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
Mike Burrows left yesterday’s game with a trainer after enduring a 92 mph comebacker to the calf. Monitor this to make sure he’s okay. It may result in getting skipped the first turn of the rotation, given the numerous options available to the Astros.
My wishcasting for Brandon Sproat and Parker Messick paid off – both pitchers have made their opening day rosters. Prioritize Sproat > Messick (Sproat kinda looks like a stud…?), but I’d love to have both. Now we wait to hear about Connelly Early.
With Grayson Rodriguez suffering from “general arm soreness,” AKA Dead Arm, and Alek Manoah looking terrible, the Angels granted rotation spots to Jack Kochanowicz and Ryan Johnson. I do not recommend rostering either one.
The Orioles are not going six-man after all, optioning Dean Kremer to the minors.
Didier Fuentes will be on the opening day roster for Atlanta…in the bullpen. He’ll likely be in long relief and get the first opportunity to start when a spot opens.
The Padres have confirmed that Walker Buehler will be a part of the rotation. Not much of a surprise there.
Expected Rotations By Team
Saturday’s Games
TEX vs. ARI
ATH vs. LAD
ATL vs. BOS
PHI vs. BAL
CHC vs. SEA
CWS vs. CIN
CLE vs. SFG
COL vs. KCR
NYY vs. DET
HOU vs. NYM
MIA vs. STL
SDP vs. MIL
MIN vs. TBR
NYM vs. WSH
TOR vs. PIT
Ryne Nelson (ARI) – 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 7 K. He’s trying! Look, under 60% four-seamers from Nelson is absolutely a testament to the fella trying his best to find a secondary pitch that works. And look at this! His slider went 7/17 whiffs! That’s a 41% SwStr rate! Maybe there’s hope after all… Okay, a pretty blegh offense, but still. I often struggle ranking Nelson and I think I’m underrating him. I just can’t decide if I’d rather take him over the injury stashes or not.
Jacob Lopez (ATH) – 2.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 4 BB, 3 K. He simply couldn’t find the feel for the slider against LHB. He did fine against RHB, but I think it’s best for us to ignore Lopez for now and wait for him to lock in during the year at least once before jumping on board. He went seventy-four pitches to get just six outs.
Luis Medina (ATH) – 2.0 IP, 2 ER, 1 H, 4 BB, 3 K. Fastballs all over the place, per usual. He’s not in the rotation, though, so whatever.
Chris Sale (ATL) – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 4 K. Everything looks normal, save for some sinkers to LHB. That’s fun! He should be doing that.
Garrett Crochet (BOS) – 5.1 IP, 6 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 3 K. Looks terrible, I know, but Crochet wasn’t nailing his four-seamer at all and pulled it back to work on his sinker and splitter. It’s the spring, it’s a final test run. Do not worry about this at all.
Colin Rea (CHC) – 4.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 4 K. He threw 77 pitches and it was normal Rea. He may get some starts eventually and there are some days you can stream him.
Andrew Abbott (CIN) – 4.2 IP, 5 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 5 K. Jeeeez, it really has been a rough spring for Abbott. The good news? He’s at the same velo. The sweeper and curveball are not doing their job, the four-seamer isn’t as pristine as we’d like, and the changeup was smacked when it didn’t earn a whiff. I do like the harder cutter, though, and I’m willing to wager he’ll help a lot more than hurt this year. The ERA looks worse than this was, by the way. Don’t sleep on him.
Tanner Bibee (CLE) – 4.2 IP, 8 ER, 10 H, 0 BB, 3 K. I know it’s the last tune up n all, but…look at this. He is not a changed man.
Kyle Freeland (COL) – 4.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 2 K. Whoa, he really leaned into his changeup here, and while it was a low 52% strike rate, I dig that he’s trying to make it happen. This could be enough to take down the Marlins on opening day. It’s there if you must.
Framber Valdez (DET) – 6.1 IP, 1 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 4 K. Velocity and extension were down, normal things in the final tune up. Curveball was decent enough, and it’s Framber.
Drew Anderson (DET) – 0.2 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 0 K. Cool to see him for a moment again. He’s not stretched out right now, though he seems to be the SP #6/7 at the moment.
Mike Burrows (HOU) – 5.1 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 2 K. Burrows was removed after taking a comebacker to the calf and we think he’s alright. It wasn’t a strong performance beforehand, though, with a 10% CSW four-seamer that allowed 6/7 hard contact and a sinker that failed to get inside to RHB, but was taken half the time. I still like the new slider/cutter at 90 mph and 7″ vert, though.
Cole Ragans (KCR) – 5.1 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 8 K. No sinkers, changeups at 55% strikes, and lower velocity (typical), and nothing to really change our view. Pew Pew Pew.
Emmet Sheehan (LAD) – 4.2 IP, 4 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 5 K. I’m still really scared about his velocity. It was great early on, then drops in the third, with laboring around pitch 60, and the fifth was rough with one 95.6 mph max effort pitch falling to 91.2 mph right after. See for yourself. Outside of velo, his slider lost three inches of depth despite coming in slower, though he did locate it well down-and-away. The whole situation has me weirded out, honestly, and I’m very cautious drafting Sheehan too high. There’s too much risk.
Janson Junk (MIA) – 3.0 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 1 K. He has the job over Garrett and celebrates with a start like this. Don’t go after the fella.
Robert Gasser (MIL) – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 7 K. Soooo Gasser isn’t the in the rotation, right? Harrison and Woodruff are both okay and getting a spot…? What we saw here was a huge lean into the sinker over his four-seamer, and he attacked LHB away with its poor 12″ ride, trying to play the “X Games” of going off the plate with cutters and back over the plate with sinkers (X Games = David Cone’s term for it!). It’s pretty terrible movement on the pitch and returned just 50% strikes, while it lacks the decently flat attack-angle of his four-seamer, making me question if this is the right shift. His cutter and sweeper are the breadwinners, with the former going gloveside to both LHB and RHB effectively + the sweeper working to LHB, while the changeup feel needs work to RHB. I really don’t like those heaters for Gasser and I’m not seeing the greatest secondaries to hand-wave it, making me tepid whenever Gasser gets his shot.
Joe Ryan (MIN) – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 2 K. Velocity is down with lower extension and I really don’t think it’s anything but ensuring he’s okay before opening day. Be chill.
Jonah Tong (NYM) – 4.1 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 5 K. The new cutter went 56% strikes and 1/16 whiffs. Womp womp. Here’s to developing consistency in the minors before getting a true shot in the rotation when the opportunity arrives later this year.
Cam Schlittler (NYY) – 3.2 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 K. That cutter is still 94/95 mph and ain’t going away. It’s so cool. He brought back the slider, too, at three slower ticks but a boatload more drop. Yes, I really like this 87 mph slider with -3″ drop and -7″ sweep. That’s gyro slider velocity with legit movement. Now just command the dang thing instead of poorly throwing all four…
Ryan Yarbrough (NYY) – 2.2 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 0 K. It’s the Fratty Pirate! He’s around as Gil’s chapperone in case something goes wrong. Watch him steal a Win in Seattle…
Paul Skenes (PIT) – 4.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 3 BB, 5 K. Aces gonna ace. Really weird seeing his down to 95/96 mph. Skenes?! Is that you?! Why overthrow now?
José Urquidy (PIT) – 2.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 2 K. He tossed the final innings of this one, totalling 25 pitches. I don’t think Urquidy has the SP#5 job, y’all. Maybe it’s Mlodzinski after all.
Randy Vásquez (SDP) – 5.1 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 4 K. I adore 26% cutters for 63% strikes, save for the one over the plate that returned a two-run shot. velocity is still up, albeit 95 mph, not the 96/97 mph of prior outings, but there’s something here in his high heaters + cutters, curvse, and sinkers. He just needs to find that feel for the inside sinker and gloveside cutter and we’re GOLDEN. What does Golden mean? It means Toby in this case.
Robbie Ray (SFG) – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 6 K. Ayyyy, 50% fastballs, with 13% sinkers to LHB! The slider and sinker feel were pretty terrible, though. The changeup showed up for 21% usage against RHB and returned 3/6 strikes (he got them down!), and it’s pretty standard Robbie Ray scattershot. He’s fine.
George Kirby (SEA) – 5.1 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 4 K. Can someone please get in touch with the Mariners and tell them they need to force Kirby to throw inside sinkers to RHB? It truly is messing up his slider, where these perfectly placed pitches at 88 mph with legit movement returned just 1/20 whiffs. Get that dang thing inside and suddenly it all opens up. It’s that simple. The good news? He’s spotting beautifully against LHB, so no worries there.
Kevin Gausman (TOR) – 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 2 K. Despite locating pretty well with the splitter, he didn’t get the chases he normally gets (50% strikes), which ruined this one. Meh, so it goes, it’s probably because of the lower extension here (read: less exertion).
Cade Cavalli (WSH) – 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 1 K. He’s starting on opening day and I hope I get to lead with him, telling you how much I’m bought in. As of now…I’m absolutely not. I love that the Nationals have overhauled their pitching development n all, but it takes time. The four-seamer and sinker are Empty Velocity, forcing the sweeper and curve to do all the damage, with the former as his #1 pitch and the latter as a major work in progress. I look at him and see a HIPSTER at best, with few Wins and inefficient outings ahead. I want to look dumb. Please.
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.Michael McGreevy – Good cmd?Cristian Javier – 93? Lots o’ strikes?Sonny Gray – All good?Mitch Keller – Okay.
— Nick Pollack (@nickpollack.pitcherlist.com) 2026-03-22T13:13:57.164Z
