Worldwide Sports News

We’re back with Tuesday Spring Training to go alongside your dose of the WBC.

Seattle native JR Ritchie will be entering his third game and first start with the Braves after being invited as a non-roster prospect during this Spring Training series. This is an open opportunity for him, especially after the news that LHP Joey Wentz is suffering a knee injury, scratching him out for the remainder of the season.

Ritchie will be facing Dylan Cease and the Blue Jays today at 1:07 EST, and the game will be broadcast on the Blue Jays’ Sportsnet and can be listened to on ESPN 103.7.

Here are the lineups. For the Phillies:

For the Yankees:

Let’s talk about it.

The Houston Astros (5-8-3) host the Baltimore Orioles (7-8-2) in Grapefruit League play.

RHP Lance McCullers Jr. is set to start for the Astros, with RHP Levi Wells starting for the Orioles.

TODAY’S STARTER: This is Lance McCullers Jr.’s second appearance of the spring. He previously pitched one shutout inning on Feb 27 vs. the Nationals, working a 1-2-3 inning on 8 pitches. His velocity was improved from last year, primarily working 93-94 with his fastball/sinker.

He made his return to the mound in 2025 after missing the entire 2023-24 seasons due to a right flexor tendon injury that required surgery, working around four IL stints to go 2-5 with a 6.51 ERA (40ER/55.1IP) and 9.92 SO/9IP through 16 games (13 starts).

TODAY’S POTENTIAL RELIEVERS: RHP Bryan Abreu, RHP AJ Blubaugh, LHP Tom Cogrove, LHP Bryan King, RHP Michael Knorr, RHP Roddery Muñoz.

TODAY’S ROSTER MOVES: Following yesterday’s game, the Astros reassigned C Walker Janek and OF Lucas Spence to minor league camp…additionally, the Astros optioned RHP Jayden Murray to minor league camp this morning.

ASTROS IN WBC: IF/OF Shay Whitcomb went 1×1 with a double as a pinch-hitter in Team Korea’s 7-2 win yesterday vs. Team Australia. Team Korea secured a spot in the WBC quarterfinals with the victory.

In Team Italy’s last game on Sunday vs. Team Great Britain, IF/OF Zach Dezenzo went 1×3 with a double, a walk and two runs scored.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Tuesday, March 10, 12:05 p.m. CST

Location: CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches, West Palm Beach, FL.

TV: Space City Home Network, MLB Network (HOU Blackout)

Streaming: SCHN+

Radio: KBME 790 AM/94.5 FM HD-2

Mets Lineup

1. Marcus Semien – 2B
2. Jorge Polanco – 1B
3. Bo Bichette – 3B
4. Brett Baty – RF
5. Francisco Alvarez – C
6. Jose Rojas – DH
7. Christian Pache – CF
8. A.J. Ewing – LF
9. Jackson Cluff – SS

David Peterson – LHP

Cardinals Lineup

1. Victor Scott – CF
2. Yohel Pozo – C
3. Nelson Velazquez – LF
4. Chase Davis – RF
5. Blaze Jordan – 1B
6. Ramon Mendoza – 3B
7. Jeremy Rivas – SS
8. Brody Moore – 2B
9. Bligh Madris – DH

Jared Shuster – LHP

Broadcast info

First pitch: 1:10 PM EDT
TV: SNY

Gavin Lux is slated to make his spring debut while Chandler Simpson and Cedric Mullins will make their returns to the Rays lineup.

First pitch against the Minnesota Twins is at 1:05 at Charlotte Sports Park and the Rays will be providing radio coverage.

The last big publication, FanGraphs, have released their released their pre-season Braves top prospect list – lets jump in and take a look.

Let’s break down this list into groups of five and discuss.

Group 1

• JR Ritchie
• Didier Fuentes
• Cam Caminiti
• Owen Murphy
• Alex Lodise

While there is no surprise in the names associated with the top five, save maybe Alex Lodise, the order in which they are ranked is open for discussion. Without a true plus pitch, according to the writer, JR Ritchie tops the list above Didier Fuentes and Cam Caminiti both of whom have at least one pitch that is currently graded with a future value of 60. Sliding in after Cam is Owen Murphy, but then surprisingly it’s Alex Lodise who is the first positional player to reach the list. With a 20 grade hit tool, and the approach problem that currently plagues him, it’s interesting to say the least that Lodise is above the likes of a Gil or a Tornes who have both made names for themselves with their very professional approach at the plate. While there’s nothing necessarily wrong with this grouping, it’s just an overall interesting way to group them.

Group 2

• Garrett Baumann
• Luke Sinnard
• Diego Tornes
• John Gil
• Tate Southisene

A lot to like about the names on this section of the list, but once again it’s the order of the players that comes into question. Without a true standout pitch, at least yet, Garrett Baumann comes in above Luke Sinnard and his slider/cutter/splitter combination of pitches. Diego Tornes, and John Gil coming in below Lodise is questionable but make sure to read what was said about the two, as there is lofty praise.

Group 3

• Briggs McKenzie
• Owen Carey
• Conor Essenburg
• Edelson Cabral
• Raudy Reyes

Much like the second group, tools stand out in this section as Briggs McKenzie and his curveball, Owen Carey and his overall approach, Conor Essenburg and his power potential, and Raudy Reyes and his massive fastball make this portion of the list. The intriguing addition is Edelson Cabral, who was considered a polished middle infielder, without the highest of upsides found his way all the way to #14 overall.

Group 4

• Eric Hartman
• Blake Burkhalter
• Rolddy Muñoz
• Carter Holton
• Luis Guanipa

Group 4 consists of a high upside athletic 2B/OF in Eric Hartman, a trio of relievers (potentially), and a 5-tool prospect who has struggled with injuries. While Guanipa dropping to 20 isn’t that big of a surprise because he has yet to fully put together a season, having his enormous upside below the likes of Blake Burkhalter and Rolddy Muñoz paints the picture of someone who highlights ceiling more than floor – again a perfectly reasonable thing to do, just doesn’t necessarily fit with my line of thinking/ranking. That said, it is nice to see Eric Hartman getting national love as he does have a very intriguing skill set that every organization would want.

Group 5

• Landon Beidelschies
• Lucas Braun
• Drue Hackenberg
• Ethan Bagwell
• Hayden Harris

Once again the value of relievers is apparent as Landon Beidelschies and Hayden Harris make up 40% of this grouping. While it is interesting to see Lucas Braun and Drue Hackenberg that close, it speaks more to Drue’s upside than it does his struggles on the mound in 2025. Ethan Bagwell coming in at 24 is one of the highest rankings I’ve seen for him to which I personally love.

Group 6

• Herick Hernandez
• Angel Carmona
• Brett Sears
• Cade Kuehler
• Jose Perdomo

The biggest part of this list is the inclusion of Angel Carmona this high on a list, with Jose Perdomo dropping all the way to 30th. Angel had a fantastic 2025, with an .827 OPS across 20 games in his age 18 season so it’s not surprising he is getting love, just surprising to see him over the likes of a Jeremy Reyes, Rayven Antonio, Cody Miller, Dixon Williams, Jhancarlos Lara, or Isaiah Drake all players with large upsides that put together strong seasons themselves against higher quality competition. There’s nothing against Carmona, but when that much talent is left off the list it’s an interesting choice.

Group 7

• Connor Thomas
• Jose Manon
• Starlyn De La Cruz

Love the additions of Starlyn and Jose Manon this high on any list despite not having played a game yet, but again it’s the addition of a Connor Thomas over any of the players listed in the above section that warrants discussion.

What are your thoughts on Fangraphs list? Do you like the aggressive rankings of floors over ceilings? What are the biggest changes you would make?

While the news broke a couple days ago, the Nats made the signing of Zack Littell official. We also got the terms of the deal, which are quite interesting. The base of the contract is a one-year $7 million deal. However, with incentives and a mutual option, Littell is likely to make much more than that.

If you include the $4 million buyout, the least Littell could make is $11 million dollars. By 2020’s Nats standards, $11 million is a big investment. Heading into the offseason, Littell likely expected to make more on a multi-year deal. However, he had to settle for this offer as Opening Day loomed. 

The incentives are based off of innings pitched. They start at 100 innings, and continue to climb as he throws more. Littell is a workhorse who threw 186.2 innings last year, so these incentives are quite attainable. It may not be what he was looking for after posting a sub-4 ERA in over 185 innings, but this is still a solid deal for Littell.

He was actually in the locker room this morning, so I got the chance to talk to him for a bit. While he signed late in the offseason, Littell is confident he will be ready for Opening Day. He said that he has been throwing live sessions to hitters and building up as he normally would in a season. Littell told me he and the Nats will “map out” the next steps, but he feels like he is right on schedule. 

Interestingly, Littell said that his agent and Paul Toboni have a great relationship and had been talking throughout the offseason. It seems like Toboni waited for the price tag to come down and struck when the market got to where he wanted it. Littell said the Nats were always “hanging around and checking in” throughout the process.

Speaking of relationships, Littell mentioned that he has some ties to the Nats new staff. He did not really know any of the players, but his days with the Rays created ties with the Nats staff, which has a lot of connections to Tampa. Michael Johns, the Nats bench coach is one guy he mentioned. He was the first base coach for the Rays while Littell was there.

Obviously manager Blake Butera was with the Rays, but he and Littell did not interact much. Butera was working on the minor league side of things, while Littell was a big league pitcher. He said that they would see each other around every once in a while, but nothing beyond that.

However, he said that Butera was well regarded in the Rays clubhouse. Littell said that guys who played for Butera loved him and he never heard a bad word about the new Nats skipper. He also worked with Simon Mathews while he was with the Reds, and he said he was excited to reconnect with him.

After the season he had, Littell probably thought he would get a bigger deal than this, but he seemed excited to be on board. Littell brings a combination of reliability and production that the Nats needed badly. This surprise late addition really raises the floor of the Nats rotation.

The Nats needed to open up a 40-man roster spot to make this move, and did so by DFA’ing Richard Lovelady. While Lovelady had his moments this spring, his control was hit or miss. Hopefully he passes through waivers because Lovelady is a useful depth arm.

Lovelady is no stranger to the waiver wire. This is the fifth time Lovelady has been DFA’d in the last 12 months. He is the epitome of a guy who sticks on the back end of a 40-man roster.

Overall, this Littell pickup is very exciting by Nats free agent standards. Hopefully Littell has a solid season and either becomes a trade chip, or someone the Nats can keep around longer term. At just 30 years old, he could be a useful middle to back of the rotation arm for years to come.