Benjamin Hill travels the nation collecting stories about what makes Minor League Baseball unique. This excerpt from the Baseball Traveler newsletter, presented by Circle K, is a mere taste of the smorgasbord of delights he offers every week. Read the full newsletter here, and subscribe to his newsletter here.

The past, present and future are about to collide: "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" wants to rebrand a Minor League Baseball team. This wholly unexpected offer was announced during Sunday night's episode of the long-running HBO program. Following segments on more serious topics -- usually the show's focus, albeit

Andrew Painter's comeback might not be complete in the eyes of some until he becomes a big leaguer. Such is the pressure of being one of the best pitching prospects in the sport. However, recovery from Tommy John surgery is rarely linear, and baseball's top RHP prospect has traversed a

Check out the latest episodes of The Show Before the Show, MiLB.com's official podcast. A segment rundown is listed below, in case you want to skip to a particular section. Like the podcast? Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts. The podcast is also available via Spotify, Megaphone and other

Intrinsically, hitting a grand slam takes some luck. And not just the garden-variety “hit a 90-plus-mph fastball more than 350 feet” type, either. You need three batters in front of you to all get on base without driving one another in, leaving one man to do the damage. You could

On the HBO show “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” the titular host provides his take on issues affecting America and the world at large. May 4’s episode featured a lengthy segment on the most important issue of the day: Minor League Baseball promotions. Over the course of 11 minutes

All season long, baseball fans will be able to watch Minor League Baseball games across all of MLB's digital platforms. MLB.TV and MLB app subscribers can watch their favorite team's Minor League affiliates in the app at no additional cost, while all MiLB games are available on MiLB.TV, on the

CHICAGO -- Cade Horton has been performing lately like a pitcher with little left to prove with Triple-A Iowa. With the Major League staff now facing a sudden need, the Cubs are planning on giving their top pitching prospect his first test on the big league stage. Horton (MLB Pipeline’s

With each passing moment, Nehomar Ochoa Jr. realized it wasn't a small rock approaching his car. The object kept getting bigger, and at the last millisecond, he ducked left as the seven-pound hook crashed through his windshield, lodging into his head. The 19-year-old Astros prospect avoided death -- but only

ANAHEIM -- After trying to develop pitching for years, the Angels are finally starting to see the fruits of their labor in the Minor Leagues this season. Several top prospects are pitching well early, and of their Top 30 Prospects, 17 are pitchers. It bodes well for the future if

In the last 25 years, the Cubs have originally signed and developed just three homegrown pitchers who became All-Stars for them: Mark Prior, Jeff Samardzija and Justin Steele. The most recent of that trio, Steele, was drafted 11 years ago. Chicago famously ended its 108-year World Series title drought in

There have been a ton of big-name prospect callups to the big leagues so far this year. There are nine members of the Top 100 on big league rosters, though those there since the beginning of the season will graduate off shortly and one (Kumar Rocker) is on the injured

On a night in which two Top 100 prospects made noise on the mound, a 24-year-old backstop in the High-A Midwest League might have stolen the spotlight by connecting on not one but a pair of grand slams. There was no shortage of action around the Minors, including a teenager

Brewers right-hander Aaron Civale looked sharp in his first rehab start for Triple-A Nashville on Thursday night, tossing four scoreless innings as he works his way back from a strained left hamstring. Civale allowed just one hit and one walk while stretching out to 50 pitches in his first game

This story, written by Jonathan Mayo, was excerpted from Matthew Leach's Twins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Wednesday's Minor League action had a little bit of everything. Multihomer games, walk-offs, continued dominance on the mound from the Blue Jays' 2024 first-round pick and other rookies who have made a seamless transitions to the pro ranks. To top it all off, a Rangers southpaw in the Double-A Texas

The role of the closer has evolved in the past decade or so. Managers are less likely these days to have a dedicated arm for the ninth inning and more likely to save their best bullpen pitchers for high-leverage situations, regardless of frame. Consider this: since 2022, there have been

The Double-A Frisco RoughRiders don’t throw no-hitters every day. But when they do, it seems to be against the same opponent. It had been almost 14 years since Frisco’s last no-no before Wednesday, when three RoughRiders hurlers combined to turn their 6-1 victory over San Antonio into the franchise’s fourth

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Tim Elko doesn’t look at his 2025 Triple-A Charlotte statistics, although he should, because they are as impressive across the board as any Minor Leaguer currently working. Opposing teams understand the great prowess with which the 6-foot-3, 250-pound first baseman is swinging the bat. It was evident

This story was excerpted from John Denton’s Cardinals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

A handful of baseball's top prospects flexed their muscles on Tuesday, kicking off another week of Minor League action in a loud way. Jac Caglianone, Braden Montgomery and Colby Thomas all left the yard twice, but pitchers did their parts too. Unhittable Chase Petty put together one of the best

Druw Jones doesn’t just share a name with his 10-time Gold Glove Award-winning father, Andruw, he also shares a penchant for making highlight-reel plays. In the top of the third inning of High-A Hillsboro’s series opener against Eugene on Tuesday night, the younger Jones gave fans the ultimate “like father,

Before Braden Montgomery rounded third base for Texas A&M in the first inning on June 8, 2024, his name was ballied about at the top of Draft projections. Immediately after he slid into home, that future was in question as he needed an air cast placed on his broken right