Seeking their first 20-homer season in 2026

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Deadlift

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19 homeruns -- Dillon Dingler and Casey Schmitt

18 homeruns -- Jake Bauers

17 homeruns -- Curtis Mead

16 homeruns -- Kody Clemens and Ryan O’Hearn

15 homeruns -- Jac Caglianone, Brandon Marsh, Dominic Canzone

14 home runs -- Brice Turang and Brooks Lee

13 homeruns -- Carter Jensen and Liam Hicks

12 homeruns -- Owen Caissie. Has shown fantastic improvement as season rolls along.

11 homeruns -- Chase DeLauter, Cole Young, Carson Benge. At least one of them should reach it.
 
Bucky said:
Nice to see @Deadlift ! Used to be a mainstay on the LB threads!
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Late last season I watched Texas Tech, Illinois (had more Whites than I anticipated), BYU, some of Alabama’s safety Bray Hubbard, Louisiana Rajun Cajuns, Jacksonville State, the second quarter of Iowa/Ohio State game.

Off-hand, I couldn’t name much White LB or DL. I know Iowa State was collecting tall LBs and a few of them were injured. Some promising defenders on Clemson. I plan to post in the defense thread this season.
 
Deadlift said:
Late last season I watched Texas Tech, Illinois (had more Whites than I anticipated), BYU, some of Alabama’s safety Bray Hubbard, Louisiana Rajun Cajuns, Jacksonville State, the second quarter of Iowa/Ohio State game.

Off-hand, I couldn’t name much White LB or DL. I know Iowa State was collecting tall LBs and a few of them were injured. Some promising defenders on Clemson. I plan to post in the defense thread this season.
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Glad to have you back!
 
Twins’ down 3-0, Kody Clemens hits walk-off grand slam for his 19th HR on Thursday.

Dillon Dingler hit his 23rd HR last night, also a grand slam!
 
Yesterday:

Carter Jensen hit #24
Dominic Canzone hit #22
Brice Turang hit #19

Carson Benge, Kevin McGonigle and Cole Young each hit their 17th homerun.
 
Not only did Carson Benge reach 20 homeruns on Friday, he had a very good all-around season. Nearly 170 hits, 22 stolen bases, wonderful defense. 22 doubles in 595 ABs is an area for improvement.

Congrats to Brice Turang for getting the monkey off his back. Quite often, he’s trying to hit it out of the park and just butchering his average. The middle infielder has time to achieve a more ideal balance.

Carter Jensen, a North American catcher, finished rookie season with 27 homeruns. How about that?
 
Carson Benge had a great opening day against the Pirates, hitting his 1st MLB HR. But from there the Mets prospect was rancid for quite a while. On May 2nd, he was batting .179, with only 2 HR's and 6 RBI's. He was on the verge of being sent down, until the Mets clean-up hitter (Soto) went down running 1st to 3rd. He injures himself running the bases or merely swinging at pitches (while batting) and misses weeks or months? Steroid soft tissue issues popping up?

That was all the break Benge needed. Finished the season with a .282 BA, which in modern day MLB ranked him just outside of the top 10 hitters in the N.L. He was the best all-around rookie (defense, arm, steals) in the N.L., but the Reds 3B will get R.O.Y. due to his slugging stats. Obviously, Konnor Griffin of the Pirates could've challenged for R.O.Y., if not injured.

Want to mention an ex-A.L. HR champ that did not reach the 20 mark.... did not reach double digits. Just 9 HR's. (609 PA's)

What would be said about a White star that hit 48 HR's as a 22 year old, but only 9 as a 27 year old?

What would be said about a White star that hit 9 HR's after signing a 14-year, $500 million contract extension?

Would that White player be a national laughing stock, widely derided (as Kyle Tucker has) or would he seemingly slide by as having an "off-year", as Vladimir Guerrero Jr.?

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. signed a 14-year, $500 million contract extension with the Toronto Blue Jays in April 2025, running through the 2039 season
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2026 Performance: In the first year of the extension, Guerrero experienced a statistical dip, hitting .263 with 9 home runs and 56 RBIs.
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The Rogers Centre Drought: Most bafflingly, Vladdy failed to hit a single regular-season home run at Toronto's Rogers Centre during the entire 2026 season, with all of his home runs coming on the road.
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Controversial Comments: He made headlines in September 2026 after stating in a Spanish-language interview that his massive contract was paid for past achievements rather than future performance. He later publicly apologized to fans and teammates for the remarks
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What do I think happened to Guerrero's power?

I and some excellent posters discussed it extensively in the 2019 MLB season post from May 24th to Oct. 1st, 2019 -- Steroids and the Latin players

My Theory: Basically, once Vlad Jr. got his 14 year deal, he got off the juice -- as a suspension would jeopardize his contract. Good for him; bad for the Blue Jays, if this is the case. If no serious injuries can explain this, can there be any other plausible explanation?
 
^^
Quality post.

I doubt Carson will be a flash in the pan. Like Alec Burleson, he has a pragmatic approach at the plate. Also, young players should take note of what veteran Ty France did this regular season.
 
Leonardfan said:
Nice call out of Guerrero Jr. That decline in power is pretty eye opening and I'd argue suspicious.
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Leo, I think the Vlad Jr. saga is the most controversial story/mystery in baseball from the 2026 season. Simply unexpected and seemingly inexplicable. What's even more "inexplicable" is how the story (going from 48 HR's at age 22 to 9 at age 27) has been hidden via the media.

Think Pete Alonso dropping to 9 HR's would be brushed-off as easily?

At one point, MLB's powers-that-be wanted to market the game around Vlad Jr. and Tatis Jr. Both Dominican sons of ex-players. Tatis hit 42 HR's real young. Then got injured due to several motorcycle accidents and refused to apologize for it. Team became infuriated, so MLB "popped" him for steroids. I assume MLB was going to teach him lesson -- he was going miss time due to those injuries, so they nailed for 'roids. I think they knew he was juicing all along, just looked the other way? :smilie-devil:

BTY, I don't buy any of the excuses put forth as to why Vlad jr. dropped so drastically. Again, most plausible explanation is he stopped 'Roiding after signing the $500 million deal. As I noted before, Steroid soft tissue issues may very well explain why Soto (Mets/$765 million) seemingly can't swing the bat or run from 1st to 3rd without the potential of getting injured. Or why the Yankees two big sluggers Stanton and record setting K.K.K. (King Kong K******) can't stay on the field. They miss weeks/months at a time merely swinging the bat. As far as Stanton, he can't run from 1st to 2nd without popping a calf or hamstring and missing 2 months.

I doubt Carson will be a flash in the pan. Like Alec Burleson, he has a pragmatic approach at the plate.
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Good point, Benge will be fine. He was a highly regarded prospect at Oklahoma State and he's actually exceeded expectations. Mets had a terrible year in 2023 and were slated to pick 9th (Konnor Griffin picked) in 2024. But MLB punishes teams with excessive payrolls (drops them 10 spots) and Mets got bumped down to 19. Long story short, Mets were extremely lucky to get Benge at 19.

Benge does have some similarities to Burleson, but Alec is much more robust, outweighs him by over 40 lbs. Benge is one of a very limited number of players in MLB with the potential to be .300 hitter. In modern day baseball .300 hitters are very rare. Hopefully he does not get too HR happy, only to see his average plummet. But 20, plus season-to-season seems obtainable.
 
Truthteller said:
Carson Benge had a great opening day against the Pirates, hitting his 1st MLB HR. But from there the Mets prospect was rancid for quite a while. On May 2nd, he was batting .179, with only 2 HR's and 6 RBI's. He was on the verge of being sent down, until the Mets clean-up hitter (Soto) went down running 1st to 3rd. He injures himself running the bases or merely swinging at pitches (while batting) and misses weeks or months? Steroid soft tissue issues popping up?

That was all the break Benge needed. Finished the season with a .282 BA, which in modern day MLB ranked him just outside of the top 10 hitters in the N.L. He was the best all-around rookie (defense, arm, steals) in the N.L., but the Reds 3B will get R.O.Y. due to his slugging stats. Obviously, Konnor Griffin of the Pirates could've challenged for R.O.Y., if not injured.

Want to mention an ex-A.L. HR champ that did not reach the 20 mark.... did not reach double digits. Just 9 HR's. (609 PA's)

What would be said about a White star that hit 48 HR's as a 22 year old, but only 9 as a 27 year old?

What would be said about a White star that hit 9 HR's after signing a 14-year, $500 million contract extension?

Would that White player be a national laughing stock, widely derided (as Kyle Tucker has) or would he seemingly slide by as having an "off-year", as Vladimir Guerrero Jr.?






What do I think happened to Guerrero's power?

I and some excellent posters discussed it extensively in the 2019 MLB season post from May 24th to Oct. 1st, 2019 -- Steroids and the Latin players

My Theory: Basically, once Vlad Jr. got his 14 year deal, he got off the juice -- as a suspension would jeopardize his contract. Good for him; bad for the Blue Jays, if this is the case. If no serious injuries can explain this, can there be any other plausible explanation?
Click to expand...
I have the Blue Jays on cable television and it's obvious he is weaker and fatter looking. Roiding in the modern era of sports is a strong possibility as his power dip is historic for a guy who should be peaking in terms of power.

This contract has the possibility of being the MLB version of the Watson contract for the NFL if he can't rectify this slump.

Well at least he isn't raping Toronto area massage attendants....
 
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