As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
It hasn't been the season Lawrence Butler expected to have after his extension, but he is finishing strong. Butler swiped three bags in the Athletics' win over Cincinnati. Since the start of September, Butler is slashing .361/.439/.528 with a pair of homers, and with his three steals on Saturday, Butler became the first member of the Athletics' 20-HR/20-SB club since CoCo Crisp's 2013 season and just the 10th different A's player to achieve the feat.
Don't look now, but Dylan Cease remembered he's an ace...alright, let me pump the brakes a bit. Cease went six strong innings in the Padres' 11-3 win over Colorado, fanning six across six strong innings. Cease had it all going, registering at least a 30% whiff rate with four of his offerings and allowing just one hard hit ball on the day. While his last three starts are against Colorado twice and Baltimore, this is the Cease that San Diego has been waiting on all season. Across his last three starts, he's gone 15 innings, allowing just 19 baserunners and striking out 18. Walks have plagued him all season, so seeing that number dwindle down to just a single walk, something he hasn't done in over a month, was a pleasant sight to see. If Cease can maintain his command, San Diego's postseason outlook becomes a lot more interesting.
The Brewers did what they've done all season, and that's dig themselves out of an early hole just to win with another big comeback. The main character on this day was William Contreras. After Milwaukee entered the 9th trailing 7-4, the Brewer backstop, who drove in three on the day, tapped an infield single, drive in the tying run, and then Milwaukee won it in the 11th. Contreras registered three hard hit balls on the day, so naturally it was his weakest contact (56.5 mph) that made him the hero.
We've seen a few sides to Parker Messick since his promotion from Columbus, and today was contact manager. While Messick wasn't getting swing-and-miss at his usual rate, it was weak contact and groundballs that led to yet another quality start for the funky lefty. Four of the six hard hit balls Messick surrendered were groundballs to go with his 58% groundball rate on the day. Messick is now running a 1.84 ERA across 29.1 innings pitched. It's the lowest ERA from a Cleveland rookie SP with at least 25 innings pitched since Vean Gregg's 1.80 ERA in 1911.
Though Salvy at times has appeared to be on the wind-down at age 35 in season in season 14, every so often, he reminds you that the bat's never failed him. Against the Phillies, Perez's two home runs initially appeared to give the Royals an early advantage through three innings. Though the result didn't hold, Salvy's five seasons with at least 27 home runs makes him just the fifth catcher ever with five or more such seasons, joining Gary Carter (5), Yogi Berra (6), Johnny Bench (6), and Mike Piazza (9).
After Clayton Kershaw struggled through three innings, LA's resident fireballer, Edgardo Henriquez, entered and locked down a strong fourth inning as the Dodger bats woke up. Henriquez has allowed runs in just one of his 16 outings, and of the 60 batters he's faced, he's struck out 12 (20%) and walked 4 (6%). Henriquez's cutter/sinker combo has let his slider absolutely eat since his promotion. Henriquez's slider is currently generating a 64.2% whiff rate while the cutter is running a 36.7% whiff rate.
Hernandez, just as much as the Dodgers, needed a game like this badly. When LA found themselves down 4-1 after the first, it was Teoscar Hernandez who came through, cutting the lead to 4-3 with an RBI double in the fourth inning and a 2-RBI double in the fifth. Though Hernandez's overall offensive production has slipped from last season (132 wRC+ down to 101), he still has an outside chance at a second straight 30 HR/30 2B season.
Troy Johnston entered Saturday with one career home run. Naturally, Johnston became the catalyst to a Miami win over the Detroit Tigers. In the sixth, Johnston took Troy Melton 434 feet off the facing of the second deck, tying the game at 3-3, but this wasn't the only clutch swing he made. Johnston came up in the bottom of the 11th and proceeded to walk off Rafael Montero, taking him 413 to around the same spot to win it for Miami. Johnston entered the game at just 2-for-21 over his last 23 plate appearances.
Brandon Sproat backed up a solid outing in Cincinnati with another quality start, blanking the red hot Rangers across six innings. Though he only struck out three batters, just 5 of the 20 balls put in play against him were hard hit. Sproat's sweeper did the legwork for whiffs, generating four of the five he registered. His sinker was a quality out pitch. Eight of Sproat's sinkers were put in play, and only one of them registered as a hard hit ball while the average EV sat at 78.9 mph.
Bubba Chandler had a disastrous outing in his first big league start last time out, and he responded by posting his best outing as a Pirate yet. Chandler started against the Nationals, striking out seven and allowing just two baserunners over six quality innings. Chandler's fastball was eating, generating 13 whiffs (48% whiff rate). Six of his seven strikeouts came by way of whiffs on the heater.
A cycle! Rodolfo Durán even added a walk. He's been at Triple-A all year, the level he's spent at least some time at every season since 2021. The 27-year-old backstop has not made it to the majors and has played in the Phillies, Yankees, Royals, and now Padres organization. In 2025 he is hitting .300 with 14 homers.
The Dodgers are hilarious. Christian Romero had a great outing here, albeit he holds a 4.70 ERA with 30 strikeouts through 35.2 Triple-A innings. Still, it's notable that prior to his promotion to the level this year he was mostly a reliever in High-A. He did pitch in Double-A and Triple-A last year, but then returned to Great Lakes after an injury at the beginning of this season. In High-A he posted a 5.03 ERA, and now the 22-year-old righty just fired 6 shutout innings. Even if it is just one game, it seems very Dodgers for all that to happen.
How about a Bryce Eldridge oppo bomb for your Sunday Daily Sheet? This was his 18th at the level, 25th of the season. He can hit homers, that's for sure. The 6'7" first baseman has power for days. His slow start at this level has been rectified a bit, he's now hitting .260 with a 29.6 percent strikeout rate. His swing is made to hit the ball hard and far, mix that with long limbs and his swing and miss will always likely be prominent. The power is hopefully going to be completely worth it.
It's been quite the comeback season for Jett Williams, who lost much of his 2024 to injury. Between covering Double-A once a week, and now him in Triple-A, it seems like he's made the write up almost every week for me. That's a good thing. The 21-year-old is hitting a combined .263 with 15 homers and 34 steals between both levels. He is hitting just .200 in 105 Triple-A at bats with 5 homers and a pair of steals. His strikeout rate is still basically the same and his walk rate is just shy of double digits. Those are both good signs that things will improve.
Unfortunately Jaxon Wiggins is on a pitch count, so that means we won't see him this year. He threw 61 pitches in this game. That being said, there's a very good chance we see him in Chicago in 2026. Entering the year Wiggins had the reputation of big stuff with command questions. Well, we've seen what he looks like when he does have his command. It's been there this year and he's easily been a top 100 prospect, or at least playing like one. For my money he's pretty safely inside the top 100.
As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
Dynasty player of 10+ years. Helping you find the building blocks of your championship rosters as a co-host on the Dynasty Baseball Pickups podcast since mid-season 2023, joined Prospects Live at the start of 2024.
As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
Director of Dynasty Content - Canadian born and raised, moved to Arkansas with my wife and two sons Ezra and Ari. Followed and played baseball my whole life; played dynasty for 25+ years.
A Giants fan living in San Diego, been playing fantasy baseball since 2005 and dynasty since 2021. Started the Dynasty Baseball Pickups podcast in June 2023 and joined Prospects Live in March of 2024.
Dynasty player of 10+ years. Helping you find the building blocks of your championship rosters as a co-host on the Dynasty Baseball Pickups podcast since mid-season 2023, joined Prospects Live at the start of 2024.
As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
Director of Dynasty Content - Canadian born and raised, moved to Arkansas with my wife and two sons Ezra and Ari. Followed and played baseball my whole life; played dynasty for 25+ years.
A Giants fan living in San Diego, been playing fantasy baseball since 2005 and dynasty since 2021. Started the Dynasty Baseball Pickups podcast in June 2023 and joined Prospects Live in March of 2024.
As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
