Drew Koch

6 days ago | climbingtalshill.com | Drew Koch

The Houston Astros need a reset. The hitting has been attrocious to begin the season, and the stats bear that out. Houston ranks among the worst in the American League in batting average, slugging percentage, and OPS. Only the Kansas City Royals and Chicago White Sox have been worse since the season got underway three weeks ago. While Thursday's off-day could be a shot in the arm for a lineup looking to come unglued, the Astros' upcoming matchup against the San Diego Padres will not be pleasant.

6 days ago | blogredmachine.com | Drew Koch

Whooooooaaaaa!Bullpen entrances have gained notoriety in recent years. Arguably one of the best of all-time was Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera who emerged from the New York Yankees' bullpen to the sounds of Metallica's song "Enter Sandman". More recently, New York Mets' reliever Edwin Diaz gained popularity when he enters the game to the tune of "Narco" by Timmy Trumpet and Blasterjaxx. But Emilio Pagán's entrance will have a familiar sound to wrestling fans.

1 week ago | blogredmachine.com | Drew Koch

Not this again. Elly De La Cruz had a horrific game on Thursday against the Seattle Mariners. The Cincinnati Reds shortstop committed his league leading fifth and sixth errors of the season, and was a major reason why the team lost to the Seattle Mariners by a final score of 11-7 in extra innings. De La Cruz is a phenomenal talent, but these defensive miscues are piling up. The young infielder dealt with these same concerns in 2024 and led the league with 29 errors.

1 week ago | blogredmachine.com | Drew Koch

MLB needs to figure this out. Cincinnati Reds fans were not happy with home plate umpire Chris Segal on Wednesday night. A costly, rally-killing call during the eighth inning torpedoed any chance of a Reds come-from-behind win against the Seattle Mariners. But, in the grand scheme of things, there's a bigger issue at play that Major League Baseball must fix. Batter interference was called on Reds outfielder Austin Hays during his at-bat in the eighth inning.

1 week ago | climbingtalshill.com | Drew Koch

Through the first few weeks of the 2025 season, Houston Astros first baseman Christian Walker has looked almost as bad as his predecessor, Jose Abreu. Houston's biggest offseason acquisition has been abysmal, and heading Wednesday's series finale against the St. Louis Cardinals, was hitting just .164/.282/.230 with a staggering 22 strikeouts 61 at-bats. Walker's whiff rate is a problematic 30.6% and he's striking out 31% of the time.