Orioles RHP Trey Gibson (23) will reportedly make his major league debut today in New York against the Yankees. Scary way to join the league. Gibson hasn’t been especially good in Triple-A as evidenced most apparently in his 1.62 WHIP across 24.2 innings, so the odds are not in his favor, but he will have an element of the unknown along with an impressive curveball. Crazier things have happened than a 6’5” rookie righty tiptoeing through the Bronx with a quality start.
Mets OF AJ Ewing (21, AAA) has yet to strike out through four Triple-A games, slashing .615/.688/.846 with three stolen bases after posting a 1.053 OPS with 12 stolen bases in 18 Double-A games. I’ve been on the high side of Ewing’s rankings in the echo chamber for a long time, but even I’m surprised by this lightning strike of a spring. Luis Robert Jr. is injured, so Carson Benge is covering centerfield for now. He has a 44 wRC+ through 101 plate appearances but has been much better of late: a 99 wRC+ over his last eight games. Brett Baty is playing right field, but he’s been surprisingly bad after what looked like a second-half breakout in 2025. Could be he’s struggling a bit with his new utility role. I appreciate that he’s eligible at 1B, 2B, 3B and OF in Fantrax leagues, but I hope he gets a week or so at the same spot to see if that helps at all. Regardless, the timeline has changed on Ewing. New York is a last-place team at 11-and-21, and Ewing is a sparkplug they could use.
Yankees SS George Lombard Jr. (20, AAA) earned a promotion by mastering a level (AA) that had flummoxed him in 2025. He slashed .312/.400/.571 with four homers and four steals in 20 games to get the bump and has kept it going with a .417 OBP through three Triple-A games. I wouldn’t have guessed this in the preseason, but he’s got an outside chance to be New York’s everyday shortstop in the second half.
As I sit here drinking my coffee, I’m kind of stunned at the run Keurig went on over the last decade. I mean, it produces one cup of coffee squeezed through a system of plastic tubes that absolutely cannot be cleaned in any real way. And just as people have been hesitant to move on from their investment in nasty-cup Keurigs and switch back to the pour-over preparations of our ancestors, Colorado seems hesitant to crack open their own Carrigg. Rockies SS Ezequeil Tovar is slashing .197/.248/.291 in 33 games as he continues his downward trend of production as a major leaguer. Trouble is he’s signed through 2030, so even though SS Cole Carrigg (23) is simmering in Triple-A, slashing .348/.407/.491 with ten extra base hits and 18 stolen bases in 29 games, his path to playing time is cloudy. Colorado has dug up a handful of potential regulars in Edouard Julien, Troy Johnston, TJ Rumfield and Tyler Freeman, pushing guys like Brendan Doyle and Jordan Beck to the bench some days, so it might be a while before we can plug Carrigg into our daily routines.
Mariners LHP Kade Anderson (22, AA) hasn’t experienced so much as a hiccup in his professional career. Through five starts covering 24.1 innings, he’s allowed just one run and 13 hits. His ERA is at 0.37 with a WHIP of 0.699. He’s got 38 strikeouts against four walks. Nothing much left to do at the Double-A level.
I’d recommend taking a look around your leagues to see if Padres C Ethan Salas (19, AA) got dropped somewhere along the way. He missed all but ten games in 2025 with a lower back fracture. Ouch. It’s also called a stress reaction in the medical community, where words can apparently mean whatever. If I get cut off in traffic, I might have a stress reaction. And my back hurts a little today. Guess I might have to get some x-rays. Salas seems to be fully recovered from the stress, slashing .319/.390/.565 with four home runs and five stolen bases in 20 Double-A games. It’s his best stretch as a professional. He’s on the wire in one of my dynasty leagues that runs 900 total players deep. He might be available in one of yours.
Another talented lefty power bat on the comeback trail, Rays 1B Xavier Isaac (22, AA) has struck out in 40.5 percent of his plate appearances through 19 games but has somehow managed a 167 wRC+ anyway thanks to six home runs and a 25.3 percent walk rate. Seems like he’s only swinging when he’s absolutely locked on to a pitch he can crush. That’s fine for now. I’m just glad to see him back in action after brain surgery to remove a tumor ended his 2025 season and threatened his life.
Thanks for reading!
