Erik Tolman has a remarkable backstory. Currently playing for the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings, the 26-year-old left-hander threw to one of baseball’s most prolific pitchers as a prep, and that is a comparatively insignificant part of his past. His level of perseverance is nothing short of remarkable. Tolman has overcome debilitating injuries on his journey to the doorstep of the big leagues.
His travails began in 2021, the year the Washington Nationals drafted him in the 14th round out of Arizona State University. He had the first of two Tommy John surgeries, costing him all but three games in his final collegiate campaign — and his bad fortune was only just beginning.
“I tore my UCL again at the end of my rehab,” Tolman explained. “Fourteen months after having surgery, in my last live ABs, I felt my elbow go again. It was a sad moment, honestly. But I talked to my family, and I believed in myself — I thought I could still be a big-leaguer — so I kept at it. Unfortunately, on my fifth start back, in August 2023, I dislocated my knee. That made for a whole new mountain that I’ve had to climb.
“The injuries have driven me to have a work ethic, and a mental fortitude, of just going balls to the wall,” he added. “I figured I could either struggle coming back from the injuries, playing baseball, or struggle out in the real world. At the end of the day, we’re the ones responsible for our lives and careers. If you get hurt, are you going to cave, or are you going to overcome?”
Tolman did far more than simply dislocate a knee after returning from the second TJ. What happened was not only catastrophic: it was hard to fathom.
“We were in Fredericksburg,” the ill-fated hurler recalled. “I started the game, and when I was running out to the mound for the third inning, I jumped over the base line like every baseball player does. My foot got stuck in the turf. My momentum was falling forward, I tried to catch myself, and my whole leg dislocated.
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“It was a torn ACL, a torn PCL, a torn LCL, the hamstring tore off the bone,” continued Tolman. “And then the more serious damage was the nerve damage in my right foot. The perennial nerve ruptured, which resulted in a foot drop. It was paralyzed for over a year. I had surgery to fix it, so now I’m only limited in my mobility. I can only go up and down. I can’t go in or out at all, and I still can’t feel the top of my foot. I had to teach myself to walk again. I basically had to rewire my brain in order to walk, run, or even drive.”
If Tolman were right-handed, one thing he wouldn’t be doing is pitching.
“It would have been career-ending, for sure,” agreed the reliever, who has a 5.60 ERA and a 33.3% strikeout rate over 19 appearances comprising 17-and-two-thirds innings. “On your back leg, you have to be able to rotate internally. Fortunately enough, I was born a lefty. Being my landing leg, I just have to stabilize it. With all the rehab, I’ve come a long way. I’m proud of myself.”
And then there is his Paul Skenes connection. Both attended Lake Forest, California’s El Toro High School.
“He was a couple of years behind me, and one of our backup catchers,” explained Tolman, who now wears a brace when pitching. “I threw to him a couple of times. He wasn’t the Paul Skenes he is today. His body was a little goofy — he hadn’t grown into it yet — but he had physicality, and with hard work and his mental capability he put everything together as a pitcher. He’s a hell of an athlete, and he’s also not soft. If he gets knocked down, he’s going to get right back up.”
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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS
Dwight Evans went 2 for 22 against Jim Abbott.
Ruben Sierra went 1 for 14 against Jim Mecir.
Freddy Sanchez went 12 for 20 against Dontrelle Willis.
Tony Conigliaro went 10 for 24 against Blue Moon Odom.
Curtis Pride went 7 for 11 against Kevin Tapani.
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Brian Daubach was a solid hitter across parts of eight MLB seasons. The bulk of his time came with the Boston Red Sox, for whom he logged a 111 wRC+ from 1999-2002. Consistent in the power department, he hit between 20 and 22 home runs annually over that four-year span.
Daubach had disparate results versus a pair of Hall of Fame hurlers. Against Greg Maddux, he went 7-for-18 with a home run and just two strikeouts. Against Mike Mussina, he went 7-for-44 with two home runs, as well as a whopping 25 strikeouts. I recently asked him about those matchups.
“The funny thing about Mussina is that I hit him pretty well when he was in Baltimore,” recalled Daubach, who is now the hitting coach for Triple-A Rochester. “Then, when he went to the Yankees, he developed more pitches and there really weren’t any kind of patterns. He developed a split and a backdoor cutter-slider that he’d never really had. I don’t know if it was Mariano’s affect on him, or what. But he carved all of us up pretty good. All of the lefties. He was definitely tough on me.”
Asked if he knew how many times Mussina fanned him, Dabauch replied that it was “probably half of his at-bats; there were a lot of hat tricks in there.”
His success against Maddux?
“I was really streaky, and I think I just caught Mr. Maddux when I was in a hot streak,” Daubach reasoned. “I do remember my homer off of him (in Atlanta on June 9 , 2000). It was a cutter in. I didn’t want to get to two strikes for that fastball he would start at you that nobody could swing at. I just chewed on a cutter, and luckily I got it. He’s a Hall of Famer. What can I say?”
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A quiz:
Two pitchers, both right-handers, have recorded 250 or more saves for the Minnesota Twins. Who are they?
Bonus quiz: Who are the two-left-handed pitchers with 100 or more saves for the Twins?
The answers can be found below.
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NEWS NOTES
Buzz Capra, a right-hander who toed the rubber for the New York Mets from 1971-1973, and for the Atlanta Braves from 1974-1977, died earlier this month at age 78. A longtime pitching coach following his playing days, Capra had by far his best season in 1974, going 18-8 with an NL-best 2.28 ERA.
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The answer is Joe Nathan and Rick Aguilera, with 260 and 254 saves respectively. The answer to the bonus quiz is Glen Perkins (120) and Eddie Guardado (116).
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George Klassen has been dealing with adversity on the mound this season. He allowed seven runs in just four-and-two-thirds innings over a pair of April starts with the Los Angeles Angels, and in seven starts with the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees he has allowed 23 runs over 24-and-a-third innings. His ceiling is high — Klassen ranks second on our Angels Top Prospects list — but results-wise, the 2026 campaign has been a downer for the 24-year-old right-hander.
He previously experienced adversity on the health front. The West Bend, Wisconsin native missed his freshman year at the University of Minnesota after having Tommy John surgery. But while that cost him development time, it didn’t prevent him from building high-quality velocity once he got back on the bump. In the low-90s before going under the knife, Klassen reached triple digits for the first time in March 2022, 14 months after having his elbow repaired.
Recovering from the all-too-common procedure is an arduous process, but according to Klassen, it isn’t particularly concerning from a mental standpoint.
“The surgery is just so good now,” the righty told me in the spring. “All you need to worry about is how good you can be in your rehab, how much effort you can put into it. We had a couple of other guys who went through it when I was at Minnesota, and they said not to even think about it, that once I got off that table, all I had to do was grind. So, I put my head down from day one, and stuck to my rehab structure. That helped me develop into a stronger body, and also to clean up my mechanics. The velocity grew from there.”
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FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Seth Beer has eight home runs to go with a .394/.508/.747 slash line over 122 plate appearances for the Mexican League’s Olmecas de Tabasco. The 29-year-old first baseman played for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2021 and 2022. He spent most of last year with the Atlantic League’s Long Island Ducks.
Franmil Reyes has seven home runs to go with a .324/.362/.503 slash line over 185 plate appearances for NPB’s Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. The 30-year-old former MLB outfielder has 64 home runs and a 166 wRC+ since becoming a Fighter in 2024.
Austin Dean is slashing .342/.412/.610 with 11 home runs and a 169 wRC+ in 211 plate appearances for the KBO’s LG Twins. The 32-year-old former MLB outfielder has 97 home runs and a 151 wRC+ since joining the Seoul, South Korea-based club in 2023.
Hyoung-woo Choi is slashing .353/.475/.538 with seven home runs and a 174 wRC+ over 198 plate appearances for the Samsung Lions. The 42-year-old outfielder has 2,641 career hits, including 426 home runs. His 1,771 RBIs are the most in KBO history.
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A random obscure former player snapshot:
Walker Cress had the most remarkable record on a 1948 Cincinnati Reds team that finished the season 64-89. It wasn’t the rookie right-hander’s won-lost record. A native of Ben Hur, Louisiana Cress went a relatively ho-hum 0-1 while logging a 4.50 ERA over 60 innings. What is remarkable is that the Reds lost all 30 games in which he took the mound. Not even his best effort was enough to help garner a Cincinnati win. Making the second of his two career starts in the penultimate game of the season, Cress went the distance, only to surrender a pair of ninth-inning tallies in a 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
He ultimately did appear in a win, but only just barely. Cress pitched in just three more games, all in April of the subsequent season. The Cincinnatians lost the first two. He then toed a big-league rubber for one last time, retiring two of the four batters he faced, and the Reds went on to prevail over the Pirates by a count of 8-4.
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FARM NOTES
Justin Campbell has a 2.10 ERA, a 2.57 FIP, and a 33.3% strikeout rate over 26-and-two-thirds innings between High-A Lake County and Double-A Akron. Drafted 37th-overall in 2022 out of Oklahoma State University, the 25-year-old right-hander in the Cleveland Guardians organization is pitching in his first professional season after missing extended time due to multiple injuries.
Aiven Cabral is 6-0 with a 2.06 ERA and a 21.6% strikeout rate over 35 innings with the Low-A Augusta GreenJackets. The 22-year-old right-hander from Lynn, Massachusetts was drafted in the 18th round last year by the Atlanta Braves out of Northeastern University.
Joshua Kuroda-Grauer is slashing .321/.350/.554 with seven home runs and a 126 wRC+ over 203 plate appearances between Double-A Midland and Triple-A Las Vegas. No. 14 on our Athletics Top Prospects list with a 40 FV, the 23-year-old multi-position infielder was drafted 75th overall in 2024 out of Rutgers.
Tanner Thach is slashing .343/.399/.575 with eight home runs and a 140 wRC+ over 203 plate appearances for the Low-A Fresno Grizzlies. The 22-year-old, left-handed-hitting first baseman in the Colorado Rockies system was drafted in the eighth round last year out of UNC Wilmington.
On Thursday, the Dayton Dragons (High-A, Reds) demolished the Fort Wayne Tin Caps (Padres) by a score of 22-8. Carlos Sanchez, a 21-year-old shortstop who is breaking out after getting an honorable mention on our Cincinnati Reds Top Prospects list, went 4-for-4 with a pair of home runs. Sanchez is slashing .327/.417/.525 with five round-trippers and a 141 wRC+ over 189 plate appearances.
On Friday, the Vancouver Canadians (High-A, Blue Jays) blasted the Spokane Indians (Rockies) by a count of 15-0. Dub Gleed and Maddox Latta launched three-run homers, while Alexis Hernandez hammered a grand slam.
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A brief passage from Lawrence Ritter’s 1966 classic, The Glory of Their Times: The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told By the Men Who Played It:
“Great big, strong, good-looking fellow. He threw a spitball — I think that ball disintegrated on the way to the plate and the catcher put it back together again. I swear, when it went past the plate it was just the spit that went by.”
Those words, spoken to Ritter by Sam Crawford, referred to “Big Ed” Walsh. The Hall of Famers played against each other from 1904-1916: Crawford for the Detroit Tigers, Walsh for the Chicago White Sox. For my money, The Glory of Their Times is the greatest baseball book ever written.
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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE
At the Chicago Sun Times, Gordon Edes wrote about objectionable fan behavior, including disparaging remarks about Pete Crow-Armstrong’s mother every time he came to the on-deck circle at the White Sox’ home park last Sunday.
At Times of San Diego, Barry Bloom talked to Manny Machado about his effort level on ground balls to the infield, and his decline in bat speed.
Sports Illustrated’s Jack Sommers wrote about how rookie outfielder Ryan Waldschmidt —Arizona’s top prospect was featured here at FanGraphs back in February — has been exactly what the Diamondbacks needed.
The Athletic’s Jayson Stark talked to Joey Votto, whose post-retirement life has been both far-ranging and delightfully eclectic.
Who are MLB’s top rookies so far this season? Dayn Perry offered his opinion, ranking them for CBS Sports.
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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS
Otto Lopez has 13 infield hits this season, the most in the majors. The Miami Marlins infielder’s .338 batting average is the highest in either league.
Jameson Taillon has allowed 17 home runs, the most in the majors. He’s thrown 55-and-a-third innings. Max Fried has thrown 61-and-two-thirds innings and allowed one home run.
Sonny Gray is 9-2 with a 1.76 ERA in 13 career starts against the Kansas City Royals. He is 1-7 with a 6.20 ERA in a dozen outings against his current club, the Boston Red Sox.
Mark Buehrle threw 3,283.1 innings in his career. Opponents stole 59 bases against him and were caught 81 times. (Hat tip to Miami Marlins broadcaster Jack McMullen, who noted this on social media a few days ago.)
Chase Utley had 1,885 hits, 259 home runs, a 118 wRC+, and 61.5 WAR.
Jose Altuve has 2,428 hits, 259 home runs, a 128 wRC+, and 60.5 WAR.
When Cincinnati Reds right-hander Fred Toney and Chicago Cubs left-hander Hippo Vaughn matched no-hitters through nine innings in May 1917, the game was decided by a top-of-the-10th-inning infield single by Olympic gold medalist Jim Thorpe. Toney then completed his no-no with a one-two-three bottom frame.
On today’s date in 1984, the Detroit Tigers ran their winning streak to nine games with a 5-1 conquest of the California Angels at Anaheim Stadium. Jack Morris went the distance to raise his record to 9-1, while the Tabbies went to 35-5.
The New York Yankees had their way with the Philadelphia Athletics on today’s date in 1936, winning by a count of 25-2. Tony Lazzeri hit three home runs, including a pair of grand slams, while going 4-for-5 with a career-best 11 RBIs.
Players born on today’s date include Gabe Gonzalez, a left-hander whose MLB ledger comprised three appearances for the Florida Marlins in 1998. The Long Beach State product faced just five batters, plunking one of them and allowing a base hit. He was charged with an earned run in his one inning of work.
Also born on today’s date was Todd Rizzo, a southpaw who took his lumps while pitching in a dozen games for the Chicago White Sox across the 1998-1999 seasons. The Delaware County Community College product allowed 16 hits and 14 runs — he also issued nine free passes — over 11 innings of work. Moreover, Rizzo retired just one of the first 11 batters he faced. Pitching at baseball’s highest level is hard.