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On Wednesday morning, Colorado Rockies fans were greeted with good news: Rookie first baseman TJ Rumfield had been named Major League Baseball’s National League Rookie of the Month for May.

The 26-year-old Rumfield—obtained this offseason from the New York Yankees in exchange for right-handed pitcher Angel Chivilli—led National League rookies in virtually every offensive category for the month. In May he hit .310/.400/.483 with four home runs, 12 RBIs, and a strong 139 wRC+ while also playing a defensively sound first base.

Rumfield is just the eighth Rockies rookie to win the award, which has surprisingly been elusive since it was created in 2001.

Here are the other seven:

RHP Jason Jennings, August 2002

The first and only Rockies player to win Rookie of the year, 1999 first round pick Jason Jennings went 5-1 over six starts and 38 innings in August with a 3.55 ERA and 25 strikeouts!

Shortstop Clint Barmes, April 2005

Clint Barmes only played 81 games in 2005 and still finished in eighth place for National League Rookie of the Year voting. He started the year strong by hitting .410/.467/.639 with four home runs and 14 RBIs across 21 games in April!

Third baseman Garrett Atkins, June 2005

The only time the Rockies ever had multiple Rookie of the Month winners in a single season, slugging third baseman Garrett Atkins hit .364/.381/.533 with three home runs and a whopping 26 RBIs over 27 June contests!

Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, August 2007

Troy Tulowitzki should have won Rookie of the Year in 2007 but instead took second place behind Ryan Braun. The mold-breaking shortstop phenom hit .333/.394/.567 with six home runs and 25 RBIs over 29 games in the penultimate month of the 2007 season.

Shortstop Trevor Story, April 2016

After a nearly ten-year gap between winners, Trevor Story started his rookie campaign with the most home runs by a rookie in franchise history and six of them through his first four big league games. Story finished the month hitting .261/.324/.696 with ten home runs and 20 RBIs over 22 games.

RHP Antonio Senzatela, April 2017

Before reinventing himself as a clutch, late-game reliever this season, Antonio Senzatela was once a promising young starting pitcher. His 2017 rookie campaign would end up being one of his best seasons over 36 appearances and 20 starts. In April of 2017 the 22-year-old Senzatela went 4-1 over five starts with 18 strikeouts and a 2.81 ERA over 32 innings of work.

Outfielder Nolan Jones, September 2023

The Rockies traded for Nolan Jones prior to the 2023 season and it looked like they might have found themselves a star. While things didn’t work out that way, Jones shone brightly with a 4.3 rWAR season. He became the first Rockies rookie accomplish a 20/20 campaign. He was the 16th rookie in MLB history to do so and the first to accomplish it in under 130 games and fewer than 425 plate appearances. He also played some excellent left field. Jones finished the season with an explosive September, hitting .350/.460/.631 with six home runs, 22 RBIs, and 11 stolen bases over 28 games. He finished fourth in National League Rookie of the Year voting but arguably should have been a finalist.

Final Thoughts

While we congratulate TJ Rumfield on his success so far, what are your thoughts on the other Rockies Rookie of the Month winners? Are there any standout rookie months you feel got missed along the way? Who are some noticeable omissions?

Let us know in the comments!

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

Jorge Polanco could be the face of these Mets.

He’s highly paid, has been injured and played poorly when he was on the field.

The Mets roster is filled with that type of player this year and if it stays that way, the team will look considerably different by the trade deadline.

So with the clock ticking — and the Mets in last place in the NL East — Polanco’s return from Achilles bursitis and a right wrist contusion will have to be a step in the right direction.

If it’s not, the Mets will be that much closer to having to consider tearing down the roster.

Polanco could be back from the IL this weekend, as the Mets begin another must-win series Friday in San Diego, their season still teetering near irrelevance.

When they signed Polanco to a two-year, $40 million deal in the offseason with the idea of having him replace Pete Alonso at first base — and as one piece of a makeover that would make up for the loss of Alonso, Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil at the plate — the hope was that the 32-year-old would at least come close to replicating the production he had in Seattle last year.

Instead, Polanco never got going offensively and had an OPS of just .532 through 14 games before he hit the IL.

And without Polanco, who didn’t do much in five minor league rehab games split between Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Syracuse, the Mets haven’t gotten much out of first base.

Mark Vientos has continued to struggle on both sides of the ball, and though the lefty-swinging Jared Young has hit well since returning from his own IL stint, the Mets aren’t looking for him to be their regular first baseman.

Polanco isn’t expected to take that role either when he gets back, as the Mets figure to be cautious with him, given his Achilles issue that is likely to linger all year.

As Carlos Mendoza noted a week ago, Polanco is “gonna feel” the injury throughout the season.

“We have to keep it to a point where [it’s] ‘I can tolerate this,’ ” the manager said in May. “Because if not, he’s gonna be shut down for a long period of time.”

The switch-hitting Polanco has generally hit well from both sides of the plate and, if he can return to the form he had with the Mariners a year ago, would deepen a lineup desperately in need of lengthening.

With Bo Bichette in the midst of a season-long slump — although perhaps his four-hit day Wednesday was a good sign — Marcus Semien also not hitting and Francisco Lindor still out with a strained calf, the Mets have had to rely too much on Juan Soto, as well as rookies Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing.

If the Mets are going to make an effort toward getting back in the wild-card race — they started Thursday six games back of the final spot with seven teams ahead of them — they’ll need to move quickly.

They followed up a four-game winning streak in Queens by dropping two of three in Seattle and will face a Padres team that lost its fifth consecutive game Thursday and has dropped nine of its past 10.

The Mets, despite the rough series against the Mariners, have still won five of seven but will have to do more than that to start inching up the standings.

A 2025 version of Polanco would at least provide some help in that regard, but the one they’ve seen so far this year has been an all-too-familiar disappointment.

The 7th overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, the Alabama Crimson Tide will host St Johns, who was the 4 seed in the Tallahassee Regional, in Super Regional play this weekend. The 40-19 Tide will host the 36-24 Red Storm in game one at 8 p.m. CT on Saturday. Game two is set for 2 p.m. CT on Sunday and the if necessary game would be Monday at a time to be announced. Today we will look at Bama’s overall statistics and the individual leaders.

Alabama Team Offense:

Batting Average- .257, 493 hits, 94 doubles, 10 triples, 79 home runs, .440 slugging percentage, .376 on base percentage, 282 walks, 99 hit by pitch, 541 strikeouts, 26 sacrifice flys, 14 sac bunts 85-93 on stolen bases.

Leaders:

*Brady Neal .332 batting average, 64 hits, 15 doubles, 10 home runs, 49 RBI, .575 slugging percentage, 33 walks, 111 total bases, .444 on base percentage.

*Bryce Fowler .322 bating average, 73 hits, 17 doubles, 2 triples,6 home runs, 38 RBI, 112 total bases. 15-17 stolen bases.

*Justin LeBron .274 batting average, 61 hits,12 doubles, 16 home runs, 46 RBI, 121 total bases, .543 slugging percentage, .382 on base percentage, 26 walks, 15 hit by pitch, 40-41 stolen bases.

*Eric Hines .289 batting average, 121 at bats, 3 doubles, 1 triple, 9 home runs, 24 RBI, .554 slugging percentage, .341 on base percentage.

*Johnny Lemm .253 batting average, 9 doubles, 9 home runs, 33 RBI, 31 walks, .462 slugging percentage, .383 on base percentage.

*Jason Torres .241 batting average, 8 doubles, 9 home runs, 47 RBI, .409 slugging percentage, 36 walks, .367 on base percentage.

*Luke Vaughn .213 batting average, 8 doubles,9 home runs, 30 RBI, .452 slugging percentage.

Alabama Team Pitching:

40 wins, 14 saves, 4.22 ERA, 510 innings pitched, 476 hits allowed, .247 batting average against, 206 walks, 513 strikeouts, 82 doubles allowed, 57 home runs allowed.

Leaders:

*Tyler Fay 10-4, 4.70 ERA, 95.2 innings pitched, 83 hits allowed, 21 walks, 112 strikeouts, .232 batting average against, 11 doubles allowed, 20 home runs allowed.

*Zane Adams 7-4 , 4.04 ERA, 82.1 innings pitched, 84 hits allowed, 27 walks, 90 strikeouts, .264 batting average against, 8 home runs allowed, 15 doubles allowed.

*Myles Upchurch 8-3, 3.57 ERA, 70.2 innings pitched, 50 hits allowed, 40 walk, 77 strikeouts, 6 doubles allowed, 6 home runs allowed, .198 batting average against.

*Hagan Banks 2-0, 6 saves, 2.82 ERA, 22 innings pitched, 23 hits allowed, 8 walks, 29 strikeouts, 1 home run allowed, .256 batting average against.

*Matthew Heiberger 3-2, 5 saves, 3.05 ERA, 38.1 innings pitched, 31 hits allowed, 20 walks, 31 strikeouts, five home runs allowed, .246 batting average against.

*Ashton Crowther 2-2, 2 saves, 3.27 ERA, 33 innings pitched, 31 hits allowed, 8 walks, 23 strikeouts, five home runs allowed, .246 batting average against.

*JT Blackwood 1-1, 3.86 ERA, 30 innings pitched, 33 hits allowed, 7 walks, 15 strikeouts, 3 home runs alllowed, .280 batting average against.

The Yankees announced tonight that Aaron Judge has been diagnosed with a stress fracture in his right rib. Judge will be re-evaluated in four to six weeks after a period of rest and limited activity.

It’s a crushing piece of news, though one that at least avoids the worst-case scenario. After days of testing, fears spread that Judge could be suffering from thoracic outlet syndrome, which would have almost certainly ended his season. Instead, Judge seems likely to return at some point this season, but when that could be is anyone’s guess at the moment.

Judge missed his first game of the season on Tuesday, with the slugger apparently having dealt with shoulder pain for the last few weeks. The discomfort coincided with one of Judge’s worst slumps of the last few years, Judge running a .672 OPS over his last 20 games.

New York will soon place Judge on the IL and get a healthy player on the roster in his place, perhaps top outfield prospect Spencer Jones. Giancarlo Stanton and Jasson Domínguez are both progressing in their respective recoveries, but neither is ready to replace Judge on the roster. It goes without saying that no one is prepared to replace a healthy Judge’s production (or at least to truly complement the early-2026 version of Ben Rice), and we now have to hope that we’ll get to see a healthy Judge back on the field some time this year.

Blue Jay 7 Braves 2

I figured the Chris Sale start would be the tough one to win, but wrong again.

The Jays scored:

• Three in the third: With one out, Vladimir Guerrero doubled and Kazuma Okamoto singled to put runners on the corners. Charles McAdoo singled one home. Nathan Lukes was hit by pitch, to load the bases and Myles Straw singled home two more. Unfortunately Tyler Heineman hit into a double play to end the inning.
• Four in the ninth: Ernie Clement started it with a single and Vlad singled. Two outs later, Nathan Lukes singled to bring in one. Straw singled in another. And Tyler Heineman doubled in two more. Nice to see him chipping in.

We had 16 hits. 16. That’s more than we’ve had in a week. And we were 7 for 18 with RISP. How many times does a team get 18 runners into scoring position. Just three extra base hits, all doubles.

Clement and Vlad had three hits. Okamoto, Lukes, Straw, and Heineman had two. Yohendrick Piñango was the only starter to go 0 for. We will forgive this time, since he was in tough against one of the best lefties in baseball.

And we had another excellent job from the pitchers in a bullpen game:

• Mason Fluharty: He opened and got the first four outs, giving up a hit and a walk.
• Chad Dallas got the ‘bulk’ role, going 3.2 innings allowing 2 hits, 2 walks with 2 strikeouts allowing just a run. He was terrific in his MLB debut. And he was awarded the win. He came in with a runner on third and one out, in the second and got out of it without allowing the runner to score.
• Tyler Rogers pitched the sixth, a clean inning.
• Jeff Hoffman pitched the seventh, a clean inning, with a strikeout.
• Braydon Fisher started the eighth, and gave up a solo home run, making it a one run game.
• Louis Varland got the last four outs for the save, without allowing a base runner, with a strikeouts. His ninth save of the year.

Jays of the Day: Dallas (0.19 WPA), Straw (0.18, 2 for 5 with 3 RBI) and Hoffman (0.08).

Other Award: Well, Pinango has the number, but he did take charge in the outfield on a fly ball hit between him and Straw. He’s been a bit hesitant to do that, so happy to see it there.

The Jays will be straight to the airport, to fly home for the start of a series with the Orioles tomorrow. Usually, getaway games are earlier in the day. Brandon Young (3-1, 3.35) goes against Trey Yesavage (2-2. 2.19).

A verdict has finally arrived on Aaron Judge’s injury. 

The Yankees captain has been diagnosed with a stress fracture of the first rib on his right side, the team said Thursday night.

He will be relegated to rest and limited activity and then be re-imaged in about four to six weeks to determine how much improvement he has made and what his next steps might be. 

“Judge is expected to return at some point this season,” the team said in its statement. 

While losing the three-time American League MVP for likely at least two months is a serious blow, it may not be the worst-case scenario after the Yankees had been consulting with a specialist whose focus was on vascular procedures including thoracic outlet syndrome — which may have required season-ending surgery. 

Instead, this diagnosis gives Judge a chance to play again this season, though the Yankees will have a 6-foot-7, 282-pound-sized hole to fill in the meantime. 

Judge, who has not played since Sunday after the shoulder soreness he had experienced in recent weeks came to a head, underwent tests on Monday and then an additional MRI exam on Wednesday night at CT scan and X-ray Thursday morning.

The Yankees were left holding their breath during the four-day saga while waiting for a concrete diagnosis, a process that took longer than they had hoped. 

“Best hitter in the sport, and obviously what he means to us [is huge],” manager Aaron Boone said earlier on Thursday before the final diagnosis was announced. “There’s a void there, but we also have really good players that can pick it up, too. 

“You’re not replacing Aaron Judge though.” 

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

Judge was not fully hitting like himself so far this season — likely in part because he was playing through the injury — but still had 17 home runs and a .907 OPS in 59 games. 

Last season, Judge missed 10 games with a flexor strain in his right elbow and 42 games in 2023 with a torn ligament in his big right toe after running into the wall at Dodger Stadium to make a catch. But this threatens to cost him more games than either of those injuries, meaning the Yankees will have to find a way to keep winning without him. 

Since Judge became a regular in 2017, the Yankees have gone 652-442 with him in the lineup versus 137-127 when he is not. 

They have better depth than they have had in years, which could give them a better chance of surviving Judge’s absence. Ben Rice has emerged as one of the top hitters in the game, finishing Thursday with the second-highest OPS (a Judge-like 1.031) in the majors. Cody Bellinger has been an all-around standout, the most valuable player in the team by WAR.

Veteran Paul Goldschmidt, who came into the season as Rice’s backup, has been a critical right-handed bat to help them withstand Giancarlo Stanton’s month-plus on the injured list. 

Of course, the Yankees now need Stanton to get through the rest of his rehab from a right calf strain without any hiccups — he could be about 10 days to two weeks away from becoming an option — and the same for Jasson Domínguez, who could return next week from an AC joint sprain in his left shoulder. 

But even if they get the best from all of those players — plus those who have under-performed to date, like Jazz Chisholm Jr. — they are not Judge. 

“It kind of sucks not having a three-time MVP in your lineup,” Chisholm said after a 2-1 win over the Guardians. “But at the same time, we all know we can’t use it as an excuse. We’re all baseball players and we got to go out there and win a game.” 

Earlier on Thursday, the Yankees had been waiting to hear back from vascular specialist Dr. Gregory Pearl, who reviewed Judge’s images, hoping to rule out an extreme diagnosis like thoracic outlet syndrome.

They appear to have at least avoided that for now, which is the best news to come out of announcing that one of the best players in the game could miss months. 

“You really miss a player like that, not only out on the field, [but] in the clubhouse and in the dugout, different things like that from a leadership standpoint,” Ryan McMahon said. “You’re always going to miss an Aaron Judge. But it’s on us. We got to hold it down.”

These Atlanta Braves sure have a knack for winning just enough games to take a series.

After winning the first two games at home against the Toronto Blue Jays to win their 17th series of the season, they sputtered out at the plate in a 7-2 loss to the Blue Jays in Thursday night’s finale.

Of those copious series wins, only two have been sweeps — which they haven’t done since May 1-3 at Colorado.

It’s at least somewhat true that the final score was not indicative of the competitiveness of the game. The Blue Jays blew open what had been a contested battle with a four-run ninth off Reynaldo López, scoring all of the runs with two outs.

But that inning made what was a lopsided offensive showing more like it probably should have on the scoreboard based on the hit column.

The Braves allowed a season-high-tying 16 hits to Toronto, which saw each of its top eight hitters in the lineup notch at least one hit and was 7-for-18 with runners in scoring position.

Atlanta’s offense, by comparison, managed just four hits and was 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

That was certainly surprising given the pitching matchup. The Braves started Chris Sale, while Toronto opened with reliever Mason Fluharty before turning it over to Chad Dallas, making his major league debut after he was promoted from Triple-A Buffalo earlier in the day.

Dallas managed the Braves pretty well, getting out of a runner-on-third, one-out situation he inherited and allowing one run on two hits over 3 2/3 innings. And Toronto’s bullpen then really shut the door on the Braves, retiring 12 of 13 Braves over their final four innings at the plate.

All of the Blue Jays’ scoring before the ninth came in a three-run third where they put five straight runners on base with one out. The rally began with the only extra-base hit of the inning, a double by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Singles by Kazuma Okamoto and Charles McAdoo followed before a hit-by-pitch of Nathan Lukes and a two-run single off Myles Straw’s bat.

That was certainly the tone of Sale’s outing. He wasn’t consistently hit hard but Toronto racked up 10 hits (his season high allowed) over 5 2/3 innings. His three earned runs allowed were his most since allowing six against the Angels on April 6.

Once again, run support was a totally uncontrollable problem for Sale, who fell to 3-3 over his last six starts despite posting a 2.15 ERA over that span.

The Braves got a run right back in the bottom of the third after Ronald Acuña Jr. led off with a single, stole second for his 14th swipe of the season (and third in as many nights), advanced to third on a Mauricio Dubón single and came home on Matt Olson’s sacrifice fly.

Speaking of Dubón, he built off last night’s go-ahead homer by notching two of Atlanta’s four hits. His second hit was an eighth-inning solo homer to snap a streak of 14 straight batters retired which dated back to the final out of the third.

After Dubón had one homer in May, he has two in his first three June games.

At first, the Braves’ bullpen gave the offense a chance to come to life. Didier Fuentes got out of a jam he inherited in the sixth before delivering a scoreless seventh, and Dylan Dodd worked through the eighth without incident.

But López’s ninth inning that got away from him dug way too deep a hole for an offense which never found its gear after a strong showing in Wednesday’s series-clinching win.

Up Next

No rest for these Braves, who will stay at home to host the Pittsburgh Pirates this weekend. Pittsburgh entered Thursday’s series finale against Houston having won four of five.

Aaron Judge will be out through at least the All-Star break after he was diagnosed with a stress fracture of the first rib on his right side, the New York Yankees announced Thursday, June 4. 

Judge, the three-time American League MVP, has undergone significant testing since last playing in a game May 31. The club announced Thursday that his test results would be reviewed by a thoracic outlet syndrome specialist, and the announcement of the rib fracture came several hours later. 

The Yankees said Judge's injury will require a period of "rest and limited activity," and Judge will be reexamined in four to six weeks; the lone timeline offered by the club was that Judge is "expected to return sometime this season." 

It's unclear whether the stress fracture would ultimately require removal of the rib, a surgical procedure that would likely sideline Judge for the remainder of the season. Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler was diagnosed with vacuous TOS and underwent removal of the rib last September; he did not pitch in a regular season game until April 25. 

Judge, 34, won his second consecutive AL MVP last season when he led the majors in batting (.331), on-base (.457) and slugging (.688) and hit 53 home runs. He was off to a similarly powerful start this season, with 17 home runs in 59 games, though his OPS of .907 - while still elite - is off his 1.144 pace of 2025. 

Minus Judge, the Yankees lost two of three games to the Cleveland Guardians. They started Jose Caballero in right field the first two games of the series, then moved Caballero to shortstop, benched Anthony Volpe and gave Max Schuemann a start in right. Judge's production will be virtually impossible to replace, and the extent of Judge's injury and length of absence may frame the extent to which they seek offensive reinforcements at the August trade deadline. 

New York enters the weekend 37-25, a half-game behind Tampa Bay in the AL East.  

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Aaron Judge injury timeline revealed by Yankees in latest update

The Yankees will be without Aaron Judge for some time.

After days of imaging and re-imaging, the Yankees announced Thursday night that the two-time AL MVP has a stress fracture of the first rib on his right side. 

"He will be reimaged in approximately four to six weeks to determine the level of healing and appropriate next steps," the team wrote in a statement. " Judge is expected to return at some point this season."

Judge was missing from the team's series opener against the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday when manager Aaron Boonerevealed that Judge had been dealing with a bone bruise in his upper right rib and was feeling it through his right shoulder. 

“He’s been, kind of the last couple of weeks, dealing with some shoulder soreness, just kind of nagging,” Boone said at the time. “And then over the weekend, the last couple of games in Sacramento, I think it became a little more than that, where I noticed on some swings and stuff."

 For days, the Yankees and their fans were waiting for the results of the imaging. 

Judge missed the entire Guardians series, in which the Yankees went 1-2, and will now be without their captain for quite some time.

The 34-year-old has had a solid season so far, but has scuffled of late. Over his last seven games, Judge has just one home run and is hitting 7-for-26 (.269). He has only one home run in his last 18 games. 

Overall, Judge is hitting .248 with 17 home runs and 38 RBI to go with his .908 OPS this season.

As for Judge replacements, the Yankees hope to get back Giancarlo Stanton and Jasson Dominguez soon. Dominguez is set to start his rehab assignment on Friday and Boone said Thursday that he expects to continue into next week. It's unclear if the news on Judge has shifted Dominguez's timeline.

For Stanton, the slugger is seemingly further away. The former NL MVP continues to have live BP and his running ramp-up, and the Yankees skipper conceded earlier this week that it could be a couple of more weeks before Stanton returns to the team. 

Spencer Jones, who had a cup of coffee with the club when Dominguez landed on the IL, could receive the promotion again. 

Across 10 games with the club, Jones went 4-for-24 (all singles) with three walks, two RBI, one stolen base and 12 strikeouts.