TUESDAY TIDBITS
AN ASSORTMENT OF ITEMS FROM BILLY-BALL
QUICK QUIZ:
In 2002, he played for Boston, in 2003, he played for the Mets, and in 2004, he played for the Yankees. Who is this switch-hitting first baseman, known as “Tony the Tiger.”
ZIPS 2026 PROJECTED HR LEADERS FOR 2026
Dan Szymborski’s ZiPS, which you can find on FanGraphs, has posted its projected home run leaderboard. ZiPS is widely regarded as one of the most accurate predictors in the industry. Here are the players projected to hit 30+ homers this coming season
Here are each team’s projected leaders, broken down by division.
AL EAST
Baltimore Orioles: Pete Alonso, 38
Boston Red Sox: Roman Anthony, Wilyer Abreu, and Trevor Story, 18
New York Yankees: Aaron Judge, 42
Tampa Bay Rays: Junior Caminero, 36
Toronto Blue Jays: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 32
The Red Sox are the only team in the majors with a ZiPS-projected home run leader below 20.
AL CENTRAL
Chicago White Sox: Munetaka Murakami, 24
Cleveland Guardians: Jose Ramirez, 26
Detroit Tigers: Spencer Torkelson, 31
Kansas City Royals: Bobby Witt, 27
Minnesota Twins: Byron Buxton, 24
The White Sox have their newly signed player from Japan at the top of their team leaderboard.
AL WEST
Athletics: Brent Rooker, 34
Houston Astros: Christian Walker, 25
Los Angeles Angels: Jo Adell, 27
Seattle Mariners: Cal Raleigh, 41
Texas Rangers: Wyatt Langford, 23
Big dropoff predicted for Raleigh.
NL EAST
Atlanta Braves: Matt Olson, 30
Miami Marlins: Agustin Ramirez, 22
New York Mets: Juan Soto, 37
Philadelphia Phillies: Kyle Schwarber, 43
Washington Nationals: James Wood, 26
Agustin Ramirez hit 21 in 2025, his rookie season.
NL CENTRAL
Chicago Cubs: Michael Busch, 28
Cincinnati Reds: Eugenio Suarez, 35
Milwaukee Brewers: Jackson Chourio, 22
Pittsburgh Pirates: Oneil Cruz, 23
St. Louis Cardinals: Nolan Gorman, 21
Newly signed Eugenio Suarez is predicted to lead the Reds.
NL WEST
Arizona Diamondbacks: Corbin Carroll, 27
Colorado Rockies: Hunter Goodman, 26
Los Angeles Dodgers: Shohei Ohtani, 52
San Diego Padres: Fernando Tatis Jr., 26
San Francisco Giants: Rafael Devers, 30
Shohei is predicted to be the sole 50+ homer hitter. Raffy Devers is predicted to lead the Giants in his first full season with the Giants. Last season, Willy Adames became the first 30-homer hitter for the Giants since Barry Bonds in 2004. Adames hit 30 homers in 2025, and he’s projected to hit 26 next year.
QUICK QUIZ ANSWER
Tony Clark, who played for seven years with Detroit, unexpectedly resigned today as the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association in the wake of a federal investigation. More on this in the days ahead.
