Pitching Grips

2:03 Jason Martinez : Welcome to the RosterResource Chat! All 4 MiLB levels are playing, which means our MiLB Power Rankings Leaderboard is starting to look interesting. MiLB levels are cleaned up, for the most part, on the RR pages. Now we get to have a fun baseball discussion here … 2:03 Mike : Clemens or Roden…. Who would be your first baseman until the twins actually develop one? 2:04 Jon Becker : Unless I missed something about the Twins trying Roden back at first (I don’t think he’s played there since college) I’d have to pick Clemens by default. But it’s highly likely that their next good homegrown first baseman is someone who’s not playing first base right now. A lot of those guys get drafted as corner outfielders or third basemen and end up moving down the defensive spectrum. 2:05 Guest : What are your thoughts on Murakami right now? He had an amazing series against the Brewers, but has a .524 OPS a...

Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images The Blue Jays have lost another key player to injury. Alejandro Kirk left Friday’s game against the White Sox in the 10th inning after a foul tip glanced off his glove hand. He immediately dropped his glove, grabbed his thumb, and hustled into the clubhouse with trainers. The team after the game announced Kirk had fractured his thumb . No timeline for a return was given. Our injury log suggests batters with thumb fractures typically return in about four to eight weeks, although Kirk fractured the thumb on his catching hand, which could require a longer recovery. It’s the latest significant injury for the reigning AL champs, who lost Cody Ponce last week while fielding a grounder in his first start in the majors since 2021. Trey Yesavage , José Berríos , and Shane Bieber are on the injured list, as well, though each is in the “throwing” process of his rehab. Kirk entered 2026 projected by our Depth Charts to be the best player on the Blue Jays ...

Going into yesterday, Mason Miller had thrown 37 pitches on the season, 19 of them fastballs averaging 101 mph, while another 17 were sliders that elicited a 60.0% whiff rate. There was also one changeup. Delivered to Luis Arraez on a 1-1 count, the ninth-inning offering was wide outside and taken for a ball. Why did the San Diego Padres closer throw his seldom-used changeup to the three-time batting champ on Wednesday night? Low leverage was certainly a factor; the Friars had scored four times in the bottom of the eighth to turn a 3-1 lead into a far safer 7-1 advantage. It nonetheless represented an outlier for the 27-year-old flamethrower. Over the previous two seasons, only 2.3% of his pitches were changeups. I asked him about it when the Padres visited Fenway Park on Friday, “A changeup is a good pitch, but I’m not going to feel comfortable with it if I’m not throwing it,” Miller told me. “I’m picking my spots. There are certain guys it matches up well against. [Arraez] is a ...

Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images The outcomes are truer than ever. The Mariners did not record a single in their first two games of 2026. No team had ever done that in major league history. In fact, only eight teams have ever gone back-to-back games without a single, according to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs . Mariners Box Score March 26-27 Player PA 1B 2B 3B HR K BB Brendan Donovan 8 0 1 0 1 5 2 Cal Raleigh 8 0 0 0 0 7 1 Julio Rodríguez 8 0 0 0 0 5 1 Josh Naylor 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 Randy Arozarena 8 0 1 0 0 1 3 Luke Raley 8 0 0 0 2 3 0 Dominic Canzone 7 0 0 0 2 0 1 Cole Young 6 0 0 0 1 4 0 Leo Rivas 6 0 0 1 0 2 1 Total 67 0 2 1 6 24 9 The reason is obvious. The Mariners didn’t hit a single because they didn’t put the ball in play very often. And frankly, how could they? Guardians pitchers threw less than 40% of their pitches in the zone, and the Mariners were forced ...