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
Luis Gil has officially been named the fifth starter for the New York Yankees. Go get him. NOW. I’ll be updating The List on Wednesday and I’m considering putting him right around A.J. Puk with serious consideration in the higher tier. The biggest concern is command – his control with changeup and slider earning strikes this year makes me encouraged (please stick around), but commanding the four-seamer upstairs will unlock the true ace inside Gil. It’s such a dope four-seamer with all the attributes you want to see.
Julio Teheran opted out of his contract and is now a free agent. The Orioles will likely turn to one of their young arms if they need another SP before John Means or Kyle Bradish are healthy, with the possibility of Albert Suarez getting a look in Baltimore would rather not start arbitration clocks.
Taijuan Walker is expected to hit the IL with shoulder soreness. It’s not a major surprise given his low velocity this spring, yet the Phillies don’t have a robust option to take his place. Spencer Turnbull is the clear choice, though if this becomes an extended stay, you may see Mick Abel arrive before too long.
Gavin Stone, and James Paxton have flipped what I thought was their rotation order, with Stone as the SP #4, Paxton as the #5. This allows Stone to get a start Sunday before your weekly FAAB run, while Paxton has to wait until Monday. It’s a minor thing (Isn’t this the Major SP News to Know?) but could be a difference maker for you.
Justin Steele is fine and is expected to still start on opening day after taking a comebacker to the knee.
Expected Rotations By Team
Statcast Games – TV
BOS vs. PIT
PHI vs. NYY
DET vs. TOR
HOU vs. NYM
Brayan Bello (BOS) – 5.1 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 3 BBs, 7 Ks. 4/17 slider whiffs at 19% usage is solid and I’m glad he’s carrying over the slider from last September for the most part. The sinker and changeup are looking right and this is Bello. I have my hesitations that he can take a true leap given the slider isn’t blowing us away, but he’s still a positive arm for fantasy managers, hoping to be Holly this year.
Jared Jones (PIT) – 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 Hits, 4 BBs, 5 Ks. Annnnnd there are the walks. I watched this one and generally felt he was in more control than the four walks would suggest (especially with his slider), though the four-seamer still needs refinement to land upstairs with consistency. He can’t quite get behind the ball on release, making him more East-West still vs. North-South. Still, the Pirates sure look like they are stretching him out to be in their rotation out of the gate and I’d go for it. The stuff is good enough and it’s possible he irons out the fastball command throughout the year.
Spencer Turnbull (PHI) – 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 0 BBs, 5 Ks. With Taijuan Walker hitting the IL, the Phillies are giving Turnbull a shot in the rotation and Turnbull’s cut-four-seamer paired with a sweeper can absolutely work, especially if he keeps that heater gloveside. Am I excited by this? Not really, but 40% CSW across 52 pitches is encouraging, no? I’ll take a closer look in that first outing to see if this can actually stick – my inclination is that he needs a changeup or curve that actually works – not the five combined he threw here.
Carlos Rodón (NYY) – 4.0 IP, 4 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 2 Ks. 94.1 mph four-seamers. Oh no. Yep. We never got to 95/96. Pack it up y’all.
Kenta Maeda (DET) – 3.2 IP, 6 ER, 10 Hits, 1 BBs, 7 Ks. We’re back to 89.4 mph on the heater and just 6/39 whiffs across his slider and splitter. Hey, that’s not terrible, right? Sure, though it’s the non-whiffs that are the issue. You see, Maeda is a illusionist. He’s supposed to make you think he’s throwing strikes, then they dive out of the zone. Or when you finally have him figured out, SUPRISE! Heater for a called strike. Allowing 10 hits is enough to outline how many hittable pitches he served this Split-Squad Yankee offense and with even less velocity than before, he’s looking like a Cherry Bomb. At least we saw everything work in his last outing and we’ll sure to get both sides of the coin throughout the year.
Yusei Kikuchi (TOR) – 3.1 IP, 8 ER, 6 Hits, 3 BBs, 2 Ks. The command is rough for Kikuchi right now. He has all the tools to be great and I even gave him a ton of love on Thursday’s update given how I want to brush aside the spring stats thus far, but games like this definitely make me nervous. I need to see some pitch separation between his four-seamer and slider, not the blended mish-mash we got yesterday in the middle of the zone. I’m still a believer, but hot dang, this gives me all the anxiety.
Cristian Javier (HOU) – 4.2 IP, 1 ER, 2 Hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks. Javier’s new changeup is the stabalizer – 13/15 strikes! – and even in this game where Javier wasn’t great with his heater and he held sub 50% slider strikes, he was able to go nearly five frames with good ratios. Now imagine if Javier gets that slider feel back and it isn’t an off-night with the four-seamer…
José Quintana (NYM) – 3.0 IP, 5 ER, 3 Hits, 4 BBs, 6 Ks. He has his changeup and curve working, it’s just the heaters that he needs to tweak at this point. It’ll arrive at some point and then we can Vargas Rule this.
Statcast Games – No TV
WSN vs. STL
NYY vs. DET
CLE vs. ARI
Jake Irvin (WSN) – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 Hits, 2 BBs, 3 Ks. Remember the velocity jump? It’s gone. At least there’s a new cutter to help out 14% of the time, I guess, but this ain’t real.
Miles Mikolas (STL) – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 6 Hits, 0 BBs, 3 Ks. Hey, props to Mikolas going about 30% fastballs these days. That’s progress, especially when it means leaning 31% sliders – easily his best pitch. Maybe there actually is a world he helps you out this season. MAYBE.
Clayton Beeter (NYY) – 4.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks. The Yankees are going with Gil in their rotation, though Beeter and Warren are sure to get their shot at some point this year. Beeter looked like his best self with the BSB in this one, though it’s all two-pitch and he could use a changeup or cutter or something else to keep a less binary approach and keep batters at bay. He doesn’t have an elite fastball to make that simple approach excel.
Tanner Bibee (CLE) – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks. Huge props to Bibee for locating that four-seamer at the very top of the zone in this one, and yet, it shouldn’t be a surprise that, despite its pristine precision, it held a sub 12% SwStr rate across 43 thrown. It’s not a good four-seamer. I don’t trust that precision to be there more often than not, and his changeup + slider lived in the zone to get through six here. I’m fine that, though it does mean they went just 3/38 whiffs combined on their own and made Bibee a BABIP fiend more than strikeout darling. But you told me they should have a great infield defense now because of their infield coach! Well, that’s actually true. So if this is the Bibee we get, I guess I’m in? I’m not sure he is this guy, sadly. If only I could actually be a prophet. Sigh. One day…
Zac Gallen (ARI) – 4.0 IP, 4 ER, 8 Hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks. Well this ain’t fun. His curve and slider were about three ticks down, two ticks down on the changeup, one tick down on the fastball, and zero fun for me. He does look to be sitting low for the most part, though, which is what you want from Gallen. I’ve already expressed my concerns about his 2024 durability after last year’s massive workload and I suggest you explore other options in your draft at the same price range.
No Statcast – TV
BAL vs. TBR
LAA vs. OAK
TEX vs. KCR
COL vs. CIN
ARI vs. SFG
MIL vs. CHC
TOR vs. BAL
MIN vs. BOS
Julio Teheran (BAL) – 4.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 Hits, 2 BBs, 3 Ks. He’s been since released by the Orioles. It was a good bid, Teheran. Truly.
Chayce McDermott (BAL) – 4.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks. We’re going likely going to see Chayce this year and I’m curious what we get. I’ve liked him more than Povich, though the Orioles seem more inclined to give Justin Armbruester the first shot when needed.
Zach Eflin (TBR) – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 8 Ks. Yep, all good here.
Ross Stripling (OAK) – 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. He’s starting. That’s all I’ve got.
Nathan Eovaldi (TEX) – 4.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 1 Bs, 3 Ks. No word on velocity here, but sometimes no news is good news, right?
Angel Zerpa (KCR) – 3.1 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 0 BBs, 4 Ks. He might be Alec Marsh’s replacement if the team still doesn’t want to go with Jordan Lyles and to Zerpa’s credit, he has some strikeout potential in there. Nothing to actually chase, of course.
Cal Quantrill (COL) – 4.2 IP, 6 ER, 12 Hits, 2 BBs, 2 Ks. COL story, bro.
Frankie Montas (CIN) – 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks. Is this enough for us to trust in Cincy on opening day against the Nationals? Ehhhh, nah.
Logan S. Allen (ARI) – 4.0 IP, 5 ER, 9 Hits, 1 BBs, 2 Ks. Not to be confused with the guy in Cleveland, seeing SLogan get four innings was a way of Arizona testing to see if they had other options for their SP #5 void. Probably not happening.
Kyle Harrison (SFG) – 3.1 IP, 4 ER, 5 Hits, 4 BBs, 6 Ks. Harrison is such a prototypical Cherry Bomb and starts like these will be commonplace among those luscious evenings with all their alluring punchouts. Ahhh The Temptations!
Wade Miley (MIL) – 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 Hits, 0 BBs, 2 Ks. He’s still going to start the year on the IL, but at least his command isn’t out of whack, right?
Joe Ross (MIL) – 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 Hits, 0 BBs, 3 Ks. Ross followed Miley as he’s taking the spot for a pair of outings and y’all know that ain’t the life you want for yourself.
Ben Brown (CHC) – 4.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. Huh, the Cubs are still stretching out Brown as potential starter and I’m not sure I buy that Brown has the command and arsenal depth to make it work. With Caleb Kilian on the mend, it does make sense to give them more options, but I’m not going to run to the wire if the Cubs are giving him a shot in the rotation. Too much Shag Rug in here.
Yariel Rodriguez (TOR) – 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 Hits, 2 BBs, 1 Ks. The Jays have mentioned they want Yariel to help out if needed in the rotation this year and seeing him go three frames displays that ability. It won’t be for a bit though, so we can figure this out later when we get more of an understanding of his skills.
Corbin Burnes (BAL) – 5.1 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 0 BBs, 4 Ks. That’s more like the ace we want, right? Where are the strikeouts. I dunno, maybe they went to Steak n Shake.
Chris Paddack (MIN) – 4.2 IP, 3 ER, 9 Hits, 0 BBs, 5 Ks. Meh. I want to be blown away by Paddack and I haven’t much at all this spring.
Nick Pivetta (BOS) – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 9 Ks. And just when I started to wane on my feelings of Pivetta, he pulls me right back in. Guess we keep the course y’all.
No Statcast – No TV
TBR vs. TBR
SEA vs. CHW
MIA vs. WSN
Aaron Civale (TBR) – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks. Let’s be honest, we needed to see a start like this from Civale this spring to make sure we’re all good.
Spencer Strider (ATL) – 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks. Aces gonna ace.
George Kirby (SEA) – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 7 Ks. Aces gonna ace.
Nick Nastrini (CHW) – 3.1 IP, 5 ER, 5 Hits, 5 BBs, 0 Ks. Welp, this dream is dead. Five walks without a strikeout in 10 outs is just not going to make the White Sox slot him into the rotation. We can move on from this hope as it’ll be something like Jake Woodford or something like that for the White Sox. Womp womp. Really wished I could have, you know, watched him, and gotten good data.
Josiah Gray (WSN) – 4.0 IP, 5 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 7 Ks. Seven strikeouts are cool and y’all know you can’t trust this guy right now. Wait until we see something legitimately new first.
What To Watch on TV Today
Spring SPs to watch on TV today #SpringSPnotes
Updates daily via Plus Pitch Podcast & SP Roundup article.
DL HALL WITH A GREAT CAMERA ANGLE
Hunter Greene – Curve & Split actually helping?
Logan Allen – Good enough to stream?
Logan Gilbert – FBs up? Splitter working? SL still…— Nick Pollack (@PitcherList) March 24, 2024
All last year Bibee found a way to win…. He’s an old school SP who has the arsenal and skills to make in-game adjustments, thanks to his secondaries and a FB that plays up due to command and secondary separation. Give the guy his just due. His FB is good enough.
That Joe Ross line is wrong. 5ip, 2 hits, 0 bb, 8k
So much flip-flopping from round up to round up based on small spring samples, makes the big picture here hard to follow imo. Would be a shame if this whole site devolves into a corny clickbait and lifetime membership circle jerk