Worldwide Sports News

It is truly just my luck that right after I published last week’s Monday Morning Minnesota, we started getting reports about Pablo Lopez having a potential elbow issue. Now, Pablo is out for the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, and Joe Ryan was diagnosed with lower back inflammation, which might jeopardize his ability to pitch in the World Baseball Classic. Anyways, keep an eye out for the injury report today for the Twins; I apologize in advance for any misfortune this article may cause.

The Past Week on Twinkie Town:

• Check out The Feed, where you can add your discussions about the Twins!
• We’re starting a new segment called Daily Questions! Provide your opinion on the Twins and debate with the community!
• With spring training underway, game threads are back! Commiserate with your fellow fans as we prepare for Opening Day.
• Matt Monitto helps us keep track of who’s who – numerically speaking – at spring training this year.
• We’re onto Round 17 of Zach Koenig’s Greatest Twins Moments and Performances list.
• James Fillmore brought us another TwinkieTown Movie Night, with noted baseball movie, Back to the Future Part III. We’ve got four more editions, with The Stratton Story coming up this Friday.
• Zach Koenig flashes back to 1996 in Twins history.
• Brandon Brooks is back with another Rival Roundup, checking in on the division in spring training!

Elsewhere in Twins Territory:

• Bobby Nightengale at the Star Tribune looks at how Brooks Lee is preparing for this upcoming season as the Twins’ shortstop.
• Aaron Gleeman at The Athletic evaluates the potential replacements for Pablo Lopez.
• Theo Tollefson at Zone Coverage checks in with Toby Gardenhire in his new role at spring training.

In the World of Baseball:

• The MLBPA’s prep for the upcoming labor negotiations hit a snag as executive director Tony Clark resigned after an internal investigation. Jeff Passan at ESPN examines the fallout from Clark’s resignation and what the union should do in this new chapter.
• The MLB.com beat writers get together and provide one dark horse candidate for each team’s Opening Day roster.
• David Adler at MLB.com gives us 11 players to watch out for at the World Baseball Classic.

The Diamondbacks will be hopping on the team bus, and whizzing on the 101 and 10, for the drive to Goodyear for today’s game. Probably a toss-up whether that or Camelback Ranch is the furthest ballpark from Salt River Fields, but either way, forty miles isn’t bad. It’s one way the Cactus League is definitely better than the Grapefruit League. Heck, even when Tucson was still in the mix, it was still less of a hike than some of the Florida parks. When the Astros play the Blue Jays, someone there is going to have to make the 217 mile trek between Dunedin and West Palm Beach, a solid four hours each way.

Here’s today’s D-backs line-up.

Also potentially pitching: RHP Juan Morillo, RHP Juan Burgos, LHP Adonys Perez, RHP Logan Mercado, RHP Luke Albright and RHP Alec Baker

Be nice if we could get both the offense and the defense working in the same game. We’ve had one game where the pitching worked (the 3-2 win in the opener), one where the hitting was good (yesterday’s 10-9 loss), and one which was not great in either department. Taylor Clarke starts for the D-backs. I was informed by kilnborn, that he is married to another Taylor Clarke. Researching this, I discovered they had twin sons, called… Sadly, not Taylor III and Taylor IV, but Bryce and Brody. Oh, well. We’ll also get our first look at Morillo and Burgos, both contenders for spots at the back of the Arizona bullpen.

The Dodgers play their first home game of the spring as they take on the Seattle Mariners at Camelback Ranch. Landon Knack gets the start for the Dodgers.

MONDAY GAME INFO

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Mariners
• Ballpark: Camelback Ranch
• Time: 12:10 p.mm. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: KLAC AM 570 (simulcast), KTNQ 1020 (Spanish)

Sure, it’s too early to start counting on the calendar to determine which White Sox arm is in line for Opening Day on March 26 but … well, OK, I just did. And today’s starter, Shane Smith, going every five days lands him at March 25. So, as makes absolute sense, Shane Smith is your Opening Day starter.

In addition to Smith, Grant Taylor and Seranthony Domínguez are scheduled to pitch today. Though there could be surprises, that likely means any other arms (say, five innings’ worth?) will be from minor league camp.

Of additional interest is Munetaka Murakami getting a back-to-back start after playing half of the game on Sunday, slotting into the 3-hole and DHing. We’ll also get another look at the possible right side of the outfield in 2026, with Luisangel Acuña in center and Jarred Kelenic in right. Finally, camp sensation William Bergolla Jr. (who had Bergolla and Sam Antonacci as your second-half 2026 middle infield?) hits ninth, playing shortstop. Bergolla has gone 4-for-4 with two doubles, two runs, a steal and an RBI so far this spring.

So now, the bad news: It’s a Gameday view today, with no TV, webcast or even radio from Chicago or Colorado. You’re dependent on my take on the game … which will be through Gameday! See you then.

We have reached the final chapter in the 2026 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List! Just one more ballot must be submitted, and then we will have successfully ranked the top 44 prospects in the San Francisco Giants organization. And with time to spare, I might add!

The penultimate name on our list is someone who was opening a lot of eyes this time last year: it’s third baseman Sabin Ceballos, who has been voted as the No. 43 prospect in the system. That’s a drop of 25 spots for Ceballos, who made his CPL debut at No. 18 a year ago.

That paints the picture of someone who had a tough 2025, but that doesn’t quite do justice to the narrative arc of his prospectdom. The right-handed hitter was a third-round pick in the 2023 draft by the Atlanta Braves, and received a signing bonus in line with a mid-fourth round pick. He was coasting along in Atlanta’s system, playing decently but not making a lot of noise: during his first full season, in 2024, he had a .706 OPS and a 117 wRC+ for Atlanta’s High-A affiliate.

Then he was traded the Giants in the Jorge Soler deal. He stayed in High-A, heading straight to the Northwest League to join the Eugene Emeralds. That was a homecoming for the University of Oregon product, and it seemed that the refreshing Pacific Northwest air ignited something in Ceballos. He hit the cover off the baseball with the Emeralds, posting a .913 OPS and a 152 wRC+. After hitting just three home runs in 377 plate appearances in High-A at the time of the trade, Ceballos smashed seven dingers in just 140 plate appearances the rest of the way.

He quickly proved that the success wasn’t just due to a reunion with the state of Oregon. Ceballos popped over from Minor League camp to fill in for a handful of Cactus League games in 2025, and the results were mesmerizing. He appeared in 15 games for the Giants this time last year, and hit 9-20 with three extra-base hits, four walks, and just three strikeouts, leaving the desert with a 1.633 OPS, a 317 wRC+, and some serious prospect shine.

Those highs were very high, but what followed was not. The Giants assigned Ceballos to AA Richmond, where he spent the entirety of the 2025 season, and the results were not very good. He had a rough debut, barely staying above the Mendoza Line in April, and then things got very ugly.

In May, Ceballos hit just 12-70 with no home runs, for a .171/.301/.214 line. In June, he went 9-61 with no home runs, and a slash line of .148/.235/.180. He entered July with a .178 batting average, a .522 OPS, and just one home run.

But the good news is that the slump did not last all year, and Ceballos put in some serious work turning around his season. You certainly would not have been able to predict, as the calendar turned to July, that Ceballos would end the year with a triple-digit wRC+, but he did exactly that.

After two straight months well below a .200 average, Ceballos nearly hit .300 in July … and did in August. From July through the end of the year, he went 46-150 with 16 extra-base hits, including five home runs. That brought him all the way up to a .670 OPS and a 102 wRC+. Those numbers look even better when you account for age: Ceballos turned 23 towards the end of the season, making him roughly 1.5 years younger than his average peers.

While Ceballos ended the year on a tear, the overall numbers are still not particularly good. His overall line was carried in large part by his strong walk rate of 11.2%, which ranked 46th out of 134 Eastern League hitters who had at least 200 plate appearances last year. But his batting average of .232 ranked 72nd, while his isolated slugging of .106 was 91st.

Despite those poor numbers, Ceballos had little issue making contact in 2025. His strikeout rate was a very tidy 17.4%, which ranked 24th out of those aforementioned 134 hitters, and his swinging strike rate of 7.3% was 16th. He does a tremendous job of making contact … he just struggles to make good contact.

But wait! There’s even more optimism. Ceballos is not your prototypical Minor League third baseman, hoping that the bat can carry a no-place-to-put-him-throw-him-in-a-corner-and-hide-his-glove defensive profile. No, Ceballos was a bonafide defensive weapon at the hot corner last year. I’d stop short of calling him Casey Schmitt or Matt Chapman out there, but he’s very strong defensively. If the bat can rise to meet the glove, then he’ll be cooking, and have a Major League career ahead of him.

I would presume that he’ll be back in Richmond for a repeat of the level in 2026, though he’ll be sharing real estate with Parks Harber if that’s the case. And given how hot his second half was in 2025, it probably won’t take too many weeks of swinging the bat well to get a promotion to AAA where, as they say, you’re only one call away.

Now let’s vote on the final name for our list! As a reminder, voting now takes place in the comment section, using the “rec” feature.

The list so far

1. Bryce Eldridge — 1B
2. Josuar González — SS
3. Jhonny Level — SS
4. Bo Davidson — CF
5. Dakota Jordan — CF
6. Luis Hernández — SS
7. Gavin Kilen — SS
8. Carson Whisenhunt — LHP
9. Blade Tidwell — RHP
10. Keyner Martinez — RHP
11. Jacob Bresnahan — LHP
12. Trevor McDonald — RHP
13. Argenis Cayama — RHP
14. Luis De La Torre — LHP
15. Trevor Cohen — OF
16. Jesús Rodríguez — C
17. Parks Harber — OF/3B
18. Carlos Gutierrez — OF
19. Drew Cavanaugh — C
20. Daniel Susac — C
21. Gerelmi Maldonado — RHP
22. Josh Bostick — RHP
23. Lorenzo Meola — SS/2B
24. Will Bednar — RHP
25. Yunior Marte — RHP
26. Joe Whitman — LHP
27. Joel Peguero — RHP
28. Alberto Laroche — RHP
29. Trent Harris — RHP
30. Carlos De La Rosa — LHP
31. Diego Velasquez — 2B
32. Lisbel Diaz — OF
33. Maui Ahuna — SS
34. Cam Maldonado — OF
35. Victor Bericoto — OF/1B
36. Reid Worley — RHP
37. Jack Choate — LHP
38. Rayner Arias — OF
39. Nate Furman — 2B
40. Jakob Christian — OF
41. Juan Sánchez — LHP
42. Jancel Villarroel — C
43. Sabin Ceballos — 3B

Note: Clicking on the above names will link to the CPL where they were voted onto the list.

No. 44 prospect nominees

Scott Bandura — 24.6-year old OF — .626 OPS/88 wRC+ in AA (186 PA); .838 OPS/136 wRC+ in High-A (373 PA)

Reggie Crawford — 25.2-year old LHP — did not pitch in 2025; 1.04 ERA/4.07 FIP in AAA in 2024 (8.2 IP); 4.66 ERA/4.93 FIP in AA in 2024 (9.2 IP)

Jose Ortiz — 21.7-year old OF — .803 OPS/134 wRC+ in Low-A (66 PA)

Jean Carlos Sio — 21.10-year old INF — .808 OPS/130 wRC+ in High-A (122 PA); .821 OPS/129 wRC+ in Low-A (385 PA)

Charlie Szykowny — 25.7-year old 3B/1B — .816 OPS/122 wRC+ in High-A (549 PA)

Tyler Vogel — 25.3-year old RHP — 18.00 ERA/6.47 FIP in AAA (2 IP); 1.13 ERA/2.42 FIP in AA (16 IP); 2.83 ERA/3.86 FIP in High-A (41.1 IP)

Note: Each player’s first name links to their Baseball-Reference page, and their last name links to their Fangraphs page. All stats are from the 2025 season.

In today’s spring training matchup, the Royals take on the Cubs. We’ll get our first look at Seth Lugo after his injury-plagued 2025 season. Lugo’s 4.15 ERA from 2025 outperformed his 5.09 FIP, and he pitched only 145.1 innings. The Royals gave Lugo an extension instead of trading him last season, so it’s crucial that he rebounds this season.

The Cubs will start Ben Brown. He’s been a starter and come out of the bullpen as the bulk guy for the past two seasons. He sports a high strikeout rate and a decent walk rate so far. If he can be consistent as a starter, he’ll be really good. He did pitch against the Royals on July 21st and gave up seven runs in four innings of work.

The game starts at 2:05pm Kauffman time (US Central). You can listen on 96.5 The Fan.

Lineups: