STORRS, Conn. (AP) — Sarah Strong had 18 points, including the 1,000th of her career, as top-ranked UConn beat Notre Dame 85-47 on Monday and extended its winning streak to 19 games.
Strong added 11 rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots the Huskies (19-0) snapped a three-game losing streak against Notre Dame.
KK Arnold had 12 points, five assists, two steals and one turnover while drawing the defensive assignment on Notre Dame star Hannah Hidalgo. Azzi Fudd added 15 points and Ashlynn Shade finished with 10 points and four assists as UConn won its 35th consecutive game and posted its largest margin of victory against the Fighting Irish.
Hidalgo, who averaged 31.5 points in the previous two games against UConn, had 16 points on 5-of-15 shooting for her 85th straight game of scoring in double figures. Cassandra Prosper added 12 points for Notre Dame (12-6).
UConn used an 18-2 run in the third quarter to break the game open.
Notre Dame missed its first seven shots and the Huskies jumped out to an early eight-point lead. A basket by Arnold gave the Huskies their first double-digit point lead late in the first quarter.
Hidalgo was held scoreless in the first quarter. With UConn up 25-11, Hidalgo scored 10 of the final 12 points in the second quarter as Notre Dame cut its deficit to 32-23 by the break and became the first team this season to be trailing by less than double digits going into the second half against UConn.
Strong scored her 1,000th career point on a 3-pointer with 7:31 left in the first half. She hit the milestone in 59 games. Paige Bueckers and Maya Moore are the only Huskies to reach the milestone in fewer games.
KK Bransford hasn’t played since a Dec. 11 win over Morehead State. That left Notre Dame playing three starters at least 36 minutes.
NEW YORK (AP) — Center fielders Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones appear on track to gain election to the Hall of Fame on Tuesday when voting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America is announced.
As of Monday evening, Beltrán had been picked on 89.2% of the 223 ballots revealed early and tabulated on Ryan Thibodaux’s online vote-tracker, just over half of the estimated total submitted. Jones was at 83%, like Beltrán well over the 75% needed for induction to the shrine in Cooperstown, New York.
Jones is on the ballot for the ninth of a maximum 10 times. He received just 7.3% in his first appearance in 2018 — his 31 ballots were just over the 22 needed to remain eligible for future BBWAA votes. He didn’t get half the total until receiving 58.1% in 2023, then increased to 61.6% and 66.2%, falling 35 votes short in 2025.
Anyone elected would be inducted on July 26 along with second baseman Jeff Kent, voted in last month by the contemporary era committee after he received a peak of 46.5% of votes from the BBWAA during his time on the ballot from 2014-23.
BBWAA members with 10 or more consecutive years in the organization were eligible to vote.
Beltrán’s case
A nine-time All-Star, Beltrán hit .279 with 435 homers and 1,587 RBIs over 20 seasons with Kansas City (1999-2004), Houston (2004, ’17), the New York Mets (2005-11), San Francisco (2011), St. Louis (2012-13), the New York Yankees (20014-16) and Texas (2016).
He was the 1999 AL Rookie of the Year and won three Gold Gloves, also hitting .307 in the postseason with 16 homers and 42 RBIs in 65 games.
“We all did what we did. Looking back today, we were wrong,” Beltrán said on a YES Network broadcast in 2022, after he was hired as an analyst. “I wish I would’ve asked more questions about what we were doing. I wish the organization would’ve said to us, `Hey man, what you guys are doing, we need to stop this.’”
Jones’ case
Jones hit .254 with 434 homers, 1,289 RBIs and 152 stolen bases in 17 seasons with Atlanta (1996-2007), the Los Angeles Dodgers (2008), Texas (2009), the Chicago White Sox (2010) and the Yankees (2011-12). He finished his career with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Japan’s Pacific League from 2013-14.
His batting average would be the second-lowest for a position player voted to the Hall of Fame, just above the .253 of Ray Schalk, a superior defensive catcher, and just below the .256 of Harmon Killebrew, who hit 573 homers.
A five-time All-Star, Jones earned 10 Gold Gloves.
In the 1996 World Series opener at Yankee Stadium, at 19 years, 5 months, Jones became the youngest player to homer in a Series game, beating Mickey Mantle’s old mark by 18 months. Going deep against Andy Pettitte in the second inning and Brian Boehringer in the third of a 12-1 rout, Jones became the second player to homer in his first two Series at-bats after Gene Tenace in 1972.
Appearing to fall short
Chase Utley (68.2%), Pettitte (57.4%) and Félix Hernández (56.5%) were the only other candidates to get at least half the votes revealed on the tracker before the announcement.
Utley was on the ballot for the third time after getting 28.8% and then 39.8% last year, and Hernández received 20.6% last year in his first ballot appearance.
Pettitte, on the ballot for the eighth time, has moved up substantially. He got 9% in his initial appearance in 2019, 13.5% in 2024 and 27.9% last year.
Cole Hamels at 31.4% had the highest total among a dozen newcomers on the 27-man ballot.
Alex Rodriguez (43% in fifth appearance) and Manny Ramirez (40.4% in 10th appearance) are well shy. Both served suspensions for performance-enhancing drug violations.
Looking ahead
Buster Posey and Jon Lester are the top first-time candidates on the 2027 BBWAA ballot, followed by Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina in 2028, and Miguel Cabrera, Zack Greinke and Joey Votto in 2029.
Cam Collier came off the board with the #6 ranking in this year’s Community Prospect Rankings of the top prospects in the Cincinnati Reds system, and is quite well deserving of the honor. Very excited to see what he can do in 2026 in what hopes to be a full, healthy season again.
Now, we turn our sights to the prospect who’ll claim spot #7.
Per usual, there will be a poll embedded at the bottom of the post where you can cast your vote, but if that’s stripped out you can also find the link to the ballot by clicking here (up until voting ends and I remove both access points).
Also, if there’s someone you think worthy of consideration at this point who has not yet been listed, let us know in the comment section below.
On to the candidates for spot #7!
Chase Petty, RHP (23 years old)
2025 at a glance: 6.39 ERA, 1.61 WHIP, 102/58 K/BB in 112.2 IP with AAA Louisville Bats (International League); 13 ER in 6.0 IP with Cincinnati Reds
Pros: Three plus pitches, including a fastball that flirts with 100 mph and 60-grade slider and cutter
Cons: Lit up in first cups of MLB coffee, and struggled in AAA after being sent back down
Petty has long been on the radar of every scout in the game, a former 1st round pick of the Minnesota Twins out of high school (whom the Reds had eyes on drafting back then, too). He was the centerpiece of the deal that sent Sonny Gray the other way, and he’s pitched his way onto multiple Top 100 overall prospect lists since.
Of course, he’s also pitched his way back off those same lists, with much of his work in 2025 doing just that. He was shelled at the big league level, though that’s with the caveat that he’d just turned 22 years old when that went down. The stuff’s still there, he’s just struggled to blend it all together for long enough stretches to show he can be an effective big league starter. The hope is that the lumps he took in 2025 paired with a mostly healthy offseason for the first time in a while will send him into 2026 both ready and with something to prove.
Tyson Lewis, SS (20 years old)
2025 at a glance: .340/.396/.532 (.928 OPS) in 207 PA with ACL Reds (Arizona Complex League); .268/.347/.417 (.765 OPS) in 144 PA with Class-A Daytona Tortugas (Florida State League)
Pros: Statcast darling with elite exit velocity and power with his left-handed swing; elite athleticism and plus speed gives him a chance to stick at SS long term, though a move off the position seems likely
Cons: Struck out at an alarming 35.4% rate with Daytona (and at an alarming 29.1% rate overall last year); .432 BABIP across all leagues last year screams ‘regression’
Tools. Tyson Lewis has just about every tool there is. He hit a ball over 119 mph in his pro debut, was the Gatorade Player of the Year in Nebraska prior to being a 2nd round pick (with an overslot bonus) by the Reds, and was originally committed to the University of Arkansas.
The upside here is obvious, as he’s got one of the loudest bats at any level. The swing and miss stuff, though, is something he’ll have to completely overhaul as he moves up the ladder, though getting out of the extremely pitcher-friendly confines of the FSL will perhaps help that some.
Steele Hall, SS (18 years old)
2025 at a glance: Drafted 9th overall in the 1st round of the 2025 MLB Draft by the Cincinnati Reds out of Hewitt-Trussville HS (AL); 2025 Mr. Baseball in the state of Alabama, once committed to powerhouse University of Tennessee before signing with the Reds for $5.75 million
Pros: Speed, and plenty of it; projectable power and potential five-tool player whose defense and arm look like they’ll play plenty well at short; just 17 years old when drafted after reclassifying a year early
Cons: It’s all still ‘projectable’ as, again, he just turned 18 after the draft and has zero professional PA to show for it
Hall reclassified to the class of 2025 despite originally being part of the class of 2026, and the Reds – who’d been scouting him already – thought he had the talent to eventually mature into a player who’d be in the mix for the #1 overall pick in 2026. So, when he was there at pick #9 in 2025, they jumped at the chance to sign him, knowing full well there was no rush for his development.
He’s drawn comparisons to the likes of Trea Turner and Dansby Swanson, which is pretty damn lofty. Despite not having played a pro game and still being just 18, he’s ranked 79th in MLB Pipeline’s list of the Top 100 overall prospects in the game. How quickly he can physically mature and adapt to breaking balls at the top levels remains to be seen, but the speed, glove, and arm all look like they’ll be big-league caliber in very short order.
Aaron Watson, RHP (19 years old)
2025 at a glance: Drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 2nd round of the 2025 MLB Draft out of Trinity Christian Academy (FL); signed overslot $2.7 million bonus to forego commitment to the University of Florida
Pros: 6’5” frame; potential 60-grade slider; fastball that runs up to 96 mph from a three-quarter arm slot and already has a solid three-pitch mix with his change rotated in
Cons: Did not pitch professionally after being drafted, so he’s a complete unknown
One glimpse of Watson on the mound and you immediately think yep, I bet that guy can turn into a pretty dang good pitcher. He’s got an ideal frame to produce downhill offerings, and his fastball/slider mix is already something on which he can hang his hat.
However, command of all three of his pitches – specifically a very developmental changeup – will be what he needs to work on to begin to move quickly through the ranks. He possesses a good ‘feel’ at the moment in terms of what pitches to throw, which part of the zone to attack vs. which hitters, etc., but how well he can build in more deception with his offerings will be vital.
Jose Franco, RHP (25 years old)
2025 at a glance: 3.11 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 118/54 K/BB in 110.0 IP split between AA Chattanooga Lookouts (Southern League) and AAA Louisville Bats (International League)
Pros: Fastball that flirts with triple digits with ease
Cons: Secondary pitches need work, and that’s impacting his overall command (and ability to limit walks)
Franco turned 25 years old in November and earned a promotion to the 40-man roster of the Reds shortly thereafter due to his consistent performance across the upper levels of their farm system.
The Reds have a few hulks they’ve put on the mound in recent years, and Franco thoroughly qualifies. He’s listed at 6’2” and an oddly specific 257 lbs, and his size and frame allows him to tap into his excellent fastball velocity with ease. It’s the pitch he misses bats with the most, but how well he can differentiate his breaking pitches (and improve his changeup command) will determine whether or not he can a) get left-handed hitter out with aplomb and b) avoid ending up in the bullpen.
He’s been a late bloomer, in part due to injuries that cost him his entire 2023 season, and if he continues the path he’s been on since getting healthy there could be a whole lot more from him as early as 2026 for Cincinnati.
Carlos Jorge, OF (22 years old)
2025 at a glance: .251/.342/.355 with 6 HR, 40 SB in 469 PA with High-A Dayton Dragons (Midwest League)
Pros: Plus speed; former infielder moved to CF in 2023 and in 2025 looked like a natural there; plus speed; shaved 12.5% off K-rate from down 2024 season; 60-grade arm strength a weapon in CF
Cons: ISO declined for third straight year, this time precipitously; prone to extreme streakiness
If you threw out every other stop of Carlos Jorge’s pro career and just focused on the good ones, he’d already be ranked by now. The good parts of the best of his years have been quite tremendous, all told. He’s flashed great speed (40 steals in 2025), good pop for a small-ish CF (12 HR in 2023 and 2024; .483 SLG in the cavernous Florida State League in 2023), and the ability to play pretty elite CF defense (as recently as 2025).
However, he’s added some real clunkers in there, too. He hit just .220/.291/.394 with a K-rate over 31% at Dayton in 2024, and that came on the heels of hitting just .239/.277/.398 in 23 games once he reached Dayton at the end of 2023.
Maybe it’s just Dayton, where he was again in 2025 in a much better all-around year, even though his power dried up again. He’ll surely begin with AA Chattanooga of the Southern League in 2026, and at 22 (with his position in CF now settled) the former 2B might finally have a one-track shot to focus on his all around game in a new locale. After acing his move on defense, shaving off a ton of strikeouts, and bumping his walk rate back up over 11.1% (where it’s been for most of his career), perhaps 2026 will have a lot more in store for him.
Zach Maxwell, RHP (25 years old)
2025 at a glance: 4.50 ERA, 5.64 FIP, 13/4 K/BB in 10.0 IP with Cincinnati Reds; 4.17 ERA, 1.49 WHIP, 59/32 K/BB in 49.2 IP with AAA Louisville Bats (International League)
Pros: Huge. Literally gigantic (6’6”, 275-ish lbs). Throws gas (100 mph+) with a devastating slider (70-grade). And he’s titanic.
Cons: Struggles with control (6.1 BB/9 across 172.1 IP in his minors career)
Maxwell, a former 6th round pick out of Georgia Tech, throws the ball up to 102 mph with his heater, and it’s clear that hitters have just about as little idea where it’s actually going to be as Maxwell himself. That’s the rub here, really, in that Big Sugar has the pure stuff to turn even the best hitters into guessers, and it comes down to whether they’ll guess wrong more often than Maxwell misses the zone in each and every PA.
If they swing, though, they’re likely going to miss, and that’s why he’s right in the mix for a spot in Cincinnati’s bullpen again in 2026 after making his debut there in 2025. He can be a bit wild if it’s effectively wild, and that’s a tightrope he’s been walking since his days back at North Paulding HS in Dallas, Georgia. When he’s locked in, though, the heater is backed up by an absolutely devastating slide piece, and that two-pitch mix – again, when he’s locked in – is good enough to be closer material. He’s just got to continue to refine his delivery.
The Cleveland Cavaliers ran into a buzzsaw today as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat them 136-104. Let’s see who won and lost the game.
WINNER – Lu Dort
This is the first time I’ve given ‘winner’ to an opponent this season. That’s not to say there haven’t been great performances from the other teams all season long. There have been. But Lu Dort’s defense on Donovan Mitchell has been impossible to ignore, dating back multiple seasons at this point.
Dort is built in a lab to defend Mitchell. He’s one of the only backcourt players in the NBA who have a comparable build. Dort is a stocky, quick-twitch athlete who can give Mitchell problems that no other defender in the league has been able to. He can beat Mitchell to his spot, and he’s strong enough to stop Mitchell from simply powering through him.
Mitchell finished this game shooting 5-18. Last season, Mitchell shot 3-16 and 3-15 in his two games against the Thunder. That’s 11-49 (22%) across three games.
Of course, not all of that is because of Dort. OKC’s strength is their defense. But Dort is a huge part of that, and he’s the best Mitchell-stopper in the NBA, if you ask me.
WINNER – Jarrett Allen Blocks
Highlights were few and far between today for the Cavs. But Jarrett Allen took home the two biggest plays of the day.
It started with what might be the best block of the Cavaliers’ season. Jaylen Williams was barreling towards the rim, ready to throw down a thunderous dunk, before Allen met him at the rim and sent Williams back reeling. I’m not sure if I’ve seen Allen block a shot with this much force before.
His second block was less eventful. It was a simple rotate-and-recover to stop a layup at the rim. But considering how the rest of the game went, these two blocks will be cherished.
LOSER – Lonzo Ball
I’m sorry to say, but we might have seen enough of Lonzo Ball this season. He has struggled to find his rhythym and the Cavs can’t afford to keep waiting for him to figure it out. At the very least, he needs a prolonged stretch on the bench before Kenny Atkinson can turn back to Ball for minutes.
Ball is shooting 27% from the three-point line this season. That didn’t stop him from jacking up four three-point attempts in his first five minutes on the court today. One of which was a step-back jumper from the corner early in the shot clock.
Zo threw the ball out of bounds on the very next play and didn’t return.
LOSER – Efficient Offense
The Thunder have been a historically good defense for two years in a row. If you’re going to beat them, you really have to earn it.
Cleveland’s offense didn’t earn it today.
The Cavs didn’t hit their first three-pointer of the game until late in the first quarter when Craig Proter Jr. bailed them out of a possession. They entered halftime shooting 4-18 from deep and continued to shoot 5-27 as the fourth quarter started.
Cleveland finished the game shooting just 8-35 from deep (22%).
You can’t beat this Thunder team if your offense isn’t playing sharp. The Thunder already do enough defensively to make your life difficult. Missing open shots — or worse — committing unforced turnovers is a recipe for disaster.
The Cavs had 21 turnovers. You can credit some of that to OKC’s defense. But you can also credit a handful of those turnovers to simple miscommunications or bad decision-making from Cleveland. Take throwing the ball out of bounds in the backcourt after a defensive rebound, for example. Or driving into a crowd and finding yourself stuck without a dribble. All of this is avoidable — and all of it plays directly into OKC’s hand.
You can slice this game up a million different ways. But a poor shooting night and a high-turnover rate is a death sentence against the Thunder.
The Cleveland Cavaliers took a big loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder 136-102. Cleveland shot 22% from deep.
All grades are based on our usual expectations for each player.
Donovan Mitchell
19 points, 3 assists, 4 rebounds
This is a nightmare matchup for Mitchell. He’s shot 5-19 tonight, and was 3-15 and 3-16 in his previous two games against the Thunder. Lu Dort might be his kryptonite. It’s worse when Darius Garland isn’t available to take the heat off Mitchell.
Grade: F
Jaylon Tyson
16 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists
Tyson was nearly perfect against the 76ers. But today, he went 1-4 from downtown and never found his groove. We’ll give him credit for a double-double (partially earned in garbage time), but the Thunder also forced Tyson into four turnovers before things got out of hand. This wasn’t as impactful a game as the box score suggests.
Grade: C+
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Games like this can be hard to grade for Mobley. On the surface, it’s a more than respectable box score when you take into account his elite defense. At the same time, just 16 points on 14 shots will leave you wanting so much more. Especially when Mitchell struggled, and Garland didn’t play.
Proctor again earned spot minutes off the bench as Cleveland’s guard rotation continues to thin. He looked a bit out of his depth against the reigning champs, but I can’t put too much of this on a second-round rookie.
Grade: D+
Craig Porter Jr.
9 points, 3 assists, 5 rebounds
The league’s best defense is a tough matchup for Porter, whose offensive limitations made it difficult for him to get downhill and create plays. Porter had a handful of nice finishes at the rim, but he got lost in the trees and turned it over a few times, too.
Grade: D
De’Andre Hunter
16 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist, 5 turnovers
Hunter shot the ball poorly from the floor (3-13) but found success at the free-throw line (8-8). He also had 9 rebounds, showing that he can find other ways to be a contributor even when his shot isn’t falling. That’s nice to see, but his 5 turnovers make this one hard to be happy about.
Allen had all of the highlight plays today. His huge block on Jaylen Williams and a thunderous dunk in the second half were some of the only moments that got the Cleveland crowd on their feet. He also forced his way to the line to shoot 8-10 on free throws.
Grade: B+
Nae’Qwan Tomlin
6 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals
This was your average Nae’Qwan Tomlin game. A huge putback dunk and some chaotic defensive plays. He cleaned the glass for 5 defensive and 2 offensive rebounds, as well.
Grade: B+
Lonzo Ball
3 points, 1 assist
Ball only played five minutes when a couple of questionable three-point attempts and a turnover sent him right back to the bench.
Grade: F
Dean Wade
0 points, 2 rebounds
This was Wade’s first game back from a knee injury. He played 16 minutes and had the same number of points as you and me.
Jokes aside, it’s nice to have Wade back, and we hope he can find the rhythym he had before the injury.
I had the great privilege of chatting with Baseball America National Writer Carlos Collazo. We had a very fun discussion about his background, the Nationals’ new regime, the state of the Nats farm system and the 2026 draft. He provided great insights, as you would expect from one of the best prospect evaluators and writers in the space.
How He Got Started:
Ever since he was a kid, Carlos Collazo has been in love with baseball. His dad taught Carlos and his brothers to play the game at a very young age. By the time he was four, a young Carlos Collazo was all-in on baseball. Like most kids, Collazo dreamed of being a big league player.
He played through high school, and even had a D3 offer. However, he had realized that his playing career was not going to progress beyond that. Collazo, who already had a growing passion for writing, decided to go to the University of North Carolina to pursue a career in journalism.
This led him to Baseball America, which was headquartered in that area back then. He landed an internship at BA before turning that into a full-time job. Collazo has been working for BA since 2017.
Along the way, Collazo has met plenty of interesting people in the baseball industry. One of the people he formed a connection with over the years is new Nationals President of Baseball Operations Paul Toboni. He told me that, “Paul Toboni is one of the few POBO’s I have gotten to know prior to him becoming a the top guy”.
Collazo said that he has a lot of respect for what Toboni did in Boston and holds the people he has hired in high regard. As a younger writer who has spent a lot of time in the scouting world, Collazo has a unique insight into Toboni, as well as the baseball world as a whole.
Nationals BA Connection:
There is one hire Toboni made that Collazo has an extra special connection to though. Just over a week ago, the Nationals hired Peter Flaherty to be the Northeast area scouting supervisor. Flaherty worked with Collazo on draft content for Baseball America over the last few years.
The two had a special relationship, with Collazo calling him “my side-kick”. Unlike Collazo, who arrived at BA straight out of college, Flaherty had scouting experience. He worked with the Yankees for a year and spent his summers working in the Cape Cod League. Collazo said that, “Peter has a natural feel for evaluating and scouting players”.
While he is excited for his friend, Collazo told me he was going to miss his pal. He noted that he is “very sad to see him leave from a selfish perspective because he’s done an awesome job helping us elevate our draft coverage”. Collazo’s loss is the Nationals gain, as it seems like the organization is getting a great scout and someone Collazo described as an A+ human.
Thoughts on Washington Nationals Prospects:
Flaherty will help rebuild a Nationals farm system that Collazo sees as solid, but underwhelming. While he is high on some of the prospects, Collazo does not think the system is where it needs to be considering how much the Nats have been losing in recent years.
None of the Nats prospects are going to appear in the top 15 of BA’s next update. For a team that has not had a winning season since 2019, you would like to see more blue chip talent in the system. That is not to say the Nats have a bad system according to Collazo.
One guy he really likes is 2025 first overall pick Eli Willits. The high school shortstop got overshadowed by the more famous Ethan Holliday, but Collazo is very high on Willits. He did not appreciate some of the rhetoric about Willits being the cheap option, saying, “There were a lot of narratives that kind of got out of control that I did not appreciate”.
Collazo did not think that selecting Willits first overall was a reach, and noted that Willits was a top 3 player on their board in a draft without a clear top player. According to him, Willits was the most well rounded offensive player in the class and had less swing and miss questions than Ethan Holliday.
One move that really excited Collazo was the Harry Ford trade. He called it, “the exact kind of deal you want to make if you are a team like the Nationals”. While he sees Jose A. Ferrer as a good reliever, Collazo noted that quality relievers are a luxury rather than a necessity for rebuilding teams like the Nats. If you can move a reliever for a quality prospect like Ford, you should do it, at least according to him.
This logic makes plenty of sense. It is much harder to find a legitimate starting catcher than it is to find a reliever. Bullpen arms emerge all the time, but starting catchers are not something that you can find for cheap.
As a player, Collazo likes Ford’s offensive game. He noted that Ford has been productive for multiple seasons in the minors now. With his success in AAA last year, Collazo noted that Ford is, “ready for a chance to prove what he can do in the big leagues”. Given the presence of Cal Raleigh, he was never going to get that chance in Seattle.
Collazo, and those around the game are more skeptical about Ford’s defense though. He said that there are split opinions around the game as to whether Ford can stick behind the plate. The Nationals are going to give him a shot, but this is something worth monitoring. Fortunately, Ford does have the athleticism to play the outfield.
2026 Draft Deep Dive:
One thing Collazo was excited about is the upcoming 2026 draft. He called it, “one of the deeper, more impactful classes I have covered in a few years”. Unfortunately for the Nats, they are not able to pick at the top of this year’s class due to the lottery rules.
Collazo sees UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky as the clear cut number 1 overall pick heading into the season. If he was in the 2025 class, Collazo said the Nats would have had no debates about who to take. He sees Cholowsky as someone who is close to being a generational talent, though he did not fully commit to using the G word.
While it is a bummer that the Nats will not be able to take Cholowsky, Collazo is still very bullish on this class. He mentioned a group of college hitters, including Sawyer Strosnider, Derek Curiel and Chris Hacopian as potential options for the Nats. On the high school hitting side, he shouted out Jacob Lomard, Tyler Spangler and Blake Bowen.
Collazo is also excited by the three best college arms, which he sees as Liam Peterson, Cameron Flukey and Jackson Flora. Even though the Nats are not picking until 11, Collazo is confident that they can come out of this draft with a great haul.
He also seems more confident that these players will get the development they need. Under the old regime, Collazo said that the team “really struggled to make the players they are getting into their system better”. He added that he is curious to see if that can change under this new regime.
Some players he thinks the new regime could help include Alex Clemmey and Seaver King. When it comes to Clemmey, he just needs to throw more strikes. Collazo said he loves Clemmey’s stuff but projects him as a reliever right now due to his control issues.
Collazo really liked King coming out of college due to his athleticism and sneaky power. Despite a rough year, Collazo is still confident in King because of those attributes. He was encouraged by King’s showing in the AFL and is intrigued to see if he can keep that momentum going.
Overall, Collazo appeared cautiously optimistic about the state of the Nats. He loved the hires the new regime has made, but still seems to believe the team is not that close yet. It was really fun to talk to Carlos and our conversation was fascinating. If you want to see his work, subscribe to Baseball America, or watch some of his content on the BA Youtube channel. He is one of the best in the business, and it was a real pleasure to chat with him.
Center Kristaps Porzingis, who has missed the last five games due to left Achilles tendinitis, is progressing in his recovery and will be re-evaluated in approximately one week.
Porzingis missed his sixth consecutive game on Monday when the Hawks faced the Milwaukee Bucks in Atlanta. The Bucks held on for the win down the stretch, 112-110. This was Atlanta’s fourth loss in a row. Porzingis has been sidelined with tendinitis in his left Achilles in yet another injury-riddled season.
Once referred to affectionately as “The Unicorn,” Porzingis has been plagued by injuries throughout most of his NBA career. He played in 72 games during his rookie campaign of 2015-16 with the New York Knicks and was named to the NBA All-Rookie team. Since that first year, Porzingis hasn’t played in more than 66 games in a season. Porzingis did that in his second season and wouldn’t come close again until the 2022-23 season in Washington.
Second-year player Risacher missed his sixth straight game on Monday because of a bone contusion in his left knee. Risacher was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft and finished second in Rookie of the Year voting last year. This season, he’s appeared in 36 games, averaging 11.2 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.
Both players will be re-evaluated sometime next week. Porzingis has suited up for just 17 games for Atlanta this season after being acquired from the Boston Celtics during the offseason. When Porzingis has been on the court this season, he’s been productive, averaging 17.1 points and 5.1 rebounds while shooting 36% from 3-point range.
The Hawks are in 10th place in the Eastern Conference with a 20-25 record, clinging to the final play-in tournament slot.
The Blue Jays traded pitchers Conner Greene and Dominic Leone to the Cardinals for Randal Grichuk.
Greene had been a good prospect. He was #100 on Baseball Prospectus’ Top 100 Prospect List in 2016. Then, in 2017, Conner played in New Hampshire and had a 5.29 ERA in 132.2 innings. He had trouble finding the strike zone; he walked 86 batters (with 92 strikeouts). Conner didn’t have a great time with the Cardinals and was DFAed after the season. After that, he went to the Royals, Dodgers, and Orioles and has played in Mexico for the last couple of years.
He had 25.1 innings in the majors, with a 7.11 ERA.
Leone was a waiver pickup for the Jays from the Diamondbacks before the 2017 season. He did an excellent job in our bullpen, putting up a 2.56 ERA in 65 relief appearances, 23 walks, and 81 strikeouts in 70 innings. Dominic wasn’t as good with the Cardinals. He had a 5.15 ERA in 64.2 innings in two seasons, with 30 walks and 72 strikeouts. They released him in November 2019. He pitched for Cleveland in 2020 and the Giants for two years. In 2023, he pitched for the Mets, Angels and Mariners with a 4.67 ERA in 51 games.
Grichuk? He was a Blue Jay for four seasons, hitting .243/.289/.461 with 90 home runs. Hot and cold would be a way to describe him. He had his moments but didn’t become the star we envisioned. His bWAR was 4.4 for those four years.
We won the trade, but the Jays also gave Randal a five-year, $52 million contract. He was traded to the Rockies just before the 2022 season, with the team sending $9.7 million along with him in exchange for Raimel Tapia and prospect Adrian Pinto. Tapia was released. Pinto is still in the Jays system, he played 19 games for Vancouver last year, hitting .284/.376/.608
I thought Denver might be a good spot for Grichuk, but he didn’t hit any better there, with a .275/.321/.448 batting line and 27 home runs in 204 games over two seasons. In July, he was traded to the Angels. Since then, he’s played for the Diamonbacks and the Royals. He is a free agent at the moment.
Five Years Ago
The Jays signed George Springer to a six-year, $150 million contract.
Five years into it, Springer has a .263/.343/.461 with 119 home runs and a 14.4 bWAR. 2025 was his best season with the team, hitting .309/.399/.560 with a 4.8 bWAR. By FanGraphs’ numbers, he’s been worth $118.2 million for the Jays, so a good season will bring his value up to the value of the contract (which is pretty unusual for a player who signs a long-term free agent contract).
Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams is sidelined yet again.
Williams will miss at least “a couple of weeks” due to a right hamstring strain, the franchise announced on Monday. He first went down in the second quarter of their loss to the Miami Heat on Saturday, and was spotted grabbing his right hamstring as he limped off the court.
The team initially said he had right thigh soreness, but confirmed Monday that it was his hamstring.
Jalen Williams is headed to the locker room after grabbing at his hamstring 😬 pic.twitter.com/OdBJL04iPT
If Williams is just out for two weeks, he could return in early February and miss only seven games — including Monday’s 136-104 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“I always feel bad for guys,” Thunder coach Mark Diagneault said on Monday, via The Oklahoman’s Justin Martinez. “This is their life, and they put so much work into it. In his case, he put so much work into getting back to the court. … It sucks, but you’ve got to play the ball where it is. That’s what he’s going to do. He’s going to put one foot in front of the other and attack the return to play, as he’s always done.”
Williams, who earned All-Star honors last season while helping the Thunder to their NBA Finals win, has averaged 16.8 points, 5.6 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game this season. He missed the first month of the season while recovering from wrist surgery he underwent during the offseason.
The Thunder now hold a 36-8 record after Monday’s contest at Rocket Arena, which they led nearly the entire way before outscoring the Cavaliers by 20 points in the fourth quarter. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with 30 points, and the team shot 56% from the field. They’ve now won six of their last seven games, and hold the best record in the league.
The Thunder entered Monday’s contest at Rocket Arena with a 35-8 record, which is the best in the league. Their loss to the Heat snapped a five-game win streak, too.
