The following article is part of Jay Jaffe’s ongoing look at the candidates on the BBWAA 2026 Hall of Fame ballot. For a detailed introduction to this year’s ballot, and other candidates in the series, use the tool above; an introduction to JAWS can be found here. For a tentative schedule and a chance to fill out a Hall of Fame ballot for our crowdsourcing project, see here. All WAR figures refer to the Baseball Reference version unless otherwise indicated.
Before he turned 25 years old, Cole Hamels had already reached the pinnacle of the baseball world. At the tail end of his third major league season, the lanky lefty — listed at 6-foot-4, 205 pounds — had gone 4-0 with a 1.80 ERA during the 2008 postseason, leading the Phillies to their first championship since 1980 and winning NLCS and World Series Most Valuable Player honors along the way. Suddenly, the aura he projected — a handsome laidback surfer from San Diego — needed an upgrade. He became a celebrity, expected to dress the part and live up to outsized expectations, both of which he did with some amount of awkwardness but a fair level of success.
Hamels spent the first 9 1/2 seasons of his major league career with the Phillies, part of the nucleus that helped them climb out of the doldrums to become a powerhouse that won five straight division titles. Armed with a fastball that could reach the mid-90s, an above-average curve, and a killer changeup — inspired by watching Padres closer Trevor Hoffman in his heyday — Hamels was a master of deception thanks to his consistency in throwing those three pitches from the same release point. “It’s devastating for a hitter when all of them look like a fastball, and two of them aren’t,” pitching guru Tom House, who worked with Hamels when he was a junior in high school, toldSports Illustrated’s Ben Reiter in 2009.
Hamels’ career wasn’t without hiccups. He missed significant time due to injuries while in the minors, including both the usual arm troubles and a fracture in his pitching hand, sustained during a barroom brawl while standing up for a close friend. Although he helped the Phillies get a shot at repeating their title in 2009, his postseason was a disaster; during the World Series against the Yankees, he nearly came to blows with teammate Brett Myers. At times he was overshadowed by other members of his rotation, Cy Young winners for whom the Phillies traded in case Hamels wasn’t enough, namely Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay. For as well as he pitched, Hamels himself never came close to winning a Cy Young, and he made just four All-Star teams. Read the rest of this entry »
*This seasonal position will end after 6 months but less than 1 year from the start of employment. *
San Diego Padres Commitment:
The San Diego Padres are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment for our employees. We strive to create an environment for everyone by including perspectives from backgrounds that vary by race, ethnicity, religion, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, and national origin.
If you are not sure you’re 100% qualified but are up for the challenge – we want you to apply. We believe skills are transferable and passion for our mission goes a long way.
Your role as an Intern, Sports Science:
You will collect, organize, analyze and report player measurables including ball, bat, and body tracking data to help deliver actionable insights to stakeholders across multiple departments. You will aid in the creation, implementation, and monitoring of individualized Player Development goals.
All the responsibilities we will trust you with:
Overseeing the implementation of various technologies at affiliates or spring training complex
Obtaining expert-level knowledge of the interfaces of each technology. Ensuring the collection of data is seamless and unintrusive to the normal flow of the day
Conducting and ensuring proper and timely administration of tests/retests to evaluate physical and physiological responses to training
Working within an interdisciplinary team to build and generate accurate and actionable reports. Assisting with the interpretation of data & reports for multiple stakeholders
Contribute to the continued education of all players, coaches, and other staff on the technologies and analytics being used by the Padres and the meaning of their output for all facets of the game
Leveraging SQL and research skills to quickly conduct ad-hoc queries for PD coaches and staff
Assisting in the implementation and operation of Hawk-Eye data collection
Ensuring the Hawk-Eye unit is functioning properly for all games and relevant bullpen sessions, live BPs, etc.
Ensuring the accurate and organized collection of Hawk-Eye data for medical and/or R&D processes
Overseeing the transfer of Hawk-Eye data to all pertinent downstream users
Obtaining required knowledge to support the understanding and implementation of Hawk-Eye ball-, bat-, and player-tracking data to coaches
Timely interpretation and communication of pertinent data to key stakeholders
Assisting Player Development personnel with the integration of information provided by the other departments of Baseball Operations
Overseeing the implementation and use of the player dashboard, obtain expert level knowledge of its functions, and support in the communication of advance reports and other relevant data
Represents the Club in a positive and professional manner at all times
Other duties as assigned
Your areas of knowledge and expertise that matter most:
Maintain an understanding of current public baseball research and emerging statistical tools, datasets, and technologies
Proficiency in data visualization/interpretation and programming is a plus
Proficient computer skills including experience with MS Office products such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, and general knowledge of office skills and use of office equipment
Possess strong communication skills, both written and verbal, and effectively work well with others in a collaborative, respectful manner
Exceptional time management and organizational skills with capacity to handle high volumes of detailed work, multi-task and manage projects on strict deadlines
Maintain professional demeanor with a high degree of discretion, integrity, and accountability
Maintain consistent, punctual, and reliable attendance
Fluently bilingual in English/Spanish a plus, but not necessary
You will be required to meet the following:
Must be at least 18 years of age by the start of employment
4-year Bachelor’s Degree or Master’s Degree in related field. Course work in biomechanics, sports science, or kinesiology is a plus
Able to work independently within a larger diverse team requiring constant communication
Able to work flexible hours including evenings, weekends, holidays and extended hours as needed
Able to travel as needed
Minimum physical requirements: able to travel to and gain access to various areas of the ballpark for prolonged periods of time during games and events; able to lift and transport up to 25 pounds
As a condition of employment, you must successfully complete all post-offer, pre-employment requirements, including but not limited to a background check
Pay and additional compensation:
The hourly pay rate for this position is $15.15 in AZ. Seasonal, non-union employees are subject to the respective state Minimum Wage and rates will increase accordingly.
In addition to your hourly rate, the Padres offer PTO, employee discounts, appreciation, and recognition opportunities.
The San Diego Padres are an Equal Opportunity Employer.
When our 2025 Colorado Rockies Top Prospect list was published last January, a 24-year-old pitcher coming off of an underwhelming season ranked 14th with a 45+ FV. Over 54 innings with the Double-A Hartford Yard Goats, Juan Mejia had logged a 5.00 ERA and an equally-unhealthy 12.3% walk rate. Eric Longenhagen nonetheless remained enamored of his potential. Offering a “relatively bullish projection,” our lead prospect analyst wrote that the righty “is too freaky to slide,” because he possessed “one of the more explosive and athletic deliveries in the minors” as well as a mid-to-high-90s fastball and an “overtly nasty” slider.
Longenhagen’s faith was realized in the youngster’s rookie season. Not only did Mejia make 55 appearances, he put up a 3.96 ERA, a 3.71 FIP, and a 26.1% strikeout rate over 61-and-a-third innings. Among Rockies relievers, only Jimmy Herget took the mound more frequently and tossed more frames.
When I spoke to Mejia at Fenway Park this past summer — Colorado PR staffer Edwin Perez served as an interpreter — I learned that he has a connection with Red Sox right-hander Brayan Bello. Both were signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2017, and they were together, along with other starry-eyed hopefuls, when Mejia first caught the eye of a Rockies scout.
“When I was 16, I was doing a tryout,” recalled Mejia, who hails from Baní, roughly an hour south of Santo Domingo. “I don’t remember how many teams were there, but there were a lot of them. That’s where I met Brayan Bello, who a lot of scouts were there to see. Read the rest of this entry »
The following article is part of my ongoing look at the candidates on the 2026 Contemporary Baseball Era Committee ballot. For a detailed introduction to this year’s ballot, use the navigation tool above. An introduction to JAWS can be found here.
Though he won the Rookie of the Year award, a Cy Young, and a World Series all in his first full season while beginning a six-year streak of All-Star selections — the first of those as the game’s starter — Fernando Valenzuela wasn’t just a star pitcher. He was an international icon, the centerpiece of a cultural phenomenon, and a beloved global ambassador who brought generations of Mexican American and Latino fans to baseball while helping to heal the wounds caused by the building of Dodger Stadium, the very ballpark in which he starred.
“Roberto Clemente is ‘The Great One,’ but culturally, Fernando Valenzuela has been more significant in terms of bringing a fan base that didn’t exist in baseball,” José de Jesus Ortiz, the first Latino president of the BBWAA, told author Erik Sherman for Daybreak at Chavez Ravine, a 2023 biography of Valenzuela. Sherman himself described the pitcher as “like a composite of the Beatles — only in Dodger blue. His appeal was universal.”
After excelling in a relief role during a September 1980 cup of coffee with the Dodgers — as a 19-year-old in the heat of a playoff race, no less — Valenzuela took the world by storm the following spring. Pressed into service as the Opening Day starter, he threw a five-hit shutout, then reeled off four more shutouts and six more complete games within his first eight starts, a span during which he posted a 0.50 ERA. Despite speaking barely a word of English, the portly portsider (listed at 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds, but generally presumed to be at least 20 pounds heavier) charmed the baseball world with his bashful smile while bedeviling hitters with impeccable command of his screwball, delivered following a high leg kick and a skyward gaze at the peak of his windup.
We’re less than a month from the Winter Meetings and the Rule 5 Draft, which means it’s a good time to evaluate every team’s 40-man roster situation. This is the time of year when teams have one final chance to protect Rule 5 eligible players by placing them on the 40-man. Eligibility is determined by a mix of how long a player has been with their parent organization and how young they were when they signed: Players who signed at 18 or younger must be added to the 40-man within five seasons, while everyone else must be added within four. RosterResource monitors Rule 5 eligibility, if you’re curious to see the lay of the land.
During the season, teams can free up roster space by placing an injured player on the 60-day IL. In the offseason, teams don’t get extra slots for injured players, which tends to put pressure on the back of the roster. The Diamondbacks are a good example of how space can tighten quickly, as they’ve currently got six pitchers battling long-term injuries occupying a spot. You may have noticed a flurry of moves immediately following the World Series, with many teams outrighting players off the 40-man in order to make room for all the guys who were on the IL.
Below, I’ve assessed every National League team’s 40-man roster situation (Eric will sort through the American League tomorrow). Some teams, like the Braves, have plenty of roster space, and thus a lot of flexibility in adding whoever they like. Others, like the Cardinals and Marlins, will face some tough choices as they seek to balance protecting interesting prospects with retaining players already on the roster, as well as finding room for prospective additions via trade or free agency. Some clubs don’t have many impact players to add, while others may need to protect a half-dozen or so guys. I’ve tried to identify which players are most likely to be added, which guys on the 40-man are vulnerable to getting lopped off in a roster crunch, and who could be moved in a deal to free up roster space. Let’s dig in. Read the rest of this entry »
The following article is part of my ongoing look at the candidates on the 2026 Contemporary Baseball Era Committee ballot. Originally written for the 2015 election at SI.com, it has been updated to reflect recent voting results as well as additional research. For a detailed introduction to this year’s ballot, use the navigation tool above. An introduction to JAWS can be found here.
Wherever Gary Sheffield went, he made noise, both with his bat and his voice. For the better part of two decades, he ranked among the game’s most dangerous hitters, a slugger with a keen batting eye and a penchant for contact that belied his quick, violent swing. For even longer than that, he was one of the game’s most outspoken players, unafraid to speak up when he felt he was being wronged and unwilling to endure a situation that wasn’t to his liking. He was a polarizing player, and hardly one for the faint of heart.
At the plate, Sheffield was viscerally impressive like few others. With his bat twitching back and forth like the tail of a tiger waiting to pounce, he was pure menace in the batter’s box. He won a batting title, launched over 500 home runs — he had 14 seasons with at least 20 and eight with at least 30 — and put many a third base coach in peril with some of the most terrifying foul balls anyone has ever seen. For as violent as his swing may have been, it was hardly wild; not until his late 30s did he strike out more than 80 times in a season, and in his prime, he walked far more often than he struck out.
Bill James wrote of Sheffield in the 2019 Bill James Handbook:
“In all the years that I have been with the Red Sox, 16 years now, there has never been a player the Red Sox were more concerned about, as an opponent, than Gary Sheffield. Sheffield was a dynamite hitter and a fierce competitor… When he was in the game, you knew exactly where he was from the first pitch to the last pitch. He conceded nothing; he was looking not only to beat you, but to embarrass you. He was on the highest level.”
Two decades before that, James referred to Sheffield as “an urban legend in his own mind,” referencing the slugger’s penchant for controversy. Sheffield found it before he ever reached the majors through his connection to his uncle, Dwight Gooden. He was drafted and developed by the Brewers, who had no idea how to handle such a volatile player and wound up doing far more harm than good. Small wonder then that from the time he was sent down midway through his rookie season after being accused of faking an injury, he was mistrustful of team management and wanted out. And when he wanted out — of Milwaukee, Los Angeles, or New York — he let everyone know it, and if a bridge had to burn, so be it; it was Festivus every day for Sheffield, who was always willing to air his grievances. Read the rest of this entry »
I’m going to preface this post with two important caveats. First: Complaining about the fairness of the officiating, in any sport, in any circumstance, is loser behavior. For better or worse, the calls usually even out. And even in the vanishingly rare circumstances where a single call genuinely costs a team a victory, harping on about it isn’t going to change anything.
Second: I’m more lukewarm about the oncoming challenge system, and ABS in general, than a lot of people are. I think the umpires usually do a good job calling balls and strikes, and calling the rulebook zone isn’t going to do much to placate fans who pore over umpire scorecards. They don’t want the rulebook zone; they want their team to get all the calls. Overall, I think it’ll be a positive for the game, I’m just less geeked about it than I was about the pitch clock, for instance.
With all that said, there’s one specific thing I’m looking forward to with the challenge system. It’s going to eliminate my least favorite play in baseball, one we saw with disastrous effect during Game 3 of the World Series, and with any luck for the last time on a major league diamond. Read the rest of this entry »
At last, we’ve got a World Series matchup to wrap our heads around. Representing the American League are the Blue Jays, who are back in the Fall Classic — making it a truly international World Series — for the first time since 1993. They’ll face the Dodgers, who are vying to become the first back-to-back champions since the 1999–2000 Yankees. They’re the first defending champions to repeat as pennant winners since the 2009 Phillies, who lost that World Series to the Yankees. If that matchup feels like a long time ago, consider that it’s been twice as long since the Blue Jays were here.
Though the core of the lineup is largely unchanged, this year’s Dodgers team differs from last year’s in that it has reached the World Series on the strength of its starting pitching rather than in spite of it. Due to a slew of injuries in the rotation last year, manager Dave Roberts resorted to using bullpen games four times to augment a rickety three-man staff consisting of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jack Flaherty, and Walker Buehler. Even as those starters (or “starters,” in some cases) put up a 5.25 ERA while averaging just 3.75 innings per turn, the bullpen and offense more than picked up the slack, and the Dodgers took home their second championship of the Roberts era.
This time around, with Flaherty and Buehler elsewhere and Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, and Shohei Ohtani joining Yamamoto, Dodgers starters have been absolutely dominant, posting a microscopic 1.40 ERA while averaging 6.43 innings per turn through the first three rounds, helping the team to paper over a shaky bullpen. After Snell utterly dominated the Brewers, holding them to just one hit over eight innings while facing the minimum number of batters in Game 1 of the NLCS, Yamamoto followed with a three-hit, one-run masterpiece — the first complete game in the postseason since the Astros’ Justin Verlander went the distance against the Yankees in Game 2 of the 2017 ALCS. Glasnow, who began the postseason in the bullpen, allowed one run across 5 2/3 innings in Game 3 of the NLCS, while Ohtani backed his 10 strikeouts over six shutout innings in Game 4 with a three-homer game in what for my money stands as the greatest single-game postseason performance in baseball history. Read the rest of this entry »
They say that in order to thrive in stressful and uncertain times, the key is to focus on the things you control. And who are “they” exactly? Mostly people who traffic in self-help cliches on the internet. But cliches are cliches for a reason. They’re rooted in some measure of truth. And in a decisive Game 3 on Thursday, the NL Wild Card Series between the Cubs and Padres was ultimately decided by control — in nearly every sense of the word. The type of control that refers to whether a pitcher can find the strike zone, the type of control a manager exercises over bullpen usage, and the type of control exerted over batted ball outcomes when lockdown defense becomes a critical component of a team’s identity.
In a 3-1 Cubs victory over the Padres, neither team looked dominant, but Chicago dominated the variables within its control, while San Diego seemed to be pulling blocks from a Jenga tower on an inning-by-inning basis and hoping to stay upright until its offense could break through with a few runs. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s been six days since Mason Miller let somebody hit the baseball. Actually, that’s not quite true. Until the right-hander caught Michael Busch with a literal back-foot slider in the eighth-inning of yesterday’s Wild Card matchup between the Padres and the Cubs, it had indeed been five days, three relief appearances, and 11 batters since anybody came to the plate against Miller and did something other than strike out. However, six of those 11 victims managed to get their bats on the ball. Three of them did it twice. It’s just that over the past week, nobody has been able to figure out how to square up one of Miller’s disappearing sliders or 102 mph fastballs – yes, his four-seamer has averaged 102 mph over the last three outings – well enough to achieve so much as a tapper back to the mound. Busch’s unfortunate foot snapped the streak at 11, but it did nothing to look Miller look more hittable.
In a fun twist, the all-time record for consecutive strikeouts (or at least since 1961, when full play-by-play data became available) belongs to Miller’s teammate Jeremiah Estrada. Estrada struck out a 13 straight batters across three appearances just last May. In fact, he struck all 13 of them out swinging.
That’s a pleasurably tidy play log. Estrada’s streak only ended because, when he entered the game on May 31 against the Royals, manager Mike Schildt intentionally walked the first batter he faced.
Anytime Miller is on the mound, the general feeling among spectators is astonishment that anyone ever manages to put the ball in play. He just threw an immaculate inning. Since his debut in 2023, Miller has allowed just 0.55 hits per inning, the lowest rate among all 473 pitchers who have thrown at least 100 innings. And now, following a 2025 season in which his 45.2% whiff rate ranked second among all pitchers, Miller has ascended to a higher plane. His whiff rate over the past three games has rocketed up to an absurd 61.9%.
Now that the streak has run its course, it’s time to celebrate the six marvels who managed to connect with one of his pitches, no matter how inconsequential the contact. We’ll count down, from the weakest contact to the strongest, starting with Moisés Ballesteros getting the smallest amount of baseball possible it’s possible to get. You can just hear the sound of the foul tip before the ball hits the glove.
Honestly, it’s impressive that Ballesteros got enough of this pitch to make a sound at all. This is a 102.6 mph fastball well above the strike zone. It came in at a height of 3.76 feet, and this season, Miller ran a whiff rate of 55.9% on fastballs 3.7 feet or higher. Even pitchers who don’t throw 102 lean on four-seamers above the zone because it’s so hard for batters both to lay off it and to hit it. This pitch is why we care about vertical approach angle. This pitch is why we’ll never forget the climax of A League of their Own. The pitch to Ballesteros technically went down as a whiff because Statcast counts foul tips for strike three as whiffs rather than fouls, but we don’t have to take that away from him. He gently brushed the baseball, and for that we honor him.
Next up is Dansby Swanson, who got a tiny bit more of the pitch and a whole lot more of catcher Freddy Fermin.
You may think Miller fooled Swanson with a 2-2 slider away, and he may well have done so. It’s also equally possible that Swanson really was trying to keep an eye out for the slider. It’s just that when you know you might see 104 up above the strike zone, trying to look for the slider and actually staying back long enough to be on time for it are two very different propositions. The shortstop was just able to slow down enough to throw the bat head at the ball. It was a great accomplishment, and because of it, Fermin will surely hold a lifelong grudge.
Here’s another two-strike slider that just barely avoided ending up as strike three. Ahead 1-2, Miller missed high and inside to Seiya Suzuki, and this shows you why pitchers tend to think hard in, soft away.
Batters need to catch the ball much further in front of the plate when it’s on the inside, so the fact that Suzuki was way out in front of this pitch didn’t hurt him too much. He still caught the smallest piece of it – so small that he barely kept it from sticking in the catcher’s mitt – but at least he caught that piece with the barrel of his bat. Did he barrel this pitch up? Absolutely not. Did he strike out anyway on the very next pitch? You bet he did.
We’re done with the foul tips now. Up next, we have a group of four regular-looking foul balls. These ones stretch back to Miller’s last regular season appearance against the Diamondbacks on September 27, and they’re all just fastballs that nobody could catch up to.
This is why pitching coaches tell pitchers aim for the middle of the zone and dare batters to hit it, and this is the benefit of throwing harder than just about anyone who has ever lived. Miller didn’t necessarily fool anybody here. They were geared up for the fastball and they got it. It was just too much to handle. Swanson, Connor Kaiser, Carson Kelly, and even contact maven Geraldo Perdomo are doing all they can just to slap this ball into the seats on the opposite side and live to see another pitch. Swanson took a robust hack and looked out to the mound as if to say, “I’m on to you, Mason Miller.”
He was not, in fact, onto Miller, but you can see why this foul felt like a victory.
Now we’re into the really impressive fouls. Here’s Kelly again, very nearly keeping the ball in the field of play!
Kelly is out ahead of a slider on the inside corner here, and he sends a weak popup to the right side that just drifts out of play despite Luis Arraez’s heroic efforts to reel it in. Seriously, Arraez tossed himself over a thick concrete barrier. He must have ended up with a serious bruise, and he took his frustration out on the netting. I wrote about this exact kind of batted ball back in May. Normally when you’re ahead of a pitch, you hit it to the pull side, but sometimes you’re so far ahead that you have to drop your bat head to slow down. At that point, you can’t help but pop it up the other way. If Kelly had been above the ball, he would have hit a weak grounder to the left side – or, more likely, fouled it straight down and off his own foot – but since he was underneath it, he came just a few feet (or one gust of wind) from achieving the impossible dream of facing Mason Miller and coming away with a weak popout.
Last up is Geraldo Perdomo, long one of the best hitters in baseball when it comes to making contact, and more recently, somehow one of the best hitters in baseball, period. Here’s Perdomo genuinely rifling a slider to the pull side.
This ball came off the bat at 100 mph. Perdomo was still way out in front of it. It was probably foul by a good 25 feet at the moment it passed first base. Still, that’s the best contact anyone has made against Miller in nearly a week. Perdomo would go on to strike out like all the others, but he can take pride in knowing that he’s the last player ever to actually hit the ball hard off Miller.
