Category: Sports News

Every day, Pinstripe Alley offers updates on what the Yankees’ top American League opponents are up to through the Rivalry Roundup. The AL East is well-trodden ground there, but with the final month of the season just ahead, we’re going to take a peek around MLB as a whole and check in with each of the other five divisions. Who’s surprising? Who’s underwhelming? Who’s simply mediocre at the moment? Read on and find out.

Note: All records and stats are for games played as of Monday morning.

First Place: Chicago White Sox (72-64)

Top Position Player: Miguel Vargas (4.4 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Sean Burke (2.7 fWAR)

This time last month, the baseball world was wondering if the summer fun happening on Chicago’s South Side would eventually be too good to last. The answer as we wrap up the dog days and start to turn the season over to fall is the good times are rolling. The young White Sox team still sits in first place with the same three-game lead they had entering the month. 

The White Sox have a trio of sluggers who are leading the charge. Vargas, Munetaka Murakami, and Colson Montgomery all end the month on the cusp of 30 home runs. Former Savannah Banana Tristan Peters is playing great—posting a .811 OPS and a .280 average on the season—and was on a recent heater with homers in five consecutive games. As wild as it is to say this, even Randal Gruchuk is even getting in on the fun in the Windy City slashing .341/.341/.659 across 44 at-bats this past month.

While the offense has been humming, the pitching staff is a different story. The team ranks 17th in ERA and 16th in strikeouts. Burke has been solid but had his toughest month of the season in August and Luis Castillo has struggled since coming over from Seattle at the Trade Deadline. The bullpen has been pretty solid and one bright spot is rookie Hagen Smith. The rookie out of Arkansas was the fifth overall pick of the 2024 MLB Draft, and he made his debut out of the ’pen on the 9th. Since then Smith has worked 11 innings and only given up a single earned run. Other relievers Sean Newcomb and Grant Taylor make this team one to watch in a short series as they have the bats and pen to give people fits.

Second Place: Cleveland Guardians (69-68)

Top Position Player: Brayan Rocchio (2.9 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Parker Messick (4.1 fWAR)

Cleveland has done what they do: pitch well and hang around. Sitting a few games back but ever-lurking the Guardians end August sitting right around .500 and needing to make up a few games to take the division while also clinging to the last Wild Card slot in the American League. 

As has been the case all season and most of recent memory, the Guardians are struggling to score runs. The team ranks 28th in runs, 26th in batting average, and 30th in slugging. Chase DeLauter is the only hitter currently supporting an OPS above .800 and the team does not have a single hitter with more than 13 home runs on the season. Just to top it off, the team is also near the bottom in challenging balls and strikes as well. Sticking around .500 with this offense is something that is hard to fully understand or know how to appreciate. 

The reason the Guardians are .500 is their pitching. Highlighted by Messick, the lefty has a 2.46 ERA and 11-8 record. To further highlight how bad the offense is, on 8 separate occasions this year the team has lost a game with Messick giving up 2 or less runs. Gavin Williams leads the team with 204 strikeouts and 12 wins. In what can only be called luck the Guardians have only had to hand the ball to seven different starting pitchers this season. Messick, Williams, Tanner Bibee, and Joey Cantillo should all clear 30 starts. The pitching staff looks primed to give the city that rocks another run at the postseason. 

Third Place: Minnesota Twins (65-72)

Top Position Player: Byron Buxton (2.6 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Joe Ryan (2.6 fWAR)

They say it’s not over until it’s over; it’s about over for the Twins. After not selling the Twins appeared to be attempting to make a run this year. However, since the deadline the team has struggled and cemented themselves in the middle of the central and slipping behind several slightly more average teams than themselves in the Wild Card standings. 

Minnesota got stuck in neutral in August at the plate. Byron Buxton went down and missed most of the month due to injury. Kody Clemens’ hot streak from July dried up over August. The team tried to get something going calling up prospects Walker Jenkins and Kaelen Culpepper here at the end of the month but it might not be enough to get the needle moving back in their favor. 

While the hitting has been a let down one Twins pitcher had a month to remember. Zebby Matthews went 5–0 in August, with a tidy 2.90 ERA with 24 strikeouts over 31 innings. He capped off the month by carrying a perfect game into the 6th inning during a career-high 8.1 innings against the White Sox.

Fourth Place: Detroit Tigers (63-73)

Top Position Player: Dillon Dingler (5.0 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Casey Mize (3.0 fWAR) — traded to San Diego

Oh Detroit, the true definition of a bad, good baseball team. Despite having a +65 run differential the Tigers sit 10 games under .500 entering the final month of the season. The Tigers waved the white flag at the deadline and have been treading water trying to make it to the end of the season.

Detroit has the best run differential in the division at +65. The offense has been truly slightly below average. When you cruise up and down the stat lines it is easy to see that trend sprinkled throughout. Gleyber Torres and Kevin McGonigle were the team’s two best hitters in August who had a relative sample size. 

Pitching in Detroit was really fun for a few weeks after the Trade Deadline as Troy Melton allowed a single run in 13 innings of work, Framber Valdez allowed just two runs in 14 innings, and Jackson Jobe threw five shutout innings in his season debut. However, since the deadline shock to the system, the staff has largely come back down to earth. 

Last Place: Kansas City Royals (62-76)

Top Position Player: Bobby Witt Jr. (6.5 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Noah Cameron (2.7 fWAR)

The only thing keeping the Tigers from rock bottom is the Royals. After coming into the season with playoff aspirations, Kansas City has suffered through a long hot summer. However, in true KC fashion the team has not quit on the season. The team had their first winning month in August going 16-11. 

Jac Caglianone hit six home runs and posted an OPS of 1.155 in August. Witt came back from injury and has continued being Bobby Witt. For a team that does not have a lot to play for the performances from the young Royals shows you why the team was so optimistic coming into the season.

On the bump Michael Wacha has been the top arm for the Royals. Over the month he went 3-0 with a 2.51 ERA. Those brought his season numbers to 8-8 with a 3.32 ERA. In what quickly became a lost season you have to give it to the Royals for not packing it in and continuing to try and figure it out over the long season. 

August in Chicago generally kicks off with Lollapalooza, a music festival in Grant Park that takes over the city for a few days each summer. This year the Cubs decided to close out August with Home Run Palooza at Wrigley Field, capping off a historic month that saw them grab the National League record for home runs in a month as they hit a franchise high nine home runs against the Brewers at Wrigley Field on Monday night [VIDEO].

There were back-to-back jacks, Alex Bregman had a three-home run night. And as soon as the Brewers had a chance to put a position player in the game Andrew Vaughn was on the mound, hitting Miguel Amaya with a pitch Statcast categorized as a knuckleball and mixing in an eephus for good measure. In fact, three of the Cubs’ nine long balls came off the Brewers first baseman which has me wondering, are home run records really what they used to be?

Cubs fans have seen a movie like this before, and not all that long ago. On July 1 they welcomed the Padres to Wrigley with an eight-run barrage that tied the previous franchise record they’d set just a year earlier. And yes, the Cubs hit a number of their homers to open July against a Padres position player [VIDEO].

No shade to Dansby Swanson or Alex Bregman, who went to the plate swinging with three-home run games on the line in the July and August affairs. That competitive fire whether they were facing a major league starting pitcher or a backup 1B/C in Vaughn or Rodolfo Durán is the stance you want from players setting the tone in the Cubs clubhouse everyday. When contract negotiations come up, no one cares whether your 20th home run was off a pitcher or a position player. The Cubs poured it on and posted scores against the Padres and Brewers that would have made the Chicago Bears proud, and I didn’t realize it until last night but this meme was made for the Cubs setting a franchise home run record:

But it does seem worth reflecting on the fact that the Cubs repeated assault on their franchise home run mark coincides with an increase in mangers opting for position players throwing batting practice rather than burning their bullpen in a blowout. They originally tied the seven home runs in a game mark on August 1, 2023 against the Cincinnati Reds and, you guessed it, the last two home runs came off backup catcher Luke Maile [VIDEO].

I get it. Managers are reticent to use their bullpen pitchers in a pointless effort. But it does seem worth reflecting on the fact that home runs feel a bit more special when they are being hit off a guy who isn’t throwing batting practice. Last year Jay Jaffe of FanGraphs took a look at the rise in position players pitching, which really peaked in 2022 but has been back on the rise:

From 2016 to ’18, the rate of PPP appearances more than doubled, and it continued to rise, with a localized peak during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. That peak happened as Major League Baseball and the Players Association agreed to waive a couple of rules that had been introduced in February, one that limited teams to carrying 13 pitchers on their 26-man rosters and another that limited them to using position players to pitch only in extra innings, or in games where the score margin is more than six runs. Somewhere between MLB’s announcement of the rule and the publication of that year’s official rulebook, the language was revised to include score margins “equal to or more than” six runs. The waiver continued through 2021 and into the start of the ’22 season, which was delayed due to the owners’ lockout. Teams were allowed to carry 28 players through May 1, after which rosters were reduced to 26; at that point the six-or-more-runs requirement finally went into effect, but not until May 30 were teams limited to 13 pitchers on the 26-player roster.

Given the expanded rosters, just seven position players pitched between Opening Day and May 1, 2022, but once rosters were trimmed from 28 to 26, even with the six-or-more-runs rule, the floodgates opened, with 124 more PPP appearances through the rest of the season. The record-high seasonal rate of 0.82% of relief appearances made by position players was more than double what it had been in 2018 and more than five times what it had been in ’16. The rules were revised for 2023, limiting PPP appearances in the ninth inning or earlier to those where a team trailed by eight or more runs, or, for the ninth, leading by 10 or more runs; even then, the rate of PPP appearances was higher than it had been in any year prior to 2022.

Position players are playing more in blowouts, but they aren’t necessarily causing the homerun barrage in some of those blowouts. MLB published a list of the teams who have hit nine or more home runs in a game in big league history. Yes, three out of five of those games occurred since 2025, however, the only team that faced a position player during one of those games was last night’s Cubs team. It’s just as likely that these games are more frequent simply due to teams selecting for home runs as they make roster decisions.

Regardless of the cause, the Cubs made history last night. And if you’re one of the people who’s worried these feats are cheapened when they occur against a first baseman with a 45 MPH knuckleball, at least we’ll always have last year’s game on the Fourth of July that set the franchise record at eight. Those fireworks came against the St. Louis Cardinals and three bona fide pitchers in Miles Mikolas, John King and Matt Svanson [VIDEO].

It was appropriate Sammy Sosa paid a visit to Wrigley Field Aug. 30 for a Chicago Cubs anniversary event. After all, he's the only man in baseball history to ever hit 20 home runs in a month, achieved in that unforgettable, chemically-fueled summer of 1998.

Soon after, this edition of the Chicago Cubs ensured they'd make a similar kind of home run history.

The Cubs capped off the most power-packed month in their history - and second-most in baseball history - by slugging a team-record nine home runs Monday, Aug. 31 against the Milwaukee Brewers, led by Alex Bregman's career best-tying three home runs. Five of the home runs came off starting pitcher Kyle Harrison, who was forced to wear much of the indignity with the Brewers in a stretch of 16 games with no off days.

The final three home runs were yielded by position player Andrew Vaughn, who sopped up two innings yet yielded Bregman's final blast as well as home runs by Matt Shaw and Michael Conforto.

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The Baltimore Orioles continue their playoff push against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on Tuesday, Sept. 1.

First pitch is set for 8:40 p.m. ET, and my top Orioles vs. Rockies predictions and MLB picks call for a high-scoring game. 

Who will win Orioles vs Rockies today: Rockies moneyline (44%)

For help understanding probabilities, see our odds calculator.

After throwing only 54 innings in 2025, Kyle Bradish appears to be hitting a wall as we head into the homestretch of the regular season.

Since the All-Star break, Bradish has struggled with a 5.95 xERA, 4.21 FIP, and 1.60 WHIP. He’s missing fewer bats and allowing more in-zone contact — a lot of which has been quality contact in the air.

The Baltimore Orioles have been struggling at the plate, too. They ranked 18th in wRC+ against right-handed pitching in August.

Despite a poor overall record in 2026, the Colorado Rockies are a somewhat respectable 27-39 SU in their home ballpark. I see value on them being able to out-hit the visiting Orioles to 45%.

COVERS INTEL: Colorado's bullpen was dead-last by xFIP in August.

Orioles vs Rockies Over/Under pick: Over 11.5 (48%)

Though Baltimore’s offense has struggled in recent weeks against right-handed pitching, they should still be able to do some damage against Gabriel Hughes.

Hughes’ last five turns through the Colorado rotation have resulted in a 5.13 xERA, 6.08 FIP, and 1.71 WHIP. He doesn’t consistently work ahead in counts, nor does he miss many bats. That’s not a recipe for success at the big-league level.

Both starting pitchers have allowed a lot of runs since the All-Star break. Neither arm barn is in great shape, either. There is value on the Over up to 49%.

Orioles vs Rockies home run prediction: Willi Castro (14%)

During the last 30 days, Bradish owns a ghastly 7.70 xERA across the platoon. He’s allowed an 8% barrel rate and 46% hard-hit rate in that span.

Willi Castro has been producing a lot of quality contact in the air recently, with a 9.3% barrel rate and 48.8% hard-hit rate against right-handed pitching since August 1.

He’s a great value pick to leave the yard this evening.

Orioles vs Rockies weather

Weather shouldn’t have a tremendous impact on tonight’s game at Coors Field. The forecast has the temperature around 80 degrees with minimal wind around first pitch.

Orioles vs Rockies odds

• Moneyline: Orioles 58% | Rockies 42%
• Run line: Orioles +1.5 | Rockies -1.5
• Over/Under: Over 10.5 | Under 10.5

Orioles vs Rockies trend

The Rockies have covered the run line in five of their last seven games (+2.25 Units / 23% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Orioles vs. Rockies.

How to watch Orioles vs Rockies and game info

Orioles vs Rockies latest injuries

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I'm coming off a 1-2 SU day yesterday, but life has been good on the strikeout and pitcher MLB player props this summer. It's September, the call-ups are coming, the leashes are all over the place, and that's giving us a lot of edges and angles to sort through.

I'm targeting both starters in that Phillies vs. Diamondbacks game, as each starter could easily hit a triple-digit pitch count, while Eric Lauer's move to the bullpen and then back to the rotation could hurt his leash.

These are my favorite MLB picks for Tuesday, Sept. 1.

Best MLB strikeout props and starting pitcher picks today

Player	Pick	Odds
Jesus Luzardo	Over 6.5 strikeouts	+125
Eduardo Rodriguez	Over 4.5 strikeouts	+120
Eric Lauer	Under 15.5 outs	-105

Strikeout prop: Jesus Luzardo Over 6.5 strikeouts (+125)

I'll get square to open things up here with Jesus Luzardo, a pitcher well above a K per inning, to go deep and rack up seven or more punchouts at plus money today.

The form is elite, as he's hit this in 90% of his last 10 starts dating back to July 4. His leash is also massive, as he's thrown 100+ pitches in six of his last seven starts and gone beyond 18 outs in all but one of those games.

The workload might concern some, but not me today. He's eating innings of late, the Phillies are in a divisional race, and the Philadelphia bullpen is overworked coming into tonight's matchup.

Philly burned five arms last night, and it's possible four are unavailable. It's Luzardo and his 100-pitch leash to the rescue.

If he goes six frames, it will be tough not to get seven punchouts, especially with his dominant road splits. He owns a 1.79 ERA and 11.6 K/9 away from home, and a big reason why Dustin Saracini is also backing the Under.

• Time: 9:40 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: DBACKS.TV, NBCSP

Strikeout prop: Eduardo Rodriguez Over 4.5 strikeouts (+120)

This should be the best pitching matchup on the slate today, and Eduardo Rodriguez is going to have his leash extended if he's pitching well — with the Diamondbacks sitting a half-game out of the third and final Wild Card spot in the National League.

He's coming off a 105-pitch outing, although even that wasn't his longest leash in August, when he reached 115 pitches.

He struck out nine Cubs in that start, and over his five Aug. starts, he averaged more than 100 pitches per game and a K per inning. The Phillies are a lefty-heavy lineup and an average offense against southpaws.

The projection on E-Rod is +EV even on a 93-pitch leash, but he hasn't thrown fewer than that since his first start after the All-Star break.

Rodriguez is also a key reason why Jon Melter is backing the Diamondbacks tonight.

Anything at plus money is a good bet here.

• Time: 9:40 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: DBACKS.TV, NBCSP

Pitcher out prop: Eric Lauer Under 15.5 outs (-105)

Eric Lauer was just sent to the bullpen, where he threw six outs on 51 pitches. However, because of a Roki Sasaki injury, he'll join the rotation and get the start today, but I'm not expecting that leash to be long at all.

The lefty wasn't getting the longest of leashes to begin with, and now he's not as stretched out after that 51-pitch outing. Over his last 11 starts, his median pitch count was 89, and after yesterday's day off, the Dodgers' bullpen is loaded and rested. It has thrown just 34 pitches since Sunday.

The projections have him at 78 pitches and 14 outs, making a fair price well below -125.

• Time: 10:10 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: SportsNet LA, Cardinals.TV

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Rams owner Stan Kroenke has agreed to buy the Angels, adding Major League Baseball to a portfolio that spans six leagues and two continents.

It also marks the end of Arte Moreno’s turbulent ownership of the Angels, with news of the transaction triggering shock followed by celebration among beleaguered Angels fans whose team owns pro baseball’s longest playoff drought.

The deal runs through Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, Kroenke’s holding company, which also owns the Denver Nuggets of the NBA, the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL, the Colorado Rapids of MLS and Arsenal of the Premier League.

The price of the purchase was not announced, but a person with knowledge of the deal not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times the team is being sold for an MLB-record $4 billion valuation. It exceeds the $3.9 billion sale of the San Diego Padres.

Read more:Stan Kroenke: Championship owner; Taylor Swift, Beyoncé host

Forbes had valued the Angels at $2.8 billion in March. The sale is subject to regulatory review and Major League Baseball approval, with the expectation it will close in the first quarter of 2027.

Companies tied to Kroenke also own the Rams and built SoFi Stadium and the 300-acre Hollywood Park development around it in Inglewood, a project that has grown into a sports and entertainment hub for Los Angeles County and is set to host events during the 2028 Olympics and Paralympics.

The Angels deal pushes that footprint south, into Orange County’s market of more than 3 million people, with its own economy, corporate base and tourism draw apart from Los Angeles proper. Pairing the two teams gives KSE a year-round presence on the Southern California sports calendar.

“The Angels are a storied franchise anchored in a great market,” Kroenke said in a statement. “We look forward to an exciting future with the Angels organization.”

Kroenke, 79, has shown interest in buying a Southern California baseball team before. More than a decade ago, he was a backup bidder when the Dodgers were sold.

Read more:Shaikin: As Angels fans urge Arte Moreno to sell the team, the least he can do is try to win

“The Angels organization is pleased to announce this transaction with Kroenke Sports & Entertainment,” departing Angels owner Arte Moreno said in a statement. “The Moreno Family has been honored to steward the Angels for 23 years and we believe with KSE’s experience and success they are the best next owner for the franchise. The Angels Organization looks forward to continuing its commitment to the fans, our employees, the players and our business partners.”

Moreno, 80, was Major League Baseball’s first Latino owner.

His ownership of the Angels, which began on the heels of the franchise’s only World Series championship in 2002, started with the most successful decade in club history, one that featured five American League West titles and two AL Championship Series appearances from 2004-2009.

But that was followed by a dreadful decade in which the team — despite employing a pair of generational talents in two-way star Shohei Ohtani and three-time AL most valuable player Mike Trout — failed to win a playoff game and endured losing seasons from 2016 to 2026.

Read more:Plaschke: Memo to Arte Moreno: Sell your fallen Angels

Moreno announced in August 2022 that he would explore the process of selling the franchise, only to pull the plug on any potential deal five months later, when he announced he would retain ownership of a team.

In 2023, Moreno granted an interview to Sports Illustrated, in which he explained his decision to put the Angels up for sale, then take them off the market.

“If I’m going to stay,” Moreno said he told his wife, “I have to make a decision that we have to do better. We’re just not doing well enough.”

In 2024 and 2025, the Angels finished in last place, extending baseball’s longest playoff drought to 11 seasons. In 2026, they’re in last place again and fans have chanted during games for months, calling on Moreno to sell the team.

Read more:Bob Iger, Joshua Kushner to buy Lakers from Mark Walter for $12.5 billion valuation

The Angels transaction comes at a busy time in the Southern California sports ownership landscape.

Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner agreed to purchase the majority stake of the Lakers from Mark Walter for a record $12.5 billion valuation.

Jeanie Buss is contesting her five siblings’ effort to sell their minority stake in the Lakers, a move that would effectively fire her as the team’s governor.

Walter’s businesses are the subject of multiple investigations and he’s working to pay down debt carried by two Delaware insurance companies. While TWG Global and Dodgers president Stan Kasten have insisted the team is not for sale, Walter has been open about selling his take in Chelsea and there are questions whether he may need to sell other teams to pay off loans. Walter’s other local team is the WNBA’s Sparks, which is building a promising new practice facility in El Segundo but has missed the playoffs for seven consecutive seasons.

Staff writer Bill Shaikin contributed to this report.

Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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August was a profitable month on the dinger home front, but I have big plans for September. Home run props and MLB player props are getting smacked on the way out the door.

Ronel Blanco is somehow back in the MLB, and his HR/9 numbers are some of the worst in all of baseball, while Fernando Tatis Jr. will continue to beat up lefties as Nick Lodolo struggles post-injury. I wrap things up in Washington, where a Braves' bat has caught my eye.

These are my favorite MLB picks for Tuesday, Sept. 1.

MLB home run props for today

For help understanding Polymarket probabilities, see our odds calculator.

Player to hit a HR	Chance
Colson Montgomery	21.5%
Fernando Tatis Jr.	24.2%
Michael Harris	22%
💲Today's HR parlay	66.98x

Home run prediction: Colson Montgomery (21.5%)

This might not be the only White Sox batter on my home run card. Ronel Blanco is back in the Big Leagues, and among pitchers with at least 20 innings this season, he owns the fifth-worst HR/9 at 2.7 and the 11th-worst HR/FB rate at 23.3%.

He also gave up 10 runs and three dingers in his last Triple-A start. He's in perfect dinger form.

I'm skipping Tristan Peters because of the pinch-hit risk and Munetaka Murakami because of his recent form, and taking Colson Montgomery at a price well above three dollars.

He sits one homer shy of 30 and went deep last night against the Houston bullpen, which is also missing four arms today. Montgomery's power numbers over the last two weeks rank behind only Peters, who has been on a mission.

Ultimately, getting a 30-homer guy in the best home run matchup on the board at this price is value town. I have the fair probability around 24-25%.

• Time: 8:10 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: Space City Home Network, Chicago Sports Network

Home run prediction: Fernando Tatis Jr. (24.2%)

Nick Lodolo is a perfect dinger target today.

He's allowed six homers across 16+ innings since returning from the IL as he adjusts to a new curveball grip because of a recurring blister issue.

His 3.31 HR/9 in Aug. is the fifth-worst mark among starters for the month, and his 8.29 xERA might be a sign that he hasn't simply been unlucky of late.

Fernando Tatis Jr. is the best right-handed hitter in this San Diego lineup and benefits from a great HR park, with temperatures reaching 91 degrees today.

The Padres outfielder has a .961 OPS against lefties, while his .588 slugging percentage against them ranks among the Top 10 marks in baseball this year.

I'll play this to 27% tonight and think the Padres can stack some runs in a great setting against a pitcher struggling to find his game after the blister issue.

• Time: 6:40 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: Reds.TV, Padres.TV

Home run prediction: Michael Harris (22%)

The Braves have a great home run matchup against Jake Irvin, who is struggling with his command after a six-walk outing. He did manage to keep the ball in the park in that game, but it was his first homerless outing in five straight starts.

Michael Harris is a hot bat, owning the No. 4 slugging percentage in baseball over the last two weeks. He also has plenty of familiarity with Irvin, having faced him 24 times while hitting nearly .300.

He's the Braves' hottest hitter, and his price is on the good side of 25%, where I don't like to go above.

Half of Harris' hits have gone for extra bases dating back to Aug. 23, and 90-degree temperatures with winds blowing out to his pull side only improve the matchup.

• Time: 6:45 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: One National or Two local

Best home run combo for Sept. 1

Colson Montgomery	Trade Now 66.98x
Fernando Tatis Jr.
Michael Harris

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Left field has been a revolving door for the San Diego Padres. It hasn’t been for a lack of trying, as Padres manager Craig Stammen has cycled through an endless list to find a replacement for Opening Day starter Ramon Laureano.

As the latest left-field option, Dustin Harris could end the organization’s search for an upgrade. 

Laureano was irreplaceable 

Coming out of spring training, the Friars had a very balanced outfield in Laureano, Jackson Merrill, and Fernando Tatis Jr. You could argue that it was the best defensive unit in baseball. The one deterrent was the lack of outfield depth on the 40-man roster. 

Gavin Sheets and others have tried to replace Laureano after his season ended with hip surgery. Some of the candidates could provide timely hitting, but none could match his defensive metrics.

Sheets logged the second-most playing time in left field until suffering various foot injuries. He developed plantar fasciitis in his left foot, then sprained the same foot this past weekend in Tampa. His status for the remainder of the season is up in the air.

It is disappointing because Sheets has done everything asked of him this season. If his foot injury limits him to a DH role, then Harris offers some value in left field. 

Let’s introduce Dustin Harris

He is an intriguing late-season addition, but Harris is unknown to the Friar Faithful. 

The Padres took a flyer on him, betting his physical tools would translate well in the majors. Harris has plate discipline, posting an under-9% strike rate and over a 10% walk rate in Triple-A. However, he has below-average power potential, hitting only 89 home runs in eight minor league seasons. 

Since his call-up to the majors, Harris is mashing the baseball. He is hitting .470 (8-17) in the Brown & Gold. The 27-year-old outfielder has above-average speed that allows him to run the bases aggressively. His athleticism will come in handy when attempting to take an extra base on a bloop hit. 

Versatility gives a roster depth and flexibility.  Harris has played at first base, third base, left field, and center field during his time in the minors. He has shown enough range to make plays at each position. 

In recent years, organizations should have valued big-league readiness more than long-term potential. There is nothing wrong with emphasising potential stardom for certain prospects. But teams want young players who want to compete for major league at-bats.

Originally, the Padres thought Harris could become a solid contributor off the bench. But it is hard to ignore the upside he brings to the lineup.