Prospect
Live –
2025 Top
100 Prospects: End-of-Season Update
https://www.prospectslive.com/2025-top-100-prospects-end-of-season-update/?s=03
25. Nolan McLean, RHP
Scouting Report
Nolan
McLean is finally where he belongs: as a full-time pitcher. In college and
early in his pro career, he was a two-way player, but fortunately, he and the
Mets recognized the opportunity to focus solely on pitching. McLean is one of
the most exciting arms in the minors, boasting a double-plus slider with
exceptional sweep and a plus fastball with great riding life up in the zone. A
significant part of his appeal lies in his ability to effectively spam these
two pitches to left- and right-handed hitters. He also mixes in a hard cutter
after those two pitches have been established in the same plate appearance.
While his arsenal has a changeup, scraping that pitch is best. His command of
his offerings has notably improved since he transitioned to a full-time
pitcher. McLean is a back-end bullpen monster who can rely on his two-plus
pitches and mix in the cutter to induce weak contact. However, given the Mets'
major league roster, there's no need to rush him into a bullpen role, even if
that is his most likely home. - Rhys White
David Adler @_dadler
The *average* MLB righty now throws 95 mph on the dot
Still a little crazy to think about even though it's been
coming for a while
Netflix to stream 2026 World Baseball Classic in Japan
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6574987/2025/08/25/netflix-world-baseball-classic/
Netflix has its first agreement with Major League
Baseball to stream the 2026 World Baseball Classic in Japan.
The partnership is the start of a relationship that is
expected to grow soon. The Athletic previously reported that Netflix is the
leader to become the exclusive platform for the Home Run Derby over the next
three years. That deal is not official yet. Netflix would stream the Home Run
Derby in the United States, while the WBC Classic is just for the Japanese
market.
Netflix has an interest in expanding in Japan, which is
why potentially featuring Shohei Ohtani and the Japanese team was appealing.
Japan has won three of the five WBCs, including the 2023 title.
Jim Koenigsberger @Jimfrombaseball
The "Philadelphia Inquirer" found dangerous
chemicals in the astroturf of the now-demolished Veterans
Stadium.
Six Phillies who played on that turf, Tug McGraw, Darren
Daulton, John Vukovich, John Oates, Ken Brett, David West died of a rare and aggressive brain cancer.
The six players all died in their 40s or 50s, roughly
three times the rate of the average adult population. Even more alarming was
their mutual diagnosis of glioblastoma.
The Phillies sold pieces of turf in sealed 4 x 4"
bags. The Inquirer purchased four of those on eBay. Samples analyzed by two
separate labs found 16 types of dangerous chemicals in the turf.
They are referred to as “forever chemicals” because they
don’t break down and can last in the human body for years.
The US federal government estimates that 12,000
artificial turf fields containing PFAS or “forever chemicals” exist in USA.
Darren 'Dutch' Daulton
And still no word on this story!!!
This is a horrible story. And one I have never heard of before.
Why is that? Why hasn’t this been featured on the MLB Network,
ESPN, or even 60 Minutes?
Salt Lake
City? Nashville? How six cities are faring in the race for an MLB expansion
team
The
intense interest in Major League Baseball expansion and realignment last week
surprised those inside the league office in New York. What commissioner Rob
Manfred said publicly on the subject had lasted just 52 seconds, and none of it
was new information.
But the
expansion conversation captivates, and now that there’s resolution in sight for
the two items Manfred has long cited as expansion roadblocks — the uncertain
futures of the Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays — it no longer feels premature to
raise the topic. Nowhere is the spike in interest more apparent than in the
cities vying for a spot when MLB expands to 32 clubs.
“There’s
tremendous excitement locally about the potential for expansion,” said Steve
Starks, CEO of the Larry H. Miller Company in Salt Lake City, describing the
market as “buzzing with anticipation” about the prospect of bringing the big
leagues to Utah.
In recent
weeks, The Athletic sought progress reports from six cities with established
expansion efforts underway — Nashville, Raleigh and Orlando in the east; Salt Lake City, Portland and Austin in the west
GO TO
LINK FOR THE REST OF THE STORY
As Savannah Bananas pursue
‘a billion fans,’ are they real competition for MLB?
On a Friday night this summer, the New York Yankees
packed Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in a rematch of last year’s World Series.
An hour south that same evening in Anaheim, another major-league stadium hosted
a sold-out ballgame, but the contest had nothing to do with the nation’s most
venerated sports league, Major League Baseball. It was between a troop of
dancing ballplayers called the Savannah Bananas and a rival of their own
creation, the Firefighters.
MLB officials say they view the independent Bananas not
as competition but as a complement, an aid to the number of baseball and
softball fans everywhere. To MLB, the Bananas are an entertainment product —
not competitive with an established sport and closer to a stadium-filling
concert, or a sport-adjacent show like the Harlem Globetrotters of basketball.
But Jesse Cole, the
Bananas’ owner, sees what he’s creating as much more than just baseball
vaudeville.
“This isn’t the Globetrotters. We’re building a sport,”
Cole said. “I have Little Leagues reaching out every day that they say they
want to do Banana Ball League. They don’t want to play regular baseball, their
kids want to play Banana Ball. They want to have a yellow banana ball, the
first ball that they pick up. It’s different. My seven-year-old kid, that’s all
he does is trick plays now.”
Cole, too, says the Bananas should not be seen as rivals
to MLB’s 30 owners. But his own stated ambitions — he says he wants to amass
one billion fans — belie that stance. He likens the Bananas’ trajectory to that
of Ultimate Fighting Championship, the mixed-martial arts competition that grew
alongside the old stalwart of combat sports, boxing.
CLICK ON LINK FOR THE REST OF THE STORY
5 comments:
Horrible story on that turf problem and that it took so long to find out. The lawyers must be lining up as we speak. I always hated those all purpose studiums but they were built for one reason to make money of course all other concerns didn't matter as baseball and football need to be played on GRASS!
It's always money or a way of saving it
I had to fire so many good people in my life to make my investors or bank happy
One close associate hung himself after I fired him
Still haunts me
McLean is just getting established as a super-starter, and this individual writes about him being a monster reliever?
The show must go on. After 9/11, I worked a quarter mile away for several months. It smelled TOXIC. They had people digging in piles of toxins daily for shreds of DNA to give people closure. When they already knew they were dead. It seemed highly careless, even having workers work so close by who weren’t digging in piles. The exposure led to many closed caskets for the people who were digging in piles. Sometimes people do foolish things. And only figure it out too late.
I love bananas, not banana ball.
Like Tom, I must start with the travesty of the turf toxins. Are they only in that turf? Why were they there? I’m sorry Mack for having to live with the pain of that suicide and having played any part in it. I don't know how I would be able to carry that.
On the expansion, I’m hoping for San Antonio, but Austin makes more money. It’s three and a half hours away from me where San Antonio is an hour closer. Houston is also three and a half hours away and I think twice about driving to see the Mets there. The first time was after Harvey and I passed and with good reason that can be expanded at a later time. The next time was this year and I looked at tickets good and hard but also my opportunity to leave and decided it wasn’t worth it.
On the WBC, I looked at at it as a good thing but our players get hurt going there. Other countries love it, and with good reason, although we all know MOB started it for $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. They don’t care about anything else.
Jacob deGrom, Nolan McLean. How many more of these gifted athletes are out there with the potential to become excellent pitchers? I hope the Mets scouts find the secret sauce so they can look for more.
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