As the 2024 regular season continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Braves prospect promotion:
The Braves are reportedly set to promote right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach to the majors prior to today’s game, when he’ll be taking the ball in Atlanta for his major league debut opposite Trevor Williams of the Nationals. Schwellenbach’s contract will need to be selected to the big league roster before he can make his debut, but since the Braves already have a vacancy on their 40-man roster, they’ll only require a corresponding 26-man roster move. (Even if Atlanta needed a 40-man move, transferring either Ronald Acuna Jr. or Spencer Strider to the 60-day IL would be a straightforward solution.) The club’s second-round pick from the 2021 draft, Schwellenbach has not yet reached the Triple-A level but has been dominant this year with a 1.80 ERA and a 29.1% strikeout rate in 45 innings of work across eight starts between High-A and Double-A.
2. O’Neill to undergo imaging:
Red Sox outfielder Tyler O’Neill has returned to Boston ahead of scheduled imaging on his right knee, manager Alex Cora told reporters (including MLB.com’s Ian Browne) yesterday afternoon. O’Neill, who last appeared in a game on May 25, was one of the best hitters in the sport during the first month of the season but has struggled to a .151/.244/.301 slash line in 20 games during the month of May. O’Neill told reporters over the weekend that he had been playing through discomfort in his knee that was “probably” affecting his swing.
According to Cora, today’s imaging is for the sake of “reassurance” rather than concern from the team that O’Neill is suffering from a serious injury. Even so, it would hardly be a surprise if O’Neill’s ailing knee landed him on the injured list. If O’Neill were to miss time, outfielder Rob Refsnyder and first baseman Garrett Cooper could step into larger roles as right-handed bats in the lineup to complement lefties Wilyer Abreu, Jarren Duran, and Dominic Smith in the outfield, first base, and DH mix for the Red Sox.
3. Volpe extends hitting streak to 20 games:
Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe has been impressive in 2024, hitting .285/.356/.434 across his 250 trips to the plate. Most recently, Volpe’s heroics have come in the form of a 20-game hitting streak, which is the first hitting streak to reach 20 games in the Bronx since Robinson Cano achieved the feat back in 2012. Volpe has slashed a whopping .337/.376/.535 over the course of the streak, during which the Yankees have posted a 14-6 record. As noted by Sarah Langs of MLB.com over the weekend, Volpe’s hitting streak is the longest of any Yankee 23 years old or younger since Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio, who enjoyed a pair of hitting streaks lasting 21 and 22 games respectively back in 1937. Volpe will have a chance to match the shorter of DiMaggio’s two streaks in Anaheim this evening against Angels lefty Patrick Sandoval.
Boston is really getting the full Tyler O’Neill experience in 2 months.
I think Tyler just needed a change of scenery.
Fembot – The article didn’t mention he suffered a concussion when both he and Devers failed to call for a popup and both collided. There could very well be some residual affect from that concussion.
Also the strikeouts have been ginormous, 58 in just 148 AB’s.
Also the guy can’t make contact with RISP to save his life, just .133 BA with RISP and not even one Sac Fly!
oh wow,,,that’s crazy…I feel bad for him…he’s got so much potential to be good.
One correction to the Braves portion of the article. Gore, not Williams, is today’s scheduled starter for the Nats.
I want so see the Anthony is the next jeter comments
@sad tormented neglected mariners fan
He’s the next Honus Wagner. GOAT!
its funny how people hate on Jeter for winning so many gold gloves, when him winning them wasn’t even in his control.
@FemboyBaseballFan
The GG is a pretty meaningless award. They even gave it to Vlad Jr. once season when he had a negative defensive rating. Personally, I prefer the Fielding Bible Awards but they don’t award players for each division.
I would fully agree with you on this, but brooks Robinson really only got in because of his gold gloves…of course that was back then where it was more profound….but y’know…but I do agree gold gloves are useless for most of the part :3….also poor vladdy (Im a Jay’s fan) he doesn’t deserve all the hate from blue Jay’s fans :(( I love him
@FemboyBaseballFan
I think the problem for him is we overhyped the guy as some mega superstar about to destroy MLB pitchers and assumed that given his father had success, he should also have the same. Fans need to stop buying into all the media hype about players and just enjoy the game. But even given all the hate from fans, in his career, he’s 31% better than league average and this year he’s 36% better than league average, which is his 2nd best of his short career. Only knock on him is he doesn’t walk much.
I totally agree! :3 well said
Too bad you weren’t watching baseball when Brooks Robinson played. He was an absolute no brainer Hall of Fame player, not simply an unparalleled defensive player. Silly people look at statistics for all the answers, serious fans watch the games.
@whyhayzee I am a serious fan, me not being alive for 50 years doesn’t change that, not to mention I almost watch every blue Jay’s game I can, and I always watch highlights and track player stats….and sorry to say statistics is what makes a player a hall of famer or not, the had a .723 OPS which is terrible considering he’s in the hall, a .322 ON BASE?? dude…terrible once again, only 105 OPS+?? wow…only 5% better than than the average major league player?….401 slugging, wow…so great isn’t it? nope its not….how about this, take away Brooks Robinsons defense, say he was ok or bad defensively, guess what! his war would only be around 30-40, his defense is what carried him, he would not be in the hall if he was bad on defense…thank you for listening :>
And based on today’s dollars, he only maxed out for a yearly salary of $682,053. Amazing defense and he wasn’t even making close to league minimum in today’s dollars.
mostly because he was a liability as a batter.
@whyhayzee
oh and don’t you old heads rave about batting average?
he only batted .267 for his career 🙂
@old york
its always nice to prove someone wrong who’s so confidently incorrect… haha…idk what that dudes talking about.
@FemboyBaseballFan
Yeah, he was 4% above league average by wRC+, so essentially, an average baseball player. Sure, he had good defense but that was pretty much it. Problem for him is that he played far too long. His peak years were from ’59-’69. He should have retired after that.
same thing with ichiro, except ichiro is better than robinson in my opinion….god I hate the old heads who don’t look at and say “he was good! I watched the games I would know!” and then I instantly shut down their argument with stats proving he wasn’t that good XD
@FemboyBaseballFan
There are a lot of players in the HOF that really shouldn’t be there. However, I think we make a mistake in assuming that the HOF is somehow run by MLB, when it is essentially managed by the BBWAA. It’s essentially a fanboy club of who the writers liked and didn’t like in the career. The HOF also has some cronyism with guys who were elected through the assistance of friends and teammates on the board. In this light, I don’t view the HOF as anything special and have no intentions to visit it in my lifetime.
The best one was one year they gave it to Raffy Palmeiro and he didn’t even hardly play the position that year!
@old york
I actually visited the hall of Fame, and honestly think it was awesome as a baseball fan to see all the cool relics and stuff :3
but I agree its all based on who they didn’t like and who they did like lol….stats don’t matter I guess…? idk
I think saying Brooks Robinson had good defense is like saying Babe Ruth had good power but that’s about it. Defense was Brooks thing and he was able to generate a lot of value from it. Brooks is 3rd all time in defensive WAR regardless of position. The only players above him were shortstops who benefited from the positional adjustment.
I could name 30 shortstops who were, or are better than Brooks robinson, and literally when I say it, defense was really the only thing Brooks had going for him….like I said, take away his defense and he’s a below average player. his defense fully carried him into the hall.
My point is that he is an all time great defender. If you take away the best tool from a lot of Hall of Fame players and they are no longer Hall of Famers.
we aren’t talking about other hall of famers, were talking about Brooks, and his defense carried him into the hall of Fame. its easy to tell.
Brooks Robinson. “a below average player” When it counted most he was a clutch hitter. IE. playoff career. Ex. he was pretty remarkable defensively in the 1970 WS but he won the MVP award for his hitting.
And during his regular season career I thought he was better than average. Why? When he went up to the plate, he was always looking to put the ball in play. Exhibited by his extremely low regular season KO% and BB% and these % carried over in to post season play as well.
Looking to always put the ball in play isn’t not a good mentality, considering how he lacked offensively, and yes he won the MVP…ONCE, and he didn’t even deserve it! honestly….and who cares about his playoff career…? that doesn’t factor into regular season stats…and lets see…YOU thought he was above average! why does that matter? oh wait…it doesn’t…because its barely true, he was barely serviceable at the plate, he almost never got on base or walked.
At Femboy. Young fella, looks like I may have hurt your feelings here. Apologies if I did.
Oh, study your history. 70 MVP WS reference was an example of his hitting prowess in the playoffs. Clutch baby. But, my favorite example of Brooks being clutch was when he hit the sacrifice fly that scored Frank Robinson to win in extra innings game 6 of 1971 WS. Os were down 3 games to 2 and the entire line up was slumping. Brooks came thru.
Ask any MLB player what their goal is and I’d be shocked if any said something other than being a WS champion. Furthermore, ask them what stats are more important between regular season and post season and again I’d be shocked if they said regular season stats. They all dream of being the guy that comes through in the biggest moments … which is in playoff not regular season play.
You didn’t hurt my feelings at all, just simply how I talk..
and I know its a players goal to go to the WS but its something that still shouldn’t get you into the hall….its based of regular season…not postseason…
also he doesn’t have the best postseason stats…..they’re good, but they aren’t the best…
but just in general…Brooks Robinson in my opinion still inst that good even after his postseason stats.
Femboy. Agree to disagree on Brooksie. No sweat!
And a big oops on my part here. To your point, HOF cred based on reg not post season play. My bad. Cheers!
cheers to you too man! no problem here, just a friendly argument :3
He was a 3B…..
Brooks wasn’t a ss??? And is considered one of the best defensive players if all time. Has an mvp with the bat too. Kids just don’t recall baseball as it was back then… look at the league offense during that period
I know he was a 3B. My point was the only 2 players in front of him in DWAR were SS because it is easier to accumulate DWAR at SS because of the volume balls hit to SS and the positional adjustments that the WAR calc gives for playing SS.
I’ve yet to see anyone compare Volpe to Jeter. Just you? Judge is also the team captain for the foreseeable future.
every Yankees shortstop will be compared to jeter. :3
Right. Bc every outfielder and first baseman has been compared to Mickey Mantle.
I said Yankees shortstops not players, the Yankees have been looking to replace Jeter every since he left, so of course every shortstop is going to have to live up to jeter
I don’t know how any fan from any fanbase can have realistic expectations that a successor could replace a first ballot HOFer. Was Manny Machado the next Cal Ripken, Jr. when he played for the Orioles? Or is it Gunnar Henderson? It’s just silly to make these types of comps.
I myself don’t compare players to other because its dumb, but a lot of fans do that… :3
I mean people are comparing Elly to mantle y’know what I’m saying?
I’m surprised you haven’t seen the volpe-to-jeter comments
Remember when he was called up a year ago to be starting SS of the yanks? That was the peak of the clownery
Not from the Yankees fans here, maybe the trolls.
1. Excellent. Let us hope that Mr. Schwellenbach can adeptly steer the Braves towards securing another National League East championship.
2. Regrettably, this outcome is not entirely unexpected given his history of injuries. We wish him a swift and complete recovery.
3. With merely 37 more games to surpass the record, let us remain hopeful that he achieves this remarkable milestone.
Why not? He’s already a better fielder. The Yankees would have been better off letting A-Rod play SS
Everyone hated ARod and loved Jeter, the captain, but it was ARod who was the superior player, the vastly superior defender and the guy who put his massive ego aside to play third.
It’s funny how media allows the narrative to form, ARod the egotistical jerk, Jeter the all American guy next door.
you spelt A-Roid wrong
A-rod was the better defender and hitter but jeter was the captain of the team and the top team leaders typically play shortstop
That’s why teams like the mariners have j.p. Crawford or now the dodgers and mookie
That statement isn’t even close to being accurate.
First of all, most teams do not have team captains. Being a Mariners fan, you should know that the Mariners in fact have never had a team captain at all.
Second, the honor of “captain” goes to players with the most leadership, historically there have been more catchers to carry the title “captain” than any position in large part because they are the only position player who sees the entire field.
The Dodgers do not have a team captain but Dodgers have worn shirts that designated AUSTIN BARNES as their captain, not Mookie Betts.
Being a Cubs fan, the “team captains” I can remember were Derek Lee, Anthony Rizzo and Jason Heyward, shockingly none were short stops.
I’m not talking about actual captains like judge or Perez I was talking about clubhouse leaders
Mariners didn’t sign an expensive shortstop because that destroys the chemistry with J.P.
Mets were going to have Carlos Correa at 3rd base even though he was the better defender than Francisco lindor
Way to walk it back.
In what world is Correa better defensively than Lindor?
Also, since 2020, Crawford has blossomed into one of the better shortstops in the league. The Mariners were wise locking him up for a 10 million AAV vs any of the “big name” shortstops for two and a half to three times the money (and years for that matter). Not to mention that front offices see budgetary issues long before fans and self proclaimed “experts” who write for sites, Marines knew they couldn’t drop 30+ million on a shortstop. I also like to think that Mariners front office personnel realize that Seattle is a difficult place to hit and have seen enough high priced talent go there and fail that they shy away from 10 year deals on players, especially if they lack that light tower power. Xander, Dansby, Turner and Correa all may post respectable power numbers but most of their home runs are fly ball outs on Seattle.
He is the player of the week tho
“a chance to match the shorter of DiMaggio’s two streaks”
I think he had a third one of note…
you do realize that there is many hall of famers, or players in general who have worse road stats right???
Lol. Irrelevant comment to that point though
he’s saying he’s overrated because of his road stats, which is simply untrue because there is many good players that have bad road stats 🙂 so not irrelevant?
How is it irrelevant? It’s directly to the point, actually. Really dumb comment by Hotdog. Witt is tremendous.
??? Witt is a legit, justified MVP candidate, right now
That’s the hill you’re gonna die on?
I don’t think you understand my comment sir, or you commented on the wrong person…I simply was replying to someone who said that Bobby witt Jr has bad road stats, like that matters…because there is many hall of famers with bad road stats… :>
I’m on your side Femboy. People are confused.
thank you coop :3
Overrated is a word used by those who don’t have an intelligent argument.
people call trout “overrated”…so many incompetent baseball fans.
consider this seasons stats, it really doesn’t matter as much as you think, he’s probably not being traded or moving any time soon.
@Lord, yes. I’ve always said it’s the quicksand of arguments. The person tossing out “overrated” never takes a hard position, so they’re not worth engaging.
Because KC is so well known for being a hitters paradise
Look at the park adjustments on baseball savant
Steve – Just knowing how hot it gets in KC and how well the ball carries in that type of weather is enough to convince me.
Yankee fans are too busy typing up Volpe’s Hall of Fame speech to notice the streak.
I hope the Braves do not screw up Spencer S like they did AJ Smith-Shawver by rushing him to the majors too soon
Garbage take. How did they “screw up” AJ?