TBNL: NPB expansion, long homers off bad people, LSU Tigers retool

Since 1958, Japan’s NPB has consistently had 12 teams consider themselves members. Franchises have folded, merged, or been formed anew, but the league has maintained a consistent size for decades.

Representatives from the NPB Players Association met with league officials this week to propose expansion, according to a report from Japan’s Sponichi Annex.

While it’s unclear how seriously the league is considering the recommendation, it seems some of the motivation behind it stems from some recent changes that were approved at the owners’ meeting surrounding their minor league, or second-division, system. Notably, the 14-team minor league will be realigned next season into three divisions. Two independent teams joined the minor league system before last season.

The NPBPA’s proposal leans on a desire to “promote baseball and expand its group of players.”

Should the NPB ever reach the point where expansion is on the horizon, one has to wonder if the league will also explore increasing the foreign player limit on its active rosters. Currently, NPB teams are allowed to roster up to four foreign-born players. Teams may not carry four pitchers or four position players, but must have a mix.

Korea’s KBO has a similar policy where no more than three foreign-born players (with no more than two of them being pitchers) are allowed on the active roster.

A long, but not record-long, homer

Let’s stick with the NPB for a moment, since a home run hit on Wednesday went viral on social media.

Trevor Bauer has struggled during his second stint in Japan and was recently sent down to the minor leagues to work on some things after posting the highest ERA in the league. Bauer made his return to the Yokohama BayStars on Wednesday to start against the Hiroshima Toyo Carp.

In the sixth inning, former Rockies infielder Elehuris Montero, in his first season with the Carp, hammered a home run to left field. Somehow, reports on social media suggested that the shot went an astonishing 594 feet.

Hitting the longest home run ever measured (topping the 582-foot blast minor leaguer Joey Meyer hit in 1987) off of the sport’s worst human being, it’s easy to see why this went viral.

Only it wasn’t anywhere close to 594 feet.

The Athletic’s Levi Weaver did the legwork to verify things (while a segment of mathematicians tried to prove online how hitting a baseball that distance is physically impossible), and within 12 hours, the idea was debunked.

Don’t believe everything you see online.

Champion Tigers retool

After winning the National Championship, the LSU Tigers lost nine players in the MLB Draft. They’ve wasted no time working to fill some of those voids, with a pair of major transfer recruits announcing this week that they’re joining the school for the coming season: Trent Caraway and Zach Yorke.

Caraway, a third baseman, was a vital piece behind Oregon State reaching the College World Series this season, winning Most Outstanding Player in the Regionals. In 286 PA over 64 games, Caraway hit .267/.350/.470 with 15 doubles and a dozen homers.

Yorke, a first baseman and the younger brother of Pirates infielder Zach Yorke, batted .339/.447/.632 with 10 doubles and 13 HR in 215 PA for Grand Canyon.

The Tigers should be an early favorite to contend for a championship again in 2026. LSU is returning some of its top offensive pieces next season, outfielders Derek Curiel (.345/.470/.519 in 323 PA) and Jake Brown (.320/.407/.528 in 212 PA). Adding Caraway and Yorke to the mix will surely keep the lineup a challenge for opposing pitchers.

The move to LSU could also prove beneficial for Caraway and Yorke, who already could figure into the early rounds of the 2026 Draft.

Noted TJ surgeon passes

Dr. Frank Jobe revolutionized the sports world in September 1974, performing the first ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) replacement surgery. The procedure would soon become known as Tommy John surgery, or simply TJ surgery, in honor of the first patient: then-Dodgers left-hander Tommy John.

John feared his career might be over when a torn UCL ended his 1974 season in mid-July, but the procedure — which involved removing a tendon from his right arm and stitching it through four drilled holes in his left arm to replace the torn ligament — allowed him to return to the mound 18 months later.

He would pitch 14 more seasons after the surgery, last appearing in the major leagues at the age of 46.

Various aspects of the procedure have improved over the years, particularly as new techniques have been developed, allowing players to return much quicker. Jobe is no longer the only famous physician known for performing the procedure, having since been joined by James Andrews, David Altchek, Neal ElAttrache, and Keith Meister.

ElAttrache, the Dodgers’ head physician, and Meister, who holds the same role for the Rangers, have become the preferred surgeons for the procedure in recent years.

Altchek died on Thursday, according to a report from the Associated Press. He was 68.

Altchek served as the Mets’ head physician from 1991 to 2001 and the organization’s medical director from 2005 to 2024 before retiring. He once estimated that he had performed more than 2,400 TJ surgeries over the years — a list that includes players such as Zack Wheeler, Pete Harnisch, Mike Hampton, Joe Nathan, Jacob deGrom, Jamie Moyer, and many others — with the first one occurring in 1993.

Elsewhere, around the sport …

• Shohei Ohtani wrote a children’s book starring his dog, Decoy. No, really, what can’t this guy do?

• I finally got around to watching the ESPN documentary “Southpaw - The Life and Legacy of Jim Abbott.” It was really quite good (and only an hour).

• The KBO’s Kiwoom Heroes decided to clean house with the second half of the season set to start. The Heroes are a KBO-worst 27-61-3 on the year and look likely to finish with the worst record in the league for the third straight season. The Heroes fired their general manager, manager, and bench coach on Monday.

• Yankees first-round pick Dax Kilby was apparently the team’s top target with that No. 39 pick. Kilby was also hoping he’d fall to New York, after a pre-draft visit to the team’s Tampa facilities left a big impression on him. Kilby has already agreed to a deal, which should be announced on Friday.