It has been a disappointing season for Rockies’ first baseman Michael Toglia. It reached a new low on May 31 when Toglia was sent down to Triple-A Albuquerque. In corresponding moves, the Rockies called up infielder Keston Hiura and designated infielder Aaron Schunk for assignment.
The Colorado Rockies announced the following transactions today:
– Selected the contract of INF Keston Hiura (#7) from Triple-A Albuquerque.
– Designated INF Aaron Schunk for assignment.
– Optioned INF Michael Toglia to Triple-A.The Rockies have a full 40-man roster.
— Rockies Club Information (@RockiesClubInfo) May 31, 2025
Outside of stars Brenton Doyle and Ezequiel Tovar, Toglia was the most intriguing player to follow on the Rockies. He emerged last season in a big way offensively, and it appeared the Rockies had finally found their first baseman of the future. In just 116 games last season, Toglia was second on the club with 25 home runs. He was fourth with 55 RBI and second with 10 steals. The Rockies were beginning to find a nucleus to build around in Doyle, Tovar, and Toglia. Toglia was a prime candidate for a breakout this season. Instead, the season could not have gone much worse to this point.
Among the biggest concerns for Toglia this season is his major strikeout problem. Per Statcast, Toglia’s 39.1% K rate is in the bottom one percent of Major League Baseball. At one point this season, Toglia was striking out at a 48% clip. He has a 37.5% whiff rate and is squaring up baseballs just 19% of the time. His barrel rate has dropped from 17.3% last season (98th percentile) to 10.3% (60th percentile). Compounding his strikeout problem, his walk rate has gone down from 11.8% last season to 8.7%.
Toglia was the prototypical player for former hitting coach Hensley Meulens, who was let go earlier this season. Toglia will never be a hitter for average, but you overlook his strikeout rate when he’s consistently hitting home runs. Toglia was the poster boy for that style of Rockies offense that showed serious improvement in the power category in 2023-24 under Meulens. But this season, the strikeout problem reared its ugly head, and the power vanished. Resulting in a dreadful offense, costing Meulens his job.
This season is more in line with Toglia’s 2023 season. In his rookie year, he hit .163/.224/.284 with just four home runs in 152 plate appearances. This season, he is hitting .194/.266/.349 with just six home runs in 207 plate appearances. He is sporting a team-worst 81:18 K: BB ratio. The Rockies were left with no choice, and Toglia’s playing time waning in recent days served as a precursor to the demotion. Over the last month, Toglia went 13-81 with a K: BB ratio of 40:13.
It’s hard to overstate how devastating this is for Toglia, considering the expectations heading into this season. After his stellar second half last season, it appeared he was officially a regular for the Rockies. Now, he will have to regroup in Triple-A and not let this setback ruin his season. The Rockies are hoping that consistent at-bats with Albuquerque will help Toglia address his strikeout problem and rediscover his power.
Hiura joins a suddenly crowded Rockies’ infield. In 169 at-bats with Triple-A Albuquerque, Hiura has hit .243/.360/.467 with nine homers and 31 RBI. He joined the Rockies as a non-roster invitee in spring training. Kyle Farmer has seen increased playing time at first base recently in place of Toglia. It will be interesting to see how the Rockies utilize Hiura. Schunk was drafted in the second round of the 2019 MLB draft out of the University of Georgia. He debuted last season and appeared in 11 games this season, hitting .214/.214/.250.
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The Milwaukee Brewers have wrapped up their fourth National League Central title in the last five years and punched their ticket to the postseason for the seventh time in the last eight years. They have the best record in Major League Baseball entering the final week of the 2025 regular season. All that's left is for them to secure home field advantage throughout the postseason. They had suffered some big losses over the offseason, with Willy Adames leaving in free agency and Devin Williams being traded to the New York Yankees. But the team has had several players step up in a big way this season. When the playoffs roll around, we may see some interesting pieces added to the roster. Tyler Miller of Reviewing The Brew proposed the idea of Milwaukee adding outfielder Brandon Lockridge to the mix, who was acquired from the San Diego Padres at the trade deadline. Brewers Could Add Under-The-Radar Deadline Piece To Playoff Roster "The Brewers have plenty of speed throughout their organization, but the fastest of the bunch, with a sprint speed in the 99th percentile, is 2025 trade deadline acquisition Brandon Lockridge. Lockridge, who the Brewers acquired from the San Diego Padres in exchange for Nestor Cortes and prospect Jorge Quintana at this year's trade deadline, logged 20 games with the Brewers in August while fellow outfielder Jackson Chourio was on the injured list," Miller wrote. "Despite swiping just two bags during his brief stint with the Crew this year, Lockridge has shown an elite ability to steal bases throughout his career in the minor leagues. In 196 minor league games between 2023 and 2024, Lockridge stole 86 bases and was caught just 11 times. Not only is that a 162-game pace of 71 stolen bases, but it's also a success rate of nearly 87%." As Miller notes, Lockridge would be more of an addition for speed on the postseason roster than anything else. Late in games, he could be used as a pinch-runner or a defensive replacement. Sometimes, that can be just as valuable to a postseason roster as a star player, and it will certainly be interesting if the Brewers view it the same way. They could use a little extra speed on their bench, and having Lockridge could give them an extra weapon for the postseason.
Ashton Jeanty is not having the start to his career the Las Vegas Raiders hoped he'd have when they took the star running back with the No. 6 pick in this year's draft. Jeanty carried the ball 17 times for 63 yards (3.7 yards per rush) in the Raiders' 41-24 loss to the Washington Commanders in Week 3. Jeanty is averaging 3.1 yards per rush this season, with 144 yards and one touchdown on the 1-2 Raiders. Not all of the issues are on the rookie. During his news conference on Monday, head coach Pete Carroll said the team needed to improve the running game to have success on offense. He suggested Las Vegas is doing all it can to run the ball with the talent they have on the offensive line. "We're working on some stuff," Carroll said of the offensive line. "We want to see (Jackson Powers-Johnson) come back to action and get back involved. "We have to in all phases of it. We've got to get off the football better and make more of the running game. "There's not enough happening there to act on the play-pass game, and we're just not getting enough. So we just got to keep working it. We got the guys we got." The Las Vegas Raiders need to fix the offensive line Despite a poor game by the offensive line, quarterback Geno Smith was effective on Sunday. He threw for 289 yards and three touchdowns. However, he was sacked five times for minus-28 yards. The offense was much better than it was in Week 2 when the Raiders scored nine points in a loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on "Monday Night Football." Still, the running game needs to be a threat, not only to help Smith and the passing attack, but to keep the defense off the field. The Raiders invested in the running game by drafting Jeanty with a first-round pick. So far, that pick has not paid off.
After scoring six total points one week earlier, the Vikings racked up six total touchdowns in a 48-10 win over the Bengals on Sunday. Unsurprisingly, they received some pretty good PFF grades as a result, including the single highest grade the company has ever given out. Let's do our weekly dive into the snap counts and grades to see what we can learn. Vikings offensive snap counts vs. Bengals (out of 60) C Michael Jurgens: 60 LG Donovan Jackson: 56 WR Jalen Nailor: 50 WR Justin Jefferson: 48 RT Brian O'Neill: 48 RG Will Fries: 48 QB Carson Wentz: 48 WR Adam Thielen: 45 TE T.J. Hockenson: 41 LT Christian Darrisaw: 38 RB Jordan Mason: 36 OL Blake Brandel: 26 TE Josh Oliver: 21 RB Zavier Scott: 17 TE Ben Yurosek: 13 WR Tai Felton: 12 RG Joe Huber: 12 LT Walter Rouse: 12 QB Max Brosmer: 12 WR Myles Price: 10 RB Cam Akers: 7 The Vikings finally ran more than 50 offensive plays in a game! And this week, they were up by so much that they got to do something you rarely get to do in the NFL, which is bench your starters and give young players some run. That included the first career offensive snaps for Brosmer, Felton, Huber, and Price (and Scott, who was the RB2 without Aaron Jones and played prior to garbage time). Jackson is going to miss some time with a wrist injury, so Brandel — who played 22 snaps at left tackle and four at left guard — will step in at LG overseas. Ryan Kelly is expected to be back in the lineup at center. Darrisaw, who made a massive difference in his return to action, figures to be a full-time player next week. It's going to be very interesting to see what happens at wide receiver moving forward. Jordan Addison's three-game suspension is over, and he should immediately step into the No. 2 role alongside Jefferson. What does that mean for Nailor and Thielen? Kevin O'Connell said on Monday he views it as having "four starters" in that receiver room. Notably, Thielen has just two catches in three games. Top 5 PFF grades on offense (min. 20 snaps) 1. Oliver — 87.6 2. Hockenson — 86.8 3. Jefferson — 75.7 4. Mason — 70.7 5. Fries — 67.7 This was a great game for the Vikings' tight end duo. They became the first two Vikings tight ends to catch a touchdown pass in the same game since Kyle Rudolph and Irv Smith Jr. in 2019. Both Oliver and Hockenson also blocked at a very high level. Jefferson did his usual thing with five catches for 75 yards, while Mason was a revelation in a 116-yard, two-touchdown day. Wentz was at 61.4, which makes sense. What doesn't make much sense is Darrisaw getting a 58.0 grade. He wasn't perfect in his first game back, but he looked a whole lot better than that while turning Trey Hendrickson into a non-factor. The two lowest grades among players who met the 20-snap threshold went to Thielen and Jurgens. Thielen's 38.7 grade is the lowest mark he's received in his entire career (minimum 10 snaps). Vikings defensive snap counts vs. Bengals (out of 56) S Theo Jackson: 50 S Josh Metellus: 46 OLB Jonathan Greenard: 44 LB Ivan Pace Jr: 43 CB Byron Murphy Jr: 42 LB Eric Wilson: 41 CB Isaiah Rodgers: 41 DT Levi Drake Rodriguez: 38 OLB Dallas Turner: 34 DT Jalen Redmond: 34 DT Jonathan Allen: 33 DT Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins: 28 CB Jeff Okudah: 28 S Harrison Smith: 22 OLB Bo Richter: 15 CB Dwight McGlothern: 15 OLB Chaz Chambliss: 14 S Jay Ward: 13 DT Javon Hargrave: 11 LB Austin Keys: 8 OLB Andrew Van Ginkel: 8 S Tavierre Thomas: 6 LB Kobe King: 3 The Vikings also got to bench their starters on the other side of the ball and give Keys and King their first NFL defensive snaps (and Keys picked up his first career sack). Rodriguez and Redmond got a ton of work at defensive tackle, in part because Hargrave left early with an injury that isn't expected to force him to miss any additional time. The Vikings eased a couple key veterans back into action after injury absences. Smith played 22 snaps and still managed to have a major impact, highlighted by getting the deflection on Rodgers' pick-six in the first quarter. Van Ginkel was credited with two sacks on just eight snaps, although one of them came when he simply touched Jake Browning before he went out of bounds on a 0-yard scramble. His playing time figures to skyrocket next week. Top 5 PFF grades on defense (min. 20 snaps) 1. Rodgers — 99.9 2. T. Jackson — 91.5 3. Greenard — 90.8 4. Redmond — 89.8 5. Smith — 81.7 Rodriguez barely missed the cut at 80.4. Wilson, Murphy, Allen, and Turner earned strong grades as well. It was quite the day for basically everyone on Brian Flores' defense. That 99.9 from Rodgers is obviously incredible. It's never been done before. Jackson was also phenomenal in coverage, Greenard was all over the field against both the run and the pass, and the Redmond/Rodriguez duo were massive in the middle. Turner, Greenard, Redmond, Pace, and Allen were all credited with at least three pressures in the pass rush. The two lowest grades on defense went to Okudah and Ingram-Dawkins.
The New York Rangers are preparing to start a transitional season, following the arrival of new head coach Mike Sullivan and some important adjustments to the squad. Among the players facing a decisive season is Brennan Othmann, a left winger who was selected in the first round of the 2021 NHL draft. Othmann, 22, is entering his third and final year of his contract with the Rangers, but his expiring deal is not the only reason why he will have to prove himself this season. The Canadian has had difficulties meeting the high expectations around him and although he may no longer have time to establish himself as a top-six forward, this is the best time to establish himself in a lower role. Othmann's clock is ticking as competition for roster spot grows Last season, he only recorded two assists in 22 games with the Rangers, but tallied 12 goals and eight assists in 27 games with the AHL Hartford Wolf Pack. In any case, now Othmann is facing heavier competition within the squad. Both Gabe Perreault and Carey Terrance have left good impressions during preseason camps, and with both having multiple years left on their contracts, the possibility that Othmann's days on the team are numbered increases. That said, the New York team needs depth, especially in the bottom-six, and Othmann must react and respond. He has the necessary grit and physicality, and if he manages to establish himself there, he could become a solid player within the bottom lineups.