Spring Training has arrived and as I’ve been writing daily notes for myself to recap all spring training starting pitchers, 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
There is no update on Gerrit Cole and they will find out more later today. The Yankees have made an offer for Dylan Cease to the White Sox as a backup plan and made Marcus Stroman the opening day starter. Strap in y’all.
Edward Cabrera has been diagnosed with a shoulder impingement. We’re still waiting to find out how long Cabrera will be out for – it could mean he throws again within the week or it could mean he’s on the shelf for weeks.
Kevin Gausman will throw a side session today and will be re-evaluated after. He could return to a spring training game shortly after, while there is no current timetable for Alek Manoah to return to the field. Bowden Francis likely benefits most and slides in as the SP #5 for the Jays.
Luke Weaver is dealing with neck stiffness. This has added implications with Gerrit Cole’s health in purgatory and Weaver was an option for bulk innings in his place. If Weaver is unavailable for the start of the year, expect one of the young Yankee arms to take a rotation spot…unless the Cease trade happens.
Sawyer Gipson-Long will throw a bullpen session as he recovers from a groin strain. He’s not expected to be in the rotation to start the year – I have him as the SP #7 for the Tigers behind Reese Olson and Casey Mize, respectively.
Max Meyer has been officially demoted to Triple-A. Not unexpected as Ryan Weathers and Trevor Rogers looked like the prime candidates to start in the Miami rotation with Cabrera and Garrett recovering.
Expected Rotations By Team
Statcast Games – TV
WSH vs. STL
BAL vs. NYY
NYY vs. PHI
MIA vs. NYM
Patrick Corbin (WSH) – 3.2 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. The cutter is great, y’all. 13/16 strikes, 25% SwStr rate, and featured against both LHB and RHB. He still needs to spot it a touch better vs. RHB and properly get it inside, but its addition is a huge deal for Corbin, who needed something extra to pair with the slider desperately. The sinker just gets torched too often. He’s a sleeper pick with that cutter, especially in NL-Only formats.
Miles Mikolas (STL) – 4.0 IP, 1 ER, 6 Hits, 0 BBs, 5 Ks. Velocity is now down a little. So yeah.
Julio Teheran (BAL) – 2.1 IP, 4 ER, 3 Hits, 3 BBs, 1 Ks. Oh hi Julio. I’ll always love how squished your strikezone plots are, refusing to miss above or below the zone, working purely east-west. I’ll never let that go.
Bruce Zimmermann (BAL) – 3.0 IP, 1 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 2 Ks. He’s a depth option for the Orioles should they need it. Fortunately, the Orioles are not your fantasy team. They are to me. Well okay then.
Will Warren (NYY) – 3.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 3 BBs, 2 Ks. He was a bit wild up-and-armside, without his changeup landing quite right a far number of times. He jammed RHB well, though, he just needs to get that cutter actually inside to LHB. It was a weird one.
Clayton Beeter (NYY) – 4.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 0 BBs, 4 Ks. He’s solid. Good heater and breaker, but I’m not sure the four-seamer is great enough to make this two-pitch approach work consistently.
Luis Gil (NYY) – 3.2 IP, 0 ER, 1 Hits, 1 BBs, 8 Ks. Now here’s the fun stuff. Gil’s heater ranged from 95-100, averaging 97.2 for the game, and returned 74% strikes. All three pitches were at 67% strikes or higher, including 8/12 strikes with his changeup that now has a larger velocity and vertical movement gap that his four-seamer this year. That’s the real story – he’s no longer a two-pitch pitcher & can throw strikes. That’s more important than the extra tick of velocity. I get a bad feeling the Yankees are going to be careful with him and promote Better or Warren before Gil, but hot dang, I want it to be Gil with his stupid good four-seamer shape. GET HYPED.
Zack Wheeler (PHI) – 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 Hits, 2 BB, 3 Ks. Aces gonna ace. Velocity is ramping back up and all is good in the world.
Mick Abel (PHI) – 1.2 IP, 0 ER, 0 Hits, 0 BBs, 2 Ks. Abel should be on your radar when he gets the call this year with a good four-seamer and changeup + a legit a slider. It may be somewhat soon with Taijuan Walker looking rough in camp, and be on the lookout to snag Abel when it happens.
Trevor Rogers (MIA) – 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 0 BBs, 5 Ks. He looked great. Slider was fantastic, fastball was solid, and he looked generally in control of his arsenal. I wish we saw more changeups, though, and without the Statcast data we were promised (it was broken for the three innings Rogers pitched. I. Know.) I’m still a little in the dark about how effective that four-seamer actually is at the moment.
Max Meyer (MIA) – 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 Hits, 1 BBs, 2 Ks. They demoted him to Triple-A after this one and we’re sure to see him again in the near future. He’s still heavily focused on the slider, while I wish I was more impressed by his four-seamer and changeup. Worth the spec add when he arrives, but he lacks the upper ceiling of other prospects in my view.
Tylor Megill (NYM) – 4.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 0 BBs, 2 Ks. Statcast data literally shut off after the first few pitches and wasn’t working again until the bottom of the 4th, meaning we got just three four-seamers from 94.9 to 95.9 to start the game. So I guess that’s good, but likely not 95+ throughout the game, and 8/61 whiffs is solid overall, but yeah, I’m not sold that Megill is this changed guy. There’s too much to fix.
Statcast Games – No TV
OAK vs. ARI
Joe Boyle (OAK) – 3.0 IP, 1 ER, 1 Hits, 5 BBs, 2 Ks. Lol. His command is so rough, y’all. You shouldn’t do this.
Ryne Nelson (ARI) – 3.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 2 Ks. He got his changeup down and four-seamer upstairs, but 1/17 whiffs on said fastball isn’t ideal, nor is it at 94/95 instead of 95-97. Still, love the opportunity, love the new slider/cutter (just get it a touch lower please), and I’d continue to monitor this.
No Statcast – TV
DET vs. HOU
PIT vs. BOS
TOR vs. TBR
MIN vs. ATL
LAD vs. CLE
COL vs. CHW
TEX vs. LAA
Reese Olson (DET) – 4.0 IP, 1 ER. 2 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. Yeah this is cool. He should have the rotation spot over Mize out of the gate and I’m a fan of it, especially after watching him lean on breakers for LHB yesterday (please stop with the four-seamer). He’s a fun one and worth your draft pick.
Framber Valdez (HOU) – 4.0 P, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 0 BBs, 4 Ks. Hey that’s dope. The changeup was the money maker here for strikeouts as I still want the cutter to be more of a weapon against RHB. That said, if the changeup is filthy, then that’ll work too. Just need something else to take over instead of sinkers.
Bailey Falter (PIT) – 3.2 IP, 0 ER, 1 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. I swear, if Falter fights his way to the SP #5 spot over Jared Jones…I SWEAR.
Cooper Criswell (BOS) – 3.2 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 0 BBs, 4 Ks. Criswell’s odd delivery makes for a fun slider and lively sinker, but it’s shallower than Houck and Whitlock, making him the clear SP #6 as a backup option during the year. Or if Whitlock falls off in the next two weeks.
Mitch White (TOR) – 3.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 2 Ks. He’s likely still up in velocity and making his case to take the SP #5 spot over Francis. I don’t see it happening, though, and we can move on.
Zach Eflin (TBR) – 4.0 IP, 4 ER, 8 Hits, 1 BBs, 2 Ks. He allowed 4 ER in his first outing on February 29th, and now allowed another 4 ER in his second (four more unearned). Not great, but nothing to report to suggest anything is actively wrong with him. Report is he was working on his curveball and he’s not worried about the results.
Chris Paddack (MIN) – 4.0 IP, 1 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 2 Ks. Eight baserunners ain’t fun and I haven’t seen anything to suggest he’s exceptional in his arsenal this spring. But hey, maybe the command is good enough and he shows us something legit in April? At least he has the opportunity UNLIKE SOMEONE ELSE ON THE TWINS.
Spencer Strider (ATL) – 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 1 BBs, 9 Ks. Aces gonna ace.
Bobby Miller (LAD) – 3.1 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 2 Ks. Uggggh. It’s kinda obvious Miller isn’t locked in with his slider yet, nor getting to enough two-strike counts with his heaters. I still believe in the stuff and his overall command, but that last element just isn’t there yet. I believe it’ll come.
Triston McKenzie (CLE) – 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. He’s healthy and clearly looking good. That draft discount is fading fast.
Carlos Carrasco (CLE) – 3.0 IP, 1 ER, 1 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. He’s obviously making the team at this rate as their long reliever and SP #6 when the time comes. Not fantasy relevant for now, nor when he does get an opportunity, sadly. Maaaaybe as a desperate stream.
Kyle Freeland (COL) – 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 0 BBs, 5 Ks. COL story, bro.
Michael Kopech (CHW) – 2.1 IP, 4 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BBs, 2 Ks. He’s not the man we want him to be.
Nathan Eovaldi (TEX) – 4.2 IP, 3 ER, 4 Hits, 4 BBs, 5 Ks. Four walks?! It was a poor inning that got away from Eovaldi and without reports of his velocity falling past the 96 mph we saw in his last outing, we keep the path forward and expect better in April.
Patrick Sandoval (LAA) – 2.1 IP, 4 ER, 5 Hits, 4 BBs, 2 Ks. We need a little more luck thrown toward the Irish Panda, but sometimes, it’s just black and white with a pitcher. Don’t go after this.
No Statcast – No TV
SFG vs. KCR
SDP vs. SEA
Logan Webb (SFG) – 3.1 IP, 5 ER, 9 Hits, 2 BBs, 1 Ks. It’s hard not to be a little concerned as he’s allowed 10 ER in his last 7.2 IP of spring. Here’s to hoping it’s just him ramping up and tinkering with the slider.
Daulton Jefferies (SFG) – 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. Super sleeper here. It’s not a given he lands a rotation spot, though I’ve seen zero talk about Jefferies and he has a legit shot to leave camp in the rotation. He was a decent streamer with the A’s before injury, after all. There are worst NL-Only SPs out there, and just a wait-and-see for normal leagues, of course.
Angel Zerpa (KCR) – 2.2 IP, 4 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BBs, 2 Ks. He’s battling with Alec Marsh and Daniel Lynch IV for Lyles’ spot in the rotation and this is a bummer for Zerpa. My guess is that it goes to Marsh at the moment, but it’s still up for grabs.
Yu Darvish (SDP) – 4.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 1 Ks. The strikeouts aren’t there yet as he’s not elevating perfectly with his four-seamer, but all signs are looking good that Darvish is attacking batters well and not giving in.
Logan Gilbert (SEA) – 3.0 IP, 4 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks. Blegh. I truly want to believe in Gilbert again and I’ve been concerned that he’s not a great command arm after all. My hope was for a spring to sway me back in his favor and starts like these simply don’t do it.
What To Watch on TV Today