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
Jared Jones has officially made the Pittsburgh Pirates rotation. He’s expected to be the fourth starter for the Pirates, matching him up against the Marlins to kick off the year. Grab him and let’s have fun with this.
Clayton Beeter has made the New York Yankees roster, likely as their long reliever with Luis Gil as the SP #5. He may follow Gil’s first outing, as well, especially if Gil is inefficient in his official return from TJS. There could be some value there against the Diamondbacks for a vulture Win.
Erick Fedde took a comebacker to the quad in yesterday’s outing but should still be good to go in his season debut next Sunday.
Michael Wacha took a liner to his right-hand’s middle-finger. He is getting precautionary X-Rays and the Royals believe he’ll be fine. We’ll find out more today.
Hayden Wesneski has been optioned to Triple-A. It looks like Drew Smyly will follow Javier Assad in the Cubs’ fifth game. Not fun.
Expected Rotations By Team
Statcast Games – TV
BAL vs. MIN
TOR vs. PHI
NYY vs. PIT
WSN vs. NYM
LAA vs. LAD
Grayson Rodriguez (BAL) – 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. I have yet to see a start where Grayson is doing what he wants to do across his arsenal. It still feels a little too much like he’s reliant on his stuff to get through at-bats and it makes me hesitant to trust him as an SP #1/SP #2 ahead of other proven arms. Still want to go for it in his team context – more time on the bump is sure to help and he’s still developing! – and I’m looking forward to watching his journey.
Cole Irvin (BAL) – 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 3 BBs, 1 Ks. Don’t. He’s at 93 mph and that command is terrible. Tyler Wells is the one you want.
Joe Ryan (MIN) – 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 2 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks. Not the best commanded game for Ryan and I’m a little annoyed to see just four sinkers in the mix. You can be so money and you don’t even know it.
Chris Bassitt (TOR) – 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. And suddenly, the velocity is slightly up. Ah, that wiley vet taking it easy in the spring.
Aaron Nola (PHI) – 5.2 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. So Nola is back up too, right? Ummmm, he’s a tick down still at 90/91. But good news! He actually attacked upstairs with his four-seamer! Just one whiff and he missed a little too far up a bit, but the intent! It’s there! I legit hope it’s the gameplan now and it could unlock a new man here.
Marcus Stroman (NYY) – 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks. So many hard hit balls into the ground as he practiced his splitter and it worked well. He’s Stroman.
Martín Pérez (PIT) – 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 Hits, 2 BBs, 3 Ks. The dude is locked in. He’s avoiding the heart of the plate well and manipulating sinkers, cutters, curves, and changeups along the edges. Super sneaky stream vs. Miami to kick off the year for your deep leagues.
Patrick Corbin (WSN) – 4.0 IP, 3 ER, 7 Hits, 2 BBs, 2 Ks. Just seven cutters. Womp womp. You need that pitch Corbin.
Luis Severino (NYM) – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. Whoa, 10/38 four-seamer whiffs as he chucked that bad boy upstairs and took advantage of a terrible Nats lineup. However, the secondaires went 0/23 whiffs and that’s kinda concerning, especially with the four-seamer’s 96 mph velocity coming with middling iVB. I’m not quite buying it.
Griffin Canning (LAA) – 4.2 IP, 4 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 8 Ks. So he’s out of the zone with four-seamers a ton and relying on his secondaries for strikes, which is generally the right idea for a mediocre heater like Cannings, but he has to earn a few more strikes with the pitch than this. Otherwise, those zone sliders and changeups in the upper half get pummeled instead of returning CSW. I’d rather avoid Canning and the whole Angels crew in general.
Bobby Miller (LAD) – 4.2 IP, 0 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks. Yoooo we have four-seamers upstairs! YESSS! Now please get your slider/cutter working down-and-gloveside as a putaway pitch and suddenly you’re a 30%+ strikeout guy. YOU’RE ALMOST THERE.
Statcast Games – No TV
River Cats vs. SFG
TBR vs. DET
NYM vs. MIA
CHW vs. COL
Mason Black (SFG Minors) – 3.2 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 5 BBs, 1 Ks. He’ll show up at some point and we can move on for now. I would love him to figure out a changeup at some point.
Carson Seymour (SFG) – 3.0 IP, ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 1 Ks. More sinker/slider here and he’s not a major name you should focus on.
Zack Littell (TBR) – 3.1 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 3 Ks. Blegh. He’s struggled with getting his slider down a bit last year and that was absolutely the case here, even if he earned a bucket o’ whiffs along the way. The team context is good for Littell and I don’t consider him a poor arm for fantasy, though I heavily question if he’s worth the add in 12-teamers, especially with the poor matchups vs. TOR and @COL across the first two turns.
Jack Flaherty (DET) – 4.2 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 0 BBs, 8 Ks. Flaherty is still up in velocity, but it’s just under 94 mph now and his max is 96 mph, not 97. That said, he’s attacking the zone super well with the heater and setting up his slider beautifully down in the zone and gloveside. Throw in some good curves and okay changeups, and you’ve got a guy locked in for six frames at the moment. Up The List you go. Again.
Tylor Megill (NYM) – 4.0 IP, 3 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 7 Ks. The slider was much better here, but the four-seamer is at 95 mph and not really special in my view. The “American Spork” went 3/14 whiffs, which isn’t bad at all, but not all that dependable. I’m pretty tepid here.
Erick Fedde (CHW) – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. WE GOT DATA. He’s a cutter/splitter guy to LHB with some front hip sinkers in there, while living down-and-away with cutters and sweepers to RHB…and some questionable sinkers that aren’t jammed inside yet. That fastball is 93/94 mph (I was hoping for sitting 95) and there’s no four-seamer in sight, but the dude is clearly plus command as he jammed that cutter to LHB all day while adjusting properly to RHB. He’s a QS darling, isn’t he. If he has legit command of that splitter, he’s destined to get whiffs with it + the sweeper should be more than 1/13 whiffs in the future. This can work y’all.
Austin Gomber (CHW) – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BBs, 3 Ks. COL Story, bro.
No Statcast – TV
STL vs. HOU
ATL vs. BOS
CLE vs. CIN
CHC vs. SEA
ARI vs. MIL
Lance Lynn (STL) – 4.1 IP, 6 ER, 7 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks. Hey let’s not draft Lance Lynn. But the projection has him with a fair number of strikeouts and decent Wins! Not a best ball league, y’all. And, you know, skills degradation and whatnot.
Hunter Brown (HOU) – 4.1 IP, 0 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks. I wish we had some data here, but this is cool from Brown. I’m hoping it meant lower breakers than before and maintaining high heaters. He’s a guy I can’t quite decide on for 2024, but his security in the Astros rotation should grant him a step above other Spice Girl options.
Max Fried (ATL) – 3.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 Hits, 3 BBs, 1 Ks. Three walks and just one strikeout ain’t fun but all we needed was a healthy Fried this spring. We’re good.
Kutter Crawford (BOS) – 5.2 IP, 5 ER, 8 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks. Blegh. I’ve been waning my love for Crawford the past few weeks and I’m questioning how much I should truly be in on Crawford. Is his command good enough? Is the four-seamer’s elite iVB enough without good extension or a terribly flat attack angle at 93/94? Can he survive in Fenway? It has me lowering him a touch in my ranks.
Logan T. Allen (CLE) – 4.2 IP, 6 ER, 8 Hits, 2 BBs, 3 Ks. Oh come on Allen. I’ve been warming up to you as a streamer with the belief that the Guardians’ defense is better than we think and lines like this make me feel like we just wait for a Vargas Rule to appear and move on.
Hunter Greene (CIN) – 3.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 Hits, 1 BBs, 2 Ks. Final tune up here and not a whole lot to report on. Still a Cherry Bomb.
Kyle Hendricks (CHC) – 3.1 IP, 2 ER, 7 Hits, 0 BBs, 3 Ks. Alright, you’re in the rotation. For now. You don’t want this.
Logan Gilbert (SEA) – 4.2 IP, 2 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BBs, 7 Ks. Seven strikeouts is absolutely cool. I’m looking forward to getting more looks and data on him this year to see if he can get his four-seamer to a place of returning a 12%+ SwStr while holding the new slider from last year.
Merrill Kelly (ARI) – 3.2 IP, 6 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. Well that’s not great, but whatever. It’s Kelly in a good team context.
DL Hall (MIL) – 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 Hits, 0 BBs, 4 Ks. I watched all of it and we have good news and bad news. Hall looks more polished than I expected – a heavier reliance on his curveball that stunned batters constantly, a reliable changeup, and routine sequencing that made him feel in control of every at-bat – and that makes him primed for six innings far more than I originally thought. However, he’s not overpowering batters as he did as a reliever. Sitting 95/96 mph last year, Hall is now 92/93 mph with a heater that doesn’t bully inside the zone. Much more contact here than I expected to see and I wonder if we’re going to see that explosion appear in season as he settles in more. I’d rather see this command and refined arsenal than Hall sitting 95/96 mph, though, and I’m favoring him more than I used to. He’s ready.
No Statcast – No TV
NONE Y’ALL
What To Watch on TV Today
Spring SPs to watch on TV today #SpringSPnotes
Updates daily via Plus Pitch Podcast & SP Roundup article.
Clarke Schmidt – Good attack vs. LHB?
Sean Manaea – Anything cool?
Kevin Gausman – Ayyyyy, you good?
Chris Sale – 95 mph?
Bailey Ober – Still 93? Good SL/CT?
Jordan Wicks -…— Nick Pollack (@PitcherList) March 25, 2024