Category: Sports News

If you have been following the Texas Rangers minor league updates this year, you’ve probably seen the name Hector Osorio showing up quite a bit. The lefthanded hitting outfielder from Venezuela, who turned 21 in early April, is slashing .295/.429/.561 in 218 plate appearances over 48 games for low-A Hickory this year, while putting up a 37:24 BB:K ratio and splitting his time between center field and right field.

Coming into 2026, Osorio wasn’t on most folks’ radars — he hadn’t been on any of the Baseball America or MLB Pipeline top 30 lists for the Rangers, didn’t make Fangraphs’ top 45 or top 38 lists from 2025 and 2026, respectively, and had never appeared on Jamey Newberg’s Top 72 Rangers prospect rankings.

That’s starting to change, however — Jamey put Osorio at #34 on his most recent top 72 list in May, and suggested a week later that he “possibly undersold” the outfielder by having him that low. When Gavin Collyer graduated from the MLB Pipeline top 30 Rangers list last week, Osorio was the player they added to the list in his place. And I expect Baseball America to add Osorio to their Rangers top 30 list the next time they update.

We were fortunate enough to get to visit with Hector, with the assistance of his interpreter, earlier this week and visit with him about his career and his big 2026 season. The transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

LSB: I appreciate you taking a few minutes out to do a little Q&A with us. I know you signed out of Venezuela — when did you first start playing baseball?

HO: I started playing when I was three years old. On my dad’s side of the family, they are very passionate about baseball and there are a lot of people who play baseball on that side of the family. My dad himself tried to pursue the dream to play professionally, and that didn’t really pan out for him, but he made sure to pass on that love to me, and got me started when I was about three years old.

LSB: When was it that you first started getting noticed by major league scouts?

HO: I joined an academy when I was about 11 years old, and it was around age 12 when I started doing tryouts in front of scouts, and that was the first time I was sort of on anyone’s radar. So I was pretty young, around 12.

LSB: I am sure there were other teams besides the Rangers who showed an interest in you — how was it that you decided that the Rangers were the organization you wanted to sign with?

HO: It was a pretty interesting situation because I was in talks with another team. I was at one of these tryouts showing off for this other team, and the Rangers were there. They were actually there to see a different ballplayer. It just so happened that they got their eyes on me, and I sort of became like a new goal for them. And then from there everything happened very quickly.

LSB: I know Rangers fans are glad you ended up choosing to sign with the Rangers. You spent a couple of years playing in the Dominican Summer League, then went to the Arizona Complex League in 2024 and spent the summer there at Surprise and played there. What was the adjustment like coming to the States and playing in Arizona after two years playing in the DSL?

HO: It is a big jump, but fortunately I can say that, for me, it didn’t feel as intense of a change, because they really do a nice job of preparing you in the Dominican League. Obviously its a new country with a new language and a different culture, and there’s some things to learn in that aspect, but I really think they do a good job of developing and teaching you and preparing you for all that is to come when you make that jump. So I didn’t feel as severe of a change — I felt pretty prepared. I think the way they prepare you there is really key to having success here.

LSB: What was it that they did to prepare you that had you so well situated when you came to the States?

HO: They prepare you in so many ways. I can only speak for myself, but there was a lot that I didn’t know, and I can tell you just from teaching you things like the mental aspect of baseball, a lot of fundamental things that you’re not aware of, that once you make that leap here to Arizona, you’re going to find that ready to go. But you don’t know that exists until they teach you about a lot of these basics over there. And there’s things like, even the language — there’s lessons available for that so you can start preparing for that jump.

LSB: In 2025, you went to Hickory for your first season in full season ball. How much of a difference was it, going from playing in the complex league to playing full season ball, having the long bus rides, a lot more fans i the stands, and the like?

HO: I want to say that it didn’t feel like that big of a change, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that there are more fans present, so maybe you feel more pressure at first. There’s a lot more games, the season is longer, sometimes those bus rides might wear you out a little bit. But honestly, I can say coming into this season I know what to expect now. You get into the groove of your routines, and its not as challenging as it was that first go-round.

LSB: You’ve gotten off to a great start to the 2026 season. Is there anything in particular that you credit that to, or that you worked on in the offseason to make that big step forward?

HO: I think for me the biggest difference has been in the physical aspect of my body. I’ve prepared, I’ve put on some weight, probably an extra fourteen pounds, and I think keeping fit and putting on that extra weight has maybe helped me have a bit more power when I’m up at the plate. I feel like I, personally, have felt that difference in me.

LSB: I noticed the power has definitely been standing out — you have more home runs so far this year than you have had in your entire career up to this point. Baseball Reference has you listed at 6’, 150 lbs. — is that underselling your size at this point?

HO: I would say they have me a little bit under what I am now. That 150 lbs. is probably what I weighed when I went to the Dominican League. I think I’m closer to 200 lbs. now.

LSB: Now that you’ve been doing those bus rides for a while, what is your favorite place to go to to eat when you are on the road?

HO: I can tell you that the second we hit the road, wherever we land, we are always looking for Venezuelan food. And we always find it! It is really quite fascinating to me — I don’t understand how, but there’s always a Venezuelan spot, so that’s usually what we want to fuel up on.

LSB: What do you feel like your real strengths as a player are?

HO: I think at first glance, you can say that the physical aspect of my body makes me a decent athlete. But I really think that I view the game differently. I think that I make good contact at the plate, and I think I’m really good at recognizing pitches.

LSB: Something that stands out with you is your plate discipline. Is that something that’s just always been part of your game? Is there something in particular you’ve worked at to improve your plate discipline and pitch recognition?

HO: Its funny — that’s something I think I’ve always naturally had, and I didn’t always appreciate. When I got to the Dominican League I really did not appreciate how many walks I could draw — and then in time I started to understand that there’s real value in that. And again, it gets back to what I was saying, it comes really naturally for me with recognizing pitches. And I appreciate that now.

LSB: What are your goals for the rest of 2026?

HO: I think my biggest goal right now is to stay healthy — stay healthy meaning I can keep up this same rhythm for the length of a long season. I think that’s what matters the most to me right now.

After frustratingly exiting the mound with seven hits and two earned runs across 4 2/3 innings pitched against Cincinnati, Holmes is looking to turn it around with a dominant performance in today’s matchup against the Toronto Blue Jays.

In a back-and-forth matchup that ended with a Matt Olson homer, the Atlanta Braves are coming off a close win against the Blue Jays and will need to produce the run support early with Holmes on the mound.

Though the Cincinnati outing didn’t produce the results he wanted, Holmes’ prior start against Washington—where he recorded 10 strikeouts across his five innings—was his strongest performance all season.

The trade-off was the lack of run support, which resulted in a loss. If the two can be combined in tonight’s matchup, Atlanta will be looking at an early series win at home against Toronto.

With a lot of their key players out and gearing up to rehab, the Blue Jays are making do with what they have, but they kept a steady pace with the Braves in yesterday’s matchup.

Patrick Corbin will start for Toronto tonight. Currently boasting a 3.65 ERA and 1.36 WHIP across his 10 starts of the season, he adds a significant boost to the Jays’ rotation and won’t make it easy for Atlanta.

The lefty’s an underrated signing for the Blue Jays, who allowed three runs or fewer in nine consecutive starts for the team. The pitch to look out for? His sinker.

Making up 31% of his arsenal and topping an average of 91.3 mph, it’s a pitch that is an effective zone-lander out of his six-pitch arsenal and could get him out of trouble when a few particular Braves’ hitters take the plate.

But we’ll get into that when the lineups are released. Stay tuned for more ame coverage as the days continue to watch how tonight unfolds in game two.

Game Info

Game Time: Wednesday, June 3rd, 7:15 pm EDT

Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA

Watch: BravesVision

Radio/Audio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan

A week ago, I wrote this article about the troubles of this year’s Cubs and how they were beginning to remind me of some of the travails the team went through in 1970 and 1985, years they were supposed to contend but wound up short of a division title, the only playoff spot available in those years.

This year’s Cubs haven’t really done any better since that article posted a week ago Tuesday. They’re 3-4 since then and, apart from three games where the offense woke up a bit, they’re now in an offensive funk again, scoring just once in each of the last two games.

This year’s Cubs peaked (so far) at 27-12, following the team’s second 10-game winning streak of the season. (Feels like a long time ago, doesn’t it?) Since then the Cubs are 5-17, tied with the Royals for the worst record in baseball in that span. They’ve been outscored 108-70 and have had a 10-game losing streak as part of that stretch. At 27-12 they led the NL Central by 3.5 games. Now they trail by 6.5, so they’ve lost 10 games in the standings over that 22-game stretch.

I’m here to tell you that a long-ago year was even worse. The 1973 Cubs, the last of those great 1960s-1970s teams that never won anything, roared out to a great start. After defeating the Mets 4-3 in 10 innings June 29, the Cubs were 47-31 and led the NL East by 8.5 games. Many of us felt that would be the year that would finally redeem that star-crossed group.

Well, nope. They then went on a run of 9-33. No, that is not a misprint — a 42-game stretch when they won nine and lost thirty-three. That included losing streaks of six, seven and 11, and in the last of those, the final two games were thrashings by the Braves, 15-1 and 10-2, both at Wrigley Field. It got so bad that after the ninth of those losses, right before those two demolitions by Atlanta, Fergie Jenkins, normally the most mild-mannered of men, threw bats onto the field in frustration. That was a shocking thing in those days, something players just didn’t do.

The Cubs were 56-64 after that horrid run and 5.5 games out of first place, so over 42 games, they lost 14 games in the standings. The season seemed over.

The ‘73 Cubs then went on a run of sorts. They won eight of 10 and moved to within two games of first place in what was a pretty weak NL East. By the season’s final weekend they still had an outside chance, but failed against the Mets, who won the division with what is still the fewest wins ever by a full-season division champion, just 82. I’ve chronicled that crazy weekend here a couple of times, most recently on its 50th anniversary in 2023.

Here’s the final play of the 1973 Cubs season, a double play hit into by Glenn Beckert, the last at-bat he’d have as a Cub:

The parallels between the 1973 Cubs and 2026 Cubs aren’t exact. That was a pretty old team, with only two regulars (Rick Monday and Jose Cardenal) under 30. The pitching staff was also old, though they had three decent young starters in Burt Hooton, Rick Reuschel and Larry Gura — if only they’d kept Hooton and Gura instead of trading them away in more of the awful deals that were a hallmark of that era.

This year’s Cubs have better, and somewhat younger, players. Two of the biggest stars on the team, Nico Hoerner and Pete Crow-Armstrong, are in their 20s and several others still should be in their prime years (and it would be good if they started hitting like that). The starting rotation this year is in tatters, but that’s due mainly to injury, not age, and the injured starters should be back soon.

The other thing that’s different is that this bad 5-17 run has come more than a month earlier than the Cubs’ awful collapse in 1973. By the time the Cubs were done with that 9-33 run, it was Aug. 16 and there were only 42 games remaining in the season. There are 100 games remaining in the 2026 season, and one other thing this year’s Cubs have that they can go for that the 1973 team didn’t — more playoff berths. Sure, we’d love it if the Cubs could win the NL Central, and they’re not out of that race by any means, but there are three wild-card spots to play for and last year’s Cubs made the most of theirs, winning their wild-card series against the Padres.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t remind you that even the 103-win World Series champion 2016 Cubs had a run similar to this year’s, though they began from a higher point. After defeating the Pirates June 19 at Wrigley Field (the day Willson Contreras homered in his first MLB at-bat!), the Cubs were 47-20 and led the NL Central by 12.5 games. They then went on a 5-15 run in which they were outscored 123-88. At the end of that span they were 52-35 and had lost six games, almost half, of their division lead.

That team, of course, recovered. They had the best record in MLB — 51-23 — the rest of the way, won the division by 17.5 games, and of course went on to win the World Series.

There’s a lot of time left in the 2026 season. I continue to believe this Cubs team is too good to keep losing the way they have. It would be nice to start the turnaround tonight against the A’s.

Introduction

Since my last article looking at hitting prospects had such a warm reception, I thought I’d take a look at a few more hitters in the Diamondbacks farm system who have either hit well all season, or have been hot over the last 30 games. All four of these players are easily in the top 10 of the Dbacks prospects, but Kayson Cunningham should be consider the team’s top prospect with Ryan Waldschmidt and Tommy Troy in the big leagues now. I’ve linked to each players MLB Pipeline profile, along with their Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference player pages.

Slade Caldwell, CF

Fangraphs | Baseball-Reference | MLB Pipeline

The D’Backs first pick in the 2024 draft, taken just two picks before Ryan Waldschmidt, got off to a very slow start in 2026, hitting just .143/.365/.157 for the month of April, and getting just 10 hits in 70 at bats. In spite of those hitting struggles, Caldwell still managed to get on base at a decent rate thanks to walking twenty times and five hit by pitches, which he took advantage of by stealing eight bases (while only getting caught stealing once) Apparently, and I say that because I only learned this via Jack Sommers a few week ago, Caldwell suffered a herniated disc back in 2025, and wasn’t at 100% until the end of April, which explains a lot of the struggles down the stretch in 2025, his early struggles in the 2026. Caldwell actually being at full health is reflected in just how hot Caldwell was in the month of May, going 25 for 83 with five doubles (four more than in April) and his first two homeruns of the 2026 season or a triple slash line of .301/.448/.434. It wasn’t all positive though, as Caldwell struck out 34 times versus the 25 times in April, while also walking 19 times compared to the 20 he had in April. On the season, Caldwell is hitting .223/.400/.299 with a .353 wOBA, which works out to a 108 wRC+ or 8% better than league average. I wouldn’t normally include Caldwell in an article like this, but I think how well he has hit in May and the fact that he’s finally healthy merits discussion.

Kayson Cunningham, SS

Fangraphs | Baseball-Reference | MLB Pipeline

Taken 18th overall, the Diamondbacks first pick in the 2025 draft was widely regarded as the best pure hitter out of the high school bats. Cunningham didn’t exactly impress in his handful of games after signing in 2025. In those 11 games, Cunningham hit just .255/.308/.277 with a .292 wOBA and 68 wRC+, while striking out 28.8% of the time. This year Cunningham has absolutely destroyed the A ball level California League’s pitching. In his 39 games playing for Visalia, he’s hit .377/.471/.509 with ten doubles, four triples, and the first homerun of his pro career. He cut his strikeout percent from that 28.8% down to a much more respectable 17.5%, and increased his BB% from a middling 5.8% to very solid 14.8%.

I expect Cunningham to stick at shortstop, which is probably a good thing, since his 5’10 frame doesn’t end itself to projecting power development going forward, making him much less valuable as you move down the defensive spectrum. That said, his superb contact ability, above average plate discipline, and speed on the base paths should more than make up for the lack of HR power.

LuJames Groover, 3B

Fangraphs | Baseball-Reference | MLB Pipeline

While he’s seen his hot hitting teammates either get promoted or go on hot and cold streaks, Lujames Groover has been a consistent presence in the AAA level Aces lineup. This season in 54 games, Groover is hitting .327/.425/.460 which works out to a .406 wOBA and a 119 wRC+ in the hitter friendly PCL. (His xwOBA stat, however is not nearly as impressive at .305.) Looking at how he did last season those numbers are right in line with the .309/.399/.434 triple slash, .389 wOBA, and 120 wRC+ he put up for Amarillo in 2025. Groover has seen his strikeout% jump from 14.4% in 2025 to 17.3% in 2026, but that’s also been accompanied by his walk% increasing from 11.5% to 14.5%.

Originally a below average fielder at third, Groover defense has improved enough to be acceptable at the hot corner. The one area that I’d like to see Groover work on is finding a better launch angle or approach at the plate to better harness his ridiculous bat speed. Groover has put up exit velocities of 110 MPH+ this season, while having just three homeruns. Considering how well Tommy Troy and Ryan Waldschmidt have handled MLB pitching since being called up, and the fact that most of Groover’s underlying metrics are better, I think he’d be a safe bet to succeed if called up. I don’t expect the Dbacks to call up Groover anytime soon unless Arenado gets injured for any real length of time. There are probably ways to get Groover on the roster now and give him playng time, for example, shifting Arenado to 1B/DH and then playing Groover at third base, but I don’t think that or any other scenario is plausible and makes sense at the moment. With all that said, I expect Groover to be the D’Backs starting third baseman in 2026.

JD Dix, 2B

Fangraphs | Baseball-Reference | MLB Pipeline

JD “recursive acronym” Dix was drafted by the Dbacks with the 35th overall pick in the 2024 amateur draft out of Whitefish Bay Highschool in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, the very same high school that 2001 World Series hero Craig Counsell attended. (Coincidentally, Dix likely will end up teammates with Craig Counsell’s son Brady, who’s currently assigned to the A+ level Hillsboro Hops). As a second baseman, Dix’s combination of plate discipline, power, and speed on the basepaths makes him quite intriguing, especially if he can become more polished defensively as he progress through the minors.

Dix made his pro debut in 2025, playing in the Arizona Complex League for 39 games, where he hit .342/.421/.493 with a .427 wOBA and 147 wRC+, though influenced by an insane .425 BABIP. Having conquered the Complex, the Dbacks promoted Dix to the A ball level Visalia Rawhide, where he played in 50 games to close out his 2025. In those 50 games, Dix saw his numbers drop down to .261/.391/.335 with a .368 wOBA and 114 wRC+. Interestingly, while Dix’s strikeout percentage increase from 19.1% to 22.2%, Dix’s BB% also increased from 11.2% to 16.55. He also was much more successful on the basepath after being promoted. While he was in the Complex, Dix stole nine bases and was caught stealing four times. While he was still caught stealing four times in the California League, he was able to steal 10 more bases in just 11 additional games.

The Dbacks assigned Dix back in Visalia for 2026, where got off to a slow start to begin the year. At the end of April, JD Dix was hitting just .187/.292/.307 with a double, a triple, and a pair of homeruns. He was still the same menace on the basepaths, arguably even better with seven stolen bases without getting caught stealing. In May, he hit .289/.438/.651 with seven doubles, a triple, and seven homeruns, while stealing 11 more bases without getting caught in just sixteen more plate appearances. Altogether, Dix is hitting .241/.371/.487 with a .385 wOBA and 115 wRC + in 40 games for Visalia. The only real red flag in Dix’s 2026 season is a slight downtick in BB% from 16.5% down to 13.8%, though his strikeout 22.1% is right in line with the 22.2% he posted in Visalia in 2025.

Assuming he hits similarly to how he has the last month, I’d expect Dix to be promoted to Hillsboro by the Allstar Break.

Final Thoughts

Which of these Diamondbacks prospects are you most excited for? Are there other prospects who you think I should have talked about instead? Is Kayson Cunningham the team’s top prospect in the minors right now? Do you think LuJames Groover deserve a callup? If so, who do you send down and how do you give him regular playing time? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below!

On the monthly update of Baseball America’s top 100 prospect list, the Mariners joined rarified air as an organization with three top ten prospects leaguewide. Colt Emerson (#3), Ryan Sloan (#7), and Kade Anderson (#9) made up the elite trio topping the list, though both Lazaro Montes (#57) and Luke Stevenson (#98) made the cut in this month’s update.

It’s no surprise to see Emerson heading this group after a torrid start to his big league career. Having already produced many memorable moments across his first handful of games, Emerson has provided a much needed jolt for the Mariner lineup and looks every bit of a long-term mainstay on the infield. He’ll soon graduate from this list, but his final hurrah as a prospect looks on him in an understandably positive light.

Sloan, who jumped rotationmate Kade Anderson this month, has started to settle in at the Double-A level after a month long adjustment period. Recently twirling his best start as a professional, Sloan has built up some tremendous momentum and is being looked upon as the best pitching prospect in baseball. The 20 year old has immense potential and should be a candidate for a big league promotion some time next year.

The aforementioned Anderson has had one of, if not the most dominant starts to the 2026 season in all of minor league baseball. The lefthander has diced up his opposition in all but one inning this year, commanding the zone as well as anyone and striking out the world along the way. He’s been as advertised in his inaugural season.

The final two entrants on the list, Lazaro Montes and Luke Stevenson, carry varying degrees of pedigree. Montes, who’s long graced this list and has been considered one of the premium power prospects for several years now, is not much of a surprise, though Stevenson’s addition comes with slightly more intrigue. After an outlandish start to the season, the young backstop has come back down to Earth a bit, producing a slashline that’s far more human than what he initially laid claim to. Less about his addition to the list and more so about the timing of when they chose to include him, Stevenson is more than deserving of a top 100 nod and looks to be yet another premium prospect the Mariner brass has identified.

A large part of the Yankees’ success through the first two months of the 2026 season has been based on their homegrown talent. The way that Ben Rice and Cam Schlittler have taken the next step from good supporting cast players to bona fide stars at their respective positions has greatly improved the team’s future outlook, and when you add in the supporting value they’ve gotten from players like Will Warren, Austin Wells (defensively anyway), and even the brief cameos of Anthony Volpe and Jasson Domínguez, it’s a pretty promising young crop.

But as you look towards who could join this group, many fans’ eyes gravitate towards George Lombard Jr., the organization’s top prospect and one of the best in all of baseball. The newly minted 21-year-old got off to a blistering start in Double-A Somerset, prompting an aggressive move from the organization to promote him to Triple-A on April 29th, just as they did in 2025 when he got off to a hot start in High-A.

So far, the results have been mixed. Through 28 games entering Tuesday night, he’s slashing just .196/.360/.299 with an 88 wRC+, but his numbers look much better under the hood, yet there are clear areas of improvement he still needs to make. He’s played multiple positions as well, increasing his defensive flexibility beyond the six.

The ultimate question that’s on everyone’s mind is how quickly Lombard can get himself in the big-league conversation. After all, the Yankees have viewed Triple-A as more of a stepping stone for top prospects in recent years, and there’s an obvious position for him to play right away with Ryan McMahon’s offensive struggles at third base. We don’t have a clear answer on that yet, but it’s safe to say there’s still some work to go, even if things look encouraging for a debut at some point this year.

Potentially his biggest calling card as a hitter right now is his plate discipline. Lombard has always had a good eye and has never posted a walk rate below 10 percent at any level, but the fact that he’s walking in a fifth of his plate appearances is eye-opening. The best part might be that his strikeout rate has been almost identical since being promoted at 21 percent, indicating that he’s not any more overmatched against more experienced pitching.

If there’s anything to nitpick here, it might be that Lombard has been too passive. He’s only swinging at 57.5 percent of pitches in the strike zone, nearly 10 whole percentage points below MLB average (67.1%). He’s swinging at under 40 percent of the total pitches he sees, also considerably below average. That, coupled with an 80th-percentile chase rate, likely contributes to his huge walk rate.

This seems to be more of a feature than a bug of Lombard’s game, however, and that might cap his ceiling as a hitter. While more complex pitch-level data is only available in Low-A and Triple-A, the overall percentage of pitches he’s swinging at has remained consistently low throughout his minor-league career. He’s managed to get good results for the most part in spite of it, but it’s something that’s worth monitoring.

Expanding to batted-ball outcomes, he’s consistently hitting the ball hard, ranking in the 80th percentile or better in average exit velocity and hard-hit rate, but most of that contact is on the ground, which is why he’s sitting below the Mendoza Line. Lombard’s ground-ball rate has spiked from 34 percent to 44 percent since being promoted, his highest rate since he was in A-ball in 2024.

That isn’t to say he hasn’t had his moments driving the ball in the air.

Lombard’s still pulling the ball at a high rate and has had some loud outs to the warning track in left field, which has caused him to slightly underperform his xwOBA (.333 vs. .315 wOBA). He’s starting to find his slug considerably more, hitting two home runs last week and smoking a single 111 mph last night, so this might just be a case of waiting and seeing.

If I had to pick one thing to watch going forward, though, it’s the platoon splits.

The right-swinging Lombard has had a big disparity there all season, hitting to a .969 OPS against left-handed pitching compared to a .726 mark against righties, but you also have to look under the hood to see if the swings and at-bats are as stark as the slashlines indicate. With him in Triple-A, we have that data.

The difference is stark. He’s able to drive the ball considerably better against lefties, particularly to the pull side, while swinging at significantly more strikes and chasing less. Against left-handed pitching, Lombard is analytically one of the best hitters in Triple-A, but against righties, he’s struggling. This is his biggest obstacle to making the jump to full-time major leaguer at this current point in time.

Defensively, Lombard is getting more reps at second and third base than he was getting before his promotion. He’s mostly shifted back to shortstop since Volpe was promoted a few weeks ago, but has played 13 total games at second or third base on the season.

With Volpe and José Caballero seemingly having shortstop accounted for and the uncertainty regarding McMahon’s struggles and Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s pending free agent status, the team seems to be preparing Lombard to assume one of their positions when he’s promoted, despite profiling as one of the best true defenders in the minor leagues. He’s looked quite comfortable at third, however.

So where do we stand after his first month in Triple-A? Lombard still has a ways to go before we see him in the Bronx, but I can’t imagine the Yankees could’ve expected much more from him entering June. He was only able to legally buy a beer yesterday and he’s on the doorstep of the major leagues, something he reached sooner than Volpe in a similar situation as a first-round shortstop drafted out of high school.

I do think they might leave him down longer than he truly needs to in order to make sure he’s truly ready after throwing Volpe into the fire in 2023 without much experience at the level. His glove is absolutely MLB-ready, but the team isn’t lacking defensively in the infield on most nights (Amed Rosario starts notwithstanding).

With Lombard, they need to make sure his bat is able to at least be playable by the time they promote him and give him everyday reps. He seems like he could come up and be a nice platoon bat soon enough with how he’s smashed lefties, but the Yankees have that base covered without even factoring in that it would be a poor way to break in a top prospect to the big leagues.

What Lombard does over the next two months will be crucial in how the Yankees conduct the trade deadline. If those platoon splits start to even out and he starts to perform better at-bats against same-handed pitching, the team might view third base as an area that doesn’t need external reinforcements. There’s a world that exists where he’s donning the pinstripes for this team in October, but it’ll require him to continue progressing on schedule as time goes on.

Mark Vientos is a bad player that the Mets should DFA at the earliest opportunity. End of article.

*taps earpiece* I’m being told I actually need to substantiate this opinion. I’m not quite sure why—it’s one of the more obvious things that can be stated about the current Mets’ roster—but alright, here it goes.

Mark Vientos is not a particularly good hitter and hasn’t been for some time. He’s currently batting .219/.254/.380 with a 78 wRC+. His .320 xwOBA might suggest he’s been a bit unlucky to date and he’s actually pulling more balls in the air than he ever has previously, but he’s also managing a paltry 15.8% line drive rate. There’s a lot of hard hit grounders and lazy fly balls that turn into outs here that xwOBA is likely not fully accounting for.

In terms of plate disciple, Vientos has a 6th percentile SEAGER, 14th percentile chase, and 25th percentile in-zone contact (numbers courtesy of Rob Orr’s app). All of these marks are going in the wrong direction relative to 2025, when Vientos was already a below average hitter. He’s had exactly one above average offensive month (August 2025) by wRC+ since the start of last season.

Then there’s the glove, which is somehow even worse than Vientos’s bat. Per OAA, only four first baseman have been worse at the position to this point in 2026: Rhys Hoskins (posting a 108 wRC+), Curtis Mead (135 wRC+), Jake Bauers (137 wRC+), and Bryce Harper (142 wRC+). To reiterate, that’s a probably-cooked 33-year-old and then three of the better hitters in baseball, all of whom do at least something positive to justify their place on the roster. Vientos’s complete inability to make even the most simpleofplays or to make routine plays look dramatic (*insert one of the many clips of Keith groaning about his footwork*) is glaringly obvious. He’s fallen all the way down the defensive spectrum and still isn’t a viable defender.

As if being a short-side platoon DH who can’t hit wasn’t enough, Vientos does a bunch of other things that make him even worse, both to watch and in terms of on field value. You can’t be one of the slowest players in the league, run through a stop sign, and get thrown out by 20 feet. You can’t go out there immediately after making a brutal error and going 0-for-4 and say you deserve a pat on the back for working hard (it’s the major leagues my man, everyone should be working hard). You can’t gripe about no one believing in you when, to be blunt, you’ve been bad for the majority of your major league career. This stuff paints the picture of a guy who could generously be described as extremely tone-deaf in ways that are directly detrimental to the team.

Now, to be fair, a lot of the blame for this situation rests on the Mets’ front office. Yes, Vientos’s role has become outsized due to Jorge Polanco’s injury, and yes, it’s probably unfair to criticize the team for not bringing in another expensive player (e.g., Ryan O’Hearn, Wilson Contreras) to fill this role given their current payroll (though they probably should’ve allocated Bo Bichette’s money towards one of those players instead). At the same time, their insistence on hanging on to a player of Vientos’s quality is frankly baffling.

For reference, here are a couple other first basemen that could’ve been had in the last calendar year:

• Ty France: signed a 1-year, $1.35M contract with the Padres; currently has a 137 wRC+ and elite 1B defense (5 OAA) in 39 games / 112 PA
• TJ Rumfield: acquired by the Rockies in exchange for Angel Chivilli; currently has a 117 wRC+ and 2 OAA at 1B over 59 games / 233 PA
• Spencer Steer*: 124 wRC+, average defense at 1B, flexing across both corner OF spots and 2B as well
• Curtis Mead: acquired for backup catching prospect Boston Smith in March; 135 wRC+

*Caveat here is that Steer hasn’t changed teams, but he appeared to be available this offseason

Hell, even a player like Eric Wagaman, who the Mets claimed after he was DFA’d by the Twins, might be better than Vientos at this point. Wagaman’s presence on the roster drives home the point; it’s generally very easy to acquire players of this quality or better for next to nothing. Yet the Mets have seemingly been unwilling to pass Vientos through waivers or trade him somewhere else for a marginal return.

The 2026 season has been a disaster. By and large, I would still defend most of the Mets’ offseason—they did reasonably well considering the options available to them—but failing to critique the decision to hang on to Vientos more harshly is a clear miss. Nothing about his poor performance to date in 2026 is particularly surprising, and rolling into the year with an out-of-options, most likely bad player who is something of a malcontent that you are unwilling to cut was a horrible decision.

That’s a mistake the Mets should rectify at the next available opportunity, hopefully at the latest when Jorge Polanco returns in a week or two. To summarize in meme format: