Category: Sports News

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza hit on a few topics speaking ahead of the Grapefruit League matchup with the Houston Astros on Thursday night.

Bo Bichette to play shortstop

The Mets are still going into Opening Day with the plan for Bichette to be the everyday third baseman, but he will get some time at shortstop this weekend.

Mendoza said the plan is for Bichette to play Friday afternoon's game at short, which could hint at some roster decisions the club has to make.

“Just kinda get him a game there, that’s his position,” Mendoza said. “But as we get closer to decision-making, right? I think it was important for Bo to get some reps there in case we do go that route, where he could potentially be our back-up shortstop.”

Earlier on Thursday, the club announced Ronny Mauricio was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse, meaning the Mets will likely not carry an extra shortstop on the roster with Francisco Lindor set to start the season on time after coming back from hand surgery earlier this spring.

Mendoza credited Bichette for his willingness, after Lindor’s injury, to make himself available to whatever role may be asked of him.

“Not knowing the expectations and the timetable [of Lindor’s return], he was very open to say, ‘Hey, I know third base is going to be the priority, but I can always go back and play short, I can play second, whatever the team needs,” the skipper said. “It goes to show you that he’s willing to do whatever we’re asking him to do.

“That’s why we’re giving him a game [at shortstop] tomorrow.”

And speaking of Opening Day, Friday's lineup of Lindor, Juan Soto, Bichette, Jorge Polanco, Luis Robert Jr., Brett Baty, Marcus Semien, Mark Vientos, and FranciscoAlvarez might be as close to the one the manager sends out next Thursday against Pittsburgh.

Mendoza said “there’s a good chance” a lot of those same players get the nod, adding, “It’s pretty close.”

What’s next for Nolan McLean?

Back from his start in the WBC Final, the young right-hander is set to throw on Monday at Mets camp, which would line him up to pitch the second game of the regular season on Saturday.

Mendoza called it a “great experience” for the 24-year-old to get some high-intensity innings in the WBC.

“I thought he was really good that day,” the manager said of McLean’s 4.2-inning outing against Venezuela. “I’m glad that we saw the 98, 99 [mph] early in camp, because if not, I was gonna be jumping off the couch when I was watching it. 

“But just how he handled the whole environment. An unbelievable experience for him that is going to continue to set him up for success. Coming back now, a full year here, hopefully gonna keep him healthy… I was proud of him, as well.”

Kodai Senga to get extra work in

Senga, who is making the start in Friday night’s game, will hang back in Port St. Lucie after the Mets break camp to get an additional bit of work in before re-joining the Mets on Opening Day and making his regular-season debut, Mendoza said.

The skipper added that they are still "in the beginning of having those discussions" about setting up the rotation beyond Freddy Peralta starting on Opening Day, but they "have an idea."

The St. Louis Cardinals Spring Breakout Game will feature JJ Wetherholt, Rainiel Rodriguez and Liam Doyle on the mound as they take on the Washington Nationals starting at 3:30pm. The game should be available through MLB.tv.

A lot of the attention in the sporting world — including occasionally that of your humble author — was elsewhere on Thursday afternoon, with the start of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. However, even with the World Baseball Classic having come to a close, there’s still plenty of spring training action left to go before the regular season gets going.

For the Yankees on Thursday, we got double the action. The Yankees were in split-squad mode today, as they took on a pair of AL East foes. Half of the team hosted the Orioles, while the other half made the trip to take on the Blue Jays. For much of the day, it seemed like both games were headed for Yankees’ losses, but a late rally in the home game gave them a split for the day.

Yankees 5, Orioles 4

Despite a couple RBI — including a homer — from Giancarlo Stanton, it appeared as though the Yankees were going down in this one. However, a ninth inning rally allowed the Yankees to tie the game and then win it, ensuring that they would split Thursday’s games.

Running out the stronger of the two lineups, the home Yankees’ team struck early against the Orioles. With Trent Grisham on third after leading off with a single, and then moving over thanks to a Jazz Chisholm Jr. walk and a balk, Giancarlo Stanton got one in the air and deep enough for Grisham to tag up and score.

Baltimore struck back to overtake the Yankees over the next couple innings. In the second, a two-run homer from Colby Mayo gave the O’s the lead, and a Adley Rutschman single tacked on another run the following inning.

The Yankees eventually got one of those runs back in the sixth, courtesy of Stanton. He continued his impressive spring with a trademark “how the hell did that get out?” blast to get the Yankees back within a run.

Max Fried got the start for the Yankees in this one, and wasn’t his sharpest self. He ended up going five innings, but allowed three runs on five hits and four walks. Holding Baltimore to three runs despite the rest of those numbers is solid, at least.

The teams later traded runs in the eighth, which left the Yankees still down a run going into the ninth. There, prospect Garrett Martin hit a game-tying home run. After that, Roderick Arias drew a walk, with Coby Morales then singling him to third. That brought Ali Sánchez to the plate, and he flied out deep enough to center for Arias to score, giving the Yankees a walk-off win after doing not much for most of the game.

Box score

Yankees 0, Blue Jays 11

The other half of the Yankees hit the road to take on a strong Blue Jays’ lineup. Said strong lineup had absolutely no issue with the Yankees, pounding them both offensively and pitching-wise in an 11-0 win.

In Dunedin, the Blue Jays quickly got on the board. In the second at-bat in the bottom of the first, Daulton Varsho homered off Ryan Weathers to give Toronto the early lead. Then in the third, some Jays’ regulars added on. With George Springer and Varsho already on after hits, Vladmir Guerrero Jr. and Addison Barger each added RBI single to put them further in front.

Then in the fourth, the Blue Jays fully put things away. Springer took Weathers deep for a grand slam, knocking the pitcher out of the game. It was another less than stellar day for Weathers. In 3+ innings, he allowed seven runs on eight hits and a walk. He struck out five, but his ERA for the spring now sits at over 11.

However even after Weathers, the Yankees’ bullpen didn’t exactly perform either. While he did finish off the fourth inning, Kervin Castro started the fifth and failed to record an out before Cade Winquest replaced him. Winquest then allowed a couple more hits, including a Andrés Giménez homer, and added in a wild pitch for good measure. Toronto put up another four spot, going up by double digits in the process.

Meanwhile, other than Amed Rosario, no guaranteed regular position players made the trip to Dunedin. Rosario himself had two hits, but the rest of the lineup combined for just one more, as the Blue Jays truly crushed the Yankees in this one.

Box score

One of my favorite events of Spring Training is the Spring Breakout game. It is a great chance for fans to see some of their team’s top prospects. The Spring Breakout game is here and the Nationals have an impressive lineup. Both the Nats and the Cardinals have much improved farm systems.

The Nats lineup is headlined by first overall pick Eli Willits, who is leading off and playing shortstop. Willits is such a polished player for being just 18 years old, and we will get to see him today. Gavin Fien, the headliner of the MacKenzie Gore trade will be hitting behind him. We will also get a look at Seaver King. One prospect who has impressed this spring is Ronny Cruz, and he will be playing third base. Hard-throwing righty Davian Garcia will be on the mound, but we should see plenty of pitchers.

JJ Wetherholt is a strong candidate to open the season in the MLB, but he will be in the Cardinals Spring Breakout lineup. Teenaged catcher Rainiel Rodriguez is another player to watch on the Cardinals side. Joshua Baez is also a top 100 guy after a breakout year in 2025. Liam Doyle, who was the fifth overall pick last year will be on the mound for the Cardinals.

Game Info:

Stadium: Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium

Time: 4:30 PM EST

TV: MLB Video

Radio: N/A

As I said up top, I really do love this event. It is a great way to showcase young talent. This is also an opportunity for prospects to make a statement heading into their seasons. That gets me fired up. Follow along down below and let’s go Nats prospects!

While the Tigers’ rotation is currently set, and they appear to have starting depth both among their relief corps and at the Triple-A, they don’t have much in the way of actual starting pitching prospects to help them this year. The most advanced of the bunch are left-handers Jake Miller and our 11th ranked prospect, lefty Andrew Sears. Miller is working his way back from offseason hip surgery. Sears is another somewhat underrated college draft pick who has refined his game and is now set to tackle Triple-A with a chance to make an impact sometime this season.

The 23-year-old is another example of the Tigers extensive scouting in the northeast, an area some teams neglect as it isn’t generally a major hotbed for pro talent. They spent their sixth round pick in 2023 on Sears, drafting him out of Connecticut and signing him for $167,500, just slightly over the minimum bonus. That was money well spent as Sears has really broken out over the past two seasons.

On draft day, Sears was a low-90’s crafty lefty type with solid secondary pitches and good control. Over the past two years, he’s built velocity and he’s also really sharpened his slider and changeups into weapons.

Sears started out with a solid campaign for the Lakeland Flying Tigers in his 2024 full season debut. At those levels, the number of lefties who are refined enough to locate their fastball and show solid secondaries isn’t that great, and advanced southpaws tend to do well. The bigger tests come when they start facing more experienced hitters in High-A and at the Double-A level, and that was what Sears had to tackle in 2025. He handled that test pretty well while showing improved stuff with all three of his main offerings.

With the High-A West Michigan Whitecaps in 2025, Sears gave a deep pitching staff with numerous older minor leaguers some real presence. He works quickly and with a lot of intensity, rarely stepping off the mound for even a moment. He gets the ball back, stares in while sometimes muttering what we’ll term “encouragement” to himself for a beat, rocks and fires. As soon as the catcher throws it back he’s on the rubber again, staring in and waiting on hitters to dig back into the batter’s box. He’s an intense competitor and the psycho vibes and quick pace are pretty fun to watch.

Sears works from a low three-quarters slot with a fastball mix that touches 96-97 mph but is more typically 93-94. He gets plenty of life on the fourseamer and from a low release point he has a good angle to the top of the zone to get whiffs and weak contact in the air. He’ll use plenty of sinkers too, with the horizontal break augmented by good, late sink, but he’s not necessarily a ground ball pitcher and tends to get a pretty even mix of contact, though most of the contact in the air is really weak and he pops guys up pretty routinely. He’s pretty adept at working both sides of the plate and likes to jam right-handers inside, though he’ll sometimes tail fastballs back over the middle of the plate or hang his secondaries where they can launch them.

Sears struck out 27.2 percent of hitters with the Whitecaps, with a decent walk rate of 8.4 percent. His home run rate was fine at 0.87 HR/9, but a little higher than you’d like at that level. Still, he posted a 2.95 ERA with a 3.70 FIP in his first look at the High-A level, and since he was a little on the young side on draft day, it was only his age 22 season. Altogether it was a pretty nice success, though a short look at the Double-A level saw him hit a little more, as you’d expect. Overall, he threw 111 innings between the two levels, a nice progression in workload, with a combined 3.49/3.61 FIP.

His best weapon is a sweeping slider in the mid-80’s with good two plane movement. Sears is already pretty consistent with it, with the best ones showing plus and drawing a lot of whiffs. He has some feel for adding depth or sweep depending on the count and the hitter, and is adept at stealing strikes at the bottom of the zone with it too. His other pitch that flashes above average is a good circle changeup with nice velocity separation and a lot of late depth. He’ll still lose command of it at times and when he does it turns into a meatball without much depth, but there was less and less of that over the course of his 2025 campaign. When Sears is strafing the edges with sinkers and then playing the changeup off it effectively he is pretty tough to deal with. He can also mix in a curveball and a cutter at times, though he streamlined his pitch mix mainly to fastball, slider, changeup last year.

At this point, Sears has the stuff to be a major league starter. There just isn’t a ton of margin for error in his command. The fastball combo is pretty average, though a little better when he’s at the top of his velocity band. However, when he’s commanding his mix well he is very tough to deal with. He sets up on the third base side, and generates some deception with his crossfire delivery and low arm slot. It’s a classic, funky lefty delivery, but it does make it tricky to repeat and Sears’ velocity tends to rise and fall with how locked in his delivery is from start to start. When he makes mistakes out over the plate with the fastball, the raw stuff is usually enough to avoid them getting barrelled up, but that won’t be the case in the upper minors. When Sears is throwing first pitch strikes, locating reasonably well, and staying out of hitters’ hot zones, they’re in a bad place against him.

The lack of a dominant fastball or precision command is probably going to keep Sears from tracking like a future mid-rotation arm. Instead, he still profiles best as a spot starter/swingman type. However, he could be really valuable in that role. He handles right-handers well, and if his fastball command is a little sharper in the years ahead, a future full-time role as a depth starter isn’t out of the question. He holds runners well and shows what used to be called moxie in tough situations, continuing to attack the strike zone with a lot of aggression. In short, he has all the traits of a versatile lefty swingman, but with enough gas to throw it by good lower level hitters as well.

The Double-A jump isn’t quite the major separator it was a few years ago, but for left-handed pitchers it’s still a major hurdle in particular. Lower level hitters just haven’t seen many good lefties and there tend to be more easy outs in lineups for a good southpaw until the better A-ball hitters funnel up to Double-A. We haven’t seen him in major league camp, but there’s no report of a major injury either, so we’ll assume he’s dealing with something minor for now. Sears will start the season in Erie when he’s ready, and if his command ticks up a little more he should reach Triple-A with a chance to help the Tigers out later on in the summer. His real ETA is 2027, but if the Tigers decide they need his versatility in the bullpen he could certainly move more rapidly.

The Yankees' split squad beat the Orioles, 5-4, on Thursday as their spring training slate continued.

Here are the takeaways...

- Max Fried was solid, allowing three runs in five innings while throwing 81 pitches (48 strikes).

Half of the damage against Fried came on a two-run homer by Coby Mayo in the second inning. 

Fried, whose spring ERA is 4.40, allowed five hits, walked four, and struck out two.

His next start will come on Opening Day against the Giants next Wednesday in San Francisco. 

- Giancarlo Stantonhit a sacrifice fly in the first inning and went a bit deeper in the seventh, cracking a solo homer to right field for his fourth dinger of the spring. 

- Yerry De los Santos tossed 1.2 scoreless innings, allowing two hits while walking one and striking out none. His ERA in Grapefruit League play is 0.00.

- Trent Grisham, who has struggled at the plate this spring, went 1-for-3 with a run scored.

- Ryan McMahon went 1-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts.

- Paul Goldschmidt went 1-for-3 with a strikeout.

- Jasson Dominguez went 1-for-2 with a walk and a strikeout.

- Garrett Martin hit a solo homer to tie the game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. 

-An Ali Sanchez sacrifice fly gave the Yanks the win. 

Highlights

Cab turns ✌️#YANKSonYESpic.twitter.com/OOwOmSH9Op

— YES Network (@YESNetwork) March 19, 2026

Stanton drives in Grisham#YANKSonYESpic.twitter.com/iRJQa0UGBB

— YES Network (@YESNetwork) March 19, 2026

Stanton solo BLAST to RF!#YANKSonYESpic.twitter.com/EXN3OVtLNd

— YES Network (@YESNetwork) March 19, 2026

All tied up in Tampa!#YANKSonYESpic.twitter.com/GC8xVuUcvo

— YES Network (@YESNetwork) March 19, 2026

What's next

The Yankees travel to face the Orioles on Friday at 6:35 p.m.

Ryan Weathers showed off some good stuff, but the Yankees' left-hander got touched up by a strong Blue Jays lineup as Toronto grabbed an 11-0 win on Thursday afternoon in Dunedin, Fla.

New York, with the rest of the squad staying in Tampa and beating the Baltimore Orioles, was without just about every one of its expected regular players and was facing what appeared to be the Jays' Opening Day lineup. The disparity bore out in the hit totals: 14-3 in favor of the Canadian side.

Here are the takeaways...

- Weathers fell behind George Springer 3-0 before battling back and getting him swinging on a good sweeper. But he was stung when Daulton Varsho clocked a 2-2 up-and-away 97 mph fastball for a homer just over the wall in left. The left-hander ended the inning in painful fashion, taking a hard-hit Addison Barger comebacker (112.4 mph) off his hand. After getting the out at first, he walked off the mound shaking his digits.

Weathers managed to shake it off as he got Alejandro Kirk swinging on a biting breaking pitch down-and-in, Jesús Sánchez looking on a hard heater on the outside corner, and Kazuma Okamoto fishing on a changeup in the dirt. 

The lefty added another strikeout on the breaking pitch in on Ernie Clement before his run of seven straight retired ended with back-to-back two-out infield hits as Springer chopped one (49.1 mph) off the bag at third and Varsho muscled one off his hands (38.7 mph) toward second. Valdimir Guerrero Jr. plated a run, ripping a high-and-away changeup through the right side (104.5 mph) and Barger, after swinging through two sweepers, got a 2-2 sweeper that stayed in the zone, and knocked an RBI single up the middle (107.6 mph) for a fourth-straight hit.

Brad Ausmus (the acting manager on the day) brought in Tony Rossi to get Kirk swinging to end the inning and save Weathers’ arm as he had thrown 29 pitches in the frame (20 after getting the first two outs).

Weathers returned for the bottom of the fourth and allowed yet another infield hit before Okamoto pulled a single through the left side of the infield. After Clement popped out to center, the lefty walked Andrés Giménez to load the bases. And on the seventh pitch to Springer, Weather’s sweeper hung on the outside corner for a grand slam the other way to right. 

Bad luck on some soft contact led to hard-hit balls costing him. Weather’s final line: 3.0 innings, seven runs, eight hits, one walk, five strikeouts on 74 pitches (44 strikes). He struggled in his last outing, allowing four runs on seven hits in 3.2 innings against the Atlanta Braves.

- Cody Ponce, back in America with a new kick-change after three seasons in Japan and one in Korea, made quick work of the Yankee lineup early, needing just 36 pitches (24 strikes) to get the first nine batters in order with four strikeouts. Amed Rosario got the Yanks’ first hit on an infield single deep in the hole to short to start the top of the fourth, but that was it as Ponce allowed just the one base runner in his 5.2 innings while adding five strikeouts on an efficient 65 pitches (44 strikes).

Rosario took a first pitch from Jays reliever Yariel Rodriguez for a base hit up the middle to give him a two-hit afternoon in his three times up. 

- Kervin Castro, on the Yanks' 40-man roster, got around a walk and a single to get the final two outs in the fourth. The right-hander, who has some big league experience, allowed a single and a double off the wall in center to start the fifth, ending his afternoon.

- Cade Winquest came in with two in scoring position and threw a wild pitch to score one run. He recovered to get Clement swinging, but a 1-1 curveball at the bottom of the zone went for a two-run shot to right-center by Giménez to make it 10-0. Springer then jumped on a fastball up-and-away to smash a double to center (111.5 mph) and a center-cut fastball to Varsho resulted in an RBI single, before Winquest got out of it with a 4-6-3 double play.

The righty is a Rule 5 pick for the Yanks, their first since 2011, and everyone will be hoping for better results in the regular season. 

- Randal Grichuk was on his way to first base when home plate umpire Darius Ghani (a rookie ump in MLB this year) called strike three on a 3-2 pitch in the first. The 34-year-old, who is hoping to be the Yanks' fourth outfielder, should have challenged as the splitter was off the plate. He went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts, swinging through a Rodriguez splitter in his final at-bat to start the seventh.

- Paul DeJong was robbed of potentially extra bases on a 101.6 mph shot down the third base line, but Okamoto made a fantastic diving stop and strong throw to record the out to start the fifth. He went 0-for-2 with a walk.

- J.C. Escarra went 0-for-3 with a flyout, groundout, and pop out.

- Seth Brown went 0-for-2 flyout and groundout.

- Yanquiel Fernández notched the game's fifth infield hit with two outs in the seventh, finishing the day 1-for-3 with a strikeout.

- Max Schuemann hit one hard to right, but Barger made a running grab on the warning track before bouncing into the wall. He went 0-for-3 with a strikeout. 

- Kenedy Corona went 0-for-3 with a strikeout swinging on a Ponce fastball.

- Enmanuel Tejeda went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts swinging. 

Up next

The Yankees take on the Orioles on Friday with a 6:35 p.m. first pitch in Tampa. Luis Gil is the scheduled starter for New York.