MLB Power Rankings: Who’s the new No. 1 atop our list?
We have a new top team in our rankings!
The Dodgers have usurped the Braves to take hold of the No. 1 spot, thanks to strong performances from Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernandez.
After two weeks of baseball, the Yankees rode a five-game win streak to the majors’ best record at 10-3, followed by … the Pirates and Guardians?!
Meanwhile, our top 10 features three new teams in the Cubs, Red Sox and Guardians — the last of whom made the largest leap of all 30 teams from last week to now, going from No. 21 to No. 10. Will they be able to keep up this dominance?
Our expert panel has combined to rank every team in baseball based on a combination of what we’ve seen so far and what we already knew going into the 162-game marathon that is a full baseball season. We also asked ESPN MLB experts David Schoenfield, Bradford Doolittle, Jesse Rogers, Alden Gonzalez and Jorge Castillo to weigh in with an observation for all 30 teams.
Record: 10-5
Previous ranking: 2
Yoshinobu Yamamoto obtained the largest contract ever by a pitcher this offseason, but there’s a reason Tyler Glasnow drew the Dodgers’ first start of 2024. The team’s evaluators believe Glasnow, 30 years old with a checkered injury history, is just starting to tap into what he can become in the big leagues. His Tuesday start against the Twins was another example of that. Glasnow matched a career high with 14 strikeouts through seven scoreless innings, during which he threw just 88 pitches. He was simply dominant — as he has been through the early part of this season. Four starts in, Glasnow holds a 2.25 ERA. — Gonzalez
Record: 7-3
Previous ranking: 1
As we await the official news on Spencer Strider‘s pitching elbow and whether he’ll need a second Tommy John surgery after first undergoing the procedure in college, the Braves turn to replacing their ace starter. Allan Winans replaced Strider on the roster and started on Wednesday. He made six starts last season for the Braves and posted a 5.29 ERA, although with an excellent 34-8 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Winans got the call over 2023 All-Star Bryce Elder, who scuffled in the second half last season and then struggled in spring training. His first two starts at Triple-A Gwinnett were better (2.61 ERA), but the Braves want to see more. AJ Smith-Shawver is also there, but he lasted just two-thirds of an inning in his first start, walking three batters. Huascar Ynoa, who had his moments for the Braves in 2021, is at Gwinnett, trying to return from Tommy John surgery after not pitching in 2023, but didn’t pitch well his first two starts. For now, it’s Winans. — Schoenfield
Record: 10-3
Previous ranking: 3
Every year, dozens of major leaguers vow to implement changes upon reporting to spring training. Hitters work on mechanical changes. Pitchers experiment with pitches. The list goes on. But rarely are adjustments as immediately effective as the ones Anthony Volpe has incorporated at the plate. Volpe, 22, looks like a different hitter from his 2023 rookie season. His swing path is flatter, and he’s practicing more patience and making hard contact consistently. His production, as a result, has skyrocketed. The shortstop is 16-for-43 (.372) with an 1.041 OPS and three steals — all while still playing elite defense after winning a Gold Glove last season. The hometown kid is on a path to stardom. — Castillo
Record: 7-4
Previous ranking: 4
Pitcher injuries have been the theme to start the season. It seems as if a pitcher is sidelined with an elbow or shoulder ailment every day, and it’s almost always bad — or even terrible — news. But here’s a positive development: Orioles right-hander Kyle Bradish, diagnosed with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow in January, will begin a rehab assignment soon. Bradish, 27, emerged as one of the American League’s top pitchers last season, posting an 2.83 ERA in 30 starts. If he can return anywhere close to that form, he and Corbin Burnes would give the Orioles’ rotation a top-tier one-two punch.
Oh, and the Orioles have called up Jackson Holliday, the consensus No. 1 prospect in the sport. The vibes are looking good in Baltimore. — Castillo
Record: 7-5
Previous ranking: 5
It looks like the Rangers are going to be piecing things together at the hot corner for at least the first half of the season. The reigning champs got brutal early news when hard-luck standout Josh Jung took a pitch off his right wrist. Jung was off to a blazing start, but after undergoing surgery to repair a fracture, he’s now on the 60-day injured list. Texas summoned prospect Justin Foscue to help out in the infield, and he turned up with an oblique injury after logging his first two major league plate appearances. Now another prospect — Davis Wendzel — has been summoned for his first MLB time. Wendzel will help Josh Smith and Ezequiel Duran and, hopefully, Foscue hold down the fort until Jung can get back on the field. — Doolittle
Record: 6-6
Previous ranking: 7
Through the team’s first 12 games, Trea Turner, Alec Bohm, Nick Castellanos, Bryson Stott and Johan Rojas were all without a home run. Bryce Harper has hit three home runs — but all in one game. The slow start from the offense is a reminder that last year’s offense also started off slowly through the first two months — and, really, only put it together in August, when the Phillies went wild and hit 59 home runs with a .907 OPS. The team OPS was under .800 every other month. Last year, Harper was coming back from his Tommy John surgery and didn’t play until May 2, plus several players were at the World Baseball Classic. No similar excuses apply this season. — Schoenfield
Record: 4-9
Previous ranking: 8
Add the Astros to the list of teams who have a complete starting rotation currently on the IL. This week, Framber Valdez‘s sore elbow landed him on the shelf next to Justin Verlander, Luis Garcia, Lance McCullers Jr. and Jose Urquidy. We don’t yet know how long Valdez will be down, but clearly Houston is already scrambling for starting pitchers. Ronel Blanco has been a godsend and Houston summoned 40 FV (future value, per ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel) righty Spencer Arrighetti to make his MLB debut. Unranked prospect Blair Henley was selected to start on short notice against the champion Rangers, got one out and was subsequently optioned back to the minors. Expect plenty of this kind of improvisation for a while. — Doolittle
Record: 7-5
Previous ranking: 15
Everything was going swimmingly for the Cubs until Monday night when they blew an eight-run lead for the first time since 2002. The Padres were the beneficiary of several questionable moves by Chicago manager Craig Counsell, who is known as a good manager of bullpens. It underscores the point that all managers are capable of second guessing — especially when you don’t have the pieces. Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer didn’t add a reliever at last year’s deadline, nor did he add much more than Hector Neris this past offseason. It could come back to bite his team — like it did against San Diego. — Rogers
Record: 7-5
Previous ranking: 13
The Red Sox didn’t spend much money on free agents during the winter — further peeving fans following consecutive last-place finishes the past two seasons — but they have spent some on their young talent. Last month, they gave starter Brayan Bello a six-year extension. This week was Ceddanne Rafaela‘s turn, as he agreed to an eight-year, $50 million contract after playing in just 38 major league games. Rafaela, 23, is a speedster and dynamic defender, both in center field and at shortstop. That versatility is already crucial for the Red Sox. Rafaela, the club’s opening day center fielder, could see more time at shortstop after Trevor Story’s season-ending shoulder injury. — Castillo
Record: 9-3
Previous ranking: 21
Shane Bieber had dominated in his first two starts, throwing 12 scoreless innings, but then came the devastating news that he’ll undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the season. “My performance was getting back to the place I knew I was capable of,” Bieber told reporters, fighting back tears. “I was falling back in love with pitching.” During pregame introductions at the team’s home opener on Monday, the fans gave the 2020 Cy Young winner a huge ovation. For the Guardians, a rotation that was already without Gavin Williams takes a huge blow (Xzavion Curry and Ben Lively are possible replacements, although both are on rehab assignments in Triple-A right now). For Bieber, who’s heading into free agency after this season, there will be no monster contract that he would have received with a healthy season. — Schoenfield
Record: 8-3
Previous ranking: 11
Christian Yelich is off to a hot start, driving the ball like he did during his MVP year back in 2018. The following season was basically the last that he looked this dangerous. In between then and now there were some injuries and little protection in the lineup, but he looks healthy now — and, in a very small sample size, he’s destroying left-handed pitching. He’s 4-for-7 with two home runs against lefties while compiling a near one-to-one overall strikeout-to-walk ratio. This version of Yelich is essential to the Brewers’ chances. — Rogers
Record: 9-3
Previous ranking: 16
Lefty Martin Perez is proving to be a savvy pickup as he has made three starts for the Pirates and given up just four runs over 19 innings. The longtime Ranger didn’t have his best season last year, flipping between starting and relieving, but he’s only a season removed from compiling a 2.89 ERA in 2022 while making 32 starts over 196⅓ innings. Perez is the kind of veteran the Pirates need to help their young rotation. The only question is if he and the team can keep up their hot start to the season. — Rogers
Record: 7-6
Previous ranking: 10
The Rays’ desire to trade Glasnow was one of the offseason’s worst-kept secrets. The question wasn’t if it would happen, but what the Rays would collect in return for the talented, oft-injured pitcher. If Ryan Pepiot‘s start in Colorado on Sunday is any indication, Tampa Bay might have acquired a more-than-adequate replacement for Glasnow.
Pepiot held the Rockies to three hits over six scoreless innings, striking out 11 without a walk in the hitters’ haven that is Coors Field. An oblique injury limited the right-hander to eight outings with the Dodgers last season, but he was plenty good when healthy, posting a 2.14 ERA over 42 innings. The Rays clearly saw something they liked in Pepiot. Their history with pitchers suggests they’ll find a way to maximize his abilities. — Castillo
Record: 6-7
Previous ranking: 6
Asked during spring training about a potential breakout candidate on his team, D-backs general manager Mike Hazen pointed to Ketel Marte. It was a rather odd choice, given that Marte is in his age-30 season and has been in the big leagues for 10 years. We know what he is, basically — which is pretty darn good. But Hazen felt there might be yet another level for Marte, pointing to how he surged through last year’s postseason and how that might springboard him in 2024.
That proved to be the case in the early stages of this season, with Marte carrying a .342/.386/.658 slash line through his first nine games. If Marte can get back to his MVP-level production from 2019, it will go a long way toward the D-backs separating themselves from the Padres and Giants in the National League West. — Gonzalez
Record: 6-7
Previous ranking: 12
The Blue Jays launched the season with a harsh three-city road trip through Tampa, Houston and New York to give workers more time to finish Rogers Centre’s latest round of renovations. The ballpark makeover has received mixed reviews, but the club enjoyed its return home, winning two straight over the Mariners after its 4-6 start against three playoff teams. The Rockies and Yankees travel north next before the Blue Jays leave Canada again. Maybe some home cooking will get Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette going after slow starts at the plate. — Castillo
Record: 7-8
Previous ranking: 18
In case you had forgotten, Fernando Tatis Jr. is still capable of magic. We saw it once again, rather emphatically, on Monday night. Eighth inning. One on, two outs. Down a run. Brushed back on a pitch by Cubs reliever Adbert Alzolay. On the very next one, Tatis launched the game-winning home run, capping an eight-run comeback, electrifying Petco Park and celebrating as emphatically as you might think. The Padres still have superstars. Their fans are still behind them. But they’re still waiting for key guys to get going around Tatis, namely Xander Bogaerts and Manny Machado, the latter of whom is still relegated to designated hitter while recovering from offseason right elbow surgery. — Gonzalez
Record: 7-4
Previous ranking: 14
For the eternally optimistic, every new season has carried with it the renewed hope that Javier Baez can recapture some of what he once had offensively and live up to the expectation of his $140 million contract. And we once again regret to inform those people that there are no signs of that happening. Not yet, at least. Through his first nine games, Baez has mustered only five hits in 33 at-bats, striking out 11 times without drawing any walks or producing any extra-base hits. Baez struck out a NL-leading 184 times in 2021 but still produced an .813 OPS. It dropped to .671 in 2022, then .593 last season, and now, at this very early juncture, it sits at .323. — Gonzalez
Record: 6-6
Previous ranking: 20
Spencer Steer might not have garnered the headlines that Elly De La Cruz earned last year, but he’s certainly getting them now. Steer won player of the week in the NL and is putting up monster numbers one season after posting a 119 OPS+. That number is hovering around 220 right now. Meanwhile, his hard hit percentage is over 50% — up from 37% last year. He’ll surely come back down to earth, but with injuries plaguing the Reds, they need a leader at the plate after Joey Votto moved on. Steer is turning into that guy. — Rogers
Record: 5-8
Previous ranking: 9
As a rookie in 2023, right-hander Bryce Miller was half of a first-division starter. Against righty hitters, Miller was lights out, holding them to a .210/.242/.332 slash line. The news wasn’t so good against lefty swingers, though, with whom opposing managers stacked the lineup whenever Miller took the hill. Those guys hit .282/.340/.521 against him, which was a problem. The solution: a new pitch. Miller has thrown a splitter 20 times in each of his first two starts, with 28 of those 40 offerings attacking his lefty-hitting nemeses. So far: Lefties are hitting .107/.194/.214 against Miller. It’s early, yes, but that’s awfully exciting for a team that needs all the good news it can get. — Doolittle
Record: 4-6
Previous ranking: 17
Byron Buxton, an elite defensive center fielder, didn’t log one inning in the outfield in 2023. To limit his risk of injury, the injury-plagued veteran was the designated hitter in every one of his 80 games. The Twins chose to reverse course this season, and Buxton showed why Monday, robbing Teoscar Hernandez of extra bases with an all-out diving catch in right-center field. Constant major setbacks haven’t allowed Buxton, 30, to reach the potential that once made him the consensus top prospect in the sport. He has played more than 92 games in a season just once in his seven full, non-COVID-shortened campaigns. If he can stay healthy, his glovework alone will make a difference in the Twins’ pursuit of a second straight division title. — Castillo
Record: 8-4
Previous ranking: 23
While many rotations have been affected by injury-related instability so far in 2024, the starting group in Kansas City has fueled the team’s early surge. Kansas City features a top-five rotation ERA but that’s only part of the story. It’s not just one or two breakouts fueling that number — it’s the whole group. The Royals have set the pace in terms of quality starts and average game score so far. With that consistency comes volume: Their starters lead the majors in innings per start despite being middle of the pack in pitches per outing. Can it last? We’ll see, but as long as it does, Kansas City will be a threat in the AL Central. — Doolittle
Record: 5-8
Previous ranking: 19
Blake Snell‘s first start in a Giants uniform was a bit of a dud, which was probably to be expected. He gave up three runs, allowed five baserunners and threw 72 pitches in just three innings on Monday. His stuff looked electric at times, but he was clearly off after a strange offseason in which he signed on March 18, didn’t have the benefit of spring training and was forced to prepare by throwing a five-inning simulated game from Dodger Stadium before the Giants’ seventh game of the regular season. Speaking to reporters after his debut, Snell said: “I’m only going to get better. It’s going to get more crisp. First game, I’m happy it’s out of the way.” — Gonzalez
Record: 6-7
Previous ranking: 22
Is anyone shocked that the Cardinals’ starting staff ranks in the bottom third of the league in ERA? Two of their new pickups, Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson, combined to pitch 11 innings in their last outings, giving up nine runs on eight hits. They’ll both need to be better considering Sonny Gray is just coming back from injury. On the bright side, he looked great on Tuesday against the Phillies. Still, St. Louis is putting all its eggs in this basket, counting on aging starters to turn the team around. It’s a risky proposition with a low level of confidence in its success. — Rogers
Record: 6-6
Previous ranking: 25
Given Mike Trout‘s injury luck, it’ll be hard for Angels fans to avoid cringing every time he runs into a wall, gets hit by a pitch or runs hard from first to third. So far — fingers crossed — Trout has looked as good as he has in years, fueling hopes for a vintage, and complete, season for the future first-ballot Hall of Famer. He has even stolen two bases, a total he hasn’t exceeded since 2019. Trout’s six early homers have him on an epic pace, but the other part of that story is his RBI total — eight on those first six dingers. That might be a season-long disconnect. With Trout hitting third, the Angels lead the majors in OPS from the three-hole. But the combined on-base percentage for the three spots ahead of him — 9-1-2 — ranks near the bottom of the majors. — Doolittle
Record: 4-7
Previous ranking: 24
Francisco Lindor is off to such a slow start — 4-for-45 (.089) — that Mets fans are trying to organize a standing ovation for him when they return home on Friday, hoping to boost him up similar to what Phillies fans did with Trea Turner last August. It does look in part like a run of bad luck, as Lindor has just six strikeouts in 53 plate appearances. He has had just one other 11-game stretch (non-overlapping) when he hit under .100, back in September of 2016. He had an 11-game stretch last year in May and June when he hit .114, but he still managed three home runs and seven RBIs, as opposed to one home run and two RBIs in this stretch. — Schoenfield
Record: 5-7
Previous ranking: 27
An early bright spot for the Nationals is CJ Abrams, who hit .306/.359/.611 through his first nine games (he missed three games with a finger injury) with three home runs — including blasts of 423 feet and 429 feet. Those are longer than any of the 18 home runs he hit last season, a sign that his power is continuing to develop. Indeed, keep the sample size in mind here, but his average launch angle has gone from 6.8 degrees as an overmatched rookie in 2022 to 13.5 degrees in 2023 to 22.3 so far in 2024. It’s an interesting twist for a prospect once projected as more of a high-average hitter with minimal power, but who now may be turning into a 25- to 30-homer guy. — Schoenfield
Record: 2-11
Previous ranking: 26
The Marlins started 0-9 before finally breaking through on Sunday with a 10-3 win over the Cardinals. Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit two home runs while Max Meyer picked up his first MLB victory in allowing just one run and three hits over six innings. The Marlins thus avoided becoming just the seventh team since 1900 to begin the season with at least 10 consecutive losses. Meyer was impressive with his fastball/slider combo, inducing 11 groundouts. He wasn’t supposed to be in the rotation — Miami had actually optioned Meyer to the minors in March, hoping to bring him back slowly after not pitching last season — but injuries in the rotation forced the Marlins to call him back up. — Schoenfield
Record: 4-8
Previous ranking: 30
Mason Miller‘s electric arsenal plays in a number of key staff roles, but so far this season he’s a closer. He has had myriad arm issues, so the short relief gig could help protect him to a degree. Still, while his average four-seamer has ascended into triple-digits in the short stints, he has largely abandoned his changeup and cutter to this point. As a closer, Miller has shined with his four-seamer/slider combo, but it’ll be interesting to see going forward if he becomes pigeonholed as a reliever as his in-progress secondary offerings trend toward atrophy. — Doolittle
Record: 3-10
Previous ranking: 29
Kyle Freeland had a really good spring, posting a 2.37 ERA in 19 Cactus League innings, but he struggled mightily when the games began to start. The Rockies’ 30-year-old left-hander gave up a whopping 17 runs and allowed 24 of 40 batters to reach during his first two starts against the D-backs and Cubs. But Freeland was better in his third start against the division-rival D-backs (4 runs, 2 earned, in five innings) and should eventually get back to doing what he normally does — taking down innings and putting up above-average park-adjusted numbers. One good sign early on: His four-seam fastball has been averaging 92 mph, where it stood in 2020 before declining for three straight years. — Gonzalez
Record: 2-10
Previous ranking: 28
Chicago’s futility on offense is shocking but what can you expect when Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert Jr. and now Yoan Moncada are once again out of the lineup with injuries? It has led to a historically bad start at the plate — the White Sox were shut out four times in their first 10 games and scored a total of 16 runs. That’s the fewest for an MLB team through its first 10 games since 2004 and fewest for the White Sox through 10 since 1968. They had a one day reprieve on Tuesday, scoring seven against the Guardians, but that’s the same day Moncada was lost with an adductor strain. It’s going to be a long year for Chicago. — Rogers
On the day Alex Bregman met Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer this spring, the two Boston Red Sox uber-prospects greeted him with a proposition: Let us play student to your teacher. Bregman, who joined the Red Sox days earlier on a three-year, $120 million contract, has cultivated a reputation as perhaps the smartest baseball mind in the game, a combination of film hound, analytics dork, eagle-eyed scout and pure knower of ball gleaned from a wildly successful big league career. As Mayer put it in his unique verbiage: “Hey, bro, do you just want to marinate in the clubhouse and talk shop?'”
“It made me laugh,” Bregman said, “because, like, ‘marinate in the clubhouse and talk shop’ — it sounds like me when I was 21. All I wanted to do is just sit in the clubhouse for four hours after a game and talk about baseball.”
All these years later — having played more than 1,000 games, whacked 200 home runs and worn the countless slings and arrows of those who can’t bring themselves to look past his role on the Houston Astros team that cheated amid its championship run in 2017 — Bregman is still in love with the game. When his wife, Reagan, was about to give birth to their second child in mid-April, Bregman told teammates he didn’t plan to take full advantage of Major League Baseball’s three-game paternity leave. That day in Tampa, Florida, he went 5-for-5 with two home runs, flew to Boston, saw the birth of Bennett Matthew Bregman, and returned to the team. He missed one game.
At 31, Bregman is scarcely different from the baseball obsessive who brute-forced his way to the big leagues within a year of being drafted and has logged the second most postseason plate appearances since. Even as others seek his wisdom, he still fancies himself an apprentice, an explorer with an endless font of curiosity– someone who watches closely and studies ceaselessly, capable of making adjustments from pitch to pitch, at-bat to at-bat, game to game. Bregman converses in English and Spanish, with hitters and pitchers, finding himself at the intersection of the Venn diagrams that illustrate divisions in plenty of clubhouses.
“It’s consistent ball talk,” said Garrett Crochet, the Red Sox ace also acquired over the winter. “When I’m not starting, in between innings, he’ll come over on the bench and pull out the iPad and be like, ‘I was looking for this right here. He’s going to give it to me the next at-bat,’ and then [the pitcher] does, and it’s a single or double.”
Bregman’s instincts come from a place of necessity. His biographical details don’t scream big leaguer. In a game increasingly inhabited by physically imposing athletes, he stands a couple of inches shy of 6 feet. He grew up in New Mexico, nobody’s idea of a baseball hotbed. Bregman’s love of the game has fueled him every step of the way, from starring at SEC powerhouse LSU as a freshman to being selected No. 2 in the 2015 MLB draft and becoming a mainstay in a loaded Astros lineup since his debut as a 22-year-old.
“His energy is very contagious,” said Red Sox first baseman Abraham Toro, who also spent parts of three seasons as Bregman’s teammate in Houston. “He’s always talking about baseball. Even when the game’s over, he’s talking about baseball. And it makes you want to get better.”
Bregman started his career picking the brains of veteran teammates such as Justin Verlander, Martin Maldonado, Brian McCann and Carlos Correa in his quest for improvement. Now, a decade later, he is relishing the opportunity to foster those discussions with the next generation of players in his new home.
“Baseball talk is the key,” Bregman said. “Just talking the game with your teammates, coaches, talking about the pitcher you’re facing or the hitters that our pitchers are facing, how you see it and how they see it. And then if you see anything in their game or they see anything in your game, you go back and forth on how guys can improve.
“It’s energizing, to be honest with you. Especially it being a bunch of younger guys who are trying to improve the same way I am. I feel like I’m young and want to get a lot better. And I feel like my best baseball’s ahead of me.”
As the offseason languished on, it became increasingly clear that Bregman would have to find a different home than the only clubhouse he’d ever known. When Bregman’s primary suitors finally came into focus, the favorites were the Detroit Tigers — managed by A.J. Hinch, with whom he spent four seasons in Houston — and the Red Sox.
In the final hours, Bregman asked Boston for its best offer — one the Red Sox had loaded up with annual salary and opt-outs after each of the first two seasons in hopes of proving sufficiently alluring.
It was a staggering deal for someone who over the previous five seasons was plenty good (.261/.350/.445 with 92 home runs) but objectively not a $40 million-a-year player. But Bregman and the Red Sox both believed he could get himself back to the version of himself from 2018 and 2019 — the one who posted more than 16 wins above replacement and ranked among the game’s elite.
Bregman accepted. And that’s when Boston’s hitting machine went to work. Red Sox coaches already had put together a presentation to explain how and why he needed to fix his swing. Over time, Bregman had developed almost imperceptible bad habits. The timing of Bregman loading his hands was too late and too fast. Moving his hands as the ball left the pitcher’s hand left him vulnerable, and never did Bregman possess the sort of bat velocity to make up for it.
“After those [successful] years, it was like, I wanna be better, I wanna be better, I wanna be better, I wanna be better,” Bregman said. “So I started trying to change things and improve, improve, improve instead of doing what made me who I am and just refining what I was already doing at the time.”
Red Sox hitting coach Peter Fatse and assistants Dillon Lawson and Ben Rosenthal loved the simplicity of Bregman’s move in the batter’s box, but they saw more potential and knew swing adjustments would be necessary. Change doesn’t exactly suit Bregman. He is the guy who eats the same meal every day and never deviates from his hitting schedule. But he is also the son of two lawyers and at least open to practical solutions, so he was willing to hear out his new coaching staff.
The Red Sox worked with Bregman to address the flaw in the swing: It all started, they agreed, with a poor setup and load. Rather than exclusively focus on bat-speed training, Bregman committed to loading earlier and rebuilt his swing in a place that’s heaven to baseball rats like him: the batting cage.
“Get back to doing what I did in my best years, which was to focus on being the best in the cage that day,” Bregman said. “Not worrying about if I’m hitting well on the field; more like, can I master the f—ing cage today? Can I square the ball up? Can I execute the drill in the cage and then go play in the game? As opposed to, I need to go 4-for-4 tonight with two doubles and a homer. I’m gonna be the best hitter before the game in the cage, and then I’m gonna go out and just try and repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat.”
Bregman had found his greatest success when he followed a few cues: load slowly, take the bat’s knob past the ball in front of the plate and strike the inside part of the ball. Finding that simplicity in his purpose and swing would be the goals. He did not need to set specific production expectations, instead trusting process over outcome. He would fix the swing in time for the numbers to reflect it. When the ball started jumping off Bregman’s bat again, he knew he had hacked himself successfully. His average exit velocity over the first seven regular-season weeks with the Red Sox jumped by 3 mph. His hard-hit rate spiked to 48.5% — up eight percentage points over his previous career high. He is hitting .304./381/.567 with 10 home runs and 32 RBIs in 43 games.
“Honestly,” Bregman said, “I feel like this has been the best I’ve hit in my career.”
Bregman’s desire for improvement does not begin and end with himself. When he recently overheard Fatse and Ceddanne Rafaela, the Red Sox’s talented 24-year-old super-utility man, talking about ways to improve Rafaela’s poor swing decisions, he couldn’t help but chime in.
“We were talking about simplicity of the load, and [Bregman] just goes, ‘One, two,'” Fatse said. “One, be ready to hit. Two, be in a position to get your swing off. And it was amazing. It just clicked. In the dugout, we’ll scream: ‘one, two.’ Rafa’s walking up plate: ‘one, two, one, two.’ [Bregman] will be screaming it from the dugout, and it’s simple, but it’s his ability to connect with everybody that makes him a unicorn in that regard. He cares so much about his teammates. He wants to win.
“It’s just the urgency behind it,” Fatse continued. “If he has something, he’s going to go right to you and give it to you. And whether it’s something with his swing or if we’re talking about somebody else’s approach or swing or matchup-related stuff, he’s ready to engage in the conversation immediately. There’s no waiting around. When you have that level of urgency, everybody responds to it.”
In much the same way that his advice has rejuvenated Rafaela — who has four two-hit games in his past eight and has struck out only twice — Bregman’s arrival has changed the Boston clubhouse by bringing to it an edge that left with the 2019 retirement of Dustin Pedroia, the second baseman who was every bit the heart of the Red Sox’s three most recent championships as David Ortiz. Bregman grew up idolizing Pedroia for his outsized production from an undersized body. He was unaware of the other qualities they share: the encyclopedic knowledge of the game, the capacity to evoke fits of uproarious laughter at team dinners, the desire to help others find the best version of themselves the same way he did.
“Everyone understands [Bregman’s] process is just to win that game and he’ll do whatever it takes that day or night to win,” Red Sox outfielder Rob Refsnyder said. “He’ll adjust his swing, his setup, his thoughts, his scouting, everything. It’s all about just winning that game. I think guys are a lot more receptive to him, and obviously he’s a winner and he works so hard. It’s easy to take advice from somebody like that because you know it’s from a genuine, we’re-just-trying-to-win-this-game [perspective].”
Winning comes in plenty of forms, be it a 5-for-5, two-homer day or an 0-for-4 bummer in which Bregman does the work with his glove or legs. By now, his teammates know that no matter how early they show up to the ballpark, Bregman will be there first, his white pants already on, ready to attack the day. He’s always happy to pore over information and develop a detailed scouting report, Crochet said, “based off of analytics, video, prior at-bats. For him, it’s really a happy medium of all three. I feel like he’s able to get on TruMedia — that’s our site with all the pitch-usage breakdown by count and pitch-frequency maps — and window a guy or sit on a specific pitch, specific spot. It’s incredibly impressive.”
The Red Sox aren’t taking for granted the time they get with Bregman. As much as they’ve loved the knowledge and production, they recognize that a seasonlong jag almost certainly will precipitate him opting out of his contract. Bregman now knows he can replicate for other teams what he developed in Houston, where he was lionized by local fans amid the festering fallout of the cheating scandal in 29 other stadiums.
If this does wind up as a Boston gap year, a la Adrian Beltre, Bregman’s influence will continue to reverberate. He did spend time marinating with Anthony and Mayer — and also bought them, and a host of other top Red Sox prospects, tailored suits to help them feel comfortable in a major league setting. By Bregman’s second week with the Red Sox, the kids were already giving him grief, wondering aloud if he had gray pants in his spring training locker — an implication that he’s too big-time to travel for a Grapefruit League road game. Never one to be told what he is or isn’t, Bregman went for a 90-minute bus ride with Anthony and Mayer from Fort Myers to Sarasota.
Bregman’s connection to the Red Sox is generational. His grandfather was the general counsel for the Washington Senators and helped hire Ted Williams, who spent the entirety of his 19-year Hall of Fame playing career with Boston, as their manager. His father, Sam — currently running for governor in New Mexico — grew up around the Senators and Williams. And it sparked a fondness for baseball he passed on to his son.
The allure of Boston that helped guide Bregman to the Red Sox — familial and modern — has been substantiated in every way but their record, which, at 22-22, is good enough for second place in the American League East but would leave Bregman on the outside looking in at the postseason for the first time in a full season spent in the big leagues. Boston has plenty of time to right itself, which would be the final validation for Bregman on his stay in Boston, however long it lasts.
“I felt like it was a place I could win,” Bregman said. “I felt like it was a place where I could prove the caliber a player that I believe I am. And I wasn’t scared to go prove it.”
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The Boston Red Sox placed right-hander Tanner Houck on the 15-day injured list Wednesday because of a flexor pronator strain in his right forearm.
The move is retroactive to Tuesday. In a corresponding move, the Red Sox recalled right-hander Cooper Criswell from Triple-A Worcester.
Houck yielded 11 runs, nine hits (including two home runs) and three walks in 2 1/3 innings Monday night in a 14-2 loss at Detroit.
“This is definitely probably the most lost I’ve ever been,” Houck, 28, said after the game. “And just not getting the job done, which weighs on me heavily.”
Asked about his health, Houck said, “Physically, I feel good,” and added, “I just need to be better.”
Houck is 0-3 with an 8.04 ERA, 17 walks, 32 strikeouts, an America League-high 57 hits allowed and a major league-worst 39 earned runs in 43 2/3 innings over nine starts this season.
An All-Star in 2024, Houck owns a career 24-32 record with nine saves, a 3.97 ERA, 158 walks and 449 strikeouts in 474 1/3 innings over 113 regular-season games (80 starts) since 2020.
The Red Sox selected Houck 24th overall in the 2017 MLB draft out of the University of Missouri.
Criswell, 28, is 0-0 with one save, a 10.38 ERA, one walk and no strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings over three relief appearances this season. For his career, he is 7-7 with one save, a 4.78 ERA, 44 walks and 104 strikeouts in 141 1/3 innings over 41 games (20 starts) for the Los Angeles Angels (2021), Tampa Bay Rays (2022-23) and Red Sox (2024-present).
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