The Baseball Buffet for 6/17/2025

Issue #308

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… I can be reached at [email protected].

⚾ Welcome! ⚾

The 82nd day of the season had a short slate of Monday games:

• COL 6, WAS 4 - 22-year old Daylen Lile had his first major league HR, and James Wood had his 18th HR of the season. But overall the Nats only had four hits in this one, and the Rockies came from behind with 3 runs in the top of the ninth, including Hunter Goodman hitting his second HR of the day, and Mickey Moniak hitting a 2-run HR to put Colorado ahead. Seth Halvorsen pitched the ninth and secured his 4th save.

• PHI 5, MIA 2 - Trea Turner and Max Kepler each had a HR, but Sandy Alcantara otherwise pitched pretty well (5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K). Phillies rookie Mick Abel held the Marlins to just one run through five (5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K), and four Philadelphia relievers held them to just one run the rest of the way, with Orion Kerkering securing his first save of the year.

• BAL 1, TBR 7 - Adley Rutschman hit a HR, but Ryan Pepiot otherwise pitched really well (8 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 11 K). Meanwhile the Rays scored runs off Zach Eflin in each inning he pitched (5 IP, 12 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 2 K), with Josh Lowe hitting his 4th HR and Brandon Lowe hitting his 14th HR.

• LAA 1, NYY 0 - This one was a pitchers duel between starters José Soriano (7 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K) and Clarke Schmidt (7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K). Giancarlo Stanton was 2-4 with a double and a single in his return from the IL, but the Yankees were an abysmal 1-18 with runners in scoring position and left 12 runners on base. The Angels had the same issue, going 1-11 with runners in scoring position and leaving 10 runners on base. Because of this in ability to drive people in, the game was scoreless through nine and then ten innings. In the top of the eleventh, with rookie Christian Moore on second as the ghost-running Manfred Man, Nolan Schanuel hit a double to left to break the tie. The Yankees loaded the bases in the bottom of the frame, but again just couldn’t get a runner across the plate.

• BOS 2, SEA 0 - In the wake of the big Rafael Devers trade, 21-year old rookie Roman Anthony was hitting third in the lineup, and he responded with his first major league HR. Logan Gilbert otherwise pitched well in his return from the IL (5 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 10 K), but the two runs he allowed were all it took as Lucas Giolito was outstanding (6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10 K). Three Red Sox relievers combined for a four-hit shutout, including Aroldis Chapman who struck out three in the ninth for his 13th save on the year.

• HOU 1, ATH 3 - Jose Altuve hit a HR in the first inning, but Mitch Spence otherwise pitched well (5 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K). JJ Bleday hit a HR in the fifth inning, but Ryan Gusto also otherwise pitched well (5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K). The difference was the bullpens, as J.T. Ginn struck out five in three innings, and Mason Miller struck out two in the ninth, while the normally reliable Bryan Abreu struggled in the bottom of the ninth ultimately giving up a walk-off 2-run HR to rookie Nick Kurtz.

• SDP 3, LAD 6 - This game began with great excitement as Shohei Ohtani made his 2025 pitching debut as the opener for the Dodgers. Fernando Tatis Jr. and Luis Arraez met the challenge by hitting singles, and Manny Machado drove in Tatis Jr. with a sacrifice fly. Ohtani hit 100 on the radar gun though, and escaped the inning without further damage. He then went on to go 2-4 with a walk, a double and 2 RBI to help the Dodgers win. Dylan Cease struck out 9 in 5 innings, but also allowed 8 hits and 6 ER. Manny Machado hit his 11th HR of the year, but in the end the Dodgers used seven pitchers, including Kirby Yates pitching a scoreless ninth for his 2nd save.

I plan to start including the current standings in some form here, but until then… here is a link to the official standings at MLB.com.

Today’s Trivia Question

As I note below, on this date, June 17 in 2009, Ivan Rodriguez caught his 2,227th major league game, moving him one past Carlton Fisk on the all-time list. (Yes, one player nicknamed “Pudge” broke the record of another played nicknamed “Pudge”!) He ended up with 2,427 games a catcher, and remains the all-time leader. Fisk is still in second place… but how many of the rest of the top-five on this list can you name?

Trivia answer is at the bottom of the newsletter.

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).

➕ Sent on a Rehab Assignment

• COL SP Ryan Feltner

🤕 Placed on the IL

• BAL SP Cade Povich - 15-day IL (left hip inflammation)

• HOU SP Lance McCullers Jr. - 15-day IL (right foot sprain)

❤️‍🩹 Notable Return from the IL

• NYY DH/OF Giancarlo Stanton

• SEA SP Logan Gilbert

MLB Debut Yesterday

Here I’ll try to keep up with players who just made their MLB debut the day before!

• WAS 3B Brady House - House was drafted in the first round (11th overall) by the Nationals in 2021. Now a 22-year old 3B, he went 0-3 with a walk and a strikeout in the Nats 6-4 loss. Before the call-up he was hitting well at AAA Rochester, with 13 HR and a .304/.353/.519 slash line over 65 games.

League Leaders

With his most recent start, MacKenzie Gore retained his number one spot on the strikeouts leaderboard, but just barely:

• 119 - WAS MacKenzie Gore

• 117 - BOS Garrett Crochet

• 111 - DET Tarik Skubal

• 110 - PHI Zack Wheeler

• 107 - NYY Carlos Rodón

• 107 - ATL Chris Sale

• 105 - HOU Hunter Brown

• 105 - SDP Dylan Cease

• 105 - SFG Logan Webb

• 97 - PIT Paul Skenes

• 96 - HOU Framber Valdez

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 June 17…

• 1943: Player-manager Joe Cronin was good in a pinch. As described at baseball-reference.com, “Boston Red Sox player-manager Joe Cronin inserts himself as a pinch-hitter in both games of a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Athletics - and hits three-run home runs in each at-bat, becoming the first major leaguer to pinch-hit home runs in both ends of a doubleheader. The Red Sox win the opener, 5-4, but lose the second game, 8-7. Cronin will pinch-hit 42 times this year with 18 hits, including an American League record five pinch-hit homers.”

• 1960: Ted Williams becomes the fourth member of the 500 HR club. Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox hits his 500th career home run against the Cleveland Indians, joining Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, and Mel Ott in the 500 HR club.

• 1978: Ron Guidry strikes out 18 in the midst of his epic 1978 season. As described at baseball-reference.com, “Ron Guidry of the New York Yankees strikes out 18 batters in a four-hit, 4-0 shutout of the California Angels, to set an American League record for a left-handed pitcher in a single game. Guidry, who strikes out 15 in the first six innings, posts his 11th consecutive victory without a loss. The performance will help coin a new nickname for Guidry as the team's announcer, Phil Rizzuto, begins to refer to him as "Louisiana Lightning", inspiring a new Yankees tradition as the fans begin to clap rhythmically each time there are two strikes on the batter.”

• 1993: Baseball decides to go wild. As described at baseball-reference.com, “Baseball owners vote overwhelmingly, 26-2, in favor of expanding the postseason for the first time since 1969. The new system, which is set to begin in 1994, will double the number of teams that qualify to eight by realigning each league into three divisions, with two teams qualifying as wild cards. The 1994 strike will delay its implementation by one year, however.”

• 2001: Blake Stein strikes out eight straight batters. As described at baseball-reference.com, “Blake Stein of the Kansas City Royals strikes out eight straight batters, and 11 in 5 2/3 innings, but the Milwaukee Brewers beat Kansas City, 5-2. Only Nolan Ryan (twice), Ron Davis, and Roger Clemens have struck out eight in a row in the American League. Tom Seaver holds the major league record with ten consecutive strikeouts, which was set in 1970.”

• 2009: Ivan Rodriguez sets the record for most games as a catcher. Ivan Rodriguez catches the 2,227th game of his career, breaking Carlton Fisk's record, in Houston's 5-4, ten-inning loss to his former team, the Texas Rangers.

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys🎉

• Pete Browning (1861) was a CF/LF and hitting star in the 19th century, primarily with Louisville of the American Association and later the National League. He won three batting titles in 1882, 1885, and 1890, and also put up big numbers in 1887 when he scored 137 runs, had 220 hits and 118 RBI, with 103 SB, and a .402 average. He played in the majors for 13 years and overall had a .341/.403/.467 slash line and 163 OPS+.

• Dave Concepción (1948) had a 19-year major league career from 1970-1988, all with the Cincinnati Reds. He was primarily a shortstop, and was very good defensively taking home five Gold Glove Awards. A nine-time All-Star, Concepción also provided some speed on the bases, including seven seasons with 20+ SB and a high of 41 SB in 1974. He had only modest power, hitting 10+ HR twice. But he frequently hit over .280 and retired with 321 SB, 993 runs, 950 RBI, and a .267 average.

• Joe Charboneau (1955) was a major prospect for the Cleveland Indians after clobbering A and AA pitching in 1978 (.350, 18 HR and 116 RBIi in 130 games) and 1979 (.352, 21 HR and 78 RBI in 109 games). He took home the AL Rookie of the Year award in 1980 after hitting 23 HR with 87 RBI and .289/.358/.488 slash line. Unfortunately, injuries and chronic back issues led him to not play well and miss much of the 1981 and 1982 seasons. He tried to keep going in the minors in 1983 and 1984, but that was as far as his career went. Though according to Wikipedia, “Charboneau did make one more appearance in a baseball uniform that year, but only on celluloid; he was an extra in the film The Natural, playing one of Roy Hobbs' teammates.”

Currently active players who were born on June 17 include LAA Yusei Kikuchi, TBR Shane Baz, WAS Andrew Chafin, and TEX Blaine Crim.

Today’s Matchups

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

• NYM vs. ATL is game one of an interesting NL East series, where it feels like it is now or never for the Braves. They are 31-39, but have Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuña Jr. back, so can they make a run to at least get into the wild card discussion? Pitching today are David Peterson (2.49 ERA, 71 K in 79.2 IP) and Spencer Schwellenbach (3.11 ERA, 84 K in 89.2 IP).

• MIL vs. CHC is interesting as the Brewers are 5.5 games behind the Cubs in the NL Central, so this series is a big opportunity to gain ground if they can. Game one has Chad Patrick (3.25 ERA, 71 K in 74.2 IP) up against Ben Brown (5.71 ERA, 83 K in 69.1 IP).

Some other notable pitchers on the mound today include PHI Jesús Luzardo, TOR Chris Bassitt, CIN Andrew Abbott, CHW Shane Smith, KCR Seth Lugo, SEA Bryan Woo, and SFG Robbie Ray.

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:

• ATL Matt Olson, 4-16 with 4 HR vs. NYM David Peterson… LvL, but when he connects he drives it!

• PHI Kyle Schwarber, only 3-17 but with 3 HR vs. MIA Cal Quantrill

• BAL Gunnar Henderson, 7-15 with 2 HR and a double vs. TBR Zack Littell

• HOU Jose Altuve, 9-22 with 2 HR and 3 doubles vs. ATH JP Sears

• TBR Danny Jansen, small sample but is 2-5 with 2 HR vs. BAL Dean Kremer

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:

• ATL Austin Riley, 9-23 with 3 doubles vs. NYM David Peterson

• WAS Amed Rosario, small sample but is 5-9 with 3 doubles vs. COL Antonio Senzatela

• WAS Nathaniel Lowe, small sample but is 4-7 vs. COL Antonio Senzatela

• TBR Brandon Lowe, small sample but is 4-9 with a HR vs. BAL Dean Kremer

• PHI Trea Turner, small sample but is 4-9 with a HR and 2 doubles vs. MIA Cal Quantrill

Who is streaking?

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

• 15 - MIN Brooks Lee

• 10 - BAL Gunnar Henderson

• 8 - MIN Willi Castro

• 8 - TEX Marcus Semien

• 7 - TBR Yandy Diaz

• 7 - TEX Josh Smith

• 7 - TOR Ernie Clement

• 7 - ATL Matt Olson

• 7 - PHI Brandon Marsh

• 7 - SDP Gavin Sheets

• 7 - MIL Jackson Chourio

• 7 - SFG Matt Chapman

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:

• CLE Austin Hedges, 2-25 with 11 K vs. SFG Robbie Ray

• NYY Giancarlo Stanton, 0-9 with 7 K vs. LAA Kyle Hendricks

• ATL Michael Harris II, 1-10 with 4 K vs. NYM David Peterson

• TBR Yandy Diaz, 1-16 with 3 K vs. BAL Dean Kremer

• HOU Jake Meyers, 1-11 but only 1 K vs. ATH JP Sears

• CLE José Ramírez, 1-10 but only 1 K vs. SFG Robbie Ray

⚾ Enjoy the games today!⚾

Today’s Trivia Answer

The all-time leaders for major league games as a catcher are:

• 2,427 - Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez

• 2,226 - Carlton “Pudge” Fisk

• 2,225 - Bob Boone

• 2,184 - Yadier Molina

• 2,056 - Gary Carter

Good Reads

Here I am providing one or more links to baseball articles I’ve enjoyed recently, whether by writers at MLB.com or elsewhere.

• A 2025 MLB Draft Primer, by Benjamin Chase at Here's the Pitch: the IBWAA Newsletter, 6/16/2025

• One thing each team will be looking for before the Deadline, by MLB writers, 6/16/2025

• First All-Star Ballot update: Judge, Ohtani dominating; NL OF is stacked, by Thomas Harrigan at MLB, 6/16/2025

• 8 players on the All-Star ballot who deserve a second look, by Will Leitch at MLB, 6/17/2025

See recent issues of The Baseball Buffet for more recent good reads!

Did you know? I wrote a 600+ page book with the same title as this newsletter/blog? Now Taking the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises was published in early 2019, by ACTA Sports. It is available at Amazon and most other major booksellers.

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