Game Notes – 06/23/2025

The 1895 Baltimore Orioles won more games than any other NL club that year and did so with a young array of talent that shimmers even when looking from a perch more than 125 years removed.  By Baseball Reference’s accounting and evaluation, that club had a trio of position players – John McGraw, Willie Keeler and Joe Kelley – each in an age-24 or younger season and each with a season-ending WAR of at least 4.0.  The next century and a quarter has produced only eight other teams who can make this claim.

There’s the World Champion 1910 Athletics, buoyed by three quarters of their $100,000 Infield (Jack Barry, Eddie Collins and Home Run Baker).   Another Fall Classic champ – the 1939 Yankees – makes an appearance, thanks to Joe DiMaggio, Joe Gordon and Charlie Keller.

A pair of NL Pennant winners take a bow:  the 1970 Reds (Johnny Bench, Bernie Carbo and Bobby Tolan) and the 1984 Padres (Tony Gwynn, Carmelo Martínez and Kevin McReynolds).

Ted Williams and his teammates Bobby Doerr and Johnny Pesky reserve a space for the 1942 Red Sox, who rub shoulders with the 1964 Braves (Rico Carty, Denis Menke and Joe Torre) and 1979 Tigers (Steve Kemp, Lou Whitaker and Lance Parrish). 

Finally, there’s the 1978 Expos, who have a special place among these nine teams, for they require seating for four:  catcher Gary Carter and the entire outfield of Warren Cromartie in left, Andre Dawson in center and Ellis Valentine in right.

James Wood went 3-for-5 with a homer and four RBI to pace the Nationals to a 10-6 win in San Diego.  

~With 22 homers, Wood is matched with the 2014 version of Mike Trout for the ninth most longballs before an All-Star break for a player in an age-22 or younger season:

28    Johnny Bench (1970), Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. (2021), Fernando Tatis, Jr. (2021)

27    Eddie Mathews (1953), Alex Rodriguez (1998)

26    Bryce Harper (2015)

25    Cody Bellinger (2017)

23    José Canseco (1986)

22    Mike Trout (2014), James Wood (2025)

~Wood’s OPS now stands at .948 – third best in the NL.  In the All-Star Era, 61 players in an age-22 or younger season have concluded a first half with an OPS of at least .900 (min. 200 PA) – Corbin Carroll (.915 in 2023) is the last to do it.  Focusing on where Wood currently sits, here’s a snapshot of the players closely above and below that .948:

.951    Joe Medwick in 1934

.949    Johnny Bench in 1970

.945    Orlando Cepeda in 1959

.943    Juan Soto in 2019

In Washington’s win, CJ Abrams was 3-for-5 and scored three times, twice on swings by his teammate Wood.  The 24-year-old shortstop is second on the team in bWAR, his 2.9 only looking inferior to Wood’s 3.9.  The Expos/Nationals franchise has produced 20 position players who’ve concluded an age-24 or younger season with a bWAR of at least 4.0.  If Wood and Abrams can get there in 2025, they’d represent the third set of franchise teammates to do it in the same season.

1978    Gary Carter (5.8), Ellis Valentine (5.6), Andre Dawson (4.8), Warren Cromartie (4.5)

2019    Juan Soto (5.1), Victor Robles (4.2)

Aaron Judge homered to raise his total bases to a big league best 212.  He’s one of seven Yankees to have at least that many through 78 team games – as usual, the company is confined within the inner circle.  

NYY:  Most TB Through 78 Games

253    Lou Gehrig (1927)

234    Babe Ruth (1921)

219    Lou Gehrig (1936), Joe DiMaggio (1937)

216    Lou Gehrig (1931)

212    Lou Gehrig (1934), Aaron Judge (2025)

Back behind the dish after a Sunday DH’ing, Cal Raleigh continued to do damage when standing at the plate:  in this case, his 32nd longball of the year.  

~Raleigh is the eighth player to have at least 32 homers through his team’s first 77 games:

39    Barry Bonds (2001)

35    Mark McGwire (1998)

34    Reggie Jackson (1969)

32    Babe Ruth (1928, 1930), Ken Griffey, Jr. (1994), Luis Gonzalez (2001), Cal Raleigh (2025)

~With this four-bagger, Raleigh reached 29 as a catcher.  When Javy López hit 42 as a catcher in 2003 to establish the highest mark ever, the Brave had 23 as a backstop through his club’s first 77 games.

~Raleigh has homered in four straight games, halfway to matching the franchise high mark set by Ken Griffey, Jr. in 1993 (Griffey also shares the MLB record with that eight-game run).

~Raleigh holds a 202 OPS+.  No player with at least 100 games at catcher has finished a year with a mark starting with a two, as Mike Piazza’s 185 in 1997 holds the belt.  The best marks at each position since 1893 (again, using 100 games at the spot on the diamond/or in the role):

C      Mike Piazza’s 185 in 1997

1B    Lou Gehrig’s 220 in 1927

2B    Rogers Hornsby’s 222 in 1924

3B    George Brett’s 203 in 1980

SS    Honus Wagner’s 205 in 1908

LF     Barry Bonds’ 268 in 2002

CF    Aaron’s Judge’s 223 in 2024

RF    Babe Ruth’s 220 in 1924

DH   Shohei Ohtani’s 187 in 2024

Nick Gonzales  went 5-for-5 with a pair of doubles and two RBI as the centerpiece to the Pirates’ 5-4 win.  The 26-year-old became the  95th player for the franchise since 1901 to post a perfect day at the plate with at least five hits and the 14th of this collection to do it when batting cleanup (Brian Giles had been the last to do that, in 2000).  What really marks this Gonzales game, however, is his zero in the runs scored column.  Of these 95 names populating the list, his accompanies three others to have no runs scored.  Bill Virdon did this in 1956, Matty Alou matched in 1970 and Jason Kendall also did it, in 1999.  Both Virdon and Alou managed this feat while batting leadoff.  

Christian Yelich hit his 15th homer of the season and gave himself just a tiny bit more space between his career longball tally (219) and stolen base total (217).  There are 54 players in history to have at least 200 steals and 200 home runs in a career; none has ever finished with the same number in both categories.  Reggie Sanders was so close, amassing 305 longballs and 304 steals.  Brandon Phillips finished with 211 (HR) and 209 (SB), while Howard Johnson ended at 228 homers and 231 stolen bases.

Zach Neto led off the first with a homer for the sixth time this season, instantly giving his Angels a jolt in what, ultimately, was a 9-5 win.  The shortstop’s six tie him with Brian Downing (1982) and Tony Phillips (1995) for the second most for the franchise, one behind Downing’s apex in 1987.

Ketel Marte was 3-for-6 with a homer in Arizona’s win on Monday – the fourth straight start* that has concluded with a three-hit (or more hit) performance.  There are three Diamondbacks who have posted a run in which they had at least three hits in four consecutive starts (no one has gone longer):  Paul Goldschmidt in 2018 and Marte this year and in 2019.

*Using “start” as Marte had a pinch-hitting appearance amid this streak

As part of a three-hit effort, Elly De La Cruz connected on his 18th home run.  The shortstop – who already has 21 steals on the year – is in line to join Eric Davis (27 HR & 33 SB in 1987) as the only Reds ever to have a 20-20 season before the All-Star break.

Ronald Acuña, Jr. singled and homered.  The 27-year-old is slashing .396/.500/.713 in his 28 games this season and has reached safely at least twice in each of his last 13 games.  This streak is the longest of its kind for a Brave since Chipper Jones had a 13-game run in 2004 (Jones also had a 13-game stretch in 2000).  In the Atlanta Era of the Braves’ franchise (since 1966), the 13-game run has been exceeded only once – by Deion Sanders in 1994, when the leadoff hitter went for 16 in a row.  

Trevor Rogers put on a master class in leading the Orioles to a 6-0 win, hurling eight innings that featured just three baserunners (all via singles).   The line might not pop because Rogers only tallied four punchouts, but the smoothness of performance does stand out.  Over the past 50 seasons, eight Orioles southpaws have strung together a start that has featured eight (or more) scoreless frames with no more than three baserunners and no extra-base hits allowed.  Rogers’ predecessors:  Scott McGregor (1986), Bruce Chen (2005), Érik Bédard (2006 and 2007), Brian Burres (2008), Zack Britton (2011) and John Means in his no-hitter (2021).

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