The Mets signed 32-year-old lefty and career Atlanta Brave A.J. Minter to a two-year, $22 million contract in the 2024-2025 season with the intention of making him an essential late-inning piece in their bullpen. Things did not go according to plan. On April 26, Minter walked off the mound at Nationals Park in Washington DC having a suffered an injury, but he did not realize at the time how bad the injury was.

“I didn’t think it was going to be a season-ending injury,” Minter said this week. It turned out that he had completely torn the lat muscle from his bone and needed surgery, evoking horrible memories in the minds of Mets fans of Noah Syndergaard suffering a similar injury on the very same mound eight years earlier. Thus, Minter’s first season as a Met ended after just 13 appearances. For that very brief period last season, Minter was everything the Mets hoped for. He pitched to a 1.64 ERA and struck out 14 batters in his 11 innings of work.

As the Mets’ pitching staff faltered down the stretch last season, once again struggling to consistently build a bridge to Edwin Díaz, Minter’s absence was acutely felt. The bullpen as a collective pitched to an ERA over 4 in the second half of 2025. With Danny Young also having gone down early in the season with a season-ending UCL tear that required Tommy John surgery to repair, the Mets had a hard time finding consistent left-handed relief pitching. A group that included Genesis Cabrera, Jose Castillo, and Dicky Lovelady, among others cycled in and out of the bullpen to fill that void with mostly mediocre results. Such a problem was the Minter-shaped hole in the bullpen that the Mets had to address it at the deadline via trade, acquiring Gregory Soto from the Orioles, who pitched to an uninspiring 4.50 ERA as a Met.

“We felt it last year when he went down,” manager Carlos Mendoza recently said of Minter. “He’s a guy that’s going to pitch in high leverage. He’s been pretty successful. He’s elite. The biggest thing when you’ve got a lefty there that can get righties out, he’s a weapon there — a guy that we’re going to be counting on for those high-leverage [spots].”

Just a few days after Minter’s injury, the Mets brought back Brooks Raley, who was still rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, on a cheap deal with an option for 2026. That turned out to be an excellent move by David Stearns; Raley was a huge shot in the arm from the left side in the bullpen later in the season and will begin 2026 as the primary left-handed reliever in the bullpen. Unless the Mets decide to roster perpetual on-again, off-again Met Dicky Lovelady or Bryan Hudson for that final bullpen spot currently still up for grabs, Raley will be the only lefty in the pen until Minter returns. Regarding that roster battle, Carlos Mendoza emphasized that the Mets are not necessarily looking for a second lefty and will take the best group of pitchers north with the team, regardless of handedness.

Last Friday, everyone’s eyes were on Francisco Lindor as he took live batting practice for the first time this spring as he prepared to play in his first Grapefruit League game over the weekend. But that live BP was also A.J. Minter’s third session of the spring. He threw all three of his pitches in the session and touched 93 mph on the radar gun. He admitted that his velocity was slower than where he wants it to be, but is also cognizant that he and the Mets are taking his ramp-up slow to keep him healthy. “Honestly, it feels way better than I expected it was going to feel,” Minter said. At one point one of his cutters, which Lindor foul-tipped, even induced a “That was sick” remark from the Mets’ shortstop.

Minter is no stranger to rehabbing injuries. He had surgery to repair a torn labrum in 2024 and has also undergone Tommy John surgery and surgery to address thoracic outlet syndrome. “But this by far has been the easiest rehab process,” Minter said. “I’ve had it all, but this has been about getting the shoulder strong again.” With just a few games left in spring training, Minter is hoping to see Grapefruit League action before the team heads north for Opening Day and remains on track to return in late April or early May.

“I want to help this team out. I feel like I let them down last year,” Minter said. “But for me to help the team is for me to stay healthy and on the field. If I have to be a month behind, so be it, and just make sure I’m ready to go when I come back.”

Good morning and happy Friday, everyone!

The Mariners triumphed in yesterday’s spring training ballgame against the A’s by a 6-4 final.

We inch ever closer to Opening Day, with the Mariners kicking things off on Thursday against the Guardians. What are your plans for the opener? Will you be at the game, or will you be taking it in some other way?

In Mariners news…

• Speaking of Opening Day, the Mariners officially named Logan Gilbert their Opening Day starter for the second year in a row.
• Emerson Hancock’s scorching spring has been fueled by a fastball with more life to it and a brand new sweeper, writes Shannon Drayer.

Around the league…

• Blue Jays rookie starter Trey Yesavage will begin the season on the injured list with right shoulder impingement.
• Former Mariners utilityman Dylan Moore has opted out of his minor league deal with the Phillies. The organization now has 48 hours to add him to their big league roster or he will become a free agent.
• Angels right-hander Grayson Rodriguez is likely to open the season on the injured list while he deals with a “dead arm.”
• Giants righty Hayden Birdsong will undergo Tommy John surgery, taking him out for all of 2026.
• Jurickson Profar’s 162-game suspension for testing positive for PEDs has been upheld upon appeal.
• Major League Baseball has agreed to a multi-year deal Polymarket, who will become the exclusive prediction-market partner of the league.
• Longtime Mets broadcaster Howie Rose announced that he is retiring following the 2026 season.
• Former Mariners lefty and current Angel Yusei Kikuchi revealed that he was so upset after Japan lost in the quarterfinal of the World Baseball Classic that he “couldn’t sleep all night,“ a notable departure from his usual 13-14 hours.
• Kiri Oller at Fangraphs continued their Positional Power Rankings series by diving into center field, where the Mariners’ Julio Rodríguez reigns supreme.
• Will Leitch and Mike Petriello drafted the 2026 World Series favorites.

Earlier this year, I tried to gauge how much the ABS (Automated Ball-Strike) Challenge System’s introduction into the game would affect the value of the catcher position for the San Diego Padres. 

Eventually I concluded with the idea that those who were elite with the system would be given more leeway to challenge (thereby having a much greater ability to influence the game). 

Enter Freddy Fermin

Among qualified hitters (more than three plate appearances), Fermin has the highest batting average on the Padres. Through 12 contests this spring, the backstop has hit .412 with two home runs and 11 RBI. 

That puts him with an OPS of 1.120. For reference, New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge had a 1.145 OPS last season. 

I’m not saying that Fermin can keep up that level of production at the major league level and compete with Judge. But it’s a great sign of his bat having life in it. 

For someone the Friars paid an arm and a leg for, it’s great to see him produce. The hope, obviously, is that it’ll carry over to the regular season, and to the next two years of his contract. 

Additional value in ABS

But going back to the new implementation of ABS. It’s been a storyline all offseason and will continue to be for most of this regular season with its introduction into MLB. 

Fermin has heralded its entrance quite well, leading the league in challenge win rate (among catchers to call for at least 10 challenges) with 86 percent.

The closest one behind him is San Francisco Giants two-time Gold Glover Patrick Bailey (83%). 

Fermin is due for a breakout year. It will be his first full season as the primary catcher for a club after serving as the backup behind Salvador Perez in Kansas City to start his career. 

His emergence as a hitter and elite defender would go a long, long way toward winning games in San Diego. If this translates into the regular season, the Friars will have gotten a bargain with Fermin behind the dish.

Morning everyone and welcome back to another beautiful Friday!

The A’s made the expected announcement late yesterday afternoon that staff leader Luis Severino will indeed get the ball for the Athletics on Opening Day in Toronto to take on the Blue Jays:

Luis Severino will start for the A’s in Toronto on Opening Day, per Mark Kotsay. This will be Severino’s second consecutive Opening Day start with the A’s and third overall.

— Martín Gallegos (@MartinJGallegos) March 19, 2026

This announcement comes as almost zero surprise. Severino is the unquestioned best option for the assignment and his salary matches that. The right-hander has only pitched in one spring contest for the A’s so far but he made three starts for the Dominican Republic recently, including two during the World Baseball Classic. In those contests he looked sharp, reaching 40, 60, and 68, with his final start coming against the United States in the semi-finals. The 32-year-old has pitched in tons of big games during his career and A’s fans are hoping he can be that guy for them soon.

Still, last year’s quick start on the first day of the long regular season did not portend to coming success. Instead Severino was a tale of two pitchers, struggling at home while thriving and looking every bit the part of the pitcher that the A’s gave a record-setting contract to. He definitely had his moments and hot streaks, but he also had some epic meltdowns as well. Severino ultimately made almost every start, save for a few near the end of the year when the season was already over. In his first year in the Green & Gold Severino finished with a 4.54 ERA across 29 starts, racking up a solid 2.5 WAR in the process.

This’ll be his second Opening Day start for the A’s in as many years, and third in his career after taking the ball for the New York Yankees back in 2018. In that start way back then, he pitched 5 2/3 innings of one-hit ball against…. the Toronto Blue Jays. And with the Athletics last year he also had a shutout appearance as he held down the Seattle Mariners to three hits over six strong innings of work. He’d end up not getting the well-deserved win that evening, and it wasn’t even a sign of things to come as Sevy had a roller coaster first year with the A’s.

The only other options the A’s could have been seriously considering were left-hander Jeffrey Springs (who is expected to get the ball for Game 2) or possibly Luis Morales. Springs on paper would seem like nearly as good a bet to get the Opening Day nod, but the lefty hasn’t had a good spring so far and notoriously got off to a horrible start to his season last year. Morales meanwhile is just barely not a rookie anymore after making 9 starts for the A’s down the final stretch last year. It wasn’t completely out of the realm of possibility after the A’s went with another inexperienced rookie in Kyle Muller just a couple of years ago, but with Morales’ lack of innings under his belt, not to mention experience, it would have been plain mean to send him into Toronto on Opening Day, against the defending American League Champions, no less.

Speaking of the Jays, Severino will have quite the challenge for him waiting north of the border. Though they lost star shortstop Bo Bichette this offseason this Jays offense is just as dangerous as the Athletics’ lineup. Anchored by likely future Hall-of-Famer Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the Blue Jays also have star hitters like George Springer and Alejando Kirk, not to mention quality bats like Daulton Varsho, Addison Barger and brief-Athletic Ernie Clement. Oh, add in the wild card in Kazuma Okamoto the slugging third baseman from overseas. On the plus side for Severino, he’s done well against Toronto in his career (3.86 ERA in 16 starts), and add in that Vlad Jr., Kirk, Okamoto and Clement are right-handed hitters. So there’s that small advantage.

Wasn’t really a surprise but now we have it official. Who else is ready to see Severino shut down the defending AL Champions on their home turf next Friday? Something to get excited about! Have a good weekend A’s fans!

A’s Coverage:

• AN Exclusive: Blogfather Toes The Rubber With Pitching Coach Scott Emerson
• AN Exclusive: Blogfather Catches Up With Starting Pitcher Jacob Lopez
• Athletics drop one to the White Sox 6-4
• Eyeball Scout Wowed By 12— Win: Lots To Love
• March Reminder: Opening Day Rosters Matter More To The Fans
• A’s Lose To Texas 7-6 in Spring Training Matchup
• Can Muncy’s glove catch up to his bat at third base?
• A’s Slug Their Way To Fifth Straight Cactus League Victory
• What Have We Learned So Far In Spring Training?
• Jacob Wilson Has a Message For A’s Fans in the Bay Area
• Young, talented Athletics need veterans to show the way
• Here’s the A’s player pool for their Spring Breakout game
• FOX5, Silver State Sports Network to broadcast A’s games this season
• How Worried Should A’s Be About NBA Expansion in Las Vegas?

MLB News and Interest:

• Blue Jays starter Trey Yesavage to begin season on IL
• Former Athletic Jurickson Profar loses appeal, to serve 162-game suspension
• Rays shortstop Taylor Walls to begin season on IL
• Giants option Carson Wisenhunt, Jesus Rodriguez
• Nationals option Josiah Gray, Robert Hassell III
• Caleb Durbin wins Red Sox third base job; Marcelo Mayer likely to play second base
• Shortstop Paul deJong won’t opt out of Yankees deal
• Infielder Dylan Moore triggers opt out in Phillies deal
• MLB joins prediction market with Polymarket deal
• Barry Bonds, CC Sabathia to join Netflix to call Yankees-Giants Opening Night
• World Baseball Classic thriving, MLB considers midseason tournament
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

Any chance the front office gets the green light for something like that?

Insiders to @ByRobertMurray on a Nick Kurtz mega-deal 👀💰

“Kurtz is 22 with a year of service… They’d have to do a monster deal, IMO… I would say if it’s not a 10 year deal, kick rocks.”

“If he waits, he could get a Juan Soto type deal.” pic.twitter.com/o3mmRKMLbs

— SleeperAthletics (@SleeperAth) March 19, 2026

A fun rabbit hole to go down…

The idea that Oakland “never had a stadium plan” is completely false.

There were REAL, viable paths to keep the A’s in Oakland.

So what actually happened? 🧵👇🏻

— (Un)Rooted In Oakland (@OaklandRooted) March 19, 2026

Would the A’s have made the same request as the Padres regarding Mason Miller?

The Padres told Team USA that Mason Miller could only pitch in a save situation.

The Yankees told Team USA that David Bednar was unavailable.

The Cubs told Venezuela that Daniel Palencia could only pitch in a save situation.

There were other pitchers Venezuela didn’t have…

— Christian (@Christian_NYYST) March 18, 2026

Sneak peak of what’s to come on Sunday:

Watching the Phillies vs. Twins Spring breakout game & there have been no less than 56 “dings” or text alerts in 2minutes & I now understand the fury of the chat from the Live stream we did the other night with @baseballisdead_ . #KingDing

— Dallas Braden (@DALLASBRADEN209) March 19, 2026

Leicester Tigers flanker Tommy Reffell has been ruled out for about eight weeks after suffering a throat injury in training.

Reffell was hurt when hit in the neck by "a stray boot" during a session in the days after leading Tigers to Prem Cup final success against Exeter Chiefs.

The injury could see the 26-year-old Wales international miss at least seven matches, not including further knockout ties in the European Champions Cup if they get past Bordeaux Begles in the round of 16 in April.

"We're gutted to lose Tommy to a very unfortunate injury where a stray boot has hit his throat," Tigers head coach Geoff Parling told the club website.

"He has been a real pest to the opposition, and we'll use this time to firstly get him fit and healthy and secondly get him ready and firing for the end of the season."

Reffell's injury means loanee Hamish Watson will come in for his Tigers debut against Bristol Bears on Sunday.

Watson rejoined Tigers, a club he played for at academy level, on a short-term deal from Scottish side Edinburgh earlier in March.

"This also presents an opportunity for Hamish to start and show his quality in a Tigers shirt in a full circle moment after leaving our academy 16 years ago," Parling said.

Michael King, like his last time out, was hurt by the long ball when he and the San Diego Padres played the Chicago White Sox at the Peoria Sports Complex on Thursday. Fortunately for King, the Padres had their full compliment of All-Star players in their lineup, and they were able to overcome the White Sox and earn a 13-6 win.

King allowed three runs in the first inning, two of which came on a two-run home run by Lamonte Wade Jr., a run in the second inning on a sacrifice fly and two runs in the fifth inning which came on back-to-back home runs by Curtis Mead and Wade Jr., and left the game after five innings of work with the score tied 6-6.

San Diego exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Jake Cronenworth hit a bases clearing double after three consecutive walks to start the inning and Jackson Merrill followed two batters later with a ground-rule double to put the Padres up 10-6. Ty France followed Merrill and with two runners on, he again cleared the bases with a three-run home run to give San Diego a 13-6 lead en route to the win.

The Padres return to action today with a meeting against the Los Angeles Dodgers at 6:05 p.m.

Padres News:

• With Fernando Tatis Jr. and Mason Miller back at the Peoria Sports Complex after their time with their World Baseball Classic teams, both players were asked about the matchup that could have happened when the Domincan Republic faced the US in the semi-final. Miller got the third and final out of the game while Tatis stood in the on-deck circle leaving everyone to wonder, “What would have happened?”  

• Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune focused his report on Padres reliever Jeremiah Estrada and the motivation he has to be successful with San Diego after his departure from the Chicago Cubs.

• Padres.TV color analyst Mark Grant signed and extension with the San Diego organization that will ensure he and play-by-play announcer Don Orsillo remain in the booth, together, for years to come.

Baseball News:

• The Spring Breakout Series started Thursday and several games were played, giving top prospects a chance to showcase their abilities. One of those players delivered a 101-mph fastball, at 18 years old, to the No. 5 MLB prospect.

• Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Trey Yesavage, who burst onto the scene in the 2025 playoffs, is set to open the season on the IL.

• The 2026 WBC final between the US and Venezuela was the most-watched final in the history of the tournament.

• The Pittsburgh Pirates made the obvious a reality by announcing Paul Skenes as their Opening Day starter.

Analytics has any number of practical uses, but the best and original use is to verify feelings that we may have when we watch the games. Emotional responses are often rife with bias. We often remember what we want to remember and forget what we want to forget so that we can forward the narrative we have built up in our minds. As you can see by the title, we are looking at Astros efficiency. So, what exactly is efficiency?

To explain it simply, it is the percentage of runners that end up crossing home plate. However, one of the things we have neglected when looking at efficiency is the pitching end of it. The best numbers are numbers that serve as a mirror image of each other. If it is good for a high percentage of runners to score then it is also good if we prevent a high percentage of runners from scoring.

We call this segment the lab because the numbers are what they are, but the key comes in how we interpret them. So, we end up running a bit of an experiment where we set up a hypothesis and test it. In this case, we would postulate that good teams plate a higher percentage of their runners and prevent a higher percentage of the other team’s runners. For our purposes, base runners can be interpreted as hits + walks + hit by pitches. Obviously, we have situations where runners also reach on errors and fielder choices, but it is usually best to keep this as simple as possible.

So, if our hypothesis is correct then the teams with the highest run differentials would also have the positive gaps in efficiency. So, we will set up our table with runs scored and runs allowed, offensive efficiency and defensive efficiency, and run and efficiency differential. We know that teams with higher run differentials are the better teams. Will they also have higher positive differentials in efficiency? Let’s find out.

Offensive vs. Defensive Efficiency

	Runs	Runs Allowed	Off Eff	Def Eff	Run +/-	Eff +/-
2017	896	700	.415	.367	+196	+.048
2018	797	534	.395	.321	+263	+.074
2019	920	640	.409	.378	+280	+.031
2020	279	275	.403	.383	+4	+.020
2021	863	658	.405	.356	+205	+.049
2022	737	518	.382	.316	+219	+.066
2023	827	698	.401	.363	+129	+.038
2024	740	649	.377	.352	+91	+.025
2025	686	665	.358	.365	+21	-.007

If you felt like the Astros were leaving a small village on base last season then your perceptions were backed up by the numbers. Their .358 efficiency rating was the worst in the World Series era. This becomes particularly acute when you look at the aggregate numbers over the time period. The pitching side saw worse years than last year, but the net result had the first negative differential in the time period.

Our hypothesis was that the best teams would have the best efficiency differential. There wasn’t a perfect correlation here because there never are in human endeavors. However, the club had four seasons with a +200 or better run differential. Three out of four of those seasons also were amongst the four best efficiency differentials. The notable exception was 2017 which saw the fourth best efficiency differential, but the fifth best run differential. That’s still pretty damn close.

The null hypothesis would suggest that efficiency is more or less dumb luck. It would be the intellectual equivalent of Lou Brown (from “Major League”) uttering, “I know he hasn’t done much against this guy, but I gotta hunch he’s due.” Serendipity is certainly a thing, but it also is not an action plan. The more intelligent fan out there would call that regression to the mean. In essence, as an analyst I have always considered intangibles to be something we haven’t figured out how to measure yet.

We used to consider clutch hitting an intangible. We used to consider pitch framing an intangible. Over time we figured out how to measure it. In short, the more you can measure the less uncertainty there is. When you can minimize the unknown you can also minimize risk. As the correlation above shows, you can’t completely eliminate it, but you can minimize it.

What do these numbers mean?

I start by looking at the hitting and pitching numbers independently. Do we see any patterns? The offensive numbers have more patterns than the pitching numbers. They simply fell off the side of the cliff the last two seasons. This is probably the main reason why the hitting coaches were jettisoned. The hope is that new voices can make them more efficient.

On the pitching side, the numbers were more scattershot. 2018 and 2022 stick out like a sore thumb in a positive sense. 2018 was the single best pitching season for any American League team since the DH was instituted in 1973 up to that point. 2022 was obviously both even better and the World Series season with the best bullpen in franchise history. The other seasons saw them give up 640 or more runs and all of them had efficiency ratings between a .352 and .383 in efficiency.

Given those parameters, the 2025 staff exists at around the midpoint. The staff loses Framber Valdez, but hopes to be better with better health and more depth. I hate to keep beating this drum, but the key to the season will come at the plate. The aggregate in the time period for offensive efficiency was .394. That seems like a tall order to get to, but if the team can get back to a ,375 efficiency then that would have been 718 runs scored with the same number of base runners. That is an extra 32 runs on the season. Most sabermetricians look at ten runs as being the win mark, So, that’s an extra three wins. The Astros win the AL West with three wins. That’s especially true if one of them comes against the Mariners. Obviously, it’s a lot easier said than done. Ultimately, we are simply explaining something mathematically that we see with our own eyes and feel emotionally. Will the Astros get back on the right side of the efficiency battle? What do you think?

Good morning, LSB.

Kennedi Landry writes that Andrew McCutchen has shown he’s still got it and is on his way to making the team.

Jeff Wilson says the battle for the Rangers 5th rotation spot pits stuff vs. the little things.

Shawn McFarland has observations in which Jake Latz made his final start of spring training.

Josh Jung appears to be ready to go for opening day.

Yolfran Castillo is No. 5 on the Rangers’ prospect countdown.

And the latest guest on Evan Grant’s SportsDay Rangers podcast is one Ian Michael Kinsler.

That’s all for this morning. Happy Friday.

The Detroit Tigers have gone a long time without finding a big time player in the international free agent market. There have been signs of life from Wenceel Pérez and Keider Montero, and fourth ranked prospect Josue Briceño, but they’re still waiting for a star player to emerge. Teenaged outfielder Cris Rodriguez may be be their best hope.

The Tigers inked Rodriguez to a $3,197,500 contract as the lead member of their January 2025 signing class. The Dominican native had just turned 17 years old, yet he went out to the Dominican Summer League last year and had a really good season. Since Al Avila starting committing serious dollars to top IFA talent late last decade, most of the big names have been disappointments. Scott Harris and his staff have built an outstanding track record in the draft of snatching up the top prep hitters and proving correct, so times have changed. Hopefully, Rodriguez will prove another example of their prowess in evaluating teenaged hitters.

As a 17-year-old, Rodriguez hit 10 home runs in 50 games in the DSL, striking out a very reasonable 22.3 percent of the time. He didn’t walk much and he chased a lot, so there’s a long way to go. Rodriguez has the same power potential as a Junior Caminero but isn’t tracking as a hitter to the same degree. At least it’s comforting that Caminero was a pretty aggressive free-swinger at that age as well. Still Rodriguez’s well advanced raw power and sound swing with natural loft were death to fastballs, and he hit the ball very hard, very often. The young outfielder is already a pretty strong 6’3”, 203 pounds, but he’s still fairly lean with the frame to add another 20 pounds of good muscle. There’s a good chance he’ll boast 70 grade raw power by the time he’s in his 20’s.

In the outfield, Rodriguez can handle center field, but his speed is pretty average and he may lose a step as he fills out. Reports suggest that he has work to do to improve his jumps and route running, but that he’s a pretty sound defender who closes on the ball well and makes plays. That’s a pretty good foundation at his age. His plus arm makes him a good fit in right field, and that seems like his natural position. There’s a good chance that he’s at least an average corner outfielder in a few year’s time even if he ends up losing a little speed.

Per FanGraphs, Rodriguez EV90 in the DSL was 108 mph, which is pretty wild. His ten percent best balls in play by exit velocity averaged similar numbers to the hardest hit balls of Kerry Carpenter’s career, and again, he was 17 years old at the time. Rodriguez hit a ball 113 mph at his best last summer. The lack of an approach at the plate gives one pause, but it’s a big advantage just in pure hitting terms to have level of batspeed with the potential for more to come.

As with all young hitters, the issues to track in the years ahead are plate discipline, ability to recognize spin and offspeed, and development of his swing. Rodriguez chased out of the zone a whole lot in the DSL despite all the damage he did, and that’s going to have to improve rapidly as he plays Complex League ball this season. He’s still going to be facing a lot of wild young pitchers, and a 5.9 percent walk rate again would be pretty egregious. He hasn’t faced too much in the way of quality breaking stuff either, but that’s just par for the course at his age. It just means he’s young, and a long way from the major leagues.

We haven’t seen him other than a few game clips and BP sessions, so it’s hard to say how he looked at the plate in the DSL overall. FanGraphs notes that his hands fire from a dead stop and as a result he takes a little time to gather power. I take this to mean that he’s still something of a BP swinger without a lot of developed hitting rhythm in game. He’s certainly upright and a little stiff-legged in the box, and will benefit from more strength and flexibility through his hips and legs. Hopefully we’ll get some looks at him this summer if he gets to Single-A, and plenty of eyes will be on him as he makes his stateside debut today in the Spring Breakout game.

It’s hard to say much more. Rodriguez has enormous power potential and he already shows signs of being a pretty good fastball hitter. Obviously learning to handle guys with multiple plus pitches and good command is another matter, but that’s enough to be pretty excited about him already. It doesn’t hurt that he’s athletic and a good runner for his size even if that speed figures to diminish as he fills out, either. He should be a solid defensive presence, and if he gets to enough power the Tigers will have a pretty good player here. He has future star potential to a degree most prospects do not, so it’s worth ranking him pretty highly already.

Look for a good debut in the Complex League, where he shouldn’t have too much trouble, and a full season move to Single-A ball in 2027. It will be a bit of a treat for prospect watchers to see him in the Spring Breakout game where a lot of the Tigers’ current crop of top hitting prospects have burst onto the scene in the past few years.