What is the story about?
Happy Wednesday, everyone! Plenty to get into in our midweek news roundup. We’ve got the return of future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander, who has been out over two months and will finally be back with the Tigers this coming weekend. We have reactions to the first round of All-Star voting, as well as a look at whether or not baseball has a nepotism problem.
All that and much more below, do we’ll just jump right into it.
- Sam Blum looks at baseball’s issue with nepotism signings. (The Athletic subscription required.)
- In somewhat related news, Greg Bishop spotlights Striker Pence, nephew of Hunter, and wonders if he could be an American answer to Shohei Ohtani.
- The Dodgers’ pitching rotation is back on top, according to Ryan Blake.
- Brent Maguire suggests Drew Rasmussen might be the best pitcher you haven’t heard of.
- Justin Verlander will return to the Tigers after a lengthy IL stint this season, and will start against the White Sox this Sunday. Story by Steve Schaeffer.
- The Brewers have called up shortstop prospect Cooper Pratt. (AP)
- A quick look at the AL All-Star frontrunners.
- Tom Glavine, the Hall of Famer, is worried that labor disputes might cause a repeat of the 1994 season. Story by Jeff Passan.
- Michael Baumann tries to determine if Andre Pallante is good or not.
- An early prediction of the All-MLB team. (MLB)
- Tim Capurso looks at some of the best home run celebrations in baseball this season.
- Karl Rasmussen shares some eye-opening revelations from the first round of All-Star voting.
- Brendan Kuty looks at the clarity the Yankees received regarding Jose Cabellero’s contentious pitch-count routine. (The Athletic subscription required.)
- This is quite the balanced book.
- Davy Andres explains why it’s hard to bunt a curveball.
- Jay Jaffe reports that Guardians’ slugger Jose Ramirez has been sidelined by a hamate injury.
- JJ Wetherholt reunited with his 5th grade teacher, who recently shared his 5th grade prediction of becoming an MLB player. Story by Brent Maguire.
- Jared Greenspan looks at the tightest races in the first round of All-Star voting.
- Tom Verducci looks at how the standards for catchers keep changing.
- Elly De La Cruz will head for a rehab stint this coming weekend. (AP)
- Keith Law redrafts the class of 2016. (The Athletic subscription required.)
- Okay, Kyle, calm down.
And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.
