The Pittsburgh Pirates’ top pitching prospect, Seth Hernandez, is looking strong in his first season of professional baseball with the Bradenton Marauders

Hernandez was drafted sixth overall by the Pirates in 2025 as the top high school pitching prospect in the class. He was named the California Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year, The Los Angeles Times Player of the Year and the Enterprise Varsity Player of the Year. He decided to forgo his commitment to Vanderbilt and signed with the Pirates for $7.25 million. 

2025 only saw Hernandez get time with the Florida Coast League Pirates, so this is his first year of pitching in the minor leagues. With Low-A Bradenton the 19-year-old righty has made two starts so far this season, with both being very impressive. In his first career start against the Dunedin Blue Jays Hernandez largely dominated the opposing hitters. In just three innings pitched he accumulated eight strikeouts. He would give up one earned run and allow three hits, but for his first professional start, it doesn’t get much better.

Against the Palm Beach Cardinals on April 10, Hernandez was once again dictating the pace from the mound. In four innings Hernandez struck out seven batters, while not allowing any hits or earned runs while he was pitching. Bradenton would go on to lose the contest and the series to Palm Beach, but it certainly wasn’t because of Hernandez.

Hernandez was given a prospect rating of 55 overall, with a 70 graded fastball and a 60 graded curveball. At 6’4” he has an athletic build which will bode well for a power pitcher, but he also has incredible body control to repeat his delivery on the mound consistently. He has a lot of potential given his physical skills and the fact that he has great stuff, working with a solid four pitch mix. Hernandez is in line to be another great velocity focused starter in the Pirates rotation.

Seth Hernandez is ranked as the Pirates’ second overall prospect and is ranked 24th in the top 100.

April 15 is celebrated across Major League Baseball as a commemoration of the day that Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947. And for the Los Angeles Dodgers — the team that Robinson debuted went onto play his entire 10-year career with — that day always carries a little more weight.

Every year on Jackie Robinson Day, a hold a pregame moment of reflection is held with both the Dodgers and the visiting team (in this year's case, the New York Mets) gathering at the eponymous player's statue in the centerfield plaza at Dodger Stadium.

"This is not a one-day situation," Roberts said at last year's ceremony. "It's Jackie Robinson's day for breaking the color barrier, but this is like an everyday sort of mindset, appreciation."

MORE: LA Dodgers are MLB's melting pot, with complex history to show

42 forever. #Jackie42pic.twitter.com/1kGkH1Mju9

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 16, 2025

Members of the Robinson family and other invited guests usually attend as well; NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar spoke at the gathering in 2025. This year's scheduled guests include Jackie Robinson Foundation scholars and Robinson's granddaughters, Sonya Pankey and Ayo Robinson, along with Negro Leagues Baseball Museum president Bob Kendrick.

In addition to wearing Robinson's iconic No. 42 like all 29 other clubs, the Dodgers take it a step further by swapping out their interlocking LA for the Brooklyn B on their hats.

Among other plans for the game itself, the UCLA women's basketball team — fresh off their national championship and a record six players selected in the WNBA draft — will throw out the first pitch with their trophy in hand. A commemorative 42 jersey will also be given out to fans in attendance.

Even the Dodgers' opponent on Wednesday, the Mets, holds significance as they were created to fill a void left after two former New York teams — Dodgers and Giants — relocated to the West Coast in the 1950s.

MORE: How Dodgers continue to invest in Jackie Robinson legacy

Mark Walter and his ownership group bought the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012. Not long after, he called Rachel Robinson, widow of Dodgers legend Jackie Robinson, said Della Britton, president and CEO of the Jackie Robinson Foundation.

“Literally Mark supported us from day one when he bought the Dodgers,’’ Britton told USA TODAY Sports. "One of the first meetings he had, he called Rachel and Rachel and I went out to Los Angeles (from New York) and he said, ‘I want you to know this is part of your legacy and I very much feel the importance of this legacy to the team's history. We're partners...''

MORE: LA Dodgers are MLB's melting pot, with complex history to show

Jackie Robinson Day (Wednesday, April 15) will help spotlight the partnership between the Dodgers' current ownership group and Robinson's legacy.

In December, Walter and Thomas Tull, director of the movie "42" about Jackie Robinson, announced a $20 million to the Jackie Robinson Foundation, which along with the Jackie Robinson Museum is in New York.

“I remember Mark calling me,’’ Britton said, “and saying, 'Della, what do you need? You’ve worked so hard on this museum. We're so proud. Can we be helpful?'"

Jackie Robinson made history when he took the field at Ebbets Field in his debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947.

His is a legacy that continues in perpetuity, 79 years later, as MLB commemorates the anniversary of the day Robinson broke baseball's color barrier.

The tradition itself, in an official sense, is more recent than you might think; Jackie Robinson Day was first celebrated on April 15, 2004 and the practice of all on-field personnel — every player, manager, umpire and bat and ball boy — wearing Robinson's No. 42 didn't become firmly established for another five years after that.

MORE: LA Dodgers are MLB's melting pot, with complex history to show

But according to the Jackie Robinson Museum website, it was tap dancer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson who inaugurated it almost 80 years ago.

At the end of Robinson's rookie season, on Sept. 23, 1947, Bojangles led an on-field ceremony at Ebbets Field as a way for New York's Black communities to show their appreciation for Robinson and support for desegregation in the big leagues. Robinson was gifted a new car, TV set, gold watch and a fur coat for his wife, Rachel, through donations solicited by the New York Amsterdam News, a local Black newspaper.

The Dodgers are too good, and too rich. If the owners of other major league teams ultimately deem that combination so objectionable that they shut down the sport this winter because of it, they will risk a rupture in one of the greatest fan bases in American sports history.

The four million tickets the Dodgers sold last season tells one part of the story. Here is an arguably better one: For decades, the Dodgers and Lakers have dominated Los Angeles sports and left every other team far behind in popularity.

For now, after back-to-back World Series championships, the Dodgers have left even the Lakers far behind in popularity, and every other team in town even further behind.

In a Loyola Marymount survey asking Los Angeles County residents to identify their favorite among the 12 pro sports teams within the local media market, nearly half picked the Dodgers.

Read more:Whatever happened to Julio Urías? 'Teams ask me about him all the time,' agent says

The Dodgers’ lead over the Lakers — 43% to 28% — represented the largest gap between the teams in the nine editions of the survey, first conducted in 2014 by the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles.

The Rams ranked third, at 7%, followed by the Kings at 5% and the Angels at 4%.

The two women’s teams — Angel City FC and the Sparks — tied for last, each with less than 1% of the vote. Even when the study separated votes by gender, the two women’s teams each got less than 1% of the vote from women.

As recently as 2018, five teams beyond the Dodgers and Lakers — the Angels, Clippers, Galaxy, Kings and Rams — attracted at least 4% of the vote. In this year’s survey, only the Rams did.

“I’m a big Rams fan,” said Fernando Guerra, the center’s director, “and I still put the Dodgers first.

“I love all these teams. But, when you have to choose one, it’s the Dodgers.”

Dodgers president Stan Kasten pointed to the popularity and excellence of the players, the cherished ballpark and the generational fan support as factors contributing to the top ranking.

“If you have a lot of good elements but you don’t win, you’re not going to be as high,” Kasten said. “And, if you win but you don’t have the other elements, you’re not going to be as high.

“I think, right now, we’re as close as you can be to clicking on all cylinders.”

Beyond the winning, Guerra cited Shohei Ohtani as a driving force behind the Dodgers’ popularity, and not just as a tourist attraction, merchandise driver, and the foremost product endorser in sports.

In 2018, Ohtani’s debut season with the Angels, 8% of fans that identified themselves as Asian picked the Angels as their favorite team and 34% picked the Dodgers — a terrific showing for the Angels, since the study polls residents in L.A. County, not Orange County.

That demographic this year: 4% picked the Angels, 47% picked the Dodgers.

In their 10 years since returning to Los Angeles, the Rams have made seven playoff appearances and two Super Bowl appearances, winning one. All that, and a half-century in their previous run in L.A., and their membership in the most popular sports league in America, and the best they could do was 7%.

“It’s just tough to break the Lakers’ and Dodgers’ hold,” Guerra said. “It’s not like we don’t love the Rams or the others. It’s just not your top priority.”

The Lakers and Dodgers have combined to win 20 championships in Los Angeles. The other 10 teams that call this market home have combined to win 16.

In the 13 seasons since Mark Walter and Co. bought the Dodgers, the team has won 12 division titles, made five World Series appearances, and won three championships. In the same time, the Lakers have won three division titles, advanced past the first round of the playoffs twice, and won one championship.

Walter bought a controlling interest in the Lakers last year. He has installed Lon Rosen, formerly the Dodgers’ executive vice president and chief marketing officer, as the Lakers’ president of business operations.

“When the Lakers are winning a lot of championships, they’re No. 1,” Rosen said. “When the Dodgers are, they’re No. 1.

“It’s a good position to be in, since we control both teams, and both teams are highly successful.”

Read more:Luka Doncic rejoining Lakers after getting injury treatment in Europe

In this moment, the Dodgers are highly successful.

“The Lakers and Dodgers are going to be neck and neck very soon,” Rosen said. “The Lakers will 100% be champions again soon.”

The Dodgers do not concede the days of neck and neck will return. Kasten, remember, said the Dodgers were as close as they could be to clicking on all cylinders.

“We don’t take that for granted,” he said. “We know we can do even better.”

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Ten percent of the season is in the books. Does Major League Baseball play any differently after three weeks of the automatic ball-strike challenge system?

Perhaps. Certainly, it is a nascent and evolving niche within the game, filled with trial and error, hot hands and teachable moments all in the name of trying to gain an edge – 0.1% of an edge, even – on the corners of the strike zone.

While things will certainly change, and something resembling normalization will occur over the rest of the season, there are a few hard and fast maxims about ABS that we feel comfortable rolling with. A look at six truths the so-called “robot umps” have yielded so far:

Games are longer

It’s true: The average nine-inning game is averaging 2 hours, 42 minutes, longest in the four years of the pitch-clock era. (The first three seasons produced nine-inning averages of 2:39, 2:36 and 2:38).

Certainly, there are plenty of factors that contribute to game time beyond the 30 or so seconds every ABS challenge takes. Teams are using 4.34 pitchers per game, the highest mark since 2021 and possibly a function of the early-season glut of off days enabling managers to more liberally deploy relievers.

Pitchers are also issuing 3.8 walks per game, the highest mark since 2000 and perhaps one that will normalize as the year proceeds and time is shaved off of games. So is it all the challenge system spiking game times?

Nope. But it’s certainly a contributing factor.

Catchers are king

As one might have anticipated.

Nobody has the vantage point of a catcher, able to see exactly where a ball crossed the plate and, like machine learning, eventually figure out, most importantly, what the Hawk-Eye tracking system believes is a strike.

Accordingly, catchers are successfully challenging at a rate of 62% entering games of Tuesday, April 14. They account for 501 of the 522 attempts by fielders, though pitchers, emotional beings that they are, aren’t faring too poorly – they’re 10-for-21 so far.

As for hitters?

Consider them the foolishly aggrieved party. Helmet-tappers are successfully challenging at a rate of just 47%, with Ronald Acuña Jr. (2 for 6), Nolan Schanuel and Hunter Goodman (each 1 for 5) the most erratic.

Dillon Dingler is the ABS whisperer

So, who’s the best at this thing?

We’ll give an early nod to the Detroit Tigers’ Dillon Dingler. He’s currently 9-for-10 in getting balls overturned for his pitcher, the best rate for a catcher with more than five challenges. Victor Caratini (8-for-10) is right on his tail, while veteran J.T. Realmuto is perfect in five challenges so far.

Managers are working harder to get thrown out

Yep, arguing balls and strikes – traditionally the surest ticket to an early shower – is much harder to do with a pair of replay challenges in a manager’s back pocket.

Yet are skippers still getting tossed? You bet.

Eight managers have been ejected so far, and the intent hasn’t changed much in the ABS era: Six of the eight got the heave-ho when their teams were trailing and, maybe, the manager saw fit to light a fire under the lads. Alas, none of the six clubs came back to win after their manager was ejected, though perhaps the histrionics proved whatever point the manager hoped.

One ejection did occur in an ABS situation: Derek Shelton, tossed with one out in the top of the ninth inning  after an overturned ball, just as the Minnesota Twins were about to lose to the Baltimore Orioles. Runner’s interference resulted in two ejections, while a balk call, a disputed quick-pitch, a pair of check swings and an overturned out call at first accounted for the others.

FanGraphs | Dan Szymborski: An 8-2 start had the Yankees in the driver’s seat early in the AL East, but a 1-5 run after that has helped settle down the division odds. Now, while the Yanks still boast the best odds of any team in the East to make the playoffs, they’re smack dab in the middle of the division projections with the Orioles and Blue Jays. The silver lining may be that these adjusted ZiPS projections don’t seem to favor the Red Sox at all, which may take the division down from a four-way knife fight to merely a three-sided knife fight.

Yankees PR: Hopefully, none of you were too invested in the return of Yerry De los Santos to the Yankees’ bullpen. Called up yesterday to replace the struggling Jake Bird, De los Santos is already heading back to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in exchange for a to-be-named fresh arm. The Yankees had him soak up a couple innings of the ugly 7-1 loss to the Angels, allowing one run on three hits. As his pitch count rose to 44, it became clear that his stay in the Bronx would be short. Angel Chivilli and Kervin Castro are both 40-man roster candidates to tag in for Yerry, though Chivilli is more likely since Castro pitched for Scranton last night and the former last appeared for the RailRiders on Sunday.

CBS Sports | Matt Synder: Jazz Chisholm Jr. has taken his share of criticism early in the 2026 season, from this author included. While his onfield play does merit some of those critiques, Synder makes a fair point about how we wish athletes were more open about their play and how they feel about their play, when someone like Jazz expresses his challenges playing in cold weather, we jump on him for his honesty. This doubles down when you do the modicum of analysis to see that Jazz really does better as the weather warms, and as we turn toward summer, hopefully that performance starts to tick up.

New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: For one night, Trent Grisham got some validation. The Yankee center fielder has experienced a bit of a power outage so far this season, but got it back on Monday with a dynamite two-homer game, including the game-tying dinger in the ninth. Grisham had been hitting the ball hard and in the air, but to the big part of the field where outfielders run those balls down. It shouldn’t be a surprise that the key for Grisham’s power is pulling the ball, exactly what he did in game one of the Angels series.

New York Post | Dan Martin: Aaron Judge continues to carve himself into Yankee history, with another multi-home-run game on Monday night. With his fifth and sixth home runs of the year, Judge notched his 47th career multi-dinger performance, passing Mickey Mantle for second on the Yankee all-time list. Only Babe Ruth, with 68, is now above Judge.

Angel Martinez’s continued possible breakout put the Guardians up 5-2 in the top of the 8th. The Guardians always win when they lead 5-2 in the top of the 8th.

Following an RBI double by George Valera that made it 3-2, Martinez added one of his own that brought 2 more runs in. But in between, Stephen Vogt made a move that cost him the game. Valera was replaced by the even slower Juan Brito on the bases, because the team…… doesn’t trust Valera to…… not hurt himself running? I guess? (Leave him in AAA for another few days then, guys.)

Erik Sabrowski gave up two thirds of that lead in the bottom of the inning which made it 5-4. Then in the bottom of the 9th, Cade Smith retired the Cardinals 1-2-3. Oh, that’s right, I said Vogt cost the team the game. So how did that happen if there was a 1-2-3 ninth? Brito botched the third out, a routine ground ball, and then Yohei Pozo tied it. Brito’s fielding was a major issue in Goodyear, and it’s been a problem this month, too.

David Fry was also catching because he hit for Bo Naylor, and did not make any of the tough plays that an elite catcher makes some of.

Around baseball

• The Cubs and Padres are interested in LGFT Lucas Giolito.

• If you want to see Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal talk about pitching for 45 minutes, this is a link for you. Mentioned: Austin Hedges. Not mentioned: Will Wilson.

• Yesterday was the 19th anniversary of a person with a Patriots logo on their torso throwing something accurately. No, not that guy.

The Astros overcame an early 3-0 deficit with a Christian Walker home run and a six-run third inning, then hold on for a 7-6 win over the Rockies at Daikin Park.

It didn’t go according to plan in any manner, except the end result.

Making his first start of the season for the Houston Astros, Colton Gordon struggled and couldn’t make it out of the fourth inning. The beleaguered bullpen had to come up with another 6.1 innings, and they were just good enough to hold a 7-3 lead for a 7-6 victory.

Gordon got the first two outs of the game before giving up a solo homer to Hunter Goodman:

He closed out the inning with a strikeout on the next batter.

In the second inning, Gordon again got the first two outs before allowing back-to-back singles to Jordan Beck and Kyle Karros. Jake McCarthy then laced a bases-clearing triple to give Colorado a 3-0 lead.

In the bottom of the second, the Astros would answer. With one out, Christian Walker hit one 422 feet on to the train tracks.

In the top of the third, Gordon allowed a leadoff single to Brenton Doyle, and then got a pair of strikeouts. Doyle was then cut down trying to steal by Christian Vazquez to end the inning.

In the bottom of the third, the Astros would break the game open with some big hits and some brutal Rockies defense.

Vazquez led off with a double. It was his 4th double of the season. Jose Altuve then popped up on the infield for should have been an easy out, but Rockies 2B Willi Castro dropped the ball, giving the Astros two on and no out.

Yordan Alvarez then obliterated a baseball at 114.2 MPH for a 2 run double.

Isaac Paredes would follow with a walk. Carlos Correa would bounce into a force play, with Paredes forced out at second. Christian Walker would then hit a ground ball to third. Kyle Karros fielded the ball and threw home, trying to get Alvarez at the plate. The throw beat him but the catcher Goodman couldn’t apply the tag in time, and Yordan scored to give the Astros a 4-3 lead.

Cam Smith would then rip a single the other way to right to drive in Correa to make it a 5-3 game.

Joey Loperfido came to bat next, and he would reach on an error by 2B Castro, his second error of the inning. Walker would score to make it 6-3 Houston.

After Brice Matthews struck out, Vazquez would bounce one through the hole into left field to score Smith and make it 7-3 Astros going to the 4th inning.

In the top of the fourth, Gordon would again get the first two outs before finding himself in trouble. This time, he gave up a solo homer to Jordan Beck to make it a 7-4 game.

After the home run, Gordon then allowed back to back singles, and then hit a batter to load the bases, and that would be all for Colton Gordon. He finished the night with 3.2 IP, 4 ER, 8H, 0 BB, 5K, 2 HR.

A.J. Blubaugh was summoned to get Houston of the jam. With Blubaugh (a RHP) replacing Gordon (a LHP), the Rockies pinch hit Mickey Monial for Brenton Doyle. Blubaugh would get Moniak to pop to short to end the inning and the threat.

In the top of the 5th, Hunter Goodman led off with his 2nd homer of the game and 4th of the season to make it a 7-5 game.

Things in the 6th and 7th would be quiet for the first time in the game, but in the 8th the Rockies would make some noise.

Kai-Wei Teng walked 2 of the first 3 batters to face him in the 8th. Joe Espada would go to his bullpen and summon lefty Bryan King. The Rockies would then counter by having Troy Johnston pinch hit for Jake McCarthy.

McCarthy would line an RBI single to center to make it a 7-6 game. King then got a strikeout and a pop-up in the next two batters to quell the rally.

Things then got a little dicey in the 9th. Bryan King, who came on to get out of a mess in the 8th, would open the 9th and get a pair of quick outs.

Then the trouble started. King allowed back to back hits to TJ Rumfield and Ezekiel Tovar. That would be all for Bryan King.

Enyel De Los Santos came on to get the final out and finish the job, and did so with a 5 pitch strikeout.

Wednesday, the Astros will hope to keep things going in Game 2 of their 3 game series with Spencer Arrighetti.