SAN DIEGO — He had tried everything, even switching his slider grip without telling anyone. Houston Astros coaches caught it on Edgertronic cameras, corrected the error and convinced Bryan Abreu to stop seeking radical solutions to his struggles. “We don’t need to reinvent the wheel,” assistant pitching coach Ethan Katz told him.
So Abreu settled for a more subtle adjustment.
Amid the worst stretch of his eight major-league seasons, Abreu pulled up his pants and began to wear high socks. He did it at some point earlier in his Astros career, before he blossomed into one of baseball’s most dominant relievers. Bringing it back became a last-ditch effort to remain one.
“Feeling something new with the uniform,” Abreu said, “that definitely helps a lot to make me feel like I’m reset.”
Crediting high socks for a comeback is crazy, but this is baseball, a sport synonymous with superstitions that have little rhyme or reason. At his lowest point, Abreu said he “just had to switch” and try something — anything — to start anew. He exited April with a 12.54 ERA and no defined role in Houston’s bullpen or on its active roster.
“We can’t fix the past, but we can change the future,” Abreu said last week. “Everything that I’ve been doing was in the wrong direction, so we have to make something different so the future can come in the best way.”
Abreu carried that attitude across the most calamitous time of his career. Overcoming it has helped pilot Houston atop the American League West while resurrecting Abreu from the abyss.
Abreu has a 1.93 ERA since May 3, a stretch of 34 appearances that has saved his season and, perhaps, his standing as one of the best available relievers in next winter’s free-agent market.
“He’s a hard worker, not satisfied with mediocrity and wanting to be the best he can be,” closer Josh Hader said. “That’s a guy you want by your side no matter what. If you have a guy like that, it feeds the fire with everybody around.”
Abreu’s comeback coincided with Hader’s return from the injured list on June 2. Since that day, only the resurgent Boston Red Sox have a lower bullpen ERA than the Astros. Abreu and Hader have morphed back into the menacing, late-game duo Houston envisioned in spring training. The setup man and closer have combined to allow just nine earned runs across their past 48 2/3 innings.
Abreu allowed 13 earned runs in his first 11 appearances alone. The collapse ceded leverage innings to less experienced relievers and left Abreu to confront the first significant failure of his major-league career. “That can destroy you,” southpaw Steven Okert said. “You never know if they’re ever going to get back to normal or their previous self.”
“Some people who haven’t seen the struggles, it makes it harder. You don’t know how to deal with it.”
How Abreu handled it impressed those around this affable, 29-year-old right-hander, who has more riding on this season than most. This winter, Abreu is scheduled to reach free agency, where generational wealth may await. From 2022 to 2025, only four relievers were worth more wins above replacement than Abreu, according to FanGraphs: Griffin Jax, Emmanuel Clase, Edwin Diaz and Devin Williams.
Diaz and Williams have each signed free-agent contracts worth at least $48 million. Abreu does not have the closing experience of either man but matches both in performance and dominance. Paying Abreu something similar didn’t seem ludicrous, but his performance in March and April put that thought in serious peril.
“I never saw him once go, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to be a free agent,’” Katz said. “All the stuff that can really derail guys, I never thought he was thinking about those things, even though he probably was. He never let that show.
“We had some conversations to really let him know, ‘We’re going to get you back there, and we need you. If this team is going to go and this bullpen is going to go, we need to get the Bryan Abreu that’s always been there.’”
Doing so started with showing Abreu that version of him still existed. It is why coaches intervened when Abreu attempted to alter the grip on his signature slider. Reversing this spiral didn’t require a total overhaul, just tweaks to troubling trends that had begun to present themselves.
Abreu walked 16 batters in his first 11 1/3 innings. Flying open in his delivery left him misfiring with fastballs to his arm-side: up and in against right-handed hitters and away against lefties. Pitchers often get defects in their deliveries, but the way Abreu trains isn’t conducive to fixing it. He likes to throw — a lot — and most of it is on flat ground.
Katz and pitching coach Josh Miller believed it would be more beneficial for Abreu to abandon that routine and do all of his pregame work on the bullpen mound. Simulating a more game-like scenario would help Abreu feel the flaws — and fixes — in his delivery. Coaches put a stand-in dummy in the left-handed batter’s box, too, allowing Abreu to work on his pitch sequencing while implementing the adjustments in his delivery.
“That’s been the biggest part of getting him back on track,” Katz said.
The introduction of the ABS system shifted how hitters were approaching Abreu, a reliever who has always relied on chase more than command. Players around the sport are swinging less with the challenge system in place, putting Abreu in a bind.
Abreu threw just 51.7 percent of his pitches for strikes in April while generating a 20.4 percent chase rate. Abreu’s career chase rate is 27.8 percent. To throw more strikes, Abreu sacrificed some of his fastball velocity. His four-seam fastball averaged 95.1 mph in April and 94.4 mph in May. It sat 97.3 mph last season.
At the suggestion of Houston’s pitching coaches, Abreu introduced a cutter to come back inside the strike zone. It is a variation of his four-seam fastball and something that, according to Abreu, he has “the freedom to grab it and throw it through the strike zone.” Abreu’s teammate and close friend, Cristian Javier, is also experimenting with one.
“It’s a pitch that guys really trust in the zone really well, and it’s been a great add,” Katz said. “It’s kind of opened up everything.”
Abreu threw his first cutter in a June 2 outing against the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 23 appearances since, Abreu is throwing 63.6 percent of his pitches for strikes. He’s walked just eight batters across those 23 2/3 innings, during which Abreu’s four-seam fastball velocity has inched upward. He averaged 96.1 mph in both July and August.
After touching 99.1 mph in an outing this weekend against the San Diego Padres, Abreu gave a wide smile before saying, “It’s about time.”
“It’s the feeling that I’ve been looking for the whole season,” Abreu said. “To be able to have it, help the team, move forward and be able to go out there and compete, that’s an amazing feeling.”
Abreu is one of the most pleasant people in Houston’s clubhouse. That he maintained his disposition amid a disaster is of little surprise, but still impressive to a slew of veterans who wondered whether they would have been able to do so. Okert called it “incredible to watch him never get too down on himself.”
“The person never changed,” Katz said. “He’s always been a really good teammate. Guys look up to him, the way he goes about his business and I think everybody was pulling for him to get through this. Everybody has had his back and, with that, he felt the love, care and all that kind of stuff to be able to accelerate this process.”
Teenage sprinter Tate Taylor has completed a historic medal sweep at the World Under-20 Championships hosted at Hayward Field, Oregon.
The 18-year-old American won 100m gold in a 9.94s personal best on Thursday, victorious by a tenth of a second over Gary Card (silver, 10.05s). He’s the first U.S. man to win that title since Noah Lyles, who did so in 2016.
“Once I got out at the top end, I knew it was going to be a good race,” he told World Athletics media. “There were some tweaks I was looking to fix after the semi-finals, and I think I executed those pretty well.”
Taylor followed that up with a storming 19.83s run for the 200m crown two days later, surpassing Lyles and all American men before him in an unprecedented double youth sprint gold. In still conditions, he won by nearly half a second ahead of compatriot Blake Hamilton (silver, 20.31s), bettering the championship record that Letsile Tebogo and Blessing Afrifah had jointly held from 2022 (19.96s).
Then he closed out the championships by anchoring the U.S. men to 4x100m gold, running an 8.75s anchor split — the quickest in the field — to complete an under-20 world-record run by the quartet, who clocked 38.16s. In second were Great Britain, who set an age-group European record with 38.90s.
Taylor is the first athlete in 40 years of the Under-20 World Championships to win the sprint treble. “It means a lot winning this gold medal,” he said. “We have been talking about this relay the whole week. We knew something special was about to happen. McDonalds’s, I am coming for you.”
Team USA enjoyed a record-breaking championships on home soil, winning 24 medals in total and 12 golds — bettering the Soviet Union’s 22 medals from 1988. Texas-born Mia Maxwell also claimed two individual sprint crowns (100m and 200m).
“This double gold that Tate Taylor and Mia Maxwell just pulled off is probably one of the hardest to do,” wrote Lyles, the 100m Olympic and 200m world champion, on X. “Mostly because of how hard the schedule is. Six races in four days is so hard on the body. Then to do it as U20 athletes is even crazier.”
Last week saw the end of a 23-race season for Taylor. He heads to Texas Tech to compete in the NCAAs from this September. Taylor also won 100m and 200m national age-group titles this year, and his standout win came at the Prefontaine Classic in early July, when he took down a senior 200m field in 19.75s, beating Tebogo in the process. Big personal bests this season means he is up to joint-fifth and third on the men’s under-20 lists for 100m and 200m respectively.
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — New York Giants coach John Harbaugh emphasized the importance of the second week of training camp when the Giants returned to action last Monday after their lone day off during a nearly two-week stay in West Virginia.
“The second week is the big week of camp. This is your opportunity to really grow as a football team,” Harbaugh said. “You build your foundation in training camp for your team. The second week should be where you cover the most miles, gain the most ground. We want to put the most miles behind us as far as developing the foundation of our team this week.”
So, after the Giants wrapped up their sixth straight day of practice on Saturday before heading home to New Jersey, how did Harbaugh think the important second week went?
“I think we got a lot better,” Harbaugh said. “We improved tremendously. … I think we can look back and say that we’ve come a long way.”
Giants conclude training camp in West Virginia
Dan Duggan
The Giants certainly didn’t take any shortcuts on the path to improvement. They practiced on 10 of the 11 days in West Virginia and wore full pads five times, which was the maximum allowable by the current collective bargaining agreement. The Giants finished with four straight practices that ran longer than two hours, including a marathon two-hour, 25-minute session on Friday. Before getting on a plane to return to New Jersey, Saturday’s practice featured young backups competing in a live-tackling, goal-line period. The offense scored three touchdowns on the five plays from the 2-yard line, setting off a celebration from the entire offense.
There hadn’t been a lot for the offense to celebrate early in camp, as quarterback Jaxson Dart often looked uncomfortable while running a system that is drastically different from his rookie year. Dart left West Virginia on a high note, however, with his best performance of camp coming in Friday’s grueling practice. Dart completed 16-of-19 passes during 11-on-11 periods, capping a 14-play drive with a 3-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Darius Slayton to finish the day.
Dart continues to make the transition from the RPO-heavy offense he ran at Ole Miss and last season to the under-center scheme of new offensive coordinator Matt Nagy. The growing pains are evident, but the hope is that Dart gets comfortable in an offense that will be centered on a power rushing attack from heavy personnel with a play-action passing game.
“I’m happy with where we’re at,” Harbaugh said. “It’s just a matter of keeping your head down and staying after it every day. Never taking a breath in terms of your mindset and determination to get better.”
The next step will be leaving the distraction-free surroundings of the Allegheny Mountains to return home to team headquarters, which remain under construction as part of a major renovation. Harbaugh gave the experience at the luxurious Greenbrier resort an “A-plus.” The resort was appealing because it had a turnkey NFL-caliber practice facility the team could inhabit. There was a strong showing of roughly 2,000 fans at most of the six practices open to the public.
With the Giants’ facility upgrades not expected to be completed until the start of the 2028 season, all options — including a return to West Virginia — are on the table for training camp next year.
The depth chart is coming into focus after 10 practices, although there are sure to be more changes after Saturday’s preseason opener against the Vikings. Here are the most notable depth chart developments from the first two weeks of camp:
• Cam Skattebo has been the first running back up in team periods on most days, with Tyrone Tracy Jr. taking the majority of snaps in two-minute drives. That figures to be a time share, with Skattebo the 1-A and Tracy the 1-B. Devin Singletary has been the only other back to get significant reps with the first-team offense. Running back remains a position where the Giants figure to seek a reinforcement before the season, particularly if they can find a dynamic runner.
• The top wide receivers on the depth chart are Slayton, Malik Nabers, Malachi Fields, Darnell Mooney, Calvin Austin, Odell Beckham Jr., Braxton Berrios and JuJu Smith-Schuster. Nabers is obviously the No. 1 receiver, and Fields has started to make strides toward claiming the No. 2 role. Beyond that, it’s wide open. None of the other receivers have stood out. The preseason games should go a long way in settling the battle for the final receiver spots, with Dalen Cambre looming as a dark horse based on his special teams acumen.
• Isaiah Likely and Theo Johnson are the top two tight ends, with Chris Manhertz re-signed because the Giants value his blocking ability. Pat Ricard will factor in at tight end because he lines up in-line and in the backfield at fullback. That likely doesn’t leave room for another tight end. However, 2025 seventh-round pick Thomas Fidone II has flashed impressive hands since getting involved in team periods after being limited early in camp as he recovered from the foot injury that prematurely ended his rookie season.
It will be interesting to see how much Johnson’s playing time gets squeezed since Likely is the top receiving tight end, and Ricard and Manhertz have defined roles as blockers. Johnson is the most well-rounded tight end on the roster, but his maddening drops have continued in camp. Johnson should see plenty of snaps alongside Likely in two-tight end sets, but he needs to become more consistent.
• There has been no competition for any starting jobs on the offensive line. Left guard Jon Runyan, right guard Francis Mauigoa and right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor have taken every first-team rep. The same applied to center John Michael Schmitz before he left Friday’s practice to get evaluated for a concussion. Left tackle Andrew Thomas may have more job security than any player on the roster, so when he has rotated with Marcus Mbow that has only been part of a maintenance plan for the veteran.
The second-team offensive line has been similarly consistent with Mbow at left tackle, Josh Ezeudu at right tackle, Daniel Faalele and Aaron Stinnie at the guard spots, and Lucas Patrick at center. Patrick has been battling through a knee injury that has limited his participation. Bryan Hudson has a prime opportunity to make a push, as he took first-team center reps on Saturday with Schmitz and Patrick not participating in team periods. The 31-year-old Patrick’s experience is appealing as a backup, but he has a lengthy injury history that could work against him in a competition with the 25-year-old Hudson.
Rookie sixth-round pick JC Davis has been the third-team left tackle, but his draft status could enable him to leapfrog Ezeudu for a roster spot. Evan Neal has been the third-team right guard throughout camp with no indications that he’s in the mix for a roster spot.
• Second-year pro Darius Alexander has had a strong start to camp to solidify his spot alongside veteran defensive linemen DJ Reader and Shelby Harris. Leki Fotu and Josh Tupou have gotten the most first-team reps among the crowd of defensive tackles competing for backup jobs. Rookie sixth-round pick Bobby Jamison-Travis has mostly played with the third-team. He’s a player the Giants likely could slide to the practice squad if necessary. Defensive tackle stands out as a position that the Giants, who are fifth in the waiver order, will look to upgrade before the season.
• There isn’t much intrigue at either linebacker position. Brian Burns, Abdul Carter, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Chauncey Golston are locked in as the four outside linebackers. Thibodeaux has been working inside much more this summer, as he’ll likely be an interior rusher on passing downs.
Tremaine Edmunds and rookie Arvell Reese, who looks ready to make an immediate impact, never come off the field at inside linebacker, while Micah McFadden has had a strong camp as the top backup. Rookie sixth-round pick Jack Kelly has solidified his spot as McFadden’s running mate on the second-team. The fate of Zaire Barnes and Darius Muasau will be determined by special teams (more on that below).
• Cornerback continues to be unsettled, with four players getting first-team reps. This is my unofficial tally on who has taken the most first-team reps, in order: Greg Newsome II, Deonte Banks, Paulson Adebo and Colton Hood. Newsome has been steady on the outside and has gotten some work in the slot with Dru Phillips sidelined by a sprained knee. Newsome had a scare during the final practice in West Virginia on Saturday when he went down with an apparent non-contact knee injury. He checked out OK, although he understandably didn’t finish practice.
Banks continues to play better than he has in his first three seasons, although there have been more completions in his direction as camp has progressed. Even though it’s a new coaching staff, there has to be some internal trepidation about relying on Banks after his past performance. That he has moved ahead of Adebo is telling about how disappointing the big-money corner has been. Adebo has given up far too many completions in camp for supposed No. 1 corner, and his standing on the depth chart reflects the coaching staff’s dissatisfaction with his play.
Hood doesn’t look ready to be a Day 1 starter, which is fine with the Giants facing the Cowboys and Rams’ high-octane passing attacks to start the season. Phillips has remained the starting slot corner, but he has split reps with Ar’Darius Washington depending on the situation.
• Jevon Holland Tyler Nubin appeared to be locked in as the starting safeties, but Jason Pinnock suddenly has been rotating with Nubin on the first team. Pinnock has made 46 career starts, including 37 for the Giants from 2022 to 2024, so it’s conceivable that he could push Nubin for the starting job. Washington will have a role as a Swiss Army knife in the secondary, while Elijah Campbell will need to excel on special teams to force the Giants to carry a fifth safety.
• The special teams depth charts always give a clue on which bubble players are best positioned to make the roster. McFadden, Kelly, Barnes and cornerback Art Green are starters on all of the core for special teams units (kickoff, kickoff return, punt, punt return). Banks and Muasau are starters on three units, while Campbell and cornerback Nic Jones are starters on two units.
The special teams depth chart is fluid, and coordinators know they’ll have to adjust based on offensive and defensive needs. But it’s noteworthy that players like Barnes and Green have such prominent roles in the kicking game, which is deeply valued by Harbaugh.
• The biggest head-to-head position battle of camp is between kickers Dominic Zvada and Ben Sauls. Sauls has bounced back after a dreadful spring, but he is still lagging in the competition. Sauls is 35-for-44 (79.5 percent) on field goals in camp. Meanwhile, Zvada has made 41-of-45 (91.1 percent) of his field goal attempts. Zvada’s leg strength is obvious, and he’s the heavy favorite in the competition as the focus shifts to preseason games.
Undrafted rookie long snapper Ben Mann has been consistently accurate with his snaps. Mann can secure the job if he covers punts well in preseason games.
Injury tracker
The Giants left West Virginia encouragingly healthy. Schmitz and Phillips were the only starters to get injured during the first 10 practices of camp. Harbaugh didn’t confirm if Schmitz, who missed a game last season with a concussion, is in the concussion protocol but said, “It wasn’t anything terrible.” So it sounds like Schmitz won’t be sidelined for long.
Phillips went down with what Harbaugh called a “mild knee sprain” in last Wednesday’s practice. Phillips was moving well while working with a trainer during Saturday’s practice, so it doesn’t seem like he’s due for an extended absence.
The most important — and encouraging — development on the injury front has been Nabers’ comeback from a torn ACL and meniscus. Nabers participated in individual drills and install periods in nine of the 10 practices in West Virginia. He ramped up his workload by the end of the trip, showing an explosiveness that suggests he is ready for the next step in his return.
Harbaugh said late last week that Nabers will be “working his way back into practice more and more.” That could mean participation in team periods this week as the team continues to target having Nabers in the lineup for the Sept. 13 opener against the Cowboys.
Sources said Gozo would join Palace for around $15 million (£11 million). Rob Gray / Getty Images
Crystal Palace are finalizing the signing of American winger Zavier Gozo from Real Salt Lake.
Sources briefed on the situation, granted anonymity to protect relationships, said Gozo was in London on Monday to undergo a medical with Palace and complete the paperwork for his move.
Palace and Real Salt Lake have reached an agreement worth around $15 million (£11 million) for Gozo, allowing the 19-year-old to travel to the UK. It’s a new club-record for RSL, sources say.
Gozo will join up with his new teammates for preseason this week.
Gozo scored six goals and made five assists for RSL in 16 games this season playing as a wing-back, after initially breaking through as a winger. He has added quality in the final third to his game that already featured elite athleticism and dribbling ability. He made 50 first team appearances for RSL in total.
RSL has developed a number of first team regulars and is no stranger to big outbound deals to Europe, with Andres Gomez joining French side Rennes for $11 million in 2024. But Gozo becomes the club’s new gold standard for academy to first team pathway, complete with a marquee transfer to Europe.
Gozo is a strong candidate to make his senior U.S. national team debut this fall, as he narrowly missed out on a late push to make the 2026 World Cup squad. He has been a regular in youth national teams.
Real Salt Lake hoped to keep the player for the season but, as Gozo made it clear he wanted to take the next step this summer and bids intensified, the club agreed to a deal with Palace.
Crystal Palace named Pierre Sage as their new head coach this summer after Oliver Glasner’s successful stint with the club came to an end, following a UEFA Conference League final triumph over Rayo Vallecano that qualified the club for a place in this season’s Europa League. Glasner has since moved to Nottingham Forest. Palace previously ended their 70-year trophy drought with an FA Cup win in 2025.
Fellow American Chris Richards remains a key player for Palace, who begins the Premier League season on August 22 against Everton.
