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
Logan Henderson was optioned by the Brewers, and with Kyle Harrison’s blister that may delay him slightly and Brandon Woodruff throwing 87 mph fastballs at the end of Thursday’s outing, I have to wonder if Brandon Sproat gets a spot in the rotation. He’s a fantastic late round flier you drop if he’s optioned.
Sad news for the Giants: Hayden Birdsong will undergo Tommy John Surgery.
The Yankees have optioned Carlos LaGrange to the minors. He’s not considered a reliever by the Yankees, and is sure to appear in the majors sometime this year. Yes, he’s an auto-add whenever that happens, likely not until the second half as they wouldn’t want to bring him up only to get displaced by Rodón or Cole. Looks like Luis Gil’s job is safe if he can perform well today.
Expected Rotations By Team
Thursday’s Games
ARI vs. CWS
SEA vs. ATH
BAL vs. NYY
PIT vs. BAL
MIN vs. BOS
CWS vs. SDP
KCR vs. CLE
SFG vs. COL
NYM vs. HOU
LAA vs. KCR
TEX vs. MIL
NYY vs. TOR
TBR vs. PHI
WSH vs. STL
Michael Soroka (ARI) – 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 8 K. Whoa, look at this! Soroka has a new cutter at 89 mph that retured 91% strikes. He got it inside to LHB as well and ho boy, we have ourselves a deep league sleeper…if he weren’t likely going on Wednesday and likely displaced by Merrill Kelly after his second start of the year against Atlanta. Still, if you need a start next week, Soroka hosting Detroit could work out well, simply because I trust his command + found the #3 pitch he’s needed badly.
Aaron Civale (ATH) – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 11 K. WHAT. He had a little extra cutter movement, sure, but this is absolutely bonkers. Big Dumper and Luke Raley were in this lineup and struck out, too. Consider this the absolute peak of Civale having the feel for his arsenal and not something to actually buy into. Far too risky.
J.T. Ginn (ATH) – 0.2 IP, 6 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 1 K. Ginn followed Civale and this was horrific. Down to 92 mph with poor extension and he couldn’t find the zone. Rough.
Dean Kremer (BAL) – 4.1 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 8 K. One of the best BSB outings against LHB I’ve ever seen from him. Four-seamers up, curves + splitters down. And even to RHB with cutters down-and-away + four-seamers/sinkers up-and-in. If only I could believe he could do this every game.
Trevor Rogers (BAL) – 5.1 IP, 2 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 7 K. Changes were not good, which is all kinds of weird. Four-seamer was solid and had some fantastic vert marks with a few duds, and the breakers were stellar. I’m in, y’all. I’m not handwaving last season.
Brayan Bello (BOS) – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 7 K. He’s had a fantastic spring and I wish I could tell you that I’m changing my tune. The new curveball isn’t a bad addition, but it’s not a game-changing one in my opinion (he had a fine sweeper before, after all) and he still has a hittable sinker and four-seamer, with a major need for his cutter and changeup to be commanded consistently. The absolute ceiling is a Holly if he can keep the whiffs alive, but in all likelihood, he’s a 1.17 WHIP arm with a high 3s ERA and 21% strikeout rate. That’s a Toby in my book.
Davis Martin (CWS) – 4.2 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 4 BB, 3 K. There were some really cool sliders in here (he’s added a four inches of depth and sweeper at the cost of only one tick already!), but he doesn’t have a consistent feel for those extreme ones. I’m curious how he develops across the season.
Parker Messick (CLE) – 5.2 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 4 K. Oh jeez. This was a really disappointing start from Messick. He was 1-2 ticks down on his heater, his four-seamer command was far from the incredible precision we’re used to seeing, his slider was so weird, matching his four-seamer movement at times and being generally all over the place to RHB (I think it was a new cutter?), while LHB saw precise sliders down-and-away. This may have doomed Messick if Allen does well today. If he’s in the rotation, I’m still in.
Tomoyuki Sugano (COL) – 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 1 K. Good luck Sugano. I’m happy you have an opportunity, even if it’s in Colorado.
Ryan Weiss (HOU) – 0.2 IP, 3 ER, 2 H, 4 BB, 0 K. Oh no. Oh no no no no. Not only did Weiss not even start this game, he’s now only thrown 12.1 IP this spring in five games and was completely lost. He simply could not find the strikezone with his four-seamer to RHB, and the changeup + sweeper were complete guesses. Sigh. I’m starting to heavily question if he’s actually in the rotation now, with McCullers and Arrighetti healthy + Javier, Imai, Brown, and Burrows. UGGGGGGH.
Noah Cameron (KCR) – 4.1 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 4 K. This is the day of me getting worried about everyone and I hate that. Cameron has allowed a ton of hits this spring and did not have the sharp command to RHB that made me fall for him last year. He’s also under 92 mph and I heavily question if that will get any better in-season or if it’ll fall to 90 mph. Just treat him like a Toby.
Kris Bubic (KCR) – 4.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 3 BB, 4 K. He’s healthy at 92 mph and getting whiffs on the changeup. THAT SAID, his four-seamer was way worse at 16″ vert (not 18″) and less cut action, but with the changeup feel killing it, I’m not worried. He should help your teams, even if there’s a decent chance he doesn’t act like a Top 25 SP stud like he did in the first half of ’25.
Yusei Kikuchi (LAA) – 4.2 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 2 K. Absolutely not for me. Nothing interesting to report and he has worse horizontal movement on everything.
Brandon Woodruff (MIL) – 3.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 4 K. He sat 91.6 mph, hitting 93.7 and was above 92 mph through three, but he threw three four-seamers in the fourth, allowing two HRs on 88 mph heaters. Yeah. I think we avoid? Let’s avoid.
Mick Abel (MIN) – 4.2 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 6 K. Not the greatest, but yeah, he’s dope and makes us feel dope. There’s still work to be done on the secondaries (sliders and curves are in the right general area, but returned 50% strikes, while he has a terrible feel for his changeup to LHB), but the four-seamer + sinker combo does exactly what it should and steers the ship, while the slider and curve each returned a pair of punchouts. GIVE. HIM. A. ROTATION. SPOT.
Kodai Senga (NYM) – 4.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 4 K. Sadly, Senga sat 95 mph in this one, not the 96/97 mph we’ve seen this spring. And yet, he only threw sixteen four-seamers. That’s 25% usage with his first six coming right around 97 mph, before taking the gas off and sitting 92-95 by pitch #40 at the end of the second through the fourth. The other pitches didn’t fall, though, and I’m wondering if someone told him to take it easy. He’s at 8/10 strikes on the cutter, which should see a little more action, but there is a gyro slider and sweeper that he’s testing out and may be effective weapons. I’m fine with this. I think he’s underrated at the moment – you likely won’t drop Senga all year.
Max Fried (NYY) – 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 4 BB, 2 K. Should we be worried about Fried? He’s a notorious slow-starter, usually needing a few starts in-season to find his groove, though four walks and consistently down velocity this spring is hard to ignore (94 mph here after 95.5 mph last season). The one case for Fried “taking it easy”? His extension is also down three points. Generally, I treat dips in extension in the spring as less intensity, which leads to lower velocity. I don’t believe Fried is suddenly 6.3 feet extension vs. 6.6 feet of last year, which then leads me to believe the velocity will return. I’M BUYING THE DIP (if there is one).
Ryan Weathers (NYY) – 3.0 IP, 7 ER, 8 H, 1 BB, 5 K. Like Fried, I’m not worried about the results. Extension is also down here, while holding the same velocity as last year = he showed he had it early, and is saving bullets now. Grab him once all the reliable SPs you are not dropping all year are off the board.
Hunter Barco (PIT) – 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 3 K. There was a shot Barco might make the rotation, but 39 pitches and pitching in relief? Welp, not happening.
Michael King (SDP) – 5.0 IP, 6 ER, 9 H, 2 BB, 3 K. Man, I’m really worried about King. That’s 26 hits in just under 18 frames now, with a 10.46 ERA. But spring stats don’t matter! Would you feel better if he had few hits and a low ERA? … Yes. What makes the King earn his crown? Precision. He was a command artist with sinkers, four-seamers, changeups, and sweepers, and he is simply not there. Horizontal movement is massively down across the board, too, and I’m pushing him down my ranks a ton today. I simply can’t draft him with so much concern while others are left on the board who are more likely to be effective out of the gate.
Logan Webb (SFG) – 4.1 IP, 6 ER, 8 H, 1 BB, 3 K. He was down 1-2 ticks with everything, but extension was also down and you know the drill. He has not reason to push it with his absurd workload. Don’t fret.
Quinn Mathews (STL) – 4.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 4 K. He was in the Spring Breakout for the Cardinals and the changeup was dope to RHB with sliders getting away to LHB. Ghastly four-seamer command, though (38% strikes?!), and as long he figures that out in Triple-A, he’ll be in the rotation once Fitts gets his shot. Sidenote: After throwing 3% sinkers to LHB last year, he threw 30% sinkers to LHB in this outing. THAT’S AWESOME.
Drew Rasmussen (TBR) – 5.2 IP, 7 ER, 11 H, 2 BB, 3 K. He’s over a tick down in velocity (small dip in extension?) and part of me wants to be a little bearish on my Rasmussen ranking given the capped IP ceiling and his lack of development outside of his two fastballs and cutter. Still, there’s no way he allows so many hits in-season, even if he’s more inconsistent with his cutter’s depth.
Jacob Latz (TEX) – 3.0 IP, 7 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 5 K. I’ve been waiting for Latz to show me one more thing. He has a 93 mph four-seamer with good vert that he likes to go upstairs, a changeup that can fall down and make him look like a SWATCH and a slider that could make LHB lament facing him, but he’s missing venom. None of these are truly elite and he needs that little extra ooomph to make me buy into a guy who’s never done it before. 95+ mph velocity, consistency on the changeup, a cutter appearing, WHERE’S A SINKER?!, etc.
Cody Ponce (TOR) – 5.2 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 5 K. He’s done everything I’ve asked of him, becoming my favorite of the KBO arms and of the latter arms who I think could make an immediate impact, especially now that the Blue Jays are without Berríos and Yesavage early. In other words, he’s at 66 pitches now and will likely be pushed to 75 –> 85 –> 95 before too long. His two-plane four-seamer was 95.6 mph in the sixth, the cutter is pretty meh (especially with its movement volatility), but the splitter gets all the whiffs, and the curve at 82/83 mph is pretty dang good. Throw that curve more, find the cutter feel, and he’s gold.
Zack Littell (WSH) – 2.2 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 5 BB, 3 K. He’s stretched out enough at 64 pitches that he’ll go 75+ in his first start for the Nationals, but the velocity is bad. Down 2-3 ticks right now, which isn’t so surprising given this was just the second game of spring, but then again, he threw 92 mph in the first, was pulled early in the third, then faced one batter in the fourth where he sat 87.5 mph on three fastballs. AVOID.
Brad Lord (WSH) – 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 3 K. Lord came in relief and he may have a rotation spot now that Gray has been demoted + Littell is clearly not ready. Doesn’t mean I’m down to go after Brad, but maybe he can figure something out by leaning heavily with that sinker inside to RHB at 17-18″ of horizontal and a sweeper at -14/15″ horizontal. Gotta learn to land that changeup to LHB and allow himself to not throw so many dang four-seamers to LHB (68%?!). It’s just not a good offering, even if it went 5/13 whiffs here due to some great moments of precision.
Who To Monitor Today
SPs on the mound today #SpringSPnotesGet morning updates to EVERY SP via my daily SP Roundup article on the Pitcher List site.Shane McClanahan – 96 mph? Dope secondaries?Max Scherzer – All good? Kinda slept onSimeon Woods Richardson – 93/94 mph?Tarik Skubal – AGA
— Nick Pollack (@nickpollack.pitcherlist.com) 2026-03-20T14:39:50.259Z
