The Baseball Buffet for 4/16/2025

Issue #246

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! Let me know what you think of each issue… leave a comment on the post or send me an email at [email protected].

⚾ Welcome! ⚾

The 20th day of the season included a full slate (15) of games scheduled:

• WAS 3, PIT 0 - James Wood hit his sixth HR of the year, and Jake Irvin pitched well (7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 6 K), combining with Jose Ferrer and Kyle Finnegan on a four-hit shutout.

• SEA 4, CIN 8 - Dylan Moore had 2 HR and drove in all four of the Mariners’ runs, but five Reds relievers came in and shut things down. LF Gavin Lux went 4-4 and DH Austin Hays went 2-4 with a three-run HR in his first game of the year for Cincinnati.

• AZ 10, MIA 4 - Merrill Kelly pitched well (6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 9 K) and the D-Backs had three HR from Geraldo Perdomo, Josh Naylor, and a grand slam by Corbin Carroll.

• SFG 4, PHI 6 - J.T. Realmuto hit his first HR of the year, and Bryce Harper hit his third, helping to hand the Giants only their fifth loss of the season.

• CLE 6, BAL 3 - Logan Allen pitched well (5.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 6 K) and Emmanuel Clase was finally able to lock down his second save of the year. Cedric Mullins and Steven Kwan homered in this one.

• BOS 7, TBR 4 - Jonathan Aranda went 2-3 with a HR, raising his average to .413 on the year. But this was Alex Bregman’s game as he went 5-5 with 2 HR, a double and 4 RBI. That is the first 5-5 game of the year, and an interesting twist is that Bregman is about to go on paternity leave as his wife is about to give birth to their second child.

• KCR 2, NYY 4 - M.J. Melendez finally hit his first HR of the season, but otherwise Max Fried pitched well (6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 7 K) and Luke Weaver and Devin Williams closed it out.

• ATL 3, TOR 6 - Atlanta outhit Toronto 8-6, and had homers from Austin Riley, Matt Olson, and Ozzie Albies. But Spencer Schwellenbach had his first bad outing of the year (4.2 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 3 K), allowing five runs off HR to Alan Roden and Anthony Santander in the fifth inning.

• NYM 3, MIN 6 - Pete Alonso had his fifth HR of the year, and Juan Soto had his third. But the Twins connected for 13 hits and spread 6 runs across five different innings.

• ATH 12, CHW 3 - The first four Athletics hitters were a combined 10-18, with catcher Shea Langeliers going 3-5 with a HR and a double, and 1B Tyler Soderstrom going 3-5 with 2 HR and 6 RBI. With those two homers Soderstrom becomes the major league HR leader with 8, with an amazing nine other players tied for second with 6 each.

• DET 0, MIL 5 - Quinn Priester pitched well (5 IP, 1 H, 4 K) and four Milwaukee relievers combined with him for a 1-hit shoutout. Rhys Hoskins went 3-4 with his first HR of the year.

• HOU 2, STL 0 - A nice pitcher’s duel in this one as Erick Fedde pitched well (6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 5 K), and Hunter Brown did also (6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 4 K). The Astros bullpen came in and completed the shutout, with Josh Hader getting his fourth save.

• LAA 0, TEX 4 - Yusei Kikuchi pitched well (6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 6 K) but the Angels couldn’t do much against Tyler Mahle (6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 9 K) and the four Texas relievers who combined for the shutout.

• CHC 2, SDP 1 - Randy Vasquez pitched well (5 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 2 K) but so did Shota Imanaga (5 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 7 K). The bullpens kept a lid on scoring to force a tenth inning, when Nico Hoerner hit a triple to score Dansby Swanson for the decisive run.

• COL 2, LAD 6 - Tommy Edman went 4-5 with two doubles, and Will Smith hit his second HR of the year, while five Dodgers pitchers held the Rockies to only five hits and two runs.

Today’s Trivia Question

Who is the only player to play for all four original expansion franchises and ONLY those franchises?

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

• BOS SP Lucas Giolito

• CHC SP Javier Assad

• PIT IF Jared Triolo

• NYM C Francisco Alvarez

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 April 16…

• 1940: Rapid Robert throws an opening day no-hitter. Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians throws an Opening Day no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox, winning 1-0 at Comiskey Park.

• 1948: The first game is televised. According to baseball-reference.com, “WGN-TV televises a major league baseball game for the first time. With Jack Brickhouse doing the play-by-play, the White Sox beat the Cubs, 4-1, in the first game of the Windy City Classic played at Wrigley Field.”

• 1972: Burt Hooton throws a no-hitter. After pitching three games in 1971, a still 22-year-old rookie Burt Hooton of the Cubs no-hits the Phillies 4-0.

• 1978 - Bob Forsch throws a no-hitter. Bob Forsch of the St. Louis Cardinals no-hits the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-0. Less than a year later his brother Ken will pitch a no-hitter for the Astros.

• 1983: Garvey sets NL consecutive game record. Padres first baseman Steve Garvey plays in his 1,118th consecutive game, breaking Billy Williams' N.L. record. His streak will continue a bit longer and reach 1,207 games.

• 1989: First Blue Jay to hit for the cycle. Kelly Gruber becomes the first member of the Blue Jays to hit for the cycle as Toronto beats Kansas City 15-8.

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys🎉

• Paul Waner (1903) is a Hall of Famer who played the majority of his career with the Pirates, alongside his younger brother Lloyd Waner. He led the NL with 22 triples in his rookie season, then was NL MVP the following year when he led the NL with 237 hits, 18 triples, 131 RBI, and a .380 average. He won two more batting titles in 1934 and 1936, and scored 100+ runs in nine seasons. He retired with an impressive .333/.404/.473 slash line and 134 OPS+.

• Nolan Arenado (1991) is one of today’s star players, having won 10 consecutive Gold Gloves at 3B from 2013-2022, and hitting over 300 HR so far. He led the NL in HR in 2015, 2016, and 2018 while with the Rockies and has had seven seasons of 100+ RBI. An 8-time All-Star, Arenado thus far has a 121 OPS+ for his career.

• Dutch Leonard (1892) was a left-handed pitcher with the Red Sox and the Tigers from 1913-21, and then after leaving for a couple of years due to a salary dispute, returned for the 1924-25 seasons. While he retired with a 2.76 ERA and 115 ERA+, during his peak seasons from 1913-1919 he had a 2.22 ERA and 126 ERA+. His best season was his second and age-22 campaign when he posted a microscopic 0.96 ERA with a 19-5 record for the Red Sox.

• Jim Lonborg (1942) pitched from 1965-79, mostly with the Red Sox and Phillies, but with one season in the middle of his career for the Brewers. He won 15+ games three times, but his one All-Star campaign was his third season, in 1967, when he went 20-9 with a 3.16 ERA, led the AL with 246 strikeouts, and took home the AL Cy Young Award.

Today’s Matchups

Another full slate (15) of games today, so lots of possibilities. Some games that jump out to me are:

• ATL vs. TOR features Spencer Strider’s return facing off against the Blue Jays and Chris Bassitt. Strider was out almost all of last year, but seems ready to go again after some clearly unfair AAA matchups as he threw 13.2 innings, allowed only 5 H and 2 ER… and struck out 27.

• CHC vs. SDP has two veterans off to similarly good starts in 2025 with Matthew Boyd (3 GS, 17 IP, 13 H, 17 K, 1.59 ERA) going against Nick Pivetta (3 GS, 17 IP, 10 H, 18 K, 1.59 ERA).

• COL vs. LAD features the 2025 debut of the Dodgers’ Bobby Miller who was in the running for a rotation spot this year until he took a line drive off his head early in spring training. He seems good to go now, having been solid at AAA with a 2.25 ERA over 12 IP with only 6 hits allowed and 11 K.

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:

• LAD Max Muncy, only 7-32 but with 4 HR and a double vs. COL Germán Márquez

• CHC Justin Turner, small sample but is 5-8 with 2 HR and 2 doubles vs. SDP Nick Pivetta

• WAS Josh Bell, small sample but is 5-7 with 2 HR and a double vs. PIT Bailey Falter

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:

• ATL Bryan De La Cruz, 6-10 with a HR and 3 doubles vs. TOR Chris Bassitt

• PHI Bryce Harper, 5-11 with a HR and a double vs. SFG Robbie Ray

• LAA Travis d’Arnaud, 8-18 vs. TEX Patrick Corbin

Who is streaking?

These are players on active hit streaks and who for this reason might also be interesting picks to get a hit today:

• 11 - STIL Brendan Donovan

• 9 - MIL William Contreras

• 8 - AZ Corbin Carroll

• 8 - MIA Xavier Edwards

• 8 - ATL Austin Riley

• 8 - ATL Ozzie Albies

• 8 - KCR Bobby Witt Jr

• 8 - TOR Miles Straw

• 7 - COL Brenton Doyle

• 7 - HOU Jeremy Pena

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:

• SFG Willie Adames, 0-16 with 9 K vs. PHI Aaron Nola — ouch!

• LAD Michael Conforto, 1-11 with 6 K vs. COL Germán Márquez

• LAD Will Smith, 2-17 with 5 K (though one hit was a HR) vs. COL Germán Márquez

• CHC Ian Happ, small sample but is 1-7 with 6 K vs. SDP Nick Pivetta

• LAA Jorge Soler, 2-19 with 5 K vs. TEX Patrick Corbin

• LAA Kevin Newman, 2-17 though with 0 K vs. TEX Patrick Corbin

• PHI J.T. Realmuto, 1-10 with 4 K vs. SFG Robbie Ray

⚾ Enjoy the games today!⚾

Today’s Trivia Answer

Who is the only player to play for all four original expansion franchises and ONLY those franchises? Nolan Ryan, as he pitched for the Angels and Rangers (who entered the AL in 1961 as expansion franchises) and Mets and Astros (who began play in 1962 in the NL).

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