Worldwide Sports News

We don’t generally go out of order with our spring prospect reports, but the timing is too good for Jordan Yost. The Detroit Tigers first round pick last summer stepped to the plate for his first at-bat as a professional on Sunday afternoon and made a little magic. The Tampa native had friends and family in attendance as he dug in with the bases loaded and no outs, trying to just hit something to the outfield. He did, crunching a grand slam to right field on a 1-0, 95 mph fastball from a Triple-A level pitcher. Welcome to pro ball.

The 19-year-old, left-handed hitting shortstop went to the Tigers with the 24th overall pick in the 2025 draft. A graduate of Sickles HS, Yost signed for $3,250,000. That was $500K underslot, helping the Tigers to land Michael Oliveto in the competitive balance round and still afford their seasonal hunt for talented prep arms ready to sign. Yost is the kind of player who seems likely to at least give them their money’s worth, with a chance to be a standout shortstop and one of the most valuable players from this draft.

Right now, the big calling card is pure hitting ability and defense. Yost is already an agile, sure-handed shortstop with a good arm. No doubt he is already enjoying the tutelage of Alan Trammell and the rest of the Tigers development staff, and he has the potential to be one of better defensive shortstops in the league if he continues to refine his game.

Yost makes a lot of good contact at the plate and shows an advanced eye as well. His feel for the barrel is impressive, and he stayed within himself to spray line drives and the occasional home run in his prep career. He has a quick, accurate bat and rarely strikes out. The question is whether he’ll develop enough power to handle major league pitching and do enough damage to become an everyday player. The defense alone could carry him to the major leagues as a bench player. He can hit. The rest is all about the ability to ramp up the raw power over the next few years.

Data before the draft had Yost as one of the few notable players who didn’t top 100 mph in combine BP sessions. The well below average raw power didn’t help his stock and the main criticism of the Tigers pick was that Yost’s lack of power was a limit on his upside and made this a conservative selection. Still, every major prospect site had him in the Tigers top ten this offseason and it was pretty comfortable to rank him sixth in the farm system. The floor on his talent is still useful and the upside is a well above average all around player who can lock down shortstop or play all over the diamond.

So it was particularly striking that Yost’s first appearance on our television or computer screens was him cracking a 102.7 mph grand slam off a 26-year-old Triple-A reliever on Sunday. His contingent in the crowd went nuts. It was a cool moment. But turning around a 1-0, 95 mph fastball in your first at-bat in major league camp was also a signal that Yost is on his way in the power department.

Yost has added that little toe tap since draft day, and you notice how he sits back along with the clean, simple action of the barrel into the zone. That’s a smooth, easy 102.7 mph, caught out front and launched to the pull side.

If the fear on draft day was that Yost wouldn’t grow into something like average power, that swing certainly should open some eyes. The slender, speedy 6’0” shortstop, has plenty of room on his frame to build muscle. Yost looks noticeably stronger through his shoulders and legs already, telling reporters after the game that he’s added 13 pounds since draft day while running even better. Time will tell, but there was some skepticism about Kevin McGonigle’s power potential on draft day as well, and maybe the Tigers just know what they’re doing here. Yost is unlikely to approach McGonigle’s plus power, but average certainly looks attainable. With Yost’s hit tool, that’s plenty.

His defense, pure hitting ability, and his speed all give him plenty of weapons to lean on and he advances into his pro career. He just needs to do enough damage to be playable, and as we suspected that’s not at all a far-fetched hope. The 19-year-old is already in a better spot to start his pro career than it looked on draft day, and the bar much more attainable.

We may see Yost again in the Spring Breakout game this Friday as the Tigers farm system takes on the Pirates prospects in the yearly exhibition game. He should start the year in Lakeland playing shortstop for the Flying Tigers, and with an advanced hit tool it wouldn’t be too surprising to see him hit his way to West Michigan by year’s end. Still, with Bryce Rainer and Franyerber Montilla all at similar stages of development, perhaps they’ll just let Yost cook in Lakeland all summer instead. He’s already taken a nice step up with the raw power since draft day. The next stages may take a few seasons to unfold, but after announcing his presence on Sunday, Jordan Yost is on his way.

We were expecting a terrific game and we got it. We were expecting a slugfest and we got a pitcher’s duel. It also ended on a terrible call.

USA 2, Dominican Republic 1

Team USA hit two solo home runs and Team Dominican Republic only had one as the United States advanced to the World Baseball Classic with a 2-1 win.

Paul Skenes started for Team USA and the Dominican Republic countered with Luis Severino. The Dominican Republic drew first blood on this 401- foot home run by Junior Caminero. [VIDEO]

It’s amazing how Caminero pulled a pitch that was on the corner, up and away.

Team USA put runners on second and third with one out in the top of the third after Bobby Witt Jr. walked and Bryce Harper doubled. But Severino struck out both Aaron Judge and Kyle Schwarber to end the threat. [VIDEO]

The Dominican Republic had another rally going in the third inning, but Aaron Judge threw this strike to Gunnar Henderson to nail Fernando Tatis Jr. trying to go from first to third. [VIDEO]

Team USA finally got to Severino in the fourth inning. First, Gunnar Henderson led off the inning with a home run. [VIDEO]

After Will Smith lined out, Dominican manager Albert Pujols pulled Severino for Gregory Soto. Roman Anthony greeted him with this 421-foot blast [VIDEO] to make it 2-1.

Skenes pitched 4.1 innings and allowed one run on six hits. He struck out two and walked no one.

Team USA almost made it 3-1 in the fifth inning when Aaron Judge connected off of Rockies reliever Juan Mejia. But Julio Rodríguez had other ideas and made a fantastic catch in center field, possibly stealing a home run. [VIDEO]

The Dominican Republic got a rally going in the seventh inning off of David Bednar. Austin Wells doubled with one out and then Geraldo Perdomo singled to center field. However, the slow-footed catcher stopped at third base. Perdomo then stole second base but with runners on second and third and one out, Bednar struck out Tatis and Ketel Marte to end the threat. [VIDEO]

Team USA did not have another hit after a Kyle Schwarber single in the fifth. So it came down to the ninth when the Dominican Republic had to score off of Mason Miller. Miller struck out Caminero to start the frame but then walked Junior Caminero. A wild pitch and an Oneil Cruz ground out to first put the tying run on third with two outs.

Miller got the count to 1-2 on Geraldo Perdomo before missing the zone with a fastball and a slider. So with a 3-2 count, Perdomo fouled off two 101 mile per hour fastballs before taking this slider down low. [VIDEO]

It’s a shame that pitch was called a strike and for an all-time classic contest to end on a bad call by the umpire. But there’s no ABS system in the WBC, so that’s how the game ended.

Later today, at 7 p.m. CT, Venezuela takes on Italy for the other spot in the WBC final. Michael Lorenzen is scheduled to start for Italy and Tigers pitcher Keider Montero is pencilled in for Venezuela. The game will be broadcast of FS1. We will, of course, have a game thread here later today for this semifinal game.

We haven’t done one of these Question Time things for a few days, but lets try this one? Who of the Jays minor leaguers has impressed you the most this spring?

I’m going to pick Brandon Valenzuela. He’s hitting the ball well, 7 for 23 with a home run and I’ve liked his glove behind the plate. I asked, in the GameThread, the other day, if ‘all things being equal’ would you give the backup catcher job to Valenzuela?

Of course, all things aren’t equal. Tyler Heineman is out of options and he did a good job for us last year, which trumps any 23 at bats in spring training.

Since catchers tend to get dinged up over the season, I’m pretty sure we’ll see Brandon at some point. If only to cause me more confusion with the various Brandon, Brenden, Braydon, Bradan, Brendans on the team. Those guys should get together and pick one and only one form of that name and all use it, all spelled the same. It is bad enough we have guys who just skip a letter out of their names, to make life tougher on me (yes I’m looking at you Jonatan).

Anyway, your turn.

Last week, we took a look at the early returns from the outfield group. This week, we’ll turn our attention to the catchers. The front office addressed this area at last season’s trade deadline by acquiring Nick Fortes and Hunter Feduccia. This duo is likely to handle the majority of the reps at catcher this season, and I expect Dom Keegan will have an opportunity to contribute a bit later this season.

Fortes is a plus defender across the board while Feduccia grades as roughly average in blocking and throwing but above average as a receiver. There aren’t many concerns about their defensive skill sets, but both are looking to turn in better offensive seasons than what they showed so far in their major league careers. Early Spring Training data suggests the Rays may get more offensive production from the catching position in 2026 – particularly through improved contact and stronger raw power indicators.

11.9%

… is the combined whiff rate for Fortes and Feduccia so far this spring. That’s a significant improvement from the 26.0% whiff rate Rays catchers posted in 2025.

The front office has quietly been moving towards a more contact-oriented offense, and this change has impacted the catching group as well. More balls in play should lead to a more efficient offensive output – even if some of those balls in play simply move runners along. I don’t think a sub 15% whiff rate is realistic as the wear-and-tear of the position could affect them later in the year, but around 20% seems possible and likely.

104.0mph

… is the 90th percentile exit velocity (EV90: industry standard to measure raw power) for Fortes and Feduccia so far this spring. Rays catchers produced a below-average EV90 of 102.8mph last season, so it’s clear that there’s more power in this duo than the collective combinations of catchers the Rays rostered in 2025.

Fortes and Feduccia were briefly part of that group last season, but they accounted for relatively few of the catching group’s batted-ball events. The raw power upgrade heading into 2026 is real and could make a difference for the offense.

6°

… is the average hard-hit launch angle for Fortes and Feduccia so far this spring.

They’ll need to find a way to elevate the ball more to tap into their power as we countdown to the beginning of the regular season. While the group last year didn’t hit the ball very hard, they did a nice job of elevating the ball when they did – evident in their average hard-hit launch angle of 12°. Fortes and Feduccia may currently be prioritizing contact over damage, which can sometimes lead to flatter contact profiles.

One way to unlock more power would be to take slightly more aggressive swings, even if that comes with a bit more swing-and-miss.

40.7%

… is the zone-minus-out-of-zone swing rate for Fortes and Feduccia so far this spring. While this is better-than-average, Rays catchers ran an even better 43.6% in 2025. However, it was hard for the group last season to leverage their swing decisions into much production because the whiff was prevalent and the power was quite low.

Maintaining strong swing decisions will be key for Fortes and Feduccia, as that approach gives them the best chance to elevate the ball and tap into their raw power. If these trends hold, the Rays should get significantly more offensive production from the catching position than the 70 wRC+ they received in 2025.