It took an injury (concussion) to Jake Cronenworth, but Sung-Mun Song will get his chance to play in the San Diego Padres lineup. The 29-year-old infielder was among San Diego’s key offseason acquisitions and is one of the most prominent offensive players to come out of Korea in several years.

I wrote about Song’s background a bit more in January:

An oblique strain sidelined Song for most of spring training and subsequently kept him from playing for Team Korea in the World Baseball Classic. As a result of the lack of playing time, the Padres optioned him to Triple-A El Paso when camp broke. Song has swung the bat well in the minors, riding an eight-game hitting streak into his promotion (which included his first home run on Sunday). He’s hitting .293/.364/.354 in 110 PA and has seen time at second base, third, and shortstop.

Song technically made his MLB debut on April 26. He joined the Padres as the 27th man the club was permitted to add to their roster for the two-game series in Mexico City with the Diamondbacks. Song entered the game in the 8th inning as a pinch runner for Luis Campusano. He’d move to third on a wild pitch but was left stranded.

Song made his first start on Wednesday, hitting ninth and playing second base. He flied out in his first at-bat, before doubling to left field in his second, driving in a pair of runs and then advancing to third on a throwing error. The next batter drove him in. A groundout and an infield single followed. He finished the game (a 10-5 win against the Giants) 2-for-4 with 2 R and 2 RBI.

The 32-year-old Cronenworth is off to yet another sluggish start to the season, slashing a mere .144/.272/.196 (33 OPS+) in 114 PA with just three extra-base hits (2 2B, 1 HR). The seven-year contract extension the Padres signed him to ahead of 2024 (he’s still owed $61.4 million AFTER this season) looks like a total disaster.

Cronenworth was first hit by a pitch on April 18 and initially cleared concussion protocols, per MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell. He began experiencing symptoms in the days that followed, especially when the team traveled to Colorado to play the Rockies and Mexico City to play the D-backs (both at high altitude).

That same aforementioned post from January looked at five other prominent international free agents this offseason. The 2026 MLB season is almost a quarter of the way complete, so it seems like a prudent time to check in on how each is producing.

Munetaka Murakami, White Sox

Murakami was one of the most intriguing free agents available this winter, and also one of the most surprising signings when he both ended up in Chicago and signed for “only” $34 million (he entered the offseason with some experts predicting a deal above $100 million). Major concerns about his strikeout tendencies (plus the likelihood that he would be limited defensively to first base) drove down interest and his price.

Murakami is striking out a lot (50 times in 154 PA; a 32.5 SO% versus the league-average of 22.1), but he’s otherwise adapted better-than-expected to MLB pitching. Through 35 games, the 26-year-old is hitting .240/.377/.584 (164 OPS+) with an MLB-leading 14 HR (tied with Aaron Judge) and AL-leading 28 RBI.

Kazuma Okamoto, Blue Jays

Scouting reports suggested Okamoto had a “similar, but more disciplined” offensive profile to Murakami (with a little less power). A big differentiator between the two, however, is their defensive ability, which ultimately played a major role in their free-agent markets. Okamoto drew interest from several teams before joining the Blue Jays on a four-year, $60 million deal (the largest guarantee among the class of international free agents).

Okamoto is striking out at a high rate (42 times in 143 PA, 29.4 SO%), but hitting .236/.322/.465 (114 OPS+) with 9 HR and 22 RBI through 34 games.

Tatsuya Imai, Astros

Imai entered the offseason with high expectations, amid speculation that he could land a deal well above $100 million. The 27-year-old (he’ll turn 28 in a few days) was considered among the best pitchers on the market (he won the NPB’s Sawamura Award in 2025) and also one of the younger options available. A robust market never developed, leaving Imai to sign a complex three-year, $54 million deal with the Astros (which includes opt-outs and several salary escalators based on IP thresholds).

Imai made just three starts totaling 8.2 IP, posting a 7.27 ERA with 11 BB and 13 SO, before the Astros shut him down with what they only called “arm fatigue”. Days later, reports would suggest that Imai was “struggling to adapt to playing in the U.S.”. Following a brief break, Houston sent Imai out on a minor league rehab assignment, and the results have not been pretty. His first start lasted just 2.0 IP, allowing 5 ER on 6 H and 3 BB. His second, on Wednesday, was just 3.0 IP (1 ER, 1 H, 5 BB). As The Athletic’s Chandler Rome writes, the Astros don’t seem certain where to go from here.

Kona Takahashi, Seibu Lions

Takahashi’s market was always going to be more tepid than Imai’s. The two have vastly different backgrounds in the NPB, and, notably, Takahashi’s low strikeout rates were always going to be a concern for MLB teams. Still, reports suggested there was some interest when he became available on the market in November, before he elected to remain with the Lions for at least one more season (his multi-year deal includes provisions that allow him to explore returning to MLB next offseason).

Takahashi has pitched well for the 16-16 Lions (third in the Pacific League). The 29-year-old right-hander has made five starts, posting a 3-2 record and 0.97 ERA over 37.0 IP while showing career-best K/9 (7.8) and BB/9 (1.2) rates.

Kohei Arihara, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

Arihara’s initial stint in MLB didn’t go very well: a 7.57 ERA (57 ERA+) in 60.2 IP (14 starts) with the Rangers between 2021 and 2022. The right-hander returned to Japan and re-established himself as one of the NPB’s more reliable arms. Instead of giving MLB another try (it’s still unclear if he had an actual offer to come back to the league), the 33-year-old opted to remain in Japan. The Fighters signed him to a deal that put him among the league’s highest-paid players.

The righty’s return to his original team before the MLB stint hasn’t gone as planned. The Fighters enter play on Wednesday with a 15-18 record, second-worst in the Pacific League. Arihara is 1-4 with an 8.23 ERA in 27.1 IP (5 starts).

Baseball and the New York Yankees organization lost a legend on Monday. John Sterling spent more than three decades, from 1989 to his retirement in 2024, as the voice of the Yankees’ radio broadcasts. The broadcast legend passed away at the age of 87.

A Manhattan-native, Sterling covered several NY-area sports (incl. the Nets and Islanders) before landing in Atlanta at TBS Radio in the early 1980s. Sterling served as the Hawks and Braves’ lead radio voice for much of the decade before the opportunity to return home and join the Yankees presented itself in 1989. He’d remain in the booth until retiring in April 2024, though he returned to call several games over the remainder of that season and worked the Yankees’ postseason run, with his final game coming in the World Series.

In all, Sterling was behind the microphone for 5,426 regular-season games and another 225 in the postseason. That included an unprecedented stretch from Sept. 1989 to July 2019 in which Sterling didn’t miss a single game. From The Athletic’s Levi Weaver:

Sterling’s longtime partner in the radio booth, Suzyn Waldman, remains a part of the Yankees’ broadcasts, alongside Dave Sims.

Several broadcasts across the league closed out games on Monday with some kind of nod to Sterling from the in-booth team. He was widely respected throughout the sport.

Following a weekend sweep of the Michigan State Spartans in a three-game series (outscoring their opponents by a combined 21-15 margin), the UCLA Bruins remain the top team in college baseball. UCLA has just seven games remaining on its regular-season schedule and will surely head into postseason play as the top-ranked school in the nation.

Overall, the Bruins have a 43-4 record on the year, including a 24-0 mark in conference play. The UCLA pitching staff leads all of college baseball with a 3.30 ERA (over 417.0 IP) and is third in the conference in strikeouts (456; bettered only by Oregon and USC). Sweeping the Spartans ensured that the Bruins will finish the regular season as Big Ten champions for a second straight year.

Five Bruins players rank among MLB Pipeline’s Top 150 prospects heading into the 2026 Draft: SS Roch Cholowsky (1), RHP Logan Reddemann (20), 1B Mulivai Levu (93), OF Will Gasparino (98), and 3B Roman Martin (118).

Each of the four position players has helped pace the Bruins’ offense. Cholowsky leads the group with a 1.149 OPS, 18 HR, and 55 RBI. Gasparino is at 1.107, 18 HR, and 57 RBI. Levu (1.061, 14, 54) and Martin (1.014, 7, 44) have also been swinging the bat well.

Reddemann has posted a 2.87 ERA in a team-leading 59.2 IP with 84 SO (11 BB).

MLB managers (and coaches) being replaced during a season is not uncommon (two teams have already made managerial changes this season). Such changes during the season in the minor leagues are far rarer, however, which is why those moments tend to stand out. On Tuesday, the Detroit Tigers fired Gabe Álvarez, who had been managing the club’s Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens affiliate.

Detroit didn’t provide any reasoning for Álvarez’s dismissal other than to simply state that it was for a “violation of club policy”.

The club has refused to comment further on the decision, leaving the public to speculate wildly that it was gambling-related in some way. Until the team provides more context, there’s little to suggest such speculation is wrong.

Álvarez was in his second season as Toledo’s manager. The Mud Hens are 17-16 on the year after going 84-66 in 2025. The 52-year-old former third baseman had a brief MLB career, playing in 92 games from 1998-2000 with the Tigers and Padres while batting .222/.289/.357 (67 OPS+) in 294 PA.

(MiLB career home run leader) Mike Hessman was named the Mud Hens’ interim manager.

Yankees right-hander Elmer Rodríguez had a particularly close interest in watching Saturday’s Kentucky Derby. Rodríguez’s cousins — José Ortiz and his brother, Irad — were both jockeys in the race. José was riding Golden Tempo, the improbably winner of the race, while Irad rode Renegade, the favorite entering the race who finished in second.