Category: Sports News

In the days leading up to his first draft as Astros general manager, Dana Brown was back in his element. 

“This is probably the fun part of the job because it’s something that I’m so used to,” Brown said at the time. “We’re going through all these names and we’re having conversations, and I’m bringing a lot of my philosophies and my thought processes to it, and so it’s actually exciting and it’s refreshing to be able to talk about some upcoming young players.”

The draft was a major reason Jim Crane hired Brown five months prior, and the first-year GM, who was and remains far more involved in the draft process than others in his position, set expectations a mile high.

Brown said he wanted to “nail” the 2023 draft, and to him, nailing the draft meant drafting four Major Leaguers.

“The average is usually two, I like to double that average, and we were able to do it in Atlanta, and I expect to do it here,” Brown said.

While three years is a bit early to fully judge an MLB draft class, Brown’s first with the Astros appears likely to fall short of his lofty goals.

First round pick Brice Matthews, the 28^th overall pick of the draft, debuted last season, and has been on the Astros’ active roster the entirety of the 2026 season. Only 14 of the 27 players picked ahead of Matthews have appeared in a major league game, and his career 0.7 bWAR is higher than five of those picked ahead of him.

The Tigers selected Kevin McGonigle nine picks later, but he signed for almost $400k more than Matthews. The Astros had a limited draft pool meant they probably would not have been able to sign McGonigle if they drafted him.

The Astros third-round pick, Jake Bloss, made his Major League debut less than a year after he was drafted, second fastest in the class behind Paul Skenes. Hours before he was set to make his fourth start for the Astros, Brown traded him to the Blue Jays as the centerpiece of the Yusei Kikuchi deal.  

Matthews and Bloss are currently the only members of Brown’s first draft class as Astros GM to make the major leagues, though that could change soon.

Sixth round pick Ethan Pecko was just named Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Month, and Brown identified him as an option to start this weekend in Arlington. Before the season, FanGraphs rated the 23-year-old right-hander as the Astros’ fourth best prospect, who projects as a number 4 or 5 starter.

It’s only a matter of time before Pecko will be the class’s third big leaguer, but a fourth seems unlikely, at least out of the day one or day two picks.

Second round pick Alonzo Tredwell is Brown’s best hope of the early picks, but he hasn’t pitched this season due to a shoulder injury. Tredwell has only thrown 157 minor league innings since being drafted. A back injury limited him to nine games during his final season at UCLA, and he underwent Tommy John Surgery in high school.

Fourth round pick Cam Fisher was released last season, while fifth round pick Chase Jaworsky is batting .177 in High-A with the Marlins after being traded as part of the package to land Jesus Sanchez. 

Injuries have limited seventh round pick Joey Dixon to 7.1 innings in the Astros system, while eighth rounder Ryan Johnson and 10^th rounder Austin Deming have been released.

11^th round pick Nehomar Ochoa and 12^th round pick Anthony Huezo, high school picks who signed for $300,000 and $397,000 respectively, are having good seasons in A-ball and have yet to celebrate their 21^st birthday, while 14^th rounder Jackson Nezuh has a 3.97 ERA in Double-A. 

Nezuh is rated as one of the Astros top 15 prospects by multiple outside publications, while Huezo is inside the top 25.

There’s still a chance Brown’s first draft class as Astros GM produces four major leaguers. That would qualify as a successful draft, especially given the limited draft capital he had to work with. The bigger question, though, is whether anyone from the class develops into an impact major leaguer. Three years in, that outcome appears far less likely.

Multiple sprained fingers have cost George Lombard Jr. time at Triple-A, but he is on the precipice of rehab games and may not be far off from The Bronx at some point after he proves he is healthy.

The club’s top prospect has resumed hitting, in addition to field work, putting him in position to go on a minor league rehab assignment “somewhere around this All-Star break,” Cashman said Thursday.

And once he returns to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, if he picks up where he left off before the injury, he has a chance to force his way to the Yankees.

That would depend on what their shortstop situation looks like with José Caballero and Anthony Volpe.

“Looking forward to getting him back and active and he might be a choice at some point,” Cashman said. “More importantly, we just got to get him playing again and turning him loose again in Triple-A. Really talented player that offensively was coming a long way of closing the gap despite his age. Defensively, he’s plug-and-play, ready to go.”

The 21-year-old Lombard, after an early-season promotion from Double-A, was hitting .231 with a .765 OPS and eight steals in 42 games at Triple-A before getting hurt June 16.

But he had been heating up prior to the injury — “thriving and conquering the final level,” as Cashman put it — hitting .306 with a .998 OPS in 14 June games.

“He’d been pushing himself before the injury,” Cashman said.

The San Diego Padres seemed to have turned a corner. The final four games before the All-Star break will tell a bit more, but the club has its first two-game win streak since June 26. The offense also tagged the Arizona Diamondbacks’ pitching staff for a season-high 10 runs last night. San Diego is, at the very least, heading in the right direction.

The lineup looked fantastic in Wednesday night’s win over the Dbacks. Luis Campusano hit his first home run since returning from the IL and Miguel Andujar had three (yes, you read that right) doubles. San Diego will need to keep its foot on the gas to achieve its first series win of July against Arizona tonight.

Taking the mound

Merrill Kelly (AZ) v. Griffin Canning (SD)

Similar to Zac Gallen, Kelly has been an ace in the past for Arizona and has looked nothing like it this year. The right-hander has been saddled with a 5.71 ERA this year. He’s been even worse lately, pitching to a 6.28 ERA in his last 38 2/3 innings.

Prediction of the day: Fernando Tatis Jr. is going to hit a home run. Across 31 at-bats against Kelly, Tatis has four home runs and a 1.186 career OPS. Unless Kelly has his stuff working tonight, it seems plenty possible that No. 6 comes tonight for Tatis.

Canning has actually pitched considerably better in his last two outings than he has this whole season. After turning in his worst start of the year (4 ER, 0.2 IP), Canning has since given up just three runs across 8 1/3 innings. It’s not miraculous, but it’s a start.

Hopefully, Canning can keep that up against the Dbacks tonight. Most of Arizona’s lineup has faced the righty sparingly and none have seem him this season. That should work in Canning’s favor. That said, if he stumbles, the bullpen is well-rested.

Batter up!

While Andujar and Campusano were the headliners on Wednesday evening, Tatis and Jackson Merrill went 4-for-9 from the top two spots in the order. In a night where Manny Machado was getting a rest day, it felt good to watch the lineup produce without the slugger.

1. Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
2. Jackson Merrill, CF
3. Xander Bogaerts, SS
4. Manny Machado, 3B
5. Gavin Sheets, LF
6. Ty France, 1B
7. Luis Campusano, C
8. Miguel Andujar, DH
9. Jake Cronenworth, 2B

The Friars pounded out a convincing 10 runs against Arizona last night. It’s only the third time this season the club has scored runs in the double digits. If the lineup continues to produce consistently that way, the pitching staff would get some stress taken off of them.

Relief corps

With Michael King pitching six innings of one-run ball, and the offense giving the pitching staff a sizable lead to work with, the bullpen had plenty of room to work with. Ron Marinaccio and Kyle Hart covered the final three innings, giving up a combined three runs in those frames. Thankfully, it didn’t affect the outcome of the game.

Jhony Brito has been working out of the bullpen for San Diego since getting called up earlier this week. He’ll be available alongside Yuki Matsui, Mason Miller, Adrian Morejon, Wander Peralta and Bradgley Rodriguez. All figure to be high-leverage options for San Diego to turn to in a close game.

The Mariners are on the brink of returning to .500 for the eleventh time this season as they aim to avoid a sweep by the Marlins in the second-to-last series before the All-Star break. They are coming off being shut out Wednesday in an uninspiring performance.

They’ll call upon perhaps their most reliable starter of the 2026 campaign so far, Bryce Miller, to attempt to limit a Miami offense that ranks sixth in baseball in on-base percentage (.331).

Miller will be countered by righty Janson Junk, a Federal Way native. Activated off the injured list Thursday (right shin bone inflammation), Junk is making his first start since May 25 and can likely be expected to work within a pitch count. We’ll see if the Mariners can get to the bullpen early.

Lineups

Look familiar? The Mariners will roll out the same batting order for the third consecutive day.

Game Information

First Pitch: 3:40 p.m. PDT

TV:Mariners.TV, with Aaron Goldsmith, Ryan Rowland-Smith and sideline reporter Brad Adam

Radio: 710 AM Seattle Sports, with Rick Rizzs and Angie Mentink

Detroit Tigers (42-50) vs. Athletics (41-51)

Time/Place: 6:40 p.m., Comerica Park
SB Nation Site:Athletics Nation
Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network
Pitching Matchup: LHP Framber Valdez (4-6, 4.29 ERA) vs. RHP Jack Perkins (2-4, 6.75 ERA)

Player	G	IP	K%	BB%	GB%	FIP	fWAR
Valdez	18	100.2	17.6	8.1	51.6	4.29	1.0
Perkins	23	54.2	27.9	8.4	34.6	3.99	0.7

Series finale!

⚾️ 6:40 PM ET
📺 @WatchDSN
📻 @971theticketxyt
🏟️ Comerica Park pic.twitter.com/CNxYpjIryO

— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) July 9, 2026

Suarez on the mound! pic.twitter.com/on1kWdHVSj

— Athletics (@Athletics) July 9, 2026

The Orioles avoided a sweep and the weather on Thursday, as Jeremiah Jackson’s pinch-hit double in the 8th delivered Baltimore a much-needed win in their series finale with Chicago.

A chaotic bottom of the 8th inning was the defining moment of the O’s win over the Cubbies, and for once the chaos worked in the Orioles favor. Down 2-1, Taylor Ward started the inning with a strikeout. The tying and winning runs then got on base thanks to back-to-back HBP’s. The first came when Chicago reliever Tyler Ferguson ran a sweeper too far inside on Gunnar Henderson, with the ball just clipping the SS to send him to first. The very next pitch, a sinker, got away from Ferguson against Pete Alonso, plunking the O’s slugger and giving Baltimore two runners on with one out.

Manager Craig Albernaz then executed a perfect bait-and-switch to set up Jackson’s game-winning hit. Originally, the Orioles announced that Dylan Beavers would be pinch-hitting for Tyler O’Neill. This prompted the Cubs to bring in left-handed reliever Ryan Rolison, only for Albernaz to swap out Beavers for Jackson. With the count even at 1-1, Rolison tried to sneak a low fastball past Jackson, only for JJ to smash it into the right-center field gap. Henderson scored easily from second to tie the game at two, and Alonso beautifully slid under the tag of catcher Miguel Amaya to put the Orioles on top.

JJ's clutch double puts us ahead! pic.twitter.com/ch07dNtsGY

— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) July 9, 2026

Andrew Kittredge then came in for the save in the top of the 9th as the rain began to pour in Baltimore. Nico Hoerner reached on an E6 by Henderson to start the inning, but was immediately erased when he attempted to steal second, overslid the bag and was tagged out by Gunnar. After an Ian Happ single, Kittredge rolled a would-be double play ball, only for Jackson Holliday to sail the relay throw to first. The missed out wouldn’t matter, as Kittredge got pinch-hitter Michael Conforto to line out to left to end the game.

The O’s rally came after Tyler Wells had surrendered a run in the top of the 8th to give the Cubs their slim and fleeting advantage. NL MVP candidate Pete Crow-Armstrong led off the inning with a sinking line drive to right that deflected off Tyler O’Neill for a double. Alex Bregman then lofted a deep fly out to center, allowing PCA to advance to third. With the potential winning run now 90 feet away, the Orioles pulled in their infield, which allowed a hard grounder from Seiya Suzuki to sneak past Blaze Alexander to put the Cubs up 2-1.

Prior to the 8th, offense had been hard to come by for both teams. O’Neill gave the O’s an early advantage in the 2nd when he blasted a solo homer off Cubs starter David Peterson to put Baltimore up 1-0. After homering in his final two ABs on Wednesday, the long ball on Thursday tied an Orioles record of homering in three straight ABs.

TO gets us on the board with his third homer in his last three ABs! 💪 pic.twitter.com/eQwgc4UUfr

— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) July 9, 2026

However, two continuing trends kept the Orioles from adding on any insurance: bad hitting against left-handed starters and poor luck at the plate. Despite coming off a start where he allowed nine hits and 10 earned runs, Peterson largely befuddled the O’s offense. Outside of the O’Neill home run, the only other hit the Orioles managed off the former All-Star was a Ward single in the bottom of the 1st. Through the first five innings, with Peterson on the mound, Baltimore went 2-for-16, 0-for-1 with RISP, while striking out twice and working four walks.

The fact that the Orioles continue to turn hard-hit balls into outs didn’t help their cause against Peterson. They got particularly unlucky in the 3rd, where the O’s got the short end of batted-ball luck AND a questionable call by the umpires. To lead off the inning, Leody Taveras laid a perfect bunt down the first-base line for what looked like a sure bunt single. A scrambling Peterson was able to flip the ball to first for a bang-bang, but the first-base umpire originally called Taveras safe. The play went to review, and despite no clear angle that showed the ball beat the runner, the umpires ruled Taveras out.

The O’s would rebound from that injustice by having Adley Rutschman and Ward work back-to-back walks to give Baltimore their first runner in scoring position. That brought the Orioles’ paragon of bad luck, Henderson, up to the plate. The slumping SS smashed a Peterson sinker at 107 mph to the left side of the infield, only for the ball to go right to Cubs’ 2B Nico Hoerner for an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play. The O’s hit five balls Thursday that had an xBA of .500+ that the Cubs turned into outs.

And yet, for a while, it looked like the one run was all the Orioles would need thanks to the continued brilliance of starter Trevor Rogers. The stingy southpaw came into Thursday’s game with a 1.77 ERA over his last six starts and looked just as sharp against Chicago. He worked around a 1st inning, first-and-third, one-out jam by punching out Carson Kelly and getting Michael Busch to fly out, stranding both runners.

Rogers worked a 1-2-3 inning in the 2nd thanks to a pair of groundouts and a K of Dansby Swanson. After a PCA walk in the 3rd, he rolled a double play ball to end the frame and keep the O’s in front.

The Orioles’ de facto ace also got a big boost from his defense as he navigated his fourth quality start in his last seven outings. With Busch on first and two outs in the 4th, Hoerner laced a grounder down the left-field line for a double. Running on contact, Busch came charging hard around third as he tried to tie the game. However, a perfect relay from Ward to Henderson to Samuel Basallo cut the runner down at the plate and preserved the 1-0 lead.

In the 5th, the boost came from the Orioles’ outfield defense as Rogers continued to keep the Cubs off the board. After Swanson singled to left and stole second, Amaya sent a sinking line drive to no-man’s land in center field. However, a good jump and a sliding snag allowed Taveras to rob the Cubs’ catcher of a hit and keep Swanson from scoring.

That aura of invincibility finally wore off for Rogers in the 6th. After getting Bregman to ground out to start the inning, he left a changeup over the plate to Suzuki, who clobbered it over the left-field fence to tie the game at 1-1. The Orioles’ lefty would get two more ground outs to finish the inning and closed his line at 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB and 4 K. Since the beginning of June, Rogers now has a 1.73 ERA across seven starts, while holding opponents to a .195 average.

It’s a Home Run Derby, in Philadelphia, in front of a large audience that is focusing their attention on one thing for the night.

Was there any doubt that Bryce Harper would participate?

BRYCE HARPER IS IN THE @TMOBILE#HRDERBY!

The 2018 champ announced on IG he's coming back for more! pic.twitter.com/scGJNvpl1y

— MLB (@MLB) July 9, 2026

In news that should surprise no one, Harper is participating in the Home Run Derby (don’t forget – it’s on Netflix this year!), which means he must have found a pitcher that he likes. The last time he participated in one, he did so as a member of the Nationals when the event was held in Washington, with his father throwing to him. Let’s see if he can follow up as a member of the Phillies with the event in Philadelphia.

Apparently Bryce Harper found somebody to pitch to him.

Harper will participate in the July 13 Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game, once again entering the field when his hometown team hosts the bash. It will be his first appearance since 2018, when he won the Derby in dramatic fashion at Washington's Nationals Park.

That was his last hurrah in D.C., as he signed a 13-year, $330 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies the next winter, and quickly became a focal point of Philly sports, eventually helping the Phillies to the 2022 World Series.

Now 33 and a two-time National League MVP, Harper said he would consider participating in the Derby at Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park if he was named to the team. He also expressed concern that his father Ron, who pitched to him at the 2018 Derby, would be physically unable to pitch.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred made sure Harper was there, naming him as a "legend" pick to the game - though to be sure, Harper's first half statistics were sufficient, anyway. Now, a few days later, Harper posted on Instagram that he'd join the fray.

He joins Tampa Bay Rays slugger Junior Caminero, Yankees first baseman Ben Rice, Kansas City Royals first baseman Jac Caglianone and Boston Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras in committing to the Derby. Three more slots remain.

One slot would be perfect for Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber. He lost by the narrowest of margins to Harper in 2018. A rematch as Philly teammates before their home crowd would be a must-see event.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bryce Harper commits to Home Run Derby in front of home fans in Philadelphia