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We have stressed all offseason that the battle for spots in the Nationals bullpen is wide open. That means we could have some surprise contenders pitch their way on to the roster. One player who made a strong first impression is Bryce Montes De Oca, who struck out the side in his first outing of the spring.

The 29 year old Montes De Oca has been a favorite of analytics types for years now due to his nasty stuff. He has a fastball that can run into the triple digits, a wipeout slider, a tight low to mid 90’s cutter and a changeup. The raw stuff is good enough to be a high leverage arm. However, he has run into health and control questions. 

Montes De Oca missed all of last season due to Tommy John, and has only thrown 10 innings since 2022. However, he looked good as new in his first spring outing. He was leaning on a nasty mid-80’s slider which accounted for all his strikeouts. The 6’7 righty also showed off his cutter, sinker and changeup. That one sinker he threw was 98 MPH.

This offseason Paul Toboni decided not to spend money on bullpen arms. Instead of paying guys like Lucas Sims and Colin Poche, Toboni looked for diamonds in the rough. Montes De Oca was one of the pitchers he signed to a minor league deal. He is a long shot to make the team out of camp due to his lack of work over the past few years.

However, if he continues to look like he did in his first outing, it could be time to have a conversation. It is not like the Nats bullpen is full of proven commodities that are locks to make the team. Sure, it has only been one appearance, but Montes De Oca looked much sharper than Andre Granillo, who had a much better chance of making the team entering camp.

Even before the Nats signed him to a minor league deal, there were people who saw something in Montes De Oca. His stuff just exploded off the page when you look at the data. In 2022, he averaged 100 with a 95 MPH cutter and a slider with crazy movement. Even if the stuff is a bit watered down after multiple Tommy John’s, what he showed the other night was still nasty.

Signing stuff monsters like this to minor league deals is a great process. If they fail to throw strikes or don’t look as sharp due to injuries, you can still just send them to the minors. However, arms like Montes De Oca do not grow on trees. He is unique, and unique is good in the pitching world.

Some of the pitches he was throwing before the injuries hit were downright ridiculous. There is one 101 MPH sinker that just moves across the plate that is totally nuts. It is one of the craziest pitches I have ever seen.

Sure, Montes De Oca has 7.55 walks per 9 in his MILB career, but the stuff is filthy. He also has 13.31 K/9 in his career as well. It is a fun gamble to take for a rebuilding team. An example of this approach working out well, at least in a small sample is Clayton Beeter.

Beeter does not have the injury history of a Montes De Oca, but he also has issues finding the zone at times. However, he still posted a 2.49 ERA in 24 outings due to his swing and miss stuff. There were times where he just didn’t have it, and was not able to find the zone. On the flip side, there were other outings where Beeter just overwhelmed hitters. 

Bryce Montes De Oca is cut from the same cloth. When he is hitting his spots, he is absolutely untouchable. You are just going to have to have another reliever ready to warm up in a pinch because there will be nights where he does not have it. Even with his dominant outing the other night, Montes De Oca is still unlikely to break camp with the team. However, he will be a factor if his stuff looks this crisp.

 Who knows, maybe all the arm issues have forced him to clean up his mechanics and he throws more strikes. It is a long shot, but we can dream. Bryce Montes De Oca’s dominant outing the other night caught my eye and it should make you guys pay attention too. Maybe just maybe Paul Toboni found a diamond in the rough.

The Atlanta Braves took on the Detroit Tigers today in North Port, FL. With it being a home game for the Braves we saw mostly starters in the lineup and the debut Reynaldo López after his long injury absence.

The game started off strong for the Braves both offensively and on the pitching side of things. It is important to note that the Tigers only had approximately three to four starting caliber players in their lineup, but López looked solid in his two innings of work.

López only saw eight batters. He was not perfect, but he got the job done. He surrendered a single in the first inning to Kevin McGonigle and in the second inning he walked Zach McKinstry in the second, but he also secured two strikeouts along the way. One thing to keep an eye on is that while he was pitching two stolen bases happened. Grant Holmes came in to take over and also pitched two innings. He saw the minimum number of batters with six. He did give up a walk, but the damage was mitigated by inducing a double play.

Joey Wentz came in to pitch the fifth and it did not start well. He walked the first two hitter and gave up a single right after that. Luckily for Wentz he got bailed out with an outfield assist on that single, but a run scored. Wentz then settled down for the most part for the rest of his two-inning outing. He ultimately had three strikeouts, one HBP, two walks, one single, and one ER.

Owen Murphy broke the trend of two-inning outings for Braves pitchers today and finished up the game for his third inning of work by pitching ninth. He held his own with one hit and four strikeouts. His only blemish was giving up a bases empty double. He also had an ABS win as a pitch was overturned for a strikeout.

The bats for the Braves started the game hot. They scored three runs in the first inning thanks to a single from Olson, Riley reaching on an error, Albies hitting a double to score two, and then Yastrzemski continuing his hot spring with a double of his own. It should also be noted that Acuña walked, but when he tried to steal third, he was thrown out. This could be a good sign that Acuña is being aggressive on the base paths after taking a step back the past few seasons due to injuries.

The offense was relatively quiet until the fifth, but new Braves addition Mauricio Dubón reached on a single and ultimately score when Matt Olson hit a two-run bomb to make the score 5-1 at that time.

After the fifth the Braves brought in most of their subs. Prized SS prospect John Gil did come in game as well, but he pinch hit for Profar in the seventh and walked and eventually scored. The subs did not slow down with the bats at all, ultimately scoring three runs after the fifth inning to total eight total runs for the Braves today.

The Braves will take on the Pirates tomorrow at the same time and same place where the Pirates will send their ace Paul Skenes against the Braves’ Bryce Elder who is fighting for a rotation spot.

If Konnor Griffin had any designs on quietly making the Pittsburgh Pirates' opening-day roster, they can be put to rest. Baseball's No. 1 prospect doesn't do much of anything quietly - and that includes his first two Grapefruit League home runs.

Griffin crushed a pair of balls up and over two levels of Monster seats at the Boston Red Sox's JetBlue Park in Fort Myers, Florida, on Feb. 24, staining the exhibition debut of Boston free agent signee Ranger Suarez.

Suarez hung a breaking ball to Griffin in his second inning of work this spring. To his credit, the 19-year-old did not miss it, crushing it an estimated 374 feet down the left field line, a shot that might have gone out of all 30 major league parks.

MLB's top prospect Konnor Griffin homers off Ranger Suarez! pic.twitter.com/LXDc4Ab4Bj

— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) February 24, 2026

There was little flukey about it, as Griffin proved in his next plate appearance, pounding an errant sweeper from Red Sox relief hopeful Vinny Nittoli over the portion of the spring Monster in left center field. He apparently broke Statcast on that shot - it finally caught up and measured the drive at 440 feet, 111.2 mph off the bat - but the sound of it told all the story.

That's ✌️ today! pic.twitter.com/VarLMbSajj

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) February 24, 2026

At 6-4, 222 pounds, Griffin, the ninth overall pick in the 2024 draft, fits the mold of the modern shortstop with significant power. He still does not turn 20 until April 24.

Will Griffin be the Pirates' starting shortstop by then? A pair of February blasts in Fort Myers won't determine that. But as eye candy goes, it doesn't get much better.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pirates prospect Konnor Griffin blasts 2 home runs in spring training

The Texas Rangers welcome the Arizona Diamondbacks to Surprise for a lower-stakes rematch of the 2023 World Series.

LHP Jacob Latz begins his quest to earn a spot in the rotation with a start today for Texas opposite RHP Michael Soroka for Arizona.

There doesn’t appear to be a radio feed for this one so you’ll have to follow along on Gameday. First pitch from Surprise Stadium is scheduled for 2:05 pm CT.

Go Rangers!

The D-backs haven’t had the best start to spring, winning just one of four games, and that victory coming by a single run in the opener. They’ve lost three in a row since, and have conceded an average of ten runs per game in that time. The offense has been doing a reasonable job, its .752 OPS sitting in the middle of the pack (13th across baseball). But the pitching has an ugly ERA, just shy of eight. However, it is fair to say that hardly any innings have been thrown by players whom we can confidently state will be on the Opening Day roster. Looking at our last projection, only two of the 35 IP (by Taylor Clarke and Kade Stroud) fall into that category, zero by starting pitchers. That’ll change today. Sort of.

Followed by some of: LHP Brandyn Garcia, RHP Andrew Hoffmann, LHP Philip Abner, RHP Isaiah Campbell,
RHP John Curtiss, RHP Taylor Rashi, RHP Bryce Jarvis, RHP Jose Cabrera, RHP Zane Russell and
LHP Carlos Rey. It’s the D-backs debut of Michael Soroka, who was originally signed to fill a gap in the rotation. However, the subsequent signings of Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen have moved him down the depth chart, to the point where his job is uncertain. Being paid $7.5 million means his roster spot won’t be in danger. But whether he’ll be a starter or a reliever is yet to be decided. Today marks the start of that process.

No broadcast available again today for this one, so follow along on Gameday.

Gavin Stone is back on the mound for the first time in a year and a half, Freddie Freeman makes his 2026 Cactus League debut, and Miguel Rojas is leading off on his 37th birthday.

Tuesday game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Guardians
• Ballpark: Camelback Ranch
• Time: 12:05 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)