Category: MLB

TAMPA — Monday was a promising day for the Yankees rotation. Max Fried earned an honor and Carlos Rodón took a step. 

Fried will be the Opening Day starter, manager Aaron Boone said, for the first time in his brief Yankees tenure and fourth time in his career. Fried became the club’s ace last season once Gerrit Cole went down, but Cole’s surgery occurred mid-camp and at a point in which Fried was not lined up for the opener. That 2025 nod eventually went to Rodón. 

Fried put together an All-Star season in his first campaign in The Bronx and is the leader of the still-Cole-less group, so Boone’s acknowledgment that Fried would be on the mound March 25 in San Francisco arrived with no frills. 

Fried was on the mound Monday and looking sharper than his first spring start. After struggling with his control last week against Team Panama, when he walked three in three-plus innings, Fried allowed one run on two hits and no walks in four innings in the 5-3 loss to the Pirates. 

“Way better, more consistent,” Fried said from Steinbrenner Field, where he built up to 67 pitches. “Was able to execute what I wanted to do.” 

The afternoon was encouraging for the Yankees rotation, too, Rodón facing hitters for the first time since October elbow surgery. 

Could he make his season debut next month? 

“I don’t know what’s in play,” Rodón said. 

“I don’t want to get ahead of myself,” Boone said, “but he’s on a pretty good time[line].” 

Perhaps late April, perhaps May, but regardless there is optimism concerning Rodón, who checked off a significant box.

The lefty threw 20 pitches to minor leaguers and mixed in all of his pitches, watching his top velocity escalate from 92 mph in his bullpen sessions to 94 mph while facing actual humans. 

“I wasn’t trying to throw hard, and it came out at an easy, smooth pace,” said Rodón, who Boone said was “pretty sharp” for his first live batting practice. 

There will be several more live batting practice sessions, and Boone hoped that Rodón would appear in a Grapefruit League game before the regular season begins.

Rodón himself thought he would not appear in a game before his teammates leave for Arizona on March 23. He was not sure about a firm timetable but was happy with how his arm is feeling after the procedure to shave a bone spur and remove loose bodies. 

“Kind of like riding a bike,” Rodón said. “… Working on a few things. Don’t put too much stock into it, it’s just the first one. But it was good, good enough. Looking forward to going again.” 

Sunday morning brought news that one of the final key players left in free agency had signed. The Washington Nationals have reportedly signed starter Zack Littell to a one-year contract with a mutual option for 2027. 

At the beginning of the offseason, Littell was projected to earn a two-year contract worth roughly $24 million. So why the big change? And why didn’t the San Diego Padres bother to bid against the Nationals for his services?

A journeying swingman

Throughout his career, Littell was mostly a reliever. He performed to varying degrees of success, but it was mostly inconsistent from season to season. 

His best years came in 2019 and 2021 with the Minnesota Twins where he posted a 2.68 ERA and 2.92 ERA, respectively. But each of those seasons were bookended by a 6.20 ERA in 2018, 9.95 in 2020, and 5.08 in 2022.

Because of his struggles, Littell wasn’t converted to a starter until after being picked up by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2023. He started 14 games for the club and put up a solid 3.93 ERA. The Rays held onto him in 2024 before trading him at the 2025 deadline to the Cincinnati Reds.

Across 32 starts in ‘25 between Tampa Bay and Cincinnati, Littell authored a 3.81 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP, shining as a middle-of-the-rotation starter before entering free agency. 

Why the hesitancy to sign?

After such a high valuation from the majority of contract projections on Littell, it’s possible that his agents were waiting out the market for a better offer that never came. 

It’s unclear yet what the Nationals are paying Littell but that number will likely become public once the team announces the signing. The report of his signing remains unconfirmed.

Given that, it’s surprising the Padres didn’t swoop in to sign him. Earlier this offseason, San Diego was rumored to be checking in on Littell (though those discussions obviously did not come to fruition). Seemingly, the price wasn’t right to outbid Washington.

It will hopefully make more sense once the dollar figure of Littell’s contract is announced. But for a team still in need of reliable pitching, it’s surprising general manager A.J. Preller wasn’t in on the 30-year-old’s services. 

HOUSTON — The joint was completely packed, fans roamed outside trying to get a sneak peek inside, with music blaring and the crowd ready to party into the night.

Well, a 6-foot-7 dude bigger than any bouncer, not only got past the red-white-and-green velvet ropes, but sucked the life out of the party until it was almost last call.

Simply, Aaron Judge stole the show Monday evening at Daikin Park.

The sellout crowd of 41,678 watched him hit and throw to lead USA to a 5-3 victory over Mexico, and all but guarantee the Americans a berth in the quarterfinals..

Judge’s heroics began in the third when Mexico threatened USA starter Paul Skenes for the only time in his four-inning outing. Mexico had Joey Ortiz on first base after second baseman Brice Turang’s error, and Jarren Duran hit a hard liner to right field.

While Ortiz raced towards third base, Judge snagged the ball on one hop, and threw a 92-mph laser to third baseman Alex Bregman, who tagged Ortiz for the inning-ending out.

Judge barely had time to acknowledge the cheers from his teammates when he stepped to the plate with Bryce Harper on first base. He belted a 2-and-1 slider from reliever Jesus Cruz the opposite way into the right-field seats.

Judge started his home run trot, pointed and gestured towards the USA bench, circling the bases. The blast kick-started the USA offense, and by the time the inning ended, the Americans had a 5-0 lead after 21-year-old Roman Anthony’s three-run homer, the youngest player to homer for USA in the WBC.

It turned out that USA would need every bit of that offensive outburst with Mexico refusing to go away. Duran of the Boston Red Sox hit two home runs to provide late-game drama. They threatened again in the ninth on Joey Maneses’ leadoff single, but Garrett Whitlock closed out the game with three consecutive strikeouts.

The Air Force Academy duo of Skenes and Griffin Jax kept Mexico’s offense in check during their two stints, delighting the Air Force baseball team, who was invited to stay an extra day in Texas after playing Baylor over the weekend. Skenes and Griffin gave them a night to remember.

Skenes, who spent two years at the academy before transferring to LSU, gave up just one hit in four shutout innings, striking out seven batters. The former cadet was so fired up that he threw 21 pitches registering at least 97-mph on the radar gun the first two innings. And Jax, the first Air Force Academy graduate to reach the major leagues, shut down Mexico’s last rally in the eighth by coming in and inducing Alejandro Kirk into an inning-ending double play.

“I had special conversations with both of them," USA manager Mark DeRosa said. “Obviously, their process is a little bit different than the rest of the guys in the room, living that military background and going to school and attending Air Force.

“I know every guy in that room is proud to represent the United States of America. But the conversations with them were a little bit different, as far as wanting to represent every serviceman and woman who protects our freedom on a nightly basis. They're thinking is a little bit different."

The star outfielder for the Atlanta Braves continued to do his home country proud in the World Baseball Classic. Ronald Acuña Jr. delivered another good performance for Venezuela as his performance essentially pushed them over the top in a win that primes them for a massive clash against the Dominican Republic on Wednesday.

As usual, Acuña led off for Venezuela in this one and as usual (when he’s healthy and feeling confident), he wreaked havoc upon the basepaths once he did reach. He got on with a walk, stole second base and then made it to third base on the play after catcher Ronald Rivera sent a wayward throw into the outfield. Jackson Chourio brought Acuña home on a sacrifice fly and that put a capper on a tone-setter of a trip around the basepaths for Acuña to start things off.

Acuña returned to the dish in the third inning and by that point, Nicaragua starter Danilo Bermudez had sat down eight Venezuela batters in a row. He was unable to make it nine because he served up a hanger in the middle of the zone for Acuña and the leadoff man for Venezuela and the Braves made no mistake with it. He crushed into the seats in right-center (a familiar sight for baseball fans in Miami) for a solo shot that put some breathing room in between Venezuela and Nicaragua. Venezuela had two baserunners and two runs at that point and both were thanks to Ronald Acuña Jr.

He wasn’t done there, either. Once the fifth inning rolled around, Acuña actually came to the plate with runners on base and two outs on the board. Duque Hebbert tried to fool him with a changeup but instead, Acuña smacked it into left-center field for another RBI in order to make it 3-0 Venezuela. For the kids keeping track at home, every run that Venezuela had scored at that point had Acuña involved with it in some way, shape or form. It’s the type of performance that us fans here in Braves Country are used to seeing and now he was doing it for his home country on the world stage.

Acuña added another single in seventh inning to make it a 3-for-3 day at the plate with a walk, a stolen base, two runs scored, two RBI and a home run as well. Again, baseball fans in Miami are very likely used to seeing this type of performance from Acuña and hopefully we’ll be seeing more of that once the Braves make it down there to South Florida for a regular season contest.

Acuña’s performance helped power Venezuela to a comfortable win over Nicaragua. They didn’t need to win the game since earlier results had ensured that they’d be leaving the group but now they’ve ensured that their matchup against the Dominican Republic on Wednesday will be a showdown to decide who wins Pool D. The building formerly known as Marlins Park is going to be packed to the rafters for that one and it’ll be very exciting to see how Acuña and the rest of this Venezuela squad fares against one of the real tournament favorites with quarterfinal seeding on the line.

It’ll all get started at 8:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday night on Fox Sports 1, in case you’re interested in tuning in to see these two mammoths clash.

Whatever you think of the World Baseball Classic, it provides a stage for some of the top players in the world to shine. Sometimes you get a 17-year-old kid inducing Aaron Judge to hit into a double play, and sometimes you get one of the best players in the world making ridiculous plays.

We saw the latter tonight when Bobby Witt Jr. pulled off an acrobatic feat against Mexico. World Series star Alejandro Kirk laced a liner to deep short that looked like a sure hit. Bobby dove and speared the ball on one hop, then fired a one-hopper from his knees to first base to record the out.

But he wasn’t done! An inning later, Nick Gonzales sent a grounder to deep short. Bobby didn’t even have to dive for this one, he made it look easy firing that laser to first to get the out.

Even the star across the parking lot was impressed.

We all knew Bobby was a Gold Glover in Kansas City, but it’s cool the world gets to see it too.

PORT ST. LUCIE — Carson Benge is excelling in his first major league camp with the Mets, but whether that translates into a spot on the Opening Day roster is still in question.

“I don’t think we have made that decision yet,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said Monday.

Benge, the team’s top position player prospect, entered play with an .846 OPS in the Grapefruit League.

He bolstered his case with an RBI triple in his first plate appearance against the Marlins on this night.

“Carson is having a nice camp,” Stearns said. “Similar to all our guys he’s worked really hard — I think we have had a real work-intensive camp across the field and Carson has participated in that.

“In the games we’ve seen what we would have expected. He’s taken very competitive at-bats. He’s a tough out. I think he’s played a nice right field … he’s a really good player and we’ll have a difficult decision as we get toward the end of camp.”

Mike Tauchman and MJ Melendez are among the other players in camp in the right field mix.

Francisco Lindor remains in position to potentially begin the season with the team, according to Stearns, as he rehabs from hamate bone surgery in his left hand.

Stearns said he would expect Lindor to appear in Grapefruit League games before the Mets break camp, but conversations have not occurred to set a plan.

Brandon Waddell is “getting better,” according to manager Carlos Mendoza, after he was scratched from his Monday start because of shoulder fatigue.

The left-hander won’t need imaging on the shoulder and will continue throwing, according to Mendoza.

Outfielder Nick Morabito and pitcher Jonathan Pintaro were optioned to Triple-A.

Pitcher Jack Wenninger was reassigned to minor league camp.

The Mets have 64 players remaining in major league camp.

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

The World Baseball Classic is in full swing, and the Rockies have a number of players on a variety of rosters. Some have performed well while others have struggled… but that’s baseball!

Tonight, we’d like to know your thoughts on the WBC so far. Who has performed well, and who do you think will win? Let us know!

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

Look. It’s spring training. I’m not going to get too wound up in the final score. There was some really good tonight and some really blah tonight. On the positive side of the ledger, just-announced Opening Day starter Max Fried looked like an ace on the mound, mixing his repertoire and flummoxing Pirates hitters. Meanwhile, Giancarlo Stanton was doing his usual, smashing baseballs at preternatural speeds.

Less positively, “let’s get Rockies relievers for our bullpen” is looking like a sketchy proposition, with a couple former Coloradans struggling versus Pittsburgh hitters in a 5-3 loss. But at the end of the day, Fried looked great, Stanton’s swinging a big stick, and the club got out of tonight healthy. That’s its own kind of win in my book.

Fried picked up right where he left off against Panama last week. Three Pirates came to the dish in the opening stanza, including super-prospect Konnor Griffin. All sat right back down. Fried punctuated the inning with a swinging strikeout of former first overall pick Henry Davis, the first of six on the night.

Former Houston Astro José Urquidy took the mound for Pittsburgh and, unfortunately, matched Fried. I hold grudges, so out of sheer spite, I would have liked to hang 10 runs on Urquidy in the first.

Fried ran his scoreless spring streak to five innings when he stepped back on the mound in the second. Two more strikeouts highlighted the frame, led by an ABS overturn that sent former Baby Bomber Rafael Flores, Jr. back to the Pirates dugout with his bat on his shoulder.

Big G got the Yankees on board in the home second. And it was Vintage Stanton. Giancarlo absolutely murdered an Urquidy offering: 109.5 mph off the bat, 424 feet to left center field. Watch and enjoy:

Sadly, the Pirates managed a base hit in the top of the third. No spring training no-no for Maximum Fried and the Yankees. I guess the good news was, as Todd Frazier pointed out in the YES booth, it gave Fried a chance to pitch out of the stretch after having been exclusively in the windup for the first two innings.

Veteran infielder Paul DeJong, leading off the Yankee third, followed in Stanton’s footsteps. He got a fastball out over the plate from Urquidy and drove it to left field. The only question was whether it would stay fair. It did, and it was 2-0, New York. Later in the inning, with Trent Grisham standing on second and two out, Cody Bellinger took Urquidy to deep right-center field. That double scored Grish and extended the lead to three runs.

With his pitch count in outstanding shape (40 pitches through three), Fried came back out for the fourth. Two more whiffs and a groundball sent him back to the dugout with about 10 pitches left in his bag – skipper Aaron Boone revealed in-game the goal was to have Fried throw 65.

The Pirates got on the board with Fried at the end of his rope in the fifth. On Fried’s 62nd pitch of the night, Endy Rodriguez got ahold of a mistake and hit it just far enough to send one up and out to left field. Boone left him out to face the next hitter, but once Fried’s pitch count hit 67, Boone bounded out of the dugout to come get his ace.

All told, it was an excellent outing from Fried, who threw seven different pitches on his way to striking out six Buccos while handing out nary a free pass.

Jake Bird was the next man up for the Yanks. Following the disastrous beginning to his Yankees tenure after the club acquired him from Colorado last summer, all positive signs from Bird are encouraged. Unfortunately, there were not many of those tonight. Bird handed out another walk. Along with a catcher’s interference, that loaded the bases for Griffin. Bird then missed over the plate with a 1-2 sweeper that Pittsburgh’s next great star promptly drove into left field, scoring two runs, tying the game, and ending Bird’s outing.

Another former Rockie followed Bird into the game. Angel Chivilli inherited runners on second and third with two out. It was dicey at points but ultimately, he was more successful than his predecessor and got the Yankees out of the inning. He was not so lucky in the sixth. A pair of singles and some good situational baseball allowed the Pirates to eke a fourth run across and take the lead. To Chivilli’s credit though, he limited the damage and got back to the dugout only down one.

The Yankee bats had been quiet since Urquidy departed. But in the bottom of the sixth, Stanton crushed another baseball. This one was merely a single to left field, but it was a 115.3-mph single to left. There is only one Giancarlo Stanton.

Osvaldo Bido, who the Yankees claimed off waivers from the Angels in early February, came in for the seventh and looked good, striking out a pair of Pirates hitters in a scoreless frame.

Southpaw Kyle Carr, the Yanks’ 13th-ranked prospect, came in to pitch the eighth. Unfortunately, some control problems led to a pair of two-out walks. And everyone knows those often come around to haunt the pitcher who hands them out. Shawn Ross doubled in the fifth Pirates run of the game.

Some shoddy Pittsburgh defense in the home eighth gave the Yankees a window to come back. After a one-out walk, Pirates reliever Yohan Ramirez threw a ball into center field trying to get an ill-advised force out at second base. Instead, the Yanks had runners on the corners. Alas, that was as close as they’d get. Carr tossed a clean ninth for the Bombers but the bats were—as they’d been all night since Urquidy left—unable to make a dent in the Pirates. Yankees lost, 5-3.

At least Aaron Judge had a very nice day for Team USA.

Join us tomorrow as the Yankees hit the road to play Philadelphia. Luis Gil gets the start for New York against Tanner Banks. First pitch is 1:05 pm EDT.

Box Score

PORT ST. LUCIE — Before arriving to camp for his annual visit as a Mets guest instructor, David Wright received a message from the team’s new third baseman saying he wanted to meet him. 

On Monday, Wright found Bo Bichette and began that relationship with a 30-minute conversation. 

“He was asking some great baseball questions and some great questions just about the city of New York in general,” Wright told SNY. “I have become a big Bo Bichette fan, so I am excited to see what he can do this year.” 

Bichette, who arrived to the Mets on a three-year contract worth $126 million in January, is shifting from shortstop to third base, as one of multiple new players learning a new position. 

Following a winter in which the front office reshaped the roster, the former Mets captain is learning new names, aside from Bichette. 

Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, Jeff McNeil and Edwin Díaz have departed and the new arrivals also include Jorge Polanco, Marcus Semien, Luis Robert Jr. and Devin Williams. 

“I really love spring training energy, especially with the new group of guys that the Mets have,” Wright said. “Now you get to meet some of these guys for the first time and it just seems there’s energy and enthusiasm in that locker room. I like being a small part of that.” 

Team owner Steve Cohen has said there won’t be an official Mets captain as long as he owns the club. Wright, who held the title for five seasons, said the number of veterans in the clubhouse may preclude the need for an official captain. 

“Knowing Francisco [Lindor] for the last few years, knowing Juan [Soto] for the last few years, when you have a handful or a group of leaders in there, that is just as good if not better than having a single leader,” Wright said. 

“Times change. It makes sense when you have the veteran group that they have in here, that group can get together with these young guys, these top prospects, and say, ‘Hey, this is how we’re going to kind of do it.’ I think that’s what made the team successful, the success that we had when I played, that let these young players know that ‘Starting now, this is how we play the game. This is how we carry ourselves.’”

TAMPA — The Yankees signed Randal Grichuk because of his ability to hit left-handed pitching. 

But with the 34-year-old not getting into camp until recently — and with just over two weeks before the start of the regular season — they just want to get the veteran as many plate appearances as possible. 

That’s why Grichuk was in the lineup Monday night with right-hander José Urquidy on the mound for the Pirates at Steinbrenner Field — and why Aaron Boone didn’t wait for a lefty starter for him to go up against. 

“At this point, we’re pretty deep into camp and may not have that luxury,” Boone said of saving the righty-swinging Grichuk for lefties. 

Grichuk won’t play Tuesday’s day game in Clearwater, Fla. against the Phillies and time — and at-bats — are of the essence. 

“Right now, especially with his experience, it’s about building up innings and reps,” Boone said. “If it comes [versus] lefties, that’s great.” 

With Grichuk seemingly likely on the Opening Day roster instead of the switch-hitting Jasson Domínguez, who has struggled against lefties from the right side, appears ticketed for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. 

That would leave a four-man bench of Grichuk, J.C. Escarra, Paul Goldschmidt and Amed Rosario. 

Boone is also confident that Grichuk will be valuable in the outfield, where he’s had plenty of experience over the years. 

“I think he can really handle left-handed pitching and we can help him in the outfield,’’ Boone said. “He’s a natural outfielder, a former center fielder and fundamentally very good. We might be able to help a little bit with some range things.” 

What the Yankees really need Grichuk to do, though, as Boone said, is “really hammer” lefties. 

They’re hoping for a return to his 2024 form, when Grichuk had a .913 OPS in 184 plate appearances against lefties with the Diamondbacks — and an .801 OPS against righties — before those numbers dropped to .703 versus lefties and .623 against righties last season split between Arizona and Kansas City. 

He’s confident he can get back to solid performance, in particular because many of his underlying numbers last year were better than his stats would indicate. 

And he continues to embrace the part-time role. 

As Grichuk noted, many players in that situation might complain about not getting regular at-bats, which makes it harder for them to get into a rhythm. 

“I kind of flipped the script, basically, and said ‘No one feels sorry for me,’” Grichuk said. “I’ve got to do it. That’s my role. I just changed the mindset. It doesn’t matter if it’s X amount of days without an at-bat. You’ve got to do your job and go to battle.” 

— Additional reporting by Mark W. Sanchez 

The Mets blanked the Marlins 9-0 this evening thanks to a pair of four-run innings in the first and sixth.

• Lefty Zach Thornton looked sharp, tossing three scoreless innings with three strikeouts to get things started for the Mets.
• He was provided with plenty of run support, as the Mets put up a four-run first inning in which Tyrone Taylor and Ryan Clifford each contributed RBI doubles.
• The Mets added a run in the second on an RBI triple by Carson Benge. Benge also had a two-RBI single in the sixth, taking a 3-2 pitch the other way with the bases loaded. The Mets put up another crooked number in that frame to extend their lead to 9-0.
• Devin Williams’ airbender was working, as he fanned two in a hitless inning of work in the fifth.
• The Marlins loaded the bases a couple of times, but failed to score. Craig Kimbrel, Ofreidy Gómez, Matt Turner, Channing Austin, and Brian Metoyer each pitched a scoreless inning.

The Mets will be back at it tomorrow at Clover Park, facing off against the Cardinals at 1:10pm EDT.

Max Fried struck out six batters and looked solid in four innings of work, but the Yankees fell to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-3, in Grapefruit League action on Monday night in Tampa.

Here are the takeaways… 

- Fried had a 1-2-3 first, blowing a 3-2, 95 mph fastball past Henry Davis, one of the Pirates' most promising young prospects, to close the frame. The lefty got two more strikeouts in the second, the first on ABS overturn on a changeup that clipped the bottom of the zone, and the other on a 95 mph fastball off the outside corner.

After retiring the first seven, Fried allowed a lofted single into right field, but he got out of the frame, adding another strikeout swinging, this time on a down-and-in slider. The lefty needed 17 pitches for a clean fourth with two more strikeouts.

Fried got stung to start the fifth when Endy Rodriguez took a 2-2 slider on the inside corner and snuck it over the wall in left despite a leaping effort from DukeEllis for a 386-foot homer. Fried faced one more batter and got ahead 0-2, before a PitchCom issue led to a throwaway ball as the lefty tossed it 50.1 mph and nowhere near the plate to avoid a pitch clock violation. After throwing a 95 mph fastball and getting a foul ball, Aaron Boone yanked the starter in the middle of the at-bat.

His final line: 4.0 innings, two hits, one run, no walks, and six strikeouts on 67 pitches (42 for strikes), and he looked much sharper than he did in his previous outing. Fried's average velocity and average spin rate were down on all of his pitches from last year's average last season, but this is just his second outing of the spring and he will likely make at least two more before being New York’s Opening Day starter, which Boone officially confirmed after the game.

- Giancarlo Stanton put a great swing on a hanging cutter that was right over the plate and socked it 424 feet (109.5 mph off the bat) for a tremendous home run to lead off the second inning. Stanton laced a single his last time up, 115.3 mph to left, to finish his day 2-for-3 with two exceptionally loud hits.

- Cody Bellinger, after grounding out his first time up, smacked a 2-0 fastball at the top of the zone for an RBI double to plate the Yanks' third run of the game. He just missed the homer, hitting it 392 feet off the wall (103 mph). Playing right on the day, he finished 1-for-3.

- Oswaldo Cabrera, in his second game of the spring and back from a gruesome injury last season, hit one hard into the left field corner his first time up, but Pittsburgh’s blank made a nice running grab. He finished the day 0-for-2.

- Paul DeJong, who joined the Yanks this offseason on a minor league deal, got a 2-1 fastball at the top of the zone and clobbered it for a 375-foot homer down the left-field line. It was a loud homer, 105.9 mph off the bat. He finished the day 1-for-3.

- Randal Grichuk made his first appearance of spring training on a minor league deal. He went 0-for-2 with a flyout and a groundout while playing left field.

- Ryan McMahon and Ben Rice each went 0-for-3 at the plate

-  Trent Grisham had a single in three at-bats, finishing the night 1-for-3.

- Jake Bird had a tough bit of luck as he looks to try and make the roster. After entering the game in the 5th with a 2-2 count, he walked the first batter and then got hit with bad luck when a strikeout was whipped away by a catcher's interferene putting two men on. After a strikeout and a fielder's choice, the lefty walked the next man before allowing a two-run double to left off Konnor Griffin's bat as a sweeper got the center of the plate.

He threw 21 pitches (12 strikes) while getting just two outs and allowing two runs. 

- Ahead of the game, the Yanks announced they had optioned outfielder Spencer Jones and right-hander Elmer Rodriguez to minor league camp.

Highlights

6 strikeouts today for Max Fried pic.twitter.com/Z3nc2AUJ9q

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) March 9, 2026

Giancarlo Stanton DESTROYS his first homer of the spring off the scoreboard! pic.twitter.com/KhE2WB4W0S

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) March 9, 2026

Paul DeJong 💪 pic.twitter.com/D8aE21XDvF

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) March 9, 2026

Cody Bellinger drives an RBI double off the wall! pic.twitter.com/iyBWxZKGCO

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) March 9, 2026

What's next

The Yankees head over to Clearwater to face the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday. First pitch is set for 1:05 p.m. Right-hander Luis Gil is set to make the start for New York.

The Phillies made sure Jesús Luzardo isn’t going anywhere.

The team locked up the 28-year-old lefty on a five-year, $135 million contract extension on Monday, The Post’s Jon Heyman confirmed.

Luzardo was set to become a free agent at the end of the 2026 season after coming over in a deal with the Marlins before this past season.

Luzardo, whose fastball hits around 97 mph to go with a dominant slider, acquitted himself well during his first year in Philadelphia, going 15-7 with a 3.92 ERA with 216 strikeouts in 183.2 innings.

His career-high 216 Ks were second in the NL behind the Giants’ Logan Webb. 

He gives the defending NL East champions a formidable top-three in the rotation, joining Zack Wheeler and Cristopher Sanchez as the team looks to win the World Series for the first time since 2008. 

Wheeler, 35, is a bit of a wild card coming off thoracic outlet surgery, leaving Luzardo as important insurance, despite his own injury history with elbow and back issues early in his career. 

The Phillies are Luzardo’s third stop during his career after being drafted by the Nationals in 2019, having made his big league debut with the Athletics in 2019 before three-plus seasons in Miami, where he went 21-28 with a 4.15 ERA and 1.231 WHIP over 74 starts.  

O Captain! My Captain!

Aaron Judge, who silences crowds when he steps into the box and makes all the noise in the world with his bat, showed off his defense in the top of the third inning of the United States' 5-3 win over Mexico in the World Baseball Classic on Monday night in Houston.

Pittsburgh ace Paul Skenes retired the first eight batters of the game and looked to be cruising. That was until Joey Ortiz reached on an error by second baseman Brice Turang, and when Jarren Duran smacked a single to right, it looked like Mexico had something cooking.

The Yankees' star had other ideas as he unleashed a perfect throw to nail Ortiz at third base, ending the threat before it began and the inning. A throw that put memories of last season's elbow injury solidly in the rearview mirror.

But Judge wasn't done dazzling in the third.

Following Bryce Harper reaching on an infield single, Judge got a 2-1 slider on the outside corner from Jesus Cruz and drove it the other way for a 364-foot two-run home run that just got over the short right field wall. The ball didn't go as far as Roman Anthony's 417-foot three-run shot a few batters later, but it was a solid shot with a 101.5 mph exit velocity.

The Yanks' slugger, and reigning back-to-back American League MVP, singled in his first at-bat and finished the night 2-for-3 with two walks and two RBI.

Earlier in the tournament, Judge blasted a 405-foot homer in his first at-bat of the WBC against Brazil.

Aaron Judge throws out the runner at third! pic.twitter.com/t3c53gFrsf

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) March 10, 2026

AARON JUDGE. pic.twitter.com/DlbeqUkl5e

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) March 10, 2026

Kade Anderson’s fastball is neither fast nor shapely, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t good. 

Anderson’s first two outings this Spring have been somewhat controversial. He’s earned rave reviews from the Mariners and the media, but the underlying data has lagged behind. Public “stuff” models are somewhat skeptical of his arsenal, and his vaunted fastball appears especially disappointing. Here’s a snapshot from Thomas Nestico, whose website I highly recommend for exploring pitching data: 

Stuff+ is statement on the physical properties of a pitch, where 100 is average and higher is better. It takes a bunch of data points—velocity, spin, movement, etc.—and estimates the effect of those characteristics on performance. In broad strokes, it works very well, and there’s a reason both public-facing analysts and teams invest in these models. Andrés Muñoz is the Mariners all-time leader in Stuff+, if that helps paint the picture. 

Anderson’s fastball so far grades at 91 by tjStuff+, Nestico’s version of the model. (I’m not picking on Nestico here. His just happens to be one of the few models available for Spring, and again, I really enjoy playing around in his website.) For reference, that’s about 10% below league average and would be one of the lesser four-seam grades in MLB. He’s only thrown 28 fastballs—another element of this discourse to keep in mind—but we can see why the models are unimpressed: it’s not very fast. His average four-seamer of 93.4 mph would be below average by MLB standards, and you don’t need fancy statistics to tell you more velocity is good.

The “shape” (or vertical and horizontal movement) of the pitch is also not unique. Great fastballs come in all shapes and sizes, and nothing about Anderson’s movement profile prevents it from being a highly effective pitch. But his fastball doesn’t exhibit the traditional top-rail four-seamer rise to coax whiffs at the letters, nor the bowling ball quasi-sinker that can plop down in the zone. From the perspective of these models, it’s just kind of… generic. 

Again, none of this is disqualifying. Plenty of great pitchers have a lesser, nondescript fastball—some pitchers don’t even throw a fastball. But the concern here is Anderson was billed as having a remarkable fastball. FanGraphs, for instance, gave it a 70 grade on the traditional scouting scale. That’s hard to square with what we’re seeing in these models, even in small samples. If the fastball has indeed been overstated, it’s possible there’s some limit to his projection.

But as Nestico or anyone else developing these models will tell you: stuff isn’t everything. It doesn’t capture location, tunneling, and other matters of deception. As Brendan Gawloski noted in his report for FanGraphs, that’s a big part of what makes Anderson’s fastball an elite pitch:

His fastball sits 92-95 mph with vertical ride, and it plays up because his loose arm action hides it until the very last moment. It generated a whopping 35% miss rate in 2025. The way his fastball plays means Anderson’s command of it doesn’t have to be precise; it rides enough to evade barrels in the strike zone. 

Jerry Dipoto offered a similar account when Kate Preusser asked him about it on Sunday. Anderson’s delivery naturally hides the ball from the batter until the last moment, Dipoto said. He throws from an unusually high arm slot for a lefty, while still getting solid extension down the mound. It’s just not a “look” batters see very often. Public models can’t capture that, Dipoto said.

And it’s not just Dipoto saying it. Mariners’ hitters have reported issues picking up the pitch in practice.

“It’s got some teeth on it,” Ryan Bliss said. “It’s spinny, it’s sneaky. It’s 93-94, but it feels like it’s 96-97. And he will throw it any time, he’ll throw any of his pitches any time for strikes, so you don’t know what’s coming. It’s an uncomfortable at-bat.”

And look, I’m not going to tell you that I, sitting here in my office, in my sweats, mustard still staining my fingers from lunch, can “see” even the weakest professional fastball. But yeah, I get how this pitch might appear out of nowhere from the perspective of a batter.

The other thing stuff models don’t capture? Arsenals. In addition to the fastball, Anderson throws a slider, changeup and curveball. Each of these pitches grades a more favorably by stuff models, and each gets the same boost from his deceptive arm action. This is one thing we (and by we I mean people much smarter than me) are starting to model publicly, and it does appear to be a big factor in whether a pitch or pitcher is effective. When Anderson releases the ball, batters might expect the incoming pitch to move at four different speeds and in four different directions. They can’t cheat and sit on any one offering, and because of his hocus-pocus delivery, they can’t afford not to cheat. It’s a blender of deception that helps his velocity play up.

…. in theory. We have yet to see the sum of this deception in games that count. We have data telling us one thing, and we have the Mariners telling us another. That’s why there’s dissonance. But while I normally wouldn’t put stock in typical Spring Training chatter from the team, I certainly value action. And the Mariners, somewhat literally, put $8.8 million where their mouth is when they drafted him. That’s worth something, as Justin Hollander pointed out Monday.

“If the Seattle Mariners draft him third overall in the country, you can bet our models like him,” Hollander said.

That’s the strongest point in favor of Anderson’s fastball, in my opinion. To be clear, Kumar Rocker, Max Meyer, and Ian Anderson were also drafted third overall within the last decade, so it’s not quite ipso facto in the way Hollander asserts. But the Mariners are indeed a top five collection of pitching thinkers across the league, and (I’d argue) the best organization at knowing who to draft. They’re aware of the models, and they invested anyways. 

This level of scrutiny isn’t entirely fair to Anderson. He is still a prospect after all and has yet to make a professional appearance outside these exhibitions. His stuff is not defined by 64 pitches in any setting, and a few outings while ramping up for the season aren’t representative of his current abilities. Regardless, he’s sure to get better with experience, whether we can measure it or not.

Still, the scrutiny isn’t quite misplaced. The hype heaped on Anderson has been pushed to rare levels, and the emphasis of the narrative is how fast he’s expected to move through the minors. The Mariners are trying to win a World Series this year, and there are legitimate questions about the depth of their rotation. It’s fair to wonder whether the team is serious about accelerating him, and whether he is ready for the jump. Is he now the sixth starter? Seventh? Eighth? I’m not sure. But my sense is Anderson, much like his fastball, will sneak up on us quick.