Spring Training games thread

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Mo is such a good looking hitter.

[chibears55]

I know it spring training but something tells me they should of traded Taillon and signed someone else.

 

[Bertz]

5 minutes ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

Mo is such a good looking hitter.

One of the nice things about him is that even if he ends up being a bit of a disappointment offensively it feels like he's a pretty different style of hitter compared to anyone else we have on the roster.

[Derwood]

7 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

I know it spring training but something tells me they should of traded Taillon and signed someone else.

 

Somehow he has pitched in every game of spring training (or it seems that way, I don't watch the games)

[Bertz]

I'm glad that Taillon is going to pitch in the WBC because him pitching in a game that matters but doesn't matter for us should help me set my appropriate level of alarm.

I'll say he is, by an order of magnitude, the guy I'm most worried about this spring.  And the majority of that is that he was a guy I didn't feel great about a month ago.  But in a spring where everyone's come in throwing gas, or at least relative gas, it looks like he's lost a MPH off of his already pretty bad fastball.

[Bertz]

109 MPH line drive from our 20 year old shortstop prospect

[Tryptamine]

I am so unimpressed with most of our pitchers so far. All the usual spring training caveats, but damn...

[chibears55]

4 minutes ago, Bertz said:

109 MPH line drive from our 20 year old shortstop prospect

Im cautious in rooting for him cause it seems like every young prospect since Eloy that I've been rooting for ends up getting traded or injury set them back..lol

Eloy, Torres, Cease, Alzolay, Marquez, Davis, and Caissie lol

[chibears55]

7 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

I am so unimpressed with most of our pitchers so far. All the usual spring training caveats, but damn...

Same but I've learned to be patience with both hitters and pitchers that are likely going to make the team during ST as they mostly are working on new things or just getting themselves ready.

The last week of ST is when I like to see things start clicking for these guys to get some positive momentum heading into the season 

[We Got The Whole 9]

[Gjfificifjdej]

They should get Taillon and Shota to pitch a full season at Coors for the laughs

[Stratos]

8 hours ago, Bertz said:

I'm glad that Taillon is going to pitch in the WBC because him pitching in a game that matters but doesn't matter for us should help me set my appropriate level of alarm.

I'll say he is, by an order of magnitude, the guy I'm most worried about this spring.  And the majority of that is that he was a guy I didn't feel great about a month ago.  But in a spring where everyone's come in throwing gas, or at least relative gas, it looks like he's lost a MPH off of his already pretty bad fastball.

Taillon and Shota were my biggest worries coming into ST.  But Shota had upside to recover, and has shown about 2mph uptick in velo so far over last year and even 1 mph better than 2024. 

I always assumed a below-average xFIP was going to happen this year for Taillon similar to projections.  His velo from his previous ST start was around his velo from the previous 2 seasons so I'm not really concerned either about today's velo (yet).

Who knows if the shorter starts or adrenaline from early spring starts is a factor in any velo improvements we've seen.  Going to wait closer to OD to make judgments. L

[Geographyhater8888]

5 hours ago, Stratos said:

Taillon and Shota were my biggest worries coming into ST.  But Shota had upside to recover, and has shown about 2mph uptick in velo so far over last year and even 1 mph better than 2024. 

I always assumed a below-average xFIP was going to happen this year for Taillon similar to projections.  His velo from his previous ST start was around his velo from the previous 2 seasons so I'm not really concerned either about today's velo (yet).

Who knows if the shorter starts or adrenaline from early spring starts is a factor in any velo improvements we've seen.  Going to wait closer to OD to make judgments. L

Big picture, hopefully neither will matter a lot. Ideally they’ll both be fighting for the fifth spot in the rotation or 5 and 6 if they go that route and eat innings. Cabrera, Steele are Hortons health are the keys to a deep playoff run. If it was 2025 I’d pay more attention to them. 

Edited March 3 by Geographyhater8888

[Geographyhater8888]

I really like how Mo profiles as a hitter. Is it a pipe dream to believe he can become a 300 hitter someday? 

Edited March 3 by Geographyhater8888

[Geographyhater8888]

11 hours ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

Mo is such a good looking hitter.

You have to be a very good hitter if you’re a top 60 prospect with little defensive value and slow baserunning .

[Bertz]

So I'm not buying in on it yet, but I just noticed that Dylan Carlson is making a ton of contact this spring.  His contact rate is 92.9%, which for comparison last year would have been the #2 mark in the league afger Luis Arraez.  Nico Hoerner's an elite contact guy and has never crossed the 90% line.  Carlson for his career has hovered around 80%

Like it doesn't matter much yet, but contact rates are a spring stat that do have some signal to them.  So if he keeps this up the whole spring it's something that's probably pretty meaningful.

[mk49]

1 hour ago, Bertz said:

So I'm not buying in on it yet, but I just noticed that Dylan Carlson is making a ton of contact this spring.  His contact rate is 92.9%, which for comparison last year would have been the #2 mark in the league afger Luis Arraez.  Nico Hoerner's an elite contact guy and has never crossed the 90% line.  Carlson for his career has hovered around 80%

Like it doesn't matter much yet, but contact rates are a spring stat that do have some signal to them.  So if he keeps this up the whole spring it's something that's probably pretty meaningful.

Since you mentioned Carlson, I just checked his stats.  Like you said, it doesn't matter much yet, but wow.  He's looking great.  

[JBears79]

19 hours ago, Bertz said:

I'm glad that Taillon is going to pitch in the WBC because him pitching in a game that matters but doesn't matter for us should help me set my appropriate level of alarm.

I'll say he is, by an order of magnitude, the guy I'm most worried about this spring.  And the majority of that is that he was a guy I didn't feel great about a month ago.  But in a spring where everyone's come in throwing gas, or at least relative gas, it looks like he's lost a MPH off of his already pretty bad fastball.

I agree with you but all he needs to do for me to not worry this season is keep his numbers close to his career line and eat innings. Hes a solid pitcher. I would be surprised if hes holding back some effort since he is going to be in the WBC and hes just trying to get the arm loose for the season and being conservative with his approach to ramping up.

[Bertz]

 

 

[Neuby]

47 minutes ago, Bertz said:

 

 

 

 

If only we had a network to watch this on... or a YouTube channel, twitter stream.  

[JunkyardWalrus]

Bregman or ST games... can't have both in this economy 

[mk49]

Dansby and Bregman hit homeruns.  

[Bertz]

Ethan Roberts velo not quite as hot as his previous outing but seems pretty clear he's got his pre-surgery juice back.  That's fun I'd mostly written him off.

[squally1313]

Did I miss a discussion about Ernie Clement and Brice Turang making the USA team over Nico (or, honestly, Dansby)? I remember some correctly snarky comments when Nico got left off the top 100 players list. Turang isn't overly offensive, but Ernie Clement is a joke. 

[Jason Ross]

Yeah, Clement feels like a product of the moment. He had some memorable moments in the playoffs and he got picked that way.