The Baseball Buffet for 4/25/2025

Issue #256

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 29th day of the season included a short slate of 9 games, with two being a double-header:

• CHW 3, MIN 0 - Shane Smith pitched well (5 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K) and Lenyn Sosa and Miguel Vargas hit homers before the game was called after 7 innings due to rain.

• SEA 4, BOS 3 - Garrett Crochet had 9 K in 5 IP, but let up 4 runs for the loss. Bryan Woo let up a first inning HR to Alex Bregman, but otherwise pitched well (6 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K) and Andrés Muñoz recorded his ninth save.

• COL 4, KCR 7 (Gm 1) - Jordan Beck and Hunter Goodman each homered and the normally reliable Cole Ragans let up 4 runs in just 3 IP. But the Royals bullpen shutout the Rockies the rest of the way and their lineup had 13 hits including 5 doubles.

• COL 2, KCR 6 (Gm 2) - Jordan Beck hit two more HR in game 2, thereby doubling his career total to now six. Michael Lorenzen allowed one of those homers, but otherwise pitched well enough to get the win (6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 7 K).

• MIL 5, SFG 6 - Mike Yastrzemski hit his fourth HR of the year, and Matt Chapman hit his fifth. After starter Landen Roupp struggled (3.2 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K), four Giants relievers shut out the Brewers the rest of the way, including Camilo Doval notching his fifth save.

• BAL 2, WAS 1 - MacKenzie Gore pitched well (6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K), but those two runs allowed was all it took as Cade Povich also pitched well (6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K) and three Orioles relievers shutout the Nationals the rest of the way.

• PIT 3, LAA 4 - 27-year old Pirates rookie Matt Gorski, who was just called up from Triple AAA, hit a HR in his first Major League at-bat. Oneil Cruz hit his seventh HR of the year, but it wasn’t enough as the Angels tied the game in the fourth inning that included Logan O’Hoppe’s sixth HR. Then later in the 8th Zach Neto hit a HR that would prove to be decisive, after Kenley Jansen locked down the ninth for this sixth save.

• TBR 7, AZ 4 - Corbin Burnes struck out 8 in 5.1 IP, but this one was tied 4-4 after nine innings. In the top of the tenth, Junior Caminero hit a ground-rule double to score ghost runner Manfred Man Jonathan Aranda, and then Christopher Morel hit a two-run HR as well.

• TEX 3, ATH 4 - Jacob deGrom pitched fairly well (5.1 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K), and the Rangers hit three solo HR (Josh Jung, Jonah Heim, Leody Taveras) off J.T. Ginn, forcing him out of the game in the fourth inning. But the Athletics bullpen shutout the Rangers the rest of the way, and their hitters scored two in the bottom of the ninth, with rookie Jacob Wilson providing the game winning RBI on a single that scored Luis Urias.

Today’s Trivia Question

42-year old Future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander is scheduled to pitch today against the Rangers, at home in San Francisco. He had a good game last time out (6 IP, 1 ER, 6 K). He currently sits 10th on the all strikeout list with 3,439. How many of the nine pitchers ahead of him can you name? (Hint: two are LHP, seven our RHP).

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

• MIL SP Brandon Woodruff

• WAS SP Cade Cavalli

• PHI OF Brandon Marsh

🤕 Placed on the IL

• PIT RP Justin Lawrence - 15-day IL (right elbow inflammation)

• MIN 2B Willi Castro - 10-day IL (right oblique strain)

• TBR OF Jake Mangum - 10-day IL (left groin strain)

• TEX SP Kumar Rocker - 15-day IL (right shoulder impingement)

League Leaders

Continuing my rotation through current league leaders in various categories, today I’ll look at stolen bases:

• 11 - PIT Oneil Cruz

• 10 - CHC Pete Crow-Armstrong

• 10 - CIN Elly De La Cruz

• 8 - SEA Randy Arozarena

• 8 - TOR Andrés Giménez

• 8 - TBR Jake Mangum

• 8 - STL Victor Scott

• 8- MIL Brice Turang

• 8 - KCR Bobby Witt Jr.

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 25…

• 1962: Harry Chiti is traded for himself. According to baseball-reference.com, “Catcher Harry Chiti is traded for himself when the Cleveland Indians send him to the New York Mets in exchange for a player to be named later. On June 15th, the Mets will sell Chiti back to Cleveland to complete the deal.”

• 1976: Rick Monday saves the American flag. According to baseball-reference.com, “Chicago Cubs centerfielder Rick Monday rescues an American flag from two spectators who try to set it on fire in the outfield of Dodger Stadium. The incident happens in the 4th inning of a 5-4, 10-inning loss to Los Angeles.”

• 2001: Rickey Henderson breaks Babe Ruth’s record. Rickey Henderson, at this point playing for the San Diego Padres, sets a major league record with his 2,063rd base on balls. The mark had been held by Babe Ruth, and Henderson’s career mark will later be passed by Barry Bonds. (And to think… of all the people you would not want to give a free pass to first base, Henderson—the all-time stolen base king—would top that list!)

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys🎉

• John Henry Lloyd (1884) is a Hall of Famer from the early Negro Leagues. Playing mostly SS and 2B, “Pop” Lloyd played for 27 years in organized baseball. His time in major leagues was limited and started at age 37 in 1921 and continued through 1929. According to the numbers available at baseball-reference.com, during that span he had 1,629 at-bats and posted a .349/.400/.465 slash line. He was also a long-time manager, starting in 1911 and concluding in 1931. According to his entry at Wikipedia, “Lloyd was a heavy hitter, usually batting cleanup during his prime, but also knew how to play ‘inside baseball’ and was an expert place-hitter and bunter. … Lloyd was called the ‘Black Wagner’, a reference to Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Famer Honus Wagner. On Lloyd, Wagner said ‘It's an honor to be compared to him.’”

• Tony Phillips (1959) was an extremely versatile player who played all three OF positions as well as 2B, 3B, and SS. He had an 18-year career, spending most of that time with Oakland and Detroit, but having a few years with four other clubs too. He scored 100+ runs four times, including leading the AL with 114 runs in 1992. He had modest power and speed, with a high of 27 HR in 1995 and 19 SB in 1990. Besides his fielding versatility, Phillips is perhaps best known for his keen eye at the plate, as he posted 100+ walks in five seasons leading to a robust .374 career OBP.

• Russ Ford (1883) was a pitcher in the major leagues from 1909-1915, first with the New York Highlanders/Yankees, and then joining the Buffalo club of the short-lived Federal League in 1914-15. He is credited with developing the emery ball, meaning scuffing the ball with emery paper to give it more movement when thrown. Leveraging this pitch he went 26-6 with a 1.65 ERA as a rookie in 1910 and then won 20+ games two more times after that. After the 1914 season each of the major leagues banned scuffing baseballs in that way, and Ford’s performance declined significantly. He pitched for a few more years in the minors before retiring.

Today’s Matchups

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

• PIT vs. LAD is about as must-watch of a pitching matchup as you could ask for with Paul Skenes vs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Gametime is 10:10 ET / 7:10 PT.

• TBR vs. SDP is also an interesting one with Shane Baz (3.22 ERA, 30 K in 22.1 IP) vs. Michael King (2.57 ERA, 31 K in 28 IP).

• ATL vs. AZ features two normally good pitchers who are off to rough starts this year in Chris Sale and Zac Gallen.

• TEX vs. SFG has Nathan Eovaldi (2.64 ERA, 31 K in 30.2 IP) up against future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander, who pitched 6 IP with 1 ER and 6 K in his last outing.

Also on the mound today are NYM Kodai Senga, MIN Pablo López, SEA Logan Gilbert.

HR Watch

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

• NYY Aaron Judge, 13-34 (.382) with 5 HR and 2 doubles vs. TOR José Berríos

• CHW Andrew Benintendi, 13-35 (.371) with 2 HR, a triple, and 4 doubles vs. ATH Luis Severino

• LAA Travis d’Arnaud, 5-14 with 3 HR vs. MIN Pablo López

• SEA Julio Rodriguez, 6-11 with 2 HR and 0 strikeouts vs. MIA Cal Quantrill

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. In addition to the HR Watch guys listed above, here are some others to consider based on opposing SP past performance:

• MIN Harrison Bader, 10-27 with 4 doubles and only 3 strikeouts vs. LAA Kyle Hendricks

• CIN Gavin Lux, 5-12 vs. COL Kyle Freeland

• NYM Francisco Lindor, 5-10 with a HR and a double vs. WAS Jake Irvin

• ATL Austin Riley, 5-13 with a HR, a triple, and a double vs. AZ Zac Gallen

• CHW Michael Taylor, small sample but is 5-5 with a HR vs. ATH Luis Severino

• HOU Yordan Alvarez, small sample but is 4-8 with a HR and a double vs. KCR Seth Lugo

• COL Brenton Doyle, small sample but is 4-8 with a HR and a double vs. CIN Andrew Abbott

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:

• 16 - KCR Bobby Witt Jr

• 14 - HOU Jeremy Pena

• 11 - MIA Eric Wagaman

• 11 - BOS Jarren Duran

• 10 - PHI Alec Bohm

• 9 - CIN Gavin Lux

• 8 - NYY Paul Goldschmidt

• 8 - ATL Matt Olson

• 8 - CIN Elly De La Cruz

• 8 - PIT Adam Frazier

• 7 - CIN T.J. Friedl

• 7 - CLE Steven Kwan

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:

• SEA Jorge Polanco, 0-19 with 5 K vs. MIA Cal Quantrill

• CHC Ian Happ, 1-12 with 5 K vs. PHI Taijuan Walker

• NYM Francisco Alvarez, 1-11 with 6 K vs. WAS Jake Irvin

• NYM Pete Alonso, 1-11 with 4 K vs. WAS Jake Irvin

• SFG Willy Adames, 1-11 with 4 K vs. TEX Nathan Eovaldi

• PHI Bryce Harper, 0-10 but with 0 K vs. CHC Colin Rea

• AZ Eugenio Suárez, small sample but is 0-8 with 6 K vs. Chris Sale

⚾ Enjoy the games today!⚾

Today’s Trivia Answer

Justin Verlander is 10th on the all strikeout list with 3,439. The nine pitchers ahead of him are (from first to ninth): Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson (L), Roger Clemens, Steve Carlton (L), Bert Blyleven, Tom Seaver, Don Sutton, Gaylord Perry, and Walter Johnson.

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