IN A STAR-STUDDED DODGERS LINEUP, ‘SILENT ASSASSIN’ WILL SMITH QUIETLY GETS THE JOB DONE
TORONTO – For every team but the Los Angeles Dodgers, the first round of the 2016 draft was a colossal disappointment. Teams spent more than $112 million in bonuses, almost all of it wasted. The pitchers have a losing record. The position players have hit .233 and made zero trips to the All-Star Game – with one shining exception.
NATS NO.8 PROSPECT PETRY READY TO FLEX BIG POWER IN AFL
This fall, Ethan Petry could be a walking, talking, slugging billboard for the Southeastern Conference in the heart of the southwest.
Back in 2023, while at the University of South Carolina, the then-freshman outfielder faced future Major Leaguer pitchers Chase Burns, Chase Dollander, Paul Skenes and Hurston Waldrep, and he went a combined 4-for-9 with two homers against the advanced competition. The two dingers came on a 99 mph fastball from Skenes and Waldrep’s trademark splitter, respectively, both in home games in Columbia.
It’s experience that Petry -- now the Nationals' No. 8 prospect -- will call upon in this year’s Arizona Fall League.
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: STARTING ROTATION SHINES BRIGHT
AMARILLO, TX – Since the calendar turned to May, it has been the month of the starting pitcher for the Sod Poodles. As the team returns to hitter-friendly HODGETOWN this week, let’s shine the spotlight on the arms of the starters.
Amarillo’s five-man rotation of Dylan Ray, Avery Short, Spencer Giesting, Roman Angelo and Jose Cabrera have carved up opponents over the last 22 games. The five starters have held opposing hitters to fewer than five runs in each outing and have tallied 10 quality starts in 22 opportunities, the second most in the Texas League. A quality start is defined, per MLB, as at least six innings pitched allowing no more than three earned runs.
ZANDER DARBY GREW UP WATCHING SF GIANTS. NOW HE’S LIVING OUT HIS DREAM JUST DOWN THE ROAD.
Former Palo Alto HS standout Zander Darby is savoring his time playing for the Single-A San Jose Giants in front of family and friends
It’s a half hour home to Palo Alto, but nobody in the Darby household is complaining about the commute.
30 MLB TEAMS, 30 BREAKOUT CANDIDATES
Spring training is going strong and I've posted my minor league and draft prospect rankings, so now fans' attention has turned to potential major league sleepers.
Whether it's for the later stages of their fantasy drafts or the first to mention a name in your friend group, I've been inundated with requests for sleepers, with varied definitions of the term.
THE 25 BEST MLB PLAYERS UNDER AGE 25 FOR THE 2025 SEASON
Major League Baseball has never had as much talent as it does right now. Year after year, teams get better at evaluating and developing young potential, and players enter affiliated ball bigger, faster and stronger than their predecessors. And as the league continues to root out service time manipulation with mechanisms like the Prospect Promotion Incentive plan, teams are putting their best young players in the majors as soon as they think they’re ready.
As a result, the prevalence of young stars is at an all-time high. Entering the 2025 season, there’s an abundance of young players who are already household names (or close to it). So it feels like the right time to break out SI’s top 25 players under 25.
DODGERS NO.1 PROSPECT RUSHING RECEIVES AWARD, IMMEDIATELY MASHES 2 HOMERS
Dalton Rushing stood on the Dodger Stadium field on Friday and waved to the cheering fans that he hopes to play in front of one day soon.
“That's pretty cool. The Dodgers fans and Dodger Stadium are just unbelievable, as it's one of the best atmospheres in sports, if not the best,” Rushing said. “I get recognized, and you hear all the die-hard Dodgers fans that know all the prospects, know all the players and they're screaming from the front row, ‘Go get dressed. Go get dressed. Go put on a uniform.’ It's pretty cool to hear those things.
MINOR LEAGUER HICKLEN USING HIS POWER TO HELP COMMUNITY
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Nashville Sounds outfielder Brewer Hicklen has always felt a tie to his hometown of Huntsville, Ala.
The 28-year-old has returned home nearly every offseason since the Royals drafted him in 2017 to hold a youth camp that has reached an attendance of 150. Heading into the 2024 season, he wanted to step up his charitable giving by starting a fundraiser for The Bullpen Foundation, a North Alabama-based organization benefiting youth sports participation.
BROOKS LEE WAS ALWAYS MEANT TO BE A BALLPLAYER
In another lifetime, Twins shortstop Brooks Lee wouldn't have been named for Orioles Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson. Instead, he would have been named after Cardinals basestealing legend Lou Brock. Only problem: Then he would be named Brock Lee ... you know, like the vegetable.
"Both great names, but I'm happy I'm not named Brock," Lee told Alanna Rizzo with a laugh recently. "I get called it from time to time."
FITZGERALD HR MAKES ROOKIE HISTORY WITH A GIANTS FIRST SINCE BONDS
LOS ANGELES -- Perhaps nobody in baseball used the All-Star break downtime to their advantage like Giants rookie Tyler Fitzgerald, who now has a home run in five consecutive games for San Francisco.
Fitzgerald’s latest home run came in the second inning of Tuesday's game against the Dodgers, a drive to left field against another rookie in Los Angeles right-hander Landon Knack.
HOW BASEBALL IN SOUTHERN UTAH SHAPED KY BUSH AND DREW THORPE INTO TWO THE WHITE SOX’S TOP PROSPECTS
CHICAGO - When Drew Thorpe took the mound for his big league debut with the White Sox against the Mariners, Jeff Scholzen saw a familiar scene.
The former MLB scout for the Brewers and Angels watched the pitcher, whom he knew since he was just a kid, take the mound in Seattle with a full mustache and armed with the dangerous changeup.
WILL SMITH, DODGERS AGREE TO 10-YEAR EXTENSION
LOS ANGELES – The Dodgers have a core in place, one they believe will lead them to multiple championships over the next decade. On Wednesday, they made sure star catcher Will Smith plays an integral part in that pursuit.
A NO-LOOK, BETWEEN-THE-LEGS FLIP TO FIRST … AND IT’S ONLY SPRING!
Just a few days into camp and Craig Counsell has already lauded Nico Hoerner's defense and his ability to "make adjustments very quickly," but the first-year Cubs manager couldn't have imagined anything like this.
Leave it to a Gold Glover to turn what looked like a routine play into anything but.
SWITCH-HITTING LEE SEEKS TO IMPROVE RIGHTY SWING AHEAD OF MLB DEBUT
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Following Brooks Lee’s first full professional season, during which he catapulted all the way up to Triple-A and put himself in position to make his MLB debut in 2024, he went right back to San Luis Obispo, Calif., where he fell back into the easy routine of working alongside his dad at Cal Poly.
ANGELS’ ALBERTO RIOS TRIES HAND AT NEW POSITION
If Alberto Rios fails to reach the big leagues, it won’t be for a lack of grit and determination.
Drafted as an outfielder out of Stanford in the third round last year, Rios focused on catcher at instructional league and will head into 2024 trying to make it at the position.
THE FIRST IMMACULATE NON-IMMACULATE INNING IN BASEBALL HISTORY - IT’S OFFICIALLY A THING
So you think you know an immaculate inning when you see one, eh? Ha. We now live in a world where a guy can’t even be sure he knows an immaculate inning when he’s just thrown one.
Just ask Rays reliever Robert Stephenson. Oh, wait. I did that.
DODGERS’ EVAN PHILLIPS BACK IN BALTIMORE, WHERE HE FOLLOWED ‘THE LINE’ TO SUCCESS
BALTIMORE — When Evan Phillips walked into Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Monday, he took a moment to reflect. This was the ballpark he went to as a kid.
GIANTS' MITCH HANIGER: DOUBLES TWICE IN BLOWOUT WIN
Haniger went 3-for-5 with two doubles, two RBI and two runs scored in Monday's 14-4 win over the Pirates.
'THAT KID IS A STUD': LEE HAS TWINS GUSHING
Sometimes, Brooks Lee still provides brief glimpses of the fact that he has only been a professional for just more than seven months now, with all of 31 Minor League games under his belt.
THESE 30 PROSPECTS WILL BREAK OUT IN 2023
The MLB Pipeline crew likes to start each new year by projecting prospects poised to break out in the upcoming season.