The Red Sox acquisition of 3B Caleb Durbin will leave their fans wanting, but it essentially takes a trade partner off the board for the Astros.Did it also add a new one?

With the big news coming down today that the Boston Red Sox have acquired 3B Caleb Durbin in a deal with the Milwaukee Brewers, it removed Boston as a potential trade destination for the Astros as they seek to clear the logjam in the infield. Maybe it opened another door for a new team?

The Brewers now find themselves in need of a third baseman, and they were already looking to get more power in their lineup.

Paredes is under control for the next two season and his cost is already determined, something the cost-conscious Brewers appreciate. The Brewers are also 20th in MLB in Tax Payroll at just over $127M per Spotrac, that’s about $16.5M LESS than what their Tax Payroll was in 2025. This is important at it shows absorbing Paredes’ contract is not outside their proven threshold to spend.

Potential Trade Scenario:

Astros send: 3B Isaac Paredes

Brewers send : CF Garrett Mitchell, LHP J.D. Thompson

In this trade, the Astros get a lefty handed hitting CF who is above average defensively, and graded out 89th percentile in arm strength (90 MPH) and 87th percentile in sprint speed (29 ft/sec).

Mitchell struggled at the plate last season in a very small sample size (68 AB) due to an oblique injury and then injured his shoulder during rehab, had surgery, and missed the remainder of the season.

Prior to that, he had his most playing time in 2024, where he had 8 HR 21 RBI 11SB in 196 AB while batting .255 with a .342 OBP and .812 OPS. While his career batting averages vs. both RHP and LHP are similar, he delivers all of his power vs. RHP, which is exactly what the Astros are seeking.

Mitchell’s addition would also allow the Astros to be more comfortable as they break Cam Smith in to be able to also play CF as a backup, while continuing his strong and improving defensive play in RF. It would also give the Astros legit power from the left side against RHP since the infield is exclusively right handed, with Sanchez, Mitchell, and Cole in the OF and Yordan DH – creating a balanced lineup.

Thompson is a 22-year old LHP selected in the 2nd round of the 2025 draft. While his fastball generally sits 91-93, he does top out at 95, and was near the top of the list in college baseball as far as getting batters to chase and generating swings and misses.

He also throws a sweeper (primarily to lefties), curve and change. He could project as a mid-rotation starter if he continues to develop his secondary pitches and continues success with fastball.

Paredes would give the Brewers the right-handed power they crave at a position they don’t currently have an answer for at the moment. American Family Field (the Brewers’ home park) is very friendly to right-handed pull hitters with power. Paredes would likely see an increase in power production moving from Daikin Park to American Family Field, according to advanced metrics.

For the Astros, this works on several levels:

• They clear the infield log jam
• They get a LH hitting OF
• They pare down payroll by almost $8M
• They get a lefty SP prospect

Now this is not a report of the teams talking, it is simply a look at two teams who have needs that match up via trade.

It does seem to be a potential fit for both teams.

The Detroit Tigers will see pitchers and catchers reporting on Wednesday this week, with the first full squad workout set for Sunday, February 15. Currently, the club has 15 pitchers slated to participate who lack a 40-man roster spot and no longer have prospect eligibility. The group is a mix of veteran arms and former prospects, including several Tigers prospects who have just aged out of that status without breaking through at the big league level. The number of reinforcements the club has added in free agency this offseason will make it harder for any of these pitchers to break through and win a spot on the Opening Day roster, but hopefully one or two of them will stick around and contribute along the way in 2026.

Last year’s group included left-handers Dietrich Enns and Matt Gage, who both pitched briefly with the Tigers during the season before getting DFA’d and ultimately going on to decent success elsewhere. Others, like former prospects Wilmer Flores and Brendan White, got injured and left behind, while long-time starting prospect Wilkel Hernandez spent the year at the Triple-A level and never broke through and is no longer in the organization.

You get the drift. Occasionally there’s a real surprise, but most of these guys are former prospects whose expiration date is close, or pitchers who have had some success in the major leagues but are running out of time to get back.

The Tigers pitching staff certainly looks a lot more robust this time around. Instead of Alex Cobb, Tommy Kahnle, whatever Kenta Maeda had left, which proved to be very little, and small deals to RHP John Brebbia and LHP Andrew Chafin, this time around they’ve added Framber Valdez, Kenley Jansen, Kyle Finnegan, and one of the top returning KBO arms in free agent RHP Drew Anderson. Quite a difference.

A starting rotation of Tarik Skubal, Framber Valdez, Reese Olson, Jack Flaherty, and Casey Mize is one of the best in baseball. In terms of depth, they’ve got Troy Melton, Anderson, Keider Montero, and Sawyer Gipson-Long to lean on as needed. A veteran minor leaguer like Troy Watson might be able to pitch in, and the Tigers can of course flex left-handers Tyler Holton or Brant Hurter into a starting role in a pinch. That’s pretty good depth to start with, although rumors of Olson still dealing with shoulder trouble could thin that out somewhat.

On the other hand, things are a lot thinner in terms of actual prospect help. There really isn’t a guy who looks primed to break in as a bona fide starter with mid-rotation upside in the upper minors.

LHP Jake Miller is the most advanced of the bunch, but his own injury ridden 2025 season resulted in offseason surgery to repair both labrums in his hips. What started as back trouble and rumors of a shoulder strain last summer, was finally sourced to the hip issues. He’s still rehabbing and may not get back on the mound until the end of camp or in April. A really advanced strike thrower with a solid three pitch mix, we’ll have to wait and see how his recovery goes to forecast whether he’ll be much help this year.

Beyond him, it’s basically LHP Andrew Sears and RHP Hamm. Sears didn’t get an invite to camp but will no doubt pitch some on the major league side. He has strong swingman vibes and might help out a bit this season. Hamm isn’t on the 40-man roster yet either, but if he’s healthy and gets his velocity back, he could contribute at some point as well.

None of this is particularly encouraging compared to Jobe, but pitchers, especially young pitchers, tend to have wild swings from year to year particularly when there are injuries involved. Perhaps someone will finally get dialed in and surprise us. Just don’t count on it.

The Tigers really struggled to find bullpen support last year, but the first two seasons of Scott Harris’ tenure were better in that regard. So perhaps they’ll bounce back in this regard. Leading with Will Vest, Kenley Jansen, and Kyle Finnegan, with Troy Melton and Keider Montero potentially in the mix, with Holton and Hurter working as the flexible lefties, gives them a lot more to work with than they had last year.

The group of non-roster invitees is also, by definition, not inspiring either. If any of these guys threw 100 mph and had an incredible breaking ball, they wouldn’t be accepting minor league offers with camp invites. However, they do actually have some quality arms this year who could contribute out of the bullpen along the way in case of injuries. There just isn’t a whole lot of high potential stuff here beyond some former prospects who re-signed on minor league deals this offseason.

If you want my five names to watch, I’ll go with Cole Waites, Dugan Darnell, Tyler Mattison, Tanner Rainey, and Tyler Owens, and maybe you can add Jack Little to that list. Let’s just run through them quickly.

RHP Phil Bickford

This 30-year-old right hander had some success with the Dodgers a few years back but fell on hard times with injuries and shaky control undercutting his performance. He spent 2025 in Triple-A with the Cubs and the Phillies, showing flashes of his old strikeout touch but still hasn’t recaptured his previous mid-90’s velocity. Bickford gets good extension to the plate, and a solid slider, but unless he gets those extra ticks of gas back on the fourseamer and shows he can control it better, this is just a short-lived spring training project.

RHP Dugan Darnell

This 28-year-old out of Northville High School could be the local guy makes good story of spring camp. Darnell has a good splitter to go with a solid fastball-slider combo. He’s been in the Colorado Rockies system for years, so he’s getting a coaching upgrade in Detroit. His strikeout rates were really good in the minors, but his brief major league debut for the Rockies was a bit ugly and he was quickly laid low by a hip injury. You may notice a theme developing when I mention his above average extension. His fastball averaged 94 mph but he gets some ride on it and touched as high as 98.5 mph on one heater early last season. If the Tigers can tune the movement up and Dugan is healthy, there’s a little more in the tank there. Still, the splitter is the key pitch for him. The Tigers have some solid raw material in Darnell to work with.

RHP Scott Effross

32-year-old Scott Effross is this spring’s sidearmer de jeur. His fastball is just 89-90 mph, and he doesn’t have the lethal slider of the best of this type. Effross controls contact against right-handed hitters in particular, and he throws strikes. Still there isn’t a lot here to suggest he’s anymore than a Triple-A caliber reliever. He did pitch for the Yankees briefly in 2025, but only when they were really desperate for some help at the end of their bullpen.

LHP Sean Guenther

You’ll of course remember the 30-year-old Guenther from the bit of help he gave the Tigers bullpen in 2024. He’s still a low velo guy with a solid splitter who can induce weak contact from either side of the plate. There just isn’t anymore meat on the bone. In 2024 he briefly showed the best command of his career and reached the bigs but that precision fastball command didn’t last very long. He had some injury issues last year and never really got it going at all, but it wouldn’t be a shock to see him throw a few innings in a pinch for the Tigers this season.

LHP Enmanuel De Jesus

This 29-year-old lefty pitched in the KBO the past two seasons to decent success. He was originally a starter in the Boston Red Sox system, and had a cup of coffee with the Marlins in 2023 before heading overseas. With a 92-93 mph fourseamer and sinker, and an average slider-changeup combo, he’s a short-arm southpaw with some deception and feel for pitching, but nothing in his repertoire really stands out. His control improved a little in Korea with the KT Wiz, but he still profiles as a Triple-A lefty starter who might get a bit of work as a swingman or to spell a short injury to Hurter or Holton if someone like Andrew Sears or eventually Jake Miller isn’t ready.

RHP Jack Little

Little must have a little something the Tigers like, as they claimed him from the Pirates early in the offseason, then DFA’d him, and then re-signed him to a minor league deal. A minor Dodgers prospect for years, Little sits around 94 mph with a solid slider-splitter combination but has never been much of a strikeout artist. He does have pretty good command of his three pitch mix and manages to suppress home runs despite extreme fly ball rates. Other than some bursts of 96 mph velo last year, there isn’t really anything that stands out to me here other than that he has a splitter and shuts down right-handed hitters well. Unless the Tigers unlock something new with him, he just looks like a solid depth reliever who will make Triple-A Toledo manager Gabe Alvarez’s life a little easier.

RHP Tyler Mattison

Mattison is a former Tigers relief prospect who was returning from Tommy John in 2025 but didn’t get very far. Armed with a good riding overhand fourseamer, a wipeout breaking ball, and a pretty good changeup, Mattison has at times done a decent Trey Yesavage impression as a minor league reliever and collected tons of whiffs. As a result, he was regularly atop the list as the Tigers’ best relief prospect circa 2023-2024. Unfortunately he’s rarely been able to command everything consistently. His 2024 surgery was a success, and his velocity appears intact, but whether he can finally locate everything consistently is a wide open question.

RHP Tyler Owens

Owens is in a similar bucket with Mattison. The Tigers acquired him in the Carson Kelly trade back in July of 2024. The right-hander is another with a pretty high arm slot that produces a riding fourseamer in the 94-95 mph range, and has shown sustained bursts of 96-97 mph heat at his best. He gets whiffs up in the zone, but his slider is fairly average and doesn’t pair quite as well as you’d like with the fastball. Owens has worked on developing a splitter with the Tigers, and it really would suit his arm slot and fastball type really well if he can refine that pitch.

After briefly showing out in spring camp last year, it never came together for Owens during the season for any significant length of time. He then dealt with a hip injury in late July that ended his season, though he did get a brief cup of coffee with the Tigers along the way. If he’s healthy, the stuff is good enough to function as a depth reliever. He’s just never been able to repeat his delivery consistently enough to put the whole package together. Still, he only just turned 25, and he’ll get another crack at commanding everything more effectively this spring.

RHP Tanner Rainey

Rainey is a reasonably hard-throwing right-hander who had some solid seasons in the Washington Nationals in his mid-to-late 20’s, but has been in the wilderness for a few years now. He still sits 96 mph and will hit 98 with his fourseamer, but it’s his power slider that will keep getting him opportunities to revitalize his career a little longer. He’s never been able to limit the walks enough to really be effective for long, but the one silver lining is that he spent most of his career with the Nationals, one of the worst teams in baseball at developing pitchers. If the Tigers can get him on target more often he might be effective, but he’s 32 years old now and the odds are slim.

LHP Bryan Sammons

Here’s another somewhat familiar face. The 30-year-old lefty has been bouncing around the league for years as a decent depth starter you don’t mind having at the Triple-A level. He tossed 27 1/3 very mediocre innings for the Tigers in 2024. He’s just never been able to unlock that one upgrade to get more whiffs and make him viable as a long reliever-swingman type of lefty. He mixes his 91 mph fourseamer and his cutter well enough to get outs, and he throws strikes, but there just isn’t a good enough breaking ball or changeup here to make him a major league option except in a pinch.

RHP Matt Seelinger

Now 30 years old, Seelinger has always racked up a ton of whiffs with his cutter and knuckle curve combination. His 92-93 mph fourseamer is just too fringy to succeed at the major league level without really good command, and he’s always fallen a bit short in that regard. Seelinger gets a ton of fly balls and lots of weak contact in the air, and both secondary pitches will whiff Triple-A hitters are nearly 50 percent rates. So there’s some things to like here, but he’s just a bad fastball guy who hasn’t found a way around that issue to enough of a degree to let the cutter and knuckle curve play in the majors. Still, he’s hell on right-handed hitters, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him have some modest success in the Tigers bullpen by leaning into his two best pitches. As relief depth, he’s not a bad option to keep around.

RHP Burch Smith

This 35-year-old right hander had some success with the Oakland A’s back in 2020-2021, but has never quite been able to recapture it after years of injuries and ineffectiveness. He’s been all over, pitching in the NPB and KBO for a season apiece, and then putting up decent results for the Marlins and the Orioles in 2024. Smith features a riding 95 mph fourseamer that gets a lot of weak contact, but it’s not quite the type of high IVB monster that draws a ton of whiffs. He backs it mainly with a decent cutter-slider combination, but both are fringy pitches that really only work well when he’s commanding the whole package. He usually does keep the walk rates low, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he were called on in a pinch sometime this season if he sticks at Triple-A after spring camp. There just isn’t any upside beyond that.

RHP Ricky Vanasco

The Tigers can’t quite quit on Ricky Vanasco. Now 27 years old, Vanasco has spent parts of the last two seasons with the Toledo Mud Hens. He racks up a good volume of strikeouts, but is persistently wild as well. His fourseam fastball sits around 95 mph with above average extension and pretty good vertical movement. A power curveball at 83-84 mph draws a good amount of whiffs and is his main secondary pitch. If Vanasco could command the fastball consistently, he’s got enough stuff to function as a lower tier setup man, but he continues to be wild from time to time, and rarely is really locked in and locating the fastball that well.

RHP Cole Waites

Waites came up in the Giants system and is no doubt well known to Scott Harris as a result. The right-hander sat 96 mph with plus extension and could touch triple digits with a true double plus fourseamer in those days, backing it with a pretty average slider. He racked up great strikeout numbers moving through the Giants system, but his control started to fail him in 2023 and he eventually needed Tommy John surgery late in the year that cost him all of 2024 and much of 2025. He returned last season but was really just getting his feet wet after almost two full years on the shelf. The excellent IVB numbers say the heater will still draw plenty of whiffs, but we’ll have to see if he’s got the velocity all the way back this spring or not. Waites certainly qualifies as one of the highest ceilings in this group, and possibly Harris’ Giants ties will pay a little dividend here is he’s finally back to full strength.

RHP Troy Watson

The 28-year-old Watson has been in Toledo parts of the last two seasons and done a pretty nice job in a starting role. His cutter, slider, and changeup will all get some whiffs for him, and Watson throws strikes. He’s a classic problem fastball guy, where he has the velocity, sitting 94-95 mph with a little extra in the tank, but the fourseam shape just doesn’t have any particular standout traits. It’s not really bad, just mediocre. When he’s commanding it well, he can look really good, set hitters up consistently, and handle either-handed hitters. When he’s leaving too many over the middle of the plate, it gets whacked. Watson isn’t a bad option as an emergency starter, but unless they can tune up the fastball a little more he’s always going to be too vulnerable for regular MLB starting work. As a relief option, he could throw his secondaries more and be an effective middle reliever, but he has to command everything more consistently.

It’s that time of the year! As the spring semester starts kicking into full gear for students, the baseball programs around the Mountain West will be competing on the diamond once again. And now, we here at Mountain West Connection will begin full-season coverage of the spring spectacle, starting with our first official power rankings of the season.

This season is filled with storylines. Will Fresno State and Nevada be able to defend their conference tournament and regular season titles respectively? Can schools like New Mexico and UNLV contend for those titles again and possibly get over the hump? Can San Jose State, who made the tournament championship game with a losing regular season record, get back to how they ended last season? How will the newly-added Grand Canyon University, a program with a history of winning seasons, fare in the mix?

All of this and more will be answered in due time. While we wait, here’s the first iteration of the Mountain West Connection baseball power rankings.

1. Nevada

Coming off a 34-23 and 19-11 MW record, including the regular season conference title, the Wolf Pack comes in as our No. 1 team in the conference. Nevada returns seven starters, including five players who were picked for the all-conference team (LHP Alessandro Castro, 3B Sean Yamaguchi, C Jake Harvey, 1B/RHP Jayce Dobie and 2B/SS Junhyuk Kwon).

The biggest difference for Nevada will be who’s at the helm, as Jordan Getzelman, who’s been the team’s hitting coach for the last four seasons, was promoted to manager for the 2026 season. Former manager Jake McKinley took an MLB job with the Seattle Mariners, letting Nevada go with the in-house option.

Kwon and Yamaguchi should lead the way with offensive production in many different ways. They were able to bring in OF Sam Kane from Seattle to likely play center field for them and provide solid defense and offensive versatility.

Nevada’s biggest potential weakness is the pitching staff. Castro is the only weekend starter returning for the Pack. The Miami Marlins drafted ace Peyton Fosher, who was the main Friday guy for Nevada last year. Transfers Jordan Giacomini and Aidan Brainard are two options to fill those holes, as well as Dobie and Dominic Desch.

2. Fresno State

The Bulldogs are coming off a 2025 Mountain West Tournament Championship run that included a trip to the NCAA Los Angeles Regional.  It was a big offensive year, as they hit above .300 as a team and recorded 72 home runs in 2025. The pitching side was equally impressive, as they were ranked 2nd in both ERA and H/9.

With such a successful season, it usually means a lot of players are going to leave. Pitchers Jack Anker and Aidan Cremarosa, 3B Murf Gray and C Justin Stransky were all drafted and signed to MLB organizations at the season’s end.

They return starter Tyler Patrick, who is expected to deliver another solid season on the mound. Patrick logged 38 innings with a 4.26 ERA last year while working primarily as a spot starter, and he’s poised to take on a larger role in 2026 after the rotation took multiple losses in the draft. The Bulldogs also bring back a strong core of everyday bats, including 1B Cayden Munster, 2B Owen Faust, SS Lee Trevino, OF Cam Schneider, OF Sky Collins, and DH Griffen Sotomayor. Ultimately, their ceiling will depend on how well the pitching staff comes together, but the offense should once again be a major strength.

3. New Mexico

New Mexico closed the regular season with the third-best conference record in the Mountain West before entering the league tournament, but their postseason run was cut short by a red-hot San José State squad in the opening round. The Lobos were an offensive juggernaut last season, leading the conference in batting average and home runs while posting a staggering .999 team OPS. Pitching, however, told a very different story, as New Mexico finished with the worst team ERA in the Mountain West.

The biggest departure is DH Jordy Oriach, who transferred to Georgia and could very well emerge as an everyday contributor there. On the mound, the Lobos return Ryan Castillo to the starting rotation. While his numbers in 2025 weren’t what you typically expect from a front-line starter, he did show improvement from his 2024 campaign and provides much-needed continuity for a staff searching for stability in 2026.

Offensively, despite key losses, New Mexico should remain productive. They return catchers Brodey Williams and Caleb Herd, along with 2B Luke Mansy, 3B Akili Carris, SS Karsen Waslefsky, and add power bat Damian Garcia from Texas Southern to help offset some of the departed production. As was the case a year ago, much of New Mexico’s success will hinge on its pitching staff, but the Lobos should once again be able to swing it with the best offenses in the Mountain West in 2026.

4. San Diego State

The 2025 season didn’t unfold the way San Diego State had hoped, as the Aztecs finished 20–39 overall, yet they still secured the fifth seed in the Mountain West Tournament. SDSU showed flashes in the postseason, shutting out UNLV before falling to top-seeded Nevada and then dropping a one-run game to San José State. Offensively, the Aztecs weren’t a major threat, but they landed squarely in the middle of the conference in most pitching metrics.

The offseason brought significant roster turnover, highlighted by the departures of 3B Daniel Arambula, SS Finley Bates, 2B Nevan Noonan, and pitcher Marko Sipila to power conference programs, along with several additional transfers. The pitching staff also lost Xavier Cardenas, who was selected in the 17th round of the MLB Draft by the Miami Marlins. As a result, San Diego State will field a largely new-look roster, particularly on the offensive side.

The Aztecs add a trio of Oregon State transfers in SS Jabin Trosky, OF Levi Jones, and 1B Tyce Peterson, all of whom will compete for immediate playing time, along with OF Adam Magpoc from Boston College, who should factor into the lineup early. On the mound, returning arms Garvey Rumary, Evan Miranda, Aidan Russell and Connor Shaw are expected to battle for spots in the starting rotation.

Another major change comes at the top, with Kevin Vance taking over as head coach. Vance brings Omaha experience from his time as an assistant at Arizona and is widely regarded as one of the premier pitching minds in college baseball. With new leadership and an influx of fresh talent, San Diego State has the opportunity to emerge as a dangerous contender in what appears to be a wide-open Mountain West race.

5. UNLV

UNLV opened the 2025 season on a strong note, notching early wins over Indiana and Cincinnati, both ranked at the time, and later adding an impressive nonconference victory against Arizona State. The Rebels’ momentum, however, stalled in the Mountain West Tournament, where they were shut out by San Diego State to close out their season. Offensively, UNLV was a fairly balanced group, but the pitching staff carried the load, finishing with the lowest team ERA and H/9 in the conference.

The offseason brought notable roster turnover, particularly on the mound, with pitchers Alex Overbay and LJ Mercurius transferring to Arizona State and Oklahoma, respectively. The Rebels also lost key offensive pieces, as DH Cole Koniarsky departed for Georgia and OF Dean Toigo transferred to Arizona State. Despite those losses, UNLV retained Carson Lane, who appears poised for a breakout year after a strong sophomore campaign that saw him log 78 innings with a 4.23 ERA and 85 strikeouts.

UNLV will have several options to round out the rotation, with Reese Lueck and Cody Albright emerging as early contenders for starting roles. Offensively, there are significant gaps to fill, but the additions of OF Reggie Bussey from Ohio State and Drew Barragan from Western Kentucky should help offset some of the lost production. With proven pitching depth and new bats stepping into larger roles, the Rebels look capable of remaining a factor in the Mountain West and will have an opportunity to showcase their resilience in 2026.

6. GCU

The Mountain West welcomes a new member in 2026, as Grand Canyon joins the conference after making the move from the WAC. The Antelopes finished the 2025 season with a 31–27 record before their run ended in the WAC Tournament. Offensively, GCU hit .300 as a team, though the power output wasn’t quite enough to match the top offenses in the league. On the mound, the Antelopes graded out as a middle-of-the-pack staff across most statistical categories.

The offseason brought significant turnover, including the departures of 1B Zach Yorke to LSU, pitcher Walter Quinn to TCU, and pitcher Connor Mattison to Kentucky. Grand Canyon also saw several players selected in the MLB Draft, including pitchers Isaac Lyon and Grant Richardson, shortstop Emilio Barreras and outfielder Josh Wakefield.

To help offset those losses, GCU adds pitching reinforcements Nicholas Rabb from UT Arlington and Jacob Limas from UTRGV, both of whom should compete for spots in the starting rotation. The Antelopes also bring in 3B Vincent Bianchina from Northwestern and OF Griffin Cameron from Kentucky, each expected to push for significant playing time in 2026.

The strength of this team should once again be its pitching, led by Garrett Ahern and Chance Key, who combined for 128 innings last season and are poised to anchor the staff while consistently working deep into games. Offensively, Grand Canyon returns starters C Marcus Galvan, 2B Troy Sanders, OF Carson Ohland and DH Cannon Peery, who will headline the lineup alongside the incoming transfers.

It’s hard to evaluate newcomers into preseason rankings, and although the Mountain West voted GCU pretty high, the Antelopes will have to be a prove-it team for us.

7. San Jose State

San José State turned heads last season, not so much during the regular season, but with an impressive run through the Mountain West Tournament. The Spartans knocked off New Mexico, San Diego State and top-seeded Nevada in an extra-innings thriller before ultimately falling to Fresno State in the conference championship game. Their postseason success was driven largely by pitching, as they finished with the fourth-best team ERA and the third-lowest hits allowed per nine innings in the conference.

There’s reason to believe that strength will carry over into 2026. San José State returns a deep mix of arms and newcomers, headlined by Tyler Albanese. After working primarily out of the bullpen last season, Albanese logged 39 innings with a sub-3.00 ERA and an impressive 32 percent strikeout rate. He’s expected to transition into a starting role and has the potential to emerge as the leader of the rotation.

Offensively, the Spartans will lean heavily on returning contributors, particularly corner outfielders Jake McCoy and Alex Fernandes, who bring back much of the team’s proven production. Additional returners expected to play key roles include 1B Drew Giannini, 3B JC Osocio-Agard, SS Rocco Caballero and DH Neil Jansen.

With the sheer volume of pitching options available, San José State should again be able to control games on the mound. The primary question remains on the offensive side. The Spartans were another team that was tough to rank, as we feel they could’ve been as high as top four-five, but we’ll have to see if the late-season momentum will carry into a new season.

8. Washington State

Washington State will be looking to turn the page quickly after a difficult 2025 campaign that saw the Cougars finish with the worst overall and conference record in the Mountain West. Among the notable departures are outfielder Logan Johnstone, who will suit up for Vanderbilt this season, and starting catcher Will Cresswell, who was selected in the 18th round of the MLB Draft by the Toronto Blue Jays.

Offensively, Washington State was fairly average a year ago, but the pitching staff struggled to find consistency and ultimately held the team back. In an effort to stabilize the rotation, the Cougars return familiar arms in Griffin Smith and Nick Lewis, both of whom should provide experience and continuity on the mound.

The lineup also brings back a solid core of contributors, including 1B Ryan Skjonsby, 2B Ollie Obenour and Luke Thiele, 3B Kyler Northrop, SS Gavin Roy and OF Max Hartman. With a year of experience together and several key pieces returning, Washington State appears positioned to take a step forward in 2026, but may struggle to keep up with the rest of the conference.

9. Air Force

Air Force fell short of expectations in 2025, finishing 20–34 overall with a 12–18 record in Mountain West play. The Falcons ended the season next to last in the conference standings and did not qualify for the Mountain West Tournament. Offensively, they hovered around the middle of the league, but pitching proved to be a major issue, as Air Force posted the second-highest team ERA and tied for the most hits allowed per nine innings.

As a service academy, Air Force was inactive in the transfer portal, emphasizing internal development. That may work in their favor, as the Falcons fielded one of the youngest rosters in the conference last season and return all eligible players. The pitching staff should take a step forward, led by Ethan Dillinger, who logged 37 innings in 2025. While he took his share of contact, he showed an ability to limit damage and avoid free passes. Returning starter Cranz Smelcer also figures into the rotation after a challenging freshman season, and with a year of experience under his belt, he should provide improved consistency this spring.

At the plate, Air Force brings back key contributors in catcher Walker Zapp and second baseman Ben Niednagel, along with 1B Luke Elmore, 2B TJ Oster, OF Christian Taylor and DH Tripp Garrish. With a full year of experience together and a more mature roster, the Falcons should show natural improvement in 2026, even without outside additions.

Welcome to the first game week of the season for Tennessee baseball. The Volunteers will open the Josh Elander era this weekend with a three-game series against Nicholls, and we now know who the three starting pitchers will be. Elander named Tegan Kuhns, Landon Mack and Evan Blanco as his top three to begin the season while speaking to the media on Monday.

“We’ll roll with Tegan Kuhns on Friday,” Elander said. “We’ll go Landon Mack on Saturday, and then Evan Blanco on Sunday. Think that puts us in the best position to have success out of the gate. I think you can make the argument where you can mix and match those guys in any capacity, but it was pretty cool. Got to call those guys one by one last night and let them know. But total confidence in all three of those guys and their ability to throw the baseball.”

Kuhns, a former big-time recruit, was in Tennessee’s rotation last season. The right-hander started ten total games for the Vols, going 2-4 with a 5.40 ERA. He finished the season with 40 strikeouts over 36 innings pitched.

Mack comes in from Rutgers, giving Tennessee another prized transfer portal addition. As a true freshman last season, Mack went 6-5 with a 4.03 ERA. He finished the season with 70 strikeouts against only 17 walks.

Blanco transfers in from Virginia to round out the rotation. The only lefty starter for Tennessee, Blanco comes in with 26 career starts under his belt. He had a 4.17 ERA for the Cavaliers, going 12-8 over the past three seasons.

“Landon, I think again, when I think of him there’s some Chase Dollander in there,” Elander said of Mack. “Just even some similarities in the delivery, but the compete factor is about as good as it gets. And the stuff is, it’s just gross to be honest. It’s really good stuff. It’s a real heater. Two breaking balls, a change that he’s made some adjustments with.

“And then Blanco, just maturity. It’s just again, you know what you’re going to get. It’s a very comforting feeling as a coach. He had, arguably, numbers wise, the best fall of any pitcher we had on the staff. But again, can really ride the heater, good separation on the change up. Has thrown in Omaha, has been in a lot of different roles.”

Elander also noted that left-hander Brandon Arvidson was “a little bit behind.” That’s another starter option for Tennessee, perhaps a bit down the road.

With spring training and the regular season right around the corner and with some new openings on the staff here at Battery Power, we’ve decided to officially open up applications in order to find new writers! If you’d like a chance to write about the Braves for what is (in our own biased opinion) the best website on the internet for fan-based coverage of the Braves, now’s your chance to throw your hat into the ring.

We’re looking for writers who would be willing to help out with game coverage at least once a week (including weekends). Any analysis pieces and willingness to chip in with news coverage would also be nice as well, but we’re primarily trying to find writers who would be willing to do previews, cover lineups, post game threads and do recaps for single games across the regular season. This would be a paid position, albeit a part-time one with a monthly stipend.

Naturally, we’d be looking for Braves fans with prior writing experience to cover the team but all writers of all backgrounds and prior experience are encouraged to apply. Whether you’re a writer who has been counting the days until baseball season since the last pitch of the 2025 World Series was thrown or someone who is just willing to jump right into the baseball writing world for the first time, we encourage you to apply. So yeah, we’re trying to cast this net as wide as possible in order to open it up to as many interested parties as we can. This is a fun gig and we want to bring in some new writers for the fun!

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Application Details

We are asking that you either do both No. 1 and No. 2 OR that you do No. 3 by itself.

1. Send us a piece that you’ve written in the past (baseball-related or not) that you feel is some of the best stuff that you’ve written so far
2. Give us a pitch for a Braves-related topic that you’d be interested in writing about if given the opportunity here at Battery Power.
3. Pitch an original Braves-related topic idea AND write about it in no fewer than 550 words.

We’ll tell you how to apply below. Even though we are trying to cast this net as wide as possible, it would still be a plus for you if you’re familiar with being able to apply statistics and data from FanGraphs, Baseball-Reference, Baseball Savant (Statcast) and Baseball Prospectus. Again, it’s not a requirement but it’s certainly a plus.

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How to Apply

Send your article and/or pitch in a .docx or .pdf attachment via e-mail to batterypowersbn [at] gmail [dot] com. Please include “New Writer Application” in the subject line. Please attach your resume to the email as well. If you have social media that you’re willing to share with us, please give us your handle as well. If you happen to have any links to your past writing (like this, for instance) then please share that as well.

We will close applications at 11:59 p.m. ET on Friday, February 20. We’ll announce the new writers by early March — ideally the first week of March. Thanks for reading and we’re looking forward to seeing how this process plays out!

Vox Media is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to building a safe, inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds. Everyone is encouraged to apply, including women, LGBTQ people, people of color, and people with disabilities.

There’s one pitch that sums up Eduard Bazardo’s 2025 season. I don’t need to beat around the bush, we all know it. Let’s just roll the clip and get it over with:

Bleh. Thank goodness that’s over with, no more MLB Network re-runs needed.

On July 12th, in the bottom of the 8th inning, against the then-AL-best Detroit Tigers, the Mariners felt antsy, even with their 11-5 lead. They’d won the night before in a 12-3 romp, sending reigning and future Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal running with four earned runs in five frames, albeit just a 4-3 lead headed into the sixth inning. In that July 11th game, Seattle turned to Bazardo, who deftly glided through two shutout, hitless frames, watching the M’s swell their lead by a trickle, then later a flood after he’d retired to the dugout for good.

Not expected to be a mainstay, active injuries to Gregory Santos, Collin Snider, and Bryce Miller, as well as the early absences of other rotation and bullpen options had forced Bazardo to the fore. There he’d shone, and would continue to all season long, running a 2.52 ERA somewhat belied by his 3.64/4.12 FIP/DRA, but hey, that’s a strong 4th reliever or a dynamite 5th one. But for Bazardo to get that opportunity, he had to pitch a lot. Unheralded as a trade acquisition from the Baltimore Orioles back in 2023, and originally signed for just $8,000 out of Venezuela by the Red Sox in 2021, his ascension from mop-up to to leverage arm was well-chronicled by Kate just before this pre-All-Star break series in Detroit.

But Bazardo never fully was solidified in any one particular role, even as necessity and his performance merited heightening responsibility. While Santos, Snider, Troy Taylor, Jackson Kowar, Casey Legumina, Trent Thornton, Carlos Vargas, and others struggled, Bazardo maintained his composure. In so doing, he was used heavily. Bazardo had the 8th-highest innings total on zero days rest in MLB, with 18.1 frames in 18 games of back-to-backs. All but two of the names ahead of him were their club’s closer, and Bazardo is the only one in the top-16 to have thrown more innings than games he appeared in on no rest. Those two were RHP Tony Santillan of the Reds, who is 6’3, 285, and more easily fits the “workhorse” archetype, and RHP Tyler Rogers of the Giants and Mets, who is a submariner which typically requires less strain on the body for those who can master it.

Bazardo is sturdy for his size, but is more Fjord than Percheron (thank you LL equine consultant Isabelle Minasian), and his 78.2 innings in 73 regular season frames were the sixth-most of any reliever in 2025. Tack on the 11.2 innings in nine playoff games and Bazardo was the most used reliever in baseball in 2025, with 90.1 innings on the hill. He was able to find so much success and merit his usage thanks to a series of tweaks highlighted by Mikey Ajeto early in October, but Seattle simply needed innings all the time. It led to an interesting cadence from Bazardo, exemplified from July 3rd thru August 7th, wherein he pitched 14 times and, aided by the All-Star Break, received three or more consecutive days off four different times, but pitched back-to-back seven times in that stretch.

Let’s come back to the pitch at this piece’s outset. It’s likely the worst offering Bazardo throws all year, a heart-shot four-seamer in a 1-2 count, pitching on the heels of a two-inning appearance the night before, with a six-run lead against Detroit. The situation is not dissimilar from the at-bat highlighted by Mikey in his piece, but Bazardo is not yet fully actualized. It’s not too different from a few situations of memorable note, in fact, where Bazardo was called upon following a heavy workload the night before, and left a fastball over the plate’s heart.

A different bullpen has two different men for its bridge inning mop-up and high leverage, but Bazardo wore both hats, particularly as Carlos Vargas floundered beyond trustworthiness. The Venezuelan outperformed expectations right until the last, aided by a .228 BABIP against, but earning a certain role moving ahead. There is standing on your head, and then there is coming in for a shutdown in extra innings with two on and no out, escaping, and working ANOTHER inning and a half scoreless.

Just… let this man get a little more rest this year.

It’s the eve of Spring Training for the San Francisco Giants! If you’re sad that this is the first day without football, you can rejoice that it’s the last day without baseball!

There will be a little overlap between Spring Training and our Community Prospect List, which will see us rank the top 44 prospects in the organization. But there won’t be much overlap, because we’re somehow already almost done!

The next name on the list is someone who is facing a critical season ahead of him: it’s outfielder Rayner Arias, who has been voted as the No. 38 prospect in the system. It’s a drop of a whopping 34 spots for the right-handed hitting and fielding Arias, who was voted the No. 4 prospect in last year’s CPL.

Arias still has a few more months of teenage life, yet it’s already been quite a roller-coaster of a career for him. He was signed in 2023 out of the Dominican Republic, and immediately made an impression as one of the most dynamic players in the system. He played 16 games in the Dominican Summer League after signing, and the numbers are almost comical: he hit 24-58 with 12 extra-base hits, 15 walks, and just 11 strikeouts. It made for a not-a-typo slashline of .414/.539/.793, with a 1.333 OPS and a 233 wRC+. And it’s not like he was old for the level, or a slugging pillar of salt first baseman: he had just turned 17, was playing a delightful center field, and added four stolen bases.

The only downside with his magical debut was that it was cut short, when he injured his wrist diving for a fly ball.

That injury seemed to prove costly. He showed up at Papago for his stateside debut in 2024, and it went quite poorly. He hit just .250/.371/.364 for a .735 OPS and a 98 wRC+ for the organization’s Arizona Complex League. The bat speed and power thump had almost entirely evaporated, as his average was modest despite a high BABIP, and his isolated slugging plummeted from .379 to .114, without a single home run. His strikeout rate rose from 14.5% to 25.7%, he stole just three bases (while being caught three times), and his defense looked considerably worse. And just to really make matters worse, he was limited to just 25 games, after re-injuring his wrist, again while diving for a fly ball.

While it was a bad 2024, the glass half full view was that he wasn’t fully healthy, and his results would flourish when he could get on a field with good health. Unfortunately, that half-full glass was spilled in 2025, when Arias remained healthy all year. He returned to the Arizona Complex League, and in 47 games hit just .242/.333/.366 with three home runs, resulting in just a .699 OPS and an 87 wRC+, while virtually repeating his strikeout rate (25.8%). He did make his Low-A San Jose debut, but not on merit — it was more to get reps while he was suspended from the ACL for a scuffle, and to help with roster logistics as the Baby Giants dealt with a string of outfield injuries. In seven games with San Jose, Arias did nothing to prove that his struggles in the ACL were an aberration: he hit just 1-for-25 with nine strikeouts.

And so Arias enters a highly critical 2026. It’s hard to believe the player who was not just putting up absurd numbers, but wowing scouts with his athleticism, power, contact ability, and feel for the game just up and vanished overnight. But after looking like a five-tool star, we’re now two years into Arias looking like a zero-tool player whose opportunities are on the verge of running dry. The optimistic view is that, while Arias was healthy in 2025, his injured wrist was still impacting his game, either through lingering pain, a lack of confidence, or some compensations that his body had made.

To my eye, Arias feels like one of the most must-watch prospects in the system this year, because it feels like his potential outcomes are so extreme. Could I see him struggling once again, and no longer being a prospect of note at all in a year? Yes. Could I see him recovering, putting all those tools on display, and jumping back into the top-10 next year? Also yes. Can I see something in the middle? Not really, though that’s usually the most likely outcome. In a way, he’s the (much younger) Reggie Crawford of the position players: you can’t trust him to be healthy and good, but if he is, then he’s probably going to be really good.

Now let’s add to the list, and we’ve got some new names to vote on today! As a reminder, voting takes place in the comment section using the “rec” feature.

The list so far

1. Bryce Eldridge — 1B
2. Josuar González — SS
3. Jhonny Level — SS
4. Bo Davidson — CF
5. Dakota Jordan — CF
6. Luis Hernández — SS
7. Gavin Kilen — SS
8. Carson Whisenhunt — LHP
9. Blade Tidwell — RHP
10. Keyner Martinez — RHP
11. Jacob Bresnahan — LHP
12. Trevor McDonald — RHP
13. Argenis Cayama — RHP
14. Luis De La Torre — LHP
15. Trevor Cohen — OF
16. Jesús Rodríguez — C
17. Parks Harber — OF/3B
18. Carlos Gutierrez — OF
19. Drew Cavanaugh — C
20. Daniel Susac — C
21. Gerelmi Maldonado — RHP
22. Josh Bostick — RHP
23. Lorenzo Meola — SS/2B
24. Will Bednar — RHP
25. Yunior Marte — RHP
26. Joe Whitman — LHP
27. Joel Peguero — RHP
28. Alberto Laroche — RHP
29. Trent Harris — RHP
30. Carlos De La Rosa — LHP
31. Diego Velasquez — 2B
32. Lisbel Diaz — OF
33. Maui Ahuna — SS
34. Cam Maldonado — OF
35. Victor Bericoto — OF/1B
36. Reid Worley — RHP
37. Jack Choate — LHP
38. Rayner Arias — OF

Note: Clicking on the above names will link to the CPL where they were voted onto the list.

No. 39 prospect nominees

Sabin Ceballos — 23.5-year old 3B — .670 OPS/102 wRC+ in AA (420 PA)

Jakob Christian — 23.4-year old OF/1B — .950 OPS/155 wRC+ in High-A (92 PA); .815 OPS/119 wRC+ in Low-A (318 PA)

Reggie Crawford — 25.2-year old LHP — did not pitch in 2025; 1.04 ERA/4.07 FIP in AAA in 2024 (8.2 IP); 4.66 ERA/4.93 FIP in AA in 2024 (9.2 IP)

NateFurman — 24.6-year old 2B — .970 OPS/188 wRC+ in AA (39 PA); 1.139 OPS/211 wRC+ in High-A (96 PA); 1.283 OPS/237 wRC+ in Low-A (15 PA)

JuanSánchez — 25.2-year old LHP — did not pitch in 2025; 3.93 ERA/5.17 FIP in AAA in 2024 (34.1 IP)

CharlieSzykowny — 25.7-year old 3B/1B — .816 OPS/122 wRC+ in High-A (549 PA)

JancelVillarroel — 21.0-year old C — .699 OPS/91 wRC+ in High-A (61 PA); .746 OPS/123 wRC+ in Low-A (372 PA)

Note: Each player’s first name links to their Baseball-Reference page, and their last name links to their Fangraphs page. All stats are from the 2025 season.

The Dodgers have grown in strength gradually since the early days of Dave Roberts in charge — before becoming this current powerhouse, essentially the favorite against whichever National League opponent came their way in the postseason — the Dodgers played the role of spoilers against the team of destiny, and for a little bit, in great part due to Clayton Kershaw’s magnificent work, they looked set to fulfill that task.

Back in 2016, the Chicago Cubs were a moderate version of what the Dodgers should be: this absolute juggernaut filled with talent and a well-oiled machine ready to compete not only in that but across multiple seasons. This in itself created quite the challenge, but further increasing scrutiny and public interest in this team, the Cubs carried the best odds this organization had to break a curse that dated back to 1908, a type of storyline that transcended baseball itself.

After a heroic effort against the Washington Nationals, one that saw Kershaw pitch in three of the five games of the series, including earning a save on one day of rest to close out Game 5, finally getting his revenge on Daniel Murphy, the Dodgers found themselves as the only things standing in the way of a World Series ticket to the Cubs.

Because of his NLDS efforts, Kershaw wasn’t available to go in Game 1 of the NLCS, and unlike in previous campaigns, that 2016 team didn’t have a 1B in Zack Greinke to take the hill. A valiant effort by Kenta Maeda and the bullpen was for naught as Joe Blanton allowed a tie-breaking grand slam to Miguel Montero, and with their backs against the wall, the Dodgers relied on their ace in Game 2 at Wrigley Field.

Facing a lineup that had led baseball with a team 115 wRC+ against southpaws, a mark even more impressive accounting for the fact it came before pitchers stopped hitting, Kershaw had his work cut out for him, facing the likes of Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Ben Zobrist, and company. Further increasing the need for a strong outing from Kershaw, the Dodgers had just overworked two of their more trusted relievers in Pedro Báez and Blanton.

Pitching his first NLCS matchup since that forgetful evening in St. Louis back in 2013, Kershaw looked every bit his most dominant self. Commonly, we hear about the freedom of pitching with a lead, particularly a large one, as it allows a pitcher to more freely attack the zone and take the game to the opposing hitters. This was anything but that.

While Kershaw did pitch the majority of the game with the advantage, he did so in the most stressful of circumstances, as an Adrian González solo shot in the second was the only scoring this game saw. Facing the best team in the big leagues, on the road, Kershaw shut it all down in an incredibly efficient manner, needing just 84 pitches to complete seven scoreless frames before turning it over to Kenley Jansen for a two-inning save.

One of the purposes of this series is to highlight how things could’ve easily been different for Kershaw with a few breaks here and there; on the flip side, even in the most dominant of performances, one can point to a couple of potential turning point moments. After not allowing a baserunner through the first four innings, Kershaw ran into some problems in the fifth, but the right man at the right time helped him get out of it.

With two on and two out after back-to-back singles from Javier Báez and Willson Contreras, manager Joe Maddon had the wrong man up to do the damage against Kershaw. The Cubs’ biggest offseason signing ahead of that season, Jason Heyward, had been absolutely atrocious with the bat in 2016, and even worse against the lefties—although he tried his best to make up for it with elite defensive work. Thanks to his outstanding defensive talents, the fifth inning was early enough even in a one-run game for Maddon not to pinch-hit a Jorge Soler or some other right-handed batter for Heyward, and Kershaw retired him without any problem, dropping his arm angle on a fastball, something the left-hander really got into doing once in a while during that period.

A couple of innings later, the big threat came around as the first two reached, and a run of three right-handed hitters was due up, following an error that gave Chicago first and second. Kershaw struck out Ben Zobrist and retired Addison Russell. The only thing standing in the way of six scoreless innings was Javier Báez.

With a 1-0 count, Kershaw threw Báez a fastball up in the zone, one that he was ready for, connecting pretty well straight to center, but it had just enough air on it for it to be caught by Joc Pederson in center.

That was the last pitch Kershaw threw, one that, in different circumstances completely beyond the control of the pitcher or batter, might’ve had another outcome.

This series, ultimately, isn’t one looked back on fondly by Dodger fans, as the team collapsed after taking a 2-1 lead, including a completely different Kershaw outing in Wrigley in Game 6. Still, that one particular game is one of my favorites for all that it represented: a time the Dodgers succeeded, even if briefly, without the weight of expectations currently associated with this team.

You did not see this every day.