News and notes: Spring Training week 3
Another week of Spring Training has come and gone while Opening Day remains on the horizon. Although Spring Training results don’t mean anything, it is about that time of the spring where players are starting to take shape, and we can look at numbers with a grain of salt. If there’s a time where “under the hood” numbers and advanced statistics mean more than actual results, it’s right now. Pitch and exit velocities along with swing decisions and contact rates are the numbers that jump off the page for me in Spring Training as they give me an idea of how a player’s process is coming along. If you’re not bought into the numbers or simply don’t understand them, take a different approach and look at how comfortable a hitter is looking in the box, how a defender is moving in the field, or how a pitcher is executing his pitches. Just a thought I wanted to open with that you can chew on as you continue to formulate your opinions on what you’re seeing from these seemingly meaningless games being played.
Before jumping in to my main story lines, I made it down to Florida for a quick Spring Training weekend, mainly to knock off the final ballpark on my Grapefruit League list. The Cardinals and Nationals faced off Saturday afternoon at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches, of which I was in attendance for, so I can finally say I have been to every Grapefruit League stadium. With that being said, I promptly put together a ranking of all 13 ballparks. There will be no explanation for the ranking as I will likely put together it’s own article, but here is every stadium ranked. And one important note - there is no bad ballpark, just ballpark’s I like more than others.
TD Ballpark - Blue Jays, Dunedin
LECOM Park - Pirates, Bradenton
Ed Smith Stadium - Orioles, Sarasota
JetBlue Park at Fenway South - Red Sox, Fort Myers
Charlotte Sports Park - Rays, Port Charlotte
CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches - Nationals/Astros, West Palm Beach
Spectrum Field - Phillies, Clearwater
Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium - Cardinals/Marlins, Jupiter
CoolToday Park - Braves, North Port
Publix Field at Joker Merchant Stadium - Tigers, Lakeland
Lee Health Sports Complex - Twins, Fort Myers
Clover Park - Mets, Port St. Lucie
George M. Steinbrenner Field - Yankees, Tampa
Injury bug bites the Yankees early
Injuries are of course a big part of baseball today, and it’s unfortunately a part of Spring Training as well. Before you jump to the conclusion that Spring Training games shouldn’t be played to avoid injury, just stop. These injuries are going to happen either way, and getting playing time before the actual season opens is super important to the process of being a big league ballplayer. It can be argued that if there were no Spring Training games, there would be even more injuries in the regular season due to players not being properly “ramped up.” Does it suck that they happen in games that don’t matter? Yes. But like I said, it’s going to happen regardless.
Perhaps the biggest story line on the injury front at the moment is Gerrit Cole’s pending elbow injury. Cole battled an elbow injury early last year that kept him out for a large portion of the first half, and was unable to get back to his Cy Young form upon his return to the mound in the second half. As he has struggled this spring, there have been some rumblings about his health, and has now been recommended to undergo Tommy John surgery.
The Yankees had a solid offseason in their pivot after missing out on retaining Juan Soto, but they seem to be headed back towards square one as Cole is very likely going to miss all of 2025 at this point. They have already sustained the losses of Luis Gil and Giancarlo Stanton, both of which will probably miss the first two months of the season. Max Fried will obviously step into New York’s “ace” role, which he should have no problem doing, but now they face a depth problem as the rest of the rotation is widely unproven. The Yankees might look into pulling off a deal before Opening Day as the Padres may still be shopping Dylan Cease, and the Marlins will be looking to ship Sandy Alcantara off by the trade deadline. Will Warren, Yankees rookie RHP who has impressed this spring, will likely take over the final rotation spot with Gil and now Cole hitting the IL.
Among another injury news:
New York Mets catcher, Franciscon Alvarez, will miss six to eight weeks due to a hamate fracture in his left hand.
Atlanta Braves catcher, Sean Murphy, will miss four to six weeks due to a cracked rib sustained by a hit by pitch on 2/28. Outfielder Jurickson Profar also was removed from a game on 3/8 due to a jammed left wrist but is expected to be ready for Opening Day as it was just a bone bruise.
George Kirby of the Mariners is expected to miss at least the first two weeks of the season with shoulder inflammation. It was reported that there is no structural damage in his shoulder, but is being shut down from throwing for precautionary measures.
Grayson Rodriguez, who was slated to take the mound on Opening Day for the Orioles, will open the season on the IL with right elbow inflammation as is being shut down for at least a week.
Weekly prospect report
Minor League ballplayers are slowly being designated back over to Minor League camp so big league players can start ramping up the numbers of at bats and innings they’re getting. However, there are a handful of prospects sticking around and continuing to log some valuable playing time against Major League talent.
Jac Caglianone, who has already made an appearance on this report, continues to rake at Royals Spring Training as he hit two home runs this week, bringing his total line to .545/.643/1.455 (2.098 OPS) over nine games. He launched one on Sunday 444 feet with a 114.6 EV off of big league pitcher Aaron Civale. There were concerns about Caglianone’s 70 grade raw power translating into real game power in his transition to pro ball, but it’s safe to say the big first baseman has gotten out ahead of those concerns early on. Caglianone ranks 14th on my top 50 prospect list.
Gage Workman, Minor League infielder for the Chicago Cubs barely squeaked on to the organization’s top 30 prospect list at #29 after being acquired by the Cubs in the most recent Rule-5 draft from the Detroit Tigers. Workman has only advanced as high as Double-A since being drafted in the fourth round of the 2020 draft, but has been one of the best hitters in baseball this spring and may play his way on to the Cubs Opening Day 26-man roster. Workman ranks second among all hitters in OPS at 1.214 along with three long balls and a league-leading 12 runs driven in. He went 6-10 this week for the Cubs, while striking out just once.
In my visit to West Palm Beach, I was fortunate enough to get my first live look at one of my favorite prospects in baseball, Cardinals shortstop and seventh overall pick in last year’s draft, JJ Wetherholt. The West Virginia product ranks 18th on my top 50 prospect list and has put together a decent performance this spring. He was as advertised live as he didn’t whiff once at the plate in his three plate appearances which included a walk and an infield single that he earned with his above average speed. He also got around the bases well with great instincts, manufacturing a run on his own. Defensively, he got multiple chances at shortstop and surprisingly shows great feel for the position despite not having played there full-time up until last year at West Virigina. Certainly a player to keep tabs on this season.
Spring Breakout opens up on Thursday afternoon and will continue through the weekend. For those unfamiliar with the event, it’s a series of games between every team in baseball featuring their top prospects as a way for fans to get better acquainted with the future of their favorite teams. Last year was the inaugural year and it was a blast for people like myself that are into the prospect world. I wrote about the experience last year here, and will have a preview article out later this week.
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