Pitching Grips

Pablo Robles-Imagn Images I ended up here by accident. I was writing about Steven Kwan yesterday, and I found myself on a leaderboard that contained all 3,658 qualified seasons for batters since 2002. That’s the first year Sports Info Solutions started tracking its reams and reams of granular data, so I spend a lot of time with the leaderboards set to that particular date range. If somebody is at the top or bottom of a column on that leaderboard, then they have earned a superlative. For example, in 2003, SIS credited Tony Batista with a 63.4% pull rate — the highest pull rate ever recorded! I have to believe it’s the highest of all time, too. How is it even possible to pull the ball 63% of the time? It certainly sounds impossible, but I believe the number to be true both because the second and eighth spots also belong to Batista, and because, well, do you remember Tony Batista’s batting stance? Yeah, that’s what you’d expect a guy with a 63% pull rate to look like. Batista’s offen...

Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images Fireworks season came early to Citizens Bank Park, where on Saturday evening the Phillies collected 17 hits — 10 for extra bases, including four home runs — in a 15-3 win over the Mets. Kyle Schwarber launched three of those homers, with two traveling more than 450 feet in the third inning, and by the time the fifth inning ended, Bryce Harper had hit for the cycle for the first time in his major league career. At the wrong end of that onslaught was Freddy Peralta , who was tagged for 10 runs in 2 2/3 innings. It was the worst start of his nine-year career, as well as a reminder of just how poorly the team’s offseason acquisitions have panned out. Saturday’s start began inauspiciously enough, with Peralta allowing a two-out solo shot to Harper in the first inning. After falling behind 2-0, he threw a 93.9-mph four-seamer inside, but Harper was nonetheless able to extend his arms and lift a 37-degree blast. In the second inning, Peralta surrendere...

Brett Davis-Imagn Images Late last week, Major League Baseball proposed to drastically change the game’s player developmental system. Beginning in 2028, the domestic draft would be cut from 20 rounds to 12, and eliminate eligibility for high schoolers — players would need to be at least 20 years old and two years removed from high school to be drafted. Players who choose to play for a JUCO school would need to do so for both seasons, rather than the one-year requirement currently in place. Most players at a four-year college would become draft eligible a year earlier under MLB’s new proposal; right now, they are not eligible for the draft unless they turn 21 by August 1 of their draft year or until after their third year a four-year college. MLB’s proposal would move the age cutoff date back to September 1. More than 40% of the dollars would be pared from the draft pool, with the most recent $358.7 million available slashed to $200 million. On the international side, MLB propos...

George Lombard Jr. is bound for The Bronx — or maybe Motown? According to the New York Post ’s Jon Heyman, the Yankees’ top-rated prospect is being targeted by the Tigers in a potential trade for Tarik Skubal . Swap or not, the 21-year-old shortstop has a bright future. A first-round pick in 2023, Lombard Jr. has come to the plate 287 times this season between Double-A Somerset and Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre and is slashing .258/.387/.446 with eight home runs and a 124 wRC+. Moreover, he was scorching the ball prior to being placed on the IL with sprained fingers on his glove hand this past Thursday. Over his previous eight games he had gone 11-for-30 with seven doubles and a pair of round-trippers. How has the son of former MLB outfielder, and current Detroit Tigers bench coach, George Lombard changed since I interviewed him late in the 2024 season? “From a physical standpoint, the stance and setup are a little different,” Lombard Jr. told me last month. “But it’s more the ...

Eric Hartline-Imagn Images Last season, despite his team’s struggles, Byron Buxton set career highs in plate appearances (542), home runs (35), runs (97), RBI (83), hits (129), and WAR (5.0). He only played in 126 games, his second-highest single-season total, because he made two separate trips to the injured list. We saw enough of him in 2025 to appreciate his astonishing abilities, yet at the same time, his presence was a reminder of the career that might’ve been if only he hadn’t gotten hurt so much. Fortunately, Buxton is healthy again this season. As of Friday morning, he has played in 64 of the Twins’ 76 games this year. That might not seem like a lot, but that works out to a pace of 136 games. Crucially, despite dealing with a few minor injuries, he has avoided the IL so far in 2026. He’s on track to hit 49 home runs and accumulate just shy of 6 WAR. ZiPS and our Depth Charts both project him to slow down a little bit, but they still peg him for at least 45 homers and right a...