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Featured in the All-Star break edition of MLB Power Rankings, Jacob Misiorowski and Aaron Judge make history for different reasons, the Phillies do Cristopher Sánchez a solid, the Red Sox are suddenly the hottest team in the majors, the Angels surprise with their decision for the No. 2 pick, and the Rockies absolutely nail it.

(Please note these power rankings are a combination of current performance and long-term projected outlook)

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Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Yu Darvish is back, Colt Keith is figuring it out

Eric Samulski breaks down some of the top waiver wire adds for the upcoming week of fantasy baseball

• Eric Samulski,

Note: Rankings are from the morning of Monday, July 14. 

1) Detroit Tigers

Last week: 1

Even after getting swept by the Mariners over the weekend, the Tigers enter the All-Star break with the best record in baseball. Tarik Skubal is set to become the first Tigers’ pitcher to start the All-Star Game since Max Scherzer in 2013.

2) Los Angeles Dodgers ⬆️

Last week: 3

After losing seven straight, the Dodgers righted the ship by taking two out of three against the division rival Giants over the weekend. Tyler Glasnow made his return last week, and Blake Snell and Blake Treinen aren’t far behind, so the Dodgers are about to get stronger.

3) Chicago Cubs ⬆️

Last week: 4

Including an excellent outing in a win over the Yankees on Sunday, Shota Imanaga holds a 2.31 ERA over four starts since returning from the injured list.

4) Houston Astros ⬇️

Last week: 2

Given the Astros moved on from Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman this offseason and they’ve been without Yordan Alvarez for most of the first half, it’s pretty remarkable that they own the fourth-best record in baseball going into the All-Star break.

5) Milwaukee Brewers ⬆️

Last week: 8

The Brewers continue to surprise. Winners of seven straight — with a sweep of the Dodgers along the way — Milwaukee sits just one game behind the Cubs for the NL Central lead.

The debate over the Jacob Misiorowski All-Star selection is dominating the conversation around MLB in recent days — and understandably so — it got me to thinking of the best players who never went to the All-Star Game. Kirk Gibson is absolutely shocking to me, but also familiar names like Tim Salmon, Tom Candiotti, and Eric Chavez.

6) Toronto Blue Jays

Last week: 6

The Blue Jays have cooled off a bit since their 10-game winning streak, but they go into the All-Star break in first place in the American League East. We should see them target a starting pitcher as the trade deadline approaches.

My favorite thing that happened this weekend was Blue Jays manager John Schneider getting ejected after a potential Davis Schneider home run was ruled foul, only to have the outfielder hit a home run immediately following the ejection. Baseball is so weird and fun.

7) Philadelphia Phillies ⬇️

Last week: 5

Pretty cool gesture by the Phillies, as Cristopher Sánchez activated the $50,000 All-Star bonus in his contract despite him being a notable snub for the midsummer classic. Sánchez responded by throwing a gem on Sunday, as the club salvaged the series finale against the Padres to go into the All-Star break with a half-game lead in the NL East.

8) New York Mets ⬇️

Last week: 7

Kodai Senga made a successful return from a hamstring injury on Friday and Sean Manaea looked great despite taking the loss in his season debut on Sunday, so things are looking up for the Mets as they move into second half.

9) New York Yankees

Last week: 9

While the Yankees lost to the Cubs on Saturday, Aaron Judge became the fastest player in MLB history to reach 350 career home runs. It’s one thing to write that sentence, but the thing is, he’s absolutely obliterated the record book in this regard.

10) Boston Red Sox ⬆️

Last week: 16

I was high on the Red Sox coming into the year, and while things haven’t exactly worked out the way I thought they would — Rafael Devers trade included — they’ve won 10 straight games to put themselves in a strong position leading into the trade deadline.

Ceddanne Rafaela now has five homers and 14 RBI over his last eight games.

11) San Diego Padres

Last week: 11

Jackson Merrill was down in the dumps with a 3-for-43 (.070) stretch before his two-homer game against Zack Wheeler and the Phillies on Saturday. He’s had a bumpy (and injury-riddled) first half, but something closer to his rookie performance would be a huge development for the Padres.

12) San Francisco Giants ⬆️

Last week: 13

While 33-year-old Robbie Ray will not pitch in the All-Star Game — he was replaced by Mets left-hander David Peterson — he earned his first selection since his age-25 season in 2017.

13) Seattle Mariners ⬇️

Last week: 12

A great weekend for the Mariners, who swept the Tigers before taking LSU left-hander Kade Anderson with the No. 3 pick in Sunday’s draft. Many considered Anderson to be the best player in this year’s class. Now it’s time for “The Big Dumper” to get his close-up in Monday’s Home Run Derby.

14) St. Louis Cardinals

Last week: 14

Iván Herrera made his return to the Cardinals on Sunday after missing just about a month with a Grade 2 hamstring strain. He’s been great when healthy this season with eight homers, 34 RBI, and a .320/.394/.529 batting line, but he also missed time in the first half with a knee injury. The Cardinals plan to mostly use him out of the DH spot the rest of the way.

15) Cincinnati Reds

Last week: 15

Congratulations to Terry Francona, who became the 13th manager in MLB history to reach the 2,000-win club on Sunday. Does his team love him or what?

16) Tampa Bay Rays ⬇️

Last week: 10

While the Blue Jays and Red Sox are rising, the Rays continue to fall. They’ve lost four straight and 12 out of their last 15 games. One positive? Shane McClanahan is nearing his return to the Rays’ rotation.

17) Texas Rangers

Last week: 17

A frustrating first half for the Rangers, where they just can’t seem to get over the hump, but it ended on an encouraging note this weekend as they took two out three from the Astros. You can squint and see how this club could go on a run in the second half. You could also see them spiraling. The next couple of weeks will be fascinating.

18) Arizona Diamondbacks

Last week: 18

Losers of nine out of their 13 games, the Diamondbacks increasingly look like sellers and they have a bunch of interesting players with Eugenio Suarez,Merrill Kelly, Zac Gallen, and Josh Naylor all reportedly on the block.

19) Minnesota Twins ⬆️

Last week: 20

What a first half for Byron Buxton. The apex? He accomplished the first triple in Target Field history on Saturday and did it on his own bobblehead day, to boot.

Buxton is my pick for Monday’s Home Run Derby. Let’s keep this feel-good story going!

20) Kansas City Royals ⬆️

Last week: 21

Noah Cameron wrapped up a brilliant first half by spinning 6 2/3 scoreless innings with eight strikeouts as part of Sunday’s win over the Mets. It’s going to be hard for him to stand out in the AL rookie field which also includes Jacob Wilson and Nick Kurtz, but he’s been a lifesaver for the Kansas City rotation with a 2.31 ERA across 12 starts.

21) Los Angeles Angels ⬇️

Last week: 19

The Angels’ approach to the draft is always interesting, and of course they surprised by taking UC Santa Barbara right-hander Tyler Bremner No. 2 overall. There were other college pitchers who were considered better by most experts, but the Angels clearly thought there wasn’t a true standout in this year’s class and they could manipulate their draft pool in other ways. But if we know anything about the Angels, we’ll probably see Bremner in the majors sooner rather than later.

22) Baltimore Orioles ⬆️

Last week: 23

The Orioles had seven picks in the top 93 players during the first day of the MLB Draft and they received high marks for their haul which included Auburn C/OF Ike Irish, Coastal Carolina C Caden Bodine, Arkansas SS Wehiwa Aloy, and prep OF Slater de Brun. They also finally got around to taking some pitchers with lefty Joseph Dzierwa out of Michigan State and right-hander JT Quinn out of Georgia.

23) Cleveland Guardians ⬆️

Last week: 25

The Guardians have won six out of seven since their 10-game losing streak, but it might be too little too late.

24) Miami Marlins

Last week: 24

It was the Kyle Stowers Revenge Game on Sunday, as the former Orioles prospect went 5-for-5 with three homers, six RBI, and four runs scored in a blowout victory over Baltimore on Sunday.

25) Atlanta Braves ⬇️

Last week: 22

The latest blow for the Braves is Austin Riley hitting the injured list with an abdominal strain. It would be surprising if he’s back by the end of July, so this continues to look like a lost year for Atlanta.

26) Athletics ⬆️

Last week: 28

One year ago, Nick Kurtz heard his named called on draft day. On Sunday, he hit his 17th home run of the season and his 12th in 30 games since returning from the injured list. Folks have begun to put the Jim Thome comp on Kurtz recently. One you spot it, it’s hard to unsee it.

27) Pittsburgh Pirates ⬇️

Last week: 26

Paul Skenes and MLB history have become synonymous. He’s adding another first to the list on Tuesday, as he’ll become the first pitcher in baseball history to start the All-Star Game in his first two MLB seasons.

28) Washington Nationals ⬇️

Last week: 27

Interim Nationals general manager Mike DeBartolo had the weighty responsibility of making the No. 1 pick in Sunday’s draft and they ultimately went with 17-year-old switch-hitting shortstop Eli Willits. Willits is the youngest No. 1 overall pick since Ken Griffey Jr. in 1987. No pressure, kid.

29) Chicago White Sox

Last week: 29

2025 is the year of the high school shortstop and the White Sox played into the trend with the selection of Billy Carlson. In doing so, Corona (California) HS became the first high school in history to have two top-10 picks n the same year, as right-hander Seth Hernandez was selected sixth overall by the Pirates.

30) Colorado Rockies

Last week: 30

Say what you will about how the Rockies have operated over the past decade or so, but the Ethan Holliday pick just makes so much sense for all parties.

ATLANTA — Curveballs have been thrown a curve by a modern game valuing velocity over variety, disappearing from the major leagues by more than 20,000 annually.

The Athletics have thrown curves on just 2.5% of pitches this season. The overall big league figure dropped from 10.7% in 2019 to 8.1% last year, the lowest since MLB starting tracking in 2008, before rising slightly to 8.5% this season.

There were 22,962 fewer curveballs in 2024 than five years earlier.

“You don’t really see a lot of people throwing 12-6 curveballs anymore,” Tampa Bay pitcher Shane Baz said. “They’d rather have a hard cutter/slider. It’s a lot easier for guys to throw a sweeper than it is a 12-6 curveball.”

Baz’s 28.1% is seventh in curveball use among those who have thrown at least 1,000 pitches this season.

Baltimore’s Charlie Morton, first at 39%, learned to throw a hook from his dad.

“He was reading some article or maybe he was reading some pitching book,” Baltimore’s 41-year-old right-hander said. “You basically throw it like you’re re-throwing a knife.”

Curveballs have been around for a century and a half

Hall of Famer Candy Cummings, a 145-game winner, is credited with inventing the curveball in 1863 when he was 14, discovering the movement when he threw sea shells into the Atlantic Ocean. Some attribute the curve to amateur pitcher Fred Goldsmith in 1870.

With an average velocity of 80.2 mph, curves are the slowest and loopiest of breaking pitches, often disrupting the timing of batters set for smoke. The phrase “thrown a curveball” has become part of the English language, much like “screwball,” more a phrase than a pitch these days.

Sandy Koufax, Nolan Ryan and Clayton Kershaw were among the consummate curveballers, bamboozling batters as balls they gave up on dropped like hang gliders into the strike zone.

“It’s become an industry of throwing over pitching,” New York Yankees senior adviser Omar Minaya said. “When you pitch, you use different pitches. What we’re seeing in the industry as a whole, especially with showcases, is people are looking more at velocity than pitchability — as a scout, I said that unfortunately.”

Former pitcher Dallas Braden, now a broadcaster, longs for those days of deception.

“You almost sympathize with the hitter in the moment because you’re like: Damn, I couldn’t have hit that. He couldn’t hit that. Nobody could have hit that,” Braden said. “The eephus is now almost like as close as we get, when a position player is on the mound, to an aesthetically pleasing pitch like that, just the visual presentation of the pitch starting in the clouds and ending up at the ankles.”

Nike’s “Chicks Dig the Long Ball” commercial defined baseball in the Steroids Era. These days the slogan might as well be: “Velo Rules!” There were just 214 pitches of 100 mph or more in 2008. There were a record 3,880 two years ago and this year is on track for 3,252.

In tandem, starting pitcher use has dropped. Starters have averaged just under 5 1/3 innings this season, down from 6 1/3 innings in the 1980s. Their pitch count averages 85.7, down from 97 in 2010.

Throw as hard as you can for as long as you can is the mantra

Average four-seam fastball velocity is a record 94.4 mph this season, up from 91.9 mph when MLB started tracking in 2008. But fastballs — four-seam, two-seam and cutters, have dropped from 62.1% to 55%.

Those missing hooks and heaters have been replaced by sliders, sweepers and slurves. They are 22.6% of pitches this year, up from 13.9% in 2008, and their average velocity has risen to 84.8 mph from 83.4 mph.

Colorado throws curves the most often at 15.6%, not that it has brought any success to a team that entered the break at 22-74, on track for a 37-125 finish and the post-1900 record for losses.

The Athletics haven’t thrown 10% curveballs since 2017.

“If you look around the game, swing and miss has taken more of a priority, so guys are trying to throw more sweepers with more horizontal movement, or they’re trying to throw the slider really hard at the bottom of the zone,” Athletics pitching coach Scott Emerson said. “They’re worried about contact with the curveball.”

Generational change in the 2020s

Veteran pitchers note the curve’s decline as youngsters integrate into staffs.

“As you’re an amateur going to the big leagues guys are looking at velo. Guys are just looking at stuff,” Yankees ace Gerrit Cole said. “Velo is important and it pays.”

Maybe because the pitchers who throw curves are committed, batters have a .225 average this season on curves, down from .263 on fastballs and up slightly from .222 on sliders, sweepers and slurves.

“That’s just how the game is trending: to throw it as hard as you can, spin it the best you can and hope the hitter doesn’t hit it,” Emerson said. “The hitters are up there trying to swing as hard they can. If they hit it with hard contact, make 27 swings that are really hard, you got a chance to hit a homer here and there. And it’s taken away from the contact-type pitchers.”