Logan Evans’ future depends on two numbers from his rookie season: 

• .529 OPS allowed on the first turn through a lineup in a game (fifth best in MLB)
• 1.022 OPS allowed on the second turn through a lineup in a game (worst in MLB)

That .493 difference was the largest such split in 2025 and one of the 20 largest splits in MLB history. Which number better reflects his true talent? 

OPS allowed isn’t the ideal measure for pitchers. I use it here as it’s the parlance of Baseball Reference, which facilitates the comparison. The next plot shows performance against this split using FIP (courtesy of Fangraphs). Here we see a less extreme split, with Evans performing closer to average on the first time through the order, while still the worst in MLB on the second.

Evans’ (relative) success on the first time through the order was thanks to an outstanding ability to limit quality of contact. He didn’t get a lot of whiffs or strikeouts, and his command was just OK. But batters simply could not square up the ball in their first look, either rolling over or getting jammed or popping up or otherwise juuuuuust missing. His .289 xwOBAcon allowed on the first time through the order was sixth in MLB.

On the second time through the order, he was awful by every metric.

The most likely explanation for this phenomenon is that sometimes bizarre splits show up in small samples; Evans accomplished this feat across just 15 starts. The safe analyst would evaluate him by his overall line: 5.05 FIP, 8% K-BB, 1.44 HR/9, -0.1 fWAR. That’s a bottom 20% starting pitcher line posted by a seventh-string, 12th rounder with poor stuff. That’s, frankly, what we should expect from Evans.

Still, it’s hard to ignore that for nine batters a night, Evans was a good or even great pitcher. We care about this split because it’s a possible clue towards something less measurable, something fundamental. We know a lot of pitching is Stuff, but we’re increasingly aware a lot of pitching is other stuff. Batters gain an advantage the more they see a pitcher in a game, so for a pitcher to perform notably in the early or late parts of an outing, that could say something about those less measurable abilities. And for a pitcher at the extremes — Evans certainly is — perhaps it says something about the nature of those abilities themselves. What might we learn about pitching by studying Logan Evans? What might we learn about humanity?

God I love small samples.

Evans in his rookie season showcased a deep, six-pitch repertoire. What he lacked in speed and spin, he made up for in sheer quantity. He could make the ball go in every conceivable direction at release, and batters had a tough time guessing where and when to swing.

We can see that, especially to lefties, Evans mixed his repertoire evenly and unpredictably. Batters had to respect that any one of six pitches might show up, preventing them from teeing off on something specific.

That approach worked on the first time through the order, and most of his pitches were effective against either handedness. But all his pitches got measurably worse across the board once the lineup turned over.

I’m not sure why this was the case. I appreciate that certain skills might be more or less resistant to the times through the order penalty, but to go from so good to so bad is hard to wrap my head around. Perhaps this says something about the impact of movement spread, as coined by Stephen Sutton-Brown for Baseball Prospectus, or the idea that having lots of pitches moving in all directions can keep hitters off balance. Maybe that alone is enough to get through a lineup once, and then raw stuff is necessary from there? Or maybe Evans struggled to disguise (or tunnel) his pitches, as Timothy Jackson recently pointed out for Baseball Prospectus; once they could identify each of his pitches, the jig was up.

Evans enters Spring Training 2026 as depth. His exact proximity to the starting rotation is unclear, whether he’ll continue to serve as second alternate or if he’ll leapfrog Emerson Hancock’s fourth attempt. We only know that opportunity relies on something going wrong, and that something will eventually go wrong. The Mariners are coming off a season where four starting pitchers missed time with some type of injury; one of them still has bone spurs. Evans will pitch in MLB at some point this year.

I’m fascinated to see what if any changes he makes. The Mariners know all that I’ve written here. They’ve seen his splits, they’ve measured his arsenal, and they’ve surely set forth a Plan. Maybe we’ll see him add a pitch, or remove a pitch, or overhaul a pitch, or shift his aim, or adjust his sequencing — something in an attempt to stump batters just a bit longer. It’s worth following for the sake of Evans’ career and the Mariners’ success, but it could also provide a glimpse into the minds of one of the sharper collections of pitching thinkers out there. This is a challenge that justifies our modern Pitching Bureaucracy. This is where organization reputations are earned.

I don’t think anyone really expected another outcome for Cody Bellinger. Did you?

Here’s the deal that returns Bellinger to the Bronx:

Bellinger’s swing seems well-suited for Yankee Stadium, and that shows in his splits from 2025.

Home: .302/.365/.544 with 18 home runs in 298 at-bats
Away: .241/.301/.414 with 11 home runs in 290 at-bats

So yeah. Outside of Yankee Stadium, that’s not a hitter who would rate such a contract.

You likely recall that Bellinger had a three-homer game against the Cubs last year, and would have had a fourth if not for this great catch by Kyle Tucker [VIDEO].

(NOTE: This does not suggest I wish the Cubs had re-signed Tucker. It’s just a great play worth noting.)

Anyway, while Bellinger has some opt-outs in this deal, my feeling is that he’ll stay with the Yankees for the five-year term. As noted, he’s a good fit there and the Yankees do, generally, contend every year.

If you’re interested in seeing him play at Wrigley, the Yankees will visit the Cubs for a three-game series July 31-Aug. 1-2. Should be a hot ticket — and not just to see Bellinger.

After a protracted staring contest, the New York Yankees and Cody Bellinger have finally reunited.

Bellinger and the Yankees agreed to terms on a five-year, $162.5 million deal, according to a person with direct knowledge of the negotiations. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal is not yet finalized.

The agreement comes after an impasse on the length of contract: Bellinger was aiming for a seven-year commitment, but the Yankees hoped to stick to a five-year deal for the 30-year-old outfielder/first baseman. After potential landing spots were largely short-circuited by the signings of Kyle Tucker and Bo Bichette last week, Bellinger met the Yankees' ask for length of contract, while ensuring a $32.5 million annual salary - highest in Bellinger's career.

Bellinger has experienced a career resurgence after injury-plagued 2021 and 2022 seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Since then, Bellinger thrived with both the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees, smacking 73 homers and posting a cumulative 12.1 WAR over the last three campaigns.

Here's everything to know about Bellinger's new deal.

As soon as outfielder Cody Bellinger decided to exercise his opt-out in early November and hit free agency again this offseason, it seemed like he and the Yankees would find their way back to each other. Both sides were extremely complimentary about each other and New York in particular was active in talking to the media about their desire to retain him, even when seemingly superior outfield options like Kyle Tucker were also available on the market. Because Bellinger’s agent is Scott Boras, however, negotiations took a very long time as Boras tried to find the best possible deal for his player, and there were talks of him negotiating with the Mets and Blue Jays as well.

Two and a half months later, the sides have finally come together, not long after Tucker signed with the Dodgers and the Mets picked up Luis Robert Jr. via trade. The official terms are below, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan, who broke the signing. It’s a five-year contract with some particular details:

If he wants, Bellinger, will be able to test the market again after the 2027 and 2027 campaigns. There are no deferrals. Boras and Bellinger had been angling for six or seven years, but the Yankees stuck to their guns on the five-year offer with opt-outs.

Is this a lot of money for someone who wasn’t even an All-Star in 2025? Sure, but the Yankees bleed money, they absolutely needed to keep Bellinger in this offense given the alternatives, and they were able to avoid a longer-term commitment that has burned them in the past with similar players like DJ LeMahieu. Bellinger was quite productive in 2025 regardless of his specific honors (he did make the All-MLB Second Team), hitting .272/.334/.480 with 29 homers—his most since his MVP year in 2019—and a 125 wRC+. This is a win-now move for a team that still has Aaron Judge in his scalding-hot prime and needs to win now, though they could still use another starting pitcher. Bellinger’s lefty swing was well-suited for Yankee Stadium, he covered the tricky left field with aplomb, he could shift back to center next year if Trent Grisham departs, he can man first as well in a pinch, and he’ll be able to keep calling the place where his father once played home for likely the rest of the decade.

We’ll have more to come soon at Pinstripe Alley. In the meantime, welcome back Cody!

Cody Bellinger is returning to the Bronx.

After opting out of his contract following the end of the 2025 season, the Yankees and Bellinger have agreed to a new five-year, $162.5 million contract, per multiple reports.

The deal reportedly has opt-outs after 2027 and 2028, along with a $20 million signing bonus and a full no-trade clause.

The Yankees acquired Bellinger in a trade with the Chicago Cubs — along with $5 million in cash considerations — in December 2024 for right-handed pitcher Cody Poteet and the former NL MVP became arguably the team's second-best hitter this past season. 

The 30-year-old slashed .272/.334/.480 with 29 home runs and 98 RBI in 152 regular season games this year. He was a Silver Slugger finalist and played phenomenal defense in the outfield. 

Bellinger's play helped the Yankees make it back to the postseason, although the playoffs ended in the ALDS for New York. 

Re-signing Bellinger was a major priority for the Yankees, who needed to fill out their outfield around Aaron Judge. Even with Trent Grisham returning on the qualifying offer, the Yankees still needed more help.

And now they keep a powerful left-handed bat in the middle of their lineup.

"I had an unbelievable time putting on this uniform. Yankee Stadium, the fans, the organization, the culture that these guys have created in this locker room," Bellinger said after last season. "It really is special. It's such a fun group, a fun group to be a part of. We came up short and that part stinks for sure because we had a really really good group here."

With the Toronto Blue Jays reportedly not that interested in pursuing free agent outfielder Cody Bellinger, it’s looking more and more likely that the only true threat to ‘steal’ the player away from the New York Yankees is, well, the Mets. With their trendy contract structure of short deals with a high average annual value, they remain candidates to get whoever they put their eyes on.

But late last night, the Mets swung a deal for Luis Robert Jr., perhaps leaving them less likely to pursue Bellinger aggressively. The Yankees are the favorites to land Bellinger, who put up a 125 wRC+ with 29 home runs and 4.9 fWAR in his lone campaign in the Bronx last year. Still, there is a world in which they lose him to the Mets or another team, with Jon Heyman noting yesterday that Bellinger was weighing offers from two non-New York teams.

If that’s the case, the Yanks will need to make a decision. Do they pursue a mid-level free agent, knowing that there are no players of Bellinger or Kyle Tucker’s level in the open market? Do they try to bring in someone via trade? Or do they trust Jasson Domínguez to be the man in left field?

Maybe the ‘Martian’ needs a platoon partner, since he had a 116 wRC+ vs. righties and a meager 63 mark vs. lefties in 2025. Perhaps he can do a much better job with a glove on his hand, as the -7 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) and -10 Outs Above Average (OAA) he had in 793 innings in 2025 suggest. But there is a case to be made that, if Bellinger signs elsewhere, Domínguez is their best choice for left field at this point.

The young outfielder has had another offseason to work on his routes, reactions, and overall fluidity back there, and even though that doesn’t guarantee improvement, remember he is still just 22 and maturing as a player, and that includes defense.

He is athletic enough to think there could be at least modest improvement on that front with good coaching and a lot of work. Of course, he would need in-game reps. A lot of them. Will he get them on a regular basis? That will depend entirely on what the Yankees do in the rest of the offseason.

Offensively, Domínguez managed to hold his own even without getting regular playing time last year, with a .257/.331/.388 line in 429 plate appearances; 10 home runs, and 23 stolen bases. His 103 wRC+ suggests he is playable right now, but the minor league track record (.817 career OPS down in the farm with a .373 OBP) and set of tools lead us all to believe his ceiling is higher than that.

Domínguez was fine against righties, but he is capable of more. He was a liability facing lefties, though, but there is also potential for improvement there as he gets more at-bats against top competition. Even if he can post an 85-90 wRC+ as a righty, that would be seen as a major step forward, but it’s much easier said than done.

His performance hitting right-handed and how much he improves on defense will likely dictate his overall ceiling as a player. He’ll also need to walk a bit more (9.6 percent BB% last year) and cut down on his strikeouts some (26.8 percent K%), but Domínguez’s ceiling, even if not quite as high as we all thought it was when he was a minor leaguer, is still exciting under the right circumstances.

If Domínguez is anointed the everyday left fielder, which is possible but unlikely since the Yankees will probably want someone to play in his stead when there is a southpaw on the mound, the potential to hit 20 home runs and steal 30 bases with a 110 wRC+ is there. It might not be pretty at times, but we are talking about a soon-to-be 23-year-old player with top prospect pedigree who has held his own as a major leaguer.

Domínguez’s performance vs. lefties and how much progress he makes with the glove will likely dictate if he is a close to replacement-level or a legitimate three-win-type contributor. The pressure will be on, but the solace for him is that he honestly might well be accustomed to it at this point.

In honor of the Philadelphia Phillies playing host to the 2026 Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Citizens Bank Park, we here at The Good Phight are launching a yearlong series that focuses on the history of the Phillies and the All-Star Game.Check back regularly for posts about the Phillies participation in (or lack thereof) in the Midsummer Classic over its history.

Being named to the All-Star team is one of the highest honors in baseball. It means that you were good enough to be chosen to represent your team in a showcase of some of the best players in the sport. But for some, they were only good enough once to get that honor. The Phillies have 36 such one and dones in their history, meaning players who made one All-Star team in their career and did it with the Phillies, excluding active players. In order to make reading this close to palatable, we’re going to break them down by decades in a series of articles. First up, the 1930s.

Arthur “Pinky” Whitney, 1936

There wasn’t much good baseball in Philadelphia in 1936, as both the Phillies and the Athletics lost 100 games and finished in dead last in their respective leagues. But Arthur “Pinky” Whitney of the Phillies nevertheless was named the starting third baseman for the National League. Whitney’s numbers were pedestrian, as he was hitting .280 with 16 extra-base hits including five home runs in the 66 games before the All-Star game. The 31-year-old San Antonio native started his career with the Phillies in 1928 before being traded to the Boston Braves in the middle of 1933.

But Whitney found his way back to Philadelphia after ten games of the 1936 season, where he garnered the most votes of any Phillies player and was named to the All-Star team because the fan vote had failed to assure that every team had a representative. Whitney displaced Bill Brubaker of the Pirates despite the latter receiving the fifth most votes of any infielder. Ironically enough, the other Philadelphia 100 loss team also sent a third baseman nicknamed “Pinky” who had to be named to the team due to the representative rule, as Mike Higgins of the Athletics replaced the White Sox player/manager Jimmy Dykes on the roster.

The Phillies’ Pinky directly contributed to the NL’s 4-3 win over the AL, its first since the game began in 1933, with a sacrifice fly in the second off of future Hall of Famer Lefty Grove that put the NL up 2-0. However, Whitney would not finish the game, as he suffered an injury in the eighth inning when fielding a groundout from future Phillies manager and eternal source of shame Ben Chapman grounded out. Whitney finished the top of the eighth but was pinch hit for by the Reds Lew Riggs in the bottom half of the inning. His cross-town counterpart “Pinky” Higgins didn’t have the same impact as the Phillies Pinky did, as Higgins went 0-2 with two strikeouts and was subbed out after six innings. The Philadelphia Pinkys reunited on the train ride out of Boston back to Philadelphia after the game. Whitney went on to play three more seasons in his career with the Phillies before leaving baseball, while Higgins played nine more years in the Majors, interrupted in 1945 after being drafted into the Army, and made one more All-Star team in 1944.

Hersh Martin, 1938

Center fielder Hersh Martin was only in his second year in the Majors when he was named to the 1938 All-Star game to represent the Phillies. Martin was in the midst of a strong first half of the season, hitting .336 with 30 extra-base hits and two home runs in the season’s first 64 games. Unfortunately, his efforts were going to waste on the Phillies, as they were on their way to yet another 100+ loss season and last place finish.

Luckily for Martin, he was chosen to be the Phillies representative at the All-Star game that season to take place at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Unluckily for the Birmingham, Alabama native, he was not chosen to start in the game and never even got to appear. His luck didn’t much improve after he went back to the Phillies, as Martin suffered an ankle injury before a game on September 10th. Martin was demonstrating the proper way to slide into a base for a movie recording arranged by his manager Jimmie Wilson when he caught his spikes in the dirt and suffered the injury, Martin was taken from the field to the hospital and did not appear in another game that season.

It wasn’t the first time Martin suffered a freak injury on the field and had to be hospitalized in 1938 either. In a May 10th game against the Reds, Martin was attempting to steal second after a single when the throw from Reds catcher Willard Hershberger hit him in the left temple, knocking Martin out immediately. However, his feet remained on second base while he was unconscious and being attended to by trainers. Martin was then carried off the field by four teammates and came to in the clubhouse where he complained of a headache and nausea. He then spent the night in the hospital where an x-ray confirmed he did not have a fracture and then returned to the Phillies lineup six days later.

Martin would go on to play two more years for the Phillies before heading to Double-A for three and a half seasons. He finally got the call to the Majors again in 1944 with the Yankees but only played in New York for two seasons before once again finding himself in the minors. Martin would continue to play professional ball consistently until 1953, but never again appeared in the Majors.

Morrie Arnovich, 1939

Five-foot-ten, 168-pound Morrie Arnovich may have not been much to look at, but he was once a promising centerfielder for the Phillies in the late thirties. The son of Orthodox Jewish parents, Arnovich went against his parents’ wishes to become a rabbi and instead pursued a baseball career, starting out playing for his hometown of Superior, Wisconsin in the Northern League. After two seasons where Arnovich hit a combined .354, the Phillies signed him to a deal in 1935 and sent him to Class-A Hazelton. His always-hustling nature caught eyes, and the 25-year-old Arnovich earned a call to the Majors in 1936.

The little centerfielder had a solid first two and a half seasons with the Phillies before breaking out in 1939. By the time of the All-Star game, Arnovich was hitting a staggering .383 with 21 extra-base hits including four home runs in 68 games. But of course, the Phillies as a team were terrible, sitting at 21-46 and in dead last in the National League so Arnovich was originally left off of the All-Star roster despite leading the Majors in hitting. He had to be added later to fulfill the requirement for every team to have one player. Arnovich was one of three Jewish players at the 1939 All-Star Game, joining Detroit’s Hank Greenburg and the Giants’ Harry Denning. Unfortunately for Arnovich and Denning, neither appeared in the actual game. Greenburg meanwhile started and went 1-3 with a walk to help his American League win 4-1 at Yankee Stadium.

Arnovich was beloved in his hometown of Superior, and the local media and fans joined the rest of the Phillies in demanding to know why NL manager Gabby Hartnett from the Chicago Cubs decided not to use Arnovich despite his leading the league in hitting. Hartnett’s given reason was that he wanted to use left-handed hitters against the AL’s pitchers Red Ruffing, Tommy Brudges, and Bob Feller, all of whom were right-handed. But that explanation wasn’t good enough for writer Bill Stewart in the local Evening Telegram in Superior, who noted that Hartnett still used right-hander Joe Medwick from the Cardinals in the outfield, with Hartnett’s reasoning being that Medwick is “more dangerous.” But as Stewart so eloquently put it, Hartnett “failed to denote what he meant by dangerous” and that “it must be that the St. Louis outfielder beats his grandmother to earn that ‘dangerous’ rating, because he didn’t cause American League pitching an iota of grief” in his 0-4 performance.

Superior’s favorite son returned to the Phillies and couldn’t keep up his torrid pace, as Arnovich hit .257 in the second half and ultimately finished with a .324 BA, good for 13th in the Majors and six places behind Medwick who finished hitting .332. It was a recurring theme in Arnovich’s career, as he usually started the season strong but faded as the summer wore on. He hit .308 for his career in the first half but only to hit .268 in the second half.

1939 turned out to be Arnovich’s last full season with the Phillies, as he was traded to the Reds in June of 1940. He was hitting just .199 at the time of the trade to Cincinnati and ended the year with a career-low .250 BA. However, Arnovich was a part of a Reds team that won the World Series in 1940, even if he only appeared in one game during the series. 1941 brought some controversy, as Arnovich’s draft status was a topic of debate after it was revealed that he obtained a deferment due to having dental plates after losing many teeth playing basketball. Nevertheless, he eventually enlisted in the Army in 1942 where he played and managed for the Fort Lewis team located in Tacoma, Washington as well as serving as a poster clerk in New Guinea. Arnovich’s military service cost him four years of his baseball career, and he would only play in one more MLB game in 1946 with the New York Giants despite playing in the minor leagues until 1948.

Sources

Baseball-Reference.com

James C. Isaminger, The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 9th, 1936

The Boston Globe, June 27th, 1936

The Philadelphia Inquirer, February 17th, 1945

The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 28th, 1938

The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 11th, 1938

The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 11th, 1938

Ralph Berger, Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) Biography of Morrie Arnovich

The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 1st, 1939

Cy Peterman, The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 11th, 1939

The Evening Telegram, July 11th, 1939

Bill Stewart, The Evening Telegram, July 12th, 1939