With teams now off to the regular season, let’s take a look at some positive and negative developments which resulted from spring training. A few players impressed and made their case to move up draft boards. Others failed to achieve similar results, lessening confidence amongst drafters. It’s a long season, but knowing who had a solid or weak spring can go a long way in winning your league.

Risers

 

Braxton Ashcraft 

Ashcraft comes into 2026 with expectations for a full workload as a part of the Pittsburgh rotation. So far this spring through 13.1 innings, he’s delivered a 2.03 ERA with 16 strikeouts and 1.05 WHIP. His 2025 line included a 2.84 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, and 71 strikeouts in 69.2 innings. And perhaps more importantly, he reduced hard contact with just a 38.5% hard-hit rate. His pitch mix includes a devastating slider while the four-seamer touches 97 MPH. It’ll be interesting to see how Ashcraft handles his transition from the bullpen to a starter for all of 2026, but every metric points to a relatively safe floor with the ability for a respectably high ceiling.

Mike Burrows 

Many Pittsburgh fans are still upset with the departure of Burrows. He still has many years of control left, so this could be a steal for Houston. Burrows has put on a show so far in spring training with a 1.50 ERA and 17 strikeouts through 18 innings pitched. The Astros’ pitching department has made some mechanical changes, which have led to better extension and increased velocity on the four-seamer. In 2025, Burrows racked up 96 innings with a 3.94 ERA and 1.24 WHIP. He will slot in nicely to an interesting Houston rotation with a favorable home matchup against the Angels to open the season.

Jake McCarthy

Remember that outfielder who was super highly regarded in Arizona’s farm system? Well, now he has the benefit of playing in Coors Field for half of his games. McCarthy’s spring training has been impressive and something worth paying attention to. A .354/.396/.479 line while putting up a .875 OPS is reason enough to be intrigued, not to mention he’ll be hitting leadoff for the Rockies. He hit for a bit of power back in his minor league days, which could come back considering the Colorado environment now surrounding him. McCarthy is a very solid late-round target for runs and steals with the ability for 15-20 homers in a full season.

Fallers

 

Grayson Rodriguez

There aren’t too many worse things at the conclusion of spring training than finding one of your starting pitchers has a dead arm. It makes things bleaker when the Angels received him in exchange for Taylor Ward, one of their best position players. Nonetheless, Rodriguez has all but taken any confidence that those had left in him. Injuries have plagued his career so far, and even when he’s been on the mound, the results have been ugly. It’s been more of the same this spring training, giving up 7 earned runs with 10 walks, leading to a questionable 1.42 WHIP. Sure, it’s just spring training, and he could’ve simply been working on his repertoire, but there’s a reason why his career ERA is 4.11 while only pitching 238.2 total innings. The last time he pitched was 2024, so the bounce back is hard to buy, especially now with his injured list stint to begin 2026.

Dylan Crews

For anybody who bought into the notion that Crews would be the ultimate post-hype sleeper in drafts, bad news has arrived. The Nationals have reassigned Crews to the minor leagues after he slashed .103/.206/.103 in an awful spring training display. He only put up 3 hits in 34 plate appearances, which forced the hand of Washington’s front office. Who knows, maybe a reset back in the minors will put Crews on the right path moving forward. He’s still only 24 years old, and once called back up, the at-bats will be there for him. The Nationals will not be competitive this season and are going nowhere from here but up. His ADP was slightly on the rise entering March, but has since fallen way off due to his March performance and news of the demotion. If one would look at the glass half full, his cost is pretty much free at this point if anyone out there has belief he’ll turn the tide once back up. For now, though, avoid Crews and instead target an outfielder who possesses a set role with guaranteed playing time.

Roki Sasaki 

Do the Dodgers finally have buyer’s remorse? Just a season ago, Sasaki was seen as the next prized possession in the Los Angeles organization. Fast forward to the present times, where things are looking quite the opposite. This was supposed to be a spring training where he shows what he’s truly got, looking to impress and dominate as much as possible. Instead, Sasaki threw 8.2 innings, leading to a 15.58 ERA, 15 walks, and a 2.77 WHIP. Yikes. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts stated Sasaki will be in the rotation to start the season. It’s an interesting development considering he only found success as a reliever last season. Many analysts in the game think his stuff plays better coming out of the bullpen, but the Dodgers still seem to believe in him as a starter. Be that as it may, I’m staying far away from him in drafts and would rather see someone else take that risk, even with an average ADP of 247. I might even be more encouraged to buy him at this low point if he showed strong metrics last season but that just wasn’t the case. 28 strikeouts in 36.1 innings with a 1.43 WHIP and 5.80 FIP are scary numbers to think about. So be careful with Sasaki; the Dodgers may have finally missed on one of their Japanese products.