Top Picks and Flops of the Week: All-Star Edition

Welcome to another edition of Five Things I Liked (Or Didn’t Like) This Week. As MLB pauses for the All-Star break, I thought I’d pause for one of my own. Just like the league, I’d like to recognize the stars of my own personal baseball bubble. There’s a lot of overlap between the guys who populate Five Things most frequently and the best players in the game, but it’s not a complete overlap. You generally know what you’re getting with this column: some fun, fluky plays and players. Today, you’re just getting an aggregated version of that: the most fun I had in the first half of the year. And no, if you’re wondering, there are no Didn’t Likes this week, c’mon. As always, thanks to Zach Lowe for the idea for this format, which is just as exciting (to me) in baseball as it is in basketball.

1. Elly is SpeedMan

   I love Elly De La Cruz. He was the most exciting player in the majors the second he made his debut last year. In 2024, he’s been a lot more than that. Per our calculation of WAR, he’s the sixth-best player in baseball this season. De La Cruz’s speed has to be seen to be believed. He might casually steal second on a delay. He might take two bases on a bad pickoff throw. He’s first in the majors in steals – and the gap between him and second-place Bryson Stott is the same as the gap between Stott and 33rd-place Jose Altuve. The good things that De La Cruz does are pretty much all highlight worthy. He has a cannon arm, blinding speed, 80-grade power from both sides; you name it, he can do it. My favorite expression of that? His triples: It’s just so fun to see the defense in scramble mode realizing that De La Cruz isn’t settling for two.

2. Matt Chapman, Defensive Stalwart

   Matt Chapman is a walking defensive highlight. Hit the ball on the ground to third base against the Giants, and there’s a good chance you’ll end up on the business end of a web gem. He might turn a double play all on his own, or appear out of nowhere for an impossible tag. His baseball instincts might retire a runner who had no clue they were even in play. All that said, I opted for a different highlight in this spot. Last week, the Giants were in quite the pickle. They had a narrow 3-2 lead against the Braves when Austin Riley smashed a double down the left field line. Matt Olson started the play on first and got a tremendous jump.

3. Pirates!

   The Pirates have been simultaneously bad and boring for the better part of the past decade. Things are turning around this year, though. Last year, the Pirates picked Paul Skenes first overall. It was a controversial pick but Skenes has cranked it up a notch from his already impressive form. He added a new upper 90s splitter/sinker hybrid, refined his fastball command even further, and hit the big leagues running after utterly embarrassing his Triple-A competition. The Pirates hit on another top young pitcher. Jared Jones doesn’t have the same pedigree as Skenes, but he looks like he might be an ace before long too. The future is getting closer quickly in Pittsburgh and the team’s two aces are leading the charge, and they just happen to be two of the most exciting pitchers in the game to watch.