Category: MLB

We stand on the eve of spring training. Tomorrow sees the 2026 incarnation of the Arizona Diamondbacks take the field for the first time – albeit in an empty and meaningless contest against their complexmates from Colorado. With the team now apparently close to maxed out on payroll – and, as we’ll see later today, closer to the luxury tax bracket than ever before – it feels largely like the roster we currently have is going to be the one we will have in Dodger Stadium five weeks from today. But if there was something else you got to do, what would it be?

You’re the GM: What’s one trade, signing or extension you’d make right now?

There are certainly ways in which the team could potentially be improved. Indeed, almost every area, be it infield, outfield, rotation or bullpen has a question-mark over some aspect. But if you had to pick a single (and plausible – no trading Carlos Santana for Aaron Judge!) move to improve the team for Opening Day, what would you do? Bear in mind there’s basically no salary room available, so any trade is probably going to be like-for-like. But perhaps you would rather look long term, and sign someone already on the roster to an extension? If so, who would that be and why?

The Royals have had a full squad working out all week and tomorrow they’ll begin their first exhibition matchups. Spring training performances can be difficult to judge. Many players are working on new pitches, new swings, and with new teammates. The thin, dry air of Arizona is not like the environment players will play in when the season begins in March in the cold spring air of the Midwest.

And yet, players can still impress coaches, teammates, and fans with their spring performance. Maybe they can dazzle everyone enough to make the team, or at least make an impression to be called up at some point to get their opportunity.

Who are you rooting for in Royals spring training to do well? Here’s a reminder of who’s in camp.

*-denotes non-roster invitee

Catchers (9): Jorge Alfaro*, Canyon Brown*, Omar Hernandez*, Carter Jensen, Elih Marrero*, Blake Mitchell*, Salvador Pérez, Ramon Ramirez*, Luca Tresh*

Infielders (13): Brandon Drury*, Maikel Garcia, Jonathan India, Connor Kaiser*, Michael Massey, Kevin Newman*, Vinnie Pasquantino, Josh Rojas*, Tyler Tolbert, Abraham Toro*, Daniel Vazquez*, Peyton Wilson*, Bobby Witt Jr.

Outfielders (11): Dairon Blanco, Jac Caglianone, Gavin Cross*, Isaac Collins, Kyle Isbel, Nick Loftin, Kameron Misner, John Rave, Carson Roccaforte*, Lane Thomas, Drew Waters

Pitchers (34): Luinder Avila, Ryan Bergert, Mason Black, Kris Bubic, Noah Cameron, Eric Cerantola, Dennis Colleran*, Steven Cruz, Jose Cuas*, Lucas Erceg, Carlos Estévez, Bailey Falter, Stephen Kolek, Ben Kudrna, Alex Lange, Seth Lugo, Daniel Lynch IV, Chazz Martinez*, James McArthur, John Means*, Nick Mears, Eli Morgan*, Frank Mozzicato*, Héctor Neris*, Helcris Olivárez*, Shane Panzini*, Hunter Patteson*, Cole Ragans, Aaron Sanchez*, John Schreiber, Mitch Spence, Matt Strahm, Michael Wacha, Steven Zobac

Injured List (1): Alec Marsh

The Detroit Tigers were teasing new alternate jerseys all week on their social media accounts. On Thursday they finally introduced a new navy blue road jersey with orange script, and the bright orange road jerseys with the Olde English D for Friday night home games.

The Tigers spent 18 months researching the idea and conducting fan surveys and focus group testing on many different concepts to come up with the final designs. 28 other clubs have been wearing alternate home/road jerseys for specific games, on top of the City Connect unis that will still be used as well. These all on top of the classic home whites, and road grey, for five different options.

Many of us have clamored for an alternate that resembled the Tigers classic road greys from the ‘68 season, and we’ll have to wait on that. Personally, I’m a fan of the simple navy blue and white spring training uniforms as well. But they wanted something with more color and pop, and they got it.

Staff opinion is mixed, but then we don’t have many jersey hounds. Everyone likes that the orange home alternate jerseys still have the Olde English D front and center, at least. As noted the electric blue City Connects will still be in the rotation as well for select Monday home games. We didn’t have images of the alternates in our Getty or USA Today photo tools just yet, but they have been released on the Tigers site and to all the social media accounts.

What’s your opinion on the new alternates?

Teoscar Hernández was a driving force in the Dodgers lineup in his first year in Los Angeles, in 2024, but last year struggled mightily.

After starting the All-Star Game, winning a Silver Slugger Award, and leading all National League outfielders in home runs (33) and RBI (99) with a 132 wRC+ in his first year with the Dodgers, Hernández in 2025 hit 25 home runs and 102 wRC+.

He missed two weeks in May with a groin strain, and the difference in his numbers before and after the injury were stark:

• .315/.333/.600, 155 wRC+, eight home runs in 33 games prior
• .223/.268/.404, 84 wRC+, 17 home runs in 101 games after

Hernández spoke to reporters Tuesday at Camelback Ranch, and talked about losing 12 pounds this offseason after workouts with a group of players, including Vladimir Guerrero Jr., his old Blue Jays teammate. Hernández admitted the groin injury took a toll, from Dylan Hernández at The California Post:

“I never recovered 100 percent,” he said, adding that he believed his condition affected him both on offense and defense. 

Following the World Series, Hernández said he did nothing for two months.

“I knew my body needed rest,” he said. 

Hernández played in only 134 games last year after playing in 154 games in his first year with the Dodgers and 160 games in 2023 with the Mariners. Since becoming a regular in 2018 with Toronto, Hernández has played in 86.3 percent of games, averaging 140 games and 134 starts per 162 games over the last eight seasons.

Now, Hernández enters his age-33 season.

Teoscar Hernández 2026 projections

• ZiPS: .266/.318/.485, 28 HR, 121 wRC+
• THE BAT: .263/.314/.469, 25 HR, 116 wRC+
• OOPSY: .258/.313/.472, 29 HR, 116 wRC+
• Steamer: .255/.310/.461, 26 HR, 112 wRC+
• Marcel: .254/.307/.448, 23 HR
• PECOTA: .246/.299/.432, 24 HR, 98 DRC+

He’s playing left field this year now that Kyle Tucker has signed, but let’s throw this out to the group. What do you expect from Teoscar Hernández in 2026? Let us know his batting line, home runs, games played, or any other thing that comes to mind.

For a second straight day, Tennessee Volunteers baseball was the hottest topic in the San Francisco Giants dugout, where reporters asked former Vols coach Tony Vitello to clarify his comments regarding his departure from UT.

"I didn’t say anything surprising that I know of. I was just stating the facts," Vitello said during a media availability on Feb. 17 at spring training in Scottsdale, Arizona. "If somebody tweets out or says something that’s not true about you and affects your life significantly – not just a deal where your feelings are hurt, but has a significant impact on my family … the (Tennessee) team was my family – then I’m not going to be happy about it."

News of Vitello's departure for San Francisco first dropped on Oct. 18, which was rebutted at the time by Vitello, who told Knox News "nothing is done." The hiring was announced Oct. 22.

Tony Vitello was asked about yesterday's comments.

Said no one from the Giants addressed it with him & was just stating facts. He talked about the "change the course of history" comment and how that nothing would've changed b/t him and Posey.

(Apologies for some bad audio) pic.twitter.com/JwegaaooZk

— Matt Lively (@mattblively) February 17, 2026

On Feb. 16, Vitello expressed frustration that he felt reporters at national outlets, as well as the Bay Area, jumped the gun in reporting that he was leaving Tennessee. He doubled down when asked to clarify his remarks the next day.

Either Vitello won't let it go or Giants reporters have accurately sensed a raw nerve, or both.

"It’s just like I would want our (Giants) players to defend themselves. That’s what I would do. But it’s kind of hard to defend yourself if it’s an anonymous tip," Vitello said, referring to October reports of his hiring that cited unnamed sources.

"... I think the facts of the case were what I just said. Anyone else would react the exact same way. And it has no real impact on the opportunity that was presented and it wouldn’t have changed what (Giants president of baseball operations) Buster (Posey) and I agreed to do."

Last time we spoke, we wanted to hear from you, the reader, about spring training. As we all know, the roster gets crunched in the spring, crushing dreams, occasionally ending careers, and dashing the hopes of young prospects everywhere. We all know how it goes. One of the items we discussed was who stands to gain the most from spring training. See the results below: 

Of course, this is more of a moot point now because Williamson has since been traded, but what can you do, right? For those of you who voted for Williamson, I respect your commitment and hope to see him break out; maybe he can do that for the Rays, ideally not against the Mariners. 

Of course, that still leaves us with our second-place winner, Cole Young. The opportunity is certainly there for Young, and the overwhelming thing I hear from people here at LL and out on the streets (conversations with my brother) is that the spot is his if he’s willing to reach out and take it. While I think this downplays the presence of Ryan Bliss, I agree that Young is the best positioned to be the starting second baseman on Opening Day. 

We also wanted to hear from you on which players needed to make a big step forward this year, and the results were more contentious: 

In particular, the conversation in the comments centered on Canzone. Seems people are disagreeing on how much time Canzone should get to really show he’s ready to be a roster mainstay. While Canzone has shown flashes at times, how many at-bats are you willing to cede to maybe see him do something great with the ball? I know where I stand. I’m willing to see how it plays out in spring, but I’m more than ready to see the end of the Canzone experience. 

This week, we have the WBC around the corner and spring training, but I’m more interested in talking about the WBC, especially with so many Mariners participating this year. The question comes to mind, what Mariners will do best at the World Baseball Classic? 

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Mariners fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

Unfortunately, the polls are limited on space, but feel free to shout out your favs in the comments. Personally, I think Julio is going to tear it up; plus, I’m hopeful that a hot WBC could lead to a hot April. Historically, Julio has been a bit of a slow starter, so seeing him get the early-season jitters out with the Dominican Republic and then tear it up for the Mariners would be incredible. But let us know your thoughts in the poll and the comments below!

In 2026, the Nats are not likely to make a ton of progress at the MLB level, at least when it comes to wins and losses. However, we should see Paul Toboni’s new plan lead to quick results at the minor league level. The Nats have several breakout candidates in their system. One of them is 19 year old RHP Landon Harmon, and I wanted to chat about him today.

Harmon was selected in the third round of the 2025 draft, but was given a $2.5 million signing bonus. That is way above slot value, and shows the Nats valued Harmon like an early second round talent. The industry also viewed him that way, with MLB Pipeline ranking Harmon as number 48 prospect in his class. 

After getting drafted last year, Harmon did not appear in any professional games, which is very common for high school pitchers. That means this will truly be his first pro season. Heading into this year, he has a lot of buzz behind his name. Fangraphs mentioned him as a guy who could be a top 100 prospect a year from now. MLB Pipeline also ranked him in the top 10 of the Nats system.

Now that we know the level of hype he has, let’s dive into what makes the Mississippi high school righty such an intriguing arm. His bread and butter is his fastball, which consistently gets plus grades. Pipeline has it as a 65 grade pitch and BA put a 70 on his heater. That makes it easily a plus pitch, with plus-plus upside.

The heater has everything you want. Harmon throws very hard, sitting in the mid-90’s. However, he can run that heater up to 98 or 99 MPH when he wants to reach back. When you look at his slender 6’5 frame, there is also more velocity to dream on. He could be a pitcher who touches triple digits one day.

However, it is more than just the velocity that makes Harmon’s fastball great. The pitch also has explosive life and comes from a flat approach angle. This makes his heater look even quicker than it is. It also has a bit of cutting action at the end as a little cherry on top. He was able to blow the fastball by even good high school hitters like Ethan Holliday at showcase events.

The heater gives him a strong foundation to build on, but there are also some interesting breaking ball shapes here. He throws both a sweeper and a harder slider. Neither are outstanding right now, but they both have above average potential. The fact he already has the ability to spin multiple different breaking ball shapes is also a positive indicator. It indicates a feel for spin and an ability to experiment. 

The changeup is admittedly a work in progress right now. He did not need to use it much as a high schooler because he could overwhelm hitters with his fastball and sliders. When he did throw it, the pitch was not anything special. However, at 19 years old, Harmon has plenty of time to find an off-speed pitch.

You can teach that, but you cannot teach Harmon’s size and fastball quality. Those building blocks make him a strong candidate to be a top 100 prospect in a year. They have some differences, but Harmon reminds me of Travis Sykora after he got drafted. Both have outstanding stuff and a better feel for pitching than most kids their age. 

Sykora obviously had a massive year in 2024, becoming a top 100 prospect. He was on his way to being one of the premier pitching prospects in the game before having to go under the knife in 2025. Harmon could be on a similar trajectory given his talent level.

There is already footage of Harmon at Spring Training throwing a bullpen. I do think it is a bit notable that we have seen him, but not guys like Miguel Sime or Coy James yet. It may mean the Nats are more comfortable letting Harmon be seen by the public due to feeling he is more advanced. 

Another indicator to see what the Nats think of Harmon is how they assign him. If they send him straight to Low-A, that means they have a high level of confidence in him to produce right away. If they think he is a bit raw, they will have him make starts in the FCL. 

Harmon should spend most of the season in Low-A, but he might get a taste of High-A if he dominates with the Fred Nats. I think that is in the cards due to the quality of his stuff. He is also a guy who should be helped by the Nats new development team. Harmon is a big ball of clay for those pitching gurus to work with. Hopefully, they can turn him into a high end prospect.

The 2026 season is in the foreground, rapidly approaching. That means our coverage here at The Good Phight is also going to ramp up. We’re excited for the season ahead, ready to bring you more of the news, analysis and opinion writing that you’ve come to know. We’re also looking to expand to our staff of writers as well. While we have a substantial stable of excellent writers, we’re hoping to add one more person to the group to help provide more content.

What we’re looking for?

The new writer will be expected to complete at least 2-3 articles per week, depending on your agreed contract. The focus that we are looking to add is specific: we’re looking to expand our prospect coverage. Weekly reports, specific player profiles, deeper dives into all parts of the team’s player development system – this is what we are looking to add. While doing other articles about the major league team would always be welcome, the main focus of this position is expected to be on the Phillies’ minor league system, so priority will be given to those who are able to do so critically, analytically and fairly.

What else does the position entail?

There might also be occasions when we ask you to help with daily links (Rise and Phight), gamethreads and game recaps. It would all depend on what is needed and when.

Any writer who is accepted should:

• Be knowledgeable about the Phillies and will follow the Phillies closely.
• Follow Phillies media closely.
• Be able to concisely summarize text.
• Be well-versed in analytics and know how to use them to enhance articles.
• Be able to comment on text in an engaging manner.
• Be able to communicate regularly with the TGP team via Slack.
• Be a self-starter who can work with minimal direction.
• Possess solid communication skills.
• Be comfortable working in a virtual environment.

Is this position paid?

Yes! This is a stipend position, the amount of which is dependent on the agreed on number of writing pieces you would be expected to produce.

How to apply

Please fill out this form. We are a data focused site that uses Baseball Prospectus, Baseball Reference, Fangraphs, Baseball Savant, etc. to inform our ideas, so familiarity with those sites and content is a plus, but not necessarily a requirement.

In order to be considered, part of the above form will be submitting a writing sample as either a Google Doc or a PDF file. If you do not have any writing samples, you can submit something based on one of these two topics:

Topic 1: The Phillies’ player development system seems to be ranked anywhere in the mid- to low-teens in terms of national system rankings. In 500-700 words, where might that direction head after the 2026 season based on the state of the current system? Which players are crucial to help the team maintain their current position? Where does the team need to improve at to fare better in these rankings?

Topic 2: In fewer than 400 words, give a player profile of any minor league player in the team’s current system that is not one of Justin Crawford, Andrew Painter or Aidan Miller.

Please note: the application process will be closed on February 28, 2026 at 12:00 pm. From that point, we will be reviewing all applications and writing samples over the next few weeks. We will respond back to you in a timely manner. If you have any questions about the application process, feel free to contact me directly.

Today we are looking at the talented but enigmatic right-hander.

Ben Brown has had several lives as a Chicago Cub. He’s worked as a starter and a reliever, has ridden the Iowa bus often. His talent is undeniable, but he just doesn’t get people out as consistently as he or the Cubs would like. There are times when he’s dominant, and there are times when he gives up runs in bunches, and the latter happens way too often.

The word is that he has a couple of new pitches and is being looked at as a starter.

“I developed a sinker and changeup this offseason,” Brown said.— Sharma{$}

26-year-old Ben sports a career 0.7 bWAR (2.4 fWAR). He’s at this point a suspect rather than a prospect but his electric stuff is still tantalizing and he’ll get one last shot. He started 15 games in 2025, with middling results. His 5-8 record and 5.74 ERA indicate his success, as do his 1.439 WHIP and 1.5 HR/9.

He’ll have to do better.

The Mets are adding more depth to their pitching staff, signing right-handed pitcher Bryce Conley to a minor league deal, reports Will Sammon of The Athletic. 

Conley, 31, has a 4.53 ERA and 1.36 WHIP over seven big league seasons, jumping back and forth between starting and relieving.

He worked mainly as a starter last season in the Nationals' system across 118.2 innings in Double-A and Triple-A.

Regardless of what role the Mets choose for him, Conley would seem to be ticketed for the minors to start the season.

The Mets are deciding whether to open the year with a five- or six-man starting rotation, which will be dictated in part by health.

Freddy Peralta, Nolan McLean, Clay Holmes, Sean Manaea, David Peterson, and Kodai Senga are the six main starters, with Christian Scott and Jonah Tong also in the mix.

Tobias Myers, who can start and relieve, is stretching out as a starter. His role is to be determined, but Carlos Mendozasaid on Wednesday that he will be on the team if healthy.

When it comes to the bullpen competition, there are four locks, health-dependent: Devin Williams, Luke Weaver, Brooks Raley,and Luis Garcia.

Craig Kimbrel is in camp on a minor league deal, and it stands to reason that he'll have an inside track to make the team if his stuff looks good.

Other competitors for a spot in the bullpen include Bryan Hudson, Huascar Brazoban, Adbert Alzolay, Dylan Ross, Ryan Lambert, and Jonathan Pintaro.

Last week, Royals Review Editor-in-ChLast week, Royals Review Editor-in-Chief Max Rieper asked us to highlight a minor leaguer to watch this spring. I immediately volunteered to write about a guy with a fantastic name who has been racing through the Royals’ system: Carson Roccaforte.

Roccaforte was drafted by KC in the 2023 Competitive Balance B round, 66th overall. He comes from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, where he slashed .325/.409/.550 in three seasons. He’s not known for his power, but he still popped 10 home runs in 2024 at High-A Quad Cities and 18 more last year between Quad Cities and Northwest Arkansas.

What stands out to me about Roccaforte is how he didn’t miss a beat after his promotion. He slashed .237/.364/.466/.830 (136 wRC+) for Quad Cities, then slashed .290/.387/.475/.862 for NWA (141 wRC+). Those numbers put him between Jac Caglianone and Carter Jensen in terms of how well he hit in NWA. There’s some caution – he sported a .410 BABIP. But he has a lot of speed (he stole 43 bases between both teams last year) and he does a very good job of pulling the ball without overdoing it, so it’s reasonable to expect him to carry a somewhat high BABIP, even if that’s still a bit too high. He was also nearly a year younger than his competition at AA, which is one of the best signs of potential among minor league players.

He brings a ton of plate discipline with a solid walk rate while avoiding strikeouts. Probably part of the reason he doesn’t show more power is that he has a very short swing, which allows him to make sure he gets the bat on the ball, but might be the reason for his somewhat low bat speed.

That said, we have some statistics from the Arizona Fall League that show he doesn’t chase, but does an excellent job of getting the barrel on the ball. While he was there, he slashed .279/.393/.485/.878 and whacked two home runs and eight doubles in only 18 games.

He’s likely to start the year by returning to Northwest Arkansas, but with Jac Caglianone heading to the World Baseball Classic, he might have a chance to get some more playing time in Spring Training than normal. If he has a very good spring, he might have a shot to start the year in Omaha, where the Royals are known to have a somewhat weak outfield group.

It’s almost impossible to envision Roccaforte breaking camp with the big league club, but he can play all three outfield positions – he won the Royals’ Minor League Defensive Player of the Year award while playing center in 2024. If he continues to rake as he did last year, all it would take is an injury or some ineffectiveness from any of the Royals’ current group of outfielders to see him make his debut sometime around midseason or later.

Even if he doesn’t debut for KC this season, he should find himself in a prime position to compete for a roster spot at the beginning of 2027, perhaps to take over from Kyle Isbel ahead of his age-30 season. The ceiling isn’t nearly as high as that of Jac Caglianone, of course, but if he can continue to improve his hitting, he could be something of a faster Luis Arráez with better defense at a more premium defensive position. And I think we’d all enjoy watching that guy patrol centerfield for years to come.

Mets owner Steve Cohen made waves at spring training on Monday when he declared that the team will never name a captain while he's the owner.

"As long as I'm owning the team, there will never be a team captain," Cohen said. "That was my decision. My view is, the locker room is unique and let the locker room sort it out, year-in, year-out. There will never be a captain. I've felt that way all along."

There was a belief last season thatFrancisco Lindor would eventually be named team captain -- a possibility that was discussed by both Lindor and manager Carlos Mendoza in 2025.

Speaking on Thursday, Lindor weighed in on Cohen's decision. 

"I respect it," Lindor told Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. "This is definitely a Steve, front office type decision. I respect it. At the end of the day … being named captain or not, I’m still going to act the same. This is not something that’s going to make me somebody different. So I respect it. I’m glad he put everything to bed, so that way we can stop talking about this. And move on."

Lindor added:

"It’s not where they want to go. I respect it, I understand it and I’m on board.

"It’s just one of those where it’s like, I’m going to focus on baseball. I feel like we’ve got leaders [without] captains and all that stuff. The clubhouse is the clubhouse. Let’s just play baseball, and let’s focus on winning."

Before their recent offseason overhaul, the Mets' clubhouse had a handful of position players who had been there for a significant period of time.

That included Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso.

Nimmo, who debuted in 2016 and was a mainstay in Queens for 10 seasons, was traded to the Rangers this offseason for Marcus Semien.

Alonso, who debuted in 2019 and became the team's all-time home run leader last season, left as a free agent to sign a five-year deal with the Orioles.

The risk is real when it comes to other players being miffed by one guy being named captain -- whoever that captain is. It's also a figurehead kind of title, so it's hard to argue with Cohen's reasoning behind not naming anyone while allowing the clubhouse to function as a unit.

In addition to Lindor, the big names in New York's clubhouse in 2026 will include the returning Juan Soto as well as newcomers Semien, Bo Bichette, and Jorge Polanco.

Since the team's inception in 1962, the Mets have had just four captains.

Keith Hernandez was named captain in 1987, becoming the first one in team history.

In 1988, Gary Carter was named a co-captain and shared the title with Hernandez.

Both Hernandez and Carter left the Mets after 1989, and the next captain was John Franco, who served in the role from 2001 to 2004.

David Wright, the most recent captain, held the role from 2013 to 2018.

There are currently just two team captains in baseball -- Aaron Judge of the Yankees and Salvador Perez of the Royals.

Howie Rose won’t be hitting the road this season unless the Mets make the playoffs.

The longtime radio voice of the Mets will call 84 games this season, he told Newsday — all 81 home games and the three-game series against the Yankees in The Bronx.

The 72-year-old, who worked 100 games in 2025, would call every playoff game, though, should the Mets qualify. Beyond that, nothing is guaranteed.

“I’m going to work this whole season,” Rose told the outlet. “And whether or not I work next season is not a matter of whimsy or anything like that. I’ll know. When I decide to say it — and it could be at any time — it could be in a couple of years. Who knows?”

Rose, who previously was the Mets’ TV play-by-player, has been part of their radio booth since 2004. He currently calls games with Keith Raad, while pre-and-postgame host Patrick McCarthy fills in when needed.

Rose’s schedule had been reduced in recent years in part due to bladder cancer, which he was diagnosed with in 2021. His bladder and prostate were removed and a “neobladder” was created from the intestines.

Calling games is still enjoyable for Rose, but everything that goes into it before and after has become a “grind.”

“If you could parachute me into the booth at 7 o’clock every night and parachute me back home when the game is over without dealing with traffic and preparation and everything else, then I’d go on indefinitely,” Rose told Newsday. “But there’s a lot of factors as you get older — your health, certainly the greatest of it. The other things that, I suppose, contribute to an ultimate decision is do I want to continue leaving my wife home at night all the time? Do I want to continue working at night? Do I want to continue finding the energy to prep properly for a game? Those are the things I evaluate.”

Rose will be on the call Saturday for the Mets’ spring opener against the Marlins in Port St. Lucie.

The start of spring training is usually the time of year where we start to hear copious reports about [insert any baseball player you want here] being in The Best Shape of His Life heading into camp. Ronald Acuña Jr. may fall into this category after he was spotted hitting batting practice bombs at the start of spring training and exclaiming loudly that “I’M HEALTHY!” afterwards. There’s no other message to take from this post other than Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is currently in The Best Shape of His Life.

While the topic of this particular article may not be in the best shape of his life, the Braves would certainly benefit from having him healthy once again and you might even say that it’s crucial that he stays healthy going forward. That man is Austin Riley, who has spent the past two seasons scuffling a bit and seeing his campaign get cut short due to injury. Just when Riley was starting to really get rolling in 2024, he got hit on the wrist with a heater and that was it for his season. A sports hernia essentially derailed anything that Riley had going on in 2025.

Of course, one player is not going to derail any given season. We got a clear example of that up close and personal in 2021 when this team won the World Series without Ronald Acuña Jr. playing any games in the second half or Postseason. With that being said, it’s a stone cold fact that this team absolutely needs to have Austin Riley doing well at the hot corner and the bottom line is that if this team is going to accomplish what it wants to, they need Riley to be healthy and productive.

Fortunately, it feels like Riley is feeling good coming into this season. Braves beat writer Mark Bowman wrote an article on Riley recently and while every single baseball team and player has reason to feel optimistic at this time of year, it sure seems like Atlanta’s star third baseman has very good reason to feel optimistic.

The sports hernia surgery performed this past summer didn’t limit Riley this offseason. So, there’s reason the two-time All-Star is confident he can get back to where he was when he finished top seven in National League MVP balloting three straight seasons (2021-23).

“The sports hernia, I’m not even thinking about it,” Riley said. “The hand, I’m not even thinking about it. So, having a whole offseason getting to do what I’ve done in the past is huge.”

Again, it’s probably not a coincidence that this team (and the lineup in particular) is better when Austin Riley is productive. Riley put up five consecutive 5 fWAR seasons from 2021 through 2023 — the Braves won the World Series in 2021, they won 101 games in 2022 and then won 104 games in 2023. During Riley’s injury plagued 2024 and 2025 campaigns, the team limped into the Wild Card round in 2024 and missed the Postseason entirely in 2025. Again, one man doesn’t make or break a team’s fortunes in the ultimate team sport that is baseball but it’s clear that Riley is going to play a very big part in any level of success that the Braves hope to have going forward.

The good news is that there seems to be some evidence that a healthy Austin Riley should live up to the lofty expectations that are expected of him. MLB.com also recently posted a list of every team’s projected leader in WAR for the upcoming season and while Ronald Acuña Jr. is the obvious favorite to lead the Braves in WAR going forward, there figures to be a furious fight for second place in that category and he leader of that pack might be Austin Riley. FanGraphs Depth Charts is projecting that Acuña will finish with 5.4 WAR as a batter but then Austin Riley is right behind him at a projected 3.6 WAR.

In fact, Riley’s being projected to hit .261/.324/.470 with .340 wOBA. While that’s slightly below his career numbers of .270/.334/.492 with .352 wOBA, it’s also better than the .258/.316/.445 slash line (with .328 wOBA) that he produced over the course of the past two seasons. In fact, his 2024 numbers (.256/.322/.461, .338 wOBA, 116 wRC+) weren’t terrible and were actually trending upwards until he got hit on the wrist.

Even in 2025, he was doing pretty well right up until his abdomen started acting up on him as he had hit .274/.324/.441 with a .330 wOBA and 111 wRC+ over 408 plate appearances. While all of these numbers are still lower than what he was putting up during his peak performance, it’s productive enough to help make sure that this is a tough lineup to deal with with a healthy Austin Riley in it.

Alex Anthopoulos is also on record saying that he believes that the offense as a whole bouncing back may be a more important influence on any of Atlanta’s future success going forward, so obviously that would include a healthy Austin Riley in any formula that leads to the Braves doing well as a lineup going forward. There may be some questions about health and consistency but a lot of this lineup has the track record behind them to believe that a bounce back could absolutely be possible.

Austin Riley is absolutely a prime candidate to bounce back and if he does then the Braves should be in very good shape going forward. Riley might not be the straw that stirs the drink but the Braves absolutely need a healthy and productive Riley to come through for them if they want to perform well as a team going forward. We’ll see what happens but for now, it’s fun to imagine Riley going out there and raking like usual while shattering all types of proverbial glass.