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 morning 10am-12pm ET at playback.tv/pitcherlist as I watch all of the starts with y’all and answer all your fantasy baseball questions.
Major SP News To Know
For those who missed it: Jared Jones felt elbow discomfort during a bullpen, had an MRI, and is…now awaiting a second opinion. When have we ever heard of a second opinion search resulting in anything but at least three months of IL? Cole had one last year and didn’t get TJS, but this feels like TJS. FUN. Check out the Thomas Harrington blurb below for what this means for Bubba Chandler and friends.
Ronel Blanco took a comebacker to the right wrist and left his game early. His status is unknown at the moment and monitor this to see if he needs to miss time.
Luis García had a set back in his rehab after experiencing elbow soreness. He is scheduled to visit team doctors and terrible news could be around the corner.
The Diamondbacks are beginning to get trade offers for Jordan Montgomery. It’s no surprise and I’d wager one of the Yankees, Mariners, Astros, Atlanta, or Padres are the ones on the phone given their recent injury problems. (I could be missing another team?) He will be traded and there is 15-teamer value there.
Ranger Suárez is dealing with back stiffness and may be delayed entering the season. It could mean Taijuan Walker sneaks back into the rotation after all. Oh no.
Site News
We’re launching PL 11 in the upcoming days and we’ve outlined everything we’re working on and improved on the site inside this Twitter thread and this Bluesky thread.
Check out all the apps, a tease of the PL Fantasy Baseball Pro Dashboard, our new Live Draft Assistant, and so much more.
Now it’s super easy to see velo changes, movement changes (extra vert from Rodón!), extension, usage changes, locations, etc. It’s incredible, y’all. Get access via PL Pro at 15% off with code SPRINGISHERE
Expected Rotations By Team
Statcast Games – TV
STL vs. WSH
PHI vs. NYY
CLE vs. ATH
NYY vs. ATL
KC vs. SF
Steven Matz (STL) – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 2 K. He’s keeping the change down to RHB and that’s all we really want to see.
Jake Irvin (WSH) – 5.2 IP, 6 ER, 10 H, 2 BB, 4 K. Just 19% curves is all kinds of weird, but maybe he’s just trying new things. He was also at 91.4 mph (-2.6 ticks, blegh) and wasn’t hitting seven feet of extension. That sounds like an injury or someone not taking it hard. I’m going to say the latter with the lower extension.
Taijuan Walker (PHI) – 3.2 IP, 6 ER, 9 H, 2 BB, 1 K. Jeeeeez, with Suárez possibly delayed, Taijuan is back on the menu at 92/93 mph and struggles across the board. Don’t do this to yourself.
Marcus Stroman (NYY) – 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 3 K. Just three whiffs on non-sinkers (3/23 is weird at 89 mph…) and I won’t rule out the chance of Stroman stealing some Wins early in the year, but do you really want to risk making a Grave Mistake?
Allan Winans (NYY) – 3.0 IP, 4 ER, 4 H, 4 BB, 2 K. It’s not gonna be Winans, even if his slider went 8/21 whiffs. He threw more changeups than sinkers and it didn’t matter – both returned a xwOBA of .500+. Yikes.
Gavin Williams (CLE) – 4.1 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 5 K. Williams is still not showing us the cutter (it’s coming…right?!) and seeing under seven feet of extension is a bit strange. That could mean he’s not firing on all cylinders yet, though, and given that he’s not costing a super high draft pick, I’m still in.
JP Sears (ATH) – 4.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 3 K. Annnnd no more BSB. Womp womp. I truly wonder if Sears would be a more successful arm outside of the Athletics. He still has a flat four-seamer attack angle and I want to believe there’s more to unlock. One day.
Carlos Carrasco (NYY) – 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 3 K. Yeah. He’s the fifth starter for the Yankees. He’s at 90/91 mph and only returned three whiffs, but it’s working to a degree and that’s value the Yankees need right now.
Spencer Schwellenbach (ATL) – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 10 K. You wanna know how he got ten strikeouts? He threw just five pitches against RHB. Mr. Crescendo has a stupid good cutter to eat up LHB with a slider that falls backfoot beautifully, here returning 8/14 whiffs on the breaker. He also flexes splitters when he’s feeling the pitch vs. LHB, which went 9/10 strikes and sat under the fastball. In other words, he’s dope and makes us feel dope.
Michael Wacha (KC) – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 8 K. Wacha surprised me with 3/19 slider whiffs here, while the change and slider each returned over 70% strikes and things are cool. For the second straight preseason, I believe Wacha is getting overlooked as a Toby. I’ll all for him in QS leagues and points leagues that favor volume.
Jordan Hicks (SF) – 5.2 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 3 K. Hicks, why must you do this to us. Birdsong and Roupp are right there and we’re so excited for them, hoping you’d fall into the pen. BUT NOPE. You had to return 4/14 whiffs on your sweeper at a 64% strike rate and sit…97.4 mph. That’s nearly three ticks up from last year. Yes, it still got hit a bit, buuuuuut 97/98 mph? With a splitter and sweeper that hopefully average a 60% strike rate between them? That’s a recipe for a QS machine if the sinker can hold the velocity and 67%+ strike rate. He’ll likely head to Houston for his first outing of the year and I’m kinda down. WHAT A TURN OF EVENTS. Treat him like a ‘Toby” to drop if the walks come up and the velocity comes down.
Statcast Games – No TV
AZ vs. COL
SEA vs. TEX
Jordan Montgomery (AZ) – 2.2 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 2 K. He’s still down in velocity to 90.2 mph (-1.5 mph) and he was roughly 93 mph when he was cooking. But the changeup and curve are earning whiffs, right? Uhhhh 0/18. Are teams really going to trade for this? YUP. I’ll say this. I think The Bear will head somewhere and get plenty of time to figure things out. He won’t be great in April, but May? He could be relatively normal by then and worth the pickup. I’ll let you know in this very article when the time comes.
Jake Woodford (COL) – 2.2 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 K. It’s interesting to see The Amish Mustang and Blalock piggyback this late into spring. I initially thought this was the plan with Dollander out of the picture, to take Gomber’s spot, but now it doesn’t seem as likely…? But then again, would Colorado really waste an NRI and some extra volume? Probably not, right?
Bradley Blalock (COL) – 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 2 K. You don’t want Blalock if he’s on the Rockies. It’s too bad.
Emerson Hancock (SEA) – 4.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 4 K. Ayyy, good job getting the changeups down! And only throwing six four-seamers, which went 2/6 whiffs because you elevated them at the right times! We’re making progress. The sinker to LHB still terrifies me, but this is better and that’s all we can hope for at the moment.
Jacob deGrom (TEX) – 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 3 K. So he sat 95.5 mph, not 97, not 98, 95/96 mph. That said, it’s pretty obvious he’s taking it easy at the moment and still earned 10/57 whiffs. I’m still very much in. I’m not buying that he’s going to be a 95/96 mph pitcher this year or is already hurt.
No Statcast – TV
BOS vs. DET
LAA vs. CLE
Richard Fitts (BOS) – 4.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 1 K. One strikeout does little to suggest that Fitts is grooving in the same way we saw initially. Sigh. I’ve found myself more hesitant to draft him late over other arms, especially Burke, Weathers, and Meyer, simply because he’ll be going far later in the rotation. And the lack of exciting data since his first game, of course.
Casey Mize (DET) – 4.2 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 4 K. It’s fine. And I think that’s what we need to expect from Mize. A Toby.
Tyler Anderson (LAA) – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 3 K. Anderson was atrocious last time out and was able to cruise for six innings here. Welcome to the experience, Mr. Anderson.
Logan Allen (CLE) – 4.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 6 K. You’re still here, eh? Huh. It’s possible the Guardians go with L.A. in Ohio over Ortiz, who has been all kinds of erratic.
No Statcast – No TV
TB vs. PIT
MIL vs. CWS
HOU vs. NYM
Zack Littell (TB) – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 8 H, 0 BB, 5 K. Oh. You really had to do this, huh. Rasmussen had the job. IT WAS A DONE DEAL. At least we know it’s not Boyle now and what this may turn into is a piggyback of Rasmussen + Littell…or possibly Shane Baz heading to the minors. WHAT?! Yeah, I know. It’s possible as Littell doesn’t have options.
Andrew Heaney (PIT) – 4.1 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 2 K. He’s in the rotation and that’s worth a gamble every so often when you’re in dire need of streaming strikeouts.
Aaron Civale (MIL) – 4.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 3 K. Yep, that’s Civale.
Shane Smith (CWS) – 4.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 2 K. I absolutely love this story. I wish there was more than a 96 mph heater to latch onto, but still, it’s pretty dang cool. Rule 5 draft pick to SP #5 and likely around all year.
Ronel Blanco (HOU) – 3.2 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 3 K. He took a comebacker to the wrist and it’s unclear if he’s on schedule for his next start. I’d avoid him regardless – he hasn’t been in a groove akin to last year.
David Peterson (NYM) – 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 4 K. We’ll take it. I kinda dig Peterson in 15-teamers and I really hope his slider and change can consistently stay down. The seven feet of extension is legit + if his velo is not 90/91 mph as we saw in his previous start and more like 93 mph, then we’re golden.
What To Watch Today On TV