Mining the News (5/1/25)

American League

Mariners

• Logan Evans was fine in his MLB debut with 2 HR, 3 K, 3 BB, and 1 HR in 5 IP. Diving into his pitch mix makes him out to be a junk ball pitcher.

No system likes his fastballs (four-seamer or sinker). As for his secondaries, their grades range from average to great. I’m interested to see how he performs over his next few starts. He might be a bench-and-monitor with the starting pitcher pool thinned out.

Orioles

• In his last start (5 IP, 8 K, 1 BB, 0 ER), Tomoyuki Sugano just about ditched his cutter (3% usage, down from 14%) and sinker (5% usage, down from 12%). Neither pitch did much. The cutter had a 1% SwStr% and 47% GB%. The sinker came in with a 3% SwStr% and 31% GB%.

Before this last start, he had a 7% SwStr% on the season. For his last start, it was a 16% SwStr%. Monitor to see if the pitch mix and results stick.

Rangers

• Jacob deGrom has been lights out in his two starts when he averaged 97 mph on this fastball. In the other four, he was human.

Twins

• A couple of points to ponder below. Royce Lewis will play some DH, and Brooks Lee will play more second base.

Lewis will see plenty of action at designated hitter when he returns, but his ability to play third base is still part of his overall value. For example, using Lewis at third base would enable the Twins to play Brooks Lee rather than Edouard Julien at second base while Luke Keaschall is out. That has value.

As for the Lewis news, the DH spot has been rotating through several guys. At third base, the playing time for Jonah Bride will take a hit.

As for Lee (.682 OPS), he seems to have a leg up on Julien (.625 OPS) at second base. Additionally, Willi Castro will come off the IL at some point to add to the mix

National League

Diamondbacks

• Justin Martinez’s fastball velocity is down because he’s doing “shoulder strengthening”. Sure Jan.

Martinez’s health has been a bit of a concern early in the season. He has been held out of some games recently due to shoulder fatigue, and when he closed out Sunday’s 6-4 win against the Braves, his velocity was down around three mph.

Martinez said that he has been doing a lot of shoulder strengthening exercises recently and that could have been why his velocity was down.

“I feel pretty good, honestly,” Martinez said. “My arm doesn’t bother me anymore. That’s one thing that I’m glad about. Yeah, the other day my velo was down a lot, but I don’t think it’s anything to worry about. I just feel like I’ve been working too much on my shoulder and I was probably doing too much work. That’s why maybe I was throwing that velocity there. But it’s nothing to worry about. My arm feels good, that’s the best part.”

His fastball velocity isn’t down a bit, it’s in free fall.

Phillies

• The team will use two outfield platoons after stating they wouldn’t before the season.

The Phillies will probably be running two platoons by the time Marsh returns.

Kepler has not driven the ball like the Phillies hoped, but he’s had his moments. He had three hits, including a homer in Saturday’s 10-4 win. He drew a walk in the 10th inning Sunday night and scored a run. But most of his production has come with a righty on the mound.

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Now, with Weston Wilson back on the active roster, there is an easier path to platooning Kepler. Wilson has hit .340/.452/.640 in 62 career plate appearances against big-league lefties. He will have his opportunities in left field whenever a lefty opposes the Phillies.

• Across all levels, Andrew Painter will throw around 120 to 130 IP this season.

Thomson said he was “pretty sure” Andrew Painter would step up to Lehigh Valley for his next rehab appearance. However, The Athletic’s Matt Gelb reported Painter will remain with Clearwater for the time being and the Phillies “could move him north in May to a higher-level affiliate.” He’s slated to throw approximately four innings and 60 pitches on Thursday.

Thomson has said he anticipates Painter totaling around 120-130 innings this season and rising to the big club in midsummer at the earliest.

Pirates

• Bubba Chandler will up his ideal pitch volume by the end of May.

Continuing to develop is part of the equation, but he also needs to fully stretch out as a starter. That will be happening in May.

So far, Chandler has maxed out at five innings a start, sitting in the 50- to 70-pitch range. That’s by design and with the understanding that he is probably going to throw a new career high in innings, having logged 111 in 2023 and 119 2/3 last year. He’ll blow past that this year.

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The goal is for Chandler to be ready to throw a fuller pitch volume by the end of May. He’s close to the Majors, and this is going to be a pivotal next month toward getting the Pirates’ prized prospect to Pittsburgh.

Reds

• When Tyler Stephenson returns, the team will carry three catchers with Stephenson cutting into the DH at-bats.

When Stephenson returns, he’ll likely get plenty of time as a designated hitter, in part because of the physical toll of catching on the body, especially coming back from a lat injury. That means the Reds will still need Wynns to work into the rotation along with Trevino and Stephenson.

The Reds have rotated several guys, including Austin Hays, Matt McLain, Spencer Steer, and Gavin Lu,x through the DH slot over the last 10 games.