MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee Brewers prospect Cooper Pratt believes the security that comes from signing a long-term contract while in the minor leagues should take pressure off him as he works his way to the majors.
Pratt and his agent, Scott Boras, spoke to reporters via Zoom on Saturday, one day after the Brewers announced the shortstop had signed an eight-year contract through 2033 with club options for 2034 and 2035. The Brewers didn’t reveal financial terms, but a person familiar with the deal said it’s worth $50.75 million.
“I’m still going to want to go 5 for 5 every day and do all this stuff,” Pratt said. “It’s just that thought in the back of your head disappears. You still want to be the best that you can be, but there is no more pressure. There’s pressure, but it’s different. It’s fun pressure.”
Pratt, 21, said not having to deal with “other stuff, all the transactional stuff and just play” was one of the biggest reasons he agreed to this deal, a move that will delay his opportunity for free agency assuming he does make it to the big leagues. Pratt is opening this season with the Brewers’ Triple-A Nashville affiliate.
“I’ll never have to worry about anything like that, pretty much the rest of my life,” Pratt said. “I can just play, play the game how it’s supposed to be played without thinking about it as much, and also be able to take care of my family for generations.”
Pratt, a 2023 sixth-round draft pick, is rated as the game’s No. 51 prospect by Baseball America and No. 62 by MLB Pipeline. Pratt has a reputation as an outstanding fielder; he won a Gold Glove as the top shortstop in the minor leagues in 2024.
His hitting remains a work in progress. Pratt batted .238 with a .343 on-base percentage, eight homers, 62 RBIs, 31 steals and 67 walks in 120 games with Double-A Biloxi last season.
“We believe in the bat,” Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold said. “We believe in the glove, certainly. This guy is really toolsy, too. He’s very athletic. He’s a big, physical kid, so we think there’s a chance to grow into some power. And he can really run. When you have that kind of athletic foundation, it’s a really good thing.”
Pratt’s decision to sign an extension will delay his opportunity for free agency, assuming he does have an extended major league career. Boras acknowledged that drawback while also noting this contract should help Pratt get the most out of himself.
“I felt after listening to him and his family that this was a deal that would allow him to be his best,” Boras said. “And if we make Cooper his best, contractually the risk on the back side of this will allow us optimization in the next contract.”
The Brewers would love Pratt’s contract to work out as well for them as effectively as the long-term deal they reached with then-19-year-old Jackson Chourio in December 2023.
Chourio agreed to an eight-year, $82 million deal when he had played just six games above the Double-A level. He has responded by collecting more than 20 homers and 20 steals in each of his first two seasons in the majors.
At the time of that deal, Chourio was guaranteed the most money ever for a minor league player with no big-league experience. Seattle Mariners prospect Colt Emerson surpassed Chourio this week when he agreed to terms on an eight-year, $95 million deal.
Boras says it’s no coincidence that Emerson and Pratt are both shortstops. Boras noted that shortstops are most likely to be offered these types of deals because that position is at such a premium in today’s game.
“There just is a time in baseball where shortstops and the ability to play major league defense and provide a 2-WAR (Wins Above Replacement) defensively, that’s kind of the assurance they’re looking for – that I’m going to get a 2-WAR defender at minimum,” Boras said. “And then if I add another 1 or 1 1/2 WAR offensively, I’ve got a 3 1/2-WAR shortstop, which there may only be less than 15 of them in the major leagues. This is why we’re seeing it happen, because a few men have exhibited this at a young age.”
AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum in New York contributed to this report.
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FILE - Milwaukee Brewers infielder Cooper Pratt poses for an official photo, Feb. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File)
The search is on for one missing U.S. service member while another was rescued after two U.S. warplanes went down in separate incidents including the first shoot-down since the Iran war began nearly five weeks ago.
The incidents occurred just two days after President Donald Trump said in a national address that the U.S. has “beaten and completely decimated Iran.”
One fighter jet was shot down in Iran, officials said. A U.S. crew member from that plane was rescued, but a second was missing, and a U.S. military search-and-rescue operation was underway.
Separately, Iranian state media said a U.S. A-10 attack aircraft crashed in the Persian Gulf after being struck by Iranian defense forces. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military situation, said it was not clear if the aircraft crashed or was shot down.
The war now entering its sixth week is destabilizing economies around the world as Iran responds to the U.S. and Israeli attacks by targeting the Gulf region's energy infrastructure and tightening its grip on oil and natural gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
Here is the latest:
The Trump administration has revoked the green cards or U.S. visas of at least four Iranian nationals connected to the current or former Iranian government, including two who’ve been detained by immigration authorities and are to be deported.
The latest actions were taken just this week when U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined they were no longer eligible for either lawful permanent resident status, or to enter the United States. The steps follow a move late last year in which the visas of several diplomats and staffers at Iran’s mission to the United Nations were also revoked.
In a statement Saturday, the State Department said the niece and grand-niece of former Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps chief Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike near the Baghdad airport in 2020, had been arrested late Friday by immigration agents after Rubio revoked their green cards.
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Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said Saturday there was no truth to speculation in local media that the mediation effort had stalled due to Iran’s refusal to send a delegation.
He dismissed reports suggesting an impasse in the regionally backed initiative, saying the peace efforts are right on track.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in a post on X also said Tehran had “never refused to go to Islamabad” but was seeking a “conclusive and lasting” end to the conflict. “We are deeply grateful to Pakistan for its efforts and have never refused to go to Islamabad,” Araghchi wrote.
He said “What we care about are the terms of a conclusive and lasting end to the illegal war that is imposed on us.”
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar welcomed Araghchi’s remarks, saying he appreciated the clarification.
Pakistan, with backing from regional partners, is still working to bring Washington and Tehran to the negotiations table. However, no dates have been set for the proposed talks and it remains unclear whether any such engagement would be direct or indirect.
It comes shortly after an attack that damaged buildings in East Jerusalem. Sirens were activated across northern Israel.
For the seventh time Saturday, missiles launched from Iran triggered sirens in multiple cities and towns in Israel.
Fire and Rescue services said their teams were treating two sites in East Jerusalem where buildings were damaged in the latest round. It wasn’t immediately clear if the impact was from parts of a missile or of an interceptor. No injuries were reported.
The military had said its defense systems were activated to try and intercept the missiles.
Hezbollah on Saturday also kept up its rocket fire on communities in northern Israel. Most were intercepted and there were no reports of injuries.
In a briefing Saturday, Iran’s joint military command spokesperson said it hit other enemy targets Friday, including the two helicopters.
The AP could not independently verify the claims. Some media outlets in the U.S. have reported the helicopters were hit.
Ebrahim Zolfaghari said in a statement carried by state media that it “must be called a black and humiliating Friday for the American and Zionist enemies.”
Iran had claimed the downing of two American warplanes Friday.
On Saturday, the U.S. military was pressing ahead with its search for a missing pilot over a remote area in southwestern Iran.
The airstrike on a civilian vehicle wounded two others, according to health officials at Al-Aqsa hospital, where the casualties arrived.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Gaza Strip has seen near-daily Israeli fire and strikes since a fragile ceasefire was reached in October, and nearly 713 Palestinians have been killed since then, according to figures from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
Since the Iran war began over a month ago, Gaza militants have sat out the conflict and haven’t claimed any attacks against Israel.
Iran shooting down two American military jets marks an exceedingly rare assault for the U.S. that hasn’t happened in more than 20 years and shows the Islamic Republic’s continued ability to hit back despite President Trump asserting it has been “completely decimated.”
The attacks came five weeks after U.S. and Israeli strikes first pounded Iran, with Trump saying earlier this week that Tehran’s “ability to launch missiles and drones is dramatically curtailed.”
Iran shot down a U.S. F15-E Strike Eagle fighter jet Friday, with one service member getting rescued and the search still underway for a second, U.S. officials say. Iranian state media also said a U.S. A-10 attack aircraft crashed after being hit by Iranian defense forces.
The last time a U.S. warplane was shot down by enemy fire in combat was an A-10 Thunderbolt II during the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, said retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Houston Cantwell, a former F-16 fighter pilot.
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In its daily briefing posted on X, the Kuwaiti army said Saturday that it had intercepted eight ballistic missiles and 19 drones over the last 24 hours.
Since the war began, Kuwaiti air forces have engaged with a total of 709 Iranian drones, 327 ballistic missiles and nine cruise missiles, according to the briefing.
The U.S. State Department says the niece and grand niece of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who had lead the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, are now in ICE custody.
Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter were arrested after the State Department terminated their green cards.
The State Department said “as identified by both press reporting and her own social media commentary, Soleimani Afshar is an outspoken supporter of the totalitarian, terrorist regime in Iran.”
Afshar’s husband is also banned from entering the U.S.
The head of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom says 198 workers are being evacuated from Iran’s Russian-built nuclear power plant.
Alexei Likhachev told reporters this is “the main” and “the biggest evacuation wave.” He said it was planned and began Saturday morning, shortly after a strike hit the Bushehr plant, killing a security guard, who was an Iranian citizen.
Buses with the evacuated workers are on their way to the neighboring Armenia, Likhachev said, adding that Israel and the U.S. will be informed about the routes of their journey.
Russian news agency Interfax said Rosatom has already evacuated more than 400 workers from Bushehr.
Likhachev said the strike Saturday was “carried out effectively on the plant’s physical security perimeter” and that “the likelihood of damage, of a possible nuclear incident, is unfortunately only increasing by the day.”
Over the past 24 hours, Israeli strikes killed 54 people and wounded 156, the Lebanese health ministry said Saturday.
The ministry said the overall death toll includes 126 children and 93 women, since Israel launched intense airstrikes across Lebanon after the Hezbollah militant group fired rockets toward northern Israel in solidarity with Iran on March 2. The strikes have also wounded 4,294 others.
Among those killed are 54 health workers, while Israeli strikes have targeted 87 emergency medical service facilities, the health ministry said.
On Saturday, a wave of Israeli strikes hit multiple areas across southern Lebanon, one of them killed two children and wounded 22 others, according to the health ministry.
The Delaram Sina Hospital wasn’t directly hit, but a nearby explosion damaged parts of the building and blew out most of the windows. No casualties were reported at the 100-bed hospital that specializes in treating patients suffering from anxiety and post traumatic stress disorders.
“Electricity to the hospital was cut off,” hospital chief Mohammad Asgari told reporters Saturday. “All the glass, windows and doors were shattered, many walls collapsed, and the hospital was hit by multiple pieces of shrapnel.”
Asgari said that fortunately the ward close to the explosion site housed no patients at the time.
The explosion left the facility with shattered glass, damaged beds and broken equipment covered with dust, AP video showed.
The U.S. president on Saturday re-upped a previous April 6 deadline for Iran to open up the shipping channel or face devastating consequences.
“Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT,” Trump wrote on his social media account Saturday. “Time is running out — 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them. Glory be to GOD!”
The president made his comment as he remained at the White House on Saturday morning. The Trump administration hasn’t made an official comment on the U.S. fighter jet shot down in Iran.
Iran’s parliament speaker has made a veiled threat against another crucial waterway in the Middle East. The Bab el-Mandeb strait is at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula and sees about a quarter of global container shipping traffic to and from the Suez Canal.
Saudi Arabia has been sending millions of barrels of crude oil a day through the Bab el-Mandeb because of Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz. But concerns have emerged around the Bab el-Mandeb with the recent entry into the war of Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. The Houthis previously targeted more than 100 merchant vessels on the Red Sea — between the Bab el-Mandeb and the Suez Canal — because of the war in Gaza. Those attacks stopped after U.S. and Israeli airstrikes.
Now the Houthis, and perhaps Iran itself, could resume attacks. The Houthis have said they won’t allow the U.S. and Israel to use the Red Sea for attacks on Iran.
It said the rescuer was killed in an airstrike Saturday morning in Isfahan Province. It’s the fourth aid worker to die in the war.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the aid worker, Abolfazl Dehnavi, was on duty.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte over the phone Saturday where they discussed regional and global issues as well as alliance matters.
According to state-run Anadolu Agency, Erdogan told Rutte the situation in Iran was “heading toward a geostrategic deadlock” and urged the international community to step up efforts to end the war.
Erdogan added that he hoped the NATO summit in Ankara on July 7-8 will adopt decisions to make the alliance more resilient and effective against future changes.
The sale comes after the Trump administration eased sanctions on Iran’s oil.
“Indian refiners have secured their crude oil requirements, including from Iran; and there is no payment hurdle for Iranian crude imports,” the Indian Foreign Ministry said Saturday.
Last month, the U.S. paused sanctions on Iranian oil stranded on tankers at sea until April 19. The move was part of Washington’s efforts to curb soaring energy prices as a result of the war in the Middle East.
As sirens rang out again in large parts of Israel on Saturday afternoon, the country’s Fire and Rescue services said their teams were treating impact sites from an earlier attack in Ramat Gan, Givata’im, Bnei Brak, and Petah Tikvah. All are cities in central Israel that have already sustained damage in previous Iranian attacks.
Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said a 52 year-old man was taken to hospital with light injuries.
Images released by rescue services show an apartment building with blown out walls and windows. Mangled metal, bricks and debris were strewn across the scene. At another site, a tall plume of black smoke rose from a burning car that was hit by fragments of a missile or an interceptor. Lior Paz, a paramedic, said he arrived at the scene within minutes “and saw destruction, fire, shattered glass on the floor and a lot of smoke.”
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson says his government’s efforts to broker a ceasefire are “right on track.”
Tahir Andrabi made the comments to The Associated Press after reports suggesting a deadlock in the mediation efforts.
His comments came about a week after Pakistan hosted senior diplomats from Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia and reiterated its readiness to facilitate talks between Washington and Tehran.
Earlier Saturday, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said his government has “never refused to go to Islamabad,” but is seeking a “conclusive and lasting” end to the conflict.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar welcomed the statement, writing on X: “Truly appreciate your clarification, my dear brother @Araghchi.”
U.S. President Donald Trump did not equivocate in his first live address to Americans about the war in Iran.
“We’ve beaten and completely decimated Iran,” he said in a prime-time speech from the White House on Wednesday. “They are decimated both militarily and economically and in every other way.”
He added: “Their radar is 100% annihilated. We are unstoppable as a military force.”
His certitude is now colliding with the uncertainty of war.
The American fighter jet that was shot down in Iran on Friday was a searing reminder of the dangers associated with war, prompting a search operation that resulted in the rescue of one crew member. Another U.S. aircraft was hit by Iranian air defenses, Iranian state media reported, days after Trump said Iran had “no anti-aircraft equipment.”
For the Republican president, who didn’t appear in public Friday, the developments were the latest example of his triumphal characterization of the war appearing misplaced.
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The remains of three Indonesian United Nations peacekeepers, who were killed while on escort duty supporting U.N. operations in southern Lebanon, arrived in Jakarta on Saturday evening, where President Prabowo Subianto led a solemn welcome ceremony.
The caskets were received at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport’s VIP terminal, draped in Indonesia’s red-and-white national flag, as military honor guards stood at attention.
Devastated families leaned against the caskets. Wives rested their foreheads on the flags covering the caskets, their sobs breaking the silence of the military honors.
Prabowo, accompanied by senior government officials and top military commanders, bowed his head and observed a moment of silence. He offered condolences to the families before the caskets were returned to their hometowns for official military funerals.
Jakarta has condemned the Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon that killed the peacekeepers as the border area became another flashpoint in Israel’s war.
Iran’s government is detaining family members and threatening to seize property of Iranian opposition figures in exile, some tell The Associated Press, in the latest crackdown on dissenting voices as the war rages on.
Activists overseas play a key role in tracking the crackdown, which is complicated by the internet shutdown imposed earlier this year during massive nationwide protests against the Islamic theocracy. Watchdogs say security forces shot and killed thousands of people.
The war with the United States and Israel has intensified authorities’ threats against anyone speaking to outside media or activists. Now that pressure appears to be expanding to intimidate activists in exile.
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Mediators from Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt are still working to bring the United States and Iran back to the negotiating table, according to two regional officials.
The regional powers are working on a compromise to bridge the gap between the American and Iranian demands to stop the war and reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz, they said.
They said the yet-to-be finalized compromise aims at paving the way for both sides to meet in Pakistan.
It includes a cessation of hostilities for a certain period of time to allow a diplomatic settlement, according to a regional official involved in the efforts and a Gulf diplomat briefed on the matter. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door diplomacy.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Saturday reiterated his government’s willingness to restart talks in Pakistan, but said they seek a “conclusive and lasting” end of the conflict.
Araghchi said he spoke by phone Friday with Turkey’s foreign minister to discuss the latest developments.
— Samy Magdy
Palestinian Muslims attend Friday prayers outside Jerusalem's Old City due to restrictions linked to the Iran war, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Tamara and her sister Amal color pictures on the floor as their parents, Sara and Ahmed, who fled their village of Khiyam in southern Lebanon due to Israeli bombardment, sit inside a tent used as a shelter in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Mohammad Qubaisi, 53, with burn wounds from an Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon undergoes surgery by Dr. Mohammed Ziara, left, and his team, at the Sidon Government Hospital in Sidon, Lebanon, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
A bridge struck by U.S. airstrikes on Thursday is seen in the town of Karaj, west of Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
FILE - An F-15E Strike Eagle turns toward the Panamint range over Death Valley National Park, Calif., on Feb. 27, 2017. (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)
