Hester’s Heaters

#collegesports #mcws #collegebaseball #newseason #OpeningDay

We made it. College baseball is finally here! 🥳🎉 In the Thread is the top 25 slate to kick off the season — new roles, new lineups, and a whole lot of questions being answered fast. What sneaky team do you have making it to Omaha this year?

If you had to make daily player evaluation update reports, what are the 3 things that must be in it? I built an Update Engine in R that generates standardized Team, Hitter, and Pitcher reports with current performance vs preseason projections. Let me know what you think!! ⤵️

AL East X Factor Pitcher Recap — Aroldis Chapman: vintage DOMINANCE. — Clarke Schmidt: great until IL (7/4). — Shane Baz: small park torched results. — Tomoyuki Sugano: couldn't crack it. — Bowden Francis: rocky start then IL (6/17). Better 2026 season: Chapman or Schmidt? ⬇️

AL East X Factor Hitter Recap — Trevor Story: big bounce-back season. — Oswaldo Cabrera: IL since 5/13. — Junior Caminero: CERTIFIED breakout. — Jackson Holliday: big step forward from 2024. — Ernie Clement: solid stats, even better utility man. Who’s regressing in 2026? 👇

AL East Team Recap The Blue Jays SHOCKED the world (+12 W) and was the ALE Champion! The Yankees and Red Sox beat projections and made the postseason as well. Orioles went from division favorites (68% playoff proj.) to LAST! Biggest story: TOR surge or BAL collapse? ⬇️

AL Central X Factor Pitcher Recap — Sean Burke: 1st season but a big 2nd half (3.86 ERA). — Reese Olson: nasty before IL (7/24). — Carlos Estévez: league LEADER in saves. — Joe Ryan: shoved (17th in ERA). — Luis L. Ortiz: c'mon man. Who's rising or falling in 2026? 👇

AL Central X Factor Hitter Recap — Luis Robert Jr.: repeat of 2025. — Parker Meadows: returned from IL and never got going. — Jonathan India: contact dipped . — Royce Lewis: where was the pop? — Bo Naylor: more disciplined but not enough. Can any of them rebound in 2026? ⬇️

AL Central Team Recap (End of Season) What a wild ride in the ALC! The Guardians took the division, once down 15.5 games to the Tigers! DET still made the postseason (+69.4% playoff proj.) but the Twins and Royals squandered and missed. Drop the biggest surprise in the ALC! 👇

AL West X Factor Pitcher Recap (End of Season) — Ronel Blanco: solid until IL (5/19). — José Soriano: BB and HardHit struggles. — Bryan Woo: ACE status. — Robert Garcia: got results with worse metrics. — Jeffrey Springs: K's way down. Woo is a top __ pitcher in the league? ⬇️

AL West X Factor Hitter Recap (End of Season) — Jeremy Peña: officially brokeout. — Logan O’Hoppe: troubled with contact. — Victor Robles: IL from 4/7 - 8/23. — Josh Jung: indicators up, results down. — Shea Langeliers: HUGE year. Can Peña and Langeliers keep it going in '26?

AL West Team Recap (End of Season) The Mariners took the West and were the ONLY playoff team! The Astros began the year as favorites (72% proj. playoffs) but missed. The Rangers had a 50% playoff proj. and missed too. Bigger surprise: SEA winning it or HOU missing? 👇

NL East X Factor Pitcher Recap (End of Season) — Clay Holmes: solid SP debut. — Spencer Schwellenbach: shoved before IL (7/2). — Sandy Alcantara: command struggles. — MacKenzie Gore: more K's, more Barrels. — Jordan Romano: disaster year. Who's taking a step forward in '26?

NL East X Factor Hitter Recap (End of Season) — Mark Vientos: K'ed less but dropped power too. — Sean Murphy & Dylan Crews: strikeouts skyrocketed. — Jonah Bride: demoted (4/15) and moved to MIN. — Max Kepler: unlucky (.332 xwOBA). Any of these guys bouncing back in 2026? 👇

NL East Team Recap (End of Season) The Phillies delivered (+7 W) and took the division. The Mets got in despite 5 Ws below projections. The Braves went from 70% proj. playoff to 0% while the Marlins were 11 Ws above and still missed! Biggest shock, ATL collapse or MIA rise?⬇️

NL Central X Factor Pitcher Recap (End of Season) — Jameson Taillon: okay metrics, but played up. — Aaron Ashby: nasty out the pen. — Brady Singer: solid 2nd half (3.62 ERA). — Andre Pallante: rough ride all season. — David Bednar: back to dominating. Ashby or Bednar in 2026?

NL Central X Factor Hitter Recap (End of Season) — PCA: breakout year. — Jackson Chourio: maintained rookie output. — CES: demoted to AAA (7/12) after bat disappeared. — Nolan Arenado: power + contact dipped again. — Gonzales: struggled to get on base. Biggest surprise? 👇