft

Stats: 17 G (16 GS), 34.4 K%, 17.6 BB%, 41.4 GB%, .298 BABIP, 4.87 ERA/4.42 FIP/4.35 xFIP

When both the K% and BB% make you audibly let out an expletive, you know you have an interesting line. That is a very high strikeout percentage. That is also a very high walk percentage. If he somehow duplicated this line up the ladder, he would have the floor of a reliever at the very least. So I hope he keeps missing this many bats.

Andrew Dutkanych IV, RHP – 22

Acquired: 7th round, 2024 draft

Stats: 6 G (2 GS), 19.2 IP, 27.9 K%, 15.1 BB%, 41.3 GB%, .311 BABIP, 5.49 ERA/4.38 FIP/4.76 xFIP

He never ended up making the top 20, but he had a decent amount of support back in March. I think that was jumping the gun a little bit. And don’t worry he’s still considered a starting pitcher – his last outing, he did not literally start the game, but he threw 5 innings. And if you were wondering, he only threw 17.2 IP all last season, so the Cardinals are managing his innings. He also began the year hurt.

Brian Holiday, RHP – 23

Acquired: 3rd round, 2024 draft

Stats: 8 GS, 32 IP, 23.1 K%, 6.9 BB%, 52.2 GB%, .253 BABIP, 5.91 ERA/5.94 FIP/4.21 xFIP

Yeah tell me the pitching environment in the minors makes sense right now with this stat line. Above average K%, great BB%, good GB% – terrible numbers. Granted, it’s home runs fault. He has allowed a homer on 27.8% of flyballs, and the league average is 11%. His xERA, for whatever that’s worth, is 3.63. I’m encouraged by his start despite the homers.

Payton Graham, RHP – 22

Acquired: 7th round, 2025 draft

Stats: 10 GS, 33.1 IP, 22.6 K%, 11 BB%, 32.6 GB%, .301 BABIP, 5.67 ERA/4.74 FIP/5.26 xFIP

Now this line being bad, I understand. Along with Dutkanyvch and Findlay, Graham was drafted with the full realization that he had recently undergone Tommy John surgery. Graham only actually started 4 total games in college. He spent his freshman and sophomore years in relief and needed TJ surgery after just one start in his junior season. So Graham does not have many innings in his past. He threw a high of 33.1 IP in his sophomore season.

Ethan Young, RHP – 22

Acquired: 5th round, 2025 draft

Stats: 8 GS, 27.1 IP, 26.3 K%, 11.3 BB%, 36.7 GB%, .405 BABIP, 7.24 ERA/4.34 FIP/4.59 xFIP

Young has been injured since May 14th and is on the minor league 60-day IL. He wasn’t put on the 60-day until July 17th, which could have been a procedural move to make room for the draftees since he has been injured for 60 days already and I think it works retroactively. Or he could be done for the year. I can’t find any information on his injury.

Nelfy Ynfante, RHP – 21

Acquired: International amateur free agent out of Dominican Republic in 2022

Stats (Low A): 18 G, 37 IP, 24.5 K%, 6 BB%, 37 GB%, .263 BABIP, 2.92 ERA/4.02 FIP/4.06 xFIP

AA: 7 G, 13 IP, 12.3 K%, 15.8 BB%, 30 GB%, .135 BABIP, 6.92 ERA/8.66 FIP/7.82 xFIP

Yes, this is an unusual stat line to give for a guy who is Low A, but Ynfante was weirdly promoted to Springfield for 7 games. I don’t know why but the Springfield bullpen is so bad, he was middle of the pack, so they could have just been desperate. Anyway, he was sent back to Low A (and not High A, curiously), where his numbers are solid.

Jake Shelagowski, RHP – 22

Acquired: 13th round, 2025 draft

Stats:11 G (2 GS), 34.2 IP, 24.7 K%, 11 BB%, 43.8 GB%, 5.71 ERA/4.07 FIP/4.83 xFIP

I don’t really need a WAR figure for the minor leagues, but one helpful thing it would do, quite honestly, is share exactly the context for the numbers. If it used FIP, Shelagowski would actually have a positive WAR, I’m fairly sure. If it used xFIP, I’m not sure what it would be, but I don’t think it’d be negative. How bad does an ERA of 5.71 look? It’d just be interesting to see how it compares to a replacement player in that league.

Alex Breckheimer, RHP – 22

Acquired: 16th round, 2025 draft

Stats: 10 G (2 GS), 33.1 IP, 25.5 K%, 10.6 BB%, 44.7 GB%, .289 BABIP, 5.40 ERA/4.74 FIP/4.46 xFIP

Breckheimer is another pitcher who is on the 60-day IL right now. Not that you got all that excited about these stats, but does suck to see an injured pitcher.

Jesus Garcia, RHP – 20

Acquired: International amateur free agent signing out of Venezuela in 2024

Stats (CPX): 5 G, 8.1 IP, 28.6 K%, 3.6 BB%, 57.9 GB%, .053 BABIP, 0.00 ERA/2.68 FIP/3.80 xFIP

Low A: 14 G, 22.1 IP, 17.2 K%, 8.6 BB%, 47.1 GB%, .262 BABIP, 4.43 ERA/5.69 FIP/4.84 xFIP

Garcia pitched about as good as you possibly can while he was at the complex leagues, so the Cardinals promoted him pretty quickly. He’s found more of a challenge at Low A and I wish for more missed bats, but it’s not that bad.

Standout Performances

Yairo Padilla came back from the injured listi and homered in his first game. He went 3-4 with a double in his next game and yesterday he went 1-3 with a single. He’s looking good when he’s healthy.

Sebastian Dos Santos had a 89 wRC+ before he went 2-4 with two doubles in yesterday’s game. So the 18-year-old has had a decent start, mostly thanks to a 15.3 BB%.

Jack Gurevitch sure is on a roll. On Tuesday, he came to the plate five times, he homered three times, doubled once and walked. Yesterday, he homered again, but the bum was out his other three times to the plate. He’s an extra base hit machine.

Tai Peete had a very Tai Peete game on Tuesday, going 3-5 with a triple and two homers, with the two outs being strikeouts of course. Yesterday, he came to the plate five times and didn’t strike out once, going 2-5 with a double.

In his most recent start, Fajardo threw 5 innings, struck out 10, walked one and allowed 3 runs.

Won-Bin Cho hit his 10th homer in 20 games while at Springfield, and his 18th of the season. He also singled, walked, and stole a base. It’s pretty fun he’s a prospect again!

Rainiel Rodriguez has a 112 wRC+ (before he went 0-4 with a BB yesterday) in a relatively unexciting way, except for the fact that he is 19-years-old having an above average line at AA.

If you think the Cardinals bullpen is bad, check out the Springfield bullpen. Three relievers pitched in yesterday’s game. The ERAs of those pitchers were 14.85, 7.96, and 14.04. One of those lines has thrown over 30 innings, one over 15, and one has 7.2 innings.

Brycen Mautz appears to be in the bullpen now. He threw 2 scoreless innings with 4 Ks yesterday. There is a good chance he’s being primed to replace Romero as the lefty reliever role when the Cardinals deem Mautz ready.

Early on, Chase Davis has a .200/.429/.500 line and already hit a homer. As you might expect, he’s walked a lot and he’s also struck out a decent amount.

Back in May, I took a look at how the Chicago White Sox had managed to go from a league worst 120 losses in 2024 to contending for a playoff spot this season. The Miami Marlins may not have challenged for the worst season of all time, but they also ended 2024 having lost 100 games and now find themselves in the thick of the NL Wild Card race less than two years later.

This makes the Marlins another potentially useful model for the Rockies to consider at as they embark on their own rebuild.

Don’t be afraid to search the scrap heap

Many of the most productive pieces of this 2026 Marlins season joined the team in small unheralded moves after being cast off from other teams.

• The most valuable player on the team this year has been shortstop Otto Lopez. His 4.3 fWAR leads the team and is top ten in the majors. Lopez was acquired off of waivers from the San Francisco Giants in 2024.

• Their starting catcher, Liam Hicks, was a Rule 5 Draft selection from the Detroit Tigers last season. He currently has a 122 wRC+ in 90 games.
• Their most valuable outfielder this season has been Esteury Ruiz who has only played 62 games for the team. Ruiz was acquired via a trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers after being optioned to the minors for his third organization.
• The Marlins’ hottest hitter since the start of June has been Heriberto Hernández who signed a minor league contract with the organization before the 2025 season. Hernández had a 127 wRC+ in June and has followed it up with a 182 so far in July.

This is a team that opened up spots on the roster when it became clear that the previous group was not going to be successful and then scrounged around for diamonds in the rough from anywhere they could find them. The Marlins then gave runway to these players that had been abandoned by other organizations and have seen tangible on-field benefits from having done so.

The Rockies have had some success with picking up castoffs from other teams in recent years. Mickey Moniak was brought in after being cut loose just before opening day last season by the Los Angeles Angels. This past offseason, the Rockies claimed Troy Johnston off of waivers from the Marlins. Both Moniak and Johnston have performed well for the Rockies this year and could potentially be used as genuinely valuable trade chips, even if they aren’t determined to fit the team in the long term.

These small moves on the margins are a good first step, and if the Marlins are any guide, the Rox should continue making more of them even as the overall quality of the roster improves.

Trade from positions of strength

The Marlins of 2024 were a decent mirror of the current Rockies. Whereas the Rockies have some decent hitting talent throughout the organization, they have very little pitching talent. The exact opposite of this was the case for the Marlins when their current front office took over before the 2024 season.

The previous Marlins administrations had established an ability to identify and develop pitching talent — that aspect of the team was not the problem. The primary driver of their 100-loss collapse in 2024 was a complete dearth of hitting talent in the organization from top to bottom.

Since then they have made a flurry of trades from their pitching depth to address their hitting concerns. They have moved all of Trevor Rogers, Jesus Luzardo, Ryan Weathers, and Edward Cabrera over the past two calendar years. That’s almost an entire starting rotation of quality pitching arms that the Marlins have shipped out since the 2024 deadline, and yet, because it was such an overwhelming strength before, they are still in the top half of essentially all pitching categories this season.

In exchange for those four arms, the Marlins were able to bring in 11 players headlined by two regulars in their big league outfield in the form of Owen Caissie and Kyle Stowers. Both Caissie (24) and Stowers (28) have been roughly league average hitters so far this season but have both shown promise for more. Caissie was a top 100 prospect before his debut last season, and Stowers was a National League All-Star a year ago.

In addition to those two major league hitters, the Marlins string of starting pitcher trades have also infused their minor league system with a pile of interesting position player prospects. This group is headlined by defensive shortstop Starlyn Caba, slugging outfielder Dillon Lewis, and speedy middle infielder Cristian Hernández but includes many other names thought to have a chance to be useful big leaguers.

In the 2024 Farm System Rankings from Fangraphs the Marlins were ranked 27th in the league. After adding all of the hitting talent from these trades they were all the way up to the 11th most valuable farm system prior to the 2026 season.

Looking through the Rockies organization, the closest analog to the Marlins recent organizational pitching strength is in the outfield. Between the major league team and Triple-A, the Rockies have a ton of names currently factoring into their outfield picture.

The strong seasons of youngsters Cole Carrigg (No. 4 PuRP), Charlie Condon (No. 1 PuRP), and Zac Veen (No. 9 PuRP) give the front office the freedom to consider following the Marlins example. They could look to move multiple talented, but older, outfield bats before the 2027 season to address their dearth of organizational pitching talent.

Hold on to your controllable stars

The Marlins 2022 NL Cy Young award winner Sandy Alcantara has been the subject of trade rumors for many years. Despite how many other pitchers the Marlins have shipped out of Miami in recent years, they have turned down all offers for their ace.

Before that Cy Young campaign in 2022, Alcantara signed a five-year deal (with a club option for a sixth) worth only a guaranteed $56 million. This contract was widely thought to be below market value at the time but looked incredibly team friendly after his award winning 2022 season. The overall shine on the total deal took a hit as Alcantara lost a season to UCL surgery in mid-2023, but that did not stop other teams from attempting to buy-low on the Marlins ace.

This combination of standout performance, years of below market team control, and reduced trade value due to injury has led the Marlins rebuff the myriad trade offers they received for Alcantara.

They are now reaping the rewards of having done so as Alcantara is once again leading the team in innings pitched, fWAR, and walk percentage. The Marlins rotation also features promising youngsters like Max Meyer and Eury Pérez but it’s depth has been significantly weakened by their many trades. Alcantara has been the reliable backbone that has allowed the Marlins to remain in the playoff picture so far this season.

The Rockies don’t have any MVP’s or Cy Young winners on team-friendly deals at the moment. They do, however, have a Silver Slugger in the midst of his best season yet that still has three years of team control after this one who has trade rumors swirling around him.

Alcantara and the Marlins are a cautionary tale of how quickly competitive outlooks for once-hopeless clubs can turn around. If the Rockies do end up trading Hunter Goodman, it’s possible they will be looking around come 2028 and wondering whether a 30-homer bat behind the plate would have put them in the Wild Card race.

Conclusions

The Marlins problems that led to their most recent 100-loss season were very different from those facing the Rockies. For Miami the problem was an almost complete lack of premium young hitting talent (outside of Jazz Chisholm) whereas for the Rockies, the problem is on the mound.

Both clubs having their overall talent being lackluster and unbalanced, however, means that the methods employed should be applicable by just swapping out the particulars.

A plausible path the Rockies could take would be to keep taking shots at cast offs from other teams, trading aggressively for pitching talent from their outfield surplus, and holding onto their most accomplished player despite trade offers rolling in.

There’s no guarantees that this would result in the same sort of frisky contending team in two years that the Marlins have now, but there is precedent that it could.

On the Farm

Triple-A:Albuquerque Isotopes 5, Round Rock Express 2

The Isotopes pitching staff passed the baton effectively in this bullpen game. Five pitchers combined to fill the full nine innings and managed to strand eight runners en route to only two runs. The collective gave out six free passes and allowed eight hits but limited the damage with two doubles being the only extra base hits allowed.

The offense was led by Zac Veen (No. 9 PuRP) who collected three hits including his sixth triple of the season. The supporting cast around Veen of Nic Kent, Vimael Machín, and Charlie Condon (No. 1 PuRP) each reached base twice. In the end, this was enough to score five runs and earn the Isotopes their 49th win and bring them back up to a .500 record.

Double-A: The Yard Goats played a doubleheader!

Game 1: Hartford Yard Goats 6, Richmond Flying Squirrels 5

Connor Staine started the first game of the doubleheader and earned his sixth win of the year with five solid innings. Until the fifth inning Staine had only allowed one run, the result of a solo home run from Jean Carlos Sio. The wheels came off a bit in the bottom of the fifth and he allowed three more runs on four hits including a double but by that point Hartford had already scored six runs of their own.

Center Fielder Mike Antico drove in five of the Yard Goats six runs with his second inning double and fourth inning home run. Beyond Antico, both Braylen Wimmer (a double and a stolen base) and Aidan Longwell (two hits) were the primary contributors to Hartford’s offensive output.

Game 2: Richmond Flying Squirrels 5, Hartford Yard Goats 3

Michael Prosecky (No. 25 PuRP) started his third game of the season after having worked primarily in relief. Prosecky got through two innings with 39 pitches and didn’t allow any runs before handing the ball to Griffin Herring who promptly allowed the Flying Squirrels first three runs of the game. Fisher Jameson finished the game out with three innings in which he allowed an additional two runs on three hits and four walks.

The Yard Goats were never able to catch up to the Flying Squirrels after that third inning outburst. What offense the did muster came from a combination of Roc Riggio (No. 14 PuRP), who reached base twice and stole a base, and Andy Perez who had two hits including a home run.

High-A:Tri-City Dust Devils 6, Spokane Indians 5

Spokane took the lead early with a four run third inning but it was not enough to hold off the Dust Devils. The Indians offense was speed oriented as they only had a one extra base hit, a double by Alan Espinal, but made up for it with six stolen bases. Leadoff hitter Tommy Hopfe stole one of those bases to go along with four hits as their offensive standout for Spokane.

Jordy Vargas (No. 21 PuRP) got the start for Spokane and struck out eight over five innings. Over the course of those five innings Vargas allowed three runs on ten hits and two walks which kept the Indians in the game. Poor bullpen performances from Austin Emener and Nathan Blasick allowed the final three runs that the Dust Devils needed to take the victory.

Low-A:Fresno Grizzlies 5, Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 4

For the first seven innings of this game the Quakes looked like they were in line for a victory.

The Grizzlies pitching staff, too their credit, kept the game close through the early innings even when the lineup was struggling to score. Ethan Cole started the game for Fresno and went five innings while only allowing two runs. Grif Hughes followed Cole and allowed another run on a solo home run by Victor Rodriguez but otherwise was great in his three innings of work.

At the plate, the Grizzlies were largely stifled until the eighth inning in which they scored their first two runs thanks to a home run by Wilder Dalis (No. 24 PuRP). Then came the bottom of the ninth which Fresno entered trailing four to two. Landyn Vidourek, in his first game since being traded from the Dodgers, led the inning off with a walk before a pair of singles by Luis Mendez and Jeremy Ciriaco loaded the bases. Another pair of singles from Clayton Gray and Carlos Renzullo drove in the tying and winning runs.

ACL:ACL Rockies 10, ACL Guardians 2

The ACL Rockies dominated this one from the start. They divided the game amongst five pitchers, none of whom went longer than two innings. The only shaky performance for ACL Rockies pitchers was for the starter Kevin Concepcion who allowed three hits and two walks in only two innings.

At the plate the ACL Rockies combined for an incredible 17 hits, only three of which were for extra bases. This onslaught of pressure baserunners was headlined by center fielder Cristian Arguelles’s and third baseman Eriel Dihigo who had three hits apiece.

DSL:DSL Colorado 10, DSL Angels 4

The bats were out for DSL Colorado in this seven inning match. A combination of plate discipline (they earned eight walks) and timely slugging led to runs in four separate innings. Centerfielder Larry Suero was the obvious standout in the lineup as he led off and collected four RBI’s by hitting both a double and a home run.

Yeremi Mendez and Eric Veras combined to hold the DSL Angels to four runs (three earned). They each only allowed a single walk, rare for this level of the minors, and the only extra base hit they allowed was a fourth inning double by David Manzueta.

Rockies All-Star Catcher Hunter Goodman dishes on ABS strategy | Mile High Sports

Overshadowed by his slugging exploits has been Goodman’s ability to use the ABS challenge system to the Rockies advantage. Drew Creasman sits down with Goodman and how he’s gone about approaching the new system.

A Rockie who hits better away from Coors Field? Why Hunter Goodman is such a coveted trade target | The Athletic ($)

Speaking of Goodman, Sam Blum of the Athletic provides a primer for folks around the league as to why teams are interested in trading for him. This is aimed at folks outside the Rockies orbit that aren’t already familiar with Goodman’s game but it is just nice to see national media speaking so glowingly about a Rockie.

Gin Rumfield | Baseball Prospectus ($)

Another example of the national baseball media taking notice of Rockies performing well, Maddie Landis digs into TJ Rumfield’s rookie campaign. Landis lends credence to the idea that’s been floated on Purple Row that Rumfield has a legitimate case for National League Rookie of the Year.

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

Good morning, baseball fans!

Today is an off-day for the San Francisco Giants, and there hasn’t been a lot of fun to be had lately with the way the games have been going.

So instead of focusing on non-fun stuff, I thought we’d visit a video that the Giants’ social media team put out a little while ago. If you are a fan of Wordle, and the various other versions that have popped up over the years, and you’re also a baseball fan (which I assume you are, because otherwise you are very lost) then you’ve probably at least heard of the Immaculate Grid.

Players are given a set of parameters to guess baseball players that fit those parameters. And the more obscure your picks are, the higher score you receive. I’m pretty sure that’s how it works anyway, I haven’t played in a while.

So the Giants social media team asked Giants players to give it a go. The video is a little under twenty minutes, so grab your coffee, settle in, and enjoy!

Triple-A: Charlotte Knights (White Sox) 8, Norfolk Tides 4

A pair of two-run home runs was all the offense that the Tides could muster. Heston Kjerstad hit his sixth long ball of the season in the sixth inning, and Bryan Ramos went deep for the third time in the ninth inning to make the scoreline a bit more respectable. Jud Fabian and Ryan Noda were the two that scored on those homers. Enrique Bradfield Jr. went 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. Creed Willems took an 0-for-3.

Chris Kachmar started on the mound, allowing four runs on seven hits, two walks, and four strikeouts. Dietrich Enns followed and had another tough outing. Across his 1.1 innings the lefty gave up a pair of runs on three hits (two homers), three walks, and two strikeouts. Hans Crouse and José Espada combined for 2.2 scoreless innings in the middle of the game before Cam Sanders allowed two runs on one hit (a homer), a walk, and a strikeout.

Double-A: Chesapeake Baysox 7, Erie SeaWolves (Tigers) 3

Tavian Josenberger had a big game, hitting two home runs as part of his three-hit, three-RBI night at Prince George’s Stadium. Douglas Hodo added a pair of hits, including a double, two RBI, and a run scored. Frederick Bencosme had two hits out of the leadoff spot, and Brandon Butterworth went 1-for-5 with an RBI hitting right after him. Griff O’Ferrall had one hit, one run, and one stolen base. Fernando Peguero collected a hit and two stolen bases.

Juaron Watts-Brown’s turnaround continues. For the sixth consecutive start he lowered his season ERA. The box score doesn’t look amazing (5.1 innings, three runs), but he did it while striking out six and not allowing a single walk. The bullpen was money behind him. Zane Barnhart, Keagan Gillies, and Richard Guasch combined for 3.2 scoreless innings of relief to close out the win.

High-A: Frederick Keys 13, Rome Emperors (Braves) 8

All this Frederick offense does is put up big numbers. It happened again in this win. They collected 13 hits and six walks while going 4-for-17 with runners in scoring position. Wehiwa Aloy led the way with three hits, two runs scored, and five RBI. Ike Irish also had three hits, including a double, a walk, and a run scored. Aloy and Irish had one stolen bag each as well. Reed Trimble, Edwin Amparo, and Braylin Tavera hit one home run each. Tavera had three RBI for the game. Trimble also walked three times and scored four runs.

The pitching was not as universally successful. Yeiber Cartaya gave up three runs, four walks, and struck out five in his three innings. Ben Vespi coughed up three runs (two earned) in his two frames, and a rehabbing Cameron Foster allowed two solo homers in 1.1 innings. However, he late innings saw the relief corps lock things down. Chandler Marsh and Braeden Sloan combined for 2.2 scoreless innings to end the game.

Low-A: Hill City Howlers (Guardians) 6, Delmarva Shorebirds 4

Braylon Whitaker gave the Shorebirds a great effort at the top of the lineup. He singled three times, stole a base, and scored a run. Jaiden Lo Re added a single and a run scored. Junior Aybar doubled for the team’s only extra-base hit of the night and his 10th two-bagger on the season. Stiven Martinez had two of the team’s RBI and a walk. Miguel Rodríguez and Félix Amparao had one RBI each. Jordan Sanchez singled, walked, stole a base, and scored twice.

It was a mixed bad on the mound. Stephen Still lasted just four innings, but allowed only two runs on three hits, three walks, and three strikeouts. Teddy Sharkey followed with a shutout inning, and then Eccel Correa provided two scoreless innings after that. The Shorebirds lost the game in the eighth inning, when Zac Lampton was charged with allowing four runs on two hits, three walks, and a strikeout. Jack Crowder came on for the final out and allowed one of his inherited runners to score.

Box Scores

Thursday’s Schedule

Norfolk: at Charlotte, 7:04. Starter: Cade Povich (0-3, 6.59 ERA)

Chesapeake: vs Erie, 6:35 pm. Starter: Sebastian Gongora (8-4, 3.49 ERA)

Frederick: at Rome, 6:45 pm. Starter: Caden Hunter (2-1, 1.83 ERA)

Delmarva: at Hill City, Game 1, 5:00 pm. Starter: Christian Rodriguez (5-4, 2.71 ERA)

Delmarva: at Hill City, Game 2, TBD. Starter: TBA

Whenever someone asks why I’m a fan of sports, I often point to any number of reasons from the simple – it’s entertaining – to the more esoteric – it’s a matter of civic pride. I also often answer that sports can offer a kind of catharsis that you can rarely find in our everyday lives. That’s particularly true for baseball which inherently creates tension through a lack of action – only for the eventual resolution to provide a special kind of resolution. I suspect the entire D-Backs’ offense felt an incredible kind of catharsis this afternoon. After losing a frustrating game in the series opener and needing extra-inning magic to eke out a win last night, the Diamondbacks were staring down a series loss against an Athletics team that seems stuck in neutral. Instead, the offense erupted for their highest run total in nearly two years to take a crucial series win as the team attempts to convince the front office to buy at the Trade Deadline or at least convince them not to sell.

The first time through the lineup, the D-Backs failed to generate much offense against rookie Gage Jump, making just his eleventh career start. The young lefty utilized his excellent fastball to generate several weak swings and misses along with plenty of weak contact. But starting with the second time through the lineup, the batters clearly made some adjustments beginning with Corbin Carroll who opened the team’s scoring with a solo shot to left field while Nolan Arenado followed with his own one batter later to knot the score at 2-2. That was just the amuse-bouche however as the main course came one inning later when the game unraveled for the rookie. Ketel Marte began with a leadoff double and scored on a wild pitch, Gabriel Moreno took Jump deep with his own solo shot, Arenado worked a walk and moved to second on yet another wild pitch, and Ildemaro Vargas doubled him in to end Jump’s afternoon. Amazingly, the fun wasn’t over as James McCann took the very first pitch from reliever Yunior Tur into the left field bleachers to put the Snakes up by five. Ryan Waldschmidt even got the proverbial monkey off his back with his first career homer at the big league level to cap off the inning and turn the game into a rout. And if you weren’t already full, the dessert course was just as much fun as the rest of the dinner. Carroll collected his major league-leading 11th triple and scored on yet another wild pitch, the D-Backs loaded the bases on three consecutive walks and then cashed them all in with knocks by McCann and Tim Tawa to turn the game into a true laugher. In all, the offense scored 14 runs in three innings and did it in impressive fashion with plenty of power, timely hitting, and excellent at-bats up and down the lineup. Every starter except for Geraldo Perdomo had at least one hit and the team had the same number of walks as strikeouts for the game. It’s hard to encapsulate and the video may do it even more justice:

On the flip side, this felt like a perfect opportunity for Merrill Kelly to feel absolutely no pressure as his offense clearly had the game in hand and focus on trying to return to the form we know he can have. Instead, we saw much of the same type of struggles that have plagued him all season: an inability to put hitters away, a lack of command that leads to walks, and depending all too much on the changeup as a putaway pitch. The final line on the veteran for the afternoon (5.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K) isn’t bad, but it masks some bad luck on the Athletics bouncing into two separate double play balls. Now that those pesky Athletics are out of the way, here’s hoping the team can quickly regroup for the latest in “most important series of the year” with about a week and a half until the Trade Deadline.

For weeks, Aaron Boone considered Paul Blackburn a secret.

Despite the right-handed reliever piling up zeroes out of the bullpen, he was going unnoticed.

That’s beginning to change.

“About a week ago, 10 days ago, somebody asked me about the job he had done,” Boone said after Blackburn delivered two innings of shutout relief to help the Yankees take Game 2 of Wednesday’s doubleheader over the Pirates, 2-0, and salvage a split in The Bronx. “It had been about a month-plus of some really good work — whether it be a high-leverage situation, whether it’s giving you multiple innings on a given night.

“It’s been about six weeks where he’s gotten his stuff in a really good place. He’s another guy like [Brent] Headrick, you feel good about going through lefties and righties. He’s been big for us.”

The veteran righty is enjoying a terrific year, pitching to a 2.00 ERA after his latest performance. He has given up just one earned run over his past 14 appearances dating back to June 21 spanning 21 ¹/₃ innings.

After using high-leverage arms David Bednar, Fernando Cruz and Headrick in the opener, Blackburn’s two frames were integral to the victory. He inherited a runner on first base in the seventh, and when Jared Triolo stole second and went to third on catcher Ali Sánchez’s throwing error, the Pirates were set up to take the lead.

But Blackburn struck out Ryan O’Hearn and Marcell Ozuna to escape trouble, and the Yankees broke through in the bottom half of the inning.

The 32-year-old veteran joined the Yankees last year after he was released by the Mets in August. He didn’t perform well, but he enjoyed his time in The Bronx and returned on a one-year deal. This year, he has taken off.

“Just when I showed up last year, I didn’t know what to expect,” Blackburn said. “I walked in, there was a plan for me from day one. It just seemed like they were interested in helping me and getting me back to where they thought I could be.”

One major factor: increased velocity. It is up across the board for Blackburn. He is averaging a career-best 94.2 mph on his sinker, up from 92.6 a year ago, and it has made his secondary pitches more effective.

“I had a full offseason this year,” Blackburn said. “I focused on little different things I needed to get stronger and [gain] more mobility. Just ran with it.”

The trade deadline fast approaches and (stop me if you’ve heard this before) the Braves HAVE to add at least one quality starting pitcher if they want to expect any serious postseason success (setting aside the performance on offense). Without adding a postseason-quality starter, they would need to operate a three or four man rotation that would involve at least two of Bryce Elder, Grant Holmes, Reynaldo Lopez, Martin Perez, JR Ritchie, Owen Murphy, Didier Fuentes, Spencer Schwellenbach, and AJ Smith-Shawver. While you can squint in that list and see a pathway or two for passable postseason pitching, it’s certainly unlikely and only so much can be papered over by creative pitcher usage. Trades are hard to negotiate and this front office has been very firm on sticking to their value judgements, but this team simply cannot be a serious postseason contender (outside of general baseball variance) without adding at least one playoff-quality starter.

Braves News

The Braves brought back Martin Perez, sending down JR Ritchie, after he covered 3.2 innings Tuesday.

Scott discussed four trades that would make sense for the Braves, at least in terms of realistic player additions.

The Braves won a weird game against the Padres 7-6.

MLB News

Fangraphs continued their annual trade value rankings, with spots 30-21.

Red Sox’ ace Garrett Crochet is hoping to return from injury in time for the playoffs.

The Royals traded a pitching prospect to the Astros for Nate Pearson.

Bobby Witt is hitting the IL with lower back tightness, which hopefully is a short term ailment.

The mood in the clubhouse shifted as much as the sky, as the frustration of a matinee was overshadowed by the celebration of a nightcap. 

But there wasn’t much difference between the Yankees’ 2-0 series-clinching win over the Pirates and the 5-3 extra-inning loss that ended hours earlier, as their struggling offense was held without a run in 16 of 18 innings. 

The Yankees have been held to fewer than six runs in 28 of their past 30 games and have scored a total of 18 runs in the six games since the All-Star break, including eight in Monday’s win over Pittsburgh. 

“We gotta improve there,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I feel like I’ve said that a lot here over the last month. We know we gotta produce better offensively, and consistently, night in and night out. We’re working to get that done. For us to reach our peak we gotta get some guys going and be more consistent.” 

It will have to come from a lineup that has offered few reasons to believe — which has ranked 28th in runs, 30th in batting average (.206), 30th in on-base percentage (.262), 26th in slugging percentage (.366) and second in strikeouts in the past month. 

It will have to come without Giancarlo Stanton, who is “much closer” to returning, according to Boone, but not close enough to offer a timeline.

And it will have to come without Aaron Judge, who has been out since May 31, when the Yankees were 13 games over .500. 

Now, they are 12 games over .500. 

“It’s Aaron Judge, it’s a massive presence,” Boone said of the impact of the captain’s absence. “But again, he’s not there right now. Look at these names, we have a lot of good names here, capable, and we gotta step it up a little better.” 

Those names combined for 12 strikeouts and six hits (four singles) in the first game of the doubleheader, while batting 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. All three runs in Game 1 came on Ben Rice’s 30th home run of the season in the seventh inning. 

Game 2 offered even less optimism, as the Yankees recorded just two hits through the first six innings. Then, a pair of once-hyped prospects briefly inspired hope again. 

After Cody Bellinger worked a one-out walk in the bottom of the seventh, Jasson Domínguez brought the first run home with a two-out double to left. On the next pitch, Anthony Volpe ripped a hit to left — following a pair of defensive misplays — to record his second RBI since June 20. 

The struggling youngsters saved the day. 

But who will save the season? 

“We need everyone to step up,” Boone said. 

Clippers 0, Saints 9

This was all around a very tough game for the Clippers. They were held to just two hits with 7 strikeouts to just 1 walk.

Rorik Maltrud has been pretty solid this season, but he had arguably his worst start of the season today. He allowed 7 earned runs and 4 home runs in just 3.2 innings pitched. His ERA is now up to 4.31 on the season. Trevor Stephan still cannot seem to figure it out post surgery. He allowed two earned runs tonight in 1.1 inning pitched. Codi Heuer, Alaska Abney, and Jake Miller combined for 3 scoreless innings of relief.

RubberDucks 7, Curve 6

A huge performance from Alex Mooney helped the RubberDucks win in extra innings tonight. He went 3-4 with 2 RBIs and the game winning sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the 10th. Jaison Chourio hit an absolute BOMB to tie the game when pinch hitting in the bottom of the 9th. Nick Mitchell also went 2-4 with an RBI. Angel Martinez went 1-4 with a walk in his rehab performance, he looks to be close to his return to Cleveland.

It’s been a tough year for Dylan DeLucia, he had an ok start tonight. He allowed two earned runs in 3.1 innings pitched with 3 strikeouts and 2 walks. His ERA is now at 6.88 on the season.

Captains 9, TinCaps 1

Despite only having 6 hits, this was a dominant performance from the Captains. Tommy Hawke led the way, going 2-3 with two walks with a triple. Jonah Advincula went 1-3 with a walk and a two RBI single. Juan Benjamin also had a huge two RBI single in the top of the 4th inning.

The highlight of this game was easily Jacob Zibin’s performance. He tossed 4 scoreless innings with 6 strikeouts and zero walks. He has flown somewhat under the radar this year but he is a pitching prospect that is very intriguing. I think there is certainly potential there for a big league future if he can clean up some things. Jogly Garcia and Cam Schuelke combined for 5 scoreless innings of relief.

Howlers 6, Shorebirds 4

Dauri Fernandez led the way for the Howlers tonight, going 3-5 with a huge three RBI double in the bottom of the 8th inning. Cannon Peebles went 1-3 with two walks and an RBI single in the bottom of the 8th. It’s been an injury riddled season for Riley Nelson but he went 1-2 with two walks and an RBI double tonight. Hopefully he is starting to feel healthy after all the injuries he has dealt with this season.

Nelson Keljo had one of his better performances of the season. He has had no issue striking out batters this year, but he has had an issue keeping runs off the board. Tonight he was effective at both, allowing just one run in 5 innings pitched with 5 strikeouts and 3 walks. His ERA is now down to 4.84 on the season.

After getting thoroughly humbled Tuesday night, the White Sox responded the way good teams do.

Chicago (54-47) scratched out timely hits, got a dominant performance from the bullpen, and knocked off the Rangers, 4-2, on Wednesday night to secure its 18th series win of the season. Even better, Cleveland fell to the Twins 10-6, pushing the Good Guys back into sole possession of first place in the AL Central by one game heading into Thursday’s off day.

Texas starter Tyler Alexander retired the first four White Sox hitters before Chicago finally broke through. Braden Montgomery drew a walk and raced to third on a wild pitch before Chase Meidroth lined an RBI single to center to give the Sox an early 1-0 lead. Andrew Benintendi immediately bounced into a double play, preventing the inning from becoming something bigger.

The advantage lasted only until the bottom of the second, when Anthony Kay surrendered a two-out solo homer to rookie Cam Cauley — his first major league home run after being called up on June 29 — tying the game at one.

Kay navigated traffic throughout his outing, escaping a first-and-third jam in the third by striking out former White Sox first-round pick Jake Burger.

The Good Guys rewarded Kay in the fourth. Munetaka Murakami and Colson Montgomery each worked walks before Braden grounded into a force out, putting runners on the corners. Meidroth once again delivered with an RBI single, and Benintendi followed with an RBI knock of his own to stretch the lead to 3-1. Edgar Quero, recalled from Charlotte on Monday, drew another walk to load the bases, but Tristan Peters popped out to end the threat.

Kay, however, continued to make life difficult for himself. Brandon Nimmo singled and Ezequiel Duran doubled to open the bottom of the fourth before Kay plunked Cauley, his MLB-leading 19th hit batter of the season, to load the bases. Elías Díaz grounded into a double play, allowing one run to score, but Kay escaped further damage by striking out Alejandro Osuna to preserve a 3-2 lead. He worked around another jam in the fifth by stranding two more runners.

Chicago’s offense added an important insurance run in the sixth. Braden knocked a one-out single, Meidroth collected his third hit of the night, and Benintendi delivered again with an RBI base hit to center to make it 4-2. Quero and Peters couldn’t cash in the remaining runners, but the extra run proved more than enough.

From there, the Sox bullpen slammed the door.

Jordan Hicks worked around a pair of defensive miscues in the sixth before Grant Taylor stole the show. The flamethrower struck out the side in the seventh on just 14 pitches, then returned to fan two more in a perfect eighth, punching out five of the six hitters he faced while touching 100.4 mph. Bryan Hudson handled the ninth, striking out Cauley and Díaz before getting Osuna to bounce out and seal the victory.

Meidroth led the offense with four hits and two RBIs, while Benny added two RBIs of his own.

Kay wasn’t at his sharpest, but he repeatedly escaped trouble and turned the game over to a bullpen that combined for four scoreless, hitless innings.

The White Sox are off Thursday before returning home Friday to open a weekend series against the Houston Astros.

MVP
Chase Meidroth: 4-for-4, 2 RBI, 26% WPA

Runners-Up
Grant Taylor: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 5 K, H, 17% WPA
Andrew Benintendi: 2-for-4, 2 RBI, K, 15% WPA
Bryan Hudson: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 K, S, 9% WPA
Jordan Hicks: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, K, H, 7% WPA

Cold Cat
Tristan Peters: 0-for-4, -11% WPA

Runners-Up
Miguel Vargas: 0-for-4, K, -7% WPA
Sam Antonacci: 0-for-4, -7% WPA
Edgar Quero: 0-for-3, BB, E, -6% WPA

Wednesday marked the second night in a row the Phillies committed a cringeworthy baserunning blunder.

With Trea Turner at the plate against Dodgers lefty Eric Lauer in the bottom of the fifth inning, Bryson Stott, who started the play at second base, ran into an out at third, where Max Muncy waited for him on the fielder’s choice.

The gaffe was so exasperating that Dodgers SportsNet commentators Joe Davis and Orel Hershiser were left bemused.

“What are these guys doing?” Davis said as Stott ran off.

“No clue,” Hershiser replied.

The very next frame, the Dodgers took the lead, one they would hold onto for the rest of the night in a 9-5 win in Philadelphia.

On Tuesday, the Phillies lost 2-1 on an embarrassing double play.

J.T. Realmuto was the last out after he failed to make it back to second base safely when he could have just remained at third base when Justin Crawford, the runner in front of him, got into a rundown between third and home.

His manager, Don Mattingly, didn’t mince words after the bizarre moment.

“I don’t know what JT was thinking,” Mattingly said.

The Dodgers took two of three in the series from the Phillies after the baserunning mistakes came on consecutive nights.

The Phillies won the first game of the series with a 10-7 win on Monday night.

Despite the mistake on the bases, Stott is still having a strong season for the Phillies. Through 96 games, Stott has hit .251 with seven home runs and 17 steals.

The Phillies will hope to be better on the fundamentals when they welcome the Yankees to Citizens Bank Park for a three-game set this weekend.

They’ll face the Bombers’ Will Warren, Cy Young contender Cam Schlittler and Ryan Weathers in the series.

It’s Wednesday evening here at BCB After Dark: the coolest club for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in and sit with us for a while. There’s no cover charge. The dress code is casual. There are still a few tables available. The hostess will seat you now. Bring your own beverage.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

Last night I asked you if the Cubs should try to trade for Astros pitcher Josh Hader. Obviously the answer comes down to how much the Astros want back, but 57 percent of you think the Cubs should at least try.

Here’s the part where we listen to music and talk movies. You can skip ahead if you want. Or enjoy that and skip the baseball stuff. Or you can read all of it. Your call.

Tonight we’re featuring a performance from SFJAZZ from this past May. This is the Leon Russell song “This Masquerade,” which was made famous by George Benson’s 1976 hit single cover version. This is part of a tribute to Benson.

This performance features Isaiah Sharkey on guitar and vocals, Marcus Miller on bass, Richard Bona also on bass, Edward Simon on keyboards and Kendrick Scott on drums.

When documentary filmmaker Gary Hustwit approached legendary musician/producer/artist Brian Eno about making a documentary of his own life, Eno was completely uninterested. But Hustwit was familiar with Eno’s experiments with “generative music” or music that was created by an artist creating an algorithm and letting a computer create a piece of music according to those parameters. Within those parameters, the music would be be different every time. So Hustwit proposed to Eno that they make a “generative documentary” that would use an algorithm to randomly create a different movie every time it was shown. Eno couldn’t resist participating in an artistic endeavor like that, and the result is Eno (2024), an innovative and groundbreaking documentary of one of the most creative and influential artists of the last fifty years.

Eno draws upon decades of archival footage and over 30 hours of interviews with Brian Eno and uses a generative algorithm to create a new film each time without the direct intervention of anyone. To be clear, Hustwit and Eno make clear that none of this is done with artificial intelligence. The way my simple mind envisions it as kind of a pachinko machine—the film randomly picks a spot to start and that leads to a fork in the road with two or more destinations, each of which has several different directions it could go in after that and so on and so on. The estimate is that there are over 52 quintillion possible different versions of Eno.

Eno is currently available on the Criterion Channel and while the limitations of the streaming format prevent it from being different every time you see it, Criterion and programmer Brendan Dawes change the parameters once a month, thus generating a new film for each month. I’ve now seen Eno twice—once in June and once in July. At the most basic level, it’s the same film. It’s a portrait of Brian Eno’s career and a plea for the importance of art and creativity. However, the way the film makes that point is completely different in each version. 

For example, anyone familiar with Eno’s career knows that he first entered the public sphere as the synthesizer player for Roxy Music. In the June showing, Eno talked about his time in Roxy Music and how he joined. (The way he put it, they had a synthesizer and while he didn’t know how to play it, he realized it was a brand new instrument and no one else knew how to play it either.) But in the July showing, Roxy Music is only mentioned in passing once. Instead, Eno talks about his musical education as a child listening to American Black music. He goes on and on about the impact The Silhouettes’ doo-wop classic “Get a Job” had on him as a child. 

The June showing had scenes with David Byrne talking about creativity and working with Eno whereas Byrne is mostly (but not completely) absent in the July showing. Meanwhile, David Bowie was just glossed over in the June version but much more present in the July version. Laurie Anderson was in both versions, but she’s mostly mute in July. 

Both versions show Eno as a producer in the studio, but they couldn’t be more different. In June, we got to see Eno and U2 as they recorded “Pride (In the Name of Love),” which is loud and a huge moment in rock history. In July, we got two very quiet studio scenes with Eno producing a John Cale album and one of his own solo efforts in the nineties. 

The July version has Eno hilariously explaining how he was hire to compose the startup tones for Windows 95. I don’t know if I knew he wrote that back in 1995, but if I did, I didn’t know it in 2026. 

Some things remain in both films. One is Eno’s use of his “Oblique Strategies” cards, which are notecards with phrases written on them designed to spark the creative process. (Anderson draws and reads one in both films. The July one is “Be quiet for as long as you can,” which explains her being mostly mute in that version.) There is also a scene where Eno gets awarded a Producer of the Year award in the nineties, with Bryan Ferry being the one to hand him the statue. There’s also a scene where Eno looks at beetles in his garden and another one where he visits a park and talks about his theories of creativity. Also dogs.

Eno’s pleas for art and creativity are the heart of the film, no matter which version you watch. Eno believes that music and art predate language and are as intrinsic to our existence as eating and breathing. He argues that imagination is what separates us from the animals. He also argues that creativity is produced when the unexpected happens. There are no mistakes in art. Rather, anything out of place is an opportunity for another road to follow. 

The whole “generative film” aspect of Eno is kind of a gimmick to get you to watch the film. More than once, even. To be fair, it’s a pretty damn cool gimmick. But the reason to watch Eno is the fascinating personality of Brian Eno, the art he has made and the career he’s had. In music and visual art, Eno says he always follows the unexpected turn to see where it leads him. He’s also done that over the course of his life. It’s a terrific journey. 

Here’s the official trailer for Eno. At least for now. Maybe there will be another one shortly.

Welcome back to everyone who skips the music and movies.

I don’t need to tell you that the Cubs need to add pitching. I also probably don’t need to tell you that the Angels are bad and should probably trade some players to rebuild their farm system. So tonight I’m asking whether you’d rather the Cubs trade for José Soriano or Reid Detmers?

I’ve always cautioned that the Angels are difficult to deal with because owner Arte Moreno tends to stick his noise into deals and veto any trades that would start a rebuilding process. But now that former Cardinals GM John Mozeliak is in charge of things in Anaheim, it’s possible to deal with the Halos on a more rational basis.

Soriano and Detmers are the Angels two best trade chips at the moment, assuming they want to hold on to young shortstop Zach Neto. (And Mike Trout, I suppose, who has said he doesn’t want to be traded from the Angels.) The two young pitchers have a lot in common. Both pitchers are 27. Both become free agents after the 2028 season, so neither one is a pure rental.

There are some differences, however. Soriano is a right-hander and Detmers is a southpaw. Soriano is much more of a ground ball pitcher whereas Detmers gives up a lot more fly balls.

Soriano was one of the best pitchers in the majors in April and was an early favorite for the Cy Young Award. Unfortunately, he then started to struggle in May and June, putting up a mediocre 5.34 ERA over those two months. However, he seems to have fixed whatever was wrong in those two months recently. For July, he’s made three starts and posted a 3.50 ERA. The underlying numbers are even better, holding opposing hitters to a .467 OPS in July.

Soriano’s numbers for the year are 8-6 with a 3.43 ERA. He’s struck out 122 and walked a way-too-high 54 in 118 innings. But his ground ball tendencies would play well with the Cubs infield defense.

Detmers has been much less streaky. One the year, he’s made 20 starts and gone 3-6 with a 4.16 ERA. Over 114.2 innings, Detmers has struck out 130 and walked 35.

Both Soriano and Detmers have allowed 12 home runs this season.

So tonight’s question is: Which Halos pitcher would you offer the Angels more for? Or in other words, if the Angels were willing to trade either one to the Cubs, which one would you take?

Thank you for stopping by tonight. We’re always glad to see you. Please get home safely. Don’t forget any personal items. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again next week for more BCB After Dark.

Most casual observers felt the Astros would register their 50th win of the season well in advance of the All-Star Break.  Unfortunately, it took until July 22nd.   Better late than never.  Astros 5   Marlins 2.   

Although Yordan Alvarez’s two run blast will command the majority of headlines, the question remains, where would the Astros be without Peter Lambert?     Returning on just four days’ rest, Lambert would scatter six hits over the span of six innings, allowing just two runs in authoring another quality start, putting the Astros in position to win.    Wednesday night’s 89 pitch effort came on the heels of a 10 strike out performance in the opener of the O’s series last Friday.     

The night’s scoring would begin in the bottom of the second.   Yainer Diaz would lead off with a four-pitch walk, eventually coming around to score the game’s first run on a Nick Allen single.    The next frame, Houston would increase their lead 2-0 on the strength of Jeremy Pena’s solo shot.    For Pena it was a hat trick of sorts, as Pena homered in each of the three contests vs. Miami in a 72-hour span.   

In the fourth inning, the Marlins would tie things up thanks to a pair of two out hits from Javier Sanoja and Joe Mack.    The next time they’d threaten would be in the 7th when Esteury Ruiz would reach on a single and then proceed to steal second and third base.    Miami leads the majors with 21 successful steals of third this season. Ruiz would ultimately be stranded.    

In the bottom of the eighth, lightning would strike.   Jeremy Pena would reach for the third time and be driven home on Yordan’s 34th blast of the season.    Isaac Paredes followed that up for good measure, making the score 5-2 with a solo shot.    Paredes now has 14 home runs on the season.    For the Miami series, the Astros would register 8 home runs.    

Bryan Abreu would come on in the 9th to close the door earning his 6th save of the season.    

Odds & Ends:

Lucas Spence was caught attempting to steal home in the bottom of the second.    Spence will next make a homecoming of sorts at Rate Field on Chicago’s Southside Friday Night.    Spence grew up in nearby south suburb, Chicago Heights.    

Jose Altuve sat out Wednesday night with a rest day.   

After posting a mark of 20-6 in June, the Marlins have now dropped nine in a row.