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This will be your weekly look at the hottest prospects in the system, highlighting the top performers at the plate and on the mound.

Who’s Hot At The Plate?

Anthony Huezo – Huezo had a breakout year making his way to full-season and he’s off to a nice start this year. This week in six games, Huezo hit .364 with 2 doubles, a triple, 2 home runs and 3 stolen bases. Overall he has a .866 OPS through 13 games.

Will Bush – Bush has been really good to start the season and this week was no different. Bush played in five games for the Hooks and hit .333 with 2 home runs, 4 runs batted in and drew 7 walks. He has a .510 OBP with more walks than strikeouts this year.

Cesar Hernandez – Hernandez appears to really have found his swing this year. The 22-year-old played in five games this week for Asheville and hit .600 with 5 runs batted in and didn’t strike out once. On the season he .452 with only 4 strikeouts in 9 games.

Trevor Austin – Austin had possibly his best week as a pro. The utility player for the Hooks hit .313 but four of his five hits were for extra-bases included three home runs. He also walked four times and stole a base this week.

Yamal Encarnacion – Encarnacion has bounced around as a utility player but has been solid this year. This week the 22-year-old hit .444 with 6 stolen bases over 5 games for the Hooks. In 12 games this year he is hitting .318 with 9 RBI and 7 stolen bases.

Who’s Hot On The Mound?

Bryce Mayer – After a shaky first outing for Mayer, he turned in a good one this week. In his one start for the Hooks, the right-hander struck out 7 batters over 4 scoreless innings.

Gabel Pentecost – Pentecost had one great outing and one rough outing coming into this week. This week though, he turned in another good outing striking out 8 batters over 5 innings allowing just 2 runs for the Woodpeckers.

Ethan Pecko – Pecko has been pitching in rehab appearances for the Woodpeckers but his numbers this week were too good to leave off. He made one start in Fayetteville and struck out 8 over 3 scoreless innings. He should be ready for Triple-A soon.

Parker Smith – Smith has a chance to make some noise in 2026 and this week he was solid. In his one start he struck out 7 over 6 innings allowing 3 runs, though all came on a 3 run home run. It was a good outing and another step in the right direction.

TEAM ERA and OPS:

Sugar Land – From 2.17 ERA to 3.16 ERA – From .631 OPS to .682 OPS

Corpus Christi – From 3.18 ERA to 3.77 ERA – From .583 OPS to .673 OPS

Asheville – From 4.66 ERA to 6.52 ERA – From .634 OPS to .739 OPS

Fayetteville – From 5.67 ERA to 6.16 ERA – From .683 OPS to .709 OPS

The Phillies can’t do anything right at the moment. They’ve pitched poorly, their defense has been a mess, and their offense has been almost nonexistent. In addition to playing poorly, they’ve also had absolutely horrendous luck, as their .355 batting average on balls in play against is the worst in baseball entering Monday. In fact, it’s over 25 points higher than the team in second, namely the Houston Astros with a .324 mark. It’s 10 points higher than the all-time leaders in worst BABIP against, the 1930 Phillies (.345), who themselves just barely edged out the 2020 Phillies (.344). None of this is meant to be an excuse, but rather a statement of fact that the Phillies have been on the wrong end of batted ball luck.

However, bad luck and playing poorly are not mutually exclusive. On any given night, poor play can lead to more chances for bad luck, or bad luck can lead to a snowball effect of poor play. Take Saturday night’s loss to the Braves for example. The Phillies entered the third inning leading 1-0 thanks to Felix Reyes’ hitting a home run in his first major league at-bat. Cristopher Sánchez was on the mound and tasked with throwing a desperately needed shutdown inning. He struck out the first two hitters in Jorge Mateo and Ronald Acũna Jr., but then allowed a hard hit single up the middle to Drake Baldwin.

Sánchez was then able to get Ozzie Albies to ground into what should have been the final out of the inning, but Edmundo Sosa bobbled it on his way to tag second base and both runners were safe. Matt Olson then walked on four pitches to load the bases before Austin Riley hit a swinging bunt that only went 104 feet but was in a perfect spot. Couple that with Sánchez not fielding it cleanly, and the tying run scored without a throw on a hit with an expected batting average of .130. Mauricio Dubón then singled on a fly ball to center field that landed perfectly behind Sosa and in front of center fielder Brandon Marsh, scoring two more runs for Atlanta. Sánchez finally got a groundout to end the inning, but the damage was done.

Here we can see how poor play led to bad luck. Sánchez should have been out of the inning unscathed, but Sosa’s error allowed the chance for bad luck to occur, and that’s exactly what happened. Sánchez is not entirely innocent either, as his four-pitch walk of Olson immediately after the error allowed the inning to further spiral out of control. He didn’t allow any earned runs and still pitched well enough to win the game, but the three runs that came across in the inning were more than enough to beat the Phillies lifeless offense that was completely shut down by Chris Sale.

Sunday night was another example, this time on the offensive side. The Phillies had two runners on with two outs in the ninth down 4-2 with Kyle Schwarber at the plate. Schwarber ripped a Raisel Iglesias changeup to right field with an exit velocity of 102 MPH and an expected batting average of .430, but Acuña Jr. was able to chase it down and make a nice catch, robbing Schwarber of a possible game-tying base hit.

In this example, the Phillies frankly shouldn’t be waiting until their last out to generate offense. After all, the team had three combined hits from the second inning through the eighth inning and had a span of only having two base runners after Schwarber’s first inning home run until the fifth inning, both of which were Bryce Harper. You cannot control your luck, but you can control your quality of play. Having better at-bats earlier in the game can ensure that your chances to win don’t hang on your last out. If you play better, there’s less opportunity for poor luck to drastically influence the game.

These are just two of the more recent examples of one of these factors feeding into the other. There’s not much you can do against a perfectly placed swinging bunt or a good catch in the field. Those are things that are out of a player’s control. What is in a player’s control though is making sure games don’t have to come down to perfectly placed swinging bunts or getting robbed in the outfield.

The Phillies batted ball luck will normalize at some point. It’s simply unsustainable to be at the rate it is, even if they eventually end the season with a higher rate than usual. The question is, will it be too late to matter?

This team is starting to show that it has a lot of different ways to beat you. Monday night, Craig Counsell talked in his press conference about seven outs saved by his defense in a single game. I don’t know that all of the metrics will find all seven of those, but if you saw much of this game, you surely caught a highlight reel play or two by the defense. The defense sparkled, Colin Rea and a pair of relievers were fantastic and the Cubs offense put enough runs on the board for this one to feel like a fairly easy one.

You are rarely as bad a team as you appear to be when you are struggling. The same goes in the opposite direction. You are rarely as good a team as you appear to be when you are streaking. This team is on fire right now. The things you were worried about last week when this team had lost three of four games to drop to a season-low two games under .500 haven’t really gone away. Facing the Mets and Phillies when they are down is masking a lot of issues. This team is basically devoid of any frontline pitching right now. They also haven’t found their cohesion offensively.

On the other hand, they’ve been getting frontline type pitching numbers for a while now. And their offense is scoring a lot of runs. How well will all of that hold up as the competition stiffens? Well, we’ll start finding out later in the week. I suspect we’ll see a little more out of these Phillies, maybe even before the end of this series. But for now, it’s six straight wins and I’m not apologizing or giving any of it back. Keep taking advantage of timing. Keep adding on. Hopefully, this team starts getting some injured players back and in the interim, some guys earn playing time well into the time when this roster is healthier.

Baseball is so very fun when everything is going right. This is now a 95.7 win pace. That’ll play.

Three Positives:

• Colin Rea was terrific. Defensive help or no, 20 outs recorded on 28 hitters faced. Six hits and two walks, but only one run. He struck out five.
• Alex Bregman had two doubles in four at bats.
• Moisés Ballesteros is absolutely crushing these cherry picked spots the team is giving him. A hit and a walk in two plate appearances. He scored a run. OPS sitting at 1.020. The Cubs will have to eventually give him some leash against lefties, but this is working like a charm right now.

Game 22, April 20: Cubs 5, Phillies 1 (13-9)

Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.

THREE HEROES:

• Superhero: Dansby Swanson (.207). 1-4, HR, 3 RBI, R
• Hero: Colin Rea (.190). 6.2 IP, 28 BF, 5 H, 3 BB, ER, 5 K (W 3-0)
• Sidekick: Michael Conforto (.084). 0-0, BB, SF, RBI

THREE GOATS:

• Billy Goat: Miguel Amaya (-.082). 0-4, DP
• Goat: Nico Hoerner (-.024). 1-4
• Kid: Michael Busch (-.010). 1-4, R

WPA Play of the Game: Dansby Swanson’s three-run homer with two outs in the second extended the lead to four and turned out to be more than enough. (.211)

*Phillies Play of the Game: Aaron Nola got Miguel Amaya to ground into a double play with the bases loaded and no outs, trading the game’s first run for two outs. (.070)

Cubs Player of the Game:

Game21 Winner: Michael Conforto received 156 of 263 votes.

Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 3/Bottom 3)

The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.

• Nico Hoerner +10.5
• Michael Conforto +7
• Carson Kelly/Colin Rea +6
• Matt Shaw -7
• Seiya Suzuki -8
• Pete Crow-Armstrong -15

Up Next: Game two of this four-game set with the Phillies. The Cubs are now up 3-1 in the season series and need to win one of the final three to win that season series. Another thing you’ve heard me say before: get greedy. Kick’em when they’re down. Let’s get two or three more while we are at it. No apologies, no regrets.

Shōta Imanaga (1-1, 2.45, 22 IP) makes his fifth start of the season. Last time out, he allowed one run on three hits and a walk over six against this Phillies team. Colin Rea bounced back nice on back-to-backs against the same team. Hopefully Imanaga can do the same.

Jesús Luzardo (1-3, 7.94, 22.2 IP) is also making the fifth start of his season. This has been a nightmarish start for the talented lefty. The Cubs had 12 hits and eight runs against him in just 5.1 innings last week. The Cubs usually aren’t as good against lefties, but this team is showing some promise against southpaws. But they are 2-4 when the other team starts a lefty.

Stay hot. A six pack is great, but seven is heavenly.

The Pittsburgh Pirates came into 2026 with high expectations on their pitching staff, and while their starting rotation has lived up to them, the bullpen has been very shaky to start the season. 

The Pirates bullpen has an ERA of around 3.68, which is up there for being the best in the National League. However, that stat could be deceiving with how inconsistent some of the top reliever guys have been for Pittsburgh. 

The Bucs bullpen have allowed 85 hits, which is tied for third in the National League. They also allowed 11 home runs which is also  tied for third in the national league. 

Outside of Dennis Santana and Gregory Soto, the bullpen has been looking a little light and inconsistent at times. 

Pittsburgh’s bullpen problems became obvious in their series vs. the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, April 10-12, where the starting pitching was strong, but the bullpen issued too many walks and blew two leads in the final two games of that series.

The Pirates bullpen walked 15 batters over their 12.2 innings for a 10.66 BB/9 with five earned runs.

There is a lot of potential for this bullpen to be really good. Pittsburgh called up both Evan Sisk and Wilber Dotel, who are two young guys with a lot of promise. We have also seen some highlights from Yohan Ramirez, Mason Montgomery, and Issac Mattson.

By no means has the bullpen been terrible, but they have cost the Pirates a handful of games this season, which cannot happen down the stretch of the season, especially in the NL Central where all five teams have a winning record. 

The starting pitching has been really good so far as expected for the Buccos but it’s now time for the relief pitching to be equally dominant and back them up. Starters cannot always be excpected to save the day.

There have been some good showings from the bullpen in 2026, but far too often, they’ve had issues that the Pirates can’t have if they want to make the MLB postseason.

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There are plenty of options on the diamond for YRFI and NRFI bettors on Tuesday, April 21, and I’ve got a trio of MLB picks to cover you throughout the 15-game slate.

My best NFRI bets start with the Houston Astros' visit to the Cleveland Guardians, while the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Angels are rounding out my betting card tonight in a yes run first inning play.

Best NRFI/YRFI bets today

Pick	Odds
/ - NRFI	-109
/ - NRFI	+102
/ - YRFI	-120

Astros at Guardians: NRFI (-109)

With Cleveland Guardians lefty Parker Messick next to unhittable to start the season, he’s set to shift into cruise control again early against the Houston Astros, and I’m confident Ryan Weiss can navigate the first frame Tuesday with the top of the Cleveland lineup struggling.

Guardians Steven Kwan, Chase DeLauter, and Kyle Manzardo are mired in a 7-for-51 slump the past five games, which leaves star Jose Ramirez on an island in the three hole. And, returning to Messick, he’s been brilliant with just three runs allowed through 25 2/3 innings across his four starts.

• Time: 6:10 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: SCHN, CleGuardians.TV

Orioles at Royals: NRFI (+102)

The Baltimore Orioles and Kansas City Royals respectively rank third and last in percentage of games scoring a run in the first inning, so even with the wind forecasted to be howling out at Kauffman Stadium, I’m expecting starters Shane Baz and Kris Bubic to post zeros in the opening frame.

Baltimore hasn’t scored an opening-inning run on the road all season, and Kansas City is the lowest-scoring team in the opening frame for the year and second-lowest scoring team overall, too.

• Time: 7:40 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: Royals.TV, MASN

Blue Jays at Angels: YRFI (-120)

The Los Angeles Angels are third in OBP and seventh in wOBA against left-handed pitching this season, and the top of their lineup has righties Zach Neto, Mike Trout, Jo Adell, and Jorge Soler all crushing southpaws to start the year.

So, this is a daunting matchup for Toronto Blue Jays veteran Patrick Corbin given his 5.46 ERA and 5.68 xERA dating back to 2021.

Toronto is also set up for success with Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz’s 3.47 ERA is well below his 5.09 xERA, and respective 6.81 and 5.89 marks across 111 innings in 2025.

Plus, the Blue Jays are in the midst of heating up at the dish with 15 runs across consecutive wins.

• Time: 9:38 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: ESPN

This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here and view our best betting sites or check out our top sportsbook promos.

Things might be going very well for the Atlanta Braves on the field but their bad luck with injuries is apparently going to just stick around. In the middle of the series in Philadelphia, Raisel Iglesias ended up being unavailable for a game because he slept badly on his shoulder overnight.

All appeared to be well after Iglesias ended up closing out the sweep on Sunday but apparently his shoulder started acting up on him again on Monday and it’s bad enough to where he’ll have to take a trip to the IL with right shoulder inflammation.

Needless to say, I think we’ve all had our fill of these bizarre trips to the IL for Braves players over the course of the past two years. Their primary shortstop is still recovering from having slipped on ice during the offseason and now they’ll be losing their primary high-leverage reliever because he slept funny one night. Is it relatable? As a 37-year-old, sure! Is it fun to see? Absolutely not!

Anyways, Dylan Dodd will be taking Iglesias’ place for the time being. This’ll be Dodd’s second stint with the Braves this season after his most recent cup of coffee saw him pitch three scoreless innings against the Guardians on April 12. Iglesias, meanwhile, has 8.2 scoreless innings under his belt so far this season with five hits, one walk and 11 strikeouts to his name. The Braves are going to miss him while he’s gone.

Fortunately, the depth in the bullpen has been shored up to the point where they can actually afford to take a hit here. Robert Suarez has also been lights out so far and he will now be taking on closing duties while Iglesias is out. Losing the closer means that everybody’s responsibility has bumped up a bit but moving Suarez into that spot is about as much of a lateral move as you can get.

Either way, here’s hoping that Iglesias didn’t sleep his way into a long stint on the IL and that we’ll see him again in two weeks. It’s frustrating but that’s just the type of injury luck that the Braves have had in recent years. We’ll see what happens.

One of the San Diego Padres relievers who does not get much attention is also the elder statesman in the group. Wandy Peralta, who pitched for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic, has been a mainstay in the San Diego bullpen since he left the New York Yankees. The left-hander is known as a groundball pitcher and has been called upon in some tough spots to get the Padres out of a jam. Like any reliever it has not always been good for Peralta. There have been times when he did not get the out or when he surrendered a home run to tie a game, but through it all he has maintained a good relationship with his teammates and has remained a positive presence in the locker room. Peralta may be overlooked by baseball pundits and media members who like to rave about the various aspects of the San Diego ‘pen, but his value is known and recognized by the Padres players, coaches and front office.

Padres News:

• Jose Miranda was sent to Triple-A El Paso after a strong spring with the Padres and he is remaining ready if his services are ever needed at the MLB level.

• Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribuneprovided some news and notes about the Padres. More specifically he covered topics surrounding Mason Miller, Bradgley Rodriguez and Fernando Tatis Jr.

• By now, many if not all of the Friar Faithful have seen the home run-robbing catches by Jackson Merrill in center field. The rest of MLB has seen them too and decided one of the most recent was good enough for Play of the Week.

• Dennis Lin of The Athletic says Ramon Laureano is shorter thanks to ABS this season, which has improved his performance on offense.

Baseball News:

• Julio Rodriguez of the Seattle Mariners caught a 107.5 mph line drive in center field that changed directions mid-flight.

• Miguel Rojas of the Los Angeles Dodgers recorded his 1,000th career hit in the Dodgers’ win over the Colorado Rockies and Shohei Ohtani pushed his on-base streak to 52 games.

• The Chicago Cubs earned their sixth consecutive win with good pitching and better defense.

• Ronald Acuna Jr. avoids serious injury after hit-by-pitch as Atlanta Braves go on to win.

• Dodgers closer Edwin Diaz has surgery to remove loose bodies in his elbow and will miss time.

• Baltimore Orioles need 12 innings to get extra-inning win over Kansas City Royals.

• Sal Stewart hit his eighth home run of the season and helped the Cincinnati Reds get their fourth win in a row.