Inside the MLB draft journey for the sons of two former major leaguers
-
Kiley McDaniel
ONE OF ELI WILLITS’ earliest baseball memories is of playing catch with his father, Reggie, in the Angel Stadium outfield. In late June, Eli again took the field that his dad called home during six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels during a private workout with the team, which has the No. 2 pick in the 2025 MLB draft.
“Eli was working out last week for the Angels. For me, it was surreal. He was hitting and taking ground balls, and my boys have been doing that with me since they were little,” Reggie Willits said. “Me, Jaxon and Eli would go out to left field and we’d take BP out there; they were so small. That way, they could hit homers into the bullpen. It was a surreal moment for us as a family. I played my whole career in that stadium.”
Ethan Holliday was born in 2007, the same year that his father, Matt, finished second in National League MVP voting for the Colorado Rockies, and fondly remembers taking a trip to Busch Stadium with his brother, Jackson, when Ethan was 6 or 7 to see their dad star for the St. Louis Cardinals. Both of those teams hold picks in the first five selections of the upcoming draft, but there is no guarantee that Ethan will be available by the time Colorado is up at No. 4 or St. Louis one pick later.
The two Oklahoma high school stars have a lot in common: They’re both sons of former major leaguers who also have brothers excelling in the family business. They’re both expected to hear their names called early in this year’s draft. And they have even formed a tight friendship through baseball.
But for all the glamour that comes with potential stardom, both have learned from their fathers how much work behind the scenes is needed on the road to the top of the draft.
“‘Do you like your name above the locker?’ Yes,” Eli remembers responding to a series of questions posed by his dad about a decade ago. “‘Do you like going out there in front of 50,000 fans?’ Yes,” Eli said. “‘Do you want to get up at 4 a.m. and go work out?’ No.” Eli said while laughing. “But that’s what it takes, and I always wanted to follow in my dad’s footsteps. … I’m very grateful for that chance.”
THE HOLLIDAYS ARE the established first family of Oklahoma baseball, helping to raise the profile of a state not known as a hotbed for draft prospects.
Matt hit .299 with 316 home runs over 15 years in the majors, and his brother Josh is the head coach at Oklahoma State (following the footsteps of their father, Tom, who coached the Cowboys for 26 seasons). Ethan’s brother, Jackson, added to the family legacy by becoming the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 draft and plays second base for the Baltimore Orioles.
I first noticed Ethan when he was a freshman at Stillwater High. He was batting behind his brother, whom dozens of scouts were there to watch. Ethan already stood out.
Lastly, Jackson’s younger brother 3B Ethan Holliday was really impressive in general before you realize he is a 15-year-old freshman. Here’s a homer and some BP cuts: pic.twitter.com/WWrnYwRnUT
— Kiley McDaniel (@kileymcd) April 27, 2022
Being the younger brother of a top prospect has given Ethan a window into the draft process that most players don’t experience. He has seen Jackson go through the transition from teammate to becoming the No. 1 pick to making his big league debut, and that has eased Ethan’s transition into his draft process.
“I was his wingman that year. I got to be in his meetings, be with him in games and practices, when there were 40 scouts coming to every game and everyone had their camera up when he hit, I was right there with him,” Ethan said. “It’s obviously a little different going through it myself, but that definitely took some weight off.”
Jackson’s quick ascent — he ranked No. 1 on my top 100 prospect list in 2024 — also helped shine a spotlight on Ethan early in his high school career. Ethan has been the most well-known player on any field he has been on for at least a year. Before his senior season, he became the first high school player to sign an NIL deal with Adidas, the brand Jackson signed with once he turned pro.
But despite the apparent advantages of his baseball lineage, it hasn’t all been easy for Ethan. To some scouts, he underperformed last summer on the showcase circuit against the best high school pitchers in the country. Entering the spring, some in the industry questioned whether he would deliver on his potential and the hype tied to his last name.
When asked an open-ended question about the evolution of his swing and not mentioning that narrative, he clearly was aware of it in his response.
“In high school, you face a good pitcher, and their plan is to throw offspeed because they don’t trust their fastball,” Ethan said. “In the summer, the pitchers are coming in for one inning and throwing as hard as they can. It’s different. I never got anything other than spin in high school, so making the adjustment for the summer was difficult. My dad has really helped me with my approach, my swing.”
As you might expect from someone who has had a recent major league star to turn to for baseball advice, Ethan handled the topic like a pro. He had a huge high school season, and those offensive concerns have subsided because of his performance.
Despite some wondering whether Ethan would have a big spring, most scouts were optimistic because Matt is considered one of the better swing coaches in the sport. His son has taken up his dad’s penchant for picking up on the components of a swing.
“I’ve had a leg kick my whole life,” Ethan said. “One day in the cage, I was messing around and watching video of Barry Bonds and his toe tap. Then, I was toe-tapping and hammering balls anywhere I wanted, and I hit four barrels in the next scrimmage. Nothing has changed with my swing path or where my hands are, it just felt great, so I went with it.”
When Matt talks about hitting, it’s easy to see why he is so respected, with wisdom gleaned from playing with some of the best players of his era.
“I’m fascinated by the swing, the mechanics of the swing, how it’s tied to your brain, the approach, and how it all works together,” Matt said. “If your timing is not good, your swing will break down because when you’re late, your body freaks out; it knows. It’s going to change your front side a little bit, and the bat will get long. … I love to talk about the swing. I love to learn.”
After the tweaks to his swing, Ethan enters the draft with plus-plus power and has also improved defensively as a shortstop. He could be the top pick and should be off the board by no later than the No. 4 selection.
THE WILLITS FAMILY lives in Fort Cobb, Oklahoma, where they own and operate the Double Seven Ranch, run by Reggie’s wife, Amber. Fort Cobb has between 400 and 600 residents, depending on the source. When I spoke with Eli less than a month before he likely will become an early first-round MLB draft pick, he had helped move 200 bales of hay the day before.
This isn’t lost on scouts I spoke with, or even Matt Holliday, who said, “I admire the hard work that the farm takes. I appreciate their family’s work ethic and what it takes to operate a real farm.”
Eli has a full workload, between training, baseball games, practices and work at the ranch. He has grown an inch this year — he’s now up to 6-foot-1 — and added 8 pounds of muscle since I scouted him at a tournament in April. He also took on a heavy course load to finish high school in three years so that he could reclassify into the 2025 draft. Eli won’t turn 18 years old until December, making him the youngest prospect expected to be drafted this year, a historical factor in projecting success for high school prospects.
Reggie initially didn’t like Eli’s idea of reclassifying because Reggie had switched jobs, from coaching for the New York Yankees to the Oklahoma Sooners, to be home to be with his kids.
“That’s why I decided to get out of pro baseball, [Jaxon] was about to be a senior in high school, and I hadn’t been able to see him play. I wanted to experience his senior year,” Reggie said. “When [Eli] came to us and he wanted to reclassify, that was a hard decision for us as a family. At first, I said ‘no chance.’… I wasn’t really into that. It took some convincing.”
While the family was going through the reclassification decision, Eli’s success on the field during workouts with top college players from his father’s Oklahoma squad (his brother Jaxon is also the shortstop) helped convince Reggie that his son would be ready for the next level.
“We had some infielders get banged up, and we were short there at OU. We started throwing Eli out there so we had some leeway and didn’t run our guys into the ground in the fall. He got some at-bats. He’s been practicing with us since he was 14. He was getting lots of live at-bats by 15.”
Eli remembers those first few live at-bats. “The first hit I got, I was 14 years old facing a 24-year-old pitcher. I was just trying to do my best. I want to embarrass them, really … Age doesn’t matter, I want to show I’m the best player on the field.”
Eli did well in 15 to 20 scrimmage at-bats and that started to ease his dad’s concerns that his son would be overmatched by older competition. “I came home and told my wife, ‘I feel like he could play for us as a 15-year-old, so I’m pretty sure as a 17-year-old, he’d be all right if he reclassified.'”
Sooners right-hander Kyson Witherspoon is a projected early first-round pick, and Willits got to face that level of pitcher as a high schooler. Willits has held his own in these matchups, which helped him improve.
“I had more confidence going into the summer [showcase season] because I know I’m not going to see another Kyson on the mound there,” Eli said.
Similar to Ethan turning to his dad for swing advice, Eli gained invaluable experience while tagging along with his dad when he was a coach with the Yankees from 2018 to 2021.
Though watching Aaron Judge take BP up close sounds like a pretty cool perk of having a dad in coaching, the biggest influence might have come in learning from then-Yankees coach Carlos Mendoza, who is the New York Mets manager and regarded as one of the best infield coaches in the game.
“I wouldn’t be anything like what I am defensively without Carlos,” the younger Willits said.
Eli is a well-rounded player, one who is above average at almost everything on the field, except for power. He’s not the biggest, strongest or fastest player in this draft class, despite entering the draft as one of the best prospects.
THERE ISN’T A LOT of time for social activities as both players prepare for life as professional baseball players, but Willits and Holliday take a break from baseball by texting each other.
“We don’t talk about the draft. We leave baseball out of it, and just talk about our lives,” Willits said. “We both like to fish, so we talk about fishing a lot … Last summer is when we really started playing together and getting to know each other. Ethan’s now a great friend of mine.”
They were also Team USA teammates in Panama at the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup Americas Qualifier.
“In Panama, we hung out every day before and after the games, the bus, the locker room, we’ve talked basically every day since then, but I didn’t see Eli in person again until Edmond [high school baseball tournament],” Holliday said.
The Edmond tournament turned into the scouting event of the year because Willits and Holliday participated. Stillwater and Fort Cobb-Broxton, where the two prospects play high school baseball, are a few hours apart and the schools compete in different classes. The round-robin event at Edmond Santa Fe High School’s field just outside of Oklahoma City provided a midpoint for scouts to see both players. Willits and Holliday impressed multiple high-level scouts in attendance from almost every team picking in the top half of the first round, even if their stats from those games weren’t gaudy.
When will the two run into each other on the diamond next? Holliday thought about the possibilities.
“That would be awesome if the next time we saw each other was the big leagues,” Holliday said. “Probably the minor leagues? Whichever team gets him is super lucky. He’s a stud.”
Willits and Holliday laughed when I asked about a potential friendly rivalry regarding who will be drafted higher. Both said that couldn’t be further from the truth.
“We’re both from Oklahoma. Oklahoma doesn’t get enough credit for the talent it produces,” Holliday said. “We’re super pumped for each other; we’re each other’s biggest fans. There’s no bad blood, no rivalry, no Bedlam feud.
“We’re just two boys that really love baseball and are proud of Oklahoma.”
-
David Schoenfield
There’s plenty of history in the rivalry between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies. It’s about 116 miles from Citi Field to Citizens Bank Park. The two teams been competing for the NL East since 1969. Star players from Tug McGraw to Jerry Koosman to Lenny Dykstra to Pedro Martinez to Zack Wheeler have played for both franchises. Mets fans loathe the Phanatic, and Phillies fans laugh derisively at Mr. Met.
Despite this longevity, the two teams have rarely battled for a division title in the same season. The only years they finished No. 1 and 2 or were battling for a division lead late in the season:
-
1986: Mets finished 21.5 games ahead
-
2001: Both finished within six games of the Braves
-
2006: Mets finished 12 games ahead
-
2007: Phillies finished one game ahead
-
2008: Phillies finished three games ahead
-
2024: Phillies finished six games ahead of Mets and Braves
So it’s a rare treat to see the Mets and Phillies battling for the NL East lead in as New York faces the San Francisco Giants on “Sunday Night Baseball” this week. This season has also been a bit of bumpy ride for both teams, so there is pressure on both front offices to make trade deadline additions in hopes of winning the World Series that has eluded both franchises in recent years despite high payrolls and star-laden rosters. Let’s dig into what both teams need to do before Thursday.
The perfect trade deadline for the Mets
1. Bullpen help
The Mets already acquired hard-throwing lefty Gregory Soto from the Orioles, but David Stearns will likely look for another reliever, given that the Mets’ bullpen has struggled since the beginning of June with a 5.02 ERA. In my grade of the trade, I pointed out the importance for the Mets to add left-handed relief. Think of potential playoff opponents and all the key left-handed batters: Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper on the Phillies; Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy on the Dodgers; Kyle Tucker, Michael Busch and Pete Crow-Armstrong on the Cubs.
Soto has held lefties to a .138 average this season, and it does help that the Mets have two lefty starters in David Peterson and Sean Manaea. They also just activated Brooks Raley after he had been out since early 2024. If he is back to his 2022-23 form, when he had a 2.74 ERA and held lefties to a .209 average, maybe the Mets will feel good enough about their southpaw relief.
They could still use another dependable righty reliever. Mets starters were hot early on, but they weren’t going deep into games, and outside of Peterson, the lack of longer outings is a big reason the bullpen ERA has skyrocketed. Carlos Mendoza has overworked his setup guys, including Huascar Brazoban and Reed Garrett. Brazoban has never been much of a strike thrower anyway, and Garrett similarly faded in the second half last season. Adding a high-leverage righty to set up Edwin Diaz makes sense. Candidates there include David Bednar of the Pirates, Ryan Helsley of the Cardinals, Griffin Jax or Jhoan Duran of the Twins, or maybe a longer shot such as Emmanuel Clase or Cade Smith of the Guardians.
2. Think big, as in Eugenio Suarez
Mark Vientos was a huge key to last season’s playoff appearance and trip to the NLCS, hitting .266/.322/.516 with 27 home runs after beginning the season in Triple-A. He hasn’t been able to replicate that performance, though, hitting .224/.279/.354. That has led to a revolving door at third base, with Vientos, Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio starting games there in July. Overall, Mets third basemen ranked 24th in the majors in OPS entering Friday.
Lack of production at third is one reason the Mets’ offense has been mediocre rather than very good — they’re averaging 4.38 runs per game, just below the NL average of 4.43. They could use another premium bat, given the lack of production they’ve received from center field and catcher (not to mention Francisco Lindor‘s slump since the middle of June). Maybe Francisco Alvarez‘s short stint back in Triple-A will get his bat going now that he’s back in the majors, but going after Suarez to hit behind Juan Soto and Pete Alonso would lengthen the lineup.
3. Reacquire Harrison Bader to play CF
Tyrone Taylor is a plus defender in center and has made several incredible catches, but he’s hitting .209/.264/.306 for a lowly OPS+ of 65. Old friend Bader is having a nice season with the Twins, hitting .251/.330/.435. Maybe that’s a little over his head, given that he had a .657 OPS with the Mets last season, but he would still be an offensive upgrade over Taylor without losing anything on defense — and he wouldn’t cost a top-tier prospect. The Mets could still mix in Jeff McNeil against the really tough righties, but adding Suarez and Bader would give this lineup more of a championship feel.
The perfect deadline for the Phillies
1. Acquire Jhoan Duran
Like the Mets, the Phillies already made a move here, signing free agent David Robertson, who had a 3.00 ERA and 99 strikeouts in 72 innings last season with the Rangers. On paper, he should help, but he’s also 40 and will need a few games in the minors to get ready. Even with Robertson, the Phillies could use some more help here. They’ll eventually get Jose Alvarado back from his 60-game PED suspension, but Alvarado is ineligible for the postseason. At least the Mets have an elite closer in Edwin Diaz. Jordan Romano leads the Phillies with eight saves and has a 6.69 ERA. Matt Strahm is solid, but more useful as a lefty setup guy than a closer (think of all those left-handed batters we listed for the Mets, then sub out Juan Soto and Brandon Nimmo for Harper and Schwarber).
And the Phillies’ bullpen has consistently come up short in big games. Think back to last year’s NLDS, when Jeff Hoffman lost twice to the Mets. Or 2023, when Craig Kimbrel lost two games in the NLCS against the Diamondbacks. Or the 2022 World Series, when Yordan Alvarez hit the huge home run off Alvarado in the clinching Game 6.
So, yes, a shutdown closer is a must. Maybe that’s Bednar, maybe Clase if he’s available (although he struggled in last year’s postseason), maybe Helsley. But the guy Dave Dombrowski should go all-in to get: Duran. The window for the Phillies is slowly closing as the core players get older. Duran is under control through 2027, so he’s a fit for now and the immediate future. The trade cost might be painful, but with his 100 mph fastball and splitter, he has the elite stuff you need in October.
2. Add Ryan O’Hearn
The Phillies have received below-average production from both left field (mostly Max Kepler) and center field (Brandon Marsh/Johan Rojas platoon). The center-field market is pretty thin except for Bader or maybe a gamble on Luis Robert Jr. I’d pass on Robert, stick with the Marsh/Rojas platoon and upgrade left field with O’Hearn, who is hitting .281/.375/.452 for the Orioles. He isn’t the perfect fit since, like Kepler, he hits left-handed and struggles against lefties, but he’s a patient hitter with a much better OBP, and he’s passable in the outfield.
3. Acquire Willi Castro
Here’s the bottom line: The Phillies have to admit that some of their long-term position players aren’t getting the job done — such as second baseman Bryson Stott, who has a 77 OPS+. Third baseman Alec Bohm has been better but also has a below-average OPS.
That makes Castro a nice fit. He’s not a star, but he’s an above-average hitter, a switch-hitter who plays all over the field for the Twins, having started games at five different positions. He could play second or third or start in left field against a lefty. Philadelphia could even start him in center instead of Rojas, although that would be a defensive hit. Bottom line: Castro would give the Phillies a lot more versatility — or a significant offensive upgrade over Stott if they start him every day at second.
Note as well: Stott has hit .188 in 33 career postseason games. Bohm has hit .214 with two home runs in 34 postseason games. The Phillies need a different offensive look for October.
-
Buster Olney
It would be ideal if every MLB team were so desperate to win that they would do whatever it takes. But in an industry with so many variables from team to team — roster composition, payroll commitment, market size, owner ambition, fan rabidity and history — some organizations are willing to go further and do more than others.
The New York Mets paid more in luxury taxes last season ($97 million) than the Pittsburgh Pirates have dedicated to payroll this season, and Pittsburgh could attempt to reduce salary commitments even further at this year’s trade deadline.
Some teams are more desperate than others. As we near the July 31 deadline, we present the teams most desperate to make a deal.
New York played in the World Series last year, and in a lot of markets, that might be enough to satisfy a fan base. But not with the Yankees, whose most faithful fans judge them under the George Steinbrenner Doctrine: If you don’t win the World Series, you’ve had a bad year. This is a constant.
The Yankees could return to where they were last October. The 33-year-old Aaron Judge, one of the most dynamic hitters ever, is having another historic season. New York wants to take advantage of that — particularly because the American League is wide open with as many as seven or eight AL teams having reasonable paths to the World Series.
But the Yankees still have distinct holes. They badly need an upgrade at third base, which someone like Eugenio Suarez could fill. Gerrit Cole and Clarke Schmidt suffered season-ending elbow injuries, leaving a need for another experienced starting pitcher. Their bullpen also needs help in the sixth and seventh innings.
After the departure of Juan Soto, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner and general manager Brian Cashman are probably under more pressure to do something this season than any of their peers. What else is new?
It’s remarkable how similar this version of the Phillies is to the teams that president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski constructed in Detroit, with Philadelphia’s strong starting pitching (Zack Wheeler and Cristopher Sanchez playing the roles of Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer) and a lineup of sluggers (Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper as Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder).
The major question that hangs over this Philadelphia team, as was the case with those Tigers teams, is about the bullpen: Is there enough depth and power? For the Phillies, that is complicated by the situation with lefty Jose Alvarado, who will return in August from his 80-game suspension under the PED policy but not be eligible for the postseason.
The Phillies paid heavily for free agent reliever David Robertson, giving him the equivalent of a $16 million salary for the rest of the regular season, but they could use another reliever who is adept at shutting down high-end right-handed hitters in the postseason.
On the days Tarik Skubal pitches, the Tigers could be the best team in baseball; it’s possible that in the postseason, he could be his generation’s version of Orel Hershiser or Madison Bumgarner, propelling his team through round after round of playoffs to the World Series.
But the Tigers might have Skubal for only the rest of this year and next season, before he, advised by his agent Scott Boras, heads into free agency and becomes maybe the first $400 million pitcher in history.
Now is the time for Detroit to make a push for its first championship in more than four decades. And for Scott Harris, the team’s president of baseball operations, that means adding a couple of high-impact relievers capable of generating a lot of swing-and-misses.
The Mariners showed they are serious about making moves before this deadline with Thursday’s trade for first baseman Josh Naylor.
The last time the Mariners reached the league championship series, Ichiro Suzuki — who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this weekend — was a rookie. Edgar Martinez was a 38-year-old designated hitter, and Jamie Moyer and Freddy Garcia were the staff aces. You get the point: It has been a really long time since the Mariners have had postseason success, and the team has never reached the World Series.
An opportunity seems to be developing for Seattle. The talented rotation, hammered by injuries in the first months of this season, could be whole for the stretch run. Cal Raleigh is having the greatest season by a catcher, contending with Judge for the AL MVP Award. Julio Rodriguez has generally been a strong second-half player.
Even ownership seems inspired: After a winter in which the Mariners spent almost nothing to upgrade the roster, other teams report that Seattle could absorb money in trades before the deadline.
5. New York Mets
Owner Steve Cohen doesn’t sport the highest payroll this year — the Dodgers’ Mark Walter is wearing that distinction — but the Mets are well over the luxury tax threshold again, in the first season after signing Juan Soto. Cohen has made it clear that generally, he will do what it takes to land the club’s first championship trophy since 1986.
But that does not include preventing David Stearns, the Mets’ respected president of baseball operations, from doing what he does best — making subtle and effective deals at the trade deadline. Rival execs expect that Stearns will work along the same lines he did last year — finding trades that improve the team’s depth without pillaging its growing farm system. That could mean adding a starting pitcher capable of starting Game 1, 2 or 3 of a postseason series, as well as bullpen depth.
Cohen is experiencing the impact of overseeing a front office that made an impetuous win-now trade at the 2021 deadline, when the Mets swapped a minor leaguer named Pete Crow-Armstrong for two months of Javier Baez. That clearly didn’t pan out for them. Cohen is desperate to win, but within the prescribed guardrails.
Last winter, the Padres had to live with the knowledge that they were probably the best team other than the Dodgers and that they came within a win of knocking out L.A. There is a lot about San Diego’s 2025 roster to like: Manny Machado clearly responds to a big stage, and the bullpen could be the most dominant at a time of year when relief corps often decide championships.
However, as Padres general manager A.J. Preller navigates this trade deadline in the hopes of living out late owner Peter Seidler’s dream of winning San Diego’s first World Series title, he has a relatively thin, aging, top-heavy roster with a lot of significant payroll obligations. This is why the Padres are considering trading Dylan Cease, who is potentially the highest-impact starter available on the market. Preller could move Cease to fill other roster needs, current and future ones, and then deal for a cheaper veteran starter to replace him.
“He’ll have to rob Peter to pay Paul,” one of Preller’s peers said.
Hope has emerged after the team’s all-in, $500 million signing of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., with the Blue Jays taking the lead in the AL East.
Toronto’s rotation is comprised of an older group — 34-year-old Kevin Gausman, 36-year-old Chris Bassitt, 40-year-old Max Scherzer and 31-year-old Jose Berrios. Without a clear favorite in the AL, Toronto could break through for its first title since the Jays went back-to-back in 1992-93 — and in just the second season since the club’s expensive renovations of Rogers Centre were completed. When Alex Anthopoulos led the front office a decade ago, he made an all-in push to get the Jays back into the playoffs, adding players like David Price because he believed this was the right time for them to take their shot — and they came very close to getting back to the World Series.
Reportedly, Mark Shapiro — the team’s incoming president at the time — did not approve of Anthopoulos’ strategy. Now, Shapiro’s Blue Jays are in a similar situation in 2025 to where they were under Anthopoulos: Will they wheel and deal aggressively before the deadline, or will they be conservative?
The Dodgers won the World Series in 2024, after taking the title in the shortened season of 2020. So, if they don’t win a championship this year, it’s not as if a bunch of people are getting fired and the roster will be jettisoned. But winning can be intoxicating, especially when the lineup and rotation are loaded with stars: The Dodgers can envision a postseason in which a starting staff of Shohei Ohtani, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto could propel the team to a second consecutive title.
But the Dodgers’ bullpen — heavily worked in the first months of this season because of injuries to the rotation — is in tatters due to injuries. Will the Dodgers’ push to become the first team to repeat as champions since the 1998-2000 Yankees drive them to swap valuable prospects for needed bullpen help before the deadline? We’re about to find out.
This is a team very well-suited for the postseason: The Cubs are a strong defensive team; they have a deep lineup around Kyle Tucker, in what might be Tucker’s only season in Chicago; and they put the ball in play.
They’ve got a good farm system, as well as an experienced president of baseball operations in Jed Hoyer. He was part of championships in Boston in 2004 and 2007 and was the Cubs’ general manager for their 2016 title. He and Theo Epstein made the Nomar Garciaparra deal at the trade deadline in 2004, in advance of Boston’s breakthrough title in 2004, and the all-in trade for Aroldis Chapman on the way to the Cubs’ first World Series win in 108 years in 2016.
But the X factor for Chicago in recent years is whether ownership operates with the same desperation — in the way that Astros owner Jim Crane did when he pushed through a Justin Verlander trade for Houston in August 2017.
This seems to be a good time for the Cubs to be desperate, to do anything to win another championship. Will a title be a priority for owner Tom Ricketts?
NEW YORK — Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber topped Mark McGwire for most home runs among a player’s first 1,000 hits, hitting long ball No. 319 during Friday night’s 12-5 victory over the New York Yankees.
“I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not,” Schwarber said.
Ten days after lifting the National League to victory in the first All-Star Game swing-off, Schwarber keeps going deep. He hit a pair of two-run homers Friday night, with the first drive, his milestone hit, starting the comeback from a 2-0 deficit. He got the ball back after it was grabbed by a Phillies fan attending with his friends in Yankee Stadium’s right-center-field seats.
“I saw it on the video and then I see the dude tugging,” Schwarber said. “I’m like: ‘Oh, they all got Philly stuff on.’ That was cool.”
He met the trio after the game, gave an autographed ball to each and exchanged hugs. When he went to get a third ball to autograph, one of the three said he just wanted the potential free agent to re-sign with the Phillies.
“You show up to the field every single day trying to get a win at the end of the day, and I think our fans kind of latch on to that, right?” Schwarber said. “It’s been fantastic these last 3½ years, four years now. The support that we get from our fans and it means a lot to me that, you know, that they attach themselves to our team.”
Schwarber tied it at 2-2 in the fifth against Will Warren when he hit a 413-foot drive on a first-pitch fastball.
After J.T. Realmuto‘s three-run homer off Luke Weaver built a 6-3 lead in a four-run seventh and the Yankees closed within a run in the bottom half, Schwarber sent an Ian Hamilton fastball 380 feet into the right-field seats.
Schwarber reached 1,000 hits with eight more homers than McGwire. Schwarber has 36 homers this year, three shy of major league leader Cal Raleigh, and six homers in seven games since he was voted All-Star MVP. He has 33 multihomer games.
“I don’t know where we’d be without him,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “Comes up with big hit after big hit after big hit. It’s just — it’s amazing.”
Schwarber, 32, is eligible for free agency this fall after completing a four-year, $79 million contract. He homered on all three of his swings in the All-Star Game tiebreaker, and when the second half began, Phillies managing partner John Middleton proclaimed: “We love him. We want to keep him.”
“He’s been an incredible force all season long,” Realmuto said. “What he’s meant to his team, his offense, it’s hard to put in words.”
A World Series champion for the 2016 Chicago Cubs, Schwarber has reached 35 homers in all four seasons with the Phillies. He’s batting .255 with 82 RBIs and a .960 OPS.
He also has almost as many home runs as singles (46).
Schwarber had not been aware he topped McGwire for most homers among 1,000 hits.
“I had no clue. I didn’t even know it was my 1,000th, to be honest with you,” he said.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike