CLEVELAND, OHIO - OCTOBER 01: A closeup view of the Detroit Tigers logo on the Nike jersey worn by Riley Greene #31 of the Detroit Tigers during the fourth inning in Game Two of the American League Wildcard Series against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field on October 01, 2025 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images) | Diamond Images/Getty Images
Happy Friday, everyone! We’ve made it through the week, thank goodness, and our reward is the official return of baseball games! Sure, you can say Spring Training doesn’t matter, but tell that to a fan who has been starved for live games since October. The Tigers won’t have their first game until tomorrow, but hey, something to look forward to! In the meantime, the Tigers have unveiled their new home and road alternate jerseys and they’re pretty darned slick!
The other biggest news of the week is that MLBPA executive director Tony Clark, who has led the Players’ union since 2013, stepped down amid a sea of scandal (personal, not baseball-related) and his interim replacement Bruce Meyer has been announced. This is a terrible time for the players to be shifting leadership as debate over salary caps and the CBA is running rampant. We’ll have a bit more on that below.
So let’s get into the news bites for the day and prepare ourselves for baseball tomorrow!
Last season, McGonigle, 21, dominated the Arizona Fall League, slashing .362/.500/.710 with six homers and 19 RBIs, winning the league’s MVP award. That performance came after he hit .305/.408/.583 with 19 homers and 80 RBIs in 88 games split between Low A, High A and Double A during the regular season. He projects as a future batting title winner with 20-25 home run power. He’s selectively aggressive at the plate, is very quick on inside pitches and goes the other way extremely well on tough pitches down and away. He’s also solid defensively and is a good base-runner. If the Tigers give him a legitimate shot to make the roster this spring, he should, given his polish and talent.
Of Max Clark, he said:
Clark, 21, leads all potential rookies in swag and speed. He profiles as an elite leadoff hitter who will reach base consistently and steal bases at will. He has solid bat speed and above-average plate discipline and he makes good swing decisions. Clark is a tremendous defensive center fielder with solid first-step quickness and well above-average range in all directions. He also has the arm to stop base-runners from taking the next base. He’ll be a fan favorite quickly in the Motor City and, along with McGonigle, should give the Tigers an extremely fun and bright future. He’d be higher on my list but he’s likely to start the season in the minor leagues as he has just 43 games of Double-A experience.
Kevin McGonigle is starting at shortstop for the #Tigers on Saturday in the first spring training game, manager A.J. Hinch said. https://t.co/c9VoSjyCGd
A fresh take on a Detroit classic!!! So excited about these @tigers alternates🤩 You can get your hands on these starting Friday at the D Shops in both Detroit & Lakeland and online starting Sunday. • • • P.S. @PAWSDetroit was a celebrity at the office today pic.twitter.com/0QxpfBzrMn
VENICE, FLORIDA - MARCH 23: Spencer Strider #99 of the Atlanta Braves delivers a pitch in the first inning against the Baltimore Orioles during a Grapefruit League spring training game at CoolToday Park on March 23, 2025 in Venice, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) | Getty Images
I guess I could’ve worded this, “Do you actually watch Spring Training games,” too.
Today marks the start of Grapefruit and Cactus League action. There are a few games against unaffiliated teams, too. But the full slate really begins tomorrow.
Me, I’ll watch pretty much any MLB baseball. Though the pitch clock made it somewhat harder in some ways, I’m still aiming to watch about three games a day this upcoming season. Spring Training games, though… they’re too unserious for me to pay real attention to. Not that I begrudge them this, as the point is really just for players to get up to speed — but it’s just too divorced from what resembles competition to be interesting for me. So I’ll usually turn it on, and lose interest when the re-insertions or full-scale substitutions start happening. I’ll leave ‘em on in the background, sure, but it’s not appointment viewing time, like the new regular-season-with-pitch-clock is now forced to be.
PEORIA, ARIZONA - FEBRUARY 10: A member of the grounds crew mows the field during sunrise at Peoria Sports Complex on February 10, 2026 in Peoria, Arizona. (Photo by Matt Thomas/San Diego Padres/Getty Images) | Getty Images
We made it, everybody. In what feels like the shortest off-season I can remember, today spring training games start for the Mariners. We’ve been busy working all off-season to keep you updated on what the Mariners have been up to this winter, but in case you’re checking in for the first time after taking some time off (welcome back!), here’s a speedrun recap of the off-season content, with links, to help bring you up to speed fast:
40 in 40 series: Where we preview every member of the 40-man roster, from the fringiest reliever to the biggest stars.
This year’s NRIs: Non-Roster Invites are players who get invited to big-league camp despite not being on the 40-man roster. If you’re wondering who the player on your screen wearing a number in the 80s is, the answer is probably here.
The off-season tracker: This includes not only a list of the moves the Mariners made this off-season, from major to minor, but also links to the stories we wrote about them, where applicable.
Top prospects countdown: We’re only about halfway through our top 20, but you can keep checking back.
Spring training broadcast schedule: Bookmark this one, because it will give you a handy list of all the games and whether they’re on TV or not, as well as how to watch them.
Starting next week, we’ll also have a preview series of all the teams in the AL West that will carry us straight through to Opening Day, if you’ve been using the 40 in 40 series as a way to count down to the start of spring training.
But today is all about the opening of spring training. The Mariners open spring as they always do, playing their complex-mates the Padres. The game starts at 12:10 PT and you can watch it on Mariners.TV for free, provided you make an account. If you have Xfinity, you can tune in on the old ROOT Sports channel, 629, at least according to the channel guide I checked.
Check in here at LL (most) every day this spring around 11 AM PT (12 when we move to daylight savings time) for a game thread that will give you important information like start times and broadcast information, as well as starting pitching matchups, which minor-league players are being brought over from minor league camp, or other things of note. If you can’t watch the game because your “boss” insists you “work” during the day and you have to do things like “feed your family” when you get home at night, we’ve got you covered with a daily recap that will run down the important bullet points of the game.
No matter how you consume spring baseball, we hope that you’ll come and talk about it with us, whether in the game threads or later in the recap comments. Our goal here is to provide authentic conversation around the team we all love, to learn with each other and from each other, and to be in communion with people who understand why “that’ll never hit” is the most cursed string of words in the English language. In a time where it feels like human conversation and community mean more than ever – and are vanishingly rare – our community is what makes us who we are.
If you’ve been a LLurker in the past, I hope this is the year you take the leap from “future commenter” into “active commenter.” If you’re brand-new here, welcome! Please sign up and join us. Before you jump into the conversation, do take the time to read over the site guidelines. Basically, they boil down to this:
No politics, no religion, treat each other with respect. Part of that respect is understanding not everyone shares your same viewpoints. We are an inclusive staff and an inclusive community, and comments that insult someone’s identity, directly or indirectly, will not be tolerated. We think that’s one of the things that will make this community a place you want to come back to again and again. That, and all the volcano facts.
Make comments that are additive, not subtractive. Ask questions, share observations, respond to something someone else said, make a joke (but not a joke that punches down at others. We are not diss comics here.). Subtractive comments are things like excessive complaining or negativity, piling on, or other comments made for no reason other than the person commenting is having a bad time and wants to make it everyone else’s problem. That’s selfish! Don’t do that. Or try not to, at least. We understand sometimes the Mariners will Mariner.
Don’t use chatspeak. This is a rule I myself have trouble following all the time (I tried to title this section the “tl;dr”) but it really is necessary to keep us all on the same page, and also serves as a reminder that there’s real thought and care that goes into these conversations. Similarly, these are authentic conversations, so we have a strict no-AI rule for comments. We are all smarter than ChatGPT about the Mariners, that’s the whole point of the site, so your ideas only, please.
Sometimes you’ll make a mistake just because you don’t know better, and at that point you’ll get a helpful message from the mods. Please take this in the spirit in which it’s intended: not to make you feel small, but to make your understanding of the world bigger. Our expectation is once you know better, you’ll do better.
Okay, that’s enough of that. Really, it’s a fun place to come and chat baseball provided you follow the most important rule: Be A Person. So sign up and join us today! One of us…one of us…
SACRAMENTO, CA - JUNE 08: Heston Kjerstad #13 of the Baltimore Orioles warms up prior to the game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Athletics at Sutter Health Park on Sunday, June 8, 2025 in Sacramento, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Every spring, baseball hands us a fresh stack of reasons to believe. The weather is warm, the innings are low-stakes, and everyone is in the best shape of their life. So when Heston Kjerstad steps into the box at Ed Smith Stadium and rockets a home run off a live-arm pitcher, the correct response is probably measured skepticism.
And yet.
Something feels different this February. Maybe it’s the swing. Maybe it’s the words coming from the manager’s mouth. Maybe it’s Jackson Holliday — not exactly a disinterested observer, but also not a guy prone to empty flattery — saying that when Kjerstad is healthy, he’s “seriously one of the better hitters that I’ve seen.” Whatever it is, the optimism around Kjerstad this spring has a texture to it that feels harder to dismiss than the usual “he looks focused in camp” boilerplate.
Let’s try to figure out whether any of it is real.
You probably know the story all too well. In 2020, the O’s made Kjerstad the second overall pick out of Arkansas, where he’d been one of the best pure hitters in college baseball. Within months of signing, he was diagnosed with myocarditis — inflammation of the heart muscle — and missed essentially all of 2021. A hamstring strain pushed his professional debut further into 2022. When he finally showed up to play, he hit. He won the Arizona Fall League home run derby. He slashed .303/.376/.528 with 21 home runs across the minors in 2023. He hit .253/.351/.394 in 39 big-league games in 2024 before Clay Holmes drilled him in the helmet with a 97 mph fastball in July.
Then 2025 happened. He hit .192. He posted a .566 OPS. He got optioned to Norfolk in June, went on the IL with fatigue, and then disappeared from game action entirely in late July with what the organization vaguely described as an undisclosed medical issue. Mike Elias confirmed Kjerstad had been undergoing treatments for a medical condition but declined to say much more. The season was over.
That’s a lot of history for a 27-year-old who has still never played more than three games in a row at the major league level.
So what’s new? A clean bill of health, maybe. A new swing adjustment. Kjerstad has ditched the large leg kick — the signature piece of his always-unorthodox mechanics — in favor of a simpler toe tap as his front foot lands. It’s the same change Jackson Holliday made late in 2024, and Holliday’s offensive improvement in 2025 is well-documented. The theory is straightforward: less moving parts, more contact.
Manager Craig Albernaz, who is still finding his voice in his first full spring as a big-league manager, didn’t sound like a man offering polite encouragement when he talked about Kjerstad. He said Kjerstad is “physically in a great spot,” that he’s “moving so efficiently in the box,” and that the new mechanics would “allow that whippiness [good word] to work in the swing.”
And Kjerstad has already gone deep twice in live batting practice — a 410-foot left-on-left shot off Keegan Akin and another off righty Trey Gibson. He hit a line drive to left off Shane Baz. He had singles off Kyle Bradish. His exit velocities have always been elite when he’s healthy; the 46.5% hard-hit rate and 9.3% barrel rate from his 2024 major league stint were genuinely impressive numbers buried inside a limited sample.
Now, here’s the uncomfortable question: is Kjerstad still in the Orioles’ outfield plans? The team brought in Taylor Ward and Leody Taveras this offseason, and they still have Colton Cowser, Tyler O’Neill, and Dylan Beavers in the mix. That’s five outfielders with reasonable claims on roster spots before you even get to Kjerstad. Opening Day roster is almost certainly not happening for him. But a strong start at Triple-A Norfolk could make Kjerstad a roster contender — or a valuable trade piece.
He’d need to show some sustained success, but if Kjerstad is genuinely healthy and hitting, there are worse things a contending team could do than sign a left-handed bat with plus raw power, pre-arb through 2031, still only 27 years old.
Then again, the Orioles scenario isn’t hopeless either. O’Neill has his own lengthy injury history. Beavers hasn’t yet proven he can handle a full season. Ward and Taveras are one-year rentals. Cowser had a brutal 2025 and is entering the year with something to prove himself. The outfield picture in Baltimore is more volatile than it looks on paper, and one or two DL stints from the incumbents could open a door Kjerstad has spent five years waiting for.
There are two honest ways to view Heston Kjerstad in February 2026. The first is as a cautionary tale about what happens when you keep watching a talented player get mowed down by things outside his control, until eventually the career opportunity cost adds up and you can’t get it back. The second is as a player who has never actually gotten a real chance — never started three games in a row, never been healthy for a full season — and who might finally be about to find out what he can do.
The swing change is real. The spring results are real. Jackson Holliday working out with him all offseason in Stillwater is a good sign. The medical situation remains a mystery, but “full health” from the man himself and from the organization is the best available information we have.
Do I fully buy the optimism? Let’s say I’m cautiously in. We’ve been burned before, but the version of Heston Kjerstad that shows up healthy and locked in, with a more efficient swing and something to prove, is the kind of player worth paying attention to. If this spring turns into what it might be, we’ll be saying we saw it coming. And if it doesn’t — well, we’ve had plenty of practice at that too.
Tommy Henrich, who played left field for the Yankees.
The storied history of the Yankees is dominated in the popular perception by the team’s legends, from Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, to Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle, to Derek Jeter and Aaron Judge. But baseball is played with nine to a side, and even these superstars couldn’t raise the Yankees to fantastic heights on their own. There have always been great supporting players anchoring each great Yankees squad, players that may not have dominated the spotlight, but made important contributions all their own.
One of those players was Tommy Henrich, who we ranked 37th on our Top 100 countdown a few years back. An outfielder who played during a time when mythical figures like DiMaggio and Mantle roamed the grass at Yankee Stadium, Henrich was a superlative performer in his own right, one who was invaluable as the Yankees piled up championships in their glory years.
Thomas David Henrich Born: February 20, 1913 (Massillon, OH) Died: December 1, 2009 (Beavercreek, OH) Yankees Tenure: 1937-50
Thomas Henrich was born in Massillon, Ohio, a city 50 miles south of Cleveland. Massillon was a football town, and Henrich’s high school, St. John’s Catholic High School, didn’t even have a baseball team, so Henrich grew up largely playing softball. Henrich would play semipro ball after graduating and caught the eye of a Detroit Tigers scout, spurning Detroit’s advances but eventually signing with Cleveland in 1933.
In Cleveland’s system, Henrich didn’t look like a man who played little baseball growing up. He hit .325 in his first year in the minors, and hit .337 in 1935. He was one of the best players in the minors by 1936, hitting .346/.411/.560 with 15 homers and 100 RBI across 157 games.
Yet Cleveland didn’t show much interest in promoting Henrich to the show, as the team tried to sell his contract to the Milwaukee Brewers. He and his father wrote to a letter Commissioner Kenesaw Landis, arguing that Cleveland was denying Henrich a shot at the majors that he obviously deserved. Landis ruled in Henrich’s favor, and Henrich became the first free agent in MLB history.
Given Henrich’s stellar record in the minors, there was quite a bidding war for his services when he suddenly hit the open market. The New York Giants offered Henrich a $15,000 bonus, a hefty sum for 1937. But Henrich had eyes for a different New York club. Despite growing up in Ohio, Henrich had been a Yankees fan, awed by the exploits of Babe Ruth. The Yankees offered him a staggering $25,000, and Henrich was off to the Bronx.
The little kid from Massillon arrived in New York confident. He told Arthur Daley and the New York Times, of the time he checked into his hotel in Manhattan:
I still have a vivid memory of coming to town for the first time and checking into the Hotel New Yorker. The bellhop took my bag and discovered who I was before we even reached the room. ‘So you’re the new Yankee outfielder,’ he said, sneering at me. ‘How can you break in ahead of—let’s see, who we’ve got—Joe DiMaggio, Jake Powell, Myril Hoag, George Selkirk and Roy Johnson? Did you ever see them guys hit?’ Not yet,’ I said bravely, ‘but they never saw me hit either.’
After a brief stint with the Newark Bears, Yankee manager Joe McCarthy called for Henrich, and he made his major-league debut on May 11, 1937. Plugged into a lineup that included a late-career Lou Gehrig and a second-year player named Joe DiMaggio, Henrich more than held his own when his number was called. Henrich would play 67 games as a rookie, hitting a robust .320 with a .972 OPS. The Yankees would win the World Series that year, though Henrich didn’t appear. He would make his first appearance in the Fall Classic the next season, following a similarly strong sophomore campaign that saw Henrich post an .882 OPS. Henrich doubled in his first World Series game, and in the deciding Game 4, Henrich hit a solo home run that would prove to provide the winning run as the Yankees swept away the Cubs for their third-straight title.
Henrich cemented himself early in his career as one of the Yankees’ most consistent producers behind their stars, earning the nickname “Ol Reliable” from Yankee broadcaster Mel Allen. However, a knee injury he picked up as a rookie returned to plague him in his mid-20’s, and though he posted an .800 OPS in 1939 and a .947 figure in 1940, he played in fewer than 100 games each season. He didn’t appear in the 1939 World Series, which the Yankees won to make it a four-peat, before the club finally saw their streak end without a pennant in 1940.
In 1941, Henrich put together the finest overall season of his career to that point, hitting a career-high 31 home runs with an .895 OPS, and adding another World Series home run as the Yankees reclaimed the crown by defeating the Brooklyn Dodgers. Amusingly though, his most memorable play came on a strikeout that should have ended Game 4 in a Dodgers win to tie the series at 2-2. Brooklyn catcher Mickey Owen couldn’t handle Hugh Casey’s low curve and it skipped away from Owen for an error. DiMaggio and company promptly started a rally and by the time the dust had settled, the Yankees had won, 7-4. They won the World Series the next day.
Henrich’s breakout spilled over into the next season as he made his first All-Star team, but his run was cut short as the United States entered World War II. Henrich joined the U.S. Coast Guard in August 1942 and served three years primarily stationed in Michigan.
Henrich returned to the Yankees in 1946 and, at age-33, began an uninterrupted run of success. From 1946 to 1948, Henrich made two All-Star teams and received a smattering of down-ballot MVP votes each year. He appeared in at least 142 games each season, the longest stretch of decent health of his career. And he raked, his .858 OPS over that span 35 percent better than league average, all while providing the excellent outfield defense that he so prided himself on.
He was no longer a role player, a nice background piece behind the Yankees’ cast of legends. Even if the likes of DiMaggio, Phil Rizzuto, and other future Hall-of-Famers took most of the shine, Henrich was a celebrated player in his own right. Casey Stengel, having taken over as manager of the Yankees in 1949, said of his outfielder:
He’s a fine judge of a fly ball. He fields grounders like an infielder. He never makes a wrong throw, and if he comes back to the hotel at 3 in the morning when we’re on the road and says he’s been sitting up with a sick friend, he’s been sitting up with a sick friend.
Stengel’s praise encapsulated what Henrich’s teammates liked most about him; that dependability and reliability. Though injuries finally caught up to him at the end of his career, Henrich produced all the way to the end, as he always had. He dealt with back and toe injuries in 1949, which limited him to 115 games, and his balky left knee, always a lingering issue since he was a rookie, kept him to 75 games in 1950. When on the field, Henrich was still at his best. He managed a combined 680 plate appearances across 1949 and 1950, his final two seasons, and in that span he hit 30 homers, drove in 119 runs, and ran a .936 OPS.
Henrich threw in one more World Series homer in 1949 as the Yankees trumped the Dodgers again — a game-winning clout off Brooklyn’s Don Newcombe to break a scoreless tie and win Game 1. It was the first walk-off shot in the history of the Fall Classic.
Henrich would retire after the 1950 season, having appeared in four World Series, all wins, and having contributed to eight different pennant-winning teams. He hung around baseball for a time, spending a year as a Yankees coach in 1951, going into broadcasting for a couple seasons, and doing a tour as a base coach with the Tigers and Giants. He ultimately seemed more content to stick to the sidelines in retirement, speaking of those golden years when he won ballgames alongside the likes of Gehrig and DiMaggio and Berra. He would become a fixture at Old-Timers’ Days, and wrote two books, The Way to Better Baseball and Five O’Clock Lightning: Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle and the Glory Years of the NY Yankees.
Looking back decades later, it’s easy to wonder about what could have been for Henrich, had he not injured his knee his rookie year, or if he hadn’t lost three prime years to war. It’s not hard to imagine a world where Henrich pushes closer to the inner circle of Yankee greats, or even compiles a reasonable Hall-of-Fame case. But Henrich authored a more than fine career as played. He passed away in Ohio in December of 2009, and was born on this day 113 years ago. Happy birthday to Old Reliable!
DUNEDIN, FLORIDA - MARCH 02: Scott Kingery #4 of the Philadelphia Phillies looks on after a 4-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays during a spring training game on March 02, 2021 at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Every year we get excited for the start of the Spring Training schedule of games. A long winter without baseball finally ends, even if the games don’t count. Then we quickly remember that the spring games are usually for the players we’ve never heard of or may never hear from again, as anyone important is extremely limited in their playing time.
But those limitations for regular starters allows for some fun or interesting stories to arise over the course of the spring season. Sometimes a player comes out of absolutely nowhere, tears up the Grapefruit League, and captures the heart of Phillies fans everywhere. Perhaps none embody this idea more than Scott Kingery.
Kingery may not have come out of nowhere, as he was a well-regarded prospect in the Phillies system, but he impressed in his first taste of MLB camp in 2017, hitting .286 with two home runs in ten games before going back to Reading. Kingery then burst onto the scene in 2018 when he hit .411 with five home runs in 22 games during the spring. His performance was so impressive that it earned him not only a call up to the Majors after just three years in the Minors, but general manager Matt Klentak awarded Kingery with an unprecedented six year, $24M contract extension. It was a large commitment to a player who had never appeared in the Majors to that point, but Kingery had put together two impressive camps, and it looked clear he was ready for the Majors.
But things didn’t work out that way, as Kingery struggled to ever come close to his torrid springs and had his career derailed by mismanagement, bad advice, COVID-19, and injuries. The once promising prospect hit only .229 with a .667 OPS across parts of five seasons with the Phillies. He returned to the minor leagues in 2022 and stayed there for the next two full seasons before being traded to the Angels in November of 2024.
Another name that comes to mind when thinking about spring training legends is Brock Stassi. The lefty first baseman did actually come out of nowhere and tore apart the Grapefruit League in 2017, hitting .306 with 6 home runs in 25 games. The Phillies had a spot on their bench, and Stassi earned a spot on the 2017 Opening Day roster, getting his first crack at the Majors at the age of 27 after six seasons in the minor leagues. He even earned his own fan group, as “Brock’s Crocs” started to appear at Citizens Bank Park. Unfortunately, the Cinderella story ended there, as Stassi lasted just 51 games with the Phillies, hitting .167 with a .573 OPS. He was sent back to Triple-A and ultimately designated for assignment in August. Stassi bounced around between organizations after electing free agency, but he never again appeared in a major league game. Stassi ultimately wound up back with the Phillies organization after his career, coaching with their minor league affiliates in 2023 and 2024 before being hired by the Mariners as a hitting coach for their low-A affiliate in 2025.
These are just two names of players who were the MVPs of spring training but never found much success in the majors. But we’ll always have that time in late February and early March where it looked like they might be something. Who is your favorite Phillies Spring Training MVP?
Arizona Diamondbacks Nolan Arenado (center) during spring training workouts at Salt River Fields on Feb. 16, 2026, in Scottsdale. | Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
The names of the starting pitchers for the first three games of Cactus League play will likely not be familiar except to the diehard fans. Right-hander Tom Hatch will start the opener and there won’t be a veteran going until Michael Soroka following the weekend slate.
“We’re just going to slow play some things,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “Everybody is going to be ready and built up to six innings and 85 pitches by the time they take their last spring start.”
With a dozen D-Backs players set to represent their countries in the 2026 World Baseball Classic at the beginning of March, Lovullo is making sure those players get the game reps they need to prepare.
“Normally they wouldn’t be, but I’m trying to fast forward this as much as possible because the entire infield is going to play in the WBC, so I want to get them on the field,” Lovullo said Thursday. “I wouldn’t be playing [Alek Thomas] in the outfield tomorrow, but I’m going to, so he can get ready for Team Mexico.”
On Thursday, the Arizona Diamondbacks revealed their 2026 spring training broadcast schedule for their upcoming Cactus League games.
Eight games will be broadcast free of charge to fans, and will be accessible on D-backs.TV and local TV providers. Fans will not have to pay for a D-backs.TV or MLB.TV subscription in order to view these eight games. All that will be required is a free account, set up with an email address.
“Right now, it really is clear that we have a group of teams at the bottom and we have some teams at the top,” Kendrick said. “We are in neither of those groups, to be fair. A model that would allow those extremes to not be what they are, I think would be good for the fans, and honestly, I think it would be good for the players.”
Congrats to all of us on making it through another long, dreary winter! Baseball is finally upon us once more, hope springs eternal, and already the hot dogs, cracker jax, and beer is calling my name. Here’s to another season, and maybe, just maybe this team can surprise us again.
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA - SEPTEMBER 20: Henry Davis #32 of the Pittsburgh Pirates in action during the game against the Athletics at PNC Park on September 20, 2025 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images) | Getty Images
For a team that has considerable questions defensively at multiple positions, catcher may be one of the Pirates’ strengths.
2021 No. 1 overall pick Henry Davis is in line to be the Pirates’ lead catcher in 2026.
Drafted for his bat rather than his defense, Davis has transformed his game into a considerable defensive player, while he tries to catch up offensively.
Despite a .167 average in 87 games, Davis registered a 0.7 WAR and a 28% caught-stealing rate last season.
Davis emerged as Paul Skenes’ primary catcher, securing him a roster spot on the Pirates as the trusted confidant for the 2025 NL Cy Young winner.
He is also expected to catch Mitch Keller and Bubba Chandler, the No. 11 prospect in baseball, per Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
If, and it’s a big if, Davis can improve at the plate, the Pirates will be in a considerably better position on the bottom third of the lineup.
Here’s a minute of Pirates first and third drills, with throws from all four catchers: Henry Davis, Joey Bart, Rafael Flores and Endy Rodriguez. pic.twitter.com/DVzMl5u9qH
Davis slashed .167/.234/.278 with only a .512 OPS in his third MLB season.
This season will be a significant line of demarcation for what Davis could be moving forward. He was drafted as an elite hitter, rushed to the big leagues, and thrown in right field for his bat.
Pirates pitchers trust him; it’s past time he trusts himself and figures it out at the plate to stay in the majors for good.
Joey Bart is in line to be the backup catcher to Davis. Despite frequent trade rumors surrounding the former No. 2 pick by the San Francisco Giants, Bart remains on the Pirates roster and is a key offensive threat against left-handed pitching.
Bart’s power numbers dipped significantly last year, hitting four home runs in 93 games compared to 13 in 80 contests during the 2023 season.
He hit .249 overall with a .340 slugging percentage, but ballooned to a .306 average and .472 slugging against lefties.
Signing Marcell Ozuna likely takes at-bats away from Bart in the DH spot, primarily keeping his role behind the plate.
The Pirates created a logjam at first base with Spencer Horwitz and free-agent signing Ryan O’Hearn.
Bart hasn’t played an inning at first, but is an intriguing option to add another right-handed bat to the lineup if the Pirates pursue the opportunity.
He drove in 45 runs with a near .800 OPS in 2024 as one of the Bucs’ best offensive players. The Pirates have potential at catcher from two players taken in the top two picks of the draft, but haven’t fulfilled their true potential offensively and defensively.
Acquired in the David Bednar deal at the 2025 MLB trade deadline, Rafael Flores is the biggest wild card of the group.
Flores, 25, made his big league debut on September 17 and recorded three hits in 15 at-bats.
He only caught one of his seven games, playing first base in six as a right-handed stick in the lineup.
The 6-foot-4, 232-pound catcher is a career .275 hitter in the minor leagues and hit over 20 home runs the past two seasons.
In 36 games with Triple-A Indianapolis following the trade, Flores clobbered six home runs and drove in 28 runs, slashing .281/.363/.459 in the process.
Flores has potential, but needs the opportunity. Trading Bart would open the door for him, but keeping Bart likely means Flores will begin at Triple-A.
Endy Rodriguez has dealt with injuries the past two seasons that cost him all of 2024 and limited him to 18 games last year.
Now listed as a first baseman on the Pirates website but still described in camp as a catcher, Rodriguez’s role remains a mystery.
He could return to Triple-A to get himself right and regroup with roster spots on the MLB roster, hard to come by this campaign.
GM Ben Cherington said before camp that he believed this is the best roster the Pirates have had in his tenure, looking to make the postseason for the first time in over a decade.
The former Pirates Minor League Player of the Year is still only 25 years old, a valuable switch hitter, and a lifetime .292 hitter in the Minors.
Rodriguez hit .323 with 25 home runs and 95 RBIs in 2022 and looked to be one of the next solid bats in the Pirates’ lineup for many years to come.
The Pirates play the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday at 1:05 p.m. in the first Spring Training game of the season.
SARASOTA, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 18: Tyler Wells #68 of the Baltimore Orioles poses for a photo during Spring Training photo day at Ed Smith Stadium on February 18, 2026 in Sarasota, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The start of spring training signing of Chris Bassitt to get him into the Orioles starting rotation has made the role of a couple of incumbent O’s pitchers much less certain. If the team makes it through spring training without any injuries to the rotation mix – a big if – what happens to Tyler Wells?
Before the Bassitt signing, Wells figured to be the “next man up” for the starting rotation mix, who might get some play if Zach Eflin is more delayed in his return from back surgery than has been indicated so far. Now, it’s less clear what they will or should do with him, assuming nothing else changes.
Entering his sixth major league season at age 31, do the Orioles want to keep him as a long reliever? Will they prefer to have him stretched out as a starting pitcher, in which case they could still choose to use one of his remaining minor league options to send him to Triple-A Norfolk? They could even return him to the sort of relief role he occupied in his rookie year, when it looked like he might have some potential as a late-inning guy.
What do you think happens with Wells? Let us know in the comments below.
FORT MYERS, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 11: Johan Oviedo #29 of the Boston Red Sox and Brayan Bello #66 of the Boston Red Sox react during a workout at JetBlue Park at Fenway South on February 11, 2026 in Fort Myers, Florida. (Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images) | Getty Images
It’s pitching preview time, ladies and gentlemen. Over the next several days, I’ll be writing 10,000 words or so about everyone you might see pitching for the Red Sox to start the season. I’ve put the team’s starting options into tiers because that’s how my brain works. Don’t think of them as rankings, but rather buckets based on some similarities I see.
Tier three is made up of Brayan Bello and Johan Oviedo, two pitchers who have established themselves as major leaguers but who have yet to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. The potential is off the charts, but the floor is low.
Brayan Bello
2025 in a sentence:Bello had a solid year, but his strikeouts were down, the ball was in play, and he struggled late in the season.
Sonny Gray’s season line would lead many to believe he’s a bottom-of-the-rotation pitcher, when the underlying numbers tell a better story. Brayan Bello’s season line, on the other hand, paints him in a more positive light than a look under the hood.
In 29 appearances (28 starts and 1 weird five-inning appearance to resume a rain-delayed game), Bello posted a career-best 3.35 ERA. That mark was the ninth-best in the American League among qualifiers. At the same time, his K-BB%, one of the best predictors of future performance, was 48th of 52 qualifiers. Most public projection systems have Bello’s 2026 ERA somewhere between 4.00 and 4.50.
We’ll start with the good. Bello throws a 95 mph sinker that reached up to 99 mph at times. He uses it 50% of the time against righties, and there’s not a ton they can do with it. It has 18 inches of horizontal break; he gets it in on righties’ hands well, and induces tons of weak contact as a result. The sinker is a great table setter for Bello against righties, but he needs to refine the rest of his approach.
He introduced a cutter that became his second-most thrown pitch to right-handers by the end of the season. It worked well, earning strikes at a high rate and limiting hard contact. He struggled in September when he had a hard time throwing the pitch in the zone, and the strike rate fell about eight percent, but end-of-season fatigue could be to blame. Overall, the pitch was a solid addition to his repertoire.
More pressing than getting strikes, for Bello, was ending at-bats. His putaway rate was just 16.6%, 90th of 127 starters with at least 100 innings pitched. Against righties, he used a sweeper most often and had some success, but overall, it was an average offering. He paired it with backdoor sinkers that also had limited success. His four-seam fastball was ineffective with two strikes despite solid command at the top of the zone, and he left too many cutters over the plate rather than landing them on the glove side.
Bello had similar problems against lefties. His sinker and cutter went for strikes frequently, but lefties made better contact than righties. With two strikes, he doesn’t have a single above-average offering. He went to his changeup frequently, but the slow ball was never in the zone and wasn’t enticing enough to punch hitters out. He tried his four-seam and sweeper as well, but neither provided positive results. Overall, it resulted in a 16.3% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate to lefties. Bello was able to navigate through jams and keep runs off the board, but that style is likely unsustainable over a larger sample.
When Bello takes the mound for the first time in 2026, he might look different. He’s reportedly working on a new curveball in Spring Training. It remains to be seen what the shape will look like, but in theory, it could be flipped in for early strikes against lefties and serve as a putaway pitch in the dirt later in counts. Edward Cabrera throws from a similar arm slot and could provide a blueprint for the shape, though Cabrera is a few inches taller. Bello’s also reportedly tinkering with his changeup. An improved changeup is arguably the most important pitch for the righty, who needs something to put away lefties with regularly. If he can’t figure out complementary pitches, his sinker still gives him a solid floor as a back-of-the-rotation arm, but Bello’s sights should be set much higher.
2025 in a sentence: Oviedo flashed serious potential when he returned from Tommy John surgery and a lat injury.
Of the Red Sox’s starting pitching acquisitions, Oviedo is the least flashy, but you could make the case that he has the highest ceiling. He made his season debut in August and made nine appearances for the Pirates, posting a 3.57 ERA and 24.7% strikeout rate.
The story for Oviedo, basically since he entered the league, is about throwing strikes. His career walk rate is 11%, much higher than your typical top-of-the-line starter. “Fixing” his walk problem is fairly straightforward, and it comes down to his fastballs. Oviedo has a five-pitch mix: four-seam, sinker, slider, curveball, and changeup. The slider and curveball each function as strike-getters. The slider is used early in counts, is in the zone a ton, and manages to avoid hard contact, while the curveball is in the zone less, but still gets strikes at a high clip. Lefties see more early curveballs, while righties see a heavy dose of sliders.
With two breaking balls getting strikes at a high clip, you’d think walks wouldn’t be an issue. However, in 2025, and for most of his career, his fastballs weren’t holding up their end of the bargain. Against righties, his four-seam and sinker accounted for about 50% of his pitches, and the strike rates were just 54% and 52%, respectively. Lefties saw 39% four-seams, and just 55% of them were strikes. Here’s the kicker: his fastball, by stuff, is probably his best pitch. It averaged 95.5 mph and was thrown with 7.4 feet of extension. The approach angle is among the flattest in the league. It’s not dissimilar from Payton Tolle’s lauded fastball.
If Oviedo can rein in his fastball and get the strike rate closer to 65%, he could be an All-Star. I’d actually be willing to bet that if he throws 65% strikes with his fastball, he will be an All-Star. If he can’t, there’s a case to be made for leaning even further into “pitching backwards”. Throw more breaking balls early in counts, and use the fastball above the zone to put hitters away. He has an option year remaining, which could make him the odd man out at the start of the season. Regardless of his role, he’s a 6’6”, 275-pound sculpture that just needs the finishing touches.
Kutter Crawford and Patrick Sandoval make up the next tier. It’s difficult to project either of them as they haven’t pitched since 2024, but they’ve each shown bat-missing stuff in the past.
Kutter Crawford
2025 in a sentence: Knee and wrist injuries kept Crawford off the field for all of 2025.
Kutter Crawford was a pitcher who many picked to break out in 2024, and while he put together a solid season (4.36 ERA over 183.2 innings), he didn’t quite make the jump that many expected. He struck out 23.1% of hitters while walking 6.7% over 33 starts, but home runs were an issue as he led the league with 34 allowed.
Crawford had reverse splits, limiting lefties to a .683 OPS while righties posted a .732 mark. Lefties did account for 20 of the 34 home runs with a roughly equal number of at-bats, however. The key to his success against lefties is, you guessed it, his cutter. The pitch has more horizontal movement than the average cutter, while holding its vertical plane well. He’s able to throw the pitch high and glove side against lefties early in counts, racking up strikes and jamming hitters. His four-seam has elite vertical movement, but it didn’t miss as many bats as you’d expect in 2024. Against lefties in 2023, the 16.6% swinging strike rate was remarkable, but that number fell to just 10.5% in 2024. The velocity fell about a tick, potentially due to the knee injury he was fighting, which could explain the regression, but it was a worse pitch regardless of the reasoning. The ICR% also jumped from a stellar 29.4% to a terrible 48.3%. Hopefully, additional velocity comes with health and can help the pitch become a plus offering once again because it’s such an important pitch for Crawford. The fastball and cutter do most of the heavy lifting, but he also featured a splitter that performed well in 2024. He used it in about 16% of his two-strike counts, and the results were great. Despite a high zone rate, he generated swings and misses on 21% of his pitches, reliably punching lefties out. The contact against it wasn’t hard either, as he kept it on the outer half consistently. I should note that his mistake rate with the splitter was high, though it wasn’t punished. Regardless, Crawford needs a two-strike offering against lefties, and the splitter fits the bill.
Against righties, it’s a similar story. In 2024, he used a nearly equal split of four-seams, cutters, and sweepers. The four-seam and cutter each generated strikes at a high rate, but the former was hit incredibly hard. Unlike against lefties, its performance was in line with 2023, besides a slight dip in whiffs. His cutter was excellent against righties, located down and away rather than up and in. His sweeper was a solid third pitch, though a true putaway breaking ball might help him find more strikeouts.
The last version of Crawford we saw has the makings of a solid pitcher, though unspectacular. Home runs were his undoing, with almost 50% of his earned runs allowed coming via the long ball. While his plan of attack will always present the opportunity for home runs, his 23.1% home run/fly ball rate is sure to come down to a more reasonable number.
To me, velocity feels like the key for Kutter going into 2026. If he’s sitting 93-94, he likely will be one of the best five pitchers on the roster. If he’s closer to 91 mph, his upside will be limited. He’s already a little bit behind schedule due to the flu, so he could start the season in the bullpen. Part of me has always wondered how he would look throwing 91 mph cutters 50% of the time. He’s got the arsenal to start, but he could be an elite relief option if things shake out that way.
Patrick Sandoval
2025 in a sentence: Sandoval hasn’t pitched since June 2024 due to elbow trouble.
It’s been almost two years since Sandoval saw game action, and his last season wasn’t a good one. He registered a 5.08 ERA over 79.2 innings before being shut down with an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery. He’s a reclamation project, which hasn’t worked for the Red Sox recently, but his ceiling is high if they can figure it out.
At his best, Sandoval gave lefties a ton of trouble. In 2022, he struck out almost 25% of lefties while walking just 6%. He did it with a slider-heavy approach, using it 49% of the time to great effect. It’s a gyro slider that he was able to use in the zone effectively for both called strikes and whiffs. In 2023, he leaned more into a cutter shape and had a hard time finding the zone with it, limiting his strike rate. In 2024, he threw the pitch harder than ever and in the zone more than ever while cutting the usage, which kept the strike rate high, but led to hard contact against it. After the slider, his sinker has always been his most used secondary pitch to lefties. In 2024, Sandoval had control problems, and hitters were patient. Aside from that season, when he wasn’t fully healthy, the pitch has returned high strike rates and poor contact quality. With usage around 30%, the ground ball rate against it has never been lower than 56%. He used a four-seam as a surprise two-strike offering as well, but it’s never been a particularly effective pitch. Going forward, I’d expect to see more sinkers on the inner half to lefties, while continuing to use his slider in and out of the zone. There’s a case to be made for creating two distinct pitch shapes as well, throwing a harder cutter and a softer sweeper or slider.
Right-handed hitters have been more of a problem. Throughout his career, Sandoval has never had a great answer for them. He uses a changeup about 30% of the time that performs well, but it doesn’t return strikes at a high enough rate to limit walks. He uses his sinker, four-seam, and slider as well, with none generating great results. “Just add a cutter” is cliched advice, but for Sandoval, it could provide a pitch to get ahead of righties and allow him to use both sides of the plate.
There’s also the question of whether he will be on the team. Sandoval’s name has been floated in trade rumors all offseason due to his salary. A pitching-needy team with an injury or two could take a flyer on the lefty to fill out their rotation. The Red Sox are also short on lefties. If he’s not in the rotation, he’ll likely remain stretched out for a long-relief role, but he could be used to match up with some lefties in leverage spots as well.
Phoenix, AZ - February 17, 2026: Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman (5) at the 2026 Dodgers spring training at Camelback Ranch, Phoenix, AZ on February 17, 2026. (Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Freddie Freeman is now at the latter third of his six-year deal he signed with the Dodgers following the 2021-22 lockout.
After spending parts of 12 seasons with the Atlanta Braves, concluding with a World Series championship in 2021, Freeman has created a new legacy in Los Angeles, setting the team’s single season doubles record in 2023 and helping the Dodgers win two straight titles, being named World Series MVP in 2024. Although his current contract is up after the 2027 season, Freeman has shown no indication of wanting to take his talents elsewhere.
Sonja Chen of MLB.com writes about Freeman’s desires to play until he is 40 years old, noting that he would like to do so while still wearing a Dodgers uniform.
“I love being here,” Freeman said Thursday… “I’m not worried about another contract, not going to bring it up, not going to talk about it. I got two years left. I’m just an employee. I just do my job, and if they want me back, they want me back. But I think [president of baseball operations] Andrew [Friedman] and everyone knows that I love being here.”
Links
Mookie Betts suffered the worst offensive season of his big league career last year, and yet, he was still one of the most valuable shortstops in the National League due to his superb defense. But that alone won’t satisfy him.
Dave Roberts will be eyeing a bounce back season for Betts in 2026, one that will include him in MVP conversations, and will be prioritizing Betts’ health throughout the duration of the year, notes Jack Vita of the Los Angeles Times.
“He will be in the MVP conversation this year,” Roberts said this week. “But again, I think, speaking for Mookie, his main goal is to help us win a championship. So, I think whatever falls out from there, I think that will happen. I just want him to focus on just being healthy, helping us win, and then whatever happens outside of that, will happen.”
Evan Phillips discussed his foray in free agency this offseason, ultimately ending with him returning to the Dodgers, and noted that despite not being to take the field until midseason, he is glad to be back in Los Angeles, per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register.
“It was my first crack at free agency, at least on this side of things. Being a minor-league free agent was probably less attractive to most teams. Yeah, it was different… I’m not too worried about the timeline yet but definitely glad to be back in Dodger blue.”
With Blake Snell questionable to be ready by opening day, Justin Wrobleski is a name to keep an eye on as the Dodgers formulate their starting rotation for the beginning of the season, notes Chen.
New York Yankees infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. has his sights set on joining Shohei Ohtani in the 50-50 club, writes Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. Chisholm has career-highs of 31 home runs and 40 stolen bases, so a 40-40 season would be a much more realistic expectation.
The loss of franchise cornerstone Kirby Puckett was an enormous setback to start the 1996 Minnesota Twins season. But the show must go on, as they say, and whether narrated through Dick-n-Bert on MSC or Herb-n-John over the air, the ‘96 Twins were off and running.
Offense (97 team OPS+)
The three guys Puckett was supposed to pair perfectly with all performed admirably…
Alas, six others batsmen had to come to the plate each game, accounting for the below-average 97 team OPS+.
Pitching (97 team ERA+)
The “Rick Aguilera as a starter” disaster and sub-90 ERA+ campaigns from the likes of Greg Hansell, Eddie Guardado, Jose Parra, & Pat Mahomes Sr gave this team a reputation of being pitching-poor.
But the likes of Brad Radke (114 ERA+), Frankie Rodriguez (101 ERA+), Rich Robertson (100 ERA+), and Scott Aldred (100 ERA+) all held their own in the rotation while Mike Trombley (170 ERA+) & Dan Naulty (110 ERA+) were solid firemen.
Sending Knobby to the All-Star game in Philadelphia
Trading Dave Hollins to Seattle for a Player To Be Named Later—who turned out to be David Ortiz
Drafting Jacque Jones & Chad Allen
Chip Hale’s remarkable 19 pinch hits!
Without the legendary Kirby panache to draw paying customers, attendance sagged to 17,745/game—11th of 14 in the American League. Well, until Kirby Puckett Tribute Night, which predictably packed the house…
All told, the ‘96 Twins played exactly like a team without their leader, finishing a listless 78-84. They avoided the AL Central cellar, but were still a whopping 21.5 GB crown-wearing Cleveland. The team was below-average in the first half (41-45) and below-average in the second half (37-39). They were below-average at home (39-43) and below-average on the road (39-41). Remarkable consistency for such a middling squad.
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 06: A general view of the San Francisco Giants playing agains the Atlanta Braves at Oracle Park on June 06, 2025 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Good morning baseball fans!
As we approach the beginning of the season, we’re going to be doing some questions for y’all about your thoughts about the San Francisco Giants and baseball in general!
Today’s question: If you could change one moment in franchise history, what would it be?
My brain instantly thinks of the 2002 World Series, but as painful as that was, it made 2010 that much more special.
So I’m going to go ahead and pretend like I can use this power to magically cure baseball players of what is ailing them, and poof! The Giants get 10 more years of quality Tim Lincecum starts.
I don’t care if that doesn’t change the trajectory of those seasons, I don’t have the brainpower to manage the monkey paw on that one. But I do think I’d trade one of the World Series championships of the 2010s to have gotten to see Lincecum at his prime pitching for the Giants for another decade.
If you could change one moment in franchise history, what would it be?
SURPRISE, ARIZONA - FEBRUARY 19: Stephen Kolek #32 of the Kansas City Royals poses for a portrait during photo day at Surprise Stadium on February 19, 2026 in Surprise, Arizona. (Photo by Jeremy Chen/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Spring Training games start today! Like, real baseball games (that don’t count in the standings)!
In yesterday’s Rumblings, Max posted that Stephen Kolek would start today’s game against the Rangers. Jaylon Thompson wrote an entire story about it for The Star:
“I’m excited for it,” Kolek said. “It’s a great honor to be the first one out for us and (I am) just ready for the opportunity to kind of continue what I was doing last year at the end of the season. I’m excited to get out there and get the team rolling on a good note.”
“It’s sad,” Moustakas said Thursday at the Royals’ spring training camp in Surprise. “You know, losing a member of our family and the Royals family, it’s really sad…”
“As great as a baseball player as he was — you guys saw what he was able to do on the field with all the speed — he was such a better person,” Moustakas said. “Just a great human, a great friend, father and husband.
“And, you know, we miss him a lot. We love him and his family. This organization is so great, we are going to do everything to help (his family) out.”
“When I went to see him in January, he’s completely open to what he learned from last year and how he wants to make corrections and move forward from last season,” Royals hitting coach Alec Zumwalt said. “And he’s come in here and is in a great spot mentally and physically.”
And, finally, he listed “three things” he was hearing:
This season, the Royals have a few NRIs who can earn a spot. MLB veterans Jose Cuas, Hector Neris and Eli Morgan have an opportunity. Each has experience pitching in the bullpen and could be welcome additions for organizational depth…
The offensive side features Brandon Drury, Abraham Toro, Kevin Newman and Josh Rojas, among others. There is expected to be a competition for the final bench spots, and these players could impress with a strong spring.
One of his other “things” was about Jonathan India, whom Anne Rogers wrote about:
Calling it a “family-involved offseason,” India trained at a local youth park near his house so his wife, daughter and parents could come with him. He trained in the gym with his dad. On the field, he reunited with the coach he trained with in high school, Bruce Charlebois, who runs a baseball school in Florida and is someone India has known since he was 7 years old.
“It was like bringing it back to my roots,” India said.
Looping back around to The Star (and because I don’t want stadium stuff harshing my Spring Training buzz), Michael Collins suggests Truman and Troost for the new Royals stadium. I don’t hate the idea.
A stadium near Truman and Troost would be served by an 18th Street streetcar expansion, linking it to the Riverfront, City Market, the Central Business District, the Crossroads, the West Side, Union Station and Crown Center, Midtown, the Country Club Plaza and 18th and Vine., Kansas City’s major cultural and entertainment districts would be connected by a single transit line, allowing people to move easily between neighborhoods and share in the city’s energy — connectivity we have not seen since the 1950s.
When last season began, Blake Mitchell was considered the Royals’ top catching prospect. During spring training, however, manager Matt Quatraro kept raving about Jensen, 22, and his ascension as a prospect. That conversation continued throughout the year until Jensen was promoted to the major leagues on Sept. 1. He lived up to Quatraro’s expectations and beyond as he slashed .300/.391/.550 with three homers and 13 RBIs in 60 MLB at-bats, good enough for a 161 OPS+.
Jensen profiles as a middle-of-the-order hitter and his power will benefit from the new, smaller dimensions at Kauffman Stadium this year. The most improved part of his game is his defense and it certainly helps that he has future Hall of Famer Salvador Perez as a mentor as he continues to develop as a big-league catcher.
J.J. Piccolo, Royals GM: “Carter is a gifted hitter who makes great decisions at the plate. Great combination of on-base (skills) and power. He’s also done an incredible job working on his defense and has become a well-rounded defensive player.”
At ESPN, Buster Olney is doing position rankings. Yesterday was 1B:
10. Vinnie Pasquantino, Kansas City Royals
After a string of injuries, Pasquantino stayed on the field in 2025 and finished with 66 extra-base hits, 113 RBIs and a career-high 120 OPS+. He played 126 of his 160 games at first base last season but could have more time at DH in ’26, as the Royals rely more on Carter Jensen behind home plate and Salvador Perez plays more games at first.
I don’t think Lynch is a lock for the Opening Day roster, and if he goes to AAA, he may never see the big leagues again. That’s probably hyperbolic because lefties get chance after chance after chance after chance af…fine, I’ll stop. But this is the first camp that Lynch isn’t doing any starting in. Once a starter gets moved to the bullpen because he’s not good enough to start, there isn’t really anywhere to go if he’s not good enough to relieve either. Last season, he put up a great ERA. The underlying numbers, though, were anything but great. He struck out just 15.6 percent of hitters while walking 9.0 percent. He gave up a hit per inning.
He looked nothing like the pitcher he was down the stretch in 2024 when he was starting to look like a legitimate weapon. He has an edge over a lot of guys because the only other lefty in the bullpen who isn’t guaranteed a spot is Bailey Falter. The non-roster lefties are Chazz Martinez, Frank Mozzicato, Hector Olivares and Hunter Patteson. Knowing the Royals would like multiple lefties in their bullpen, Lynch has a huge edge, but if he looks as hittable as he did last season, he might not lose his job for Opening Day, but he’s going to be on thin ice. And, truly, if he’s on thin ice now, his career will start looking like a lot of non-roster spring training invites.
So from this list, I’m left to wonder how the Royals missed out on Harrison Bader? When the offseason started, I didn’t rate Bader as a good free agent bet. The industry consensus projected something like a two year contract at close to $30 million. I just kind of saw that as an overpay if that was the deal he was truly able to sign. He inked with the San Francisco Giants for two years at $20.5 million. That seems more than fair. Again, I did not see Yaz getting a bigger contract than Bader.
We can mark it down as a miss, but it’s not a huge whiff. The larger point is, there just weren’t many good options that fit the Royals needs on the free agent market. We see where the Royals spent the majority of their money: signing Lane Thomas. Maybe he will have that bounce-back season and impress.
Despite the less than appealing optics on how much they spent in the free agent market, their roster and the players available always made a Royals-sized splash something of a long shot. Doesn’t make it any less disappointing, though.
Bergert threw six pitches and produced an overall TJ Stuff+ of 105, which is impressive. He also sported five pitches with grades of 52 or higher and a 51.7% zone rate overall. Unfortunately, his chase rate was 25.1%, his whiff rate was 23.9%, and his xwOBACON was .373. Those are all mediocre marks, to put it nicely, and Bergert should produce better results with that kind of TJ Stuff+ profile.
One thing Bergert seems to be working on this spring to help him overcome this issue is adding a new breaking ball.
Since we’re about to start a new season, let’s continue on with our nuts and bolts from last week. This week, I’m going to look at the state of Royals media. Back in 2023, when I changed over my OT format from video games to… everything, one of my first topics was “How to Write a Rumblings”. As mentioned:
I have an incomplete, unpublished story called “Future Royals Rumblings Notes” which is a giant scratch pad of story ideas and lists of content I’ve already used (to avoid duplicates)… I organize my Rumblings into 5 main sections: “Official Royals news”, “Royals blogs”, “MLB news”, “Off Topic”, and “Song of the Day”. I often combine a couple, especially in the slow offseason.
Let’s check in on those sources and see how they’ve changed.
BIG REQUEST: If you know of any Royals site that I’m missing, please post them in the comments!
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For the first section, here’s what I consider “official” sources. Some writers have come and gone but the sites are all still there. Bluesky has also added another avenue for social media.
Royals MLBTRhttps://www.mlbtraderumors.com/kansas-city-royals – Not “official”, per se, but if any little transactions fall through the cracks, the Royals page for MLB Trade Rumors might have them
Google Newshttps://news.google.com/search?q=kansas%20city%20royals – Finally, for anything I might have missed earlier, this is a bit of a catch all. It’s a random aggregator and sometimes has stuff days or weeks old. It’s also a good place to pick up oddball stories from non-standard outlets.
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Next up is my first checks for the “MLB” section. I have links to major sports outlets as well as their Royals-specific pages to try and grab even more stories to share.
Kings of Kauffmanhttps://kingsofkauffman.com/ Maybe I was too hasty. We’re lumping the venerable Fansided KOK in with Royals Keep at #3. Keep has longer posts, KOK has more plentiful posts. Both are frequently cited in this space like today.
UL’s Toothpickhttps://ulstoothpick.substack.com/ Darin Watson (https://twitter.com/Darin_Watson) is doing something wholly unique. His site is fairly old. But what he’s been doing the last few seasons is a “This Date in Royals History”. Last year, he was looking back at 1985. So, on July 6th, his entry would be about what the Royals were doing on July 6th, 1985.
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In the last couple of years, we’ve lost a couple of major Royals minor league sites. Pour one out for these two.
And there’s my full list of links. Again, if you know of any others, please post them in the comments. I’m happy to link to Royals sites, particularly blogs that could use the extra hits.
If you’ve been reading me for a while, you know what clip is coming today:
