The Baseball Buffet for 4/18/2025

Issue #249

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 22nd day of the season included a partial slate (10) of games scheduled:

• WAS 0, PIT 1 - Trevor Williams pitched well (5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 5 K), except for allowing a solo HR to Oneil Cruz. That was all the Pirates needed for the win, as lefty Andrew Heaney also pitched well (7.1 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, and 4 K), and Ryan Borucki and Dennis Santana combined on the shutout.

• AZ 6, MIA 4 - Miami outhit Arizona 13-5, but were only 2 for 18 with runners in scoring position and left 15 runners on base. The D-Backs on the other hand got HR by Pavin Smith and Josh Naylor, and ran well on the bases with six SB.

• SEA 11, CIN 7 - There were 23 total hits in this one and the scoring went back and forth resulting in a 7-7 tie through nine innings. The Reds had HR from Austin Hays and Jake Fraley, while the Mariners had HR from Luke Raley, Cal Raleigh, and Randy Arozarena. A couple of hits, a walk, and an error in the top of the ninth led to Seattle going ahead by four, and then the Mariners 8th pitcher of the game, closer Andrés Muñoz, locked things down in the bottom of the tenth.

• ATH 8, CHW 0 - JP Sears pitched well (6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 K) and the Athletics had HR from Lawrence Butler, JJ Bleday, Tyler Soderstrom, and Brent Rooker.

• SFG 4, PHI 6 - The Phillies jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first inning, and other than allowing a 2-run HR to Matt Chapman, Cristopher Sanchez pitched really well (7 IP, 4 H 2 ER, 1 BB, 12 K).

• CLE 2, BAL 6 - Daniel Schneemann and Austin Hedges hit solo homers, but those were the only runs allowed by Tomoyuki Sugano (7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 K). The Orioles on the other hand scored six off three HR by Gunnar Henderson (his first of the year!), Ryan O’Hearn, and Heston Kjerstad.

• KCR 1, DET 6 - Reese Olson pitched well (5 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 5 K) and Tommy Kahnle picked up his third save of the year. No Detroit homers, but Gleyber Torres, Kerry Carpenter, Spencer Torkelson, and Riley Greene went a combined 10-19 on the day.

• STL 1, NYM 4 - Mark Vientos finally hit his first HR of the year, Griffin Canning pitched well (6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 8 K), and Edwin Diaz notched his fourth save.

• NYY 6, TBR 3 - Junior Caminero hit his fifth HR of the season. but the Yankees got to Taj Bradley (5.1 IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 4 BB, 3 K) in the 5th and 6th innings. Oswaldo Cabrera hit his first HR of the year, and closer Devin Williams locked down his fourth save.

• LAA 3, TEX 5 - Core Seager hit his fourth HR of the year, Adolis Garcia hit his third, and Kumar Rocker had 8 strikeouts and pitched well enough to get the win (7 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 8 K).

Today’s Trivia Question

I didn’t pick up on it, but something rare happened in Wednesday’s games: five former #1 overall draft picks each had a HR. Can you name them? The last time that happed was nearly 16 years ago in 2009, when again five former #1 overall draft picks all hit a HR on the same day (August 7, 2009). Can you name any of those players too?

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

• TEX OF Wyatt Langford

🤕 Placed on the IL

• CIN 1B Christian Encarnacion-Strand - 10-day IL (low back inflammation)

• MIN OF Matt Wallner - 10-day IL (left hamstring strain)

• NYM OF Jose Siri - 10-day IL (left tibia fracture)

League Leaders

New section! Now that we are about 20 games into the season, I’ll start to rotate through the current league leaders in various categories. I’ll start for today with HR:

• 9 - OAK Tyler Soderstrom

• 8 - SEA Cal Raleigh

• 7 - NYY Aaron Judge

• 6 - ARI Corbin Carroll

• 6 - DET Spencer Torkelson

• 6 - LAA Mike Trout

• 6 - LAD Tommy Edman

• 6 - LAD Shohei Ohtani

• 6 - MIA Matt Mervis

• 6 - NYY Jazz Chisholm

• 6 - PHI Kyle Schwarber

• 6 - SDP Fernando Tatis Jr.

• 6 - SFG Wilmer Flores

• 6 - WAS James Wood

I’m not surprised by Tyler Soderstrom really. The 23-year Athletics slugger hit 29 HR across three minor league levels in 2022, and then 21 HR in 306 minor-league at-bats in 2023. I’m glad I took a chance on him in my fantasy league as my backup—uh, now starter—at 1B.

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 18…

• 1923: The debut of Yankee Stadium. According to baseball-reference.com, “The debut of Yankee Stadium is a huge success with an announced attendance of 74,217. Bob Shawkey of the Yankees, aided by a three-run home run by Babe Ruth, beats Howard Ehmke and the Red Sox, 4-1.”

• 1966: The Major League debut of Astroturf. According to baseball-reference.com, “At the Astrodome, the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers play the first regular season game on Astroturf as the Dodgers defeat the Astros, 6-3. Don Sutton earns his first major league victory while fellow future Hall of Famer Robin Roberts takes the loss.”

• 1981: The longest professional baseball game ever. According to baseball-reference.com, “In International League action at McCoy Stadium, the Pawtucket Red Sox and Rochester Red Wings start the longest game in baseball history. The game is suspended at 4:07 AM the next day, after playing to a 2-2 tie through 32 innings. The game will be resumed in June with the Red Sox scoring the winning run in the 33rd inning. The 33-inning contest will last a total of 8 hours and 25 minutes, and included future Hall of Famers Wade Boggs and Cal Ripken as the two 3B, as well as Bob Ojeda and Marty Barrett as other notables.”

• 2007: Mark Buehrle throws a no-hitter. White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle pitched a no-hitter against the Texas Rangers, surrendering just one walk to Sammy Sosa who was then picked off at first base. Two seasons later, Buehrle will pitch the 18th perfect game in baseball history, against the Tampa Bay Rays on July 23, 2009.

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys🎉

• Miguel Cabrera (1983) recently retired after an outstanding 23-year career, with five years with the Marlins and the rest all with the Tigers. He won four batting titles, including in 2012 when he won the AL Triple Crown with 44 HR, 139 RBI, and a .330 average. He was AL MVP that year, and again the following season when he similarly hit 44 HR with 137 RBI and a .348 average. A 12-time All-Star, he scored 100+ runs eight times and posted 100+ RBI and impressive twelve times. Overall, his career slash line was .306/.382/.518 with a 140 OPS+.

• Sam Crawford (1880) played 19 years, the first four with the Reds and then like Cabrera the remainder with the Tigers. An outstanding hitter, Crawford is the all-time leader in triples with 309, a category he led his league in six times. He also led his league in HR and Runs once each, and in RBI three times. He ran the bases well, with 367 SB over his career, to go with a .309/.362/.452 slash line and 144 OPS+.

• Duffy Lewis (1888) was an outfielder with the Red Sox for eight years from 1910-1917, before spending his final three seasons with the Yankees and Senators. For much of this time in Boston, Lewis was a part of an outstanding OF that also included Harry Hooper and Hall of Famer Tris Speaker. Over his career he had a .284/.333/.384 slash line and 108 OPS+, and played an important role in the Red Sox World Series championships in 1915 and 1916, going a combined 14-35 (.400) with five extra-base hits.

• Steve Blass (1942) pitched his entire 10-year major league career for the Pirates, from the late 1960s to the early 1970s. He was 18-6 with a 2.12 ERA in 1968, and then was 15-8 with a 2.85 ERA in 1971. Importantly he also had two complete game victories in helping the Pirates to the World Series championship that year. In 1972 he was an All-Star for the only time in his career, ending that season with a 19-8 record and 2.49 ERA. Unfortunately, after that season he lost control of his pitches, walking 84 batters, and hitting 12 others, in only 88.2 IP in 1973. After spending most of 1974 in the minor leagues, he retired from playing. His time in baseball continued though, as he joined the Pirates TV and radio broadcast teams in 1983 and continued as an announcer until finally retiring in 2019 after 60 years with the organization.

Today’s Matchups

As is typical for a Friday, a full slate (15) of games, so lots of possibilities. Some games that jump out to me are:

• MIA vs. PHI features two aces in Sandy Alcantara and Zack Wheeler.

• LAD vs. TEX also features two great pitchers in Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Jacob deGrom.

• KCR vs. DET features 22-year old rookie Jackson Jobe making his fourth major league start (3.00 ERA in 15 IP with 9 H and 9 K) going up against Kansas City’s ace Cole Ragans who is off to a great start this year, leading the majors with 34 K in 23.2 IP over 4 starts. Not a huge sample, but in his career against players on the current Tigers roster, Ragans has held them to a .080 batting average in 60 plate appearances.

Other big pitching names throwing today include SFG Logan Webb, MIL Freddy Peralta, NYY Carlos Rodon, and AZ Corbin Burnes.

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:

• CHC Dansby Swanson, 12-20 with 2 HR and a double vs. AZ Corbin Burnes

• NYM Jesse Winker, 6-16 with 2 HR and a double vs. STL Miles Mikolas

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:

• NYM Francisco Lindor, 7-17 with 2 doubles vs. STL Miles Mikolas

• SFG Wilmer Flores, 8-21 with a HR and a double vs. LAA Tyler Anderson

• TEX Joc Pederson, small sample but is 4-6 vs. LAD Yoshinobu Yamamoto

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:

• 13 - STL Brendan Donovan

• 10 - MIL William Contreras

• 10 - AZ Corbin Carroll

• 10 - MIA Xavier Edwards

• 10 - KCR Bobby Witt Jr

• 8 - HOU Jeremy Pena

• 7 - TOR Anthony Santander

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:

• LAA Jorge Soler, 2-14 with 9 K (though one hit was a HR) vs. SFG Logan Webb

• LAA Travis d'Arnaud, 2-16 with 5 K vs. SFG Logan Webb

• NYM Brandon Nimmo, 2-19 with 3 K (though the hits were a HR and double) vs. STL Miles Mikolas

• NYY Aaron Judge, small sample but is 1-7 with 6 K vs. TBR Drew Rasmussen

⚾ Enjoy the games today!⚾

Today’s Trivia Answer

As Brent Maguire of MLB.com reported, the five former #1 overall draft picks who each had a HR on Wednesday were: Jackson Holliday (2022), Henry Davis (2021), Spencer Torkelson (2020), Mickey Moniak (2016), and Bryce Harper (2010).

The last time that happened was on August 7, 2009, when these five former #1 overall draft picks each had a HR: Pat Burrell, Ken Griffey Jr., Josh Hamilton, Joe Mauer, and Alex Rodriguez.

The record is 6 such players all hitting a HR on the same day, and as Maguire noted, that has happened twice:

• May 26, 1999: Harold Baines, Shawon Dunston, Ken Griffey Jr., Chipper Jones, Phil Nevin, Alex Rodriguez

• April 7, 1998: Darin Erstad, Chipper Jones, Jeff King, Phil Nevin, Alex Rodriguez, Darryl Strawberry

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