There’s always something fascinating going on in the world of baseball—and there’s always something new. Every Friday morning throughout the season, heading into the weekend, inspired by Zach Lowe’s terrific “10 Things I Like” NBA column for ESPN, we present the Five Fascinations, five fun things going on in the baseball world. Also, we’d like to shout out the always excellent Ben Clemens at FanGraphs, another progenitor of a similar format. Submit your personal fascinations to will.leitch@mlb.com, or just yell at me about mine.The latest Jurickson Profar resurgence
Kids, come sit around the fire, and let Uncle Will tell you about the years when Jurickson Profar was the top prospect in baseball. It’s true: Atop MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 prospects heading into the 2013 season was the then-20-year-old Rangers phenom, ahead of such luminaries as Zack Wheeler (No. 8), Gerrit Cole (No. 9), Christian Yelich (No. 13), Francisco Lindor (No. 14), Max Fried (No. 53) and Nolan Arenado (No. 62). One of the quiet subplots of the Rangers’ 2010-11 World Series seasons was that talent many believed to be the best in the entire organization was just about to arrive.
Profar got a cup of coffee in September 2012 — he was the youngest player in the Majors and the first person born in 1993 to make it — and then was more of a utilityman in 2013 until the Rangers traded Ian Kinsler after that season to make room for him at second base. Unfortunately for Profar, that was just in time for shoulder injuries to cost him both the 2014 and 2015 seasons. While Profar would have some success as a regular with the Rangers, A’s, Padres and Rockies between 2016-23, he was up and down and a below-average hitter overall (93 OPS+). Last August, he was released by the Rockies and signed a Minor League deal with the Padres.
So, of course, at age 31 in 2024, he’s finally having the season everyone predicted he’d have all those years ago. Profar, on a team with Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts and Fernando Tatis Jr., has been the Padres’ best player, hitting .342, getting on base at a .431 clip (more than 100 points higher than his career average) and playing in every single game. He went 4-for-4 in a 6-2 win over the Reds on Wednesday, after which teammate Jake Cronenworth — who actually hit a grand slam in the game — said, “Everything started with him.” There is something sort of poetic about Profar, the guy many thought would be a Hall of Famer, taking over for Juan Soto … and not missing a beat. Tell 2012 you that Jurickson Profar is one of the best players in 2024 and you wouldn’t blink. But in 2024, you blink.
2) Some sign of hope in Anaheim
It was, obviously, a dreadful few days for the Angels. They’ve lost six of their past seven games, they’re in danger of falling into last place again and, worst of all, Mike Trout is hurt again and likely out for weeks, if not months. This is a disaster for the Angels (and Trout), and it is understandable if Angels fans have fallen a bit into despair. But may I give them something to be happy about, however much it might pale in comparison to the Trout news? Here’s something: Jo Adell may have, at last, arrived.
The longtime Angels top prospect — a guy whom Trout explicitly name-dropped when he signed his extension in 2019 — has had a stumbling, frustrating start to his career, with basically none of his supposed strengths (his speed, defense and potential power) working out at all. His speed hasn’t translated — he has stolen 12 bases in his career and been thrown out nine times — his defense is a perpetual adventure and he has hit so poorly the Angels haven’t been able to play him regularly. Just a few months ago, it wasn’t clear he had a spot in Anaheim.
