Before he became the first man in baseball history to homer in his first three at-bats, Joshua Baez of the Cardinals had a four-homer game in Triple-A . . .

At the opposite extreme, Kyle Tucker has been a $60 million boondoggle for the Dodgers, who watched the free agent signee struggle to reach the Mendoza Line since the All-Star break . . .

After three starts for the Dodgers, Tarik Skubal had yet to record his first National League victory . . .

Meanwhile, closer Edwin Diaz is back on the IL: he worked seven times before hitting the Dodger IL in April and undergoing surgery to address loose bodies in his elbow. He was Reinstated at the end of July, he has allowed 11 earned runs in 7 2/3 innings since coming off the IL and is now back on the list again, this time with neck problems . . .

In a baseball version of Whack-a-Mole, his arrival coincided with the return of Blake Snell, another lefty with two Cy Young trophies, who had made only one start over the first four months . . .

Max Fried never made more than 30 as a Brave because of a myriad of injuries but last year led the majors with 19 wins in 32 starts spanning 195 1/3 innings — all career peaks after signing an eight-year, $218 million free agent contract with the Yankees . . .

His elbow began to bark early in 2026, his second season in pinstripes, and eventually cost him nine weeks on the injured list — the first time around — and perhaps the rest of the season now that he’s sidelined again . . .

When the original Yankee Stadium opened in 1923, it was the first ballpark with a warning track instead of an incline that alerted outfielders they were approaching the wall . . .

Ace Atlanta southpaw Chris Sale could join Dazzy Vance (1928 Brooklyn Dodgers) as the only Lively Ball (since 1920) pitchers age 37 or older to post a sub-2.10 ERA and 200+ strikeouts in the same campaign.

Leading Off

Abrams is July 2026 NL Player of the Month

By Andrew Sharp

[Editor’s Note: CJ Abrams was expected to play second base for the first time last night, but sprained his ankle and wasn’t in the lineup. Neither were James Wood, another injured All-Star, or the traded Luis Garcia, Jr. and Curtis Mead.]

Two-time All-Star CJ Abrams was named NL Player of the Month for July. The Nationals’ shortstop hit .348 with five doubles, 10 homers, 23 RBI and six stolen bases, scored 17 runs, had a .742 slugging percentage and posted a 1.149 OPS in 23 games.

Abrams, voted the NL’s starting shortstop for the All-Star game, also showed improved selectivity at the plate in July, walking 11 times. He had 42 bases-on-balls at the end of the month after walking just 37 times all season in 2025. His .360 on-base percentage was .45 higher than his lifetime mark.

Obtained from San Diego in the Juan Soto trade at the 2022 deadline, Abrams has been the Nats’ starting shortstop since then. Like Abrams, two others obtained in the trade –- James Wood and MacKenzie Gore -- also became all-stars for the Nats.

Nationals’ fans were relieved that Paul Tobani, the team’s president of baseball operations, resisted trade offers at the 2026 deadline, despite the swirling rumors about all the teams that wanted the 25-year-old shortstop.

Abrams frequently flashes brilliance in the field, although he makes too many bad throws and muffs more than his share on routine grounders. As a result, the Nats are moving him to second base this week, presumably for the rest of this season and beyond.

Still, his renewed focus and training, weight and diet have paid off this season as he has exceeded his career highs in all the frequently-cited offensive statistics, with more than a month to go in 2026.

His 29 homers rank second on the Nationals to the still-injured Wood’s 30. CJ’s 91 RBIs as of Aug. 18 was one behind the league leader.

Abrams is the second current National to be named Player of the Month. Daylen Lile was recognized for the honor in September 2025, paired with Lile also being named September’s Rookie of the Month.

Andrew Sharp is a retired newspaper journalist and a SABR member. He was raised in the D.C. area as a fan of Senators I and II. He blogs about D.C. baseball at washingtonbaseballhistory.com

Cleaning Up

Tommy John Belongs in Cooperstown

By Dan Schlossberg

Tommy John once told me he’d rather have 12 more wins than have a surgery named after him.

The handsome Indiana native, who passed away last weekend at age 83, won 288 games over 26 seasons, one short of Nolan Ryan’s record for longevity. No pitcher not associated with steroids ever won more.

But the Hall of Fame never came calling, with writers instead considering John a compiler rather than a pitcher of Cooperstown caliber.

The four-time All-Star had a 3.34 career earned run average — excellent in the era of the designated hitter — and 46 shutouts, another stat that jumps off the page when compared to the current quick-hook days of 100 pitches or five innings, whichever comes first. He led his league in shutouts three times.

John went all the way 162 times — matching the number of games in a season — while reaching 20 wins three times, most recently with a career-best 22 for the 1980 Yankees.

He also pitched for the Indians, White Sox, Dodgers, Angels, and Athletics.

The soft-tossing southpaw averaged only 4.3 strikeouts per nine innings, never exceeding 138 in a season, and never stepped into the enormous shoes of strikeout artists Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale, who preceded him with the Dodgers. That may be the reason he doesn’t share their wall space in Cooperstown.

Another reason for his absence could have been his failure to win a World Series ring. He reached the Fall Classic three times, posting a 2-1 record and 2.67 ERA, but never got to celebrate a world championship.

Just 31 when he tore his UCL during the 1975 season, John submitted to the elbow ligament transplant surgery that was then considered experimental. Performed by Dr. Frank Jobe, then team physician for the Dodgers, the operation worked, allowing the lefty to win 164 games after his return in 1977.

He never won a Cy Young but finished second in the voting twice — in ‘77 and again two years later.

“He did so much in the game,” said Ron Guidry, another star southpaw who wore Yankee pinstripes. “It was great having him on the team. He was so knowledgable.

“When we were together, we were pretty much 1-2 on the staff and having him around gave me great comfort. He would answer any question you had.”

Current Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, who also recovered from Tommy John surgery, called the former Yankee a trailblazer. “What great perserverance he had, venturing into the unknown and writing the book — writing the script for how to push through it, overcome, and ultimately have success afterwards.”

Hundreds of hurlers, including Hall of Famer John Smoltz, have bounced back from the operation, in which a tendon from John’s right forearm was used to rewire his left elbow. Max Fried, the star southpaw on the Yankees staff, is also a survivor.

“I wouldn’t have been able to continue pitching without it,” John said, speaking for the growing fraternity that had the surgery.

Always available to the media, the well-spoken pitcher served as a broadcaster and minor-league manager after his retirement as a player in 1989.

HtP weekend editor Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ covers baseball for Lucas Communications, Sports Collectors Digest, USA TODAY Sports Weekly, Sports Byline USA, Memories & Dreams, and other outlets. His email is ballauthor@gmail.com.

Extra Innings

Atlanta had won 11 straight games from the Twins before losing all three of this week’s series at Target Field, where they never even had a lead in any game . . .

The Braves began their current road trip in an offensive malaise similar to the one that afflicted them in the month of June, when the Phillies closed to within two games of the NL East lead . . .

Compounding the problem is the fact that Atlanta has the third-toughest remaining schedule, including the next six games against the Brewers and Dodgers . . .

When the Twins played in the Metrodome, players hated the 44 steps they needed to navigate between the field and the clubhouse — and Cal Ripken, Jr. figured out a way to make the run in 12 steps . . .

Kudos to the Brewers for their 22-0 win over Seattle that featured a nine-run outburst in the bottom of the eighth inning . . .

Consistency counts: Shohei Ohtani, still the front-runner in an MVP race that also includes Matt Olson and Pete Crow-Armstrong, has produced his eighth straight 30-homer season.

Know Your Editors

Here’s the Pitch is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles the Monday issue with Dan Freedman [dfreedman@lionsgate.com] editing Tuesday and Jeff Kallman [easyace1955@outlook.com] at the helm Wednesday and Thursday. Original editor Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com], does the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Former editor Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] is now co-director [with Benjamin Chase and Jonathan Becker] of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, which publishes this newsletter and the annual ACTA book of the same name. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HtP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.

. . . Knee Rambler Dept.—Ketel Marte apparently jumped the Diamondbacks to return to Arizona for a left knee MRI. It didn’t make manager Torey Lovullo’s life any simpler.

. . . Sunken Dept.—The 22-0 torpedoing the Brewers fired upon the Mariners Tuesday tied MLB’s modern-era (1900 forward) demolition record. (The two other such 22-0 destroy…

Read more

. . . Coming In with a Bang (or Three) Dept.—In the immortal words of Vin Scully, you really ought to see and hear it for yourselves, so we’re just going to keep our mouths shut:

. . . Josh the Ripper Dept.—You may have noticed young Joshua Baéz wears the uniform number (22) once worn by once-upon-a-time Cardinals first baseman/bomber Jack (the Ripper) Clark.

. . . Welcome Back to the Club Dept.—The 30-30 club, that is. The newest repeat member: Pete Crow-Armstrong, who had a day to remember against the Cubs’s rival White Sox Monday: a four-hit day that included two home runs to make 30 (one a walkoff) and a stolen base to make 30. This gave PCA back-to-back 30-30s.

. . . Bookends Dept.—In the same game, Crow-Armstrong became the first player in sixteen years to open a game with a home run (he hit Luis Castillo’s first pitch of the game into the right field bleachers) and win it with a home run. (A leadoff blast against reliever Hagen Smith in the bottom of the tenth.)

. . . Soul Brothers Six Dept.—From the indispensable Sarah Langs: Five other players have opened and closed games with home runs in major league history: Chris Young (7 August 2010), Ian Kinsler (19 July 2009), Reed Johnson (15 June 2003), Darin Erstad (25 June 2000), and Vic Power (7 May 1957).

. . . Total Bases Tandem Dept.—Incidentally, Ms. Langs informs further that PCA also became one of only two players to have four games with ten or more total bases in two seasons. (PCA: 2025, 2026.) The other: Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx (1933, 1938).

. . . Elbowed Aside Dept.—It’s a second left elbow bone bruise for Yankees LHP Max Fried and a second injured list term (retroactive to 14 August) with it. Friend missed time with a similar injury earlier this season. This the day before Carlos Rodon (LHP) returns from the IL.

. . . Designated Hider Dept.—That would be Diamondbacks DH Ketel Marte, who was a no-show for the Snakes’s game against the Red Sox in Fenway Park Monday. Manager Torey Lovullo said Marte’s placement on the restricted list is because of a “personal issue” on which neither the skipper nor the team elaborated.

Last season, Marte missed three games including two on the restricted list when he high-tailed it home to the Dominican Republic after his house was burglarised.

Leading Off

A 150 OPS+: Almost a Cooperstown Ticket

By Mark Kolier

I find Adjusted On-Base-Plus-Slugging (OPS+), to be a useful measure of a player’s performance. It’s not a statistic I grew up knowing anything about. Thanks to the advances in analytics, stemming in large part from the work of the great Bill James, fans are familiar with the idea that a player could be x% better than the ‘statistical average’ player.

It’s important to note that OPS+ adjusts for factors such as different ballparks and overall league scoring environments. Many of the career leaders in Adjusted OPS+ never knew they were leading in that category, because the statistic had not yet been thought up!

As of early August 2026, there are 42 players in MLB history that have a career Adjusted OPS+ of 150 or more. (In baseball, the number 42 always seems to turn up, doesn’t it?) For the charts below I had to break up the list of 42 into two sections and repeated Hall of Famer Roger Connor as a placeholder.

I included a few of the players with 149 career OPS+ so you could see that two of the three are Hall of Famers, but Benny Kauff did not play the required ten major league seasons to be eligible.

Even if he had, Kauff never would get in, as he was banned from baseball in 1921 by Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis (who was fond of bans), due to a controversial arrest of Kauff and indictment for auto theft. Kauff was acquitted of the auto-theft charge, yet Landis nevertheless refused to reinstate him because Landis believed the trial revealed undesirable associations/conduct. But that’s another story.

The Hall of Famers are indicated with the + sign, so non-Hall of Famers currently total fourteen; or, 33% of the total. Active players Mike Trout, Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto, and Yordan Alvarez are all currently ineligible, with the first four already possessing or rapidly building compelling Hall cases.

The best of the non-Hall of Fame 150+ OPS+ players

Gavy Cravath (151)—I’ve written about Gavy before. He would be a worthy inclusion.*

Charlie Keller (152)—It always amused me that he did not like being called King Kong Keller, which it seems he took as an insult instead of a compliment. Keller had a strange career, never playing more than 83 games after his age 29 season. Being overshadowed by such Hall of Fame Yankee teammates as Joe DiMaggio, Bill Dickey, and a late-career Lou Gehrig didn’t help. Sometimes, being a great Yankee can still get you lost amongst other great Yankees.

Pete Browning (163) – Browning played from 1882-1894 and had a career .341 batting average. He played more than fifty percent of his career (eight seasons) in the American Association**, which may have impacted his being elected. Browning continues to be a glaring omission to the Hall of Fame in the eyes of many, including me.

The ‘woulda’, ‘coulda’, ‘shoulda’ group

Manny Ramirez (154), Mark McGwire (163), Joe Jackson (170), and Barry Bonds (182), are all excluded from Cooperstown for reasons that have been well documented. On their playing records alone, all four have obvious Hall of Fame credentials.

Like Pete Browning, Charley Jones (150), and Dave Orr (162) were 19^th century stars. Orr did not play the required 10 MLB seasons, so that lets him out.

Charley Jones was the 268^th player to ever play major league baseball. Statistics included on his Baseball Reference page include his time in the National Association, which predates the National League but generally is not recognized by MLB as a major league. That makes him more difficult to evaluate.

Jones led his league in home runs in 1877 with two in 57 games. He was born Benjamin Wesley Rippay on April 30, 1852, on a farm in Alamance County, North Carolina. It’s a shame he changed his name. ‘Rippay rips one’ has a nice ring to it!

Not counting Mr. Jones, out of the 42 players with career 150+ OPS+, only Cravath, Keller, and Browning are arguably HOFers. It would be nice if a number like 150 OPS+, fifty percent better offensively than league average, was a mandate for having your ticket stamped for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. But it doesn’t work that way. The exceptions are interesting and worth discussion since there are so few.

Also, having five active players in the top twenty for Adjusted Career OPS+ is impressive.

Among modern eligible players with 150+ career OPS+, Charlie Keller is essentially the only Hall omission whose candidacy isn’t explained by eligibility, a short career, or an extraordinary off-field issue. Among modern eligible players with 150+ career OPS+, Keller is essentially the only Hall omission without an obvious explanation beyond the relatively short length of his career.***

Barring extraordinary circumstances, I think it’s safe to say that a player who puts together a substantial career of ten or more seasons and finishes with an OPS+ of 150 or better will ultimately find his way to Cooperstown.

About the Author: Mark Kolier along with his son Gordon co-hosts a baseball podcast called ‘Almost Cooperstown’. He also has written baseball-related articles that can be accessed on Medium.com and Substack.com.

Editor’s Notes:

* A dead-ball era power hitter, Cravath the opposite-field-hitting righty hit 78 percent of his lifetime home runs at home, in Baker Bowl:

** The original American Association was formed in 1882 and disbanded in 1891. Four of its franchises joined and survived a downsizing in the National League. You know them today as the Cincinnati Reds, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the St. Louis Cardinals. The original AA is recognised officially as having been a major league.

*** Charlie Keller was a great power hitter before he missed a year and a half to wartime service in the merchant marine. He returned to the Yankees in August 1945, according to his Society for American Baseball Research biography, posted a splendid 1946, but suffered a slipped disc in 1947.

Surgery to remove the disc was successful, but Keller was never the same player again: he was never able to play another full season—and never hit more than six home runs in any of his final seasons, including two with the Tigers—before his retirement in 1952.

King Kong bought land for farming, expanded it in due course, and enjoyed the farming life until his death at 73 in 1990.

Extra Innings: They Said It, We Didn’t

On going 30-30 in the same game:

Today, I was like, “Man, it's pedal to the metal.” Have some conviction in the swings that you're taking. Don't be afraid to swing and miss kind of stuff. Simple as that really.

—Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cubs center fielder, after his two-bomb, one-steal 30-30 entry Monday.

This might be his best game in the big leagues right here. It was an amazing game.

—Craig Counsell, Cubs manager.

On power hitting in the Dead Ball Era

Short singles are like left-hand jabs in the boxing ring, but a home run is a knock-out punch. It is the clean-up man of the club that does the heavy scoring work even if he is wide in the shoulders and slow on his feet. There is no advice I can give in batting, except to hammer the ball. Some players steal bases with hook slides and speed. I steal bases with my bat.

—Gavy Cravath, whose single-season home run record Babe Ruth broke in 1919.

On Baker Bowl’s uber-short-distance right field wall

That fence isn’t always a friend to the home run slugger. I have hit that fence a good many times with a long drive that would have kept right on for a triple or a home run if the fence hadn’t been there. There are always two sides to every fence.

—Cravath, to Baseball Magazine editor F.C. Lane.

Last Licks: Tommy John, RIP

Longtime major league lefthanded pitcher Tommy John died last Saturday at 83, a week after he made a public farewell statement following his entry into hospice care. The first patient for the ulnat collateral ligament replacement surgery that’s borne his name since, John pitched fourteen major league seasons after rehabbing from the procedure.

Here’s the Pitch extends condolences to the John family and offers a few recollections of the brainy southpaw.

On the post-surgery durability of the late Tommy John

[It] wasn’t defined by Ryan-like velocity or anything remotely close to it. To watch John pitch was to wonder how it was possible he could be so good for so long. He didn’t strike out many hitters, and he didn’t move with the easy athleticism you might expect from a basketball prospect out of the Hoosier state, Indiana, who fielded numerous Division I offers.

The sinkerballer instead beat people with his willpower and guile. He became what the Yankees called Sunday “a bedrock of our rotation” and, despite failing to win a World Series ring, finished his career with a record of 6-3 and an ERA of 2.65 in 14 postseason games.

—Ian O’Connor, The Athletic.

On the immediate results

I know they had to give him a new arm. But did they have to give him Sandy Koufax’s?

—Pete Rose, after facing Tommy John post-surgery. (Lifetime, Rose’s slash line against Koufax was .175/.217/.193. Against John: .231/.286/.277.)

When they operated, I told them to put in a [Sandy] Koufax fastball. They did—but it was Mrs. Koufax’s.

—Tommy John.

On the other side of Tommy John’s, shall we say, guile . . .

Tommy John is the elegant Rhett Butler of outlaws. In the fine Whitey Ford tradition of mudballers and scuffballers, the gentlemanly John can turn a tiny scratch into a double play grounder. Asked how many pitches he has, John said, “Four basic ones—fastball, curve, slider, and changeup—plus eight illegal ones.” Then he gave his best Sunday school smile.

—Thomas Boswell, in “Salvation by Salivation,” How Life Imitates the World Series (1982).

That’s much, much more than a real scuffballer would need. God, Gaylord Perry or Tommy John could make this ball sing “The Star Spangled Banner.”

—Mike Flanagan, Orioles pitcher, showing Boswell a fresh ball into which he cut three inch-long scars with a coat hanger’s hook end.

Tommy John and Don Sutton. If anyone can find one smooth ball from that game, he ought to send it to Cooperstown.

—Anonymous scout in the Anaheim Stadium press box, 28 August 1987, after John and Sutton were the starting pitchers for the Yankees and the Angels, a game the Yankees won in eleven innings, 3-2. (Neither pitcher factored in the decision; they both came out with the score tied at two.)

Know Your Editors

Here’s the Pitch is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles the Monday issue with Dan Freedman [dfreedman@lionsgate.com] editing Tuesday and Jeff Kallman [easyace1955@outlook.com] at the helm Wednesday and Thursday. Original editor Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com], does the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Former editor Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] is now co-director [with Benjamin Chase and Jonathan Becker] of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, which publishes this newsletter and the annual ACTA book of the same name. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HtP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.

. . . The namesake of the biggest innovation in recent MLB history passed away when Tommy John passed away on Saturday. John was a strong pitcher for the Dodgers in the early 1970s when his elbow failed. So many pitchers before him had the same injury happen, but John connected with surgeon Frank Jobe and had a revolutionary ligament surgery. He returned to the mound in 1976, and in his first full season back to the mound in 1977, he won 20 games. Overall, he won 288 games, and between his on-field success and his off-field impact on the game, John absolutely should be enshrined in Cooperstown. He was 83.

. . . While certainly nowhere near the impact of the game as John, Butch Huskey was innovative in his own way. Playing with the New York Mets, Huskey wore number 42 as a tribute to Jackie Robinson. Two years into his career, Major League Baseball retired Robinson’s number across the league, and Huskey was among a small group of players grandfathered in to wear the number in the future after the retirement. Huskey played 642 games across seven MLB seasons. He passed away on Friday at age 54.

. . . The weekend also saw the passing of a college baseball legend. Skip Bertman began his legendary coaching career as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator for Miami in 1976. He won a national title with the Hurricanes in that role before moving to LSU in 1984 as the head coach. He turned around the program, heading to Omaha four times before winning his first championship in 1991. That would be the first of five titles in a 10-year span for LSU and Bertman. He retired from the field to become LSU’s athletic director in 2001. Bertman is widely considered among the top coaches in college baseball history. He passed on Friday at 88 years old.

Leading Off

Seattle, We Have a Problem

By Miguel Riera

Before reaching the Major Leagues, a baseball player goes through different levels and stages of development designed to maximize his talent and help him pursue the dream of reaching the highest level of the game.

Before reaching T-Mobile Park, a player in the Seattle Mariners organization must move through different levels, cities, coaches, teammates and competitive situations that help shape and refine him—not only as a baseball player, but also as a person.

For the Mariners, an important part of that process happens in Everett, Wash., through their High-A affiliate, the Everett AquaSox.

The AquaSox represent much more than another level within the organization. They are an important piece of a structure designed to turn talent into players prepared to compete at the highest levels of professional baseball, while also developing a winning mindset.

Because the process begins long before a player arrives in Everett.

Scouts and the teams responsible for the draft and international player identification and signings have the responsibility of finding the pieces that could become part of the organization’s future. But once that talent is selected and signed, another challenge begins: finding the best way to maximize each player’s potential.

And to do that, it is not enough to select well.

You have to develop well.

That process requires a structure capable of working with each player, understanding his needs and finding the right tools to take his talent to the next level. It requires good coaches and managers, but also a front-office structure that allows all those pieces to work in the same direction.

An Organization Built Around Development

The work being done in Everett is the result of a structure that involves much more than the coaching staff.

People such as Dan Tzlaft, Mike McCallaghan and Evan Morud have helped build an organization capable of serving as a true partner in the Seattle Mariners’ player-development process.

Each from his own area, but with a common objective: creating an environment where players, coaches and staff can do their jobs and where Everett can fulfill its role within the organization it belongs to.

The most visible result of that work came in 2025, when the AquaSox won the Northwest League championship.

But the championship can be viewed as more than the result of a successful season. It can also be seen as the realization of a competitive culture in which individual development and a winning mentality are part of the same process.

The Talent Behind the Talent

Once a player arrives in Everett, a new stage begins.

Ryan Scott, Zach Vincej, Hecmart Nieves and Edgardo Rivera represent different experiences within professional baseball and are part of a structure designed to address the different areas a young player needs to develop.

They are joined by specialized coaches and professionals who can work with players on specific aspects of their game and help improve the smallest details. Even figures with the experience of Franklin Gutiérrez can provide specialized knowledge that complements the coaching staff’s daily work.

Experience in winter baseball also brings a particular value.

Those who have worked in winter leagues understand an environment where players from different countries, cultures, playing styles and levels of experience share the same clubhouse. It is a different school of baseball, one that forces players and coaches to adapt quickly and understand different ways of competing.

That experience can be critical in player development.

It is not simply about teaching mechanics.

It is about understanding the game and finding the best way to communicate it to each player.

Everett and Seattle: A Proximity That Matters

Everett’s location is also part of its value within the Mariners’ system.

Its proximity to Seattle can become an advantage when circumstances require quick decisions.

This season provided a perfect example.

Seattle was dealing with a difficult stretch of injuries and needed an additional outfielder. At the same time, Tacoma, the organization’s Triple-A affiliate, was playing on the road.

Everett was at home.

The solution came from there.

Curtis Washington received the call from the AquaSox and had the opportunity to join the Seattle Mariners.

For the player, it was a chance to move closer to the dream of reaching the Major Leagues.

For the organization, it was a practical demonstration of how a development system works when several elements come together: prepared talent, roster needs, player availability and geographic proximity.

The path to the Major Leagues is not always linear.

Sometimes a player can move from High-A directly to the Major Leagues because circumstances require it.

When that happens, the preparation has to be there.

Building a Winning DNA

Individual development and a winning mentality do not have to be opposing concepts.

A player can improve his swing while learning how to compete.

He can develop his defensive tools while learning how to handle pressure.

He can improve his decision-making while understanding what it means to be part of a team that expects to win.

That is part of what Everett has been building.

The 2025 Northwest League championship demonstrated that development and competitiveness can coexist.

The primary purpose of High-A remains developing players for the levels ahead. But teaching them how to compete, respond to adversity and understand what it means to win is also part of preparing them for Seattle.

A winning DNA does not appear overnight.

It is built.

It is passed down.

And eventually, it becomes culture.

A New Chapter

For years, Everett Memorial Stadium has been part of the history of the AquaSox and baseball in the city.

Now Everett is preparing for a new chapter with the development of a new stadium that will give the organization better facilities and new opportunities to continue developing players.

But the future of the AquaSox should not be measured only by the characteristics of the new stadium.

The true value of a player-development organization is found in its people.

In the coaches who teach.

In the specialists who work on every detail.

In the people building the structure from the front office.

In those who identify the talent.

And in those responsible for turning that talent into players prepared for the next level.

The stadium can change the setting.

Culture can change careers.

And Everett has already shown that it can be much more than a stop on the road to Seattle.

This is where the next group of players headed to T-Mobile Park begins to take shape—players who could one day help the Seattle Mariners pursue the first World Series championship in franchise history.

Miguel Riera is an IBWAA member and covers baseball for Lineup al Dia. He can be found on a number of platforms, including YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. Riera is a member of the IBWAA and SABR, and is currently enrolled in the Baseball General Manager & Scouting program at Sports Management Worldwide (SMWW).

Extra Innings

Turning 43 today is former MVP, All-Star, and World Series champion Dustin Pedroia. The Red Sox drafted Pedroia out of Arizona State in the second round in 2004. By 2006, Pedroia had reached the majors, and he won the Rookie of the Year award in 2007 and the MVP in 2008, then was the Wilson Overall Defensive Player of the Year in 2013, showing how balanced his excellence was between his hitting and fielding. Unfortunately, Pedroia’s 30s were rough, primarily due to injury, as he played just 496 games over six seasons before retiring after the 2019 season. Pedroia’s JAWS mark is above new Hall of Famer Jeff Kent among second basemen, and nearly doubling his Hall of Fame vote total in his second year of balloting could indicate that Pedroia will eventually also find his plaque hanging in Cooperstown.

Know Your Editors

Here’s the Pitch is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [biggentleben@hotmail.com] handles the Monday issue with Dan Freedman [dfreedman@lionsgate.com] editing Tuesday and Jeff Kallman [easyace1955@outlook.com] at the helm Wednesday and Thursday. Original editor Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com], does the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Former editor Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] is now co-director [with Benjamin Chase and Jonathan Becker] of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, which publishes this newsletter and the annual ACTA book of the same name. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HtP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.

The rich get richer: two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell has returned to the Dodgers, fortifying their rotation for the stretch drive after injuries (shoulder and more) held him to one start and three innings before Tuesday night this season . . .

Entering play Wednesday, the streaking San Diego Padres forged a three-way tie with the Phillies and Diamondbacks for the final two NL wild-card spots — a dead heat with 41 games left on the schedule . . .

Three World Series have involved non-championship teams — wild-card winners who advanced in both leagues at the same time . . .

Since Pope Leo grew up in Chicago and went to White Sox games, the team gave out “Pope hats” to fans as a promotion . . .

Speaking of the surprising Sox, the rival Cleveland Guardians have been sinking in the AL Central standings since the trade deadline . . .

Leading Off

The Great Home Run Race: Triple Crown Is In Play

By Dan Schlossberg

Triple Crowns are so rare that the last time one player led both leagues in batting, home runs, and runs batted in was 70 years ago.

But the record of Mickey Mantle, who did it for the Yankees in 1956, could have company this summer.

Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros found himself locked in a four-way tie for the major-league home run lead when he woke up Wednesday morning.

Kyle Schwarber, Matt Olson, and Junior Caminero also had 35 home runs at that point in time.

Alvarez, 29, is a 6’4” left-handed hitter now in his eighth season in the majors. And he’s just about clinched this year’s Most Valuable Player Award in the American League.

Two mornings ago, he was leading the league with a .322 batting average, .435 on-base percentage, .623 slugging mark, and 1.058 OPS (on-base plus slugging).

In addition, nobody had more than his 269 total bases, 139 hits, or 80 runs scored — all achieved in 119 games.

No one has won even a single-league Triple Crown since Miguel Cabrera of the 2012 Detroit Tigers. And no one has won the elusive trophy in the National League since Joe Medwick did it with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1937 (that’s no typo).

It’s just so rare for a power-hitter to also produce a winning batting average.

Schwarber, to cite the best example, had a .250 average on Wednesday but even that was rare air for him. He owns a .233 career mark.

As for Olson, he went into Wednesday night action with a .266 mark for 2026 but only .258 lifetime.

Caminero was only slightly better: .277 for this year, .266 for his four-year career.

Alvarez, on the other hand, has a .300 lifetime average and has reached that mark in three previous seasons.

The race may depend upon the various team schedules. Schwarber, for example, got a boost by smacking two into-the-cornfield homers Thursday in the annual Field of Dreams game in Dyersville, Iowa.

He also plays 81 home games in a notorious bandbox, Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park.

Alvarez would have an even easier target in Daikin Park, formerly called Minute Maid Park, if he batted right-handed. As a left-handed slugger, he faces the same handicap as Ted Williams did in Fenway, where the short wall in left field is an easy target.

Caminero hit a career-peak 45 home runs last year, when the Rays played home games in a minor-league park in Tampa, but the domed Tropicana Field is hardly a haven for home run hitters.

All American League hitters love playing in West Sacramento, temporary home of the Athletics while their new Las Vegas stadium is under construction. The ball simply flies there.

With Nick Kurtz and Shea Langeliers likely sidelined for the season, the Athletics are virtually certain to suffer the consequences, with pitchers giving up far more home runs to visitors than the home team produces.

As for The Great Home Run Race, all four participants play for contending clubs.

Tampa Bay and Atlanta reside atop the two Eastern Divisions but Philadelphia is second to the Braves in the NL. The two teams have seven games left against each other but Atlanta’s current lead looks formidable.

Houston, meanwhile, is engaged in a tight divisional race with the upstate Texas Rangers for supremacy of the AL West, with Seattle also within a hot streak of the lead. What Alvarez does down the stretch could be as critical as what Cal Raleigh did for the Mariners last year.

The Olson-Schwarber contest has the added flair of both men chasing career records. Schwarber led the majors with a personal-best 56 home runs last season but Olson has a clear shot at topping his own 2023 record of 54, which was also a Braves club mark.

Olson, closing in on 900 consecutive games played, will be in the lineup every day as long as he avoids injury. Had Schwarber not missed some time earlier in the 2026 campaign, he would likely be leading the league right now.

The upcoming seven-game matchup of the two behemoths could decide more than one race.

HtP weekend editor Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ covers baseball for Lucas Communications, Sports Collectors Digest, USA TODAY Sports Weekly, Here’s the Pitch, and various other outlets. His email is ballauthor@gmail.com.

Cleaning Up

Padres Push Playoff Dreams With Sizzling Stretch

By Dan Schlossberg

When you’re hot, you’re hot.

The San Diego Padres are even hotter than the Southern California summer.

After struggling to score more than the teenaged wallflower at the high school prom, they have come alive just in time to salvage their season — and save the job of rookie manager Craig Stammen. They stretched their winning streak to six last night.

Here’s a statistical look at the turnaround as it existed on Wednesday afternoon:

Padres in the 1st half:

• .226 BA (worst in MLB)

• .302 OBP (worst in MLB)

• .370 SLG (2nd worst in MLB)

• .672 OPS (worst in MLB)

• 379 runs scored (worst in MLB)

Padres in the 2nd half

• .283 BA (best in MLB)

• .356 OBP (best in MLB)

• .457 SLG (2nd best in MLB)

• .813 OPS (best in MLB)

• 139 runs scored (2nd best in MLB)

San Diego can’t be as bad as it was in the first half but probably can’t be as good as it’s been in the second half.

Still, the Friars are flush with stars. Fernando Tatis, Jr. Manny Machado. Xander Bogaerts. Jackson Merrill. Even the unheralded Ty France.

The Padres protect their starting pitchers with a closer feared around the league. And it’s a good thing they resisted numerous tempting offers to lure Mason Miller away.

On July 10, the Padres were 5 1/2 games out of any playoff spot — even the third and final wild-card. On August 12, they finished a sweep of the league-leading Brewers with an 11-inning victory. In less than a month, they’ve leapfrogged six would-be contenders in the wild-card race.

Although some 40 games remain, San Diego is set to sprint to the finish line.

In the month before the Aug. 3 trade deadline, the Padres played 17 games in 17 days before the All-Star break, then 26 games in 27 days. But they added two quality starters — impending free agents

Robbie Ray from San Francisco and Casey Mize from Detroit — for three of the team’s top nine prospects. None of the men on the 26-man roster were involved.

Thanks to an offense that slumbered through most of the first half, the Padres won eight of nine just before the deadline. That changed their mindset from seller to buyer.

Taking advantage of untimely slumps by the Phillies and Diamondbacks, the Padres went 15-4 and moved up in the standings. When they woke up Thursday morning, they stood one full game ahead of both Philadelphia and Arizona, who were deadlocked for the National League’s final playoff spot.

San Diego seeks to win the NL West, which it hasn’t done since 2006; the league pennant, an elusive target since 1998; and its first world championship. The 1969 expansion team has reached the World Series twice (1984 and 1998) but lost both times.

Getting past the stacked Los Angeles Dodgers, seeking their third straight world title, won’t be easy. But the often-overlooked upstarts are planning to give it the old college try.

HtP weekend editor Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ covers baseball for Lucas Communications, USA TODAY Sports Weekly, Sports Collectors Digest, Memories & Dreams, and numerous other outlets. The author of 43 baseball books is available for public appearances, which may be booked through ballauthor@gmail.com.

Extra Innings

Kudos to Alex Bregman, hot after a cold start in his first year with the Cubs: after the first three-homer game of his career a few days ago, he had a massive 1.123 OPS with five home runs and 14 RBI in August, proving there were no Dog Days for him . . .

Though heavily criticized for not acquiring a front-line starter before the trade deadline, the Atlanta Braves could have an over-abundance of quality arms in their rotation if any of Reynaldo Lopez, AJ Smith-Sharver, Spencer Schwellenbach, or Spencer Strider return from injury in time for the playoffs . . .

Don’t be surprised if one or more of them wind up in the bullpen . . .

With Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, and Giancarlo Stanton all sidelined, the Yankees made slugging rookie Spencer Jones their No. 3 hitter . . .

They also received solid late-summer production from fellow rookie George Lombard, Jr., whose father is the bench coach under A.J. Hinch in Detroit . . .

Leather-lunged Yankee fans, emulating the behavior of Yankee Stadium bleacher bums, greeted the Parade of Legends in Cooperstown by shouting out the names of the women accompanying the stars in the open pick-ups . . .

Most of them responded with surprise, delight, air kisses, smiles, waves and open arms.

Know Your Editors

Here’s the Pitch is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles the Monday issue with Dan Freedman [dfreedman@lionsgate.com] editing Tuesday and Jeff Kallman [easyace1955@outlook.com] at the helm Wednesday and Thursday. Original editor Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com], does the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Former editor Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] is now co-director [with Benjamin Chase and Jonathan Becker] of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, which publishes this newsletter and the annual ACTA book of the same name. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HtP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.

Three time MVP Mike Trout has homered on his birthday three different times . . .

Trout, in the big leagues since 2011, has never played in a post-season game his team won . . .

Chris Sale’s ejection Sunday, before the finale of a three-game Braves-Yankees series even started, was the second of his career and only one since April 23, 2015, when he was playing for the Chicago White Sox . . .

Sale’s pre-game remarks to the umps Sunday followed a balk call that ultimately made the difference in a 5-4 Yankees win over the Braves . . .

Slumping closer Raisel Iglesias blew a save last weekend at Yankee Stadium when he allowed three hits, a walk, and a hit batsman — and made a two-base throwing error — in two-thirds of an inning, failing to protect a 2-0 Atlanta lead . . .

The outing, the continuation of a long skid that started July 1, was directly responsible for the end of the eight-game winning streak the Braves brought to the Bronx . . .

Ex-Brave Max Fried, facing his old mates for the first time since defecting via free agency, matched six scoreless innings with Atlanta import Tyler Mahle . . .

The Braves have now had two Mahlers (Mickey and Rick) and one Mahle (Tyler) . . .

Atlanta now has matching left-handed Dylans (Dodd and Lee) in the bullpen.

Leading Off

Why Arizona Could Be the Dodgers’ Biggest Post-season Threat

By Allen Settle

The Arizona Diamondbacks secured the season-series edge over the vaunted Los Angeles Dodgers with a 4–2 victory last Sunday, August 9. The D-backs, who have shown little fear of the back-to-back World Series champions, finished the year with an impressive 7–6 record against their NL West rivals.

As things currently stand, the Dodgers remain poised to capture their fourth consecutive (and 12th in the last 13 seasons) NL West title. But for this modern-day dynasty, there may be one final showdown with their pesky rivals, this time on baseball’s grandest stage.

On paper, Arizona is one of the few clubs in baseball with enough offensive firepower to contend with Los Angeles. The trio of Corbin Carroll, Ketel Marte, and Geraldo Perdomo is capable of matching the star power of Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, and Mookie Betts. Meanwhile, veterans like Nolan Arenado and Ildemaro Vargas, combined with budding stars such as Gabriel Moreno and Ryan Waldschmidt, give Arizona the lineup depth to match up with virtually any offense in MLB.

If healthy, however, the Dodgers hold a decided advantage on the mound. Two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell’s return has provided a significant boost to the rotation, but the status of Ohtani as a pitcher and Tyler Glasnow remains uncertain. The club is also carefully working Edwin Díaz back into a high-leverage bullpen role, with mixed results so far.

On the other side, the Diamondbacks are expected to welcome 2021 Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes back to the rotation in late August or early September. The ace is already throwing bullpen sessions as he works his way back from Tommy John surgery. His return, combined with a breakout season from All-Star Eduardo Rodríguez, who has posted a dazzling 1.88 ERA in four starts against the Dodgers this season, could give Arizona a rotation capable of going toe-to-toe with Los Angeles.

As a cherry on top, former closer Justin Martinez is also expected to return by late August, providing an upgrade over the recently-released Paul Sewald. His return would allow arms like Brandyn Garcia, Kevin Ginkel, and Juan Morillo to settle back into more natural roles in the bullpen.

The Diamondbacks have played the Dodgers with confidence, energy, and, most importantly, success. If injuries, age, fatigue, or prolonged slumps continue to plague the defending champions, there may not be a team in the National League better equipped to dethrone the juggernaut than Arizona. Those chances only improve if Burnes and Martinez return anything close to their previous form.

The other top NL contenders have notable weaknesses of their own. The Brewers have struggled in the postseason, particularly against Los Angeles. The Braves and Cubs possess plenty of offensive firepower but appear to lack comparable depth at the top of their rotations. And while the Phillies have plenty of star power, the bottom half of their lineup lacks the same level of impact.

That makes the Arizona Diamondbacks perhaps the most under-the-radar team in baseball, and one of the most intriguing candidates to play Cinderella in the 2026 MLB postseason.

Allen Settle is an MLB writer who has never given up his passion for the beautiful game of baseball! He is an IBWAA member who has written as a contributor for the Fansided network, covering the New York Mets and Miami Marlins. You can connect with him on X at .

Between the Lines

Oy! Edwin Diaz Does Not Deliver for Dodgers

By Dan Schlossberg

Lavishing big bucks on pitchers is always a gamble. That especially applies to relievers.

Consider the case of Edwin Diaz, once considered the most indispensable player on the Mets.

He’s been a disaster ever since joining the Dodgers on a three-year, $69 million deal in free agency.

Despite a 2.93 ERA and 144 saves in six-plus seasons with the Mets, the two-time NL Reliever of the Year has done nothing to justify a dime of his signing.

Diaz, 32, started the week with an ERA of 10.80 in 12 games — including an 18.00 mark in his first three August outings. It jumped to 11.57 last night, when he yielded three hits and three earned runs, blew his fourth save, and took the loss in a critical defeat by the Milwaukee Brewers.

Díaz was placed on the injured list on April 20 to remove loose bodies in his right elbow and missed over three months. Prior to landing on the shelf, the right-hander struggled at the start because of loose bodies in his prized right elbow.

But he hasn’t been much better since surgical repair.

The Dodgers thought signing Diaz would plug the biggest void on the varsity roster but so far, they were wrong.

They were also wrong about Tanner Scott last season, though L.A. waltzed to its second straight world championship anyway.

As Dodgers manager Dave Roberts explained, “If we can’t trust Edwin Diaz in the postseason, then we’re going to have big problems. So I have to give him every opportunity to get comfortable, get back, cut his teeth, dust the rust off — whatever way you want to look at it — in that role.”

Entering play Thursday, Diaz had a lifetime average of 14.5 strikeouts per nine innings plus a 2.97 ERA. He also had 259 career saves — an impressive total for someone of his age. The three-time All-Star has twice finished in the Top 10 for the Cy Young Award.

That’s the guy the Dodgers thought they were getting when they gave him a three-year, $69 million contract that paid the highest annual average ever given a relief pitcher.

When he’s good, he’s lights out. But when he’s bad, he’s in big trouble.

He yields only 6.3 hits per nine innings but has also thrown 57 home run balls — including a recent ninth-inning, two-run shot by Arizona rookie Ryan Waldschmidt that won a game for the D’backs and extended the losing streak of the struggling Dodgers to seven games.

Diaz missed the entire 2023 season after breaking his leg while celebrating a Team Puerto Rico victory in the World Baseball Classic. And he missed the first half of this season after undergoing surgery to remove loose bodies from his prized right elbow.

Since the Dodgers enjoy a huge lead in their division — eight-and-a-half games over San Diego on Thursday morning — they have ample time to let Diaz recapture his former form. But what if he doesn’t?

Diaz could join the long list of pitchers who suddenly lost their skills, often because of advancing athletic age, overuse, or unexpected injuries. That list includes Spencer Strider, Kyle Wright, Noah Syndergaard, Matt Harvey, Wayne Garland, and many more erstwhile stars.

HtP weekend editor Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ is the author of 43 books, including Hank Aaron biographies written 50 years apart. His email is ballauthor@gmail.com.

Cleaning Up

A Writer’s Moving Tribute to Jeff Kent

By Dan Schlossberg

The best thing about covering such events as Hall of Fame Induction Weekend is running into fellow writers who are old friends — people you see only occasionally but wish it were more frequently.

That’s why I was so glad to see Alyson Footer of MLB.com in Cooperstown last month. She’s a gifted writer with roots in Houston, which is where I first met her while ghost-writing Making Airwaves: Sixty Years at Milo’s Mic, the autobiography of the late great Astros announcer Milo Hamilton.

After she posted Facebook memories of her encounters with newly-minted Hall of Famer Jeff Kent when both were in Houston, I asked her permission to reprint them here.

So I devote this space to her words this week:

By Alyson Footer

One more 2004 memory, and then we’ll return to our regularly scheduled 2026.

Jeff Kent signed with the Astros as a free agent before the 2003 season, and he brought with him a reputation that he would admit today was well-earned — standoffish, a little prickly, and, at times, downright strange.

I think I was a little intimidated by him, but at the same time, I liked him. I sensed his outward demeanor wasn’t telling the whole story. Good family. Educated. Generous. Smart.

I kept my distance as much as I could while also needing his quotes and insight, as is the case for any reporter-player dynamic. Through the gruffness, I saw a decent human. He had such a nice family. Raising really good kids. To borrow a phrase from more modern times, the math wasn’t mathing.

He was almost always professional, making sure he was regularly available to the few of us who covered the team at home and on the road. Over the years, I always laughed and said Jeff and I bonded over our shared intolerance for stupidity. Neither of us were very good at playing that “game within the game” — where you sometimes have to wade through the b.s. in baseball to get what you need. I liked his realness, and I think he appreciated mine.

I remember one time saying to him, “I’m on to you. If you’re not careful, I’m going to ‘out’ you as a nice guy.” He laughed. (And then scowled and turned away, always staying in character.)

The Astros’ Game 7 loss in the NLCS in 2004 was the worst post-game scene I’ve ever witnessed in my career. It was 100 times worse than their World Series loss the next season. Most players were crying. It was completely devastating. They had the series. And then, in a blink, it was over.

So I’m standing in the clubhouse, trying to figure out how I’m going to put this into written words. And I see Jeff Kent, standing at his locker, motioning for me to come over.

He thanked me for my good work and professionalism. He told me he appreciated my diligent approach to my job. He wished me well.

Jeff wanted to stay with the Astros beyond that season, but I think he already knew it was probably not happening. (And it didn’t — he signed with the Dodgers that winter.)

That encounter always stuck with me. It was just so unlike him, and it came at the lowest, most awful moment, in those first minutes after the Game 7 loss.

When Jeff was elected to the Hall of Fame in January, I felt like I really needed to go to Cooperstown and cover the induction. We send only a couple of reporters every year, and I’m not even a reporter anymore. But I threw my hat into the ring and went for it.

So here’s how Induction Week went for Jeff Kent -- he did just short of a billion interviews, and he never got through a single one without crying. Every time he spoke publicly, he cried. I don’t want to say this is the Jeff Kent I knew in 2004, but this version was a heck of a lot closer than anything he tried to convince us he was all those years ago.

I loved catching up with him in Cooperstown. We had a lot of laughs; he was gracious and thoughtful. His soft side became one of the main storylines of the weekend. I like to think I scooped everyone 22 (!) years ago when I sensed there was way more to this guy than the scowling, distant person he tried so hard to be.

I didn’t take many pictures in Cooperstown. I just wanted to be present. But here is one snapshot I took of Jeff as he started his pre-ceremony media session the day before the induction (spoiler alert: he cried):

Alyson Footer was a Houston beat writer before joining MLB.com.

Extra Innings

When this week began, only five of the 15 American League teams had won more than they lost. So how are they going to send six teams into the post-season? . . .

Craig Kimbrel, one of a half-dozen veterans released when their teams were unable to find trade partners before deadline, has hooked on with the Kansas City Royals — his 12th major-league team and third this year (after Mets and Rays) . . .

The Los Angeles Angels compounded the felony of bad trading by firing highly-respected pitching coach Mike Maddux (brother of Greg) and several colleagues . . .

Former Mets infielder Jose Iglesias has traded his glove for a mic — on Broadway. For the next six weeks, he’ll be the narrator for the Tony award-winning show Buena Vista Social Club — and didn’t even apply for the spot . . .

Meanwhile, there’s always something happening in the minors that’s better than anything going on in the majors. For example:

Pioneer League linescore:

Know Your Editors

Here’s the Pitch is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles the Monday issue with Dan Freedman [dfreedman@lionsgate.com] editing Tuesday and Jeff Kallman [easyace1955@outlook.com] at the helm Wednesday and Thursday. Original editor Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com], does the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Former editor Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] is now co-director [with Benjamin Chase and Jonathan Becker] of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, which publishes this newsletter and the annual ACTA book of the same name. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HtP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.

. . . Fallen Angels Dept.—Well, fallen coaches. Never mind that the Angels don’t have a virtuoso pitching staff in the first place, that didn’t stop them from firing pitching coach Mike Maddux, assistant pitching coach Darryl Scott, and bullpen coach Dom Chiti Tuesday. Maddux’s and Scott’s interim replacements, in order: Tim Leveque and Mi…

Read more

. . . Retirement Dept.—As baseball approaches the revived Field of Dreams game, the player who won the first with a walkoff home run announced his retirement. Two-time All-Star shortstop Tim Anderson—colourful, occasionally controversial—said in his announcement that the game became too painful, an allusion to the physical issues of the past few years.

Last seen playing for the Angels in 2025, Anderson will retire as a member of the White Sox for whom he played his first eight seasons.

. . . Only Human Dept.—By his own admission, Tarik Skubal “kinda sprayed the ball a little bit” in his home debut as a Dodger Monday. (He surrendered a two-run homer to Jac Caglianone in the bargain.) But the Dodgers still managed to beat the Royals, 6-5, the decisive hit Freddie Freeman’s tie-breaking second RBI single (both of which sent Shohei Ohtani home) in the seventh that held up.

The win made the Damn Dodgers—who ended July and opened August with a seven-game losing streak—a whopping 2-7 for the month thus far.

. . . You Better, You Bet Dept.—Three Capitol Hill figures—Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT); Reps. Valerie Foushee (D-NC) and Paul Tonko (D-NY)—demand (their word) MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association ban promotional deals between players and betting operators such as FanDuel.

The three lawmakers’ letter to both sides claim such deals allowing personalised player content “drive vulnerable fans into debt and addiction.” They want a response by August 24.

It follows an incident in which FanDuel sent a customer—who later sued the book—a video featuring Phillies star Bryce Harper to which Harper said he never consented for such use.

. . . Karma’s a Giant Dept.—A week after Giants center fielder Harrison Bader incurred a scooter riding-related injury, which prompted the Giants to suspend his pay, rookie Giants catcher Daniel Susac couldn’t resist trolling Bader after whacking a double in a game against the Rangers (and notice Bader didn’t take it personally):

Whoops.

Susac himself turned up with an injury during Sunday’s game against the Tigers, incurring a left kneecap fracture when fouling a pitch right into it during the fifth inning. The injury will cost Susac the rest of this season. Owitch!

Leading Off

Arraez is Just What the Phillies Needed

So what took them so long to figure it out?

By Russ Walsh

I was in the stands at Citizens Bank Park when contact hitter extraordinaire Luis Arraez made his Philadelphia Phillies debut on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, at 6:40 PM. My baseball buddy, Don, and I barely had time to get our Yuengling Lagers settled in their Koozies, before Arraez, batting fourth, singled home Trea Turner in his first ever Phillies at-bat.

The fans celebrated by rising to their feet a second time (moments earlier, they greeted his walk up to the plate with a standing O) and cheering wildly. Arraez celebrated the RBI hit with a dramatic fist pump and chest thump as he pointed to his new teammates in the first base dugout, as if to say, “I’m here for you boys!”

Arraez came to the Phillies from the San Francisco Giants in a trade deadline deal on August 3. Phillies President of Baseball Operations, Dave Dombrowski said, “[Arraez] is a different type of hitter than we have.” If he means a guy who hits for high average, doesn’t strike out much, makes consistent hard contact, sprays the ball around (hence the nickname La Regadera: The Sprinkler), and plays with a high level of energy, Dombrowski is exactly right.

All of that was on display in his first at-bat in a Phillies uniform. He followed his RBI single with an RBI double in his second at-bat. The question might be asked, “What took the Phillies so long to figure out Arraez is exactly the player they needed?”

The Phillies have several fine hitters: Turner, Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, Brandon Marsh. What they didn’t have, and lacked for many years, was the spark plug, the catalyst setting the offense in motion. As a result, the team is caught in a constant cycle of feast or famine. When the big bangers are clicking, they can pummel the opposition. In the frequent stretches when they are not clicking, however, they look like a bunch of muscle-bound behemoths swatting at butterflies.

Perhaps the Phillies were waiting for one of their “Day Care” youngsters* like Alec Bohm or Bryson Stott to fill the table setter role. But after occasional bright spots of consistent ball striking, both players have settled into careers marked by below average offensive performance.

Perhaps Turner should be the answer; after all, he did lead the league in hitting in 2025 and owns a generous long-term contract. But throughout his Phillies career, he has been wildly inconsistent, and this year he is struggling to reach the .250 mark.

Ultimately, the answer to why it took the Phillies so long to act is most likely that players like Arraez are out of fashion. For all his offensive prowess, Arraez rarely appears in the top ten in categories that teams seem to value these days—wOBA, OPS+, ISO, etc. He is not a base stealer. His defense, especially at his preferred position of second base, has improved, but he is not an elite defender.

Still as he has already demonstrated with the Phillies, consistent hard contact from an everyday player in your lineup can make a significant difference. In the games he has played since he joined the club, interim manager Don Mattingly batted Arraez fourth in the order.

The cleanup spot may seem an unusual place for a contact hitter, but on the Phillies, with Turner, Schwarber, and Harper ensconced at the top, and with no viable threat to hit behind Harper, the fourth spot made a certain sense. It has proven effective in a small sample size, as Arraez managed to drive in a run in the first inning in each of his first three games in Phillies’ pinstripes.

As Mattingly told the Philadelphia Inquirer, “It is different from when I played, for sure. You would never have thought about hitting [Arraez] fourth. It would have been Schwarber fourth, for sure. [In today’s game I think batting him fourth] puts Luis in a spot where his hits create runs. I feel like it’s protection for Bryce. They really don’t want to pitch to Arraez, either.”

The Phillies have not had a player with Arraez’ particular set of batting skills in a very long time. They have certainly had some great hitters, including, besides the current crop, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Scott Rolen, Lenny Dykstra, John Kruk, Mike Schmidt, Greg Luzinski and Bobby Abreu to name a few. Only one player in my memory, however, consistently brought the bat-to-ball skills that Arraez possesses to the plate in a Phillies uniform.

That would be Hall of Fame centerfielder Richie Ashburn.

Like Arraez, Ashburn put the ball in play with hard contact. Like Arraez, Ashburn didn’t strike out much. Like Arraez, Ashburn could foul off balls until he found a pitch he liked. Like Arraez, Ashburn was a National League batting champion. Ashburn would eventually capture two titles; Arraez has three and counting.

Here is a comparison that matches Arraez’ offensive numbers for his eight-year major league career with Ashburn’s first eight years in the league.

The comparison isn’t perfect, of course. Ashburn used speed as a major part of his game; Arraez is not a speed demon. Ashburn was also a superior defender in a premium position; Arraez has more power than Ashburn.

But as far as what they bring to their team, the two are strikingly similar. Ashburn, of course, batted leadoff for most of his career, setting the table for the Phillies’s “Whiz Kids” thumpers like Del Ennis and Willie (Puddin’ Head) Jones. Arraez is being asked to be an RBI guy from the fourth spot in the batting order, getting the hits that drive in Turner, Schwarber, and Harper, and providing cover so that pitchers are not as inclined to pitch around Harper.

As indispensable as Ashburn was to the Phillies of the 1950s, Arraez may prove to be the same for the current Phillies offense, which has underachieved through most of the Harper/Schwarber/Turner tenure. If that proves to be true, count me among those who will smile with a certain self-satisfaction.

For years, I have fretted about baseball undervaluing the contact hitter. The small ball guy. There should, it seems to me, be a place in the game for the pesky hitter, who finds the holes in the defense, and fills up the basepaths. For me guys like Arraez and Ashburn, Rod Carew, and Nellie Fox, and Tony Gynn are like little brothers. They may be irritating little buggers, but the family isn’t complete without them.

* “Day Care” is the Phillies team name for a group of younger players who support the older heads like Schwarber and Harper on the team. At this point, the Day Care group (generally Bohm, Stott, and Marsh) has graduated, not all with high marks.

Russ Walsh is a retired teacher, writer, baseball coach, and long-suffering Phillies fan, who writes for the Society for American Baseball Research and has recently begun posting his own newsletter about baseball history called The Faith of a Phillies Fan on Substack. You can reach him at ruswalsh@comcast.net.

Editor’s Note: Since agreeing to shift to right field as part of a shuffle to accommodate Luis Arraez’s arrival, Bryce Harper has experienced a return of knee soreness that emerged but dissipated in early July. The Phillies limited him to a DH role a few games to enable the soreness to recede again.

Extra Innings: They Said It, We Didn’t

On retiring after ten major league seasons

[J]ust throughout playing, it definitely was a lot of dark moments. And it just got to a point where I couldn’t enjoy it . . . I still love the game; it just brought too much pain for me. So going back to play is not for me right now in life.

I fought for the last two, three years. You know, I trained and I just couldn’t get the body to operate like it used to. So I mean, I’m not one of those guys that’s going to just continue to try to get back to somewhere where I just, you know, I couldn’t get it back there.

—Tim Anderson, longtime White Sox shortstop and part of their 2021 American League Central winner.

On increasing motorised scooter use among MLB players—and its risks

The [Harrison Bader] incident brought to life fears some within the game have harbored as motorized scooters have become more ubiquitous, according to interviews with big-league officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to freely discuss the situation. Coaches and executives worry about the horsepower contained within the devices. They fret about the stability of ride-share scooters found on city streets. They wonder if the players wear helmets. And there is little teams can do to proactively police their usage.

—Andy McCullough, The Athletic.

I don’t ride mine on the street. I would park at the field, and then take it out of the car and then ride to the clubhouse.

—Michael Harris II, Braves outfielder. (Harris’s bobblehead night last September featured Harris and his scooter.)

I don’t see nothing wrong with it. No harm, no foul . . . You have to do something extreme to get hurt on a scooter.

—Kenley Jansen, Tigers relief pitcher, who told McCullough he began using a scooter as an Angel when he saw teammates using them for lengthy trek from the players’ parking lot to the clubhouse entrance at Angel Stadium.

Know Your Editors

Here’s the Pitch is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles the Monday issue with Dan Freedman [dfreedman@lionsgate.com] editing Tuesday and Jeff Kallman [easyace1955@outlook.com] at the helm Wednesday and Thursday. Original editor Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com], does the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Former editor Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] is now co-director [with Benjamin Chase and Jonathan Becker] of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, which publishes this newsletter and the annual ACTA book of the same name. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HtP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.

. . . On this day in 1971, a group of baseball researchers led by Robert Davids founded the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). The organization has grown significantly since, both in size and its importance to the game of baseball. The early-2000s statistical revolution in baseball was built strongly on ideas brought forth among SABR members decades prior, and every MLB organization now has a statistical analysis and research department as part of its organizational structure. Happy 55th, SABR!

. . . Houston’s Yordan Alvarez is in pursuit of one of the most unique season achievements in baseball - an MLB Triple Crown. Miguel Cabrera won the last league Triple Crown, when he led the American League in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in, but it has been since 1956 that any major leaguer led the entire major leagues in all three categories. The rare achievement has been accomplished just six times in the history of the game, with Mickey Mantle the last to accomplish it. As of the end of play on Sunday, Alvarez is first in the majors in batting average, tied for first in home runs, and second in RBI.

Leading Off

Cal Ripken, Jr.: One of a Kind

By Bill Pruden

One of the great and most impactful careers in baseball history started in a very inauspicious manner 45 years ago today on August 10, 1981, when 20-year-old Cal Ripken Jr. made his major league debut. Entering a 2-2 game in the bottom of the 12th inning as a pinch runner, Ripken scored the winning run on a John Lowenstein single as the Baltimore Orioles edged the Kansas City Royals for a 3-2 win.

In a season of little note for the struggling teams, Ripken’s debut was one of those milestones with which baseball is dotted and which make the game’s history so rich and distinctive. Indeed, with each passing day my long time love of baseball is challenged by a modern version that I too often I do not recognize. But happily, at least for this old curmudgeon, no number of rule changes or statistical redefinitions of what makes a quality performance can take away from the game’s history, which, in the end, comes down to the immutable efforts of the players on the field. No matter how you interpret the statistics or alter the value of the analytics, as has been the case for well over a century, it is what happens on the field that really matters, and no one represents that reality more than the Iron Man, Cal Ripken, Jr.

In a baseball career spanning 21 seasons, Ripken did about everything a player could do and won about every award and honor that baseball, indeed the sports world, had to bestow - many more than once. Beginning with the Rookie of the Year Award and following that up with the American League’s the Most Valuable Player Award as he led the Orioles to the 1983 World Series title, he collected a collection that included annual All Star game selections, Silver Slugger awards, All-Star game MVP, annual All- Start game selections the AP Athlete of the Year, the Roberto Clemente Award, Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year - the list goes on, capped by his 2007 election to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

But for all those accolades and honors, more important to Ripken’s legacy and his place in history is how he did all it and when he did it, his most memorable accomplishment coming at a time when the game was reeling, in his low key, ever professional way, he reminded people of the best the game has to offer.

As his Hall of Fame plaque reads, he “arrived at the ballpark every day with a burning desire to perform at his highest level.” As the plaque also noted, his “work ethic” and “dedication” were the hallmark of a career that resulted in his record-long consecutive game streak. Indeed, central to what really distinguished Ripken both throughout his career and in his record consecutive games streak was an old-fashioned, often forgotten, quality, one that cannot be quantified and for which there is no analytic model but which is more important and enduring than any of them and is at the heart of greatness in any endeavor, and that is character.

All of this is relevant today, because what is often forgotten about Ripken’s march to the record is the timing and the state of baseball at the time.

Baseball in 1994 was in a bad place. The black clouds of a contentious labor dispute were hovering over the game as Cal was methodically advancing toward Lou Gehrig’s seemingly unapproachable consecutive game record. In the end, unable to achieve an agreement over issues that seem in their own way to be all too similar to today, baseball not only saw the 1994 season come to a premature end but also experienced the unprecedented cancellation of the World Series. It could not have come at a worse time. Major League Baseball was reeling. The sport had lost its preeminence; its own protestations notwithstanding, it was no longer the national pastime, having lost that crown to the NFL.

Happily, a legal ruling by future Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor ended the fiasco in the spring of 1995, and on April 25 a truncated 144-game regular season began. But while the new season included a new playoff format, neither that nor pennant races were of any particular interest to the fans. Rather, the eyes of the baseball community, as well as many beyond, were focused on Ripken’s quest to break Lou Gehrig’s iconic record. Not surprisingly, in the early part of the season, the self-effacing Ripken sought to minimize the streak’s importance, saying he was simply doing his job, showing up for work as he had always done. But as the record loomed ever closer, the modest star who had initially waved off the attention, asserting he was simply doing his job, as the summer progressed, the self-effacing star, recognizing what his effort meant to fans everywhere, opened up to fans and in that way that helped them reconnect with the game itself. It may have been hyperbole, but as the summer advanced, more than a few commentators went so far as to say that the Orioles shortstop was saving a badly tattered game.

When he set the record on September 6, 1995, as he ran around the field high-fiving fans, he celebrated the record and the fans; the fans celebrated, and they all celebrated the game they all loved. It was a singular celebration of the sport, one recognized as one of the great moments in the game’s history.

And speaking of history, in an ideal world we learn from history, and as the MLB 26-27 postseason looms, we can only hope that the game’s leadership can learn from past struggles and especially the damage that was done in 1994 – 1995. At the same time as they reflect on that past, they must also remember that Cal Ripken, Jr. was a one-of-a-kind player and in many ways he had a singular impact. But he won’t save the game again – and he shouldn’t need to.

Bill Pruden is a retired high school history teacher whose love for baseball's history was sparked when, as a seven-year-old, he witnessed Roger Maris hitting his 61st home run at Yankee Stadium in 1961. He has been writing about the game--primarily through SABR-sponsored platforms- for about a decade. His email address is: courtwatchernc@aol.com.

Extra Innings

Speaking of long consecutive-game streaks, this weekend marked a milestone for Atlanta Braves’ first baseman Matt Olson. In the past week, the slugger moved past Stan Musial to claim the eighth-longest consecutive games played streak in Major League Baseball history. On Sunday, he played his 900th consecutive game. While Olson has a top-ten spot on the overall list, he’ll have a while before he can pass anyone else. In seventh place is Joe Sewell, who owned the record with 1,103 consecutive games until Lou Gehrig passed him. If he plays every game, and no games are canceled due to a lockout or strike next season, he will pass Sewell in the final week of the season. However, if he can make it to that point, he could jump to the fourth-longest streak by mid-season 2028. For perspective, to make it to Ripken’s record, Olson would have to play 10 1/2 more consecutive SEASONS!

Olson celebrated his 900 milestone by hitting his 34th home run of 2026, tied for second-most in baseball.

Know Your Editors

Here’s the Pitch is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [biggentleben@hotmail.com] handles the Monday issue with Dan Freedman [dfreedman@lionsgate.com] editing Tuesday and Jeff Kallman [easyace1955@outlook.com] at the helm Wednesday and Thursday. Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com], does the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Former editor Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] is now co-director [with Benjamin Chase and Jonathan Becker] of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, which publishes this newsletter and the annual ACTA book of the same name. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HtP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.

The Red Sox and Braves both started this weekend with eight-game winning streaks . .

Only two years ago, Marcell Ozuna had 39 home runs and a career-best 104 RBIs for Atlanta but has fallen fast at age 35, earning a release by the Pirates Wednesday . . .

Cleveland has now traded both Naylor brothers, Bo [Brewers] and Josh [Mariners] . . .

Another Naylor brother, Myles, got a $2 million bonus to sign with the Athletics and is now a third baseman in their system . . .

George Lombard, Sr. wasn’t much of a hitter but both of his sons staged heroics in their debuts Tuesday: George Jr., who bats left-handed, homering in his second at-bat for the Yankees and just-drafted younger brother Jacob, right-handed all the way, homering in his second at-bat for Jupiter, a Marlins farm team . . .

Both young shortstops feasted on breaking balls, which they pulled to left field with launch angles of 33 degrees and comparable exit velocities (100.2 mph for George, Jr. and 99.9 for Jacob) . . .

When their teams couldn’t unload them at the trade deadline, five notable veterans lost their varsity spots anyway: relief pitchers Craig Kimbrel (Rays) and Matt Strahm (Royals), catcher Mitch Garver (Mariners), and designated hitters Jorge Soler (Angels) and Marcell Ozuna (Pirates) . . .

Matt Olson has a chance to break his own Braves franchise record for home runs — he hit 54 in 2023, when he led both leagues in home runs and runs batted in.

Leading Off

What Strat-o-Matic Had To Say About Jeter’s Defense

By Paul Semendinger

One of the best Christmas presents I ever received came in 1981 when my grandmother gave me the Strat-o-Matic Baseball board game. From that point forward, on and off, I have played Strat-o-Matic. It is my favorite board game of all time. When I need to relax, Strat-o-Matic is always there for me.

I sometimes like to look back at baseball history by looking at Strat-o-Matic cards. One can see Babe Ruth in his prime as well as his decline years by looking and comparing his Strat cards from, for example, 1927 and 1934. One can compare Ichiro Suzuki’s greatest seasons with those of Ty Cobb or Tris Speaker. The game allows fans to understand baseball history and baseball strategy on a deep level.

As a Yankees fan, I remember all the hype about Derek Jeter’s fielding. Some said he was elite. Others said he was over-rated.

As I pondered this question recently, I wondered what my Strat cards said about Jeter’s defense.

The following are Derek Jeter’s Fielding Ratings at shortstop for his career:

(A quick note, as a shortstop, the best fielding rating a player can get is a 1. The best players, the ones with the most range, earn a 1. The worse fielders are a 4 or a 5.)

1995: ss-4

1996-97: ss-2

1998-2000: ss-1

2001-02: ss-2

2003: ss-3

2004-05: ss-2

2006: ss-1

2007-09: ss-2

2010-12: ss-3

2013-14: ss-4

Strat-o-Matic has a formula (I assume it is a secret formula) to determine the ratings for the players. To me, the numbers seem to reflect Jeter’s career. When he was at his best, he covered a lot of ground. He was a top shortstop. During the years of the Yankees three consecutive World Championships, he was a 1 (which, if you play the game) is very necessary in order to win against the best teams.

Still, as Jeter’s career progressed, some baseball fans and experts noted his defensive shortcomings. Strat-o-Matic seemed to have that covered as well. As his career progressed, his field ratings got worse.

Board games are not real life, of course, but, in this Strat-o-Matic seems to have done an excellent job reflecting Derek Jeter’s defensive prowess across his career.

Paul Semendinger is award-winning author. His novel, Scattering the Ashes, is available as an audio book and is featured on Spotify.

Cleaning Up

Swapping Veterans for Prospects is Always a Gamble

By Dan Schlossberg

All prospects are suspects until proven otherwise.

It doesn’t matter how much bonus money they made or how they did in the minor leagues.

All that counts is major-league performance.

That’s why trading proven players for prospects is a gamble bigger than anything Pete Rose ever pulled.

When the smoke cleared after the Aug. 3 baseball trade deadline, 83 prospects had been traded, with more than 50 of them landing on their new team’s Top 30 prospects list.

Five prospects from Minor League Baseball’s Top 100 list also found new teams. That hadn’t happened since 2022.

It may be years before we have a better idea of which teams made out like bandits and which ones got fleeced.

According to the Minor League Pipeline, the New York Mets acquired both quality and quantity, not only landing 11 prospects but placing eight of them on their Top 30 list. Though last in the National League East they had been predicted to dominate, the Mets now have four new players in their Top 15: Jefferson Rojas, Sammy Stafura, Aidan Smith, and Émilien Pitre.

Rojas immediately became New York’s No. 1 prospect.

But the team had to move veteran pitchers Freddy Peralta, Clay Holmes, Luke Weaver, Brooks Raley, Huascar Brazobán, and A.J. Minter plus outfielder Tyrone Taylor in deal involving a trio of contending clubs.

Both Washington and Baltimore added eight prospects each, with the Angels and Marlins acquiring seven and the Giants and Tigers an even half-dozen apiece.

The Orioles engineered a seven-play swap — biggest of any on Deadline Day — with the division rival Boston Red Sox by packaging catchers Adley Rutschmann and Jake Rogers for veteran backstop Carlos Narvaez and four prospects: outfielder Enddy Azocar, and right-handed pitchers Anthony Eyanson and Kyson Witherspoon plus a player to be named later.

Eyanson is now the top Baltimore prospect, making the Orioles the only team besides the Mets to land a new No. 1.

Oddly, the Detroit Tigers did not do as well as expected in dealing away top starters Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize. Several rival teams claimed they offered more prospects, in quality and quantity, than the trio the Bengals obtained from the Los Angeles Dodgers: Zyhir Hope, River Ryan, and Brady Smith.

In fairness, however, three of the new baby Tigers crashed now are among their top half-dozen prospects.

Another AL Central club, the Cleveland Guardians, yielded four prospects for Washington lefty Foster Griffin, a National League All-Star just a month ago.

The Nats placed one of that quartet, Josh Hartle, on their Top 30 list but added three more in Jack Cebert, Ben Grable, and Yovanny Cruz, all acquired from the Yankees in exchange for NL slugging leader Luis Garcia, Jr., a lefty-hitting first baseman.

Like the Nationals, the Marlins secured four new acquisitions for their Top 30 list after trading catcher Liam Hicks to the Rays and pitcher Braxton Garrett to the Cubs.

Many of the veterans traded before deadline are rentals, eligible for free agency this fall. But that hardly mattered to teams in wins-now mode, especially with the playoffs now including a dozen different teams.

The first prospect to produce was George Lombard, Jr., who homered in his first game (and second at-bat) for the Yankees. He could be the answer to the shortstop void created by the retirement of Derek Jeter.

Although Lombard was already in the Yankees farm system, his recall resulted from a reshuffling of the New York infield after the Luis Garcia, Jr. deal.

HtP weekend editor Dan Schlossberg has covered baseball since 1969. He’s worked for The Associated Press, forbes.com, and a myriad of other outlets. Dan’s email is ballauthor@gmail.com.

Extra Innings: Deadline Post Mortem

When the Braves traded for Jorge Soler at the 2021 trade deadline, he was hitting .192 with 13 homers for the Royals — yet became the World Series MVP that year . . .

Before the Dodgers dealt for Tarik Skubal, the only teams that traded for a defending Cy Young Award winner were the 2009 Phillies (Cliff Lee) and 2023 Astros (Justin Verlander) . . .

Skubal was the first player with back-to-back Cy Young trophies traded to the team that had won the last World Series (and certainly not the last two!) . . .

New Philadelphia second baseman Luis Arraez is en route to his fourth batting crown — all with different teams . . .

Before he won the 2024 batting crown, Arraez was traded in mid-season, though he wasn’t leading the league when Miami sent him to San Diego . . .

Players leading the National League in batting (Arraez) and slugging (Luis Garcia, Jr.) were both traded earlier this week . . .

Six American League teams began play Thursday within four games of a wild-card spot but none had a winning record . . .

Casey Mize (2018) and Adley Rutschmann (2019), both traded this week, were once No. 1 picks in the amateur draft.

Know Your Editors

Here’s the Pitch is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles the Monday issue with Dan Freedman [dfreedman@lionsgate.com] editing Tuesday and Jeff Kallman [easyace1955@outlook.com] at the helm Wednesday and Thursday. Original editor Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com], does the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Former editor Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] is now co-director [with Benjamin Chase and Jonathan Becker] of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, which publishes this newsletter and the annual ACTA book of the same name. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HtP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.

Former NL MVP Andrew McCutchen, 39, hit .333 for AAA Gwinnett but the Braves released him anyway . . .

They could bring back former World Series MVP Jorge Soler, who was designated for assignment by the Angels earlier this week after a brutal first four months . . .

Tampa Bay, the top team in the AL East, has again placed ace starter Shane McClanahan on the IL (tightness in back). After missing all of 2024 and most of 2025 after Tommy John surgery plus nerve surgery in his left triceps, he had returned to form with a 3.09 ERA and 1.121 WHIP over 99 innings, striking out 91, walking 35, and never throwing more than 90 pitches in any of his 20 starts . . .

The usually-frugal Rays, under new ownership this year, landed a ready replacement in reeling in impending free agent Freddy Peralta from the payroll-slashing Mets . . .

Peralta had been coveted by multiple clubs, including the Braves and Brewers . . .

Matt Olson [Braves] and Kyle Schwarber [Phillies] are the only players with seven seasons of at least 29 homers going back to 2019.

Leading Off

Bruce Bochy: Hall of Fame’s Third Under .500 Manager?

By Dan Schlossberg

When the Eras Committee considers managers this fall, they’ll certainly consider Bruce Bochy’s three world championships with the San Francisco Giants.

Bochy, along with Dusty Baker and likely first-ballot electee Buster Posey, will give the Hall of Fame a definite orange glow.

But Bochy comes with strings attached.

He’ll not only be the first electee born in France but also the third manager to squeeze into the Hall of Fame gallery with more losses than victories.

Bochy, who also managed the San Diego Padres and Texas Rangers, had 2,252 wins but 2,266 defeats during 28 campaigns as a pilot — putting him in rather exclusive company with Connie Mack and Bucky Harris.

The winner of five pennants and four world championships, Bochy still didn’t finish on the sunny side of .500. His lifetime winning percentage was .498, thanks to all that time with the Padres when they were merely poor Friars.

Mack, who owned the Athletics and was unlikely to fire himself, won a record 3,731 games in 53 seasons at the helm but also dropped 3,948. That left him at .486.

As for Harris, “the Boy Wonder” had a .493 percentage, thanks to 2,158 wins, 2,219 losses, and 33 ties.

Another Hall of Fame manager, Wilbert Robinson, was a shade above .500 at 1,399-1,398 but did not lose more than he won. Close but no Ralph Garr.

Bochy won his fourth and final World Series in 2023, when he guided the Texas Rangers to their first and only world championship via the wild-card route.

Then he opted for retirement, where Baker also resides. But Dusty has the distinction of taking five different clubs to the post-season, where he won his only World Series ring with the 2022 Houston Astros.

The Eras Committee, an offshoot of the old Veterans Commitee, will consider owners, executives, and managers when it meets this fall. Its usual December vote may have to be moved ahead in the calendar to avoid cancellation caused by the likely owners lockout.

HtP weekend editor Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ covers baseball for Lucas Communications, USA TODAY Sports Weekly, Sports Collectors Digest, Memories & Dreams, Here’s the Pitch, and numerous other outlets. His email is ballauthor@gmail.com.

Cleaning Up

Cubs, Padres Finished First at Trade Deadline

By Dan Schlossberg

Most major-league teams were happy to fill one of their needs for the stretch drive.

Yet the Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres managed to fill two.

Both teams parlayed prospects into pitching prowess, with each adding a pair of proven starters to their rotations.

The Cubs got Kevin Gausman from Toronto and Clay Holmes from the Mets, while the Padres pilfered Robbie Ray, a lefty who once won a Cy Young Award, and right-hander Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal’s former sidekick, from the Detroit Tigers.

Both clubs have designs on reaching the playoffs, most likely as wild-card entries. There’s no way the Padres can catch the Dodgers, who landed the deadline’s top prize in the left-handed Skubal, but the Cubs are within striking distance of the front-running Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central.

Two other just-traded starters who might influence the final standings are Foster Griffin, an All-Star lefty sent from Washington to Cleveland, and Jose Soriano, traded to Toronto — presumably as Guzman’s replacement — by the Los Angeles Angels.

The biggest deadline deal — seven players — sent switch-hitting catcher Adley Rutschmann, a three-time All-Star, from the Orioles to the Red Sox. But bigger bats moved when the Phillies landed three-time batting king Luis Arraez from the Giants and the Yankees acquired another Luis — Garcia, Jr. — from the Washington Nationals. The lefty hitter, whose swing is a match for the short right-field wall at Yankee Stadium, was leading the NL in slugging when moved to the Bronx.

Both deals defied logic, since the new arrivals play positions already well-manned. But the Phillies, already defensively deficient, decided to throw fate to the wind and move Bryce Harper from first base to the outfield, Bryson Stott from second to third, and Alec Bohm from third to first.

Sounds like the failed plan David Stearns imposed on his Mets last winter. He spent the deadline dismantling his dream team, slicing six veteran pitchers in a half-dozen swaps.

Respected New York Post columnist Jon Heyman includes the Mets as “winners” in his deadline post mortem, behind the Dodgers, Padres, Cubs, Orioles, Guardians, White Sox, Pirates, and Mariners.

One ex-Met who didn’t move was Jacob deGrom, who used the no-trade clause in his contract to veto a deal that would have sent him to the Atlanta Braves. Jealous Mets fans are still celebrating.

Another player who stayed put was 2021 World Series MVP Jorge Soler, who was designated for assignment a day later. Since the Braves need a right-handed DH, he could be returning to the scene of his greatest triumph.

Deadline Day winners, at least from this perspective, were the Rays, who added the battery of Freddy Peralta (from Mets) and Liam Hicks (from Marlins), and the Pirates, who rebuilt a bedraggled bullpen with Luke Weaver, Kirby Yates, and others.

The biggest losers were the Braves, who still need two starting pitchers, and the Cardinals, who dumped Lars Nootbar on the Diamondbacks.

Oh yes, the Mets: they still have high-priced veterans playing out of position and enormous VACANCY signs on both the rotation and the bullpen.

HtP weekend editor Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ remembers when the Braves traded Joey Jay and Juan Pizarro for Roy McMillan in a three-team trade. His email is ballauthor@gmail.com.

Extra Innings

Think the Mets regret paying Bobby Bonilla $1 million every July 1? The Dodgers owe $1.1 BILLION in deferred money to these players:

Shohei Ohtani: Until 2043

Mookie Betts: Until 2044

Blake Snell: Until 2046

Freddie Freeman: Until 2040

Will Smith: Until 2043

Kyle Tucker: Until 2045

Tommy Edman: Until 2044

Teoscar Hernandez: Until 2039

Tanner Scott: Until 2039

Edwin Diaz: Until 2047

Know Your Editors

Here’s the Pitch is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles the Monday issue with Dan Freedman [dfreedman@lionsgate.com] editing Tuesday and Jeff Kallman [easyace1955@outlook.com] at the helm Wednesday and Thursday. Original editor Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com], does the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Former editor Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] is now co-director [with Benjamin Chase and Jonathan Becker] of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, which publishes this newsletter and the annual ACTA book of the same name. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HtP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.

. . . Walking the Plank Dept.—The Pirates have parted with their struggling designated hitter Marcell Ozuna, whom they signed last winter for a year and $12 million with a mutual 2027 option. This comes two days after their trade deadline landing of righthanded pitcher Luke Weaver from the Mets to help their shaky bullpen.

. . . Hats Off D…

Read more

. . . Loyal Order of Ranger Dept.—Jacob deGrom exercised his no-trade clause before the trade deadline for one simple reason: “I want to be here. I believe in this group,” said the former two-time Cy Young Award-winning Mets superpitcher.

. . . Madly for Adley Dept.—Injured often though he is, Adley Rutschman is still one of the top three catchers in baseball this year, says The Athletic’s analyst Keith (Smart Baseball) Law, who also says both the Red Sox landing Rutschman and the Orioles getting four delicious enough prospects in return.

. . . Snakes in the Pass Dept.—The Diamondbacks needed bullpen help and more offense while chasing the Padres for their division and a postseason slot at all. What they got was a veteran Cardinal, Lars (Sometimes You Feel Like a) Nootbaar, whom more than one analyst considers a fourth outfielder at best.

Leading Off

“Every Team Could Trade For Me”

So says the Damn Dodgers’s newest marquee name. He isn’t wrong, either.

By Jeff Kallman

The only thing more tiring than hearing yet again how the Damn Dodgers are wrecking baseball is hearing yet again the demands over why Tarik Skubal went there when there were clubs who could have offered the Tigers better than what they accepted for the defending American League Cy Young Award winner.

What you might (and should) prefer hearing is that, if the Tigers decided they had less chance of extending Skubal or re-signing him as a free agent, at least they weren’t brain damaged enough to just let him walk into free agency this coming fall without getting anything resembling value in return.

You know. The Tigers at least didn’t make the mistake the Angels made when owner Arte Moreno elected, approaching two consecutive trade deadlines, not to trade Shohei Ohtani for value in return. The kind of value with which the Angels might have begun retooling far sooner than they’ve finally begun to do.

The Tigers aren’t as close to the postseason yet as people including their most devoted fans want to believe. Remember, too, that if you wanted real evidence that the Tigers as constructed now weren’t going to be a team their now-former best pitcher could be proud of, you had only to watch Skubal’s final start as a Tiger and its net result. He left the game with a 7-1 lead and long after becoming the fastest Tiger to a thousand strikeouts. The Orioles thanked the Tigers for lifting Skubal by turning the Tiger bullpen into a landfill so hideous that seagulls didn’t want to plunder it.

Skubal himself acknowledged that that 10-9 Oriole overthrow meant his days in Detroit were numbered at last. At least the Tigers showed him the respect he earned by dealing him to a team who’d won two straight World Series and has its sights on a potential third.

And it wasn’t as though the Tigers were really saying it’d be the Dodgers as their trading partners or it’d be no trade, Jade.

“Every team could trade for me,” Skubal told reporters in Chicago, where his new team fell to the Cubs, 10-5, opening a set on Monday.

Every team could make that acquisition. And I don’t really sympathize with people that blame the Dodgers for anything they’ve done.

They’ve developed a really good organization. They draft well, they acquire talent really well, they retain talent. It’s a winning organization. Now the complaints seem to be because they’ve won the last two World Series. I don’t think it was like that three years ago. So I don’t really sympathize with people that are complaining because the Dodgers do all the right things.

More than one observer said what should have been obvious to everyone not bound by hook, crook, formal pledge, or mental blocks to the salary cap enough owners plus baseball’s tunnel-visioned commissioner insist is baseball’s sole salvation. With a mere $9.4 million left on his 2026 contract, any of the season’s known contenders could have afforded to bring him aboard for a little extra postseason race insurance.

So he would have been a rental? Maybe. Until or unless one of those other contenders saw a real postseason entrance coming. You might be surprised at how swiftly such contenders found heretofore unsuspected dollars with which to extend him. Don’t think for one moment that extension isn’t on the Dodgers’s minds, either.

Now, for the part everyone blinded by the light of that L.A. gold and platinum fails to consider. “They are the industry standard, or close to it, in scouting, developing, trading and every other aspect of a baseball operation,” observed The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.

They also possess a singular quality that most other teams do not, a fearlessness that could help them become the first team to win three straight World Series since the 1998 to 2000 Yankees.

. . . [H]ere’s something else the Dodgers exploit: the risk-averse nature of so many other clubs in today’s game . . . [T]he dirty little secret of a salary cap and floor system is that it would not guarantee small-market teams success. Many would need to develop more of a killer instinct, an instinct the Dodgers demonstrate time and again.

Skubal had his own way of saying what Rosenthal said. “They understand what it takes to win so I'm going to lean on these guys and help them guide me and lead me," he began.*

I'm just excited to take it all in, the day-to-day, routine stuff. I'll be watching a lot of guys and people probably will think I'm a little weird staring at guys. But it's just because I'm trying to learn and get better and watch these guys throw bullpens and prepare to play catch every day and how they go about their business.

That should tell you that these Dodgers would be a threat to re-take the Promised Land even with the payroll ($60-70 million) of this year’s Guardians. It’s a shame baseball’s leadership needs a bogeyman more than brains.

Jeff Kallman edits the Wednesday and Thursday editions of Here’s the Pitch. He lives and works in Las Vegas. You can reach him at easyace1955@gmail.com or easyace1955@outlook.com.

* Tarik Skubal’s first outing for the Dodgers Tuesday, against the Cubs in Wrigley Field, saw him cruise more or less through five innings, his only blemish a solo home run by Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson opening the bottom of the third.

Then he ran into trouble in the sixth. He struck Pete Crow-Armstrong out swinging to open. But he walked Seiya Suzuki and surrendered a double to Alex Bregman. He got Michael Busch to ground to second with Suzuki thrown out at the plate.

But Nico Hoerner reached on an infield hit to score Bregman, before Skubal got new Cub acquisition Tyrone Taylor (from the Mets) to fly out for the side.

Skubal’s final debut line: six innings pitched; six strikeouts, two walks, two earned runs, and four hits; his ERA risen from 2.79 to 2.81. The Cubs scored two runs on RBI singles in the seventh and another when Hoerner hit one solo into the left center field seats.

The NL West-leading Dodgers have lost the first two of a three-game set to the NL Central’s second-place Cubs, and their fifth in a row, their longest losing streak of the season thus far.

—Ed.

Extra Innings: They Said It, We Didn’t

On the gambling habit of Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter Ippei Mizhuara

He was absolutely bananas, the amount of bets he was making. He was trying to dig out a hole, and that hole made him even more poor of a gambler because he’s betting big payout stuff . . . Listen, I gambled bigger than most, right? I sleep, you know, I have a life too. He definitely was betting all night long, all the time. I've never seen anything like it.

—Mathew Bowyer, Mizhuara’s former bookie, in a new episode of the ESPN 30 for 30 podcast series, “The Betrayal of Shohei Ohtani.”

I am not convinced [Mizhuara] was just a gambling addict and had no choice. I think it's more he got this great opportunity, but then he saw a bigger opportunity to enrich himself and took advantage of that opportunity.

—E. Martin Estrada, former U.S. Attorney for California’s Central District, same episode.

Multiple disciplinary complaints have been filed against Nevada casino licensees stemming from the activities of Mr. Bowyer. Mr. Bowyer used illicit funds obtained from his bookmaking activities to wager millions of dollars at casino properties while concealing the source of those funds and purporting to be a legitimate business owner.

—Nevada Gaming Commission, in its April 2026 order barring Bowyer from returning to Nevada casinos.

Know Your Editors

Here’s the Pitch is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles the Monday issue with Dan Freedman [dfreedman@lionsgate.com] editing Tuesday and Jeff Kallman [easyace1955@outlook.com] at the helm Wednesday and Thursday. Original editor Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com], does the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Former editor Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] is now co-director [with Benjamin Chase and Jonathan Becker] of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, which publishes this newsletter and the annual ACTA book of the same name. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HtP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.

. . . Today is the Major League Baseball midseason trade deadline, with all deals needing to be submitted to the commissioner’s office by 6 p.m. ET. A number of big names are already off the market.

. . . The biggest movement over the weekend was in the starting pitcher market. The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired the biggest trade piece of the deadline, left-handed starter Tarik Skubal, from the Tigers for three prospects. The New York Mets sent away struggling starter Freddy Peralta to the Tampa Bay Rays for three prospects; Luis Castillo went from Seattle to the White Sox for a pair of big leaguers to offset costs and a catching prospect. Veteran Kevin Gausman was traded to the Cubs for two prospects. Many more will likely move today in the starting pitching market.

. . . That isn’t to say that the weekend was all about starting pitchers. The Mets traded two notable relievers, sending Huascar Brazoban to the White Sox and AJ Minter to the Twins. The Pirates acquired reliever Camilo Doval from the Yankees. Infielder Luis Garcia Jr. was dealt from the Nationals to the Yankees for four pitchers.

. . . Keep your eyes on social media and MLB sources today for plenty of action to come!

Leading Off

Seattle, We Have a Problem

By Miguel Riera

When the Seattle Mariners captured the American League West title in 2025, it felt as though the organization had finally found a sustainable formula for winning. The core of the roster remained intact, key additions strengthened the club, and Seattle continued to boast one of baseball’s strongest farm systems.

Everything pointed toward another run at October.

Four months later, the picture looks very different.

The Mariners entered the All-Star break atop the AL West. Today, they sit in third place, outside the Wild Card picture, facing far more questions than answers. The decision to trade Luis Castillo for reliever Seranthony Domínguez sent perhaps the clearest message yet: rather than acting as an aggressive buyer before the trade deadline, Seattle has begun making moves with an eye toward balancing both its current roster and its immediate future.

That does not mean the season is over.

But it does suggest the organization’s outlook has changed far more quickly than anyone expected back in spring training.

It would be easy to blame everything on performance.

The reality is more complicated.

Injuries have shaped Seattle’s season almost from Opening Day.

Julio Rodríguez, J.P. Crawford, Cal Raleigh, Brendan Donovan, Rob Refsnyder, Matt Brash, and Carlos Vargas have all spent significant time on the injured list, forcing manager Dan Wilson to constantly reshape both his lineup and bullpen. Rarely has Seattle been able to field the roster it envisioned entering the season.

Still, injuries alone do not explain everything.

Several players simply failed to perform at the level the organization expected.

Josh Naylor never became the middle-of-the-order bat Seattle envisioned. Rob Refsnyder failed to solve the club’s long-standing need for right-handed production against left-handed pitching. Brendan Donovan showed flashes before his injury but never had the opportunity to establish himself as the versatile contributor the Mariners believed they had acquired.

Meanwhile, Randy Arozarena and Cole Young carried much of the club’s offensive and defensive workload while Seattle searched for answers almost every week.

And over the course of a 162-game season, consistency almost always outweighs talent.

That may be the biggest difference between Seattle and Houston.

The Astros dealt with injuries, underperformance, and roster turnover of their own. Yet manager Joe Espada found a way to keep his club competitive and eventually reclaim first place in the division. The Texas Rangers, meanwhile, steadily improved as the season progressed, creating another obstacle in an increasingly competitive AL West.

Seattle, by contrast, gradually lost ground.

Ironically, the organization’s most encouraging developments have not come at T-Mobile Park.

They have come from the minor leagues.

The promotions of Lázaro Montes and Michael Arroyo to Triple-A Tacoma represent another milestone for one of baseball’s premier player development systems. Behind them, prospects such as Kade Anderson, Ryan Sloan, and Felnin Celesten continue to emerge, reinforcing the belief that Seattle’s long-term foundation remains exceptionally strong.

That depth also explains why several of those names have surfaced in trade speculation. Whether the Mariners choose to add major league help or continue building internally, the organization still possesses one of the game’s most valuable collections of young talent.

But before looking ahead to 2027, there is still unfinished business in 2026.

Matt Brash has already begun his rehabilitation assignment. Carlos Vargas is nearing a return. Brendan Donovan is expected back in the coming weeks, while the arrival of Seranthony Domínguez provides much-needed reinforcement for a bullpen that has spent most of the season trying to compensate for missing pieces.

Perhaps that is the greatest irony of Seattle’s season.

The Mariners do not need to discover talent.

The talent is already there.

What they need is the opportunity to finally have that talent on the field at the same time.

Because Seattle’s biggest problem has never been a lack of ability.

It has been the inability to keep together the roster that Jerry Dipoto and Justin Hollander envisioned when they built this club during the offseason.

Injuries, underperformance, and inconsistency disrupted the balance of a team that entered the year expecting to defend its division title.

And yet, the story has not been fully written.

Houston now controls the division, and Texas remains a dangerous challenger, but Seattle still has enough talent to make one final push. Doing so will require finding, over the next two months, the consistency that eluded the club throughout the first four.

If the returning players can stay healthy, and if Cal Raleigh, Josh Naylor, and Julio Rodríguez rediscover the production expected of them while Randy Arozarena and Cole Young continue performing at a high level, the Mariners still have the pieces to change the direction of a season that once promised so much more.

Because in the end, Seattle’s greatest opponent has not been Houston.

Nor Texas.

Not even the weight of expectations.

It has been its inability to become, even once, the team it was built to be.

Miguel Riera is an IBWAA member and covers baseball for Lineup al Dia. He can be found on a number of platforms, including YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. Riera is a member of the IBWAA and SABR, and is currently enrolled in the Baseball General Manager & Scouting program at Sports Management Worldwide (SMWW).

Extra Innings

The newly-formed Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL) kicked off play over the weekend. Kelsie Whitmore, who has been a trailblazer for women playing baseball in the modern era, recorded a touching YouTube short with one of the last living members of the AAGPBL who played primarily during World War II, Maybelle Blair. Whitmore then caught Blair’s first pitch to kick off the season.

Know Your Editors

Here’s the Pitch is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [biggentleben@hotmail.com] handles the Monday issue with Dan Freedman [dfreedman@lionsgate.com] editing Tuesday and Jeff Kallman [easyace1955@outlook.com] at the helm Wednesday and Thursday. Original editor Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com], does the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Former editor Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] is now co-director [with Benjamin Chase and Jonathan Becker] of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, which publishes this newsletter and the annual ACTA book of the same name. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HtP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.

Because they believe Harrison Bader violated his contract by riding a scooter that crashed and caused injury to his left foot, the Giants won’t pay his salary until he proves healthy — which may not be before next season, according to manager Tony Vitello . . .

Interim manager Don Mattingly was doing a fine (and calming) job steering the Philadelphia juggernaut until Bryce Harper popped off about the team needing more offense . . .

The Phils closed to within two games of the front-running Braves in the NL East before a team slump, coupled with an Atlanta surge right after the All-Star Game, widened the lead to eight through last night . . .

In the AL East, oft-injured Tampa Bay ace Shane McClanahan, 29, exited his last start after three innings with discomfort in his lower back — after missing the 2024-25 seasons following UCL surgery . . .

The Yankees are a different team without former MVPs Aaron Judge and Gioncarlo Stanton in their lineup . . .

The return of injured catcher Travis d’Arnaud made Logan O’Hoppe expendable, prompting his trade from the Angels to the Rangers . . .

With trades apparently imminent, Freddy Peralta (Mets) and Casey Mize (Tigers) were pulled from starts last night . . .

The last-place Mets have informed all other teams that 21 of their 26 rostered players can be had in trades . . .

If they only had pitching — especially in the pen — the heavy-hitting Washington Nationals could be much closer to the top of the NL East . . .

Talk about bad breaks — literally: on the day Curtis Mead played his first game for the Red Sox, he suffered a wrist fracture likely to idle him well into September . . .

With Harper ready, willing, and able to return to right field, the Phillies are trying to trade for a regular first baseman.

Leading Off

MLB Hall of Fame Welcomes Joe Buck, Super Villain

By Benjamin Chase

Last Saturday, July 25, the award winners of the Baseball Hall of Fame weekend were honored. Longtime National League President Bill White was recognized with the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award while the BBWAA Career Excellence Award went to Paul Hoynes, longtime Cleveland baseball beat writer. The Hall also recognized Rick Monday on the 50th anniversary of his “rescue” of a flag that was being lit on fire on the field during a Dodgers game.

Finally, on Saturday, the Hall of Fame recognized Joe Buck with the Ford C. Frick Award. The award is given annually to a broadcaster who has made “major contributions to baseball.”

The award is named after a former MLB commissioner who was also known for being Babe Ruth’s ghostwriter in the 1920s.

The first recipients of the award, created in 1978, were Mel Allen and Red Barber. Such luminaries as Ernie Harwell, Vin Scully, Jack Buck, Harry Caray, Harry Kalas, Bob Uecker, Jon Miller, Dick Enberg, Bob Costas, and many, many more have been recognized in the past.

Certainly, the Hall of Fame was mistaken to select Joe Buck to join such a prestigious crowd. A guy who only got his job because of his famous father, Joe Buck, his primary sports impact is calling football. Joe Buck seemngly hates every team.

That guy was honored at the Hall of Fame?!

Of course he was, and quite bluntly, his speech was one of the highlights of the weekend.

Buck’s Baseball Merits
Yes, Jack Buck is one of the all-time legendary sports announcers. In his generation, only possibly Chip Caray (interestingly now doing play-by-play for the same Cardinals that Joe grew up cheering for and eventually covered) had more family lineage that likely led to advantages and jobs in the industry.

Joe recognizes that, and he has explained in multiple interviews, in his book (a great read, by the way) and during his speech on Saturday that the education he received as “Jack’s son” was invaluable to his ability to do what he has done for nearly 40 years.

Buck began his play-by-play career in the minor leagues, calling Triple-A Louisville games. He was bumped up to the big leagues with the Cardinals in 1991 and he worked for the Cardinals through the first few years of his time as the national play-by-play voice for Fox Sports. But he left that position in 2008.

Buck was hired in 1996 as the lead play-by-play guy for Fox, teaming with Tim McCarver, a former boothmate of his father. In his time with Fox, Buck was able to be the man at the mic for multiple huge baseball moments:

- Sept. 8, 1998, when Mark McGwire hit his 62nd home run to break Roger Maris’ single-season record. Buck’s famous line, “Touch first, Mark, you are the new single-season home run king!”

- The end of three World Series droughts: with the 2004 Red Sox, 2005 White Sox and 2016 Cubs.

- A total of 24 World Series and 22 All-Star Games, the most of any play-by-play announcer on network television.

Buck left baseball in 2021 and in his speech, he cited his reason why. During his first marriage, which ended in 2011, Buck was working as the lead play-by-play guy nearly year-round while his two daughters grew up. After remarrying in 2014, he had twin sons, and he discussed his desire to be more present in their lives as a father.

On top of his regular chops as a play-by-play guy, Buck has appeared in multiple timeless commercials and even poked fun at himself on the short-lived baseball announcer comedy Brockmire.

Certainly, the title of his autobiography, Lucky Bastard, is apt, but Buck is also a guy who left an indelible mark on the game, and for that he was rightly recognized in Cooperstown.

Ben Chase is a co-director of the IBWAA, which produces Here’s the Pitch, and a former editor of the newsletter.

Cleaning Up

Expiring Contracts Grease Skids to Exit Ramp

By Dan Schlossberg

Baseball wisdom suggests it’s best to trade a player before he waltzes into free agency and brings no return.

That’s why it’s a good idea to keep an eye on the myriad of men with expiring contracts — from Tarik Skubal to Luis (Line Drive) Arraez.

Skubal, 29, has won consecutive American League Cy Young awards but missed time this season with a minor elbow procedure. He’s due $9.5 million from the Aug. 3 deadline to the end of the season but even the normally-frugal Milwaukee Brewers said they’ll assume that financial burden.

The toothless Tigers are also likely to pare the payroll further, unloading No. 2 starter Casey Mize, a right-hander on an expiring $6.15 million salary. Despite groin issues, he’s having the best year of his career.

Both Mize and Mets pitcher Freddy Peralta were pulled from planned Friday night starts in order to protect them from potential injury — and hurt their trade value.

Peralta earns $8 million but has pitched poorly this year, thanks to the defensive ineptitude of his teammates. He was among the National League’s top five Cy Young Award finishers last season, when he worked for the Milwaukee Brewers.

It’s worth noting that Peralta was already traded once because of his contract status and now it could happen again less than a year later.

Another cellar-dweller with pitching to sell, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are getting calls about Jose Soriano, the American League’s Pitcher of the Month in April, and Reid Detmers, one of a handful of active hurlers whose resume includes a no-hitter. The hard-throwing Soriano, a ground ball specialist with a hard sinker, came through in a timely fashion, doing his best work in the month of July.

The best available closers are Mason Miller (Padres) and Aroldis Chapman (Red Sox). The former not only has the best velocity of any reliever but also is arbitration-controlled through 2029. Chapman, who throws almost as hard despite his age, has an expiring pact that may be too rich for the Red Sox despite their recent resurrection in the title race.

A middle reliever with several suitors is San Diego’s Adrián Morejón, coveted by Atlanta since the unexplained injury to Robert Suarez.

Among other potential pitchers on the trading bloc are lefty Foster Griffin, Washington’s sudden star starter, and fellow southpaw Robbie Ray, a former Cy Young Award winner who now works for San Francisco.

Griffin, 31, is a control artist who pitched in Japan last year, while Ray will earn $7.4 million for the rest of the season no matter where he lands. He’s been on a roll for the last two months.

The Giants could also move Arraez, a versatile contact hitter; double-play partner Willy Adames; and third baseman Matt Chapman. The Atlanta Braves might take all three if they’re willing to sacrifice incumbent third baseman Austin Riley, the highest-paid player in team history, plus a couple of arms. Arraez would be a far better DH than journeyman Dom Smith.

The top catcher on the market is Ryan Jeffers, whose expiring pact called for $6.7 million. The Yankees love his bat.

Look for lots of surprises before the door slams shut on the 2026 trade deadline at 6 p.m. EDT Monday. It happens every year.

HtP weekend editor Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ loves the trade deadline. But he liked it better before a plethora of weak teams with eyes on playoff spots decided standing pat was better than building for future contention. Dan’s email is ballauthor@gmail.com.

Extra Innings

They don’t call them “cardboard gold” for nothing; a Shohei Ohtani 2026 Topps Chrome Dual Gold Logoman autograph card found by collector Matthew Allen in Florida sold for $11 million, a record for modern baseball cards . . .

After missing the world championship by an eyelash last October, the Toronto Blue Jays are expected to be active traders this year, with Kevin Gausman and George Springer among players who could be moved . . .

Toronto, last in the American League East, has been handicapped by an underwhelming offense all season . . .

Colorado could bring in a haul for homer-hitting catcher Hunter Goodman, an All-Star backup this season . . .

The deal that sent A.J. Minter to Minnesota brought the Mets a familiar name: Bruin Agbayani, like father Benny a lefty hitter with pop.

Know Your Editors

Here’s the Pitch is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles the Monday issue with Dan Freedman [dfreedman@lionsgate.com] editing Tuesday and Jeff Kallman [easyace1955@outlook.com] at the helm Wednesday and Thursday. Original editor Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com], does the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Former editor Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] is now co-director [with Benjamin Chase and Jonathan Becker] of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, which publishes this newsletter and the annual ACTA book of the same name. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HtP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.

The youthful Chicago White Sox have staying power, sitting at or near the top of the AL Central two years after losing an record 121 games . . .

Cleveland is providing the most competition despite ranking last in runs scored . . .

In the National League Central, Cincinnati would be on top if it could beat opponents within its own division . . .

The Braves are thrilled that AJ Smith-Shawver, once a promising starting pitcher, has returned to action after Tommy John surgery cost him more than a year on the sidelines . . .

Former managers Dusty Baker and Brian Snitker were in attendance at the Hall of Fame Inductions . . .

Kudos to 1993 World Series hero Joe Carter, whose 15-foot, 6,200-pound statue has been erected outside Rogers Centre in Toronto . . .

Sidelined Yankees slugger Cody Bellinger is the only player to be Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, League Championship Series MVP, All-Star Game MVP, and member of a world championship team . . .

Why was the All-Star Game boring? Maybe because it had only one extra-base hit: an eighth-inning home run by White Sox slugger Miguel Vargas, a first-time All-Star.

Leading Off

Benny and the Feds

By Paul Semendinger, Ed.D.

For a brief moment in late April and early May, the 1912 New York Highlanders had a rookie outfielder named Benny Kauff. Benny appeared in five games. He had 11 at-bats and accumulated three hits, all singles.

That was the extent of Benny Kauff’s major-league season in 1912. In the minor leagues that year, Kauff played for three teams at various levels, batting .279 over 95 games.

In 1913, Kauff again played in the minor leagues: B-Level ball with the Hartford Senators. In 135 games, he batted .345, but that was rgw B-level of the minor leagues, not the majors.

When 1914 rolled around, with it came a new league to compete with the American and National Leagues. This new league, The Federal League, looked to draw some of the stars away from the established big leagues. It succeeded in that, as well. Such future Hall of Famers as Mordecai “Three-Finger” Brown, Edd Roush, Joe Tinker, and John Montgomery Ward all signed on to play in the Federal League that first season.

As it turned out, the best player in the Federal League that year wasn’t a current star brought in from the established Major Leagues, it was Benny Kauff.

Playing for the Indianapolis Hoosiers, Benny Kauff played in 154 games and led the league in runs, hits, doubles, and stolen bases. He also batted .370 which also led the league. With the Feds, Benny became a star!

In 1915, Benny Kauff was again great. Playing for the Brooklyn Tip-Tops, he batted .342 to again lead the league. He also again led the league in stolen bases.

They didn’t have WAR back then, the only war they knew was the one raging in Europe in which the United States would soon take part, but modern statisticians have determined that Benny Kauff led the Federal League in WAR in each of the two years of its existence with 7.3 WAR in 1914 and 6.6 WAR in 1915.

The Federal League didn’t survive after the 1915 season, but Benny, now a star, found a home with the New York Giants with whom he would play through the 1920 season.

Kauff was a sold major-leaguer with the Giants of the National League, but he wasn’t a super star like before. He batted over .300 twice, and once had 40 stolen bases in a season, but he was never a league leader in either area.

Kauff’s career ended prematurely. While with the Giants, there were suspicions that he was involved in betting on games. That was bad enough, but later, the event that brought his career to an end was his involvement (or the accusation) that he was ichinvolved in a stolen car situation that ran through the courts (which found him innocent). Nonetheless this case resulted in Commissioner Landis banishing Benny Kauff from the game.

And such was the career of the player now remembered in history as the “Ty Cobb of the Federal League.”

Paul Semendinger is the author of numerous award-winning books including From Compton to the Bronx, Scattering the Ashes, 365.2: Going the Distance, The Least Among Them, West Point at Gettysburg (Vol. 1), and others.

Cleaning Up

The Ten Biggest Trades of My Lifetime

By Dan Schlossberg

The advantage of being old is serving as a witness to history.

That being said, the arrival of the 2026 trade deadline Tuesday reminds me of the many blockbusters that occurred since I started following baseball 69 years ago.

Consider these — none of which are likely to land on future versions of this list:

1. Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi (1971) — Believing Fregosi could slide from short to third and fill a long-lived void, the Mets sent a kid pitcher with control problems to the Angels and even added prospects Leroy Stanton, Don Rose, and Francisco Estrada to obtain the aging Fregosi. Ryan blossomed into a Hall of Famer who lasted a record 27 years in the majors, retiring with a myriad of records, while Fregosi faded fast.

2. Juan Soto for package of prospects (2022) — The Washington Nationals landed a cache of blue-chip prospects from San Diego for veterans Juan Soto and Josh Bell. Among those arriving in DC were James Wood and CJ Abrams, both 2026 All-Stars, plus Mackenzie Gore, Robert Hassell III, Luke Voit, and Jarlin Susana.

3. Randy Johnson for three Astros (1998) — Like fellow future Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan, Johnson attracted a package of pitchers from Houston, which sent Freddy Garcia, Carlos Guillen, and John Salama to Seattle. The Big Unit then went 10-1 with a 1.28 ERA for the Astros before entering free agency.

4. Miguel Cabrera moves to Detroit (2007) — The future Triple Crown winner went from the Marlins to the Tigers, along with pitcher Dontrelle Willis, in a payroll-cutting move that brought six prospects to Miami. Cabrera went on to win consecutive MVP trophies for the Tigers.

5. Phillies Trade Ryne Sandberg (1982) —Another National League infielder who became an MVP and Hall of Famer after he was traded, Sandberg went from the Phils to the Cubs for Ivan DeJesus. Amazingly, the Phils even added erstwhile stud Larry Bowa, a shortstop on the decline.

6. Mark McGwire moves to Cardinals (1987) — A true one-sided swap, McGwire actually hit more home runs than any player that year without leading either league. The athletic first baseman of the Athletics went to the Cardinals for forgettable minor-leaguers Eric Ludwick, Blake Stein, and T.J. Mathews. A year later, he hit 70 home runs for St. Louis even though his home ballpark was hardly hitter-friendly.

7. CC Sabathia slips to Milwaukee (2008) — Months from entering free agency, this giant left-handed starter was traded by Cleveland to Milwaukee for Rob Bryson, Zack Jackson, Matt La Porta, and Michael Brantley. The future Hall of Famer later described his two-month tenure, which featured an 11-2 record and 1.65 ERA, as the highlight of his career.

8. Pedro Martinez to Red Sox (1997) — Another future Hall of Famer, Pedro Martinez, brought only Carl Pavano and Tony Armas, Jr. when the late, lamented Montreal Expos dealt with the Boston Red Sox. Martinez proceeded to win two more Cy Youngs plus a World Series ring with the 2004 Bosox.

9. A true blockbuster (1990) — In a headline-grabbing winter meetings trade, Toronto traded McGriff and Tony Fernandez to San Diego for Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter. Two reached the Hall of Fame and all shaped title chases and World Series outcomes in subsequent seasons. The combined WAR of the quartet involved was the eighth-highest in baseball history.

10. Mighty McGriff Boosts Braves (1993) — Needing a middle-of-the-order bat, Atlanta landed future Hall of Famer Fred McGriff from San Diego in a mid-season swap that cost only minor-leaguers Melvin Nieves, Donnie Elliott, and Vince Moore. McGriff’s bat caught fire immediately and prompted one of the best divisional comebacks in baseball history.’

HtP weekend editor Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ covers baseball for USA TODAY Sports Weekly, Memories & Dreams, Sports Collector Digest, Lucas Communications, and many other outlets. His email is ballauthor@gmail.com.

Extra Innings

“We’ve been through a struggle. We’ve let everybody stay in the race. So we find out who we are over these next couple of months.”

— Phillies manager Don Mattingly after his team lost three straight in Miami

Proving once again that nothing is certain in baseball, the Marlins awakened after a 12-game losing streak to sweep the favored Phillies in a three-game set . . .

In the finale, the Phils turned a 6-0 lead into an 8-6 defeat . . .

Entering play yesterday, less than two games separated the Phils, Marlins, and Nationals in the NL East standings . . .

Trade candidates Tarik Skubal (Tigers) and Luis Arraez (Giants) both delivered strong performances Wednesday night in front of their home fans . . .

They are among multiple players whose contracts are expiring, making them free agents after the season . . .

The Mets, virtually certain to occupy the cellar of the NL West this year, won the season’s series from their arch-rival Braves for the first time in 10 years.

Know Your Editors

Here’s the Pitch is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles the Monday issue with Dan Freedman [dfreedman@lionsgate.com] editing Tuesday and Jeff Kallman [easyace1955@outlook.com] at the helm Wednesday and Thursday. Original editor Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com], does the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Former editor Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] is now co-director [with Benjamin Chase and Jonathan Becker] of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, which publishes this newsletter and the annual ACTA book of the same name. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HtP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.

. . . Help! We Need Somebody Dept.—After the Phillies lost their eighth in eleven games on Tuesday (1-0 to the Marlins), Bryce Harper said it outright: they need reinforcements by the trade deadline if they’re going to stay in the races. Arm(s) and bat(s).

. . . Bad Break Dept.—The Red Sox barely had time to begin enjoying their new infield…

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