Pitching Grips

Brad Penner-Imagn Images 2026 Positional Power Rankings Intro C 1B 2B SS 3B LF CF RF DH RP 16-30 RP 1-15 SP 16-30 SP 1-15 Looking at the best rotations in baseball is a great way to learn about how the best teams in baseball build their staffs. Recently, they’re coalescing around a common plan. It’s hard to get through a 162-game season these days. Five pitchers certainly won’t do it. Every team used at least eight starters last year. Only five teams used fewer than 10 starters, even. You can’t just fill your rotation with five great pitchers and move on with life. Many of the best teams in the game have solved that issue by building a rotation in two parts. At the top, you’ve got your elite starters, as many as you can get. The top four teams in our rankings have all gone out and proactively added aces in recent years, whether they had some homegrown ones to start with or not. These are the guys who, health willing, have guaranteed spots in a potential playoff...

2:01 Ben Clemens : Hey everyone, welcome to the chat. Let’s just get started, as I’m sure there are many fun opening day questions to answer and right now, I’m not writing anything so I’m at full focus 2:01 Guest : If you’re GM of the Tigers, do you put McGonigle on the opening day roster, or wait a few weeks to manipulate his service time? 2:02 Ben Clemens : put him on the opening day roster 2:02 Ben Clemens : the value of that service time manipulation is down with the various incentives (both making it easier for the player to recoup the PT and giving the team bonuses if they start the player up) 2:03 Ben Clemens : it’s a contingent thing, to me: in the worlds where McGonigle ends up being the kind of player worth doing something underhanded to get extra service time out of, you a)probably won’t get it b)could have gotten a draft pick if you weren’t so shady 2:03 Oaktown Blues : Ho...

Trey Yesavage profiles as a strong Rookie of the Year candidate, but he won’t have a chance to begin building his case in the near term. The 22-year-old Toronto Blue Jays right-hander landed on the injured list due to shoulder impingement and won’t be ready when the season gets underway later this week. His return is expected to come sooner rather than later — fingers are crossed throughout Canada — but for now, Yesavage is on the shelf. Five months ago he was turning heads in the World Series. With just six MLB outings under his belt — three in the regular season, and three across the ALDS and ALCS — Yesavage bedeviled LA batters with an array of high-riding heaters and diving splitters. He was especially dominant in Game 5, fanning a dozen Dodgers while allowing three baserunners and a lone run over seven frames. His meteoric rise and eye-popping postseason performances raised his public persona, but the Pottstown, Pennsylvania native hasn’t otherwise changed since being drafted ...