Category: Sports News

This was the 10th week of full minor league play (stats are entering play on Monday, June 15th).

According to FanGraphs (which factors in age and proximity to the big leagues), 22-year old Caden Bodine remains the top hitter spot in the Rays system. The backstop was recently added to Baseball America’s top 100 prospect rankings (80) and is up to 4th in the Rays system.

Meanwhile, Aidan Cremarods is back as the top performing pitcher system. The 22-year old Cremarosa is having a solid debut season within the Rays system. The 2025 8th round pick is currently in Single-A and holds a 2.59 ERA | 2.68 FIP with a 31.4 K% & 5.3 BB% over 48.2 IP.

RUMBLINGS

• Emilien Pitre has been promoted to Double-A. The 23-year old 2nd round draft from 2024 was having an excellent campaign in his second season in High-A. At the the tine of his promotion, he was hitting .297/.429/.413 with 2 HR, registering a 129 wRC+ over 221 PA.
• Trace Phillips signed the second largest deal for an undrafted free agent in history last year, signing a $629,200 deal with the Rays. He was one of the top prospects eligible for the draft last Summer but went unselected. He made his debut las week, pitching a scoreless inning.
• Theo Gillen’s great season keeps getting better. Thus far in June, he is hitting .409/.536/.500.

TEAM LEADERS

• Must currently be assigned to that team
• Baseball America’s top ten prospects are featured below each team they’re currently assigned to.
• (minimum of 110 TBF & PA)

Tampa Bay Rays

Top 10 Prospects

• None currently on active roster

Durham Bulls

Team Offensive Leaders:
AVG: .258, Blake Sabol
OBP: .344, Logan Davidson
SLG: .470, Tatem Levins
HR: 9, Tatem Levins
wRC+: 100, Carson Williams
SB: 24, Raynel Delgado (Traded to the Astros on 6/10)

Team Pitching Leaders:
ERA: 1.85, Ty Johnson
FIP: 3.30, Ty Johnson
K%: 29.1% Evan Reifert
BB%: 5.2%, Jonathan Heasley
WHIP: 0.97, Ty Johnson
AVG: .174, Evan Reifert & Ty Johnson
WHIFF%: 14.0%, Ty Johnson

Top 10 Prospects

• #2 Brody Hopkins
  • AAA: 4.09 ERA | 4.90 FIP | 26.7 K% | 20.6 BB% | .183 AVG | 12.6 WHIFF% | 55 IP

Montgomery Biscuits

Team Offensive Leaders:
AVG: .309, Austin Overn (placed on the IL on 5/27)
OBP: .384, Xavier Isaac
SLG: .533, Austin Overn (placed on the IL on 5/27)
HR: 12, Xavier Isaac
wRC+: 141, Austin Overn (Placed on IL on 5/27)
SB: 28, Austin Overn (placed on the IL on 5/27)

Team Pitching Leaders:
ERA: 1.96, Chris Clark
FIP: 2.50, Chris Clark
K%: 34.5%, Alexander Alberto
BB%:  4.2%, Gary Gill Hill
WHIP 0.94, Alexander Alberto
AVG: .184, Alexander Alberto
WHIFF%: 16.2%, Alexander Alberto

Top 10 Prospects

• #9 T.J. Nichols
  • AA: 8.36 ERA | 4.58 FIP | 17.6 K% | 11.8 BB% | .350 AVG | 10.4 WHIFF% | 14 IP
  • CPX: 1.80 ERA | 2.49 FIP | 20.0 K% | 0.0 BB% | .300 AVG | 9.2 WHIFF% | 5 IP
    • 4/7: Placed on Injured List
    • 5/9: Began rehab assignment in Complex League
    • 5/19: Activated from Injured List
• #10 Santiago Suarez
  • AA: 5.93 ERA | 5.15 FIP | 22.3 K% | 4.3 BB% | .260 AVG | 12.5 WHIFF% | 44 IP
    • 4/25: Placed on Injured List
    • 5/5: Activated from Injured List

Bowling Green Hot Rods

Team Offensive Leaders:
AVG: .335, Theo Gillen
OBP: .444, Tony Santa Maria
SLG: .577, Connor Hujsak
HR: 15, Connor Hujsak
wRC+: 161, Theo Gillen
SB: 25, Theo Gillen

Team Pitching Leaders:
ERA: 1.73, Jacob Kisting
FIP: 2.81, Jacob Kisting
K%: 40.5%, Jacob Kmatz (Promoted to AA on 6/9)
BB%: 5.4%, Jacob Kisting
WHIP: 0.91, Jacob Kisting
AVG: .185, Jacob Kisting
WHIFF%: 21.7% Jacob Kmatz (Promoted to AA on 6/9)

Top 10 Prospects

• #1 Theo Gillen
  • A+: .335/.443/.572 | 24.3 K% | 14.0 BB% | 10 HR | 25 SB | 161 wRC+ | 235 PA
• #3 Nathan Flewelling
  • A+: .240/.361/.441 | 26.6 K% | 13.9 BB% | 10 HR | 3 SB | 110 wRC+ | 244 PA
• #4 Caden Bodine
  • A+: .301/.394/.446 | 6.1 K% | 9.1 BB% | 3 HR | 2 SB | 121 wRC+ | 99 PA
  • A: .379/.433/.614 | 3.9 K% | 9.2 BB% | 5 HR | 1 SB | 181 wRC+ | 152 PA
• #6 Anderson Brito
  • A+: 3.34 ERA | 4.53 FIP | 28.8 K% | 14.4 BB% | .240 AVG | 13.4 WHIFF% | 32.1 IP
    • 5/23: Placed on 7-day Injured List

Charleston River Dogs

Team Offensive Leaders:
AVG: .379, Caden Bodine (Promoted to A+ on 5/19)
OBP: .433, Caden Bodine (Promoted to A+ on 5/19)
SLG: .614, Caden Bodine (Promoted to A+ on 5/19)
HR: 6, Taitn Gray
wRC+: 179, Caden Bodine (Promoted to A+ on 5/19)
SB: 19, Alberth Palma

Team Pitching Leaders:
ERA: 1.97, Trey Pooser
FIP: 2.68, Aidan Cremarosa
K%: 31.7%, Mason Nichols
BB%: 3.6%, Aidan Haugh
WHIP: 0.84, Aidan Cremarosa
AVG: .175, Aidan Cremarosa
WHIFF%: 16.3%, Aidan Cremarosa

Top 10 Prospects

• #5 Cooper Flemming
  • A: .278/.371/.425 | 16.1 K% | 10.9 BB% | 5 HR | 6 SB | 121 wRC+ | 248 PA
• #7 Daniel Pierce
  • A: .252/.336/.390 | 28.6 K% | 7.9 BB% | 4 HR | 6 SB | 103 wRC+ | 140 PA
    • 4/22: Placed on the 7-day IL
    • 5/2: Activated from the IL
• #8 Taitn Gray
  • A: .286/.406/.474 | 21.9 K% | 16.1 BB% | 6 HR | 4 SB | 144 wRC+ | 192 PA
    • 6/1: Placed on the 7-day IL

Good morning, baseball fans!

As most of you know, multiple members of the San Francisco Giants decided to deface their uniforms on Friday in protest of the team’s Pride Night. I wrote my initial thoughts for Sunday’s BP post, but now it’s time for us to move forward and take action.

I’ve seen accounts from many fans who have decided to not renew their season tickets. And that’s an extremely powerful statement! But that’s not something that’s feasible for everyone, so I wanted to share an additional action item for those in the community who are upset.

This was inspired by a post on Bluesky from ToasterPosey. Fans can reach out to the team’s Chief Diversity Officer Roscoe Mapps via email at RMapps@sfgiants.com to express their disappointment with how the team is handling this issue.

And if you feel comfortable doing so, please share your messages down below in the comments to help folks who might not have the words, but still want to help.

I’m going to be doing some research for additional ways we can take action as well. So keep an eye out for that in the coming days.

What time do the Giants play today?

They do not. They are headed east to begin a series against the Atlanta Braves tomorrow.

We are into the middle of June and the Orioles are still playing a confusing season where they seem to be teetering on the edge of making it a lost season where there’s no consolation but what is happening on the farm. They also are managing to avoid falling over the edge, at least so far. That’s a good thing because there hasn’t been much consolation from the farm.

These weekly updates focus on the team’s top prospects, particularly those on Camden Chat’s composite top 20 Orioles prospect list from before the season. They also include other guys who interest me who might develop into prospects over time. I do not tend to spend much time on non-prospect journeymen.

Here’s how things went this week:

Triple-A Norfolk Tides

• Last week’s record: 1-5 vs. Memphis (Cardinals)
• This week’s opponent: at Syracuse (Mets)
• Season record: 26-43, last place (17 GB) in International League East

Veteran major leaguer Tommy Pham opted out of his minor league deal this week. My standard advice is: Don’t freak out about minor league deals until they become major league deals.

Enrique Bradfield is back with Norfolk after about six weeks on the injured list. Did he play well? No, he had four hitless games before getting two hits in his last game of the week. Okay, what about Creed Willems? Just 3-15, all singles, though he did walk five times, so that’s something. Then there’s Heston Kjerstad, not a prospect but still someone we want to see playing well. 7-20, all singles, with no walks for a “OBP lower than both BA and SLG” line that you don’t see every day. Jud Fabian managed just one hit in 12 at-bats.

Two guys who did hit well for Norfolk over the past week are 40-man players who are retreads from other organizations. Christian Encarnacion-Strand had six hits, including a pair of homers, and outfielder Johnathan Rodríguez had a 5-14 week with two doubles. I suspect that I do not want to experience the set of circumstances resulting in these guys getting an extended MLB look by the O’s.

Not much excitement among the pitching prospects either. With Trey Gibson in MLB and Levi Wells on the injured list due to core surgery, the only guy here is Nestor German. He was blitzed for five runs in only 1.2 innings this week. This team has earned its record.

Others of interest

• LHP Andrew Magno – Not sure if this 28-year-old lefty is anything but he’s added three more scoreless innings and now has a 0.64 ERA in 24 relief outings
• RHP Yaqui Rivera – Notched a three-inning save. He’s walked too many guys across six outings (10 BB in 17 IP) but for now the 0.53 ERA looks pretty good

Tides season-to-date stats.

Double-A Chesapeake Baysox

• Last week’s record: 2-4 at Altoona (Pirates)
• This week’s opponent: vs. Richmond (Giants)
• Season record: 25-37, last place (16 GB) in Eastern League Southwest

It’s all about Joseph Dzierwa until such time as he pitches well enough that the team deems it’s time to get him up to Triple-A. Two outings for Dzierwa this week, totaling ten innings, with ten strikeouts across those innings. That’s not going to dampen the enthusiasm. Batters did hit him a bit, with 11 hits, and between two walks and three hit batters that’s a lot of traffic. Have to like that 2.70 ERA and 1.050 WHIP through five games.

Even better than Dzierwa this week, though, was fellow lefty Luis De León, whose one start this week saw him throw five hitless innings with seven strikeouts. That’ll do! Command problems remain evident with a hit batter and two walks. He’s struggled at this level, with a 6.09 ERA on the year after this outing. It would be nice to see progress from him through the summer.

Some less than optimal batting lines this week from a number of the players I’ve been following here. My guy Aron Estrada was 5-22 at the plate with a double and a homer, but with only one walk, the OBP is rough. Still, he’s OPSing .779 for the season and for an age 21 guy here, that’s interesting. Catcher/first baseman/whatever Ethan Anderson scuffled to the tune of just two hits in 18 tries.

One guy who didn’t struggle is infielder Griff O’Ferrall. He’s not beating the “this guy can’t hit for power” charges with all singles. Still, 7-21 is 7-21, and he stole two bases. O’Ferrall remains under the Mendoza Line for the season, so he needs more good weeks. And maybe he could get some extra-base hits too? That’s what outfielder Douglas Hodo did. Hodo is 25 at this point, old for the level, but if he can play well here he could still earn a promotion and be at least sort of vaguely interesting. Hodo had a pair of homers and two doubles this week and may tempt me to put him on the player of the week poll even though I don’t usually mention non-prospects.

Also of interest

• RHP Juaron Watts-Brown – My honorary hyphenated cousin had another rough one, with five runs (four earned) in three innings. 8.78 ERA in eight starts.

Baysox season-to-date stats.

High-A Frederick Keys

• Last week’s record: 3-3 at Brooklyn (Mets)
• This week’s opponent: vs. Hub City (Astros)
• Season record: 38-22, second place (0.5 GB) in South Atlantic League North

This has been the most exciting team on the Orioles farm all season long, a trend that continued over this past week thanks to the 2025 draft duo of Ike Irish and Wehiwa Aloy. Although Irish only had five hits in 24 at-bats, all went for extra bases: three doubles and two homers. He also drew three walks. Aloy’s 6-24 included two doubles, a triple, and a homer. Aloy’s season OPS is .835; Irish’s is .801. These guys just keep on doing the thing. It’s fun to see.

On the topic of high Orioles draft picks last year, although he’s no longer in the organization, catcher Caden Bodine has a combined .967 OPS between Low-A and High-A this year. This draft class is like the opposite of the cursed 2024 one.

One of the other standouts for Frederick this year has been the big man, Victor Figueroa, from last year’s Padres swap. His season OPS remains .945, which is great, but this wasn’t a good week overall. Though he did hit two homers, he was just 4-23 at the plate and struck out 13 times.

Keys pitching prospects could not match the excitement, as they generally have not been able to ever since Dzierwa was quickly promoted up from this level. One guy who did do well is Twine Palmer, from last year’s Urías trade with the Astros. In two relief outings that totaled eight innings, Palmer did not allow an earned run and he allowed just eight runners in total. The 21-year-old Palmer has a 3.28 ERA and 1.136 WHIP through 12 games. Something might have clicked here over the offseason.

Also of interest

• OF Vance Honeycutt – Five strikeouts in eight at-bats this week. I feel mean to continue this bit and may abandon it.
• LHP Boston Bateman – Excellent May has not continued into June; he went just 7.2 innings across two starts and gave up five runs.

Keys season-to-date stats.

Low-A Delmarva Shorebirds

• Last week’s record: 1-5 at Columbia (Royals)
• This week’s opponent: vs. Myrtle Beach (Cubs)
• Season record: 23-40, last place (21 GB) in Carolina League North

Although it’s not showing up in the win-loss column yet, this roster has gotten a lot more interesting with the recent arrival of 19-year-old infielder Jaiden Lo Re, the Orioles fifth round pick a year ago. Lo Re got promoted out of the Florida Complex League after just 20 games and has been on fire in his first couple of handfuls of Low-A games. In five games for the Shorebirds this week, Lo Re went 7-17 with three doubles, drew six walks, and stole six bases. That’s good.

Other prospects here had a good several games, including fellow 19-year-old infielder DJ Layton, the Orioles sixth round pick from 2024. Layton’s been with Delmarva all year long and keeps hitting well. He added a 5-21 week with a double and a homer, plus four walks and three stolen bases. This could be a dynamic pair of guys. Let’s see whether the Orioles decide they want to try to develop these guys or trade one of them. Not that they’re looking like trade deadline buyers right now.

When this season began, the one real pitching prospect of note on this team was 19-year-old Esteban Mejia. The notable thing about him at this point is that he just keeps walking dudes. Mejia made two starts this week and walked seven guys in 6.2 innings, of a piece with his 11.3 BB/9 for the season. The Mike Elias international effort still waits for its first pitching success story.

Also of interest

• OF Braylon Whitaker – 19th rounder from 2024 is still just 20 and he batted 9-23 this past week. .395 OBP for the season, though only slugging .316.

Shorebirds season-to-date stats.

Bonus Florida Complex League

The FCL Orioles team is 15-15. The guy I’m keeping an eye on down here is 18-year-old infielder Wilfri De La Cruz, who arrived from the Cubs when the Orioles traded Andrew Kittredge last year – only to reacquire Kittredge after the season for cash. Not a bad bit of pilfering. In 26 games, De La Cruz is hitting .232/.411/.391. We may need to see him face pitchers who actually throw him strikes to get a better sense of who he is.

FCL Orioles stats.

**

Your choice in the minor league player of the week poll for last week was Victor Figueroa, who had about a 60/40 edge over his competition. Margins continue to be slim, so if you have feelings about them, vote in the poll below.

Figueroa joins the following other winners: Payton Eeles, Braylin Tavera, Caden Hunter, Ike Irish, and Wehiwa Aloy. We haven’t had a repeat winner yet. Will that change this week? The choice is yours.

The Royals traded for Toronto Blue Jays reliever Connor Seabold.

Seabold, 30, was designated for assignment on June 10. The Royals will offer him a fresh start and chance to carve out a role in the bullpen.

This season, Seabold owns a 4.26 ERA in 16 relief appearances. He appeared in five games with the Blue Jays after beginning the 2026 campaign with the Detroit Tigers.

“Another guy with some experience to be able to fit in the middle of the game,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “Give us some length at times. He’s been pretty much one inning lately, but we’re not going to designate a role for him.”

Anne Rogers writes about Mitch Spence’s spot start amid the injuries to the rotation.

The Royals’ depth is stretched thin with three starters sidelined right now. Despite Lugo’s placement on the 7-day concussion IL due to the line drive that hit him last week, the hope is that he’ll be able to slot back in by this weekend as long as his health stays on track over the next few days. But Cole Ragans (left elbow impingement) and Kris Bubic (left elbow soreness) have both suffered setbacks in their recoveries, extending their time on the IL.

Ragans was awaiting MRI results Monday to see what is going on with the latest soreness that crept in over the weekend, so his timeline has yet to be determined. Bubic pressed pause on his rehab assignment with shoulder discomfort, although an MRI showed that nothing was structurally wrong, so his throwing progression has continued. It’s unclear when he’ll get back on the mound.

Bobby Witt Jr leads AL shortstops in All-Star voting.

SHORTSTOP

1. Bobby Witt Jr., Royals: 890,575
2. Andrés Giménez, Blue Jays: 354,651
3. Kevin McGonigle, Tigers: 266,239
4. Colson Montgomery, White Sox: 176,673
5. Jeremy Peña, Astros: 162,537

One of the best all-around players in MLB, Witt advanced to Phase 2 in each of the past two years but lost out both times, with Gunnar Henderson earning the AL’s starting shortstop spot in 2024 and Jacob Wilson prevailing last season. Witt is still searching for his first All-Star starting nod. McGonigle is the AL Rookie of the Year frontrunner, but he has some ground to make up if he’s going to usurp Giménez as one of the AL shortstop finalists.

David Lesky believes it’s time for all of us to shift our priorities for the rest of the season.

So now the successes shift to evaluation, which nobody likes, and with the injuries they now have, they’ll get that chance. I mentioned in the newsletter about priorities shifting that I’d like to see them get a look at Kameron Misner and maybe get John Rave one more shot. Well, now it’s happening because of the injuries to Kyle Isbel and Vinnie Pasquantino. We’ll see Jac Caglianone at first base a lot and probably hitting in a more prominent spot in the lineup. We’ll see much more of Luinder Avila starting, which has produced a couple of fun starts and one that wasn’t quite so fun. I hope they get Matthew Lugo to the big leagues and ship off Starling Marte soon. I’ve heard there’s a market for Marte, so let’s see that happen, too. We’ve watched a team make the playoffs two years ago and contend in September last year, so we have to re-learn how to watch a bad team, but it’s in our blood. It shouldn’t be too hard to remember.

There is a petition regarding the new Royals stadium ($). It looks like a low-wage worker group is trying to force a vote on the matter.

If at least 2,068 petition signatures are certified, Kansas City voters could see two ballot measures over the next 10 months. The first would ask whether stadium subsidies should require a public vote. If that’s approved, a second ballot question will appear at the next election asking whether the city should contribute public dollars to the proposed Royals stadium.

But timing is everything, and Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas believes the petition may be too late.

“I think the deal is likely to get done before we even have some of these discussions,” Lucas said, “if we ever get to the point of a public vote.”

Royals top prospect Kendry Chourio was promoted to High-A Quad Cities.

Andrew Banks at Kings of Kauffman talks about Jac Caglianone’s recent hot streak.

Pete Crow-Armstrong hit the first cycle of the 2026 season.

Colt Keith hit three homers yesterday.

Dustin May had a perfect game into the seventh inning last night but settled for a complete game shutout.

San Diego Padres pitcher Rod Marinaccio was issued a suspension for hitting Gunnar Henderson. He will appeal.

The Giants seem like they’ll be open for business at the trade deadline.

FanGraphs looks at how hard it is to bunt a curveball.

The Cape Verde goalkeeper played out of his mind yesterday in a 0-0 draw to Spain.

Christian Pulisic is being careful with an apparent calf injury.

The Chicago Bulls are hiring Tiago Splitter as their new coach. Here are some more details on how that might impact the Bulls.

Who is under the most pressure to perform in 2026 for the Chiefs?

NASA continues testing a quiet supersonic jet.

Your song of the day is The Strokes with Machu Picchu.

Today’s Reflections

There are good reasons to be down about the Cubs’ 3-3 road trip against a pair of weak opponents, but one needs to look at the positives. PCA and Michael Busch extending their on-base game streaks. PCA finally, consistently, pairing his power and speed. Seiya Suzuki finding his power bat, and has raised his defensive game (hopefully that will continue when he’s 100%). Javier Assad continuing his strong pitching of late.

Yes, a 6-0 trip out west would have been spectacular. But a three-game win streak and increased contributions on offense have the Cubs going in the right direction. At least for now.

*means autoplay on, (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome). {$} means paywall. {$} means limited views. Italics are often used on this page as sarcasm font. The powers that be have enabled real sarcasm font in the comments.

Stories from Sunday’s game:

• Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune{$}): 3 takeaways from the Chicago Cubs’ series win over the Giants, including Ben Brown’s sinker success. “Chicago Cubs starter Ben Brown’s pitching line didn’t necessarily reflect a dominating outing, but his start Saturday against the Giants was one of his best of the season.”
• Vinnie Duber (Chicago Sun-Times): June schedule yet to prove enough of a remedy for Cubs, still fighting to pull out of early-summer tailspin. “The Cubs started June with 22 straight games against teams that began the month below .500. So far, they’ve yet to seize their opportunity to put a bad stretch behind them.”

• Sean Holland (Cubs Insider): Chicago Cubs Score and Recap (6/14/26): Giants 5, Cubs 1 – Webb Dominates Cubs In L. “The Cubs’ winning streak was snapped at three games in the finale at Oracle Park Sunday afternoon.”
• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com): Cubs’ bid for SF sweep disrupted by Giants ace Webb. “Stretching a brief hot streak into the weekend — a run of wins that felt more like the baseball displayed early in the season — was important for the Cubs.”
• Zachary Weinberger (Clutch Points): Cubs’ Seiya Suzuki a late scratch in series finale vs. Giants. “While Cubs star Seiya Suzuki is back in the lineup, a day removed from sustaining a knee injury, there is a catch.”

A variety of stories — even some trade talk:

• Zack Sweet (MLB.com): Steele to rejoin Cubs for next steps in recovering from elbow surgery. “Justin Steele’s road back to the Cubs took another tangible step forward on Monday.”
• Vinnie Duber (Chicago Sun-Times): Cubs ‘need a little better’ from Colin Rea, who hasn’t yet replicated 2025 in another year of fill-in duty. “Rea, who had a pair of rough outings on the team’s recent road trip out West, has struggled to a 5.35 ERA this season, unable to repeat the strong contributions he made as a fill-in starter last year.”
• Jordan Campbell (Cubbies Crib): Former Cubs’ bullpen gem met with Angels’ fate that was all too predictable. “That explains it.”
• Matt Ostrowski (North Side Baseball): Anatomy of an At-Bat: Revisiting Alex Bregman’s Bizarre Home Run Against the Rockies. “Alex Bregman isn’t known for his ability to handle pitches low in the zone, though he successfully pulled the nine iron out of his bag against the Rockies last week. Is that feat repeatable for the Cubs’ slugger?”
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): Like it or not, Pete Crow-Armstrong is earning his place among MLB’s superstars. “Cubs star says he is learning and growing from the ups and downs of this tumultuous season.”
• Jake Misener (Cubbies Crib): Cubs make trade as Jed Hoyer turns his go-to move to fix ailing pitching staff. “It’s worked before, but will it work again?”
• Conor Liguori (Sporting News): Cubs’ .772 OPS outfielder could be perfect Adolis Garcia replacement for Phillies. “Dayn Perry of CBS Sports tabbed an outfielder from the Chicago Cubs as someone who can fill in Garcia’s shoes.”

Stories from Saturday’s game:

• Vinnie Duber (Chicago Sun-Times): Cubs – winners of three straight – will be ‘back’ when we stop asking if Cubs are ‘back,’ says Craig Counsell. “Who knows if the Cubs’ 8-22 stretch that dropped them from first place to .500 is completely in the rearview mirror? But the last three days have looked more like it for a team with championship-level aspirations.”
• Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune {$}): Seiya Suzuki exits early with knee injury as Chicago Cubs hit 3 HRs to secure 1st series win since early May. “The Chicago Cubs are optimistic right fielder Seiya Suzuki avoided a serious injury during Saturday’s game at Oracle Park.”
• Kenzo Fukuda (Daily Herald): Pete Crow-Armstrong homers on 1st pitch of the game in the Cubs’ 6-1 win over the Giants. “PCA homered on the first pitch of the game and the Chicago Cubs hit two more home runs in a 6-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night.”

• Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): Why Seiya Suzuki is a key to unlocking the rest of this Cubs season. “Instead of being the weak link, Suzuki has emerged as one of the standouts for a team that’s seen as the best defensive group in baseball.”
• Casey McAleer (Da Windy City): Cubs prospect Pedro Ramirez gives fans a moment to celebrate with first MLB home run. “The rookie delivered exactly the kind of spark Chicago has been searching for during a difficult stretch.”

Stories with a prospect beat (good and bad):

• Clark Fahrenthold (MLB.com): Cubs’ No. 7 prospect ‘letting it fly’ amidst hot start to pro career. “Typically, when prospects receive a promotion, there’s an adjustment period. Thus far, that hasn’t been the case for Josiah Hartshorn.”
• Jake Misener (Cubbies Crib): Cubs’ injury conspiracy theorists validated with latest prospect injury. “This is a bad look, to say the least.”
• Jordan Campbell (Cubbies Crib): Rising Cubs prospect may already be solving future roster problem. “It’s time for this conversation.“

Food For Thought:

Mighty Mo Rodgers (real name Maurice Rodgers) was born in Indiana in 1942 where his father owned a club that featured blues performers. When Rodgers wasn’t studying classical piano he was checking out the blues artists that played there. Growing up, Rodgers was deeply affected by the mid-’60s soul music from the Memphis-based Stax label. He finally decided to quit college, move to L.A., and give music his full-time attention. There he played gigs and recorded with many blues and R&B legends.“

After growing tired of tedious session work, he continued to write songs and became a house songwriter for Motown and Chappel Publishing. Rodgers also continued to produce sessions for other artists and decided to go back to school where he received a degree in philosophy. In 1999 he released his first solo effort, Blues Is My Wailin’ Wall, on Blue Thumb. The recording contained all original material, mixing his philosophical views with blues/soul musical roots.

Please be reminded that Cub Tracks and Bleed Cubbie Blue do not necessarily endorse the content of articles, podcasts, or videos that are linked to in this series.

Happy Tuesday, OTM! While the Red Sox are only five games out of the third Wild Card in the American League, I think we’re all in agreement that this team probably isn’t going anywhere. It’s America’s pastime, though, and you need to find reasons to watch the games. Aside from just killing time on a summer night, individual performances are one reason to watch. Payton Tolle is in the running for Rookie of the Year, while Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu will be in the mix for Gold Gloves once again. Do you care about that stuff when you’re watching? I, for one, make sure to watch Tolle pitch, but don’t really care if he gets award recognition. It’d be cool if he did, because he rocks, but it doesn’t really move me either way. Maybe this isn’t the most relevant question today, but I like using this spot to ask questions I’m curious about, so let me know what you think.

Use this thread to talk about what you want and be good to one another.

The Mets have played exactly .500 baseball in the month of June so far. Juan Soto continues to be the Mets’ most consistent hitter (no surprise there), but Bo Bichette may be finally heating up, as he spends his second straight week in the green. Meanwhile, Mark Vientos’ stock is way down, as he continues to lose more and more of his at-bats to Jared Young. Carson Benge has been excellent of late and this week also saw the return of Francisco Alvarez from a torn meniscus—many weeks ahead of schedule.

Player	Last week	This week
Francisco Alvarez, C
Brett Baty, UTIL
Carson Benge, OF
Bo Bichette, 3B
Vidal Bruján, INF
A.J. Ewing, OF
MJ Melendez, OF
Marcus Semien, 2B
Hayden Senger, C
Juan Soto, OF
Luis Torrens, C
Mark Vientos, 1B/3B
Eric Wagaman, 1B/DH
Jared Young, 1B/DH

Mark Vientos continues to struggle so badly that manager Carlos Mendoza recently said he will have to compete for at-bats. And Mendoza has been true to his word. Vientos has played in just 7 of the Mets’ last 12 games and has just one hit in the month of June. Vientos has struck out in seven of his 16 plate appearances. Jared Young has been taking most of Vientos’ at-bats and has been much more productive, posting a 114 wRC+ this month thus far over 46 plate appearances. Half of his ten hits have gone for extra bases, including three home runs, and his seven RBIs are the second-most on the team.

Though his struggles are not quite as pronounced as Vientos’, Brett Baty is trending down as well, posting a 44 wRC+ in the month of June thus far. Baty has just eight hits in his last 42 plate appearances, only one of which went for extra bases. Baty walked three times, drove in three runs, and scored two runs. MJ Melendez has been seeing a bit more playing time as a result and he has held his own with an uninspiring but respectable 99 wRC+ in 32 plate appearances. He has shown some pop; three of his five hits were for extra bases, including a home run. He also drew four walks, which is somehow the second-most on the team over this 12-game stretch.

Bo Bichette leads the team in both RBIs (12) and hits (16) in the past 12 games. His 159 wRC+ for the month of June also leads the team. Of course, the highlight of this hot stretch for Bichette was his huge night in the series opener against the Braves, in which he went deep twice, including an opposite field grand slam against Spencer Strider that put the Mets ahead—ultimately for good. It may be too little too late for the Mets, but if the team is going to turn things around, Bo Bichette finally heating up would be a major reason why.

Juan Soto staying productive would be another major reason why. Though not quite as raging hot as he was at the end of May, Soto still put up a solid 121 wRC+ over 51 plate appearances. He racked up 11 hits, including two home runs and two doubles. He scored five runs and drove in five runs. And as usual, he led the team in walks with seven. Heading into Monday’s series opener in Cinncinati, Soto was up to third in the National League in OPS and had gone over 30 plate appearances without a strikeout.

Carson Benge has settled in to being quite the productive everyday player for the Mets, as his run of good play has gone on for almost two months now. In June, he holds an excellent 137 wRC+ in 51 plate appearances. The Mets outfield trio all had a good couple of weeks; A.J. Ewing put up a 130 wRC+ in 46 plate appearances. Both Mets rookie outfielders had 13 hits apiece—second only behind Bichette for the team lead. Benge’s nine runs scored lead the team. He also walked three times and drove in five runs. Ewing also walked three times. He drove in three runs, scored six runs, and stole three bases—the only Met to swipe multiple bags over the past two weeks.

Francisco Alvarez made a borderline miraculous return from a torn meniscus many weeks ahead of schedule and got off to a quick start, but has cooled off since. Overall, he had three hits including a home run in his first 14 plate appearances since being activated. Meanwhile, Luis Torrens had six hits—half of which went for extra bases—in 27 plate appearances, good for an 89 wRC+. Torrens scored five runs and drove in two runs. When Alvarez was activated, Hayden Senger, who went hitless in two plate appearances, was sent back down to Triple-A.

Marcus Semien hasn’t been what I would call raging hot, but he has at least lifted himself out of awful territory, hovering close to league average with the bat for the past month or so. In June so far, he has an 85 wRC+ in 48 plate appearances. He actually leads the team with four home runs, which represent half of his total hits over this 12-game span. They also represent all four of his runs batted in and four of his five runs scored. Semien also walked three times and stole a base.

As the last men off the bench, Vidal Brújan and Eric Wagaman have not seen many at-bats. Wagaman reached once via a hit by pitch and struck out in his other two plate appearances. Brújan did not reach base in either of his two plate appearances.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have had an up-and-down season, recently falling under .500 at 36-37, while spending a good chunk of the year so far several games above. But one of the big changes this year was the return of offense to Pittsburgh, and one of the biggest reasons for that is Nick Gonzlaes.

Well, the first group of Major League Baseball All-Star voting has been released, and the 27-year-old Gonzales sits in fifth place for the third baseman voting. The current voting is as follows:

THIRD BASE

1. Max Muncy, Dodgers: 941,218
2. Alec Bohm, Phillies: 386,425
3. Nolan Arenado, D-backs: 363,091
4. Austin Riley, Braves: 353,394
5. Nick Gonzales, Pirates: 267,518

Gonzales is second on the team in batting average, hitting .296 on the season with 2 homers and 31 RBIs. He has an OPS of .711 and a WAR of 1.0. He’s also stolen 4 bases.

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani and the Houston Astros’ Yordan Alvarez are the leading vote-getters for the National League and American League, though Ohtani leads all players with 1,165,133 votes.If they both still lead when Phase 1 of the voting is complete on Jun 25 at noon, both players will receive automatic starting spots in the All-Star Game. The 2026 Major League Baseball All-Star Game will take place on Tuesda, July 14, at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

Gonzales is the only Pirates player in the top five of any of the position voting, though cases could be made for Brandon Lowe, Oneil Cruz and Ryan O’Hearn, who are all having good seasons at the plate for the Buccos.

Congrats to Gonzales for his early showing. Though he’s going to have to get some votes in Phase 2 to catch up to the rest of the the third-basemen. Still, the Pirates will likely have a position player in the game, so it very well could be Gonzales.