May 9, 2019 CHICAGO — Kris Bryant is pretty sure it’s not the bat, but right now, he isn’t leaving anything to chance. After breaking his old bat during a late April plate appearance in Phoenix, Bryant grabbed his backup, an Axe Bat, and homered on his first swing with it. He had never used

1:03 AM ET There are three old scouting reports of Albert Pujols on the Baseball Hall of Fame website. The first is from a Royals scout named Gary Johnson, filed in November 1998 after Pujols had gone undrafted out of high school in Missouri. This was the most positive of the reports. “Good bat spd.

9:37 PM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” Major League Baseball continues to push for an international draft and is getting buy-in from influential trainers who have grown weary of players as young as 13 years old agreeing to deals

1:10 PM ET The San Francisco Giants placed catcher Buster Posey on the seven-day concussion list and left-hander Drew Pomeranz on the 10-day injured list with a left lat strain on Thursday. Catcher Aramis Garcia and right-hander Tyler Beede were recalled from Triple-A Sacramento in corresponding moves. Posey, 32, a six-time All-Star and former National

2:10 AM ET The Minnesota Twins have the best record in the majors. Does that surprise you? They’re 23-12, a nifty .657 winning percentage. They just ambushed the Blue Jays in a three-game series, winning by scores of 8-0, 3-0 and 9-1. In Wednesday’s victory, Jorge Polanco had five hits, including a home run. That’s

8:12 PM ET CHICAGO — The Chicago Cubs say they have identified and now banned the fan who was observed on camera making what appeared to be a hand gesture associated with racism during Tuesday night’s broadcast of a home game against the Miami Marlins at Wrigley Field. In a statement Wednesday, the Cubs said

10:00 AM ET NEW YORK — A few weeks ago, affixed to a corkboard in a hallway inside the cramped visitors clubhouse at Angel Stadium, was one of the 34 iterations of a lineup the New York Yankees have used in the 35 games they’ve played this season. As batting orders go, it was a

3:45 AM ET After pitching the second no-hitter of his career and the 300th no-hitter in major league history, Mike Fiers delivered the understatement of the night: “I’m just glad they got those lights working.” The start of the game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Oakland Athletics in Oakland was delayed 98 minutes due