Mining the News (9/16/26)

Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

American League

Angels

• At the 13:50 mark is a great discussion on adjustments several of the team’s arms are making.

• Starting with Ryan Johnson’s last July start, he’s moved away from his sinker.

“RJ pitched his butt off tonight, and to be able to get him a run while he was still in the game to get the lead was awesome,” Lowe said. “I feel like [Johnson] has kind of just changed his pitch usage. Probably gone more cutter and sweeper mix, and guys obviously aren’t seeing it as well. So, good for him for making an adjustment.”

He dropped his sinker usage from 28% to 10% and now closer to 5% over his last six starts. During that time, his results have improved.

Stat: Before July 31st vs. From July 31st On
ERA: 7.34, 2.77
xFIP: 4.98, 5.32
WHIP: 1.54, 1.17
botERA: 4.52, 4.61

Over his last three starts, it’s a 3.87 xFIP and 3.89 botERA since he dropped his walk rate to 1.5 BB/9.

Astros

• At the 12:10 mark, the host discusses Hunter Brown upping his sinker usage (8% to 16%) over his last four starts (NYM, CHW, PHI, KC).

He’s been a borderline ace during that time with 3.18 ERA (2.03 xFIP, 4.30 botERA), 1.15 WHIP (2.4 BB/9), and 13.5 K/9. The biggest improvement was his walk rate dropping from 5.2 BB/9 to 2.4 BB/9.

Athletics

• Leo De Vries may not be healthy for a couple of months into next season.

Leo De Vries — ranked as the Athletics No. 1 prospect and the No. 2 prospect in baseball, per MLB Pipeline — underwent successful surgery on his injured right shoulder, the team announced on Monday.
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The hope is for De Vries to return to game action sometime during the first two months of the 2027 season.

He moved to my don’t-draft list. It’s tough enough to guess when a rookie will be called up, let alone someone who will miss some time.

Guardians

• José Ramírez isn’t himself after having his hamate bone excision (removal).

Imagine telling yourself before the season that José Ramírez would need a day off in mid-September, during a pennant race, and only a few days removed from a team off day. He’s not 100 percent, and manager Stephen Vogt seems determined to keep him near the top of the lineup.

There are still ways for Ramírez to contribute, even if he can’t summon much oomph in the aftermath of a hamate bone excision. When he first returned from the injured list in late July, Ramírez wasn’t hitting much, but he drew 13 walks and stole five bases in 20 games. In his last 22 games, he has drawn three walks and swiped two bases.

All of his power metrics are down since the surgery.

Stat: Before, After
avgEV: 90.3, 86.0
HardHit%: 43%, 28%
BatSpd: 72.9, 68.9
ISO: .179, .054

No good Bob, not good.

Orioles

• Kyle Bradish has dealt with abdominal discomfort for a while.

Before Sunday’s game, the Orioles ended right-hander Kyle Bradish’s season when they placed him on the 15-day injured list with lower abdominal discomfort.

After Sunday’s game, manager Craig Albernaz told reporters in Toronto that Bradish had been dealing with the injury recently and he’d head back to Baltimore for tests.

Rays

• Freddy Peralta returned to his old mechanics with the Rays.

“Confidence” is a word Peralta has understandably come back to more often the longer this stretch has gone on. It’s important to him.

It may have been shaken by his performance in New York as his arm angle dropped, the extension in his delivery diminished and his once-elite production declined. But he’s raised his release point, regained his extension and reminded everyone — including himself — what he’s capable of.
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In six starts since Aug. 16, his third outing with the Rays and his first with his new team at Tropicana Field, Peralta’s average arm angle has been 36.1 degrees, closer to his 38.4-degree mark with the Brewers in 2025 than the 33-degree figure he had with the Mets.

During that same stretch, his average release extension was 6.7 feet, compared to 6.8 feet with the Brewers last season and 6.5 feet during his time in New York.

Unsurprisingly, “Fastball Freddy” has seen his signature heater come back to life with those changes. In his last six starts, his average fastball velocity has ticked up to 94.4 mph, compared to 94.2 mph with the Mets and 94.8 mph last year.

Red Sox

• Ranger Suarez recently made some tweaks to his mechanics.

“The rest of the night, Suarez dug deep into his arsenal to keep Kansas City off balance, lauding some important tweaks for the recent run of results.

“I was able to make some adjustments in my mechanics,” said Suarez. “I’ve been able to locate my pitches better, and you can see the results today.””

Tigers

• In the pod (27:00), there is talk of platooning Spencer Torkelson.

The right-handed bat has a .786 OPS against lefties and just .704 OPS against righties. Last week, the team sat him against four of five righties in favor of Colt Keith (now on the IL). And even when Torkelson does play, he bats sixth or seventh.

• Justin Verlander touched 93 mph in his rehab.

According to The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen and others, Verlander touched 93 mph during the session and is on track to potentially pitch in Detroit’s final regular season series against the Pirates.

There is talk of Verlander returning to start the final game of the season. If he’s touching 93 mph, that means he’s sitting 90-91 mph. It’s a great story, but there is no way I’m going to roster Verlander in leagues that matter.

• Light still bothers Wenceel Pérez.

Pérez went on the IL back in June after a freak accident in which a plyo band snapped and struck him in the left eye, resulting in an orbital fracture. He remains unable to do any baseball activity while he deals with vision issues, per Chris McCosky of The Detroit News. “The light, the activity still bothers him,” said Hinch of Pérez’s condition. “He’s doing fine. He’s still quote-unquote, rehabbing. But it’s going to be really hard to see him here this year.”

I feel bad for him, but I put him on my 2027 do-not-draft list with this news.

Yankees

• Clarke Schmidt dropped his sweeper.

Schmidt confirmed that he's ditched the sweeper this morning.

— Gary Phillips (@garyhphillips.bsky.social) 2026-09-16T16:30:14.578Z

National League

Cardinals

• Thomas Saggese has been a new batter since being promoted in late August.

Since being recalled on Aug. 28, Saggese is slashing .383/.426/.638 with three home runs and eight RBIs. The biggest difference at the plate for Saggese now has been the way he’s barreling up the baseball.

He’s improved his Contact% (71% to 81%) and his average Exit Velocity (88.8 mph to 92.2 mph). It’s a great sign when both go up.

Cubs

• The team plans to use Ryan Zeferjahn as a high-leverage reliever.

As noted by Alex Cohen, Ryan Zeferjahn last night threw the two fastest fastballs of his career, at 100.9 mph and 100.4 mph. His velocity on all pitches was up about two clicks last night, so either he was just feeling really frisky, or he and the Cubs figured out something mechanically to optimize (or both). I certainly like what that says about how he’s feeling and about the future projectability that the Cubs paid so much for at the deadline. The question for now, though, is what it says about his ability to be a dominant late-inning reliever down the stretch and in the postseason. As with Daniel Palencia, I’m not sure anyone can reasonably have confidence in an answer.

The stuff with Zeferjahn is apparent. The guy gets 18 inches laterally on his sweeper and 16 inches laterally in the other direction on his sinker. He gets 16 inches of induced vertical on his four-seamer. He also has a gyro slider to really mix things up. And the premium velocity. It’s obvious why the Cubs really liked him. The issue is mostly summed up by his pitch chart from last night:
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I am perfectly willing to still be optimistic on Ryan Zeferjahn for THIS season (to say nothing of the future, which I think is very easy to still be optimistic on).

He could be a sneaky late closer candidate depending on his role over the next two weeks and the playoffs. Even if he doesn’t close, he can pad ratios.

Dodgers

• Andy Pages will likely not play during the regular season.

Pages had a screw inserted to help speed up the healing process and could return during the final week of the regular season, but like Ohtani, they’d want him as close to 100% as possible, which may mean resting until Game One of their first postseason game.

• Freddie Freeman will manage his patellar tendinitis …

Freeman is not on the IL, but the Dodgers have worked in more rest than usual for the star first baseman as he deals with patellar tendinitis in his right knee. The hope is that by managing the injury now, it will be a minimal issue in the postseason.

… that he’s dealt with for the past two seasons.

The injury is right knee tendinitis, something Freeman has dealt with for over two years, but this recent stretch has been more bothersome than before and has likely affected his offense and defense.

• The team’s manager stated the following on Kyle Tucker improving his swing.

“I think it’s his swing. I’m not a person who talks about mechanics too often but I do think in this particular situation, he’s cleaned up his bat path. He’s staying in the hitting zone a lot longer, whereas before, breaking balls he wasn’t staying on, fastballs he was underneath. But I think right now, he’s in a great spot mechanically and with the confidence he has in his swing… The hitting coaches kind of unlocked something with Kyle and it’s good to see that its translated that quickly.Most of the time, things like that take a while, but it kind of happened overnight with the results. Really happy to see that.”

I’m not sure the result will materialize in the next week or so, but maybe over the course of the postseason.

Mets

• Prospects Jonathan Santucci, Gary Gill Hill, and Jack Wenninger are rotation options for next season.

Prospect wing: Jonathan Santucci, Gary Gill Hill, Jack Wenninger

The Mets on Sunday named Santucci their organizational Pitcher of the Year, rewarding the left-hander for a season that’s seen him flirt with the Minor League strikeout crown. Santucci’s rough start to his Triple-A career could cost him a realistic chance at breaking camp with the 2027 Mets, but he shouldn’t need much additional seasoning.
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Also close to the Majors is Gill Hill, who was part of the Freddy Peralta trade from the Rays, but who profiles more as a back-end starter if he’s a long-term rotation option at all.

As for Wenninger, he’d probably already be in the Majors if not for some notable control issues. While Wenninger, too, has produced better results of late, his walk rate remains elevated enough to give the Mets pause.