Kyle Steyn and Finn Russell were irrepressible for the hosts while Ollie Chessum shone for England but George Ford was among those in white who had days to forget
Tom Jordan Solid under high ball, did his bit in a cohesive attacking display from Gregor Townsend’s fluent backline. 7
Continue reading...
New Yankees starting pitcher Ryan Weathers, who arrived in a January trade with the Marlins, takes a swing at some spring training Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby.
Q: When you think of the New York Yankees, what do you think of?
A: Did you ever watch the movie “Everyone’s Hero”? When I was younger, it’s an animated movie and he wanted to play for the Yankees (laugh). That’s the movie I think of.
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Try it freeQ: What do you think of when you think of the Yankees’ tradition and former players, etc.?
A: Oh, I mean, it’s awesome. When you think about what that logo carries, I mean, that New York logo. It hasn’t been changed since they became the New York Yankees, and it’s just a logo that’s recognized throughout the whole world, the pinstripes. … Every team tries to emulate the pinstripes and it never looks the same, it’s like you can’t get away from like the classic pinstripes the Yankees carry. It’s just cool for my name to be even associated with the New York Yankees.
Q: Have you actually put on the pinstripes?
A: I’ve put on the pants, I haven’t put on the full uni, but I got to put on the pants for the last couple of days, and it just feels so cool and just it’s such an honor to be able to wear ’em.
Q: What do you remember about the first time you pitched at Yankee Stadium, April 10, 2024?
A: One, just the crowd, just how into the game they were. Obviously I was pitching with the Marlins, but you know, getting chirped in the bullpen … that stuff just doesn’t leave your brain. You walk in the Stadium and you see in right center George Steinbrenner’s mural, you got the Judge’s Chambers. It’s such a cool ballpark, it’s just an ode to history of the Yankees. It’s just really cool to pitch there. I cannot wait to be on the home team pitching there.
Q: When you were getting chirped, what did you hear?
A: (Laugh) Just normal banter, just whatever, but it just shows you just how into the game the crowd is. What’s cool about Yankee fans is they understand the game, and they want to be a part of the game and it’s just a very neat atmosphere.
Q: What will it be like pitching on the big stage under the bright lights?
A: I could not be more excited to pitch, because at the end of the day, you’re either going to throw the ball well or you don’t. If you start worrying about being in New York and … if you let that stuff creep into your mind, it’s just going to take you away from doing your job. My job is go out there and do the best that Ryan Weathers can do and help the New York Yankees win games. Thankfully I’ve been in the big leagues for a couple of years, and I thank the Marlins for letting me get my feet under me, and they let me fail at that level and learn from it. So I cannot be more excited to pitch for the Yankees.
Q: How does failure weigh on the mind of a pitcher?
A: If you’re a bullpen guy, you have to have the ability to flush it because you could be in the ballgame the next day. As a starter, it can be tough sometimes because you want to get back out there so bad, but you have to wait four or five days to get back out there. I think the biggest thing I learned from failure was just it’s three games in a row you’ve gotten hit the same way or given up runs the same way, are you going to continue to pitch the same way, or are you going to try to change it up and learn from staying out of a certain part of the plate? I really leaned on my dad a lot just with the failure. Anybody can prep for your whole life, but until you actually have to face failure yourself and look yourself in the mirror … The thing that got me through it is everybody loves you when you’re doing well, and when you’re doing bad, you’re the only person that can bring yourself out from that hole, and you just learn how to just scratch the bottom of the barrel and work yourself out and just put your nose to the grindstone.
Q: How would you describe your mound mentality?
A: When the game starts I would definitely say I’m a pitcher that sees red. My biggest goal is it’s good to have the bulldog mentality. There’s times you use it. And then there’s not letting one pitch bleed into the next. That’s what I’ve really been working on the last couple of years. I want when somebody looks out there on the mound, if there was no scoreboard, I don’t want them to know if I’ve been pitching seven shutout or if I’m in the second inning getting crushed. I want to keep the same even keel the whole time I’m out there.
Q: Never let them see you sweat in other words.
A: For sure.
Q: A pitcher who sees red?
A: I don’t know what it is, but when I get on the mound, I think you just kind of black out and you’re really focused on the task at hand … just want to be aggressive in the zone, want to pitch at 130 pitches (chuckle) whatever it may be, you just want to stay out there.
Q: What drives you?
A: I would definitely say my wife [Thayer]. I have a baby boy coming in April. What’s incredible about this game and this job is when you treat it like a job, you can set up generational wealth for your family, you can put your kids through college, sometimes at the age of 40 you can be done, and you can just watch all of your kids play every sport. That’s what my dad [ex-Yankees pitcher David] did for me. I saw the toll that it took off of my mom, and I just want to be able to do the same for my wife. Family drives me in everything.
Q: Would you want your son to be a pitcher one day?
A: I want my son to be whatever he wants to (chuckle), but I wouldn’t mind a left-handed pitcher, a switch-hitting catcher though (laugh).
Q: The Padres drafted you seventh overall in 2018. Was there pressure?
A: My 19-, 20-year-old year, I kind of had a quick buildup to the big leagues, so I didn’t really have time to listen to any of that, or worry about any of that, because at the age of 20 I just got thrusted into the division series [2020 against the Dodgers] and didn’t really have time (laugh) to worry about any of that. But no, I don’t think it creates any pressure or anything like that. I got teammates from the first round all the way to the 25th round, coming from junior college, high school … you name it. Baseball’s baseball, and it’s always going to be baseball.
Q: Has your career been what you expected of yourself so far?
A: I feel like when I’m on the field I feel like that I can help the team win ballgames. Problem is the past year-and-a-half is I haven’t been on the field [left forearm and left lat strains]. I want to pride myself on being available. Recently I have not been available. But hopefully that all changes this year. The Yankees have me on a really good program. We were trending really good in the offseason. We’re trending really good right now in spring training, and hopefully I can stay on the field.
Q: Why do you believe the best is yet to come for Ryan Weathers?
A: I can’t really answer that, only the Good Lord knows that. I just know that the Yankees are putting me in a good spot to be healthy. I don’t care what my numbers are, I just want to go out there and be available for [manager Aaron] Booney and the Yankees, and whatever capacity they need me, I just want to be able to pitch from March all the way until whenever our last game is.
Q: What is your best baseball moment?
A: If he ever sees this or anything, he’ll kill me, but one of my buddies with the Marlins, Brax Garrett, in 2021 I hit a homer off him in Miami to dead center, and when I got traded [from the Padres on Aug. 1, 2023], we ended up being really, really good friends (laugh). Now that I know him really well, that’s one of the coolest moments I’ve had because he’s a really good dude. We just had so much banter about that in the clubhouse, and it was definitely one of the coolest things.
Q: Worst baseball moment — would that be catcher Nick Fortes accidentally hitting you last June in the back of the head with a warmup throw to second base?
A: (Laugh) I wouldn’t say that’s the worst moment. Fortes is one of my boys, we eat breakfast together, we’re hanging out in the locker room all the time playing pool, whatever it may be. That was tough all around, because it was totally unintentional and he didn’t mean to do that. … I would say my worst baseball day was probably … the turning point in my mental part of the game in my career. I just got traded to the Marlins, and I didn’t pitch for about 12 days, and then I got recalled to pitch against the Rangers and I came out of the bullpen, and I got whacked all over the ballpark. I got optioned after the game, and I remember going to my hotel room being like, “I cannot do this game anymore, this is brutal.” I remember my wife told me, she goes, “Are you going to go back to school?” And I was like, “You know what? I’m going to figure this out. I am not going back to school (laugh).” That really gave me perspective in the game, and I went down to Triple-A, and that Triple-A team in Jacksonville made me re-love the game. If I wouldn’t have went through that worst day of my entire career, I don’t think I could be where I’m at now.
Q: Was that a bigger adversity for you than the injuries?
A: For sure. The injuries were just so weird. You couldn’t really label them as major injuries. They were in between minor and major just to the point where like I could not pitch through them. I had the finger injury in 2024, the injury only happens in rock climbers, and somehow on a baseball field that happened. … I did not want to not pitch last year, I did not want to have [just] eight starts.
Q: Do you remember running around the 2004 clubhouse when your father pitched for the Mets?
A: (Laugh) I very vaguely remember the Mets. That was when I was about 3 and 4 years old. I remember most of my time in Cincinnati.
Q: Did your father show you his 1996 Yankees World Series ring?
A: I’ve seen his ring from ’96 and I’ve seen his Toronto one, I think, from ’91.
Q: Did he tell you stories about the ’96 Yankees?
A: He told me it’s one of his favorite moments was when he punched out Javy Lopez [Game 6]. He said it was one of the moments in his career that was like, “Holy cow!” Like the whole Yankee Stadium erupting.
Q: Whatever comes to mind: Aaron Judge.
A: MVP … Captain. You’re not the Captain of the Yankees by accident. It’s been cool seeing from not being on his team what he’s done for the game of baseball and then being on his team, just how he carries himself. He’s a first-class human being. He’s awesome. Just a really good dude.
Q: Have you picked Max Fried’s brain yet?
A: We have these spin balls that we use, you color the ball where you can see your four-seam spin and your breaking ball spin, and he’s got me hooked on those playing catch.
Q: Gerrit Cole.
A: Just from my interactions with him and talking to him, like a really, really good knowledge for the game. Obviously Cy Young pitcher, really good dude, really controls the pitching staff, just a good leader for us. His body of work speaks for itself, and it’s cool getting to watch him do that.
Q: Describe your wife, Thayer, and mom, Kelli.
A: My wife, she played volleyball at the University of Florida. She’s an athlete. I watched her play on two torn hip labrums. I’ve seen her go through that pain. She’s a rock star, she’s the rock of our family. She’s a wonderful human being, one of the best cooks I know in the entire world. She takes care of the house. She is just a hard worker. … And when I think of my mom, my dad in summer couldn’t be at all of my games, and I remember her taking me every day, every other Tuesday, Thursday in Florence, Kentucky. I played in the machine pitch league one year that when we were in Cincinnati, and her running me around Florence, Kentucky, just playing all these games.
She’s been the rock of our family. I was always her travel buddy when Dad played. I got to play hoops when I was in high school, and that was what she played when she was in college. So it was cool getting to share that with her. I’m her only son, so that mother-son bond, it’s awesome, and as I get older the more I appreciate what she did for me in my younger years and through high school and even through now … when we’re going from the house and her taking care of our house. She’s a mother, and I love her.
Q: Other than your dad, who were your favorite baseball players growing up?
A: Clayton Kershaw’s definitely one, being a left-handed pitcher, first time I had seen him in person I was like a kid in a candy shop, it was so cool. Position players, I loved watching Ken Griffey Jr. Joey Votto was always fun to watch.
Q: You played basketball in high school.
A: I was a shooter. I didn’t really play a whole lot of defense. Just put me in the corner and let me fling it.
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: Jesus, Tiger Woods, FDR [Franklin Delano Roosevelt]. I’d like to know how he got us though in the ’40s, that’d be cool.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: “Sweet Home Alabama.”
Q: Favorite actor?
A: Vince Vaughn.
Q: Favorite actress?
A: I love Debra [Patricia Heaton] of “Everybody Loves Raymond.”
Q: Favorite entertainers”
A: Toby Keith and Morgan Wallen.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: Steak, all day every day of the week.
Q: How hungry are you to win a World Series?
A: That’s the pinnacle of the sport. It starts with all of us, one person can’t do it. This is a really fun team to be a part of, really good team camaraderie, and I look forward to pitching for these guys and having them play behind me, and hopefully we can win some ballgames, and just see where it takes us.
BOSTON (AP) — Chris Bell made six 3-pointers and scored 22 points to help California cruise past Boston College 86-75 on Saturday.
Cal (18-8, 6-7 Atlantic Coast Conference) never trailed against BC, and led by as many as 20 points in each half. The Golden Bears ended a two-game skid that included a 107-100, double-overtime loss to Syracuse.
Bell shot 8 of 13 from the field and 6 of 10 from long range. John Camden made four 3s and finished with 15 points. Dai Dai Ames also scored 15 points and Justin Pippen chipped in with 12. Cal shot 56% overall and 48% (14 of 29) from beyond the arc.
Fred Payne scored 16 points to lead Boston College (9-16, 2-10), which has lost six straight games. Chase Forte added 14 points, and Luka Toews and Jayden Hastings scored 12 each.
With 4:18 remaining, Toews hit a 3-pointer to spark a 10-3 spurt that pulled the Eagles to 80-71 with 2:16 left. Camden answered with a 3 and BC didn't get closer.
Cal used a 19-8 run, capped by Camden's 3-pointer, for a 20-point lead late in the first half. Payne's 3 helped pull the Eagles to 43-28 at the break. In the second half, another Camden 3 stretched the Golden Bears' lead to 55-35 with 16:32 to play.
Cal: The Golden Bears face Stanford at home on Saturday.
Boston College: The Eagles are at Florida State on Saturday.
___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
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In the summer of 1948, Rangers manager Frank Boucher pulled off one of the "steal deals" of all-time. "Boosh" obtained center Buddy O'Connor from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for a few minor leaguers who never amounted to much.
O'Connor went on to win the 1949 Hart Trophy as well as the Lady Byng award; quite a gem for practically nothing.
But there was more to the deal. In addition, the Blueshirts also obtained defenseman Frankie Eddolls who then was called the "best defenseman outside the NHL."
Eddolls would become a blue line star and was a key figure in the spring of 1950 when Frankie helped the Blueshirts to the seventh game of the Stanley Cup Final vs. Detroit.
Unfortunately, the Red Wings won the Cup in double overtime.
In this week’s Tuesday Tracker and our SB Nation Reacts survey, results are in from fan polling about the NBA trade deadline. Here are the highlights:
Thanks again for voting! Check back on Tuesday for another slate of questions.
Check out FanDuel, the official sportsbook of SB Nation.
EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — England's 12-test winning streak was shattered by Scotland pulling out an astonishingly one-sided 31-20 victory at Murrayfield in the Six Nations on Saturday.
England was favored to win at Murrayfield for the first time since 2020, having developed a mighty bench and become well-drilled and confident during its longest winning run in nine years.
But English set-piece dominance was undone by sloppy handling in Scotland's 22, under pressure from having to play catchup after a scintillating Scottish start.
Conducted by a masterly Finn Russell, Scotland blasted off to 17-0 after 14 minutes, its speed and slickness twisting an overburdened England into knots.
“I thought that was some of the best rugby we’ve every played,” Scotland coach Gregor Townsend told ITV. “It’s all you want as a coach. I thought that was one of Finn Russell’s best games for Scotland and the work rate of our forwards was superb.”
England winger Henry Arundell received a 20-minute red card but his first yellow card was the most damaging. Scotland, emotionally up for the match against its oldest rival and out to redeem for a woeful loss to Italy last weekend, exploited Arundell's absence in the fast start.
It was too much for England to overcome. By the time of Arundell's second yellow card right on halftime, leading to the automatic red, Scotland was still up by 14. In his second absence, Scotland out-scored England only 7-3 though it was a second try for center Huw Jones and Scotland's bonus-point fourth and last try.
“We are bitterly disappointed at that first 20 minutes, the lead Scotland got ahead of us and playing for such a long period with 14 men,” England coach Steve Borthwick told the BBC.
“The way Scotland can move the ball to the edges without our winger it exposed us there and it gave us too much to do.”
Scotland and Townsend, on the occasion of his 100th test, were under fire all week after Italy humbled them 18-15 in Rome.
A sixth win (plus the epic draw in 2019) against England in nine matchups, all under Townsend, will quieten the growing clamor for him to resign, at least until Scotland's final position in the championship becomes clear.
“There has been a lot of talk about Gregor Townsend but his players really showed up today, they really performed and really played for Gregor today,” Borthwick said. “They don’t play like that in every single game."
Beating England has given Townsend's Scotland a best placing of only third, leading supporters to believe the victories, while celebrated, have been used by the team to gloss over poor campaigns.
Townsend didn't deny it: “We've given them something to shout about for the next 12 months.”
Against Italy, Scotland made no line breaks. Against England, it made 10 in the first half alone.
Arundell was coming off a hat trick against Wales but after he was sin-binned early for not releasing, Russell's one-handed flick on with Tom Roebuck in his face set up the opening try for Jones.
A Russell line break was followed by captain Sione Tuipulotu's huge pass to unmarked flanker Jamie Ritchie to stroll over.
Arundell returned from the sin-bin to score thanks to George Ford, who added a conversion and penalty, and England looked to be finding a foothold.
But Russell then switched the attack, stepped two defenders and chipped ahead. England prop Ellis Genge made a mess of grabbing the ball and Scotland scrumhalf Ben White took the gift over the tryline.
Right on halftime, Arundell took out leaping opposite Kyle Steyn and his second yellow card became a 20-minute red.
Ford started the second half with a penalty; he was perfect off the tee. But his drop goal attempt was charged down by Matt Fagerson, who collected the ball and let Jones race to the posts at the other end. It made Jones Scotland's top try-scorer in Six Nations history since 2000 (18), and the leading try-scorer against England (8) in the same period.
Russell went five for five in goalkicking, a year after his late missed conversion cost Scotland a fifth straight win over England.
England was consoled by a late converted try to No. 8 Ben Earl.
___
AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
The Mets felt it right away when A.J. Minter went down last year.
The left-hander was brought in to help bridge the gap to closer Edwin Diaz in the late innings, and he did just that before suffering his season-ending lat injury in late May.
Minter allowed just two runs over his 13 appearances at the time.
But New York was forced to maneuver the rest of the way without him, and it ended up being a significant blow to a bullpen that was leaned on heavily during the second-half collapse.
After months of rehabbing, the 32-year-old southpaw is finally closing in on his return.
Minter is expected to miss at least the first month of the season as he continues progressing his way back, but the Mets have been encouraged by what they’ve seen from him to this point.
Saturday marked his second bullpen session since reporting for spring training.
“He’s another guy we have to take care of,” Carlos Mendoza said. “But he looks really good -- watching him in that first bullpen, then the second one today, the way the ball is coming out, it’s with ease, it’s effortless, it’s a good sign.
“I keep telling him to take it easy; we have a long way to go. But he’s a big part of this team, a big part of our bullpen, and we’re counting on him as well.”
Getting Minter back in the mix alongside fellow lefty Brooks Raley will be a huge boost for this group.
Tyler Callihan enters camp in Goodyear looking to regain a spot on the active roster of the Cincinnati Reds after a devastating broken arm ended his 2025 season prematurely. Callihan also checks in as the #18 prospect in this year’s Community Prospect Rankings thanks to his gap power, good patience at the plate, and ability to man just about half the defensive positions on the field competently.
Now, we take the voting into the final few spots, with #18 next up on the list!
Per usual, you can find the link to the Google Form for voting right here, yet it’s also embedded at the bottom if you want to read through first and not have to embark upon the painstaking process of scrolling all the way back up here. Both link and embed will be removed once voting closes so you can’t stuff the ballot post facto, however, so be advised that this paragraph will make zero sense if you stumble back across it a year from now.
Here’s how the list has materialized so far:
A large list of talented names exists below for spot #19. Have at it with the votes!
2025 at a glance: .247/.368/.461 with 7 HR, 9 SB in 193 PA for DSL Rojos (Dominican Summer League)
Pros: 29/35 K/BB showed greatly improving strike zone awareness; already a plus defender at short where he projects to be excellent both with range and arm long-term
Cons: Still not viewed as a potential plus with the bat, though early returns are already better than original scouting reports; has a long way to go in terms of physically maturing
The Reds doled out $1.9 million to sign Aponte last January, and that marked the single largest contract they doled out in that particular international signing window. MLB Pipeline ranked him as the #18 player overall in that class, noting he was ‘one of the most skilled defenders in his class’ and ‘offers solid wheels’ with ‘magic in his hands’ while doling out a 65 grade on his fielding ability.
The rest, we knew, would take time, as he was just liked at 6’0” and 160 lbs, and that even felt like a slight exaggeration. To his credit, though, he mashed 7 homers as a 17 year old in DSL play while showing more power than anticipated, and if that aspect of his game grows to match what’s already known the Reds have found themselves a gem.
It will be interesting to see if the Reds push him up to Arizona Complex League play at all in 2026 or give him another year in the DSL seeing as he just turned 18 years old in November.
2025 at a glance: ER, 2 H, 10 K, 4 BB in 9.0 IP with Daytona Tortugas (Class-A Florida State League
Pros: Two plus breaking pitches (slider, curve)
Cons: Not a ton of velocity on his fastball, which sits 91-94 mph
Luke Holman threw 109 pitches for LSU in a 6-2 loss to North Carolina on June 1st, 2024, a game in which he yielded 4 ER in 6.2 IP with 7 H, 11 K, and a lone walk. Since then, he’s thrown just 9.0 IP on a mound, total.
Holman, Cincinnati’s 2nd round pick in 2024, sat out the remainder of 2024 after being drafted, finishing his calendar year with 91.2 IP of 2.75 ERA ball that included a wonderful 0.98 WHIP and 127/33 K/BB. When his 2025 began in Daytona, all signs looked promising in his first pair of starts only for an elbow issue to subsequently sit him down and require Tommy John surgery, and we’ve not seen him since.
He sat 91-94 with his fastball (and touched 96) before, and has a pair of wicked breaking balls that he uses as his out pitches. If he returns to form in 2026 the way he ways before (or even better!), he still profiles as a back-end starter who should move quickly through Cincinnati’s system after dominating SEC play in stints first with Alabama and later with LSU.
2025 at a glance: 9.00 ERA, 7/1 K/BB in 4.0 IP with Class-A Daytona Tortugas; 3.29 ERA, 78/31 K/BB in 54.2 IP with University of Mississippi
Pros: Fastball that can touch 100 mph; four-pitch mix
Cons: Lack of experience
Mason Morris landed with Ole Miss in 2023 primarily as a corner infielder, and the now 6’4” 225 lb righty only recently became a full-time pitcher prior to the Reds selecting him with their 3rd round pick in 2025. He’s got projection through the roof, though, with a 100 mph heater, plus cutter, and a pair of other breaking balls that look like they’ve also got the juice.
The question, though, is how Cincinnati plans to use him.
Morris only got a pair of outings as a pro after being drafted, and it appears the Reds have intentions on seeing if he can develop into a starting pitcher. That’s something he’s never really done before, however, and he’ll turn 23 years old in August of 2026. So, we’ll see how long of a leash the Reds give him with that avenue, since if they want to simply keep him in the bullpen there’s very little reason why he shouldn’t rocket through the minors and give them a legit relief arm at the big league level in short order.
2025 at a glance: .247/.333/.442 with 1 HR, 2 SB in 90 PA with Class-A Daytona Tortugas (Florida State League); .290/.429/.724 with 26 HR, 9 SB in 280 PA with University of Oregon
Pros: 60-grade power with potential plus arm and plus speed & baserunning; chance to stick in CF, though still profiles as a solid RF if moved to the corner; led Division I with 26 HR in final season at Oregon
Cons: Lots of swing and miss in his game, at times, including a 34.4% rate in his short sample with Daytona
The Reds clearly love Neville, as they drafted him in the 18th round out of high school 2022 only to watch him initially attend the University of Arkansas. After transferring to Oregon and swatting more dingers than anyone else in 2025, the Reds went back to him in the 4th round of the most recent draft.
Neville is incredibly toolsy, his left-handed swing producing significant power when he makes contact. He’s good at working walks despite his swing-and-miss proclivities, and posesses the kind of athleticism and speed to be a legitimate CF.
His tiny sample with Daytona has some red flags with the Ks, but it’s such a small sample that it’s hard to take it with too much certainty. For instance, he hit .298/.365/.526 through his first 17 games there only to go 2 for 20 with 9 Ks across his final 6 games – that could, and likely is, all small-sample noise.
Big tools, that Neville. He could well be the steal of the 2025 draft.
2025 at a glance: 3.06 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 61/15 K/BB in 47.0 IP split between ACL Reds (Arizona Complex League) and Class-A Daytona Tortugas (Florida State League); .172/.348/.310 with 2 HR in 113 PA with ACL Reds (Arizona Complex League)
Pros: Former two-way player has tons of athleticism; fastball that runs to 97 mph with three-pitch mix including curve and change; excellent command
Cons: Still building up innings; dropping hitting to focus on being a pitcher
Lin was signed for $1.2 million during the 2023 international signing period, and the Taiwan native spent the last trio of seasons in Arizona attempting to do both hitting and pitching. The hit tool stalled, though, as his K-rate spiked and power never arrived, and on pitching he’ll now focus after making a late-season cameo with Daytona after being promoted to full-season ball for the first time.
In very, very small samples, his work on the mound has been excellent. He’s the owner of an impressive 4.07 K/BB rate for his short career, and that’s with an impressive 11.7 K/9 that shows just how much of a strikeout pitcher he can be. His secondary pitches both flash plus grades, at times, and more consistency there with a fastball that hits 97 mph already (with perhaps more velocity coming as he focuses solely on the mound) could see him rocket up these rankings in short order…if he hits the ground running in April.
2025 at a glance: .187/.276/.240 with 0 HR, 0 SB in 89 PA with High-A Dayton Dragons (Midwest League)
Pros: Above-average power, speed, and hit tool, with an arm that’s good enough to play at 3B (if he can find his accuracy)
Cons: An absolutely lost 2025 season that included a season-ending knee injury
The optimist in you sees that Cabrera only just turned 21 years old in October, and in 2024 posted a 110 wRC+ with 11 HR and 19 SB in the pitcher-friendly confines of the Florida State League with Daytona (with said wRC+, along with his OPS, both ranking among that league’s top 10). That same optimist probably would point out that 2025 saw the Venezuela native play in the cold April weather of the Midwest League with Dayton for the first time, and he struggled mightily in those new conditions before a knee injury rendered his 2025 completely lost.
There’s still a lot to like about Cabrera, even though he’s physically matured off shortstop at this juncture and likely profiles as a 3B, or potentially at 2B defensively – with his defense needing just as much improvement as his bat at the moment, too. If the batting cage stuff can begin to translate onto the field again post-injury, there’s still a ton to like about the former $2.7 million signee and Top 5 overall international prospect from the 2022 class.
I’m assuming there is no pessimist in you, for now.
2025 at a glance: .269/.374/.445 with 5 HR, 12 SB in 147 PA for DSL Reds (Dominican Summer League); .229/.345/.364 with 4 HR, 3 SB in 142 PA for Sydney Blue Sox (Australian Baseball League)
Pros: 70 grade raw power (per FanGraphs) with potential to be a plus runner, fielder, and have a plus arm
Cons: Potential swing and miss issues (25.9% K-rate in the DSL, 64% contact rate); may end up at 3B long term
Signed for an undisclosed amount during the 2024 international signing period, Jimenez has immediately hit the ground running in prospect circles with his mix of potentially elite athleticism and batted-ball metrics that jump right off the page.
After dabbling in DSL play in 2024 at age 17 (6 for 14 with a double and 4 steals in 5 G), he repeated that level in 2025 and more than held his own with an .820 OPS. Those solid surface stats hide his pretty monumental 45% hard-hit rate, 106 mph EV90, and maximum exit velocity of 113 mph – all numbers posted by an 18 year old. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs has him ranked 12th (right behind Tyson Lewis) and notes the multiple similarities between the two, though Jimenez is a full year younger.
We’ve all been there. Probably, as D-backs fans, more often than we would like. You reach a certain point in the season, look at the standings and realize that this is not going to be the Diamondbacks’ year. Maybe you keep watching games; maybe you watch fewer of them; maybe you switch over to just checking the box-scores at the end of the night, and find other ways to occupy your free-time. Even here on the SnakePit, I’ll admit that there have been seasons – 2021, most obviously in recent history – where the site has basically been running on the writing equivalent of muscle memory.
Time to ‘fess up. There’s no denying, it will be an uphill struggle for the D-backs this year. The Dodgers are very heavy favorites to run away with the division – Fangraphs currently projects them to win the NL West by fifteen games. To a certain extent, I’m consequently already checked out – or, at least, less invested in the regular season than I would want to be. Because the outcome of the NL West feels about as close to pre-determined as possible. The wild-card chase is rather more nebulous: I’ll see if we are in the hunt there when we get Corbin Burnes and Justin Martinez back.
But at what point would you find yourself looking at other sports or pastimes?
This is Cubs infielder Ronny Cedeńo, pretty clearly having been called out on strikes against the Pirates at Wrigley Field. It’s another photo from BCB reader Clark Addison.
The Cubs wore blue jerseys at home on occasion pre-Ricketts ownership, and we are looking at an afternoon game.
I was given a clue here by the file name, which contained the year, 2006.
That helped.
The Cubs played nine games against the Pirates at Wrigley Field in 2006. Three of those were night games, now we’re down to six games. I eliminated two others because the game time weather conditions said “cloudy,” so that leaves four.
It’s clearly a warm summer day, as you can see by the way fans are dressed. That eliminates an early May date where the game time temp was 67. Many would have been in jackets or sweatshirts at that temperature.
Then the task was simply to look through the three remaining games to see if there was more than one time where Cedeño was called out on strikes.
Fortunately, there was only one. It happened in the bottom of the fourth inning, Monday, Sept. 4, 2006, an afternoon contest on Labor Day.
The pitcher was someone who’d become a Cub later on, Paul Maholm.
The Cubs lost the game 5-4. Neither team was very good that year. The Pirates were 55-82 after they won that game and the Cubs 55-83. It could be said that game decided fifth place in the NL Central, because the Pirates finished 67-95 and the Cubs 66-96.
Unfortunately, no video of this game appears to have survived, so this photo will have to serve as the only record of that strikeout.
If I were to give you no information about a game other than that your team had a pitcher go 8.2 innings and allow one hit and no earned runs, you’d probably be feeling pretty good about what happened. First, that’s all but one out of a complete game. Second, one hit is not very many and even though I said “earned runs” and not just “runs,” chances are good that total isn’t going to be particularly high considering the hit total.
However, especially in baseball, you can’t get the full picture of the game by looking at just one player’s stats. Too many weird things can happen. In one particular game from 1944, the Yankees got a great outing from pitcher Steve Roser. They also lost because he was only one player in the game.
The Yankees were hosting Cleveland for a doubleheader on July 4, 1944. They dropped the opening game of the twin bill 3-1, but did get nine innings out of starter Monk Dubiel. Getting a good, long outing out of a starting pitcher is always needed in at least one of the games, so you don’t have to rely on your bullpen too much, two separate times.
That was also helpful, because you couldn’t say the same for the second game’s starter Joe Page. Page got Cleveland leadoff hitter Mickey Rocco to ground out to start things off, but things quickly went off the rails after that. Following a single and a walk, Lou Boudreau cleared the bases with a triple, coming around to score himself on a Roy Cullenbine single. Ken Keltner then added an RBI double, which brought Yankees’ manager Joe McCarthy out to the mound for a pitching change.
Steve Roser came in to replace Page. He got off to an iffy start, but throwing a wild pitch and walking the first batter he faced. That ended up being costly, as it moved a runner to third, from which they scored on a groundout. Roser eventually got out of the inning, but the Yankees already trailed 5-0.
Cleveland then picked up two more runs in the second, although they weren’t entirely due to Roser’s pitching. Roser made a fielding error on a Myril Hoag grounder, which eventually led to two unearned runs coming around and scoring.
After that inning, Roser was excellent. From the third through ninth inning, he allowed just one baserunner to reach. That was wasn’t even really due to him, as it came on an error from shortstop Mike Milosevich. Including that error, the Yankee reliever retired 21 out of 22 batters over that stretch. Unfortunately, the Yankee offense didn’t do much to back him up.
The Yankees got on the board in the bottom of the second thanks to a Nick Etten home run. After that, they put runners on in all of the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, but couldn’t cash in to chip away further. Finally in the ninth inning, Hersh Martin — pinch hitting for Roser — added another home run, but it was too little, too late. Cleveland pitcher Ray Poat just retired the next three hitters to doom the Yankees to a 7-2 loss.
Between the error made and the base runners he did allow, you can’t fully absolve Roser. However, he finished with a pitching line of no earned runs allowed on one hit and two walks in 8.2 innings. Getting that outing from a pitcher would be plenty good enough to win many games. However, Roser wasn’t the first pitcher of the day, and the one that was got dinged with five earned runs, which proved to be the final margin.
Sheffield Wednesday 1-2 Millwall; QPR 1-3 Blackburn
Derby into top six; Blades win late at Portsmouth
Sheffield Wednesday threatened to record only their second victory of the season after taking the lead against Millwall before their promotion-chasing opponents hit back to win 2-1.
Having not scored a goal since Boxing Day, there was a mixture of relief and jubilation among the home supporters when Jamal Lowe scored in the 60th minute to put Wednesday ahead. However, the joy was short-lived as Millwall scored two goals in two minutes after Cole McGhee put into his own goal and Macaulay Langstaff’s winner earned all three points.
Continue reading...When Marcus Semien was introduced to the New York media for the first time following his trade from the Rangers, the Mets hadn’t yet acquired their new third baseman, Bo Bichette.
Arriving in Port St. Lucie for his first day in spring training on Saturday afternoon, the veteran infielder finally had a chance to discuss reuniting with his former Toronto teammate.
“That’s a big pickup,” Semien said. “I got to play with Bo when he was a 23-year-old shortstop, so now he’s a little older, a little more seasoned, and he’s learning a new position -- I was in that position when I met him too, learning second base.
“Being in a new place and learning a new position can get uncomfortable at times, but because he’s such a pure hitter and a great hitter, that’s where I know he’s going to be one of the best hitters.”
Semien, Bichette, and Luis Robert Jr. are the big-name additions to this offense.
While losing some key sluggers like Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso certainly hurts, Semien feels that the new pieces mixing with the returning stars and young bats make for a strong lineup on both sides of the ball.
“It’s a loaded group,” he said. “We have a lot of All-Stars, guys who have played in big games; World Series champions, Silver Sluggers, all kinds of accolades up and down this lineup -- a good amount of speed, power, good defenders.
“I look at the whole package, the lineup is one thing, but everyone is playing both sides of the ball. If we all score as many runs as we can, that means we’re running the bases well, we’re getting on-base, we’re slugging, we’re doing those things -- if we can all do that together, we can win a lot of ballgames with our bats.”
Semien himself is coming off back-to-back down seasons at the plate, but the Mets believe he still has the MVP form he showed during the ’23 campaign.
The 35-year-old was in contact with New York’s staff all offseason, discussing his performance the last couple of years and adjustments he can make to help get back on track.
“We’ve had a lot of conversations,” he said. “And those conversations were good. I think I’ve been able to control the strike zone for the most part, but it’s about hitting the ball with more authority, and getting my body in the right position to do that more consistently.”
It’s well known that relievers are a volatile bunch. From year to year you don’t usually know quite what to expect, as mediocre relievers suddenly blossom and have career years and the guys you thought you could count on inexplicably struggle.
Sometimes this volatility doesn’t just show up from one season to the next. Relievers often have great months followed by terrible months even though their velocity and arsenal remain unchanged. Case in point, Justin Sterner, April 2025: 14.2 IP, 0 ER. May, 2025: 11.2 IP, 9 ER. September, 2025: 12 IP, 1 ER.
This makes it especially hard to construct a bullpen for an upcoming season, not knowing who will regress or blossom for no apparent reason, and who will pitch with at least some consistency from month to month versus who will ride the proverbial roller coaster.
Why are relievers so prone to this extreme variance? Some possible answers:
They’re Not
Perhaps relievers aren’t that much more volatile from season to season and month to month than other players. Cody Bellinger is a good example of a position player who has vacillated from spectacular to spectacularly awful without warning. In 2025 Cam Smith went from a 116 wRC+ in the first half to a 41 wRC+ in the 2nd half. Is the whole ‘relievers are volatile’ narrative a “perception” thing rather than a reality?
Small Samples Produce Large Variance
Relievers don’t wind up accruing large inning totals and anytime you look at 50 inning samples instead of 150 innings or 500 plate appearances, you are going to see more variance. This is especially true the more you zoom in: the samples cited above for Sterner are all of 11.2 – 14.2 innings each.
Perhaps the difference between a good season and a medium season, at least statistically, boils down to 2-3 gascan appearances totaling 3 IP and 8 ER which inflate the numbers in a 50 inning sample. A starting pitcher with one start out of 30 in which he lasts just 3 innings and serves up 8 ER still has a chance to put up excellent overall numbers.
It’s The Demographic, Stupid
Hey, no insults on AN please. OK I suppose it’s fine to insult yourself. Just don’t do it again, dumba$$. Anyhoo, another theory is that who becomes a reliever is not a random group of pitchers. It’s pitchers who specifically did not make it as a starting pitcher and don’t have the stuff to thrive multiple times through a batting order.
This might mean reliance on 2 pitches, in which case any time one pitch isn’t working you have a “one pitch pitcher” on your hands. Or it might mean not being good enough to crack the “best 5” — including the flaw of not being consistent enough from outing to outing, or from inning to inning.
Perhaps what got a reliever to the bullpen is precisely what makes him more prone to volatility: he has the stuff to pitch in the big leagues, but just enough flaws to require a slot in the bullpen rather than the rotation.
There’s 3 possibilities, any or all of which could be right or wrong. Here’s where you come in (to type a minimum of 3 words, new rules) and weigh in on whether any of these are correct or what other factors might be in play. And if you have truly figured it out, by all means share it with the A’s because I can assure you no one in MLB has all the answers — or relievers would be a lot more consistent and bullpens would be much easier to assemble.