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USA Today
25-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Ryan McMahon will probably struggle to hit home runs at Yankee Stadium
The New York Yankees have reportedly acquired third baseman Ryan McMahon from the Colorado Rockies, which is a big move before the deadline. McMahon is one of the best defensive players at his position as graded by outs above average, which is where he is most needed by the Yankees. The organization has struggled in that metric so far this season, so his presence in the infield is a desperate area they are seeking improvement. Unfortunately, however, his bat may not translate as well from Colorado to New York. In fact, as noted by The Athletic reporter Chris Kirschner, Yankee Stadium is (statistically) the worst stadium for his bat. According to Baseball Savant, if he played every game at Coors Field in Colorado, the third baseman would have had 17 home runs so far this season. But if he played every game at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, that would drop to just 13 — which is the lowest of any MLB ballpark. Adjust that for the course of his career and it is 138 home runs at Coors Field versus just 112 at Yankee Stadium. That is a bit unusual considering Yankee Stadium is one of the most home run friendly parks in baseball over the past three seasons. McMahon, however, is hitting .284 at home this season compared to .189 on the road, per Baseball-Reference. During his MLB career thus far, he has 26 plate appearances at Yankee Stadium. He is hitting just .130 in that relatively small sample size.
New York Times
25-07-2025
- Sport
- 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)
Yahoo
25-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Jesse Chavez, most traded player in MLB history, retires after Braves designate him for assignment
Pitcher Jesse Chavez is retiring after 18 major-league seasons. The right-handed reliever was designated for assignment by the Atlanta Braves last week for the third time this season. After clearing waivers, he opted for free agency and subsequently decided to retire. Chavez, who will turn 42 on Aug. 21, pitched for nine teams during his MLB career. That includes three stints with the Braves, for whom he played the past four seasons. He compiled a career 4.27 ERA in 657 appearances (1,142 innings) while averaging 8.2 strikeouts per nine innings. In his final season with Atlanta, Chavez had a 9.00 ERA in four appearances, allowing 8 runs, 14 hits (four of them home runs) and 5 walks in eight innings. Chavez's claim to fame might ultimately be that he was the most traded player in MLB history. The bespectacled reliever was dealt 10 times during his career. His transactions page on Baseball-Reference is nearly a novel. The last of those trades was in 2022, when he was one of two players the Braves dealt to the Los Angeles Angels for Raisel Iglesias. Chavez announced his retirement Thursday on "Foul Territory." He said he hasn't picked up a baseball since his last game, which was July 13 against the St. Louis Cardinals. In that one, he allowed four runs and six hits in two innings. "As of now, I don't think we're gonna keep going," Chavez said. "This is it. Time to turn the page, focus on the next chapter in life and go help all the young kids, all the stuff that I did so that they don't have to take two steps backwards and take those three steps forward." Chavez was drafted in the 39th round by the Chicago Cubs in 2001 but opted to pitch in college. He was selected the following year by the Texas Rangers in the 42nd round and was traded for the first time to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2006. He made his MLB debut two years later. The list of teams Chavez played for and in which seasons is as follows: Pittsburgh Pirates (2008-09)Atlanta Braves (2010, 2021, 2022-25)Kansas City Royals (2010-11)Toronto Blue Jays (2012)Oakland Athletics (2012-15)Los Angeles Dodgers (2016)Los Angeles Angels (2017, 2022)Chicago Cubs (2018, 2022)Texas Rangers (2018-2020)
Yahoo
24-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Jesse Chavez, most traded player in MLB history, retires after Braves designated him for assignment
Pitcher Jesse Chavez is finally retiring after 18 major league seasons. The right-handed reliever was designated for assignment by the Atlanta Braves last week for the third time this season. Chavez, who will turn 42 on Aug. 21, pitched for nine teams during his MLB career. That includes three stints with the Braves, for whom he played the past four seasons. He compiled a 4.67 ERA in 657 appearances (1,142 innings), averaging 8.2 strikeouts per nine innings. In his final season with Atlanta, Chavez carried a 9.00 ERA in four appearances, allowing eight runs, 14 hits (four of them home runs) and five walks in eight innings. However, Chavez's claim to fame may ultimately be that he was the most traded player in MLB history. The bespectacled reliever was dealt 10 times during his career. His transactions page on Baseball-Reference is nearly a novel. The last of those trades was in 2022, when he was one of two players the Braves dealt to the Los Angeles Angels for Raisel Iglesias. Chavez announced his retirement on digital show "Foul Territory" on Thursday. He said he hasn't picked up a baseball since his last game, which was July 13 against the St. Louis Cardinals. He allowed four runs and six hits in two innings. "As of now, I don't think we're gonna keep going," Chavez said. "This is it. Time to turn the page, focus on the next chapter in life and go help all the young kids, all the stuff that I did so that they don't have to take two steps backwards and take those three steps forward." Chavez was originally drafted in the 39th round by the Chicago Cubs in 2001, but opted to pitch in college. He was selected the following year in the 42nd round by the Texas Rangers and was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2006. He made his MLB debut two years later. The list of teams that Chavez played for and in which seasons is as follows: Pittsburgh Pirates (2008-09)Atlanta Braves (2010, 2021, 2022-25)Kansas City Royals (2010-11)Toronto Blue Jays (2012)Oakland Athletics (2012-15)Los Angeles Dodgers (2016)Los Angeles Angels (2017, 2022)Chicago Cubs (2018, 2022)Texas Rangers (2018-20)
Fox Sports
26-06-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Last Night in Baseball: Juan Soto Makes History, Again
There is always baseball happening — almost too much baseball for one person to handle themselves. That's why we're here to help, though, by sifting through the previous days' games, and figuring out what you missed, but shouldn't have. Here are all the best moments from last night in Major League Baseball: Soto is historically great once more Sometimes it's easy to forget – because of the fact that he's signed to the largest contract in pro sports – that Juan Soto is still just in his mid-20s. He's in his eighth season in the majors, sure, but he showed up on the Nationals as a 19-year-old, and made an immediate impact by batting .292/.406/.517 in 116 games. Because of this head start – and because Soto hit the ground running in a way that few 19-year-old players MLB ever have – the Mets' slugger makes history from time to time, history related to those facts. Just last week, he reached 1,000 career hits before turning 27, making him one of just 84 players to do so out of the 1,342 who have made it to 1,000 base knocks in their careers. And on Wednesday night against the Braves, Soto managed something a little less round-number-notable but even more impressive in some ways: He now has the most multi-homer games before age-27 of any player ever, passing Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx. The number of multi-homer games? Also 27. Pretty much anything you can pass Jimmie Foxx in – especially when it's about what he did in his 20s – is worth celebrating. Foxx entered MLB at 17, though he didn't get a full-time job with the Philadelphia Athletics until he was 20. Before he turned 27, he hit 302 homers, drove in 1,075 runs, batted .339/.440/.640 and posted a 175 OPS+. That's an entire career, and a damn good one, too, all before he turned 27. Soto, similarly, has already had an entire career. He's at 39.9 wins above replacement by Baseball-Reference's accounting, has played in 1,016 games, logged 4,444 plate appearances, has hit 220 homers and 428 extra-base hits overall, has 835 career walks to go with the 1,007 hits, and is batting .282/.419/.530 – that on-base percentage makes him the active leader among players. Again: Soto is 26 years old. He won't turn 27 until the 2025 World Series is on your television (only on FOX!). He is, presumably, entering his prime years, but even if he falls off a little bit after his early success like Foxx did… well, Jimmie Foxx's second career arc included hitting .320/.429/.605 for the Red Sox for eight years, producing another 32 wins above replacement and 222 more homers. That wouldn't be a bad place to be, and nothing says Soto is going to follow suit, either. He might just keep being the Juan Soto he is right now, or even a little better – a terrifying thought for everyone facing the Mets for maybe the next decade or so. deGrom misses another shot at a no-hitter For all that Jacob deGrom has accomplished on the mound in his stellar career, one thing he's never managed is a no-hitter. On Wednesday against the Orioles, he got oh-so-close: deGrom was even outright perfect until the seventh inning, when he walked Jackson Holliday to lead off the frame. Despite walking another batter and setting up a precarious situation for himself and the Rangers, deGrom got out of the seventh without allowing a hit. However, leading off the eighth inning, the veteran righty gave up a single to Colton Cowser, ending the perfect game and his start. Still, there's good news here. deGrom hasn't been healthy in some time, and managed a single season's worth of starts and innings between 2021 and 2024 because of it. Incredible innings, where he posted a 2.01 ERA and struck out 307 batters over 197.1 of them, but still not much in the way of workload. In 2025, the 38-year-old has taken a bit off of his fastball to try to keep himself on the mound, and the results speak for themselves: through 16 starts and 95.1 innings — both highs for deGrom since 2019 — he has a 2.08 ERA and 180 ERA+, while still striking out just shy of a batter per inning. A big night for J-Ram José Ramírez has a real shot to be the greatest player in Guardians history if he keeps it up, and nights like Wednesday's are a reminder of that. Simply by taking the field, Ramírez moved to fourth all-time for the Guardians in games played with 1,527, passing Jim Tregan. Ramirez did more than just show up for work, though. He also drove in a pair of runs against the Blue Jays, including the game winner in the bottom of the 10th inning: Things have not been going great for the Red Sox since they traded Rafael Devers. They won their first game after the swap, but are just 3-6 overall since, with the latest L coming against the Angels, dropping them another game under .500 on the season. The Angels tied things up early with back-to-back homers by Jo Adell and Travis d'Arnaud: It was the performance of starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi that won the game for the Angels, however, as he struck out a season-high 12 batters over seven innings, in which he limited the Sox to a pair of runs, three hits, and one walk. Both those runs were unearned, too. The Angels are now 40-40, with it still being unclear if they're any good or not. The Red Sox are 40-42, and it's also unclear if they're any good or not, but the mood surrounding that question is a lot different in Boston than it is in Orange County at the moment. Misiorowski's hot start continues Flamethrowing rookie Jacob Misiorowski had his third start for the Brewers on Wednesday, and it was a highly anticipated one, since it came against the Pirates' young ace, Paul Skenes. One of the two pitchers was up to the task, and it wasn't the comparative vet: Skenes gave up four runs in four innings, a rare downer of a performance from him. Misiorowski, though, struck out eight batters over five innings, limiting the Pirates to just two hits, two walks, and no runs. The Brewers would win, 3-0 – for once, maybe we can give the Bucs a break over the lack of run support for Skenes, given Misiorowski was out there whipping fireballs left and right like he's a powered-up Mario. Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account , and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily! 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