Dan's Baseball Digest: 2025 Week 1
First Pitch
The 2025 MLB regular season kicked off Tuesday morning in Glorious Nippon with the Dodgers beating the Cubs 4-1. Wednesday's game ended with another Dodgers win, though as a certified Roki Sasaki hater I was pleased to see him struggle locating his splitter. The timing, location, and pitcher management of the games made them feel like glorified Spring Training matchups, but it doesn't matter: baseball is back, baby!
Article Roundup
Baseball Prospectus: Roki Sasaki Is A Unicorn (Paid) - As stated earlier I'm a big time Sasaki hater. It has nothing to do with his talent, and everything to do with the idiotic courtship rituals he made teams go through before making the totally obvious decision to sign with the Dodgers. I was able to put that aside and enjoy this very interesting look at Roki Sasaki's lack of spin on his pitches, which improves his splitter but hurts his fastball and slider.
Fangraphs: 2025 Positional Power Rankings - This annual Fangraphs feature is an interesting take on team power rankings. Doing it by position allows them to do deeper dives, and allows you to get a more precise understanding of teams' strengths and weaknesses.
The Athletic: Phillies Suing Outsourced Analytics Company (Paid) - Wow, I can't believe that outsourcing an important part of their analytics department has come back to bite the Phillies in the ass! Should be an interesting lawsuit to watch. If you don't have The Athletic, you can read the actual suit here.
Important Transactions, Injuries, etc
- The Tigers optioned Jace Jung to AAA. After a middling 2024 call-up and a difficult Spring Training while recovering from wrist surgery he'll get some reps on the farm to start the season.
- Royce Lewis to begin season on IL. The Twins slugger with a long and varied injury history can mark "moderate hamstring strain" off his bingo card. A timetable for return has not yet been released.
- Matt Shaw starts for the Cubs in Tokyo. The Cubs top prospect according to Fangraphs has gotten the call. As a strong five tool player, the Cubs and their fans will be hoping he hits the ground running and has a long and healthy career on the north side.
- Pirates SP Jared Jones scratched with elbow discomfort. No word yet on severity, but he's going the Gerrit Cole route where he's already gotten an MRI and is looking for a second opinion. As a Pirates fan this makes me want to die.
- Braves sign Alex Verdugo to 1 year, $1.5mil contract. The last real MLB bat is finally off the board. Why did it take so long? He had a down year last year, but is still just 29 and had been a solid contributor for several seasons before that. I hope he regrows his beard and gets his swag back.
On Deck
- Spring training wraps up on Tuesday, with domestic Opening Day on Thursday. I know I won't be getting much work done!
- Positional battles to watch: Who are the Red Sox and Yankees 5th starters? Does Braves top prospect Drake Baldwin get the call? Will the D-Backs name a closer?
- College baseball conference play is in full swing. Matchup to watch: #1 Tennessee at #12 Alabama, which for some reason is a Thursday - Saturday series so you've already missed one game (it was good).