White Sox Call Up David Sandlin For MLB Debut
May 26th: The White Sox officially announced their recall of Sandlin today. In a corresponding move, Schultz was placed on the 15-day injured list due to right knee patellar tendinitis, retroactive to May 25th.
May 25th: The White Sox are planning to promote right-hander David Sandlin, reports Elijah Evans of Just Baseball and Future Sox. The 25-year-old is already on Chicago’s 40-man, but the team will need to make space for Sandlin on the active roster. Confirming the move, James Fegan of Sox Machine noted that Sandlin is likely going to start for the White Sox, although it’s not entirely clear how he would fit into the rotation. It’s possible he’s only coming up to make a spot start, considering Chicago is in the midst of playing 13 games without a day off.
Sandlin, 25, began his professional career with the Royals in 2022, and Kansas City traded him to Boston in 2024. The Red Sox then dealt the righty to the White Sox this past winter – along with Jordan Hicks, two players to be named later, and cash – in exchange for Gage Ziehl. Sandlin was the prize of the deal for the White Sox, who were willing to take on most of Hicks’ remaining salary to acquire him. In fact, at the time of the trade, general manager Chris Getz even described Sandlin as “essentially” part of the return for Luis Robert Jr., since the GM was able to use some of the money he saved by trading Robert (and his $20MM salary) to pay Hicks, and, therefore, to secure Sandlin. Getz went on to say that Sandlin would compete for a spot on Chicago’s Opening Day roster, praising his “mid-rotation” arsenal and stuff. “He’s got a chance to really impact our starting rotation this year,” Getz explained (per MLB.com’s Scott Merkin).
Sandlin didn’t end up pitching in big league spring training. Back and forearm soreness (per Fegan) forced him to start the season on the minor league injured list instead. However, from his first rehab start at High-A Winston-Salem to his latest outing for Triple-A Charlotte, he has been nothing short of electric. Leading with a four-seam fastball that flirts with triple digits, he’s given up just 12 hits in 16 1/3 innings, striking out 26. While his walk rate is high, he hasn’t let the free passes lead to much damage; Sandlin didn’t allow an earned run until his most recent start.
Most prospect evaluators roughly agree with Getz’s assessment of Sandlin. He has No. 3 or 4 starter upside, but he needs to improve his control and hone the rest of his arsenal (besides that high-velocity heater) if he’s going to get there. While his results this season have been promising, his Triple-A numbers from 2025 demonstrate why there’s cause for concern. In his first 23 2/3 innings at the highest minor league level, he walked 13 batters, beaned two more, and gave up 35 hits en route to a 7.61 ERA and 5.27 FIP.
Davis Martin has been a revelation for the White Sox this season. Anthony Kay and Sean Burke have been solid, despite their ups and downs. Noah Schultz and Erick Fedde have struggled badly. Even so, it’s hard to imagine that Sandlin would take either of their spots in the rotation. Schultz could be optioned, while Fedde could be DFA’d. Yet, Sandlin isn’t stretched out to take on a full starter’s workload, and he’s never made more than 18 starts or thrown more than 106 innings in a professional season. So, it seems more likely that he’s joining the team to give the rest of the rotation an extra day of rest. Of course, that doesn’t mean he can’t stay in Chicago if he pitches well. This might be a spot start for now, but the White Sox aren’t going to send down anyone who can give them quality innings. They’re currently in a playoff position, despite a mediocre 4.47 ERA and 4.19 SIERA. If Sandlin succeeds, he shouldn’t have trouble sticking around.
Willson Contreras Is Thriving For The Red Sox
The 2025-26 offseason didn’t have a defining blockbuster like the Kyle Tucker trade in 2024-25 or the Juan Soto deal the winter before. However, what the trade market lacked in top-end quality, it made up for in quantity, with no shortage of big names switching teams. The Cardinals were arguably the top sellers, dealing away Nolan Arenado, Brendan Donovan, Sonny Gray, and Willson Contreras, while the Red Sox were one of the most active buyers, picking up Gray and Contreras, along with Caleb Durbin and Johan Oviedo. It’s still too early to crown any winners of the offseason’s trades, but so far, Contreras is looking like one of the best pickups of the winter. Things aren’t going so well for the Red Sox right now, but adding the slugging first baseman is looking like one thing they definitely did right.
Through 50 games, Contreras is hitting .281 with 11 home runs and 33 RBI. His .899 OPS, .393 wOBA, and 148 wRC+ all put him among the AL’s top 10 qualified hitters. His .397 expected wOBA ranks fifth, trailing only Yordan Alvarez, Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, and Ben Rice. For what it’s worth, his glove has also looked sharper in his sophomore season at first base. In 2025, he finished with -1 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) and a +4 Fielding Run Value (FRV). This year, he has a +3 DRS and a +4 FRV in less than half as many innings. The result of it all is 2.0 Wins Above Replacement, according to both FanGraphs and Baseball Reference. That’s All-Star-caliber production, although fellow first basemen Rice, Nick Kurtz, and Munetaka Murakami will give Contreras tough competition when it comes to making this summer’s AL All-Star squad.
All-Star or not, there is no overstating how important Contreras has been to an otherwise floundering Red Sox offense. He leads the team in home runs, RBI, Win Probability Added, OPS, wRC+, and fWAR. Red Sox Nation held its collective breath earlier this month when Nick Martinez hit Contreras on the hand with a fastball, forcing him out of the game. Luckily, Contreras avoided any sort of serious injury. On the contrary, he’s hit .349 with a 1.061 OPS and a 190 wRC+ in 11 games since. It’s safe to say his hand is feeling just fine.
Contreras has never played more than 138 games in a season or taken more than 563 trips to the plate. That’s partly because he used to be a catcher and partly because he found himself on the injured list 10 times in the first 10 years of his career. This year, he and the Red Sox are hoping he can avoid the IL entirely for the first time in a full season since 2018. If he can, he’s on track to blow past his previous career-highs in almost every counting stat category, including home runs, runs scored, and RBI. Of course, the rate stats are impressive too; his OPS, wRC+, and xwOBA would also be the best of his career. If Contreras keeps going at this pace, he’ll finish with just over 6.0 Wins Above Replacement, according to both the FanGraphs and Baseball Reference models. That would be far and away the highest total of his big league tenure.
Most players never have the privilege to say they were at their best in their mid-thirties. Indeed, in the last decade, only three position players have had a six-win season at age 34 or older, whether by fWAR or bWAR: Paul Goldschmidt in 2022, Brandon Crawford in 2021, and Adrian Beltré in 2016. Meanwhile, Crawford is the only hitter in the 21st century to have his first six-win season at age 34 or older. Contreras is hoping to join him.
Admittedly, it’s dangerous to extrapolate 50 games’ worth of production over a full season. Contreras has played at a six-win pace over his last 50 games, but the 10 seasons and 1,000-plus games he played before this year are probably more representative of his true talent. Besides, the aging curve tells us he’s much more likely to be worse at age 34 than he is to be better than ever. Yet, it’s more fun to be optimistic, and there are some pretty compelling reasons to believe Contreras can keep this up.
For one thing, he isn’t catching anymore. Hopefully, that should help him remain stronger and healthier throughout the rest of the season. The underlying offensive data is also incredibly promising. Over the first nine years of his career, Contreras had a pull-air rate of 13.3% (per Statcast). Then, in 2025, he increased his pull-air rate to nearly 20%. It was the first time in his career that he hit balls in the air to his pull side at a better-than-average rate. This season, his pull-air rate is up again. Just over a quarter of all his balls in play have been pulled in the air.
Here’s why that matters. The league-average wOBA on balls in play typically hovers around .360 to .370. When those balls in play are pulled in the air, that wOBA rises to the .730 to .740 range. What’s more, Contreras has always been particularly successful with this type of contact. His .874 career wOBA on pulled balls in the air puts him in the league’s 92nd percentile. The majority of hitters will succeed when they pull the ball in the air consistently, and Contreras can benefit more than most. His excellent numbers so far in 2026 are the proof.
What makes this development even more encouraging for Contreras is that his swing speed is still elite. Generally speaking, bat speed starts to decline precipitously when a player reaches his thirties. Those older hitters sometimes increase their pull rate, which temporarily helps to cover for their declining strength. That’s not what’s going on for Contreras, at least not in any significant way. His average bat speed on non-pulled contact is down a bit, though it’s still well above league average. Meanwhile, his bat speed on pulled contract is slightly higher than it was through May of last year (or the year before). Because he’s pulling more of his contact overall, his average swing speed is right in line with where it’s been the last two years. Out of 218 qualified swingers, only 14 have a higher average swing speed than Contreras. He may be 34, but he’s swinging like a much younger man.
Simply put, there’s no question Contreras has earned his success to date. He may not keep hitting at quite this level over the next four months, but he’s already given himself a strong head start. As long as he stays healthy, there’s a very good chance this ends up as the best season of an already highly successful career.
Images courtesy of Bob DeChiara and Jeff Curry, Imagn Images.
Astros Release Daniel Johnson
The Astros have released Daniel Johnson, according to his transaction log on MLB.com. The outfielder played in eight games for Houston and another 12 for Triple-A Sugar Land this season. He went 2-for-14 in the majors with two singles, two walks, a hit-by-pitch, and a run scored.
Drafted by the Nationals in 2016, Johnson was traded to the Guardians in 2018 and made his MLB debut for Cleveland in 2020. He has since played in parts of five seasons for the Guardians, Orioles, Giants, and Astros. In 169 career plate appearances, the lefty batter has hit .191 with five home runs and a .554 OPS. His sprint speed is elite, although he’s only 3-for-4 in stolen base attempts at the major league level. On the other side of the ball, he has looked like a solid defender in the time he’s split between all three outfield positions.
Johnson signed a minor league contract with Miami this offseason but failed to make the big league club out of spring training. The 30-year-old started the season at Triple-A Jacksonville, but the Marlins organization released him after five games. Next, he inked a minors pact with the Astros and earned a call-up shortly after, when Taylor Trammell suffered a groin strain. A couple of weeks later, he was designated for assignment in favor of Zach Cole. While Johnson elected free agency at the time, he quickly re-signed with Houston on a new minor league deal. He then spent the next two weeks with the Sugar Land Space Cowboys before his release over the weekend.
Craig Kimbrel Elects Free Agency
Craig Kimbrel has elected free agency, according to his transaction log on MLB.com. The Mets designated the right-hander for assignment last week, and he passed through outright waivers unclaimed. The nine-time All-Star is now free to look to continue his career elsewhere.
Kimbrel will turn 38 later this week, and he no longer has the dominant strikeout stuff he once possessed. His fastball, which used to touch triple digits, now averages 93.6 mph. His curveball doesn’t miss bats the way it did for so many years. While he has diversified his arsenal to try to compensate, there’s no denying that his best days are behind him. Nonetheless, he has shown a clear desire to prolong his career. Since being released by the Orioles in September 2024, he has signed deals with the Braves, Rangers, Astros, and Mets. He hasn’t been afraid to pitch in the minor leagues if it means another shot to prove he’s still worthy of the majors.
To Kimbrel’s credit, he has never stopped showing signs of promise, even if there have been more downs than ups the past few years. Despite his 5.33 ERA in 2024 and his 6.00 ERA this year with the Mets, he owns a 4.28 xERA and a 3.51 SIERA over the last three seasons, thanks to solid strikeout numbers and a continued ability to suppress hard contact. Although his present-day arsenal might look disappointing compared to his vintage self, he still has better stuff than most pitchers you’ll find in Triple-A. So, while Kimbrel might never have another chance to add to his career saves total (440, fifth all-time), he should be able to find another club willing to give him a chance on a minor league contract.
Luis García Elects Free Agency
Luis García made nine appearances for the Twins this season, giving up 10 runs in 8 2/3 innings of work. Over the weekend, Minnesota designated the right-hander for assignment. Today, he rejected an outright assignment in favor of free agency (per Dan Hayes of The Athletic).
García, 39, has pitched 618 games over the last 14 seasons. Only five active pitchers have thrown more games – and that’s being generous with the word “active.” The righty debuted with the Phillies in 2013 and spent the next six years of his career in Philadelphia. He then pitched for nine different teams from 2019 to ’26: the Angels, Rangers, Cardinals, Padres, Red Sox, Dodgers, Nationals, Mets, and Twins. All told, he owns a 4.20 ERA and a 3.94 SIERA in 598 1/3 innings of work. He is 28-31 with 19 saves, 118 holds, and 553 strikeouts. A groundball pitcher, García has induced 945 grounders in his career, second-most among relievers since his debut; only T.J. McFarland induced more batted balls on the ground.
Even in his best years, García was rarely a high-leverage arm. What he is is an innings eater, and he has continued to be just that into his late thirties. From 2023-25, his age-36 to 38 seasons, he tossed at least 55 innings each year, pitching to a 4.14 ERA and 3.82 SIERA. Unfortunately, the 2026 season hasn’t gone quite as well for him. He’s given up 16 runs (15 earned) in 15 innings for the Mets and Twins, with just six strikeouts and a career-worst 38.3% groundball rate. That explains why the veteran passed through waivers so quickly. Still, considering his track record, it wouldn’t be surprising to see García quickly latch on with a team in need of bullpen depth. Teams like that are never in short supply.
A Closer Look At The Best Offense In Baseball
Ah yes, the team we all expected to lead the majors in scoring nearly 50 games into the 2026 season: the New York Yankees (no?), the Los Angeles Dodgers (really?), the Washington Nationals. Wait, what?
Through 48 games, the Nationals are two games below .500 with a run differential (-22) that suggests they’re lucky to have won as many as they have. Their pitchers and defense have allowed a league-worst 284 runs. Yet, their run prevention struggles are hiding just how well they’re done on the other side of the ball.
Through 48 games, the Nationals have scored an MLB-leading 262 runs. That’s 12 more than the Braves in second, 18 more than the AL-leading Yankees, and 95 more than the last-place San Francisco Giants. If they maintain this pace, their 5.46 runs per game would set a new franchise record, surpassing the World Series-winning 2019 club (5.39) and the dominant 1994 Montreal Expos (5.13).
I don’t mean to say I expect the Nationals to keep this up all year. I doubt anyone does. Even so, what they’ve done to this point is impressive, especially considering preseason expectations. Coming into the year, you could have predicted Washington would score the fewest runs in the league, and nobody would have batted an eye. FanGraphs still projects the Nationals to rank last in runs per game over the rest of the season. Yet, they’ve already piled up so many that even if they score at their projected last-place pace (4.28 runs per game) over their final 114 contests, they would finish the year with 750 runs. That would be the fifth-highest total in franchise history.
The Expos/Nationals franchise is in its 58th season, and this is only the ninth year in which the team has scored at least 262 runs over any 48-game stretch. Those other years were 1987 (.562 winning percentage), 1994 (.649), 1996 (.543), 2012 (.605), 2017 (.599), 2018 (.506), and 2019 (.574). All eight seasons were winning campaigns. And heck, the eventual World Series champions in each of the last three seasons (2023-25) led the majors in scoring through their respective 48th games. Once again, I’m not trying to say Washington will win the World Series. I’m not trying to say Washington will finish with a winning record. But 48 games isn’t nothing, and through 48 games, the Nationals’ offense has been a lot more productive than you probably realized.
I’ll admit that the title of this post is a little tongue-in-cheek. However, the Nationals really have hit well this year. Their .740 OPS ranks fifth in MLB, and their 108 wRC+ is sixth. There’s certainly some good luck in their high run total, but it isn’t just the result of timely hitting or balls finding holes. Their .331 expected wOBA ranks seventh in the majors, while their numbers with runners in scoring position are only in the middle of the pack. The BaseRuns formula at FanGraphs, which estimates the number of runs a team would be expected to score based on their underlying offensive stats, suggests that Washington “deserves” to have scored 5.10 runs per game. That’s less than 5.46, but it’s still excellent. Only the Cubs, Dodgers, and Braves have a higher BaseRuns expectation. Meanwhile, Baseball Prospectus’s DRC+, a metric that considers quality of contact instead of just results, ranks the Nationals as MLB’s sixth-best offense – and that’s without giving them credit for their excellent baserunning.
Turning to the individual players, the memory of Juan Soto is powering the Nationals’ lineup in 2026. Shortstop CJ Abrams and outfielder James Wood, both of whom came to Washington in the Soto trade, are tearing the cover off the ball. In fact, they’re both outhitting Soto himself. Wood, the leadoff hitter, is pacing the majors in runs scored, while Abrams, batting cleanup these days, ranks third in RBI. They’re each among the top 20 qualified hitters in OPS and wRC+.
Wood is hitting for a bit more power, and his 17.5% walk rate leads the National League. Abrams puts the ball in play more often, and he’s been flirting with a .300 average for much of the year. The question for Abrams going forward is whether he can avoid another midseason collapse. He started strong in 2024 and ’25 before struggling badly in each season’s second half. As for Wood, the only question is how high he can climb. The numbers are already remarkable, and the way he impacts the baseball suggests his ceiling is even higher. His .393 wOBA ranks 11th among qualified NL batters, but his .425 xwOBA leads the Senior Circuit.
After Wood and Abrams, Daylen Lile is the team’s only other qualified hitter with a wRC+ above league average. That goes to show how much Washington’s two best hitters have done for this offense, but Lile deserves his fair share of credit as well. The left fielder isn’t lighting the world on fire like he was down the stretch last year, but he has continued to be a power threat against right-handed pitching. A deeper team might platoon him more often, but his overall 112 wRC+ is solid, even if a 78 wRC+ against southpaws is dragging that number down.
Speaking of platoons, the Nationals’ best hitter this season – without any playing time minimums – has technically been Joey Wiemer. The righty-batting outfielder began the season by reaching base safely in his first 10 trips to the plate. All in all, he has slashed .300/.410/.529 with a team-best 165 wRC+ in 83 plate appearances. Wiemer’s track record and the underlying numbers made it clear that none of it was sustainable, and the Nationals saw that, optioning him in favor of Dylan Crews earlier today. Regardless, Wiemer is a part of this story, and a pretty important one at that.
So is fellow right-handed batter Curtis Mead, who is finally starting to look like the promising hitter he was in the Phillies’ and Rays’ minor league systems. A .213 isolated power and more walks than strikeouts through 114 plate appearances have resulted in a 133 wRC+. Washington has shielded the infielder from same-handed pitching, but to his credit, his early numbers are equally strong against lefties and righties alike. While the sample is small, Mead is swinging at the right pitches and hitting the ball hard. The Nationals are surely grateful the White Sox designated him for assignment at the beginning of the year.
One last player worth highlighting is Nasim Nuñez. With a .187 batting average and a 54 wRC+, the second baseman has hurt his team’s offense more than he’s helped. Still, he walks enough that he gets on base at a passable rate, and once he reaches base, he might be the most dangerous player in the game. His 20 stolen bases are tied for the MLB lead, while his 3.4 baserunning run value (per FanGraphs) ranks second to only José Ramírez. That accounts for two-thirds of the Nationals’ league-leading 5.1 baserunning runs.
I’ve only touched on six of the 14 players who have stepped to the plate for the Nationals this year, and one of them isn’t even on the active roster anymore. That’s a big reason why this level of success doesn’t seem sustainable. Wood is the closest thing this offense has to a sure bet, and he’s still just a 23-year-old who has never hit this well over a prolonged period of time. The Nationals earned their 262 runs, and they earned the praise I’m giving them. Yet, this praise shouldn’t be confused with confidence. The Nationals have had the most successful offense in baseball over the first eight weeks of the season, but there are a whole lot of weeks left to play.
Stats up-to-date entering play on Tuesday, May 19. Images courtesy of Rafael Suanes, Charles LeClaire, and Patrick Gorski – Imagn Images
The Yankees’ Other Young Ace In The Making
If you weren’t familiar with Cam Schlittler before this season, I’m sure you are now. The 25-year-old owns an AL-leading 1.35 ERA across nine starts. The Yankees are 7-2 in his outings, and opposing batters are hitting .176 against the righty and his devastating three-fastball mix. With Tarik Skubal on the shelf, Schlittler has emerged as an early frontrunner to start for the AL All-Stars this summer in Philadelphia. Some might tell you he’s the Cy Young favorite, too. But Schlittler isn’t the only reason the Yankees’ starting staff has exceeded expectations in 2026.
Will Warren, 27 next month, has a 3.42 ERA through nine starts of his own. With 59 strikeouts, he’s tied with Schlittler for fourth-most in the American League. His 5-1 record also matches Schlittler’s, as does New York’s 7-2 record in his starts. Under the hood, the numbers are just as impressive. Warren ranks among the AL’s top 10 qualified arms in xERA and FIP, while his xFIP and SIERA put him into the league’s top five. The only AL pitchers ahead of him in all four metrics are Schlittler, Dylan Cease, and Jacob deGrom.
One thing all of those “ERA estimators” appreciate is the significance of strikeouts, walks, and their relationship to one another. Warren’s strikeout rate is up from 24.1% in 2025, his first full season, to 29.8% in 2026. His walk rate has dropped by nearly one third, from 9.1% to 6.1%. Accordingly, his 23.7% K-BB% (strikeout rate minus walk rate) is more than 10 percentage points higher than the league average for a starting pitcher. K-BB% is a stat that stabilizes relatively quickly. It’s also one of the strongest predictors of future run prevention. Warren still needs to prove he can pitch this well over a full season, but his much-improved K-BB% is a powerful indicator that his early success is more than smoke and mirrors. Schlittler is turning heads with a 24.8% K-BB% after 202 batters faced. As far as strikeouts and walks are concerned, Warren has been almost equally excellent in a similar-sized sample.
It isn’t hard to see that Warren has been pitching better than he was last year. It’s a little harder to understand how and why. His strikeouts are up and his walks are down, but he isn’t throwing substantially more pitches in the strike zone or generating more swings. His swing-and-miss rate is middle of the pack, while his chase rate is well below league average. Even more curiously, his strikeout and whiff rates are down on his sweeper, which was widely considered his bread and butter in his prospect days. When Warren put up a 4.44 ERA in 33 starts last season, many were quick to note that he did so despite opponents hitting .336 with a .569 slug against his supposed “best pitch.” Instead of being a weapon, it was the least effective sweeper in the game, with a run value of -10, per Baseball Savant. So, it would have made perfect sense to presume that Warren needed to harness his sweeper if he was going to take the next step.
It would have made perfect sense, and yet… the explanation for his success isn’t that simple. Warren throws his four-seam fastball, sinker, and sweeper each about one third of the time against right-handed batters. When he doesn’t have the platoon advantage, he also mixes in a changeup and a curveball to keep lefty batters on their toes. All five of those offerings have above-average (or better) raw stuff this year, according to models like Stuff+ and PitchingBot at FanGraphs.
However, most of his pitches had good stuff last year too. What Warren has really improved in 2026, according to those models, is his command, specifically on his four-seam, sweeper, and changeup. Indeed, a glance at his heat maps will confirm that he’s been hitting his spots with those pitches more frequently. He isn’t letting his four-seam fastball drift to the sides, he’s wasting fewer sweepers, and he’s punishing opposite-handed hitters with his changeup low and away. The righty might not be throwing more pitches in the zone, but he’s throwing pitches where he needs to throw them to earn more strikes.
Just as consequential as where Warren is throwing his pitches is when and where he’s throwing them in relation to one another. In other words, all five of his pitches work in tandem. His changeup works because it plays off his sinker. His sinker works because he pairs it with his four-seam. They all work because his sweeper gives him such a different look. His arsenal is more than the sum of its parts.
To that point, Stuff+ and PitchingBot give Warren strong scores for the stuff and location of each of his individual pitches, but his overall scores – scores that take into account physical pitch characteristics, pitch locations, and situational usage for his entire arsenal – are nothing short of elite. His 118 Pitching+ (a sister metric to Stuff+) ranks third among qualified arms across MLB, trailing only stuff god deGrom and stuff prodigy Jacob Misiorowski. Warren’s overall PitchingBot score is even better, leading all 79 qualified pitchers in the major leagues. It may be just one metric, but it’s a metric that puts him ahead of names like deGrom, Skubal, Skenes… and Schlittler. Pitching+ and PitchingBot aren’t stats you hear about every day, but they’re powerful tools for predicting rest-of-season runs allowed in smaller samples. When all is said and done, what matters is preventing runs and winning ballgames. The pitch models tell us that Warren has the skills to do exactly that.
Gerrit Cole has been out all season. Carlos Rodón only just returned. If Clarke Schmidt pitches at all this year, it won’t be until the latter half of the schedule. Luis Gil is hurt too, and even before he landed on the Triple-A injured list, he was pitching like something was wrong. Those four pitchers made up the Yankees’ rotation as recently as the 2024 World Series. Yet, even without meaningful contributions from any of them, New York’s starters lead the Junior Circuit in wins, xERA, and FanGraphs WAR. Their 3.14 ERA ranks second, and their 16.5% K-BB% ranks third. Not all of that is Warren’s doing – he’s had plenty of help from Schlittler, Max Fried, and Ryan Weathers – but it would be hard to overstate how much he has meant to his team so far in 2026. Cole, Fried, Rodón, and now Schlittler are much bigger names, but Warren is looking like another future ace for New York.
Photos courtesy of Maria Lysaker, Imagn Images.
Astros Select J.P. France, Taylor Trammell
April 10th: The Astros announced the expected moves today. Trammell and France have been added, with Blanco transferred to the 60-day IL. Javier’s injury was listed as a grade two shoulder strain and Meyers’ is a grade two oblique strain. Both are retroactive to April 9th.
April 9th, 11:13 am: Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports that the Astros are also planning to select outfielder Taylor Trammell. This almost certainly indicates that fellow outfielder Jake Meyers is headed to the injured list. Meyers exited on Wednesday with lower back tightness. Like France, Trammell will require a spot on the 40-man roster, and currently, Houston only has one opening. That means the Astros will have to free up one more space to add both France and Trammell before tomorrow’s game. Ronel Blanco, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery last June, is a likely candidate to move from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL.
Trammell, 28, is a five-year MLB veteran. After bouncing from the Mariners to the Dodgers to the Yankees in 2024, he was traded to the Astros ahead of the 2025 campaign. A pair of IL stints limited him to 52 games for Houston, though that was still a career-high for the lefty batter. He slashed .197/.296/.333 with an 80 wRC+, mostly splitting his time between left and center field. He was DFA’d and sent outright to Triple-A after the season. However, a hot spring (.904 OPS, 136 wRC+) and an even hotter start for Sugar Land (1.003 OPS, 177 wRC+) have earned him another chance in the majors. He’s likely to serve as at least the strong half of a platoon in center field while Meyers is on the shelf.
10:00 am: The Astros will select J.P. France’s contract from Triple-A Sugar Land before tomorrow’s game against the Mariners, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. He will be able to take the 40-man roster spot left vacant after Roddery Muñoz was designated for assignment on Monday.
As for the 26-man roster, there’s a good chance France is replacing Cristian Javier, who exited his start on Wednesday with shoulder tightness. It’s also possible the Astros won’t be ready to make a decision about Javier by tomorrow, but that they still want a fresh arm for the bullpen, given the workload their relievers shouldered in yesterday’s 9-1 loss. In that case, they might consider optioning AJ Blubaugh, who has given up nine runs on nine hits in his last two outings. Meanwhile, Spencer Arrighetti is the most likely candidate for a call-up if Houston needs a longer-term replacement for Javier in the rotation. Jason Alexander is also available at Triple-A.
France, 31, made 23 starts for the Astros in 2023, his rookie campaign. Unfortunately, a shoulder injury ruined his next two seasons. He made just seven appearances for Houston between 2024 and ’25 and struggled in a handful of minor league outings as well. The team designated him for assignment this past offseason and sent him outright to Triple-A. However, if the early results from 2026 are any indication, France seems to be throwing with a healthy shoulder again. He struck out 13 batters in 11 2/3innings this spring and another eight in his first 5 1/3 frames for the Sugar Land Space Cowboys. The righty has yet to allow a run at Triple-A, with just one walk and two hits allowed to the 19 batters he’s faced.
If France can get back to pitching the way he did in 2023 – whether he’s starting or working in long relief – the Astros will surely be grateful. Through 13 games, Houston’s pitchers have the highest ERA in the AL (6.05). Walks and home runs have both been serious problems. What’s more, two of the team’s most important arms are on the injured list: Hunter Brown (shoulder strain) and Josh Hader (biceps tendinitis). Losing Javier for any period of time would only further weaken a beleaguered staff. While the team still has depth arms to call on for the rotation and the bullpen, those options are starting to wear thin.
Dodgers Release Nick Nastrini
The Dodgers have released Nick Nastrini, according to his transaction log on MLB.com. The right-hander made one appearance for the Tulsa Drillers, L.A.’s Double-A affiliate, earlier this season. He failed to record an out and walked all three batters he faced.
Nastrini, 26, began his professional career in the Dodgers organization. They took him in the fourth round of the 2021 draft, and he worked his way up to Double-A Tulsa. He was traded to the White Sox ahead of the deadline in 2023, along with Trayce Thompson and Jordan Leasure, in the deal that sent Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly back to L.A.
The following season, Nastrini made his MLB debut for the White Sox, pitching in nine games (eight starts). Unfortunately, the righty went 0-7 with a 7.07 ERA. He finished with more walks (36), hits (32), and earned runs (28) than strikeouts (26).
Nastrini has not appeared in the majors since September 2024. He started the 2025 season down at Triple-A Charlotte. The Marlins and then the Dodgers claimed him off waivers in quick succession last July, and he finished the 2025 Triple-A season with an 8.56 ERA in 47.1 innings for three organizations. Once again, he walked more batters (50) than he struck out (49). Now a free agent, he is eligible to sign with a new organization that can hopefully help him improve his command and get back to the big leagues.
Nationals Have Not Yet Made Extension Offer To Daylen Lile
The Nationals only have one player on a guaranteed contract past the 2026 season: catcher Keibert Ruiz, who signed an eight-year, $50MM extension ahead of the 2023 campaign. So, president of baseball operations Paul Toboni should have plenty of financial flexibility for 2027 and beyond. After all, his team’s payroll right now is less than half of what it was during Washington’s World Series-winning 2019 season. As Spencer Nusbaum of The Athletic recently acknowledged, some of those savings have been put toward improving the club’s scouting and player development. Even so, it would be surprising if Toboni weren’t at least considering extending any of the Nationals’ talented young players.
If there’s anyone the Nationals and their fan base would most love to lock up long-term, it’s outfielder James Wood. However, the All-Star slugger isn’t the only extension candidate on the roster. He isn’t even the only left-handed hitting, 23-year-old, corner outfield extension candidate on the roster. And while this second outfielder might not be a star of Wood’s stature, he would certainly be easier (and less expensive) for Washington to extend: Daylen Lile.
Nusbaum wrote about Lile earlier this week. Crucially, he acknowledged that “the Nationals have yet to broach Lile with an extension offer.” Meanwhile, Lile’s thoughts on the matter boiled down to “whatever happens, happens.” Yet, Nusbaum also reported that Beverly Hills Sports Council, Lile’s agency, is “always open to engaging with teams in extension conversations.” Two of their notable clients include Jackson Chourio and Kristian Campbell, both of whom signed similar early-career extensions. It’s worth noting that Lile already has more MLB service than either Chourio or Campbell had when they signed their deals, and he was never anywhere close to being the same caliber of prospect. In other words, Chourio and Campbell are far from perfect comps. Nonetheless, it does matter that Lile’s representatives are open to negotiating this type of contract, especially because Wood’s agency, Boras Corporation, has a reputation for opposing pre-arbitration extensions. (Although, the deal that fellow Boras client Cooper Pratt just signed is proof that’s not a hard-and-fast rule).
Lile debuted last May and earned a regular role in the starting lineup by mid-June, looking more and more comfortable as his rookie year went on. His .956 OPS in the second half ranked second among qualified NL hitters, trailing only MVP Shohei Ohtani. His 1.212 OPS in September bested even Ohtani’s, and his 1.83 Win Probability Added in the month was the highest in Major League Baseball. All told, Lile finished his first MLB campaign with an .845 OPS and a 132 wRC+. He hit nine home runs, 15 doubles, and an incredible 11 triples in just 91 games. His strikeout rate and whiff rate both put him among the best 20% of hitters in the league. Only three players took as many trips to the plate as Lile and posted both a higher contact rate and a higher isolated power: José Ramírez, Cody Bellinger, and Isaac Paredes. At season’s end, 11 of 30 BBWAA voters named Lile on their NL Rookie of the Year ballots. He finished fifth.
The sample was small, just 351 PA, and Lile’s success was largely limited to one red-hot month within that already small sample. He also dragged his overall numbers down with shockingly poor defensive metrics (-14 DRS, -8 OAA, -10 FRV) and disappointing baserunning for a player with his speed (8-for-14 in stolen base attempts). Still, he demonstrated real promise, giving himself a strong foundation to build upon in his first full MLB season. Nusbaum notes that evaluators within the Nationals organization “believe in the bat.”
So, despite Lile’s slow start in 2026 – his swing decisions have been worse, and his groundball rate has spiked – it’s not hard to see why an extension might appeal to Washington’s front office. Lile showed off his high ceiling in 2025, but he remains far from a sure thing. If the Nationals truly believe in his bat, now would be their chance to secure him beyond his arbitration years before his price shoots up.