Latest news with #NLAll-Star
New York Post
4 days ago
- Sport
- New York Post
Mets feature new-look, healthier starting rotation to kick off second half
Access the Mets beat like never before Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Mike Puma about the inside buzz on the Mets. Try it free In their final dozen games before the All-Star break, the Mets started games with Huascar Brazobán, Chris Devenski, Brandon Waddell and Justin Hagenman. The Mets managed to go 7-5 during that stretch, but that kind of pitching lineup isn't conducive to long-term success. They'll look a lot different when they begin the second half against the Reds at Citi Field. The Mets announced their starters for the three-game series Thursday, with Sean Manaea going Friday, followed by Clay Holmes and David Peterson. Kodai Senga and Frankie Montas would be set to start the next two. Peterson is coming off being named an NL All-Star, and the Mets are counting on Manaea, Senga and Montas staying healthy the rest of the way after all three battled injuries throughout the first half. 5 Mets pitcher Sean Manaea looks for a fan to throw a ball to after the final out during a game earlier this season. JASON SZENES/ NY POST Over the course of the season, the Mets have the fourth-best rotation ERA (3.38), but it's just average (4.17, 15th in the majors) since June 1. They've gotten just four starts from Montas, who suffered a lat injury during the spring, and Manaea finally made it back from oblique and elbow issues to make his season debut in the last game before the break, when the lefty struck out five in 3 ¹/₃ innings of relief. 5 Frankie Montas throws during the Mets' 12-6 blowout win over the Yankees on July 5, 2025 at Citi Field. AP And Senga returned from being out for a month with a hamstring injury with four scoreless innings. 'It's a lot to ask for, but if the three of them can stay healthy, they look a lot better,'' one AL scout said. 5 Kodai Senga is checked on by trainers after he suffered a right hamstring strain while covering first base during aJune 12, 2025 game. JASON SZENES/NY POST Additionally, the Mets will have to continue to monitor Holmes' innings as the right-hander has already blown by his previous major league high of 70 innings in a season with 103. He hasn't completed six innings in any of his past six starts. And more help could be on the way, if needed, with Brandon Sproat coming off three straight scoreless starts at Triple-A Syracuse in which he has allowed seven hits in 18 innings and Nolan McLean having struck out 20 batters over 11 innings in his previous two starts. Matt Allan, the former top pitching prospect whose career was sidetracked by a pair of Tommy John surgeries — as well as an additional revision on the first UCL procedure — hasn't pitched since June 10 with High-A Brooklyn. 5 Matt Allan COREY SIPKIN/NYPOST He's been sidelined with elbow soreness and is on the 7-day injured list, although there's no structural damage and he has resumed throwing. The 24-year-old hadn't pitched in a game since 2019 before returning with Low-A St. Lucie in April. He pitched seven games with St. Lucie before moving to Brooklyn, where he's thrown 15 innings. While Francisco Alvarez looks to revive his career with Triple-A Syracuse after an ugly stretch both at the plate and behind it in Queens — with The Post's Jon Heyman reporting Alvarez is expected to be back with the Mets 'sooner rather than later' — the Amazin's have had a bright spot with at least one of their young players, as Ronny Mauricio has hit well in his past 14 games after coming back from knee surgery. 5 Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez playing for the Syracuse Mets on July 3, 2025. Kylie Richelle Mauricio missed all of last season and, following a slow start with the Mets after being called up this year, he entered the break with an OPS of .899 in his past 14 games. Each of his past four starts has come at third base, where Mark Vientos continues to struggle. Vientos, getting at-bats at DH with Jesse Winker and Starling Marte on the IL, closed out the first half by going 7-for-19 with three extra-base hits. … The Mets announced the signing Thursday of the No. 38 pick, infielder Mitch Voit.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Live Blog: How Francisco Lindor and Mets are faring at 2025 MLB All-Star Game
Francisco Lindor is ready to hear the boos at Truist Park in Atlanta. When the Mets shortstop was addressing Juan Soto being snubbed from the NL All-Star team, he voiced that expectation. The Mets will be well-represented in their rival's ballpark when the 2025 All-Star Game is played beginning at 8 p.m. in Atlanta. Advertisement With Lindor, Pete Alonso, Edwin Diaz and David Peterson representing the club for the National League, the Mets have their most All-Stars since 2022. As the Mets quartet of stars takes the field in Atlanta, here are the updates from the game: Francisco Lindor to bat eighth for National League With a loaded National League starting lineup, featuring the likes of Shohei Ohtani, Ronald Acuña Jr. and Ketel Marte at the top, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has slotted Francisco Lindor into the eighth spot to begin the game. Lindor will be batting between a pair of Cubs stars, with Kyle Tucker batting seventh and Pete Crow-Armstrong closing out the lineup in ninth. This article originally appeared on NY Mets at 2025 MLB All-Star Game: Live score, stats updates
Los Angeles Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Amid resurgent year and batting title push, Dodgers' Will Smith unbothered being ‘overlooked'
ATLANTA — The hierarchy of stars was obvious even in the table arrangements. At an All-Star Game media day event on Monday at the Roxy Coca-Cola Theater in Atlanta, the Dodgers' five All-Star representatives were in the same area of the large venue. In the first row, basking under large spotlights near an elevated stage, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Clayton Kershaw were positioned front-and-center, expected to attract so many reporters that retractable ropes lined the perimeter of their podiums. Several feet behind them, in the shadows of a balcony overhang, sat Will Smith and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. An obvious A-List, followed by a clear B-group. And even then, where Yamamoto's media contingent stretched several rows deep, Smith's rarely swelled beyond a few people. He was a third-time All-Star, National League starter and batting title contender — once again relegated to the background of the sport's public consciousness. 'He's up there as far as being overlooked,' Dodgers manager and NL All-Star skipper Dave Roberts said of his ever-present but easily forgotten backstop. 'You know what you're going to get, but you probably don't appreciate it as much as you should.' Appreciated, Smith has not been this year. Not fully, at the very least. Entering the All-Star break, the 30-year-old slugger is a distant leader in the NL batting race, sporting a .323 mark that outpaces the next closest qualified hitter (his recently slumping teammate, Freeman) by a whopping 26 points. Smith also has 12 home runs, 46 RBIs, and a .965 OPS (which trails only his two-way teammate, Ohtani) in addition to a 15% walk rate (fifth-best in the league). According to Fangraphs' all-encompassing wRC+ metric, only Yankees superstar Aaron Judge and Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh have been more productive hitters this season. And he's done it all while shepherding a banged-up Dodgers pitching staff, helping keep the team atop the NL West despite it having used 35 different arms through the first half of the year. 'For him to go out there, catching these guys, having your team in first place, and then you're hitting .325, I don't think people are paying attention to that,' Freeman said Monday, peering through a forest of reporters to catch a glimpse of Smith over his shoulder. 'People are gonna tune into the All-Star Game, they'll throw his numbers up on the TV, and they're gonna be like, 'Whoa, that's a really good season.'' But for as well as Smith has played, the seven-year veteran remains somewhat obscured from the public spotlight. He is, as Roberts jokingly puts it, the most 'vanilla' of the team's collection of spotlight talent. He doesn't have jaw-dropping highlights like Ohtani. He doesn't have a signature World Series moment like Freeman. He isn't excelling at a new position like Mookie Betts. And even when he is swarmed by reporters around the ballpark, it's usually to field questions about catching the Dodgers' star Japanese trio of Ohtani, Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. 'Honestly, I don't really care,' he said Monday. 'That stuff has never been important to me. Being 'the guy' or not, any of that. I show up, play baseball every day, try to help the team win, try to be a good teammate, try to lead the pitchers, and ultimately try to win a World Series every year. That's what's important to me.' This year, Smith was voted an All-Star starter for the first time by fans. But, he isn't even the most talked about catcher at this week's festivities in Atlanta, overshadowed again by Raleigh and his 38 first-half home runs — making the slugger affectionately known as 'Big Dumper,' who also won the Home Run Derby on Monday night, the best current catcher in baseball in the eyes of many around the sport. 'Will's just always kind of really under the radar, for whatever reason,' Kershaw said. 'He's been unbelievable for us, at a position that's really important and very demanding.' For Smith, the true joy of this year has simply been his health. Two years ago, he slumped mightily in the second half of 2023 (finishing the year with a career-low .797 OPS) while battling a broken rib he had suffered that April. This spring, Roberts revealed that Smith's underwhelming performance in 2024 (when he posted more career lows with a .248 average and .760 OPS) was hampered by an ankle injury that again plagued his second-half performance. 'The last couple years, I had some, not major things, but some tough injuries,' Smith said. 'But that's my decision to play through them.' Now, however, he is back at full physical capacity, allowing him to work counts (he has almost as walks, 45, as strikeouts, 55), punish fastballs (a pitch he struggled against the last two years) and maintain the most consistent production of any hitter in the Dodgers' juggernaut lineup. 'I just feel like I have a really good understanding of my swing right now,' Smith said. 'It's a long season, it comes and goes. But for whatever reason this year, I've been able to keep it more than I haven't. So that's been fun. Credit to the hitting coaches as well for keeping me in that spot. I just have a really good understanding of what I'm doing up there.' In his typically modest fashion, Smith sidestepped a question about his chances of winning the batting title, something no catcher has done since Buster Posey in 2012. 'I've never been one to chase awards or anything,' he said. 'I think when you do that, it probably doesn't go your way, you put too much pressure. So just trying to have one good at-bat at a time, help the team win that day.' At his current pace, he could be a recipient for MVP votes for the first time in his career as well, although the Dodgers' careful management of his playing time has left him ranked ninth in the NL in wins above replacement to this point, according to Fangraphs. 'What he's doing is Buster Posey-ish, Joe Mauer-ish,' Freeman said, citing the only other backstop this century with a batting title (Mauer won three with Minnesota in the late 2000s). 'When you're leading the league in hitting and you're catching, it's really hard to do. You're calling games. It's almost like they're more worried about putting up a zero than they are about hitting.' In time, Freeman believes, Smith's Q-rating will continue to rise, especially if he keeps replicating the kind of numbers he has posted this season. 'I think it just takes maybe a couple times [being here at the All-Star Game],' Freeman said. 'We all know in LA how special he is. Obviously, the front office extended him 10 years. So, hopefully now that he's starting in the All-Star Game, he's gonna get that national recognition.' But even if he doesn't, he hardly seems to be bothered by his second-tier (and, on Monday, second-row) status. 'I just think he's resolved to not having to be at the forefront,' Roberts said. 'He doesn't ever self-promote. He doesn't need notoriety or attention. He just wants to win. Some players thrive on getting attention. He's certainly not one of those guys.'
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Blue Jays sign former All-Star pitcher in surprise free agent opportunity
The Toronto Blue Jays are taking a chance on a former All-Star pitcher who has fallen off from his peak. They've signed left-handed pitcher Joe Mantiply, according to the team's transaction log. Advertisement Mantiply, with a quirky southpaw delivery, was an NL All-Star for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2022. He struggled to start this season, allowing 17 runs in 9.2 innings to lead to his release. Mantiply was a bit of a journeyman early in his career. He made his MLB debut for the Tigers in 2016, then wasn't back in the majors until 2019 for one outing with the Yankees. He got shelled in four Arizona outings in 2020, but then was great in 2021 with a 3.40 ERA. His All-Star season in 2022 featured a 2.85 ERA and almost exactly a strikeout per inning. MORE: Why Nationals chose Eli Willits over Ethan Holliday at No. 1 overall pick Advertisement In 2023 and 2024 (4.62 ERA, 3.92 ERA), Mantiply was still useful if not a star. But this season, nothing went his way. The 34-year old will try to work his way up from the Blue Jays' Florida Complex League team. If all goes well, the 6-foot-4 left-hander could help down the stretch of the season. If not, it was a low-risk opportunity taken by the Blue Jays. MORE MLB DRAFT:
Fox Sports
11-07-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Marlins OF Kyle Stowers returns to Baltimore as an All-Star
Associated Press BALTIMORE (AP) — A year ago, Kyle Stowers was shuffling back and forth between Triple-A Norfolk and Baltimore while trying to establish himself as an everyday major leaguer. Stowers was forced to continue that quest in Miami after being traded by the Orioles last July 30. Unfortunately, success remained elusive as the overwhelmed rookie strived to adjust to a new environment and big league pitching. This season, however, everything has clicked for the blond, blue-eyed outfielder. It started on opening day, when he singled in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth against Pittsburgh. And so, when Stowers returned to Baltimore with the Marlins on Friday, he did so as a member of the NL All-Star team. 'I'm very comfortable in this ballpark. It's where I debuted. I hit my first home run here," Stowers said before the start of a three-game series between two sub-.500 teams. "Lot of special moments. I guess I shouldn't say a lot. A few special moments.' Drafted by Baltimore in the second round of the 2019 amateur draft, Stowers hit .229 over parts of three seasons with the Orioles. Then, with Baltimore looking for pitching to mount a playoff run, Stowers was sent to Miami with infielder Connor Norby for lefty Trevor Rogers. Stowers batted .186 in 50 games with the Marlins after the trade. This season, however, he has flourished. 'He has made some adjustments,' Orioles interim manager Tony Mansolino said. 'The big leagues will expose your holes, and then it's a sink or swim scenario. He's swimming.' While the Marlins tinkered with Stowers' swing, the 27-year-old overhauled his fear-of-failure attitude. 'I just feel like I've learned how to not put pressure on myself,' Stowers said. 'I kind of realized that I'm the one person in my life who wouldn't be OK with me not having the baseball career I should have. I have a multitude of people that love and care about me regardless of what happens on the baseball field. I just kind of leaned on that, and my faith in God.' Stowers came to town batting .279 with 16 homers and 48 RBIs. Only one player on the Orioles has a better batting average, and no one on the team has as many long balls or RBIs. 'Opening night, getting a walk-off hit was a great start,' Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. "The one moment that stands out for me was the walk-off grand slam he hit off (2024 All-Star closer) Mason Miller (on May 3). Premium velocity at the top of the strike zone, which is something that is well-documented that Kyle has struggled with in the past. 'But the adjustments he made to be able to get to that pitch, that was a big one for us and a big one for Kyle.' McCullough hopes Stowers and Norby can savor their return to Baltimore this weekend, beyond merely socializing with old friends. 'Come back and enjoy this,' the first-year manager said. 'It's cool in a lot of ways to come back and see former teammates and coaches that you spent time with and were part of your growth as a young player. Embrace that. That's why guys come out and do a lot of cool things against their former teams. I hope that happens for us in this series.' ___ AP MLB: recommended Item 1 of 3
