It’s not often that a Major League Baseball team veers significantly from its intended path based on anything achieved under the skies of Florida or Arizona while pitchers get their extra running in on the warning track.
Still, there’s plenty worth watching as spring training exhibitions get underway in the Cactus and Grapefruit leagues.
From position changes to emerging prospects to depth concerns, a great deal of business will get settled – or unsettled – in the 33 days before clubs pack up their trucks and head north – or west, or east – away from the languid pace of spring training.
With that, USA TODAY Sports looks at 30 storylines to monitor as games get underway:
Clearly, there are a few teams harboring doubts about Imai, the latest pitching sensation to jump from Japan. He received a three-year, $54 million deal, far shy of Yoshinobu Yamato’s record-setting (and clearly warranted) $325 million guarantee.
Yet Imai can opt out of his contract after each season, a reflection of his confidence that he’s undervalued.
The right-hander does bring an advanced five-pitch mix, including a potentially devastating slider and a fastball that plays up in the zone, the way they like ‘em these days. And there’s always the mystery of how shifting from Japan’s baseball to the Rawlings product stateside affects a pitcher’s stuff.
The Astros have fallen behind Seattle in the AL West arms race. Clawing back to the top will be a lot easier if Imai has a better idea how great he is than the clubs who passed on him.
Kansas City Royals: Is Bobby Witt Jr. cuing up an MVP season?
We’re gonna cheat a little bit and loop the World Baseball Classic into this exercise. Witt will be the undisputed starting shortstop for Team USA, batting atop the lineup and likely around Aaron Judge.
Lest we forget, it was Judge who kept Witt from the 2024 AL MVP award.
Witt has played four full seasons and in the past three, he’s finished seventh, second and fourth in MVP voting. He doesn’t turn 26 until June and already he has a pair of 30-30 seasons and a batting title under his belt.
It feels like his time. And the spring run-up before, during and after the WBC may offer a glimpse of what’s in store.
New York Yankees: Can Spencer Jones get closer to the Bronx?
One thing about Yankee prospects: They’re almost always overhyped, but if they can survive multiple trade deadlines and hot stove seasons and remain in their system, the club probably like them a lot.
Jones, the 6-foot-7, lefty-swinging 24-year-old who clubbed 35 homers between Classes AA and AAA last season, is still around. And while there’s no path to playing time right now, he’s as close as ever to Yankee Stadium.
Oh, the winter was bookended by moves that blocked any viable path to a job: Center fielder Trent Grisham accepted the club’s qualifying offer, and left fielder Cody Bellinger re-signed with the club after testing free agent waters.
So it’s Bellinger-Grisham-Aaron Judge once again, with Giancarlo Stanton slotted to DH. Yet with Grisham a regression candidate after a 34-homer outlier season, injury histories for the starting outfielders and no true backup outfielder on the projected roster, a path isn’t far from clearing.
The question could be whether the Yankees would prefer giving Jasson Dominguez another extended run. But should their run-it-back lineup fizzle, Jones’ prodigious power may inspire them to opt for a jolt of energy.
Especially if Jones can hit a few light towers across the Grapefruit League.
New York Mets: How’s Bo Bichette looking at third base?
Look, there’s probably nothing to see here. We feel shame simply by bringing up the “moderate position change” spring trope. And Bichette is shifting from the more demanding shortstop to the hot corner.
Yet it will be fascinating to see how he looks there and most of all, how a new-look Mets infield may coalesce, with Marcus Semien at second and Jorge Polanco getting reps at first. All this while Francisco Lindor stands on the dirt, his right hand wrapped after hamate surgery, helpless to lend a tangible hand until, hopefully, Opening Day.
Bichette remains in his offensive prime, and after a strong World Series turn at second base – on one leg, essentially – adding a solid third base to his portfolio will only enhance his marketability should he opt out of Queens after one year.
In the meantime, every misplayed short hop will be scrutinized as if Bichette’s never played on the dirt before.
Cincinnati Reds: Is Chase Burns ready to stick?
“Cactus League opening-day starter” is typically not apropos of anything. Yet when Chase Burns throws the first pitch of the Cincinnati Reds’ fake baseball schedule Feb. 21 in Goodyear, it’s absolutely reason to watch.
The fifth starter role in Cincy appears to be Burns’ to lose – unless Rhett Lowder or Brandon Williamson somehow float your boat. And Burns seems poised to build on an eight-start 2025 debut that was at times electric.
He struck out 13.9 batters per nine innings, notched three consecutive 10-strikeout games – the last coming against the Dodgers – and famously struck out the side against Aaron Judge and the Yankees in his debut.
All that thunder came with a fastball-slider combo. But Burns has insisted this spring his changeup is now ready for prime time, a pitch that would play quite nicely off his slider. And if Burns is polished enough to nab the last rotation spot following Hunter Greene, Andrew Abbott, Nick Lodolo and Brady Singer, the Reds’ 83-win playoff campaign last year would look merely like the floor for 2026.
White Sox/Blue Jays: Will Munetaka Murakami and Kazuma Okamoto hit the ball hard and often?
Apologies for the paired entry, but both grads of NPB came to the majors on relatively modest contracts: A two-year, $34 million deal from the White Sox for Murakami, who hit 56 homers one year in Japan; and four years, $60 million for Okamoto, whose stakes are more immediately higher.
The open-ended question: Can they handle big league pitching?
It’s harder and nastier and deeper than what those gents consistently saw in Japan, which is not to say they can’t or won’t succeed. It’s just that for every Ohtani there might be a Tsutsugo or an Akiyama.
The answer to the question matters much more in Toronto.
Okamoto isn’t exactly replacing Bichette, as the Blue Jays will bounce a handful of folks through various positions, but that’s kind of how their offseason worked out. For a team once again harboring World Series expectations, Okamoto’s production will matter.
And while facing spring repertoires isn’t exactly what they’ll see when the big lights come on, every plate appearance is at least a small data point toward whether they’re undervalued gems or potentially overmatched.
Baltimore Orioles: Who is the opening-day starter?
OK, this is the last one of these Dumb Spring Questions we’re gonna do. That Game 1 nod is always good fodder to kill time in February, but it’s legitimately interesting to see how the Orioles’ staff breaks out of Sarasota.
They all but promised a high-priced arm this winter – then came home with Chris Bassitt and, via trade, Shane Baz. That leaves the O’s with a trio of potential aces – the revived Trevor Rogers, the back-at-full-strength Kyle Bradish and the still-seeking-his-ceiling Baz.
The overall group can be formidable, but there’s also enough volatility that they’ll rue failing to land a Framber Valdez type. Rogers and Bradish figure to be the top candidates to open up Camden Yards next month, though Bassitt -already emerging as a key voice in the clubhouse – shouldn’t be ruled out.
Either way, they could sure use a bell cow to emerge in Grapefruit League play.
Detroit Tigers: Can Kevin McGonigle insert himself into the mix?
With each passing week this winter, the Tigers looked more and more like shoo-ins to win the AL Central. Should they reach a third consecutive postseason, they’ll be in need of a difference-maker to finally vault them past ALDS Game 5.
Can McGonigle be that guy?
The consensus No. 2 prospect in all the game likely does not have a home on the Tigers’ opening-day infield, and nothing this spring can change that. Yet given the manner in which teams integrate dynamic young talent onto playoff rosters these days, it seems extremely likely he’ll be around by then.
And quite possibly much sooner.
What a 2025: As a 20-year-old, McGonigle posted a .305/.408/.583 line at three levels, the majority coming at Class AA. He followed that with 25 hits – 12 for extra bases - in 69 at-bats in the Arizona Fall League.
All that makes his at-bats this spring appointment viewing, even if he’s not likely to dislodge Zack McKinstry or Colt Keith from their spots on the infield anytime soon.
Boston Red Sox: Will ABS be a boon for short king Caleb Durbin?
There’s a good chance you’ll be seeing some shrinkage across big league rosters this year.
With ABS paving the way for the inaugural season for a ball-strike challenge system, a player’s height suddenly mattered. And Durbin, the Boston Globe reported, shrank just a smidge when the measuring tape came out to get his ABS dimensions.
Somewhere between Milwaukee and Boston, Durbin tumbled from 5-7 to 5-6 ¼, or 168.3 centimeters. Hey, no need to break out boots: Smaller is better when an automatic ball or strike is on the line.
The Red Sox will be looking for a lot more than borderline calls from Durbin. With Alex Bregman gone, he’s likely their second baseman. Durbin was a league-average hitter in Milwaukee, though worth 2.8 WAR in 136 games.
Peppering the Fort Myers Monster at JetBlue Park could get Durbin ready to impersonate another diminutive star at the keystone in Fenway.
Los Angeles Angels: Can veterans actually improve in Anaheim?
A handful of franchises have proven they can take a veteran ballplayer and unlock the best version of himself, gleaning value where the previous squad failed.
The Angels are not one of those franchises.
Yet if this increasingly cursed club is bound to have any success, they better get started. A pair of off-season trades guaranteed that: Taylor Ward, the 36-homer left fielder, was shipped out for oft-injured but high-ceiling starter Grayson Rodriguez.
And Josh Lowe, a star in the making in 2023, was imported from Tampa Bay and handed the right field job.
It would be a wild turnabout if Lowe – who amassed 3.7 WAR and an .835 OPS in 2023 – found consistent success in Anaheim and not Tampa Bay. Injuries have kept him from playing more than 108 games since; perhaps the waters of the Newport Coast will prove rejuvenating.
Rodriguez, meanwhile, saw several body parts break down the past two years and hasn’t pitched since July 31, 2024. Yet he has a crackling fastball and four years of control. Perhaps he can find it in Anaheim.
Pittsburgh Pirates: How loud are Konnor Griffin’s skills?
The legend is already building in Pirate City. Konnor Griffin, launching a ball over the batter’s eye in dead center field during live BP. Griffin, getting into his pull side power and nearly hitting a set of dormitories behind the left field fence.
Griffin… seizing the shortstop job in Pittsburgh?
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Grainy cell phone footage of tape-measure blasts does not win a man a job. Yet the “if” is written in almost invisible ink and the “when” might as well be in 100-point type: Griffin will own the position in Pittsburgh for years, and pair with Paul Skenes for at least four seasons.
For now, the “when” is fairly immaterial. This Grapefruit League stint is more about building remember-when moments – can he reach the Manatee River? - for a guy whose stardom seems imminent.
Los Angeles Dodgers: Time for the rookies* to make a splash?
For all the boo-hoos over Kyle Tucker’s $60 million deal and Edwin Diaz’s defection west, the Dodgers’ threepeat will almost certainly hinge on other factors. And for all the attention their superstars rightly get, the youngsters among them will certainly factor into this.
Enter Dalton Rushing, Hyseong Kim and Alex Freeland.
Sure, Dodger Stadium is typically no country for young men. Yet the Dodgers’ golden oldies aren’t getting any spryer. And while Freeland is the last of the trio that’s technically a rookie, these heretofore bit players should take this spring as a chance to grab more of the glory in L.A.
Kim already projects to be at least the part-time starting second baseman as Tommy Edman recovers from ankle surgery. Rushing is technically the backup catcher – but Will Smith is coming off an October in which he caught 148 additional innings. And Freeland – at 24, an absolute cherub within this group – should vie for at-bats at both second and third base.
These are no schlubs: Rushing and Freeland were both top-100 prospects and Kim was guaranteed $12.5 million signing out of Korea. No, the great transition has not yet begun at Chavez Ravine. But it can’t hurt to get to know the next wave a little better.
Minnesota Twins: Will the bullpen deepen their disaster?
Reliable relief might be the most elusive element for a playoff team. The 2025 Twins did their very best to solve the crisis for as many teams as possible – yet may have left even more of a debacle for 2026.
Jhoan Duran (Phillies), Griffin Jax (Rays), Brock Stewart (Dodgers), Louis Varland (Blue Jays), Danny Coulombe (Rangers) – they all found greener pastures. The Twins? Their franchise freefall hasn’t stopped – and their deadline sell-off left virtually nothing in relief.
The closer? The less-heralded Rogers twin (Taylor). Anthony Banda was peeled off the Dodgers’ DFA line for lefty relief. Andrew Chafin was summoned from his deer stand. Justin Topa, Kody Funderburk, Cole Sands….it’s, shall we say, not the group it was from a year ago.
An entire unit, essentially, must be re-formed under the Fort Myers sunshine. With Pablo López already out for the year, the misadventures may have only just begun.
The visuals from Scottsdale have been stirring: Towering rookie Bryce Eldridge working out at first base alongside Rafael Devers, and under the tutelage of infield wizard Ron Washington. And then Eldridge borrows an outfielder’s glove and shags balls out there, a testament to the Giants’ determination to get his massive power somewhere, anywhere in their lineup.
And now Eldridge has to hit his way to that gig.
The 6-foot-7 lefty swinger received 28 at-bats last September and still awaits his first home run after striking out 13 times. Giants officials are also patiently waiting on a strikeout rate that hit 27.2% in his first two full pro seasons to diminish.
It’s not a stretch to say this is the most significant position-player prospect the club has had since Buster Posey. Yeah, it’s been a bit of a dry run on that side of the ball for a minute. That’s certainly a lot to put on a 21-year-old who may yet get on the China Basin-Yolo County shuttle a few more times.
For now, they’ll settle for that power that produced 25 homers in 102 games last year to pop in the Cactus League.
Tampa Bay Rays: Can Sugar Shane make Opening Day sweet?
They say the game is at its best when its stars are healthy. Shane McClanahan started the 2022 All-Star Game as a 25-year-old, made a return appearance the next year – and essentially hasn’t pitched since. Tommy John surgery followed by a nerve problem in his left biceps one year ago cost him the past two seasons. It’s been an odd and frustrating period for Sugar Shane.
“I learned how important this game is, and to be honest with you, too, I learned how to find happiness in everyday life,” he said last week, per MLB.com.
While most of the league opens its exhibition schedule Feb. 20, McClanahan is slated to face live hitters in camp for the first time. His Grapefruit League debut won’t come until next month, and the Rays expect him to align for their first run through the rotation when the games count.
He was that close to making it back last year when the nerve issue arose during his final Grapefruit League start before getting the opening-day nod. Perhaps a new year will get him over that last hurdle.
Arizona Diamondbacks: Can Jordan Lawlar play center field?
And hit consistently? And hold down a semi-regular gig in the big leagues?
The Diamondbacks are hoping for all of that out of the sixth overall pick in the 2021 draft, a shortstop who has been limited to 42 major league games due to injury and lackluster performance.
Call this the reinvention: Geraldo Perdomo emerged as one of the game’s most valuable shortstops and Ketel Marte remains an All-Star second baseman. So to unblock Lawlar, Arizona hopes he can be a part-time center fielder.
He played a dozen games there for Licey in the Dominican Winter League and is spending ample time under the tutelage of veteran coach Dave McKay this spring. More outfield at-bats could initially open up if hamate victim Corbin Carroll isn’t ready for Opening Day.
His career .910 minor league OPS could conceivably help the D-backs if he can make the leap. And handle those high Arizona skies this spring.
Athletics: Just how close is Leo De Vries?
There’s nothing quite so intriguing as a 19-year-old in big league camp.
And when you’re a consensus top 10 overall prospect and the headliner of one of the biggest deadline deals last year, it’s tough to hide. So just how will Leo De Vries handle his spring with the A’s?
The shortstop has an absurd array of tools and also an advanced approach at the plate, all the signs you like to see in a quick mover. Certainly, the A’s already have an All-Star shortstop in Jacob Wilson, so it’s iffy whether De Vries can get to Yolo County before the A’s depart Sacramento for Las Vegas in, conceivably, 2028.
Yet for as long as he’s in A’s camp this year, it’s a look at the future.
Philadelphia Phillies: Will Justin Crawford get deep into his bag?
Justin Crawford wants to do it all, including bunt. And like his old man Carl, he may yet have the tools to pull it off.
A lefty-swinging outfielder with burgeoning power and elite on-base and stolen-base ability? The younger Crawford has that, too.
And the Phillies would certainly love to see him seize the primary center fielder job.
It was a weird winter in Philly, with the dismissal of Nick Castellanos and rescuing Adolis Garcia off the non-tendered pile. Not much else was in the offing. Yet the profligate Phils are suddenly ripe for a youthful infusion: Crawford, elite infielder Aiden Miller somehow working into the mix, Andrew Painter holding down the fort for Zack Wheeler.
Yet nothing might be as exciting as Crawford unleashing his skills and jump-starting a power-heavy offense.
Cleveland Guardians: Can Travis Bazzana join class of ’24 in the bigs?
Nick Kurtz is already a superstar. Trey Yesavage took a hero’s turn in the 2025 postseason. Chase Burns should crack the Reds rotation.
So, what of the No. 1 pick in the class of 2024?
Bazzana will get a crash course in international competition representing Australia in the WBC, hoping to escape a group populated by Japan and Korea. Yet before and after he departs for the Tokyo Dome and Pool C, there’s an impression to be left in the Cactus League.
It probably won’t be enough runway to break with the Guardians, as Bazzana was limited to 84 games by an oblique injury in 2025. Yet still, with Brayan Rocchio and Gabriel Arias as likely starters up the middle, opportunity – good health willing - shouldn’t be far away.
“I haven't sensed anything other than Travis is excited to be in camp. He's excited to get into a season healthy and play a full six months,” says Guardians manager Stephen Vogt. “So we're really, really pumped to watch him play this spring."
Seattle Mariners: Is Cole Young the lone missing puzzle piece?
Every single Seattle Mariner regular is either an All-Star, a Gold Glover or a World Series champion.
And then there is Cole Young, full of promise and for now, seemingly the final puzzle piece to a championship squad.
The club bid farewell to Eugenio Suárez, punted on Alex Bregman, traded for Brendan Donovan and then left second base, most likely, to Young. He was just 21 when he made his big league debut last season, posting a .211/.302/.305 line that belied his tools and was deep enough (77 games) to exhaust his rookie status.
And now, the next generation is already breathing down his neck.
Colt Emerson, 20, is also in big league camp, and while Young was a consensus top 50 prospect the previous two years, Emerson is a top 10 guy and, the Mariners believe, a potential star.
“Colt Emerson will play a part in our season. I’m sure of that,” club president Jerry Dipoto told the Seattle Times.
A big enough part to steal an opening-day gig from Young? That might be rushing it. Either way, Young has a window to show he can play with a star-studded roster with World Series aspirations.
Texas Rangers: Is Jake Burger ready to eat?
Speaking of the AL West, the Rangers may be reloaded to contend three years after winning it all, what with a powerful starting rotation, better outfield depth with Brandon Nimmo aboard and burgeoning stars like Wyatt Langford.
Yet is Burger ready to resume banging in the AL?
His adjusted OPS dropped from 125 to 107 to 99 last season, his first after a trade from Miami. Now, they badly need his right-handed pop in a fairly lefty-dominated lineup.
Atlanta Braves: Time to speed dial some arms?
Alex Anthopoulos can only hope this isn’t an avert-your-eyes kind of spring. The Braves have already lost starters Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep to elbow injuries that may knock them out a while.
The club president insists there may not be external pitching adds. We wonder if that will hold true should Reynaldo Lopez or Bryce Elder or Grant Holmes get cuffed around a bit down in North Port.
Chicago Cubs: Can James Triantos take another leap toward Wrigley Field?
Interesting situation in Chicago: The Cubs are loaded for a title run, have Alex Bregman secured for the long haul, but are slated to lose second baseman Nico Hoerner and left fielder Ian Happ to free agency next season.
And it’s never too early to ponder some reinforcements.
Enter Triantos, an infielder by trade who’s now billed as a multi-positional guy. A lifetime .282/.341/.405 minor league hitter recently added to the 40-man roster, who can handle several positions the club may soon need to fill?
Yeah, an interesting spring looming for the kid.
Colorado Rockies: The spring they turned sentient?
Paul DePodesta isn’t revolutionizing the game this time around. Instead, he is simply acquiring position players like Jake McCarthy and Edouard Julien, and pitchers like Michael Lorenzen, Jose Quintana and Tomo Sugano and, you know, seeing what happens?
It’s just a workshopping year for the new club president. And the club won’t even threaten fourth place in the NL West. But they probably won’t threaten 119 losses, either – and perhaps trot out a product that’s watchable.
Miami Marlins: Will Owen Caissie and Kyle Stowers be big hits?
It's a potentially daunting corner outfield combo: Kyle Stowers, fresh off a 25-homer season in 117 games, opposite Owen Caissie, who once hit 20 homers as a 20-year-old in Class AA.
It's also a potential swing and a miss: Stowers punched out 27.4% of the time last year, and is at 30% over a career stretching across three seasons. Caissie, meanwhile, had a career 29.1% strikeout rate in his minor league career, and whiffed 11 times in 27 plate appearances in a 12-game Cubs cameo last year.
Tough level to work those woes out, to be sure. That just makes the sound of ball striking bat all the more important in South Florida.
Milwaukee Brewers: Is Garrett Mitchell ready to roll?
At one point Mitchell was the fastest man in the major leagues, by one metric, and a young building block for a typically youth-heavy Milwaukee Brewers team. And then the injuries kept coming and coming, culminating in a miserable 2025 when he aggravated an oblique injury – and then aggravated a shoulder injury on a rehab assignment, resulting in season-ending surgery.
Without him, the Brewers won 95 games and reached the NLCS. Yet nothing’s permanent in Dairyland, save for the cow pies. Isaac Collins was dealt to Kansas City, taking 441 plate appearances with him.
Now, wunderkind Jackson Chourio is slated to slide over to left field, leaving the majority of center field at-bats in Mitchell’s hands. The 20th overall pick in 2020, Mitchell has a 112 adjusted OPS in 141 career games and elite defensive potential. Heck, he hasn’t even stayed upright to truly exploit the liberal stolen base rules introduced in his second season.
A spry and healthy Mitchell roaming Maryvale, and then Milwaukee, is long overdue.
San Diego Padres: Will the last-minute shopping spree pay off?
A.J. Preller’s mad scientist shtick usually involves trading top 10 overall prospects for immediate help, or throwing nine-figure contracts out with little hesitation.
This spring was something else, though: Grab Nick Castellanos off the scrap heap, add Ty France on a minor league deal, give Miguel Andujar a one-year guarantee oh, and add German Marquez, Griffin Canning and Walker Buehler to the pitching derby.
That’s a busier February than most groundhogs.
And it also makes the Padres’ Cactus League games….interesting? How much does Castellanos have left, and will his 305 pal Manny Machado keep his spirits up? Does France’s past contributions matter at all? Can Buehler make the team on a minor league deal?
A fair amount of drama to play out in Peoria.
St. Louis Cardinals: Does the Winn-Wetherholt era begin now?
Amid the significant restructuring in St. Louis, it’s a little hard to find both current and future excitement on the roster.
Except in the middle of the diamond.
That’s where Gold Glove shortstop Masyn Winn could be joined by rookie JJ Wetherholt, the seventh overall pick in 2024 who has zoomed to the minor leagues with an urgency that suggests, “What rebuild?”
Wetherholt nearly broke down the door to St. Louis a year ago, when he posted a .931 OPS at Class AA and AAA while stealing 23 bags in 28 attempts and ripping 47 extra-base hits.
It is a potentially electric combo. And while their spring digs of Roger Dean Stadium are still under construction, a significant portion of the rebuild may come together even as their spring digs in Jupiter need some spit-shining.
Washington Nationals: Can Harry Ford seize opportunity?
Big Dumper was more like “Big Bummer” for Ford’s career prospects.
Yet an offseason trade sent Ford away from the long shadow cast by Cal Raleigh in Seattle to Washington, where opportunity abounds on the youngest and perhaps rawest team in the game.
Youngest, in terms of both players and management, with 33-year-old manager Blake Butera helming the youth movement. In short, youthful mistakes won’t be tolerated but will be understood.
It’s not a bad place to try and grow, especially when the incumbent catcher, Keibert Ruiz, has posted a .284 OBP over his past three seasons. Hey, Ford may not crack the squad right away. But the dude with the .405 career minor league OBP can certainly give the rebuilding squad a little something to think about
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: MLB spring training schedule begins: 30 things to watch in 2026
