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The regular season is right around the corner for the Pittsburgh Pirates. With just a couple of games left in Spring Training, Pittsburgh has been playing well with a 12-6 record, but are those results going to be the real Pirates in the regular season ? 

Their offense has been really solid so far, with first-year Pirates Ryan O’Hearn leading the team with 8 RBIs. Young shortstop Konnor Griffin and Yordany Los Santos are tied for the team lead in home runs with 3. Center fielder Jhostynxon Garcia leads the team with 12 hits. The Pirates as a team rank 11th in overall offense so far in Spring Training.

The pitching has shown some promise too with Mitch Keller and Carmen Mlodzinski both throwing well in their three games pitched. Keller has 9 strikeouts with just 1 ER and has a 1.23 ERA. While Mlodzinski also has nine strikeouts, he has also allowed two ERs and has a 2.45 ERA. The right-handed pitcher also leads the team with two wins. Their pitching is ranked 14th in overall rankings, with an average ERA of 4.18.   

I have really liked what I have seen from the Bucs during Spring Training so far. I understand that this is just Spring, and they are not facing off against elite pitching yet or the best hitters in the league, but what is really exciting is the young players who are playing while for them. 

I have been pretty optimistic about Pittsburgh after they made their offseason moves. For a while, I have felt like this team has the potential to break the playoff drought. The Pirates have the pitching to do so lead by former Cy Young winner Paul Skenes.

They also have an improved offense from last season and we are already seeing the young bats show up like Griffin, Los Santos and Garcia. 

I don’t think the success we are seeing for the Buccos right now is a fluke. I believe with the young arms in the rotation and the underrated bats that the Pirates have that Pittsburgh will continue this success into the regular season. 

Let us know in the comment section if you believe the Spring Training results are the real Bucs. 

The Rays gave up quite a bit to acquire Ben Williamson this offseason. They parted ways with a 4th OF profile in Colton Ledbetter and a Comp B pick. Coming into Spring Training, the expectation for Williamson seemed fairly straightforward: compete for a utility infielder role. That likely meant coming off the bench to spell whoever is starting at shortstop, taking the short side of a second base platoon with Gavin Lux, and occasionally giving Junior Caminero a rest day at third base.

That may still be the most likely role for Williamson, but he has answered a few key questions about his defense so far this spring that suggest there may be a bit more upside in the profile than initially expected, although we probably shouldn’t read too much into it…..yet. Despite the strong production in a small spring sample, Williamson’s underlying offensive profile still looks largely similar to what he showed last season.

Defense at SS

Williamson needed to show that he could handle shortstop at the major league level. He hadn’t played there regularly since college, but that lack of recent experience isn’t immediately obvious when watching him.

His arm strength translates well to the position, and both his range and lateral quickness look strong enough. At this point, he appears capable of providing above-average defense there, with the main area still developing being his work around the second base bag on double plays. That’s a detail that typically improves with repetition.

Williamson still projects as the third-best defensive shortstop on the Rays’ 40-man roster behind Taylor Walls and Carson Williams, but it’s clear he’s capable of filling in there when needed.

Defense at 2B

Second base is likely where Williamson would see the most playing time if he makes the Opening Day roster, and he has looked comfortable at the position so far.

The plays where he ranges to his right – toward the second base bag – are understandably less polished. But the underlying tools are evident. His range and arm strength both grade as clear positives, and with more reps his footwork around the bag should continue to improve.

Given those traits, there’s little reason to think his defense at second base won’t settle in as above average.

Impact potential

One of the more interesting developments this spring has been a small but notable increase in Williamson’s raw power indicators. His 90th percentile exit velocity currently sits at 104.9 mph, up from 103.7 mph across Triple-A and the majors last season.

That jump isn’t massive, but it does hint that Williamson may be tapping into average raw power rather than the below-average raw power he showed previously. It’s an encouraging sign, even if the spring sample is still far too small to draw firm conclusions.

Where things become more complicated is translating that raw power into game impact.

Last season, Williamson had some difficulty lifting and pulling the ball in ways that typically produce damage. He ran a 42.7% line drive plus fly ball rate and pulled the ball less than 30% of the time, both slightly below his minor league norms. His average hard-hit launch angles of 7° in Triple-A and just 2° in the majors suggest he had difficulty converting his raw power into optimal contact.

So far this spring, there are some positive signs. Williamson’s LD+FB rate has climbed to 50%, and he’s pulling the ball closer to 40% of the time. Those are the types of directional changes that could eventually help him unlock more offensive impact if they prove sustainable over a larger sample.

However, one number still stands out: his average hard-hit launch angle is just 3°. That suggests he may still be working toward consistently elevating the baseball when he squares it up. In other words, while the raw power indicators look slightly improved, it’s still uncertain how much of that power will show up in games over a full season.

Ignore the OPS and wRC+ for now; the spring performance is best viewed as progress rather than a definitive change in Williamson’s offensive profile.

Hit tool

What has consistently carried Williamson’s offensive profile is his bat-to-ball ability. He has posted plus contact rates at every level of professional baseball, and that trend has continued this spring.

His swing decisions have been a bit more uneven. Throughout most of his minor league career he showed roughly average swing decisions, but during his time in the majors last season he chased more often than expected and was somewhat passive in the strike zone. That combination of chasing too much while swinging too little at strikes can make it difficult to generate competitive at-bats.

So far this spring, he appears more comfortable controlling the strike zone. He’s chasing less frequently and showing a slightly better balance between patience and aggression, but he’s still relatively passive in-zone – which may continue to limit how much of that power shows up in games.

Overall outlook

When you put the pieces together, Williamson’s profile starts to make sense.

He brings defensive versatility, plus contact ability, and potentially average raw power. That combination can be quite valuable on a good roster, even if the offensive ceiling remains somewhat limited with his batted ball profile.

Even with the encouraging spring performance, Williamson’s overall profile still points toward a valuable utility role. If the changes to his batted-ball profile hold over a larger sample, there may be room for a bit more offensive impact than originally expected.

For now, though, the safest takeaway from Williamson’s spring is that he looks increasingly capable of filling an important supporting role on a contending team.

The St. Louis Cardinals will play host to the New York Mets at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida for the Spring Training game on Thursday, March 12. According to MLB.com, Michael McGreevy will get the start for the Cardinals while Sean Manaea will take the mound for the Mets. The game is scheduled to be watchable on Cardinals.tv.

Making his debut in our prospect rankings at #11, Dickerson and Tuesday’s entry Yorger Bautista were actually tied in our initial run through of our scoring system, though we opted to give the edge to Dickerson upon tie breaker. Last year’s fifth rounder, the former Indiana Hoosier is yet another high-upside play for the Seattle system that could easily turn into one of the bigger draft steals of last year’s class. With a tantalizing toolkit to tap into, look for Dickerson to be one of the more prominent features in Everett’s lineup to start the season.

Signing at slot value last July, Dickerson had one of the loudest starts to the year of any singular player in college baseball, crushing opposing pitchers to all fields and posting ridiculous exit velocities. He cooled off a hair in Big Ten play, but still managed an OPS north of 1.000 on the season and kept the K% south of 20%, a promising sign for a player that’s biggest slight is definitely the pure bat-to-ball ability. His excellent power numbers coupled with premium defense in center field had many evaluators excited by his upside on draft day, and despite essentially every public outlet having him as a top 100 prospect in the 2025 draft class, he slipped to 152 and the Mariners capitalized.

He doesn’t come without concern, however. The aforementioned hit tool warts, while not terrible, are certainly present. Dickerson approaches the plate looking to attack the fastball and routinely does so when he gets one to hit, but he’s been inconsistent with adjusting to spin in the past and he can get in between pitches when his approach starts to slip. Additionally, he’s prone to expanding the zone and had firmly below average chase rates amongst the collegiate ranks last season. He’s able to get to those out of zone pitches at a respectable level, but tightening his zone recognition should help his in zone contact rates, walk rates, and power numbers across the board.

Dickerson’s hit tool issues, though present, are not at a level where alarms should be sounding. An excellent athlete that’s shown he can consistently find the barrel is a lot less scary than someone purely swinging for the fences and hoping for the best, and there are signs in his profile that indicate the adjustability at the plate is trending in the right direction. His plus defense in center already gives him a relatively high floor as a prospect, and given his promising results despite limited playing time (he’s got just one season of college baseball under his belt), it’s not much of a leap to think Dickerson just needs more reps against high-quality pitching to get things figured out. Though the hit rate on major league talent in the fifth round is low, Dickerson’s got as good of a shot as any to break the mold and emerge as a prospect with legitimate big league aspirations. One of five 2025 draftees in our top eleven, hopefully the newcomers are able to live up to our lofty expectations and kick off the next wave of elite Mariner talent.

Jacob Webb is another well-traveled veteran reliever, having had stops with the Braves, Angels, Orioles, Rangers, and now the Cubs. He’s 32 years old, was drafted by Atlanta in the 18th round in 2014, and has been pretty dependable, throwing to ERAs in the threes for the most part.

He walks a few more people than one would prefer, but his stat sheet at BBRef looks like a right-handed Caleb Thielbar, which is to say, not bad at all. He’s amassed a lifetime 3.1 bWAR (1.4 fWAR) and throws 50 or 60 innings in middle relief.

He throws a four-seam, sweeper, and change, with his FB topping in the mid-90s but sitting about 93.5. Webb has only thrown three innings so far this spring and his fate is unknown. He might head to Chicago or he might be let go — odds are that he’ll make the team.

He does have that profile that Jed and the Cubs braintrust seem to like — Jameson Taillon is one of his comps. Even if he is waived, the Cubs might try to negotiate a minor-league deal for him, for a break-glass emergency.

Detroit Tigers vs. New York Yankees

Time/Place: 1:05 p.m., Joker Marchant Stadium – Lakeland, FL
SB Nation Site:Pinstripe Alley
Media: Tigers Radio Network

The Jays are playing the Phillies today. The game is free on MLB tv. I don’t see that it is on Sportsnet.

Lineups:

Trey Yesavage is a 22-year-old, right-handed pitcher. He was our first round draft pick (20th overall) in 2024. Trey got a $4,177,500 signing bonus (I’m trying to figure out how many beers I can get at the club at happy hour with 4.2 million, but let’s just say a lot. Of course, I would have to get chicken wings to go with them, so not as many. There is an old joke about a guy who spent all his money on booze and women, the rest he just wasted). He made a rapid rise through the minor leagues, and he was called up to the Jays in mid-September. He made three regular-season starts, two very good, one not good, and then he was thrown into the fire of a playoff run.

He’s still a rookie.

Trey made six playoff appearances, five starts, and one relief appearance, going 3-1 with a 3.58 ERA. In 27.2 innings, he allowed 18 hits, 11 walks, and had 39 strikeouts. Not every start was great, but most were. He had a bit of an edge because batters hadn’t seen his delivery (from the batter’s box) and his delivery is different than most pitchers. Tom M explained it:

Yesavage’s delivery comes over the top with a short arm action. His pitches come out 7.08 feet off the ground on average, which is higher than any pitcher in the majors this season (about ³⁄₄ of an inch higher than leaders Pete Fairbanks or Justin Verlander and over 15 inches higher than the median). That creates a serious downhill plane to the plate, which is a little unfashionable right now because flatter angles pair better with the riding four seamers that are currently dominant. Because of how short his arm action is, as well as the tallness of his delivery, he also has below average extension that takes about two thirds of an mph off the perceived velocity of his pitches. There’s always value in giving hitters an uncommon look, though, and right now they don’t see a lot of balls that bear down on them in the way Yesavage’s do.

One positive thing the delivery does is allow him to get nearly pure backspin on his fastball, which he’s thrown 94 times among 198 pitches in his most recent three outings. The pitch generates an elite 19.9 inches of induced vertical break, which is about 4” more than the typical fastball thrown equally hard in the majors (he averages 94.7mph). It’s relatively straight, with 5.3 inches of arm side run, but with his kind of vertical movement that isn’t a problem. Overall the fastball profiles as a plus pitch that should be able to miss bats and generate pop ups up in the zone.

Baseball Savant says he averaged 94.7 mph and topped out at 96.9, and that 50% were in the strike zone. It tells me a lot about how baseball has changed in my lifetime that the 94.7 mph is just very slightly above league average.

He also throws a slider, averaging 88.7 mph and topping at 90.9. Savant says 2229 rpm, and 50% of those were in the strike zone. It moves 4 inches towards a right-handed batter, 4 inches, and it drops 29 inches (league average 4 inches and 35 inches).

And a split-finger change-up, averaging 84.1 mph, topping at 85.5, and 43% of them were in the strike zone. It moves 11 inches towards the RHB and drops 31 inches. League average is 11 and 34.

The release point on all the pitches is much the same. He gets more than average swing and miss (top of the league, in minimal innings) and a lot more ground balls (also top of the league) than the average pitcher.

He also gets more hard-hit balls against than most. And he walks more than most, but I’m expecting that, as he sees how much trouble hitters have hitting his pitches, he’ll walk fewer.

MLB Pipeline has Yesavage as the #12 prospect in the MLB

Yesavage is having a bit of a slow start to the spring. The team, very understandably, want to be careful with his arm. They would rather he be able to pitch near the end of the season (and hopefully playoffs) than pitch on opening day. He threw 35 pitches off a mound to some minor league hitters yesterday.

I do have some worries that his over the top delivery will not be as great over time. Roy Halladay, when he first came up, threw from over the top and he was great for his first in his first season but he was, I’m not sure the right way to put it, awful the next season. The team sent him back to A-ball, and re-jijjed his delivery. But Trey isn’t Doc

Steamer thinks he’s going to pitch in 37 games, 23 starts, 146 innings, with a 3.73 ERA, and a 2.2 fWAR. I’d bet strongly against him making 14 relief appearances, but I’ve been wrong before. I remember both times. We do have a lot of starting pitchers. One or two of them are going to be making relief appearances.

Has anyone else struggled to keep up with the spring training Yankees during the World Baseball Classic, or is it just me? There’s been some thrilling action across all four pools through Wednesday night, culminating in Italy, Canada, and the Dominican Republic’s pool-clinching victories yesterday, and allowing Mark DeRosa’s blunder to be forgiven as the U.S. also moved on with Mexico’s loss. With no WBC on today, of course, the Yankees aren’t televised. Boo.

Will Warren gets the start in Lakeland, his fourth of the spring. The 26-year-old has only allowed one earned run in 10.1 innings while reigning in his command and limiting damage. A new release point has pitching models loving his stuff, but he’s still struggling against lefties in a small sample. Detroit offers some good left-handed hitters, so it’ll be a good test for him as he looks to build up past 50 pitches.

An old foe is on the mound for Detroit today, as 43-year-old Justin Verlander has returned home to the Motor City to likely finish out a first-ballot Hall of Fame career. He rebounded in 2024 with San Francisco after a rough final year in Houston, making 29 starts with a 3.85 ERA (103 ERA+) and 3.85 FIP despite a continually declining strikeout rate. As much as he tortured the Yankees, especially in an Astros uniform, when he pitches against the Yankees this year, we’ll have to appreciate the final games of his storied career.

Ben Rice will lead off and play first base, followed by Jasson Domínguez, J.C. Escarra, and Paul DeJong. Spencer Jones is back in the lineup, batting fifth and playing center field, while George Lombard Jr. bats eighth at shortstop. Max Schuemann, Seth Brown, and Yanquiel Fernández round out the starting nin.

Kerry Carpenter leads off a Detroit lineup with a good amount of regulars that includes Matt Vierling, Colt Keith, Spencer Torkelson, Dillon Dingler, Zach McKinstry, and Javier Báez. Trei Cruz and John Peck wind out the lineup.

How to watch

Location: Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium — Lakeland, FL

First pitch: 1:05 pm ET

TV broadcast: N/A

Radio broadcast: WXYT 1270 (DET)

Online stream: N/A (Audio available via MLB.tv)

For updates, follow us on BlueSky, Twitter, and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.

Mets lineup

1. Marcus Semien – 2B
2. Jorge Polanco – 1B
3. Bo Bichette – 3B
4. Luis Robert Jr. – CF
5. Brett Baty – RF
6. Francisco Alvarez – C
7. Michael Tauchman – DH
8. Tyrone Taylor – LF
9. Ronny Mauricio – SS

SP: Sean Manaea

Cardinals lineup

lineup to follow

Broadcast info

First pitch: 1:05 PM EDT
TV: CARD (MLB.tv free game of the day)

Is it on TV?

Yes, thank Pedro. In a week when there has barely been any televised Red Sox baseball, this one is on NESN at 1:05 PM. That’s especially fortuitous since there’s no World Baseball Classic action today.

What’s the lineup?

What should we watch for?

It’s all about Connelly Early today. With exactly two weeks until Opening Day, this will be one of his final chances to force himself into the Red Sox rotation.

Here are the lineups, let’s discuss!

For the Phillies:

For the Blue Jays:

With the World Baseball Classic beginning quarterfinal play on Friday, let’s look back to see how all the Dodgers did during pool play in the tournament. Five Dodgers on the 40-man roster played during the opening round, as well as two minor leaguers. In all, nine Dodgers were active in the WBC, representing seven countries.

Star power

Shohei Ohtani reached base nine times in 13 trips to the plate in Pool C, with two home runs, a double, four walks, six runs batted in, and four runs scored, and did not strike out, helping Japan to a 4-0 start to the tournament.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto walked more (three) than he struck out (two) on March 6 in Japan’s opening game against Chinese Taipei, but got through 2 2/3 innings without permitting a run, throwing 55 pitches.

Edwin Díaz faced seven batters in Pool A for Puerto Rico, and struck out five of them, tossing two scoreless innings with one hit allowed.

Will Smith started two of four games in pool play for the United States, and had a double and single in six at-bats, with two walks, and one RBI on a sacrifice fly.

Hyeseong Kim hit a two-run home run for Korea against Japan, but that was his only hit in 10 at-bats during Pool C. Kim drove in three, walked twice, and stole a base in his three games. He injured his left hand in stealing that base in the 10th inning on March 8 against Chinese Taipei, and did not play in Korea’s final game of the pool.

Clayton Kershaw warmed up late in Team USA’s loss to Italy, but did not pitch in Pool B.

Minor leaguers

Jake Gelof played all four games for Israel, starting three at third base. He had two hits, including a double, and three RBI in Tuesday night’s win over The Netherlands. But in the other three games he was hitless in a combined seven at-bats. Before leaving for the WBC, the second-round draft pick from 2023 got into two Cactus League games for the Dodgers, up from minor league camp, playing third base both times.

Christian Suarez, who pitched for Double-A Tulsa last year, got one out for Venezuela in his one appearance. Venezuela already has a berth in the quarterfinals, but first will play one more game against the Dominican Republic on Wednesday night to decide the winner of Pool D.

Shawndrick Oduber, who pitched in 29 games for Class-A Rancho Cucamonga last year as a 20-year-old, was in the pitching pool for The Netherlands, but did not pitch in their four games.