Category: MLB

Shortly before the 2025 All-Star break, a combination of personal tragedy, injury, and on-field struggles had Colorado Rockies center fielder Brenton Doyle on the back foot.

The Rockies’ most-valuable player in 2024 with 4.0 wins above replacement per Baseball Reference, Doyle ended the first half as baseball’s least valuable qualified player. Worth -2.0 rWAR as late as July 5th, both his bat and his glove suffered under the weight of poor performance.

The two-time Gold Glove winner out of Division II Shepherd University had been proclaimed the Rockies’ potential franchise center fielder before the season started. Before the trade deadline there were serious concerns about his future in Rockies purple.

“It was a bumpy year for me,” Doyle told Purple Row on Saturday, “and just being able to reset after those lows and get back to those highs was the biggest thing and finding ways to do that.”

Doyle indeed found the highs again in the second half. He turned things around both at the plate and on defense in the final 56 games of the season to finish with a positive wins-above-replacement score.

Looking much more like the Brenton Doyle of 2024, the center fielder looks to continue his “reset” and help the Rockies find their way forward in 2026 after an organizational overhaul.

“I just want to win some games,” Doyle explained of his goals for 2026. “Honestly, my personal goals are always going to intertwine with the team goals, and that’s to win more more games for this ball club.”

The Rockies finished 2025 with a brutal 43-119 record. Losing only 100 games would mark a substantial improvement for a rebuilding ball club looking to establish a solid foundation.

As part of the off-season program, manager Warren Schaeffer wanted some players—such as Kyle Karros and Ryan Ritter—to bulk up.

“Guys lose weight, especially here in altitude, and when a young player loses his weight, and he’s not accustomed to playing a long season with that toll on your body, it’s just not a good combination,” Schaeffer explained at the end of the 2025 campaign.

For Doyle, that’s already part of his regular routine. Patrolling the cavernous outfield at Coors Field is an exhausting job. Doyle lost over 20 pounds during his Gold Glove rookie season in 2023 and was reported to have lost over 10 pounds during the course of the 2025 season.

“I always try to work on my speed, putting on weight,” Doyle said. “I lose so much playing center field during the season. So [I worked on] packing on some good weight and just always trying to stay fast.”

During the off-season, Doyle also worked with his personal hitting instructor Kevin LaChance in Virginia. LaChance is a former minor league player and is currently a minor league hitting coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers. This coming season he will be the hitting coach for the High-A Great Lakes Loons.

Doyle has experimented with and adjusted his hitting mechanics since his rookie year, often in real time during the regular season. He credited mechanical adjustments made mid-season last year with helping him find his form at the plate again.

“It just eliminated the move I naturally make in my swing,” Doyle said. “And maybe that’s helped me get to some pitches (against right-handers) I was a tad bit late on in the past … It was something I did throughout my whole minor league career, and then last year I made a swing change. And then this year, I went back to what was more comfortable for me, and it’s been good.”

Doyle hit .282/.307/.462 through the last 56 games of the 2025 season with 11 doubles, eight home runs, nine stolen bases, and 27 RBIs. He felt confident enough to not make any additional major changes over the off-season.

“Nothing too major this year, just some very, very subtle changes,” Doyle said of his work with LaChance.

Now that spring training is fully underway, Doyle has praised the new coaching staff assembled by Schaeffer and new president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta.

“It’s been awesome,” he said. “I’ve had some really good conversations with with them. We have a really good plan in place and and we’re all on the same page, which is awesome.”

A major part of that plan in place is a focus on fundamentals. This includes Doyle’s work with new first base outfield coach Doug Bernier alongside the rest of the outfield group.

“A lot of stuff we’ve been working on has been reaction stuff. So just making sure we’re making the right first quick step, [and that] moves are super efficient. That’s basically been the focus of the work so far.”

Doyle made his first appearance of the Cactus League on Saturday afternoon against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He started in center field and went 3-for-3 at the plate with two doubles and three RBIs.

“I just had a good game playing against the guys I was facing,” Doyle said after the game. “I [was trying] to stay as stubborn as possible up there at the plate, getting the pitches I wanted to swing at and put some good swings on everything I fired at.”

Brenton Doyle is one of just a handful of Rockies guaranteed a single starting spot for the upcoming season, but his future with the Rockies has yet to be set in stone. He could be extended as the franchise center fielder for the foreseeable future, or he could be traded at the deadline to clear way for younger players and help restock the farm.

Whichever path the 2026 season leads him down, his reset from a miserable start to 2025 will continue to be a critical part of the Rockies’ season.

Karros’ goal? Becoming one of MLB’s top third baseman | MLB.com

After making his debut last season, prospect third baseman Kyle Karros is off to a solid start this spring. However, he isn’t aiming for just solid. Karros would like to continue the Rockies’ tradition of turning out superstar third baseman.

Slugging Rox prospect Condon impressing Schaeffer with versatility | MLB.com

Top prospect Charlie Condon made his Cactus League debut over the weekend in an unexpected way: by starting in right field for the first time in his professional career. Condon had two hits on the day and impressed skipper Warren Schaeffer with his preparation.

“I figured I wasn’t going to be playing only first base while I was here at camp,” said Condon, who also logged 11 games in left field and five at third base last season. “This offseason, I did some outfield work — drop-step stuff — just knowing that.”

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

This post is part of a series of daily questions that we’ll ask the community here at Amazin’ Avenue throughout the month of February. We hope you find the questions engaging and that our prompts can spark some fun conversations in the comments. We’ll see you there and plan to have staff chiming in, too.

Which Mets player will have the biggest bounce back season in 2026?

Was it as simple as you were living nearby?

I grew up on the Space Coast, just 2 hours away from Tampa and seemingly 3 from St. Petersburg, in a family that stayed loyal to the Braves over the Marlins over the years — but I was the perfect age to become a Rays fan, with my interest in Sports born the same year the Devil Rays thew their first pitch.

Given their proximity and availability on television, it was an easy decision for the family to go all in on the Devil Rays.

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue is pleased to present a Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow the various narrative paths.

“Maybe I called it wrong, but it’s official.” — Tom Connolly, HoF Umpire.

Today in baseball history:

• 1918 – Barney Dreyfuss of the Rules Committee launches a campaign to ban the spitter. He will succeed in 1919. (2)
• 1960 – Demolition of Ebbets Field begins. Lucy Monroe sings the National Anthem, and Roy Campanella is given an urn of dirt from behind home plate. (1,2)
• 1964 – The San Francisco Giants acquire P Masanori Murakami, 3B Tatsuhiko Tanaka, and C Hiroshi Takahashi on a player development deal with the Nankai Hawks, who own rights to all three. They are the first Japanese natives ever to play for American teams. All three are assigned to the Magic Valley Cowboys (Pioneer League). Although none of the three are considered top prospects, Murakami will confound everyone by reaching the major leagues by September after an outstanding season in the minors. (2)
• 1976 – Major League owners announce that spring training will not open until a new labor contract is agreed upon, thus decreeing a lockout. (1,2)
• 1988 – A committee of Chicago aldermen vote 7-2 to allow the Cubs to install lights and play up to 18 night games a year at Wrigley Field. The Cubs had feared losing the 1990 All-Star Game, as well as future postseason and World Series games, if lights were not installed. (1,2)
• 1990 – Despite the owners dropping their arbitration and minimum salary proposals, spring training camps remain closed. (2)
• 2000 – Chicago Cubs manager Don Baylor names four captains – first baseman Mark Grace, right fielder Sammy Sosa, pitcher Kevin Tapani and reliever Rick Aguilera. The quartet will be the Cubs’ first captains since the 1960s and early 1970s when Ron Santo held the position. (2)

Cubs Birthdays:Eric Yelding, Brian Duensing. Also notable: Sparky Anderson HOF.

Today in history:

• 1455 – Johannes Gutenberg prints his first Bible [estimated date] .
• 1540 – Francisco Vázquez de Coronado’s expedition sets off from Mexico in search of the Seven Cities of Gold (Cibola).
• 1782 Engineer James Watt’s patent for a rotary motion for the steam engine (his sun-and-planet gear) is granted.
• 1847 – Battle of Buena Vista, Mexico; Zachary Taylor leads mostly volunteer troops against larger Mexican Army force; Mexico retreats, both sides claim victory.
• 1886 – The Times of London newspaper publishes the world’s first classified ad.
• 1896 – Tootsie Roll introduced by Leo Hirshfield.
• 1904 – US acquires control of the Panama Canal Zone for $10 million.
• 1941 – Plutonium is first produced and isolated by American chemist Glenn T. Seaborg at Berkeley
• 1954 – First mass inoculation against polio with the Jonas Salk vaccine takes place at Arsenal Elementary School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Common sources:

• (1) — Today in Baseball History.
• (2) — Baseball Reference.
• (3) — Society for American Baseball Research.
• (4) — Baseball Hall of Fame.
• (5) — This Day in Chicago Cubs history.
• (6) — Wikipedia.
• (7) — The British Museum
• (8) — For world history.

*pictured.

Some of these items spread from site to site without being fact-checked, and that is why we ask for verifiable sources, in order to help correct the record.

As many people are now snowbound again thanks to a blizzard in the region, I’d invite you to partake in some of the latest news around the team.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• Jose Alvarado was going to pitch for Venezuela in the WBC, but thanks to insurance issues, that will no longer happen.
• Don Mattingly was on the field for his Phillies bench coach debut on Saturday….facing off against his old employer in the Blue Jays ($).
• Is a lot of players going to play in the World Baseball Classic a bad thing for the Phillies? The debate continues.

MLB news:

• The Cardinals signed Ramon Urias to a one-year deal to help with some infield versatility. I think I smell a trade candidate.
• The new MLBPA leader in Bruce Meyer has a very important player in his corner for support: Tarik Skubal.
• Rhys Hoskins, recently the subject of some debate about coming back to Philadelphia, will instead try to make the Guardians’ 40-man roster.

Happy Monday, Camden Chatters! I hope you’re staying warm after yet another Sunday snowstorm. The difference between yesterday’s snow and the storm a few weeks ago is that, at least now we have spring training to distract us.

The good news is that there has been no more injury news to add to the list, if you don’t count Payton Eeles coming out of yesterday’s game after colliding with Enrique Bradfield, Jr. And no offense to Mr. Eeles, but I do not.

Yesterday, the Orioles and Tigers kissed their sisters with a 4-4 tie at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland. The Orioles took a 4-3 lead into the ninth, but someone named Andrew Magno could not lock down the win.

There were pitchers you have heard of in yesterday’s game as well. Kyle Bradish made his first start of spring. It started well with a 10-pitch, 1-2-3 first inning. But things fell apart a bit in the second as he allowed three hits and walked a batter. Manager Craig Albernaz liked what he saw, as quoted in Roch Kubatko’s game story. Per Alby, “Sinker had some good movement on it, slider shape was really good. To me it was an encouraging first outing for KB.”

Bradish was followed by Brandon Young, who allowed a run on a home run to former Oriole Austin Slater. Relief pitchers on the 40-man roster, Cameron Foster and Anthony Nunez, pitched a scoreless inning each.

On offense, the Orioles got home runs from Pete Alonso and Heston Kjerstad. Kjerstad continues to impress this spring. If he can keep it up over the next month, might he even break camp with the team? As for Alonso, we were promised dingers and we are getting dingers! The Polar Bear has now homered in as many games as he has played as an Oriole. I am in favor of him keeping that up.

The Orioles are back home in Sarasota today to face the Atlanta Braves. Cade Povich is scheduled to start for the Orioles. If you want to watch this game, however, you are out of luck. There is no television or local radio broadcast. If you want to tune in, your only option is the Braves radio broadcast. I have to warn you, though. Listening to an away team’s radio feed during spring training is real sicko behavior.

Finally, today is Monday. That means there is a new episode of Good Morning, Birdland waiting for you! Tune in to hear Mark Brown’s thoughts on the current state of the Orioles.

Links

Orioles infielder Jordan Westburg on his elbow injury: It ‘wears on you mentally’ – The Baltimore Banner
It’s hard not to feel bad for Westburg. I didn’t know he had been feeling elbow pain for years.

Wondering whether Wolfram could be third lefty in relief – MASN Sports
Roch Kubatko takes a look at the possible bullpen makeup. Grant Wolfram was not a great in 21 games last year, but he may get another chance.

Conger brings playing, coaching experience to Orioles’ bullpen – Baltimore Baseball
Rich Dubroff catches up with the new bullpen coach, Hank Conger.

Why the Baltimore Orioles are having a Tupac Shakur bobblehead giveaway – The Athletic
The Orioles’ promotion department thinks this will be the most anticipated giveaway they have ever had. Even more than the Buck Showalter snow globe??

Frederick Keys announce a 2026 promotional schedule – The Frederick News-Post
The Orioles and Keys are reunited after several years apart.

Birthdays and History

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have two Orioles birthday buddies, John Shelby (68) and Bobby Bonilla (63). Shelby played for the Orioles from his Major League debut in 1981 until he was traded to the Dodgers in May 1987. He was the first base coach for the Orioles from 2008-2010. Bonilla was traded to the Orioles by the Mets at the trade deadline in 1995 and played with them through the 1996 season.

On this day in 2016, news broke that the Orioles were signing Dexter Fowler to a three-year contract. Two days later, Fowler appeared at the Cubs spring training having signed a one-year deal with them. It was one of the more perplexing non-deals I can remember. It worked out well for Fowler, who had the best year of his career as the Cubs won the World Series. Hard not to imagine how much better the 2016 Orioles could have been with Fowler and his .393 OBP at the top of the lineup.

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7 of last year's World Series, Ernie Clement smacked a fly ball off Yoshinobu Yamamoto into the left-center field gap with the bases loaded and the score tied.

As Andy Pages, just inserted into the game in center field, ran over left fielder Kiké Hernández to make the catch, Dodgers play-by-play announcer Stephen Nelson summed up the high drama unfolding in front him.

“Oh my gosh, we’re going to extra innings,” Nelson exclaimed on the Dodgers' radio broadcast. "A Yamamoto miracle in the ninth! Rogers Centre in stunned silence!"

A couple of innings later, Nelson found himself calling the final outs of his second consecutive World Series.

“Broken bat, ground ball. Betts has it, steps on the bag, the throw to first — double play! From backs against the wall to back-to-back, the Dodgers cement their dynasty!”

Nelson's calls have become a part of L.A.'s rich sports lore, which includes Vin Scully’s call of Kirk Gibson's game-winning home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series and Joe Davis’ call of Freddie Freeman's walk-off grand slam in Game 1 of the 2024 World Series — a moment Nelson called as well on the radio side.

When asked about his place in history last week during spring training at Camelback Ranch, Nelson demurred.

“I don’t really let myself think about it,” Nelson said, underscored by laughter. “I don’t have a very high opinion on myself or my work.”

Nelson, who turns 37 next month, joined the Dodgers before the 2023 season to back up Davis on the club’s SportsNet LA broadcast package. Prior to that, the Southern California native hosted studio shows for the MLB and NHL Networks and did play-by-play work for both leagues.

“I kind of feel like I fell into a fire, and now I’m just trying to survive,” said Nelson, who began his fourth season with the Dodgers as their lead radio play-by-play announcer as Cactus League play got underway on Saturday against the Angels.

Read more:What to expect with MLB's ABS system, and how Dodgers will navigate it

A graduate of Marina High in Huntington Beach and Chapman University in Orange, Nelson readily understood the lineage of the booth, the standards that existed within the organization, even if he grew up rooting for the White Sox just like his father.

“All my cousins around the Southland… they all bleed Dodger blue,” he said. “I was coming home when I took this job in a couple of different senses.”

During his first year with the team, instead of being himself, he catered to what he felt the fans deserved from the person holding down the mic. His said his new position gave him a feeling of impostor syndrome. As his first season progressed, Nelson leaned on the color analysts he worked with like Eric Karros, and the rest of the SportsNet LA crew to help restore some self-confidence.

Nelson still feels like he’s new to the role of a play-by-play commentator. He compared his daily approach to the age-old athlete’s cliché of “just trying to get one percent better every day,” with the main goal being not ruining Dodger games for fans.

He started to get more comfortable with his job once he realized he doesn’t have to try to be Scully.

“Those are shoes that are impossible to fill,” Nelson said. “It’s actually made the job easier in a way, because I ain’t touching that bar.”

Read more:Mookie Betts eyes a bounce-back year at the plate: 'I'll see what I can make of it'

As he prepares for the new season, Nelson visits the clubhouse during spring training, trying to get to know the new guys on the club and the prospects who are going to be the next wave. On top of that, the season previews put together by Rick Krajewski — “the doctor of research and stats,” as he calls him — help him paint the picture for the fans throughout the season.

Getting to call the last out on consecutive World Series wins, to be on the radios of people across L.A. during “the best game he’s ever seen,” and to call a game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of a Game 7 in the World Series is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“This is a tremendous blessing,” Nelson said. “There are a thousand other broadcasters who are more experienced and certainly more talented and for whatever the reason, I’m here. And so I gotta earn that blessing.”

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

SCOTTSDALE, AZ — Tony Vitello’s day opened when his players spoiled the suspense of the USA men's hockey team’s gold medal victory Sunday morning, got to meet new Hall of Famer Jeff Kent, had a fire alarm go off during their game, witnessed the most bizarre play of his life, won a spring-training game, and ended with one of his childhood heroes, Chicago Cubs Cy Young winner Rick Sutcliffe, stopping by afterwards to say hello.

Vitello knew life would be different as the first man to go straight from a college to major league manager with the San Francisco Giants, but nothing quite prepared him for this.

Each day this spring has been a learning experience for Vitello. He painfully discovered where not to stand in the dugout during games in his spring-training opener Saturday, and then was reminded Sunday not to live-stream a sporting event on your iPhone when you’ve got a clubhouse full of players watching on live TV.

Vitello was in the middle of rules meetings in the second level of the Giants’ clubhouse with the USA-Canada hockey game playing on his cell phone. He was intensely watching the action, bracing himself for overtime, when he heard his players screaming and shouting, and breaking into USA-USA-USA chants.

So when he finally saw Jack Hughes score the overtime game-winner for the United States’ first Olympic hockey gold medal since the “The Miracle on Ice" team, he already knew the outcome.

“When you’re streaming stuff,’’ said Vitello, a Blues fan growing up in St. Louis, “you better be careful where you’re sitting. Their reaction was pretty loud. Pretty awesome to see those guys get awarded the gold medal, pretty special to hear the anthem. Maybe that kind of sets the tone for the WBC (World Baseball Classic).’’

We’re a couple games into spring now, and already seen a few highlight performances from the handful of innings that each player has gotten into thus far. Aaron Judge stole the show in the home opener with a two-homer showcase, but right before the Captain went off we got a glimpse of Judge’s potential protege going deep for the first time this year too. Spencer Jones launched one out to right field on Saturday, displaying the power that so many have been captivated by… and he also struck out twice, underscoring the primary concern scouts have had with his development.

This season figures to be a critical one for Jones’ future as a Yankee. Many of the cards are out of his control, namely the packed Yankee outfield that is set to get consistent playing time that doesn’t even include Jasson Domínguez as a regular yet. Jones would be next in line afterwards, meaning that unless the injury bug strikes particularly hard or Jones goes on a season-long scorcher to force their hand, he probably isn’t seeing much time on the major league roster.

With that in mind, unless the Yankees swing a trade involving him he’ll have a full season in Triple-A to develop his power further and work on the big swing and miss flaws in his game. So what should we expect from the outfielder entering his age-25 season? He took a major leap last year, jumping his OPS up from .789 in Double-A in 2024 to a .932 mark split between Double-A and Triple-A. The power skyrocketed, going from 17 long balls to 35, and the notorious strikeouts continued to pile up as he whiffed 179 times in 438 plate appearances compared to 200 times in 482 PAs.

Jones is one of the most volatile prospects to project that the Yankees have had in a while. His ceiling could genuinely be a left-handed version of the Captain’s prowess in the box, but his floor could be a bat with pop that cannot convert on it because he struggles too much to make any contact. Will he take another leap and fill out the holes in his swing, especially given that he’s made changes to his stance already? Will we see more of the same from Jones, talent to be tapped into with enough frustrating flaws to hold him back? Will the Yankees even be the ones to see how it all pans out, or will they ship him out for other needs somewhere midseason? What’s your take on the Yankees’ biggest bat down in the minors?

Today on the site, we’ve got a double-feature for Josh leading off with a birthday tribute to Elston Howard and his legacy with the franchise as a barrier-breaking great before kicking off our team previews with a look at the lowly Rockies out west. In-between we’ve got Sam giving us a preview of the funky lefty in the bullpen, Tim Hill, and then after the exhibition game I’ll be back to open up this week’s mailbag for questions.

Today’s Matchup:

New York Yankees vs. Pittsburgh Pirates

Time: 1:05 p.m. EST

Video: Gotham Sports App, SportsNet-PIT

Venue: LECOM Park, Bradenton, FL

Observations from Yankees’ spring training on Sunday:

Where they ain’t

Making his spring debut, Cody Bellinger picked up a pair of singles — neither of which was hit particularly hard, but both found the right spots.

The left fielder used his contact skills and speed — the latter resulting in an infield single — to his advantage.

Bucky Dent talking through infield mechanics with Jazz Chisholm Jr. pic.twitter.com/rQAxUcHaKy

— Greg Joyce (@GJoyce9) February 22, 2026

Swing & miss

Trent Grisham used up an early challenge on the ABS, unsuccessfully trying to get a strike turned into a ball in the bottom of the first.

Caught my eye

Bucky Dent arrived at Yankees camp Sunday as a guest instructor and spent time talking with both Jazz Chisholm Jr. and, in an even longer conversation, Anthony Volpe.

“There’s wisdom to impart there,” manager Aaron Boone said. “For these guys to come back and offer some of that is always valuable.”

Today’s schedule

The Yankees travel to Bradenton, Fla., for a 1 p.m. game against the Pirates.

Lefty Ryan Yarbrough is set to make his first start of the spring, with Ben Rice among the regulars in the lineup.

TAMPA — The Yankees did not pooh-pooh their pregame workouts Sunday; they just had to move them across the street.

A sewage leak, caused by a clogged drain in a pipe outside of the footprint of Steinbrenner Field, forced the Yankees to hold their breath and move over to their player development complex for morning workouts while crews finished the cleanup before the team returned for a game against the Mets.

The leak sprung up Saturday afternoon and spilled into areas around the home clubhouse.

It did not do any real damage in the main area where players dress and house their equipment, though.

“In spots, it was really bad,” manager Aaron Boone said Sunday after returning for a 6-4 loss to the Mets. “Fortunately, it didn’t get into the clubhouse where it could have seeped in and we would have had to pull up carpet and lockers and equipment in the clubhouse. So that part of it was good.

“There’s some sensitive areas that need to be addressed; I’m sure they will be in the coming days. But for the most part, we should be good. We should be normal postgame, with everyone showering and doing what they need to do to end the day.”

The coaches room appeared to have the carpet pulled up, and other areas were more affected, in addition to a brutal stench wafting through the area Saturday, though it had mostly dissipated by Sunday morning as workers finished off an around-the-clock cleanup.

“I was surprised at how much they were able to get things cleaned up and sanitized,” Boone said. “Credit to a lot of people that put in a lot of hours overnight and this morning. Hopefully, we’re in a good position moving forward. We got probably some longer-term things that got to get fixed but should be in a good spot.”

Luis Gil made his spring debut, striking out four across 2 ²/₃ innings while giving up a solo home run to Jared Young.

His fastball averaged 94.5 mph and topped out at 96.6, but the right-hander said he still believes he can get back to his 2024 form — both in velocity (averaging 96.6 mph) and in overall performance — after he averaged 95.3 mph in 2025.

“I feel like I’m on the right track,” Gil said through an interpreter. “I think the work we’ve done together has been very, very good and has put me in the right lane. I feel like I’m where I need to be right now. I don’t have any doubt in my mind that I can get back to that level, where I was in 2024. God willing, I’ll be.”

With Trent Grisham and Cody Bellinger in Sunday’s lineup, Ben Rice and Giancarlo Stanton are now the last two regulars who have yet to play in a Grapefruit League game.

Rice is expected to make his debut Monday against the Pirates after being slowed earlier in camp by a stiff neck, which kept him from hitting for a few days.

Stanton, meanwhile, is being slow-played into games in an attempt to keep him fresh in the long run.

Boone is targeting either side of the March 2 off day to get Stanton into his first game, with the 36-year-old DH being limited to workouts and live batting practice in the meantime.

On Sunday morning, he was shagging fly balls in right field as his teammates took batting practice.

NJ.com | Randy Miller: When Spencer Jones launched a fly ball deep into the Tampa sky and out of George M. Steinbrenner Stadium during his first plate appearances this spring, Yankees fans were immediately reminded of the towering moonshots that Aaron Judge so regularly graces us with in the Bronx. However, eagle-eyed fans clued into not the flying ball, but the center fielder’s swing, would have been reminded of another multi-time MVP winner: Shohei Ohtani. The 24-year-old left handed hitter spent the winter once again trying to rework his swing in order to cut down on his strikeouts without sacrificing power, and this year, he has settled on a stance that even Judge and manager Aaron Boone describe as Ohtani-like. Hopefully, the results will begin to look similar, too.

New York Post | Greg Joyce: The prevailing assumption at the moment is that, once shortstop Anthony Volpe finishes rehabbing from offseason shoulder surgery, he will return to the starting role that he has filled, rather underwhelmingly compared to expectations, since Opening Day 2023. That being said, José Caballero has a chance to make the decision a difficult one. Acquired at the trade deadline from the Tampa Bay Rays, Caballero immediately injected energy into the Yankees lineup both through his speed and his ability to play all over the diamond. Now, with a month-plus manning the shortstop job to start the season, Caballero has a shot to show that he needs to stay in the lineup and partner up once more with his minor league double play partner, Jazz Chisholm.

The Athletic | Brendan Kuty: (subscription required, but same report found elsewhere) Former Yankees radio broadcaster John Sterling visited Rickie Ricardo on WFAN yesterday, and dropped some news on us: he suffered a heart attack back in January. Fortunately, Sterling said that “all things are good,” and that he has spent the last few weeks in bed watching the Winter Olympics while recovering.

The Guardians shoutout the A’s yesterday and scored another right-handed hitter on their roster by adding Rhys Hoskins on a minor-league deal.

We covered the Hoskins’ signing here, and Zack Meisel also covered it well for the Athletic here. It’s nice to have some more left-handed hitting-ability and slugging in camp. So, let’s see how it goes from here.

In the Guardians’ 6-0 win over the Athletics yesterday, the Guardians had 9 of the top 11 exit velocities, with Ralphy Velazquez leading the Guardians with a 111.1 mph single. Stuart Fairchild had two 105 mph singles and has looked solid to begin camp, as has Kahlil Watson who had a 105.7 single. George Valera hit a 104.7 mph home run. Travis Bazzana and Angel Genao didn’t light up the scoreboard, with only Genao registering a single, but both put up good at-bats, in general.

All of Parker Messick’s pitches were up a little bit in average speed, which is good for the beginning of camp. Will Dion struck out three batters in two scoreless innings pitched.

Tim Stebbins had a nice piece on David Fry’s return to playing catcher in yesterday’s game, for MLB.com.

The Guardians play the Diamondbacks at 3:05PM ET today.

TAMPA — Quick: Which member of the Yankees double-play combination — at least to start the season — is Aaron Boone discussing?

“He plays the game with a ton of confidence. Sometimes, I got to try to rein his confidence in a little bit, but it’s a gift that he’s got. When he’s out there, he thinks he’s the best player on the field.”

Jazz Chisholm Jr. would be an understandable guess.

But the manager was, in fact, referring to José Caballero, who starts the season as the Yankees starting shortstop next to Chisholm, at least until Anthony Volpe is ready to return from offseason shoulder surgery.

The Yankees got a taste of Caballero’s impact over the final two months of last season — felt most consistently with his speed on the basepaths, ability to play all over the field and his legitimate defense as a backup shortstop — and now, he has an opportunity to build on that in an everyday role over the first month-plus of this season.

“That’s out of my control,” Caballero said Sunday after hitting a home run in a 6-4 loss to the Mets when asked how the shortstop dynamic might play out. “I control what I can control. I’m going to go out there and do my best every day. They make the decision.”

The reality is that even if Caballero crushes it over the first month-plus of the season, the Yankees are likely to give a healthy Volpe a runway to show that he can still be their starting shortstop.

Since late last year, when there were questions about whether Caballero should take over for Volpe at the position, the Yankees have believed they are at their best when Caballero is their 10th man and a weapon off the bench.

But Caballero at least has a chance to make the decision an interesting one by taking advantage of the everyday playing time.

“He’s just so good at so many different positions, and there’s some fast-twitch in there, which obviously [helps with] stolen bases, he’s so dynamic on the basepaths,” Boone said. “You want the ball hit to him, wherever you put him. He’s good in the outfield; he’s good at all the infield positions. But there’s just a confidence, if he’s sitting over there for a few days, he brings a lot to the table that you want to have of a bench player late in a game. So just a lot of things he brings to the table.

“He’s one of those guys that’s a really good complete-your-roster [player] for a winning club.”

Boone paired up Caballero and Chisholm for the second time in three games Sunday and plans to have them play three more games together this week before they each leave to play in the World Baseball Classic — Caballero for Panama and Chisholm for Great Britain.

The good news is that the two already have prior history together as young minor leaguers in the Diamondbacks organization.

Each eventually was traded away, but their comfort working together has quickly returned now that they are Yankees.

“He’s not scared to play his game,” Chisholm said. “A lot of guys get to the big leagues or New York and try to play a different game and not be themselves. That’s the best thing about him is that he comes out there and he is himself. He’s not afraid to be himself. That’s what helps him with his overall game.”

That also applies to Chisholm, which is perhaps another element that makes them simpatico in addition to their confidence.

(When asked who was more confident in their abilities between Caballero and Chisholm, Boone grinned and answered Clarke Schmidt.)

Caballero, coming off leading the majors with 49 steals, is more of a burner while Chisholm has more power.

But Caballero flashed his own pop Sunday, a home run off Justin Hagenman reminiscent of some of the power shows he puts on during batting practice.

“I can hit the ball hard,” Caballero said. “It’s not [always] showing in the game, so I’m trying to be more consistent with it.”

TAMPA — Mets fans weren’t the only ones waiting to get their eyes on Carson Benge on Sunday.

So was Carlos Mendoza.

“I’m excited to watch him play for the first time — other than on video,” the manager said before Benge made his Grapefruit League debut for the Mets in a 6-4 win over the Yankees at Steinbrenner Field.

There were no highlights from the 23-year-old, who started in right field and led off, but that’s not what the Mets are looking for.

After their 2024 first-round draft pick shot up the minor league system last year — his first full season in professional baseball— expectations were only heightened when president of baseball operations David Stearns said in November that Benge “is going to come into spring training with a chance to make our team.”

And then Stearns’ actions backed that up, as Brandon Nimmo was traded to the Rangers.

Luis Robert Jr. was acquired from the White Sox to play center, but there remains a vacancy in right field — now that Juan Soto is in left — for Benge.

“At the end of the day, I’m gonna try and be me — and nothing else,” Benge said before the game. “And let things work out for themselves.”

The lefty-swinging Benge opened with a pair of rough at-bats against Yankees right-hander Luis Gil before facing left-handed sidearmer Tim Hill.

For Benge, who’s played just 131 games in the minors after two seasons at Oklahoma State as a two-way player, the argument could be made that he needs more experience before he’s ready for Queens.

Whether that can be accomplished in time for Opening Day remains to be seen, but the skill set has impressed scouts, who nearly universally believe Benge has a shot at success in the majors soon — if not by the end of March.

“It’s Day 1 and we want him to be himself, compete, play [his] game and don’t try to do too much,” Mendoza said.

And instead of focusing on results, the manager pointed to “quality of at-bats, laying off pitches, baserunning [and] defense.”

Benge struggled for stretches after his mid-August call-up to Triple-A Syracuse and endured an 0-for-24 stretch before finishing the season better.

Still, it’s unusual for a player to jump to the majors after just 24 games at Triple-A.

But his mind is on making the Opening Day roster.

“Definitely,” Benge said. “I want to come in here, do my best, be myself, and whatever happens, happens.”

And whatever happens, the spotlight will remain on Benge, and Mendoza will be watching to see how he handles it.

“I like to see how he handles adversity,” Mendoza said of the outfielder, who began last season at High-A Brooklyn. “He’s gonna go through it. It’s always tough, especially when there’s so much out there. There could be a lot of noise — good or bad. It’s part of the process. You could have a great camp or you could go out there and it’s hard for you. But one thing we told him is to control what you control and let the people that make the decisions make the decisions.”

Benge said he’s aware of the organization’s stated confidence in him — and also knows that will only get him so far.

“It’s pretty cool,” Benge said. “No matter what, I’ll still try to be myself and play the game like I’ve always played it.”