As the 2025 regular season continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:
1. Witt reaches 20-game hit streak:
Royals superstar Bobby Witt Jr. may not yet be replicating the absurd heights he reached during his MVP runner-up campaign last year, but he’s still off to an excellent start. The soon to be 25-year-old is hitting .316/.385/.474 with nine steals and an MLB-leading 12 doubles. After a relatively slow start in the season’s first couple of weeks, Witt’s last 20 games have been particularly sensational; he’s batted .356/.424/.521 while getting at least one hit in each game. That 20-game hit streak is the longest of the 2025 season, and today he’ll try to keep it going against the Rays and right-hander Drew Rasmussen.
2. Youngsters getting promoted:
Speaking of the Royals’ matchup with Rasmussen and the Rays this evening, they’ll be sending a rookie to the mound opposite Tampa’s hard-throwing righty. Southpaw Noah Cameron is reportedly poised to make his MLB debut in this evening’s game, which is scheduled to begin at 7:05pm local time in Tampa. Cameron was generally solid in 25 starts between Double-A and Triple-A last year, and to this point he’s posted a 3.22 ERA in five starts at the level this season with a 30.3% strikeout rate. That excellent start was enough to earn him a look at the big league level as a spot starter while ace southpaw Cole Ragans nurses a groin injury.
Meanwhile, two prospects figure to make their own MLB debuts today when the Reds promote right-hander Chase Petty and infielder Tyler Callihan. Those promotions will come in advance of today’s doubleheader against the Cardinals. Petty, 22, is a top-100 prospect acquired from the Twins in the Sonny Gray trade a few years back. He’s slated to pitch opposite St. Louis lefty Steven Matz after posting a 3.52 ERA in his first five starts of the year at Triple-A. As for Callihan, the third-rounder of Cincinnati’s 2019 draft has just begun his age-25 season and has torn the cover off the ball in his first taste of Triple-A, with a .311/.432/.553 slash line in 28 games (including a brief four-game look there late in 2024).
3. Notable returns in Los Angeles, Boston:
Two starting pitchers who haven’t pitched since the 2023 season are slated to return to the big leagues today. The Dodgers are welcoming Tony Gonsolin back from the injured list following rehab from Tommy John surgery that’s kept him sidelined 20 months. He’ll face the Marlins in his return game at Dodger Stadium, which is scheduled for 12:10pm local time and will feature Miami righty Cal Quantrill on the mound opposite the 2022 All-Star.
Meanwhile, Lucas Giolito will finally make his Red Sox debut after signing with the club during the 2023-24 offseason but undergoing elbow surgery during spring training. Giolito is poised to take on the Blue Jays in Toronto, with the game scheduled for 7.07pm local time. The Jays have not yet announced who will take the mound opposite Giolito in this evening’s game.
Interested to see Petty against real big league hitters, as he was looking great in spring training.
On behalf of Red Sox Nation, best wishes to Gio!
He may be a bit rusty tonight, as he didn’t look good in his final performance in the minors, but he’s pitching for a contract and I think as long as he stays healthy he will become a useful addition in the second half of the season.
Fever,
Gio has that Amish beard going, he looks unrecognizable from when I last saw him with the White Sox lol
Good luck to Gio with the Red Sox, he’s a dude when he’s got everything firing on all cylinders!
Acoss – Have you seen Booser recently?
He looks like when Kimbrel’s beard was at it’s biggest!
Yeah now that Gio is (hopefully) fully healthy I think he will eventually get back to 2021 form. Might not be until next year though.
Across: How about clean-shaven Dylan Cease? There goes one of the three best mustaches in baseball (Strider, Skenes).
avenger – Skenes has a full beard.
Is a stache really a stache when it’s surrounded by a full beard though?
Skenes doesn’t even have the best stache on the Pirates. That belongs to Mr Nick Gonzales
Another promotion is aj blubaugh in houston
And welcome back tony gonsolin
“The soon to be 25-year-old is hitting .316/.385/.474 with nine steals and an MLB-leading 12 doubles”
When you’re so good that a disappointing start is still an All-Star caliber start
I wish White Sox would call up players who deserve to be in MLB. They are worried to much about hurting their players feelings.
Witt’s last 20 games have been particularly sensational; he’s batted .356/.424/.521
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You’re ignoring BABIP in both his full-season and last 20 statistics. That .944 is buoyed by an unsustainable .433 BABIP.
His full season .858 is buoyed by a .362 BABIP. His EV is down slightly, and his FB% is way down. SSS and all, but I I think you are overrating his start.
Good point. He should be forced to surrender points from his batting average and slugging percentage. Witt, and other players, should not be judged on their actual numbers, but what their numbers should be based on different formulas.