TAMPA, Fla. - When Gerrit Cole took the mound at 11 a.m. Friday to face hitters for the first time since March 6 of last year, Steinbrenner Field was virtually empty, aside from a handful of reporters, a few team officials and three personal VIPs seated behind the Yankees' on-deck circle: his wife, Amy, and two young sons, Caden and Everett.
In his latest piece about the Pirates trading away Johan Oviedo, Ken Rosenthal reported that the Pirates are open to trading another starting pitcher not named Paul Skenes. So while it still feels like it's only a matter of time before that domino falls and Skenes gets shippied out of Pittsburgh, it isn't likely to happen this season. Despite having perhaps the best pitcher in baseball, the Pirates finished in last place in the NL Central with just 71 wins.
Ponce was selected 55th overall in the 2015 draft, but didn't have much of a big league career. The right-handed pitcher made his big league debut five seasons later with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2020, posting a 3.18 ERA and 6.66 FIP in 17 innings pitched. He made 15 more appearances the following season, authoring a 7.04 ERA and 4.94 FIP in 38.1 innings pitched.
May split the year between the Dodgers and the Red Sox, with a 4.96 ERA in 132 1/3 innings across 25 appearances (23 starts) along with a 21.1% strikeout rate and a 9.6% walk rate. He made 19 appearances (18 starts) with the Dodgers through July 31, recording a 4.85 ERA in 104 innings, although he did post a slightly above average groundball rate at 43.8%.
*Patrick Clohisy, 3-for-7, 2 BB, 2B, 5 SB Patrick appeared in two games and has put his mark on the AFL. He's collect three hits, with one double, and walked twice. While on the base pads, Patrick has stolen five bases in those two games. Patrick finished the season with 79 stolen bases on 96 attempts (82% success rate) and has had an extremely strong 2025.
Payton Tolle's Major League debut was one to remember. The hard-throwing left-hander fanned eight over 5 1/3 sharp innings Friday night, electrifying the Fenway faithful and offering fans a glimpse into the future. Greg Weissert allowed back-to-back doubles, and both runs were charged to Tolle in an eventual 4-2 loss to the Pirates, yet it was still a largely promising opening act for the highly regarded rookie.
