‘You can achieve big dreams:’ Cooper DeJean’s journey from a small-town kid to NFL prospect
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Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer
Kirk Ferentz has an encyclopedic recall of Iowa players, the result of a quarter-century as Hawkeyes head coach, plus another nine years as an assistant.
Mention a current Hawkeye, and Ferentz reflexively lists two or three from his own past, noting details about their play style, top moments, personality, NFL path and more. But Cooper DeJean, Iowa’s ubiquitous star defensive back, projected to go in the first round of the upcoming NFL draft, elicits a different type of response.
When watching DeJean last season, Ferentz kept thinking about a player he never coached or even met, who competed for Iowa and died more than a decade before Ferentz was born. The most hallowed name in program history and one of the state’s sporting heroes, whose legacy is celebrated at every Iowa home game — that’s the comp Ferentz selects for DeJean.
“I don’t know how many players have been better than him, however long we’ve been playing football, 1889,” Ferentz said of DeJean. “Nile Kinnick’s name is up on the stadium.”
Kinnick is Iowa’s only Heisman Trophy winner. In 1939, he played 402 of 420 minutes, contributed to 107 of the team’s 130 points scored, led the nation in kickoff return yards and intercepted eight passes, a team record now shared. He’s in Iowa’s athletics Hall of Fame for both football and basketball, and caught pitches from Bob Feller on an American Legion team. Kinnick excelled at whatever he did and wherever he did it — from his hometown of Adel, Iowa, to the stadium that would later bear his name.
DeJean is shaping his legend from similar Iowa soil, as a four-sport star from the tiny town of Odebolt, and an alphabet soup high school (OABCIG) within the state that delivered “Field of Dreams.” His high school career featured championships and highlights, but also intrigue, because he competed in such a sparsely populated area. His most famous play at Iowa didn’t actually count.
DeJean’s post-Iowa path will be dramatically different from Kinnick’s. ESPN’s Mel Kiper and others expect him to become the first Iowa defensive back taken in the first round of the NFL draft under Ferentz, and the first from Iowa since Tom Knight went No. 9 overall in 1997. Although DeJean played multiple defensive back positions at Iowa and dazzled on punt returns, he’s being evaluated primarily as a cornerback.
“It just seems like everything he does, he’s good and he wins,” Ferentz said of DeJean.
So, who is Cooper DeJean, and why do Iowa’s program stewards already consider him a living legend?
TYLER BARNES WILL owe Travis Schroeder for life.
Barnes, Iowa’s director of recruiting, used to live next door to Schoeder, not far from Iowa’s campus. A native of Odebolt, Schroeder would pepper his neighbor about an emerging star athlete from his hometown.
Schroeder had never seen DeJean play but heard all the buzz. Plus, he knew DeJean’s family. DeJean’s grandfather, Al Wilke, coached Schroeder in high school football. When DeJean’s parents moved to town from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, they opened a bar and grill — originally called Cobe’s, for Cooper and his younger brother Beckett, and now called The Bowling Alley — that is owned by Schroeder’s relatives.
So it goes in Odebolt, a town of fewer than 1,000 residents in the northwest part of the state.
“You can get from one end to another in probably five minutes,” DeJean said. “We’ve got no stoplights, we’ve got two bar and grills, two gas stations, probably seven total stop signs.”
Added Schroeder: “You’ll drive through town and you might not see a car. You might not see a person.”
While attending an Iowa basketball game with Barnes, Schroeder again told his friend to consider DeJean.
“Trav,” Schroeder remembered Barnes jokingly saying, “there are no D-I athletes coming out of Odebolt.”
The truth: Iowa prided itself on identifying small-town prospects from the state, often overlooked as recruits, and developing them into big-stage stars. The team has sent several to the NFL, such as Panthers linebacker Josey Jewell, who grew up on a farm in Decorah (population: 7,747), or Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson, from Chariton (population: 4,220). The Odebolt area hadn’t produced many top-division players, but Trever Ryen, who attended DeJean’s high school, walked on at Iowa State and became an All-Big 12 punt returner and a solid wide receiver.
Barnes watched film of DeJean.
“Maybe this kid’s got a chance,” he told himself.
DeJEAN COMPETED IN football, basketball, track and baseball, and, as a young boy, wrestling and soccer. He played everything — not just because he wanted to — but also out of necessity.
Odebolt and its surrounding towns — Arthur, Battle Creek and Ida Grove — need their best athletes to participate in all sports. The towns feed into the same middle school, in Odebolt, and the same high school, about 15 minutes from DeJean’s home, in Ida Grove. Initially two separate school districts spread out over four counties and 259 square miles, they merged in 2018 to form OABCIG.
Sports resonated in the area, especially for the DeJeans. Cooper’s father, Jason, played basketball at Huron University in South Dakota. His mom, Katie, played basketball and softball at Briar Cliff University in Sioux City, Iowa. Wilke, Katie’s father, coached and was involved in sports, often taking Cooper and his younger brothers to fields and courts around town.
“That’s something they stressed to me: ‘Play all the sports, there’s no need to specialize in one,'” Cooper said. “That’s the only time in your life where you can play multiple sports, so why not play all four in high school?”
At OABCIG High, he was a three-time all-state selection in football with two state titles. His credentials included: 1,832 career points in basketball, more than Harrison Barnes, the McDonald’s All-American out of Ames High School now with the Sacramento Kings; state champion for long jump and 100-meter dash as a senior; all-state honors in football, basketball and track as a senior; three letters in baseball, which is played in the summer, while also juggling AAU basketball. In 2021, DeJean was named Iowa High School Male Athlete of the Year by the Des Moines Register.
Many pegged DeJean — at 6 foot and ½ — to play basketball in college.
“If he was 6-4 or 6-5, he probably wouldn’t be playing football,” Jason DeJean said.
Larry Allen, DeJean’s football coach at OABCIG High, didn’t have many reference points in predicting DeJean’s college path.
“One kid that played at [Northern Iowa] and one kid that played at Iowa State is all I’ve ever had, so you didn’t really understand the talent level,” Allen said. “A few people asked: Is this what a D-I guy looks like? Is he really that good? He’s pretty dang good, but you just wonder.”
DeJean came to Iowa’s campus 12 or 13 times, including the team’s football camp, but didn’t secure an offer right away, for two reasons. He needed a position after logging snaps at quarterback, wide receiver and defensive back for OABCIG. He also needed a personality.
“He could sit on a Zoom call and just stare at you for two hours without saying a word,” Barnes said. “This kid, does he have a pulse? Is there a heartbeat? Cooper, just give us something. Smile, laugh. He was just so serious.”
DeJean was very reserved, but his athletic success reverberated, leading to an Iowa offer. Many of DeJean’s best highlights came on the basketball court, where he began dunking the summer before his freshman year of high school. So in January 2020, Barnes made the trek to Odebolt for a basketball game. Coaches from two other major conference schools also attended. Barnes remembers them fussing over what position DeJean would play. Other than Iowa, DeJean had offers from only FCS programs in the Dakotas.
As Barnes watched, DeJean opened the game with five consecutive dunks.
“Three of them were over 6-foot-4 guys,” Barnes said. “I’m just sitting there, giggling, like, ‘You [other schools] are nuts. This kid is something. I don’t know what he is. But you don’t see that in Iowa very often, those type of athletic traits.'”
Barnes texted Iowa’s staff: He’s the real deal. DeJean wanted to play quarterback, though, and Iowa pegged him for defense. He had official visits to Virginia and Kansas State scheduled but canceled them after COVID-19 hit in March 2020.
Around that time, Barnes texted DeJean, telling him that he belonged at Iowa, and to trust the team’s projection for him, as “a high-level safety.” To Barnes’ surprise, DeJean responded and committed on the spot.
“We lucked into him,” Barnes said. “I wish I could say we had a great evaluation, but thank god for my neighbor Travis.”
1:07
Iowa’s go-ahead TD wiped off after fair catch call
Cooper DeJean returns punt for a 54-yard Iowa touchdown to grab the lead, but it is taken off the board after DeJean appeared to motion for a fair catch.
LEGENDS ARE MOLDED through moments, and DeJean delivered plenty, both before and after he came to Iowa.
There was his final high school game, the 2020 state championship against Van Meter at Northern Iowa’s UNI-Dome. In the final five minutes, he blocked an extra-point attempt to keep OABCIG at a single-score deficit, returned a punt 14 yards and then scored a touchdown and the tying two-point conversion, both on runs, with 1:30 left.
Van Meter fumbled the ensuing kickoff, recovered by DeJean’s younger brother, Beckett. On the next play, Cooper kept the ball, ran to his left, wriggled free of a defender, stopped, reversed field, broke two more tackles and scored the winning touchdown. OABCIG won the final 25 games of DeJean’s high school career and its first two state titles. He accounted for 9,520 total yards and 132 touchdowns during the stretch.
“He did everything,” Ferentz said. “Some guys just seem to do things other people can’t do.”
Cooper barely played as a freshman at Iowa, not even making the travel roster for early games such as the Cy-Hawk clash at Iowa State. But he found a role on special teams and started the regular-season finale against Nebraska at safety.
DeJean’s playmaking prowess was on full display in 2022. After a quiet season opener, he had interceptions in his next three games, scoring his first touchdown on a 45-yard return against Rutgers. In a 24-10 win against Wisconsin that season, DeJean had a pick-six, 10 tackles (one for loss) and 81 punt return yards, including a 41-yard runback. He also downed a punt at the Wisconsin 1-yard line. He finished with three pick-sixes that fall, setting Iowa’s single-season record and tying the career mark.
His most impressive play came last season and didn’t even count. Iowa trailed Minnesota 12-10 late in the fourth quarter and seemed unlikely to generate points from its woeful offense. After Iowa forced a three-and-out, DeJean fielded a punt off a bounce near midfield, right beside the Minnesota sideline.
DeJean eluded the grasp of two Gophers, raced up the sideline, cut back through the arm of another and then outraced Kerry Brown for the go-ahead touchdown with 1:21 left. Had Kinnick ever been louder?
“Probably would have been the greatest play in the history of Iowa football had it counted,” Ferentz said. “I’m still trying to figure out how that wasn’t a legal play.”
After a review, officials ruled that DeJean had made an invalid fair catch signal by waving his left arm before scooping up the ball. Still, it put DeJean’s game-breaking abilities on full display.
“He’s got great speed and great ball skills, but his ability to be balanced and his footwork is so good,” defensive coordinator Phil Parker said. “He’s kind of a rare guy. Everybody said, ‘Wow, look at what you did to Cooper.’ Well, Cooper did that to himself. Cooper made who he is today because of the drive that he has to be great.”
NILE KINNICK DID it all for Iowa. His team records on offense and defense lasted for decades. His Big Ten record for single-game punt return yards spanned from 1939 until Maryland’s William Likely broke it in 2015. Although Iowa has popularized “Punting is Winning” in recent years, Kinnick still holds records for single-game punts (16) and punt yards (731).
DeJean shined on defense and special teams, but a drumbeat grew for him to see time on offense, especially as Iowa reached historic lows for production.
“There were signs up around town,” Jason DeJean said. “There was a place in Ida Grove that had a billboard: Put Cooper on offense. I would have loved to see more of that, but it didn’t work out.”
As Ferentz mulled whether to use Cooper on offense, he remembered what his predecessor Hayden Fry once said: If Ohio State loses a player, the next one might be better. We don’t have that here. In mid-November, Ferentz relented and DeJean started getting reps on offense. But during a practice he fractured his left fibula, ending his season.
“There’s a lot of irony in that,” Ferentz said.
DeJean still received consensus All-America honors despite missing the final four games, including the Big Ten championship. He won the Big Ten’s individual awards for defensive back and return specialist.
If DeJean had elected to return as a senior in 2024, Ferentz ensured he would have had a more significant role for the Hawkeyes’ offense.
“I told him if he came back, he’d be one of those guys like Nile Kinnick, put his name on a building,” Parker said. “I never saw Nile Kinnick play, but all I can say is [DeJean] is the version of what I think he would be today.”
On Jan. 4, DeJean declared for the draft. While recovering from leg surgery, he attended the NFL combine but didn’t participate in on-field tests. He started to run at full speed in February, but did only the bench press at Iowa’s pro day last month. DeJean is set to run the 40-yard dash and participate in all drills and tests for teams Monday in Iowa City. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, DeJean sent a letter to NFL clubs last week informing them he has been cleared to return to all football activities.
He’s the latest in a line of notable defensive backs under Ferentz and Parker, who coached the secondary for his first 13 years on staff before taking over as coordinator. Iowa has had 17 defensive backs selected since the 2000 draft, including eventual All-Pros in Desmond King, Micah Hyde and Bob Sanders. Since the Big Ten launched its individual position awards in 2011, Iowa has won six times with six different players. No other team has won more than twice.
The Hawkeyes also have consistently produced first-round picks, 13 in all under Ferentz, including two last year and another in 2022. But none played defensive back.
“If you had retro picks, then we’d have more first-rounders,” Ferentz said. “Bob Sanders should have been a first-rounder, and if he was 6-foot, I’m sure he would have been. But if he was 6-foot, he would have gone to Penn State and they would have recruited him. But he was 5-foot-8, and he didn’t.
“But it’d be nice if it happens, mostly just for Cooper’s sake, a nice feather in his cap.”
Much of DeJean’s NFL evaluation is assessing what he will be at the next level. In 2022, he started 10 games at cornerback and three at the cash position, a safety-linebacker hybrid. He practiced early in his career at safety, but started every game last fall at corner before the injury.
“Some teams might think he’s a nickel, some teams might think he’s a corner, some teams might think he’s a safety, but he’s only going to play one,” an NFL scout said, adding that how DeJean runs Monday will be a significant factor. “He’s going to get drafted high enough that you draft him for that position.”
The first-round projections for DeJean — Kiper has him at No. 21 on his latest Big Board — are as a cornerback, where he would be an NFL rarity. The league has had a few white cornerbacks over the years, but none as a consistent starter since Jason Sehorn, who started 73 games for the Giants from 1996 to 2002.
During a media session at the combine, DeJean faced questions about being a white cornerback, just like his friend and Iowa teammate, Riley Moss, did the year before. Moss memorably responded, “Obviously, I look different. I don’t play different.”
“I believe I can play corner,” DeJean said. “I have the size and speed to do so. But with my athleticism, I understand the talk of moving to safety, playing the nickel, moving me around the defense. At the end of the day, you put me out on the field, I’m going to find the ball and try to make plays and impact the defense in some way.”
DeJean is surprised to learn that he would become the first defensive back selected in the first round under Ferentz. He’s flattered by the comparisons to Kinnick, who he called “a damn good player” and whose name he said is synonymous with Iowa football.
When it comes to legacy, though, DeJean’s thoughts go back to Odebolt, where he takes pictures and signs autographs every time he visits, and where he plans to watch the draft with family and friends.
“I’ve been blessed to be in this position, growing up in a small town,” he said. “My biggest thing is just being an inspiration to the kids around my area, to show them if you put everything into what you want to do, down the road, you can achieve big dreams.”
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David Schoenfield
We’re past due to hand out some midseason grades, so let’s hand out some midseason grades.
As we pass the 90-game mark in the 2025 MLB season, my team of the first half isn’t the well-rounded Detroit Tigers, who do get our highest grade for owning MLB’s best record, or the explosive Chicago Cubs or Shohei Ohtani‘s Los Angeles Dodgers, but a team most baseball fans love to hate: the Houston Astros. They lost their two best players from last season and their best hitter has been injured — and they’re playing their best baseball since they won the 2022 World Series.
Let’s get to the grades. As always, we’re grading off preseason expectations, factoring in win-loss record and quality of performance, while looking at other positive performances and injuries.
Jump to a team:
AL East: BAL | BOS | NYY | TB | TOR
AL Central: CHW | CLE | DET | KC | MIN
AL West: ATH | HOU | LAA | SEA | TEX
NL East: ATL | MIA | NYM | PHI | WSH
NL Central: CHC | CIN | MIL | PIT | STL
NL West: ARI | COL | LAD | SD | SF
Tarik Skubal is obviously the headline act, but the Tigers are winning with impressive depth across the entire roster.
Javier Baez is putting together a remarkable comeback season after a couple of abysmal years and will become the first player to start an All-Star Game at both shortstop and in the outfield. Former No. 1 overall picks Casey Mize and Spencer Torkelson have put together their own comeback stories, while Riley Greene has matured into one of the game’s top power hitters.
Given their deep well of prospects and contributors at the MLB level, no team is better positioned than the Tigers to add significant help at the trade deadline.
I heard someone refer to them as the Zombie Astros, which feels apropos. Alex Bregman left as a free agent, they traded Kyle Tucker, Yordan Alvarez has been injured and has just three home runs, and the Jose Altuve experiment in left field predictably fizzled.
But here they are, fighting for the best record in the majors and holding a comfortable lead in the AL West. They’re getting star turns from Hunter Brown, Framber Valdez and Jeremy Pena, while the risky decision to start Cam Smith in the majors with very little minor league experience has paid off, as he has now become their cleanup hitter.
If we ignore the COVID-19 season, the Astros look on their way to an eighth straight division title.
This could be at least a half-grade higher based on everything that has gone right: Pete Crow-Armstrong‘s attention-grabbing breakout, Tucker doing everything expected after the big trade, Seiya Suzuki‘s monster power numbers and Matthew Boyd‘s All-Star turn in the rotation. The Cubs are on pace for their most wins since their World Series title season in 2016.
There have been a few hiccups, however, especially in the rotation with Justin Steele‘s season-ending injury and Ben Brown‘s inconsistency, plus rookie third baseman Matt Shaw has scuffled, and the bench has been weak aside from their backup catchers.
Still, this is a powerhouse lineup, and the Cubs will seek to improve their rotation at the deadline.
They just keep winning of late, going from 25-27 and seven games behind the Yankees on May 25 to taking over first place from the slumping Bronx Bombers, a remarkable turnaround over just 36 games. They went 27-9 over a 36-game stretch ending with their eighth win in a row on Sunday.
George Springer‘s recent surge has been fun to watch, a reminder of how good he was at his peak, and Addison Barger has been mashing over the past two months.
Some of the stats don’t add up to the Blue Jays being this good — they’ve barely outscored their opponents — but there might be more offense in the tank from the likes of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and a healthy Anthony Santander, and the bullpen, a soft spot, is the easiest area to upgrade.
Their success is best summed up by the fact that Freddy Peralta is their lone All-Star, but they have a whole bunch of players who have contributed between 1 and 2 WAR.
Brandon Woodruff looked good Sunday in his first start in nearly two years, so that could be a huge boost for the second half.
I’m curious to see how Jackson Chourio performs as well. While his counting stats — extra-base hits, RBIs — are fine, his triple-slash line remains below last season, especially his OBP. He had a huge second half in 2024 (.310/.363/.552), and if he does that again, the Brewers could find themselves back in the postseason for the seventh time in eight seasons.
The Rays started off slow, with a losing record through the end of April, but then went 33-22 in May and June to claw back into the AL East race — as the Rays usually do, last year being the recent exception.
Two key performers have been All-Star third baseman Junior Caminero, who has a chance to become just the third player to hit 40 home runs in his age-21 season, and All-Star first baseman Jonathan Aranda.
Due to the league wanting the Rays to play more home games early in the season, the July and August slate will be very road-heavy, so we’ll see how the Rays adapt to a difficult two-month stretch, especially since their pitching isn’t quite as deep as it has been in other seasons.
No, they’re not going to be the greatest team of all time. But they might win 100 games — even though Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki, their huge offseason acquisitions, have combined for just two wins in 10 starts.
The lineup, of course, has been terrific, with Ohtani leading the NL in several categories and Will Smith leading the batting race. By wRC+, it’s been the best offense in Dodgers history.
If they can get some combo of Snell, Sasaki and Tyler Glasnow healthy, plus Ohtani eventually ramped up to a bigger workload on the mound, the Dodgers still loom as World Series favorites.
They are on pace for 95 wins, mainly on the strength of Zack Wheeler, Ranger Suarez and Cristopher Sanchez, who are a combined 23-7 with 11.8 WAR. Jesus Luzardo‘s ERA is bloated due to that two-start stretch when he allowed 20 runs, but he has otherwise been solid as well.
But, overall, it hasn’t always been the smoothest of treks. The bullpen has imploded a few times and the offense has lacked power aside from Kyle Schwarber. Bryce Harper is back after missing three weeks, and they need to get his bat going. Look for some bullpen additions at the trade deadline — and perhaps an outfielder as well.
The Cardinals have been a minor surprise — perhaps even to the Cardinals themselves. St. Louis was viewing this as a rebuilding year of sorts — not that the Cardinals ever hit rock bottom and start completely over. They had a hot May, winning 12 of 13 at one point, but the offense has been fading of late, with those three straight shutout losses to Pittsburgh and six shutout losses since June 25.
The starting rotation doesn’t generate a lot of swing and miss, with both Erick Fedde and Miles Mikolas seeing their ERAs starting to climb. Brendan Donovan is the team’s only All-Star rep, and that kind of sums up this team: solid but without any star power. That might foretell a second-half fade.
All-Star starting pitchers Logan Webb and Robbie Ray, plus a dominant bullpen, have led the way, although after starting 12-4, the Giants have basically been a .500 team for close to three months now. Rafael Devers hasn’t yet ignited the offense since coming over from Boston, and the Giants have lost four 1-0 games.
These final three games at home against the Dodgers before the All-Star break will be a crucial series, as Los Angeles has slowly pulled away in the NL West.
This was an “A-plus” through June 12, when the Mets were 45-24 and owned the best record in baseball, even though Juan Soto hadn’t gotten hot. Soto finally got going in June, but the pitching collapsed, and the Mets went through a disastrous 1-10 stretch.
The rotation injuries have piled up, exacerbating the lack of bullpen depth. Recent games have been started by Justin Hagenman (who had a 6.21 ERA in Triple-A), journeyman reliever Chris Devenski, Paul Blackburn (7.71 ERA) and Frankie Montas, who has had to start even though he’s clearly not throwing the ball well. The Mets need to get the rotation healthy, but also could use more offense from Mark Vientos and their catchers (Francisco Alvarez was demoted to Triple-A).
At times it has felt like Cal Raleigh has been a one-man team with his record-breaking first half. But he will be joined on the All-Star squad by starting pitcher Bryan Woo, closer Andres Munoz and center fielder Julio Rodriguez, who made it on the strength of his defense, as his offense has been a disappointment.
The offense has been one of the best in the majors on the road, but the rotation has been nowhere near as effective as the past couple of seasons, with George Kirby, Logan Gilbert and Bryce Miller all missing time with injuries. They just shut out the Pirates three games in a row, so maybe that will get the rotation on a roll.
They’re just out of the wild-card picture while hanging around .500, so we give them a decent grade since that exceeds preseason expectations. It feels like a little bit of a mirage given their run differential — their record in one-run games (good) versus their record in blowout games (not good) — and various holes across the lineup and pitching staff.
But they’ve done two things to keep them in the race. One, they hit a lot of home runs. Two, they’re the only team in the majors to use just five starting pitchers. The rotation hasn’t been stellar, but it’s been stable.
The Padres are probably fortunate to be where they are, given some of their issues. As expected, the offensive depth has been a problem.
Not as expected, Dylan Cease has struggled while Michael King‘s injury after a strong start has left them without last year’s dynamic 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation (although Nick Pivetta has been one of the best signings of the offseason). Yu Darvish just made his season debut Monday, so hopefully he’ll provide a lift.
The Padres haven’t played well against the better teams, including a 2-5 record against the Dodgers, but they did clean up against the Athletics, Rockies and Pirates, going 16-2 against those three teams.
For now, the Reds are stuck in neutral. Leave out 2022, when they lost 100 games, and it’s otherwise been a string of .500-ish seasons: 31-29 in 2020, 83-79 in 2021, 82-80 in 2023, 77-85 in 2024 and now a similar record so far in 2025.
The hope was that Terry Francona would be a difference-maker. Maybe that will play out down the stretch, but the best hope is to get the rotation clicking on all cylinders at the same time. That means Andrew Abbott continuing his breakout performance, plus getting Hunter Greene healthy again and rookie Chase Burns to live up to the hype after a couple of shaky outings following an impressive MLB debut.
Throw in Nick Lodolo and solid Nick Martinez and Brady Singer, and this group can be good enough to pitch the Reds to their first full-season playoff appearance since 2013.
The Yankees have hit their annual midseason swoon — which has been subject to much intense analysis from their disgruntled fans — and that opening weekend sweep of the Brewers, when the Yankees’ torpedo bats were the big story in baseball, now seems long ago.
Going from seven up to three back in such a short time is a disaster — but not disastrous. Nonetheless, the Yankees will have to do some hard-core self-evaluation heading to the trade deadline.
The offense wasn’t going to be as good as it was in April, when Paul Goldschmidt, Trent Grisham and Ben Rice were all playing over their heads. So, do they need a hitter? Or with Clarke Schmidt now likely joining Gerrit Cole as a Tommy John casualty, do they need a starting pitcher? Or both?
From the book of “things we didn’t expect,” page 547: The Marlins are averaging more runs per game than the Orioles, Padres, Braves and Rangers, to name a few teams. They’re averaging almost as many runs per game as the Mets, and last time we checked, the Marlins weren’t the team to give Soto $765 million.
An eight-game winning streak at the end of June has the Marlins going toe-to-toe with the Braves for third place in the NL East even though the starting rotation has been a mess, with Sandy Alcantara on track to become just the fourth qualified pitcher with an ERA over 7.00.
Heading into the season, I thought that if any team was going to challenge the Dodgers in the NL West, it would be the Diamondbacks. The offense has once again been one of the best in the majors, but the pitching issues have been painful.
After the aggressive move to sign Corbin Burnes, he went down with Tommy John surgery after 11 starts. Meanwhile, Zac Gallen, Eduardo Rodriguez and Brandon Pfaadt each have an ERA on the wrong side of 5.00. Rodriguez was better in June before a shellacking on July 4, while Gallen remains homer-prone, so it’s hard to tell if improvement is on the horizon. Their playoff odds are hovering just under 20%, so there’s a chance, but they need to get red-hot like they did last July and August.
It feels like it has been more soap opera than baseball season in Boston, with the Devers drama finally ending with the shocking trade with the Giants.
If you give added weight that this is the Red Sox, a team that should be operating with the big boys in both budget and aspirations and instead seemed to only want to dump Devers’ contract, then feel free to lower this grade a couple of notches, even if the Red Sox are close in the wild-card standings.
On the field, the heralded rookie trio of Kristian Campbell, Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer hasn’t exactly clicked, with Campbell returning to the minors after posting a .902 OPS in April. A big test will come out of the All-Star break, when they play the Cubs, Phillies, Dodgers, Twins and Astros in a tough 15-game stretch.
After last season’s surprise playoff appearance, it’s been a frustrating 2025 — although I’m not sure this result is necessarily a surprise.
There were concerns about the offense heading into the season and those concerns have proven correct. They were getting no production from their outfield, so they rushed Jac Caglianone to the majors to much hype, but he has struggled and might need a reset back in Triple-A. Even Bobby Witt Jr., as good as he has been (on pace for 7.5 WAR), has seen his OPS drop 140 points.
On the bright side, Kris Bubic emerged as an All-Star starter and Noah Cameron has filled in nicely for the injured Cole Ragans, so maybe they trade a starter for some offense.
Coming off a catastrophic 2024 season, nobody was expecting anything from the White Sox. Indeed, another 121-loss season loomed as a possibility. While they’re on pace to lose 100 again, they’ve at least played more competitive baseball thanks to their pitching.
Rookie starters Shane Smith and Sean Burke have shown promise, while rookie position players Kyle Teel, Edgar Quero and now Colson Montgomery are getting their initial taste of the majors.
There has been the mix of calamity: Luis Robert Jr. has been unproductive and is probably now untradable, and former No. 3 overall pick Andrew Vaughn hit .189 and was traded to the Brewers.
The Twins are one organization that might like a do-over of the past five seasons. It feels like they’ve had the most talent in the division, but all they’ve done is squeeze out one soft division title in 2023. Now, the Tigers have passed them in talent and other factors, such as payroll flexibility.
There’s still time for the Twins to turn things around in 2025, but outside of that wonderful 13-game winning streak, they haven’t played winning baseball.
Overall, it’s been yet another bad season, despite Paul Skenes‘ brilliance. Really, do we talk enough about him? Yes, we do talk about him, but he has a 1.95 ERA through his first 42 career starts. Incredible.
Here’s an amazing thing about baseball. The Pirates are not a good team, but they recently put together one of the best six-game stretches in history. That’s not stretching the description. First, they swept the Mets — a good team — by scores of 9-1, 9-2 and 12-1. Then they swept the Cardinals — a good team — with three shutouts, 7-0, 1-0 and 5-0. They became the first team since at least 1901 to score 43 runs or more and allow four runs or fewer in a six-game stretch. And then they promptly got shut out three games in a row, making them the first to win three straight shutouts and then lose three straight shutouts.
Eighteen of our 28 voters picked them to win the AL West before the season, but it’s looking more and more like the 2023 World Series might be a stone-cold fluke in the middle of a string of losing seasons. That year, nearly everyone in the lineup had a career year at the plate, and the pitching got hot at the right time.
This year’s Rangers, though, have struggled to score runs, and while some have pointed to the offensive environment at Globe Life Field, they’re near the bottom in road OPS as well. It’s been fun seeing Jacob deGrom back at a dominating level, and Nathan Eovaldi should have been an All-Star.
Put it this way: If the Rangers can somehow squeeze into the postseason, you don’t want to face the Rangers in a short series. Indeed, if any team looms as an October upset special, it might be the Rangers.
The Nationals received superlative first-half performances from James Wood and MacKenzie Gore, while CJ Abrams is on the way to his best season. But there remains a lack of overall organizational progress, which finally led to the firings on Sunday of longtime GM Mike Rizzo and longtime manager Dave Martinez. A 7-19 record in June sealed their fate, as the rotation has been bad and the bullpen arguably the worst in baseball.
Until the Nationals figure out how to improve their pitching — or, better yet, find an owner who wants to win — they will be stuck going nowhere.
That fell apart in a hurry. Sunday’s loss was Cleveland’s 10th in a row, a stretch that remarkably included five shutouts. Indeed, the Guardians have now been shut out 11 times; the franchise record in the post-dead-ball-era (since 1920) is 20 shutouts in 1968.
There’s nothing worse than watching a team that can’t score runs, so that tells you how exciting the Guardians have been. Last year, the Guardians hit exceptionally well with runners in scoring position, keeping afloat what was otherwise a mediocre offense. That hasn’t happened in 2025 (trading Josh Naylor didn’t help either). Throw in some predictable regression from the bullpen, and this season looks lost.
We can’t give this a complete failing grade due to the emergence of All-Star shortstop Jacob Wilson (the Athletics’ first All-Star starter since Josh Donaldson in 2014) and slugging first baseman Nick Kurtz, who have a chance to finish 1-2 in the Rookie of the Year voting. Plus, we have Denzel Clarke‘s circus catches in center field.
But otherwise? Ugh. The Sacramento gamble already looks like a disaster, three months into a three-year stay. The team is drawing well below Sutter Health Park’s 14,000-seat capacity, with many recent games drawing under 10,000 fans. Luis Severino bashed the small crowds and the lack of air-conditioning.
The A’s had a groundbreaking ceremony for their new park in Vegas, renting heavy construction equipment as background props. Maybe they should have spent that money on more pitching help.
Based on preseason expectations, the Braves have clearly been the biggest disappointment in the National League — fighting the Orioles for most disappointing overall.
What’s gone wrong? They haven’t scored runs, as the offense continues its remarkable fade from a record-setting performance just two seasons ago. The collapses of Michael Harris II and Ozzie Albies lead the way, with lack of production at shortstop and left field playing a big role as well. Closer Raisel Iglesias has struggled, and the team is 11-22 in one-run games. Spencer Strider hasn’t yet reached his pre-injury level and Reynaldo Lopez made just one start before going down.
The Braves haven’t missed the playoffs since 2017, but that run is clearly in jeopardy.
The Orioles have a similar record to the Braves but have played much worse, including losses of 24-2, 19-5, 15-3 and two separate 9-0 shutouts.
They will spend the trade deadline dealing away as many of their impending free agents as possible, and then do a lot of soul-searching heading into the offseason. After making the playoffs in 2023 and 2024, will this season just be a blip? While the pitching struggles aren’t necessarily a big surprise, what has happened to the offense? Are some of their young players prospects or suspects?
After two months of Cleveland Spiders-level baseball, it would be easy to make fun of the Rockies. Especially since they recently announced Walker Monfort — son of the owner — was promoted to executive VP and will replace outgoing president and COO Greg Feasel.
On the other hand, the Rockies are doing something right: They just drew 121,000 for a three-game series against the White Sox.
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Jorge Castillo
NEW YORK — The Yankees designated two-time batting champion DJ LeMahieu for assignment Wednesday, presumably ending the infielder’s seven-year tenure with the organization despite being owed $22 million through next season.
“Tough decisions,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. “In the end, it ultimately comes down to how this roster sits and what’s best. You want to provide your manager with enough chess moves to deal with on a day-in and day-out basis in-game.”
Manager Aaron Boone explained that the move resulted from “an evolving conversation” in recent days that included multiple meetings with LeMahieu, a respected veteran in the Yankees’ clubhouse.
It comes a day after Boone announced that Jazz Chisholm Jr. would shift back to playing second base every day from third base, bumping LeMahieu from the team’s everyday second baseman to a bench role. Boone acknowledged LeMahieu took the demotion “not necessarily great” but emphasized that LeMahieu did not ask for his release.
“It’s been a tough couple of days,” Boone said. “Some hard conversations. And then ultimately coming to this decision, conclusion, obviously not easy for [who’s] been a great player. He’s done a lot of great things for this organization. So, difficult, but at the end [we] feel like this is the right thing to do at this time.”
LeMahieu, who turns 37 on Sunday, batted .266 with a .674 OPS in 45 games this season after starting the season on the injured list with a strained calf. He has been better since June 1, hitting .310 with a .754 OPS in 96 plate appearances as the Yankees’ primary second baseman, but Cashman ultimately decided the production wasn’t enough to offset his defensive liabilities.
The Yankees signed LeMahieu to a six-year, $90 million contract before the 2021 season — fresh off LeMahieu hitting .364 during the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign to become the first player to win a batting title in both leagues in the modern era — envisioning him as an everyday utility player bouncing between infield positions.
LeMahieu made 36 of his 55 starts last season at third base before going on the injured list in early September with a right hip impingement for the remainder of the year. That injury, according to Cashman, inhibited LeMahieu’s ability to play third base, and led to LeMahieu informing him that he couldn’t physically handle playing the position anymore.
“He was always just sharing that the recovery was really difficult,” Cashman said. “The physical toll on him to tee up at that position was a problem and so therefore that position is a problem.”
The limitation was cemented during spring training when LeMahieu strained his left calf in his first Grapefruit League game playing third base, forcing the Yankees to conclude that LeMahieu was no longer an option at the position. He only played second base in his nine rehab games before making his season debut May 13 as a second baseman with Chisholm on the injured list with an oblique strain.
Three weeks later, Chisholm, who started the season as the team’s everyday second baseman, came off the injured list to play third base despite LeMahieu’s range at second base being glaringly limited. Chisholm, who feels most comfortable at second base, accepted the assignment and returned to third base, a position he picked up last season after the Yankees acquired him from the Miami Marlins at the trade deadline through the World Series.
The calculus changed Sunday when Chisholm, with the Yankees in the midst of a six-game losing streak, told reporters that he hurt his shoulder making a throw from third base three weeks earlier and the injury impacted his throwing. Two days later, Chisholm, who had made three throwing errors in his final four starts at third base, was the Yankees’ starting second baseman again.
With Chisholm, an All-Star this season, stationed at second base, former MVPs Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger entrenched at first base and Giancarlo Stanton occupying the DH spot, playing time would have been sparse for LeMahieu.
Factoring in that the Yankees’ options at third base behind Oswald Peraza, who is also the team’s backup shortstop, would have been catcher J.C. Escarra, Cashman determined that LeMahieu’s presence hampered the team’s flexibility to an extent that would have handcuffed Boone’s in-game decision-making. Infielder Jorbit Vivas, a light-hitting versatile defender, was called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to replace LeMahieu on the roster.
“I wouldn’t say he’s unwilling to still make the attempt and maybe spell over there,” Cashman said of LeMahieu. “But it was something that he was without sharing that was steering clear of to the extent he could.
“Because, again, like anything else, he’s got a lot of pride. He’s a great player. He wants to contribute to the team. He loves this team. He loves this organization. But he felt that was an avenue that was no longer a realistic avenue and that kind of ties our hands a little bit more moving forward.”
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