Latest news with #NL_East
Associated Press
2 days ago
- General
- Associated Press
Atlanta Braves bring back former manager Fredi González as acting third base coach
ATLANTA (AP) — The struggling Atlanta Braves are bringing back former manager Fredi González as acting third base coach. The team announced Monday that Matt Tuiasosopo, the previous third base coach, has accepted a role as minor league infield coordinator. Atlanta had the day off Monday. The Braves have lost eight of their last 11, and, at 27-31, are in fourth place in the NL East. Gonzalez has managed the Marlins and Braves previously. He was on Baltimore's coaching staff for five seasons, including three as bench coach, before being replaced by the Orioles last offseason. ___ AP MLB:
Forbes
3 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Struggles Of Juan Soto Haven't Slowed Mets Down To This Point
New York Mets' Juan Soto, center, bats during the first inning of a baseball game against the ... More Colorado Rockies, Sunday, June 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) All in all, if you would have told Mets fans that on June 1, they'd be in first place in the NL East and tied for the best record in the entire National League, they'd have signed up for it. They also would have assumed that impact offseason free agent signee Juan Soto would have had a lot to do with it. That hasn't exactly been the case. Through Saturday's games, he was tooling along with a pedestrian .231-.357-.413 line and 119 wRC+. Not a disaster, for sure, for those who don't fixate on batting average, but still not nearly what the club or its fans expected when Soto was inked to a massive 15-year, $765 million pact last winter. He stemmed a recent homerless 7 for 59 (.119 AVG .136 SLG) tailspin with homers on both Saturday and Sunday, but simply hasn't looked himself at virtually any point this season. So should Met fans be worried? Is he still the same cat that crossed boroughs to great fanfare last offseason, or has he become something else altogether at the tender age of 26? As typically done in this space, we're going to go to the batted ball data for some answers. But before we delve too deeply into the 2025 season, let's look at the player the Mets thought they were locking up prior to this season. We all know Juan Soto is great - a career .282-.417-.525 line with a 156 wRC+ speaks for itself. But what does he do at an elite level to enable such production? Soto's K rate has been over a half standard deviation lower than average in each of the last five seasons, and over a full standard deviation lower in four of them. Pretty special for a power hitter. Oh, and his walk rate has been over TWO full standard deviations higher than league average in ALL of his first SEVEN MLB seasons. Insane. Big-time power hitters, almost to a man, hit the ball HARD. Soto is no exception. His average exit speed has been over one standard deviation higher than league average in every season since 2019, and was over two standard deviations higher in 2024. And he hits the most important types of batted balls hardest of all - he's hit his fly balls over two standard deviations harder than average in four of six seasons from 2019-24, and his liners over two standard deviations harder than average in three of four seasons from 2021-24. He attained that level in both of those batted ball types in both 2023 and 2024. The first item above gives a player margin for error with regard to the second item. Margin for error that Soto has historically not needed. Adjusted Contact Score is a metric that I use to estimate the level of damage relative to the league that a particular player should be inflicting based on their individual exit speed/launch angle mix. Once that number is known, a good K/BB profile will nudge a player's 'Tru' Production+ upward, a poor one could cut deeply into it. In each and every year of his career, Soto's 'Tru' Production+ has been higher than his Adjusted Contact Score, which in most years, has been pretty darned good in his own right. But there are limitations to Soto's offensive game. Let's identify them. This is the primary one. Soto simply doesn't hit a lot of fly balls. He's only materially exceeded the league average level once, way back in 2019. He also exceeded a 50% grounder rate - over a full standard deviation higher than league average - four times in six seasons between 2018-23. While liner rates tend to be quite volatile for most hitters, Soto has consistently come up short in that area, only exceeding a 20% seasonal rate once in his career, and posting marks over a full standard deviation below league average three times in six years between 2018-23. Now low fly ball rates have always represented a glass half full/glass half empty paradoxical situation for me. Guys with high fly ball rates who hit the ball very hard in the air are great - but they have little additional upside. Guys with low fly ball rates who hit their fly balls hard have tons of upside. It's why I was so bullish on Christian Yelich, an extreme outlier on both fronts, in his younger days as a Marlin. He eventually hit more fly balls and won himself an MVP award as a Brewer. Juan Soto with even an average fly ball rate is a monster, plain and simple. This is a lesser concern, but still bears mentioning. I label any hitter who pulls over five times as many grounders as he hits the other way as an extreme grounder puller, and assess a penalty when projecting their performance on grounders, no matter how hard they're hit. I essentially cap their projection at its actual level, which is often quite low. Soto has been assessed such a penalty in 2019, 2022 and 2023, and narrowly missed getting one in 2024. Soto hits his grounders only slightly harder than league average, nowhere near as hard relative to the league compared to his flies and liners. So when Soto is clicking on all cylinders, he's amazing. He's already won a batting title (in the shortened 2020 season, at .351), an OBP and two SLG titles, and hit 41 homers in a season (in 2024), and has immense additional upside. But guys with low liner rates who don't hit their grounders all that hard and pull too many of them have more than typical levels of batting average risk. Soto hit only .242 in 2022 and was hitting only .231 this year through Saturday's games. He's also playing in a fairly pitcher-friendly home park in Citi Field (believe it or not, Yankee Stadium, his other recent home, also fits in that same category). So let's now take a step back and look at his 2025 performance to date through a batted ball-based lens, and see if he's been better or worse than his actual numbers. First, his K/BB profile has moved backwards a bit, with 16.9% BB rate his lowest since 2019. Still easily over two standard deviations above league average, but down nonetheless. His ball-striking is just as good as it was in 2024. His overall average exit speed is down ever so slightly from 93.5 to 93.3 mph, with his fly ball exit speed up from 96.9 to 99.7 mph and his liner exit speed down from 101.7 to 100.4 mph. Still in the game's top tier on both fronts. His batted ball profile still has the same warts - a very high 51.5% grounder rate and a career low 16.0% liner rate. And he's drifted back into extreme grounder-pulling status - explaining in large part why he's batting only .130 without an extra-base hit on the ground. But oh has Soto been unlucky in the air and on a line. Both his actual, Unadjusted Fly Ball and Line Drive Contact Scores are far lower than their adjusted counterparts, by 185 to 278 for the former and 82 to 123 for the latter. Bottom line, he 'should be' batting .257-.381-.497 with a 147 'Tru' Production+. Now, no one would be saying 'what's wrong with Juan Soto' if he was actually hitting at that level. But that would still match the lowest 'Tru' Production+ level of his career, set as a rookie at age 19. So he does have some things to work on, and to improve. There comes a time where one has to conclude that those extra fly balls just aren't going to come, and even if they do, they'll be coming over a shorter stretch of time than originally anticipated. I still believe in Juan Soto as a generational hitter, and think that we're basically seeing his floor at this moment. But we need to start seeing signs of growth before too long. An upward trend in his fly ball rate, using the field more on the ground. Major changes aren't necessary, only tweaks around the edges that could have outsized benefits. I'm looking forward to seeing that extra gear that I really believe he has.
CBS News
3 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Mets blast 3 home runs in win over lowly Rockies, take over 1st place in NL East
Francisco Lindor once again homered in a victory and Clay Holmes threw a career-high seven innings Sunday as the New York Mets completed a three-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies with a 5-3 win. Pete Alonso hit a three-run shot and Juan Soto also went deep as the Mets won for the seventh time in eight games to finish a 7-2 homestand. They regained sole possession of first place in the NL East, moving a game ahead of Philadelphia. The Rockies lost their eighth straight and fell to 9-50, the worst record through 59 games of any major league team in the modern era (since 1901). They have been swept 10 times in 20 series -- tied for the most sweeps through 20 series with the 1962 Mets, the 1970 Milwaukee Brewers and the 1994 Oakland Athletics. Alonso homered in the fourth before Lindor snapped a 3-all tie an inning later. The Mets have won the last 26 games in which Lindor has homered, the second-longest streak in big league history behind the 29-game run authored by Carl Furillo and the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1951-53. Soto connected in the eighth to make it 5-3. Holmes (5-3) gave up three hits, including Orlando Arcia's first-inning solo homer and Tyler Freeman's two-run shot in the fifth. He struck out three and walked none. The right-hander, who entered this season with 300 consecutive relief appearances dating to 2019, has lasted at least six innings in six of his last eight starts. Reed Garrett and Edwin Díaz tossed a scoreless inning apiece, with Díaz earning his 13th save. Rockies rookie Carson Palmquist (0-3) gave up four runs in 4 2/3 innings but struck out eight -- two more than he'd fanned in his first three starts combined. KEY MOMENT Lindor's homer came just after Freeman's tying shot in the fifth. KEY STAT The Rockies haven't held a lead at the end of consecutive innings since they led for the final four innings of their most recent win, a 3-2 victory over the New York Yankees on May 23. UP NEXT Rockies RHP Germán Márquez (1-7, 7.13 ERA) starts Monday in Miami against RHP Max Meyer (3-4, 4.53). Mets RHP Paul Blackburn is scheduled to make his season debut Monday night at Dodger Stadium in the opener of a four-game series. Blackburn has been rehabbing from right knee inflammation.
CBS News
22-05-2025
- Sport
- CBS News
Bryce Harper, Trea Turner and J.T. Realmuto homer to help Phillies beat Rockies for 6th straight win
J.T. Realmuto, Trea Turner and Bryce Harper hit home runs and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Colorado Rockies 9-5 on Wednesday night for their sixth straight victory. The NL East-leading Phillies (31-18) have outscored Colorado 25-12 through the first three games of the four-game series. The woeful Rockies are 8-41 after losing their fourth in a row and 16th in their last 18. Realmuto had three hits, including his fifth homer this season, and three RBIs. Harper hit his eighth homer and finished with two hits after a three-hit game Tuesday. Turner's homer was his third and he had two hits as did Nick Castellanos. Philadelphia's Taijuan Walker (2-3) pitched five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and two walks. He struck out one. Walker was making his seventh start after coming out of the bullpen in his last two appearances. Carson Palmquist (0-2), making his second major league start, lasted 4 1/3 innings, giving up seven runs, six earned, on 10 hits and four walks. He struck out two. Nick Martini hit his first homer this season and had two hits as did Jordan Beck, Ezequiel Tovar and Hunter Goodman for Colorado. Key moment Turner's 424-foot homer followed by Harper's 437-foot blast got the Phillies off to a thunderous start in the four-run third and gave them the lead for good. Key stat After 17 hits in each of the first two games of the series, the Phillies added 12 more Wednesday. Up next Ranger Suárez (2-0, 5.09) was set to start for the Phillies on Thursday against German Marquez (1-6, 8.78).
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Mets Legend Issues Strong Message to Juan Soto After Third Straight Loss
The New York Mets (29-20) are struggling, and their $765 million man isn't helping. Five-time Silver Slugger Juan Soto, who sports a career slash line of .283/.419/.528, is slashing just .247/.379/.437 with eight homers and 20 RBI through 48 games this season. The 26-year-old is 2-for-11 with one walk and one stolen base across the Mets' current three-game losing streak. He also hasn't had a multi-hit game since May 9 and hasn't had a three-hit game all season. Advertisement With New York now 1.5 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies for first place in the NL East, it needs its prized offseason acquisition to perform to his potential. Mets Hall of Famer Mike Piazza offered advice to Soto on Wednesday, via The New York Post's Joel Sherman (paywall). New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto (22).John Jones-Imagn Images "Obviously, the expectations are high for him, and coming from the [New York] Yankees makes it all the bigger story, I get it," the club legend said. "But this is just part of playing in New York. You have to get through it. You have to rely on your teammates to have your back." "Body language is important. They are watching everything you are doing," he continued. "Frustration is part of the game. I lived it. He didn't forget how to hit the baseball. The game is tough and his spotlight is really bright now." Advertisement "My advice to him would be just relax, make it a team thing, not about you," he added. "I just followed the advice that Roy Campanella told me when I was a rookie — just play the game hard, let everything else take care of itself." The Mets will play one more game against the Boston Red Sox (25-25) on Wednesday night before hosting the Los Angeles Dodgers (30-19) over the weekend. Related: Mets Facing Major Decision After Third Straight Loss Related: Mets Owner Steve Cohen Sends Clear Message After Third Straight Loss
