{"id":693948,"date":"2026-06-09T18:01:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T18:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/693948\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T18:01:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T18:01:11","slug":"11-hrs-and-16-abs-challenges-plus-uptick-in-catchers-groin-area-injuries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/693948\/","title":{"rendered":"11 HRs (!) and 16 ABS challenges (!). Plus: Uptick in catchers\u2019 \u2026 groin-area injuries"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Windup Newsletter \u26be | This is The Athletic\u2019s MLB<\/a> newsletter. Sign up here<\/a> to receive The Windup directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

You wanted life in Las Vegas?\u00a0This is what you get, A\u2019s<\/a>. Plus: finding All-Stars for the Yankees and Mariners, a check-in on early-season surprises and catchers sure are getting hit in the groin a lot more than they used to. I\u2019m Levi Weaver \u2014 welcome to The Windup!<\/p>\n

While You Were Sleeping: A\u2019s get sneak peek of life in Vegas<\/p>\n

The A\u2019s won\u2019t be in Nevada full-time until 2028, but this week they\u2019re playing six games at Las Vegas Ballpark, currently the home of their Triple-A affiliate.<\/p>\n

There are, of course, peccadilloes in any minor-league park. The hard infield dirt led to\u00a0two misplays by Brewers shortstop Joey Ortiz in the third inning of yesterday\u2019s game, which helped the A\u2019s to a six-run inning. As noted by the Brewers broadcast, a second-inning double by A\u2019s shortstop Alika Williams might have gone foul if not for the extremely arid Las Vegas air.<\/p>\n

And then there were the home runs.\u00a0Eleven of them.<\/p>\n

Shea Langeliers hit a 483-foot home run to lead off the game. That\u2019s the longest in MLB this year, giving him the two longest home runs in baseball this year (the previous high was 467 on April 15 against the Rangers). According to the broadcast, that was also the longest home run allowed by the Brewers in the Statcast era (2015-present).<\/p>\n

Of all the home runs hit last night, the funniest came in the 10th inning, when William Contreras hit a home run and then fell right on his backside.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The final result, after 12 innings, was a 15-14 Brewers win. Adding to the chaos:\u00a0The two teams set a new record with 16 ABS challenges.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure it\u2019s not the wildest ride the city of Las Vegas has seen, but I suspect those new park factors are going to be pretty bonkers in coming years.<\/p>\n

Middle Relief: Finding All-Stars in Power Rankings<\/p>\n

In\u00a0this week\u2019s Power Rankings<\/a>, we made a case for one All-Star per team. Here are the sections for our Nos. 4 and 5 teams, the 39-26 Yankees and 35-32 Mariners, respectively.<\/p>\n

Yankees\u00a0last Power Ranking:\u00a03<\/p>\n

The case for: LF Cody Bellinger<\/p>\n

Aaron Judge is hurt<\/a>, and so you might assume the Yankees lost their best hope to place an outfielder in the American League starting lineup.\u00a0But, no, Bellinger has the highest fWAR among all AL outfielders.\u00a0This should be his first All-Star selection since 2019. And we\u2019re singling out Bellinger in part because we assume that everyone already knows that Ben Rice and Cam Schlittler belong on the AL roster. In fact, those two probably should be the starters at first base and on the mound. Max Fried is also in the mix for a roster spot, and don\u2019t sleep on Jazz Chisholm Jr. making it. Chisholm hasn\u2019t been great this year, but the second-base field is pretty weak in the AL, and Chisholm is top-two in fWAR at the position there. \u2014\u00a0Chad Jennings<\/p>\n

Mariners\u00a0last Power Ranking:\u00a06<\/p>\n

The case for:\u00a0SP Emerson Hancock<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t that long ago that the Mariners were in the pitching-development business, making smart trades for young pitchers and getting All-Star value out of the draft, from the first round to the sixth. And while this was going on, the pitcher with the highest pedigree \u2014 Hancock, the sixth pick in 2020 \u2014 was looking like a Quad-A starting pitcher or a future middle reliever. He just couldn\u2019t get over the hump.<\/p>\n

Here he is on the other side, and goodness, is it much sunnier over here. The Mariners have several candidates, but Hancock is pitching like the first-round talent he always was. He could still end up having the best career out of any of the Mariners\u2019 starting pitchers. \u2014\u00a0Grant Brisbee<\/p>\n

For our full Power Rankings,\u00a0head here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trend Check: What\u2019s real in June?<\/p>\n

Now that it\u2019s mid(ish)-June, I thought it was worth checking in to see which early-season surprises have stuck, and which haven\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Still sticking:<\/p>\n

Central upstarts still winning:\u00a0You could make a case for at least four White Sox to be All-Stars this year: Colson Montgomery, Miguel Vargas, Munetaka Murakami and Davis Martin. After three straight 100-loss seasons, the South Siders are now one of just five AL teams with a winning record, and are sitting in the second wild-card spot. Meanwhile, the Cardinals are 35-28, the Pirates are 34-32 and the Guardians offense hasn\u2019t been nearly as anemic as it looked on paper on Opening Day.And the Brewers have yet again found a way to keep winning despite having traded away another star (Freddy Peralta to the Mets), thanks largely to co-aces Jacob Misiorowski and Kyle Harrison. Milwaukee leads the NL Central by 5.5 games, at 41-23.
\nRed Sox, Mets, Giants, Tigers still flailing:\u00a0None of these teams are closer than nine games (Tigers) out of a division lead. All four could have made an Opening Day case for being playoff teams, and three of the four (sorry, Giants) had legitimate division-winner dreams. The Giants\u00a0have looked better lately<\/a>, but they\u2019re still eight games out of a wild-card spot.I stopped just short of adding the Astros here, for a couple of reasons. One, they\u2019re two games over .500 since May 1. Yeah, they\u2019re still six under .500, but in the AL West, that\u2019s not a death sentence. They\u2019re only 4.5 games behind Seattle. Not great, but there\u2019s a sliver of hope.<\/p>\n

Lost stickiness:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Phillies, Mariners have righted the ship.\u00a0After starting 16-19, the Mariners have battled back to the top of the AL West. They\u2019re still just 35-32, but in the AL, that\u2019s good enough to put their flag near the top of the pole. Meanwhile, after a disastrous start that\u00a0cost manager Rob Thomson his job<\/a>, the Fightin\u2019 Don Mattinglys have gone 27-11. That\u2019s the best record in baseball over that timeframe.Of note: The Phillies were 10.5 games behind the Braves in the NL East when they fired Thompson. Now they\u2019re \u2026 nine games back. The Braves are\u00a0really\u00a0good.
\nThe Marlins, Rockies and Reds seem doomed again:\u00a0It feels a little unfair to put the Reds here. They made the playoffs last year! But\u00a0their hot start has fizzled<\/a>, and they now find themselves in the cellar of the NL Central. Meanwhile, despite some early fits and starts of competence, the Marlins and Rockies are, yet again, quite bad.
\nHazards: Catchers, protect your, um \u2026<\/p>\n

Back in 2023, I teamed up with C. Trent Rosecrans to write a story about how the Rangers and Reds sure did seem to have\u00a0a lot of tall catchers<\/a>. (In our defense, it was spring training, and not even\u00a0close\u00a0to\u00a0the dumbest thing I\u2019ve written<\/a> from Surprise, Ariz.)<\/p>\n

As part of that story, we touched on the still-relatively-new trend of catchers dropping to one knee to receive pitches:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Longevity-wise and keeping your body healthy, it can help big-time,\u2019 (Jonah) Heim said. \u2018Especially if you have some knee or lower-back issues. I know for me, it helped out my lower back a lot.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one-knee stance also has an added benefit: the ability to frame pitches by starting below the ball<\/a>\u00a0and working the glove upward to catch the pitch, making it look more like a strike to the umpire.\u201d<\/p>\n

One other byproduct nobody saw coming at the time: catchers getting hit in the nether regions a whole lot more than they used to.<\/p>\n

Today, Zack Meisel has an\u00a0exploration of that new danger<\/a>, with quotes from a handful of catchers around the league who acknowledge that the foul balls have seemed a bit more like cup-seeking missiles in recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018It (used to have to be) pretty much a perfect shot,\u2019 said Tigers catcher Jake Rogers. \u2018Now, you\u2019re pretty much throwing it out there.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s worse is that just as catchers were becoming more exposed, they were also becoming more frequent targets. The spike in pitcher velocity and stuff over the past 15 to 20 years has brought with it an increase in foul tips, as hitters find it more difficult to square up a 102-mph heater or a 93-mph sweeper with 20 inches of horizontal break. They\u2019re fighting off pitches to stay alive in at-bats, and catchers are collateral damage \u2014 foul tips have nearly doubled since 2008.\u201d<\/p>\n

Woof.<\/p>\n

Handshakes and High Fives<\/p>\n

After yesterday\u2019s diatribe about acknowledging your mistakes, I should have expected an opportunity to practice what I preach, so \u2026 \ud83e\udd26 \u2026 CORRECTION: While Max Kepler most recently played in Philadelphia, he has actually\u00a0signed with the Diamondbacks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fans do not get a seat at the CBA negotiation table, but here\u2019s your chance to\u00a0weigh in on the labor fight<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Eno Sarris digs in on six pitchers who appear to have made big in-season changes. Will they\u00a0translate to better results<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Kevin Alc\u00e1ntara is probably going to be a very good big leaguer. But for now, the 23-year-old is\u00a0being sent down to Triple A<\/a>\u00a0in the wake of a brutal base-running error.<\/p>\n

The last time Trey Mancini, 34, played in a big-league game, it was 2023 and he was a member of the Cubs. Last night, he\u00a0made his Angels debut<\/a>.<\/p>\n

CJ Abrams and James Wood are\u00a0the Gen Z leaders<\/a>\u00a0of the Nationals.<\/p>\n

Most-clicked in our last Windup:\u00a0Josh Naylor\u00a0throwing his sliding mitt<\/a>\u00a0ahead of him before sliding into home plate.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb Love The Windup? Check out The Athletic\u2019s other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Windup Newsletter \u26be | This is The Athletic\u2019s MLB newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Windup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":693949,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":["post-693948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=693948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/693949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=693948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=693948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=693948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}