Game Notes – 06/19/2025

As of right now, the big league leaderboard for OPS fans out to reveal a dozen players with a mark above .900.  The reigning MVPs – Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani – are there, holding down the top two slots.  Kyle Schwarber makes the cut as he positions himself for a run at a second career home run crown.  Corbin Carroll – maybe (????) taking aim at the eighth-ever 20-double, 20-triple, 20-homer season – is there, too.  So are a pair of catchers – Cal Raleigh and Will Smith – wielding their own brand of potentially historic lines.  There’s a trio of first basemen:  NL foes Freddie Freeman and Pete Alonso plus Tampa Bay’s Jonathan Aranda; there’s the switch-hitting maestro at the hot corner in Cleveland, José Ramírez.  And then there’s two youngsters, callback to another era Jacob Wilson and Nationals slugger James Wood.  Wood, right out of central casting for a starring role in the 21st century, is not only holding his own with some of the most potent bats in the game, but is threatening to deeply etch his signature upon his franchise’s “best of” lists.  

James Wood’s second two-run home run of the game walked things off for the Nationals as Washington edged Colorado, 4-3 in 11 innings.

~The 22-year-old Wood comes out of this game holding a .944 OPS (fifth best in the Majors).  The Expos/Nats franchise hasn’t seen too many players in an age-22 or younger season qualify for the batting title and post a number that high for any entire campaign.  There’s Juan Soto (1.185 in the 60-game 2020 season), Bryce Harper in 2015 (1.109) and then Soto in 2021 (.999) and 2019 (.949).  That’s the entire list.

~In Expos/Nationals history, Wood is the second player in an age-22 or younger season to reach 20 homers before the All-Star break.  In 2015, Bryce Harper (age-22 season for him) amassed 26 before heading to the Midsummer Classic.  Overall, Wood’s 20 tie him with Joe DiMaggio (1937), Willie Horton (1965), Miguel Cabrera (2004), Carlos Correa (2017) and Ozzie Albies (2018) for the 14th most by any player in an age-22 or younger season before the All-Star break.  

Byron Buxton homered twice in Minnesota’s victory over Cincinnati.  The 31-year-old Buxton has played in 829 games across 11 seasons, topping more than 100 just twice; so while the career home run (148) and steal numbers (105) don’t electrify, the per game production is quite enticing.  There are 10 other players with at least 800 games who had/have per game numbers in home runs and stolen bases that meet Buxton’s floor.  There’s Negro League Hall of Famer Turkey Stearnes and then these others from the NL/AL:  Bobby and Barry Bonds, Darryl Strawberry, Alfonso Soriano, Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Francisco Lindor, Trevor Story and Shohei Ohtani.  

TJ Friedl was 3-for-5 and has now reached safely 121 times this season.  Friedl is the first Reds batter to hit that number from the leadoff spot at this point in the season (75 games) since Shin-Soo Choo in 2013.  Before that spectacular season, the Reds had only had a run of Pete Rose campaigns (1968-1969, 1974-1977) that matched these requirements in the expansion era.

Carlos Rodón (6.0 IP, 3 R) picked up his ninth win of the season to tie fellow Yankees lefty Max Fried for the Major League lead.  The last five times, before this season and this pairing, that left-handed teammates each had at least nine wins through 74 team games:

2010 Yankees     CC Sabathia & Andy Pettitte

1998 Yankees     David Wells & Andy Pettitte

1995 Reds           Pete Schourek & John Smiley

1993 Braves        Tom Glavine & Steve Avery

1993 Angels        Chuck Finley & Mark Langston

Playing both ends of a doubleheader, 38-year-old Andrew McCutchen went 4-for-8 with a double and a homer to bring his slugging mark for this June up to .559.  In the modern era, the Pirates have seen 15 players in an age-38 or older season post a monthly split featuring at least 50 plate appearances and a slugging percentage of at least .500.  There’s a July from Ray Mueller in 1950 in there and then the rest of the list is made up of Hall of Famers:  three slots taken by Fred Clarke, three by Honus Wagner and eight by Willie Stargell. 

Jac Caglianone launched his first two career homers as the Royals took care of the Rangers, 4-1.  The franchise hasn’t witnessed many younger players celebrate a multi-homer game.

21 years and 311 days     Eric Hosmer on August 31, 2011

22 years and 7 days         Bobby Witt, Jr. on June 21, 2022

22 years and 42 days       Carlos Beltrán on June 5, 1999

22 years and 130 days     Jac Caglianone on June 19, 2025

Logan Webb allowed a run in seven innings, fanned nine with no walks and picked up the win as the Giants edged the Guardians, 2-1.  The right-hander’s combination of Triple Crown stats (seven wins, 114 K’s, 2.49 ERA) hasn’t been reached (or bettered) at this point in a season too often since the franchise made San Francisco its home.

1958-2025:  Giants Pitchers with 7+ Wins, 114+ K’s, Sub-2.50 ERA Through 75 Games

1965     Juan Marichal              13-6, 119 K’s, 1.55 ERA

1967     Juan Marichal              11-6, 127 K’s, 1.97 ERA

2009     Tim Lincecum               8-2, 132 K’s,  2.37 ERA

2016     Madison Bumgarner     8-3, 115 K’s,  1.85 ERA

2025     Logan Webb                 7-5, 114 K’s,  2.49 ERA    

Cristopher Sánchez allowed a run over eight innings and got a win as Philadelphia defeated Miami, 2-1.  Phillies starters own a collective 3.49 ERA (the sixth lowest mark in the Majors).   This century, there have been two seasons in which Philadelphia’s starters entered the break with a lower mark than the one currently being sported.  In 2011, it was a 2.93; last season, there was a 3.22.

Juan Soto collected his 1,000th career hit – a milestone that nicely tees up a look at how many times the 26-year-old  has reached safely (it’s a lot).

All-Time, Most Times on Base Through Age-26 Season

2,168    Mel Ott

2,044    Mickey Mantle

1,985    Ty Cobb

1,981    Jimmie Foxx

1,945    Mike Trout

1,888    Al Kaline

1,883    Álex Rodríguez

1,847    Juan Soto

Pete Crow-Armstrong launched his 20th longball of the year, making him the first 20-homer, 20-steal player of this season.  Since there’s been such a thing as an All-Star Game dividing a season into two parts (1933), Crow-Armstrong is the 21st player to go 20-20 in a year’s first half.  There’s also been one player to do this in three of the previous four seasons:  Shohei Ohtani last year, Ronald Acuña, Jr. in 2023, and Fernando Tatis, Jr. in 2021.

Thanks to Baseball Reference and its extraordinary research database, Stathead, for help in assembling this piece.