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
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?