CLEVELAND - APRIL 7: Opening Day 2006 logo on display before the Opening Day game between the Cleveland Indians and the Minnesota Twins at Jacobs Field in Cleveland, Ohio on April 7, 2006. The Indians defeated the Twins 11-6. (Photo by John Grieshop/MLB via Getty Images) | MLB via Getty Images
A classic Johan Santana vs Roy Halladay clash christened the new 162-game slate on April 4, and the home Jays got the better of the visiting Twins 6-3. Shannon Stewart and Tony Batista bashed bombs, at least, and the Twins evened the series the next day with a lopsided 13-4 drubbing of the Birds—16 hits (homers from Stewart, Torii Hunter, & Luis Rodriguez) supporting a strong Brad Radke start.
But in the series finale, Carlos Silva couldn’t scatter 5 H & 2 BB as masterfully as usual and MN went through customs to Cleveland as a losing ball club.
Hoping to get a leg up on the division rival Clevelanders, the Twins…did not. Kyle Lohse (4.2 IP, 11 H, 8 ER) & Matt Guerrier (2.1 IP, 2 ER) were disastrous in the Jacobs Field home opener, with Travis Hafner hammering two homers and former Twin Casey Blake blasting another en route to a 11-6 Tribe triumph.
Game two saw 24-year old fifth starter Scott Baker twirl a nice road tilt—but only receive 6 H of support in a 3-0 defeat. It was more of the same the next day for the CLE sweep: only 4 MN hits as Jake Westbrook (7.1 IP, 1 ER) out-dueled Santana (5.1 IP, 3 ER). Uh oh. After two series, the ‘06 Twins were 1-5 and the should-have-been-reigning AL Cy Young had been beaten twice.
Fortunately, some Dome cookin’ was just what the doctor ordered.
In the Dome Opener versus the Oakland Athletics on April 11, Justin Morneau & Batista homered in support of the metronomic Radke (7 IP, 4 ER) to blow the 48,911 paid out the doors with a smile over the 7-6 victory.
A 13-hit, multi-homer (Morneau & Hunter) pounding of Esteban Loaiza backed up Silva (2 homers to Nick Swisher, but otherwise solid) for the 6-5 game-and-series victory the next day, while 12 more hits (HR from Hunter & Michael Cuddyer) including a Nick Punto triple (I can picture the headfirst dive into the third sack!) secured the sweep behind Lohse’s strong bump turn (6 IP, 2 ER).
The New York Yankees were under the Teflon next and threatened to ruin the good vibes as quickly as they had ruined the 2003 & 2004 postseasons for Twins fans.
But not this time:
A four-game home winning streak was achieved when Scott Baker out-dueled Mike Mussina 5-1 with the 6-7-8-9 batters Morneau, Batista, Lew Ford, & Juan Castro combining to go 7-14.
The contest on 4/15/06 was an all-time Twins/Yankees classic (in the good way, for once!). Down 6-5 heading into B9 with Mariano Rivera on the mound, one almost couldn’t blame the 42,316 Twins Territory acolytes for gathering their possessions in anticipation of a quick exit. But Luis Castillo singled—then the same from Joe Mauer. Let’s not get too antsy to beat the traffic! But whiffs from Rondell White & Hunter quickly reduced the Twins to their final out. It took exactly one pitch to decide it—that being Mo’s first offering to Morneau which the future Twins Hall-of-Famer blooped over the head of NYY 2B Robinson Cano. Moving on contact, Castillo & Mauer skittered around the bases to score the tying and winning runs—a 6-5 victory over the Yankees and a 5-game winning streak to become a winning ballclub (6-5) on the young season!
But roughly two weeks into the 2006 season, the Twins had overcome an initial setback and reset the needle on the campaign to regain AL Central supremacy.
Sep 28, 2025; Anaheim, California, USA; Houston Astros third baseman Ramon Urias (29) is greeted by teammates after hitting a home run during the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium. Mandatory Credit: William Liang-Imagn Images | William Liang-Imagn Images
Introduction
As part of my 6 days in Jupiter, I collected lots of observations and I’ve given to breaking them down and passing them along in manageable (ie. readable) chunks. I passed along some nuggets in game recaps if they were short and relevant to pre-, in- or post-game happenings. Two weeks ago, I published an article that summarizes what I saw on the back fields in more or less a stream of consciousness format. I wrote on shorts on Urias and the ABS last week. This article and one later today are the end of this series. Spoiler Alert: I think I saved the best for last. Good thing, since camp will be closed soon.
Short Topic of the Day
No, I’m not going to fret about the slow start the overall offense has encountered in Jupiter. Lots of variables that won’t be present a month from now complicate any analysis one might attempt on what is already small sample size. Several guys, Herrera first and foremost, are coming off surgery and may take all spring or more to get their timing down. Also, it is Roger Dean Stadium. Like in the last 10 years, only 1 team has hit over .250 in spring at this place and that was the power-laden 2022 team. It is hard to hit here. Although, I will observe that the shortening of the fences and the newly constructed buildings in right-center at least appear to have changed the dynamics, particularly how balls carry to left. I anticipate a shift in park factors coming.
I’ve seen a lot of commenters speculating about the line-up construction, centering on who should lead-off. From what I could discern in camp, it looks like the shape of the line-up may well start like this:
Against right-handers – Wetherholt (1), Herrera (2), Burleson (3)…
Against left-handers – Winn (1), Burleson (2), Herrera (3)…
I’m curious to how JJW adjusts to left-handers. If he isn’t super-splitty, I could see him batting 2nd and pushing Burly to clean-up.
If Gorman hits enough to play, it seems like he projects to the clean-up spot or fifth in the order. After that, it looks kind of grim. What can we expect offensively from Walker in right or Scott in center?
Who is in left is a big question mark until Nootbaar gets healthy, but odds are it will be a defense heavy platoon, although Velazquez is a wild card here. Can Church hit enough to carry this load, in R-L platoon? Or might they just roll Velazquez out there more regularly and rotate Church in defensively later in games? I’d suspect more of the latter, although if Church (or anyone for that matter) gets rolling offensively, they will play a lot.
I do wonder if Crooks can hit enough to get a larger share of time behind the plate than anticipated. I suspect that once the Herrera situation clarifies, we may see a mid-season transition of Crooks to MLB.
It seems most reasonable to expect that the offense is going to come up short in the power department. OBP and BsR would seem to be keys to creating and sustaining some offensive momentum. I didn’t see Torres breaking camp with the team (he was returned to MiLB last week), but I suspect at some point they are going to bring his OBP up to MLB and see if it plays.
One item I’ve heard from many is the general perception that most of the loud offense in Spring Training emanated from players not anticipated to break camp with the team (Crooks, Baez, Davis, Gazdar, Rodriguez to name a few who struck balls well). This may be applicable to more than the offense, but I’d say one thing we learned this spring is that the Cardinals upper-minors’ players are better than other teams upper-minors’ players. That is consistent with recent system ratings. Hope is on the horizon.
Overall, I’m preparing for a pretty rough ride offensively, at least at the outset. While I think we all can see that the offense that will break camp is likely to struggle mightily with consistently scoring runs, I have some hope that it will improve as the year progresses.
The way I look at it is … If guys like Gorman and Walker improve, then the offense will float with their improvement. If they do not improve, then they are likely to run out of runway and get moved aside. Each has a player waiting in the wings (Saggese and Baez), who would get a shot and hopefully offer another pathway to offensive improvement. I also suspect that once they determine a pathway for Herrera and get him on board, then Crooks may re-appear to offer an additional offensive boost. Last, Nootbaar should roll in sometime (I’m guessing late May, early June), offering another boost. None of the boosts individually should be dramatic, but 4 incremental improvements could begin to add up to something a fair bit better overall.
Consider this as a potential mid-July line-up…I think you could imagine 8 of those guys being 95 wRC+ or better. That would be an average offense. With their pitching, that might be enough.
2B – Wetherholt
DH – Herrera
LF – Nootbaar
1B – Burleson
RF – Baez
3B – Gorman (or Urias or Saggese)
SS – Winn
C – Crooks
CF – Scott II
Some people might wonder why they just don’t start out this way. Except that isn’t a realistic option. Reality is, Herrera and Nootbaar still need to get fully healthy and full-go. Baez and Crooks could use more time at Memphis (prudently so, IMO). And management needs more time to fully determine if some of the other alternatives might actually produce even greater than average outcomes.
Despite taking a step forward in his sophomore season, Jackson Holliday comes into the 2026 season with plenty of questions still to answer.
The former No.1 pick has yet to take the step we saw from Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman in their second seasons. That being said, describing Holliday’s 2025 season as “bad” would be taking things a step too far.
Among primary 2B last year, Holliday finished seventh in hits (142), eighth in home runs (17), seventh in stolen bases (17), and sixth in walks (56). However, his triple slash of .242/.314/.375 certainly left something to be desired. His advanced numbers were also a little lacking, where stats like xwOBA, xBA, xSLG and Average Exit Velocity were all in the 30-something percentile range.
Judging Holliday is a weird mix of reminding yourself that he’s only 22, while also acknowledging the first 700+ ABs of his career haven’t matched the hype of a former No. 1 overall prospect. When the Orioles were making their decision at the top of the 2022 draft, Holliday was lumped in with fellow high schoolers Druw Jones, Termarr Johnson and Elijah Green. Four years later, Holliday is entering his third season in the majors, while the other three have zero ABs above Double-A.
Still, Holliday feels like a player who is still more potential than production. He has all the tools to challenge Ketel Marte, Brice Turang and Jazz Chisholm Jr. for the title of best offensive 2B in baseball. At age 21, the former No.1 overall pick nearly put up a 20/20 season, joining Chisholm, Turang and Matt McLain as the only 2B with 15+ HR and 15+ SB. And yet, inconsistent contact quality and stretches of questionable swing decisions held him back from utilizing the tools he showed throughout the minors.
Compared to MLB’s best 2B, Holliday is ahead of schedule in his career. At 21, Marte was a part-time player with a .753 OPS for the Diamondbacks. Turang and Chisholm were still waiting to make their MLB debuts. The Orioles’ young infielder, on the other hand, is entering his second season as a full-time starter, looking to take the leap from average starter to real contributor.
However, the start of that leap will be delayed after Holliday broke a bone in his hand during live batting practice last month. Per Baltimore Sun reporter Jacob Calvin Murphy, Holliday hopes to be back at the beginning of April after a brief rehab assignment. His timeline should be similar to Gunnar Henderson from last season, when the star SS missed the first two series of the season with a rib injury
One area where Holliday stands to improve the most is against fastballs. Last season, he hit .220 against four seamers and .229 against all fastballs. His -8 Run Value against four seam fastballs was the worst among all qualified Orioles and put him 337th out of 355 qualified major leaguers.
Holliday’s struggles with velocity show in his batted ball profile, as his 50.6% ground ball rate was more than six points higher than the MLB, while his 20.2% line drive rate was nearly five points below league average. Being late on fastballs makes it harder to drive the ball, leading to weaker contact, more ground balls and lower expected averages.
If the 22-year-old can get back on time against heaters, it could lead to a big jump in his offensive output. Projections are split on what to expect from Holliday in his third season.
FanGraphs’ ZiPS model is much more bullish on Holliday’s outlook for the 2026 season. It projects a 42-point jump in the infielder’s OPS, along with career highs in HR and RBI. Baseball Reference, on the other hand, projects only a 16-point increase in his OPS while taking a step back in the HR and SB departments.
The arrival of Blaze Alexander could provide the competition that gives Holliday the push he needs. Alexander figures to be the Opening Day 2b as Holliday rehabs his hand injury. Once back healthy, it may become a platooon at 2B. The second-generation MLB Holliday is a career .247 hitter against righties, but only hits .180 against southpaws.
Alexander hits .269 against lefties with a .800 OPS, potentially forcing Holliday to the bench against LHPs. Losing his ABs against lefties may push Holliday to lock in a try and earn back his full-time starting role.
At one point not long ago, people thought of Holliday alongside the likes of Henderson and Adley Rutschman—the trio seen as the foundation of the Orioles’ future success. With the additions of Peter Alonso and Taylor Ward, as well as the ascension of Samuel Basallo, Holliday has slipped down the pecking order to the ranks of role player. And yet, 2026 gives the young Holliday a chance to set his career on a trajectory in line with his considerable talents.
Flushing, N.Y.: New York Mets radio broadcaster Howie Rose in Flushing, New York on February 6, 2019. (Photo by Neil Best/Newsday RM via Getty Images) | Newsday via Getty Images
Meet the Mets
Legendary Mets broadcaster Howie Rose announced that the 2026 season will be his last, as he prepares for retirement following several decades of incredible work.
Mets pitching prospects Jack Wenninger and Jonathan Santucci were the stars of the show in the team’s Spring Breakout game, a 2-0 loss to the Rays’ roster of prospects.
Having optioned Ronny Mauricio to Triple-A Syracuse yesterday, the Mets plan to play Bo Bichette at shortstop today—his longstanding position before signing with the team—presumably in case he needs to play a little bit of the position as the Mets don’t have a true shortstop on their projected bench.
Craig Kimbrel’s contractual out was yesterday, but he wasn’t expected to exercise it as he and the Mets figure out what the Opening Day roster will look like.
Nolan McLean would say yes to pitching in the World Baseball Classic again in the future if he’s invited to do so.
Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar, who was suspended for half of the 2025 season for a positive PED test, will serve a full 162-game suspension this season for his second such positive test, as his appeal did not result in any reduction of the suspension.
The WBC’s success might lead to a move that puts the competition in the middle of the MLB season rather than before it. That concept would mimic the format used by the best soccer leagues in the world, which regularly take breaks for players to participate in international play.
Trey Yesavage, who starred for the Blue Jays in their ALCS run just a few months ago, will open the season on the injured list with a shoulder impingement.
Major League Baseball continued to embrace betting on the sport with a foray into prediction markets, a move that runs counter to its milquetoast efforts to curb pitch-level betting.
On this date in 1961, the Yankees officially announced that the Mets would not be playing their home games at Yankee Stadium, leaving the franchise to play its first two seasons at the Polo Grounds.
West Michigan Whitecaps' Jaden Hamm (17) pitches against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Tuesday, July 9, 2024, at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute, Wisconsin. The Timber Rattlers won 4-0.
I’m a bit stubborn about injuries, particularly with pitchers. One injury riddled season is par for the course for pitching prospects, and we don’t want to move pitchers way up and down the rankings, changing grades constantly unless there’s sustained growth or a sustained issue. Unless a pitcher becomes a regular feature on the injured list, I take it as a matter of course that they’re all going to have an injury year on the path to the major leagues. Jaden Hamm was a borderline top 100 prospect coming into 2025, but he had a pretty brutal year in the injury and performance department. Still, since there was nothing requiring surgical intervention and we don’t really have any information on his injured list stint to work from, we’ll hold on him and expect a bounce back season in 2026.
The Tigers nabbed Hamm with their fifth round pick in 2023, signing the Tennessee native out of Middle Tennessee State for $397,500, just a little under slot value. In college, Hamm was a pretty raw product until his junior year when his stuff made a leap forward. Even so, he didn’t use his high IVB fourseamer to good effect by pitching up in the zone, and that was one of the first big steps for him going from a solid, if unheralded college pitcher to a well regarded prospect. The Tigers sent him out to High-A West Michigan in 2024 with instructions to start pounding the top of the strike zone and no other major changes, and Hamm shredded hitters en route to a Midwest League Pitcher of the Year award.
Hamm’s 30.6 percent strikeout rate was impressive, and he also limited walks and home runs, putting up a 2.64 ERA with a 3.09 FIP. Other than some minor work to tune up his delivery and instructions to throw his fastball up at the top of the zone a lot more, the Tigers hadn’t even tinkered with him much.
Hamm was sitting at 93 mph and touching 96 in West Michigan, and routinely topping 20-21 inches of induced vertical break out of his high arm slot. His 80-81 mph curveball was of the overhand, 12-6 variety with plenty of depth. When he established the fourseamer up, hitters struggled to lay off the curveball, and he got better and better at dropping it off the eye line of the fastball and landing it on the bottom rail for called strikes as the year went along. His circle change had good velocity separation, typically 83-84 mph, and while the movement was pretty pedestrian, Hamm’s delivery and high slot made it difficult to pick up the changeup as well and it really falls off the table. The depth of those secondary offerings, playing off the steady diet of high fastballs, gave hitters fits. Both pitches will flash plus at their best.
All this was enough to get Hamm into the 45+ tier on several sites, with predictions that he’d be a top 100 prospect by the end of 2025. The 6’1” right-hander needed to keep adding strength and flexibility. With long legs for his height and less than ideal athleticism, his delivery was a bit stiff, with a short stride and a long arm path that was sometimes tricky for him to sync up. Hamm reaches his arm back, dips, and then whips his arm over the top and through with a lot extension, rather than keeping it folded and using his drive down the mound to generate his power. It’s a little bit of a throw back. However, while that often triggers a high relief risk tag, location hasn’t been much of a problem for him and he consistently throws strikes and works the ball well to both sides of the plate.
What Hamm needed was to develop a harder breaking ball to give him a weapon in between the 93-94 mph fastball and the low 80’s curve and circle changeup. Hamm and the Tigers worked on a slider last offseason to give him something breaking away from right-handed hitters, and reports indicated him making progress with the pitch and looking good in camp. He threw some good ones in 2025. It started out more cutterish, but Hamm was able to start getting more depth and developing it into a mid 80’s gyro slider. The velocity issues tended to overshadow everything and he still leaned on his curve and changeup in most outings, but the slider looked pretty solid on the rare occasions he leaned into it after returning from injury in August and September.
Things quickly went south for Hamm in 2025 after a few good starts to begin the year. His velocity flucutated wildly for a few starts in May, and we didn’t see many mid 90’s fastballs. He was still getting a similar rate of whiffs compared to his High-A work, but hitters were having a lot more success putting the ball in play with two strikes. Hamm managed to keeping throwing a solid ratio of strikes with all his pitches, but he just looked out of sync much of the time. To his credit he didn’t fall apart, and was rarely wild at all, but he struggled more to put hitters away and he just wasn’t repeating his delivery with the same consistency he had in 2024.
In late June, the Tigers shut him down for a month with an undisclosed injury. He returned for a few short outings in late July, and then settled back in and finished out the season, but never really looked back in form. His ability to get whiffs and weak contact in the air with high fastballs kept him from getting shelled out of games, but from outing to outing his performance was pretty inconsistent and his mistakes were getting hit quite a bit harder. Worse, Hamm was still averaging 89-90 mph in a few outings, and 91-92 mph in his better ones.
The Tigers unwillingness to report on injuries makes the situation tricky to evaluate. Clearly they didn’t have him trying to pitch through an injury, but the velocity drop over the course of the season was striking. If Hamm had shoulder trouble, or if he’d even blown out his UCL, explanations would be simpler. In some ways, his profile would be less affected nationally if there was a straightforward issue to pin the loss of velo and inconsistency on. What is clear is that the fastball velocity has to return or his profile is really going to suffer. He doesn’t have to build up to 95-96 mph all the time to be an effective major league starter. The movement alone plays up quite a bit. But he can’t sit 90-92 mph and thrive as a starter either.
Right now, Hamm’s status is very up in the air. He was young on draft day, and he’s still only 23 years old, so there’s time to put 2025 behind him and get back on track. If his velocity is back up after an offseason’s rest and re-conditioning, it’s game on. Hamm’s distinctive delivery takes some athleticism to time up, and it would help him to keep building strength and flexiblity in his lower half to help power his delivery and smooth out his footstrike.
While the circumstances make him tricky to evaluate heading into the season, the equation here is pretty simple. If Hamm gets his velocity back, the fastball will play in the big leagues and gives him a strong base to work from. Hamm already throws enough strikes to work in a relief role even if he can’t hold up to a starter’s workload consistently. At times he threw some good sliders as he worked on that pitch, and the curveball and changeup give him a solid pitch mix to work with, but the whole profile revolves around having a dominant riding fourseamer for everything else to play against.
For now, we’ll put 2025 in the rear view mirror and wait to see how Hamm looks like spring. If he’s really 90-91 mph now, he’s in trouble, but I don’t want to dump him way down our board and then turn right around and call false alarm if his velo is back where it should be early this season. Without any hard injury information to attribute the down year to, it’s impossible to make an educated guess. He’ll return to Erie and try to settle in there and make the jump to Triple-A late in the season if things go well. If the fourseamer is back in form, Hamm will go right back to profiling as an interesting potential mid-rotation arm with a group of pretty good secondary pitches. That fastball also gives him a nice floor as a potentially dominant reliever as a fall back plan. If the velocity isn’t there and he struggles again, all bets are off and his stock is going to drop like a stone.
MESA, AZ - NOVEMBER 09: Blake Mitchell #8 of the Kansas City Royals celebrates with teammates in the dugout after scoring in the second inning during the 2025 Arizona Fall League Fall Stars game between the American League Fall Stars and the National League Fall Stars at Sloan Park on Sunday, November 9, 2025 in Mesa, Arizona. (Photo by Norm Hall/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Friday 4 p.m. ET — Royals @ Rangers Kansas City had two picks before the second round of last year’s Draft, and both selections are in position to get their first taste of pro competition at age 19 during Spring Breakout. OF/2B Sean Gamble, the 2025 23rd overall pick and the organization’s No. 5 prospect, brings a solid hit tool and above-average speed. SS/3B Josh Hammond, the 28th pick and No. 6 prospect, has some raw power and is also speedy. The Rangers’ roster boasts two-way player Josh Owens (TEX No. 6), who has promise in the box, at shortstop and on the mound.
Also at MLB, Anne Rogers gives us “three things to watch” the last week of Spring Training:
The final bench spot(s)
The position player side of the roster is looking like this right now:
Catchers: Perez, Jensen First base: Pasquantino Second base: Jonathan India Shortstop: Witt Third base: Garcia Outfield: Collins, Caglianone, Kyle Isbel, Lane Thomas, Starling Marte
That’s 11 players with two spots still open. One of those will likely be Massey if he’s healthy. There are still plenty of hitters competing for the final spot, including Nick Loftin, Tyler Tolbert, Drew Waters, Abraham Toro, Josh Rojas, Kevin Newman and Brandon Drury. Loftin, Tolbert and Waters have the advantage of being on the roster already, and Waters is out of options.
A lot will depend on how the Royals feel about the health of their roster overall. If they think they’re going to have to manage at-bats for Collins or Massey early on, there’s a bigger need for a player who could be used for offense more often.
“It’s hard not to notice it but we also had the experience of last year, and we went through the same thing,” Picollo said Thursday in a phone interview. “And I think last year we were a little bit more nervous about it, because we hadn’t been with him before.
“But not only did he tell us that this is how he always starts in spring training, but the other clubs he had been with, our coaches called their coaches and asked, ‘Is this normal?’ And they confirmed it for us.
“So while you would like to see him more in the 91-92 range right now, this is exactly where he was last year.”
With another Royals season on the horizon next week, the publicly discussed options for a new baseball stadium have narrowed to the point that Washington Square Park remains the last one standing…
Washington Square Park has been discussed as a possible stadium site for several years now, but it’s emerged in recent months as the city’s preferred destination, especially with Kansas and Clay County seemingly out of the running.
There has been talk that movement toward a deal was possible before the Royals’ home opener, but a new priority — convincing voters to extend to 1% earnings tax on April 7 — is Kansas City’s priority at the moment.
If the city and the Royals are going to reach a deal for a new stadium at Washington Square Park, it seems like mid-April would be the soonest it could happen.
2.) Kansas City Royals. The Royals were unable to follow their divisional playoff berth in 2024 with a return to the playoffs last year, but they still finished 82-80 after an abysmal start. They have one of the league’s most exciting players in All-Star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., an emerging star in All-Star third baseman Maikel Garcia, a popular veteran catcher in Salvador Perez and plenty of starting pitchers capable of shutting teams down. The big problem for Kansas City for years has been outfield production, and other than signing Starling Marte to a $1 million deal and making a couple of smaller moves, Royals general manager JJ Picollo was unable to make any major improvement. Instead, the Royals will hope that power-hitting Jac Caglianone will improve against big league pitching in his sophomore season. If starter Cole Ragans can return to All-Star form after injuries last season, Kris Bubic can follow through on his breakout year, and the offense can tick up with some help from Caglianone and promising young catcher Carter Jensen, the Royals have a shot to win their first AL Central title since 2015, when they went on to beat the New York Mets in the World Series.
I feel like everyone and their brother is calling for a Caglianone breakout this year, and why not, given how incredibly hard he hits the ball and how well he hit everything up through Triple A. He’s already off to a torrid start this spring between his time with the Royals and his caffeine-laden stint with Team Italy. (I love espresso, but there’s no way my heart or stomach could survive drinking that much.)
He was awful in his big-league debut last year, and I think a big part of that is that he never stayed at any level long enough for opposing teams to adjust to him and force him to adjust back. He also became an extreme groundball hitter, with nearly a quarter of his balls hit in play pulled on the ground — a recipe for a low BABIP. He’s never been that hitter before, and he doesn’t look like that hitter this spring. It’s not sustainable; if he’s really that guy, we all missed on him in the MLB Draft.
Catchers don’t win this award often (Atlanta’s Drake Baldwin last year notwithstanding), in part due to the rigors of the position and the challenges young players can face in managing a pitching staff. Focusing on the defensive side of a player’s game can eat away at their offense.
That being said, Carter Jensen burst onto the scene in his brief cameo last year and has long had a pedigree for offensive dynamism. With franchise mainstay Salvador Perez entering his age 36 season, the Royals could benefit from moving Perez to more DH work and letting Jensen settle in behind the dish. A full season’s worth of plate appearances could produce some eye-popping numbers from the young backstop and add yet another dynamic bat to an ascendant Royals lineup that already features Witt, Maikel Garcia and Vinnie Pasquantino.
Speaking of money: Team Italy’s Espresso Machine is up for auction. Winning bid is over $2000(!) and there are still 3 days left.
I know this might be a small market fan thing, but I can’t consume enough of my favorite team being spoken of in a positive light. And almost from the very start of the World Baseball Classic, praise was being heaped on the Royals that simply didn’t stop and still hasn’t stopped. In some ways, I almost want it to stop. Let them be unassuming and sneak up on everyone. But in way more ways, I hope it never does. Witt didn’t really need to get the attention. He’s just littered with awards in the section on Baseball Reference. He was seventh for the MVP in 2023, second in 2024 and fourth in 2025. He’s won back-to-back Gold Gloves and Silver Sluggers. But the rest? Yeah, I like that the rest have become household names around baseball. In about a week, it’s time to start proving to people that they should remain household names.
Michael Massey, who occupied a spot on my previous roster iteration, suffered what the Royals call a “low-grade” calf srain on March 6. He hasn’t appeared in a Cactus League contest since March 8, when he left after two at bats after trying to play what, at the time, the Royals thought was just tightness. He played in a minor league game on a backfield on Tuesday but I wonder about his fitness this close to Opening Day. Unfortunately, he has quite an injury history.
Tolbert gets Massey’s spot if he’s unable to go on Opening Day. The Royals love their speed guy off the bench.
Speaking of injuries, I was waffling on Collins as he missed about a week of action with back tightness. Then, he took part in a full workout on Tuesday and was declared good to go. The Royals are progressing a bit slowly, holding Collins out of the field and instead having him as the DH in Wednesday’s game where he went 0-3 with a strikeout as the leadoff hitter. While Collins may in fact be the guy at the top of the order for the Royals, his appearance there was more to maximize his plate appearances after missing the time.
Darin Watson is back! The 2026 version of “This Date in Royals History” will feature 1976. Here’s the first entry:
The most-anticipated season in the Royals’ short history finally began with spring training opening in Fort Myers, Florida. Camps had been delayed for roughly two weeks after arbitrator Peter Seitz, just days before Christmas in 1975, ruled that the reserve system that had been in place in organized baseball pretty much since the beginning was not legally valid. As you might expect, this ruling threw the sport into uncertainty. The owners eventually locked out the players as negotiations began with the players’ union on a new collective bargaining agreement, as the old one had expired anyway. But in mid-March, with no agreement yet in place, commissioner Bowie Kuhn ordered teams to open camps.
This was none too soon for Royals fans, who were understandably excited to get the season underway. Kansas City baseball partisans were starved for a winner; remember, the A’s did not post a winning record in their time in Kansas City (1955-1967), with a high-water mark of 74 wins in 1966. More annoyingly to KC residents, the A’s became a juggernaut almost immediately after landing in Oakland, entering 1976 with five straight AL West titles under their belts and three straight World Series titles (1972-1974) on top of that…
Over the next seven months, we will explore the Royals’ pursuit of their first-ever division title, along with the upheaval in baseball following the Seitz decision, which echoes even in today’s game. Of course, we will also check in with the news and culture of 1976, a year that featured Olympic games, a presidential election, and America’s bicentennial.
Witt’s Previous Leadoff Struggles and Other Options
The only issue with Witt being the Royals’ leadoff hitter on Opening Day is that he doesn’t have a great track record at the top of the order. According to Fangraphs splits, in 201 plate appearances at leadoff, he has a .204 batting average, a 0.20 BB/K ratio, a .620 OPS, and 62 wRC+. Leadoff has been his worst spot in the batting order by a significant margin. Except for fifth, which he has only 8 plate appearances, the next-lowest batting-order wRC+ is third at 119.
For context, he has accumulated 2,154 plate appearances in the second spot in the batting order, which is the most of any spot for Witt. He has a 0.40 BB/K ratio, .301 average, .870 OPS, and 136 wRC+ in that second spot in the order.
Thus, manager Matt Quatraro has no reason to move Witt, especially since he has been so good at the No. 2 spot. However, the leadoff spot has been a thorn in the Royals’ side, especially in Quatraro’s tenure as manager.
I had the pleasure of going to New Zealand over the holidays this past year. We made some movie-related stops, mostly Lord of the Rings* stuff, but others, as well. At one point, we had a tour guide who had been an extra in a number of movies filmed there. So we’ll use that as a jumping-off point for our movie reviews this month.
*I don’t think I’ve done the Lord of the Rings (or the Hobbit movies) before, but those would require their own Rumblings.
As a whole, I really want to like these movies. And they’re not bad. The acting is… fine. The effects are… fine. The direction needs work: there are times when it feels more like a collection of highlights than a cohesive story. But they’re not great. And The Chronicles of Narnia should be great.
TLTWATW is the most polished of the three. It sticks to the source material and surrounds the Pevensie children with acting veterans like Tilda Swinton, James McAvoy, Jim Broadbent, and Liam Neeson. It’s not daring, but it generally gets the job done.
Prince Caspian was more Eastern Europe than New Zealand and it loses a lot of its magic. It played more as a dark, brooding young adult movie than light-hearted family fantasy and effectively killed the franchise. Additionally, I’m not sure this series knows what its visual language is: England looks like cheaper Harry Potter and Narnia looks like cheaper Lord of the Rings.
The Dawn Treader is my favorite book, but this was not my favorite movie. It starts out with fast swashbuckling fun and it looks like the director transition from Andrew Adamson to Michael Apted was a good one. But, as the movie goes on, curious decisions are made with regards to which plots to keep and which to shorten and adapt and it loses steam.
As uneven as these were, I had always wished they did all seven. Though we are getting a reboot, of sorts, from Netflix later this year. Though they’re starting with The Magician’s Nephew and using the controversial newer way of ordering the books.
I’m not the biggest Taika Waititi fan and I usually find the fake documentary format tired and restrictive, but this was a hoot. Waititi takes advantage of the format and beautifully sends up reality tv and documentaries. It’s very understated and very New Zealand and those work well together. I was expecting lots of cringe, but there was very little. The intentionally bad effects are executed well to humorous effect. Each time the movie started to feel stuck, a plot like Nick and Stu would pop up to move things along. I enjoyed it thoroughly: it’s a good little comedy.
We go from a nice little comedy to a big, bad science fiction bomb. First the good: WETA probably had a blast doing the effects for this and they look good. And it has Hugo Weaving, even if he’s phoning it in. We get Mildly Annoyed Max (since it’s New Zealand instead of Australia) shoved into a blender with broken pieces from Star Wars, Matrix, Doctor Who, and Terminator. Out comes this slurry of half-baked sci-fi cliches mixed with bad acting. At one point, Jihae stares straight into the camera and says “I’m not that subtle”. That should have been the tagline for this movie.
This is the movie I’m most conflicted about. My initial impression of this movie was that it was a great movie plus 30-45 minutes and that opinion hasn’t really changed on future rewatches. I always enjoy the setup: Black, Brodie, Watts, Kretschmann, and Hanks are all fun. I know that School of Rock is the quintessential Jack Black role, but I love him in this as the con man movie director.
Once they get on the boat, the move just drags through a much-too-long Act Two. We spend too much time getting to know characters who are quickly killed on the island (just to raise the stakes). There’s a bunch of needlessly creepy dramatic tension (now with extra slow motion). You feel like it’s an excuse to show off the animal models and CGI (but they’re not very good). And that’s without even getting into some of the major plot holes.
But then the movie goes back to New York City, and it just works again. Much like The Hobbit trilogy(!), I wish an editor had been able to rein in Peter Jackson. Snip at least 30 minutes from the middle, and this film goes from a mostly enjoyable slog to an excellent movie.
Want an hour of the March Madness Theme with slightly hypnotic graphics? Sure you do
Feb 27, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Milwaukee Brewers infielder Jesus Made sits in the dugout against the Chicago White Sox during a spring training game at American Family Fields of Phoenix. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Now in its third year, MLB’s Spring Breakout games are set to take place this weekend across spring training locations. The Milwaukee Brewers will participate in two Breakout games with one scheduled for later today against the Mariners, and another set for Sunday against the A’s. Here’s a quick guide for fans heading into the Breakout slate.
What is Spring Breakout?
MLB Spring Breakout is a four-day event showcasing baseball’s future in 16 exhibition games played across Grapefruit and Cactus League stadiums. In 2027, the showcase will be expanded into a single-elimination tournament format, with champions crowned in both the Grapefruit and Cactus League.
When do the Brewers play?
The Brewers are scheduled to host the Seattle Mariners prospects at American Family Fields of Phoenix on Friday at 4:10 p.m. CT. They’ll then travel to Hohokam Stadium to take on the A’s on Sunday at 3:05 p.m. CT in what could be a matchup of two of the top shortstops in minor league baseball — Jesús Made of the Brewers and Leo De Vries of the A’s.
How can I watch/listen?
Both games will be broadcast blackout-free on MLB.com, MLB TV, and the MLB app, as well as out-of-market on MLB Network and available to follow on MLB Gameday. To view the Gameday for each game, click here for Friday’s matchup and here for Sunday’s matchup.
Who is participating?
The Brewers’ Spring Breakout roster features 15 of the team’s top 30 prospects, as ranked by MLB Pipeline. That includes each of the top four prospects, all of whom are shortstops — Jesús Made (team No. 1/MLB No. 3), Luis Peña (team No. 2/MLB No. 26), Jett Williams (team No. 3/MLB No. 51), and Cooper Pratt (team No. 4/MLB No. 64). The Brewers’ 2025 first-round pick and No. 6 prospect, Andrew Fischer, will also participate after a solid showing for Italy in the World Baseball Classic.
On the pitching side, only two pitchers on the roster are ranked in the team’s top 30, with Bishop Letson coming in at No. 9 and Bryce Meccage coming in at No. 21.
The full rosters are included below:
PITCHERS (11) Ryan Birchard, RHP, NR Jesús Broca, LHP, NR Will Childers, RHP, NR Jaron DeBerry, RHP, NR Brian Fitzpatrick, LHP, NR Michael Fowler, RHP, NR Blake Holub, RHP, NR Tate Kuehner, LHP, NR Bishop Letson, RHP, No. 9 Mark Manfredi, LHP, NR Bryce Meccage, RHP, No. 21
CATCHERS (3) Marco Dinges, C, No. 10 Jeferson Quero, C, No. 8 Matt Wood, C, NR
Happy Friday everyone! We’ve moved on from the World Baseball Classic to some extent (though we do have some reactions to it below), and we’re now entering the final week of Spring Training (where has the time gone??). With less than a week left before we have regular season baseball, we do still have some fun things going on, with Spring Breakdown.
And as the regular season gets closer, all eyes will be on healing players to see how they are faring (we’re watching you, Shohei Ohtani).
There’s a lot of fun stuff in today’s links, including two of the most insane ballpark desserts I’ve ever seen, and a potentially risking pitching decision for the Dodgers. So let’s get right into it.
A legendary game calls for a legendary viewership number as 10,784,000 viewers watched the #WorldBaseballClassic final on FOX and FOX Deportes – the most-watched #WBC telecast ever 🏆
The 2026 WBC averaged 1,294,000 viewers across FOX, FS1 and FS2, making it the most-watched… pic.twitter.com/vfva4lFDRN
Mar 18, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) shoots the ball against the Golden State Warriors in the first quarter at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images | David Butler II-Imagn Images
The start of March Madness is always exciting, not only because it signals the season of bracket busting, but because it also means the NBA Playoffs are almost here.
With the Milwaukee Bucks fizzling out, we now know with almost absolute certainty the 20 teams that will be participating in the play-in/playoffs this year. Still, there is a lot in flux as far as seeding goes. So, there is still plenty to keep an eye on as we enter the final stretch of the regular season.
I’m here to try and make sense of where every team ranks in the league hierarchy with four weeks remaining.
The Tankers
30. Indiana Pacers
29. Washington Wizards
28. Brooklyn Nets
27. Sacramento Kings
26. Utah Jazz
25. Chicago Bulls
24. Memphis Grizzlies
23. Dallas Mavericks
22. Milwaukee Bucks
Listen, when it comes to the bond between the reader and the writer, honesty is paramount. For you to truly believe what I’m putting on paper, you have to feel like I’m keeping it a buck with you. With this said, you can take this portion of the rankings with a grain of salt. Think the Utah Jazz are a tougher out than the Chicago Bulls? Or that the Sacramento Kings are the worst team in the NBA? That’s fine. I won’t argue with you there. The point is that all of these teams are not in the business of winning games and are basically a free win for whoever they are playing – that is, unless they are playing each other.
The Spunkiest Team In Basketball
21. New Orleans Pelicans
Unlike the other nine teams that are out of the play-in/playoff mix, the New Orleans Pelicans don’t own their first round pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. So, they have no incentive to tank. The Pelicans have used this opportunity to start building a winning culture – hence their place in their own special tier. Since January 22, the Pelicans are 14-10 with the 10th best offense and 14th best net rating. A lot of this is them taking advantage of The Tankers, but the Pelicans have also mustered impressive wins over the Los Angeles Clippers, San Antonio Spurs, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Toronto Raptors. Their front office is still as aimless and dysfunctional as they come, but you have to admit that they are playing some respectable ball of late.
A Playoff Berth Is A Win
20. Portland Trail Blazers
19. Philadelphia 76ers
18. Golden State Warriors
17. Charlotte Hornets
16. Phoenix Suns
15. Toronto Raptors
14. Los Angeles Clippers
Unfortunately, with only 16 playoff spots, four of these seven teams are going to go home disappointed. But for all these groups, even getting a chance to compete in the game’s second season should be a win for them. Injuries have made the Portland Trail Blazers, Philadelphia 76ers, and Golden State Warriors obvious members of this group (I personally trust Stephen Curry to be healthy during the playoffs more than Joel Embiid). The Charlotte Hornets and Phoenix Suns have been two of the best stories in the league this year, but both of them have started to lose steam in recent weeks (plus, the Hornets are going to need to win two play-in games to even make the postseason). The Toronto Raptors are the only team in this group who isn’t currently slated to appear in a play-in game. However, their below average offense (18th in offensive rating) and good, but not great, defense (seventh) isn’t exactly a recipe for postseason success. After failing to make the postseason in each of the last three seasons, Toronto should consider a playoff berth a step in the right direction. And while the Los Angeles Clippers have been spiraling (losers of their last three contests), they still have the most high-end firepower of any team in this group. Since their infamous 6-21 start, the Clippers have been 28-14 with the fourth best offense and eighth best net rating. They also have the best player of any team in this group (Kawhi Leonard, 5th in the NBA in Estimated Plus-Minus).
Solid Playoff Teams Without Real Title Equity
13. Houston Rockets
12. Miami Heat
11. Orlando Magic
10. Atlanta Hawks
This group is filled with teams that should be playing in a first round series, but don’t have the juice to do anything more than maybe win a playoff series. The Houston Rockets may have the most wins of any team in this group, but they play in the tougher conference and just have not been the same since Steven Adams went down with a season-ending ankle injury. The Miami Heat continue to win games in Heat ways (running more zone than any team in the league!). However, they don’t have enough offense or size/physicality to be a true threat, as we saw in their recent loss to the Orlando Magic. What will surprise a lot of people is the decision to put the Atlanta Hawks over the Orlando Magic in our power rankings, despite the latter being higher than the former in the standings. The Hawks are winners of eleven straight games (!!). That is tied for the third-longest streak of the year (all the other teams ahead of them are still yet to be listed on these power rankings). Most of these wins are against The Tankers, but they did just put the hurting on the Magic in a key home victory. What makes them so dangerous is how good their starting lineup is. When CJ McCollum, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Dyson Daniels, Jalen Johnson, and Onyeka Okongwu share the floor together (456 non-garbage time possessions), the Hawks are outscoring teams by 31.1 points per 100 possessions. That is the highest mark of any five-man combination that has played at least 300 possessions this season (per Cleaning the Glass).
Puncher’s Chance At The Championship
9. Los Angeles Lakers
8. New York Knicks
7. Minnesota Timberwolves
6. Detroit Pistons
5. Denver Nuggets
These teams all have flaws, but they also have enough strengths to make a deep playoff run if everything breaks their way. Recently, I did a deep dive on the history of five-man lineups. Long story short, to win an NBA Championship, you need a regular season lineup featuring most/all of your best players that have played at least 300 possessions together and posted a +9 per 100. As of writing this, none of the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, or Minnesota Timberwolves have a lineup that fits this description. That’s why they are in the back half of this tier. But they still need to be in this group because Luka Doncic (LAL), Jalen Brunson (NYK), and Anthony Edwards (MIN) have all shown the ability to take over a series on their lonesome, and all of them have been to the conference finals as recently as the past two seasons. The Detroit Pistons have been faltering of late (5-5 in their last ten), but they still have a distinct identity, homecourt advantage through the first three rounds, and a five-man lineup they can count on (Cade Cunningham, Ausar Thompson, Duncan Robinson, Tobias Harris, and Jalen Duren are a +12.8 per 100).* The Denver Nuggets cannot seem to find a groove. Just yesterday, they dropped an unnecessary game to one of The Tankers (the Memphis Grizzlies). Still, they have the best player on the planet (Nikola Jokic), and when you have that, you always have the chance.
*The recent injury news regarding Cunningham has the chance to seriously derail the Pistons’ season. But until we know whether he will be missing any postseason basketball, we are going to keep them in this tier for now.
True Championship Contenders
4. Cleveland Cavaliers
3. San Antonio Spurs
2. Boston Celtics
1. Oklahoma City Thunder
Finally, the cream of the crop. Ricky O’Donnell has framed this season as “the Thunder vs. the field.” It’s still that way, but like he said during his midseason edition, the field is definitely catching up. The Cleveland Cavaliers haven’t really done anything to deserve their place in this tier, but they do have the second-most talented/well-balanced roster of any team in the East. Plus, they haven’t been able to have their core four healthy for very long. According to PBP Stats, when James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen share the floor (35 minutes), Cleveland has +35.2 net rating. Pretty darn promising. Also, since they are in the weaker conference, their chances of making it to the NBA Finals are just inherently higher than teams like Denver and Minnesota. The San Antonio Spurs have incredible indicators, especially when their prodigious big man is on the floor. The only thing keeping them from being higher is the relative unknown with how their young core will perform in the playoffs (typical cop out, I know). The Boston Celtics have completely re-invented themselves, and now, they are doing a fantastic job of integrating Jayson Tatum back into the mix. They are 5-1 with Tatum in the lineup, and man, does he look way better than any human ten months removed from a torn Achilles ever should. The Thunder will remain the top dog until proven otherwise.
MIAMI, FLORIDA - MARCH 17: Garrett Whitlock #59 of Team United States leaves the field after being removed from the game against Team Venezuela during the ninth inning at loanDepot park on March 17, 2026 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Red Sox should be deemed the unofficial champions of the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
Garrett Whitlock absolutely stood out as a star from his time on the mound in March, though his run ended with heartbreak and fair concerns for the upcoming season. Prior to taking the ball in the ninth inning of the WBC Final against Venezuela, Whitlock looked like arguably the best setup man in baseball, which he was in the second half of 2025. The Red Sox right-hander did not surrender a run in his first three appearances, including a scoreless inning with two strikeouts to lift the United States over the loaded Dominican Republic lineup in the semifinals.
His mission against Venezuela ended differently. Whitlock got the call for the ninth inning moments after Bryce Harper’s dramatic game-tying, two-run home run. Unlike Padres closer Mason Miller and Yankees reliever David Bednar, Whitlock had the backing of his manager in Alex Cora to log more innings with a world title on the line. A third outing in five days is strenuous on an arm gearing up for the season in March. So a dip in velocity and execution as a result could’ve been expected.
Venezuela broke through when Eugenio Suarez shot a 3-2 changeup to the left-center gap to plate Javier Sanoja for the go-ahead (and eventual decisive) run.
The loanDepot Park crowd erupted and the United States eventually fell by the same score in the same stakes as three years ago when Japan hoisted the 2023 crown. There had to be some feelings of deja vu for the United States. Whitlock had to feel his own chapter of that as well.
For the second time in six months, an overlooked Whitlock made one mistake that overshadowed an extended stretch of previous dominance. Cora and the Red Sox certainly leaned on Whitlock in prior years as a multi-inning reliever (where he should have been all along!) In 2025, he locked into one-inning stints and dominated. That shift helped him post a microscopic 0.34 ERA after the All-Star break.
Boston met the New York Yankees in the American League Wild Card series and won the opener 3-1 behind 7 ⅔ brilliant frames from ace Garrett Crochet. Whitlock entered in the seventh inning of Game 2 with the score tied at three. His stuff looked good, but Boston pushed him deeper into multiple innings. Whitlock’s pitch count rose and he began to falter.
On his 39th pitch of the night, Austin Wells laced a single down the right field line that scored Jazz Chisholm Jr. all the way from first base. Whitlock hadn’t thrown that many pitches in one outing in over three months.
That run decided the game in favor of the Yankees, who shut out the Red Sox the following night to eliminate their rivals and advance to the ALDS. And after two soul-crushing outings for Whitlock, the Red Sox now really need to protect him early in the season.
A rare flaw of the otherwise phenomenal WBC is the volume of high-stress pitches demanded of elite relievers prior to their normal build-up windows to start the regular season. Beyond the results of Whitlock’s recent bumps, his velocity showed fatigue and that’s not a trend the Red Sox can afford, never mind the obvious concerns of injury. Whitlock already lost most of 2022-2024 during the brutal starting pitching experiment. The Red Sox have to operate in the best interests of their dependable set-up man.
The back of Boston’s bullpen runs through the exceptional tandem of Whitlock and rejuvenated All-Star closer Aroldis Chapman. Cora, pitching coach Andrew Bailey and the Red Sox staff might need to defer to alternative options the first month or so to keep Whitlock fresh. Their success in 2026 depends on it.
Alabama basketball will be without starting guard Aden Holloway for the Crimson Tide's March 20 game vs. No. 13 seed Hofstra after he was arrested on two felonies on Monday, March 16, for possession 2.1 pounds of marijuana in his residence.
He's slated to miss the entire first weekend and potentially more, should Alabama advance to the Sweet 16.
The 6-foot-1 junior is the Tide's second-leading scorer, averaging 16.8 points with 2.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game this season as a first-year starter after coming off the bench last season. He was a starter at Auburn in 2023-24 as a true freshman.
It's a massive blow to the No. 4 seed Crimson Tide, which boasts one of the top backcourts in college basketball alongside sophomore Labaron Philon Jr. They take on No. 13 seed Hofstra in the first round on Friday, March 20.
Alabama will likely turn to Houston Mallette in Holloway's absence. The fifth-year senior guard is averaging 6.6 points per game mostly in a bench role this season, averaging 23.3 minutes per game.
Here's what to know of Holloway's absence and why he was arrested before the NCAA Tournament:
Why was Aden Holloway arrested?
Holloway was arrested on Monday, March 16 and charged with first-degree possession of marijuana and failure to affix a tax stamp after the West Alabama Narcotics Task Force found 2.1 pounds of marijuana in his residence.
He was transported to the Tuscaloosa County Jail and was set with a $5,000 bond, according to The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. The University of Alabama later released a statement and said he was removed from campus and won't return to the team until the university's office of student conduct finishes its investigation.
What Nate Oats said of Aden Holloway's absence
Alabama coach Nate Oats said he has talked to Holloway since his arrest, and said he'll continue supporting the junior guard. He also declined to speculate whether Holloway has any chance of returning to the Crimson Tide should they advance to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
"I've met with him in person, talked to him on the phone multiple times," Oats said March 19. "Look, I'm an adult. I've made mistakes. We all have things we'd like to do differently. Now is not the time to ignore a kid that you've built a real relationship with. Now is the time he needs more love from the adults in his life than at any point. ... you get into it to help impact young men's lives. Well, if you disappear when they make a mistake, I'm not so sure that's a genuine relationship you've built.
"I've got three daughters. They've made mistakes. You don't disappear on them when they need your help. I won't be disappearing on him. I talked to him yesterday morning on the phone. I talked to him the night before that. I've talked to him every day so far."
"We're just focusing on the task at hand. Biz (Holloway) is our brother," Sherrell said. "We're here for him, but we're focused on the game and focused on making a long run in March."
Aden Holloway stats
Here are Holloway's per game averages during his three-year college career:
2023-24 (Auburn): 7.3 points with 1.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game on 31.8% shooting
2024-25 (Alabama): 11.4 points with 1.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game on 46.5% shooting
2025-26 (Alabama): 16.8 points with 2.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game on 48.1% shooting
PHILADELPHIA — The Speedos have invaded March Madness.
The Miami (Ohio) men's swim team has been one of the most unusual sites in their bid to support the men's basketball team's NCAA Tournament run, as demonstrated in the RedHawks' First Four game vs. SMU in Dayton, Ohio.
As SMU's Corey Washington lined up for a free throw, the swimming team ambled down the stairs of UD Arena and, dressed as if they were about to compete, arguably caused the Mustangs to miss a game-tying free throw:
It remains to be seen whether the Speedos will make a return visit for the RedHawks' first-round game against 6-seeded Tennessee on Friday, March 20 at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia. If they do, it will be the second consecutive March Madness game that the men's swim team has attended.
RedHawks coach Travis Steele said an appearance was still up in the air when the Mid-American Conference regular season champions met with media at Xfinity Mobile Arena on March 19.
But the swim's team has been a presence at RedHawks basketball home games at Millett Hall all season.
"Number one, in the game, you're really locked in. Then all of a sudden, you see a group of young men in Speedos coming down the stairwell right there in the end zone, and the place just absolutely erupted when it happened," Steele said.
"I know if I was distracted, I know the young man at the line was distracted. Obviously, it worked. He missed a free throw, but it's been just super cool across the board, the support we've gotten, like from where we were in my year one, we were getting 200, 300 people at a game. This past season, we're at 10,640 selling out. All of sudden, tickets are going for $200 or $300 on StubHub or SeatGeek to see the crowd we had last night. I'm happy that our guys were able to get that experience as well."
Both of Miami (Ohio)'s Brant Byer and Eian Elmer told reporters in Philadelphia on March 19 they don't specifically know members of the swim team, but, like Steele, they appreciate the support this season.
"They got a missed free throw out of SMU yesterday, so we'll definitely take it," Byer said. "The support they have given us all season has been pretty special."
Added Elmer: "They're a great group of guys. That's pretty awesome how they support us all the time. Also, they're very effective. We'll make sure we return the favor and show up to some swim meets."
The RedHawks are making their 18th appearance in the NCAA Tournament on Friday, and their first since the 2006-07 season. They are the first team in MAC history to earn an at-large bid since 1999. They are 32-1 after a perfect 31-0 regular season.
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Ronny Mauricio | (Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The Mets made another round of major league spring training roster cuts, optioning infielder Ronny Mauricio and right-handed pitcher Joey Gerber to Triple-A Syracuse and reassigning right-handed pitcher Mike Baumann and left-handed pitcher Brandon Waddell to minor league camp. None of those names are particularly surprising, as Francisco Lindor’s return to the field has put him on track to be the Mets’ Opening Day shortstop.
Mauricio made 184 plate appearances at the major league level last year, but he hit just .226/.293/.369 with an 88 wRC+ and was worth 0.7 fWAR in that time. He began last season in St. Lucie as he returned from a knee injury that cost him the entire 2024 season and quickly worked his way up to Binghamton and Syracuse during his rehab process. In his very brief stop in Triple-A, he tore the cover off the ball, hitting .515/.564/.818 in 39 plate appearances.
That earned Mauricio a spot with the Mets, but he didn’t thrive with inconsistent playing time over the remainder of the season. It seems best for both the player and the organization that he’ll get to play every day to begin the 2026 campaign.
Gerber spent the 2025 season with the Rays, and the vast majority of his innings came in Triple-A. The 28-year-old had a 6.09 ERA and a 4.94 FIP at that level, though he fared better in a very small sample of major league innings.
Baumann is attempting to return to the big leagues after pitching for five different major league teams in 2024 and throwing 15.0 innings last year in Japan. He has a career 4.95 ERA and a 4.59 FIP in 167.1 MLB innings.
And last but not least, Waddell made eleven appearances for the Mets last year and fared better in his time in the big leagues than in the majority of his season in Syracuse. The 31-year-old had a 3.45 ERA and a 4.54 FIP in 31.1 innings with the Mets last year as he returned from a three-year stint pitching in Korea.
Feb 27, 2026; North Port, Florida, USA; Atlanta Braves designated hitter Jurickson Profar (17) bats in the first inning against the Boston Red Sox during spring training at CoolToday Park. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images | Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images
As expected, Atlanta Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar will miss the entire 2026 season after his PED suspension was upheld following an appeal. The ban covers 162 games and also renders him ineligible for the postseason.
Atlanta Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar will miss the entire 2026 season after his appeal of a positive PED test was resolved. He will serve a 162-game suspension for testing positive a second time and will be ineligible for postseason play.
Major League Baseball announced earlier this month that Profar tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. This marks his second violation, as he previously served an 80-game suspension for a similar offense in 2025.
The Major League Baseball Players Association filed an appeal on Profar’s behalf, but the decision ultimately stood. With the suspension now finalized, the Braves have some added financial flexibility, clearing several million dollars from the payroll.
Profar was expected to be in the Braves’ outfield mix this season, so his absence leaves the club with additional questions as they finalize roster decisions heading into Opening Day.
More Braves News:
All eyes are on Didier Fuentes after his performance this spring, but does he have a shot at the Opening Day roster?
