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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Phillies Predicted to Replace Alec Bohm With Prep Ball Star Gavin Fien
Phillies Predicted to Replace Alec Bohm With Prep Ball Star Gavin Fien originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Third baseman Alec Bohm has recovered from a rough start to the 2025 campaign and become a more productive presence in the Philadelphia Phillies' offense. Advertisement At one point this year, Bohm's batting average had dipped to .150 and his OPS to .331, placing him last amongst all qualified hitters in MLB. He has since hit .324 in April and .303 in June to bring his overall numbers on the season to a .280 batting average, .710 OPS, seven home runs, and 36 RBIs. Without that context, though, it appears that Bohm has been playing at barely above a replacement-player level over the course of the entire season. He is credited with just 0.4 wins above replacement in 2025, according to Baseball Reference. The Phillies may not be quick to find an immediate replacement for Bohm at third base, but his early-season slump could kickstart discussions around who they may want to usher into Bohm's role multiple years in the future. And the franchise will have no better opportunity to do that than at the 2025 MLB Draft. Philadelphia Phillies infielder Alec Bohm (28) hits a home run against the Milwaukee Brewers in the fourth inning at Citizens Bank Ross-Imagn Images Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter believes the Phillies will make third base a priority in the 20-round event, as he predicts the club will use the No. 26 overall pick on Gavin Fien, who played high school baseball at Great Oaks High School in California. Advertisement "The Phillies have taken a high school player with their first pick in each of the past five drafts, including a prep bat three years running, so Fien fits that organizational strategy here at the back of the first round," Reuter wrote. "With a strong 6'3", 200-pound frame and average-or-better tools across the board, he is more physically mature than some of the other top high school bats. He was a star on the showcase circuit, and while he did not have the spring many were expecting, that won't negate what scouts saw last summer." According to his scouting report, Fien is considered by many scouts to be the best hitter on the prep ball circuit, most notably after he was named the Most Valuable Player at the MLB High School All-American Game. But after a far-from-ideal performance during his final high school season, there is tremendous variability in where he appears in outlets' pre-draft rankings. ESPN's Kiley McDaniel and The Athletic's Keith Law are the highest on Fien, placing him at No. 13 on their respective lists, while he is ranked No. 22 on list. Related: Phillies 'Growing Frustrated' With Lack of Production From Starting Outfielder This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 28, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Fantasy Baseball Catcher Rankings Tiers: Let us take a minute to appreciate the beast that is Cal Raleigh
It's the end of June. The fantasy baseball season is almost halfway over. The days are long, but the seasons are short. Catchers are often a lesser consideration in fantasy baseball leagues that require just one starter, but we want a right answer at every position. So let's throw the backstops through the Shuffle Up car wash today and figure out how they rank for the rest of the season. Please roll up your windows, put your car in neutral. Advertisement [Smarter waivers, better trades, optimized lineups — Yahoo Fantasy Plus unlocks it all] Everything to this point is an audition. Assume a 5x5 scoring system. Players at the same salary are considered even. Consider this list as you self scout your roster, work on trades and pickups, or perhaps even draft a team from scratch. One disclaimer up front: most of this column is a love letter to Seattle superstar Cal Raleigh. He's earned it. The Big Tickets $35 Cal Raleigh $23 Hunter Goodman $19 Will Smith $18 Willson Contreras Raleigh isn't playing for just the Mariners anymore, or your fantasy team. He's playing for history. The best offensive catching season of all time was Mike Piazza in 1997. In his age-28 season with the Dodgers, Piazza batted .362 with 104 runs, 40 home runs, 124 RBI and five steals. When you hash out ballpark and era adjustment, it settles in at 185 OPS+. If you prefer Offensive WAR, Baseball Reference offers 9.0. Advertisement The next closest seasons on modern record are Joe Mauer in 2009 (171 OPS+, 7.7 Offensive War) and Buster Posey in 2012 (171 OPS+, 7,3 Offensive WAR). Piazza and Mauer are Hall of Famers; Posey is surely headed there soon after his timetable opening. Raleigh has a shot to blow this all out of the water. He's more than halfway home, in fact, to the best catcher season (or fantasy catcher season) of all time. Raleigh's currently holding a 202 OPS+ (for context, this makes him an eyelash less valuable than Barry Bonds in 1992 and 1993 — those were both MVP seasons). If you want the Offensive War (which is a cumulative, counting stat) he's at 5.0. He's only played 76 games! Advertisement Maybe you don't want all these modern stats. Let's say you just want the fantasy numbers. Among 2025 catchers, Raleigh is second in hits, first in runs (19 ahead of William Contreras), first in homers (his 32 dingers lead the majors; he has a 15-homer lead over Logan O'Hoppe among catchers) and first in RBI (18 clear of Contreras, again). And just for overkill, the nine steals are tops, too (sorry Contreras, you're four back). And it's tied to a career-best .278 average. Fantasy managers get nothing for Raleigh's defense, but he's also coming off a Gold Glove season. He's not just a hitter. He's a fantastic ballplayer peaking in his age-28 season. With all due respect to Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani and even Pete Crow-Armstrong, the most impactful thing any fantasy manager could have done this year was draft Raleigh. His global ADP from March was 77.9, the sixth backstop off the board. Contreras, Yainer Díaz, the befuddling Adley Rutschman, Salvador Pérez and Willson Contreras all went before Raleigh. We are all witnesses. We've never seen dominance like this before at the catcher position. Legitimate Building Blocks $15 Salvador Pérez $13 Ben Rice $12 Logan O'Hoppe $12 William Contreras $12 Alejandro Kirk Advertisement Pérez is having his worst season out of seven, but many of the bad-luck signs are flashing. According to the batted-ball data, he's been 45 points unlucky in batting average and 108 points unlucky with slugging percentage. I know the age-35 season makes you nervous, but I'd trade for him in a second. O'Hoppe crushes the ball when he makes contact, but he has leaky plate-discipline metrics and opposing pitchers took advantage of that for most of this month (.132/.164/.321). At least O'Hoppe knocked some home runs last week, so perhaps he's providing the needed adjustment. It's still just his second full season as a regular. Talk Them Up, Talk Them Down $10 Agustín Ramírez $9 Austin Wells $9 Dillon Dingler $9 Carlos Narvaez $8 Carson Kelly $7 JT Realmuto $7 Drake Baldwin $7 Tyler Stephenson $6 Sean Murphy $5 Yainer Diaz $5 Ryan Jeffers $5 Keibert Ruiz Advertisement Miami doesn't have a deep lineup but Ramírez always slots somewhere in the top four and he routinely picks up DH work when he's not catching. We love those stress-free paths to extra volume. Baldwin could get back to double digits if there's anything to the Sean Murphy trade rumors. The Braves are five games under .500, the biggest disappointment in the National League. Perhaps all the mileage finally caught up to Realmuto, who has his worst OPS+ since becoming a regular 10 years ago. His slugging percentage is 83 points below career norms, and his Savant page is full of average or below-average sliders. This is what a typical aging curve looks like. Advertisement Bargain Bin $3 Jose Trevino $3 Jonah Heim $3 Austin Wynns $3 Victor Caratini $2 Liam Hicks $2 Joey Bart $1 Bo Naylor Courtesy Injury Ranks — Not for Debate $12 Ivan Herrera $10 Shea Langeliers $8 Gabriel Moreno $8 Adley Rutschman $1 Miguel Amaya
USA Today
21-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Rafael Devers hits first home run with Giants ... against Red Sox
The San Francisco Giants shocked the MLB world last week by trading for Boston Red Sox slugger Rafael Devers. Devers' discontent with the Red Sox had been well-documented all season. While shocking to see him get moved, it wasn't shocking that the Giants, a team in desperate need of help at first base, were the team to make the trade. Through Devers' first four games with the Giants, he'd yet to find his swing. He had gone just 3-for-16 with one extra-base hit in those games, including an 0-for-5 performance against the Red Sox on Friday night. However, Devers finally broke out the big wood on Saturday, blasting his first home run as a Giant, against his former team. MLB News: Padres' Robert Suarez suspended three games for hitting Shohei Ohtani with pitch WATCH: Rafael Devers' first home run with Giants Devers' home run was an opposite-field shot, giving the Giants a three-run lead. Devers' home run wound up being the decisive hit. The Red Sox would score two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, pushing the Giants to the brink before ultimately falling 3-2. Rafael Devers explains why he will play first for Giants Devers was making headlines before the series, as well. While speaking with media ahead of Friday's tilt against the Red Sox, Devers told reporters that he felt disrespected by the Red Sox asking him to move to first so close to the start of the regular season. Devers, through a translator, said that his outstanding numbers in Boston "earned (him) some respect." He continued, "If they would have asked me (to play first) at the beginning of spring training, yes, I would have played." Had Rafael Devers ever played first prior to 2025? Devers had never played first base in the major leagues prior to the 2025 season. Even throughout the minor leagues, Devers never once swapped corners. He did play shortstop and second base in the minors, though, and even had some time at shortstop with the Red Sox. Devers has operated as the Giants' designated hitter in all five games he's played with San Francisco, but has been seen taking grounders at first base prior to Giants games. Since the start of 2025, Giants first basemen have averaged -1.2 wins above replacement, per Baseball Reference, the 10th-worst mark in MLB. Devers should play a large role in turning that figure around, but it is unclear how long the Giants will give Devers to acclimate to the new position before throwing him out there for an actual game. MLB News: Brewers' Jacob Misiorowski begins MLB career with 11 no-hit innings
New York Times
18-06-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Re-drafting the 2015 MLB Draft: Alex Bregman, Kyle Tucker headline a so-so class
Every year I take a look back at the MLB Draft class from 10 years prior to see where teams hit and where they missed in making their selections. This piece will focus on re-drafting the first 30 picks to account for the players who have succeeded the most in the 2015 class. For people who like to call the MLB draft a 'crapshoot' or similarly imply that there's no skill in selecting players, I present the 2015 draft, where the five most successful players to date all went in the first round or the supplemental round right afterwards. That group has two true superstars — both drafted by the same team — and a couple of frequent All-Stars, but it turned out that this just wasn't a great draft class, only looking better because the 2016 draft was a Superfund site. (For next year's re-draft article on that group, I'm just going to submit a file that reads '-30-.') Advertisement This is a 're-draft,' in which I try to reselect the top 30 picks based on what we know of the last 10 years and what I think these players might do for the remainder of their careers. I don't include players who didn't sign, and I don't think about service time considerations (when you draft a player, you only control the first six-plus years of his career). I'm just going big picture here, and while I cite players' Wins Above Replacement figures throughout (using Baseball-Reference), I didn't just rank the players by their WAR totals; a few times I deviated quite a bit from those rankings. This one got ugly pretty fast, well before I made it to 30 names, although I was pleased to see almost everyone on this list is still playing and, with probably just one exception, has a chance to still add some value in their careers. I'll follow up with a column on the 'misses' of the first round, which includes some famous names but a lot of 'remember some guys' types too. (Note: WAR figures from Baseball-Reference through games of June 14. Scouting grades are on the 20-80 scouting scale. For a complete list of the actual 2015 draft, click here.) Career WAR to date: 42.6 Spot Actually Selected: Round 1, Pick 2, Houston Astros Player Actually Selected No. 1: Dansby Swanson, SS, Arizona Diamondbacks The Astros had the second pick as compensation for their failure to sign their top pick the prior year, Brady Aiken, when a post-draft physical revealed a serious structural issue in Aiken's elbow. The 2015 draft couldn't have gone much better for them, as the player they took with that compensation pick, Bregman, has become the best player in the class by a huge margin. He was a top prospect out of high school but was unsignable because of his commitment to LSU, then raked for the Tigers for three years. There was a question at the time about whether he could stay on the left side of the infield, and I don't think even the Astros expected him to hit for this much power. His bounceback year so far in 2025, where he's on track for his best season since 2019, doesn't change his ranking here — he would have been first regardless — but it does change the outlook for him as he enters his mid-30s, since his 2024 season showed some possible signs of an early offensive decline. Advertisement Career WAR to date: 25.6 Spot Actually Selected: Round 1, Pick 5, Houston Astros Player Actually Selected No. 2: Alex Bregman, SS/3B, Houston Astros The Astros had the best draft in 2015, bar none. Having two picks in the top 5 certainly helped, although they hit on some other guys as well, as you'll see later in this piece. Tucker, who they selected with the No. 5 pick, was a highly regarded high school hitter with an advanced approach and the potential for plus power. His swing could get a little long and he was clearly destined for an outfield corner, but he was a consensus top 10 talent in the class. He's just 28 and in the midst of what should be his fourth 5-WAR season, maybe even his best year if he stays healthy all the way through. He is the only player here who could hypothetically end up passing Bregman in total value when their careers are done. Career WAR to date: 22.7 Spot Actually Selected: Round 1A, Pick 41, Atlanta Player Actually Selected No. 3: Brendan Rodgers, SS, Colorado Rockies Riley was a two-way player in high school who some scouts preferred on the mound. He then raced through the minors after Atlanta took him with its second pick of the draft. He hit a wall in the majors, as he couldn't hit or lay off sliders down-and-away and had similar trouble with fastballs up and in. But he overhauled his pitch recognition with the help of the late coach Mike Brumley, and became a completely different hitter. He posted an 88 wRC+ in the 2020 season, before his work with Brumley, and jumped to a 136 wRC+ the next year, and he's been at least an above-average hitter every season since then. He's settled in as a 45 defender at third, costing the team a couple of runs a year by Statcast measures, and may end up at first, so I don't think he's going to end up passing Tucker or Bregman in career WAR in the long run. Advertisement Career WAR to date: 26.0 Spot Actually Selected: Round 1, Pick 1, Arizona Diamondbacks Player Actually Selected No. 4: Dillon Tate, RHP, Texas Rangers Swanson was the first pick in the draft, and a reasonable one at the time, as a definite shortstop who'd hit well for several years at Vanderbilt despite a slight tendency to strike out too often. Then the Diamondbacks traded him that offseason in a shocking deal that sent two other players with him to Atlanta for Shelby Miller, a deal I still don't understand 10 years later. He seems to have peaked in 2022-23, with a pair of five-win seasons around his move to Chicago in free agency, but he's lost some bat speed and right now is having his worst season at the plate since 2024. I don't think he's done as a regular, but he's 31 and the odds are he's not going to be nearly as valuable going forward as the younger guys I have in the two spots ahead of him. Career WAR to date: 19.9 Spot Actually Selected: Round 1, Pick 9, Chicago Cubs Player Actually Selected No. 5: Kyle Tucker, OF, Houston Astros Happ has played all or part of eight seasons in the majors, reaching the big leagues just before the two-year anniversary of this draft, and his bat has been better than league-average in every one of them. The separator between him and the top four guys is defense — he's a left fielder and a fringy one at best, after the Cubs tried him around the dirt and in center for several years. That may point to less value going forward in his 30s even if he keeps up his current walks-and-homers profile, as he could end up at DH in a couple of seasons. He has good taste in coffee, though. Career WAR to date: 17.0 Spot Actually Selected: Round 3, Pick 87, Tampa Bay Rays Player Actually Selected No. 6: Tyler Jay, LHP, Minnesota Twins Advertisement Lowe made a big swing change heading into the 2018 season that altered the course of his career, as he went from a fringe-power guy to 22 homers in the first year after the change, and a peak of 39 homers in the majors in 2021. The Rays used him at second and in right field during the earlier part of his career but he's established now at second, where his bat is comfortably above-average and his glove is … well, not that. He has a team option for 2026 at $11.5 million, after which he'd be a free agent, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him traded this July, even if the Rays are still in the race. He's going to hold his value for a few more years until he has to move off second entirely. Career WAR to date: 15.8 Spot Actually Selected: Round 13, Pick 403, Baltimore Orioles Player Actually Selected No. 7: Andrew Benintendi, OF, Boston Red Sox Mullins had a huge breakout season at 26, going from three homers in 48 games in 2020 to 30 homers in 159 games the next year, a season that was worth 6.2 WAR, which is still about 40 percent of his career value to date. He's settled in since then as an above-average defender in center with a league-average bat, and that's a valuable player. If the Orioles put him on the market this July as he approaches free agency, he should be one of the most-coveted rentals out there. He's had the most valuable career to date of anyone picked after the 10th round in 2015, a great find by then-Orioles scout Rich Morales, who's now with the Royals. Career WAR to date: 15.2 Spot Actually Selected: Round 3, Pick 100, St. Louis Cardinals Player Actually Selected No. 8: Carson Fulmer, RHP, Chicago White Sox Bader looked like he was done with any kind of regular major-league job after 2024 marked his third straight season of below-average offense, which offset a big chunk of his plus defense in center. The Twins have rejuvenated his bat, at least in the half-season he's had so far, as he's chasing fewer pitches out of the zone than he has since the pandemic season, and as a result his walk rate has shot up and he's getting to some better pitches to drive. Advertisement Even if he doesn't fully maintain this hot start, the elite defense and his ability to hit lefties well should give his career a long tail, but now there's a chance he can tack on a few more years of everyday duty in center. As an aside, I saw Bader in college, as I was there to see his teammate Richie Martin, and I completely whiffed on Bader's defense — he looked sluggish, especially on first steps, and in no way did I anticipate him becoming even an above-average defender in center. Career WAR to date: 12.9 Spot Actually Selected: Round 1, Pick 15, Milwaukee Brewers Player Actually Selected No. 9: Ian Happ, OF, Chicago Cubs Grisham, who went by Trent Clark in high school, was a star on the showcase circuit in the year leading up to the 2015 draft, hitting particularly well against the best arms in those games. I had heard that he was the Rangers' plan if they didn't think they could sign Dillon Tate at the fourth pick. The Brewers took Grisham at 15, but his major-league debut in 2019 was soured by a fielding blunder that cost them the Wild Card Game against the eventual World Series champion Washington Nationals. The Brewers dealt him to the Padres with Zach Davies that winter for Eric Lauer and Luis Urías, and he became the Padres' regular center fielder, offering plus defense and a lot of walks but not much else with the bat. He went to the Yankees in the Juan Soto trade and is having a career year to date, even though Statcast has his defense regressing slightly. I think he's going to play quite a bit longer because his ability to play center field will give him plenty of opportunities. Career WAR to date: 15.7 Spot Actually Selected: Round 1, Pick 7, Boston Red Sox Player Actually Selected No. 10: Cornelius Randolph, SS, Philadelphia Phillies Advertisement Benintendi came out of nowhere to win the Golden Spikes Award in 2015 as a draft-eligible sophomore, then tore up the minors for a year before debuting with Boston in August 2016. He hit 20 homers in his first full year in the big leagues … and has never topped that since, tying it in 2024 in a year in which he only hit .229/.289/.396 despite the homer total. The loss of power is one surprise, and the complete inability to play the outfield is another — he played center in college, reasonably well, and is now an awful defender in left, with minus-25 runs below average in left field over the last two full seasons, per Statcast. His career WAR total is obviously fine given where he was picked, but I don't think he's lived up to the expectations of the industry from when he was drafted, and I don't see much value going forward, either. Career WAR to date: 13.7 Spot Actually Selected: Round 1A, Pick 32, Pittsburgh Pirates Player Actually Selected No. 11: Tyler Stephenson, C, Cincinnati Reds Hayes was widely seen as an elite defender even in high school, and that part of his scouting report has been spot on. He also was seen as a guy who'd hit for average, with power the ultimate question — he had the size and strength for it but never the swing — and none of that has panned out, as he's been a league-average hitter exactly once so far in his big-league career. In about a full season's worth of games since the start of 2024, he's hitting .231/.283/.288. He's 28 this year, so there is still a small window for him to make some serious changes, but right now he's not an everyday player and I don't see a lot of additional value for him going forward, even though he's younger than many of the guys ahead of him on this list. Career WAR to date: 12 Advertisement Spot Actually Selected: Round 1, Pick 24, Los Angeles Dodgers Player Actually Selected No. 12: Josh Naylor, 1B, Miami Marlins Buehler was really good as a sophomore at Vanderbilt and kept it going that summer on the Cape, but in his junior year he missed time twice with what was euphemistically described as forearm tightness and the like, when it turned out he was pitching with a torn UCL. The Dodgers took him with the No. 24 pick knowing he'd need Tommy John surgery, and during his rehab, Buehler worked unbelievably hard on getting himself stronger across the board, so when he returned just to throw sim games the next year he was sitting 98-100. We've seen flashes of that guy since then, including the 7.1 WAR season he posted in 2021, but since his second TJ he's thrown 131 innings with a 5.22 ERA and 5.36 FIP, allowing 27 homers in that span. I'm not giving up on him having value in the future, as he still has a broad arsenal with enough stuff to get righties out consistently, but it may come in a different role than as a regular starter. Career WAR to date: 13.6 Spot Actually Selected: Round 7, Pick 208, Tampa Bay Rays Player Actually Selected No. 13: Garrett Whitley, OF, Tampa Bay Rays Cronenworth was a two-way player at Michigan and a decent prospect either way, enough that the Rays, who originally drafted him, gave him a few innings in relief in Triple A in 2019 to see if he might be able to do both. They ended up trading him to the Padres that winter in a deal that brought back Hunter Renfroe and Xavier Edwards, and he's been a Padre — and a hitter only, aside from one relief appearance in 2021 — ever since. He's played all over, but is mostly at second now, although his defense has gone from above average to below since his debut and he may be best-suited to first base or an outfield corner. The bigger concern is that his bat is slowing down, for which he's compensated this year by becoming more patient and selective than ever before. That works for a while until pitchers just decide to attack you in the zone and make you hit it. Advertisement Career WAR to date: 13.3 Spot Actually Selected: Round 4, Pick 131, St. Louis Cardinals Player Actually Selected No. 14: Kolby Allard, LHP, Atlanta DeJong was — or became — an elite defender for his first few years in the majors, racking up 10.8 WAR in his first three seasons, and since then he's been barely above replacement level while losing much of that defensive prowess. He's at 0.7 WAR since the start of 2022, and since he turns 32 in August, he may be done as more than an emergency call-up. He was a great find in the fourth round, especially since he wasn't especially impressive as a hitter at mid-major Illinois State. Career WAR to date: 8.9 Spot Actually Selected: Round 34, Pick 1,017, San Diego Padres Player Actually Selected No. 15: Trent Grisham, OF, Milwaukee Brewers Now we have our first player selected in a round that no longer exists. France wasn't even a senior sign in that spot, which would be typical for a college player taken so close to the end of the draft, and signed for just $100,000 as a junior out of San Diego State. It's never been very pretty on either side of the ball, but France could always hit, with strong contact rates all the way up the minors and in the two years he had in Seattle, where he produced nearly all of his big-league value to date (7.2 WAR between 2021-22). Career WAR to date: 7.4 Spot Actually Selected: Round 1, Pick 11, Cincinnati Reds Player Actually Selected No. 16: James Kaprielian, RHP, New York Yankees Stephenson took a while to establish himself, due more to frequent if often unrelated injuries along the way, but right now he looks like a solid everyday catcher and someone who could probably do that for another five years or so. He was something of a pop-up guy in his senior year of high school — at least, he was the guy everyone raced in to see before his season ended — who showed plus or better power, a 70 arm, and a long swing. Advertisement He's kept the contact rate up but hasn't shown quite as much power as expected. His game is a quiet 1.5-2 WAR as a catcher, but those are kind of hard to find. I'm pretty sure Dave Stewart, GM of the Diamondbacks at the time, was there the day I saw him, and I remember being very confused since they picked first and not again until No. 43, so Stephenson looked for all the world like a 'tweener' — a guy who'd go between their picks. Career WAR to date: 6.5 Spot Actually Selected: Round 1, Pick 12, Miami Marlins Player Actually Selected No. 17: Brady Aiken, LHP, Cleveland Guardians I didn't love this pick, since Naylor didn't have a great body even as a teenager and looked like he'd be stuck at first base — or even end up at DH. High school first basemen have not been a great demographic across draft history, since they have to really hit to have any value. He's settled in now as a solid regular with enough of a platoon split that he'll eventually end up needing a right-handed hitting caddy. He's on his fourth organization now, as the Marlins traded him 13 months after they drafted him, perhaps not coincidentally, shortly after an incident where he stabbed teammate Stone Garrett in the thumb in what the team called 'a prank gone wrong.' Career WAR to date: 8.1 Spot Actually Selected: Round 1A, Pick 36, Baltimore Orioles Player Actually Selected No. 18: Phillip Bickford, RHP, San Francisco Giants Mountcastle had bat speed and raw power as a high school prospect, but a below-average arm and no clear position, which is how he ended up at first base. He's done pretty well for a guy who has never developed much plate discipline, with a .313 career OBP, never once drawing 50 walks in a season, making up for it with some very hard contact and above-average power, peaking back in 2021 with 33 homers. He's in the midst of his worst season to date across the board, although he's just 28 and it would be early for him to actually be on his way down. Advertisement Career WAR to date: 7.8 Spot Actually Selected: Round 1, Pick 26, Los Angeles Angels Player Actually Selected No. 19: Kevin Newman, SS, Pittsburgh Pirates Ward was a real reach at the time of the draft, as he was a catcher who probably couldn't catch, but to his credit he remade himself as a hitter going into 2022, by which point the Angels had moved him to the outfield. He's never been much of a hitter for average, but he has some power and some on-base skills, racking up 7.5 WAR from 2022-24 after appearing to be a bust as recently as 2021. He'll turn 32 this offseason but should have a few more years as a regular. Career WAR to date: 8.2 Spot Actually Selected: Round 12, Pick 349, Houston Astros Player Actually Selected No. 20: Richie Martin, SS, Oakland Athletics Straw generated 6.0 WAR in 2021-22, although Cleveland fans may best know him as the guy they got for Yainer Diaz (7.1 WAR for Houston and counting). Straw has no power, homering once every 89 games in his major-league career, but is a plus runner and plus defender in center, so he still has some value as the last guy on a roster. Career WAR to date: 8.0 Spot Actually Selected: Round 7, Pick 198, Texas Rangers Player Actually Selected No. 21: Ashe Russell, RHP, Kansas City Royals Moore received the second-smallest signing bonus of everyone on this list, just $10,000, as not just a senior sign, but an older one — he turned 23 two months after the draft. He didn't debut until he was 26 1/2, after a trade that sent him to Atlanta, Jeff Francoeur to Texas and Matt Foley to live in a van down by the river. He's now appeared in a major-league game at least once at every position but catcher, and has at least 100 innings at seven of those, just not as a pitcher. He was a solid defender at second base for a bit and drew some walks, but always struck out too much to last as a regular. If it sounds like I'm still flummoxed at how he ended up one of the 30 best players in this draft class, well, I am. Great pick by Texas, though. Advertisement Career WAR to date: 7.5 Spot Actually Selected: Round 5, Pick 161, St. Louis Cardinals Player Actually Selected No. 22: Beau Burrows, RHP, Detroit Tigers When Helsley reached the majors in 2019, he became the first big leaguer ever from Northeastern State University in Oklahoma, and remains the only one. He's having a down year so far, and it looks like he might have had the all-too-typical short reliever career path — of his 7.5 career WAR, 7.2 of them came in 2022-24, which included two All-Star appearances. His fastball has straightened out in 2025 and it's getting hit hard; if there's any silver lining here, and thus a chance he'll continue to add to his career totals, it's that he's still averaging 99 mph on the pitch. Where there's heat, there's hope. Career WAR to date: 6.5 Spot Actually Selected: Round 1, Pick 28, Atlanta Player Actually Selected No. 23: Nick Plummer, OF, St. Louis Cardinals Soroka's been hurt more than he's been healthy in pro ball, but the one full season he had in the majors was incredible: in 2019 he posted a 2.68 ERA across 174 2/3 innings and produced 6.0 bWAR/4.0 fWAR. That's the only time he's thrown even in 100 innings in a single season. He missed all of 2021-22 with injuries, threw just 32 innings in 2023 and then had a decent enough year as a swingman for the White Sox last year that the Nationals are trying him out as a starter. He's in the midst of his best year since the big one, too homer-prone but otherwise effective enough to be a fifth starter for most teams. He won't turn 28 until August. Career WAR to date: 10.3 Spot Actually Selected: Round 6, Pick 195, Los Angeles Angels Player Actually Selected No. 24: Walker Buehler, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers Fletcher was an extreme contact hitter at Loyola Marymount, with 40 strikeouts in 515 PA over his last two years there, and that's pretty much what he was in his big-league time. He had no power to speak of, but could handle shortstop and hit for solid batting averages for a few years; the moment he lost a little bat speed, he was done. He spent most of 2024 in the minors as a pitcher, but with a 6+ ERA. As of this writing, he is in Triple A for Atlanta, hitting .155/.206/.209. Advertisement Career WAR to date: 6.0 Spot Actually Selected: Round 1, Pick 3, Colorado Rockies Player Actually Selected No. 25: D.J. Stewart, OF, Baltimore Orioles Rodgers makes the re-draft but his major-league time has been a disappointment given where he was picked and how good he was as a high school hitter. A reader asked in the comments under a recent article if predicting a player's hit tool was the hardest thing to do in evaluating prospects, and I said yes, by far; Rodgers is now in the pile of players who back that up. There was a lot of disagreement over whether he'd stay at shortstop and how much power he'd develop, but he certainly looked like he was going to hit. He never made any adjustments to his approach on his way up the minor-league ladder, whether it's pitch recognition or swing decisions, which is how you end up with a .316 OBP while playing half your games in Denver. Career WAR to date: 6.2 Spot Actually Selected: Round 30, Pick 888, Texas Rangers Player Actually Selected No. 26: Taylor Ward, C, Los Angeles Angels Springs signed for just $1,000 as a college senior, so the two smallest bonuses received by the guys on this list both came from the Rangers, who had a heck of a draft that year. He was traded twice, landing in Tampa Bay. The Rays moved him to the rotation and got a 3.8 WAR year out of him before he blew out his elbow, then traded him shortly after his return from Tommy John surgery. He's starting again, now for the A's, whose home park in Sacramento is hitter-friendly and has made him look less valuable than he's been. He might get back to mid-rotation level at some point. That he made the majors at all as a 30th-round pick and $1,000 sign is amazing. Career WAR to date: 6.0 Spot Actually Selected: Round 11, Pick 319, Houston Astros Advertisement Player Actually Selected No. 27: Mike Nikorak, RHP, Colorado Rockies Sandoval is a great, early example of the Astros' analysts identifying a pitcher with interesting pitch characteristics who didn't grade out as well via traditional scouting, as he never threw that hard and didn't seem to offer much projection. He did creep up to the point where his fastball had 45 velocity, but he could get guys out with an assortment of other pitches, including a sinker, that offset the lack of pure velo. He's out until at least the second half of this season after Tommy John surgery but should have several years of pitching left in him, assuming he returns to full strength. Career WAR to date: 6.0 Spot Actually Selected: Round 2, Pick 75, Atlanta Player Actually Selected No. 28: Mike Soroka, RHP, Atlanta I saw Minter very early that spring, at home, on the same trip when I saw Hayes, and until 2021 or so that game at College Station was the coldest I had ever been while at a ballpark, 45 degrees at first pitch, and apparently the concourse there is just a wind tunnel. I hated his delivery but the two pitches were impressive enough to see a strong reliever upside. He blew out before the draft, Atlanta took him anyway, and he gave them 5.6 WAR over 384 appearances, all of them in relief. He's out for the rest of 2025 after surgery to repair a lat muscle. Career WAR to date: 5.0 Spot Actually Selected: Round 9, Pick 260, Minnesota Twins Player Actually Selected No. 29: Jon Harris, RHP, Toronto Blue Jays There's a whole mess of guys in the 3.5-5 WAR range from this draft, and you could pick any of them for the last few spots here — I didn't see anyone below that who might be a late bloomer and end up passing the group — but I went with Wade because he actually came into 2025 with 6.4 WAR, then had the worst two months of his career. He might be done, but I see a small chance he can be a bench bat against right-handers and back up at first and in the outfield corners. He was a low-power center fielder at University of Maryland who seldom struck out; I think in today's environment, he probably goes several rounds higher given the way the industry has changed how it values college hitters. Advertisement Career WAR to date: 3.4 Spot Actually Selected: Round 8, Pick 236, Miami Marlins Player Actually Selected No. 30: Kyle Holder, SS, New York Yankees Paddack's 0.7 WAR this year is the second best of any season in his career — in his rookie year of 2019, the closest he's ever come to a full year of work, he produced 2.9 WAR. (He's actually produced 3.8 WAR as a pitcher and minus-0.4 as a hitter.) The Padres picked him up in a June 2016 trade from the Marlins for Fernando Rodney, but he was likely already hurt and blew out his elbow three starts later. He was a projection right-hander in high school who sat around 89-90 mph, getting on top of the ball well with a changeup that was already promising and of course ended up a plus pitch. (Top photo illustration Alex Bregman (left) and Kyle Tucker (right): Gary A. Vasquez, Kim Klement / Imagn Images)
Fox Sports
16-06-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
MVPs, 50/50, World Series: Shohei Ohtani's Big Feats Since He Last Pitched
The last time that Shohei Ohtani started a game as a pitcher was August 23, 2023. Still with the Los Angeles Angels at the time, the right-handed two-way star made it through just 1.1 innings against the Cincinnati Reds before he was removed from the game with what ended up being his second torn ulnar collateral ligament. Rather than immediately get surgery, Ohtani waited until after the season for the procedure… and actually played in the second game of the doubleheader against the Reds that same day, going 1-for-5 with a double as a DH. That sort of oddity is the Ohtani experience, distilled. A player who can finish fourth in the Cy Young and second in the MVP balloting in the same season, as he did in 2022, who can still be one of the most productive players in baseball for the better part of two years while he's not even doing half of his job. It's been some time since Ohtani took the mound, so, with him returning against the San Diego Padres on Monday in the opener role in lieu of a rehab assignment in the minors, let's look back at just what this unicorn accomplished in the nearly two years since he last pitched in an MLB game. The unanimous 2023 MVP Is this one cheating since Ohtani was injured in his second-to-last start in August, so close to the end of the season? It might feel that way, but if losing five weeks of starts and having to "just" be a hitter before that part of his season ended early, too, further emphasized how ridiculously good he had been. Ohtani managed to be worth 10 wins above replacement according to Baseball Reference, and 8.9 by FanGraphs, despite the lost time. No one — not Corey Seager, not Marcus Semien — was close to those numbers in full seasons, and Ohtani was awarded the second MVP of his career unanimously because of it. The biggest contract in pro sports Ohtani might have had his second Tommy John surgery on October 1, 2023, but that didn't slow his offseason one bit. Despite knowing that he wouldn't be a pitcher for at least all of 2024, teams lined up to attempt to court Ohtani — it was the Dodgers that were able to seal the deal in the end, owing to Ohtani's desire to win combined with their willingness to agree to some non-standard contract conditions. Ohtani's base deal was an MLB record and the largest in sports, at 10 years and $700 million. Now, almost all of that is deferred — $68 million per season — changing the value of the contract over its life to $438 million, per the Major League Baseball Player Association's calculations. Still, $438 million would have been the largest in MLB history at that point, as well… just $1.5 million ahead of former teammate, Mike Trout. And still only behind Juan Soto ($765 million) and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ($500 million), both of which signed since. The first 50/50 season What's a player with the energy to be both an everyday player and a starting pitcher to do when they can't do the latter? Steal some bases, apparently. That's what Ohtani decided to do, anyway, and the result was the first-ever 50/50 season: he slugged 54 home runs and stole 59 bases, and was caught all of four times, as well, making him far more efficient at it than the league-leading Elly De La Cruz (67 with a league-most 16 caught stealings). Just five players in history had ever managed even 40/40, and Ohtani — whose career-high in steals before this was 26, in 2021 — set an entirely new benchmark because he had the stamina and the speed to spare. A second unanimous MVP When Ohtani won the 2023 MVP, it was thanks to a combined effort between his work at the plate and as a pitcher. In 2024, though, he was all bat. The 50/50 season might have been the top highlight, but Ohtani was historically good in other ways, as well. He logged an MLB-leading 411 total bases, tied for the 16th-most in history, and the third-most in the 21st century. Who was Ohtani tied with? None other than Barry Bonds and his 2001 season, in which he hit a record 73 homers. Ohtani had as many total bases as the guy who hit 73 home runs in one year. He did that by having nearly 100 extra-base hits: Ohtani finished one shy of that figure, which is also more than just a round number. Despite missing the century mark, Ohtani still finished tied for the 16th-most extra-base hits in a season, and the run environment in which he pulled even that off makes his showing exceptional even among these all-time great years. A World Series championship Ohtani signed with the Dodgers because they agreed to pay him $700 million, sure, but it's likely that other teams would have done the same. What was less likely is that any other team would have had the same commitment to winning: the Dodgers, who came in first place in the NL West in 10 of their prior 11 seasons before signing Ohtani, have the most successful, sustained culture of winning in MLB. The bet both sides took has already paid off, with Ohtani helping to the lead the Dodgers to their second World Series championship in four seasons — his first — and all before he ever even took the mound for them. Bobblehead homers, big stats, and a fourth MVP? Ohtani enters Monday night's action in the midst of a .297/.393/.642 season, in which he's leading the NL in home runs (25), slugging percentage, OPS+ (189), and total bases (179) while leading the majors in runs scored. He hit a historic walk-off home run on his bobblehead night , and on his second bobblehead night — meant to honor his 50/50 season in 2024 — he went deep twice, giving him a series of numbers that no one had ever managed before through 42 games. He reached 250 career homers this past weekend, with 79 of those coming since he last pitched. He's leading the NL in wins above replacement, per FanGraphs' calculations, and could very well be on his way to his third-consecutive MVP award and fourth of his career… without having even pitched in a Dodgers' uniform yet. It's been a while, so just to jog your memory: Ohtani has a 3.01 career ERA as a pitcher, good for a 142 OPS+, and strikes out over 11 batters per nine, even leading the league in that stat (11.9) in 2022. There's been plenty to watch with him just in the batter's box, but there is so much more to Ohtani's game than what he can do with a bat. Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account , and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily! 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