Category: MLB

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In these early days of spring training, there are a gaggle of pitchers who are in camp. Some are on the 40 man roster, some are guys in the minor league system who aren’t on the 40 man roster but who got invites, and some are veterans who are brought in on minor league deals to provide depth or to compete for a spot on the major league staff.

Today’s question…who of the veteran NRIs that the Texas Rangers have brought to camp is most likely to end up on the Opening Day pitching staff?

Cast your vote below…

The two latest Atlanta Braves pitchers dealing with elbow issues are now beginning to deal with those issues as both Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep are taking the route of surgery. According to a report from Braves beat writer Mark Bowman of MLB.com, Spencer Schwellenbach has already underwent surgery on his elbow to hopefully deal with the “loose bodies,” while Hurston Waldrep will undergo surgery on Monday to deal with the “loose bodies” in his own elbow.

As you can imagine, no timeline doesn’t exactly figure to be the most encouraging news for these two as far as a baseball prognosis is concerned. I think the best case scenario would be for Schwellenbach to miss maybe half of the season but with Waldrep, everything appears to be up in the air. Either he’ll likely follow Schwellenbach in returning in the latter portion of this season or this could be it for him. We really don’t know at this particular moment in time.

Either way, with both pitchers undergoing surgery, it’s clear that the Braves are going to be missing both of them for a significant period of time. While Waldrep only figured to be one of the competitors for the final spot in the starting rotation (which, again, figures to be a real and actual competition and not a case of simply giving it to an outside signing or trade acquisition), Schwellenbach figured to be a core piece of the rotation going forward. His spot will have to be filled and I suppose we’ll have to keep a close eye on spring training to see who ends up being the frontrunner to replace Schwellenbach in the rotation once the season starts.

For now, the Braves are at least aware of the fact that they’ll be down two young starters for a significant portion of this season. Hopefully that number stays at two and doesn’t start to balloon at any point in the near future.

The Dodgers open their Cactus League schedule this weekend with a pair of road games — Saturday against the Angels in Tempe, and Sunday vs. the Padres in Peoria. Shohei Ohtani will be in the lineup for each of the first two games, manager Dave Roberts told reporters on Wednesday at Camelback Ranch. Additionally, Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start either Saturday or Sunday.

It’s the earliest Ohtani will have played in a spring training game in his now three years with Los Angeles. In 2024, when he was coming off a second Tommy John surgery the previous September, Ohtani’s first spring game for the Dodgers was February 27, five days after their Cactus League opener. Last season, coming off left shoulder surgery in the previous November, Ohtani didn’t play in a spring game until February 28, eight days after the Dodgers’ opener.

Ohtani homered in each of those first two spring games.

Whether Yamamoto starts Saturday or Sunday, it will likely be his only Cactus League appearance before leaving to join Team Japan for the World Baseball Classic, with training camp beginning in Tokyo next Friday, February 27.

Either way, counting his time away pitching for Japan, there is time this spring for at least five starts for Yamamoto to build up toward the regular season. Count that as a benefit to opening the season the same time as everyone else, rather than beginning more than a week early on a different continent.

Both Dodgers games this weekend will start at 12:10 p.m. PT, and both will be televised by SportsNet LA, simulcast on AM 570, and broadcast in Spanish on KTNQ 1020 AM.

As this series grows closer and closer to its end, we come upon contracts that can’t be assessed on the whole, because they are still underway. Over the last handful of offseasons, the Yankees have put a particular emphasis on left-handed starting pitching, as much of their resources of flowed in that direction of late. One of the main benefactors of this was Carlos Rodón, who signed prior to the 2023 season.

A one-time prized pitching prospect who experienced a post-injury renaissance in his late-20s, Rodón ascended to become one of baseball’s most dominant starters, and got a major pay day from the Yankees as a result. Now halfway through their six-year agreement, the results have been a bit mixed for the lefty, but he is coming off of some of his finest work in 2025.

Carlos Rodón
Signing Date: December 21, 2022
Contract: Six years, $162 million

Carlos Rodón grew up in North Carolina, and displayed prowess on the mound that was immediately evident to major league eyes. He was drafted out of high school in 2011, but made the jump to the pros a few years later, when he was selected with the third overall pick in the 2014 amateur draft by the White Sox.

The hard-throwing lefty made his MLB debut with Chicago a year later in 2015, and put together a very solid rookie campaign in 139.1 innings on the South Side. Over his first four seasons with the Sox, Rodón had some solid stretches on the bump, and worked out to a roughly average run preventor, though he was only able to top 140 innings once from 2015 to ‘18. From there, his career really began to take a turn for the worse. The then 26-year-old missed most of the 2019 and 2020 seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery, and pitched poorly when he was on the mound.

Rodón fell far enough to be non-tendered by the White Sox following the 2020 season, before being re-signed on a one-year deal. The move may have served as some kind of wake-up call, however, as post-injury Rodón seemed to be a different animal. A no-hitter against Cleveland in April of ‘21 helped to kick off a career-year for the lefty. In 132.2 innings (his most in half a decade), he boasted a 2.37 ERA and 2.65 FIP, while striking out an impressive 185 batters along the way, helping him earn his first career All-Star selection not long after it appeared his days in the big leagues were numbered.

The left-hander parlayed the late breakout season into a two-year, $45 million contract with the Giants prior to the 2022 season, with the second year being a player option, and he was able to pick up right where he left off. With San Francisco Rodón was perhaps even better, pitching a then-career-high 178 innings with a sub-3 ERA once again, and FIP and K/9 numbers that both led the league. As a Giant, the lefty amassed a career-best 237 strikeouts —the Rodón-aissance was in full effect, and it was happening at just the right time. With back-to-back top-six Cy Young finishes now in tow, Rodón hit free agency once again after declining his player option.

Not too long after the season ended, in December of 2022, Rodón cashed in by signing a six-year contract with the Yankees for $162 million. The excitement was easy to see, as the lefty had suddenly become one of the sport’s best pitchers, but his tenure in New York got off to a brutal start. He began the 2023 season on the injured list with forearm problems, not to mention that the 64.1 innings he did pitch upon returning were some of the worst in his career. Off the bat, the contract looked like a miss, as the resurfaced injury trouble, increasing walk rate, and ERA approaching 7.00 indicated they had signed someone very different than the two-time All-Star. It all came to a close with an absolute disaster of a regular-season finale, Rodón recording zero outs in eight batters faced, allowing six runs, and infamously turning his back on pitching coach Matt Blake.

Despite all that, Rodón rebounded nicely in his second season with the Yankees, his age-31 campaign. The left-handed starter returned at least partially to form in pinstripes, as he tossed 175 innings, and racked up just shy of 200 strikeouts. He seemed to have his health back, which was obviously a priority, and the pitching was much better than that of the nightmare season he had just come off of.

Rodón was vital in the postseason as well, as he made four starts in their pennant-winning October. This stretch included a pair of starts in the ALCS against Cleveland, which saw him give up three runs in over 10 innings of work, striking out 15 in total.

A season later, in 2025, Carlos Rodón fully arrived, and helped to show why the Yankees made the commitment they did. Prior to the start of the season, the club received the crushing news that they’d be without ace Gerrit Cole for the entire season, making a successful season from their $162 million man all the more important. Now tasked with that additional pressure, Rodón delivered with one of the better seasons of his career in the major leagues.

For starters, the lefty tossed a career-high 195.1 innings, particularly important when considering Cole’s absence. On top of the durability needed to make 33 starts, Rodón pitched to the tune of 3.09 ERA, and reclaimed some of his strikeout prowess, topping 200 for the second time in his career. For the most part, this was the pitcher the Yankees signed, and he was recognized accordingly, with another All-Star selection and more down-ballot love in the Cy Young voting (sixth-place finish).

He was once again saddled with a significant role in the postseason for 2025, and although he made a solid start in the Wild Card round, he tossed a dud in his start against the Blue Jays in the Division Series.

Carlos Rodón’s career in the majors has been one full of ups and downs, and in all fairness, the veteran pitcher has shown time and again his ability to get back up after difficult stretches. What originally seemed to be a prospect-to-bust career arc for Rodón turned into a couple of All-Star seasons, and eventually a nine-figure deal with the Yankees. After that deal started on a rather rough note, the lefty proved himself once again with one of the better seasons of his career, with an uncharacteristically large workload at the age of 32.

With his contract now at the midway point, it is difficult to fully assess the success of the move. There was a lost season to begin the deal, and Rodón will begin the 2026 season on the injured list as well. But, he was vital to the team over the last two seasons, and his most recent work was some of the best we’ve seen from him. The jury is still out, but there’s little reason to expect any steep decline from the talented hurler — and either way, his signing was a significant one to the construction of this club.

See more of the “50 Most Notable Yankees Free Agent Signings in 50 Years” series here.

In one of my first editions of the lab, I mentioned something I called “magical thinking.” I think the kids call it wishcasting but I’m not necessarily down on the lingo. The idea behind magical thinking is that the person practicing it thinks of the most positive result from a particular player or situation and assumes that to be not only possible, but likely.

Usually, this does not impact those inside organizations, but it can if the organizations are not mindful of the analytics. We see this more from the general public. There is no greater example than Yainer Diaz. People seem to think he should be a 30 home run guy and maybe even a .300 hitter. Unfortunately, there is not much to base this on in terms of actual performance. What we will do in this series in Spring Training is look at the Astros position by position and determine what is likely to happen based on some key numbers. Before we dive in, I thought we should review those numbers.

• Chase rate: This is the percentage of balls a player swings at outside of the zone. The league average normally lives between 30 and 32 percent, but we will be looking at three year intervals and we should notice trends more than where a player is in relationship to the league average.
• Hard hit percentage: This is simply the percentage of balls that a player hits hard. Hard hit balls become hits and extra base hits more often than softer contact. Typically 35 percent is around the league average in this category.
• BABIP: This is batting average on balls in play. Home runs are obviously excluded since they are not in play. The league average tends to hover around .300 but it will largely depend on hard hit percentages and breakdowns between groundballs, flyballs, and line drives.
• Contact percentage: This is the percentage of swings that turn into contact. Typically 70-75 percent is around league average.
• HR/FB percentage: This is the percentage of flyballs that result in home runs. Ten percent is typically around the league average.

Yainer Diaz

Expectations of 30 home run power are based on an unsustainable home run per flyball rate from 2023. He still has more power than most players, but we have to focus on what he does well. Diaz hits the ball more often than most players and he hits it harder than most players. That is what scouts would lovingly call the hit tool. So, if we were to expect any number to go up for Diaz it would probably be batting average. If hard hit ball rates and contact rates remain constant then he could very well hit as high as .280 with the current underlying numbers.

Of course, that brings us to the negative. Diaz probably chases more than any regular in the game. What’s more, that rate seems to be fairly constant over the three years. This is one of the reasons why plate discipline needs to be added as a sixth tool. Diaz can put the bat on the ball even when it is outside the zone, but that contact usually doesn’t result in extra base hits.

The chase rate will be a number I will track throughout the year because it will tell us whether the new hitting coaches can mute some of his aggressive tendencies. Balls in the zone are typically hit more often and hit harder than balls outside the zone. I don’t think Diaz would ever be a good disciplined hitter, but if we could elevate himself to even below average in that category (35-40 percent) then it could lead to more walks and to more pitches for him to hit in the zone.

Cesar Salazar

Remove the soft contact and Salazar is as close as you can get to an average major league hitter. His chase rate is fairly close to average. His BABIP is fairly close to average and his contact rates are fairly close to average. He simply does not hit the ball hard and does not have enough power. The good news is that the hard hit ball rate has steadily climbed in each pass through the big leagues. The bad news is that his next home run will be his first one.

Salazar is there because there is really no one else at this point. Of course, that could change this week or next as rumors are swirling about Christian Vazquez being signed to give the team a veteran option. Of course, that rumor has been circulating for weeks. In case it comes to fruition, we will list his numbers below as a comparison.

Christian Vazquez

One of the offshoots of magical thinking is what we might call “the Jeff Bagwell theory.” As Bagwell is fond of saying, players will produce the numbers that are on the back of the baseball card. The difficulty with this theory is that almost every player goes into rot late in their career. It happened to Bagwell himself in 2004 and 2005. it happened to Craig Biggio in his last couple of seasons. It is rare for a player to finish on top. So, magical thinking would look at the aggregate above and assume Vazquez will get back there. It is certainly possible. Rot is also possible for a catcher in his mid-thirties.

In particular, the hard hit percentage and home runs per flyball rates concern me. It shows a concerning reduction in power that could crater the overall numbers. A return to even the aggregate in hard hit percentage, BABIP, and even home runs per flyball rate make Vazquez a viable backup catcher. Continued rot in those categories do not.

What do you think are reasonable expectations for these players? Are you predicting a return to near all-star performance for Yainer Diaz or do you think we will see more of the same?

From an offensive perspective, three outcomes all but assure a miserable result in a plate appearance: a strikeout, pop-up, or double play ball on the ground. Devoid of function and aesthetic, all three demand failure by the batter as well as success by an opponent, but they are most commonly where I see and feel frustration while watching baseball. In contrast to the Three True Outcomes of walks, strikeouts, and homers, there is no mixed bag in this virtue-less trio. Like the chthonic goddesses of Greek yore, these three outcomes are my Baseball Furies (not to be confused with the other Baseball Furies).

In some ways, those at the helm of the sport share this sentiment. A well-earned strikeout is gorgeous, but a balance-less sport can be rote. The efforts to curb bullpen engorgement, along with several quality of life adjustments to the sport’s pace and baserunning seem to have at least slightly arrested MLB’s longstanding upward creep in strikeout rate. The 2025 season was MLB’s sixth 40,000 strikeout campaign, but it was also just the third campaign (besides 2021, following the shortened 2020 gauntlet) since 2005 – when the non-pitcher strikeout rate for hitters was 16.0% leaguewide – to see a drop in the league-average strikeout rate. You might’ve missed the parade, watching 22.2% of hitters whiff down from the full-season records of 22.6% and 22.7% in 2024 and 2023, but it’s progress. The how of this trend is not just legislative alterations, it’s hitters consciously altering their behavior, and players like Brendan Donovan seeing their skills creep into higher prioritization.

Donovan is anathema to the Baseball Furies, who will fittingly frame his lens today. It’s not enough to just make contact, or even just slap singles – if it were, Yuniesky Betancourt might’ve been a valuable big leaguer instead of an example of why every big league club now is at least some basic level of analytical in their assessment of the sport. Yes, Brendan Donovan strikes out sparingly, even for 30 years ago, with a minute 13.5% punch-out rate for his career, against a 9.1% walk rate and a healthy .282/.361/.411 line with a 119 wRC+. Just 12 other qualified hitters struck out less often (a sample of 145 hitters) last year. Self-selectingly, they are mostly solid players, though most qualifying hitters are, or else they’d likely not qualify. But it’s Donovan’s ability to do things like this, converting a well-located pitch in a two-strike count into a game-changing line drive, that not only shed strikeouts, but improve Seattle’s roster.

One Fury tamed, two more to go.

Unlike strikeouts, there’s no mighty furor over the trends in pop-ups within baseball. In 2025, players generated infield pop-ups on about 9.9% of their fly balls, per FanGraphs, within essentially the same 1-2% ebb and flow range it’s been since tracking data became uniform in 2002. Baseball Savant’s database on contact goes back to 2008 for pop-ups, with ‘25 yielding a whopping 8,818 pop-ups, or 1.2% or pitches, nearly identical to each other year in the sample, albeit a lessening trajectory down from a consistent 10,000+ from 2008-2011.

Should we mourn the dwindling pop fly? Unless you are in the pocket of Big Can of Corn, there’s little to lament. Pop-ups yielded a .012 Weighted On-Base Average last year, functionally no better than just striking out. Despite making contact at such a high clip and only putting the ball over the fence around a dozen times each year, Donovan’s propensity to avoid pointless pop-ups allows him to avoid empty ABs. Many of the most prodigious pop-uppers are high-contact players like Nolan Arenado, Jose Altuve, and… approximately half of the Milwaukee Brewers lineup last year. But like Donovan, their success comes from splashing enough other contact around the outfield grass to compensate for their fallow fly balls, or clubbing the ball with enough authority (like fellow pop-up producers Cal Raleigh and Kyle Schwarber) to make it worth the risk. For Donovan, his barrel control allows him to cover not just good off-speed below the zone, but heat above it.

That leaves us with just the final Fury, the twin killing terror. While her power is on wane, with 2025 featuring the fewest double plays grounded into since the league expanded to 30 clubs in 1998, Donovan should find this deity his ultimate challenge. Plenty of contact, commonly enough on the ground, and only mediocre foot speed for a big leaguer, it should be the recipe for a double play all day. Sure, Donovan has the benefit of the lefty batter’s box, and is not a true plodder, but Mariners fans are not so far removed from the bittersweetness of Ty France in this regard. And yet, a season ago, Donovan tied with eight others for the 10th-fewest GIDPs in baseball, doing so just four times all season. That tied him with, once again, Schwarber, a famous double play eschewer by the more blunt method of simply never hitting groundballs.

It’s no one-off, either. Since entering the league in 2022, through his combination of sprayed contact, high-effort, and, perhaps, intentional approach, Donovan has grounded into just 20 double plays. 20, in 2,006 plate appearances, tied for 18th-fewest in MLB since 2022 for hitters with at least 1,500 PAs, of which there are 179. To credit Donovan with his successes instead of merely the vices he avoids, since entering the league Donovan has a .307/.389/.451 line with runners on base – a 136 wRC+ that’s 27th out of 251 qualifiers (min. 500 PA) in 788 such plate appearances.

Like many – but not all – hitters, he’s better with runners on, but in Donovan’s case it is a noted improvement, a 136 wRC+ with runners on against a 109 wRC+ with the bases empty.

Herein lies the only conflict I see with Donovan’s fit in Seattle’s roster. The presumptive third baseman of plurality, if not majority, he’ll scuttle across the diamond as needed and provide cromulent glovework. On the heels of Jorge Polanco, blessed may he be, a defensive upgrade is the easiest and least pertinent bar, but it will be noticed. But most projections for Donovan’s fit have placed him as the leadoff hitter in the M’s lineup. He’d be just fine there, and lineup construction is a bit of a cascading impossibility to isolate. His rhyming traits with Josh Naylor create a funny lean for Seattle’s roster, but one to be categorized in the realm of “good problem to have.” Whether Donovan is leading off or cleaning up, he’s well-suited to be the one creating fury for opponents yet again.

Here are the managers and coaching staffs for the Cubs minor league affiliates: Iowa Cubs, Knoxville Smokies, South Bend Cubs, Myrtle Beach Pelicans, the Arizona Complex League Cubs and the team in the Dominican Summer League. Many of these you will recognize from previous years.

The managers are detailed below. The full coaching staffs follow.

Marty Pevey returns as manager of the Iowa Cubs for the 14th consecutive season, extending his franchise-record tenure while his 822 victories are also a franchise mark. Entering his 18th season in the organization, he has over 30 years of professional experience, beginning with 13 seasons as a player. All told, Pevey owns a 1,466-1,511 minor league managerial record and his 1,466 victories are fifth-most among active minor league skippers through 2025.

Lance Rymel enters his third season as manager of the Knoxville (previously Tennessee) Smokies following two seasons at the helm in South Bend. He guided the 2025 Smokies to a 69-67 record. This will be his 11th season as a coach or manager in the Cubs organization, where he also managed Single-A Eugene in 2019 and the Cubs Dominican Summer League squad in 2017-18.

Daniel Wasinger enters his first season as manager of the South Bend Cubs, after serving as South Bend’s Bench Coach in 2025. He began his coaching career in 2024, joining the Cubs organization as a Development Coach with the Myrtle Beach.

Yovanny Cuevas enters his second season as manager for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, following three years coaching within the Cubs system. He previously served as the hitting coach for the ACL Mesa Cubs (2024) and the Dominican Summer League Cubs (2023) and as the hitting fellow of the Rookie League Cubs (2022).

Dixon Machado enters his first season as manager of the Arizona Complex League Mesa Cubs, after playing with the Iowa Cubs in 2025. Machado played 14 minor league seasons with the Tigers, Cubs, Giants and Astros farm systems from 2010-19 and 2022-25 and two seasons in the KBO from 2020-21.

Enrique Wilson is in his ninth season with the Cubs Dominican Summer League club and his fifth as a manager after serving as a hitting coach. He had a nine-year major league playing career with Cleveland (1997-2000), Pittsburgh (2000-01), the Yankees (2001-04) and the Cubs (2005).

Jovanny Rosario is in his second stint as manager of the Cubs Dominican Summer League team after holding the position in 2021 and his 11th year coaching in the Cubs system. Following his time in the DSL in 2021, he served as the bench coach for Myrtle Beach in 2022, coached in the Arizona Complex League in 2023 and returned to the Dominican Summer League as a coach from 2024-25.

TAMPA — The MLB Players Association may not have an official leader at the moment, but the players are doubling down on the strength of the union.

Austin Wells, the Yankees player rep, held a meeting with his teammates Wednesday morning to deliver that message and address the fallout of the sudden resignation Tuesday by executive director Tony Clark, which came at a critical time with a labor battle looming next offseason.

“It’s a message of strength,” Wells said Wednesday at Steinbrenner Field. “We’re just as strong as we were Friday versus today.

“I think we have a lot of confidence in our executive subcommittee, who did a great job handling all this. They were very informative [Tuesday] in the meeting that we had. [They] explained what was happening to us, and they did a great job handling it. It’s not an easy situation. So on the players’ side of things, we have a lot of confidence in that.”

Wells was on a call Tuesday with all 30 player reps and the executive subcommittee, in which they opted not to vote on an immediate replacement for Clark, who stepped down in the wake of an internal investigation that found he had an inappropriate relationship with his sister-in-law, who was hired by the MLBPA in 2023.

The expectation was that there would be another call later Wednesday after player reps had a chance to talk through things with their respective teams, with the potential to elect an interim leader then.

“[Clark’s resignation] came as a little bit of a surprise,” Wells said. “It’s unfortunate but I think we’re moving in a good direction.”

Wells had been an alternate rep the last two seasons while reliever Scott Effross served as the Yankees’ player rep. But with Effross now in the Tigers organization, after the Yankees non-tendered him in November, Wells stepped into the main role at an interesting time.

“It’s an exciting opportunity, especially this year, coming into probably the biggest negotiation we’re going to have, at least in my short career,” Wells said. “I’m looking forward to that opportunity and just being able to help represent our team.

“We have a ton of guys with experience in here, which has helped a lot.”


Gerrit Cole, for example, was previously on the executive subcommittee, a tenure that coincided with the lockout during the 2021-22 offseason. There is a growing fear around the game that another, potentially lengthier, lockout is coming next winter when the current CBA expires on Dec. 1.

“We don’t want that,” Wells said. “We hope we can get a deal done to have a normal season next year, but we’re prepared to do what we have to.”

The Angels began spring training last week at Diablo Stadium in Tempe, Ariz., with a new manager in Kurt Suzuki and plenty of new faces to go with some familiar ones like veteran Mike Trout. The Angels, who open the season March 26 against the Astros in Houston, have not had a winning season since 2015 and last made the postseason in 2014.

Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Action is starting to pick up in spring camp as the beginning of Grapefruit League play looms ahead this weekend. The Tigers will kick off their 2026 spring schedule on Saturday at 1:05 p.m. ET on the road against the Yankees. Then they’ll welcome in the Orioles and the Twins on Sunday and Monday at home, also set for 1:05 p.m. ET start times.

On Wednesday morning, the tentative pitching plan for the first three games was reported by Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic Detroit. Keider Montero will kick things off against the Yankees. Jack Flaherty and minor league lefty Bryan Sammons are scheduled to face the Orioles on Sunday, and Tarik Skubal will make his spring debut on Monday against the Twins. Free agent acquisition Drew Anderson will also pitch on Monday. And of course this is all subject to change.

Saturday’s game is set to be broadcast on what is now Tigers TV, while the games on Sunday and Monday will only be on the radio with Dan Dickerson on the mic.

Justin Verlander was back in Lakeland throwing a bullpen after being away over the weekend on a personal matter. He and Dillon Dingler had some conversations about setups behind the plate and how the future Hall of Famer likes his targets set. They also talked a bit about angles to hitters on either side of the plate.

You can check that out below, and as a bonus we have Josue Briceño taking Tarik Skubal deep in a live BP session. Even in practice, you love to see that from the 21-year-old top 100 ranked slugging prospect. Hitting a tank to right off the best left-hander in the game is a nice note for the Tigers #4 ranked prospect.

So, I guess they’re really doing this, huh? We’ve been hearing more and more from the Braves (particularly President of Baseball Operations/GM Alex Anthopoulos) about how the club is reportedly pretty confident in their internal options and are willing to let the fifth spot in the rotation be an open competition instead of going out and snapping up another starting pitcher, either via trade or free agency.

It would be understandable to think that this might be a GM-speak smokescreen of sorts since I’m certain that the Braves wouldn’t be the only team looking to give their rotation a last-minute boost at this stage in the baseball calendar. Well, apparently it’s not a smokescreen and this is just the way it’s going to be. Gabe Burns of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting that one name that the Braves were previously linked to was actually a bit overblown. Lucas Giolito’s name has been associated with the Braves for long portions of the offseason and as it turns out, you should probably hold off on getting your Giolito jerseys any time soon.

There have been reports linking the Braves to free-agent starter Lucas Giolito, but any connection between the parties has been overstated, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has learned. The Braves haven’t been involved in Giolito’s market.

That also explains why the Braves didn’t exactly go hard on pursuing Chris Bassitt before he got picked up by the Orioles. Here’s more from that article from Burns:

The Braves also didn’t seriously pursue veteran Chris Bassitt, whom many speculated was a logical fit and would’ve been welcomed in the clubhouse.

The only conclusion to make here is that the Braves are likely dead serious about feeling confident in their internal options. The natural thing to do next is to mosey on over to FanGraphs to take a look at what the Braves depth chart is looking like when it comes to their rotation. You’ve got the four names that the team has mentioned since spring training began: Chris Sale, Spencer Strider, Reynaldo López and Grant Holmes. Then you have the fifth spot, which is projected to be filled by none other than Bryce Elder, himself.

Again: As long as Elder isn’t at the top of the “Innings Pitched” leaderboard for this team, this might end up being fine. If Elder stays in that fifth spot and can simply eat innings while (hopefully) avoiding his habit of grooving at least one or even two pitches right down the middle for them to get hit to the moon then this should be fine! However, if the rotation continues to struggle with health like they did last season then there’s a very good chance that this could come back to bite this ballclub in the butt. Again, the internal depth for this pitching staff isn’t exactly encouraging and it surely doesn’t help quell any anxiety to see guys like Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep go down this early in the season’s calendar.

Perhaps that explains why the team didn’t get aggressive in pursuing starting pitching in free agency. I suppose they figure that as long as both Schwellenbach and Waldrep have a smooth recovery and that the rotation stays healthy then this will be a perfectly fine rotation. To be fair to the front office, things did work out with the pitching staff as recently as 2024, which the GM will be quick to remind anybody who asks that they led the league in ERA (ERA-, FIP and FIP- as well) during that campaign. From that 2024 rotation, Chris Sale is still here alongside Reynaldo López and (hopefully at some point) Spencer Schwellenbach will be able to contribute as well.

With that being said, banking on a repeat of 2024 would be about as risky of a bet as saying that the entire rotation is going to get seriously injured yet again. The hope is for this part rotation to land somewhere in the upper-middle portion between those two extremes and if things go right as far as health is concerned, that could very well be the case.

Still, I really don’t think it was the best idea to simply run it back with the internal depth instead of seriously pursuing some outside options. Of course, I’m just a blogger and for all we know, the Braves may have simply just hit their ceiling as far as the budget is concerned (which is not the same as being cheap — again, this roster was shooting for a Top 5 payroll and very nearly reached that space) and the corporate overlords running the team simply weren’t willing to move the ceiling any higher. That could also explain why the team went to arbitration with Dylan Lee over $200 thousand but that’s another story for another day.

I think we’re all hoping that it works out with this rotation but if it doesn’t then your concerns are totally valid! We’ll see what happens, y’all.

Last offseason, the Rays acquired Mason Englert from the Tigers for Drew Sommers, adding a flexible, multi-inning arm with option years. Englert fit that role well, posting solid results while working more than one inning in nearly half his appearances.

But the interesting question is whether the Rays should ask for more. Marc Topkin reported that Englert was in consideration for a rotation spot prior to bringing in Nick Martinez. Signing Martinez should not come at the expense of Englert getting stretched out.

Englert’s combination of plus strike-throwing, shape diversity, and outlier command – particularly of his change-up – gives him traits that translate beyond middle relief. With incremental adjustments already underway in, there’s a plausible path toward a back-end starter role.

Background

A fourth-round pick in 2018, Englert lost nearly three seasons to Tommy John surgery and the pandemic but quickly established himself as a strike-throwing starter in A-ball. By 2022, his 66% strike rate and deep repertoire made him a Rule 5 target.

The Tigers followed the usual script for Rule 5 pickups who have to remain on the major league roster. They deployed him in low-leverage relief. It wasn’t a surprise that Englert didn’t immediately replicate his previous MiLB success – especially when considering he skipped AAA.

In 2024 Rule 5 no longer applied, meaning Englert could be optioned, and he appropriately spent most of the season in AAA. His production in the majors, when promoted, still wasn’t great, but it was an improvement from what he had shown in 2023.

Joining the Rays

Englert’s defining trait is strike-throwing – a skill the Rays value quite a bit.

The team helped alter Englert’s cutter shape in 2025, reducing vertical break while adding some horizontal movement. The result is a pitch with clearer separation from his four-seamer and more gyro characteristics – effectively blending his previous cutter and slider into a single, more versatile shape. The 2025 grip shows him working more around the ball (top image; index finger more on the side of the ball), compared to the more behind-the-ball grip in 2024 (bottom image; index finger more behind the ball).

Englert now throws three distinct fastball shapes – similar to the Drew Rasmussen and Shawn Armstrong molds we’ve seen in the past. Fastballs are generally the easiest shapes to command, but tend to not generate as many whiffs, so it makes sense that Englert has become more of a contact manager with this adjustment. The rest of his arsenal remains largely unchanged. Any subtle differences in shapes could be attributed to his arm slot shifting from 33 degrees in 2024 to 40 degrees in 2025.

The other change to Englert’s arsenal when he joined the Rays was that he added a larger breaking ball shape. Though used sparingly (8%), the addition hints at preparation for a starter or bulk role in 2026. This upper 70s breaking ball gives him a third distinct velocity band in his arsenal; his four-seamer and two-seamer sit low 90s while his offspeed pitch and cutter sit in the upper 80s. Multiple shapes and velocity bands give him different looks the second and third time through a lineup.

While it may lack significant velocity or VAA separation from his fastball that you’d typically want, Englert’s best pitch is his change-up. He might have 70 grade command of it. Many pitchers have a single, general intended location for each of their pitches, but Englert is actually able to locate his change-up to two distinct locations depending on the batter’s handedness. Below is his heatmap of the pitch against RHB last season:

And here it is to LHB:

While this pitch doesn’t have any physical outlier traits in movement or how it interacts with his fastball, his command of it is an outlier. It’s clear why he feels so comfortable throwing the pitch to righties just as much as lefties.

The obvious objection to Englert moving to the rotation is that he doesn’t miss enough bats to profile as a traditional starter. His velocity sits in the low 90s, and his whiff rates have been modest. But the Rays have repeatedly shown they value shape diversity and command over pure velocity. Starting isn’t only about overpowering hitters; it’s about sequencing, disrupting timing, and navigating a lineup. Englert’s arsenal gives him tools to do exactly that.

Looking Ahead to 2026

Given his command, shape diversity, and developmental runway, the Rays have little to lose by stretching him out. He has distinct attack plans for both LHB and RHB, with enough shapes to vary sequencing multiple times through a lineup. He may not immediately crack the major league rotation, and he’s in his final option year so there’s some flexibility with how he could be used between AAA and the majors. The Rays don’t need Mason Englert to become a frontline starter. They just need to find out if there’s more here than middle relief, and the evidence suggests it’s worth asking the question.

The 2026 edition of Red Reporter’s Community Prospect Rankings wrapped this week, doing so with nearly 3,000 total responses during the voting process. Thank you to each and every one of you who took the time to participate with us this year.

Here’s how the list shook out:

1. Sal Stewart
2. Alfredo Duno
3. Rhett Lowder
4. Hector Rodriguez
5. Edwin Arroyo
6. Cam Collier
7. Steele Hall
8. Tyson Lewis
9. Chase Petty
10. Arnaldo Lantigua
11. Jose Franco
12. Zach Maxwell
13. Leo Balcazar
14. Adolfo Sanchez
15. Carlos Jorge
16. Aaron Watson
17. Julian Aguiar
18. Tyler Callihan
19. Sheng-En Lin
20. Ricky Cabrera

Here’s how the Top 20 of the 2025 Community Prospect Rankings looked for comparison:

1. Rhett Lowder
2. Chase Burns
3. Edwin Arroyo
4. Chase Petty
5. Cam Collier
6. Sal Stewart
7. Alfredo Duno
8. Sammy Stafura
9. Ricky Cabrera
10. Hector Rodriguez
11. Tyson Lewis
12. Connor Phillips
13. Sheng-En Lin
14. Luke Holman
15. Zach Maxwell
16. Ty Floyd
17. Adam Serwinowski
18. Rece Hinds
19. Carlos Jorge
20. Julian Aguiar

Obviously, there were some graduates from last year’s rankings, with Chase Burns, Connor Phillips, and Rece Hinds having logged enough big league service time to no longer qualify as prospects anymore. Sammy Stafura was included in the deal with Pittsburgh that landed Ke’Bryan Hayes in Cincinnati, while Adam Serwinowski was dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the three-team deal that landed Zack Littell with the Reds for last season’s stretch run.

Congrats to those Reds prospects on the distinguished honor of being included in this year’s CPR!

TAMPA, FL – There was no spring training surprise with Giancarlo Stanton in this Yankees camp.

“Ready to go," said Stanton on Tuesday, about the one-year anniversary when he arrived in Florida with elbow issues that delayed his entry until mid-June.

As a slugging right-handed hitter, the designated hitter’s “presence in the middle of the lineup is really big," said manager Aaron Boone, who “really noticed it" in 2024.

Following a lost 2023 season, Stanton was “such a presence" behind Juan Soto and Aaron Judge in 2024, culminating in another terrific postseason – seven homers in 14 games.

Last year, Stanton clubbed 24 homers with 66 RBIs in just 77 games, and his .944 OPS was the highest of his eight-year Yankees career.

Here are five things to know as he enters his ninth season in pinstripes:

Luzardo star of show with ‘electric' performance against live hitters originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

CLEARWATER, Fla. – The intensity ramped up significantly during the third day of full squad workouts at Phillies spring training.

Jesus Luzardo, Aaron Nola and Andrew Painter faced live hitters on Wednesday morning, putting on a show for the fans in attendance at BayCare Ballpark’s main field.

And make no mistake – Luzardo was the star of the show.

“He was really, really good,” said Brandon Marsh, who struck out looking against Luzardo. “You couldn’t see any of his spins, which is hard for a hitter. His fastball was electric, it exploded. He gave me a really good sequence and you just tip your cap to him.”

So how do you hit Luzardo when he has all of his pitches working?

“You don’t,” Marsh said. “Short and sweet, you don’t hit him when he’s on. When he hits his spot and puts it where he wants to, he’s as good as they come. That was really, really exciting to see that out of him today.”

Luzardo was flat out dominant in his first live session of the spring, keeping hitters off balance with a dizzying combination of his high-90’s fastball and lethal breaking pitches.

“I felt great,” Luzardo said following Wednesday’s workout. “Just commanding the zone and commanding all of my pitches. When you check those off early in camp that’s obviously huge. The rest just comes with experience throughout camp. But health and command are the two big ones for me for my first live (session). It was a nice little boost of confidence going into games soon.”

Luzardo’s performance caught everyone’s attention, including his manager.

“Luzardo was, I mean, really good,” Rob Thomson said. “Everything about it.”

It begs the question – how much better can Luzardo be this year following a 2025 season during which he set career-highs in starts, wins, innings pitched and strikeouts?

“I’m looking forward to this year,” Luzardo said. “Last year was great. But I’ve got a lot of work to do this year.”

Evaluating Nola and Painter

Nola and Painter weren’t as dominant as Luzardo on Wednesday but they each attacked hitters from the outset, something that tends to be rare for the first live session of the spring.

“They haven’t seen hitters in five months,” Thomson said. “Typically 60-65 percent of the time, pitchers walk the first hitter they face. It’s fascinating. These guys didn’t do that. They went right after the hitters. Nola’s command was really good. He threw some backdoor cutters to lefties that hit the spot. Changeup was really good, fastball was really good.”

Painter allowed quite a bit of loud contact to several hitters. It didn’t appear to be a particularly great live session for a young player whose every move this spring will be met with heavy scrutiny.

But overall Thomson was impressed with Painter’s outing.     

“His stuff was good, his control was good,” Thomson said. “He threw a lot of strikes and filled up the zone. He missed some spots early (in the session) but he commanded the ball better late.”

Pitching Plans

Thomson announced that righthander Bryse Wilson will start the Phillies’ first Grapefruit League game of the spring on Saturday against the Blue Jays in Dunedin. The 28-year old Wilson signed a one-year contract with the Phillies in the offseason. He posted a 6.65 ERA in five starts and 15 relief appearances for the White Sox last season.

The Phillies will go with a bullpen game in their spring home opener against the Pirates on Sunday. Thomson noted that Taijuan Walker will likely start next Wednesday at home against the Tigers. Walker will be the first member of the Phillies projected starting rotation to see game action this spring.