No pulled fly balls? No problem for this unique slugger
James Wood has all the traits of a prototypical power hitter. He’s big (6-foot-7!), he’s strong and his bat speed is electric.
The Nationals outfielder has the numbers to match, too, with seven homers, three doubles and a .929 OPS over his first 20 games this season, making good on...
James Wood
How an old-school pitch went from ridiculed to back in fashion
These days, every season seems to have a trendy new pitch: the high-spin four-seamer a while back, the sweeper two years ago, the splitter last year, the kick change this year ... presumably some kind of knuckle-fastball next year, if Justin Martinez has anything to say about it. That tells...
After 2024 breakout, Hunter Greene taking it to a new level
Is Hunter Greene reaching his full potential? The early returns in 2025 are encouraging.
Long on the baseball radar -- he was a two-way star at a California high school before the Reds took him No. 2 overall in the 2017 Draft -- Greene broke out last season with a...
Hunter Greene
3 reasons to get hyped for Strider's season debut
All eyes should be on Spencer Strider on Wednesday. Baseball's No. 1 strikeout artist is back.
Just over a year after internal brace elbow surgery ended his 2024 season, Strider will make his 2025 debut for the Braves. His start against the Blue Jays in Toronto will be MLB.TV's Free...
Spencer Strider
Meet the 90 mph pitch that can move like a knuckleball
Here’s where we are with the state of pitching in 2025: Let’s bring up a pitcher who throws two different fastballs that both have 100 mph velocity but with slightly different movement patterns. But we're mostly going to ignore those heaters, because neither is the pitch that makes him stand...
Justin Martinez
The young Angel doing a peak Mike Trout impression
There’s an Angel at the top of the Wins Above Replacement leaderboard, but it might not be the player you expect.
Doing his best Mike Trout impression -- or is it actually an Aaron Judge impression? More on that below -- Kyren Paris has taken baseball by storm, hitting an...
Kyren Paris
Why Carroll's early season power surge looks legit
With his 5-foot-10, 165-pound frame, nobody is ever going to confuse Corbin Carroll for Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani. But so far this season, the D-backs speedster is slugging like one of the big boys.
Through Friday, Carroll had homered five times in 14 games to start 2025. And it’s...
Corbin Carroll
Got two strikes on Juan Soto? The battle is just beginning
In 2016, the year Juan Soto arrived in professional baseball, the Nationals were striking out too much. Not the big league team. The entire organization.
So Minor League hitting coordinator Troy Gingrich instituted a new rule throughout the Nats' system: Every hitter must have a two-strike approach.
A 17-year-old Soto...
Juan Soto
Why you don't need to look like Judge or Ohtani to slug HRs
As Mookie Betts came to bat in the fourth inning on March 28 -- his second game back from the illness that cost him 20 pounds and forced him to miss the Tokyo Series -- the Dodgers television broadcast relayed an interesting nugget.
"He's measuring 'getting better' \[by\] more than...
Mookie Betts
José Ramírez
Jose Altuve
Alex Bregman
Francisco Lindor
7 pitches? 8? Explaining Skenes' expanding arsenal
Less than a year into his Major League career, Paul Skenes might already be the best pitcher in baseball.
That's not hyperbole. He’s one of 79 pitchers to throw at least 140 innings since his May 11, 2024, debut, and among them he’s first in ERA, second in strikeout rate,...
Paul Skenes
