(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) The baseball word has learned, this past weekend, that much-maligned umpire Angel Hernandez has chosen to retire from baseball. He has been an umpire since 1991, drawing the ire and frustration from fans and players (and managers, of course) alike. Los Angeles Angels insider Sam Blum posted some details about…
Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports Brice Turang grew up swinging a bat, and the fruits of those labors are coming to fruition in his second MLB season. Following an abysmal .585 OPS rookie campaign, the 24-year-old Milwaukee Brewers second baseman is thriving with a .301/.366/.428 slash line and a 128 wRC+ over 188 plate appearances. Turang…
(Photo by Mark Blinch/Getty Images) After the 2022 season, Alek Manoah of the Toronto Blue Jays was on top of the world. He had just posted a 2.24-ERA season that gave him a place among the three AL Cy Young finalists that year. However, he was a disaster to open 2023 and the Blue Jays…
Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports I can’t possibly begin to cover all the excellent work concerning Statcast’s new bat tracking data. Now as much as ever, it’s important to support your local Baseball Prospectuses, PitcherLists, Baseball Americas, FanGraphses and freelance Substack writers. We move quickly in these parts. There’s so much analysis to consume, all of…
(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) The Atlanta Braves haven’t been bad by any means. Their 30-21 record would even lead multiple divisions in baseball this year. However, they share the NL East with the best team in MLB so far, the Philadelphia Phillies, and are six games behind in the divisional standings. They also…
When Steven Kwan left the Guardians’ May 4 victory after straining his left hamstring, the Guardians owned the American League’s second-best record (21-12) as well as a 1.5-game lead in the AL Central. While Kwan was their most productive hitter at the time, they’ve thrived in his absence, going 15-6 thanks in part to a…
(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) Washington Nationals slugger Joey Gallo has never been one to have a high batting average. In fact, his career mark in the category is .194. Usually, or at least earlier in his career, he used to make up for the lack of contact with power and the ability to…
Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports We knew the best hitter in baseball this year would be a multi-positional talent. We knew he would play for one of the top teams in the league. We knew the value of his contract would begin with the words “seven hundred” and the first syllable of his last name would…
(Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) The New York Yankees have been enjoying some really impressive performances by their offense in recent games. Aaron Judge is officially back from his early-season slump, Juan Soto never really stopped hitting, and Giancarlo Stanton is also hitting blasts left and right. Early-season star Anthony Volpe is catching fire again,…
Several preseason favorites are sliding down these rankings as we barrel toward the third month of the season, while other clubs — most notably the Guardians — are continuing their surprisingly strong starts. This season, we’ve revamped our power rankings. The old model wasn’t very reactive to the ups and downs of any given team’s…
