The Baseball Buffet for 3/30/2025

Issue #229

What follows is the third issue (I’m on a roll!) of 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! Let me know what you think of each issue… leave a comment on the post or send me an email at [email protected].

⚾ The season has begun! ⚾

Third day of the season included a full slate of 15 games, with the first being a bit different than the others:

• MIL 9, NYY 20 - I noted yesterday that Nestor Cortes was facing his old Yankees teammates—perhaps that wasn’t such a good idea. The Yankees set a new record by hitting a HR on the first three pitches they were offered to start the game: Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger, Aaron Judge. Overall Cortes let up 5 HR and 8 ER in just 2 IP. Then Connor Thomas came in and let up 3 HR and 8 ER in just 2 IP. Max Fried’s regular season debut for the Yankees wasn’t very good either (4.2 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 2 ER), but it doesn’t matter when your offense slugs nine HR in the game: Judge (3), Goldschmidt, Bellinger, Wells, Volpe, Chisholm, and Peraza.

• LAA 1, CHW 0 - Jose Soriano (7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 5 K), Ben Joyce, and Kenley Jansen combined on a two-hitter. Granted the White Sox don’t have a scary lineup, but a Joyce-Jansen 8th and 9th is a recipe for success.

• MIN 1, STL 5 - Joe Ryan pitched well (5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 5 K) but the Twins bullpen let up 4 runs in 3 innings.

• BAL 9, TOR 5 - 2B Jordan Westburg went 4-5 with two HR to lead the Orioles offense which managed 12 hits against six different Blue Jays pitchers.

• CLE 3, KCR 4 - The Royals spread ten hits across eight batters to produce four runs which was enough for the win as their bullpen pitched four strong innings allowing only 1 H and 0 ER.

• SFG 2, CIN 3 - Justin Verlander was pretty good (5 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 5K) and Wilmer Flores hit his second HR of the year, but it wasn’t enough as the Reds got homers from Matt McLain and a game-winner from Christian Encarnacion-Strand.

• COL 2, TBR 1 - Zack Littell pitched very well (6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7K) and the Rays had twice as many hits as the Rockies (12-6), But they left 12 runners on base while the Rockies only stranded 4, allowing Colorado to pick up their first win.

• PHI 11, WAS 6 - Each team had three HR, but the Phillies did far better (5-12) hitting with runners in scoring position than the Nationals (1-10). Jesus Luzardo was solid (5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 11 K) in his first start for the Phillies.

• PIT 4, MIA 5 - Each time the Pirates scored a run, the Marlins scored one soon after. They literally scored one run at a time to reach 3-3 and go into extras, then it was 4-4 after 11, and then finally Miami won it 5-4 in the bottom of the 12th inning. No HR hit and 13 pitchers used.

• BOS 3, TEX 4 - Top prospect 2B Kristian Campbell hit his first major league HR, but Walker Buehler struggled a bit (4.1 IP, 7 H, 4 ER), especially with OF Adolis Garcia who hit a HR and a double off him (adding another double later).

• NYM 1, HOU 2 - Spencer Arrighetti (6 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 5 K) combined with three relievers to one-hit the Mets, with the one hit being a double by Juan Soto. As I said earlier, a strength of the Astros this year could be starting pitchers combing with Bryan Abreu in the 8th and Josh Hader in the 9th.

• ATL 0, SDP 1 - Both starters did well: Spencer Schwellenbach (6 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 4 K) and Randy Vasquez (6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 3 K), but Jake Cronenworth hit a double in the 7th and later scored the games only run.

• CHC 4, AZ 3 - Eugenio Suárez continued his hot hitting with his 4th HR (and that is after a good spring and strong end to the 2024 season), but the D-Backs fell short as Shota Imanaga pitched well (7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 4 K) and OF Kyle Tucker hit his first HR of the year and so did rookie 3B Matt Shaw—a solo shot in the 7th which ended up being the game-winning run.

• DET 3, LAD 7 - The Tigers scored two runs in the top of the first inning as Roki Sasaki struggled a bit in his second start. But the Dodgers kept adding runs little by little, including solo HR from Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, and Tommy Edman.

• ATH 4, SEA 2 - Catcher Shea Langeliers hit a 2-run HR in the 4th to give the Athletics and early lead, and then fireballer Mason Miller closed things out with 3 strikeouts and his first save of 2025.

Who’s on the move?

In this section I won’t list 26th-man moves, or every time a team shuttles relievers back and forth to AAA to keep a stock of fresh arms in the bullpen. I’ll focus on the biggest, more impactful demotions, promotions, and injury list changes (for a full list, see all the latest MLB transactions).

➕ Starting Rehab Assignment

• NYY RP Ian Hamilton

🤕 Placed on the IL

• TBR RF Josh Lowe - they called up 29-year old Jake Mangum who batted .317 with 20 SB last year at AAA.

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 30…

• 1952: Early 20th century pitching star Deacon Phillippe died at the age of 79. Six-time 20-game winner Deacon Phillippe played from 1899-1911, with all but his first season with Pittsburgh Pirates. He was a key member of four Pirates pennant-winning clubs, including throwing an amazing five complete games (!) in the 1903 World Series. Overall in his career he posted a 189-109 (.634) record, completing 242 of his 289 starts, and had a 2.59 ERA and 119 ERA+.

• 1992: The Cubs make what turns out to be an outstanding trade, acquiring young outfielder Sammy Sosa and pitcher Ken Patterson from the Chicago White Sox for veteran outfielder George Bell.

• 2000: Rickey Henderson becomes only the second player to steal a base in four different decades. The first player to do so? Would you believe Ted Williams, who only had 24 total SB in his entire career? It just so happened that he had 2 SB in 1939, and 1 in 1960, with the rest coming in the 1940s and 1950s. (Worth noting that Henderson’s speedster contemporary Tim Raines joined this exclusive group in 2001.)

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys🎉

• SP Chris Sale (1989) was an All-Star every season from 2012-18, and came in the top six in the AL Cy Young Award vote each year, but never won. After some down seasons and injuries, he came back strong in his age-35 campaign in 2024 with the Braves, leading the NL with 18 wins, 225 strikeouts, and a 2.38 ERA en route to winning the NL Cy Young Award.

• 3B Alex Bregman (1994) was an All-Star in both 2018 and 2019 with the Astros, as he led the AL with 51 doubles in 2018, and then was the AL MVP runner-up in 2019 after he hit 41 HR with 122 runs, 112 RBI, a .296/.423/.592 slash line and 162 OPS+.

• CF George Van Haltren (1866) was a 19th century star who scored 100+ runs in 11 seasons for a career total of 1,642. He also stole 583 SB and had a .316/.386/.418 slash line and 122 OPS+.

• 1B Ripper Collins (1904) had a relatively short career, but two really strong seasons. In 1934 he posted 200 hits with 35 HR, 116 runs, 128 RBI, and a .333/.393/.615 slash line and 158 OPS+. The following year he managed 23 HR with 109 runs, 122 RBI, and a .313/.385/.529 slash line and 139 OPS+.

Today’s Matchups

The first truly full slated of games (15) of the season, so lots of possibilities:

• BAL vs. TOR gives us our first regular season look at Japanese import SP Tomoyuki Sugano, as he faces veteran SP Chris Bassitt.

• BOS vs. TEX is an interesting matchup, with 25-year old Richard Fitts (1.74 in four starts last year) on the hill for Boston, and 36-year old superstar Jacob deGrom making his season debut for Texas.

HR Watch

Predicting who might hit a HR on any given day is a challenge—especially early the season. But here are a few to consider based on opposing SP past performance:

• ATL Marcell Ozuna is a pedestrian 8-29 (.278) with 8 K vs. SDP Nick Pivetta… but 6 of his 8 hits are HR.

• ATL Orlando Arcia is 6-9 with 2 HR and a double in a small sample vs. SDP Nick Pivetta.

• KCR Vinnie Pasquantino, in a very small sample, is 6-8 with 2 HR and a double vs. CLE Tanner Bibee (who was scratched from opening day due to illness.)

• 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 some others to consider based on opposing SP past performance:

• BAL Ryan O’Hearn, small sample but is 5-11 with a HR vs. TOR Chris Bassitt.

• SEA Mitch Garver, small sample but is 4-9 with a HR and a double vs. lefty ATH JP Sears (and Garver has strong splits vs. LHP)

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:

• KCR MJ Melendez, 0-12 with 7 K vs. CLE Tanner Bibee

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

• SFG Mike Yastrzemski, 0-11 with 7 K vs. CIN Nick Martinez

• BOS Trevor Story, 2-18 with 7 K vs. TEX Jacob deGrom

• MIL Rhys Hoskins, 1-17 with 6 K vs. NYY Marcus Stroman

• ATH Brent Rooker, 1-11 with 6 K (though the hit was a HR) vs. SEA Bryan Woo

• ATH Lawrence Butler, 1-10 with 4 K vs. SEA Bryan Woo

• ATL Michael Harris II, 0-10 with 5 K vs. SDP Nick Pivetta

• AZ Eugenio Suárez, 1-10 with 5 K vs. CHC Matthew Boyd - though he has hit well this spring and has 4 HR in the first 3 games

• BAL Tyler O’Neill, 1-14 but only 1 K vs. TOR Chris Bassitt

Once we get a few weeks into the season I’ll starting sharing 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 Day Four! ⚾

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