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 Twitch.tv/pitcherlist, as I watch all of the starts with y’all and answer all your fantasy baseball questions.
Major SP News To Know
Gavin Stone will resume throwing after being shut down due to shoulder inflammation.
Terrible news for the Giants. Hayden Birdsong has a Grade 2 UCL strain (i.e. worse than a mild Grade 1 strain). Don’t expect him to do anything this year.
The Rangers will go with Nathan Eovaldi as their opening day starter. Adjust accordingly.
We got confirmation that Hunter Dobbins will start the season on the IL.
Zack Wheeler tossed a bullpen session on Saturday as he continues to progress in his TOS recovery. I talked to many this weekend who do not believe Wheeler pitches until May at the earliest (let alone of quality) and yet we’ve heard so much about Wheeler’s progression toward a mid-late April return that I’m starting to believe it.
Kevin Gausman is your opening day starter for the Blue Jays. Not much of a surprise here.
Expected Rotations By Team
Yesterday’s Games
ARI vs. SFG
KCR vs. ATH
BOS vs. ATL
BAL vs. PIT
CHC vs. COL
LAD vs. CWS
TEX vs. CIN
CLE vs. SDP
COL vs. MIL
DET vs. TOR
NYM vs. HOU
PUR vs. ITA
VEN vs. JPN
SEA vs. LAA
MIA vs. WSH
STL vs. MIA
TBR vs. MIN
PHI vs. NYY
SDP vs. TEX
Zac Gallen (ARI) – 2.2 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 1 K. He’s sitting 94 mph after sitting 91 mph last spring. I know we shouldn’t lean too heavily into spring n all, but this has all the outlines of a rebound season.
Jacob Lopez (ATH) – 4.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 7 K. His extension is down for some reason (maybe not going too hard?) but he is also getting more drop on all his secondaries. That’s hot. Great command north/south too. I’m not sure I love his matchup either @TOR or @ATL to start the year, but he could explode out of the gate.
Bryce Elder (ATL) – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 6 K. Only Rafaela was a worthy opponent here, who fell to a beautiful slider in the first after two sinkers for called strikes. Textbook. This may mean Elder gets the spot, I dunno. It shouldn’t matter.
Trevor Rogers (BAL) – 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 3 K. While I wish he were comfortably sitting 93/94 mph (92 mph here), his command is lovely and we’re good. He’s probably saving some juice here.
Brayan Bello (BOS) – 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 7 K. He struck out Matt Olson with a hanging 1-2 curveball at 83/84 mph, just in case you were wondering about the latest Bello Hook status. I may be underrating him, given his job security and likely volume, though I still struggle to buy into his mix returning anything more than a standard “TOBY” season. If you don’t know what that means, I heavily encourage you to hover over any word in bold dark red. We have tooltips in these articles to help you out.
Ben Brown (CHC) – 4.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 6 K. Nothing new. He still breaks the Huascar Rule and I’m not interested. He doesn’t have a rotation spot anyway.
Rhett Lowder (CIN) – 3.1 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 4 BB, 4 K. He’s fighting for the SP #5 spot and I’m not in love with what he does. There isn’t a whole lot exceptional in the arsenal, but he does get his changeup down to LHB, so that’s cool. I think Williamson is the better arm as a crafty southpaw, though I’m not interested in either at this moment.
Logan Allen (CLE) – 2.2 IP, 6 ER, 7 H, 3 BB, 3 K. Oh jeez. Just give the job to Messick already.
Kyle Freeland (COL) – 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 4 K. Good to see the velocity back up a tick to 92/93 mph, but he doesn’t have the best feel for his secondaries yet. Give me a great outing next time out, please. Let us feel good streaming you.
Tarik Skubal (DET) – 4.2 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 7 K. Aces gonna ace. Yeah, still dope.
Ryan Weiss (HOU) – 4.1 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 K. This was kinda meh. I like Weiss becuase he has opportunity and is a generally decent arm. He’s a Toby with the upside of a Holly. That means he’s not an instant target in 12-teamers, but one who can fill it from time to time, especially if he’s sitting 95/96 mph and locating the breakers + slow ball.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto (JPN) – 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 5 K. Aces gonna allow some runs but overall be the dope man he is. I sure hope his innings aren’t capped (are they really doing a five-man in Los Angeles?). I don’t understand why they wouldn’t go six-man, personally.
Yusei Kikuchi (JPN) – 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K. Kikuchi appeared for an inning in relief, and don’t let that make you believe he’ll be sitting 96 mph out of the gate. This was just twelve pitches. However, it was a slider with seven inches more drop at the cost of just one tick of velocity. That’s pretty cool at 86 mph, but when not in a reliever role in a huge WBC game, what will it be?
Ryan Bergert (KCR) – 3.2 IP, 5 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 4 K. He’s finding some extra movement on the sweeper again and locating much better with the BSB in mind to RHB. Not so much to LHB, though, and we wait for him to get an opportunity. With Kolek dealing with an oblique injury, Bergert is next in line.
Walbert Ureña (LAA) – 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 4 K. This dude throw 98 mph and can get over 18″ of horizontal ride on his sinker from his low angle + has a changeup seven ticks less that looks exactly the same. Pretty wild. He has an 84 mph slider that follows the same horizontal plane, but gets -4″ depth and -9″ sweep at 84 mph, and I’ll take that all day. Now if he could only command it and not pitch in front of the worst infield defense… A smart person at Tout Wars told me he was José Soriano 2.0 and they are completely correct, save for worse command. Collette? Stampfl? Kahn? I don’t recall and I hate that I don’t.
Justin Wrobleski (LAD) – 2.1 IP, 5 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 3 K. Noooooo. He’s down a tick to 95 mph and his command wasn’t what he wanted, especially with the changeup at 1/6 strikes. That said, he threw one pitch to LHB – a 93 mph sinker sac bunt well up-and-in. Wrobo destroys LHB, and hopefully this isn’t held too harshly against him. Yes, he should be in this rotation still.
Ryan Gusto (MIA) – 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 3 K. I like that he experiments, I don’t like that he executes some (sinkers and sweepers) and not others (cutters, four-seamer) + the stuff is still suspect. Sorry fella.
Cade Gibson (MIA) – 1.2 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 4 K. He’s a SWATCH at 91/92 mph with, yes, a tight changeup. He also has absurd break on his curve and sweeper, even if they are hovering 80 mph. It means he’ll take down LHB easily and has a chance to survive RHB. Huh. Remember the name for a potential sneaky pick-up mid-season.
Jacob Misiorowski (MIL) – 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 6 K. He’s dope, but efficiency is going to be in question. At least he’s two ticks down now on purpose to not overthrow in the spring. He’s the likely opening day starter, which means…
Brandon Sproat (MIL) – 4.2 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 3 K. …it makes sense for Sproat to follow him. Considering the early off days, Sproat would be ready to be the SP #5 when the time comes and seeing him follow Jay Mis with 65 pitches (and sitting 97 mph on his sinker + a 95 mph cutter?!) is a great sign. The new cutter is cool, though he needs to get a better feel for location against RHB, and I wish that sweeper had a bit more depth. That said, 6″ of vert to -11″ of depth between the sweeper and curveball is kinda wild at just a 3/4 mph gap (17″ difference!). I think I’m going to be labeling Sproat as a sleeper this year given his embrace of the curve, cutter, and even changeup to LHB to help fend off LHB. Keep in mind, I’d rather go for someone who starts the opening weekend, and circle Sproat as a pickup for whoever doesn’t impress us early.
Simeon Woods Richardson (MIN) – 4.0 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 2 K. Okay, he’s at least over 92 mph now…? Nah, we need 93/94 mph. I still love that he’s going splitter heavy (I know, right?) but he’s not commanding the fastball or slider to RHB anywhere near what we’ve seen in the past. I’m out.
Freddy Peralta (NYM) – 4.0 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 5 K. Aces gonna ace, though he’s at 93 mph. That may be fine since it’s the spring n all, and he’s also getting nearly 2″ extra fade on the changeup, which may have to do a little bit with its slower velo, but still, that’s cool. All fine here.
Max Fried (NYY) – 5.1 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 4 K. Aces gonna also have lower velocity and we’re not worried about it. Lots of changeup strikes to RHB, but not many whiffs as he didn’t get it down. Fried with the slow ball cooking is a monster.
Carmen Mlodzinski (PIT) – 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 5 K. This is not it. There’s fun in the curve and slider when he has them working (he should throw the curve to RHB more) and the fastballs are pretty blegh at 94-96 mph.
Seth Lugo (PUR) – 0.1 IP, 4 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 1 K. The good news? The curveball is up to 78/79 mph. The bad news? It was during a heightened WBC game where we should expect higher velocity, and he also got thwomped. I won’t judge Lugo for this at all. I want to see what his next start looks like for the Royals and we’ll take it from there.
Nick Pivetta (SDP) – 3.0 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 4 K. I’m relieved to see Pivetta back after his arm fatigue scare, especially with 56 pitches and 95 mph heaters (94 last year). BACK ON THE MENU.
Kyle Hart (SDP) – 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 6 K. It’s still so strange to see a potential SWATCH go with a splitter over a standard changeup, but then again, Cantillo exists (it’s a vulcan-change). I don’t think he swoops in to steal a rotation spot, but hey, you never know. There’s a better slider now, but he struggled to locate to both sides of the plate, especially LHB.
Marco Gonzales (SDP) – 2.0 IP, 10 ER, 8 H, 6 BB, 1 K. It was fun while it lasted. I think.
Adrian Houser (SFG) – 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 6 K. Velocity has fallen back to 95/96 mph, which is all good with me at 73 pitches. He still has a good slider and generally good command (where are the inside sinkers?) and I have him circled as a 15-teamer Toby.
Logan Gilbert (SEA) – 2.2 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 5 K. Aces gonna showcase a new cutter at 92 mph and I LOVE IT. Not that it’s the most impressive movement or anything, but Gilbert has desperately needed something near the same velocity to take full advantage of his elite extension and a cutter (or sinker) is exactly that. So curious to see how this develops after throwing it 20% of the time to both RHB and LHB.
Andre Pallante (STL) – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 4 K. Look at this. Pallante flexed phenomenal sinker command to RHB with 4/4 Weak BIP. He’s still got the cut-fastball (it has less vert than the sinker, so can we just call it a cutter?), which hilariously looks like it hit a wall right at the inner third against LHB, which hopefully will change over time. There is potential here, I still see it, but not yet.
Nathan Eovaldi (TEX) – 5.2 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 5 K. Yep, it’s Eovaldi. Also a tick up at 81 pitches overall. He’s begun leaning more into his sinker to RHB and pulling back the four-seamer, too, and you KNOW I love that. He’s the opening day starter and you won’t regret rostering him when he’s pitching. Please stay healthy.
Austin Gomber (TEX) – 4.1 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 2 K. He exists, y’all. And with a tick up at 90/91 mph! You can’t be serious. Let me have my fun. He’s also leaning into the cutter life, jumping its usage from sub 5% to 32% overall (both LHB and RHB!), and the command needs a little more time in the oven. I hope he keeps working on it and has a surprise start or two during the season when they call upon him.
Max Scherzer (TOR) – 4.2 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 5 K. I’m happy to see 65 pitches from Scherezer – one more start and he’s at 80+ for the start of the year – and all is looking normal, save for a ton of heaters in this one as he just wanted to air it out a little. Save for poor matchups, he should be a helpful arm in most leagues.
Ranger Suárez (VEN) – 2.2 IP, 5 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 4 K. His sinker inside with sliders away to LHB is so good (save for the one to Ohtani…), while the changeup down to RHB is very much intact (save for the HR to Morishita…). Okay, fine. He’s Suárez but made a few mistakes that were punished. Don’t worry at all.
Alex Clemmey (WSH) – 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 2 K. Clemmey should be on your radar as an interesting southpaw prospect for the Nationals. I say “interesting” given the lack of ultra dominance (92-94 mph heaters), but his cut-fastball gets inside to RHB and he leans sinker/slider to LHB. There’s polish needed for his changeup to RHB and the highly suspect stuff on his slider (83/84 mph with +4 vert is… not great).
Who To Monitor Today
SPs on the mound today #SpringSPnotesGet morning updates to EVERY SP via my daily Plus Pitch Podcast AND SP Roundup article on the Pitcher List site.Aaron Nola – LIVE EVERY DAY LIKE IT'S NOLA DAYJoe Ryan – 93?Jack Flaherty – Sinker good to RHB?Nick Martinez – More changeups? RAYS TWEAKS?!
— Nick Pollack (@nickpollack.pitcherlist.com) 2026-03-16T15:53:24.949Z
