Category: Baseball

This is a weird post. I’ll just go ahead and get that out of the way. And then I’m going to head into a brief-ish aside.

I used to generate a lot more content. On the rare occasion I interrogate this fact, the subsequent thoughts fall into a few camps. One is that, well, I’m just busier. My bit of unsolicited life advice framed as a statement: one small child in a both-parents-work household with no non-hired help nearby is imminently doable; two small children with the same setup is really difficult. 2025 was also just a brutal year all-around, I’m not sure what 2026 represents in that regard yet. But, the other hand is that for me, MLB is shoving itself more into the “abstractly/conceptually interesting” camp rather than the “directly engaging camp.” My favorite part of baseball was roster construction, but the expanded playoffs have brutalized the idea (as expected). On top of that, there’s a bunch of non-player-related uncertainty (different balls, different rules), which both dampen the rewards to roster construction but also make baseball feel kinda serialized — “Oh, that was the year that X” — perhaps too much. I don’t know. Anyway, the combination of having less time and feeling like learning baseball things is less consequential because rosters are just kind of a morass of “we sorta tried” these days is a bummer.

Okay, I got that out of the way. And having done so, I’m going to talk about Spring Training.

The Braves won three-fourths of their official Grapefruit League contests, finishing 21-7. Even the mighty Dodgers couldn’t catch up — the Braves’ total victory over both spring leagues wasn’t assured until late, but the Dodgers ended up finishing 20-9 in the Cactus League. This, of course, means nothing. You know it means nothing, and even if it meant something, Spring Training during a World Baseball Classic year would mean even less. (Though, of course, the Braves won while missing arguably their best player for much of Spring Training…) But, it’s useful to occasionally reevaluate whether the things we think we know are true are… true. So, here we are.

I went back to 2016 (because that’s the year we have “modern” playoff odds memorialized on FanGraphs). For those years, I pulled teams if they:

1. Won either the Cactus or Grapefruit League; or
2. Didn’t win either league, but had a record better than the winner of one of those leagues.

This gave me 24 team-seasons, excluding 2020. Most years had two or three teams in this set; 2017 has four, because the Angels “won” the Cactus League with a .588 winning percentage, while three Grapefruit League teams fared better. One of those teams was the 2023 Braves, who had a .643 Spring winning percentage — behind the Cardinals that year, but still good enough to be included. (And we all know how 2023 went for the Braves!)

For each of those team-seasons, I then pulled both their actual end-of-season winning percentage, but also their before-the-season-started final projected wins point estimate. All of this is summarized below.

Some of this stuff is kinda interesting. The teams here have a collective 85 win-ish projection (whether you include 2026 or not). Actual performance for these teams ended up around 87 wins, so basically a two-win swing. It seems tempting to say that superlative Spring Training teams go on to beat their projections in the regular season, but nah — pretty much any statistical test you can muster shows no effect, something underscored by the fact that despite the two-win swing overall, ten of the 24 teams performed worse than expected. These findings are also robust to pretty much any kind of drill-down — excluding “extra” teams that didn’t win their Spring league, only taking the best team each Spring, etc. etc.

Bottom line, you already knew this: it doesn’t matter. The 2016 Nationals had an insane Spring Training, as did the 2024 Orioles. Those teams actually did do much better than expected. But the 2025 Giants are next, and they ended up at .500, as expected. The 2016 Diamondbacks weren’t supposed to be good, had a great Spring Training, and then imploded during the regular season.

You probably could’ve surmised all of this. But now you know. Yay, the Braves won in Spring Training. That’ll have to be its own reward, such as it is. Overall, the Braves will have to scrap for a playoff spot, as their injury situation and general roster malaise make this much more of a 2019-2021 situation than the expected-and-consummated dominance they managed in 2022-2023.

In 1989, the Royals had the third-best record in baseball, but fell short of a playoff spot because of the “Bash Brothers” Oakland Athletics and the lack of a Wild Card in baseball. They had an emerging superstar in Bo Jackson, a future Hall of Famer in George Brett, the reigning AL Cy Young winner in Bret Saberhagen, familiar veterans like Willie Wilson and Frank White, and solid young players like Danny Tartabull, Kevin Seitzer, Tom Gordon, Mark Gubicza, and Jeff Montgomery. Then they went out and added two big free agents, poaching 19-game winner Storm Davis from the A’s, then in a coup, signing reigning NL Cy Young winner Mark Davis away from the Padres. I asked my dad if we could get World Series tickets.

The Royals did not make the World Series.

Both Davis free agents were flops. Injuries plagued Jackson, Tartabull, and Saberhagen. The Royals finished 75-86, the fourth-worst record in the league, and their worst season since 1970.

Still, I was an 11-year old kid, whose team was demonstrably good, and had made some big splashy moves. It was also one of the first years I had followed baseball. I thought the team might be good in 2015, but I was a jaded, cynical adult by then. There is something about being young and innocent and willing to allow yourself to buy in to be excited about a team.

Think back – when were you the most excited about a Royals season on the eve of Opening Day? Was it a team that fulfilled your hopes? Or like the 1990, a team that fell flat on its face?

It’s a crowded outfield, but Aaron Judge has made the Opening Day roster.

While that may have been an easy decision, filling out the pitching staff was not, as the team elected to start the year with a four-man rotation. Offdays tomorrow and Sunday mean the club optioned Luis Gil to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and roll with a nine-piece bullpen, including Rule 5 pick Cade Winquest. Last year’s Trade Deadline acquisition Jake Bird will start the year with the MLB team, a step forward after a near-immediate optioning to the minors last season, and Brent Headrick rounds out the relief corps.

It’s also worth noting that a remarkably healthy spring training meant that there was just no room for Jasson Domínguez to get regular reps, so he’s down in Triple-A with Gil to begin 2026, while a more traditional fourth outfielder is on the roster instead in former Yankee killer Randal Grichuk. The RailRiders begin their season tomorrow in Buffalo, so the likes of Domínguez, Gil, Oswaldo Cabrera, Spencer Jones, Elmer Rodríguez, and Carlos Lagrange will be in action shortly.

Here’s the full roster rundown:

2026 New York Yankees Opening Day Roster pic.twitter.com/AJ4IAeW80a

— Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) March 25, 2026

As the Yankees’ account notes, shortstop Anthony Volpe and pitchers Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, and Clarke Schmidt will begin the year on the injured list. Rodón is rehabbing from offseason surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow and could come back later in April. Volpe had shoulder surgery and should return in May, and there’s a chance that Cole could be back from Tommy John surgery late that month if his rehab goes well. Schmidt had his own Tommy John later in 2025 and won’t be able to pitch until the second at the absolute earliest.

The 26 active players can reasonably be broken down like this:

Defensive Lineup

Austin Wells, C
Ben Rice, 1B
Jazz Chisholm Jr., 2B
Ryan McMahon, 3B
José Caballero, SS
Cody Bellinger, LF
Trent Grisham, CF
Aaron Judge, RF
Giancarlo Stanton, DH

Bench

J.C. Escarra, C
Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
Amed Rosario, UT
Randal Grichuk, OF

Rotation

Max Fried, LHP
Cam Schlittler, RHP
Will Warren, RHP
Ryan Weathers, LHP

Bullpen

David Bednar, RHP (closer)
Fernando Cruz, RHP
Camilo Doval, RHP
Tim Hill, LHP
Ryan Yarbrough, LHP
Jake Bird, RHP
Brent Headrick, LHP
Paul Blackburn, RHP
Cade Winquest, RHP

Someone from that pitching group will be dropped during next week’s series with the Mariners in order to form a proper five-man rotation, but for this opening three-game set with the Giants, manager Aaron Boone will have plenty of options in the back end of games.

While the Dodgers are striving to be the last team standing for the third season in a row, they aren’t alone in their quest to be the best for a long stretch of time.

Shohei Ohtani won National League MVP in each of his first two years with the Dodgers, the only player in franchise history to win that award in consecutive years. But he also won American League MVP in 2023 with the Angels, so he’s on a streak of three MVPs in a row, and four in the last five years.

Barry Bonds is the only other player in MLB history to win more than two MVP awards in a row. Bonds explored the limits of science in winning four consecutive NL MVPs with the San Francisco Giants from 2001-04, during which he hit an eye-popping .349/.559/.809 from ages 36-39.

Thirteen other players won two MVP awards in a row, and Bonds himself also won consecutive awards in 1992 with the Pittsburgh Pirates and in 1993 with the Giants. In all, there have been 17 MLB seasons in which a player was trying for a third straight MVP.

Player	Year	bWAR	fWAR	MVP finish
Jimmie Foxx	1934	8.3	8.8	10th
Hal Newhouser	1946	9.7	9.3	2nd
Yogi Berra	1956	6.2	6.4	2nd
Mickey Mantle	1958	8.7	8.8	5th
Ernie Banks	1960	7.9	7.0	4th
Roger Maris	1962	3.7	3.7	no votes
Joe Morgan	1977	5.8	5.8	no votes
Mike Schmidt	1982	7.4	7.2	6th
Dale Murphy	1984	5.5	5.6	9th
Barry Bonds	1994	6.2	6.0	4th
Frank Thomas	1995	5.3	5.4	8th
Barry Bonds	2003	9.2	10.2	1st
Barry Bonds	2004	10.6	11.9	1st
Barry Bonds	2005	0.6	0.7	no votes
Albert Pujols	2010	7.5	6.8	2nd
Miguel Cabrera	2014	5.1	5.2	9th
Shohei Ohtani	2025	7.8	9.4	1st

These are nearly all fantastic seasons. Bonds at age 40 in 2005 broke down and only played in 14 games. Fifteen of the other 16 seasons topped 5 WAR, using either Baseball Reference or FanGraphs, save for Roger Maris in 1962, who put up a solid 3.7 WAR the year after setting the home run record.

The average of all 17 seasons, even including Bonds’ injured year, is 6.8 bWAR and 7.0 fWAR.

Besides Ohtani and Bonds, three players got reasonably close to winning a third straight MVP, finishing second the year after winning two in a row.

Hal Newhouser is the only pitcher on this list, winning AL MVP in 1944 and 1945 with the Detroit Tigers during World War II. Then he put up a 1.94 ERA with 26 wins, both league-leading, and 275 strikeouts in 292 2/3 innings in 1946. His Tigers finished second for the pennant to the Boston Red Sox, and Ted Williams won MVP by hitting .342/.497/.667 with 38 home runs.

The 1946 voting was relatively close, with Williams collecting 224 points to 197 for Newhouser. Williams got nine first-place votes compared to three for Newhouser. The other two second-place finishes were of the distant variety.

Yogi Berra won three AL MVPs in five years with the New York Yankees, including in both 1954 and 1955. Then it was Mickey Mantle’s turn. Mantle won MVP unanimously in 1956 by winning the triple crown, with Berra coming in second place in voting. Mantle also won MVP in 1957 but finished fifth in 1958 despite 8.7 bWAR and 8.8 fWAR.

Albert Pujols won NL MVP in 2008 and 2009, and in 2010 the St. Louis Cardinals first baseman turned in another monster season by hitting .312/.414/.596 with 42 home runs. He did get one first-place vote that year, but Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto got the other 31 to win the award.

Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge won the last two AL MVPs, and has a chance to join the group of three-consecutive-MVP winners in 2026. Ohtani this year will try to join Bonds as the only players to win four MVPs in a row, perhaps buoyed by his return to full-time two-way status.

The Cleveland Guardians have chosen their twenty-six players for Opening Day in Seattle.

Catchers: Bo Naylor, Austin Hedges, David Fry

Infielders: Kyle Manzardo, Rhys Hoskins, Brayan Rocchio, Gabriel Arias, Jose Ramirez and Daniel Schneemann.

Outfielders: CJ Kayfus, Steven Kwan, Chase DeLauter and Angel Martinez.

Starting Pitchers: Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams, Slade Cecconi, Joey Cantillo, and Parker Messick.

Bullpen: Peyton Pallette, Colin Holderman, Connor Brogdon, Tim Herrin, Matt Festa, Erik Sabrowski, Shawn Armstrong, and Cade Smith.

Hunter Gaddis, Andrew Walters and George Valera all open the year on the 15-day IL.

Johnathan Rodríguez was designated for assignment today. Condolences to CTC site user Ray Fosse. I hope someday that we will be able to say the biggest mistake Stephen Vogt ever made was starting Johnathan Rodriguez in right field against Tarik Skubal in a playoff game. It’ll be a nice piece of trivia and trauma.

What do you think about the roster choices? Let us know in the comments below

The Mets announced their 26-man roster for Opening Day earlier today. The Mets are carrying 13 pitchers and 13 position players, and there are no real surprises on the list, though the make-up of the bullpen has a somewhat unexpected choice or two.

Starting Pitchers:

Clay Holmes (RHP)

Sean Manaea (LHP)

Nolan McLean (RHP)

Freddy Peralta (RHP)

David Petesron (LHP)

Kodai Senga (RHP)

Relief Pitchers:

Huascar Brazobán (RHP)

Luis Garcia (RHP)

Richard Lovelady (LHP)

Tobias Myers (RHP)

Brooks Raley (LHP)

Luke Weaver (RHP)

Devin Williams (RHP)

Catchers:

Francisco Alvarez (R)

Luis Torrens (R)

Infielders:

Brett Baty (L)

Bo Bichette (R)

Francisco Lindor (S)

Jorge Polanco (S)

Marcus Semien (R)

Mark Vientos (R)

Jared Young (L)

Outfielders:

Carson Benge (L)

Luis Robert Jr. (R)

Juan Soto (L)

Tyrone Taylor (R)

The Mets also officially updated their current major league injured list.

Reed Garrett (60-Day, right elbow sprain)

Justin Hagenman (60-Day, rib fracture)

Tylor Megill (60-Day, right elbow sprain)

A.J. Minter (15-Day, left lat surgery)

Dedniel Núñez (60-Day, right elbow sprain)

And with the roster set, that means that infielder Vidal Bruján, left-handed relief pitcher Bryan Hudson and catcher Ben Rortvedt were all designated for assignment.

Freddy Peralta will start the first game of the season tomorrow against the Pirates at Citi Field at 1:15pm. LGM.

Adam Sýkora is set to make his NHL debut for the New York Rangers on Wednesday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs. 

The Rangers recalled Sýkora from the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League on Tuesday. 

During Wednesday’s practice, the 21-year-old forward slotted onto a line with Vincent Trocheck and Will Cuylle, indicating he’ll be given a middle-six role in his NHL debut. 

“Super without words,” Sýkora said about his excitement level for his NHL debut via Mollie Walker of The New York Post. “It was super exciting for me playing with those guys. I just want to bring them some energy, some juice and be good on the forecheck.”

Sýkora was selected by the Rangers in the second round of the 2022 NHL Draft, and he’s spent the past three seasons playing in the AHL.

He has recorded 12 goals, 17 assists, and 29 points in 62 games with the Wolf Pack this season. 

Throughout his time in Hartford, Sýkora has become quite the fan favorite and a player beloved by his teammates due to his relentless energy that he plays with and exuberant personality. 

“My happiness through for him is through the roof,” Jaroslav Chmelař said of Sýkora. “I mean, he's the best person I've met. He's such a nice guy...We were kind of dreaming about it at the beginning of the year that we would love to play together one time. So hopefully that comes through.”

Having been with the Rangers’ organization since 2022, Sýkora has spent a long time waiting for this moment, and he'll look to provide a spark for a team and fan base in desperate need of something to be excited about.

This is Sýkora’s chance to etch his mark with the Rangers and build momentum going into the 2026-27 season.

“I know I’m a different player from those the New York Rangers have drafted,” Sýkora said in September. “So, that’s kind of my path — forecheck, backcheck, all the skating, hard work, that’s kind of my job that gets me here. And I want to put it all together to get to the next level. Defensive things, penalty kill, blocking shots and a team player, helping and supporting each other. Be alive on the bench and support the other guys here.”

The Arizona Diamondbacks announced their 2026 Opening Day roster with a series of roster moves. The 40-man roster is at 40.

RIGHT-HANDED PITCHERS (12)

• 19 Ryne Nelson
• 22 Joe Ross
• 23 Zac Gallen
• 32 Brandon Pfaadt
• 34 Michael Soroka
• 37 Kevin Ginkel
• 38 Paul Sewald
• 43 Jonathan Loaisiga
• 45 Taylor Clarke
• 56 Andrew Hoffmann
• 62 Juan Morillo
• 81 Ryan Thompson

LEFT-HANDED PITCHERS (1)

• 57 Eduardo Rodriguez

CATCHERS (2)

• 8 James McCann
• 14 Gabriel Moreno

POSITION PLAYERS (11)

• 1 Jorge Barrosa
• 2 Geraldo Perdomo
• 4 Ketel Marte
• 5 Alek Thomas
• 6 Ildemaro Vargas
• 7 Corbin Carroll
• 10 Jordan Lawlar
• 13 Tim Tawa
• 26 Pavin Smith
• 28 Nolan Arenado
• 41 Carlos Santana

Selected to Major League roster:

• RHP Jonathan Loaisiga (No. 43)
• RHP Joe Ross (No. 22)
• INF Ildemaro Vargas (No. 6)

Placed on 10-day injured list:

• C Adrian Del Castillo (retro. March 22; strained left calf)
• INF Tyler Locklear (retro. March 22; recovery from left elbow surgery)
• OF Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (retro. March 22; recovery from right ACL surgery)

Placed on 15-day injured list:

• RHP Merrill Kelly (retro. March 24; left intercostal nerve irritation)

Optioned to Triple-A Reno:

• LHP Brandyn Garcia

Cleared spots on 40-man roster

Designated for assignment:

• RHP Grant Holman

Placed on 60-day injured list:

• RHP Cristian Mena (strained right shoulder)
• LHP Blake Walston (left ulnar collateral ligament surgery)

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No real surprises here. We were more or less aware of the 26-man roster a couple of days ago, between roster moves and statements by Torey Lovullo. The lack of left-handed relievers is interesting: we’ll see how that works out, especially against the Dodgers who have some top left-handed hitters. Three non-roster invitees have been added to the roster as expected. Spaces for two were cleared by moving Mena and Walston to the IL, and DFA’ing Holman. The last was picked up off waivers from the Athletics on February 15, so will become a ghost D-back, never appearing for the team.

And now we find respite from our troubles. It’s a new season of Major League Baseball, one of the best pain relievers known to humankind. Unless your team is on the receiving end of some bad baseball luck. But we won’t talk of such things, not in this opening paragraph. Let us embrace the joy of possibility inherit in every Opening Day Night.

The San Francisco Giants will host the New York Yankees in San Francisco at Oracle Park for the first Opening Night in MLB history. It’ll be a Netflix-themed event as the broadcast will only be available on the world’s most popular streaming service. If you don’t have a Netflix subscription or if your internet goes down right before first pitch, you can still listen to the familiar voices of Giants broadcasters on KNBR, at least.

The biggest story of this new season is that the Giants franchise has never gone more than four years without a winning season. This would be the fifth consecutive non-winning season if they can’t manage to get to 82 wins. That’s the pressure new manager Tony Vitello finds himself under before he logs a genuine inning of a major league game. That’s right — the Giants are a winning franchise, and breaking an internal streak of their own that helps define that winning way is a really big story. A new manager making the leap from the college ranks to the big leagues, like some sort of NBA coach, is probably the second-biggest story of this season.

His first task will be juggling a nebulous relief corps that would seemingly have every defined role in an open audition. To some extent, a baseball game is a baseball game, and in-game managing for either an SEC game or an NL West game would prove very similar at many points. But how will Vitello handle the pressure late in the game when it’s Aaron Judge stepping into the box and the Giants are clinging to a 4-3 lead?

Ah, and then there’s the Aaron Judge of it all. The Giants host the New York Yankees for this opening series and outside of the Los Angeles Dodgers, this is an intense first test for a first-time MLB manager as well as a roster hoping to sneak into the Wild Card. This is where Rafael Devers comes in.

During the runup to this Opening Night on Netflix, the advertisements touted Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees versus Rafael Devers and the San Francisco Giants. That’s a big change from recent years and having a figure with national name recognition and as a sort of lineup anchor is a redefinition of the team. With his bat in the middle of the order, the lineup takes shape. This is one of the few times in recent years where the lineup has a lot of expectations on it, with the bare minimum being league average. That’s a big shift from recent years, when it was basically “if it could just be league average, the team will be in good shape.“

The Yankees have a great bit of expectation on them as they always do. They’re expected to win the AL East, as tough as a division as the NL West the Giants find themselves in. Last season, they had the best lineup in the sport (+34.3 fWAR — 1st, 849 runs scored — 1st) and this season they’ll be returning basically the same group of hitters. That helped cover for a decidedly average pitching staff (+16.3 fWAR — 14th, just ahead of the Giants at +15.7 fWAR), which is more or less where the team will find itself to start the season, as their two most expensive rotation pieces — Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon) aren’t set to return until around May or June.

As much as Judge is the face of the Yankees and the national media has installed Devers as the face of the Giants, it’s Logan Webb who is the Main Giant, and he’ll take the ball on Opening Night. Now, he’s faced the Yankees in game 1 before, right after Aaron Judge turned down the Giants’ massive contract offer in free agency, and it was memorable for 12 strikeouts but still a loss. He did finally defeat the Yankees last season (career: 1-2, 5.50 ERA in 18 IP), but Aaron Judge has never stopped tormenting our favorite team. In 9 games against the orange and black, he’s hitting .484/.590/1.000 with 5 home runs. So, that’s something to keep in mind.

Also worth keeping in mind: both participated in the World Baseball Classic, and Logan Webb was great for Team USA while Aaron Judge was not. He might be The Kid Who Only Hit Homers against the Giants, but in world competition and, like, the World Series, he’s a non-entity. So, take some solace in that, I suppose. Logan Webb? He’s pretty great all the time. Maybe the Giants can get him into the postseason before he’s gone. Though, to be clear, Aaron Judge is 3-for-7 against him, with a pair of homers and a double (but also 3 K and 2 BB).

The Giants did not win the Cactus League again, but they did place second. Last year, they stormed out of the gates following their success in the spring. Can they do the same here against a quality opponent? Whatever the outcome, baseball is back, and at least for the first couple of games, that’s good enough.

Series overview

Who: New York Yankees (94-68 in 2025) vs. San Francisco Giants (81-81 in 2025)
Where: Oracle Park | San Francisco, California
When: Wednesday at 5pm PT, Friday at 1:35pm PT, Saturday at 4:15pm PT — that’s right. No Sunday game.
National broadcasts: Wednesday (Netflix — yes, the streaming service; and, it’s exclusive), Saturday (FOX TV)

Projected starters
Wednesday: Max Fried (LHP) vs. Logan Webb (RHP)
Friday: Cam Schlitter (RHP) vs. Robbie Ray (LHP)
Saturday: Will Warren (RHP) vs. Tyler Mahle (RHP)

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Players to watch (besides Logan Webb & Aaron Judge)

Yankees

Trent Grisham: The Yankees got him in the Juan Soto trade as a way to balance the finances for the Padres, but he was considered a throw-in. But then, last season, he hit 34 home runs and posted an .811 OPS in 581 plate appearances; so, the Yankees tagged him with the qualifying offer, which he accepted ($22.03 million). Is he a $22 million dollar player? No. Have I forgotten (or forgiven) him for hitting that walk-off home run at Oracle Park during the 2020 season? Also no. He is not a thorn in the team’s side as he was in 2020 & 2021 (29-for-95, 4 HR, 19 RBI, 9 2B, 3 3B), with just just 21 hits (1 HR, 2 2B) in his last 95 at bats against them and 3 walks against 30 strikeouts, but you’ve always got to keep an eye for that dude who is not the lineup’s main dude (Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm, Ben Rice), and he’ll be one of the guys the Giants’ carousel of lefty relievers will have to perform well against.

Camilo Doval: We will see if the Giants’ former closer starts off his first full season with the Yankees on a hot streak. We know how wild he can be, but also how effective his velocity is.

Ben Rice & Paul Goldschmidt: Two players at opposite ends of the career spectrum, but Rice’s 26 home runs and left-handed swing should give Giants pitching some problems while Paul Goldschmidt figures to still be a Paul Goldschmidt in the Giants’ side.

Giants

Luis Arraez: It’ll be a big first test for the Giants’ new second baseman as the Yankees offer some speed on the basepaths and a lot of hard contact. He also has the chance to flare some balls all over the field and delight those Giants fans who never stopped believing in batting average as the sole measure of a hitter’s capabilities.

Patrick Bailey: The Yankees’ speed showed up as 134 stolen bases last season (8th in MLB) and so on top of defending against the running game, he’ll also have to deal with the hitters — even as the dugout will be calling more pitches for him this season. And then there’s the ABS Challenge System, which has the chance to spotlight just how effective of a catcher he is, either by showing umpires that he didn’t dramatically frame something or simply that he understands the strike zone enough to know when a pitch has been missed.

Rafael Devers: He should hit at least 3 home runs in this series. He has 31 home runs in 119 career games against the Yankees and a triple slash of .270/.348/.533 to go with it.

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Tony Vitello watch

The Vitello era kicks off with a matchup against the New York Yankees and… Aaron Boone. Now, Boone is considered to be a great clubhouse manager, but the knock on him is that he’s not a good in-game strategist. That sort of criticism has lost its impact here in the 21st century, though, as front offices typically provide the manager with so much information that the guy standing on the top step doesn’t really need to think for himself. He just has to manage the human beings around him.

That’s sort of why Tony Vitello’s not going to be a total flop in the early going. Zack Minasian and the quants will have provided Vitello and his coaching staff with all the scouting reports and decision trees he’ll need to get through 9 innings, just as Brian Cashman has given Boone. Boone is 697-497 in 8 seasons. Given that, I’m sure he has earned the right to go “off script” and has probably developed some good instincts. Enough to outfox or fluster Tony Vitello, baseball rat? I doubt it. In case you forget, Boone had never managed anything anywhere when he got the call to manage the Yankees.

So, although it’s unlikely that either guy will make an obviously embarrassing decision, I’ll be watching to see if there’s anything that stands out and if Aaron Boone can out-manage Tony Vitello or vice versa.

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Prediction time

The Giants did win their 3-game series against the Yankees last season. But! They are just 3-6 in the matchup since 2023, so let’s go with our favorite line on this site: Giants avoid the sweep.

With the 2025 Texas Rangers season having come to an end, we shall be, over the course of the offseason, taking a look at every player who appeared in a major league game for the Texas Rangers in 2025.

Today we are looking at pitcher Jacob Latz.

The 2017 draft didn’t work out too well for the Texas Rangers.

Texas signed five picks to bonuses of at least $500,000.

First rounder Bubba Thompson got $2.1 million. He was fast and toolsy but didn’t hit. He did spend 109 games in the majors, and stole 27 bases, and got a ring because he was in the majors in 2023 with Texas. Thompson retired from baseball after the 2024 season, enrolled in South Alabama, and walked onto their football team as a quarterback. He was on the roster in 2025 but didn’t appear in a game, and transferred in January to West Florida.

Supplemental first rounder Chris Seise got $2 million. He impressed with his ability and makeup, and was considered at one point possibly the team’s best position prospect, but injuries and the pandemic meant he only played in 31 games from 2018-21, and he has been out of baseball since putting up a 591 OPS for Frisco in 2023.

Second rounder Hans Crouse got $1.45 million. After an impressive 2018 season he was appearing on top 100 lists, but he regressed, was traded to the Phillies in the Kyle Gibson/Spencer Howard deal, had a decent run for the Angels in 2024, was released by the Angels after 2 AAA appearances in 2025, and didn’t sign with another team until January of 2026, when he inked a minor league deal with the Orioles.

Third rounder Matt Whatley got $517,100. He got good marks for his makeup and glove, but didn’t hit. He became a minor league free agent after 2023, re-signed with Texas for the 2024 season, then signed with Toronto for 2025. Toronto released him in May, 2025, without him ever appearing in a game for their organization, and it appears he is out of baseball.

11th rounder Obie Ricumstrict got $500,000. He never hit and was released in 2022.

So the big dollar draft picks from 2017 didn’t pan out.

The Rangers did end up hitting on a couple of pitchers they selected that year, though.

One of them was John King, who got $10,000 as an injured 10th round senior sign out of the University of Houston. King pitched for the Rangers from 2020-23, then was traded to St. Louis as part of the Jordan Montgomery trade in 2023, so like Thompson, King got a World Series ring. He signed with the Miami Marlins this offseason, and made their Opening Day roster out of the bullpen, and will be out in the pen with fellow former Rangers Pete Fairbanks and Tyler Phillips, and teammates with Liam Hicks and Heriberto Hernandez.

The other was Jacob Latz, who got $386,100 as a fifth rounder out of Kent State. Well, kind of out of Kent State…King spent his first two seasons at LSU, redshirting his freshman season due to elbow surgery and pitching only 8.1 innings in 2016. He wasn’t eligible to pitch for Kent State as a junior, but showed enough in side work that the Rangers drafted him and gave him slot money*.

* I am assuming that was slot money for a fifth rounder in 2017. If not, it is close. I’m not going to go look it up.

Latz made his major league debut in 2021 without actually being on the 40 man roster, as he was a COVID replacement call up. He was added to the 40 man late in 2023, made three appearances in September, and earned himself a ring.

After doing good work in the major league pen in 2024, he started 2025 in AAA, but was called up in mid-April, and stayed in the bigs until the numbers game with the trade acquisitions resulted in his being sent down on August 1. He returned in mid-August and stuck around the rest of the season.

Latz had a rather interesting 2025 campaign for the Rangers. Used out of the bullpen early in the year, the team had him make a few spot starts in the middle of the season, and he acquitted himself well. Texas plugged him back into the rotation in late August during the Injurypocalypse, and he made four more respectable starts, went back to the pen for a couple of outings, and then started once more, in the next to last game of the season.

Latz is a four pitch pitcher, throwing his fastball half the time, his change and slider each a little over 20% of the time, and his curveball the rest of the time. His fastball and slider were both were his best pitches.

Latz’s fastball has average velocity, but it plays up due to his extension and vertical movement. Interestingly, Latz’s fastball showed three more inches of armside run in 2025 compared to 2024, going from having below-average horizontal movement on the pitch to above-average horizontal movement. His heat map shows he consistently located the fastball at the top of the zone.

Latz’s slider was his best pitch in 2025, as he allowed a .244 wOBA and .260 xwOBA against it. As one would expect, he threw the slider to lefties much more frequently than righties, but had success against both sides with it.

The changeup was Latz’s weakest pitch. As one would expect, he threw it mostly against righthanders, and generated a 41% whiff rate with it. When batters made contact, however, they hit it hard, resulting in a .362 wOBA and .343 xwOBA on the change.

As one would expect, in light of all that, Latz showed significant platoon splits in 2025. Righthanded hitters hit .250/.338/.382 against him, while lefties hit .170/.239/.302 off of him.

What is notable, though, is that the x-numbers on the splits are much closer than the raw numbers. Righthanders had a .316 wOBA and .318 xwOBA against Latz, while lefties had a .240 wOBA and .309 xwOBA against him. Latz also showed a sizeable split between actual and xwOBA against lefties in 2024, with a wOBA of .303 and an xwOBA of .339.

Latz is a fly ball pitcher who strikes out an average number of hitters and issues an above-average number of walks — his 10.6 walk rate in 2025 put him in the 15th percentile, per Statcast. While one would expect, given that, that Latz’s success is driven by avoiding hard contact, he actually is below average in that regard (31st percentile), although he did avoid barrels.

One would think that, given those peripherals, Latz would have especially benefitted from the Shed’s pitcher-friendly tendencies in 2025. Latz did have a superior ERA at home (2.23) as compared to the road (3.28), but he actually allowed a higher OPS at home (683) than on the road (642), with his slugging allowed being 38 points higher at home, which undercuts that theory.

Given all that, it is not surprising that Latz shows a big spread between his actual ERA in 2025 (2.84) and his FIP (3.72) and xERA (4.11). He benefited from both a .272 BABIP and an 81.1% strand rate, and, I suspect, the stellar outfield defense that he had behind him.

All this makes it hard to figure out what to expect from Latz going forward. He turns 30 in April, but also still has two options remaining, which gives the Rangers some flexibility. He didn’t make the rotation out of spring training, and is probably best suited for a role that allows the Rangers to take advantage of that versatility, spotting him against lefties sometimes, using him in a multi-inning role sometimes, and having him make the occasional spot start when needed.

Previously:

Gerson Garabito

Tyler Mahle

Kyle Higashioka

Adolis Garcia

Luis Curvelo

Alejandro Osuna

Blaine Crim

Jake Burger

Jacob Webb

Nick Ahmed

Jon Gray

Carl Edwards Jr.

Josh Jung

Leody Taveras

Dustin Harris

Marc Church

Luke Jackson

Danny Coulombe

Wyatt Langford

Dylan Moore

Michael Helman

Evan Carter

Cole Winn

Rowdy Tellez

Dane Dunning

Marcus Semien

Billy McKinney

Jose Corniell

Jonah Heim

Cody Freeman

Sam Haggerty

Jacob deGrom

Merrill Kelly

Caleb Boushley

Justin Foscue

Nathan Eovaldi

Chris Martin

Patrick Corbin

Joc Pederson

Phil Maton

Corey Seager

Tucker Barnhart

Jack Leiter

Ezequiel Duran

Robert Garcia

Kumar Rocker

Codi Heuer

Donovan Solano

Hoby Milner

Josh Smith

Today, the Houston Astros finalized their 26-man Opening Day Roster.

The roster includes 13 pitchers and 13 position players.

To finalize the Opening Day roster, the Astros made several roster moves official this morning:

• RHP Christian Roa and C Christian Vázquez have been added to the 40-man roster.
• OF Zach Dezenzo (right elbow sprain) has been placed on the 10-day IL.
• RHP Ronel Blanco (recovery from right elbow surgery), RHP Enyel De Los Santos (right knee strain), LHP Josh Hader (left biceps tendinitis), RHP Nate Pearson (recovery from right elbow surgery), LHP Bennett Sousa (left oblique strain) and RHP Hayden Wesneski (recovery from right elbow surgery)have been placed on the 15-day IL.
• LHP Brandon Walter (recovery from left elbow surgery) has been placed on the 60-day IL.
• C César Salazar has been designated for assignment.
• OF Zach Cole has been optioned to Triple A Sugar Land.

Following today’s roster moves, the Astros 40-man roster remains full.

Several Astros have made their first career Opening Day rosters as active players, including RHP Mike Burrows, RHP AJ Blubaugh, RHP Tatsuya Imai, OF Joey Loperfido, IF/OF Brice Matthews, RHP Roddery Muñoz, RHP Christian Roa, RHP Kai-Wei Teng and RHP Ryan Weiss.

Among the veterans, 2B Jose Altuve leads the club by making his 14th career Opening Day roster. He’s also in line to make his 14th career Opening Day start, which would rank third in club history, trailing only 2B Craig Biggio (19) and 1B Jeff Bagwell (15).

The Astros begin play tomorrow afternoon with a 3:10 p.m. CT Opening Day matchup against the visiting Los Angeles Angels. RHP Hunter Brown will get the start for the Astros, marking his first career Opening Day start.

With Grapefruit League play in the books and Opening Day just days away, it’s time to choose our 2026 King of Spring Training! Let’s review our candidates and their final spring training numbers.

Cristian Pache – .419/.500/.710 in 31 ABs

Pache’s batting line has fallen a touch since our update last week because he’s gone hitless since then, but he still ended up tied with Bo Bichette for the second-most spring training hits on the team, behind only Opening Day right fielder Carson Benge. He also ended up with the highest OPS of anyone on the team with more than a small handful of at-bats. He impressed on both sides of the ball this spring and while most know him for his defensive prowess, it’s unlikely anyone expected him to hit like this. He is the definition of a prime KoST candidate and the current favorite by my (admittedly arbitrary) KoST point tally, but my assessment is not what determines the KoST. It’s you, the lovely Amazin’ Avenue community, who determines the KoST.

KoST Points: 2
Total KoST Points: 14

Mike Tauchman – .241/.371/.448 in 29 ABs

What a terribly unfortunate ending to Mike Tauchman’s fabulous spring.

Mike Tauchman has a meniscus tear and will need surgery, Carlos Mendoza says.

— Max Goodman (@MaxTGoodman) March 22, 2026

Based on his spring performance, he was a near lock to make the team, but he injured his knee in the penultimate Grapefruit League game and will now have to miss significant time. It’s a shame for Tauchman, who still has a strong KoST case despite the injury.

KoST Points: 1
Total KoST Points: 9

Vidal Bruján – .273/.400/.273 in 33 ABs

From a KoST perspective, Tachman’s loss may end up to be Bruján’s gain. Bruján was a late addition to the field, but he is making a last minute case, as he improved his batting line from our last update and may end up snatching that last bench spot due to the injury to Tauchman. His seven walks in Grapefruit League action lead the team.

KoST Points: 2
Total KoST Points: 7

MJ Melendez – .364/.364/1.000 in 11 ABs

MJ Melendez sprinted out of the gate with a fast start in our KoST contest, but then was away from Mets camp due to the World Baseball Classic and ended up with only 11 spring at-bats. Still, his brief KoST candidacy demonstrated his value as AAA depth and there’s a chance he could see some big league at-bats this season.

KoST Points: 0
Total KoST Points: 4

Austin Barnes – .313/.389/.500 in 16 ABs

Barnes did not appear in any of the Mets’ final few Grapefruit League games and was released by the Mets on Sunday, so he is now a free agent, which possibly disqualifies him as KoST. But for the sake of completeness, I will not allow his brief KoST campaign to be forgotten.

KoST Points: 0
Total KoST Points: 4

Tobias Myers – 2.31 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 14 Ks in 11 2/3 IP

I understand the argument that as a guy who was likely always going to make the team, Myers may not be KoST eligible in the eyes of some. But I believe his candidacy is deserved because heading into spring, he was sort of seen as the “throw in” to the Freddy Peralta trade and demonstrated this spring that he is far more than that. He led the pitching staff in strikeouts this spring, generated a ton of whiffs, and lit up the stuff models. I don’t think it would be all that surprising if Myers was a key contributor to the Mets’ rotation this season.

KoST Points: 2
Total KoST Points: 9

Matt Turner – 3.00 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 7 Ks in 6 IP

Unfortunately, Matt Turner’s scoreless streak ended in his final spring outing, which was his only bad one. But he still got a long look and distinguished himself from the pack, which is KoST-worthy in and of itself.

KoST Points: 1
Total KoST Points: 7

Austin Warren – 1.80 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 5 Ks in 5 IP

Austin Warren was one of the final cuts this spring; he was optioned to Triple-A following Friday’s game. Warren was one of a few pitchers vying for the final spot in the bullpen, but the fact that he has options remaining unfortunately probably worked against him, despite his strong spring that made him a KoST candidate. He will likely be one of the first pitchers called up should the Mets need bullpen reinforcements and I would be surprised if he doesn’t see big league innings this season.

KoST Points: 2
Total KoST Points: 5

Robert Stock – 0.00 ERA, 0.33 WHIP, 6 Ks in 3 IP

Like Tauchman, Stock had his KoST candidacy cut short by injury and his injury came much earlier in spring before he really had a chance to build his case, unfortunately. But he’ll have that shiny 0.00 spring training ERA in the books forever.

KoST Points: 0
Total KoST Points: 3

The hot stove often overshadows changes made to coaching staffs, unless a team is searching for a new manager. The Yankees, of course, were not looking for a new skipper this offseason, but they did make a few changes to ensure the coaching staff was not fully the “run it back” version of last year’s group.

In many ways, the “run it back” Yankees applies just as much to the coaching staff as it does to the roster. The core remains, but a few older voices have been replaced with a group that blends youth, development, and a modern application of analytics. That said, this group also includes two internal promotions and one familiar face returning for a second stint in the Bronx.

Before this season kicks off, let’s remind ourselves of the Yankees’ 2026 coaching corps, with big-league staff tenure entering the season noted:

• Manager: Aaron Boone (9th season)
• Bench Coach: Brad Ausmus (3rd season)
• First Base/Infield/Baserunning Coach: Dan Fiorito (1st season)
• Third Base/Outfield Coach: Luis Rojas (5th season)
• Pitching Coach: Matt Blake (7th season)
• Assistant Pitching Coach: Preston Claiborne (2nd season)
• Assistant Pitching Coach: Desi Druschel (1st season, 5th overall; second stint with Yankees)
• Hitting Coach: James Rowson (3rd season)
• Assistant Hitting Coach: Casey Dykes (5th season)
• Assistant Hitting Coach: Jake Hirst (1st season)
• Major League Field Coordinator/Catching: Tanner Swanson (7th season)

The new additions are Desi Druschel for round two in the Bronx, along with Jake Hirst and Dan Fiorito.

On the pitching side, the Yankees made their most notable change, parting ways with longtime bullpen coach Mike Harkey. Harkey had been a steady presence in New York dating all the way back to the old Yankee Stadium, originally serving under Joe Girardi from 2008 through 2013 before taking a job as Diamondbacks pitching coach, ultimately returning in 2016 and remaining through the transition to Aaron Boone. Like the other coaches who weren’t brought back for 2026, Harkey’s contract simply wasn’t renewed.

Harkey represented more of an old-school presence on the staff. His replacement, Desi Druschel, aligns much more closely with the modern, analytics-driven approach that has become central to Matt Blake’s pitching infrastructure.

Druschel’s first stint with the Yankees began in 2019, when New York hired him away from the college ranks to serve as Manager of Pitch Development, a role created specifically for him. In 2022, he was promoted to assistant pitching coach at the major league level, a position he held through the 2024 season before spending last year in a similar role with the Mets.

Now, he returns after a more seismic coach staff shakeup in Queens.

Druschel has built a reputation as one of the more analytically inclined pitching minds in the game. His time away only added to that profile, and he now rejoins a system that has continued to evolve in his absence.

The Yankees have invested heavily in pitching development, and bringing Druschel back signals a desire to keep pushing forward. His role will likely focus on bridging data, pitch design, and in-game adjustments, areas that have become critical to modern pitching success. It is not often that a coach leaves and then returns so quickly, which is exactly what makes this move stand out. The Mets had fired his superior in pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, so they allowed Druschel to talk to other teams and potentially move on if he wanted; he took that path.

There is also one lingering semi-question on the pitching side.

Although Boone said in December that Claiborne—a former Yankees reliever from 2013-14 who later became a minor-league coach and was named to the big-league staff for 2025—would serve as the bullpen coach, the Yanks did not formally designate him in that role, leaving some ambiguity about how those responsibilities will be handled early in the season. Perhaps the Yankees plan to move away from the traditional model and rotate responsibilities within the pitching group—though it would probably be safe to assume that Claiborne will be the one actually standing out in the bullpen on Opening Day in San Francisco.

On the hitting side, Jake Hirst joins the big-league staff as an assistant hitting coach, replacing Pat Roessler. Roessler was not removed due to performance, and while nothing has been formally announced, the organization indicated a desire to keep him in another role.

Hirst’s promotion reflects a continued emphasis on development. He enters his seventh season in the Yankees organization, having served as assistant minor league hitting coordinator in 2024 and minor league hitting coordinator in 2025.

Hirst is on the younger side, as he graduated from Central College in Pella, Iowa, as recently as 2017, when Aaron Judge was already socking bombs and leading the Yankees. He played baseball for Central and then coached in Illinois at Augustana College before being hired by New York; he was widely acclaimed for his strong focus on communication and player development. That profile fits the modern assistant hitting coach role, where translating information into actionable adjustments is often more important than the information itself. This has quietly become one of the most important jobs on a coaching staff.

The Yankees are not overhauling their hitting philosophy, but they are doubling down on a coach who has already played a role in developing their next wave of hitters. Just look at Ben Rice and Austin Wells’ development paths to understand what the Yankees are hoping to unlock with this promotion.

The final change comes on the infield side, where Dan Fiorito steps into a big-league role as first base and infield coach, replacing Travis Chapman.

Chapman’s departure followed a 2025 season in which the Yankees’ infield defense and fundamentals were inconsistent (and there was even a rare public show of frustration from Boone toward one of his own in the dugout). Whether fair or not, those areas often fall under the lens of coaching, and the organization clearly felt a new voice was needed.

Fiorito, however, is not an outside hire. The Fordham Prep product has been with the organization since signing as an undrafted free agent in 2012. After his playing career in the Yankees’ system ended in 2016, he transitioned into coaching and was named League Manager of the Year while leading the Somerset Patriots to an Eastern League championship in 2022. Fiorito later served as a minor league infield and outfield instructor before becoming the organization’s coordinator in 2024 and 2025.

The Yankees continue to lean into internal development, not just with players, but with coaching as well. Fiorito’s promotion reflects a belief in the voices already within the organization. Now, that philosophy moves directly to the major league level.

Around these three changes, the rest of Boone’s staff remains in place. That continuity is intentional, and the hires deliberate.

Druschel returns with experience and a deep understanding of the Yankees’ pitching identity. Hirst adds a fresh but familiar developmental voice on the hitting side. Fiorito brings internal continuity and a direct connection to the organization’s pipeline.

Brian Cashman might push back on the idea that this is a “run it back” approach, but the fan base is starved for championships. A lack of visible change can sometimes be interpreted as a lack of urgency. Here’s to hoping this refreshed coaching staff is the group that helps guide the 2026 Yankees to, and through, the Canyon of Heroes.