JUPITER, Fla. — A.J. Ewing’s goal entering the season is the same as it was last year: “Dominate the level where I’m at.” 

The Mets outfield prospect got from Low-A St. Lucie to Double-A Binghamton last year and has been among the group of young players that has stood out to Carlos Mendoza so far this spring. 

“He’s a baseball player,’’ the manager said prior to Ewing starting in left field and hitting seventh in a 2-0 loss to the Marlins on Friday at Roger Dean Stadium. “There’s a lot of different ways he can help a team win a baseball game: Whether it’s the way he plays defense, the way he runs the bases [or his] good at-bats. He puts the ball in play and drives the ball. He’s another kid, I don’t think people talk much about him. He’s a good one there.” 

Mendoza’s scouting eye is pretty accurate in speaking to other team’s perspective of the 21-year-old, but plenty of people have taken notice of Ewing as he enters his third full season in the pros. 

Ewing certainly grew offensively in 2025, as he said he “learned who I was as a hitter.” 

And that, according to Ewing, is this: “I don’t think putting the ball in the air should be a big part of my game.” 

Instead, it’s getting on base and moving when he gets there. He swiped 70 bases over three levels last year. 

On Friday, he singled and stole second in the top of the second inning and then made a terrific diving catch in left in the bottom of the inning. 

“Coming in, that jump was impressive,’’ Mendoza said. “Off the bat, you think it’s a base hit. 

Of his speed on the bases, Ewing said, “That’s a big focus of mine. It sets the table for the guys behind me to drive me in.” 

The guys behind him could at some point include Carson Benge, who was also in the lineup versus Miami on Friday as he looks to win the open right field job. 

Asked how that could happen, Mendoza said, “Just continue doing what he’s doing. There are a lot of things out of his control, [but] he’s having a really good camp.” 

According to the manager, that includes controlling the strike zone. 

“I like the quality of at-bats, especially against left-handed pitching,” Mendoza said of the left-handed swinging Benge. “We saw him the other day go the other way with two strikes [for a homer] against a lefty.” 

And Mendoza also noted other aspects of Benge’s game. 

“His defense and the way he’s running the bases,’’ Mendoza said. “There’s a long way to go [until Opening Day], but he’s having a good camp.” 

Chris Suero, another prospect who is primarily a catcher, but also played left field this spring, drew praise from Mendoza, as well. 

Mendoza knows this is the best, and perhaps only, time this season that he’ll get a chance to see some of these prospects in person and he doesn’t want to waste the opportunity. 

He said he watches those players “pretty closely.” 

“It’s part of my routine: Read reports, talk to coordinators, player development [and] staff because we’re gonna need guys like that,’’ Mendoza said of the top prospects. “The exciting part is we’ve got a lot of them. We’ve got a few [in major league camp] and if you go on the backfield [to minor league camp], there’s talent there, too. It’s not only the upper [minors], but the lower level.” 

Despite the fast starts of players like Benge and Ewing, among others, Mendoza said it’s too early to know where they will end up, and who may end up in Queens. 

“A lot can happen between now and when we break camp,” Mendoza said. “The main thing is to keep guys healthy. The goal is to have a lot of tough decisions.” 

Cam Schlittler made his spring debut and looked every bit as impressive as he did last postseason, as he helped the Yankees defeat the Rays, 3-0, on Friday night at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

Here are the takeaways...

-Schlittler made his first spring start after back issues set the young right-hander back this month, and he came out throwing. His first pitch was clocked at 97 mph and he reached up to 99.4 mph against the first batter he faced. 

Schlittler worked around a walk and some bad luck, a would-be lineout that right fielder Max Schuemann (an infielder by trade) dropped and a highchopper in the infield that loaded the bases. Manager Aaron Boone said that the plan was for Schlittler to throw 40 pitches, and it took the right-hander 22 to get through the first. 

A 1-2-3 second inning allowed Schlittler to start the third. Schlittler struck out Taylor Walls swinging before Boone pulled his youngster.

Schlittler was impressive, striking out four batters across 2.1 innings (39 pitches/24 strikes), allowing two hits and one walk. 

-Oswaldo Cabrera also made his spring debut on Friday. After suffering a season-ending ankle injury last year, Cabrera worked a five-pitch walk in his first at-bat and looked good running the bases -- running smoothly going first to third on a single. 

Cabrera started at short and played just three innings and only had one at-bat, picking up that one walk and a run scored.

-As for other Yankees regulars, Trent Grisham hit a two-run single in his second at-bat. He finished 1-for-3 with two strikeouts. 

Ben Rice went 1-for-2 with a double and a walk. He also struck out.

Cody Bellinger went 1-for-3 with a strikeout, while Giancarlos Stanton went hitless, 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. 

-George Lombard Jr. relieved Cabrera in the fourth and got a few at-bats. In his first, the prospect lifted a fastball into the outfield, but right at a fielder. The Yankees' top prospect then struck out in his second AB, and struck out looking with the bases loaded in the eighth to finish 0-for-3. 

-In the bullpen, Tim Hill was impressive. The southpaw struck out four batters in his 1.2 innings of work. 

Brent Headrick, a southpaw looking to break camp with the team, struck out four of the five batters he faced. He now has eight strikeouts across 3.2 innings pitched this spring. 

Highlights

Trent Grisham gets the Yankees on the board 💪 pic.twitter.com/Ls07IUVxuc

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) March 7, 2026

Cam Schlittler strikes out four in his first start of the spring ♨️ pic.twitter.com/rJlvCy21WF

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) March 7, 2026

What's next

The Yankees will travel to take on the Nationals on Saturday evening. First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m.

HOUSTON — So, what did you do during your spring break in high school?

Joseph Contreras, the 17-year-old son of former All-Star pitcher Jose Contreras, just spent Friday night dazzling the baseball world for Team Brazil against USA, pitching so well that he can brag about it to his buddies at Blessed Trinity Catholic High School in Roswell, Georgia.

Contreras, stepping on the same mound where his father won the 2005 World Series championship with the Chicago White Sox in Houston, faced the greatest hitters in the world and excelled.

He came into the game in the second inning, and retired Byron Buxton on a fly ball to right field, and then ran into trouble by giving up a double off the left-field wall to Brice Turang, and then issued back-to-back walks to Bobby Witt Jr and Bryce Harper to load the bases.

Next up, Aaron Judge, who just clobbered a home run in the first inning.

Gulp.

Contreras threw a 97-mph fastball past Judge for strike one. He missed with a 80-mph changeup. And came back with a 94.4-mph sinker that Judge hit to third baseman Leonardo Reginatto, who started an inning-ending double play.

Contreras danced to the dugout, his teammates all stood to congratulate him, and the professional scouts in the stands scribbled frantically.

Expect everything.

17-year-old high school senior Joseph Contreras gets Aaron Judge to hit into a bases-loaded double play to end the ending 😮 pic.twitter.com/R0qH0kODQr

— World Baseball Classic (@WBCBaseball) March 7, 2026

If this kid was projected to be a second-round draft pick before the WBC, his stock just soared.

He may be committed to Vanderbilt, but after this night, well, they better come up with a whole lot more NIL money to make sure they get him.

“Can you imagine how much his stock will rise if he pitches well?’’ said FOX announcer A.J. Pierznyski, who introduced himself to Contreras, telling him that he used to catch his father.

The youngster struggled a bit in his second inning by giving up a single to Kyle Schwarber, who eventually scored on Contreras' second wild pitch of the frame, and issued a walk to Cal Raleigh, knocking him out of the game. But the impression was made.

The kid just had a memory he’ll cherish forever.

And, oh, how his high school teammates can’t wait to hear all about that magical evening deep in the heart of Texas.

We finish off the infielders in this batch, which includes a pair of prospects listed in the recent MLB Pipeline update, the man with the coolest nickname in the system, and a veteran who has played more seasons for the D-backs than Tony Womack or Geraldo Perdomo.

Ivan Melendez (85)

We start with the nickname guy, though I can never remember: is is ‘Hispanic Titanic’ or ‘Titanic Hispanic’? Either would seem to work. Melendez reached Triple-A this year, being promoted to Reno at the start of August. His OBP and SLG there were just a couple of points different from the figures in Double-A Amarillo. Though as we should all be aware by now, both locations are very hitter-friendly. The team seems to have given up on him as a possible third-baseman: all his playing time in 2025 was at first or as a designated hitter. Mind you, as a RHB the team could use him to platoon at either position with Pavin Smith long-term.

Cristofer Torin (97)

Coincidentally, as I started on this para, Torin doubled in the game against the Cubs. The middle-infielder was ranked #15 on MLB Pipeline’s list. They like his defense but say “the ball doesn’t come off the bat loud enough”, and conclude “Torin’s lack of impact will be his biggest separator between being a regular on the dirt and a contact-heavy middle-infield option off the bench.” He got a cup of coffee at Amarillo in September, hitting in all eight games he played there. But he went homerless over his first 64 games at High-A Hillsboro, so you can see why Pipeline are skeptical. However, he is still aged only twenty, so early days yet.

Tommy Troy (98)

Also on the Pipeline list, but considerably higher at #4, is our first-round pick (#12 overall) in the 2023 draft – pictured top. He is coming off a strong 2025 campaign, with a slash of .289/.382/.451, including 15 homers, between AA and AAA. That saw him play largely at second-base, having seen more time at shortstop previously. However, last year he also got experience in center field for the first time, and didn’t embarrass himself, with one error over 168 innings there. Though if Jordan Lawlar ends up sticking there, Troy could end up being even more blocked there, than he is by Ketel Marte at second-base. But if he hits, the team will find somewhere for him to play.

Ildemaro Vargas (6)

It will be eleven years ago in May that Vargas first joined the D-backs organization, after being released by the Cardinals – with whom he spent close to seven years before that. This winter was the fourth time Ildemaro has signed as a free-agent with Arizona. That’s in addition to being bought by the team from the Twins in August 2020, and from the Pirates in June 2021. Vargas appeared 38 times for Arizona last year, and would probably have had more, save for fracturing his own foot with a foul ball in June. I would certainly not bet against him making 2026 the seventh season in which he appears for the Diamondbacks.

TAMPA — Oswaldo Cabrera has not watched the replay, and if he has any control over it, he never will. 

That night in Seattle last May — when an awkward slide into home plate left him lying on the ground writhing in pain with a broken left ankle and ligament damage around it — remains “horrible” in Cabrera’s mind. 

But nearly 10 months later, hours before the first time he returned to the field for a game in his Grapefruit League debut Friday night, the Yankees utilityman wanted to remember that night for a different reason — for the teammates and coaches who visited him in the hospital later that night and the outpouring of support from fans and people back in his native Venezuela, lifting the spirits of the man who is usually the one doing that for others. 

“That was one of the most beautiful things that happened that night,” Cabrera said Friday afternoon before playing four innings at shortstop and drawing a walk and scoring in his only at-bat. “They did a really nice job showing me the love, the support that I really needed in that moment. I’m so glad for having that.” 

Aaron Judge, who visited the Seattle hospital along with Anthony Volpe and Aaron Boone, remembers Cabrera having a smile on his face despite the physical and mental pain he was in. 

“He knew it was a rough road ahead of him, but if anybody was going to attack it head on, it’s going to be that guy,” Judge said before he left camp for the WBC. 

“He’s, on what you might think is the worst day, still the best person,” added Boone. 

Even for the effervescent Cabrera, though, the gruesome injury tested his psyche. There were obvious physical challenges he had to overcome in the months since — following surgery that inserted a plate and seven screws to stabilize his ankle — but that was not the hardest part of the rehab process. 

“Staying positive, staying mentally strong,” he said. “Having that mentality of, ‘Keep going, that this is nothing hard, we can come back from this and this is not a big deal.’ I think that [was] a big challenge I had this offseason.” 

Though Cabrera was fielding ground balls by the end of last season, he entered camp still trying to knock off some rust. The Yankees felt he had stalled out a bit and wanted to see the last bit of burst in how he was moving. 

Over the last few weeks, though, he showed the improvement they needed to see, leading to the final box that needed to be checked off before he could play in Friday’s game: sliding. 

Cabrera had been thinking about this since the night he got hurt. He had slid hundreds, if not thousands, of times before in his career without issue until that ninth inning in Seattle, when he ran home on Judge’s sacrifice fly but had to make a late pivot to avoid the throw up the line and his ankle gave out on him. 

“I’m going to try to pick him up and he’s like, ‘No, no, no, no, no,’ ” Judge said. “Then I saw what was going on.” 

And so began the long road that led Cabrera to a back field earlier this week, when he finally had to get over the hump and slide again. 

“For me, it was just go over there, try to lose my fear — because obviously it’s a fear from the last time, but trying to not put anything on my mind to make me feel like I’m afraid to do that,” he said. 

Once he did, Cabrera was cleared for takeoff, generating a wave of emotions. He described his anticipation for Friday’s exhibition like it was his MLB debut or his first World Series appearance. 

“Feels like a kid living his dream,” he said with an ear-to-ear smile after the game. “Feels so good, feels amazing to be back in the field.” 

It still remains to be seen whether Cabrera will be ready to start the season on time, but in his mind, there is little doubt. 

“Absolutely it is [possible],” Cabrera said. “I didn’t talk about this with anybody in the organization, the coaching staff or the manager, but I’m working in a way to make the Opening Day [roster].”

The Atlanta Braves took on the Twins in an evening spring training game today with a lineup full of players fighting for final roster spots while some of their stars battle it out in the WBC. Reynaldo López was on the mound looking to continue his success and hopefully stretch out a little bit.

Speaking of fun:

Reynaldo López has looked solid so far this spring. Over 5.0 innings and two appearances, he had yet to give up a run in the spring. He had never gone over 3.0 innings though, so it was a question mark of when he was able to add some more length to his starts since he is coming off a major injury.

Well, it was mostly good news this evening on the Reynaldo López front. He was able to stretch it out for 4.0 innings in his outing this evening. He did finally give up his first run, raising his spring ERA to 1.00. He did struggle a bit outside of runs giving up four hits, and two walks, but struck out three. Another good sign is that all four of his hits given up were singles. It should also be noted that his first walk was when Josh Bell won an ABS challenge.

Reynaldo López himself did claim that he struggled to command his fastball. However, if this was a rough outing in his eyes, he likely was just trying to prove to himself that he can be better. We will take this type of outing gladly.

Martín Pérez came in to get some work as well and looked solid by his standards for his first 2.0 innings. It makes sense that he would give it his all since there is a real chance that he may win a spot in the rotation with the Braves possibly running a 6-man rotation to start the year. He did appear to struggle in his third inning of work though, loading the bases. He was close to giving up a run, but was aided by an outfield assist on a play at home. All-in-all in his third inning of work he gave up a single, a double to old friend Orlando Arcia, a HBP, and a walk but came out it without surrendering a run. The odds of him getting out of that inning with no runs in the future is slim. His full outing was 3.0 innings surrendering zero runs on two hits, one HBP, and one walk. His first two innings were great, but his third was not.

Hayden Harris has only pitched 3.0 innings thus far this spring but got the ball tonight for the eighth inning. He did not start strong, giving up a double to the first hitter he faced. However, he seemed to calm down at least a little bit by following that up with a strikeout and a grounder to SS. He then gave up a walk though, putting runners on the corners with two outs. He was able to finish the job with a strikeout on a 91.7 MPH fastball. In case anyone is wondering, his average fastball last season was 91.9 MPH, so we are not seeing a velocity drop.

The Braves’ offense got the job done, but it was led by a lineup that only had few guys that will likely make the roster. Kyle Farmer got the start at 3B and continued his hot spring getting another hit. He is an interesting player to watch because he has been a below replacement level player the last two seasons, but has easily been one of the better players this spring with the bat. José Azocar has also made a strong case this spring as well and continued tonight by picking up a single and double to raise his spring OPS to .921.

Another player this spring that we should keep an eye on is Jonah Heim since he likely will be the backup catcher while Sean Murphy recovers. Heim has struggled this spring, but did have two hits tonight raising his average to .188 and OPS to .472.

The Braves’ offense was able to muster up four runs from their “starting” lineup before the subs came in, and that was enough to win.

The Braves will be back at North Port, Fl. tomorrow and will face the Baltimore at 1:05 ET. The Braves have not announced yet who will be on the mound, but expect to see more regulars in the lineup.

Aaron Judge has officially made his mark on the world stage.

In his first career World Baseball Classic at-bat, Judge blasted a two-run homer into the left-center stands in the first inning of Team USA’s opening pool play game against Brazil on Friday.

Judge’s home run was met with a loud roar from the fans at Daikin Park in Houston.

AARON JUDGE GOES YARD #WorldBaseballClassicpic.twitter.com/rHI5uO5p6m

— World Baseball Classic (@WBCBaseball) March 7, 2026

The blast gave the U.S. a 2-0 lead early on, as Brazil’s starting pitcher Bo Takahashi struggled in the first inning.

Brazil did answer back with a leadoff home run by outfielder Lucas Ramirez off USA starter Logan Webb.

This year is Judge’s first appearance in the WBC, having skipped out on 2023’s tournament and being a rookie in MLB back in 2017.

Despite it being his first go-around, Judge was named captain of the U.S. team upon agreeing to participate in this year’s tournament in April 2025.

During an appearance on “The Show with Joel Sherman & Jon Heyman” in February, USA manager Mark DeRosa detailed how he failed to bring Judge on in 2013, and what the process was like bringing the three-time American League MVP on for this time around.

DeRosa said he got wind that Judge wanted to play for Team USA from legendary Yankees southpaw Andy Pettitte, and decided to go from there.

“I just said, ‘Hey Aaron, I’m not going to bug you throughout the year. … I talked to Andy Pettitte, I’d love for you to be obviously the captain of Team USA and kind of start with you and filter everything around you as the pillar of this thing,’” DeRosa said was his pitch to Judge. 

“He called me back within 48 hours and was like, ‘I’m in, I want to do it.’ … I started it in April, I just started slow-playing and trying to make pitches,” he added. “I was building a Dream Team at night in my apartment on paper. Trying to make lineups out and pitching staffs.

“I was just slowly cold-calling people and seeing where their heads were at.”