While we wait for Blake Snell and Brock Stewart to continue their rehab assignments on Sunday with Triple-A Oklahoma City, here’s a recap of Friday night in the Dodgers minor leagues.

Player of the day

Earlier on Friday, outfielder Josue De Paula remained in the top spot in Kiley McDaniel’s updated Dodgers team prospect rankings at ESPN, though there was some movement in the top five, including Zyhir Hope up to second in the system and shortstop Emil Morales up to fourth.

De Paula had two hits for Tulsa on Friday, including a three-run double in the seventh inning that broke the game open.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

The Comets added three runs in the seventh inning and three more in the ninth to pull away from the Round Rock Express (Rangers).

Jack Suwinski’s two hits drove in the first two runs for the Comets, with a second-inning double and fourth-inning single. The outfielder has a seven-game hitting streak, including an extra-base hit in each of those seven contests. His last three games have been two-hit affairs.

Suwinski also walked to open up a three-run seventh, during which Oklahoma City benefitted from a no-out fielder’s choice, an error, and a wild pitch by old friend Alexis Díaz.

Jerming Rosario struck out five in two scoreless innings of relief, but after the Comets widened their lead to 8-1, he was not brought back out for the ninth, robbing us of a potential three-inning save.

Double-A Tulsa

The Drillers outfield was productive in a win over the San Antonio Missions (Padres). In addition to De Paula, Hope had two hits as well and drove in Tulsa’s first run of the night. Kendall George drove in the go-ahead run by getting hit by a pitch in the seventh, also singled, and scored twice. The outfielders combined for five hits, five RBI, and four runs scored.

After a one of his two blow-up starts this season last Friday, Payton Martin matched his season high with five innings with deuces wild against San Antonio, allowing two runs with two walks and two strikeouts.

Shortstop Elijah Hainline was hit by a pitch in the right hand in the fourth inning and was examined by a team trainer, but remained in the game and played the rest of the way.

High-A Great Lakes

Great Lakes in April set franchise records for both wins (16) and home runs (28) while averaging 5.92 runs per game, and started off May with a shutout loss to the Peoria Chiefs (Cardinals). The game was tight nearly the whole way, 1-0 until Peoria piled on with five runs in the top of the ninth inning. It’s the first time the Loons were shut out in 2026.

Starter Logan Tabeling pitched a career-high six innings, and struck out six with only one walk, and allowed a run on four hits in a tough-luck loss. The 24-year-old right-hander has a 2.37 ERA with a 19.2-percent strikeout-minus-walk rate in his 19 innings this year.

The Loons had only five hits in the game, including a double and single by center fielder Eduardo Quintero.

Class-A Ontario

Ricardo Montero and Jecsua Liborius combined to allow five runs in a busy seventh inning in Ontario’s home loss to the Lake Elsinore Storm (Padres).

Morales homered, tripled, walked, drove in two runs, and scored two. He leads the Tower Buzzers in hits (32), extra-base hits (16), and runs batted in (27) in his 23 games.

Mairo Martinus had a two-run triple. He played right field on Friday, for the fourth time this season, to go with 13 starts at second base and two games in center field. Last year he started games at second, third, shortstop, and all three outfield positions.

Isaac Ayon struck out four and walked one with one unearned run allowed in his four-inning start.

Transaction

Class-A: Nineteen-year-old catcher Francisco Espinoza joined Ontario from Arizona, filling in for Anson Aroz, the switch-hitter drafted in the 19th round last year out of Oregon who is still active but last played on Sunday.

Friday scores

• Oklahoma City 8, Round Rock 1
• Tulsa 7, San Antonio 2
• Peoria 6, Great Lakes 0
• Lake Elsinore 10, Ontario 7

Saturday schedule

• 3:35 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Christian Zazueta) vs. Peoria (Nate Dohm)
• 5 p.m.: Tulsa (Wyatt Crowell) vs. San Antonio (Ian Koenig)
• 5:05 p.m.: Oklahoma City (TBA) at Round Rock (Kyle Funkhouser)
• 6:05 p.m.: Ontario (TBA) vs. Lake Elsinore (Tyler Schmitt)

Anne Rogers writes how Carter Jensen is still developing behind the plate.

Jensen has just 173 2/3 career innings behind the plate with Kansas City, and mistakes are going to happen for any player in this game, no matter how young and inexperienced they are. What matters most is how they respond, and Jensen is focused on learning from all of his mistakes.

“A lot of it is with Hoov, going over my game,” Jensen said. “We’re looking at strikes stolen, strikes lost. The throws I make. The blocks. Looking at everything as a whole and reflecting on pitch-calling and all that stuff. Learning how we attack guys and putting that to use for the next time.”

David Lesky is puzzled by the Royals’ road woes.

But leave Missouri and it gets real dark. They go from fifth-best to worst. And while they’ve closed the gap a bit, their wRC+ is 68 on the road. Next worst is at 75. They’ve averaged 2.6 runs per game on the road. Some of this is explained by opponent. They’ve played the Braves, Guardians, Tigers, Yankees and now A’s on the road. Just looking at ERA, those are the second-best, seventh-best, 11th-best, best and 17th-best pitching staffs in baseball, respectively. The A’s are the one meh staff there, and the Royals at least had some better at bats against them. At home, they’ve had the Twins, Brewers, White Sox, Orioles and Angels. Only one of those staffs is in the top half of the league.

Michelle Bogowith at Fox4 talks to Royals analytics head Daniel Mack on the decision to move in the fences.

But the biggest factor was the wind.

“On average, the way the wind patterns blow in Kauffman, makes the walls play as if they were 5 feet further back. So, it makes an already large stadium, even larger. That gave us an opportunity to say, ‘let’s start modeling what different stadium dimensions might do to account for that,” he described.

“Because we can still look at all those fly balls and looking at what the weather did to them, we can neutralize that, to show us what the impact of the wall is, so that we could find a good balance in left field and right field.”

Andres Chavez at Royals Keep writes that Seth Lugo has been the Royals’ most reliable pitcher so far.

Upper Deck Golf is coming to Kauffman Stadium.

Vahe Gregorian writes about how Hall of Fame Negro Leaguer Hilton Smith was memorialized with a new grave marker in Kansas City.

Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski throws 5.1 no-hit innings before exiting the game with cramps.

Munetaka Murakami hits his MLB-leading 13th home run for the White Sox.

How is ABS affecting offenses?

The lowest moments of the Mets’ season so far.

How last year’s free agent class has fared so far.

Brewers pitcher Angel Zerpa may need surgery.

Did the A’s leak a potential new name for when they move to Las Vegas?

Rays pitcher Ryan Pepiot will have hip surgery and miss the rest of the season.

Do manager firings really change team trajectories?

Closer Ryan Helsley becomes the 12th player on the Orioles’ Injured List.

The Orlando Magic suffer an epic collapse to force a Game 7 with the Pistons.

The 152 best names in Kentucky Derby history.

Chonkers the sea lion has become a viral sensation in San Francisco.

Spirit Airlines could shut down operations this weekend.

The most anticipated movies this summer.

Your song of the day is John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band with On the Dark Side.

Two of the three teams that were actually able to step onto the field on Friday came away with a win so let’s five into the action.

(20-11) Gwinnett Stripers 4, (14-17) Charlotte Knights 3

• Nacho Alvarez Jr., 3B: 1-4, HR, 3 RBI
• Rowdy Tellez, 1B: 1-3, HR, RBI, R, BB
• Brett Sears, SP: 3 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 4 K

Box Score

Gwinnett rode a huge sixth inning while staving off a late-inning comeback attempt en route to a win on Friday.

Making his first start at triple-A on the season — and only his third career start at the level — Brett Sears got the nod and while he only went three innings, he managed to keep Charlotte off the board. In his three frames of work, Sears limited the damage despite issuing three walks and two hits, but he also struck out four on the night as well.

The Stripers offense was held in check for the most part in this one, as Gwinnett was limited to just two baserunners — one hit — through the first five innings. In the sixth, however, things flipped on a dime in favor of the Stripers.

Brewer Hicklen led off the inning with a double and Sean Murphy walked two batters later. The biggest blow came off the bat of Nacho Alvarez Jr. who took a 1-0 fastball and launched it over the right field wall for his first homer of the year — a three-run shot to give the Stripers the 3-1 lead.

In the next at-bat, Rowdy Tellez decided to get in on the fun as he took the very next pitch and deposited it into the right field seats for his sixth homer of the season to extend the lead to 4-1 on the night for Gwinnett.

Despite giving up three runs, the Stripers’ bullpen managed to keep Charlotte at bay for the most part, as the three runs were just enough to allow in order to give Gwinnett the chance to win.

(13-11) Columbus Clingstones, (11-13) Montgomery Biscuits (POSTPONED)

Mother Nature got the better of this one as the game between Columbus and Montgomery was postponed due to weather.

(13-12) Rome Emperors 5, (16-9) Bowling Green Hot Rods 6

• Eric Hartman, CF: 3-6, 2B, 2 RBI
• John Gil, SS: 1-5, R, BB
• Isaiah Drake, RF: 1-6
• Colin Daniel, SP: 7 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K

Box Score

Rome ultimately came up short on Friday, losing by one run to Bowling Green. Still, there were a handful of individual performances that stood out on the night.

2025 draftee Colin Daniel made his fifth start of the season for Rome. Across seven innings, Daniel scattered three hits while allowing two runs and two walks. He also struck out six on the night as well.

For Daniel — who set an individual season-high for strikeouts on Friday — he has remarkably limited opposing batters to an average of just .180. However, it’s the walks (11) and homers (five) that have ultimately been his downfall this season. If he can manage to get that under control, Daniel could be a rather intriguing guy to keep an eye on in terms of a swing rotation guy or bullpen piece down the line.

At the plate, Eric Hartman continued his sweet swinging ways as the centerfielder went 3-6 with a double and a pair of RBI to his credit on Friday to pace the Emperors’ offense. So far on the year, Hartman is batting .323 with an OPS of 1.030.

Both John Gil and Isaiah Drake tallied a hit on the night, while Gil added a walk as well in the process.

(14-11) Augusta GreenJackets 4, (8-17) Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 3

• Tate Southisene, 2B: 1-3, R
• Juan Mateo, 3B: 2-3, 2B, RBI
• Alex Lodise, SS: 1-4, RBI, R
• Luis Guanipa, CF: 0-3, RBI
• Ethan Bagwell, SP: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 5 K

Box Score

Ethan Bagwell was dominant on the mound for Augusta on Friday as the GreenJackets parlayed his start into a victory over Kannapolis.

In his six innings of work, Bagwell scattered four hits and issued two walks while striking out five. The biggest pro of his performance is that he managed to keep the Cannon Ballers off the scoreboard.

Friday’s outing moves Bagwell’s ERA to 2.57 on the season and it was a nice bounce back for the young righty who had given up two or more runs in each of his previous three starts. Bagwell showed exellent command of his breaking pitches on Friday, especially his sweeper which he was able to locate extremely well both up and down in the zone.

At the plate, Juan Mateo led the charge with two hits, including a double, while also driving in a run as well. Tate SOuthisene and Alex Lodise each tacked on a hit with Lodise driving in and scoring a run as well.

While Luis Guanipa went 0-3 on the night, he did bring home a run via sacrifice fly to give himself an RBI on the night.

The Cubs came back home and got right back into a groove. When last we saw this team, they’d swept all seven games on a seven-game homestand. For those not keeping track at home, they also won the home game before that back on April 12. So this is now nine straight wins at Wrigley for the team. The last time the team had nine straight home wins was 2017.

It’s still relatively early. But this team is a study in contradictions. It doesn’t feel in any way like it is hitting on all cylinders. And yet, this team is accomplishing some unusual things. 10 game winning streaks. Nine game home winning streaks. These things don’t grow on trees. And yet, the bullpen feels like someone wrapped a bunch of duct tape around it. It’s hard to even know who some of these guys are if you don’t have a razor sharp awareness of bit players.

Then, even when a guy looks like maybe he’s going to step forward and be something more, he pulls away. Riley Martin felt like he was one of those guys who was maybe getting interesting. Then he got hurt. Ryan Rolison felt like he was someone to keep an eye on. Then he got roughed up by the Diamondbacks Friday afternoon. Granted, that offense will bite some guys along the way. But in just a few short batters, the game went from what looked like a comfortable win to needing to hold your breath. That said, hat tip for coming up with two strikeouts with the tying run on first to escape that inning. Not just any two either, but their third and fourth hitters.

Meanwhile, with the offense sputtering, Phil Maton came on and threw his first clean inning as a Cub, striking out two. He, too, has missed time with an injury. Hopefully, he is healthy now and turning a corner. But the even bigger surprise was Jacob Webb coming on and throwing two hitless innings, yielding only a walk while striking out three. For the first time, we see what the Cubs thought they had when they gave him a multi-year deal. To be fair, his deal isn’t one that particularly breaks the bank. But, the Cubs haven’t given a lot of multi-year deals to relievers.

The offense? It was relatively subdued. They had eight hits and four walks. Among the eight hits were three doubles. 16 times already they’ve had more than nine hits (13-3 record). 16 times they’ve had more walks (11-5). At 12 hits/walks combined, 20 times (15-5). So this was a little less than a middle of the road production-wise. How, then, did this one work? Two things went really well. One, Colin Rea was very good through five innings, running into trouble in the sixth. Secondly, the offense bunched all but one of those baserunners into the first four innings. Zac Gallen is a pretty good pitcher that they chased in less than four. He came into the game with a 3.14 ERA that is now 4.45.

Early offense. Good pitching. It’s a very good formula. Another win.

Three Positives:

• Michael Busch had two hits, one a double. He drove in two runs.
• Carson Kelly had two hits, both singles. He scored a run and drove in a run.
• Jacob Webb, six very important outs protecting a one-run lead.

Hat tip to Colin Rea, two outs short of a quality start.

Game 32, May 1: Cubs 6, Diamondbacks 5 (20-12)

Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.

THREE HEROES:

• Superhero: Jacob Webb (.274). 2 IP, 7 BF, BB, 3 K (Sv 1)
• Hero: Michael Busch (.153). 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI
• Sidekick: Colin Rea (.130). 5.1 IP, 25 BF, 8 H, 0 BB, 2 ER, 6 K (W 4-1)

THREE GOATS:

• Billy Goat: Ryan Rolison (-.210). 0.2 IP, 6 BF, 3 H, BB, 3 ER, 2 K
• Goat: Seiya Suzuki (-.086). 0-3, BB
• Kid: Matt Shaw (-.040). 0-3

WPA Play of the Game: With the bases loaded and two outs in a scoreless first inning, Michael Busch singled, scoring two runs. (.167)

*Diamondbacks Play of the Game: Geraldo Perdomo batted with runners on second and third with one out, the Cubs up four. He hit a three-run homer. (.159)

Cubs Player of the Game:

Game 31 Winner: Ben Brown 210 of 298 votes.

Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 3/Bottom 3)

The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.

• Nico Hoerner +9.5
• Michael Conforto +7
• Moisés Ballesteros/Daniel Palencia +5
• Pete Crow-Armstrong -8
• Matt Shaw/Seiya Suzuki -9

Current Win Pace: 101.25

Up Next: Game two of the three-game set Saturday afternoon. Shōta Imanaga (2-2, 2.88, 34.1 IP) makes his seventh start of the year. Last time out, he lost, allowing four earned runs in just 5.1 innings of work. He’ll look to bounce back. The Diamondbacks start 28-year-old Ryne Nelson (1-2, 7.71, 25.2 IP). He is also making his seventh start. Last time out, he allowed six runs over five innings of work. The time before that, he allowed eight runs while only recording one out. So he’s struggled of late. He was the 2019 second-round pick of the Diamondbacks (56th overall).

Let’s keep his struggles going and keep our streak rolling.

Go Cubs.

Good morning everyone and happy Saturday!

The Mariners lost a late-game thriller to the Royals last night 7-6. Hopefully things turn around soon for Bryan Woo, because we’re going to need him.

Importantly, today is Randy Johnson jersey retirement day! What is your favorite Big Unit memory from his time with the M’s?

In Mariners news…

• In case you missed it, the Mariners sent right-hander Matt Brash to the injured list with right lat inflammation and called up lefty Josh Simpson to take his place.
• We also got key updates on several injured players including Brendan Donovan, Bryce Miller, and Victor Robles.
• Daniel Kramer wrote up his key takeaways from the first month of the Mariners’ season.
• Jordan Shusterman discussed six minor leaguers who could make an impact at the big league level this year, including Mariners left-hander Kade Anderson.
• Zac Hereth checked in on some of last year’s Mariners who are now with other teams.
• Over at The Feed, ThatGroovyThing dug into how predictive “expected” stats are one month into the season.

Around the league…

• Rays right-hander Ryan Pepiot will undergo season-ending surgery on his right hip.
• Cubs infielder Nico Hoerner was pulled from yesterday’s contest with nick tightness.
• Brewers young righty Jacob Misiorowski exited yesterday’s game against the Nationals with a hamstring cramp. The hard-thrower was 5 1/3 innings into a no-hitter when he left the game.
• Oregon State right-hander and top 2027 draft prospect Dax Whitney will undergo UCL surgery. He is expected to be healthy prior to next year’s draft.
• J.J. Cooper at Baseball America pointed out that the MLB rulebook definition of the strike zone and the zone that is actually being called in games are two different things. ($)
• Much like Cole Young, Luis Arraez has seemingly turned himself into a good defensive second baseman overnight, writes Michael Rosen at Fangraphs.
• Kiley McDaniel at ESPN updated his list of the top 10 prospects in each organization.
• Zach Crizer wonders if we’ve entered a new era of the Pitch Design Revolution.
• These are fantastic.

Here's what happened in Mets Land on Friday, in case you missed it...

• Christian Scott's career-high-tying eight strikeouts, Ronny Mauricio's go-ahead home run fuel Mets' 4-3 comeback win at Angels
• Scott set the tone for Mets' comeback win over Angels with improved second start
• "It was something different": Mets' energy shifts in series-opening win at Angels
• Mets "don't intend" to move on from Carlos Mendoza, says David Stearns
• Mendoza explains Stearns' phone call about future as manager: "We all understand the situation"
• Stearns' once-lauded offseason moves appear to be main reason for Mets' early misery
• Mets Notes: Latest on Jorge Polanco, outfield plan for Juan Soto
• Back in New York as an Oriole, Pete Alonso thinks struggling Mets will be "just fine"
• On The Mets Pod, Connor and Joe examine if the Mets' team-building strategy is flawed, or is it just bad execution?

The San Diego Padres had the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the first inning. Ty France was standing in the batter’s box after Xander Bogaerts battled through an at-bat to draw a walk. France has been one of the hottest hitters on the Padres roster in recent weeks, but he was unable to help his team and grounded out to second base to end the inning, stranding three runners, two of which were in scoring position. As hard as that was to watch for San Diego fans, the top of the second inning was worse. German Marquez allowed six runs in the inning and the Padres were playing catchup for the rest of the game. San Diego was unable to overcome the deficit, despite the efforts of Fernando Tatis Jr. who had three hits in the game, and took an 8-2 loss at Petco Park to open the three-game series with Chicago. The Padres will look to have better performances all around when they host the White Sox at 5:40 p.m.

Padres News:

• It is not wrong to say the Padres are holding their starting rotation together with gum and paperclips. Walker Buehler, German Marquez and Matt Waldron have each had moments of success but have lacked consistency. That type of play has fans clamoring for Griffin Canning and Lucas Giolito, two pitchers who have yet to take the mound for the Padres, but either one could immediately step in as the No. 3 starter behind Michael King and Randy Vasquez.

• Xander Bogaerts took a lot of criticism during his first seasons in San Diego and rightfully so. After signing a massive free-agent contract he failed to live up to the expectations of the fanbase. To his credit, Bogaerts took the criticism in stride, kept his head down and kept working. He is seeing that work payoff with his most impactful and consistent start as a Padre.

• Jeremiah Estrada made his return to the Padres after a short IL stint and David Morgan who has been struggling with his command was sent down to Triple-A.

• Former Padres player and current White Sox manager Will Venable has his team playing well and they are showing no signs of slowing down.

Baseball News:

• Munetaka Murakami hit his 13th home run of the season to help the White Sox beat the Padres.

• Atlanta Braves get key home run from Michael Harris II to comeback to beat Colorado Rockies.

• Nick Kurtz of the Athletics reached base on a walk for the 20th consecutive game, tying Barry Bonds.

• Ildamaro Vargas of the Arizona Diamondbacks hit safely for the 24th consecutive game.

• Jacob Misiorowski was cruising in his start for the Miwaukee Brewer before a cramp cut his day short.

• Pete Alonso did exactly what you would expect from the Polar Bear’s return to Queens to face the New York Mets, he homered on the first pitch of his at-bat.

Alright, the Cardinals are back on top of the world following a road sweep of the Pirates and a game one win against the Dodgers on Friday. Today my main objective is to keep the good vibes rolling and focus on what has gone well across the organization so far in 2026! I will sprinkle in a few analytical points, but this is mostly just a fun list of the things going well thus far from top to bottom in the Cardinals organization. Let me know what I missed! 

The Cardinals’ strong start has not been driven by one fluky breakout. Across the major league roster and multiple minor league levels, there are real signs of progress. Here are eight of the most encouraging developments so far.

8. Triple-A Power Bats

Jimmy Crooks, Blaze Jordan, Cesar Prieto, and Joshua Baez have all hit 6+ home runs and are running isolated slugging percentages of .247 or greater through Memphis’ first 30 games. 

They all have warts as prospects, but I do not remember a time when the Cardinals had this much power percolating in the upper minors. The big birds have had a surprising amount of home run pop with the 7th most in baseball entering play on Friday, but after years of talking about needing to find power, there are finally options emerging at every turn. 

7. Minor League Pitchers Missing Bats

While most of the focus on minor league development is on individual performance, I thought it would be interesting to see how the minor league pitching staffs are doing in the aggregate. With the renewed focus on missing bats over the last few years on the player acquisition side, are the results starting to flow through? The below table shows the aggregate strikeout rates for each of the Cardinals’ full season farm teams, year-over-year.

Sure enough, every level in the system has seen an increase in strikeout rate year over year. The 25.9% aggregate K rate ranks fifth in baseball, tied with Seattle. This ranking is up from 11th in 2025 and 18th in 2024. 

It is interesting that this trend is most pronounced at the A and High-A levels, where a greater proportion of the players were acquired during the Bloom era. 

6. Alec Burleson and Ivan Herrera Solidifying Status as Impact Bats

After excellent 2025 seasons, both Herrera and Burleson are essentially matching last year’s production, with 2026 wRC+ marks of 141 and 123, respectively. There is nothing fluky about either of their stat lines as both have xwOBAs in the top 30 in baseball. I am a big fan and believer of both players, but neither has a particularly long track record of major league success, so the good offensive starts have been encouraging.  Despite bad luck on batted balls, Herrera is 10th in the majors in OBP thanks to a 17.5% walk rate and an MLB-leading total of HBPs. While some of the players further up the list have grabbed more headlines this year, Burly and Herrera have been a tough combo in the middle of the lineup. 

5. Riley O’Brien Being Awesome 

O’Brien emerging as a dominant closer was not completely out of nowhere, but certainly has been a welcome surprise. He ranks third in relief pitcher fWAR at .7. With a leaky bullpen and underwhelming pitching staff overall, O’Brien has been critical in helping the Cardinals in their early run at relevance. He ranks fourth among relief pitchers in ERA going back to the beginning of last season at 1.85. The advanced metrics are positive for O’Brien as well.  His Stuff+ has ticked up from 106 to 110, but thanks to his improved command, his Pitching+ is up to an elite 115. The ZiPS projection system likes what it sees, as O’Brien has improved his pre-season projected FIP from 3.99 to 3.55.

O’Brien is slowly establishing himself as a part of the team’s future core, or as one of their most attractive trade assets.

4. Rainiel Rodriguez Doing His Thing

It has been a relatively quiet start for some of the Cardinals higher-upside hitting prospects. Ryan Mitchell is striking out like crazy in low-A and Daniel Ortiz was injured in his first Double-A game. The system’s offensive star, Rainiel Rodriguez, is living up to his impossibly high expectations as he is running a 141 wRC+ in High-A as a 19-year-old. Even after a rough week, he maintains a 17/19 BB/K ratio and an isolated slugging percentage of .208. As a point of reference, Jordan Walker ran a 124 wRC+ with a 27% strikeout rate in his age 19 season in High-A. Nothing is guaranteed, but Rodriguez remains on a beeline for top 10 prospect in baseball status, if he keeps up his current trajectory. 

3. Tanner Franklin Emerges

Tanner Franklin has exploded onto the scene in Peoria. Through his first five starts with the High-A club, he is striking out 34.6% of the hitters he faces while walking only 7.7%. Coming into the year, the biggest questions for the converted reliever were whether he could maintain his stamina and control as he moved into the rotation. Despite being on a limited pitch count (seemingly around 60 or 70), he has completed four innings twice and walked 2 or fewer batters in every start. Baseball America has already referenced Franklin as a pitcher trending toward top 100 status. 

2. JJ Wetherholt Power

In his first 30 games, Wetherholt has lived up to the lofty expectations he had coming into the year. His defense has been surprisingly good, but his power has unexpectedly stolen the show. Coming into the season, many people, myself included, would have been happy if Wetherholt could contribute a slightly above average offensive line based on his excellent plate discipline and hit tool. It seemed reasonable to expect the power to come more slowly as he adapted to MLB pitching. Wetherholt has not only popped 7 home runs, he has posted a new career high exit velocity (108.7 MPH) and improved his 90th percentile EV from 103.7 MPH in Triple-A to 103.9 MPH in the bigs. Wetherholt with power is ridiculously fun to watch and also has the ceiling of a bona fide superstar.  

1. Air Jordan

No surprises here as Jordan Walker, even after a cold stretch, remains the story of the first month of the 2026 season. Walker has improved his Barrel % from the 66th to the 97th percentile year over year. His Launch Angle Sweet Spot has improved from the 5th percentile to the 84th percentile. Overall, he is getting the ball in the air 60.5% of the time after living in the low 50s his first three seasons. Walker has drastically improved his launch angles without sacrificing his otherworldly exit velocity metrics. He ranks fourth in baseball in average EV (95.5 MPH), third in EV90, and 8th in HardHit% (59.2%). 

None of this guarantees anything over a full season, of course. But for an organization that has spent the last few years searching for impact talent, swing-and-miss arms, and a clearer path back to relevance, the first month of 2026 has offered plenty of reasons to buy in… Or at least to enjoy the ride for a while.