The Baseball Buffet for 3/27/2025

Issue #226

What follows is a new feature for 2025 at Now Taking the Field. The goal with The Baseball Buffet series is to provide the best daily dose of relevant baseball info in a smart-brevity format (mostly short bullets, getting to the point, with quick analysis/insights.) Think of it like what baseball fans of a certain age would look forward to in their morning newspaper’s sports section each day!

So, after today, The Baseball Buffet will begin with key highlights/takeaways from the previous days games and the latest injuries and other player moves.. Most issues will have some historical trivia, and then focus primarily on a preview of the current day’s matchups, including details like who is on a hitting streak, today’s interesting hitter vs. pitcher matchups, the day’s starting pitcher strikeout analysis, and so on. I will create this type of daily newsletter as often as I can—eventually my goal will be every single day! Specific features and info provided will be mostly consistent from day to day, with some tweaks here and there—based on my schedule, but also especially as I get feedback from readers like you. What do you think of the below? Let me know in the comments or shoot me an email at [email protected].

⚾ Welcome to Opening Day 2025! ⚾

Well, nearly-full opening day that is… as there are two caveats. The Rockies vs. Rays opening day has been pushed back to tomorrow in order to get Steinbrenner Field (the Yankees’ spring training stadium) ready for major league regular season play. And two teams, the Dodgers and Cubs already played two regular-season games in Japan back on March 18th and 19th. Here is a quick recap of what happened there in case you missed it:

• March 18th: Dodgers 4, Cubs 1. The teams showcased two of their Japanese hurlers, and both did well: Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched 5 IP, allowing 3 H and 1 ER, with 4 K, while Shota Imanaga pitched 4 innings of no-hit ball, striking out 2 but walking 4. Shohei Ohtani hit leadoff for the Dodgers and went 2-5 with a double and a single, and newly acquired reliever Tanner Scott picked up his first save as a Dodger.

• March 19th: Dodgers 6, Cubs 3. The Dodgers jumped out to an early lead, scoring 5 runs in 4 innings off Justin Steele. Japanese major league rookie Roki Sasaki made his debut, pitching 3 IP, allowing 1 H and 1 ER, with 3 K, but walking 5. Tommy Edman, Kike Hernandez, and Shohei Ohtani each hit a HR for the Dodgers.

☀️ Spring Training Leaders

Pitchers try to new pitches. Hitters tweak their stances. Major leaguers are working through injuries and back into playing shape. And prospects and minor leaguers are everywhere. So for these reasons and more, spring training statistics are notoriously poor predictors of regular season performance. That all said, for what its worth here are some 2025 spring training statistical leaders a few standard categories:

HR

• 6 - Matt Chapman, SFG

• 6 - Vinny Capra, MIL

• 6 - Rhys Hoskins, MIL

• 6 - Gavin Sheets, SDP

• 6 - Trayce Thompson, BOS

• 6 - Matt Wallner, MIN

• 6 - Austin Wells, NYY

Interesting mix of guys here, but I’m going out on a limb and predicting Vinny Capra won’t be amongst the league leaders in HR during the regular season.

Hits

• 23 - Jackson Chourio, MIL (23-49, .469) - also led all spring hitters with 9 doubles

• 22 - Oscar González, SDP (22-55, .400)

• 22 - Curtis Mead, TBR (22-51, .524)

• 21 - Ty France, MIN (21-44, .477)

• 21 - Randy Arozarena (21-60, .350)

• 21 - Josh Lowe, TBR (21-49, .429)

• 21 - Ketel Marte, AZ (21-60, .350)

• 20 - Cody Bellinger, NYY (20-50, .400)

None of these guys had more than 3 HR during the spring (Arozarena and Bellinger had 3 each). The Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong (CHC) had 3 HR too, and had a .500 average, just in fewer at-bats (16-32). Some other impressive batting averages were Houston’s Jeremy Peña (19-40, .475), Colorado’s Hunter Goodman (19-42, .452), and Milwaukee’s William Contreras (16-36, .444).

Total Bases

Gavin Sheets not only tied for the spring lead with 6 HR, but also tied for the lead in total bases with 38. The other player with 38 was the Mets’ Brett Baty, who went 18-51, with 6 doubles, 1 triple, and 4 HR.

Pitcher Strikeouts

• 30 - Garrett Crochet, BOS (also had a tidy 0.57 ERA, 1 ER in 15.2 IP)

• 29 - Hunter Greene, CIN (21 IP)

• 28 - Spencer Schwellenbach, ATL (21 IP)

• 26 - Dylan Cease, SDP (19.1 IP)

• 26 - Michael Wacha, KCR (17.2 IP)

• 26 - Gavin Williams, CLE (17.1 IP)

On this day in baseball history…

Here is what stands out to me for this day in baseball history (for a longer list, see the feature at the Baseball Almanac or the Bullpen feature at Baseball-Reference.com):

📅 On March 27…

• 1902: Unofficial birth of the name “Cubs”. In 1902, the nickname “Cubs” is first used in print in an unbylined column in the Chicago Daily News. It was a reference to the youth of the team’s roster. Previously the franchise went by the names White Stockings, Colts, and even the Orphans. It took a few more years for the name “Cubs” to become official.

• 1987: The David Cone trade. The New York Mets acquire pitcher David Cone from the Kansas City Royals for catcher Ed Hearn and two pitching prospects, Mauro Gozzo and Rick Anderson. Cone went on to stardom, posting a 20-3 record for the Mets in 1988, while Hearn's promising career was curtailed by injuries.

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys🎉

• C Buster Posey (1987) is a likely Hall of Famer after being a leader on the Giants for 12 seasons, including three World Series championships in 2010, 2012, and 2014. A seven-time All-Star, Posey was NL Rookie of the year in 2010 and then NL MVP two years later when he led the league with a .336 average to go with career highs of 24 HR and 103 RBI.

• 2B Miller Huggins (1878) was of course the Hall of Fame manager of the powerhouse New York Yankees of the 1920s, but before that he was a 2B and eventually player-manager for the St. Louis Cardinals. He had a keen batting eye, leading the NL in walks four times and retired with a .382 OBP (on top of a mediocre .265 batting average). He scored 100+ runs three times and had 25+ SB eight times.

• OF Brandon Nimmo has thus far played nine seasons for the Mets and is one of the better current players to not yet have been selected as an All-Star. In 2024 he set a career high with 15 SB to go along with 23 HR and 90 RBI, but his batting average dipped to a paltry .224.

• OF Michael Cuddyer (1979) played in parts of 15 seasons, mostly with the Twins. He had some power, with four seasons of 20+ HR and a high of 32 HR in 2009. A two-time All-Star, he led the NL in batting average with a .331 mark while playing with the Rockies.

• SP Dick Ruthven (1951) pitched for 14 years in the majors, mostly with the Phillies, but spending some time with the Braves and Cubs too. Oddly he was an All-Star in both 1976 and 1981, even though he led the NL in earned runs allowed in both of those seasons.

Today’s Matchups

As with every opening day, there a lot of great pitchers throwing… Chris Sale, Garrett Crochet, Zack Wheeler, and many more. My two favorite SP matchups are:

• PIT Paul Skenes vs. MIA Sandy Alcantara. Skenes is making his first opening day start after winning NL ROY last year, and it is great to see Sandy back and looking sharpe—he didn’t let up any runs in 12.1 IP during spring training. Anything can happen, but if I had to pick a game to be 1-0 today, it would be this one since neither PIT or MIA look to have scary offenses this year.

• DET Tarik Skubal vs. LAD Blake Snell. Skubal won the AL Cy Young after a triple crown season last year, but the Dodgers are… the World Series champs and look even better this year, including with two-time Cy Young Award winner Snell now onboard (though he didn’t do much during spring training).

HR Watch

Predicting who might hit a HR on any given day is a challenge—especially early the season and most of all on Opening Day. Lots of aces going today, but here are some guys who have done well in the past against today’s starting pitchers:

• BAL Adley Rutschman, is 13-22 (.591) with 3 HR and 2 D vs. TOR SP José Berríos

• TOR Vladimir Guerrero Jr., is 7-19 with 2 HR and a double vs. BAL Zach Eflin.

• KCR Vinnie Pasquantino, in a very small sample, is 6-8 with 2 HR and a double vs. CLE Tanner Bibee.

• KCR Michael Massey, also in a very small sample, is 2-7 with 2 HR vs. CLE Tanner Bibee.

Hits Watch

If you play MLB’s Beat the Streak mobile game, or otherwise bet on/parlay players to collect hits, I’ll try to provide some good options in this section. Early in the season there aren’t any active streaks to report on yet, so in addition to the HR Watch guys listed above, here are a few others who have managed to hit their opposing SP today well in the past:

• AZ Gabriel Moreno, 7-8 with 3 D vs. CHC Justin Steele (small sample, but wow!)

• TOR Alejandro Kirk, 6-14 vs. BAL Zach Eflin

• PHI Trea Turner, 6-17 with 3 D vs. WAS Mackenzie Gore

• NYY Cody Bellinger, 5-12 with a HR and a double vs. MIL Freddy Peralta

Who might struggle today?

Betting against any given player to not get a hit is tough, as guys in the starting lineup get at least one hit in a game more often than not. That said, here are some guys who clearly have struggled against their opposing SP today:

• OAK Seth Brown, 1-23 with 9 K vs. SEA Logan Gilbert (though the one hit was a HR)

• KCR MJ Melendez, 0-12 with 7 K vs. CLE Tanner Bibee (and… will their bullpen be outstanding again this year?)

• KCR Salvador Perez, 0-11 with 5 K vs. CLE Tanner Bibee

• OAK Brent Rooker, 1-13 with 7 K vs. SEA Logan Gilbert

• CHC Ian Happ, 1-13 with 5K vs. AZ Zac Gallen

• AZ Eugenio Suárez, 0-8 with 6 K vs. CHC Justin Steele (though Suárez ended 2024 strong and did well during spring training too)

• SDP Jake Cronenworth, 0-8 with 5 K vs. ATL Chris Sale

• PIT Andrew McCutchen, 1-11 with 5 K vs. MIA Sandy Alcantara

• DET Gleyber Torres, 2-16 with 6 K and a HR vs. LAD Blake Snell

Once we get a few weeks into the season I’ll often share out some starting pitchers to consider for strikeout totals (over/under bets), some teams that might explode offensively that day, and even some fun with NRFI (no-runs in the first inning bets). But these kinds of things are hard to judge early in the season until we see how teams and players are starting out the year.

⚾ Enjoy Opening Day! ⚾

This newsletter was produced with beehiiv, an outstanding platform for creating email newsletters and blogs. If this might be of interest for your own creative work, get a 30-day trial and 30% off your first three months!