The Daily Briefing — Friday, May 1
By Morgan Davis · Fri May 01 2026
Mike Sirota Finds a Consistent Stroke Mike Sirota powered Great Lakes’ doubleheader sweep by homering three times. He reached base six times on the day with four hits and two walks, continuing a strong start that has him hitting .325/.464/.649 for High-A. Sirota’s outburst was part of a 7-game stretch where he’s gone 12-for-27 with five homers. Sirota has been remarkably consistent in his pro career. He's showing a consistent stroke with the ability to find the barrel and lift the ball. He's shown great plate discipline with an 18% walk rate. One complaint might he baserunning. He went 5-for-10 in 2025. The Dodgers make their guys run and figure it out and it appears Sirota is on the right track as he is 4-for-4 in the early going. He was 55-for-65 in college and summer ball as well so those instincts are there. Sirota was anything but consistent in college. He started his junior year in first round conversations, but cross-checkers and executives that went to see him early saw him bad. He ended up sliding to the Reds in the 3rd Round and was later traded to the Dodgers with a Comp-A pick for Gavin Lux . The Dodgers made out on that one as they drafted Charles Davalan with that extra pick and Sirota is back to looking like a 1st-round talent. Quick Hits Tyler Black added to his solid start with a multi-hit effort yesterday. Andrew Vaughn 's injury opened some playing time for Black and he has made the most of it with a quick .389/.421/.500. He was seen as a mature bat with a plus hit tool when he went in the 1st round in 2021. The bat has been good, not great, and Black has slid down the defensive spectrum putting more pressure on the bat. George Lombard Jr. went 1-for-3 in his Triple-A debut with Scranton. He had a .971 OPS in Double-A and he could be pushing himself to a Major League sooner rather than later if he keeps playing plus defense and hitting this way. Jack Wenninger delivered 5.2 scoreless innings for Triple-A Syracuse on Thursday, allowing four hits and one walk while striking out seven in a win over Lehigh Valley. Through his first five starts of the 2026 season for Syracuse, the right-hander has a 1.61 ERA with 26 strikeouts and 12 walks over 22.1 innings. Caden Dana worked five innings and allowed one earned runs on one hit with one walks and five strikeouts. Dana started late but has been good so far and could be back in Los Angeles soon. Boston Bateman is a big man at 6-8, 240. He's struggled so far this year, but turned in a good start Thursday lowering his ERA to 6.35. He threw six strong shutout innings striking out eight batters with no walks and two hits. Bateman was getting whiffs on his fastball and slider.