I went to the Nationals-Cardinals game on Wednesday afternoon at Nats Park to check in on the two rebuilding clubs early in the season. Washington has been in a perpetual rebuild for pretty much the entirety of the 2020s, while St. Louis just tore its roster down to the studs this past offseason. And yet, with Chaim Bloom installed as the new president of baseball operations, a deep farm system, and several young position players starting to come into their own, the Cardinals seem to be closer to their next winning season than the Nationals.

That’s certainly how things played out on Wednesday, when the Cards beat the Nats, 6-1, to take two out of three in the series. St. Louis first baseman Alec Burleson, the team’s second-longest tenured position player, went 3-for-4 and knocked in three runs, and second baseman JJ Wetherholt made several slick plays in the field. Wetherholt, who entered this year as the 12th-ranked prospect in baseball, has reached base in all 11 of his starts this year, and he has at least one hit in 10 of them. (He went 0-for-4 with a walk and a run on Wednesday.) The big story, though, was Jordan Walker, who hammered his fifth home run of the season in the fifth inning. It was the 17th time in franchise history that a player has homered five times within his first 12 games to start the season. After two below-replacement-level seasons, it seemed less likely that Walker would ever make good on his former top prospect pedigree, but now he looks like a completely different player. He seems way more confident and is making much better swing decisions; he’s lifting the ball, while walking more and striking out less. Yes, it’s only been 12 games, but the early returns are promising. He enters Friday night’s game against the Red Sox slashing .295/.367/.682 with a 192 wRC+.

I’ll talk more about the Nationals in my answer to the first question below. We’ll also answer your questions about the World Series teams whose players accumulated the most and least WAR by the end of their careers, the potential injuries that would stop the Dodgers from being World Series favorites, and the most successful three-true-outcomes pitchers of all time. But first, I’d like to remind you that this mailbag is exclusive to FanGraphs Members. If you aren’t yet a Member and would like to keep reading, you can sign up for a Membership here. It’s the best way to both experience the site and support our staff, and it comes with a bunch of other great benefits. Also, if you’d like to ask a question for an upcoming mailbag, send me an email at mailbag@fangraphs.com. Read the rest of this entry »

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the bad omen of a broken bat on an Ichiro Suzuki statue, whether Mason Miller is, at this moment, the best pitcher ever on a batter-per-batter basis, and how to label atypical pitches, then Stat Blast (30:00) about team promotional giveaways, age and debut gaps among MLB brothers, and switch-hitters who hit higher in the lineup from one side. Then (47:58) Ben talks to 88-year-old All-American Girls Professional Baseball League pitcher Dolly “Lippy” Vanderlip about growing up as the lone girl in games against boys, joining the AAGPBL at age 15, playing for manager Jimmie Foxx, life on and off the field, the end of the league, how A League of Their Own revitalized interest in the AAGPBL, the impending launch of the Women’s Pro Baseball League, and more.

Audio intro: Tom Rhoads, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio interstitial: Moon Hound, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio outro: Alex Glossman and Ali Breneman, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to broken statue video
Link to broken statue image
Link to Mariners joke tweet
Link to statue being fixed
Link to statue story summary
Link to Mariners wRC+ ranking
Link to three arms episode
Link to Wicker Man post
Link to highest K% for RP
Link to lowest FIP for RP
Link to Miller pitch-type splits
Link to Miller’s stats as a Padre
Link to Sheehan on Miller
Link to Padres-Rockies game story
Link to MLB SP stats
Link to MLB RP stats
Link to team RP stats
Link to Crizer on Imai
Link to MLB.com on Imai
Link to MLBN on Imai
Link to Imai’s Savant arsenal
Link to shuuto wiki
Link to 2025 promotions data
Link to team giveaway rates
Link to Sox giveaway expansion
Link to MLB brothers data
Link to Ben on Guerrero birthdates
Link to Art Fowler SABR bio
Link to switch-hitters info
Link to switch-hitters data
Link to “Hello, Dolly!” wiki
Link to Dolly’s wiki
Link to Dolly’s AAGPBL player page
Link to AAGPBL wiki
Link to WPBL wiki
Link to AAGPBL queer history
Link to Blair article 1
Link to Blair article 2
Link to Ball on extensions
Link to Paine on extensions 1
Link to Paine on extensions 2
Link to First Pitch site
Link to Grounds Crew Baseball site
Link to Mariners Stathead

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Braden Nett’s path to prospect prominence was anything but ordinary. Not only was he working at a Home Depot when he signed with the Padres in 2022 as a non-drafted free agent, but he also had barely played in college. What he lacked in conventional experience, he made up for with a promising arm. San Diego saw him pitching in the MLB Draft League, gave him a chance, and what’s transpired since is bordering on storybook. Initially from Troy, Missouri — with a short stop as a St. Charles Community College Cougar — the 23-year-old right-hander has progressed to the point where he is now ranked seventh on our newly released Athletics Top Prospects list, with a 45 FV.

His change of address came at last summer’s trade deadline. Intrigued by his promising-but-unpolished toolbox, the Athletics acquired Nett as part of the six-player deal centered around Mason Miller and Leo De Vries. On the season, Nett notched 116 strikeouts while logging a 3.75 ERA and a 3.77 FIP over 105 2/3 innings between a pair of Double-A outposts.

Currently sidelined with a rotator cuff issue — he’s on roster of the Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators, but has yet to appear in a game — Nett has a mid-to-upper-90s fastball when healthy. As I learned talking to him during spring training, he also has a wide-ranging arsenal. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to a new season of Five Things I Liked (Or Didn’t Like) In Baseball This Week. After a slow, veteran-who-signed-late-this-spring style warmup to the year, it’s time for another dive into the little details that catch my eye each week. It’s the perfect time of year for it. Beautiful weather, early-season optimism, overheard conversations about who should bat third and who’s a bum – it all fuses together to make this one of my favorite parts of the baseball calendar. And even though the WBC whetted my appetite for the spectacular somewhat, there’s really no replacing major league games for the sheer variety of entertainment. I’m sure that Zach Lowe of The Ringer, whose old NBA column format I’ve borrowed, would say the same thing about the basketball regular season. Let’s talk baseball.

1. Ricochets
If you share my baseball consumption habits, it might seem like every weekday offers a Royals game, a Guardians game, or a Royals-Guardians game. And I love it! I’ll take any excuse to watch Maikel Garcia continue his ascent from contact hitter to do-it-all superstar, a kind of modern-day José Ramírez. And I get to watch the actual José Ramírez too? And Bobby Witt Jr.? And Steven Kwan, Vinnie Pasquantino, Bo Naylor, and old favorite Michael Wacha? Both of these teams are sneaky fun, and their series this week didn’t disappoint. Witt might be having a slow start on offense, but he’s still a defensive genius:

Lots of shortstops – pretty much every other shortstop, even – would get only one out, somewhere, on that play. But two?! Ludicrous. When Garcia’s lunging attempt caromed toward Witt, he turned from interested observer to protagonist so smoothly that it looked like he was planning on doing it the whole time. It started with his feet. Instead of charging the ricochet, Witt timed his steps to hop to a stop and get his body in as good a throwing position as he could:

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Below is an analysis of the prospects in the farm system of the Athletics. Scouting reports were compiled with information provided by industry sources as well as my own observations. This is the sixth year we’re delineating between two anticipated relief roles, the abbreviations for which you’ll see in the “position” column below: MIRP for multi-inning relief pitchers, and SIRP for single-inning relief pitchers. The ETAs listed generally correspond to the year a player has to be added to the 40-man roster to avoid being made eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Manual adjustments are made where they seem appropriate, but we use that as a rule of thumb.

A quick overview of what FV (Future Value) means can be found here. A much deeper overview can be found here.

All of the ranked prospects below also appear on The Board, a resource the site offers featuring sortable scouting information for every organization. It has more details (and updated TrackMan data from various sources) than this article and integrates every team’s list so readers can compare prospects across farm systems. It can be found here. Read the rest of this entry »

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Jorge Soler charging the mound against Reynaldo López and whether a team could dupe an opposing ace into getting ejected, Konnor Griffin’s extension becoming official, whether Jose Altuve is benefiting from the reshaped strike zone, a wave of MLB injuries, teams whose playoff odds have changed the most in the first two weeks of the season, Tony Vitello’s PR performance, the debut of brimless hats, a few follow-ups, and more.

Audio intro: Cory Brent, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio outro: The Shirey Brothers, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to Cease vs. Ohtani game
Link to brawl story
Link to suspensions story
Link to Soler vs. López stats
Link to Bois database
Link to Bois spreadsheet
Link to “aggro” wiki
Link to Armadillidiidae wiki
Link to Dan S. on Griffin
Link to MLBTR on Griffin
Link to Olney’s deleted tweet
Link to Rosenthal on Griffin
Link to marriage/divorce stats
Link to Woodrum on the strike zone
Link to Seidler on Altuve
Link to wRC+ leaderboard
Link to batter challenges leaderboard
Link to Altuve called-strike rate
Link to Judge called-strike rate
Link to Altuve mistake-strike rate
Link to Judge mistake-strike rate
Link to five-year out-of-zone-strike rate
Link to five-year in-zone-ball rate
Link to Petriello on height 1
Link to Petriello on height 2
Link to banging-scheme player data
Link to report on Altuve’s sign-stealing
Link to FG post on recent injuries
Link to Dan S. on slow starts
Link to demure/mindful meme
Link to playoff odds changes
Link to Red Sox panic
Link to Breslow quote
Link to Ben on ex-player GMs
Link to most consecutive one-run losses
Link to Ben on dugout game-calling
Link to Vitello article 1
Link to Vitello article 2
Link to Vitello article 3
Link to Vitello article 4
Link to Vitello article 5
Link to Chapman/Schmitt clip
Link to Alcantara/McCullough story
Link to Rockies start story
Link to Sheehan on Caissie
Link to Walker’s hot start
Link to new City Connects
Link to White Sox giveaway hat
Link to mitre wiki
Link to Baumann post
Link to Rangers statue post
Link to Jake hat photo
Link to Jordan hat photo
Link to “Yankee with no brim” clip
Link to 2025 Jensen article
Link to new Jensen celly
Link to Jensen celly video
Link to May sunglasses clip
Link to Igawa post
Link to “sled dog” post
Link to Jackson photo 1
Link to Jackson photo 2
Link to 2025 Jackson HR
Link to MLBTR on Davitt
Link to Davitt on EW
Link to date blast image 1
Link to date blast image 2
Link to date blast image 3
Link to date blast image 4

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12:02

Dan Szymborski: And awaaaay we go!

12:03

Dan Szymborski: I think you’ll be fine

12:03

Dan Szymborski: Pulitzer Prize for B- Snark

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Jeremiah Estrada’s path to big league success was bumpy. Drafted out of Palm Desert High School in California in 2017, the now-27-year-old right-hander battled multiple injuries, including one that required Tommy John surgery in 2019. There was non-health-related adversity as well. Estrada spent his first seven professional seasons in the Chicago Cubs organization, and he didn’t always see eye to eye with the club’s pitching coordinators and coaches. They were occasionally at cross purposes when it came to optimizing his repertoire.

Estrada reached the big leagues with Chicago in 2022, although it wasn’t until two years later that he found much success. Cast aside by the Cubs, with whom he’d thrown just 16 1/3 big league innings over parts of two seasons, he has thrived since being claimed off waivers by the San Diego Padres prior to the 2024 campaign. Over 145 appearances, Estrada has logged a 3.35 ERA, a 2.85 FIP, and a 36.1% strikeout rate over 139 2/3 frames. His Friars ledger also includes four saves and an 11-9 won-lost record.

Estrada discussed his nonlinear, and often frustrating, path to big league success over a pair of conversations. The first came in early March at the Padres’ spring training complex, while the second was conducted at Fenway Park this past weekend.

———

David Laurila: How much have you changed since coming to pro ball?

Jeremiah Estrada: “I’d say a lot, and not just what happens on the field. With the baseball side, you learn what’s important and what’s not important, but that’s pretty much like life. Right? Life starts to kick in. Even though many of our lives are different, we worry about the same things. Read the rest of this entry »