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Phillies Acquire Pirates' Bryan Reynolds in Trade Idea

Phillies Acquire Pirates' Bryan Reynolds in Trade Idea

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Phillies Acquire Pirates' Bryan Reynolds in Trade Idea originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
As the MLB trade deadline inches closer, the Philadelphia Phillies may have a chance to land a key piece for their playoff push. Tim Kelly of On Pattison recently proposed a trade idea that's gaining attention: Philadelphia should pick up the phone and call the Pittsburgh Pirates about outfielder Bryan Reynolds.
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The timing for such a deal might be right. According to USA Today's Bob Nightengale, the Pirates are open for business on nearly every player not named Paul Skenes or Oneil Cruz. 'Two intriguing players,' Nightengale noted, 'are third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes and outfielder Bryan Reynolds.'
Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Reynolds, a two-time All-Star, is off to a slow start this season, now in year three of an eight-year, $106 million contract. But his ceiling remains high, and a change of scenery could unlock his best form again. For the Phillies, he'd be a clear upgrade in left field, where Max Kepler, set to become a free agent this winter, is currently playing.
Beyond the fit, the need is clear. After last season's early playoff exit, which saw one of the best offenses in baseball suddenly go quiet, the Phillies know they cannot rely on regular-season success alone. Despite a strong year, they won just one postseason game in 2024, setting the stage for a must-win season in 2025.
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Tuesday night's win over the Toronto Blue Jays helped them bounce back from a modest four-game losing streak, and Bryce Harper's return ignited the offense. But if Philadelphia wants to avoid another October letdown, reinforcing their lineup now—possibly with Reynolds—could prove essential.
Reynolds is slashing .234/.302/.372 with seven home runs and 34 RBIs. While not impressive numbers, a change of scenery from the league's 26th-ranked offense, according to FanGraphs, could do him wonders. Reynolds is also a switch-hitter, giving Philadelphia further lineup flexibility and a player who can slot in all three outfield positions.
Whether it be replacing Kepler in left or taking over sole possession of center field from Brandon Marsh and Johan Rojas, Reynolds may be just what the Phillies need to secure their first World Series championship since 2008.
Related: Phillies Land Braves' 40 Home Run Slugger to Solve Outfield Issues in Trade Idea
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 4, 2025, where it first appeared.

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Manny Machado is on the verge of 2,000 hits. Could he be the last player to reach 3,000?
Manny Machado is on the verge of 2,000 hits. Could he be the last player to reach 3,000?

New York Times

time21 minutes ago

  • New York Times

Manny Machado is on the verge of 2,000 hits. Could he be the last player to reach 3,000?

One night in April, after another line drive moved him closer to an uncommon milestone, Manny Machado heard a fellow member of the San Diego Padres raise a theory. Machado, the team's franchise third baseman, professes to have forgotten who said it. But the idea has stuck in his head. Maybe it was the fact that the club had just faced the Houston Astros and Jose Altuve, owner of 2,294 career hits. Maybe it was Machado's proximity to hit No. 2,000. Maybe, more than anything, it was the audacity of it all. If Machado were to eventually reach 3,000 hits, could he be the last to ever do it? Advertisement 'It does sound crazy,' Machado said, 'but at the same time, you kind of see how the game is going right now.' A month before his 33rd birthday, Machado finds himself on the doorstep of an increasingly exclusive club. There are four active players — Freddie Freeman, Altuve, Andrew McCutchen and Paul Goldschmidt — with at least 2,000 hits. Machado, with only 28 more hits, will make it five. Yet, as recently as two decades ago, there were 27 such players. This downward trend might only be accelerating. Pitchers are pairing unprecedented velocity with a greater understanding of how to manipulate spin and ball flight. The contact hitter is not extinct — indeed, there are hints that bat-to-ball is creeping back into style — but home runs and uppercut swings still drive team success and nine-figure contracts. While extreme shifts are now outlawed, defenses continue to be relentless in pursuit of optimal positioning. 'It's hard,' said Padres first baseman and three-time batting champion Luis Arraez. 'It's hard to hit the ball.' In 2025, the leaguewide batting average remains under .250 for a sixth consecutive year. If the season were to end today, the average on balls in play would mark a 33-year low. Arraez, who at age 28 has 909 career hits, won his latest batting title with a mere .314 average. As players in their late 30s, McCutchen and Goldschmidt are long shots to even come close to 3,000 hits. Altuve was once considered a leading candidate, but he is showing signs of decline. Freeman is hitting as well as ever — and, like Altuve, is racing against time. Machado, meanwhile, has a chance to achieve something none of these decorated veterans did: become the 55th player to record 2,000 hits before age 33. He also has a $350 million contract that runs through 2033 and came with the understanding that he would provide the bulk of his production on the front end. Advertisement So far, the six-time All-Star has delivered few indications of offensive slippage. Machado spent much of the past three years playing through tennis elbow and then the lingering effects of reparative surgery. He still completed 2024 as the only active big leaguer to have hit at least 28 home runs in nine consecutive full seasons. (Machado hit 16 in the 60-game 2020 season.) Now, he is batting .317 with a seemingly healthy elbow and some of the best underlying numbers of his career. In Thursday's 3-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants, he lined an opposite-field single and pulled a two-run drive to become the 33rd player with 350 home runs by age 32. 'It feels good,' Machado said, 'to just be somewhat normal and be able to get some good swings out and not really be on the training room table every single day.' 'I just see a level of even more consistency and clarity of what he's doing,' second-year Padres manager Mike Shildt said. 'I don't want to minimize that he hasn't had that previously, because he's an All-Star (and) Silver Slugger from last year. I just see a guy that's really comfortable where he's at, trusting the guys around him and not making the situation bigger than it is. Just putting a good stroke on it, which is one of the best right-handed swings I've seen.' Added hitting coach Victor Rodriguez: 'He's healthy. He's not searching. He's not trying to feel how he can be comfortable. He's comfortable. And you see Manny sometimes get out of it, but the next day he's really focusing on getting back to the big part of the field and being himself. And (you see) how many balls he hits hard. He knows when he's good is when he's a gap-to-gap, line-drive guy.' Machado has been that guy from the beginning. On Aug. 9, 2012, he skipped over Triple A and landed in a playoff chase with the Baltimore Orioles. In his second at-bat, the then-20-year-old laced a triple into the right-center gap for his first career hit. Advertisement In time, Machado grew into his frame and turned consistent doubles power into 30-homer seasons. He won a Platinum Glove in 2013 and settled in as one of the finest defenders of his generation. After two knee surgeries cost him time early in his career, he demonstrated what would become another defining quality. Since 2015, Machado has started more big-league games than anyone else. His only trip to the injured list over the past decade came in 2023, when a fractured hand forced him to miss two weeks. His durability reminds Los Angeles Angels manager Ron Washington of Adrian Beltré, the third-base contemporary Machado most admired until Beltré retired in 2018. 'Injuries never stopped Adrian Beltré from playing,' said Washington, who managed Beltré for four seasons with the Texas Rangers. 'Adrian Beltré made other people want to be everyday players. There's a lot of guys that couldn't play every day, but because they were around Adrian Beltré, they'd think they could play every day. 'That's the kind of player that Manny Machado is. He makes everybody else want to come on the field and play.' As the games have piled up, so have the hits. Machado reached the 1,500-hit mark in 2022, becoming the sixth third baseman to cross that threshold by age 29 — and the first since Beltré in 2008. He has batted at least .275 in every season since his rookie campaign, and his gap-to-gap approach holds up in offense-suppressing venues. Since he first signed with San Diego in 2019, Machado has hit .275 at Petco Park and .281 elsewhere. This season, that split is .287 and .345, respectively. Given their ongoing performance, Machado and Freeman, the Los Angeles Dodgers' metronome of a first baseman, appear to be the safest current picks to eclipse 3,000 hits. Both players have supplied all-fields production in eerily similar fashion. Since the Statcast era began in 2015, Machado's batted-ball profile breaks down as follows: 37.2 percent to the pull side, 37.4 percent up the middle and 25.2 percent to the opposite field. Freeman, who at age 35 is leading the National League in batting average, has logged identical percentages — down to the decimal point — in each direction. 'Manny and Freddie, they came from a different era with a different philosophy and a different skill set on how to approach hitting, and they've been able to survive,' Shildt said. 'And yeah, their talent's extraordinary, but it's not so extraordinary that other people can't follow it. But the industry, including the amateur level, is tripled up where you're just devaluing the hit. It's not valued as highly. Advertisement 'I followed this trend as soon as we started to get into more of the pull approach, pull-the-ball-in-the-air, three-outcome game,' Shildt said. 'Just every year, and I started tracking that in 2010 and started to see the decrease in average versus increase in strikeouts versus just pure number of hits. And it was stark. As far as the number of guys who get to 2,000 versus 3,000, it's going to become even more stark.' A little more than three years have passed since Miguel Cabrera, an all-fields slugger Machado studied closely, became the 33rd and most recent player to enter the 3,000-hit club. Freeman and Altuve, with perhaps a handful more seasons, could approach elite territory around their 40th birthdays — an age that tends to bring plummeting effectiveness. Even Machado is far from a guarantee. Of the 10 players this century to reach 2,000 hits by age 32, five — Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Beltré, Albert Pujols and Cabrera — went on to attain 3,000. Roberto Alomar, Ken Griffey Jr., Ivan Rodriguez, Edgar Renteria and Robinson Canó did not. 'There aren't a lot of guys that are going to get to that mark after (Freeman, Altuve and Machado potentially do),' said Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts, one of 10 active players with at least 1,700 hits. 'There's going to be a new threshold pretty much.' Rodriguez, who worked as Cleveland's assistant hitting coach before the Padres hired him, suggested that 2,500 hits would be enough to earn Guardians third baseman José Ramírez entry into the Hall of Fame. (Ramírez, 32, has 1,574.) Washington, whose career in professional baseball began in 1970, said he could envision a world in which Machado winds up being the final player to amass 3,000 hits. 'It might not happen again,' Washington said. 'It's not the pitching. It's the players. There's a handful of Merrills,' Washington said, referring to Jackson Merrill, the Padres center fielder who batted .292 as a rookie. 'That's where (Kansas City Royals shortstop) Bobby Witt Jr. fits in. There's a handful of guys. The rest of them, they're not pure hitters. You need pure hitters to reach that.' Advertisement Future applicants will also need the kind of longevity Machado is tracking toward. Twenty-eight of the 33 members of the 3,000-hit club played in at least 20 big-league seasons. Only one, Ichiro Suzuki, arrived in the majors after his 23rd birthday. Twenty-six debuted before turning 22. Sitting at his locker on a recent afternoon, Machado pointed out that the all-time number of major leaguers — now up to 23,494 — wouldn't quite fill half of Petco Park. He marveled at that fact, as well as his proximity to 297 players who have already crossed a lofty threshold. 'It's going to be pretty cool, man. Obviously, it always takes you back to that first hit. You kind of reflect on (how) that was your childhood dream, to get a hit in the big leagues. And now you're pushing 2,000, which is crazy,' Machado said. 'It's kind of surreal when you think about that number. I mean, it's 2,000 hits.' He also considered a certain theory. Maybe one day, the likes of Merrill and Witt will have the opportunity to disprove it. Maybe future legislation will help swing the game back in favor of hitters. Maybe, if Machado doesn't manage to do it, someone else will. Actually, he sounded certain of it. 'Listen, this game has been played for so long, and (3,000-hit careers have) happened, so I'm pretty sure it will continue,' Machado said. 'We're going to be seeing a lot of great players come through the minor leagues and be really good baseball players and break a lot of records.' Still, as Machado marches toward his 2,000th hit and an even greater milestone, his career already puts him in rare territory. He could end up among the last — if not the very last — of his kind. (Top photo of Manny Machado: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)

Old friends Scott Harris, Jed Hoyer find themselves in first place again
Old friends Scott Harris, Jed Hoyer find themselves in first place again

New York Times

time23 minutes ago

  • New York Times

Old friends Scott Harris, Jed Hoyer find themselves in first place again

CHICAGO — Last season, when the Chicago Cubs hosted the Detroit Tigers, it wasn't exactly a stress test for the friendship of the teams' respective presidents of baseball operations, Jed Hoyer and Scott Harris. The two friends, former co-workers and now professional equals, could instead commiserate over their sub-.500 teams. Advertisement After losing two of three at Wrigley Field on Aug. 22, Harris' Tigers were 62-66 and in front of just the lowly White Sox in the AL Central. Meanwhile, Hoyer's Cubs were treading water at 63-65. It was a long way from 2016, but one of their teams was about to take off. After the series, the Tigers traveled crosstown to play those aforementioned lowly White Sox, and they swept them to start an unexpected 24-10 run to the playoffs, where they won a wild-card series against Houston before losing to Cleveland in five games in the divisional round. Detroit sold at the trade deadline and somehow found itself a game away from the ALCS. Hoyer had plenty of time to watch the Tigers' playoff surprise because his Cubs finished 83-79, six games behind the third wild-card spot. Fast forward to today where the Tigers (41-23) have the best record in the American League and the Cubs (39-23) have the best record in the National League, and now maybe this fraternal rivalry has taken on a little edge as the Cubs head to Detroit for a three-game weekend series. I'm not saying it's a World Series preview, but it's not out of the question either. Both of these teams are playing like legit contenders. 'He's gonna be rage texting me during the games,' Harris predicted. 'I don't know that I'm going to respond.' 'I love it,' Hoyer said with a laugh. 'I'm such a 'rage texter.'' Chris Getz, the general manager of the White Sox, likes to joke that Hoyer thinks everyone is watching Cubs games, a personality quirk that Harris doesn't dispute. 'Sometimes it feels like he treats me as if I still work for him, which I do not,' he said. 'I'm actually two stops beyond working for him at this point. But he's obsessed with making the Cubs better, and that's the way his mind works. I think that's one of the reasons why they're successful.' Harris grew up in the business emulating Theo Epstein and Hoyer, so his approach to the job is not dissimilar. That is why he got a president of baseball operations gig before he turned 40. He was hired at 25 by the Cubs in the fall of 2012 to be their director of baseball operations. Seven years and one World Series ring later, he was an assistant GM when the San Francisco Giants hired him as their general manager. Three years after that, Detroit made him its president of baseball operations at 36. He brought along former Cubs assistant GM Jeff Greenberg, who was working for the Chicago Blackhawks. Advertisement Harris became nationally known during the Cubs' World Series run when ESPN's Wright Thompson profiled savior-in-chief Theo Epstein and included a scene from the front office suite where Harris was force-feeding himself bread at Epstein's behest for rallying purposes. 'I'm an easy target,' Harris said at a 'Pitch Talks' event in 2017. 'Just being the young guy, you can't really say no to anything. But I think the best part about Theo and Jed is they really create a fun and inclusive environment.' In reality, Harris wasn't just the kid in the room. He was an important part of the team's baseball operations department. Hoyer said they hired him knowing he'd be a GM one day soon and wanted to benefit from his services. 'It wasn't that Scott was just learning from us,' Hoyer said. 'I think he was contributing a ton as well. He's super curious, and I think that's probably one of his greatest strengths. He was always asking questions, always trying to advance and broaden his skill set. That's served him incredibly well, because I think he certainly learned a lot in his time in Chicago, but I think he learned a lot (in) his time in San Francisco from Farhan (Zaidi) as well. I think he's combined what he's learned at an exceptional level.' Reporters could never get much out of Harris in Chicago. He was friendly, sarcastic and was game to talk about anything … except the secrets we tried to pry out of him. His loyalty was with his bosses. 'I had two of the best mentors anyone could ask for in Theo and Jed,' he said. 'I learned about leadership and how to build a whole organization, as opposed to just a major-league team that's winning baseball games. I think Theo and Jed were both hyper-focused on that. I also really benefited from the experience of seeing the whole cycle in Chicago. Advertisement 'When I first started, I think we lost 96 games that year, and a few years later, we were on buses in a parade down Michigan Ave. And so seeing that whole cycle, you know, play out helps me collect a set of experiences that allow me to use some pattern recognition, like 'I've seen this before.' I've seen this player get to this level before. I've seen what it can do if you challenge a player to elevate a certain aspect of this game.' Whatever he's doing is working. The Tigers broke a nine-year playoff drought last season. This year, they are second in the AL in runs scored and are in the top 10 in most pitching stats. PECOTA projected them fourth in the AL Central before the season and now they're atop the entire AL. In March, the MLB Pipeline crew ranked Detroit as having the top farm system in the game. The Athletic's Keith Law ranked it seventh in January, which was down a spot from the year before. These are the prospects drafted and developed by Harris, Greenberg and their front office. Law ranked the Tigers' system 30th going into Harris' first season in charge, but the team's big-league roster is now full of players drafted in the Al Avila regime, led by the best pitcher in baseball in Tarik Skubal (who starts Friday against the Cubs) and hitters like Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson, Dillon Dingler and Kerry Carpenter. What the Tigers seem to be doing well now, as opposed to before, is player development, the secret sauce to any successful organization. The young Tigers are improving and thriving. The farm system, headlined by A-ball hitters Max Clark and Kevin McGonigle, has time to mature. 'We set out to build a team full of young players that can win big-league games in different ways,' Harris said. 'I think that's the team that we have right now. This is a really fun team to watch, and it's a team that is just scratching the surface.' Meanwhile, Hoyer's vision for the Cubs is finally taking shape. He has a mix of veterans and young players, powered by a pair of MVP candidates in Kyle Tucker and Pete Crow-Armstrong. Like the Tigers, the Cubs are just a fun watch. They score a lot of runs in a variety of ways. Advertisement 'I think the longer I do this, the more I root for people as opposed to teams,' Harris said. 'There's a lot of good people in that organization. Jed is certainly one of them. When we're playing each other this weekend, I'm not going to pull for them. But I pull for a lot of these guys because I want them to be successful, and they built a hell of a team this year.' I joked with Hoyer that the Tigers are his 'AL team,' like when kids have a second-favorite team to root for. 'You don't spend that much time with people over a 10-year period and you develop real friendship,' Hoyer said. 'I've spent more time with Jeff and with Scott than probably any two people other than my wife during that period. I love how hard they work there, and obviously, watching their success at the end of last year and then this year, they deserve all of the credit.' Hoyer is also close friends with Detroit manager A.J. Hinch from their San Diego days, and the Cubs' former media relations guy, Peter Chase, landed in Detroit this season. And of course, there's Javy Báez, who has reinvigorated his career this season after hip surgery last year. Báez's last game of 2024 was that Aug. 22 loss in Chicago. He finished the season with a .184/.221/.294 slash line, and it looked like a DFA could be in his future. He had 'sunk cost' written all over him. That the team took off when he went on the shelf didn't go unnoticed. Much like his former star teammate in Chicago, Kris Bryant, Báez hadn't done much since signing a six-year, $140 million contract in Detroit before the 2022 season (and before Harris got there), making Hoyer look prescient, if not a little late, for his 2021 dismantling of the World Series core. In 216 total games in 2023-24, Baez hit just 15 homers and slugged .315. He came into spring training and said he'd play wherever Hinch wanted, but who would've thought he'd play such a big role on a first-place team again? Advertisement When Parker Meadows got hurt, Báez moved to center field. He thrived. 'A.J. knows I like playing outfield and I shag good in BP out there,' Báez said. 'With so many injuries that we had in spring training, he came to me and mentioned it, and I started smiling. So he knew it was a yes from me.' With Meadows back, Báez returned to the infield during the White Sox series and reminded people he's still El Mago. #JavierBáez — Javier Báez Page (@ElMagoJavy28) June 4, 2025 'For me, the best version of Javy is the one that's playing free and loose, the one that is just finding ways to help a team win,' Harris said. 'He's such a gifted athlete with elite baseball instincts, and when you surround him with a good baseball team, I think he finds ways to enhance the overall position playing group.' Báez was always one of Hoyer's favorite players, and if not for the pandemic, they might have nailed down a deal to keep him in Chicago. But Hoyer is doing more than fine with the guy Báez was traded for, Crow-Armstrong. It's looking like one of the best trades in Cubs history. Watching both on the same field this weekend should be a treat for baseball fans and executives. While Harris traveled to the North Side last season for the series, Hoyer won't be able to make the trip. 'Tell him I'll get him a signed Javy jersey if he comes,' Harris said. The message was passed along. But maybe Hoyer and Harris could find themselves in the same stadium again this fall with the biggest stakes imaginable. (Photo collage of Scott Harris and Jed Hoyer: Allison Farrand / Detroit Tigers; Griffin Quinn / Getty Images)

Mets' Griffin Canning opens up on career revival in New York, struggles with Angels
Mets' Griffin Canning opens up on career revival in New York, struggles with Angels

New York Times

time23 minutes ago

  • New York Times

Mets' Griffin Canning opens up on career revival in New York, struggles with Angels

LOS ANGELES — It was the very first day of the offseason — when players can finally exhale after a grueling eight months of non-stop baseball. That, however, was not the case for Griffin Canning. The then-Angels pitcher of six years, and lifelong Orange County, Calif., resident, found his life and career upended by a trade to the Braves just hours after the World Series ended. Advertisement 'It was a little shocking,' Canning said on Thursday. 'But I didn't have a great year last year, so I wasn't super surprised to see it.' To say he didn't have a great year in 2024 is an understatement. Canning allowed 99 runs, the most in the American League. His strikeout rate took a massive dip, from 9.9 per nine innings in 2023 to just 6.8 in 2024. It was a bad season. But he's more than made up for it with the Mets. After the Braves traded for the 29-year-old righty, he was non-tendered. New York subsequently signed Canning to a one-year, $4.25 million deal, taking a chance on a once-promising arm. He now has a 2.90 ERA over his first 12 starts and is one of the top starting pitchers in the National League, amid a full-scale turnaround of his career. Speaking in front of his locker inside the Mets clubhouse at Dodger Stadium — the morning after he shut out the defending champions over six innings — he reflected on why things have worked better for him in New York than they ever did in Anaheim. 'You see it with a lot of guys, just a change of scenery,' said Canning. 'I was in Southern California my whole life. It's nice to get out and experience something new.' It wasn't just the scenery that changed for Canning. It was the team culture, the strategic plan implemented by his new coaches, and the technology available to him. Most importantly, he changed his pitch sequencing. Canning's best pitch is his slider, but he didn't throw it as much in his final season with the Angels. Its usage has gone from 24.1 percent in 2024 to 32.9 percent this year. With that has come a dip in his four-seam fastball usage, which has gone from a primary option to a more strategic one. 'It was difficult. We had four or five different managers and four or five different pitching coaches with the Angels,' Canning said. 'Sometimes a new guy comes in and maybe doesn't necessarily know you as well. Or just different organizational philosophies when people come in and out.' Advertisement The results speak for themselves. His fastball is resulting in whiffs on 19.5 percent of swings, compared to 14.8 percent last year. The hard-hit percentage has decreased to 44.4 percent, compared to 51.4 percent in 2024. The batting average against and slugging percentage against have steeply declined. All while his slider effectiveness has increased across all the same metrics. Canning said there's nothing different about his slider. Just a few mechanical tweaks to his delivery, and, more importantly, he's changed what pitches he throws in what counts. 'It starts with him buying into what we offered him, and also giving credit to our pitching department that is able to not only provide the information, but get to know the player,' said Mets manager Carlos Mendoza. 'We knew he had a good slider. … Last year, he threw his four-seamer a lot. I think it's more increasing this pitch, not so much of that one.' Canning also said the Mets utilize technology differently. For example, he said he utilizes a KinaTrax machine, which allows him to see his skeletal movements and subsequently improve them. Canning said the reliance on technology with the Mets is more than he was used to with the Angels. 'We had it, but I never saw it,' Canning said of the KinaTrax. 'I think the Angels have all the similar things. I don't think it's a bad thing — sometimes they don't want guys to go down that rabbit hole, and worry about those kinds of things.' On Wednesday night, Canning had his best start of the season. Six shutout innings, seven strikeouts, no walks, just three hits. On the season, his home runs per nine innings dropped to 0.9 from 1.6. Hard contact against him has been fewer and farther between. 'Much different,' said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. 'Obviously, he's healthy. The stuff is playing up. The velocity is up. There's a cutter, the slider is good, there's a changeup. He's a much better pitcher, more weapons than he's had in the past.' Advertisement The Angels have long struggled to develop starting pitching, particularly pitchers that they drafted. Their recent history is littered with examples of arms who haven't evolved in the way they hoped. Canning is arguably the most concrete example of this. He was drafted in the second round in 2017. By 2019, he was the organization's top pitching prospect, behind only Jo Adell on the overall leaderboard. There was hope he'd be a legit ace-level pitcher. Instead, it was a half-dozen years of injuries and ineffectiveness. Culminating in his worst season, and a career inflection point. Now, Canning is that ace-level starter on the best team in the National League. He's a pending free agent, and if he continues to pitch well, he will command a haul on the open market. New York is a different animal from Anaheim. It's a younger and more lively crowd, Canning said, with a great knowledge of the game. But it also invites a ton of pressure — a demand for success that isn't matched anywhere else. The good news for Canning is that he's satisfied and exceeded every expectation. To save his career and be a critical piece of what the Mets hope is a historic season. 'They thought they could bring me in and see some success,' Canning said. 'I think it's a testament to the culture. A big aspect of it is being on more of a winning team. Not playing for yourself as much, but playing for the 25 other guys, has been helpful for me in particular.' The Athletic's Fabian Ardaya contributed reporting to this story. (Top Photo: Harry How / Getty Images)

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