Worldwide Sports News

Reminder: I’m on vacation all this week and will be a little briefer than usual this week. Thanks for your patience.

At least once in every season, a baseball fan’s faith will be tested. Losing nine of 16 games is not particularly a sky-is-falling stretch. The easiest example that hits close to home is the 2016 Cubs losing 15 of 20 in one stretch. That isn’t to say that an early season stretch like this can’t be damaging. It certainly can be.

Losing Cade Horton for the season is a trajectory-altering occurrence. The seasons of Jameson Taillon, Shōta Imanaga, Javier Assad, Colin Rea, Justin Steele and Ben Brown now have all taken on added significance. Imanaga and Rea look to be on the right track. Will they stay there? How many of the others will get on track? That group has to somehow patch together enough innings to pair with a very good Cubs defense to get them on track as a team. This organization should have the financial and prospect capital to grab an impact player or two this summer. But, the guys in the clubhouse have to position them into the race if that’s going to happen.

Monday night, Javier Assad was just not the pitcher we saw in his season debut a week ago. This looked more like the numbers he put up in two starts for Iowa. Frustratingly, had the Cubs cut bait on him earlier, maybe the game wasn’t out of reach. If the game had sequenced differently, no doubt Philadelphia would have approached their side of the equation differently. But, this one got a heck of a lot closer at the end.

It isn’t often that you lose by six and can say also that the game wasn’t as close as the final score.

Three Positives:

• Dansby Swanson had a homer, drew a walk, scored twice and drove in two.
• Moises Ballesteros had two hits in two at bats, one a double. He scored one and drove one in.
• Miguel Amaya had a pair of hits. He was also hit by pitch and had one run scored.

Game 16, April 13: Phillies 13, Cubs 7 (7-9)

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

THREE HEROES:

• Superhero: Carson Kelly (.087). 1-2, BB, R
• Hero: Alex Bregman (.079). 1-4, BB
• Sidekick: Dansby Swanson (.057). 1-3, HR, BB, 2 RBI, 2 R

THREE GOATS:

• Billy Goat: Javier Assad (-.362). 4.1 IP , 26 BF, 11 H, 2 BB, 9 ER, 3 K (L 1-1)
• Goat: Ian Happ (-.103). 2-5, 2B, R, DP
• Kid: Pete Crow-Armstrong (-.097). 1-5, RBI, R

WPA Play of the Game: Dansby Swanson’s two-run homer in the fourth cut it to 4-2. (.117)

*Phillies Play of the Game: In the top of the fifth, Ian Happ batted with runners on first and second and one out, the Cubs down two. He grounded into an inning ending double play. (.113)

Cubs Player of the Game:

Up Next: Game two of the series Tuesday night. Colin Rea (1-0, 3.18, 11.1 IP) should get the bulk of the innings, following Riley Martin (0-0, 0.00, 3.1 IP) as an opener. Aaron Nola (1-1, 3.63, 17.1 IP) gets the start for the Phillies.

A.J. Ewing

Week: 5 G, 17 AB, .353/.522/.529, 6 H, 3 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 6 BB, 4 K, 2/3 SB (Double-A)

2026 Season: 7 G, 26 AB, .385/.529/.538, 10 H, 4 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 8 BB, 5 K, 4/5 SB, .476 BABIP (Double-A)

A.J. Ewing has picked up right where he left off last season, adding six more hits to his season ledger, three of which were doubles. Combine that with Binghamton’s first season of the year, where Ewing appeared in two games and logged 4 hits- one double- and he is currently hitting .385/.529/.538 on the young season. He currently has a seven-game hitting streak going, getting on base at least twice in six of those seven games thanks to either multiple hits or a combination of hits and walks.

Ewing has arguably been the Mets’ highest-rising hitting prospect over the past calendar year; whereas Carson Benge has been just as good, if not better, he came with a bit more draft pedigree than Ewing and more was expected of him. Ewing was not exactly a nobody coming into the 2025 season- Lukas had him ranked 30 on his portion of the Amazin’ Avenue 2024 Mets Top 25 Prospect List, and on the Amazin’ Avenue 2025 Mets Top 25 Prospect List, I had him ranked 23 on my portion of the, Ken had him ranked 27, and Thomas had him ranked 29- but only the truly prescient could have seen him developing into one of the top prospects in all of baseball.

As Carson Benge’s performance so far this season, and Jonah Tong’s last year, highlights, the major leagues are a very different beast from the minors, and truly only the best of the best can hang. As such, I think it is important that we pump the breaks on Ewing a little bit; it’s not that I don’t think he will eventually crack a major league roster, whether it be with the Mets or elsewhere, but there is still some work to be done and he is just 21-years-old. Hopefully Ewing is allowed to maturate and develop at his own pace and get his time in the sun when he is ready, not because the team needs a Hail Mary to stem the bleeding of a floundering team or want to potentially cash in on organizational bonuses from letting the kids play.

Christian Scott

Week: 1 G (1 GS), 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K (Triple-A)

2026 Season: 2 G (2 GS), 8.1 IP, 11 H, 7 R, 6 ER (6.48 ERA), 1 BB, 12 K, .429 BABIP (Double-A)

After missing all of 2025 due to undergo a combined Tommy John surgery and internal brace procedure, Christian Scott finally returned to the mound (albeit in Toledo, while pitching for Syracuse) on April 3rd and proceeded to put up a stinker, arguably the worst game he ever pitched since turning pro after being drafted out of the University of Florida back in 2021. Obviously, there were plenty of extenuating circumstances to not really be bummed out about his performance, from his lengthy absence to the weather, but the right-hander recovered nicely this past week, blanking the Buffalo Bison for five innings, scattering a pair of hits, walking one, and striking out seven.

Prior to his surgery, Scott relied on a four-pitch mix consisting of a four-seam fastball, a change-up-like splitter, slider, and sweeper. He used his fastball a little over 50% of the time, gyro slider and sweeping slider at roughly 20% apiece, and his splitter about 10%. In his two starts in 2026 so far, he has recorded almost identical ratios, throwing his four-seam fastball a bit over 50%, his two sliders at roughly 20%, and his splitter a bit over 10%.

Scott’s fastball has averaged 95.3 MPH so far this season, in line with the 94.2 MPH it averaged in his 47.1 MLB innings in 2024. It has shown a similar amount of movement, and still thrown from the slingy, deceptive low-three-quarters arm slot that Scott throws from, giving it a flat vertical approach angle.

His splitter is still sitting in the mid-80s and still has miniscule rotation, averaging 1,130 RPM so far this season. The pitch still has the sudden vertical drop and armside run that made it so effective in 2024.

His gyro slider is still sitting in the upper-80s and still has minimal spin for a slider, averaging 2,370 RPM so far this year, roughly the same as the 2,390 RPM it averaged in 2024. The 30 inches of vertical drop and 3 inches of horizontal movement are virtually identical to the 32 inches of vertical drop and 3 inches of horizontal movement is featured in 2024.

His sweeping slider is still sitting in the low-80s, averaging roughly 2,500 RPM. The pitch has featured a bit more vertical drop than it did in 2024, 36 inches to 33, and just as much sweep, with 12 inches of horizontal movement as compared to 13.

Tying his arsenal together, as it did back in 2024, Scott so far has showed excellent command of all of his pitches and pinpoint control of the strike zone, walking just one batter in 8.1 innings to 12 strikeouts.

It’s not often that I’m looking at the pitch metrics of players who have returned from injury, but I’m struck by just how similar most if all of them are given Scott’s layover in 2025 as he recovered from Tommy John surgery. The sample size here is extremely small to be sure, and there is still risk for regression and/or exposure, as Scott had all of 47.1 major league innings under his belt, but it is extremely encouraging given that the right-hander was emerging as a more-than-solid option in 2024.

Players of the Week 2025

Week One/Two (March 27-April 5): Hayden Senger/Cam Tilly

The 2000 New York Yankees were not a team of destiny like in 1998, or the well-oiled machine that dropped but a single playoff game en route to a title in 1999. They were a squad that needed help. Jockeying for position with the Red Sox and Blue Jays in a crowded AL East, the Bombers sat only three games above .500 on June 28th when they executed a trade which would prove to be among the most impactful midseason deals in team history.

David Justice arrived in the Bronx and immediately became one of their most fearsome bats. After the Yankees limped into the playoffs, the man who had been a postseason hero for the Atlanta Braves added to his sparkling playoff resumé by leading the way against the Mariners in the ALCS. The Yankees took down the crosstown rival Mets in the World Series to win their third consecutive title, and Justice earned his second championship ring.

David Christopher Justice
Born: April 14, 1966 (Cincinnati, OH)
Yankees Tenure: 2000-01

Justice did not come up through the ranks in a traditional baseball powerhouse. His high school, while proficient in athletics, lacked a baseball team—and as such he had to catch on through the travel circuit. Justice attended Thomas More College in Kentucky on a basketball scholarship, but became to this day the only attendee of the school to be selected by an MLB team when the Braves took him in the fourth round of the 1985 draft. He made his MLB debut for Atlanta four seasons later.

It wouldn’t take long for the lefty slugger to hit his stride. Justice’s brief 1989 cup of coffee was followed by a breakout campaign in 1990 in which he slugged 28 home runs and posted a .908 OPS (143 OPS+) en route to the National League Rookie of the Year award, albeit for a last-place club. The next season though, the Braves would find themselves in the Fall Classic. Atlanta fell to the Minnesota Twins in the seven-game World Series, a memorable matchup of worst-to-first teams widely considered to be among the greatest ever played. They returned in 1992, but lost again to Dave Winfield and the Toronto Blue Jays.

One of the dynastic baseball forces of the 1990s finally broke through in the strike-shortened 1995 season. Justice, who had made headlines for a marriage to Halle Berry and most recently criticizing Braves fans during their playoff run, etched himself into history with a home run in Game 6 of the World Series against Cleveland. Thanks to a masterclass of pitching from Tom Glavine, that solo shot proved to be the only run in a championship-clinching victory for the Braves, bringing the city of Atlanta their first MLB title.

Justice’s final year with the Braves was marred by a shoulder injury in May that ended his season early, meaning that he missed the World Series loss to the Yankees that October.

A trade just ahead of the 1997 campaign sent Justice to Cleveland, the team he had defeated with that homer. He returned to the World Series that year (helping dispatch the ’97 Yanks along the way in the ALDS), but the Florida Marlins took them down in another legendary seven-game Fall Classic. Cleveland lost to the Yankees and Red Sox the next two years before the 2000 season at last brought him to the Bronx.

Now in his age-34 season, Justice was still producing at the dish, with 21 home runs at the time of the trade on June 28th. The Yankees dangled a pair of young pitchers in Jake Westbrook and Zach Day, as well as the inimitable Ricky Ledée—and with that, the Bombers had a new weapon in their arsenal. Justice hit his first Yankee home run on July 6 in a 13-9 win over the Orioles. After stumbling to a 10-15 record in June, the Yankees caught fire with Justice in the mix, winning 18 of 26 in July.

The Yankees eked out another AL East title despite their pitching taking a nosedive in the final weeks of the year. Justice finished out the campaign with a .305/.391/.584 slashline in pinstripes, launching 20 more homes—including a walk-off shot against Oakland on August 8th—to give him a career-best 41 on the year. The Bombers went on to battle the A’s in a tightly-contested five-game ALDS. Justice had a rather quiet series, but did homer in Game 5 as the Yanks advanced to take on the Mariners.

Justice was mostly held in check for the first two games of the ALCS, but contributed a pair of run-scoring hits in a 8-2 Game 3 victory at Safeco Field. The following night New York took a commanding 3-1 series lead over the M’s with a 5-0 shutout victory in which Justice clubbed a two-run homer in the eighth inning to put the contest to bed. Seattle took Game 5 to force the series back to the Bronx, where Justice provided the coup de grace in Game 6. With the Yankees trailing 4-3 in the seventh, Justice belted an Arthur Rhodes fastball off the face of the upper deck to bestow New York a lead they would not relinquish. Justice was named ALCS MVP as the Yankees prepared to host the Mets in the World Series.

Justice’s hot hitting did not continue into the Fall Classic—he went just 3-for-19 with no homers and three RBI—but by that point, the Yankees’ playoff steamroller was fully operational. Every game of the tilt was decided by two runs or fewer, but the Bombers held off their crosstown rivals to complete the three-peat and raise championship banner number 26.

After winning his second title in his fifth World Series, Justice regressed with the Yankees in 2001 and a series of groin injuries limited him to just 49 games from July onward. There were occasional highlights, like a walk-off homer against the Red Sox in April and a crowning blow in Game 5 of the ALDS comeback against the A’s. But for the most part, it seemed like the end was getting closer for the veteran as he fell to a .712 OPS that postseason, which featured a heartbreaking loss to the Diamondbacks.

Justice was dealt to the Mets at season’s end for Robin Ventura, marking the second time a champion had traded Justice to a team he had defeated in a World Series. However, Justice’s Met tenure lasted one week in December, as they then flipped him to Oakland where he finished his career as a veteran presence for the Moneyball A’s. (Justice was played by Stephen Bishop in the eventual 2011 movie.) He retired at the end of the season after Oakland bowed out to the Twins, who fell to the Angels in the next round.

Without Justice’s arrival in New York, it’s hard to imagine the Bombers would have returned to the postseason, let alone three-peated as world champions. His stupendous half-season is a reminder that the baseball calendar is long. Nothing is set in stone, and narratives can change quickly. Maybe the Yankees have a David Justice-style reinforcement coming in 2026—maybe they don’t. But even the possibility is part of what makes baseball so exciting.

See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here

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The dingers were finally flying yesterday, and I hit a monster +1040 homer to help my crawl out of the early-season basement.

The weather is turning, and the balls are flying. It's time to hit the MLB player props and back the bats on Dinger Tuesday.

I'm leaning on some familiar names today, but at prices I like in these settings and matchups.

Very few people are hitting the ball on the screws with a harder swing than Oneil Cruz, Pete Alonso has found his power and is the bat to back in Baltimore today, and Hunter Goodman and the Rockies could be trotting around the bags tonight vs. Houston's lousy pitching.

These are my favorite home run props for Tuesday, April 14.

Best MLB home run props today

Player to hit a HR	Odds
Oneil Cruz	+330
Pete Alonso	+390
Hunter Goodman	+410
💲Today's HR parlay	+10395

Oneil Cruz (+330)

When I go square, I want all the checkmarks, and I’m getting them in this Pittsburgh Pirates spot.

Oneil Cruz is a Top-5 hitter in baseball in swing speed and leads all batters in Blast Contact%, a stat that combines fast swings with barrels. Swing hard and square it up — simple.

Cruz gets a heavenly matchup vs. Miles Mikolas, who might be looking for a new job soon. Mikolas has been getting lit up, allowing 19 runs in just over 12 innings with five home runs surrendered.

He’s unlikely to go deep, and Pittsburgh should also get cracks at a taxed Nationals bullpen after hanging 16 runs on them last night. There might be four arms unavailable today from that Washington pen.

Elite form, double-digit winds blowing out, a great matchup, and a depleted bullpen all point to upside. I’m willing to go a bit shorter here at +330 and would still play it down to +300.

• Time: 6:40 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: SportsNet Pittsburgh, Nationals.TV

Pete Alonso (+390)

There were seven homers hit at Camden Yards yesterday, with one coming off the bat of Pete Alonso, who is +EV for a dinger today at +390 with a fair price around +340, per THE BAT.

It’s another great setting with double-digit winds blowing out and Merrill Kelly making his first start of the season before handing it over to a bullpen that got tagged for seven runs over just nine outs yesterday.

Alonso is the bat to target in this lineup, boasting the best Blast Contact% numbers in the clubhouse — roughly double that of Gunnar Henderson.

The final piece is familiarity. Alonso has seen Kelly 19 times, which leans in the hitter’s favor, and the Polar Bear has gone deep three times in those matchups.

• Time: 6:35 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: MASN, Dbacks.TV

Hunter Goodman (+410)

The Colorado Rockies are checking some home run boxes in tonight’s matchup with the Houston Astros. Houston is dealing with injuries to its rotation, which brings in Triple-A lefty Colton Gordon.

That also opens the door to a vulnerable bullpen, as the Astros are one of just two teams with a HR/9 north of 2.00.

Hunter Goodman is the target in this solid indoor matchup. He’s one of the few hitters with familiarity against Gordon and has already taken him deep in just two plate appearances. He also hits lefties much better.

Goodman brings legit power metrics, with one of the fastest swings in baseball at 79 mph, ranking 19th this season. The fair price sits in the +340 to +350 range, giving this +410 number clear value.

• Time: 8:10 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: Rockies.TV, SCHN

Today’s HR parlay

Oneil Cruz	Bet Now +10395
Pete Alonso
Hunter Goodman

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

Welcome to Tuesday everyone!

Yesterday saw the Athletics’ five-game winning streak come to an end in their first game back home in a week. They didn’t look all that ready for the Texas Rangers last night as Luis Severino’s home struggles continued again. Last night’s game was his first start back in Sacramento since last year, when he pitched to a 6.01 ERA in front of the home crowd across 16 starts. The hope was that last year was a severe anomaly but it seems that Sevy genuinely does not like pitching in a minor league ballpark. Everyone’s on the same playing field but the veteran right-hander is going from pitching in New York, with two brand-new stadiums, to a Triple-A field. That would make any of us frustrated and it seems like that trend might continue in 2026.

What should the A’s do? Do they really have any other options other than to continue trotting him out there and hoping for the best? The team can’t seriously consider skipping home starts for the expensive right-hander, but that is starting to feel like the only option at this point. Obviously can’t hide him from Sutter Health Park all season long but it doesn’t feel out of the question to maybe skip a couple of his home starts. For reference he was fantastic on the road last season with a 3.02 ERA in 14 starts last year. That’s the pitcher the A’s were hoping they were getting when they shelled out that record-breaking contract.

Anyway, it’s now it’s time for the guys to brush themselves off and get back in the win column tonight. The team is still within striking distance of first place, just one game behind the Rangers. If the team can pull out the W this evening that would put us back into a tie for first place in the AL West, something the team hasn’t been able to claim this late in a season in a long, long time. The Rangers currently sit atop the standings so it’s a perfect opportunity to knock our rivals down, retake a tie for the division lead, and start a brand new winning streak. It’ll be left-hander Jeffrey Springs on the bump for the home team tonight while the Rangers will counter with their own lefty in MacKenzie Gore.

It makes sense that the A’s were a bit tired. The MLB schedule makers didn’t do the A’s any favors in the early going, giving us 12 road games out of 15 to start the season. The A’s will like those extra home games they’ll have saved up later in the season but these early couple of weeks couldn’t have been much fun for the guys, who have to live out of suitcases when heading to other cities. And the teams they have been visiting aren’t slouches. They’ve done well to stay above water during these early couple weeks of the long season.

The loss that snapped our winning streak wasn’t the only bad news that came out of yesterday’s contest. Third baseman Max Muncy was hit on his hand by a pitch in the bottom of the fifth inning, and soon after departed:

That immediately put A’s fans on edge since the A’s don’t have much depth at the hot corner behind the 23-year-old. The former 1st-round pick is quietly off to a fine start this season, slashing .317/.349/.533 with two home runs and five RBI’s. That’s been a major boost for the offense in these early games, though he is sporting a concerning 22/2 K/BB ratio that leads cause for concern of a drop off down the line.

It seems that the club dodged a bullet however as Muncy’s injury is only being called a hand contusion. He’s likely going to be out of the lineup tonight in favor of Darell Hernaiz, but the hope is that Muncy only misses a game or two. The club should be thankful that Muncy is only dealing with a contusion and not a full-on fracture. It’s been fun getting to watch Muncy finding success in the early going but they’ll have to hit the pause button until they’re sure he’s healthy and ready to go.

That’s all we got this morning guys. Have a good one A’s fans.

A’s Coverage:

• Saturday Potpourri As A’s Reach For .500
• A’s Drop Series Opener to the Rangers 8-1
• A’s Sweep the Mets!
• A’s roster moves: Rooker to IL, Gelof recalled
• A’s roster moves: Jack Perkins recalled, Michael Kelly optioned
• Luis Morales Optioned to Triple-A
• A’s Add Former Yankees Reliever as Bullpen Depth Option
• Armchair 101: The Challenge Of Judging Decisions In Real Time
• A’s Biggest Camp Question is Already Becoming a Strength in 2026
• Extensions To Colt Emerson And Konnor Griffin A New Trend?
• AN Exclusive: Blogfather Observes The Wild Denzelope In Its Natural Habitat
• AN Exclusive: Blogfather Toes The Rubber With Pitching Coach Scott Emerson
• AN Exclusive: Blogfather Catches Up With Starting Pitcher Jacob Lopez

MLB News and Interest:

• Blue Jays acquire Lenyn Sosa from White Sox
• Orioles manager Alberaz okay after getting hit in face with foul ball
• Red Sox ace Crochett hammered for 11 runs, 9 hits
• Mets lose sixth in a row: “Just got to ride this storm”
• Trout, Judge among NINE players to hit multiple home runs in same day
• Gerrrit Cole, Carlos Rodon nearing rehab assignments
• Diamondbacks move starter Brandon Pfaadt to bullpen
• Hitting with ‘freedom’, Cardinals’ Walker continues historic stretch of homers
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

Jesus:

Can Gelof be a legitimate option up the middle on the grass?

Every man knows the pain. Owch:

This was supposed to be the year for Cade Cavalli, but so far things are off to a rocky start. After a dominant Spring Training, Cavalli was rewarded with an Opening Day start. However, things have not gone according to plan since then, with strike-throwing becoming a serious issue for the 27 year old.

The situation reached a boiling point last night, when Cavalli was unable to get out of the second inning against the Pirates. He looked sharp in the first, but he totally lost the zone in the second. Cavalli was all over the place, walking three batters in the inning, including walking in a run. There were too many uncompetitive misses, which you can see by looking at his pitch chart.

This is a problem for the Nats because Cavalli is the one guy in the rotation with premium stuff. As a starting pitcher though, you have to locate even if you do have a nasty arsenal. Right now, Cavalli is walking 6.89 batters per 9 innings, which is just untenable.  

Last season, Cavalli’s command within the strike zone left something to be desired, but his pure control was solid. He only walked 6.8% of batters, which is part of what made me bullish entering the season. It seemed like that control was heading in the right direction, and with further refinement, he had the ceiling of a number two starter.

My optimism only grew during Spring Training as well. Cavalli’s command and stuff looked sharper than ever. He only walked two batters in 14 spring innings. Cavalli was also deepening his pitch mix by adding a sweeper and was getting rave reviews from his coaches. It really seemed like we had a breakout candidate on our hands and that Cavalli would soften the blow of the MacKenzie Gore trade.

So far, that has not happened, which is a bit worrisome. At 27 years old, Cavalli needed this to be the year where he broke out. He was finally healthy for a full offseason and we know what his stuff looks like at his best. Last season was supposed to be the sneak peak, while this year was the true coming out party.

The Nationals were clearly relying on Cavalli to do this as well. There is a reason he got the Opening Day nod and had been pumped up publicly. This starting rotation was a question mark entering the season, but Cavalli was meant to be the guy to answer a lot of those questions.

With a mid to upper 90’s heater, a wipeout curveball, a new sweeper, and an underrated changeup, Cavalli has all the weaponry. However, he has been less than the sum of his parts so far in his career. He still does not really know how to sequence his pitches or get his way out of jams. That is part of the process of growing up as a pitcher, and Cavalli needs to grow up quickly.

His stuff will give him plenty of chances, but at a certain point, you have to wonder about Cavalli’s future as a starting pitcher. To be a starter in the big leagues, you need polish and command. Cavalli has not shown those attributes in his career so far. A move to the bullpen should not be on the table this season, but if these struggles continue, it should be a topic to consider in the future.

Cavalli has the stuff, but he does not have the feel. Last night, he just was not throwing strikes, but even when he is in the zone things can be problematic. His lack of precision is a big reason why Cavalli gets way fewer strikeouts than he should with his stuff. Even last year, he only struck out 18.3% of hitters. Maybe the best path for him long term is to just let his fastball and curve rip in the bullpen where command does not matter as much.

I really hope it does not come to that though, and I still think he has a chance to turn it around. His stuff is just too good to quit. However, at a certain point, the results need to come for the right hander. 

Even last night, he will tease you with what he can be. In that first inning, I thought his stuff was the sharpest it has been all season. His fastball consistently touched 98 MPH and his curveball had crazy bite. That sinker he struck out Nick Yorke with was just such a ridiculous pitch, and why he is so tantalizing. If only he could put his fastball in that spot on a consistent basis.

Then you see the second inning, and you begin to wonder about this guy. He walked the speedy Konnor Griffin on four pitches, and then clearly got in his own head. Cavalli became more focused on Griffin than the batter at the plate. Once he fell behind hitters, he either served up something down the middle that they handled, or he just walked them.

Seeing a pitcher of Cavalli’s talent level just drowning out there was frustrating to watch. The Nats are relying on Cavalli to be good. If he is not good, this staff is in real trouble. Foster Griffin and Zack Littell can be dependable arms, but they do not have the stuff to be high end starters. They can be solid, but you want your best pitchers to be better than solid.

However, we are at the point where being a league average arm makes you one of the Nats better pitchers. Spring Training truly seems to be a mirage that was driven by the pitcher friendly environment in West Palm Beach. Both the Nats and Astros, who they share a stadium with,  pitched well, but struggled with the bats this spring. Once the season started, the opposite has been the case for both teams.

We are really seeing how far away this Nats pitching staff is from being competent. They just lack the talent to be successful. Things get even worse when a talented arm like Cavalli is struggling to figure it out. The Nats need Cavalli to figure it out, or their pitching staff will be even worse than the awful unit they put out last season.

Cade Cavalli has the stuff, but we can’t wait forever to see if that light will turn on. He turns 28 later this year, so he can’t be a developmental player much longer. We need to see the development take place, and we need to see it soon.