Manager Bobby Valentine (L) of the New York Mets takes on World Wrestling Federation Champion Stone Cold Austin prior to the game between the New York Yankees and the New York Mets at Shea Stadium in the Bronx, NY on Saturday July 10, 1999 (Photo by Bernie Nunez) | Getty Images
MIAMI, FLORIDA - MARCH 15: Bobby Witt Jr. #7 high fives Bryce Harper #24 of Team United States after the final out of the fifth inning was recorded against Team Dominican Republic at loanDepot park on March 15, 2026 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) | Getty Images
On Saturday, Lugo — representing Puerto Rico — took the mound against Italy in the World Baseball Classic quarterfinals at Daikin Park in Houston. He stood squarely across from Vinnie Pasquantino and Jac Caglianone.
“No, to be honest with you,” Caglianone told reporters of any pregame banter. “I know Seth’s a very smart player. I spent a lot of time last year just talking game plan with him in the dugout. He definitely sees the game differently. But I think as long as we can keep doing what we’ve been doing, I think we’ll be in a good spot.”
“I opened my phone after the game to like 60 DMs and it was in words … I didn’t know how to say,” the pitcher explained Sunday of his direct messages. “So definitely going to have to do some Google translate, for sure.”
“I’m just trying to take in as much as I can because I know that there’s a lot of people that are upset that we represent Italy, being Italian-American, but I take so much pride in it because it is my roots,” Pasquantino said. “My family came over for a better life to America and, I honestly don’t have any issue representing those members of my family and it’s just super cool to be given this opportunity from these guys.”
“It’s been a lot of fun watching our guys go out there and have big games, come through in clutch moments,” Michael Wacha said. “That’s building confidence for them coming into the regular season, finding their swings, finding their pitches, it will only help us out during the regular season.”
“That’s the buzz that has been going around here, seeing what those guys have been doing over the last two weeks,” Schreiber said. “We’re super proud of them.”
“We’re talking about that all the time,” Sweeney said. “It could happen at different points of the year: ‘Is this the right thing to do?’ We have those first games and then the off-day, and then we’re 12 in a row in early April. That’s where a lot of injuries happen. ‘Should we do it there?’ We have to be really smart with these starters because workload matters for a healthy guy and a guy that was injured last year. How do we keep these guys running through the finish line and through October?”
She has a Jonathan India update.
India is all good today and cleared for activity, manager Matt Quatraro said. Light day today for non-game players anyway, and India won't play tomorrow either before Monday's off day for extra rest. #Royalshttps://t.co/Q6U5QbNmgO
Most of the roster seems set for the Royals, except for the final spots. That includes the bench, and Loftin has established himself as a frontrunner to grab hold of it, not only because of his performance in Cactus League games, but also his defensive versatility. He’s played everywhere, including the corner outfield, his main positions in the infield and more first base than ever before. He’s also hitting the ball hard and making good swing decisions. Every one of those things has him inching closer to being on the roster come Opening Day.
NORTH PORT, FL - MARCH 16: Franyerber Montilla of the Detroit Tigers signs autographs prior to the game between the Detroit Tigers and the Atlanta Braves at CoolToday Park on Sunday, March 16, 2025 in North Port, Florida. (Photo by Scott Audette/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
After an incredibly long drought of middle infielders since the days when Willy Adames and Eugenio Suarez were young Detroit Tigers shortstop prospects, a new golden era is upon us as the Tigers farm system is suddenly packed with middle infielders. This has been a clear focal point to the club’s revamped draft strategy in the last three years. The theory is sound. If you draft shortstops and center fielders, you’re improving the overall athleticsm of your club, even if those prospects don’t ultimately stick at those positions. 20-year-old Franyerber Montilla was signed in the Al Avila years, but his emergence over the past year adds yet another athletic middle infielder to the Tigers’ prospect hoard.
Montilla was signed in January of 2022 out of Caracas, Venezuela. The Tigers paid him a $500K signing bonus and sent him to the Dominican Summer League at age 17 and 18. The slick fielding, switch-hitting shortstop arrived in Lakeland at age 19 in 2024 and tore up the Complex League. He got a quick look at Single-A ball that summer, and then returned in 2025 mainly playing second base while Bryce Rainer handled shortstop. Once Rainer damaged his shoulder in early June, Montilla moved over to play more shortstop over the next six weeks, until he too suffered a major injury, blowing out his his right ACL in his knee on an infield collision in late July.
The injuries, both in pitcher attrition and just plain back luck for Rainer and Montilla, have really been a plague over the past two seasons system wide. Hopefully they come back with arm strength intact in Rainer’s case, and footspeed intact in Montilla’s case, as those two tools are big parts of their secondary skills beyond the most important factor, their hit tools.
Montilla is a really slick, efficient defender with good hands and range, and a strong throwing arm. He profiles well at shortstop, and it was only Rainer’s absolute cannon at the shortstop position that had the Tigers focusing on him as the regular Flying Tigers’ shortstop. That range is a function of good instincts, but also plus speed, which he put to good use on the bases as well. He stole 27 bases in 67 games last year.
At the plate, Montilla has an efficient, pretty level swing and sprays line drives around the field from both sides of the plate. His big strength is his plate discipline. He walked in 12.7 percent of his plate appearances last year and rarely chases much out of the strike zone. He did strike out 24.7 percent of the time, and at times his discipline can perhaps slip into passivity, allowing pitchers to get ahead with fastballs for strike one and forcing him to battle out long at-bats. The fine line between grinding out pitchers, and failing to jump on mistakes early in counts, is a zone he’s still working to master.
The biggest issue before Montilla is strength and batspeed. He consistently squares up pitches, and he handled all pitch types to an above average level, but it’s below average raw power and he can be a little overwhelmed by good velocity in the zone. Montilla has a pretty slender six-foot tall frame, and needs to keep adding muscle to build a little more batspeed and both get to average power, which is roughly his ceiling, and handle velocity more consistently. He’s closer to getting there as a left-handed hitter, but the samples for him hitting right-handed against lefties are still very small, so more info is required.
Assuming his foot speed isn’t impacted by the ACL, which is usually but not always a safe assumption, the Tigers have a speed player who switch hits, steals bases, and should be capable of playing plus defense either at shortstop or second base. He takes his walks and makes plenty of good contact, but the batspeed still has to improve quite a bit to be able to project him for 15-20 HR level production down the road at the big league level. There’s a very strong floor in place, because Montilla screams utility player, but if he can get past the injury with some strength gains in the rehab process and look like he’ll get close to average power, suddenly the Tigers will have a player that projects like Zach McKinstry with more speed and better defense. If Montilla really maxes out his hit tool, then we’re talking about an everyday infielder anywhere you want to put him.
Unfortunately, ACL tears are usually nine months to a full year to completely rehab, so he may not be back on the field until July, when he’ll be 21 years old. Still, there’s plenty of time to make those strength gains and build on what is a very strong set of secondary tools. Like so many of the Tigers talented youngsters, patience is still required. Hopefully he can get back into a groove this summer and play for West Michigan, then look to take the next step sometime in 2027.
View of the sparsely filled stadium with Camelback Mountain in the background as the San Francisco Giants played the Chicago White Sox in a spring training game at Scottsdale Stadium in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Thursday, March 4, 2021. (Photo By Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
Good morning, baseball fans!
The San Francisco Giants are back for their last week of Spring Training baseball. So here’s what’s on deck for this week.
Monday
The Giants will visit the San Diego Padres for today’s game, starting at 1:10 p.m. PDT. This game will have audio available on the MLB At Bat app.
Tuesday
No Game
Wednesday
The Giants head to Glendale, AZ on Wednesday to take on the Los Angeles Dodgers at 1:05 p.m. PDT. This game will have a national broadcast on MLB Network, however it’s unclear if that will be available for in-market fans or not. There will be radio coverage on KNBR, at least.
Thursday
The Giants keep their road games going with a visit to the Colorado Rockies on Thursday at 1:10 p.m. PDT. Currently there is no broadcast information available for this game. But it is the Rockies, so that tracks.
Friday
Friday is another split squad day.
The road team will visit the Texas Rangers at 5:05 p.m. PDT. There is no San Francisco broadcast information available at this time.
The home team will take on the Kansas City Royals also at 5:05 p.m. PDT. This game will have audio available on the MLB At Bat app.
Saturday
Saturday will be the last Spring Training game of the year, as the Giants welcome the Cleveland Guardians for a game at 12:05 p.m. PDT. There will be radio coverage on KNBR.
Sunday
The Giants will head to Sutter Health Park in Sacramento on Sunday for an exhibition game against the Sacramento River Cats at 5:07 p.m. PDT. The game will have video coverage on MiLB.TV, with River Cats radio coverage available on KNBR.
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I don’t believe there has been a time in Cardinals history where a prospect with the resume of Yhoiker Fajardo has been considered the 19th prospect in the system. The closest comparable player in recent years is Darlin Saladin, but Saladin was 21 (not 18), he pitched at both Low A and High A, and I’m pretty sure his stuff is worse than Fajardo. Well Saladin was considered the 16th best prospect last season. Working against the same prospects Saladin did last year, surely Fajardo could do even better than 16 last year? And he’s all the way down to 19 this year. Kind of insane. Current list:
JJ Wetherholt
Liam Doyle
Rainiel Rodriguez
Quinn Mathews
Jurrangelo Cjintje
Joshua Baez
Leonardo Bernal
Jimmy Crooks
Brandon Clarke
Tink Hence
Tekoah Roby
Tanner Franklin
Brycen Mautz
Nathan Church
Cooper Hjerpe
Ixan Henderson
Yairo Padilla
Deniel Ortiz
Yhoiker Fajardo
Why not him?
I thought I’d create a new section and basically explain why a player you liked and may have voted for if given the chance was not added to the voting for the top 20 or in some cases, even added to a comparable player poll. For any player in the Dominican Summer League, which had a fairly strong team, or a recent international signing, I promise you: this crowd would not vote for them. Yairo Padilla and Rainiel Rodriguez were 15th and 18th on last year’s list. In a weaker system. And those guys got national attention. Your favorite DSL prospect was not getting selected.
Ramon Mendoza I think would have had trouble, because Deniel Ortiz had trouble basically. He’s all stats. I have no scouting report for him. Fangraphs did not rank him as a prospect. He’s closer to the MLB than Ortiz, but Mendoza also has a longer history of being at best mediocre, and he’s not young for his level. It would not make sense to me that this crowd would wait until 18 to select Ortiz, and then choose Mendoza two players later. And I’m comparing them because neither are as of yet considered “real” prospects by national publications near as I can tell. (The Cardinal Nation has Ortiz 15th, but even they did not rank Mendoza as a prospect)
In the underwhelming stats department, I think Jack Gurevitch had no shot at being selected because he kind of sucked in his draft year. And if you’re wondering why I’m even mentioning him, he was ranked 20th by Baseball Prospectus. Also underwhelming is Ryan Campos, who actually made last year’s BP top 20 list, but I can’t see this group voting for a catcher with okay offensive stats and no power who is undersized. Jonathan Mejia didn’t make last year’s list and then went out and had a worse season so he was pretty easy to leave off the voting.
A lot of guys had an opportunity to be put in the voting, but lost their comparable player polls: Bryan Torres got destroyed by Blaze Jordan, still in the voting; Travis Honeyman got destroyed by Chase Davis, who is not that close to being selected for the top 20; Braden Davis lost his head to head poll to Pete Hansen, not that close to being selected; Andrew Dutkanych personally knocked out a lot of players, beating Mason Molina, Jacob Odle, Hancel Rincon, and Blake Aita in different head-to-head polls. Molina himself defeated Nate Dohm and Frank Ellisalt. Aita beat both Sem Robberse and Leonel Sequera. Won-Bin Cho and Zach Levenson did not get more votes than Colton Ledbetter and actually lost fairly easily.
And lastly, Colton Ledbetter is not on this current vote, because he was in either last or second-to-last in every single poll since I added him. He got just two votes total for the 18th vote. There is no way that guy can go from that to winning the 20th vote. To be clear, that is why he is not being added, I’ll also add I don’t think there’s a very good argument for him being in the top 20 this particular year, because well he’s not a barely worse prospect than Yhoiker Fajardo. I think he’s a slightly farther along Zach Levenson, who nobody really thinks is close to the top 20. Last year, when being in the top 20 meant being better than Zack Showalter or Travis Honeyman or Matt Koperniak, yeah I could see him being there, but not this year.
New Add
Once again, I am adding a new player just to get a new name onto the voting. Dutkanych pretty easily won most of his comparable player polls, but one of them was an actual contest and in addition, this is a guy I can actually see being selected maybe. Or to phrase it differently, of all the possible choices not yet added to the voting, this guy seemingly has the greatest chance to be selected. That would be last year’s 4th round pick, Cade Crossland.
Scouting (FG): 30/45 Hit, 35/50 Game Power, 50/55 Raw Power, 40/40 Speed, 40/45 Fielding
Baez was a fairly strong hitter in High A with a good walk rate, solid K rate, solid pop. He has so far been reasonably good at making contact despite the 45 potential hit tool, although maybe that scouting is being felt from his .270 BABIP with him trading some potential strikeouts for weaker contact. DRC+ saw him as a little bit unlucky in that regard. I’m not real sure of the run environment for High A for the Mets’ affiliate, but he should have plenty of opportunity to show his power at Springfield this upcoming year at 21-years-old.
Those stats are going to be a hard sell admittedly, but we’re missing some very important context: I could not find any stats on his groundball tendencies. A .331 BABIP against for example does not exactly suggest a flyball pitcher. And if he was a heavy groundball pitcher, there’s a good chance he had a high HR/FB%, which would not necessarily be predictive of how he’ll perform as a pro. Fangraphs thinks he’s very close to having four at least average pitches although not a huge fan of his command yet.
Scouting: 30/35 Hit, 30/45 Game Power, 60/60 Raw Power, 50/50 Speed, 45/55 Field
Davis started as a power-hitting outfielder when the Cardinals drafted him in the 1st round back in 2023 draft. That advertised power has never really come and really disappeared last year, although as we saw in spring training, it might be in there somewhere. Not necessarily advertised for his defense, it seems like it’s going to be better than originally expected, which is certainly necessary considering his bat has been worse than expected.
Fangraphs did not give him any scouting grades, but they did write a short blurb on him: “The Cardinals still took him in the seventh round, and saw him return to action late last year, where he sat 91-94 mph and flashed a promising vertical slider from an over-the-top slot that looks difficult to reach.” He had no problems with the swing-and-miss, he did have some issues with control that can be explained away by recovering from Tommy John surgery, but that explanation probably evaporates during this upcoming season.
Gastelum has one phenomenal pitch, and two other pitches just to make the hitter think he’s not a guarantee to throw a change. But his entire plan of attack is structured around the change. And he seems to have fairly good command, which is supported in the numbers so far at least, with pretty low BB rates. Hitters know the change is coming, and it hasn’t really helped so far. Although, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that when hitters do make contact, and it’s not very often, for some reason they’re hits a lot more than you’d expect. He has run pretty consistently high BABIPs in his pro career, like .343 is actually his professional low (when he throws at least 9 innings), which is just crazy.
Hansen is very likely to throw his pitch where he wants to throw it, the question is are his pitches good enough for that to matter. Obviously, command is a very important part of pitching, especially starting pitching, but all pitchers make mistakes and it’s easier to live with mistakes with hard to hit pitches in all locations. According to the scouting by Fangraphs, Hansen has a get me over curve, and will have to spot his fastball in order to get to both his slider and change, which are probably the pitches he wants hitters to swing at.
Scouting: 40/50 Hit, 40/50 Game Power, 60/60 Raw Power, 30/30 Speed, 40/45 Fielding
Jordan has had a long route to get to this point, so it’s kind of easy to forget that he’s still just 23-years-old despite being in the minor leagues since 2021. Jordan was impossibly young when he was drafted, not turning 18 until December after his draft year in 2020. One advantage of that is that it can take you the better part of five seasons just to get to AAA and a little bit longer to truly excel at AAA and still be considered young for your level. The question for him will be can he swing at the pitches he is supposed to swing at and resist swinging at pitches that’ll produce weak contact because he’s plenty good at making contact, just not necessarily good contact.
From Lin’s perspective, he just has to forget about his 2025 season, because it did not go his way, even though he did end up getting a promotion to AA. One would assume if your season ends with a promotion to a higher level, that your season went as expected. Clearly in Lin’s case, it did not. What he did show was genuine swing-and-miss even though it seems like he rarely knew exactly where it was going. That profile typically sounds like a reliever, but a more healthy Lin walked just 7.8% of hitters in 2024 with over 5 innings per start. There’s still a chance.
Ryan Mitchell, 19 – OF
No stats
Scouting: 25/55 Hit, 25/50 Game Power, 40/55 Raw Power, 60/60 Speed, 25/50 Fielding
Also kind of a hard sell: voting for a player where you are relying on scouting, albeit scouting that led the Cardinals to draft Mitchell 55th overall in the draft. So the Cardinals certainly believe he’s a prospect. He is a speedy, athletic guy who will have the chance to prove he is a good outfielder – plenty of time honestly – who seems to have a good hit tool and good potential power. Like I’ve said before, I wish I had the power to know how quickly they would advance him to Low A, because that would tell us a lot about him as a prospect.
Scouting: 20/30 Hit, 30/50 Game Power, 50/60 Raw Power, 60/60 Speed, 45/55 Fielding
A vote for Peete is a vote for upside essentially. You’re certainly not voting for him based on his performance. In hindsight, I kind of think the Mariners should have started him in Low A last season. He did manage an above average line, but he struck out a lot and had a .391 BABIP. BABIP can be a talent in the minor leagues, but he was clearly not ready for High A. On the flipside, despite being mostly overmatched, he displayed a surprising amount of power. So his power seems legit, he’s fast, scouts think he’ll be a good fielder, but just needs to figure out how to get his K rate to a manageable level.
SARASOTA, FLORIDA - MARCH 04: Tyler Wells #68 of the Baltimore Orioles delivers a pitch in the fifth inning against the Houston Astros during a Grapefruit League spring training game at Ed Smith Stadium on March 04, 2026 in Sarasota, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) | Getty Images
For a pitcher who has made just seven appearances in the last two seasons combined, Tyler Wells suddenly looms very large for the 2026 Orioles. And not just because of his 6-foot-8 frame.
Wells, who hasn’t pitched in relief since 2023, enters the season as a key bullpen piece, likely serving as the late-inning setup man to closer Ryan Helsley. The right shoulder injury suffered by presumed eighth-inning guy Andrew Kittredge has created a void that Wells might be the best equipped to fill. The right-hander has a career 3.49 ERA as a reliever, holding opposing batters to a .168 average and .531 OPS. Wells briefly served as the Orioles’ closer during his rookie season in 2021 and again during the stretch run in 2023.
Most of the 2024-25 seasons were a wash for Wells, who underwent UCL revision surgery on his elbow after only three starts in 2024 and returned for just four outings last year. Entering this spring, his role was up in the air, but once the Orioles signed Chris Bassitt to bolster their starting staff, there was no potential rotation spot for Wells. The Kittredge injury further solidified the Orioles’ need for Wells in the bullpen.
The 31-year-old could be a boon to a relief corps that added nobody except Helsley and Kittredge this offseason and is filled with untested youngsters and uninspiring veterans. Wells attacks the strike zone and generally doesn’t get himself into trouble. As a reliever, he has a 1.7 BB/9 and an excellent 0.791 WHIP in 49 career games. His one bugaboo is home runs; Wells has served up nine career dingers in 67 relief innings. But at least there usually isn’t much traffic on the bases when he does so.
What do the projections say about Wells’s 2026 campaign? We’ll exclude ZiPS, which projects him as a starting pitcher, and instead look at the relief-only projections from Steamer and Baseball Reference:
Both of these projections grade Wells as an adequate but unremarkable relief pitcher this year. That may be disappointing to O’s fans who are hoping Wells could turn into a lockdown setup man and backup closer. But hey, projections are just projections. They’re no guarantee of what’s going to happen.
What do you think will happen, Camden Chatters? What kind of 2026 season will Tyler Wells have?
We’re coming off a terrific World Baseball Classic semi-final between the US and Dominican Republic with a controversial end. We’ll have more on that game later this morning. Here are some takeaways from the Team USA win.
Tarik Skubal is defending himself against criticism (The Athletic sub. req.) that he betrayed Team USA by leaving the team early. On the one hand, Skubal has to do what’s right for him and he shouldn’t be criticized for not making a second WBC start. On the other hand, I love that American fans are getting this passionate enough about the WBC that they’re willing to be jerks about the whole thing. OK, I’m not thrilled about the jerks part. Just the passion part.
SB Nation’s CBB expert Mike Rutherford and resident bracketologist Chris Dobbertean will answer all your questions this week and help guide you to bracket glory! Drop in SB Nation’s March Madness Feed all week long and we’ll have both on hand! (All times ET)
Oct 14, 2025; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Brewers center fielder Jackson Chourio (11), right fielder Sal Frelick (10) and first baseman Jake Bauers (9) stand in the outfield during a pitching change against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the eighth inning during game two of the NLCS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Michael McLoone-Imagn Images | Michael McLoone-Imagn Images
We continue our series previewing each position on the Brewers by looking at the outfield, and we’ll also discuss the designated hitter spot, as Christian Yelich’s transition into full-time designated hitting continues. As for the actual outfield, two of these three spots are firmly spoken for. But the third outfield spot is, if not necessarily in flux, a position where there’s likely to be a decent amount of rotation throughout the season. Let’s take a look.
Jackson Chourio
There is something worth remembering about Jackson Chourio: he only just turned 22 last Wednesday. Anyone hinting at the idea that Chourio’s first two seasons in the big leagues were disappointing would be, in a word, wrong. While some were perhaps hoping for a bigger leap in his second season, Chourio has still put together two productive seasons, back-to-back 20/20 seasons in which he’s averaged about three WAR per season. That makes him one of the most productive Brewers, and to bring it back to where we started, I want to re-stress that he has not yet played a regular-season game over the age of 21.
All of that said, it would be great to see Chourio level up in 2026. There have been times, including in the postseason, when Chourio looked pretty clearly like the best hitter on the team. The defense has been a bit up and down, but there have been encouraging signs. You’d like to see him lower his caught-stealing rate, but he’s very fast and clearly has some base-stealing ability. And, most encouragingly, after starting last season with an alarmingly bad walk rate, his plate discipline has looked rather good this spring.
Chourio can hit a baseball. He has extremely quick hands, and he can get to pitches that maybe he shouldn’t be able to get to. Simply improving his plate discipline — which improved quite a bit over the course of last season — and making modest gains in his consistency in the field and on the basepaths would make him a borderline All-Star.
But we can all kind of feel that he’s going to make gains, one of these days, in batting average (he’s hit .275 and .270 in his first two seasons) and homers (21 in both years). Who knows? Maybe we’ll get a 30/30 season.
Sal Frelick
Frelick almost feels like a solid, we-know-what-we’ll-get veteran at this point in his career, even though he’s not quite 26 yet and he’s only played two full seasons in the big leagues. It’s also worth remembering that Frelick improved quite a bit last season — his OPS went up by over 100 points, he hit six times as many homers as in 2024, and his wRC+ went from 87 to 114. Defensively, Frelick didn’t quite perform at the level he did when he won a Gold Glove in 2024, but he was still one of the better corner outfielders in the league.
What can we expect from Frelick in 2026? It seems unlikely that his power is going to creep up a whole lot more, and he did benefit from a solid .317 BABIP (though that was at .306 the year before, and Frelick, because he’s fast and hits a lot of weird little ground balls, might just be a guy who always has a pretty good BABIP). There seems to be a feeling that Frelick, with that 114 wRC+ in 2025, was pretty close to his ceiling.
I’m not completely sure. Frelick hit only 20 doubles last year, and he seems like a guy who could be a classic doubles hitter. Even if he plateaus near his .288 batting average and 12 homers from 2025, there’s a lot of room for improvement in the doubles category, and his 2021 college season and 2022 minor league season both make him look like a guy who could easily hit 30 doubles in the majors.
Beyond that, the Brewers just need Frelick to keep doing Frelick things — run hard, crash (safely) into walls, play good defense — and he should be one of the more reliable contributors on the 2026 squad.
Christian Yelich
We’re going to put Yelich here because he used to be an outfielder once. He isn’t anymore, really. Yelich played left field 19 times last season, and it’ll almost certainly be less than that in 2026.
But Yelich will be the Brewers’ most-used designated hitter, and even at age 34 with a balky back, he will probably be one of their best offensive contributors when he’s available. It was a rough end to the 2025 season, but Yelich still finished with an OPS near .800 (121 OPS+) and team-high 29 homers while playing in the most games he’s appeared in since 2022.
There’s some real concern about the back, though. Yelich missed a week at the beginning of September to rest that back, and upon returning, he hit .233/.291/.370, and then he went 6-for-33 (.182) with five singles and a double in the postseason. The optimist would say that Yelich was just tired and needs more rest — reasonable, given that he turned 34 in December.
It seems reasonable to limit Yelich to about 135 games next year, even if he’s more-or-less healthy the whole year. They could certainly find ways to put him in an at least occasional platoon situation; Yelich last season was a legitimate stud against right-handed pitching (.274/.356/504, 25 homers in 438 plate appearances) and struggled against lefties (.242/.316/.344, four homers in 206 plate appearances, an OPS 200 points lower than against RHP).
Either way, I’m not out on Yelich, no matter how rough it looked at the end of last season. While I’m hoping that Chourio is ready to become the team’s best hitter, there is absolutely no denying that when he was feeling good, that title still firmly belongs with the former MVP.
Blake Perkinsand Brandon Lockridge
I’m going to group Perkins and Lockridge because there’s a lot of overlap in skillset, here, and whichever of them is in the big leagues at any given time, they’re going to fill a similar role.
That role is to play great defense and run fast.
Neither will hit a whole lot (though Lockridge, surprisingly, has three homers this spring), but both should be able to play Gold-Glove-level defense when they’re on the field. Brewers fans are probably hoping that they won’t be on the field all that much, but right now it looks like one of them — probably Perkins, who has a lot more big league experience — will be in the lineup on Opening Day.
Perkins seems to be a favorite of manager Pat Murphy, and it’s not difficult to see why. Murphy loves a guy who doesn’t make mistakes in the field, and Perkins is one of the smoothest fielders in the league. Offensively, though, Perkins has never had an OPS+ above 85, and his offensive shortcomings were laid especially bare in the postseason, when the Brewers probably asked too much of him.
Lockridge doesn’t have a lot in his profile to suggest that he can be much better than Perkins at the plate, but what if the power he’s showcased this spring is somewhat real? Perkins has just 13 homers in almost 800 career plate appearances. And while Lockridge has only one in his major league career (79 plate appearances), he did hit 13 and 14 homers in less than 110 games in each of the 2021 and 2022 seasons in the minors.
There’s probably not room on Milwaukee’s roster for both of these guys, and Perkins should have the inside track on the big-league roster spot. But I’m sure we’ll see Lockridge in Milwaukee at some point this season, and if he’s swinging for the fences, it might be an interesting wrinkle as the Brewers look for just a little bit of offense out of this defensive duo.
Garrett Mitchell
The assumption is that Garrett Mitchell will start the season on the Brewers’ roster. His pedigree and previous flashes have probably earned him that.
More than anything, Mitchell needs to prove that he can stay healthy. I don’t need to elaborate much here. As much promise as he has shown, it doesn’t matter — this is a good place to drop in the painful cliché that the greatest ability is availability.
But… Mitchell also needs to prove that he’s a good baseball player after all the injuries he’s been through. It was only 25 games, but Mitchell struggled in 2025 with a .206/.286/.294 batting line in 78 plate appearances before his season-ending injury last year. This spring, Mitchell has hit the ball hard when he has hit it, and he’s been patient, but he’s also struck out an alarming 10 times in 22 plate appearances (an unsustainable 45.5% strikeout rate, 12 points higher than his career regular season rate).
Mitchell is probably still pretty good, but he’s 27 now, and he’s really got something to prove. If this season doesn’t go well, either because of injury or because of a lack of production, he may not have a place with the team by the end of the summer.
Who else?
It looks like Jake Bauers: left fielder is going to be a thing. (See more about Bauers in our first base preview.) He appeared in left field 21 times last season (compared to 40 at first base), and it seems extremely likely that he’ll appear in the outfield more than Yelich will this season. Is he a good left fielder? No, I don’t think so. But if they limit his exposure and don’t need to rely too much on him, he’ll probably be okay.
I’ve already talked about him extensively a couple of times in this series, but if I were a betting man, I’d say that the most likely place that Jett Williams gets playing time with the Brewers this season is in the outfield. That might mean center field, but we’ll have to see how the Brewers choose to align from the outset; if Bauers is playing a lot of left field this season, that likely means Chourio plays a lot of center, and if Milwaukee thinks Chourio is a better center fielder than Williams, then Williams — who has played mostly shortstop and center in the minors — could conceivably move to a corner.
In a somewhat similar boat to Williams is Tyler Black, who seems not to have a real position. The general consensus is that if he’s going to play in the field for the Brewers, it will be in an outfield corner — he’s only played four games with the Brewers this spring because he’s been away with Team Canada, and he played three games at first base and one in left field. Black could conceivably slide into the Bauers’ role (a left-handed hitter who plays mostly first base and a little left field) if Bauers gets hurt, but the most likely route to playing time for Black might be at designated hitter in the event that Yelich misses time. Black still has time, but he’s quickly moving to the outside of the Brewers’ prospect situation, and it’s going to take one or more injuries to get him time in Milwaukee this summer.
The Brewers signed Akil Baddoo to a small major league contract this season, but it’s difficult for me to see how he gets into the mix here. Baddoo also injured his quad late last week and won’t be ready for the beginning of the season. He should be back in April, but being behind schedule doesn’t exactly help a guy who didn’t have an obvious route to playing time anyway.
Steward Berroa is also still on the Brewers’ 40-man roster, but he hasn’t played in the Cactus League and is reportedly nursing a shoulder injury.
Beyond that, there aren’t many options near the top of the minors, and the outfield is one of the few places where the Brewers lack prospect depth. (This is why I think Williams most likely ends up in the outfield.) If Lockridge and/or Perkins weren’t with the team, Luis Lara could conceivably be a late-season defense-only option, but he’d be worse — possibly much worse — than either of those guys at the plate. There are no other real outfield prospects close to the big leagues in the system.
GOODYEAR, ARIZONA - MARCH 7: Jose Ramirez #11 of the Cleveland Guardians walks into the dugout prior to a Spring Training game against the San Diego Padres at Goodyear Ballpark on March 7, 2026 in Goodyear, Arizona. (Photo by Brandon Sloter/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Jose Ramirez left the game early yesterday after sliding into third base on a successful steal attempt and jamming his shoulder and if it affects him this season, I will lose my sanity.
Yes, USA beat the Dominican Republic in a close game that was unfortunately affected by Cory Blaser’s ump show in the bottom of the 9th where he decided Mason Miller needed help so he called sliders three inches below the zone strikes. I was rooting for USA so it has to be pretty bad for me to complain here. But, now USA will face the winner of tonight’s game between Italy and Venezuela on Tuesday.
The Guardians beat the Athletics yesterday 12-6. Tanner Bibee seems to be just throwing strikes and letting in fly in Arizona as he gave up six runs and 13 hits but he didn’t walk anyone. I’m sure that’ll be fine… right?
The big news was hoping José is ok. Stephen Vogt said after the game that Jose would be day-to-day. David Fry, Stuart Fairchild, and CJ Kayfus had homers, Travis Bazzana had a couple singles, Steven Kwan tripled, Jose doubled, and Gabriel Arias and Chase DeLauter also had a couple hits. Colin Holderman, Cade Smith and Erik Sabrowski put up scoreless innings from the bullpen.
Jim Rosenhaus spoke to Jose, Smith and Tim Herrin on the latest Guardians Weekly podcast.
It’s a Monday in March, and you know what that means: it’s time for another edition of Pinstripe Alley’s Making the Team Meter! The third week of March is typically a major milestone, as we are now officially closer to Opening Day than we are to the first spring training game. As such, this is typically the week that teams take an axe to their spring training roster, and the Opening Day squad begins to slowly take shape. Thanks to the World Baseball Classic, however, the Yankees have taken their time trimming down the roster, as they have worked to make sure that they have kept enough players in the big league camp to get through the spring schedule.
Despite this relative lack of cuts, we can look at usage, individual performance, and comments by Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman to get a sense as to how these few roster battles are shaping up, and begin to more firmly project the anticipated Opening Day roster — although, as will be clear shortly, comments from the organization might actually increase the uncertainty, rather than help us gain an insight into what the team is thinking.
As always, in case you need it, I’ve included the key below as a refresher. I’d also like to remind you that, like last week, players who were cut or removed from the injured list prior to last Monday will not appear on these lists, while those cut in the last seven days will.
As always, let’s start with the pitchers:
In a spring where injury news has been fortunately few and far between, the majority of the pitching staff looks, in theory, rather set. Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, Ryan Weathers, Will Warren, and Luis Gil represent the team’s five starters. David Bednar, Camilo Doval, Fernando Cruz, and Tim Hill will be the team’s quartet of high-leverage relievers, while Ryan Yarbrough and Paul Blackburn will at least open the year as multi-inning relievers capable of starting if needed. Even if Weathers and Gil have looked inconsistent on the mound so far this spring, nothing that we have seen has truly changed this projection, which leaves just two bullpen spots up for grabs.
And yet, early during yesterday afternoon’s broadcast on the YES Network, Michael Kay, David Cone, and Meredith Marakovitz threw a wrench into these projections by highlighting the number of off-days the Yankees have during the first month of the season. From the start of the season on March 25th through the end of April, New York has a whopping five days off, including three in the first eight days of the season. Because of this, the team can open the season with just four starters for at least the first two trips through the order.
Judging from Aaron Boone’s comments during his fourth inning interview on YES, I think the Yankees are inclined to use a four-man rotation to start the season; after all, Boone did say he wants to avoid giving his starters seven or more days of rest between starts, something that can easily happen with a five-man rotation early in the season. But exactly how this changes their plan for the roster remains to be seen. The simplest way, which the Yankees have done in recent years, is to have the No. 5 starter begin the season in Triple-A, allowing them to carry an extra reliever for the season’s first week; this is especially useful, as most starters are only built up to 80-90 pitches for their first start anyway. But Boone stressed the fact that the team has seven to eight players who will be built up as starters, and suggested that possibility of lining up those not in the rotation to piggy back behind the starter, allowing them to remain stretched out, at least early in the season.
How the Yankees opt to approach this — something which Boone suggested they will do this week — will have ramifications throughout the roster. If they take the first way and bring an extra reliever, one of Warren and Gil will open the season in Scranton (hence why both are now listed as yellow, although I think the team is more likely to carry Warren than Gil, even before Gil’s stinker yesterday), and they will carry three relievers. If they opt to employ Yarbrough, Blackburn, and Warren/Gil as swingmen, as David Cone called the role yesterday, then they may be able to carry one fewer reliever than normal, allowing them to carry 14 position players (and thus solving the roster jam there, discussed below).
Regardless of the number of relievers the Yankees will take, there’s still very little clarity. The team cut another round of pitchers this week — Michael Arias, Brendan Beck, Kyle Carr, Dylan Coleman, Dom Hamel, and Ben Hess — but none of them were exactly in line to crack the roster anyway. Angel Chivili and Jake Bird have struggled, Cade Winquest and Osvaldo Bido need to make the roster (the former because he was a Rule 5 Draft pick, the latter because he’s out of minor league options), and Yerry De los Santos, Kervin Castro, and Brent Headrick have looked good this spring, but lack long track records. How will the Yankees weigh these considerations? Bryan Hoch has Bird and Headrick make the team, with a shoutout to Castro, but as we’ll see later, his projected roster has some flaws. The FanGraphs Depth Chart has not wavered from its Winquest/Bird pairing. For now, it truly is anybody’s game.
Catcher, on the other hand, looks very, very different:
Austin Wells will be the starter. J.C. Escarra will be the backup. With the Yankees opting to have Ben Rice focus on first base this spring, this will be the Yankees’ catching tandem. Michael Kay’s offhand comment yesterday that Ryan McMahon’s struggles at shortstop may put Escarra’s roster spot in danger should be ignored, because it would be malpractice to have Rice start the season as the backup catcher without any game action behind the plate to start the season.
Miguel Palma was reassigned to the minor league camp after yesterday’s game.
Last but not least, the position players:
Out of the players on this list, 11 can make the Opening Day roster. After the Yankees took an axe to the roster this week — George Lombard Jr., Marco Luciano, Braden Shewmake, Duke Ellis, Yanquiel Fernández, Ernesto Martínez Jr., Jonathan Ornelas, and Zack Short were reassigned to minor league camp, 23 remain with the big league club — a testament to the team’s need for bodies with so many players representing their country in the World Baseball Classic.
With a pair of veterans in Paul Goldschmidt and Amed Rosario under contract, the Yankees entered the spring with just one bench spot up for grabs. That fact has not changed, although the nature of that last spot has. Heading into the spring, Jasson Domínguez and Oswaldo Cabrera were penciled in by fans and journalists alike. The Martian, however, is now ticketed to Scranton despite a strong spring, barring an injury to one of the team’s three outfielders or Giancarlo Stanton, and while Cabrera has returned to the diamond, it seems likely that the team will have him start the year in the minors, possibly on a rehab assignment, as they continue to bring him along slowly as he recovers from last May’s gruesome ankle injury.
As it stands, the Yankees have two options for the final spot, either a right-handed hitting outfielder to serve as a platoon bat in Randal Grichuk, or a backup shortstop in Paul DeJong or Max Schuemann (Jorbit Vivas is not a realistic option due to his inability to play shortstop, while Zack Short is clearly behind the other two in the pecking order). In an ideal world, the Yankees clearly want to bring Grichuk north with them, letting Ryan McMahon open the season as the backup shortstop — both Hoch and FanGraphs, in fact, hand Grichuk the final spot on the bench. At the moment, though, this is unrealistic. McMahon has looked uncomfortable moving laterally at shortstop, and while he certainly can play the position in an emergency, the Yankees simply cannot go into the season without a backup to José Caballero. Unless the third baseman shows major improvement with more reps at the position, they almost certainly will be taking DeJong or Schuemann.
There may be a solution to this conundrum: piggybacking the starting pitchers. If the Yankees open the season with a four-man rotation, and use Gil, Yarbrough, and Blackburn for 60-70 pitches behind three of Fried, Schlittler, Weathers, and Warren, they may be able to operate with only 12 pitchers on the active roster, at least for the first two weeks of the season. Carrying one fewer arm than normal would allow the Yankees to carry 14 position players, enabling them to carry both a shortstop and Grichuk. It wouldn’t be a permanent fix — once the five-man rotation begins in earnest, they will need to bring the bullpen back to full strength — but as we’ve seen in recent years, by the time a decision will need to be made, the baseball gods tend to make the decision rather obvious.
And that’s where we stand today. We’ll be back again next week, this time on Monday, for one last projection before the Yankees open the season next Thursday. In the meantime, let us know in the comments section below what you think about our read on the Yankees roster bubble.
CLEARWATER, FL - MARCH 05: Philadelphia Phillies Pitcher Jesus Luzardo (44) delivers a pitch to the plate during the spring training game between the Boston Red Sox and the Philadelphia Phillies on March 05, 2026 at BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater, Florida. (Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
This starts the final full week of spring training games, meaning we are a bit closer to real baseball action. For those that aren’t fans of the WBC, this is a positive thing as seeing these few games of still minor leaguers starting in regular positions is getting tiresome. We all reach this point each year during spring where we just want it to end, but for the Phillies, they just want their guys healthy through this week.
MIAMI, FL - MARCH 15: Gunnar Henderson #11 of Team USA rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run in the fourth inning during the 2026 World Baseball Classic WBC game presented by Capital One between Team USA and Team Dominican Republic at loanDepot park on Sunday, March 15, 2026 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Rob Tringali/WBCI/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Good morning, Camden Chatters! Another Monday is upon us as we inch closer and closer to Opening Day 2026. We are now just 10 days from the first real Orioles game of the season. We’re so close! This is the final week of Grapefruit League games. The Orioles play the Red Sox at home this evening, at 6:05 EDT. After that, it’s just five more days of games before they head north for a pair of exhibitions against the Washington Nationals.
The Orioles attempted to play the New York Yankees last night, but the weather had other ideas. The game started on time and Tyler O’Neill made some noise with a two-run single to score Pete Alonso and Samuel Basallo, but the rain came in the third inning and washed away the game. Zach Eflin started and threw 32 pitches in 2+ innings.
We still don’t know if Eflin will be ready to join the roster on Opening Day, although Craig Albernaz says that Eflin is progressing faster than he expected. So we’ll see.
One spring mystery has emerged: Where is Coby Mayo? Mayo is the presumptive starting third baseman for the Orioles and he has been swinging a red-hot bat in spring training. On March 10th, he had four hits, including a home run. He hasn’t played since then! It’s been four games without Coby. There are, of course, other ways to practice and get ready that aren’t playing in games. And no one has reported any injury concerns for Mayo. But still, where is he? If we see him in the lineup tonight, I will retract my concern.
Meanwhile, the real baseball excitement continues with the World Baseball Classic. The United States eliminated Canada on Friday, which is why O’Neill was back in the Orioles’ camp. That same night, the Dominican Republic knocked out Korea. That set up a semifinal between USA and DR, which took place last night.
It was an exciting game that ended with USA on top. DR took an early lead on Junior Caminero’s home run, but Gunnar Henderson tied the game with a homer of his own in the 4th inning. Roman Anthony also homered and Team USA took a 2-1 lead that they did not relinquish.
DR got the tying run to third in the bottom of the ninth, and Mason Miller struck out Geraldo Perdomo looking on a pitch that was very clearly below the strike zone. What an awful way for them to go home. There is no ABS in the WBC.
Henderson goes into the final with an OPS of 1.358. His two homers so far are tied for the most on the team with three other players. He’s played in half as many games as those other guys, by the way. Has he done enough to get the start in the final?
On Saturday, Venezuela knocked out the defending champion Japan, while the underdog Italy beat Puerto Rico to make it to their first semifinal in WBC history. Italy and Venezuela face off tonight to see who will move on to play USA in the final on Tuesday.
Camden Chat’s 2026 Pre-Season Contest Are you looking for a fun activity? Participate in our pre-season contest! There are no physical prizes, but you can feel really good about yourself for being so smart.
Birthday and History
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have two Orioles birthday buddies, both of the old-timey variety. Catcher Hobie Landrith (b. 1930, d. 2023) appeared in 62 games with the Orioles in 1962 and 1963. He had a 14-season career, mostly with the Cincinnati Reds. Clint Courtney (b. 1927, d. 1975), also a catcher, played for the Orioles in 1954 and 1961.
There isn’t much happening on this day in Orioles history. In 2021, they signed Maikel Franco, who went on to play poorly in 104 games that season. In 2010, the San Francisco Giants returned Steve Johnson, who they had drafted in the rule 5 draft just a few months earlier.
Build Your Winning Bracket!
SB Nation’s CBB expert Mike Rutherford and resident bracketologist Chris Dobbertean will answer all your questions this week and help guide you to bracket glory! Drop in SB Nation’s March Madness Feed all week long and we’ll have both on hand! (All times ET)
U.S. players celebrate after defeating the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic semifinals on Sunday night in Miami. (Megan Briggs / Getty Images)
U.S. batters struck out 15 times, walked once, and went hitless with runners in scoring position. None of their final 13 batters got a hit.
Gunnar Henderson and Roman Anthony each hit solo home runs in the fourth inning, and five relievers shut out the Dominican over the final 4⅔ innings.
That guaranteed the U.S. a spot in Tuesday’s championship game, against the winner of Monday’s game between Italy and Venezuela.
Can the Venezuelans beat the U.S.? They eliminated Japan, their leadoff batter is Ronald Acuna Jr., and they are outslugging the U.S.
Can the Italians beat the U.S.? They already did, in pool play. They have hit more home runs than the U.S., in fewer games. They would have Aaron Nola lined up to start.
Tuesday’s starter for Team USA: New York Mets rookie Nolan McLean. He was the losing pitcher in the Italy defeat, giving up three runs — including two home runs — in three innings.
You never know: The difference in Sunday’s game was billed as Paul Skenes.
“You can make the argument he is the best pitcher in the game,” DeRosa said. The other candidate, according to DeRosa: Tarik Skubal, who could have been in line to start the championship game but opted out of the WBC after one appearance.
U.S. pitcher Paul Skenes delivers against the Dominican Republic in the first inning Sunday during the World Baseball Classic semifinals in Miami. (Megan Briggs / Getty Images)
Skenes breezed through the first inning in nine pitches and the first three in 38, dented only by a Junior Caminero home run.
Before the game, Dominican manager Albert Pujols said facing an All-Star lineup is one thing in the All-Star Game, quite another in a game that counts and a pitcher faces batters more than once. Skenes has started two All-Star games and pitched one inning each time.
Sure enough, Skenes required 33 pitches to get his final four outs, saved throughout his outing by repeated defensive brilliance: from right fielder Aaron Judge, from shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., from second baseman Brice Turang and from third baseman Henderson.
“Toughest lineup I’ve ever faced, for sure,” Skenes said. “I’m sure they would probably say the same thing about facing us.”
Credit to the Dominican, of course, for a lineup that started with Fernando Tatis Jr., with a heart of Juan Soto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Manny Machado, and with shortstop Gerardo Perdomo batting ninth. Perdomo led National League position players in WAR last season, according to Baseball Reference.
The tough U.S. lineup? On paper, sure. In the past four WBC games — after routs of Brazil and Britain — the U.S. has scored more than five runs once and has a two-run win, a two-run loss, a two-run win and a one-run win.
“I’m still waiting for our offense to explode,” DeRosa said.
Said Henderson: “We haven’t played our complete game yet.”
The most valuable player for the U.S. might be closer Mason Miller, who earned the save Sunday. Miller has faced 14 batters in the WBC, allowing no hits and striking out 10.
Because this is the WBC, DeRosa has to consult with Miller’s employers, the San Diego Padres, to determine whether Miller can pitch for a third time in five days in the world championship, should the U.S. need him.
DeRosa called Sunday’s game “a game we’ll remember forever” and, given the hype, why not?
The Americans are the favorites Tuesday, no matter who they play. However, if the U.S. bats do not rouse from their slumber, the championship game will be a game the Americans curse forever.
Mar 15, 2026; Miami, FL, United States; United States pitcher Paul Skenes (30) delivers a pitch against the Dominican Republic during a semifinal game of the 2026 World Baseball Classic at loanDepot Park. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
Team USA is heading to their third straight World Classic Baseball championship game appearance coming off a victory over the Dominican Republic in a 2-1 nail biter. The Pirates’ ace Paul Skenes was on the mound for the Americans and earned his second win in the WBC.
In this semi-final matchup, the Dominican Republic brought one of the most stacked lineups with a power hitter at every position. The USA brought out the best pitcher they had to offer who did the impossible by limiting DR to just one run scored.
In 4.1 innings pitched the 23-year-old former Air Force cadet struck out two batters while allowing just one run off of a Junior Caminero homer in the second inning. From there though Skenes was able to limit the damage with the help of a stellar USA defense that had several highlight plays to keep the Dominican hitters under wraps. Bobby Witt Jr. had several stellar plays (again) from shortstop, and Aaron Judge had a huge throw to catch Fernando Tatis Jr. at third base.
Overall, Skenes finished the contest calm and composed, but had clearly had given his team everything he had when he was relieved in the fourth. Physically, he was throwing high heat and the most pitches so far this tournament, finishing with 71 pitches on the night. The mental fortitude showed up as well, as Skenes proved he could be rattled but recenter himself after facing some adversity against this stacked lineup. Skenes showed up in a pivotal moment for the U.S and finishes his WBC run with a 1.08 ERA, nine strikeouts, and just one run allowed across two contests.
Former Pirate David Bednar has been a workhorse in the bullpen for the U.S and he had another scoreless frame against D.R, and also ended his night with two strikeouts in a high leverage spot.
Team USA will face off against the winner of Italy and Venezuela in Miami at LoanDepot Park on Tuesday night.
MIAMI — There were no majestic bat flip into the night.
There was no dancing on the basepaths or selfies in the dugout.
There was no blaring music in the clubhouse, just a simple speech by Team USA captain Aaron Judge who reminded his teammates that they haven’t accomplished anything yet.
But you know what?
The Americans managed to have the time of their lives Sunday night, relying on their pitching to shut down perhaps the most powerful lineup ever assembled, in the most unique environment that Judge has ever experienced.
“Just a game we’ll remember forever, right," USA manager Mark DeRosa said. “We understood this was going to be a talked-about game, probably one of the most watched games of all time. … Whether we won or didn't win, baseball won.’"
The crowd of 36,337 at loanDepot Park hung on every pitch, stood on their feet, passionately cheering throughout the night. When it was over, Team USA went back to the clubhouse re-living the scenes.
“It was bigger and better than the World Series," Judge said. “The passion that these fans have, representing their country, representing some of their favorite players, there’s nothing like it.
“It gives me chills right now thinking about how special that was."
USA now moves onto the championship game Tuesday night where it will play the winner of Monday's Venezuela-Italy semifinal game on Monday night at loanDepot Park.
If USA wins that title game, you just may see a party that will make South Beach clubs look like a senior citizen bingo night.
The team that has been ridiculed for treating games like a business meeting, can’t wait to unload all of its emotions with a WBC title, letting everyone know there are plenty of different ways to celebrate.
So, please, Team USA pleads: stop with the narrative.
They may not have espresso machines in the dugout and they’re not donning customized jackets after hitting home runs.
But, don’t kid yourselves, they’re having a blast.
“I think we’ve carried ourselves this tournament the way we’ve wanted," USA center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong said. “And that is feeling like we’re the best team in this tournament, the best team in the world."
Team USA just finds the talk about its demeanor to be pretty silly.
“I’m having a blast out there, I think it’s hilarious," Crow-Armstrong said. “I just think we pick our spots. Like, I think you guys would think it’s silly if we all shuffled like [Juan] Soto, or did Vladdy’s [Guerrero] little wiggle, but that’s them. And if I had enough swag to do that, I’d probably do that too."
“We have fun in our own way, but we are definitely having fun out there."
So, why not try to do a 40-foot bat flip like Fernando Tatis Jr., prance around the bases, and come up with some gimmicks of their own?
“Maybe we should," Crow-Armstrong said, “I don’t think that would be as authentic as it for them to be who they are. … Everybody expresses their passion in different ways, and that’s the best part about this tournament."
USA first baseman Bryce Harper remembers when he first reached the big leagues as a 19-year-old wearing eye black, using different-colored bats, and wearing brightly-colored spikes. That quickly got shut down.
“I think every country has the way they play, right?" Harper said. “Obviously, Latin American countries, a lot of flair, lot of energy, and I love watching it because that’s how I played when I was younger.
“I got in trouble for it. When I came up, I used gray bats. I used different cleats. Got my cleats cut. MLB told me I couldn’t use gray bats. Couldn’t use my eye-black, and all of that kind of stuff. I kind of got pounded for it. ...
“But we have the utmost respect for people in all walks of life with baseball. That’s why our game is so cool and so much fun to watch … Baseball is the greatest game in the world because you bring so many different styles together, especially in this tournament."
The Dominican Republic came into the semifinal averaging 10 runs a game, with a record 14 homers. They managed to score just one run, on a second-inning home run by Junior Caminero, and were shut down the rest of the way by Paul Skenes and five different relievers.
And, oh, that USA defense. There was shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. all night long. Third baseman Gunnar Henderson, who homered to tie the game in the third, made some fabulous plays. And no play changed the game more than Aaron Judge’s throw in the third inning.
The Dominican Republic threatened and when Ketel Marte hit a sharp two-out single to right field with Tatis on first base, and Soto coming to the plate, they had the sellout crowd of 36,337 roaring. Yet, instead of staying on second base, Tatis took off for third, and was easily thrown out by Judge on his hardest throw in three years.
Rally over. Inning over.
The Dominican Republic suddenly became passive on the bases, not scoring from second base in the seventh inning on a single to center, with Judge’s throw still on their minds.
“I think that throw definitely changed it," Crow-Armstrong said. “I don’t know if it was the base coaches or maybe it was the players, but it made a shift somewhere."
Said Judge: “You know, you love hitting the homers, but a moment like that was pretty cool."
When the night ended, Team USA sat around in the clubhouse, trying to comprehend how it was possible that it hit two home runs in a span of three at-bats in the fourth inning, produced only one hit the rest of the game and still won.
“I mean, for our bullpen to come in and do the job they did," DeRosa said. "Dominican Republic never stopped. It was like constant traffic, never relaxed. … I'm blessed to be able to manage these guys. I've had an absolute blast."
Skenes pitched a 1-2-3 first inning, but the Dominican Republic had runners on base in all but two innings afterwards. Four times they had at least two runners on base. They had the bases loaded. But they went only 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position, and one of the hits didn't leave the infield.
The game ended with closer Mason Miller, who had already thrown 21 pitches, striking out Geraldo Perdomo with Julio Rodriguez on third base. The pitch appeared low, and Perdomo screamed in frustration, but with no ABS challenge system in the WBC, the call stood, and the game was over.
“This is just an incredible experience,’’ Judge said. “Man, that’s baseball right here. You know, they have passion. They love the game. They respect the game. I think that’s the coolest part about this thing is that we can go out there and fight all of the way to the end, and just seeing the respect and love and passion they have for this game, that’s what you dream about as a kid.
