As a Red Sox fan, I was feeling some type of way last season when I saw the Red Sox had the top farm system according to Baseball America.

Now it is May, and I want to jump off the Green Monster (figuratively).

So, I went back and looked at all the top systems since 2010, and well, it didn’t make me feel much better.

Now, if this is too long and you don’t feel like reading, I will give you a quick bullet list of teams that ended up winning the World Series within a 5-year window of having the top farm system.

• Kansas City Royals (2011 #1 System): Won the World Series in 2015

• Chicago Cubs (2015 #1 System): Won the World Series in 2016.

• Los Angeles Dodgers (2016 #1 System): Won the World Series in 2020.

• Atlanta Braves (2017 & 2018 #1 System): Won the World Series in 2021.

Of those four teams, only two of them are still reaping the rewards of their great farm system. That would be the Braves and the Dodgers. So, in short, the last 16 teams with the top farm system: four won the World Series, two had prolonged success, and 12 are just eh.

2010

#1 Farm System: Tampa Bay Rays
Top Prospect: Desmond Jennings, OF

What Happened?

The Rays being here should not surprise anyone. Tampa Bay has basically been running a baseball laboratory for two decades while the rest of the league argues about whether their payroll is legal.

The 2010 Rays system was loaded with names like Desmond Jennings, Jeremy Hellickson, Wade Davis, and Matt Moore. That is a very Rays group: one highly ranked outfielder, a bunch of arms, and enough depth to make you feel like they were about to invent another 89-win season out of duct tape and scouting reports.

Jennings had moments, but he never became the franchise-changing star some expected. Hellickson won AL Rookie of the Year in 2011. Wade Davis eventually became an elite reliever, though his best years came in Kansas City.

The Rays stayed competitive. They won the AL East in 2010 and remained annoying in the exact way the Rays always remain annoying. But this group did not deliver a World Series title to Tampa Bay.

It was a good system. It produced real big leaguers. It helped keep the Rays machine moving.

2011

#1 Farm System: Kansas City Royals
Top Prospect: Eric Hosmer, 1B

What Happened?

This is one of the best examples of prospect hype actually turning into something real.

The Royals had Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Salvador Perez, Danny Duffy, Wil Myers, Jake Odorizzi, and Mike Montgomery.

Hosmer became a key piece. Moustakas became a key piece. Salvy became the face of the franchise. Duffy helped the pitching staff. Wil Myers was eventually traded in the James Shields deal. While Shield was good for the Royals, he would not get a ring with the team.

Kansas City won the AL pennant in 2014, lost a Game 7 heartbreaker to Madison Bumgarner and the Giants, then came back in 2015 and finished the job.

2012

#1 Farm System: San Diego Padres
Top Prospect: Yonder Alonso, 1B

What Happened?

The Padres had the shiny farm system.

Yonder Alonso became a useful major leaguer, but he was never a franchise-changing bat. Yasmani Grandal was part of this group and became a valuable player, though most of his best years came elsewhere. San Diego had talent, but the system never turned into the core of a real contender.

In terms of not production, this is probably the worst system on this list.

2013

#1 Farm System: St. Louis Cardinals
Top Prospect: Oscar Taveras, OF

What Happened?

Oscar Taveras was one of the most exciting young hitters in baseball. He looked like the next great Cardinals bat, the type of player who could extend an already-successful St. Louis era and give them another middle-of-the-order monster.

Then tragedy hit.

Taveras died in a car crash in 2014 at just 22 years old.

So the normal “did the prospect pan out?” conversation does not really apply here. Baseball-wise, the Cardinals still got value from that era of talent. They remained competitive, reached the 2014 NLCS, won 100 games in 2015, and did not have a losing season until 2023.

The prospect who went on to have the best career would be Michael Wacha, who was their #6 prospect that year.

2014

#1 Farm System: Pittsburgh Pirates
Top Prospect: Gregory Polanco, OF

What Happened?

Gregory Polanco was the headliner, Jameson Taillon was #2, Tyler Glasnow was #3, Austin Meadows was #4, and Josh Bell was #6. And down near the bottom was Clay Holmes at #16.

This might come as a surprise to some Gen Z TikTok boys, but the Pirates had a brief window when they were pretty damn good. From 2013 to 2015, the Pirates made the playoffs and won over 88 games each season. Andrew McCutchen was in his prime, and the farm system was deep. Pirates fans saw a dynasty incoming.

Polanco had flashes but never became the star people hoped for. Taillon became a solid starter but had to battle major health issues. Glasnow never put it together with the Pirates and would go on to find his form with the Rays; the same goes for Austin Meadows. That trade for Chris Archer doesn’t get talked about enough.

2015

#1 Farm System: Chicago Cubs
Top Prospect: Kris Bryant, 3B

What Happened?

This is the cleanest “yes, the farm system mattered” example. There are some freaking names on this list.

Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, Jorge Soler, Kyle Schwarber, Gleyber Torres, Eloy Jimenez, Jeimer Candelario, Daniel Vogelbach, Justin Steele, Dylan Cease, and Paul Blackburn.

Kris Bryant became NL Rookie of the Year in 2015, then NL MVP in 2016. Kyle Schwarber became a postseason folk hero. Addison Russell, despite everything that came later, was part of the on-field core. Torres was flipped for Chapman and we all know what came next.

And then, of course, 2016 happened.

2016

#1 Farm System: Los Angeles Dodgers
Top Prospect: Corey Seager, SS

What Happened?

Corey Seager became the NL Rookie of the Year in 2016, turned into one of the best shortstops in baseball, and eventually won World Series MVP in 2020 when the Dodgers finally captured their first championship since 1988.

There were some other significant names who either helped in the World Series or were traded away for pieces that played a role.

Julio Urias, Grant Holmes, Frankie Montas, Cody Bellinger, Alex Verdugo, Walker Buehler, Austin Barnes, Ross Stripling, and Kyle Farmer stand out.

2017 and 2018

#1 Farm System: Atlanta Braves
Top Prospect: Dansby Swanson, SS

What Happened?

The Braves are another clear success story and one of four teams on this list to appear twice. Both 2017 and 2018 saw them atop the rankings.

Dansby Swanson was the top name entering 2017, but the real strength of this system was the wave behind him. Ozzie Albies, Ronald Acuña Jr, Max Fried, Mike Soroka, Ian Anderson, Sean Newcomb, and Austin Riley were coming.

Outside of 2025, the team has not had a losing season since it went 72-90 in 2017. Of course, that includes their World Series in 2021.

2019

#1 Farm System: San Diego Padres
Top Prospect: Fernando Tatis Jr., SS

What Happened?

This system produced a superstar, and well, that is about it. Fernando Tatis Jr. is the only name from that year who would go on to become a star.

MacKenzie Gore, Luis Urías, Francisco Mejía, Chris Paddack, Adrian Morejon, Michel Báez, and Luis Patiño rounded out the top prospects. Gore is the biggest name here, and he had his best years with the Nationals after the Soto trade.

Compared to 2012, this farm system at least led to some success. From 2020 to 2025, the Padres only had one losing season.

2020 and 2021

#1 Farm System: Tampa Bay Rays
Top Prospect: Wander Franco, SS

What Happened?

It should come as no surprise that the 2020 and 2021 top farm systems were the same. There wasn’t much minor league ball in 2020, and the draft was shortened.

Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way. Wander Franco was the top prospect in both of these seasons. Yeah, he was really freaking good, but he is a terrible human being (allegedly).

Outside of that, there were some studs on these lists. Xavier Edwards, Shane Baz, Shane McClanahan, Joe Ryan, Josh Lowe, Randy Arozarena, and Taj Bradley, to name a few.

And in the short term, the Rays had some success. They won 100 games in 2021 and would go on to make the Wild Card in 2022 and 2023. They didn’t win a series and actually only won a single game, but that is more than a lot of teams on this list.

If the Rays go and win a World Series this year (I don’t think they will), it will not be because of this farm system.

2022

#1 Farm System: Seattle Mariners
Top Prospect: Julio Rodríguez, OF

What Happened?

While there is no World Series yet, this farm system has led directly to Seattle breaking their playoff drought.

Julio Rodriguez, George Kirby, Noelvi Marte, Emerson Hancock, Lazaro Montes, Edwin Arroyo, Bryce Miller, and a few other solid names have either directly contributed or been moved for important pieces.

The Mariners have not won the American League. They have not won a World Series. But this system has absolutely mattered.

2023 and 2024

#1 Farm System: Baltimore Orioles
Top Prospect: Gunnar Henderson, 3B/SS (2023), Jackson Holliday, SS (2024)

What Happened?

The Orioles were the rebuilding team everyone had been waiting on.

And are still waiting on. Let’s go over the names here across the two seasons.

Gunnar Henderson, Grayson Rodriguez, Jackson Holliday, Colton Cowser, Jordan Westburg, Heston Kjerstad, DL Hall, Connor Norby, Joey Ortiz, Coby Mayo, Dylan Beavers, Samuel Basallo, Enrique Bradfield Jr, Cade Povich, and many more.

This is the only example on this list where maybe their farm system was TOO good. The Orioles didn’t seem to know what to do with all these guys and initially did not want to move any.

Their big league squad was performing superbly. 101 wins in 2023 and 91 wins in 2024 with all of this youth movement incoming? The sky was the limit.

Then they went 75-87 in 2025, were marred with injuries, and realized they should have moved a few of those names a year or two ago.

If they don’t see a World Series in the next three years, an argument can be made that this is the biggest farm system disaster in recent memory.

2025

#1 Farm System: Boston Red Sox
Top Prospect: Roman Anthony, OF

What Happened?

I almost feel dirty speaking poorly about a farm system this young.

Right now, everything looks like a disaster. Roman Anthony is hurt, Kristian Campbell is lost, Marcelo Mayer is eh.

Now, Connelly Early and Payton Tolle have looked great, so that is a big positive. Franklian Arias has also developed into the #3 prospect in all of MLB.

Overall Takeaway

Every time you think they are about to do something special, you get your heart ripped out. Tuesday’s game, I hid an AirPods and listened to the game on the radio. Like every good husband in America, I have been locked into the Summer House Reunion for the past two weeks. I am told I need to be on Team Kyle and Ciara, but frankly, they all seem like terrible people.

Kind of like the people around Fenway Park, if you asked Isiah Kiner-Falafel (purposely misspelled his name)

But yeah, according to IKF, one of the reasons the Red Sox are so bad at Fenway (1-20 if they give up more than 3 runs and 10-21 overall) is the distractions around the stadium. Team is totally fine….

Game 1: Orioles 4-2

Game 2: Red Sox 8-1

Game 3: Orioles 8-2

What I Loved

• Payton Tolle

  • Ace? Yes.

    • Everything Tolle has done so far is impressive. The most impressive number for me thus far? The 2.66 FIP. That would be in the Top 10 for qualified pitchers, right, with Skenes.

      

• Caleb Durbin

  • Batting .357 with a .952 over his last seven games. I will talk more about his new hitting coach at the bottom, but it is clear now that some sort of tweak is working for him. Durbin went from about to be defenestrated to "alright, we can deal with that.”

• Ceddanne Rafaela

  • Rafaela is quietly having the best offensive season of his career. Got a hit every game this series, striking out better than his career average, and is walking more than he ever has.

• Wilyer Abreu and Willson Contreras

  • Homers from both as they continue to be the only two guys on offense who you could vote for the All-Star game and not be completely biased.

What I Was ‘Mid’ About

• Connelly Early

  • Putting Connelly in “mid” again this week. The home run ball has been his kryptonite. Over his last five starts, he has given up two home runs in three of those games. The two he didn’t give up any bombs? Both had 7 shut-out innings.

What I Didn’t Love

• Brayan Bello

  • Chad Tracy gave a press conference where he laid it out on the line and said that Bello is a starter and he needs to start. Fact of the matter is, he is one of the worst, if not the worst, pitchers in baseball when he is starting. Looking at all the pitching talent that has walked out of Boston over the last few years, this is starting to raise some eyebrows. I am not sounding the alarm just yet. Early and Tolle are great. However, you have to imagine that ownership/Theo is starting to question what is going on.

  • I also think the team seriously has to consider sending him to the minors to get right.

Who Got Screwed

• John Soteropulos

  • Watched an interview with John on the pregame today, and he seems like a happy-go-lucky guy. So, I want to emphasize that this is not an attack on him.

  • It is starting to look comical how quickly Caleb Durbin has turned it around since going and seeing the hitting coach out in Waltham. Tons of players do stuff like this, so it isn’t unheard of, but Caleb had the worst wRC+ in all MLB then immediately went on a hot streak.

  • IT IS A BAD LOOK. No one should want their players to drive an hour outside the city before every home game to work on their swing.

Stat Soldier Score Cards

Game 1:

Game 2:

Game 3:

Overall Takeaway

Well, that was as miserable as the weather this weekend. Everytime Boston seemed to get into the games they immediately gave up the lead. Then right when you think they might make a come back, they are swinging on the first pitch, or sending CONNOR WONG TO HOME PLATE WITH ONE OUT.

I think the biggest statistical takeaway from this weekend is the team is 6th in hits, 2nd in doubles, T-1st in triples, and dead last in runs, OPS, HR, and SLG. They just do not know how to hit with runners on base.

Now time to play the best team in baseball. Yay.

Game 1: Twins 8-6

Game 2: Twins 4-2

Game 3: Twins 6-5

What I Loved

• Masataka Yoshida

  • Was sad to see Masataka’s interview Sunday morning where it was clear that he is frustrated with the inconsistent play he has received in his Boston tenure. I mostly chalk that up to Alex Cora being the king of tinerking lineups.

  • Was happy to see him finally hit a home run Sunday. I truly hope they give him consistent playing time, if not let him free.

• Marcelo Mayer At SS

  • Still a lot to be desired offensively. Dave O’Brien pointed it out early in the game that he hopes being at one position will help him get into an offensive flow as well. This is something I was preaching from the roof tops last year with both Mayer and Kristian Campbell. We saw what happened with Kristian Campbell, let’s hope that doesn’t happen with Mayer.

• Wilsson Contreras

  • Eight game hitting streak with seven extra base hits mixed in. He is the heart and soul of the team here in 2026. Which in itself is kind of sad.

• Payton Tolle

  • Another quality start for Tolle. His ERA actually rose to 2.46 on the season.

    

What I Was ‘Mid’ About

• Brayan Bello

  • I suppose Bryan Bello wasn’t terrible on Saturday, ignore the score on the top right we are tweaking that, but I can’t get behind the fact that he needs an opener to be mediocore. The numbers are kind of nuts and aren’t sustainable.

    • As a starter: 9.68 ERA through 30.2 IP
      As reliever: 0.98 ERA through 18.1 IP

      

What I Didn’t Love

• Bullpen and Defense

  • Last series, I pointed out how great the bullpen had been over the last few weeks. Well, this series was a little different. Five runs on Friday, two on Saturday, and three more Sunday. On the defensive side, there were four errors across the series, and frankly could have been more. For as great as Willson Contreras has been that bobble at home plate killed them Friday.

• The Offense

  • They are sixth in the American League in hits and dead last in OPS, HR, Runs, and SLG. Need a generational turn around.

• Home Record

  • The Red Sox have the worst home record of any team in baseball. The Colorado Rockies are better. Have fun going to sleep knowing that.

Who Got Screwed

• Tyler Samaniego

  • I understand he has options, so he gets the short end of the stick. However, 1.04 ERA over 17 innings isn’t easy to replace. Hoping to see him again soon.

Stat Soldier Score Cards

Game 1:

Game 2:

Game 3:

Overall Takeaway

SWEEP SWEEP SWEEP. TWO GAMES OUT OF WILD CARD. POP THE TOPS.

In all seriousness, it was very refreshing to watch the Red Sox play complete baseball this series. Their offense began to click, their pitching was superb, and their defense was, well, pretty good.

All the success this series has had distracted us from the fact that Roman Anthony is still not feeling right. This team has no chance long-term if he is not right. Cherish the series, take a day off, and go take care of business against the Twins at Fenway.

Game 1: Red Sox 3-1

Game 2: Red Sox 7-1

Game 3: Red Sox 4-3

What I Loved

• Sonny Gray

  • Next to Duran’s Game 3, I would give Gray the MVP of the series. He did a superb job mixing his fastball, cutter, sweeper, and curveball. His nine strikeouts are the most so far in a Red Sox uniform.

    

• Willson Contreras

  • Feels like Contreras is hitting a home run every series. Now has 10 on the season with a .866 OPS.

• Jarren Duran

  • Got on base twice in Game 1, which started off the series on a positive note. Padded the lead in Game 2 with a 3-run home run in the 9th inning, and was the player of the game tonight with another home run, a triple in the 9th, and some great defensive plays.

• BULLPEN

  • Bullpen currently has the 2nd-best ERA of any group in MLB. They also rank Top 5 in BAA, WHIP, K/9, and IP.

• Connely Early

  • The home run ball has been a major problem for Early over the last few weeks. He did not allow a home run in his first eight career starts. Well, over the last seven, he has allowed 8 HR, including two tonight. Lucky for Early, most of these bombs have been solo shots, but how long will that last?

    

What I Was ‘Mid’ About

• Ranger Suarez

  • Unfortunately, Suarez was pulled in the 5th inning after giving up one run, but issuing three walks. Suarez still has an insane 1.12 ERA over his last seven starts. Not enough credit is being given to the Front Office for this move.

• Masataka Yoshida

  • I have been beating the drum for Masa more than anyone. He has not beaten the drum in return. Over the last seven games, he has been batting .176 with only one RBI and no home runs. Got a few hits in this series, but needs to do a lot to get himself in the lineup consistently.

• Caleb Durbin

  • I understand that he is a ++ defender. However, he is a bottom-10 hitter in all of baseball at the moment. Sat a lot over the last couple of days against righties.

What I Didn’t Love

• Nothing

  • I have not gotten the chance to put anything in this section yet in 2026. So, I am taking advantage of a series sweep. ( I secretly don’t love IKF, but I am not saying that right now.)

Stat Soldier Score Cards

Game 1:

Game 2

Game 3:

Overall Takeaway

Let’s focus on the positives for a moment. The Red Sox starting pitching has been some of the best in baseball the last few weeks, and that is without Garrett Crochet. They stole a win from one of the best teams in baseball, and dragged them to extras on Friday. Even with the lost series, the team is still within three games of a Wild Card spot (which is insane).

Alright now the negative. This might be the most frustrating Boston offensive I have ever watched. The only thing giving me life is that they are still in the playoffs race and Roman Anthony has shown zero signs of life. Once he does, the team will roll with him.

Game 1: Braves 3-2

Game 2: Red Sox 3-2

Game 3: Braves 8-1

What I Loved

• Payton Tolle

  • Tolle had the longest outing of his career on Saturday and has now put together four great starts in his first five games of the year.

  

• Connely Early

  • Early’s start on Friday was not as good as his first outing, where he went seven and gave up zero runs, but it was one of the only bright spots this weekend. Home run ball hurt him as he gave up two solo shots.

• Aroldis Chapman

  • I know the video of him hugging teammates made headlines, but I am salivating at the package Boston could get for him at the deadline.

What I Was ‘Mid’ About

• Marcelo Mayer

  • A lot of talk right now about Mayer potentially moving to SS with Story hitting the IL. Personally, I think this is something that should have been done at the beginning of the season. He is very smooth right now on defense, and if he is going to be a cornerstone of the franchise. Offensively, he had a home run this weekend, but didn’t do much else outside that.

What I Didn’t Love

• Brayan Bello

  • Bello started to turn a corner once Tracy started putting an opener ahead of him. Then he started today's game and went back to his old ways.

• The Entire Offense

  • Just defenestrate the entire offense at this point. Maybe not Willson Contreras, but everyone else can go. They rank in the bottom 5 in almost every major offensive category, and worst of all don't have any energy. Need Kristian Campbell to figure it out (he hit a home run last week, yay.)

But don’t worry, you will still get a little taste of Red Sox on this list.

HOT HITTERS

Kyle Schwarber, Philadelphia Phillies

Home Runs (HR): 5

Runs Batted In (RBI): 7

Batting Average (AVG): .258

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.055

Bryce Harper, Philadelphia Phillies

Home Runs (HR): 4

Runs Batted In (RBI): 5

Batting Average (AVG): .429

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.568

Andy Pages, Los Angeles Dodgers

Home Runs (HR): 4

Runs Batted In (RBI): 8

Batting Average (AVG): .417

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.357

Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City Royals

Home Runs (HR): 3

Runs Batted In (RBI): 4

Batting Average (AVG): .391

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.310

Brandon Marsh, Philadelphia Phillies

Home Runs (HR): 0

Runs Batted In (RBI): 3

Batting Average (AVG): .519

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.126

Josh Naylor, Seattle Mariners

Home Runs (HR): 1

Runs Batted In (RBI): 3

Batting Average (AVG): .458

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.126

Luke Raley, Seattle Mariners

Home Runs (HR): 3

Runs Batted In (RBI): 10

Batting Average (AVG): .300

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.564

COLD HITTERS

Trevor Story, Boston Red Sox

Home Runs (HR): 0

Runs Batted In (RBI): 0

Batting Average (AVG): .160

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .392

Strikeouts (SO): 14

Salvador Perez, Kansas City Royals

Home Runs (HR): 0

Runs Batted In (RBI): 4

Batting Average (AVG): .095

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .262

Strikeouts (SO): 8

Bo Bichette, New York Mets

Home Runs (HR): 0

Runs Batted In (RBI): 1

Batting Average (AVG): .091

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .291

Strikeouts (SO): 1

Taylor Ward, Baltimore Orioles

Home Runs (HR): 0

Runs Batted In (RBI): 0

Batting Average (AVG): .053

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .472

Strikeouts (SO): 9

Corey Seager, Texas Rangers

Home Runs (HR): 1

Runs Batted In (RBI): 2

Batting Average (AVG): .087

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .439

Strikeouts (SO): 10

Steven Kwan, Cleveland Guardians

Home Runs (HR): 0

Runs Batted In (RBI): 0

Batting Average (AVG): .125

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .389

Strikeouts (SO): 3

Dansby Swanson, Chicago Cubs

Home Runs (HR): 0

Runs Batted In (RBI): 1

Batting Average (AVG): .154

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .377

Strikeouts (SO): 3

Full disclosure, I have a Tai Peete Bowman 1st True Gold auto in a PSA 10. The PSA 10 of this card hasn't sold in a few months, but it’s probably in the $500 range. Cards like these, if the player is good, are very sought after. Kevin McGonigle’s version of this card just sold for over $12,000.

Tai Peete is not Kevin McGonigle…. Yet.

So, I will be doing weekly updates on Tai Peete’s progression this season, in hopes that he continues to improve, becomes Kevin McGongile, and helps me pay for a house. I will do this in the same format as my other blogs, but this one will be a little more in-depth since it's the first.

What You Need To Know

When the Cardinals traded Brendan Donovan, most of the attention understandably went towards him. Of course, for me, all I could think about was Tai Peete.

Now, a month into his first year with the Cardinals organization, Peete is starting to make his mark.

Peete is hitting .286 with a .919 OPS, and the power has shown up quickly. Four home runs in 98 at-bats may not sound ridiculous on its own, but when you add the extra-base impact, the run production, and the fact that he is walking at a higher clip than last year it seems like things are starting to come together.

What I Like

The first thing that stands out is the damage. Peete’s OPS is sitting at .919, and FanGraphs has him with a strong .272 ISO. He is doing real extra-base damage, and currently leads the Cardinals farm system with 14.

Second, he is currently hitting 70 points higher than he did in 2025. That is all patience and looking for the right pitches, which is evident by his BB/K numbers improving.

The third thing is, he is still 20 years old people. He started playing in the minors at 17 years old.

What I’m Watching

The obvious one: strikeouts.

FanGraphs has Peete at a 30.1% strikeout rate in its current 2026 minor league sample. He had a 30.6 % rate in 2025, and a 30.7 % rate in 2024. His BB% is the best it has ever been, so it does at least seem like he is being a little more patient.

Where He Stands Now

Every week I will show the changes from the previous week. For now, I will just list them.

• Average (AVG): .283

• On-Base Percentage (OBP): .359

• Slugging Percentage (SLG): .554

• OPS: .914

• Home Runs: 4

• RBI: 20

• SB: 4

See you next week.

I stayed away from my fantasy teams this week because I was being called out for bias. The cold hitters are definitely Reds/Giants heavy, but I couldn’t ignore how bad their hitting was this week.

HOT HITTERS

Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins

Home Runs (HR): 5

Runs Batted In (RBI): 7

Batting Average (AVG): .345

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.303

Chase DeLauter, Cleveland Guardians

Home Runs (HR): 1

Runs Batted In (RBI): 5

Batting Average (AVG): .591

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.518

Shea Langeliers, Athletics

Home Runs (HR): 2

Runs Batted In (RBI): 4

Batting Average (AVG): .500

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.497

Ozzie Albies, Atlanta Braves

Home Runs (HR): 2

Runs Batted In (RBI): 6

Batting Average (AVG): .400

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.244

Aaron Judge, New York Yankees

Home Runs (HR): 3

Runs Batted In (RBI): 5

Batting Average (AVG): .429

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.508

Otto Lopez, Miami Marlins

Home Runs (HR): 0

Runs Batted In (RBI): 3

Batting Average (AVG): .444

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.000

Alec Burleson, St. Louis Cardinals

Home Runs (HR): 2

Runs Batted In (RBI): 11

Batting Average (AVG): .407

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.225

COLD HITTERS

Zach Neto, Los Angeles Angels

Home Runs (HR): 0

Runs Batted In (RBI): 3

Batting Average (AVG): .083

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .268

Strikeouts (SO): 12

Willy Adames, San Francisco Giants

Home Runs (HR): 0

Runs Batted In (RBI): 0

Batting Average (AVG): .136

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .356

Strikeouts (SO): 7

Matt Chapman, San Francisco Giants

Home Runs (HR): 0

Runs Batted In (RBI): 0

Batting Average (AVG): .083

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .310

Strikeouts (SO): 12

Sal Stewart, Cincinnati Reds

Home Runs (HR): 0

Runs Batted In (RBI): 0

Batting Average (AVG): .083

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .245

Strikeouts (SO): 4

Matt McLain, Cincinnati Reds

Home Runs (HR): 0

Runs Batted In (RBI): 0

Batting Average (AVG): .091

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .182

Strikeouts (SO): 8

Ketel Marte, Arizona Diamondbacks

Home Runs (HR): 1

Runs Batted In (RBI): 1

Batting Average (AVG): .095

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .374

Strikeouts (SO): 8

Daylen Lile, Washington Nationals

Home Runs (HR): 0

Runs Batted In (RBI): 0

Batting Average (AVG): .087

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .255

Strikeouts (SO): 9

Overall Takeaway

Quick rant here about Kristian Campbell before we get into the series. Someone needs to explain to me why they made the switch and why they had him start playing exclusively in the outfield. Everyone and their mother knows that there are too many outfielders as is, and now you have made it even more difficult for Campbell to make his return. I thought that maybe they think Franklin Arias will be up sooner rather than later, and they want an infield of Story, Mayer, and Arias? However, that doesn’t solve the biggest problem in all of this, Trevor Story. Until Boston looks in the mirror and realizes that Story is stunting the growth of their young players, nothing will be solved.

Alright, now to the series.

Boston had no business winning this series. The offense is enemic and can’t hit with RISP if their lives depended on it. They were handed a gift with the bases loaded in the 10th, with some of the worst base running I have seen. Then loaded the bases again and gave up two runs.

AND THEN HAD THE BASES LOADED AND CEDDANNE RAFAELA SWUNG AT THE FIRST PITCH.

Alright, ranting over. Boston is only 3 games out of a Wild Card spot. #believe.

Game 1: Red Sox 3-1

Game 2: Astros 6-3

Game 3: Astros 3-1

What I Loved

• Jarren Duran

  • Don’t look at Duran’s numbers for the year, just look at Duran’s numbers for this series.

• Roman Anthony/Marcelo Mayer

  • I applaud Chad Tracy for throwing Anthony into the middle of the order and saying, “Go figure it out, cowboy.” That is not a direct quote, but it fits. Has walked 13 times in the last 14 games, but hasn’t found his power yet. (Wrote this, and then he had that missile off the monster. Big three hit game on Friday, slowly coming into form.

  • For Mayer, his nine-game hitting streak was snapped Saturday, but he has looked significantly more comfortable than Anthony this year.

• Willson Contreras

  • 8-game hitting streak, stolen base on Sunday, raised OPS to .853.

• Jake Bennett

  • If it weren’t his debut, he probably would have been knocked into the “mid” section. A lot of positives to take from his start, but they were hitting him hard, and he showed Red Sox Nation that he is not a “stuff guy”. He will produce ground balls and hopefully give Boston a few more good starts while the starters are hurt.

• Keeping Yordan Alvarez In Check

  • Coming into the series, Yordan was the best overall hitter in MLB. The Red Sox held him to one hit.

What I Was ‘Mid’ About

What I Didn’t Love

• Ceddanne Rafaela

  • I’m sorry, but Rafaela has no place throwing his hands up in the middle of a game. Great defender, but he has a .700 OPS. Now, Story should have done a little more on that play, but I don’t think he expected Rafaela to get the ball so quickly from the ricochet. Kudos to Rafaela for playing great defense, but the team doesn’t need any drama.

  • Oh, and he just swung at the first pitch with the bases loaded in extra innings.

• Connely Early

  • Saturday was Connely’s worst start of his major league career.

    

• Caleb Durbin

  • I’d rather have Rafael Devers, the way he is playing for the Giants, than Caleb Durbin right now.

Who Got Screwed

• Masataka Yoshida

  • Masa has not started in the Chad Tracy. He addressed the situation this weekend and acknowledged that it is tough to rotate him in. Let him free, eat some of the money, and allow him to go join a team that will give him some at-bats.

Stat Soldier Score Cards

Game 1:

Game 2:

Game 3:

For those who have been following our blog over the last year, you probably remember when I created my own analytics. I will link the blog below, which explains what the stats are. (Note: The stat is now 0-10, not 0-5)

With the creation of BBI and its family of stats, I wanted somewhere to store them. Enter my computer friend, whom we will call Scott, to maintain his privacy. He created a website for me that just had my stats constantly updating. It was created for me to easily check the rankings and post about them. Stat Soldier then naturally progressed over the summer months as we kind of worked out what it could look like and what the utilization would be.

Now, six months later, we have a pretty freaking cool website.

Is it perfect? No.

Are we still working on it? Yes.

Is it for the common man who can’t do graphics and math himself? YES.

In the sections below, I will break down what www.statsoldier.com currently offers. I highly encourage you to check it out, and if there is anything you would like us to add, please let me know.

Create Your Own Analytic

The foundation of Stat Soldier really is the ability for the user to create whatever analytics they want. Everything else serves as an outlet for the creator to show their stats to the masses, using custom graphics throughout the site.

Player Comparisons

Daily Lineup Cards

Customizable Top 10 Lists

All The Player Cards You Want

GAMES

Ultimate Roster Draft is my favorite of the games on the site. Honestly, it is addicting and very frustrating when you are not winning the World Series. The programmer made it 10x more difficult with the last update, and I want to throw my computer out the window.

I have yet to guess the player right in this game. I gave up while taking it for this blog.

Threshold Match is a lot of fun if you are like me and are constantly posting Top 10 lists from the site. It is early in the season, so I know all the players with over 10 home runs, so this wasn’t a particularly difficult game today.

Daily Stat Guess is my second favorite of our games. If you play fantasy, you are going to be very good at this game. If you just follow your home team, you are fucked.

Live Scoreboard And Daily Player Cards

Last week, the programmer added a live scoreboard to the home page that has ENDLESS information. There is data for every pitch and at-bat, but the visuals are best. You can make graphics for everything. Batter performance, pitcher performance, videos of every play, etc.

Most of these are very new, so we will be tweaking them over the next few weeks.

Scorecards

Scott came up with these, and while they are really difficult to post on X, they are still very cool, and I will be using them in all my blogs.

Alright GO VISIT www.statsoldier.com

Overall Takeaway

Well, that escalated quickly….. I was going to post a blog last night reflecting on the change and giving my thoughts. I decided to wait, since this review was coming out less than 24 hours later.

If you didn’t see my tweet last night, I will post it below real quick.

I have no idea how vile those comments are, as I ended up muting them. I stand by that tweet. Alex Cora was there for the 2018 championship, but how long of a rope do we give him because of that? It has been almost a decade of mediocrity with him at the forefront.

I have never been a Cora fan, and I have been pretty vocal about it in the past (check out my many blogs about it). I wasn’t thrilled when they signed him to an extension, but I am a team guy and tried to stay as positive as possible. Then I watched that Netflix documentary, and I knew my gut was right. From my perspective, Alex Cora is for Alex Cora. The idea that he should shoulder no blame for the roster is insanity. Cora has tweaked the lineup and player positioning to the point where it felt like a little league coach making sure all the players got fair playing time, so the dads don’t jump him in the parking lot.

I don’t think Cora should get a pass on the Devers situation either; he was right there in front of the cameras telling Devers he wasn’t moving positions.

I also don’t love how Cora has handled himself over the last 24 hours. He is acting like a teenage girl who got dumped.

I also don’t think we have the full story about everything that went on with Cora.

NOW, this is not a defense of Craig Breslow or John Henry. I, like many, think the best thing for the franchise is a total reset. I am not going to start posting sell the team, but I believe it should be a top-to-bottom reset.

Game 1: Orioles 10-3

Game 2: Red Sox 17-1

Game 3: Red Sox 5-2

What I Loved

• Connely Early

  • Absolutely hated that he got pulled after 6 2/3. Best start of his career. Has been the team’s best pitcher thus far.

  

• Garrett Crochet

  • Saturday was huge for Crochet. The offense gave him a cushion, which allowed him to pitch freely. This won’t do much to his Cy Young chances, but it is a start.

  

• Roman Anthony

  • Loved the way he handled the media on Sunday. He is the youngest player on the team, and he handled the moment better than many of the veterans.

• Stolen Bases!

  • Four on Sunday. The first time I was watching when there was decent baserunning.

• Willson Contreras

  • Back-to-back games with a home run and seven RBIs this series. Contreras

What I Was ‘Mid’ About

• Well, The Whole Shakeup

  • As you can tell from my thoughts above and my previous blogs, I have not necessarily been a fan of Alex Cora. However, a lot more needs to be done.

What I Didn’t Love

• Alex Cora On Social Media

  • I mentioned this above, but getting fired and then acting the way he did is childish.

• Brayan Bello

  • After his start, which you can see below in the new Stat Soldier game cards, Bello now has -1.0 bWAR for the season. This was probably the worst start of his career, giving up 13 hits and 5 home runs in just 3 1/3 innings.

Who Got Screwed

• Jason Varitek

  • Seems like Varitek is not going to take his new assignment with the team, at least based on his wife’s tweet and Cora’s Instagram post.

Overall Takeaway

After the win on Friday, I was excited to see that Skubal and Crochet would not be pitching the same day. I started penciling in a series win and forming my thoughts around that. Everything was going according to plan. Skubal dominated the Red Sox, and Crochet was into the 5th inning, giving up only one run…. and then he imploded.

Crochet had his second game in a row, giving up more than five runs. None of the last five Cy Young winners ever gave up more than five runs, so it is safe to assume that Crochet’s award prospects are gone.

Couple Crochet’s slow start with Sonny Gray’s hamstring injury today, and you have to imagine Craig Breslow is sweating. They are going to need some reinforcements, and fast.

Outside of that, happy to split the series!

Game 1: Red Sox 1-0

Game 2: Tigers 4-1

Game 3: Tigers 6-2

Game 4: Red Sox 8-6

What I Loved

• Willson Contreras

  • Contreras hit another home run this series and continues to get on base almost every game. His strikeout % is concerning, but it is right around his career average, so the team knew what they were getting.

• Ranger Suarez

  • Ranger Suárez turned in a pitching masterclass on Friday night, tossing 8.0 scoreless innings with 7 strikeouts and zero walks to lead the Red Sox to a 1-0 victory.

• Ceddanne Rafaela

  • Rafaela came in on Monday and knocked in two runs after replacing Mayer. Rafaela, along with Contreras and Abreu, has been one of the only consistent players for Boston this year.

• Bullpen (Before Monday)

  • The Red Sox bullpen was a massive bright spot during the series against the Tigers, allowing only one earned run over 10.0 innings of work for a stellar 0.90 ERA and 0.90 WHIP entering Monday. Monday, well, wasn’t as good. Thankfully, the offense woke up on Monday as well.

• Masataka Yoshida

  • Yoshida came in and had a pinch-hit walk-off on Friday, and promptly got benched the next two days. Monday, Cora blessed us with some more Masataka. Yoshida responded, going 2-4 with two runs scored. I will talk more about Yoshida in my who got screwed at the bottom.

What I Was ‘Mid’ About

• Roman Anthony

  • Anthony had a “great” throw on Sunday, but it came when the game was already over. He showed patience on Monday and drew three walks. Still a lot of work to do.

What I Didn’t Love

• Garrett Crochet

  • I referenced it in my takeaway, but Crochet’s shot at a Cy Young disappeared the last week. No one has come back from giving up 10 earned runs and won the Cy Young that season. I had a lot of concerns about how he would rebound after last year, where he pitched more than all his previous MLB seasons combined. Right now, that concern is manifesting.

• Brayan Bello

  • Here are Bello’s walks per game. 3BB/4BB/2BB/3BB. He has 12 BB and 13 Ks this year with a 1.93 WHIP. Yeah, I’m concerned.

• Offense

  • Sure, the offense came alive on Monday, scoring 8 runs, but before that, they were doing nothing. Four runs over the first three games with only one home run. Boston now has the fewest HRs of any team as well.

Who Got Screwed

• Masataka Yoshida

  • When Masataka Yoshida’s career with Boston is over, I am going to look back on it and really question whether Alex Cora ever gave him a fair shot. I understand Cora wanting to get Story and Contreras off the field, but there should never be a world where I turn on the television and have to watch Andruw Monasterio. I understand that the roster is complicated right now, but when Yoshida is hot, just roll with it and stop tinkering.

Another week, another list of my Hot and Cold Hitters. It was tough for me to put multiple pinstripes on this list, but the Angels and Yankees easily had the most entertaining series this week.

I added some of our new Stat Soldier graphics to the HOT section. I will probably add to the COLD hitters next week.

Here we go.

HOT HITTERS

Jose Ramirez, Cleveland Guardians

Home Runs (HR): 4

Runs Batted In (RBI): 5

Batting Average (AVG): .364

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.488

Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels

Home Runs (HR): 5

Runs Batted In (RBI): 9

Batting Average (AVG): .292

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.427

Munetaka Murakami, Chicago White Sox

Home Runs (HR): 4

Runs Batted In (RBI): 9

Batting Average (AVG): .333

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.405

Ben Rice, New York Yankees

Home Runs (HR): 4

Runs Batted In (RBI): 6

Batting Average (AVG): .300

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.323

Yordan Alvarez, Houston Astros

Home Runs (HR): 4

Runs Batted In (RBI): 7

Batting Average (AVG): .321

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.263

Luke Raley, Seattle Mariners

Home Runs (HR): 2

Runs Batted In (RBI): 4

Batting Average (AVG): .450

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.300

Aaron Judge, New York Yankees

Home Runs (HR): 5

Runs Batted In (RBI): 7

Batting Average (AVG): .259

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.222

COLD HITTERS

Chase DeLauter, Cleveland Guardians

Home Runs (HR): 0

Runs Batted In (RBI): 1

Batting Average (AVG): .053

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .287

Strikeouts (SO): 1

Matt McLain, Cincinnati Reds

Home Runs (HR): 0

Runs Batted In (RBI): 0

Batting Average (AVG): .067

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .431

Strikeouts (SO): 6

Evan Carter, Texas Rangers

Home Runs (HR): 0

Runs Batted In (RBI): 2

Batting Average (AVG): .100

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .390

Strikeouts (SO): 5

Jazz Chisholm Jr., New York Yankees

Home Runs (HR): 0

Runs Batted In (RBI): 0

Batting Average (AVG): .118

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .466

Strikeouts (SO): 9

Manny Machado, San Diego Padres

Home Runs (HR): 0

Runs Batted In (RBI): 1

Batting Average (AVG): .130

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .297

Strikeouts (SO): 6

Bo Bichette, New York Mets

Home Runs (HR): 0

Runs Batted In (RBI): 0

Batting Average (AVG): .167

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .375

Strikeouts (SO): 4

Chandler Simpson, Tampa Bay Rays

Home Runs (HR): 0

Runs Batted In (RBI): 0

Batting Average (AVG): .179

On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .358

Strikeouts (SO): 4

Of course, I spent this week simping for Jordan Walker, but there were plenty of other hot players I barely even noticed. That is one reason I love checking the MLB leaderboards every Sunday night.

The biggest standout on the HOT side really is James Wood. Numbers-wise, he had the best stats last week, but frankly, I barely saw any of his highlights.

On the COLD side, Murakami turned to ice after his hot start. He is striking out 35% of the time, and I was surprised to see that half of his hits are his four home runs.

Let me know who you would have put on this list!

Hot Hitters

Jordan Walker, St. Louis Cardinals
Home Runs (HR): 5
Runs Batted In (RBI): 6
Batting Average (AVG): .360
On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.367

Gunnar Henderson, Baltimore Orioles
Home Runs (HR): 4
Runs Batted In (RBI): 6
Batting Average (AVG): .280
On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.179

James Wood, Washington Nationals
Home Runs (HR): 3
Runs Batted In (RBI): 8
Batting Average (AVG): .545
On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.746

Bryce Harper, Philadelphia Phillies
Home Runs (HR): 1
Runs Batted In (RBI): 6
Batting Average (AVG): .526
On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.535

Willson Contreras, Boston Red Sox
Home Runs (HR): 2
Runs Batted In (RBI): 9
Batting Average (AVG): .500
On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.471

Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers
Home Runs (HR): 3
Runs Batted In (RBI): 4
Batting Average (AVG): .304
On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.163

Elly De La Cruz, Cincinnati Reds
Home Runs (HR): 2
Runs Batted In (RBI): 5
Batting Average (AVG): .333
On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.105

Cold Hitters

Michael Busch, Chicago Cubs
Home Runs (HR): 0
Runs Batted In (RBI): 2
Batting Average (AVG): .050
On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .141
Strikeouts (SO): 6

Marcus Semien, New York Mets
Home Runs (HR): 0
Runs Batted In (RBI): 0
Batting Average (AVG): .087
On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .174
Strikeouts (SO): 2

Vinnie Pasquantino, Kansas City Royals
Home Runs (HR): 0
Runs Batted In (RBI): 2
Batting Average (AVG): .080
On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .252
Strikeouts (SO): 8

Konnor Griffin, Pittsburgh Pirates
Home Runs (HR): 0
Runs Batted In (RBI): 3
Batting Average (AVG): .150
On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .290
Strikeouts (SO): 8

Munetaka Murakami, Chicago White Sox
Home Runs (HR): 0
Runs Batted In (RBI): 0
Batting Average (AVG): .050
On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .346
Strikeouts (SO): 9

Luis Rengifo, Milwaukee Brewers
Home Runs (HR): 0
Runs Batted In (RBI): 0
Batting Average (AVG): .048
On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .186
Strikeouts (SO): 5

Pete Alonso, Baltimore Orioles
Home Runs (HR): 0
Runs Batted In (RBI): 2
Batting Average (AVG): .130
On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .476
Strikeouts (SO): 6

Overall Takeaway

Back-to-back series wins where Boston dropped the first game and took the next two. This was the most exciting series to watch this season as the team put it together across the board. Over the last five games, Red Sox starters have carried a 1.52 ERA, and while the offense continued to be mediocre, they woke up this weekend. 16 runs in the last two games. Still some big concerns at the top of the order, so it will be interesting to see what Cora does in Minnesota.

Bullpen has also been very good, and if you take Jordan Walker out of this series, the Cardinals are nothing.

Game 1: Cardinals 3-2

Game 2: Red Sox 7-1

Game 3: Red Sox 9-3

What I Loved

• Ranger Suarez

  • Was never going to sound the alarm on Suarez after the first two starts. He was getting hit unusually hard, which was concerning, but he pitched great on Saturday.

• OFFENSE FINALLY

  • Let’s pretend that Friday didn’t happen and focus on Saturday/Sunday. Before this series, Boston was the only team not to score seven runs this season. Proceeded to score 7 in two games in a row and had season highs in hits and runs on Sunday. The team is batting .409 with runners in scoring position in the last five games.

• Trevor Story

  • Four hits on Sunday, still great defense despite calls for him to get moved to 2B, and great baserunning.

• Jordan Walker

  • I almost never comment on other players in my reviews, but I have become one of the biggest Walker STANS on X over the last week. Yes, I have him as a keeper in all of my leagues, so I am biased.

• Brayan Bello QS

  • Bello was getting a lot of swings and misses in his previous starts, but was getting rocked. Today, he got back to producing ground balls and was able to go into the 7th inning. Today was clearly the best start of his season.

• Willson Contreras

  • Contreras continues to be the heart of the lineup (with Abreu). He had a great homecoming in St. Louis, culminating with his home run on Sunday. The question I have is, if Alex Bregman was the replacement for Rafael Devers, and Willson Contreras was the replacement for Alex Bregman, did the Red Sox win the Devers trade?

What I Was ‘Mid’ About

• Connely Early

  • He has pitched to a 2.63 ERA so far this season, but carries a 1.54 WHIP with that. I feel like if the goal was to stretch him out, that should have been done in the minors with Tolle. Feels like an implosion could be incoming.

What I Didn’t Love

• Roman Anthony

  • Slugging .276 over the last seven games, and it was clear in this series that the pressure is getting to him. A lot has been put on his back this offseason, and while I do think he will be the face of the franchise, shout out to Willson Contreras for taking on a leadership role thus far.

• Losing to Dustin May

  • No issue with Dustin as a player or person. However, watching him pitch well for another team just brings up dark thoughts about the Rafael Devers trade.

Who Got Screwed

• Fans Watching The Game on NESN Sunday

  • The NESN broadcast was a mess on Sunday, and while Jordan Walker’s home run got screwed, I got screwed also. Cameras were a mess, audio was a mess, so much so that they had to pivot to the Cardinals broadcast.

If you have been living under a rock the last few days, you would have no idea that Jordan Walker has finally arrived. I say arrived because, well, he never really showed us any potential. It’s been three years since Walker made his debut. Many outside the Cardinals fandom forget that he started the 2023 season with a 12-game hitting streak. Not long after that, he was sent down to the minors and never regained his form. Despite injuries, inconsistency, and lack of support from the fans, Walker has kept with it and is now the most talked-about player of the week.

While his 2025 was below average, he showed signs of what was to come.

99th percentile in Bat Speed

91st percentile in Avg Exit Velo

87th percentile in Hard Hit %

Not much, but something.

Now, before I move forward, I want to point out that I started writing this blog on Wednesday afternoon. (X post below)

I only point that out because apparently someone was offended by my starting to post about Jordan Walker. Here is me posting about his change in batting stance last night.

Here is my daily schedule

• Wake up

• Post-fire graphics from www.statsoldier.com

• Watch MLB Network

• Watch Red Sox or MLB Big Inning

• Look at X notifications from MLB/Jomboy/Barstool

Anyone who thinks I have the time or interest to see what they are posting can “touch grass.”

Back to Jordan Walker!

The above post is important to all of this because Walker made a significant adjustment to his stance. After struggling with a swing that had grown increasingly noisy and inconsistent, Walker and the Cardinals' hitting staff worked to strip away the "extra" movements that were causing him to get out of sync. By lowering his hand placement and keeping them closer to his body, he has significantly shortened his path to the ball. The most obvious change is his feet, which are closer together here in 2026.

At least for now, these have led to significant changes in his Savant percentiles. Take a look at them below.

With all the talk about his bat, many people are overlooking his defense and speed.

If you needed a single moment to define Walker’s defensive "arrival," it happened on April 3, 2026, in Detroit. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Javier Báez attempted to test Walker’s arm on a fly ball to right field. Walker unleashed an absolute laser to home plate that Statcast clocked at 100.6 mph, nabbing Báez. It set a new franchise record as the fastest Statcast-tracked assist in Cardinals history since the tracking system was implemented in 2015.

Also, after dropping roughly 7 pounds this offseason to focus on flexibility and explosiveness, his wheels have reached a new gear, according to the latest Statcast Sprint Speed Leaderboard. Dude is 6’6 250, and running as fast as Bobby Witt Jr.

As fate would have it, the Red Sox will be playing Jordan Walker this weekend. So, I will get to watch him in all his glory.

Full disclosure, I have Jordan Walker in all my dynasty and keeper leagues. I need this.

Overall Takeaway

No series review last series as it was Easter and there was only so many times I could hide in the bathroom at my in-laws house. It’s a house. It was a really depressing review anyway, so I much prefer posting today.

I like to think I am relatively positive on X. I am not posting saying this is the worst team in history and calling for John Henry to sell the team. Whether you like him or not, Dave Portnoy brings eyeballs to whatever he is talking about. It seems like, for the first time in years, he is finally watching the Red Sox again. It is still very early, so we will see how long he actually sticks with it.

Coming out of this series, I feel good about the top of the rotation, I feel good about the bullpen (Weissert excluded), and I feel good about two hitters in the lineup. This is a huge upgrade over last week. Step by step, baby.

Game 1: Brewers 8-6

Game 2: Red Sox 3-2

Game 3: Red Sox 5-0

What I Loved

• Willson Contreras

  • I loved the fire from Contreras on Monday. How much of it was his genuine disdain for the Brewers compared to trying to motivate the team, I do not know. Regardless, along with Story and Abreu, Contreras led the team to this series victory. His .850 OPS is second on the team, behind only Abreu.

• Trevor Story

  • Story got knocked down to 5th in the order, and he responded with his best baseball yet. He knocked in 6 runs the last three days and played solid defense (don’t watch his and Mayer’s non-double play)

  • There were a lot of calls for Story to move off SS and let Mayer develop there. I called for this last year and was crucified for it. I think at this point, you need to see a little more from Mayer before making that move. Of course, Story needs to be open to it as well.

• Wilyer Abreu

  • Wilyer is the best player on the team right now, and it is not particularly close (maybe Crochet). He got off to a hot start like this last year, and if it wasn’t for his injury, who knows what his final numbers could have been. We are seeing that same hot start in 2026, so let’s pray he stays healthy.

• Sonny Gray

  • Sonny Gray broke his pattern from last season and now has two good starts in a row. Over six innings for the second start in a row, this time giving up zero runs. He is never going to strike out a lot of guys, but he is going to eat a bunch of innings.

• Garrett Crochet

  • You know, I look at the graphic below, and while Crochet is not pitching at Cy Young levels right now, there is nothing sweeter than having a stopgap in the rotation. Tuesday’s game felt like a must-win for Boston. The panic and hysteria were beginning to settle in, and if Crochet faltered, the protesters were ready to storm the gate. Yeah, I walked away from the TV for five minutes, and he loaded up the bases, but the team won, so who cares?

What I Was ‘Mid’ About

• Most Of the Team?

  • Doesn’t feel like there is a middle ground with this team right now. You have three hitters carrying the series, and everyone else is kind of there. I don’t want to put Roman Anthony/Ceddanne Rafaela/Caleb Durbin/Marcelo Mayer in Didn’t Love right now. So, just imagine them all right here.

What I Didn’t Love

• Red Sox and ABS

  • Wilyer’s call was terrible on Tuesday night, and the Red Sox as a whole have not been great. Going into the series, they've been getting about 50% of their challenges right. Needs to improve.

• Sitting Jarren Duran

  • Outside of Jarren Duran’s suspension, I can not remember when he is actually on the bench. Yet, twice this series, he sat on the bench. Boston won the series, so there's not much to say about it, but it bothers me.

• Terrible Fans

  • I know we all live in the moment, but some of the biggest Red Sox voices on X are just adding flames to this fire for clicks. Won’t be me.

Who Got Screwed

• Roman Anthony

  • Editor’s Note: I didn’t do a series review on Sunday because of Easter. The Anthony piece below is from the previous series, but I still feel it applies.

  • Last year, Alex Cora was ready to lock Masataka Yoshida away and throw away the key. Even when he got hot, he pulled him from the lineup. Classic case of tinkering too much. Now Cora “doesn’t like” what he is seeing with Roman Anthony in left field and has opted to play Masataka in left field on Sunday. Now, let me be clear, I have no problem with having Yoshida in the lineup, and he played great Sunday, so this isn’t about him. This is directed at Cora, once again tinkering too much with a young player. We saw this last year with Kristian Campbell, and I fear that we are seeing it right now with Roman Anthony.

You will typically see bigger names on this list, as that is where I tend to focus my attention. I’m sorry, but TJ Friedl having a bad week doesn’t mean as much as Trevor Story having a bad week. There are levels to this.

Below are some graphics from statsoldier.com. All the graphics you see from me this year will come from that website, so go check it out. It is a little early in the season for me to put graphics for each player, but I wanted to show you all some examples of the graphics we have over there.

HOT HITTERS

Yordan Alvarez, Houston Astros

• Home Runs (HR): 3

• Runs Batted In (RBI): 8

• Batting Average (AVG): .471

• On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.733

Andy Pages, Los Angeles Dodgers

• Home Runs (HR): 2

• Runs Batted In (RBI): 7

• Batting Average (AVG): .583

• On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.532

Ben Rice, New York Yankees

• Home Runs (HR): 3

• Runs Batted In (RBI): 9

• Batting Average (AVG): .421

• On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.646

Corbin Carroll, Arizona Diamondbacks

• Home Runs (HR): 2

• Runs Batted In (RBI): 8

• Batting Average (AVG): .381

• On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.424

CJ Abrams, Washington Nationals

• Home Runs (HR): 3

• Runs Batted In (RBI): 10

• Batting Average (AVG): .333

• On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.173

Oneil Cruz, Pittsburgh Pirates

• Home Runs (HR): 4

• Runs Batted In (RBI): 10

• Batting Average (AVG): .360

• On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.247

Jose Altuve, Houston Astros

• Home Runs (HR): 2

• Runs Batted In (RBI): 4

• Batting Average (AVG): .421

• On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): 1.366

COLD HITTERS

Austin Riley, Atlanta Braves

• Home Runs (HR): 0

• Runs Batted In (RBI): 2

• Batting Average (AVG): .087

• On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .322

• Strikeouts (SO): 6

Trevor Story

• Home Runs (HR): 0

• Runs Batted In (RBI): 0

• Batting Average (AVG): .115

• On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .269

• Strikeouts (SO): 10

Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels

• Home Runs (HR): 0

• Runs Batted In (RBI): 0

• Batting Average (AVG): .050

• On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .369

• Strikeouts (SO): 9

Kazuma Okamoto, Toronto Blue Jays

• Home Runs (HR): 1

• Runs Batted In (RBI): 2

• Batting Average (AVG): .182

• On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .598

• Strikeouts (SO): 13

James Wood, Washington Nationals

• Home Runs (HR): 1

• Runs Batted In (RBI): 5

• Batting Average (AVG): .148

• On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .628

• Strikeouts (SO): 10

Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners

• Home Runs (HR): .130

• Runs Batted In (RBI): 0

• Batting Average (AVG): .130

• On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .374

• Strikeouts (SO): 10

Michael Busch, Chicago Cubs

• Home Runs (HR): 0

• Runs Batted In (RBI): 0

• Batting Average (AVG): .100

• On-base Plus Slugging (OPS): .350

• Strikeouts (SO): 4

Overall Takeaway

No one cares what you do in March. Joey Wiemer leads MLB right now with a 407 wRC+. So, I’m not panicking over the Red Sox's slow start on this road trip. That being said, I hope there is a players’ only meeting tonight on the plane back to Boston to right the ship. It does feel like this team is leaderless right now. Trevor Story, to me, does not seem like the guy everyone is looking to. Roman is too young, and Breslow traded away Rafael Devers.

Unlike over the weekend, I blocked out time for each game and actually got to watch the broadcast. One thought…… I hate the new scorebug.

I am going to introduce a new section to my blog, each series titled “Who Got Screwed.” See the first player to be featured at the bottom of the blog.

Game 1: Astros 8-1

Game 2: Astros 9-2

Game 3: Astros 6-4

What I Loved

• Wilyer Abreu

  • Wilyer stayed hot this series, going 4-11 with a home run. Didn’t result in any wins, so it's tough to throw a parade.

• Road Trip Being Done

  • Bring me back to Fenway.

What I Was ‘Mid’ About

• Garrett Crochet

  • Part of me is so beaten down that I had to put something in here. While Garrett gave up four runs, he didn’t walk anyone and was able to induce seven strikeouts. Red Sox couldn’t do anything about the home run onslaught from the Astros this series.

What I Didn’t Love

• Ranger Suarez

  • Ranger got rocked for four runs in his MLB debut. Continuing to try to take a positive from everything, his curveball had a 75% whiff rate. Yeah, might not mean much right now, but it’s all I got.

• Brayan Bello

  • For a moment, at the end of the fourth inning, I thought we were getting the classic 6 IP/ 3ER start from Bello. Then he imploded in the 5th as Yordan had his number all game. Staying positive, Bello did get some good swings and misses.

• Roman Anthony

  • All the hype from Opening Day has dispersed. Before Wednesday's pinch-hit home run, he had gone 1-17 with ten strikeouts. He has joined a long list of WBC players who are off to a slow start here in 2026, cough Judge cough.

• Top Of The Order

  • The top four spots in the order were batting a combined .156.

Who Got Screwed

• Marcelo Mayer

  • Mayer tried to make a throw to home Tuesday night that Bello attempted to stop. The ball rolled away, and a run scored. The throw was on target, and there was no reason for Mayer to be hit with the error. As it happened, I thought, “Wow, he just got screwed.” So that is now a new section in the blog every week.

It feels very odd doing a series review right off the back. It is so difficult to judge anything from these three games. If I go and say, “Greg Weissert didn’t look great,” I am going to have his parents in my comments screaming at me that it’s the first weekend of the series. So, I am going to ignore the fact that the runs he gave up Saturday and Sunday were the deciding runs in both games.

There is no feeling like Opening Day, even if the schedule was really weird and the Netflix experience made me rethink the trajectory of our society. I did a lot more radio listening this series, with Sunday being the only day I was not driving around.

For those new, here I post a quick series review after every Red Sox series. I also post seven hot and cold hitters every week. That will make its debut NEXT week, as one series is not enough of a sample size. Enjoy.

What I Loved

• Roman Anthony

  • Was he unstoppable this series? No, he actually made quite a few mistakes. He also struck out five times over the three games. However, nothing will take away the excitement I felt on Opening Day.

• Garrett Crochet

  • He was disgusting. This was a big improvement over his 2025 Opening Day, when he only went five innings and gave up two runs, two walks, and struck out only four. A little bummed that he

• Connely Early

  • After watching the 5th inning, I was surprised that Cora sent Early back out for the 6th. Threw 96 pitches, which is more than most expected, and peaked at 96.1 MPH. Not sending him down to the minors was the right idea.

• Wilyer Abreu

  • I have deleted every tweet I had that called for Wilyer to be traded over Duran. If there are any left out there, just know I was hacked. It was the first time in his career that he had back-to-back games with multiple extra-base hits.

What I Was “Mid” About

• Sonny Gray

  • If you followed Sonny last year, you know he was big on alternating good games. So I am just going to figure that he will follow that routine and have a great outing at Fenway next weekend.

What I Didn’t Love

• Roman Anthony’s Arm

  • I genuinely believed for a second that Roman could throw a laser to home plate and keep the game tied on Saturday. That was not the case.

• Jarren Duran Getting Picked Off

  • Cost the Red Sox the game on Sunday. Came immediately after a pick-off attempt, and Duran was very slow to react. I did not see an angle that showed him getting him right away. The first shot looked like he missed, and then he got Duran after he had touched the bag.

• Caleb Durbin

  • LET ME BE VERY CLEAR. This does not mean I don’t like Caleb Durbin or that I think he will have a great season. You can’t go hitless in the series and end up anywhere other than “Didn’t Love.” But that doesn’t mean I don’t love him, if that makes sense.

• Trevor Story

  • I had Story at “mid” until that pop fly to end the game Sunday. Can’t be swinging first pitch with two on down by one run.