MLB: May 2025

I’ve looked at the video several times, stopping and starting. It’s really hard to judge where the ball is when the runner is sliding, but it’s well past the baseline when the runner crosses the plate. If you watch the catcher’s head as he’s following the ball, you can see him looking behind the baseline as the runner begins his slide.

A good throw nails the runner. It doesn’t have to be a perfect throw.

Here’s a link to the story on mlb.com which contains the video. At the 27 second mark, the catcher has already turned his body and is already looking towards the stands while the runner is just beginning his slide. The ball is at least 10 feet past the baseline when the runner slides across the plate.

2027 All Star Game coming to Wrigley Field

Good. Been a long time since Wrigley hosted the game. The most recent time was 1990.

Not MLB, but this is rather incredible.

The Arizona Wildcats, in a Big 12 tournament game against BYU, hit back-to-back home runs. Not exactly unique, except the first one hit the right-field foul pole, and the second one hit the left-field foul pole.

and his friend who gave him a beer is being charged

Well there’s something I bet I never see twice. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a foul pole get hit twice in one game.

Also, ugh. The sound of the ball meeting the bat should never be DINK.

Totally agree, but that’s the way it’s been in college baseball for a long time. I seem to remember that college allowed aluminum bats because it’s a heckuva lot cheaper than wood bats, which tend to break with just a little more frequency than aluminum.

Aaron Judge’s batting average has sunk to .396. What a bozo.

Freddy Freeman isn’t far behind at .368.

Very sad, but Yanks won at least.

They’ve been playing well.

The Rockies just set a record.

With their loss to the Phillies tonight, their record through 50 games is 8-42. According to The Athletic, this

is the worst record any team has posted through 50 games in the MLB’s modern era. The Rockies’ 42 losses eclipsed the previous record of 41 set by the 1904 Washington Senators (now known as the Minnesota Twins).

They got shut out at home, too.

In four games they hit the exact 1/3 mark. I’m going to have fun projecting that out here. Note that even if they win all four of those games they will still project to a 36-126 record, which would of course be the worst ever.

Yanks are at the Rockies this weekend, I really hope we can manage the sweep.

After Colorado is Angels followed by Dodgers.

Royals have DFA’d Hunter Renfroe.

KC signed him as a FA after the 2023 season. He put up OK numbers last season (15 HRs, 52 RBIs, .220 BA), with a 0.0 WAR. But he’s been terrible thus far this year (0 HRs, 4 RBIs, .182 BA), with a -1.5 WAR. Obviously nobody else wanted him and his $6.5 million salary.

I expect the Royals #1 hitting prospect, Jac Caglianone, to be called up soon. He was recently promoted from AA to AAA. Lord knows KC needs some offensive help. Their stellar pitching is keeping them above .500.

Looks impressive to me

And because they’ve been terrible for several years, they’ll only be able to draft as early as the 10th pick in the 2026 draft (for the same anti-tanking rules that the White Sox are drafting 10th this year after setting the record last season).

I can’t wait for Cags to get called up. The problem is where does he play? He’s not playing first over Vinnie, DH is mostly occupied by Salvy. They’ve been trying Cags out a little in the outfield, but I don’t think he’s quite ready yet. I guess we’ll find out - the rest of the outfield defense is pretty good, so maybe they’ll accept a downgrade to get his bat going.

That’s where he’ll have to play in the bigs. His defense couldn’t be worse than Hunter Renfroe, who had a good arm but wasn’t exactly fleet of foot.

You certainly can’t bring up a top prospect and have him sit, that’s no good at all. He’s played a grand total of nine games in the outfield though, and asking a kid to learn a position in the majors isn’t something that usually works out and often affects their hitting.

Of late the Royals have been playing Drew Waters in right and he’s been just fine, so there is no rush to summon Caglianone. He should, IMHO, be allowed a few more weeks of outfield play in the minors.

I don’t see why Pasquantino’s job is safe. Maybe not this year, but it seems ripe for the taking. And what’s up with the Royals and Italian-American first basemen? Where have you gone, Bye-Bye Balboni?

Absolutely correct.

According to this (probably paywalled) article from the Wichita Eagle

Caglianone will continue to play three days a week in the outfield with the Storm Chasers.

My best guess is maybe the 4th of July for his callup. Or maybe around the All-Star game, which is July 15th.