Spring Training has arrived and as I’ve been writing daily notes for myself to recap all spring training starting pitchers for the Plus Pitch Podcast, I realized I should publish them on the site for quick access.
I’ll be livestreaming every weekday morning 10am-12pm ET at playback.tv/pitcherlist starting Tuesday, February 24th, as I watch all of the starts with y’all and answer all your fantasy baseball questions.
Major SP News To Know
Everything is normal with Cam Schlitter’s back and he progressed with a bullpen session early Saturday morning.
Shane McClanahan faced hitters on Saturday as we hold our breath for a healthy season.
The Blue Jays are in the lead to sign Free Agent Max Scherzer for another go in Toronto. Adding Scherzer would theoretically displace one of José Berríos or Cody Ponce, which could ultimately be Berríos after the Jays signed Ponce as a starter. Scherzer could also need more time to ramp up with a later signing, making a debut in the middle of April, if he were to sign.
Speaking of the Jays, Shane Bieber will open the season on the IL with forearm fatigue, but he threw long toss at 120 feet and could return to the mound within two weeks. It could mean for a short IL stint, but I wouldn’t expect him back before May 1st.
Phillies catcher JT Realmuto caught Andrew Painter’s bullpen and raved about the potential SP #5, believing he’s much closer to where he was before TJS with good velocity and stellar command, in contrast to his struggles in Triple-A last season. You’re going to see a lot of positive quotes thrown around this spring, and it’s important to trust the data more than anything.
Griffin Canning will begin the season on the IL for the Padres, and I’d pencil him in for a mid-May return.
On TV (We have Statcast everywhere now!)
BAL vs. NYY
BOS vs. NEU (Nothing interesting)
CHC vs. CWS
COL vs. AZ (Nothing interesting)
SEA vs. SD (Nothing interesting)
MIN vs. UM
Trevor Rogers (BAL) – 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 3 K. All I really wanted to see was Rogers being like his 2025 self and he was actually a tick up (in two innings, of course) with 5/16 four-seamer whiffs against a good Yankee lineup. Love that.
Trey Gibson (BAL) – 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 3 K. He’s a hyped up prospect with 7+ feet of extension at 92 mph and I’m not in love with him as much as others are. The control is good and that could be the secret sauce, but 92 + mid-80s slider with some extra depth + a 87 mph cutter with hgih vert and some sweep is…fine? The fastballs have deadzone movement, forcing the secondaries to pull a whole lot of weight.
Elmer Rodríguez (NYY) – 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 1 K. You’ve seen some hype around Elmer, I’m sure, and you should think of him as a sinker/sweeper arm with good control. The development of his cutter to LHB will be the final piece of the puzzle and I love seeing 36% usage to LHB. Consider him the first prospect up for the Yankees if their depth dries up, and he should be good. Not break the FAAB bank great, but a 15-teamer Toby at the very least, if not 12-teamer.
Jameson Taillon (CHC) – 1.2 IP, 4 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 1 K. Dangit. He told me about some excitement gains across the last few weeks and we actually saw some of his pitchs feature them, like extra cut and ride on his four-seamer (one above 18″ of vert and roughly 2″ of horizontal. Man, I’d LOVE for him to be consistent with that. He also had some sweepers at 18″+ sweep, which is about 2.5″ more than last year’s version, and the cutter was consistently 2-3″ more cut as well. I don’t think he’s going to throw a meatball heater middle-in to every LHB he faces, right?
Jonathan Cannon (CWS) – 1.2 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 3 K. Fellas, put the torches away. But three strikeouts in five outs! I SAID PUT THEM AWAY. It sure seems like he raised his arm angle with 3-4″ of cut on his four-seamer and nearly three inches more vert on his sinker, which isn’t a terrible thing considering he needs the four-seamer to work better against LHB. That said, there’s still a whole lot more to do before we actually want to add the guy.
Zebby Matthews (MIN) – 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 3 K. Terrible movement at 2-3″ less vert, but +1.5 mph ticks on the heater at 97/97 mph (not ~95 mph). It’s just two innings where he could empty the tank, so don’t read much into the heat, but the lack of vert with a little more ride suggests a lower arm angle that I’m not sure I’m a fan of for Zebby. Then again, movement on everything was different. A kick-change getting 7/8″+ movement, a slider with 2-3″ more drop at the same velocity (slightly higher, actually) and a cutter with the same movement and velocity gains at 92 mph, but ranging plenty in horizontal from 6″ all the way to -7″ cut. If the extra movement sticks and the velocity doesn’t come down too far, I dig it, but I will worry about the fastballs a touch. I don’t want them to be Empty Velocity.
Marco Raya (MIN) – 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 3 K. This guy is pretty cool. 16″ of vert with 2-3″ of cut at 95 mph and a generally flat HAVAA + a filthy 85 mph sweeper with nearly -5″ of drop and another 85 mph breaker in his curveball that came with -12-14″ of drop. Oh, and a 91-92 cutter with negative cut action. I like this fella and you should pay attention if he gets a callup.
Not on TV
TEX vs. KC
Nathan Eovaldi (TEX) – 2.0 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 3 K. All I care about is not too much of a velo drop and ayyy, he’s at last year’s mark! Two innings, sure, but that’s cool with me.
Stephen Kolek (KC) – 2.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 2 K. More drop on the sweeper, slider, sinker, and changeup here, from 2″ on cutter/sweeper and 4″ on sinker/slider. That’s pretty awesome for a guy who needs to become more of an outlier somewhere to succeed. And considering it’s a 1.5 HAVAA at 95/96 mph on his four-seamer, I kinda like the high four-seamers to LHB. Interesting.
What To Watch Today On TV
SPs to watch on TV today #SpringSPnotesGet daily morning SP news and reviews of these games via my daily Plus Pitch Podcast & SP Roundup articleDean Kremer – Good for job?Joe Ryan – All good?T.J. Nichols – Is it just Empty Velocity?Carlos Lagrange – A-HAW HAW HAW
— Nick Pollack (@nickpollack.pitcherlist.com) 2026-02-21T16:49:10.351Z
