Category: Baseball

It’s been four months since the Seattle Mariners played a baseball game. Four months can feel like a long time. A lot happened: the holidays came and went, various roster moves were (and weren’t) made, Rick Rizzs announced his impending retirement, the Seahawks won the Super Bowl, nearly the entirety of the Winter Olympics have happened… et cetera. Still, despite how much has happened, just 123 days have passed since the Seattle Mariners last played a baseball game.

“123 days” feels like a lot less time than “4 months”. I’m not sure why — maybe just a quirk of human bias and perception. For most of the last month, I’d identified more with the “4 months” side of things. It seemed like forever since we had baseball. To have gone from each day being punctuated with the joy of the 2025 Mariners, to each having no clear punctuation at all… well, they call it the bleak midwinter for a reason.

Today, though, it felt like baseball never left. From the moment this morning that the Mariners posted the first lineup card of 2026, all the way through the last pitch that non-roster invitee Nick Davila delivered to close out the ninth inning, today was a continuation of the excitement, joy, and momentum of 2025. Peoria Sports Complex looked and sounded like it was at capacity. Nary a patch of grass in the outfield was unoccupied, and every exciting moment on the field was answered by a chorus of jubilant cheers.

It helped that the Mariners’ starting lineup was mostly comprised of their actual projected Opening Day lineup. The same cannot be said of the pitching, as the team looks to more slowly bring their big-league staff up to speed. Non-roster invitee Dane Dunning took the bump for Seattle. Dunning, who projects to be a (hopefully unneeded) depth piece for the Mariners this year, ended up throwing 1.2 scoreless innings after working around some early traffic. His fastball, which last year averaged a hair above 90 MPH, sat around 89 MPH for most of the day. The presence of full Statcast numbers in Spring Training this year is fun. However, as I scour Dane Dunning’s February 20th velocity and vertical break, searching for meaning, it occurs to me that the availability of these data may not be optimal for my mental health. Verdict: Dunning looked fine.

The rest of today’s pitching staff for Seattle was comprised mainly of Guys on the Pile. One highlight was newcomer Cooper Criswell, acquired from the Red Sox over the offseason. Criswell, a soft-tossing righty, induced three strikeouts over two innings, including a particularly nasty one of Manny Machado.

Another familiar face was Troy Taylor, who looks to bounce back from a disappointing 2025. Taylor’s velocity was great: he was already up and over last year’s average speed of 96. Less great was a hung sinker that Romeo Sanabria whacked 416 feet over the center field fence.

Right hander Alex Hoppe, who the Mariners also acquired from the Red Sox this winter, had a doubly disappointing afternoon. A dinger surrendered to Jose Miranda might have been bad enough, but the broadcasting team outed Hoppe as a true sicko: apparently his favorite player growing up was Jack Flaherty? First of all, Flaherty is literally 30 years old and Hoppe is 27, so I truly do not know when he would have idolized Flaherty. Secondly, even if the timeline did make any sense, Hoppe is likely the first person ever to idolize Jack Flaherty.

Fortunately, the hitters on Seattle’s side were a lot more interesting than the pitchers. Luke Raley, Julio Rodríguez, Josh Naylor, Leo Rivas, and Dom Canzone each checked in with hits in their first game back (Raley had two). Canzone made a flashy play in right field, laying out for a sinking line drive to rescue Dunning’s first inning. The real story of today, though, was the young guys. Most specifically Michael Arroyo.

Arroyo, a 21-year-old second baseman who just today was revealed to be working out at third base and in the outfield, watched the first pitch he was thrown. It was a changeup on the corner, called a ball. The Padres challenged, and it was overturned. Arroyo fouled off a second changeup to go down 0-2. A third changeup went right down the middle, and Arroyo took it the other way. It looked somewhat innocuous off the bat, but the ball carried, and carried, and carried. 406 feet later, Arroyo had recorded Seattle’s first home run of 2026.

Star prospect Colt Emerson immediately hit a ball in nearly the exact same spot, but it died before reaching the fence.

Arroyo’s very next at bat saw him hit another ball hard to the same spot. This one dropped short of the fence, but Arroyo was left standing on second base for a double. Not a bad showing for the 67th ranked prospect in all of baseball.

The final effort from today that I wanted to highlight was from fellow Top 100 Prospect Lazaro Montes. In the box score, Montes’ day didn’t look overly impressive: 1-for-3 with a single and a strikeout. The single, however, was one of the more difficult ones you’re likely to see.

The at bat in question was against Padres flamethrower Mason Miller, who we all know well from his days with the Athletics. Montes started by working a 2-2 count off Miller — an impressive feat in its own right. Miller responded by dialing up a 101.5 MPH fastball, which he lost control of. The resulting errant pitch nearly decapitated Montes, who had to leap out of the way. With a slight smile on his face, Montes dug back into the box and fouled off another 101.5 MPH fastball. Miller tried to switch it up with a slider, which Montes pulled for a line drive single into right field. Talk about Big League stuff from the 21-year-old.

Countless battles of NRI-on-NRI later, the Mariners were left standing with a 7-4 advantage over the Padres. Sure, the game was meaningless. Though, isn’t every game meaningless in the long run? Everything, even?

With meaning ultimately left as an exercise for the reader, I hope you enjoyed seeing the sunlight today, even if it was through a laptop or television screen. Fewer than five weeks remain until Opening Day and fewer than three until Daylight Savings. We made it.

The Colorado Rockies lost their spring training opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-2. For more details, go here.

We’re not yet to the point in the season where we’re doing game recaps, but we wanted to share manager Warren Schaeffer’s postgame comments.

And here’s that Cole Carrigg triple:

What were your takeaways from today’s game?

Let us know in the comments.

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SARASOTA, Fla. — Watching the Yankees’ veteran pitchers in his first week of big league camp, Elmer Rodriguez noticed their presence on the mound and how calm they looked.

Tasked with a notable assignment of his own Friday — starting the Grapefruit League opener against an Orioles lineup full of regulars — the 22-year-old Rodriguez took a page out of their books and continued to show why the Yankees are so high on his future as one of their top pitching prospects.

Rodriguez tossed three shutout innings against the Orioles, flashing his six-pitch arsenal and navigating a nearly full-strength lineup without much issue.

“First inning, the adrenaline was high in the moment,” said Rodriguez, who scattered three singles, struck out one and recorded seven of his nine outs on the ground. “But I was able to channel it and use it to my advantage. I felt like I was executing well and felt good.”

Rodriguez, acquired from the Red Sox last winter in exchange for catcher Carlos Narváez, broke out last season while posting a 2.58 ERA across three levels, with 176 strikeouts in 150 innings.

Depending on which scout you talk to, Rodriguez and Carlos Lagrange are, in some order, the organization’s top minor league arms — Rodriguez with a higher floor as a starter but Lagrange perhaps with a higher ceiling, both with plenty of potential.

And while the stakes are about to get higher for Rodriguez when he goes to pitch for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic, the Yankees were still interested to see how he handled Friday’s environment.

“That was pleasantly surprising for Elmer, just because you never know what it’s going to look like the first time you get on the major league mound with a major league lineup up there,” pitching coach Matt Blake said. “That’s borderline their ‘A’ lineup there, minus one or two pieces. But to have some poise out there, to control the strike zone, to move some different shapes around and just see that his stuff’s going to play in the zone versus these types of hitters, that was really encouraging.”

Blake described Rodriguez as having “a good, crafty arsenal” that he could use on all hitters.

The right-hander used his sinker most often, sitting 94-97 mph, but also mixed in a changeup, cutter, curveball, slider and four-seam fastball.

“I thought he was great,” catcher Austin Wells said. “He mixed it really well, hit the spots when he needed to and got some big ground balls. … He’s got a lot of really good pitches, got the talent and he’s just got to go do it.”

Rodriguez, who is likely to start the year at Triple-A as long as the Yankees get through camp relatively healthy, indicated that it was at least a somewhat difficult decision whether to leave his first big league spring training for the WBC.

But he has always wanted to represent his country, which he will do in a starting role, and believes he can continue to show the Yankees what he is capable of on an even bigger stage than he would be facing in the Grapefruit League.

“Just trying to use everything to my advantage,” he said. “Get some experience there, learn from guys here, learn from guys there. Having the experience to play there against good competition, just trying to learn as much as I can and get the most experience.

“I feel like it’s probably going to be higher-intensity games. Everybody says it’s like playing in the playoffs.”

It will only add to it that Puerto Rico is serving as a host for pool play, allowing Rodriguez to pitch in his native country.

Before then, Rodriguez passed his first test in big league camp.

“Very much under control,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Obviously running up against a pretty real lineup there. The poise that we continue to see is something you like, even though it’s not that big a deal, but first time in a big league spring training game, kicking off the spring, handled it well.

“I really think he’s got a bright future,” Boone added. “So he’s going to get some run down here.”

MESA, Arizona — The Cubs lost to the White Sox 8-1 in the first Spring Training game of 2026.

To which I say: Who cares? Wins and losses mean nothing until March 26.

A few notable things happened in this game, so let’s look at them.

Seiya Suzuki homered in his first spring at-bat [VIDEO].

So that’s good. That came after Austin Hays homered off Jameson Taillon in the top of the first. Taillon also served up another homer, a two-run job, in the second. I’m not concerned about that sort of thing this early; often, pitchers work on various things in spring outings and sometimes throw nothing but fastballs.

Of a bit of concern: Porter Hodge looked awful in facing six batters in the fourth inning. He walked four of them and allowed a two-run double to new Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami. It might have been more runs, but Grant Kipp induced an inning-ending double play.

Hopefully this was just Hodge “working on something” because he wasn’t anywhere near the strike zone most of the time, throwing only eight strikes in 25 pitches.

Gavin Hollowell, who also might be in the bullpen mix because he has options, struck out all three batters he faced in the sixth. Two of them (Hays and Murakami) are MLB hitters and the third is top Sox prospect Braden Montgomery. So Hollowell might be someone to watch going forward.

There were three ABS challenges in the game. If you didn’t see it, here are all of them.

A pitch was called a ball on Sox pitcher Jonathan Cannon in the second. It was overturned on review [VIDEO].

A call of ball 3 on Hollowell in the sixth was also overturned [VIDEO].

A pitch was called a ball in the bottom of the eighth and the call was confirmed [VIDEO].

These calls were all made seamlessly, quickly by the players, announced at the park by the plate umpire and all completed within just a few seconds. This is exactly how the ABS challenge system is supposed to work and once it’s in place for regular-season games you probably won’t even notice. I would imagine there will be more challenges in Spring Training games than you’ll see in the regular season so that players get used to doing it.

It was a gorgeous, though a bit coolish (60 degrees at game time) afternoon in Sloan Park, with the berm getting a bit crowded as folks from seats in the shade came to get some sunshine. Announced attendance was 14,419, about 1,000 short of a sellout. It’s still very early, many people aren’t on spring break or taking vacations yet, and I’d expect the crowds to get larger as the spring goes by.

Matthew Boyd will start Saturday afternoon at Sloan Park against the Rangers. Kumar Rocker will take the mound for Texas. Game time is again 2:05 p.m. CT. TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network and there will also be radio broadcasts via The Score as well as the Rangers radio network.

PHOENIX –– When it comes to the new ball-strike challenge system being implemented in Major League Baseball this year, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts doesn’t yet have any hard-and-fast rules for his players.

But on Friday, he offered a few general guidelines.

“I think right now, I feel comfortable with the catchers doing the challenges versus the pitchers,” Roberts said on the eve of the Dodgers’ Cactus League opener –– in which they will get to test the new automated ball-strike system (ABS for short) for the first time.

And what if a pitcher decides to challenge a call?

“He’d better be right,” Roberts said, laughing.

Such is the new dynamic players will face with the advent of ABS. Starting this year, the automated reviews will give each team the opportunity to challenge at least two ball-strike calls per game. And unlike normal manager challenges on all other types of play, an ABS review can only be initiated by a hitter, catcher or pitcher –– who may do so by tapping their head within two seconds of each pitch.

Once a team loses two challenges, its players won’t be able to dispute any further calls in a game (unless there are extra innings, in which case teams will be awarded another challenge opportunity).

“I think it’s good that we’re practicing it in spring,” Roberts said. “We’re having conversations about leverage and how to use it to our advantage.”

The ABS system, which relies on Hawk-Eye ball tracking cameras within ballparks to determine whether a pitch was in the strike zone, has been a long time coming. 

Since 2022, it has been tested in the minor leagues, where players and teams came to prefer having a limited number of challenges per game over allowing the system to make every pitch call, no matter what.

Last spring, MLB gave it a trial run in big-league spring training games, gathering feedback that was used to craft the specifics for its regular-season rollout now.

“I think it should benefit baseball,” Roberts said.

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One of the big points of previous dispute regarding ABS usage: the strike zone itself.

Veteran third baseman Max Muncy noted that, in early versions of ABS that he experienced while on minor-league rehab assignments in recent years, the top of the zone seemed atypically high –– differing significantly from the way many human umpires called the game.

“There were some pitches that, I’d go back and look at the iPad just to see (if they would be called strikes),” he recalled. “And there were ones literally at my eyes that it would say is a strike, just because of how the zone is measured.”

Now, however, MLB has made some tweaks.

Compared with data compiled from actual umpires’ calls, the top and bottom of the ABS zone have been made slightly tighter (“That stinks a little bit,” Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow joked). The league has also been measuring players’ heights this spring for ABS purposes, so each batter will have a zone proportional to their size.

“They’re doing things to make it better, I think,” Muncy said. “But there’s no way to tell until we actually get it.”

For the Dodgers, that process will start Saturday, providing a new subplot to follow over the course of the season.

Now, just like batting average and on-base percentage, players will undoubtedly have their challenge success rate tracked –– by media, coaches and front office analysts most of all.

Their ability to judge the right time in a game to challenge calls will also be scrutinized, introducing a new strategic element to every at-bat.

“You really have to know when you should challenge and when you can’t,” Muncy said. “Like, if it’s the third inning, 0-2 count, two outs and there’s no one on, and there’s a pitch that’s called on you that’s maybe borderline –– even if you’re right, is that really gonna change that much? And if it’s the eighth inning, full count, bases loaded and a pitch is borderline, even if you’re wrong, to me that’s an OK time to challenge.”

To Roberts, it means that “some hitters have to be honest with themselves” in the heat of the moment and avoid risking challenges at the wrong time simply out of frustration with borderline calls. 

“That goes with baseball IQ,” he said. “Understanding when you challenge, when you don’t.”

And for pitchers like Glasnow, it means leaving the responsibility largely up to the catchers, who have the best view of the zone from right behind the plate.

“Now, if it’s super obvious, I might (still challenge a call),” Glasnow added with a chuckle.

If he does, as Roberts cautioned, he just better be right.

Record: 1-0. Change on 2025: +1. 5-inning record 0-1.

The Diamondbacks got off to a winning start this afternoon, coming from behind with a two-run eighth inning to prevail over their SRF-mates from Colorado. It was a day for the new guys, with all three Arizona runs being driven in by players who weren’t part of the organization at the end of last season. Nolan Arenado got the team on the board with the D-backs’ first home-run (below), giving them a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Then, trailing 2-1 in the eighth, shortstop Jacob Amaya singled home A.J. Vukovich with the tying run. Catcher Matt O’Neill then double home Amaya, with what proved to be the winning run for Arizona.

On the pitching side, the D-backs used eight different pitchers, seven of whom put up zeroes. The exception was Isaiah Campbell, who allowed both Rockies’ runs in the fourth, on a pair of hits. However, the defense didn’t help him on either of those. The first was an infield single to former D-backs Jake McCarthy, though Arenado’s attempt to get him at first… was not great. Playing left, Ryan Waldschmidt then got all turned around, with a very poor first step on a ball which ended up whistling over his head for an RBI triple. But otherwise, decent results, with Thomas Hatch and Andrew Hoffmann each getting two K’s in the first and second innings.

They were helped considerably by Gabriel Moreno using his ball-strike challenges effectively behind the plate. He got three reversals in a row, turning balls into strikes, before the end of the second. It was not a good day for home-plate umpire Alex McKay. All told six of seven challenges by the players ended up being successful. Also, in kneejerk reactions, Waldschmidt didn’t look great at the plate overall, though did scald the day’s hardest-hit ball at an impressive 115.6 mph. Nor did Druw Jones impress the SnakePit, but Tommy Troy had some decent at-bats. Alek Thomas reached base safely in both of his at-bats, on a walk and a hit.

We’ll be back tomorrow, facing the same opposition, with the Diamondbacks the home-team this time! It will be another 1:10 pm start at Salt River Fields, with Mitch Bratt making his Diamondbacks debut.

By this time tomorrow, the Braves will have gotten done with their first spring training game of the season. That’s pretty exciting, even if all that means is that the countdown to the Opening Day will officially be underway. Anyways, here’s hoping tomorrow goes well. The floor is now yours and here’s a random clip:

Last game: 8-1 loss to White Sox

Next spring training game: Saturday, Feb. 21, vs. Rangers at Sloan Park, 2:05 p.m. CT. TV: Marquee Sports Network. Radio: The Score.

Next regular season game: Thursday, March 26, vs. Nationals at Wrigley Field, time TBD. TV: Marquee Sports Network

Cubs radio: WSCR/The Score (all regular season games), Sirius XM radio (click for channel), Cubs broadcast radio affiliates

Current MLB standings

2026 Cubs regular season schedule

Cubs 2026 spring training record: 0-1
Al’s 2025 spring training record: 0-1

Cubs 2025 regular season record: 92-70 (50-31 home, 42-39 road)
Cubs 2025 postseason record: 4-4 (4-1 home, 0-3 road)
Al’s 2025 regular season record: 53-37 (50-31 home, 3-6 road)
Al’s 2025 postseason record: 4-2 (4-1 home, 0-1 road)

Cubs 2025 regular season record on various TV channels

Marquee Sports Network: 81-64
Fox: 4-2
ESPN: 4-2
Apple TV+: 3-1
Roku: 0-1

Cubs 2025 regular season record wearing various uniforms

White pinstripe: 41-25
Chicago Blues: 9-4
Blue alternate: 14-15
Road gray: 28-25
Ryne Sandberg tribute: 0-1

It’s rare that a Cactus League opener is better welcomed for its final score than for the mere notion that baseball is back. But with an 8-1 walloping of the Cubs at their Sloan Park home field — and against a true Cubs rotation piece in Jameson Taillon, at that — the White Sox managed to make this opener more about the result.

Not to say it isn’t wonderful to have baseball back, even facing a club wearing those cuddly pinstriped PJs. But the South Siders made hay all day, pounding Cubs pitching for 12 hits, six of them for extra bases.

Right off, it was Austin Hays homering in his first White Sox appearance. (If memory serves, Austin Slater homered in his first regular season PA for the club, and his flip at the trade deadline last summer eventually netted Chicago a potential fifth starter, so start shopping again in the Bronx Bombers Gift Book, Chris Getz.)

(OK, well MLB had the Hays homer footage up earlier, but now it’s gone. It was a sweet, 105.6 mph smash to left field, chasing a Kyle Teel ground out off the bat at 107.4.)

Crisp contact would quickly become a theme of the day. After White Sox starter Jonathan Cannon (an OK first start despite 41 pitches to get five outs, three Ks, a walk and a homer) lost the lead to a Seiya Suzuki long ball in the Cubs half of the first, the Good Guys really went to work.

Derek Hill started off his 1-for-1, two-walks afternoon with a free pass, and on an 0-2 count next Sam Antonacci crushed a room-service fastball deep and out to right field. With this bat chuck from Sam, you would have thought he struck out, but the paisan announced his Spring Training presence with authority either way:

The White Sox picked up another off of Taillon right away, as Korey Lee singled and stole second, driven home by a Tristan Peters single.

Two innings later, three walks sandwiched around a single out packed the sacks for Munetaka Murakami. What happened next could be characterized as a gift double courtesy of Suzuki or a ball that would have been a grand slam in 16 of 30 MLB parks, depending on which side of town in which you reside:

By the way, Munetaka swung through a 95 mph fastball on the first pitch of the at-bat, but when Cubs reliever Porter Hodge cited the pregame skinnies and dipped right back into the well for a nearly identical pitch, Mune crushed it 408 feet off the center field wall. Take your scouting report and shove it, MLB.

Munetaka’s two hits on the day cracked off the bat at 108.3 (second-inning single) and 105.5 (fourth-inning double).

After Antonacci eventually ended the fourth inning with a GIDP, the game shifted to let’s-finish mode, with a parade of outs and just three more extra-base hits for either side.

Two of the XBHs was from “singles hitter” William Bergolla Jr., with a double in the sixth and two-bagger in the eighth that would lead him home as the South Siders’ final run.

And the other one, well, get on the Braden Montgomery hype train, because he clocked a first-pitch, two-out triple to drive in Darren Baker from first:

CHECK OUT THAT SPEED. It’s a standup triple on a screaming liner to the wall. Montgomery is at or past second base by the time the ball is fielded and is nearly standing on third by the time the cutoff man has the pill. Whoa.

All in all, a splendid opener for the White Sox. Shed a tiny tear for those ivy bumblers.

The undefeated Chicago Nine will lace ’em back up tomorrow for the Camelback Ranch opener against the A’s, which will be a CHSN broadcast to boot.

The Dodgers‘ iconic uniform has looked off the last few seasons.

When Nike rolled out its Vapor Premier template across Major League Baseball in 2024, the backlash was swift. Players around the league grumbled about thinner fabric, awkward fits and pants that felt better suited for a beach volleyball tournament than a pennant race.

Fingers were pointed at MLB and Fanatics. Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin insisted his company merely followed Nike’s blueprint. Nike designed it. MLB approved it. Fanatics executed it.

The backlash was felt in Los Angeles as well, but it wasn’t just the breathability of the uniforms. Fans noticed instantly that the script was off.

The second “d” in “Dodgers” was sliced in half by the jersey placket, as if someone had taken scissors to the logo at the wrong time. A tiny detail, some said. Tell that to a fan who’s worn that script across his chest since childhood.

For 2026, Nike finally listened to the fans and made changes.

The font is larger. The spacing is cleaner. Most importantly, the lowercase “d” no longer awkwardly straddles both sides of the jersey opening.

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There’s a clean, traditional break between the “o” and the “d,” restoring the classic flow of the Dodgers’ iconic chest script. The material has also been upgraded — thicker, more durable, less transparent — a nod to the chorus of player complaints that began in spring 2024.

Nike fixes #Dodgers jerseys for 2026 feature including a corrected script logo where the letter "d" is no longer split by the placket. The redesign restores a more traditional, larger font for lettering & Numbers
A return to more durable, higher-quality fabric. pic.twitter.com/YJV1OIQYfl

— Patrick Robles (@roblespan) February 20, 2026

In the post above, you can see the differences in the uniform from last season to this season.

The Dodgers open their Cactus League season on Saturday at Tempe Diablo Stadium against the Angels. They will open their 2026 campaign on March 26 at Dodger Stadium against the Diamondbacks.

Flashing bleached hair under his cap as he settles in with his new team, Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz threw his first pitch of Thursday's live bating practice session to Freddie Freeman. It was called a strike. As Díaz got set for his next pitch, Freeman tapped on his helmet in a playful attempt to challenge the call.

In response, Díaz tapped his cap twice.

These gestures will become the norm in major league baseball this season, starting this weekend, thanks to the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System.

Each team will begin games with two challenges, initiated by a pitcher, hitter or catcher tapping their head within seconds of the call — no dugout consultation allowed. The moment it's challenged, a graphic will show the result of the challenge on the video board and once the call is confirmed or overturned, the game will go on.

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

Teams retain challenges when they're successful and lose them when they're not.

The added layer of strategy intrigues Stephen Nelson, the Dodgers’ radio play-by-play voice.

“As humans we are naturally resistant to change, especially baseball fans, and I say that as a baseball fan,” Nelson said this week at the team's Camelback Ranch training facility. “So there's definitely going to be that early period where everybody's probably going to hate it, but you got to get through that.”

In recent years, MLB has tweaked the game — implementing a replay system to challenge calls on the field, placing a runner on second base to start extra innings, using a pitch clock. The ABS system has been tested in the minor leagues since 2022, and major leaguers got a taste of it during spring training last year and also in the All-Star Game.

In 288 spring games last year, there was an average of 4.1 challenges per game, adding an average of 57 seconds to it. Pitchers and catchers successfully overturned calls more often than hitters.

So who will be in charge of making challenges during at-bats?

“I will let the catcher dictate if he [wants] to challenge or not,” Díaz said this week. “I won’t do it … he’s been there all day long, they know the strike zone for the umpire.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was hesitant to say the club will have a hard rule on who can call for challenges. He feels more comfortable with his catcher doing it than a hitter or pitcher, but if a catcher decides to challenge, he expects them to be right.

“He better be right,” Roberts said Friday.

“It’s good that we're practicing in spring, but we're having conversations about leverage and how to use it to our advantage,” he added.

Roberts said if hitters want to make a call, they need to be honest with themselves about their personal knowledge of the strike zone and their baseball IQ and understand when to challenge a call and when not to.

Read more:Healthy, slimmer Teoscar Hernández 'out to prove something' this season with Dodgers

“There's no perfect science to it, but we're just going to keep talking about it, trying to educate our guys,” he said.

Luis Cruz, a former player and now a Spanish-language announcer for the Dodgers, said hitters don’t need to be thinking about challenging a call.

“I don’t want to have another thing in my mind … then you lose your focus on your at-bat,” he said.

Jackson Ferris to start Sunday's game

Left-hander Jackson Ferris, the Dodgers' minor league pitcher of the year in 2024, will start Sunday's game against the San Diego Padres at the Peoria Sports Complex.

Ferris, acquired along with outfield prospect Zyhir Hope from the Chicago Cubs for Michael Busch two years ago, logged a 3.86 ERA and 1.46 walks plus hits per inning pitched across 26 games and 126 innings at double-A Tulsa last season.

“I like Jackson,” Roberts said. “I like the player. He’s a good kid. A lot of talent. I think for me, it’s just trying to harness his arsenal. It’s a good fastball. He needs to continue to get ahead, be able to put hitters away with the secondary pitches, be efficient with his pitches per inning, but I like Jackson. He’s really talented. He’s scratching the surface, but he’s gotta go out there and perform, so I’m excited to see him on Sunday, and throughout the spring.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.