Pitching Grips

Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images With the 2026 season in the books and a narrow window of transaction time upon us before an inevitable lockout, it’s time to start a new player evaluation cycle at FanGraphs. This includes 30 farm system deep dives, and updates to next year’s domestic draft and international amateur scouting reports on the site. But first, as has become tradition, it’s time to examine the notable pro players in Asia. Every offseason there are several fellows who are either native Asian players attempting to make a transition to MLB, or former MLB-affiliated players who are attempting to come back after some time abroad. Players in both camps tend to make a meaningful impact on the following MLB season, be it Munetaka Murakami , Foster Griffin , Kazuma Okamoto , Robert Suarez , or Drew Anderson . My goal at the start of every offseason is to give readers a thorough report on the players whose matriculation is imminent, as well a spyglass look at who lies o...

Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images For my final Postseason Manager Report Card of the 2026 season, I’m here to evaluate Kevin Cash , Rays manager and World Series loser. While Tampa Bay fell short of its first World Series championship in franchise history and ended the year with something of a whimper, Cash did a commendable job steering his club during its a deep postseason run. As both Ben Clemens and I have mentioned before each of our previous manager report cards this postseason, I care about process and not results here. It’s easy to say, “That was a great move because it worked,” or “That was a bad move because it failed,” but managers obviously can’t know the results of their decisions as they’re making them. I’ve tried my best to transport myself back to the moment of each decision — taking into account the pitches, innings, and plate appearances that led up to it — while ignoring the outcome. Lastly, before we get into the grades, I’ll als...