MLB Notebook: ABS system an early success; Chase DeLauter, other rookies off to hot starts

Welcome to a new column I’m doing this season, where I take a bi-weekly look around Major League Baseball to fill you in on the league-wide trends, surging teams, and top individual performances. There will be some highlight clips, some criticisms, and some personal analysis of where I think the game is at and/or going. My hope is that, if you’ve had a busy week or haven’t been able to watch as many games as you’d like, this article can be a great way to keep up with what’s happening in Major League Baseball.

So, let’s stop wasting time and dive right in.

⚾️ Baseball is back on NBC: MLB returns to NBC and Peacock in 2026! In addition to becoming the exclusive home of Sunday Night Baseball, NBC Sports will broadcast MLB Sunday Leadoff, “Opening Day” and Labor Day primetime games, the first round of the MLB Draft, the entire Wild Card round of the postseason, and much more.

MLB: New York Mets at Milwaukee Brewers

MLB Injury Report: Andrew Vaughn suffers hamate fracture, Nick Lodolo aims to return next week

Jorge Montanez breaks down all of the relevant injury news around the league over the last week.

ABS is off to a Successful Start

This season, Major League Baseball adopted an Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System that had been used in the minor leagues in previous seasons. We wrote up a detailed explainer of what that system is, which you should check out, but essentially, every game, each team gets two requests to challenge a ball or strike call if they think the umpire got it wrong. Only the pitcher, catcher, or batter is able to challenge, and the request for a challenge must be made within two seconds of the ball/strike being called. If a team wins the challenge, they will retain their challenge.

The first successful ABS challenge occurred on NBC and Peacock and was initiated by Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez in the third inning on a 3-2 pitch that was initially called a ball against pitcher Freddy Peralta. However, the call on the field was overturned, which resulted in a strikeout for the Pirates’ Oneil Cruz.

We’re only a week into the season, but the ABS seems to be a rousing success. Fans at games have been aggressively cheering the challenges, which are shown on the big screen in each stadium, and crucial plays in each game are being played out with the correct call. It will be interesting to see how the strategy of the ABS system plays out over the course of the season, and I will definitely have an article on it once I talk to more players, but, for now, we can just enjoy the spectacle.

If you’re interested in seeing the evolving results of ABS challenges, Statcast has an ongoing ABS tracker, which shows that the Yankees have won the most challenges so far, succeeded on 12 of their 14 attempts, while the Braves have challenged the most of any team. The league-wide leaderboard on Statcast also shows that the Royals have benefited the most from the calls they’ve had overturned, while the Guardians have been most negatively impacted. League-wide, offensive challenges have also succeeded at a 49% rate, while challenges made by the defensive team, mostly by the catcher, have a 59% success rate. That does support the early belief that catchers would be the best at challenging balls and strikes due to the view they get of each pitch as it crosses the plate and their understanding of the strike zone.

However, there could also be some drama that unfolds in the wake of the ABS. According to Codify Baseball, in the first 35 games of the MLB season, the 10 oldest umpires had lost 69% of the challenges against their calls. Meanwhile, the 10 youngest umpires in the league only had 39% of their challenges overturned. One of the consequences of the ABS is to see which umpires overall are having their calls overturned the most, so you have to wonder if that impacts how Major League Baseball chooses playoff assignments or perhaps how they promote younger umpires if those with more recent exposure to the ABS in the minors are performing better.

Rookies are all the Rage

More than a few rookies have taken center stage in the first week of the 2026 MLB season. It started with Guardians outfielder Chase DeLauter (MLB Pipeline’s 44th-ranked prospect), who hit two home runs on Opening Day against the Mariners and then two more home runs in the series. He hit those big flies off of Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, and Andres Munoz, while making history in the process.

He had lost a lot of time to foot and core injuries after the Guardians drafted him with the No. 16 pick in 2022, accumulating just 138 games in the minors over the past three years.

Kevin McGonigle (MLB Pipeline’s 2nd-ranked prospect), was the highest-ranked prospect to make his debut at the start of the season. He had four hits in the Tigers’ opener in San Diego, becoming the third-youngest player with four or more hits on Opening Day in the past 100 major league seasons, and then had a two-run double on the 10th pitch of an at-bat in the 10th inning to give the Tigers an eventual win. He’s currently batting .333/.429/.444 with four runs scored and five RBI in his first five games.

Cardinals’ second baseman JJ Wetherholt (MLB Pipeline’s 5th-ranked prospect) is another high-ranked prospect to impress in his debut. He crushed a 435-foot home run in his debut and then hit a walk-off single in the second game of the season to beat the Rays. Through five games, he’s hitting .300/.348/.450 with four runs scored, four RBI, and a stolen base.

White Sox rookie third baseman Munetaka Murakami also impressed with three home runs in his first three games. The Japanese star signed a two-year, $34 million contract with the White Sox due to some perceived concerns over his potential swing and miss. He does have a 32% strikeout rate early on, but he also has an 18.2% walk rate and is slashing .278/.409/.778 with five runs scored and four RBI. His fellow NPB alumni Kazuma Okamoto has also struck out a lot to start the season, but also has two home runs and four runs scored while slashing .300/.391/.600.

The Mets also had Carson Benge (MLB Pipeline’s 14th-ranked prospect) debut in right field on Opening Day. The No. 19 pick in 2024, Benge reached Double-A by the end of that year, and he had just 24 games in Triple-A at the end of 2025. He has struggled more than some of the others to start the season, slashing .176/.263/.353 with two steals and a nearly 32% strikeout rate. That being said, he is making hard contact, so the hits could start falling.

Reds’ first baseman Sal Stewart (MLB Pipeline’s 22nd-ranked prospect) made his debut last season but has retained his rookie eligibility. He’s off to a great start to the 2026 season, leading all rookies in WAR while slashing .563/.682/1.125 with two home runs, four runs scored, and three RBI. He could be a real contender for NL Rookie of the Year.

We also had a surprise debut from Diamondbacks infielder Jose Fernandez on Tuesday. Fernandez has played just one game above Double-A and was not anywhere near the top of the Diamondbacks’ prospect list heading into last season. However, he had a strong 2025 season and then looked good in spring training. His MLB debut on Tuesday could not have gone much better, and we should expect to see him in the lineup a lot more going forward.

That doesn’t include other impressive rookies like Bubba Chandler, Connelly Early, Nolan McLean, Samule Basallo, Owen Caissie, Justin Crawford, Carter Jensen, and many more.

MLB: Los Angeles Angels at Houston Astros

Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Nolan Schanuel, Randy Vásquez and Jordan Beck

A surprising Padres starter and two early bat speed gainers are recommended grabs this week.

Prospect Contracts Reach a New Level

The early success for prospects has also come financially, and for players who have yet to see MLB action. While it’s rare for players to sign extensions before they make the major leagues, it happened twice in the first week of the MLB season.

First Brewers shortstop Cooper Pratt (MLB Pipeline’s 62nd-ranked prospect) agreed to an eight-year extension with the Brewers, and then Mariners shortstop Colt Emerson (MLB Pipeline’s 7th-ranked prospect) signed an eight-year, $95 million deal with the Mariners that also included a team option for a ninth season and escalators that could have the contract reach over $130 million.

Emerson’s deal is the largest contract ever for a player who has yet to record an MLB at-bat. Cooper Pratt is third. The rest of the top five is: Milwaukee OF Jackson Chourio (8-years, $82M, max $140M) at second, White Sox OF Luis Robert Jr. (6-years, $50M, max $88M) as the fourth-highest, and White Sox OF Eloy Jimenez (6-years, $43M, max $78M) as the fifth-highest.

Neither Emerson nor Pratt has much experience in the upper minors, and both of them began the season in Triple-A, but their new contracts will put some pressure on the players and teams to show that they can contribute to their MLB clubs as early as the first half of this season. Of the two, Emerson is likely closest. He had six good games at Triple-A to end last season and has started this season well, slashing

However, there is no guarantee either player hits, and it remains a risk for teams to sign prospects before they have shown they can compete against Major League pitching. Last year, the Red Sox signed Kristian Campbell to an eight-year, $60 million deal a week after he won the starting second base job in spring training. However, he hit .223/.319/.345 in 263 plate appearances with the Red Sox and was demoted to Triple-A, where he is playing right now. The Phillies also signed infield prospect Scott Kingery to a more modest six-year, $24 million contract extension before he made his MLB debut, but he is now with his third organization and has hit just .227/.278/.382 with a nearly 29% strikeout rate in 344 career MLB games.

It remains to be seen what these contracts will look like for Emerson and Pratt, but it’s certainly a good thing that organizations have begun to prioritize their young talent.

Multiple Fastball Variations are All the Rage

Last year, I talked to a bunch of pitchers who were adding a secondary type of fastball (two-seamer or cutter) to go along with their four-seamer. The idea was to counter how good hitters have gotten at hitting high velocity. Throwing hard is no longer enough to get outs. Pitchers need to show fastballs with different movement profiles so that a hitter isn’t able to sit on one fastball type and make authoritative contact. I’ll have more on this as the season goes on, but so far we’re seeing a league-wide increase in sinker/two-seam usage over the first week of the season.

Year

League-Wide Sinker Usage

2023

15.5%

2024

15.7%

2025

15.5%

2026

17.2%

Team Trends

Some surprising early-season records, keeping in mind that teams have played five games, but the Cardinals and Nationals, both thought to be among the worst teams in the league, are each 3-2. The Red Sox and Padres, two presumed playoff teams, are off to poor 1-4 starts, and the Marlins, Yankees, Dodgers, Rangers, Brewers, and Blue Jays have all started 4-1.

So far, the Yankees have allowed just three earned runs in 44 innings. That’s a 0.61 ERA. On the other hand, the White Sox have allowed 38 earned runs in 41 innings, which has led to an 8.34 ERA. The Astros’ pitching staff has struck out the most hitters, with 71 strikeouts in 54 innings, while the Athletics’ pitchers have struck out the fewest, with 27 punchouts in 44 innings.

Four teams have already blown multiple saves: the Athletics, Rays, Blue Jays, and Padres. Thirteen teams have yet to blow a save.

The Astros have also scored the most runs so far, with 39; however, they have played six games. The Brewers have played only five games but have scored 37 runs. On the other hand, the Royals have scored nine runs in four games, and the Padres have scored 12 runs in five games, the lowest runs per game of any team in the league so far.

If you love your slugging, the Angels lead baseball with 10 home runs through six games, but the White Sox have also hit eight in five games. The Brewers lead baseball in OPS with an .858 mark through their first five games, and the Brewers also lead baseball with a 144 wRC+. The Padres are last in wRC+ with a mark of 56, and they’re also last in OPS with a .515 so far.

Individual Player SpotlightsStarting Pitcher Spotlight: Lance McCullers, Houston Astros

Some of this has to do with McCullers’ strong debut, throwing seven innings against the Red Sox and striking out nine while allowing just five hits and no walks. However, a lot of this spotlight is because of what McCullers has battled through to get back to this point. The 32-year-old has a career 3.68 ERA in 781 MLB innings; however, if you include his start this week, McCullers has thrown just 110 total MLB innings since the end of the 2021 season and missed the entirety of the 2023 and 2024 seasons due to injury.

While pitching in the 2021 American League Division Series, McCullers suffered a flexor strain that kept him out until August of 2022. He was able to pitch almost 50 innings in 2022, but then the same injury popped up in spring training of 2023, and McCullers had to have surgery to repair his right flexor tendon and remove a bone spur. He seemed ready to return in 2024, but setbacks during his recovery caused him to miss the entire 2024 season. Even when he did return in 2025, he also dealt with a sprained foot, a blister, and a hand injury throughout the year. As a result, Monday’s game was his longest start since September 2021. That makes it a pretty great moment for a veteran pitcher hoping to complete a healthy season for the first time in a long time.

If you’re interested in a more specific breakdown of McCullers’ pitch mix and how successful he may be going forward, I recorded a video this week that you can watch.

Relief Pitcher Spotlight: Pete Fairbanks, Miami Marlins

Fairbanks was a minor league prospect for the Rangers at the beginning of his career, but was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays in 2019. He served as a setup man for Tampa Bay from 2020 to 2022 before becoming their full-time closer in 2023. In three seasons from 2023-25, Fairbanks recorded 75 saves while posting a 2.98 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, and 28% strikeout rate in 151 innings. This offseason, he signed a one-year, $13 million contract with the Marlins and has quickly recorded two saves to begin the season.

Joining the Marlins was beneficial for both Fairbanks and the team. The reliever suffers from Raynaud’s syndrome, which is a nerve issue that can restrict blood flow to the fingers, resulting in numbness and, obviously, a struggle to grip and spin a baseball. Since the issue can often be exacerbated by cold weather, it was important for Fairbanks to remain with a warm-weather team. However, the Marlins also needed a reliable closer. They ranked 18th in baseball with 40 saves last season, but also had 21 blown saves as a team. They also ranked 12th-worst in baseball in Meltdowns, which is a FanGraph’s stat that indicates when a pitchers Win Probability Added is less than or equal to -0.06. Essentially, when a pitcher’s poor performance in a singular game costs his team the wind (or should have if not for the subsequent performance of another teammate).

So far this season, Fairbanks has been lights out, allowing just one hit and striking out two in two scoreless innings. He is 3rd in baseball so far in Win Probability Added while having the 5th-highest Game Leveredge Index, which “measures the importance of the game situation when a pitcher enters the game.” So far, so good for the Marlins’ new closer.

Hitter Spotlight: Mike Trout – OF, Los Angeles Angels

I could have easily talked about Sal Stewart again or Joey Wiemer, who has been a surprise for the Nationals, but I wanted to highlight Trout. Once the face of Major League Baseball, Trout has struggled through injuries in recent seasons and has become a bit of an afterthought. The belief is that he has aged into a power hitter who no longer steals many bases or hits for a high average. However, Trout spent a lot of time working on recovery in the offseason and getting his body to feel as close as he could to when he was in his prime. So far, it seems to be working.

Trout has started the season by hitting .300/.517/.600 with two home runs, five runs scored, three RBI, and two steals. Those two steals match his total from 130 games last season. In fact, since 2019, there has only been one season where Trout has stolen more than two bases, so his getting to two steals after just five games is a pretty big deal. Trout’s sprint speed this season is also 28.1 feet per second. That ranks 21st in all of baseball, right alongside Jeremy Pena. Last season, Trout ran 27.8 feet per second and was 197th in baseball, right alongside Tim Anderson and Jo Adell. Trout is 34 years old and has played over 120 games just once since 2019, so it’s unclear how long this can last, but we should make sure we enjoy it while it’s happening.

Individual Stat Leaders Over the Last Two WeeksHits

Yandy Diaz – 1B, Rays: 11 hits (.458 batting average)

Giancarlo Stanton – DH, Yankees: 10 hits (.500 batting average)

Jake Burger – 1B, Rangers: 9 hits (.409 batting average)

Brendan Donovan – 2B, Mariners: 9 hits (.429 batting average)

Sal Stewart – 1B, Reds: 9 hits (.563 batting average)

Home Runs

Shea Langeliers – C, Athletics: 4 home runs

Chase DeLauter – OF, Guardians: 4 home runs

Ian Happ – OF, Cubs: 3 home runs

Brandon Lowe – 2B, Pirates: 3 home runs

Yordan Alvarez – DH, Astros: 3 home runs

Steals

Nico Hoerner – 2B, Cubs: 3 steals

Jake McCarthy – OF, Rockies: 3 steals

Nasim Nunez – 2B Nationals: 3 steals

David Hamilton – 3B, Brewers: 3 steals

19 players with two steals

Strikeouts (K-BB%)

(Starting pitchers only -it’s really too early to use this, but we’re going to use it all season, so we’ll get started now)

Kevin Gausman – Blue Jays: 57.9% K-BB%

Cristopher Sanchez – Phillies: 47.6% K-BB%

Cam Schlittler – Yankees: 47.1% K-BB%

Dylan Cease – Blue Jays: 45.5% K-BB%

Michael Soroka – Diamondbacks: 45% K-BB%

Saves

Paul Sewald – Diamondbacks: 2 saves

Jordan Romano – Angels: 2 saves

Edwin Diaz – Dodgers: 2 saves

Tyler Alexander – Rangers: 2 saves

Pete Fairbanks – Marlins: 2 saves

Ryan Helsley – Orioles: 2 saves

David Bednar – Yankees: 2 saves

Jhoan Duran – Phillies: 2 saves

MLB Notebook: ABS system an early success; Chase DeLauter, other rookies off to hot starts

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