2026 MLB Season

Twins To Promote Walker Jenkins

Jenkins is a potential five-tool star. The Twins selected him fifth overall in 2023 out of South Brunswick High School in Southport, North Carolina. Since then, he has put up a combined .303/.404/.490 batting line across multiple minor league levels. His 13.4% walk rate and 15.9% strikeout rate are both very strong figures. His 144 wRC+ indicates he has been 44% above league average on the whole. He has good speed and a good arm and is considered a strong defender at all three outfield spots.

www.mlbtraderumors.com

Twins To Promote Walker Jenkins

The Twins are bringing up their top prospect.
www.mlbtraderumors.com www.mlbtraderumors.com

He's still only 21 !!!
 
Ben Rice with the 4 for 5, 2 homerun and 6 RBI night. Cam Schlittler with 6 plus innings of 10 strikeout, shutout ball. Yankees roll in game 1. Ironically both of these young stars are from Massachusetts.
 
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Freethinker said:
Ben Rice with the 4 for 5, 2 homerun and 6 RBI nights. Cam Schlittler with 6 plus innings of 10 strikeout, shutout ball. Yankees roll in game 1. Ironically both of these young stars are from Massachusetts.
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Ben Rice has been tearing it up this season. He hit 41 homeruns this year. Glad to see the Yankees with some white talent standing out!
 
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Only 7 players hit over .300 this year, the least since 1968 when it was 6. This is an article from last year - 2025 but the same theme holds true in 2026.

https://www.wypr.org/2025-09-18/what-happened-to-baseballs-300-hitter

Ran the average batting average per season through AI and the average has obviously declined since 2000 which was in the peak of the steroid era. I recall collecting baseball cards back in the late 80s up to the 1994 strike as a kid. A .260 batting average always stuck out in my head as being a respectable professional hitter as a young kid. Crazy to see the average drop 16 points for the league average in 2026. The art of hitting has been replaced by strikeouts or homeruns.

SeasonMLB Batting AverageHistorical Context
2026.244Pitching remains dominant; leveling off after rule updates.
2025.245Steady mid-.240s environment.
2024.243Re-adjusted back down near recent modern lows.
2023.248Shift restrictions and pitch clock introduced, spiking averages.
2022.243Lowest mark since 1968 prior to major offensive rules changes.
2021.244Sticky substance crackdown mid-season attempts to aid hitters.
2020.24560-game pandemic-shortened season.
2019.252High-power environment; last season averaging over .250.
2018.248Strikeouts outpace total hits league-wide for the first time.

2017.255Peak of the early "Statcast/Launch Angle" revolution.
2016.255Hitting stabilizes temporarily around the mid-.250s line.
2015.254Slight bounce-back from a lower run-scoring era.
2014.251Pitching dominance reaches a pre-2020 high point.
2013.253Steady baseline for the mid-2010s.
2012.255Pitcher velocity and optimization begin accelerating.
2011.255Steady dip out of the high offensive environment.
2010.257Known as the "Year of the Pitcher" for its surge in no-hitters.
2009.262The final season in MLB history to average above .260.
2008.264Offense remains solid but well below the turn-of-the-century peak.
2007.268Late-2000s offensive peak.
2006.269High-scoring environment driven by high contact and power.
2005.264Balanced environment before the implementation of stricter drug testing.
2004.266Offense remains heavily favored league-wide.
2003.264Solid contact era with widespread power numbers.
2002.261Brief low-point for the early-2000s baseline.
2001.264Steady, high-scoring era continuing across both leagues.
2000.270The modern high-water mark; highest league average this century.
 
I remember in the Moneyball movie (set in 2002 during the high-water steroid era), when Billy Beane wanted to trade for Scott Hatteberg, one of the scouts said dismissively, "He's a career .260 hitter and his best years are behind him." Back then a .260 average was not considered good for a player like Hatteberg who didn't hit many home runs.

With all the rule changes MLB has implemented to make baseball "faster" and "more appealing to Millennials/Gen Z," the decline in hitting and the regression to the 3 outcomes (strikeout, walk, home run) has made baseball far more boring than the "slow" era with decent hitting could ever be.
 
I checked the batting leaders a few weeks ago and couldn't believe how low the batting averages were. Hardly any .300 hitters as Leonardfan mentioned, and the bottom of the top ten had averages in the .270s. As best I recall that's worse than in 1968, which at the time was a one year outlier of domination by pitchers.

In '68 there were lots of 20 game winners, led by Denny McLain's 31. But now, to go with the lousy batting averages, pitchers are winning the Cy Young Award with 10 wins ala Paul Skenes last year, less than a third of McLain's total. I tried to get back into baseball this year but did only a little bit. Too many things have changed from the sport I followed very closely for many years -- basic fundamentals discarded, horrible base running by many players, starting pitchers babied, and last but not least, subtle strategies that made baseball so interesting are no longer a part of a sport that's turned into "hit a home run or strike out."
 
Thinking the Astros are both the least white and least American team in the mlb playoffs. Looks like Chisox are about to sweep them.
 
I've already noticed in a couple of the games running up to playoffs as well in the playoffs hitters putting a premium on getting on base. Either via bunt, hit to opposite field or walk being a desired result. This puts pressure on defense as well as moving runner into scoring position. Perennial contenders win by great defense, consistent/ timely offense and good pitching. The formula really hasn't changed in spite of what the talking heads want to tell you about advanced metrics etc...
 
NolanCromwell said:
I've already noticed in a couple of the games running up to playoffs as well in the playoffs hitters putting a premium on getting on base. Either via bunt, hit to opposite field or walk being a desired result. This puts pressure on defense as well as moving runner into scoring position. Perennial contenders win by great defense, consistent/ timely offense and good pitching. The formula really hasn't changed in spite of what the talking heads want to tell you about advanced metrics etc...
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That's real baseball. Get a runner on base, try to advance him through a sacrifice or stolen base and score via a hit or sacrifice fly. Maybe it's still more common than I thought as when I watch (admittedly not a lot in recent years) it's usually guys swinging as hard as they can to hit a homer no matter the situation rather than trying to squeeze out runs here and there. I rarely see bunts or players hitting to the opposite field anymore. . .
 
referendum said:
Thinking the Astros are both the least white and least American team in the mlb playoffs. Looks like Chisox are about to sweep them.
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Glad the Astros are out. They haven’t been White friendly in a long time. Maybe the Bagwell and Biggio days.

I wouldn’t qualify the Yankees as White friendly but there is a distinctly different feel with this year’s team. Judge (who I don’t personally mind) and Stanton don’t play. The best offensive players are clearly Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger now. Spencer Jones is an emerging talent and was hitting cleanup. Austin Wells and Ryan McMahon contribute as starters too. Then the rotation is White with Schlittler, Cole, Fried (Jewish I know), Rodon and Warren. Weathers too but he’s hurt. Their elite closer is also the White David Bednar. I’m glad they pummeled the Red Sox but will really be pulling for them over the Rays who are way too non-White on field players.
 
Freethinker said:
Glad the Astros are out. They haven’t been White friendly in a long time. Maybe the Bagwell and Biggio days.

I wouldn’t qualify the Yankees as White friendly but there is a distinctly different feel with this year’s team. Judge (who I don’t personally mind) and Stanton don’t play. The best offensive players are clearly Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger now. Spencer Jones is an emerging talent and was hitting cleanup. Austin Wells and Ryan McMahon contribute as starters too. Then the rotation is White with Schlittler, Cole, Fried (Jewish I know), Rodon and Warren. Weathers too but he’s hurt. Their elite closer is also the White David Bednar. I’m glad they pummeled the Red Sox but will really be pulling for them over the Rays who are way too non-White on field players.
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I was surprised with the young core of White players the White Sox had. I ran through their box score in their game 2 win against the Astros.

OF Sam Antonacci - 23 years old
OF Brenton Doyle - 28 years old
C Kyle Teel - 24 years old
**1B Munetaka Murakami - 26 year old Japanese player. I don't mind the Japanese/Asian players. Wish their were more of them instead of overrated carribean and latin players with their retarded antics on the field.
DH Andrew Benintendi - old man on the roster - 32 years old. He should have been a Red Sox player for his career but it's nice to see him anchoring a young team as a quality vet batter.
OF Tristan Peters - 26 years old
2B Chase Meidroth - 25 years old
SS Colson Montgomery - 24 years old - 31 home runs but a bad batting average below the Mendoza line at .197


I wish I actually paid attention to the White Sox this past season. As White friendly an MLB team as I can recall.
 
Yep, they put the White in White Sox. They built a winner on the backs of young, White players vs overpaid and overrated Hispanics. Go figure.

And speaking of Hispanics, and addressing Don’s point of fundamentals disappearing, they are linked in my opinion. These black and brown players from DR, PR and Venezuela mostly like to play “hot dog baseball”. It’s not cool to run out a ground ball or bust it out of the box to stretch a ball in the gap into a double. Most of these guys have poor sportsmanship too and only care about getting their stats and getting paid. I don’t think they want to win at all costs like White players are known for. So sacrificing for a team, like playing down a bunt or hitting the ball on the ground to the right side to advance a runner is foreign to them.

Here’s an example from last night that we see all the time in baseball and all sports. Losing badly, and still trying to show up the other team. Also, poor fundamentals for a simple stretch at 1st base.

 
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