Category: Sports News

HOUSTON — Sam Aldegheri, still in his Team Italy uniform hours after he came out of the game, simply wasn’t ready to take it off Saturday afternoon.

He has pitched 95 games throughout his eight-year pro career — 79 games in the minors, seven in the major leagues for the Los Angeles Angels, and nine in the Italian League — but has never felt like this.

Aldegheri, the first player to be born and raised in Italy to reach the major leagues, put on one of the most dazzling pitching performances in World Baseball Classic pool history, suffocating Brazil’s lineup in an 8-0 victory.

He pitched 4⅔ shutout innings, only the second pitcher to pitch into the fifth inning in WBC pool play this year, striking out eight batters and allowing just one hit.

Sure, he has had better performances in his career, but never one more meaningful.

“It’s different,’’ Aldegheri said. “Play for your country is something that you can't really explain, but you can feel it, feel all the support from back home. It's amazing.’’

The nerves began when he awoke, knowing what this meant for his country, and he became emotional standing in the bullpen and listening to the Italian national anthem.

“I had goosebumps all over my body,’’ he said. “It was chilling. … I was just feeling deep inside, I was just trying to think about the game.

“Those moments are hard. You have all these feelings back home, everything goes by your mind. So it was really cool.’’

This is a 24-year-old who was born in Verona, Italy, and the only baseball he watched as a kid was YouTube videos of Dodgers three-time Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw. There were a few baseball fields near his house, and with his older brother, Mattia, a right-handed pitcher, he grew up as a left-handed pitcher on the baseball diamond instead of the soccer field.

He was discovered as a 15-year-old in a tournament in Spain by a Kansas City Royals scout, and in 2019, the Philadelphia Phillies believed in him enough to pay him a $210,000 signing bonus. Aldegheri, the son of a father who works in a glass factory and a mother who works in a bakery, went off to America to chase his dreams.

He has pitched mostly in the minors for teams called the BlueClaws and Pandas and Bees and Threshers, and was traded in 2024 to the Angels for closer Carlos Estevez. He has pitched in seven major-league games for the Angels.

He still believes in himself, still wants to be an inspiration, and knows his Saturday performance could resonate throughout all of Italy.

“I think the game is growing,’’ he said. “Back home in Italy, I have been in a lot of camps during the offseason working with kids, and I have seen a lot of experienced coaches trying to help the game to grow. …

“They are starting to do these academies every region, every city. I have seen a lot of kids, they start from 6 to 8. Hopefully next couple years we will have better technology, too, more sponsors hopefully come in and just try to get better.’’

Says Italy catcher Kyle Teel of the Chicago White Sox: “Doing what he does on the mound and throwing like he can, it just goes to show how big baseball is in Italy, and how baseball is a big part of Italian culture.’’

TAMPA — An instructive and telling moment is approaching for Carlos Rodón. 

After another bullpen session Saturday — “like my 12th one,” he said — the Yankees lefty is set to graduate to facing hitters next week for the first time since his elbow limited his range of motion last season, prompting a surgery to remove loose bodies and shave down a bone spur. 

The slow buildup is part of an attempt to keep Rodón healthy and allow him time to learn how his arm — which he will happily stretch out and bend, as if proving he can — now can rotate. 

“It’s different. Things have changed since last year or since the last few months,” Rodón said at Steinbrenner Field. “I’m still trying to figure out how everything moves again and just find the [pitch] shapes. 

“… There’s a lot more movement now. With the arm, there’s a lot more space it covers.” 

By the end of last season, Rodón could not fully bend his arm. To sip a cup of water with his left hand, he would have to lean forward because he did not have the elbow flexibility to reach his mouth otherwise.

Such limitations spilled onto the mound, where Rodón found a way to pitch — and generally well in an All-Star season in which he notched a 3.09 ERA, albeit compromised and struggling late — before the October surgery. 

Now he is toying with his arm and throwing an “easy 90-91” mph during his bullpen sessions and has begun throwing his full array of pitches.

He is progressing but “throttled,” he said, pitching in control to test his mobility and find what to do with flexibility with which he is not accustomed. 

“It changes when a hitter gets out there. You get an extra bump,” Rodón said. “I kind of need that. I need to do that so I can figure out where I need to be and how much more I need to be ready.” 

The goal remains to debut in late April or early May, he said, during a season in which the Yankees plan to sprinkle him, Gerrit Cole and Clarke Schmidt back into the rotation following surgeries.

They will have representative arms in the group in the meantime, a starting five of perhaps Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, Ryan Weathers, Will Warren and Luis Gil — with Paul Blackburn and Ryan Yarbrough further options. 

The Dodgers, for one, have solid pitching depth and routinely play for October rather than April and May.

They have become known for slow-playing their horses, ensuring the arms they most want on the mound in the playoffs are not burned out. 

But no, Rodón said, such a strategy of a prolonged absence is not part of the Yankees plan. 

“That’s worked out,” Rodón allowed of the Dodgers. “But you still need to have guys that will eat innings. 

“If I’m able to pitch … obviously, I’m going to take myself over most people.” 

It is remarkable that Rodón was able to pitch all of last season, when he couldn’t button his shirt but still made 33 regular-season starts.

By the tail end — including a pair of starts against the Red Sox and Blue Jays in the playoffs — his velocity (and the corresponding results) had dipped. 

He kept taking the ball because he felt he could and because “that’s all I’ve known,” he said. 

Now he needs to know what to do with a left arm he can bend, the next step facing hitters and seeing how his body and adrenaline respond. 

“I’ve used the word ‘patient’ a lot over the past few weeks,” Rodón said. “I feel good. I’m happy with where I’m at. … Just need the competition aspect of it. Put someone in there, and let’s make it somewhat real.” 

It seems like February grinds to a halt once pitchers and catchers report every year. While the excitement of spring training games provides a midwinter jolt, that buzz quickly wears off as you remember the RBIs don’t count, but the oblique injuries do. But now it’s March, the World Baseball Classic’s pool play is in full swing, and high schoolers are getting out of jams by breaking Aaron Judge’s bat. Baseball is back, baby, and as is the custom of this three-year cycle, we have meaningful baseball to tide us over these last ~three weeks until meaningful baseball begins all over again.

• Starling Marte is still kicking around this ol’ league here, having just finished four mid-30s seasons with the New York Mets and finding a way to close in on a 40.0 bWAR career. He’ll have a shot to add more to that figure on a new deal with the Kansas City Royals that broke at the tail end of last week.

• The Cleveland Guardians are bringing on Rhys Hoskins via that classic late-February minor-league deal avenue. Details indicate that Hoskins would receive an escalation to a $1.5MM salary should he advance to the major-league roster. Name a more classic duo than “details” and “providing information”.

• Royals Review proposes that the Royals have a surplus of catching depth from which they may be motivated to utilize in shoring up weaknesses elsewhere around the diamond. It reminds me of how the Twins have a surplus of starting pitching depth, which they, uh, which they could draw from to — hold on.
• I mentioned it last Roundup, but it still blows my mind that Yoan Moncada and Alexei Ramirez are teammates in a 2026 baseball exhibition.
• Some Cleveland news and notes from their latest wave of internal spring transactions:

• Fans of both the Detroit Tigers and the Chicago White Sox may have mixed/bittersweet feelings about Jason Benetti’s hiring as the lead play-by-play man for NBC’s renewed coverage of Major League Baseball. Widely considered the favorite to land the position, the popular broadcaster will add another national gig to an already feathered national-gig-themed hat. He continues to serve in an increasingly-popular dual role a la Joe Davis or even Matt Vasgersian, holding down a local gig while moonlighting as a voice with a little more reach.
• Kevin McGonigle is coming, so you better get used to him now.
• Finally, Eric Hosmer will be joining the Kansas City TV booth this season, the latest in a long line of post-career coaches or broadcasters proving that even if you are only in your 20’s, if you’ve been watching baseball for long enough, somebody is out there who can make you feel old. There’s a part of me that still hasn’t processed that ours is the same Justin Morneau.

MESA, Arizona — The Cubs defeated the Athletics 4-3 on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon at Sloan Park, largely on the strength of home runs by Pedro Ramirez and Ian Happ. Those were good!

Not so good was yet another home run allowed by Shōta Imanaga hit by A’s catcher Brian Serven. That homer accounted for two of the three A’s runs. (Incidentally, if Serven’s name rings a bell, he was a Cubs waiver claim in January 2024 and was on the 40-man roster for 11 days before being waived again and claimed by the Blue Jays.)

I’m here to tell you that Shōta actually threw a pretty good game. He allowed hits to the first two batters he faced, then retired eight A’s in a row. It would have been nine — and ended the third inning — if Happ had been able to catch up to a long drive that just missed his glove near the fence in left field. that went for a double. There’s no video of the play, but the photo at the top of this post shows what happened to Happ. He actually got closer to catching the ball than that photo would indicate.

A single scored the A’s first run and then Shōta served up the home run.

Here’s the pitch that went for the homer:

I’m not going to blame Shōta for this one. As you know, he has the propensity for the long ball. This pitch was a decent pitch, looks like he just didn’t get the location he wanted. Here’s Imanaga’s pitch selection for this game [VIDEO].

The Cubs, as I noted, had two homers of their own. Here’s the one by Ramirez, with two out and nobody on in the second:

Now that’s a well-placed hit. That’s an outside fastball and Ramirez got all of it. I’ve been impressed by Ramirez’ offense and defense this spring. He turns 22 next month and will likely be at Triple-A Iowa this year. He’s a player to watch.

The Cubs scored another run in that inning. Josiah Hartshorn, who is only 19 and was the Cubs’ sixth-round pick out of high school in California last year, singled after the Ramirez homer. He went to second on a walk by Michael Busch and scored on a single by Nico Hoerner.

Happ’s homer came with one out in the fifth. Here’s where that pitch was:

That was a high fastball and Happ did not miss it.

The Cubs’ fourth run, the eventual game-winner, came in the sixth. Carson Kelly doubled and was replaced by pinch-runner Ludwing Espinoza. Espinoza took third on a ground out and scored on a sac fly by Ramirez.

The Cubs bullpen did an excellent job in this one. Grant Kipp, Riley Martin, Gavin Hollowell, Jack Neely and Jeff Brigham combined to throw 5.1 shutout innings, allowing one hit, three walks and striking out seven. I’ve been particularly impressed with Hollowell this spring. He’s got a chance to make the Opening Day roster. As you know, Jed Hoyer has been really good at picking good relievers off the scrap heap and Hollowell, who is 28, could be one of those guys.

That’s all I’ve got for this one. There’s no video to share, not even from the two-camera feed.

Attendance watch: 13,574 paid to see this game at Sloan Park. That makes the season total 105,775 for nine dates, or 11,753 per date.

Sunday, I promise you I’ll have video highlights, as the game against the Giants will be televised via Marquee Sports Network. The Cubs are going with all relievers Sunday, and Hunter Harvey will throw first. He’ll be followed by Phil Maton, Caleb Thielbar and Hoby Milner. Landen Roupp will start for the Giants. Don’t forget that with Daylight Saving time starting overnight, game time Sunday is 3:05 p.m. CT. In addition to TV, there will be a radio broadcast via The Score.

It started out as a joke: while Cal Raleigh is away, his pitchers will play. Cal’s clubhouse chair wasn’t even cold before Logan Gilbert made a start where he was throwing his cutter and sinker, two pitches his opinionated catcher does not like him to throw, as revealed in this in-depth analysis by Zach Mason. But three outings into spring training, it’s looking like the cutter might survive spring training for the first time since 2024.

Gilbert said he felt a little “off” timing-wise in his start on Saturday, leading to him spraying his fastball some and missing arm-side, so he and Garver made the adjustment to go to the cutter, which moves more glove-side.

“It actually proved that there could be a little more value in the cutter than we thought.”

In Saturday’s outing Gilbert threw seven cutters out of 54 pitches, primarily to Chicago’s lefty hitters. Of those seven pitches, he got four swings: a foul in a 1-0 count that set up a strikeout, a weak-contact groundout, a foul in a 3-0 count that set up a groundout on the slider and a foul in a 2-0 count that set up a groundout on the curveball,. He also threw the pitch for a ball, in a four-pitch walk after he’d hit a batter, and got two called strikes on the pitch, one in a three-pitch sequence that went cutter-slider-splitter for a weak-contact flyout. On a day when Gilbert was “spraying the ball around” more than he wanted to, the cutter was a steadying force on the rest of his arsenal.

Here’s the groundout he got on the cutter, which came in a 2-1 count. You can see him shake Garver a couple of times before he gets to the pitch he wants.

Gilbert attributes the improvement in his cutter to the mechanical work he did this off-season cleaning up some things with his delivery, such as being attentive to a tendency to “cheat” on his front leg and swing open. Opening his hips early then brought his chest with it, causing his arm to fall into a slower slot.

“Now that I’m staying closed and a little more firm on my front side, I can get over it a little better,” Gilbert said, noting that in order for the cutter to be successful, he needs to make sure not to get “around” the pitch, which can cause the cutter to have more slider-like movement. But with his improved mechanics, he is able to be more consistent with the pitch.

“I feel like I’m in a better slot for it. That’s how I started in ‘24. I’m always north-south and if my fastball is true, my cutter does have glove-side movement. At the end of ‘24 and especially in ‘25 I was a little lower than I like to be, so my fastball was running a little bit. So my cutter actually didn’t really cut glove side, it almost got back to straight, which you don’t really want. So now that I’m a little more true on my fastball, I feel like the cutter plays off it better.”

Gilbert—perhaps fearing the wrath of his catcher—is careful to say that he’s not working on the cutter at the expense of his other pitches, and he focused hard this off-season on getting better with his slider and curveball. He says former Mariners manager Scott Servais told him that the cutter is best as an 8-10% usage pitch, but says in 2024 there were times where he used it more heavily, maybe double that.

“I don’t think that’s the goal or the role for it but like we saw today, it can get me out of a couple 2-0, 3-1 counts. I don’t want to oversell it—it’s definitely still like a third option—but there’s definitely a way to use it that can help get me out of some of those situations.”

So will the cutter make it out of spring training this year? Gilbert wouldn’t commit to a firm answer, even without the shadow of his catcher looming, but he didn’t outright shoot down the idea, especially after it bailed him out of some jams today.

“I think there’s a time and a place for it,” he allowed.

Team USA handles Great Britain 9-1 in Game 2 of World Baseball Classic originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Team USA is 2-for-2 at the 2026 World Baseball Classic.

But it took about half of the game Saturday to get the ball rolling, as the U.S. found momentum in the fifth inning before routing Great Britain 9-1 in Pool B play in Houston.

Great Britain started off in the best way possible. Nate Eaton of the Boston Red Sox took Tarik Skubal to yard on the very first pitch. It was initially called a double before review showed the ball clearly crossed the home-run line.

The U.S. thought it had the equalizing run in the bottom of the second when Will Smith delivered a potential one-run homer hit. But just as the ball fell into the crowd, Trayce Thompson, currently a free agent, robbed Smith with a spectacular catch.

Skubal pitched 41 times across three innings in what will be his lone appearance at this year’s tournament. He had five strikeouts and two hits allowed, including the aforementioned opening homer.

It took until the fifth inning for the U.S. to get on the board and, eventually, spoil Great Britain’s hopes of a possible stunner. And when the first run came, the dam broke.

Philadelphia Phillies star Kyle Schwarber delivered the highlight hit, sending a no-doubt two-run homer to help establish a 5-1 lead after five. Chicago Cubs‘ Pete Crow-Armstrong joined Schwarber to round home.

Three more U.S. runs followed in the bottom of the sixth, as Alex Bregman and Aaron Judge highlighted an inning where bases were loaded multiple times. No Grand Slam transpired, but it put Great Britain in awkward situations it couldn’t easily wiggle out of.

One more run came in the seventh as Bregman hit a sacrifice fly to center, allowing Ernie Clement to score. There were more chances to score 10 runs and end the game early, but Great Britain held firm.

It was the opposite story for Great Britain on the other side of the ball, as hitters struggled to get on base to threaten the U.S. The quality disparity between the two was on show, especially when the Americans got it going for a few innings.

The U.S. opened with a 15-5 rout of Brazil on Friday. The next pool game will feature another country rival, as Mexico is on deck on Monday, March 9. Houston is the host city for the action that will begin at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

Mexico’s roster features MLB stars such as Randy Arozarena, Alejandro Kirk, Jarren Duran and Jonathan Aranda, among others, so it will be Team USA’s most challenging test thus far.

Team USA handles Great Britain 9-1 in Game 2 of World Baseball Classic originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Team USA is 2-for-2 at the 2026 World Baseball Classic.

But it took about half of the game Saturday to get the ball rolling, as the U.S. found momentum in the fifth inning before routing Great Britain 9-1 in Pool B play in Houston.

Great Britain started off in the best way possible. Nate Eaton of the Boston Red Sox took Tarik Skubal to yard on the very first pitch. It was initially called a double before review showed the ball clearly crossed the home-run line.

The U.S. thought it had the equalizing run in the bottom of the second when Will Smith delivered a potential one-run homer hit. But just as the ball fell into the crowd, Trayce Thompson, currently a free agent, robbed Smith with a spectacular catch.

Skubal pitched 41 times across three innings in what will be his lone appearance at this year’s tournament. He had five strikeouts and two hits allowed, including the aforementioned opening homer.

It took until the fifth inning for the U.S. to get on the board and, eventually, spoil Great Britain’s hopes of a possible stunner. And when the first run came, the dam broke.

Philadelphia Phillies star Kyle Schwarber delivered the highlight hit, sending a no-doubt two-run homer to help establish a 5-1 lead after five. Chicago Cubs‘ Pete Crow-Armstrong joined Schwarber to round home.

Three more U.S. runs followed in the bottom of the sixth, as Alex Bregman and Aaron Judge highlighted an inning where bases were loaded multiple times. No Grand Slam transpired, but it put Great Britain in awkward situations it couldn’t easily wiggle out of.

One more run came in the seventh as Bregman hit a sacrifice fly to center, allowing Ernie Clement to score. There were more chances to score 10 runs and end the game early, but Great Britain held firm.

It was the opposite story for Great Britain on the other side of the ball, as hitters struggled to get on base to threaten the U.S. The quality disparity between the two was on show, especially when the Americans got it going for a few innings.

The U.S. opened with a 15-5 rout of Brazil on Friday. The next pool game will feature another country rival, as Mexico is on deck on Monday, March 9. Houston is the host city for the action that will begin at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

Mexico’s roster features MLB stars such as Randy Arozarena, Alejandro Kirk, Jarren Duran and Jonathan Aranda, among others, so it will be Team USA’s most challenging test thus far.

I realize that it’s a big mistake to overreact to Spring Training performances and I don’t intend this to be that, but I think there’s a legitimate question as to who the St. Louis Cardinals should put on their opening day roster as their starting right fielder and who should start the year in Triple A. If you had to make the call today, would you make Jordan Walker or Joshua Baez your starting Cardinals right fielder?

Safe to say that the St. Louis Cardinals started Spring Training expecting that Jordan Walker would again be the team’s right fielder. We were told that Jordan Walker was finally accepting the coaching guidance and had dialed his swing and approach in. After a couple of weeks of Spring Training games under his belt, Jordan’s offensive line is an unimpressive .231 with a .333 OBP, .231 SLG, and a .564 OPS. Questionable swing decisions and lots of ground balls look the same as they did last season.

Joshua Baez came into camp expecting to see lots of playing time, but with Triple A as his likely 2026 home with a possible call up in September as a best-case scenario. He’s proceeded to hammer Spring Training pitching with a .353 average, 2 home runs and an OPS of 1.156.

Is it possible that Joshua Baez could force the Cardinals hand and play his way into the starting lineup for the major league team? I can’t read Chaim Bloom’s mind, but my gut feeling is that Jordan Walker will still be allowed to at least start the year with the big league team. If he struggles and Baez continues to be an offensive force in Triple A, then a move could be made. There’s also an argument to be made that making Baez the starting right fielder would be repeating the mistake made with Jordan Walker when he was brought up to the majors too early in March of 2023.

I’ve said before that I would be in favor of the Cardinals using Jordan Walker’s final minor league option to allow him time to fix his swing and mental approach with the improved development tools the team has put into place in the minor leagues over the past two years. After seeing his start to Spring Training, I’m even more convinced he might benefit from that. However, I also am wary of hurrying the development of Joshua Baez. I had no expectations that he should receive major league roster consideration even if he had a hot Spring, but I’m now questioning that. What would you do if you were in Chaim Bloom’s shoes? Would you move forward with the expected opening day lineup with Jordan Walker in right field or would you give Baez the chance to prove he’s ready for the majors?