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Cade Cavalli made his long-awaited return to the big league mound in August 2025, and in his 48.2 innings pitched, he flashed brilliance, posting a 95th percentile chase rate, 95th percentile barrel rate, and 93rd percentile groundball rate. Outside of a disastrous outing against the Yankees in August, where he allowed 7 earned runs over 2 1/3 innings, Cavalli was extremely productive in his starts, giving up more than 3 runs just once.

One of the few areas in which Cavalli struggled in his return to action in 2025 was against right-handed hitters, who had his number with a .381 opponents batting average and .990 opponents OPS, much worse in comparison to his .221 opponents batting average and .651 opponents OPS against lefties. He bumped up his curveball and sinker usage and bumped down his fastball and changeup usage against righties, but it wasn’t enough to keep them from hitting at a high clip against them.

The good news is that, entering the 2026 campaign, it appears Cavalli is working on a new pitch that will give him an edge against righties. According to Mark Zuckerman of Nats Journal, Cavalli has spent the offseason working on a sweeper for his arsenal, a pitch similar to a slider, but less sharp and with more verticality. If he can get a feel for it and incorporate the pitch into his pitch arsenal, he may finally have the answer he’s been looking for to getting right-handed hitters out consistently.

The sweeper has been around for many years, with Corey Kluber throwing a version of the pitch in the 2010s, but it gained popularity within the last few years, surging in usage in 2022 and 2023. Today, it’s a weapon in the arsenal of some of the best pitchers in the league, with Garrett Crochet and Paul Skenes ranking near the top in run value with the pitch.

The slider is the more traditional pitch that pitchers use to get same-side hitters out, so why a sweeper for Cavalli? My theory is that a sweeper will tunnel better than a slider with Cavalli’s curveball, his most used pitch against righties at 33%. Pairing a sweeper with his curveball will not only give hitters another pitch to worry about, but it also prevents them from being able to sit on Cavalli’s curveball in any given count.

Pitchers tinker with new pitches all the time, and while they don’t always stick due to lack of feel or command, Cavalli being able to keep the sweeper in his arsenal would be massive in his development as a frontline starter for the Nats. With improved success against righties, as well as more and more experience against big league lineups, I believe Cavalli has what it takes to not only potentially start on Opening Day for the club in 2026, but in years beyond.

10. Griffin Herring (368 points, 19 ballots)

Herring was the headline prospect coming to the Rockies from the Yankees in exchange for Ryan McMahon near last year’s trade deadline. The 6’2”, 22-year-old lefty pitcher was the Yankees’ sixth-round pick in 2024 out of LSU as a draft-eligible sophomore. Herring signed for a $798k bonus that was over double the pick’s $340k slot value, more akin to a late third-round pick’s slot value. Herring was a key contributor as a freshman to the 2023 National Championship squad as an ace multi-inning reliever despite velocity topping out in the low 90s, then was even more impressive in that role as a sophomore (1.79 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 12.0 K/9 rate, 2.3 BB/9 rate) in 50 1/3 innings (which was third on the team) across 21 games.

As a professional, the Yankees not only gave Herring the opportunity to start, they remade his delivery and his pitch mix — emphasizing the slider. The result was a breakout debut professional season. Herring made eight starts in Low-A to begin the year and was dominant, posting a miniscule 1.21 ERA with a 0.9 WHIP and 11.7 K/9 rate in 44 2/3 innings as a league average pitcher. A late-May promotion to High-A (where he was 1.2 years younger than league average) didn’t faze Herring much. He threw eight more strong starts with another 44 2/3 innings, a 2.22 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 8.9 K/9 rate, and 4.0 BB/9 rate — though his 3.71 xFIP indicated some good fortune.

After the trade in late July, Herring made seven shorter starts for High-A Spokane as the Rockies no doubt metered his usage considering his lower innings total in 2023 and 2024. In 30 innings with Spokane, Herring allowed eleven earned runs (2.40 ERA) on 14 hits and 13 walks ( 0.90 WHIP) while striking out an impressive 47 hitters (14.1 K/9 rate). In fact, Herring struck out over a batter per inning in every single start with Spokane, going a max of 84 pitches and five innings in those outings, and was named the August Pitcher of the Month in the Northwest League.

Across the full 2025 season, Herring threw 119 1/3 innings across two levels and three teams with a 1.89 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 11.2 K/9 rate, and 3.7 BB/9 rate while allowing only a .530 OPS. That’s 149 strikeouts against 49 walks and 70 hits. Impressively, the lefty was even stingier when batters had the platoon advantage (.485 OPS for righties, .639 OPS for lefties), though Herring cut down the mightiest hitters in the league regardless of handedness.

Here’s some video of Herring in High-A in a mid June start:

Additionally, here’s an interview with Herring from August where he describes his adjustment to a new team and a new coast.

Keith Law of the Athletic recently ranked Herring 10th in the system:

Herring struck out 31.4 percent of batters he faced last year, the seventh-best strikeout rate among all qualifying starters in the minors. He sits 90-92 from a very high slot that gives him a ton of deception, working with a short slider that generates a ton of whiffs and an average changeup. He’s almost certainly a reliever between the slot and the below-average fastball, but could get there quickly and be valuable in any kind of once-through-the-order role. I wish he’d been traded to the Reds; I’m worried in Denver, he’ll get smoked.

Baseball America ranked Herring 12th in the system last month:

Herring has been developed as a starter, which might seem strange for a player with a fastball that averaged a tick under 90 mph in 2025, but his nearly seven feet of extension and slight pause in his delivery create an impressive angle of attack, plenty of deception and a whippy finish. He has found the most success so far with a mid-80s slider that generates plenty of whiffs within the strike zone. … If Herring wants to remain a starter, he’ll need to add more zip to his fastball, perhaps by packing on some muscle over the offseason. His profile and wipeout slider could fit better in a bullpen.

Shaun Kernahan of Three Quarter Slot wrote up Herring earlier this month:

Herring operates with a deceptive, athletic delivery from the extreme third-base side of the rubber, using extension, timing disruption, and angle to make a below-average fastball play above its raw velocity. The heater lacks pure velo, but the ride/run shape allows it to miss bats at the top of the zone when located, even if it can flatten out and get exposed when it leaks arm-side or into the middle. Your look showed a mechanical operation with a slow windup and quick finish, hiding the ball well but occasionally losing consistency through release, which ties directly to the fastball’s volatility. A modest velocity bump would materially change the profile, especially given how well the rest of the arsenal fits a starter look.

The slider is the clear carrying pitch, working in the mid-80s with tight gyro action and strong spin, consistently landing glove-side and missing bats against both lefties and righties. The changeup is better than most give credit for, showing real vertical separation and late tumble when executed, particularly effective against right-handed hitters. Strike throwing is generally solid, though command can waver within outings, leading to stretches where hitters are off balance followed by lapses where he misses his spots. His background as a high-leverage reliever at LSU shows up in the competitiveness and ability to execute secondary pitches, but the long-term path hinges on fastball improvement. If the heater takes even a small step forward, there’s a workable starter track; if not, the slider/changeup combination still fits an innings-eating role or leverage usage where the deception and bat-miss traits can play up.

MLB Pipeline is high on Herring, ranking him 9th in the system as a 45 FV player with a 60 grade on the slider:

Herring’s best pitch is a sweeping mid-80s slider with horizontal and vertical action that confounds both lefties and righties. He can’t overpower hitters with his fastball, which operates in the low 90s and tops out at 94 with some armside run, and he’ll need to find more velocity or life against better competition. He threw only 11 changeups at LSU but emphasized the pitch more during three Cape Cod League starts last summer, showing some decent if firm mid-80s cambios with depth.

Herring has a long arm action and a less-than-smooth delivery, though it throws batters’ timing off and didn’t stop him from pounding the strike zone as a sophomore. To succeed as a pro starter, he’ll need to add more strength to his 6-foot-2 frame and improve his fastball and changeup. If he can’t, he still could become a high-leverage reliever thanks to his slider and mound presence.

Eric Longenhagen at FanGraphs ranks Herring 20th in the system as a 40 FV pitcher with a 55 future grade on the slider and command:

The Yankees made several changes to Herring after drafting him (more sliders, better extension, higher arm slot) and the result looks like a stable backend starter despite 30-grade fastball velocity.

Herring spent two years as LSU’s most consistent long reliever (working as many as five innings) and was a draft-eligible sophomore in 2024. The Yankees made multiple changes to his delivery and pitch usage, which helped him dominate Low-A and earn a promotion after just eight starts. He had a 1.71 ERA combined at both levels at the time of the trade, though his K% dipped quite a bit after he was moved up to Hudson Valley. Herring’s fastball only averages about 90 mph, but lives off deception and riding life. Since turning pro, his arm slot has been raised, but Herring’s stride down the mound has gotten bigger and longer, and his extension was just shy of seven feet at the time of the trade. His loose, whippy arm action prevents hitters from seeing the baseball until release, and despite lacking anything close to average big league fastball velocity, Herring’s heater has generated above-average miss and chase so far this year.

With the Yankees, Herring also emphasized use of his slider, which has become his most-deployed pitch. It ranged from 80-85 mph in his final outing prior to the deal, and has tight late movement but lacks huge depth. It’s playing like an above-average pitch in pro ball. Herring didn’t really have a changeup in college, but he’s added one as a pro and is throwing it about 14% of the time. His feel for it isn’t bad considering he’s just begun using it, but it often cuts on him or finishes too high. A smooth on-mound operator, Herring looks the part of a starter even though he isn’t especially physical because of his mechanical grace. It’s impressive that he’s maintained his excellent college strike-throwing even though his delivery has been changed, and he projects as a high-floored backend starter.

Herring joins fellow PuRPs Carson Palmquist (No. 19) and Sean Sullivan as left-handed Rockies pitching prospects who use deception and extension to make mediocre fastball velocity play up. Herring hasn’t yet proved his effectiveness against upper-minors hitting like the other two pitchers have, but he is my favorite of the group given his weapon of a slider and is a 40+ FV player for me, ranking tenth on my list. I expect Herring to start in Double-A this season, with a big league debut possible later in the year if he’s successful and healthy.

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SCOTTSDALE, Arizona — As you know, at long last MLB players will get the chance to challenge ball-and-strike calls during games beginning this year. Officially called the ABS challenge system, this has been tested in Triple-A games for a couple of years and had a test in some Spring Training games in 2025.

Thursday, the league gave a presentation about how the system will work as part of Cactus League media day. Joe Martinez, who pitched for four MLB teams from 2009-13 and who is now the league’s Vice President for On-Field Strategy, presented facts about how the tests have worked and how the system will work in action in MLB games this year.

For those of you worried about ABS challenges lengthening games, remember that teams get just two challenges per game (which are retained if the player is correct, so in theory, there could be more). In Triple-A games last year, ABS challenges added one minute and eight seconds to the average game time and in 2025 Spring Training games, that addition was 57 seconds. It’s just not a big deal.

Martinez mentioned a couple of minor tweaks to the rule. If a team is out of ABS challenges after nine innings, they will get one additional challenge in the 10th. If that challenge is used in the 10th, they’ll get another in the 11th, but if not used, the one challenge simply carries over to additional extra innings.

As you know, the challenge can be initiated only by the batter, pitcher or catcher, and must be done within about two seconds. The umpire has the right to “wave off” a challenge if players take too long. Two other tweaks were also mentioned:

• No ABS challenges will be allowed if a position player is pitching, and
• If an incorrect ball/strike call impacts a play on the bases, the umpires have discretion to then place any runners involved.

MLB surveyed fans about this system and 72 percent had a positive view of ABS challenges, with only 10 percent seeing it as negative. Minor league players who were surveyed also liked it, with 60 percent in favor of the challenge system (and another 16 percent voting for “full ABS”). Really, this is something whose time has come. With pitch-tracking technology now available, it’s just been a matter of tweaking the system to find one that’s agreeable to all.

The box that will be used for ABS challenges will be the width of the plate, at the middle of the plate (the point at which the plate’s edges begin to angle to its rear point). Each player will be measured and thus there will be a personal box for every player, with the top of the box at 53.5 percent of the player’s height and the bottom at 27 percent of the height.

Martinez said that if any part of the ball touches said box, it’s a strike. That will clearly be shown on the graphic that will be shown to fans at ballparks and on TV broadcasts. One thing that the league is aiming for is to have the boxes shown by MLB Gameday, by TV broadcasts and by Baseball Savant to be the same box. So for those who have said, “Well, that box you see on TV isn’t the real strike zone,” MLB intends for that to be the actual zone for each player.

The number of ABS challenges will be shown on scoreboards, in most cases replacing the “MVR” currently shown for “Mound Visits Remaining,” though MVR is also supposed to be “prominently displayed.” At Wrigley Field, MVR has been shown on the right-field video board, while the score line has been on the left-field board. I would assume the Cubs will find a prominent place to show both ABS and MVR.

The graphic shown above, which is from last year, will be tweaked to also show the team that is challenging the call, and after the call is either confirmed or overturned, the count will be shown so that players, coaches and fans will know what the current count is. Umpires will also make an announcement over the PA system that there is a ball-and-strike challenge, as well as the result.

The method of challenge, as you likely remember from last year, will be for the pitcher, catcher or batter to tap his cap or helmet. Players are also being encouraged to verbalize the challenge so that the umpire can hear it as well as see the gesture. If there is a play after the pitch (for example, a stolen base attempt), the challenge can be made and accepted at the conclusion of that play.

To help ensure that players aren’t getting assistance from the dugout for ABS challenges, the league will institute delays on pitch location data in MLB Gameday and there will be a nine-second delay for the broadcast feed to show pitch location to dugouts. That’s only for players and coaches, though. As reported by MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince, here’s how it will work for you, the fan:

It remains up to the individual broadcasters to determine whether and how to present the zone. The only change is that MLB is now requesting broadcasters to no longer differentiate the circle in the box depending on whether the pitch is a ball or a strike. In other words, some broadcasts would show a filled-in circle on the zone if the pitch was a strike and a hollow circle if it was a ball. MLB is asking its broadcast partners to do one or the other but not both.

So you will probably continue to see some sort of strike zone box on game broadcasts

The following rules will be in effect for any ABS challenges that might also trigger a traditional replay review:

• If there is potential for a review following an ABS Challenge, umpires will check that neither manager wants to initiate a Replay Review before restarting the clock.
• If a manager want to challenge a play following an ABS Challenge, the request must come immediately after the conclusion of the ABS Challenge (thus no 15-second manager hold as you often see for replay review).
• If these two types of reviews are requested simultaneously, the umpire will accept the ABS Challenge first and then prompt managers for Replay Review.
• The play types that are most likely to be impacted are plays on the bases (stolen base attempts or pickoffs) and HBPs.

In this year’s Spring Training, all games between two MLB teams will have ABS challenges available. If a MLB team plays a college team, minor-league team or WBC team, ABS won’t be used (so not in the Cubs vs. Italy game on March 3). Further, this year’s WBC will not use ABS challenges — though the WBC will use the pitch timer for the first time.

There were two other unrelated rule changes mentioned at the demonstration.

One has to do with obstruction. A runner who initiates contact with a fielder with the intent to “draw” an obstruction call will be called out. If a runner does this, umpires should treat it like “unsportsmanlike conduct,” thus the runner is out and all other runners will return to the base last touched.

The other has to do with positioning of base coaches. You have certainly seen many base coaches far out of the official “coaches box” which is designated (usually) by white lines on the first- and third-base sidelines. Now, base coaches will have to be positioned in those coaches’ boxes between pitches when the pitcher is on the rubber. If the umpires observe a base coach outside of the coaches’ box between pitches while the pitcher is on the rubber, they will warn to coach and instruct him to return to the box. If, after receiving a warning, the coach is observed outside the box again, the umpire may remove the coach from the game. The purpose of this change is to help prevent sign-stealing.

Of course, players will have to be judicious in when they call for challenges. Limiting teams to two per game creates strategy. You wouldn’t likely bother, for example, calling for a challenge if a pitch in a scoreless game in the second inning with nobody on base is perceived to be incorrect. This proved to be true in the Triple-A tests, with only about two percent of pitches challenged in the first two innings, but with that percentage rising to 3.5 percent in the ninth inning. It was different in the MLB Spring Training test last year, with more pitches challenged in the early innings. This is likely because MLB players are playing the early innings and were encouraged to use more challenges. That’s what happened, in fact, in the very first ABS challenge, called for by the Cubs’ Cody Poteet (remember him?) last February.

Personally, I’m excited to see ABS challenges become part of the game. There are quite a number of players who are very good at strike-zone judgment and who have been victimized by what Cubs analyst Jim Deshaies always calls “egregious” bad calls. Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki is one of these players. I think we’re going to see Suzuki strike out somewhat less because of this rule.

Here’s the entire MLB presentation if you’re interested.

For all but maybe one or two years in the Aaron Judge era, the Yankees have always had a good, if not great, offense beyond the big man himself. They routinely pace the Junior Circuit in runs, wRC+, home runs, etc. Regardless of who’s in the lineup or what their overall skills are, they generally manage to cobble together a fearsome lineup (well, except in 2023).

That’s not to say they’ve been without flaws. The past half-decade or more of Yankees baseball has usually fielded an offense that meets the same qualifiers, to the point where it feels like a stereotype. They’ve been overly right-handed. They’ve prioritized the home run ball. They drawn walks and reached base, albeit at the expense of spells of high strikeout rates. They’ve been mediocre at best on defense. They’ve been extremely unathletic and composed of 30-something sluggers. The few players with any sort of athleticism have made bad mistakes on the bases. Their bench has been extremely shallow. On and on and on.

And these stereotypes are not without reason. The Yankees have employed some Three-True Outcome kings (Joey Gallo in particular and Giancarlo Stanton to an extent), have fielded lineups with very few lefties (2018-20, especially), have had substandard defenders littered across the diamond (Luke Voit, Gleyber Torres, Gary Sánchez), and have had some of the worst baserunning teams of all time, buoyed by aging veterans (Stanton, Anthony Rizzo, DJ LeMahieu, Josh Donaldson).

But there was an organizational change that took place at some point after the pandemic, trying to slowly erode this stereotype. Starting in 2021, by acquiring Gallo and Rizzo, the Yankees once again began prioritizing lefty bats who could abuse the short porch. They won the Team Gold Glove in 2022 and focused on finding more fundamentally sound defenders. They looked to reduce their strikeout rate by adding hitters with good plate control after the Gallo experiment flamed out in spectacular fashion. They’ve added more youth and athleticism to their lineup and bench, giving them more late game flexibility.

All of this came to a head at the 2025 Trade Deadline, when the team acquired José Caballero, Amed Rosario, and Austin Slater to add more right-handed depth and positional versatility to a lineup that was lefty-heavy. While Slater is gone (they still wanted him back at one point!), they re-signed Rosario and stopgap Paul Goldschmidt to keep the same versatility in 2026.

That’s where we stand today. For the first time in the Judge era, the Yankees are deep and versatile with their hitting core to start a season, to the point where they could conceivably option a player who would start on most non-playoff teams to the minor leagues. It’s jarring after what we’ve seen in the past.

As things stand entering spring training, the everyday lineup will be identical to the one we saw in October, sans the injured Anthony Volpe. Yet, it’s entirely possible that the team could deploy entirely different lineups depending on the handedness of the starting pitcher:

vs RHP:
Austin Wells (C)
Ben Rice (1B)
Jazz Chisholm Jr. (2B)
Ryan McMahon (3B)
Oswaldo Cabrera (SS)
Cody Bellinger (LF)
Trent Grisham (CF)
Aaron Judge (RF)
Giancarlo Stanton (DH)

vs LHP:
Ben Rice (C)
Paul Goldschmidt (1B)
Jazz Chisholm Jr. (2B)
Amed Rosario (3B)
José Caballero (SS)
Cody Bellinger (LF)
Trent Grisham (CF)
Aaron Judge (RF)
Giancarlo Stanton (DH)

The Yankees are able to simultaneously field quality lineups with seven left-handed bats and a separate one with five right-handed bats. Both lineups would yield a formidable top and middle of the order and would still have upside towards the bottom with Wells and McMahon’s power and Rosario’s hefty platoon splits.

In these lineups, the team would have the versatility to use its entire bench at the end of games. If the team isn’t completely sold on Rice’s defense, he can be subbed out in the final innings for Goldschmidt or J.C. Escarra, depending on the position. The same can be said with Caballero or Cabrera, whoever is on the bench, replacing Rosario, as while the lefty-killer does have versatility in the sense that he could spell one of the team’s starting outfielders at times and get reps at first and second base, he’s not strong defensively.

This 1-through-13 depth gives the team countless pinch-hitting, pinch-running, and defensive replacement opportunities, depending on the lineup they deploy on a given day. We haven’t even talked about potential fourth outfielders, Jasson Domínguez and Spencer Jones, who both flex elite speed if called upon, but unless there’s an injury, both could start the year in Triple-A. That’s how deep this hitting core is. And what happens after Volpe returns from his shoulder injury?

This overflowing depth gives the team some insurance options if/when players go down with injury. Stanton will inevitably hit the shelf for several weeks, but the fit is rather seamless with Domínguez or Jones (the latter presently much more of a long shot due to his contact issues) moving into the lineup at either DH or in the outfield and shifting things around. The same can be said if Judge, Grisham, or Bellinger goes down. In fact, with the signing of Goldschmidt, the only positions where an injury would cripple the team’s depth* would be catcher—due to forcing Rice into a much larger role—and shortstop, while Volpe is down.

*The caveat here is on Judge, since depth strength might only mean so much if you lose the best hitter in the sport to an injury.

It wasn’t even a year ago that the Yanks were playing games with a bench that consisted of multiple players who provided almost zero value to the team. Jorbit Vivas, Oswald Peraza, and DJ LeMahieu were not options to pinch-hit, and while Vivas and Peraza could pinch-run or sub in defensively, neither moved the needle enough to be on the roster for a playoff team. These are Triple-A emergency depth guys, who each team normally has anyway.

I’ve said in the past that running it back isn’t the worst thing in the world, and while the team could’ve upgraded at a number of positions (especially with the pitching staff), they’ll still be entering 2026 with maybe the best and most complete offense they’ve had since their last World Series title in 2009.

Every year, all 30 major league teams end up signing a whole pitching staff worth of minor league deals with invites to spring camp. Along with pitching prospects already in a given farm system, there may be as many as 15 additional pitchers not on the 40-man roster.The need for pitching depth in camp and in the season, and the hope of developing a useful reliever or depth starter, makes it a mandatory part of spring training. The non-roster invites to position players are typically more scarce, and depend to a greater degree on how many actual prospects a club has in their system.

In the case of the 2026 Detroit Tigers, those non-roster position players are largely drawn from one of the top farm systems in baseball. The Tigers will have two of the top ten prospects in the game in camp in the form of Kevin McGonigle and Max Clark, while catcher Josue Briceño gives them a third prospect on national top 100 lists in camp. Of the eight position players invited to camp but not yet on the 40-man roster, only three of them are from outside the Tigers system.

Not everyone on the 40-man roster will be familiar to Tigers fans either. The club added several of them to the 40-man roster back in November to protect them from the Rule 5 draft, but infield prospect Hao-Yu Lee, C/1B Eduardo Valencia, utilityman Trei Cruz, and catching prospect Thayron Liranzo, have yet to play in the major leagues either. Lee, Liranzo, and Valencia are all upcoming in our preseason prospect reports, and have been covered pretty extensively here. So we’ll write up Cruz here briefly, but otherwise we’ll stick to the non-roster invitees.

With pitcher and catchers, and most of the position players, already in camp, and the first full squad workout coming up this weekend, let’s run through the non-roster invite position players briefly.

SS Kevin McGonigle

This 21-year-old is the best hitting prospect the Detroit Tigers have ever had, at least going back to the 70’s before prospect coverage was really a thing. Ranked the second best prospect in baseball by most major publications, McGonigle combines a great eye with outstanding barrel to ball skills and enough discipline to hunt the right pitches and do damage. His short levers and well-built physique are primed to make tons of hard contact, and McGonigle already shows the ability to pull a lot of different pitch types in different zones in the air to right field. He’s primed to take full advantage of his above average power, and while he just reached Double-A in the second half of 2025, it’s debatable whether he needs any Triple-A time at all. The Tigers have no reason to rush him before he’s ready, and it will probably take an extremely impressive camp to win a job out of spring training, but McGonigle will be up this season, and it may not take too long.

The one big question around him will draw heavy scrutiny in camp. McGonigle can handle shortstop, but his range and arm strength are less than ideal for the position. To play average shortstop in the major leagues, he’s going to have to squeeze everything possible out of his natural ability, and that has been his main focus this offseason. When a better shortstop option presents himself to the Tigers down the road, McGonigle will likely move to second base, where he should be very good. Until then, it really is his job to win, if not right out of camp, then at some point during the regular season.

CF Max Clark

The Tigers first round pick back in 2023 isn’t far behind McGonigle. The 21-year-old Clark is widely regarded as the best outfield prospect in baseball, and he too will almost certainly debut in 2026. While he doesn’t have McGonigle’s power, Clark is also a very good pure hitter with a good eye and approach, and excellent bat to ball skills. He spent much of 2024 slapping line drives the opposite way and looking more like an old school leadoff hitter than the modern edition. However, in 2025 he tapped into more pull power and now looks like a more credible threat to hit 20 homers per year and steal at least that many bags.

Clark is a plus runner, but he isn’t quite as gifted in center field as Parker Meadows. Still, Clark’s reads and routes continued to improve in his second full pro season, and most evaluators think he’ll be an above average to plus center field defender who also has the arm to slide over to play right field well. His timetable isn’t quite as advanced as McGonigle’s, but how quickly he arrives may also have something to do with whether Parker Meadows hits enough to play everyday in center field.

The dynamic duo is the best 1-2 punch of any farm system in baseball, and the Tigers have been careful to bring the two friends up in lockstep. Most likely they’ll start the season together, perhaps seeing Double-A again briefly before moving to Triple-A Toledo to prepare for their final arrival in Detroit sometime this season. The pair will be a featured attraction in spring camp.

INF Max Anderson

23-year-old Max Anderson isn’t the same caliber of prospect as McGonigle and Clark, but he had a nice 2025 season and reached the Triple-A level last summer, so it’s feasible he could be the first one of the prospects to graduate to the Show this season. Anderson has good bat to ball skills and above average raw power, but his free swinging tendencies are going to get him in trouble at the next level. He still needs to get a lot more selective or major league pitchers are going to have their way with him. If he can manage that and wait for more pitches he can do damage against, the Tigers are going to have another interesting young infielder to work with.

His defensive profile is fairly limited to second and third base, with a strong arm but poor range, and that lack of footspeed makes him a mediocre baserunner as well. All of that puts added pressure on him to contribute in the power department, and he’ll have to show continued development in that regard to break through to the next level. Still, some national sites did have Anderson just outside of their top 100 based on his low strikeout rates and power potential. He’ll be another one to watch in camp.

C Josue Briceño

Teams always need extra catchers in spring camp to deal with the huge volume of different pitchers trying to get ready, but in Josue Briceño’s case, his bat has earned him a ticket already. The same age as McGonigle, the well-built 6’4” catcher packs a lot of power and has shown very good discipline and contact ability since breaking out as the Arizona Fall League MVP right after his 20th birthday back in 2024. Like his teammates, McGonigle and Clark, Briceño torched High-A last year, though he had a little harder time adapting to Double-A pitching. Of course, he also had a lot heavier workload as a catcher learning to handle upper level pitchers.

Briceño has the arm to stick as a catcher, but his framing and blocking are still somewhat inconsistent and he profiles more as a second catcher who plays first base as well. This is a potential 30 HR hitter who walks, uses the whole field with plus power, and doesn’t chase out of the zone too much. His proximity to the major leagues probably has more to do with how long the Tigers decide to keep developing him behind the plate. He’s less certain to make his major league debut this season, but if he’s tearing it up at the Triple-A level this summer and Spencer Torkelson is injured or struggling, that pace to the major leagues may accelerate. If there’s no need for that, the Tigers may continue working with him as a catcher for another year before deciding on his future role.

C Tomas Nido

This 31-year-old, right-handed hitting veteran has over 300 games at the major league level under his belt, but has never hit well enough to stick for long as a second catcher. He spent most of the 2025 season leading the pitching staff for the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens. A good defensive catcher who is lauded by Hens manager Gabe Alvarez for his preparation and game planning, Nido is a solid third catching option should Dillon Dingler or Jake Rogers go down with an injury, and he’ll also be instrumental in helping to coach up younger catchers like Eduardo Valencia, and eventually Briceño and Thayron Liranzo.

UTIL Trei Cruz

27-year-old Trei Cruz is a pretty interesting case. Grandson of former MLB All-Star Jose Cruz, the utilityman was pretty slow to develop before making a big jump in 2025 and convincing the Tigers to add him to the 40-man roster. A switch-hitter, Cruz can handle himself in center field and at shortstop, and does a lot of things well without really having a standout tool that could make him an everyday player.

Cruz has a very disciplined approach at the plate, and finally in 2025 he was able to translate that selectivity into a little more extra base and home run power. He’s a good baserunner and can steal some bags despite not much more than average speed. Cruz is a fringy center fielder and shortstop, and you don’t want him playing everyday in either spot, but he’s good anywhere else on the diamond and that versatility in a switch-hitter who constantly grinds out long, pesky, at-bats makes him an interesting option for the last spot on the Tigers bench.

He’s not likely to start the season in the major leagues, but he can fill a lot of gaps in the roster for A.J. Hinch if needed. Cruz needs to show he can translate his Triple-A production into decent work at the major league level. It’s a longshot, but if so, he may ultimately take over from Zach McKinstry as the roster’s Swiss Army knife.

INF John Peck

John Peck is a 23-year-old infielder who was the Tigers seventh rounder out of Pepperdine back in the 2023 amateur draft. A right-handed hitter, his offensive profile is still limited, but Peck can play a credible shortstop and is an above average defender at second and third base. He wasn’t a very noteworthy prospect until the 2025 season, when he started showing more power and hit his way to a late season, 25 game audition at the Double-A level, where he held his own well enough to intrigue some prospect watchers.

Peck doesn’t chase too much and will take some walks, but he’s still a pretty aggressive swinger who will get himself out sometimes even when he’s swinging at pitches in the zone. He also whiffs and strikes out quite a lot for his age and experience level. There are big question marks around his ability to adapt to upper level pitching, as he has some issues handling better velocity and breaking stuff. Still, he can play shortstop, and that alone makes him an interesting watch. If the bat continues to mature, there’s a path to a utility role for him eventually, particularly if he can start cashing in more of his solid raw power against left-handed pitching. His solid showing in his first look at the Double-A level built some enthusiasm for him among prospect watchers, but he still has some big holes in his offensive game that need to be cleaned up.

OF Austin Slater

This veteran outfielder was signed to a minor league deal on the same day the Tigers signed Justin Verlander. Now 33 years old, Slater had some success as a part-time outfielder for the San Francisco Giants. He’s spent the past few seasons bouncing around as a fifth outfielder. A right-handed hitter, Slater really only hits left-handed pitching and doesn’t have the kind of juice Jahmai Jones packs. That’s going to make it tough for him to find a role as a right-handed hitting outfielder with Matt Vierling, Jones, Wenceel Pérez, and Javier Báez all ahead of him in the “lefty-mashing outfielder” tier on the roster. In Slater’s favor is the fact that he’s pretty solid at all three outfield positions. He’s a real longshot to make the Opening Day roster, but no doubt the Tigers would be happy to stash him in Toledo as depth, if possible.

OF Corey Julks

29-year-old Corey Julks is another right-handed hitting outfielder competing for a bench job this spring. He’s played in the majors a bit over the past three seasons, and has some power and speed to contribute offensively. There’s just little to suggest that he’s finally going to cash in those tools with a better approach and more hard contact at the plate. Signed before Slater was added, Julks is even further down the depth chart. He’s shown no particularly propensity to dominate left-handed pitching in his brief looks at the major leagues, and will end up playing in Triple-A again this season unless some kind of radical breakthrough occurs at the plate.

OF Ben Malgeri

Now 26 years old, our final non-roster invitee among position players has never really garnered much interest as a Tigers prospect. However, like Cruz he’s continued to develop a fairly well-rounded game and finally had some sustained success at the Double-A level in 2025. Malgeri is best in the corner spots, but he too can handle center field in a pinch. That versatility may eventually earn him at least a cup of coffee in the major leagues. A right-handed hitter, Malgeri has a pretty good approach and doesn’t chase too much. His problem has been a tendency to just put the ball in play rather than hunting pitches he can drive. He does make a lot of solid contact and has close to average raw power, so there’s a possible role for him if he can start pulling the ball in the air a little more, particularly against left-handed pitching. Most likely he’s just a solid upper level org outfielder who might get a peek at the major leagues in a tight spot.

Yesterday, we looked at the most optimistic view of Guardians’ hitters – today, we turn our attention to Guardians’ pitchers.

Rotation:
Gavin Williams – Williams had a 3.06 ERA last year and for the last 60 innings, had a K-rate over 10 per 9 and a walk-rate around 3.6 per 9. If he can sustain that, the Guardians will have their next ace.

Tanner Bibee – Bibee had an xERA of 3.61 and ZiPS sees him as a 3.71 ERA pitcher. He also threw 182 innings, so there’s a durability factor here that is valuable in and of itself. I know Bibee was making a lot of changes to his pitch shapes, delivery and mechanics last season. Maybe an offseason of letting all that sink in allows him to return to his 2024 level of a 3.47 ERA, and he can get to 200 innings.

Joey Cantillo – Cantillo had a 3.21 ERA last year, striking out over 10 batters per 9. If he can slightly lower his walk-rate (around 4 per 9), he should be able to get to ZiPS’ projected 3.65 ERA and hopefully Steamer’s projection of around 150 innings. He can also prove me dead wrong that his better spot would be as a high leverage reliever, much to my joy.

Slade Cecconi – Another offseason with Cleveland should help Cecconi, who came over from a poor pitching development group in Arizona. OOPSY has the best projection for Cecconi at 154 innings and a 4.29 ERA. That’s a solid #4, but Cecconi has good Stuff+ numbers for his slider (99) and curve (101). If he can manage to leverage those pitches into strikeouts enough to go from 7.5 K’s per 9 to 8.5-9, he could take a leap. He has the mentality you want to see on the mound, and I also think he can easily transition to the bullpen and be very effective there if need be.

Parker Messick – A 2.72 ERA and the underlying metrics to back it up make it hard not to be excited about Messick. He also threw 130 innings last year and is just a bulldog in his entire presentation. Hard to believe he has more than halved his walk rate from the minors to the majors, but if that is at all real… this is exciting.

Logan Allen – 156 innings and a 4.25 ERA is a fourth starter, folks. Now, all of Allen’s metrics indicate he is more of a fifth starter and due for regression. But, he continues to work the edges of the zone and do just enough to avoid homers with guys on base. He’s a very valuable player to have around, but I do hope if the five arms listed above him are healthy that Allen will be held in reserve in Columbus (I’d be shocked if they run a six-man rotation due to the relentless devotion to eight bullpen arms the team has had for a long time).

Bullpen:
Peyton Pallette – I am on board with the Guardians working with a player who put up a 12/4 K/BB/9 in the minors and maximizing a pitcher they picked off the White Sox’ roster.

Connor Brogdon – Brogdon is 6’6” and languished on the Phillies and Angels, but has a fastball and a change that both measure as 107 in Stuff+. This is the kind of pitcher the Guardians almost always turn into a very effective middle reliever.

Tim Herrin – A bad season for Herrin last year but this is still the pitcher who put up a 2.86 FIP in 2024 in 65 innings. I think he bounces back.

Matt Festa – 54 innings and a 3.14 FIP. Festa is good, actually.

Erik Sabrowski – Personally, I think Sabrowski is closer to the 3.8 walk-rate he had in 2024 than the 6.8 walk-rate he had in 2025. He still had an incredibly low ERA both seasons. If he can be healthy, he is one of the nastiest lefty relievers in baseball.

Hunter Gaddis – A 2.30 ERA in 140 innings from 2024-2025. I don’t care what some underlying metrics present to doubt this guy. He’s a dude.

Shawn Armstrong – A 3.07 FIP in 74 innings, handling high leverage spots for the Rangers, Armstrong is a great veteran addition to the pen.

Cade Smith – A 1.75 FIP in almost 150 innings the last two years. Hand him the ball and I feel great. The only player in baseball who can make us not blink to lose the best closer in baseball to a gambling scandal.

Reserves:
Austin Peterson – A 3.21 ERA in 145 innings last season in the minors. Peterson profiles as a 5th starter but if the team can JUST squeeze a little more swing-and-miss from him, he could be a very nice major league arm.

Will Dion – I think Dion is probably a decent fifth starter, lowering his FIP by 2 runs last season in Columbus. Is that exciting? No. But, it can be very useful.

Doug Nikhazy – A terrible season for Nikhazy in 2025 should probably not cause us to erase his good 2024. I think there’s potential for a decent reliever or fifth starter left in here with his 9 K’s per 9 still hanging around… but time is running out.

Khal Stephen – I would not overlook the possibility of Stephen making a summer debut with the Guardians after his 2.60 FIP in 100 innings last year. An offseason of adjusting with Cleveland’s development group and we might have a Bieber replacement here with his 9.61/1.75 K/BB/9.

Colin Holderman – Holderman probably starts in Columbus because he has an option, but sign me up for what the Guardians can do with a pitcher from the Pirates who has these kind of Stuff+ numbers: 106 four-seamer, 112 sinker, 105 cutter, and 133 slider. I think this is probably someone we are very happy to see in the seventh innings by the end of the season.

Pedro Avila – Avila’s metrics looked solid in Japan last year and he had a 3.89 FIP in 82 innings for the Guardians in 2024.

Andrew Walters – This guy struck out like 15 batters per 9 in the minors and flashed that kind of ability in 2024. If he can come back from a tough injury, this is a very valuable bullpen arm.

Franco Aleman – His walks per 9 went up by 2 in 2025 and he was unlucky on batted balls. I’d guess he figures that out and shows something close to his 14 batters struckout per 9 in the bigs at some point in 2026.

Yorman Gomez – A 2.76 FIP in 121 innings in 2025. He’s probably too short (5’11”) to be a starting pitcher, but there is potential for an excellent reliever here.

Daniel Espino – No one has better stuff than Espino. IF he can be healthy for once in his life (please, sweet baseball gods), he is probably the only arm in our system who could be an equal fireman to Smith’s closer talent (or vice versa).

Steven Perez – A 3.15 FIP in 69 innings with a 9/2.6 K/BB/9, Perez looks like a viable matchup lefty at some point.

Codi Heuer – For his career, Heuer has a slider measuring at 107 and a changeup at 101. This is a useful organization arm who may get an opportunity to be a matchup lefty in the pen with Herrin ramping up in Columbus.

Ben Lively – Lively JUST signed back with Cleveland and probably won’t be able to help until late in the year after Tommy John, but he’s useful fifth starter depth.

So, what do you think? How do you feel about the Guardians’ pitching corps for 2025?

Major League Baseball is considering becoming the second major American professional team sports league to partner with prediction platforms.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said on Thursday that the league is mulling teaming up with increasingly popular platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket.

Key Takeaways

• The league did not say it was actively engaging in negotiations.
  
  
• MLB is in the middle of an illegal sports betting investigation involving teammates and a three-time All-Star.
  
  
• Partnership with prediction platforms could allow MLB to help with integrity monitoring.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that MLB team owners were informed during their quarterly meetings that the league could ingratiate itself with the prediction industry.

Manfred conceded that he only learned about platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket a few months ago. The NHL is the only other American professional team sports league to have prediction partners, both of which are listed above. 

UFC also has a partnership deal with Polymarket.

“We thought it was important for the owners to be updated on why prediction markets are different than sports betting – why we might want to consider being in business with prediction markets in an effort to protect our integrity, to get the kind of protections we need,” Manfred said. “The regulatory framework, very different. Obviously, state by state on the sports betting side, federal on the other.”

Protecting integrity

One of the primary concerns in the modern era of sports gambling and prediction market trading is the potential for illicit manipulation.

The MLB is currently experiencing that with an ongoing case involving Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, who were charged with manipulating their performances in games for the benefit of sports bettors. Clase specifically was accused of rigging pitches in 48 games, or roughly one-fourth of his appearances in a two-year span.

Despite that precedent, Manfred said that teaming up with prediction platforms would allow the league to be in greater control of threats of nefarious manipulation.

“There's obviously an opportunity to work with the markets themselves to get the kind of integrity protections you want,” he said.

In the interest of preserving integrity, Kalshi announced earlier this month a slew of overhauls designed to increase consumer protection. That included banning insider trading, hiring former Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson, as an adviser on market integrity, and integrating responsible trading and iMarket integrity pages on its platform, among others.

What’s the big deal?

Prediction platforms offer similar services to sportsbooks, but their operational and regulatory frameworks are completely different.

Whereas legal sportsbook users compete against the house with pre-determined odds, prediction users buy and sell contracts related to various outcomes. Prices are dictated by real-time consumer demand, influenced by updates and current events.

State gaming regulators are in charge of monitoring sportsbooks. Prediction market apps operate under the watchful eye of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

A growing collection of state regulators have expressed a form of concern related to prediction markets being allowed to operate without their approval. In response, the platforms have claimed that their federal regulation supersedes state-level decisions.

This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here

SCOTTSDALE, AZ — Bring on the robots, tap your helmet if you disagree, and tell your analytic department it better preparing be for a whole new wave of research.

The automated ball/strike system is here for the first time in Major League Baseball, and general managers, managers and coaching staffs have already begun to strategize the best way to capitalize on a new way to challenge authority.

If the pitcher, catcher or batter disagrees with a ball or strike call, they have the right to challenge the umpire, with everyone in the stands able to see who was right with a graphic on full display on the scoreboard.

MLB 2026: Are Dodgers ruining baseball? Rivals refuse to criticize.

Teams get two challenges per nine innings, and as long as you’re proven correct, you can challenge as many times as you wish.

If you’re wrong twice, you’re out of challenges unless the game goes into extra innings.

The only players permitted to challenge are the pitcher, hitter and catcher and pitcher, and it must be issued within two seconds of the pitch being thrown, signaled by tapping your helmet.

If you blow through your challenges early, you won’t have the right to correct an errant call in the ninth inning. If the game goes into extra innings, each team will be provided one challenge in each extra inning.

So, the question for every manager now is who will be permitted to challenge, at what stage of the game, and under which circumstances.

“All I know is that we won’t let our pitchers challenge," Cincinnati Reds manager Terry Francona said. “They think everything is a strike."

Francona laughed, but it’s certainly a sentiment shared by several managers in interviews Thursday, with most saying they would leave that up to their catchers and hitters.

But, of course, not every hitter.

“We’re going to have a lot of conversations about that," Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I do think there’s going to be a strategy that comes with it. What that looks like, I don’t think I know right now, but we’re going to encourage conversations as far as leverage, when you use it, when not to, who should, who shouldn’t.’’

So, who has been told they can’t use it?

“I don’t want to say because they’ve already been sensitive when I brought it up," Roberts said. “So, I’m not going to name-call right now. I’m not going to say any names but I don't think that there’s a self-evaluation on who knows the strike zone, who doesn’t, who gets emotional, and understanding everything.

“I’m in favor of it."

Says Francona: “We don’t have a strategy in place because we want to kind of see how it plays out. I’ve already talked to some of our player development people to ask them how they did it, and then we’ll formulate a strategy and try to do it better than other teams like everything else.

“But I think it’s going to be OK."

In research by MLB, there were four challenges per games at the Triple-A level last season with about a 50% success rate. The most challenges, 3.5%, were utilized in the ninth inning.

“You want to have one late in the game, just in case,” Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “The top of the first inning on a 0-0 fastball, I don’t want to challenge and lose. We’ll most likely rely on catchers first. Pitchers at times get a little emotional. Hitters can be that way sometimes, too. I think we’re going to rely on the catchers.

“But I want to have one in pocket, when I can, when it’s in a critical part of the game.”

Most baseball analysts believe the San Diego Padres have the best bullpen in MLB. Even with losing All-Star closer Robert Suarez to free agency, the Padres continue to have arguably the best ‘pen in the game in large part due to Mason Miller stepping into the closer role. Adrian Morejon and Jeremiah Estrada are returning and Jason Adam is expected to recover from his ruptured quadriceps tendon in time to make an impact on the season. As Cheri Bell of Gaslamp Ball reported, the problem for San Diego might be too much bullpen depth. There are possibly six spots available but there are nearly three times as many players fighting for those spots.

Padres News:

• We have seen possible Padres free agent targets such as Justin Verlander, Chris Bassitt and Mile Mikolas leave free agency to join their new teams but Lincoln Zdunich of Gaslamp Ball identifies possible free agent pitchers who are left to add at various price points.  
• AJ Cassavell of Padres.com believes there are four players who are competing for the fifth spot in the rotation. He names JP Sears, Matt Waldon, Triston McKenzie and Marco Gonzales as pitchers competing for the final rotation spot.
• One of the main topics of the offseason has been the potential for a contract extension for Padres president of baseball operation and general manager A.J. Preller. He met with the media Thursday and stated he believes a contract will get done and that he wants to remain in San Diego. Preller added “We’re either going to do it or not.”
• Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors compiled notes about the Padres that cover multiple topics including the rotation, Randy Vasquez and Luis Campusano.

Baseball News:

• The ABS Challenge Systemwill be utilized in all MLB games starting this season. MLB.com breaks down what the system is and how it will work once the 2026 season begins.
• The Philadelphia Phillies released outfielder Nick Castellanos, but will be responsible for his $20 million salary. Castellanos can sign with any MLB team for the league minimum.
• Kike Henandez announced he is re-signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers.