Category: Baseball

The Rays claimed Jesse Scholtens in August 2025 after he was designated for assignment by the White Sox. Despite a fairly significant overhaul of the roster this offseason, Scholtens was able to hang on to a coveted 40-man roster spot, and has performed well in his limited time with the major league club — maintaining a 3.77 ERA / 3.59 FIP in 31 IP since 2025.

With injuries impacting the pitching staff, Scholtens may now be leaned on this summer in a starting role, where he has the tools to be a solid backend rotation option.

Control and Command

All Scholtens has done with the Rays is throw strikes. His 65.4 strike rate since 2025 ranks in the 78th percentile in the majors (min 500 pitches thrown). He strikes all five pitches in his arsenal at least 50% of the time, and even gets a pair of his secondaries above 60% in his cut-slider and offspeed pitch. The data here suggests above-average control.

Scholtens isn’t just a thrower; he does a good job of commanding his pitches too. He pitches in the zone without catching the heart of the plate better than 73% of major leaguers since 2025. His location consistency data and heatmaps further support his above-average command.

Scholtens has a solid three-pitch mix that allows him to adequately vary his sequencing to each side of the plate:

• Four-seam, cut-slider, offspeed for lefties
• Two-seam, cut-slider, breaking ball for righties

His four-seamer is a fairly standard cut-ride shape with low 90s velocity. His cut-slider sits in the upper 80s and he has plus feel for throwing it to both righties and lefties – it also gets more break than others thrown with similar velocity and vertical movement. Scholtens also throws a two-seam fastball in the low 90s with a bit more ride than expected from his slot. His low 80s breaking ball gives him a third velocity band but doesn’t have any outlier movement. On pure shape, most of his pitches grade out as average or below, with the cut-slider standing out as his most reliable offering. His above-average extension and slightly lower release height help everything play up a tick.

The separator in Scholtens’s profile is an outlier offspeed pitch that flashes plus. It gets optimal VAA separation from his four-seamer thanks to his above average command of both pitches. VAA separation correlates strongly with chase, while velocity separation tends to drive in-zone whiff. The Rays helped him shave some vertical movement off his offspeed pitch this winter and the velocity separation is already better than average, so the performance of the pitch will be something to monitor in a larger sample.

Despite strong VAA and velocity separation, most models likely grade the pitch poorly due to its unconventional movement profile. Below is a graph of how his offspeed shape compares to others in a similar arm-angle bucket (from 30 to 45 degrees, Scholtens sits at roughly 38 degrees when throwing his offspeed pitch):

We can see that Scholtens gets below-average vertical and horizontal movement compared to offspeed pitches from a similar arm angle. In particular, his horizontal break sits roughly two standard deviations below average – making it a true outlier. Combine this with the VAA and velocity separation he gets on the pitch compared to his fastball, and he’s got a unique offspeed pitch.

His grip resembles a split-finger with a spiked middle finger – closer to a kick-change variation:

While we can’t publicly observe seam orientation (evident in the grainy images of his grips shared above), the shift in spin direction from more backspin in 2025 to more sidespin in 2026 suggests he’s altered the seam orientation of the pitch to shift it toward more horizontal break and less vertical movement.

Horizontal separation matters less for whiff and chase than vertical and velocity separation, so trading some of it off for better VAA and velocity difference is a logical adjustment.

Scholtens is still developing his feel for this relatively new offspeed shape, and that may be the reason behind its limited usage so far. However, there’s a case for increasing its usage to roughly 25–30% against lefties as he gets more comfortable with the pitch given the VAA and velocity separation mentioned earlier. The outlier shape also suggests it could be an effective taste-breaker against righties occasionally.

The arsenal is fairly average overall, but his strike-throwing ability and uniquely effective offspeed pitch give Scholtens a clear path to outperform that profile.

Conclusion

Although Scholtens doesn’t overwhelm hitters with raw stuff, he succeeds through control and command, sequencing, and a subtle pitch design advantage that helps his outlier offering play up. That’s a valuable profile to have on the 40-man — especially for a team that’s navigating multiple injuries to the starting rotation — and with Matz sidelined at least two starts, he should get a significant opportunity in the month of May to show if he can hold his own.

After he was called up from Triple-A Gwinnett Wednesday morning, Jim Jarvis will immediately be making his major league debut for the Braves in Wednesday’s series finale in Seattle.

Jarvis, acquired from the Detroit Tigers just before last year’s trade deadline, will hit ninth and play shortstop.

He’s gotten off to a hot start in Gwinnett this season, slashing .305/.418/.445 with four homers, six doubles and 20 RBIs in 33 games. Now he gets an opportunity with the big league squad to carve out a role in the infield, which will be revamped in the coming weeks with the addition of Ha-Seong Kim.

Michael Harris II is back in left field for the series finale — a promising sign for the health of his quad — and hitting cleanup. Mauricio Dubon is in center once again and hitting fifth while Mike Yastrzemski is back in the seven hole and handling right field.

It’ll also be another Sean Murphy day behind the plate. He’s hitting eighth, letting Drake Baldwin DH in the leadoff spot.

This will be Mariners starter Bryan Woo’s first time facing the Braves. As such, the only five players with previous at-bats against him are players who were added to the Braves’ roster this offseason. Dubon, a previous division rival of Woo’s from his time in Houston, has 11 of the roster’s 25 at-bats against the righty. He’s 4-for-11 (.364) with a double against Woo. Yastrzemski is 2-for-8 with the only homer and only three RBIs.

Overall, the Braves’ hitter are 7-for-25 (.280) against Woo with eight strikeouts and one walk.

For the Mariners, Cal Raleigh is back in the lineup as designated hitter for the second straight day, hitting second. They made a few other lineup changes, putting in Connor Joe in right field and Jhonny Pereda behind the plate against a left-handed starting pitcher.

Four Mariners have 10-plus at-bats against Braves starting pitcher Martin Perez. None of them are hitting better than .235 against him, with both Randy Arozarena and J.P. Crawford (who has homered in each of the first two games of the series) 4-for-17. Arozarena has the current team’s only homer off Perez while Crawford has a pair of doubles.

As a team, Seattle’s roster is a combined 17-for-75 (.227) against Perez with seven RBIs, 18 strikeouts and eight walks.

Astros fans, it hasn’t been the start anyone envisioned. The struggles have been real, and the pitching staff, in particular, has left plenty to be desired. But even in the middle of a frustrating opening stretch, one undeniable bright spot has emerged: the resurgence of a healthy Yordan Alvarez.

Alvarez hasn’t just been good, he’s been dominant. Taking home both American League Player of the Week and Player of the Month honors is a reminder of exactly who he is when he’s right. Few hitters in baseball possess his rare combination of power and average. When he steps to the plate, he’s not just a threat, he’s the kind of presence that changes games and forces opposing teams to adjust everything they do.

That’s what makes the recent local chatter about potentially trading him, or needing to, is so baffling.

Let’s be clear: Alvarez isn’t just another piece of this roster, he’s the cornerstone. While the Astros’ offense has been the lone consistent positive this season, Alvarez is the engine driving it all. His production sets the tone, and his presence lengthens the lineup in a way that few players in the league can replicate.

Then there’s the contract. In a league where elite hitters are commanding massive deals, Alvarez remains on a team-friendly contract that gives the Astros flexibility to build around him. If owner Jim Crane truly intends to keep the championship window open, as he’s consistently stated, players like Alvarez are exactly the ones you build with, not the ones you move.

The idea of trading him only makes sense in a full teardown scenario. And even then, it’s hard to justify. This isn’t a player nearing decline or carrying a burdensome contract. This is a prime, elite bat who delivers at an MVP-caliber level when healthy. Compare that to contracts like those of Mike Trout, Aaron Judge, or Juan Soto, deals that at least force a front office to consider long-term financial implications, and Alvarez still stands out as an asset you hold onto.

Jim Crane is a businessman, and he understands return on investment. There may not be a better ROI in baseball right now than what Alvarez provides: elite production at a manageable cost. That combination is invaluable for a team looking to remain competitive while continuing to retool.

Could the Astros make moves if this season continues to go sideways? Absolutely. A sell-off of veteran pieces isn’t out of the question if things don’t turn around. But even in that scenario, Alvarez should be viewed in the same untouchable tier as Jose Altuve, a player whose value to the organization goes beyond what any trade package could realistically return and he’s younger too.

At the end of the day, the question isn’t whether the Astros could trade Yordan Alvarez. It’s whether they should. And based on everything we’ve seen, his performance, his contract, and his role in this team’s present and future, the answer feels pretty clear.

You don’t trade players like Yordan Alvarez. You build around them.

TODAY’S GAME: The Houston Astros (15-22) and Los Angeles Dodgers (22-14) will play the rubber game of their three-game series today in an afternoon matinee at Daikin Park.

RHP Lance McCullers Jr. (2-2, 6.32 ERA), who picked up the win in his last start on April 20 at BAL (3ER/6IP), will make his seventh start of the season today opposite RHP Tyler Glasnow (3-0, 2.56 ERA) and the Dodgers.

LMJ VS. LAD: RHP Lance McCullers Jr. is 2-0 with a 1.14 ERA (3ER/23.2IP) in four career regular season starts vs. the Dodgers, which includes a victory last season on July 4, 2025 at Dodger Stadium (1ER/6IP) in an 18-1 Astros win.

McCullers also faced the Dodgers twice in the 2017 World Series, starting Game 3 (3ER/5.1IP) and Game 7 (0ER/2.1IP), both resulting in Astros victories.

TODAY’S ROSTER MOVE: The Astros have recalled IF Shay Whitcomb from Triple A Sugar Land and have placed IF Carlos Correa on the 10-day IL with a left ankle tendon injury (retro to May 5). The injury is expected to sideline Correa for the remainder of the 2026 season.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TUVE!: Happy Birthday to Astros legend 2B Jose Altuve, as he turns a spry 36 years old today. Altuve shares his birthday with the late Hall of Famer Willie Mays and veteran reliever Larry Andersen, who famously netted the Astros 1B Jeff Bagwell in a straight up trade with the Red Sox in 1990.

FAMILIAR FOE: After homering last night, 1B Christian Walker has 30 career homers vs. the Dodgers (in 95 games), which are his most against any opponent. His .879 career OPS vs. LAD is the highest among any active player (min. 300 PA), while his 30 HR rank third among active players.

HIT PAREDES: IF Isaac Paredes has hit safely in 12 of his last 15 games dating back to April 19, a span in which he’s hitting .339 (19×56) with two doubles, three homers, nine RBI and a .948 OPS.

Additionally, he’s reached base safely in 10 straight games, posting a .442 OBP in that span.

DOWN IN THE LAND: Three Astros pitchers were on rehab assignments last night at Triple A Sugar Land as they hosted the Albuquerque Isotopes (COL).

RHP Tatsuya Imai (arm fatigue) tossed 3.0 innings of one-run ball, LHP Josh Hader (left biceps tendinitis) worked 1.0 scoreless inning and RHP Nate Pearson (recovery from right elbow surgery) tossed 0.2 of an inning (1ER).

TODAY IN ASTROS HISTORY: 2021 – On his 31st birthday, 2B Jose Altuve hits a go-ahead, three-run homer in the 8th inning in the Astros 7-4 win over the Yankees in the Bronx.

Trailing 3-2 in the 8th, Altuve took RHP Chad Green deep to flip the game. Altuve has played in a Major League game on May 6 on 10 occasions, with this being his only career homer on his birthday.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Wednesday, May 6, 1:10 p.m. CT

Location: Daikin Park, Houston, TX

TV: Space City Home Network

Streaming: SCHN+

Radio: KTRH 740 AM, KBME 790 AM & 94.5 FM HD2; TUDN 102.9 FM HD2 (Spanish)

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No team is hotter in baseball than the New York Yankees and they’ll look to clinch their sixth consecutive series win when they face the New York Rangers this evening.

Last night was a fade of the Yankees with our moneyline bet and we paid a price, seeing them complete a mid-inning comeback with relative ease. I’m not making that same mistake this evening.

Read all about it in myRangers vs. Yankees predictions and MLB picks for Wednesday, May 6.

Who will win Rangers vs Yankees today: Yankees -1.5 (-102)

We’ve entered this unique place with the New York Yankees where there is some looming regression coming based on their stat profiles but they aren’t facing the competition to deliver that.

This is a very good team, potentially World Series good, but they’ve overachieved to this point at least slightly because of that. 

Take Will Warren for instance. His biggest issue is being reliant on strikeouts inside the zone with 91st percentile K rate but bottom 24 percentile chaserate making him vulnerable to teams that don’t miss pitches in the zone. That’s not the Texas Rangers.

On the other side, Nathan Eovaldi's split-finger grades at the 100th percentile but the Yankees chase at just 26% and a majority of those pitches fall out of the zone. They are not going to expand down in the zone to chase it.

That forces him to his fastball, which ranks in the 2nd percentile by run value and the Yankees smash. I’d play this to -130.

COVERS INTEL:Will Warren's whiff rate ranks in the 91st percentile despite a 24th percentile chase rate

Rangers vs Yankees Over/Under pick: Under 8.5 (+100)

I think there’s a good chance that Warren could really suppress the runs from the Rangers in this matchup and would consider some alternative team total Unders because of that. Either way though, he’s the anchor to this play.

His 91st percentile Whiff rate paired with a 92nd percentile fastball run value gives him multiple ways to miss bats against a Rangers lineup that has a top five swing-and-miss profile.

I don’t expect Eovaldi to be exactly good but he should be competitive enough against the bottom of the Yankees lineup that chases more than the top to keep this Under.

Rangers vs Yankees odds

• Moneyline: Texas +173 | New York -191
  
• Run line: Texas +1.5 (-107) | New York -1.5 (-103)
• Over/Under: Over 8.5 (-112) | Under 8.5 (+101)

Rangers vs Yankees trend

The New York Yankees have hit the 1st Five Innings (F5) moneyline in 29 of their last 45 games at home (+15.20 Units / 18% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Rangers vs. Yankees.

How to watch Rangers vs Yankees and game info

Rangers vs Yankees latest injuries

Rangers vs Yankees weather

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We don’t yet have word on the severity of the hamstring injury suffered by Cincinnati Reds closer Emilio Pagan last night. What we do know, though, is what we all saw – and what we saw was a man who’d already once dealt with a sore hamstring this year writhing in pain after delivering just one pitch.

Typically when you need the cart to come take you off the field, you’re going to be out for awhile. Typically when the manager says “he’s certainly going to be an IL,” you’re going to land on the injured list. All that remains right now is whether it’s a 15-day IL stint or if there’s enough obvious damage there that Pagan will be placed right on the 60-day IL as he recovers.

That’s the current news facing the team’s bullpen. The scenario around the news isn’t a whole lot better at the moment.

Among MLB units, the 5.36 xERA by the Reds bullpen ranks dead last, to date. The group’s 6.22 BB/9 ranks dead last, too. They play their home games in perhaps the single most homer-friendly park in the game over the last decade, yet their collective 36.1% groundball rate ranks 4th lowest. All that rolled together makes for a 5.18 FIP, a mark that’s the 3rd worst in the league right now.

And all that came with Pagan as a part of the group.

How the Reds address things will depend on the severity of the diagnosis, obviously, but the severity of the diagnosis also will open up the avenues in which they can make moves. If Pagan is placed simply on the 15-day IL, both Zach Maxwell is on the 40-man roster and can yo-yo back to the active roster for seemingly the 10th time in the last five minutes. Kyle Nicolas is down at AAA right now and on the 40-man roster, and the two could both seemingly be brought back to deepen the bullpen if the Reds go ahead and option Chase Petty (since Nick Lodolo is expected to be recalled later this week to fill Petty’s spot in the rotation).

That adds depth and does so with seamless roster shuffling. The thing is, there are a pair of relievers down at AAA who aren’t currently on the roster who have looked a whole lot more impressive there than the likes of Maxwell, Nicolas, or even Luis Mey (who is already on the active roster thanks to other injuries).

Both Lyon Richardson and Tejay Antone, the latter coming off his third Tommy John surgery, have put up some pretty sparkling lines for the Bats.

Richardson, a former 2nd round pick who at times has looked electric at the big league level, owns a 1.04 ERA and 0.81 WHIP across 11 appearances, firing 17.1 IP with an impressive 18/6 K/BB. He was designated for assignment back in December when the Reds acquired Dane Myers and needed a 40-man roster spot, but after clearing waivers and sticking with the organization he’s done exactly what you’d hoped he’d do in that scenario by getting right back to work showing he belongs back in the big leagues.

“Getting right back to work” is something that’s never been the question with Antone as he has dealt with debilitating injuries repeatedly and, every single time, has jumped right back into the grunt work required to overcome them. Pitching with his fourth right elbow, Captain Hook has revamped his arsenal and yielded just 3 ER (and zero dingers) in 12.0 IP so far this year, boasting a 2.25 ERA and 1.00 WHIP while boasting a 15/6 K/BB. All that while pitching in the same offensive environment that has seen Rece Hinds, Noelvi Marte, et al post cartoonish batting lines so far for Louisville.

If Pagan is placed on the 60-day IL, that opens up one roster spot for one of Richardson or Antone’s return. The Reds are also expecting lefty Caleb Ferguson’s return from the 15-day IL quite soon, as he’s already thrown a pair of rehab outings with AA Chattanooga and may need just two more before being activated. So, there are legitimate reinforcements that are close, it just depends on how many roster gymnastics Nick Krall and Co. want to go through to reassemble their ‘pen.

That lays out the roster issue, but it doesn’t address the hierarchy. Who now steps into the closer’s role remains to be seen, whether it’s simply bumping guys up a rung on the depth chart or keeping the high-leverage guys where they are and promoting a wholly inexperienced reliever to a role that many believe is less important than key 7th and 8th inning spots.

The reality is that the bullpen needed help, needed work, and probably needed a shuffle given their poor performance before Pagan’s injury. Now that it looks like he’ll be sidelined for awhile, it’s going to force the Reds hand. All that remains to be seen is just how thorough the shakeup becomes.

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The Boston Red Sox will look to complete a three-game sweep as they wrap up their road series against the Detroit Tigers tonight.

Detroit will send the wild Jack Flaherty to the mound, which is why I’m taking Boston to win in my Red Sox vs. Tigers predictions.

Read on to learn more and get my free MLB picks for Wednesday, May 6. 

Who will win Red Sox vs Tigers today: Red Sox moneyline (+102)

Detroit Tigers starter Jack Flaherty (0-2, 5.90 ERA) is suffering through the worst stretch of his career. Flaherty leads the AL in walks, allowing 7.8 free passes per nine innings, which has ballooned his WHIP to 1.793 over his first seven starts.

Flaherty hasn’t made it out of the fourth inning in any of his last three starts. That includes an April 20 appearance against the Boston Red Sox in which he walked six batters in 3.1 innings of work.

Boston teed off against Framber Valdez yesterday and should produce more than enough offense again tonight to finish off a series sweep.

COVERS INTEL: Flaherty has produced a chase rate of just 21.2% this season, placing him in the third percentile among pitchers while walking 17.7% of batters he’s faced.

Red Sox vs Tigers Over/Under pick: Over 8.5 (-105)

I don’t see the Red Sox needing much help to hit the Over tonight, but the Tigers should put up a few runs to help against Sonny Gray. The Boston starter is coming off the IL after suffering a hamstring strain in his last start against Detroit. 

The Tigers have been league-average in terms of scoring but far more effective against righties, hitting to a .743 OPS against right-handed pitching this year.

Detroit’s .344 xwOBA is the fourth best in the league, suggesting it's better than its results have shown. That’s enough firepower to bring the total to the Over.

Red Sox vs Tigers odds

• Moneyline: Red Sox -108 | Tigers -112
• Run line: Red Sox -1.5 (+144) | Tigers +1.5 (-175)
• Over/Under: Over 8.5 (-112) | Under 8.5 (-112)

Red Sox vs Tigers trend

The Red Sox and Tigers have combined to hit the Over in four straight meetings. Find more MLB betting trends for Red Sox vs. Tigers.

How to watch Red Sox vs Tigers and game info

Red Sox vs Tigers latest injuries

Red Sox vs Tigers weather

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Today, the Atlanta Braves made the move to call up utility infielder Jim Jarvis from Triple-A Gwinnett. Here is a look at what you can reasonably expect from the newest Brave, as well as a little more background.

Jarvis is a 25-year-old who was drafted by Detroit in the 11th round in 2023, and given a slightly overslot bonus of $175k, after a four year career at Alabama. The California native came over to the Braves last year at the trade deadline in one of the few moves the team made, for Rafael Montero. At the time he was hitting .242/.316/.336 in the Tigers Double-A affiliate.

Jarvis went right to Columbus and hit .265/.344/.361 in 21 games, then went three for nine in a short stint in Gwinnett. After the season he went to the Arizona Fall League and slashed .259/.394/.426 with three doubles and two homers in 16 games.

He came into this season off of the strong AFL performance, and got a decent amount of playing time in spring training, getting 18 plate appearances with the big league club and a spot on the Spring Breakout Game roster before being sent to Triple-A. He then started to breakout with Gwinnett, as he has slashed .305/.418/.445 with six doubles, four homers, 15 steals in 17 attempts, and 23 walks to 27 strikeouts.

Jarvis has played almost exclusively at short this season, with 32 starts there and one at second. However in the minors he has played 42 games at second and 53 at third, with 178 at short. In terms of the defense we’ve seen this year, there have been some great plays mixed with some errors/lapses in concentration, which gives the feel of a guy who can fill in at short in the bigs, rather than a guy you’d want out there every day.

Jarvis projects as a utility infielder off the bench, a player whose versatility, speed, and solid contact/on base skills will give him a chance to stick around in the big leagues. However he has shown more power since coming to the Braves organization, as his four homers this year are only one off his career high of five back in 2024 – though doubles power is more the expectation from him.

If you had told me before the season started that one Yankees batter would have a wRC+ starting with 2 at the beginning of May, I would have immediately guessed Aaron Judge, since, you know, that’s what he did the past two years. Failing that, my next guess would have been Ryan McMahon, with the caveat that his would be in the 20s rather than the 200s. There’s a chance that Ben Rice wouldn’t have even been my third guess. But here we are on May 5, and lo and behold: through Sunday’s action, Rice leads the team with a 211 wRC+.

Rice probably isn’t going to maintain this level of production for the entire year. However, he doesn’t need to for him to be a godsend for the Yankees. In fact, even if Rice only managed to replicate his 2025 stats – a 133 wRC+ and 3.0 WAR – I would have been ecstatic. Are my expectations too low? Maybe. But after a decade-plus of lackluster production from first base, even 2025 Ben Rice was like a desert oasis.

To wit: that 133 wRC+ that Rice posted in 2025? The last Yankees first baseman to post a higher mark over a full season (excluding 2020) was…Mark Teixeira, all the way back in 2009. Indeed, Tex really was the last stable presence at first base before the rise of Rice; the intervening years saw many first basemen try to hold the position down, but none could. That’s not to say that the position was a black hole for 15 years – there were some bright points from time to time. Ultimately, though, even the players who enjoyed success could not sustain it. In order to fully appreciate the Ben Rice experience, let’s take a small trip down memory lane to recall what it was like before our boyish-faced king came around.

2013-2016: Mark Teixeira’s fall and Greg Bird’s emergence

After the Yankees signed him to an eight-year, $180 million contract in the 2008-9 offseason, Mark Teixeira certainly lived up to it during the first half of the pact. After a spectacular 2009 season which saw him win a ring and place 2nd in MVP voting, Teixeira hit 96 home runs and was worth 10.4 WAR from 2010-12. However, things went south quickly for the switch-hitting slugger thereafter. He missed nearly the entire 2013 season due to wrist issues and subsequent surgery, forcing the Yankees to make do with a truly uninspiring list of replacements – Lyle Overbay, Mark Reynolds, Kevin Youkilis, and a bunch of dudes that sucked even worse. I was there to witness it – on the game threads, at least. It was bad.

2014 saw Teixeira return to the field at least, but the results were meh at best – a .216/.313/.398 line, good for only a 102 wRC+, over 123 games. It was better than 2013 in the sense that in-flight meals are better than eating nothing at all. Given his age – this was Tex’s age-34 season – the consensus among Yankees fans was that we had seen the last of him as a productive major leaguer.

So, imagine our shock when Teixeira found the fountain of youth in 2015, hitting 31 home runs in just 462 plate appearances and posting a 143 wRC+. It was glorious, it was stupendous, and it was marvelous – before it came to an abrupt halt. In mid-August, Tex fouled a ball off his foot and left the game. Just like that, his season was over – though initial tests came back negative, a mid-September MRI revealed that he had suffered a fractured shin. However, a rising star within the Yankees’ system softened the blow. It was none other than the original Baby Bomber, Greg Bird.

Having been called up on August 13, Bird assumed starting duties at first base immediately following Tex’s injury, and spent the rest of 2015 looking like the Yankees’ first baseman of the future. He hit 10 home runs and garnered 1.1 WAR in just 178 plate appearances, and was one of only three Yankees to record a hit in the 2015 Wild Card game loss against the Astros. Every fan in Yankeedom was hoping that Bird would wrest the position from Tex for good in 2016.

Alas, it was not to be. Bird tore his labrum in the offseason and missed the entire 2016 season. Forced into a starting role, Teixeira posted a 76 wRC+ and -0.7 WAR over 116 games before retiring at season’s end. Thus ended Tex’s reign, with a whimper, an injured heir, and a cloudy future.

2017-2018: Greg Bird’s failed liftoff and Luke Voit’s magical run

There were many questions surrounding Greg Bird prior to the 2017 season. How did missing all of 2016 affect his development? Would he be able to hit like he did in 2015? Would his body hold up over a full season?

Then spring training started, and Bird absolutely raked. He hit eight homers, tied with Bryce Harper for the MLB lead, and had an OPS of 1.654. It was more than enough to turn the conversation surrounding him from “Is he good?” to “How many MVP votes will he get?” Every Yankees fan – at least those who frequented this site – could not wait for the season to start so that Bird could wreak havoc on the league.

If there is an omnipotent being, they must have it in for Bird for some reason. On March 30, less than 48 hours until Opening Day, Bird fouled a ball off his ankle. That was all it took to sap all of his offensive production. Over the first month of the season, Bird hit a paltry .100/.250/.200 across 19 games before being placed on the IL with a bruised right ankle. In July, he underwent surgery to remove a bone from his ailing foot. He would not return until August 26.

Luckily for the Yankees, they had acquired veteran slugger Chris Carter in the offseason for exactly this sort of situation. Unfortunately for the Yankees, Carter was utterly washed. He hit just .201 with eight homers with -0.3 WAR in 62 games. It was so bad that the Yankees had to turn to literally Chase Headley at first base. To his credit, Headley hit well, posting a 114 wRC+ in his 39 games played at first. That was good enough to hold down the fort until Bird’s return – and return he did, hitting eight home runs with a .575 slugging percentage in 98 PAs to close out the year.

Bird hit well during the Yankees’ 2017 postseason run as well, with a .244/.426/.512 line across 54 PAs. Who could forget his signature moment, a 7th inning solo shot against prime Andrew Miller in a do-or-die ALDS Game 3 against the Guardians which proved to be the margin of victory?

That postseason performance, coupled with a strong finish to the year, was more than enough to rekindle hope for Bird in even the most cold-hearted fans. But the universe is cruel and indifferent to our wishes. On March 26, 2018, it was announced that Bird would undergo ankle surgery, sidelining him for six to eight weeks. Two months later, he returned to the starting lineup, but his mojo was gone. Bird struggled to the tune of a .672 OPS in 82 games before losing his starting gig in late August. He played in just 10 games the following year, before yet another foot injury sidelined him for the entire year, and was designated for assignment in November. Just like that, the Yankees’ once first baseman of the future was gone.

However, as the saying goes, when one door closes, another one opens. The man who replaced Bird at first base in August 2018 was none other than Luke Voit. Acquired from the Cardinals at the trade deadline, Voit took the job and never looked back. In 39 games with the Yankees, he hit 14 homers with a .335/.405/.689 line, good for a 195 wRC+. Outside of Aaron Judge, I don’t really think I’ve ever seen a Yankee run this hot for this long; it really felt like he was homering every game. He was so good that even Ken Singleton was flustered.

Although the 2018 season ended in a painful fashion, there was a feeling among Yankees fans that they had finally found the answer at first base in Luke Voit. But as a wise man often said, you can’t predict baseball. Tune in on Friday for another look back at the Yankees’ first base situation from 2019-2024.

The calendar has flipped to May, which means we aren’t allowed to say “it’s still only April!” any longer. That’s fairly obvious when one actually reads the calendar, but by this point in the season, some of the things that are happening on the field may actually be how the season is going to happen for players. That troublesome two weeks at the beginning of the month? We’re now near 150 plate appearances at this point. Maybe there is something to the noise that their data is putting out. We can start to investigate a little further to be able to give a more definitive answer about questions that may have trailed some of the players on the roster. Let’s look at a few things that have popped out for the Phillies.

J.T. Realmuto is back to being an upper echelon catcher

When the team re-signed J.T. Realmuto over the winter, most of the discussion was about giving that much money to a player that was in decline. Almost everything about Realmuto’s season in 2025 was down – offense, defense, speed, all of it. Yet being arguably the best option on the free agent market for a position the Phillies didn’t really have much depth in, it made sense to bring him back, even if the price caused a brow or two to furrow.

At this point, Realmuto is about 15 games behind his contemporaries in the statistical realm, so a lot of his counting stats are going to lag behind the players at the top of the list when sorting numbers, but there are some things to like, some things to continue to worry about.

The offense is still in the territory where one might be concerned. The bat speed at this point looks to have returned after a down season in 2025, but a drop in exit velocity might concern. The thing to remember with Realmuto though – he’s only had 72 plate appearances. His missing several games with a back injury means the sample size is still very small. The gains he’s made to being one of the better defensive catchers in the game are great, but again, small sample size.

Verdict: Too early. I’m not sure that Realmuto will ever get back to the halcyon days of his being the BCIB. Age never loses when she plays the game, and he is a 35 year old catcher who regularly plays 130-135 games a season. However, the defensive numbers may be a bit stickier and could give the team some real value if he can hold up through the summer. We’re so used to seeing Realmuto play through nagging injuries, but it seems more and more that those injuries are lingering longer. Calls for his to have less playing time will likely fall on deaf ears, but as we have said each year for <checks watch> forever, saving some innings on his body would go a long way.

Aaron Nola is cooked

Nola’s 2025 season was marred with ineffectiveness and injury. When he was off the mound, the team needed to come up with innings to cover his absence. When he was on the mound, some wondered if that absence could somehow be extended. The numbers he produced were easily the worst of his career, yet optimists could handwave it away with a simple blame of injury. It was easy to think this, that the injuries and innings were taking their toll. This season began with his having a good showing in the World Baseball Classic, hopefully a good omen for the season to come and a cause for optimism for the coming season.

Sadly, in April, Nola showed that maybe 2025 is the new norm. Or is it?

There are lots of various pitching models out there that grade the stuff of a pitcher. How reliant you are on them to tell you a story might cloud your judgement of Nola and his path forward from here. At this point, his numbers over the 2025 season and the start to his 2026 would paint the picture of a rotation workhorse that is starting to see the innings totals begin to take their toll. Nola’s baseball card numbers showed a pitcher with a 6.03 ERA, not a whole heck of a lot of that unlucky and more questions about his future with the team. Dig a little deeper and the picture does look a little bit rosier.

He’s striking out about the same amount of hitters that he usually does. His control isn’t the control we’ve come to know from Nola, but it also isn’t in the red yet. There is a tinge of bad luck surrounding his game (.343 BABIP), and the Phillies’ defense does stink, but there have been a lot of weak contact from him (6.1%, the highest of his career) that is finding the holes in the field, suggesting maybe the baseball gods are against him. He’s getting barreled more often and that’s entirely a him thing, but there is a bit of luck involved.

It’s the stuff that is a bit more encouraging. Using Stuff+, he has a really good pitch (knucklecurve, 121 Stuff+), two decent pitches (both fastballs, sinker and four-seam, 105 each), one that is slightly below average (cutter, 90) and a pitch that is pretty rough (changeup, 66). The results don’t exactly trend with those numbers as a few of those, at least by wOBA, are getting destroyed.

The fastballs have been steadily getting worse by the season, somewhat expected considering he’s reliant on location when using them. It’s the secondaries where there have been good results when hitters hit them. The changeup and curveball have been effective and probably should see an uptick in their usage.

Another issue with Nola has been how he has fared with left handed hitters. The difference between lefties (.909 OPS) vs. righties (.688 OPS) has been stark. Left handers are crushing his fastball right now, posting a .654 wOBA against the pitch even as he uses it a third of the time when they are in the box. A key to his having a better season moving forward would be a better pitch mix when facing left handed hitters.

Verdict: Fake (but it’s really close). Expectations for Nola moving forward probably should be ratcheted down quite a bit, if they haven’t been already. The days of his being an co-Ace are long gone, as are the days of his being a #2 or even a #3. If he can still settle into a #4 role, using his stuff in a better manner as he did on Monday night, the team might be able to use that well.

The Phillies badly need another outfielder

Check your preseason Phillies Bingo card. Did you have Brandon Marsh as a possible All-Star candidate?

The national narrative surrounding the team is that their outfield is bad and needs an upgrade (or two). In his most recent article where he decided to try and trade Mike Trout to the Phillies, Keith Law used that line to describe the team’s current outfield state.

The most obvious trade partner is the Phillies, who need help in the outfield corners and would get an immediate bump from bringing a local star.

As a whole unit, the team’s outfield ranks in the bottom third in OPS (.671, 22nd in MLB), so there’s truth to that statement. Marsh has been very good this season, though most of his damage has come against right handed pitching (.919 OPS against RHP, .432 against LHP). Justin Crawford is getting leeway this year with his offense, just needing to tread water for the most part, something he has done solidly thus far. Adolis Garcia hasn’t had the power arrive just yet, but the at bats have been quality thus far and defensively, he has made a difference.

It still just feels like there needs to be something more.

Verdict: Real. By the time the trade deadline rolls around, the team will probably know what they need with the outfield. How they continue to view Crawford both now and in the future will likely determine the course of action they choose with this group. If they believe that there is another gear for him to take, holding on to him and continuing to let him develop at the major league level probably means they don’t make a move for an outfielder. If they can find someone to platoon with Marsh, it would make for a more effective situation for their overall offense.

Of course, one can argue that this should have been done already at this point, but that just feels pointless right now.

You all know that the Cubs struggled for the first 16 games of 2026, going 7-9.

Since then it’s been almost all winning — 10 straight, then three losses, and now entering Wednesday night’s game against the Reds on a seven-game winning streak (and also 13 consecutive wins at Wrigley Field).

I decided to see how this year’s 24-12 start ranked in franchise history.

Just four teams in Cubs franchise history had more wins over their first 36 games than the 2026 edition. You’ll be pleased to know that three of those four Cubs clubs made the World Series and two of those were World Series champions:

Chances are if you are reading this article, you’re close to done with Bo Naylor. If you’re ok waiting longer and seeing if he can figure things out, welcome to the ranks of the few, the proud, the patient to a fault.

Here we are on May 6th and Bo Naylor has a 6 wRC+ and a 23.5/7.1 K/BB%. Among MLB players with 80 or more plate appearances this season, Bo and Ke’Bryan Hayes are the worst hitters so far. Interestingly, both Naylor and Hayes have expected weighted on-base averages of around .300 and actual weighted on-base averages of .180-.190. Hayes has a batting-average on balls in play of .123 and Bo is at .155. A wOBA of around .300 would be around 90 wRC+, which would be more than acceptable for a catcher in MLB (and for Hayes with his excellent defense, but this article isn’t about Ke’Bryan Hayes).

So, is Bo simply unlucky? Well… pretty much. Naylor has the lowest swinging-strike rate of his career, he is not going outside the zone more than his career norms, he has career highs in zone-contact rate and overall contact rate, and he’s running a career high barrel rate. His batted-ball date for groundballs, fly balls and line drives looks solid, also. I really hate to tell you this, guys, but Bo Naylor seems to be simply having one of the most unlucky starts to a season we’ve ever seen.

It’s obviously notable that pitchers on the Guardians do not seem to throw as well with Bo behind the plate. Guardians’ pitchers have an ERA of right around 4 with Bo and a 3.34 ERA with Austin Hedges. How much of that is Bo’s fault is virtually impossible to say. Bo is around average in blocking and pop-time, and in the 72nd percentile for framing. He’s not been good with catching would-be basestealers, but neither has Austin Hedges, so I’d tend to blame this on the pitchers and those coaching them on how to hold runners. Overall, Bo still looks like an average defender by the numbers, and, if the team has issues with his pitch-calling and/or receiving, it’ll be up to them to come to grips with that. They could always call pitches from the dugout as needed.

Of course, as luck would have it, the Guardians do have two catchers absolutely lighting up the statsheets as hitters in Triple-A Columbus. Kody Huff has a 140 wRC+ and an 18.9/11.1 K/BB% with a .333 BABIP. Cooper Ingle has a 246 wRC+ with a 19/33 K/BB% with a .480 BABIP. Recently, Guardians executive James Harris made it clear the team does not believe Ingle is not ready to play catcher at the major league level. When will that change – who can say? As for Huff, of course, there is no way to know that 140 wRC+ would translate at all to the majors. But, in general, Huff has a great defensive reputation. Does there a come a point where the Guardians just acknowledge that Bo is immensely snake-bit as a hitter and admit some frustrations with his pitch-calling and handling?

To be honest, I find that unlikely. I think until the time would come where Bo’s underlying metrics come more in line with his actual production, we are going to see him continue to get the lionshare of plate appearances to try to figure things out. And, while I am not opposed to getting a look at any player who is dominating in Triple-A, I think that patience is probably the right decision here.

Throw your tomatoes, folks. We are going to get more Bo for a while. Let’s all just hope he can start to right the ship – and hope the same for Steven Kwan, Jose Ramirez and Kyle Manzardo while we’re at it.

The Astros Curse has now taken Carlos Correa for the season, further testing the depth of the organization.

Whitcomb was optioned to Triple-A Sugar Land Monday when the team recalled C Cesar Salazar in light of an injury to starting C Yainer Diaz.

The injury to Correa allows the Astros to recall Whitcomb while bypassing the mandatory waiting period.

Whitcomb is batting .269 for the Space Cowboys with an .835 OPS. He has produced 4 HR, 10 RBI and 4 SB in 13 games and 52 AB for Sugar Land.

Whitcomb was sparsely used in his previous stint with the Astros this season. In 10 games, he 1 for 13 with a 3-run HR.

With the latest Baseball America Top 100 prospect rankings dropping this morning, the Mariner farmhands were well represented up and down the list. Featuring five of the M’s top prospects, both Colt Emerson and Kade Anderson found themselves inside the top ten of all minor leaguers, with Emerson appearing at #4 and Anderson at #9. In fact, if prospects who have already made their major league debuts are removed from the list, those numbers improve to #3 and #6 respectively, with Konnor Griffin, Trey Yesavage, and Payton Tolle all on the cusp of graduation. It’s clear the industry is bullish on the 1-2 punch atop this system, and with their combination of talent and youth, it’s easy to see why.

Ryan Sloan, the Mariners #3 prospect by most outlets, appears on the list at #20, though his non-debuted rank would push him all the way up #12 overall. Sloan was challenged with an aggressive promotion to Double-A this season and has looked more human than many expected him to after a dominant spring, but still just 20 years old, his package of physicality, command, and stuff makes him one of the best pitching prospects in the game.

The final two M’s to make the list, both Lazaro Montes (#60) and Michael Arroyo (#87) are excelling in Double-A Arkansas and have looked good to begin this 2026 season. Montes, who’s off to an exceptionally hot start, is flaunting his tremendous power seemingly every game, and Arroyo, whose numbers aren’t entirely reflective of how he’s played thus far, is still commanding the strike zone well and is incredibly polished at the plate. Both are in line to compete for a big league promotion some time in the next calendar year.

All five prospects featured in the rankings play at the Double-A level or higher, a fantastic indicator for the overall health of this system. All of these players are well below the average age of their competitors, and they’ve been capable of holding their own despite their youth. There is a promising young core of Mariner talent biding their time in the minor leagues, and fans should be ecstatic about the future prospects of this ballclub.