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Team Italy has been one of the many fantastic stories of the World Baseball Classic. Despite being seen as an underdog by most outlets and baseball experts, Italy went 4-0 in pool play, with impressive victories over the USA and Mexico on consecutive nights. While the odds are still long for them when it comes to winning the WBC, they may be one of the hottest teams remaining in the field. One of the biggest forces for Italy has been Vinnie Pasquantino, the Royals' first baseman and Italian team captain. This is Pasquantino's second appearance in the WBC, as he played on the team eliminated in pool play in 2023. It made sense that Italy made Pasquantino the team captain for this edition of the WBC. The "Pasquatch" had a huge season in 2025, hitting .264 with a .798 OPS in 682 plate appearances. In addition to posting a career high in plate appearances with the Royals, he also hit 32 home runs and collected 113 RBI, also career-bests. He only produced a 1.5 fWAR in 2025 due to lackluster baserunning and fielding metrics. However, that didn't stop the Royals from awarding Pasquantino a modest two-year extension this offseason. While he hasn't produced much on the fWAR end, Pasquantino is a slugger who provides incredible leadership in the clubhouse. Thus, Italy made him the captain because of those two factors, and their decision has paid off tremendously, as demonstrated by Italy's strong performance in pool play. With Italy moving on to the knockout stage of the WBC, let's examine the impact Pasquantino has had for Team Italy on the field and in the clubhouse, especially on Wednesday night, as he made WBC history. Pasquantino's Historic Night Against Mexico Coming into Wednesday's "elimination" game against Mexico, Pasquantino had not collected a single hit for Italy. He also had a slow start in Spring Training in Arizona. In six games and 17 plate appearances in Cactus League play, he was slashing .200/.294/.267 with one double, an RBI, two walks, and four strikeouts. His combined Cactus League/WBC stats have been rough. Entering Wednesday night's game, he had a .121 average and .491 OPS in 38 plate appearances. Furthermore, his Statcast percentiles this spring weren't all that impressive, as shown below by TJ Stats. However, on Wednesday, the Italian captain broke out in a big way. Pasquantino went 3-for-4 with three home runs and three RBI in the 9-1 victory. As Jeff Passan noted on Twitter, Pasquantino is the first player in WBC history to hit three home runs in a single game. Vinnie's home runs went a distance of 342, 349, and 337, respectively, and also had exit velocities of 101.8 MPH, 95.3 MPH, and 90.9 MPH. Here's a look at the spray chart of his three home runs in Houston, and notice how Vinnie not just pulled them, but took advantage of Daikin Park's lefty-friendly (and hitter-friendly in general) dimensions. Not only did Pasquantino hit three home runs, but he also downed three espresso shots during the game. The espresso shot has been a tradition for Italian players after a home run, and the Italian captain partook in the tradition and then some on Wednesday night after mostly distributing espresso shots to his teammates in the first three games in pool play. Pasquantino has traditionally been known to be a slow starter at the plate. Last season, he hit .177 with a 49 wRC+ in 124 plate appearances in March/April, according to Fangraphs splits. That said, he was fine for the remainder of the year, as evidenced by his 116 wRC+ in 2025. It was the same story in 2024 to a degree. His 96 wRC+ in March/April was the worst monthly wRC+ of the 2024 season (his overall wRC+ was 109). Perhaps the World Baseball Classic has allowed Pasquantino to knock off the rust earlier in the spring (he has more at-bats to go in the knockout round, as they play Puerto Rico in the first round). Hopefully, with this experience and historic surge at the plate, he will be more ready to produce in the first month of play for the Royals, which would be atypical of his career norms. Pasquantino's Impact in the Italian Clubhouse Vinnie has definitely made his presence known in the WBC thanks to his big three-homer performance on Wednesday. That said, before that game, he was still making a tremendous impact on the squad, even if he wasn't producing at the plate. Italian shortstop Sam Antonacci was interviewed after Italy's upset win over the USA, when a reporter asked who the "Team MVP" was. Here's the quote, as shared from MLB.com Royals beat writer Anne Rogers. Antonacci mentioned several characteristics that Royals fans have been quite accustomed to seeing with Pasquantino: "made us all feel comfortable," "he's the reason we're so tight," and "he's a great leader." It can be easy to overlook Pasquantino's impact in the Royals clubhouse sometimes. After all, Bobby Witt Jr. is the superstar of the franchise, and Salvador Perez is the captain and longest-tenured player. When it comes to the favorite player or "face of the franchise", those two are often selected for those honors. And yet, there's an ease Pasquantino brings to any clubhouse. Since Vinnie returned from injury in 2024, they have had a winning record each season, with a playoff berth in 2024. Now, we're seeing the same intangibles from Vinnie having an immediate impact with Team Italy. Not only did they win their pool, but they beat two of the best teams in the WBC in the process. It also seems like Pasquantino has had a strong impact on Royals teammate Jac Caglianone. The 2024 Royals first-round pick hit .375 with a 1.458 OPS in pool play and absolutely crushed a huge home run against Team USA pitcher Ryan Yarbrough, a huge momentum booster at the time for Team Italy in the fourth inning. Obviously, Pasquantino is not swinging the bat for Caglianone. However, he's been a familiar face who has hyped up the promising Royals slugger during these first four games. With renewed confidence and sensational tools, Caglianone could be due for a breakout season in Kansas City in 2026. What Does This Mean for the Royals? The Royals haven't exactly been all that sharp in Spring Training. After split-squad losses to the Cubs and Giants, Kansas City is 6-12, the second-worst record in Cactus League play (only the Mariners are worse at 5-13). That said, Royals fans have seen the team produce Cactus League championships, only for those results to fail to translate to the regular season. Granted, the poor record could be credited to so many of their key players participating in the WBC. Right now, the Royals' lineup has consisted of players like Brandon Drury, Kevin Newman, and Connor Kaiser at the top of the lineup, which isn't exactly "dangerous" by any means. Safe to say, none of those three will be major factors on the Kansas City roster in 2026. However, the experience the Royals have gotten in the WBC cannot be understated, especially for a player like Vinnie. Italy's run to the WBC has allowed Pasquantino not only to gain more competitive at-bats but also to develop his leadership ability and voice during this period of play. That will only help the Royals in 2026, especially as they look to return to the postseason after missing out a year ago. Pasquantino is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to positive WBC development stories. Cags showed great plate patience in the last two games after being too free-swinging in his WBC debut. Witt has demonstrated that he may be Kansas City's solution at leadoff this season. Maikel Garcia had a four-hit game against a loaded Dominican Republic team. The WBC has been a positive and formative experience for the Royals players. And this experience will only benefit the Royals once the regular season starts on March 27th. Michael Wacha, who returned from the WBC this week, seemed to confirm that thought as well, according to Rogers. Perhaps Vinnie can bring the "espresso" home run celebration to the Royals clubhouse when he returns to the squad, just to add to these vibes for the Boys in Blue in the upcoming season. View the full article

North Side Baseball's top-20 prospect rankings for the Chicago Cubs have reached the final quarter. That rundown continues today, with a look at our No. 5 prospect: corner infielder Jonathon Long. Don't forget to catch up on our previous pieces before you jump into our next installment! Prospects #20-16 Prospects #15-11 Prospect #10 - James Triantos Prospect #9 - Josiah Hartshorn Prospect #8 - Kane Kepley Prospect #7 - Pedro Ramirez Prospect #6 - Ethan Conrad No. 5: Jonathon Long (Triple-A Iowa) After splitting time between two levels in 2024, Long saw his first taste of Triple-A last year. He proved that he could hang around to the tune of a .305/.404/.479 batting line, a 19.1 percent strikeout rate against a 13.0 walk rate, and a 131 wRC+ across more than 600 plate appearances. Home runs were a fixture in his game, as he swatted 20 of them, including a multi-homer outing on July 4th of last year: It's an interesting profile, but one that needs just a bit more refinement before we start projecting a regular role for him at Wrigley Field. What To Like As evidenced by the above video, Long has plenty of pop in his game. His advanced approach allows him to create quality contact with a certain steadiness. As such, there's plenty to like in what Long turned in on the percentile side with the Iowa Cubs last year: Such an output is indicative of both the approach and the contact generated by it. The quality in the approach begets the quality of contact. However, as we've seen at the top level with the likes of Seiya Suzuki, there's also a line where the patience goes too far. Nevertheless, Long demonstrated a healthy balance between the two more often than he hasn't. In addition to driving the ball, he's also able to avoid strikeouts and draw walks. Which is important, since we don't always see those aspects collaborate in such a way as they did with Long last season. There's a significant amount of offensive upside in that bat, with the ability to log time at either corner. What To Work On The knock on Long's game is in the elevation and his lack of pull-side power. Sure, he popped 20 homers in 2025, but he also only ISO'd .173. Much of that is due to the fact that he put the ball on the ground to such a heavy extent. The rest of it comes a result of a virtually even split between pull and opposite field contact. Long pulled the ball at a 36.4 percent clip last year while going the other way 35.7 percent of the time. It speaks to the power upside that exists that Long was able to turn in such quality in his line even with each of those factors working against him. There's an obvious benefit in being able to drive the ball to all fields. But there's an even more obvious one in being able to elevate to the pull side, and Long's Pull-AIR rate falling at the extreme-low-end of the spectrum is going to pin those numbers down quite a bit until he adjusts. Employing such a patient approach should at least make such an adjustment a matter of pitch or zone selection rather than anything mechanical, though. What's Next Despite the fact that the bat is just about where it needs to be, Long doesn't have an obvious path to playing time with the Cubs. He logged time at first base, third base, and left field last year, but only 15 of those appearances combined came at either of the latter two spots. Which means that, for all intents and purposes, Long is blocked by Michael Busch. Craig Counsell is also more likely to rotate out the designated hitter spot or give something closer to a full-time look to Moisés Ballesteros, given how right-handed the Cubs' starting group currently figures to be. That doesn't mean that Long is too far off, however. While it'd be a tough sell to have one of your higher upside offensive prospects riding pine for much of the week, there may be just enough versatility that he could crack the roster for at least a cup of coffee at some point in 2026, barring injury or a reconfiguration of the roster that creates spots elsewhere that could lead to an extended stay. Ultimately, though, the positional aspect of Long might make him too rigid a prospect to see for an extended run on the North Side anytime soon. The offensive profile is certainly intriguing enough, but the Cubs lack the opening or the logistics on the roster that will instead result in Long logging a heavy share of his time back in Iowa for the foreseeable future. Should one of the longer-term scenarios arise, that could leave just the sliver of roster space that Jonathon Long needs to make his big-league debut. View the full article

In 2025, the Red Sox were plagued by the injury bug. Entering 2026, a number of Red Sox players are in question for the season due to injuries, but Craig Breslow made sure that Alex Cora has plenty of options to stay competitive. Today, we will cover injured players Triston Casas, Romy Gonzalez, Patrick Sandoval, Vinny Nittoli, Kutter Crawford, Tanner Houck, and Brendan Rodgers. View the full article

#1 Jesús Made (Carolina Mudcats, Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, Biloxi Shuckers) Made earns the top spot on this list because of the rare upside he brings to the table, along with the strong production he put up as a 17- and 18-year-old between three levels in 2025. PA H 2B 3B HR OPS wRC+ wOBA K% BB% SwStr% Whiff% PULL% CENT% OPPO% LD% GB% FB% IFFB% SB CS SB% 90th EV 525 129 28 6 6 .792 128 .385 20.6% 12.8% 9.0% 23.9% 40.5% 26.1% 33.3% 24.8% 43.7% 31.6% 28.0% 47 13 78% 105.2 What to Like Jesús Made is an explosive athlete with the potential for plus or better tools across the board. From a physical standpoint, he already looks the part, and he recently reported to camp looking even stronger, adding noticeable muscle to a frame that was already trending in the right direction. Offensively, the switch-hitting ability is one of the most exciting parts of his profile. His swings from both sides of the plate are nearly mirror images, and his bat speed is similar whether he is hitting right-handed or left-handed. That level of symmetry is uncommon and gives him a very strong foundation at the plate. The hit tool projects as plus, due to his bat-to-ball ability and capacity to use the whole field. There's also real power upside. Made already shows the strength and bat speed needed to drive the ball with authority, and has posted a 90th-percentile exit velocity of 105.2 MPH, which would be above-average even in MLB. This spring, his EV90 is 108 MPH, and he's hit one ball 110.8 MPH. As he continues to mature physically, the power should continue to develop. If he begins to consistently lift the ball and convert hard contact into damage, the offensive ceiling becomes extremely high. A switch-hitting bat with plus hit and plus power potential is rare, especially at a premium defensive position. Defensively, Made has the tools to remain at shortstop for the long term. He shows strong instincts, good hands, and a plus arm. His athleticism allows him to cover ground, and he has the body control to make plays from different angles. While there are still moments of youthful inconsistency, the physical tools and flashes of high-level defense suggest the potential for above-average or better performance at shortstop, or either second or third base. Made can also really run, posting plus times from home to first, and he does it with an effortless glide to his gait. He stole 47 bases in 2025, and has the type of speed to be a big-time threat in that regard. When combining the athleticism with the offensive and defensive tools, the overall ceiling is extremely high. Few players in all of baseball possess this level of upside on both sides of the ball. What to Work On The primary offensive area for improvement is launch angle and overall batted-ball profile. Made already hits the ball hard, but maximizing his power output will require lifting more of those hard-hit balls into the air. Improving that aspect of his swing would unlock more consistent extra-base production and allow his raw strength to show up more often in games. Defensively, consistency will be the main focus. While the tools are evident, routine plays and throwing accuracy need refinement. Cleaning up inaccurate throws and maintaining focus from pitch to pitch will help him turn flashes of high-end defense into the steady defense that is required of any Brewers infielder. Made flashes plus speed, but he does have some work to do in terms of his jumps on stolen bases—he was caught stealing 13 times in 2025—as well as his reads off the bat, if he is going to maximize the value he can bring on the bases. What’s Next Made is expected to begin back in Double-A, where he finished briefly in 2025. He has the chance to make his way to Triple-A at some point, and it’d be foolish to completely rule out a 2026 MLB debut, though 2027 seems far more likely. Given his combination of switch-hitting ability, power upside, defensive tools, and athleticism, he has the profile of a franchise-level player if everything clicks. The 2026 season will be another key step in his development, particularly in seeing how the added strength translates into in-game production. If it’s seamless, it wouldn’t be a shock to see Made in Milwaukee by September. What are your thoughts on Made? What are you hoping to see from him in 2026? Let us know in the comments! View the full article

Kaelen Culpepper Bats: R / Throws: R Age: 23 Stats in 2025: (High-A, Double A) 517 PA, .289/.375/.469, 16 2B, 3 3B, 20 HR, 25 SB Rule 5 Eligible: After 2027 Season ETA: Late 2026 2025 Ranking: 3 National Top 100 Rankings BP: 71 | MLB: 52 | ATH: 82 | BA: 74 | ESPN: 79 It’s easy to see the upside that the Twins banked on when they selected Culpepper with the 21st overall pick in the 2024 draft. He was coming off of a fantastic campaign with the Kansas State Wildcats where he flashed plus speed, slick fielding and some noticeable pop. And after his first full season of professional ball, that vision of a high performing middle infielder has become even clearer. Culpepper started the 2025 season with the Cedar Rapids Kernels, where he raked to the tune of an .864 OPS (147 wRC+) while displaying his acrobatic defense calling card. It took just 54 games for the Twins to determine that it was time for Culpepper to face steeper competition at the Double A level, and the shortstop continued to deliver with the Wichita Wind Surge. His performance earned him a selection to the MLB Futures Game, where he shared the field with the game’s other top prospects. He’s likely to begin his 2026 campaign in Double A, but if he maintains this blistering pace while refining his offensive approach, he could make the case for a promotion to the Twin Cities in short order. What to Like Culpepper’s profile is certainly enticing, especially when you consider the question marks surrounding the top of the organization’s depth chart at the shortstop position. In fact, his strengths so far in his young career seem to counter the weaknesses of Brooks Lee, the presumed starting shortstop for the Twins. Culpepper has shown strong defensive range up the middle thanks to his plus speed and highlight reel-worthy athleticism–something Lee has struggled to develop. A future at the shortstop position is certainly possible given his 60-grade arm, but even if he requires a move to a new defensive home at some point, there’s confidence that he could be a strong everyday second or third baseman. Culpepper also tapped into some power that wasn’t necessarily a given when the Twins drafted him a year prior. He popped 20 home runs in 113 games played in 2025, leading to a very strong .469 slugging percentage. That’s a 28-homer pace across 162 games, which is something Lee never displayed at any level in his career. And while it’s unrealistic to expect that sort of powerful production from KC as he continues to develop, it’s going to be hard to forget that he flashed this type of in-game pop while still adding size and strength as a 22-year-old. And even if that strength dips, a strong defensive middle infielder with 15-20 home run power and plus speed on the base paths would make him an extremely valuable commodity. What to Work On While Culpepper was still able to make a decent amount of contact with his swings, evaluators are worried about his penchant to chase out of the strike zone. This mostly comes from a lack of breaking ball recognition, especially on sliders low and out of the zone. Like Lee, Culpepper has good enough bat-to-ball skills that he’s able to reach down and make contact with pitches below the zone, but there’s a reason we didn’t mention this in the “what to like” portion of his write-up. He was able to get away with this at the collegiate level, but that flaw is only going to get further exacerbated as he faces steeper competition. If Culpepper isn’t able to make an adjustment for this part of his offensive skillset, it’s hard to project him as a plus hitter at the game’s top level. But evaluators are willing to give him the opportunity to improve in this regard before writing him off, given his clear high-end talent. Culpepper has shown enough to suggest he’ll continue to be viewed as a starting caliber shortstop, but scouts don’t seem to love his quick-twitch reaction on hard hit balls. This could be due to his pre-pitch setup, which is something that can certainly be adjusted and improved with time. But if he can’t stick up the middle, his bat profile might not be a great fit at the hot corner. Are these warts enough for him to not be considered the best shortstop prospect in the system? Probably not, but last year’s first round pick, Marek Houston, was the clear-cut best collegiate shortstop in his draft class and may be hot on his heels. What to Look For in 2026 Culpepper is going to be one of the must-see youngsters in the Twins’ system, and a couple good breaks could find him making his MLB debut by the end of the season. It’s certainly not a lock to happen since he only has about two months of experience in the upper levels of the minor leagues. But he held his own in that time, slashing a strong .285/.367/.460 (129 wRC+) against competition that was roughly two years older on average. Say he starts the year back with Double-A Wichita and continues to display strong defense while maintaining that level of offensive production, a promotion to Triple-A St. Paul could come along pretty quickly, and then it’s mostly a matter of opportunity that would determine his call to the Twins. The Twins aren’t going to rush him to the big leagues as some sort of knight in shining armor, ready to propel them back into contention. But anything can happen for a top prospect in their early-20s, who is healthy, performing, and making necessary adjustments to their game. View the full article

Talk Sox's top prospect rankings have reached their latter half, now focusing on the Boston Red Sox's top 10 prospects heading into the 2026 season. Be sure to check out our previous rankings here: Part 1 (Nos. 16-20) Part 2 (Nos. 11-15) Part 3 (No. 10) Part 4 (No. 9) Part 5 (No. 8) Part 6 (No. 7) Boston Red Sox Top Prospects: No. 6 Mikey Romero It’s been a long and hard road for Mikey Romero since being a first-round pick by the Red Sox back in 2022. The infielder, who was drafted as a shortstop, only got to play in 19 games after getting drafted, finishing red hot for the Salem Red Sox with a .349/.364/.581 stat line along with four doubles, three triples and 11 RBIs. The 2023 season wouldn’t go as well for the infielder, as he suffered a back injury heading into spring training that would end up becoming a stress fracture and cost him nearly the entire season. In total, he would only appear in 34 games between the Florida Complex League, Low-A Salem and High-A Greenville, where he hit a combined .214/.294/.286 with five doubles, two triples and 13 RBIs. Then, 2024 began in much the same fashion, with Romero opening the year on the injured list before beginning to look like a first-round prospect. He hit .271/.312/.509 in 78 games between the Complex League, High-A Greenville and Double-A Portland. He also finally showcased his power potential with 24 doubles and 16 home runs. Now, after a 2025 season that saw Romero appear in a career-high 111 games where he hit a combined .245/.300/.452 between Portland and Worcester, he is knocking on the door of the majors. Offensively, Romero is an aggressive swinger who tries to hunt fastballs early in the count while also occasionally chasing secondary pitches. He needs to work on limiting his chase rate. However, he’s been able to make solid contact despite his aggressive approach, especially against right-handed pitching. His hit tool could improve with a better approach, but he'll likely never be an annual .300 hitter. Power wise, Romero had been described as having “sneaky power," though after back-to-back seasons of 16 and 17 home runs (all while playing no more than 111 games), that “sneaky” title may need to be removed from the description of his game. The strength he added prior to 2025 also helped him tap into his power as he hit a career-high 33 doubles. He can really drive the ball when he manages to pull it; a larger focus on ideal launch angles and elevation will be key for him to jump into the 20-homer tier of prospect. Defensively, Romero has not had the cleanest of developments in the minor leagues. While drafted as a shortstop, due to his average hands and fringy range along with a barely average arm, he was moved off of shortstop while with Portland. Since then, he’s split time at second base and third base, with they keystone being his most likely final destination due to his arm being more passable there. It also doesn't help that his speed is below average, but he can get around it due to his great baserunning instincts. With this being his first non-roster invite to spring training, Romero will have plenty of time to make an impact with the major-league coaching staff, especially with a large portion of the major league team having left for the World Baseball Classic. However, as has been shown with many talented players, the issue will be if Romero can stay on the field for large portions of the season. Already he’s missed time in spring training due to back tightness, but he returned to game action as of March 8. Romero may not be the player many envisioned when he was drafted, but the talent is still there for him to be a bat-first second baseman who can give you double digit home runs on an annual basis. He just needs to remain healthy. Romero, barring a string of injuries to the major-league roster, will open the season with Triple-A Worcester. He'll get plenty of playing time between second base and third base, and unless he's traded, will likely make his major-league debut at some point this season. Romero provides the team with quality infield depth that they'll be able to call upon when either an injury or poor performance strikes the major-league team. View the full article

The natural state of a major league bullpen features a lot of in-season personnel turnover thanks to injuries, matchup planning for a given series, and the relative expendability of pitchers who fill a short-inning role. Thanks to the Blue Jays' ample starting pitching depth, as well as the fact that they have multiple Rule 5 draft picks (Angel Bastardo and Spencer Miles) fighting to break camp in the bullpen, Braydon Fisher is on the bubble to start the regular season in Toronto. He has three minor league options remaining and pitched mostly in low-leverage spots by the time the postseason rolled around in 2025. Yes, there were multiple proven closers on the free agent market after a year in which Rogers reaped the financial benefits of a World Series run. Yes, the Blue Jays signed none of them, but this will still be the strongest bullpen they've had to start a season in quite some time. Behind Jeff Hoffman, John Schneider will have Tyler Rogers, Louis Varland, and a new-and-improved Brendon Little at his disposal in the late innings. The dependability of Rogers and a full season of Varland are especially encouraging additions, considering the bullpen the Jays entered 2025 with. Fisher's current status, then, is far more a testament to the group around him than his own shortcomings. I frankly don't know how many other teams would even have to question whether Fisher would make their Opening Day roster. In exactly 50 innings in 2025, he did more things really well than you might realize. He was part of a group of just 32 pitchers (of the 339 that threw at least 50 innings) that had a strikeout rate above 30% and an average exit velocity below 90 mph. It's how he got those results, though, that stands out. You see, Fisher's arsenal features an almost exclusive slider-curveball dependence. Only Atlanta's Tyler Kinley threw a higher percentage of breaking balls in 2025. Fisher's fastball has decent velocity at 95-96 mph, but its movement patterns (high-carry, cutting action) are pretty much exactly in line with what you'd expect given his arm angle and propensity for spinning the ball. So, he just doesn't throw it very often. He's extremely curveball-heavy to lefties and slider-heavy to righties, and it has worked out for him so far. MLB Breaking Ball Usage% Leaders, 2025 Rank Pitcher Breaking Ball Usage% 1 Tyler Kinley 75.4% 2 Braydon Fisher 74.4% 3 Pierce Johnson 71.3% 4 Anthony Bender 67.5% 5 Tristan Beck 67.0% min. 500 pitches; source: Statcast Together, his 12-6 curveball and bullet slider frequently vexed opposing hitters. A ~75th-percentile average exit velocity against doesn't do Fisher's quality contact suppression skills justice; pitchers have little influence over that anyway. His overall groundball rate was only 36.4% in 2025, well below-average, but at the pitch type level, we can see there was an element of strategy to that. His curveball was actually quite efficient at generating grounders, while his slider (along with his four-seamer, when he used it) was a popup machine. His overall popup rate for the season was 11%. That's elite territory. A fairly large proportion of total contact against Fisher's two primary pitches is essentially guaranteed to be harmless. Fisher's GB% and PU% by Pitch Type, 2025 Batted Ball Type Curveball Slider GB% 56.8% 36.7% PU% 0.0% 16.3% Source: Statcast There aren't many pitchers who can morph from a groundball arm against one handedness to a popup inducer against the other. Depending on who's at the plate, his plan of attack in terms of missing barrels could be completely different from the at-bat before, but he still gets weak contact – and misses bats – in either scenario. This feels like a good time to remind everyone that Fisher was the lone piece of the return package when the Blue Jays traded Cavan Biggio to the Dodgers in 2024. At the time of the trade, Fisher had all of 11.2 innings above Double A to his name, and some pretty severe walk issues plagued him throughout the minors. The results didn't immediately get better in Buffalo either, but he made one key change to his approach: getting a head start. Fisher's Command Indicators, Triple-A, 2024 Organization First-Pitch Strike% Zone% LAD 49.1% 48.5% TOR 58.7% 50.7% Source: Statcast through FanGraphs Sometimes, throwing strike one more often really does allow everything else to fall into place. When Fisher started 2025 in Buffalo, that first-pitch strike rate climbed to 55%. In the big leagues, it sat just a hair under 60%. This is a guy who walked between 13% and 18% of batters he faced at essentially every step of the minors, and out of nowhere in 2025, he learned to throw strikes with consistency. The pitch models back that up as well, as his location was given perfectly average grades by both Cameron Grove's PitchingBot and Eno Sarris's Stuff+ model. As a former fourth-round pick out of high school in 2018, the stuff was never a big question. Whatever the Jays did to fix his command has proved consequential, to say the least. There were occasions in 2025 when Fisher was thrown into the fire out of necessity. In hindsight, his two-inning, four-strikeout masterclass at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa to seal a 2-1 win for the Blue Jays in 11 innings on September 15 stands out as one of the team's most pivotal moments on their way to an AL East title. In fact, his strikeout of Junior Caminero to end that game was the second-most important strikeout by a Jays pitcher all regular season, according to Statcast win probability, behind only Mason Fluharty's famous ambush of Shohei Ohtani in August. That night in Tampa accounts for a large percentage of Fisher's total high-leverage work as a big leaguer (only 8.1 innings, beware of small sample size), but he does have a 1.22 FIP and a 2.88 xFIP in those spots. He has been up to the task when he has been needed most. And yet, with the Blue Jays exhausting every possible option as they look to bring that elusive championship home in 2026, it's far from a lock that he'll be in the building to face the Athletics on March 27. It won't be Fisher's fault if he doesn't make the cut. Things have gone mostly according to plan so far this spring through the first 16 batters he's faced (as of March 10): Fisher's Key Indicators, 2025 vs. 2026 Spring Training Stat 2025 2026 ST CSW% 33.9% 29.0% Zone Miss% 14.6% 25.0% Chase% 28.9% 24.2% Zone% 49.9% 52.2% Source: FanGraphs It sounds crazy at first that a 25-year-old reliever who misses bats, generates weak contact of all kinds, and excelled in his first taste of high-leverage action for a pennant-winning team might not make the cut next spring, but in their treatment of Braydon Fisher so far, the Blue Jays have exemplified the ways in which they've improved their player management over the past couple of years: They took a flier on a high-ceiling relief prospect hoping to find a silver lining after one of their most tenured hitters didn't pan out, oversaw significant improvements to his command and projectability, gave him the big league run time he had earned, and still amassed contingency plan after contingency plan for the bullpen following his first season. Fisher's flexibility with respect to his minor league options makes him a wholly undeserving candidate to be the odd man out on Opening Day, but again, that's just how the modern bullpen works. He showed more than enough in 2025 to convince the organization that he could be a key part of their relief corps for the immediate future, and if breaking camp isn't in the cards, he will surely arrive at the first sign of injury or underperformance. A young pitcher with plus stuff and damage suppression skills can't be held down for long. View the full article

It's time to begin our walkthrough of Jays Centre's Top 20 Toronto Blue Jays Prospects, as voted on by our writers! This video breaks down Landen Maroudis, Yeuni Munoz, Brandon Barriera, Sean Keys, and RJ Schreck with everything from injury history to defining strengths and drawbacks. Enjoy! View the full article

Padres Mission has come out with its top 20 prospects list for San Diego's Pipeline, and in this video, as review no. 20 through 16! Francis Pena, Eric Yost, Deivid Coronil, Truitt Madonna, and Kavares Tears all start us off. View the full article

The calendar is inching closer to Opening Day for the Minnesota Twins. In just over two weeks, the club will begin the 2026 season on March 26 in Baltimore. Until then, the focus remains on getting through the final stretch of spring training in Fort Myers. As the big league roster begins to take shape, the Twins have continued trimming their camp roster. Earlier this week, Minnesota made another round of roster moves, bringing the total number of players in camp down to 49. With minor league games beginning on the back fields, those teams need players as well, especially prospects who need regular at-bats and innings. After Wednesday’s 2-1 Grapefruit League win over the Detroit Tigers, the Twins made another pair of cuts. Kaelen Culpepper and Aaron Sabato were both reassigned from big league camp, bringing the camp roster down to 47 players. Both players entered camp as non-roster invitees, but they arrived in very different spots in their development. Culpepper, 23, was Minnesota’s first-round pick in the 2024 draft and has quickly become one of the organization’s most exciting prospects. The shortstop is already a consensus top 100 prospect across the industry, and his first experience in a major league camp offered an encouraging glimpse of what could be ahead. He made the most of his opportunities this spring. Culpepper finished camp batting .316 with a .749 OPS across limited action, collecting six hits in 19 at-bats. He added a double, drove in two runs, walked once, and struck out five times. His final appearance was also his most productive. Culpepper went 2-for-2 on Wednesday with a walk-off hit. However, the Twins announced his reassignment shortly after the game. The decision to send him down was never much of a surprise. Culpepper has not yet played at Triple-A, and the organization would prefer he get everyday reps rather than sporadic appearances late in Grapefruit League games. Still, his performance reinforced the belief that he may not be far away. Last season, he played 113 games between High- and Double-A, producing an .844 OPS that came with a blend of contact ability, emerging power, and the defensive profile to remain in the middle of the infield. He will open the 2026 season with Triple-A St. Paul, where the next step will be proving that his bat can handle upper-level pitching. If that happens, it would not be surprising to see Culpepper enter the conversation for a big league opportunity sometime this summer. Sabato’s path has been much different. The first baseman was the 27th overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft, selected largely for the offensive upside he showed in college. The Twins hoped his power bat could eventually anchor the middle of a lineup. While there have been flashes, the production has not fully materialized. Sabato reached Triple- A last season and finished the year on a strong stretch, but his overall numbers still left questions. Across the season, he hit .245 with a .741 OPS. This spring, he appeared in 12 games and hit .231 with a .718 OPS. The power potential remains intriguing, but he has yet to consistently show the type of offensive impact that would force the Twins to clear a spot for him at the big league level. For Culpepper, the assignment to St. Paul feels more like a step along the path rather than a setback. The Twins wanted to see how one of their most promising young players handled his first big league camp. The answer was encouraging. Now the next challenge begins in Triple A, where Culpepper will try to prove that his impressive spring was just a preview of what is still to come. If that happens, the conversation about when he reaches Minnesota could arrive sooner than later. View the full article

When healthy, Hunter Harvey has consistently demonstrated the ability to dominate big-league batters. He has a 3.11 career ERA and has struck out 26.8% of the hitters he's faced. However, good health never seems to last long for him, which made him available relatively cheaply this winter. The Cubs pounced, signing him to a deal worth $6 million in guaranteed money and up to $1.375 million more in incentives. It wasn't a minor deal; that's a significant outlay for a team that rarely ponies up for relievers. Harvey didn't allow an earned run in any of his 12 appearances last year, but making only 12 appearances tells the story. Strains of his teres major (a back/shoulder muscle) and adductor (groin) cost him all but about a month in the middle of the season. They also cut into his raw stuff a bit. Harvey hit 98 miles per hour or higher on the radar gun 60 times in a much healthier 2024; he didn't get there at all in 2025. This spring, the fully healthy version of Harvey has reported for duty. On Wednesday, he averaged 98.1 miles per hour with his heater, and threw four of his six heaters at 98 or higher. That much velocity makes him a nightmare for opposing batters. To be fair, Wednesday's game was Harvey's first time on a Cactus League mound since Mar. 1. He'd been working in side sessions in between, but the long layoff probably helped him ramp up the velocity the way he did. Nor is his splitter showing the depth that makes it a bat-misser so far. His slider has been solid, but not spectacular. If he can sustain anything close to this kind of heat, though, he's going to be the dominant setup man to closer Daniel Palencia for as much of the season as he can hold up for. If Harvey can stay healthy and maintain this velocity over a substantial chunk of the season, he'll probably meet most of the incentive thresholds in his contract—because that version of Harvey would also get plenty of chances to close games as the season wears on. For now, it's only wise to modulate expectations. Harvey is healthy and firing on all cylinders right now, but that can change at a moment's notice. On balance, we should still expect Phil Maton to be the best setup man on the team, despite Harvey's demonstrated upside. However, spring is about optimistic stories like this. It's not just velocity. Harvey's fastball has impressive shape, too, with rising action and a bit less run than it showed last year. His secondaries still have to fall into line, and he has to pass the daily test of availability over a long season. If he were a good bet to do that, given the stuff he's flashing already in mid-March, he would not have been available at anywhere near as good a price as the Cubs got on him. Still, the proof of concept represented by an outing like Wednesday's is cause for celebration. The Cubs' bullpen will be a key to their efforts to topple the mighty Milwaukeeans in the NL Central; Harvey looks ready to lead the charge. View the full article

Khadim Diaw just barely makes a couple of top 20 Twins prospect lists as 2026 is underway. He was limited to just 42 games due to injuries, but showed just enough that he will be a must-follow for prospect die-hards in 2026. View the full article

Spring training is a time when players across the league talk about adjustments. Some work on mechanical changes at the plate; others add strength or refine defensive skills. For young players trying to establish themselves at the major-league level, the offseason becomes a prime opportunity to evaluate everything. For Minnesota, 2026 marks another important step for shortstop Brooks Lee. The former first-round pick has already shown flashes of the hitter he can become and demonstrated the steady hands and instincts that cemented him as one of the organization’s top prospects. Despite his promise, Lee entered the winter aware that there were areas for improvement. Rather than reinventing himself, he concentrated on refining key aspects of his game to make a difference over a full season at the highest level of competition the game offers. “Just same thing, hitting, getting better left-handed, staying the same right-handed. And then just lateral movement, get quicker, a lot of running,” Lee said about his offseason work. “And then just, yeah, trying new stuff in the weight room to help with that.” That offseason focus led Lee to prioritize mobility. Last season, he posted -1 OAA at shortstop. Known for reliable hands and a strong arm, he felt he was missing out on balls he should be reaching. “It's kind of like an obvious thing,” Lee said. “You know, balls hit to me, I'll make the play, but it's the ones I don't get to. So, just try to get to more balls. And that's kind of the focus. And I think the straight-ahead speed got a lot better, and so the lateral speed will also get better.” That work started in the weight room and extended onto the field, with sprint training and technique work designed to help him move more efficiently. “Like the weight room stuff, just changing the new things and trying to focus on, you know, being as strong as I can be, and just creating the most force,” Lee said. “And then, yeah, definitely a lot of technique and sprint work that went into it, and it seemed like it paid off.” Lee believes the difference is noticeable even during routine defensive drills. “It's just obvious,” he said. “When you take ground balls in the offseason, even just getting to certain balls off the bat you don't think you're going to get to. I'm not a numbers guy. If I feel like it got better, then it did.” That defensive work ties into how Lee views his role at shortstop. At 6-foot-2 and 215 pounds, he understands he is built differently than some of the smaller, quick-twitch players who have historically played the position. Because of that, he knows maximizing his mobility is critical. “I'm not a small shortstop. I'm a bigger one, so I've got to be able to use what I can to get certain balls,” Lee said. “Because I make the play usually when it's in my glove, because I'm pretty accurate and I have good hands, but it's just those ones that I'm not getting to, and I feel like I should, and the numbers say I should. “Better first step,” he added. “You know, I always anticipate, but I think just getting better with changing direction really quickly is a really big focus.” While defense was a clear offseason emphasis, Lee also worked on simplifying his approach at the plate. As a switch-hitter, much of that attention was placed on his left-handed swing. Last season, he had a .676 OPS as a right-handed hitter, and his OPS was 33 points lower from the left side. “Just trying to find one swing that I could stick with left-handed, not make so many adjustments,” Lee said. “I felt like this offseason, I made the least amount of adjustments. Didn't look at video that much. I felt good.” Part of that adjustment involves using the entire field more consistently. “Just try to hit the ball the other way more,” Lee said. “I didn't really do that last year, left-handed. I feel like right-handed, I did. I got a lot more hits. So yeah, that was kind of a big focus. See the ball deeper so I could hit it that way. And I think that'll help with chasing.” Numbers confirm Lee's self-diagnosis, albeit imperfectly. He used the opposite field about equally often from each side, but (according to FanGraphs) he did hit the ball more to center field (39.8% of his batted balls) and less to the pull field from the right side than from the left (32.6% of batted balls going to center). Interestingly, however, that distribution came despite a deeper contact point from the left side, and a greater pull orientation (as measured by attack direction at intercept) from the right side. He also chased pitches outside the zone at a higher rate (34.5%) from the right side than from the left (30.5%). The adjusted approach could still better balance Lee’s offensive profile. While he has shown the ability to drive the ball with power, he knows maintaining his discipline will ultimately lead to more consistent results. “I think the hits will come,” Lee said. “I have to stick to my approach and be OK with taking walks and maybe not try to force hits when I'm not doing well.” For a player whose instinct is to put the ball in play, that can be easier said than done. “It's just kind of my nature, is to try and get hits,” Lee said. “But you've got to swing at the right pitches, and if you don't, you're probably out. Maybe I'll get more lucky than others because of the bat to ball, but it could hurt me, too.” Despite making several adjustments, Lee’s mindset entering the season remains simple: focus on his routine and allow everything else to fall into place. “Yeah, it is what it is,” Lee said about playing shortstop. “Whatever happens, happens. I just keep doing my thing every day, letting everything play out. It’ll all work out in the end.” For Lee, that consistency has become part of the job. The opportunity to play shortstop for Minnesota is something he has already grown comfortable with. “Yeah, it’s great,” Lee said. “I’ve had that chance my rookie year, I’ve had it last year, I have it this year. I’m used to it by now. It’s a good feeling, but it’s just baseball.” As 2026 approaches, Lee isn’t overhauling his game. He's making targeted improvements that could pay dividends throughout the long season. If these adjustments carry over to the field, the Twins could see a more complete young shortstop take another step forward—via quicker steps left and right—this year. What stands out about Lee’s offseason changes? Can he be the team’s long-term shortstop? Leave a comment and start the discussion. View the full article

Jacob Waguespack doesn't identify as a member of any extreme overhand pitching brotherhood, if such a thing exists. Sidearmers and submariners are famous for sticking together, but as Waguespack noted, that's because most of them had to relearn to throw—as, for instance, Grant Anderson did during his transition to pitching, in college. By contrast, even guys who benefit from deception based on their very high arm slots usually achieve that semi-accidentally. "There's been a few guys in the past," Waguespack said. "I've been compared to Chris Young, [now] the GM of the Rangers. He was a tall guy, over the top. But it's just something I've always done. It's weird. "I've just done that from a young age, man. I've got pictures of me in high school or even smaller, with me, you know, getting my head out of the way and my arm's gotta come out [of that place above his torso]." Waguespack said he's received the feedback from multiple teams that pitching the way he does is useful, because it provides such a different look from what most pitchers in the modern game do. At 6-foot-7, he's not quite as towering as Young was, but he does move and pitch quite a bit like Young—and even bears a passing facial resemblance to him. Because that motion came naturally to him from his youth, though, he's never spent much time picking the brains of other pitchers like him. He focuses on using his plus-plus extension to help his fastball play up and on executing his stuff. Over the winter, Waguespack made it his goal to improve his mobility and range of motion, especially in his hips and back. Knowing that his size works against him in his efforts to stay healthy and that he's "lucky" to still be pitching the way he is at his age (32), he wanted to avoid using heavy weight in the gym and to maximize his flexibility. He consults with Cressey Sports Performance as a remote training guide, but his most important aides this winter were massage therapist Jay Manda and physical therapist Robbie Bolton, near his offseason home in Louisiana. "Just more stretching, mobility, breathwork, things like that, to really open up a few more ticks of movement," Waguespack said. He spent time with the Rays and Phillies organizations in 2025, but injuries limited him to 25 appearances, all in the minors. To get back to the Show for the first time since 2024, he chose the Brewers—not because the path is unusually clear, but because he trusts his new team to shepherd him well and give him a fair shake when the chance arises. It's not lost on him that the very locker he occupies this spring (in the least-trafficked corner of the clubhouse in Maryvale) belonged to Jared Koenig just two years ago. He called it "a blessing that the Brewers reached out," and that stroke of luck made choosing his new team easier. "When I got here, I came a week early and introduced myself to [manager Pat Murphy]," Waguespack said. "He just said they're excited to have me, and if I can be a help to the team, then they'll certainly use me. Wherever I may start—I'm not sure, probably start in Triple A—but I've got experience. It's been a good feel. I think Murph's a good leader. He's been upfront and honest to us, and I like the vibe and feel of the team." Waguespack is the archetype of the recent Brewers reliever success story, in the vein of Anderson, Koenig, Bryan Hudson, Bryse Wilson and others. He doesn't throw hard, but he offers unique traits and is a late bloomer, with an eagerness to succeed and a flexibility about the timeline of his contributions that the team prizes. Just across the room (though the two are hidden from one another by the large wall on which the massive TV is mounted) is another such winter pickup: lefty Sammy Peralta. Unlike Waguespack, Peralta didn't get to choose Milwaukee. They claimed him on waivers in late October, plucking him from the Angels organization and denying him what would have been a chance to become a minor-league free agent. Peralta, however, is not complaining. "I got a call from [Carlos Villanueva] and a couple of the other guys here," Peralta recalled, going back to when the team first picked him up. "They were telling me how much they were interested in me, and they'd really like to see me work on a cutter. So I pretty much worked on that all offseason, trying to develop a decent slider-slash-cutter." The Brewers like Peralta's sweeper a lot, as a weapon against fellow lefties, but they emphasized to him that the cutter (or tighter slider) will be a difference-maker against right-handed batters. Peralta said the pitch immediately felt comfortable for him, and that "as long as you're cognizant about how your body feels and how your arm feels," the winter work involved in engineering a new or better offering is both safe and easy. You can already see him doing it, too. Here's what his pitch charts looked like in Triple-A Salt Lake, where he spent the bulk of 2025 for the Angels. Compare that to the same data for this spring, in Brewers camp. Statcast has some cleaning up and catching up to do, but in the velocity and movement distributions on his four-seamer and slider, you can see how he's cultivated the cutter—that in-between pitch in both shape and speed that should help him neutralize right-handed batters. Righties have hammered Peralta (.302/.374/.448) during his time in the majors over the last three years, but the same was even more true of Anderson against lefties until he found his way to the Brewers last season. Peralta knows he's in an excellent place to take a big step forward in his career, especially because his career arc is similar to what some of the other guys in the clubhouse have gone through to get this far. Born in Queens, Peralta and his family moved to Florida when he was a child. He went to high school in Kissimee, but went undrafted after his senior year. He first attended Palm Beach State College, a junior college near home; then San Jacinto College, a community college in Houston. He ended up at the University of Tampa for one year, before being an 18th-round pick by the White Sox. The game did not let him in easily; he had to steadily knock the door down. "It's cool," Peralta said of being in a place where several players' résumés read like his. "I feel like it's been a chip on my shoulder, and it also drives me to compete, and want to be the best version of myself I can be. "I know a lot of these guys have been to a lot of places, and it makes me more comfortable knowing that I'm in a similar environment. Everybody here is striving to get better, and they want to be the best version of themselves, as well." Peralta, too, will start the season in the minors. Waguespack is in camp on a minor-league deal, but Peralta is on the 40-man roster and will have to survive some trimming as the team makes room for whoever might make the team but not be on the 40-man yet. He can still be optioned to the minors, though, so Milwaukee is unlikely to let him go for free. Both Waguespack and Peralta are fringe arms whom other teams could have had without making major commitments this winter. Neither has even an outside chance of becoming a closer or a top-tier setup man. However, the Brewers get extra wins each year by having reliable, surprisingly effective middle relievers who seem to come out of nowhere, and these two players perfectly encapsulate the 'how' and the 'why' of that success. They might be names to file away for now, but it's too early to forget about either. By September, one or both is likely to have come up big for the team at a moment that matters. View the full article

One of the more important developments for the 2025 Chicago Cubs was the evolution of Pete Crow-Armstrong from elite defender to all-around impact player. After finishing well into the below-average end of the wRC+ threshold in 2024 (86), Crow-Armstrong launched his offensive contribution up to a 112 mark in that respect, driven by a massive increase in power. The 2024 iteration of Crow-Armstrong posted 10 home runs and a .148 isolated slugging across 410 plate appearances, while this improved version went for 31 homers and a .234 ISO. He finished as the first Cubs player with 30 home runs and 30 steals in a season since Sammy Sosa did it twice in the early 1990s. That doesn't mean it was perfect, however. The concerns around Crow-Armstrong's plate discipline continued to manifest, and it's those very issues that played a significant role in a second half swoon from the team's star center fielder. While it wouldn't be out of line to discuss Crow-Armstrong's 2025 in the context of "breakout," it was very much a tale of two halves. Here's the breakdown from each side of the All-Star break for him last year: 1st Half: .265/.302/.544, 25 HR, 27 SB, 22.9 K%, 4.5 BB%, 131 wRC+ 2nd Half: .216/.262/.372, 6 HR, 8 SB, 25.6 K%, 4.5 BB%, 72 wRC+ There's some nuance to the splits in the sample (401 vs. 246 PA, respectively) and some bad luck on batted balls (.259 BABIP in the second half), but the difference in the numbers speak to some of the concerns that one might've had around Crow-Armstrong's profile from the jump. The strikeout rate climbed, but it wasn't an issue of being too aggressive in the way that one might also expect. His swing rate actually dropped in August to its lowest in an individual month (27.6 percent). Instead, it was a contact issue. Crow-Armstrong's chase rate went down, but his chase-and-miss rate reached its height in August (56.3 percent) while he struggled mightily against fastballs specifically by the end of the year. In September, his whiff rate against that pitch type (36.1 percent) was his highest in an individual month against any pitch from the three groups (fastball, breaking ball, off-speed). There are myriad factors that we could examine as to why there was such a drop-off in the second half; approach, mechanics, and burnout might've all played their role. Regardless of the root causes, it's clear that the second half decline in production is being taken into account heavily by projection systems. The following is how the various projection models figure Pete Crow-Armstrong for 2026: Steamer: .252/.301/.451, 20 HR, 27 SB, 23.5 K%, 5.5 BB%, 108 wRC+ ZiPS: .255/.304/.461, 25 HR, 32 SB, 24.6 K%, 5.4 BB%, 111 wRC+ ATC: .246/.296/.436, 23 HR, 33 SB, 24.2 K%, 5.6 BB%, 100 RC+ THE BAT X: .244/.296/.430, 22 HR, 35 SB, 24.9 K%, 5.8 BB%, 101 wRC+ OOPSY: .255/.306/.452, 25 HR, 37 SB, 24.1 K%, 5.7 BB%, 110 wRC+ The big takeaway is that it's mildly unusual to see projections so universal on an individual player. With the exception of slugging percentage where we see it a little more, there's very little variance across the board. Pretty much all of the systems like Crow-Armstrong to turn in a season quite similar to what we saw in 2025. But would that be satisfactory? If we wanted to be more pointed about it, what would a good season from Pete Crow-Armstrong actually look like? When he's "on," this is one of the most exciting players in the game. That manifests in terms of both power and speed offensively, with Crow-Armstrong possessing the ability to add to that excitement defensively. If we were going to quantify "good" for him, it likely starts with a continuation of those components on offense. Maintaining the counting stats (homers, steals) should allow him to keep that narrative alive. If we're going to classify it as a good year, though, the rate element will need to start to see some growth. That means that the approach needs to be reined in. It's very difficult for an aggressive hitter to tamp down on that aggression altogether, but if Crow-Armstrong can at least refine the approach to mitigate the strikeouts and create more balls-in-play opportunities, that can create a carryover into the other facets of his game. A few more walks or a few more infield hits should yield tremendous results for him as an individual and the collective lineup. There may not be much more than 30 homers in that bat, but there is certainly more upside to be realized in the swipes game if he's able to work his way on base with more consistency. And that's really what it comes down to for Pete Crow-Armstrong. We know what he adds on the defensive side; this is one of the best gloves in the sport regardless of position. For him, it's about getting that energy into something a bit more focused so that he can begin to drive his production up. The good news is that the projections anticipate at least a slight uptick in walks, which could be indicative of an increased focus on that element of his game. Expectations are a tricky quandary to solve, especially when someone as exciting as him does something like hit multiple home runs for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. But if Crow-Armstrong can show a little more maturity at the plate while not sacrificing too much of what makes him so exciting to watch, it'll be hard to consider 2026 anything but a resounding success. View the full article

This has been a very tricky spring for forecasting the Chicago Cubs' Opening Day roster—and even (since that exercise is a bit of rosterbation, really, and not an especially vital question) the broader utility plan for the team's positional corps. With two key players away from the team to participate in the World Baseball Classic and another having been severely delayed in reporting to camp, there have been variables for which Craig Counsell has had to account when filling out Cactus League lineup cards that wouldn't exist most springs, let alone during the regular season. There are also a greater-than-usual number of veterans vying for a roster spot, and often, the evaluation of such candidates goes far beyond what we can see on the field each day. Rather than make any overconfident predictions, then, let's pause today to ask some questions. Here are five things the Cubs need to know by the time they head north, but which (even if they have a strong inkling) fans don't yet have much clue about with two weeks to go. 1. Will Moisés Ballesteros Be on the Roster? This one is very important, because it has implications for other questions we'll consider, too. Ballesteros reported to camp late due to visa issues beyond his control, but has hit the ground running at the plate. In 65 pitches seen, he's been patient (44.6% swing rate), hit the ball hard (105.9 MPH 90th-percentile exit velocity) and made lots of contact (17.3% whiff rate). If he's destined to be the team's primary designated hitter, he'll have no trouble being ready for the season, despite the late start. However, of his six Cactus League games, he's been behind the plate for five of them. Surprisingly, it looks like Ballesteros might be a viable catcher after all, which changes a lot of things for the team. Firstly, they already have two veteran, roster-locked catchers. Secondly, if Ballesteros is showing them enough to be seriously considered as a backstop, he probably needs a bit more seasoning at the position at Triple-A Iowa, anyway. It's not terribly hard to imagine a scenario in which he's farmed out to begin the year, at this point. He could come up in the event of an injury to either another option at DH or one of the incumbent catchers, or (if everyone is healthy and Ballesteros forces the issue) in the wake of a trade of either Miguel Amaya or Carson Kelly fairly early in the season. That's pure speculation—but the chance of that trip to Des Moines for Ballesteros looks very real right now. 2. Is Michael Conforto Going to Make the Team? This could not be tied any more closely to the first question. Conforto signed a minor-league deal with the Cubs late last month, coming in as an additional option from the left side in the DH equation. He's also an outfielder, but a litany of injuries has turned him from a plus defender in the corners to a nearly untenable one. He can't, in other words, be the team's fourth outfielder, and given how much time Matt Shaw has spent in the outfield so far, he was never likely to be that guy for this team, anyway. However, if Ballesteros is out of the mix to begin the year, Conforto could fit nicely as a DH and occasional right fielder against right-handed pitchers. He's not having an especially encouraging spring in terms of performance. He's swung at 46.9% of the pitches he's seen, but whiffed on a hideous 36.9% of those swings. When he does connect, he's only generating a 90th-percentile exit velocity a bit north of 101 MPH—not what you want from a bat-first player whose profile leans on power. Again, though, he's the type of player the team might evaluate as much on work in the cage or on data not available to the public as on even pitch-by-pitch results in Cactus League action. If you need proof that he's using a different process than he would in the regular season, look no further than the fact that he's never swung at a 46.9% rate in a big-league season. 3. Who'll Win That Fourth Outfielder Job? The fight for the right to back up Pete Crow-Armstrong in center field and provide defensive support in the corners began as a four-man fracas. It's now down to three, with one of them being a new entrant and two of the original combatants having been eliminated. Justin Dean and Kevin Alcántara are both optionable, and will be sent down—assuming they aren't traded (a possibility for Alcántara) or designated for assignment when a roster spot is needed for a non-roster player. That leaves Chas McCormick and Dylan Carlson leading the roster battle, with Shaw having jumped into the fray, as well. Shaw was always likely to make the team, but what role he has within it will determine the makeup of the rest of the bench. If he's a solid center fielder, there's at least some chance that neither Carlson nor McCormick makes the team. So far, Carlson has been the best of the three on the field. He's swung at just 43.3% of the pitches he's seen and whiffed on just 17.2% of those swings. His 90th-percentile exit velocity is around 105 MPH. Counsell has spread the former top Cardinals prospect's work evenly around the outfield, and he's moving well. McCormick, meanwhile, has been much more anxious to make an impression, with mixed results. He's swinging freely (62.5% of pitches seen), and whiffing often (36.9% of swings). His 90th-percentile exit velocity is nearly identical to Carlson's, but given the other key indicators, it's less impressive. However, once more, the team might be judging these guys based more on defense, baserunning and factors that don't show up in Cactus League Statcast metrics than on those numbers, so it's too early to call the race. For what it's worth, McCormick has only gotten one start in center field, the most important position to cover for whoever wins the battle. 4. Where Will Nico Hoerner Hit This Season? Counsell has generally preferred to keep his star second baseman lower in the batting order than most fans would like. Hoerner batted leadoff 65 times in 2024, but that was largely because of a paucity of good options. He batted first or second just 28 times last year, while slotting in sixth 52 times; seventh 37 times; and eighth 26 times. This spring, all seven of Hoerner's starts have come in the first two spots in the batting order. The signal in that data is masked by the noise of other priorities during spring training, like veteran players wanting to get done for the day as soon as possible—and like the absence of Alex Bregman for the last two weeks. Still, it's an interesting development. It's easy to imagine Hoerner leading off against left-handed starters for this team. It would be much more surprising if he hit first (or, more likely, second) against righties, but you can certainly make the case for him, based on the way he finished 2025. That version of the lineup might go: Michael Busch - 1b Nico Hoerner - 2b Alex Bregman - 3b Pete Crow-Armstrong - cf Seiya Suzuki - rf Ian Happ - lf Miguel Amaya - c Michael Conforto - dh Dansby Swanson - ss It's a bit funky, pushing a guy who's in the lineup just to hit down to No. 8 and leaving Happ out of the top five from what is traditionally his stronger side. All seven times Happ has been in the lineup, he's batted third, so maybe a more realistic permutation would be: Busch Hoerner Happ Bregman Suzuki Crow-Armstrong Amaya Conforto Swanson Either way, moving Hoerner up would highlight how deep the addition of Bregman has made the Cubs lineup. It would also be a big bet on Hoerner's anachronistic skill set to keep playing near the top of its range of outcomes, though. Seeing him slide back down in the lineup against righties feels more likely. 5. Will Anyone Be Ready to Back Up Busch? When the Cubs signed Tyler Austin this winter, it appeared that they had a platoon partner in place again for their slugging left-handed first baseman—even as Counsell insisted that he intends to play Busch every day this season. Now, with Austin down, it looks like the sincerity of that pledge will be more sternly tested. Busch has started against three lefties already this spring, and seems likely to be the true everyday guy at the cold corner when the season begins. The question, really, is what the contingency plan will look like. The diminutive Shaw is the team's utility infielder, and makes a poor candidate to play first base. Neither Kelly nor Amaya has ever appeared in a big-league game at first. Nor has Conforto. If the season began today, the Cubs might be inclined to keep Ballesteros, after all—letting him be the backup first baseman, as well as the part-time DH and occasional catcher. That solution is far from optimal, too. Ballesteros is even shorter than Shaw, and not especially mobile. He bats left-handed, so he doesn't shield the team from platoon issues for Busch—only from an injury to him. Austin and Jonathon Long both getting hurt has left the team with an interesting hole in the corner areas of the bench. At this moment, if I had to bet, I would guess that Shaw, Conforto, Carlson and Ballesteros will all make the team when the Cubs break camp. It wouldn't be an exceptionally efficient roster. It's very hard to get Conforto and Ballesteros into any of the same lineups, and they don't complement each other especially well in terms of matchup play. However, all the questions above carry big ramifications, and none of them have clear answers right now. Much could change in the final two weeks of spring training. For a team with division title aspirations, the stakes of that potential change are very high. View the full article

Since Pete Maki took over as the Minnesota Twins’ pitching coach in late June 2022, the club has possessed one of the more unique pitching collectives in baseball, particularly when assessing the stark difference in how team decision-makers have constructed the starting rotation compared to the bullpen. Since July 1, 2022, Minnesota’s starting rotation has the fifth-lowest average four-seam fastball velocity (vFA) in MLB, at 93.1 MPH. In contrast, the club’s bullpen had the tenth-highest vFA in the league, at 94.8 MPH. Unsurprisingly, the driving force behind the stark contrast was Jhoan Duran, who served as the club’s closer during that three-season stretch. Once Durán and his 100.6 MPH fastball departed the organization on July 30, 2025, the bullpen’s vFA plummeted to the third-lowest in baseball, sitting at 92.5 MPH. Interestingly, the starting rotation’s vFA ascended to 17th in the league, with a 93.8 vFA. The last time a Derek Falvey-constructed starting rotation sat that high was in 2018, when the Kyle Gibson, José Berríos, and Jake Odorizzi-led collective ended its season with the 16th-highest vFA in baseball. Given the lack of high-velocity reliever additions this offseason, Minnesota’s bullpen will likely continue residing toward the bottom of the league in vFA this season. Whether intentional or not, 2026 could be the first season this decade where the Twins’ starting rotation averages a higher four-seam velocity than the bullpen, marking a meaningful shift in roster-building approach. To preface, velocity isn’t the sole factor in what makes a fastball serviceable. Bailey Ober has pitched three above-average seasons despite his fastball barely topping 90 MPH. Shape, induced vertical break (IVB), extension, arm slot, and other factors all play critical roles. Still, high velocity is the greatest indicator of four-seam success, lending merit to players’, coaches', and analysts' well-noted fixation on it. Beyond parting ways with Durán and other hard-throwing relievers in Louis Varland, Griffin Jax, and Brock Stewart, Minnesota prioritized acquiring young, hard-throwing starting pitchers at last season’s trade deadline, most notably in Taj Bradley and Mick Abel. Last season, the two young arms’ four-seamers both sat at 96.2 MPH, which tied for the highest in the club’s rotation. Again, velocity doesn’t dictate how effective a starter’s four-seam is. Still, Bradley and Abel’s fastballs are grading out as elite, evidenced by the charts below: As shown above, he is sporting a 61-grade four-seamer over ten innings pitched this spring. Bradley is sporting a similarly impressive 69-grade four-seamer over nine innings pitched. Using the 20-80 scouting scale, both four-seams grade out as true plus pitches, with Bradley’s teetering toward plus plus (or elite). Bradley and Abel’s fastballs aren’t relying solely on high velocity. Instead, the two pitches are also sporting plus IVB and arm-side movement, generating a high number of whiffs up in the zone. Abel is at risk of beginning his 2026 campaign at Triple-A St. Paul. Still, if Bradley and Abel can sustain their plus fastball grades early into the season, Minnesota could have three starting pitchers with near-elite fastballs, joining Joe Ryan. Ryan’s fastball is considerably slower than Bradley’s and Abel’s, sitting at 93.7 MPH over 171 innings pitched last season. Still, his four-seamer was the tenth most effective in baseball in 2025, netting a 17 run value. Long gone are the days of the Twins' starting rotation filled with pitchers like Carlos Silva, Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey, and the like, sporting low-grade fastballs that fail to top 90 MPH. Instead, the club has undergone a four-seam renaissance, fielding Ryan, Bradley, and Abel, with Zebby Matthews also fitting a similar mold. Will it lead to the rotation being an above-average unit in 2026? That is to be determined. Yet, the collective has real upside, and could blossom into the club’s best rotation since the 2023 unit that led the organization to its first playoff win in 19 years. View the full article

This might sound counterintuitive for one of the least demanding defensive positions with an abundance of capable players, but great right fielders are hard to find. The low bar for fielding equates to a high bar for hitting. To wit: FanGraphs has only nine right fielders projected to be worth 2.0 WAR or more this season. Matt Wallner is one of them. His rampant swing-and-miss tendencies lead to a bad rap with many fans, but Wallner is one of Minnesota's most reliably productive players, still boasting untapped upside, and that's why right field ranks as one of the team's sneaky strengths. TWINS RIGHT FIELDERS AT A GLANCE Starter: Matt Wallner Backup: Josh Outman Depth: Trevor Larnach, Alan Roden, Kody Clemens Prospects: Walker Jenkins, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Gabriel Gonzalez Twins fWAR Ranking Last Year: 18th out of 30 Twins fWAR Projection This Year: 9th out of 30 THE GOOD Huge power, huge arm: Wallner is the classic imagining of a right field specimen. He's not only been one of the Twins' best hitters since reaching the majors, but one of the better hitters in baseball — among 299 players with 800+ PA since 2023, Wallner ranks 20th in wOBA, nestled between Rafael Devers and Christian Yelich. If we narrow that list down to primarily right fielders, Wallner is sixth, trailing only a quintet of superstars: Aaron Judge, Ronald Acuña Jr., Juan Soto, Kyle Tucker, Mookie Betts. Wallner's 49 home runs and 129 OPS+ over the past three seasons should not be discounted, regardless of the strikeouts and a relative down year in 2025. His overall numbers were dampened by a poor finish, and at no point was he really mashing the way he did in 2023-24. It was also noticeable that most of his damage came with bases empty. Despite those factors, he was a solidly above average hitter (110 OPS+) and one of the team's most valuable players. I truly believe we saw Wallner at his worst. Time to see him at his best? He's entering his age-28 season with nearly 1,000 MLB plate appearances under his belt. Wallner had a winter to ruminate on the adjustments opposing pitchers made against him, and now has a clear path to everyday playing time in right. While I suspect left field will be more of a revolving door, this position belongs to Wallner — especially because he held his own against left-handed pitching last year (.790 OPS in 97 PA) and the Twins won't have the luxury of platooning both outfield corners. He's going to be treated like a core lineup fixture, and he should be. I do think there is a point where you start thinking about future succession plans in right if certain negative trends from last year persist (see below), but we're not close to it. THE BAD Wallner undeniably took a big step backward in 2025. When dissecting his play, there are a few glaring issues that stick out. One is that he was simply terrible in the clutch. I'm inclined to dismiss this as statistical noise, given the sample size and how successful he was with RISP in 2023-24. Another is the defensive regression and missed plays. He's not a great fielder, but good enough to live with, if he's hitting. Therein lies the real catch. Wallner was more of a solid hitter than standout last year, and at that rate he's a pretty mediocre player. What really plagued him in 2025 was that opposing pitchers seemed to have him figured out. It doesn't take a seasoned MLB scout to see that Wallner was getting attacked up in the zone with velocity and struggling to adapt or answer. Again: he still hit 22 home runs and posted an above-average OPS, because the plan's not foolproof and he's capable of punishing any slight lapse in execution. But to cement his place in right field, Wallner needs to get back to being more than a mistake hunter. And he needs to show he can stay healthy after uncharacteristically going down with a couple of soft-tissue injuries last year. If he does get hurt, I presume Trevor Larnach would shift to right, clearing up the left field logjam at least for some time. In terms of prospect pipeline, Gabriel Gonzalez is the name to watch here. Coming off a breakthrough season in the minors and freshly added to the 40-man roster, Gonzalez seems destined for right field (if not DH) due to his lack of speed and range. Should Gonzalez pick up where he left off last year, when he batted .329 across three levels and finished in Triple-A, he could start putting applying pressure quickly if Wallner's issues aren't resolved. But he too will face a high bar for offensive production in the majors, because he's likely to be an even worse fielder. THE BOTTOM LINE Right field projects as one of the team's biggest strengths, and one of the few positions where Minnesota is forecast to be a top-10 MLB team. A return to previous form for Wallner combined with good health could lift them into the top five at the position, while solidifying his entrenchment in right. (Or lifting his trade value as the Twins look to make room for rising prospects.) Either way, right field looks to be in good hands. Catch up on the rest of our roster preview series: Twins 2026 Position Analysis: Catcher Twins 2026 Position Analysis: First Base Twins 2026 Position Analysis: Second Base Twins 2026 Position Analysis: Third Base Twins 2026 Position Analysis: Shortstop Twins 2026 Position Analysis: Left Field Twins 2026 Position Analysis: Center Field View the full article

The Miami Marlins have announced that right-hander Adam Mazur will undergo elbow surgery on Wednesday, sidelining him for the entire 2026 season. Dr. Keith Meister will perform the procedure. The slender Mazur reported to spring training heavier than ever this year, specifically with the goal of maintaining his physical health throughout a full-length season. Instead, he's looking at a lengthy absence after only three innings of exhibition action. In 2025, which was his age-24 season, Mazur mainly pitched with Triple-A Jacksonville (4.36 ERA and 5.10 FIP in 107.1 IP). He also posted a 4.80 ERA and 4.90 FIP in six starts at the major league level. Mazur possesses a six-pitch arsenal and plus control, but he's still searching for a way to consistently miss bats against MLB competition (career 13.8 K%). Prior to this injury, Mazur was believed to be seventh on the Marlins' starting rotation depth chart behind Alcantara, Pérez, Max Meyer, Braxton Garrett, Chris Paddack and Janson Junk. Left-hander Robby Snelling was acquired along with Mazur in a 2024 trade with the San Diego Padres—he is perhaps the biggest beneficiary of his teammate's absence. Should any two of the aforementioned names suffer concurrent injuries of their own early in the season, the 22-year-old prospect figures to be called up to make his big league debut. Creating room for Snelling on Miami's 40-man roster is no longer an issue—Mazur can be placed on the 60-day injured list as the corresponding move when needed. Mazur currently has 67 days of MLB service time. He will accrue a full year of service in 2026 while rehabbing from surgery. He's on track to reach free agency following the 2031 season. The Marlins have put the utmost trust in Dr. Meister through the years. He guided Sandy Alcantara (2023) and Eury Perez (2024) through their own UCL reconstructions. View the full article

When the San Diego Padres square off against Tarik Skubal and the Detroit Tigers later this month, it won’t be one of Fernando Tatis Jr. or Luis Arráez doing so atop the lineup. The two combined for 161 games out of that spot in the order in 2025. Instead, Craig Stammen appears poised to take a different approach. Prior to the start of the World Baseball Classic, Xander Bogaerts assumed that role for the majority of his exhibition appearances. In his stead, it’s been Jake Cronenworth holding down the No. 1 spot in the order. Given how the rest of the lineup appears destined to be structured, it seems as if it’ll be one of those two working out of the top spot in the Padres’ order to start 2026. Which one, though, remains something of a mystery as we head into the second half of the spring slate. When one considers the options for lineup configuration in the upcoming season, there are a few possibilities we can eliminate. Arráez, obviously, will not be around given his contract in San Francisco. Tatis is set to move to the third or fourth spot given the upside he presents in run production. He’ll likely work back-to-back with Manny Machado on some level. Jackson Merrill should fit into somewhere in between second and fifth in the order, as well, with anyone else anticipated as a regular working farther down the lineup. Which means that the Bogaerts-Cronenworth contingent that has gotten so much work there this spring isn’t any kind of mirage. Bogaerts could very well be the favorite given his volume of appearances prior to departing for the WBC. In his absence, Cronenworth has received plenty of work. There might not be a “right” answer for which of the two could, ultimately, land the gig. Instead, the correct choice may boil down to which skill set Stammen prefers in that role. Between the two, Bogaerts represents the more contact-oriented bat to put atop the lineup. His 3.75 pitches per plate appearance checked in below league average (3.88), which resulted in a walk rate that finished in just the 54th percentile (8.7 percent). While that number sits around league average, Bogaerts is able to use a keen eye to drive his contact rather than work a walk. His chase rate (23.6 percent) ended the year a shade below the 80th percentile and resulted in an above-average strikeout rate (17.0 percent). Bogaerts is able to use those factors to generate consistent contact, the rate of which has ended at or above 80 percent in each of the last three seasons. There’s also a bit of actual experience in that top spot to consider. While not a massive sample, Bogaerts does have 365 plate appearances to his name as a leadoff hitter. In such a role, he’s slashed .283/.351/.397, with a 14.5 percent strikeout rate against a 9.0 percent walk rate. You’re not relying on power in that spot anyway, but the combination of approach and contact could make him a worthwhile option. That’s if Stammen can stomach the streakiness which the bat of Xander Bogaerts bore in 2025. Cronenworth represents a vastly different player in that role than Bogaerts would. While the latter relies on his approach to create contact and work his way on base through that method, much of Cronenworth’s value is wrapped up in the walk itself. Not only did Cronenworth’s 4.22 pitches per plate appearance rank seventh among all qualified hitters last season, his 13.4 percent walk rate landed in the 94th percentile. With that patience, he was able to post a .367 on-base percentage that eclipsed the previous season’s mark by more than 40 points while also serving as the top rate of his career. A strikeout rate that crossed the 20 percent threshold last year might indicate an overreliance on patience, but it’s difficult to question the benefit in yielding such a consistent on-base presence. If there’s another element to consider here, it’s in the baserunning. At no point in his career has Bogaerts fallen below the average threshold in FanGraphs’ BsR baserunning metric; he was at 2.6 and 1.7 in each of the last two seasons, respectively. For his money, Cronenworth was at just 0.1 in 2024 and -0.6 in 2025. So, while Cronenworth may have the sprint speed advantage – 28.1 feet per second to Bogaerts’ closer-to-league-average 27.6 – Bogaerts is better at applying it to the basepaths. Ultimately, though, there isn’t a whole lot separating the two. The offensive skill sets present different profiles while the baserunning difference is fairly marginal between the two. If Bogaerts was an upper-tier contact hitter with a runaway advantage in the quality of his baserunning, then his sample in that spot this spring would just about indicate the whole competition as being over. But Cronenworth’s ability to draw walks and provide competence on the bases doesn’t rule him out entirely, either. It’s going to come down to what Craig Stammen wants out of that spot. If he wants contact and baserunning acumen, it’s probably going to Xander Bogaerts. If it’s the steadiest of eyes to work an early count and additional quickness on the bases, then perhaps Jake Cronenworth gets some run. Either way, there’s a suitable player here. It’s just a matter of what Stammen wants at this point. View the full article

Walker Jenkins, Emmanuel Rodriguez, and Gabriel Gonzalez are all in Triple-A, ready for the majors. Who will get called up first, and does one name have a slight edge? View the full article

Professional athletes are just like us! They fib about their height. (For reference, I’m 5’6” on a good day.) Using data courtesy of Sox Stats, we can see which Red Sox players have shrunk (spoiler: most of them) or have grown. Ceddanne Rafaela, Justin Gonzalez, and Nelly Taylor are the only three players in the organization who have grown over the past two seasons. All three players are on the younger side, so a late growth spurt isn’t shocking. The biggest takeaway is that position players' heights have fluctuated the most, not pitchers. Are pitchers more secure in their height? Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow – who’s listed at 6’0” – clearly has a type that he likes to target in pitching acquisitions. (AKA: Tall and muscular guys, which I don’t blame him for.) Sonny Gray (5’10”) is an outlier as the team’s “shortest” pitcher. Does height even matter? No, not really. One of my favorite aspects of baseball is that players come in all different shapes and sizes. Unlike other sports, there isn’t a secret formula to build the perfect player. Over the past eight seasons, the heights of American League MVPs spread by over a foot from Jose Altuve (5’6”, 2017) to Aaron Judge (6’7”, 2025). Former Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia (5’9”) didn’t let his stature limit him, and many smaller players, like newcomer Caleb Durbin, cite him as an inspiration. So, the next time you tell a little white lie about your height, just remember you’re in good company. View the full article

The Twins' performance in the international market in the Derek Falvey era is largely pinned on Emmanuel Rodriguez. Despite missing significant time due to a litany of injuries in recent seasons, Rodriguez has performed well at every MiLB pitstop. It's a rare combination of exceptional on-base ability, eye-popping power, and strong supplementary tools being balanced out by significant concerns around his hit tool. Emmanuel Rodriguez Age: 23 (DOB: 02/28/2003) Bats/Throws: L/L 2025 Stats (CPX, A, Triple-A): 267 PA, .269/.431/.409, 9 2B, 1 3B, 6 HR, 10 SB ETA: 2026 2025 Ranking: #2 National Top 100 Rankings BP: 48 | MLB: 74 | ATH: 57 | BA: 57 | ESPN: 97 Personally, I went back and forth on Kaelen Culpepper and Rodriguez in this spot several times. If you want stability and floor, Culpepper is the guy. If you want the only Twins prospect not named Walker Jenkins who is capable of a 3-4 win season, E-Rod should be number two. His drop, more than anything else, is indicative of a prospect whose only averaged 70 MiLB games played in a three-season span between 2023-2025. What to Like Rodriguez has one of the weirdest, most fascinating offensive profiles in baseball. With impressive assets only matched by the magnitude of his flaws. He’s a patient hitter, running a 37% overall swing rate in the minors in 2025. That’s Juan Soto level selectivity. We also don’t have a ton of examples of guys with a matching number in the majors. Luckily for Rodriguez, his patience is the product of a fantastic eye at the plate. He walked 20.6% of the time in 2025, contributing to a whopping .430 OBP. The Twins have worked with Rodriguez on being more aggressive on pitches thrown over the heart of the zone, to avoid leveraged counts. It’s difficult to ascertain how successfully he’s managed it, given his limited time on the field There’s impressive power to go with his ability to get on base. Rodriguez put up max exit velocities in the 115 mph range in 2025 and has been up as high as 117 mph in his MiLB career. There’s 30 home run power in there, potentially. Rodriguez’s isolated power fell significantly from 2024 (.287) to 2025 (.139). That falloff doesn’t line up with how hard E-Rod hits the ball. For now, I think we can attribute that to constant interruptions to his playing time, until that’s a pattern that continues into 2026. What's Left to Work On? Let’s talk about the issues. Aside from health, Rodriguez’s hit tool has some major red flags. There’s some holes in his swing at the top of the zone, and the bat-to-ball numbers are suspect. The overall contact rate (67%) is poor for a high-caliber prospect at AAA. It’s particularly bad out of the strike zone (33.8%). This led to a 31.8% strikeout rate in 2025. You can see how this might play out in the majors; a patient power hitter with poor contact skills gets into too many leveraged counts, and increasingly swings through elite big-league stuff. There are some valuable supplementary tools in the bag here, too. E-Rod is a good defensive centerfielder. Not in the way Byron Buxton is, in which elite speed contributes to outstanding range. Rodriguez gets good jumps and has outstanding body control. It’s backed by a big arm, too. It’s a similar defensive projection to Walker Jenkins; solid-to-good in centerfield, potentially great in a corner spot. What to Look for in 2026 The version of E-Rod who puts it all together is a scary prospect. It’s a .230 hitter with 30 bombs, 25 bags, playing a premium defensive position. Sadly, we’ve yet to see that version play out over the course of a minor league season. He’ll debut in 2026 and should be the prospect in this top ten who hits the majors first, health permitting. Rodriguez’s having a strong year would do wonders for the Twins, who retain a massive yet deeply inspiring menagerie of left-handed hitting outfielders on their 40-man roster. There’s an unusually wide range of outcomes here for a prospect already in AAA. Let’s hope 2026 is the year health, performance, and opportunity match up neatly for a Twins top prospect. View the full article

On Tuesday morning, MLB.com Royals beat writer Anne Rogers reported that utility player Michael Massey suffered a low-grade calf strain and would be out for a little bit of time, according to Royals manager Matt Quatraro. The injury is an unfortunate one for Massey, who has had a strong Spring Training campaign thus far. In eight games and 24 plate appearances, the 28-year-old is slashing .364/.417/.545 with a home run, a double, three RBI, and a stolen base. Massey also has a .445 wOBA and is posting some impressive Statcast metrics in Cactus League play, as evidenced by his TJ Stats summary this spring. Massey is coming off a tough 2025 campaign, which is a shame after a promising 2024 campaign (.743 OPS) that saw him get some leadoff at-bats in the postseason. In 277 plate appearances, he slashed .244/.268/.313 with a .581 OPS. He only had three home runs, and his 3.1% barrel rate ranked in the 9th percentile last year. While he did a good job of making contact at the plate (85th percentile whiff rate and 86th percentile K rate), he also didn't walk much, as his 3.3% walk rate ranked in the second percentile. Thus, when balls weren't falling for base hits, he struggled to get on base or provide much value. While the injury doesn't seem "serious", Massey has a history of injuries in his short career. He's only had more than 400 plate appearances in a season once (2023, when it was 461). Thus, the Royals may take it slow with Massey's return, especially if he didn't respond positively to the calf injury on Friday. If that's the case, that could open up a spot for a non-roster invitee to make the Royals' Opening Day roster. Josh Rojas may be the ideal candidate to replace Massey in Atlanta on March 27th. Rojas Standing Out in Spring Training The Royals signed Rojas to a Minor League contract this offseason, giving him an invitation to Minor League camp. The 31-year-old veteran infielder is coming off a brutal 2025 campaign with the Chicago White Sox, which explains why he didn't receive a Major League deal this offseason. In 69 games and 211 plate appearances with the White Sox, Rojas hit .180 with a .232 wOBA and 44 wRC+. He only had 2 home runs, 14 runs scored, and generated a -1.3 fWAR. However, in Cactus League play, it's been a much different story at the plate for Rojas. In 10 games and 26 plate appearances, he is hitting .304 with a 1.081 OPS. He also has two home runs, three doubles, eight RBI, and three walks to five strikeouts. His Statcast percentiles have also been stellar this spring, per TJ Stats, though the sample size is small. Some of the metrics may be hard for Rojas to sustain. I don't think Rojas will carry his 22.2% barrel rate into the regular season, especially since he has a career barrel rate of 4.6%. Furthermore, his 50% hard-hit rate is 15.7% higher than his career hard-hit rate (34.4%). Still, it's been nice to see him flex some power, even in the hitter-friendly environment of the Cactus League. However, there are some encouraging trends at the plate from Rojas this spring that could be helpful to this Royals roster, especially off the bench. First off, Rojas has done an exceptional job this spring, limiting whiffs and making contact, especially at balls in the zone. His 19.4% whiff rate ranks in the 74th percentile, and his 91.7% Z-Contact% ranks in the 85th percentile. He had an 83% Z-Contact% and 23% whiff rate last year with the White Sox, so what he's doing this spring isn't out of the realm of possibility for the regular season. Another promising trend with Rojas this spring has been his discipline at the plate. The Royals hired assistant hitting coaches Connor Dawson and Marcus Thames because they had a reputation for improving hitters' swing decisions. Rojas has seemed to benefit from their limited tutelage this spring, as his 22.2% O-Swing% ranks in the 71st percentile and his BB% ranks in the 60th percentile. Even last year, the former Hawaii product had an 18.6% O-Swing% with the White Sox. That is vastly better than the 40.5% O-Swing% Massey put up with the Royals in 2025. Thus, the Royals could slow-play Massey's return because Rojas may be a better fit, initially, for what they want to do as a group of hitters in 2026 (which is to limit chasing). Lastly, Rojas can play multiple positions in the field, including second, third, and left field, much like Massey. That positional versatility is something Quatraro values from the bench, and Rojas would seamlessly fit in that multi-utility role if Massey is not ready to go by Opening Day. How Does Massey Fit on the Active Roster? With Massey out, Rojas would likely fit in that utility role off the bench. Roster Resource predicts that the bench would also include Nick Loftin, Tyler Tolbert, and Starling Marte. Rojas fits in Massey's role well because, like Massey, Rojas is a left-handed hitter. My guess is that Rojas would split a lot of time at second base with Jonathan India, depending on the matchups (which Massey would've done as well). India is having a solid spring campaign with a .267/.500/.533 slash and .460 wOBA in 22 plate appearances. India has not shown much power. However, he has six walks to two strikeouts and has posted strong Statcast percentiles in plate-discipline categories during Cactus League play. Yes, there are some concerns with India's profile this spring. The Hard-Hit% is low (20%), as is his average EV (79.9 MPH). However, he has a 100th-percentile O-Swing% and 98th-percentile Whiff and BB rates. If India can transition that to the regular season, the Royals will be happy, especially with less expected from India than a year ago. It should be common for Rojas to play 2-3 games a week, with India playing the other 2-3 games, depending on the matchup. Rojas can also fill in left field as necessary, though that may be tougher with Loftin and Marte on the roster. Speaking of Loftin, he was held out of Tuesday's game, so his health will be something to watch as the Royals prepare for Opening Day. Loftin seems like a sure thing for the Opening Day roster. However, if this "soreness" persists, Rojas could get his spot on the Opening Day roster, and Massey could keep his if the former 2019 MLB Draft pick is fully recovered by next week. Regardless, Rojas' chances to make the Royals Opening Day roster are looking much better than they did when players first reported to camp in Surprise. He may not be a long-term solution in Kansas City, especially if Massey can bounce back to 2024 form. That said, Rojas has done everything he can in Arizona to show that he deserves a spot on this Royals roster in 2026. View the full article

When Canada hit the field for the inaugural World Baseball Classic with the most talent the country had ever assembled, there was no surprise in seeing Stubby Clapp take his usual place at second base. Clapp will be inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame this summer and deservedly so, with an ongoing and decorated career in international baseball for his country. He is serving as Ernie Whitt’s third base coach for this year’s Classic. It's a relationship that goes back to the ‘90s, a decade Clapp bookended with huge successes with the national program. Clapp was a part of the 1991 Canadian national junior team that captured gold on home soil near the 100th meridian in Brandon, and in ‘99, he returned to Manitoba as a member of the Canadian team competing in the Pan American Games being held in Winnipeg. 1991 is the only time Canada has captured the now-named U-18 Baseball World Cup, and the championship was voted as the top moment in Baseball Canada’s 50-year history in 2014. The gold medal game was not televised, so you needed to be among the 5,000 (!) fans that packed the still-best amateur baseball diamond in the country to see the 5-2 win. (photo credit: SaskToday/Jason G. Antonio) Clapp said the ‘99 Games became a “changing” moment for the national program. Whitt was managing Canada for the first time, and at stake were two spots in the upcoming Sydney Olympics, spots expected to go to the U.S. and Cuba. Clapp was having a good season in the Cardinals’ system at Triple-A Memphis and joined his fellow countrymen in a 16-4 win over Brazil in the new downtown ballpark by The Forks. The next afternoon, Canada faced the Americans in an 11-inning game that took over four hours to play because of that 11th inning. Things had soured for Canada when Whitt walked to the mound to speak to his pitcher, Chad Ricketts, who just surrendered a home run to give the U.S. a 6-3 lead. Whitt had made a mound visit the previous inning Ricketts pitched, and the crack international umpiring crew ruled the Canadians had to make a pitching change for Whitt’s second-but-actually-first mound visit. A fuming Whitt was ejected and filed a protest that took over a half hour to go unresolved. When play resumed, catcher Andy Stewart stepped up to be the first Canadian hero. With two on and two outs, Stewart hit a game-tying home run and unraveled the Americans, who quickly loaded the bases with two walks and a hit batter. At the plate with a full count, Clapp poked a ball into shallow left, where a miscommunication allowed the Canadians to walk off in victory. The Canadians finished the round robin undefeated before losing 3-2 to Cuba in the semi-finals. The team missed out on the Olympics but finished strong with a bronze medal win and, more importantly, injected energy into the national team program. Canada advanced to the semi-finals in the 2004 Olympics, and the upcoming WBC would give the program a chance to continue to impress on the international stage. For the first time, Whitt would build his Canadian side with active major leaguers, but there would be some notable omissions. Larry Walker had retired after an injury-riddled ‘05 season, and after thinking about coming back to play for Canada in the tournament, the legend from Maple Ridge decided to join only the coaching staff. Rich Harden and Éric Gagné would also be left off the roster on the pitching side, the latter recovering from an injury that would end his stretch of pure dominance of the National League. Even without Walker, the Canadians would bring some offensive punch to the first-ever Classic. Jason Bay would fill an outfield spot coming off his first All-Star season with Pittsburgh and would be joined in the middle of the lineup by incoming AL MVP Justin Morneau. Veterans Matt Stairs and Corey Koskie would be there, as well as major league outfielders Aaron Guiel and Adam Stern. While some returnees to the national team would be relegated to lesser roles, second base still belonged to Clapp. While his brief major league days were over, Clapp was now peppering the ball alongside up-and-coming indy ball legend Aharon Eggleston for the Northern League’s Edmonton Cracker-Cats. Clapp, along with Pete Orr, would play up the middle and set the table in Whitt’s batting orders. The Canadians began round robin play against one of the tournament’s weaker entrants. South Africa was last seen on the international stage in the 2000 Olympics, where they finished last, scoring only 11 runs over seven games. The opening game felt like a tune-up going the right way, but with a 3-0 lead in the sixth, veteran reliever Paul Quantrill coughed up four runs behind some shaky defending. A two-run blast from Koskie put Canada back in front in the seventh, but Canada’s bullpen faltered, and they trailed 7-6 heading into the ninth in a game that, if left unanswered, would go down as the tournament’s first major upset. Clapp was due fourth, and while it wasn’t his turn for the spotlight again, a teammate from ‘99 helped kick-start Canada’s effort to avoid embarrassment. When he arrived at the Pan-Am Games seven years earlier, Ryan Radmanovich was trying to work his way back into Seattle’s outfield mix after 75 plate appearances with the Mariners the year before. He never returned to the majors, and by 2002, his affiliated ball career was over, but he had become a star in the Atlantic League. Coming into the game earlier as a defensive sub, Radmanovich led off and hit a triple to the deepest part of Scottsdale Stadium. He would score the tying run on a double by Stern, and Canada would keep scoring to escape with an 11-8 win. The result barely registered with Dontrelle Willis across the Phoenix metro. The American starter watched on as his team started the tournament with a 2-0 win over Mexico in front of a rowdy, 50-50 crowd at Chase Field, where Willis would start the following day against the Canadians. The Marlins lefty was excited to represent his country and play with the high-caliber talent around him, saying he felt like “a kid at a candy store” walking around the clubhouse. Canada? Pfft. “We briefly went over the hitters,” Willis said, “I got a chance to play against Jason Bay and Peter Orr and what have you.” Willis started the contest with a four-pitch strikeout of Orr before Clapp hit a triple into the right field corner. The Windsor native would score the game’s first run on a Morneau groundout, giving an early lead to a young Adam Loewen. With ace Jeff Francis set to face Mexico in the final game of the round robin, Whitt decided to open the tournament with the more established Érik Bédard, whose six strikeouts over four innings of work went largely wasted against South Africa. As Loewen walked a pair of batters to load the bases in the first, that decision loomed over the Canadians early, but Chipper Jones ended the threat by bouncing into an inning-ending double play. Loewen settled in and was steady through 3.2 innings as the Canadian what-have-you’s introduced themselves to Willis. Back-to-back triples from Guiel and Stern made it 2-0 in the second before Stern drove in two more charged to Willis with a base hit off Al Leiter in the third. As reigning NBA MVP Steve Nash watched on from the stands, the Canadian onslaught continued with two more runs in the fourth on a double by Stairs. In the fifth, Stern put what looked to be the exclamation point on the game with an inside-the-park home run that put Canada up 8-0. Chris Begg had come on for Canada to record the final out of the fourth inning, and Whitt would leave him out for the fifth. Begg would stay out to face seven hitters, five of whom would reach. When Whitt finally pulled the plug, the Americans had scored two runs, and Begg had left the bases loaded with Jason Varitek up. Oncoming lefty Eric Cyr switched Varitek around, and from the right side, the Red Sox catcher hit a gigantic blast into the concourse in center field. The star-powered Americans had answered, and the remaining two-run lead felt as small as it could with four innings left. Cyr settled in and would give Canada three-up, three-down innings in the sixth and seventh. With the score still 8-6, Scott Mathieson entered and walked Vernon Wells and Johnny Damon between a pair of flyouts to start the eighth. Wielding his bat next as the go-ahead run, Chase Utley thought for a second he may have done it. Utley spat on a 2-1 pitch, and the ball sailed into the vast Arizona outfield space, but not at the clip of Varitek’s. Stern raced back immediately, reached the warning track, and had a split-second to spin and make a game-saving catch. Sans Gagné, Whitt tasked Steve Green with the final three outs. Green was another player on the WBC team who had been a bronze medalist at the Pan-Am Games. His major league career had lasted one Saturday afternoon in Oakland, when he took a no-decision, allowing two runs over six innings for the Angels on April 7, 2001. Green was still bouncing around Triple-A organization to organization, hoping this year to make the Orioles after previously failing with Cleveland and Detroit. Green would start the ninth by getting a pair of weak groundouts off the bats of Jeff Francoeur and Derrek Lee. Canada was an out away from victory as universal villain Alex Rodriguez strode to the plate. Rodriguez took two pitches for strikes to start the at-bat before watching another two off the plate, as Green tried to end it with an A-Rod whiff. The 2-2 offering was another breaking pitch off the plate, and Rodriguez got wood on it out towards shallow center. Racing in this time, Stern extended and caught the ball only for it to pop out as he hit the outfield grass. “The United States has life,” Gary Thorne exclaimed on the broadcast, as millions of fans up north dreaded the worst in a game that was feeling elusive. Rodriguez would weasel his way to second base on indifference on a first pitch strike to Mark Teixeira. Green would get Teixeira to roll over on the next pitch, an easy hopper fielded by Morneau a few feet from first base. Morneau would touch the base and embrace Green as the rest of Team Canada spilled onto the field in celebration. There were many contributions in the upset win, but none were louder than Stern’s, with some early run-scoring hits, the inside-the-park home run, and the game-saving catch in the eighth. “I just put my head down, ran to a spot and said, 'Come on, baby, don't hit the facing.’” Yet, here we are in 2026, and Canada has yet to qualify for the second round of a World Baseball Classic. Francis was bashed by Mexico in a 9-1 loss, and with three teams tied at 2-1, the Canadians' performance against South Africa cost them as they were eliminated on run differential. It was as close as Canada has gotten to reaching the second round prior to their eliminating loss to Mexico in the last WBC. Clapp would play for Canada again at the 2008 Olympics and the 2009 WBC before joining the coaching staff. Now in his fourth decade with the national program, he will maybe see it reach new heights again this month. View the full article