Mining the News (7/1/26)

Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images

Note: Any noted rostership rates come from the NFBC RotoWire Online Championship, the same rates we use on the FanGraphs Player Rater. For reference, these leagues are 12-team Roto leagues with 30-man rosters (2 C, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, MI, CI, 5 OF, UT, 9 P) and weekly add/drops. This rate can be compared to other rostership rates found in this article.

American League

Angels

Astros

• Lance McCullers Jr. is beginning his rehab assignment.

RHP Lance McCullers Jr.
Injury: Right rotator cuff impingement.
IL date: May 19 (15-day, retroactive to May 16)
Expected return: July
Status: Made first Minor League rehab start June 25 for Triple-A Sugar Land, throwing three scoreless innings.

In his first rehab start, there was no pitch mix change, and his average fastball velocity dropped 0.4 mph. The key was no walks after a 5.0 BB/9 in the majors this season. He can build around his 9.8 K/9. He’s readily available (1% rostered), so he could be a free add if he contains the walks.

Athletics

• Janson Junk (7% rostered) has started his rehab assignment.

RHP Janson Junk
Injury: Right shin bone inflammation
IL date: May 31 (15-day IL, retroactive to May 28)
Expected return: Early-mid July
Status: X-rays came back negative after taking a comebacker off left wrist to begin rehab assignment with Triple-A Jacksonville on June 28. Will make next scheduled rehab start on July 3.

Over his first seven starts, he posted a 2.82 ERA (3.93 xFIP) and 1.04 WHIP. In the four starts before going on the IL, he had an 8.31 ERA (4.81 xFIP) and 1.75 WHIP. Could the struggles have been injury-related? I’m interested but not sure if he’s worth a roster spot right now.

Rangers

• Jordan Montgomery is on a rehab assignment.

LHP Jordan Montgomery
Injury: Left UCL surgery
IL date: March 8 (60-day IL)
Expected return: Early August
Status: Began rehab assignment at Double-A Frisco on June 21, allowing one hit in one scoreless inning.

He’s only at 3 IP total, but does have 4 K and 0 ER so far. I couldn’t find any reference to his fastball velocity. He’s still a ways off, but there is nothing stopping him from replacing Cal Quantrill in the rotation.

Red Sox

• Patrick Sandoval is about to come off the IL with the possibility of a trade.

Sandoval is out of minor league options, so the Red Sox can’t send him to Worcester after his rehab clock is up. It’s unlikely Bennett — who owns a 2.78 ERA in 22 ⅔ innings since being recalled — is removed from the rotation to accommodate Sandoval. A more likely scenario involves the Red Sox either using Sandoval as a multi-inning long reliever or temporarily moving to a six-man rotation in the week before the All-Star break. According to sources, teams are planning on scouting Sandoval’s final rehab start in preparation for the Red Sox potentially being willing to move him in a trade.

At this point, the Red Sox don’t know exactly what Sandoval’s role will be when he’s ready. In any case, the organization is excited to add another healthy arm to a depleted group that currently has Garrett Crochet, Johan Oviedo, Kutter Crawford and Tanner Houck on the injured list and Brayan Bello trying to get back on track in Worcester.

I’m not sure what team would be interested in him and his $12.75M contract.

Tigers

• Riley Greene sleeps all the time to help his game.

“I try to sleep as much as I can,” he said earlier this month. “I mean, on [a recent] off-day, I slept 12 hours. As much sleep as I can.”

Some sports teams and athletes have hired sleep specialists to consult on the best sleep times and patterns and how to maximize the benefit. Greene’s affinity isn’t quite that technical. At the same time, it’s not simply going home and crashing on the couch. There’s a method to Greene’s sleep patterns, from off-days to night games.

“Obviously you can read and see that sleep is very good for you.” Greene said “Trying to get into the deep sleep and the REM sleep and all that stuff that I don’t really know much about. You read online that it’s good for muscle recovery. …

“I love sleeping. I try to sleep as much as I possibly can.”

Greene has also invested in this. He bought an Eight Sleep mattress cover last month that heats and cools his body during sleep to regulate body temperature. He gets a sleep score that he can compare night to night.

Twins

• Bailey Ober started his rehab assignment …

RHP Bailey Ober
Injury: Right elbow inflammation
IL date: May 31 (15-day injured list)
Expected return: July
Status: Threw 57 pitches over 3 1/3 innings for High-A Cedar Rapids on June 28, allowing three runs on seven hits. He came through that rehab start well, and next steps are to be determined.

… and his fastball velocity was not up from his time in the majors.

Full pitch data is not available for Ober’s outing, but the radar gun on the broadcast had his four-seam fastball and sinker at 88-89 miles per hour, about where he’s been for most of this season. He averaged 88.7 on his four-seamer in his last start before he hit the IL.

Before going on the IL, he posted a career-low 88.6 mph (-1.7 mph) average fastball velocity, leading to a 6.2 K/9 (another career-low). Before going on the IL, he had a 4.59 ERA, 4.94 xFIP, and 5.12 botERA. With his velocity still down, I’m not interested.

Yankees

• Austin Wells worked on swing changes while on the IL.

Wells’ RBI double to left field — his first opposite-field extra-base hit of the season — against the Tigers on Tuesday was an encouraging sign after he focused on making some mechanical adjustments with Jarret DeHart, the club’s director of hitting, while he was on the IL.

The changes haven’t helped. Wells is batting .087/.087/.130 with a 30% K% since coming off the IL.

National League

Braves

• If Spencer Strider returns, it might be as a reliever.

Elder’s sudden decline serves as just one of the reasons the rotation has become an issue this month. Spencer Strider left his June 12 start against the Mets with elbow discomfort and he is questionable to return this season. Even if he returns, he may not be used as a starter.

While Strider can’t be counted on to pitch again this season, the Braves can hope for a turnaround from Elder, who posted a 2.30 ERA over 18 starts between Aug. 24, 2025 and May 22. The only MLB pitchers with a better ERA during that span were Cam Schlittler (1.93), Cristopher Sánchez (1.99), Paul Skenes (2.03) and Sale (2.20).

Strider is still 27% rostered (9% started … huh?) and with the news of not pitching and going to the bullpen, should make him a drop in all leagues. And Strider hasn’t been productive in three seasons. Move on.

Cardinals

• Andre Pallante (48% rostered) changed to get right-handed hitters out.

Pallante had made significant changes to his repertoire and pitch usage that have helped him get back to neutralizing left-handed hitters, and for the first time in his big league career, has helped him get the best of right-handed hitters as well.

From 2022-25, no pitcher who faced more than 1,000 right-handed batters allowed a higher on-base percentage (.364) to right-handed hitters. This season, Pallante has dramatically cut down his four-seam fastball usage against righties, instead taking a primarily sinker-slider approach while mixing in his curveball and fastball. So far, Pallante is allowing a .299 OBP to right-handed hitters, in large part due to his slider ranking fifth best among pitchers with at least 100 plate appearances in run value (nine).

Against lefties, Pallante has debuted a new splitter this year, a pitch that has graded out positively thus far and could become a bigger part of his attack strategy as the season goes on. But his fastball, curveball and slider mix has gotten the job done thus far. He’s traditionally been better against lefties than he has been against righties, and now this defined repertoire gives Pallante a roadmap to getting outs no matter who is at the plate. All of these pitches tunnel so well together due to his extreme over-the-top arm angle.

Last season, he posted a 4.77 xFIP against righties, and this year it’s down to a 4.06 xFIP. His biggest improvement has been lowering his walk rate from 3.4 BB/9 to 2.6 BB/9.

Cubs

• Matt Shaw has been dealing with a wrist injury for a while.

First, Matt Shaw was inexplicably removed from the game for pinch-hitter Justin Dean in the top of the ninth inning. As it turns out, Shaw was dealing with some wrist soreness. And that’s got me nervous. Remember, we’ve attributed Shaw’s sudden burst of offensive improvement to his improved hard-hit rate and exit velocities … which we connected to his dramatically increased bat speed. A wrist injury stands to seriously degrade that improvement. Indeed, Shaw’s only competitive swing last night was 66 MPH … 5.3 MPH slower than his season average.

Shaw has been a frustrating player with his playing time and talent all over the place this season.

• The manager was happy that David Peterson threw strikes.

When Counsell headed out to the hill with two outs in the sixth, the manager patted Peterson on the back multiple times before the lefty walked off to cheers from the Cubs fans occupying American Family Field. Peterson struck out two, issued zero walks and threw just 69 pitches to get to that point.

“I’m happy for David. Not an easy thing to do,” Counsell said. “But I think it shows professionalism and some grit to come and do what he did today. He threw a lot of strikes. They were aggressive, but he threw a ton of strikes. … He gave us everything we could’ve hoped for tonight.”

For Peterson to have any fantasy value, he needed to drop this 4.0 BB/9 (1.65 WHIP). Zero walks in his first start is a nice beginning.

Mets

• Jared Young will get most of the first base starts going forward.

Green indicated that Young will get most of the playing time at first base. Including Young, the Mets have used six first basemen this season, with Mark Vientos getting most of the reps at the position.

“I would be a fool to change that one,” said Green when asked about Young’s status at first base. “He will be out there consistently. There are opportunities for other players, especially against certain types of left-handed pitching, to get over there … and play a little bit. But he is locking down a lion’s share of at-bats over there.”

Young is normally a strong-side platoon bat, but started against one of the last two lefties the team faced.

• When Jorge Polanco returns, it’ll be as the DH.

As of Sunday, Polanco’s wrist is 100 percent, but there is some lingering pain in the Achilles.

“Yeah, there is still pain there, but it’s a pain I feel like I can tolerate, that I can play through like a lot of players that play with some nagging injuries. … But my ankle feels good enough to play out there,” Polanco said.

When he is activated from the 10-day injured list, Polanco is expected to become the team’s designated hitter. He started a rehab assignment for Triple-A Syracuse on Saturday and he went 0-for-3 with a strikeout against Lehigh Valley.

In 23 rehab plate appearances, he has only a .582 OPS. Ignore until he shows some signs of life.

• When Luis Robert Jr. comes off the IL, he could be on the short side of a center field platoon with A.J. Ewing.

For weeks after Robert played in his last Major League game on April 26, he made little apparent progress. But Robert restarted baseball activities earlier this month, setting him up to appear in real games this week. While the Mets don’t have an exact timeframe for Robert’s return, a person with knowledge of the situation estimated he will need a longer spell in the Minors than Francisco Lindor, who returned to the Mets six days after beginning a rehab assignment. Position players can stay on assignment for up to 20 days.

Robert, 28, may have to earn back playing time once he recovers, as the Mets have rolled most days with a relatively successful outfield alignment of Juan Soto, A.J. Ewing and Carson Benge. Ewing has fared notably worse against left-handed pitchers, however, so Robert should at least be able to carve out a role on the short side of a center-field platoon.

Ewing provides some speed (8 SB) and batting average (.275 AVG), but if he becomes a part-time player … at least until Robert gets hurt again. The platoon could make Ewing a drop in shallower leagues. If on the short side of a platoon, Robert will be unrosterable.

Nationals

• Luis García Jr. is working on walking more, thereby leading to better contact.

A big reason García has been having such success lately has to do with his approach at the plate. As Butera explained pregame Sunday, García is a player who “has a knack for feeling like he can hit everything, because he kind of can.” The Nats, however, have pushed García to be more selective, to take pitches where he can, to work counts and wait on a pitch he can do damage on.

While that message has been passed down from the coaching staff, part of why it’s working for García — and what has helped him hone in his approach at the plate — is thanks to some friendly competition.

“It’s work that we put in every day and in the cage,” García said. “And right now, Keibert [Ruiz] and I have a competition going for the most walks, so I think that’s also kind of motivation to work on that.

…
The approach — and the competition, which García (11 walks) is winning over Ruiz (six) — is paying off big time, clearly. On Saturday, while tallying his second four-hit game of the season, García hit his hardest home run of the season, a 114-mph blast, in a 3-0 count. Saturday and Sunday marked the fourth time in García’s career that he’s had back-to-back games with three-plus hits. And Sunday’s pair of long balls came in an 0-1 count and a 2-2 count, respectively, further proof of García’s growth as a hitter.

In June, Garcia more than doubled his walk rate since May (2.4% BB% to 6.6% BB%) and posted a 1.128 OPS.

Phillies

• Justin Crawford simplified his swing.

The Phillies have had modest offensive expectations for Crawford, who is halfway through his first season in the majors with a .655 OPS. It’s been a struggle. He has not been able to flash the game-changing speed the Phillies expected. His swing, which generates a high rate of groundballs, has required tweaks.

“Long season,” Crawford said. “A game of adjustments.”

But Crawford has applied some. At the urging of Kevin Long, the team’s hitting coach, Crawford simplified his swing. He is using a shorter leg kick, or sometimes no kick at all. He hit .307 with a .693 OPS in June. Better, but still not great.

“I’m definitely working on being shorter to the ball,” Crawford said. “Just trying to take a little bit of that, like, extra movement out, making me a tick late on the ball. I’ve definitely been trying to do that a little bit. … It’s been good.”

I would have liked to see his strikeout rate drop with the simpler swing, but it jumped from 19% to 25%. The added June production is from a .418 BABIP.

Rockies

• Brenton Doyle is close to returning from the IL.

CF Brenton Doyle
Injury: Left oblique contusion
IL date: May 21 (10-day IL, retroactive to May 20)
Expected return: TBD
Status: After missing a couple of games with groin tightness, will continue injury rehab assignment at Triple-A Albuquerque with a start in center field on June 30 and one as designated hitter on July 1.

The issue with Doyle coming back is that there isn’t enough outfield playing time to go around. Someone will either need to be demoted or traded. It’s the Rockies, so I’m not going to guess their actions.

• Mickey Moniak is still trying to get his swing back after his ankle injury.

A month out of the Major League lineup was enough to recover from the pain. But that painful time between the injury and the IL stint led to swing changes that are taking time to correct. In his first seven games after returning, Moniak went 2-for-19 (.105).

“It’s a limited sample size, obviously coming back from the ankle,” said Moniak, whose homer was one of five hits the Rockies mustered on Tuesday. “I’m definitely trying to retrain the body to get rid of a little bit of bad habits that I created in those 10 days prior to going on the IL.