Sports Digest: Shohei Ohtani’s jersey is the top seller among major league players

BASEBALL

Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers topped Major League Baseball jersey sales for the second straight season while becoming the first player to reach 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in the same year.

Ohtani was followed by Bryce Harper of Philadelphia, Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees and Mookie Betts of the Dodgers.

Francisco Lindor of the New York Mets was fifth, then Ronald Acuña Jr. of Atlanta, Juan Soto of the Yankees, Jose Altuve of Houston, Fernando Tatis Jr. of San Diego and Nolan Arenado of St. Louis

• The San Francisco Giants hired former catcher Buster Posey as president of baseball operations and fired Farhan Zaidi.

Chairman Greg Johnson made the announcement Monday after the Giants finished 80-82 in manager Bob Melvin’s first season — with one more victory than in 2023. San Francisco hasn’t reached the playoffs since winning the NL West in 2021.

The 37-year-old Posey joined the club’s ownership group in September 2022, less than a year after his retirement in November 2021.

COLLEGES

FOOTBALL: Purdue Coach Ryan Walters fired offensive coordinator Graham Harrell just four games into their second season together with the Boilermakers.

The move came after Purdue (1-3, 0-1 Big Ten) lost its third straight game after beating FCS school Indiana State in the opener. The Boilermakers have been outscored 83-17 in the first three quarters of those three losses. They play Saturday at Wisconsin (2-2, 0-1).

BASKETBALL

WNBA: The WNBA will have its first expansion draft in 16 years on Dec. 6 as the Golden State Valkyries start to fill their roster.

Teams will be able to protect a maximum of six players. All other players will be eligible for selection. Players who are unrestricted free agents must be designated on a team’s list as such and be on the protected players list or the unprotected list.

NBA: Detroit Pistons small forward Ausar Thompson is being held out of contact drills at the start of training camp after having a season-ending blood clot during his rookie year.

AUTO RACING

FORMULA 1: The struggling Alpine team confirmed it will no longer use its homemade Renault engines in 2026.

Alpine said in a statement that its F1 engine factory on the outskirts of Paris would become an engineering center called Hypertech Alpine.

TENNIS

CHINA OPEN: Top-ranked Jannik Sinner moved into the semifinals at Beijing with a 6-2, 7-6 (6) victory over Jiri Lehecka.

Also advancing were Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Bu Yunchaokete. Alcarez will meet Medvedev with Sinner taking on Yunchaokete from the host country.

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