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You might have missed it because MLB is terrible at marketing its own product, but today was the Futures Game, the de facto All-Star game for minor-leaguers. It was also the second day of the MLB Draft, covering sixteen rounds in a single day, and the final day of the Mariners’ current Road Trip From Hell, all conveniently happening at the same time – early on a Sunday here on the west coast. Like, 9 AM early. And also streamed on Peacock. Apparently while a helicopter hovered overhead directly next to the on-field mics. So it’s actually more surprising if you did watch the American League prospects defeat the National League prospects, 6-1.

If you did tune in, hopefully it wasn’t too late, because Kade Anderson appeared in the game for a flash. He was the AL squad’s starting pitcher, and needed just ten pitches for his first and only inning of work. The box score will tell you that Anderson threw six of his ten pitches for strikes and the box score is a liar, because HP umpire Alex Shears engaged in a bit of nominative determinism and clipped Anderson for two pitches at the bottom of the zone that should have been ruled strikes.

Anderson’s outing will likely be overlooked in favor of Pirates prospect Seth Hernandez – who might have been a Mariner if the Angels had actually taken Anderson as everyone expected them to instead of whatever it was they did in the 2025 draft – as Hernandez had a clean 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts where his fastball touched 101 mph. Big stuff, very nasty (was gifted a strike call outside the zone, not that I’m counting).

But Anderson was a quiet assassin on the mound, a model of efficiency cutting through the top of the NL lineup. He elicited a weak contact popout from leadoff hitter Eli Willits of the Nationals on the second pitch of his at-bat on a perfectly located fastball up and in. Anderson fell behind his next hitter, the Rockies’ Roldy Brito, 2-1, as he couldn’t quite get the feel for his changeup, but then dropped in a slider Brito swung over for a weak contact comebacker cleanly fielded by Anderson. The Brewers’ Jesús Made ruined what should have been a clean 1-2-3 inning for Anderson, swinging at a 95 mph fastball in at his knees in a 1-1 count (should have been an 0-2 count) and managing to parachute it weakly into right field, where it dropped into no-man’s-land between the second baseman and right fielder. But Anderson recovered against Rockies prospect Charlie Condon, getting a first pitch flyout on a slider that was actually the hardest hit ball all day against Anderson at 97 mph. Maybe it’s a factor of pitching at Dickey-Stephens Park, but Anderson seemed to know without turning around that the ball was destined for an outfielder’s glove.

It was a stark contrast for Anderson from his last national showcase outing, the Spring Breakout game this spring training. The spring game between the Mariners and Brewers drew a lot of national attention, with one of the densest collections of Top-100 prospects in baseball, and Anderson did not perform well on the big stage. The normally pinpoint command Anderson walked an unheard-of four hitters in two-plus innings of work, struggling to land his fastball and falling behind in counts. He left pitches on the plate that got damaged, most notably a three-run homer on a hanging slider. It was a poor enough performance that it seemed to affect his prospect stock, with certain national prospect writers and fans alike quick to anoint Ryan Sloan – who pitched three perfect innings to open the game – the true ace of Seattle’s system.

Anderson has sufficiently silenced those critics as he’s torn through the Double-A level this year, obliterating hitters with his same strikeout stuff while actually cutting down his walk rate from college, making it easy to write off the spring breakout performance to the triple-digit Arizona heat and the fact that Anderson, a creature of routine, wasn’t the day’s starter. His performance in today’s Futures Game is an exclamation mark on what’s been a truly extraordinary first professional season for him, and an opportunity to stake a claim as one of the best pitching prospects in the game.

The thrill of having a two-headed pitching monster in the Futures Game means Mariners fans had to wait until the fifth inning of this seven-inning contest to see another Mariners prospect. Ryan Sloan came on in the fifth with the AL leading 6-1 and had to fight a little harder against the NL hitters. In a flip-flop from the spring breakout game, this time it was Sloan who seemed to have a little trouble with fastball command, pumping plus velocity – he was up to 100 mph on his fastball – but missing with it out of the zone.

Sloan had to battle his first hitter, Cubs top prospect Josiah Hartshorn, for seven pitches before dropping in a cutter for a groundout; the cutter was his friend again for a first-pitch groundout with his second hitter, the Giants’ Gavin Kilen. In a 1-1 count, Sloan tried to go back to the off-speed again against another Giants hitter, Dakota Johnson, who was coming in on a heater after a three-homer game for Eugene on Friday. Johnson caught a sweeper that got too much plate and was able to knock it down the left field line for a line-drive double (97.4 mph EV, not softly hit but not exactly the “laser” described on the broadcast). Sloan recovered to hang a zero for the inning, but it wasn’t easy against the Brewers’ Jesus Made – part of the same spring breakout lineup Sloan dominated this spring – who battled him for six pitches before flying out on a sweeper in on his hands. Like Anderson, Sloan also signaled for the inning-ending flyout, but couldn’t help but watch it to make sure it got caught:

It wasn’t the sharpest inning for Sloan but it was an exciting opportunity to benchmark the Sloan of the early spring against the Sloan of today. This spring, Sloan leaned almost exclusively on his heater, using it to annihilate the Brewers hitters. Today, lacking his usual fastball command, he was able to dig into a deeper arsenal, showcasing his cutter, sweeper, and changeup (Gameday is labeling it a splitter).

It’s been more of an up-and-down season for Sloan at Double-A this season – as one would expect for a pitcher as young as he is being challenged at the level – but he’s continuing to build volume and efficiency while still developing his arsenal and gaining experience against more advanced hitters, several of whom he saw up close at today’s event.

Right-hander Alex Petrovic grew up in Cypress, Texas, a suburb of Houston, the son of parents who played basketball at Oberlin College. Alex’s physical gifts manifested themselves on the baseball diamond rather than the basketball court, and the youngster quickly began standing out on the sandlots around Texas. He attended Concordia Lutheran High School in Tomball, Texas, where he dominated as both a hitter and a pitch, earning TAPPS First Team All-State honors in 2022 and 2023. Inflammation in his right arm kept him off of the mound for the majority of his senior year, and may have cost him a selection in the 2023 MLB Draft; despite solid results, Petrovic was not considered an elite talent, and he ended up going undrafted, leading him to honor his commitment to Auburn University.

His career with the Tigers began inauspiciously, as the inflammation in his arm returned that fall. It calmed down to the point that, when the spring began, the right-hander was able to take the mound for his new team after missing the first three weeks of the season. Appearing in 7 games for Auburn, Petrovic allowed 7 earned runs in 11.0 innings, good for a 5.73 ERA, giving up 15 hits, walking 3, and striking out 17. There is a chance that the right-hander might have improved as the weather continued warming, but Petrovic sustained a stress fracture in his right elbow in early April, ending his season prematurely.

The right-hander had surgery on his elbow, having screws inserted into it, and returned to the mound at Plainsman Park for the 2025 season. Improbably, the exact same thing almost happened a second year in a row. The right-hander appeared in 7 games, starting 5, and posted a 4.34 ERA in 18.2 innings, allowing 13 hits, walking 4, and striking out 25, but once again, an injury on a different spot on his arm sustained in early April ended his season early. His velocity had backed up from the low-90s into the high-80s and his breaking balls did not look as sharp, and it was only a matter of time before something in his arm went off. A draft-eligible sophomore because of his age, Petrovic did not hear his name called in the 2025 MLB Draft.

When his arm felt better later that summer, the right-hander went to a baseball training facility in Lakeland, Florida- the Florida Base ARMory- and worked on making subtle changing his mechanics to put less stress on his arm and elbow and hopefully prevent a third-consecutive season-ending injury in 2026.

The 22-year-old returned to Auburn for his redshirt sophomore season armed with new mechanics and not only was he able to make it through the entire year without an injury, but Petrovic also had a very solid season. His fastball having gained a few ticks from the mechanical changes that were made and his secondary stuff looking sharper, he appeared in 17 games, starting all of them, and posted a 3.21 ERA in 92.2 innings, allowing 70 hits, walking 24, and striking out 92.

Standing 6’5” and weighing 235-pounds, the big Serbian is well-proportioned and athletic, not exactly striking an imposing figure. Likewise, his stuff is not exactly imposing, but it got the job done, as the right-hander was one of the best SEC pitchers in 2026. Petrovic throws from a high-three-quarters arm slot, working exclusively from the stretch with a high leg kick and long arm action through the back, throwing with downhill plane, getting good extension. Petrovic is a strike thrower, commanding his arsenal well and pounding the strike zone. He throws a four-seam fastball, circle changeup, sweeping slider and cutter.

Prior to the 2026, while he was pitching compromised and/or in pain, his fastball sat in the low-90s, often backing up into the high-80s. In 2026, the pitch was sitting more in the low-to-mid-90s, reportedly hitting as high as 96 MPH. In addition, the pitch featured above-average spin rates between 2400-2500 RPM, giving the pitch as much as 18 inches of induced vertical break, a well above-average, borderline elite measurement.

His changeup is his go-to secondary pitch, a high-70s-to-low-80s offering that features a high spin rate, giving it a ton of fade when he is able to turn the ball over properly in addition to . The pitch tunnels extremely well with his fastball, and the pitch gets a fair amount of whiffs against left-handed batters and right-handed batters alike. Thanks to the amount of run the pitch has, Petrovic can sometimes have trouble commanding it and can get gun shy about using it when behind in the count or with runners on base.

The right-hander’s sweeping slider sits in the high-70s-to-low-80s, while his cutter sits in the low-to-mid-80s. At present, his slider is a bit more advanced than his cutter, with the pitch being more likely to develop into an average offering; at present, the pitch relies more on big loopy movement rather than bite and batters going fishing for it outside of the strike zone, particularly right-handed batters.

While not exactly a groundball machine, Petrovic posted a strong 44.2% groundball rate in 2026, a consequence of batters making poor contact with his fastball, changeup, and slider.

“It’s the injuries” is a common excuse for why the A’s, once 38-38 and in the thick of a weak AL West race, have cratered, fallen, and can’t get up. “Wait until we’re back at full strength” is a commonly heard game plan for letting a season in which 2 games over .500 gets you 1st place at the All-Star break slip away in a slow but deadly implosion.

Without question the A’s have missed, when out, Jacob Wilson and Zack Gelof, Tyler Soderstrom and Luis Severino, even Brent Rooker though he never got his season untracked. At the same time, no one in the division is feeling too sorry for the A’s just because they have not been at full strength and have been without some key cogs.

The Mariners were without Cal Raleigh for a long stretch and Brendan Donovan last played on May 13th. The Rangers were long absent Wyatt Langford, lost Corey Seager to an IL stint, and Cody Bradford has yet to throw a pitch all season. The Astros were without Jeremy Peña for 5 weeks while Carlos Correa is out for the season and Hunter Brown only recently rejoined the rotation. The difference is that these teams weathered their adversity enough to win roughly half their games.

Here are some truths that better explain why the A’s sit at 41-55 at the All-Star break when even just 48-48 would have served them quite well…

The Myth Of “Good Offense/Bad Pitching”

This is only half true. The pitching has, in fact, been awful but the A’s offense is very much part of why the A’s have the third worst record in the American League. Following the A’s sad showing in Chicago, in which they scored 2 runs in 3 games, it’s now official: on the road the A’s have the very worst OPS in all of MLB.

That’s right, the A’s road slash line of .223/.297/.347 yields a .644 OPS that ranks a cool 30th out of 30th. Certainly injuries play a part — the A’s would have hit better on the road if they had not lost Wilson or Gelof or Soderstrom at all, but the reality is that as a group their players, when healthy, have not performed outside the hitting paradise that is West Sacramento.

A healthy (save for the last 2 games) Nick Kurtz batted a strikingly ordinary .236/.364/.394, 114 wRC+ on the road in the 1st half. That’s in contrast to a 180 wRC+ at home.

The other hitter the A’s relied on heavily in the first half, All-Star Shea Langeliers, has hit all of .236/.303/.434, 103 wRC+ on the road (135 wRC+ at home).

Tyler Soderstrom, with a 162 wRC+ at home, has hit just .216/.290/.383, 84 wRC+ on the road.

Zack Gelof may have a 148 wRC+ at home, but on the road it’s .222/.287/.374, 84 wRC+.

The point being that if the excuse is that the A’s really miss these guys, they don’t actually get as much from them away from West Sacramento as you may think. And as a team, no one puts together a worse OPS on the road than your Athletics.

Can’t Stop The Hemorrhaging

The A’s have certainly been hit hard by injuries of late and it provides a neat excuse for accepting strings of losses. But one fact remains: 2 seasons in a row now, when the A’s have begun to crater Mark Kotsay and his coaching staff have not been able to find a way to put a tourniquet on the massive bleeding.

And we’re not talking about any ordinary skid here. Last year the team plunged, out of the blue, into a 1-20 funk that conjured up the image of Bill King’s wildest alcoholic dreams. Before the All-Star break the team plunged into such a prolonged morass it effectively ended their season in June.

Fast forward a season, with higher expectations and more opportunity, and here we are at the All-Star break with the A’s, recently 38-38 and essentially deadlocked for 1st place, having spiraled into a funk that is now 3-17, only a couple games better than 2025’s historic 21 game collapse.

It’s not inherently a manager’s fault how a team plays in a game or for a week, or even in a season. There are too many factors, some based around on field talent and others around the romantic unpredictability of baseball. Nonetheless, 2 years in a row now the A’s have suddenly fallen off a cliff, and perhaps more importantly they have been unable to find a way just to slow the bleeding even if they couldn’t stop it, just to maintain some semblance of a pulse even if they came out of it the worse for wear.

A 21 game stretch that ended the A’s hopes in June, 2025, followed by a 20 game stretch in June/July 2026 that has done the near impossible: take a race in which .500 gets you within a game of 1st place, and in the span of 3 weeks fall completely off the map, winning just once a week for a full 1/8 of the season.

Ask the managers in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia if the combination of high expectations and hugely disappointing performance costs you your job — and none of those managers piloted collapses this deep, 2 seasons in a row.

But those managers were canned, early enough that the team’s season was still very much salvageable, and guess what? In 2 of 3 cases, the team has risen from the dead and returned to relevance by the All-Star break. The Red Sox are suddenly just 2 games under .500 and 0.5 game back of the 3rd wild card while the Phillies hold the 2nd wild card spot and sit just 2 games back of the Braves in the NL east. That is not to say Boston and Philly don’t have more talent to work with, but it is to say they were still failing badly and only turned it around following a changing of the guard.

What Does This All Mean?

Unfortunately, from where I sit it means the A’s have a serious problem. The easy narrative is to bemoan that the A’s problem is basically their pitching, and really if they could just figure out how to pitch decently at home they would be fine. Sounds like half a problem.

The reality is that the A’s appear to have 3 fundamental problems. Not only is their pitching ranked near the bottom in many categories, but when their stats are not masked by their home hitting environment the offense has been “bottom of the barrel” as well. And their leadership has not shown it can guide a team through a long season without a crippling month in which everything accomplished before and after is rendered moot by a daily nightmare no one can shake the team from.

This doesn’t make for a “feel good” piece going into the break, but that’s kind of what you have to expect when you’re facing 4 days off to ruminate on 9 straight losses, 17 out of 20, and a division race that has, in just 3 weeks time, become “anyone’s to win — well, anyone except you.”

Not ideal.

The Orioles rolled through rounds 5-20 on day 2 of the MLB draft as Sunday went along, adding to the four players they took over the first four rounds on Saturday. The O’s wrapped up the draft not all that differently from how they started it. Their top pick, Eric Booth Jr., came from the high school ranks, and in all they picked eight high school players plus one junior college player. That’s unprecedented for the Orioles in the Mike Elias era. Hopefully it ends up paying off.

Much more typical of an Elias draft is that he picked pitchers in bulk without using his top two picks on pitchers. The Orioles drafted 11 pitchers in their 20 selections. The earliest of these was taken in the third round, and only four pitchers were taken in the top ten rounds where the player being signed is a near certainty. If the O’s are lucky, they have found the 2026 version of Joseph Dzierwa, now one of the team’s top prospects after a dominant pro debut following being drafted in the second round a year ago.

Every team’s general manager, scouting director, or whatever title they give to their person in charge of the draft has been out there giving quotes about how much they like their draft class, how they can’t believe all of this talent fell to them, and so on. Prospect outlets are pumping out reports that make so many players seem like future big leaguers or even All-Star level players. Hit the brakes. Most of these guys aren’t going to make it.

The thing is that neither you, nor I, nor the Orioles, know with certainty which ones will or won’t make it, so for now, all of them could. That’s what is fun about the draft and about prospects in general. Nobody knows. You can dream as long as you steel yourself for a lot of disappointment.

Notes on the Orioles picks:

First rounder Eric Booth Jr. is a fast center fielder whose father was a late-round Blue Jays draft pick way back in 1993 before going to college for football instead. He only turned 18 years old on July 4. The younger Booth, ranked #6 on MLB Pipeline’s list of prospects in this class, is said to have “an excellent feel to hit, even with an unusual setup at the plate.” Praising the pick, FanGraphs wrote “Booth has an electricity to him that is unmatched in this draft. The quickness of his hands and his speed for his size are both show-stopping.”

In the second round, the Orioles went into the college ranks to pick outfielder Ty Head from NC State. Head is notable for how little he struck out as a college player, with just 23 strikeouts in 56 games with the Wolfpack this year. He walked 57 times. That’s an uncommon skill set and not one that the Orioles have typically targeted with their high picks. FG said, “he needs to add strength, but everything else (contact, speed, defense, natural launch, baseball IQ) is already in place.”

The third round brought the first pitcher selected, Dominic Voegele from Kansas. If the draft telecast is any indication, it’s pronounced the same as “vaguely.” Don’t worry about his ERA, which if you look you will see is bad (5.85). The environment for college offense with the metal bats is nuts. What the Orioles surely like about Voegele is he struck out 120 batters in 97 innings this year.

The Orioles went to Mississippi high school ranks again in the fourth round, taking Kevin Roberts Jr. He was picked from the same high school as Pirates rookie Konnor Griffin, who debuted before his 20th birthday early this season. Griffin was the #9 overall pick. This is a big guy, listed at 6’5” and 200 lbs. He’s still young, as he won’t turn 18 until later this month. Pipeline’s capsule noted he played basketball and track in high school; we’ll see if he benefits from focusing just on baseball.

Jimmy Anderson (fifth round) has been drafted by the Orioles before, in the 19th round a year ago. The O’s surely saw him before this, because, as the prospect enthusiasts of Orioles On The Verge noted, Anderson was a high school teammate of 2024 draft pick Nate George. He hit 26 home runs in 59 games against the junior college competition. The scouting world thinks he’s ticketed for second base.

Sixth round pick Zane Adams was draft eligible as a sophomore one year ago, but his sophomore season was bad, so he went undrafted and returned for his junior year. Pipeline summarizes the lefty’s arsenal as “a 91-94mph fastball that touches 96 … a plus upper-70s curveball and shows good feel for a 77-81mph changeup that dies at the plate.”

With their seventh round pick, the Orioles chose righty Ryan Piech from Xavier. Piech did not have a freshman year because he needed Tommy John surgery. Most recently, he had the best strikeout rate (11.6 K/9) among Big East pitchers.

Another high school position player went to the Orioles in the eighth round: Will Plunkett from a New York high school. Prospects from states in the northeast generally don’t get as many reps as ones in the south because of the weather, so there’s always potential for growth as they focus year-round on baseball. Pipeline ranked this prospect #198 on is draft board and called him one of the most intriguing picks of day 2, noting he has “a promising approach at the plate with room to grow into more power, and he has plenty of arm to fit on the left side of the infield.”

6’5” righty pitcher Collin McKinney was the ninth round pick. McKinney is a college senior out of Arizona. He’s already 22. Typically, “senior signs” are picked to save a little money against the pick’s slot value ($213,000) that will be used on other players. McKinney pitched mostly in relief for the Wildcats this spring, striking out 49 batters in 37.1 innings.

Tenth round pick Carlos Sanchez is one of three players drafted by the Orioles whose birthplace is listed as Venezuela. The 22-year-old Sanchez is listed as a junior, but for a guy to be labeled “utility” in the MLB database plus his already being 22 probably marks him as a spiritual “senior sign” if not a literal senior.

My complete tracker of the Orioles picks, including the rounds 11-20 players, can be found here.

Across the whole league, around 99% of players picked in rounds 1-10 typically sign. The system is set up such that teams lose bonus pool money if they don’t sign one of those players, so the incentives are to draft guys they know will sign. There are sometimes medical concerns, as when the Orioles didn’t sign third round pick Nolan McLean four years ago. McLean now has a 3.07 ERA in 155.1 innings across two seasons with the Mets. Not looking like the concerns were worth tanking a signing in the $750,000 range.

The rules are different for the rounds 11-20 players. They can sign for up to $150,000 without counting against the team’s bonus pool. Additionally, a player who attends a junior college rather than a four-year school can be a “draft and follow” who can sign for up to $225,000 any time up until a week before next year’s draft. Later round picks aren’t guaranteed to sign. The O’s had three unsigned players among their 24 picks a year ago.

My guess is that there will be a number of unsigned players in the later rounds of this class as well. It’s almost guaranteed with five high school players picked from 11-20. There could be overslot money ticketed for some of those players, but since the Orioles also have three high schoolers and a junior college player in their top 10 rounds, a lot of the overslot might go there instead.

Two years ago, the Orioles signed George for $455,000 and catcher Andrew Tess from a Florida high school for $347,500. We’ll probably see a couple of contracts like that among the 11-20 set while the rest head to a college campus. Sometimes, the go-to-college players turn into multi-million dollar prospects three years down the road. Most times, they don’t.

Was this a good draft for the Orioles? Baseball’s draft lacks the instant gratification of other American sports like football and basketball. Not even the most knowledgeable person can answer the question for sure. These are 18-21 year old guys who may develop or not develop in unexpected ways.

What I can say for sure is that this is a different draft for the Orioles, with a focus on young talent that hasn’t been seen in Elias’s tenure. There are no “home run or bust” players among their top few picks. That should be welcome for anyone who feels that the farm system has stagnated in recent years. They are not just trying the same old stuff and hoping it still works out. It won’t feel much better if this doesn’t work out either, but it is something different.

Teams have until July 27 at 5pm Eastern to reach agreements with their draft picks.

SAN FRANCISCO — There’s little risk of Logan Webb taking the mound nursing a hangover this week in Philadelphia, like he did after enjoying his first All-Star experience a little too much.

It’s not because the Giants’ ace doesn’t plan to partake in the pregame party.

After some discussion with manager Tony Vitello and the Giants’ coaching staff, they came to the decision that it would be best if Webb doesn’t pitch in Tuesday’s Midsummer Classic.

Although Webb will be fully rested, having made his last start of the first half on Wednesday, he will only be available to National League manager Dave Roberts if nobody else is left.

“This wasn’t just a ‘me’ decision; this was kind of a team decision,” Webb said before he jumped on a cross-country flight for his third All-Star Game. “I might [still] be pitching in the game, but I think the plan was, at least from my understanding, talking to our team, was not to pitch.”

The logic is twofold: Webb already went above and beyond his normal workload by participating in the World Baseball Classic this spring, and he also missed a month with bursitis in right knee that forced the workhorse to the injured list for the first time since 2021.

“He’s done a lot, in general, when you count the WBC and then a couple of those outings with some knee pain,” manager Tony Vitello said. “I think the biggest thing he did for fans and for baseball was to throw in that WBC. … I think he put in his time there.”

Webb, who will represent the Giants alongside Luis Arraez, will get some time off over the break for the first time in three years. He appeared in the game, to varying degrees of success, the previous two years when he was named an All-Star.

Last year, Webb pitched a scoreless third inning in a 6-6 tie at Truist Park in Atlanta. In 2024, he was tagged for three runs on three hits and a walk in the NL’s 5-3 loss at Globe Life Field in Texas. Afterward, he revealed that he had partied a little too hard the night before.

There should be nothing stopping Webb from enjoying himself this time around.

The unfortunate part is that fans will be prevented from seeing one of the game’s most durable and reliable starting pitchers — only Zack Wheeler has amassed more value since Webb debuted in 2021 — while other deserving pitchers were passed over.

Wheeler, who is 9-1 with a 2.28 ERA since returning from thoracic outlet surgery, was arguably the most glaring snub, especially given that the game is at his home ballpark. But there are another four qualified NL starters with lower ERA’s than Webb’s who weren’t selected.

Given that Webb stopped short of pulling out entirely, it wasn’t clear if MLB would name a replacement.

Representing the Mets at the MLB Futures Game on Sunday afternoon was first baseman Ryan Clifford who entered the game as a defensive replacement in the fifth inning and worked a walk in the sixth.

Clifford, of course, was acquired by New York at the 2023 trade deadline when the Mets traded Justin Verlander and cash considerations to the Houston Astros for Clifford and Drew Gilbert. 

Since then, Gilbert was traded to the San Francisco Giants and has made his MLB debut while Clifford remains in the Mets’ farm system as their No. 6 ranked prospect, per SNY contributor Joe DeMayo.

Clifford, a power bat currently playing for Triple-A Syracuse, has had an up and down season in his first full season with Syracuse. The 22-year-old is slashing .196/.283/.395 with 16 home runs and 47 RBI and while the power is obvious, Clifford has struggled to make enough contact and has struck out 129 times in 86 games.

Never one to hit for a high average, Clifford is hitting a career-low this season and his .678 OPS is well-below his career average of .799 in 494 games across all minor league levels. But what Clifford lacks in batting average, he makes up for in on-base percentage and even though his walks are down this season, the lefty-swinging slugger walked in his only at-bat on Sunday against a left-hander after working the count full.

“It was great. It was fun to play in front of a big crowd and hopefully one day be back in this environment again,” Clifford said about his experience at the MLB Futures Game at Citizens Bank Park.

For Clifford to reach the next step in his development he needs to work on consistency, something he’s already well aware of.

“I think the first half was kind of up and down so I’m looking to, after the break, just maintain some consistency and stay out on the field and be healthy,” he said. “Look to cut down on strikeouts and keep the power up.”

Because of that elite power he possesses, New York, in the middle of a lost season, might be inclined to promote Clifford at some point later in the year even if he doesn’t improve with his consistency at the plate, especially because of the long-term hole at first base since the departure of Pete Alonso.

At the very least, Clifford is certainly a candidate for a September call-up to show what he can do at the big league level. In fact, earlier this year Clifford was invited to the Mets’ spring training for the first time and went 2-for-20 with seven strikeouts before being reassigned to minor league camp.

Despite the results, just being around major league players gave Clifford some great insight into being a pro and he was grateful for the opportunity.

“The clubhouse is great,” he said. “Everyone is open to helping out the younger guys and I shared a locker next to [Marcus] Semien so it was cool to be able to work with him everyday and overall just all the infielders were all kinda close to each other.”

After Alabama shortstop Justin Lebron was drafted #18 in the first round by the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday, three of his teammates joined him in pro ball on Sunday. Right handed pitcher Tyler Fay was picked by the Pittsburgh Pirates, left handed pitcher Zane Adams went to the Baltimore Orioles, and catcher/outfielder Brady Neal was nabbed by Cincinnati. Two pitchers that had committed to Alabama out of the transfer portal were also chosen, as well as two incoming freshman, and two former Tide pitchers also were taken. Dylan Marionneaux, a right handed pitcher out of NW State, and Garrett Lambert, a righty out of Mercer, were both drafted. Canadian high school pitcher, Cade Dorland will have a decision to come to school or sign after being picked, as will as pitcher Hudson DeVaughn out of Indiana. Former Alabama hurlers Beau Bryans and Ariston Veasey also heard their names called on Sunday.

The 6’6’ Fay was drafted in the 6th round, 169th overall, by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Fay had a special season in 2026 with an 11-5 record and 4.54 ERA, striking out 127 batters in 109 innings. The strikeout total was one short of tying former Tide left hander Wade Leblanc’s single season record of 128, set in 2006. The highlight of Fay’s year was the no-hitter he tossed against Florida, striking out 13 Gators along the way. The slot value of the 169th pick is $406,500.

Adams was picked two spots after Fay at 171 by the Baltimore Orioles. Adams was a three year starter for the Tide and has a career record of 19-14 with a 5.09 ERA. In 2026 Adams finished 8-5 with a 4.58 ERA, pitching 90 innings and striking out 100 batters. The slot value for Adams is $396,300.

The Cincinnati Reds took Neal in the 8th round at #242. Neal played catcher and outfield for the Tide. After two years at LSU, Neal transferred to Alabama in 2025. The Tallahassee, FL native had a career year in 2026, hitting .316 with 15 doubles, 10 home runs, with a .969 OPS. The slot value for pick 242 in $229,700.

Dylan Marroineaux, a junior at Northwestern State in Louisiana, committed to the Tide out of the portal in June. The Chicago Cubs used the 126th pick in the 4th round on the right hander. Originally a walk-0n at NW State, Marroimeaux had a break out year in 2026 with a 4-2 record and 3.51 ERA in 84 innings with 81 strikeouts. The slot value is $609.200. However, Marroineaux was not listed as a top 500 prospect, and the thought is there may have been a deal cut at a lower bonus to secure the draft spot. Lambert, a redshirt freshman from Mercer, committed to transfer to Alabama out of the portal in June. The Colorado Rockies picked Lambert with the #165 pick-6th round- on Sunday. After two injury plagued years, Lambert broke out in 2026 with a 5-1 record, and a 4.31 ERA while pitching 71 innings, allowing 58 hits, and striking out 90 batters. The slot for the pick is $417,400.

Alabama had two 2026 high school signees drafted. Dorland was taken #382 in the 13th round by the Atlanta Braves and DeVaughn was picked with the 569th pick in the 19th round. The Tide will have a good chance of getting the two right handers to campus.

Former Tide players chosen were: left handed pitcher Beau Bryans out Jacksonville State in the 7th round with the 208th pick by the SF Giants and right handed pitcher Ariston Veasey out of Clemson with the 337th pick in the 11th round. Bryans pick carries a slot value of $292,300.

‘Roll Tide

Bama Baseball Fever, Catch it!

While the big names in the MLB draft are all gone after the first day (or essentially committed to going to or back to college next year), there are future big leaguers every year in the second or third day of the draft. Recent Royals draft picks outside of the first 150 picks in the last decade to make it to the big leagues include David Sandlin, Noah Cameron, Anthony Veneziano, Noah Murdock, Vinnie Pasquantino, Tyler Tolbert, Austin Cox, Jonathan Heasley, Nate Eaton, Tyler Zuber, Brewer Hicklen, Nicky Lopez, and Richard Lovelady.

Can anyone from today join them? Only time will tell, but let’s not forget: being drafted at all is an incredible achievement. Only 5% of the roughly 10,000 draft-eligible NCAA baseball players every year are selected by an MLB team.

151st pick: Ethan McElvain, left-handed pitcher from the University of Arkansas

Welcome to the #Royals, Ethan!#RaisingRoyals👑 pic.twitter.com/pJTKDUOoHT

— Raising Royals (@KCRoyalsPD) July 12, 2026

McElvain transferred from Vanderbilt and moved completely to the bullpen, where he threw 38.1 innings, struck out 34.4% of batters, and had a 1.88 ERA. He stands at a hefty 6’ 4”, 250 lbs. Rated by MLB as the 144th-best prospect in the draft.

180th pick: Justin LeGuernic, left-handed pitcher from Clemson University

Welcome to the #Royals, Justin!#RaisingRoyals👑 pic.twitter.com/YCoG0x31AS

— Raising Royals (@KCRoyalsPD) July 12, 2026

Another bullpen arm, LeGuernic is young to be drafted as a junior—he doesn’t turn 21 until October—and had a 4.69 ERA in 19 games. Rated by MLB as the 220th-best player in the draft.

Pick 209: Dylan Vigue, right-handed pitcher from the University of Georgia

Welcome to the #Royals, Dylan!#RaisingRoyals👑 pic.twitter.com/0xwh3QbwvQ

— Raising Royals (@KCRoyalsPD) July 12, 2026

A starting pitcher, Vigue started 16 games for the Bulldogs with a 4.43 ERA against tough SEC competition. Rated by MLB as the 201st-best player in the draft.

Pick 239: Hunter Possehl, left-handed pitcher from Florida Gulf Coast University

Welcome to the #Royals, Hunter!#RaisingRoyals👑 pic.twitter.com/fesfRsoMaa

— Raising Royals (@KCRoyalsPD) July 12, 2026

A draft-eligible sophomore, Possehl is also a giant at 6’ 8”. He had a 3.21 ERA and a 2.5 K/BB ratio this year for FGCU.

Pick 269: Camden Johnson, shortstop from the University of Oklahoma

Welcome to the #Royals, Camden!#RaisingRoyals👑 pic.twitter.com/9C3KZ6cdmv

— Raising Royals (@KCRoyalsPD) July 12, 2026

Kansas City’s first position player selected on day two, Johnson transferred from Witchita State to Oklahoma this year and slashed .298/.403/.478 with 31 stolen bases. Rated by MLB as the 116th-best player in the draft.

Pick 299: Grant Fontenot, right-handed pitcher from Louisiana State University

Welcome to the #Royals, Grant!#RaisingRoyals👑 pic.twitter.com/s4Zj7mSupS

— Raising Royals (@KCRoyalsPD) July 12, 2026

Another reliever, Fontenot has battled with injuries and only has 48.1 total college innings over the last three years. When healthy, he’s been able to strike out 26.9% of batters.

Pick 329: Tanner Griffith, outfielder from St. Mary’s College

Welcome to the #Royals, Tanner!#RaisingRoyals👑 pic.twitter.com/WUvd5EQHFk

— Raising Royals (@KCRoyalsPD) July 12, 2026

At 5’ 9”, the small Tanner Griffith nevertheless swung a big bat this year for St. Mary’s, hitting .342/.477/.545 with 22 doubles in 303 plate appearances.

Pick 359: Lance Hartley, right-handed pitcher from the College of Central Florida

Welcome to the #Royals, Lance!#RaisingRoyals👑 pic.twitter.com/40M1gglRI0

— Raising Royals (@KCRoyalsPD) July 12, 2026

A draft-eligible sophomore, the 20-year-old Hartley struck out 22 batters in his 16 innings of work this year.

Pick 389: Dalton Hill, right-handed pitcher from Nicholls State University

Welcome to the #Royals, Dalton!#RaisingRoyals👑 pic.twitter.com/aE1h6nZv2u

— Raising Royals (@KCRoyalsPD) July 12, 2026

Hill moved to the bullpen this year, where he posted a 1.35 ERA and a 3.2 K/BB ratio in 20 innings.

Pick 419: Banks Wickersham, catcher from Fort Dorchester High School

Welcome to the #Royals, Banks!#RaisingRoyals👑 pic.twitter.com/anW8HNR4JG

— Raising Royals (@KCRoyalsPD) July 12, 2026

A multi-sport athlete, Wickersham is the first high schooler selected by Kansas City on day two. He’s committed to the College of Charleston.

Pick 449: Madden Clement, left-handed pitcher from Virginia Tech University

Welcome to the #Royals, Madden!#RaisingRoyals👑 pic.twitter.com/SpY7KTsA6w

— Raising Royals (@KCRoyalsPD) July 12, 2026

Clement and his very nice mustache have pitched out of the bullpen as a starter. Clement is another guy coming back from injury, only tossing 3.1 innings last year.

Pick 479: Dylan Alonso, right-handed pitcher from Troy University

Welcome to the #Royals, Dylan!#RaisingRoyals👑 pic.twitter.com/Io7wljPaK0

— Raising Royals (@KCRoyalsPD) July 12, 2026

Pick 509: Richie Roman, right-handed pitcher from the University of Houston

Welcome to the #Royals, Richie!#RaisingRoyals👑 pic.twitter.com/tmlntg0cIQ

— Raising Royals (@KCRoyalsPD) July 12, 2026

Roman just turned 21 a few days ago. Happy Birthday! The Houston pitcher had a 3.88 ERA this year.

Pick 539: Cooper Corkrean, left-handed pitcher from the University of New Mexico

Welcome to the #Royals, Cooper! #RaisingRoyals👑 pic.twitter.com/Z4ttiMsWuX

— Raising Royals (@KCRoyalsPD) July 12, 2026

Pick 569: Hudson DeVaughan, right-handed pitcher from Mooresville High School

Welcome to the #Royals, Hudson!#RaisingRoyals👑 pic.twitter.com/dtgOK3nHMu

— Raising Royals (@KCRoyalsPD) July 12, 2026

Rated by MLB as the 138th best player in the draft and by Baseball America at 111, DeVaughan is the type of guy who could get some signing bonus overage to try to lure him away from the University of Alabama.

Pick 599: Riley McDonald, two-way player from State College of Florida

Welcome to the #Royals, Riley!#RaisingRoyals👑 pic.twitter.com/CdoasSKc4X

— Raising Royals (@KCRoyalsPD) July 12, 2026

With their final pick today, the Royals selected McDonald, interestingly calling him an infielder and right-handed pitcher out of a junior college in Florida.

Dave Roberts had only one real request for his team in their first-half finale on Sunday.

Play. Clean. Baseball.

Once again, it was too tall an ask.

In a 5-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks that sent the team into the All-Star break on an unsatisfying (and unsatisfactory) note, the Dodgers continued their puzzlingly poor run of play over the last week.

“Some mental lapses, some physical lapses,” manager Dave Roberts said. “This last week has just been below average for sure.”

Indeed, there were once again errors on defense, with a dropped ball by Andy Pages in the fifth and a bad throw from Max Muncy in the sixth directly leading to unearned runs that helped Arizona erase an early 3-0 deficit.

Also, again, there was sloppy pitching and wasteful offense, with the Dodgers managing just three hits at the plate while watching their pitching staff succumb to walks, balks and poorly-timed mistakes.

As a result, the club lost its fourth game out of the last five, dropped three in a row for the first time in exactly two months and suffered its first series sweep of the year as it heads into the All-Star break.

Most of it, in hindsight, felt so self-inflicted.

All of it, undoubtedly, served as sources of frustration.

“It’s just one of those stretches for us right now,” Muncy said. “I think everyone’s ready for the break.”

Sunday started well enough for the Dodgers. Shohei Ohtani hit the first pitch of the day out to center for a leadoff home run, then sparked another rally in the third with a leadoff double that eventually set Tommy Edman up for a two-run single.

After that, however, the Dodgers wouldn’t record another hit.

And on the other side of the ball, they opened one door after another to let the Dbacks back into the game.

Following back-to-back doubles off Emmet Sheehan in the fifth, Pages dropped a relatively routine fly ball that led to another score. In the sixth, a leadoff walk from Sheehan and a passed ball from backup catcher Eliezer Alfonzo created another Dbacks threat.

With runners on the corners later in the inning, Muncy got a ground ball at third but hit Geraldo Perdomo in the back while trying to throw home. That allowed Perdomo to score the tying run. Ildemaro Vargas then gave Arizona the lead with an RBI single in the following at-bat.

“The ball took me to my right, so instinctively I just went home,” said Muncy, explaining why he didn’t go to second for a potential double-play. “And the runner did his job by getting inside the line, and it just clipped his shoulder.” The throw was on line, but not on line because he was in the way.”

In the ninth, Arizona added insurance when Tim Tawa took Evan Phillips deep.

And in the end, the Dodgers put a disappointing bookend on their sloppiest week of the season.

What it means

Going back to Tuesday’s loss to the Colorado Rockies, when a couple late errors effectively gave the game away, the Dodgers have put up ugly marks in most facets of the game.

Most glaring is their defense, which committed just 24 errors in their first 92 games but has stunningly combined for nine in the five games since (leading to eight total unearned runs in that span).

However, the pitching has also been spotty, highlighted by 19 walks, two hit batters, three wild pitches and two balks during this five-game rut.

And the offense hasn’t been bailing anyone out, going just 6-for-35 with runners in scoring position over that same span.

It hasn’t cost the Dodgers (61-36) the best first-half record in the majors. It’s also put only the slightest of dents into what is now an 11 ½ game lead in the National League West.

Still, Roberts was clearly irked even before Sunday’s dud. The search for cleaner baseball goes on, but will now have to wait until the season resumes next Friday on the East Coast.

Who’s hot

The biggest part of Ohtani’s day was slated to happen after Sunday’s game, with the two-way star scheduled to have his ailing knee drained and receive a pain-relieving injection.

But first, the four-time MVP made his latest mark at the plate, finishing his first half as a hitter strong by collecting his 22nd home run, recording his 58th RBI and hitting the All-Star break with a .293 average and .952 OPS.

Now, he’ll take the next couple days to let his knee rest –– which the Dodgers hope will allow him to resume full-time two-way duties when the schedule starts back up.

Who’s not

Hard to pick just one Dodger right now, but Muncy stands out because of his recent struggles on both sides of the ball.

The All-Star third baseman endured a quiet homestand at the plate, batting just .207 with two doubles, no homers and three RBIs. The bigger problems, however, were with the glove, where Muncy’s once-standout defensive season took a quick and ugly turn.

Sunday marked the third-straight game Muncy committed an error (he only had five errors all season previously). In that stretch, he has also missed a couple hard ground balls that were ruled for hits.

On multiple occasions, his frustration was evident.

“Just going through slumps,” Muncy said. “You just try to weather it.”

Up next

With the exception of Ohtani, the Dodgers’ other five All-Stars (plus manager Dave Roberts and his coaching staff) will head to Philadelphia for this week’s All-Star festivities. The team will be back in action next Friday, when it begins a three-city road trip with a three-game set against the Yankees.