MLBits: Jordan Walker Is Mashing, Rockies Financial Boost, Phil Garner Passes, More ...Middle East

Baseball lost one of its most beloved characters, the Rockies got a financial lifeline, and Jordan Walker is doing things only McGwire, Rolen, and Pujols have done before him in St. Louis. It was quite a weekend in baseball.

Jordan Walker Is Mashing

Cardinals skipper Oliver Marmol said Saturday that he’d happily field questions about Jordan Walker‘s power surge every single day. Sunday gave him another reason to mean it.

In his first plate appearance against the Red Sox at Busch Stadium, Walker demolished a Brayan Bello cutter 432 feet into the left-center field seats for his seventh home run of the season, vaulting him into sole possession of the Major League home run lead just 15 games in.

Jordan Walker hits his MLB-leading 7th homer of the season ? pic.twitter.com/FREs3N5zfj

It also extended his hitting streak to eight games, and in the process put him in some rather distinguished Cardinals company. Walker is now the fourth player in franchise history to hit at least seven home runs in the team’s first 15 games, joining Mark McGwire (1998), Scott Rolen (2004), and Albert Pujols (2006). That’s a list worth reading twice.

The Cardinals lost the game 9-3, but the Walker storyline is hard to look away from. He’s already surpassed his entire home run total from last season in less than three weeks of play, and Marmol has been effusive about what’s driving it, crediting Walker’s ability to put in serious work between games and then set it all aside once the lineup card is posted.

“There’s a lot of work being put in,” Marmol said. “A lot of thought and intentionality to the cage work. But then, when the game starts, just being able to compete and be free with what you’re doing out there is the key to this.”

Eight-game hitting streak. Seven home runs. MLB’s outright home run lead. Whatever Jordan Walker figured out this offseason, it’s working.

The Rockies Get a Major Financial Boost with New Minority Ownership Group

The Colorado Rockies have been one of baseball’s most financially constrained organizations for years. That’s about to change.

The Rockies announced Friday that Penner Sports Group (led by Greg and Carrie Penner, who also head the Denver Broncos’ ownership group) will come aboard as the team’s largest minority partner, acquiring roughly 40 percent of the franchise. The infusion of capital will eliminate the Rockies’ outstanding debt entirely and open the door to meaningful investment in the organization, both immediately and in the long term. For a team coming off its third consecutive 100-loss season, that’s not a small thing.

The Penners know how to run a sports franchise. Their group purchased the Broncos in 2022 for a then-record $4.65 billion, and Denver has since made the playoffs and reached the AFC Championship Game. They’re also building a new $175 million training facility and have identified a preferred site for a new stadium, with a target opening in 2031. The track record with the Broncos is legitimately impressive, and the Rockies are betting that experience translates.

The timing is notable. Colorado hired Paul DePodesta as president of baseball operations this offseason and has added more than a dozen staffers to its baseball operations department, which was previously among the smallest in the sport.

Dick Monfort will remain chairman and CEO, and Charlie Monfort stays on as owner and general partner, so the Penner group’s involvement doesn’t shift control of the franchise. But the financial runway it provides could be the most important development in Colorado baseball in a long time.

Phil “Scrap Iron” Garner, Pirates Legend and Astros Manager, Dies at 76

Phil Garner passed away Saturday night in The Woodlands, Texas, at the age of 76. His son Ty confirmed in a statement released by the Pittsburgh Pirates that the cause was pancreatic cancer.

“Phil never lost his signature spark of life he was so well known for,” the statement read, “or his love for baseball, which was with him until the end.”

It is with a heavy heart that we confirm the passing of former Pirates infielder Phil Garner."Scrap Iron” was a beloved member of the Pirates family as he spent five of his 16 Major League seasons playing with the Pirates (1977-1981), capturing a World Series championship in… pic.twitter.com/qqNnVVGCqv

Garner spent 16 seasons as a player. A gritty sparkplug at second and third base for the A’s, Pirates, Astros, Dodgers, and Giants, and his finest moment came in the 1979 World Series, when he went 12-for-24 (.500) as the Pirates knocked off the Orioles in seven games. Nobody in World Series history has collected more hits for the winning side. He made three All-Star teams, swiped 30-plus bases three times, and finished with 1,594 career hits, all under the nickname Scrap Iron, which somehow managed to undersell both the toughness and the charm.

His playing days were just the first chapter. Garner went on to manage the Brewers, Tigers, and Astros, leading the Astros to their first World Series appearance in 2005. The baseball never really left him, right up until the end.

Tyler Kepner’s full obituary over at The Athletic is a wonderful read and a fitting send-off for one of the game’s great characters — highly recommended.

Phil Garner, a feisty baseball lifer with an endearing soft side, dies at 76 t.co/5yyzzcNDfq

Extra Innings

Well… this is a new one! ? Bubba accidentally challenged a pitch by adjusting his cap, but he ended up winning it ? ? pic.twitter.com/xM3mTUyqvO

??️Mickey Moniak since joining the squad on April 3rd from the IL?️?.300 AVG | 6 R | 9 RBI | 5 HR | 1.113 OPS? pic.twitter.com/91NTaxt3EW

Chris Sale is a true marvel. At 37, he's throwing as hard as he did throughout his 20s — and tonight, his 99.4-mph fastball against Rhys Hoskins tied for his fastest pitch since 2019. He has thrown five shutout against Cleveland as the Braves look to extend their NL East lead.

Cubs and White Sox are a combined 1-for-40 with RISP over their respective weekend series.

Sunday Notes: Jacob Misiorowski Throws a Sinker-Like Changeup… Only Sometimes t.co/AwhOXBcuk1

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