Santiago high school pitcher Striker Pence announces on Instagram that he is reclassifying from the class of 2028 to the class of 2027.
Striker Pence, the nephew of former San Francisco Giants outfielder Hunter Pence, announced on Instagram on Thursday afternoon that he is reclassifying from the class of 2028 to the class of 2027.
Striker, 17, is a right-handed pitcher from Santiago High School in Corona and is already considered the class of 2027 No. 2 prospect and the top prep pitcher in the country, behind Dylan Seward of Norco.
Considered a power arm pitcher and having a 6-foot-6 frame, while weighing 185 pounds, Striker has already shown why there is so much excitement surrounding him.
Striker’s pitch arsenal includes a fastball that sits at 98 mph and reaches up to 101 mph, while his slider sits in the mid-80s.
Striker Pence reclassified for the 2027 MLB Draft. Instagram/strikerpence8
In August last year, he caught everyone’s attention while pitching in the Area Codes game at Blair Field in Long Beach by throwing seven straight pitches at 100 mph.
The knock against Striker has been commanding his fastball when it reaches triple digits. If he is able to locate his fastball better, he will have a chance to unlock another aspect of his game.
In a game against Orange Lutheran last season, he showed just what the potential of his slider could look like in a league game against Orange Lutheran.
2028(!!) RHP Striker Pence is on to pitch. His first seven fastballs?
Striker threw a slider towards the lower outside part of the strike zone, making University of Texas Commit, Brady Murrieta, drop to his knees swinging for a strike.
Santiago finished last season with a 19-12 record and finished third in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 baseball playoffs.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - MAY 23: Kai-Wei Teng #17 of the Houston Astros delivers a pitch in the first inning against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on May 23, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Sage Zipeto/Getty Images) | Getty Images
TONIGHT’S GAME: The Houston Astros (28-35) will continue their nine-game homestand tonight as they play the rubber game of their three-game series opposite their former divisional opponent, the Pittsburgh Pirates (33-29).
RHP Kai-Wei Teng (3-3, 2.57 ERA) will try to pitch the Astros to a series victory in what is his his fifth consecutive turn in the Astros rotation tonight as he starts opposite RHP Jared Jones (0-0, 10.38 ERA) and the Pirates
MY WAY OR THE KAI-WEI: RHP Kai-Wei Teng has split his season between the bullpen (13 G) and rotation (5 starts), posting a 2.57 ERA (12ER/42IP), a .185 opponent average, and a 1.10 WHIP.
Teng is new to the Astros organization, as he was acquired from San Francisco on Jan. 29, 2026 in exchange for minor league catching prospect Jancel Villarroel.
A native of Taiwan, Teng is the second Taiwanese-born player to appear with the Astros in their history, joining RHP Chia Jen-Lo, who made 19 relief appearances with the Astros in 2013.
VS. THE PIRATES: The Astros are hosting the Pirates in Houston for their first series in the city since July of 2024.
Since the Astros moved to the AL in 2013, the Astros and Pirates have split their matchups evenly, winning 10 games apiece. Historically, these teams have played each other 720 times, with the Astros going 349-371.
ASTROS ROSTER MOVES: The Astros have made the following roster moves:
• OF LaMonte Wade Jr. (#31) has been signed to a Major League contract and is active for tonight’s game.
• C Collin Price (#37) has been selected to the Major League roster.
• OF Joey Loperfido has been reinstated from the IL and optioned to Triple A.
• OF Zach Cole has been optioned to Triple A.
• C César Salazar and OF Rhylan Thomas have been designated for assignment.
ABOUT LAST NIGHT: The Astros rallied back from a five-run deficit, scoring six runs in the 8th inning en route to a thrilling 11-9 comeback victory in Houston. RF Cam Smith (2×5, 3RBI) had the go-ahead hit, a two-run triple in the 8th, while DH Yordan Alvarez (4×5, 2RBI) tied a career high with four hits. LHP Josh Hader (0ER/1IP) closed out the win for his first save of the season in what was his first Major League appearance of 2026.
TONIGHT’S TV: Tonight’s game will be televised locally by Space City Home Network with Todd Kalas, Geoff Blum and Julia Morales on the call. The game will also air locally and nationally on FS1, which will feature Eric Collins and Tom Verducci.
LOS ASTROS: Space City Home Network will televise this series in English and Spanish with the Spanish broadcast being televised on SCHN2. Danny Gonzalez and Enrique Vasquez will be on the call on the Spanish telecast this series.
ON THE DIAL: The Astros English radio broadcast this series will feature Robert Ford and Josh Reddick, who’s subbing for Steve Sparks. Reddick, who played parts of 13 seasons in the Majors and was a 2017 World Series champion, will make select appearances on Astros radio this season.
TONIGHT’S ANTHEM: Tonight’s Anthem will be performed by the Voices of Mobile, which is a vocal ensemble hailing from the University of Mobile, the alma mater of Astros manager Joe Espada.
MONTHLY AWARDS: Announced yesterday, RHP Spencer Arrighetti was named the AL Pitcher of the Month for May after going 4-1 with a 0.93 ERA (3ER/29IP) and a .165 opponent average (16×97) in five starts in the month. He followed DH Yordan Alvarez, who won the AL Player of the Month for March/April of this season.
LATE NIGHT LAMONT: OF LaMonte Wade Jr. joins the Astros after spending his entire season at Triple A Charlotte in the White Sox organization, appearing in 46 games and hitting .250 (38×152) with seven homers, 26 RBI, 45 walks and an .861 OPS.
Wade has appeared in 560 career Major League games over parts of seven seasons with the Twins (2019-20), Giants (2021-25) and Angels (2025).
Astros on the ballot: 1B Christian Walker, 2B Jose Altuve, 3B Isaac Paredes, SS Jeremy Peña, C Yainer Diaz, DH Yordan Alvarez, OF Brice Matthews, OF Jake Meyers and OF Cam Smith.
ON THE LEADER BOARD: DH Yordan Alvarez leads MLB in OPS (1.075), SLG (.649), and total bases (146), and leads the AL lead in batting average (.316) and homers (21).
Also in the AL, he ranks tied for first in hits (71), second in extra-base hits (33), second in OBP (.426), tied for second in RBI (44), tied for sixth in walks (40), and eighth in runs (41).
WALKER, TEXAS HAMMER: 1B Christian Walker leads the AL in RBI with 45, which is one RBI more than teammate DH Yordan Alvarez (44), and ranks sixth in the AL in homers (16).
Walker also has not committed an error in 62 games.
FIRE STARTER: SS Jeremy Peña is batting .316 (18×57) with three home runs, 10 RBI and an .866 OPS in 15 games since being activated from the IL on May 18. The Astros are 9-6 since his return.
HIT PAREDES: 3B Isaac Paredes has 99 career homers and is looking to become just the fourth Mexican-born player in MLB history to the reach 100. Paredes just reached another milestone on Sunday vs. MIL, becoming the 10th Mexican-born player in MLB history to reach 500 career hits.
THERE IS A SANTA!: RHP Alimber Santa (pronounced saun-tuh) set a franchise record by retiring the first 18 batters of his career consecutively before giving up a walk last night. The 18 consecutive batters retired are the most to begin a career since the Pirates RHP Nick Kingham retired 20 straight to open his career on April 29, 2018 vs. STL.
TODAY IN ASTROS HISTORY: 1997 – 3B Bill Spiers is walked in four straight PAs, including two intentional passes, which ties a club record for the most consecutive walks in a single 9.0-inning game. This streak added to Spiers’ run, in which he would set a club record by reaching base safely in 13 consecutive PA’s over a six-game span (nine walks, three singles, HBP).
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Thursday, June 4, 7:10 p.m. CT
Location: Daikin Park, Houston, TX
TV: Space City Home Network, FS1, SCHN2 (Spanish)
Streaming: SCHN+
Radio: KTRH 740 AM, KBME 790 AM & 94.5 FM HD2; TUDN 102.9 FM HD2 (Spanish)
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - MAY 23: J.T. Ginn #35 of the Athletics prepares to pitch against the San Diego Padres during the first inning at Petco Park on May 23, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The A’s had an awesome come-from-behind victory last night, scoring two runs in the eighth to tie the game before taking a one-run lead into the ninth and holding on. That earned them win #30 on the year and pushed them past the Texas Rangers into second place,
Right-hander J.T. Ginn will be tasked with finishing off the Cubs and helping the A’s to the sweep, something the squad hasn’t accomplished since early April. The 27-year-old is in the midst of a fantastic season and is looking to keep that going against a slumping Cubs squad.
The Athletics’ lineup for tonight’s series finale shakes out like this:
A new man at the top as rookie center fielder Henry Bolte will bat leadoff this evening. He’ll be followed by the usual duo of Shea Langeliers and Nick Kurtz, while the hit-swinging Colby Thomas, who homered last night, bats cleanup. Soderstrom brings up the rear of the top half batting fifth.
We have a couple regulars getting the day off as well in Brent Rooker and Darell Hernaiz. That means catching duties fall to Jonah Heim this evening while Alika Williams will handle shortstop. Second and third are occupied by the regulars in Jeff McNeil and Zack Gelof.
As for the Cubs, they’ll be relying on righty Shota Imanaga to help them avoid the dreaded home sweep. Now in his third year in MLB, the 32-year-old has steadily declined since bursting onto the scene in 2024. He started off strong this year, posting a 2.32 ERA through his first nine starts. Things have quickly fallen apart for him over his last three appearances: eight earned runs, seven earned runs, and most recently five allowed to Cardinals. This recent cold streak has raised his season ERA over two full runs. He may be skidding but the Athletics’ batters have to be on their game tonight and hope this isn’t the game he figures things out. He’s only pitched once against the A’s, firing six innings of two-run ball back when the A’s were still in Oakland a couple years back.
The Cubs are slumping but there’s still plenty of power and danger in that lineup if Ginn takes them lightly. You know he won’t though and he should be ready for tonight’s gamezl
Jun 4, 2026; Cumberland, Georgia, USA; Toronto Blue Jays right fielder Jesus Sanchez (12) on the field before a game against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Mady Mertens-Imagn Images | Mady Mertens-Imagn Images
The final game in Atlanta. They’ve lost the series and four in a row, and avoiding the sweep will be difficult with Chris Sale on the mound. They’ve gone for a righty maximizing lineup to try to counter, which has Charles McAdoo at second and Daulton Varsho and Andres Gimenez sitting. That will make defence behind Chad Dallas/the bullpen interesting.
The Spurs chose to ride with their $230 million man De’Aaron Fox in the last four minutes of regulation, and he missed an easy jump shot and then bailed out the Knicks with a stupid foul that helped swing the game for New York. Fox ended the night with seven points on 3-of-13 shooting in 38 minutes, while Harper was electric off the bench with 16 points. Right now, Harper feels like the better player even though he’s just 20 years old.
A strange TikTok popped up on Dylan Harper’s page the day after the game. Harper reposted a video with the title “De’Aaron Fox seen honoring playoff James Harden after shooting one of his statline.” The video showed Fox’s 3-for-13 box score line next to Harden’s 3-for-13 line in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Game 2 loss to the Detroit Pistons in the first round. The video is no longer on Harper’s page, but multiple people confirmed it was indeed there earlier.
The most likely explanation here is that Harper accidentally reposted the video to his page without realizing what he was doing.
Harper played 28 minutes in Game 1. Fox played 38 minutes. If Harper continues to be more effective, head coach Mitch Johnson will have to make a tough decision to sit a veteran for a rookie.
Harden is a famous playoff dropper. I wouldn’t put Fox in that category yet, but he hasn’t been very good during this Spurs run. In his defense, Fox has been playing through an ankle sprain that he suffered in the Western Conference Finals. Harper is also playing through an abductor injury.
I wouldn’t blame Harper is he felt frustrated with his role in Game 1 especially after such a hot start. He can’t air his grievances on social media, even if it was by accident. Chalk this up to a rookie mistake by Harper. He doesn’t make many of them.
Apr 2, 2026; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Minnesota Twins third baseman Royce Lewis (23) reacts after striking out during the ninth inning against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images
Welcome back to Thursday baseball. I had a couple of weeks off to recharge the ol’ game thread and recap batteries. The Royals played every other day of the week, so let’s see how they di—
Oh.
Oh, no.
Well, on the bright side, they took the series from the Reds in Cincinnati. Going into tonight’s series opener in Minnesota—the first of four, I should add—the Royals are 24-38, 11.5 games back of the Guardians in the Central and 6.5 back of the last Wild Card spot.
They also have the second-worst record in the American League (thank you, Arte Moreno) and are tied with the Giants for the fourth-worst record in the Majors.
Is this season lost? I don’t know. It’s hard for me to definitively say that on June 4. There are still a ton of games to be played. If the Royals reached the postseason, they’d join a list of many teams that started slowly only to rebound and make the playoffs.
The Twins, meanwhile, are 29-34, and just won a home series against the White Sox despite getting blanked yesterday, 8-0. Their three series before that one: swept in Pittsburgh, lost three of four to the White Sox in Chicago, and swept the Red Sox in Boston.
Baseball in 2026, am I right?
The Royals will send to the mound tonight Seth Lugo, who’s pitched pretty well his last three outings against the Red Sox, Mariners, and Rangers. Over those starts, Lugo’s tossed 18-and-1/3 innings while allowing six earned runs with 14 strikeouts versus four walks and 17 hits.
The Twins will counter with righty Andrew Morris, a rookie making just his second start and 18th appearance. Morris is 1-2 with a 4.07 ERA, 3.06 FIP, and 1.521 WHIP. His first start of the year came nearly a month ago on the road against the Guardians. He pitched…one inning.
Ah, an Opener more than a Starter. The Royals did well last time they faced a team utilizing its bullpen the entire game.
Michael Massey is Michael Mashey recently. He’s hitting the cover off the ball. In his last 23 games, he’s slashing .323/.338/.581 with four home runs. A sliver of good news in a season gone awry.
This made me feel old: the Twins drafted Byron Buxton fourteen years ago today. He’s one of those great “what if” type of guys. What if he stayed healthy? Dude might be one of the best all-time. And yet, he’s still posted at least 4.9 bWAR in three different seasons including one in which he only played 61 games. He’s slashing .253/.314/.538 in 2026 with 17 home runs, ten more than the next guy on the team.
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA - MAY 29: Jared Jones #17 of the Pittsburgh Pirates reacts after walking Victor Caratini #37 of the Minnesota Twins (not pictured) to load the bases during the second inning at PNC Park on May 29, 2026 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Pitching Matchup: Jared Jones (0-0, 10.38 ERA) vs. Kai-wei Teng (3-3, 2.57 ERA)
The Pittsburgh Pirates are on the road today against the Houston Astros looking to grab a win.
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