Mining the News (10/8/25)

Erik Williams-Imagn Images

Note: There was so many “season in review” pieces that came out I’m still working through them. I’ve got at least one more Mining the News from end-of-season comments.

• NBP’s Takahiro Norimoto could sign with an MLB team.

Rakuten Eagles RHP Takahiro Norimoto will exercise his international FA rights and wants to talk to both NPB and MLB teams.

Norimoto, 34, was a 5x PL strikeout title winner from 2014-2018. He moved to the pen in 2023 and only had a 17.3 K% this season.

https://t.co/ZxIDaytXcd

— Yakyu Cosmopolitan (@yakyucosmo) October 6, 2025

American League

Astros

• AJ Blubaugh will be a rotation option next year.

Righty AJ Blubaugh was also mentioned as a potential factor on next year’s staff.

Guardians

• Gavin Williams adjusted his mechanics and pitch mix early in the season. He added a cutter and sinker this year.

Williams tinkered with his mechanics and arsenal on the fly this season. He changed the position at which he holds his glove, which he said gives his arm more length and benefits his ability to locate his pitches. He added a sinker to his arsenal (which he had never thrown) and reintroduced a cutter — which he threw in 2024, but did not feature this season until his fifth start, on April 21 against the Yankees.
…
“Obviously, he has velocity, but now he has three velocity pitches with different profiles, and it just makes it hard [on hitters],” Willis said. “Not necessarily swing decisions, but how to swing — not knowing if you’re swinging at a pitch that’s going to have ride, [a pitch] that’s going to have ride and cut or [a pitch] that’s going to have less ride and some separation horizontally as well.”

Orioles

• Heston Kjerstad is dealing with a “medical condition”.

Outfielder Heston Kjerstad (a former Top 100 prospect) has been dealing with a “medical condition” and has been undergoing treatment, which he’s “responded favorably” to, per Elias, who did not want to elaborate on the situation. The 26-year-old was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk on June 10, placed on the injured list on July 29 due to fatigue and did not play after that.

• The team will “keep an eye on” Kyle Bradish’s innings next season.

“I would like a strong front half of the rotation guy to go with those if we can, and we’ll be on the hunt for pitching improvements in that area and others. I think Bradish’s innings is something that we’re going to have to keep an eye on, but I do think there’s a way and a possibility to keep him up and running full season in a responsible way next year. The platform that he’s provided in terms of how many innings he’s thrown and how those innings went this year were about as good as you would have hoped for coming off of the injury, so we feel like he’s in a great spot.”

• Tyler Wells will report to Spring Training as a starter.

“This has always been a conversation with Tyler for years, because he’s good at both, which is impressive. Not a lot of people can do that, and he also just hasn’t happened to had the innings load to get through a whole 170-to-180-[inning] season healthy as a starter, he hasn’t proven he can do it at the major league level.

…

“That’s the plan with Tyler. I thought he looked really good. It was great to have him back, and he’s a big part of our team kind of spiritually, too, and that was wonderful getting him back. Whatever he’s doing next year, he’s going to be a big part of the pitching staff, but we’re planning on him as a rotation option over the course of this winter.”

Red Sox

• Carlos Narváez played through knee pain to end the season and will need surgery to fix the problem.

C Carlos Narváez
Injury: Right meniscus
Expected return: Spring Training
Status: Narváez started experiencing pain in his right knee in August, but he gained respect from the team by playing through it. He will have surgery soon to repair his meniscus, but he should be fine for Spring Training.

Twins

• Top prospect Emmanuel Rodriguez will play winter ball.

Outfielder Emmanuel Rodriguez, the Twins’ No. 3 prospect and No. 67 in the MLB Pipeline Top 100, is expected to play winter league baseball this year. Rodriguez, who hails from the Dominican Republic, has shown immense promise in his professional career but has had trouble staying healthy. He played only 65 games in 2025, receiving 267 plate appearances.

“Our plan is for him to go play some winter ball to pick up some extra at-bats,” Zoll said. “Looking forward to him getting that experience.”

National League

Braves

• The team thinks Spencer Strider will improve his velocity after reworking his pitch mix.

The Braves believe that when he regains more fastball velocity, the adjustments Strider has made and improvements to secondary pitches will help him for years to come, so that he does not rely on the fastball as much.

The changes he’s made in recent weeks have him feeling much better about his first season back from his second surgery. He’ll enter the offseason healthy and with a new understanding of what he can do with secondary pitches and some “reshaping” he’s done with his fastball.

Cardinals

• Kyle Leahy will report to Spring Training with the plan to be a starter.

After a stellar season as one of the St. Louis Cardinals’ top relievers, the organization will have Leahy stretch out this winter and report to spring training next season as a candidate for the starting rotation. His spot start in Sunday’s regular-season finale — a designated bullpen game against the Chicago Cubs that the Cardinals lost 2-0 — was designed to allow Leahy to experience the routine and preparation behind a start.

Diamondbacks

• The GM mentioned only four position players with set positions going into next season. The big one is Geraldo Perdomo returning as the shortstop.

There are, in Hazen’s words, three or four spots that are clearly marked. Geraldo Perdomo at shortstop, Carroll in the outfield, Ketel Marte at second base and Gabriel Moreno behind the plate represent the core.

• Blaze Alexander can play several positions, including the outfield, but the team likes what he did at third base.

“We will see what happens through the course of the offseason,” Hazen said. “I think Jordan’s gonna play winter ball. Blaze did a great job for us at third base. We know Blaze can play second base. We know Blaze can play center field. I’m curious to know if Jordan can play center field. Tim Tawa can play center field.

“There’s kids coming up in Double-A and Triple-A that can man some of those positions. I don’t know that maximizing the versatility of every player is gonna be to our benefit. I think we saw some benefit of leaving Blaze alone at third base. Somebody is going to have to be able to do that.

I read this as: “BLAZE is going to play, but we’re not 100% sure where just yet”.

Dodgers

• Miguel Rojas played through a hamstring injury to end the season.

INF Miguel Rojas
Injury: Hamstring tightness
Expected return: Day to day
Status: Rojas’ hamstring tightened up as he dove into third base to make a tag in the sixth inning of Game 2 of the NLDS, aggravating something “he’s been dealing with for the past few weeks,” per manager Dave Roberts.

Giants

• Bryce Eldridge will have a bone spear removed from his wrist.

The Giants say Bryce Eldridge will have surgery to remove a bone spur in his left wrist. It’s only about eight weeks of rehab, so won’t impact his preparation for spring training.

— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) October 1, 2025

Mets

• The team will focus on improving the team’s defense.

“We’re going to have to be open-minded on our position player grouping so that we can improve our run prevention,” Stearns said. “Does that mean there are robust changes? I don’t know. Does that mean people can be playing different positions? Maybe. Does it mean we ask people to play different roles? Maybe.”

Rockies

• Antonio Senzatela will be in the bullpen next season.

Rockies interim manager Warren Schaeffer revealed the first of what is expected to be many changes after the second-worst season in Modern Era National League history — that right-handed pitcher Antonio Senzatela will be viewed as a reliever.