Category: Sports News

Batted ball luck, when going against the team you choose to root for, is the worst thing to watch. The Blue Jays had quite a bit of luck in that final frame against Jhoan Duran, but the guy was simply going to show a crack in the armor at some point.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• Brandon Marsh has arrived. Be it against lefties, righties, he is having the season of his life. He’s worked very hard to get there ($).
• Hey, even though we do daily minor league recaps, you can still check out overall recaps on some of the bigger names.
• 6 pitchers in the game, including Aaron Nola, have improved their Stuff this year. Will results be following that improvement ($)?

MLB news:

• What would be the ideal Home Run Derby pool to have at Citizens Bank Park? Two Phillies are on the list.
• Speaking of All-Star Games predictions, how about the first round of predictions about who will be making the team?
• The White Sox are letting the fourth and final piece of the Garrett Crochet trade debut with the team this week.
• The Brewers are signing one of their top prospects to a pre-debut extension by giving Luis Lara seven guaranteed year.

Where would the Yankees be without Cody Bellinger? Even before the Aaron Judge injury, Bellinger was by far the Yankees’ third-most productive and perhaps the most consistent hitter at the plate. Now with Judge on the shelf for at least another month, the Yankees rely on Bellinger’s steady approach perhaps more than ever. On top of that, it is hard to name a hitter who has provided them more clutch hits this season, Monday night’s game-winning single in the 10th inning the latest example.

We join Bellinger with one out in the 10th, the score tied at five apiece. A one-out intentional walk of Ben Rice and an ABS-assisted walk of Max Schuemann have loaded the bases, placing automatic runner Ali Sánchez on third 90 feet away from scoring the go-ahead run. Bellinger lined a single up the middle in his last AB and faces a similar look in the 10th, Shawn Armstrong like Hunter Gaddis a righty reliever who leans on his mid-90s four-seamer.

True to form, Armstrong starts Bellinger with a first-pitch four-seamer at 95.

This is an excellent pitch from Armstrong, over the plate but elevated just above the zone. It’s a pitch that’s too close to take for Bellinger, who also appears to be hunting a first-pitch fastball that he can pull for power, and he fouls it back to the screen. The swing is on time, but just a little under the pitch.

After showing Bellinger a fastball that maintains its vertical plane and gets the chase and foul he was looking for, Armstrong switches to the sinker hoping to fool Bellinger with a pitch that has almost a foot more break down and away than the four-seamer.

Instead, he sails this sinker high and wide. The pitch looks like a ball out of his hand and never looks like a strike on its path toward home, making for a straightforward take from Bellinger.

Armstrong introduces another wrinkle with the 1-1 pitch, throwing his third different fastball in the cutter. The cutter come in about four mph slower than the four-seamer or sinker, but with late diving movement down and in.

Fortunately for Bellinger, the pitcher tugs this pitch badly and he has to maneuver out of the way to avoid being hit.

Given that he exhibited very little feel for the previous sinker and cutter, Armstong shelves those two pitches and sticks with the four-seamer for the rest of the encounter. Patrick Bailey flashes a similar target to the four-seamer Armstrong successfully executed above the zone first pitch.

It’s clear this is the only pitch Armstrong can command, and he nails his target centrally located over the plate but elevated above the hitting zone. Just like with the first pitch of the AB, Bellinger is right on time but can’t lift his barrel to match the four-seamer’s elevation and nicks a foul tip for strike two.

Now we get to see Bellinger’s two-strike approach, where he shortens his swing, lets the ball travel, and stays on his back side looking to shoot a base hit to the opposite side.

Bellinger’s superpower in these situations is his elite bat-to-ball that allows him to foul off pitchers’ pitches and stay alive until a mistake is made that he can jump on. Indeed, we see how he’s somehow able to get wood on this four-seamer that handcuffs him in off the plate and almost keeps it fair down the line in right for what would have plated at least two runs.

Bellinger finally seems to have figured out the movement profile of Armstrong’s four-seamer, getting a fatter piece of the bat to the previous pitch after previously swinging underneath for a foul to the screen and a foul tip. He should have no trouble finding the barrel should Armstrong give him something to hit.

That’s just what happens, Bellinger lining this four-seamer on the outer half through the hole on the left side to plate Sánchez and Rice as the go-ahead runs. Bellinger gets exactly one pitch in the zone in this encounter, and he makes sure he doesn’t miss it, that’s what I call clutch hitting.

Here’s the whole AB:

Bellinger has been an absolute godsend for the Yankees since re-upping over the winter, with Gold Glove defense in left field and a 138 wRC+ that places him in the top-30 qualified hitters league-wide. He put all facets of his offensive profile on display in this AB, including zone awareness, bat-to-ball skills, and two-strike hitting. The Yankees will continue to lean on the possible All-Star’s all-around contributions while awaiting Judge’s return further down the stretch.

Triple-A: Syracuse Mets (33-31)

BUFFALO 7, SYRACUSE 2 / 6 (BOX)

Syracuse initially kept pace with the Herd, but Buffalo began pulling away in the middle innings; with a good two months plus into the season, it is beginning to look more and more apparent that the tinkering the Mets have made with Jonah Tong has made him a worse pitcher than he was last season, so here’s hoping this experiment comes to an end sooner rather than later. It started raining hard in the sixth and the game was delayed, and then eventually ended early; in my mind, no question: Syracuse would’ve come from behind to take this one if given the chance and it would’ve been an epic walk-off win that would’ve been the impetus of a ten game winning streak that would’ve bumped Rochester out of first place.

 ·  CF Nick Morabito: 0-3, K

·  LF Ji Hwan Bae: 2-3, R, K, SB (21), CS (4)

·  3B Andy Ibáñez: 2-3, RBI

·  1B Ryan Clifford: 0-2

·  DH Yonny Hernández: 0-2

·  SS Grae Kessinger: 0-2

·  RF Cristian Pache: 1-2

·  2B Jackson Cluff: 0-2

·  C Kevin Parada: 1-2, R, HR (1), RBI, K

·  RHP Jonah Tong: 4.0 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, WP, HBP, L (1-4)

·  RHP Daniel Duarte: 0.1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 K

·  RHP Zach Peek: 0.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

ROSTER ALERT: New York Mets optioned C Hayden Senger to Syracuse Mets.

ROSTER ALERT: Syracuse Mets activated 3B Grae Kessinger from the 60-day injured list.

Double-A: Binghamton Rumble Ponies (23-35)

SOMERSET 10, BINGHAMTON 2 (BOX)

Binghamton’s modest little five-game winning streak came to an end, falling in game one of the Double-A Subway Series in a laughter. Binghamton had the initial lead, scoring two runs in the top of the first on a Jose Ramirez single, but the Patriots took over in the fourth thanks to the Rumble Ponies’ own carelessness, taking the lead on a wild pitch and adding an insurance run on an error. They continued piling on and piling on, while the Binghamton bats forgot how to hit.

·  C Chris Suero: 0-3, R, BB, 2 K, SB (18), E (8)

·  3B Jacob Reimer: 1-3, R, BB, K, SB (12)

·  CF Eli Serrano III: 0-4, 2 K

·  RF Jose Ramos: 1-3, 2 RBI, BB, 2 K

·  2B Nick Lorusso: 0-4, 2 K

·  1B JT Schwartz: 0-4

·  DH Vincent Perozo: 0-4, 3 K

·  LF Jaylen Palmer: 0-2, BB, K, SB (6)

·  SS Wyatt Young: 0-2, BB, K, E (3)

·  RHP R.J. Gordon: 3.1 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, E (3)

·  RHP Douglas Orellana: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, WP

·  RHP Dan Hammer: 2.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, WP

·  RHP Brian Metoyer: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, WP

High-A: Brooklyn Cyclones (22-35)

FREDERICK 3, BROOKLYN 0 (BOX)

Jose Chirinos had a strong start, allowing three runs over six innings, allowing four hits and walking three while striking out ten, but it wasn’t good enough to avoid getting tagged as a hard luck loser. The Brooklyn bats were mostly shut down, managing only six baserunners on three singles, a double, a walk, and a hit batsman.

·  SS Mitch Voit: 0-4, K

·  CF John Bay: 1-3, K, HBP, SB (15), CS (3)

·  1B Ronald Hernandez: 1-4, 2 K

·  DH Corey Collins: 1-3, BB

·  3B Yonatan Henriquez: 0-4

·  C Daiverson Gutierrez: 0-3

·  RF JT Benson: 1-3, 2B, K

·  2B Colin Houck: 0-3, K

·  LF Trace Willhoite: 0-3, 3 K

·  RHP Jose Chirinos: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 10 K, L (0-1)

·  RHP Danis Correa: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

·  RHP Ryan Dollar: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

·  RHP Hoss Brewer: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

ROSTER ALERT: RHP Danis Correa assigned to Brooklyn Cyclones from Binghamton Rumble Ponies.

Single-A: St. Lucie Mets (26-32)

ST. LUCIE 7, PALM BEACH 0 (BOX)

For six-and-two-things inning, Cam Tilly was phenomenal. Not perfect, but pretty close, walking three and striking out four while not allowing a hit. He ran into some trouble in the seventh, walking a pair of batters and was replaced by Elwis Mijares, who wiggled out of trouble, inducing a flyball and groundball to end the inning. Mijares pitched a clean eighth and ran into a little trouble himself in the ninth, but once again got out of trouble, completing the no-hitter, the second in the Florida State League this year and the ninth in all of Minor League Baseball. For St. Lucie themselves, it was the franchise’s first no-hitter, and for the Palm Beach Cardinals, it was the first time ever that they got no-hit.

·  SS Elian Peña: 0-3, 3 R, BB, K, HBP, SB (19), E (11)

·  CF Trey Snyder: 1-4, R, 3B, 2 RBI, BB, K

·  3B Antonio Jimenez: 1-4, 2 R, HR (1), RBI, BB, K

·  LF Yohairo Cuevas: 2-4, RBI, HBP

·  1B Julio Zayas: 1-5, RBI, K, E (4)

·  C Chase Meggers: 0-5, 3 K

·  2B Branny De Oleo: 0-4

·  DH Jeremy Rodriguez: 0-4, 2 K

·  RF Simon Juan: 2-4, R, 2B, K

·  RHP Cam Tilly: 6.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, W (3-2)

·  RHP Elwis Mijares: 2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K

ROSTER ALERT: RHP Caden Wooster assigned to St. Lucie Mets from FCL Mets.

ROSTER ALERT: C Jack Scanlon assigned to St. Lucie Mets.

Rookie: FCL Mets (11-14)

FCL NATIONALS 17, FCL METS 1 (BOX)

·  CF Bohan Adderley: 2-4, 2B, K, CS (1)

·  DH Josmir Reyes: 0-2, R, BB, K, SB (4)

·  1B Roybert Herrera: 1-3, K

·  C Yovanny Rodriguez: 1-2, RBI, K, HBP

·  2B Anthony Frobose: 0-3, 3 K

·  RF Heriberto Rincon: 1-3

·  SS Vladi Gomez: 0-3, E (3), CS (2)

·  3B Diover De Aza: 1-3, 2B

·  LF Adolfo Miranda: 0-3, 2 K

·  REHAB ALERT RHP Ethan Lanthier: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

·  RHP Julio Gonzalez: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, L (0-3)

·  LHP Wilmer Lugo: 0.0 IP, 1 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 0 K, 2 HBP

·  RHP John Valle: 0.2 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, E (1)

·  LHP Luis Sotillo: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, HBP

·  RHP Jun-Seok Shim: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 0 K, WP

ROSTER ALERT: SS Vladi Gomez assigned to FCL Mets from St. Lucie Mets.

ROSTER ALERT: St. Lucie Mets sent RHP Ethan Lanthier on a rehab assignment to FCL Mets.

STAR OF THE NIGHT

Cam Tilly & Elwis Mijares

GOAT OF THE NIGHT

The Brooklyn offense

Free of charge for the discerning reader.

Happy birthday to Frank Demaree, and a mighty host of others.

Today in baseball history, in 1972 – Hank Aaron‘s grand slam helps the Atlanta Braves to a 15-3 rout of the Phillies. It is Aaron’s 649th home run, moving him ahead of Willie Mays into second place on the career list. It is also his 14th grand slam, tying Gil Hodges‘ National League record, and other stories as well.

Today in baseball history:

• 1892 – Though Baltimore fails to score after the 6th inning‚ the Orioles explode for 25 hits and swamp St. Louis, 25-4. Wilbert Robinson‚ Orioles catcher‚ goes 7 for 7‚ bats in 11 runs‚ then a major league record.
• 1935 – Paul Waner‚ Arky Vaughan‚ and Pep Young hit successive homers in the eighth inning off Benny Frey in the Pirates’ 14-1 win against the Reds.
• 1998 – Yankee OF Tim Raines steals the 800th base of his career in New York’s 6-2 win over the Expos. He is the fifth player in history to reach that milestone.
• 2006 – The Devil Rays beat the Royals, 9-5. Kansas City OF Reggie Sanders hits his 300th career home run to become the fifth player in major league history with 300 homers and 300 stolen bases. The others are Barry and Bobby Bonds, Willie Mays, and Andre Dawson.
• 2023 – In only his fourth start since coming back from a serious shoulder injury that cost him the second half of last season, Kyle Hendricks takes a no-hitter into the eighth inning before Mitch Haniger hits a two-out double. Hendricks then retires the next batter and Julian Merryweather pitches the 9th inning to complete the Cubs’ 4-0 shutout win over the Giants, the first victory of the season for Hendricks.

Cubs Birthdays:Frank Demaree, Mike Kreevich. Also notable: Fred Hofmann HOF.

Today in history:

• 1692 – First victim of the Salem witch trials, Bridget Bishop, is hanged after being found guilty of witchcraft in the Colony of Massachusetts.
• 1752 – Benjamin Franklin tests the lightning conductor with his kite-flying experiment.
• 1845 – Andrew Jackson‘s African Grey parrot “Poll” is removed from his funeral for swearing at The Hermitage, Tennessee. Funeral attendee William Menefee Norment records: “Before the sermon and while the crowd was gathering, a wicked parrot that was a household pet got excited and commenced swearing so loud and long as to disturb the people and had to be carried from the house”.
• 1898 – US Marines land in Cuba during the Spanish–American War.
• 1933 – Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker flip their car into a ravine. Parker suffers serious third degree burns from the accident which would affect her for the rest of her life.
• 1933 – John Dillinger robs his first bank, taking $10,600 from the National Bank in New Carlisle, Ohio.
• 1991 – Final episode of David Lynch‘s “Twin Peaks” television series airs on ABC-TV.
• 2003 – The Spirit Rover is launched, beginning NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover mission.
• 2007 – “The Sopranos” series finale on HBO (infamous “cut to black” ending).

Today in music history:

• 1964 –Rolling Stones record their “12×5” album at Chess Studios in Chicago, Illinois.
• 1966 –Janis Joplin plays her 1st live gig with Big Brother & The Holding Company, at Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco, California.
• 1966 – The Beatles release single “Paperback Writer” / “Rain” in UK; “Rain” featured experimental studio tricks of slowed down bass and drums tracks, and backwards vocals in the fade out.
• 1966 – The Mamas & the Papas are awarded a gold record for “Monday, Monday”.
• 1972 – Elvis Presley records a live album at NYC’s Madison Square Garden.
• 1972 – Sammy Davis Jr.‘s cover of “The Candy Man” by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse (from the film “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory”) goes to #1 on the charts – his biggest single.
• 1976 – 67,000 fans attends Paul McCartney & Wings concert at the Kingdome in Seattle, Washington

*pictured.

Note: the stats in this article were accurate through Monday; Pratt hit another homer on Tuesday.

When Cooper Pratt signed an eight-year, $50 million contract (with two lucrative option years) on April 3, a clock started. Pratt was no longer beholden to any concerns about team control, super two status, 40-man roster status, any of it. That’s all been sorted out.

This clock was for the players on the left side of the major league Milwaukee Brewers infield.

This was a known weakness coming into the season. When the Brewers traded Caleb Durbin, Andruw Monasterio, and Anthony Seigler to Boston before the season, they opened up some holes. Despite offensive concerns, Joey Ortiz was still around to play shortstop, and Seigler, maybe, was never in the plan beyond providing some minor league depth. Monasterio played a utility role, and though he played that role nicely, David Hamilton, who came back in the trade, could probably make up for that loss.

The starting role at third base, though, was a question. Milwaukee’s minor league system is chock-full of tantalizing infield talent, but before the season started, all of Pratt, Jett Williams, Jesús Made, Luis Peña, and Andrew Fischer had a combined 151 plate appearances at Triple-A or higher. All of those belonged to Williams, and his OBP during that stretch was .285.

The problem

The kids weren’t quite ready, so Milwaukee made a move for a temporary solution: Luis Rengifo, a proven commodity, a 29-year-old with six years of MLB experience who was coming off a tough year but had a reasonable track record of success going back to 2022. It wasn’t unreasonable to think it would work fine for a year until someone showed they were ready for the big-league Brewers in 2027. My own analysis told me that Rengifo’s issue was less about hitting the ball hard than about needing to elevate the ball. If he could just hit more fly balls than line drives, he could turn back into a 15-homer guy and provide solid-enough offense for Milwaukee.

Well, it hasn’t happened. Rengifo’s exit velocities are largely in line with his career average, but the launch-angle aspect hasn’t come to fruition at all. There’s somebad luck in Rengifo’s season results: his BABIP is just .226, and his weighted on-base average (.243) is underperforming his expected number (.296) by more than 50 points.

But that xwOBA would still be the worst for Rengifo since he became a regular player in 2022. He has zero home runs. The doubles he was hitting at the beginning of the season have mostly dried up. What’s worse, arguably, is that he’s not offering any defensive value while all of this is happening. Rengifo, depending on whether you prefer looking at DRS or OAA, is either slightly above or slightly below average in the field. He’s passable, but he’s not good.

This might be an issue for the Brewers as a whole. I say “might be” because your preferred defensive stats will influence this conversation. By DRS, the Brewers rank eighth, which is actually a slight step above the 10th-place finish they had in 2025. But by Outs Above Average, Milwaukee, at -5, is 18th; they were thirdin 2025 at +33.

Rengifo is not solely responsible for that drop in OAA. Jake Bauers is way worse in 2026 than he was in 2025. Andrew Vaughn has flipped from +5 to -2. Sal Frelick has gone from one of the team’s best defenders (+7 in 2025, behind only Joey Ortiz) to neutral (0). David Hamilton weighs heavily on the Brewers’ OAA score — at -6, he’s the worst defender they’ve had in the last two years by this measurement. (This should be taken with a grain of salt, though; DRS quite likes Hamilton’s defense, and this accounts in large part for the Brewers’ gap between DRS and OAA).

The thing about all of those other guys (save for Frelick, who might be a discussion for a different time): they’re not all that easily replaceable. The Brewers need offense from Vaughn and Bauers. Hamilton is coming around offensively, offers a lot of value as a base runner, and the Brewers may very well believe that he’s a good defensive player (which wouldn’t be unreasonable at all).

The solution

In Pratt, the Brewers have a replacement.

Will he struggle when he gets the call? Probably. Pratt started the season badly at the plate, and he had just a 107 wRC+ at Double-A last season. But in his last 24 games, which covers exactly the last month, Pratt is hitting .301/398/.516 for a 143 wRC+. He’s striking out only 16.5% of the time and walking almost 13%. His wRC+ for the season was at 74 at the end of play on May 8; it’s now at 105.

And the thing about Pratt is that he could give the Brewers a huge defensive boost, not just because of his own ability but because of how the pieces would fall into place alongside him. His scouting grades give him a 60/60 fielding/arm score. People feel like he’s ready today to be plugged in at shortstop at the major league level. He might not be better than Ortiz, but he probably isn’t much worse.

My solution, then, would be to cut Rengifo, move Hamilton and Ortiz into a third-base platoon, and give Pratt the shortstop job. Hamilton is clearly better against right-handed pitching; Ortiz has reverse splits this season, but has been clearly better against left-handed pitching over the course of his career. If you believe DRS’s measure of Hamilton’s impact is more accurate than OAA’s, then you’ve vastly upgraded the defense at third base. A Hamilton/Ortiz platoon isn’t going to strike fear into opposing pitchers’ hearts, but it’s going to give you more than what Rengifo has this season.

Crucially, it paves the way for Pratt to play every day, which seems to be a major concern of management. It’ll probably be a struggle for a while at the plate, but when the guy being replaced has a 49 OPS+, I’m not all that worried about Pratt’s struggles. This is a rare move that works at two levels: it’s a pivot to the future, but it’s also a move that makes the team better today.

The case for haste

Look: I don’t like doing this. I’m acutely aware of the fact that baseball players are human beings, even if they are lavishly compensated for that work. I feel bad saying this. But the Brewers should cut their losses with Rengifo. They’re already on the hook for a $1.5 million buyout of a mutual option in 2027, and he has a clause in his contract that rewards him an extra $100,000 for every 50 plate appearance he makes at this point in the season (and more if he gets to 400+); that’s not a ton of savings, but there’s no reason Milwaukee should keep paying those bonuses. Rengifo is harming the team offensively, and he’s not helping on defense.

The Brewers are winning. That has afforded them time to wait and see if Rengifo turns it around. With the wins piling up, there’s no harm in that.

But there could be a form of harm later in the season, specifically in the postseason. It seems certain that at some point soon, the Brewers will need to come to the conclusion that Rengifo is not going to be who they want at the hot corner in a postseason series.

Maybe they think the answer is outside the organization. I’m skeptical. I haven’t really done my pre-deadline scan of the league yet, but I’m not expecting the Brewers to trade for a real difference maker at third base when they have the upcoming prospects that they have.

So if the answer is not coming from outside, that means it’s already here, and that means it’s either Pratt or Williams. Williams is struggling. Pratt is improving. The longer the Brewers wait, the less time Pratt will have to adjust to major league pitching, and the less prepared he’ll be for a potential postseason series. It’s time to make this happen.

A quick post-script

Given that Luis Lara signed a contract similar to Pratt’s after I had already done much of the research for this piece, I do feel it’s necessary to address his situation at least a little bit. Lara is now in line to come up to the big leagues if there’s any immediate need, but I don’t see it happening unless something else happens first. For one thing, Lara’s track record is far shorter than Pratt’s.

There’s also an issue of playing time. Garrett Mitchell has been good lately. Frelick hasn’t been, but he’s a favorite of the manager, and he was a three-WAR player last season and a Gold Glove winner the year before. Blake Perkins will be sent back to the minors as soon as Brandon Lockridge is ready to return, and if what Murphy said about Pratt is true — that they don’t want him in the big leagues unless he’s going to play regularly — then one would assume that would also be true of Lara, and he would thus not fill a soft-side platoon role in the majors. (Lara is also a switch-hitter, which complicates things; he’s better from the right side, so could conceivably do a loose platoon with Frelick.)

If Mitchell (or Jackson Chourio) gets hurt again, Lara will be up. If Frelick is still rocking a 70 OPS+ in August, then Lara will probably be up. But I think Mitchell and Frelick have earned some patience here that Rengifo has not, and this is why I’d make the Pratt move immediately and save Lara for later.