Despite Juan Soto's snub for NL squad, the Mets insist 'he's an All-Star for us'
BALTIMORE — The New York Mets consider Juan Soto to be a bona fide All-Star, despite the snub he received from those who selected the National League squad for the Midsummer Classic on July 15.
Soto, in his first year with the Mets, has performed well enough to earn the respect of his manager and teammates. In their opinion, he's deserving of a place in the All-Star Game next week in Atlanta.
'He's an All-Star for us,' manager Carlos Mendoza said Tuesday night after the Mets beat Baltimore 7-6. 'It's frustrating, but I'm hoping in the next couple of days we hear something and he makes it.'
Soto drove in the winning run with a sharp single on the first pitch of the 10th inning. That capped a night in which he went 3 for 5 to raise his batting average to .269 with 21 homers and 52 RBIs.
Soto has walked 72 times, by far the most in the majors, but he can also lash out at a pitcher when necessary.
'He's got a pretty good understanding of what the pitchers are trying to do to him,' Mendoza said. 'There is his awareness of the game, he's going to see pitchers. There are times when he's going to be aggressive. Tonight was one of those nights. First pitch in the 10th, he's attacking.'
Soto made the All-Star team as a member of the Nationals, Padres and Yankees each year since 2021.
The streak appears to be over. But his teammates believe he deserves to go.
'What he done all year is just incredible, and the results are good enough,' Mets starting pitcher Clay Holmes said. 'The consistency he's showed up with, at the at-bats he's taken, is more than an All-Star. He's one of the best in the game and a big part of our lineup.'
Soto seems rather philosophical about the snub.
'Sometimes you're gonna make it and sometimes you don't,' he told reporters after Sunday's loss to the Yankees. 'It's just part of baseball.'
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New York Times
20 minutes ago
- New York Times
The 3 preseason San Francisco Giants predictions I wish I'd made
I once made a prediction that was accurate and amusing enough to be included on my Wikipedia page. Because of this, you might assume that I'm good at predictions. I am not. That was the only good prediction I have ever made. I am better at fixing transmissions than I am at making predictions, and you don't want me within 50 feet of your car. Advertisement It's probably for the best that I don't remember any of the predictions my corporate overlords forced me to make before this season, because I'm sure they're already shot to heck. What I do remember, though, are the educated guesses and half-baked hunches about the Giants that I had before the season. Some of them came close to happening. If I had any courage at all, I would have published them as predictions and ended up looking smart. I didn't. They're only the preseason predictions I wish I made. To be fair, I at least hinted at the idea in a predictions article, but that was even more wishy-washy than my normal stuff. These were the actual words that were in my brain all winter: This dude might struggle something fierce. Every time I clicked on his Baseball Savant page, it was like a blinking red siren. He wasn't just making weak contact; he was making some of the weakest contact in the league. He wasn't just swinging and missing; he had some of the worst strikeout and whiff rates in the league. Then there was his batted-ball profile, which has him as one of the most extreme pull hitters in baseball. It all adds up to the profile of a hitter the league will catch up with. Then you get to the evidence that the league already did catch up to him at the end of his breakout season: His OPS for September of last season was under .700, and his strikeout-to-walk ratio was all cattywampus. It's a shame, because there's so much already right with him as a player. His speed, instincts, pull-side power and versatility are all helpful to a major-league team right now, which helps explain why Baseball-Reference's WAR still has him as the fourth-most valuable position player on the Giants this season, behind only Matt Chapman, Mike Yastrzemski and Willy Adames. He's still young, and there's still time for him to make the adjustments he needs to. Advertisement It was always unlikely for him to repeat what he did last year, though. It was unlikely for him to come close, even. That's pretty much what's happened. His OPS vs. lefties is 22 points lower than his OPS against right-handers this year, which is both great and horrible news, but his overall production is roughly the same. His adjusted OPS was 25 percent better than the National League last season, and it's 22 percent better this season. He's still as streaky as hitters get, but he's at least shown that last season's second half was just a slump, not a result of the league solving him. The caveat to all this is that I did not see the defensive calamity coming. There have been rough defensive patches for Ramos throughout his Giants career, but nothing like the rough defense he's shown all season. Ramos is between Fitzgerald and Christian Koss in WAR this season, according to Baseball-Reference, which gives you an idea of just how much Ramos' defense is hurting him. And I can't disagree with the numbers, either. They match the eyeball test, and the eyeballs hurt. Still, the offense is a welcome not-surprise. Ramos is a healthy part of a balanced lineup, just like he was last year. Not only is that welcome for this season, but the Giants can start expecting it for future seasons, too. I'd imagine there's quite the generational split among Giants fans when it comes to expectations for pitching prospects. In one corner, you have the old guard, the ones who spent decades expecting doom. Between the Bob Knepper trade in 1980 and Matt Cain's debut in 2005, there wasn't a more dangerous job on the planet than 'exciting young Giants pitcher.' Every time a pitcher would start to fly, they'd fly too close to the sun on shoulders made out of wax. Can you believe there was a time when the Giants had five starting pitchers in the top-100 prospects, including the best pitching prospect in baseball? Only one of them lived up to expectations, and only after he was traded for A.J. Pierzynski. It was always doom for the young pitchers. Doom, doom, doom. Advertisement And in the other corner, you have newer fans, who watched the Giants thrive beyond their wildest dreams because of young pitching. They understand that pitching is a cruel profession, and they know that success can be fleeting, but they're not terrified of young pitchers in general. Sometimes they work. Look at Logan Webb over there. Came up, got good, stayed good for a long time. What's the big deal? That happens with young pitchers sometimes. I'll always be the one in the first example, though. It doesn't surprise me when other teams develop pitchers. The Mariners had a couple seasons where they were consistently making homegrown pitchers out of glowing dirt they dug up behind old Boeing test grounds, and that made sense to me. When it comes to the Giants, though, I always hold my breath. Young pitchers, you say? Sounds risky. There was a point this season where the Giants had too many young pitchers. They sent an incumbent starter to the minors. They had a battle for the one and final spot in the rotation. They had to use starting pitchers as relievers because, well, there were just too many young pitchers. I was scared for them. 'There's no way it will work,' the oldest, crustiest lobe of my brain croaked. And I nodded in agreement. For these were promising young Giants pitchers we were talking about. Except this prediction makes it in here because it's both correct and incorrect. Yes, Hayden Birdsong is caught in a developmental maelstrom right now, and Kyle Harrison is currently on the Pawtucket Red Sox, but Landen Roupp has been stellar. It's been enjoyable to watch his changeup develop as the season progresses, and you can see the curveball become even more effective the less he has to rely on it. Sometimes it's better to be wrong. Maybe there's a way to scoop this lobe of the brain out and replace it with something more optimistic. 'Oops! All Lincecums!' or something like that. I wish I were more wrong in public about the Giants' plan to rely on young pitchers, which I was quietly skeptical about. If the Giants make the postseason this year, young pitching will be a major reason why. Sometimes young pitchers end up helping, and they don't have to stop for a long time. (Top photo of Tyler Fitzgerald: Emilee Chinn / Getty Images)


New York Times
20 minutes ago
- New York Times
The Rule 5, the MVP and the Miz: How the Brewers became the hottest team in baseball
Two months ago, the Milwaukee Brewers were going nowhere. They lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates on May 24, dropping them into fourth place in the National League Central, three games below .500. Veteran Christian Yelich and young shortstop Joey Ortiz were below replacement level, third base was an offensive black hole, and Rhys Hoskins was the only Brewers regular with a wRC+ in the top 80 leaguewide. Rotation mainstay Freddy Peralta was pitching like an ace, but the Brewers already had used 10 other starting pitchers to fill out the rotation, and their staff ERA was in the bottom third of the major leagues. Their bullpen ERA was worse than that of the Colorado Rockies and Chicago White Sox. Advertisement The Brewers were bad. And then they became the best team in baseball. The Brewers' 36-13 record since May 25 is better even than the similarly red-hot Toronto Blue Jays. In the past month, the Brewers have produced an 11-game winning streak — six of those wins came against the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers — and moved into a neck-and-neck battle with the Chicago Cubs for first place in the NL Central. Two months ago, the Brewers had only a 10.1 percent chance of making the playoffs. As of Thursday's off day, FanGraphs considered them a postseason shoo-in with a 94.7 percent chance of making it. This, of course, is nothing new for the Brewers. They seem to do it every year. The Brewers have been to the playoffs in six of the past seven seasons, and only the Dodgers and Atlanta Braves have more wins in the National League since 2018. So, how did the Brewers do it this time? How did they once again sneak into the conversation as one of the best teams in baseball? Per usual, they did it quietly, with a lot of pitching, successful player development and small moments — and small transactions — that just kept adding up. This is how it happened. It was a Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh, and the Brewers had blown an early lead to trail 5-3 heading into the eighth inning. They were on the verge of being swept by a last-place team until rookie third baseman Chad Durbin delivered a two-out, tying double. He later scored the winning run, and the Brewers bullpen took it from there. The Brewers have the best record in baseball ever since, and Durbin has since been the game's eighth-best third baseman by fWAR. Acquired from the New York Yankees in the offseason trade of closer Devin Williams, Durbin had taken over the position in mid-April but was hitting below .200 before getting hot in late May. He now has a 135 wRC+ and has been a solid fielder. Advertisement Forget the trade deadline. One of the most consequential trades of the year happened April 7 when the Brewers — unusually desperate for pitching early in the season — traded well-regarded 19-year-old outfielder Yophery Rodriguez to the Boston Red Sox for Triple-A starter Quinn Priester, a 24-year-old with fewer than 100 innings of major-league experience. Priester moved immediately into the rotation, and he's been unbeatable since late May. The Brewers have won every game Priester has pitched since May 30. In those 10 outings, Priester has pitched 57 innings with 11 walks and a 2.53 ERA. In the first game after the All-Star break, Priester struck out 10 Dodgers. Wednesday night against the Seattle Mariners, he allowed two runs in seven innings. In a one-run win against the San Diego Padres, it was left fielder Isaac Collins who reached base four times and drove in a two-out, eighth-inning run that proved crucial before Durbin hit a walk-off homer in the ninth. Thanks to Collins, and a resurgence of both Sal Frelick and Jackson Chourio, the Brewers have the fourth-best outfield WAR in MLB since late May. Frelick and Chourio are the team's WAR leaders for the season, but it's Collins who leads in that category since May 25. Collins wasn't only a Rule 5 pick. He was a minor league Rule 5 pick, plucked from the Colorado Rockies in 2022. He became the Brewers' primary left fielder after Garrett Mitchell got hurt early this season, and in the past two months, he's been one of the best left fielders in baseball, pairing elite defense — only Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong has more five-star catches — with a 138 wRC+. Through almost a decade of consistent success, the Brewers have developed a reputation for pitching. They traded for Peralta when he was a teenager, they drafted Brandon Woodruff in the 11th round, and they developed Corbin Burnes into a Cy Young winner. Since 2018, only the Dodgers, Houston Astros, Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Guardians have a better team ERA. Advertisement In mid-June, the Brewers promoted their latest electric arm. Jacob Misiorowski, a 23-year-old second-round pick from 2022, arrived with a 6-foot-7 frame and 100-mph fastball. In his debut, The Miz pitched five hitless innings. A month later, he was named to the All-Star team. Through six starts, Misiorowski has a 2.45 ERA and more than 12 strikeouts per nine innings. He's been in the Majors less than two months, and already Misiorowski is among the most well-known players on the team, a throwback to the franchise's past and a cornerstone of its future. Misiorowski's promotion was good news for every Brewer except veteran starter Aaron Civale, who lost his rotation job. Unhappy with the change — and with free agency approaching — Civale requested a trade and got one in a matter of days. The Brewers shipped him to the Chicago White Sox for big league flop Andrew Vaughn, the third-overall draft pick in 2019 who'd been an increasing disappointment through five seasons in Chicago. The Brewers initially sent Vaughn to Triple A — that's where he'd been with the White Sox — but when slumping Hoskins went on the IL on July 7, Vaughn was summoned as his replacement. In his first 10 games with the Brewers, Vaughn has a .943 OPS with more walks than strikeouts, and he's been among the league leaders in RBI since his promotion. There was the three-run double in the seventh inning, another three-run double in the eighth, and an RBI single in the ninth. That's how Christian Yelich managed to turn a competitive game into a 17-6 Brewers blowout. His eight RBI came in the midst of a seven-game stretch in which Yelich had 16 hits and drove in 14 runs. The former MVP was hitting just .184 with a .600 OPS in the middle of May, but since May 22, Yelich has hit .333 with 12 home runs and a .960 OPS. His 169 wRC+ in that span is eighth-best in the Majors, and his 19 home runs are the most he's hit in a season since 2019. Yelich now leads the Brewers in several offensive categories, giving them an offensive anchor after Hoskins cooled down and then got hurt after his strong start to the season. Video from this date shows a stolen base attempt, an off-target throw to second base, and Brewers shortstop Joey Ortiz flying through the air to catch the ball and apply a tag he couldn't possibly have practiced. The runner was out, and the Brewers won. Ortiz hasn't been nearly as good overall as he was while playing third base last year, but his six outs above average are seventh-most among shortstops. Premier defense has been another Brewers organizational calling card. Only the Astros, Arizona Diamondbacks and St. Louis Cardinals have produced more outs above average since 2018, and the Brewers have the second-most outs above average in the Majors this year (and that's with second baseman Brice Turang being credited with a negative OAA despite winning a Platinum Glove last year and being worth 6 defensive runs saved). Advertisement This date was the start of an 11-game winning streak, and it came in Woodruff's first start in a year and a half. He struck out eight. For years, Woodruff made himself into another homegrown horse for the Brewers rotation. From late-round pick in 2014 to Top 100 prospect in 2017 to Major League All-Star in 2019 to top five Cy Young candidate in 2021, Woodruff was emerging as a top-of-the-rotation force until he had shoulder surgery in 2023 and missed all of 2024. Now 32 years old with only 67 innings pitched the past two seasons, Woodruff was something of a wild card coming into this season, but through his first three starts, he has a 1.65 ERA as the final piece of a dominant rotation that still has Peralta putting up career-best numbers, Misiorowski making a case for Rookie of the Year, Priester winning almost every start, and veteran Jose Quintana maintaining a 3.49 ERA at 36 years old. Since May 25, the Brewers have the best rotation ERA in baseball by a sizeable margin. First game after the All-Star break, the Brewers were clinging to a 2-0 lead against the Dodgers, and Priester was pulled after just 77 pitches. It was time to let the bullpen loose. First up was Abner Uribe, throwing 99-mph fastballs to get through the middle of the lineup. Next was lefty Jared Koenig throwing sinkers to retire the side in order. In the ninth, closer Trevor Megill threw nothing but fastballs and curveballs, needing just seven pitches in all to retire Tommy Edman, Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts. In the past two months, each of the Brewers' top eight relievers has an ERA below 4.00 and five have an ERA below 3.00. Former starters DL Hall and Aaron Ashby have been terrific in multi-inning relief roles, relatively minor trade additions Grant Anderson, Nick Mears and Rob Zastryzny have pitched well, and Megill has been one of the Major League leaders in win probability added. Friday marks exactly two months since the Brewers began to turn their season around. The team will be at home against the Marlins, and it remains to be seen what will happen, but we know this much: it's Peralta's turn to pitch. In his eighth season with the Brewers, Peralta is putting up the best numbers of his career. Before the team's resurgence, Peralta seemed to be an obvious trade candidate before reaching free agency this offseason, but his steady hand — and the improvement of the team around him — mean he's surely going to stick around through the end of the season. Whether they will add offensive pieces to back him and the rest of the rotation remains to be seen. Peralta has pitched in five playoff series for the Brewers, but he's never won one. The Brewers consistently work their magic in the summer. Is this the year it finally works in October? (Top photo of Misiorowski: John Fisher / Getty Images)


New York Times
20 minutes ago
- New York Times
Aaron Judge is the world's best hitter. He's just as valuable to Yankees as a hitting coach
NEW YORK — The room is small, with several rows of long white desks and roller chairs, and a large projection screen in the back. It's steps away from the home clubhouse at Yankee Stadium, a ballpark where nearly every wall serves as a screaming billboard for the club's storied past — yet the space feels sparse, like a classroom at a community college. Advertisement Fitting, since it's where Aaron Judge, the son of high school teachers, does some of his best work off the field. While Judge may be the best hitter in baseball, his teammates say his behind-the-scenes presence in daily hitters meetings — from the information he offers to the atmosphere he cultivates — is a key differentiator for the New York Yankees, owners of the third-best offense in MLB in terms of runs scored. It's one thing to watch Judge. But to get a look inside his brain? 'It's cool to see what his process is, what he thinks about when he's hitting,' catcher J.C. Escarra said. 'More often than not,' catcher and first baseman Ben Rice said, 'he's got something to say.' Judge, always wary of self-congratulation, downplayed his contributions. 'I want everybody collaborating,' he said. 'Everybody just talking.' But even hitting coach James Rowson, who runs the meetings, called Judge's contributions 'invaluable.' 'He brings so much to the table,' Rowson said. Lately, it hasn't been pretty for the Yankees, who have gone 14-21 over their past 35 games while falling four games back in the American League East as of Thursday. But to get out of it, they're going to need to come together, and often for the Yankees that begins in their hitters meetings. For a typical night game, the Yankees' hitters meetings begin 3 1/2 hours before first pitch. The room is strategically located at the heart of the team's work area. It's directly across from the entrance to the clubhouse and just steps away from the batting cages and nutrition area, which features a tall cooler filled with sports drinks and shelves with MLB-approved supplements. Judge always sits somewhere in the middle. His teammates pile in around him, some holding iPads packed with statistics and videos, others gripping paper plates filled with the gourmet pregame spread. Rowson provides the opening remarks, and his assistants Pat Roessler and Casey Dykes offer analysis along the way. Sometimes manager Aaron Boone and other coaches attend. Advertisement Judge observes with laser focus, teammates say. Despite leading the league in so many major offensive categories, including batting average (.345) and OPS (1.170), he knows he has to be as prepared as anybody around him, especially as he continues to grow into his Yankees captaincy, now in its third season. 'The homework he does is incredible,' Rowson said. 'He comes to a hitters meeting already informed, but he also comes to get more. He knows what he's trying to do, and then he wanted to hear other guys and what their plans may be. There's a lot of communication.' He also knows when to lend a hand and when to step back. 'Sometimes, it's, 'Let me speak up,'' Goldschmidt said of Judge. 'Sometimes, it's, 'Let me just boost the morale of the team or the confidence.'' Long gone are the days when players would stroll into the clubhouses a few hours before the game, take batting practice on the field and consider themselves ready for first pitch. Most teams lay out schedules that include multiple pregame meetings, and the Yankees are no different. Every series, Yankees relievers go over the other team's hitters together. Every day, the starting pitcher meets with the catchers and coaches to plan for that game's start. The hitters hold a meeting to discuss the entire upcoming series before it starts, and then they have another meeting before every game. The hitters meetings typically start on a light note. Moments before it begins, a music video plays on the projector, and the volume is cranked up. Before a recent weekday game, it was 'Shake Ya Tailfeather' by Murphy Lee. 'It keeps guys loose,' Rowson said. 'Get them to easygoing. Part of coming out here every day and going through the grind is having fun. You've got to want to show up every day.' How deep Rowson dives into the opponent depends on what he feels the Yankees need to know. He'll litter his presentations with heat maps, pitch percentages and video clips, but he'll mix in questions designed to get the hitters talking to each other. Advertisement 'A good hitters meeting is not just all the analytical numbers (Rowson) has,' second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. said, 'but hearing from guys who faced (the pitcher) and just speaking on what they see, how the ball moves, the way that guy has attacked guys in the past.' When the meeting finishes, they're free to continue their pregame preparation, which usually includes on-field batting practice approximately 2 1/2 hours before the game. 'Everyone is going to need something different,' Goldschmidt said. 'I may not want or need what Judgey wants or what maybe other guys want.' 'They construct their own plans,' Rowson said. 'Every human takes in information differently. It's about learning what you need. Nobody can take in everything.' For Judge, it's 'just a good opportunity for us to share little things.' He also leans on experience. Entering Friday, Judge had faced 1,013 pitchers over his 10-year career, according to Baseball Reference. He had gotten at least one hit against 567 of them. 'Pretty much anyone we face,' Rice said, 'he's faced before or he's seen someone similar at the minimum. He's usually got something to offer up. It's never anything crazy. He does a good job simplifying, saying something that everyone can digest.' Goldschmidt, who ranks fourth among active players in career hits, said it's 'crazy' to think that Judge can be as good as he is and still actively want to help those around him all the time. 'It's so hard to perform individually, especially at his expectation level,' Goldschmidt said. 'To be able to do it individually, and still be able to impact others around you is another layer that makes it even tougher. He does a really good job of that.' Judge said he gets as much out of the meetings as he gives. He said he likes to lean on Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger — longtime National Leaguers — in particular when the Yankees face NL opponents. Sometimes young players have faced rookie pitchers in the minor leagues, and what they share can change a fellow hitter's at-bat, too. Advertisement Judge also wants to know his teammates' plans at the plate so he can watch their at-bats in real time and provide feedback if he notices something unusual with a swing, or if that hitter strays from his approach. 'Maybe they'll help me recognize a slider a little sooner,' Judge said. 'It goes a long way. Even for me, talking to Goldschmidt, I've seen guys in our division 15 or 20 times. I can throw him a tidbit, tell him that I'm trying to eliminate a certain pitch and focus on these two (pitches), or to focus on a certain zone.' And sometimes, talking to Judge leaves teammates smiling and shaking their heads. Of course, it might be easy for Judge to take certain information and immediately use it on the field. But for mere mortals? 'It's pretty funny,' Escarra said. 'He's so talented. I can be thinking the same things and getting different results. But it's cool being in the same room and talking hitting with him.' (Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic. Photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)