Category: MLB

Observations from Mets spring training Friday:

Still cruising

Carson Benge went 1-for-2 with a walk in the 4-3 exhibition loss to the Cardinals at Clover Park.

The 23-year-old outfielder is batting .412 this spring in his bid to secure the starting job in right field.

Fruitless spring

Mark Vientos went 0-for-3 with a strikeout as the DH and saw his average dip to .032 in the Grapefruit League.

Caught my eye

Luke Weaver pitched a scoreless third inning with one strikeout and still has not allowed an earned run this spring.

Saturday’s schedule

The Mets will split the squad and face the Astros at Clover Park and Nationals in West Palm Beach, Fla.

PORT ST. LUCIE — Jorge Polanco finally got to talk shop with one of the top all-time defensive players at his new position.

He left the conversation encouraged by the message.

That chat with Keith Hernandez occurred last weekend, following the former Gold Glove first baseman’s final spring training broadcast.

“[Hernandez] is a very nice guy and very humble,” Polanco told The Post on Friday.

Polanco, the new Mets first baseman — he had only one inning of major league experience at the position before camp began — said Hernandez found him in the home clubhouse at Clover Park and opened the dialogue.

“We talked about how important it is to be confident over there,” Polanco said. “Don’t [press] to be too good: You are going to be good because you used to play middle infield, so it’s, ‘You’re used to ground balls, all you have to do is try to be on time to the base and stay confident, stay positive.’ ”

Polanco said the big theme was arriving on time to the base on grounders hit to the infield.

“Know your infielders’ arms and what the balls do to them,” Polanco said. “It’s so you can be early to be a target, so being on time to the base is the most important thing. And I agree, because sometimes you might be looking and you might be late to the bag. Just get to the bag. The middle infielders, they have to wait for you, but you have to be on time. Don’t worry about looking before you get on the base.”

Hernandez won 11 straight Gold Glove Awards at first base for the Cardinals and Mets.

He was a key part of the last Mets team to win the World Series, in 1986.

“It was really good to hear from him,” Polanco said. “He’s a great man. I am going to see him again in New York, so I am looking forward to keep talking.”

In the meantime, Polanco is focused on these final few days of camp — the Mets will leave Florida following a workout Monday — ahead of Thursday’s season opener against the Pirates at Citi Field.

Polanco, after a slow start in the Grapefruit League, owns a 1.013 OPS this spring with two homers.

He arrived on a two-year contract worth $40 million after Pete Alonso’s departure through free agency.

“I am really happy with my spring so far,” Polanco said. “I am feeling really good. My body is feeling really good. I am really happy with the work we are doing over there in the training room.”

Last season, Polanco spent time working out at first base during pregame instruction, but only got into one game at the position, as a defensive replacement.

“I like how he’s using the whole bag, the footwork,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “The communication, getting used to his right and seeing where the second baseman is playing. But overall I think he’s making the transition smoothly and he’s in a good place.”

Polanco last season posted a .265/.326/.495 slash line with 26 homers and 78 RBIs.

In his new situation, he will likely hit cleanup, but in a lineup that also includes Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto and Bo Bichette, he won’t necessarily be considered a focal point.

“I feel really good to be part of this lineup,” Polanco said. “We have got a special group, special hitters, special lineup.”

Some serious shrinkage is hitting Major League Baseball.

Due to new rules surrounding the implementation of MLB’s Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System (ABS), players now have to have their height measured more precisely, and some are shorter than they previously claimed.

The height differences can be seen on players’ bio pages on MLB’s website, with fans on social media noticing some players getting smaller.

THAT IS SOME SERIOUS SHRINKAGE pic.twitter.com/Sb72fCV3MY

— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) March 20, 2026

One of the largest disparities so far comes from Rays infielder Gavin Lux, who was reported at 6 feet 2 inches last season, but stands at just 5 feet 11 inches this year.

Additionally, Guardians catcher Bo Naylor dropped from 6 feet to 5 feet 9 inches. Red Sox backstop Connor Wong is now clocking in at 5 feet 11 inches this season, down two inches.

Although MLB players have been weighed and measured since the league’s inception, this year ushers in a new era of the process being seriously standardized, with some of the rules including:

• No hats
• No shoes
• Knees exposed
• Back against the wall
• Heels together
• No slouching

Furthermore, teams must record the measurements between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. local time to prevent shrinking throughout a day, MLB.com reported.

“People shrink over the course of a day,” Brewers assistant GM Will Hudgins said, according to MLB.com. “I’m not entirely sure how much, but I’ve been told that enough times to believe that it is scientifically true.”

The precision is emphasized so each player’s personal strike zone is perfectly tailored for them, as ABS challenges can overturn calls on a fraction of an inch.

“It was very detailed,” Hudgins said. “You can tell they have done this in the Minor Leagues and have thought about every part of this.”

League officials measured each player twice with an instrument similar to those in doctor offices, and if there was an inconsistency by more than a few millimeters, they took a third measurement and averaged out the three, MLB.com reported.

Each ballpark will have a measuring device for players called up during the season, with a member of the home team’s medical staff being the official measurer.

Despite all of the pinpoint measurements, however, players only got their results given to them in fractions of centimeters.

“You saw a lot of guys trying to do a centimeters-to-feet conversion in their heads,” Hudgins said.

PORT ST. LUCIE — Bo Bichette returned to his old position Friday to reacquaint himself with playing shortstop should the Mets need him there during the season.

“He didn’t get tested, but it was good to get him back there,” manager Carlos Mendoza said after the Mets lost 4-3 to the Cardinals in an exhibition game.

Bichette, the team’s starting third baseman, could be in position to serve as the backup shortstop to Francisco Lindor.

In that scenario, the Mets wouldn’t have to carry a sixth infielder, allowing for an extra outfielder on the 26-man roster.

Bichette was a shortstop for the Blue Jays before arriving to the Mets in January on a three-year contract worth $126 million.

“We can go a lot of different ways here, and that is why Bo [got] that opportunity today at shortstop,” Mendoza said. “I think after spending the whole spring training, all his work at third base, it’s kind of getting him back familiar.”

Francisco Alvarez was feeling better, according to Mendoza, a day after he departed the game early with back tightness.

Alvarez was on the bench Thursday; the plan was to give him a day off even before he incurred the back discomfort.

He is expected back in Friday’s lineup.

Freddy Peralta pitched in a minor league game Friday because Mendoza didn’t want to expose him to the Cardinals so close to the three-game series the teams will play beginning in 1 ½ weeks.

Peralta will start Opening Day against the Pirates and then conceivably return to pitch six days later in St. Louis.

The Mets will carry six starters, but Mendoza indicated the team might only use five starters for the first turn through the rotation.

Left-hander Bryan Hudson, who is competing for the final spot in the Mets bullpen, allowed three earned runs on one hit and two walks over one inning with one strikeout.

Hudson has pitched to a 16.20 ERA in his four Grapefruit League appearances.

Austin Warren, Kevin Herget and Robert Stock were reassigned to minor league camp.

This afternoon’s Spring Breakout game probably had the majority of Mariners fans’ eyeballs on it, but the big club is winding down Cactus League play, with just three games remaining after tonight. The M’s will face off against the Guardians before opening the season against them on Thursday, although the pitching matchup this evening is quite a ways from Logan Gilbert vs. Tanner Bibee.

Cleveland is rolling out what will likely be their Opening Day lineup, while Seattle is a bit more mix-and-match. Notably, Cole Young is getting the start at shortstop with J.P. Crawford still on the shelf. The M’s also made another round of roster cuts, re-assigning Brennen Davis, Dane Dunning, and World Baseball Classic champion Jhonathan Díaz to minor-league camp. Just four non-roster invitees remain in camp, and Connor Joe, manning first base tonight, is one of them. Bet you didn’t have that on your bingo card.

First Pitch: 6:10pm PDT (sorry!)

TV: Mariners.TV or MLB.tv

Radio: 710 AM Seattle Sports, MLB.com

The Mariners prospects lost their Spring Breakout game today to the top-ranked farm, the Brewers prospects, 7-3. Offensively, the Mariners prospects did rack up some hits, but squandered run-scoring opportunities and failed to come through with clutch RBIs, outside of Lazaro Montes, who went 3-for-3 and drove in two of the Mariners’ three runs. Montes also stole a base and handled right field well, continuing to show that he’s more than just a power hitter.

The bigger issue was on the pitching side; Mariners pitching prospects struck out 10, but also walked seven, with four of those walks belonging to the normally stingy Kade Anderson, who had a tough outing. Anderson was slated to pitch three innings but couldn’t clear the third after struggling through his first two. He seemed to not have his fastball command, falling behind in counts and leaving pitches on the plate that got damaged: in his first inning of work, he allowed the tying run on back-to-back hard hits, one on a hanging slider and one on the changeup. Anderson navigated out of trouble in that inning, striking out Jeferson Quero on a wicked curveball. He also avoided damage in the fifth despite issuing two walks, one a four-pitch walk to Brock Wilken where Anderson just could not land his fastball, missing in three times.

The trouble persisted in the sixth, which Anderson opened with a five-pitch walk to Jett Williams, again failing to locate his fastball – this time missing up – and then lost a seven-pitch battle with Jesus Madé. Anderson tried to sneak a first-pitch slider past the next hitter, Luis Peña, but Peña pounced on it for a three-run home run that cracked the game open.

Things continued to devolve, with new shortstop Nick Becker committing a throwing error on what should have been the first out of the inning with a throw that would significantly raise Perry Hill’s blood pressure, and Charlie Beilenson, put in for Anderson after he failed to record an out in the sixth, didn’t fare much better, giving up a pair of singles and a bases-loaded walk to make it 5-2 Milwaukee. Casey Hintz, a 2025 draft pick out of Arizona and an under-the-radar name to know in this system, eventually came in to clean up the mess.

Mason Peters, a favorite of LL prospect guru Max, gave up the other two runs in this game, also issuing two walks, but also recorded two strikeouts in 1.1 innings of work. At this point it’s probably worth mentioning that with triple-digit heat on the field, it’s very possible we weren’t seeing the best representation of these pitchers’ arsenals or command, although it didn’t seem to affect Milwaukee’s pitchers, who issued just three walks, beating the Mariners at their own dominate-the-zone game.

The pitching story of this game for the Mariners, though, is Ryan Sloan’s performance to open the game: nine up, nine down, three strikeouts, and nothing squared up on him. Sloan got the starting nod and utterly stifled the powerful Brewers prospects the first time through the lineup, showcasing his riding fastball at 97-98 up in the zone, his heavy sinker, his swing-and-miss slider, and the cutter he can use for weak contact outs. He didn’t even throw his changeup, leaving that pitch for hitters to sweat in their nightmares. If we want to be a little picky about Sloan, we could say at times he overthrew his pitches, but he was intentional even in that, riding it up out of the zone to try to tempt hitters (it did not). Otherwise, though, it was about as close to a star-making performance as you’ll see in these games; expect the Ryan Sloan hype train to gather speed after this outing.

Outside of Montes, the other most impressive offensive performance belongs to Yorger Bautista, “La Bestia.” Bautista is a stockily-built player but showed off some speed on a triple, legging it out against a strong defensive centerfielder in Luis Lara; he was cut down at home trying to score on a fielder’s choice out. In the ninth, La Bestia decided to take matters into his own hands, launching this homer that had the whole broadcast crew oohing and aahing:

Also of note: Felnin Celesten put on a clinic at shortstop, cutting down the speedy Brewers prospects who dared to put the ball on the ground on the left side of the infield. His footwork was sure and speedy, his mechanics clean, and his throws strong and on-target. Celesten’s line in the box score doesn’t look impressive, but his at-bats were impressive, as he battled in the box—just missing a long home run at once point—and worked a walk.

Here’s tonight’s lineup:

CF Kwan

2B Rocchio

3B Ramirez

DH DeLauter

1B Hoskins

SS Arias

LF Martinez

C Hedges

RF Kayfus

P Allen

After the conclusion of tonight’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Jon Heyman reported that the Atlanta Braves have added veteran first baseman/designated hitter Rowdy Tellez on a minor league deal.

The left-handed hitting Tellez is an eight-year big league veteran who has posted double-digit home runs in every season since 2019, outside of the COVID-shortened 2020 season. He hit a career-high 35 homers with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2022.

Although is isn’t the right-handed hitting option the Braves could use as part of a DH-platoon, he could be an upgrade over Dominic Smith, who the Braves added during Spring Training as another left-handed hitting first baseman/designated hitter option.

Tellez, 31, was a teammate of Braves’ infield prospect Nacho Alvarez, Jr. on team Mexico during this year’s World Baseball Classic. He had not signed with a team this off-season after splitting 2025 between Seattle and Texas.

As the heat island of Phoenix continues to fester, I wonder if this is going to become the way of things. By that, I mean Cactus League – and possibly, Fall League – games being moved from the afternoon to the evening, to avoid the worst heat. I’m a little surprised they moved today’s game, but left tomorrow and Sunday with the usual 1 pm starts. Saturday’s forecast high temperatures is 105 F, which would be almost indistinguishable from today, and destroying the all-time record for March 21, currently eight degrees below that. Maybe weekend attendees at the Cactus League are made of asbestos or something.

After Zac Gallen, we may expect to see LHP Philip Abner, RHP Kevin Ginkel, RHP Ryan Thompson, and RHP Andrew Hoffmann. All of those definitely have a shot at a bullpen spot. Abner has likely overtaken Brandyn Garcia after the latter’s recent struggles, but as noted earlier, Ginkel has had his problems too. As expected when spring started, the Arizona bullpen was always likely to be the area most subject to change on the team. We’re now down to less than a week before Opening Day, and perhaps half the bullpen spots are still up for grabs. We’ll talk about that more tomorrow though.

Today, on the Spring Equinox, the Texas Rangers welcome a sliver of San Francisco Giants to Surprise for a Cactus League night game.

RHP Nathan Eovaldi makes what is surely his final appearance of the spring ahead of his Opening Day start next Thursday. San Francisco will counter with RHP Spencer Bivens for the split squad Giants.

There will be a telecast of this one on the Rangers Sports Network, a radio broadcast via 105.3 The Fan, or you can follow along on Gameday. First pitch from Surprise Stadium is scheduled for 8:05 pm CT.

Go Rangers!

Luis Gil looked dominant in five strong innings as he looks to grab a spot in the Yankees' rotation, as New York took down the Baltimore Orioles, 3-1, on Friday night in Tampa. 

Gil was pumping in heaters early and often and surrendered just one hit and one walk while tallying seven strikeouts on 69 pitches (46 strikes).

It was a rough night for Aaron Judge in his first game back from the WBC as he went hitless in three at-bats with three strikeouts. O’s starter Zach Eflin got him twice, as the right-hander was just as good as Gil, retiring the first 14 Yanks he faced and getting 15 of 16 batters. 

The two teams combined for two hits (both doubles) entering the home half of the eighth inning when the Yanks took advantage of a Baltimore youngster with four doubles in a five-hit frame to win the game.

Here are the takeaways...

- Gil got two quick outs to start the first before blowing a 99 mph fastball off the inside corner past the bat of Pete Alonso. The righty picked up where he left off: beating Coby Mayo on a 93 mph changeup in on the hands and blowing a 99 mph fastball past Leody Taveras in a perfect second. More of the same in a 12-pitch third as Gil blew a 98 mph fastball past Luis Vazquez and a 99 mph fastball past Jose Barrero. 

After retiring the first 11 straight, including a sixth strikeout, blowing a 97 mph fastball above the zone past Taylor Ward, Gil surrendered a ground-rule double deep to left off Alonso's bat. (The ex-Met smoked a 97 mph heater at the top of the zone, 110.3 mph off the bat.) Gil recovered by getting Mayo swinging at a wicked 91 mph slider off the outside corner.

Gil closed his book in the fifth, getting around a one-out walk with a 6-4-3 double play. Gil pitched like he had something to prove and seemed amped up, averaging 96.8 mph on his fastball (up 1.5 mph), 93.2 mph on his changeup (up 2.4 mph), and 88.6 mph on the slider (up 1.9 mph)

- Judge, in his return for the WBC, went down swinging on a curveball in and at the knees and was caught looking at a 3-2 two-seamer that ran back right over the plate in the fourth against Eflin.

The slugger had a big chance with one out in the sixth with runners on first and second against reliever Dietrich Enns. In the eight-pitch at-bat, which included an error by O's catcher Samuel Bassallo that put both runners in scoring position, Judge waved at a 3-2 change-up below the zone to finish 0-for-3 with three strikeouts.

- Ryan McMahon, getting the start at short, popped out in foul territory to third after a nine-pitch battle to start the third and went down looking at a sinker to strand a runner at second to end the fifth. McMahon lined a changeup from O's minor leaguer Cohen Achen the other way for a double that one-hopped the wall (106.3 mph, 334 feet), to finish 1-for-3.

- Oswaldo Cabrera, playing third, went down looking at a cutter on the corner his first time up, but knocked in the game's lone run, muscling a 3-1 fastball up the middle for an RBI single scoring McMahon from second, to go 1-for-3.

- Jazz Chisholm Jr. notched the first Yanks’ hit in the fifth with a two-out bloop into left-center and took advantage of some lackadaisical defense, hustling into second for a double. He went 1-for-3.

- Out of the bullpen, David Bednar got two strikeouts swinging on the splitter below the zone in a 13-pitch, 1-2-3 sixth inning. 

Left-hander Tim Hill issued a walk to start the seventh, and after getting Alonso to fly out to center, induced a 5-4-3 double-play. After Hill's 14-pitch effort, PaulBlackburn outdid him with a 1-2-3 eighth on just seven pitches. Blackburn made things interesting in the ninth, allowing a one-out triple down the third base line, aided by the left fielder falling over on the warning track, and a two-out Bassallo RBI double off the base of the wall in right. But after walking Maverick Handley, the righty got Anderson De Los Santos looking to end it.

- Trent Grisham was called out looking at a two-seamer on the inside corner and was robbed of a hit to start the fourth when Taveras ranged to his left in center to flag down a sharply hit (103.8 mph) sinking-liner. He finished 0-for-2 with a walk.

- Cody Bellinger, playing left field, grounded out to the right side of the infield three times, all of which ended innings and the last of which stranded two in scoring position in the sixth, to go 0-for-3.

- Ben Rice went down swinging at a 2-2 curveball below the zone in his first at-bat. He finished 0-for-3.

- Giancarlo Stanton, getting the start in right field where he didn't see any action, swung through a sweeper off the outside corner in his second at-bat. He finished 0-for-2.

- J.C. Escarra grounded out to first and walked. He went 1-for-2 on ABS challenges behind the plate.

- Oddity that may not interest anybody: The Yanks closed the first, second, and third innings by grounding out to first with Alonso tossing it to Eflin covering the bag.

Highlights

Luis Gil strikes out seven in five innings 🔥 pic.twitter.com/xUJ7dI2ovC

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) March 20, 2026

Up next

The Yanks head over to Lakeland to take on the Detroit Tigers with Cam Schlittler getting the start in the 1:05 p.m. first pitch.

The Dodgers’ final night game in Arizona has them hosting the San Diego Padres.

Friday game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Padres
• Ballpark: Camelback Ranch
• Time: 6:05 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570

TAMPA — Usually when Aaron Judge is coming off a crushing loss in an elimination game, he has an entire offseason to get over it.

This time, he is just a few days away from Opening Day.

Judge returned to Yankees camp on Thursday and was in the lineup on Friday night for the first time since he captained Team USA to the World Baseball Classic final on Tuesday, when it fell to Venezuela in dramatic fashion.

“You’re still thinking about the last couple games, the whole tournament, stuff like that — you’re mad about that,” Judge said before Friday’s game against the Orioles at Steinbrenner Field. “But once I came back here, get a chance to be around the boys and throw on the pinstripes, now it’s time to get back to what we’re doing with the Yankees and build towards a championship again.

“First couple hours weren’t great, but now that I’m back here around the guys, we’re ready to roll.”

Judge posted a .845 OPS with two home runs across seven games in the WBC, though he finished with a sour taste, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in the final against Venezuela.

Still, he already wants in for the next time Team USA plays — potentially in the 2028 Olympics, if not the next WBC — and said he had a “blast” sharing a clubhouse with the game’s best and playing in front of raucous crowds.

“I wish the crowds and the energy were like that every single night, but it’s tough to do in 162 games, I know that,” he said. “It was just a fun environment. Elimination games from the very beginning, even in pool play, which was great. Just seeing the passion of players that usually I play against that don’t show a lot of emotion, all of a sudden they’re showing emotion, so it was cool.”

Speaking of those emotions, Team USA caught some flack for appearing to take a more businesslike and buttoned-up approach than most teams during the tournament that was full of flair and fun.

Judge said he heard about that from friends and family, but took issue with the narrative.

“Everybody’s different, every culture’s different,” Judge said. “I love everything what Mexico was doing, what Great Britain was doing, what the [Dominican Republic], how they celebrated the game, how their fans celebrated the game, that was amazing.

“If they’re gonna say we don’t have the passion, my passion’s grinding in this cage when nobody’s watching, grinding as a 6-year-old in the backyard with my dad. That’s where our passion came from as kids. So if I don’t show it outwardly like that, it doesn’t mean I don’t love the game.

“Everybody in that clubhouse, you can ask every single one of those guys, that was probably the most fun they’ve ever had playing the game, the past few weeks, myself included.”

Judge, who indicated he would be in favor of the WBC moving to midseason so there would be fewer restrictions on pitchers building up, also caught some heat during the tournament when he said the atmosphere for the WBC was “bigger and better” than playing in the World Series.

On Friday, he mentioned the bands playing in either corner of the outfield during the WBC and different chants echoing through the domes where USA played.

“World Series games, a lot of the passionate fans, they can’t afford those tickets sometimes,” Judge said.

Alas, Judge will have to wait seven months for a chance to get back in front of crowds like that, now turning his attention to helping the Yankees get back to that stage.

After Judge built up quickly early this spring to be ready for the WBC, Aaron Boone now plans to back off him a bit in the final days of camp.

After DHing on Friday night, Judge is scheduled to play in right field on Sunday and then start Monday’s exhibition against the Cubs in Arizona ahead of Wednesday’s opener.

“He’s built up, ready to go,” Boone said, “so a couple days backing off hopefully serves him well.”

Atlanta’s bats continued to make some noise here in the Grapefruit League as the Braves slugged their way to yet another win during spring training action.

It took a while for the bats to get going but once they did, a couple of the Braves regular made their presence felt in a loud manner. Jorge Mateo did deliver an RBI single in the second inning but the fifth inning was when things got pretty loud. With a runner on first and one out, Matt Olson appeared to have gotten all of a changeup from Pirates pitcher Nick Dombkowski. Olson crushed it with an EV of 109-mph with a 27 degree launch angle but it only ended up landing at the fence (386 feet away from home plate, to be exact) for an RBI double. Drake Baldwin scored a run on the play as the Braves went ahead in the contest.

Austin Riley came up to the plate right afterwards and he proceeded to earn bragging rights in the dugout by hitting a pitch from Dombkowski over the fence for a two-run dinger. Now granted, Riley’s batted ball was “softer” at 102-mph and shorter at 368 feet but the idea is to hit the ball over the fence and that’s what Riley did for the fourth time this spring. That gave the Braves a three-run inning as the middle of the lineup continued to look solid with the regular season looming.

While this was going on, José Suarez ended up throwing 75 pitches across 5.1 innings. He did a very solid job of keeping the Pirates lineup quiet in this one and it wasn’t like the Pirates sent a lineup full of organizational depth to North Port, either. Suarez finished with just one run allowed on two hits, two walks and six strikeouts as well. Suarez’s strikeout victims included Marcell Ozuna (twice), Oneil Cruz and Mississippi State baseball legend Jake Mangum, so it wasn’t like the strikeouts were coming against lesser competition, either. This certainly helped Suarez’s case for leaving North Port and heading to Cobb County instead of Gwinnett County.

Joel Payamps entered the game in the sixth inning in relief for Suarez and he ended up going 1.2 innings while striking out a pair of batters as well. That set the stage for Raisel Iglesias to enter the game in the eighth inning and he tossed his third scoreless inning in five spring training appearances so far. While Iglesias did give up a hit, he did strike out two batters along the way so as long as he’s doing that once the season is underway then people around here will be pretty happy about that. Robert Suarez ended up closing out the game with a scoreless inning and two strikeouts of his own, so it was nice to see the set-up man and closer both clicking in this one as well.

Going back to the regulars at the plate, Drake Baldwin and Dominic Smith each picked up hits in this one. 2026 World Baseball Classic champion Ronald Acuña Jr. was greeted with a very nice ovation upon his return to Braves camp and while he didn’t get a hit, he did make his presence felt by reaching base twice via walks. Meanwhile, Cal Conley hit a double, stole third base and scored on an RBI single, so that’s pretty encouraging. Luis Guanipa drove in Kevin Kilpatrick Jr. with an RBI single of his own and Jorge Mateo’s aforementioned RBI single was his only knock of the day.

If you’re the type who’s encouraged by spring training results then you have to be pleased to see the Braves currently at the top of the Grapefruit League standings. While nobody’s ever hung a banner for winning the Grapefruit League pennant, it’s still nice to see the Braves continuing to click out there as they get ready for the games that will actually begin to count by this time next Friday. Are y’all excited yet?