Category: Sports News

Since their first World Series run in 2017, the Astros have produced, traded for, and developed a huge amount of pitching talent. From Cy Young winners like Dallas Keuchel and Gerrit Cole, to future Hall of Famers like Zack Greinke and Justin Verlander, the Astros have had no shortage of pitching excellence in their domination of the AL over the past decade or so.

Now, the Astros’ rotation of 2026 has certainly seen better days. Hunter Brown remains one of the top-end arms in the AL, if not MLB, but outside of him are major question marks, including unknown international talent, baby-faced rookies, and former top prospects who bounce between the bullpen and the rotation as needed.

Last year, the Astros strung together some solid numbers:

• ERA 3.86 – 11th in the league
• Earned Runs 619 – 19th in the league
• Walks 508 – 16th in the league
• Strikeouts 1504 – 2nd in the league

While the Astros were not the dominant force they’ve been in the past, they certainly gave the Mariners and the rest of the AL a run for their money. Fortunately for the Mariners, the Astros have had some major shake-ups in their rotation. While the addition of Tatsuya Imai may alleviate some of the issues that could arise, it’s hard to say whether Imai will be as good as some of the guys who have already departed.

Notable Departures and Injuries

Framber Valdez(LHP) signed as a free agent with the Detroit Tigers. While Valdez has been supplanted as the ace of the Astros’ staff, there’s no doubt that he was a core piece of the Astros’ rotation and will be sorely missed. We will see if Imai can successfully replace the hole in the rotation left by the left-hander.

Hayden Wesneki(RHP) was acquired before the 2025 season as part of the Kyle Tucker trade. After making a handful of starts, he suffered a UCL tear, leading to Tommy John surgery. Wesneki is likely to return at some point this coming season, but with setbacks, it remains to be seen when that will be.

Ronel Blanco (RHP) had a breakout 2024, including a no-hitter, and was set to be a major part of the Astros’ rotation in 2025. However, early in the season, Blanco suffered a right elbow injury and underwent Tommy John surgery. The young phenom is expected to make his return after the 2026 All-Star break.

Notable Arrivals

Mike Burrows(RHP), Roddery Muñoz(RHP), Tatsuya Imai(RHP),  Trey McLoughlin(RHP), Ryan Weiss(RHP)

Minor League Contracts

Kelvin Herrera (RHP), Maximiliano Villanueva (RHP),  Ángel Alcántara (RHP), Ángel Brito (RHP), César Pastrano (RHP),  Thomas Sveyda (LHP)

The Rotation

Player	Age	Throws	IP	K/BB	ERA	FIP	WAR
Hunter Brown	27	R	183	3.26	3.35	3.45	3.8
Cristian Javier	29	R	148	2.18	4.68	4.79	1.2
Tatsuya Imai	28	R	153	2.33	4.38	4.29	1.7
Mike Burrows	26	R	131	2.91	4.11	4.18	1.6
Lance McCullers Jr.	32	R	109	2.00	4.39	4.47	1.0
Spencer Arrighetti	26	R	86	2.25	4.46	4.55	0.5
Ryan Weiss	29	R	90	2.62	4.24	4.24	0.7

The obvious headline here is the departure of Framber Valdez and the arrival of Tatsuya Imai. In Valdez, the Astros have lost one of the top lefty starters in the league to the Tigers, a team they could absolutely see in October. However, the price tag was not as eye-popping as I would have expected: just 3 years, $115 million, and a mutual option for 2029. The feeling around the league seems to be that the market never really materialized for Valdez. While I’m sure the Astros likely made a competitive offer, following an incident late in the season in which Valdez seemingly crossed up his own catcher, major concerns and rumors about his personality and locker-room presence began to circulate in the league.

In response, the Astros have taken a chance and signed their first Japanese player, Tatsuya Imai. Imai has spent the last eight years rising through the Japanese NPB ranks and has strung together some very impressive seasons for the Seibu Lions, establishing himself as one of the top pitchers in Japan. The right-hander distinguished himself right away by stating his preference to “take down” Ohanti, Yamamoto, and Sasaki as opposed to joining them on the Dodgers. Imai has big shoes to fill in Houston, but could be just the stabilizing presence the rotation needs.

The Astros also sought out domestic rotation depth, acquiring Mike Burrows in a three-team trade earlier this offseason. Burrows had a solid 2025 in limited innings for the Pirates and has impressed so far in spring training for the Astros. So far this spring, Burrows has not allowed a run in 12 innings of work while striking out 15. While the projections have not been kind to Burrows despite his solid spring performance, the Astros have very recently had success turning an above-average Pirates starter into a bona fide Cy Young superstar. Let’s all hope he falls back to earth.

The Arm Barn

Role	Player	Age	Throws	IP	K/BB	ERA	FIP	WAR
Closer	Bryan Abreu	29	R	68	3.19	2.98	3.11	1.5
Setup	Bryan King	29	L	67	3.28	3.68	3.9	0.5
Setup	Enyel De Los Santos	30	R	60	2.72	4.14	4.31	0.1
Middle	Steven Okert	34	R	64	3.14	3.86	4.00	0.4
Middle	Bennett Sousa	31	L	50	3.00	3.58	3.74	0.2
Swing	Roddery Muñoz	26	R	52	2.18	4.57	4.75	-0.1
Swing	Kai-Wei Teng	27	R	55	2.23	4.43	4.38	0.1
IL	Josh Hader	32	L	66	3.63	3.22	3.28	1.5
IL	Nate Pearson	29	R	54	2.27	4.41	4.49	0.0

There is seemingly very little turnover in the Astros bullpen going into 2026. The Astros have made a habit of bouncing young starter prospects into the bullpen, often for deep playoff runs. The two Bryans, Abreu and King, are both products of the Astros system. They have both turned in several excellent seasons and look to continue doing so in 2026. On top of the Bryans, the bullpen also looks to feature Ronel Blanco and Hayden Wesneski, both also Astros products, though they’re not likely to feature until later this year. As I mentioned earlier, Blanco threw a no-hitter in 2024, but isn’t expected to return until after the All-Star break. Similarly, Wesneski is also returning from a UCL injury; his return is unknown.

In more recent years, they have brought in veterans for the bullpen but generally avoid the journeymen who so often make up major league bullpens around the league. Josh Hader is a familiar name around the league and was a big get for the Astros’ pen back in 2024. Hader has served as the Astros’ closer since then, and nothing looks to change in 2026. The Astros also feature a variety of veteran arms. Enyel De Los Santos, Steven Okert, and Bennett Sousa are all journeymen who have featured for teams across the league in the past few years. They all have had some success out of the Astros’ pen recently and will likely be crucial for a team, rotation, and bullpen that has been plagued by injuries over the last few seasons.

Overall, the Astros do not have the dominant star-studded rotations of their golden years. Injuries and unhappy players have robbed some of their young prospects of crucial development and opportunity. Still, this season seems to mark a new start. New young talent, high-level contributors returning from injury, and potential cancers excised from the locker room; the Astros could be poised for a return to form in 2026.

Is the game on TV?

It is. First pitch at 1:05 PM on NESN.

What’s the lineup

What should we watch for?

Happy green Red Sox jersey day! Honestly, that’s always kind of a fun thing to watch, though I wonder if the new City Connects will dilute the novelty a bit. As for actual game play, let’s see if Masatka Yoshida can keep his red hot WBC hitting going, and let’s see how Sonny Gray looks as he approaches his first regular season start with the Sox.

More rule changes are coming to baseball — sort of.

On Monday, FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen reported the details of a document circulating in MLB front offices that is to be passed down to managers and coaches throughout each organization. Minor League Baseball will pilot several more new rule changes during the 2026 season, some of which are likely to remain in the lower levels of the game as player-development aids rather than eventually becoming major league rules.

Here’s the short and sweet of it:

1. Complex League/DSL pitchers allowed to re-enter
2. Expansion of ABS System and Check Swing Adjudication
3. Pitch clock changes
4. Second base positioning

Let’s go through each of these and break them down.

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The first rule change involves pitchers re-entering games.

“Arizona Complex League, Florida Complex League, and Dominican Summer League games, the starting pitcher will be permitted to re-enter a game after being removed.”

No, this isn’t some reversion to Little League. It’s about “player health and development,” according to Longenhagen. If you’ve ever been to a Complex League Game, or even Single-A for that matter, you know things can get out of hand pretty fast when a starter doesn’t have it. Bullpens get used up throughout the week, inevitably leading to some second baseman who threw a couple of innings in high school finishing off the game.

So MiLB’s answer to this problem is removing a pitcher and letting them come back in at some point later on. Weird? Yes, but it makes sense. There are also a couple of stipulations that must be met. The pitcher “must throw at least 25 pitches in the inning during which he is removed,” to be eligible for re-entry, and he can only do so in the inning after his removal. This can be done once per game and only starting pitchers are allowed to do so.

The idea here is to limit that single-inning pitch count and spare a struggling youngster some wear-and-tear on his arm without completely removing him from the game. That was he can still get experience sitting between innings and going back out to start a fresh frame. How often will teams want to trot a guy who can’t get out of an inning back to the mound remains to be seen, but it’s a decent rule in theory, especially at the lowest level of professional ball.

BYB Says: Good for the game, kind of.

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This next change shouldn’t be all that shocking. The Automatic Ball-Strike System (ABS) and Check-Swing Adjudication are coming to the Pacific Coast League.

“The Pacific Coast League will use the ABS Challenge system and follow the same rules that have been adopted at the Major League level for the 2026 season. Consistent with past seasons, MLB will monitor gameplay to determine if there is a desire to test changes at a later point in the season. Beginning on May 5, 2026, the batter, pitcher, or catcher may also appeal the umpire’s decision regarding whether the batter swung at a pitch. A swing will be considered to have occurred if the maximum angle between the bat head and the bat handle exceeds 45 degrees. This rule was tested in the Florida State League and Arizona Fall League in 2025.

This doesn’t really matter to Tigers fans. The Toledo Mud Hens are in the International League, which has already had ABS since 2024. The Check-Swing Challenge won’t be coming to the International League, but umpires will begin calling swings and no-swings based on the 45-degree threshold mentioned above, starting May 5. This is clearly to reduce strikeouts, and there will be very few checked swings ruled as swings with 45 degrees past the line of the fron of the place now the standard.

The Florida State League, in which the Lakeland Flying Tigers play, will have both systems in use as the PCL. “Teams have 2 challenges that may be used for ball/strike calls or swing/no-swing calls.”

With ABS making its way to The Show, one would think the Check-Swing Adjudication system is next. Testing it at higher levels matters, but these things take time. It’s also pretty jarring to see where the line is between a swing and no swing. Using the system to be sure is one thing, changing the definition of a check or no-check swing is a different matter entirely.

BYB Says: Robots are the future. Deal with it.

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MLB is always trying to speed up the game. The introduction of the pitch clock helped, but that’s not enough… apparently.

This is a multi-parter, so break down the breakdown.

PitchCom Safe Harbor: Have you ever watched a game and thought, “Yeah, he’s lying about having a PitchCom issue to buy more time?” This is for you!

“In Triple-A teams will be assessed a mound visit if play is stopped for the purpose of addressing an issue with PitchCom.”

If a team doesn’t have a mound visit remaining, that’s an automatic ball. Take that, you cheats and liars!

Teams will probably need a dedicated employee responsible for keeping the PitchCom systems working perfectly if they don’t already. No more gaming the Coms!

Defensive Signals: This one is weirder.

“At all levels, the clock will no longer stop and reset when the catcher leaves his position to give defensive signals.”

So, if the catcher comes out to give bunt-coverage signals or first-and-third signals, he better do it fast. If he doesn’t get back in the catcher’s box with nine seconds left on the clock, that’s an automatic ball.

This feels unnecessary, but maybe it’s an issue that I’m not noticing. Defensive signals matter. Baseball is a strategic game and keeping the defense all on the same page in a high leverage situation is crucial. Rushing the mental aspect feels like it will upset the ancestors, but I suppose they aren’t around to grumble for a reason?

Mound Visits: Okay, this one is funny.

“At all levels, mound conferences must end and all coaches and players, other than the pitcher, must be off the dirt of the mound and moving toward their positions or the dugout before the mound visit clock reaches zero.“

I love it when a coach or manager has something they want to say to an umpire, so they wait for them to come out and break up the mound meeting, only to get an earful of whatever perceived grievance is ruffling feathers that day. It’s good stuff, but also let’s be adults and just shout at each other from the dugout when that needs to happen. Overall, this is good. Less stalling, even if it means a bullpen guy has to rush to get ready.

Batter Timeouts:

• “Double-A & Triple-A. When a batter requests time, the home plate umpire will grant time, point at the batter, then immediately reset the Pitch Clock. Batters must return to the batter’s box and become alert to the pitcher before the clock reaches 8 seconds remaining.“
• “High-A. Batters will only be permitted to request time with runners on base (i.e., batters will not be permitted to request time with the bases empty). Umpires may continue to grant time if a special circumstance applies (e.g., hitter is brushed back, there is bona fide equipment issue, or injury concern).“
• “Single-A. Batters will not be permitted to request time. As in High-A, umpires may continue to grant time if a special circumstance applies (e.g., hitter is brushed back, there is a bona fide equipment issue, or injury concern).“

Single-A guys are getting the short stick here, but the umpire’s special circumstance discretion should be just enough to keep things reasonable. Sometimes, guys need a second to compose themselves, but keeping the game moving is important, especially at the low levels.

Disengagement Limit: This feels like the most important one of the bunch.

“In Double-A, the Disengagement Limit will be reduced from 2 to 1. When there are runners on base, pitchers may pickoff or step off once during a plate appearance without penalty.”

No one likes to watch 15 pickoff attempts in a row, but there are speedsters who warrant a throw or two to keep them honest. In my opinion, this is too easy to exploit. One pickoff attempt and then a guy can take a much, much bigger lead and swipe a bag. It’s going to make runners more aggressive, and maybe that will lead to some fun plays by catchers, but it feels like a slippery slope. Testing it at one level is smart.

BYB Says: Does baseball need to be this fast? Maybe the minor leagues do…

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Last but certainly not least is the positioning of second base change.

“International League second base will be placed entirely within the perimeter of the infield diamond during the second half.”

First off, terrible wording. The “second half” refers to the second half of the season, and the language about where the base is actually moving is unclear. The short answer is that the back of first and third base line up with the middle of second base. The goal is to move the base in a bit to make the diamond an actual diamond and shorten the distance between the bases, which encourages stealing.

Maybe this image will help, courtesy of the Official Baseball Rules 2021 Edition:

This decreases the distance between first and second, and second and third, by 9 inches, which is double what MLB did by increasing the size of the bases.

BYB Says: Every inch matters.

Alright MLB, we get it. You want more balls in play and more offense in general, and you’ll do anything to get what you want. Other than forcing teams to cut their infield grass, apparently. All these things are just being tested, so we’ll have to see how teams react to their minor league implementation, but they really are forcing it at this point.

The Milwaukee Brewers have announced their plan to air 10 games on over-the-air stations in Wisconsin in 2026, anchored by WITI Fox 6 in Milwaukee.

Those games include Opening Day on Thursday, March 26 against the White Sox, with a first pitch at 1:10 p.m. Other simulcasts will all occur on Tuesday night games, with the full schedule included below.

• Thursday, March 26 vs. White Sox (1:10 p.m.)
• Tuesday, March 31 vs. Rays (6:40 p.m.)
• Tuesday, April 28 vs. Diamondbacks (6:40 p.m.)
• Tuesday, May 12 vs. Padres (6:40 p.m.)
• Tuesday, May 19 @ Cubs (6:40 p.m.)
• Tuesday, June 2 vs. Giants (6:40 p.m.)
• Tuesday, August 4 vs. Pirates (6:40 p.m.)
• Tuesday, August 18 vs. Mariners (6:40 p.m.)
• Tuesday, August 25 @ Mets (6:10 p.m.)
• Tuesday, September 8 vs. Cubs (6:40 p.m.)

The channels participating in the simulcasts are as follows:

• Milwaukee: WITI Fox 6
• Madison: WISC-TV, TVW
• La Crosse-Eau Claire: WKBT-TV
• Marquette, Michigan: WJMN-TV
• Duluth-Superior: KDLH-TV, KBJR-TV
• Wausau-Rhinelander: WSAW-TV, WZAW-LD, WYOW
• Green Bay: WGBA-TV, WACY-TV

The Atlanta Braves are in their final countdown of their excellent spring showing and Reynaldo López looks to continue his ramp up before hopefully being a key member of a Braves 2026 rebound.

López has looked good this spring in his 9.0 innings pitched. He has only allowed six hits, and one earned run so far while striking out eight. Hitters are only hitting .182 against him thus far. The few areas that give pause is that he has walked four hitters and his groundout to air out ratio is only 0.36. If he wants to maintain success, he needs to keep the ball out of the air.

The Braves will face Sonny Gray in Ft. Myers. Gray has only pitched 5.1 innings this spring and has struggled in limited action. ERA in small sample sizes can be deceiving, but even if we look beyond his 6.75 we see that he has three walks to only five strikeouts while giving up four hits to include two HRs. Hitters have been able to maintain a .300 average against him. Again, small sample size and he will likely pitch much better in the regular season.

As the spring comes to a close, there are a few spots left on the bench that are not finalized for the Braves. Kyle Farmer, Dominic Smith, and José Azócar have all made strong cases if we are looking at this spring training in a vacuum. They carry an OPS of .986, .804, and .832 respectively. Based on their platoon splits, there are arguments to be made that both Farmer and Smith make the team on Opening Day.

Azócar and Farmer will both get the chance today to boost their case for making the Opening Day roster with each getting the start against RHP Sonny Gray.

There could be an argument to be made that Camargo and León may have an outside shot to win the backup catcher role over Heim, but the odds seem slim at this point even though Camargo has hit two bombs this spring.

López is going to get a good test today. In his previous starts this spring he has not seen many full time MLB starters. He will get that test in the game today as the Red Sox have many of their starters in the lineup.

As can be seen in the lineup above, many of these players in the lineup are having fantastic showings this spring. The good news is that in spring training the games are to ramp up and this will be a good training opportunity for López. Baseball Reference has this fun tool called OppQual to measure the difficulty of opponents in the spring. A 7.0 is AA level on average, 8.0 is AAA, and 10.0 is MLB. So far López is at a 7.5. That will change after today.

Game Notes

Time: 1:05 ET

TV: Gray TV

Radio: ESPN 103.7/WIFN 1340

The long night of the offseason is approaching its conclusion! Pitchers and catchers report to the Tampa spring training complex in nine days as of the time that this post goes up, and we’ll have exhibition games beginning on February 20th against the Orioles. Opening Day in San Francisco is just over a month after that, on March 25th.

Whether you’re following all the early Yankees activity on social media or just waiting until Opening Day to tune in, Pinstripe Alley has you covered with our annual season preview series. Every weekday from now until the real action begins, we’ll delve into a player who is expected to be either on the Opening Day roster or a key part of the Yankees’ system. There are always some surprises in spring training and unexpected injuries, so the people we run through will be subject to change, but we will endeavor to hit the most important names in camp.

So follow along with us! This article will live near the top of our homepage throughout spring training and the first couple weeks of April, serving as the tracker for all of our season previews. The links will be updated daily as new players are profiled. You can see our tentative schedule below.

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David Bednar
Cody Bellinger
Paul Blackburn
José Caballero
Oswaldo Cabrera
Jazz Chisholm Jr.
Angel Chivilli
Gerrit Cole
Fernando Cruz
Jasson Domínguez
Camilo Doval
J.C. Escarra
Max Fried
Luis Gil
Trent Grisham
Tim Hill
Aaron Judge
Ryan McMahon
Ben Rice
Carlos Rodón
Amed Rosario
Cam Schlittler
Clarke Schmidt
Giancarlo Stanton
Anthony Volpe
Will Warren
Ryan Weathers
Austin Wells
Ryan Yarbrough
Spencer Jones
George Lombard Jr.
Elmer Rodríguez
Dax Kilby
Ben Hess
Carlos Lagrange
Cade Winquest

Player order and selection subject to change following any future Yankees transactions.