ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.
NEW YORK — Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Paul Skenes on Tuesday announced his commitment to pitch for Team USA in the 2026 World Baseball Classic, giving the Americans the premier front-line starter they have struggled to recruit in recent tournaments.
Skenes, 22, is less than two years removed from being the No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft and one year removed from making his major league debut last May. He was a junior at LSU, after beginning his college career at Air Force, during the last WBC in 2023. Landing him for 2026 represents a breakthrough for USA Baseball — and perhaps a shift in opinion among elite American starters.
With the WBC played during spring training and the possibility of injury terrifying clubs and pitchers alike, enlisting the best American starting pitchers to participate in the WBC has been a challenge. To illustrate: Thirteen American starting pitchers finished in the top 20 in ERA among qualifiers in 2022, and none of them pitched in the 2023 WBC the next spring.
“From a position player standpoint, I can probably fill out five lineups that want to do it,” DeRosa said when he introduced Judge as the team’s captain last month. “It’ll be the pitching that we have to lock down.”
On Tuesday, DeRosa secured a young topflight ace off to a historically outstanding start to his major league career. Skenes was dominant from the jump as a rookie, going 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA in 23 starts for the last-place Pirates. He started the All-Star Game for the National League, won the NL Rookie of the Year Award and finished third in NL Cy Young Award voting.
This season, Skenes is 3-4 with a 2.63 ERA in 54⅔ innings across nine outings for the Pirates, who are again in the NL Central basement and fired manager Derek Shelton last week. On Monday, Skenes held the New York Mets to one run with six strikeouts across six innings. It was the seventh time he has logged at least six innings in a start this season.
Jake Trotter is a senior writer at ESPN. Trotter covers college football. He also writes about other college sports, including men’s and women’s basketball. Trotter resides in the Cleveland area with his wife and three kids and is a fan of his hometown Oklahoma City Thunder. He covered the Cleveland Browns and NFL for ESPN for five years, moving back to college football in 2024. Previously, Trotter worked for the Middletown (Ohio) Journal, Austin American-Statesman and Oklahoman newspapers before joining ESPN in 2011. He’s a 2004 graduate of Washington and Lee University. You can reach out to Trotter at jake.trotter@espn.com and follow him on X at @Jake_Trotter.
Aguilar transferred from UCLA to Tennessee in April, a day after former Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava joined the UCLA Bruins, in what essentially was a college football quarterback trade.
Aguilar had transferred from Appalachian State to UCLA during the winter portal and was in line to start for the Bruins until UCLA signed Iamaleava.
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel noted Friday that Aguilar was “handling himself extremely well” and praised him for being “extremely comfortable” commanding the Vols offense in such a short amount of time.
Aguilar beat out redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger for the job.
Aguilar threw for 3,003 yards and 23 touchdowns with 14 interceptions last season.
Tennessee opens the season Aug. 30 against Syracuse.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Jim Harbaugh is refusing to comment on the NCAA’s decision to fine the University of Michigan tens of millions of dollars and to suspend football coach Sherrone Moore for a third game due to the sign-stealing scandal that occurred during Harbaugh’s tenure at his alma mater.
Harbaugh stayed mum on the Wolverines when he stepped to the podium at SoFi Stadium on Saturday night following his Los Angeles Chargers‘ 23-22 preseason loss to the Los Angeles Rams for his first interaction with the media since the NCAA’s rulings were announced Friday.
“Like I said to you last year, not engaging,” Harbaugh said. “Not engaging.”
The NCAA sharply criticized Harbaugh’s stewardship over the winningest program in college football when it announced the sanctions, saying it had “overwhelming” evidence of a cover-up by the Michigan staff. Harbaugh has always claimed he didn’t know about the sign-stealing and scouting operation run by Connor Stalions.
Michigan only avoided a multiyear postseason ban because the NCAA decided it wasn’t fair to the Wolverines’ current student-athletes to penalize them for the misdeeds during Harbaugh’s tenure, which culminated in a national championship in January 2024.
He jumped back to the NFL two weeks later with the Chargers, and the NCAA hit him in August 2024 with a four-year show-cause order for recruiting violations. Harbaugh now faces a 10-year show-cause order following the conclusion of the four-year order, which effectively serves as a 14-year ban from college football.
Michigan has said it will appeal the NCAA’s decision, claiming the body has made errors in interpreting its own bylaws while drawing conclusions that are contrary to evidence.
Moore was Harbaugh’s assistant for six years before getting the top job upon Harbaugh’s departure. Moore will be suspended for two games this September and for the Wolverines’ 2026 season opener in Germany.
Alabama tailback Jam Miller, the No. 8 Crimson Tide’s top returning rusher, suffered an upper-body injury in a scrimmage Saturday and is expected to miss the Aug. 30 season opener at Florida State, sources told ESPN.
Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer said in a statement Sunday that Miller was hurt and had a medical procedure following the scrimmage at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
“Jam Miller suffered an upper-body injury in Saturday’s scrimmage and went in for a procedure on Saturday evening,” DeBoer said. “Jam should recover fully with a timetable for his return yet to be determined.”
Miller, a senior from Tyler, Texas, led Alabama tailbacks with 668 yards with seven touchdowns on 145 carries in 2024.
Sophomores Richard Young (146 yards, 2 touchdowns in 2024) and Daniel Hill (61 yards, 1 touchdown) figure to get the bulk of carries against the Seminoles in the opener (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC), along with Louisiana transfer Dre Washington.
Quarterback Jalen Milroe, now a rookie with the Seattle Seahawks, was the team’s leading runner with 726 yards and 20 scores last year. Tailback Justice Haynes, who ran for 448 yards with seven touchdowns, transferred to Michigan.
The Crimson Tide are trying to bounce back from last season’s 9-4 campaign, their first with more than three losses since Nick Saban’s first season at Alabama in 2007.